CH 91 Not Your Typical Hangover
Bliss crawled along Starlight's senses like syrup made of sunlight. Lavender and moonflower caressed her nose as her magic purred like a kitten in her core. Slowly, thoughts surfaced from the sea of tranquillity. That was when Starlight remembered she was a pony and not some sort of elemental of contentment.
The lack of warmth beside her meant Trixie had already gotten up. But her scent was still fresh enough that it was not too long ago. A mild note of longing drifted through her mind. The one disturbance was the imperfection that started the cracks in the shroud of slumber.
Her heartbeat and her barrel expanded with the floral fragrance in the air. She stretched, and her whole body felt like putty, but in the best of ways. "Did I fall asleep in the spa?" She murmured as she opened her eyes.
No, she was still in Twilight's castle, in the room she shared with Trixie. The curtains were half drawn, keeping the harsh lances of sunlight from her eyes while letting its warmth caress her coat. That little kindness brought a smile to her face. The motion brought a wave of minty freshness with it.
She ran her tongue over her teeth and had never felt them so clean first thing in the morning. It was like she had only just cleaned them. She felt fully rested, so she couldn't have been that late to bed. I really don't want to get up today. She thought but still got to her hooves anyway. She stood in front of her mirror and froze.
It was still her in the mirror. She still had all her limbs, and her horn was still there. In fact, the mare in the mirror looked good, very good. It was the sort of good nopony except Fluttershy could pull off after just rolling out of bed.
Her perfectly groomed coat shimmered in the sunlight. Her mane was styled, not quite in her normal way, but as if the best mane stylists heard a description and then decided to make it their magnum opus.
"What did I do last night?" She asked her reflection. It offered no answer, so that left it to her rather foggy recollections. The only thing that came to mind that made sense was she went to Las Pegasus, won big, and then blew all of it on this look.
She levitated the assorted combs and brushes back again. She gave herself a sniff. She was freshly clean with just a hint of flowers. "Lavander and moonflower."
Realisation hit. "Twilight and Luna!" They had come back, there was going to be a party. "Maybe a bit too much hard cider?" She racked her brain. Yes, there was something to drink. Not cider. It was silvery, and if you looked at it right, the night sky seemed to hide just beneath its surface.
A shudder rippled along her coat as she licked her lips. What had it tasted like? The name of the flavour was on the tip of her tongue, but she could not quite remember it. "I wonder if Luna will share any more."
She shook her head to clear it. Still unsure what exactly had happened last night, she put it aside for now. Now, what do I need to do today? After a few seconds of thought, nothing specific came to mind. Only the generic everyday tasks and things to check on. "Well, one way to find out."
The empty armour stand caused a twinge of worry, and held her gaze before she dragged it away. Trixie would be alright. She was likely just wearing it because Twilight was back. That issue put to rest, she trotted out of the room.
The motion of her body was smooth and flowing without a single of the little niggles or imperfections you could not reach adulthood without acquiring. Her stride slowed and stopped. "I'm dreaming?" It did not feel like a dream. After the last little dream adventure with Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker and Luna's little incident with the Tantabus, both she and Twilight had read up on the subject. This, whatever, doesn't feel like a dream. Could it be a changeling pod?
She closed her eyes and focused. Her magic flowed to her horn with silken smoothness. It flowed evenly, simply happy to be doing her bidding. Not a single strand of it sought to race off and smite annoying ponies. Not one mote of it offered the idea of using mind control to get her own way. Last night must have been a very good night… She continued her casting. She would check that in a minute.
The dream-banishing spell finished, and the wave of power burst from her horn. As its radiance faded, she opened her eyes. Everything was just the same. Nothing had changed. With the paranoia that only an ex-villain who had been on the run could possess, she double and then triple checked everything she could think of. As far as every sense, every spell she could muster could tell, this was reality.
Next came the medical spells, simple things really, but they did the job. She'd been on her own enough. She had every scar and every imperfection memorised. None of them were there. Every lingering remnant of injury and strain was gone.
She trotted over to the window. Most of the day was gone. The sun only had a quarter of its journey left before Celestia would lower it. Ponyville, in all its now fortified glory, looked back. Little Star was teleporting around in bursts of light, flitting between groups of foals that were taking care of more than just their chores. Between them and Little Star's constructs, they were tending the new gardens, standing watch on the walls, and even making a game of building a new tower.
Applejack and her brother entered her view, their current immaculately styled manes somehow surviving despite their labours. Each pulled heavy carts laden with stone and wood, which they dumped the contents of, only to have the foals swarm it and race to sort the contents by size and colour.
When one group cheered in victory, Little Star teleported in, glanced over the effort and awarded a tray of cookies to the winners. Before the competitors could get jealous, the victors shared their bounty.
Starlight smiled. My life would have been very different if I had friends like that. She lit her horn and blinked to the top of the castle. She appeared on the newest fortified platform between the pair of definitely-not-party-cannons. Reflexively, she double-checked if the labels were still there. The tag on the fuse said Warshot.
War, the word even looked ugly in Equestrian. 'The not for use for parties' scrawled over it in lipstick looked much more aesthetically pleasing than that one word.
She turned a slow circle, and nothing seemed amiss. All the way to the horizon, everything was just as it should be. Something red caught her eyes. Why am I staring at Big Mac? Sure, he was a nice stallion and one of the largest ones she had ever seen. Did I? No, I wouldn't. Still, that thought settled in her mind. She still had no clue what she had done at the party, still had no idea how she even got back to her room.
She cast her medical spell again, this time focused on another part of her anatomy. Like last time, it provided its answers that everything was alright, that she was healthier than she had been before. This time, she dug a little deeper, and it gave an answer. Oh.
There was no question about it. She indeed had sex, and with something larger than a unicorn's horn. Her eyes drifted back to Big Mac. I didn't… Did I? She broke down the healing spell and mixed it with a few other ones. She let out a breath she did not know she was holding. Other than the expected stuff from needing to eat, drink and breathe, there was nothing in her body that should not be.
She let her eyes track Big Mac. He was a good stallion, for an earth pony at least. His muscles bunched and shifted under his perfectly groomed coat. It made quite the show for any mare who just happened to be watching.
He does look nice. She mused, but nothing stirred in her heart. Her tail did not even so much as twitch. Maybe it was not him?
She propped her hooves on the railing and just took in the view. The town she had practically ruled in Twilight's absence. She had only been holding the reigns of power for another, but unlike with Ourtown, with this, she felt she had truly achieved something. She just hoped a certain pony agreed.
Whether or not Twilight's judgment would be positive or not was far more important than whatever she did last night. Yet there was still a lingering question. Do I need to apologise? But even as she thought that, she knew she did not.
"Morning!" Little Star's voice registered just a moment before the pop of her teleport. The flash of light had been almost non-existent.
"Nice control. You been practising?"
"Yes, Starlight." The mini Twilight beamed with pride.
Starlight tipped her horn to the activity below. "I see you have the foals organised. Your idea?"
Little Star nodded with so much enthusiasm it was like she might be at risk of breaking her neck.
"Did all the older ponies oversleep?"
"Yes, and Mummy Luna said to let them sleep."
"Do you know what happened?"
"Mummy Twilight said it was the side effect of excessive harmonisation… she did not have time to explain what that meant, but she said she would tell me when I'm older."
Excessive harmonisation… never heard it called that before.
"She also said to say that instead of a hangover, whatever one of those are, there would be one to four days with vivid and nice dreams."
"Trust me, nopony wants to have a hangover." What was that drink Luna brought… She licked her lips, trying to remember its taste. To distract herself, she pointed to the under-construction tower. "So, what are you building?"
"That's going to be the new Crusader Clubhouse…" Little Star scraped her hoof along the floor. "Apparently, it's not safe for other ponies to make the trip to where the old one was, so we are having to rebuild it here."
Starlight rested a comforting hoof on Little Star's withers. "Remember, most ponies are not as powerful as you. Most unicorns, even with the right aspects, will never be able to teleport."
"But is so e… Oh." The dawning look of realisation shifted to sadness.
With a quick glance around and no parent figure in view, that left the duty to Starlight herself. Shifting her hoof, she pulled Little Star into a hug, who reflexively snuggled into it. She could see the cogs moving in the filly's eyes. "We are exceptional. A lot of the ponies here in Ponyville are, but we are a lot more powerful than the majority of them."
"I know."
"You remember what that means?"
"That we must always be careful and conscientious with our magic, yet stand vigilant to protect those lesser than ourselves. "
She keeps making that mistake… are my old habits leaking, though? "Almost," Starlight said with a proud smile to take any sting out of the criticism. Little Star was her mothers' daughter, after all. "Less powerful, not lesser."
One of Little Star's self-scribing scrolls popped into existence, a few words were altered, and then it vanished again.
Starlight's eyes narrowed. That's the second time she's corrected it. Was something or, more worrisome, someone altering a scroll in Little Star's extradimensional pocket? Was the scroll even real at all, or was it more akin to a mental phantom used as a memory aid? Given what she did to that cleaning spell…
"Such a beautiful day, Darling," Rarity's voice called out from down below.
"So naturally, your first thought was fencing practice?" Blueblood's controlled tone gave no clue if he was agreeing or complaining.
"Oh pish posh, you know we both overindulged, and it takes effort to stay this refined."
"As you say, Lady Rarity." A hint of teasing crept into the Prince's words.
Starlight's eyes narrowed again as she tracked Blueblood's movement. The slight contact as Rarity brushed against him. The way his ears perked and rotated to capture every word she said as their conversations galloped off into the wilds of technical fencing terms.
In the warm sunlight, after the longest lay-in she had had for years, she could see nothing but two ponies in love. Were all my suspicions just lack of sleep and paranoia?
A small hoof tapping her dragged her attention back to Little Star. "He's a good pony now."
"He has definitely done a lot to help. I just never expected him to keep helping, and I don't think anypony expected…"
"He's not being made mean and stupid by Celestia any more."
Starlight's thoughts crashed to a stop. Little Star had said it calmly, like it was just an everyday thing, but with such certainty.
"Little Star."
Little Star's attentive eyes focused entirely on her. "Yes, Starlight?"
"How could you know that?"
"Mummy Luna told me this morning."
"But why would Celestia do that?"
Little Star's ears drooped. "I'm sorry, I don't know." Her left ear twitched. "It might be because he gave other ponies a target and somepony that could be blamed for silly things." She nodded firmly. "She wanted a distraction."
Time and time again, this innocent little filly had shown deep insight and ruthless problem-solving. If not for her kind heart, she could have ended up like me. Still, could she be right?
With all she had heard of Blueblood's antics, even back in Ourtown, he would have made a great distraction. You could get away with a lot in his shadow…
The ringing of blades drew both their attention down to the pair of unicorns. The elegant hoofwork made it look more like a dance than the weapon drills of the Ponyville militia or Royal Guard.
Rarity was no magical powerhouse, but with this, her precision and eye for detail shined through. Rarity used a single sword, but her dozen daggers swam and spiralled through the air under complete control. Their wavey motion was so similar to how she would wield needles and thread.
To match that, Blueblood's aura held a pair of swords and a pair of small shields. It was a contest of his skill versus her raw talent.
A soft pop and Little Star had paper and pencil in hoof. Rapid lines of charcoal captured moment after moment of the contest. It was hard to say what the greater display of skill was, the contest of blades or the wielding of the pencil.
Little Star's talent in magic made sense. It was expected even, but where did this talent for art come from? More and more things simply did not add up with the little filly, but Starlight did not think that answers would be forthcoming today. So, with nothing pressing demanding her attention, she settled in to watch the two spectacles.
Slowly, more and more ponies emerged from the castle, each as perfectly presented as Starlight had been herself. Fragments of happy conversations floated up to her as she maintained her vigil. If there had been more clothes in view, it would have been the oddest fashion show.
Below, there were hugs, nuzzles and good-natured jokes. Unlike yesterday, not a single hint of stress or worry existed in anypony.
It has to be a spell… Her tongue traced her lips again. Or that silver drink?
Little Star, well, a second Little Star started summoning items. Some of the unused stones and a sheet of metal. Black cutting beams and magenta-tinged lesser adhesive spells rapidly turned a bunch of junk into a quite nice-looking griddle.
"Little Star?" Starlight asked the filly next to her."
"Yes?"
"How are you in two places at once?"
"I'm not."
"Then who is down there?"
"That's my pets under an illusion spell."
Starlight focused on sharpening and narrowing the focus of her horn. It would have been easier to dispel the illusion, but if Little Star was telling the truth, she did not want to disrupt the food preparation.
The magic was simple, but densely woven. There was nothing exceptionally complex, just a whole host of simple effects tied together to work perfectly.
Peering past the illusion, her analytics spell picked out the silhouette of a particular wooden owl perched upon the back of the mini timberwolf.
"How are they casting spells?"
A scroll popped into existence, a complex diagram of a wooden and crystal horn. It was galling, it was humbling, but over half of what was on the page eluded her. This filly's knowledge was all over the place. Before Starlight had started teaching her, she was missing so many of the fundamentals, and yet, some of her spellcraft was beyond anything anypony had ever seen.
"Your owl's horn is a spell relay?"
Little Star nodded. "With some basic spell runes inlaid to simplify and automate some basic spells."
The succulent scents of honey-glazed grilled vegetables drew everypony's attention. Onions, parsnips, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms all tempted the senses.
Compared to the rations and basic fare everypony had been eating recently, it was a feast fit for the Princesses. Pinkie rushed over with a leaning tower of still steaming bread stacked on her back and jars of condiments circulated.
"Where did all this come from?"
"The food?"
"Yes."
"Emerald's Mummy sent it over."
"Emerald's mother?"
"Yes."
She's only a little foal. She's not trying to be annoying. Starlight put on her most patient smile. "And who is her mother?"
"Queen Chrysalis."
"What!?" Starlight's shout silenced the crowds below. Every eye in the entire town was now locked on her.
She looked out over the crowd, their faces shifting from mere confusion to worry.
With a sheepish smile and a casual wave of her hoof, she calmed them. They could clearly see Little Star was in two places at once, and so her surprise made perfect sense. She was a Crusader, after all. As the ponies below calmed down, Starlight's smile became more genuine.
She pitched her voice low, so nopony else could hear. "The Changeling Queen gave you that food?"
Little Star gave a long blink. Her ears perked, dropped and perked again. She gave a small, sharp nod. "Mummy Twilight arranged a peace treaty with the bad changelings… so they're not bad now… I think."
"So, not bad?" It was so very hard to keep her voice level.
Little Star smiled happily and nodded.
A part of Starlight wanted to get exasperated with Little Star, but she just could not do it. Despite her mind screaming at her how much of a bad idea this was, her body just could not work up a good panic or even a modicum of worry. Chrysalis had provided food to the town, and apparently, both Twilight and Luna were alright with it?
Had both Princesses been replaced by changelings? Was the party last night just what being fed from by an unreformed changeling was like? Well, there was one way to get to the bottom of this.
"Do you know where your mother, Twilight is?"
"Yep." A flicker of magic danced along Little Star's horn, and a scrying window popped into existence.
A wave of molten rock erupted from the ground. Everything was smouldering rock, flames and angry glowing magma. Spike grabbed a clawful and threw it. A white pony with mane of wild fire pranced aside, returning fire.
Starlight's first urge was to do something. She had not quite decided what that something should be before both Spike and a Daybraker version of Twilight's expressions registered. They're smiling?
"Are they having a lava ball fight?"
"Yep, unfortunately, I'm not fireproof enough to play…" Little Star's hoof scraped the floor for a moment before she very deliberately stopped the action and stood a little taller. "And it's only right he gets time with Mummy Twilight, too."
The pyrotechnic battle continued as Spike added a few blasts of his breath. Twilight closed in, and in more of a Rainbow move than one of her own, tackled the dragon and started nuzzling and tickling him.
She's acting like a foal. Starlight thought as she watched the two restart their play battle. Twilight moved wrong. Not wrong like Discord, not wrong as if she was a different pony. Twilight had never been the best flyer, but she had at least mastered her wings. Whoever that was almost ignored them, letting them flair by reflex or just be dragged around by their own momentum.
As the pony and dragon played like foals, magenta swirls of magic brought order to the destruction. The cooling molten rock was formed into a quite nice-looking road.
That was clearly Twilight's magic… but by how it was acting, it was an enchantment. Everything happening was following its script and not shaped by a pony's will directly.
Well, at least she's not trying to kill anything this time..
Shaking her head, Starlight turned her attention back to Little Star. "Do you know if the food is safe?"
Little Star nodded, and another scroll popped into existence. She glanced over it and then offered it up.
The list of spells was extensive. Some she did not recognise the names of, but by context and from the ones she did know, they were all detection and purification spells. Thirty-two of them. Starlight whistled. "Well, that would do it."
Little Star nodded. "And it all came in sealed preservation boxes."
Those things were expensive and not something most ponies could make. "Can I see one?"
Another pop of magic and a crate half her size popped into existence. It had a nice painted finish and some symbols on it.
There was also a shipping tag still attached. "Thirty-six restaurant row, Manehatten."
Manehatten, the place all this started, the place Twilight had been abducted and… Starlight stomped on that chain of thought. Today was a good day, and the last thing she wanted was to relive the sounds of Twilight's screams.
Her eyes found the still open scrying window again. She found the white mare racing around like a foal without a care in the world. A hurled clawful of magma shot past a prancing Twilight. It exploded into shards of flames. Twilight's face had nothing but innocent joy on it as she stuck her tongue out at Spike. Even with everything going on, that brought a smile to her face. How can she still be like that?
"Can you keep an eye on things here?" Starlight asked.
Little Star nodded. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Just need a quick word with Twilight."
Little Star's horn lit, and before Starlight could even open her mouth, she was blinking away the magenta flash. Starlight sighed. When are you going to learn to ask first?
A surge of heat flashed by, sending prickles across her flesh in the moments before her horn wrapped a shield around her.
Twilight reared up and slammed her hooves into the ground, and a wave of magma rippled out.
Starlight's eyes widened, and she teleported straight up, her aura catching herself and holding her in the air. Even from that height, the heat was still intense. If this had been a duel, she had half a dozen spells he could have used to bring combat spells to a foal's game… even one as dangerous as this somehow seemed wrong. So, instead, she did something else.
"Twilight!"
The shouted name stilled the conflict below. Spike's reaction was normal, he looked up and waved. Twilight's reaction was anything but.
The white and flaming mare canted her head to the side as she looked up at Starlight, not a single hint of recognition in her eyes. She gave a pair of long blinks and titled her head the other way. "Starlight?"
Twilight's left ear pivoted as if focing on somepony beside her. She pawed the ground with a hoof and then pouted before she sighed. Another long blink, and her stance changed. The playfulness and carefreeness fell away, and the eyes that looked up at her were now the Twilight she knew. "Sorry, Spike, we will have to pick this up later."
Spike waved away the issue with a claw. "Nah, I can take a rest… but we have to do this again."
Twilight gave Spike a warm, motherly smile. "Well, we do have the rest of the road to construct."
"You go and talk to Starlight. I got this." With a cocky smile, he turned and started breathing fire, the ground liquefying and Twilight's enchantment setting to work, forming the now malleable material into the road.
Twilight bunched her legs and leapt into the air, only opening her wings to start to hover once she neared Starlight. The white of her coat darkened back its normal hue as the colours of her mane faded into existence from the receding fire.
"I trust you slept well?" Twilight's voice was warm and friendly, but her eyes held a keen interest.
"Yes… maybe a bit too well."
Twilight held up her hoof. "I know what worries you, and relax. Nothing bad happened, and it did have a purpose."
Starlight narrowed her eyes but kept a friendly smile on her face. "Care to share?"
"With you, yes. You are too powerful, too intelligent, and too suspicious of me to do anything less." Twilight shrugged. "And I know if I did not tell you, you would just find a way to find out or use your temporal viewing spell just to check."
Starlight nodded. "You're not wrong. You know we have been worrying about you, now last night and you acting like a foal… Twilight, you have to talk to us."
"Last night was two things. It was a celebration of life, victory and friendship."
"Perhaps a little more than friendship…"
Twilight smiled, "The magic used let ponies find what they need, a shoulder to cry on, a way to vent and disperse negative emotions or a pony to hold and be held by. It's an old magic, one of Luna's rituals that used to be a yearly event."
"Why don't I remember anything?"
"That's part of the magic. All the souls of those involved come together in peace, harmony and love. Total honesty and generosity. For every desire, a pony is found who is willing to meet it. For every doubt, there is somepony to provide certainty. For every fear, there is a pony to bring hope."
"That still doesn't explain why I don't remember."
"Well, if you did not interrupt so much, you would already know." Twilight sighed. "Sorry. That level of honesty and openness is too much for everyday life, so unless it is something every pony decides should be remembered, it is forgotten."
"Then what good does any of it do?"
"How did you feel when you woke up?"
She could still feel the echo of that delightful feeling, the smooth, well-oiled motions of her muscles, and even the clarity of the tone her magic made as she continued to levitate herself. "Well…"
"Exactly, your soul knows, your magic knows. After everything my ponies have been through, everything they suffered, the battles… the deaths they have seen… they needed this." Twilight looked away. "I needed this."
"So if all that is true... What is the other reason?"
Twilight half looked back, but her now hard eyes locked on Starlight's. "The ritual requires a willingness to trust, for all involved to have no real ill will for anypony else involved or at least no ill will they are not willing to give up."
"You're worried about spies? Or cultists?"
Twilight solemnly nodded. "Yes, we captured Moonlit Scroll."
Starlight's guts tightened, and the ghost of a scream she could never unhear resonated in her ear. "The one that…"
"Yes, and he wiped a lot of his recent memories, and given he was pretending to be Noble Guide..."
"The one that built…"
"Yes, and given his ability with dark magic and his like of replacing ponies' minds with ones of his design."
"You did this to make sure there were none here?"
Twilight nodded.
"So… why does everypony look so good?"
"My guess, one of Rarity's desires, and it seems nopony disagreed with it."
"And how … healthy I feel?"
"Part of the rite, the ritual, or as Luna calls it the Moonlight Revel, is sharing magic with an Alicorn… Or in this case, two. This means that it causes a host of minor health benefits as well as a reasonable amount of healing. If it were not for the stress it puts on ley lines, it would be recommended weekly. But for most ponies, it will take a few months before it is safe to do it again. Only our chosen can safely benefit from it more often."
"So, how did you catch him?"
"Chrysalis."
"She helped? Why would she?"
"Think about it. Ponies are food to a changeling, but when done with care, it's no more harmful than milking a cow. Add to that the fact they need us to be alive. Threats like the Blight and things that can kill or corrupt ponies are just as detrimental to them as it is to us."
"You actually trust her?"
"Yes, as I said to her, I have faced real evil, and she is not like that. She wishes for power, yes, but she also wishes to protect and care for her children."
"So that makes everything else she has done alright?"
"There are those who can be forgiven and those who can not."
"And after attacking Canterlot… what she did to your brother and Cadance after she foal napped everypony?"
"Yes. You almost ended the world, and we still gave you another chance."
Starlight lifted a hoof as if to make a point but then slowly put it down. Looking back, it was easy to see how petty, how selfish, she had been. Each and every safety the pair of them had added to all their time spells just reinforced the point. She rubbed her forehoof against her leg.
That last time they had faced Chrysalis, that moment when the changeling Queen had almost taken her hoof. Things could have been so different. Her mind drifted to another moment, to a lavender Alicorn pleading with her, to Starswirl's modified spell, to how she had almost torn it in half.
"And now you see?" Twilight's voice was not mocking. It held no judgment. Instead, it was warm, comforting. The tender touch of a lavender hoof just added to the sincerity of Twilight's supportive smile.
Twilight's eyes found hers and held them. "Do you trust me?"
Starlight just could not look away, the pools of magenta and the infinite care within them. Yet despite that, there was still the issue of Twilight's aberrant behaviour. "I want to, I used to, but recently…"
Twilight nodded. "I understand. Would some answers help?"
It was Starlight's turn to nod. "It would be a start."
"Then shall we land and find somewhere more comfortable?"
"Yeah, this is probably not the sort of conversation to have just hovering in the open."
Twilight's horn lit, and another teleportation enveloped Starlight. The magic was smoother, kinder to the passenger, but slower than Little Star's had been.
In the blink of an eye, they were on the ground, and out of thin air, Twilight pulled picnic supplies. Fruit juice, wine, and cider joined an assortment of sandwiches and cookies.
In a very un-regal way, Twilight flopped down and splayed out like she did not have a care in the world. Her magic claimed a glass of wine, and her hoof grabbed a trio of sandwiches. With a wave of a wing, she bid Starlight to help herself.
She took a fruit juice and a single sandwich as she gathered her thoughts. The bread and flowers within smelled fresh, but it was no match to how those grilled vegetables had smelled back in Ponyville. Though the juice was sweet and refreshing. In the distance, flashes of green flames announced that Spike was still hard at work.
"Is Spike going to be alright on his own?"
"He will. He's stronger than anypony gives him credit for."
Starlight raised her eyebrow.
Twilight flicked her head upwards. "And I have Candice, Rainbow and Gilda on patrol."
Starlight followed the motion. There, in the distance, was a trio of dots. They could be ponies, or they could be anything. She focused her attention back on Twilight. "You were going to give me some answers?"
"Yes." Twilight nodded. "You want to know why I was playing with Spike?"
"It would be a start."
She tapped the side of her head with a hoof. "Simply put, I'm not alone in here."
"What?" Starlight's heart skipped a beat as two names immediately came to mind. Nightmare Moon. Daybreaker…
"I told you the story of how Celestia made me?"
Starlight nodded, still wondering what a corrupted Twilight would be called.
"Some pieces of who the original Twilight was, survived."
"You have multiple personalities?"
"No…" Twilight shook her head. "I have a poor innocent filly that grew up to be a mare, trapped in a cage, alone with the remains of her sisters for over a decade."
Starlight only noticed she had dropped the glass when a magenta glow caught it. Both the drink and the sandwich were carefully put down on a plate.
"What you saw here was me letting her out to play… She still wants to hide under Shining Armor and play with Smarty Pants." Twilight rubbed her hoof against her shoulder. "I could not just leave her locked up."
"So this is where your fiery temper comes from?"
"Yes."
"And the part of you that wanted to fight in the Everfree?"
"As I said then, I'm not just a unicorn, I like fighting… I like using my magic to defeat my foes, to protect."
"The Twilight I know…"
"You remember my battle with Tirek? The new landmarks… the destroyed mountains?"
"Yes."
"That is the sort of things an Alicorn is meant to do, deal with threats."
Starlight shook her head. "We are getting off-topic here."
Twilight tilted her head slightly and made a go-on gesture.
"You want to give Chrysalis a second chance… as much as it feels wrong, you're right. It's the right thing to do." Starlight held up a hoof as Twilight started to smile. "Just because she gets a second chance does not mean she can be trusted."
"That's fair, but try not to be too paranoid. This is in her best interest, and she knows it."
"She is not the most sane."
"Starvation is not known for promoting rational thought."
"Did something change?"
"Yes…" Twilight's cheeks flushed red, then slowly started to settle.
"Twilight…"
"I had a date with Luna on the Moon." The words were said as a matter of fact, as if spending time on one of the celestial bodies was utterly mundane.
"A date… on the Moon?" Then it clicked. The night with the unnaturally bright moonlight. Just the concept of it was mind-blowing.
The last of the blush faded completely and turned to a fond look. Twilight nodded. "It was quite the experience, even if it had unexpected consequences."
Unexpected consequences, especially with anyone from Ponyville, tended to range from silly to world-ending. Her mind tried to decide which, if any, of the disaster response plans were going to be needed. "Anything we need to worry about?"
"It solved the changeling's hunger problem for a few years…"
"That would explain why they were willing to talk." Starlight's voice was a little flat, her response automatic as her mind dusted off its math skills. The estimated number of rouge changelings out there, the amount of love they needed per day. The implied numbers were crazy. With the right spells, emotional energy could be converted to magical energy. Just how powerful is Princess Luna?
Twilight nodded. "I made her a landed noble."
"You do know there are going to be a lot of ponies unhappy with that."
"I do, but this takes a lot of the economic burden from the fallout of the Blight off the crown."
"You're using them?"
"Only in ways they know and accept."
Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"They have safe access to all the abandoned resources in and around Manehatten. They have troops that get stronger from the adoration of those they save and that each and every one of them can trivially track down the Blighted." Twilight raised a hoof. "Why would I not want them working for the good of everypony?"
"But, they think ponies are just food."
"Yes, that's true, but they are learning we are better food when looked after. More nourishing when they earn our emotions and not steal them."
"So… this is part of the plan to reform them?"
"Rehabilitate. They were never evil in the first place." Twilight tilted her head and then shrugged her wings. "But the changelings are just a distraction from what we really need to be talking about."
"They are?"
"Yes, the Moonlight Revel is impractical for the larger settlements or ones that need to have ponies that hate each other in them. It would never work with Manehattan or Vanhoover. So it means I am going to be travelling again soon."
"But, you only just got back."
Twilight sighed. "Of that, we are well aware, but royal duty should not be put off."
"What do you need me to do?"
A scroll popped into existence, and a magenta aura unfurled it to reveal a map. A quill started marking it. "This is the land I want you to secure."
"I'm not…"
"You are a capable mare and one with the power and intellect such that I can leave this in your hooves."
"Why not your friends?"
"Each of them are wonderful, each with their own talents, but of the Element Bearers, I'm the one with the long-term planning and logistics knowledge. They will be powerful individuals to aid you, and I do expect you to consult them and listen to their advice."
Starlight nodded and studied the map. It indicated the new road Twilight and Spike's lava fight were building, non-existent train lines, a pair of forts and a whole new settlement. "That is going to be a lot of work…"
"It is, but it is necessary. The stores from Manehatten will only last so long."
"So that's to be a farming village?"
"At least in part." Twilight pulled more scrolls into existence. The first said ten years, the next fifty, and the last two hundred. Each showed more and more development in the area with even more fortifications. "It's the start of enriching and protecting our lands."
"You think this is necessary?"
Twilight nodded, her face becoming grave. "Too much of the world blames us for the Blight… Too much of it will see the aftermath as the perfect opportunity to try and push Equestria. I doubt that what I did on my trip is going to have them happy either."
"Do I have to ask the question?"
"I accidentally conquered part of the Griffon lands."
"...accidently?"
"I was challenged, and the choice was to win or decline it."
"So you won part of the nation because of a duel?"
Twilight nodded.
"So the rest of the world…"
Twilight nodded again. "Will think that the Blight was in part to aid with things like this."
Any creature that was not as pure in heart as a normal pony would see this as an opportunity. A chance to demand concessions and reparations. Reparations that, thanks to the recent troubles, Equestria could not pay.
"Ponyfeathers."
"Oh, don't feel too bad," Twilight unfurled a scroll and offered it to Starlight.
"Why?"
"It means I have another castle and have another protected location. It's a perfect place to set up some transfer mirrors."
"You want to make a portal?"
"Want to help?"
It did sound interesting. "Sure." And the side conversations will be the perfect time to check if you're still alright…
Much to Starlight's surprise, they did not return by teleportation. Instead, Twilight insisted on using her wings. The flight back to Ponyville gave a good chance to see more of how the land had changed. Flame and spell craters were everywhere, some small, some large, and most of the larger ones were hers. Craters flanked the path of the new road, each a signpost of the lethal range of The Crusader's artillery.
Even now, crewed by the militia, it did not change who invented and then created these weapons. None of them even had a violent mark. Then there was the hydra battle they were now famous for. If it was not for the fact Little Star liked to proudly show off the creature's head, it would have been easier to simply chalk it all up to an overactive imagination.
Twilight did a lazy roll and, with a dip of a wing, slipped closer. Warm but worried, magenta eyes found Starlight's own. "Bit for your thoughts?"
"Have we become too accustomed to violence?"
With a slow shake of her head, Twilight glanced out to Ponyville. "Regrettably, it was that we were too blinded by peace."
"You really mean that?"
"Yes, I do." Twilight's eyes were firm but fortunately held a hint of sadness and not the battle lust they sometimes did. With a flash of magenta, a scroll appeared. "Just look at the difference in the numbers."
In neat clipped quill work, there was a list of place names and numbers.
"Confirmed dead, confirmed Blightend, number of missing, and the last is the efficiency of the local defences."
Starlight scanned the numbers. It was not hard to see that Ponyville was leagues above everywhere else in efficiency, and it was far too easy to imagine the accumulated tragedies all the other numbers represented.
Twilight continued in a muted version of her lecturing tone. "Nopony was ready. Too many ponies who should have been trained to deal with things like this panicked or waited for orders instead of acting." Twilight sighed. "Celestia's enforced peace left too many of our protections as mere paper imitations of what they needed to be."
"The faire you held, it…"
"It showed that the two forces that followed the old ways were still capable." Twilight held up her hoof. "I am not saying the Royal Guard is not brave or lacks individual skills. But their equipment is lacking, and they repeatedly make mistakes a more experienced force would not. Over a third of their losses were avoidable." Twilight shook her head, resigned. "Tactical incompetence fed too many powerful ponies to the Blight. Their souls lost and an asset replaced with a potent and cunning monster to lead the Blighted."
"What were they meant to do?"
"Explosive spells linked to a few monitoring spells would have been a start."
It took a few moments to register the intended implications. "You mean…"
"As much as you may not believe, the afterlife is very real, and only a few things can bar a pony from it. Having one's soul corrupted into a monster is arguably worse than merely having it sacrificed and spent for power."
With that assumption, it made the idea of blowing yourself up seem responsible. What am I thinking?
"If the Blight has started changing a pony… the kindest thing to do is to kill them immediately."
Starlight had thrown her share of spells at ponies. She had battled Twilight and would be lying if she said some of her spells were less than lethal. Yet the idea of deliberately killing ponies, and not evil ponies, in a battle. No, deliberately slaying allies… even friends, to save them.
Twilight's eyes softened. "Now you see one of the burdens of being a Princess. Luna remembers a time when she had to… purge a few villages because they had an incurable plague."
Starlight gulped. "Is that why ponies feared her?"
"One of the reasons, yes."
"Lack of being prepared for things like the Blight. I think most ponies are glad to live now rather than then."
Twilight focused on the distant Canterlot, her expression becoming unreadable. Starlight followed her gaze. It would not be a stretch for enhanced pegasus eyes to be looking straight at Princess Celestia, even from this distance.
"Celestia can see anything under the sun she wishes. She can and does use mental magic daily to get her way. Up until my capture, Equestria was exactly as she wished it to be."
"What about…" Again, Twilight cut her off.
"Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Tirek?" Twilight smiled sardonically. "Each and every one was a test for me, each and every one, a foe that she could have disintegrated with little more than a thought."
Starlight looked between Twilight and Canterlot a few times.
"I know you have felt my power. Felt what my magic can do."
That time in the forest, in the castle of the Two Sisters, with the Alicorn's magic flowing around her, fueling Starlight's time-viewing spell. The sheer amount of power was so great that it was like Twilight was a goddess…
"Celestia has been building, gathering and stockpiling her power for hundreds of years, using as little as possible in her daily life all so that she is the unrivalled and unconquerable sun."
"You did not mention me."
"Correct."
"And?"
"Your actions were not planned for… at least, not by Celestia."
With that lovely and totally not ominous statement still hanging in the air, they descended into Ponyville. Twilight rapidly got caught up in the crowds and ambushed by a teleporting Little Star.
Then by who? Starlight thought as somehow a cupcake appeared in her mouth. Hmm, sweet orchid.
Editor's Note
Just a little humorous meme I thought fit a certain scene.
Art by NowISee
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I don’t think I can buy that she could’ve one shot discord. I’m not saying she couldn’t have one. I’m saying she would have to put in an effort to win.
@
Nightsclaw
Iiit haas begun!
flare not flair please.
he or she?
fo cussing! *snickers*
but otherwise a nice chapter.
hope everything stays well between starlight and trixie . .
11691378
Possible could mean burn and melt him as a statue perhaps.
When they said it wasn't hard to believe she was looking directly at Celestia from afar I picture Chief Bogo from zootopia and the way he always has you in his line of sight ha ha ha ha .
11691378
She could have just decided to disintegrate his solo and leave his corpse as a lifeless statue.
11691539
11691553
I’m not doubting that she could’ve easily killed him while he was a statue, because it’s easy to kill anything that can’t move or fight back.
I just find it a bit hard to believe that if twilight had failed in re-statue-fiying him, she would not have some trouble dealing with him.
11691568
Who said that someone as powerful as Princess Celestia needs the elements of Harmony to turn someone to stone and shatter them, she is an Alicorn after all the literal embodiment of harmony, a simple petrification spell on Discord that she herself broke to release him is well within her power set I think. In fact if you've been keeping up with this story you'll know that it has proven Alicorn power can do pretty much anything if it's strong enough so I think it's safe to say that it's not a matter if she couldn't it's more of she shouldn't if you catch my drift 😔.
11691580
the petrification idea kind of goes into the bowling mess that is “what does the elements of harmony really do?”
But you’re probably right when it comes to the alacorn Powers being able to do anything, I don’t have the best memory and I don’t reread things often. My bad.
Twilight Giving Starlight an aneurism.
11691622
What is that supposed to mean?
the more I hear the more I slide Celestia into the evil section.
Don't think I didn't catch Grey up to her editorial shenanigans on Little Star's notes
But, for that matter, I do very much love these alternate POV chapters where the realities of being an alicorn are so stark.
So, Twilight lays out more selective truths for Starlight. Will she ever tell her about Night? Seems like it will never happen at this rate.
How much longer left on the clock? Discord hasn't returned... so an Ascension is still in play. How long until we lose Fluttershy and get a restored and alicorn Moonlit Scroll?
11691637
Starlight is smart, but not insanely so, and twilight is dropping info on her that she isn't completely ready to process, hence an Aneurism, or knowledge induced headache.
Aahh so Twilight is giving Starlight some halftruths here to keep her satisfied!
Yeah there is no way that is going to backfire!
Personally I don‘t think Celestia could beat Discord in a fight…maybe if Discord DOESNT do ANYTHING , Celly could maybe do something to him, But if Discord could fight back, all he has to do is make Celestia spend all of her Magic!
We know she has slower magic regeneration because of her Magic hoarding sooo…
Hrm .. I wonder if it was Harmony that foretold the coming of Starlight (as some type of balance mechanism, maybe)?
Starlight nodded still wondering what a corrupted Twilight would be called. Twilight Shadow maybe
"Queen Chrysalis, we would be honored if you would join us" in the Darth Vader voice.
11692042
Dear old Celly is crafty and cunning if she has decided to kill Discord you better believe she will, by setting daybreaker lose in him and reducing him to molten slag, plus Alicorn magic can do just about anything, just saying.
You know I'm a little bit curious, Night Claw with so many characters in this story I'm a bit surprised you haven't found a way to incorporate Lemon Hearts, Twinkle Shine, Moondancer and Minuette or the students six somehow I hope that they're not you know dead, I do remember Starlight mentioned the school of friendship some time ago so what happened to it or Twilight's other students?
Am I forgetting something? How exactly did Nova get out? I don't remember Twilight breaking or getting around those seals. And what about Grey?
11694905
Not every character that exists in MLP has to appear in this Story, just saying!
And I‘m pretty sure the School of Friendship doesnt exist yet !
11696275
Yeah the school does exist, read chapter 30 welcome to pony ville if you don't believe me.
11696463
Ok now THAT confuses me… I was ALWAYS under the impression that this Story was set before the Finale of season 7
Now I‘m really confused because I think the school never got mentioned outside of that?
I finally figured out how Twi would solve the problem.
We know they can portal things into and out of their basten and there are no fixed limits in how big or for how long. A few experiments would soon show Twi that: Upon condition - life created in Luna's baston - emit sun laser with logarithmic power curve until life no longer detected.
"Celestia was overconfident and sloppy" Twilight spat. "She was so supremely confident in her own limitless power that there are no safeties on the spell. No 'over time limit', no 'exceeds power limit threshold' not even a 'too many targets' warning."
Luna raised her eyebrow for Twi to continue.
"So I turned it into a radiator."
The eyebrow went higher.
"Simply put, that section of your bastion is now a room about 10 km by 10 km and 250 m high with that cursed construct of Celestia's in the middle. The room has no doors or windows, just long mirrored walls. Instead of a floor or ceiling there are two portals that open about a mile under the surface of the ocean. I wrote a spell that simulates a life creation at regular intervals along the walls and the construct blasts a killing beam of sunlight through 5 km of the deep sea to kill it. This happens constantly all along the walls meaning the room is always lit up like a disco from Tartarus. That makes 25 billion cubic meters of water at 1000 liters per cubic meters and 2257 KJ per L to boil said water. That's 56 Quadrillion kJ or a 5 with 16 zeros after it." (For us readers that's 245 times more energy than the yield on the largest nuclear weapon ever tested, Russia's Tsar bomb at 55 mega tons)
Now both of Luna's eyebrows were climbing.
"Now experimentation has shown that once the convection currents start flowing, the boiled water is replaced by rising cold water at about 10 meters per second so roughly every 30 seconds or so the process repeats again and saps another 56 Quadrillion kJ of energy from Celestia."
"That is insane... " Luna muttered. "How long have you been running it?"
"Long enough that I accidentally melted the northern polar ice cap and kinda... formed a category 6 tropical hurricane at the North Pole... What, I got distracted!
"...Even Celestia couldn't miss that."
"Except that its winter there at the moment and no sun reaches the poles. She can see everything the sun touches, remember? So I'm letting the hurricane wind down and I've been moving the portals around the oceans every few minutes since then. I don't know how long this will take, but at this rate it can't be much longer before she runs dry."
"And then?"
"Then all of us can safely get together for a family chat..."
11699675
This is why I love this comment section, sometimes you get very interesting discussions about the Story and its Characters, sometimes you get very funny stuff , and sometimes you get People doing crazy Calculations about crazy Stuff!
11699867
🤣🤣🤣 Ah yes. We Love the Crazies. They come up with some rather Fantastic Ideas.
11692276
Nah it would be Midnight Star or something. Or just plain Midnight. Or a play on her thinking she is a Queen. Midnight Tsar.
11708697
We already have a Name for Twilight, its Midnight Sparkle but I don‘t even know if Twilight WOULD rename herself in this Story because I feel like that wouldn‘t make any sense with how Fragments and all that Work.
11708716
I am taking that into account and besides that's EQG Nightmares Twilight. Or rather Sci Twi as a Nightmare/Demon.
11696105
Nova actually broke out once and has been proven to have the power to do so on her own if she tries her damn hardest Twilight just used that weakness in the seals now that she knows it exists to allow Nova to borrow her senses