> Promises
>  by Lynneth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Promises

Chapter One


"You promised..." the mare muttered as she sobbed into the other’s neck. Supporting her, a tall mare with an alabaster coat, mane flowing in the unseen winds of a star, had tried her best in comforting the smaller’s woes. She was still trying even now, but words had failed and she could only provide closeness and what warmth was accepted. For days and days, the young mare had sought to be with her in the hopes of lessening the grief of the unknown, despite the inevitability of it all.

"You promised, Celestia," the lavender mare cried again. "I wouldn’t have to leave them. That’s what you told me. But you lied to me... Why? Why did you lie to me?"
This was the first time since Twilight had arrived that a question was directed at the Princess herself. It surprised her a little, and she hesitated with her answer.

"I... Twilight, I," she sighed. "I’m sorry, for what little it’s worth. Terribly, incredibly sorry." She stared at one of the room’s walls, though her focus was elsewhere. "Many ponies think I am all-knowing, but that is not so. I make mistakes, and this, believing your ascension to not grant you the same gift and curse as I and Luna." Pain and regret in her expression, she looked down at her beloved student. "It was one of my gravest mistakes. I can only ask you to forgive me, my dear Twilight. But you don’t have to. By all means, hate and loathe me, if you like. It is only your right." Celestia sighed again as she looked down at her former student. There was a hint of a smile in her mien, assured that Twilight would only need some time to accept things as they were now.

The younger alicorn had stopped sobbing some time during the last few minutes, though she still was breathing heavily. "I want to hate you, I really do. But I... I can’t. You’ve been a good teacher to me, cared for me. Almost... like a second mother." Eyes reddened from her tears, Twilight finally stood and looked out of the western window. The sun was low, though it was not yet time for the Solar Princess to set it. "I’ll have to think, Celestia, a lot. But I’m not exactly sure what will come of it."

Celestia nodded, a serene smile hiding her conflicting emotions. "Whatever it may be, Twilight, I’ll accept it. I trust you to come to a good decision."

"I won’t bother you anymore, then, Princess. I already made half of Equestria grind to a halt by keeping you from holding court for days on end." She chuckled a little despite herself. "I would wager that many ponies enjoyed their sudden vacation. Until later."

Without waiting for Celestia to acknowledge the little joke, Twilight set off for her rooms in the palace. They were located in a whole new wing that had been added over the last few decades. Among others, it housed the second-highest tower of Canterlot. The spire of Princess Luna’s personal Observatorium was the only building reaching further upwards. From the ground, it looked as if it kissed the sky. 


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"No, no, no! Why can’t I find anything that might actually work?!" 

Tired and more than a little upset, Twilight watched dozens of tomes, books, and scrolls orbit around her, having tuned out just as many others that were on the ground, carelessly discarded. "Even the accounts of Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever contain nothing of use! And they were two of Equestria’s the greatest scholars!" A pulse of magic threw the valuable writings into all corners of the room, deemed just as useless as all else that she had consulted. Surely there were older works, ones containing more powerful magic?

"But I can’t ask Celestia... not now. And Princess Luna would most likely talk to her about it. So, books, but I’ve been through all relevant content already, what’s in the public libraries, anyway. Maybe there’s a secret library..? But wouldn’t Celestia have told me about something like this by now? So even if there’s a secret library in the castle, I wouldn’t know where to look." She shook her head. "No, I’ll probably have to do this by myself. I just... I just need to think of something good. But I’ll need time, a lot of it, more than I have, much more." Twilight began pacing around the room, already missing Spike’s occasional insightful quips. But the young dragon had gone to watch the dragon migration. He wouldn’t be back for at least a week.

"Time. How do I get more? I can’t go into the past anymore, I used that scroll for that ridiculous stable loop decades ago. Stupid. I was so stupid! But... wait, no. I do have as much time as I need, don’t I? I’m immortal. But they aren’t. So they need more, how can I give them more time? Does a cockatrice’s stare kill or merely petrify after extended periods of time? With some luck there are no side effects? Nnno, that’s too risky. The Elements? No, they’re back in the tree. I wouldn’t want to risk it being corrupted again. And we don’t have other ponies to use them. And Discord mentioned once that he’d been fully aware during his imprisonment. So that’s not a solution, either." Still pacing, she began to collect and re-shelf the books from earlier. The menial task proved to be relaxing enough for her to calm down and avoid an 'episode'.

"Can I prevent time from passing for them instead of giving them more? That should be possible, but how, exactly? Maybe Starswirl the Bearded’s texts have something..." Almost idly, she picked one of the ancient wizard’s tomes - this particular one re-bound less than a century ago - and began looking for ways to stop time, preferably applicable to an individual or a with a small area of effect. 

By the time Twilight set the book down, early night had turned into late morning. A servant brought the sixth cup of coffee since midnight, neglecting to comment on the dark rings under Twilight’s eyes. Once the alicorn was alone again, she downed the heavenly liquid in a single gulp, then resumed her work. Dozens upon dozens of scrolls were filled with written theories and calculations.

"Progress," Twilight muttered smugly as the quill touched down on the parchment yet another time.


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The first two times it knocked on her chamber’s doors, Twilight didn’t even register the sound. Upon the third time, her ears twitched in recognition, but only by the fourth, now rather more insistent knocking did her mind register it properly and respond, "Yes, do come in," she mumbled with barely enough volume for the pony outside to hear her.

In came the Princess of the Night, silhouetted by an eerie light. Twilight looked up, her concentration wavering and a smile appearing on her face. "Luna! I didn’t expect you to visit." Barely a moment later, she raised an eyebrow."And I really have to get that magilamp in the corridor looked at. What brings you here?"

Luna returned the smile briefly, moving further into the room and lying down on the one pile of pillows that wasn’t covered by parchment or paper. "You missed our monthly stargazing, Twilight. I also have heard that you all but barricaded yourself in your room? I merely wanted to see whether there was a reason for this and if I could perchance aid you in some way?"

"Oh, ah. What’s the date?" Twilight seemed a little uneasy even to the untrained eye, fidgeting a little with the scroll that currently was suspended in her magic.

"You have last been seen outside this room when returning from my sister’s chambers. That was three days ago, Twilight, and the servants have barely received requests for food from you. Have you slept at all, and eaten properly? Or are you... having an episode?" the dark-blue Princess tentatively asked. "Some of us are, I admit, a little worried."

"Oh! No, I’m quite alright, Luna. I’m just doing some research, you see. There’s nothing to worry about, really." Smiling a little too widely, Twilight attempted to usher Luna out of the room. This was met with little success.

"Research is supposed to look quite different, Twilight. You know that. It does very much look like you’re obsessing over something, and I believe you are quite aware of how unhealthy living like this is, even for an Alicorn. Need I remind you what happened the last time? Half of Canter-" 

"Yes, I remember! No, you don’t have to remind me. I know what all this looks like, but I promise, I’m not obsessing over anything." Twilight knew that was a lie. She was in a strange mood, trying everything she possibly could to finish her current line of research, so suddenly inspired by a stray idea that popped up merely days ago. But it would work, she was convinced of that. She’d just have to find the right ritual. Luna, however, looked entirely unconvinced by the promise, looking at the sheer mass of parchment gathered in the room while raising an eyebrow.

"Whatever the case, Twilight, I must insist that you accompany me and Celestia at dinner this evening."

"No! I mean, no. Thank you, but I’ll be alright. Really." For a few moments, Luna merely stared incredulously at the lavender pony, her mind refusing to process what had just been said. Not wishing to meet Celestia? Surely this was an impostor, a changeling, she thought briefly.

It took Twilight a few moments to realise that the other Princess might not have been entirely aware of what had happened a week ago. Time to remedy that, Twilight decided.

"Right, um, how do I explain this the best? Well, some stuff happened and I sort of really don’t want to see, meet, or talk to Celestia right now. I’d actually prefer to avoid thinking of her, too." 

Slowly, the Lunar Pony nodded. "I... see." She was somewhat suspicious of the explanation, though Luna had indeed been informed by Celestia regarding the events of last week. "Very well then, if that is so, then you surely won’t mind me casting a spell on you? Merely to alleviate some ponies’ suspicions concerning what happened recently."

Twilight stared for a few moments before she realised what Luna was implying. "Um, I guess? Though I’d really rather keep working. I’ve a few experiments running that need regular checking on so they don’t go awry? Surely you understand that, Luna?" She was, in part, bluffing. Experiments were running, but oversight was not at all needed, only occasional checking for preliminary results. Whether Luna would buy that excuse, however...

The older Alicorn sighed, walking closer to Twilight. "A changeling, even their Queen, couldn’t possibly fake just how bad a liar you are, Twilight. Very well, I shan’t bother you any longer. Just be aware that, whatever may happen, I consider you both a dear friend and sister. Further, I am confident that Celestia has very similar feelings. If you ever need any pony to talk to, we will be here." She gently nuzzled the lavender princess’ mane during the last few words. 

Twilight was a strange mixture of tensed and relaxed, her eyes lightly closed even as her jaw was tense enough for her to almost grind her teeth. The clump in her throat made it difficult to speak. "Thank you, Luna. I... I really appreciate it. But this is, it’s something I’d... prefer to do on my own." She only felt Luna’s nod.


"So be it, then. I wish you all the luck in the world for your project." The elder Princess proceeded towards the door. "Farewell, little sister."

Twilight was still looking at the closed door when a servant came in nearly an hour later, delivering a nice, healthy salad before removing himself from the young Princess’ vicinity. Slowly munching on the multi-coloured leaves and fruit, she finally nodded. "I’ll need it."


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During the next few days, Twilight noticed that servants were interrupting her work only occasionally to bring food and drink, whether or not she’d asked for any. She suspected that Luna had spoken with the cooks. The meals were a welcome distraction, however, giving her occasional chance to stop and think about the day’s work. Slowly, things were taking shape, the spells more and more promising with each iteration. But to make it truly lasting, she would have to devise a proper ritual and a counter-spell to end its effects when it was time.

Currently, Twilight was again eating a light meal, probably breakfast or dinner judging from the height of the sun. Currently, her thoughts were how she could explain the spell - or ritual - to a pony with little to no knowledge in the required disciplines. She would probably try explaining how she had taken Starswirl the Bearded’s noted regarding time spells, then carefully combined that with centuries of research into magic used for preservation of food and other non-living items. This required taking advantage of a loophole in the incompatibility of the two disciplines’ spell matrices by binding them to a third, compatible spell, something so complicated that only two centuries ago combining three disciplines into one spell had been considered all but impossible. Even today, none but the greatest and most powerful unicorns could even contemplate doing such a thing. It felt like child’s play to the alicorn.

I’m such a cheater, she thought as her mind wandered to the apparent ease of this binding. The end result, if everything worked out, would be deceptively easily described, though. Temporal Stasis. Not complete and perfect deactivation of the body or its functions, but rather disassociation of it from standard time. The great problem was powering this and sufficiently slowing the affected’s perspective of time.

With this basic spell, days and weeks would be perceived as mere minutes passing. Good, but not nearly enough. The goal was to make centuries feel like seconds, millennia like minutes. She needed to give them time so she could find a way around losing them. For this, she needed something that could deliver the needed amount of magic, the power of a ritual. 


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"Attempt number 134, test subject is a grasshopper. Unlike the previous attempt, no anaesthetic spell has been used to keep it still. For some reason, the spell interfered with the ritual, resulting in spontaneous combustion of the subject. Will research cause once primary spell is found to work properly, and the ideal conditions for it to work. Proceeding with experiment now."

Twilight moved away from the magical dictation device, something she used when Spike was either unavailable or she didn’t want him to know what she was working on. It didn’t happen too frequently, but often enough. Regardless, as she kept narrating every single step, she took the green insect out of its small glass cage, placed it on the table, and restrained it with carefully harvested spider silk. She then proceeded with further preparations, drawing up the sigils and miniature ley-lines, all calculated to a staggering degree of accuracy.

"All preparations completed, test subject alive and, ugh, wriggling against its restraints. Casting experimental stasis ritual."

Her horn lit up and a thin, barely visible rope of purple light began to snake its way from her horn towards the sigils. A moment later it touched the first sigil, which activated it and supplied the drawings with raw magic. In the blink of an eye, the drawings lit up in all possible colours before slowly turning white. Twilight took a deep breath. By the time she began to exhale, the sigils flashed white, briefly illuminating the room with a dazzling mosaic of blinding light and pitch-black shadows, somehow not taking the unicorn or her test subject’s eyesight permanently.

Twilight staggered into a table behind her, sitting down on her haunches after she hit it. "Th-that didn’t happen the last 133 times." She stared at the grasshopper, which had frozen mid-movement, no longer struggling mindlessly against its restraints. A quick spell confirmed that it was still alive, merely moving so slowly that it was imperceptible even when watching it for hours on end. For a short while, the scientist in Twilight was stunned into silence. She most certainly hadn’t expected for the ritual to work at last. But the insect appeared to be fully affected by the spell. Only a nearly imperceptible sheen with an orange sheen gave away that it wasn’t really dead. She caught herself staring and shook her head, then proceeded once again with her descriptions. This time, however, glee was clearly audible in her voice. Unexpected success always brightened her mood and excited her. The feeling of accomplishment was quite simply exhilarating.

Once all necessary tasks and examinations had been carried out and Twilight’s narrative completed, she put most of her equipment to the side. Then she turned to look at the subject. "Alright, this one was... I think about two weeks into adulthood. The species’ average lifespan is four weeks to my knowledge. If I wait one month, then apply the counterspell, it should live for another two weeks - for a total of eight."

Luckily, the counterspell was already in working order as she had used it previously to dispel lesser stasis rituals and spells. Thus, the only thing Twilight needed was patience.

If successful, she only needed a sapient test pony who could tell her about what they felt while in the ritual’s grasp. A pony she could trust to keep a secret truly secret, but who could afford ’vanishing’ for a week or two. Perhaps one of her personal guards? No, only after at least one test on something bigger than an insect. A cat or a dog, perhaps. Something bigger, at least. But she could think about that when the grasshopper safely came out of the spell.


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One month passed, during which Twilight caught up on the work she’d neglected in the weeks of sulking and experimenting, if only barely. There still were some reports from Manehattan to read when she put her papers aside to check on her stasis project. Spike she sent on a convenient errand, having timed running out of some difficult-to-get office supplies just for that day. During her trek, she deftly avoided any unwanted encounter or stumbling into a servant. She accomplished this thanks to decades of knowledge with navigating her wing of the castle as well as having planned a considerable part of it to boot. Further, she used several secret passages that only a select few servants and guards knew about. Even her best friends and the other Princesses didn’t know all of these pathways - the exception perhaps being Pinkie Pie.

Soon enough, the most magical mare in Equestria arrived in the chamber containing the experiment, quickly moving to the central table after activating her recording device. She spent a minute examining the green, now orange-tinged insect. "Subject has not moved from original position as far as I can perceive, though monitoring magic measured miniscule movement." She cast a life-detecting spell. "Subject is still alive, and I am now preparing the countermagic. If everything goes as it should, the subject will visibly struggle upon being released from stasis. Let’s put the theory to the test."

Her horn lit up, quickly and efficiently weaving the ritual’s counter, unleashing it upon the table. For a brief moment, the insect flashed green, then red. Then the spell dissipated and the animal struggled hard against its silken bindings. All monitoring spells returned nominal and fully expected readings, giving the Princess reason to take to the air and perform a loop, only not ramming her face into a computing device or wall thanks to the room’s sheer size.

"Right, so..." She landed again, then freed the tiny animal and brought it into a prepared habitat. It would hopefully live for another two weeks as predicted, thus making this iteration of the stasis spell, for now, the most successful one. "I’ll just have to be patient for now. I really hope it works and that bug lives long enough..."

Finally, bringing the insect’s containment with her, Twilight left the tidied-up room for her private chambers. She’d ask Spike to keep an eye on her subject and make a report every two days on its health. Two weeks and seven reports later, the grasshopper finally said its metaphorical farewell to the world, dead. For Twilight, this concluded the most difficult part of the experiment with a full success. Some refining of the spell would have to be done with larger animals, but she didn’t want to stretch things out for too long. It was time to invite some ponies for a little chat.
> Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Promises

Chapter Two


Arranging for them all to meet was more difficult than Twilight had anticipated. There were considerable conflicts in their respective schedules, and the only ones who were able to always find time whenever needed were Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash, as senior coach of the Wonderbolts, needed to carefully delegate the duties she’d be neglecting to the other coaches, a task that wasn’t anywhere as easy as it might seem. Rarity had a veritable fashion empire to look after. A less caring CEO might just have up and taken a vacation, but she wasn’t like that. Meanwhile, Applejack was head of an Equestria-spanning family that had begun to contribute considerably to not only Apple-related products anymore, but industrial production as well.

Thus, it was several months before they all had a free week in their schedules. Twilight used that additional time to refine her rituals and ensure that what she had planned was in fact legal, even for a Princess. Despite her plans, she didn’t dare neglect her duties. Some nobles had started to grumble when the youngest of the Princesses started neglecting her duties, but thanks to Luna’s intervention nothing of note happened. Another such episode after so little time was unlikely to be tolerated, even if Celestia deigned to intervene on Twilight’s behalf. Court was serious business for the nation’s higher classes.

So the months passed and Twilight found herself getting more and more anxious the closer the date came. Luckily, she had Spike to keep her from obsessing too much over it. He’d gathered plenty of experience by then, and the best cure was to give Twilight something to distract her sufficiently. So he brought her books about a great many subjects, from agriculture to exotic cultures beyond the borders of Equestria and more. Books did the job well regardless of content, even if they weren’t new to her. 

Eventually, an airship docked at one of Canterlot’s many docking-spires. Nearly simultaneously, a train drove into the city’s main terminal. The ship was carrying an alabaster unicorn whose mane was despite her advancing age a beautiful Byzantine purple. The second important passenger was a butter-coloured pegasus whose pink mane had numerous grey streaks, giving her an air of wisdom. The unicorn was wearing a rose colored hat, just flamboyant enough to compliment her equally outward-going dress laced with white embroidery. The pegasus on the other hand wore a soft green dress akin to one she had worn to her first Grand Galloping Gala, one she deemed stylish for all occasions. ’Empress’ Rarity and her best friend Fluttershy had arrived, the mere sight of the airship sending Canterlot’s fashion elite into one fit after the next. The effects on Equestria’s clothing circles would be felt for weeks.

The train on the other hand carried two earth ponies of some renown, though they could not be more different in personality and looks. The orange-furred mare wore an ancient Stetson on her equally ancient-looking, pure white mane. She had minimal clothing by modern Equestrian standards, though half a century ago she might have been considered overdressed for most occasions save the Grand Galloping Gala. Her dress was simple and green, with no embroidery or much of anything else other than a leather belt. It was suitable for visiting orchards and perhaps even applebucking, if need be. The second mare was an embodiment of Pink and Happiness. Her coat - pink. Her mane - pink. Her entire dress - at least 50 Shades of Pink. Even the carriage she’d - officially - been in during the ride was all sorts of pink. 

The first pony was Applejack, head of the Apple family and by now owner of one of Equestria’s many companies, Apple Co. The second was Pinkie Pie. Everypony loved her products, for everypony loved sugar and sugar-related products. The factories making these were hers. Not all of them, but more than a few. 

The last arrival was far less overt, despite the pony’s usual attitude. A formerly sky-blue Pegasus with a Rainbow-coloured mane, wearing a Wonderbolts Coach uniform - looking much like that of a colonel - sped above the sprawling city and its many spired, aiming to land directly in or near the new wing of the palace. Her name was Rainbow Dash, and though her coat was greying, her multicoloured mane defied her age stubbornly. She was the only pony in living memory able to create a sonic rainboom and had developed half a dozen manoeuvres that were now in the Wonderbolt’s standard repertoire. Two dozen more were deemed too dangerous to perform in public. She was boastful and a braggart. But she didn’t make a scene upon her arrival; barely anypony in Canterlot even noticed her now being here. Just like what Twilight had asked for - keeping their presence largely unknown for the time being.

Because of that, she was the only one who got to meet Twilight that evening. The others were ushered into their respective rooms, each with a big book on the values and finer intricacies of covert action to rule a nation on the bed. Dash barely held her laughter back as Twilight told her about the books. Then they talked and reminisced.

The next day, Twilight invited all five into her private quarters, greeting them happily, though with a mischievous smile, for upon opening the books had been enchanted to read part of their contents out loud for several hours. Pinkie claimed it to be a great prank, while Applejack and Fluttershy were apologetic, promising to be more aware and careful the next time. After some nudging by Fluttershy, Pinkie promised the same. Rarity huffed and puffed for as long as servants were in earshot, trying her hardest to show utter outrage. Then she nearly broke down and apologised as well, swearing to never again let her vanity override common sense like that and do something so highly silly and counter-productive as the previous day. Twilight happily accepted the apologies and thanked her friends for simply making time in their busy schedules, coming to visit. 

In the next hours the six spoke at length about what had happened since their last gathering. Among others, Pinkie Pie regaled a story about a cousin of hers who had embarrassed himself somehow, though she refused to reveal the cause of embarrassment until the end of her story. 


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The following day, they met only around 10 pm. Once more, the others were greeted by Twilight."Good morning, girls," she chirped from a comfortable bed  of pillows as the others filed into the room, then scattered and sat or lay where they believed it most comfortable. Rarity on a one-pony couch, Applejack and Pinkie on two piles of pillows, Fluttershy on a cloud Dash had made for her yesterday and Dash herself on an armchair. Once they all were comfortable, Twilight continued.

"Right, so-..." She hesitated a moment, ordering her thoughts, "you all remember that I wrote about something I wanted to show you girls?" 

They nodded, though Pinkie spoke up, grinning, "I’m dying to finally find out! I was wondering who I’d need to throw a party, you know?"

Twilight blinked. "Um, what?"

"Well, who the lucky stallion is! Took you long enough," her pink friend exclaimed loudly and happily, making Twilight reel with a blush. 

"What?! No, it’s, just. No! Pinkie, it’s not about a coltfriend, not at all!"

She hoped that the multitude of ’aww’s were only an echo. The drooping ears weren’t, unfortunately, explainable by wonky sound physics. "Good heavens, girls. I wouldn’t make a coltfriend such a big secret. I think..." Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she then continued again. "Anyways, um. I developed a new spell, ritual actually. I wanted to talk to you about what it might do for a short while."

The others’ ears were a little perkier now, at least somewhat curious. Undeterred, Twilight continued by bringing a lizard into the room with her magic. It was covered by a visible orange sheen and didn’t move, even blink while the alicorn set it down on the central table. Before a question could be asked, she spoke, "Stasis. It’s a ritual that appears to freeze anything in a certain area determined by some runes, in the case of the lizard making it look stiff and immovable and unmoving. In reality, it decouples the creature from ’proper’ time and slows everything down, the speed at which they then move depending on how much power is put into the ritual. In short, you could put a bunch of apples into stasis, wait a century and they’d still taste, look and, really, be the same, as if it had been only a day. You could preserve anything nearly indefinitely, provided you have a unicorn able to remove the ritual’s effects again down the line. Though that’s an easy spell."

With the example, the magical babble begun making sense for the non-unicorns. They all nodded. Applejack was leaning forward, evidently more than a little interested. Rarity, however, raised an eyebrow after a few moments, raising a hoof to politely interrupt Twilight as the alicorn prepared to continue. "This is all very nice, dear. But other than Applejack and perhaps Pinkie we would have no real use for this spell. You didn’t call us all here for a full week just to catch up some and showcase a new spell, did you?" The fashionista had tried to not sound accusatory, but Twilight nevertheless deflated nearly instantly, nodding slowly. She shuddered a little and in the blink of an eye was surrounded by five smaller bodies hugging her, two nuzzling her neck gently. The alicorn closed her eyes, staying with them like this for a time, until she’d calmed down at least a little.

Finally, Twilight was again able to speak reasonably. "I suppose I should tell you girls why I really asked you to come..." She took a deep breath, but was interrupted again. 

"You could use this to keep ponies suspended in time as well, couldn’t you?" Dash sounded surprisingly morose. 

The room was silent for some time before Twilight began speaking again. "I... Ah, first: please let me just speak for a while, girls. Okay? No interrupting for a bit?" When the others agreed, she continued. "Right, so. It boils down to two things, really. The first is that Celestia... broke a promise she’d made to me. She lied about it, though I cannot even begin to understand why she did it. The second is.. I, I love you girls. And I don’t want to lose you, any of you. So I made this spell, with, well, the explicit intention of casting it on you all. The end goal was to give me time" She paused, trying to think of how to say the next bit. 

This time, Fluttershy spoke her thoughts out loud. "But you wouldn’t want us to be like that forever, would you?"

The alicorn shook her head. "No. The plan is to try and find a way to make you girls immortal. Like me and Luna and Cadance. That was the basic thought behind everything. Make you immortal, don’t have to deal with watching my.... my best friends age and wither and, and..." She choked up again, unable to properly speak any further. Again, warm and comforting bodies pressed against hers. They stayed like this for a little longer than before as five had to digest this rather unexpected and perhaps slightly disturbing information, one trying her best not to think of worst-case scenarios and just stay calm.

After some time of silence and contemplation, Fluttershy spoke, "Twi? Is that what you really want? I mean, I understand that you don’t want to see your loved ones, your family die. That’s only natural. But then we’d watch our families age and die, while being denied a natural part of ourselves. You probably thought about that, though..."

Twilight nodded. "I understand that, and I know it. I thought about it for a long time. But I’m not Celestia or Luna, I wasn’t born with this. I’m not Cadance either, who can dedicate herself to her people and be loved and love and drown the grief like that. I’m me, and I’m honestly not sure I could take losing any of you. It’s, I know that it’s incredibly selfish of me. But you guys would at least know - beforehand - that you’d survive many other ponies. You wouldn’t be lied to, ma-manipulated, puh-pla," the alicorn managed before the tears came again and she wailed, showing her friends how she felt. Fitting her emotions, a rainstorm brewed above Canterlot, the first drops already falling. Within moments, the floodgates opened and a deluge not seen in decades poured down upon the Equestrian capital from above.

Within the chambers, Twilight’s face was buried in Fluttershy’s neck and mane, while a light blue wing covered barely half of her body. The other three were there besides her, trying to comfort Twilight in their way. Perhaps half an hour later, maybe a full one, the purple pony’s tears had slowed to a dribble, only dry sobs coming from her. It was some more time until Twilight calmed once more, though still looking and sounding despondent.

It was Pinkie who opened her mouth next. "Twilight?" Purple eyes were looking at her, reddened and tired. "This spell, it makes you reaaal sloooooow, right?" Pinkie smiled upon her friend making a choked giggle. Twilight nodded. "So everything around us is really fast and years pass without us actually noticing until we’re back out of it and normal-fast again and then we’re suddenly in the future and everything’s changed and everypony’s new and there’s new sweets and so on and on~?" The speed of her speech made following it a little difficult, but Twilight understood it, nodding again. Pinkie grinned, continuing. "So we don’t watch anypony die, just then though our old friends will be gone but there’ll be so many new ones we could make though I’ll miss a lot of our friends in Ponyville but we can remember the good times with them and I’ll throw a huuuuuge party for all of them and we can have a big party for all of them every year and I’m in, I’m okay with the consequences, even if there’s unforeseen ones."

Five flabbergasted pairs of eyes suddenly stared at a happy blue pair. Uncertain, Twilight asked, "You are?" 

She nodded happily, "Yes! I’m one hundred percent fine with it!" 

Twi nodded, starting to smile. "Thank you, Pinkie. Thank you so much."

Feeling her friends’ hesitance to ask, Pinkie decided to answer the questions they surely had, "I had a great life. My family is terrific, they love me, I love them back, all of them. I love my second family, the Cakes. I love all of my friends, especially you girls. I’ve had a really, really good life. There’s not much I’d do differently and most of all, I’m content with what I’ve done and achieved. I have a famous chain of bakeries with sweets and goods that even stuffy nobles like to eat! There’s really no life I’d rather have lived than mine. And that’s why I’m okay with Twi casting her silly spell on me. I’ll say my goodbyes to them all, sure, but this way or another, I’m going to be gone some day. And I’d rather have it be on my terms, with a huge party instead of croaking almost unexpectedly! Ribbit!" She giggled and smiled, hugging all five of them at once. "And there’s no other ponies I’d rather get a new life with than you all. Y’alls~." Gigglesnort. "So I’m okay with Twilight’s plan."

The others nodded in understanding. Twilight’s smile was a little brighter now, looking to Pinkie like the immortal Princess she ought to be. Sadness so didn’t suit Twilight! She looked a lot prettier with a smile - everypony did, really.

Regardless, it was Applejack who spoke next, fidgeting a little. "Ah’d like to think some more ’bout it. Everything Pinkie mentioned, ’specially the bit ’bout bein’ content with yer life. You alright with this, Twi?"

Twilight nodded, now looking almost serene. "That’s fine, AJ. I sort of expected that, actually. Take all the time you need. You others, too." Three mares acknowledged this and the six slowly began to rise and part from each other. "Are you all okay with meeting again tomorrow? Or would you like more time?" They all were fine with it, not asking for more. Thinking on one’s own, they all knew, didn’t turn out well if done for too long without outside contact and others to talk to. Something a purple pony sometimes forgot.

"Until tomorrow then, girls. Good night."

And they went to their respective quarters. 


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


The next day started slowly, with breakfast in the big dining hall with all Princesses and some nobles as well as a few entrepreneurs seated along the tables. Rarity was quick to find some potential new contacts, though the others largely kept to themselves, even Pinkie being uncharacteristically silent - tense, even. Though Celestia and Luna noticed this, one forced herself with a heavy heart not to ask questions while the second found little interest in the unusual demeanour. She figured that it might have something to do with the nobles making the Elements a little uneasy. She never could remember how good or bad their experiences with them had been in the past.

Thus, little of note happened during breakfast and it was only near midday that Twilight asked her friends to come to her room. "Hello, girls." Unlike the previous day, Twilight didn’t try faking being happy or relaxed. She smiled, but otherwise appeared rather serious. "I trust everypony’s well?" She barely waited for confirmation before proceeding, "Good. Then I’d like to know what you decided upon, one after another. Though we can do it one-on-one, if any of you would prefer that?" No hooves were raised. "Alright, then. Who’ll be the first?" She looked at her friends with the same genuine but serious smile. For a time, none of them said anything, appearing lost in their thoughts. 

It was Rainbow who broke the silence. "Might as well start." Dash took one, two calming breaths. They all were a little tense and nervous right now.

"I thought a lot about what Pinkie said and, ah, even more about what she implied, intentionally or not. But, yeah. I did live a pretty sweet life. One of the best fliers in Equestria from early on, weatherwork always came sort of easy to me. Maybe a bit too easily, I got kiiinda lazy somewhere along the line before most of you showed up. You all probably remember what I was like when Twi arrived in Ponyville: a lazy, good-for-nothing slacker too content with herself. But after we became friends, with all the adventures we had, I suppose that shook me out of that stupor? Kind of, anyways. But being friends with you all really gave me motivation to improve myself. Soon enough I was on my way to joining the ’Bolt academy, even got accepted after some serious, heh, mishaps. I still remember Spitfire’s face when I decided to walk out at first." Rainbow grinned to herself, laying on a cloud a metre and a half above the ground, forcing her friends to crane their necks up, if not by much. They knew about all this of course, the Pegasus was recounting these things for herself more than for her friends.

"I think her respect for me grew a lot that day. Then again, being partnered with a pony even more reckless than me taught me a thing or ten about carelessness and humility... Honestly, without Spitfire partnering me with Lightning Dust, I probably would’ve kept overestimating myself, underestimating the dangers I was confronted with. I would not have ended up where I did in the ’Bolts, leading the support flight and later getting into coaching, raising a new generation. But for all the fun I’ve had in the ’Bolts, I think it might be time to step aside for other, younger trainers, less, ha, conservative. I don’t think I ever expected to call myself ’conservative’ in any way." Dash chuckled happily, shaking her head a little. "Oh goodness. Well." 

She turned to look at Twilight. "There’s not much keeping me once I quit as coach. Scoots will probably be devastated, but she’s an amazing pony, even if she never made it in. I think she’ll understand, and I don’t have any other family left. Well, by blood. I’d say you girls are as good as, if not better than any family I could’ve had if I settled down. I’m with Pinkie here, once all my loose ends are taken care of. I guess my life could somehow have been better, but I can’t think of how. So, just zap me whenever, Twi." Dash let herself fall through the cloud, unfurling her wings to smoothly glide to lay on some pillows besides Pinkie. "Yeah. I’m in."

Twilight and Pinkie both smiled happily. "Thank you, Rainbow." 

Dash nonchalantly waved it off, "Yeah, whatever. Just don’t get too mushy on me, okay?" She chuckled. The alicorn rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"Right. So, who wants to go next?" Twilight’s question hung in the air for a minute. Then Fluttershy found her courage and raised her head a little - enough for the others to understand the intent. "I suppose I don’t have as much to look back to as you girls. I almost always kept to my cottage after all, though the occasional photoshoots with Mrs. Finish with Rarity’s latest collection was nice, I suppose. It helped that I always got such a nice compensation for them..." She blushed a little, smiling. "But even though I didn’t go out much, I did find a great stallion eventually, and had three amazing little foals." She sighed happily at the thought of them. 

"Though he’s now gone and my little babies are all grown up. I’m sure they’ll miss me when I’m gone, but... Pinkie mentioned it yesterday. This might give me a chance to let them say a goodbye on our terms and move on more easily. I’ll have to find somepony to take care of Ponyville’s little and large critters, though. " She sighed mightily, almost disturbing the cloud she was sitting on and exhaling air into. "None of my children are all that good with animals, unfortunately. But they’re all great at their own things, and I’m really happy for them." She smiled, apparently done. 

Twilight tilted her head, "Um, Fluttershy? What did you decide?" 

Fluttershy stiffened a little. "Oh! I’m so sorry, I forgot to say. It was so nice just talking a little like that. I hope you’re not mad." She hesitated for a moment, but continued when the alicorn smiled. "Right, ah. Well, I’ll do it, I think. But only if everypony else does, too. If that’s alright with you all. I wouldn’t want to do this without knowing you’re all with me." She blushed a little, smiling at the other five ponies, all of whom seemed fine with this arrangement. "So, yes. I think I’m done now."

For a moment, Applejack straightened herself as if to talk, but before she or anypony else could say even a thing, Rarity silenced the attempts, standing with grace that would’ve sent several journalists scrambling to write an article about the mere act - something very possible, these days. "Applejack, darling, I do hope that you won’t mind me regaling my thoughts on all this?" The farmer shrugged, alright with that. "Most excellent. Now, let’s see..." She put a manicured hoof to her chin. "Really, I don’t rightly know where to start! You all have been such a good, positive influence on me and Sweetie Belle, from the very beginning. Starting with Applejack lending me money to get the Boutique off the gro-," several confused faces stared at her. 

Rarity gasped. "Oh! I never told you about that? Well, it wasn’t much, really. Applejack and I had already been acquaintances, long before I met you four. Even back then we never quite got along, but when she heard of my wish to have my own store instead of working as apprentice in another town, she gave me a most generous loan despite all opposition on my part. I suppose this act of hers inspired me a little. Ever since then, the Apple family’s had a special discount in my Boutique - and, well, any other store under my name nowadays. Of course I paid it back as soon as I could, with interest, even though she didn’t ask for any more than she gave me originally. Well, that’s how I got started. You all of course know what happened after dear Twilight arrived, with Photo Phinish, Fancy Pants, Copper Gear and so many others. After her ascension, things got a little stressful of course. Twilight was wearing one of my gowns on her coronation and that brought an inordinate amount of business in. You all saw how things just snowballed from there. All of a sudden, I truly was known by all of Equestria’s fashion elite, orders coming in from all over the country. Even from some foreign nations! Oh, but even with 36 hours in a day I couldn’t possibly have managed all this and still have time for my dear friends and myself. I had to cut back on sewing things myself, hiring a few talented young mares instead and concentrating on designing things. Then came that deal with Golden Glamour and Fancy Pants, and suddenly I had my own label! Oh, I almost fainted when the two approached me about that." She paused for a moment, smiling at the widely grinning Pinkie Pie.

"And then I threw one of the biggest, and I must say, least elegant parties of my life. With Pinkie as the organiser and very nearly all of Ponyville being invited... ’Twas a blast, to say the least. Unfortunately, that probably was the last time I could truly let loose like that. After I registered the label, there was so much work, all these meetings and 16 or 18-hour days." 

She sighed dramatically. "Oh, but it was so worth it. Fleeting though it may be, my name is known throughout and beyond Equestria, even a household name! That was my dream, all those years ago when I opened the Boutique. Naturally, if I mysteriously go missing, I might even be immortalised in fashion history. My darling son and daughter will of course inherit most of it. They’re both so talented with design and fashion, they wouldn’t even need to get anything - they could turn Equestria’s heads with even the earliest of their creations. Though perhaps that’s the mother in me speaking... Ah, I still cannot believe that they’ve grown so quickly. And they turned out so well, I can scarcely believe that my darling husband and I found the time to raise them so well." She sighed happily. By now, Rarity had procured a worn but cared-for couch to lay upon.

"But whether they will inherit prematurely, that is undeniably the question. I admit that immortality sounds very appealing, not to mention the boost to sales and fame my label would get from my sudden disappearance. Oh, it is tempting to say the least. But it’s also the work of my life. I’m afraid that a single day simply isn’t enough for me to decide, Twilight, dearest. I simply cannot decide on something of this magnitude with so little time before the due-date. I’m terribly, terribly sorry, but you’ll have to give me just a few more days, dear."

Twilight nodded understandingly. "Don’t worry about it, Rarity. This is why I asked you all to make a full week free. Honestly, I didn’t expect so many of you to decide so quickly, so... Take your time, Rarity." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Why’d you give us only one day initially, Twilight? Isn’t that a little unfair?"

The alicorn shook her head. "The way I figured it, Dash, is that if you had a week initially, you’d probably over-think everything too hard. That’s what I’d probably do, anyways. But if you’re already certain after the first meeting, you wouldn’t need that much time and decide much earlier. This way, we don’t waste the week with thinking too much if we don’t need to, while those who are unsure get the time they need. I think it’s fairer and more efficient this way." 

Dash seemed to relent, nodding and planting her head on the cloud she’d returned to from Pinkie’s side. "Alright, I get it."

Twilight smiled, then turned to the last pony who hadn’t spoken their thoughts yet. "Applejack, what about you?"

The farmer looked a little uneasy, fidgeting with her hat. "It’s a bit weird, to be listenin’ to y’all talk about this all as if t’weren’t mightily serious. We’re talkin’ about upsetting the natural order here. Ponies are, well, supposed to die. I understand that you’re really upset about this whole thing Twi, but I can’t help but think it’s kind of supposed to be like this. I bet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had to deal with the loss of a lot of friends. They look like they turned out alright to me. I’m sure you could handle things just fine without us. Really, I’d rather have lived this one life well and not need another. It’s how I think it’s supposed to be, and I hope you understand that, Twi."

"I... Applejack." Twilight suddenly looked devastated, though the others stayed silent, whether by choice or due to being surprised by Applejack’s bluntness. Twilight managed to continue speaking, "Applejack, Celestia lied to me. She admitted to it! And, and, ’turned out alright’? Did you already forget what happened to Luna when she was lonely and without any perceived emotional support? She turned in-, into a m-, a creature of evil! Celestia didn’t fare all that much better, she was nearly driven insane by her sister’s loss! Equestria suffered in the years and decades after Luna turned - and you all were there when Celestia and Luna told us that story! I, I don’t want to end up like them, Applejack. I don’t want to turn into a nightmare or a half-crazed, depressed Alicorn. I want to be normal, but, but, I need you girls for that. Please..."

Applejack trotted up to Twilight, nuzzling the Alicorn’s cheek gently. "Twi, I think you’re much, much stronger than that. You’re not a lonely pony like Luna was all her life, and you’re certainly not Princess Celestia, either. She’s aloof, likes to keep an overly polite distance from most ponies. You’re not like that. Ponies can relate to you much more easily. Hay, I’d be willing to be that you’ll be everypony’s favourite Princess in no time!"

Twilight choked up now, though the tears were of happiness rather than grief. She nodded slowly, smiling as she used a wing to carefully brush the tears off her face. "I... Thank you for your faith in me, Applejack. It means a lot to me. But, are you sure about your decision..?" 

The farmer nodded. "Yup. Feelin’ mighty sure here. Ah know that you don’t like that very much, Twi, but I don’t feel very comfortable living beyond what’s been given to me. I might not have the time to do everything I’d like to do, but if I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished, then that’s alright with me. I’ll be happy to see y’all off during that fancy ritual of yours, but I don’t think I’ll be participatin’ in it." By now she was sitting roughly in the centre of a circle made of the other five ponies. Then something blue tackled her, moments later joined by a pink something. 

Both turned out to be ponies. Dash spoke first, "AJ, you can’t do that to me! Whose apple trees am I gonna nap in only to be shooed out of them? Who’ll I run the Running of the Leaves with, or compete against during the Iron Pony competition?!" Pinkie interrupted Dash there, pushing her off the Farmer and taking her place. "It’s not a pony party unless all invited guests RSVP, Jackie! You’re an important part of our team, you know! Nothing would be the same without you, we might as well not do anything if you don’t wanna come along." Suddenly, Pinkie and Rainbow were engulfed by a purple aura and lifted off the orange pony, who in turn got up again, returning her hat onto her head.

"Girls! Applejack’s made her decision. I’d appreciate if you didn’t try to-, uh?" She stopped herself as Applejack raised a hoof, asking for an interruption. "Applejack?"

The farmer shook her head a little with a small smile. “’s alright, Twi. They do have a point. A big one, even. I mean, look at all that we’ve done in our time, how often we saved Equestria. We do have a group dynamic going, don’t we?” She slumped down for a moment before continuing. “That’s what makes it even harder for me. I don’t like going against my personal beliefs. Y’all understand that, don’t you?” She looked up at her friends, a hint of a smile returning. “’course you do. That’s why I love you girls so much. You’d all understand if I didn’t want to go through with this stuff. But…” 

Applejack paused and took the time to look at each of her friends for a few moments. They looked expectantly at her, resulting in a chuckle escaping from the farmer. “Sometimes, I suppose you gotta jump over your own shadow? And y’all would be stranded without me. I couldn’t rightly leave y’all hanging, could I? That’d be just plain dumb and stubborn. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna like living so long, but it’s gonna be okay if I have you all with me.”

Applejack took a deep breath, now finally smiling. She nodded to the still-floating ponies. "Thanks for snapping me out of that, you two." Then her head turned towards Twilight. "I may not like living that long, but I’m gonna be there for you and the others, Twi. I can promise you that."

"Applejack..." the alicorn responded, tears of happiness glistening in her eyes again. She was sure she’d run out of tears today, but somehow not. "Thank you so, so much. You don’t know just how much that means to me."

"It’s alright, Twi, really. I just, you know, oughta learn to jump over mah own shadow. I don’t think I’ll reminisce as much as y’all, though. I mean, the farm’s healthy and Bloom’s been taking care of most things for the last few years now, together with my two kids and her half a dozen." She chuckled. "Never thought my sister would want or have that many little ones. But, there’s really not much more to talk about. Things are pretty good these days for Sweet Apple Acres and the Apple family." Having finished, Applejack returned to her pillow, sitting on it.

"Well," Twilight started, "I suppose we have the week for ourselves now. Not completely unexpected, but it’s still a pleasant surprise." She smiled happily. The next days would be a nice vacation from her endless duties. Only when Rarity had finally decided would they need to gather like this in Twilight’s room again.
> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Promises

Chapter Three


Time passed and ponies enjoyed many activities, such as sightseeing in Canterlot or visiting Copper Gear’s latest airship prototype - without the engineer however, who was too busy with his next models. The days went by much more quickly than they all would’ve liked, but time is often enough inversely relative to the amount of fun one has. The more fun one had, the less one felt time pass.

On the second-to-last day, Rarity finally asked Twilight to gather the others. Some time in the evening all six friends were once more in the alicorn’s chambers. "Welcome back everypony. I believe Rarity wants to inform us of her decision now." The Fashionista nodded with a demure smile. "I shan’t keep you all for too long. After lengthy deliberation and a few short letters that I exchanged with Sweetie Belle - she is quite alright by the way, her tour currently is in Hoovesburg - I have decided that I will, after all,..." She made a deliberate pause, raising tension thusly, "not deny your request, Twilight dear. I shall participate."

Fluttershy spoke up momentarily. "Now that everypony else is coming for sure, I’ll be there, too. That was my condition for it, after all." 

Twilight nodded gleefully in response, the relief evident in her mien. "Great! So we can enjoy today and tomorrow for now. I’ll tell you when I have everything prepared for the five-fold ritual. Considering the size, it might take a few weeks or even months to get everything into order and gather the ingredients."

Five ponies nodded and the six returned to enjoying their short vacation. On the seventh day, they parted with great smiles and well-wishes.


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In the following weeks, Twilight returned to her duties, but did many only half-heartedly. Many times, she was seen descending into the dungeons beneath her palace wing, which were used by her and sometimes friendly scholars for scientific experiments and research beyond the means of most universities. However, the great frequency with which she went down there and the strange ingredients that were bought unsettled a few concerned ponies, who brought this information before Celestia. Though the solar Princess would take some time to do more, she convened with her sister about the issue in her own chambers.

"Luna, reports have reached me that Twilight appears to have found another project that she seems a little obsessed about, though to a far lesser degree than the previous one." 

Luna nodded slowly, "Does she eat regularly? Does she neglect her duties and friends in any way?" 

Celestia shook her head gently. "Yes, she does eat. And... It depends on how you look at it. She performs her duties, though spending as little time as she can, it seems. It is not like her to shy away from work, at least not without reason."

The younger sister rolled her eyes. "’Tis not too unusual for her, I would dare say. Perhaps it is a quick thing she believes to be completed soon enough that she may return to her duties soon enough? As long as she holds court and eats without prodding, I would not worry too much, Celestia. Do not forget that she met her friends recently. It appears to me that she isn’t truly isolating herself in any way."

"Perhaps you are right, little sister, but I still worry. I don’t want her to do foolish things."

"The only ones a pony learns from reliably, big sister. You cannot, must not coddle her as you have done during her youth. She needs to make mistakes in order to learn from them."

"But-" 

"Anything she would deem dangerous, she would speak about to either or both of us. She may not be the wisest of ponies, but Twilight knows her procedures and guidelines. You can of course talk to her about it, but I would not think it necessary."

Celestia sat still for a time, but finally nodded. "Perhaps you’re right, Luna. I suppose I shall think more on it before doing anything rash."


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A few months passed, during which Twilight’s preparations culminated in her procuring an artefact capable of holding the magical energies required for the ritual and delivering the power in an instant - a magical capacitor, if one wills. However, the crystals used to make such devices were rare, requiring the alicorn to spend far more than she had budgeted for on the ritual. This budgeting discrepancy lead to a very bureaucratic and thorough pony working for the crown’s treasury reporting this and everything else connected to the purchase to a superior of his. Bureaucracy was a slow animal however, and thus Twilight dismissed the report after she became aware of it. She figured that anything of note happening before the spell was complete was unlikely.

In the meantime, Twilight had a large, currently unused chamber of her wing converted for the ritual and later safekeeping of the ’results’. When she finally had knew when the preparations would be completed, she sent invitations to her five friends. Spike had by then been informed of everything, though an inconvenient diplomatic mission to the Zebra homelands prevented the multilingual dragon from participating. It was unfortunate, but he’d promised Twilight that he would be thinking of them all whenever he could.

Soon enough, the six were gathered in a room adjacent to the large chamber. "Alright, girls. Do you all have everything in order?" 

One after another, they nodded in confirmation, though it was Fluttershy who spoke up first. "I gave the mayor my notice just a few days after our last meeting here. She was shocked that I’d retire so suddenly, but very understanding. And she was grateful that I gave her so much time to find a new keeper for Ponyville’s critters and the edges of Everfree. It wasn’t easy to find a qualified mare, but together, we did it. Everything’s good now, for me." She smiled daintily.

Next was Applejack. "Applebloom’s taken over the last duties on the farm on my request. I told her two weeks ago and together, we broke the news to the kids and whatnot. Can’t say any of them were happy or agreed with my decision, but I’m still the family’s matriarch ’till after the ritual. Then it’s all on AB." The farmer sighed. "I’m gonna miss them so much."

Pinkie nuzzled her orange friend’s neck, as always smiling. "We’ll miss them a lot and they’ll miss us a whole lot, too. But it’s alright, because we can always remember the fun times we had, AJ. As for me, I told my family that I’d go play a prank on death himself and let them interpret it as they liked. I only asked them to always remember the things I taught them." She nodded several times. "It was a bit somber, but they understood that even Granny Pie can’t be there forever~. Luckily I never Pinkie-Promised that to them, being there until ever is over." She giggled a little, by then having returned to her own seat.

Then it was Rainbow’s turn. "I just told them I’d leave in a while. Like Flutters, give them time to find a replacement even half as good as me. Last I heard, they got Spitfire and Soarin’ to come out of retirement because they just couldn’t find anypony who’d be a good enough coach. Scoots mentioned she’d try and help with that, too. Turns out I got really good at coaching, heh. I’m really hoping here that I didn’t screw the ’Bolts over there, that they’ll be able to keep flying and what. Ah well. They’ll recover soon enough. There’s plenty of good guys they have." Dash shrugged, though idly stroking an ancient Wonderbolts uniform with a hoof - the design the group had been wearing the day she’d originally joined the elite group of flyers. Nostalgia was powerful for some ponies.

Rarity was the last. Interestingly, she’d been wearing what looked like a clever disguise, concealing the true her underneath decidedly unfashionable clothing and wigs. Then she hovered a newspaper up, so the others could see the front page. "Officially, I died about a day ago, give or take some hours. I was on a cruise with some old friends when a typhoon hit our airship unexpectedly. As luck had it, the captain managed an emergency landing on an inhabited island after calling for help via radio. Unfortunately, Equestria’s greatest Fashionista was flung off the ship during the storm, presumed missing, likely dead." 

She paused for a few dramatic moments. "Sweetie and those friends on the ship are aware, but nopony else. Not even my own... Oh, I do regret not saying proper goodbyes to my own children, but they’re not good enough actors to pull this off convincingly." She paused again, forcing a little smile. "Of course there’s no more paparazzi now, girls. No more intrusions into my life that I didn’t ask for. It’s such an incredibly heavy weight off my back, I can scarcely believe how good I feel now and how I lived the last decades." She leaned back.

"Of course I also made sure to open an account with the Central Bank of Equestria some months ago, under special conditions that it may only be opened or even touched with a special, secret spell, no matter what might happen to the owner. Of course the sum I ’donated’ to the Bank for this to happen could have bought a small kingdom, I’d wager. Goodness, what greedy ponies there are. Anyways, it was sufficient to convince them to sign the contract - magically enforced, I might add, that it cannot be broken even by future directors or whatnot. So I’m very much hoping that I’ll have access to it in the future... somewhat risky, I suppose, but worth it." She smiled and shrugged. "But that’s it. Everything’s been taken care of. I have nothing that I’d call a loose end."

Twilight nodded. "None of you do, it seems. That’s good. Now, girls," she hesitated for a few moments before continuing. "There’s of course a chance that I might never find a spell to do what I started all this for. It might be impossible to make any of you more than extraordinarily long-lived. I told you as much the last time we met, but I’m repeating it now. If any of you have second thoughts, this is the last time to back out." She looked at her friends for a time, but none seemed inclined to back out now. "Alright. Well, if there’s really no spell, I’ll use the counterspell on you all. What we do from then on I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure something out."

"You promise that, Twilight?"

She nodded. "I promise."

"Let’s get to it, then."

A few minutes later, they were in the ritual chamber. No servants were in sight and with how far along the preparations were, making the room’s use more evident, Twilight wouldn’t have wanted there to be any, regardless.

The room itself was more than large, with enough volume to house the tree-library four times over and still have plenty of space left over, though not quite as sizeable as the throne rooms. This chambers original intended use was to receive foreign dignitaries or host ’modest’ balls or galas. Not that it had even seen use as such since its construction. The floor was now covered in intricate runes, sigils and other shapes, candles here and there at major intersections of lines. Dried plants had been set down in some of the circles while five squares were aligned to form a simple pentagon, five-sided shape, the sigils within signifying the stasis spell. In the very centre of this formation was the magical capacitor, already hummling audibly with sheer energy.

"One into each of these squares please, girls. And try to position yourself as centred as you can." Twilight watched her friends heed the request, only moments later standing at their designated points. Luckily, there was no need to distinguish between any of them, as the ritual applied just as well whether or not it knew who or what the pony was. Twilight placed herself in a circle nearer to the edge of the arrangement from which the other lines and so on seemed to originate. Soon, every pony was in position.

"Alright girls, once I start the ritual, there’s no stopping it. The capacitor is fully powered and unless I made any mistakes even after quadruple-checking, the energies involved should be enough to keep you all in very slow stasis for several millennia if uninterrupted. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be moved or anything - in fact, there’s a good chance you’ll be revived in a place that looks very different to this room. Just keep that in mind, alright?"

The five ponies nodded, prompting Twilight to begin the ritual. "I’m starting now. Please try to stay silent unless it seems really important."

Her horn lit up, thin strands of magic quickly connecting to the chalk circle around herself. It spread quickly and within moments the entire chamber was bathed in the soothing purple light. In the span of a second, Twilight’s friends were tinted appropriately as the squares they stood in flared up in the same colour, then shooting thin strands at the artefact in the centre. From then on things became too fast for even a Pegasus’ trained eyes to follow. Magical lightning erupted from the artefact, striking first all candles with pinpoint precision and extinguishing them, in the fraction of a second jumping from these to the nearest pony within a square. Accompanied by a thunderclap beyond anything Twilight had heard before, the central crystal shattered utterly, releasing its accumulated power all in a single moment. Hearing this made her more than glad she’d chosen to soundproof this room, else half of Canterlot might have been brought awake.

Then, the chamber was bathed in white light for several moments, making it impossible to see anything. Time appeared to stand still, only resuming after what seemed to be hours, shattered crystal pieces raining harmlessly onto the ground, fine dust beginning to settle down even as it kept crackling with leftover magic. Carefully, Twilight opened her eyes again, looking over the result with great anxiety. The feeling vanished quickly upon seeing her friends coated with an orange sheen, frozen with open eyes, staring ahead. The five even looked a little serene like this, almost content with themselves.

Twilight dismissed the last remnants of magic in the room, trotting over to her friends. Tears blurred her sight, though the smiled with happiness, glad that the spell had worked perfectly. Still, she would miss her friends terribly, talking joking and adventuring with them. But they weren’t gone forever, and that gave her immeasurable strength.

Luckily the ritual hadn’t taken much out of her so that she wouldn’t need to rest. But after this she wanted to sleep for a time before concerning herself with moving her friends to a better, more suitable location. She turned towards the large main door to leave.
> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Promises

Chapter Four


The ritual was complete. Her worries lessened. She’d have time, all the time she needed after her friends were safe in a chamber deep beneath the palace and Canterlot, safeguarded by an impressive array of spells that only very few ponies might be able to break through. Its strength required a spell to keep it hidden, yet another piece of magic usable only by truly advanced casters. A requirement to keep this complicated matrix of defenses going, however, was relatively regular reinforcements, once every five to ten years, depending on the spells involved. Trying to get used to new habits that needed such rare attention was very difficult for any pony, not just a Princess.

Time did as it does, it passed. Years and years went by as the various ’deaths’ and disappearances of the Elements were investigated thoroughly and eventually dropped. A day of mourning was held when it became clear to Equestria that other than Twilight, the Bearers had vanished. During the official funeral, the youngest of the Princesses spoke at length about the virtues of her friends in the present, some taking this as sign that she hadn’t yet come to accept that they were gone. Yet, she continued undaunted with her duties. Time passed.

As Equestria grew with the decades, Twilight found less time than she would’ve liked for her studies in regards to immortality, every Princess having more work to do. So it was that a mere four decades after the original ritual, the defensive spells were not reinforced in time, weakening and so permitting curious or sensitive ponies to detect this secret chamber. Another year or so later, an alabaster pony with both wings and horn found herself trotting through the caves beneath the capital on a whim that getting to know the caves better might be nice. Chance, as it were, ruined a great many more plans than anything else in history.

The pony, the alicorn, Princess Celestia, stumbled upon a strange magical signature within these caves. Curiosity brought her deeper and closer towards it. She came upon the chamber’s entrance, skilfully removing the defenses without triggering any alarms. Walking in, she found it to look more like a shrine. Five eerily life-like statues were arranged as five points of a six-pointed star in the center of the room. One unicorn, two pegasi, two earth ponies. Something, she felt, was wrong. A simple place of worship would not have such potent defenses, she argued with herself. Moments later, she noticed the orange sheen encapsulating the statues. With but a thought, a spell was cast. Its result would have made her grow pale white in horror, had she not already been blessed with a white coat.

After a few moments to get over the shock, she carefully probed the spell enveloping the five missing Elements as well as the remnants of the Chamber’s protective magic to try and find out the responsible pony’s magic signature. What she got after mere moments of probing made her eyes widen. ’Horror’ no longer applied or was a strong enough feeling to describe what was going through her. Leaving the chamber as it was, she teleported first into her private chambers to don the full solar Regalia. In her haste, she forewent telling Luna of this development, only concentrating on the pony that had created that chamber. She didn’t even consider the effect that confronting this pony in full regalia might have. So, for the first time in a very long while, Celestia did something rash.

She interrupted another Alicorn’s court with naught but the ’pop’ of her teleportation as warning. the many shocked faces didn’t register with her, only looking at the purple pony sitting on a similarly coloured throne. "Princess Sparkle, we need to speak. Urgently."

Seconds passed as Twilight stared at her former mentor, now sister. Then she waved nobles, guards, servants and claimants out until only the alicorns remained. "Celestia, what’s the matter? Why are you dressed up like that?"

"Have you ever explored the caves underneath this city, Twilight?"

The former librarian tensed involuntarily, though so little only very few would ever notice it. The pony in front of her being one of these. "Once or twice perhaps. Why?"

"I found something close to the mountain’s foundations. So deep that I cannot imagine a normal pony ever having ventured there."

Twilight tensed the slightest bit further, keeping her expression as neutral as she possibly could. Celestia still appeared to read her like a book. Nevertheless, she decided to keep feigning ignorance. "What did you find there, in these depths?"

"A chamber."

"Containing?" Eyes narrowed a little.

"Five ponies, thought to have died decades ago."

"You imply that they’re alive?"

"In the most sophisticated, beautiful stasis spell matrix I have seen in my life, surpassing even Starswirl the Bearded’s greatest works on the subject."

"Truly?" She knew she’d been busted.

"Indeed. This chamber also was defended by a most impressive array of spells that required regular maintenance. Luck and skill permitted me to disarm them without alerting their caster."

Twilight stayed silent. She hadn’t expected for this to happen. At the same time, she admonished herself harshly about forgetting to reinforce the disguising magics.

"I then used a spell to ascertain this pony’s magical signature. Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised at finding it very familiar indeed." Celestia took a step forward. Twilight tried to be prepared for anything, by now looking ready to try and evade a pouncing tiger. Still, Twilight said nothing.

"What have you done to your friends, Twilight Sparkle, and how long has this been going on?"

"There are techniques to copy and fake another pony’s signature very convincingly," she began, though petering out.

"Not an Alicorn’s. That is an impossibility, reinforced by hundreds of learned scholars over the centuries."

The last excuse was gone, however flimsy it might’ve been. She couldn’t brush the blame off herself anymore, both she and Celestia knew that. Still, she only looked at the solar Princess for now.

"What have you done, Twilight?"

"What we agreed was needed."

"Who is ’we’?"

"My friends and myself. Us six."

"Why did you do this?"

"To keep to the plan I had formulated for us."

"What plan?"

"The plan to keep them in stasis."

Celestia’s temper flared briefly and unexpectedly, the room momentarily brightening. "Cease speaking in circles!"

"Why do you even want to know?"

"They’re the elements' holders. Their safety is imperative, and from what it looks like, they’re being tortured. Remember what Discord said about his stone prison!"

"They are safe. Discord wasn’t slowed to the snail’s pace they are. There is nothing to worry about."

"Yet they cannot use their abilities to defend Harmony. Just what is this ’plan’ of yours?"

Twilight sighed. She had been dreading this encounter for a long time, being questioned like this. "The plan is to not lose each other. Ever."

Celestia tilted her head a little, confused by the answer. "What? How would that justify imprisoning them like criminals?"

"They are in this voluntarily. Were you to remove them from their current state, they would not agree with your decision."

"And just why did they agree to this?"

"I didn’t want to lose them. I still don’t. So I’m trying to find something, anything that might keep them alive for as long as we desire."

Silence reigned for a time, Celestia staring slack-jawed at the other Princess. She shook her head, not wanting to believe what she’d just heard. "You’re joking. Please tell me that you’re not being serious about making them immortal."

"On the contrary, Celestia. There is nothing that I’d be more serious about than this."

It took a few moments, but then Celestia’s gaze hardened. "No. No, this isn’t going to happen, Twilight. This ’plan’ of yours goes against everything we and the Elements stand for. Keeping them alive will result in nothing but misery and pain for all of you, Twilight."

"Why should I believe you? How do I know you’re telling the truth?"

"Immortality is not a gift, but a burden. Very few can truly cope with the repercussions."

"Yet here I stand!"

"I had nothing to do with that, Twilight. It was the Elements who-" 

"Given to me and my friends because of your machinations! Why couldn’t you have found a more willing pony who wouldn’t mind being manipulated?"

"Things don’t work that way. Your friendship had to be genuine for the Elements to reawaken. I did what I felt was necessary."

"You could at least have told me about your plans after we defeated the Nightmare."

"That would have endangered the budding friendship, Twilight. You could’ve lost the Elements that way."

"Did you ever intend to tell me? Or had you planned to keep me in the dark until I was on my deathbed?"

"I wanted to tell you. I really wanted to tell you so much... But I didn’t want to disrupt your friendship, I didn’t want you to start doubting your friends."

Twilight sighed deeply, audibly. "Well done on that one. There’s no way in Tartarus that I’d betray them in any way. Which means I’m going to keep my promise to them."

"You’re going to have to break that promise. Aside from no such spell existing, I would never permit anypony, not even you or Luna, to simply disregard the natural order of Life and Death."

"Then I’ll just have to invent that spell in the first place and use it when you’re busy."

"This is not a joking matter, Twilight. If you do not heed my warning, I will have no choice but to prevent you access to your friends."

A sudden shockwave forced Celestia to take a step back. Twilight’s horn was lit, magic shining brilliantly from it. "If you even dare to touch them, Celestia, I swear...!" She let the threat hang like an obsidian sword in the air.

"You won’t be able to stop me if I decide to put my mind to it. You wouldn’t even notice that they were gone until it was too late." Celestia unfurled her wings, spreading them in a subconscious attempt to look more intimidating. Inwardly, she regretted having allowed things to progress to this point, a tension in the air like she hadn’t felt it in over a millennium. Only this time, there was no backup plan she’d prepared, no Elements to aid her.

The two alicorns simply stood where they were, neither eager to make the next step in any direction. the tension was thick enough that one might cut it with a knife.

"I will not back down from my plan, Celestia. I will see it to fruition."

"And I cannot let that happen. Please, Twilight. I do not wish to fight you. There must be another solution."

"I don’t see any. We’re diametrically opposed in this case, and it looks to me that this can only end in blows." She kept her horn lit, the room’s walls a purple hue. Celestia sighed, then let her own horn flare with pure, white-yellow magic. 

"So be it, then. Would you prefer a formal duel or proper battle?"

"Fighting without rules would only needlessly endanger ponies. Duelling is cleaner and more efficient."

"I would suggest a different locale regardless, to ensure that our subjects do not think badly of either of us. We both still are-" 

"Yes, I get it. You don’t want them to see us have such a great and intense ’discussion’. How about the old castle in Everfree?"

"As good a place as any other deserted one."

Nodding at each other, the alicorns let the built-up energy in their horns take shape of a spell, teleporting them roughly into the old forest’s direction. In the moment they vanished, a third pony pushed the door to the room open, only to witness the magical residue disperse. She immediately set upon following the two powerful magical signatures, taking to the air moments after stepping out onto the closest balcony.

Canterlot beneath only witnessed the dull rumble of a pony at high altitude accelerating beyond the speed of sound with great control, lacking any sort of rainboom equivalent.


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


As Twilight and Celestia reappeared high above Everfree, both instinctively spread and beat their wings slowly upon feeling gravity reassert itself to try and pull them earthwards. Celestia was the first to dive down, looking only for a few moments before recognising some ancient landmarks and so allowing her to fly towards the old castle. Twilight waited a few seconds before following the elder Princess. The flight was short and soon enough the castle was in sight. The two landed in a clearing at the edge of the ruins.

Celestia looked at her former student and fellow Princes with a sad smile. "What sort of rules would you prefer, Twilight?"

"No summons. No lethal or banishing spells. No spells with a greater area of effect than this open area here," she said, motioning with her wings to indicate its boundaries before continuing, "no direct mind manipulation magic. Until exhaustion, surrender or first blood, whichever comes first. Everfree must not be left for the duration. That would be it from my side."

Celestia nodded. "All reasonable. But let us attempt to keep collateral damage to a minimum."

"Very well." Twilight’s horn lit up in the same moment as Celestia’s. "Then let’s begin."

Any pony who might have watched or read accounts of previous battles of alicorns, be they between each other or against a nearly equal foe - such as Celestia against the Nightmare or Chrysalis, the sisters against Discord and so on - might have expected this duel to be very similar to these battles. Slow, methodical, trying to overpower the opponent with magical beams and little finesse. 

One might forget, however, the circumstances of these fights. Against the Nightmare, Celestia knew that her sister still was somewhere behind that mask of terror and hate. Battling the Changeling Queen, Celestia couldn’t unleash her full power for fear of risking the castle and its inhabitants. Discord was a physical god with near-unlimited power against the Elements of Harmony, the sisters merely channelling that incredible power.

This time, however, the opponents were two ponies who not only felt sisterly love for each other but they also had agreed to a set of rules, something that hadn’t been the case in these other fights. Thanks to those factors, the two alicorns didn’t merely fire against each other at full blast. 

They vanished the moment the duel had officially begun, reappearing hundreds of meters away from each other. Celestia unleashed a barrage of spells with a flick of her horn before a powerful beat of her wings propelled her into a wide curve around her opponent.  Twilight took that same split second to extend her senses and conjured a magical barrier, its sloped edge angled to deflect incoming projectiles and spells. She then brought her full attention towards the alabaster alicorn who already had completed a quarter-circle around her. Moments later, Celestia broke out of her trajectory to avoid the burst of magical projectiles aimed ahead of her, barely evading the absurdly sharp icicles.

For each move and every attack one made, the opposing Princess had a counter ready despite the incredible speed at which they hurled precision magic against each other. Their spells deliberately lost coherence after inevitably missing their targets, leaving the twisted trees and bushes around the clearing unharmed. Even though Twilight and Celestia were moving and teleporting faster than any normal pony would ever manage, their incredible precision spoke of great control and concern for their surroundings.

However, knowing each other so well - and having practised duelling in the years after Twilight’s ascension - they were evenly matched. Their control and precision made it so there were no surprises: if either had tricks that might deliver a decisive victory, neither appeared eager to used them. It was a stalemate, and one neither was willing to break.

In Ponyville, the closest Equestrian Settlement to the duel’s location, only the occasional strange light could be seen. The Everfree dampened sounds far too well for the din of battle travel over such a distance. The light show was unusual but no pony saw it as dangerous, so close to the horizon over the haunted forest. 

A single pony in flight watched the distant spectacle. She adjusted her course towards it. She had been following the residue of teleportation, its faint signature leaving her unsure whether she’d taken the right direction. The battle before her eyes confirmed her destination. She accelerated further: the speed of sound a mere plaything for her, tossed aside as she reached thrice its velocity with thin, elongated clouds of condensation following in her wake. As her target - the old castle - came into sight, her altitude began to drop, faster and faster as she went in an almost vertical dive. 

She saw another clash and several spells impacting powerful shields. The combatants separated, ready to strike again. No such chance was given: she impacted the ground at supersonic speed, the sound and the shockwave stunning the two alicorns momentarily. An enormous dust cloud rose into the air, obscuring all sight inside the clearing. She let her magic flare up, summoning a great gust of wind. The cloud vanished in but a moment’s time. 

She stood in a crater several hoof-widths deep, horn glowing fiercely with dark blue magic. In a Voice she had long ceased to use, Luna spoke. 


“Cease.”


The other alicorns could only stare at the sudden appearance of the Lunar Princess. Neither had ever expected this of all things to happen. Twilight was the first to regain her wits, “L-Luna?”

Then Celestia, “Sister! What are you doing here?”

Luna only sighed. “You both should be ashamed of how you’re behaving. Like little foals, stubborn and unrelenting, you throw a temper tantrum because you might not get what you desire.” She looked sternly at the ponies she considered sisters, both stepping back, looking at the ground with their ears lowered. Still, the Lunar Princess continued, for now looking towards Celestia. 

“In your blind fear of ponies who might share our burden of longevity, not only did you forget that even we immortals will one day find our end, but far worse: your actions are pushing our young sister away. What happened the last time a sister of yours felt overwhelming neglect and resented you greatly? Do you remember such an occurrence, sister?” Celestia flinched away, eyes closed tight. Luna deemed it harsh but necessary, and it would keep her older sister busy for now. 

Twilight, meanwhile, was at least in part curious now. “You, you know about my plan..? But I never told you anything about it, Luna. How?”

The first response was a chuckle. “Do you think me blind and deaf, Twilight? Even before your friend Rarity confided her conflicted thoughts in me, I had more than an inkling of what you might be planning. Unlike Celestia, the memories of Starswirl the Bearded’s works were relatively fresh in my mind. Rarity only confirmed what I already suspected.”

Twilight gulped hard. “I, Luna. I’m, I..!”

A raised hoof prompted Twilight to shut up. “Though you were a fool to think we would never find out about your project, though I may find it childish and selfish, I understand very well your position, Twilight. Both I and Celestia have lost ponies who were very dear to us, even more so than the ponies of Equestria already are. Close confidantes, friends, lovers…” She sighed wistfully. “Some day, you must come to terms that the four of us - you, me, Celestia and Cadance - are both cursed and blessed.”

Twilight shifted her head a little, curious. “What, what do you mean with that?”

“Let me try to explain it. We are cursed with immortality, for we have to watch those we care for and those we grow close to live their lives and eventually die, unable to do anything about it. We are outside the natural cycle of birth, death and rebirth, for the most part. No matter how much you want it, things cannot and will not stay the same. For that very reason, you will have to say your final goodbye to your friends at some point in the future. Certainly not today and not tomorrow, either. But be it in a decade or half a millennium, you will have to revive them from their sleep and spend a last few years with them.”

“But, but..! If I find a spell, if I can make them immortal-,” Twilight stopped herself when she saw Luna shake her head slowly. 

“It is not that I would not be happy for you to achieve such a thing, little sister. However, both I and Celestia have lived for a very long time. We have witnessed wonders and magics that would utterly dwarf even the greatest achievements of today. Even Discord, at the height of his reign, was unable to make immortals. He could bestow long, healthy lives, yes. Yet, giving true immortality like his own, he could never give. I and Celestia too have attempted many times to create an elixir or a spell, a ritual, anything we could think of that might permit us to keep some of our dearest friends.”

“How… How did you two and Cadance become immortals, then?”

“Forgive me, but that is something I do not remember - for myself and Celestia, at the very least. As for Cadance, she has never spoken about it and I suspect that she simply might have forgot as well. I for one do not know.” 

Twilight nodded sadly. “I… I understand. And, how is it a blessing? If we’re doomed to watch everypony we love die forever and again?”

“We are blessed because we can remember them, Twilight. Though you might not have realised it quite yet, but we three - and soon you as well - are able to remember every pony we have met with great clarity. Whatever a pony might have told me a millennium ago I can still recall nearly flawlessly. We are blessed because we remember. Because we remember the best and brightest as well as the worst and most reprehensible. What is learned from books may be forgot in due time, but the things we learn from our little ponies, those will always be with us.” Luna turned her head towards Celestia, who was still cowering, but by now only mostly listening to the other Alicorns. “If we care to remember them and honour their legacy. If we do not forget the things they have done for us and all of Equestria in our supposed wisdom and all-encompassing knowledge.” 

She turned back to face Twilight, who in turned snapped her head from staring at the Solar Princess back to Luna. “Mistakes were made, Twilight. Some grave, others less so, but all because we thought only of ourselves and not about others. As you and Celestia are guilty, so am I for not intervening earlier in the hopes that you two would find a way by yourselves.” She motioned for Twilight to follow, slowly trotting to the eldest sister. 

“We can only hope to make amends, to recognise our failures and ask for forgiveness.” Leaning down, Luna gently nudged one of Celestia’s ears. “Can you forgive me for using such harsh words, Celestia?”

Slowly, oh so slowly, Celestia nodded. “Nothing… Nothing can compare to what I did to you, or what I was doing earlier, to Twilight. I’m so stupid, blinded myself and let myself be blinded. I forgot what sort of Princess I’m supposed to be.” She sighed, looking up at her younger sister. “There is nothing you have done for which you would have to ask forgiveness. The truth is harsh. I needed to hear it, much as I wished to remain ignorant of it. If anything, I must apologise to you for my actions.” The white alicorn then turned her head towards Twilight, eyes somewhat reddened. “My dear, dear Twilight… I, I’ve been... I’m sorry.” She bowed to the purple, standing alicorn. “I’m so sorry. I have no words for what I’ve done. For what I might have done, had Luna not intervened. Please forgive me. Not today or tomorrow. Maybe not even in ten years, just… Some day. Please.” By then, Celestia, the Sun Princess, was openly crying and staring at the ground in front of her. 

“Celestia...” Twilight walked closer, carefully putting a hoof on her former Mentor’s shoulder. “I, I’m sorry, too. Like Luna said, we’ve both done things we shouldn’t have. I should have talked more with you before… before asking my friends to help me with this.” She sighed. “The truth is, I… hated you then. In the first weeks after that, uh, talk we had, if you remember. I shouldn’t have let my emotions take control of me as they did. But there I went, making grand plans.” The young alicorn turned to look at Luna, who had stepped some ways away, giving the two space. “Without Luna, it would probably have ended pretty badly today. And, I mean..,” She nuzzled Celestia just a little. “I don’t think I’m ready to forgive you just yet. And you don’t have to accept my apology for what I’ve done. But, maybe, just maybe, we can try being more open with each other. A bit more accepting too. Maybe we’ll work it out somehow, and… as for my friends.” She looked into the sky with a heavy heart. 

“I’m going to try for a while longer. A century, maybe two. Two at most. After that, I’ll… I’ll free them. And we’ll have a last few, good memories.” She nodded, then looked at Celestia with the hint of a smile. “Is that alright?”

“If you wish, Twilight, then it shall be so.”

“Promise?”

“Pinkie Pie Promise.”