After Princess Celestia's mysterious death, Twilight mentally heads into the past to find out what killed her teacher. What she finds out changes everything she ever knew about the Sun Princess
The shocking death of Princess Celestia came and all of Equestria mourned. None could explain, either scientific, medical, or magical, could explain the utter failure of her body and her demise. After her passing, Twilight Sparkle finds herself plagued with answers of how and why this happened. In order to find out what happened, and prevent such a thing from happening again, Twilight use the same potion Zecora gave her during the vine incident to step into the past and find the answers she seeks.
Yet the answers are nothing she ever expected, and what she learns will shatter everything she has known about Princess Celetia and her thousand year rule since her sister's banishment.
Never before had there been such silence in Canterlot. The entire population of Equestria’s most important city had always had some kind of excitement that could be heard miles away. It may not have been as active, or loud, as other more popular cities like Manehatten or Las Pegasus, but it had a charming and exuberant life to it. None of those feelings were present this afternoon, except for sorrow and fear. Canterlot may have been known for the rich, powerful, and often exotic, but they were still a strong city with a long history behind it. Almost every family had a member that served in the Royal Guard or Army somewhere down the family tree. Mages and wizards of great power once roamed the streets. Wise philosophers of all kinds visited or founded the various schools that educated the young. It’s ponies had been through hardships from plagues to invasions, yet it had always had a united strong front.
None of that was present because the one pony who had lead them through all those times was dying. The very idea that Princess Celestia, who had been there since the first age of Equestrias history, was fading away just stunned the populus into a feeling none of them could describe. Princess Celestia had been their protector, guide, ruler, mother, friend and more all their known lives. Their very ancestors and the ancestors before them had known her. When you stood before her, you didn’t see a powerful alicorn or a princess or even a ruler. You saw the closest thing to a living god before your very eyes. A living godlike being of pure love and affection for all things good in the world.
Sure, there was Princess Luna, and slowly ponies began to see her in the same light, but she had returned only 10 years ago. They first feared her, even hated her upon the revelation that she was the former demoness known as Nightmare Moon. Yet, Princess Celestia gave her a chance and had forgiven her for her crimes. Equestria, in turn trusting their ruler, soon began to know her, respect her, and eventually love her like her sister. She was strong, brave, and held a determination none had seen in some time. She brought a conservative side of Equestria not seen since the glory days, and those that followed her shined under her moon.
Next was Princess Cadence, who had been adored by those of her peers having grown up with them like any normal pony despite being an alicorn. Many current adults growing up remember the kind and loving teenager who would tuck them to bed, read stories to them, and help them with their homework. Love was the word to describe Cadence, and even after she left Canterlot to rule the Crystal Empire, she was still loved to this day. The Crystal Ponies worshiped her for saving them from their former dictator, yet it was Celestia who decided that she would be best to fit the rulership there. It was Celestia who took her in when her parents died, and helped teach her love by giving her love in return
Then there was Princess Twilight, the newest of the alicorns and Celestia’s personal student. She was raised like a daughter by Princess Celestia herself, given the tools needed to face the enemies of Equestria and learn the magic of friendship. It was Twilight who saved the world over and over again with her friends, and established the new bonds that ponies now shared with the other races around the world. Yet who guided her first, but her mentor and second mother figure, Princess Celestia.
Each of them had grown into who they were because of Princess Celestia and her great wisdom. It was wisdom that had made kings and queens into legends and none was greater than the legend of Princess Celestia. None thought she would be taken from them, even in the darkest of times. She was always there to raise the sun, greet her fellow ponies, help those who needed it, defend the innocent, and establish just and fair laws for the land.
For a thousand years, and more, Princess Celestia had been Equestria’s guiding light in every possible avenue. Yet, it seemed even the sun had to fade one day.
Every corner of the streets was filled with ponies holding each other, staring in the direction of the Royal Canterlot Castle which was under heavy guard. Churches and temples of every religion were overfilled with prayers muttered by the priests and priestess who sought the divine beings above to cure their beloved Princess. Even those who didn’t believe in such things were praying for the first time or in a long time. A few, realizing there was no hope, only asked for the princess’s soul to pass on peacefully. Fillies and colts asked their parents what was going on; many couldn’t give an answer.
The entire city had fallen into an state of despair, and Twilight Sparkle could feel it all the way in Celestia’s royal chambers as she stared into the mass crowds in front of the castle. Never before had she felt so hopeless in all her life. Even at the worst of times from Discord’s turning of her friends to the Storm King’s near victory, she had held some hope that things would turn out for the better. This time her hope would go unanswered.
She turned away from the window to face her friends as they stood in the agonizing wait for the end. If the atmosphere outside was terrible, then the one inside was even worse. All Princess Celestia asked was that her sister, Twilight, and all her friends stay by her side as she waited for death’s embrace. There were others that had come such as guards she had known for a long time, advisors she wanted to say goodbye to, leaders of the other nations who swore to stand by Equestria even after she was gone, her attorney to finalize her will, and a priest to give her the last rites for her soul.
All that was left were the final goodbyes. Twilight walked over to the bed, taking note of the state of her friends. Fluttershy had finally ran out of tears to shed, but was still holding on to Rainbow Dash who was crying for her. He loyal friend never liked to show tears as a sign of weakness, but even this was too much for her pride to hold off. Rarity, dressed for the occasion, rubbed her eyes with a tissue as she held a hoof against Spike’s shoulder. Spike had been silent for a long time while holding Princess Celestia’s favorite flowers, daffodils, in his claws. The young alicorn princess could remember how often Celestia took him to her garden when she was busy at school and he was too young to be with her. They would often make crowns of flowers and pretend to be rulers of his own kingdom, laughing under the sun. If Twilight was Spike’s older sister, then Celestia was the mother in his life that he never had. Applejack had been silent in the corner, doing her best to remain strong as she muttered to herself. No doubt it brought painful memories of her own parent’s deaths when she was Spike’s age. Pinkie Pie, mane all the way down to cover her sobbing face, looked as grey and dull as a rainy day. There was no laughter or happiness here. None that she could bring.
Cadence and Shining Armor were by the bedside as well, holding each other as Cadence cried harder then Twilight had ever seen her. After her parents died in the accident, Celestia had raised Cadence like an aunt. To see her lose another family member had been soul crushing, but Shining Armor was there for her as always; and for Twilight when she needed her big brother to hold her. Flurry Heart had been left to nursery in the castle with a nanny. Neither of them wanted her here to see “Auntie Celestia” pass on. They would explain it to her after it was over.
Finally, there was Luna. Luna, who knew her sister the most, who owed her second chance to her, stood there holding the dying Celestia’s hoof as if it was her lifeline. Princess Luna had been desperate to cure her sister. She summoned every doctor, every magical expert, even offering a vast reward-later doubling it-for anyone in the world to save her beloved older sister. Yet whatever it was that was killing Princess Celestia, not even Discord could reverse it. When she was told the brutal and horrible truth that nothing could be done, Princess Luna let out a wail so loud that everyone in Canterlot heard it.
Even now, near the end of it all, Princess Luna looked like she had been banished to the moon again as she looked at her dying sister with tearful pained eyes. Twilight herself felt her heart ready to crumble to dust upon seeing her weakened and dying mentor in her final moments. Twilight had tried everything, even used dark magic a few times much to Celestia’s dismay, to find a way to save one of the most important ponies in her life. Princess Celestia helped start her journey into the mare she was today. She owed so much to her mentor that being unable to save her from this mysterious illness was just too much to handle. Twilight wanted nothing more then to freeze time, stay in this moment forever, because a world without Princess Celestia wasn’t a world she was ready to face nor did she want to live in.
Yet the only one smiling through all of this was the one who should have been afraid in the first place: Princess Celestia. She was still smiling with radiance eyes, yet there was a sense of peace and relaxation nopony had seen on her since as long as they could remember. If it was Twilight in her place, she would be scared to die. She didn’t know what came after and the thought of leaving her friends and family behind forever just... was unthinkable. Twilight knew every creature had to die sometime, it was logical, but not like this.
Suddenly, there was a small gasp from Celestia as she began to breathe heavily yet everypony else held their own. This was it. They all knew it. With her eyes slowly losing the light in them, Princess Celestia turned to those gathered before her as they crowded the bed. She gave a smile and nodded. “It’s time...”
“Sister, please! Don’t go!” shouted Luna, tearfully caressing her sister’s hoof against her cheek. “I cannot do this without you! We promised to stay together and go together! You promised, sister!”
“I’m sorry, Luna,” heaved Celestia, shaking her head. “It seems... I have... to break that promise.” She took in a final breath. “At long last... my mission... is complete...” Twilight tilted her head upon hearing that, but it seemed nopony else noticed as Princess Celestia’s eyes closed and her head went limp. There were shouts of her name, wails of horror, and more. All Twilight could do was stare as Luna sobbed onto her sister’s still chest and feel a sense of emptiness in her body.
A few minutes later, a bell from the tower of the castle rang, and all at once a great series of tearful moans echoed across Canterlot. Hours later the fastest pegasi sent word to all the cities and towns and they too would weep. In the coming days, the world would hold in mourning vigil as the most powerful and famous leader of their world passed on.
That evening, Princess Luna set the sun for the first time ever... but with so much pain in her heart.
Behind the waves of ethereal hair that flowed and bobbed as if moved by water, the princess smiled.
“I can see someone’s been practicing their spells.” After another childish giggle, Celestia lit her horn with a thought and a small wave of golden light flowed through the castle garden. It touched birds in their bird baths, the statues in their various positions, tall or small, the shrubs and bushes, and finally...her.
“Buuuut”, her voice sang as she spread her wings and lifted into the air, “you should learn to pick hiding spots that are better suited to avoiding detection spells.” She landed lightly, and when Twilight turned - with a gasp - Celestia’s hoof lightly booped the filly’s nose.
Twilight lost her focus, and the field that enveloped her horn fizzled out of existence, cancelling out the spell and bringing her back into visible view. When she did, the princess merely laughed lightly at the slightly cross-eyed state her student had taken at the nose booping.
“How have you been?” The princess asked with that warm motherly smile. A smile that always seemed to brighten up the room even if the sun was already out on a clear sunny sky.
Twilight blinked, snapping out of her stupor then smiled sheepishly at the princess. “Oh, I’m doing fine Princess! I finally found time today to practice that spell after Spike went to bed! Look!”
The unicorn filly closed her eyes, tongue sticking out from the corner of her lip as sparks flew. Twilight concentrated hard on where she wanted to be, and focused hard on the image of the place she wanted to appear at.
“Control your breathing”, the motherly voice advised from above, “you’re doing excellent after all this time. I know you can do it.” Celestia encouraged gently.
The filly’s ear twitched, and Twilight nodded. She exhaled lightly, felt her focus slip and decided to try again.
“Deep breath in”, Twilight complied, “slow exhale out”, her nostrils flared with the outtake. “Now, try again.”
Twilight nodded, eyes still closed, this time not scrunched in focus, but relaxed, calm and steady.
She pictured it. Moving two steps forward but without moving at all. She’d been practicing this for six months now. First with bits, followed by fruit, then with books, and now with herself. She could do this. The princess was watching, and she couldn’t mess this up.
“Relax dear”, Celestia noted the tension and with her voice it seemed to melt away. “Good, now.” She tried again. “Focus on my voice, and then, picture it. Picture where you want to go, and will yourself to be there.”
Twilight did as such, seconds went by and her horn glowed lightly. A field of light purple, almost orchid in color, began to form as sparks of aura flew off. She saw it. The place she wanted to be. Right by Celestia’s side.
“Ready?”
She nodded. Celestia merely offered a smile.
“On my mark then, 3...2...1..”
The filly flickered out of existence. Less than a second later she appeared right by Celestia’s side, and the princess could only smile.
“Excellent.” Celestia beamed as Twilight opened her eyes in surprise as if she’d expected her focus to slip.
“I did it?” She looked up to those magnificent magenta eyes.
Celestia’s smile grew. “You did it.”
Twilight felt pride swell in her barrel. She knew you weren’t supposed to act out in front of royalty. Her parents had lectured her to be on her best behavior despite it almost being a year now, but she couldn’t help it. She leaped for joy.
“Yesyesyesyesyes!!! I did it! I did it! I did iiiiiit!!!!”
Before she even realized it, she’d hugged the princess. Such a move caught them both off guard.
Twilight froze as she felt her blood run cold. Celestia remained still, wings folding back in place as she noticed the sudden rigidness of her little pupil.
Before the little filly could pull away, her lips moving to offer a hearty apology, a warm and feathery touched graced her back.
Twilight felt like a statue as Celestia’s embrace grew just a little. There was a low, almost reemy chuckle that sounded...happy. Relieved even.
It confused her, but her eyes moving up to Celestia’s face two feet above her didn’t.
“You did wonderful.” Celestia said with a warm, thankful smile. More thankful for the final breach of barrier than entirely for her student’s joy at success even if her smile was partly sharing in her joy.
“P-Princess I--”
“Ssssshhhhh”, a feather tip hushed gently. She shook her head, still smiling. “Don’t apologize.” She said, sounding grateful. “Thank you Twilight. I know you’ll do wonderful things in the future, so don’t you fret about this. Understand?”
Anxiety fading slightly, Twilight nodded.
They didn’t break the hug.
She still felt somewhat sorry, more at the brief look she saw in Celestia’s eyes, and also feeling that perhaps she’d still crossed a line.
-------
“I’m sorry.”
She blinked out of her stupor.
Princess Twilight blinked again, and realized where she was. Canterlot, the castle, the funeral. It all came back. The letter she’d got almost a week ago, the feeling of dread that built in the pit of her stomach, the tears Luna had shed, the tears sheand Spike had shed. The moans and groans of thousands of citizens, of many cities all across Equestria.
She remembered it all. All of it flooding back in seconds as she stood there, groomed, made presentable at the end of the royal ceremony. All while receiving condolences from other royals and rulers across the world.
Twilight stared into the eyes of the hulking Minotaur King and his family before merely offering King Crete a warm, yet sad smile, “Thank you, Your Highness”. Princess Luna answered for her, and they both returned his, his wife, his son’s and their wives bow with a bow of their own. “We thank you for coming during this trying time.”
The old king shook his head and as he did his horns that glistened when the light hit them. “Not at all, Princess Luna. Celestia was an old friend. It would be an insult not to emerge during this...” lips pursed together and he restrained the frown, “this event....”
“If I may”, a voice said and together the royals turned. “What um...what happened to Dear Princess Celestia? If it was an enemy nation my soldiers and I could--”
“Argus!” The walls echoed with the King’s voice. His son silenced himself immediately and bowed his head in pardon.
“Apologies, Princess.” Crete said to both. The eye not cloaked by cloth, uninjured, eyed the boy carefully before turning to both princess of night and magic. “He is young, forgive him.”
Luna composed herself, and offered a tight smile in response. “All is forgiven, good King.”
King Crete bowed humbly, and despite the fact he towered over both Luna and Twilight by a head or two heads respectively, his empathetic smile was warm and sympathetic. “We shall talk again after the ceremony.” Luna informed, and with another bow together, the royals moved to return to their seats as another group, deer this time, stepped forward.
“Princess”, the voice of the prince was light but carried a presence. The antlers were polished, his light brown coat almost glistened with the gold, green, and white robes draped across his back, over his shoulders, just barely touched the tiles of the floor. He smiled warmly to both princesses when he addressed them and with a step back, the buck graciously bowed his head and hovered his massive branching antlers over the floor.
“When the kingdom of Silvae heard what happened”, the buck began as he rose to meet Luna, eye-to-eye, “we were shocked. Princess Luna”, the prince and representative of his home looked Luna eye-to-eye at the same height, “Princess Twilight”, Xeglun turned to look at her and after one long second of staring into Twilight’s eyes, he spoke silently, only for them to hear: “Truly, we all mourn for this loss.”
Twilight felt stinging in her eyes. Luna, by sheer will, seemed to be better composed but the tension in her neck, while brief, was noticeable. “Thank you Prince Xeglun”, Princess Luna spoke clear enough to be heard, low enough to avoid the break that might make her voice crack, “...Thank you.”
He leaned forward per custom and kissed the lunar alicorn’s cheek with a kiss returned to his. Twilight blinked the tears away, and felt a peck on her cheek as well before a peck she returned in kind.
The royal family of Silvae bowed, just to watch them turn and take their seats.
As Twilight watched the final group of royals step forward, she let out a steady calming breath, and put on a calm expression.
She wished this was just a dream. ----------------
The sad truth was, it wasn’t.
Both Luna and Twilight stood side by side, their eyes focused on only the casket before them. Not too long ago, this whole place had been filled. Everyone from everywhere had visited to come and say their goodbyes, wish their condolences and, for those that had lived long lives and known her for many many years, shed their tears.
For a long while the two did nothing but stare. Stared right at Celestia’s slumbering form, both unwilling to believe their cherished friend, mentor, and sister was gone.
It hurt more than words could describe. Far more than they wanted to admit.
“...Have you--” Luna took a brief moment to clear her throat, as low as it was, she’d been louder before. But that was when other ponies and royals had been around. Then, she’d had to have been strong. Now...well, the ceremony had taken a large drain on her stoic mask.
“Have you said your last goodbyes?”
Last goodbyes, Twilight thought as she just stared into the glass and just blankly looked at the princess of the sun, not just her light but all of Equestria’s also.
“I...” she swallowed the lump, “I’m not sure what to say.”
Luna looked back and for a while she didn’t say anything. When she did, she only said: “Neither do I.”
Here, in this moment, silence was their best friend. A long, strained tension filled silence that mixed with all the feelings at the end of this long day, and settled in the bottom of the basin like stones settled into the bottom of a lake.
When that silence was broken, it was Luna who spoke again.
“It should have been me.”
The words sent a chill up her spine just as much as they startled Twilight, herself. Her eyes widened and her ears splayed. With a step back the young alicorn stared at her senior in horror.
Luna didn’t return the gaze. She was very aware of the look Twilight Sparkle was giving her. The look of disbelief, the shock at even the suggestion, but as her ears pinned back, all she could do was stare sadly at her fallen sister.
“Luna...” Twilight frowned as a horrible ache filled her heart.
“You know it to be true, Princess Twilight. The nobles and other foreign leaders wouldn’t say it at a time like this...but we know it to be true.”
“Luna, no! How could you say that! If you had died then Princess Celestia would be just as sad! We all would be hurt! She believed in you when she....when she was alive and she still does even now! How could you even think--”
“Of something that would impact our world much less?” She replied calmly.
And to that Twilight was left dazed and could do nothing but stare in bafflement.
Luna’s eyes closed and her nostrils flared with her long exhale. It was painful. Both this moment and the loss of her sister, but the truth was obvious. Had it been her to have died and not Celestia, the world wouldn’t be as heavily burdened.
“She was this world’s light in a way I could never hope to be.” The former princess of night said softly. “Do not be mistaken Twilight”, Luna’s slightly teary eyes turned to meet Twilight’s gaze. “I know my sister’s feelings to be of good faith....but if we are all to be honest with ourselves”, she looked back at the empty seats where hundreds of thousands of individuals; griffon, dragon, deer, goat, yak, horse, and so many more had been present.
“If we are to be honest with ourselves....our sister was a far better leader than I could ever hope to be. For a thousand years during my absence, she raised both sun and moon and maintained the peace. For a thousand years, she kept all of you safe while in the span of weeks, I tried to destroy everything we had inherited. Now...she’s gone. And that realization today, just makes the future more unclear.”
“Luna”, Twilight whispered. “I--”
“I know.” The princess offered a apologetic smile. “I’ll miss her deeply. And I know I’ll never match her, not in a hundred years, nor in a thousand. I....” she looked back to Celestia and felt her throat feel tickly and her eyes feel warm. “I just wish that had I known this time would come so soon...we had spent more time together.”
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in, Luna exhaled lightly. Then taking a step towards Twilight, and draping a wing over to her younger in a tight embrace, the alicorn offered her junior a small hopeful smile.
“Don’t fret. I will do what must be done. And you too I hope, will do what you can too.” Stepping away with a light bow of her head, Luna moved to the massive oak doors of the church.
Her steps strong, but her eyes full of sadness.
While Twilight watched the former princess of the night, the new bringer of the day go, she could’ve sworn for one brief second...if she had said one more word, Luna may have broken down completely.
Because anyone with common sense could see that even if she wasn’t shedding tears openly. The princess was hurting horribly on the inside.
Just like them all...
-------
Pacing. Four days had passed. Four days with only very little sleep.
Twilight paced and hooves clipped. Up and down, down and up, she circled the room that was her chambers and with every hoof step, the crystal floor chirped a sound of steps made of frustration, exhaustion, and concern.
Books had been strewn everywhere. Organization that Spike on good days, would spend hours doing, had gone down the drain since she came back from the castle in Canterlot. If Twilight were being honest somewhere in the back of her mind a hint of regret filled her at the mess she’d made, and the thought of asking her assistant and brother to help her when he was also suffering just as much as she.
“RRGH!” She stomped a hoof angrily on the ground and snatched up three different medical books. One focused on diseases that weakened the body’s immune system. Another was on poisons that could be concocted and effect the body with difficulty of being traced or tracked through magical means or enhanced medical efforts. The last focused on magical curses and hexes, spells that stemmed from outside equinity’s understandings of magic and dove into other cultures. Foxes, zebra, deer, minotaur, etc etc. She had taken multiple books from Canterlot, and brought them home to research upon while ordering several more to be delivered to her home from the libraries of Canterlot, Manehattan, Trottingham, Caroll Bay, and even taken a few herbology books from Zecora on her way back to Ponyville.
All of it was for nothing.
She found nothing from the books she’d read. She’d been reading for nearly 96 hours since she got back from Canterlot, non-stop. Half an hour of sleep could be summed up as her total rest. She hadn’t eaten much, had only drank what Spike offered her, and had only ate when he practically had to smack the book out of her magical grasp to get her attention.
But still nothing.
It was driving her into a corner, poking her with a stick just to be annoying, and infuriating her with every ticking second. She had to sometimes take a step back and calm herself before she accidentally, and quite literally, burst into flames..
Something, that Twilight took pride in, she hadn’t done in a long while.
“I’m missing something.” She whispered to herself. Her magic forcing pages to be flipped forward and back without stop. Reading the pages in seconds as they flashed before her vision. Skimming things she already knew as she’d read these books twice or thrice already.
“I’ve got to be missing something” Twilight whispered to herself, her voice frantic. Desperate.
Pleading.
The Royals were right. It didn’t make sense. She’d talked to every doctor that had examined Princess Celestia, many of the magic scholars, most of the members within the Solar Court, to see if there were any hints or signs, but there’d been nothing nor any lies she could find or detect. She’d discussed this with her friends on the trip back. The possibilities, the chances, but there were doubts.
Impossibilities.
It was believed to be impossible. You couldn’t kill an alicorn. They were immortal, considered beings of an entirely different realm, of a whole new world. To even transcend like she and Cadence had was a trying feat. Even the greatest wizard in the world. Starswirl, had tried but he couldn’t force it.
But,Twilight had reasoned. Just ‘but’ if it were true...then this changed everything.
Other rumors had been thrown also, Twilight thought when she tossed a book to the side and lifted up two more to take its place, “That doesn’t make sense...” she bit her lip and continued skimming.
It really didn’t.
Alicorns didn’t just get sick and die. She’d seen, watched, Celestia take fatal hits from Nightmare Moon. Hits that would obliterate the average pony, minotaur or whatever being you wanted to use in substitution to the hypothetical example. “It just doesn’t make sense”, she repeated, barely even a whisper.
And it really didn’t.
Paper rustled in the air as hundreds of pages were flipped, stopped at a certain chapter, a certain section for a second or two before the rustling began all over again. It happened repeatedly, not just to one book but to several. In just a few seconds, Twilight would open one book encased in her magic, find the exact section she wanted, skim it, close the book and turn her head to another book that was being held in her magic while she got other books that had been piled in the depleting section she hadn’t yet skimmed through.
Seconds stretched to minutes, minutes became an hour, and the more she looked the more irritated she became. By the time she’d reached the last stack of books, she hadn’t even noticed the new presence in her room. She was lost, desperately trying to find an answer. Something she could analyze, understand. Something that could make the ache in her dull with the touch of knowledge.
“...Twilight?” The voice was quiet. Filled with worry. Whoever it was, the crack they’d made in the door got larger and they took a step over the threshold but didn’t completely enter the room.
He just stood there, watching. Wary. Concerned.
She didn’t turn to look at him. Her ear flicked when she heard the door handle slightly tink against the crystal walls, but she didn’t turn to look at the little dragon. In fact hearing his presence in the back of her mind just solidified her reason.
She needed to find an answer, not just for her, but for Spike also. For Luna in case something like this happened again so they could work towards a cure and prevent this. For Cadence in case something happened, and what struck her mentor down didn’t take away her sister-in-law.
Twilight bit her bottom lip as her brows creased into a focused frown as page after page flipped by and she focused on the task at hand.
And just in case, something she never hoped would happen, ...if Flurry Heart falls ill also.
Hoofsteps echoed and Spike remained still, watching Twilight, noticing how frazzled her mane had become in comparison to how it was the day before. How unkempt her coat seemed, tinted with sweat, feathers seemed to poke out in odd angles from her wings, and her tail...well that was no better than her mane.
“Is she...?” Starlight asked and Spike’s eyes glanced her way as she peeked into the room he too was staring at. She didn’t say anything more, merely let those words hang.
Spike didn’t answer. Wasn’t sure how he could. It made him feel bad. Because seeing this- seeing Twilight frantically looking for an answer when he was acutely aware of her neurosis. It didn’t feel good. Not at all
And neither did the fact that he may have played a small role in this make the feeling of guilt go away either.
For the past few days now he’d been...avoiding Twilight since Princess Celestia’s funeral. He couldn’t look at her without thinking of the possibilities something may affect her. Just the sight of Twilight made him remember his second mother. All the times they’d shared with her, remembering the laughs they’d all had as well as the stern eyes when they got in trouble
It hurt. Back then during the funeral, he’d been almost numb. Before it he’d cried ‘till there was nothing left in him to cry about. It was one thing to face monsters of worldly destructive proportions, he was used to that by now and the possible consequences with it. But...they’d always come through things with everything turning okay in the end.
Always.
Whether it was Discord, some undead pony monster out for vengeance, Tirek, or something else they’d always come through.
These past few days? This was like a dream. A nightmare; one he couldn’t wake up from. One he’d only recently, just a day ago in fact, had come to accept as reality.
A book closed shut and three more took its place as Twilight’s search continued. Starlight looked at Spike and saw the mixture of emotions; guilt, concern, fear, and worry. Celestia’s death had affected the world, but there were two who it’d hit the most and for the worst. One was in Canterlot, and the other was right in front of them.
Taking a deep breath, Starlight moved to step in, till Spike’s claw touched her most forward hoof. He looked at her with his decision already shown on his face.
“...Are you sure?”
Spike looked at Twilight, watched her for only a second then looked at Starlight and nodded. “I’m sure.”
The unicorn offered him a small warm smile, then a brief comforting nuzzle. “I’ll be here if you two need me.” The door closed with a gentle click and Spike was left alone with Twilight, but she didn’t seem to realize he was there.
Twiddling his thumbs nervously, he thought of something to say. He knew she was aware he was there, from the way her ear flicked, she knew he was there. She was too busy shuffling notes or trying to find something to just stop or say something to him to make it veritable.
“....Um...” he cleared his throat and took a hesitant step forward, “Twilight?”
The alicorn’s left ear flicked but she didn’t answer. It made Spike wonder if she was partially mad at him, given he hadn’t talked to her in three days since...well...everything happened.
Four books fell lightly on the towering pile of books on Twilight’s right while four more took up their places from her left. Pages flipped aimlessly, stopped, turned a few more then after she looked, muttered a word or two, the book was deposited and a feathered pin began scribbling on paper. Hundreds of notes shuffled and shifted when she put the paper back down and continued reading.
The cycle continued.
“Um...Twilight...a-are you uh..” he trailed off. Not sure what to say. Opening this conversation was harder than opening up the subject that needed to be address.
He knew she’d be researching. He didn’t think it was this bad.
His eyes stared at the reflection of himself in the ground, wings folded to his side, unsure of what to say Spike remained silent. Just as lost as her.
“Just a little more time...” He perked when he heard her speak.
“If I keep looking for just a little longer”, he felt an ache at the emotion she was trying to suppress in her voice, “I know I can find something they all missed.”
Silence. Outside, ear pressed to the door, Starlight frowned, she didn’t dare make a sound.
“...Twilight, I um...” had to clear the growing lump in his throat, blinked a few times to stop the stinging warmth in his eyes, “I don’t think you uh you’ll find anything.” Spike said quietly, almost as if he hoped it wasn’t true.
Truth was, he didn’t want it to be true.
The princess of magic and friendship shook her head. “No.” It was more to herself than to him. “I know I can, Spike. I just need a little more time. A few more hours without sleep, I’ll take a break later....thanks for visiting though.”
It was a dismissal and he knew it but he didn’t leave.
“Twilight”, he tried again. No answer.
“Twilight.” He called, moved a bit closer, said it a bit louder. Still no reply.
“TWILIGHT!” Wisps of bright green flame soared into the air and disappeared into nothing before they ever touched the ceiling.
The pages stopped turning. All was still as no notes were written, no pen moved, no pages turned, everything sort of just froze. The air was thick with the tension and neither one of them said a word.
“...I’m sorry.” Spike sulked, looking back at the ground, claws clutched. “I um...didn’t mean to shout it’s just--”
“No...no it's--” she sniffled. A tissue floated over and while her back faced him he saw it dampen a smidge before it was tossed to the trash bin not too far away. “It’s fine.”
The books floated down and it was a long minute or two before Twilight let out a long sigh.
“...I just want to be careful. Y’know? I don’t want what happened to Celestia to happen to....to Luna or Cadence...or Flurry Heart--”
“Or you...” Spike added, quietly.
“Or me...” Another pause, this one shorter.
“I know.” Spike said, and he took some steps towards her, close enough to where he could rest his palm against her back and just left it there, comforting.
“I know, Twi...I get it. But...but you have to accept that what happened to the princess wasn’t something we could stop. You heard the doctors. They weren’t sure what it was that...they weren’t sure what the cause was. There’s nothing we can do. We just....have to accept that and try to move on. It’s not like we could go back and figure it out now.”
Twilight slumped, then sighed. “Yeah...” She turned, spread her wings and drew Spike into a rather warm and damp hug. “Yeah you’re right...” she said quietly.
They hugged. And from the other side of the door, Starlight felt tears blur her eyes. Till she heard a thoughtful “Wait...”
“Wait?” Spike parroted
“Say that again!” Spike felt hooves push his cheeks together and turn his gaze into Twilight’s eyes.
“Say wuht again?”
“Say what you said just now again!”
“Umm--”
“Spike! Hurry!” She said frantically.
“C-Can you let go of my face first?”
“Oh...” she smiled apologetically then let her hooves leave his face and her magic gently put him down.
From behind the door Starlight sighed and shook her head from where she stood.
“Thank you.” Spike said while rubbing his sore cheeks. “So uh what did you want me to say again?”
“What you said just now, about the princess.”
Spike frowned. “Twilight, I--”
“Please!” Pure instinct took over and she pulled the retreating dragon closer. “Please, Spike, please. Just...just say it again.”
The dragon’s surprised returned to a frown only for his eyes to look into his sister’s. A few seconds of silent staring, and Spike sighed. “Okay.” He was appreciative of the mood switch, not so much the direction this was headed.
“Which part?” He asked when she’d brightened a little at his concede.
“The part about accepting, hurry, quick.” Paper and a dripping feathered pen flew to her side.
Spike, now wary with growing concern decided to take his time repeating what he said. “...accept that and move on--”
“Go on” Twilight goaded, eyes widening as she stared.
“Uhh, okay? Um, it’s not like we could go back and figure it out now--” he paused, “Oh no.”
“HAHA! That’s where you’re wrong!” Twilight bounced, completely ignoring the stricken realization. Books came to life and floated in a circle around them. “Where is it, it’s here somewhere.”
“Twilight, what are you thinking?” His voice was wary, the door flying open and banging against the wall wasn’t even given a second glance by Twilight where Spike only gave a cursory look to see Starlight standing at the door, mirroring his expression of concern.
“I’ve got it! Starswirl’s theoretical spell on time travel!”
Spike sighed a breath of relief. “We can’t use that spell anymore though. Remember last time?”
Starlight winced. Only Spike said ‘sorry’.
“Oh...” she deflated, almost like a Pinkie. Then a second later, she perked back up, exactly like a Pinkie. “Wait! Zecora!”
“Zecora?” both Twilight and Spike said together.
“Zecora! Or, more accurately, her potion!” A book emerged out of the pile. “Found it! Hex’s potion: Rewind.”
In the distance as Twilight’s eyes read the details, Spike groaned a “Oh no.”
“YES! I have all the materials in the lab. I can make the potion now.” She got up. “Spike get the--”
A magic bubble appeared barring any process. “Uhhh, Starlight?” She looked at the unicorn a little ways behind her. “What are you doing?”
“Welll” she stressed with a nervous titter. “There’s um a good chance all this sleep deprivation coupled with uh the nation wide grief you might... just might be y’know, being a little delusional.” Although to be honest the statement sounded more like a question.
Blinking away stress, exhaustion, and sleep, Twilight snorted “Starlight”, she almost sounded offended.
She was.
“Please, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing. I’ve gone longer days without sleep before--”
“She has”, Spike confirmed.
“--so I think I’ll be fine using an hour or two to get this potion prepared.”
The shield didn’t go down.
Twilight frowned.
“Starlight--”
“I’m um, gonna side with Starlight here Twi. I know how you feel but, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”
Twilight’s frown flipped and switched to a hint of anger. “But it is. I used this potion before and I saw what we needed to do in order to save Equestria from the vine attack! If I use this I can go back and see for myself what it was that...killed Princess Celestia.” The room got quiet after she said that. “But”, her confidence fueled her words, “I can prevent anything like this happening again. To Luna, to Flurry, we could stop a unknown disease, guys!”
She watched. Waited for a reaction, saw Spike and Starlight look at each other their expressions worrisome, saw their frowns deepen and saw the look in their eyes say they didn’t believe her.
It hurt. But it made what she was about to do seem a little less painful.
Twilight sighed, the book she’d been holding in her grasp went under a outstretched wing which folded it tightly to her side. “Okay...maybe you’re right...guess I am just tired.”
The tense dragon and unicorn seemed to get a little less rigid hearing those words. Spike sighed first, Starlight however didn’t let up the shield. “Sorry Twi, but--”
“I’m sorry.” There was a flash of blinding light, like a camera going off and he was left dazed for several seconds blinking the spots away as both he and Starlight stumbled.
When either were able to see shapes clearly, Twilight was gone.
“She’s headed for the lab!” Spike called to Starlight. And in a pop the unicorn was gone.
-------
Stepping into the lab, gathering the ingredients off the shelfs, Twilight got to work. Normally, this potion would normally take an hour to do. If she sped things up, it’d take her twenty minutes if she used the shortcuts she could visualize while reading through the process of making the potion.
The door shut with a kick from her left hind leg and when it clicked the entire room gained a faint glow of turquoise that emanated from the floor. At least I don’t have to worry about Starlight getting in.
A pop, and Starlight was in.
“Aha!” The unicorn declared.
A pop and she was back outside.
Starlight blinked, slightly dazed from the sudden ban from the laboratory. A few seconds of standing there, in the royal hall where the map was located, she looked at her surroundings more stunned at what just had happened than anything. Holding back a scowl, she tried again.
The next time she was in, Starlight could see Twilight over a cauldron, black as coal it was, tossing ingredients in. The frazzled alicorn gave Starlight a single cursory glance before her horn glowed just in time for Starlight to see her take one more ingredient, possibly the last, before she was kicked out of the room yet again and deposited into the map’s hall.
“....”
She gave it one more go, and was kicked out again.
“Ohhhhhh, she didn’t.” She had. Twilight had fortified the lab with anti-teleportation spells. The type of spells that worked against magic and turned one’s spell against the caster or cancelled one’s spell entirely.
It took weeks to work that kind of craft into a place like this and, given how this castle was born from a magical seed gifted by the Elements, Starlight wondered how much of this was just a counter spell working against her.
The pitter patter of feet got her attention as Spike came rushing in. “Where” he huffed a long breath in, then exhaled a exhausted one out, “did you, whew, did you stop her?”
Grimacing, Starlight shook her head. “She came prepared.” Spike didn’t know what that meant but he didn’t like the sound of it.
“C’mon we’ll find a different way inside.” She turned on a dime and headed towards the library. With any luck she could find a way inside before Twilight was done.
---------------
It ended up taking an hour after all.
Potion done, bowl in hooves, spell cast, and the amount of time needed. Twilight prepared to drink the white liquid. That is, until a heavy thump reverberated through her lab’s door and into her room.
“One more time Starlight, c’mon you can do it!” Spike’s voice cheered.
Another slam, harder this time and the crystalline door’s structure fractured just a little.
The shaking almost made Twilight spill the potion.
The next hit shattered the door completely in a spray of fragments that littered the floor and send a cacophony of crashing glass through the lab, up the stairs of its entrance and through the halls.
Starlight cleared a path with her magic, Spike on her back just as Twilight chugged the bowl’s contents, no hesitation whatsoever.
“NO!” Spike jumped down but it was too late.
She’d already drank the potion. Now it was only a matter of time till it’s effects kicked in.
“Twilight what are you doing?!” Angered, Starlight moved towards her but then stopped when the alicorn took a step back and fumbled. Eyes fluttered closed and for one brief second, Twilight looked almost weak.
Spike rushed to her side. “Take it easy, here” he took her hoof and guided her to lay prostrate on the ground.
Uttering a sigh that sounded aggravated, Starlight composed herself and with a flick of her horn, magicked few pillows into the vicinity then hovered them to Twilight’s side.
“Thank you”, the alicorn said weakly. She only received a tight nod in response.
“Why do this Twilight?” She had to fight the brief flicker of dots and focus on the voices to avoid seeing the shifting shadows that loomed the background of her friends.
“I...” her half open wing floundered to her side, muscles tense but slowly relaxing either due to the spell or the exhaustion, she wasn’t sure, Twilight huffed a sigh as her head rested on her pillow and her friends sat beside her. “I just...I don’t know I felt like I could do something. That I should do something, to prevent this” her ear flicked, “or at least something close to this from happening again.”
Starlight’s narrowed gaze lightened, she exhaled heavily from her nostrils. “Twilight--”
“I know. I know.” There was a silence. “She’s not coming back. There’s nothing I can do to change that but...I just feel if I go through this”, her vision swam it her body was starting to feel lighter, “we can prevent this from happening again. I mean, the whole kingdom may not realize it but, everyone’s scared.”
Neither one said a word and the longer things stretched the lighter Twilight started to feel. Every now and then she could see it. She’d set the coordinates specifically the way everything had been instructed to the desired time she wished to revisit, and the more she laid here the more she saw flickers of it. Time and space contorting just like when they’d used Starlight’s altered spell.
“When someone like Princess Celestia just...I still can’t believe it, when someone like her just dies. It’s shocking. Without a reason? That’s terrifying. Can you imagine if what happened to her suddenly happened to Luna tomorrow? Or Cadence? Or me or any of the other leaders of their kingdoms and countries? Can you imagine how terrifying that’d be? The chaos?” Her voice shook as she spook and she felt Spike’s grip tighten.
She hadn’t even realized she was shaking.
“I can’t just sit here and act like we’ll all get over this eventually. Maybe we will, but whatever took Princess Celestia away, needs to be looked into. I...I don’t want this to happen again.” She could barely hear her own voice now. There felt like a disconnection between herself, like she wasn’t even in her own body anymore. “I just...need to see this through.”
From between the waves of her vision she noticed the fading and flickering images of multiple Spikes and multiple Starlights look at each other. Their expression was the same. Across every platform, like a cracked glass where multiple versions of the two showed, some different, some the same in appearance, they turned and offered her a smile.
“Okay.” Starlight nodded and half a second later hundreds of her, just like her, nodded also.
“We’ll stay here till you get back.” Spike said, warm and comforting.
Before Twilight passed out and felt the world drop away from her, she smiled. And the tears that had been building up in her eyes, slowly slid down her cheek, and left stains on both sides.
Just like before, Twilight found herself in a void of white. She could sense nothing around her nor inside of her. It was as if she didn't exist on any known plane. A vast emptiness filled with the hollow existence of time and space. It had freaked her out the first time she did this all those years ago, but now she was too determined to even think of fear.
Slowly, reality began to form. Lines and colors of the past finally started to come into shape. Twilight felt her insides slowly turning as she shut her eyes to handle the dizziness. When it felt like all was still again, Twilight lifted her eyelids to a familiar scene that had confused her greatly. She had been here before. The ruined castle throne room. The night sky with the stars burning brightly above. The marks of battle from deadly spells mixed with feathers of white and black. How could she forget the sight of the two powerful beings locked in deadly conflict that decided the fate of not only Equestria but also the world?
This was the first appearance of Nightmare Moon as well as her banishment.
Why am I here? She wondered, rubbing her head. She had designed the spell portion of the potion to send her back to the time where Celestia received the means of which caused her death. She had expected to be sent back a few weeks, months, even a year or two. So why am I one thousand years in the past?! Did I make a mistake?
Before she could ponder further, a sharp cry of pain sent a chill down her spine followed by a harsh and sinister laugh echoing with it. Looking up, Twilight panicked upon seeing Princess Celestia's body fall from the sky and land with a deepening crunch. Even though she knew that this Celestia was not only a vision from the past, therefore unable to feel or hear her, Twilight rushed to her anyway.
Just seeing her mentor, somewhat alive after everything that had happened, drove the invisible alicorn to tears as she sat beside the downed princes. Gently, Twilight tried to touch her. To even feel just one feather from those great white wings, only for it to pass through like a ghost. That's right... this is just a vision... I'm not really in the past...
Of course, she knew the Princess was alright. She had lived for over a thousand years afterward. Until recently...
Twilight watched as Princess Celestia opened her eyes and stood up, staring into the night sky where the insane alicorn continued to laugh. "Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these!" With her horn glowing, Princess Celestia turned around and began to levitate a hidden loose rock under the ground of the throne room. It opened up, revealing a mechanical stone pillar with a center rock on top. It's arms held five different colored gems that Twilight recognized immediately.
The Elements of Harmony. Even those couldn't save you, thought Princess Twilight. It had been Pinkie Pie's idea, and it was a brilliant one too. The Elements were some of the most powerful magic in Equestria with the ability to heal as well as destroy evil. Despite the Tree of Harmony needing them, it was a risk they were willing to take. Discord held off the vines as long as he could for them to use them on the Princess. Yet, to everyone's dismay, it didn't work. If the most powerful magic of friendship and harmony couldn't save Princess Celestia, what could have?
Summoning the one hidden in the center stone, the Element of Magic, Princess Celestia began to circle it around her along with the other Elements until they were one strip of rainbow. An ethereal light of warmth and power began to shine from Princess Celestia as she summoned all the power she could from the Elements and flew towards Nightmare Moon.
The two sisters, one of dark and one of light, stared down the other before summoning their power. Nightmare Moon's dark energy met with the golden power of the Elements as they stood locked in combat for a short time. Yet, even with all her strength, Nightmare Moon was nothing compared to the power of friendship. She screamed in defiance as the Elements overpowered her, sending her far into the sky. The beam of light continued heading towards space until it reached the moon. A ring of rainbow energy erupted from it as slowly the shape of the Mare On The Moon began to take place.
The prison where Nightmare Moon would rest in for over a thousand years until the time came for Twilight and her friends to face their destiny. It was here that her first trip to the past ended, but the young alicorn saw that she was still standing and not back in her lab. Wait, what's going on?
She watched as Princess Celestia slowly descended to the ground. The Elements were now the six stones she first saw them as during her first trip to the castle. "Oh, Luna..." whispered Celestia as she gasped for breath. Tears flowing down her cheeks as her mournful eyes stared into the moon. "Why didn't I see it? Your pain...Your loneliness...What sister am I to ignore your feelings for so long?"
Closing her eyes, Princess Celestia began to weep. More so than any other time Twilight had ever seen her. It was the first time she had seen Princess Celestia look so...defeated despite winning a victory. Looking up, Twilight wondered if she would feel the same way if she had to banish Shining Armor, or Spike, or any of her friends. Could I even do it in the first place?
Twilight wanted nothing more than to hug her mentor, but she would just phase past her. Instead, she only shed a tear.
Then the crying stopped. Celestia's eyes widened as she placed a hoof over her stomach and her mouth. Confused, Twilight moved in closer for a better look. Slowly, Celestia removed her hoof and saw something that made both her and Twilight gasp in horror.
It was where Nightmare Moon has stuck Celestia with her spell. Right there, on the very spot, was a dark and pulsing purple bruise that was spreading throughout her once white coat. Her veins could be seen from the wound, slowly turning from red and blue to pitch black. A thick ooze of pus was slowly beginning to form around it. Twilight had never seen such a thing before and from Celestia's horrified view neither did she. Whatever spell that Nightmare Moon had used, it wasn't just one that caused immediate pain, but seemed to have an after effect as well.
"Hnngh," Princess Celestia moaned as she began to cough into her hoof, fresh tears pouring from her eyes. Only these were of pain, instead of sorrow. When she removed her hoof, she gasped upon seeing what lay on it.
Twilight stood there in horror as she noticed it too.
It was blood.
Celestia's blood.
Eyes rolling into the back of her head, Princess Celestia fell to her side and was silent.
"Princess!" a voice shouted, but it was not Twilight's. She was still in shock before noticing a group of ponies making their way into the throne room. A good number of them were guards in the royal armor, but it looked much older and crafted with bronze instead of the golden steel they were known for in her time. Two individuals, however, stood out that she recognized instantly.
The first was a female pegasus in silver like armor carrying a bloody spear in her hooves. The scars around her purple coat and limbs were also slightly bleeding, but nothing looked fatal. Her mane was ocean blue with a streak of white lightning down the middle, similar to her cutie mark which showed white lightning splitting a rock. The pegasus landed next to the princess and started checking her pulse with halted breath while her fellow guards searched the area.
The other individual was a male unicorn, dressed in a black and red hooded robe with blue rune marks on them. It was ruined by the dust and burned marks from spells that decorated it's once illustrious look while ripped in some areas that showed his ash grey coat. His mane was long and black, covering one side of his face that was scared from something sharp. A familiar medallion hung around his neck that showed the sun and moon circling a magic circle with a pentagram in the middle. Twilight had seen it many times before in the National Museum of Equestria. It was the Medallion of the Archmage, the advisor, and keeper of all mystical and arcane lore. One of Princess Celestia's most essential advisors before one of them sought to betray her years ago, and she ended the position permanently.
Calibrating her brain, Twilight realized that the two before her were some of the most critical ponies in history. The pegasus was none other than Captain Thundralot, the first female Captain of the Royal Guard who held the peace through valor and determination during the months following Luna's fall. She would play a big part in the formation of the E.U.P. Guard which would be the first peacekeeping army of Equestria. The unicorn, if her memory served her correctly, was Archmage Nightwish, who had been one of Celestia's greatest advisors until his mysterious suicide. Princess Celestia once said everything she was she owed to him.
"Captain Thundalot, is she okay?" Archmage Nightwish asked, staring at his ruler's fallen form with wide eyes.
"She lives, but her pulse is getting weaker," the captain answered. "Something is wrong."
"Turn her on her back, she may have been injured." The two proceeded to do so, only to gasp at the strange wound that was now on halfway across Celestia's chest. Twilight took this moment to observe it's pulse dark aura and the poison like qualities it was spreading. Her brain tried to come up with something to answer what this sort of dark magic was, but nothing came to her organized mind. Even the section where she kept King Sombra’s experiments on dark magic held no answers
"Wh-what in the Sun and Moon's name is this?" Thundalot asked, looking ready to puke. "I've seen dozens of wounds, both magical and martial, but never something like this."
"It's dark magic, but I do not know what kind," Nightwish muttered, as he spread his magical aura over the strange wound. "Any signs of Princess Luna?"
"No, but I have questions for her," Thundalot growled, as she looked around. "Causing everything to suddenly become night? Having her own guards attack us? Not to mention all that fighting we saw in the sky against Princess Celestia? I've lost good ponies this day, and I want answers!"
"Perhaps Princess Celestia will answer them for us," Nightwish answered, as he motioned for three unicorn guards to come over. "Help me get her to the hospital wing. I can work better there."
They nodded as the four of them lifted the limping princess up into the air and slowly exited the throne room. One of the other royal guards rushed over to Captain Thundralot and saluted, "Ma'am, we can't find Princess Luna anywhere, but there are great signs of a battle." He then looked upwards at the moon. "And there is that."
Captain Thundralot looked up as well. "That's never been on the moon before..."
"Looks creepy," a guard replied to Twilight's right.
"For now, have the entire castle under guard. Find any survivors of the Solar Guards from the surprise attack and aid them. If you find any Lunar Guards, kill them or capture them. I want to know what the hay happened. Nopony else is to enter or leave unless I say so, understood?!" Captain Thundralot ordered which got her a salute and numerous "Yes Ma'am!" in return. "Good, move out!"
Twilight stood there in the center of the ruined throne room. Trying to process what had happened while Thundralot flew out of the room. Princess Celestia never told her about any of these events, nor had any history book. She was witnessing something that history often didn't talk about: the first few days after the banishment of Princess Luna. Before she found the book about Nightmare Moon, history only mentioned that Princess Celestia had a sister who died a long time ago. When Twilight asked one time during her early fillyhood, Celestia just looked sad and said she didn't want to talk about it.
It was only after she found the book about the Tale of Nightmare Moon did Twilight find out the truth. Even though Princess Celestia denied it, and sent her off to Ponyville, she had always been hoping for Princess Luna to return. Thanks to Twilight and her friends as the new Elements of Harmony it became possible. Needless to say, everyone around the world was shocked by her return, and the truth of her so-called "death." It led her to be distrusted until Luna managed to win their hearts over time.
Although, Twilight though with a frown, even now there are those that distrust her.
Princess Luna wasn't kidding in all honestly when she said Equestria would have preferred if she died instead of Celestia. She had only been back a few years since being cured by the Elements, but there were still those who feared her as Nightmare Moon. Even now, rumors were saying she killed her sister in secret to assume sole leadership.
And yet, if what she was seeing was true, then there might have been truth to it.
But how does all of this tie to Princess Celestia's death in my time? Does it have to do with that wound? Twilight though and a horrifying thought came to her. If the injury... really is dark magic... and it caused Celestia's death after all these years of building up...
That would mean Princess Luna was responsible for it all those years ago. She had read that some wounds could shorten the life spans of ponies and there was no telling what dark magical ones could do. She recalled the funeral, and how Princess Luna did her best to stay stoic and calm under all the sorrow underneath. Even now, long after Celestia was placed in her tomb, did it seem that Luna was struggling to keep it all in. If she knew that she was responsible for all of this...
Shaking her head, Twilight pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She was jumping to conclusions. She had to see the rest of what was going on. To that end, she followed Thundralot as fast as her wings could fly her.
***
The battle that Thundralot had been talking about between the Royal Guards could be seen everywhere. Guards, servants, maids, advisors, and more could be seen struggling to get help for their injuries or were being piled up with the rest of the dead. Twilight couldn't recall either Princess telling her about this, but then again they often avoided it. More questions and still fewer answers, Twilight thought as she did her best to hold in her tears for the lost. Even though they had been dead for over a millennium in her time, it still was sad to see so many lives lost. How long had Luna been planning this?
Princess Luna told her that the resentment for her sister hadn't started until after their failure to save the Crystal Empire. If Twilight had her dates right, that was over forty years ago by now. What words or promises did she use to turn the entire Night Guard to her side during her coup? What would have happened if she had succeeded? No, I know what happens. I saw it when I was fighting Starlight in time, thought Twilight with a shiver. Just thinking of such a cold, dark and sunless world with her friends submitting themselves to her rule. If the carnage she was seeing was only a fraction of such a world...
Twilight paused in her flight to stare at small colt who seemed to be dressed as a simple page. His throat had been slashed open with his blood still leaking out of his pale body. His eyes were wide and dried tear marks could be seen from his face as a reflection of his final moments before oblivion. A guard gently closed his eyes and carried him to the piles of the dead. Just another victim of a senseless tragedy.
Twilight shook her head and continued to follow Thundralot, yet she could no longer hold back the waterworks in her eyes. It made flying harder, but she managed to make it to a giant door with a red cross on it. Thundralot pushed it open, revealing what looked to be chaos. Dozens of doctors and nurses were rushing back and forth to treat dying patients. Some were screaming for the pain to stop. Some were crying for their mothers. A few wished to just die out loud.
Whenever a pony had died in bed, they removed them to put a new one waiting outside or on the floor. The only times Twilight had seen such a scene was during the aftermaths of the Changeling Invasion and the Battle of Canterlot against the Storm King. Yet, they didn't feel as depressing or dreary as this. The spells the doctors were using to heal were outdated in her time. The techniques, from leeches to oils, were primitive with very little advanced equipment. Twilight knew over two hundred healing spells that could save nearly every life in this building, and she couldn't do a damn thing. She was just a ghost. An echo of the future trapped in an image of the past. And that hurt the most as she continued to see the horror before her.
Mops charmed with magic worked overtime to clean the bloody floors while some doctors amputated limbs with saws. A small pile forelegs, rear legs, hooves, tails, ears, horns, wings, and even bits of flank were piled in buckets beside the operating beds. A nurse wrapping medical tape over an eyeless pony. A filly begging his limp mother to wake up as nurse gently placed a white sheet over her body. A robed priest giving last rights to a soldier who was close to eternal sleep. All over an echo of orders, tears, and screams.
It was a miracle that Twilight didn't throw up, but she wanted nothing more then this nightmare to end. Thankfully, they didn't stay any longer as Thundralot pushed through a set of doors with golden crosses. There had to be at least ten doctors, robed in gold and red, surrounding a bed in the middle of the room. Even from her place in the sky, Twilight could see Princess Celestia being tended to as the wound continued to spread its vile blackness across her barrel. Watching with halted breath, was Archmage Nightwish in the back corner who Thundralot rushed over to without hesitation.
"How is she?" the captain asked with halted breath.
"Bad. She's alive, but its bad. None of us have seen this dark magic before, and I have all my pages..." he winced before continuing, "the remaining ones searching for anything that could help. Even in the forbidden section. Did you find Luna or Nightmare Moon or whatever accursed name she has?"
"No," Thundralot answered, shaking her head. "We searched, but no sign. Either she's dead, or she escaped. I'm hoping for the former."
"Can you even kill an alicorn?" Archmage Nightwish asked, shaking his head. "And to think we were just starting a golden age."
"We have to do something about the moon and sun. We can't let Princess Celestia do it in her condition, and we don't even know if she will live through this!" Captain Thundralot sighed and rubbed her head. "What do we do?"
"... we activate the backup summoners," Nightwish answered. "We made plans for this just in case. We don't tell anybody about Luna turning into...whatever she became and we do not tell of her coup attempt. We just say the princesses were attacked and are currently recovering, but cannot perform their duties right away."
"You realize there is a good chance most of the backups will die doing this, right?" Thundralot pointed out.
Shifting his hooves a bit, Nightwish nodded. "I do, but they took the vow, and they have to follow it."
"Fine, I'll get my best men to do it right away," replied Thundralot as she made way to leave, but paused. "If both princesses are dead, what becomes of us, Nightwish?"
"... I don't know."
***
Twilight waited beside Archmage Nightwish throughout the entire procedure of healing. Occasionally, one of his pages would come over and hand over a book or scroll which he took to reading like there was no tomorrow. Twilight read with him, hoping to maybe learn something of this dangerous spell as well. Yet nothing seemed to help as both she and Nightwish ended up with nothing to answer. Twilight could only stare at the doctors, bags under their eyes, who continued to work on Princess Celestia's still form.
She had also used this time to wrap around her head of what was going on. Princess Celestia never mentioned this in all the years she knew her. Was there a specific reason for it? First I came here with one question, now I'm here with a dozen more! Twilight thought with frustration. She wished Starlight was here, or anypony for that matter. Maybe somepony could see something that she was missing right in front of her.
A few hours later, Twilight saw the first glares of the morning sunrise above much to both her and Nightwish's relief. An hour later, Thundralot arrived yet holding so much pain in her eyes.
Nightwish saw her before closing one of his scrolls and asked, "How many?"
"All of them," Thundralot replied as she rested against the wall. "All the summoners are dead. Their magic completely drained them. We barely managed to do it. I already ordered the ones for the moon to get ready just in case."
"Send their bodies to their families along with a sack of bits," Nightwish ordered.
"Already done," Thundralot answered, before lowering her head. "I pray we don't have to do it again, but something tells me that even if Princess Celestia survives this... we'll have to keep sacrificing unicorns until she recovers."
"We have no choice. We need to keep the sun and moon going less we see the world fall into ruin," Nightwish said. He then asked, "Has word of what happened begun to spread?"
"Rumors are already spreading about what happened. Some are saying the princesses were both assassinated by a foreign government. Others are saying Discord or Tirek returned for revenge."
"We need to address the rumors as soon as possible," Nightwish sighed, as he rubbed his temple in thought before giving an answer. "For now, just say that the princesses were attacked by a suspicious and powerful individual, and many lives were lost. Tell them, Princess Luna has been killed, and Princess Celestia was wounded but is being taken care of."
"What if she's not dead?" Thundralot asked.
"Then we'll deal with it. If she is dead, then we don't have to worry about it. If she isn't, we don't know what other allies she had in this coup attempt. Maybe we can get them to act or hide away if they think she failed."
Thundralot was about to say something when one of the doctors working on Princess Celestia came forward which made her, Nightwish, and Twilight all stand up in attention. "Good or bad news?" The unicorn doctor asked.
"Good. I need something, so I don't crack," Nightwish answered.
"The good news is she'll wake up soon. I'd say in an hour or two," he replied before lowering his head. "The bad news is she that in three days she'll be dead."
“... what did you say?” Thundralot whispered, her eyes wide open. The doctor lowered his head in dismay before she forced him to look at her. “Tell me again! What. Did. You. Say!”
The doctor sighed as a tear dripped down his face. “Her entire body is failing her. Her organs are rotting, blood is disappearing, even her nerves are shutting down. Eventually, the dark magic will finish her heart or her brain. We’ve slowed it down using modified blood clotting spells and rejuvenation potions, but in three days or less the Princess is going to die. I’m sorry.”
He fell to his stomach and began to weep openly. “I’m so... so sorry...”
Nopony else said anything as the stallion continued to weep, not even Twilight who felt her entire mind shut down from this revelation. Princess Celestia, who she had known all her life, was going to die three days after her sister’s banishment? No, that’s impossible! She lives! She lives! Twilight thought, shaking her head. She closed her eyes and tried to think of the possibilities of what she was witnessing and how this was going to possibly playout.
One: They found something to stop the rotting of the body and Princess Celestia lived.
Two: They used something to delay it until recently in Twilight’s time.
Three: The doctor was lying.
Four: Someone changed the past just as she used the potion and she was now in an alternate timeline again. When she woke up, everything would be different except for her and she would go on some crazy adventure to fix everything.
Granted, that last one seemed quite impossible, but so was the fact that her mentor could be dead in the past but alive in the future. The only other explanation was necromancy, the art of raising the dead, but all tombs, scrolls, books, and more containing that knowledge had been destroyed two thousand years ago. Ever since Grogar the Cruel nearly destroyed the world with his abilities, every nation and race burned any hint of the knowledge of necromancy and put to death anyone who learned even a slight of it. Even Equestrian Law, which had no death penalty for normally any crime, stated that learning such evil magic was the only thing punishable by death.
Yet would we be desperate enough to do it? Thought Twilight.
“You said she will wake up soon?” Nightwish asked, doing his best to keep himself steady, but his wobbling hooves said otherwise.
“In an hour or so,” the doctor replied, getting up and clearing his throat. “We... we’ll let you know when she is ready.”
“Very well, but this is not to be spoken of by anypony,” Nightwish ordered, narrowing his eyes. “If even so much of a whisper of this is released I will have everypony in this room executed by my authority as Archmage.”
The two senior ranked ponies nodded to each other before slowly making their way through the doors where the hospital wing had calmed down from its earlier chaos. While the bodies of the dead still lingered, those who were wounded had been stabilized yet had a limb or two missing. Twilight, too occupied with her thoughts, continued to follow the two out of the room until they were out of the hall. Quickly, they made for another door and entered what looked to be a large closet filled with cleaning supplies. Nightwish than used a warding spell to seal the door in grey colored magic with a silencing rune on it.
“This is the end of Equestria,” Nightwish sighed as he sat down, looking down at his hooves in anger.
“You can’t just say that! We survived without the Princesses before!” Thundralot stated, stomping her hoof. “We just need to rebuild the council, establish the army, and-”
“Thundralot, do you not realize what has just happened?” Nightwish stated before he stood up and glared at her. “One of our Princesses has betrayed us and could be dead while the other one, who was betrayed, is going to die as well. Two ponies who the entire country has loved, adored, and even worshiped as if they were living gods will be no more. They have stood before us and guided us greater than any leader either of our three races have ever known for generations. How will the public react when they learn of what has happened?”
Twilight knew. She had seen first hand what chaos comes when both Princesses are missing or captured. It happened during the chaos vine incident and when Tirek had banished them to Tartarus. After each incident was over she learned of the riots, deaths, chaos, and panic that occured in every city and town. The only reason things hadn’t fallen into utter despair was because she and Cadence were still there.
It had been one of the most trialing times of her life.
“The reason we agreed to have the Princesses rule us is because they share all three traits of our kind. Earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn. The council worked at first, but it eventually started to form political parties, racial lines, and selfish politicians who were only in it for themselves. We have something very few nations will ever attain. Benevolent ageless monarchs who put their people first and themselves second. If that’s not the closest to having a living god to rule and protect you, I don’t know what is,” Nightwish said, shaking his head. “If they were to be removed, we would have to reform the council again which could take years to do. Meanwhile, other nations we’ve managed to hold off like the Griffins, Dragons, and Diamond Dogs could attack us at any moment. Princess Luna was one of the greatest military generals we had, but she’s gone as well from what I can assume. We also would have to sacrifice unicorns again and again every day and night which will cause the unicorn race to revolt or demand more for their greater contributions just like before.
They will demand more power and privilege for their sacrifice which will lead the other two races to argue and then we’d divide again just like before the Great Endless Winter! There would be conflicts, starvations, abandonment, anarchy! Our nation would collapse in less then ten to twenty years by my estimation!”
Thundralot just stare at the panting Nightwish. “T-then why haven’t we prepared for something like this?”
“I don’t know, I guess we were all too arrogant to assume that it would be this way forever,” Nightwish confessed as he shook his head. “If there was another alicorn this could be avoided, but I don’t know how one is made.”
“What about the Pillars?! Surely if we found them-”
“It’s been years since they disappeared and both Princesses declared the six of them dead since they went to stop the Pony of Shadows. Besides, two of them were elderly and would have died of old age by now.”
“Then... then what do we do?” Thundralot asked, her tone reminding Twilight of her friend Fluttershy in her lowest of moments.
Nightwish sighed and nuzzled his friend to help calm her down. “We talk to Princess Celestia... and pray she has a solution.”
****
The waiting for Princess Celestia to awaken was mind numbing. Both Thundralot and Nightwish waited in silence while Twilight continued to think on what she had learned; as well as the possibility of how in the holy name of Harmony was this possible?!
“Princess Celestia can’t die in the past,” Twilight said to herself as she paced down and forth. “It’s impossible. Even Luna isn’t dead, merely banished. I need to think of all the possible outcomes. Think, Twilight, just breathe and think!”
First, she had to look at the problem: Princess Celestia was dying. However, unlike in her time, she knew the reason was because of a dark magic spell from Nightmare Moon. A spell that she had neither heard nor seen before, despite having studied dark magic after the Sombra incident in an attempt to better understand it. She even used it once or twice in desperation, but made sure to not let it consume her. Did Princess Luna know of this all along? She said she didn’t remember everything as Nightmare Moon, but... could that have been a lie?
Did Luna know the reason why Princess Celestia died in her time? If they did manage to find a temporary cure, did Celestia tell Luna or did Luna figure it out on her own? Or was she just ignorant as much as Twilight was. She didn’t want to think that Luna knew she had killed her own sister a thousand years ago and neglected to tell her this during the nationwide search to cure Princess Celestia in present time. No, I refuse to believe it, Twilight shook her head to bid away all doubts. Luna was all but half-dead during the funeral. She mourned her sister like she mourned a part of herself. I refuse to think that Luna is that good of an actor to fake tears for her sister’s death, not when she loved her so much.
She pushed aside the dark idea of regicide to focus on another possible outcome. What if Princess Celestia knew what had hit her, and would tell the others once she woke how to cure her? That’s the most optimistic, but even Celestia didn’t know much about dark magic. That was Luna’s expertice, Twilight thought, wondering if her focus on such corrupting magic helped turn her evil.
Starswirl could know, but he was still trapped with the other Pillars by this point and believed dead. The other races weren’t close to Equestria at this point, so asking aid was out of the question. The Crystal Empire, with its vast magic and knowledge, was still under Sombra’s curse and wouldn’t return for another thousand years. A changeling couldn’t have taken Celestia’s place because when a changeling dies in a transformed state it returned to its original form. And the Celestia of her time was very much dead and unchanged.
Doctor Whooves, the time traveling pony in a blue box, couldn’t have save the day because he never went this far in Equestria’s past according to him and Derpy. Even he couldn’t save future Princess Celestia, stating this was a fixed event and he couldn’t change the timeline. Twilight asked him if he knew she would die all this time and he answered yes, causing her to blast him with magic in anger and refuse to speak to the Time Pony ever again.
Needless to say, Derpy skipped her house when doing her mail delivers soon after.
The more and more Twilight thought about the possibilities of how Celestia survived, the more insane they got. She left nothing out of her realm of theories from time travel, to aliens, to even the gods themselves deciding to let Celestia live. Twilight wouldn’t even be surprised if that savior back in Sunset Shimmer’s home visited Equestria and saved her like he did for others in that Bible book.
Because there was no way, in any shape or form, that Celestia could die in the past and live in the future.
“She’s ready...”
Twilight was knocked out of her thoughts when the doctor from before alerted Thundralot and Nightwish that the princess was awake. Putting her theories to rest for now, she followed the others to hopefully learn the truth behind this entire mystery.
***
The Princess had been moved to her quarters, or what remained of them anyway, where she had been staring at the wall with eyes that held both sorrow and regret. Neither Thundralot or Nightwish said anything first when they saw their ruler laying down in her bed. They kept their eyes on the blackish veins that were spreading across her body with the origin coming from the darkening wound on her chest. If the Princess was in any pain she didn’t show it save for the glace in her eyes, but both suspected this was more directed towards something else besides the wound. Twilight, for the life of her, had never seen the Princess look so distraught even at worst of times. Not when all of the magic in Equestria was nearly taken. Not when Twilight stood on the verge of death after Cozy Glow and Tirek’s near victory four years ago in her time. Not even when Cadence suffered a miscarriage with her second child.
It looked like she had all but given up on life.
“Princess Celestia...” Nightwish finally said, breaking the silence. “I’m glad that-”
“How many are dead?” Princess Celestia asked, her tone void of emotion.
The two ponies in front of her looked at each other before Nightwish sighed, “I’m afraid we’ve lost over half the staff from injuries and death. A good number of them betrayed us at your sister’s coup attempt. We’ve had to execute a few of them just to make sure the others are kept in line.” Nightwish bit his lip but continued forward. “Because of your... condition... we had to activate the backup unicorns. A total number of fifty are dead.”
Thundralot stepped forward and asked, “Princess, what the hay happened? Why did Princess Luna do this? Why did she try to kill you and take over Equestria?! Where is she now?! Is she dead?”
“No, Luna isn’t dead...” Celestia answered as she slowly sat up before closing her eyes. “You saw the figure in the moon that night, correct?” Her ponies nodded. “That is where my sister is. I used the Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon.”
“Is... is that even possible? Can you even survive on the moon?” Nightwish asked, eyes widened.
“The Elements themselves told me. She will live, but she will be imprisoned for a thousand years. When the thousandth year of this very day comes she will be free once more as Nightmare Moon,” Princess Celestia answered, tears coming down her eyes. “This... all of this... is my fault.”
“Princess, I fail to see how any of this is your fault when Princess Luna decided to betray you,” Nightwish answered.
Celestia looked into his eyes and shook her head. “Because I did not see the pain she was suffering from the ignorance of both myself and our ponies.” The others looked confused before Celestia continued, “I should start from the beginning. Of when this happened all those years ago near the end of our attempts to free the Crystal Empire from the Dark King Sombra. As you know, we took our armies to fight against the Dark King who stood strong, even despite our power, for many months. That was until we finally caught a break near the Cliffs of Diamondshale. Luna lead her forces there for a pincer attack, but she was caught off guard by what lay before her.”
Thundralot held her hoof up, “Wait a minute, wasn’t this the battle that caused mass casualties of civilians?” This made Twilight gasp and turn to Thundralot. She had never heard of such a thing in her books. “Thousands of innocents died, but Princess Luna managed to win a great victory that day, didn’t she?”
“That is both true, and not true,” Princess Celestia sighed, lowering her head. “Sombra was desperate for a win, so he created an armor that allowed him to brainwash non-combatant ponies when he’d started running out of troops. They were under his total command; mares and stallions, young and old... some of which were even the age of fillies and colts.” This made all three ponies drop their jaws. “All of them would fight and die in his name so he would preserve his empire. Truely, there was no sicker sight.” Celestia closed her eyes and rubbed her head. “The brainwashed Sombra soldiers tried to ambush them on both sides, but my sister knew that this was the only chance to save the war campaign so she ordered her soldiers to fight on. They were forced to kill them all, by the time we learned what had happened to them, rumors began to spread and Luna was accused of killing innocent civilians which soon spread back home. I figured such rumors would disappear over time as I was more focused on ending the war.”
Taking a deep breath, Celestia continued, “When we returned home in failure, the rumors didn’t stop. I suggested that Luna make less appearances until the whole thing died down and she decided to focus on restoring our military strength while protecting our borders from raiders and monsters. I focused on rebuilding the spirit of our country, but this would result me in becoming... very popular.”
“Why do you say that this is a bad thing? You are wise, kind, and a great ruler,” Thundralot stated.
“But my sister and I were to rule as equals, not one to favor the other,” Celestia replied. “There is a reason why neither of us took the title of ‘queen’. We agree to rule side by side, equally sharing power, but in the years my sister was away I grew to gain more power and... to my shame I found myself liking the attention.” Twilight sat down next to her weeping mentor who looked at her hooves as if they were stained with blood. “I loved the attention, the cheers, the smiles my ponies saw of me day and night. I became lost to it, and when my sister returned she saw me adored while she was ignored, feared, and even hated.”
“Surely, you can’t be serious! Princess Luna was just as-”
“When is her birthday?”
There was silence between the two as they looked at each other, tried to open their mouths, but froze in silence. Twilight could guess why: they didn’t know.
“Do you remember the Winter Solstice Celebration? Once called the greatest evening ball of the land? Or Night of Spirits in which my sister would lead the nightly prayers to the spirits of our deceased in the afterlife? Or the Dusking of Desire Dreams where ponies would write to Luna every year for a special dream to have for one special night?” Celestia asked and received no answers in return. “Few came to those days with less and less each year. Even I focused on the more added holidays ponies added in my name or during my day while she was ignored more and more. I could have done something...I should have done something!” The shout made all three jump back while those with wings flapping in panic. “Yet, I was blind to my sister’s pain. I told her to just try working harder. Yet even I didn’t see just how much pain she was in... and how Nightmare Moon came to be.”
“Who... who is this Nightmare Moon?” Nightwish asked, scratching his head. “Is she really Princess Luna? A spirit? Or something more?”
“I suspect it is the darker side of my sister’s mind and soul,” Celestia answered. “Alicorn magic is very powerful, but it requires the right mental and spiritual balance to maintain it. Should we slowly lose ourselves to our emotions and fall into darkness we lose control and become... something horrible.”
“So because everypony ignored and even feared Princess Luna, she became a manifestation of their visions of her,” Thundralot reasoned.
“I believe so. Her desire to have an eternal night most likely comes from the fact that her celebrations and nightly duties were not as loved as my day ones,” Princess Celestia theorized wincing as she pressed her hoof against her pulsing wound. “Her anger and hatred for me, for all, was so much... that it seems she was determined to kill me... and has succeeded.”
“... so you know?” Nightwish whispered, lowering his head. “Is there anyway to save you? Equestria will fall with both you and Princess Luna gone.”
Twilight held her breath, hoping to hear the words that her mentor indeed had a way to save herself. Yet to her shock, and horror, Celestia shook her head. “No... I fear that...I am going to d-die soon.”
“Then... all is lost...” Thundralot whispered, closing her eyes as a few tears came down. “Princess, I’m sorry. I failed to protect you... I wish it was me that was dying not you.”
“Thundralot,” Celestia whispered, drawing her closer for a hug. She rested her head on the smaller mare’s mane and nuzzled. “This is my fault. In some ways, I accept this as my punishment. I helped bring this disaster to my family and my ponies.”
“I disagree, but it is pointless now,” Nightwish sighed, shaking his head. “What shall we do to...prepare for your passing? Equestria will need some way to survive without you to lead it.”
Princess Celestia was silent before she slowly closed her eyes. “... No, Nightwish. I will lead Equestria, even in death.” This made everypony’s eyes focused on her. “In the forbidden section, there is a book on the top right shelf of section ‘s’ called Simulacrum. Bring it here.”
Nightwish nodded and left leaving a confused Thundralot and Twilight with the purple alicorn trying to remember if she had ever heard of such a book before. Not ten minutes later did Nightwish return with a black book with a strange white symbol on it. “Princess? What is this book?”
Princess Celestia looked at it for a long time before taking a deep breath. “It is one of the most forbidden alchemy books in the entire world. Created by none-other then Grogar the Cruel.” The shocked looks at her subjects, and Twilight, all but caused her to look down in guilt. “If any other nation, be it ally or enemy, knew we had this book they would come to war with us in a second.”
“How could you keep such a book of necromancers hidden from us all?! This is the type of magic that nearly destroyed the world!” Nightwish shouted in anger.
“This is not a book of necromancy... not fully at least,” Celestia answered, shaking her head. “It is a book on alchemy... specifically, the forbidden alchemy of creating a perfect clone of a living being.”
Blinking in a daze, Twilight could hear nothing but Celestia’s rising and falling breathe.
For one brief second, just like the day of the service, Twilight thought perhaps this was all a dream. That maybe, she was having a dream within a dream, nightmare in a nightmare and when she finally woke up from these series of nightmares all of this would be over. Celestia would be awake and alive, and this-- this invention of her imagination would all be over.
Shutting her eyes tightly, then opening them slowly, Twilight found herself still in the nightmare. All while Princess Celestia spoke of the book.
"The Book of Amassed Creation was created by Rodwell Churns." A brief pained smile of nostalgia flashed over the Princess' muzzle before it was wiped away by a wince of pain. Black veins throbbed and wormed their way upwards in a visible display along her dirt stained coat. "This book is our key to saving Equestria" the voice said with almost a whisper. "It was created from desperation, but served its purpose as it was intended... In Grogar's possession the book was used to give him an advantage. He crafted a means that could grant him the potential to create life from an empty canvas. It's why we struggled so much to face him. Even when he was beaten once another would take his place." Her eyes closed and a moment of pain washed over her features. Whether from memory or from the wound it was difficult to tell.
"Princess..." Twilight watched with tear filled eyes.
"Princess...why?" Thundralot couldn't help but ask.
“Sombra", was her strained reply. Her horn ignited in a wavering glow, Celestia raised the book and opened it, flipping through the pages. "It was Sombra that opened my eyes. In our battle for the Crystal Empire, I realized that there was a danger of my sister and I not surviving. There were many close calls between the two of us. It was a wake up call to the fact that, despite all our power, we were not invincible. We weren't incapable of fleeing death." she stopped as pages turned. "We could die." Her pale magenta eyes stared into each of her two most trusted as Twilight stared right back into the truth before her eyes.
"If both of us died, Equestria would be defenceless and leaderless. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed an answer to solve this." Celestia stated. "So I searched for one with my most trusted, and found it in the lost ruins. This book, is our answer" her voice said with no shake of belief or denial. Then the Princess closed her eyes and let out a pained sigh.
"With this book, you will be able to make a perfect copy of me upon my passing. It will show you everything that made Grogar such a dangerous sorcerer. How to copy my memories, how to perfect the clone's personality exactly as if I were there, how to mimic my reactions, my tics, my shortcomings, and even my thought process. All of it, here, will allow this simulacrum to act-- become me. It will grow, learn, adapt, change, and take my place," her eyes gained a mirror-like gloss and she blinked the moisture away, "until my Sister's inevitable return. And the hopes of all of us with her." The book closed, levitating in her bubble to Nightwish. The ash grey stallion, somehow even in his daze managed to take the book from his Princess in a brilliant glow of his own aura.
He stared at the book, seemingly dumbfounded by the Princess' proclamation, staring at the worn cover and also looking at the book in shock just as Thundralot and Twilight did in a stunned silence also.
He broke the silence with a "I...", his lips moving and brain kick starting in a valiant gallop to coax words into muzzle that could be coherent, "I-- that-- Princess..." he took a deep breath and looked up at her. "This is impossible."
The Princess frowned and with a subtle shake of her head, she disagreed. "The ingredients are all there. Everything you need. My heart and brain will be required in perfect condition before this. So...I will need to pass on...before this poison can ruin the only hope we have," the words sent a shiver and whimper through Twilight "along with the dreams of a better future."
"You will perform the ritual", her voice gaining a hint of hardness that stated 'do not argue'. "Hide my body once you have completed it. Ensure it can never be found, and then you will announce my sister dead- if it is not already believed by now. Say her body was too damaged to be viewed in public so it will need to be a closed casket funeral"
Tense, stiff legged, Thundralot nodded silently. Nightwish said nothing. His eyes closing in silent acceptance as his lips pressed into a grim and firm line.
"Announcing Luna's death will absolve her of her crimes, and allow the public to speculate of Nightmare Moon's nature. Will you do this?"
There was stony silence. Pegasus and Unicorn glanced at each other, both with neutral expressions, but clear discomfort. Thundralot nodded, but Nightwish was the one who answered.
"Yes, Princess. We swear by the blood of our Tribes and the allegiance to this nation, we will maintain Princess Luna's name."
Twilight sensed the presence of something magical, the hint of powerful magical energy lingering in the air as Nightwish completed his reply. Then, as soon as he and Thundralot bowed, the energy spiked, flared in a brief glow around the two, then disappeared.
Her eyes widened, A magical oath!
Celestia smiled, a familiar smile that tugged at Twilight's heart. One of acceptance, one of joy, one of relief.
"The final thing you must do for this procedure to work," her frown appeared briefly but was gone just as quickly, "is a soul." She continued before the silence and shocked faces.
"You will need a willing soul to sacrifice themself every century to ensure my clone's life will continue. The blood of a willing soul must be touched by her to increase her own lifespan. The only time this ritual ends is when these three conditions have been met."
"The first: Luna's return, meaning Nightmare Moon was successfully defeated. Second:--" she coughed, hacked then suddenly spat out an ink black substance.
"Princess!" The three moved in surrounding. Twilight rushed to comfort her teacher but found when she went to press her side against her for comfort, she passed through, coming out the other side.
Numbly, shock working its way up her eyes, hackles rising in alarm as reality rushed forward, she recalled something important:
This is real but it's not where you belong
"Princess please, rest. Your strength--"
"Is fading" the Princess replied weakly as a wet cloth was squeezed out over a pan and her lips were dabbed and cleaned of the substance in a glow.
"...Second,'' she breathed deeply, a faint whistle in the inhale, "when the Elements of Harmony return and the founding of their Bearers. They will be required to free my Sister and defend Equestria." She finished then paused to regain her breath. "And the third: a replacement for my clone."
"WHAT?!" Thundralot shouted.
Celestia could only smile weakly. "We cannot have ponies sacrifice themselves for a lie forever Captain. When someone component enough arrives, this lie will end with me. There is a way for a powerful pony, who can create magic, capable of becoming an alicorn. When my clone finds a suitable candidate to replace her, then she or he will become an alicorn as well. After all, the clone can finally die."
Tears streamed down Twilight's cheeks, matting the fur as the lines soaked in as the realization came to her. She was the replacement. The Celestia she knew, the one that passed in her time, had allowed herself to die because Twilight was strong enough to replace her.
"W-We shall do as you say your Highness." Nightwish replied, and to those words all the Princess could do was offer a weak but genuine smile.
Thirty-six hooves moved as one as six guards bowed to the Princess, kissed her pastern, and with a glint of certainty in their eyes saluted to Thundralot.
"I want it to be known here and now,'' the captain said, having regained her steel composure. "If anypony breathes a word of what has happened here this night, death will wait for you on your door. Am I understood?"
A collective silence fell as six soldiers saluted to their superior. "Sol Invictus!"
Jaw set, Nightwish saluted with a wing, "Sol Invictus."
And six soldiers trudged through a phantom alicorn, in a past she wished she'd never seen.
"Doctor Ease" Celestia smiled a warm glow that did nothing to ease the frazzled nerves of the stallion, "I..." she opened her eyes to look at the doctor, "I apologize. Truly and wholy apologize for what I ask of you here and now."
The stallion quivered, yet he gave a nod as best he could. "I order you as the authority of the Crown to grant a Merciful Passing. Death by injection."
And the phantom alicorn felt her throat clenched as her mind screamed at the nightmare before her to end this vision and bring her back to the world of the waking present--
"I truly am sorry", Celestia said with a slight crack entering her voice as the first of many held back tears began to flow, "I know you all will not fail. Thank you.” A trembling glow took out a syringe, "My most faithful subjects", the glow steadied; the field flared around the instrument of the inevitable, then it punctured skin and flesh "my precious little ponies...I only wish...I hadn't failed you," more tears flowed, dropping to stain ground, "...I only wish...I hadn't failed you...I...am...s-sorry." Her eyes grew heavy. Just a bit of rest. Just a moment to close then open them "...Luna...I...am...sorry."
She rested her head, the tears still flowed, she breathed quickly, her barrel rising and falling slowly. Celestia smiled, breathed once, twice, three times, then exhaled one last time.
Then she went still.
The doctor pulled the syringe out. He stared wide eyed. Looked around the room at the other two staring at Celestia with wide eyes, then with haste and increasing shakiness in his voice he muttered and pushed past Nightwish saying, "Excuse me." Moved past Twilight by the door, then was gone in a few steps as his steady hoofsteps slowed with the heart wrenching sob and those clips carried away into a gallop.
Thundralot moved to Princess Celestia's side, pressed her muzzle into the crook of the Princess' neck, let out a slight gasp.
Shook her head and let the first few tears fell as she buried her face into the still tricolored hued mane.
Nightwish closed his eyes, bowed his head, then said, "She's gone."
The room was silent but it was only silent because no one could hear Twilight's pained wail and then the sorrowful scream.
She flared into a ball of oxygen consuming fire. So hot that she would have burned the very room and ponies in her path had she been there and even able to touch her second mother. She then fell before she could completely make it to the bed as the logical side realized she couldn't touch her. Never would be able to touch her.
Never had touched her. So she wailed and cried, hot tears pouring, chest hurting and aching, throat searing as she let out a heartfelt wail like a foal or child and her sobs echoed along the room. Ignorant of it all were six guards bowed their heads in silence to their lost ruler, a monarch that died before her rule ever truly began.
With numbness she followed, detached and watching Nightwish, Thundralot, and the six guards that carried the casket to the private chambers under the castle.
They reached it quickly and things happened in a blur as Twilight's eyes remained fixed on Celestia only to turn away when what she recognized as a surgeon entered.
Ingredients were gathered. Blood bags for blood transfusion, heart, brain, other knick-knacks and necessities.
When it was done Twilight turned back to watch. Unable to watch her Mentor ripped apart by the surgeon, she almost missed the sound of running as somepony else rushed in-- "Captain!"
"Captain!" the voice echoed.
The guards rose and stood tense as Thundralot approached the gasping guard. "The-- He-- The--"
"Spit it out!" snarled Thundralot, baring her teeth. "We waste precious time, what is your message, Private?!"
"He...Doctor Ease...we found him dead in his study per your orders to check on him. He...he threw himself out his window. His body was hanging by the breeze."
Several eyes closed and Nightwish's eyes narrowed.
"We took his body before it could attract attention." The Guard informed, voice, clearly shaken after all that had happened tonight. "What should we do?"
"...bury him. We will tell his family a cover story. You are dismissed."
At the guard's salute, Nightwish said "Let us end this sorrowful night."
"And keep our paths to the Princess."
Eventually, the work was done and all the ingredients were ready. The blood, the heart, the brain, and more were all in jars or containers centered around a pentagram with ruins. The body of her mentor laid in a glass casket, all signs of any damage gone, and smiling peacefully as if she were asleep. For Twilight, it was like being at the funeral all over again and thus she forced herself to turn away to pain attention to the others.
It was decided to do the ritual underground in a private magic testing area, away from prying eyes. Everyone stood around, unsure what to do next, but Twilight did. The last and most important thing: a willing soul.
"Thundralot", Nightwish called the pegasus to attention. "I've been thinking about the final ingredient to the beginning of this nightmare...." the stallion breathed deeply then exhaled as he opened his eyes and looked into the mare's turquoise blue eyes, a mare he respected so much right now.
"Yes?" the hint of uncertainty in her voice lingered at his silence.
"I will do it."
She blinked.
Her jaw dropped and then her wings flared as life rushed back into them and a scowl formed on her lips as she opened her mouth to shout--
"Do not argue with me on this. It can either be one of us or one of your troops. You heard the Princess. It requires a willing soul.
"Live on and see to it the Princess' needs are met, Captain." The Archmage stated as a blade was pulled free from the red and black underpocket of his robes. "Live on," he said as his silver eyes locked on to the pentagram before them, eyes closing as his determination rose and his courage peaked. "Live on my friend...for Equestria!" the Archmage's final words came out as a triumphant roar that echoed in the chamber and light caught the glint of raised metal as he moved swiftly towards the rune circle that was connected to the other circuits for the homunculus and the necessary ingredients of organs and drained memories in vials.
Nightwish's cry of devotion was followed by several cries of protest as the stallion rushed out like a madman on a determined quest. Moving towards a necessary loss to fulfill an ultimate gain.
Time slowed as Twilight's eyes widened with sheer horror and her wings wrapped around her reflexively, spreading out in surprise as if to shield herself-- Thundralot shouted at her companion to wait, but he wouldn't listen as her wings flared out to gain altitude and catch him, to stop him-- several guards slowly ignited their horns, mana coursing up into their instruments as fields were shaped to trip or grab at the mage but they all fizzled or popped out as his negation spells activated.
"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! You will let me fulfill the oath we swore!"
In what felt like hours, was actually seconds. Nightwish dove as Thundralot missed her grasp, his dagger went under his throat along with the shiv as he pulled it out, as he came to a stop within the ruin circle. Pushing himself forward an inch towards a basin with a grunt he pressed the blades deep. Ignored the ache and sting, fought against the instincts to drop the blade in his magical grasp, drew a line across his neck, then bled. Drawing open a deep cut that poured red life juice out into the basin and circuit as he tried not to thrash but his body wouldn't listen as reflex and muscles took over willpower-- blood oozed and was wiped along runes as the basin overflowed and the body smeared stains along ground.
Twilight shielded her eyes, ears flattened, fell cowering, tried not to listen to the wet sounds that came with Nightwish's final breaths--
Then a sickly green glow illuminated, white light flooded the room as Nightwish's body twitched and the light faded from his eyes as he somehow managed to give a heroic smile before going still. The air crackled with magic- it was under such pressure that even Twilight had to grit her teeth against. A wave of light that enveloped the run, the ingredients, Nightwish's blood and body, before an explosion erupted that knocked everyone back, even Twilight feeling the blast being nothing more than a phantom. Eventually, the light faded and everyone slowly opened their eyes.
Princess Celestia stood there. Her mane flowing on a nonexistent breeze, almost as if she had always been there despite the fact that there was a second one lying dead in a casket. Her eyes were vacant, distant, watching all of them-- for a moment the phantom thought those pale magenta eyes looked in her direction-- then started only at Thundralot.
"Master, what are your commands?" the voice that spoke made the ground rumble, the air sing, the world felt as if it trembled as the distant, cold, emotionless stare bore intoThundralot’s soul.
The captain trembled, struggling to regain her composure. Blinking tears away she looked at the robes that held no body but contained the blades where a pony had once been.
The clone waited patiently, silent, indifferent to everything.
Nightwish spoke her commands.
Princess Celestia smiled, a warm smile as a twinkle disappeared in her eyes. "As you wish, my little pony."
She spread her wings, her horn glowed, and for a second time Twilight felt those eyes on her as the whole world went white.
Thrashing she awoke, kicking and screaming.
"Twilight!"
"What's wrong with her?"
"I-I don't know!"
"Twilight!"
Forelegs reached out and snared a baby dragon who yelped, Starlight's horn burst into light from instinct, and then let up when Twilight cradled her younger brother, and sobbed against.
Spike confused, scared, worried, wrapped his short arms around his sister figure and squeezed as Twilight sobbed. "Its okay Twilight." He said with a sad voice and combed a claw through her mane as far as his size would allow. "It's okay", and she only wept more.
Starlight moved towards her friends- just as worried and confused, then pressed up against Twilight's side. Sandwiching Spike and adding to the warmth as the young alicorn sobbed uncontrollably and would listen to no words. Babbling and muttering things that made no sense, sounded worrying and even absurd.
They stayed like that for awhile.
Eventually, exhaustion won, Twilight fell asleep. A dreamless sleep punctuated by her sorrowful whimpers into the day.
She woke up in the dead of night one day and like the past three night found she couldn't sleep.
Her friends had visited but she said nothing. When Starlight and Spike had asked for her attention she had teleported away. When Luna had entered her dreams and found Twilight running in search of faceless ponies in robes, howling madly in the night of the woods, she had asked (practically begged) to be left alone.
I need to know her bloodshot eyes stared up into her crystal ceiling. I have to know.
So she rose gingerly off her bed, tip-hoofed carefully around the sleeping dragon who would not leave her side.
Exiting the room and walked into the balcony and spread her wings, the wind playing with a disheveled and messy mane Twilight took to the sky.
Never once noticing the shadow that watched her in her castle, as she soared off to the Everfree, towards the historic landmark of the Sisters.
She landed with a thud and stumbled as she broke into a quick paced trot. Eyes wide, ears alert. Twilight rushed through the paths, a tired mind struggling to piece together horrible memories.
Where is it?! She grimaced and sparks flew as her ire rose.
"Where is it?!" she hissed as she passed another hallway, another passage of doors coming up empty, then stopped when a flash of memory brought something familiar into mind. Paused and turned around to three doors behind her as hooves echoed while she made her rounds. She climbed a series of stairs, mind reeling at the possibility and so far away she wasn't aware of the other sounds.
Twilight stared at the room.
The empty medical room where they had all been. Nightwish, Captain Thundralot, Celestia...her.
Tears leaked out and she grit her teeth, turning as she moved back down. The memory become clearer as she made her way down the stairs and recalled where she needed to go and what wall she needed to obliterate to--
"Twilight!" seven hooves called.
She froze.
She ran, wings forgotten as she raced for her destinstion. Moving like the wind, she thought, I can't let them know! It can't be true! I'll see it and I'll know it's a lie that even if she's gone it was really her--
A blur of blue zoomed in front of her and Twilight scowled.
"Twilight, tell us what's wrong!" the pegasus called.
"No!" In a burst she was gone and then they heard the sound of walls moving as they gave chase.
The distant pounding was long gone and Twilight approached the chamber she recalled in her memories.
She passed through the arched entrance, walked carefully around craters, chips in stone, hooves crunching on debris and marked by dust as she walked or stepped on puddles down the stone bridge.
Twilight found a gate locked. Sensing magic her horn flared with a diagnosis examine spell on the workings and found it weak. She took a minute to break the enchantment and the locks and the door slid when she pushed her horn into the slot and the magic she pushed through flowed.
Entering slowly, Twilight saw no markings, no sign of a casket, nothing to show a body.
She sighed in relief. Ears twitched as she heard the shout of her name as her friends rushed to get her.
Then froze when she turned back to look at the empty room to find it filled.
"No, no no no no" her voice grew quiet as a force moved her body without her knowledge. She moved unwillingly with morbid desire to know, and soon found the voices behind her growing silent.
Twilight stared at the Princess.
Her horn glowed and she found the signature. Nightwish's fading signature.
His invisibility spell.
It was her.
It is-- "t-tr-true", she fell as her hindlegs gave out and she stared the tears flowing.
Celestia smiled peacefully back, as tears peppered the glass and the scars where the incisions she knew had been cut were hidden an illusion.
"Twilight..." Spike's voice unsteady as they neared. "What...what is this?"
Her head rose. Her eyes were still wide. The tears still flowed. Her wings nestled tight against her sides. She stared at the mentor she'd never truly had as her mouth was nothing but a small 'o'.
"Twilight?" A worried Fluttershy called gently, the bravest one of them all quietly approached with Spike on her back.
The young alicorn, the successor she knew she was going to be, turned a watery expression to her friends.
Her breathing quickened, her face etched with pain. Twilight Sparkle wept as she said the only words that played like a record in her mind.
"She's dead" she said mutely.
Carefully, Rarity asked 18th growing fear, "Who is dear?"
"Celestia."
"Twilight..." Applejack frowned. "Twilight... Come over here and let's--"
"--I never really knew her." Came the muted response. "It was all a lie."
She kept crying. Then after those words she started laughing.
"It" she gasped, laughed, heart aching like never before "was", gigglesobbed, gasped for air again as her friends watched her with growing alarm, "all a LIE!"
And then she screamed.
Screamed because she knew not how to deal with the pain.
When he was a colt, his mother took him past this hospital a few times whenever they went on walks together. He once asked what the big scary building was and she responded it was a place for very sick ponies in the head. It was only years later that he learned the proper word for the place was “Asylum”. He had never been here before in his life, even during his patrol hours as a guard. It always caused his spine to shiver whenever he walked past it. Even now as he walked up the stairs to the entrance as dozens of guards saluted him there was a part of him that wanted to run away. A lot of the guards were as stern as they could be, but there was rage in their eyes. They were there to guard someone who had, by all rights, been somepony everyone looked up to until a few days ago. Now more than half of them wanted to take their spears and shove it down her throat.
Some looked ready to sleep right there on the spot. It was only just last night they were able to finally stop the last of the riots. Many just wanted to see her dead for what she had done, but Princess Luna was determined to have a trial. All week he had been dreading this, but those who knew the truth told him it had to be done. He didn’t want to do it, but he had no choice as he was the only one who could get even a word out of his sister. If she didn’t agree to take the deal... then there was no choice but to go to plan b.
For the sake of Equestria.
Walking through the halls, he kept getting looks of pity from both the guards and the staff as he walked by. He hated it. He had been getting it all week and he still hated it. Stil, it was better than the death threats and accusations. He had to send Flurry Heart and Cadence back to the Crystal Empire because it was getting to be too much and his daughter was asking questions he couldn’t honestly answer. She didn’t know why her Auntie was being a bad mare like everypony said. All he could hope for was that when this was all over she would remember the good parts of her Aunt rather then what history would teach.
Upon entering the top security wing, he was scanned three times, checked for weapons twice, and asked a code word that Princess Luna had given him personally. A place like this normally had tight security due to the fact that there were very disturbed and violent ponies who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt or kill others. But everything changed a week ago when Twilightwas admitted into here because of what she had done. It was clear that the truth had broken his sister, who he had to admit wasn’t always the most stable of minds at times, but he couldn’t fully blame her. Every Captain of the Guard was told the truth of Princess Celestia and what happened a thousand years ago. He was angry, dismayed even, but over time he accepted it. For the sake of Equestria, he kept the lie going and passed on to the next Captain of the Guard when he left for the Crystal Empire.
When Celestia’s... clone for lack of a better word finally died, Shining Armor sighed in relief. At last the lie was over and both Luna and Twilight would rule Equestria together. Princess Celestia’s wishes had finally been meet and it would be a new beginning for Equestria.
Yet his sister had been so damn stubborn and everything was now threatened to fall apart. The truth was still hidden for now. The real body of Princess Celestia had been burned into ashes by those who knew the secret and the entire castle was destroyed in Twilight’s rampage. The only good thing to come out of that situation was there was barely any evidence. The only thing left preventing the truth to be known, and the entire country falling into chaos, was his sister who was locked in chains and a straight jacket behind the biggest and most powerful anti-magic prison the place had. At least three magic inhibitor rings were required to keep Twilight from even using telekinesis.
“Are you sure you want to go in alone?” The head doctor asked, using his magic to unlock the runes of the door.
“Yes,” Shining answered.
“... She still hasn’t said much,” he said, shaking his head. “All she kept saying was ‘It’s a lie’ over and over again. What lie could cause one of Equestria’s greatest heroes to snap and kill over two hundred creatures?”
Shining Armor didn’t say anything to him. He just looked at one of the other doctors and guards that came with him. Those in the know like him. They were only there if plan b needed to happen. Taking a deep breath the prince went in, closed the door, and quickly activated privacy spells just in case. Once he was sure they were going to be unheard, he turned to his little sister who looked like she had been through hell. Her mane was in such a ruin that her former friend Rarity would have a heart attack just by seeing it. Her coat was still decorated in the magical burns from her fight with Princess Luna who had barely survived against her sister’s insane rage. If it wasn’t for Discord stepping in, they might not have been any other Princess to rule Equestria, but he himself was determined to even kill Twilight at this point for what she had done. It was only by the promise that justice would be delivered that kept him from enacting his revenge. She was thin too, like she hadn’t eaten in two week, and her eyes were bloodshot to indicate a lack of sleep.
He was glad his parents decided not to come visit all this time, they were already heartbroken enough by what had happened. Reporters and prosters alike had come to ask the same question every creature from all corners of the earth were asking.
Why?
Why did Princess Twilight do it?
“Twily?” Shining Armor asked, getting her attention as she stared at him. Not with the warm kind eyes that he saw his entire life, but one of broken heartbreak and rage. A rage that held nothing but hatred for her and everything around her. “It’s me, Shining Armor.”
“... Liar...” Twilight whispered, narrowing her eyes. “Liar. You knew. You knew.”
“Knew what, Twily?” Shining Armor asked, but he did know the answer.
“Knew that she was a fake. A copy. Everything was a lie. Everything for a thousand years was a lie!” Twilight growled, spitting on the ground.
Shining Armor sighed. “Yes. I knew. I’ve known ever since I became Captain of the Guard. It’s required that we know.”
“Who else knows?” Twilight demanded.
“Grandpa knew since he was a Captain as well,” Shining Armor wished he was here. He had been his hero growing up and could use his advice. “A few noble families, like the Bluebloods, also knew, but have been key in making sure it stays quiet. Starswirl the Bearded knew the moment he saw Celestia when he returned. He sensed the spell’s after effects on her. He recognized the spell and she told him the truth. He agreed to keep the secret.”
“Another betrayal,” Twilight muttered, a tear dripping down her eyes. “I’m running out of heroes to worship.”
“Twilight, it wasn’t a betrayal,” Shining Armor said, shaking his head. “It was just a necessary evil for the sake of Equestria.”
“Buck Equestria! How many lives have been taken since that...thing became the ruler of our nation?! Hundreds? A thousand?! Were they innocent or guilty?! How many have died to keep that secret or prevent it from being known?! Hay, I bet you're really here to kill me!” Twilight shouted, nearly foaming from the mouth.
“... If I have to, yes,” Shining Armor said with great reluctance. He wasn’t going to cry. He already did that the moment they brought the casualty list. His sister had gone from Equestria’s biggest hero to its biggest villain. “Even if I don’t want too, too many want you dead, Twilight. Do you know how many creatures you killed? Not just ponies, but others who lived in Ponyville, including students at your academy!” His sister didn’t say anything, she just looked down but he couldn’t tell if it was in anger or shame. “They’re burning your books! Tearing down your statues! Protests are everywhere demanding you be hanged! Several countries are even demanding it or they’ll go to war! DIscord is threatening to unleash everything on us because you killed Fluttershy!”
“... Do you think I care at this point?” Twilight muttered, raising her face again. “I’ve been thinking a lot since I got locked up in her. Doesn’t it seem convenient that I was sent to deal with threat after threat, problem after problem and challenge after challenge for years and suddenly I become an Alicorn Princess? I happen to find five ponies who happened to live in the same town who share the perfect personalities for the ultimate items to defeat evil? I happen to be given a dragon egg at the age of six that I help raise who eventually helps dragons become allies to ponies? I have to go and do everything while Celestia and Luna are up there ruling despite having the wisdom, power, and experience superior to me?”
“What are you saying, Twilight?” Shining Armor asked.
“I’m saying my entire life is a lie, Shining,” Twilight growled. “Not just because I was taught by a fraud who lived on the deaths of subjects, subjects to a princess who had been dead for a thousand years, but every part of my life, one way or another, seemed to be guided into this supposed ‘destiny of mine in becoming an alicorn Princess. I went back in time, Shining, I saw the real Princess Celestia die. I saw her give the conditions to the clone. I was nothing more than an objective to be neutered and groomed until I was at perfection. I was a tool nothing more.”
“Is that really what you think?” Shining Armor whispered in disgust. “You thought that she didn’t love you? Even if she was a clone of Princess Celestia she still felt and acted like her. That love wasn’t artificial it was real! She loved you like she loved Luna, her own sister! She thought of you as family!”
“Oh there’s a pony I really want to be associated with! I saw how the first sacrifice was done.” Twilight then glared at him. “I saw what Luna really had done that day. It wasn’t just a simple argument and a fight with her sister. She killed ponies. Innocent foals were dead. Unicorns had to sacrifice themselves to keep the day and night going. She murdered her sister... and I was manipulated into saving her?! And she’s ruling the kingdom?!”
“It was Celestia’s wish...”
“SHE MURDERED CELESTIA! SHE’S A USURPER!” Twilight shouted, her horn glowing bright black for a second before the rings glowed and forced it down. “However you want to put it, Shining Armor, she murdered her own sisters with dark magic and killed her! And you hide that! All of you hid the truth! The truth that Equestria has been lead by a fake for over a thousand years while supplying her with the lives of ponies like some kind of primitive tribal culture sacrificing others to their god! I wish I never saved her in the first place!”
“Is that why you tried to kill her when she came to stop you?!” Shining Armor shouted, now getting angry. “Can’t you see what you almost did?! You could have left Equestria without any leadership and could have lead to the downfall of our entire society! Nobles would be fighting in the streets to claim the throne! Nations would seek to take over us at our weakest! We would be divided like the days before Equestria was made! It would be chaos, Twilight! Everything we did, everything Celestia did, was for Equestria’s continued existence!”
“A nation built on lies is a false nation,” Twilight whispered. “Nothing more and nothing less.”
“... Does that mean your friendship was a lie? Is that why you killed them? Starlight? Spike? All those creatures in Ponyville? Creatures and ponies who loved and respected you? Did you even think about what their final moments were when you killed them?”
“... I didn’t mean to kill them. I just... I was so angry... so furious and confused... but I guess it doesn’t matter. It was all a lie,” Twilight muttered, but he could see tears coming down her face. “My friendships. My adventures. My bonds.... All lies via manipulation to see me rule by the orders of a dead princess and her clones double.”
“No, they weren’t, Twilight,” Shining Armor sighed, shaking his head. “Those were real. Maybe you were pushed into those situations, but the feelings and lessons were real... and now you’ve ruined everything you once had.”
“So then kill me already,” Twilight huffed, glaring at her brother. “I know I’m doomed. Nopony can get away with this. And like you said, every creature is calling for my head! But know this when I am on the gallows I’ll tell the world the truth! I’ll tell them everything I saw and from there the world will know that the so called greatest ruler in the world was nothing more than a machine that ran on innocent blood!”
“Twilight, I don’t want you to die...” Shining Armor closed his eyes and prayed his sister would take this deal. “Those of us who know the truth know that we still owe you for saving us. If you agree to keep quiet, we can fake your death and send you somewhere where you can live the rest of your life in peace. All you have to do is swear, on a blood and magical oath, that you will never return nor reveal the truth. Do this and you can live, Twilight. The world will think you’re dead but you will live.”
“... No,” Twilight said, with a tone that clearly meant this was final. “I am going to tell the world the truth and nothing will stop me.”
Shining Armor closed his eyes. He didn’t want to do this, but it seemed he had no choice now. He loved his sister. Would always love her, but it was clear his sister was gone. She died the moment she learned the truth. A truth that couldn’t be shared with the world. Not then. Now ever.
“I’m sorry, Twilight. The world will never know...” Shining Armor turned to the glass window and nodded, the door opened and the four Royal Guards with doctor entered. Already he had the syringe ready. “Hold he down and inject her... it will be quick won’t it?”
“She won’t feel a thing. The organs will be undamaged as well.”
“Good, we will need them. Bring her body out the back as planned.”
“... I guess this is goodbye, Big Brother.” Twilight said, lowering her head for the last time.
“Yes... goodbye, Little Sister.”
He turned away and made his way out of the room. He didn’t hear anything from his sister as he rushed as fast as he could to an abandoned room, throw up in a trash can, and cry his eyes out.
***
Two weeks after the trial the execution was about to begin. It had been the fastest trial with his... sister confessing to murdering Princess Celestia in her efforts to seize the crown for herself. That she had planned to do so since she became an Alicorn in an effort to rule Equestria on her own and become its queen. Her friends found out about her plan, confronted her, and she killed them all. They would be remembered as heroes while his sister was to be remembered as Equestria’s greatest traitor.
In the days leading to this day, he had seen the once unsure and sorrowful Princess Luna filled with conviction and purpose. She was acting like the ruler her sister always wanted her to be, yet filled with rage that the one she trusted most had betrayed her. Shining Armor was among many who asked she be named “Queen of Equestria” in order to show that she was taking her role seriously. She agreed, but only if her sister could be also called “Queen” postumetly. Nopony challenged her on that.
Ponies and creatures alike had gathered to throw food and insults at...Twilight who was escorted down the streets in chains. His... sister was covered in so much food that they had to clean it off her before placing her head before the execution block. He was grateful his parents decided not to come nor did his wife or daughter. He would be there to represent them and see this task done. He turned to his left where Queen Luna and other rulers of Equestria waited for justice to be done with stone cold faces. Even King Thorax was glaring at Twilight with disgust over the death of his best friends Spike and Starlight. Beside them were the families and loved ones of all those who died in the “Ponyville Massacre” as it were. Some were in tears. Others were in anger. A few just stood there in silence.
Eventually, Queen Luna raised her hoof and every creature went silent. Shining Armor didn’t bother listening to the speech. He just wanted this over and done with as... Twilight just lay there ready for her death. The blade that was to take her life had been donated by Discord who was watching somewhere, but Shining Armor didn’t know where. He had heard that he been plan on leaving this world. Try to find another world where another Fluttershy was. He wasn’t Discord’s biggest fan, but he would wish him his best in his efforts. He turned his gaze towards Sunburst, who was wearing all black, and the students who were there to support him, especially the six who had saved them all from Cozy Glow. They had promised to keep the school going in honor of their teachers. Only it would no longer bear any remembrance to Twilight. She had been so proud of that school too.
The Royal Guards began their drum roll as a priest offered... Twilight her last confession but she turned him down. She made no other comments or statements just like she had been ordered. Just stared at the crowd with an emotionless expression.
Finally, Queen Luna lowered her hoof and the blade came down as seconds later... Twilight’s head came off.
There were no cheers. No cries of sorrow. Just a long silence as Twilight’s head fell into a basket and her body went limp. To the world around Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle The Traitor, had died.
But the truth was his sister died a while ago and her ashes were scattered into the wind.
