The three ovines picked their way through pitch-black forest. The moon had nearly set so the only illumination underneath the canopy came from the dimly glowing eyes of the giant ram leading the way. While they walked the hour flowed into the strange temporal backwaters that could no longer be comfortably called “late” but neither yet called “early.”
Twilight hissed as her now-unfamiliar ankle turned on an unseen root. She held her balance and avoided falling but raised her quavering voice in sheepish complaint. “If I were still a-a-a unicorn, I could make some light.”
“But as you so keenly observed, you are not,” was Grogar’s sardonic reply.
A few minutes later Apple Bloom broke the silence. “How long are we going to sta-a-ay like this?”
“I must refer your question to the ewe who cast the spell,” Grogar deflected.
Twilight growled in irritation. “Since, I can’t dismiss the spell we’ll have to wait until it wears off. It should only be a day or so.”
“Ok, then” the filly answered without stress or alarm, apparently expecting a worse prognosis.
Grogar shushed the two of them, “We’re almost there. Remember, above all else: don’t run.”
The females nodded in unison, forgetting about Grogar’s scourged eyes. The strange trio then continued forward, even slower than before.
Several minutes later they passed into the clearing where the deer had once made their home. As she left the cover of the canopy, Twilight’s jaw dropped as the night sky came into view. The stars burned with an intensity she had never seen before. Even the smallest specks, usually only visible using her telescope, poured their light out in torrents. The milky way could no longer be resolved into single stars and coated the sky like a thick coat of paint. The constellations, so well known to Twilight she thought of them as companions, were rendered unidentifiable due to the presence of so many extra stars. Her eyes widened as she took in the spectacle of Luna’s creation.
At first, the only emotion Twilight felt was wonder as the unprecedented beauty of the sky touched her soul. As her momentary rapture passed, her heart fell into her stomach as she started to wonder what the display meant. Hypotheses rocketed back and forth across her brain: “Is it an expression of grief? Or is it a message of ‘good riddance to bad ponies’? Did this show hope or despair? Or did this have nothing at all to do with us or me?”
“Twi?” Apple Bloom bleated. “A-are you ok?”
“I...I’m fine,” Twilight lied.
“Then why are you crying?”
The violet ewe raised a cloven hoof to her cheek and felt the wool’s moisture. “I...” her answer stalled out after the simple word. Twilight didn’t even know how to explain it to herself, let alone to the girl. It was all she could do to not break down in sobs as she met Apple Bloom’s innocent but insightful eyes.
“If we may proceed?” Grogar harrumphed in an attempt to drag everysheep’s attention back to the task at hoof. The ram gestured into the clearing with a tilt of his curling horns. Visible in the blazing starlight were piles of bones, one for each of the revenants that had pursued Apple Bloom, Twilight, and Sweetie Belle.
Twilight immediately pushed all thoughts of her failed romance to the back of her mind. “Are they...?” Twilight asked.
“No, they’re...empty.” Apple Bloom answered.
“Agreed, but their owners are nearby,” Grogar added.
“What do we do now?” the yellow lamb asked.
“We give them what they are due,” he answered.
Twilight said the first thing that came to mind. “Justice?”
“Let’s start with something a bit simpler,” the ram replied with a small but legitimate smile. “How about we start with a proper burial?”
“Oh,” Twilight exclaimed, happy to have a tangible goal to keep her mind occupied. “Six graves, coming right up.” The former unicorn reached for her magic, intending to telekinetically scoop out the required holes, and found it missing. She nearly stumbled at the unexpected absence.
“It looks like we’ll be doing this the hard way, Miss Sparkle,” said Grogar with obvious mirth. “How ever will you manage?”
“Har-de-har-har,” she sniped back.
The ram chose to ignore Twilight’s retort. “Me and Apple Bloom will dig the graves. You can clean the bones.”
“Clean...the bones,” Twilight’s nose scrunched in disgust. “Why? Aren’t we going to just put them back under the dirt?”
“Burial customs; it was their way,” replied Grogar.
“Ok, fine.” Twilight replied, a bit chagrined by her initial reluctance. She turned to her yellow companion, “Um, Apple Bloom? Did you happen to pack a rag- Ba-a-a-ah!” The violet ewe bleated and spun around at the sudden pain in her flank. Immediately behind her was Grogar, looking as innocent as a cat and holding a large tuft of violet wool between his craggy teeth.
The ram lowered his head and gently placed the stolen fluff on the ground between them. “This should be up to the task.”
Twilight stared daggers at the ram but took the tuft of wool in her own mouth without comment. She then moved to the nearest pile of deer bones and began working.
------------------------------------
Apple Bloom’s breath took on a practiced rhythm as she worked alongside Grogar, pawing at the earth with her cloven hooves. The giant ram was able to scoop out far more soil with each movement but the filly was used to carrying out farm-work beside Big Macintosh. She added her finesse to his power with practiced ease and the hole grew quickly.
As the work progressed, Grogar began to make a low, rumbling sound in the back of his throat. At first, Apple Bloom thought it was some sort of breathing difficulty and began to grow concerned for the ancient thing. By the time they were starting the second grave, the filly deciphered an odd rhythm to the droning and realized that the old goat wasn’t in any distress but was singing. It wasn’t a proper song, at least no how ponies sang. The pitch never changed as the ram droned on. There were no verses, it just seemed to continue on forever.
As they began the third grave Apple Bloom was concentrating more on the god’s chant than on the work before her, something that would have earned her a cuff back on the farm. The rhythm was strange, she tried to count along to the pulsing beat and kept finding herself falling off the beat somewhere around seven-and-a-half. She eventually gave up on finding the beat and turned her concentration onto the sound itself. The filly could find syllables and other gaps between consonants but could find nothing that she could parse into actual words. She wondered if the chant was simply abstract, a series of noises, or some unknown tongue, ancient and occult.
The duo began their work on the fourth grave. Apple Bloom started to notice shapes moving at the edges of her vision: the ghosts were back. The girl turned towards Twilight and inhaled, intending to inform the librarian about the return of the spirits. However, before she could speak, Grogar’s soil-covered hoof pressed against her lips. Once she turned to lock eyes with him, the ram shook his head to request silence. As he pulled his hoof away from her face, she could feel the grave-dirt adhering to her lips. She ground the back of her foreleg against her lips but couldn’t completely rid herself of the dark soil’s tannic tang.
The pitch, tempo, and volume of Grogar’s chant all increased in response to the ghostly audience. Further adding to the strange, not-song, the ram began to stomp his right-front hoof at odd intervals that somehow landed in-time with the surging rhythm. This movement caused a chorus of high-pitched bells to sing out. Their jingling voices somehow lingered in the air, adding a layer of sound each time the god stomped his hoof. The aural miasma grew thicker with every beat, filling the clearing with a hypnotic blanket of sound.
Apple Bloom’s stomach dropped as she felt the clearing fall away from the world at-large. The further they fell, the clearer the six, cervid ghosts became. Instead of just seeing their luminous shapes, the filly could now see the hairs of their fur and the irises of their eyes; they looked real. She began to whimper as the clearing sank deeper and her own flesh began to melt and run. The false form she was wearing fell away from her soul and the matter that comprised her body rearranged itself to match the truth of her. She was once again a pony and her Mark burned on her flank, shedding a sepia light around her.
Blinking her restored pony eyes, Apple Bloom saw yet more shapes encroaching the clearing. Dozens upon dozens of faint glimmers were waxing brighter with each beat of the chant. As the motes brightened they began to take form. These too were ghosts of deer, so long dead and forgotten as to be nothing more than glimmers back in the real world, even to Apple Bloom’s gifted eyes.
Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, the filly turned her eyes back to Twilight. She watched as the purple ewe’s body gradually shifted back into the shape of a mare. The process looked gross and painful but it looked like Twilight didn’t feel anything nor even notice the shift. The mare simply continued scrubbing at the stubborn stains, now with a mouthful of her tail.
While the unicorn worked, the ghosts of the six deer whose home this was closed in on Twilight.
“Twilight,” Grogar said the unicorn’s name, the words somehow being spoken without interrupting the god’s chant.
Without stopping or looking up from her labors, the mare made an interrogative noise.
“I forget, what was it you first said these deer were owed?”
Apple Bloom watched in rapt attention as Twilight spat out her own hair. The hair kept moving under its own volition and creeped towards the unicorn’s truncated tail which now rippled and flowed as well.
Twilight cleared her throat even as it lengthened, “I said they were owed justice.”
“Why?” Grogar prompted as Apple Bloom mouthed the same word. The six ghosts inside the clearing paused in their approach, evidently listening to Twilight’s answer.
Twilight fluttered growing wings in agitation, gathering her thoughts before replying. “They were murdered by my people. Those who did it may have thought they needed to do so in order to have a home for themselves but there had to have been another way. What happened was inexcusable.”
“That is the sin but what about justice. How can you give justice to the long dead?”
The longer sentence allowed Apple Bloom to compare Grogar’s words to his mouth’s movements. Everyone within the clearing heard those words but they did not come from the ram’s mouth.
Twilight sat for a few moments, searching for the answer while her body finished shifting around her. Still deep in thought, she resumed her cleaning, using her hooves to guide the flowing divine essence that now comprised her tail over the filthy mortal remains. “I don’t know,” the goddess eventually admitted. She pulled her eyes away from the bones to look over to Grogar and Apple Bloom. Her sight-line passed blindly through one of the spirits surrounding her.
“What about ‘blood for blood’?” the ram asked as the faded spirits pressed against the edge of the clearing.
“No,” Twilight quickly replied. “That’s just revenge.” Another long pause, “This guilt, it’s so remote but pervasive at the same time. It’s huge, it...” She brushed at the bones in her hooves, “stains everything but those whose did this are long dead too.” The alicorn shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the distasteful thought. “I am to blame, just by being a unicorn living in Equestria, through no action of my own.”
The spectral stag lowered his antlers and shifted his weight. His intent was obvious to Apple Bloom, he was going to impale the mare in the throat. The filly shouted her name in warning, “Twilight!” The ghosts paused and turned their heads as one towards the filly. Grogar’s breath hissed inwards in alarm. She gulped.
The eponymous alicorn’s raised her head and focused her eyes on Apple Bloom. Her brow creased as if just now noticing that the filly had once again become a pony and began to question that fact. Apple Bloom heard Grogar’s chant falter and strain as she saw Twilight fighting to clear her mind. The purple goddess shook her head and the clearing shook with it.
The ghosts surrounding the clearing didn’t fade as Grogar’s spell began to come apart at the seams. Instead they began stepping through the unseen barrier enclosing the clearing, intent on the alicorn who still couldn’t see them. Apple Bloom heard the great ram’s voice straining and gasping as he struggled to hold the spell together in the face of a goddess’ disbelief.
Apple Bloom turned as she saw Grogar fall to his knees. The god couldn’t speak, as he fought to put one syllable in front of the other. His empty eyes were begging her to do...something. The filly fought against the blinding terror that threatened to consume her mind as more and more ghosts filled the space around them.
Twilight, still unaware of any threat, finished fighting free of the hypnotic effects of the chant. She looked up at the stars blazing in the night. To the alicorn, they seemed further away than before in some indefinable way. Within her mind she lined up her recent treatment of her mare-friend against the words she had just been saying. To no one she whispered, “Oh Luna, I understand now.”
The pieces fell together in Apple Bloom’s mind and she said, “What do you understand, Twi? What about justice?” she prompted while forcing herself not to scream the words.
“All I can do is apologize and beg for forgiveness. I can’t give them back their lives but I cannot allow them to take the lives of others.” Twilight’s eyes stayed riveted to the stars above, as ghosts pressed around her, only inches from her exposed throat. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me.” Tears ran freely from her eyes.
The last strands of Grogar’s spell snapped and the clearing crash-landed back into the real world. Apple Bloom’s eyes had closed in the magical impact and when she reopened them Twilight, the unicorn, was sitting in the same spot where the goddess had been just a moment ago. Hundreds upon hundreds of ghostly deer surrounded the purple mare. The crowd far exceeded the capacity of the clearing and spread out into the woods. The great white stag, antlers just inches from Twilight, raised his head and pulled the deadly points away from the mare. Twilight’s eyes shifted to meet the stag’s and she whispered, “I’m sorry,” to the undead cervid.
The world froze, as if Gaia herself were holding her breath. The stag silently regarded the unicorn, while Apple Bloom silently counted her panting breaths. “One, two, three, four, fi-” The stag moved, a subtle nod amplified by his branching antlers into a graceful gesture. He closed his unearthly eyes and the filly felt him let go. It didn’t become invisible or move to some other part of the forest, the stag went to whatever came next. The glowing essence of the spectre lost its sharp edges and blew away on whatever ethereal breeze tugged at alicorn manes. Spreading like a forest fire, the other ghosts followed the stag’s lead and the deer discorporated into quickly fading plumes of aether. In a matter of seconds, they were alone.
Apple Bloom was still staring into the now vacant trees when Twilight spoke. “Hey, you two. Stop staring at the trees and let’s get this done. I have to get home and read some letters.”
The filly turned back to Twilight mouth hanging open in incredulity. “You’ve gotta be-!” Apple Bloom felt a large hoof drop onto her shoulders, cutting her off. She turned her face to Grogar and pleaded, “But how-”
“Does it matter?” the ancient ram asked her, again interrupting her.
“But-”
“To one or hundreds, she said what was needed.”
“But-”
“Moreover, she was who she needed to be at that moment,” he said.
“What do-”
“It is a rather short list: those who are able to apologize on behalf of an entire nation and have it count.”
“But-” Apple Bloom had expected to be interrupted once again and found herself entirely off-balance and clawing for something with which to follow her objection.
“Yes?” he asked.
“But....” Apple Bloom looked back and forth between Twilight and the piles of bones before sighing. “Just...but.”
The filly received the eyebrow in response.
Twilight cleared her throat impatiently from her spot besides the bones. There were five piles of clean bones with only one more left to go. The mare glanced meaningfully at the nearly complete work.
“We should get digging,” Grogar whispered to his apprentice, “we wouldn't want to leave Her Highness waiting.”
So, this her 'astral' alicorn form that she is still oblivious to, or has she finally come to the understanding of who and what she is now? All this beating around the bush nonsense, I say.
2241237
I'm not changing cannon. It'll follow the events in Magical Mystery Cure, more or less.
I'm surprised that Twilight doesn't see or feel her wings when she's under Grogar's spell thingie... Unless she can't see its effects.
2241260 So not a single canon was forgotten that day?
What a wonderful chapter!
Perhaps it was subjective because I was so focused while reading this, but this was a very rich chapter indeed -- it didn't seem to be the ending chapter you said it would be (or rather, it was, and you decided to split it in half), but it was a very in-depth chapter, and a lot certainly happened.
It was definitely a chapter I had to read more then once to understand, especially since it felt there was alot of double-meanings within the chapter...for example, that Twilight's apology to, not just to sheep, but seemingly to deer and seemingly every race that was destroyed by Celestia and Luna, also made me realize that she also finally realized it was time to make-up with her marefriend. Indeed, her shock and disappointment at Luna for being proud at the subjugation/obliteration of those who threatened all of ponykind was one of the first big slights in their friendship in Titannomachy...that Twilight, perhaps not necessarily forgiving, but understanding why the Royal Sisters had to do what they do, as well as being able to do what they didn't (begging for forgiveness, which allowed everyone to pass to the next world in peace), as well as seemingly figuring out what she needs to do (that is, ask for forgiveness from Luna).....it was a very powerful moment alright.
In a sense, it almost made me feel that Apple Bloom got lost in it all, considering so much focus was on Twilight....but that's not true -- it speaks volumes of her power that she was able to summon everyone...or perhaps they were so drawn to Twilight? The song that Grogar was singing? I'm not sure, but whatever the case, they did extraordinarily more then simply prepare to bury a few sheep....how significant this chapter was cannot be undermined - it was something that eons in advance, and very well goes with the change that Celestia said the world so desperately needed.
Grogar....I'm suddenly looking at him very differently - we knew for awhile that he knew about Twilight, but considering the events of this chapter, I'm starting to wonder if he's working alongside Celestia in helping to prepare Twilight....there is no question that the events that have been taking place were being prepared for quite awhile...and helping, not just Apple Bloom and her talent, but in helping Twilight help everyone...his manipulations make me think of Discord, or more accurately, Celestia with her 'hooves in the right place'. I'm not entirely sure if his song was meant to draw all these spirits, or it was simply the 'shield'....whatever the case, everything turned out exactly the way he intended it to be.....which, as before, really makes me look at him in the same league as Celestia or Discord....and really, as he should be.
Returning to Twilight, it feels clear to me that, while her 'transformation' wasn't complete, yet again....it's coming along stronger and stronger, and it's starting to seem to me that it's seeping into her consciously....that, she is finally beginning to really understand just what is going on. When the Apotheosis finally happens, I have a feeling it won't be shocking as all that....after all, she's had plenty experience as an "Alicorn" within her own dreams, even if she can't remember her changes here.
It all makes me think more and more exactly on what is Twilight - if this change was something that was always going to happen to her, or it was put on her out of necessity....with last chapter, it feels like the latter...that the world needs dynamic change to such an extent, that Celestia is willing to try what Starswirl tried to do, and fail....on the other hand, it's also very clear that this was always going to happen Twilight sooner or later (and I emphasize that here with your series....because, as with the conversation with Harmony, it's clearer then ever that fate had big plans for her from the start), and perhaps they were trying to steer her away because they didn't want this to happen to her...they didn't want this sort of life (at the very least, didn't want to try the Apotheosis spell on her)....so while they can superficially act like this is all happening for the first time and unexpected, it's clear to everything, including and especially Twilight, that this was going to happen sooner or later....and Grogar, is helping her along.
Twilight's personality itself, is also now very clear to me....I remember you said in a recent blog post how someone compared Twilicorn to the goddess Athena, and though I wasn't so sure (being such a war goddess and all, and not a gentle scholar), It also made a strong sense to me too, and it's clear that's the interpretation you are going for in this story, and have been......indeed, Athena is very smart and creative, has a temper, is the daughter of Zeus (Twilight is the "daughter" of Celestia, as well as the "sister" of Cadence, and the, erm, "paramour" of Luna )...I can see the pieces aligning like this, so I can understand why you went this route.
It was a very vivid chapter to say the least....I've said before how utterly insane you are with your vocabulary, and this chapter was just filled with words that forced me to look up a dictionary ; not that I'm complaining at adding new words to my mental glossary .
It was a fantastic chapter....I feel Apple Bloom did get a bit lost with all the focus on Twilight, and given that the story is about to end, I hope that she has some resolution on her, and her life, before it's over....Twilight looks like she's becoming the main focus again, and while that's fine, I certainly hope we have some idea on AB's future given that this was supposed to be her story after all .
And that's about it!! A very rich, in-depth, and well put-together chapter indeed....the story, as a whole, has been getting better and better with each chapter I feel...it started off very slow, perhaps too slow, but as of late, it's given me that excited pumped-up feeling that Titanomachy did....whatever it is, I loved it and can't wait to see the grand finale.
Really nice chapter, the whole scene needed a few re-readings but it is a good scene.
I do have one point to make in this sentence,
She mare simply continued scrubbing at the stubborn stains, now with a mouthful of her tail.
I think it was suppose to be a T not a S.
This chapter keeps popping up after I already read it.
2242348
Fixed and thanks!
2242369
What do you mean?
2242162
Thanks for the kind review, we aim to please! As for Twi vs AB, I blame Twilicorn for the shift in focus. I will make sure to add in a bit more of AB + G in the next and actually last chapter (rather than just using the chopped off bit straight out.)
And this was the part where the TwiLuna plot intersected the Applebloom/Grogar/Deer plot to make the climax.
Twilight, though her 'soul' has advanced to a new stage, her physical body and indeed, mind have not yet realized the transition.
It may well not be complete due to the nature of the change, Discord's statued state and the unfinished Apotheosis spell, but it seems clear that others that can see and recognize her soul, see her as what she will soon become. Alicorn ascendent and god. Apple Bloom, being a neophyte necromancer, can obviously see the shadows of Twilight's soul normally, and seemingly directly in times of dire importance or distress.
Perhaps the Apotheosis spell doesn't so much ascend directly as simply cast off the physical form? That would fit with Celestia thinking that she needs to sever the strands of fate at Twilight's end. Perhaps that's the catalyst for Twilight's soul to finally remake her correctly, though... apparently gods can die, at least in some form. It's all very 'mythical'.
2242162 - Few things.
1. They were burying deer, not sheep. They were probably transformed into sheep to simply allay suspicion from the now active ghosts while they prepared them for burial.
2. I'm not sure if Twilight was even aware of anything that was happening with the ghosts. I don't think she saw them, she hasn't accepted that part of her nature yet. She may have been prompted by Grogars spell, and/or conversation, but I'm not sure if she saw all the spirits at all. Even the lead stag, it may well have been an apology, but I'm not sure it was entirely conscious. Not sure if the spell Grogar used was to summon the deer, create the astral event, or illuminate Twilight's semi-divine state. Enough so to give Twilight's apology the weight to speak for her races.
2242639 I read the chapter and leave the site and every time I come back it still lists as unread.
2242853
Hmm, odd. I haven't been doing anything weird on my end like republishing or even making edits. I did move some of the discarded chapters around (supposed to be totally non-visible to readers). Do you think that might of broken something?
2243168 its stopped now.
yay!
2241260
Um, isn't that a massive spoiler? Especially that last part?
2244660
Better?
2245175
Yes, much better
awesome chapter!
I just realized while reading this chapter that I've been mentally reading Grogar's lines in Mufasa's voice...witch is weird because I know I was reading them in a different voice in Titanomachy... But then again, he seem's a lot more laid back now then he did then... //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_future.png
Also I could totally see him and Rafiki hanging out... Zecora could go to...
2246831
Sadly, James Earl Jones has turned down all my offers to make an audiobook of my fics.
I wonder if the different tone is related to the fact that in Titanomachy I wrote all of his lines in bold, while I used normal text for him in this fic?
If you want to keep on loving Grogar, don't watch Tambleton...just don't. The VA for him is terrible.
I absolutely adore the font "Discorderly Conduct" uses for him, it gives an awesome impression of his voice in a visual format.
This chapter was freaking AWESOME!
That buildup in the clearing was just... wow. I caught myself holding my breath a few times there.
Can't wait to see more! Also, I love how Applebloom is handling seeing Twilight's true form.
I love how Twilight still hasn't noticed the Alicorn signs, also there is a new chapter
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m24j14d9qB1r1crym.gif
You have a clear image/vision of spiritual things
2248120
Grogar said that Apple Bloom was 'gifted.' Maybe that's why she can see it and Twilight can't?