The Princess of the Night could hear the familiar hoofsteps approaching from a dozen feet away, however muffled they should have been in the snow. She didn’t need to turn her head to know that it was her sister approaching, after all, they’ve known each other for millennia. Instead, she kept her gaze focused on the pink dome before her, enshrouding the city of the Crystal Empire.
“It is not like you to be up this late.” The Princess of the Day took her place alongside her sister, the very air slowly warming with her mere presence. “What’s bothering you?”
“Many things bother me, Tia. The fact that we are walled off from the Crystal Empire with no explanation or communication. The fact that Princess Twilight isn’t answering our letters about Flurry or the Elements.” Luna gave a small sigh before looking up at her sister. “Although I believe I made a breakthrough for one of them.”
“Oh? Did you see something in your dream walking?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, intrigued by Luna’s strange magic.
“Something like that. Please, let’s return to my tent for some privacy.” Luna and Celestia turned from the pink wall and headed into what would under any other circumstance be a war camp.
Roughly four dozen orderly tents were arranged in a defensive position around three larger tents, along with some rough fortifications arranged around the camp. As the two alicorns passed through the camp the various Lunar and Solar guards bowed to their monarchs as they went about their duties. The former was primarily made up of Thestrals on their way to rest for the day, while the latter was made of illusionary white and blue stallions of various pony tribes.
In the centre of the camp were the three main tents that the whole camp was made to protect. One was a golden piece of art with the sun at the top, while the second was its Lunar twin. The third was where the various officers gathered to discuss strategies and plans, at the moment mostly patrols considering they couldn’t enter the city.
With a simple spell, Luna opened her tent, holding it open for her sister before entering it herself. The interior was as functional as it was fancy: a large bed occupied most of the space, with a small desk in one corner and a large board with various papers and pictures pinned to it on one wall. Noticeably on the desk was a magic box for her various informants to send messages to, one appearing with a green *poof* as they entered. Luna cast another spell once the two monarchs were safely inside to activate a silence spell so they could have true privacy from prying ears.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Luna gave an awkward smile as she stepped over to the board.
Celestia raised an eyebrow and took a seat on one of the scattered pillows on the tent floor. “Good news. I’ve had a long morning already, I could use some good news to brighten my mood.”
“Well, the good news is that I was able to reach Flurry Heart’s dream last night. Was one of her sleeping with a cat curled next to her, of all things.” Luna smiled briefly at the warmness of the dream compared to the usual nightmares she had to deal with.
Celestia gave a sigh of relief before smiling herself. “That is good to hear. With all the conflicting reports coming from Ponyville, I am happy to hear that she is safe.”
Luna couldn’t hide her grimace from Celestia as she turned towards her, the elder sister’s experience in reading ponies’ expressions more fine-tuned than the younger’s skill at hiding them. The smile dropped off Celestia’s face at the grimace, her face softening as grief began to take hold.
“The bad news is that it wasn’t Flurry Heart. Or at least the mind wasn’t Flurry’s, just the body.” Luna sighed before rubbing her brow with a hoof. “Somehow a ‘human’ named Storm is inside Flurry Heart instead of her own mind. I looked at the memory of Storm’s death at the hooves of some unknown weapon with her, and it would seem that her being pulled into this world was an instant process as she was as shocked at her own death as I was. Whatever pulled the human’s mind into our world also had traces of Twilight’s magic.”
“So the reports are true. The changeling that attacked Twilight’s castle did manage to critically injure the poor foal.” Celestia sighed, forcing the bubbling grief down. “This doesn’t explain why Flurry Heart now appears to be about 10 years old when she was just a baby a few weeks ago. Healing spell gone wrong?”
“Perhaps, it wouldn't be impossible for a healing spell to take years of a pony’s life to heal a mortal injury. But the closest I’ve ever seen was when Starswirl lost about 5 years after having every bone broken by Tirek.” Luna rubbed her chin in contemplation. “A changeling couldn’t do nearly enough damage to an alicorn, even an alicorn baby.”
“He most likely had help. After all, there was a report from the local guard of an attempted foalnapping. This ‘Storm’ and the CMC were captured by a unicorn and pegasus, although I believe it was more of a targeted attack than a crime of opportunity.” Celestia frowned slightly, not wanting to speak the next words. “You should interrogate the pegasus when you make your trip to Ponyville. Unfortunately, the unicorn was reportedly....slain by Twilight in her drive to save Flurry.”
Luna couldn’t help but gasp in slight shock at the thought of Twilight killing another pony. She coughed and regained her composure before tapping the board with one silver-shoed hoof.
“I will make sure that the pegasus and I have a talk, don’t worry sister. But first I think we should focus on the fact that there is a good chance that Flurry Heart is now dead, with Storm replacing our dear niece. I could not feel a trace of Flurry’s mind or memories, only Storm’s. We lost communication with the Crystal Empire at about the same time as Flurry reportedly appeared in the hospital with Twilight.
“My theory is that Flurry Heart did not simply get injured and get her mind replaced. She instead somehow died during the confrontation with the changeling, and Twilight attempted to bring her back from the dead.” Luna continued, her speech in full swing before Celestia cleared her throat to interrupt the Lunar Princess.
“Such a spell is forbidden and impossible, even Twilight knows this.” Celestia shook her head, her eyes narrowing at her sister. “All that would result is a shambling corpse with no will of its own, an abomination.”
“In most circumstances, yes.” Luna tapped a hoof against her chin. “That is the strange part. Somehow Twilight was able to do the impossible and actually bring a pony back from the dead. But obviously, something went wrong, otherwise, we wouldn’t have such a conundrum.”
Celestia sighed, her noble visage slipping in the company of her sister. “If this is true then Twilight would have committed one of the greatest crimes against life and death.” She looked up at her sister, head tilted. “Are you sure about this? That it is another creature residing in our dear niece’s body?”
“Of course. I could sense her like any other pony, but since her mind wasn’t a pony’s I couldn’t enter without her own permission.” Luna picked up several papers in her magic to pass it over. “On top of that, it is obvious that she has knowledge beyond that of Flurry’s, even with an ‘active imagination’. Storm took a test at the school, excelling in math beyond that of a normal filly her age. She managed to almost escape from being foalnapped, something that one would need to be trained in not just winging it.”
“That is somehow more concerning than a scrambling of memories.” Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister. “We should deal with this as soon as possible. Such an unknown with the power of an alicorn is a danger, and needs to be at the very least contained.”
“I do not think so, Tia.” Luna stepped forward, shaking her head. “I think that she deserves to live a normal life. After all, it does not seem to be Storm’s fault that she ended up here, and it is our responsibility to make sure that she can be as happy as any of our subjects.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed briefly before chuckling. “I would argue against you, Luna, but I can tell when you have made up your mind. What do you plan to do with this ‘Storm’, then?”
“Well, first of all, she needs to be stripped of her titles as a princess, obviously.” Luna rubbed the back of her head before sighing. “We can’t rid her of her alicorn powers but it is a good step in case Storm turns dangerous. I doubt that she should remain in the care of Twilight, and I have a feeling that neither Cadance nor Shining would be willing to watch somepony pretend to be their foal. I will watch over her until we find a new family or send her back home, whichever she decides to follow.”
Celestia nodded before embracing Luna. “I will leave you with this, then. If Twilight really did commit such a crime...we will need to figure out where the blame lies, and punishments. Go, sister, I wish you the best of luck.”
Dang, we still don't know what's going on in the CE, but my money says it's related to the attack(s) on Flurry.
If Luna's speculation is correct, and it does line up with what we've seen so far, then yeah, I can see Twilight having that reaction. She has a tendency to jump to "big magic" to solve problems, especially when she's emotionally invested.
The only note I have is that unless they're going to publicly announce that Flurry is Storm, stripping the titles seems a little harsh. She hasn't done anything to warrant that reaction. Suspend the authority, sure, that's a reasonable precaution, but Twilight was made a princess practically the day after she ascended. Ponies expect alicorns to be royalty. (Admittedly that's kind of a trope of HiE stories, if your goal is to subvert that then more power to you, it just seemed kind of sudden the way it was stated.)
Also, the way Cadance is typically depicted, I think she would be upset, and I think she would need some time, but if she was told what happened and given that time I don't think she would turn Storm out. It's not in her nature to reject a child, especially as the situation isn't Storm's fault.
Anyway, Loving the story, keep it up! 👍
Well some questions answered but a great ch thank u
So did Twilight really knew that she was dabbling in necromancy or did she think that Flurry Heart is merely unconscious and used a new spell that she thinks is a healing spell that actually replaced the now soulless body of Flurry Heart with Storm's soul?
Equestria Girls didn't happen, but does it exist? and Celestia did have a sunset going through the mirror portal?, albeit never returning in this case, or not yet at best?
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Called it!
I think you did a great job writing Celestia. And I can't wait to read more.
I like how this is unfolding, good job.
It does seem like Celestia is really hard to write, considering she lead the nation alone and could turn tyrant at any time. She does seem cold here, but I believe it is somewhat acceptable due to her rulership experience.
I also doubt that at least Cadance would completely shun the different Flurry. I believe it would be an adoption-but-not-really situation to help her cope with the loss. Maybe regain the title of princess if they went through this process
Luna has some interesting Plana for Storm!
I rather liked your depiction of Princess Celestia. It isn't much as of yet but it feels like it should be a good fit for her. Definitely reads well.
This is a great story so far and I'm looking forward to reading more.
PS we need more Best Pony. This story would be at least 20% more awesome.
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striping of royal title is a given. it would be idiocy to left sovereign of your nation to a random unknown creature.
and princess title is more like baggage to her anyway, if power game isn't her hobby.
starlight enslave entire town and mess with timeline. discord coup upon his released, tempest lead an invasion, and sunset plan to use otherworldly alien as brainwashed invading army.
so... twilight's punishment is pat in the head?
Bat winged horses are called cavalum or cavalo. Why does nobody botheres to take two fucking minutes to look up a bit of mythology. Thestral is a name J.K. made up for one fucking book.
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This is an AU so she might actually be given a real punishment, same for the rest
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could be better for celestia to make it so storm is a princess in name only and use that she is an alicorn and has to earn the authority that way less public backlash. also since celestia has trained and pretty much raised twilight and cadence wouldnt luna be best suited for training and raising storm now?
Something also to note is luna would be the best choice for keeping an eye on storm without issues as twilight and cadence seem too close to flurry to support storm and celestia seems to have defalted to seeing storm as a threat when it is twilight who is the real threat and should be stripped of princesshood
Isn't Celestia's reaction to her niece being replaced by an alien/outsider a bit...dispassionate? She doesn't even seem surprised by the news.
Excuse me, Luna. But didn't Storm already die back in his world? Surely you didn't mean you want to send an alicorn body to human world, did you?
I have a feeling There is more going on with Flurry Heart and Storm's connection...
My theory: Both are the same one soul. Just that the first "Incident" or rather Twilight bringing back Flurry may have also AWAKENED lost memories of Flurry's previous life...
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Nah it must be an actual punishment.
So maybe no sweets for a week. Lol
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Bandit here sums up my thoughts well.
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Celestia is fifteen hundred years old. Ain't nothing surprising her at this point.
Oh shit.
Hmm. the plot thickens
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Greed you are here
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Keep in mind that Luna and Celestia are trying to come up with mostly solid plans, and unfortunately Cadance as a good deal of trauma when it comes to creatures that look like family but aren’t thanks to her wedding. Maybe she will take in Storm, maybe she will shun Storm for a while, that all depends on their first meeting after all. One must make a contingency plan in case the latter happens after all.
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The movie didn’t happen, Sunset Shimmer did exist and disappear one day through a mirror, never to be seen or heard from again….
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Yes Friend Arche. I am at this location.
Well, I for one could think it better for Storm to adapt to her new body and have friends. After all Celestia was all gung-ho about Twilight having friends, and while the CMC may be a little young, Storm is now a filly so it could help to adapt and have friends of her new age, instead of separate them.
Also, how could they explain taking Flurry titles away from Storm, and even if they did, I for one not sure if Cadance could really reject Storm.
Also, now that I think, Twilight is having too much "Princess Work", in the series she managed to get some time for her friends, and while Flurry/Storm was put by surprise it seems and not by choose, Twilight should be able to take care of Flurry/Storm.
By this I'm not whining or asking you to change anything or saying you are doing bad work. You are doing a very good work, just a couple of points that I wanted to remark, nothing more, nothing less.
Okay first off stripping Storm of Flurry's Tittle as Princess makes sense but not having her as a Princess doesn't at all. Second Twilight should have no punishment after all she tried to save her niece and partially succeeded. If anything she should be rewarded for what she did! At the very least consider it a crime of passion similar to a person murdering their lover after finding out their cheating on them by walking in on them.
Luna, if Cadance and Shining Armor act as she expects should just adopt Storm. Seriously that's the easiest solution she's still their family even if only in body. Besides it would be better if she was by an alicorn to help her control her power then if not. Seriously suggesting that Luna would only watch over her until they have another family that does not have experience with an alicorn child is stupid. Just keep her in the Royal family similar to Prince Blueblood in role as that's how Flurry was going to be anyways.
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I think Twilight is busy trying to cover her tracks after whatever she did, and "Princess Work" is just a cover for that.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Storm in fact is Flurry Heart. Considering traces of Harmony magic from that tree in his memory the very Harmony helped to bring him in that body. I doubt Harmony would just bring a random soul. No, Flurry clearly died, were at least once reborn on Earth, lived there as Storm without any memories of her previous life and then got killed and were pulled back by Twilight and Harmony magic. How come this happened in that short period while her body were dead in Equestria? I blame time dilation between universes. Another pro argument for this theory is his nickname Storm. Seriously, Flurry and Storm.
So, it seems like Twilight's attempt at revival was a complete success. The only problem is she was a bit too late. Who could have thought the soul can live entire new life in a few minutes?
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It's not laziness. Nobody bothers because why would they need to? This is mythology, not etymology or xenobiology. I consider myself to have a very broad knowledge base but I had no reason to doubt that the word "thestral" existed before J.K. Rowling. If anything, I believed that she was the one who borrowed the word from mythology, just like the centaurs, hippogriffs, and unicorns she also used. As for cavalum/cavalo – hands up how many people have heard of that word before? I haven't. Anyone else? Anyone?
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Why people should bother? Because of curiosity and scepsis, two of the driving forces that have brought humankind to the advanced sociaty we are living in. If you don't have those than I can only pity you.
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People started using thestral for the batponies in MLP, and it stuck. At this point I don't think it's even a HP reference anymore, it's just become part of the lexicon like Alicorn.
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Winged unicorn are historically got a multitude of names like cerapter, pegacorn, unisus, hornisis, unipeg, hornipeg and other. And yet for whatever reason we know them as alicorns now even though originally this word referred to material unicorn's horn is made of or just the horn itself. And, you know, oddity like "cerapter" at the very least have Greek roots which literally mean "horn" and "wing" and actually were used to refer to winged unicorns.
That is unlike Portuguese "cavalo" which literally means "horse". Yes, just damn horse and nothing else. There's a legend of bat-winged horse-devil called "Cavalum" and they have a cave called its name, but that's about it. That's the name of that particular devil and not the name of his species.
BTW, there's another name for Thestrals in popular culture and that's Marewings. But strangely enough nobody refer them here as such either because Thestral stuck.
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i slightly have a fuzzy memory that bat pony has a other name, which is N-beginning, i dont know if you know about this? lainverse.
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No idea, to be honset. The only name which comes to mind is Nix and that's not a bat-pony, but a name of Greek goddess. Also, occasionally used to refer to Nightmare Moon's reincarnations as a filly in a few fanfics here.
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lets not forget that twilight bringing storm back to life could count as her becoming a mother. I hope it does just so storm can mess with them all by saying she now has 4 parents and one of them is a tree
Just finished binging. Very good so far!
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That awkward moment when two of your parents are brother and sister.
Odd they are thinking about titles when they would be expected to gauge intent.
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Seems like a sensible conjecture.
I... think you've lost me. There are just so many odd choices for this story. Discord actually being dead? Equestria Girls never happening? I think you need to make it clearer in the description that this is set in a very different AU because this story isn't quite as it was advertised to me.
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Besides its not like they are going to convince anyone that she isn't a princess. Alicorn equal princess in that world. And their whole reason for doing it seems wrong. She might be dangerous so we can't have her be a princess. Maybe actually give her a chance before you start worrying that she might be bad. Considering that the little she done has been brave and loyal and kind. She didn't have help the cmcs or make sure they could get away but did so because it was the right thing.
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Don't know how late I am to the party - but you might be thinking about "Nocturnes" with roots in the word nocturnals referring to Ponies of the Night.
Well, good thing Luna is being nice.
media.discordapp.net/attachments/860198662801588236/1022865165852606475/IMG_20220923_204043.jpg
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It’s certainly not as dark a version as the one Luna seems to be thinking.