• Published 11th Sep 2012
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Cry for Eternity - asylum1388



After Celestia's death, Twilight must take on a role she is woefully underprepared for.

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Chapter 28

Author's Note:

Glad I managed to get this out before Everfree. Now for the longest week of the year.


GO HERE!

Pre-readers: PiquoPie, and f0xhole.

Forty-seven years since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight sat, hunched over the letter, crying openly. She had lost track of time hours ago, lost in her grief, wailing to the point where she was left coughing and choking on her sobs. She gazed at the offending document again, its text long since rendered smudged and unreadable by her tears.

She did not even notice when a hoof was placed on her shoulder, she was too drained for even that simple feeling to reach her. But when that hoof pulled Twilight she turned to find herself looking at Cadance. The pink alicorn had a blank expression, attempting to hide her own pain- poorly. The pitiful sight of her soaked face was more than enough to break Cadance’s mask, and she let out a wail to match Twilight’s as they broke down into each other’s embrace.


“Everything is ready,” Sunshower murmured as she walked up to Twilight. Her idol was staring out at the castle gardens where dozens of ponies had gathered to bid farewell to Shining Armor.

When she didn’t receive a response, Sunshower pulled Twilight to her hooves and escorted her out of the room, leading her towards the gardens. “The honor guard is in place, Dusk has his speech ready, everypony’s assembled, and the reception is ready to begin as soon as the service is over,” she murmured comfortingly.

“...Thank you,” Twilight croaked. “I’m sorry I couldn’t-”

“Don’t,” Sunshower interrupted with a shake of her head. “With all you’ve been going through, it’s the least I could do. You’re my best friend, I wouldn’t leave you to face this all alone.“

“...Thanks.”

“There is one problem that came up though,” Sunshower muttered. Twilight shot her a menacing glare, and she gulped nervously before continuing. “Emperor Hugleikr arrived ten minutes ago with an entourage.”

“What the hell does he want?” Twilight hissed slowly, causing Sunshower to shrink back.

“He apparently has something very personal he needs to talk to you about. He insisted it be as soon as possible,” Sunshower explained quickly. “He said that he didn’t know that Shining had passed, but now that he’s here he’d like to — and I quote — ‘pay his respects to one of the world’s most honorable soldiers.’”

Twilight looked away, staring down the hallway for a long moment. “Tell him... Tell him he can attend the funeral, but if he interrupts or ruins it in any way I’ll... Just tell him not to disrupt it.”

Sunshower nodded and flew away as Twilight stepped out into the gardens. She took a seat in the front row, ahead of a few dozen other ponies. She found a seat in the front row between Spike and Cadance and took the latter’s hoof into her own, squeezing it tightly. She felt Luna place a hoof on her shoulder from behind and trembled, trying not to cry.

Three minutes later, a lone trumpet began playing a slow dirge as an honor guard entered, followed by six pallbearers carrying the casket on their backs. They marched around the edge of the garden. The congregation passed conspicuously in front of Celestia’s grave before stopping in front of a freshly-dug hole beneath a large crystal headstone. They lowered the casket onto a white cloth laying on the ground.

The garden was silent as Dusk Shine stepped up to the podium and glanced at the crowd.

“My father often said he was blessed,” Dusk announced. “Blessed with the truest of family and friends — loved ones who he often said he would sacrifice anything for. That’s what he said at least, but that offer of sacrifice did not extend to those he loved alone. He defended Equestria with his life every time it needed him. Whenever the call went out, he answered it when he was able.

“But he was not just a stallion of war. As Prince of the Crystal City, he, along with my mother, successfully integrated the Crystal Ponies into Equestrian society after they had been gone for one thousand years... An entire millennium just missing from their history. In bringing them into the modern era he also helped bring a measure of peace and happiness they hadn’t known for a very long time.”

He paused to stare down at the casket. “It is tempting to want to remember him as the hero he was. To remember all his accomplishments. It’s how I’d like to remember him, but not the way, I think, he would want to be remembered.”

“Now, I could stand up here all day and speak of his virtues, but I think it would be better to tell a story.” He glanced back up at the crowd with a solemn stare. “When I was in my early adolescence, I began to realize that I wasn’t going to make it as a soldier. I was bookish, unathletic, and lacked the... grit needed. I thought he would be ashamed of me for not being strong like he was. I figured I’d be a disappointment, letting him down. So I began avoiding him.” Dusk shook his head. “After a few weeks, he finally cornered me and I had no choice but to tell him everything. And do you know what he said? He said he was disappointed in me.”

Dusk hung his head slightly, letting out a sad chuckle as he stared towards the ground. “He said he was disappointed that I would think he even could be ashamed of me. That I reminded him of the sister he loved so much, and that there was nothing wrong with being a scholar. He said that he would be more disappointed in me if I didn’t use the talents I was given and tried to be something I’m not. He encouraged me to help those who needed it, but in my own way. He told me that you didn’t need to be a soldier to defend the weak and helpless. He taught me that words could be a shield stronger than any armor.”

He lifted his head, holding it high as he addressed the crowd again. “That is the kind of pony my father was, and that is the kind of pony we should remember him as.”

He fell silent, hesitating for a few seconds before stepping down from the podium and taking a seat on Cadance’s other side.

The casket rose into the air, born aloft by a rainbow of magic auras, and was lowered into the hole as the assembled soldiers saluted and the mournful tune of Taps rang. The hole was then filled with soil and covered with a layer of sod.

Next, a young sergeant stepped up to the podium and turned to address the soldiers. “Brothers, sisters, civilians, please join me in a moment of silence for the departed”

At that, the soldiers marched out and the crowd began to disperse.

As Twilight stood up, she spotted a gryphon approaching her and grimaced. Before he got close, Spike quickly stepped in its way, towering over the quivering dignitary with smoke flowing from his nostrils.

“It’s okay, Spike, I expected this. Let him through,” Twilight muttered.

Spike gave a huff then stepped aside, allowing him to see Twilight.

Glancing incredulously between Twilight and Spike, the gryphon stepped up to her and bowed deeply. When he rose, he gazed at her chest, refusing to meet her eyes, either out of fear, humility, or both. “The Emperor sends his apologies, but he must converse with you at once. It is, I am told, of the utmost import.”

Twilight glared venomously at the dignitary, and despite being unable to see her face, he shrank from her gaze. Satisfied, she grunted angrily. “Fine. Tell him to meet me in my Throne Room in exactly five minutes. If he’s even one second late, I’ll leave for the reception and he’ll have to wait until I’m in the mood to speak with him.”

The gryphon nodded and backed away. Twilight teleported to the Throne Room, startling the half-dozen guards playing a dice game in the center of the hall. She gave them a disapproving frown and they quickly cleaned up their game, returning to their posts. She took note of the time and collapsed onto her throne to wait.

After exactly four minutes and fifty seconds, there was a single knock on the main doors of the hall. They swung open as the Emperor trode in — alone. He approached with his head high and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. They stared at each other for a full thirty seconds before he bowed his head, slowly and hesitantly. “Princess Twilight. You have my deepest condolences.”

She watched him for a few more seconds as he met her gaze. She gave him an exhausted sigh, “I’m sorry, but you picked the worst possible time to suddenly open up dialogue. What do you want?”

He glanced at her passively, carefully considering his words. “I... I need your help.”

Twilight was floored. She blinked a few times and shook her head to clear the cobwebs from her mind before speaking. “I’m listening.”

“It’s my daughter, Fridr. She has... some form of affliction of the mind,” he replied, hanging his head and trembling. “She’s brilliant, beyond brilliant, but she doesn’t speak, she barely listens. At times it’s almost as if she doesn’t realize that others even exist.”

“I see,” Twilight murmured. “How long has she been like this?”

“Always,” Hugleikr muttered. He glanced up at her again. “In the Empire, citizens with similar conditions are oft cast aside, so we don’t have the facilities to help her, b-but I just can’t do it. She’s my only child. M-my wife died birthing her and she’s the only thing I have left. I can’t just abandon her.”

“Is she here?” Twilight asked, standing from her seat and stepping down. The Emperor nodded and Twilight waved for the guards to leave. “Can I see her?”

Hugleikr nodded vigorously and ran back to the doors. He pulled them open and spoke quietly to a few waiting gryphons outside. A thick folder of papers was passed to him before he turned around and led a much younger gryphon back to Twilight. He opened his beak to speak, but Twilight shook her head and approached the chick.

“Hi, my name is Twilight,” the Princess said softly, extending her hoof.

Fridr stared at it for a few seconds before slowly reaching out and slipping Twilight’s shoe off. Twilight watched patiently as the gryphon turned it over in her talons, inspecting it closely.

“A-as I said before, she has a brilliant mind. I had her take the written part of the entrance exam to your, or rather, Celestia’s school on our way here and she scored near perfectly,” the Emperor rambled quickly, holding out the folder. He deflated when Twilight ignored it. “Please, I’ll do anything you ask. I’ll re-establish relations on your terms, sign any treaty you ask. Please.”

Twilight snickered to herself as Fridr carefully put the shoe back on her hoof before glancing up at the Princess curiously. “No.”

Hugleikr’s beak fell open, stunned at Twilight’s response. She noticed his distress and gave him a smile. “Equestria has the ability to help her and will do so, but if you want our countries to resume talks, then that will be a separate matter. I will not make her treatment conditional on their success and I would not poison any terms by forcing you to agree under these circumstances.”

The Emperor continued to stare blankly at her. “R-really?”

“Your daughter is a delightful young chick who has been mentally separated from the rest of us through no fault of her own. With the proper care, we can give her a chance at a relatively normal life and I will not deny her that simply because I had a feud with her grandfather and great-grandfather,” Twilight replied firmly. “I would be happy to re-establish relations between Equestria and the Empire, but no matter what happens, she will be welcome here.”

He made a choking sound, staring at her in disbelief. He took her hoof in his talon and gently pressed it to his forehead. “Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou...”

Suppressing a groan, Twilight pulled her hoof away. “Please, there’s no need for that.”

“I-I’m sorry, this was just too much to hope for,” he signed. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Thank you, Princess, for your time, I will take no more of it. I managed to secure lodging nearby. If you have need of me, I will be there.”

“No you won’t. You’ll be staying at the castle like a proper guest should,” Twilight replied. She strode over to the doors and opened them, finding the Emperor’s entourage and her guards staring each other down. Her guards turned to her with bows and she nodded to them. “Please find a few maids and have them prepare rooms for the Emperor and his staff; they will be staying with us for a few days at least. They are to be treated as honored guests and he is to be granted the respect due of a foreign leader.”

The guards all gave her bewildered frowns, but bowed and galloped away. Twilight turned to the Emperor and they shared bowed heads before she walked away. Instead of going to the reception, she went the other way, slowly dragging herself to her private dining room. As soon as she had entered, she closed the door behind her and collapsed, allowing the stress of the day to flow out of her. She had begun the day already exhausted, and the meeting had sapped her of what little strength she had left.

She lay silently, having not the energy to cry. She didn’t know, nor did she care just how long she remained there before somepony gently placed a hoof on her shoulder. With a monumental effort, she turned her head to see who would dare disturb her grief to find Luna staring at her with a pained expression on her face.

“What are you doing here?” Twilight groaned.

“A guard came to inform me that your council with the Emperor was over and that we’d be having guests. When you didn’t show up at the reception after that, I became worried and came looking for you,” Luna explained softly.

“Yeah, the Emperor wanted-” Twilight began, but Luna pressed a hoof over her mouth.

“Later,” she said, shaking her head. She pulled Twilight to a sitting position and wrapped her wings around Twilight in an embrace before teleporting them both to her bedroom. She wordlessly guided Twilight over to a small table and sat her down on a cushion.

She then went to her bed and crawled partially under it, rummaging around for something. On nearly any other day, the sight of Luna with her rump in the air and gracelessly dragging the heavy object out would have made Twilight laugh, but not today. Instead, she merely watched as Luna produced a chest and deposited it next to the table. She opened it, assaulting Twilight with a medley of different smells and revealing an interior similar to a jewelry box with well over a dozen different compartments, each filled with a different type of dried herb or leaf.

Twilight watched, staring in Luna’s direction with an uncharacteristic disinterest as Luna mixed several different types of leaves together with a few pebbles of an opaque white resin in a porcelain bowl. After a quick spell, the mixture burst into flame. The leaves rapidly burned away, leaving only ash and the smouldering resin. Luna placed the bowl in front of Twilight gently and nodded. “Inhale.”

Twilight gave her a questioning frown, but did as instructed and breathed of it deeply, ignoring the stinging in her nose. Within seconds, her limbs grew heavy. She glanced up to ask Luna about it, but the elder Princess was already busy mixing more leaves and powders in a teacup. When she finished, she filled it with water, and heated it with a spell.

She then stood up and trotted out of the room while the tea steeped. Twilight could hear her and the guards in the hall speaking in hushed voices, but couldn’t understand anything that was said. Luna returned a minute later, saying nothing. She picked up the cup and sniffed at it before casting another spell to cool it down and holding it out to Twilight. “Drink.”

Twilight obeyed, but retched and pulled away when the dreadfully bitter liquid passed her lips. With a sigh, Luna shook her head, reached over, and tipped the cup back, pouring the tea into Twilight’s mouth. As soon as it was empty, she took it away and nodded towards the bowl. Twilight leaned over it and continued breathing in the dizzying fumes, her limbs further numbing with each breath.

She gave a start as a voice called to her through the haze and found herself staring blankly at Luna. “Twilight, are you alright? How are you feeling? You’ve been staring at nothing for nearly ten minutes now...”

Twilight merely blinked at her as her mind struggled to make sense of the words Luna spoke.

“It would appear I made the tea a bit too strong,” Luna mumbled to herself with a hint of frustration. She took Twilight’s hoof and pulled her over to the bed. “Lay down. On your chest and rear legs spread out behind you.”

As Twilight sleepily complied, Luna climbed onto the bed next to her. She laid her hooves on Twilight’s shoulders and began kneading the muscles tenderly. Within seconds, Twilight could feel the little tension remaining in her body bleeding away.

“Luna, where... where did you learn all this?” she breathed.

“Various places,” Luna murmured, continuing to work on Twilight’s back. “The incense is an ancient alicorn recipe that my mother taught me when I was very young. They used to burn it in their foals’ bedrooms when the foal was ill. The ingredients are exceedingly rare these days, but I’ve managed to secure sources of each in the years since my return.”

She slipped around behind Twilight, sitting down between the younger mare’s outstretched legs and began rubbing circularly on Twilight’s dorsal muscles. “The tea is my own special blend that I’ve been working on for centuries. The incense relaxes the body, but does nothing to relax the mind, so I blended the herbs into a sort of potion-tea that would do just that. I only managed to perfect it a few weeks ago.” She leaned forward, cracking Twilight’s back with her weight. “This, I picked up just recently. During my spa trips, I complimented the masseuse on her skills and she jokingly offered to teach me. She was rather surprised when I asked to take her up on it. Pleasantly surprised, of course.”

“So that’s why you always went to the spa alone. I thought you just needed some alone time,” Twilight purred, stretching out further at Luna’s touch.

“I will admit to that being the case the first time, but every subsequent time I asked to go alone was because I wanted to surprise you with this,” Luna sighed. She paused, staring at Twilight for a moment, before leaning down and kissing her neck.

“W-what are you doing now?” Twilight gasped.

“Improvising.” She blessed Twilight with another kiss, then another, and another. She moved up to Twilight's ear, kissing the entire way, before slowly making her way down to the nape of Twilight’s neck. Next, she got to work massaging Twilight’s shoulders, pulling and pressing the skin until the muscles beneath moved like soft clay in her hooves. Once satisfied that Twilight was sufficiently relaxed, she leaned down again and firmly planted a kiss between Twilight’s shoulders, leaving the younger mare shivering in anticipation of Luna’s next touch.

Luna ran her hooves downward, continuing her massage. She kneaded and rubbed, pulling the stress of the day out of Twilight’s back, inch by inch, each time sealing her work with another kiss. Finally, when she had finished with Twilight’s back, she leaned down yet again, hesitating for a few seconds before placing one final kiss at the base of Twilight’s spine.

An embarrassed smile on her face, she leaned back and murmured, “I’ve finished with this part. Roll over.”

With her limbs almost completely numb, it took much more effort than it should have for Twilight to roll onto her back, but she refused to let that stop her. The intimacy had awoken a feeling of excitement in her that contrasted pleasantly with the tea and incense induced calm and the last thing she wanted was for Luna to stop.

Luna smirked down at her, seemingly pleased with the ‘spell’ she had Twilight under. “Now, normally I am supposed to do the next part from behind you, above your head, but I think I would rather try it this way. If you don’t mind, that is.” She slid up and climbed on top of Twilight, straddling her waist. Without waiting for Twilight to say anything, she leaned down and kissed her deeply, giving off a satisfied sigh when Twilight wrapped her hooves around her neck.

She pulled away with a grin and began plying Twilight’s shoulders, kneading the tissue deeply. When she was satisfied, she planted a kiss on each shoulder and smirked as Twilight sighed contently. She kissed Twilight on the chin and continued down her neck, stopping at the collarbone to massage Twilight’s chest.

She rolled her hooves across Twilight’s chest as carefully as she could, frowning with concentration. “This part should feel uncomfortable while I am doing it, but it should not hurt. If you feel any pain, tell me immediately.”

Twilight stayed silent as Luna repeated what she did to Twilight’s back, working her way down Twilight’s barrel, punctuating her touches with a kiss each time, slowly sliding herself off of Twilight as she went. Finally, when her work was finished, she ended the session with one long kiss before lying down and resting her head on Twilight’s abdomen.

Luna lay there, motionless, as Twilight stroked her mane delicately. She sighed, enjoying Twilight’s touch as she listened to her marefriend’s heavy breathing. As if reading her mind, Twilight pressed a hoof behind her ear, carefully tickling the sensual spot.

“Luna?”

“Mmm?”

“Come here.”

Grinning to herself, Luna rose and crawled back on top of Twilight. She had barely gotten within reach when Twilight pressed their lips together. Luna held the kiss as she got level with Twilight and rolled the both of them onto their sides. She pulled away for a moment to let out a happy sigh before leaning in again.

Twilight pulled her in, pushing her tongue aggressively against Luna’s mouth, searching for an opening, but Luna kept her mouth shut, open just enough to continue kissing. She smiled to herself as she heard Twilight let out a frustrated groan, but held strong, fully intending to make Twilight work for her reward.

Twilight shifted her body closer to Luna and began again, redoubling her efforts by biting at Luna’s bottom lip. When that didn’t work, she moved down, kissing the base of Luna’s neck and following it up with a line of nips, stopping at Luna’s jaw to nibble at the tender area where it met her neck.

After a minute, she tried again, pressing her lips against Luna’s. This time, Luna let her in. Twilight worked quickly, using her tongue to draw Luna’s into her mouth and kissed her harder.

Finally satisfied, Twilight pulled away and curled up against Luna, nuzzling the elder Princess’ chest. “I love you, Luna...”

“And I love you, Twilight.”