The First Twilight

by darkforce95

15 - The Favorite

Twilight paced the main hall outside the throne room, hands folded behind her in worry. Cadance was inside the throne room listening to a group of military personnel explaining why a trial to convict Star Dusk of regicide would not be necessary.

How did it get to this?…

---

The train ride from the closest train station to changeling territory had culminated in the girls agreeing that they would not speak a word of what they had witnessed. If pressed, they would claim that Chrysalis killed both of the Celestial Sisters.

Twilight turned to the front of the car to see how the auburn haired boy was. He had been quiet the entire journey thus far, though that could have been due to the fact that he and Sparkling Gauntlet had been carrying the stone body of Discord over which Star Dusk was now standing guard.

“To answer your unspoken question Princess,” began Sparkling Gauntlet, garnering Twilight’s attention, “He’s going to hate this idea.”

“But why?” cut in Rarity.

“Because he blames himself.” said Twilight. Sparkling Gauntlet nodded her head to confirm.

“But none of it was his fault!” interjected Rainbow Dash.

The emerald eyed knight turned to her with disbelieving look, “If you were standing over a dead body with a bloody knife in your hand, would you think that you weren’t responsible?” she posed.

The five girls thought deeply on how it could be explained away.

The violet haired magi looked over her shoulder at the guilt laden guard, the glowing aura that usually is there was gone. If it weren’t for his pointed ears, she would have guessed he was an earthbound human. “He is guilty of the crime. But that doesn’t mean he deserves the punishment.” she spoke as if musing aloud.

“Not saying that I want him to be punished but, what makes you think he doesn’t deserve to be punished?” posited the blonde knight, “Right now, it sounds like you’re playing favorites.”

“So what if we are?” shot back Applejack while standing up.

The car grew silent save for the click clack of the train along the tracks. Everyone wracked their brains for a solution to the problem.

“If,” Twilight began, breaking the long silence, “If I could get him to at least agree to a compromise, do you think you all will accept the changes?”

The girls looked at each other and nodded.

“If you think you could convince him to even accept a little of our plan, be my guest.” said a skeptical Sparkling Gauntlet.

Twilight stood up and walked to the front of the cabin. She sat across from Star Dusk, garnering his attention momentarily before his gaze went back to the statue.

“Can we talk?” she began. Star Dusk shifted his position, leaning forward toward her showing he was listening. “Look at me.”

“I’m listening.” he replied unflinchingly.

“Star Dusk, I want you to look at me. Discord isn’t going anywhere.”

He turned to her, his eyes seeming to well up for a moment and he blinked the tears away, leaving behind his bloodshot eyes. Twilight’s heart ached in her chest. It pained her so much to see him in such emotional agony and holding it all back.

Star Dusk slowly blinked and took a deep breath while leaning back. “Did you get bored back there?” he asked, forcing a big smile across his face.

“Stop it.” Twilight unintentionally snapped, causing him to momentarily lose his control of his smile. “You don’t have to fake anything with me.” she finished softly.

“Then please don’t ask for the impossible.” Star Dusk replied, smile fully fading from his face and tears welling up once more. He leaned forward once more and buried his face in his hands. “I can’t stand to see the suffering in your eyes.”

Twilight closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, stifling a sob. “We’re both reasonable people. As such, I want you to listen to me to the end, okay?”

Star Dusk pulled his face from his hands but still looked downward.

“The girls and I discussed it and we decided that, as far as we’re concerned, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were,” she paused to collect herself, “They were killed by the changelings.”

Silence pervaded for a few minutes before Twilight continued, “The whole situation was out of our control. There was no way we could be expected to… to…”

Her tears flowed freely again. She sniffled and hiccuped in vain to keep the emotions from coming out. “W-We h-have t-t-to *sniff* We just have to a-accept that some things j-just were beyond our control.”

Star Dusk remained silent as asked, even through her sobs. She rubbed her violet eyes now tinged with red. “S-So, that’s fine right?”

“We both know the answer to that.” he replied flatly.

“But why-”

“Tell me something... Why don’t you hate me?”

All of Twilight’s thought processes stopped. It was the one thing she’d hoped, wished, that he would never ask. She had rationalized a reason why she shouldn’t hate him back at the changeling ambush. But now, she wasn’t as certain as to why she didn’t.

Her silence lead Star Dusk to continue, “I’ve killed both rulers of the land you hold dear. I’ve killed your mentor. I could have killed your friends. What cause is there for my forgiveness, from you or from anyone? I am a daemon, my presence heralds death to all-”

“Stop it!” she snapped again, “You are the most honest, kind, generous, and loyal knight I have ever met. You would never do anything that would cause harm to anyone purposefully or without cause.” She rose up, looking down upon him, “So don’t you dare belittle yourself to that level! You are not a herald of death!”

The car fell silent again. Twilight slowly sat down again, eyes falling to look at her own feet. “So I’ll ask again.” she began, “Why can’t we just use our interpretation of the story?”

“Because it wasn’t the changelings who had their arm through Princess Celestia’s chest.”

Twilight flinched at the blunt answer. “But you weren’t yourself either. There is such thing as hypnotic magic.” she offered, raising her head

Star Dusk met her gaze with heavy sarcasm in his eyes, “Did it look like the Changeling Queen was manipulating me? She was just as scared of me as you were.”

“I was not scared.” she replied indignantly, “I was worried.”

“For whom?” he asked as if expecting the answer.

Twilight sighed before answering, “I won’t lie to you. Of course I was worried for the Princess. But that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t concerned for you too. But that’s not the point right now.”

Twilight stood up and turned as if returning to the back of the car, “If you won’t accept our plan, then we will compromise.”

Star Dusk moved to argue but Twilight continued undaunted, “If someone asks for details of the event, we will not hide any of what happened. But if the questions asked are not for specific detail, all we will say is that the Princesses were killed.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. She hoped, prayed, that he would accept her terms. The minute of silence stretched out into several, then soon into hours and days... or so it felt. She was just about to turn around to gauge his thoughts when he finally spoke up.

“If that’s your wish. I will honor that much, but I’ll not have you take any of the blame for me.”

Twilight breathed a silent sigh of relief and walked back to her waiting friends….

---

Twilight continued pacing the hall in front of the throne room.

How are they still discussing this? I didn’t think anyone would have stood up for him. And Cadence is supposed to be neutral in all of this.

She unwittingly began playing with the trinket that now hung from her neck.

---

They arrived at Canterlot what should have been late in the day, the two celestial bodies were high in the sky with neither one looking to lower anytime soon. Once they pulled into the station, the group was swarmed by guards asking for the Princesses. A quick, and purposeful, fainting spell by Rarity got them by any details and allowed them some rest in the castle quarters while Discord got taken back to his pedestal by the guards.

The group walked the halls of the palace toward the bedrooms. Star Dusk continued on once they had reached the bedrooms they had been assigned.

“Where do you think you’re going Starshine?” asked Sparkling Gauntlet.

“To think.” he replied continuing on his way.

“He ain’t thinkin’ of ‘fessing up right?” Asked AJ.

“He agreed to our terms. Unless he’s asked, he’ll remain silent.”

The girls all stared at his back as he walked deeper into the castle.

“Lie of omission...” said Sparkling Gauntlet turning into the room.

“I should go talk to him.” said Twilight.

“Let him think Princess.” Sparkling Gauntlet advised as Twilight began her first steps to follow. “I know that face all too well. He needs to think. Alone.”

“But I’m his friend!” she replied spinning around “He should be able to-”

“And I was his brother-in-arms. He should be able to share anything with me too.” She sat down on one of the beds, hung her head low, and had her eyes meet her feet.

“I ain’t saying you’re wrong there Sparky, but he ain’t made a tissue either.” countered AJ.

“You’re right, he is made of tougher stuff.” she said, “But then again, even the most steeled person would bend upon the revelations, to speak nothing of the actions, that were done last night. He found out he had family, BLOOD family, still alive in this era of the far flung future. AND that family had ALWAYS been by his side just like they should. But then in that same very instant….”

The room fell silent as the unspoken finish permeated the air. The weight fell heavy on Twilight as she was torn between chasing after Star Dusk to further comfort him or to leave him to think.

When she came back to reality, she noticed that all eyes were on her save for the changeling knight’s. She took a deep breath before speaking:

“We’ll let him think for a bit. He already knows that we’re there for him so it’ll be fine.” I hope…

---

The doors finally opened up and Star Dusk was led away with both his arms and legs in chains. Twilight tried to meet his eyes but the guards blocked her view and dragged him away. She went into the throne room and found Cadance with her forehead propped up on her hand, eyes closed as if she was fighting away a headache.

“Cadance?” asked Twilight timidly as she walked in.

Cadance raised her head and smiled brightly. “Twilight! Finally done with that business for now. How’re you feeling?”

Twilight walked in further, a smile spreading to her face as well. The two hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in ages.

“I’m doing fine. What happened? I thought they would convince you to not hold a trial.”

“I may not have been a princess for very long, but I do know my way around laws and social gatherings. Though admittedly one of those things was of little use in this case.” she chuckled.

“And you remained the neutral party?”

“Well honestly I fought pretty hard for holding a full trial. But I can still claim to have no conflict of interest as I was acting within my role here.” she replied, pride swelling in her voice.

“Well, tell me! What did you do?”

Cadance cleared her throat. “According to Equestrian Law, a citizen of Equestria has a right to due process of a trial by jury.” she smiled looking at her sister-in-law, “They of course had to argue that it would not apply in this case.

“Their first argument was that since the crime did not take place within Equestria, the law did not apply. To which I played devil’s advocate, well within my rights as overseer of proceedings might I add, and claimed that this loophole is clearly non existent as the law states the specific person to have the rights of a trial, not the location of the crime.

“Then they countered with the fact that he had been proclaimed as MIA which counts as a death certificate and that proclamation was never officially revoked. The argument being that a dead man could not be a citizen.”

“Which is ridiculous since they want the death penalty.” Twilight commented.

“Exactly. I said that by the very nature of the crimes brought against him, the state DOES recognize he was alive enough to put to death… That’s where it got interesting.”

Twilight cocked her head in confusion, “How do you mean?”

“The last argument against having full proceedings was that, well, it was something he had brought up at the start of the hearing. We went through the motions and had him state his name, rank, etcetera.”

“Which he would have said Star Dusk, none, and none.”

“Well, no. He said his rank was royal guard.” Twilight sighed before Cadance continued, “But when asked who would have been his next of kin, he said Celestia and Luna.”

Twilight’s heart stopped. “Why was he asked that? That’s not normal procedure.”

“I’m not sure as to why. But that fed their last argument after the first two failed. They claimed that his motivation was not the regicide itself but a coup attempt.”

“WHAT?! That’s absurd! First off, He wouldn’t need to kill Luna if it was a coup. Secondly,-”

“Unfortunately for them,” Cadance interjected, “that would change the whole premise of the case from that of regicide to an attempted coup d'etat. Which means they would need more evidence to support the claim. Of course they had no such evidence and requested an extension to gather the evidence.”

“You didn’t grant them that extension did you? They are basically going on a changeling hunt.” said Twilight, ignoring the irony of Sparkling Gauntlet being a guest of the castle.

“I couldn’t deny the motion without presenting myself in a conflict of interest.”

Twilight hung her head. But Cadance just smiled at her.

“I did, however, say that since the hearing could not proceed without proof of the intent to commit a coup then the swifter route would be to charge him with attempted coup d’etat. If he is found guilty then the regicide can be assumed and the trial process for THAT charge could be circumvented.”

“CADANCE!” cried Twilight, “Why did you do that?!”

“Relax Twilight. I did it because they cannot prove attempted coup without a conviction under their belt. And the charge of attempted coup d’etat cannot circumvent due process and a fair trial.”

Twilight’s face brightened one hundred fold. It had been ages since she had felt so elated. She unconsciously fiddled with the trinket at her neck again. Cadance took notice of the new habit.

“Where did you get that, Twilight?”

“Where did I get what?”

“That locket that you’re playing with.”

“Oh, this? Well…”

---

Twilight woke up in what would have been the middle of the night, wide awake. She saw each of her friends sleeping soundly before her ears caught a floating melody from the balcony. She got up and went there and found it empty though the toy like melody persisted.

Twilight closed her eyes and found it coming from higher up than her position. She bathed in the dulcet tones and wonderful melody of the song until the last bar was played. She felt relaxed for the first time since the ordeal started though her concern remained. The song came to its conclusion and Twilight opened her eyes and looked toward the source. She found a figure up on the upper balcony she recognized as Princess Celestia’s chambers.

She sprinted from her balcony as quickly as she could. The wind whistled in her pointed ears as she passed by countless doors. The cold marble floors barely registering as her feet seemed to only graze the ground. She flung open the door and saw the same figure still on the balcony.

She slowly walked forward as if the violent movement of the door had not already alerted the figure to her presence.

“You shouldn’t be walking through the castle barefoot.” said the figure in a very familiar voice. She walked forward more briskly and found Star Dusk sitting on the edge of the balcony, a box in his hand.

“What are you doing up so late?” she asked sitting across from him.

“I could ask you the same thing, if-”

“You don’t have to finish that thought.” she interrupted. “I guess we both know why. The clearer question is what are you doing here?”

Star Dusk looked down and fiddled with the box within his grasp. “I’m not so sure myself…”

Twilight to a seat next to him. He didn’t seem as distant as he was on the train ride or when they first arrived. It was almost as if they were back to the way it had been. She looked down at the borrowed nightgown she was wearing and she recalled the first night he had spent at the library and how she tried to keep him from training.

“What’s so funny?” Star Dusk asked. Twilight had not noticed that she was giggling at the memory.

“Do you remember the first night you spent in Ponyville? Particularly the early morning?”

The young man snickered, “Yeah, you had some questions or something but came down in nothing but your panties.”

“Hey! I had my top on thank you very much!” she shot back, her cheeks feeling like a hot stove. “I had thought that you, coming from the time that you did, thought that my ‘nightgown’ wasn’t decent to wear as the ‘fairer sex’.”

“Forsooth, Twilight Sparkle.” he replied, mocking his old way of speaking. “Thou should give great care of protecting thy dignity and maidenhead considering thy station.”

Twilight slapped his shoulder, “Mine ‘dignity’ and ‘maidenhead’ are well considered good sir. They shouldn’t be part of your consideration, sir.” she replied haughtily and laughing.

“A little broken, but your point is taken.” he said rubbing the afflicted area, stifling a few more laughs.

The laughter died down and silence once again took the air. Star Dusk fiddled with the box in his hands. Twilight's gaze followed the box as he stood up and walked back in the room, setting the box on the dresser.

“What’s that?”

Star Dusk took a moment and heaved a short but heavy sigh, “An old music box. It’s remarkably well kept considering its age.”

“How do you know?”

“I gave this and one just like it to Luna and Celestia after graduating from the academy. Though I’m sure that this is just a replica and the original has since been lost to decay. It plays the same tune though.”

Twilight went to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure it’s the same one, and they kept it in good repair because they cared about you.”

“A bit of favoritism doesn’t really suit the rulers of a nation.”

“They were people first, and it’s human nature to have people you like more than others.”

Star Dusk turned toward Twilight and held up a necklace. “Here, I think Celestia wanted you to have this.”

“What is it?” she asked, looking at the pendant that hung from the necklace. “And why do you think that it’s for me?”

“It’s jewelry and it’s something that her- our mother gave her before leaving on that mission.”

Twilight carefully took the necklace from him. It seemed to twinkle in the light of the two heavenly bodies in the sky. The pendant actually seemed to be a locket. She tried to open it to no avail.

“Since Celestia was teaching you personally and had no children of her own, I can only assume that that would go to you.”

“It must have gotten jammed over the years” she commented.

“Or you aren’t opening it right.”

Twilight looked at Star Dusk and saw that he was quite serious with his statement.

“So you’re saying it doesn’t open with the latch or physical force.”

“That would be my guess.”

“So you opened it already?”

“Nope, but the latch does not seem broken or jammed so I made an assumption.”

“You know what they say about assumptions…”

“They are a statement that is accepted as true without any proof.”

“I didn’t ask for a dictionary-” she stopped realizing the statement “You made a joke!”

“Are you saying that it wasn’t funny?”

Twilight smiled warmly as the thought that he was coming out of his depression took hold in her mind. She then put on the necklace and began fidgeting with the locket.

“That’s gonna become a bad habit.” Star Dusk noted.

“Shush, it doesn’t matter.” she chided back while looking back at him, “Thank you.”

No sooner than the words left her mouth, the door burst open again and a unit of guards poured in separating the two. She could see them push Star Dusk onto the bed face first and cuff him in magically enhanced binds.

“Star Dusk, you are under arrest for the murder of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”

“No wait, there must be some mistake!” Twilight cried out, trying to push through the guards in her way as they dragged him out of the room. “He didn’t-”

“Twilight, please.” said a guard that was blocking her view, “I don’t want to have to restrain you too.”

In a matter of moments, Star Dusk was taken away and Twilight fell to the floor.

“You should go back to bed, Twilight.” said the same guard as warmly as possible as they began following their team. “Everything will be better in the morning.”

Twilight sat on the floor with fresh tears streaming down her face. Her hands then reactively went to the locket around her neck.

“But.... he was our favorite…”

Author's Note:

Man, I left this squandering for so long. But thanks for being patient.

As always, leave comments for improvements!