I stood in the middle of a giant room, with four testers watching me from the far side. In front of me, in a cart full of hay, stood a lone dragon egg. A supposedly magically resistant object, one supposedly immune to all magic. My task was to hatch the egg. No easy feat, but one I knew to be possible. After all, Starswirl the Bearded had done it over two thousand years ago. I just didn’t know if I could do it.
I had already examined it, probing at it from every angle, and it had only served to reinforce what I already knew; in the magical plane, it was a hole. I could send my magic near it, but I couldn’t touch it, as there was nothing to touch. I had tried simply breaking it open, after all they never said I had to let the dragon live, but my magic simply bounced off it. I was ready to give up. I had hung my head in shame, apologized for wasting their time and was about to leave when it happened. The first Sonic Rainboom in over four centuries. A feat that had passed into legend. I felt the magical blast rush over me, unlocking something inside me.
I felt my mind leave my body. The feeling was indescribable. Like everything beneath me were puppets, and I was the marionette. With a grin I reached over a twitched the strings holding holding up the egg. I knew they existed somewhere, but I hadn’t known what to look for. Now that I saw them, I knew. But when I twitched the strings, I didn’t just hatch the dragon, I changed him, I could see it before he was out of his shell. I panicked, trying to untangle the strings, return him to normal. In the process I only managed to tangle more strings. The dragon, now young boy, grew, alarmingly large, first two, then five, then almost ten meters tall .
I grabbed all the strings and was about to pull them all apart, reset everything when Celestia teleported in. She took one look at me, then I felt her next to me, tugging at the strings. I let go, and let her work them. Slowly, expertly, she fixed all but two. My string, and the dragons had become so intertwined that she couldn’t separate them. When I would finally ask her about it later she said she could have pulled us apart, but not without killing us both. She then looked at me and smiled. I let go of the strings and felt the power leave me.
When I next opened my eyes I was back in my own body, Celestia on the ground next to me, working healing spells. When I looked to ask what she was healing, I hadn’t seen or felt anything happen to me while I had the power, she shushed me, shaking her head. “Later,” she whispered. She created a blanket and lay it over me, mumbling “Fake sickness.” I nodded, curling up. I may not have known what was going on, but Celestia certainly did. I wasn't about to argue with her.
Celestia spent much time talking to my parents and the testers. All I know is that eventually they agreed I would be Celestia’s personal student, to learn and study under her. I didn’t care either way, as long as she helped me. That stunt I pulled, pulling on the strings of reality as I later realized they were, scared me. I could feel the power inside me, tearing at me, trying to expand, bring everything under my control.
Celestia came over and helped me up and led me away. Once we were in the deeper, more reclusive parts of the castle, where no one else would see us, she let me walk on my own. She didn’t say a word the entire time, and I followed along silently. I could tell we were going down, deep into the mountain. Eventually we reached a door, solid metal, with a few slits for air. With a sigh, Celestia pulled the door open and told me to enter.
I did so, scared. “What are you going to do to me, Princess?” I asked. The room was empty, save a lamp, and four chains on the far wall.
The princess entered behind me, closing the door. “I’m sorry Twilight Sparkle. I’m so sorry. But, I have to do this.” With a wave of her hand she lifted me into the air and gently pressed me against the far wall. The chains came to life at her command, holding me half a meter above the ground. “But, the power you touched, it’s complete control, Twilight. Either I have to seal away most of your power so you can never do that again, or execute you for breaching the realm of the gods.”
I stared at her, horrified. “But, but you-” I stammered.
“Would have killed myself a long time ago if I knew how,” Celestia interrupted. “That much power, wielded by someone in the mortal plane, it shouldn’t exist. I shouldn’t be able to have this much power. I’ve tried to kill myself, but I can’t.” Celestia shook her head, and I saw a few tears leave her eyes. “But, nothing worked. So I vowed to never use it, unless absolutely necessary. And now, Twilight, I’m going to seal your power away.”
l shook, fighting against the chains, trying to summon some shred of magic to aid me. I knew, no matter how strong the shackles, if I could tap into what I had earlier I could get free, I could run. But no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t fast enough.
Celestia’s eyes opened, and I felt time stop. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breath, but I was conscious. I could see her walking up to me. She smiled sadly, placing a hand on my shoulder. I again tried to pull away, but was still frozen. And then she entered my mind. I would have screamed if I could have made a sound.
The next thing I knew, I was in a white room, Celestia was there next to me. “This is the first seal, Twilight. The seal of the mind.” Behind her I could see an iron cage. Without thinking, I turned around and ran, Celestia close behind me. “Twilight, please. This doesn’t have to be hard. If you cooperate, this will be easy and done with,” she called out behind me.
I didn’t answer, only kept running. It was my mind after all, it was under my control. I created walls, mazes, everything I could think of to slow her down. But she simply ran straight through it all, as it they weren’t there at all. Eventually she tackled me and pinned me to the ground, summoning up her box. With a sad sigh she forced me into the box. It wasn’t a small box, I had room to move. But as soon as I entered I felt myself weakening. Celestia closed me in, sealing me in the darkness.
I don’t know how much later it was that I finally awoke back in the real world. Celestia was gone, and I was still chained to the wall, though the chains had gained some slack, allowing me to stand, rather than hang. I wanted to yell, I wanted to scream, but I lacked the energy. I allowed myself to relax.
Over the next few days Celestia visited thrice daily, bringing me food. She would seal the room, and then begin to feed me. She never freed me, and so spoon fed me like a baby. It was humiliating. The first time I told her I could feed myself, but she shook her head. “I can’t allow you to be free, Twilight.” Those were her exact words. So I sighed, opened my mouth, and allowed her to feed me. I wasn’t ready to give up yet. All I had to do was wait for the right moment. Then I would run. Each day I could feel my strength returning.
On the sixth day I could feel myself vastly stronger than before. I didn’t know why, I still don’t, but I knew. I knew if I could get just an inch of leeway I could escape. I hated Celestia for what she did to me. But on that day, when Celestia walked in to feed me lunch, the chains suddenly tightened again, pulled me against the wall.
“I’m sorry Twilight, but I must place the next seal upon you,” Celestia whispered. She fed me like always, but without looking at me. I knew, deep down, that whatever it was that Celestia was going to do, whatever it took to place the next seal, I wouldn’t like it. “Twilight, the first was the seal of the mind.” I glared at her, preparing myself mentally for whatever was in store.
“This next seal, is the seal of the body.”
I balked. Staring at her, I tried to comprehend what she meant. When she sealed my mind, she trapped some part of my mind in a box. “What do you mean, Princess?” I spat the last word out like a poisoned apple. “What are you going to do-?”
I wasn’t able to finish my thought. With a snap of her fingers, my clothes disappeared. I felt the cold air of the cell against me for the first time. I shivered. Celestia strode up to me, sorrow filling her eyes. I told myself it wasn’t real, that it was a façade put on. She couldn't be feeling sorry for what she was doing. Not and do it so easily. She summoned up a scalpel, holding it loosely. She brought the blade to my skin, and began carving runes into my skin. I could feel every line, every corner she traced. It felt like my skin was on fire.
It felt like hours that she worked. Cutting just deep enough to draw blood, but only just. From my neck, down across my breasts, around my stomach, and between my thighs before going down to my feet, she marked me. After finishing my front she spun me around and began to work on my back. She started at my feet and worked up, connecting some lines, ignoring others. My mind was too tortured from the pain to understand how she did it. All I knew was the pain.
Finally she stopped. Blood trickled down my body, dripping off of me. I glared at her. With a wave of her hand, the knife disappeared. “I know how painful that was Twilight. I did it to myself many years ago.” She opened her blouse at her words, exposing her breasts and stomach. I could see the faint outline of the scars crisscrossing her. “But, there is one more thing.” Celestia placed a hand on my forehead, and the other on my chest. She closed her eyes. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the pain returned. I could feel her drawing my magic out of me, and laying it into the runes. Slowly she traced my magic into every line she had cut, sealing my magic with my magic. It was then that I understood the reason for the runes, they trapped the magic used to create them. I fainted once more.
When I next awoke, I was no longer chained. Celestia sat in front of me, tracing the scars along her chest, a sad smile on her face. “I’m glad you’re awake, Twilight.” I only glared in response. “There is one more seal I should place on you, but, giving certain circumstances, it is not necessary.” I raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. “I will have to reteach you how to control your magic. You will have to spend months studying before you can do even the most trivial of tasks.” I was horrified. I had spent the better part of the last three years preparing, studying magic, just to get into Celestia’s school for gifted magicians. And now she was telling me I would never be able to get in. “But, I will train you, as no one else can ever know of what happened here. And if you go through your training, you will be one of the most powerful magicians in the world, Twilight.”
I stared at her, slowly rising to my feet. I could tell the bleeding had stopped, and knew I had the runes she carved into me showing as nothing more than elaborate scars. “I want my cloths, I want a shower, and I want to know how the dragon I hatched is doing,” I declared.
Celestia smiled and summoned an outfit for me. “The dragon is just fine, though he is no longer a dragon. I’m sure you noticed. The young boy has aged rapidly. Physically, I'd say he's eight. Mentally, he’s only a few weeks old.” Celestia sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you did, but I must admit, it was spectacular. Oh, and he needs a name,” she added as an afterthought.
“Spike,” I replied, having already decided upon it. I pulled on my socks and shoes, finishing getting dressed. “And I will raise him. I’m the closest thing he has to a mother after all.”
Celestia nodded. “I understand, but please know, I will also be watching over him. And Twilight?” I turned to look at her. “I would like you to be more of a big sister to him.” I nodded. “Shall I show you to your room?” I stared at her questioningly. “Well, my personal student needs to have a room in the castle, does she not?”
I sighed. “Lead on.”
"Twilight? You okay?"
I jolted from my memories. After a slight panic, my heart calmed down. "Sorry Spike. Just reminiscing."
"Oh, okay. What about?" I loved that about Spike. His first priority was making sure I was okay. But after that, he went back to being my closest friend. He could read me like a book most times, and was never afraid to call me out on my bullshit.
I reached over and ruffled his bright green hair. "I was just thinking about the day you were born." An innocent enough statement. One sure to be ignored by the guards escorting us to Ponyville. But, as with most things, Spike knew the subtext. He smiled knowingly, and settled back into the seat.
It had been five years since I hatched him from that egg. Five years during which I raised him, both mother and sister to him. Five years of Celestia personally teaching me to control my magic again. Five years of hard work just to get to a level of strength most entered her school at. Five years to forgive her for what she did to me.
Not that I ever did. I looked down at my backpack, a smirk crossing my face. The corners of a few books poked out, too big to fully fit. The Summer Sun Celebration was tomorrow. The longest day of the year. Exactly one thousand years since Nightmare Moon had been banished. I didn't know much about her, I knew better than to trust an old wive's tale for historical accuracy. But if she hated Celestia as much as I did, as was half as powerful as the stories suggested, I might finally be able to get my revenge.
I leaned out the window of Celestia's private plane, looking ahead to the slowly growing city, and my approaching destiny.
