Equestria's chain of conflicts

by Dranz_89

It was all a dream, it was all a lie

"Your Highness!"

"Please, wake up!"

"Your royal duty can't wait any longer!"

"Princess! Wake up! Please!"

Princess Celestia woke up jumping from her bed, taking heavy breathing, she found herself on her bedroom. Beside her, there was Trusty Link, Princess Celestia's most trusted mare and advisor, a light yellow earth pony, whose mane and tail waved in a perfect zigzag, with a beautiful red tone and a silver stripe. A pink tie ribbon was pictured in her flank, representing the union between her and the Princess.

"Where's Discord?! What happened?! Where's Twilight?" The princess asked, very impatiently.

"Princess, please, calm down." Trusty Link replied. "You decreed that Twilight shall stay in Ponyville to study the magic of friendship, remember?"

"What? No. That was more than thirty years ago."

"That was last week, Princess. It seems you had a really long dream, maybe because of the stress of planning the Grand Galloping Gala."

"A dream?" Princess Celestia rubbed her head, she was certain that everything really happened. "But the war against the dragons, and King Sombra, everything felt so real..."

"Your highness... Are you feeling alright?"

"Discord was free again, and he was about to brig chaos once again... then, then I woke up..."

Trusty Link watched through the window, and stared at the garden of statues, but there was nothing unusual. Princess Celestia stood beside her to watch the statues too, she was very confused, but also, relieved upon seeing everything was normal.

"Your highness... I think that Nightmare Moon's matter really affected you. But thanks to Twilight and her friends, your sister is back safe and sound, and you recovered the Elements of Harmony. Everything will be fine from now on."

Trusty Link left the Princess' bedroom, "Take some time to relax, Princess, but not so much time. You have business you must attend to. And don't forget to raise the sun, of course." she said before closing the door.

Princess Celestia laid on her bed again, thinking about her strange dream, she remembered everything as if it really happened, but the peacefulness of her bedroom also seemed real. She decided to stand up, stretched her front legs, then her hind legs, and then her wings, her ritual for standing up from bed. She raised the sun from her balcony, and proceeded to left the bedroom, after closing the door, a royal guard bowed down to her upon passing her by. Good morning, your highness. The alicorn smiled at him, and started walking through the hallway, she turned on several corners and walked down a few stairs. She felt like it was a long time since she walked so quietly through the palace, but it also felt like it was like any other day, and nothing strange had happened in absolute.

Once downstairs, she turned left, heading to a big door wich leaded to the dining room. There was a tasty-looking breakfast, consisting of finely prepared daisy sandwiches, salads made from cabbagesand oranges, and sweet apple cider, and peach pies. Seated on a chair, there was Trusty Link, and beside her, there was Ceremony, she was the royal party planner, a pink unicorn with a beautiful and straight purple mane, she was wearing a silver tiara adorned by a small ruby, and her cutie mark was pictured by a golden star surrounded by tiny blue musical notes.

"Greetings, your majesty. The party planer is here." Trusty Link waved her hoof as the alicorn took a seat, and Ceremony bowed down to her.

"Ceremony? Where's Pinkie Pie?" Celestia questioned.

"Pinkie Pie. you said, Princess?" Ceremony replied, very confused.

"Umm, never mind... I apologize. It seems that my mind has been quite distracted, lately." Celestia stated.

"Oh! That's fine, princess. It's normal for a party host to be stressed from the preparations. It happens all the time." Ceremony replied. "Anyway, the Gala is scheduled, we got the decoration, the banquet, the ball, the only thing is missing is the music, I was thinking in the Canterlot Philarmonic Orchestra. They got a new member, and they say she plays wonderfully any instrument, specially the cello."

"A philarmonic... huh?" Princess Celestia wasn't very excited with the idea.

"Psst, Princess." Ceremony whispered to the alicorn. "I know how you feel about it, but remember, high class ponies come to the gala and they really enjoy all kinds of symphonical music. Remember, the Gala is for the subjects, not for you, princess."

Princess Celestia sighed, and answered. "That sounds wonderful, Ceremony. I don't think they refuse a concert at the Gala."

"Excellent, Princess. Oh! And what about your personal guests?" Ceremony suggested, and gave two tickets to Princess Celestia.

"Twilight Sparkle, of course." Princess Celestia answered without thinking twice. Then, she summoned a feather, a bottle of ink and paper, and began to write a formal invitation, then, she rolled the tickets inside it, and finally sent the letter with her magic. "It's the least I can do to thank her for saving my sister."

"Very well, your highness." Ceremony stood up from her seat. "I'll speak with the Philarmonic Orchestra, right away. As always, it is a delight to plan your parties." And so, the unicorn left the dining room, walking stylishly.

"Another year, another Gala, another awful night." Celestia bit a piece of pie, trying to swallow the disgust from the preparations of the Gala.

"I know that classical music is boring, princess. But the guests will really appreciate it." Trusty Link said.

"It's not just the music, Trusty. The Gala in general is awful." The Princess responded. "The banquet is barely an apperitive, the decoration doesn't seem to live up the party, and the guests only come to compete who is richer and more hypocrite. And you don't have to pretend, Trusty. I know you love classical music."

Trusty Link giggled nervously, and then she said. "But the Gala it's a tradition, princess. It is to celebrate..."

"... the union of the three races and the foundation of Equestria. I know, you think I don't know? I was there when it was first celebrated. At least I'll have a good time with my most faithful student."

"Twilight Sparkle is not exactly a party pony, your highness."

"No, but at least I get along well with her."

As Princess Celestia and Trusty Link conversated while they walked toward the door of the dining room, a particular question was made.

"Princess, how did you know I like classical music?"

"That's because you... you told me?" Princess Celestia stopped walking. "No... you didn't. But you were supposed to."

"Ummm... Princess?"

"You were planning on telling me that today, isn't it?" Princess Celestia realized.

"How did you...?"

"I remember... Yes, everything, it couldn't be a dream... "

"Princess, calm yourself, it was just a dream... Nothing important." Trusty Link tried to approach the princess.

"Dream or not, something is wrong here! Don't you see? It has to mean something!" Princess Celestia yelled at her, and that got the attention of all the ponies around.

"Your highness, you're alarming everypony..." Trusty Link stepped back with fear in her eyes.

"Is there something the matter, your highness?" An elegant white unicorn appeared, he was a member of the royal council.

"Something bad is happening! Summon the council, alarm the Royal Guards, and send the Royal Elite to patrol the cities of Equestria!"

"Pardon me, your highness?" The unicorn questioned. "I think you need to relax, there's nothing wrong happening, right now. I'll call the doctors, if that's fine with you."

"No! I don't need a doctor!" The princess yelled. "Do as I said!"

"Princess, we are just trying to help." Trusty Link tried to touch the princess.

"There's only one pony who can help me, Trusty Link! But you're not her." The alicorn said, shortly before she teleported, a flash of light blinded the ponies, and thus, the Princess was nowhere to be found in the palace.

"Where did she go? What's wrong with the princess?" One of the mares asked.

"To see the only pony she trusts more than me." Trusty Link replied.

In Ponyville, it was a beautiful day, there were some clouds on the sky that indicated that a certain pegasus hadn't finished her labors. The streets were lively and filled with ponies trotting around happily. Suddenly, Princess Celestia showed up from the flash of light caused by the alicorn's teleportation spell, the villagers were surprised, and then they bowed down to their princess as they wondered the cause of her visit. The Princess made haste to knock the library's door ignoring the townsfolk bowing down to her. But there was no answer.

"Your highness, if you're looking for Twilight Sparkle, she left early to Sweet Apple Acres." Daisy said.

Princess Celestia thanked and wasted no time to lift the flight, heading for the Apple's farm, where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were having a hoof-wrestling contest, until they were stopped by Twilight.

"Girls! These are MY tickets. I'll decide who gets it, thank you very much." Twilight scolded her friends.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Celestia, suddenly landed in front of her student, with a desperate look on her face. "You got to help me!"

And so, Twilight Sparkle and her friends met the princess in the library, Spike prepared a cup of lemon tea for everypony. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were worried, Fluttershy was nervous as usual, Pinkie Pie had no clue what was going on, and Rarity showed up with the finest dress she had designed.

Princess Celestia started relating the events of her dreams, mentioning every detail she could remember. While her student and her friends were listening, it was hard for them to believe the Princess' tale, but their reaction was completely negative when the princess mentioned a very important detail.

"... And so, the dragons attacked Canterlot, and took me as their prisoner, under Fluttershy's orders, she had betrayed us." The princess said.

"Your highness... Dragons scare me... I would never..." Fluttershy said, containing some tears from her eyes.

"It is true, Fluttershy. That's how I remember..." Princess Celestia tried to explain, but she was abruptly interrupted.

"That's it! I'm not going to let you pick on Fluttershy, not even you, Princess!" Rainbow Dash said. "Let's go, Flutters, we don't have to hear this nonsense!" Rainbow Dash took Fluttershy and turned around to give a disaproval look to the princess.

"No... please, don't go. You have to listen to me..." Celestia tried to stop them but they didn't listen.

"I believe you, princess." Twilight said, and Rainbow Dash, of course, had something to say about it.

"You believe her?! You can't be serious! Fluttershy wouldn't attack a cockroach, let alone start a war!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Princess, can you tell me what her name is?" Twilight pointed at Rarity.

Princess Celestia was confused by the question, but she anwered. "Her name is Rarity."

"Darling, I'm not so sure I can deduce the point of the Princess, knowing my name." Rarity said.

"That's exactly the whole point, Rarity. She knows your name." Twilight explained, as everypony else made gestures of confusion. "She knows all of your names, and she hasn't even asked them, she hasn't even bothered to meet you at all. This is the first time she actually talks to you directly, and still, she already knows who you are."

After hearing this, Twilight's friends realized she was right.

"Please, everypony, look in your memory. Everything I've said has already happened. Even this day, I remember it."

"So, are you saying that all this should be happening right now?" Spike asked.

"No... I changed the history." The princess replied. "But if I hadn't, everything would have happened just as I remember."

"Then, maybe... You traveled through time and you are a princess from the future!" Spike widened his eyes with excitement.

"No. If that was the case, there would be two Princesses Celestia. This is quite a predicament." Twilight cut the young dragon's excitement.

"That's why I came here looking for help. If I remember, so can you, you have to remember something!"

"Ah'm sorry, princess. But the only thing Ah can remember, is our lil' adventure at Everfree Forest." Applejack said, after trying to remember, and everypony else agreed with her.

Pinkie Pie bounced around for a while, and then, she stopped, she realized something. "Princess! What if the dream you had was a premonitory dream?"

"Pinkie! That's brilliant!" Twilight perked up her ears. "Only you remember all that, princess. Perhaps not because it has happened, but because it WILL happen!"

"A premonitory dream?" The princess stood silent, thoughtfully. "If that's the case... Then I have a second chance, to prevent the disasters in my dreams... That has to be it! Why didn't I thought of that?"

"We'll need to do some research on the matter, but first, why don't you tell us everything that happened in your dream." Twilight suggested.

After a hearing the rest of the Princess' dream, and explaining to Spike what a premonitory dream is, a long conversation about it took place. Princess Celestia had to reveal secrets of Equestria again. Some hours passed, the time for the night had to come, Princess Luna hadn't recovered her full power, so it was still Princess Celestia's responsibility to raise the night, but she refused to return to Canterlot Palace, and asked the ponies to keep her presence as a secret. She raised the night from the library's balcony, and after that, the ponies discussed where the princess should stay. Rarity tried to convince the princess to stay in Carousel Boutique using complex arguments and terms, but her friends were only convinced that Rarity would make a scandal about the Princess staying with her.

They decided that the princess should stay at the library, but Princess Celestia stated that it would be obvious and she would be easy to find, in the end, the princess herself, decided to stay in Sugarcube Corner, maybe it was because of her love for desserts. After that, everypony left to their respectives homes, Princess Celestia covered herself with a sheet and left with Pinkie Pie.

A few hours after her friends left, Twilight was reading a book about dreams and predictions while Spike grabbed Twilight's mirror and locked himself in the bedroom, he did that quite often, but Twilight never gave that much importance. After a few minutes, somepony knocked on the door.

"Spike! Somepony's at the door!" Twilight said without taking her sight away from the book.

"I know... I'll get it..." Spike came out and went downstairs, after a second couple of knocks on the door, Spike opened. "Sorry, the library is closed at night, come back tomorrow." He said.

"I'm not here for the books, I came to visit the librarian." Trusty Link was the one knocking the door.

"Who is it, Spike?" Twilight also came downstairs, and recognized the pony in front of the door at first sight.

"Hello, Twilight." Trusty Link said.

"Hello." Twilight answered, they stared at each other with unhappy faces and creating an awkward silence.

"Yeah... well... it's been some time, right?" Spike tried to break the ice.

"Not enough time." Twilight said.

"Ummm... I'll be at that side of the library... Alright? Okay..." Spike left the two ponies alone and dropped some books from the shelves just to pick them up, as an excuse to not get involved.

"Aren't you going to invite me in, Twilight?" Trusty Link asked. Twilight opened the door and let the way clear, after her guest came inside the library, Twililight slammed the door as hard as she could, and the sound startled Spike.

"Very well, where is she?" Trusty Link inmediately asked, inspecting the library.

"Not here." Twilight confronted her.

"Twilight, you have to tell me, or else something awful may happen." Trusty Link threatened.

"She doesn't want to return, and I promised to help her."

Trusty Link sighed and said. "Look, Twilight, we may not be the best of friends, but you have to help me with this. The gravity of the situation is a lot worse than you may think. Equestria is without a princess, and the council is thinking that the princess is not capable of ruling Equestria because of her... mental instability."

"What? Why would they think that?" Twilight was speechless,

"It's all my fault... I tried to justify the princess' behavior but I just made everything worse, now they think the princess is crazy and that she needs help. We need to show them that the princess Celestia is okay, that it was all a mistake, and that her dreams mean nothing. Please, Twilight, we must make the princess come back to the palace before the council takes action."

Twilight stood silent again, in shock. Just as Trusty Link said, she didn't expect the plight to be so grave.

"Fine... After all, it's for the princess' sake, right?" Twilight nodded quietly.

"Thank you, Twilight! Everything will be alright." Trusty Link held Twilight's hooves, and shook them with appreciation.

"Just... Just leave, ok?" Twilight said and turn her back at the earth pony. Trusty Link left silenty, and only the sound of the door closing behind Twilight.

When Pinkie Pie and Princess Celestia reached Sugarcube Corner, she introduced herself to the Cake famiily, the earth ponies were happy to recieve the princess, and even if not all the truth was revealed to them, they promised to help her. After a long conversation of how Pinkie Pie met Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and a sweet and delicious dinner, bedtime had come. Pinkie Pie lend her bed to the princess, then she grabbed some blankets and pillows to prepare a small bed for herself on the floor.

"Good night, your highness..." Pinkie Pie said. "Everything will be solved tomorrow..."

"Good night, Pinkie..." The princess answered. Pinkie Pie laid, and inmediately fell asleep.

The whole night passed so fast that the princess' sleep felt like a mere blink, no dreams whatsoever, not a single premonition, and not even a single thought before falling asleep. The princess turned her sight to Pinkie Pie who was snoring like a bear. The princess giggled and performed the sun rising spell, little by little the the daybreak's light started coming inside the window.

Mrs. Cake slightly opened the bedroom's door, she poked her face and said in a low voice. "Your highness, Twilight wants to see you."

The princess, then, put on the sheet on herself once again, and Twilight was waiting for the princess right outside the bedroom.

"Follow me, princess." Twilight said, very seriously, and the princess followed without questioning.

It was still early, there were barely a few ponies already awake, and even fewer walking the streets. The walk went from Sugarcube Corner to the northern side of the town, without a conversation, after a few turns, they walked inside an alleyway, and inside it, Trusty Link was waiting for them.

"Trusty Link? What does this mean?" The Princess bewildered, turned around to flee, but some unicorns had lifted a barrier around the alleyway, leaving no escape.

"Princess, please, listen to me..." Twilight tried to reason.

"No, Twilight, how could you do this to me?!" Princess Celestia went into berserk, she spread her wings and lifted off. "You said you believed me, I thought that you could help me to interpret my dreams! At least the Twilight from my dreams was loyal, even if filled with doubts, she would fight to help me. But you... you ratted me at the first opportunity you had!"

Trusty Link tried to convince the princess to stop. "Princess, that was just a dream! This is real! Think of what you're doing to Equestria! Please, be rational!"

"I am being rational, Trusty Link. You didn't listen to me. Why should I listen to you? My most loyal ponies turned against me, this whole Equestria has turned against me! Is almost as if this was a bad dream from the very beginning..."

And so, Princess Celestia realized there was a possibility that she had not considered.

"My dream... It wasn't a dream... THIS is the dream! I am having a really, really bad dream. Discord! He must be behind all this."

The Princess bursted into light, and everything turned blank, then, Princess Celestia woke up jumping from her bed with heavy breathing once again. She was all alone in her bedroom, and everything seemed normal, it looked like the dream was just restarted, she quickly got up from her bed, and ran to the bedroom's door, once she opened it, she found Trusty Link and General Shining Armor who were about to get in.

"Your highness! You are awake!" Trusty Link gasped.

"Yes, I am... Is there something wrong?" Princess Celestia asked suspiciously.

"You don't remember? Discord returned... and he..." Trusty Link looked down.

"Discord, you said? Wonderful!" The princess interrupted and sighed of relief. "I mean, not wonderful... It's just... I had the most awful dream ever."

"Discord put you to sleep, your highness. And he said you would never wake up." General Shining Armor said.

"It's fine, now. Did I slept too much? I almost don't feel my wings nor my horn."

"Yeah... funny thing you mention that, princess..." Trusty Link said and shared worried look with Shining Armor.

Princess Celestia turned to her mirror, and after staring at herself for a few seconds, she let out a loud and long shriek which echoed throughout the palace.