Remain Calm
Everything is fine.
The trip from Canterlot to the Crystal City had been quick and easy. I was the only one on my carriage, a special one painted purple just for me. Everypony else, all my guards and advisors and attendants were seated in the neighbouring carriages on our little visit to the Crystal Empire, or what used to be the Empire anyway.
The disappearance of the royal sisters had changed a lot of things, to say the least. Equestria was a bastion of harmony, the birthplace of true, unconditional friendship that was so true, genuine and real that it manifested into the most powerful force in the world: the magic of friendship. Equestria was far ahead of its competitors economically, was far more populous, had an increasingly more impressive education system that was extended to the poor also, and was overall the perfect, organic state. The land of harmony.
But that was not natural. I had realised that throughout the past 2 years. The former was all true, but was it not Equestria that had done these things, but the princesses. They, our goddesses and divine rulers, had guided our nation from a disparate crowd of ponies fleeing the windigos to a united pony nation that had stood the test of time. We were the smartest, greatest, most powerful, most beloved, and all of that was the achievement of Celestia and Luna, blessed be their names. Without the unconditional love and support from the royal sisters for well over a thousand years, there would not be an Equestria today. There couldn't be.
The Diarchy was Equestria. Equestria was the Diarchy.
*
Everything is fine.
*
I had spent much of my journey to the Crystal City writing. Specifically, rewriting the old friendship journal Celestia had given to me. The old version was laid out on the table in front of me, while in my perfect aura of purple I grasped paper and quill to redo and make away with my past mistakes in there. I still loved looking through my past adventures and lessons, but found that a lot of them were rather silly and nonsensical. Many were lies I was fed by others, even. That would not do. Not at all.
I committed myself to ruling as the princesses' regent in a way that was akin to their own rule. I vowed to uphold the values they held dear and promised myself that Equestria would be the same, no, better than it ever was before their departure. To do that, I had to make ponies know what to do and what to think to achieve true friendship.
Rewriting the journal was not just a personal pet peeve to oust and correct the mistakes of my troubled past but moreso a project to define the rules and guidelines of friendship. I had tried doing that once already, back with the school of friendship, but even those were pointless, I realised. Like the journal they were contaminated with lies and misconceptions. Honesty was more than just telling the truth and being nice to a friend. It was the devotion to honesty as a virtue and committing everything to that virtue. Upholding and living loyalty was more than just staying true to a friend and sticking with them, as the journal implied. It was the devotion to friends and other ponies overall. It was the dedicated effort to remain loyal and to do everything in one's power to do so. Nothing was too great a sacrifice or effort to fulfill this element, or any of the other elements. Only if one could live by the elements everyday could harmony be achieved, after all. And when everypony lived in harmony, everypony would be friends, at last.
**
Everything is fine.
**
The reason for all this was plainly seen. Without the divine, guiding hooves of the royal sisters, may they be blessed, ponykind was wandering aimlessly and lost their moral compass almost in an instant. By the time my friends and I had arrived in Canterlot to begin our duties, it had already started. Nobles bickered with me about restoring so-called 'privileges' which Celestia had revoked in times gone by, and the city mayors from across Equestria complained the sisters had interfered too much in city governance.
They were all frustratingly foolish. They weren't hopeless, but they certainly were not upholding the teachings of friendship and harmony. They sought self-gain, violating the element of generosity. They lied about things Celestia and Luna had supposedly done or said, which goes against Honesty, and were very clearly disloyal to both me and their goddesses to whom they owed everything. Kindness was nowhere to be seen with those ponies, and laughter was the last thing on their minds and faces as they often became angered during their rants.
I was so frustrated back then. I thought I was the issue then, that all of those ponies acted the way they did because I had messed up, that I had somehow already disappointed the two sisters. I quickly realised the error in that assessment. I was the bearer of the Element of Magic, and the literal Princess of Magic... how could I be wrong about what I said? If anypony knew what to say about friendship, it was me. I tried my best to tell ponies how to overcome the regency in peace and harmony but none would listen. Worse, they began to act against what I'd said. Equestria itself as we had known it was fracturing quickly as old grudges surfaced anew. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns fighting one another.
***
Everything is fine.
***
I had taken a few days off and locked myself in my studies. I searched for answers but found only more questions. Everything ever written about friendship and the essence of harmony, I had tried it all. And yet, nopony had listened to her. Why?
I knew why. Of course I did! The ponies of Equestria were so deeply traumatised and left unconscious by the disappearance of their beloved divine leaders that they had begun forgetting themselves. They acted without compassion, with no regard for the things Equestria had stood for.
Blatantly, they spat in the face of Celestia and Luna. They mocked sun and moon and friendship, and showed no remorse or mercy. I recognised, at that point, that friendship and harmony had to be fought for by all means necessary. I had tried asking, pleading even, for others to listen, to be friends and hear one another out. That hadn't worked, so I would simply have to make them listen and obey what I had to say instead. At least then, with the wisdom of the elements of harmony, they could see the error of their ways.
****
Everything is fine.
****
When my train rolled into the main station within the Crystal City, I remembered how relieved I was back then. Up until that point everything had gone awry. The princesses were gone, the ponies of Equestria were arguing and forgetting all about harmony and friendship and the ones who were meant to help me with ruling the land were even worse. But making them listen had done the trick! It was so easy, in fact, I almost felt bad for not having realised it sooner. Of course this is how harmony lived on! That's how Celestia and Luna had always done! They were revered and praised as wise and powerful, and whenever they decreed something, ponies obeyed without hesitation. They are divine beings and only through that obedience, that loyalty, did the princesses safekeep all we knew and held dear.
The sisters were gone, so I had to step up and do as they did. No more arguing, no more disagreeing, no more disharmony. If they would not heed my words and teachings then they simply weren't willing to do as the princesses would have done... which means they were traitors!
Society recovered quickly when the first camps were opened. Everypony knew about the newly formed friendship brigades which ensured ponies far and wide knew to live in harmony and be friends with one another. They knew that they had to remain honest, generous, kind, loyal and cheerful, because that was how the magic of friendship lived and survived. They knew that the princesses would return to us soon and that when they did, they had to find an Equestria that was better than the one they had left behind. It was their challenge to us, their subjects, to show them our gratitude and that their wisdom had not been spent on fools!
*****
Everything is fine.
*****
Reading report after report those weeks had been an unparalleled revelation to me. So many traitors, so many unfaithful ponies had been hiding among us without any of us noticing. They preached harmony and friendship when questioned but were clearly not living the idea. The friendship brigades made sure, at all times, to remove those ponies from society so that their influence could no longer corrupt the real magic of friendship.
These anti-harmonic outsiders had no place in our divine pony haven, so they were either removed permanently or placed in the redemption camps. There, they could seek redemption for their misguided behaviour by reconnecting with the princesses' divine guidance and the rules of friendship. Hard labour brought out their real selves, and those who shone bright as real pupils of friendship could seek freedom once again. Those who crumbled under the circumstances would need to keep going until they either saw the light of harmony under our heavenly monarchs or perished in the attempt.
******
Everything is fine.
******
I twitched a little when I marched out from the train carriage and moved into the city proper. My guards followed me along, of course, but I felt a little... lonely. All my friends... well, 'friends' anyway, were gone. They had been friends of mine for so long, such tight companions that I had been blinded by them. Only as Regent, with all these new responsibilities thrust upon me, did I start discovering the truth about them.
It started with Rarity. She acted off, asked me if I was truly certain if I was acting in the best interest of Equestria, that my valid, necessary measures were really in the vision of Celestia and Luna. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the supposed Element of Generosity of all ponies. I was generously offering ponies a chance at redemption for their petty disputes, was generously bestowing upon them the continued visionary leadership of the Alicorn sisters as their regent, and yet I was implied to be some kind of... some kind of tyrant!
When my magic exploded at 'Rarity', I was shocked even more so. Before my hooves laid not the white-coated unicorn but a changeling, his disguise having failed him in his last breaths. My guards rushed into the room then, and I snapped at them to find the real element of generosity so that she, too, could face the same punishment as anypony else for conspiring against friendship and the divine sisters, may they be blessed for all times.
*******
Everything is fine.
*******
It was far worse than I had imagined. Changelings living among us, perhaps the true seed of all this discord, with even my personal best friends growing distrustful of me. There was no more honesty with me, no loyalty to me or the princesses, nor anything else that had previously defined our relationship and friendships.
They had failed friendship. Failed the elements. Failed the princesses.
I had them all summoned to me one by one. Those of them who didn't come willfully were soon caught by the friendship brigades and dealt with that way. I collected the elements off of them, to put to good use in the defence and furthering of actual harmony and friendship.
********
Everything is fine.
********
I travelled the streets of the capital of what used to be the Crystal Empire with my guard. The streets were emptied, but I could hear hushed voices whispering inside the homes standing row on row to my left and right. I didn't need to give any order for my guards to disperse and drag out those traitors from their homes. Scared? Of me? I was the Celestial Regent! I was the princess of friendship, bearer of the element of magic, and she who saw the true vision for Equestria as the princesses intended!
Ruling Equestria had been no easy task. So many ponies were blind to what I ordered, and had to be redeemed and corrected, or disposed of directly. It was a petty, but soon enough that would no longer be the case.
*********
Everything is fine.
*********
I couldn't help but chuckle as we moved onto one of the large boulevards that led straight towards the city center, to the palace. Someponies had called me a lunatic, a crazed madmare. Of course, those were often the last things they said, since such terrible insults to the regent of the gods was too much to bare and simple, undeniable evidence that such a pony could not be redeemed.
My horn lit up in a soothing, purple aura to tidy up my hair. A single strain was out of place after my brief fit of laughter.
**********
Everything is fine.
**********
There it was, at last. The Crystal Heart. Long has it been the source of power for the capital city here, and by extension the energy that kept the empire as a whole secure and in harmony.
At least, that's what they always said. How could some obscure artifact protect ponies? How could something like this defend harmony?
It couldn't. No, no, no, it simply could not. Only the holy princesses could bring about harmony, and I, as their regent, was on a quest to do so in their name! It was never the crystal heart that kept the Crystal Empire from going astray, it was the alicorns! It had to be!
***********
Everything is fine.
***********
This is where I stand now, basking in the radiant glory of the heart. I raise a hoof quickly to tell my guards to stand down and stay away, before lowering it again. Already I can hear the heart pulsating as it spun in place. What was it doing here, anywho? Why was this holy artifact, blessed by the royal sisters, here for everypony to see and touch!? The divine grace of our protectors and guides was not theirs to witness directly!
I move one hoof forward, and let out a chuckle that cracks through my crooked smile. Ahh.. at last! At last I found out just how I can be just what the sisters need me to be! How could I have been such a fool for so long!?
************
Everything is fine.
************
One more step forward. The heart... I hear it beating. It's like it really is alive, pulsing with the very essence of Celestia, Luna and Cadance. I almost wish to bow just taking it all in, but not now. Not this time. I have a greater task to fulfill yet.
The ponies of Equestria, of the Crystal Empire, everycreature abroad, they all must see the true meaning of friendship. Of harmony. They must see the wisdom and power of the royal sisters, and during their absence, they must see it through me.
*************
Everything is fine!
*************
My horn lights up in my purple magical aura once more, and the flaps of my saddle bags open up. From inside them come floating the six elements of harmony, created so long ago by the Pillars of Equestria and safeguarded and utilised by the two sisters themselves several times.
Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity and, finally, Magic. Magic was always the leading figure of harmony, of friendship. There could be no harmony without friendship and no friendship without harmony, but both required the power of magic. Without it, Equestria... no, the world, would be in peril. A dark age would be upon us if magic was lost to us.
But what if I simply turned that scenario on its head? What if instead of thinking about magic being lost to us, I simply empowered magic? What if magic became the true master of all other elements- no, what if magic absorbed all of the elements!?
***************
Everything is fine!
***************
I can't hold it back anymore. I laugh out loud at the thought of it all. The world finally unravelled before me. All its secrets, all its mysteries now made sense to me, more and more as I placed the crown of my element upon my head. I was so blind for so long, but by the will and vision of the holy sisters I have seen the light.
I hover the five other elements above my head in a half-circle. Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity and Kindness. They all surround magic now as they float in mid-air. They knew that without magic, without me, they were nothing. Without the force of magic, without the fantastical uses of it, nocreature could ever be friends!
My horn begins to bubble and fizzle as I prepare the last part of the spell. I feel my energy surge forward through it, and a few sparks come flying out first.
Magic was friendship and friendship was magic. Magic was harmony and harmony was magic. And I am the element of magic that oversaw friendship's elements, and I was now also the Celestial Regent in the absence of the two sisters who had for so long maintained and built harmony.
I am harmony. I am friendship. I am magic incarnate, but I need one last ounce of power to make everycreature see!
****************
Everything is fine!
****************
My horn crackles and fizzles before my ears take in a bassy woosh. A purple ray of magic shoots out, directed straight at the crystal heart. I grin as wide as I can as the artifact gradually stops spinning in place. It was finally beginning.
The light blue, crystalline heart radiated sickening amounts of energy, but I stood unfazed. I would not be denied what had to be done for all creatures far and wide. Harmony and friendship would win out in the end, and when they returned Luna and Celestia would see all that we have achieved! All the friends that we have made!
Blackness spreads across the heart as my spell drains it bit by bit. I continue laughing, tears in the corner of my eyes as I stare at my destiny. A destiny I had so long been blind to, after having been deceived by false friends and false lessons for too long. More and more the heart is covered, until only a dark husk, blacker than the darkest night sky, remained where the previously bright heart had proudly stood.
Now the elements were lighting up also. My laughter only increases as I feel and see it all fall into place. Everything worked exactly as I intended. The elements are turning gray now as I absorb their energies. The red of loyalty, the orange of honesty, and so forth. Nothing but worthless, pointless metalware and undesirable, rough crystals now. Even my own element, the element of magic represented by a fitting crown to rule over the other five, was drained. I no longer needed it. I was not the bearer of any element any longer. I would need to become the elements, and more.
I jolt backwards as the power suddenly overcomes me. The entire might of the crystal heart, and now the combined powers of all six of the elements sends ripples through my body. I gasp in awe as my horn itself begins to glow in a neon-blue colour not dissimilar to the crystalline colour of the heart prior.
I feel my mane levitate as if carried by a heavy gust of wind. I feel something tugging at my wings at first, before then feeling them expand massively. Growing to a size that rivalled any grown alicorn's wingspan, I look back to see a pair of blackened, dark purple wings. They don't look feathery anymore, or like a biological part of my body. Rather, they seem entirely made out of magic. A projection of the forces I now contained as they pulsated and glowed occasionally with magical power. Clothes begin to materialise then, as a purple dress fit for an alicorn, fit for an eternal regent is phased into existence from nothing.
I grin, still, and as I blink and open my eyes again I can see the world different. My eyes glow, and a magical mask circles around my eyes in the same neon-blue that my horn is glowing with. At last, said horn begins to protrude forward, piercing forward to extend at least twice the size from before. It hums subtly, buzzing and oozing with power. My power.
I look up at my new horn, then back again at my new wings, and new, changed body. I have shed the old me, the old Twilight, to make way for somepony that was wholely made to serve the princesses in their absence. I had all the power I could ever have at hoof, and I could make all creatures bow and see the glory and power of magic, of friendship, and harmony.
Without any conscious effort I spew a bolt of neon lightning at the blackened crystal artifact before me, and it shatters into a thousand pieces in response.
Now, I finally see. I finally know what I need to do, and for the first time I finally have all the power to achieve it all. I am unbound, and I have the power to rip apart all those who would seek to undermine harmony, who would dare insult the hegemony of our divine rulers, and I had every means to make them see the light one way or another so that they, too, could find the light.
I open my glowing eyes wide as I turn to face my guards who have been watching me from a safe distance all this time. Most bow, as they should. Others have disturbed looks of fear on their faces. My new and improved horn lights up briefly as it effortlessly opens small dimensional portals under their hooves. The disbelievers fall, and for a split second their screams are heard before the rifts are closed once again. The screams of disharmony, silenced.
I am no longer the princess of friendship, nor the element of magic. I am magic incarnate, and I am the Eternal Regent, forever ruling in the stead of our wise, beloved, guiding royal sisters. Through me, their visions are realised. Through me, harmony remains. Through me, all will be made to live in harmony, peace and friendship. No longer would I restrain myself to just guiding the little ponies. Why limit the vision of my mentor and her sister when they could rule it all!? Why could not all the world see what beauty we could achieve if only we worked together as friends!?
My horn fizzles at the thought. A neon-blue spark hits the crystalline ground beneath me and burns through it effortlessly like acid. Why know the world as strangers when they could all be new friends instead!?
I hear the clock ticking, and I know that in time the princesses will return to us to take up their destined, rightful place in Canterlot to lead us. Their gilded thrones, cared for and prepared for their arrival, will be ready for them when they do. Until then, the clock continues. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. On and on and on.
The clock strikes midnight, and I smile. The world will look so much better in the dark when I illuminate it all in friendship and harmony. If the sisters returned now, they could see so much clearer what has changed and how all their little ponies eagerly awaited their return. So much so that we not only kept up their will and rule but spread it further!
Tick, tock, tick tock, tick tock.
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Everything is fine. Remain calm. Your Regent endures. Celestia and Luna live. Holy Equestria will endure. There is much to be done.
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Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.