It all started with a nightmare about a love letter. Everything changed after that. Twilight was dating the Princess, everything was going great and now they're being challenged in a land without time where the extinct and the banished are sent. Now, Twilight faces a new nightmare, but this one may not have a happy ending. This one is very real and just might night end until she takes her last breath, but she won't let that happen if she can help it. borrowed concepts from Tribes: Ascend that will become pronounced later, when the adventure tag comes in. cover pic is the DA account shown on the left, but the one on the right i have no idea it was just on my computer.
(A/N thanks to all of those who waited, though indefinitely, for updates on Hearts and Nightmares. I hope this revision will compensate well enough. Boy am I glad i looked at this and skimmed for any red squiggly lines because I caught a bunch of SHe's and WHat's... Enjoy!)
“Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia started. Twilight was in Celestia’s room. All the doors and windows were closed and locked. Celestia was holding a letter in her magical grasp, not even wanting to lay her hands upon it.
“I thought I was your teacher, your mentor...” She continued. Twilight sighed. It was this nightmare again. Dream-Twilight sends dream-Celestia a letter explaining how in love she is with the princess, princess is disgusted and then she gets banished to some corner of the universe.
“But this letter? It honestly makes me smile.” And she’d be lonely and the feelings would never be retu-wait what?
“When I first read it, I didn’t know what to think. It was the first time I’ve thought about myself in a long, long time.” Celestia continued. She was looking at Twilight with the biggest smile she had ever seen on the princess. This was strange, normally these nightmares would have her banished by now and she’d be weeping as she was surrounded by nothing. But here she was, dumbfounded as the Princess reread a part of the letter with a sweet giggle.
“I must say, you have a way with words. You are old enough to do what you want and love who you choose. We’re both adults, but you make me feel like a filly.” Celestia giggled as she levitated the letter onto a desk and stepped right in front of Twilight.
“And going by the letter, you can’t possibly have any objections to this.” She whispered sweetly and kissed the girl. --- “You ok Twi?” Spike asked, worry in his eyes, when Twilight bolted upright with a loud gasp. She was sweating and out of breath. Spike had become somewhat used to this, though. Twilight was having another nightmare.
“I’m... I’m fine.” Twilight said, plopping back down into her pillows.
“Another nightmare?” The boy asked.
“Um... yeah...” Twilight replied.
“You really need to talk about this to someone. Seriously, you’ve already got like near insomnia with how much you study and all that. You don’t need it to go full blown because of nightmares.” Spike sighed.
“Don’t worry, it’s not like it’s some big deal that’s ripping me apart from the inside emotionally.” Twilight said with a light smile.
“It’s been happening alot lately, Twi, I think you should tell somebody you really trust. This is the fifth time this week you’ve woken up like this. I’ve already taken matters into my own hands.” Spike said.
“What did you do?” Twilight asked, not sure whether to be grateful or scared of what he did. Her question was answered when he coughed up a letter in a bout of green flame.
“You told the princess?” Twilight asked. Spike nodded and quickly vacated the room under the pretense of making breakfast. She sighed in annoyance and looked at the letter in her hand. Great, she was going to have to deal with the nightmares -and this new dream- by talking to their source. She steeled herself and opened the parchment.
‘My most faithful student. It has come to my attention that you are being troubled by nightmares. Spike informs me you refuse to talk to him about it and he asked me to do so. Of course I accepted, I can’t have my best student be emotionally distraught now can I? I’ve secured a day or two of vacation time with the help of my assistants and my sister so I shall arrive soon by the time you finish reading this. -Celestia’
The letter read. Her eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. Celestia was going to get here and ask her about the nightmares. She wouldn’t be able to lie and avoid telling her for long, she just couldn’t refuse the princess, and when she did the nightmare would come true. She couldn’t even bullshit her way through it and say it’s just a dream, she was startled to find she actually harbored these feelings.
She thought back on the nightmare, and then it’s recent change. She couldn’t help but revel in the memory of the dream-kiss and what may or may not have transpired afterwards. With a moment’s thought she decided a cold shower would be nice right about now. --- “So what was the letter about?” Spike asked over breakfast.
“Well for starters you’re an ass for telling her without at least warning me beforehand.” Twilight said.
“Whoa, is there really something going on with those nightmares? Normally you don’t get this flustered at anything.” Spike said.
“It’s just...Not something I want being broadcasted or anything.” Twilight sighed.
“You still need to tell someone you trust.” Spike retorted.
“Well we’re about to find that out.” Twilight said as there was a knock on the door. When Twilight didn’t move to get up, Spike walked over to the door and opened it.
“Hello Spike.” Celestia said happily.
“Princess?! I never thought you’d actually come here in person so soon.” Spike said.
“Well you did make it seem rather urgent.” Celestia said.
“It’s not urgent it’s just annoying.” Twilight grumbled from her place at the table.
“I promised Rarity I’d watch the Crusaders while she does errands around town so I’ll see you later. Don’t leave too soon, Princess.” Spike said, stepping around Celestia.
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t even think to leave without at least a goodbye.” Celestia said with a smile. He nodded and closed the door.
“Well come on in...” Twilight sighed as Celestia awkwardly stood in front of the door for a minute.
“So, tell me about these nightmares.” Celestia said, sitting down.
“It’s really not that big of a deal...” Twilight said.
“You have bags under your eyes. I know your irregular sleeping schedule has made you used to little sleep, the fact that the signs of sleep deprivation are showing on you now tells me it is.” Celestia said.
“Do I really have to?” Twilight asked after a moment of silence.
“No, but I’d much rather you did. I just want to help. What could possibly be so bad that you couldn’t tell Spike or me?” Celestia asked. She was confused, she’d never seen Twilight like this. She was more irritable than Rainbow Dash after being grounded for a week or Rarity in the middle of a three-night streak of all nighters getting orders done.
“Something happens i’m banished and it freaks me out. There.” Twilight said.
“Twilight... Please, I just want to help. Luna is getting curious and she has been offering to step in on the nightmares and soothe them for you. That’s a bit invasive though so I told her not to, but I might have to take that back if it’s bothering you this much.” Celestia said. Twilight let out a hefty sigh and placed her forehead on the table, resting the crown of her head on her arms.
“It’s just... It involves you and I’m afraid if I talk to you about it I would lose you as a mentor and a friend.” Twilight said. “And if that happened, well... You can probably imagine.” She continued. Now Celestia was scared for her student. Apparently, her most faithful student and best of friends was having nightmares and they involved her. And apparently these nightmares were so bad that it threatened their relationship.
“I promise you, no matter what, no matter what this nightmare could possibly be, I will listen to the entire thing and it will not threaten our friendship in the least.” Celestia said. Twilight looked up and their eyes met for a full minute before the girl leaned back into her seat and let out another hefty sigh.
“I’m at the castle... In your chambers. Apparently I’ve sent a letter to you that fills you with hate and disgust and you banish me... The loneliness just engulfs me and scares me more than anything I’ve ever faced. But the only thing that scares me more than that? The letter, it was a... A love letter... And I can’t just pass it off as my imagination running wild in a dream.” Twilight slowly explained.
Needless to say, Celestia had most certainly not expected that. She was actually speechless, unable to even form much of a coherent thought. She snapped out of it when she saw Twilight’s face. Her speechlessness had apparently made Twilight think the worst, for she looked like someone about to lose the most important thing in their life.
“That’s Absolutely ridiculous. A letter like that would have brought a huge smile to my face.” Celestia finally responded.
“W-what?” Twilight asked.
“Love isn't something to be ashamed of, Twilight. You should be proud of it. What do you think Friendship is but love? Come to think of it, Romance is just the love of friendship with a bit of lust and intimacy added.” Celestia said. The more she spoke of it, the more she smiled.
“Really? I’ve never thought about it like that... But wait, what about...” Twilight started, but her voice died off at the end. Celestia knew what she was saying though. She got up from her seat opposite Twilight and walked up to the girl and pulled her to her feet and into a close embrace.
“You’re an adult now, you can love whoever you want. It just so happens that this particular princess loves her faithful student more than she should.” Celestia said softly into her ear. Twilight’s eyes met Celestia’s as the princess pulled her head back slightly. Slowly, their lips met between them and Twilight was in near Euphoria.
She didn’t even have the mental focus for anything besides the kiss to protest as they started moving as it deepened. She felt solid wall behind her, they had backed her into the doorway to the main hall and library. She had a feeling that she and her very being was completely in Celestia’s hands and there was nothing she could do about it. And she loved it.
They eventually ended it, panting slightly, so they could breathe properly.
“Don’t feel creeped out about this, but I’ve been wanting to do that to you for a few years now...” Celestia said lowly.
“I was about to say the same thing.” Twilight said. She had no idea where it came from, she wasn’t nearly that bold, but Celestia just brought that out of her.
“I’ve never had a real life partner, only fake suitors and power hungry nobles. I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to actually date someone that I loved.” Celestia said.
“Well, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to date someone taller than I am, let alone date someone, so I guessed we are on the same page.” Twilight giggled. Celestia let out a sweet laugh and started the kiss back up, though she kept it much more reeled in than the previous one.
“I promised Pinkie I’d go stop by and help her out, she had a big party last night and she’s ‘all Pinkie’d out’.” Twilight said later in the morning.
“Oh can I come with you?” Celestia asked.
“Sure, it’s not like I can stop you.” Twilight replied.
“Well then let’s go! It’s been awhile since i had a chance to work with my hands.” Celestia giggled.
At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie was surprised to see Celestia, but was otherwise unphased by her appearance.
“Thank you sooooo much for coming Twilight! I can only stay Pinkie-like for so long. A hangover is bad enough, but waking up on a cloud and having to wake up an equally hungover Rainbow Dash to help you get down is not fun.” Pinkie said, falling off of the counter as if she were a liquid. Suddenly popping up on the other side of the counter, she continued.
“And you brought the princess with you! It’s so awesome, maybe if she helps bake with us then the pastries will be like divine in flavor and taste so much better because they were made with such princess-ey hands!” She said all in one breath.
“Uh, Pinkie? You woke up with Dash?” Twilight said. Celestia was nearly dumbfounded by the pink woman’s speech patterns and speed. The only reason she even understood any of it was because politicians and noblemen tend to have quick tongues as well. But this? this was just unmitigated randomness. And apparently Twilight made sense of it.
“Oh come on you don’t know?” Pinkie giggled.
“Oh trust me, everyone in Ponyville knows by now. But, like, in her bed?” Twilight responded.
“Well duh, where else are we gonna sleep? The clouds that Valkyrie use for bedding is literally the softest stuff you can ever get, not even cloud pillows are that comfortable.” Pinkie said. “OH! speaking of clouds I had this really cool idea this morning where i use clouds to make cupcakes but i’d put stuff in it to make it like cotton candy or icing kinda like how discord did it but without all the chaos everywhere else but when I tried to grab some on the way back here they just poofed away!” She continued.
“Well only a Valkyrie can just go up and touch clouds unless you’re using magic or a cloud-walk spell. ANyways, we had better get started.” Twilight said. If Celestia hadn’t had years of practice keeping her composure up, she’d have to pick her jaw up from the floor. SHe had no idea what the hell Pinkie was saying, yet Twilight understood it like it was normal.
“Twilight... how could you follow what she was saying?!” She hissed in the girl’s ear when Pinkie led them into the back.
“You couldn’t? That’s how she normally talks, usually faster actually. Why?” Twilight responded.
“Your brain must be able to process information at such speeds it’s like slow motion or something... All I got out of that was what you said.” Celestia said.
“I don’t think it’s that extreme, I’m just used to it.” Twilight shrugged.
“Okie Dokie Lokie then! I need to get twenty-three batches of chocolate chip, double chocolate fudge, white macadamia nut, oatmeal raisin, sugar and peanut butter cookies; Five batches of apple family style apple fritters, forty-nine batches of cupcakes and twelve cakes done.” Pinkie listed off.
“Slow days coming up or something?” Twilight asked, rolling the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbows as she snapped, spun her finger around and made a ‘come here’ gesture to the room in general and stacks upon stacks of baking trays and bowls began levitating onto the various counters. Twilight wasn’t even paying attention to them.
“It’s sunday so everyone’s going to be enjoying their last day of the weekend and sleep in, except for you of course.” Pinkie giggled.
“When does the bakery open up?” Celestia asked.
“Oh it opened two hours ago. Most of this stuff will just go on the shelves but some of it was specially ordered. Do you know how to bake, Princess?” Pinkie replied.
“Nobody really knows this, but I used to bake the best pastries in the old canterlot. Nobility and ‘royal pride’, or whatever the noblemen called it, apparently shouldn’t need to bake their own pastries so i’m a bit out of practice.” Celestia said, following Twilight’s lead with her own turtleneck.
“Ok then! I’ve already got half of the cupcakes and cookies in the oven about ready to come out so do what you can and remember, there are no mistakes just delicious accidents!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Celestia was in awe at the kitchen, it was much larger than it looked from outside. That wasn’t the reason she was in awe though, it was what Twilight and Pinkie were doing inside of it. Batter and spices and utensils and trays and bowls and everything you’d ever see needed to make a pastry was flying around the room. There was literally an entire counter full of bowls mixing cupcake batter on their own.
Twilight was working side by side with Pinkie, rolling dough and working with her hands just as hard as her magic was. Celestia soon got over it though, and helped where she could. She would monitor everything, making sure the magic didn’t slip up or traffic trays between ovens or something like that, but she really wasn’t all that useful. Eventually, Twilight got tired so she took over the physical aspect for her but the girl kept her magic going strong. --- “Well it’s about noon now so we really should get going. We’re filthy.” Twilight said after a few hours.
“Oh of course! thank you so much Twilight! I never would have gotten eeeeeeverything done so quickly like that. You two go and have fun and come back sometime between Ten and Midnight and I’ll have something special made for you as thanks for helping me so much!” Pinkie exclaimed in her holy-crap-how-the-hell-is-twilight-following-her manner of speech.
“Take care Pinkie, and we will.” Twilight said. “We really need to get cleaned up.” She continued, looking the two of them over. They were practically covered in flour and icing, every inch of their bodies smelled like on pastry or another, Twilight’s shirt was probably never going to get that blue food coloring stain out without magic and their hair was coated in a concoction of batter, dough and cottage cheese for some reason.
“We do.” Celestia agreed with a giggle.
Once home, they found Spike reading a book about pyrotechnics.
“Spike, I told you not to read those.” Twilight sighed.
“Hey, I like explosions and fire. Sue me.” Spike shrugged, earning a giggle from Celestia. He looked up at them and fell out of his chair laughing.
“Yeah we’re gonna go clean up... Where are the Crusaders?” Twilight said.
“Sleeping in the guest bedroom, they tired themselves out today. THey actually did chores and stuff.” Spike said.
“Alright. Do me a favor and make some lunch alright?” Twilight asked.
“Sure.” Spike said.
“Come on.” Twilight said and led Celestia to the bathroom. “Towels are in the cabinet, left is hot right is cold and I’ll bring some clothes for you to wear.” Twilight said as she opened the door.
“It seems a bit big for just one person.” Celestia said in a joking voice, earning a blush from Twilight.
“We just started a few hours ago, I think I’d probably pass out if we went that far so soon.” Twilight said awkwardly.
“I was joking.” Celestia said.
“I know, doesn’t hurt to think about it though.” Twilight said, leaving the room.
Half an hour later, Twilight found herself nearly passed out with blood nearly spraying out of her nose as Celestia walked into her room covered by nothing but a towel.
“The clothes don’t fit...” Celestia said apologetically.
“I know... I don’t know your size so I kind of thought you’d just use magic to make it fit...” Twilight said after she composed herself. Celestia facepalmed.
“I’m still filthy.” Twilight said, hurrying past Celestia and into the bathroom for her own shower. --- “I’ll just go sleep on the couch downstairs.” Twilight argued.
“I’m not kicking you out of your bed, and if you sleep on the couch downstairs i’m going to join you there as well.” Celestia argued back.
“Huh?”
“Oh come on, I don’t get to cuddle up with my best friend who also happens to be dating me now? That’s cruel, Twilight.” Celestia said.
“Oh... I guess I didn’t think of that...” Twilight said.
“That bed is big enough to have the both of us sleeping comfortably and then some, it’s not like it’s too small or anything.” Celestia said, sitting on said bed.
“I guess you’re right...” Twilight mumbled.
“Oh come on don’t be so shy, I liked when you were bolder earlier today.” Celestia said.
“Well that was during the morning and the day when we were out and about, now it’s sleeping together in pajamas.” Twilight said.
“It’s a good time to be intimate I should think. If you’re really that uncomfortable with it you don’t have to, but i refuse to let you sleep anywhere but your own bed tonight.” Celestia sighed.
“Oh fine, you win.” Twilight said, throwing her arms in the air and plopped down on the bed.
“This is one luxury I must simply have my dear, snuggles are right up there with peace on my royal ‘have to have’ list.” Celestia giggled as she wrapped her arms around the girl.
“Good night.” Twilight said with a giggle as she snapped and the lights turned off.
“Sweet dreams.” Celestia said, kissing her on top of the head.
“Alright, what was that?” Twilight grumbled tiredly as there was a crash from downstairs the next morning.
“Alright everyone just stop!” Spike’s voice was heard.
“Great, the crusaders are probably destroying the library...” Twilight groaned. Celestia giggled from next to her and snuggled into her.
“I’d hate to lose my cuddle buddy but we should probably check on them.” Celestia said.
“Agreed...” Twilight sighed.
Once downstairs, they found a fallen bookshelf and Spike literally tying the three teens to chairs.
“Do I want to know?” Twilight asked as she snapped and put the shelf back into it’s place and re-shelved it.
“They’ve been driving me crazy all morning, begging me to let them help me get the library set up so I had them do inventory on the books on that shelf and they tried to climb it instead of using the step ladder...” Spike said.
“Were any of you hurt?” Twilight asked after a nice facepalm.
“No miss Twilight.” They said in unison.
“You all need to go home now. Untie them, Spike, and don’t worry about breakfast we’ll get something while we’re out.” Twilight said.
“Actually I should be returning soon. Would you care to join me in Canterlot for a day or two Twilight, Spike?” Celestia said.
“I’d love to!” Twilight said happily.
“Somebody’s gotta keep this place going, I’ll stay. Besides, I’ve got a date with Rarity tonight.” Spike said.
“Oh really? Hope it goes well. I’ll be back on Wednesday, and if not I’ll write.” Twilight said.
“Wait, wouldn’t you need to prepare?” Celestia asked.
“I don’t think so, if it’s just for a day or two I should be fine.” Twilight said with a shrug.
“Besides if she were to pack or anything it’d take a day or two until she’s done.” Spike said, hopping onto the stool at the front desk of the library.
“Whatever Spike. See you later, come on girls.” Twilight said. --- “I don’t want to go back there yet.” Scootaloo said as they walked to the orphanage. AJ and Rarity had thanked them for returning Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but Scootaloo didn’t have a family.
“Why not? they don’t neglect you or anything, do they?” Celestia asked.
“No, the staff is amazing... It’s just the other orphans kind of ignore me and I feel lonely there. I’ve been there since I could remember, most kids get adopted within a year or two. It’s been at least Ten now.” Scootaloo said. Twilight was about to say something encouraging, but the familiar sound of a certain flamboyantly colored Valkyrie about to crash rang from right above them.
“WHOA WHOA WHOA LOOK OUT BELOW!” They heard. They all stepped aside and cringed as Rainbow Dash just narrowly avoided smashing into the road, but wound up smashing into a tree george of the jungle style.
“Uh... you alright?” Twilight asked when the woman peeled herself from the trunk of the tree.
“I’ve had worse... Protip, do NOT try cloud diving while hungover.” Dash said, rubbing a particularly sore spot on her cheek.
“That was so cool!” Scootaloo said, her wings rustling in excitement.
“If you think my crashes are cool, you should see when it works.” Dash said with a grin.
“Can I see it right now?” Scootaloo asked with pleading eyes.
“Well duh, i never leave a practice routine without doing it!” Dash said.
“Go ahead, make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.” Twilight said to the teen. Scootaloo squealed in a fangirl-like manner and practically clung to Dash as she took off. Though Scootaloo was a shaky flier, training with Dash had really helped.
“Rainbow Dash would make a good mother for that girl, don’t you think?” Celestia said.
“I’ve talked to her about that a lot. She’s doing a lot of training for Wonderbolts tryouts, and until she gets in she won’t have the concentration for anything else. Her exact words were something along the lines of ‘I love that little twerp to death, but even if I tried I couldn’t think about anything but the wonderbolts for long enough to be a mom.’.” Twilight said.
“Very responsible I daresay. Well, I’ve got a carriage scheduled to arrive soon. Shall we head back?” Celestia suggested.
“Hm, not yet... I just realized something.” Twilight said, looking a bit nervous.
“What’s that?” Celestia asked.
“We never told spike we’re dating.” Twilight said.
“Oh he knows, we talked while I waited for you to get out of the shower.” Celestia said.
“Oh. Nevermind then.” Twilight said, trusting the princess.
When they arrived back at the library, there were a few guards ready with a carriage. One of them had a letter, though.
‘Sister, something very strange occurred last night while you are away. Dawn split from me again, but this time she was not a nightmare. Apparently she had managed to dispel that beast and has been gathering her strength. I... I’m not alone anymore. Please hurry back, she wants to apologize to you. -Luna’
The letter read. Celestia showed it to Twilight and it confused the girl as they got into the carriage.
“Twilight, what I am about to tell you is something near to me and my sister’s heart, so personal it was removed from all history books. You have to promise me that you won’t even think of it when speaking to others.” Celestia started after a while. Twilight swore with every fiber of her being and Celestia continued.
“A divine being, like Luna and I, is not just a random thing, nor is it inherited. It is something you earn, or in some cases steal. Very few accomplished scholars, like yourself, knew this already though.” Celestia said, Twilight nodding. “A long time ago, both Luna and I had a significant other. My partner happened to be Discord and, well, you can guess how that turned out. He went mad with power and the rest is history. Luna’s partner was a woman named Dawn.
She didn’t go mad with power, but the power drove her mad. When a mortal partners with a Divine being, you see, the partner ascends. That power can lead to a great many things, Dawn would have been ripped apart if Luna hadn’t absorbed her very being into her body.” Celestia continued.
“Absorbed her very being?” Twilight asked.
“It’s old, dark magic. It absorbs one’s life force and consciousness into your body. In this case, though, it saved Dawn from being torn apart. It could not, however, save her mind from being corrupted and twisted into a Nightmare.” Celestia explained.
“Wait, this Dawn woman was Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked. Celestia nodded and continued.
“She waited and gathered her strength until Luna was at her most vulnerable, when she was filled with jealousy and grief, and overtook her consciousness. I couldn’t destroy my sister, I couldn’t even consider it, so I banished her to the moon to give her time to regain herself and to await the birth of the new bearers of the elements of harmony, as we had lost the right to use them. The nightmare made a final stand and lost, as you know, when the banishment was over and Luna regained herself. Now it seems that Dawn has also regained herself and has finally gathered enough strength to be her own person again.” Celestia explained.
“So, for all these years, it’s been like an internal power struggle?” Twilight asked. Celestia nodded and looked towards where Canterlot was on the horizon. “What she said in the letter... After all this time do you think they’d be back together so soon?” Twilight asked after a while.
“Without a doubt. If this happened last night, then i imagine they shared a bed as we did. They were far closer than you could ever imagine. Now that I think of it, the woman looks a lot like you did during your ‘dark’ phase. Quite a coincidence.” Celestia answered, ending with a giggle. Time had flown and, while Twilight was giving her an odd look, she noticed that they were a minute or so away from landing in the palace courtyard.
“What do you think they’re doing right now?” Twilight asked, choosing to see the woman for herself before she made any judgement whatsoever.
“Well, she offered to cover for me during Day Court so they should be just inside. The nobility probably had a fit, but I trust our guards to quiet it down.” Celestia said happily as they left the carriage. Her smile fell and her wings shifted uneasily as a great commotion was heard through the heavy doors. When they entered, they found seemingly all of Canterlot’s nobility crowded around the throne area, screaming and yelling less than pleasant things at a startled unfamiliar woman and an agitated Luna. Luna looked up and, noticing the two, gave them a special look. They quickly cast a noise dampening spell to brace themselves.
“WILL YOU ALL JUST BE SILENT! MY SISTER HAS RETURNED SO STOP YOUR INSIGNIFICANT SQUABBLING!” screamed the magically amplified ‘royal canterlot voice’. Startled, the crowd turned and spread to allow Celestia access to her throne.. There was a ring of night guards between the crowd and the two women, but they showed no sign of the doubt, hate or even uneasiness the crowd showed.
Celestia, with Twilight in tow, quickly made her way to her sister.
“Dawn, it’s been far too long. I’m happy to see you as yourself again.” Celestia said happily, embracing the girl, who really did look nearly twin to Twilight. The only difference was their taste in attire, makeup and the fact that Dawn’s hair was black with a midnight blue streak. There was also the fact that she had black leathery wings on her back.
“It is better than you could ever imagine. I missed both of you, and who is this?” The girl asked, looking at her near-twin. Meanwhile, the crowd watched in silence. They trusted their princess, at least they wanted to. There were plenty of ignorant morons in the mix that wanted nothing more than to continue screaming, but they dare not interrupt BOTH of the princesses.
“This is Twilight Sparkle. My Apprentice, student and recent partner.” Celestia said. Ignoring the crowd’s awed reaction, Twilight stuck her hand out to shake.
“I remember you now... I tried to kill you last time we met, you trust me so easily?” Dawn asked.
“My princess knows and trusts you so there’s nothing I need to worry about.” Twilight retorted. Dawn smiled and shook the hand.
“Glad to hear it. I’m going to have to spend some time in the library alongside my own Princess to get back into the loop. Last time I was coherent, if the nobility acted this way they’d be thrown out.” Dawn said, turning towards the crowd. Said crowd had no idea how to react to all of this new information.
“I think that suspending Day Court and tonight’s Night Court would be wise. No point in wasting time. Twilight Sparkle and myself are in a romantic relationship starting yesterday, an old friend has returned and has entered a romantic relationship with my sister. We’ll probably take questions or something similar to that tomorrow, but for today I think we should spend some time away from our duties for just a little while.” Celestia explained. She could see the torrents of questions coming and quickly ushered the others out of the room.
“Well that went better than expected.” Luna said.
“What exactly was expected?” Twilight asked.
“No idea, but definitely something worse than that.” Dawn replied, earning some light laughter from them.
“You may look like me but we’re pretty different when it comes to pretty much everything else.” Twilight said.
“How so?” Dawn asked.
“My sister’s student is a very studious and, excuse me, obsessive student. If I remember correctly, you have a thing for lists, correct?” Luna said.
“Well... You can never be too prepared... I’ve gotten out of the habit of making a list for everything, though, and whenever I’m not studying I still spend lots of times with my friends so it’s not like I’m an antisocial shut-in.” Twilight said.
“Well good. There is such a thing as too much studying.” Celestia said.
“Well I’m not the complete opposite, but pretty close. Luna and I used to sneak off and skirt our duties every now and then to enjoy the moonlight or have a random adventure.” Dawn said.
“I’ve had a few of those in the past, though they were kind of to save Ponyville or Canterlot or Equestria itself...” Twilight said.
“Luna has been telling me of your deeds. You’ve caught quite a good one, Celestia.” Dawn said, grinning at the princess.
“I’m going to have to agree with you on that one.” Celestia giggled, gently bumping Twilight with her side. Twilight smiled and rubbed the back of her head.
“Well, all of that commotion was exhausting... I need to take a nap if I’m going to be here for dinner. We already had lunch, so you don’t need to worry about that.” Luna said, grabbing Dawn’s hand.
“Alright. Goodnight sister, Dawn. Twilight and I are going to try and enjoy a bit of peace and possibly some lunch.” Celestia said, looking at Twilight for confirmation.
“Why... Why did I think this was a good idea?” Celestia groaned the next day. Twilight barely heard it, Luna and Dawn didn’t even notice she spoke, over the roar of the crowd that had gathered. For what was supposed to be the higher ups of the city, they were incredibly moronic and didn’t understand the fact that someone can’t answer hundreds of questions at once.
“THAT IS ENOUGH! FOR THE LAST DAMNED TIME, IF YOU WANT TO ASK A QUESTION DON’T ALL DO IT AT ONCE!” Luna finally yelled out. The room quieted down for a moment but the uproar returned in force moments later. Celestia heard some very disturbing things and it infuriated her that she couldn’t address them, let alone the genuine questions. She was going to have to do it, wasn’t she?
“ENOUGH!” She yelled in a voice far more powerful than her sister’s. It shook the room. Twilight could have sworn she saw a bit of dust from the ceiling fall. That was the first time Anyone had heard that voice in hundreds of years. It was far too powerful to be the royal canterlot voice.
“Now that We can actually hear questions, will you please simply raise your hands instead of mindlessly screaming? If it is a good question, we shall answer.” She continued after a little cough. After the crowd recovered from the booming voice, almost every single hand went up. Celestia pointed to one and prepared for the worst.
“Princess Luna, is it true that this woman you are with is, in fact, Nightmare Moon?” He asked.
“She is as much Nightmare Moon as I am.” Luna replied.
“The Nightmare will never be back again if that’s what you’re asking.” Dawn cut in. The man had nothing to say, so the hands went back up.
“Will you be a princess too?” He asked.
“Not if I can help it. I guess I would be more of a... personal assistant to Princess Luna.” Dawn answered.
“Next, you there.” Celestia said before the man could continue.
“Is it true that you and Twilight Sparkle, who has been your student since kindergarden, are romantically engaged in a relationship?” The woman asked.
“I told you all that yesterday.” Celestia replied. Before anyone could say or do anything else, though, there was a rather pompous laugh that rang through the chamber. Celestia sighed and put her head in her hand.
“What’s so funny, nephew?” She asked, annoyance nearly tangible in her voice.
“Your choice in partner. I mean, age difference and gender aside... The difference in social standard is atrocious!” Blueblood called from his place in the middle of the room. Twilight chose to ignore his words, but when she looked at Celestia she saw that the older woman seemed to be using a lot of strength to not yell some obscenities.
“And what do you mean by difference in social standard?” She asked in a deceptively sweet voice. The kind of deceptively sweet voice in which you could feel the seething anger in the air. The kind of deceptively sweet voice that told you it would be a very, VERY bad idea to piss the source of that voice off.
“You are a princess, my aunt! You are top of the social class, nothing but the best could even hope to compare! Yet you choose this girl from the country, who is little more than a peasant? In terms of importance or social standing , she’s practically not even on the list!” He exclaimed. Everyone was staring at him, some of them in awe at how incredibly stupid he was, others just wondering what was going to happen next. Luna looked mad, Dawn looked royally pissed off. Twilight herself looked a bit taken aback. But Celestia...
Blueblood had finally struck a nerve he really shouldn’t have gone anywhere near. Celestia was fuming. The arm of her throne she was gripping, which was supposed to be able to withstand any force without the slightest blemish, cracked with a resounded crashing sound. She proceeded to stand and start walking towards where he was standing. The crowd split to give her a straight path and he seemed frozen.
“How dare you...” She said softly, almost in a whisper. The tone of her voice made it more like a menacing whisper, though. “How DARE you...” She continued, reaching him and looking straight at him. He was rather short so she was looking down at him. “Blueblood, I’ve put up with everything you’ve done your entire life... But you finally said just the wrong things.” She continued. Her clenched fists were shaking, apparently she wanted nothing more than to physically beat him into nothing. While that would be enjoyable to watch, she couldn’t let herself do it.
“She is a better person than anyone in this room, more important than half of it and more important to me than all of it. She is not only the strongest mage since Starswirl the Bearded, more so now than he was in his entire life, but the element of magic. She and her friends of ‘country girls’ have saved this place, your hide included, more times than any one group of people should!
You think you have all the power in the world, the ego to go with it, but in reality you are only nobility as a favor to your parents! If you would have turned out even remotely like them I would be proud to call you my nephew... but now... Now It’s taking all of my strength not to literally throw you out of this city. You can insult me, but never insult my people. Especially if that person happens to be my girlfriend.” She raged, slowly calming down just a little bit.
“Now, you have five seconds to be out of those doors before I show you the power behind my Voice of the Goddess.” She continued. When he didn’t move, frozen in terror, she put a hand up and slowly counted down with her fingers. When she reached one finger, the hand started glowing with pure light energy. That seemed to get him out of the trance he was in as he bolted for the door, screaming. She blasted the doors open with the bit of power she had gathered, pushing him further.
She noticed something as the doors swung in their hinges. There was a small group of five dragons flying in the distance.
“That may have been just a bit much...” Dawn said. Twilight moved over to Celestia’s side and followed her line of sight.
“Where there’s something you don’t see every day.” She said.
“Looks like we’re going to have to cut this session short for now. I think it’d be wise to clear the room and the courtyard, five dragons landing could be a bit chaotic.” Luna said, Celestia still trying to calm down.
“You really didn’t need to get that mad at him...” Twilight said to her, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her close. Celestia sighed as people filed out of the room, strangely cooperative after the outburst, and turned to embrace Twilight.
“Oh it wasn’t just that... The straw that broke the camel’s back, you know?” Celestia said after a moment and finally managed to compose herself just as the dragons passed over the city limits and descended into the courtyard. After they landed, the smaller one leading them filled the area with a burst of magic and she took on a human form. Well, mostly human. Her horns, wings, talons and eyes were the same; as well a scaly texture to her skin.
“Ryu, it’s been awhile.” Celestia said when she entered. They hugged each other when the dragon-woman reached her and Luna closed the door and sealed it with magic so eavesdroppers would be warded off. It’s not everyday a contingent of dragons shows up on your doorstep.
“It has. I’m afraid me being here is quite similar to the last time.” Ryu said.
“We’ll talk about it later then... I’m afraid I’m not in a mood fit for anything but smashing someone’s face in.” Celestia said.
“I thought I heard your voice of the goddess a few moments ago.” Ryu said.
“Speaking of that, exactly what is it?” Twilight asked.
“Well... There are plenty of ascended beings. It’s rare, but not all that difficult if one is strong enough. I told you that My sister, myself and our partners were Divine beings. Do you know the difference between the two?” Celestia asked. Twilight thought for a moment before answering.
“Well... Ascended Being is the name of a creature with intelligence that has strength of nearly god-like proportions. Magical or otherwise.” Twilight said.
“Correct. A Divine being, though, is different. Not only are they recognized universally instead of only really by their own kind, their power is well over god-like. Case and point, Luna and I have power over the sun and the moon. Ryu here is probably the closest to becoming a divine being than any other ascended being I can think of...” Celestia explained.
“I can create and maintain different planes of existence. They tend to be small, but we can have that conversation later. I’m sorry, Celestia, but I need to speak with you alone as soon as possible.” Ryu said, her voice getting rather serious. Celestia sighed and turned to Twilight.
“You can tell us about it later. We’re starved.” Luna said, leaving the room with Dawn.
“Why don’t you go join them? Or do whatever you wish. I’ll have you down here once we’re done.” Celesia said.
“It’s alright. You still have your duties. I haven’t been to the royal libraries in awhile, you know where to find me. You never finished answering my question, though.” Twilight said.
“Oh, right. The voice of the goddess. I invented it so that all of Equestria could hear me. I barely tapped into it earlier and Ponyville probably heard it.” Celestia answered.
“Wow... And I thought your sister could be loud when she wanted to.” Twilight said with a laugh. She quickly pecked Celestia on the lips before happily walking out of the room, heading towards the library.
“She is definitely a keeper.” Ryu said with a laugh.
“Yes she certainly is.” Celestia said. “But, before we talk about that, let’s talk about why you’re here.” She continued.
“Well the two are kind of one in the same. I’m afraid I’m here to test your partner. You should have known of her status by now.” Ryu said. Celestia sighed.
“She ascended a long time ago. I imagine it would have been when she awoke as the element of magic. Exactly what will this test be?” Celestia asked.
“Well, it’s my job to oversee the ascension of normal ascended beings into divine beings. The test is different for everyone, not even I know what it can be.” Ryu said.
“Does she have to?” Celestia groaned.
“It’s not even her choice at the moment... That’s the way things are... Trust me, I hate doing this to people.” Ryu said, plopping down on Celestia’s throne.
“ I know it’s not your fault... I hope it isn’t something challenging... Do you think I should come with her?” Celestia asked.
“You, your sister and Dawn as well.” Ryu answered. That surprised Celestia. Why them too? Ryu seemed to read her mind.
“Dawn is to be tested as well. I think after today’s events you should be able to take two or three days off to visit Draconis.” Ryu said.
“I see... I don’t know... I can try.” Celestia said.
“Good. You’re a lot more compliant than last time.” Ryu said.
“Well last time I was barely sane. I had just sent my only sister to the moon indefinitely.” Celestia retorted.
“Good point. We can leave as soon as you can, we brought a carriage.” Ryu said. Celestia gave her a look.
“Don’t worry, it’s a relatively small one.” She assured the princess.
“Well relatively small by your standards are nearly the size of a large house by ours... I’ll do my best to get free time and leave some trusted friends in charge. If all goes well we can probably leave as soon as tonight.” Celestia said.
“Perfect. We’ll all be napping in the courtyard.” Ryu said, standing once more and walking over to the large doors.
“Alright. If you didn’t bring food I can probably get something made for you.” Celestia said, unlocking Luna’s locking spell for the dragon-woman.
“We’re dragons, of course we brought food.” Ryu chuckled. Celestia just shook her head and turned towards the door.
“I guess I’ll go get Twilight first.” She said to herself.
---
Twilight had a very special spot she used to read in before she was sent to ponyville. SHe would wonder the library, grabbing anything and everything she found interesting, and then she would tuck herself away behind a secret illusionary wall she had found. There was an area of the library with assorted places for sitting or resting and back in the corner there was a specific patch of wall that was ever so slightly discolored. Most people never saw it, since it was between two shelves. If one had a small enough frame, namely a rather studious girl, and wanted to find the most isolated corner of said area; it was a rather easy find.
It was a small hole, Celestia was barely able to fit with her wings, but it opened up into a large corridor. It was a bit dark, since it was lit only by torches along the walls, and it wound down under the library itself for a few steps until it reached a room that could fit about ten people comfortably. There were a few shelves down there, stocked with ancient tomes and scrolls. Some of them thought to be lost. Others thought to have been banned and destroyed.
“So did you ever figure out why and how this place happened?” Celestia asked as she reached the room to find Twilight lying on an out of place beanbag chair with an ancient tome on dark magic.
“Last time I was here I found a journal encrypted in runes. In between then and now I found a codex, which was encrypted in a particular book about starswirl the bearded, and I got a little bit translated before I decided to open this up. Apparently this was Starswirl the Bearded’s secret study. Apparently He wanted to go somewhere not even the princesses knew about. Took him five years to finish.” Twilight explained, most of her attention still in the book.
“Why am I not surprised... Normally I’d ask you why you’re reading such a dark tome, but for now there is something incredibly important I need to speak to you about.” Celestia said, plopping down next to her partner. This drew the girl’s attention away from her book.
“I’m guessing it has something to do with that dragon?” Twilight asked. Celestia nodded and tried to find a way to explain it.
“Well for starters, you are an ascended being. All of the elements are. That’s really not important, though.” Celestia started.
It took a full hour to explain everything as best she could and for Twilight to process all of the information and make sense of it. Twilight had become used to sudden things in epic proportions happening to her over the years, but this was still a doosey. Her familiarity with this kind of thing allowed her to calm down quickly, though, and she decided that she should just go with it and hope for the best. That usually worked when she couldn’t organize everything.
Luna and Dawn’s reaction it was more of a baffled annoyance, as if things like this happened every day. They agreed to go much quicker than Twilight did, though, and now all that was left was for Celestia to bullshit her way into a vacation. With this in mind, she gathered some of her court she trusted.
“Alright, thanks for coming. I know this probably isn’t the best time, what with all the news we dumped on everyone yesterday and today, but the dragons have come short of time and there are incredibly important talks we need to finish. If left as is, it could end badly for both nations.” Celestia said. She wasn’t even lying, really. Not much anyways. Apparently this wasn’t the first time she pulled something like this.
“How long do you want?” One of them asked with a bit of a sigh. Celestia chuckled.
“Sorry, this one is actually legitimate for the most part. I’d say three days at the most.” Celestia said with a little laugh.
“Go on, make sure you take care of everything important first while you’re there. I imagine we can hold the fort for 4 days if you need it, but let’s just say three to be safe.” The man said.
“What would I do without you?” Celestia said with a grin.
“Probably go on a surprise vacation, freak out the country and let canterlot fall into chaos.” The man retorted. Celestia rolled her eyes and happily left the room.
“It seems getting together with her student has definitely elated her mood.” One of them said.
“I know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that giddy and happy.” The man agreed.
---
“So how long will we have you?” Ryu, who was back in her dragon form, asked when the group of four entered the courtyard with supplies enough for about five days.
“Preferably three days at most, but 4 to be exact.” Celestia replied.
“That should be more than enough time. It’ll be a set of trials spread across two days. On the first day, though, I’ll help you prepare.” Ryu explained, motioning for the carriage to come up to let them in. It was large enough to fit her in her normal form easily, but she changed back into human to join them and explain further. She continued as they took off.
“The area the trials will be given are not under our influence, instead they relate directly to the one who is being tried. Ambient magics and ancient spells weaved long ago work in conjunction with this and create trials specifically tailored to show your best and expose your worst.” She continued.
“Alright... What did you mean by help prepare?” Twilight asked.
“With my ability to manipulate and warp dimensions, I can give you a bit more time.” Ryu answered simply. None of the four believed that was all, but they wouldn’t get much more no matter how long they stayed on the subject. Dragons are notorious for keeping secrets for thousands of years at a time.
“Alright... What kind of things should we expect from the trials themselves?” Dawn asked.
“Like I said, I don’t know for sure. What I do know, however, is that it should be rather simple. Much like a tribal right of passage, according to my kin. What do you two remember of it?” Ryu asked, motioning her head towards Celestia and Luna.
“Not much...” Luna said.
“Nothing at all...” Celestia admitted. Ryu seemed surprised at this and she entered a deep thinking pose for a while.
“So... What would happen if I pass this trials and become a divine being like you?” Twilight asked Celestia and Dawn decided that Luna’s lap was a perfectly good place to nap.
“I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that nothing much will change in terms of living. That is, however, unless you want them to. In terms of power and social standing, you’d be equal to me; if not more so. You could become the third ruling princess, start your own nation, siege the palace to wrest equestria from my hands or ask nicely for some land. Or, of course, you can stay where you are.” Celestia went on, earning a bit of laughter from Twilight and chuckles from the half-asleep Luna at her examples.
“Well, I could live half in Canterlot and half in Ponyville, I can’t just abandon my friends no matter what. I don’t think I could handle the responsibility of ruling anything other than a library...” Twilight said.
“You know... I... I would think you’d be a bit more shocked and disturbed by all of this...” Luna grumbled.
“Take a nap, sister. I was thinking that too, actually.” Celestia said. Luna gave her a thumbs up and was out in a second.
“Well... Over the years you get used to magnificent surprises. Ryu said I don’t really have a choice in the matter so there’s nothing I can do to avoid it... Might as well plan for it and get used to it.” Twilight explained.
“My, you’ve matured a lot since the day I first sent you to Ponyville.” Celestia chuckled.
“Sorry about that... Kind of zoned out... What’d I miss?” Ryu said suddenly, noticing the two sleeping women.
“Just a bit of chit chat, not much.” Celestia said, yawning.
“I realize it’s quite late for you. You should follow their lead. We won’t arrive until morning.” Ryu said, reclining on the massive couch she was on, as Luna started snoring ever so slightly.
“I don’t really know if I can sleep...” Twilight said.
“Anxious?” Celestia asked as she stood up and walked around behind Twilight somewhere.
“A little... Mostly I just can’t stop thinking of what every possible thing it could be, any possible outcome...” Twilight started, but was startled as she was pulled back. Celestia had laid down behind her and pulled her in.
“Either way you should get some sleep.” She giggled as Ryu let out a laugh.
“Oh you... I’ll try I guess...” Twilight said.
“You two are adorable.” Ryu said.
“No arguments there.” Celestia said.
“I think I’ll go out and chat with my kin.” Ryu said, standing up and walking towards the large door.
“Have fun.” Celestia said. Twilight, despite her earlier comment, was already dozing.
---
The arrival was rather anticlimactic. They landed, got out of the carriage in an empty courtyard and the dragons dispersed. Ryu led them through a rather impressive antechamber, in which the Dragon used a spell to light up the thing to show off, and found that there was little more than a cave on the other side. Something wasn’t right. Celestia had been here before and there was supposed to be a deep cavernous area with a dragon-sized city.
“Sorry to spring this on all of you, but that Antechamber put you all into a deep sleep and I’m sending you through to another dimension. I told you I would help you prepare, and This will prepare you for anything. Otherwise, the set of trials might kill you.” Ryu started.
“Wait... what?” Celestia said.
“You and your sister need to go through the trials again, since you forgot your own from before. WHen I blacked out in the carriage before, that was me going to consult the other beings. You know I can’t really talk about it.” Ryu explained.
“What exactly is this place then? It just looks like a cave.” Twilight asked.
“Well, we’re not there yet in full. You’re still materializing. You’ll have everything you had on you and there really isn’t anything you can’t do in this world. You might recognize it, Celestia.” Ryu replied as the outside of the cave changed from a dim light to blazing. They cautiously went to it and saw a desert. Off in the distance, miles away, was a tiny black speck. Judging by how far way it was, though, it was massive up close.
“It can’t be...” Celestia whispered.
“It is. This is where things go when they go extinct or are banished from reality. Plenty of ancient creatures, malicious monsters and old ruins dot this world.” Ryu said.
“Exactly how is this going to help us with a set of trials, especially in just one day?” Dawn asked.
“Well, time is warped here. It would take years, decades even, for one day to pass in our world. This will help you because it will force you to learn how to survive, adapt quickly, analyze any situation and even prosper. There are many ways to leave this place without my help. Your goal is to find one of them. And Celestia, you may have created this place, but you do not control it. In the thousand years you have left this place alone, millions of years have passed. I imagine nothing is the same, new things are here and old things gone. Things like that.” The Dragon explained.
“What kind of trials would we have to face if being stranded in such a place is merely preparation?” Luna asked.
“I’ve already told you, I don’t know. Normally you’d be thrown into the universal hub, which is a place where many hundreds of worlds and meet, and there you would drift through the different places until you found your way back. That’s what I’ve been told. It’s not all up to me, though. I’m just the messenger and the means to get you started.” Ryu answered.
“Then who does all of this?” Twilight asked, looking out over the desert.
“I don’t know what they are. Nobody does, not even they themselves. They are beyond divine beings. I guess they’re the closest you'll get to actual omnipresent gods.” Ryu replied.
“So... We have to find our way out of a world where extinct and banished things go... We have supplies that should hold us for maybe two or three days in this kind of environment. The place is apparently filled with old and dangerous things, and if evil is banished here they’ll probably try to kill us on sight. Well, can’t be that hard, eh?” Twilight said, almost to herself.
“I wouldn’t know... A word of advice, though, I’d try for that spire there. It materialized here only three years ago in this worlds’ time.” Ryu said and started dissipating.
“Wait... will everything we do here correspond to us in our world?” Celestia asked.
“Of course. you are physically here, and you have to physically return. This place will change you, be warned. Don’t let it be for worse.” Ryu answered before fading completely away.
“Well fuck...” Dawn said, sitting down on a rock.
“You agreed to putting us through this?” Twilight asked, not sure if she should be mad or not.
“No no no no no no... I didn’t know this was going to happen! She just told me should would use her ability to give us time to prepare... Not strand us here...” Celestia said, sitting down as well and putting a hand over her face.
“Well, Dawn and I are more well versed in being stranded somewhere... It’s not so bad, what can be worse than a thousand years of Isolation?” Luna said, pulling Dawn to her feet and smiling at the other two.
“That doesn’t help the fact that I’m the one who agreed to get us into this...” Celestia sighed.
“Well... You didn’t know... She did say we really didn’t have a choice... I don’t know why we wouldn’t, but I can’t help but believe her. Right now, though, we don’t need to think about why we’re here, we need to worry about getting out. Ryu isn’t trying to get us killed, so I say let’s do what she said and head for that spire... Or whatever she called it.” Twilight said. Celestia sighed and put her head in both hands.
“Come on then, we can worry about hating ourselves when we know exactly what’s going on.” Dawn said.
“Alright, alright... Thanks.” Celestia said softly, getting to her feet.
“Well we didn’t really bring much water... Maybe about two days’ worth in this heat.” Celestia said, hours later, as they walked. The spire had gotten a little closer, but they had walked a few miles at least.
“Look, do you see that on the horizon?” Twilight asked, shielding her eyes with one hand and pointing with the other.
“It looks like... green.” Luna said.
“I’ll take a look.” Dawn said, launching into the air and hovering a good deal up.
“There should be binoculars in here... Ah, here we go. Dawn! Catch!” Twilight said, digging through the pack a moment and using a spell to propel the thing up towards the hovering woman. She caught them, gave Twilight a thumbs up and looking through them.
“It looks like a treeline, and not some desert trees either!” She called down.
“Come on down then, there might be somewhere to refill our water!” Luna called. Dawn did as she was asked and returned the binoculars.
“Before you ask, do you really think I’d pass a sightseeing chance in a place I’ve never been?” Twilight said when Celestia gave her a look.
“What else do you have in there?” She asked.
“I have an archaic map, a compass that doesn’t work, a bunch of sample flasks and containers and a bunch of journals.” Twilight answered.
“Glad to see one of us likes to be prepared.” Dawn said.
“Indeed. I give it about another three hours until we reach the treeline. If this place has a normal night and day cycle, it should be getting about dark when we get there. For something so dangerous, this is incredibly boring...” Luna said.
“Wait, what’s an Archaic map?” Dawn asked.
“Well, it’s like a normal map. The only difference is that it records what you see in real time.” Twilight replied.
“So it’ll fill out wherever we go?” Dawn summarized.
“Yes, but it’s difficult to read if you didn’t cast the spell to make it so, it warps proportions a lot so telling distances is awkward.” Twilight answered, pulling the thing out and showing it. The thing looked like a large line with a circle at one end. As they were walking, the line inched forward ever so slightly.
“That’s cool.” Dawn said.
“I didn’t know you had one of those, the spell fell out of practice long ago and the only blank maps are lost.” Celestia said.
“I found it in the restricted section about a year ago, the pages were scattered but I pieced it together.” Twilight explained.
“What kind of other things have you learned that I don’t know about?” Celestia asked.
“I don’t know, probably a lot. I spent a whole year restoring, piecing together the pages of and learning from ancient and destroyed texts. I didn’t exactly like all of it, some if it was incredibly dark and dangerous...” Twilight answered.
“Some things were destroyed for a reason... I trust your judgement on what you released, learned from and kept secret.” Celestia said.
“I actually put one up in flames again after I figured out what it was... You don’t want to know, either.” Twilight said, shivering at the thought of it.
“Oh that one... I remember ripping the pages out of it and ripping those in half three times before scattering them about the restricted area.” Luna said, shivering as well.
“If it disturbs the both of you that much then I certainly don’t want to know...” Celestia said.
“Anyways, you said you learned about plenty of dark magics. I invented at least half of them, what sort of things can you do?” Luna asked.
“I read and learned everything from the big unnamed tome of black magic, the one with a moon engraved into the cover. There was a book on witchcraft that was actually not the slightest bit evil, an assortment of scattered scrolls... Oh, there was this one that had nothing on the cover at all. It was full of weaponized magic and dark magic. There was a warning inside of the cover explaining that they weren’t to be used even to defend oneself in times of peace.” Twilight explained, stopping to think.
“I know the tome and the book of witchcraft, you’ll have to tell me what was on the scrolls... But that last book is dangerous, Twilight. That was the magic Celestia and I developed very early in our lives, when Equestria was full of war. It may be a good thing you learned it here, though, if it is as dangerous as Ryu said.” Luna said.
“Those were dark times...” Celestia said lowly.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think I’d even want to use them unless we were dying.” Twilight said.
“I think we would have to use them in that situation as well...” Celestia agreed.
“Let’s hope you don’t, then. I’ve got this sinking feeling in my gut...” Twilight said softly.
“Why is that?” Dawn asked.
“Wasn’t the treeline between us and the spire five minutes ago?” Twilight said, pointing to where the spire seemed to have crept up on them. Its shadow was over them before they stopped.
“That... Shouldn’t be here... Perhaps the treeline was a mirage?” Luna suggested.
“That would be logical... but if we all saw the same thing...” Celestia started.
“This world is strange and ever changing, at least according to you and Ryu. I wouldn’t put it past it to mess with our minds.” Dawn said, looking up at the massive dark thing. They started walking towards it, but Twilight’s step faltered and she nearly fell over.
“What’s wrong?” Celestia asked, catching her.
“I-I... I don’t know... Just... All of a sudden my entire body started hurting... Agh, my head hurts so much...” Twilight said in a mish-mash way, holding her head. She dropped to her knees after a moment and yelled out, as if in pain. Celestia was rushing to help her back up and find out what was wrong, but they all gaped in awe as what looked like stubs or joints slowly protruded from the girl’s back. They stopped growing after a certain point, but it seemed as if nearly half of of wing frame had formed. There was blood oozing slowly from where the things protruded, the red staining her shirt above it.
“It’s alright sister, she just passed out. Let’s get into this spire thing and see if there’s any way we can find out what’s wrong in there.” Luna said, putting a hand on her sister’s shoulder.
“A-Alright...” Celestia said after a moment, picking the girl up bridal style and quickly walking towards the hulking structure.
“Come on sis, if she’s any bit like me besides looks she’s fine.” Dawn said, catching up to Celestia.
“I... I guess you’re right... It’s just... This place is so dangerous... If there’s anything wrong with her it could cost her life or ours... And if anything happens to us here, it happens back in our world.
They made their way closer to the spire and found that the extreme heat the desert had been giving off was now a strange chill. Twilight moved in her unconscious state, making a grumbling noise.
“It appears she is stirring. We should perhaps wait until she wakes up before we enter.” Luna suggested.
“Alright.” Celestia said, setting the girl down against the wall of the spire. The odd half-formed frames on her back twitched oddly before her eyes opened a few moments later.
“What... What was that?” She asked, putting a hand to her head.
“We don’t really know... We’ve reached the spire, though.” Dawn said. Twilight turned around to see the structure she was leaning on was in fact the spire. She also noticed her new appendages.
“That’s... new...” She said after a few moments.
“We’ll try and figure out what’s wrong when we get to the top.” Celestia said, pulling the girl to her feet.
“Um... Alright... I guess... They hurt, though, and I can feel them...” Twilight said, swaying a bit on her feet.
“Well, if they are what I think they are, they’re only partially formed. If they continue forming how they have, you might be in for a lot of pain. Try moving them.” Luna said.
Twilight nodded and concentrated. It was a few moments, but the things twitched a few times.
“It doesn’t look like most of the muscles and ligaments have formed yet, We’ll figure out what’s causing this if we can, but first let’s get to the top of this thing.” Celestia said, finding a small entrance nearly hidden by perspective.
“Can you walk alright? You seem a bit woozy...” Dawn asked.
“Oh, you know... Suddenly what might be wing frames burst out of my back in the single most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.” Twilight said sarcastically, stumbling a bit as she took another step.
“Well don’t be an ass about it and let me help you.” Celestia said with a light laugh, throwing the girl’s arm over her shoulder. They made their way up the spiraling ramp that was the interior of the spire. They assumed there would be many floors, but as they trudged up the thing for more than ten minutes straight they realized the top was probably the only floor.
They finally reached the massive doors after fifteen minutes and found it unlocked and practically open already.
“The material this thing is made of looks like obsidian, yet these hinges are smashed apart...” Dawn said, examining the door.
“It’s not obsidian... Do you feel that?” Luna said, putting a hand on the wall.
“Well then that gives me even more reason to worry about the fact that these pure solidified magical energy hinges are smashed to dust.” Dawn said.
“I don’t think I want to find whatever did it...” Luna said.
“I’m going to have to agree with you on that one... Let’s check inside, though... I have a feeling this door wasn’t broken into; but out of.” Celestia said.
“I can walk on my own now...” Twilight said when Celestia helped her back to her feet from where she had sat down against the wall. Celestia nodded and they cautiously made their way into the room. It was relatively clean, save a few demolished pieces of furniture. There was something carved into the wall between two gilded doors. Celestia, Luna and Dawn looked at it with concern.
“This prison can’t hold me any longer... My mark on this place has been carved. This world will go mad, and every other world with it.” Twilight shakily read, as if she barely understood it. The other three were surprised by this.
“Twilight, you can read these glyphs?” Celestia asked.
“Barely... I don’t remember any books on them though...” Twilight replied.
“This language died off thousands of years ago... At least, for the most part. It’s a verbal representation of a very specific type of magical power only known to people like us.” Luna said.
“So you ARE getting wings... cool.” Dawn said, poking at the maimed frame on Twilight’s back.
”That really hurts you know...” Twilight grumbled.
“Are you tired?” Celestia asked.
“More like exhausted... If you didn’t notice, the sun fell faster than we thought it would...” Twilight said, pointing to a window where the starless sky could be seen.
“But it was at least an hour until nightfall when we entered the spire...” Luna said.
“Perhaps we were going up that ramp longer than we thought... Or the days are slightly shorter...” Dawn said with a shrug. “Now, back to the crisis at hand, Twilight understands the ancient tongue.” She continued.
“What does the message mean exactly?” Twilight asked.
“There is one like us, kind of like DIscord, but instead of chaos he was enveloped in madness. He was paranoid and cruel, closer to evil than any villainous creature you’ve seen before.” Celestia explained.
“What was his name?” Twilight asked.
“Nobody knows. Everyone called him Asura, though we know that’s not his real name. We only knew him for a short time before he was consumed by madness and we destroyed him.” Luna replied.
“And I can read the language he used, why?” Twilight asked.
“Not completely sure, but perhaps you’re starting to becoming nearly as powerful as we are. That’s the only thing I can think of.” Celestia answered.
“And if you’re growing wings, that only adds to it.” Dawn piped in.
“I guess it does.” Celestia agreed.
“Sister, you do recognize these doors... Right?” Luna said from where she stood with a hand on one of the two large doors in which the message was carved between. It had a lunar eclipse carved into it. Dawn walked over to it and she apparently recognized it too.
The door Celestia and Twilight were in front of was identical except for the carving. It was a solar eclipse.
“Why, it’s our chambers. From the old castle. I need to see what this place really is.” Celestia said and her hands started glowing with her brilliant magic. She quickly, almost faster than the other three could follow, drew a string of glyphs in the air. When she finished she gained a look of deep concentration.
“This isn’t any normal material... It’s pure solidified dark magical energy.” She started. She gasped when she looked at Twilight. “And an amount of that energy is slowly being siphoned off by small pockets of the same energy in varying places in your body...” She continued to Twilight.
“That... That would explain why this change happened when we got close to the spire...” Luna said.
“I’ve used this spell to examine you before, Twilight, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen these pockets of energy...” Celestia said.
“Maybe entering this world with us somehow unlocked the potential for this change to happen... But that potential would have to had been there in the first place.” Dawn said. The three looked at her.
“Alright... Me understanding an ancient language, an excruciatingly painful transformation that will probably be slow going and even more painful... And some ultimate evil at the end of an assumed epic quest... All of that I can handle... That’s probably because I’m exhausted and can barely think straight...” Twilight started, putting a hand over her face as she leaned against a wall.
“I’ll probably freak out tomorrow morning, but that can wait until I can sleep. Celestia, if this is your old chambers I’m stealing your bed.” She continued after a few moments. She proceeded to push open the doors and walk in. Celestia laughed softly and followed her.
To those few of you still following this story, wondering if it'll ever get an update, the answer to that will have to be no. I'm cancelling this story, but instead of having the idea behind it die off I'm using it in a different story. It's not Twilestia like this one, but the whole idea of Twilight and a princess being sucked into a desolate world full of forgotten and dangerous things will be a major part of it. When the Night Beckons was originally intended to be a short and sweet little story based around the concept of the role of Twilight's mentor changing from Celestia to Luna. There will be Twiluna, it is humanized, but most importantly there will be badassery.
