“You were a mistake.”
Twilight laughed.
“Um, Princess? The whole dramatic act is convincing and all, but I’ve read way too many books to know that it only works if what you’re saying actually...um...makes sense.”
She whipped her head around. “Are we on some kind of documentary? To study alicorns?”
“Twilight. Look at me.” Celestia put her hoof under Twilight’s chin and turned it towards herself.
“This isn’t a joke. You’re a mistake. And...and it’s all my fault.”
The day before…
“Spike? Could you reach that top book up there for me?”
The dragon nodded and proceeded up the ladder.
“Sure, Twi-burp- ‘scuz me. Oh, look, a teeny tiny note!”
Twilight narrowed her eyes and brought the letter to herself with magic. “Hmm. Well, it’s from the princess, all right.”
Dear Twilight,
Please come to Canterlot palace as soon as your are free. State your full name to the pegasus guard at the gate. He will give you further instructions.
Celestia
Twilight cocked her head. “Hmm. Sounds important. Spike, would you get my saddlebags, please? I’ll leave right now.”
“Sure Twilight!”
The alicorn gathered the small amount of items she took with her, some favorite books, notepad and quill, and her list binder. She lifted the bags from Spike with a thanks, and slipped everything inside. On her way out she grabbed her wallet and slid it neatly into a pocket.
“Take care, Spike! Keep the library clean and-oh!”
She jerked back. “Don’t let the CMC do any Crusading in the library! You remember what happened last time. I’ll send a letter if I’m not home by night!”
Spike waved as Twilight disappeared off the balcony.
“Scootaloo?!”
She grabbed the small dragon’s shoulder’s.
“Spike! I am so glad to see you. Where's Twilight? How fast can you fix books?!”
Spike groaned.
Twilight landed in front of the castle gates. She spotted a lone pegasus standing to the side.
“Excuse me. I'm Twilight Lilicia Sparkle.”
He stared. “Um...okay? Thank you for...telling me that. Now, I’m on break, so if I could just…”
Twilight happened to see another lone pegasus.
“Woops! Wrong guy! Eh he he he...Sorry!”
The guard shook his head and pulled out a sandwich. “Alicorns these days...wait. She was an alicorn?!”
Twilight grimaced. “Hi. Excuse me. I’m Princess Twilight Lilicia Sparkle, Princess Celestia told me you would show me somewhere?”
The guard, bored looked up and beckoned for her to follow.
Twilight looked at the walls around her. She didn't recognize it, and had never been in this part of the castle before.
“Excuse me. Where are we going, exactly?”
“Princess Celestia’s private chambers,” replied the bored guard.
Twilight came to an abrupt stop. “What?! But...that’s like...her room! We can’t go barging into her room!”
The guard looked back. “We won’t be barging. Princess Celestia sighed a note giving us permission.”
He held it out for her to see. It was indeed authentic.
“Fine. Let’s go. But I’m not going to be happy about it.” Twilight scowled.
“Not my job.”
“Knock.”
“What?!” Twilight gaped. “You knock! You’re my escort!”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t given clearance.”
Twilight gulped. “O-okay. Thanks…”
She knocked softly on the large doors.
“Come in.”
The voice was solemn.
Celestia shifted from hoof to hoof. Luna put her wing around her sister.
“We were going to have to tell her eventually, you know.”
Celestia nodded. “I just wish...I wish it hadn't come so soon.
“You were a mistake.”
Twilight laughed.
“Um, Princess? The whole dramatic act is convincing and all, but I’ve read way too many books to know that it only works if what you’re saying actually...um...makes sense.”
She whipped her head around. “Are we on some kind of documentary? To study alicorns?”
“Twilight. Look at me.” Celestia put her hoof under Twilight’s chin and turned it towards herself.
“This isn’t a joke. You’re a mistake. And...and it’s all my fault.”
Twilight’s heart stopped. She was serious. “Wha-what do you mean?”
Celestia sighed and indicated the armchair identical to Luna and her’s. “Come, sit down. I promise I will explain everything.”
“Do you recall the story of how our world was created?”
Twilight nodded. “Faust was bored one day and created this world from within her own. Then she looked out her window and saw...uh...horses, and she created ponies!Then she saw other animals, and created more characters.”
Celestia nodded. “But what happened once they were created? Who ruled?”
Twilight racked her brain. She recognized her mentor’s most familiar method of teaching her something, and knew that she should know the answer to this question.
“Uh… Nopony, right? And they just went wild, and that’s how Discord started. He...sprung from the remnants of the creatures who had died in the chaos.”
“That’s correct. So there was a leadership, of sorts. But Faust continually battled with him, changing colors of coats and removing wings and horns-that’s how Earth ponies were created, you know, but that’s a discussion for another time- and so forth.”
“Yeah!” It was all coming back to her now. “And then Faust realized she would have to do something about him so she was feeling discouraged, and she went and talked to her friends and the realized that was the only way to defeat him! So she created the Elements with her friends help, you know, like Danny Elfman, Megan Mccarthy, and the like. And then she created you and your sister and-”
“And trained us, and gave us the Elements of Harmony to defeat him with. Sister, there is no point in delaying it.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Delaying...what, exactly?”
Celestia took a deep breath. “You see, there are some gaps. When Faust created the princesses, well, you see-”
“You were intended to be Queen.”
Celestia heaved, and put her head in her hooves and sobbed. Luna sat rigid, allowing herself no emotion.
Twilight wasn't faring much better. She leaned off the edge of the chair and emptied her daisy salad sandwich onto the floor. Nopony noticed.
Celestia peeked through her hooves, looking at Twilight. “I’m so sorry…”
She threw herself at Twilight. “I’m so sorry, big sister. You can’t believe how much I’ve missed you! I’m sorry, I’m just so, so, so sorry…”
Twilight stared at the seemingly untouchable alicorn slumped in her lap. Suddenly, all the words, all the information, it just melted away.
“It’s okay, Celestia.” She stroked her head and hugged her back. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Celestia sat slumped on her chair, still wiping away tears. “I...guess I should fill you in on what has happened. Why we...need you here. To tell you.”
Twilight nodded.
“In...the beginning, it was just the four of us. You, me, Faust, who was our “mother”, and Luna, who was just a baby.
“We each held two Elements. Luna held Laughter and Generosity, you held Kindness and Loyalty, and I held Honesty and...Magic.”
Twilight’s chin quivered like an plucked cello string. “You mean...then I’m not really the Element of Magic?”
Luna shrugged. “Technically your raw abilities for magic were left over from your original state. I think your cutie mark was also the result of the magic overloading an ordinary mare as well.”
Celestia glared at her sister. “What?”
Celestia sighed for probably the third time that fateful day. “In any case, Faust kept us hidden in Canterlot Castle, something she created as our home. She would visit often to teach us new skills, but as you grew older, she was able to be out for longer at a time and work on more of the world and Equestria. You might not know this, but the age difference between Luna and I is bigger than you think. We’re actually two hundred years apart.”
“Two hundred?!” Twilight exclaimed. “You’re two hundred years apart?! But-but the textbooks say there is a four year age gap!”
Celestia nodded. “I have my reasons. For alicorns, time seems to fly by, quite literally. It’s a part of our magic and why we stayed the equivalent of foals for a long time. You were closer to my age, though, a mere seventy years ahead of me. We were quite close, and you helped me unravel my gift in...magic. One day, when our mother was out, I got a hold of the Elements. They were a necklace and a crown each, back then, you know, and I had quite a difficult time putting them all on. But eventually I managed it, and I felt an enormous surge in my magic. Nopony...nopony should ever have that kind of power. It made some inspired. But on the other hoof...it made some go mad. Thankfully I didn’t go mad, but, as anypony would, I of course wanted to show off my new powers. And who to show first then my very teacher?
“I ran to you. ‘Twi, Twi, look what I can do!’ You tried to stop me. I saw you trying. ‘Stop!’ I said. ‘Just watch!’ I said. I knew that moving simple objects wouldn’t impress you in the least. So I did the worst thing imaginable. I tried to create magic, on the spot. I can still remember reaching out to the magic loom, undoing the threads and putting them back together in odd, random patterns. Clearly, my creation could not stay, and under normal circumstances would have simply created a puff of colored smoke, maybe sparks coming from the casters horn. But I was no ordinary pony, and this was no ordinary circumstance. The threads came loose and unraveled, but held by the Element’s magic they dangled from the loom. I had created a ragdoll, a half-finished, half-broken spell. They sought out the closest pony who was not me, and wrapped it’s tendrils around her. It couldn’t make up it’s mind, what to do, what to do. That was when our mother came in. One look at me, my eyes closed at horn ablaze, and you, being surrounded by patchy yellow magic, and she knew exactly what was happening. As for me, well, I couldn’t stop. Remember your time with Trixie, when you were in the middle of your spell? You couldn't stop. Our mother knew that too, and she tried to combat my magic with hers. But even she wasn't strong enough, for the Elements were created to defeat even Discord. Faust realized there was no stopping me. So, as her last act of desperation, she created a clearing, in a hidden forest, at the end of the world. In the middle of the clearing there is a clear, sparkling pond. She took your spirit and hid it in the pond, for she knew that if it was ever discovered, somepony evil could use it for nefarious purposes.”
Twilight stared. “What? How could somepony use a soul?”
“I'm getting to that. In any case, Faust had to get back to her world before it was too late, or she would be forever trapped and fade slowly. In the final seconds before you faded, she started to perform her transportation spell. But she said something that I still remember. She said, ‘Tia, my dear! You must take on the mantle of queen. But there is something you must know. Your sister will come back! She will come back in a pony, I don’t know when, I don’t know where. But you will know her when you see her! So Tia, that is the reason! The reason why you must keep fighting, keep fighting Discord, keep fighting villains, keep fighting the world! It’s for her, Tia! Keep fighting for her! I love you, my darlings-’. And that’s where it stopped. That’s when she disappeared. That’s when you disappeared.”
Twilight sat in silence. For the young mare, this was a lot to take in.
Luna piped up. “We wanted to give you the best life we could. Tia knew it was you at the entrance exam, which is why she wanted you to become her student, to have Spike, and to bear the Elements alongside your friends. We fed them controlled power from the castle. We’re just...so sorry we didn't tell you.”
Tears streamed down the alicorn’s face. With a tear filled voice, she spoke: “But...what about Discord? Y-you said he was impossible t-to defeat.” She hiccuped.
Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance. “That’s actually what we called you here to talk about. When you battled him, well, he was...going easy on you. For some reason, he has been holding back, hasn't been attacking. Even that one time you used the Elements that was like child's play for him. What we think was that he was essentially ‘popping’ out, to see how the world had changed. To get a look around. He wasn't giving his all, not by far. That’s not...like him. I do, however think I may know what he’s plotting. And..it’s not good,” said Celestia warily.
“But what could he be doing worse than last time?” inquired Twilight. “Celestia?’
No answer came from the alicorn, who was lost in thought.
“Celestia? Celestia!”
“What is Discord planning?”
“I think he’s building an army.”