Prisoner 2639 “Twilight”
Simulation Theme: Failure

The first thing Twilight felt when she came to was the feeling of cold marble under her body. This was confusing to her because the last time she was conscious, she was on an alien ship and was being taken captive. Groaning, she cracked open her eyes and dragged herself onto her hooves.

Looking around, Twilight immediately recognized it as the Royal Throne Room back in Canterlot. Baffled, Twilight pinched herself to make sure that it wasn’t a dream, surely enough realizing that what she was seeing was real. Somewhat disturbed, she walked over to one of the walls, inspecting it and giving it a few taps. How in Equestria did I get into the throne room? she thought to herself, walking over to one of the windows and peering outside.

Again, Twilight was met with surprise when she saw the glorious city of Canterlot outside the window, cementing the fact that she was indeed in the throne room. Suddenly a muffled screaming from behind her forced her to turn around and look at the opposite windows. A shadow fell with great speed past the window, making Twilight run over to it. That shadow almost looked like the shape of Spike… but it couldn’t be him, could it? Twilight could sense if he was in trouble, if he fell from the roof she’d know… Before Twilight could ponder this some more, the sound of the opening throne room doors made Twilight snap her attention to the entrance.

In walked nopony else but Celestia, a rather flat look on her face as she headed towards Twilight. Twilight blinked a few times before crying out in joy. “Princess Celestia! I’m so happy to see you!” she exclaims, running straight towards the Sun Princess. Celestia only frowns, watching Twilight suddenly stop in front of her.

“Oh, it’s you Twilight. Just the pony I was looking for,” she says coolly, keeping her eyes locked on her student in front of her. Twilight cocked her head to the side, wondering why the Princess wanted to see her. Opening her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by Celestia raising her hoof for silence.

The throne room remained in a tense silence for a few moments until Celestia scowled. “Do you know what you’ve done, Twilight? I put my trust in you and you failed miserably. Thanks to your failure to stop the Zin, Equestria has fallen. You’re a disgrace to Ponykind, and I couldn’t be more ashamed to have a failure of a student,” she snarls. Twilight’s joy to see the Princess immediately shatters upon hearing this, the feelings of extreme shock and sadness moving in.

She had... what? She couldn’t have failed Equestria! “B... but Princess, I was-” she begun before suddenly getting struck across the muzzle by Celestia.

“Shut your mouth you disgusting excuse of a pony! I don’t want to hear your excuses!” she snarls, her eyes burning with rage.

Twilight backpedaled as hard as she could away from the Princess, eventually backing into a wall. Her jaw stung from the hit she had just received, but her emotions had taken a far worse blow. Tears spilled from her eyes as she looked at the Princess with a look of sheer pain. “Prin... Princess... I’m so sorry….” she chokes out.

Celestia only snarls, preparing herself to charge. “I don’t want you to be sorry, Twilight Sparkle, I want you to pay for your actions. You lived as a failure, and now you’ll die a failure!” she shouts before charging at Twilight. With a yelp, Twilight only narrowly managed to scamper out of the way of the charging alicorn, her mind going into overdrive mode. She had no idea why the Princess was acting this way, but she did know that Celestia had the intentions of killing her.

“Princess stop! I’m your student, why are you attacking me?” Twilight shouted, narrowly dodging a ball of magical energy that the Princess launched at her. Celestia only roared, launching another spell at Twilight with the sole purpose of killing her former student. Twilight yelped, quickly lighting up her horn and teleporting out of the way of the spell. Celestia was fully bent on killing her... Twilight had no other option but to fight back. “I’m so sorry Princess, but you leave me no choice!” Twilight calls as she launches an explosive spell at her former mentor.

Celestia only narrowly managed to dodge this magical attack, the heat of the explosion singing her coat a small bit. “You’ll pay for that, Twilight Sparkle!” she shouts as she retaliates with another blast of magic that narrowly misses Twilight.

All of Twilight’s senses were now in overdrive as adrenaline surged through her veins. She was now fighting the Princess, something she thought would never be possible. Letting out a shout, Twilight uses her magic to propel herself like a bullet toward Celestia with the goal of knocking her back. Celestia had no time to react as Twilight slammed into her at great speed, causing her to go flying across the room, slamming into the wall at full force. Dazed, she struggled to get to her hooves and retaliate. “If... if that’s the best you got, Twilight, there’s no wonder you failed,” Celestia growls, spreading her wings to take off.

Twilight only growled, preparing another attack. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Princess, but I won’t die now. I can correct my mistakes and free Equestria, you just failed to give me a chance!” Twilight shouts, launching her spell.

Celestia only grins, using a quick flap of her wings to shoot upwards and out of the way of the attack. “You don’t deserve a chance!” she shouts, launching another spell. Twilight rolls out of the way again, growling deeply. There was no way this was the Princess she knew and loved... this was some sort of imposter that needed to die.

Lighting up her horn again, she looks up at the imposter Celestia, baring her teeth. “I don’t know who you are or what you’ve done with the Princess, but I will not let you kill me! You’ll pay for this!” Twilight shouts before letting loose a large blast of magic. The blast was too big for Celestia to avoid, the impact sending her careening into the ceiling before dropping to the floor. She had no time to recover before the angry Twilight had teleported over to her, her eyes lit up with rage as she put her hoof on Celestia’s throat. “I’m only going to give you one chance you imposter... what did you do with the real Princess?” she snarls, pressing her hoof down enough to prove that she was serious.

The imposter only laughed, looking straight into Twilight’s eyes. “I am the real Celestia you fool! You failed Equestria, Twilight, and now it’s up to me to kill you and avenge the fall of my beloved nation!” she retorts.

Twilight shook her head, keeping her hoof firm on Celestia’s windpipe. “The real Celestia would never try to kill me if I failed! She’d be more understanding, knowing full well that while I’m alive I’d do everything to save Equestria. I don’t know what you did with her, but I’ll find her. Mark my words,” she growls. Before the imposter Celestia could respond, Twilight pressed down with all her strength, crushing Celestia’s windpipe. Celestia floundered around under Twilight’s hoof for a few moments as she quickly suffocated from her broken windpipe before finally going still. Twilight held her hooves down for a few moments before withdrawing them with a shaky breath. She had just killed a pony... yet for some reason she didn’t really regret it. Whoever that imposter was, she had done something to the true Princess Celestia and it was up to Twilight to find her.

As Twilight pondered on how to find the true Celestia, she failed to notice the air shimmering in front of the actual throne as a white door started to form. The door remained unnoticed for the longest time until Twilight looked up and noticed it. Confused, she studied it from afar before hesitantly walking towards it. From what she saw, it looked like just a plain white wooden door with a golden doorknob. Once next to it, she ran a hoof down the door, confirming that it was indeed wood. Once certain that the door was indeed real, she hesitantly reached for the doorknob. With a creak, the door opened inward, revealing nothing but a white abyss behind it. Twilight’s curiosity got the better of her, and she hesitantly stepped forward into the white abyss. As soon as she stepped inside, her world flipped upside down and she immediately blacked out.

Author's Note

Spike Death Count: 1

I just wanted to apologize to those people that have been waiting since September. Writer's Block has hit me so hard in the past months...only now have I started to break it slowly. Expect chapters to come out sooner than a couple of months next time. Thank you for your loyalty, and I do hope you enjoy this chapter. ~Soarin'
PS: This chapter was edited by the FimFiction user SolidFire. Some people may know him as one of the editors for TittySparkles.