Four thousand years ago alicorns ruled over all other mortal races. Then the mortal races rebelled against their tyranical masters. The alicorns were hunted down and either killed or imprisoned. They should have killed them all.
Nearly two thousand years before the founding of Equestria, the mortal races of the ancient kingdoms rose up against the Alicorn Imperium that had ruled over them, treating them as little more than slaves for millennia. One by one the alicorns of the Imperium were hunted down. Most were executed for their crimes against those they considered 'lesser' ponies. But a few of the most powerful were imprisoned for all time. They should have killed them all.
After nearly three thousand years imprisoned, one of them has broken the bonds of her prison. Now she seeks to reestablish the dominance of the alicorn race, and overthrow the disgraceful excuses for alicorns that are currently in power.
Surrounded by the fallen members of her royal guard, the Princess of the Sun watched as her foe crashed to the ground, her wing badly wounded by the princess's last spell. Gasping for breath Celestia hefted her spear, Arete, in her right hoof. She didn't dare risk levitating it; even injured her foe still had some magic of her own left and could likely rip the weapon away. Her Shield, Sorter, was attached to the rest of her heavy armor on her left shoulder. Both weapon and shield, as well as her armor, were all beaten and heavily damaged from the battle. As was Celestia herself.
Limping heavily, she advanced on the downed alicorn.
It was finally over.
It had been like a nightmare. She still knew little about the Alicorn, except that she, along with a black dragon, had attacked Canterlot without reason, killing hundreds of innocents as well as a number of the royal guard before Celestia had managed to drive them off. Not willing to let such a pony and dragon roam freely in Equestria, Celestia had gathered nearly three hundred of the guard and pursued her here.
Now nearly all of the guard she'd brought with her were dead, and she was badly wounded. But it was done; she had beaten her foe. All that remained was to finish her; she knew she couldn't risk imprisoning such a monster and she didn't have the power left to banish her.
Celestia grit her teeth and continued toward the alicorn. Her name was Achlys, that was one of the few things she'd been able to find out about her. That and that she was old, far older than Celestia herself. She had lived through the purge.
It was the darkest time in alicorn history, something that Celestia had worked for centuries to overcome. That she'd tried to erase from pony memory. Even when Celestia had been born, nearly two thousand years after the purge, she would have been slain at birth simply for being an alicorn. If the ponies of Equestria hadn't been so desperate for somepony powerful enough to stand up to Discord, they definitely wouldn't have let her and her sister live. Alicorns had been hated then, and for good reason. This pony was one of those reasons.
The pale gray alicorn was lying on her side, gasping in pain and glaring up at the solar princess as she approached. Her ethereal mane and tail, appearing like tendrils of shadowy green smoke, looked thin, almost wispy; a sure sign of how weak and injured she was. She didn't have enough magic left to get past the protective enchantments on Celestia's armor.
“Thou art a disgrace of an alicorn!” She spat angrily. “Wasting thy time protecting lesser ponies! Treating them as equals! Thou shouldst rule them with absolute power! They shouldst fear to speak thy name lest they offendest thou!”
Celestia glared down at her, pausing briefly to catch her breath. Her own mane and tail weren't showing her to be in much better condition than Achlys. “I treat my little ponies with dignity and respect because I know that they are capable of great things! They may not be as powerful as alicorns; their lives may be short and often fragile, but that only makes what they are capable of all the more amazing!
“I will always fight to protect them, and I would never think of myself as greater than they are. I would never be so foolish as to think that what I am alone gives me the right to rule. They made me their princess because they loved me! Nearly sixty generations have come and gone and never once has anypony in Equestria wished for me to stand down because they love me still!” She gestured to all her fallen guardponies. “These died fighting by my side because of that love! Have you ever had anypony that was willing to fight for you!? To die for you!?”
She smirked. “Yes.”
At that moment a magical telepathic bond reached Celestia from one of the few members of the royal guard still standing. 'Princess, we cannot hold him any longer! He...' The message cut off there but Celestia had heard enough. She had to finish it.
Raising her spear she leaped toward Achlys aiming for the heart and putting her entire weight behind the thrust.
She was too late.
A wave of flames knocked her away, only the enchantments on her armor keeping her from being burned alive. The flames encircled Achlys, hiding her from view as Celestia landed painfully on her side several yards away. Then the wall of flames died as quickly as they'd appeared, and there, hovering over the battlefield, was the black dragon, Achlys held protectively in his fore-claws. Surrounding them was a faint shimmering of a flame born barrier; a force-field created by dragon magic.
Normally Celestia could have broken through such a force-field without too much trouble, but her magic was all but gone while the dragon clearly had some power left. Celestia cursed herself for not finishing Achlys when she'd had the chance.
She glared up at the dragon and the alicorn he held. “Run then coward! No matter how far you go, no matter where you hide, I will find you! And I will finish what we started here! I WILL FIND YOU!” Celestia shouted in rage and frustration.
Achlys looked down at her calmly from the dragon's grasp, utterly unconcerned. “No thou will not,” she said with chilling certainty. “Search as thou might, thou shalt never find me. And when I show myself again, it shall be when I have recovered my full strength. Then it shall be I who finishes what was begun. Thy days are numbered Celestia, disgrace of the alicorn race. Soon I shall destroy all that thou dost love. And when thy heart is broken and thy soul bleeds of misery, only then shall I grant unto thee death.”
Celestia glared up at her trembling with rage. “You can't escape me, Achlys! You can't hide!”
Achlys just looked up at the dragon carrying her, seeming to decide that it wasn't worth responding. “Let us go, Deimos.” The next instant the dragon breathed out emerald flames that encircled them with their magic. When they cleared again, the dragon and the alicorn he had carried were gone.
Celestia stood there, alone on the battlefield, surrounded by the dead. More than three hundred of her finest soldiers including more than a hundred of the best spell-casters they had, all wiped out by a single alicorn even with her fighting by their side. Even her captain, Glimmering Shield, had fallen. She had failed them, and now their murderer had escaped. Throwing back her head she screamed in rage and pain.
“Spike! Can you get me the Elements of Harmony reference guide!?” Twilight called from her work desk in the Ponyville library. In front of her, spread across the desk were dozens of pages of notes on her latest project.
It had occurred to her that since they'd returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, it would be prudent to try to come up with some kind of substitute or replacement in case they were needed. So far, however, she hadn't even come close to duplicating their power.
With a sigh she looked down at the golden necklace set on the back of her desk behind the pages of notes pertaining to it. It was modeled after the necklaces that had once held the elements but instead had a single large diamond in its center. It was her own creation and in truth it was promising, but still nothing compared to the real Elements.
“Here you are, Twilight,” Spike said as he stepped to her side holding up the book she'd asked for. “Are you trying to figure out where to find the keys for that box the tree gave you?”
“No.” She sighed again as she took the book in her magic and opened it on the desk. “I have thought about it, but even after all this time, I honestly have no idea where to begin looking. Right now I'm working on another project related to the Elements, but it's not going all that well either.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Well, I was trying to recreate the Elements or at least create a substitute. But so far I've just barely been able to tap into the power of friendship.” She shook her head. “Not nearly enough if we have to fight another Nightmare Moon or Discord.”
“I'm sure you'll get it. You're awesome at magic!” Spike told her with his usual enthusiasm.
Twilight couldn't help but smile. “Thanks, Spike. For now though I hope we don't have anything major come up. After the past few years I'm starting to worry we're overdue for a doozy.”
“Don't worry, even if something does happen, I'm sure you and the girls will save the world like you always do,” Spike said waving his claw dismissively.
“I hope so, but it never hurts to be prepared, just in case,” Twilight told him picking up her quill again and turning back to her work.
“Well don't forget, the Crusaders are coming for Twilight Time later today,” Spike reminded her returning to his own chores as well.
“I won't. It's on my schedule,” she told him already absorbed in her notes once more.
An hour and a half later she finally called it quits on the project for the day. Continuing to test the capabilities of her creations would have to wait; the three crusaders were due to arrive soon and teaching them was something she'd come to enjoy a great deal. Especially now that they were all showing exceptional progress in their studies.
In fact, Sweetie Belle was ready to move on to something more challenging in her magic, and it wouldn't be long before Apple Bloom advanced in her potion making beyond what Twilight could teach her. After that she'd have to either try something else or start going to Zecora for further lessons. Scootaloo's mechanical expertise was likewise improving; she'd already made a few improvements to her scooter.
Twilight smiled as she put away the necklace she'd been working on in the jeweled box she use to keep the real elements in, adding the notes to it as well. There were five other identical necklaces already in the box. She did want to keep working on them, but at the same time she'd never want to miss a chance to teach. The three crusaders were so enthusiastic and full of energy, she truly enjoyed working with them.
A knock on the door made her smile widen and after placing the case containing the necklaces back in its spot on the shelf, she quickly went to answer.
“Hi, Twilight!” The three fillies on the porch said together smiling up at her; each had their saddle bags laden with whatever they would need to continue their studies.
“Good afternoon, girls. Come on in,” Twilight said letting them into the library. “Have you all been practicing and studying on you own?”
“Of course!” Sweetie Belle chirped happily.
Twilight smiled. “Well get set up then you can all show me what you've learned since last week.”
Sweetie Belle, of course, needed little setup as her studies were in magic. So while the other two went to work, Sweetie demonstrated how much she'd improved with her levitation magic over the past week.
“Very good, Sweetie,” Twilight said approvingly as the young filly levitated four books at once, moving them around in a circle above them. “There's not much more for me to teach you on levitation; all you need to do now is practice.”
“Really?” Sweetie Belle said lowering the books back down to the table in a haphazard stack. “But then what are we going to do now?” She asked as Twilight used a quick burst of magic to straiten the books.
“Well levitation, being so commonly used by unicorns, is the normal starting place when learning magic,” Twilight told her. “The question is, what do you want to learn next?”
Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh, could I learn teleportation!?”
Twilight let out a laugh. “Well, that's a bit too advanced for you just yet, Sweetie Belle.” And truth be told, she didn't want to know what kind of mischief the crusaders might get into with powerful magic such as a teleportation spell at their disposal.
“Oh... um...” She thought for a moment and her eyes lit up again. “How about the come-to-life spell!?”
“The come-to-life spell?” Another potential disaster in the hooves of a crusader, but Twilight was curious. “why would you want to learn that?”
“Because then I could, I could enchant instruments to... to...” She broke off, blushing and sounding embarrassed.
Twilight just smiled. “To play for you when you want to sing?” She finished for her with a knowing smile. Timidly, Sweetie Belle nodded. Twilight wasn't surprised at all that that was the first thing Sweetie Belle thought of. But she was also certain that it wasn't the only thing the spell would be used for if she were to teach her. Twilight considered that for a moment before deciding. “Well, the come-to-life spell is still fairly advanced. I think you could learn it, but it will be very difficult. You still want to try?”
She nodded eagerly.
“Alright then, we can get started later. For now, let me see what the others have been up to this week,” Twilight told her. She knew she may regret teaching her such a spell at some point, but she could never turn down somepony eager to learn.
~~~
A couple hours later Twilight sent the crusaders on their way. It had been a good day, though she could tell Sweetie Belle was a little frustrated by the difficulty of the spell she'd chosen to learn... And Apple Bloom's attempts at a new potion had exploded turning Spike's spines a darker green... And Scootaloo had managed to cause a small dust-devil in the library when testing out the adjustments she'd made to her scooter. Her wings were growing stronger every day it seemed.
All in all, it was a pretty normal day with those three.
After the crusader's Twilight Time, she had only a short break to relax though. There was one more thing on her agenda for the day: A party.
Twilight smiled thinking about it. It was just another of Pinkie's random parties and only a small one for just their friends, but such parties were never to be missed. She had just enough time to relax for a few minutes before she had to get ready.
She glanced back at her wings. Or perhaps I'd better get started now, she thought with a sigh as she was reminded of her least favorite part of having wings: preening. Unfortunately her wings needed it again after working with the crusaders. Particularly after the dust-devil.
After a quick shower and the chore of preening -- she still didn't believe Rainbow that many pegasi couples enjoyed preening each other -- she and Spike closed the library and headed to Sugar Cube Corner where the party was being held.
“There you are, sugar-cube. We were just about to get this shindig started without ya!” Applejack was the first to greet Twilight as she entered the bakery.
Twilight raised a brow as if offended. “Are you suggesting that I'm late?”
Almost instantly a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. “Eh.... ah... nope.”
Twilight grinned at her friend's expense. “It's alright, I'm joking, Applejack. But since it seems everypony is here, why don't we get this party going!”
“You got it, Princess!” Pinkie almost shouted and the next instant the lighting changed and the music started. Soon they were all having a night of carefree fun together. Pinkie never failed to make a party truly enjoyable.
~~~
“So, Twi. I haven't seen you out much the last couple weeks?” Rainbow Dash said some time later when they were taking it easy and enjoying the refreshments Pinkie had provided as well as the cider courtesy of Applejack. It was late in the party and while the music was still going most of them were worn out from games and dancing.
Twilight just shrugged. “I've been a little busy.”
“Yeah, she's been working on a new project...!” Spike added.
“Spike, I wasn't going to talk about that!” She interrupted but the damage was already done.
Rainbow grinned as the rest of their friends joined them clearly curious as well. “A new project, huh?”
She sighed knowing that they'd just pester her until they got some information out of her. “Yeah, its just something I've been working on the past couple weeks, but I'm not quite finished testing them yet; I promise I'll show you all when I'm done with the testing.”
“Them? So there's more than one?” Rarity asked.
Twilight nodded. “If they work there will be one for each of us. And, well, let's just say it will be interesting to see what we'll all be capable of with them.”
“Oh yeah? So what do they do?” Rainbow persisted but Twilight just shook her head.
“You'll just have to wait and find out when I'm done. I think you'll like it though.”
“Dang it, I hate waiting,” Rainbow grumbled.
Twilight just smiled and took another sip of her cider. They'd just have to wait, after all, she wanted to make sure she knew exactly how the necklaces worked before they tried using them.
After another couple of hours the party finally came to a close and the six exhausted ponies headed back home; one carrying a baby dragon, already asleep, on her back. Once back home in the library, Twilight found just enough energy to tuck Spike into his small basket bed before she collapsed on her own bed falling asleep almost instantly. It had been an exhausting, but all together, very good day.
~~~
Morning always seemed to come too early the day after one of Pinkie's parties. Twilight often wondered if Celestia raised the sun extra early on those days just to mess with her. There was no escaping the sun coming in her window though, it was just too bright.
Looking at the clock she saw it was still fairly early in the morning, less than an hour after sunrise in fact. Despite how drowsy she felt, though, she knew it would be futile to try and get more sleep. She'd already slept in later than normal and years of living on a strict schedule wouldn't allow her to sleep in any longer.
Rolling out of bed she groggily stumbled to her hooves and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Less than an hour later she emerged again feeling refreshed. Spike was still snoring away in his basket so Twilight decided to let him sleep a little longer and headed downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
BONNNNGGG!!!
It was like a single enormous bell tolling in one mournful tone. Twilight froze at the bottom of the stairs clutching her head in pain from the sound that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then another sound joined the first. It started out like distant wind but quickly grew in volume as it seemed to be drawing closer. The volume of the wind grew and grew until it roared like a hurricane seemingly all around her. It was overwhelming and she soon felt consciousness slipping away from her. The last thing she remembered before slipping into darkness was laughter.
~~~
Morning court was in session in Canterlot and for once Celestia didn't feel like strangling the noble making the presentation of his proposal. He was one of the few nobles that truly earned the respect of his title. His proposal was for the creation of new power stations using Canterlot's waterfalls to generate electricity in order to supplement the current power grid that was mostly generated though magical means. The idea would save a lot of unicorns a great deal of strain on their magic while still keeping them employed as the new facilities would still need ponies to maintain them. What was more, he had gone to great efforts to design the power stations in a way that they would be all but invisible, mostly hidden behind the waterfalls themselves, thus preserving the city's beauty.
Truly Celestia had been convinced in the first five minutes of his presentation to support the project, but he had clearly put so much effort into his presentation that she had decided to let him finish in order to be polite. That and the longer he took the less time she'd have for dealing with the rest of the petitioners with decidedly less than noble requests.
Without warning a wave of magic swept over her that set off every magical nerve in her body. Celestia's eyes widened. She would recognize that magic anywhere. Reaching out with her senses she tried to pinpoint the source before it disappeared again. What she found nearly made her heart stop. It had come from somewhere in Ponyville.
With no warning to her guard or the noblepony petitioner, her horn lit up and with a flash of golden light Celestia vanished from the room, teleporting directly to Ponyville and reappearing right in front of the library tree. If that monster was in Ponyville, she had to warn Twilight.
As early as it was, nopony was around to see her as she opened the door and rushed inside.
It was like running into a thick pudding. She barely got past the door when she was dragged to a halt. Too late she saw the rune circle glowing on the floor. Then two more rune circles lit up in the air to either side of her and she was lifted off the ground, her legs and wings outstretched by an unstoppable force. Realizing her mistake too late she looked down at the alicorn sitting in the center of the room.
Her coat pale gray like ash, her mane and tail wisps of shadowy green smoke, and her acid green eyes dancing with amusement; Achlys began to laugh.
It started as a soft chuckle of somepony unable to hide their amusement, but soon became the open laughter of somepony that seen or heard some grand joke, and finally graduated to the loud and haughty laughter of somepony who had just seen their most devious plans come to fruition.
Achlys laughed as Celestia hung in the air in front of her, unable to move, trapped by a powerful spell. Celestia just glared back at her realizing all too late how foolish she had been. She was trapped and Achlys had already shut the door so it was unlikely anypony would hear if she were to call for help. Doing so would only get whoever responded killed anyway.
For a time it seemed Achlys would never stop laughing. But then, finally, she raised a hoof and pointed at Celestia. “I knew... I knew, that you would come running the moment you sensed my power here.” She laughed a moment more shaking her head. “I bet you didn't even tell anypony where you were going did you? After all, you had to try to save your precious little princess.”
Celestia's glare hardened. “What have you done with Princess Twilight!?”
Achlys put a hoof to her chest feigning shock and pain. “Celestia, I'm hurt! You don't recognize me? And after all those years as your most faithful student...”
“What have you done with Twilight Sparkle!?” Celestia demanded again angrily.
“But I'm sitting right here!” She said, still mocking her with false pain. Then slowly she grinned with an wicked glint in her eyes. “I am Twilight Sparkle, Celestia. And Twilight Sparkle is me; she always has been.”
Celestia's anger faltered slightly, replaced momentarily by shock, but then her expression hardened again. “That's impossible. I've known Twilight since she was a filly; I practically raised her. Her family lives in Canterlot and I know them all as well. They've often told me stories of when Twilight was a foal.”
Achlys rolled her eyes. “Do you really think it's that hard for me to transform myself into a unicorn foal?”
“It doesn't matter!” Celestia shouted. “Twilight Sparkle is nothing like you! Even if you could have transformed yourself into a foal, nopony could keep up such an act for so long!”
“Who said it was an act?” Achlys said calmly then slowly smiled. “Twilight Sparkle was, shall we say, a substitute personality. A mask for the real me to hide behind while I recovered.”
Celestia's eyes narrowed again. “I would have seen through a mask.”
Achlys laughed and shook her head. “Dear, dear, Celestia. You still underestimate my skill. Twilight Sparkle was a work of art. An artificial soul I created from a fragment of my own, and then placed in control of my transformed body while I hid myself deep in her subconscious. She grew up completely unaware of my existence and her soul developed just as any normal foal's would. She is very much a product of her 'family.' As for them, they truly believed that Twilight was their daughter. I was very thorough. And no, I didn't take another foal's place.” She got to her hooves and began to pace in front of her.
“You see they never had a second foal of their own, despite what they believe. I not only altered records and forged documents pertaining to her 'birth' but I also altered their memories as well. I implanted memories in them and all those around them of a pregnancy and birth that never happened.
“They raised Twilight to be nothing like me, just as I had hoped they would, and so I had my perfect cover. But that wasn't the end of my plans, not by a long shot...”
“That's impossible!” Celestia interrupted angrily. “Tell me what you've done with Twilight Sparkle!”
She smiled. “Would you like to see your precious little princess again?”
Celestia just glared at her but Achlys took it as an affirmative. Her horn glowed and a ghostly apparition of Twilight appeared standing next to her. Ethereal tears streamed from her eyes as she looked up at her mentor, her expression full of guilt and fear.
“Princess... Achlys, she was inside me the whole time! I... I didn't know!” She cried then looked up at her with pleading eyes. “Please don't hate me!”
Celestia was left trembling, staring at the apparition as it faded away. It had been too close... too much like the real Twilight...
“Oh don't worry, dear Twilight, I'll make sure the only one the princess hates is herself for not seeing the truth earlier.” Achlys said looking up at Celestia's pained expression with a satisfied smirk.
“What's going on!?” A frightened voice shouted from the top of the stairs.
Celestia's eyes widened looking up at Spike as he stood looking back down at them worried. “Spike! RUN!” She shouted at the baby dragon, not wanting him to get involved.
It was already too late. Achlys's acid green magic wrapped around him, lifting him into the air.
“Hey! Let me go!” Spike shouted struggling uselessly in the magical aura.
“Don't hurt him!” Celestia pleaded, she'd helped Twilight raise Spike from the day he'd hatched. There was no denying she cared for the little guy.
“Hurt him?” Achlys said with a smirk. “Now why would I harm my most loyal servant?” Her horn glowed brighter for a moment and Spike stopped struggling in her aura as his eyes seemed to unfocus for a few seconds. Finally he seemed to come back to himself and glanced back and forth between Celestia and Achlys a few times.
“I take it your plan worked then, Lady Achlys?” It was Spikes voice, but speaking in a tone that he had never used before.
“Of course my plans worked, Deimos. It's me.” Achlys said putting him down. He didn't try to run.
“Deimos?” Celestia breathed looking down at Spike. She'd only heard that name once but she remembered it well.
“Come now, Celestia. Did you really think I'd go into hiding and not keep Deimos nearby just in case?" She said smiling in amusement at Celestia's confusion. “As I was saying, my plans didn't stop at creating dear Twilight and placing her in the care of a loving family. I planned for the long term. I planted a kind of subtle compulsion on Twilight's 'parents,' that would lead them to enroll her in your school for gifted unicorns and allowed her access to enough of my unicorn magic that she would do well. After all where better to hide then right under your nose.
“As for Deimos here, I shrunk him down with an age spell, locked his memories away, and encased him in an egg. I knew how your school liked to test young unicorns after all. I made sure the egg was found seemingly abandoned and then made sure to provide Twilight with enough power to hatch him when she was tested. That part of the plan did almost backfire however; Twilight somehow managed to draw out more of my power than I had intended and being hidden in the subconscious, I wasn't even aware of what was happening when she had her little 'surge.'”
She grinned. “I have to admit, I didn't intend for Twilight to become your personal student! And then the bearer of the element of magic! And finally becoming an alicorn herself and a princess as well! She exceeded even my plans and expectations! Oh, but it all worked out perfectly! You never once suspected anything was wrong with your precious student. And now, here we are.” She laughed softly.
Celestia glared down at Achlys feeling her heart breaking. It couldn't be true, and yet... She could feel her body trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks. And yet that apparition of Twilight had seemed so real... so much like the real Twilight.
~~~
“Come on!” Sweetie Belle mumbled as she clenched her teeth focusing with all her strength on casting the most difficult spell she'd ever tried. Her target, a simple recorder, was encased in the emerald glow of her magic. Beads of sweat began rolling down her forehead as she focused more and more of her willpower on casting the complex spell. Finally though, the strain became too much and she had to let go. The magic evaporated as she gasped feeling suddenly exhausted.
“Why is this so hard!” She grumbled glaring at the book with the spell's instructions that Twilight had lent to her. After more than two hours practicing the night before, and another half hour since she'd waken that morning, she still couldn't even tell if she was making any progress at all. She sighed and looked at her clock. It was still pretty early on a Saturday, but the library should be open by now; perhaps Twilight would be willing to help her with the spell a little more. She always seemed happy to teach after all.
Putting the book in her saddlebags and levitating them onto her back – so much easier than using her teeth – she set out to the library. She didn't bother telling her parents she was going out, they weren't even up yet anyway. Belatedly she wondered if trying to cast the come-to-life spell on musical instruments early in the morning had been a good idea. She shrugged it off though, after all, it hadn't worked anyway.
There weren't many ponies out and about yet as it was the start of the weekend and many were taking the opportunity to sleep in. But Sweetie Belle knew Princess Twilight well enough to know that her strict schedule rarely changed no matter what day of the week it was.
There was nopony around when she reached the Library, but just when she was about to knock she heard voices from inside and hesitated. She recognized the first voice and it wasn't one she expected to hear. “I will stop you, Achlys!” Princess Celestia's voice came through the door, filled with anger. There was laughter then a second voice answered.
“Now now, don't make threats you can't back up. You can't even move after all.”
Sweetie Belle knew she should probably be afraid, but curiosity was overriding caution. Carefully, she crept over to the window and very slowly peered inside. Her eyes widened when she saw princess Celestia floating in the air, caught in some kind of spell. “Do you really think this will hold me for long!?”
“Still you underestimate me? I've had centuries to perfect this spell, made specifically for capturing ponies of any strength. It draws power from the one it holds, so the more you struggle, the stronger the spell will become.” Sweetie Belle moved a little to the side and finally saw the other alicorn as she spoke.
Celestia gave a smirk of her own. “If that's the case, then all I have to do is surrender to the spell and it will fail, won't it.”
Achlys laughed. “You surrender to this spell and it will kill you!” Celestia's expression changed to worry then.
“There's no escape for you, Celestia. My spell will hold you no matter how much or how little you struggle until your strength fails you. Then, when you can no longer resist, it will kill you.”
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. Who was this other alicorn? And what was she doing in Twilight's library!?
“You mean to kill me then?” Celestia growled.
“Of course. I did promise you I would, after all.”
“You'll fail!” Celestia said with certainty. “Even if your spell does manage to hold me, my sister will...”
“Your precious sister serves me,” Achlys cut her off with a smirk. “She always has. Ever since she first became Nightmare Moon.” She smiled wickedly up at the princess. “Where do you think she got that power?”
For a moment Celestia's confidence faltered but only a moment. “You're a fool if you think Luna would ever serve the likes of you!”
“You think so? Well we'll see who the fool is, won't we?” She smiled up at Celestia a few moments more then finally turned away and began pacing. “Your sister found me in the dream realm all those years ago. She was tormented and angry, desperate for power; power to rival yours so that she could finally escape your shadow. When she found me she was ready to do anything in order to beat you, even swear allegiance to an ancient imprisoned alicorn in exchange for power. My prison still held me in the real world, but even so, in the realm of dreams it was a trivial matter for me to grant her the power she desired.
“I was rather surprised when she was defeated and banished; I knew the power I had granted her should have made her far more powerful than you. It wasn't until much later that I learned about the elements of harmony.
“Had she won then, she had agreed to then find my prison and help to free me, but thanks to you I was left to slowly break down the imprisonment spell on my own. It took a great deal of time and power and when I finally did escape I was greatly weakened. Even so, you barely managed to defeat me. Now, however, my power is fully restored.”
She turned back to Celestia with a smirk. “You really were a fool to oppose me, a high council member of the Alicorn Imperium.”
Celestia glared down at her. “I will find a way, you won't win, Achlys.”
She just laughed shaking her head. “As much as I enjoy gloating, I do have a kingdom to cast into torment and suffering. But I can't very well leave you here for anypony to find now can I. After all, as unlikely as it is, somepony may manage to free you, and we can't have that. But where to keep you...” She trailed off pacing. Finally she turned back with a grin. “Ah, of course! I know just the place. Enjoy your final days Celestia, while they last.”
With that her horn lit up and a flash of light filled the library. When it cleared again, Celestia and the spell that held her were gone.
“Time to go, Deimos,” She said then started toward the door. She'd only taken a couple steps however when it seemed she suddenly decided to throw herself into the nearby shelves, managing to break a couple of the shelves so that books and a large jeweled box fell on top of her.
“Really, Twilight Sparkle!?” She growled angrily as she climbed back to her hooves. “You think it's a good idea to defy me!? I created you!”
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. Twilight!? But where is she? She tried to look around the rest of the library, while at the same time remaining unseen through the window. The only other person she saw in the library though was Spike who was just standing there watching. Wait, what did she mean she created Twilight!?
“You know I was only keeping you around on the very slim chance I might find a use for you later; but if you're just going to cause problems then I might as well be rid of you now!” Achlys growled as if to herself, then her horn glowed. In that moment, Sweetie Belle witnessed something she would never be able to forget.
A ghostly image of Twilight appeared in front of the other alicorn looking up at her with fear but also a spark of defiance. Then a spell lashed out at her from Achlys. Twilight let out a scream that seemed to echo from a great distance, a scream of unbelievable agony. Her ghostly form exploded into shimmering stars and still the scream echoed through the library. By the time it was over, Sweetie Belle was trembling with shock and fear.
Achlys stared at the spot where the ghost of Twilight had vanished for a moment more with an angry sneer, then looked over her shoulder at Spike. “Let's go, Deimos.”
Spike hesitated a moment looking shocked as well but then nodded. “As you wish, my lady,” he said following her toward the door.
Eyes widening, Sweetie Belle realized they were coming outside and she was in plain sight of the door. In a panic, she dove for the nearest cover available: the library sign.
The door clicked open right as she stopped moving behind cover. She heard hoofsteps come out of the library onto the doorstep.
“Oh no, no, no. This will never do,” Achlys said making Sweetie Belle try to hide herself even further behind the sign. “This day is far too bright and cheerful. It's time to let ponies know there's been a change in management.”
Cautiously, Sweetie Belle peeked around the sign to see Achlys standing a few steps away from the library, looking up at the sky with her horn and eyes glowing. Spike a few steps behind her. What is she doing now? She wondered, almost afraid to find out. Then everything began to grow dark. It only took a glance at the sky to see why. The moon was moving in front of the sun, eclipsing it.
She can move the moon!? Sweetie Belle almost whimpered in fear but for once managed to remain silent. Then Spike looked right at her.
Sweetie Belle prepared to bolt as Spike's eyes widened in recognition. It was clear he was working for the alicorn, if he told her...
Spike just looked away again seeming to pretend he hadn't seen anything while Achlys finished setting the eclipse. But at the same time he made a small gesture with his claw for her to stay put.
“There, that's much better,” Achlys said admiring her work and how the entire world had been cast in permanent shadow for a moment before turning toward Spike. “Now, let's get you back to normal.”
“I'll probably need a little more space for that,” Spike said and walked out into the road in front of the library. Then Achlys cast another spell, her eyes once again glowing white with power. Sweetie watched around the far side of the sign as Spike's body began to change. His limbs stretched and his torso grew, great webbed wings sprouted from his back. Soon he was twice as big as Big Macintosh and rapidly growing bigger. His spines sharpened and became a darker green; his scales thickened and became almost black in color. His claws became long and sharp; the blade on the tip of his tail broadened and took on a deadly looking edge. And his snout lengthened, his jaws becoming lined with jagged teeth.
By the time the spell was over he stood easily ten times the size of even an alicorn and his body had the sleek agile looking build of a master predator. All in all he became the most terrifying dragon Sweetie Belle had ever seen. Hiding behind the sign again, Sweetie Belle tried desperately not to hyperventilate knowing that she'd be heard for sure.
“So where did you send Celestia, anyway?” The dragon that had been Spike asked in a far deeper voice.
“The prison chamber where we were held. I thought it was fitting,” Achlys answered as if it didn't matter.
“So, deep in the Everfree then. The magic interference from the forest should hide her pretty well,” he said as if approving of the choice.
“Yes, that's why I chose it,” Achlys agreed. “Now, it's time we made our way to Canterlot; I do have a throne to claim after all.”
“You lead, I will follow, as always,” The dragon said and a moment later Sweetie Belle heard the wing beats of the Alicorn as she took off followed a moment later by the tremendous concussive beats of the dragon following.
Sweetie Belle waited a moment more before slowly peaking around the corner of the sign. She spotted them already some ways out and barely visible in the dim light of the eclipsed sun. Slowly she crawled out from behind the sign. She wanted to collapse and cry. She wanted to run around panicking and screaming. She wanted to do something. But most of all she wanted it all to be a horrible dream.
Was Twilight really... Tears filled her eyes unable to finish the thought.
How could this be happening!? Celestia captured, Twilight... she didn't even want to think it, and Luna; would she really side with Achlys like the alicorn had believed? Sweetie Belle didn't want to believe it, not Luna! But if it was true then that would mean there was nopony left to even challenge Achlys. She would take over and then there was no telling what kind of horrors she would inflict on the ponies of Equestria.
No, somepony has to do something! But without Twilight, sis and the others couldn't use the Elements of Harmony even if they hadn't returned them to the tree. And the only ponies that could stand up to an alicorn are either already captured, turned or... gone.
Then her eyes widened as she remembered the last thing Achlys and the dragon had spoken of. But I know where Celestia is being held! Somewhere in the Everfree! I have to tell somepony! Sis!
With that she ran off toward Carousel Boutique as fast as her filly legs could carry her.
Sweetie Belle charged into the boutique nearly breaking the door down with her haste. She didn't care though, she was in full panic mode now.
“Rarity, Rarity, Rarity, Rarity, Rarity!” She shouted again and again as she ran up the stairs to her sister's bedroom. She didn't bother knocking; she opened the door with her magic and charged right in. Rarity however was very soundly asleep it seemed and even the racket Sweetie Belle had been making hadn't woken her by the time the filly reached her bedside.
Taking a deep breath Sweetie shouted one last time with all her considerable volume. “RARITY!”
The result was a new air-time record for non-winged ponies as a particular white unicorn jumped up almost to the canopy of her four-post bed and proceeded to hang in the air screaming in such a display of defied physics that Pinkie Pie would have been proud. Finally the shock wore off however, and gravity once again worked causing her to flop back down on the bed, ending her scream in a pained grunt.
After a few moments lying there as her mind slowly woke the rest of the way up, Rarity finally lifted her sleep mask, opened her eyes, and instantly saw the source of her rude awakening. “Sweetie Belle! What in Equestria are you doing waking me in such a manner!?” She whined noticing how dark it was outside. “It's far too early!” With that she rolled over, pulling the covers back over her, clearly intending on going back to sleep. “Waking me before sunrise, honestly...” She muttered softly.
“It's not that early, sis!” Sweetie Belle objected.
“Look outside, Sweetie,” Rarity said dismissively.
Fed up Sweetie Belle yanked the quilt off of the bed, tossing it aside with her magic. “You look outside!” She shouted, her voice squeaking, and pointing with a hoof as Rarity looked about to scold her again.
Rarity truly looked at her then and for the first time realized how haggard Sweetie Belle appeared, and while her sister was often far from immaculate, she was rarely this bad. Realizing something must be wrong she finally got to her hooves and went to the window to see what it was that had Sweetie Belle so distressed. What she saw made her jaw drop. “Oh my, I didn't know there was an eclipse scheduled for today...”
“There isn't,” Sweetie Belle said drolly.
Rarity glanced down at Sweetie Belle then looked back out at the darkened sky. “Alright Sweetie, do you know what's going on?”
Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. “IwenttothelibrarytoaskTwilightforhelplearninganewspellbutwhenIgottherePrincessCelestiawasthereandanevilalicornIdon'tknowandtheywerearguingandCelestiawastrappedinaspell.” She paused only long enough to take another deep breath. “ThensheimprisonedCelestiaeclipsedthesunturnedSpikeintoabigscarydragon, and I think she killed Twilight!”
Rarity's eyes widened. In truth she'd only caught a few words of what Sweetie Bell had said until the end, but the end was alarming enough. “Alright, Sweetie, calm down and tell me everything, slowly.”
Sweetie did, speaking at more of a normal pace though her voice squeaked more than usual. By the end of the retelling, Sweetie Belle was crying while her sister held her comfortingly.
“...and then she took off, flying toward Canterlot and the dragon followed her,” Sweetie Belle whimpered.
Rarity held her little sister a moment more. Part of her hoped that it was all just a bad dream Sweetie Belle had woken from without realizing it. But the unending eclipse outside was clear evidence to the contrary. And if What Sweetie said was true, then all of Equestria was in trouble.
“Sweetie, you sure that she left the library? That nopony is there now?” Rarity asked gently.
She nodded, tears still rolling down her cheeks.
“Then what do you say we go see what we can find out. See if we can figure out what's going on.”
Sweetie Belle's expression suddenly became more determined, though tears still filled her eyes, and she nodded.
~~~
They reached the library and found the door still open as nopony had bothered to close it. Rarity went in first.
Inside the library seemed almost normal, save for two details. A couple of shelves were broken just as Sweetie Belle had said, their contents scattered across the floor, and near the door there was a complex rune circle that appeared almost burnt into the floor near the entrance. She was careful to avoid touching the markings. It only took a glance for Rarity to realize it was magic far too advanced for her to make any sense of. But when she inspected it with her magic, she found that the spell itself was gone, only the markings remained.
“That's where she had Princess Celestia trapped,” Sweetie Belle said softly pointing to the rune circle.
“Some kind of powerful containment spell then,” Rarity said, thinking out loud. “When this other alicorn, Achlys you said, moved Princess Celestia, she must have moved the spell with her. There's no magic left in that circle.”
“Why's the door open?” A familiar voice said behind them and they both turned to see Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway. She looked surprised to find Rarity and Sweetie Belle there. “Oh, hey Rares, you come to ask Twilight what's up with the eclipse too?”
At that Sweetie Belle sniffed, clearly trying not to break down into tears again. Rainbow glanced between them and realized that something was wrong. “Rarity?”
“Rainbow, go get Fluttershy and Applejack; we'll get Pinkie Pie,” Rarity told her. “Something dreadful has happened.”
“What do you mean? Where's Twi?” Rainbow asked with confusion and worry in her voice.
“She... She might be gone, Rainbow.”
“WHAT!?”
“It's not good,” Rarity told her. “Please, hurry and get the others; we'll explain once everypony is here.”
“But... Twi? She can't be...” Rainbow breathed in disbelief.
“Get the others, we'll explain when everypony is here,” she repeated gently.
Reluctantly Rainbow nodded then hurried out the door, taking off the moment she was outside.
“Come on, Sweetie,” Rarity said softly, gesturing for her sister to follow.
Sweetie Belle sniffed once more but nodded and trotted after Rarity as they left the Library, closing the door behind them with her magic.
They hurried toward Sugar Cube Corner as quickly as they could. By now however, many ponies were venturing outside, wondering what was going on and seeking answers. And in recent years, the ponies of Ponyville had learned that when something strange was happening, there were six mares in particular that would probably know what was going on. So along the way they were stopped again and again by the frightened townsponies asking what was going on, to which Rarity would answer that they were trying to find out and didn't have time to talk.
Even so, it slowed them considerably. They'd almost reached Sugar Cube Corner when a familiar buzz came speeding toward them. Having often been involved or nearly involved in high speed collisions with the infamous crusader wagon, Rarity quickly located the source of the sound in case she had to take evasive action.
“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo called, skidding to a stop on her scooter; Apple Bloom riding in the wagon behind her. “We've been looking all over for you; do you know what's going on?”
“Howdy miss Rarity! Hey Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom called from the wagon. “What's with the eclipse?”
Before Rarity could respond, Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. “AnevilalicornimprisonedPrincessCelestiaeclipsedthesun, and I think she killed Twilight!”
“What!?” “Not Twilight!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exclaimed over-top of each other.
Rarity looked around quickly to see if anypony else had heard. Luckily there wasn't anypony nearby at the moment. “Alright, girls, come with us please; and don't say anything about Twilight or Princess Celestia. We're not entirely sure what's going on and we don't want to cause ponies to panic.”
“But what...!?”
“Not here,” Rarity cut them off. “Now we have to get Pinkie Pie. So come along and please keep quiet. We'll talk at the library.”
~~~
Everypony looked up as Applejack, the last to arrive, entered the library. She'd gone out searching for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo when the eclipse had started to make sure they were alright, and so it had taken Rainbow a little longer to track down the farm pony. Then Rainbow had helped search for the two fillies only to find them already at the library when she stopped by to tell the others what was going on.
“There ya are, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, hurrying over to give her little sister a hug. “Ah'm glad ya'll are safe.”
“Thanks, sis,” Apple Bloom said hugging her back briefly then returning to her friends. It was then that Applejack noticed how sad Rarity's little sister was. Sweetie Belle was leaning against her sister's side, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo huddled around her, doing their best to comfort their friend.
“Well, now that we're all finally here, can you please tell us what the hay is going on?” Rainbow Dash said sounding impatient.
Applejack looked around. “Wait, where's Twilight? Ain't she comin'?”
Rarity shook her head sadly while Sweetie Belle let out a small whimper and held tighter to her side. “Twilight won't be coming...”
Their reactions were made it painfully clear that something was terribly wrong. “What's goin' on?”
Rarity looked down at Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie, darling, do you think you're up to telling everypony?”
She sniffed but nodded, pulling away and sitting up more on her own. Rarity put a fore-hoof around her comfortingly. “Just tell them everything you told me,” she said encouragingly.
Sweetie Belle nodded, then taking one steadying breath, she began to recount all she had seen and heard.
~~~
By the time she reached the end, Sweetie Belle was in tears again and Rarity held her comfortingly against her side, offering support. The library was silent except for Sweetie Bell's soft sniffs as she tried to hold back her tears, for several long minutes after she finished.
It was surprisingly Fluttershy who finally broke the silence. “Is Twilight really...”
“No!” Rainbow interrupted, her voice strained. “She... she can't be! We can't be sure; for all we know that other alicorn may have just banished her! It may not have even been the real Twilight!” It was clear she didn't want to believe their close friend was gone and never coming back.
A couple of the others nodded in agreement, apparently unwilling to accept that possibility as well. Rarity however decided not to indulge in what, deep down, she knew to be little more than clutching at straws. She shook her head. “Even if that is the case girls, it doesn't change what we have to do now.”
“Oh yeah? And why's that?” Rainbow asked aggressively.
“Well, darling, even if Twilight is still alive somewhere, we haven't a clue where. We do however know, at least in a general sense, where to search for Princess Celestia.” Rarity told her calmly. “Our first priority should be finding the princess and freeing her.”
“Darn right,” Applejack agreed. “If anypony knows what the hay is goin' on, it'll be the princess.”
“Exactly. So we need to get organized and get out there searching.”
“Um... do we have to do it all ourselves?” Fluttershy asked softly. “I mean, Everfree is an awfully big place... and dangerous... and scary.” The last was barely more than a whisper.
“That's a good point, Fluttershy,” Applejack said with an approving nod. “It's a lot of ground to cover. We'd have to split up in order to have a chance of finding the princess, and I don't recon any of us would like to face a pack of timber wolves alone.”
“I don't think we have a choice, darling,” Rarity said shaking her head. “By what Sweetie heard, Princess Celestia's time is limited. We need to find her quickly.”
“Well then, we'd best be smart about it.”
“We could ask the townsponies to help,” Pinkie suggested.
Rarity nodded. “We may have to, but I'm worried if word of this gets out, that ponies will panic.”
“Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd be just fine searching on my own,” Rainbow declared confidently.
“That's 'cause you can fly,” Applejack told her. “But me, Pinkie, and Rares don't have that advantage.”
“You're just scared!”
Rarity sighed as Rainbow and Applejack began arguing. Wanting something to distract herself for a moment, her eyes fell on the broken shelves and their contents littering the floor near the door. Getting to her hooves, she left Sweetie Belle with her two friends and went to do what she could to clean up the mess.
The shelves would have to be repaired, but the books she quickly levitated into a neat stack against the wall. Then she sighed as she picked up the jeweled case in her magic. She recognized it of course; it had been used to carry the Elements of Harmony ever since they had first recovered them in the fight against Nightmare moon.
She felt tears filling her eyes as she remembered that night. It had been the first time they'd saved the world; but more importantly to her, it had been the first night they'd all come together as friends. And Twilight had been the one that had united them. It was hard to believe she was gone.
Turning the case right side up she was about to place it on the table when she heard something inside shifting with the movement. She looked at the case surprised; she'd expected it to be empty. Curious, she unlatched it and opened the lid to see what was inside.
For a brief moment she thought it was the Elements of Harmony, but then she noticed that the necklaces did not bear the distinctive colored gems shaped like each of their cutie marks; instead they all had a simple cut diamond in place of the elements. What was more was that there was no crown; just six necklaces. Also tucked into the case with them was a sheaf of paper, appearing to be notes.
She set the open case on the table and levitated out the notes, looking over the first few pages. She recognized Twilight's penmareship and it didn't take her long to realize that the notes were far beyond her own understanding of magical theory.
“What have ya got there, Rares?” Applejack asked seeing what Rarity was looking at.
“I'm not entirely sure,” Rarity told her as everypony else turned to look as well. “I think this might be that project Twilight was talking about at the party.” She levitated the case and notes over to the rejoin the rest of them and set the box down in the middle for them all to see.
“They look kind of like the Elements,” Rainbow stated.
Rarity nodded. “Yes, I imagine Twilight used the Element necklaces as a starting point, but from what Twilight told us, I don't think they are quite the same as the Elements of Harmony,” she said then held up the notes in her magic. “These look like Twilight's notes concerning these necklaces; but I'm afraid they're a bit too advanced for me to understand.”
“Can I see?” Pinkie Pie asked suddenly appearing at Rarity's shoulder, making her jump and almost drop the notes. Pinkie didn't seem to notice the affect she'd had on her friend as she was focused on the pages of notes held in Rarity's magic. “Oooo, yeah, this is really advanced stuff!” Pinkie said sounding excited, then began mumbling to herself as her eyes scanned the first page. “Oh, wow, I never would have thought to try that... Oh, Twilight, you clever pony...”
Everypony was staring at Pinkie as she continued on to the next page of the notes, then the third, and fourth... She was already on the sixth page by the time anypony managed to express what they were all likely wondering. “Uh, Pinkie, darling, do you actually understand this?” Rarity asked indicating the notes.
“Not all of it. Like I said, this is really advanced stuff! But I can get the general idea,” Pinkie told them not seeming to notice how stunned they all were. “It looks like Twilight started out trying to recreate the Elements of Harmony. She wasn't able to though, but she did manage to make those necklaces...”
“Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on; Pinkie, how the heck do you know advanced magic?” Rainbow interrupted.
“Oh, I've been studying magic for years,” she said with a dismissive gesture.
“You have?”
“Yep, ever since the first time Trixie came to town. You see, I was so amazed when I heard about how Twilight handled that ursa minor – still bummed I didn't get to see it myself, by the way – but anyway, I was so amazed, I decided I wanted to learn about magic. So I scheduled it into my study time, right in between cake theory and advanced balloon animal engineering.”
Everypony just stared at her for a few moments after this revelation. That Pinkie Pie had a scheduled study time was hard enough to believe even if the other subjects she spoke of made a certain amount of sense for her. For her to have also been studying advanced magical theory just didn't seem possible. Finally Rarity managed to speak again.
“Uh, exactly what fields of magic have you studied?”
She shrugged. “Oh, I studied a little bit of everything: Illusion, levitation, manipulation, conjuration, teleportation, transfiguration, and mummification,” Pinkie told her cheerfully.
“Pinkie, darling, mummification isn't a field of magic,” Rarity corrected automatically.
Pinkie Pie blinked looking confused. “It isn't?”
“Uh, no, but you have really studied all those fields of magic?” Rarity asked truly intrigued now.
“Uh huh! And a bit more too. But that was mostly theoretical stuff that didn't really fit into any established field.”
“So you can understand Twilight's notes?”
“Mostly. A lot of her work is theoretical, but I can get the general Idea,” Pinkie said with a confident nod.
“Then can you tell us what these are?” Rainbow asked pointing to the necklaces still in the case.
Pinkie nodded. “Yep. Like I said, Twilight started out trying to recreate the Elements of Harmony, because you never know when some big meanie is going to try to take over Equestria. She wasn't able to, but she was able to make these. According to her notes, the necklaces will allow the wearers to tap into the amity arcanum...”
“The what now?” Applejack cut in.
“The magic of friendship,” Pinkie clarified. “Okay, so you know that feeling you get when you're with your friends; like you can do more than you normally can? Well that's because you actually can! That's the amity arcanum! So these tap into the magic of the friendship between the ponies wearing the necklaces and amplify that effect. Basically they let a group of friends feed energy into each other with their friendship.”
“Which does what, exactly?”
“Well according to Twilight's notes, it will enhance everypony's natural abilities,” Pinkie told them.
“Enhance? Like how much enhanced?” Rainbow asked sounding a little excited.
Pinkie frowned looking over a section of the notes again. “She wasn't sure; but according to her theory, it would depend on the ability being enhanced and the strength of the friendship between those wearing the necklaces. She did postulate that magic would likely be enhanced the most.”
“So if we all wear these, then we'll all be better at everything?”
Pinkie nodded. “That's the theory. According to her notes Twilight never did finish testing them, but she was pretty certain that was how they'd work.”
“Sweet! I've got to try this out!” Rainbow said swooping down to the case and taking one of the necklaces, putting it on without hesitation. “Hey, everypony put one on!”
“Rainbow, aren't you forgetting something,” Rarity said, realizing that they'd all gotten distracted from more important matters.
“Like what?”
“Oh well, maybe just a couple little things; such as an imprisoned princess and an Alicorn taking over Equestria perhaps?”
“Oh, yeah... right.” Rainbow said rubbing the back of her neck with one fore-hoof.
“These necklaces of Twilight's...”
“Amity Arcanum Amplifiers,” Pinkie provided. “Or you can call them AA Amps.”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, these amplifiers, are all well and good, and may come in useful if we do have to face the alicorn Sweetie Belle saw, but right now we need to focus on finding Princess Celestia so we can figure out a way to free her.”
“Now hold on. Let's not just dismiss these AA thingamajigs, though,” Applejack cut in. “We were talkin' about how it would be dangerous searching the forest by splittin' up; but dependin' on how much they enhance our abilities, that may not be a problem so long as we wear these.”
Rarity shook her head. “But they work off of the bonds of friendship which means they probably won't work if we split up.”
“I don't think you have to worry about that!” Pinkie said looking over another part of the notes. “Twilight included an equation to estimate the range of the amps based on how super duper of friends you are; and since we're all really, really super duper friends, we'll get a really, really long range out of them.”
“Alright, well we can try them,” Rarity finally gave in. “But we still need to focus on finding the princess. Even if these amplifiers do enhance our abilities enough that we feel comfortable splitting up to search the forest, we'll still need some way to communicate with each other in case we find something.”
“We can communicate with these!” Pinkie said excitedly as she quickly put a necklace on each of them. Rarity was stunned to feel a surge of strength as well as heightened senses when pinkie placed one on her. “Twilight made them so that they'd also use the bonds of friendship to create a communication link between us. All you have to do is tap the diamond twice to start broadcasting,” she explained then tapped the diamond in her own necklace to demonstrate. “See! Twilight thought of everything!” She said and they all heard an echo of her voice coming from each of their necklaces.
“Sweet, lets go test these babies out, then we can go search for the princess!” Rainbow said, clearly excited.
“Applejack and I will test out the amplifiers,” Rarity told her firmly. “The last thing we need is for the townsponies to find out what we're doing. They're worried enough as it is, if they find out Princess Celestia has been imprisoned, they may just panic. So the last thing we need is you calling attention to yourself by doing multiple sonic rainbooms over the town. Don't bother denying it, it was obvious that that was precisely what you were thinking.”
“But...”
“No,” Rarity told her firmly. “If they work well, you'll get a chance to try them out soon enough when we're searching the Everfree. But for now, stay here and try to think of a backup plan.”
Rainbow pouted a bit but nodded reluctantly.
Satisfied, Rarity turned to Applejack. “Shall we? I think it would be best if we go out to the edge of town, somewhere where we won't be seen.”
Applejack nodded. “I have an idea of where we could go.”
“Well let's get going then. I hate to think what that awful alicorn might be doing with each moment that passes.”
~~~
A scream of pure agony echoed across the courtyard of Canterlot castle as a sickly green-gold flame swirled around an armored pony, burning away his coat and flesh even as his armor began to glow from the heat. Then, as quickly as it had appeared the pillar of flames vanished leaving the charred corpse to collapse to the ground.
“Now,” Achlys said as the glow faded from her horn. “Does anypony else wish to accuse me of trespassing in my own castle?”
Many of the other members of the royal guard standing before her stared in stunned silence at what remained of their captain, while the rest cowered under the gaze of not only an alicorn, but a vicious looking dragon as well. Finally though one of the guardponies, a lieutenant, seemed to try and gather his courage as he turned to face Achlys. “This is the castle of the royal sisters; Celestia and Luna...”
Achlys smiled wickedly and his voice failed him. She was, in fact, impressed by his courage considering what he'd watched happen to his captain after he'd said much of the same. She considered incinerating him as well but then decided to spare him as she saw a shadow appear behind the members of the royal guard. “Oh, I think you'll find that there's been a change in management,” she told them instead. “Isn't that right, Lady Moon.”
“Indeed it is, my queen,” an elegant voice answered from the depths of the shadows, making the members of the guard turn toward the darkness behind them. Then a pony stepped out from those shadows. A pony most of them had never seen, but recognized all the same due to generations of nightmare night stories. Her coat black as a moonless night, her mane and tail clouds of magic appearing like the night sky and flowing endlessly with power, and dressed in decorative armor made from the finest blue steel. There was no mistaking who stood before them.
“Nightmare Moon!” One of the guards gasped.
The lieutenant knew his history, he knew who Nightmare Moon had been, who she was. “Princess Luna... what...?”
Nightmare Moon's ethereal mane lashed out, grabbing him by the throat, cutting him off. Then she stepped closer, lifting him into the air as she did. “Do you see a Princess Luna here?” She demanded coldly, then, without waiting for an answer, she dropped him to the ground. “Celestia's always been a trusting fool,” she said as she stepped past them, approaching Achlys and bowing deeply.
“When I awoke to find my powers restored, I knew that you had returned, my queen.”
Achlys smiled. “Yes, I thought you might like that. You may rise.”
“This is the castle... of the royal sisters...” The lieutenant started again. Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. They could hear in his voice how much he was trembling with fear.
“Stand down lieutenant,” she told him coldly, then lit her horn threateningly. “Unless, of course, you truly wish to join Captain Iron Sentinel. I can certainly arrange that.”
Unable to hold back his fear any longer, he finally backed down.
“Leave us,” Nightmare Moon commanded and in moments the courtyard was cleared of the royal guard as they seemed to decide it would be best to obey her. She had once been Luna after all; one of the princesses they were sworn to protect.
“It's good to see mortals properly fearful of alicorns once more,” Achlys said with a satisfied smirk.
Nightmare Moon turned back to her. “Yes, though they do tend to have some courage in the most annoying of times. The guard will likely cause some trouble, but I will do what I can to make the transition go as smoothly as possible.”
She waved a hoof dismissively. “We have nothing to fear from that pathetic rabble.”
Nightmare moon nodded. “I gather from the eclipse and your being here unchallenged that you've already taken care of Celestia?”
“I haven't killed her yet, if that's what you mean,” Achlys said with an amused smirk. “But she's certainly not enjoying herself.”
“Good,” Nightmare Moon said coldly. “She deserves to suffer. A quick death would have been too easy. And what of Princess Twilight Sparkle? She is young, but surprisingly powerful.
Achlys couldn't help but to laugh. Nightmare Moon blinked in confusion, not understanding what she found so funny. Finally Achlys explained; “I was Twilight Sparkle! She was my disguise while I recovered. She didn't know of course, but she was me the entire time.”
Nightmare Moon's eyes widened. “Truly? You were Twilight Sparkle? But then why did you help defeat me? Why...?”
“Understand, my true self was hidden away in her subconscious at the time. Twilight Sparkle was a kind of alternate personality, a substitute soul, that I hid behind. I really had no control over her actions and in fact, I was not even consciously aware at the time.”
“I see... Then both Celestia and Twilight are out of the way, Cadenza is no threat, it should be a simple matter to take control of this land.”
Yes, and I will be taking the title of queen myself; Queen Achlys, I do like the sound of that.”
“Of course, the title suits you,” Nightmare Moon agreed, though it was clear she would have preferred to have the title herself. “But what of our bargain? I know that I was unable to carry out my part of the deal...”
“Yes, yes. I know the whole story; you were banished to the moon and couldn't free me as we had agreed. And when you did finally return, you were stripped of the powers I had granted you, so you did what you had to in order to maintain your freedom. That sound about right?”
“Had I known where to find you, I would have done all I could to help you.”
“I can hardly blame you for not being able to find me. I went to great lengths when hiding myself so that I wouldn't be found,” Achlys told her. “Our deal stands. Though my plans didn't go exactly as I had intended, I can hardly blame you for that. I miscalculated after all. I truly didn't believe the Elements of Harmony were capable of such power.
“In any case, while I will take the title of Queen myself, rule of Equestria is yours. So long as I have all the servants I desire and can do as I please, I won't interfere. I have no interest in running a country.”
Nightmare Moon bowed again. “Thank you, my queen.”
Achlys smiled and nodded. “Just make sure that the ponies of this land suffer to some extent. After all, what's the fun of ruling, if you don't get to crush a rebellion every few years.”
“Indeed,” Nightmare Moon said with a wicked smile as she rose again. “I assume you will be taking Celestia's chambers as your own; do you wish for me to show you the way? Or perhaps you wish to go to the throne room first? Undoubtedly you wish to make yourself known to your new subjects.”
“Later,” She said shaking her head. “First, there's something hidden away deep in the royal vaults; an ancient and powerful magical artifact." Her eyes became fierce. "I want it back.”
Nightmare Moon nodded. “Of course, my dear sister was far too trusting. I have full access to all of the vaults. That will be no problem.”
“Excellent,” she said then looked over her shoulder at the dragon. “Deimos, go ahead and have some fun in the city; eat a few nobles if you want.”
Deimos nodded and took off, quickly climbing above the castle, seeming to head toward the peak of the mountain the city was perched upon. Achlys frowned; it wasn't like Deimos to pass up a chance to feast on ponies. She shrugged it off though; perhaps he just wasn't hungry. Turning back to Nightmare Moon, she gestured for her to lead the way.
“There are several vaults, so it may take some searching to find what you want,” Nightmare Moon said as she started into the castle.
“I don't mind. Once we find it, there will be nopony that could ever stand in my way again.”
“It's not fair; why do we have to stay in the library?” Scootaloo grumbled shortly after their older siblings and friends left.
It hadn't taken Rarity and Applejack long to test the amplifiers. Upon returning, they had seemed to be almost in a state of shock and said simply that the amps would suffice to let them split up safely while searching the forest.
“They could at least let us go out crusading...”
“Well with the eclipse an' all, ah reckon they just thought it would be too dangerous for us to go crusadin'. We do tend to get ourselves hurt even when it ain't dark out,” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“I know, but why the library!?” Scootaloo complained throwing her hooves up dramatically and falling onto her back. “It's sooooo boring!”
“We were already here?” Apple Bloom provided though she didn't sound completely sure.
Sweetie Belle hardly paid attention to her friends' conversation. She was sitting at the library's front window looking out across the town to the line of trees that marked the edge of the Everfree forest. She'd watched her sister and all her friends as they'd left, heading into those shadowy trees, and the dangers that awaited them there. She use to think of such acts as a sign of bravery; but now she wasn't so sure. She knew she wasn't brave; and yet, she wanted to be there too, she wanted to help. She wanted to make sure that Achlys didn't get away with what she'd done. She wasn't brave. No, she was hurt, she was angry, and she wanted that alicorn to pay. But she also wasn't a fool.
She knew she couldn't help when it came to fighting the alicorn, and she knew it would come to a fight. So the best she could do was make sure and help those that could fight. Like Princess Celestia. That was what she wanted; she wanted to help.
“I can't stand it! I'm going to go crazy if we stay here!” Scootaloo groaned.
“We're not staying here,” Sweetie Belle said firmly, turning away from the window.
“But sis and the others told us we had to!” Apple Bloom objected seeming surprised that Sweetie Belle would suggest disobeying.
“I don't care. That evil alicorn killed Twilight! I want to make sure she pays!” Sweetie Belle declared, her voice cold despite its high pitch.
“Are you crazy!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “We can't go after that alicorn! She captured Princess Celestia! What could we possibly do!?”
Scootaloo nodded in agreement. “Besides, we're not even sure Twilight is really dead.”
Sweetie Belle glared at her. “I know what I saw!” she growled, then turned her glare to Apple Bloom. “And I'm not stupid, Apple Bloom! I know we can't fight her, but we can still help! We can help find Princess Celestia!”
“But then we'd have to go into the Everfree Forest! That's almost as bad as fightin' the alicorn!” Apple bloom exclaimed.
“It's not that dangerous!” Sweetie Belle objected. “You go in the forest all the time!”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “That ain't the same! I only go on the path to Zecora's, and she uses magic and potions and stuff to keep the monsters away.”
“Rarity and the others are going out there by themselves.”
“But they're adults,” Scootaloo chimed in. “And they have those amp-lee-fire things.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “We're just three little fillies.”
Sweetie Belle gave them a smug grin as she walked over to the table where the jeweled box sat and jumping up on the table, then she levitated out the sixth amplifier necklace. “We're three little fillies with an amplifier!” She said triumphantly.
“We're still just fillies though,” Apple Bloom told her.
With a sudden flash of anger, Sweetie Belle slammed the lid of the box shut. “Well I'm going to help whether you're coming or not!” She almost shouted then resolutely put the necklace on. Immediately she felt a wave of strength run through her body as the necklace surged to life.
“Did you feel that?” Rarity's voice came from the necklace a moment later.
“Feel What?” Rainbow Dash's voice asked though she sounded distant.
“I don't know, it was like another surge of energy from the amplifiers.”
“I didn't feel anything; why do you have yours broadcasting anyway? We're all right here and it sounds kind of funny hearing your voice coming from all our necklaces.”
“Well I didn't even know it was broadcasting, darling, it's not like it's easy to tell. How do I turn it off again, Pinkie?”
“You just double-tap the diamond.” Pinkie's voice answered cheerfully.
“And Twice more to turn it back on, correct?”
“Yessirooni!”
After that the necklace fell silent. Curious, Sweetie Belle reached up and tapped the gem in the necklace twice. The glow brightened slightly as she did, then she tapped it twice more and the glow dimmed once more. She nodded satisfied that she understood how it worked, then turned and started for the door. “I'm going,” she said with finality and used her magic to open the door. She underestimated her amplified magic however and the door slammed into the wall. She just glanced at it though and continued outside.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other as Sweetie Belle stepped out of the library. They could tell how important this was to her. “Sweetie, wait!” Apple Bloom called galloping after her.
Scootaloo followed right on her tail. “We're coming!”
“We're not going to make ya go into that forest alone!” Apple Bloom told her with a nod.
“Yeah, even if you have that amp!” Scootaloo added.
“Amplifier,” Sweetie Belle corrected automatically.
“Amp is easier, dictionary,” Scootaloo said with a grin.
Slowly Sweetie Belle smiled. “Thanks girls.”
“Well it's obviously important to ya, and heck, we want that alicorn to pay for what she did to Twilight too,” Apple bloom said putting a hoof around her and giving her a squeeze.
“What else are friends for?” Scootaloo agreed. “Besides, we can cover more ground if I'm driving!” With that she grabbed her scooter and attached wagon from where they'd left it by the door. “So how bout it! Cutie mark crusader princess seekers!”
“Yay!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cheered together, though Sweetie Belle just smiled. “Let's go save Princess Celestia,” she said resolutely then climbed into the wagon with Apple Bloom, all three of them donning their helmets.
~~~
“So what are we looking for anyway?”
Rarity blinked at Rainbow's question. “You know, I'm not entirely certain. Sweetie said she called it a prison chamber. I imagine it must be underground, perhaps a cave of some sort, but it could just as easily be in some ruins lost somewhere in the forest.”
“Well if it's ruins, they'd have to be really old and completely overgrown,” Rainbow told her. “I've flown over most of the forest by now, and the only ruin I remember seeing is the old castle.”
“In that case, it's probably a cave, either natural or pony-made. But since it was used as a prison, even a natural cave would probably have something pony-made about it.”
“That's pretty vague,” Rainbow pointed out. “There's probably a lot of caves out here and some of them are home to some pretty nasty stuff.”
“I know, darling, but it's all we have to go on. So, Rainbow, you and Fluttershy fly a search pattern, you'll be able to cover the most ground that way. I'll take the path towards the castle through the center of the forest. Applejack you search north from there, and Pinkie, you head south. Now I should be able to detect Celestia's magic if I get close enough; she is an alicorn after all. So rather than going in and exploring any caves you find, tell me and I'll come to see if I can detect Celestia nearby.”
“How are ya'll going to find us when we find something, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“My gem finding spell, of course. I've often used it to find specific gems, and the diamonds in these necklaces will do nicely in that regard,” Rarity explained.
“Works for me,” Rainbow said with a shrug, then jumped up hovering in front of them. Or she tried to hover, her enhanced wings instead sent her upwards a ways before she was able to adjust for the greater strength. “Woah, he he, bit more than I'm use to; this is so awesome! Come on Fluttershy, let's get searching!”
“Um, okay...” Fluttershy responded and opened her wings.
“EEEP!” She cried out as the first flap of her wings sent her rocketing skyward. Everypony stared, their jaws agape as Fluttershy then zipped past at speeds usually attributed to Rainbow Dash. “Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness!”
Rainbow was the first to recover. “What the hay! Flying's not Fluttershy's talent! Why is the amplifier boosting it!?”
“The AA amps enhance your natural abilities, silly. Not just your talent,” Pinkie answered.
“HEADS UP!”
“EEEP!”
“Fluttershy still has the ability to fly even if it isn't her talent.” Pinkie went on as if Fluttershy hadn't just about crashed into all of them.
“But... I feel stronger, but not that much! Why is fluttershy's flying so much more enhanced than mine?”
“That's because it's exponential! You're already so good, it takes a lot more to improve just a little, but since Fluttershy is usually not that strong of a flier, it only takes a little to improve a lot!” Pinkie told her then looked up to where Fluttershy was speeding back and forth overhead, looking barely in control. “It will probably take her a bit to get use to it,” she said tapping her chin.
Rainbow looked up as well realizing pinkie was right. “Hey, Fluttershy, just try to tone it down, flap your wings really really softly!” She called out.
“I-I-I ca-a-an't!” She cried speeding past the once more.
“Alright, hang on, Flutters!” Rainbow leaped into action, quickly setting a parallel course to Fluttershy's and carefully maneuvered in closer until she was able to wrap her fore-hooves around her. “Whoa! Calm those wings down there Flutters!” Rainbow said as she used her own wings to drag them to a stop. Finally Fluttershy stopped her wings, letting Rainbow hold her. It was then that Rainbow realized she was trembling.
“Hey now, it's alright Fluttershy, you're okay,” Rainbow said gently as she slowly lower them to the ground. As soon as they touched down Fluttershy spun around the threw her hooves around Rainbow.
“I was so scared!” She whimpered crying into Rainbow's shoulder.
Rainbow held Fluttershy a moment more then looked over at the others. “Go ahead and get started, I'm going to help Fluttershy get use to her stronger flying.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie cheered the bounced off toward the forest.
“Take your time, darling.” Rarity told Fluttershy gently then started down the path to the castle ruins herself.
“If ya'll need anything, just holler over the necklaces. Speakin' of which, I guess we should turn them things on now.” Applejack reached up and tapped her necklace twice. “Funny thing talkin' when there ain't nopony there,” she said as she started off into the forest as well.
Rainbow then turned back to Fluttershy. “Don't worry, Flutters, I'm sure we can get you up and flying safely in no time.”
~~~
Rarity was not enjoying herself. With the half light of the eclipse, the forest was dark as night. What was worse, was that it seemed to have rained the night before and much of the trail was muddy. Try as she might, she just couldn't keep it all off her hooves. But she wasn't going to complain. No, she knew that all of Equestria depended on them finding the princess. Still if she had to walk through one more mud puddle...
“Rares, I found a cave, looks like a big one. You wanna come scan for the princess?” Applejack's voice came over the necklaces.
Rarity lit her horn activating her modified gem finder spell. She'd 'tagged' the diamonds in each of their necklaces so it was an easy matter to locate Applejack's.
“Alright, darling, I'm on my way, you're a couple miles from me so it may take some time.”
“Why don't you just teleport?” Pinkie suggested. “Then you would be there in a jiffy!”
“I'm afraid that won't work,” Rarity told her starting off in Applejack's direction. Much to her dismay there weren't any clear trails so she'd have to forge her own.
“Why not? Didn't Twilight teach you how?”
“She did, darling, but I don't have Twilight's ability; I've never been able to teleport more than two feet.”
“But, well, I mean, shouldn't you be able to teleport much better now with the amplifiers?” Fluttershy asked. She and Rainbow were still working on getting her use to her enhanced flying abilities but had joined the search flying together until Fluttershy was more comfortable on her own.
“Yeah! Like Fluttershy's flying!” Pinkie agreed.
Rarity blinked, she hadn't really thought of that. “Well I suppose I could give it a try,” she said and picked a spot near where she could sense Applejack's diamond.
To overcome the dangers of blind teleportation, the most commonly used spell had certain safety measures built in, one of which made sure the caster would reappear in an open space. This meant that even if she picked a target location that happened to be inside a tree, she would instead appear next to the tree. The spell's range was also limited by the amount of magic the pony could safely channel and would not allow them to overextend themselves. It did not, however, keep them from using too much energy which would usually end up singeing the teleporter or anypony they were teleporting with them.
Charging up her horn, Rarity cast the spell using the spot near Applejack as her target. She disappeared with a flash feeling the strange sensation of momentarily being without a body, then with another flash she reappeared.
Directly above a small pond.
“Whaaaah!” Was all she managed before she splashed down in the cutie-mark-deep, murky water.
“Bwa-hahahahaha!” Rainbow Dash's laughter erupted from the necklaces as Rarity, grumbling, started toward the water's edge where she spotted Applejack.
“You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, offering a hoof to help her out of the water.
“Oh, I'm just fine, darling,” Rarity grumbled. “But next time I'm going to ask about a good landing spot before I jump blindly.” She tossed her head flinging water out of her mane, but knew it wasn't much use trying to fix it out here. “So where's this cave you found.”
“Right over here.” Applejack led the way to a small cliff with a dark opening not far from the pond where Rarity had arrived. “There ain't nothin' unnatural about it, but it's a big one and I figure we'd better check everywhere.”
“Yes, and it will only take me a moment to check the area,” Rarity agreed and lit her horn again with a magic detection spell, looking for any strong sources of magic. There was plenty of magic around in the Everfree forest of course, but even here an alicorn's magic would be easily detected. After a few moments Rarity shook her head. “Unless this cave extends more than half a mile from here, I'm afraid she's not here.”
“Well then we keep lookin',” Applejack said optimistically.
Rarity nodded. “At least I have a way to quickly check anything the rest of you find now.”
“Good cause Fluttershy is feeling up to going solo now, so we're going to split up and cover more ground.” Rainbow told them.
“Good ta hear!”
“So Pinkie, what kind of range do you think we'll get from these things?”
“Well... Twilight's equation was based on how strong the bond between friends is. And since we're all super duper friends, I bet we'll get at least thirty miles out of these babies, even in the Everfree!” Pinkie answered.
“Why would being in the Everfree matter?” Rainbow asked sounding confused.
“Because of all the magic in the forest, of course. Ever since Celestia and Nightmare Moon fought, the forest's ley lines are all tangled and put off a lot of energy. This ambient magic causes interference that disrupts the flow of all other magic in the area and makes any long range magic harder. All unicorns knows that.”
There was a pause then Rainbow spoke again. “Uh, Pinkie, you're an earth pony, not a unicorn.”
“Oh yeah.”
~~~
Rarity reappeared back on the trail to the ancient castle after checking a third cave, this one found by Pinkie Pie. Still no sign of the princess. She sighed realizing they may have underestimated just how large the Everfree was, that the task may be more than they could handle on their own.
Suddenly five consecutive explosions shook the entire forest causing her to stumble and almost fall. She looked up wondering what it was, just in time to see the multi-hued shockwaves of several sonic rainbooms sweep across the sky.
“YEAH!” Rainbow's voice yelled from her necklace even as Rarity registered what she was seeing.
“Rainbow! We're suppose to be searchin' for the princess!” Applejack scolded before Rarity could say anything.
“Calm down, AJ, I always see everything when I fly, no matter how fast I'm going.”
“And just how are you gunna spot any caves if they're beneath the forest canopy?” Applejack countered.
There was a pause that suggested Rainbow hadn't considered that. “Hey, you're right! I guess it's time for some agility training!”
Rarity rolled her eyes though nopony was around to see.
“Umm, I don't think I can fly beneath the trees just yet... Sorry,” Fluttershy said apologetically.
“That's okay, Fluttershy, you've got me on the ground! I'll find those sneaky caves hiding under the trees!” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
“Yes, you just keep flying your search pattern Fluttershy, we know you're still getting use to flying fast and wouldn't want you to hurt yourself,” Rarity agreed. “Celestia knows, Rainbow does it often enough.”
“I heard that!”
“Good for you, darling.”
“AAAAHHH!” The scream echoed through the forest from somewhere nearby startling Rarity and freezing her blood. She knew that voice. Suddenly a new voice came through the necklaces.
“Rarity! Help!” Sweetie Belle's cry was frantic and was followed by heavy breathing and the sound of two others crying out in fright.
Rarity didn't hesitate. With her gem finding spell she located the only diamond nearby that she hadn't already tagged with her magic and charged through the trees. She heard more screams as she drew closer, both from the necklace and from somewhere not far ahead. She was dimly aware of Applejack and Rainbow Dash shouting in concern for the other crusaders, but She was too focused on reaching the fillies before it was too late.
She burst into a clearing, and there they were, all wearing their helmets, thought their usual mode of transportation was nowhere to be seen, and surrounded by a pack of timber wolves. Her horn lighting with power, Rarity cast several bolts of a spell she'd learned years ago for self-defense. It didn't burn, shock, or explode. It was simply a blast of kinetic energy. She knew at her normal magic strength, the bolts would hit with the impact strength of a hard buck. With the amplifiers however, the impact strength was increased considerably.
The first wolf the bolts hit was thrown across the clearing to slam into a large tree and was soon followed by two others. With one direction cleared of timber wolves. Rarity leaped past the crusaders to face the rest.
“Don't you touch them you ruffians!” She shouted her horn glowing brightly.
They didn't seem afraid.
Two leaped at her with hardly a pause and Rarity was forced to fire two more bolts to keep them off of her, then leap back as a third tried to take advantage of her distraction. It's thorn claws barely scraped her coat, but her heart was racing all the same. Before she could counter attack though, two more wolves leaped in, going for the kill. In desperation Rarity cast another spell she'd learned from the same self-defense course: a simple repulsion wave.
The wave erupted outwards in an arc, catching all three wolves with the blast. Normally it would have only been strong enough to stop them, maybe push them back a little. Instead they were thrown away from her with nearly as much force as the bolts from the first spell.
Several more timber wolves closed in, but she didn't wait for them to attack. Several more bolts flew from Rarity's horn. Some finding their mark while others blasted trenches in the forest floor or blew apart small bushes along the edges of the clearing.
The wolves she missed continued to close in, still not afraid despite the fate of their kin.
“LOOK OUT!” Sweetie Belle screamed behind her and Rarity risked turning, afraid that she'd find one of the fillies being mauled by a wolf that had attacked from behind. Instead she found three confused looking timber wolves floating in the emerald magic of a simple levitation spell. But to not only levitate, but also restrain three timber wolves at once, each larger than a full grown pony, would take a tremendous amount of energy. Then she saw Sweetie Belle, her horn lit like a beacon, her eyes glowing pure white as she channeled more magic than any filly her age could possibly manage on their own, and the amplifier necklace around her neck aglow with magic as well.
“Aaahh!” She yelled out as she threw the three wolves off into the forest, far enough that Rarity didn't even see where they landed.
She'd let herself be distracted for too long however and one of the remaining wolves pounced, knocking her to the ground, it's claws digging into her side as its jaws snapped at her throat.
“ENOUGH!” Rarity cried casting another repulsion wave with so much magic that for a moment her eyes glowed just as Sweetie Belle's had. The resulting wave filled the clearing, blasting away all the remaining timber wolves and throwing the wolf that had pinned her down up into the sky, well above the forest canopy.
Finally though they were safe. The last of the timber wolves were gone.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cried, running over to her side in worry.
“I'm okay, Sweetie. Just a few scratches.” Rarity told her trying to hide a wince as the pain hit her. Pushherself herself up onto her hooves, she took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart. “Are all of you okay?” She asked looking them over. They seemed a little ragged and dirty, but otherwise uninjured.
They all nodded.
“Is everypony okay!?” Applejack demanded through the necklaces. “Apple Bloom?”
“Yeah, Scoot's too!? Is she alright!?” Rainbow demanded as well.
“Yes, they're all just fine,” Rarity told them.
“Yeah, we're all okay,” Sweetie Belle assured them as well.
“Sweetie Belle!? Are you wearin' the last amp!?” Applejack asked sounding surprised.
“Yes, she is,” Rarity answered for her. “Now, you three,” She said looking down at the three crusaders. “What in Celestia's name are you doing out here!?”
“Uh...”
“Well, you see...” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both started to answer but then Sweetie Belle cut in.
“It was my idea.”
Rarity looked down at her little sister in surprise. “Sweetie, why on Equis would you put yourself and your friends in danger like that!?”
“She didn't drag us into it,” Apple Bloom defended stepping in front of Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.
Rarity looked past them to her sister. “Sweetie?”
Sweetie Belle lowered her eyes. “I... I just didn't want to stay behind. I just stood by and watched... Princess Celestia, Twilight, I just watched.” She shook her head and looked up at Rarity, her eyes determined. “I can't just watch from the sidelines anymore! I want to help!”
Slowly Rarity nodded. “Okay, well, since you're already out here, I guess we might as well let you help. But you stay with me, no running off on your own, and you follow my orders, understand?”
Looking excited all three of them nodded.
“Alright, Apple Bloom, if you can hear me, you listen to Rarity, ya hear?” Applejack's voice came through the necklaces.
“You too, Scoots. Your mom would kill me if anything happened to you!” Rainbow added.
“We will!” both fillies yelled together making Rarity wince at the volume.
~~~
“Everypony, I think we may have to call it a night,” Applejack said a few hours later as the dim half-light of the eclipse was fading toward sunset. It was still more than an hour away from the horizon, but even in normal daylight it was never very bright in the depths of the forest. Now it might as well have been the dead of night. Honestly she was beginning to feel the whole endeavor was foolhardy. In the hours they'd been searching, Applejack figured they'd covered only a small sliver of the entire forest. She shook her head. She'd have to mention it to the others when they got back.
“I'm afraid I have to agree. It is already dreadfully dark in here,” Rarity agreed. “Why if I didn't have my magic, the crusaders and I wouldn't be able to see a thing.”
“But what about the princess!?” Rainbow objected. “We can't just give up!”
“We're not giving up, darling. But we can't continue searching in this darkness. Who knows how many possible caves we may have missed already. We'll just have to continue searching tomorrow when we have at least some light, minimal as it may be.”
“I can keep searching!” Rainbow insisted.
“Rainbow, you can't see no better in the dark than I can,” Applejack told her.
“Yeah, you're not a nocturne, silly.” Pinkie added.
“But... fine.” Rainbow finally conceded, realizing they were right.
“Alright then, everypony let's meet up back at the edge of the forest. I think we may need a new plan anyway. This doesn't seem terribly efficient.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Applejack put in as she started back in the direction of Ponyville, or at least where she believed Ponyville to be. “We've only really searched a tiny sliver of the forest so far. At this rate it may take weeks for us to find the cave the princess is trapped in and by then it may be too late.”
“Um... if you'd like, I could ask my animal friends to help us search tomorrow. If that's okay...” Fluttershy suggested meekly.
“Fluttershy! Why didn't you suggest that earlier!?” Rainbow exclaimed.
“Oh, well, it's just... you all seemed so excited to search for the princess on our own, I didn't think you'd want me to...”
There was the sound of somepony's hoof impacting against their forehead clearly audible over the necklaces.
“I'm sorry...”
“It's quite alright, darling. We can have your friends help us tomorrow. In fact, why don't you ask some of your nocturnal friends to search during the night and tell us in the morning if they find something,” Rarity suggested.
“I can do that,” Fluttershy agreed eagerly. “I'm sure Mister Fangs and his friends would be glad to help!”
“Mister Fangs?” Applejack asked, not sure if she really wanted an answer.
“Yes, Mister Fangs the fruit bat!”
Applejack shook her head. She still didn't understand how Fluttershy could stand the creatures.
“I'm sure you're friends will be a great help,” Rarity told her. “For now though, the rest of us should head back. If anypony gets lost, don't hesitate to speak up and I should be able to point you in the right direction.”
“Yeah, like that will happen,” Rainbow said with her typical cocky confidence.
It ended up taking Applejack and Pinkie Pie the longest to make it back out of the forest, but even so, the eclipsed sun still hadn't set by the time they reached the rest of the group.
Applejack immediately went to Apple Bloom and gave her a hug. “Ah'm not angry, Bloom, but don't ya ever scare me like that again, ya hear?”
“I'm sorry, sis. We just wanted to help,” Apple Bloom told her returning the hug.
“I know, an' we should have realized that. But coming into the forest on yer own wasn't the best choice.”
“Especially since you didn't tell anyone where you were.” Rainbow added. “Scoots, you're mom's got to be worried sick about you!”
“Nah, I told her I would be with the crusaders all day,” Scootaloo said dismissively.
“But don't ya think think she would have come looking for ya when this unnatural eclipse started to make sure you were alright?” Applejack asked her and Scootaloo's eyes went wide. She hadn't thought of that.
Applejack sighed seeing she was right. “Come on, let's go find 'er and we'll tell her you've been with Apple Bloom, it's the truth after all.” She said gesturing for Scootaloo to go with them.
“Applejack, we'll meet here by eight o-clock tomorrow morning, alright?” Rarity called after her. “Use the necklace if you need to contact us for anything.”
“Will do, Rares. Right convenient, that.”
“Quite.” Rarity agreed then turned back to the others. “Well, Fluttershy, if you're going to talk to your animal friends about helping us search, I suppose now is the time.”
“Oh, I already have talked to a few of them. I think I'll talk to a few more on my way home though.”
“Sounds good, darling.” Rarity said with a smile. “In that case I shall bid you all goodnight as well. Come, Sweetie Belle, you can stay at my boutique tonight,” she said then with a wave to Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, the two sisters headed back into town.
~~~
“I suppose you two still want to help us search tomorrow?” Applejack asked the two fillies walking alongside her.
Apple Bloom looked up seeming surprised and hopeful as she nodded. Applejack sighed. “Well I suppose ya'll will be safe enough so long as you're with one of us. If ya really want, and if yer mom is alright with ya spending the day with us, Scoots, ya'll can come with tomorrow. Since I know you'll just follow again if we try to make ya stay behind.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other excitedly, then Apple Bloom jumped up, throwing her hooves around Applejack's neck. “Thanks, sis!”
~~~
“Sweetie, I'm a little disappointed in you. Not only did you disobey me, but you also dragged your friends into a situation that you knew would be dangerous.”
Sweetie Belle looked down at the floor as she entered the boutique. They'd already stopped by their parent's house to make sure they knew where Sweetie Belle was. “I'm sorry, sis...” She said softly, tears coming to her eyes. “I just wanted to help. I... I watched that alicorn do horrible things. I just stood there, I just stood there and watched. I watched her send Celestia away! I... I watched her kill Twilight. I just... I can't just stand by and watch anymore. I just can't.”
Suddenly she felt herself pulled into her elder sister's hooves as Rarity hugged her gently. Sweetie Belle didn't hesitate to bury her face against Rarity's shoulder as she began to cry once more.
“I know Sweetie, I know.” Rarity assured her as she sobbed, soaking her fur with her tears. “I just wish you'd said something, rather than sneaking out on your own,” she said as she gently rubbed Sweetie Belle's back. “I am glad though, that you at least thought to wear the amplifier. You made quite impressive use of its power. Twilight would have been proud.”
Sweetie Belle sniffed once more then looked up at Rarity. “You... you think so?”
Rarity smiled proudly. “The way you picked up those timber wolves and tossed them halfway across the forest! I'm certain of it!”
Sweetie Belle smiled sadly and hugged her sister tightly once more. Rarity returned the gesture then pat her back then got up and started toward the bedroom Sweetie Belle usually stayed in. “Now come along, we have some time before we need to get to bed and if you're going to come along with us tomorrow, I suppose I should teach you the magic detection spell so you can really help out.”
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened with surprise. “Really! You'll still let me come with you tomorrow?”
Rarity smiled back at her. “Of course. Because I know you'll just follow anyway if I left you behind. At least this way I'll know that you're safe and you can really help us search, just like you want.”
Excited, Sweetie Belle ran over and hugged her again. “Thanks, sis.”
“Well, let's see if I can teach you this spell. I'm afraid I'm not as good of a teacher as Twilight, but I think we can still manage.”
Sweetie Belle smiled up at her and nodded. Then hugged her briefly, once more. “You're the best, Rarity!”
Normally this wouldn't have bothered him. He was the spirit of chaos after all, some of his favorite things were things he didn't understand himself. Right now however, what he couldn't understand was how Princess Luna, the very same princess that he had bested numerous times in the past even alongside her sister, was able to not only overpower him, but control him completely. Sure she had, for some reason, reverted back into her Nightmare Moon form, and he knew she had been far more powerful as Nightmare Moon; but to have complete control over his chaos magic? How was that fair?
Now she was dragging him through the halls of the castle in a bubble of her own magic, his powers rendered completely useless. This was not the reception he'd expected when he came to visit. Not that he expected to be treated to tea or anything of the sort, but not this. He really wasn't sure what had happened.
~ “Well, well, well. This is a surprise,” Discord said as he spotted Nightmare Moon from the statue he'd possessed. “Whatever did dear Tia do this time?”
One of Nightmare Moon's eyes twitched. “Do I look like I'm in the mood for your games, Discord?” she asked, her voice cold and threatening.
“Oh, is Nightmare Moon-butt in a bad mood. Did Tia eat your piece of cake?” He vanished from the statue and reappeared in front of Nightmare Moon. With a snap of his claws a piece of chocolate cake appeared floating in front of him and he took a generous bite.
“If you knew what was good for you, draconequus, you'd run while you still have a slim chance of escaping,” Nightmare Moon warned.
“Oh, my, Tia must have done something truly dreadful,” Discord said, completely unconcerned, and tossed what remained of the cake over his shoulder to bounce down the hall as if it were made of rubber. “Did she touch your moon without your permission? Because that would truly be a terrible crime!”
Her eye twitched again. “Last chance. Leave now and do not show your ugly muzzle around here again!”
“Oh, lighten up Moon-butt, can't you take a joke?”
Her eye twitched once more. ~
Apparently not... Discord sighed as Nightmare Moon dragged him through the residence wing of the castle to Celestia's quarters. There, she knocked on the door and waited.
“Enter,” A voice answered a moment later; a voice that wasn't Celestia but sounded vaguely familiar to him.
Nightmare Moon then opened the door and stepped inside, dragging Discord after her.
As he was pulled into the room Discord saw who it was that had invaded Celestia's chambers. She was sitting up on the bed with a staff floating in her magic in front of her that appeared to be made of a dark glass substance. She seemed to be focusing on a complex spell that she was channeling into the staff. He recognized her instantly; he could never forget that gray coat and smokey green mane and tail. “Achlys,” He breathed, icy fear such as he hadn't felt in centuries gripping his heart.
Achlys looked up from her staff as they entered seeming almost bored. “I had wondered when you would show up, Discord. But I must ask, Lady Moon, why have you brought him here?”
“I was going to teach him a lesson, but thought I would see if you'd like anything from him before I do,” Nightmare Moon told her calmly.
Oh, please no!
“As much of an annoyance as he was to my alternate; I myself hold nothing against him. After the first time, he learned better than to cross me,” Achlys told her.
“You have met before then?” Nightmare Moon asked noticing the fear in Discord's eyes.
“I was curious about his chaos magic a few millennia ago. He refused to cooperate with my studies at first, but I showed him the error of his ways,” Achlys said and Discord swallowed nervously. That was one experience he never wanted to relive.
Achlys made a dismissive gesture with one hoof. “I couldn't care less what you do with him. If you want to torture him, be my guest; just take him away from here.”
Nightmare Moon bowed in response. “As you wish, my queen,” she said, then backed out of the room, levitating Discord with her. Discord was staring at Nightmare Moon in shock. She was working for Achlys? Where was Celestia? Just what had he stumbled into? And why had he chosen today to visit instead of next Tuesday?”
~~~
The eclipse was still on when morning finally came, keeping the world in a dim half-light. Already the effects could be felt as the morning was far chillier than the day before. It would only get worse so long as the eclipse continued.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle hurried through the town to the edge of the forest where they were meeting the others, both wearing the amplifiers. The morning had started out with some good news: Fluttershy believed her animal friends had found Celestia. One of the bat colonies in the Everfree had told her friends that their cave had been invaded by something that glowed brightly. And what was more, several other animals had told her about feeling something strange in that area the day before. So once everypony had gathered, Fluttershy's friends were going to show them the way.
As they approached the rendezvous, Rarity saw that Applejack had Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in tow as well. She'd expected as much after the night before. Fluttershy was already there seeming excited with several of her animal friends gathered around her. Rainbow surprisingly was as well though she did seem a bit groggy; she really wasn't much of a morning pony. Like Rarity and Sweetie Belle, most of them had saddle bags though they didn't seem to have much in them.
There just seemed to be one pony missing: Pinkie Pie.
Rarity tapped her necklace twice. “Pinkie Pie, are you on your way yet, darling?”
“Right behind you!” Despite long association with Pinkie, Rarity and Sweetie Belle both jumped as Pinkie's voice came, not from the necklaces, but directly behind them. She was standing there, hitched up to a small cart, grinning at the unicorn sisters. Rarity stared for a moment in shock, she hadn't heard anypony behind them, let alone anypony with a cart laden with... baked goods?
“Darling, what's all that for?”
“Breakfast!” She said cheerfully then trotted past Rarity. One of the cart's weals squeaked absurdly loud as she did. “I brought enough for everypony!”
“I'm afraid we don't have time for a picnic, darling. Didn't you hear, Fluttershy's friends may have found Princess Celestia.”
“I know. But I was thinking, Tia's been trapped since yesterday morning, without food, without water, without anything, and I don't know about you but if I go fifteen minutes without sugar I start to go CRAZY! And Tia's been down there for over a day! She's probably shriveling up even as we speak! So I thought, 'hey, I should bring Celestia some pie.' But then I thought, why stop there, so I brought muffins, cupcakes, danishes, eclairs, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls...”
“I see...”
“Pound cake – the treat, not the foal – pumpkin cake – also the treat – angel food cake – not for Angel...”
Yes, we can see, darling.” Rarity cut her off. “That actually was good thinking. Celestia would probably appreciate something to eat. Though perhaps something a little healthier could have been in order.”
“Healthier?” Pinkie asked, it was unclear if she was under the belief that nothing could be healthier than her baked goods or if she simply didn't know what the word meant.
Rarity decided to ignore the question, for sanity reasons. “As for the rest of us, I think it's best if we eat on the move, so that we can find the princess as quickly as possible. And let's load as much food as we can in our saddle bags for the princess. I doubt Pinkie's cart would do well going off the trails in the forest.”
~~~
Finding the cave turned out to be rather anti-climatic. They followed Fluttershy, who in turn followed her bat friend and after a couple hours trek through the forest...
“It's just around this bend, he says,” Fluttershy told them.
“Finally!” Rainbow exclaimed and dashed ahead. “Woah, hey guys, what's hot enough to melt rock?”
“What's that, Rainbow?” Applejack asked following, the rest of them right behind. “Well, ain't that a sight.”
“Yeah, I don't think this cave is natural...” Rainbow said as the rest of them rounded the bend and saw the cave in the cliff-side ahead.
They immediately saw what Rainbow meant, It appeared that sometime in the distant past, the cliff-side had collapsed burying the entrance to the cave; but far more recently, though still some years in the past, something had melted a hole through the cave-in nearly five times the height of a pony and just as wide.
“Oh my, I dare say this must be it, but let me check to be sure,” Rarity said and closed her eyes as she began to cast the magic detection spell.
“It is!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed excitedly before she even finished casting the spell. “I can sense Princess Celestia! She's here!” Her voice was squeaking in her excitement.
“Yes, that's most definitely the princess,” Rarity confirmed a moment later when she finished her own spell. “She is a ways in though, nearly three hundred paces almost strait ahead and a great deal down as well.” She opened her eyes again and examined the entrance. “Achlys must have done this when she escaped this place. Looks like it was some time ago. At least a decade or more.”
“Awesome. Well let's get in there and save the princess!” With a snap of her wings Rainbow shot for the entrance only to be yanked to a stop by her tail.
“Woah there, nelly!” Applejack said around her mouth-full of tail hair. Once Rainbow was stopped she spit it out. “We don't have no idea what to expect in there. We'd better be careful.”
“Quite right,” Rarity agreed. “Though it seemed as though Achlys didn't believe anypony would find the princess, she may still have put some countermeasures in place just in case. Hopefully if she did, I can detect any nasty magical surprises before we trigger them.”
“I can help with that too, right?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Rarity smiled and nodded. “Yes, just keep using the detection spell, and look for any pockets of magic that seem, well, organized.”
“Wait, couldn't you just teleport us in to the princess?” Rainbow asked.
“Perhaps, but I doubt it. If this was a prison, they wouldn't want unicorns just teleporting in,” Rarity told her then tried teleporting just to see. As she'd expected, the spell was rejected as soon as she cast it. “Just as I thought, the chamber is warded against teleportation.”
“Alright, well then we go the old fashion way.”
As they all entered the cave they discovered that once they passed the caved-in section, the chambers they found themselves in were a mix of pony made and natural caves. The path led off down one of the tunnels, disappearing into darkness as the light from the entrance only reached so far. Rarity cast a simple light spell to push back the darkness and with her and Sweetie Belle constantly scanning around them for possibly hostile magic, they began making their way deeper into the ancient prison. They hadn't gone far when they came across something curious.
“What happened here?” Scootaloo asked being one of the last to enter the chamber they'd paused in. It had been silently agreed by the adults that the fillies should follow last in case their were any traps waiting for them.
“Looks like somethin' went and bucked the wall to pieces,” Applejack observed. Indeed the wall opposite the side they'd entered from appeared to have been shattered by tremendous force, and like the entrance, a new path had been melted through the collapsed stone. This destruction however, all looked to have happened in recent years.
Rainbow flew up over the piled stone off one side of the melted path looking around curiously. Then a glint of metal caught her eye. She spotted the source sticking out from the rock pile and landed to get a closer look. “Yikes. Careful guys, there's some wicked looking blades buried in the rocks up here, it would probably be best to stick to the path, you wouldn't want to trip over one of these... Hey! I bet this was a trap!”
“Say what now?” Apple Bloom asked looking up at her.
“Yeah! Just like in Daring Do! I bet this all use to be the wall, and there was probably a narrow tunnel through it with some kind of deadly trap and that's what all these blades came from!” Rainbow said sounding excited.
Rarity was about to object that the idea was ridiculous, but then she realized what this place was. “Actually, that may be...”
“Sure doesn't seem to have stopped Achlys,” Applejack said eyeing the destruction.
“No, but then it probably wasn't meant to,” Rarity mused.
“What do you mean? Wasn't this supposed to be Achlys's prison?”
“Yes, Rainbow, but to imprison an alicorn you need extremely powerful magic, like what Sweetie saw Achlys use on Princess Celestia,” Rarity explained. “It's likely that once they got the spells in place, they didn't think she would be able to get out on her own. So this trap probably wasn't meant to keep her in, but to keep others from reaching her. Perhaps they were afraid somepony might try to free her, or else they just didn't want somepony stumbling upon her prison and accidentally freeing her.”
“If they didn't want anypony accidentally finding this place, why not just seal it up?” Rainbow asked. “Why leave deadly traps? I mean, they could have killed some innocent explorer.”
“Remember the entrance, Rainbow. They did seal it up. This trap was probably a backup plan.” Rarity looked over at the blade Rainbow had found and shivered. “Not a very pleasant thought, but it's very telling that they would rather put innocent lives at risk than risk somepony accidentally freeing that alicorn.”
“She's evil...” Sweetie Belle said softly.
“Yes,” Rarity agreed. “And I think we're starting to see just how evil she was. Come, the way is clear. Achlys clearly blasted the entire trap apart on her way out so there's no danger in following the path she made.”
As they continued they found two more chambers with what seemed to have once been additional traps, both completely destroyed just like the first. By the third they were all agreed that the traps weren't meant to hold the alicorn anyway. Finally they entered one last tunnel.
~~~
There were, unfortunately, many things Celestia didn't know about her current situation. Where she was being the biggest one on the list. All she could see of the chamber she was in was directly in front of her, since the containment spell wouldn't let her turn her head more than a slight turn in each direction, and though she could move her eyes freely, she still couldn't see much of the room. What she could see looked like it had once been a natural cave, but had been carved out extensively. The floor had been made level, and where she floated seemed to have been carved out into a bowl. It appeared the bowl had been enclosed at one point, but the enclosing slabs had been shattered. Any more details than that were lost in the darkness, as the spell holding her and her own ethereal mane were the only sources of light.
Another thing she didn't know for certain was the time. Other than knowing that some hours had passed since her internal clock had told her it was time for sunrise, she didn't know for certain what time of the day it was. It could still be mid-morning or almost past noon, she couldn't tell one way or the other.
The most distressing thing she didn't know however, was how she was going to get free. Achlys's spell prevented her from even sensing magic, so she couldn't even study it. And even if she could, she couldn't cast any magic to break it.
There really wasn't anything she could do but put up a token effort of resisting and hope she lasted long enough for somepony to find her. Considering she had no idea where she was, things didn't look good for her. She estimated that she could last perhaps a week and a half at the rate the spell was draining her. And that was probably pushing it.
Though her disappearance would have been noted by now, she knew that nopony would have any idea where to look for her. Or so she thought.
It was, therefore, quite a surprise when she heard voices and hoof-steps coming from the shadows, just on the edge of her vision. She assumed that it must be the entrance to the chamber. The last few moments before they arrived, Celestia speculated who it might be. She didn't think anypony in Ponyville had seen anything, but then she had no idea what had happened after Achlys had teleported her down here. She hoped the village was alright.
More likely was that the Royal guard had managed to track her down, though that was still extremely unlikely. In fact the chances of anypony finding her intentionally seemed so slim that she began to think that perhaps somepony just happened to be exploring the cave or ruin that housed the chamber she was in.
Then they reached the chamber.
“She's here!” A voice cried excitedly, a voice she recognized.
Celestia's eyes widened in surprise and then fear as she spotted Rarity and the rest of Twilight's friends charge into the chamber toward her. “Don't touch the rune circles!” She warned quickly afraid one of them might run right up to her and be pulled into the containment spell as well.
They all thankfully stopped short and Celestia noticed the three fillies with them; two of which she knew to be younger sisters of the group of friends. Once they were in front of her Rarity bowed, followed quickly by all the others. “Your highness! I am relieved to see you're alright!”
Celestia looked out at them surprised, considering who it was, this definitely wasn't a coincidence, they had to have been looking for her. But how would they have known where to look? She didn't even know where she was! “How did you find me?” She asked, not really caring about being formal just then.
“My sister, Sweetie Belle, happened to go to the library yesterday morning, she witnessed that other alicorn entrap you, and upon leaving she happened to overhear her mention where she'd sent you,” Rarity explained.
Celestia was surprised, It was incredibly fortunate that Sweetie Belle had had the presence of mind to keep out of sight. She smiled down at the little filly. “It seems I'm in your debt, little one. I was worried nopony would find me in time because they wouldn't know where to look. In fact, I don't even know where we are; this spell blocks my sense of magic.”
“We're deep in the Everfree. This was apparently the prison cell Achlys was locked away in.”
Celestia looked around as much as she could with the added light from Rarity and Sweetie Belle's horns. The chamber was certainly spartan enough to be a prison cell. Being in the Everfree, it was understandable that she'd never found this place. Even when she and Luna had lived in the ancient castle on what use to be the edge of the forest, most of the Everfree had been largely unexplored. “I suppose that would make sense.”
“Yes, now that we've found you though, we can see about setting you free...” Rarity told her.
Celestia sighed. “I'm afraid that may prove the more difficult task. Without being able to sense magic I haven't been able to examine this spell at all. I don't know how advanced you are in magic, dear Rarity, but even if you are able to figure out the spell, it was cast by an Alicorn and so may be beyond your ability to break.”
Rarity looked over the rune circles, noting their complexity. “Perhaps, I'm certainly not an arch mage by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think power will be the problem, however.”
Celestia shook her head as much as the containment spell would allow. “This is alicorn magic, cast by an alicorn that, I'm afraid to say, is far more powerful than myself. Even trying to break it through more subtle means will likely take more power than most unicorns are capable of.”
“I understand princess, but my magic's strength is greatly boosted right now thanks to these. She said reaching up and touching the necklace she was wearing. Having so often seen them wearing similar necklaces in the past, Celestia hadn't even noticed them.
“What are those you're wearing?” She asked unable to hold back her curiosity.
“They're something Twilight was working on, but she never finished testing them,” Rarity told her.
“But what are they?”
“They're Amity Arcanum Amplifiers!” Pinkie answered cheerfully. “They use the magic of friendship to enhance all our abilities.”
Celestia blinked. “Twilight made them? How much do they enhance your abilities?”
“Well it depends on the ability, really,” Rarity answered politely. “My magic is enhanced a great deal. In fact, I dare say that, right now, I may be the most powerful unicorn alive. That's why I don't think power will be the problem in this case.” She looked critically at the rune circles again. “No, I think that finding a way to break these spells will be the greater challenge for me right now. But perhaps if you help me, you majesty, we'll be able to figure it out.”
“Perhaps. If not, you'll have to try to contact one of the court mages.” She shook her head, that could wait. “But first, tell me what's happening out there? What is Achlys up to?”
“Not much, as far as we know. We haven't gotten any news from Canterlot,” Applejack told her. “So far the only thing we know she's done was eclipse the sun all day and night.”
“What about Luna, have you heard any news about her?”
They all looked at each other before Rarity answered. “I'm afraid not, darling. But... well, Sweetie Belle did hear what Achlys said about Princess Luna...”
“Luna would never serve that witch willingly!” Celestia cut her off heatedly.
“We all hope you're right, princess. But if so, then Luna has clearly been defeated as well. Otherwise she would have ended the eclipse, would she not?”
Celestia sighed trying to calm herself. Rarity didn't deserve her anger. “Or she may have escaped but can't wrest the sun and moon away from Achlys's grasp...”
Rarity nodded understandingly. “Either way, we just don't know.”
“Did she harm Ponyville at all?”
“No, She just eclipsed the sun and left. Almost nopony in Ponyville even saw her.”
“That's good to hear.”
“Yeah, it's great that Ponyville wasn't destroyed again or anything, but... Who the hay is Achlys!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed finally, wanting answers.
“Rainbow, show some consideration, darling,” Rarity scolded her. “Don't you think we should worry about freeing the princess from this spell first?”
“No, it's alright, Rarity,” Celestia said softly. “I understand you want answers, and you all deserve to know all that I can tell you.”
“Well we should still get you out of that spell first,” Rarity insisted, but Celestia just shook her head.
“No, I should tell you now, while I have a chance. Besides, this spell is uncomfortable at worst and I'll likely last another week or more, so we have plenty of time.”
Rarity looked at her concerned but eventually stepped back with the others. “If you insist, princess.”
Celestia smiled and took a moment to organize her thoughts before she began. “I don't know much about Achlys herself, but I'll tell you all that I do know.
“Twenty-four years ago, an alicorn attacked Canterlot along with a black dragon. It was Achlys of course, but at the time I had no clue who she was. It was during the battle that I learned her name, as well as the dragon's name, Deimos, and where they were from.
“They had been imprisoned, for nearly three thousand years, since long before Luna and I were born. They came from a time known as the Purge.”
“The Purge?”
“Yes, the Purge was the systematic extermination of all alicorns.”
All their eyes went wide.
“Why would anypony want to exterminate alicorns!?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
Celestia looked at the filly sadly. “It was one of the darkest times in alicorn history. Something I have endeavored to erase from history as well as pony memory.”
“You tried to cover it up?” Rainbow asked sounding surprised.
“Yes, for the sake of ending the prejudice it caused. Back then, the alicorn race was far more numerous than they are now, there were hundreds if not thousands. But they were corrupt, arrogant. They saw themselves as akin to gods and treated the mortal races as little more than slaves, playthings for their amusement. Their crimes were innumerable and they were hated.
The most powerful of them formed a council called the Alicorn Imperium that ruled over the other alicorns and all mortal races. But while the alicorns were treated with privilege; the mortal races were oppressed and forced into servitude. Eventually the mortal races had had enough, and the coalition of mortals was formed.
“Led by Starswirl the Bearded and Solar Flare the Unicorn of Light, they hunted down the alicorns one by one, executing and imprisoning them for their crimes. It took more than two centuries, but eventually they accounted for every last alicorn. However, there was much alicorn blood in the mortal races, and alicorns continued to be born. But the hatred learned in those years was strong, and so it became common practice for any alicorn born to be slain at birth.”
“That's horrible!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
Celestia nodded in agreement. “Even when Luna and I were born, more than a thousand years later, we would have been slain if the ponies of Equestria hadn't been desperate for somepony powerful enough to stand up to Discord. And even once we defeated Discord, it was nearly another century before they entrusted us with ruling Equestria; though still many were against it.” She sighed heavily. “In any case, it was during the purge that Achlys was imprisoned here, more than three thousand years ago.
“After she escaped, she was still greatly weakened by her imprisonment when she attacked Canterlot. With the help of the guard I managed to drive her and the dragon off, but I was not about to let such an alicorn and dragon roam freely through Equestria, I gathered three hundred of the best of the royal guard and went after them. We eventually found them in the Fetlock Hills.”
“The tragedy of the Fetlock Hills...” Rainbow whispered softly. Everypony looked at her surprised that she would know about it. “My grandfather was there...”
Celestia closed her eyes, letting her pain show as she recalled that day. “It was a terrible battle. And in the end, every member of the guard that went with me fell to Achlys and the dragon. Even I was badly wounded, but I prevailed.” She shook her head sadly. “If only I had acted sooner, it would have ended that day.
“Before I could finish her off, the dragon appeared. I didn't have the strength left to fight him and he couldn't fight me without leaving Achlys vulnerable. It was a stand-off so Achlys decided to escape. The dragon teleported them away and until now, I never knew where they went.”
Tears came to her eyes, knowing the next part would be painful for them to hear. "When she captured me, she couldn't resist telling me everything... After the battle, she was badly wounded, and still weakened from her imprisonment, she would need time to recover, years in fact. Despite my efforts to find her she managed to stay hidden while she made her plans.
“She shrank the dragon Deimos back into a baby dragon, changed his appearance, locked away his memories and encased him in an egg. She then arranged for that egg to be found, seemingly abandoned, by professors of my school for gifted unicorns.” Rarity seemed to realize what Celestia was saying and her eyes began to widen as she started to guess the rest.
“With Deimos hidden; she focused on concealing herself.” Celestia sniffed, trying to hold back the tears but it was futile. She knew the truth now; she'd had plenty of time to think back and see all the signs. “She transformed herself into a unicorn foal and placed herself in the care of a loving family; implanting memories in their minds of a pregnancy and birth that never happened, making them believe she truly was their daughter. She even went so far as to put stripes into her mane so that she would look more like the mare that believed herself to be her mother...” Celestia's voice broke and the growing look of horror on most of their faces told her they had guessed who she was speaking of.
“Once everything was arranged, she... she created an artificial soul, a second personality and placed her in control of her transformed body, a mask to hide behind while she hid deep in the subconscious and the depths of her magic. That second personality was given the name Twilight Sparkle...”
“No!” Rainbow objected. “No! She can't...! That can't be true!”
“Twilight didn't know she was a substitute.” Celestia told them. “She was exactly the pony she seemed to be. Achlys was simply hiding within her, biding her time until she recovered her strength. And now that she has; she has taken back control of her body once more.”
“Not Twi!”
“Believe me, I understand your pain. Perhaps if we are able to defeat Achlys, there may be a way to put Twilight back in control and bring her back...”
Sweetie Belle let out a whimper at that and Celestia looked down at her to see the pain in her eyes. “I don't think she's there any more...”
“What do you mean?”
“After... after Achlys sent you away, she... Twilight must have done something and threw her into the book cases. Then Achlys said that if she was going to cause trouble then she might as well be rid of her. She cast a spell, and I saw Twilight standing in front of Achlys. Then she cast another spell and Twilight... she... she screamed... and...” Sweetie Belle burst into tears, unable to go on and Rarity quickly went to her sister's side to comfort her.
Celestia just slowly closed her eyes again. Twilight...
The cave was silent for a few moments except for Sweetie Belle's sobs.
“Even if we can't save Twilight, we can avenge her.” Applejack said finally sounding determined. “Aside from bein' an alicorn from thousands of years ago, what else do we know about this Achlys? What does she want? What are her motives?”
Celestia shook her head. “All I know is she knows a great deal more about magic than I do, and that she was a member of the high council of the Alicorn Imperium, so she was likely one of the most powerful of the alicorns.”
“Wait, if she was a member of the high council, then why in Tartarus didn't they execute her back then!? Why just imprison her if she was so dangerous?” Rainbow asked angrily.
“Because it was only the most powerful alicorns that were imprisoned,” Celestia answered. “They would have executed them all, but at the time it was believed that the most powerful alicorns had the ability to reincarnate themselves; so they feared that if they were to slay them, they would just come back and take revenge.” She shook her head. “It was all a lie though.”
“Why on Equis would they believe such a thing?” Rarity asked.
“It's because of the ability alicorns have to heal from almost any wound. You've probably never considered that despite having lived over a thousand years, fighting in many wars, and receiving countless wounds, I have no scars whatsoever.”
“Oh yeah, I never thought of that.” Rainbow said looking over Celestia's nearly pristine coat. “How the heck does that work?”
“It is because of our alicorn healing. No matter the wound, we can heal completely and flawlessly, so long as we have enough magic. Myself, I have enough magic that I can, and have survived being stabbed through the heart.”
Rarity's eyes widened. “That's dreadful, darling! When did this happen?”
“It was shortly after Luna and I were crowned as princesses of Equestria. As I said, not everypony was happy with our rule. One group of nobles went so far as to hire an assassin to remove us. He managed to get into my bedroom and put a dagger through my heart. Luna caught him in the act.” Celestia grimaced. “We didn't know about our ability to heal at the time, and Luna... she did not take it well. She chased down the assassin, and when she caught him, I was told later that she quite literally tore him limb from limb out in the streets for all to see. You can imagine her surprise when she returned to find that I was not only alive, but had also removed the dagger and was already healing.
“Our supporters later made the day a holiday they called the Blood Moon Festival. A celebration of our power and also a reminder to those who still opposed us of what happened to those who attempted to bring us harm. It was a morbid celebration and at first I was against it, though Luna found it amusing.”
“Blood Moon Festival, I've never heard of it.” Rarity said thoughtfully.
Celestia smiled sadly. “Of course you have; just after Luna's fall it became known by a different name: Nightmare Night.”
“Nightmare Night was started 'cause somepony tried to kill you?” Applejack asked.
“Yes. And it was also how Luna and I found out about our alicorn healing. Now as far as I've been able to find out; during the Purge, there was an incident where a young mare attempted to kill her alicorn master. My guess is that, like what happened to me, she probably stabbed him in his sleep and left him for dead. When he reappeared completely healed weeks later, she probably believed he had somehow come back to life.
“Word then spread and because it was started by a mortal and not the alicorns themselves; ponies believed it, and of course the alicorns didn't correct them. Soon they all believed that the most powerful of the alicorns had the ability to reincarnate themselves, and so during the Purge, while most alicorns were put to death; the most powerful were instead imprisoned for all time.”
“So Achlys is not only one of these evil alicorns from thousands of years ago, but she's also one of the most powerful of them as well?” Rainbow asked putting it simply.
“I just can't believe Twilight's gone...” Apple Bloom said softly to the other crusaders. It had been nearly three hours since they'd arrived and Celestia had told them all she knew. Each had taken the news in their own way. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy where off to one side, talking quietly. It was clear the other two were trying to comfort their shy friend but at the same time, Pinkie's mane and tail had gone mostly strait. Applejack on the other hoof, was keeping herself busy by exploring the chamber and examining those parts that weren't part of the natural cave, while Rarity was working with Celestia trying to break the containment spell. So far they'd made little progress.
As for the crusaders themselves, they were sitting together near the entrance of the chamber.
Sweetie Belle didn't even look up at Apple Bloom's comment. It was the first any of them had spoken in some time. She just sniffed softly staring down at her hooves. She'd known all along of course; she'd seen what Achlys had done herself after all. Even if Twilight had just been an artificial soul that Achlys created, she was still her own pony, and for Achlys to simply destroy her like that...
They had to make her pay! She glanced over at where Rarity was trying to describe what she could sense of the spell to Celestia in order to make sense of it. Sweetie wished she could help, but now that they'd found Celestia, there really wasn't much left that the three crusaders could do. She sighed heavily looking down at her hooves again. At least she'd gotten to help this much, even if it wasn't much at all.
A slight shift in air pressure and a soft click made her glance over her shoulder toward the entrance.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
Standing in the entrance that was barely large enough for him was a dragon. A dragon with black scales and dark green spines. A dragon Sweetie Belle had seen the day before.
Sweetie Belle's scream got everypony's attention instantly, but before anypony could do anything, the dragon reached out toward her with deadly looking claws.
And gently pat her head.
“It's alright, Sweetie Belle,” he said softly in a soothing tone. Surprised, Sweetie pushed his claw aside so she could look up at him.
“Spike?”
He shook his head sadly. “Not anymore,” he said then stepped past her toward Celestia.
Celestia's eyes narrowed on him as he approached while the others weren't sure how to react. “Have you come to finish me off, Deimos?” She demanded.
He didn't answer. Instead he raised his fore-claw toward her heart, and as he did it began to glow with fire-like light.
“No, don't!” Rarity cried, realizing what was happening. Before she could interfere however, the air around the dragon and Celestia shimmered as if with intense heat and bits of flame appeared circling around them. It was magic of course, but unlike any that any of them had ever seen. And it was forming a barrier preventing anypony from stopping the dragon as he continued to reach toward Celestia's heart.
“Don't do it!” Sweetie cried as she saw fear in the princess's eyes for the first time in her memory. Though the defiance there certainly outweighed the fear.
The glow around the dragon's claw intensified as it came in contact with the spell trapping Celestia. There was nothing anypony could do to stop him.
There was a sound like glass shattering and a bright flash forced them all to shield their eyes. When the light faded, they all looked up fearing the worst.
Celestia was no longer trapped in the containment spell, she had fallen into a heap on the floor. But even as they looked up so did she, a surprised expression on her face. She looked up at the dragon realizing what he'd done.
“Why?”
Deimos slowly withdrew his claw and sadly lowered his eyes to the floor. “For Twilight,” he said softly.
The cave was silent following that statement. Nopony knew what to say; they could all hear the sorrow that filled his voice.
Finally he looked around at all of them. “Please, just go. Get out while you still can, save yourselves... Equestria is lost.”
Celestia looked up at him with understanding in her eyes, but shook her head. “I can't just abandon my little ponies.”
Deimos's eyes turned angry in an instant. “You can't win against her!” He shouted, certainty ringing in his voice. “Don't be fools! If you go against her, you're just throwing your lives away!”
“We know the odds are against us...” Rainbow started.
“YOU HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE WHO YOU'RE UP AGAINST!” He roared making them all step back while the three crusaders huddled together in fear. “Don't you understand, Celestia!? When we attacked Canterlot, we were at a fraction of our full strength. The imprisonment spell had left us both weakened, and still it took you and three hundred of your finest guards to even come close to victory! Now she's stronger than ever!”
“We have to try...”
Deimos stomped one claw hard enough that the entire chamber shook. “Can't you see it's hopeless!? You're nothing to her! Why can't you understand that? Even the weakest members of the council were far more powerful than you! Thinking you have a chance against her is madness!
“Achlys wasn't just a member of the Imperium high council; she was the one they all feared.” He spoke with such calm certainty that they knew he was speaking the truth. “The entire high council, the entire Imperium, feared Achlys. Because they knew, that if she ever tried to take over, if she decided she wanted to rule, that there was nothing they could do to stop her.
“And it wasn't because she was the most powerful of them.” He shook his head. “No, there were alicorns with more magic power than her. They feared her because of what she could do. She is the original alicorn of magic. And even before we were imprisoned she had had more than seven millennia to study magic. She knows more than you can imagine, and can do things that you can't even dream of!
“The only reason that Achlys does not rule this world, is because she doesn't want to. Achlys doesn't want to rule, she never has. Political power is worthless to her. She had slaves in the past for convenience, but that was as far as she ever cared to go.”
“Then why is she taking over Equestria?” Celestia demanded.
He snorted. “She has no interest in Equestria. All she wants, all she's ever done, is whatever she damn well pleases. And the only time she ever goes out of her way to do anything, is when she wants to punish someone who was stupid enough to get in her way.
“When we first attacked Canterlot, we weren't trying to take over. Achlys just wanted something you had stored in the vaults of the castle. But you stopped us, then you went so far as to hunt us down.”
He looked down at Celestia. “Achlys doesn't forget, and she doesn't forgive. The only reason Achlys is going after Equestria is to hurt you. She has no interest in running a country; she's calling herself queen, but she's already turned control over to Nightmare Moon.”
“What has she done to Luna!?” Celestia demanded.
He glared at her a moment before answering. “Luna is Nightmare Moon again, complete with bad attitude,” he told her darkly.
Celestia shook her head not wanting to believe it. “No... no, Luna wouldn't... Achlys must be controlling her somehow...”
Deimos shrugged. “She might be. It would have to be something subtle though, because she seems to be acting on her own. But even if she is being manipulated by Achlys, don't get your hopes up: There's no way you'll ever break her spell.”
Celestia glared up at him. “I have to at least try!”
“Dammit, Celestia, what will it take for you to understand!? As far as alicorn's go, you are weak! Even I'm far more powerful than you! You can't win; going against Achlys is suicide!” Deimos roared then went on his voice becoming almost desperate. “Please, just run, escape while you still can. Don't throw your lives away!”
“We can't do that.” Rainbow told him, moving to the princess's side.
He glared at her, then looked around at all the others, saw that they all agreed with Rainbow and Celestia. “Fine. I've done all I can,” he said in a cold growl that seethed with barely contained rage. “Do not expect me to help you again!”
Turning away, he stormed out of the chamber, each step sending tremors through the cave.
“Spike!?” Apple Bloom called after him but he didn't even acknowledge her. The cave was silent for a few moments after the dragon's departure.
“Well I recon you're a mite hungry and thirsty, princess, after bein' locked up all day and night.” Applejack said finally. “We brought some food an' water with us, so let's get you taken care of. We can worry about plannin' our next move once you've eaten.”
Celestia nodded. “Yes, some food would definitely do me some good, thank you.”
Sweetie Belle hardly paid attention as they all got out the food they'd brought for Princess Celestia. She was staring toward the entrance, her mind fixed on what Spike... Deimos, had said. Celestia was weak? But if that was true then, did they have any chance at all against Achlys? The alicorn that all other alicorns feared?
She looked over at the others, her eyes seeking out her sister. She knew Rarity would go with them to fight, Rainbow was right, they wouldn't, couldn't, abandon Equestria. But could they win? What could they do to improve their chances. Rarity and the others already had the necklaces...
Sweetie Belle looked down at the necklace around her own neck. It was too big for her, but then it had been made large enough for an adult. Even with it however, there was no way the others would ever let her come with them to fight, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to do much anyway.
There was one thing she could still do to help though.
Getting to her hooves she walked over to where Princess Celestia was resting while she ate some of the food they'd brought for her.
“Princess Celestia?” She said softly getting the princess's attention. She then took off the amplifier necklace and held it up to her. “Here. It... it might help.”
Celestia smiled understandingly and took the necklace in her magic. “Thank you, Sweetie Belle,” she said and put it on. “I'll put it to good use.”
She nodded. “Make her pay... for Twilight...”
Celestia was a little taken back by the anger behind the filly's words, but she nodded all the same. “I will do my best.”
~~~
It was a known fact that the castle of the royal sisters in Canterlot was protected against teleportation as well as every known form of scrying. Perhaps a little less known was that the princesses were the only exception to those wards and could use such magic freely within the castle. What was not known to but a very few was that there was, in fact, one room in the far corner of the guard barracks that was excluded from the wards against teleportation. In addition, this room was shielded against any form of magic detection so that teleportation arrivals would not be noticed by anypony outside the royal guard and its secret would remain intact. It was rarely used and when it was, usually the arrival was planned in advance. Even so, it was constantly guarded.
Therefore it didn't go unnoticed when light flared from beneath the door a few hours past midnight. The guards on duty looked at each other in surprise then one turned to the door. Built like a prison cell, the teleportation room door had a small shuttered window at eye level so that the guard could see who was arriving before letting them into the barracks proper.
The guard opened the shutter and peered inside. His eyes widened and he quickly gestured for his partner to unlock the door. As soon as he did, he saw why.
“Princess! Thank the stars you're alright!” He exclaimed as both he and his partner bowed deeply.
The Princess wasn't alone, five mares were with her; five mares that every member of the royal guard knew on sight by now. All of them, including the princess, were wearing golden necklaces with a large simple cut diamond in the center.
Celestia gestured for them to rise. “Sergeant, what is the status of the guard?”
“Standing by, your majesty. It was unclear what action we should take considering Princess Luna appears to be on the Achlys's side. Command believed it best to wait and gather more information before formulating a plan of attack. Some effort was made toward locating you, but we had no indication of where to start looking.”
Celestia nodded understandingly. “Of course, luckily a filly in Ponyville happened to overhear Achlys mention where she had me imprisoned. For now, gather what officers are currently within the barracks and find Captain Iron Sentinel.”
“Captain Iron Sentinel is dead, your majesty. Achlys murdered him when she first arrived.” The sergeant told her regretfully.
Celestia winced, letting her own pain at that news show. “Have there been any other casualties?” She asked softly.
“No, only the captain.”
“Then gather the remaining officers. I have orders for the guard. And retrieve my armor!”
~~~
As the castle was currently occupied by two hostile alicorns, the guard didn't have to be told to keep Celestia's presence quiet. Within a few minutes time, all the officers within the barracks had been alerted and gathered in the mess hall. Celestia stood at the head table, wearing her full battle armor that had been stored in the barracks armory for times of war.
Similar to the armor of the royal guard, it covered almost all of her body and most of her legs. Golden in color, the heavy armor flowed over her body like tendrils of frozen flame. Wearing it she looked like the sun's wrath made flesh. Her shield and spear she would summon when the time came to fight.
“I've already been informed of Captain Iron Sentinel's death at Achlys's hooves.” Celestia began once they had all arrived. “He will be remembered.” A respectful silence fell over the room for a few moments before she went on. “You of course recognize the former bearers of the elements of harmony.” She gestured to the five friends, a couple of which looked a little embarrassed to be recognized. “They have come, regardless of the danger to face Achlys by my side in the defense of Equestria.”
“The guard is with you as well!” The ranking officer said with confidence, and the rest nodded in agreement.
“No.”
The officers looked at her in shock as if unable to believe what they'd heard. “But, princess...!”
“The first time I fought this Alicorn I had three hundred of the royal guard's best with me. Not one came back alive. I will not sacrifice more of my soldiers to her,” Celestia told them firmly. “Your orders are to stay out of this fight. If the bearers and myself cannot defeat Achlys, then there is no hope for victory.
“Should we fail, you are to do all you can to protect the ponies of this land, but you are not to try to avenge me. Achlys is cold and heartless, but she is also selfish. She knows that the sun is needed for crops to grow; I'm confident she will return day and night to normal eventually so that she won't have to go without. You will survive, even if it is under the reign of a tyrant. If the worst comes about, you keep in line and follow orders unless they are in direct violation of your vows to protect this land and its ponies. You are not to try and remove Achlys yourselves, is that clear?”
The guardponies looked like they wanted to object but reluctantly they all acknowledged her orders. “As you command...” The ranking officer said sounding dejected. “I must ask, however. Why are you taking the bearers with you but not the guard? The elements of harmony were returned to the tree, were they not?” He eyed the necklaces they were all wearing.
“The six of us are equipped with amplifiers of Princess Twilight's design that enhance our natural abilities far beyond those of normal ponies. Hopefully it will be enough; but make no mistake, the situation is dire. Achlys may very well be the most powerful foe I have ever faced, with nearly ten millenia of experience to draw from.” She looked down. “Honestly, there is not much hope for victory. Which is why I'm ordering you to stay out of this fight. Should we fail, the ponies of this land will need you.”
“Very well, princess. May harmony's blessings be upon you all.”
Celestia nodded in thanks then took a deep breath, knowing what lay ahead. “Where is Achlys now?”
“Last report we had, she was heading toward the throne room; we are not certain why at this hour...”
“Yeah, why the heck would she go to the throne room in the middle of the night?” Rainbow Dash asked, sounding confused.
“We don't know, but that was the last report we had. The guards on duty would have told us had she gone elsewhere.”
“It doesn't matter,” Celestia said softly. “In fact it's better this way; the throne room will give us space to spread out and take better advantage of our numbers. What about Luna?”
“We're not sure,” the lieutenant admitted. “She is difficult to keep track of. All the more so at night.”
Celestia nodded. She'd expected as much. “Hopefully she is away and won't be able to interfere.” She sighed heavily, It was probably too much to hope for. With her orders given to the guard, there was just one thing left to do. She turned back to the former bearers. “Come, it is time we ended this, one way or another.”
The five friends nodded and followed Celestia out of the mess hall, very aware of the looks of longing and worry that the guard's gave them as their princess left them behind.
~~~
“Are you sure you don't want the guard backin' us up?” Applejack asked softly as they made their way through the castle. The five of them had not been aware of that part of Celestia's plan, though they'd been a part of the planning. In truth there wasn't much to their plan. They would confront Achlys and hope that the power granted to them by the amplifiers would be enough to catch her off-guard. Celestia knew that if they delayed it would only give Achlys more time to discover Celestia's escape and prepare to face them.
“I meant what I said; if we six can't find a way to defeat her, then there truly is no hope for victory. The guard will make no difference against her and I will not sacrifice more of my soldiers to fight my battles,” Celestia told her just as softly. “In truth I would rather the five of you weren't involved either; but after what she did to Twilight, I know you'd never agree to stay behind.”
“Darn right!” Rainbow said with a nod.
“Truth be told, I don't think we can win,” Celestia admitted.
She smiled sadly. “Yes... there's always hope...” Celestia agreed, though her voice lacked confidence.
~~~
There were no royal guards on the throne room doors, most the patrols were still making their rounds, but they weren't about to guard the usurper. Pausing for only a moment, Celestia slammed the doors open with her magic.
“Celestia! It's about time!” Achlys's voice rang out as soon as they stepped across the threshold.
She was there, sitting on Celestia's throne smiling down at them wearing nothing but a jagged emerald crown. A tall staff floated by her side that appeared to be made out of dark glass. There wasn't even a hint of surprise in her eyes. Deimos was there as well, lying behind the throne; and he didn't look very happy to see them.
“I was beginning to wonder if you would escape that little spell of mine. I honestly didn't think it would take you this long. But at last, here you are, and you brought the girls with you! By the way, your wards against scrying and spell detection over in the barracks are full of holes.” Her smile became a smirk. “I'd show you how to cast proper wards, but I'm afraid it would be a waste of time since you'll never get a chance to use them.”
Celestia's eyes narrowed. Was Achlys bluffing to frighten them? Or did she actually expect, even intend for Celestia to escape her trap. “I told you I'd find a way,” Celestia said trying to sound confident.
Achlys laughed. “Yes, but it wasn't you who broke the spell now was it?”
Celestia glared at her, remaining silent.
Achlys took her silence as confirmation. “I didn't think you'd be able to. That's why I allowed dear Sweetie Belle to overhear where I sent you.”
“What?” Rarity gasped as they all stared at Achlys in shock. Even Deimos seemed surprised by the revelation.
“You didn't think I'd noticed her, did you? I sensed little Sweetie Belle from the moment she arrived at the library door. I allowed her to watch through the window. I allowed her to see what I did, and I let her overhear where I'd sent Celestia to be imprisoned.” She smirked at their stunned expressions. “They were able to find you and free you because I wanted them to. You're all here now, because I meant for you to be here. And now that you've finally arrived, your true punishment can at last, begin.”
“Yeah, like we'll let that happen!” Rainbow said stepping to Celestia's side.
“We didn't just come to watch you know.” Rarity added as she and the others joined Rainbow alongside the princess.
“Oh I know, darling.” Achlys replied, her tone a condescending mimicry of Rarity. “You've deluded yourselves into thinking you're some kind of heroes because of your past successes, but what are you all really?” She looked over them all. “A farmer that doesn't know enough about anything to be useful anywhere else, an athlete who's so full of herself she doesn't even realize her ego is what's holding her back, an animal lover who can barely function in society, a psychopath with an eating disorder, and a ladder climbing fashion designer that is so obsessed with appearances that she faints at the thought of dirt in her coat.” She laughed as they all glared at her. “To think that the Element's of Harmony chose the five of you to represent them.”
“If you think the element's chose poorly, then allow me to show you just how generous I can be.” Rarity said stepping forward, her horn lighting up. Without hesitation she cast the most powerful spell she had sending a wave of kinetic energy tearing across the throne room.
Achlys brought her staff forward at the last moment, levitating it in front of her. Rarity's spell had almost reached it when a dark aura erupted around the staff, sucking in and absorbing the spell as if it were nothing, then a tendril of energy flowed from the staff to Achlys, surrounding her with a radiant glow.
Rarity stared, her eyes wide. That spell had been the best she could manage and not only did it have no affect; Achlys hadn't even used her own magic to block it.
“Surprised?” Achlys asked smiling smugly. “Behold, the Darklight Staff,” she said holding the staff in front of her. “My own invention. When wielded properly, it allows the wielder to absorb the energy of any loose magic that comes within range and then adds the energy to their own power. In other words, dear Rarity, the only thing you accomplished just now was to make me stronger.”
She smirked at Rarity's dismay at that revelation. “Truth be told, if your precious princess had ever bothered to study this staff instead of simply labeling it as dark magic and locking it away, she would have found that, in addition to there being nothing 'dark' about it aside from color, it is the perfect defense against any form of magical attack. In fact, had she learned to use this staff, even I wouldn't have stood a chance against her. But alas, it was easier to label it an artifact of dark magic and lock it away... A foolish mistake.
“Not that I need it, mind you. Fact is none of you would be a threat to me even with dear Twilight's Amity Arcanum Amplifiers.” She shook her head. “Such a silly name...”
“How do you know about the amplifiers?” Rarity breathed.
She rolled her eyes. “I was Twilight. I know everything that she knew and oh so much more. I know exactly how much the amplifier is boosting your power and I can tell you now, you could never even touch me.”
Rainbow had heard enough. “Well if magic won't work, then I guess we'll just have to beat the living Tartarus out of you the old fashioned way!” she shouted and leaped at Achlys, using her wings to propel her across the throne room.
Achlys opened one wing and brought it forward in an almost lazy gesture, creating a whirlwind between her and Rainbow in an instant. Unable to change directions to avoid it, Rainbow cried out as the mini twister spun her around several times before sending her skidding across the floor toward the far corner of the room.
Celestia stared stunned, realizing just what Achlys had done. There had been no unicorn, no alicorn, no magic from her horn at all, in that attack.
“Did you think that in all the many centuries I've lived; in the millennia that I've sought ever greater power, that I would never have studied my pegasus magic? That I wouldn't have trained my body in order to make the greatest use of it?” She asked as Rainbow slowly climbed back to her hooves. She looked up just in time to see Achlys open her wings. The next instant the alicorn vanished and Rainbow was hit by a blast of wind even as she saw the green and grey streak running past her.
“I'm faster than you,” Achlys's voice whispered tauntingly in her ear.
Rainbow spun, bringing her forehoof around, trying to punch Achlys in the face. She merely caught Rainbow's hoof with her own.
“Stronger than you,” She said as she stopped Rainbow's punch effortlessly. Then she pulled her forward, throwing Rainbow off-balance and rotating as she did. Rainbow felt Achlys's wing wrap around her as she stumbled, picking her up and tossing her into the air. She tried to gain control of her sudden flight but then Achlys was there again, beside her, spinning with her wings tucked in.
“More agile than you!” She opened up from her spin, bringing one fore-hoof down toward Rainbow with all the momentum of her spin behind it.
Rainbow saw it but barely managed to bring her own fore-hooves up to block. And even then, the impact drove the air from her lungs and sent her plummeting toward the throne room floor. She hit hard, bouncing a couple feet back into the air. She barely registered the second impact or the others crying her name. She just laid there, unable to breath for several seconds as the shock ran through her body. Finally she gasped, drawing air desperately into her starved lungs.
“You're lucky that amplifier is enhancing your pegasi resilience. If it weren't for that, that impact would have shattered every vertebrae in your spine.” Achlys said coldly from where she had landed near the throne.
Angrily, Rainbow forced herself to roll over and pushed herself up into a sitting position, glaring at the alicorn despite the pain coursing through her body..
“You mortals never learn. To actually believe that you could ever be a match for an alicorn, in any way... It never ceases to amuse me.” Ahclys said as she turned and trotted back to the throne. “'Best flier in all of Equestria.'” She snorted. “Even Celestia could probably outfly you if she thought your ego could take it."
Startled by the idea Rainbow glanced at Celestia, afraid that Achlys was right, but Celestia shook her head.
“No?” Achlys said sounding surprised, then smirked. “That's right, you spend most your days sitting on your plot listening to pathetic mortals whine about one thing or another. You truly are a disgrace of an alicorn,” she said with a sigh and sat once more in the throne. “But that's enough frivolity for now...”
“You can never get enough friv...” Achlys grabbed Pinkie in her magic as soon as she appeared from behind the throne and tossed her across the throne room to land roughly where the rest of them stood.
“Pinkie!” they all cried as several of them rushed to her side. She laid there, dazed for a few moments.
“I said that's enough,” Achlys repeated firmly. “It is time we got down to business. I am a high councilor of the Alicorn Imperium, and Celestia must be punished for interfering in my affairs.”
“The Imperium is dead!” Rainbow growled joining the others. “And you will be too when I get my hooves on you!”
“Oh, I'm terrified.” Achlys smirked. “But you are right; the Imperium is dead. In truth there has only ever been one real power in this world... and that is power. So in the end, the world is mine, and my authority supersedes all.
“I will punish whomever I wish, whenever I wish.” She smiled wickedly. “And the best part about your punishment, Celestia, is that I won't even have to lift a hoof myself. After all, there is another here who very much wishes to see you punished.”
As she said the last, shadows began to flow from the corners of the room converging on the steps in front of the throne and becoming a dark cloud with hints of starlight shining through the darkness. From its midst stepped a figure Celestia had hoped not to see. Dressed for battle, with segmented armor covering most of her back and sides and curling around her hind legs circling her crescent moon cutie mark; Nightmare Moon glared down at Celestia.
“Luna... please, you have to resist. I don't want to fight you.” Celestia said softly, taking a step toward her fallen sister.
Nightmare Moon smirked at her words, her draconic eyes betraying no compassion nor pity. “Whether you want to fight me or not does not matter. I intend to punish you even if you choose not to resist.” She smiled wickedly. “Though it will be far more enjoyable for me if you do, and my name is Nightmare Moon.
“You don't really want to do this, I know she's controlling you somehow...” Celestia pleaded.
Nighmare Moon burst out laughing, the same haughty infuriating laughter that she'd used at the Summer Sun celebration. Celestia watched as the laughter went on and on. Just what had Achlys done to her?
Finally Nightmare's laughter came to an end and she smiled wickedly at her once more. “You think that I'm being controlled? That my choices aren't my own?” She tilted her head back, looking down at Celestia chuckling. “Go ahead, see for yourself.”
Celestia understood what she meant; she would allow Celestia to look into her mind, to search her for any magic that may be controlling her. For a moment she hesitated. Why would she allow Celestia to see if she was being controlled? Was it some kind of trap? She knew though that she would. She had to know.
Reaching out with her magic, she began to carefully scan through Nightmare Moon's mind and magic. She knew that if she did anything threatening, if she went too deep or tried to alter anything, that Nightmare Moon would retaliate. Still she was as thorough as she could be. She found the source of the Nightmare's power, Luna's connection to the dream realm had somehow been strengthened far beyond normal.
But that was all. There was nothing else. Nothing was controlling her.
Tears in her eyes she retracted her senses from Nightmare's mind and looked up at her. “Luna... why?” She breathed.
Nightmare cocked her head to the side raising her snout and looking down at Celestia with cold hatred in her eyes. “Luna is dead, Celestia. You killed her, more than a thousand years ago. I am Nightmare Moon, and I'm here to punish you for that heinous crime.”
“But... the Elements, they cleansed you... You were Luna again!” Celestia cried.
She snorted. “The elements cant change who a pony is, Celestia. They did however strip me of my powers, and changed me physically back into my weaker form. When I realized this, I knew I would be no match for you, so I played along. I pretended to be the precious little sister you wanted me to be. I had intended to search for Achlys in the dream realm once more to renew our deal, but when you told me about your encounter with her, I knew it was only a matter of time before my queen would return seeking vengeance. So I continued to play along, biding my time until that day arrived.
“And now it is here. Finally, I will see you suffer, I will make you pay for your crimes against me.”
Celestia looked up at her tears flowing freely. “Luna... please. I'm sorry.”
“Sorry?” Nightmare sneered. “Sorry doesn't make up for the way you and all the ponies that loved you and your sun neglected me, ignored me, even reviled and feared me. Sorry cannot make up for a thousand years in cold exile, existing without a body. A millenia as little more than a consciousness merged with the moon's magic. No, Celestia, I will not forgive you now, nor ever again.”
She stepped forward and an aura of darkness surrounded her. The aura flowed into two forms on either side of her solidifying into two curved swords. One curving inward, claw-like, the other curving outward. Both blades were steel so black that they seemed to drink in all the light that touched them, while the sharpened edges shown brightly like slivers of a crescent moon. “It is time for your punishment, Celestia. Lyssa and Limos are thirsty. It has been so long since they've had anything to drink.”
For a moment Celestia just stood there, with her eyes closed and head down, tears steadily falling to the throne room floor. The others looked toward her, unsure what to do. Then slowly Celestia raised her eyes to the Nightmare; fierce determination shining through her tears. “I don't want to hurt you Luna. But if I have to, I will not hesitate.”
A beam of light, bright as the noonday sun, blasted through the ceiling engulfing Celestia. Everypony was forced to look away or be blinded by the intensity. Then the light faded and Celestia stood at the ready, her shield, Soter, attached to her left shoulder, and her spear, Arete held in her right fore-hoof.
“I will protect the ponies of Equestria. No matter the cost.”
Nightmare smiled looking eager.
“Excellent. However we can't have any interference from those five, now can we.” Achlys cut in, gesturing toward the others. “So, if you would, Deimos. Keep our other guests entertained and out of the way.”
The dragon rose to his feet. “As you command,” he said then stepped past the throne. The five friends took defensive stances, as if they would fight to stay at Celestia's side. Deimos didn't give them that option. He slammed one fore-claw down hard and a wave of stone tore through the throne room floor tossing the five of them into the far corner of the room. Before Celestia could react he leaped past her, putting himself between her and the friends. She almost tried to get past him anyway, but he threw her a glare in warning. His meaning was clear; he would kill her if she tried.
“Now,” Achlys said when only Celestia and Nightmare Moon stood before her. “You may begin.”
Celestia turned back to her opponent just in time. Nightmare Moon leaped into action, throwing herself into a spin, her dual swords levitated by her sides, spinning around her like a deadly whirlwind. Celestia raised her shield just in time as Nightmare opened up from the spin to deliver a powerful blow to Celestia's left side. The sound of sword striking shield was nearly deafening and Celestia had to take a step to the side to steady herself.
Pressing her advantage, Nightmare lunged forward with her other sword only for it to be deflected by Celestia's spear. Another strike from the left and Celestia had no choice but to leap back to avoid the blade. Even so it sliced across her armor, scoring the heavy steel. Nightmare was taking advantage of being able to levitate her blades in order to counter the longer reach of Celestia's spear.
She deflected another thrust of Nightmare's sword and this time lit her horn attempting to rip the sword from her grip, knowing that Nightmare's hold would be weaker the further the sword got from her body. It was still too strong for Celestia to overpower.
Her attempted did not go unnoticed. “You think I'd be foolish enough to risk losing my swords for a little more reach? Who do you think you're dealing with, Celestia? I was always the better fighter,” she taunted with a smirk, then lunged in to attack again.
~~~
Deimos glared down at the five mares. He had his orders, he was to keep them from interfering, and he'd follow them. He knew better than to openly oppose Achlys.
Predictably, as her heard the sounds of clashing steel behind him, Rainbow leaped up trying to go to the princess's aid, or perhaps to attack Achlys herself, it didn't matter. He opened his wings blocking the way and with quick flick, sent the hotheaded pegasus tumbling back by her friends.
“You're not going to get past me,” he told them simply.
“Spike, darling, I'm really sorry about this, but we have to help the Princess. So if you won't move, I'm afraid I'll just have to move you.” Rarity lit her horn and her eyes glowed white as she cast another powerful kinetic wave.
Flames erupted briefly in front of Deimos forming a barrier that her magic splashed against harmlessly. “You think those toys make you a match even for me!? I am an Orithian dragon, the elemental fury of all dragons flows within me! My power rivals even that of the alicorns!” He snorted contemptuously. “How far has pony kind fallen that the paltry amount of power those necklaces grant you is considered great? The alicorn blood that once made all pony races into the dominant species of this world has truly become diluted.”
His flame barrier spread out around them, blocking off the corner he'd trapped them in. “I warned you what would happen!” He growled. “You will never get past me, and you will watch Celestia's defeat! You were all fools to come here!”
~~~
Celestia was in trouble, it was all she could do to deflect or block Nightmare's swords, putting her entirely on defense. If she didn't get an opening soon, Nightmare would wear her down and break her defense. The only good thing was that, so far, Nightmare seemed content to fight only with weapons, allowing Celestia to conserve her magic as well. The light knew she'd need it if she somehow managed to defeat Nightmare Moon and had to face Achlys.
Nightmare forced her back step by step, controlling the fight. She lunged again, leaping forward as she did and Celestia turned to block the sword with her shield, watching for Nightmare's other sword that could strike from almost anywhere. She saw too late that Nightmare Moon had spun on her fore-hooves in front of her, by the time she realized her mistake, Nightmare had delivered a powerful buck into Celestia's shield.
She staggered back, almost falling and slamming the butt of her spear into the ground at the last moment to catch herself. Then she saw Nightmare continue her rotation, leaping toward her once more, her inward curved sword, Limos, lashing out with speed and precision. Imbalanced with her spear holding her up and her shield all but immobile, there was nothing she could do as the sword slashed across the inside of her left foreleg where there was a gap in her armor.
Pain erupted through the leg and she stumbled several steps back recovering her balance and moving into a ready stance once more though pained her. The wound wasn't deep, the leg would still function; but it was painful. Still it could have been far worse.
But why?
Celestia looked up at Nightmare warily. She'd been at her mercy, Nightmare could have sliced her leg to the bone, but instead she'd barely grazed it. She knew better than to think it was anything but intentional, so why had Nightmare spared her from such a crippling blow?
She didn't have time to think about it however. Raising her spear, she prepared to defend herself once more.
Nightmare attacked again almost the instant her spear was raised. Celestia barely managed to deflect the slash with her spear, then seeing an opening she lunged forward, thrusting her spear toward Nightmare's shoulder. Nightmare's second sword was suddenly there, knocking Celestia's thrust wide and throwing her off-balance once more. Too late she realized that she had fallen right into Nightmare's trap. She saw a glint of dark steel rushing toward her neck. There was nothing she could do and so she closed her eyes expecting a fatal blow.
It never came.
After a moment Celestia slowly opened her eyes, finding herself looking down the length of Nightmare's blade, the tip hovering by her neck, just below her jaw where her helm offered no protection.
Why did she stop? Was Luna still in there somewhere?
She looked up at Nightmare Moon and what little hope that thought gave her was struck down again by the wicked smile on the dark mare's face. “Did you really think I'd make it that quick, Celestia?” She asked, her voice cold. “Oh no... I suffered for a thousand years at your hooves. I'm going to take my time tormenting you.”
She made a small thrust with her sword, slicing a shallow gash just under Celestia's jaw and she recoiled in pain as red began spread through her pure white coat.
With a smirk, Nightmare turned her back on Celestia and took a few steps back toward the throne. “Shall we go again?” She asked tauntingly as she turned to face her once more.
New tears began to fall from Celestia's eyes. She should have known better than to let herself fall prey to false hope. With a cry of outrage at Nightmare's cruelty, Celestia leaped at her, beating her wings with all her strength to propel her across the distance between them, thrusting her spear toward the base of Nightmare's neck just above her armor.
Darkness enveloped her and flowed around Celestia, where Nightmare had stood there was nothing and Celestia stumbled as her weapon met none of the resistance she'd expected.
“You'll have to do better!” Nightmare taunted and the sun princess was kicked hard from behind, sending her sprawling with a loud clatter of armor at the base of the steps to the throne.
“How does it feel, Celestia?” She looked up sharply finding Achlys standing over her, smiling at her suffering. “Knowing that you've failed to understand your sister once again? That I understand her better than you ever have?”
She leaned down close and with one hoof raised Celestia's snout, forcing her to look at her. “How does it feel to know that the two ponies that you cared for most were nothing more than illusions, masks hiding those that would bring about your downfall?” For a brief moment Achlys's eyes changed to a familiar violet reminding her of Twilight.
Tears filled her eyes once more. What little hope she had fading. She knew she couldn't win, she couldn't even beat Nightmare Moon, how could she ever compete with Achlys?
Then booming laughter filled the room. Not taunting, or contemptuous, but true laughter.
~~~
Deimos could not believe what was happening, he had the five contained within his force-field, he'd expected keeping them subdued would be an easy matter. He hadn't counted on their... unconventional fighting methods. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were strait-forward enough on their own, even Rarity's magic was somewhat predictable. Fluttershy not wanting to fight at all was hanging back and Pinkie Pie... well, she was Pinkie Pie.
Alone, none of them posed a threat, but together... Applejack would run in when he was distracted and manage to get a powerful buck against his chest, sides or legs, often managing to knock him off balance, then Rainbow or Rarity would strike sometimes managing to knock him down. And all the while Pinkie Pie kept appearing almost at random, distracting him and providing the others with plenty of openings. True he was holding back because he still didn't really want to hurt them, but even so, this was getting ridiculous.
He slammed his claw down hard sending a shockwave to ward off Applejack as she tried to get in another attack, then had to act quickly to deflect Rarity's magic. She was trying to put him to sleep. Why she knew a sleeping spell, he could only guess.
“Come on, Spikey. We know you don't really want to be a big meanypants!” Pinkie said, appearing under his chest hugging one of his forelegs. This wouldn't have been a big deal if it weren't for one thing, her curly mane was brushing against the sensitive skin under his fore-leg. It was his greatest weakness; something only Achlys and Twilight knew about.
He was extremely ticklish.
He burst out laughing, unable to control himself as he desperately tried to leap away only to have Pinking hang on to his fore-leg, her mane attacking his weak spot the entire time.
“DEIMOS!”
Achlys's voice echoed through the throne room. He froze, reared up on his hind legs as Pinkie finally fell loose landing next to him. Achlys was standing over Celestia glaring at him. “That isn't exactly the mood I was going for!” She shouted angrily.
Jaw hanging open, he just pointed at Pinkie Pie in explanation. When Pinkie saw of course, she pointed back at him.
Achlys just sneered, unamused. “If you can't keep her under control, then just kill her and be done with it,” she told him coldly then turned away, returning to the throne while Celestia climbed to her hooves, turning to face Nightmare Moon once more.
It was all too clear a reminder of the grave circumstances. Eyes hardening he swung his fore-claw at Pinkie Pie, catching her off-guard and sending her tumbling over by the others.
“Hey!” Rainbow objected angrily and leaped at him. He opened his jaws and flames erupted out of his maw, blasting Rainbow back, scorching her fur and blackening many of her feathers, the flames swirled around the five, enclosing them in a small dome of flame.
He stepped over to the dome, glaring down at them. They shied back seeing the anger in his eyes. “I warned you! I warned you what would happen! Now none of you will leave here alive!”
~~~
Celestia cried out as Nightmare's blade scored another long gash on the unprotected part of her hind leg. Already numerous gashes covered her body, her white coat marred with deep red stains. She limped back, her right hind leg could barely bear weight anymore, and there was hardly any part of her that wasn't sore. Nightmare was slowly picking her apart. Already she'd managed to slice off a few pieces of Celestia's armor and had subsequently added injuries to the exposed areas. And she wasn't letting up.
Celestia desperately raised her shield to deflect one sword, then spun her spear around to parry the other. She tried to get in a counter, but it was no use. Throughout the entire fight she'd only managed to put two scratches on Nightmare's armor.
Another block, another parry, step back to evade. Then Nightmare knocked her spear aside with one blade, and her claw like sword hooked behind Celestia's shield tearing it away. She couldn't recover in time, even as her shield clattered across the floor, Nightmare brought one of her swords to bear and slashed the inside of Celestia's left fore-leg near her chest.
As with all the other wounds she'd inflicted, the gash was long but shallow. Even so, the pain was too much and with a cry Celestia collapsed.
Nightmare backed off, but Celestia didn't even try to stand again. What was the point? She couldn't win, she was certain of it now.
In the silence of the throne room she heard clearly the sound of hoofsteps coming toward her. She looked up, knowing she wouldn't be able to defend herself, knowing she had lost.
Achlys was walking toward her; then, one step to the next, the world seemed to warp around her and she appeared to cross half the throne room in that single step so she was standing over the fallen princess. Everything else seemed to fade away leaving only Celestia and Achlys surrounded by darkness.
“What did I tell you, Celestia? 'When thine heart is broken and thy soul bleeds of misery, only then shall I grant unto thee death.'” She smiled wickedly. “But we're not quite there yet,” she said softly. Celestia almost whimpered, but determinedly kept silent.
“Do you know why this didn't help you?” She asked touching the amplifier still around Celestia's neck. “It is enhancing your abilities, yes, but not nearly as much as it could. Do you know why?”
The darkness pealed away to one side and Celestia saw the others, still trapped in within the flame barrier. “It's quite simple really. You see, they respect you as their leader, they love you as their princess, but they don't even know you. They're not your friends.”
Like an arrow to the heart, Celestia felt that cold truth cut through her. She couldn't deny the truth of her words. She knew a great deal about all of them, but what did they really know about her? Could they really call themselves her friends?
For so long she'd let her responsibilities as princess consume her, never taking time for anything else, never making time for friends. Until Twilight, she'd hardly let anypony really get to know her, she'd kept them all at a distance, never showing her true self. She'd taught her student the importance of friendship but at the same time ignored her own teachings.
“It's a pity really. It would have been a far more interesting fight between you and your dear sister if you had truly been empowered by the magic of friendship that the amplifiers can harness. But you're barely receiving a fraction of that possible strength.”
“What do you know about the magic of friendship!?” Celestia demanded in a hiss.
Achlys just smiled. “Yes, how could one such as I ever learn anything about friendship?” She said with a smirk. “Do you think I've never changed over the millenia I've lived? Everyone changes in time, Celestia.
“When I told you about Twilight and how her family raised her to be nothing like me, that wasn't exactly true. She was nothing like who I am now." Achlys told her. "But there was a time, when I was young and naive, that I was very much like dear Twilight. I was shy and not very outgoing, preferring instead to simply study the mysteries of magic. But even so, I eventually found myself with friends that I cared for deeply. And with them I studied the magic of Friendship. I even eventually found love and so had a chance to study its most potent form.” As she spoke a slight smile touched her lips, not a sneer, grin or smirk, but a true smile. “Together, we accomplished wonders such as the world had never seen...”
The smile slipped away before she went on. “But then, one by one, my friends were taken from me. I made more of course, but it was never the same. And bit by bit, the power we'd discovered, the magic of friendship, faded away. Finally I realized the fatal flaw of that power; great though it may be, it forced you to rely on others for power. I realized then that the only power that is worth pursuing is your own...”
“Friendship is more than just a source of power, Achlys.” Celestia told her.
Achlys just looked down at her a moment in silence. “You're right,” she said finally. “It is a weakness too.” She leaned down and with a hoof forced Celestia to look over at the others. “They may not even really know you, but I know very well just how much you care for them. I'm going to kill them, Celestia, one by one. Slowly. Painfully. And I'm going to make you watch as I do it.”
Celestia glared up at her, tears filling her eyes once more. “You're quarrel is with me! Leave them out of this!”
“You're the one that brought them into it. And now, you're the only one that can save them.” She paused a moment to make sure Celestia understood.
“I will spare their lives, if you swear fealty to me with a magically bound oath.”
Celestia continued to glare up at her. A magically bound oath could not be broken. She would be forced to live forever as Achlys's slave, having to do whatever Achlys ordered her to. But... if giving it would save their lives...
“Celestia!”
She looked at the sound of her name and saw Rainbow Dash just on the other side of the flame barrier. Their eyes met, and slowly Rainbow shook her head, her meaning clear.
Celestia smiled, her resolve restored by that simple act of loyalty. “I will never swear myself to you!” She said firmly glaring up at Achlys. “These five came knowing they may lose their lives! They were willing to make that sacrifice because they believe in what we are fighting for, and it would dishonor their sacrifice if I were to abandon our cause to protect them now!
“I told you once Achlys that the ponies of Equestria made me their princess because they loved me. But you're right; it wasn't me they loved. It was what I stood for! And I could never betray their trust and abandon the values that I've always striven to represent.” Despite the pain she was in, the princess of the sun forced herself to stand, raising her head high. “Kill them if you must, but each death will only serve to strengthen my resolve!” She took a step toward Achlys. “But you might as well just kill me now, because I will never break!”
Achlys stared at her a moment in silence seeming slightly surprised, but not concerned in the least. “I'd like to prove you wrong.” She said softly, clearly confident that she could. “But I can tell it would take a great deal of time and effort, and honestly you're just not worth it.”
She sighed heavily. “Now it seems this isn't going to be any fun anymore...” She turned and as she did, light returned to the rest of the world, the throne room fading back into view. Everything seemed to warp around Achlys again and she was back standing on the dais the throne sat upon. “Lady Moon, go ahead and finish it,” she ordered sounding bored already.
“As you command...” Nightmare Moon said softly raising her swords and stepping toward Celestia. She erupted into shadows that spread throughout the throne room casting everything into darkness for only a moment, then condensed again as she materialized next to her target. And before anypony could react, she plunged her sword, Lyssa, deep into the other alicorn's side, running her through.
The throne room was silent, save for the sound of blood dripping to the floor from the tip of Nightmare's sword. Everypony stood staring in various states of shock at the scene before them. None more so than Celestia, who stood apart from the other two alicorns.
Finally, Achlys coughed, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, her eyes wide, shocked as everypony else at what had happened. Then Luna thrust the sword deeper, twisting it slightly to cause her more pain while with a powerful slash of her other sword, she shattered the darklight staff, scattering the pieces across the floor behind the throne. Smiling smugly she leaned close to Achlys.
“The Elements of Harmony cured me of my madness; did you honestly believe I would willingly serve you again!?” She said softly with hatred dripping from every word.
“YOU WRETCH!” Achlys shouted, swatting her away with her wing and magic. Luna was thrown across the throne room to slam into one of the columns with a crash that cracked the stone before falling to the floor where she laid, unmoving.
“LUNA!” Celestia cried, seeing her sister fall. But she quickly focused. She couldn't let Luna's efforts go to waste. She had no doubt that Achlys could survive such a wound, even though the sword had clearly pierced her heart. But the wound would weaken her severely as much of her magic would be drained to keep her body functioning and begin the healing process. Possibly even enough to put her at Celestia's mercy. Achlys probably realized this and would be looking for a way to escape.
On that thought, Celestia quickly cast every ward against teleportation and other forms of magical movement that she knew, watching Achlys carefully as the other alicorn used her magic to draw the sword from her side and toss it away, clenching her wings tight over the wounds to stem the loss of blood.
That done, she coughed again, bringing up more blood and began to cast her eyes around, clearly considering her chances and looking for ways to escape.
Celestia began to advance on her, Already Achlys's magic was reduced to her level and it still seemed to be getting weaker. Celestia grinned triumphantly realizing just how well Luna had planned; dragging out the fight with physical weapons, knowing Celestia would wield her spear by hoof and so would be able to conserve her magic. Though she was wounded as well, her wounds were all minor enough that very little magic was needed in the healing. Magic wise, she was still nearly at full strength.
Achlys seemed to be realizing this as well, and stepped back from Celestia's advance, her eyes like that of a cornered animal, desperately searching for a way out. Celestia didn't let her guard down, she knew that even weakened as she was, Achlys could be dangerous.
“DEIMOS!”
Celestia's eyes widened; the dragon! Even with how much magic she still had, she doubted she could fight off Deimos. But she would die trying before she let the dragon save Achlys's hide once more.
He didn't move. Deimos just stood staring at them seeming almost stunned, then slowly he sat down, looked Achlys in the eye, and shook his head. “Not this time, Achlys,” he said softly and at the same time his barrier imprisoning the others faded away.
“YOU WOULD BETRAY ME!?” Achlys screamed in outrage.
Deimos just looked back into her eyes. “I loved Twilight.”
Achlys's eyes widened in panic, stepping back away from Celestia.
“It's over Achlys.” Celestia said grinning. “You've turned everypony, everydragon, against you, there's no escape this time.”
Desperately Achlys's eyes darted around for a few moments more, clearly searching for some way out, but with Deimos against her as well, she knew there was no escape for her. Celestia alone she might have been able to escape, but Deimos knew many of her secrets. She looked at Celestia with a hateful glare. “Fine! But if I'm going to die, I'M NOT DYING ALONE!”
Her horn lit brightly and her entire body began to glow. Celestia's eyes widened in shock; Achlys was forcing all of her magic, even the magic that had been healing her wound, out of her at once, using it all in one final spell. Doing so would kill her, but with that much power, her final spell may just kill all of them as well.
She saw a shimmer of dragon magic and knew Deimos had put up a barrier to protect himself and the others. Celestia knew how strong he was now and knew that his barrier may just be able to hold. But there was one other pony in the room, one that couldn't get to that safety in time.
Celestia dashed across the throne room and threw herself over Luna, putting a barrier around them, as small as possible, just as Achlys's spell erupted from her. The throne room became a swirling inferno as if they'd been plunged into the depths of the sun itself. Celestia felt the flames roaring against her shield and screamed as she felt her magic being drained at an alarming rate. She poured all her strength into it, trying to keep it up. It seemed almost an eternity. On and on the inferno raged.
Her barrier fell as her magic failed and her armor's enchantments were overwhelmed in an instant. She felt the flames burning away her fur and feathers, still she kept her wings outstretched, trying to cover Luna, protecting her little sister with her body. Her flesh began to be seared away where it was exposed and unprotected by her armor. But she didn't care, only Luna mattered.
Then, it was over. The inferno faded revealing the entire throne room scorched black, the thrones themselves completely destroyed. Smoke rose into the air in several places from what little remained of the room's decorations. The tiles near and on the dais where the thrones had stood glowed with heat. And in the center stood Achlys, or what was left of her. As the charred corpse collapsed all that made it recognizable as Achlys was its size and the emerald crown still clinging to the blackened skull.
Celestia didn't care, she just laid there holding Luna, protecting her, hoping she was alright.
“Princess!” She heard Rarity cry, hoofsteps echoing across the throne room. There was a loud cracking sound followed by a crash as part of the ceiling collapsed.
Finally Celestia began to pick herself up off of Luna.
“Princess, your injured!” Rarity gasped.
“I'm fine!” Celestia insisted pulling off Luna's helm and gently cradling her in her fore-legs. “Luna... wake up, please wake up...” She whispered softly, tears falling from her eyes that had nothing to do with her own pain.
Finally though, Luna slowly opened her draconic eyes. She blinked a couple times, then looked up at Celestia and smiled weakly. “Hey, sis... sorry I put you through all that...” She said softly.
Celestia laughed and wrapped her hooves around her hugging her tightly. “You rascal. You had me so worried!”
“I... I had to wait until she lowered her guard, and I wanted to make sure there was somepony there to finish her in case I couldn't. It's a good thing I did too... You'd think I would have learned better than to gloat like that.”
Celestia smiled squeezing her tightly. “Old habits die hard. You do tend to monologue sometimes.”
Luna hugged her back, glad that Celestia understood what she'd done and why. But then her hoof brushed against one of Celestia's burns causing her to tense in pain and at the same time she noticed the smoke in the air and the smell of burnt flesh. “Celestia! You're hurt!” She exclaimed then remembered that a fair number of Celestia's injuries were from her. “I mean other than what I did!”
“I'll be alright.” Celestia assured her.
Luna looked up at her a moment concerned, then slowly nodded. “Tia, I... what I said, and did...”
She smiled understandingly and gently put a hoof to Luna's snout to silence her. “I know why you did it. I know it wasn't true.”
Luna looked down. “Well, it wasn't all lies...” she said softly, then looked up and smiled. “I can't forgive you when there's nothing left unforgiven.”
Celestia smiled joyfully and hugged her once more. “I'm just glad to have you back.”
“I'm glad that it's finally all over,” she said, and let out a relieved sigh. “What happened after I...” She began realizing that she didn't know for certain if it really was.
“She's gone,” Celestia assured her quickly then went on to explain. “After she knocked you out, she was weakened, she knew that she wouldn't be able to escape on her own and that she couldn't fight me as injured as she was. So when Deimos refused to help her escape, she tried to kill us all...” She nodded toward the dais where the thrones had been, and the remains lying sprawled at the top of the steps.
Luna stared for a few moments to confirm to herself that it was indeed over, but then her mind went back to something else Celestia had said. “Deimos refused to help her escape?”
“Yes, I did.” The dragon's deep voice came from somewhere behind Celestia, And Luna raised her head to look past her sister to where the dragon stood. “Had I known you were plotting against her, I would have helped you,” he said then gave her a wry smile. “You played your part well. Perhaps even too well.”
“And I thought you were loyal to Achlys.”
“I'm ashamed to say I was. Out of fear, I was loyal to her,” he said softly, averting his eyes. “I... I should have been willing to oppose her openly. I was such a coward.”
“That's not true,” Celestia told him gently. “You knew better than anyone the terrors Achlys was capable of. You had every right to be afraid. In the end, you chose us over her, and that's what matters. And it's not like you didn't try to help us. You freed me from the trap Achlys had captured me in. I know you weren't ordered to do that, even if Achlys did intend for me to break free.”
Luna looked up at him. “So that's where you went yesterday.”
“Bet even then, I was a coward. I should have offered to fight alongside you.” He shook his head disgusted with himself.
“Try not to be so hard on yourself, big feller,” Applejack said putting a hoof against his fore-leg. “There's no shame in bein' afraid of somepony like Achlys. And when ya'll tried to help us escape, warned us not to, we all came here to fight anyhow. Ya'll had every right to be angry with us. Still ya sided with us in the end and even saved our hides from that crazy inferno.”
“Yes,” Rarity agreed. “I dare say if it weren't for you, we all would have been burned alive.” She glanced at Achlys's remains and shivered.
Celestia felt Luna moving and let go as she pushed herself to her hooves and went over to the dragon, looking up at him. “Deimos, trust me. It's best to learn from your mistakes, and try to do better in the future. It will do you no good to dwell on you could have done, or should have done, wallowing in your guilt. When forgiveness is offered by another, take it, but don't forget to forgive yourself as well.”
He looked down at her a few moments in silence, then slowly smiled. “Thank you, Luna,” he said softly and she smiled.
“Um... sorry to interrupt, but um... it's past time for sunrise and ponies might be getting worried...” Fluttershy said after a few moment's pause.
Celestia nodded and painful though it was, pushed herself to her hooves. “Yes, it's time we let our ponies know that their princesses have triumphed.”
“Tia, can you even handle the sun in your condition?” Luna asked worriedly.
She winced. Luna was right, all her magic had been drained in the inferno and what little was coming back was all going toward healing her wounds. As it was she would be lucky to levitate a feather. “No, I suppose not.”
Luna smiled. “Don't worry, sis; I'll raise the sun for you," she said then added with a grin; "just this once.” She let out a small laugh as she started toward the door that led to the nearest balcony to the throne room. “Should be amusing if anypony sees me. How would they react to seeing Nightmare Moon raising the sun.”
“I'm surprised the guard hasn't arrived already,” Deimos commented as Luna disappeared from view. “They have to have seen the inferno from the grounds with all the windows blown out, I'm surprised they're not rushing to their princess's aid.”
“I ordered them not to,” Celestia said in explanation of the guard's absence. “But I suppose we should let them know what has happened, before they get too worried.”
“I'll tell them! Then I can pass out invitations to my the-princesses-defeated-the-evil-meanie party!” Pinkie said and before anypony could stop her she was gone, the throne room doors swinging in their frames, creaking slightly.
Celestia looked after her a moment bemused. Twilight's friends were each so unique... Twilight... Any amusement she'd found in Pinkie's antics evaporated in an instant.
Slowly she turned and walked over to all that remained of Achlys... all that remained of Twilight.
~~~
Luna took a deep breath as she prepared to raise the sun. It had worked.
Some of what she'd told Celestia before they'd fought had been true. When Celestia had told her of the encounter she'd had with Achlys, she'd known that the alicorn would return. She'd begun making plans then of what to do when that day came. She wasn't sure what Achlys would do, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to fight her head on. Nor had she known whether Achlys would believe her if she claimed to be on her side. When she'd waken with the powers she'd had as Nightmare Moon restored, she had her answer and put her plans into motion.
Celestia hadn't known about the connection between Achlys and Nightmare Moon. Luna had never told her where or how she'd gotten that power. Now, at long last she could finally put that chapter of her life behind her, even if she looked like Nightmare Moon again.
Horn lighting up with indigo magic, Luna reached out to the sun. It was rare that she'd ever touch the greater celestial sphere. Still, it was familiar enough. The sun seemed to recognize her touch though it had been years. Sorry old friend, I know you prefer Celestia's touch, but she's injured and won't be able to raise you for a few days, she thought as she began to raise the celestial sphere. The horizon began to lighten, becoming a warm red, brightening to orange then yellow, finally the brilliant white disc of the sun began to rise over the horizon, casting its light over the land.
Luna smiled, she preferred her night sky, but she still always felt a sense of accomplishment when she raised the sun for Equestria. And this sunrise was more meaningful than most. A new day was dawning.
Though Achlys was defeated, things could never go back to just the way they were. Including herself. She didn't know how to remove the power that Achlys had given her, and honestly, she didn't want to. She could do without the change in appearance, but it wasn't that big of a deal. She still found her appearance pleasing enough in this form. Perhaps a little intimidating with the pitch black coat and draconic eyes, not to mention the small fangs. But pleasing none the less. Appearing to be the dreaded Nightmare Moon again may cause some issues, but she believed that in time, the ponies of Equestria would come to accept her once more.
As for the rest of Equestria, there were other changes that their ponies would soon become aware of. Not the least of which was the loss of their newest princess. Luna sighed as her thoughts darkened. She never could have guessed that Achlys was hiding within Twilight. Next to Celestia, Twilight had been the one pony she'd been closest to. How had she not seen it? But even Celestia had never guessed Twilight's true nature, and she had arguably been as close to Twilight as Twilight's own 'mother.'
Sun raised and the day begun, Luna turned away from the balcony and headed back inside.
“What have you done to Princess Celestia!”
Luna looked up to see a mare pegasus guard, a sergeant by her armor, diving toward her on the balcony. She landed in front of the lunar princess and raised her spear, held in one fore-hoof. Luna just rolled her eyes, smiling slightly, she was a brave one at least. “I believe I just raised the sun for her since she's not able to at the moment.”
Her eyes narrowed and she looked like she was about to attack. Luna decided it would be best not to make anymore jokes. “Relax, sergeant, Celestia is fine. She was a bit wounded and drained of her magic during the battle, but she'll recover.”
“Why should I believe you, traitor!?”
She laughed to herself. “Follow me and see for yourself if you won't take my word. As for myself; I'm probably stuck looking like this, but now that Achlys is taken care of, I no longer have to pretend to serve her and can be myself again; though I understand if you won't take my word on that either.”
Luna turned back to head inside, but again she didn't make it two steps before...
“Found you!” Pinkie Pie said appearing out of nowhere right in front of the sergeant. “Here! You're invited to my the-princesses-defeated-the-evil-meanie party.” She pulled an invitation out of her mane and held it out to her. The other mare blinked in surprise and took the invitation. “It's not going to be 'til next week because Princess Celestia's going to need some time to recover so she can enjoy it.”
Luna smiled shaking her head. “We should head back to the others, Pinkie.”
“Okie dokie lokie! I already handed out all the invitations, so we're good to go!”
“So who all did you invite to this party or yours?” Luna asked as she led the way back to the throne room.
“The royal guard, castle staff, and all our friends of course.”
Luna raised a brow at her in surprise. “And you've already given out all the invitations?”
“Uh huh!”
“To all of them?”
“Yep!”
Luna's eyes widened. “But the guard is spread throughout the city, and the castle staff... that's hundreds of ponies! Where did you even get that many invitations?”
“I always have plenty of invitations in case of party emergencies!” Pinkie said jovially. Luna stared at her for a moment as she continued to walk, but then they reached the throne room so Luna decided to let the matter drop and pushed the door open.
When she stepped inside though, she saw Celestia standing over the remains of Achlys staring down at the charred corpse. Tears were in her eyes and it only took Luna a moment to know what was wrong. What was tearing at Celestia's heart. Twilight. The others all knew as well, but they didn't know what they could do to help.
Luna quickly went to her sister's side and, careful of her wounds, put one wing around her, offering what comfort she could. She didn't know what more she could do. She was hurting too.
She felt Celestia trembling with soft sobs as tears continued to fall from her eyes. Luna gently nuzzled her cheek, sharing her grief. But it was too much, even for Celestia to bear. Throwing her head back she let out a wordless cry of anguish that echoed through the throne room.
Celestia screamed for the agony in her heart until her throat was raw and could take no more. She fell silent then, the echos of her cry seeming to go on forever in the ruined throne room.
Clink. Clink.
She opened her eyes at the sound. It didn't take her long to find its cause. The emerald crown Achlys had worn had fallen from the corpse and was bouncing down the steps of the dais. As Celestia watched, it finally came to rest right at her hooves.
Celestia glared at the accessory and considered kicking it across the throne room to shatter against the wall. Before she could, however, a warm glow surrounded it. She watched stunned as it floated up into the air in front of her. It was magic, but more importantly it was magic she recognized. And the last thing she'd expected just then. It was harmony magic. But the only thing that could control pure harmony magic in the physical world was the Tree of Harmony itself, or at the very least, the Elements and their bearers when they were separate from the tree.
Several flashes of multi-hued light filled the throne room with peace and warmth and floating in the air around the crown were five other seemingly random objects.
“Boneless!? What are you doing here!?” Pinkie exclaimed seeing the rubber chicken floating along with the other objects.
“Is that the spool of thread Coco gave me?” Rarity asked sounding surprised as well.
“Looks like there's something belongin' to each of us here,” Applejack said. “And I think they're all things we were given as gifts...”
“Yeah, looks like it. But why are they here?” Even as Rainbow said it the items all began to glow brightly, spinning in place. They watched fascinated as one by one the items began to transform, each into a key shaped like one of their cutie marks. The last, Achlys's crown, became a key shaped like a six pointed star. Twilight's cutie mark. And as the last transformed, rainbow light filled the throne room, washing over all of them. Celestia felt herself renewed by the magic, her wounds healed, and her exhaustion washed away. Then the light faded again, leaving only the six keys floating in front of them.
“The keys! The keys for the chest the Tree of Harmony gave us!” Rarity exclaimed. “I think that... yes, it must be! Each of those items were given to us after we overcame a challenge where staying true to our elements was difficult in some way.”
Staring at the six keys floating in the air in front of her Celestia could only agree, that definitely sounded right. “But... why? Why now? Why would Twilight's key appear? Now that she's gone?”
For a moment nopony spoke, unsure just what to say. “I think that, it was for what Twilight did as her last act...” Rarity said softly. “She must have known what Achlys would do to her if she caused problems. Even so, she did what she could to make sure we found the amplifiers. She did everything she could to make sure we had the best chance we could have. She risked everything for us, her friends. What greater act of friendship could you ask for? As we always say, 'friendship is magic;' and magic was Twilight's element.”
Celestia felt new tears rolling down her cheeks. Rarity was right. Twilight had given her life for her friends, there was no greater act of friendship than that.
Slowly each of the keys floated toward their respective owners and they each took them in hoof, leaving only Twilight's key floating in front of Celestia.
“Princess,” Rarity said softly, looking up at her, her eyes full of compassion. “I think you should be the one to take Twilight's key. You knew her best after all.”
Celestia looked up at the star shaped key floating in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly reached out to it. As she did, the key floated toward her as well, as if harmony itself agreed that Celestia should have it. She took it in her hoof, and the last bit of magic faded from the room. For a moment she just stood staring at the key in her hoof, tears running down her cheeks. But finally she turned to the others. “I suppose we'd better see what it is the tree has for us,” she said softly.
“Your highness,” the sergeant of the guard spoke up for the first time since she'd arrived with Luna and Pinkie. “Canterlot is in disarray. Ponies are going to be demanding to know what is going on.”
Celestia smiled weakly at her concern. “Equestria will keep for another few hours,” she assured the sergeant.
“What shall I tell the rest of the guard for now?”
“Simply tell them to spread the word that their princesses have triumphed and Equestria is safe once more.”
~~~
It was a little over two hours later that a slightly larger group made their way down into the canyon in front of the ancient castle to the cave that held the Tree of Harmony. Celestia had taken a moment to remove her battered armor and replace it with her normal regalia. As her old regalia would no longer fit her and would just blend into her coat besides, Luna remained in her armor though she'd left the helm behind.
When they'd headed out, Applejack had insisted on stopping by Ponyville to let their families know that they were all alright. When they'd stopped by Sweet Apple Acres however, the three crusaders had insisted on going with them to the tree. And after Celestia had given the amplifier she'd worn back to Sweetie Belle, they'd finally agreed to let the fillies tag along.
Now they were finally there. The tree's welcome glow surrounded them as they slowly approached the chest, each with their own key. They placed their keys one at a time until only Celestia was left. Solemnly stepping forward, she carefully placed the key and put her hoof on it ready to turn. Wishing Twilight were there, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, here goes. On three everypony. One... two... three!”
They all turned their keys and the chest began to glow. Stepping back, they all watched as the chest floated up into the air, surrounded by the magic of the tree, and began to slowly rotate. Then the sides split and folded outwards, opening up to reveal what appeared to be an enormous seed that glowed brightly with magic of its own.
Suddenly it leaped from the chest, flew through the air, and planted itself in the ground just in front of the tree. Almost immediately a sprout shot up out of the ground, rapidly growing into an enormous flower, the closed flower bud larger even than Celestia and magenta in color. As they watched, the bud began to open with six slightly pointed petals and within...
They stared in shock as the flower opened and there, floating in the air above it was a pony. A mare with both wings and a horn, a coat of soft lavender, and a mane and tail of indigo, wild and uncut with stripes of magenta and purple in both. Her cutie mark was made up of six stars, the large center star magenta with the five surrounding it white as snow. She glowed floating above the open flower curled into a fetal position, then slowly the glow faded and she was gently lowered to lie within the flower as if it were a bed, while the blossom itself settled only a foot or so off the cave floor.
They all stared, unable to believe their eyes, then slowly the pony's eyes opened. She blinked twice, then slowly raised her head and looked toward them all, confusion clear in her expression. “Girls?” Twilight Sparkle breathed softly.
“TWILIGHT!” nearly a dozen voices shouted at once and the reborn alicorn found herself piled upon by her five closest friends as they all tried to embrace her at once.
“Gaah! Can't... breath!” Twilight exclaimed.
Celestia watched once again with tears falling from her eyes and it was all she could do to not join the others in practically suffocating Twilight with affection.
“But I don't understand. How can this be?” Twilight asked when they finally began to loosen their hold on her. “Achlys killed me... How can I be here?” Finally able to sit up, she began to look around at their surroundings for the first time. “Where are we anyway.” Her eyes were drawn to the glow behind her. “The Tree of Harmony!?” She gasped then spotted the open chest. “The chest!? You opened it!?”
“We sure did, sugarcube.” Applejack said happily, but before anypony could say more three more missiles of brightly colored equine slammed into her, nearly knocking her over. Twilight looked down at the three fillies as they clung to her all somewhere between laughter and tears.
Of the three though, it was Sweetie Belle's reaction that truly surprised her. She was clinging to her so tightly Twilight thought she might be bruised. And as the little white unicorn clung to her, she cried, shedding a torrent of tears that seemed like they'd never stop.
“We never thought we'd see you again!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. Twilight's attention was fully on Sweetie Belle however and, unsure what else to do, she gently embraced the small filly.
For a moment she didn't answer and Twilight just continued to hold her gently even as the other two fillies stepped back. “I saw what Achlys did to you...” Sweetie Belle said softly, her voice squeaking with the strain. “I watched you die.”
“Oh, Sweetie,” Twilight said understanding. No filly her age should ever witness something like that. She embraced Sweetie Belle a moment more. “It's okay,” she said softly. “I'm back now. I don't understand how, but I'm back.”
Finally Sweetie Belle looked up at her and smiled, still with tears in her eyes, and Twilight smiled back. It was then that she noticed what the filly was wearing around her neck. She laughed “Sweetie! You used one of my amplifiers?”
She grinned then, still with tears in her eyes and nodded.
“You should have seen her, Twilight.” Rarity said putting a hoof on her little sister's shoulder. “She helped fight off a pack of timber wolves when we were searching for Princess Celestia. She picked up three of those ruffians and tossed them off into the forest like they were a hoof-full of pebbles.”
“Really!? It amplified her magic that much!?”
Sweetie Belle and Rarity both nodded proudly.
Twilight let out a laugh. “Well done, Sweetie Belle!” She said, giving the filly one more brief hug and looking up at the rest of her friends. “I'm glad you found the amplifiers. I was worried...”
“That's why you broke the shelf isn't it?” Sweetie asked.
Twilight smiled and nodded. “It was the only thing I could think of that might help... Achlys... what happened?”
“She's gone, Twilight.” Celestia spoke for the first time and Twilight looked up, her eyes brightening.
“Celestia!” She exclaimed as the Princess stepped closer and leaned down to embrace her.
“I thought I'd lost you.” Celestia said softly as she held Twilight tightly in both her hooves and wings. Twilight hugged her back, glad to feel her mentor's wings around her once more.
“I don't understand though, how is this possible? How am I alive, and why here? What was in the chest?”
“You were in the box!” Pinkie chirped excitedly.
Twilight blinked and looked over at her as Celestia stepped back and sat down by the side of the flower Twilight still rested on. “What?”
“Well actually, you were in the flower, and the flower grew from the seed, and the seed was in the box! So you were in the box!”
“I was?”
“I think that the Tree of Harmony must have known what you were,” Celestia told her softly. “It must have known, and prepared a way for you to be reborn, with a life and body of your own. Free of Achlys.”
Twilight glanced back at the tree, but then looked up at Celestia once more seeming worried. “Celestia, I... I swear, I didn't know Achlys was there...”
Celestia gently put a hoof to Twilight's snout, silencing her. “I know.” She said simply.
Seeing Celestia's reassuring smile and the look of understanding in her eyes, Twilight relaxed and smiled as well. She looked out over all her friends once more and this time noticed two other figures that had so far stayed back. The first she noticed was of course the dragon due to his sheer size. She recognized him from the brief glimpse she'd had of Achlys's memories as Deimos, changed back to his true form. Then she noticed the other figure standing beside him.
Twilight gasped, eyes widening. “P-p-princess Luna?” She asked worriedly.
The black alicorn smiled. “It's me, Twilight.” She said stepping forward then and approaching her. “I thought it best not to startle you with my change in appearance,” she said then gave Twilight a hug.
Reassured, though it seemed almost strange to be hugging Nightmare Moon, Twilight returned the embrace. “Achlys seemed certain that you would join her...”
Luna smiled. “And that was her downfall.”
Celestia stepped to Luna's side then and put a wing around her. “Luna pretended to serve her so that she could get close enough to strike. Fooled us all, right up until the point that she put a sword through Achlys's heart.”
Twilight smiled and hugged her once more. “I'm glad you proved her wrong.”
“I'm glad to be free of her,” Luna said softly.
Finally Twilight let go and got to her hooves, trotting over to Deimos, who showed no signs of approaching her himself. “Spike?” She asked looking up at him.
Sadly, he shook his head. “Not anymore. I don't deserve to be called Spike,” he said softly.
“Why not?”
“Spike was a hero, he would have stood by his friends from the start. He wouldn't have cowered and done Achlys's bidding, only choosing to defy her when it was already over...” Deimos said looking away from her.
“But you did side with our friends in the end, didn't you?”
“Only when Achlys was already beaten. Only when she wanted me to save her...”
Twilight smiled. “Then you made the right choice in the end. Nopony can blame you for being scared.”
He looked away. “I still don't deserve to be called Spike anymore.”
“Don't you want to be Spike?” Twilight asked softly.
“Of course I do! My memories as Spike are the best I've ever had...”
With a smile Twilight jumped up and hugged him around the base of his neck. “Then you're still my Spike.”
“But...”
“You have to be able to forgive yourself, Spike. We all make mistakes.” She told him firmly holding tightly to him. Slowly he put one of his fore-legs around her, returning the embrace. He sniffed loudly, tears coming to his eyes. They held out the embrace a few moments more in silence, both glad to be together again. “I think we're going to have to get you a new bed though,” Twilight said finally.
He laughed. “I think the bed is going to be the least of our problems,” he sighed heavily. “It's never easy living with ponies as a dragon. At least before I was small enough for it not to be a problem.”
“Spike,” Celestia spoke up, “I do know an age spell. If you'd like, I could reduce your age back to when you were a smaller size. It won't extend your life, but you'll at least be small enough to continue living in Ponyville.”
“I'm an Orithian Dragon, Celestia, I'm immortal just like Alicorns.”
She shrugged. “Then there's no problem.”
He thought about it for a moment then slowly nodded. “I think I'd like that. But can you make me about pony size, probably about thirty years old or so, at that age I should still have my wings.” He grinned wryly. “I kind of don't want to give up flying again.
She smiled. “That should be easy enough.”
Twilight smiled up at him. “That's what we'll do then, but first. I think I'm ready to go home...”
“Yeah, I think I've had enough mushy stuff to last me the rest of the year.” Rainbow said with a grin.
Twilight looked out at all of them, all her close friends, and realized just what a gift she'd been given. Turning back to the Tree of Harmony, she went to it's base and gently placed a hoof against its trunk. “Thank you,” She whispered from her heart and the tree seemed to glow brighter in response. Then she saw a golden clad hoof touch the tree beside hers and looked up to see Celestia giving silent thanks to the tree as well. She smiled up at her mentor and fellow princess and, together, they turned back to the rest of the girls. “Let's go home.”
“So how's that form working out for you, Spike?" Celestia asked as he laid down in front of the fire in the Princesses' sitting room, sporting his new younger form. He was just slightly larger than the average pony, but with a lithe, almost aggressive looking build. He could still balance on two legs just fine, but preferred standing on all fours. As he'd wanted, he still had his wings, folded tightly against his sides. Unlike his full adult form, his scales weren't black, but were once again purple, though it was a darker shade than it had been before. His spines were still a slightly darker shade of green as well.
It had been just over a week since Achlys had been defeated, and though Discord had once again been released from his stone prison, for the third time, things were finally starting to settle down in the city. He'd been rather cross with Luna, not because of being imprisoned, but because he'd missed seeing the look on Celestia's face when Luna, as Nightmare Moon, had confronted her.
With things getting back to normal though, Spike had come with Twilight to visit the princesses as well as her family.
Spike grinned, stretching his wings before folding them again to his sides. “Well, I'm getting a lot more attention from the mares around Ponyville.”
Luna laughed. “I'll bet. Even I'll admit, you are quite the handsome young drake.”
His grin broadened. “But otherwise it's been pretty nice. I can reach most of the shelves in the Library now without using the ladder. And I can keep up with the others now without getting winded.” He looked over at Twilight mischievously. “I do miss riding Twilight around.”
Twilight snorted. “Yeah, that would look pretty awkward now. Not to mention I doubt I could carry you for long anyway.” Her eyes widened realizing what she'd said. “Not that you're overweight!” she added quickly. “You're actually quite hansom...” Her face became a few shades darker as she trailed off, biting her lower lip.
He just grinned understandingly. She was still getting use to her assistant's sudden jump in maturity.
“Well that's good to hear,” Celestia said smiling. “Just tell me if you have any problems, and if you feel like you're started to grow too big again, I'll gladly recast the spell.”
“Twilight already locked my age, so that shouldn't be a problem.” Spike told her waving his claw dismissively. “But thanks.”
“Locked?” Celestia repeated, confused. “How?”
“Uh, yeah, that's actually why I wanted to see you both. You see, I... well, it seems the Tree of Harmony gave me a bit more than just a life and body of my own,” Twilight told them, sounding a little nervous about how they were going to react. “I think it also gave me Achlys's knowledge as well as her power.”
“Really?” Celestia asked, sounding stunned.
Twilight nodded. “After you transformed Spike, I realized that I knew some age spells as well... Seventeen different age spells, that do everything from making somepony age in reverse, or simply changing their age, to locking a pony, or dragon, at a certain age. And that's just the beginning.
“When I really started thinking about it, I realized that I suddenly knew so much more about magic than I had ever imagined, and not only that but I found I had far more power at my disposal to apply that knowledge.”
“That's incredible,” Celestia said softly, then smiled. “But I can't think of a better pony than you to be entrusted with that kind of power.”
Twilight blushed. “Thanks. But, I'm worried; the Tree of Harmony has only ever given us just what we'd need for the challenges we've faced. I'm scared of what might be coming that the tree believes I'll need this power...”
“That is a worrisome thought.” Luna agreed softly and Celestia nodded as well.
“But try not to dwell on it, Twilight,” Celestia advised. “Just as you said, the tree gives us what we'll need to face the challenges that come our way. So I'm sure if something does come up, we'll be able to handle it.”
“I hope so. In any case I know so much more now; it's going to take me some time just to sort through it all. And I've already 'remembered' a lot of spells that... well, I don't think I'll ever use, and a few I'd never want to.” Twilight grimaced as she thought of what a few spells she'd remembered where meant to do.
“I understand your concern, Twilight. Achlys wasn't really one to be held back by morals. Don't be afraid to use the knowledge, though. I trust your judgment.” Celestia looked over at her sister. “I am curious, however, with all that knowledge, do you think you could change Luna back to normal?”
Twilight thought for a moment, searching through her new-found knowledge. “Well, the change in appearance is a side effect of the strengthening of her bond to the dream realm.” She looked over at Luna. “Unfortunately, your bond to the dream realm is naturally stronger toward the nightmare side. That's why you can draw more power from nightmares than other dreams. And also why your appearance is more on the, well, darker side. Anyway, if your bond to the dream realm were to be changed back to the way it was, that would change you back. That's the only way I can think of.”
“No,” Luna said simply causing Celestia to look over at her.
“Luna, don't you want to be changed back to normal?”
“Not if means giving up this power,” Luna told her simply.
Celestia gave her an admonishing look. “Luna, you don't need it.”
“This is my choice, Tia. I'm not going to give up this power.”
“But you had a hard enough time getting ponies to accept you before, it will be even worse now...”
Luna looked at her coldly. “Then I will deal with it.”
“But...”
“There is nothing inherently evil about this power!” Luna cut her off. “I can do a lot of good with it. I may not need it, but I want it, and I'm willing to pay the price. This. Is. My. Choice.”
“Luna...” Celestia took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “Twilight, are you sure there's no side effects from strengthening Luna's dream bond?”
Twilight looked between them. “Well, from what I know now, dream magic is harmony and chaos. Luna's connection being more toward the nightmare side of dreams lets her draw more power from chaos. At the same time though she wouldn't be able to control it without the harmony she can wield as well. Only Discord can, well, not control, but wield pure chaos. But by mixing the two together it essentially tames the chaos, so in the end it's just magic energy for her to control. It shouldn't have any affect on her or her behavior aside from appearance. So, no, there shouldn't be any side effects.”
Celestia sighed, having hoped there would be a danger, some reason to convince Luna to let Twilight change her back.
“Are you sure about this though, Luna?” Twilight asked. “I mean, you're right, it's your choice. But ponies are definitely going to be nervous to be around you looking like that. If you want, you could use an illusion spell.”
She shook her head. “No, an illusion would cause more problems than it's worth. If I were ever caught, ponies would assume I was trying to hide something far more sinister. I know that this appearance will make ponies scared of me again, but I'm willing to deal with that. It's better that I be open and honest about it. They will get use to my appearance in time.”
Twilight slowly nodded. “Well, alright... If you change your mind though, I can reverse it any time.”
“I'll keep that in mind. So, you come across anything fun or interesting in your new knowledge?” She asked to change the subject.
Twilight laughed. “Oh, plenty. One of the most interesting things though is an imprisonment spell that I think must have been what they used to hold the alicorns of the Imperium. I bet when Starswirl and the mortal coalition started imprisoning the other alicorns that she did some research on the spell they were using. Except... I don't see why it took Achlys so long to break it...”
“You have that backwards.” Spike told her. “Achlys was the one who taught the mortals the imprisonment spell.”
Twilight looked at him surprised. “But why would she teach them how to imprison alicorns?”
He laughed. “Because she didn't care about them and she could have broken out of that spell in a couple weeks, tops. That spell was used on the rest of the Imperium, not her. Haven't you wondered why I was imprisoned with Achlys? They believed the alicorns could reincarnate themselves and so thought they had to imprison them, but that wouldn't have protected me. So why did they? Why do you think they didn't just kill me?”
“Actually, I never did think about that,” Celestia said thoughtfully. “But that's true. Why didn't they just kill you?”
Spike smiled. “Starswirl was very clever, and yes, Twilight, I met him quite a few times.” Twilight's eyes bugged out but Spike went on before she could say anything. “He knew where the spell had come from, Achlys had taught it to him herself. He knew very well that it wouldn't hold her for long. So when they finally did go after and capture Achlys, they first captured me. Starswirl then modified the imprisonment spell and made it to draw on my magic to imprison Achlys. Dragon magic is far more raw and untamed, more elemental, than pony magic. By using my magic in the imprisonment spell, he made it far less predictable and far more difficult to break without being able to sense magic. So it wasn't so much that I was imprisoned with Achlys, as it was that I was a part of the prison.”
Twilight tapped her chin with one hoof thoughtfully. “That is clever...”
Spike nodded. “Starswirl was the only mortal I know of that ever managed to earn Achlys's respect.”
“And you're going to tell me all about him, right?” Twilight said with a grin.
He laughed. “I'll tell you about him later. But you know, most the things you know him for are things he did after Achlys and I were imprisoned. He lived another eight hundred years after all.”
“Yeah, I've always wondered how he lived so long. Do you know?”
“He was what they called back then a half-blood unicorn, or a wingless alicorn,” Spike explained. “Basically he was enough alicorn to have extended life and very powerful magic, but he was not truly immortal, and of course, no wings.”
“I never knew that was possible,” Twilight said softly.
Celestia laughed slightly. “Actually, Twilight, that's what I thought you were when I first made you my student. That's why I believed you could become an alicorn. I wasn't completely accurate, but obviously close enough, since you did ascend.”
Twilight sighed and nodded. “Yeah...”
Celestia looked over at her noticing the odd tone in her voice and smiled understandingly. “Nervous about later?”
Twilight nodded, lowering her eyes to the floor.
Reaching out with one wing, Celestia gently touched her shoulder. “They'll understand, Twilight.”
“I hope so.”
~~~
“Are you sure you want to do this, Twi?” Spike asked softly as they made their way along the streets of Canterlot. Luckily nopony they'd passed had made the connection between Spike as he was now and the full size black dragon that had helped the usurper take over the city only a little over a week before.
Twilight looked over at him and sighed heavily. “It would be so easy just to keep it all a secret, wouldn't it.” Since they had already let slip that Twilight had been killed before her resurrection the princess's had made public that Twilight had been killed and then reborn through the Tree of Harmony. But as for Twilight's true origin, that they were keeping a closely guarded secret.
“But they deserve to know the truth.” She looked up and saw their destination ahead. Her family's home... at least, the home of the ponies she'd believed to be her family from her earliest memories.
“Twi, they're still your family, you know...” Spike said as if he knew what she was thinking then put his wing around her hugging her to his side. As he was a bit bigger than her now, it was surprisingly comforting.
“Twily!”
A small smile touched her lips for a moment as she recognized the voice of Shining Armor. Looking up she saw him and Cadence standing in front of the house waiting for her.
“Spike, is that you!?” Cadence gasped as Spike refolded his wing. “Look at you!”
“Yeah, no kidding, Spike. That's quite a growth spurt!” Shining agreed then turned back to Twilight catching her in an embrace. “It's good to see you, Twily. We were horrified when we heard what happened.”
Twilight sighed, “Yeah...”
He stepped back and looked at her concerned. “Is something wrong?”
She nodded. “I'll tell you inside.”
Shining and Cadence exchanged worried looks then glanced at Spike as if to see if he had the answer.
“Let's get inside.” Spike told them.
Shining nodded and opened the door, clearly wanting to know what was wrong. “Mom, dad, they're here.”
“Twilight!?” A mares voice came from just inside. The moment Twilight stepped inside, she found herself being crushed in her mother's hooves. “You're really alright! Celestia told us what happened.” Twilight hugged her back.
“I'm alright now,” she assured Twilight Velvet. “The Tree of Harmony brought me back. I'm alright...” Guiltily she realized Velvet was trembling. Knowing what she was there to tell them, how much it would hurt them... Twilight almost lost her nerve right then.
“It's good to see you're alright, Twilight.” A new voice said and Twilight looked up over Velvet's shoulder to see Night Light entering the room from the kitchen. He didn't hesitate in joining his wife embracing both Twilights. After a moment though he released them again. “Well, let's not keep them standing in the door, hun.
“Yes, sorry, come on in.” Velvet said smiling as she stepped back, letting Twilight pass and Spike was finally able to enter as well.
Velvet let out a gasp seeing him, “Spike? Is that you?”
He smiled. “Yeah, it's me. Good to see you, Velvet.”
“Wow, Spike, you've really grown lad,” Night Light said surprised as well.
He smirked. “Actually this was really kind of a downgrade, but I asked for it, so it's okay.”
“Downgrade?” Night Light asked raising a brow.
“We'll explain later,” Twilight told him softly. “For now, can we all sit down. I have something I need to tell you all.”
“What's wrong, Twilight?” Velvet asked looking concerned. “Is it about what happened?”
“Yes...” Twilight said lowering her eyes to the floor. “You'd better sit down, this won't be easy for you to hear.”
Velvet stared at her worried, for a few moments more, then reluctantly nodded and took a seat on the living-room couch with Night Light. Shining and Cadence appropriately took the love seat, leaving the chair across from them for Twilight, though she doubted she could sit still just then. Spike decided to curl up in front of the fire place though there was no fire. Twilight just moved to the center of the room in front of them all. She took a deep breath looking around at them, terrified of how they'd react but knowing deep down that she had to tell them.
“Spike.”
He nodded, knowing what she wanted. Raising one fore-claw, he began making a circular motion in the air and as he did, the air around his claw began to glow with his magic focusing into an orb at the center. Finally he tossed the orb up into the air and it burst, flooding the room with the spell which caused the air to shimmer briefly then faded away completely.
“What was that!?” Shining exclaimed.
“A ward against eavesdropping. We don't have to worry about being overheard now, it blocks sound and all forms of magical surveillance. Nopony alive could get through my spell, except for Twilight. Not without me knowing anyway.” He grinned proudly.
“But when did you learn that kind of magic? I thought your fire breath was the only magic dragons had!”
“I'll explain later,” Spike told him. “For now, you'd better just listen to Twilight.”
All eyes turned to Twilight then and she took a deep breath thinking of how to begin. “What Celestia told you was the truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. What she didn't tell you, is that she had encountered Achlys before.
“Twenty-four years ago, Achlys attacked Canterlot along with her black dragon, Deimos. They were weak at the time, having just escaped from their imprisonment, so Celestia and the guard were able to drive them off. Celestia wasn't willing to let them roam freely through Equestria, however. She took three hundred of the Royal Guard and went after her, chasing her down. In the end, Celestia nearly defeated Achlys, but she got away, and only Celestia came back alive...”
“Are you talking about the Fetlock hills incident?” Shining asked.
Twilight nodded, she'd asked Celestia about every detail of what had happened.
“I've never heard of it before.” Cadence said glancing at Shining.
“You would have been just a foal at the time,” Night Light told her. “Most don't like to talk about it much because almost everyone in Canterlot lost someone in that battle. I lost two friends myself...”
Twilight winced. How could she not have realized that Night Light or Velvet might have known someone Achlys had killed?
“I only know about it because they teach all the recruits about it to show that the princesses are not all powerful. You'd be surprised how many recruits come in believing they'll never be in any real danger because the princesses will protect Equestria,” He glanced at Twilight then seeming to realize he'd interrupted. “Sorry, so the Fetlock hills incident was the first time Celestia fought Achlys?”
Twilight nodded. “Achlys was badly wounded, but managed to escape with the help of the black dragon, Deimos. She knew she'd need time to recover, years, possibly even decades, and she needed to remain hidden; she couldn't afford to have Celestia find her. So she devised a plan to hide herself in plain sight, where nopony would ever suspect.
“She transformed herself into a unicorn foal, and placed herself in the care of a loving family. She altered public records and implanted memories into their minds of a pregnancy and birth that never happened. Once everything was arranged, she created an artificial soul from a fragment of her own that she placed in control of her body as a mask for her to hide behind...” Twilight took a deep breath, not daring to look at any of them. “That artificial soul, was me.”
“What!?” Shining breathed.
“No! That can't...” Velvet gasped. “What are you saying, Twilight?”
Twilight didn't open her eyes. She was afraid of seeing the pain she knew her words were bringing all of them. “I'm not really your daughter, you never had another foal after Shining.”
“That's impossible! I remember...!”
“Achlys implanted those memories in your mind along with everypony around you.” Twilight told her, tears in her own eyes.
“Twily, this can't be true...” Shining said softly as Night Light tried to comfort Velvet while struggling with the news himself.
“It is... I'm sorry; I thought that you deserved to know the truth,” She kept her eyes closed and her head down, still unable to bring herself to look at them.
For a few moments the room was silent, the only sound that of Velvet, clearly in tears. It tore at Twilight's heart, but she knew deep down that she couldn't have been happy keeping the truth from them. “I'll let you have some time to think...”
She went to leave, but before she could even reach the door, Velvet leaped forward and threw her hooves around her.
“No!” She cried, clinging to Twilight. “I don't care if it's true! I don't care! It doesn't matter where you came from, you're still my daughter!”
“But...”
“It doesn't matter!”
“Mom's right.” Shining said, making her look up at him in surprise. “It doesn't matter where you came from, you're still our Twily.”
“But I...”
“Are you going to tell us that all the years we grew up together, all the times we spent together as a family, that they're all fake memories as well?”
“Well, no, after everything was in place, Achlys didn't interfere anymore.” Twilight admitted.
“See, you're still our Twily, and you always will be.” Shining said as he joined Velvet embracing her.
“I... I thought you'd be angry...” Twilight said softly.
“Why would we be angry with you?” Velvet asked. “Did you know...?”
“No! I had no idea she was there until she woke up...”
She smiled. “Then there's no reason we should be angry with you,” she said firmly, giving Twilight a squeeze. “I don't care if the memories of your birth are fake; they're real enough for me. And it's all the memories that come after that are most important, anyway.”
“But, I...”
“Twilight, listen to your mother,” Night Light told her, smiling as he joined the rest of the family, followed closely by Cadence.
Twilight smiled then opened her wings, wrapping them around her family as much as she could, tears rolling down her cheeks for the joy in her heart.
“Well I guess Celestia gets to say 'I told you so.'” Spike said with a grin, still lying in front of the fireplace.
“Spike, get over here!” Cadence said with a laugh, “You're a part of this family too!”
He laughed but got to his feet. “Alright, but Twilight's going to owe me for dragging me into all this mushy stuff.”
Twilight just looked up at him as he wrapped his wings around them all and smiled, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks. “I thought I'd lost my family...” She whispered softly giving in to the embrace.
“We'll always be your family, Twilight,” Velvet told her firmly. “Nothing will ever change that.”
With a sniff, Twilight wrapped her hooves around Velvet and tightened her wings around her father and brother. She knew who she was, and who she would always be. She was Twilight Sparkle, and she was home.
