Ch 17 - Storytime
Under normal circumstances, Princess Luna would not be one to rest while traveling. Trains were a new invention to her after all, having been made during her banishment. While convenient, the noise and speed often made her a little sick to her stomach. Flying fast was one thing, but traveling at such speed by somepony else’s power was a strange feeling to be sure. However this was not normal circumstances, so she did.
Her bedroom rested in the third car from the engine, more heavily armored than the rest of the train cars. The second and fourth cars held various guards from all four tribes, ready to protect the Lunar Princess at any moment. Inside was a simpler version of the bedroom within Canterlot Castle, mostly containing a four-poster bed, an armoire, and a place to hold her royal regalia.
Since it was midday, many ponies would not dare to bother Princess Luna, as it is the middle of her rest period. The nighttime was her domain as much as the day was her elder sister’s, so she rested now. However the sender of the scroll was not most ponies, and so she was bothered.
The scroll appeared in a poof of green smoke, falling to hit Princess Luna on the head. The Princess groaned and hesitated in her stirring, not wanting to wake when she didn’t need to. A shiver went down her spine as she snapped her eyes open, recognizing the sound of the scroll’s apparition. She groaned as she sat up, lifting the scroll in her magic and reading the letter contained within.
Dear Princess Luna,
I really messed up. I should have listened to you but I wanted to fix things before you arrived and cast a memory spell to fix Flurry Heart’s mind. She freaked out and started crying before passing out and not waking up.
We moved her to my castle and are keeping an eye on her but she isn’t responding. She’s still breathing thank Celestia but I don’t know what went wrong.
I’m sorry Princess Luna, I really need your help.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight
Luna let out a low hiss, her eye twitching slightly in rage. Her earlier drowsiness was banished under a mountain of concern for Storm and anger towards Twilight. In a rush she hopped out of bed, the covers tossed to the floor without any further thought given towards them. Her royal regalia was grabbed in her magic, sitting in the proper places with a speed acquired through experience.
Now dressed, she flung open the door to the second cart, making her Royal Guards jump in surprise before they bowed their heads. “Make sure this train makes it to Ponyville. I will be teleporting ahead.” Luna commanded, her tone far more direct and terse than she usually used to her trusted guards.
“Is that a good idea, Princess?” One of the unicorns shook his head, his voice professional but his eyes unable to hide his concern. “Ponyville is still quite far from here, so it would be a lot of distance to cover with a teleport spell.”
“I understand your concern, but it is a matter of great import.” Luna forced herself to give the guard a reassuring smile. “I will be fine. Just make sure this train makes it to Ponyville on time.”
With that, she turned and headed back into her own train car to prepare. Despite her reassurance to the guard, he was right in the fact that they were still far from Ponyville. To teleport there would require more of her power than she would be willing to spend under any other circumstances.
“Twilight Sparkle, you, Celestia, and I are going to have a talk about your inability to wait,” Luna growled under her breath as she gathered her magic.
Luna took a breath, letting her rage pass as she breathed out. She did the same again to fully center herself before she teleported into a tense situation. Once calmed she completed the teleportation spell, disappearing from her train cart with a pop and a flash of blue magic
With a similar flash of blue magic, Luna appeared in front of the Castle of Friendship, the crystalline and wooden edifice looming above the Ponyville skyline. She stumbled as she took the first step towards the castle, her horn smoking slightly at the powerful burst of magic. Luna winced slightly, licked her hoof, and gently rubbed her horn to soothe the irritation as much as she could. Once Luna felt she recovered enough she stepped into the Castle, her hoofsteps echoing throughout the empty halls.
“I wish Twilight Sparkle was more precise in her location,” Luna grumbled as she headed towards the center of the castle. “Searching each room may take a while.”
“Oh, Princess Luna I’m glad you’re here!” Spike sprinted towards the Princess from where he was waiting in the center area, almost tripping over himself in his haste. “Twilight came in with Flurry and everypony else and Flurry didn’t look so good and Twilight was freaking out and-”
“I read the letter, Spike..” Luna cut the dragon off, mentally wincing at how his shoulders sagged from the bluntness of her tone. To hopefully balance it out she gave him a comforting smile. “Show me where they are and I will give as much help as I can.”
The dragon nodded and began jogging into the castle, Luna following along at a fast walk. It took the two of them almost 5 minutes to traverse from the center of the castle to the bedroom that Twilight brought Storm to. Standing outside was a trio of fillies Luna recognized as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom pacing around Sweetie Belle. At the sight of Luna turning the corner, the trio ran over to the princess, a mix of relief and concern on their faces.
“Princess Luna!” Scootaloo cried out.
“Is Flurry Heart going to be okay?” Sweetie Belle pleaded.
“She was cryin’ an’ passed out an’ we aren’t being allowed in the room!” Apple Bloom whined.
“Don’t worry my little ponies, I’m here now. She will be okay, I promise.” Luna gave the three fillies a warm smile, her heart warmed at their concern for Storm. He made friends, that is good. “For now, go home, I will make sure that you are the first to see her when she wakes.”
The fillies looked hesitant to leave, but nodded and scurried off. Once they were out of earshot Luna opened the door into the bedroom, revealing a simple bed and furniture in what was likely a guest room. Scattered around the room were Twilight and her friends, all with looks of concern towards the small pink figure in the bed. Applejack and Rainbow were pacing around, while Rarity hovered over the bed like a mother hen. Twilight was crying into Fluttershy’s shoulder, her head buried under one of the pegasus’ wings. Lastly, Pinkie Pie dejectedly sat in one corner, her mane completely straight, unlike the usual poofiness it bore. At the princess’ entrance, all but Twilight turned towards her and bowed their heads in greeting.
“Spike, could you get me a coffee? I am usually resting at this time, so I could use the extra boost.” Luna yawned, truthfully quite tired despite the situation before her. The small dragon nodded and ran off, closing the door behind him. “Now, Twilight Sparkle, I believe we need to speak.”
The purple alicorn sniffled as she pulled herself from Fluttershy’s embrace, wiping the budding tears from her face. “All of this is my fault. If I listened none of this would have happened and Flurry wouldn’t be like this. Some aunt I am.”
Luna raised an eyebrow before letting out a small sigh. “I am happy to hear that you have some self-understanding. But blame can wait, first I need the full story so we can help Storm.”
Twilight winced at Luna’s choice of name and nodded, clearing her throat to properly tell the story. “About two weeks ago I met Shining Armor and Cadance in the Crystal Empire to pick up Flurry Heart. Cadance wasn’t feeling good so I offered to watch Flurry for a few days to hopefully help. I showed her around and spent time doing aunt-niece activities I read in a book before putting her to sleep at her scheduled nap time. I went to do some paperwork but my changeling detector wards went off so I ran over to investigate.
“I saw what looked like Rainbow Dash, but she sounded...off. I tried to stop her but she moved like nopony I had ever seen before. She was fast and agile and spun me into a wall when I tried to block her way. I chased after the changeling but she evaded me a few times with smoke bombs and other tricks. I tracked her straight into Flurry Heart’s room where I saw her holding my niece in her hooves, a grin on her face.” Twilight choked a bit as she glanced over to the sleeping filly on the bed. “I knew I couldn’t beat the changeling in a physical conflict so I tried to blast her wing to ground her. But Flurry....Flurry tried to fly towards me and flew into the blast....”
Luna’s eyebrow slowly lowered as her scowl deepened, her gaze slowly burning into Twilight. “How powerful was your spell, Twilight?” The last word was dripping with venom, causing every pony in the room to take a small step back from the Lunar Princess in slight fear.
“Too powerful. I was scared and angry and instead of simply injuring a wing it...it...” Twilight took a deep breath before forcing the words out. “It blasted straight through Flurry’s chest, blowing both her organs and the changeling’s hoof to bits. I rushed over to her but she was bleeding out fast and died before I could do anything.” Tears began to well up in her eyes at the memory, the younger alicorn’s haunches shaking as she forced herself to stay together.
“You told us that the changeling hurt her!” Applejack scowled, stomping one of her hooves into the ground in frustration. “That the bug was the reason that Flurry was so badly hurt!”
“Yeah Twilight, what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion. “Why would you lie to us about something so serious? Did you actually kill her?”
Twilight took a deep breath to get her confidence before nodding. “Yes, I did.”
Immediately the room fell into pandemonium, the other five members of the Elements freaking out and voicing their displeasure at such horrible news. For committing a horrifying crime, for lying about it, for the implications this held. Luna let this hold for a moment or two before slamming one hoof down, silencing the room.
“Continue, Twilight Sparkle. We can see that your niece still lives. If you killed her, how is this?” If looks could kill, Twilight would be a pile of ash from the look Luna was giving her.
“I-I. I teleported us to the one place I could think of.” Twilight gingerly took her crown off and looked at her reflection in the gold. “I took her to the Tree of Harmony. I pleaded to the Tree, to the Elements to help bring her back, and offered it whatever it wished. I almost gave up all hope, but the Tree responded. It said it would help return her soul, but with a price for such powerful and selfish magic. I accepted the deal, whatever cost was acceptable.
“The Tree of Harmony released a rainbow of energy, like what usually happens when we use the Elements. It wrapped around Flurry’s body, lifting it into the air as a shrieking was heard from all around. I could hear what sounded like a firework going off before the rainbow disappeared and an older Flurry fell to the ground. Like the one in the bed. The Tree told me that it brought back her soul from the beyond and would need to rest before going silent, the magic dissipating from the Tree.” Twilight winced and shook her head. “Starlight is there now, keeping an eye on the tree, making sure it’s still alive.”
“What could you have paid for a life, darling?” Rarity asked, still hovering over the comatose body of Storm, her eyes full of concern and heartbreak.
Twilight took a shaking breath before shaking her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t care at the time, and am too scared to ask now.”
Luna cleared her throat, stepping towards the younger alicorn, forcing herself to sit next to her to prevent herself from looming. “Continue.”
“I brought Flurry to a hospital and sent a letter to Cadance and Shining Armor, but never got a response. I spent the next week both checking the Tree of Harmony and Flurry Heart, but...” Twilight sighed, a deep frustrated sigh at that. “When she woke up she didn’t recognize me. She had amnesia, which I guess made sense at the time but later on claimed to be somepony else.”
“She called herself ‘Storm’.” Pinkie Pie clarified from her corner, her voice a near monotone.
“I, yes, ‘Storm’. She claimed she had another family, that she was a ‘human’, not a pony, and even had a marefriend from ‘Japan’.” Twilight shook her head, her eyes narrowing. “I never saw or heard anything like that. I knew she had an active imagination but fabricating a while identity to fill in the gaps? I did not know such a thing was possible. So I tried to fix her memory...”
“Even though I told you not to.” Luna frowned down at Twilight, who flinched back a bit.
“I...yes. I wanted to fix her mind. I needed-” Twilight began, her tone pleading as she looked up at Luna before being simply cut off.
“You wanted and needed to ‘fix’ something that was not your place to.” Luna got to her hooves, stepping away from Twilight to head to the bed. “I told you to leave your niece alone, and you not only ignored my order but went above and beyond by casting one of the spells I specifically told you to not cast. If you actually thought about your actions and read the letter I sent, I told you to leave Storm alone for a reason, I used that name for a reason. Now instead of having a confused filly on our hands, we have a mentally broken one.”
“Uh, Princess Luna, who is Storm?” Fluttershy’s voice was a near whisper and would have been lost had the room not been deafeningly quiet following the end of Twilight’s story. “Flurry called herself that but didn’t elaborate.”
“Storm is the name of the soul mind currently in Flurry Heart’s body. She lived in another world with her siblings, before dying in the hooves of the one she loved. If Flurry died and you used the Tree of Harmony to bring her soul back, I think Storm may have been her reincarnation brought back into her past life now that Flurry is gone.” Luna shook her head, rage slowly bubbling within her. “If you brought back Flurry’s memories, no wonder Storm fell into a coma. The foundation her very identity has been built on has been shaken by new memories that her mind was never built to handle.”
“Storm is real...” Twilight collapsed to the ground, her face covered by her forehooves. “That is why the spell didn’t mess with what I thought were fake memories, just added new ones...”
“No wonder she freaked out so bad...” Pinkie Pie dropped, her eyes misting. “I threw a party to cheer up the wrong pony and now she’s hurt.”
“No, you’re not the reason she’s hurt!” Applejack stepped over to her friend, lifting her face with a hoof. “Twilight is.” She looked at Luna with an eyebrow raised. “Can ah leave or do you need me to stay.”
“You are free to leave if you wish, Applejack.” Luna nodded to the farmer, who nodded back in understanding.
“Come on then Pinkie. We’re gonna get some fresh air.” Applejack helped Pinkie to her hooves and led her out of the room, letting the door stay open behind her.
“I got to get some fresh air too.” Rainbow Dash crossed her forehooves, lifting herself into the air with her wings as she did so. “I’m sorry Twilight but I need time after everything you just said. Come on Flutters, let’s leave the Princesses to help Storm in peace.”
Fluttershy nodded and followed Rainbow Dash out of the room, leaving just Rarity as the sole non-alicorn in the room.
“Rarity,” Luna stated, catching Rarity’s attention. “Will you also leave, or will you remain?”
“I want to stay, I promised Flurry I’d take care of her when Twilight can’t and failed.” Rarity shook her head, brushing a bit of mane out of Storm’s mouth with a hoof. “If she was somepony else I don’t care, a promise is a promise.”
Luna smiled and nodded, her horn faintly glowing. “Good. I will warn you, this may not be pretty. I have to step into Storm’s mind to repair the damage done.”
Rarity nodded her understanding. “I still want to stay. A promise is a promise.”
With a simple understanding smile, Luna touched her lit up horn to Storm’s and released her spell. The world around her fell away as she stepped into Storm’s fractured mind, her mission clear even if the path was not.
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im glad storm turned out to be flurrys rencarnation. but i dont think storm will trust anyone to touch or be in her mind ever again after she is well again.
How do you fix a problem like a past life of memorys comming back? will it be a case of luna lineing them back up to help storm
So Storm is Flurry, and her "issues" was that she has her last life's memories and not the one before (and now after) that ones.
While Storm will be upset, she can not remember that Twilight really does love her. Just Twilight can go a little (way) overboard.
I wonder what Twilight's plans are for her friends to live forever.
Very nice chapter.
So Storm is Flurry, but a reincarnation from her past life. That's interesting, so reincarnation exists in this story. Hmm...
I take it, after Flurry died her soul is reincarnated into Storm then the Tree of Harmony dragged her soul back into Flurry. Huh.
Whatever the case, Flurry/Storm always got the short end of the stick. Flurry was attacked by a changeling then her body got blasted through by her own aunt's death ray, reincarnated into a new life, then she got dragged back into her old life with no memories of it and then her aunt shoved her old life memories into her head and now, she's in a coma. Great. Prayers for Flurry.
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If she can prevent Storm from going insane from sensory overload or whatever, that's a win.
The memories are probably going to be repressed and come back slowly, that seems to be the case with most traumatic events.
Let's just hope Twilight didn't do a brain damage.
files.everypony.ru/smiles/b4/19/6a12ce.png - Congratulations, Twilight, you fucked up. Moreover, on all possible fronts: friends are offended because of your lies, Flurry Heart may be mentally broken, and the oldest alicorns now know about the agreement with the Tree of Harmony.
In fact, I can understand her actions: if a brother/child/parent/etc. were dying on my hands, then I would also use all possible means to save them; and I would also lie to friends if I were the culprit of the above.
A good chapter. I'm waiting for the continuation.
PS It seems to me that the price for saving Flurry was the imprisonment of the Crystal Empire.
wow another great ch can't wait 4 more thank u
What a literal mind blow.
Quite curious what the price was.
Actually, kinda curious if Twilight's demand had anything to do with Storm's death in the first place. 😱
I f**king called it this is similiar to what i predicted though i love the twist that Storm IS Flurry Heart reincarnated in another world and life. Though now i know this I wonder how Luna will fix this and how she'll handle telling Storm he was Flurry in a past and albeit short life. I look forward to Storm's reaction when Luna shows him he was Flurry Heart before the life he knows.
I think that the price Twilight paid will be steeper than having the Crystal Empire re-locked away. I think she will lose her friends trust and friendship for a looooong time, Flurry will never trust or love her for an equally loooong time, but most importantly she like Celestia and Luna before her, she will lose the ability to ever wield the elements of harmony again (well the element of magic in particular). Hell I bet Flurry/Storm will inherit that element now, that is if we can save her from the mental destruction that she is suffering from. I can see the author writing an alternate ending where Flurry/Storm doesn't survive the ordeal because her mind just can't handle these conflicting memories and Luna was too late to save her and her mind just shuts down and Flurry/Storm just dies again. Then make us wait a few days before posting the real next chapter of the story. Huh, now that i said that i kinda hope the author does that it would certainly add to the tension of this story. What do you other readers think?
definitely celestia's fault. if sunset and luna are anything to go by.
it's a given that she's going to ignore plain text and try to read between lines. or outright go off a tangent line.
: why twilight? you were supposed to be my retirement plan!
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twilight is a natural introvert. a single minded bookworm that doesn't even know her bbfff's marriage until last minute. imprisoned her would just revert her and do damage to celestia's grand plan.
Why does everyone forgets velocity? If Luna is in a steam train that moves with a speed of about 100km/h, then she moves with the same speed and should keep this speed if she teleports. As she isn't accustomed to them she wouldn't regard it in her spell and be a bloody mess after crashing through the castle.
Twilight? You may want to leave. Take an extended vacation. I think you have helped enough for one - sorry, THREE lifetimes.
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How does Teleportation in MLP work?
I believe there are moments where a Unicorn does run and 'Port' at the same time, but they usually continue the run and do not halt.
I think theoretically, you would be right where the velocity of the transported object would either be factored into the 'port' and cancelled, or not be factored and allow the velocity to be 'carried' after the 'port'.
I don't usually like rarity... But this version of her I really do.
Well, I think it was a good chapter
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It works by whatever is convenient is to the author.
FIM is great but the creators weren't trying to make something with perfectly consistent internal mechanics.
The thing I want to happen is luna goes in flurry/storms mind and it turns out the mind is too unstable to hold two sets of memories, so luna removes those of flurry, then she says a line like "The dead should stay dead...that includes flurry heart, this isn't her new chance at life, this is storms'", she then makes it so they permanently change his body to that of a pegasus through the combined effort of all alicorns, cadence will be reluctant because now she will permanently lose her daughter, celestia will be against it at first then agree after some convincing from luna, twilight will think this is the least she could do after all the trouble she has caused. <--- This can span over two or three chapters, making this story end on 20 CHAPTERS
Then there is a sequal about storms new life
This will probably not happen but I just wanted to hit you all with this spike of imagination I had before it disappears
Here we go!
I see, so the Tree did bring Flurry's soul back, but it has already been incarnated. This make much more sense than randomly pick someone's soul like I thought it did.
this is the reason having different attacks other then bream of doom are needed. a crystal spike from the floor into the changeling's body would had work just as well as a body no more beam.
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I do this to, its always fun to think of what could happen with a story in its future.
Despite the difficulty, you did a great job. It read well, and everything finally makes sense.
And wow. Just wow, Twilight.
I assume Twilight knew the tree could do some form of wish granting instead of visitinv the hospital. But the main question is, how did she knew it in the first place?
where is the lavender punishment? torn by the pan on an empty head? something for the big idiot? feels disappointed. See you.
Pretty good spot to cut off the end of a chapter so good call on that. Great work and I look forward to what you have in store next.
Oh dear, The implications on what that price is. Like to think that a reincarnated life had to end so abruptly so the soul can return to a past life. Makes sense on why the Tree of harmony called it powerful and selfish magic.
I worry for Storm, though more so for Flurry Heart. She was a mind with no memories but Storm's. Now with everything returned, I worry on how their mental, as well as their physical mind, will handle such a change. Princess Luna has her work cut out for her.
Jeeze. How did Flurry's soul end up in the human world? Seems kind of a bad deal to go from a world with magic and fantastical creatures to being reincarnated into the human world. Bleh...
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What's wrong with it? Importance is the correct use of the term and it's spelled correctly.
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I know i know
But it is fun to speculate.
There's one thing that bugs me in this chapter - how NOT-understanding the friends are about Twilight's action and, to a lesser extent, her saying what she did. It was 100% the changeling's fault that the situation arose and caused Flurry that harm. Twilight's blast was 100% an action which you would expect to have good results, and indeed might have been one of the few actions which might have avoided catastrophe. It is well within the range of reasonable actions, regardless of how badly it worked out. And given her emotional state at the time, it makes sense that she'd be less than reliable. On top of that, most of the things she said were true! It was the changeling's fault!
The only way I can understand this scene is if they're upset about later things she said that filled in details that were lies, but there's no evidence she actually did that. I have a hard time seeing Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy leaving her over this.
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From its working out well, you may make the a-priori-assumable deduction that an experienced being capable of both flight and teleportation would know how to compensate for velocity differences.
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Provided if teleport retains speed diference, any telrportation along meridian would cause same effect, if not greater. Points with different latitude have different speeds. That was something Pratchett joked about - in his world that speed was converted into energy.
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Is it a reasonable action to shoot to kill while your own niece is held hostage? No, it isn't. She could've frozen the ling in her TK. She's perfectly capable of freezing multiple ponies at once in the Hoofield and McColts episode, so a single changeling should be a non issue.
Nonono, I think Twilight deserves a can of whoopa$$ right about now, and a one-way ticket to prison. You don't mess with minds like that.
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What Twilight did is technically manslaughter. Killing someone by accident is still killing someone. Twilight was negligent, and didn't properly assess the situation before taking action. Yes, the changeling had a part to play in this, which is why Twilight wouldn't be charged with 1st or 2nd degree murder. Twilight absolutely bears responsibility, and even more so for lying to her friends, family, and mentors. If Twilight doesn't get prison for this, it would be an injustice.
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Someone who also knows how laws work thank the lord.
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It's still murder just in the 3rd degree and a court would say why you not use a sleep spell or any other spell why a lethal spell when the girl was in the way. It like a coo shooting at a person with a hostige in front and being like it not my fault. It was the gunman fault for taking the hostige in the first place.
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From watching cop shows, IDK if Twilight is guilty (USA law, lethal force is justified if "you (reasonably) fear yourself or another is in imminent danger of suffering death or grievous bodily harm.")
USA law, the Changeling is definitely guilty of "felony murder" no matter who actually killed Flurry-heart.
So... the Elements killed Flurry parents?
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In US laws, Twilight is still classified as guilty of accidental manslaughter. The sentence wouldn't be big, but it's still there.
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Would that be poneslaughter?