Consequences

by IndieDK

Why

Twilight blinked in confusion. Celestia sighed and began to tell her story.

“It all began with the founding of Equestria itself. The six founding ponies, Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane, Private Pansy, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Smart Cookie all decided that none of them were fit to rule and should choose a ruler. Clover’s first thoughts were her mentor, Starswirl the Bearded.” Twilight’s heart rate went up at the mention of this. This was never in the book about obscure unicorn history that she gave Spike.

“But, Princess…”

“I will explain why he is not mentioned as Equestria’s first king in your book in due time, my student.” Twilight quickly shut her mouth to let Celestia continue.

“He ruled with wisdom and fairness, but many ponies grumbled about there being more unicorns in power than other kinds of ponies. To calm the grumbling, Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever left in a quest to find a power to ultimately destroy the Windigoes. They were never heard from again. In honor of the two missing unicorns, two statues were built to represent the harmony of the new nation. In a failed attempt to simply summon Platinum and Clover, he wound up giving life to Luna and I.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. She never believed that her idol was once a statue.

“Starswirl still wasn’t satisfied. He cared deeply for his apprentice, and left in search of her. When he came back, he seemed… changed. I did my best to console my creator, and…” Celestia began to choke up, “… and we fell in love. I couldn’t imagine a day away from him. But not even our love could stop him from what he did next.

“He came up with a transformation spell, one that could change anyone into anything. He was growing insane from the loss of the one who was like his own child, and eventually lost himself. He was meant to hold order in place, but fell into the depths of chaos and transformed his entire body into a mishmash of every known animal.” Twilight’s eyes widened. The only being who looked like “a mishmash of every known animal” was… Discord.

“I feared for Equestria, so I convinced Luna to take up arms against my own lover. It was heartbreaking, but I knew it was for the good of the land.

“In a twist of events, Luna and I were crowned to rule the new diarchy. We appointed Smart Cookie and Chancellor Puddinghead in charge of the agriculture, as the two knew it best. Of course, Commander Hurricane and his younger sister, Private Pansy, took charge of the military.

“Luckily, the military organized quickly, for soon we found ourselves invaded by Changelings. Luna and I directly went after the queen. Their queen managed to separate Luna from me and took my form. I did everything to protect my dear sister, including beating the Changeling Queen until she bled.” Celestia seemed angry recalling the memory of almost losing her sister to an invader.

“Eventually, we fought off the Changelings. Commander Hurricane brought a young unicorn stallion to me. He claimed the young soldier had shown great courage and leadership during the war and was a major benefactor to our military. I had always pondered as two whether I was a good ruler or not, and now I had a chance to find a perfect successor to me. I took the unicorn in to teach him magic and how to be king. He told me his name was Sombra.”

“Princess, I don’t meant to interrupt,” Twilight interrupted, “But do you mean the same Sombra that took over the Crystal Empire?”

“Yes, my dear Twilight, that is the same Sombra. He was a gentle but ambitious stallion. During our first studies, Luna interrupted us. Those two became quickly enamored with each other. I knew that Luna was innocent and well-loved by her subjects, and it would be easier to have Sombra replace me by marrying him to Luna and having me just simply ‘disappear’. But, soon, Sombra started to wander into the forbidden area of magic. His growing use of dark magic and knowledge that he would soon be king began to corrupt him. Despite Luna’s protests, I had to banish him to the Arctic North, where I thought he would die and never threaten Equestria.

“But soon I received a letter from him demanding that either I give him my dear sister to be his bride, or he would annihilate every pony in the Crystal Empire. Luna willingly left, in hopes of bringing her lover back to sanity. Neither of us knew about a Crystal Empire until Commander Hurricane told us about Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever.

“Not too later after Luna left, a large Crystal with a filly inside and a letter appeared to me. The letter was from Luna, asking me to protect this filly from Sombra. I asked the remaining four founders of Equestria about the filly, and all of them noted how much she looked like Princess Platinum. It would take a thousand years, but that filly would eventually free herself and tell me that her mother was, in fact, Princess Platinum and her name was Cadence.” Twilight blinked in surprise. So that’s how the Crystal Ponies knew their princess had returned when they saw Cadence.
“But soon after I received Cadence, I received another letter from Luna. Sombra still had plans to conquer Equestria, and was ready to kill me. I went to the Crystal Empire, and met up with Luna in secret. We used our power to drive Sombra out of the empire, forcing him into a weaker state. But this caused the Crystal Empire to suddenly vanish. We figured that Sombra’s weaker state could not protect him from the dangers in the Arctic North, so Luna and I went back to Equestria.

“Luna took with her a helmet and a breastplate, the only things she could salvage from her time there. It seemed that Sombra still loved her, despite everything, and had a set of armor fashioned just for her. I was overjoyed to have my sister back, but the ponies seemed to have forgotten her. One night, she put on the helmet and breastplate in memory of her lover and raised the moon, and she instantly became the horrible Nightmare Moon.

“I had to send her to the moon, but still searched for a prospective ruler to replace me. You happened to be the one I had the most faith in, and the one who could stop Nightmare Moon. I strung the ponies who most represented each element together, including you, so you all would become friends and use your combined powers to save my sister.”
Twilight didn’t know how to react to the idea of Princess Celestia simply pulling the strings like a puppeteer, but she had one question to ask:

“If you simply wanted me to tell a secret story, why did you make the matter so urgent?”

“Because I have learned what you did in the Crystal Empire.” Celestia’s expression and voice grew cold. “You used dark magic; the same thing that destroyed my first apprentice.”

“B-But Princess,” Twilight began to panic, “i-it was the only way I could find the Crystal Heart.”

“That much I understand, Twilight, but I also heard reports that you used it to terrorize Spike without blinking, that you were just testing it out on him.”

“I-I was just trying to show him what it had done to me!”

“And why?”

“I…” Twilight had no clue. Why did she want to subject Spike to the same torment she went through?

“From now on, the only living ponies who know the full story are Luna and I.”

“Y-Your Majesty, what about me?” Twilight pleaded. Celestia began to approach the purple mare.

“I’m afraid I can’t just throw you to the Windigoes, in case you run to the Crystal Empire. I will have to execute you right here, right now.” Twilight turned and saw several guards approaching from behind. They were all unicorns, so Twilight’s first thoughts went to using the gravity spell, so the guards couldn’t get her, and headed for the door via the ceiling.

Celestia took wing after her former apprentice. Once Twilight was out of the throne room, multiple guards began to surround her on all sides. Twilight never teleported a long distance before, but she would have to try now. Her horn began to glow until the mare disappeared into a flash of light as Celestia came down upon where she once stood.

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