Thousand years before...
Celestia breathed heavily as her body moved gracefully around the battlefield, the beautiful white armor, now soaked in blood shined in the sunlight as the battle went on. Her helmet was simple and practical, with visor covering the whole face, the armor was light and comfortable, it allowed free movement while still being protective. Not as protective as the heavy armor of Celestial soldiers, but it was enough.
"Celestia!" She heard the angry scream of her sister flying towards her. She easily blocked her sister attack with a magic shield.
"You still have to learn a lot dear sister!" She said trying to hit Luna with a spell from her horn. "You don't inform the enemy about your position by screaming her name!"
Luna was hit by the spell but recovered very quickly. She smashed the ground with her hoof. She was wearing black heavy, she had no helmet and her long, blue mane waved in the wind. Her whole armor was limiting her movement, but protecting her from the hardest of blows at the same time. And the most particular thing about it, was that it was filled with hard, sharp as knives spikes, to make the enemies stay away. It was obvious that the armor was a little too heavy for Luna as her steps were a little slower and more heavy.
"It doesn't have to be like this sister!" The younger sister screamed to her sibling.
"Yes it doesn't have to be like this." She said with a serious look on her face. "You can give up and let the ponies have their freedom."
Luna spit in the ground with anger.
"Your idea of freedom is corrupted Celestia, it's just an another kind of slavery!" She screamed with all her might in her royal voice. "You are just a tyrant! You've never given my any power, you've never agreed to try out my ideas! You only think about yourself, and no one else!"
Celestia looked at her sister, which startled Luna a little. There was no anger in her eyes, she was calm, yet sad. Her expression showed great sorrow.
"I see how it is then." She said with a deep voice. "You won't change your mind will you?"
"Over my dead body." Answered Luna.
"So be it." Said Celestia rushing at her sister, reading a deadly spell. As Luna did the same, clashing in the middle of the battlefield.
Now
"Twilight... wake up, we've got to talk." The white alicorn spoke calmly to her student, laying on a set of beautiful, colorful pillows.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, she looked around her, and only then she understood that she is in the Canterlot castle.
"P-princess have I fallen asleep again?" She asked as she straightened her wings.
"Yes it seems so Twilight. It seems you don't have time to rest lately." Celestia said looking trough the palace window. The castle was rebuilt in the last year. Now it looked more like a Neighrabian wonder from afar, the style that royal sisters grew pretty fond of, it was a way to celebrate Twilight's coronation. The alicorn still couldn't believe that it was built all because of her.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no." The mare panicked running around. "I still have so many duties! Now my whole plan..."
"Yes... you still need to get used to the royal way of life." The sun goddess said calmly. "But it seems that I can't really help you or make it less painful for you."
Twilight looked at Celestia with sadness in her eyes.
"I barely even have time to meet my friends right now, and that's when I stay awake during nights, doing my duties." She said wandering her hoof around. "Will it ever change Princess?"
Celestia rose her wing, covering Twilight with it.
"I'm sorry Twilight, but that almost never changes. You will have a lot less time as a princess, that is sacrifice needed to be made for your nations." She says walking away from the young Princess. "Of course, this will be a long time, since I and Luna are still here, able to rule instead of you when you are learning."
Twilight has shaken in fear. She began stuttering, unable to form sentences.
"S-still? B-but you-u are im-m-mortal, aren't-t you?" She asked looking at the white alicorn in confusion. "Y-you ar-re gods aft-ter all..."
Celestia smiled at her and responded.
"Yes Twilight, we are Gods, but do not be mistaken. We are not immortal, it's true that we can't die from the old age, but even a God can be killed. And when one God dies, an another must take it's place." She said giving Twilight a meaningful stare.
"That would never happen!" Twilight said vigorously, smiling. "Everypony loves you Princess, you and Luna. Nopony would like to see you dead! And even if, you are one of the most powerful beings on the planet! The truth is you're only training me just in case!"
Celestia giggled at her's ex-student statement.
"Yes, maybe you're right. But it' better to be safe than sorry." She said hugging the purple alicorn. "Now come, we have yet a lot to learn."
She walked across the corridors of the new castle, passing next to beautiful animal statues, clear, white as snow marble fountains. As the wind blew at the newly built bower at the top of the highest tower. As royal guards bowed to Twilight and Celestia, looking at them from Balconies and towers. Then they entered the treasury, where all the goverment money went. The truth was, it wasn't really that big, as the government in Equestria didn't play much role in the economy. The tax were low, and there were no more expenses than necessary. And it all worked well. The treasury was not like the one in the old castle, instead of giant pile of gold, only thing that there really was, was a big machine keeping track of the amount of money that the government owned.
"What do you know about Capitalism Twilight?" Celestia asked the purple pony.
Twilight thought about everything she learnt about the system and answered.
"It's an economical system where which free market plays main role, ponies are free to trade, work where they want, own property and so on. It's the system which we currently live in. The opposite system is communism where no free market or private property exist and everything is divided into the society."
"Yes, that is true." She says taking one banknote from the machine. "As you know we limit social healthcare and social education to the minimum to limit the expenses. Is that a bad thing to you?"
"Not really." Twilight answered without thought. "It doesn't seem to be needed besides some rare cases. And even then, the citizens of Equestria seem to be gaining money to afford for the private healthcare."
Celestia smiled.
"Yes, and I see that my efforts from over thousand years ago were worth it." She said with a bit of pride in her voice. "It's good to see that all bad, eventually ends well."
"What do you mean?" Asked Twilight.
The white alicorn sighted deeply and began her story.
"It was thousand years ago as me and my sister Luna defeated Discord. It was a great victory, but it cost the nation a lot. The reign of Discord has put Equestria into chaos and anarchy. It was time of death and suffering, we needed to reform the country. Then came two ponies, two great philosophies, which brought the two opposing ideologies. Both me and my sister had contrary points of view, and stood on the sides of each philosophers. Something that seemed like a minor disagreement, soon turned into great war that spread trough the whole nation, bringing it again into chaos. It was a war which I have won. I defeated my younger sister on the battlefield. I forgave her for all she has done, but stripped her from the power. The next years were the worst of Equestrian history. I was trying to implement a new system trying to avert the crisis, and it took long to implement. Do you know what happened then?"
"As I remember... that was the time when Nighmare Moon has been born."
The expression on Celestia's face changed from wide smile to a deep sadness, as she remember the banishing of her sister.
"Yes, the sight of suffering ponies led to great anger and sorrow in Luna's heart. As it slowly changed her into Nightmare Moon. I banished my sister with great sorrow, as I felt was my biggest defeat." She stayed quiet for a second and then came back to her story. "After this... unfortunate incident I began rebuilding the country from the scratch. That's when I noticed first problems with the free market system. Even if I considered it to solve a lot of national problems, it obviously didn't solve every of them. Well nothing is perfect one could say, but I didn't want to agree with this. I couldn't get my mind of that, that some of my subjects were still dying and suffering. So I fixed it."
She finished her story with a serious and mysterious tone.
"B-but how?" Asked Twilight. "It doesn't seem that there would be a sensible way to do so."
"Yes, at first it seemed that there is no clear option out of this problem. But I found one." Celestia looked Twilight straight into her eyes. "It was so simple... but listen Twilight I can't tell you about it right now. It's something that I want to keep secret for the sake of national security."
"Um, yes Princess I understand. But I cannot help but to be curious about this."
Celestia giggled and answered with one sentence.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Twilight, I'm really happy about that."
The white alicorn levitated the banknote with her magic, and shown it to Twilight.
"When you look at it, what do you see Twilight."
"It's just a banknote dear Princess." Twilight answered confidently.
"No Twilight, this little banknote, this little scrap of paper is a lot more than meets the eye." Celestia said with a serious tone. "This dear Twilight is a tool, a tool that gives power. This little banknote is what ponies give their trust in. And who has the trust, has the control. We are not only rulers Twilight, we are guardians, guardians that need to ensure, that this power is not misused."
"Are you sure Princess?" Asked the Lavender alicorn. "Can I just go and have a break from my royal duties?"
The three alicorns were standing on the station with Twilight and Spike both dragging her baggage. The train was about to drive off. Celestia smiled.
"Twilight, you have taken care of them for now. Even a princess needs rest from time to time. I would even say that you're overworking yourself. You haven't been sleeping for ages! Even we don't stay awake for so long. Go Twilight, it will do you good, besides, aren't you happy that you will meet your friends again?"
"I-I am b-but,,," stuttered Twilight, she couldn't get her mind off the country's well being after being introduced to so many important factors she needed to take care of.. "What if I'm needed? Who will take care of my duties?"
Celestia covered Twilight with her wing, hugging her.
"Do not worry, we will take care of it when you're gone." She said calmly. "Besides, Discord needs to learn how to use his magic for good of ponies"
She giggled, Spike opened his mouth in surprise.
"Discord?!" Both the unicorn and the dragon cried in protest. Even Luna stared at her sister with a bit of disbelief.
"Do not worry we'll keep an eye of him." Said Celestia.
"But Princess! You know he is not fully reformed! How can you..." Protested Twilight.
"Don't worry." The night princess cut them off
. "I think I know what my sister is planing. It's time for you to go Twilight Sparkle, or you shall miss your train."
"But..."
"No buts, we know what we're doing." Celestia cut Twilight off yet again. "Just go and trust us."
Lavender unicorn looked at her mentor with doubt but then understood that if Princess Celestia is doing something, she usually knows what she's doing. She smiled and made her last farewells before entering the wagon with Spike following behind her. She looked out of the window one last time to hear Luna talking to her.
"Rest well Twilight Sparkle, as we will need you when you come back." She said.
And then they disappeared from Twilight's sight. She turned back from the window and took a seat on one of the benches.
"You are horribly worried Twilight aren't you?" Asked Spike turning to his friend.
"Horribly." Answered Twilight giggling. "But I'm sure Celestia has some great plan behind this."
"But Twilight! Do you really trust Discord in doing your duties?" Cried out the baby dragon.
Twilight just stared at him for the moment before Spike answered himself.
"Oh yes, stupid question."
They both laughed out loud, smiling together before they noticed that somepony, or rather somebody has joined them in laughing.
"Oh Twilight Sparkle, your really think of me low." Said the bench Twilight was sitting on before it folded, throwing the alicorn of it, making Twilight flap her wings and then hitting her in the plot before the fall.
"Discord!" The purple pony screamed in anger as she tried to get up from the floor. "Show yourself!"
"Oh you're no fun Princess" He said materializing besides her. "You're starting to become more like Celestia. I even think that was her line!"
He snapped his fingers creating a sombrero on his head, Mariachi band, two dragon ladies hanging around Spike, cigarette in Twilight's mouth and King Sombra, ironically in Sombrero.
"Do excuse me, I'm truly fond of weak references." He said playing a trumpet. "Take it easy Twilight Sparkle."
The lavender alicorn looked at the whole scene in disbelief, she coughed from the smoke from cigarette and spat it out on the floor.
"Enough!" She screamed. "Take it back! All of it! And how dare you bring Sombra here?! And wasn't he dead?"
"Oh him?" Discord Laughed coming to Sombra. "It seems not. But worry not he's brain dead."
"Slaves!" Growled Sombra.
"But don't worry Twilight, I think he was like that even before you used your precious crystal heart on him. So don't worry it's not your fault." He shoved cigarette into Sombra's mouth.
"Crystals!" He screamed.
"I said make it disappear!" Screamed Twilight with all her rage.
The spirit of Chaos sighted.
"Here comes the fun police." He snapped his fingers and everything disappeared.
"I like stairs!" Screamed Sombra before disappearing.
"You know Twilight I kinda liked this..." Said Spike when everything was gone.
"See Twilight? That's the spirit." Said Discord teleporting to Spike and patting him on the head. "You should take example from him!"
She sighted and groaned.
"What do you want from us Discord?"
"Did you think I would let you go back to Ponyville without a farewell?" He said doing a mimic of caring voice. "That's not what friends do, do they Twilight Sparkle?"
A smirk appeared on his face as he snapped his fingers again, creating a pile of papers and a work suit for himself.
"Because of you leaving I have horrendous amount of work to do, I hope you're happy about that."
"You know you're spirit of chaos... you could just snap your fingers and get it done." Said Spike but Discord ignored him.
"Is that all you have to say Discord?" Twilight groaned. "All that to tell me goodbye?"
He smiled evilly.
"There is one more thing I must say, you see, Celestia ordered me to get rid of those seeds that almost killed tree of harmony. As you know I'm reformed so I have no choice but with bitter heart get rid of my beautiful work of art. But there is one thing that you should know. Remember that potion that your Zebra friend brought? It was made from those seeds. There's still a bit of it so use it when you still can. Well gotta go, duty calls." And with that, he was gone.
Both Twilight and Spike stared into the blank space for an entire minute.
"Well Twilight to be fair, he is pretty funny." Said Spike
Twilight only rolled her eyes and sat down the bench, first checking in case it was still possessed by the trickster spirit. Thankfully it seemed that Discord was gone and she could get some rest .They arrived in Ponyville a hour after. They took their baggage and went to the wagon exit. Twilight has only put the hoof at the station, and she was already greeted by confetti and loud "SURPRISE!" coming from Pinkie's mouth. She smiled, she was with her friends again.
"So what have you been doing sugar cube?" Asked Applejack drinking some pouch from a blue glass. "We haven't seen you in ages!"
"True darling, the royal life must have gave you a bit of work. What happened since you left for Canterlot?" Asked Rarity.
"Not much it seems." Said Twilight also drinking some pouch. "For the most part I have been learning and overwhelmed with Royal duties. Princess Celestia decided that I should take a break."
"Um Twilight, how bad was is it exactly?" Asked Rainbow flying around the room flapping her wings calmly. "You slept for entire two days!"
Twilight sighed.
"I almost don't sleep." She sadly. "I get maybe... two, three hours of sleep. Weekly."
The five friends looked at themselves in disbelief.
"Twilight that's horrible! I know you have a lot of duties but even you can't take so much." Cried out Rarity.
"Oh I dunno." Said Pinkie Pie. "I can stay awake on months if I eat enough sweets!"
"Um... How much sweets are you eating daily Pinkie?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"Let me count..." She said raising one hoof, then second one...
"I don't have enough hoofs!" She cried out.
"Um Twilight?" Asked the yellow pegasus sitting in the corner of the room.
"Yes Fluttershy?"
"If you don't mind asking... Why would Celestia put you in such a position?" She said calmly as the other ponies looked at her.
"It's true darling. Even though you're princess, you can't go on like that. Why would the Princess do such thing?" Asked Rarity.
Twilight remembered the Princess words about overworking herself and giggled.
"Well it seems that it was partially my fault trying to do a lot more than I was able to at once." She laughed out loud. But the others seemed more concerned about the alicorn well-being that she actually was.
"You can't keep doing that Twilight! This is bad for your health."
"Yeah!" Said Rainbow Dash. "I'm pretty sure even Princesses don't do that."
"No, no." Protested Twilight. "It's okay, when I finish my training as a ruler I will come back to Ponyville and live the rest of my days here."
Twilight's friends looked at themselves sadly and then again at Twilight.
"Okay, you can tell me, what is on your mind." Said Twilight with a serious tone.
"Twilight, we really hope it will be like that but..." Started Applejack.
"... I don't think you can just stop ruling and come back to Ponyville." Finished Rainbow Dash.
"Ah that? Don't worry about that. The Princesses are ruling right now, I will be just helping from time to time. As long as they stay in power, I will be able to come back to Ponyville." Twilight answered calmly.
"So you say you're trained just in case?" Asked Rarity.
"That's what I said to Princess." Answered purple alicorn.
"I don't know Twilight, that sounds fine if we assume that Princesses will be ruling all the time, and we don't know what might come." The blue pegasus didn't seem fully convinced.
"Rainbow Dash, they are immortal. Celestia was ruling for over 1000 years, what could change now?"
"Okay, I guess you're right about that..."
"Anyways, let's not think about that, if something happens I'll try to do my best." Said Twilight and all the girls agreed on that.
"Anyways, what is Celestia teaching you lately darling?" Asked Rarity. "It seems to be only thing that keeps you in Canterlot, so what are you learning now?"
"Well lately she was teaching me some history and a bit of economy." Answered the purple alicorn.
"Seems pretty boring to me!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "What do you think Dashie?"
"Uh me?" Rainbow Dash seemed a little startled by her friend. "Well I dunno, it doesn't seem so bad, one of the coolest characters from Daring Doo series was an economist."
"Oh! You're talking about the mysterious stranger from the seventh book?" Asked Twilight in excitement.
"Yes! The one where Daring doo was investigating that large smuggling conspiracy!" Answered Rainbow Dash excited as well.
Applejack sighed.
"Here they go again."
The everfree forest seemed calm and inviting when Twilight stepped inside. It was a surprise first that such an unwelcoming place has become such calm and peaceful. It seemed that some ponies even came for a walks here. Celestia explained that it was because the tree was trying to protect itself so it created the Everfree as harsh, dangerous and unwelcoming place to keep the aggressors away. Now the elements have been reunited, it had enough power to cope for itself.
"Twilight are you sure it's a good idea?" Said baby dragon, covering behind the alicorn. He was still scared of the forest even if it became more peaceful. "It could be just some Discord prank."
"Even so, there's no harm in checking. Worst thing can happen he'll have some laugh out of us." She answered with a serious tone in her voice.
"But what if he tries to hurt us Twilight?" Insisted Spike.
"Spike, it's true that he is acting unpleasant but he helped us before. I'm too doubtful about his overall intentions but it seems that at least for now, he is trying for help. One thing I know, he wouldn't try to hurt us. Maybe he's partially reformed, or maybe he has some kind of greater plan. I don't know, but you can calm down. Right now we're safe."
The dragon seemed a little bit calmed by the statement, and he was able to walk into the forest with Twilight. It was an hour before they made it to the Zecora cottage. The Zebra was brewing some potion. As she saw they were approaching she smiled and greeted her guests with a small rhyme.
"Are my eyes fooling me, or is it Princess Twilight I see? Even though my heart is in glee, I must wonder what makes you come to me?"
"Hi Zecora." Smiled Twilight. "Do you still have that potion from before?"
"The chaos spirit from his promise is free, as you've gotten the information sent by me." She laughed.
"Wait." Said Spike confused. "You actually asked Discord to give us the warning about the potion?"
"Even though his past is rough, his intentions came as good came trough." Zecora answered. "Now Twilight Sparkle you should come, as the potion could soon be gone."
She entered the cottage and Twilight followed. The cottage was filled with masks, potions and herbs as usual the one thing different was the potion sitting on the table in the middle. It was white.
"As the potion is white, it's time for travel in time. But I must warn you that the journey may be brutal, as you may see things from the future." Zecora said with a serious tone.
"Why would be that brutal?" Asked Twilight confused. "And why would I see things in the future?"
"Nobody can know, what the future can hold." Answered the zebra. "The mixture can hold, also the things to unfold. It shows the things, the one to see needs.."
Twilight noded slightly and took a sip of the potion. She waited for the potion to kick in, as her eyes became white, and began glowing with light. She looked around her and noticed that she is no longer in Zecora's hut but on the streets of Canterlot, burning Canterlot to be exact. She looked around in fear and confusion, and what she saw was a horrible mix of chaos, death and fire. What she saw was building in flames, piles of bodies and ponies running in chaos from place to place. She heard screams of ponies trapped in buildings and those running chaotically on the streets. She has seen ponies breaking into shops and taking whatever they could. She froze in place for a while, but forced herself to take a step forward. One question rose in her mind.
"How did this happen?" She asked herself as she looked at the ruins of the old Canterlot castle. It was the new rebuilt castle which meant that it was the future she was seeing.
Then she noticed a weird sound coming from above her. She looked at the sky and saw a giant aircraft, flying above the city, like someone was observing the chaos. She tried to fly up to it ,but her wings refused to listen to her. She groaned in anger and pushed herself forward. Trying to ignore everything that was happening.
And then, just when she turned around the corner, she saw something terrible, something so terrifying that tears came to her eyes and vomit to her mouth when she has seen it. The vision faded, leaving her in Zecora's cottage with both the Zebra and Spike looking at her with both care and interest. She vomited and almost fell to the floor. That was an understandable reaction, you don't see your own body hanging from the tree branch every day.
