Ascension To Beyond

“Now presiding, Archmagister Twilight Sparkle and the Council of Harmony.”

Twilight trotted into the room, closely followed by her fellow elements. The lights flared, blinding her slightly before her eyes adjusted.

She walked quickly up to the long desk, taking the topmost chair as her friends filled in the remaining seats. Her eyes roamed over the packed throne room turned council chamber.

The ponies started talking amongst themselves, as they usually did after the council entered.

“First order of business,” Twilight spoke up, silencing all the attendees. “The sentencing of the griffin King. Bring forth the accused.”

The doors in the back of the room opened, as several guards dragged in a heavily chained griffin. Once he saw Twilight he struggled against his chains, almost breaking them before the earth pony next to him grabbed him and hit him with a club. The griffin went limp in his hands.

Fluttershy gasped, before jumping over the bench and rushing to his side.

“He’s been hit harder, just check if we have to postpone another day again.” Twilight said without even looking up from the papers she was reading.

“He has a light concussion, but nothing that’ll prevent him from standing trial.” Fluttershy said, her fingers pressing against different parts of the griffins skull. One particular spot made the griffin squawk, his eyes shooting open and his claws flying upwards to strike at Fluttershy before the chains still wrapped around him stopped his movement.

“How mean. Here I was worried about your health, and you try to kill me.” Fluttershy said coldly, standing up and walking back to her seat behind the bench.

“Are we going to get to business now? Cloudsdale has a new class of Wonderbolts I was asked to give the graduation speech for.” Rainbow said, her wings flaring as her patience withered.

“You can wait a few more minutes until we render a judgement.” Rarity said, shuffling through the papers she had brought. “After all, I had to delay the Old Castle restoration meeting for this.”

“Enough girls.” Twilight said, putting her papers down. Her gaze locked onto the griffin. “Gaius Ironbeak, you stand before the Council of Harmony charged with war crimes. Kidnapping, theft, mutilation of innocents, arson, and attempted assassination of not one but three members of the Council of Harmony. How do you plead?”

Gaius was hauled to his feet, and walked out into the middle of the council room.

“Guilty as charged. Unlike you, I have no problems facing the punishment for my crimes. If I could live it over again, I’d choose to do the same things every single time.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, her eyebrow rising in question.

“You played a part in Celestia’s disappearance. I can’t prove it, but it just so happens that a week after she is gone you step in with Luna’s approval to reform the entire government. And you don’t have to worry about the nobles opposing you, since the aliens just so happened to remove a majority of them as well.”

“Are you accusing me of masterminding the genocide of our noble caste, as well as the disappearance of our beloved princess?” Twilight said, her voice raising in anger.

“Damn right I am. It just so happens that you get friendly with the aliens, and right after they leave you know exactly what to do to keep peace. More than a little suspicious.”

“She isn’t the one on trial here.” Rainbow said, slamming her hands on the table as she stood up. “You admitted you were guilty, so let’s get to sentencing his feathery ass and get back to things actually worth doing.”

“I second that. I have too many parties scheduled for this to take much longer.” Pinkie said, her demeanor rather tame compared to her usual antics.

“Very well then. For your crimes, Gaius-”

“King Gaius. You never took my crown, and I will not be insulted by you sentencing me to death without my full title.”

“Very well then, King Gaius. You are sentenced to death. Your execution will be carried out at dawn, five days from now.” Twilight said, signing the papers before floating them over to one of the guards. He looked over the papers once, before nodding to two more guards that walked over and grabbed the griffin.

“You will be punished for your crimes, if not in this life then in the next. You are solely responsible for the hell you have created.” Gaius squawked at her as he was dragged out of the room.

“I have seen hell, and everything I have done is to keep us from that end.” Twilight said coldly, before storming out of the room. The other elements just sighed, knowing how she got whenever Celestia was brought up.

Twilight was pacing back and forth in her room, her work completely forgotten as her mind wandered back to the council room and what Gaius had said.

‘I need to figure out who else thinks so. This could be seen as me silencing him.’

“You okay sugahcube? You rushed outta there pretty quick.” Applejack said, walking in without knocking like always.

“What he said struck me pretty deep. I was closer to Celestia than almost anypony else, and the fact that he could say such things about me is horrifying.”

‘Even if it is true, except for the genocide.’

“He was a dead-griffin walking, what he said was meant to strike deep.” Applejack said, walking up and pulling Twilight into a hug. “You’ve done a good job since she disappeared, and Equestria is stronger than ever.”

“Yeah, after a war with Griffonia and Zebrica. Not to mention the minotaurs and wolves threatened war as well.”

“You talked them out of it pretty well.” Applejack said, remembering the peace talks rather extensively.

Twilight pulled herself out of Applejack’s arms, and walked over to her bed before flopping down on it.

“Sometimes I question how so much stuff happened. This all started in that one week. The one week with the Aetherians.” She mumbled into the sheets.

“Now, I won’t say I remember much of that week. Rightly being, all I remember was us being brought to Canterlot. Right before everything went to Tartarus.”

“Yeah, the Aetherians definitely changed the world.”

“There’s more to that than what yer sayin’ sugar. There something you need to get off yer chest?”

‘Should I tell her? Could I tell her?’

Twilight rolled over onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling, the same ceiling that she used to sit under with Celestia late into the night and read books.

Her mind wandered back to those days. She was no more than a knee high filly, always preferring to have her nose in a book. She would wander around the castle, usually pulling a little cart filled with all kinds of books. A majority of her wanderings would end up with her in the throne room, seated beside Celestia’s throne. A good book in front of her, and her pseudo-mother seated next to her as she studied. She could feel her smile, the warmth always generous and real.

Then she would remember that night with Prophet. The night she had effectively dethroned Celestia.

“Not yet. Maybe someday, just not today.”

“You know we’re all here for you. You don’t have to hold it all in yerself.” Applejack said, opening her bag and pulling out a small apple treat. “We’re worried about you. Every time somepony brings up Celestia, you get so touchy. It’s been five years since she’s disappeared.”

‘For everypony else maybe. I see her quite regularly.’

“While everypony seems to accept what I’ve done, the feeling is still strong. They miss their princess of the sun, even if they’re better off overall now.”

“Yeah, in such a short time you’ve definitely revolutionized everything. We’ve already surpassed the griffins in technology, and made everypony’s life much easier.” Applejack thought back to her farm. She wouldn't have even thought about accepting Twilight’s offer if she hadn’t brought those things that let Big Mac run the farm by himself. She needed to stop by one of these days, when her schedule opened up enough to let her travel.

“And it’s only beginning. There are new discoveries made every week, either making what we already have better or making something else easier.” Twilight said, remembering the report she had read just before the council. She hadn’t had much time, but skimming over it she had noticed that somepony had discovered a way to bind a magic infused gem to a living creature’s soul and use the magic of the gem to dictate the wellness of it. That would be extremely useful in the long run, although the pony researching it would have to be watched closely.

“While I don’t understand all of what your Magistry makes, I do understand that you do it to make pony’s lives easier.” A small alarm went off in Applejack’s bag, which made her jump in surprise. “Consarnit, I thought I had more time.” She said, reaching into her bag and digging for the alarm. Pulling it out, she hit the button on the top to silence the bells.

“It’s fine Applejack. You’re a busy mare, just the like the rest of us. Go ahead with your schedule, I’ll be fine.” Twilight said, lifting herself back to her hooves and walking over to her desk. “I have projects to approve, and other projects to catch up on.”

“Just remember sugahcube, we’re here for you if you need to talk about anything at all.” Applejack said, walking back out the door.

‘If only I could talk about the things I really need to.’ Twilight thought, trying to lose herself in her work.

Luna knocked on the window, awakening Twilight from her nap at her desk.

Reaching out with her magic, Twilight opened the balcony door to let her in.

“Did you forget what tonight is?” Luna asked, landing in the room.

Twilight definitely had to congratulate her, she had learned the newer vernacular pretty easily.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been busy with a cartload of different projects. Care to remind me?” Twilight asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eye.

“It’s the night of the month we’re supposed to visit her.” Luna said, tossing an apple to Twilight.

“Already? I’ll never understand how you two did all of this, and so much more by yourselves. I’m losing myself in the reports from just my branches, I doubt I’d be able to stay on top of everything from the others as well.”

“You’re also making it much harder on yourself. You make yourself read through every single notice, letter, and report you get. Celestia and I simply had somepony summarize everything and we read those. Not to mention being alicorns helped more than a little bit.”

“Yeah, but what if they overlook something that’s important?” Twilight said, as she took a bite of the apple.

“It’s something you have to trust them to be able to do. So are we going tonight or are you rescheduling because you’re tired?” Luna asked, turning and walking out onto the balcony.

“Tonight is good. It wouldn’t do well after so many years of following a schedule to overlook it because I was tired.” Twilight said, preparing her teleporting spell. “I’ll see you there.” She said, before a popping sound signaled that she had already gone.

“Nice to see you again, Twilight.” Celestia said coldly.

“Must we do this every time Celestia?” Twilight sighed, sick of how she treated her. Admittedly it was deserved, but after so many years Twilight thought that Celestia would at least begin to understand.

“Must you constantly grind the knife you planted into my back by coming here every month? While you haven’t driven Equestria into a hole, you started two wars that I never would have and barely talked your way out of two more.”

“But she has made the lives of our ponies so much easier. The inventions of the Magistry have made their lives so much easier, and every week they revolutionize some idea or discover some new thing that simplifies another part of somepony’s life.” Luna stepped in, hoping to have a nice conversation for once.

“At what cost though? How many ponies have been injured during their research, and for what. A few trivial simplicities?” Celestia said, her hand slamming down on the table. The table groaned under the pressure. This one had lasted longer than the last three.

“There is a no tolerance policy for experiments that injure anypony. If any experiment even accidentally injures somepony, then the pony in charge is put on probation until a full incident investigation is completed, and I say they are allowed to continue working. Those that do it purposefully are imprisoned for ten years and never allowed to be within a hundred yards of a thaumaturgists lab again. And I’m quite glad to say that I have yet to do that to anypony.”

“It is only a matter of time.” Celestia said, before turning away from Twilight.

“Always the same things with you. If you aren’t the one watching everything, then whoever is will mess it up.” Twilight said, standing up from her seat. “I’ll see you back in Canterlot Luna.” Twilight charged up her teleportation spell, popping away before either of the alicorns could stop her.

“Is it impossible for you two to get along? We’ve had five years, you’ve both explained your sides of the argument.” Luna said, pulling out a small cake and knife. She cut the cake apart, floating a piece over in front of Celestia who promptly grabbed it and swallowed it whole. “And I still agree with Twilight. The griffins would have taken over technologically. No amount of magic can oppose the capability to take an enemy out at ranges far greater than the average spell.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard it before Lulu.”

“But have you listened? You denied all chances of advancement, for fear of a few accidents. Within five years, we have tripled our exports and become an economic superpower far greater than what Equestria was under our rule. All thanks to technology.”

“Something we could have done anyways.”

“But not before one of the other species discovered it. You would have accepted the technology after another species discovered and released it, just to make sure your ponies weren’t harmed while it was being created. We would have been following behind, pulling ourselves along by their coattails. Now we are the leaders, the ones at the head of the wave going forward.”

“If all you’re trying to do is convince me to forgive her, then forget it. There is nothing you could do, nothing anypony on this planet could do to make me forgive her.” Celestia said, standing up out of her chair and stomping off to the back of the small cottage she was trapped in. She slammed the door to her bedroom shut, effectively ending this reunion.

A tear fell down Luna’s cheek. “Happy birthday Tia.” She said, pulling a small package from her bag and placing it on the table before teleporting back to Canterlot.

Hermes Drone #11357

Sending high density info-burst

Priority Channel: Omega 0 0

First Report

Count: 5 years

War.

Peace.

Advancement.

Calculating Odds: 30%

Initializing Hibernation Protocols.