4 - Empty Coffins
Succession
Chapter 4 – Empty Coffins
“…but as your earthly remains have ceased to exist, we hope that your spirit may still be with us. May you continue to guide us on the path to true harmony and may those who defend your beliefs find strength in your presence. The fire shining in the sky has gone out, but the light you kindled in every pony’s heart lives on and it shall shine until we may one day rejoin you in the Great Beyond. Princess Celestia, your death has brought us much grief, but may you rest assured that we will carry on. We shall persevere, we shall survive, and we shall live. Your memory will be honored always…” The speaker hesitated. Sitting on the front row, Twilight could see that he, like most other speakers that day, had begun to tear up. Excusing himself briefly, he ended his speech and left the podium he had been standing on.
A moment later, yet another speaker stepped onto the podium to deliver his speech. This one, however, was not a pony, but a griffon. Twilight had at first been surprised at the many non-ponies who had come to pay their respect to the princesses, but after a diamond dog had spoken of the princesses in a crude dialect and two dragons had landed by the podium and each given a speech, Twilight could hardly be phased by the appearance of a griffon.
Though she felt guilty for having the thought, she supposed Civil Tenet might had been right when she admitted to having allowed too many speakers. The silver unicorn, Applejack, and Rarity had already spoken, along with a large number of creatures varying in species from ponies and zebras to dragons and minotaurs. She had lost count, but the injured unicorn was pretty sure at least fifty speakers had been to the podium by now. Hopefully, there would not be many more.
The funeral was being held in a slightly secluded part of the palace grounds, not far from the remains of the molten ruins. There were more than a hundred rows of benches in front of the podium where the griffon was speaking, and not a single seat was vacant. Even more creatures were scattered across the palace grounds, all looking toward the podium. Talented unicorns and earth ponies had been working for several days on bringing life to the grass as well as a few flowerbeds and trees in the immediate vicinity of the ceremony, creating an odd contrast between green, flowering fields and ashen waste.
The podium upon which the griffon was now reciting a poem had been positioned slightly off-center relative to the benches, making room for a large square slab of silver set into the ground beside it, approximately twenty feet across on both sides. Inside the square was a deep indentation, seven feet wide and at least twelve feet long. On all four sides of the large square slab was a large block of pure silver, the silver that Twilight, at some point in the ceremony, would transform into the memorial Penning Draft had designed. Every one of the metallic surfaces seemed to gain a radiance of its own as the full moon above shone onto the ceremony. Through her tears, Twilight smiled at the sight. She doubted she had ever seen the moon shine as brilliantly as it did now; a fitting honor for the two princesses. On the left side of the silver structure was a white marble coffin decorated with gold and rubies, and on the right side was a coffin of black marble decorated with obsidian and sapphires. They were beautiful, but empty, Twilight knew, feeling another pang of sadness. There were no physical remains of the princesses. Nothing but memory remained of the immortal sisters that had been with Equestria longer than anypony knew.
Dark clouds surrounded the area, shedding a grey veil of water that separated the ceremony from the rest of the world. Within the palace grounds, however, pegasi had ensured clear skies. As the griffon on the podium finished his speech, there was a not so distant rumble of thunder.
The lavender unicorn used her magic to wipe her tears away as she spotted eleven gold and marine shapes emerging from above the dark clouds ahead of her and behind the podium. Apparently, the speeches were now finally over, and the Wonderbolts’ performance was starting.
In honor of the departed Solar Princess, the Wonderbolts were leaving bright trails of golden sparkling powder, reminiscent of some sort of fireworks, instead of the usual black thunderclouds. The eleven fliers dove down at the burial site and veered up sharply only ten feet above the ground, leaving a golden canopy above all the seated ponies. The crowd gasped in both amazement and shock as the eleven stuntponies performed their acrobatics underneath the bright pyrotechnical trails, somersaulting wildly and dancing about each other gracefully only one or two feet above their audience. After only a few moments, the onlookers’ view of the famous performers was soon completely obscured by their golden trails, and the ponies below were forced to wait impatiently for the air above them to clear.
When it finally did, only ten Wonderbolts were left, meeting in the air above the podium and entering into a tight spin around each other, forming a shining circle of golden sparkles. From behind the podium, the eleventh Wonderbolt, Spitfire, reappeared, launching herself with an astounding acceleration into the air and above her fellow stuntponies. Flipping and twisting around in a pattern that seemed familiar to Twilight, the captain of the Wonderbolts dove, flying straight at the center of the circle formation beneath her. Performing a final two rapid backflips, the orange pony flared her wings as she reached the altitude of the still revolving pegasi. As soon as she stopped, Spitfire was enveloped in a crackling flash of electricity that momentarily blinded the onlookers.
“The Buccaneer Blaze!” Pinkie Pie cheered enthusiastically. “Alright!”
As the glare of the flash subsided, the captain of the flying stuntponies found herself hovering in the center of a golden halo, the other Wonderbolts having become lost in the brilliant golden circle they were trailing in the sky.
“Rainbow Dash certainly has made her mark on the Wonderbolts,” Rarity commented, gazing up in awe at the shining display of both pyrotechnics and pegasus magic. “She must have taught Spitfire that particular technique. Oh! Speaking of which!” The white unicorn pointed a hoof at the clouds in front of them and Twilight noticed a rainbow-colored streak running across the sky, although the twelfth Wonderbolt had already flown across the sky and was out of sight.
In perfect unison, the eleven pegasi broke free of the ring formation, spiraling upwards in a widening column. When they neared the same height as the surrounding clouds, the aerial acrobats converged, and as they crossed paths, a brilliant explosion of golden sparks erupted from the Wonderbolts. While the stuntponies dispersed, the glittering gold remained hovering in the air, creating the image of a small sun. As the eleven pegasi withdrew to the rim of the palace ground and started flying alongside the surrounding mass of clouds, a multichromatic blur whizzed through the aisle running in between the benches on the ground, passing by only a few feet from Twilight. The unicorn wisely grabbed hold of her hat as the entire area was suddenly hit by the powerful gust of wind following the near supersonic flier, sending hats flying and ruffling ponies’ manes beyond recognition. The twelfth Wonderbolt pulled sharply upwards as she reached the podium, leaving a multicolored streak trailing behind her as she lifted herself up towards the miniature sun with amazing speed.
Only now did Twilight notice the sharply pointed mach cone surrounding the star flier as she closed in on the orb of golden sparkles. The unicorn tried to cover her ears as best she could with only one hoof as Rainbow Dash entered the shimmering sun. A distinctive crack could be heard all over the palace grounds as the golden sun suddenly exploded and the star flier was launched vertically into the air at an impossible speed, leaving a golden-tinged rainbow in her wake. The glittering sparkles were spread far and wide by the sonic rainboom, and a wave of gold washed across the sky, passing effortlessly into the clouds, lighting them up and somehow banishing the rain pouring down from them. As the crowd below applauded and cheered on the talented flier, momentarily forgetting their grief, Rainbow Dash looped around until she was once again flying horizontally, on perfect level with the glittering sphere of golden fire and approaching it rapidly from the audience’s left. To Twilight’s amazement, another cone of compressed vapor formed around the pegasus, resulting in another of the rare sonic rainbooms detonating exactly within the center, sending yet another sparkling shockwave ripping through the air. Again, the crowd gasped in shock as the wave hit the exact center of the aisle between the benches, leaving a fine line of powdered gold running from the podium and all the way down to the rows in the back. The lavender unicorn almost found herself laughing at the absurdity of her friend’s endurance as she saw Rainbow Dash perform a wide corkscrew around the sun, yet again bringing her on a collision course with the orb of fireworks as she rushed toward the seated ponies from behind the podium.
“She can’t possibly...” Rarity muttered in a low whisper, but soon enough, another mach cone formed around the star Wonderbolt and another sonic rainboom sent a shockwave rushing out from the center of the miniature sun.
The majority of the crowd went wild as the blue blur dove down among the onlookers, zooming across them and cackling almost manically as another series of hats and loose clothing was swept up by a powerful gust of wind from the supersonic flier.
As the rainbow-maned pegasus became nothing more than a speck of blue against the full moon, and the jaws of ponies below dropped, Twilight noticed the eleven other Wonderbolts starting to draw the surrounding clouds into the sky above the palace grounds.
“A triple sonic rainboom!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “That was amazerrific!”
“I don’t know how the Wonderbolts will ever top a performance like that,” Twilight said, shaking her head slowly in wonder. “But I guess maybe they don’t have to.”
After the effects of the sonic rainboom died away, everypony below gasped as they realized that by some pyrotechnical miracle, the cloud of golden sparkles still floated in the air above them, the recent explosions caused by Rainbow Dash having transformed it into an almost perfect image of Celestia’s cutie mark. A few seconds later, the Wonderbolts finished pulling in the clouds across the palace grounds, leaving a crescent-shaped hole for the moon to shine through. The eleven pegasi disappeared shortly within the clouds, but then twelve returned, carrying bouquets that had somehow been collected from above the clouds.
Spitfire was the first to land, and as she placed her collection of gold and blue flowers, Civil Tenet, who had ascended the podium while nopony was looking, announced loudly, “The Wonderbolts pay their respects in remembrance of the immortal alicorns!”
Next, Rainbow Dash touched ground, leaving a multicolored bouquet by the coffins. “The Elements of Harmony wish their princesses happiness in whichever afterlife they may find!” the silver unicorn declared.
Fleetfoot joined the two on ground and deposited a third bouquet. “We, the Council of Nine, say farewell to our predecessors! May we carry on the legacy of princesses Celestia and Luna!”
One by one, the Wonderbolts swooped down, each depositing a bouquet, and Civil Tenet announcing who the flowers represented. The earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi races all gave a bouquet each. The diamond dogs, the griffons and the zebras showed their respect, and the dragons of both north and south were represented as well. Finally, a last bouquet was given to the princesses in the name of Equestria and all the known world, and the Wonderbolts withdrew to the clouds above, exhausted after their taxing performance.
“And now,” Civil Tenet called out as the aerial acrobats left the palace grounds. “An intermission. We shall resume the ceremony in twenty minutes. Feel free to walk about the grounds, but I ask you to please keep clear of the palace ruins as investigations are still under way.”
“I’ll go see if any of the dragons attending hail from Dragoncrest,” Rarity informed her friends, leaving the benches and making her way toward a group of the large reptiles. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard anything from Spike.”
“I’ll go see how many friends I can make in twenty minutes!” the pink pony chirped happily and bounced into a crouching position. “Ready-set-go!”
After Pinkie Pie had vanished in a blur of pink and left behind a trail of confetti, both Applejack and Fluttershy excused themselves, leaving the unicorn sitting on the bench. She briefly considered summoning her wheelchair, but for the moment, wheeling about the ruined palace grounds didn’t appeal to her.
Instead, she closed her eyes and started thinking of the future. What would happen to Equestria now that the sun was gone? Food would grow scarce unless the council pony Bramley found some ingenious solution. Equestria had plenty of food reserves in case of bad harvests, but with the coming shortages, the reserves would at best last for only two years. There would be starvation. And what of the temperature? How much warmth had the sun provided for the world? How much could the moon provide alone? How cold would Equestria become? Would the ponies survive?
And then there was the matter of the murderer. What had been his or her purpose? Why would anypony want to kill Celestia and Luna? How could they have killed them? Why had the one behind all of this not shown him- or herself?
But most importantly, she found herself wondering, why had she not done anything herself? She could travel through time. How could she have allowed something like this to happen? She could have apprehended the murderer before the crime could be committed.
Could I? I’d have to travel almost two weeks back in time. Travel too far, and I miss the murderer. If I don’t travel long enough, I’ll end up in the middle of the explosion. Again. And the murderer... Whoever they were, they killed Celestia and Luna. What can one unicorn do against such a force? But a warning... I could have warned us. I can warn us.
She toyed with that idea for some time. It would take a lot out of her and there was a certain risk involved, but it should be possible to go back in time. She could find Celestia and herself in the princess’ study and warn them before the murderer appeared.
But...
Twilight did not remember seeing her future self. As far as she knew, she hadn’t gone back in time to warn herself. Even if she had and she had simply forgotten it along with everything else that had happened within the palace that night, it didn’t seem to have changed anything. Twilight was still sitting on a bench at the princesses’ funeral. If she indeed had gone back in time, it had helped nothing. If she was going to go back in time, it would help nothing.
“First row, huh? Lucky you.” Twilight opened her eyes and looked to her left. Amber Vane had seated himself right next to her without her noticing. “What’s bugging you?”
The lavender unicorn sighed. “Time travel.”
The royal guard blinked. “What?”
“Not many ponies know that,” Twilight said, smiling a bit at the memory of her first trip through time. “Even fewer believe it. I can travel in time, but only for short amounts of, well... time. I bet I could go back in time to a few moments before the Great Tragedy.”
“You… you can travel through time?” Amber Vane asked, disbelief tinging his voice.
“It’s hard. Very hard.” Twilight answered. “I’ve only ever done it four times. And it usually ends up backfiring.”
“So,” the golden maned unicorn began, trying to understand. “You’re saying you could, right now, go back in time to before the Great Tragedy? What would you do? Warn the princesses? Are you even allowed to talk to anypony while time travelling?”
“I can do whatever I want while time travelling. It’s… complicated,” Twilight tried to explain.
“So if you can go back in time and warn Celestia... why don’t you?”
“Because she died,” Twilight pointed out.
“Uhm..?”
Twilight smiled and shook her head at her friend’s lacking comprehension. “Sorry. When I travel back in time, I create a loop. Future Twilight does something to alter the timeline, but for some reason, no matter what Future Twilight does, Present Twilight will eventually become Future Twilight and travel back in time. If that doesn’t happen, Future Twilight can’t travel back in time in the first place.” Twilight noticed that Amber Vane still didn’t seem to understand, so she tried a different approach. “Let’s take an example: My first try at time travel. I was visited by a Twilight from half a week into the future. She tried warning me about something that would happen in the future, but because of the short duration of the spell, she didn’t manage to tell me exactly what I should try to prevent. I spent the rest of the week going crazy trying to avert what I thought would be a huge disaster.”
“But it didn’t work?”
Twilight laughed at the memory. “Turns out Future Twilight wanted me not to worry too much about what would happen in the future. Once I found out, I tried going back in time to warn Past Twilight, but I ended up doing the exact same thing as Future Twilight, meaning that Past Twilight was put in the exact same situation as my own. You see?”
“I… think so?” Amber Vane replied doubtfully. “I can see the loop at least. But if you went back in time to warn your past self about the warning from the future, why did your future self go back in time? Did something serious happen to her?”
Twilight shook her head. “What happened to me happened to Future Twilight. A Future Future Twilight tried to warn Future Twilight not to worry about the warning she herself had received from Future Future Future Twilight. There never was a disaster. All the Twilights tried to warn their past selves not to worry too much about the future, which ended in the past Twilights driving themselves crazy, which in turn ended in them going back in time to warn their own past selves.”
“But… then how did the whole time travelling thing start? Something serious must have happened to the very first time travelling Twilight. Right?”
Again, the time traveler shook her head. “That’s why I called it a loop. It has no beginning, and it has no end. Nothing bad ever happened. The cycle of time travelling Twilights was infinite.” Amber Vane only wore a blank expression, and Twilight giggled. “It didn’t make any sense to me either for several weeks. I studied the fabrics of time for months. I still do, occasionally. And I’m pretty sure time travel works just like I told you.”
“I guess I’ll take your word for it then,” the guard said, shaking his head in bewilderment. “So, just to make it stick, would you mind telling me again why you won’t go back in time?”
“If I had gone back in time and prevented the Great Tragedy from happening, we wouldn’t be sitting here. In a way, you don’t change a thing when you travel back in time. The things you do while travelling back in time have already happened in your past. Actually, you just kinda end up ensuring that they do happen.”
“And you’re sure you can’t stop the Great Tragedy?”
Twilight nodded. “If I went back in time now and somehow prevented the Great Tragedy, I would, what? Erase this time line? If the Great Tragedy doesn’t happen, I won’t be there to travel back in time and prevent the Great Tragedy. I can’t tell you what would happen if such a paradox were to occur or if such paradoxes can even happen.” The unicorn sighed heavily. “Sometimes I hate time travel. At least the practical bits. The theories can be fun, though.”
“It sounds complicated,” Amber Vane simply commented.
The lavender unicorn smiled playfully at him. “I gave you the easy version. You should see the papers I’ve written on the subject. Even Celestia begged me to stop after I sent her my fiftieth letter about the things I learnt of time travel. I guess she’s mostly interested in my friendship reports.”
The two laughed for a moment before the guard continued. “So what is the deal about those friendship reports? Most of the Canterlot court and the guards have heard about them, but we’ve never known why you wrote them or what exactly you wrote.”
“I’ve never been too sure either why I wrote them,” Twilight murmured. “It was just something the princess asked me to do, so I did it. Every week, I would write to her about my discoveries on friendship. She rarely commented on the reports, though. But I’m glad she asked me to do it. If it hadn’t been for her, I would never have met any of my friends. I would only have had…” Twilight trailed off. She was silent for a moment before suddenly casting an accusing glare at Amber Vane. “Wait just a minute! Why didn’t you tell me my brother was killed!?”
“I…” the guard was silent for a while. “I didn’t think you really needed it.”
“I didn’t need to know!?”
“No!” Amber Vane defended himself. “It’s just… you’re still dealing with Celestia’s death. We all are, but I figure you’re the one taking it the hardest. Whenever you haven’t been with your friends, you’ve been pretty depressed. I... I couldn’t bear telling you something like Shining Armor’s death. I’m... I’m sorry.”
“Rarity told me the same thing,” the lavender unicorn grumbled. “I had to find out about it from Civil Tenet when she quite casually gave me a list of the ponies that had died! She assumed you had told me!”
“I’m sorry,” the guard repeated. “I just didn’t know how or when to tell you.”
“I thought guards were supposed to be brave,” Twilight murmured sourly, refusing to look at Amber Vane as she stared at her hooves. A few moments of silence passed before the guard finally rose from his seat as the intermission ended.
A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash returned to the ceremony. The pegasus, not one for fancy dresses, was wearing a black variant of her Wonderbolt uniform. “Did I miss anything?” she panted.
“Just the intermission,” Twilight replied sourly. Reminding herself that Rainbow Dash had done nothing to anger her, she changed her tone. “Please don’t tell me that’s your Nightmare Night costume!” she commented teasingly as she prodded at the latex suit.
“‘Course not!” she replied defensively, giving the unicorn a playful shove against her good leg. “Gimme some credit! I had it specially made for the occasion and everything!”
“Alright, alright, sorry.” Twilight gave a small smile as she regarded the pegasus, her chest still heaving from her previous exertions. “I don’t often see you out of breath like that.”
“I’m getting a lot better at my sonic rainbooms, but three in a row like that? That won’t ever get easy!” Rainbow Dash huffed. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “It’ll be a while before I do something like that again.” By now, most of the ponies had seated themselves once more, and the ring of a bell announced the end of the intermission. “So, what happens now?” the pegasus asked.
With a deep sigh, Twilight rose shakily from her seat. “Sweetie Belle sings, and I... bury Celestia and Luna.”
While Rarity’s younger sister rose silently from the second row, Twilight started limping toward the two coffins. Sweetie Belle ascended the podium and faced the audience with a calm expression. She closed her eyes and started taking deep breaths. A wide variety of birds joined the young unicorn, settling on the podium’s railings or the few surrounding trees. Twilight stopped a few feet from the gleaming metal structure and her horn shone with magic, enveloping the two marble coffins on either side of her in a bright magenta aura.
Twilight shuddered slightly as she lifted them. She kept expecting them to be heavier, but she had to remind herself that there was nothing within them. She lifted them above the silver blocks and carried them into the center of the silver square so that the coffins hovered above the indentation in the silver plate. As Twilight began carefully lowering the coffins into the grave, the birds around Sweetie Belle started singing a slow tune for the lead singer.
The two coffins silently touched down on the silver floor of the grave structure, and Sweetie Belle’s voice followed almost immediately after.
“The final hour dawns upon us
And with it comes the dusk.
Tonight the night will last forever
Now that the day has faded away.”
The coffins had been laid into their graves. Twilight sighed. Now came the hardest part. Her horn, whose glow had only briefly been allowed to subside, blazed as Twilight started channeling vast amounts of energy into the four silver blocks surrounding the grave. She shut her eyes tight in concentration just as the metal blocks began to glow with heat. Smoke rose from the grass burning underneath the hot metal.
She felt Rarity’s magic flow into her channeling efforts, and a moment later Civil Tenet joined her as well, lightening her strain.
“Hearts be true, hearts be pure
When laughter is tears
And when naught is sure
Love is glass; nothing will last,
Now that the day has faded away.”
Even Amber Vane joined her and by now, the metal had become almost liquid and definitely malleable. Twilight began extracting thick tendrils of liquid silver from the blocks, pulling them onto the plate itself. In her mind’s eye, Twilight saw columns and walls forming, and she let the same happen to the silver she held.
Behind her, ponies gasped in amazement as the liquid silver began rearing up and forming a tall structure.
“Where are they now?
Where are we now?
Who will come to save the day?
Now that the day has faded away?
The future has dawned
And darkness it spawned,
We look to the heavens and in them we see
A sunset eclipsed
And buried in fear.
Now that the day has faded away.”
Tears were streaming freely from Twilight’s eyes by now, but she kept at her task. She envisioned glittering spires, and such objects came into being above her. Her mind built shining buttresses and the silver bent to her will. Strands of glowing metal weaved together and solid walls appeared. Columns were topped by sharp arches, and lines and indentations were imprinted upon every feature of the structure in perfect concordance with Penning Draft’s instructions.
“We see it stretched across the sky
An age of shadow is nigh
Above, an eternal veil of night
Will it lift? Will it stay?
Now that the day has faded away?
Faded away…
Where are we now that the day has faded away?”
The last note was held for several seconds, and as Sweetie Belle and the birds fell silent, Twilight drew out the heat from the soft silver, turning it hard once more and dimming its glow. The unicorn breathed heavily as she opened her eyes to look at her work.
Where before there had been a large slab and four blocks now stood a small tower made purely from silver. At the bottom of the tower, near the corners, buttresses rose up to carry intricate arches and carved figures of alicorns, ponies, and celestial bodies. Succeeding the arches in height were long delicate spires of gleaming silver and in the center top of the structure, a large spire constituted the tallest part of the tower, its tip being almost twenty-five feet above ground.
In the center of three of the four walls of the tower were images of Celestia, Luna and the pony race, displaying scenes of both happiness and sadness, fictional and historical. Upon the wall of the façade, etched into the silver, were the words Civil Tenet had composed, praising and grieving the passing of not only the princesses, but the hundreds of ponies lost in The Great Tragedy.
Twilight started panting heavily as exhaustion caught up with her, still crying uncontrollably. It was done. Celestia and her sister had been buried. The oldest beings in the whole world had passed away, and the age Twilight and everypony else had been born into had ended. She turned away from the structure to find Applejack by her side, lending the tired unicorn support. Leaning against the farmer, Twilight slowly limped back to her seat.
While Sweetie Belle returned to her place and the birds dispersed, Civil Tenet returned to the podium, which had now been dwarfed by the newly erected tower beside it. “And now, if you please, join me in a moment of silence. Let us think not only of what we have lost, but also of what we have gained. Not what you have gained today or yesterday, but what life under our princesses’ blessed rule has granted you, and of what shall remain with us even as we carry on from one age to another. Think of your most precious light and hold it close to your hearts in this dark hour, so that the night we face may be that much brighter as we lift our gaze toward the future.”
All were silent. As the quiet wore on, the rain returned to the palace ground, its faint pattering seemingly the only sound in all of Canterlot. The raindrops thrummed against Twilight’s hat and sizzled against the dragons’ scales, creating a small symphony of almost oppressive silence.
The peace lasted for a full ten minutes until Civil Tenet cleared her throat. “Thank you. The service has now ended; Celestia and Luna are buried, and we must now carry on without them. You are welcome to leave the palace grounds or remain here to pay your last respects to our princesses.”
Twilight remained silent on her seat for a minute longer, quelling her tears, before she focused her magic and summoned her wheelchair from beside the benches. Rainbow Dash and Applejack helped her get seated, and together the six friends made their way toward the princesses’ tomb.
“Twi? It’s been two hours… Don’t you think you should be going back to the hospital soon?”
Twilight sighed. She opened eyes and looked at the uniformed pegasus next to her. “I already told you. I need some time alone.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “You’ve been sitting here for four and a half hours straight. I don’t think the weather’s getting better anytime soon.” The unicorn had no reason to doubt those words. After the downpour had gotten worse a few hours ago, Rarity had been kind enough to relieve her of her sopping wet gown and hat. With her fur gone, Twilight’s magic was the only thing keeping her warm in the grey drizzle. “How much longer you gonna be out here?”
By now, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were the only ponies left by the tomb. Everypony had long since left, seeking shelter from the rain, but the unicorn had remained sitting in her wheelchair in front of the silver tower she had erected, and the pegasus had stayed by her side. Through the crescent-shaped hole, the moon shone through the dense cloud cover, although its light had dimmed slightly after the ceremony had ended. Fittingly, the small golden sun created by the Wonderbolts had long since faded away.
“However long it takes,” Twilight answered her friend. “I don’t know. You’re tired, Dash. Just go grab some sleep. I can get home on my own.”
“C’mon, Twi! You know I can’t just leave you here! It’s a long way back to the hospital and you’ll just get a cold from this rain. Your skin’s only barely recovered and you’ve broken seven different bones or something, right? You don’t need to be sick too.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Twilight replied, still staring at the silver monument. To prove her point, the unicorn’s horn glowed, and something that looked like a magenta umbrella opened above her head, shielding her from the weather. Her wheelchair seemed to gain a life of its own as it started to go forwards and backwards and do a few spins. After a while, Twilight teleported herself and the wheelchair back to her original position in front of the monument. “Even in a wheelchair, I could beat you to the hospital. Please, Rainbow. Celestia was like a mother to me. All I’m asking for is a few hours alone with her.”
The pegasus frowned, but eventually gave a playful smile. “You can beat me to the hospital? In a wheelchair? You’re on!”
“Just go, Rainbow. I’m staying here,” the unicorn insisted.
“Nope,” the Wonderbolt replied, shaking her head. “C’mon, I heard a challenge! Let’s go!”
“You wanna race a pony in a wheelchair? Really?”
“Well, nnyeah... uh... Yeah. But you can teleport! That makes us equal, right?”
“You’re not convincing me. I’m staying. The rain’s not as bad as you think.”
“Well, then I guess I’m staying too,” the pegasus replied stubbornly, sitting down on her haunches.
Twilight shook her head with a sigh and gave her friend a sidelong glance. She realized that it was incredibly rare to see Rainbow Dash sitting down like she was. Especially willingly. After only a few minutes, she noticed the pegasus fidgeting, her wings twitching faintly as she began gazing at the sky and the direction of the hospital.
“Ugh, fine!” Twilight finally exclaimed. “Race you to the hospital.” Immediately, Rainbow Dash was on her hooves, her wings flared and ready for takeoff.
“Alright! Three, two, one... go!” The Wonderbolt rocketed off the ground and through the air, leaving a bright trail of rainbows that quickly dissolved in the heavy rain. The unicorn sighed as she turned away from the sight of the receding pegasus and returned her attention to the silver tower before her. Finally, she sighed within her mind, feeling slightly guilty for having the thought. Hopefully she’ll take a hint and leave me alone this time.
The unicorn regarded the monument for some time, staring at the plaque set into the wall without reading it.
“What should I do?” she whispered to the dead alicorns. “Where do I go?”
For almost her whole life, Twilight had been Celestia’s protégé. For as long as she could remember, she had been studying magic, taking up the study of friendship in her later life as well. After having been named the Heroine of Equestria, Luna had adopted her as her student and protégé as well, surprising Twilight with her deep knowledge of magic. Knowledge that often seemed to exceed that of Celestia. The unicorn’s understanding of magic had grown with every passing day, and her mentors had always told her that she was progressing rapidly.
Progressing towards what?
“What is my purpose, Celestia? Why did you choose me? Why am I the Element of Magic? What did you train me for?”
Again, the horrible memory of Celestia’s death crept into Twilight’s mind, and she winced.
“Was I supposed to stop it? Prevent your deaths?” Again, there was no answer, and the unicorn began crying. She had thought her eyes would have dried out by now. “I failed you, didn’t I? Of course I did. You weren’t supposed to die! I should have done something! Please, tell me I did something! What happened!?”
How did Celestia die!? How did I survive? What could have been strong enough to destroy the palace?
Discord. Discord could have done it. But he wouldn’t do it like this. Everything’s a game to him. And according to Rainbow, he’s still trapped in stone.
Then there’s Chrysalis. She’s the only one to have ever directly confronted Celestia and won. But she had my brother’s love to aid her and even then she was nowhere near able to finish her off. No, Chrysalis is too weak.
Pan, the nature spirit. He hates ponydom. But even if it had been angered again and even if it could kill Celestia, it would never think to extinguish the sun, would it? No, not Pan.
The Blazebringers from Tartarus... It’s a stretch, but their united strength might be enough to do the deed. They certainly hate Celestia enough, but Luna? Their loyalty used to lie with Nightmare Moon. Besides, they were reimprisoned only two years ago, they couldn’t already have escaped. And that... leaves only their master...
The abandoned student lifted her gaze to the full moon.
“Please be dead, Luna,” Twilight begged the skies. “Please don’t be Nightmare Moon. Please don’t be the murderer of your own sister. Let it be a monster who killed her, who killed you. A monster that can be hunted down. A monster that can be punished. A mindless beast without emotions or remorse. Please!”
Twilight closed her eyes again, letting her mind rest. She may have dozed off; she couldn’t be certain, but when she opened her eyes again, she had an idea.
“I have to go back. Not to act, but to observe,” she told herself and the two princesses. “I... I can’t prevent your deaths. I know that. You’re gone, and...” She sniffed as tears once again flowed freely from her eyes. “...And there’s nothing I can do about that. But I can learn, right? I can go back, see what happened. I’ll know who killed you.”
But she would have to do it now. For each passing moment, the time of Celestia’s death faded further into the past. If she did not go now, she would lack the required power to make the jump.
She debated the matter for a moment, but eventually Twilight’s magic took hold of the wheels of her wheelchair, and she started off toward the remains of the palace.
A few minutes later, the unicorn arrived at the broken palace and the magical grip on her wheelchair faded. The ruins looked even worse now than they had when Twilight had first seen them. Back then, they had looked somehow alive, glowing with the heat of the explosion even six days after it had occurred. Now, the clumps of molten marble and scattered debris were cold and lifeless, a faint mist rising from the gray stones. The earth around her was burnt and blackened and did nothing to absorb the pouring rain; Twilight doubted anything living would ever grow here again.
Despite her surroundings, Twilight smiled at what she would see. One last time, the unicorn would see the palace in all its splendor.
She took a deep breath, and summoned the Time Travel spell she had long since committed to memory. She closed her eyes as she concentrated her whole being and all her magic into the tip of her horn. Through her eyelids, she saw the world around her steadily grow blindingly white. The short hairs of her fur stood on end as she felt the unpleasant tingle of a rift in time opening around her body.
With a final grunt, Twilight sent herself plunging into the strange anomaly she wielded, hurtling through the timeline for a few relative seconds. The light faded from her eyes, and she lost all sense of where or when she was. As quickly as the light had disappeared, it reappeared, blinding the unicorn for a few seconds.
When she opened her eyes, Twilight found herself lying in front of the Canterlot palace. The walls towered above her, and the unicorn became nostalgic at the sight of the brightly colored marble façade. She had ended up exactly where she had travelled from, standing insecurely on two hooves.
She wished she could have brought her wheelchair, but at the same time realized that it would have been useless to her. A great deal of magic was required to send a pony through time, and she had to constantly exert her power to keep herself in this instance of time. All of her remaining magic was left in the point of time she had travelled from, acting as an anchor for her to return to, and because of this, Twilight was unable to use any magic while travelling in time. Since she only had one functioning forehoof, it would be impossible for her to operate her wheelchair physically.
Twilight scanned her surroundings, making sure no royal guards had seen her arrive. It was nearing midnight, but despite the bright flash that had heralded her appearance, there were no guards in sight. The unicorn turned to face the palace again. Only now did she notice the two gold-clad ponies slumped against the main entrance. As Twilight approached, she was relieved to see that they were moving. They both seemed to be asleep, but their brows were furrowed and their bodies were shaking, as if they were having a nightmare. The unicorn went to one of them, a gray pegasus guard, but no matter how hard she poked him with her horn, the guard would not wake. After a few seconds, she had to give up.
She thought desperately of a way to help the guards. After all, the entirety of the palace grounds would very soon become consumed in fire. But she could do nothing to wake the two pegasi. She lacked her magic, which would usually be able to easily move two ponies out of the danger zone, and with two broken legs, there was no way she was going to be able to physically carry a heavily muscled and armored royal guard.
“Sorry,” she whispered with a heavy heart as she passed by the sleeping ponies and pushed open the door to the palace. They’re already dead, she tried comforting herself as she entered the large entrance hall.
Within it, Twilight noticed a deep blue unicorn lying on the stairs, sleeping like the guards. At the very top of the stairs, at the far end of the hall, Twilight noticed something moving left into a corridor. All the unicorn managed to see was the silhouette of a hoof before the mysterious being disappeared out of Twilight’s line of sight. The murderer?
“H-hello?” Twilight called out in a shaky voice. “You there! A-at the top of the stairs! Show yourself!”
No answer came from the corridor. If it was the murderer, he or she was going the wrong way, it would seem; the only way to Celestia’s study would have been through the east wing of the palace. Of course, Luna usually resided in the west wing, Twilight realized. There was no way she would be able to catch up to the murderer in her current state. She would have to make her way to Celestia’s study before the murderer; only that way would she be able to catch a glimpse of him or her.
Grunting with the pain of the exertion, the crippled unicorn worked her way up the stairs and went right down a large hallway decorated with stained glass depictions of great historical events. After hobbling down the hall for a minute, the unicorn flinched as she heard the front doors to the palace burst open and a set of hooves galloping loudly through the entrance hall. Twilight looked back at the stairs leading up to the hallway she was currently in, but noticed that the new arrival seemed to neglect the stairs.
Realization dawned upon her, and Twilight cursed herself. The servants’ corridors! They provide the most direct route to pretty much everything in the right wing! Why didn’t I think of that? But who’s the murderer? The one heading toward Luna or toward Celestia? Are there two? Perhaps it is the Blazebringers after all...
Taking a deep breath, Twilight forced herself into a trot, and as a result almost bounced off the royal guard appearing from behind a corner.
“Halt!” the white stallion shouted, assuming a defensive stance. “What are you... What happened to you?”
“There’s no time to explain!” the lavender unicorn said impatiently, sidestepping the guard and continuing down the hall. “I need to get to Princess Celestia’s study as soon as possible!”
“T-Twilight!? Twilight Sparkle!?” the guard exclaimed in surprise, keeping up with the crippled unicorn easily. “I was told you were with the princess! What’s going on?”
“Something bad is about to happen,” Twilight explained through gritted teeth. “It’s a matter of utmost importance I get to the study right now. The security of all of Equestria is at stake.”
“The princesses..?” the guard asked uncertainly, and the unicorn shook her head.
“It’s too late for them.” As if on cue, a faint muffled scream broke the silence around the two ponies, and they both glanced toward the west wing. Twilight suppressed a sob. “L-Luna...” The sound of marble breaking apart carried from Luna’s chambers all the way to the ponies’ ears. The murderer had taken care of the younger princess first, it seemed. Driven by an augmented sense of urgency, the unicorn redoubled her efforts, breaking into a gallop.
“What do you mean ‘Luna’!?” the guard demanded, trotting to keep up with the crippled mare.
“She’s gone!” Twilight shouted at him, growing frustrated with his lacking comprehension. “Celestia and Luna die tonight, and there’s nothing we can do about it! I need to know who does it, meaning I have to get to Celestia before the murderer does!” The unicorn took a deep, shaky breath, trying to collect herself as she reached a flight of stairs. A spark of electricity curled up one of her legs and she quickly reached out to her connection to the anchor point, strengthening the bond to prevent the whiplash effect that would send her hurtling back to her own time. “Alright, in case you haven’t noticed, my legs are broken,” she told the guard. “Either you carry me up these stairs to Celestia, or you evacuate the palace in five or ten minutes!”
The stallion hesitated for short moment, but just as Twilight began debating whether or not to punch him, he scooped her up on his back. The unicorn barely managed to hook her good foreleg around his neck before the stallion started bounding up the stairs.
“How do you know all of this?” the guardspony panted as he neared the top of the stairs.
The lavender unicorn said nothing at first, fighting to hold back her screams as every single joint in her body was jolted around violently. Only when the stallion had cleared the stairs did she answer. “That’s not important right now...”
Most likely, you’ll be dead in a few minutes anyway.
Before long, the two ponies were nearing the princess’ study, both breathing and sweating heavily; one from exhaustion, the other from nearly overwhelming pain.
Wouldn’t a fight with the royal guards have made a little more noise? Twilight thought nervously as the guard drew to a halt. Just who is this intruder? And where’s the other one? As fast as he or she was running, they should already be here. Perhaps the murderer is already inside the study.
The unicorn shushed her companion and approached the door as silently as she could, listening intently for any sounds coming from within the study. All she could hear, however, was Celestia speaking to the past Twilight. Apparently, the time traveler had beaten the murderer to the princess’ study. Perhaps there had never been a second murderer.
And where’s the first one?
Every muscle in the unicorn’s body was locked in place as something of vast power suddenly exerted its magic upon her. She tried screaming, but neither her lips nor her voice would obey her. Without making a single sound, the intruder had snuck up on both the injured unicorn and the royal guard and was now standing directly behind them. She could clearly feel its presence now; waves of fear and evil radiated from the creature behind her, washing over the unicorn.
An odd odor filled the unicorn’s nostrils. It was the rare scent of power, of magic so powerful that the very air was ionized purely by the excess energy that had nowhere to go. Twilight had only experienced such once, while speaking with Luna. During a rare emotional outburst, the princess had momentarily lost control of her faculties. Nothing serious had happened, but the sharp odor had for some reason imprinted itself upon the unicorn’s mind.
Whoever the murderer standing behind Twilight was, she or he must have magical powers equal to or greater than Luna. It became more and more likely that Nightmare Moon was the one behind the Great Tragedy, but still the unicorn could not believe it. If only she could turn her head. If only the murderer would speak.
Neither wish was granted to the unicorn. As she was hoisted up by the stranger’s telekinetic grip, it occurred to her that she might very well die. She would like to think that it was impossible to be killed while time travelling, but there really was no guarantee of her returning to her original point in time. She could just as easily die here and now.
The fear was only augmented as she was brought to hover next to the guard that had helped her up the stairs. Although no sound escaped the stallion’s lips, he was obviously screaming and convulsing in pain. The lavender unicorn began hyperventilating as she could only look on with complete horror as the guard was suddenly consumed by blood red flames, reducing him to ashes in less than a second.
Not like this... No!
She thought of her friends. All they would ever find of her would be an empty wheelchair. Rainbow Dash would never forgive herself for leaving her unsupervised. Nopony would ever know what had happened to her. She would vanish without a trace, just like everypony within the palace. Just like the insignificant pile of ashes beside her.
Twilight once again strained her neck to look behind herself, but the murderer’s magic was greater than anything she had ever experienced. Suddenly, the world became a blur as she was hurled backwards. She flew past the murderer, but as she made a final effort to identify the murderer, all she saw were two eyes, blazing with cold whiteness and staring directly at her for the split second she was beside the figure.
Twilight crashed into the floor, somersaulting awkwardly as she bounced, and hit a wall hard. Every limb in her body screamed in agony, but still she could not open her mouth. Unbearable pain clouded her senses, and eventually, all became dark.
“Is that you, Twilight Sparkle?” The injured unicorn’s eyes sprang open. Pain beyond her imagining filled her mind as she moved her mangled legs. Her broken hind leg simply hurt too much for Twilight to ignore any longer, and her right foreleg was bent at a sickening angle. Red clouded her vision, making it impossible for her to determine where she was. “I cannot say I am surprised at you being here!” the threatening voice spat. Twilight heard a set of hooves approaching.
The redness in her vision faded, and blurry darkness took its place. The unicorn gasped and huffed as she fought to stand. She had been lying on marble. She was still in the palace. “You really are in a wretched state, my dear student!” the voice laughed in a condescending tone. The unicorn looked toward the source of the voice and saw a blurry mix of blue and black moving toward her. And in the center of the approaching form were those terrible white eyes.
The unicorn’s vision finally cleared and the shape before her clarified. She was indeed standing in the Canterlot palace of the past. Behind her was the wall she had been smashed into only moments before. Along the wall to her right were a row of windows that looked out upon the palace gardens. Rain lashed against the glass, reducing everything outside the palace to a blur. To Twilight’s left was an empty corridor leading out to one of the larger hallways of the palace.
In front of her was the murderer; an equine the same size as Celestia. A deep purple fog extended from where its mane and tail should be, flowing and whirling about chaotically as the dark creature advanced. Ebony wings extended from its body, and a sharp horn protruding from its forehead gleamed dangerously. A flash of lightning from outside illuminated the alicorn further, revealing a helm and chest piece of pale blue. The terrible white light in the creature’s eyes faded away, replaced by slitted pupils. Nightmare Moon gave the unicorn a dangerous smile.
“What’s wrong, my trusted protégé? Did you not expect to see me again?”
“You… you’re not… Why!?” Twilight cried desperately at her old foe. “How did you come back!?”
“Does it matter?” Nightmare Moon laughed, approaching steadily. “From the way you look, I’d wager that what I am about to do is all in the past! Celestia will die, and you can do nothing to stop me!”
The unicorn began limping left, heading toward the corridor that would lead her away from the dark creature before her.
“But you do not die,” the dark alicorn added with mild interest in her voice.
“Why?” Twilight gasped at her enemy. “Why didn’t I die? Why am I still alive?”
Again, Nightmare Moon smiled. “Does it matter?”
All the questions swarming about in the unicorn’s head were effectively banished as the alicorn’s horn glowed with darkness, and Twilight bolted. Running on only two hooves, she ran with surprising speed down the dark corridor that would lead her to safety. Behind her, Nightmare Moon laughed. Over the sound of her own galloping, Twilight heard the steady taps of the dark princess walking calmly toward her. She dared not look back.
After agonizingly long seconds, Twilight reached the end of the corridor, only to be met by the dark alicorn. “Do not think you can escape the nightmare!” she hissed, but did nothing to apprehend the unicorn as Twilight turned, running down the hallway and away from the murderer.
A flash of darkness missed the alicorn’s prey by mere inches, and Twilight felt the fur along her right side burning away. The black bolt continued its path until striking the far end of the hallway, producing a deafening explosion. The unicorn turned left and barreled through a set of wooden doors leading to yet another corridor. As soon as she passed through the doors, a rushing cloud of dust and debris filled the hallway she had just been in.
“This is how it ends, Twilight!” Nightmare Moon warned. “You simply vanish from your present time! None will know your fate! None will know of your sacrifice!” Twilight risked a backwards glance and saw the alicorn stepping out of the billowing dust, maintaining her close but casual pursuit. “But then again, what has your sacrifice earned you?”
Again, the princess’ horn glowed, and the unicorn threw herself up a spiral staircase that had appeared to her left. This time, she felt a terrible and unnatural chill following in the black bolt’s wake. “You die in vain, little one!” Nightmare Moon cackled over the noise of another explosion. “Is there any worse fate?” Twilight did not know how, but she managed to climb up the stairs on only two hooves. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she sobbed as she ascended the steps as quickly as she could. The dark alicorn was right. Her travel in time had yielded her nothing. She knew the murderer, but now she would die. Nopony would know her true fate.
She tried reaching for her connection with the present time, but it was impossible to find. Was it Nightmare Moon’s doing, or was it her own fear disrupting her concentration? Regardless of why, Twilight was trapped in the past. Trapped in the palace whose only inhabitant seemed to be her pursuer.
She knew that death was inevitable; the dark princess was merely toying with her, but still the unicorn pressed on.
“Do you even know where you are going?” Twilight heard the alicorn laugh from the bottom of the stairs.
She had no idea. The unicorn had never been to this part of the palace, but she knew one thing: She was climbing a tower. Once she reached the top, there would be nowhere to go. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, it was all she could do to carry on while Nightmare Moon’s laughter rang in her ears.
Where were the guards!? Where was Celestia!? How could nopony have heard the explosions and the dark princess’ shouting? The unicorn cried at the despondency of the situation she was facing. Nopony was coming to help her. She was alone. She was as good as dead.
Finally, she reached the top of the stairs, panting with exhaustion and heart pounding with fear. The top of the tower was nothing but a large empty room. Despite the lacking furniture, it reminded Twilight of her old home in Canterlot before she had moved to Ponyville. The room was circular, more than fifty feet across and fifteen feet high. The walls were lined with enormous windows that granted a stunning view of Canterlot and beyond. In only a few minutes, the downpour outside had transformed into a violent thunderstorm. The glass around her reverberated with the harsh onslaught of rain and lightning laced the black sky with brilliant white every few seconds. Would this be where she died? Would the roaring thunder drown out her screams?
Twilight heard the sound of approaching hooves, and she backed away from the staircase toward the far end of the room. When Nightmare Moon finally emerged, the unicorn had her back against one of the large windows.
“And so it ends,” the alicorn declared, smiling coldly as she strode toward her cornered prey. “Ironic that I shall kill you now but that you in only a few minutes shall evade death at my hooves.” Nightmare Moon gave another short laugh.
Twilight cast her head about desperately, looking for anything that could save her from her current predicament. “No tests and trials as in the Everfree this time, my little pony; tonight you die, and tonight the eternal reign of Nightmare Moon shall begin!” The unicorn looked behind herself. They were much higher up than she had expected. A frightening drop of three hundred feet separated her from the ground below. “I told you. You cannot escape the nightmare!” the alicorn whispered menacingly as she drew near, her horn already glowing.
Twilight looked back at Nightmare Moon. For a moment, her breathing calmed. “Watch me!” The unicorn swung her head into the window at her back, her horn breaking through the thin glass with relative ease. Before the alicorn could react, Twilight had thrown herself out the window.
The wind howled in her ears, drowning out all other noises as the unicorn plummeted toward the ground below. The rain seemed to freeze in place around her as she quickly gained the same velocity as the falling drops of water, and her tears were forced from her eyes as she looked downwards at the hastily approaching palace gardens. Some part of her hoped for a pegasus to swoop in and rescue her, but another part of her knew that would never happen.
This is how it ends… I’m sorry…
Twilight clenched her eyes together as the ground rushed up to meet her with a sickening crunch.
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So, is it still a cliffhanger if the protagonist falls off the cliff?
Quesiton. I know I can just go on in and skim through myself, but I still wanna ask real quick. How exactly are the Princesses killed, and does it seem realistic to the readers? I ask because most people hold the princesses to a God standard, while I prefer them to be more of demi-gods, capable of long or eternal life, but still very much...well, killable. Not to say that I hate the Princesses or anything, but one of the main premises of a story I'm drafting rather depends on one of the princesses meeting their demise.
1775435
I think I shall answer that question with a PM, just to be sure I don't spoil anything for anyone, and because my explanation has a slight chance of becoming a wall of text that I don't want clogging up the comment section. Prepare yourself
Damn it That was horrible.
Damn poor Twilight
Damn talk about a cliffhanger can't wait for the next chapter to come out to find out what happened.
Damn, that's four comments in a row starting with damn. What's with this chapter?
damn well damn.... I soo want to know what is going to happen next and how this gets solved.
And I'm kinda sad Shining Armor is also gone.... would have been nice to see him in this one.
T.T manly tears were shed this day.
1780101
You got it. Will post tomorrow.
My theory (No spoilers for this chapter):
Its twilight who "explodes", killing everything and everyone, and that's why she doesn't die. Also, that's why she has that neck pain thing, something made her "explode"... Or something XD
Well so discord is in stone and Nightmare Moon did it.
Not a lot of stories get me in such an emotional state.. This feeling is horrible!
Regarding Time Travel: She could theoretically warn anyone whose body was never found, provided they stayed hidden until this moment in time. In fact, I wonder if everyone hasn't been lying to her about Shining Armor and Cadance for exactly that purpose... probably not, but perhaps she warned Luna? Or at least that is why some of Luna's essence seems embedded in her back...
Although, really, it is more likely you were just explaining why it wouldn't help... actually I can't think of any reason why it couldn't be used for INVESTIGATION purposes...
The dirge seemed both too depressing, and could be interpreted as biased against Luna(who MIGHT be guilty, but that is a bad message to be sending at her funeral)... actually, it seemed more like a grief for Equestria as a whole than for the Sisters.
“I have to go back. Not to act, but to observe,”
-Great (or maybe just "grape"?... nah, she's purple, but I'm not particularly) minds think alike! Is there any rule against returning to near the same point multiple times?
Within it, Twilight noticed a deep blue unicorn lying on the stairs, sleeping like the guards.
-Not looking good for Luna here, although Sombra is also a possibility. The other idea that was running through my head is that the Sisters knew their lives were about to end naturally, and were trying to transfer their powers, but Celestia died sooner than she expected and "went nova", and Luna only had time to stab a shard of her essence into Twilight.
Her travel in time had yielded her nothing. She knew the murderer, but now she would die. Nopony would know her true fate.
-This is where I realized that everything after hitting the wall could be a wakingnightmare (pun not intended) conjured by Sombra... far from certain, but quite possible.
((And... DONE!))
Wait...is the moon giving off light in this? If so, than the sun hasn't been destroyed, because the light from the moon is actually just a reflection of the light of the sun. No matter where you go, the moon in the night sky will always be a big rock in space...
If in the end it turns out to really be NMM's doing(as the story progresses, I mean), I will be thoroughly disappointed
So twilight, you survived being at ground zero of an explosion about the size of a small-scale nuclear detonation right before being casually thrown away by said explosion and hitting the ground with great speed. Each one being able to kill you very well on its own under normal circumstances, and you think you will be killed by a mere fall? Hmm...
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I agree.
The moon is nowhere near the size of the sun...
But hey Plot Armor