S3TT

by xzillerationer

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Sad, Romance, Original Character, Tragedy
Length: 15299

S3TT is the tragic tale of the woes of vengeance.

Starting out as a fairly normal day, graduation from Magic School means Twilight will no longer have to send friendship reports to the Princess. Things go amazing, but, slowly, they topple into an adventure and a problem so large it will change the face of Equestria forever. The Mane 6 will have to deal with love, violence, vengeance, and more.

***************
The story was cancelled, but I'm leaving this up for historical purposes. I plan on rewriting from scratch with a different style. It's going to be the same story, same characters, but with a different narrative I'm better at, and a new title. While this is going to stay up, and it's by no means short, I'm just going to start over. It has a LOT of problems, and the vast majority would be fixed with a complete rewrite.

Published 2012-03-10 21:54:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-16 05:19:30 UTC

Act 1, Chapter 1

Season 3 Try To: By Xzillerationer, contributions by Cuttincows and Das Pangwin

Act 1: A Prelude To Harmony:

Next week is my graduation! Oh, I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself! To think just yesterday I was a filly learning magic under Celestia’s wing herself! Next week is going to be the greatest week of my life! I really hope everything goes well! I’d be broken if things went wrong. I hope no pony messes up, and everypony graduates! I should probably stop worrying so much, Spike says it’s not good for me. He’s even brought me to Nurse Redheart a few times because of it. He’s grown a lot over the years. Oh, he’s just worrying too much, I’m fine. Still, it’s nice to know he genuinely cares about me.

Twilight Sparkle, 4th of Summerset, 1035 AP, ~10 years after the Discord Event.

I talked with Princess Celestia today, she seemed slightly nervous. Oh well, must be that she’s so happy about me finally graduating she can barely contain herself and is trying to maintain her princesslike composure. What is a princesslike composure anyways? Hmm, I’ll have to look that up some day. Oh yeah! Celestia! We talked about the ceremony, and I had to try so hard to hold back my school girl blush...I think I’m starting to like her a little...but she’s a princess! It would be improper for a commonpony like myself to try anything....oh well....guess I’ll just keep my feelings secret. Good thing I locked this diary with complex magiHI I’M TWILIGHT AND IVE GOT A CRUSH ON CELESITA BUT I CAN’T DO AN

Sometimes I really hate Spike.

Twilight Sparkle, 8th of Summerset, 1035 AP.

Chapter 1

1.

The majestic sun rises over Equestria, home of the ponies.

Some ponies spend their days cooking, some painting. Some spend their days trying to earn cutie marks. But this pony, Twilight Sparkle, prefers to study. However, her days of schooling are almost up, for today was Twilight’s graduation. It was a small ceremony, consisting of her and about five other ponies. It drew hundreds of ponies, though, as it’s considered a very important part of young ponies’ lives. Just as flight school for pegasi, and college for earthponies, The School of Magic is considered the first step into becoming a full fledged Equestrian.

Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s favorite student, lies in bed on this momentous day. She dreamed of her first days at Magic School, how Celestia took her out of class early on, and decided to train her personally. She dreamed of her first spell, of her first failure, of her first friend.

Sunlight shines upon the pony’s eyes, and it woke her. She springs awake, jumps out of bed, and gallops over to Spike, waking him in the process. “Spike! It’s today! It’s finally today!” The mare shouts enthusiastically.

“Huh? What’s today?” Spike asks inquisitively.

“Today is graduation! I have to be sure I’m ready! Get out the to do lists, Spike!” Twilight nobly says with her head raised high.

“Ugh, do I have to?”

“Yes! Of course! Life just simply wouldn’t be worth living if it wasn’t organized by size, shape, color, depth, texture, fe-” Twilight says being cut off by Spike.

“Twilight, look, life doesn’t have to be so organized. Some things, yeah, they need to be organized. But not everything. Celestia has her best ponies working on organizing. It won’t be messed up!”

Twilight grew visibly nervous when the Princess’s name was mentioned, “Yeah, but what if something goes wrong? What if I trip and and fall and scuff her shoes, and because of that she gets angry and banishes me to the moon! What if she sends me back to magic KINDERGARTEN? What i-” Twilight’s nervous rant was again cut off by Spike.

“Listen, do you remember what Nurse Redheart said about worrying? Wait, did you take your medication today?”

Twilight grins, hoping to fool the dragon, “I told you Spike, I don’t need to take that, I’m fine, it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Did you run out again? You know Applebloom doesn’t mind making more for you!” Spike demands, starting to get angry.

Twilight picks up Spike and puts him on the table with her magic, “Oh, Spike, always caring for me. I’m fine! My anxiety is under control!” The fickle mare appears to swell in confidence and pride, “I no longer require medicine! Honestly.”

“Fine, but if you have a panic attack, I’m not helping.” Spike pouts.

“Spike! I haven’t had one of those in two years! Honestly, I’m going to be fine.” She Boasts.

Twilight uses her magic and teleports Spike outside, “Now, wait out here, I have some getting ready to do, and I’d prefer to do it in privacy.”

Twilight starts to get ready, but hears a faint bouncing noise. “Huh? What’s tha-” Twilight is cut off as the lively pony Pinkie Pie breaks through the door.

“Twilight! It’s your graduation today! I’m SOOOOOO excited! We’re gonna have a hugemongous party! There’ll be cake and balloons and-ooh! There’ll be cupcakes!” Pinkie excitedly yells as she jumps and hops around the room in her usual gleeful manner, before finally landing on a confused purple mare.

“Uh, Pinkie Pie?” Twilight’s face goes from nervous excitement to bitter disappointment.

“Yes, Miss Graduatatorily girl?” Pinkie appears to have trouble with those last two words.

“Could you please get off me?”

“Oh, sorry. But we’re going to have so much fun!” Pinkie yells, stepping off of Twilight, allowing her her freedom.

“I’m trying to get ready he-”

“I KNOW! That’s why I came! To help you get ready, sillyhead!” Pinkie Pie jumps around some more, “I mean, I’m obviously better help than that silly Spike because when you change, I don’t get aroused!”

Twilight blushes.

“Well, hopefully. Who knows! Maybe I’m going through a phase right now, they say it’s more hip for mares to date mares, right!?”

“I’m not changing in front of you” Twilight says while nervously chuckling and pushing Pinkie aside, “plus, aren’t you a little old to be going through phases?”

“Well, maybe. I don’t know, I’ve never really met anyone that tickles my tummy in that special way only stuff like chocolate cake does! Well, not anymore...” Pinkie starts to tilt her head down, as though she were sad at the statement.

“I’ve...never heard love described that way before, Pinkie. Wait, what do you mean, ‘not anymore’?” Twilight asks, in both a concerned and interested manner.

“That was love?!” Pinkie’s eyes widen, “Here I was thinking I was describing how I like cupcakes...” the pink pony turns to a more inquisitive look, ignoring Twilight’s question.

“Yeah, that’s love. You found your cake, but did you find your cupcakes? And what about tha-”

“Uh, well, not exactly”, Pinkie blushes, cutting off Twilight in the process, “but hey! Maybe I love everyone!” With that remark, Pinkie Pie jumps to her usual excitement.

“Hm, maybe, ha ha, who knows, maybe you just haven’t met him yet.” Twilight takes her turn blushing.

“Who says it has to be a him? Maybe I’m a marepony!” Pinkie says as she attempts to balance on one hoof.

“A...marepony? I don’t think they’re called tha-”

“Of course they’re called that, silly! What do you think they’re called? Pff, lesbians?”

“Actually...yes.” Twilight defines confidently.

“Oh. Hm, oh well.” Pinkie says, settling down for a moment, “I’m sure he’ll come along. What about you, you haven’t even looked at a stallion since, like, 5 years ago! That’s almost a long time!”

“Well, it’s not quite that simple you see...” Twilight blushes, taking Pinkie’s turn.

“Oh why! Are you a MAREPONY?” Pinkie casually mocks.

“Well, no, well, sort of, maybe?” Twilight takes a third turn blushing.

“Oh! Who is it! Who who who!” Pinkie jumps up and down in excitement.

“You have to promise not to tell anyone.” Twilight demands.

“I promise!”

“You have to Pinkie Pie Promise!” Twilight forces.

Pinkie Pie puts her hoof to her eye, “I Pinkie Pie promise!”

“Okay....well, the pony I like...is kinda...um...Princess Celestia...” Twilight smiles a nervous fake smile.

“Princess Celes-” Pinkie tries yells before being cut off by Twilight’s hoof in her mouth.

“Don’t yell it out loud! I don’t want people finding out...” Twilight remarks, removing her hoof.

“Why not? You two would make a cute couple!” Pinkie Pie tries to hide her excitement.

“Because she’s the Princess! It’d be unproper for her to go after me romantically!” She sighs.

“Well, haven’t you ever heard of how they make new princesses? They don’t go around breeding INSIDE the family, silly, that would be weird and kinda spooky!” Pinkie makes odd ghostlike movements before losing her balance and toppling over.

“Uh, yeah, and the princesses in royal families find handsome stallions!” Twilight bows her head in shame, “I’m neither handsome nor a stallion. Therefore, I am ineligible for her love...”

“What?! That’s not true! You’re plenty handsome! And, plus, she’s the Princess! She can love whoever she wants! She could even love a cake! I think I love my cake!” Pinkie smiles, trying to cheer up her magenta comrade.

Twilight lifts her head and chuckles a little, “Well, I’m not a cake either, ha ha.”

“Yeah, you’re no-Hey! You’re smiling again! This is Graduation, silly! Don’t get bogged down because you can’t figure out your troubles now!” Pinkie Pie starts to jump around and sing a little, “Today is about is fun! Today you’re done! Today is the day where you find your place! Whether you be pink, or purple or silver or blue, orange or-” Pinkie Pie stops singing and falls to the ground with a slightly confused look on her face over not being able to finish the rhyme.

“Well then, perhaps you should go now while you figure that out. I have a lot of preparing to do.” Twilight giggles.

“Well, duh! Why do you think I came here! To help you get ready!” Pinkie says, snapping back to her usual level of energy.

“Isn’t that what Rarity usually does?”

“Oh, yeah...but...” Pinkie bows her head, and digs at the ground a little with her hoof, “she moved away, remember?”

“Pinkie Pie! Why so sad? She’s been only gone for a few weeks, remember?” Twilight holds up Pinkie’s head.

“Yeah, but I miss her, okay? She always had great fashion tips for when I went out on dates...”

“You? Date? I thought you never found your cupcake.” Twilight apologetically states.

“Well, I also enjoy pie! And I found several pies! But no cupcakes.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you tell any of us about these stallions,” Twilight appears confused, “Wait, what about that cupcake you found earlier but lost?”

“Oh. Well, she left me.” Pinkie frowns, unusual for her happy demeanor.

Twilight speaks in a maternal manner, “Oh? Well, maybe she’ll be back...?”

“Well, that’s the thing. She’s left before. And then come back.” Pinkie says, just as confused as Twilight, “Each time I take her back, or she takes me back. Then she hurts me when she leaves again...” Pinkie looks down.

“Oh...who is she?” Twilight asks, “Ever thought of getting someone to talk to her about this?”

Pinkie goes from sadness to a look of utter horror, “Oh no, no no no, people can’t find out about us! Forget I told you!”

Twilight, knowing she can’t pry anymore information out of the hyperactive pink pony, stops questioning her about it, “Well, what about everyone else?”

“What about them?” Pinkie asks, cheering up slightly.

“Were any of them colts?”

“Wait! Yes! They were!”

“How many, might I ask?”

“About...seven, I think? Yeah! six colts!”

“Wait, seven or six?” Twilight appears to be confused.

Pinkie Pie smiles, a stark contrast to her previous emotion.

“Well, how many of them were your coltfriend at some point?” The unicorn inquires, confused at Pinkie’s antics.

“4! 4 coltfriends, and 8 total stallions! Oh! And one mare!” Pinkie exclaims proudly.

“And you didn’t tell any of us this?” Twilight sighs.

“Well, I told Rarity, but that’s it.” Pinkie Pie appears to be slightly ashamed.

“Why not!” Twilight grows a look of concern on her face.

“Well, I was thinking maybe a party of two would be fun, and I didn’t want to make you gals jealous, and-”

Twilight shushes Pinkie, now obviously going to tears, “Pinkie Pie, you know you can tell us anything!” the unicorn reaches out and hugs the pink mare, “Really, we won’t get mad at you because you were having fun without us!”

“Really!” Pinkie Pie goes immediately from sorrow to glee, “Oh thank Celestia!” At that last word, Twilight visibly pales.

“Okay, I need to get ready now. Are you ready to help me?” Twilight asks.

“Yeppity yes! We’ll get you all pretty and ready for your graduation! I even heard Rarity is coming to see it!”

“Really? All the way from Canterlot!” Twilight’s eyes gleam with joy over news of the white unicorn’s return, “Wouldn’t wanna be late then, hurry up!”

2 .

********************************

“I must say, Twilight, that your graduation was simply marvellous.” A familiar voice says.

Twilight Sparkle chuckles and replies to the unicorn, “Thanks, Rarity, though I was surprised.”

“Oh? Why on Equestria would you be surprised?”

“Well, the Princess usually says something goes wrong, or somepony doesn’t graduate. It was wonderful that we all graduated on time, and together. Although, there is still one thing that confuses me.” Twilight says, with a cocky smile.

“What in the world could that possibly be?”

“Did you ever graduate from magic school?” Twilight interrogates.

“Well...heh heh...” Rarity grins nervously, obviously caught unprepared from this question, “Well, Twilight, I’m going to be honest. I dropped out when I was young to pursue a career in fashion! And you can see how far it’s taken me now!” The white mare performs various poses in her usual melodramatic fashion.

“You, err, dropped out?” Twilight appears shocked and confused for a moment.

“Well, yes. I hated magic school, and as soon as I learned what I needed, I got out of there. I already had my cutie mark, and my parents knew how well I could make a dress, so they dropped me out.” After the end statement, Rarity grows visibly nervous, and grins.

“So, it was your parents’ idea?”

“Yes. If it were up to me, I would’ve stayed in and bore with it, learned more magic to make things easier.” Rarity says, realizing her lie is failing, “But, no, they had to kick me out.”

Twilight senses hints of deception, “Wait, didn't you just say your parents dropped you out?”

“What!? My heavens, why would they ever do that? My parents love me!” Rarity grins again, starting to trot towards the entrance.

“Uh huh,” Twilight closes and locks her library door, “Tell me the truth, Rarity.”

“I am!”

Twilight pushes her up against the wall gently, yet harshly, “The truth!”

“Oh, alright, fine. The truth is I got in a fight and got kicked out.” Rarity confesses, before frowning and looking down in shame.

“A fight? You? Fighting?” Twilight looks more and more shocked with every word.

“Yes...he insulted my dress! What was I supposed to do? Back then I didn’t know that proper mares don’t fight!”

“You mean you didn’t grow up like that?” Twilight looks unsatisfied.

“Well, yes. You see, after I was expelled, my parents sent me to live with family in the upmost divine city of Manehatten. It’s there I learned proper etiquette and how to be a proper pony.” Rarity flips her hair, “Have you seen my parents?” Rarity states, emphasizing the word ‘seen’ in a completely over the top overly dramatic fashion.

Twilight realizes the time and gasps, realizing that she’ll have to kick out her friend that just got here, “Yeah...I hate to kick you out so early, but I kinda have a guest coming over, and I need to tidy up...”

“Already?” Rarity asks with discontent, “Well, perhaps I could assist you? It is your special day, after all.”

“Well...err...I have to get things just right....it’s a very special pony...” Twilight appears flushed and nervous.

“Oh! A ‘special’,” Rarity makes air quotes with her hooves, “friend. I see, Twilight, darling, you simply must tell me his name!”

The purple unicorn appears even more flushed, “Well, it’s not quite like that...” she says as she nervously giggles.

“Oh? Is it a mare? Good heavens, tell me it’s not a buffalo!”

“What?! No, it’s not a buffalo!” Twilight says defensively.

“So it’s a mare?” Rarity says, content that she pried the answer out of the magically inclined pony.

“Yes. But don’t tell anyone! It’s kinda a secret...” Twilight asks, embarrassed Rarity figured out her secret so easily.

“Twilight, you can tell me! I won’t tell anyone, I swear! Honestly, what would make it so that you wouldn’t trust me? You know I don’t live in Ponyville, so who would I tell?”

“Well, she kinda lives in Canterlot....” Twilight plays with her mane a little, reminiscent of Fluttershy. “So, you might tell somepony there...or something.”

"Honestly, Twi, darling, I’m not going to tell anypony. Wait, did you say she lives in Canterlot?!”

“Err, yes...” Twilight grows flustered and even more nervous.

“Oh, Twilight, you simply must introduce me! With me by her side, she could become the second most famous mare in all Canterlot!” Rarity says whilst putting her arm around Twilight and using her other arm to point to various nondescript objects.

“Uh...well...you see...” Twilight loosens Rarity’s grip and slips out, and starts to look even more nervous.

“What? There’s simply no way she can be more prestigious than me! I am THE mare of Canterlot!”

“Well, she’s kinda...above you...” Twilight quivers at the phrase.

“Oh? Who could that possibly be...” Rarity suddenly realizes who Twilight is talking about, “Oh, no, you can’t be serious!”

Rarity is silenced and cut off by Twilight putting a hoof in her mouth, “Okay, Rarity, see you later, gotta clean up after this party!”

Twilight pushes Rarity through the streamers, balloons, plates, and other various party debris left over from Pinkie’s latest in her world famous parties. Twilight slouches back on her recently shut door, with her mane a mess, her library in shambles, there’s no way she could clean up in time. She thumps back her head on the door and blinks back a few tears. She couldn’t get to anypony else in time, except for Rarity, and there’s no way Rarity was going to help after she pushed her out so abruptly. Then it hit her-why not use magic? She could cast a spell to clean up. Except she doesn’t know any cleaning spells. She could try a mass teleportation spell...except that would teleport the entire library. Twilight realizes that after 15 years of magic school, and, 10 years of magic college, she couldn’t use a spell to clean up her house-one that Celestia herself gave to her.

Twilight sighs, “Why is being a unicorn so difficult?”

Act 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

1.

“I’ve found myself oftentimes not able to sleep at night without the aid of severe magics. This has Luna worried very much, sometimes offering to take over raising the sun every morning for a few days so I can get a vacation. She’s become a lot nicer in the 10 years she’s been back ruling at my side, my guess is she’s had influence from Twilight and her friends. I wonder why Luna suddenly offered to raise the sun for a little while? Perhaps she was just being nice, maybe she saw how stressful my job has been getting.

I’ve also been hearing voices. They’ve been nagging me, shouting at me. I’ve for the most part ignored them, but they’re starting to get to me. Maybe I will take that vacation after all...”

~The Life and Times of Princess Celestia,

Circa. 1037 AP

“Twilight? Twilight, are you home?” Princess Celestia asked through the door.

Twilight Sparkle stood in front of the doorway, her mane a mess, her home even more so. The mare was frantically picking things up, and tossing them over to various piles. She then draped sheets over those piles to hide the mess.

Twilight sticks her head through the door, “I’m so sorry, Princess, but if you could just give me one more moment...” and ducks back in.

With a spark of magic, Twilight begins clearing up her library. Spark, and the streamers are gone. Spark, now the trash is gone. A few more sparks, and the entire library is cleaned. On the other side of town Applejack grows in fury at Twilight’s ‘accident’.

“I’m so terribly sorry for that, Princess,” Twilight says as she opens the door, “I hope I can make it up to you somehow...” she lets off a nervous frown before letting the Princess speak.

“Oh, my...Twilight...you didn’t have to clean your entire library for me...” Celestia says, at awe of the pure cleanliness of the library, “This must’ve cost a fortune, let me reimburse you, at once!” Princess Celestia smiles at the newly graduated pony.

“No, no, it’s okay. It didn’t cost me anything, I just used the magic you taught me, and well, it hardly took any effort at all. I usually keep it this clean anyways...” Twilight starts to boast with a smile towards the end.

“Oh, well in that case, alright. But, I suppose you know why I came here, right?” Celestia says in a more stern, official sounding voice, teetering on the edge of the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice.

Twilight almost looses all the color in her coat, and replies, “To...reassign me out of Ponyville?” and swallows nervously.

Celestia’s tone and expression instantly change from that of an official, serious manner, to one that would befit staring at a potential loved one, concerned, “No, to celebrate my prized student graduating Magic School, and to have fun! I haven’t had fun in so long...”

“Wait....you’re not making me leave?” Twilight’s spirits improve visibly.

“No, why would I? You’ve made so many wonderful friend here, how could I ever make you move away?”

“Thank you so much, Princess!” Twilight smiles with glee, now that she won’t have to move away.

“It’s no problem, really. Speaking of friends, where’s your friend, Spike?” the Princess asks.

“Well, he’s off with his mare-err, his girl? Well, she’s technically a marefriend, except she’s a dragon like him.”

“Ah, I understand what you mean, Twilight. Well, actually,” Celestia takes a deep breath, and sighs, “there is something I have to talk to you about...”

Twilight’s expression sinks, “Oh no...is it about Spike?”

Celestia nods, “No, it’s about...us.”

“Us? What do you mean, us? Can you not talk to me anymore now that I’m not a student?!” Twilight begins to tear up.

“No, it’s nothing bad, don’t worry, my little pony.” Celestia nervously smiles and shushes Twilight.

“So, it’s a good thing...?” Twilight nervously asks.

“Well...I’m not sure,” Celestia appears more nervous by the moment, “I think...I think I’m, well, at least somewhat, in love with you, Twilight.”

Twilight sits wide eyed and stunned.

“Twilight? Twilight? Hello?” Celestia’s nervous happiness appears to be seeping out of her.

Twilight peers around the room, trying to avoid awkward eye contact, before it starts spinning. Soon the floor rises and fills her entire vision, ending in darkness.

2.

*****************************************************************

“Twilight?! Twilight, please wake up!” A familiar white alicorn cries, “Oh, Celestia, please wake up!” Her cries echo with gradually growing concern.

Twilight starts stirring, signalling growing optimism from Celestia, “Are you-Fluttershy, I think she’s waking up!”

“Huh? Wha-what happened?” Twilight groans she wakes up.

Celestia nearly tackle hugs her, smiling with the force of a thousand white hot burning suns, “You passed out! I was afraid, I didn’t know what to do, so I moved you to your bed, and I called for Fluttershy, since she knows more about this sort of stuff than I....”

“Oh, it was no problem, Princess, I’m always glad to help my friends. Although, my specialty is in animals, not ponies.” Fluttershy says with an unusually confident smile.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly sure....I didn’t know any of the hospital ponies, so...” Celestia says nervous.

“Oh, that’s okay, I did my best, and she’s better now.”

“Thank you so much, Fluttershy, and...Celestia...about earlier...” Twilight grows a frown on her face, “I think...I think I-”

Fluttershy, cutting off Twilight, says with a sudden burst of attentiveness, “Oh, yeah, I gotta go, I’m late for a date with Pinkie...err, I mean, I’m late for...oh, I gotta go!” with each phrase growing more and more nervous and discontent, before suddenly bolting out the door, surprising the Royal Guards standing guard outside.

“Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with Fluttershy, but...” Twilight looks confused for a moment before growing nervous once more, completely disregarding her friend’s sudden departure aside from the offhand comment, “I...I love you too, Princess...” she somehow manages a smile.

“Well, I don’t think you’ll have to be calling me Princess anymore, Twilight.” Celestia smiles glowingly, while chuckling.

Twilight, realizing Celestia is still holding her, but hugging even tighter, starts to hug back, “I’ve waited for this for so long!” before starting to tear up in joy.

“Me too, me too...” Celestia lets go of her grasp, and lets Twilight down.

Twilight gives Celestia an oddly nervous look, “What is it, Twilight?” Celestia asks.

“Well, I don’t exactly have much to do here....books aren’t a very social activity...” Twilight chuckles, “Although, I think I do have a board game...”

Seeing the lavender mare smile made Celestia smile all the same, “That sounds like fun.”

Twilight smiles, and takes out a simple board game. Two hours pass, as the two ponies talk and play, before Twilight starts yawning. Celestia notices this, and allows Twilight to rest if she so pleases. The excitement of the day tiring her, Twilight takes her lover’s suggestion, and falls asleep on Celestia’s body. Twilight dreams of days to come. She dreams of a simple first date, a grand anniversary party. Twilight sees visions of fun and love, visions of hope and merriness. Twilight starts to shift in the night, her euphoric dream shifting to that of pure terror. Visions of happiness and heart are changed to horror and death. Twilight sees pure chaos, a reckoning.

Surrounded on all sides by woodlands, Twilight looks through the veil of the forest. On one side, she sees Applejack crying next to fresh graves, and Rainbow Dash flying away. On another, she sees Pinkie, her filly, and an unknown, but very familiar stallion. In a third direction, Twilight glares at a sight uncertain. She sees Rarity behind bars, in a prison of her own free will, for an unknown error. Looking forward, she spies a river, and trots towards it. Upon reaching the bank, she sees what concerns her the most. She sees pain, a daring menace, disturbing fantasies, and familiar voices laughing all around.

3.

****************************************************************************

Twilight awakes the next morning in shock to an empty bed, growing scared before finding a note, “Dear My Darling Twilight,

I regrettably had to travel back to Canterlot on extremely short notice due to disorder running in the castle. I initially protested, saying Luna could take care of it, however, the Guards told me that it was Luna that was the problem. I wish to spend as much time as I can with you, but unfortunately I cannot abandon my Princess duties on such short notice. However, I plan on returning as soon as possible, and if that isn’t possible, I’ll arrange an escort for you to the Castle. Go about your day as normal, however, keep us hidden for now, I wish not to have rumors spread just yet.

Your marefriend, Celestia”

Twilight looks over the note, and smiles. “How can I keep this to myself?” She thought, confused on the great secret she now has.

Twilight puts a look of seriousness on her face, determined to not let anypony find out about this. That is, until, a rainbow colored blur bursts through her window, and crashes down into the library, sending the note from Celestia with her. “Holy shit! Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight screams, “Are you okay!?”

“Uhg, uh, yeah, I’m fine. Nothing can hurt me!” The proud pony exclaims, with an obvious hint of pain in her, “Perfectly, okay...” she manages before collapsing.

“Rainbow!” Twilight jumps down from her loft and lands next to Rainbow Dash.

“Huh? What’s this? A note...from Celestia...?!”

Twilight’s eyes shrink, “Give it here! It’s a secret!” before lunging at the injured pony, disregarding her pain.

Twilight lands on Rainbow Dash, who emits a loud scream until the magic pony steps off, “Luna! Twilight, be more careful!” Rainbow Dash screams, in obvious agony.

Twilight jumps at Rainbow’s screech, “I thought you said you were fine!” Twilight yells, distraught at her accident.

Rainbow Dash starts to tear up, realizing she’ll probably have to divulge her secret to Twilight, “I’m fine!”

Twilight’s expression turns from that of fear, to that of worry, “What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash, you never cry!” she lets out before moving to hug her injured friend.

Rainbow Dash blocks the hug, “It’s...I came to get a book...I don’t wanna talk about it right now...I...just wanna know if you have any books about romance...or, rather, how to fix it....”

“What do you mean? I have plenty of those, but they’re not something you can just read and suddenly know everything!” Twilight takes a more concerned tone, “You have to give it time! You have to talk about it, or it won’t go away! Now, what happened!” Twilight demands, compassionately, from her cyan colored friend.

Rainbow Dash barely holds back from openly crying on Twilight’s shoulder, “It’s with Jet Fire....I...I just don’t want to talk about it!” she manages before losing control, and openly weeping on Twilight’s shoulder, every few sobs, stopping to cringe with pain, before continuing the waterworks.

“Rainbow...”, Twilight says, descending her voice with every syllable, “I’m sorry...” before regaining her confidence, “But no one ever got through something like this without talking through it! You’re too strong to be like this, Dashie.”

Upon hearing her name called as ‘Dashie’, Rainbow starts crying a little more, “Don’t call me Dashie!” Rainbow Dash yells with a sudden moment of daft fury, “And, I already told you, I don’t want to talk about it!”

Twilight changes her careful expression to one of disbelief and disappointment , before telling Dashie, “Rainbow Dash! Get a hold of yourself!” Twilight slaps Rainbow Dash a few times, “You’re too strong for this!”

Rainbow Dash stops her tears for a moment, “Th-thank you, Twilight...”, before smiling, and letting go of the lavender colored unicorn, “It’s...well it’s with Jet Fire...I think he might break up with me soon!” with those last words, Rainbow Dash starts tearing up again.

“What makes you say that?” Twilight asks, while dabbing a tissue at Rainbow’s tears, “You two seem so perfect together!”

“Well, he’s been spending less and less time around me, and more and more around this mare named...Hairspray!” Dash grows visibly angry when uttering the name, “I mean, she doesn’t even have wings!”

“You really think the only reason you two are together is because you have wings?” Twilight sighs an exasperated sigh.

“No! We’re together because he loves me! Or, at least he did...I still do...” Rainbow Dash puts her frown back on and looks down to the ground.

Twilight fakes a smile, “Oh, Rainbow, maybe you two just weren’t meant to be together? Ever consider that?” Twilight says as she picks up Rainbow’s quivering head, and puts on a sincere smile.

“Well...but he’s perfect! He’s fast, not as fast as me, obviously,” Rainbow boasts, “He’s smart, he loves reading to some extent, he’s a blast!” Rainbow smiles at the happy memories those words brought back.

“Well, obviously, he isn’t! If he was, you two wouldn’t be like this!” Twilight says, trying to carve some sense into her weeping companion.

“I-I suppose...now that I think about it, he wasn’t really that good...” Rainbow says, adding slight sarcasm towards the end.

Helping her up, Twilight notices the cyan pony cringe in pain, and clutch her stomach falling over again. Twilight gasps, then realizes that Rainbow Dash is probably much more injured than she would let on. Having an extremely worried look on her face, Twilight lets out, “Rainbow Dash! Why didn’t you tell me you were so badly hurt!”

“Because I’m not.” Rainbow Dash states bruntly, stands up on her own will, and promptly passes out from the pain.

Twilight shrieks and calls an ambulance.

During the ride, Twilight grows more and more nervous as Rainbow Dash fades in and out of consciousness. Twilight almost gets to the point of tears as they approach the hospital, only being held back by a nurse pony. Once they arrive, Rainbow Dash is quickly escorted to the Urgent Care Ward, where she’ll be taken care of immediately. However, Twilight is stopped at the counter, “What do mean no visitors!? We’re practically family!” she shouts, “Please? I have to be sure my friend is alright!”

“No, no visitors in the Urgent Care Ward. Period.” the receptionist remarked.

“Perhaps I could get you in?” A familiar, regal sounding voice echoed.

“Pr-Princess Celestia!?” the receptionist pony spilled out, while bowing down.

“Yes, my friend, Rainbow Dash, was just admitted, am I correct?” Celestia asks, with a vague hint of worriedness, “Would you allow me, and my ma-err, my friend, Twilight, into there to see her when she’s stable?”

“Uh....yes Celestia, right away!” The receptionist pony darts out of the room, leaving Twilight and Celestia in an awkward silence.

“So...Twilight...how’s your day been so far...” Celestia says, nonchalantly.

“Well, aside from waking up, finding your note, comforting Rainbow Dash, and bringing her to the hospital?” Twilight says, with obviously played out fake confidence, “It’s been wonderful!” she says so smooth.

“Comforting Rainbow Dash? From her crash?” Celestia asks inquisitively, slightly curious.

“No, it’s her coltfriend, Jetset. He’s been spending less and less time with her lately...I think. Well, that’s what she told me...I’m not sure if it’s true, or it’s just Rainbow being...” Twilight trails off her sentence.

“What’s the matter?” Celestia inquires.

“I think I may of accidentally made it so that Rainbow Dash breaks up with Jetset...” Twilight says, color seeping from her face.

“What? Why would you do such a thing?” Celestia looks slightly offended.

“Well, I didn’t mean to, I was trying to comfort Rainbow Dash...” Twilight frowns, and starts to quiver at her sudden realization.

Celestia leans down, and puts a wing around Twilight, comforting her, “Well, from what I know of Rainbow Dash, and her coltfriend Jet Fire, I’d say they’d be better off apart anyway.”

“Well...I do hear that somepony has a crush on Rainbow Dash, actually.” Twilight giggles.

“Well, I wonder who that could possibly be?” Celestia chuckles back.

4.

********************************************************************************

“Alright, she’s stable, you two can come in and see her.” Nurse Redheart says, “And, Twilight, have you been taking your medication?”

Twilight’s expression drops, and she puts on a fake, nervous, smile, “Of course, Nurse Redheart, why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, you haven’t been refilling it? You’re supposed to refill it every 2 weeks, and you haven’t refilled it for 3 years!” Redheart says, seeing through Twilight’s weak guise.

Celestia shoots a look of disappointment towards Twilight, “You’re supposed to be taking medicine, and you haven’t taken it for 3 years?” she says with a mix of subtle anger and concern, “Nurse, what was the medication for, if I may ask?”

“It’s for anxiety.” the medical mare says with a look of subtle rage on her face, “I’ll let you two love birds sort it out later.” Both Twilight and Celestia grow visibly nervous with that end statement.

Celestia grows from nervous to angry, and stamps her hoof on the ground, “Excuse me?! That’s not the way you refer to a Princess!” She yells, as Twilight cowers behind her.

“Oh! Uh, erm, sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect, Princess Celestia!” Nurse Redheart almost cries as she bows down at the Royalty in the room, “I won’t do it again, I promise!”

Celestia goes from fury to a light hearted smile, “Okay! Just be sure not to accuse ponies of things that like out of the blue.”

Nurse Redheart appears confused, before saying, “Okay...but Rainbow Dash is stable now.” She tries to fake a smile, but is met with little success.

“Excellent, Twilight, shall we go see her now?”

“Yes, Princess, let’s.” Twilight says as the new couple trots into Rainbow Dash’s room.

Rainbow Dash appears discontent at being back in the hospital, “So, Twilight, what books did you bring this time?”

Twilight nervously grins, “Uh, what do you mean...” she says as she starts to step backwards, faking a smile before Celestia stops her.

“Twilight...” Rainbow says as she puts on a look of discontent.

Twilight sighs, and, using her magic, pulls out the latest book in the Daring Doo series, signed by by the author no less, and gives it to Rainbow Dash. Upon receiving the book, Rainbow changes from a semi-neutral expression to one of happiness. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! It’s signed!” Rainbow Dash smiles, and reaches out as though to hug Twilight.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Rainbow Dash...” Twilight says before she starts nervously walking backwards, before being stopped again by Celestia, who glared at Twilight. The lavender mare puts on a large, fake smile, and hugs Rainbow Dash back, “Really...nothing...”

“Twilight?! Nothing?! This is amazing! This series is 20 percent cooler than anything else!” Rainbow says she excitedly looks over her book, “I love Daring Doo! I even hear they’re making a movie out of this one too!”

‘Oh? I thought the last few bombed.”

“Yeah, but the author wants to do this, and she’s funding it out of pocket, so it’s gonna be made!” Rainbow Dash squeals.

Rainbow Dash, noticing Celestia standing quietly in the back, asks her, “Hey, Princess, you ever read this series?”

“Wha-” Celestia says, caught off guard, “Oh, uh, no. I don’t get a lot of time to myself, my princess duties and, err,” Celestia shows a bout of uncharacteristic nervousness.

“Relax, Princess, I know about you and Twilight.” Rainbow Dash states, offhandedly, catching both of the new couple completely off guard, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” She says before shooting them a sly gaze.

Twilight and Celestia both prepare to speak, but are intterupted by a loud bang on the door, “Hello? Dashie?! Hello?”

“Oh, Luna, it’s him!” Rainbow Dash says. “Stall him, please?!” she pleads as she closes the curtains.

“Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash!?” the cries grow more frantic, “Please open up, I need to know you’re okay!”

Twilight, noticing the curtains covering Rainbow Dash are completely closed, opens the door, letting the frantic pegasus fall in, “Rainbow...dash...?” Jetset says as he looks around, not seeing his beloved Dashie, “Where is she!?” He stands erect, vigilantly scanning the room to no avail.

“Rainbow...Rainbow Dash is currently sleeping, she’ll be up later! You have to go now!” Twilight says as she pushes Jetset out the door.

Through the curtains, Rainbow Dash says, “Wait, no, I just had to get ready!” Rainbow Dash throws open the curtains, takes one look of Jetset, and smiles, “Jetset!”

The stallion’s eyes light up, as he rushes over towards Rainbow Dash, but slowing enough to that when he hits her, it won’t hurt her, “I’m so glad you’re okay!” He says before he places a kiss on Rainbow’s lips.

“I think that’s our cue to leave, Twilight.” Celestia grins, as she nudges Twilight out the door.

Act 1, Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

1.

What a wonderful month! Celestia really is the best! But, Celestia’s telling me that she’s been hearing voices recently, or rather, she’s been hearing them for a long time, and for some reason, just told me. It’s weird, I’d think she’d tell me that something so horrible has been happening. I’ve tried to get her to go to the doctor’s, but she won’t listen! But, lately, I’ve been hearing them too...maybe it’s something magic? Whatever, or whoever, it is, I’m starting to get scared. I’ll go ask Zecora about it tomorrow.

Diary of Twilight Sparkle.

The Everfree forest is a strange, mysterious, and magical place. Or, at least it used to be, before it was torn down and replaced with a mall. Many have said that this mall was a bad idea, that it ruined the forest, it destroyed acres of wildlife. However, evidence is weighed towards the contrary. Life in Ponyville became much more pleasant, as it revitalised the economy. Rarity had a better place to sell and show off her dresses, and the Sweet Apple Orchard sold thousands more apples as ponies from across Equestria came to visit the new stores in Ponyville. It allowed Applejack to take a break from bucking apples and tend to her foal. It even allowed Zecora to prosper, even without her home.

“You sure Zecora works down here?” Twilight said, marvelling at the modernness of the the mall.

“Positive, sugarcube, she runs the potion shop. Most days Applebloom is either there, at the farm, or with her new coltfriend.” Applejack said, trotting with Twilight.

“Oooh! Ooh! Mom! Look!” A dark yellow filly pointed to a new toy in a window, “Can I get it? Please? Please?”

“Not now, Appleseed, I have to show Twilight here over to Zecora’s, maybe on the way back.” Applejack said to Appleseed.

“Oh, AJ, it’s okay. This isn’t that important, it can wait a few minutes.” Twilight said to Applejack, smiling.

“Oh, alright,” Applejack says, as she takes out a few coins and hands them to her daughter, “Y’all go get it, Appleseed.”

Appleseed’s eyes light up, shouting off a quick “Thank you mommy!” before darting off into the store.

“Hell, it’ll give you a an I a chance to talk.” Applejack states with a serious expression as she casually sits on a bench, nodding for Twilight to do the same.

“Talk about what, Applejack?” Twilight replies as she sits down on the bench per Applejack’s orders.

“We don’t got much time, so I’ll be quick. What was so urgent you had to see Zecora today? And then suddenly not important enough that Appleseed o’er there could go an buy her new toy?”

Twilight fakes a grin, “Well, I need some...ingredients for a spell I’m working on!”

“Ingredients? Yeah, sure. Yer lucky, here comes Appleseed.” Applejack says as she points over to Appleseed, diligently playing with her new toy airplane, “Let’s go. But this isn’t over.” Applejack shoots Twilight, now starting to sweat a little, a glare, and stands up, and walks over to Appleseed, “What ya got there, punkin?”

“It’s a toy plane! It’s so awesome!” Appleseed says as she nearly topples over playing with the plane, before being caught by Applejack.

“Whoa! Watch yerself there, punkin, don’t wanna break yer new toy.” Applejack says, as she smiles at her filly, “Anyways, we gotta be going, we just gotta show Twilight to Zecora, I gotta talk to her after, then we can go play with yer new toy at the park!” Applejack says with a smile.

Appleseed’s eyes light up even more as she heard her mother say they could play in the park, “Oh boy! C’mon Ms Sparkle, let’s go!” Appleseed almost yells as she drags Applejack in the direction of Zecora’s shop.

“C’mon, Twilight, it seems Appleseed here is excited!” Applejack laughs, “Wouldn’t wanna disappoint her!”

Twilight giggles, “Well, okay.”

The trio make it to Zecora’s ingredient shop, where Applebloom tends to the counter, “Twilight? Oh, hi, Twilight!” Applebloom says, “What brings you here!”

“We came here to talk to Zecora, is she in?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, she’s in, but, she’s busy at the moment.” Applebloom casually remarked.

“Well, what’s she busy with?” Twilight asked, perplexed.

“She’s in the back, helping ah customer.”

Twilight nearly jumps at the sound of a door slamming open behind her, “Goodbye, my client, you’ll find my wares are most reliant.” Zecora says, waving goodbye at a blue stallion, “Ah, Twilight Sparkle, you are before my eyes, with your visit, you bring me great surprise!”

“Hello, Zecora, how’s it going?” Twilight asks, happy to see her friend again.

“My profits have been wonderful, no short help from Applebloom!” Zecora says, forcing the rhyme.

“Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something...it’s kind of important...” Twilight says, trailing off her words.

“Of course you can talk to me, my words won’t sting you, like a bee.”

Applejack springs up, “Applebloom, could you watch Appleseed o’er here for a few moments, I gotta go grab somethin’ and I need her not to see it.”

“Sure, big sis, what ya grabbin’?”

“I need to grab her a birthday presunt, and she needs ta not see it.”

Applebloom stares at Appleseed’s toy plane, confused, “But didn’t you already buy her that there plane?”

“Well, I did, but I was gonna get her somethin’ else this year. She’s been eyeing a certain dress for weeks now. ‘An I’ve been waitin’ until now t’uh get it for her.” Applejack replies, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

“Oh, alright, fine.” Applebloom says, half pouting sarcastically.

“Hey, Appleseed!” Applejack says, rearing her mare’s attention, “I gotta go out for a few minutes, Applebloom here is gonna take care o’ you while I’m gone.”

Appleseed looks at Applebloom before looking at her mother, “Okay!” she yells, before going back to furiously playing with her airplane.

Applejack smiles at her daughter, “Okay, I’ll see you all later!” she says before trotting out the door.

“Well, now that Applejack is gone, Appleseed is busy, and Applebloom seems like she has a customer, maybe we could go in the back and talk now?” Twilight asks Zecora.

“Yes, let’s go back there, where we shall find answers, for a curious mare.”

Twilight puts on a nervous smile, and walks into the back with Zecora, “Thanks for taking me on such short notice, Zecora.”

“It’s no problem, my friend, I’m always glad to help when you’re in a dead end.” Twilight smiles as Zecora continues, “Now what is it that you require, for you shall not get any ire.”

“Well...I’ve been hearing these voices lately, and nothing I try can do anything about it. My...friend has also been hearing them, but she won’t do anything about it.”

“Oh, yes, I see, but many problems, this may be.” Zecora replies, with a look of concern on her face, “We must test, and be sure, because there may be, no cure.”

Twilight smiles, hoping for a cure, but then frowns at the reality of the situation, “You sure about that? This is really getting annoying...”

“I am not sure, but neither are you, now take this, and drink up my stew.” Zecora says as she takes out a vial from her cabinet, “It allows me to see your thoughts, which will let me your mind’s knots!”

Twilight takes the vial from Zecora and nervously sips it, before drinking it all by direction from Zecora. “Well? Anything?” Twilight says frantically.

Zecora’s expression blanks, her eyes glow much the way Twilight’s do during a surge of power. She slowly lifts off the ground, wind starts picking up in the room, blowing things across the room. The disturbance causes Applebloom to take notice. The room starts to shake, the wind goes even faster, picking things up and flinging them. Twilight tries to cast a spell, but is caught by an object that knocks her over, causing her to cast a spell into the wall, blowing a hole into it. The commotion causes Applebloom to leap into the room, only to have everyone be blinded by a flash of light as Zecora vanishes into thin air.

“I’m free! Finally free!” A howling voice echoes throughout the Mall.

Applebloom cowers, lost at what to do with her master gone, “Tw-Twilight? What happened?!”

“I’m...I’m not sure Applebloom...” Twilight says, confused at what just happened, “Where’s Applejack? We need to get you and Appleseed out of here!”

“Ma sis is out shoppin’ fer a dress fo” Applebloom says before stopping after looking at Appleseed starting to pay attention, “She’s out, I don’t know where she is!”

“Alright, I’ll take Appleseed back to the Orchards, you go find Applejack!” Twilight says while pointing towards Appleseed, then towards the exit, “Come on, Appleseed, I’m taking you home.” she says as she walks over towards a trembling Appleseed, “It’ll be okay, Appleseed.” she says while gently nuzzling the tiny mare.

“Ah just want my mommy, where is she?” Appleseed nearly cries, while hugging her plane tightly, “Are you gonna take me to ‘er Miss Twilight?”

“Yes, Appleseed, come on, hop on my back, it shouldn’t take long.”

2.

********************************************************************************

“Well, as soon as I got Appleseed to safety, I came here right away” Twilight says, “Well, after reading up on it a little...” she says, blushing and playing with her mane.

Twilight was in the throne room of Canterlot Tower, the home of Princess Celestia, often considered the most regal place in all Equestria. She rarely had reason to go to the place, to see Celestia. But, with all the things happening in the Everfree mall, and their new found relationship, Twilight had reason more than ever to show up.

“Hmm, I see. I’m glad you tried to solve the problem, but, I think it’s gone now.” Princess Celestia said, gently, “Usually they were constantly nagging in the back of my head, but now they’re gone. Just gone.”

“Oh, yeah, one thing I forgot to mention. After Zecora vanished, I heard the same voice echoing through the Mall, it said ‘I’m free! Finally free!’, and when that happened, the voices stopped.” Twilight says.

“Hmm, well, maybe that’s that?” Celestia asks, “Maybe it’s over? In all my years, I’ve never encountered something that odd that it affected both of us!”

“Heh, yeah...” Twilight says nervously, “And I was thinking, if you’re not busy, maybe we could hang out later?” she says with a smile.

“Well, I’m not busy now. Surprisingly, most of my duties now a days are just sitting here, waiting for people to come see me. Few people come, usually about five a week or so.” Celestia responds.

Twilight smiles in glee, “Yay! So, were we going?”

“Well, I thought we could hang out in my room, I don’t have much, but we could get a Royal Guard to find us something to bring.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Twilight replies.

Celestia and Twilight walk into Celestia’s royal chambers, where they’re greeted by an unpleasant sight. Zecora, lifelessly impaled through the neck on a stake on Celestia’s bed, dripping down blood onto the sheets below. The two ponies stare in shock, before Twilight starts trembling, unable to process what just happened.

Celestia notices this, and puts her wing out, blocking Twilight from viewing, “Twilight, look away...” Celestia says with a somber tone, “Wait a moment, what’s this?” Celestia says as she picks up a note covered in blood, and brings it over to her with her magic, “It’s a note.” Celestia reads over the note, Dear Princess, or Royal Guard, whomsoever finds this first. I just want to let you know that Celestia’s days are limited...her rule shall come to an end, and when it does, I shall take over! And there will be night eternal!, the note reads.

“Wha-what does it say?” Twilight asks, in full on shock.

“I think, I suspect Luna might be trying to rise to power again...but she’s changed! She wouldn’t do this!” Celestia looks down, “Would she?”

“I don’t know Princess, maybe?” Twilight asks, somewhat rhetorically.

“Guards!” Celestia calls, when two royal guard stallions burst through the door, at Celestia’s command, and stand there, aghast at the brutal sight.

“Princess Celestia, we heard you calling, but we didn’t think it would be this bad...” One of the guard ponies said.

“Yes, could you please clean this up? I think I know who did this and I will be taking appropriate action.” Princess Celestia said, almost about to cry. Twilight takes notice, and nuzzles Celestia, which puts a slight smile on her face, before it goes away, “I’m sorry, Twilight, but, you’ll have to go home for now...I’ll have you escorted back to Ponyville...” Celestia says, hanging her head in shame and sorrow.

“It’s...it’s okay Celestia, we can try again some other time.” Twilight says before frowning and walking out.

“Goodbye, Twilight...” Celestia says, before trailing off at Twilight’s name. Celestia points to one of the guard ponies, “You, make sure she gets home safely and swiftly.”

The guardpony snaps to attention, and raises a salute, “Yes, ma’am!” before rushing off to help see Twilight home.

“Miss Sparkle!” The guard pony yells out, “I have been tasked with seeing you home safely.”

“Thanks, but I don’t need help,” Twilight says, preparing a spell, “I’m just going to teleport myself home.”

“As you will, Miss Sparkle.” The guard pony says and bows down.

With that, Twilight finishes her spell, and with a bright light, and a loud bang, she’s gone. This catches the guard pony by surprise. He trots back to Princess Celestia, “Princess, Miss Twilight opted to teleport home, shall I travel there to ensure her safe transport?”

“Yes,” Celestia says, “Oh, and one other thing, I want you to stay there, and provide protection. Follow her orders, and treat her as though she were me. Understand?” Celestia adds, seriously.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The Guard Pegasus, Hammer, says with a bow, “I’ll be on my way, then.”

With a flash of blinding light, Twilight Sparkle appears in her library. A moment of pure peace overcomes Twilight, as the serene silence, and the pure simplicity of the library overwhelms the magical mare. Looking over her vast collection of books, Twilight is reminded back to the wonderful times she’s had with them. From the incident involving the love potion, to Rainbow Dash’s sudden love of reading, she can’t help but be taken by the nostalgia of it all. Of course, this only lasts until she is knocked out of it by a loud knock on the door, and a high pitched voice yelling, “Twilight?! Twilight?!? Are you home? I have big news! Well, old news, sort of, but still big news! I think!” the voice continued.

Hammer flies through Ponyville, attempting to navigate his way over the dark streets to Twilight’s library home. The voice outside of Twilight’s house continues, “Twilight! Open up! Or, unless you’re not home...I can come back later, or tomorrow!”

“It’s okay, Pinkie, I’m here, just give me a moment.” Twilight says with a chuckle, “I just need to do something real quick.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie’s voice screeches, dizzying Twilight.

Hammer spots Twilight’s home, and swoops down over to it, not noticing the mare and two fillies standing outside it.

Twilight unlocks the door, and, hearing the tumblers turn, smashes through the door, almost breaking it, and tackle hugging Twilight. Twilight smiles and laughs as she’s forced to the floor, looking towards Pinkie Pie before noticing the twins, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake.

Hammer, not noticing Twilight’s happy demeanor, charges. He flies through the door, and rams head first into Pinkie Pie, knocking her back, and into an empty bookcase, snapping the shelves on contact. Already injured, Hammer forces her to the ground, shattering several shelves, and a few bones, and pulls out his sword, and puts it on her muzzle, cutting it. Pinkie Pie’s expression goes from her extremely happy usual, to one of fear, pain, confusion, and sadness. Her eyes tear up, and her lips quiver, as though she were about to break down. “Miss Sparkle, I have detained the intruder!” Hammer shouts, falsely proud at his first act of protection.

“Get off her! She’s not an intruder, she’s my friend, Pinkie Pie!” Twilight yells, before pushing him off of her. Catching him by surprise, Hammer falls to the ground, running his sword across Pinkie’s face, cutting it all in the process.

“I-my-my most sincere apologies, Miss Sparkle, I was under order from the Princess to protect you, I thought she was attacking you....I...” Hammer says, standing up, and almost speechless at his misaction.

“What?! How could she be a threat!” Twilight says, pointing at the now crying Pinkie Pie on the ground, “She’s not a threat! She’s one of the nicest ponies I know!”

The Cake twins stand motionless and speechless, stunned at the events taking place, “P-pinkie?” Pound cake manages.

Pinkie Pie stops crying for a moment, and wipes the tears and some blood away from her face, “Y-yes...Pound Cake?”

Twilight grows furious, “You! You wait over there!” she says as she points over to a room that’s completely empty, save a chair and a flowerpot, “Come on, Pinkie, let’s get you to the hospital.” Twilight says, taking a much more concerned tone of voice.

Pinkie starts sniffling, “I-I don’t wanna go to the Hospital...can you make sure Pound and Pumpkin get home safely?” she says, standing up and stumbling over her words with well placed sniffs.

“I-okay, I will. The guard pony over there won’t go near them...” Twilight says, wiping a tear away from Pinkie’s face, “I promise.”

“Thank you...” Pinkie says, slowly trotting out. Twilight closes the door behind her.

“Pound and Pumpkin, why don’t you two go play upstairs while I take care of something.” Twilight says, with the same look of concern on her face as though they were Pinkie Pie.

“B-but what about Pinkie?” Pumpkin cakes says, with a grim tone.

“She’ll be fine, I promise. I bet she’s on her way to the store to buy supplies so she can make you guys some cupcakes!” Twilight says, taking a smile of fake joy.

“That sounds fun...” Pound cake says.

“Alright, now go up there and play. I’ll see you two home in a few minutes.” Twilight says, opening the door to her stairs with magic, while walking over towards the room with the shamed guard pony.

Pound Cake flies up to the room, while Pumpkin Cake walks up there. When they arrive at the top, they’re greeted by a room with toys of all kinds, as though Twilight knew they would come to play up here. Pound Cake realizes he did see Twilight cast some sort of low key spell, and Pumpkin Cake felt the magic, so neither of them mention anything. Pound goes to take out a toy, before hearing, and feeling, a loud bang as a door was slammed shut, followed by intense yelling. Both fillies stood silently, motionless as they listened to the variations of “How could you do this?!”, “She was my friend!”, “Who would be after me!?” and, “I can’t believe you ever passed guard school!”. Standing there for a few minutes, they hear another loud slam, followed by the distinct sound of two ponies trotting, followed by two more slams, and finally a pegasus taking off, followed by about a minute of silence, and a “Twins? Come down now, I’ll take you home!”

The two filly twins go down the stairs, and see a perfectly happy Twilight, who said, “Come on, it’s time you two get home!” Twilight notices the grim look on their faces, “Oh, don’t worry, Pinkie will be fine! I promise!”, she says with a smile. Twilight leads the twins out the door, and down the dimly lit streets. In the distance, Hammer could be seen flying away.

3.

********************************************************************************

Pinkie Pie walks alone in the frigid dark, solemnly trotting towards her destination. Sobbing occasionally, she trots along, not bothering to push the deflated mane of hers out of her face, and every few steps, shivering and cringing in pain. Approaching her destination, she smiles, knowing solace is only a few paces away. Cantering up to the building, she looks up, and slowly opens the door. Walking into the dimly lit home, she almost bumps into a counter, but sways at the last moment. Trudging up the stairs, cringing between every step, she finally gets to the top, and looks around. Noticing the darkness of the hallway, she smiles, knowing her filly was sound asleep, so she moseys on down to her bedroom, and plops down onto her bed. Crying out in pain, she cringes, starting to tear up from the pain. Pinkie lifts her head at the sound of something stirring from the other room, before noticing the door open up, and a yellow pegasus flaps in. Seeing the pink mare in such a horrible condition, Fluttershy immediately rushes over there to find out what happened to her.

“Pinkie! Oh my...what happened?” Fluttershy asks, aghast at her terrible state.

“Well....it was...you see...” Pinkie says, wincing between words, “A...guard pony...”

Fluttershy stops Pinkie Pie, “There, there, take your time...”, she says, allowing Pinkie Pie to tell her the whole story of what happened in Twilight’s library.

“Oh...oh my...do you think the Princess will do anything?” Fluttershy asks, a tone of sympathy in her voice.

“I...I hope so...” Pinkie says, her unusually depressed demeanor continuing, “I’ll be fine in the morning.” Pinkie says, with an obviously fake smile.

Spotting the falsehood of the smile, Fluttershy says, “Oh, well, Pinkie, that’s not exactly something you just brush off in one night.”

“Don’t you worry, Flutters,” Pinkie says, reassuring a hopeless pony, “I’ll be fine, I promise...but...” she continues, trailing off at the end.

“But?”

“Could you stay in here tonight? I’m sure Surprise can sleep by herself...” Pinkie says with a giggle.

“Sure, Pinkie.” Flutters says, grabbing a blanket, “Mind if I lay down?” she asks.

Pinkie smiles, then scoots over, groaning with pain at every movement, tearing up towards the end, “Sure.” Fluttershy stands speechless.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy says, stepping into bed. As soon as Fluttershy lays down, and starts to get comfortable, Pinkie grabs Fluttershy, and pulls her close. Pinkie plants a kiss on Fluttershy’s lips, catching her by surprise.

“Flutters, did I ever tell you how amazing you are?” Pinkie rhetorically asks.

“Only all the time,” Fluttershy playfully boasts, “But you’re pretty amazing too.”

Pinkie Pie laughs gently, “Well, you are! You could be at home, sleeping, but you’re here with me!” she says, yawning.

“Oh, you seem tired. Maybe you should sleep soon?” Fluttershy asks, with a more concerned tone.

“Well....maybe...” she says with a quick giggle, “But, I wanna tell you something first....” Pinkie trails off, nervous.

“What’s that?” Fluttershy asks.

“Well...I love you...” Pinkie says before finally falling asleep with a smile on her face.

“Oh...Pinkie....I....” Fluttershy says, nervously, before realizing Pinkie fell asleep. Fluttershy smiles, then joins Pinkie Pie in the land of the slumbering.

4.

********************************************************************************

Twilight awakens from her sleep, satisfied that she safely sought the Cake twins home, and reprimanded the foolish guardpony, Hammer. Noticing the time, she swiftly leaps out of bed, and trots down to the main part of her library. Noticing a distinct lack of customers today, she looks outside, hoping to find the cause. It appears she finds it, or, at least two reasons. One, she though, could be that there was at least 2 feet of snow on the ground, and piling quickly. Dear Celestia, that’s a lot of snow... she thinks, before realizing the second reason, an all to familiar guardpony standing out front. Twilight takes a deep breath, looks down for a moment, then upon looking up, she decides to give Hammer a second chance. Opening the door, the trained pegasus stands unmoving. Twilight sees him, and recognizes that his distinct position is that of a pony trying his best not to shiver. “Oh, my, it’s cold out here...”, Twilight says, walking over, in attempt to start up casual conversation.

“Aye.” Hammer says without moving an inch.

“Well, would you like to come inside?” she asks, nonchalantly.

“By orders, I am only to enter in the case of emergency or unrest.” he says, the same unwavering pattern continuing.

“Oh...okay...do you need me to bring you anything?” Twilight asks, with a concerned look on her face.

“I am set, but, thank you, Miss Sparkle.”

Discontent with her non victory, she moseys back inside. Looking over her books, she glances upon a note. “Not another note.” she says to herself, as she trots over and picks it up. Not reading the note, Twilight thinks to herself, Oh, this is gonna be horrible, I know it! Opening the note, Twilight reads it aloud to herself,

“Dear Twilight,

By now you should’ve realized that I’ve been spending less and less time around the library. I’ve decided to move in with Krevice, my marefriend, permanently. I’ve already got all my stuff, I’ll be back next week to say my final good byes. Thanks for everything.

Love,

Spike.”

Tearing up at the end of the paper, she loses concentration, and drops the note. Twilight sits down on the ground, and silently weeps to herself.

Act 1: Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

1

With Spike moved out, I’ve found the library oddly easier to run as a business, my profits have improved greatly. I’ve hired some mail pony to take his place, she bumped into a lot of things at first, but she’s getting better. At least she means well. But, even then, I still miss him a lot. Celestia helped me through that. It’s definite. I love her now. Why am I writing this? I should be saying this out loud! But, Celestia said that we can’t officially come out as a couple just yet, she still has a few things to worry about. I can’t believe I’ve all but stopped worrying! Maybe Celestia is affecting me, in a good way of course. But, she said that on Hearts and Hooves Day we would officially announce it. Well, stop hiding it at least. It’s not worth an entire press conference to tell them that we’re dating.

Diary of Twilight Sparkle.

“It’s finally Hearts and Hooves Day!” Twilight says while rolling around on Celestia’s bed, marvelling at the horizon a few minutes after sunrise, “This is the first one I’ve ever had with a special somepony!”

“Me neither, actually” Celestia giggles, “Usually my Princess duties took up most of my time, but with Luna back, I’ve had more time to spend with you.” The noble pony says, before planting a quick peck on Twilight’s cheek.

Twilight stops rolling, blushes, and giggles a little, “Guess I’m still not used to this. We should spend more time together, if you can...” Twilight trails off her sentence.

“Well, I’ve been trying to spend more time with you, but that whole thing with Zecora kinda made things a little difficult...” Celestia says, also trailing off, “But, now that that is all taken care of, we have plenty of time to ourselves!” Celestia says with a giggle.

A second later, Twilight catches on and starts giggling too, “So, where are we going?” Twilight lovingly asked as she rolled around on Celestia’s bed, “Foul-Zoli’s? Pony Hut? Burger Mare?”

“Well, I was thinking a simple picnic in the park in Ponyville...sound good to you, too?” Celestia smiles.

“That sounds...” Celestia starts to frown at Twilight’s statement, “Wonderful, Cel! I’ll go get ready, I’ll meet you later tonight!” Twilight jumps up and plants a peck on Celestia’s lips, before darting off to go meet Rarity at her shop for a new dress.

2********************************************************************************

Twilight trots through the glorious city of Canterlot, home of the two Princesses, and, although less notably, Rarity and her husband. Twilight stands, awe at the wondrous craftsmanship and complexities of architecture of famous unicorn city. Twilight, deciding to grab a snack before she goes over, knowing she can’t eat in the dress until the picnic, canters into a small bakery, intent on grabbing a delicious cupcake. The lavender pony smiles, as she realizes this is Pony’s Delight, a famed bakery highly recommended by both Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Twilight starts walking in there, before trailing off in thought, If Pinkie Pie doesn’t usually come here, how can she recommend it? she thinks to herself, Well, I suppose it-

“Welcome to Pony’s Delight, how may I help you?” a gray coated earthpony says, with a slightly depressed, less than enthusiastic expression.

Caught off guard, Twilight replies, “Oh, uh, I’ll have one dozen chocolate cupcakes...wait a moment...Octavia?!” she says, suddenly realizing the pony’s true identity.

“Err, yes, I’ve kinda fallen on hard time lately...” Octavia says, nervously.

“Well, couldn’t you go to Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asks, quizzically.

“Well, err, we’re not exactly on good terms right now...” she says, nervously grinning.

“Hey! Come on, let’s get a move on!” a pony in the back of the line says.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, but I can’t stay and talk. Maybe we could talk after I get out? It’s lonely here.” Octavia says, grimly.

“Well, I’m busy today, but how about tomorrow?” Twilight says, fostering a smile to try and help out poor Octy.

“Sure.”

Twilight takes her cupcakes, and starts walking to the door, starting to zone out a little. Damn, Octavia really hit rock bottom. Working in a bakery? She’s the finest classical musician I know! Twilight thinks to herself, before bumping into a rather handsome, at least to Twilight, stallion, knocking cupcakes all over him, “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Twilight says to the fallen pegasus.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. It was my fault, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” the grey coated colt says.

“Oh, okay,” Twilight says, graciously accepting the change in blame, “Well, let me help clean you off.” she says, before activating a spell, wiping the pony clean, and frazzling bits of her mane.

“Why, thank you. You seem to be good at magic, you look very familiar...” The smooth talking stranger with a brown mane adds.

“Well, yeah, I think. I’m...Twilight.” Twilight says with a blush.

“I’m Alpha. I know, weird name. But, hell, I’m great with electronics.” Alpha says, showing off his cutie mark, a Victorian styled ‘One’.

“Oh, that’s not that odd...” Twilight says, nervously.

“Well, I dunno. I kinda like it, it makes people think I’m in charge!” Alpha says, preparing to boast.

Cutting him off, Twilight says, “Oh, well, I was actually on my way somewhere...”

Alpha grins, “Well, maybe I could join you? I seem to have lost my friend, and he usually turns up randomly, and I don’t really know anypony else here...” he says, signing at the end.

“What? You lost him? Well, maybe I could help you find him. I have a little bit of time...” she says with a nervous smile.

“Hmm, alright,” Alpha says, “Let’s go, then.” he says, while turning, and winking at Twilight, confidently.

Twilight blushes, before heading out, following the gray pegasus, “So, Twilight, what do you do for fun?” Alpha casually asks.

“Oh, you know, book stuff. I enjoy reading, a lot.” Twilight says with a slight giggle, “More than your average pony.”

“Oh? I’m keen for your average comedy or adventure novel from time to time,” Alpha boasts, “But, I also occasionally prefer a romance novel...”

“You don’t look much like the reading type.” Twilight says, nervously.

“Well, I mostly spend my time fixing electronics, where you from?” Alpha stops, and inquires.

“I’m from Ponyville, originally Canter-” Twilight says, before being cut off by Alpha.

“That would explain it! I fix electronics for a living, and Ponyville isn’t exactly your biggest market for that sorta stuff.” Alpha says, while making alarmingly nonchalant gestures with his hooves, “I mainly fix stuff up in Manehattan, although I do quite enjoy travelling to Canterborough, I think I might move there some day.”

“Canterborough? Where is that?” Twilight asks, confused.

“It’s technically not in Equestria, but most ponies there, well, the people who are ponies, generally pledge their allegiance to the Princesses.” Alpha continues, starting to move again.

“I thought Equestria covered the entire land?”

“Not really, you see, there’s entire continents out there unexplored, a few with cities in them more luxurious than even Canterlot!”

“So, why move to Canterborough but not there?” The purple pony asks.

“Because it’s right on the edge. Plus, I grew up there.” Alpha casually remarks, “Woah, did you know you’re kinda cute when you’re inquiring stuff?” he says, catching Twilight off guard.

“Oh, uh, yeah, uh, I mean, thank you?” Twilight says, before recoiling from some faint unknown force, Do it! a voice says, It won’t hurt, she won’t know. Your last day of freedom... the voice trails off. Twilight’s mane starts to frazzle some more.

“Woah! Are you okay? Usually most ponies don’t recoil like that when complimented.” Alpha asks.

“Oh...” Twilight says, getting surprisingly caught off guard, “Sorry, I just...nevermind...”

Alpha looks at Twilight confused, almost disbelieving, but continues, “I don’t think I’ve seen my friend,” he says, confident this cute little mare is his for the taking, “Maybe we should head back to my place and wait there?”

Twilight replies, “Okay...let’s go...” she says, unsure at the stallion’s intentions.

Together, the duo starts trotting over to Alpha’s hotel room, all the while Twilight is being pounded by voices from a mysterious figure, It won’t hurt. it says, You’ll never know the pleasure otherwise, the voice continues, Come on! Do it!

Upon arriving at Alpha’s hotel room, Twilight is slightly shocked to see it filled with gadgets and gizmos and circuit boards. Flying over, and pulling a curtain that shrouds most of the electronics, Alpha comments on it, “Sorry, but we’re not allowed to show you that kind of stuff.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright...” Twilight returns, trailing off, “But, maybe I should get going...” Twilight says, suddenly breaking into sweat, “I’ve got a big day ahead of me!”

“You sure you have to go? You can’t even stay for a drink?” Alpha asks, confused as his attempted consort’s sudden decision to head out, “I won’t pressure you, but I’d like to repay you for those cupcakes somehow.”

“What? Oh, yeah,” Twilight lets out, all the while voices pounding in her head, do it, they said, It won’t hurt! Just one time..., she hears before letting out a heart wrenching scream, and dropping to the ground, sobbing.

Alpha swallows, and looks at the throbbing mare, screaming in agony on the floor, “Twilight? What’s wrong, Twilight!?” He asks, unaware of what’s going on, or what to do.

Twilight closes her eyes, and opens them to an empty room. Empty except for the single being, a pony, who Twilight is intimately familiar with, but has never seen before. Staring in disbelief, she asks the unusual being, “What’s going on?”

The being steps into the light, and Twilight is shocked to see her face, an exact duplicate of herself, “You’re dreaming. I would say this is your subconscious,” the being laughs, “but, quite frankly, it’s not.”

Twilight covers her head, in attempt to escape the celestial being, “You’re not real!”, she screams as she closes her eyes, and opens them to Alpha staring into them, wondering what happened.

“Twilight? You okay?” Alpha asks, as he helps Twilight to her feet, before noticing her disheveled state.

“Uh, yeah...” Twilight says, confused herself as to what just happened, “I have to go. I’m sorry.”

3

********************************************************************************

Twilight trots down the street, attempting to navigate to Rarity’s shop, hoping to catch the white unicorn for a dress. Still distraught at what happened, Twilight thinks to herself, Well, maybe I can go see about what happened later. I’ll ask...no... Twilight stops for a moment, realizing what had happened, Still, I’ll talk to...no I can’t talk to Celestia about it. Maybe I’ll...I have to come clean about what happened with Alpha back there first...I’ll get ready, and then tell her later. Twilight, content with knowing her plan will undoubtedly work, trots off, with a new smile upon her face, suddenly, and oddly, forgetting her previous sin, but not the strange voices causing it.

Rarity slowly and carefully snips away at a new design of hers, one she’s sure is going to win major awards all over Equestria. That is, until Twilight almost breaks down the door in excitement, and causes Rarity to rip fully down the length of her new dress, “What could you possibly want that would be so damn important that you had to interrupt me in the middle of my most important design of the year!” Rarity seems furious, before turning out and seeing Twilight, “Twilight! What happened!?”

“Oh...I’m fine...I just needed some help...” Twilight puts her head down towards the ground in shame, lowering her ears, and losing her smile, “But, it’s kinda important...”

“Oh? Why is it so important?!” Rarity’s concern extends to question.

“Well...you see...”, Twilight starts digging at the ground a little, “I’m going on a date...”

“A date!?” Rarity loses all hints of concern and instead, changes to glee, “Oh, darling, you simply must tell me, who?!”

“Oh, you know. A lovely pony....” Twilight grins.

“Twilight, are you seeing that mare again?” Rarity asks, “Oh, what was her name, it’s been so long it seems.”

Twilight puts her hoof up to say something, then lowers it, “I suppose...it’s only been....six months or so...”

“Oh, then you must tell me who!” Rarity pushes out of Twilight.

“With...Princess Celestia....” Twilight smiles a nervous grin.

“Princess Celestia?!” Rarity nearly faints at the name, “Fancy, darling, can you come here? I have a very special order and I can’t do it all by myself!”

Fancypants, Rarity’s husband, walks down the stairs at such an odd request before seeing Twilight Sparkle sitting awkwardly, as usual, at the doorway, “I must say, it’s good seeing you again, Twilight, may I inquire to the occasion?”

“Honey, she’s going on a date with the very Princess Celestia herself!” Rarity squeals, and Twilight blushes, “And she needs our help to prepare and make her a dress!”

“My, Princess Celestia? How did a pony such as yourself manage a date with Royalty?” Fancypants says, surprised at the development, “I mean, I could understand if you were royalty, but, you’re not. Are you?”

“Well, no. I’m not really expecting to be made royalty either.” Twilight casually replies, “You know, maybe just a few casual dates, nothing serious.” She grins, and tries to imply a false sense of non intimacy.

“Oh, dear heavens, you still need to look your best!” Rarity beams, “Even if it just casual, a meeting with the Princess needs you to be your very best!”

“Oh, I don’t know...” Twilight says, trailing off and losing focus, “By the way....Rarity...I need to talk to you...”

“Oh? About what, darling?” Rarity asks, utterly confused at Twilight’s sudden inquiry.

“It’s...it’s a private thing. I need to talk to you alone, not Fancypants....” Twilight responds, visibly nervous.

“Oh. Okay, Fancy, could you please give us some privacy?” Rarity asks, starting to trot into the kitchen, and prepares a cup of tea.

“Certainly, I’ll be upstairs when you two are ready.”

“Rarity...” Twilight inquires, “Is that tea?”, the wrecked mare asks.

“If that’s what you’re asking, then yes. Would you like a cup?”

“Well...it wasn’t what my initial question was, well, it wasn’t really a question,” Twilight asks, putting a hoof to her chin and thinking hard, “But...I...” Twilight attempts.

“Yes?” Rarity asks, completely unsure of what Twilight is going to say.

“I...I...” Twilight continues, tearing up, “I cheated on Princess Celestia!” She manages before breaking down completely.

“You-you what?” Rarity says, in complete shock, dropping her tea, “How could you...what happened?”

Twilight stops crying for a moment, and explains to Rarity her awful sin, taking breaks to weep in between lines. Near the end, Rarity almost burst into laughter, “Twilight! That’s not cheating!” She says, barely able to contain herself.

“It’s...it’s not? Should I still tell Celestia?” Twilight asks, wiping back her tears from before.

“No! Of course not. You simply went to a friend’s house, well, if you can call him your friend. From what he told me, he doesn’t even sound like a good friend,” Rarity continues, “Maybe you’ll just keep this one quiet. Anything else you need to,” Rarity chuckles, “Confess?”

“No...Rarity...now I just need help preparing...” Twilight says, blushing.

“Well, let’s get ready now, then!”

It takes a few hours, but Rarity finally manages to make Twilight look nice. Not formal, but not casual. A perfect balance of class and style to make Twilight appears exceedingly beautiful, yet relaxed and casual. Rarity was sure she’s going to wow the Princess, yet still seem like she didn’t even try. Twilight, however, neglected to tell Rarity that this was more than a simple first date on Hearts and Hooves Day. This was their six month anniversary, and Twilight was more excited than Rarity could ever tell. The simple picnic Celestia had planned in the Ponyville Park had gone much better than she expected, and they ended up spending the rest of the day wandering around Ponyville, sampling the various shops and wares of the area, and having a furiously good time.

By the time it was dark, the two lovers ended up in Twilight’s library, having an amazing time by candlelight, and even making dinner together, something neither of them planned, and enjoying an evening of fun and play. Celestia had surprised Twilight with a gift, as well. A book, an autographed copy of Starswirled the Bearded’s Biography, straight from her personal collection. She, of course, had many of these, but she elected to not tell that to Twilight, instead pointing out that this particular copy had been personally annotated by Starswirled, pointing out discrepancies and falsehoods put in to make it a better read.

“If this was marked up because not all of it is true, why did he even let it be published?” Twilight asked, confused at the errors in the ‘official’ biography.

“Because Starwirled gave up on that and decided to write an autobiography. That doesn’t mean he was stupid, though. He approved this biography to make some money at the time.” Celestia chuckles casually, “Unicorns back like him back then didn’t exact make much money, and he kinda needed it.”

Twilight smiles, and nuzzles her former instructor. Conversations like these, with a casual tone, and gentle demeanor, ran throughout the night. Twilight ran Celestia through her books, her ‘secret’ laboratory underground. Towards the end of the night, however, they found themselves struggling with finding more things to do. Twilight’s library wasn’t full of things for couples to do. Twilight briefly thought about doing the ultimate couple’s activity, but decided against it, fearful that it might ruin the night if Celestia didn’t want to.

“Twilight...” Celestia nervously said, breaking the comfortable silence she and Twilight were sharing, “It’s getting rather late...”

Twilight stops cuddling a little, and looks over towards Celestia, “Do you have to back to Canterlot?” she asked, with a look of sadness on her face, “I don’t think I ever want this night to end!” she finishes with a sad smile on her face.

“No, it’s not that. Luna’s agreed to take care of my morning duties tomorrow...I just just thinking...” Celestia looks down, up, around, everywhere except into the nervous eyes of her lover. The candlelit library emanated a distinct silence, not an awkward silence, but a comforting silence. Blowing out the candles, exposing the room to the abundance of moonlight, Celestia added, “Maybe tonight...we could have fun in a more....adult way?”

Twilight giggles seductively, “I’d love to.”

************************************************************************************

The next few months had gone by more quickly than ever. They were also the best time of Twilight’s life. Her and Celestia grow closer than ever, it seems as though they will never split. Twilight became welcomed by the royalty of Canterlot as one of their own, both out of their own free will, and out of the fear of retribution otherwise. Twilight’s friends all accepted and approved of Celestia and Twilight, except for Fluttershy, who oddly seems to get very nervous whenever Celestia is around Twilight.

Wandering through the forest, the mare in question found herself at a uniform peace. Having already done her nightly duties, she decided upon a walk in the foreset. Quietly trotting through the forest, she found herself upon a river. Glancing down into the river filled the beautiful mare with a sense of chaos and agony. Turning around to a familiar form, she muttered, “Oh, it’s you again.”

“Yes, it is I.” It replied, in a manner both loving and sinister.

“I hadn’t expected to see you again so soon.” she replied stalwartly.

“What? No sympathy for your old lover?” He laughed back, growing a smile which made her nervous.

“You know that never happened. It was a fling, it didn’t even last two days.” The mare sighed in response to the teasing.

“Oh come now, with that new found relationship of yours, you’re begging to have me back!” He teased.

“No, I’m not. I love the mare I’m with, and that isn’t going to change.” She said, nervously. Eyeing a sharp object in the river for a moment, she stares him deep in the eyes. He responds by growing nervous and taking a step back.

Growing a mischievous smile, he walks over to the river. “You know you’ll outlive her. Her metabolism is simply too fast to last as long as you.” He says, staring into the river.

Turning towards the river, she lifts a hoof, saying, “I know.”, softly.

Picking up the object, he tosses it towards her. Her nervous face turns to something more decidedly depressed. Catching the knife midflight, she eyes it, before looking back up to him.

“You could save yourself the pain and do it now, she won’t mind.” His smile turns devilish, “She’s probably at one of those parties you hate, face to face with some stallion.”

Adding a look of concern to her face, she briefly ponders her options. Glancing back and forth between the dagger and her mysterious friend, “But she’ll miss me.”

“A bottle of booze will fix that.”

“I can’t. I can’t, I have too many friends to take care of...” She startings openly tearing up.

“They won’t miss you. They’ve always stepped on you, and hurt you.” He walks around her, silently seducing her to his devilish ways.

As he steps outside her vision, she grows into a furious rage, she takes the dagger, closes her eyes, and swings behind her. Satisfied with the impact, she opens her eyes to see Twilight Sparkle’s body on the ground, her neck split open. Dropping the clean dagger, she starts tearing up again, and picks up her body, before dropping her head to it, and openly weeping. Gently lowering the corpse, she eyes the dagger. Taking the dagger, she wobbly lifts it in the air. “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.”

************************************************************************************

Twilight lies in bed, shifting about as though a bad nightmare had befallen her. Jolting awake, she yells out, “Celestia!” before realizing it wasn’t real. Looking around her library, she found her friends sitting there, along with Appleseed and Surprise.

“Ah, hi sugarcube. We came to help you feel better.” Applejack said carefully.

“Feel better about what? I was planning on going to lunch with Cel today, but if that was cancelled, it wouldn’t make me all that upset.” Twilight replied, utterly confused.

“Oh...you...you didn’t hear? It was on the news everywhere...” Fluttershy timidly said.

Pinkie Pie was oddly quiet, and Surprise clinged to her leg, “Celestia...?” Applejack asked, “You know she died, right?” Rarity winced.

Twilight smiles, and laughs a little. “Oh, come on, guys. She’s an immortal god-princess! There’s no way she could die, so this isn’t a very good joke.”

Pinkie looks up, and says in a completely serious manner, “This isn’t a joke, Twilight.”

Twilight’s expression goes from comical, to a look of utter despair, “How’d she die?”

Rainbow Dash spoke up, “She killed herself in the Canterlot Forest.”

Unable to cope with the loss of her lover, Twilight snaps. Smiling insanely, she begins, “Oh, what a funny joke, gals, but, oh, look at the time! I gotta get ready for lunch!” as she starts to push her friends out the door. That is, until she’s stopped by Princess Luna’s imposing figure. “Oh, Princess Luna! I was gonna tell her myself, but I suppose you can relay it to her. I’d like to have lunch with Celestia-” She mutters before being silenced by the woeful hoof of the Princess of the Moon.

“She’s obviously not taking this well.” Luna says to Applejack, who appears to be handling this situation the best.

“No, she won’t believe a word ‘o it.”

“Twilight, Celestia is dead. I’ve come to offer my condolences and help you grieve. I understand perfectly what you’re going through right now.” She says to Twilight.

Twilight, now looking of utter sorrow, breaks down into Luna’s chest. Luna appears shocked, but puts her hooves around her, to help her feel better, if even a little. “Come on, let’s go back in, get out of the sunlight.” Luna says as she leads the crying pony and her friends inside.

After being led inside, Twilight sat down at a table. On it were the most delicious, mouthwateringly fragrant sweets Twilight had ever seen, whipped up by none other than Pinkie Pie and Applejack to help comfort her. It was no use, however. Twilight refused to eat. She refused to drink, she even refused to read. All she could do was cry.

Sitting in another room, Rainbow Dash abruptly asked, “If they were only together for a few months, why is she so sad?”, not realizing how insensitive she sounded.

Applejack shot Rainbow Dash a look of death, “Because she didn’t just date her for a few months. Celestia was her second mother for a while, her mentor and her teacher. She loved her like nothing else.”

At this point Rarity piped in, “She did mention to me at one point how a divinity spell had revealed that they were in fact soul mates, destined to be together forever.”

“But I thought Celestia was immortal, and Twilight wasn’t. How could they be together forever?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, there are spells that can greatly increase a pony’s lifespan, usually only by a couple minutes. But, with the power of a Princess, they could probably expand it to eternally.”

Rainbow Dash looked over to Applejack, who just shrugged. “Whatever, I just don’t like seeing Twilight like this. She seemed so happy when she was with Celestia.”, she said before looking down.

“Indeed, I haven’t a clue why Celestia would just take her own life like that. Having forever to live seems like a pretty good deal to me.” Rarity responds.

“Well, maybe she jus’ didn’t want to have to deal with losing Twilight?” Applejack pondered.

“Yes, maybe that, but you have to think, AJ, she also wouldn’t want Twilight to suffer like this. I think she’d be generous enough to let her do the suffering so Twilight wouldn’t have to.”

“Yeah, but, like you said, couldn’t she just make Twilight immortal?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

Noticing the sudden darkness outside, and the sleeping filly between her hooves, Applejack stood up, “Well, Ah think it’s best if Ah be heading home,” Applejack gently placed her filly on her back and started towards the door, “My little pony here needs some sleep. Ah’ll be back if y’all need me.”

Applejack stepped towards the door before having it slammed open in front of her loudly, waking her filly, and surprising everyone. Pinkie bolted through the door, a look of grave concern on her face, “She’s gone!”