Celestia
"Captain, may I have a word with you?"
Royal Guard Captain Spearhead whipped around to face her, dipping in a curt bow and saluting sharply. Celestia smiled absently, waving a hoof to dismiss the formality as she finished her approach.
"Yes, princess! What is it?"
The alicorn sat elegantly, gazing down at the standing stallion from her immense height. She waved her wing in a vague sort of gesture, pursing her lips in thought before finally making her request.
"That orphanage you shut down a few weeks ago. There's somepony I want you to retrieve."
Spearhead let out a small gasp, his eyes bulging as he stared up at her.
"Princess, you aren't planning an adoption, are you?"
The mare shook her regal head before standing resolutely to begin walking in a chosen direction, forcing the captain to follow.
"That's none of your business, captain. I need you and yours to bring the filly named Twilight Sparkle here. No questions asked. Understood?"
He nodded solidly, looking appropriately ashamed of himself.
"Understood, Your Highness."
"Welcome, Raven. How has she been faring?"
The off-white unicorn cleared her throat uneasily, shuffling her papers in a signature sign of anxiety.
"Not well, princess. Her hallucinations have only worsened in response to coming here. She runs away from every staff member as if they're some kind of rabid monster. Numerous ponies have actually begun to file complaints about her screaming."
Celestia simply nodded, keeping her face in a neutral mask as she shifted imperceptibly in her throne.
"May I see those complaints?"
Raven nodded shyly, lifting a sizable stack of papers in her pinkish aura. The princess accepted it with her own golden magic, moving it so it floated right between the two. With a blinding flash of power, the complaints burned to ashes, and the assistant jumped in her skin upon sighting Celestia's intensely grave expression.
"Send out a notice: Twilight is a permanent resident of The Castle, and is to be treated as such. No further complaints will be tolerated. If questions arise, don't. Ask. Understood?"
The unicorn nodded hastily, backing away from the infuriated alicorn and apologizing profusely the whole while. The princess only sighed as the doors to her throne room slammed shut, leaving her to stew in silence.
"Greetings, Specialist Caring Heart. Is your psychological evaluation finished yet?"
The pegasus nodded confidently from her spot across the table, her amber eyes finally rising to meet the princess' from where they'd been studying the papers before her.
"Yes, Your Highness. Would you like me to begin?"
With a neutral nod from her ruler, the mare cleared her throat and did so.
"Twilight Sparkle is a very troubled filly. Before being brought here, she suffered from well-documented delusions of friends that she would talk to. The terrible circumstances of her life in the orphanage served only to worsen her condition, with the fantasy land she escaped to being far more friendly than reality."
Caring paused to take a breath, shuffling her notes around as she attempted a discreet peek up at Celestia's face. Upon seeing an impatient squint, the pegasus returned her attention to the paper, her wings twitching slightly.
"Twilight's perception of time is also severely skewed. It's hard to tell, but she may think it's been years or even decades since she was brought here, rather than a few days. She has episodes of amnesia and apparent gaps in awareness, which only serves to increase her sense of false passage of time."
The orange mare nervously glanced between her various documents and the imposing alicorn sitting across from her, but Celestia remained stoic, her visage a perfectly flat mask.
"Since arriving here, Twilight's hallucinations have only become more vivid, with her seeing ordinary ponies wandering the halls as vicious creatures ripped straight from Tartarus. Honestly, I can't even imagine what horrors must be going through her mind."
The princess nodded, raising a single eyebrow as she made her inquiry.
"And what do you propose we do? Is there medication of some kind? What steps should we take?"
But Caring shook her head, becoming significantly more animated as the interaction continued.
"Princess, with all due respect, I can't in good conscience prescribe anything until I know more about the inciting incident! I know that there was a fire of some kind, and her family was involved, but I need more information befor-"
Celestia slammed her forehooves on the table, effortlessly reducing it to splinters as she stood, enraged.
"SILENCE, FOOL! YOU SHALL KNOW NOTHING! NOTHING, I SAY!"
The pegasus yelped and flew straight out of the meeting room, leaving various papers to flutter in her wake. The alicorn sighed, immediately exhausted and remorseful of her actions.
All her many actions.
All her mistakes.
I'm so sorry, Cadance.
Princess Celestia stopped in place to observe the open doorway, absently tilting her head as she considered its polished form.
So, this is where she had her meltdown, huh?
The room was as simple as it was underwhelming: An innocuous janitorial closet, with a nice enough view out the window and a mirror that really needed to be cleaned. Ironic, considering the space's contents.
What was it that set her off? The view of Canterlot? The mirror itself? Any one of the cleaning supplies could be suspects.
Really, the only notable thing about the room was its lack of a door, but that was a function that was as much part of tradition as necessity.
Or perhaps it was...no, that can't be it.
I suppose we'll never know...
With a subdued sigh, the regal alicorn left the room, returning to her many duties.
"Hello, Raven. Goodness! Whatever is the matter?"
Celestia's faithful assistant had tears running down her cheeks and was altogether much more pale in the face than usual.
"Princess! Oh, it was horrible!"
The unicorn collapsed to the marble floor, bawling her eyes out. Patiently, the alicorn presented a box of tissues to her, which she gratefully took. Once Raven was cleaned up and seemed to regain control of the majority of her faculties, Celestia started with a gentle prod.
"Please tell me, Raven. What could have put you in such a state?"
The smaller mare sniffled miserably, shaking her head slightly as she looked up with horror in her eyes.
"It's Twilight! Oh, I don't know where she got it, but she has a knife now and...and-!"
What the assistant said next gave the ruler great pause, her own face becoming overrun with shock.
"She's hurting herself! She keeps stabbing herself with the knife, and I jus-"
Raven burst into uncontrollable sobbing once more, and Celestia found herself only able to pat her back absently as she considered the information.
"Send out a notice: The books in the library need to be...regrouped. Everypony is to attempt to remove as many as possible from their shelves. If Twilight begins hurting herself, though, it is advised that you leave as soon as possible."
The alicorn ordered this only after the weeping had quieted, leaving her assistant to give an affirmative nod.
"It shall be as you say, princess. If I may ask, though...Why the books?"
Celestia's gaze grew even more distant and her next words were barely audible.
"Because there's one journal in particular I hope she never finds..."
In the middle of an unimportant meeting discussing irrelevant policies, Celestia paused. The nobles clustered around her eyed her frozen figure with moderate confusion, which strengthened greatly open their hearing her order.
"Clear out. Everypony out. Now. I wish to be alone."
With much grumbling and angry muttering, the space was finally emptied. The alicorn was alone in her throne room. At least, that was how it seemed.
"I know you're here."
She spoke grandly and with a slight amount of frustration. Truth be told, it more resembled humor, because the filly hunkering down in the shadowy corner of the room was quite a silly sight, taken out of context. Celestia pretended not to see her, though, and instead began pacing across the marble floor.
"Twilight Sparkle. I chose you. Don't you wish to know why?"
The princess had done her best up until then to stay away from the filly's business. She had hoped that, given time, the unicorn would eventually adjust to her new life and they could proceed from there.
Clearly, that wasn't going to happen. Twilight had come to her, and she felt the need to explain herself.
"It is because...you need me. You've had only false friends up until now, even if you deny that fact. Surely, deep down, you know it. It is time to come out of your fantasy land, Twilight."
With an adorably squeaky battle cry, the tiny unicorn charged right at her while her back was turned. Celestia's ears flicked and she swung herself around, watching the filly's eyes widen with terror upon making contact with hers.
Twilight tried to skid to a halt, but tripped somehow and went rolling across the floor. She traveled for an impressive distance before finally coming to a halt, helped by nature of how polished the marble was.
"Ah! There you are...?"
Celestia inwardly cursed her inexperience with foals, all too aware of just how creepy the sentence sounded. She had meant to be playful, or something along those lines, but the plainly terrified filly before her showed just how bad she was at interacting with children.
This is why I tried to stay away and let others deal with it! Ah, well, it's too late to back off now.
Upon standing, Twilight bolted straight for the nearby wall and collapsed against it with a loud whine. The princess smiled in what she prayed was an amiable enough expression before taking several slow steps toward her.
"Now now, there's no need to run off. Let's be civil, shall we?"
The alicorn forced herself to stop several feet away from the filly, taking a much deeper look at her shivering form.
Twilight had obviously found her way into one of the janitorial closets and clearly thought the supplies to be some sort of armor. She'd gone so far as to attach an undersized cleaning cart to her back using twisted towels as straps, while wearing four trash bags as some kind of socks and a mop's head to cover her tail.
The simple metal bucket atop her head with holes poked through for her horn and ears completed the signature look of a foal with too much imagination.
Through the many gaps in the filly's 'armor', though, Celestia could see scrapes, bruises, and deep cuts covering her body. The sight brought tears to her eyes, and the princess couldn't help but do what she could.
"Did you really hurt yourself, Twilight? Here, let me just...help you with that."
It was a simple enough spell; a mere thirty seconds or so of moderate concentration, bathed in yellow light and the filly was as good as new. Twilight didn't seem to like the experience all too much, though, if her squirming and crying out was any indication.
"You're horrible."
She spat, which took the alicorn aback.
"That's not very nice of you, Twilight."
Celestia closed the distance between the two and, in an effort to lend the situation more gravity, reached down to gently remove the bucket. Twilight didn't protest the action, instead preferring to stare emptily as the princess lifted and placed it off to the side.
Now able to take the foal somewhat seriously, the mare leaned down to her level, offering what she hoped was a winning smile.
"Well, that's enough dilly-dally, I think. Shall we move on? I believe we both have business to get to."
Twilight was beginning to hyperventilate, and anypony could tell she was scared to the highest possible degree. In a desperate attempt to calm her down, Celestia panicked also and blurted the first comforting thing that came to mind:
"I do have plans for you, Twilight."
To which the alicorn immediately cringed, watching with shame as the filly's eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped to the floor, unconscious.
What was I thinking?!
Princess Celestia paced madly in her bedchambers, often shooting glances over to the unconscious purple filly slumped against the adjacent wall.
I should never have let this continue. I should have taken the knife from her the second I heard about it. I should have blocked off the library.
Then she never would've been able to find the Journal.
"It was you."
The alicorn flinched as a high-pitched and raspy voice sounded from behind her. Swiftly, she whipped around to face the newly-awakened foal, plastering on a friendly smile.
"Oh, good, you're awake! You had me worried for a second there."
What Twilight had said finally registered, though, and Celestia tilted her head, adopting a curious expression.
"What do you mean by that?"
Surely she doesn't know. She was far too young to remember!
"The fire."
The princess' breathing was cut short and her false smile fell in time with her head. The filly's simple reply told her everything she needed to know.
Everything she'd hoped would never come up again.
...Cadence...
"Chrysalis was too powerful, Twilight. I had to stop her, no matter the cost."
Celestia swore she saw a green flame flicker in the filly's purple eyes, which only strengthened the theory she'd had all this time. The one that until then had gone mostly unproven.
"I believe she used the last of her illusion magic on you, Twilight. She was certainly the type to enact revenge any way she could."
The princess laid down, sighing despondently as memories returned with vengeance.
"Why must you keep it so dark? Or do the lights in here just not work?"
The alicorn tilted her head once more, confusedly waving her wing at the well-lit room with an enormous window framing the setting sun.
"Dark? Whatever do you mean? It's bright as day!"
Celestia soon remembered who she was talking to, though, and accordingly performed a soft facehoof. She sighed once more, deciding to simply change the subject. Or, rather, return it to what it should be.
"Never mind any of that. We have business to see to. I can help rid your mind of Chrysalis' influence, Twilight! If you'll let me."
The filly shifted in place, surveying herself and the 'armor' she still wore.
"'Help me?' Please, I know what you're really planning to do."
The alicorn knew she saw it this time: A flicker of green fire, as though Twilight was looking at one and Celestia could watch its reflection in her eyes.
The princess also didn't miss the filly's well-hidden plea for help, cleverly obscured by the way she'd worded the sentences.
'Help me please.' Don't worry, Twilight. I will.
"Oh? And what's that?"
Asked Celestia, discreetly lighting her horn as she stalled for time.
This spell is going to be very difficult.
"You want to turn me into one of your minions. The creatures that roam the halls. What other use could you have for me?"
This startled the alicorn enough that she lost her concentration on the spell, taking an indignant step back as she gasped in surprise.
She thinks I want her as my servant?! That's not true at all! I only wanted--Cadence only asked me to--I'd finally found her location!
"I assure you, Twilight, there are plenty of other uses for one of your talent!"
Celestia stood abruptly, her thoughts entering a frenzy as she continued to digest the filly's words.
All this time and she thought--! NO!
"I...I only want to help you, Twilight! I only knew where you were when the guards shut down that horrid orphanage!"
The unicorn didn't seem all too impressed, and in fact began quaking with repressed fury. Celestia winced after seeing this, but she still tried desperately to convey her feelings, to make her understand the situation.
To repent for her sins in some small way.
"Please, Twilight! You must understand! I did all I could! I wasn't able to help out directly but now that I've studied the counterspell I can finally--!"
Twilight's small horn lit up with a familiar green flame, her eyes following suit as she leapt forth to attack. Celestia cried out and sluggishly raised a hoof, but was too agitated to stop the blazing horn from plunging straight into her chest.
Her eyes bulged as she felt the power of her greatest enemy flood her system. Chrysalis' freezing magic tore away at her insides, shredding them apart with reckless abandon.
Celestia collapsed to the side, writhing in mute agony as the possessed filly stared her down.
"My, my, Celestia. Beaten so easily? Clearly you've gotten rusty since last we fought."
Chrysalis let out a wicked, mirthless chuckle, stepping over to the princess' prone form and sneering disdainfully at her.
"Now that I've killed you, the path to escape from here is revealed."
Twilight's overtaken body took steps toward the grand window, seemingly entranced by the shimmering panes.
"I'm free, Celly. I'm out.
This wasn't Chrysalis talking. Not entirely. There was still some trace of the unicorn inside.
The changeling's power had been allowed to grow, strengthening the longer it fed on its host's fear and rage. It had been a vicious cycle, as the stronger it grew, the more terrifying images it was able to project.
None of that would have happened, though, if Celestia had only burned the Journal when she'd had the chance.
It was too late now.
She'd lost.
NO! I CAN STILL FIX THIS!
The filly turned one final time to send the princess a victorious grin just before she thrust out a flame-coated hoof to effortlessly shatter the glass.
"Game over, princess. I win."
Celestia's world crumbled around her.
The very sun turned green to announce the twisted creature's triumph.
A book clattered to the ground just as Twilight jumped.
The last thing the once-great alicorn saw before all went black was its very first page fluttering open.
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Message at the end:
mynameissunset.killhernow.
My name is Sunset. Kill her now.
Damn bro! Celestia been the hero this whole time??
Is Celly bad or not? I'm confused.
11562262
The befuddlement is warranted and intentional, I can assure you. I left the ending very ambiguous and up to interpretation.
No one perspective gives all the answers and no clear 'winner' emerges. I did state in an earlier comment that I planned on making this as confusing as possible, so it would seem I have succeeded in that somewhat.
All I shall say is: The answers are there, if deeply hidden behind layers of implication and numerous distractions. If you care enough to read through it a few more times, you may just get them.
You can has review!