“There has never been a time for grief for there has never been a place for love. Our emotions wash away like the old oak tree on the riverbed. History is forgotten. Memories are abandoned. The simplicities of our lives will be forever lost in the sands of the earth we stand upon. And that is for good reason, for I doubt I would like to be remembered.” - Unknown
The sun shined through her window, as it would on any other day. A warm breeze swayed through the curtains as a young and innocent filly slept the day away from the comfort of her tree-house suite. A gentle smile was all that showed, the rest of her tangled in a complex mess of sheets and comforters. She had a modest room, filled with journals and books of the subjects that fascinated her most. Magic, mainly. Her shelves were littered with the newest findings of the arcane. Book after book of knowledge, and she had read all of it. In fact, there wasn’t a single book she hadn’t at least skimmed, and more often than not her books had been given multiple readings—her latest read for example. “The strange and alluring complexity of magnets – Revealed!” That latest publishing, along with a few others still rested on her bed from late night study.
Overall however, her room was very clean. While her bed may double as a small fortress of literature, the rest of her domain was as lovely as you would expect from the room of a 19 year old filly. While she may live in a tree, her house was not old fashioned. Her walls were not only homes to books but other entertainment as well. She had always been proud of her 77 volume encyclopedia, not just for the knowledge it held, but because it was the largest set in Ponyville. She had never been one to brag, but she was proud of this asset, and she had a hunch that her friends were more studious they would be jealous the set, not that she had too many friends to begin with. But it’s always better to have a few good friends than a bunch of average ones anyways, or at least that’s what her parents always told her. She hadn’t seen her parents too often since she moved to ponyville. Perhaps that was for the best. Finally she had a chance to be independent and become the pony she always knew she could be.
Like any other pony, she had always had her dreams. Ever since Princess Celestia took her under her wing as her “Personal prodigal pupil” (alliteration always admired by herself) she had begun to realize just what she was capable of. Fostering her magic skills she had managed to grow into quite the young unicorn. Albeit, she was by no means famous, she was certainly well known in the town of ponyville. Not only did she save the town from a rampaging Ursa Minor, she had a way of bringing the town together through the magic of friendship she can channel so well. She may not know it, or even want it, but she was a popular filly, at least At least in these parts. She had never dreamed of fame, but it seems it found her anyways.
And at that point her dreams ended, or at least in a literal sense, for the filly’s eyes began to cringe at the light now pouring through her natural window. “Why does the sun have to be so bright?” she thought to herself as she rolled over in bed, further wrinkling her sheets and laying on a decent sized novel. She pulled her pillow closer to her, in a sort of awkward, non-consensual hug. “It could at least have a dimmer switch so I could sleep in…” She pulled the turquoise pillow closer, breathing in the lilac scented cotton. It was a nice smell. The kind of smell that makes you feel safe, protected in a sense. It was both comforting and relaxing and she loved it. But there was an extra scent today, something faint, but definitely distinct. It took her a moment, but she soon realized that the smell was coming from downstairs. Her thoughtful assistant/ best friend/ baby dragon roommate was making her breakfast. Golden oat pancakes – Her personal favorite. “Spike, I don’t know how I would live without you” she thought as she rolled out of her nest of a bed, scratched at her groggy eyes and walked downstairs to thank him for the gift of a meal.
Downstairs a very loyal and devoted Spike was preparing the rest of her meal. Spike had always been a very kind and gentle soul, but his dedication to making his friends happy and comfortable was almost unmatched. As he flipped the last of his golden pancakes over on the griddle he noticed his roommate walk through the archway, groggy, but awake. “Good morning Twilight. I started breakfast for you” he chirped happily.
“I can see that Spike” she responded “it looks great.” She pulled out a chair and took a seat and let her friend present his work. “I made your favorite golden oat pancakes, a side of wheat toast and zap-apple jelly, and a good ole’ glass of apple juice. (Oranges were not to be spoken of when the biggest apple orchard around produced the highest quality fruit one could imagine.)
“This looks delightful Spike, thank you so much” She smiled as she lifted the glass to her mouth with her unicorn magic. “I hope you didn’t take too much time to do this all, I would hate to be a bother.” Spike laughed.
“It was no problem Twi, really. Now let’s go over what we have to do today.” Twilight nodded her head in agreement. Spike prepared his list of things to do. “First thing to do - Prepare breakfast for Twilight and myself. – Check!” Twilight continued eating while Spike continued his list. “Second thing to do - Read checklist of things to do. Well, I haven’t finished reading it yet…do I check that off?” Twilight stared at spike, blinked twice and voiced her opinion.
“I think we can check that off.” She said. Spike laughed.
“Of course. Third thing to do - Visit Barns and Stable to find new books for your library.” Twilight was very fond of this idea.
“I have needed some new material for a while now, that should work out nicely. What else?” Spike half laughed.
“Well, you always spend so much time looking for books; I didn’t plan anything else for today.” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Spike, if that wasn’t so true I would have to say you were being sarcastic.” She lifted a napkin to her mouth and cleaned off some of the runaway syrup from her meal. “I’ll go get ready to go out, thanks again for breakfast spike.” She excused herself from the table and returned upstairs to her room. Spike grabbed the plates and started to do dishes.
“I’m glad we don’t have anything important planned for today.” He thought to himself. “It’s nice to just have a day off from adventure, especially with the stuff that tends to happen around here.” Soon enough Twilight returned from her room.
“Are you ready Spike?” He nodded and walked towards the door. He hopped up on Twilights back and closed the door behind them as they left for town.
It was a warm summer day, and many ponies were out doing their daily things. As Twilight trotted towards the bookstore she passed many a pony that she knew. Colgate was busy watering her lawn, Carrot Top had just purchased some apples from the local market, and Lyra was napping away on the park bench. It seemed everypony had something to do today. After spending a few minutes to talk to the other ponies Twilight continued on with her errand. It wasn’t until she passed Sugarcube corner that much else of interest happened. As twilight rounded the end of the block she bumped into one of her best friends – literally. She was a pink pony with a rather frazzled mane. Twilight let out a small gasp as she bumped into her friend who was jumping around the block with excitement.
“Twilight! Oh it’s great to see you!” The pink pony gave her a great big hug and then proceeded to hop circles around her in excitement.
“It’s good to see you too Pinkie Pie” Twilight giggles, still half spooked from the quick encounter. “What are you so excited about?” At this Pinky was confused.
“Do I have to be excited about something? I’m excited about nothing at all! I’m just excited for the sake of being excited! OH! And because I saw you! That was also very exciting!” Twilight laughed as she continued walking. She was about to ask Pinkie Pie how her day was going but she was quickly interrupted by the pink mare.
“Oh my gosh! I’m LATE! I’ll see you later Twilight!” and with that she ran off. To this Twilight showed no concern. Pinkie Pie would be Pinkie Pie. There was no arguing with that.
Finally Twilight arrived at the bookstore. The two walked inside and began to browse. Twilight was amused with each and every book, slowly striding through the seas of shelves before her. Spike was not amused by the higher literature. He walked to the back of the store and found the comic book section. “Hello comic book, meet beanbag chair.” He said as he plopped down and began reading “The Adventures of Spiderpony”.
Twilight had browsed through most of the store when she finally decided there wasn’t much this place had to offer that she didn’t already own in her personal library. “It’s a shame” she thought “I have always found new stuff here. Maybe I could ask the manager if he knows of anything interesting.” She walked to the front desk of the store.
“Hello, is there anything I could assist you with?” A bright orange colored stallion asked.
“Yes, actually, I was wondering if you have any content that isn’t on display, like maybe scientific journals, articles or any other published research.” The stallion blinked.
“Sorry ma’am, any scientific journals we have here aren’t allowed to leave the building. Most of them don’t have extra copies, and we wouldn’t want any research being lost.” Twilight understood. Losing research is never fun.
“Well, would you mind if I browsed through what you have? Maybe I could find something of interest and just read it in the back?” She smiled innocently. The manager sighed.
“Yeah, I suppose that would be fine, but I’ll have to have someone back there to make sure everything is under control.” He turned to a member of his staff. “Sundance, could you escort this young lady to the back room? She wants to browse some articles. Just make sure everything gets back in its original place.” The pony nodded.
“Yes sir, follow me miss?” The two passed Spike on the way to the back. “I won’t be too long, Spike.” She said over her shoulder. “Yeah, yeah.” He responded.
Once they reached the research section Twilight had a quick look around. There were documents filed neatly around the room, ranging from articles about pony evolution to long and tedious reports on the most tiny of research areas.
“Ooh, this all looks very advanced.” Twilight awed. She was like a filly in a candy shop, trotting through the aisles of knowledge around her. “Advanced particle physics, conservation of mana and charge, oh, what’s this?” She picked up a freshly printed article. “Non-Linear Functions of Time – Written by Dr.… huh ... it’s smudged… I can’t quite tell what his name is.” She turned through the paper and saw the diagrams.
“Time does not exist in the way most see it. It is not a timeline, but more so a tree. At each instant in time every possible outcome exists, but we as an entity can only exist on one branch at a time. If a way to travel between branches could be achieved, time could be warped to one’s own personal benefit. I believe this could be achieved through the process of reverse…” Twilight turned the page to see that the rest of the article was missing.
“Damn. That was getting pretty good. Certainly not mainstream thinking, but an interesting concept nonetheless. If time existed in that sense it would be easy to control events in a desirable fashion.” She sat at the table in the room. “What an interesting idea. I’ll have to look into that.” She returned the article to its rightful place and proceeded to leaf through the next article.
Princess Celestia lowered the letter she had been reading. “Its moments like these that I hate to be the one in charge…” Her eyes narrowed, not in anger, but in sadness. “Thank you, for the report Doctor.” She said, still a bit in shock.
“I – I’m sorry, ma’am. We did everything we could.” It was hard to deal with death, even when the deceased were unrelated to you it had a sort of impact. “If there is anything we at the hospital can do…let us know.” And with that the doctor left the room. The Alicorn sat at her throne. But it didn’t feel quite like a throne at that moment. A throne was meant to feel powerful, but she only felt weak. It wasn’t long before she was joined by her sister.
“Sis… you’ve been sitting there for a few hours…are you ok?” Celestia just stared off into the distance. “Tia? …I’m worried. What’s wrong?” The blue coated Alicorn joined her sister in silence, waiting for some kind of response. Finally she spoke.
“I’m going to have to tell her, Luna.” Luna was confused. “Tell whom what?” She sighed.
“A close friend.” She stood and approached her balcony. Outside it was warm and sunny. The day was as beautiful as it had ever been. Regardless, however, a storm of emotions darker than the night of an empty moon brewed inside of the princess’s mind. Celestia said nothing more relating to the topic to her sister. This was something she had to do, and her sister didn’t need anything else to worry about.
“Could you have the Royal guards prepare the carriage?” Celestia inquired. “I need to visit Ponyville as soon as possible.” Luna sighed, wishing she could get some more information.
“Sure sis. I’ll have them get ready.” The younger Alicorn silently walked out of the hall. As she walked through the archways she turned back to her older sister, her biggest role model, and saw a single tear running down her cheek. This chilled her to the bone. Her sister, the leader of her country was in a position of weakness. Luna knew that the situation was serious. She quickly took heed and fetched the royal guards.
“…and so the compounds can actually be combined to form an acidic solution.” Twilight laughed. “Ha, forming acids from two bases, clever.” She smiled as she opened her next paper.
“Um, Miss Sparkle?” A nearby voice asked.
“Yes?” She asked over the turning of her article.
“Um, I have been notified that Princess Celestia is waiting for you outside.” Twilights ears shot up at that.
“The PRINCESS!??” She quickly closed her article and ran for the door. “Thank you sir!” she yelled as she disappeared, papers flying about the room in the conflict.
“Of course they do.” thought the assistant, as he began to clean up the mess. Within moments Twilight was outside. Panting she looked up to see the princess.
“Princess, I wasn’t expecting you.” The princess sighed.
“Would you guide me to your home Twilight? There is something I need to talk to you about. Twilight was a bit nervous.
“Um, sure, follow me. Is something wrong?” There was a bitter silence. But Celestia couldn’t lie to her close friend.
“Yes Twilight. There is.”
It was only after a few hours of comics that Spike came to a realization. The library was closing. As he was walked out of the building he felt like he was forgetting something.
“Oh yeah! “ he thought. “Sir, I think that my friend Twilight is still inside your store.” The Manager pony laughed.
“The purple filly? She left here hours ago.” Spike blinked.
“She left without me?” he thought. “Thanks Mister.” he said as he walked to the front of the building. “Something important must have happened for her to just leave like that. Or maybe I’m just forgettable.” He shrugged. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just head home and see what’s going on.”
Spike walked through the streets of Ponyville in relative silence. Other ponies were out and about, still doing their daily things, but the day was coming to an end, and the general feel of the town was that of relaxation. That was, until Spike bumped into a close friend.
“Oh, hi Applejack, sorry, I didn’t see you there.” The auburn pony was surprised to see the baby dragon.
“Spike? What are you doing out here, I figure you would be with Twilight.” Spike was confused.
“Actually, I haven’t seen Twilight for a few hours” Applejack stared.
“Oh. I reckon y’all haven’t heard then.” She turned and continued walking along the road to Twilight’s home. Spike was now curious.
“Heard what? Is Twilight ok?” AJ just glanced at the ground as she wandered down the road.
“I don’t know sugahcube.” She said. “I got this here letter tellin’ me to come down and see her.” She handed the letter to Spike. “And it don’t exactly sound happy.” The two of them continued walking, but as they did Spike unrolled the parchment to see what this whole ordeal was about.
To my Dearest Friends.
There has been an accident. I would deeply appreciate it if you could join me in my home as soon as you are able. I know it is short notice, but I would really appreciate the company. I also feel that you should know of what has happened today before the rest of town. Princess Celestia is waiting here with me for now and I will explain everything once you all arrive.
Your friend, Twilight
Spike knew this was serious. For one, Twilight always signed her letters “Twilight Sparkle” so that means Princess Celestia was writing these letter for her. Second, the parchment had wet spots along the edges, which meant that the composer of the letter was crying – Which in this case was Princess Celestia. Spike had never seen the Princess emotional. Whatever happened today, it was certainly not good.
“She didn’t write this Applejack.” Spike announced. AJ nodded in agreement.
“I know hon. I know. This is real bad Spike. Something awful must have happened if the Princess had to write it for her.” The two stopped to look for traffic at the intersection and then continued on their walk. Spike didn’t want to acknowledge it, but he knew that she was right. For Twilight to not write a letter to her own friends, well that just went against everything he had every known her to be.
Twilight was a shining student, a sort of magic prodigy. Hell, most of her friends joked about her being as powerful as the Princesses themselves, but of course she denied it. She was just “Overly proficient for a student of her experience” as she would say. Spike knew that deep down Twilight knew just how skilled she really was, but she would never be the one to admit it. Point in case was – Twilight always stood up to whatever task was thrown at her. If she couldn’t write a letter then something was seriously wrong.
Eventually the two friends came to the street that Twilight and Spike lived on. At this point it was dark, most of the other ponies were having dinner, and the streets were fairly barren.
“Well, here comes the moment of truth ah suppose.” AJ said as they arrived at Twilight’s tree house. The two walked silently to the entrance and as they were about to knock the door glowed a faint blue and opened by itself. Celestia showed her face and presented a gentle smile.
“Come in” she asked them. They quickly obliged and closed the door behind them. Applejack quickly took off her hat and bowed slightly to the princess.
“Sorry for bein’ so blunt, but where is Twilight?” Celestia nodded in understanding.
“She is in her room. I don’t think she will be down here for the rest of the night.” Applejack was confused.
“But, I thought she wanted us to come see her?” Celestia walked towards the living room of the home.
“I’m sorry, but no. I’m afraid Twilight had no say in the matter. I sent the letters calling you here.” As they approached the living room Applejack could see the rest of her friends had already arrived. Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity waited patiently for Spike and her to take a seat.
Celestia cleared her throat. She looked around at her friends. She knew they were all worried. There was a feeling in the air that was depressing to say the least. She looked each one of them in the eyes before turning away.
“I… am sorry, but give me a moment.” She walked into the next room to fetch something and left the rest of the ponies waiting.
“Ok, so the princess called us here, Twilight is upstairs and won’t come down, and NOW the princess leaves us here. What is going on?” The rainbow themed pony got up from the couch and followed Celestia’s path into the next room. Applejack stood up behind her.
“Rainbow Dash, what are you doin’?” Dash didn’t even bother to turn around.
“I’m getting some answers. I’ll be back in a second.” Dash looked back to see that she wasn’t being followed and proceeded into the next room. It was Twilight’s kitchen area, and Dash could see the princess standing at the counter. What Dash didn’t expect was the alcohol. At this Dash was almost speechless.
“Princess are you…?” she stopped mid question when she saw the look on Celestia’s face. It was more than just sorrow. It was regret, pity, and worst of all – guilt. Dash was hesitant. “Celestia…are you ok?” she walked a little closer to the kitchen bar that the princess was seated at. The Alicorn was speechless, and simply raised the glass of gin to her mouth with her magic.
“Could you bring the others in here Dash? I may need more than just this glass.” The cyan coated pegasus understood.
“Sure. I’ll be right back.”
Dash wasn’t quite sure what to think. She had never seen the princess drink before, at least not like that. A glass of champagne at the Grand Galloping Gala was an entirely different story from a glass of hard liquor. While Dash knew something must be very wrong, she couldn’t help but smile a bit at the princess’s taste in substance.
The rest of the group was silent, waiting for Rainbow’s return. When she did come back they were eager for news.
“She wants the rest of you to come in with her. But um…be ready. I’m not sure she is entirely stable.” They all followed her back into the kitchen. Rarity was quick to comment.
“What do you mean she’s not-“-- The alcohol that the princess had out was clearly visible to her now – “Ooohhh…” She said under her breath. Noticing the group’s presence, Celestia sat up straight.
“This isn’t going to be easy for any of us.” She spoke. “Even as a leader I have a hard time talking about this.” She motioned towards the bar. “Please, sit.” They all took a seat at the other side of the counter. Taking her time Celestia poured each of them a glass. “None of you have problems with alcohol I assume?” she tried to laugh, but it was noticeable that she was really struggling for it. “Just me then? Sounds good.” She finished off her glass and stood up. “I’m not exactly familiar with this sort of thing.” She said in an almost monotone voice. “I don’t have to address it very often.” She lowered her eyes. “Perhaps it is best that I am just straight forward.” She took a long breath before speaking.
“Twilight’s parents were sent to the hospital this morning.” Her eyes closed. “They were both caught in a fire that started in their living room. At first the officials thought it was an accident --That the heat was too much and something might have caught flame.” She paused for a second. “As it turns out it was planned.” The room was quiet for a moment. Surprisingly out of character, Fluttershy was the first to break the silence.
“Are…you saying that Twilight’s parents were murdered?” The princess hung her head.
“Yes.” Again, the room was quiet.
“That’s terrible...” Applejack said almost inaudibly. Nopony spoke for a several moments.
“Um. Wow, ok so I REALLY don’t wanna come across the wrong way here.” Dash said breaking the silence. “But people die all the time Celestia. Why are you so upset over Twilight’s loss?” The rest of the table glared at her.
“Again, I understand the pain she must be in, and I’m not saying that is insignificant. I’m just curious why the princess is taking this so hard.” Applejack stood up and was about to voice her opinion on Dash’s “Loyalty” when Celestia interrupted her.
“Calm now AJ, Dash makes a fair point.” Applejack blinked once and sat back down. “As the leader of our kingdom, I cannot afford to grieve over every death.” She began to fill another glass of liquor. “I know this sounds negligent, but it is the cold truth.” Everypony agreed to this statement. “This death was not like the others though.”
I assume that you all follow the “Book of Dawn”? This time Rarity spoke.
“Of course we do, it is the explanation of life. It has been nearly proven scientifically.” Celestia nodded.
“Then I assume you all know of the process of reincarnation. When a pony, or any other creature dies, their soul returns to the soil of our land. Eventually new life grows from the ground in the form of flora. The souls of past creatures are in these plants, and when consumed by a creature that is fertile, the souls of past creatures are reborn.” Everypony nodded. It was a good cycle. The cycle of life that they all knew.
Celestia took a long drink. “These deaths disturb me, because that cycle was broken.” Rainbow Dash quickly interjected.
“What do you mean it was broken?” Celestia’s eyes narrowed. She took a step back from the counter, picked up her glass and threw it against the wall. Everypony hopped out of their chairs and took a step back at the sudden burst of emotion.
“Some fucking unicorns hexed her family.” Celestia was beginning to shout now. “They set Twilight’s parents in a demonic ritual.” She let her head fall on the bar and she covered her face with her hooves, trying to hide her seething rage.
“The unicorns that did this drained the life from Twilight’s parents to increase their own power.”
Everypony was stunned. The idea of such magic had never even occurred to the rest of the group.
“Who did this!?” Dash was pissed. “I’ll rip them limb from limb” Celestia was still caught up in her moment. She may have been their grand leader, but she, like any other pony, sometimes had anger issues. She threw another glass against the wall, this time taking out a lamp as well. She didn’t want to admit to it, but she was feeling guilty for what had happened.
“There were only a few witnesses at the scene. They were able to describe the ponies that they saw leaving the home. I didn’t recognize them.” At this point Celestia was holding back tears. Whether they were of rage or sorrow I couldn’t tell you, but in a sense the emotion of the two was the same. Head on the bar now, physically breaking down she continued.
“Who does something like this…? Who steals the very ENERGY that fuels life from someone? Under my reign I have never seen anything so disgusting.” She breathed again, heavily. Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged looks. Finally Dash brought up the courage to ask the question they all wanted to know the answer to.
“So, are you saying their souls were destroyed?” There was a ghastly silence. “Are they…..gone?” Celestia didn’t want to answer the question. Everypony’s belief was that after death life started again. It was a positive energy that helped keep peace among her people. No one ever thought of death as the end, but as more of a transition. She knew they would take this hard. She had as well. But she couldn’t keep something this big from them.
“Yes. Rainbow Dash. They no longer exist.” Rainbow Dash sulked. She couldn’t quite comprehend the idea of not existing. Nopony could, not even the princess. It wasn’t a concept they ever had to think about. Life always seemed to just go on. Celestia had done a good job of keeping her kingdom secure. The more she thought about it the more she realized that her world was actually quite sheltered from this kind of evil. Fluttershy couldn’t take much more of this depression.
“Um, Princess, I think I am going to go check on Twilight, if that’s okay with you.” Celestia was hesitant.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, she isn’t handling this well and she said she wanted to be alone.” Fluttershy walked out of the room anyway.
“I’ll be gentle.” With that she left and the rest of the group just watched.
“I hope she is okay.” Rarity said. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like for her…” Celestia used her magic to pick up the fragments of glass that were littered along the wall from her episode earlier. With a bright glow she fused the glass back together and poured herself yet another glass.
The room fell silent. Celestia tended to her drink and the rest of the ponies were lost in their new knowledge. Applejack and Pinkie moved to the couch, Rarity took a seat next to them and Rainbow joined Celestia at the bar.
“Pour me a glass too…” She said quietly. The princess smiled weakly.
“Careful now. This stuff will kill yah if you grow too fond of it.” Dash sighed.
“What else is new?”
Moments later the thumps of hoof-falls could be heard on Twilight’s stairs from the other room. Fluttershy was running down the wooden stairs as fast as she could manages. The clopping stopped for a moment and a light thump could be heard as Fluttershy slipped while trying to turn at the bottom of the staircase.
“Shit.” She muttered under her breath as she quickly got up and ran into the room with the rest of the ponies.
“Fluttershy, what’s the hurry, are you ok?” Dash was worried for her friend. Fluttershy knew something was wrong and she cut straight to the chase.
“Twilight isn’t in her room.” She looked with remorse towards Celestia. “She’s gone.”