Killing Luck

Killing Luck

Chapter 1 - Burden

Important events always start in the same way. It was a completely normal day. But from this hour of dawn a knock broke the silence in Ponyville’s library. The current resident was, in spite of the hour, wide awake, scribbling notes on a parchment.

Once the door was open, a magnificent white equine entered the room, much to the young unicorn’s surprise. Princess Celestia never visited, not without previous warning. But there was an air of mystery surrounding the regent’s expression.

“Princess, what a surprise! What is the reason for your visit?” The mare bowed as a sign of respect, disregarding the close relationship they shared as mentor and pupil.

“Twilight Sparkle, my most precious and faithful student. Something very important happened. Normally one would be informed by an official, but I had to be the one to tell you. Especially since I played part in these events.”

This behavior was unexpected coming from the ever-calm Celestia. Something grave must have happened to upset the princess so.

“What happened? Is Discord back? Nightmare Moon? Why didn’t you sent the message via Spike as usual? Is somepony injured, or …”

“Calm down. Nothing bad happened. At least not too bad. I’m nervous because… I fear you may not forgive me for what I have done.” The princess interrupted her pupil, afraid she would have a heart attack if she continued guessing what had caused this peculiar anxiety. “We should sit, so I can tell you the whole story. Don’t wake Spike up. He’s too young to know about these things. I hope he never has to…” Celestia gasped for air, avoiding her task another second.

“Certainly Princess. I’ll make a tea. Sit anywhere you like. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“Now, what happened? We must keep calm.” The unicorn stated between two sips of hot chamomile tea.

“I fear I must start from the beginning. The tale I’m about to tell you is, albeit known to many citizens, top secret and must never be discussed, even if you are sure the other pony also knows the secret. Our whole way of life depends on this secret, and you must pledge absolute secrecy until the day you die.” She asserted authoritatively. “You also can’t write it down.” She added, knowing her student perfectly well.

“I promise. I swear I won’t tell anypony. I just need to know what is going on, Princess!”

“Very well.” Celestia sipped a bit of tea. “Tell me, have you never found weird that some of us have children, but no stallions beside us, or younger sisters, but our parents are nowhere to be found? There is a reason for this. But we must go back. Over a thousand years, when I was still much younger than today, and Luna was not yet by my side.”

Before, in those chaos-filled days, parents raised their own children. You’d think that was fine, that there was no need for change. But I could see the result. The result that everypony took for granted, inevitable. However, it need not be so.”

By now Twilight was completely confused. What did her mentor mean, parents didn’t raise their children? Change?

“You’d see intelligent and kind foals, great kids by anypony’s standards being abused and oppressed by parents who, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be allowed near foals. On the other hand, there were hard-working and ambitious parents raising spoiled foals who leeched the very ones who granted them life.”

“But what can you do about that? Certainly it’s a parent’s job to take care of their young.” Twilight answered, not seeing how this dilemma could be solved. In fact, she couldn’t see the problem. She had never met anypony under such circumstances.

“The answer is obvious, Twilight Sparkle. Nonetheless, I was the only one lucid enough to see it. Fortunately my higher status sufficed to impose this law, whether my subjects wanted it or not. I know I caused despair, and many tried to rebel. But look at what we have attained! The closest to a Utopia there ever was! The present has never been brighter!”

Now Twilight was scared. It was weird seeing the princess upset, but seeing her like this was disturbing to say the least.

“Guards turned against me, and mares tried to hide their pregnancies. But after the secrecy law was imposed my victory was absolute. Even if everypony in Equestria knew what was going on they would be forbidden to discuss it. This is why you didn’t know about it until now.”

“I still don’t understand, Princess. What was this law about? What does it have to do with me?”

“The process is simple. We take the newborns as soon as we can and raise them in special orphanages until the age of 2. At that point, we test them and decide their fate. The best scorers get the best parents. That said, we run a background check to make sure no parent is unable to take care of a child.”

“So… no families in Equestria are actually related? How can this be? My parents, my family…”

“Don’t be upset. You were loved by your parents, even if you were not genetically their daughter. Luna isn’t related to me either. But since she was an alicorn, I had no choice but to adopt her. You see how rare we are, to the point of just one of us being born in over a thousand years? I was alone, I must admit. Didn’t you ever ask Rarity or Applejack about their parents? Due to their young age they simply chose to call their adoptees sisters instead of daughters. Obviously we take race and color into consideration, but certainly you have seen a mare with a foal of different race and assumed the father was responsible. But we don’t always choose mares or stallions with partners.”

It was now obvious to Twilight what was about to be asked of her. She was now trembling at these shocking revelations, so much that when she tried to drink her tea, her magic failed her and spilled the drink.

“You are in shock. I know it’s a lot to take in, but everypony has been adopted or adopted somepony else. The fact is, you should feel honored. You should know that, being my favorite student, this foal had the best test score in many years. The exact same score as you, if I recall correctly. I know of no better choice to raise this foal than you. Whether you call her sister, daughter or cousin is not my concern. I just ask you to raise her well. I trust you to excel at that, just like you excel in so many other things.”

Celestia rose and the tip of her horn glowed intensively.

“The foal will arrive tomorrow. Be ready for it, and remember: You must not speak of this ever again.

The princess disappeared with a flash of white light, leaving Twilight Sparkle alone, unable to move or think.

Rarity was getting ready for her weekly visit to the spa with Fluttershy when a displeasing knock on her door startled her. She sighed, hoping it wasn’t another costumer. She liked having business, of course, but a knock on the door when she was about to leave could make her quite edgy.

To her surprise, the disturbance was caused by none other than her good friend, Twilight Sparkle, who seemed terribly upset.

“Twilight dear, what is the matter?”

“Rarity, I need… some advice. It’s something you MUST help me with.”

This erratic behavior from Twilight tended to be accompanied by chaos and/or destruction, so Rarity gave her full attention, in spite of risking being tardy.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help, but unless it has to do with clothes I doubt….”

“My…. Younger sister…” She winked. “Is moving in with me.” She winked again. “Since you have a younger sister…” Her winking was now so exaggerated it had an almost comical effect. “I thought you could help me with my worries.”

Rarity sighed, knowing perfectly well what had happened, even without Twilight’s transparent hints.

“I’ll help you. Rest assured I understand what an upsetting experience it can be, having a sister suddenly moving with you. Let’s go inside, I’ll make it up to Fluttershy later.”

“If you already have plans, I can wait. Or I can go speak with Applejack, I’m sure she could…”

“No! Erm… Speaking to Applejack about this might not be the best idea.” Truthfully, Rarity had no idea of what their mutual friend could tell the currently fragile Twilight, but there are times where pure honesty can do more damage than good.

“Let’s go inside, Sweetie Belle is crusading and Opal won’t bother us. Now, I know it’s quite hard when you receive such news, but getting Sweetie Belle was the best thing that could have happened to me, I assure you.”

“But can you really love her like you would a real sister?” Twilight said, completely disregarding direct orders from the princess.

“Well, I’ve never met a blood relative, so I can’t know. Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. We all do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d rather not leave Fluttershy waiting any longer.”

There was only one thing Twilight could do now. She had to prepare for her “sister”. She went to the library first looking for a book on maternity. She would need a bed, extra food and some toys would be nice too.

That was possible the worst shopping trip she ever had. All the shopkeepers looked at her like they wanted to say “We’re so sorry.” but instead congratulated her. Then it hit her that Spike didn’t know a thing yet. He was out when she had returned to the library. When her depressing day was over, she went back to the library. The dragon greeted her as she came in.

“Hey Twilight. What’s with the bed, and toys?”

“My younger sister is coming to live with us. My parents think it would be a good idea to have a relative with me. She’s arriving tomorrow.” She had been planning her excuse all day. She would have to lie to everypony in Ponyville, after all.

“I didn’t know you had a sister. What’s her name?” The dragon was now inspecting a coloring book that the mare had placed on the ground.

“Her name is…. Nightfall Sparkle.” She could kick herself right now. How could she forget the foal would need a name?

Spike tilted his head slightly, blinking twice. “Nightfall Sparkle? That’s a… cool name, I guess?”

“Yeah, I’m really tired and all, I’m going to bed. Good night.” She didn’t know she could speak that fast.

“Well, I guess it’s up to me to clean this mess, then.”

That night Twilight had trouble sleeping. And when she finally did, she could only dream of her parents. They were angry at her, blaming her for being forced to taking her in. Then Celestia appeared and forced a foal into her hooves. But it wasn’t breathing. There was nothing she could do.

Then two dark figures appeared, the only thing visible was their grinning teeth. Her father spoke first.

“We were so happy when you were gone. You weren’t wanted, never were.”

“You’re such a disaster, who could love you? Not your foster parents, and certainly not us. Not even your precious princess, or she wouldn’t make you take care of that foal. You’ll always be unwanted.” Her mother continued.

Twilight woke up, covered in sweat. Her face was wet with tears. She realized she couldn’t take care of a foal; she’d mess up for sure. The princess would never forgive her. She couldn’t breathe; her head was throbbing in pain. And as the first rays of sun showed in the sky, she fell asleep, more tired than ever before.