Chains Of Gold

by Dawn Leaper

The Toll Of Greatness

Sometimes, Twilight felt the loneliness creep back in, uninvited, through the cracks in her heart.

She liked to go up to the palace's highest tower, the one where she raised the sun and the moon.

Like right now, for instance.

Twilight gazed across the kingdom of Equestria. Her kingdom. She watched as the sun melted across the horizon, kissing the land goodnight with it's fiery touch. She had never been able to set it as well as Celestia had, but had done it so many times now it felt like second nature.

She outstretched her wings and caught the last of the sun's warmth as it disappeared, her violet aura glowing and gyrating around her long horn.

One hundred years since her friends' passings, Equestria had changed a lot. Wars had been fought, and won, technology had been invented. The use of magic, academic type specifically, had decreased significantly within the past seven decades. Unicorns barely knew how to perform the simplest telekinesis spell, let alone a summoning or transfiguration charm.

Equestria hadn't seen Elemental magic for over a hundred years.

And don't get her wrong- Equestria was a beautiful place, harmony still ruled over dissidence and discord, laughter and loyalty and kindness and honesty and generosity were still found flourishing the heart of homes.

Magic was less so, of course, but present even so in the School For Gifted Unicorns, founded by the one and only Celestia, or the Royal Academy Of Advanced Sorcery, founded by Twilight herself.

But... Twilight missed her friends. Like missing a leg, or wing, it was a phantom limb effect. Sometimes she would wake up and automatically start getting ready for their Saturday morning get togethers at Sugarcube Corner- bless the little bakery, it had been run by Cakes for generations- and then remember she couldn't.

Or she would stumble across something interesting in a textbook, and turn to one of her friends to remark it, and the remember remember couldn't hear her and they never would again.

Soarin had passed just years after his wife, and Twilight hoped that they were together somewhere, in a better place. She had seen their children go as well, and their children's children.

She had seen her own children die, her grandchildren, and dear Celestia... that hurt more than anything. No mother should have to bury a child, no matter how old. Memories of them, all of them, her family, the closest ponies to her heart, were both painful reminders and priceless jewels she treasured at all costs.

Twilight had one of the most intelligent minds in the kingdom. She was reknown for her faultless intellect, well-practised scientific methods, designing ingenuity, philosophical comprehension, leadership, consistency, ability to deliver... one would think it would bear an immense amount of pressure on a singular pair of shoulders.

But she was an alicorn, she had been blessed with not only physical prowess but mental as well. And even before her Ascension, she dealt with life in an organised and well-practised way.

She had explored every possibility. Every consequence, physical and meta-physical. It was selfish, she knew it was. Moral ethics, the laws of the Universe, the nature of existence... they all screamed against her. She couldn't give those she loved immortality, as much as she yearned to.

And it broke her heart.

She had seen generation after generation of her friends' families live and die, and eventually the pain had become too much, and as much as she wanted to flee, to lock herself in her castle with only her longest friend as comfort, she had a country to run.

So everyday, she dragged herself out of bed, put on a beguiling smile, and covered up the massive holes her friends had left in her heart.

Spike was a reassuring constant in her life. Dragons could live up to seven hundred years old, and although the little dragon was now taller than her, and nearing his prime, Twilight sought comfort in the fact that she at least had another half-millenia in his company.

Because once he was gone, for the first time in her life, the Princess of Friendship would be really, truly alone.

And yet, despite all this, up here, on this tower, looking down at her beautiful country, the scale and vastness and glory of the sky, the contours and swell of the land below, the tiny lights that were slowly flickering on like fireflies across the city, she felt a bittersweet emotion.

Pride.

This tower was her special place, her pocket of calm with the eye of a swirling economical storm, where she could forget about trade, and politics, and legislations she had to sign, important figures she had to see.

It had a white marble balcony on which she tended a few magical herbs, and the comfortable array of mismatched cushions she had brought such a long time ago from her library in Ponyville.

That seemed like a lifetime ago she ran the Golden Oak library.

Probably because it was.

But her tower nook was a nice dose of nostalgia. It was where she could read, and study, and breathe, and think. It was so quiet up here, she could hear the echoes of thoughts in her head.

She had come here a lot to grieve.

There were five statues there, their bottoms swirled with with crawling ivy and vines of sweet honeysuckle. Created by no sculpture, but by an advanced spell, which had allowed Twilight to create forms of granite and marble in likeness of her mind's eye.

Of course, they had stained glass windows and various other statues and museums and memoriums on the Elements of Harmony, but they had never quite captured her friends how Twilight had pictured them.

Pinkie Pie had been always been too serene, Applejack too delicate. Rainbow Dash too soft and Rarity nearly always too reserved, too cold. And Fluttershy... not, well, shy enough.

So Twilight crafted clear white statues, on rounded pedestals, her friends how they appeared in her memories. Ageless statues, immune to wear, preserved by the power of the oldest magic in time, the sorcery of the divine. And on their chests, they bore their Elemental necklaces, their emblems.

Pinkie Pie, practically glowing in the golden light with unequivocal joy, her radiance captured in the ear-to-ear beam, laugh-lines and frivolous curls.

Applejack, with a serious expression and twinkle in her eye, sturdy, muscular, dependable, signature stetson tilted charmingly over her eyes, slightly larger in stature than the rest.

Rainbow Dash, rough and windswept, caught mid-take off, always in motion. Her large, slender wings were keen and impressive, like whetted blades, and her striking eyes gleamed with exhilaration.

Rarity, with limitless opulence, marble ringlets tossed carefully over a shoulder, hooves laid on a plush fabric, asking no compensation, for she knew her friends' smiles would be her reward.

And lastly, Fluttershy, sweet and gentle, mane and lashes long, her hoof outstretched with songbirds chirping on her wing, eyelids half-lowered shyly, as her charity knew no limit.

"Princess?" A small voice sounded behind her.

Twilight turned to see a small, pink unicorn with a tawny waved mane and big brown eyes staring up at her.

"Oh, Luster Dawn!" Twilight smiled, stepping her hooves and folding her wings together neatly. In the long days of solemnity, her little student was a welcome beacon of light into a boring monochromatic schedule. "How did you get here? Did Spike point you up?"

"I used a tracking rune," Luster Dawn smiled, eyes lighting up as she talked enthusiastically about the method, "I found it in one of Starburst's old memoirs, it's really quite interesting, taking the magical traces of a pony's being and using the mainstream magic flow to offer a tangible trail!"

"Well, that is very interesting," Twilight chuckled, although she already knew exactly how a tracking rune worked. It was really quite impressive how much the little filly knew already about advanced magical studies, especially those of such intricacy as the complex notation of runology.

That's why Twilight had picked the unicorn to be her apprentice. Not only was she top of her class at the RAoAS, she had been touched by the young unicorn's letters to her. Luster Dawn reminded Twilight of herself at that age.

"Was there something you wanted, dear one? Is everything still going alright at home?" Twilight asked, sitting down on the cushions and patting rhe space next to her. The filly took it, sighing as her face fell.

"Well, mom and dad are fighting again. I, um... I left while while were in the middle of an argument."

"Oh, Luster." Twilight lowered a wing over her student's back comortingly. "I'm sorry to hear that. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine..." the unicorn scrunched up her face. "I just don't really want to talk about it."

"Of course," Twilight nodded understandingly. "Truth be told," she added, leaning in, "I haven't had the best day myself."

Luster Dawn raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? But you're a Princess!"

Twilight chuckled. "I may be a Princess, Luster, but I am hardly immune to the bores that come with listening to the Minister of Exportation Finance manage to talk about the success of international banana trade stock markets for three hours straight."

Luster Dawn giggled. "That does sound quite distressing."

"Well, perhaps a some nice tea will banish our woes, hmmm?"

"Alright," Luster agreed.

Using a summoning spell, Twilight conjured up a silver tea tray from the kitchen, complete with two tea cups, a small jug of milk and a steaming pot of Earl Grey.

The alicorn used her telekinesis to pour the small unicorn a cup, before taking one herself and sighing into the relaxing bitterness of the hot beverage.

"Princess," the soft question came from Twilight's left. "Do they still love me?"

Twilight's cheeks puffed up as she nearly spat out her tea. "My goodness, Luster," she gasped, gazing at her student's who's eyes were wide, with a glimmer of doubt, "of course they love you! And don't you dare think otherwise!"

Luster Dawn sighed. "Yeah, I know. Sometimes it feels like I'm invisible, though."

Twilight made a mental note to have a gentle talk with Mayflower and Thistle Berry, Luster's parents. "Hey," Twilight smiled softly, curling her small student underneath her wing, "you are anything but invisible. Unless, of course," she added as an afterthought, "we are practising illusion spells."

Luster Dawn giggled. "Thank you, Princess."

"You are most welcome, my little student. Now, will you tell me about your latest academic indagation?"

Twilight smiled as the little unicorn's face brightened up, eyes shining in a credit to her name, as Luster started chattering excitedly. Her student's fervour, thirst, eagerness and dedication to her studies was both commendable and familiar.

"Oh, okay," Luster sank into a familiar and comfortable state of conversation, "what to tell, what to tell... there are so many things... oh! Well, what about the transfiguration analysis I conducted last week? Vertebrate to invertebrate is especially difficult as the spinal cord needs to dissipate into absolute matter..."

Twilight listened intently as her student relaxed into her explanation. They sat there for a good hour and a half, talking about both their favourite thing: their studies.

Twilight often found herself smiling in an uncurbed manner, a manner which was becoming rarer and rarer with each year that passed. Luster brought back elements of her youth and her delight for knowledge, and reminded the alicorn about all the little things he life that were worth living for. Twilight looked forward immensely to their meetings.

Was this how Celestia had felt, such a long time ago, when she had rambled on about her own studies, the Sun Princess' most faithful student?

Twilight still remembered Princess Celestia's last letter to her. She had been able to hear her mentor's voice speaking the words aloud. The paper was blemished where tears- both Twilight's and Celestia's- had stained the parchment, some of the Sun Princess' swirling copperplate smudged.

When Luster Dawn had bidden her goodnight, and was accompanied home by the ever-willing Spike, Twilight retreated back into her personal study and immersed herself in studies, old studies, studies that brought back memories both sweet and bitter in character.

Some are born to be great. Flurry Heart, Prism Dart. Their lives were paths already lain out in the field of destiny, and they had only needed to be walked.

Some strive to achieve greatness. Starswirl the Bearded. Clover the Clever. Rarity. Dash, the Wonderbolts. Coloratura, Photo Finish, Sunburst. Every pony who had ever worked hard to reach their goals, stretched the extra mile to touch the stars, who had resilience beyond their years and expectations.

And some, Twilight thought, had greatness thrust upon them, and whom had no choice but to fulfil their destiny. Who felt the weight of the world on their backs, and to know that they were fighting not for fame, not for glory, not for personal validation, but for something much, much bigger than themselves.

She supposed she knew what category she fell in. And sometimes she wonders about what would have happened if she didn't. If she was just a normal pony, with a normal life, destined to play her part in the endless cycle of life, and when her time was up, the curtain would rise and fall and that would be it. The end of Twilight Sparkle.

But she wasn't.

And it hurt.

Author's Note:

Hii everyone, now that AoB is finally done I can focus all my energy onto this story!

I've really been enjoyed playing with the philosophical side of this whole concept of immortality, and i feel like in this chapter we've only just scratched the surface on the range of ideas I want to put forward in this story.

Also, sorry my chapter updates are so irregular, I'll try and retain a bit more consistency over the coming weeks.

Also, I wonder if anyone can spot the little bit of Shakespeare in this chapter...

Comments

[Crystalline Waters]

This is so deep but still sounds like a story and not overly philosophical. It's great really.
:)

[Dawn Leaper]

Thanks! And also thanks for favouriting Angels Of Blue!

Ps- welcome back!