Chapters When Celestia came down to the throne room, Twilight repeated her story to the solar princess. Her reaction was more subdued than her sister’s, but the panic in her eyes said otherwise.
Celestia brought Twilight up to her study so they could speak in private, away from any who might overhear their conversation. Celestia had even dismissed the guards at the door to her study. When both alicorns were seated, Celestia began.
“I want you to know that what I’m about to tell you is to be kept between us.” Celestia says. “Luna and Cadence, as well as a few, select members of the royal guard, are the only other ponies that know about this. Do you understand?”
“Of course, Princess.” Twilight responded, sitting in front of Celestia.
Celestia took a moment before starting again, trying to collect her thoughts. “The history of Equestria isn’t exactly as everypony believes. What’s told in the Heart’s Warming Eve pageant is true up until the very end. We are short on time, so I can only tell you so much. When the advisors of the three tribe leaders showed friendship to one another, it wasn’t the fire of friendship that they created. It was…an alicorn.
“This alicorn was the embodiment of goodness and harmony. It was she that banished the windigos and freed the leaders from the ice that imprisoned them. After that, the leaders decided to form Equestria under her, declaring her queen of all ponies. She helped the tribes come more together and build Equestria.
“Centuries later, she found herself to be lonely from her friends continuously passing on. She decided to create more alicorns that would live long lives, like herself. She ended up creating six alicorns, Luna and myself being two of them. I don’t remember what she looks like, since she disappeared soon after Luna was born. That is the basic history of Equestria.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” Twilight says before she can continue, “but I don’t understand. Why keep something like this a secret? And where are the other alicorns?”
“It’s not this itself that we decided to keep secret.” Celestia says solemnly. “It’s because of what happened to the others that we kept this hidden.” She turns to the side for a moment, breathing in slowly. “The spell Star Swirl the Bearded tried to cast, a longer version of the spell you finished, was a spell to give the caster immense power. He wanted to use that power to create food for the unicorns, like an earth pony, and control the weather, like a pegasus. In essence, he wanted to become what we are. Mind you, this was all before Equestria was founded, so it would have only benefited unicorns.
“He failed to complete the spell and left it behind. Centuries later, after the coming of Discord, Sombra, and Nightmare Moon, a powerful unicorn by the name of Tempest discovered the spell. He warped the spell and found a way to make it work without harmonious magic. He made himself an alicorn, but his lust for power was unfulfilled. He sought us out and, one by one, eliminated us. Luna was still banished to the moon as Nightmare Moon, so only two of us remained: myself, and Gespenst.”
“Gespenst?” Twilight asked. “That name. I recognize it from one of my books. It was by a Germane author about the afterlife.”
“That’s not surprising.” Celestia continued. “Gespenst is the alicorn of life and death. It was he that killed Tempest and stopped the killings. Afterwards, he and I agreed that no pony should know about the spell Star Swirl tried to create and hid it from the world. Fearing somepony may try to create such a spell from scratch, we forged a spell to erase all written work about the first alicorn, as well as alter the memories of every pony in Equestria. It was a terrible spell, one I hope never to cast again. After all was said and done, Gespenst secluded himself somewhere in the Badlands, living as a hermit to reflect on all that he’d caused and letting the world believe Luna and I were the only alicorns.”
“But you just said Tempest was the one that killed the other alicorns.”
“He was. Tempest…was Gespenst’s apprentice. In his solitude and work, Gespenst grew more bitter as the years went on. More resentful; more hateful, especially of me.”
“Of you?” Twilight asks. “Why would he hate you? It sounds like what happened was his fault.”
“He blames me for what happened to Luna. When she became Nightmare Moon, he tried talking her out of it, tried reasoning with her, but she wouldn’t listen. He hated me for banishing her, said I didn’t give him a chance to help her. The others could see why I did what I did, but he refused to accept it. He loved her. He would have done anything to keep her here, even join her. I couldn’t let that happen. Gespenst went on to train his body and mind for centuries to come, all to ensure that what happened to Luna would never happen again.
“When Tempest came to power, he had little trouble killing the others. I would have perished too, but Gespenst stepped in and killed him first. He blamed me again for what happened, saying I was too weak to stop it. He may be right about my strength, but he took little blame in the event.
“After Luna returned, Gespenst came here to see her. He wanted things to go back to how they were before with him and Luna, but Luna refused. She saw what he became, even if he couldn’t. He blames me for that as well.
“And now, he’ll hate me again. Years ago, when Cadence became an alicorn, he—”
“Wait!” Twilight yelped. “Cadence wasn’t born an alicorn?”
“Oh no, Twilight. Aside from the first six, no alicorn has ever been born. It’s not my story to tell, so I’ll just say Cadence was able to understand the value of love so greatly, I found that she deserved to become the alicorn of love. Gespenst was enraged that I made such a decision without him, but I was able to convince him not to do anything drastic.
“What I wanted was to teach you as much as I could about our history, our power, and then Gespenst wouldn’t have any reason to object. Every time you asked about being a princess, I wanted to tell you, but I could never think of the words. That shadow you saw works for Gespenst, so it’s safe to assume he knows you’re an alicorn.” Celestia lowered her head to the ground, bowing in front of Twilight. “I apologize for all of this, and I hope you can forgive me for whatever happens next.”
Twilight remained transfixed on Celestia, right through the end of her tale. She couldn’t believe everything that she was told, that Princess Celestia, her mentor and friend, would keep such things from her. The thought that she would be part of a spell that erased a memory from everypony in Equestria, even if it was just one memory, is disturbing to say the least. It was probably just her paranoia talking, but everything felt like a lie now. However, she would have time for figuring this all out later. Right now, there was something much more pressing.
“What will happen next?” She asks her mentor.
Nodding, Celestia stood, walking around Twilight. “As part of our agreement of keeping the knowledge of other alicorns secret, the throne room will be emptied of everypony that has not been trusted with this truth exactly ten minutes after sunrise. He’ll then teleport into the throne room, likely with a few others, and we’ll discuss what happens after that. Until then, rest. It will be a long morning.”
After that, Twilight and Celestia bid there farewells and departed for bed. Twilight had quickly made her way to her room, softly closing the door behind her. As she lay in her bed, she couldn’t help but worry for the morning.
END CHAPTER
“We’ll be fine.” Celestia says to the two guards before her throne. “Just make sure you keep everypony out of the room.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” The guards say at once, bowing down before quickly galloping out of the room. Now Celestia was alone in the throne room with Twilight, waiting for Gespenst to arrive.
“Shouldn’t Princess Luna be here as well?” Twilight asks, looking up at her mentor.
“Gespenst took Luna’s rejection rather…poorly.” Celestia says with a hint of disdain. “He all but threatened to send her back to the moon, forever, should he ever see her again.”
“O-Oh…” Twilight turns her head to the long stretch of floor before her, trying not to think about what might happen.
“Don’t worry, Twilight.” Celestia says, as if she read her thoughts. “He isn’t one to lash out at others. He’ll only be angry at me.”
“That’s what I’m worried about!” Twilight looks Celestia right in the eye. “I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me!”
Celestia leans down to nuzzle Twilight. “You haven’t done anything to warrant any anger from Gespenst; only I have. If given the chance, I may have done things differently, but I would still have you be an alicorn. Even if he’s angry for a while, Gespenst will see this was the right thing to do.” Celestia looks over at the windows, seeing the light shining in. “We should close the curtains. Some of the company Gespenst keeps prefers the dark.”
Both alicorns start weaving their magic around the room, pulling tassels and letting the drapes fall over the stained glass windows. Once their half of the throne room was darkened, a shadow crept out from under the throne and spun on the ground in front of them. Twilight took a step back but Celestia stood firm, eyeing the shadowy vortex. A form slowly rose out of the vortex, stretching its shadow-like claws out and onto the floor in front of it. The swirling beneath it stopped as it looked up at the pair with its eyeless face.
“You…” Twilight lets out in a whisper.
The creature bows before them, lowering its head to the ground.
“Your Majesty.” It says in a lighter voice than last night, looking up from its position on the floor. “I apologize for the abrupt appearance.”
“Shade Strider.” Celestia says, looking down at the creature. “I thought it might have been you Twilight saw last night.”
“Heh, guilty.” He says, relaxing a bit as he raises himself up. “Look, we don’t have much time here. I was sent ahead to…alleviate some problems.”
“What do you mean by that?” Celestia asks.
“Well, long story short, I just got back to our place before sunrise. I told one of my bosses what happened and he thought it would be a better idea to not tell Gespenst about there being another alicorn around. You know, considering what day it is today?” He receives a nod from Celestia and a cocked head from Twilight before continuing. “Right, so, his plan was we say it was some unicorn that wasn’t registered as one who could see spirits. You know: lots of ponies in Equestria, easy to miss one or two. It happens.” He gives a shrug and carries on. “So, you’ve already talked with the pony, so that’s said and done. Gespenst comes in, chews you out for slacking off or something, and leaves. Everypony gets to keep their internal organs…internal, and we leave this problem for another day.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Twilight steps closer to the shadow. “Wouldn’t lying to this stallion be worse in the long run?”
“For you or Celestia? Not a chance. For my boss? Most definitely. Besides,” He looks up at Celestia before speaking, “He’s got that scary-happy thing going on. You know the one.”
Celestia gives a small shiver at the thought. “It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s better than the alternative, I suppose.”
“Perfect.” He says. “Now, Princess Twilight, you need to—”
A loud whooshing noise cuts him off. Behind him, another shadowy spiral spins on the ground.
“Ah crap!” He yells. “Quick, teleport!”
“This room is protected against teleportation of anything larger than a letter!” Celestia says quickly.
“Well…think of something!” He yells again, melting into the floor and zipping to a corner of the room. “And remember: I was never here!”
Celestia quickly looks around the room before looking at her throne itself. She wraps Twilight in a magic aura and pulls her behind the throne. She then casts a spell over Twilight, making her invisible.
“Stay here until this is over.” Celestia whispers to her. Twilight nods as Celestia returns to the front of her throne. Twilight peeks her head around the throne to see what was coming.
As the whooshing quiets down, six figures began emerging from the shadow. Off to the far right comes a unicorn with albino fur and violet eyes. She has a curly, flowing yellow mane and a bright smile on her face. On her flank is the skull of a pony with a pair of bones crossing each other underneath it. She looks around the room in awe before settling on Celestia.
“Oh, boy!” She says, her voice dripping with excitement. “I’ve never met a princess before, heh!”
Off to the left comes a pony with a grey cloak and solid white mask depicting the skull of a lion. A hole near the top of the mask leaves room for a white horn to protrude through, as well as two eye holes for the pony’s glowing red eyes to pierce through.
“Calm down, Repose.” The second unicorn says in a neutral tone. “We’re here on business.”
Behind Repose comes a griffon. His feathers are white and his fur a dark grey. Even his talons match the group’s so far pale coloring with they’re black hue. His dark brown eyes casually look around the room, half lidded, as he yawns and stretches his black wings.
“Had I known you’d be so noisy, I’d have stayed back and slept.” He says, drowsily.
Barely behind the griffon comes Shade Strider’s form. The shadow that hid itself in the corner quickly zooms up and merges with him without notice from the emerging group.
“All you ever do is sleep, Garret.” Shade states matter-of-factly, trying to blend into the conversation.
Left of the griffon comes a diamond dog standing on his hind legs. He has a dark red cloak over his black vest and light brown fur. He stands barely taller than Celestia and has his arms crossed, though he doesn’t say anything.
In the center of the group comes a stallion with fur as black as night and a pair of wings to match. His horn is a bright golden hue and his mane and tail are like red-orange fires whipping in an invisible wind. He stands only a few inches taller than the diamond dog and stares at Celestia with his burning red eyes.
Twilight can see his cutie mark, or rather…
‘Three?!’ She stares at the marks on his flanks with bewilderment. ‘How can he have three?’
His marks are in a triangular position to each other. At the top appears to be a golden cross with rays of light spreading out from it.
‘No, not a cross.’ Twilight looks over the first mark again. ‘That’s an ankh. That’s an old hieroglyph for life.’
The second mark she notices is the lower-left one.
‘It looks like a piece of rock, perhaps a meteorite, wreathed in flames. But there’s green and blue mixed in with the brown. A planet?’
The last mark she notices is the bottom right one. However, this mark…
‘It can’t be.’ Twilight looks carefully at the red star on the stallion’s flank. It’s surrounded by smaller yellow stars of similar shape. ‘That’s… my cutie mark!’
“Well, Celestia.” The alicorn says with a dark expression on his face, not alleviated in the slightest from the small grin escaping his mouth. “It seems we have a problem.”
END CHAPTER
Ch. 4 - Don't let Things get out of Hoof
“Yes, I suppose we do, Gespenst.” Celestia says coolly, looking over everyone. “You’ve brought a rather large group with you.”
Repose bounces forward. “We’re just here to piece together your keep, heh!” She says ecstatically.
The diamond dog just rolls his eyes as the masked unicorn looks over at her. “That’s keep the peace .” The unicorn says.
“Ooh, that too, heh!”
“Word ordering aside,” Gespenst steps forward, “I would like to know why my worker had such a problem last night. Do you know why, Celestia?”
Celestia lets out a breath. “A unicorn that wasn’t informed about spirits acted in fear. I’ve already talked with her so there’s no—”
“A unicorn!” Gespenst interrupts her. “That wasn’t informed! Now, Celestia, is there something wrong with that statement?”
“Yes. As per our agreement, everypony who could see spirits would be found and told not to interfere with your work. Their names would be put on a list for you.”
“Ah, yes, yes.” Gespenst paces in front of Celestia with his group watching his move, with the exception of the diamond dog, as he’s looking about the room with his ears twitching every so often. “So, since you’ve failed to keep your end of the agreement, my underling had to spend half the night searching for that spirit again after searching for any others. And, due to his tardiness, I was informed of a problem. Thus, we are at our current positions. Do you follow this?” He asks, looking up at Celestia from his pacing.
“Of course.” She says, not breaking eye contact.
“Yes, of course you do.” He turns walks back over to his group.
All the while, Twilight is watching from her position behind the throne. The way he’s addressing Princess Celestia, regardless of him being another alicorn, Twilight’s doing everything in her power to not come out and give him a piece of her mind. The thought of what he threatened to do to Princess Luna reminded her why she shouldn’t. Her gaze straying from Gespenst to the rest of the group, she realizes something she should have seen before: the unicorn with the mask has been staring at her almost the entire time.
“Now, Celestia,” He turns back around to face the solar princess, “Where do we go from here, hmmm?”
“As I mentioned before,” She says, “I’ve already talked with the unicorn about not interfering with your work. She’ll be put on the list and a new copy will be given to you at the biannual date, as per our agreement.”
“Of course, of course!” He says, smiling, as he begins pacing again. “Now, on any other day, I’d accept just that, but…” He looks back up at Celestia, a full scowl on his face. “Today isn’t any other day, is it, Princess ?” He practically spits out the end. “It isn’t bad enough that I have so much work to do every day while you and your…sister get to play Civic Leader all day long.”
Shifting his gaze from Twilight, the masked unicorn looks over at Shade. Getting the hint, Shade slides back a foot or two and splits his form. He sends one of his forms into the ground and it zips up and around the wall and ceiling, avoiding the bright spots as best as it can, before disappearing behind the great doors of the throne room.
“It’s more complicated than that and you know it.” Celestia states, not taking her eyes off of Gespenst.
“Oh, sure.” Gespenst rolls his red eyes. “With all the war and calamity going on, I just don’t know how you find the time to do anything!”
Twilight starts grinding her teeth from not only the words he’s saying to Celestia, but also the slightly crazed tone in his voice.
The diamond dog’s ear twitches again.
“Now you’re just being condescending.”
“Oh am I?!” He glares up at Celestia.
“Sire,” The masked pony says as he takes a step forward, “Perhaps this situation has become too heated. There is still plenty of time in the day for—”
“Shut it!” He roars at the masked pony, making him take a step back. Gespenst turns back to Celestia with a grin on his face. “Although, that gives me an idea.”
He lights his horn in a violent red aura and lashes his magic out and at Celestia. It strikes her breastplate and launches it to the nearby wall, leaving Celestia uninjured.
“I thought so.” Gespenst says, looking over Celestia. “You still have that scar from Tempest. Does it still hurt?” He asks, mockingly.
Twilight can feel Celestia shift against her throne. “It stopped hurting over a century ago.” She says.
“What a pity.” Gespenst says, lighting his horn again. “Maybe I’ll give you a scar of my own, to make sure you remember this day!” He lowers his horn at Celestia and prepares to fire. Twilight looks on in horror at what he’s about to do.
The diamond dog behind him coughs into his paw loudly, grabbing his attention.
“WHAT!?” Gespenst yells at him.
The diamond dog slowly walks up to Gespenst and leans closer to him. He whispers something into his ear before walking back into place. Gespenst loses his scowl and replaces it with a smirk.
“So…” He says, raising his horn but keeping the magic charged in it. “It appears there is something else in this room, Celestia.” He begins pacing again, remaining in Twilight’s sight. “Something with four hooves, perhaps.” His smile gets wider as he continues his pace. “Something likely invisible.”
Twilight shifts behind the throne. When she does, she makes the tiniest of sounds as her hoof rubs against the carpet. Immediately, she’s wrapped in a red aura and flung up and over the throne.
“Something that’s been hiding behind you all this time!” He says, bringing Twilight right in between himself and Celestia. With a quick working of his magic, the invisibility spell on Twilight is removed and she hangs in the air in Gespenst’s aura, completely visible.
Gespenst quickly drops Twilight on the ground and looks her over, all joviality gone from his face. Celestia stands and rushes down to Twilight, standing between her and Gespenst.
“Now,” Gespenst murmurs as he begins circling the pair, “This is interesting.”
Twilight watches him as he walks behind Celestia. She notices the scar he mentioned on Celestia’s chest: a jagged, slightly glowing red line. She stares at for a moment before Gespenst brings her out of her trance.
“Celestia, dear, why does young Twilight here have wings?” He asks the princess, making his way back to his group.
“You know who I am?” Twilight asks before Celestia has the chance to respond.
Gespenst smirks. “Twilight Sparkle, born to Twilight Velvet and Night Light, lived in Canterlot until the return of Nightmare Moon, wielder of the Element of Magic. You have one older brother, Shining Armor, who was wedded to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the alicorn of love. Some of your exploits, aside from those greatly involving the other element bearers, are: enlarging a baby dragon nearly thirty times its normal size, luring an ursa minor away from Ponyville, and casting Star Swirl’s Lesser Time Manipulation spell. Is that enough, or would you like me to tell you your favorite food?”
Twilight stares at Gespenst, unblinking.
“Very little happens in Equestria without my knowing of it, even before hoof; except, of course, you becoming an alicorn. From Nightmare Moon’s return to the draconequus being released, even the changeling invasion.”
“Wait!” Twilight gets up from the ground, staring right at Gespenst. “You knew about the changelings before they attacked?”
“Knew about them? Chrysalis asked for permission to invade Canterlot.” He looks right at Celestia. “Because she knows when to inform others of her actions.”
“You let them invade?!” Twilight yells at the top of her lungs. “How could you!?”
Gespenst brushes his hoof against his chest, inspecting it. “Call it a test, if you will. I needed to see if Cadence could handle being the alicorn of love. Though, to be honest, that one did get a little out of hoof. I suppose I have you to thank for fixing it.”
“What if somepony died!?” Twilight took a step towards him, stamping her hoof into the floor.
“Twilight, please don’t¬—” Celestia tries to get out.
“Oh, no.” Gespenst talks on. “That wouldn’t have happened. I told Chrysalis quite clearly that I’d personally kill 100 changelings for each pony killed. And, before you ask, the worst that could have happened would have been being encased in a cocoon and having the loved sucked out of you. It’s fairly none-fatal. I’d have stepped in long before any serious harm could occur.”
“You...you monster!”
“Does this make you angry?” Gespenst asks, taking a few sideways steps towards the nearby wall while still facing Twilight.
“Darn right it does!” Twilight looks Gespenst dead in the eye, magic beginning to swirl around her horn.
“Then strike me.” Gespenst says calmly.
“W-What?” Twilight loses her resolve for a moment.
“Strike me.” He holds his hoof right across his chest. “Right here. Don’t hold back. Let your anger fuel your magic.” He lowers his hoof back to the ground before whispering, “Do it.”
“I-I…” Twilight stammers out, taking a step back.
“Come now.” Gespenst takes a few steps forward. “Consider this your test. Would you rather I involve the whole city? Or maybe…” He eyes Celestia again. “Maybe I just need to motivate you with the right—”
Twilight lets out a loud growl as her eyes flash green with a purple mist surrounding them. Her horn shines with a black light as a dark beam shoots out at Gespenst. In the blink of an eye, he sidesteps out of the way as the beam collides with the wall, disintegrating a pony sized hole. The hole in the wall continues growing after as the remnants of the black energy continue eating away at the wall. The beam itself continued on towards the mountains, striking them and partially spreading over the surface before disappearing, along with a fair portion of the mountain itself.
After unleashing the torrent of magic, Twilight falls on her haunches, completely drained. She felt as though she spent the whole day practicing magic without a moment’s rest.
Gespenst looks out the newly formed hole to examine Twilight’s handiwork. When he turns back to face her, he’s wearing a small smirk on his face.
“Not bad.” He says, walking around Twilight. “Quite powerful, but inefficient. I’d wager you spent more than three-fourths of your magical reserves.”
Twilight mumbles something inaudible. Gespenst moves closer to hear what she has to say.
“I…I didn’t…mean to…” She whispers between deep breaths.
“To lash out at me?” Gespenst questions. “Don’t worry, I believe you. Dark magic essentially has a will of its own. You’ll learn to control it better after your apprenticeship with me.”
“Hold it!” Celestia yells, getting between Twilight and Gespenst again. “I won’t let you take her!”
“My dear Celestia, what makes you think you have a say in the matter?” Gespenst mocks.
“I won’t let you make another Tempest!”
“Oh?” Gespenst glowers at her. “Perhaps you’d have her become another Sombra ?”
Celestia goes to respond, but she can’t manage to say anything. Gespenst gets right in her face, pushing into her.
“Don’t you ever give me that crap again.” He says, his voice dripping with venom.
“Sire?” The masked pony calls again. “I do not mean to question your judgment, but perhaps leaving Twilight—”
In an instant, Gespenst stands before the unicorn and brings down his hoof into the unicorn’s back, hard. A loud snap sounds throughout throne room as the unicorn collapses on the ground. He barely voices a whimper as his hooves sprawl out around him. Gespenst raises his hoof and sets it on the ground.
“No one else is crazy enough to lie to me on such an important matter besides you, Bones. Consider your debt to me increased by 100 years!” He snarls at the unicorn.
“…yes sir…” The unicorn whispers from the floor.
Gespenst looks over at Shade, who shrinks back from his glare.
“Oh, Shade.” He says. “Now, I considered increasing your time, but I decided against it. You didn’t know how important this was to me, did you?” He asks, his voice much calmer.
“N-No sir.” Shade stutters.
“See? So there’s no need for an increased sentence. You’ll just get a warning this time.”
“Oh! Well, thank you—” He says as he’s wrapped in a red aura and flung into the light. He starts howling in pain as the rays of the sun pierce his flesh.
“A warning which will be administered via sunlight.” Gespenst says neutrally, taking a few steps forward as his group parts to make way for him. “I’m not blind, Shade. I can tell you aren’t all there. You’ll just have to do your work at half power for a few weeks. I’m sure your other half will get the message.”
Shade continues twisting in his magical grasp in vain, trying to avoid the bright morning sun. He continues lashing about right until his form completely shrivels and disappears. Gespenst turns back to the group and marches right up to Celestia and Twilight.
“We’ll be going now.” He says sternly.
Celestia remains between the two. “Are you not even going to ask Twilight?” She demands.
“You know full well what will happen if we postpone this for too long.” Gespenst cocks his head to the side. “Or are you so afraid you’ll lose Twilight as a loyal subject ?”
“That’s not—”
“Excuses!” He snarls. “If you won’t fix the problems you cause, or even acknowledge, then don’t try and stop somepony else from fixing it!”
Twilight watched as Gespenst berated Celestia. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what. ‘Another Sombra? He couldn’t mean…’ She refused to think Celestia was the cause of King Sombra and his enslaving of the Crystal Empire. She wanted to agree to go, if only to stop their arguing before anything happened to Celestia. ‘But Celestia…Sombra…’ These thoughts rattled her mind and left her questioning herself, and her relationship to the princess.
“If you want to take her,” Celestia flares her wings and lowers her horn “You’ll have to get through me!”
Gespenst follows her example, lighting his horn with his magic. “My pleasure.” He says through barred teeth.
‘Stop it!’ Twilight wanted to yell, but she couldn’t find the strength. Her magic left her body too quickly and too painfully. She couldn’t do anything but watch and hope her mentor would be okay.
END CHAPTER
Ch. 5 - The Moment has Passed
The energy Gespenst was giving off was disrupting the foundation of the castle. Twilight could see stress marks emerging on the floor below him and spreading fast. The long drapes over the nearby windows tore themselves to shreds. Even the light in the room began to dim.
Twilight looked into his eyes and saw the anger swell within them. The whites of his eyes turned black and the familiar purple mist exuded from them. His golden horn surrounded itself in a crackling purple aura. Twilight started to pant.
‘This can’t be real.’ She thought, observing the stress marks reaching down the hall to the doors. ‘He hasn’t even cast a spell yet and I can barely breathe from the force of all this magic!’
Celestia was charging her own horn with magic, but Twilight could see—though she didn’t want to admit openly—Celestia’s magic was nowhere near his. She feared her teacher would be…
Just as Gespenst shot out his magic, a pair of mismatched arms grabbed him from behind and lifted him into the air, aiming the magic into the ceiling and disintegrating a large hole several times larger than Twilights.
The arms turned Gespenst around so he could see whoever interfered with his attack.
Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Gespenst, lad!” Discord says in a cheerful voice. “How wonderful to see you again! Had I known you were coming, I’d have made a maelstrom of chocolate rain for you. I remember how much you loved my chocolate rain.”
Though she couldn’t see Gespenst’s eyes, she could see the purple vapors disappear.
“Draconequus.” He says coolly, letting the magic in his horn dissipate. “I’d forgotten you were released.”
“Oh yeah, that happened a couple months ago. I’m a refined and rehabilitated citizen of Equestria.” He says, bringing his talon against his chest and posing with Gespenst in his other arm.
“I doubt that.” Gespenst says. He looks back at Twilight and Celestia, who already let go of her magic and folded her wings back together. “What are you doing here ?” He asks, facing Discord again.
“Well, a little shadow told me my two favorite alicorns might start a fight, so I decided to stop them.” He leans into Gespenst and whispers loud enough for Twilight to hear, “But you’re really my favorite.”
“Yes, I’m sure. And I see you’re still strong enough to get past Celestia’s silly protection.” Gespenst says, disappearing in a flash from Discord’s grasp and reappearing in front of him. “But I was in the middle of something, so if you don’t mind—”
Before he can say another word, Discord snaps his fingers and Gespenst disappears, only to reappear lying back on a curved couch. Discord pulls an armchair from thin air and sits in it, a notepad in paw and a pair of black glasses over his eyes.
“Now,” He says with a stoic expression on his face, “Tell me what’s on your mind. As you know, everything here will be kept confidential.” He leans forward in his chair, his glasses slipping down his face and inch or two. “Remember: I’m here to help you.”
Repose brings a hoof to her face to stifle a giggle while the diamond dog checks over Bones. She takes a few steps towards Discord.
“Mr. Draconequus!” She says with a smile. “If we’re all here, it can’t be confidential, heh!”
“Nonsense, dear…y.” He pauses, lifting his glasses as he looks at Repose. He teleports right in front of her and looks her over, scratching his goatee. “You wouldn’t happen to have a sister, would you?” He asks.
“Oh, no, heh.” She beams. “Most ponies think I’m the twin of that one pony in Cloudsdale, heh. I’ve actually met Surprise before, but I don’t see the resemblance, heh.”
“That’s not who I…hmmm.” Discord tries going on, but he loses his words. He turns back to the dark alicorn on the couch. “Gespenst, wherever did you find this lovely mare?”
Gespenst lights his horn and teleports again, landing next to Discord and Repose. “I didn’t.” He says. “She just…showed up one day. I still don’t know how.”
All the while, Twilight watched on in awe of these events.
‘The second Discord showed up, Gespenst completely calmed down. What’s with this stallion?'
Gespenst looks over his shoulder at the lilac alicorn, his expression stoic. Sighing, he turns fully around and slowly makes his way up to Celestia and Twilight.
“I suppose I may have gone a little too far.” He says, stopping in front of Twilight and lowering his head to her level. “I won’t force you to come with me. Instead, I’ll give you…let’s say three weeks; yeah, three weeks. Use that time to choose whether or not to take me up on my offer to teach you.” He spins in place, walking back over to his group.
“Wait, what?” Twilight asks, thinking she misheard him. “Why would I want to become your apprentice?”
“You’ll see.” Gespenst stops and turns his head, looking at Twilight from the side. He has a dark grin on his face. “You won’t make it a week before you cave and accept my offer.” Gespenst looks over at the covered unicorn still sprawled out on the floor. “Come on, Bones!” He calls. “Get up! We’re leaving!”
“Yes sir.” Bones says, slowly lifting himself off the ground.
“Honestly.” Gespenst lights his horn and shoots the ground behind him with a small beam of magic. The energy quickly circles the group, leaving a black circle of energy on the ground. The space in the circle begins turning black. “Oh, and Twilight!” He says, turning to face her. “You may not contact any of the princesses for those three weeks. You have to make this decision without their council. Draconequus?” Discord hovers forward, his body horizontal to the ground as if he were lying on the air. “Please teleport Twilight back to Ponyville. No funny business, please.”
The bodies of Gespenst’s group begin sinking into the floor, which begins rippling like water.
“I would never commit any funny business with you, Gespenst.” Discord says, placing his paw over his chest while holding up his claw, crossing two talons.
Gespenst rolls his eyes, but he gives a small smirk. “Oh, and somepony tell Shade he’s working Canterlot for the next three months!” He yells before disappearing into the floor. The black surface quickly shrinks until it’s a tiny speck before disappearing.
The throne room got real quiet for a moment.
“Oof!” Discord voices, placing a paw on his side. “Long goodbyes are the worst.” He slithers in the air around Twilight, looking her in the eyes. “Well, Princess Twilight, you heard what the questionably nice stallion said.”
“W-Wait a minute!” Twilight yelps. “He can’t be serious!”
“Well, I certainly don’t know what he thinks.” Discord throws an arm in the air in a dramatic manner.
“Princess, does he—”
“Ah, ah, ah.” Discord places a claw over Twilight’s mouth. “No talking with the princess.”
“Are you serious?!” Twilight yells, swatting the talon away.
“Oh, come now, Twilight Sparkle. It’ll only be three weeks. Well, if you don’t agree to study under him, that is. Besides, I’ll take any chance I can get to tell Celestia not to do something.”
“I thought you were reformed!” Twilight grits her teeth.
“Yes, but I still like to have fun.” Discord turns to Celestia, looking her over. Instead of seeing a scowl, he sees…worry. “But, I suppose you can say your goodbyes. Just make it quick.” Discord teleports from around Twilight, landing in his curved couch.
Twilight looks up at her mentor, eyes pleading.
Celestia lowers her head to her, nuzzling her.
“What should I do?” Twilight asks, ignoring Gespenst’s instructions.
“I can’t say.” Celestia responds. “Either way, be careful.”
Discord looks over at the pair. With a snap of his fingers, Twilight disappears from the room.
~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~
Back in Ponyville, Spike was lounging on a couch, a half-eaten emerald on his scaled belly. A quiet snore made its way around the library. All of a sudden, a loud pop sounded throughout the room. Spike jumped with a start, landing on his side on the ground.
“Gah! I’m sorry I forgot to water the books! I…uh.” Spike looks around, spotting Twilight in the center of the room. “Twilight!” He runs up to her. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”
Twilight just stands there, unmoving. Behind her, a lilac bag appeared with a book sticking out of the pocket. Harmony in Magic it read.
“Whoa. D’you leave so fast you forgot your bag?” Spike looks up at her. “What are you doing back here anyway?”
Twilight just stands there, staring at the wall.
“Twilight?” He calls at her.
Twilight snaps to attention, looking down at the dragon.
“Spike,” She says, turning towards the bookshelves, “We have some research to do.”
END CHAPTER
“I’m really worried about Twilight.” Spike says, standing in front of the apple stall in the market with a small bag of apples over his shoulder.
“Why’s that, Sugarcube?” Applejack asks, taking a few bits from a customer and sliding a bag of apples to them. “She hasn’t been gone that long.”
“Well, she came back yesterday morning and she’s been researching since then.” Spike looks around the market, seeing if anypony else looks like they’d be coming to Applejack’s stall. No pony seems to be.
“Don’t seem too weird fer Twilight.” Applejack leans a hoof on the stall, facing the young drake now. “She coulda come by to say howdy to everypony and let ‘em know she’s back, though.”
“It’s different. She spent all of yesterday reading books. She didn’t stop to eat and when I got up this morning, she was still reading!”
“Sugarcube, I don’t wanna say it ain’t a big deal, but Twilight’s done that sort of thing before.” Applejack leans closer to the young dragon. “What aren’t you tellin’ me?”
Spike quickly looks around again. Seeing no pony within earshot, he turns back to AJ. “Well, for one, she hasn’t said anything about her stay in Canterlot or anything. And, all the books are about…death.”
“Death?” AJ asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Death, dying, the afterlife, and a few books on mythology that mention…the grim reaper.”
“That…is mighty strange.” AJ pushes off the cart, standing on the ground.
“It’s starting to scare me.” Spike says.
AJ wraps a hoof around Spike. “Okay. I’ll talk to the girls when I see them today. We’ll come by this evening. That sound good?”
Spike nods with a smile. “Thanks, Applejack.”
“No problem, Sugarcube.”
Spike makes his way back to his home, content that his friends would be by to talk with Twilight. As he opens the door to the library, he sees Twilight just where he left her: at the desk with a mound of books surrounding her.
“I’m back!” He calls to her, getting no response form the alicorn. Spike just sighs before moving into the kitchen, putting the bag of apples on the counter.
“Hey, Spike?” Twilight says from her desk.
Spike almost jumps, quickly running back into the main area of the library. “Yes, Twilight?” He asks, hoping she’ll actually talk with him.
“Can you bring me that book on ancient Chi-Neighs spirits?”
Spike slumps his shoulders and walks over to the bookcase. “Yeah, sure.”
~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~
‘And as I felt my pulse slow, I felt a dark presence around me. When I looked up, I saw a large pony emerge from the shadows. It wore a shadowy robe, its face covered in a hood. When it reached me, it called my name and said—’
Knock, knock, knock.
‘…called my name and said “It is not yet your time.” I blacked out after that. When I awoke, I found myself in the hospital with—’
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
‘…in the hospital with my friends and family all around me. The doctors said I was found in an alley with a knife wound and that I passed in the cart on the way to the hospital. But I knew that what I saw—’
Knocknocknocknocknocknocknocknock—
Glaring at the door, Twilight lights her horn and wraps the door in a blackish, purple aura and yanks it from the wall, letting it drop on the floor. She turns right back to her book.
“Uh, Twilight?” AJ calls into the room, looking around. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” She replies, not looking up. “I’m busy.”
“I can see that.” AJ looks at the door as she comes into the library, stepping over the door. “We, uh, just wanted to check in on you.”
After her, Rainbow Dash flew into the room, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, and a bouncing Pinkie Pie.
“I just said I’m fine . Let me read.”
Pinkie Pie bounces forward. “Well, you can at least let us throw you a Welcome-back-to-Ponyville Party. We can have cake, and balloons, and—”
Twilight flares her horn in a black aura, wrapping a similarly colored aura around Pinkie’s mouth and slamming it shut.
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash yells, flying over to Pinkie. “What was that for?!”
Pinkie tries moving her mouth to no avail. She even tries swiping at the magic aura around her jaw, but it does nothing.
“Be quiet!” Twilight yells at her, turning back to her book once again. “I’m trying to read.”
“So what?” Rainbow flies forward, hovering next to Twilight. “That’s no way to treat your friends! Now let go of Pinkie Pie!”
Twilight’s eyes flash green as a black aura forms at her horn and slams into Rainbow, knocking her into Pinkie and sending them both into the bookshelf across the room.
“Leave me alone! ” Her voice echoes throughout the library, rocking books from theirs shelves and onto the floor.
Rainbow and Pinkie quickly rise from the floor, looking at Twilight fearfully.
“Twilight.” Rarity says. “We’re just here to help you with whatever is going on. Spike was very concerned when he talked to Applejack and so are we.” She takes a few steps forward, avoiding the few fallen books on the ground. “If you’ll just let us—”
“I don’t need your help! ” Twilight stands in front of her desk, turning to face her friends. Her eyes glow green with purple mist coming from the sides. “What I need is peace and quiet! ” She takes a few steps forward, the wooden floor partially dissolving underneath her. Her horn starts to glow with purple-green bits of energy trailing off it. “Get. OUT! ”
“Actually, I think you do need their help.” A voice calls from the open door.
Twilight glares at the doorway to find a pony completely covered in a grey cloak. Over the face is a perfectly white mask depicting a dragon.
“What are you doing here?! ” She bellows at the stallion.
“Just keeping an eye on you.” He says neutrally, stepping into the library. “Making sure you don’t hurt yourself, or anypony else. Although, it seems the latter has already occurred.” He says, observing the magic on Pinkie.
“Get out of my home! ”
“Certainly.” Bones looks around the room, observing more of the damage. “That is, as soon as you stop wielding your magic so recklessly.”
“I’m warning you! ” Twilight digs her hooves into the floor, pointing her horn at Bones.
“So be it then.” Bones says, lighting his horn.
Twilight builds up her magic, the violet and green energy amassing in her horn. Bones does the same, but then glances to the side. He quickly wraps Fluttershy in a red aura and flings her in front of himself, positioning her between him and Twilight.
“Fluttershy!” The mares yell, looking on in horror at what’s about to happen
Twilight fires off her magic.
END CHAPTER
Ch. 1 - Things that go Bump in the Night
Canterlot was quiet this late in the night. Almost no pony was awake, except of course the lunar guards, who walked the hallways of the great castle, keeping watch for intruders. Luna, the princess of the night, was awake as well and was holding night court for any who wished to bring their concerns to her.
There was one other alicorn who was awake and, incidentally, having trouble falling asleep.
Twilight Sparkle was staying in the castle with Celestia and Luna, wanting to learn more about being a princess. Specifically, she wanted to know what she would be princess of. Celestia was princess of the sun, Luna the princess of the night and dreams, and Cadence the princess of love. Twilight had asked both Celestia and Luna several times what her charge would be, but every time they told her she would learn it soon. That had been there answer for several weeks, ever since she became an alicorn and moved to the castle.
Feeling restless, and still having trouble sleeping with wings, Twilight rose from her bed and went to her desk. Her room was the same as it had been when she lived in the castle as Celestia’s student. Celestia had offered her a larger room but Twilight refused, seeing her old room as nostalgic.
Lighting a candle and opening her copy of Star Swirl’s Harmony in Magic , she began reading where she left off. While reading, she remembers how often Celestia would scold her for getting up during the night and reading instead of sleeping. It’s almost surreal how she went from a normal unicorn to Celestia’s student and then from bearer of the Element of Magic to princess of…something.
“Sigh , I need to take my mind off of this.” Twilight said aloud, refocusing on her book. While she did enjoy reading, this book would likely provide little entertainment; she had read it three times through already.
As she began reading again, she heard a knock. Looking up from her book, she turned to the door.
“Who is it?” She called. After a moment with no response, she went over to the door and opened it, looking out into the hallway. There wasn’t a pony to be seen.
Just as she was about to close the door, she heard another sound. This time it was more like a scratch. She looked out into the hall again for any sign of movement.
“Who’s there?” She called out again. With no response again, she decided to investigate the noise. ‘It’s not as if I’ll be able to sleep anytime soon anyway.’ She thought to herself.
Walking down the hall towards the source of the noise, she heard another sound behind the door next to her. It was different from the last two; it sounded like whispering. Twilight knew that room was a spare bedroom that wasn’t in use, so there shouldn’t be anypony in there. Setting her ear against the door, she listened for any further noises. About half a minute passed before she was about to move on, but another noise grabbed her attention. The sound of tearing fabric emanated from behind the door.
Determined to get to the bottom of this, Twilight knocked on the door. “Is anypony in there?”
She waited for a moment and, with no response, opened the door slightly. Through the crack in the door, she could make out a nightstand, a bed, a curtain draw open next to a window, a ghost, a trunk, a…
‘Wait!’ She thought to herself. ‘Am I seeing this right?’ Looking the pony over, she found that she could indeed see through the pony. The pony didn’t have a horn, so she couldn’t be using magic. Besides, Twilight knew that invisibility spells bent the light around a pony, so one wouldn’t just make somepony partway invisible like this.
The pale-green pony herself seemed in a daze, as she was just standing in the room and staring off at the wall. Just as Twilight was about to go in and try talking with her, she heard a weird whooshing sound. Right in front of the pony, a shadow seemed to emerge from the floor. It seemed to be the top half of a creature, having two arm-like appendages with huge claws out of its sides and a pair of horns on its head. This weird shadow seemed to stare at the pony in front of it, though Twilight couldn’t tell for sure as she saw no eyes on it.
“It is your time!” It called in a dark voice. The pony took a step back towards the bed. “You will come with me!” It brought one of its claws up and reached towards the pony.
Not waiting a second longer, Twilight burst into the room. “Stop!” She yelled out, catching both the pony’s and the shadow’s attention.
The shadow raised its other claw, pointing one of its fingers at Twilight. “I don’t know how you can see us, but this is none of your concern, unicorn!” It said in a commanding tone. “Be gone from here!” The shadow stretched its arm out and around the ghostly pony, grabbing hold of her midsection.
Without hesitation, Twilight shot a beam of magic from her horn and through the shadow’s arm, severing it. The arm dissipated in the air as the shadow howled in pain.
“I may not understand exactly what is going on,” She said, stepping further into the room and flaring her wings, “but I won’t let you just take this pony!”
A new arm seeming to appear out of its body, the shadow jerks back and away from Twilight. “Alicorn!? Awe, this is going to be bad. He’s going to be really pissed about this when He finds out!” It says, though it sounded less threatening and more…panicked?
Before Twilight can find out what it was talking about, the shadow sunk into the floor and disappeared.
She turned to face the ghost…pony she saved. “Are you alright?”
Only, when she asked, there was nothing.
“Hello?” She called to the now empty room. She looked around and under the bed, in the closet, under the desk, and found no sign of the pony that was in the room with her.
After that, she left the room and closed the door behind her. Starting down the hall, she passed her room and went in the direction of the throne. ‘Maybe Princess Luna can tell me what just happened.’
~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~
Rounding a corner in the castle, Twilight finds herself just outside the throne room. The two unicorn guards give a quick bow as she approaches and return to standing at attention on either side of the doors.
“Is Princess Luna with anypony?” Twilight asks, stopping in front of the door.
“She is not, Princess.” One of the lunar guards responds, turning to face Twilight. “Would you like to see her?”
“Yes, please.” Twilight says, nodding at the guard. The two guards light their horns and envelope the doors in their respective blue and grey auras.
Both guards turn and face towards the throne where Luna is seated and bow. “Presenting Princess Twilight, Your Highness.” The second guard states. As Twilight enters the room, the two guards step back and close the doors behind them.
“Ah, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna says, rising from the throne and walking towards the smaller alicorn. “I did not expect you to be up this late. How are you this night?”
“A little restless.” Twilight responds, stopping as she reaches the steps to the throne. “A little confused too.”
“Then perhaps I can help.” Luna says, also stopping as she reaches the bottom step, flanked on either side by a lunar guard. “What troubles you?”
“Well, I was having trouble sleeping, so I had decided to read one of my books.” A quick tsk from Luna interrupted her speech, but the smile on Luna’s face told her to keep going. “I heard a few noises and I went to see what it was, since I didn’t think anypony else would be awake and in the area this late. I opened the door of the next room over when I heard a noise on the other side of the door and I saw what I thought was a ghost of a pony.” By now, the smile on Luna’s face had vanished. “Before I went in, a shadow just rose from the floor and tried to take the ghost away. I stopped the shadow from taking her, but then both it and the ghost disappeared. I looked around, but I couldn’t…Princess Luna?”
By the end of Twilight’s tale, Luna seemed to have lost most of the color in her face. Her eyes were wide in fear as she tried to make her mouth move.
“H-How did you stop it…?” Luna barely whispers out.
“Well,” Twilight starts, “I used my magic to hit its arm away, but I accidentally…cut it off. I didn’t mean to!” She says quickly. “I just wanted to push its arm away. It yelled out, but I think it grew an arm back before it disappeared.” Twilight lowered her eyes to the ground. “I know that doesn’t excuse what I did, but I was so worried about the pony, I used more power than I should have.”
Twilight stood there, waiting for Luna to explain what it was she saw, or at least scold or punish her for what had transpired. But no words came. Instead, Luna sat back on her haunches, staring numbly at the grand doors of the throne room.
“Princess?” One of her guards asked, trying to coax their liege out of her trance.
“Please…” She started quietly. “Go and wake Tia. Tell her it’s an emergency.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” They said in unison before galloping to the doors.
“Twilight.” Luna said softly, looking down at the lilac alicorn. “It’s time you learned the truth about alicorns.”
END CHAPTER