What if Princess Twilight wasn't who we thought she was?
A few days ago, Twilight Sparkle was faced with her destiny. Her destiny being the power hungry soul of a forgotten princess. Now trapped in her own body, Twilight desperately searches for a way to alert her friends and escape the power of a princess.
(My first mlp story. As such I would appreciate your help and criticism. Also the current cover image is a placeholder until I can finish the real one.)
Twilight looked around the glowing hall as memories from her past flew by, "Wow. This is amazing, but, Princess? What does it all mean?"
Celestia looked at her long time student and smiled, "It is your memories passing before you. Your memories of a time before the completion of Equestria's royalty."
Twilight seemed confused, "Wha-what?" Celestia's horn glowed a dull pink instead of it's normal gold, "It's time to accept you destiny, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight felt herself become covered in a burning pink light. What she thought would be a gentle, caressing glow, ended up being a harsh and painful burn. Twilight screamed in agony, "Princess! Princess Celestia! Stop! It hurts!" But the spell continued. Twilight felt ready to pass out, "Celestia, please!"
But the princess just watched Twilight squirm, "This was meant to be Twilight. Your soul will soon be replaced and the years of training will have paid off. It took me a thousand years to get a suitable vessel, and you were perfect. It's such a shame you have to die, you made great company."
Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Her soul replaced? A perfect vessel? What was Celestia talking about? Before Twilight could ask any of the questions bouncing around her head, she let out one final agonizing blood-curtling scream before everything tuned black.
Twilight's body stood up and her eyes opened, revealing dark red irises in place of Twilight's purple ones. Celestia smiled, "Welcome home, Mystica."
Mystica smiled and laughed, "It is good to be home, sister. Thank you for finding a body to hold me. Tell me, how have things been?"
Celestia laughed, "Things have been wonderful. But first we must take care of something before you can resume your rule alongside me and Luna." And with that, the world of Twilight's memories disappeared.
Twilight awoke slowly, her head felt like it had been broken apart and poorly put back together. The lavender unicorn looked around, all she saw was endless darkness, "Where am I? What happened?" The memories came flooding back, "That's right, the princess. She, she tore my soul. But why? I thought-"
Twilight was interrupted by the sound of a new voice, "Really? She did that? I knew Luna had issues but I never expected her to go all out crazy just for one small town of subjects."
Celestia's voice joined in, "Oh yes, it was quite the sight from what I hear. A Nightmare Night to remember. I only wish I had been there to see it myself. Now about your new body."
The other voice questioned, "What about it?"
Celestia cleared her throat, "Twilight's friends will be suspicious if she never comes back, at least to say good-bye and such."
The other voice replied, "Understood. You want me to pretend to be Twilight until we can get her friends to keep their noses out."
Celestia replied, "Precisely." Twilight didn't believe her ears! Celestia was plotting to get rid of her, it wasn't just a bad dream. Celestia, the pony Twilight had trusted the most, had betrayed her. Twilight wanted to collapse right there and cry her heart out, but she didn't have time to sit around and cry. She had to find a way to escape this endless darkness and fast.
Meanwhile, Mystica was pulling off the part of Twilight Sparkle perfectly. She had even used a spell to change her eye color from her scorching red to Twilight's soothing violet. All of Twilight's friends believed the act, they didn't suspect a thing. That is, until a few days later. Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie had tried to go see Twilight in Canterlot, but when they approached the castle they were turned away. Rainbow Dash glared at the guards, "Hey! What gives? Why can't we enter the castle to see Twilight?"
The guard simply replied, "The princess has requested that no visitors enter."
Rarity stepped in, "But we are the friends of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Surely you can make an exception."
The guard shook his head, "Sorry, Princess Twilight orders that no one be allowed in or out of her wing of the castle."
Applejack was next to question the guard, "What in tarnation do y'all mean Twilight ordered us to say away from her castle?"
The guard stood his ground, "I'm sorry ma'am. Orders are orders. Now I must ask you girls to leave."
The five mares trotted off in confusion. Fluttershy stammered, "Gee. I-I hope it wasn't something I did."
Rarity put a hoof around Fluttershy, "Oh I'm sure it's nothing darling. Twilight is probably just going through something and needs some time alone."
Rainbow folded her arms, "I still say something isn't right. If she was going through something, she would probably want us there with her."
Applejack shook her head, "Well whether something's up or not, there ain't nothing we can do 'bout it 'till they let us in that castle." As they walked off, Pinkie's hoof felt twitchy and tingly. She looked at her hoof and then up at the castle, "This is not good."
Mystica watched the group of ponies leave from her balcony. The pink one turned and looked up at her with concerned eyes. Mystica ignored her and turned around, "Pathetic foals. It's time for my two-thousand year silence to come to an end."
Canterlot Castle was composed of three main wings. The Solar Wing, which was where Celestia spent the majority of her time, the Lunar Wing, which was for Luna, and the Magic Wing, which was where Mystica had lived prior to her "disappearance". Celestia found herself in one of the gardens between her main wing and Luna's. She was preparing to lower the sun on yet another day. She watched as the golden fireball changed to a light orange and finally to an almost red, contemplating how to break the news to Luna that their lost sister had returned. The princess of the night had been away on royal business since the coronation. And things were so busy, Celestia wasn't able to bring it up. But Luna was set to return home tonight, and Celestia waited for her in the garden as the moon slowly took it's place in the sky.
Princess Luna arrived back at the castle shortly after her moon had risen into the nighttime sky. Upon arrival she noticed her elder sister wandering the gardens and decided to pay her a visit. Luna landed next to her sister and smiled, "It is good to see you after so many days, Sister."
Celestia smiled, "At least it was only a few days and not a thousand years." Celestia's gaze shifted to her and Luna's reflections in the small pond in front of them, "Do you remember Twilight Sparkle's coronation?"
Luna nodded, "Yes. I had to leave early so I could make it to the Dragonian Provinces in time. What about it?"
Celestia sighed, "Well, the princess we coronated wasn't Twilight Sparkle."
Luna looked at her sister, "What do you mean?"
Celestia walked toward the Magic Wing, "Let me show you."
Moments later, the two alicorns were standing in front of the bedchambers contained in the Magic Wing. Celestia knocked on the door. Mystica answered, "Enter." Luna turned a paler shade of blue. The voice she heard on the other side of the door, should not have been there. Celestia and Luna entered the room. Inside was an alicorn who looked like Twilight Sparkle, but with minor differences. Her eyes shone a brilliant crimson and her mane and tail had changed to a dark fuchsia with stripes of light pink. Her hair now waved and curled instead of being straight and flat against her neck. The only things that remained the same were the cutie mark and lavender coat.
Mystica turned to see who had entered her room, "Ah, Celestia and Luna! Good to see you my sisters."
Luna forced a smile upon seeing their long forgotten sibling, "Good..to see you..too, Mystica."
Twilight Sparkle wandered the dark world searching for anything that provided useful information. So far she had gathered that a small part of her soul had remained in her body, but was stuck without any control. The soul that had been placed in her body was that of Mystica, a supposed relative of Celestia and Luna that was never mentioned in any of her history books. Twilight also knew that she was fully able to see and hear anything Mystica could, but other than that she knew nothing that could help her escape and reclaim her body or even tell her friends what had happened. She was trapped inside herself.
Mystica smiled, "Luna. Are you not happy to see your sister after over two-thousand years?"
Luna shook her head, "No, no. I am delighted, honestly. I just... need to have a word with Tia real quick." Luna pulled Celestia into the hallway, closing the bedroom door behind her. She spoke in a hushed tone, "Are you crazy, Tia?! You not only brought back Mystica, but destroyed the soul of your best student in the process?!"
Celestia brushed her sister's words away, "No I'm not. I simply felt it was time to truly complete the circle of princesses again and stop living in the past. She is our sister, after all. Be a little kinder."
Luna felt like banging her head against a wall. She couldn't believe what her sister was saying! "What about everything you said about Twilight Sparkle? You said she was being trained to become a princess, not that you were training her so you could rip out her soul!"
Celestia replied, "I know, and I did make her a princess. Twilight should be proud."
Luna was furious, "Proud? Proud?! Are you saying Twilight should be proud of the fact that the pony that was like a second mother to her betrayed her and destroyed her soul just so you could bring back a sister that we went through so much to get rid of?!
Celestia turned and walked down the hallway, "I think you should give Mystica a chance." Celestia looked over her shoulder at her younger sister, "We all tried when you returned, after all."
Luna hung her head and looked back at Mystica's door, "I'd give her a chance. If I knew I could."
Twilight watched through Mystica's eyes and listened through her ears. Mystica was looking through collections of old spell books, "Now, where did they put all my old work? I need to finish those spells immediately if I'm to regain any of my power from before." Mystica pulled spellbook after spellbook off the shelves until she stopped at one. A large leather bound book with an image similar to Twilight's cutie mark, but with tiny red stars surrounding a bright silver one instead of silver stars surrounding a pink one. Twilight studied the book cover and looked at her own cutie mark, "What is going on here? I wonder..."
Mystica held the book as if it could turn to ashes any moment, "Ah, my old journal. How I missed you so. At least you still exist, unlike the rest of my history." Mystica's horn glowed a slightly darker magenta than Twilight's. She flipped through the age-worn pages of the book, "Where is it? Ah ha!" The pages stopped turning as Mystica placed her hoof on the page, "A time-retrieval spell. I can use this to retrieve my powers from two-thousand years ago." She placed a hoof on her chin, "Hmm... It will take some time to prepare, though. No matter. With no one to stop me, I have all the time in the world."
Twilight gasped, "Time-retrieval? I've never even heard of such a spell! Just who are you, Mystica? And what are you planning?"
Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Pinkie was explaining her latest "Pinkie Sense" feeling to the group. "And as we were leaving the castle, my hoof got all tingly-twitchy. At first I thought 'no, that can't be right', but then I remembered 'Pinkie Sense has never failed before so it must be right' and then I looked up at the castle and saw a pony that looked kinda like Twilight, but she didn't at the same time and-"
Applejack put a hoof over Pinkie's mouth, "Now Pinkie, I need you to calm down and tell us what the twitchy-tingly means."
Pinkie pushed Applejack's hoof aside, "It's tingly-twitchy, not twitchy-tingly. Twitchy-tingly is something completely different. But that tingly-twitchy means that Twilight is trying to tell us something."
Rainbow asked, "And just how do you know that?"
Pinkie explained, "Well, my Pinkie Sense is partly rooted in the spirit dimension! OoOooOooo..." Pinkie waved her forelegs in a spooky fashion, "And Twilight is unknowingly sending me messages through the spirit dimension. Because if she knew she was sending them they would come out as actual sentences instead of just a jumble mess of words. But basically, Twilight want's to warn us about a possible danger of some sort. But that's all I know."
Rarity exclaimed, "Danger?! Oh I hope she's not hurt! What are we going to do?"
Applejack removed her hat, "I'm afraid I don't know, sugar. I just don't know."
Twilight Sparkle wandered the darkness of Mystica's subconscious. She assumed it was late night or early morning based on the fact that Mystica had fallen asleep. She wandered the emptiness in search of anything to break the monotony, but to no avail. "Strange," Twilight thought, "It seems that I don't need any sleep, food, or water while trapped here." She then sighed and began to collect her thoughts.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie was unable to sleep. Her thoughts were keeping her awake, "That pony on the balcony today, she looked like Twilight, but.... I just can't be sure." Pinkie sighed, "Twilight's in trouble, I just wish she could tell us why." She turned over in her bed and looked out the window at the towering castle that held the secrets concerning her friend., "Well I guess we'll just have to wait for tomorrow." And with that, Pinkie fell asleep.
Princess Luna stood atop her observatory tower as the carefully arranged stars shone bright across the land. Normally this is when Luna would take in her glorious night as other ponies would sit out to admire the princess's work. But tonight Luna had other matters on her mind, "Why, Tia? Why would you bring her back?" She sighed, "All of Equestria almost died, including us. If it wasn't for that old spellbook, I don't know what would have happened. You said we had to stop her at any cost, but now? I just don't understand."
Twilight sat in the darkness, thinking aloud, "But the only thing I still don't understand, is why I'm still here. Celestia's spell should have killed me. So how am I here?" A voice sounded from the darkness, "That is because I have saved you, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight jumped at the unexpected sound, "Who said that?" A lone figure stepped from the darkness, her coat white as the first snow and her mane pink like the sunrise her horn gleaming and wings regal, "I am Princess Celestia."
Twilight fired a bolt of magic at the mare claiming to be the princess of the sun. Celestia expertly dodged the energy bolt, "Twilight! I am not here to cause you harm! I am here to ask for your help in finally destroying my sister!"
Twilight stood in a defensive pose, horn primed and ready to fire, "My friends and I have already cleansed Luna with the elements! Nightmare Moon is gone! The real Princess Celestia would know that, imposter!" She fired another bolt of energy.
'Celestia' dodged the bolt again, "Not Luna. I speak of my other sister, Mystica. She is the alicorn of magic, and one of the most evil beings I have ever faced." The regal mare lowered her head, "I too have fallen victim to her deception. I am a prisoner here just as you are."
Twilight was still cautious, "Just where is 'here' anyway?"
Celestia replied simply, "This is the Spiritual Plain. The land of souls who refuse to move onward. We are able to remain here because of our connection to the Material Plain, where our bodies remain but belong to us no more. Your raw magical power has prevented you from disintegrating into nothingness, it also keeps you tethered to your body. This is why you can see what Mystica sees."
Twilight took the information in, "Okay. Then why are you also trapped here? And why is your mane pink instead of it's normal rainbow?"
Celestia sighed, "That is a very long story, Twilight."
Twilight sat down, "I have time. We're not exactly going anywhere."
Celestia sat next to Twilight, "Fine. It all began over two thousand years ago with the banishment of Mystica. Originally, each of us wielded two of the Elements of Harmony. I wielded kindness and laughter, Luna wielded generosity and loyalty, and Mystica wielded magic and honesty."
The ancient castle of the royal pony sisters, the palace that was home to Equestria's royalty. Mystica stood in the throne room, "I say we crack down on these subjects! They need to fear us! We wield the most powerful artifacts ever known! If we assemble an army we can conquer the rest of this land and rule the entire planet! There is nothing to stop us!"
Celestia stepped forward, "Nonsense, Mystica! If our little ponies fear us, they will never respect us. And our kingdom has plenty of land, there is no need for us to start wars with the neighboring countries that are just starting to grow."
Mystica stomped her hoof, "Exactly why we should strike now! They are weak and will fall easily! Maybe I should relieve you af your crown, sister. You might not understand what it takes to rule. Right, Luna?"
Luna sat in the corner of the room, being the youngest, she never really go have opinion. She just got to agree with whichever sister scared her more. Which was commonly Mystica. Luna meekly replied, "I-I guess. I don't want people to be afraid of me though, I want other ponies to like me."
Mystica turned away from her sister, "Your mind is to young to understand. Maybe you are not worthy of your crown either. When you have power, you need to use it. They should see us as terrifying gods! Not as normal ponies they can befriend!"
Celestia glared at her sister, "And what do we gain from that? Tell me, Mystica. If our ponies fear us, then they could revolt! They would not listen to us! They would not care about us!"
Mystica began to get angry, "And if they revolt, then we will smite them where they stand! Maybe I should rule Equestria alone since I'm the only one with any sense here!" Her horn began to light, "I shall rule Equestria as queen! I shall lead us to a new age of prosperity! And you, dear Celestia, shall bow before my hooves!"
She fired a beam of light towards Celestia and Celestia countered with her own beam of energy. She began to strain under the power, "Luna! Get somewhere safe! Warn the ponies of Equestria that Mystica has gone mad!"
Luna nodded and quickly flew out the window, alerting the city to the dangers about to come.
Back in the Spiritual Plain, Celestia sighed and stood up, "Mystica escaped. She brought army after army to challenge Luna and I for what she claimed was her rightful crown. Occasionally a pony would escape from her ranks and flee to us. They would speak of tortuous conditions and the terror brought on by my sister. They would ask for forgiveness and I would give it, of course. If it was not for the elements deeming Mystica unworthy, I'm afraid we would have never defeated her."
Celestia began to walk around, "I thought we had defeated her for good, but when I banished Luna, she struck. Apparently she still had a small connection to the Element of Magic. When I used the elements on NIghtmare Moon, she took that connection and forced herself into my mind. My conscious was now hers, the surge of magic changing my mane from pink to the pastel rainbow you see it as now and forcing mot of my mind to the Spiritual Plain. Since then, Mystica has used me and my powers to find a suitable host for her soul, eventually finding one in you, Twilight. She saw the raw magical power in you and began to groom you for the possession."
Celestia smiled slightly, "I watched from here. You were everything that she was not. You were kind. I knew that when the time came, I would save your soul. Because I believe that you can help finally eradicate the poison that is Mystica. You have the power to best her, Twilight Sparkle. We just need to get you ready."
