Atonement
Twilight's friends all sat together in their throne room. Each of them sat on their respective thrones, eagerly awaiting the good news that Twilight had hinted at the day before.
"Oh, I can't wait to hear whatever it is that Twilight is going to say that will lead us on some awesome quest!" Pinkie bounced up and down in her seat.
"What makes you think we're going on a quest, Pinkie?" Applejack asked.
"Duh, whenever we're all in the throne room together it means it's super awesome quest time." Pinkie smiled.
"Pinkie sense?" The farm pony droned.
"Yep!" Pinkie's smile widened.
"Well I for one would relish the chance to go on an adventure. I never thought I would say this, but I was getting rather tired of making all those dresses." Rarity pushed her mane over her withers. "It's always good to get out once in a while."
"Hold up! Everyone else heard that, I'm not crazy, right? Did Rarity just say she was tired of making dressing? Tartarus must have wendigos or something because it's frozen solid." Rainbow shivered for effect.
"Laugh all you like, miss Dash." Rarity scoffed. "But believe it or not, my life does not revolve around dresses. It may be my talent, but it is not my life. I also makes hats and other apparel."
"Well ah think it's nice that she wants to go outside." Applejack said proudly. "Rarity works hard and she deserves a break, what with owning several boutiques and all. How is the new Manehatten store going anyway?"
"Marvelously. Since it opened last month, it has become one of the most popular fashion stores in the city." Rarity tapped her chin in thought. "Maybe I should go to Manehatten after this quest of ours and congratulate Coco for her success."
"I'm sure she would love the gesture. She's such a nice pony, she deserves a reward." Fluttershy beamed. "I remember once, me and her got stuc-" The door to the throne room burst open, partially cracking the door frame. Fluttershy promptly fainted.
"Girls! I have good news... Is she okay?" Twilight gesture to the unconscious pegasus. Fluttershy whimpered.
"Yeah she's fine." Rainbow sighed.
"Oh, okay then. Anyway, I have great news. I was doing some research on the castle of the two sisters and in one of my books I found mention about another book hidden in the Canterlot archives, so yesterday I-"
"We get it, you like books! Just tell us what you found." Rainbow groaned. Fluttershy woke up and got to her hooves, even if she was wobbling a bit.
"I found the original plans of the castles layout." Twilight smiled.
"...so." Rainbow deadpanned.
"So? Don't you want to check out all the secret rooms that the plans reveal? Imagine all the cool stuff we could find."
"Darling, as much as I want to go outside, I don't find the idea of going into a dark gloomy castle appealing. I think I'll just go to the spa with Fluttershy."
"Um, what she said... if you don't mind." Fluttershy hid behind her hair, still slightly nervous from Twilight's surprise entry.
"Come on girls, this could be really fun!" Twilight pleaded
"As much as I love fun, I just remembered I have a loaf of bread I need to get out of the oven real quick." Pinkie gave twilight a nervous smile hoping no one would realize that Sugar Cube Corner didn't make bread.
Applejack stared at them all with surprise. "Are you seriously all ditching Twilight after waiting this long to hear what she had to say? That's just low."
"As much as I hate to admit it, I'm with Applejack on this one. I said I would go, and that's what I'm gonna do." Rainbow sighed. "Even if I'll be bored out of my mind." Rainbow muttered under her breathe.
"Fine, I suppose I can afford to miss one day at the spa." Rarity huffed. "I hate pier pressure." Fluttershy didn't responded, but merely nodded in defeat.
"About that loaf of bread, I just remember it didn't exist, so my calendar is free." Pinkie gave Twilight a completely not nervous smiled... or just a normal smile. What ever floats your boat.
"So you're all coming!?" A round of unenthusiastic confirmations filled the room. "Yes!" Twilight hopped up and down in glee. "Pack your saddlebags, girls! This is going to be so much fun!"
"Something needs to be done about this Celestia. She cannot stay isolated in that silly tower forever."
"Give her space Luna. A pony can only grieve for so long."
"It's been over a hundred years, Tia. She has had long enough. It is time that she finally returned to society."
"A hundred years is nothing to us." Celestia raised her voice.
"But it is to her." Luna said in concern. "She is still a child, Tia. If we do not do something, things are only going to get worse for her."
Celestia looked at her sister defiantly. "What do you suggest we tell her then?! Hey Twilight, we know you have nothing left to live for, but come back and put on a smile for everypony." Celestia said in a mocking tone.
"Do not put this out of perspective, sister. You know this must be done. Do not let your love for her cloud your judgement."
"...I'm sorry, Luna. I just don't want to see my daugh- My student get hurt." Celestia hung her head low.
Luna didn't speak for a while and simply allowed Celestia to have an internal debate with herself. Luna wished she knew how her sister felt, she truly did, but she could only guess. Twilight was never the same since the elements died. When they died something died in her as well. When that special part of Twilight disappeared, it devastated Celestia. To see the light go out of her protege's eye was like an arrow to the heart. Luna had never taken a student of her own, but she imagined it probably hurt as much as when she had lost her best friend. Luna looked down a the *shackle attached to her left hoof. Its chain had been broken long ago. Hmm, probably feels something like that.
"I don't know what to do, sister?" Celestia whisper, tears filling her eyes. "I don't want her to hate me, but I don't want her to be alone either. What am I supposed to do?" A single tear fell to the ground.
"You know what you have to do, sister."
"I don't see why you're excited about hidden rooms." Rainbow hovered above the group, just below the canopy of the forest. "Heck! We've already been in a few of them. I'm not sure I want to find out where the rest are."
"But imagine what secrets they hold." The purple unicorn beamed.
"You mean like that lovely book that Spike found?" Rarity said sarcastically.
"That... was probably a one off." Twilight replied sheepishly.
"Probably?" Applejack repeated skeptically.
"It's nothing to worry about. Just don't pull any levers with scary symbols on them and we should be fine."
"Should?" Rainbow worriedly.
"Didn't I just say not to worry about it?" Twilight sighed. "Nothing of consequence is going to happen."
"Don't jinx it!" Pinkie said in a raised whisper. "Do not listen to hear oh mighty Potato King!" Pinkie yelled towards the sky.
"Potato king?"
"Ruler of all things starchy." Pinkie bowed low.
"I'm just going to ignore that." Applejack said. "So Twilight, any idea what your looking for exactly."
Twilight put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Nothing in particular really. I don't even know what's in the rooms we're going in to."
"Are you sure that's wise. Maybe you should have asked Celestia what's in those rooms. Secret rooms are secret for a reason."
"Relax." Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. "Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise."
Celestia flew through the frozen wastelands north of the Crystal Empire, where an endless storm raged on. The mountains rose and fell as she ventured further, slowly getting larger and more jagged. Once or twice an unexpected torrent of wind would throw her off course, but nothing she couldn't handle. One particular gust of wind almost slammed her into a mountain. She had narrowly missed being impaled by one of the mountains spikes.
She could understand why Twilight wanted to be alone, but did she really have to go to such lengths. Normally the solar goddess would have flown far above the mountains and avoided the danger all together, but Twilight's spell prevented anypony from going above the mountains peak. She would have to find the gateway the hard way. Celestia looked down below her, searching every nook and cranny of the mountains surface for the entrance to Twilight's domain. She knew where it was, or at least she thought she did, but somewhere along the line she had gotten lost, she just didn't want to admit it.
Celestia decided to fly lower, hoping that if she was closer to the ground then she would be able to see better. While this was true, there was still nothing to see. Just snow and a whole lot of rocks. At least there was less wind the lower she went, that was a bonus. Celestia's only fear was that she would miss the gateway completely. Maybe she should go back the the Crystal empire and start again. What if she had already missed the gateway altogether and just hadn't realized it. Celestia was just about to turn around when she saw a azure glow in the distance.
Celestia rubbed her eyes and looked again, checking to make sure it wasn't her impatient mind playing tricks on her. But when she looked again the light was still there. About time she had some luck on her side. Celestia glided forward, not wanting to rush ahead and get caught by surprise by an outcropping rock. As the alabaster alicorn drew closer to the light she began to see more and more clearly as the endless snowstorm subsided, as if by magic.
Celestia could now see the source of the light. In front on her, jutting out of the face of the mountain, was a long thing peninsula. At the tip rested a stone circle engraved with Twilight's cutie mark. The peninsula continued towards the mountain, leading to a large ornate arch which decorated the entrance to a dark, and Celestia presumed, long cave. On either side were tall granite pedestals, containing what Celestia assumed was concentrated magic. Their magical fire lit up the surrounding area, making it easy to see. It was a strangely calm scene amidst all the chaos of the storm.
Celestia glided onto the stone circle, not even waiting before she continued towards the tunnel. "I'm coming, Twilight." Celestia said to herself as she was swallowed by the darkness of the cave.
Fluttershy shivered as they entered the derelict throne room. She never really liked the scary castle, and today was no different. Even though the sun was shining brightly outside, the inside of the old castle was strangely dark. "Where do we go from here?" Fluttershy whispered, not wanted to unintentionally wake up any monsters that may or may not be figments of her imagination.
"I've already got that covered." Twilight levitated a scroll out of her saddle bag and unfurled it. On the map was a detailed floor plan of the castle showing every floor and room as well as a few symbols that they didn't recognize. "We have a lot of ground to cover so I've split the castle into three sections." Twilight placed a map of the castle on the ground. "Pinkie Pie and Rainbow dash will be checking out the secret rooms on the north side and the roof. The locations will be marked with ancient runes, so keep an eye out." Twilight tapped a few of the symbols on the map to show what they were looking for. " Applejack and Rarity, you'll be in charge of finding the secret rooms in the basement and courtyard. Remember to come get me if you find anything suspicious or strange. We don't know what is in these rooms so we have to be careful. Fluttershy and I will be searching the rest of the castle. Any questions?" Upon hearing no response, Twilight brought out two extra maps from her bag and handed one to Rainbow's group and the other to Applejack's. "I have marked your search areas on these maps just in case. Let's get started." Twilight grabbed Fluttershy by the hoof and dragged the timid pegasus with her. "Let's go Fluttershy. We have a lot of ground to cover."
The others all looked between each other for a moment before heading off for their own areas. It was going to be a long day.
Most caves are dark, that's a given, but something was odd about this cave. The walls seemed to absorb all light and sound, leaving nothing for her senses to process. Her light spells were ineffective to say the least. Celestia had been walking aimlessly for what felt like hours and had gotten nowhere. Any noise she would make was consumed by the cave before it could echo back, making any attempt at echolocation impossible.
Celestia looked behind her and saw only darkness, same as every other direction. Why did Twilight have to make things so difficult. First the storm and now this ridiculous cave. She had been walking straight the whole time, so why was she still in the cave? In any normal cave she would have walked all the way through the mountain by now, but then again this wasn't a normal cave was it. This was Twilight's cave.
Celestia continued to walk forward, hoping that maybe something might happen but still nothing. Celestia was a patient pony, probably one of the most patient ponies alive, but this was getting on her nerves. Celestia sighed angrily and kicked at the ground. "Curse this silly cave." Or at least she would have but her hoof seemed to miss the ground entirely. "Huh?" Celestia tried to kick the ground again, this time in confusion. Again her hoof made no contact. odd. Celestia jumped up and down and felt a satisfactory thud with each jump. "Maybe you aren't so silly after all, cave." Celestia mused. Celestia experimentally kicked at the ground with each hoof and sure enough, none of them made contact with anything. "Suspended kinetic absorption field. Very clever Twilight. Almost fooled me." Celestia thrust her hoof down, feeling it slow down quickly. She kept forcing her hoof down until finally she felt the invisible field give way and fail completely. A bright flash of light filled her vision forcing her close her eye. Celestia blinked a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the light.
Celestia looked around her and found that she was sitting in the middle of a small cavern. In front of her was an unimpressive wooden door with small magical torches attached to sconces on either side. The alicorn smiled to herself, glad that she had figured out Twilight's little trick. Celestia looked behind her. If there was a boulder nearby she would have crush it in anger. Less than one hundred meters behind her was the entrance to the cave. She have been walking for hours only to find she had barely moved. Celestia went to buck the door in but stopped herself. She would most likely startle the poor filly if she just barged in. "Breathe Tia. You can do this. You're her for Twilight." Celestia said to herself.
Celestia turned to face the door and composed herself before knocking on the door softly. "Twilight... You in there? Are you awake?" Celestia waited for a response but none came. Celestia waited for a few minutes, knocking occasionally hoping she would respond but she never did. "Twilight, I know you're upset but you need to open the door." Celestia tested the door handle and found that it was unlocked. "Okay, I'm coming in." Celestia nudged open the door and a breeze of warm air and natural light greeted her. She pushed the door further open and her jaw fell open. "What in Equestria?" Celestia stood stock still, shocked at the sight before her.
Before her were vast fields of ice surrounded on all sides by mountains reaching high into the air. Above the mountains raged the storm which would surely tear apart anything foolish enough to try and fly into the valley. Snow was falling slowly constantly, covering everything in a thin blanket of snow. The thing that drew Celestia's attention the most was Twilight's accommodations. She had been expecting a small house or maybe even a cave. Something simple. But this was bordering on ridiculous.
In the center of the ice field stood a tower that could only be described as monolithic. The tower had six sides similar to a hexagon with the front and back sides being slightly shorter than the rest. On the front she could see a large steel gate surrounds by large pedestals similar to the ones she had seen before, but instead of blue flames, these flames glowed purple. The structure had four tiers, each one getting thinner as it went higher but still keeping the same shape. Large arched windows dotted the face of the building, revealing nothing but the darkness inside. At the top of the tower Celestia could see something glowing but the source of light was just out of view. The tower was relatively simple in shape, but looked as if a lot of thought had gone into its design.
Celestia walked forwards slowly and made her way towards the tower, the thin layer of snow crunching beneath her hooves. As she got closer to the tower, she started to notice how large it truly was. She was a few hundred meters away but already the monstrously large structure filled her entire vision. Soon she was in front of the solid steel gates of the tower which loomed over her.
Celestia raised her hoof to the gate and gave is a heavy push. At first the door didn't move but after adding more pressure, to door slowly groaned open, sending a loud metallic echo down the hall. From deep within the tower a lone pony was resting in her chambers when she heard the noise and smiled.
"Not long now, my friends. Soon. Soon we will be together again." Twilight got to her hooves and turned to go and greet her teacher. "I won't let anything get in the way of us being together. Not even Celestia."
Twilight smiled as she found the entrance to their fifth secret room. She had been searching the dining hall and found an off angle portrait
and decided to readjust it when she heard gears turning somewhere and the wall moved to reveal the secret room. So what if it was a few meters from where it was meant to be, she could expect ancient maps to be completely accurate. Their first three rooms contained nothing but dust and cobwebs. The fourth room was filled with preserved snack and appeared to be a hidey-hole. Twilight had theorized that it was where Luna and Celestia probably used to sneak out during the middle of the night to play while their parents were asleep.
Twilight and Fluttershy leaned their heads in slowly, as they had with every room they had found. Twilight was about to dismiss the room when she notices something etched into the stone of the far wall. Twilight took a tentative step forward. Feeling nothing happen she continued forward until she was only a hoofs width away.
The words on the wall looked strange. Most of it was written in ancient Equestrian, which she had mastered, but they also contained words from various other languages. She could see Griffonian, Zebracan, Minotaurian and even some words in ancient dragon.
"This is incredible. I've never seen anything like this before!" Twilight screamed in delight. "We need to translate this. Imagine what words of wisdom this could hold."
"What do you think it means?"
"I have absolutely no idea. But from the look of the degradation in the engravings, this must be at least over a thousand years old maybe more. But that makes no sense. These races were all at war with each other back then. Why would they work together to write this?" Twilight scratched her head in confusion.
"Maybe a pony knew all their languages and wrote this by them self." Fluttershy suggested.
"Impossible. Back then each country was isolated from one another which is why I'm so intrigued. Something very important brought all these countries together and this could be the answer as to why."
"If you say so." Fluttershy put on a smile to make Twilight happy, but the alicorn took no notice. She was to busy searching her labyrinthine mind for answers. Fluttershy looked around her for something to do while Twilight stared at the wall. Finding nothing to do she opted stood still for ten minutes before she decided to talk again. "He Twi? Should I be doing something."
"Uh-huh, that's very interesting." Twilight said, her mind elsewhere. Twilight had learned at a young age to ignore others when she was working and had several phrases she would say automatically, much to the annoyance to her teachers.
"I'm going to go and join the others. Will you be okay without me?" Fluttershy
"Good job. Keep up the good work." Fluttershy looked at Twilight for a moment and giggled.
"Hey, Twilight. I'm going to go with Rainbow Dash and throw some books out the window." Fluttershy flew off laughing to herself.
"Sure, I think that's a great idea- wait what?!" Twilight spun her head around to ask what Fluttershy had said but the pegasus was already gone. "Huh, must have been my imagination."
Celestia took another left and found yet another hallway filled with doors. How many hallways did one castle need. There never seemed to be a single dead end, just hallways connected to even more hallways, each one filled with door leading to rooms filled with books and scientific equipment. It was hard to tell whether Twilight had built herself a castle or a library. Maybe it was both. That sounded like something Twilight would do. Celestia took another turn and sighed in relief. To her left was a set of stairs leading to the floor above. "Finally some good luck."
Celestia trotted up the stairs and was met with yet another hallway. The alabaster alicorn was about to curse her luck when she heard something echo in the distance. At first it was just an occasional tap, barely audible at all, but as she walked around she could hear it getting louder. She could quite tell but it sounded like hoof steps. Although she could tell if she was getting closer to them or they were getting closer to her. "Twilight?" Celestia whispered loudly. "Twilight, is that you?"
The hoof steps sounded as if they were right on top of her. Celestia tensed up, not knowing what to expect. As Celestia approached a turn into another hallway, the hoof steps ceased. Celestia slowed her pace. She didn't know why, but she was sweating. Taking a deep breathe, she jump around the corner and saw a large dark shape leap towards her. She barely had time to blink before she was tackled. Celestia let out a startled scream as she was overpowered and brought to the ground.
"Celestia!" A cheerful voice squealed. The alabaster princess froze and looked down to see that she was being hugged by a pony in dark hooded robes. "Oh, it is so good to see another face, especially yours. I missed you so much." The mysterious pony nuzzled Celestia's chest affectionately.
"W-who are you?" Celestia said, unsure of what was happening. The pony looked up at Celestia and withdrew her hood, revealing a purple alicorn mare.
"It's me, Twilight." Twilight's ears fell flat. "Don't you remember me?"
"No, I remember, it's just that..." Celestia got to her hooves and looked Twilight up and down. The younger alicorn was already as tall as Luna, if not taller. "How did you-"
"Time spell. I got bored of waiting for my powers to grow naturally so I sped things up a bit." She stated.
"You sped up your growth!" Celestia's mouth dropped in shock. "How is that even possible. I've known of temporary time spells, but to find such permanent spells."
"Oh, I didn't find it, I made it." Twilight smiled. "Impressed?"
Celestia smiled at her student. She was genuinely proud of her student. "You have no idea Twilight." Celestia brought Twilight into another hug. "You have no idea." Celestia felt herself tear up. "I've missed you so much since you left. I just can't wait to have you back with us."
Twilight pulled away from the hug. "Back? No no no. I can't leave now. I still have work to do."
"We can continue your work back in Canterlot, with me." Celestia placed a caring hoof on Twilight's withers. Twilight brushed her hoof off dismissively.
"No I can't it has to be done here. You don't understand."
"Please Twilight. You've been away for too long. It's time to come home." Celestia spoke with sadness in her voice. Twilight wan't to say yes, she truly did but she had responsibilities.
"I'm sorry, but not yet. This is too important to stop now."
Celestia looked at Twilight with sadness in her eyes. "Twilight, this is the last thing I wanted to say, but you need to stop hiding behind your work and accept what has happened. You've had enough time time mourn."
"I'm not mourning!" Twilight screamed. Celestia reeled back in surprise. "I don't need to mourn ponies that aren't dead!" Twilight was breathing unsteadily as if she had just run a marathon.
"Oh, Twilight. I had no idea it was this bad." Celestia said with concern. "Luna was right, I should have come sooner."
"No, you shouldn't have. I'm sorry for shouting but this is just too important. I've figured it out Celestia." Twilight smiled with tears in her eyes. "I've figured out how to bring them back."
"Hey, Fluttershy! Where's Twilight?" Rainbow said, her head half buried in an old chimney. Fluttershy landed on the sloped roof and testing it to make sure she wouldn't slip.
"She's busy with something in one of the rooms."
"She found something!" Rainbow asked, genuinely surprised. "Darn, me and AJ had a bet going. Looks like we both lost. Remind me to give Twi twenty bits. So what did she find, an old book?" Rainbow snickered to herself.
"She found some ancient writing. Then she started talking to herself."
"Did you make a book joke?" Rainbow popped her head out of the chimney. She was covered in soot from her neck up.
"I did but she didn't budge." Fluttershy tilted her head to the side. "You know you'd look good with black fur."
"Really, You think so?" Rainbow shook her head to get rid of some of the soot.
"Not you mane though." Fluttershy took the the air. "Where's Pinkie? She was meant to be with you."
Another chimney near Rainbow began to rattle. Fluttershy looked at it curiously. She was about to fly closer to it when a screaming ball of Pink shot out of it like a cannon, a contrail of smoke showing it's flight path.
"Found her!" Rainbow stated before sticking her head back down the chimney.
Fluttershy followed the ink comet s it flew through the air before crashing violently into another section of the castle. "um, shouldn't we go help her? She could be hurt."
"She's fine. She's been through a lot worse." Rainbow withdrew her head from her chimney and looked down the one Pinkie shot out of. At the bottom she could see a fire burning in the hearth. "Although this one is probably in the top twenty." She snickered.
"You can't do this Twilight. Not only is it impossible, it is morally wrong." Celestia said sternly. "Even if you could actually bring them back, how would they feel, knowing everypony they had known were dead? They'll be alone." Celestia sighed.
"No they won't. We'll have each other." Twilight frowned. She knew Celestia would have this reaction yet she had told her anyway. It was stupid to think Celestia would understand.
"While friendship is powerful, it is meager compared to love. The friendship you all share will not overcome the grief of losing your family. Just ask Cadence. When Shining died, she was devastated." Twilight shrunk back, remembering the day she had gotten the news.
"You don't have to remind me." Her ears dropped as she lowered her head.
"I think I do. When they find out what has happened to the ones they love, they will feel the same thing. Do you really want them to go through that pain?" Celestia put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Let them rest, Twilight."
"I think you should go." Twilight mumbled. "I have work to do."
"I am not leaving here without you, Twilight. I've left you alone long enough. I am not leaving your side again." Celestia shuddered. "I'm not going to let you suffer anymore."
"If you want me not to suffer, then let me finish my work." Twilight raised her head and looked at the older alicorn with tears crawling down her face. "This is my last chance for happiness, let me be happy. Please Celestia." Celestia was about to reject Twilight's plea and she would have were it not for the look of utter sadness on Twilight's face. She didn't want Twilight to feel this pain, but she didn't want to cause her pain either. The world must have a vendetta against her. Celestia press a hoof to her forehead and let out a loud sigh that echoed down the hallway.
"Fine, Twilight. But only one more day. I am awfully tired as it is, so this works for me anyway. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to find a bedroom. I'm tired of all these hallways and libraries." Twilight wiped the tears from her face with part of her robe.
"I'll see what I can do." Twilight smiled.
"Oh and Twilight?" The younger alicorn looked at her teacher expectantly. "I think the storm and cave were a bit much. A simple lock would have kept most ponies away." Twilight laughed for the first time in one hundred years.
Applejack rubbed her temples with her hooves. She had been listening to Rarity complain about dust for the last hour and it was starting to get on her nerves. The basement was just one vast room filled with boxes and other pieces of scattered furniture. Every few meters a stone support stuck out of the ground to stop the weight of the castle above from collapsing. If anything it was more like a comfortable dungeon than a basement. "Yes, ah know Rarity, we're in an abandoned castle. Of course it's going to be dusty. Just focus on searching for those symbols. There should be two hidden rooms down her, so get to work or we're never gonna find em'."
"Pray tell, how am I supposed to search for hidden symbols when everything is covered is dust." Rarity shook her hoof to remove some non-existent dust.
"For Celestia sake!" Applejack threw her hooves in the air. "Just wipe the dust away. Simple as that." Rarity stared at Applejack in shock.
"And get me hooves covered in dust? I think not. I only went to the spare last week." Applejack gave her a deadpan stare.
"Rarity... you go to the spare every week."
"Your point being?" Applejack stomped a hoof on the ground causing dust to fall from between the rafters.
"Rarity, I swear if you don't start searching I'm gonna tell everypony what I caught you doing last month!" Applejack had had enough of Rarity for one day.
"But-"
"No 'buts' Rarity. I've been searching this whole time and it's about time you started helping." Rarity was about to complain, but she couldn't think of an argument to justify herself.
"Fine. I'm sorry." Rarity grumbled as she tapped the ground with her hoof nervously. "Can I at least-" Rarity was interrupted when the roof above her exploded as a ball of pink forced its way in. "Kya!" The ball of pink slammed into Rarity which had the effect of throwing her to the ground and covering her from horn to hoof in dust.
Applejack jumped back in surprise. One moment Rarity had been standing in front of her, the next Rarity was being used as a cushion by an overly energetic party pony. "Hiya, Applejack. Where's Rare's?" Pinkie said with her usual grin.
"Pinkie, look down." Pinkie tilted her head down, her smile never leaving her face.
"Hi Rarity!" Pinkie bopped Rarity on the nose. "Why are you on the floor."
"I can't f-feel my... hooves." Rarity wheezed quietly. "Get... off m-me."
"What was that?" Pinkie leaned in towards Rarity's mouth so she could her the unicorn better.
"I said... GET OFF!" Rarity screamed in Pinkie's ear. Pinkie shot away, bouncing off the walls like a pinball. Applejack could swear she could hear pinball sound effects, but that was probably her imagination. Pinkie kept bouncing around, destroying several crates and a rather expensive looking wardrobe. This stream of destruction continued until after several seconds she finally slammed into a wall that gave way and shattered. From the rubble Applejack heard Pinkie yell.
"Found one!" Applejack rolled her eyes. Figures. Pinkie's antics always end up getting the job done.
"Anything good in there?" Applejack yelled at the rubble.
"Just a lot of rocks." Came a muffled reply. "Ooh, Komatiite!" Pinkie screamed. "Applejack, there Komatiite here! Just wait until Maud finds out." Pinkie burst out of the rubble holding a piece of rock that looked almost exactly like every other rock.
"What's the difference? They all look the same." Pinkie gasped.
"Applejack! How could you say that? This is like, one the the rarest rocks around." Pinkie waved the rock in front of her face.
"It looks just like every other rock in that pile. In fact it looks just like every rock I've ever seen."
"Enough arguing!" Pinkie yelled. "The story is getting of track. The point is I found a secret room and there's nothing in it. Let's find another."
Applejack stared at Pinkie as she hopped off and shook her head in confusion. "I swear I'll never understand that pony."
Twilight's room was pretty ordinary. There was a bed adjacent to the door. On the left of the room was a large arched window giving a wide view of the ice field surrounding her tower. On the right side of the room was a desk with multiple tomes on various subject, all of which Twilight had mastered. Flanking the desk on both sides were bookshelves filled with Twilight's most important books. Most notable of these was the Arcane Dogma which Twilight had been studying profusely over the past forty-two years. As long as she followed the rules bound within the pages of the book everything would be alright. At least Twilight hoped so.
The door to the room swung open, allowing access to the room occupant and her guest. "And this is my room. It's not much, but it's how I like it."
"You've made quite a home for yourself, Twilight." Twilight nodded in acknowledgement.
"Your room is just down the hall from mine." Twilight closed the door to her quarters and lead her ex-mentor down the hallway, past three doors.
"It's not much, but it's something." She pushed open the door. Inside the room was a simple bed surrounded by nothing but library shelves. "I never intended to have visitors, so I'm not really equipped to deal with guests." Twilight said sheepishly.
"Oh, I don't mind, I've slept with less." Celestia gave Twilight a grin. "Did I ever tell you the time Luna stole all my furniture?"
"No, I don't believe you ever did." Twilight looked at her ex-mentor. "Why did she do it?"
"I told her that the moon was actually made of candy. She spent months planning on how to eat it. Dad found out and scolded her for being childish. Luna was so upset that she didn't sleep for days. She thought it would be funny to take all my stuff and make me sleep on the floor. For the first few days I couldn't get a good nights sleep, so I just had the servants make me another bed. Sister tried to get revenge on me in other ways but mum caught wind of her schemes and told her to play nice. I'm still expecting her to get revenge but she was always one for patience when it came to revenge."
"I've never heard you talk about your childhood before." The younger alicorn spoke. "You two sounded so innocent."
"That's because we were only foals, barely four-hundred years old. We hadn't yet had responsibility handed to us." Celestia looked down at the ground, memories of her childhood flooding back to her. She let out a small chuckle. "I remember once her and I got into the kitchens and ran off with the chefs personal sweet stash. He spent hours interrogating the kitchen staff. His face when he found out it was us was priceless. He even asked my father for a royal decree to ban princess' from his kitchen."
Twilight giggled. "I'm guessing he said no."
"Exactly!" Celestia pointed a hoof to the air in victory. "He said that no matter what, the castle was our home and we were allowed to go anywhere." The alabaster alicorn smiled. "And the same applies to you. You don't have to return to your castle in Ponyville. You can stay with Luna and I in Canterlot. We can even raid the kitchens together."
Twilight looked up at Celestia and smiled sadly. "I would love to, but I can't."
"We don't have to go now, Twilight. We can leave in the morning."
"I-I'll think about it. But for now, I just need time to think. Goodnight Celestia." Twilight gave her old teacher a hug and walked off to her room. Celestia watched her enter her room before walking into her own and closed the door behind her.
The solar diarch looked at the room she had been given. As expected, there were books on multiple subjects, organised in such a way that only Twilight could understand. The walls were completely covered by the shelves and whatever gaps were in between the shelve had had books slid between them. While the room was relatively comfortable, something felt off. She would have to keep an eye out.
Little did Celestia know the tower was also keeping an eye on her as well. Normally the tower would have dealt with the intruder already, but master had told it to cause no harm to this one. Master was very particular with her words and masters word was law. Celestia looked behind her, feeling a cold chill run down her spine. This place was giving her the creeps.
She plonked herself down onto the bed, all her exhaustion hitting her at once. Her muscles relaxed and her eyelids got heavy as sleep claimed her. "Goodnight Twilight." She whispered to herself before her thoughts were lost to the embrace of sleep.
Twilight levitated another book from the library into the small alcove. She had search over half the books in the castle last time she had been here, but none had had anything pertaining to the ancient writing. She was busy going through the books she hadn't gone through yet, but still found nothing. "What are you?" Twilight lowered the book and glared at the carvings. "You must be here for a reason, so why isn't there anything written about you?"
Twilight tossed yet another book aside, carefully of course, and grabbed another book in her magic. She was starting to get frustrated with this thing. Normally she would at least have a hint to what she was studying by now, but this thing was a complete and utter mystery. It was like it didn't even exist in the first place.
The more time went by, the more impatient Twilight became. If this went on much longer, she might have another episode. She went through book after book, each one containing no information of the mysterious words. She was so caught up in her study that she didn't even notice two pegasi as they walked in.
"Hey, Twilight. We found all our rooms. Nothing good, just a bunch of dust and cobwebs." Rainbow announced. Twilight dropped the book she was reading, no longer caring about being careful, and turned to face the two.
"That it? Nothing ground breaking or surprising?" Twilight asked, genuinely surprised. She thought at least half the rooms would have interesting stuff in them.
"Well, we did find one room with a peep hole to a bedroom but nothing we thought was important." Fluttershy spoke in her usual half shy voice. Twilight tapped her chin in thought.
"No, that doesn't sound important." She sighed in frustration. "Hopefully the others are having more luck."
Applejack walked into the room frowning. "Not unless ya think a sack of rocks are important." Pinkie bounced in behind her with a happy grin on her face. In her mouth was a large hessian sack of rocks. Rarity followed behind her, a deep frown on her face. She looked like she had slept in a cellar. Dust covered her everywhere. "So did ya find anythin' interestin', Twi?"
"Only this glyph, but I'm not able to make any sense of it unless I find a way to translate it." Twilight kicked at a rock lying on the floor, sending it skittering across the floor. Pinkie's eyes followed the rock with glee. The pink pony pounced on the rock like a feline and began bating at it with her hoofs, eliciting soft meows occasionally. The group ignored her and focused on the glyph.
"Well have you tried reading it?" Fluttershy whispered curiously.
"Were you not listening, darling. She said she can't translate it, otherwise she'd just be reading gibberish." Rarity sneezed, a puff of dust shooting from her nose like a dragon. "Curse, I'm going to need a full spa treatment just to get rid of this dust." Rarity wiped her nose to remove some of the dust caught in her nostril.
"That's it! Rarity, you're a genius." Twilight jumped forward and hugged the unicorn.
"Thank you dear but I talk about the spa all the time. Why does this make any difference?" The fancy unicorn tilted her head.
"Not the spa! The other thing. Maybe we don't have to translate it. I read in the Canterlot archives a while ago that many incantations from long ago had no translation into Equestrian so they had to be spoken in their original tongue. If these words are from an ancient society, then it would make sense that they couldn't be translated." Twilight was in full research mode.
"So then we should just give up then. No point tryin' to translate somethin' that can't be translated." Applejack turned to leaved.
"That is where you'd be wrong." Twilight turned towards the carving. "If I'm correct then this would in fact be a spell, so reading the words should be enough to show their purpose."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Fluttershy shrunk back. "Maybe we shouldn't mess with it."
"There's nothing to worry about. Verbal incantations are quiet primitive compared to modern spells. The most I've ever heard of one of these spells doing is assisting in plant growth. For a more powerful spell you would require unicorn magic, that's why other species have had difficulty with the arcane arts. Ponies are just naturally suited to use magic."
"So we just have to read the words and we can go?" Rainbow landed on the ground and fluffed her wings. "Then let's get this over with. I go some z's to catch up on and I want to catch them on the comfort of a cloud."
"It shouldn't be too difficult to activate the spell." Twilight scanned the carving one last time and closed her eyes. "Just try not to break my concentration. I don't know what will happen if I get this wrong." The rest of the group looked at Pinkie and glared. Pinkie was just about to blow into her tuba which she had brought in case of emergency but stopped when she saw all her friends looking at her.
"What?" She asked innocently. Her friends didn't stop staring at her. "Aww, fine." Pinkie chucked the tuba out a window that wasn't there moments ago.
They returned their attentions to Twilight who let out a slow relaxed breath. "Okay, I do not know what this spell may do, if it's even a spell at all, so be on guard." Twilight pictured the glyph in her mind, making sure she had all the sigils remembered correctly.
Twilight focused her magic into her horn subconsciously and began to chant. "Ver ju sandus! Jae zult bataan! Kai may Arftai tay dinaymi! Loz zaal wah gol!"
Celestia awoke with a start, cold sweat clinging to her fur. She was not one to wake up in a sweat but something had startled her. She could sworn she felt something holding her. She swung her head left to right, searching the room for anything that didn't belong, but she was the only one in the room. She noticed that the door was open and a shiver went down her spine. She thought to herself that it had been a dream but it felt too real to simply have been a dream and the fact that the door was now open scared her more than anything. Celestia didn't know why she did it, but she called out into the darkness.
"H-hello." Her voiced echoed back to her. "Twilight, Is that you?" No response.
Celestia pulled the covers up around her so that only her head was visible. She hadn't been afraid of the dark since she was a filly, but this place was just giving her the creeps. Celestia looked out into the darkness but nothing could be seen past the door frame. For five minutes nothing happened.
Celestia slowly lowered the covers, sat up and turned her body so that her hind legs were hanging off the bed, dangling just above the floor. She took a deep breath and clamped her eyes shut before jumping onto the floor. She had expected something to jump out at her but everything remained quiet except for the echo of her hoofs hitting the stone floor. She lets out a long sigh. "Pull it together Celly. You're acting like a scared little foal. There's nothing to be afraid of."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." A calm whisper echoed around the room.
Celestia spun around, her eyes darting around the room. "Who's there?!" She slowly walked backwards towards the left corner furtherest from the door. Her rump bumped into the corner bookshelf. "Who said that? Show yourself." Celestia saw something move within the shadows beyond the door. "I can see you!"
"Or do you just see my shadow." The whisper came from behind her. Celestia didn't even look behind her, she just ran out of the room screaming. "You cannot escape from me." The voice echoed through the hallways. Celestia took every turn that she could and before long she was hopelessly lost. She did even care, she just wanted to be as far away from whatever was chasing her. The alicorn ran down a long corridor which split into two paths.
She felt it whisper in her ear. "I think you should go left."
Celestia shook her head. "Not on your life." She made a sharp right turn. She grinned to herself but her expression fell as the shadows of the hallway morphed to form a large shadowy figure. She couldn't quite make out any figure in particular. It was something she had never come across before.
It let out a deep whispering chuckle. "Then how about on your life." Celestia skidded to a halt and tripped, falling head over hooves. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the creature. It was made of shadows, it's form constantly shimmering and moving. It had long thin legs leading up to its agile looking body. The shoulders widened quickly, ending in points. It's two arms reached below it's waist and ended in a set of hands with elongated fingers. Each hand had four fingers and a thumb. It's head resembled nothing that had ever lived in Equestria, being more oval in shape. She could make out any defining features. But it's voice told her everything she needed to know. This thing was dangerous.
The creature raised a clawed hand. "I really do wish you had gone left." It spoke in a loud whispering voice. Celestia shuffled backwards, rolled onto her front and got to her hooves before galloping off through the left hallway. "Much better." It grinned. "Wasn't that easy?" It charged after her, keeping a few meters behind her at all times.
"What do you want from me?!" Celestia screamed. She hadn't been scared in a long time, much less terrified. The creature swiped at her tail, slicing a hair or two off. The alicorn let out a shriek. "Twilight, help!"
"You'll be with her soon enough." The shadow let out a silent laughed, lashing at her tail one more time. The creature looked ahead at the end of the hallway. "Turn right here."
Celestia ran without thought. She was too scared to think and it didn't even register what words the creature had spoken. But nevertheless she turned right, subconsciously obeying the monster. She didn't know how long she had run for but her legs were starting to ache and her lungs burned for oxygen. Her mind was scattered, too tired to think. Occasionally the creature would say something, but it didn't register in her mind what it was saying, she just obeyed. She was about to give in and let it catch her when she saw a large open archway ahead, purple light shining from within.
Celestia ran ahead, knowing that it would be safe within that room. At least, that's what she hoped. She ran with renewed strength, surprising the shadow chasing her. It allowed her to slip ahead, even slowing down slightly to encourage the alicorn. Celestia looked behind her and saw that the she was pulling away from the shade. Only meters from the door Celestia leaped into the air, diving through the arch and used her magic to slam the doors shut behind her. She lay on the ground gulping in lung fulls of air, thankful to finally be able to rest. Celestia didn't know why but she started laughing between breaths. After running for so long, it was just good to be able to sit still.
The door began to creak open.
Twilight peaked one eye open and saw that nothing had happened. "You... have got... to be kidding me." Twilight got to her hooves and sighed. "Well that was a waste of time. Sorry about this girls, I really thought we would have found somethi-" Twilight turned to face her friends and froze mid-sentence. Twilight's piercing scream echoed throughout the ancient castle.
Before her were the her friends but there faces were contorted into expressions of fear. They had tried to run, but their hooves had turned to stone. It had continued up to their body before they could react and by the time Twilight had finished the spell, they had been completely petrified. They had been turned to stone. Twilight didn't know what to do. This wasn't supposed to happen, how was it even possible. Something snapped in Twilight's mind and she broke down in tears. She fell to the ground and curled into a ball, her body shook with each sob. She stayed that way for days and ever since that day, she had never been the same.
Celestia turned slowly, expecting the worst. She couldn't muster the strength to run so she just lay there, preparing for what may be her last moments. The door opened a meter wide and stopped. From the gap enter a cloaked purple alicorn.
"Ah, good. You're here." Twilight said chirpily. "Thank you, Vokun. You can go now." Twilight's eyes never left Celestia.
From behind her, Celestia heard something move. Lazily, she turned her head and saw that the shadow was standing only meters behind her. The creature bowed low. "Of course, master." The shadow evaporated and was absorbed into the walls of the castle.
"I'm sorry if Vokun scared you." Twilight smiled. "I asked him to bring you here quickly but I guess he took that the wrong way, somehow." Twilight lied. Vokun had done exactly as she had ordered it too. "Now that you're her we can begin."
"Begin what?" Celestia shivered, still exhausted from her run. She looked around the room they were in. It was round it shade with five pillars placed evenly around the room. In front of each one a statue covered with grey cloths. Celestia realized that she was resting in the middle of these statues and below her was a large arcane circle, full of mystic sigils and ancient runes. What was this room for?
"I found out some very interesting during in my... absence. For instance, the origin of the magic circle in the castle of the two sisters. Although I'm sure you know all about it, don't you?" Twilight's voice remains calm, only raising slightly near the end of the sentence. Celestia didn't speak. "You know, I finally managed to translate it. Do you know what it says?" Celestia nodded sadly. "What I'm curious to know is why you kept it around instead of destroying it." Twilight took a few steps towards her teacher. "Why didn't you destroy it?!" Twilight sent a hard kick a Celestia's ribs. Celestia screamed in pain as three of her ribs broke. "Well!? Why did you allow this to happen?"
Celestia felt tears flow down her face. Tears of pain and of fear. "We didn't need it after we found the elements. Discord was already defeated and only an alicorn could activate the spell so we thought it would be safe."
"Well you thought wrong!" Twilight screamed, sending another kick at Celestia's side. Another ribs broke. The white alicorn's eyes widened in pain. Celestia went to scream but coughed up blood as her left lung was puncture by one of her ribs. Twilight smiles softly at her teacher. "But it's okay, I forgive you." She leaned down and patted the older alicorn. "Because I'm going to make things right. With your help, I'll see my friends again."
Celestia looked up at her protégé in fear. Her eyes were flowing with tears and her mouth was dripping blood. "Please, Twilight. Think about what you're doing. P-please." She reach a hoof forward and caressed Twilight's cheek. "Don't do this."
"Shhh, it's okay." Twilight grabbed Celestia's hoof softly and hugged it. "It'll all be over soon. I'll make things right." She kissed her hoof lightly before lowering Celestia's hoof to the ground. "My work is almost complete and after tonight, everything will be right again."
Twilight turned away from Celestia and walked towards the door. As soon as Twilight exited the arcane circle it began to glow an ominous shade of purple. The blood Celestia has spat out was quickly absorbed by the markings. Twilight watched as the circle slowly changed colour, soon becoming a deep shade of red. "Twilight! I don't know why your doing this, but you have to stop." Celestia cried. "This isn't the way to solve your problems." The white mare felt her body heat up and her heart tighten. "Please! You must stop this!" She tried to move but all her energy had been sapped from her. She couldn't even find the strength to cast a spell.
"I worked a long time for this and I always thought I would have to sacrifice myself for this to work but I'm so glad you decided to come all the way her to atone for what you've done. It's kind of ironic. You convinced four warring species to unite to create a spell to defeat Discord and you never even used it Now you will be killed by the very spell you helped to create."
"Please... don't." The helpless alicorn whispered, her tears staining her coat.
"I'm sorry, but this has to happen. It's the only way I can see them again. I can't stop now." Twilight prepared herself for the spell. She had managed to translate the spell and everything was ready for the reversal. It was time. Twilight widened her stance, allowing her muscles to relax before closing her eyes and focusing her magic into her horn. "For your sins you shall atone and with this power, are condemned to stone!"
The arcane circle erupted with fiery red light, destroying every shadow in the room. Above the roar of the spell Twilight could hear the pained shrieks of her beloved mentor as her flesh was stripped from her body and replaced with stone. Her eyes filled with course rock, shredding her retina and blinding her before they too were turned to stone. Every part of her was torn apart and replaced with rock. Killing her would have been a mercy, but Twilight needed the spell to play its course.
Soon Celestia's pained cries died as her lungs were turned to rock and her throat became solid. The arcane circle faded soon after, leaving no trace of it ever having been there. Where Celestia now stood a perfect stone replica of the solar goddess. Twilight stayed where she was as a single tear fell from her cheek. "I wish I could keep you this way but no pony can know what has happened her. I'm sorry." Twilight charged her horn and sent a single bolt of magic at the statue, shattering it into a million piece, completely destroy her life long teacher. "Please forgive me." Around the room the sheets covering each statue began to rustle as the spell took effect. From beneath one of them a voice called out.
"Forgive ya for what, sugarcube?"