Chapters I can still hear their voices. It’s been a long, long time, but I still do. When I hear them, I hear their laughter, and I feel their kindness. I remember their loyalty, generosity and their honesty. Every day I hear their voices, and I am reminded of the magic of our friendship, and how powerful it was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Twilight Sparkle,” a gentle voice called to her. Distracted from her journaling, she lifted her quill off her paper, and she looked ahead of her into the mirror on the back of her wooden desk. Looking at her reflection in the mirror with gold trim, she made eye contact with herself, looking deeply into her own mysterious violet eyes. Her lavender wings and coat, and her dark striped mane were beautifully groomed and styled, as if for a very important occasion.
Turning around to the voice that spoke her name, there at the open door of her throne room entered a white alicorn, with dancing rainbow hair that glistened brightly like the morning sky, and the mark on her flank that resembled the sun. The tiara upon her head signified her role as Princess, and the royal golden shoes worn on her hooves clinked with each step into the room.
“Oh, hello, Celestia,” Twilight said quietly and closed her journal. The cover of her personal book was the same shade of purple as her coat, and on the face of the book was a magenta six-cornered star, with five white sparks surrounding it—her cutie mark. With a short sigh, she turned back to her mentor.
Celestia briefly looked into Twilight’s eyes, then trailed her eyes to her student’s tiara that was sitting on the edge of her desktop. She exhaled through her nostrils and looked back to Twilight, expressing her concerns for the lonely, younger Princess.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Since the last of my friends passed away, I don’t wear my tiara as often as Celestia would appreciate I did. But without my friends, I don’t always feel like I am worthy to wear it. Since their passing, the gems on their necklaces that represented their elements became one with my Tiara of Magic, from then on making it become known as the Tiara of Harmony. I am no longer the bearer of Magic, but the holder of all of the elements.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Twilight,” Celestia murmured to the seemingly saddened mare. Trotting closer to her, she tilted her head, and her ears folded back. “You know, today is a pretty big day for you. You should be wearing your tiara.”
The younger alicorn shrugged, and turned to eye the crown of gold sitting on her desk. The light reflected off of the six gems on the front of the tiara, producing a brilliant effect of sparkling colours. “I don’t know,” she muttered. “I know that today is the one-hundredth anniversary of my Coronation, but I don’t feel I should be celebrating it without the five ponies who stood along side me to get me to this point. And I don’t feel right wearing my tiara.”
“Come now, Twilight. You know they would want you to.”
“Maybe,” Twilight sighed and turned back to Celestia. “But still, it just doesn’t feel right. How can I rule a kingdom in the name of friendship when I don’t have any friends?”
Celestia shrugged and tried to grin to ease the troubled mare’s tension. “Well, I’m your friend, am I not?”
Looking into Celestia’s violet eyes, Twilight let out a long and impatient sigh. “Our friendship is different.” She lifted a hoof. “You’re my teacher.”
The elder exhaled through her nostrils, and her eyes wandered as she nodded her head. “Listen, I understand your pain, Twilight,” she solemnly said, and she stepped up closer to the younger mare and put a wing over her shoulder to express her concerns. “I’ve been around quite a bit longer than yourself. Trust me, I know.”
Twilight winced in response, and her eyes wandered. “You often say, that every life has a reason for its existence.”
“Right?” Celestia lifted her wing off Twilight’s shoulder and stepped back, awaiting Twilight to add to her point.
“So, then why must they end?” the student questioned, “Why must everypony around us die over time?”
Celestia looked down into Twilight’s eyes and exhaled deeply. She searched for an answer, but had a hard time finding one. By the look on the student’s face, Celestia could see that Twilight was about to pop the question that she often brought up. “Why did you turn me into a Princess?”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Celestia often goes on talking about how one day I will take her place and rule all of Equestria on my own. I mean, that doesn’t make sense. She can’t die, so why would she need somepony else to replace her? I can understand her job must have gotten old, but does she have to rest all of her responsibilities on me alone? I need answers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Among all other ponies in Equestria, why did you choose me to suffer through immortality?” Twilight continued questioning her mentor in a more serious tone. “You know what it’s like yourself to live forever. And you’ve admitted it to me countless times that it’s a hard, long and agonizing life to live like that. So, why did you put the burdens of living forever on me, too? Why is it that—”
“Twilight,” Celestia interrupted her student during her ramble of questions, lifting a hoof to halt her rant. “It was your destiny to become a Princess. You know that.”
Twilight felt something switch inside of her, and her left eye twitched when she heard Celestia’s response. Having heard that same, pointless reason, time and time again, she had enough. She needed to know. “Why is this my destiny?” she rambled on, “What do you possibly need me for?” She pointed a hoof at her mentor. “You can do anything! You don’t need me! Day and night, you raise and lower the sun. You rule thousands upon thousands of equines, and you make it all look so easy! And here, all I can do is sit around and observe you.” Putting her hoof down, she leaned forward. “But I can’t be like you, Celestia! I could never do the things you do, even if you train me for a thousand years, how could I ever take your place? And why? ” she asked again, then raised her voice. “Because what if I don’t want to?!”
Celestia found it difficult to respond. There was a long moment of silence, and while Twilight’s expression grew more serious, it was evident that Celestia at this point was trying to resist from crying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Why me? Why couldn’t she have chosen a different pony? What is so important about me that she had to take my old, normal life away, and turn me into an alicorn like her? I don’t know as much as she does, but I do know, that reversing what she did to me cannot be done. I am doomed to stay this way for eternity, and that is what hurts the most.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Saddened by Twilight’s emotions, Celestia lowered her head, and her ears fell back. It was like she wanted to say something to her, but painfully kept it to herself. Seeing that she was hurt, Twilight raised a brow and trotted up close to Celestia.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t escape the way I feel about all this.”
“I know,” Celestia murmured, and she looked back up to Twilight, tears dripping from her eyes and down her cheeks. “And I’m sorry, too.”
Twilight’s ears fell back in response to Celestia’s apology and cries. She tilted her head in question.
“I know that you would have preferred to be asked whether or not you wanted to become a Princess,” her mentor exclaimed, “However, there are reasons behind what I did. Reasons I’ve been afraid to tell you since the very beginning.”
The younger mare blinked, and she lifted her head. “Reasons? What kind of reasons?”
There was a quiet moment between them. It was clear that Celestia was very hesitant to tell her what she was about to say. After that moment to collect her words, Celestia let out an anxious sigh, and she began her explanation. “Understand, Twilight, that there is a great purpose for your eternal existence. For if you did not become the Princess of Harmony, Equestria would cease to exist .” She stood tall as she explained herself. “On the day of your first coronation when I turned you into an alicorn, I did not ask you whether or not you wanted to become a Princess, for if I did, you would have declined. For the fate of Equestria, I had no choice.”
“Celestia, what do you mean you had no choice?” Twilight squinted at the crying goddess.
Exhaling deeply through her nostrils, Celestia lowered her head. “I had always feared this day of prophecy,” she murmured quietly, “The day you would learn this truth; the day of your one-hundredth coronation; the day… you begin the fulfilment of your true destiny as the Princess of Harmony.”
“Day of prophecy?” The younger alicorn was beginning to feel uneasy about what Celestia was talking about. “Whose prophecy? What destiny?”
“I had always hoped this day wouldn’t come so soon,” Celestia said, and she gestured to the contents on Twilight’s desk. “I need to show you something. I want you to bring your tiara; it is important.”
“Uh… but what about the coronation ceremony?” Twilight looked to her balcony, acknowledging the many ponies waiting for her to come out and make a speech.
“It can wait.”
Twilight was first struck as confused, and she didn’t know what to think. “Uhm… Well, alright.” She turned to her desk, and eyed the golden tiara on her desktop. Feeling nervous, she trotted to her desk like she was told, and with her levitation magic, she picked the crown up. Levitating it close to her, she looked at it for a long moment, and rather than placing it on her head, she held it under her wing. Celestia sighed when she did this, but didn’t say anything against it. Twilight then looked down to her journal, and she picked that up as well. She held it under her other wing and turned back to her mentor. “Where are we going?”
“In time, you will see,” Celestia solemnly replied, and she turned to exit the throne room. Twilight wasn’t certain what to think about this, but she followed along, and together they wandered the castle halls.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What is my destiny? A long time ago, I thought I knew. But now I’m not so sure. Sometimes I hardly even know who I am anymore.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trotting beside Celestia through the castle, Twilight kept her ears anxiously low. There was a lot of silence, but Twilight could tell from Celestia’s eyes that there wasn’t much that she could really say to her. What she was about to show her, she could tell was going to be big, and possibly very secret. “Where are we going? Is anypony else going to be there?” the nervous alicorn asked.
Celestia shook her head. “Everypony is at the coronation, expecting you to be there.”
Twilight turned her neck to glance behind her. “Are you sure this can’t wait, Celestia?”
“They can’t know where you are,” Celestia exclaimed. “That’s why they are there.”
“Wait…” Twilight looked back up to her. “You’re using the ceremony as a distraction to keep everypony else away?”
Celestia nodded. “This is for you, and for you alone.” Moving on, she then made a turn to their right down a corridor in the hallway. Twilight acknowledged the turn they took, and she began to feel uneasy. This route through the castle only lead to one door at the end—a door that she was told was forbidden, even for herself.
“Why are you taking me to the Door of Prophecy…?” she questioned her mentor.
The elder Princess remained silent until they approached the tall stone doorway. The markings on the door were similar to the designs on the vault where Celestia kept the Elements of Harmony hidden many years ago. The same type of door with a round keyhole in the center, which would open only to Celestia when her horn was inserted as the key.
Side by side, the two alicorns stood before the Door of Prophecy. Celestia turned to looked down to Twilight, who then looked up at her in response.
“Nopony knows what is behind this door, Twilight,” she murmured and looked back up at the tall stone slab. “Not even myself.”
Twilight raised a brow at that, and she grew more curious about it.
“The last time this door had been opened was a thousand years ago,” Celestia added. “One hundred years after I banished my sister, during the days when we were still building Canterlot.” She winced and looked back down to her anxious student. “Many have attempted to open this door over the years due to the untold mysteries within, some even going to great lengths as to break it down. But she built this door to be impassible, and indestructible.”
Twilight blinked. “She? ”
Celestia briefly paused before she nodded. “My mother,” she revealed.
“Your mother?” the younger alicorn questioned her, surprised that she would bring the subject up. “Celestia, you’ve never really said anything about her.”
“She was very mysterious,” her mentor exclaimed. “She was always so busy ensuring our world was at a balanced state, while she had Luna and I to lead the ponies together.” She gestured to the ancient door. “This door was the last thing she has ever created. And when she finished it, I was the last pony she spoke to… when she entered through it, and locked it behind her.”
Twilight raised a brow at Celestia’s little tale.
“One thousand years ago to this day, she locked herself behind this door. And she told me, that there was only one pony who would be able to open it again.” She solemnly looked down to Twilight. “She said, that the pony of prophecy would become one with the Elements of Harmony, and she would become my closest friend.” Twilight’s ears perked in response to that. “And she also told me, that I would know simply by instinct, who the pony of prophecy is.”
Mixed thoughts rushed through Twilight as she tried to take in what Celestia was telling her. “So… you’re suggesting that you believe I am this pony your mother spoke to you about?” She squinted and tilted her head. “Doesn’t it even occur to you that her prophecy could be wrong? You can’t just look into the future and know exactly how it’s going to happen; she couldn’t have just chosen me when I didn’t even exist yet!”
In response to Twilight’s rant, Celestia just softly snickered, and she shook her head. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle… You always seem to believe you know the answer if there is no explanation.”
“What?” The student just winced in response.
“My mother has done greater things than anypony would ever know.” She had a proud grin on her face, which then slowly faded to a saddened expression. Her ears folded back, and she leaned down to Twilight.
“Celestia?”
A gentle sob, and Celestia wrapped a wing around her. Twilight was confused by her embrace, and she felt worried that there was more to this than what Celestia had explained. “Twilight Sparkle, I am going to miss you,” she whimpered.
“Wait… what?” Twilight’s eyes opened up wide, and she pulled away from her embrace. Looking into the crying eyes of her mentor, she lowered her ears, and felt her heart racing. She was frightened; Celestia wouldn’t joke around like this. “W-what do you mean you’ll miss me?”
There was a short pause, and Celestia’s silent weeping could be heard echoing in the hall. “This is your destiny,” she said in a fluttering voice, crying with mixed emotions—both happy and sad. “I know you don’t believe you are destined to be the Princess that you are, but I need you to know now… I am so very proud of you, and who you have become. I’ve always been proud.” She turned to face the door, and she gestured to it. “I cannot say how I know you are the pony of my mother’s prophecy, but it your destiny to walk through this door.” She turned back to Twilight and nodded. “Use your horn—it will open to you alone. You shall see.”
Twilight nibbled her bottom lip. She was now more nervous than ever. Turning to the Door of Prophecy, she just stared at it. So many mixed thoughts were rushing through her mind, and she was seemingly frozen at her hooves. What if the door opened? What if she was this pony of prophecy that Celestia was talking about?
The possibilities were frightening to Twilight, but she felt she needed to know for sure. She gulped a lump of air, and very slowly stepped up to it. Celestia watched her, and after a brief hesitation, Twilight stuck her horn into the keyhole of the stone slab. Almost instantly, there was a bright flash of light that emanated from the keyhole, and a pattern of illuminated lines lit up the face of the door, brightening the vicinity with glistening colours. Twilight was quick to step away from the door, watching it in awe. Her eyes widened as the castle floors began to rumble, and then after moments of nervous waiting, the door very slowly moved upward.
Celestia watched the door open as memories flashed through her mind from a thousand years ago, when her mother first opened it. Slowly rising into the ceiling, the stone slab gradually revealed the room of mystery beyond it. When the slab was fully opened, it stopped with a loud, heavy thud that echoed through the castle halls, and then the bright spectrum lights faded.
Twilight’s eyes were wide from all the commotion. On the other side of the door, there was a short hall with a red carpet extending down to the end. On either side of the hall of white stone were decorated drapes of lavender and magenta. At the end of the hall was a marble stand, and there was a book placed on top.
Her eyes were wide with overwhelming curiosity and nervousness. Biting her bottom lip, she slowly stepped onward. Walking through the doorway that she was disallowed to enter until this day made her feel a wave of forbidden shivers rushing down her spine.
“I cannot say what journey lies ahead of you,” the sun goddess sighed uneasily. Twilight turned to her in question before she kept going. “All I can tell you, is that all of the reasons why I had to turn you into an alicorn, are in that book.”
The nervous student turned back to the book on the pedestal, and she stepped closer to it. She felt her heart skipping beats the closer she approached it. She was only a few feet from it now, and she seemed to be pacing slower as she pressed forward. And when she was close enough to get a good look at the book’s cover, she felt her heart leaping with fright. Tears filled her eyes, and she let out a weep of horror.
“What?? What is this??” she whimpered hysterically. The book on the pedestal was purple, and it had her very own cutie mark on the face of the cover. From under her wing, she lifted her own personal journal up that she brought with her in an aura of magic. She held her journal up close to the one on the stand, and her jaw hung open. She was absolutely terrified at this point. “This… this can’t be the same book!” The similarities between the two books were too accurate. She had to keep eyeing them both side by side before she could believe it. The only obvious difference between this book and her own was that the one on the pedestal appeared to look far, far older. Its colour was clearly faded, and the pages appeared to be dull and crumpled from age, but every detail that she herself designed on the front cover was there.
She turned to Celestia, scared, and the elder on the other side of the door could only return a very sad, guilty expression. Her mentor could express no words for the way she felt. With their final glances at each other, Celestia lowered her head, and bowed respectfully to Twilight. From the look on her face, Twilight could sense that her teacher was hiding something she couldn’t bear to tell her. “Ce…Celestia?”
Then in that distant moment of silence from each other, the stone door fell back down from the ceiling, slamming shut with a loud and frightening thud. Sealed off from her mentor, Twilight panicked and galloped to the sealed doorway, dropping her journal and her tiara to the floor when she did. “Celestia!!!” Ramming herself into the door, she slammed it a few times with her hooves. “No, no!!!” Backing away from the door, she made the desperate attempt to cast a spell at it from her horn. The blast of magic exploded on contact with the sealed slab of stone. To her misfortune, nothing happened; not even a scratch nor a dent. In a panic, she made the attempt to teleport to the other side. However, her teleportation spell wouldn’t even ignite in this room; she could sense a spell barrier within the enchanted walls that prevented it. “Nooo…” Twilight broke into a sob, and she lowered to her haunches on the red carpet, looking up at the door before her. She didn’t have to ask anypony what exactly had just happened, but she knew; if the door was impassible and indestructible like Celestia said it was, she was trapped here.
The room was now darkened with the doorway sealing her off from Celestia. There was only one source of light in this room, and it was being cast from behind her. Her ears twitched, and she slowly stood up as she turned around, gritting her teeth from the trauma. The source of light appeared to be coming from a glowing stone of light on the ceiling, that cast its spotlight down upon the mysterious book on the pedestal.
“Celestia…” she murmured to herself in an agonizing voice. “W-what do I do?”
Nervously chewing on her bottom lip, she stared at the book placed on the marble stand. Taking a breath to try and calm herself, she slowly approached it. She couldn’t help but feel frightened at the book that resembled so identically to her personal journal. What could possibly be inside?
Standing over the book beneath the spotlight, she stared down at it with immense hesitation. Taking in a breath, she decided she should read it; she needed to. Lifting her hoof, she placed it upon the book, and very slowly flipped it to the first page. Her ears folded back when she uncovered the first page, and she let out a whimper. “Oh, goddess…” It was an exact duplicate of her journal that she had only started writing in this morning. On the inside of the front cover of the book, it had her name on it in her very own handwriting. “But, this… this doesn’t make sense.”
However, she acknowledged that her first log of the book was torn out. Currently in her own journal, she had only written the one entry that fit on the first page. In place of the missing page, she could see more writing—an entry that she didn’t write herself, but the handwriting style was significantly her own. This entry in the ancient journal that she began to read appeared to be a message. And it sank in hard when she realized it was a message written just for her. She grit her teeth and silently whimpered when she read it to herself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hello, Twilight Sparkle.
I understand that you are quite afraid right now… Sitting beneath a dim spotlight, locked in a room, alone, with nothing in it but this ancient book, your custom personal journal, and the Tiara of Harmony.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight briefly paused to turn and looked down upon her journal and tiara that were carelessly dropped on the floor earlier. She grit her teeth from nervousness and turned back to continue reading in the book on the pedestal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Look up, ahead of you, Twilight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
She blinked a few times, and did as the book directed. Looking in front of her, she witnessed herself in the face of a mirror on the wall. She could see the fear in her own crying eyes reflecting back at her. And the longer she looked at herself, the sicker she felt to think she could call herself a Princess. With a heavy sigh, she looked back down to the book.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I understand you see yourself as a broken purpose. A pony who believes she has no destiny. You see nothing in that mirror. You’re no longer honest with yourself, unable to hear the joyful laughter, and you try to forget the kindness from those who generously offered their loyal friendship to you so long ago. You try to let it go, because of all the hurt, and the sufferings of being immortal, knowing you cannot die and meet them again in an afterlife. And so you refuse to wear your tiara that now contain their elements they have passed on to you, because it haunts you, day and night, as a memory you wish you could forget.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight could feel her tears running down her cheeks as she read her life story summed up into just a few sentences.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You are more important than you realize. You are the Princess of Harmony; Pony of Prophecy. There is a reason you had to become an alicorn. If you did not become the Princess that you are; if you did not immortally step through that door… Equestria would forever cease to exist. There would be no magic, no life, no earth nor sky…
Your true destiny must be fulfilled, or nopony will have ever seen the light. Sadly I cannot say what it is your tasks ahead may be, for it is something you must discover on your own.
When you are ready to accept the heavy responsibilities that lie ahead, you may turn this journal to the next page. But before you do, you must know this…
Your mission will be hard; it will be lonely; and it will be long. You will find moments in your life where you will feel it is impossible to go on. But one thing is for certain… In the end, you shall succeed in discovering what your purpose is, and understand what the gift of life truly means.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There was a powerful hesitation. Twilight could feel herself sweat from reading those last few words on the first page of this mysterious journal. She thought for a moment that she could walk away from this book, and think about returning to it later. However, that would be nearly pointless. She was trapped here until a decision was made, and even then, would she still be stuck in this room? How was this journal going to help her?
Prepared or not, Twilight was curious what was written for her on the following page. She wasn’t sure what sorts of responsibilities the book was referring to. She could feel a great resistance in herself from turning the page. After all that has happened thus far, she feared that the book could be enchanted.
“Oh, Celestia, why did you leave me in here…?” she murmured to herself as she turned her head to face the sealed doorway. Chewing her bottom lip, she nervously turned back to the book beneath the spotlight, and stared at those last two paragraphs.
Taking in a deep breath, she placed her hoof upon the book, and prepared herself to flip it to the next page. Gritting her teeth from the suspense on what she may possibly read on the following page, she turned it over. The moment the next page was exposed, a blinding light flashed up at her from the paper. “AH!!” She stepped away from the enchanted book, frightened. She watched in both awe and fear as the book rose up from the pedestal. “W-what’s going on??”
She watched as the pages of the book—one by one, from front to back—magically tore out of the journal and spun around in the air, creating a funnel of blinding paper. Lightning cast from the twister of ancient literature, and an illusion of her cutie mark appeared in the center, which shined bright as day. Then a powerful wind suddenly began to drag her, pulling her helplessly toward the whitehole. “What?! Ah!! Celestia, help me!!” Twilight screamed as loud as she could, scraping her hooves at the rug in the attempt to keep herself from being thrown into the twister. She watched as both her personal journal and her Tiara of Harmony that were left lying on the floor hurtled toward the vortex of clashing lightning. They were both sucked in, and vanished in thunderous flashes of light.
“No!! No, no no!!” The wind proved to be too powerful, and she slipped, being hurled like a feather straight into the twister. “NOOOOO!!! AAAH!!” Then, in an explosion of blinding light when she came in contact with the center of the whitehole, she disappeared in a flash, and the spinning pages of the ancient book imploded into the center of the vortex. The room was left empty and dark, with a cloud of rippling sparkles of dust that slowly descent back to the floor.
Everything was dark. She felt weightless, like a feather drifting through the sky. Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight regained consciousness, dizzily trying to find her balance. Though, there didn’t appear to be any; her hooves were suspended in open air, and she found herself to be floating. “Wha… What’s going on??” Her eyes jolted open, and she spun around where she was hovering, entirely clueless where she was.
Surrounding her was absolute darkness. It was as if she was floating in space. However, there were no stars, no galaxies, no planets, no sun nor moon… In all directions, there was nothing but a hazy white mist within her vicinity, and beyond that, was endless black.
“Celestia?” Her whimpering voice echoed back at her. “Goddess, where am I?! Oh, please let this be a dream. What is happening?” She was frightened by the eternal darkness. There was nothing anywhere. Just the white fog, and the darkness. Turning to view all directions with no way of telling what was up or down, she witnessed something floating around in the distance, not too far from her.
Clenching her teeth, she made the attempt to push herself toward it. Flapping her alicorn wings to give herself some momentum, she slowly hovered in its direction. When she was close enough, she could see what it was—the Tiara of Harmony.
Reaching out to grab it, she flapped her wings a little harder to increase her speed. Until, she was finally close enough to capture it in her grasp. In that brief moment, she found herself holding onto it closely to her chest, as if it was all she had.
“Where am I…?” she cried quietly to herself, feeling a tremendous loneliness in this open void. “Hello??” she called out into the darkness, but the only response she received was her echo. “Anypony out there?!”
Her ears folded back from the emptiness and the lack of answers. In the distance, she saw another floating object. Gritting her teeth, she flapped her wings in the attempt to float toward it. Getting closer, she could see that it was her personal journal that had been sucked into the vortex with her tiara. Reaching out for it, she got a grip of the book, and held onto it.
Nibbling her bottom lip, she nervously opened her journal. The entry she wrote this morning was still intact. Frightfully gritting her teeth, she turned it to the second page; it appeared to be blank. Flipping through the rest of the book, the remainder of her journal was empty. She tended to feel at least a little relieved that nothing freaky was written inside her journal at this point that she didn’t put down herself. Closing her journal and tucking it under her wing, something else caught her eye that was only a few feet in front of her. It appeared to be a page of the ancient book that formed the vortex that sent her here. The paper floating around was old and wrinkled.
Holding onto her tiara in one arm, she reached out for the ancient piece of paper with her other hoof. Clinging onto it, she pulled it close to herself, and she held the torn page to read it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
First rule of your destiny, Twilight… Do not write in your empty journal; not until this rule must be broken. I cannot explain to you when that will be. All I will say, is that when the time comes, you will simply just know, and what must be written at that time, you will understand.
These torn pages of the Book of Prophecy that cast you here are floating about aimlessly in this open void of nothingness. Over time, you will discover them, one page at a time. I cannot explain how, nor when. All I can say, is you will know what it all means when the time is right.
Consider these ancient floating pages of the Book of Prophecy my way of communicating with you. I will assist you how I am able. Fate will cast the paper through the open void, and each page will find you when you need to read them. And again, don’t ask how, nor why. At this point, you do not need to understand. But you will.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After reading the contents of the piece of paper she found floating around her, she took in a deep breath, trying to absorb the information. She could tell that by the way it was written, it was trying to put her mind at ease, that everything will turn out how it is meant to. But it still didn’t help; she was scared regardless. Scared of the dark; terrified of the loneliness. One thing about it that bothered her, was the fact it didn’t answer the questions she wanted answered. Where even was she? What is she meant to do in this open void?
Without a proper place to store the ancient piece of paper she collected, she slipped the loose page inside her journal for safe keeping. Hanging onto her journal and her tiara, she trailed her vision to different edges of the void, and she slowly drifted through the mist and darkness; alone, as if she felt forgotten.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hours went by, and those hours turned into days. The lone alicorn drifted aimlessly through the open void, with no further answers to guide her, and without knowledge to understand her destiny. Every now and then, she would fall asleep, and she would dream. Memories of her home in Equestria; memories of her friends… It didn’t take her long, and she could feel her mind drifting away like the rest of herself in this endless void of black.
All she was able to do to keep herself sane, was read her entry and that ancient piece of paper, over and over again. She felt the urge to do something else; write something, perhaps. But, if she was to fulfil her destiny, she would have to leave her journal blank as per request from the mysterious ancient literature that explained it as a rule. She thought it was absurd, but regardless, she avoided doing so. There wasn’t really anything worth writing about anyway. Not out here in the center of absolute nothing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Days had turned into weeks… Many hours of agonizing loneliness had now passed, and many outbursts of sobs echoed through the void from the floating Princess. She had no telling of time, so she counted the number of times she fell asleep and woke again.
“Celestia!!” she shouted out into the void, “Please! Find me!! I need you!!” She hiccuped and sobbed hard, and her cries echoed back at her. “I need your help!!!” Though she tried, she knew her mentor could not hear her, and never would. But still, she kept trying. Day after day of forlorn aimless drifting, she cried, and she screamed. “Where am I?! Why am I here?!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Counting her forty-sixth night’s sleep, her eyes slowly opened as she left a dream. It was a beautiful dream about the old days when her friends were still with her. At this point, she was almost mistaking her dreams for this reality. This had become the nightmare she wanted so desperately to wake up from.
Nibbling her bottom lip, she held up her tiara that she held onto so tightly, even in her slumber, and she looked at it closely. She felt as though she could see her friends in the reflections of the coloured gems on her crown. In the reflection of the cyan balloon-shaped gem, she could see Pinkie Pie rolling around in the summer grass, giggling and playing without a worry in the world. In the ruby shaped like a lightning bolt, she could see Rainbow Dash racing through the sky, clearing the clouds with her mighty agility. Rarity was seen in the violet diamond shaped jewel, stitching dresses for all her friends. In the reflection of the orange apple shaped gem, there was Applejack, working as hard as ever on her farming and apple bucking. And within the pink butterfly gem, she watched Fluttershy caring for the animals at her cottage.
Looking into the tiara, she could sense their presence. Though they weren’t with her, she was so alone and desperate for somepony—anypony—that she could almost feel their existence… within herself. Her eyes slowly opened wider with tears the longer she looked into the face of her tiara.
She didn’t know why, or how, but she knew she had to keep believing, somehow, that there was a reason for her being here. The simple thought of her friends overwhelmed her with sudden warmth. And for the first time in a long time, she smiled.
Turning her crown around to position it forward, Twilight held it above her. And then slowly, proudly, she placed it upon her head. She then closed her eyes, and imagined herself being with them, and she cried, happily. Memories at this point were all she had. And these memories were so blissful and beautiful, she began to feel an appreciation for the little things again.
When she opened her eyes again, she witnessed a piece of ancient paper floating around before her. Out of an act of desperation, she pushed herself to float toward it, flapping her wings to gain momentum. Reaching out for the page of the Book of Prophecy, she snatched it out of the void, and held it up to herself to read it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Good for you, Twilight. They would be proud of you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight raised a brow. That was the only thing written on the page. She knew it must have referred to her putting the tiara on her head. She knew she should be disappointed that there wasn’t any further text aside from that, but for some reason, she didn’t seem to mind. She smiled and put the newly discovered piece of paper with the other one, slipping it into her journal. It was enough to inspire her to keep going.
With that, she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander again, thinking of those golden memories that she had tried so hard to forget since her friends’ passing. But right now, those memories were all she had to hang on to. Keeping her eyes closed, she allowed their voices to ring inside her mind, as she drifted slowly through the eternal, empty void.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Waking up for the ninety-second time in the void, still no answers came to her. She twitched from the immense loneliness, and she started to cry again.
“Oh, Celestia…” she silently called out into the darkness. “I really miss Equestria. I miss all those familiar faces.” She gasped and threw her hooves upon her crowned head. “What am I doing out here?! I feel like I’m going to go insane!”
Though she didn’t hear a response, in the distance, she witnessed a floating piece of paper. Her eyes jolted open, and she pushed hard to fly toward it. Flapping her wings, Twilight desperately went for the ancient page of prophecy. “Oh, please, help me!!” she cried and reached out for it. Snatching the paper out of the air, she was quick to read it, in hopes that it could tell her something useful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Keep it together, Twilight. The answers will come. Look deep within yourself, and in time, you will see what you never could before. You’re not going to find your purpose if you continue to keep asking what it is. Because, that is something you must discover yourself. And if you are going to discover it, you have to first believe in it.
I know you’re in pain from the loneliness. Just know this… Your friends are there for you. Spiritually, they watch you, proudly, as you slowly learn what your destiny is. You know that warm sensation you felt when you first wore your tiara? That is them, reaching out to you, calling you. They want you to know you’re not alone in all that darkness. Though you can’t see them, they can see you, and they believe in you.
You just have to try and listen, and believe. Stay calm, be true, and smile for them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight’s glistening eyes wandered and she went deep in thought after reading that. Lifting her journal, she slipped the piece of paper inside the book for safe keeping with the others she had collected. Placing her hooves upon her tiara, she closed her eyes. There was a gentle warmth in her heart, and it made her smile.
“I can feel them…” she whispered to herself. Opening her eyes, she felt renewed. She wasn’t certain why, but she could begin to feel a sense of responsibility wearing the Tiara of Harmony. And she wasn’t sure how, but she knew that there had to be a reason for her being out here. Despite all the dark and the emptiness, there had to be a purpose for this open void. During this epiphany, there was one thing that she knew was for certain. If for some reason she was going to spend eternity in this empty place, she wasn’t planning on doing absolutely nothing in it.
Determined, she began to focus. Illuminating her horn, she concentrated on her desired task. “I know you’re there,” she called out into the darkness. “I know you can hear me. It’s time the six of us used the Elements of Harmony again,” she exclaimed with royal authority. Then in that moment, the five gems upon her tiara glowed, and there was a humming noise of magic emanating from it.
“I don’t know what my destiny is, but with your help, I know anything can be possible!” she chanted out into the void, believing so strongly that they were listening to her. A grin of pride, and Twilight grit her teeth as she began to perform her spell. “Let’s do this together!” Her horn was bright as day, and her tiara was screaming of energy.
She pushed out as much magic as she could. More magic than she had ever conjured up in all her years. There was so much of it radiating from her horn, she could feel it burn, but that didn’t stop her. She pushed even harder.
“Come on!!” she yelled proudly of herself and her friends. “Let’s show each other what we can do together!! Let our spirits become one, and make the darkness tremble at our friendship!!”
An expanding radius of colourful electricity formed around her, and emanating from the spectrum of energy was a loud and constant crackle of thunder.
“AH!!” The Princess of Harmony winced from the painful sting of the energy. But she didn’t stop, and she kept pushing even harder, exceeding her limits beyond anything she would have ever believed she could go. “AAAAAAH!!!”
Then, among all the crackling thunder and particles of magic that flashed from her, there was a very loud bang . An explosion so overwhelmed with power that it made her feel as though she shook the universe, and a blinding light flooded the void in every direction. The ignition of her cast spell made her feel very weak and dizzy, and in the center of that blinding white light, Twilight fell out of consciousness.
“Twilight, we did it! ” she could hear a familiar voice echoing in the back of her subconscious mind. Twilight was in an odd state that she had never experienced before; she knew she wasn’t awake, but she could hear voices, as if she was on the brink of dreaming. That one voice; it was Pinkie Pie’s. Hearing it made her warmly smile in her sleep.
“Aw yeah! ” Rainbow Dash’s voice chanted to her. “Just like old times! ”
“We knew you had it in you, ” she heard Fluttershy’s calm voice, and it made Twilight feel at ease with herself.
“It’s great to have you back, darling! ” Rarity proudly spoke to her.
“Nothin’ can stop this herd! ” Applejack’s echoing voice exclaimed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Twilight kept hearing the voices of her friends. They comforted her, and cleansed her of her self doubt. And finally, she slowly opened her eyes. To her surprise, she found herself lying down on a surface of soot. Feeling the ground beneath her, she was quick to sit up. Her ears perked, and she turned her neck to examine her surroundings.
The grey, stone and dirt terrain she was sitting on spread far across each horizon. The sky was black as night, without a single star. With how lifeless and bare the place was, typically a pony would feel lost and scared. However, this wasn’t the case for Twilight. To her, it was a relief; a miracle to be standing on land again.
Her jaw hung open at the mountainous sight. “Did… did I do this?” she murmured to herself in question, admiring the landscape that had appeared from nothing. Her eyes trailed slowly across the world that she had created with the spiritual assistance of her friends, using the harnessed elements of the Tiara of Harmony.
Floating downward from above the dumbfounded alicorn, a new page from the Book of Prophecy gracefully swayed through the air, and gently rested at her hooves. She looked down and saw it there. When she reached down to get it, there was a rushing wind that picked up the paper, and blew it away. “Oh, no!” She spread her wings and chased it.
Soaring through the air in pursuit of the fourth page of the Book of Prophecy, it twisted and turned around corridors of rocks. Flying low to the ground, Twilight nearly crashed into the sides of these tall posts of stone as she swerved between them. The paper then lifted skyward with the wind. Twilight grit her teeth and ascent after it with her forelimbs reaching out to grab it.
Snatching it out of the air, she idly hovered there and took a relieving breath. High above the grey landscape, Twilight held it up to read it, eagerly awaiting what the next page of the Book of Prophecy had to say.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Look below you at what you have done through the magic of friendship. You see, Twilight, your friends are still alive—they live in you. Your friendship will always be united; death can never separate your bond.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight looked below at the world from her elevation at the world she had created with the Elements of Harmony. Her eyes wandered. Though it was grey and dull, it held so much mystery, Twilight could see promise in it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The world you have created is only a mere demonstration of your power. And yet, in the name of Friendship, you are capable of so much more, to an unfathomable degree.
It’s time to do your part now, Twilight. You know what you must do. It’s time to be the Princess of Harmony.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After reading that page, Twilight could feel a sense of pride. Carefully, the lone alicorn slipped the paper in between the pages of her journal to keep it safe. Glancing at all the far corners of each horizon, she began to envision what it would be like if it was anything like Equestria—green plantlife, sunny blue skies, singing birds… living ponies.
The endless possibilities inspired the Princess. Her mysterious eyes slowly widened, and she fell deep into thought and wonder. Looking up at the black, starless void beyond her newborn world, she slowly furrowed her eyes, and she frowned with determination. Gritting her teeth, she lit up her horn, and began chanting out into the darkness.
“Pinkie Pie! Applejack! Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! Rarity!” she called out the names of her friends into the darkness. “I know you can all hear me!” A tear trickled from her eye, and she leaned forward, proudly and strong. “Let our elements unite again!” She pointed a hoof at the world she created, and streaked it across the land to gesture at everything. “Let our friendship shine over this empty place! It’s time to put the stars in the sky!”
With her intentions announced loudly, expressing no doubt, she pointed her horn and tiara skyward. Concentrating hard, her horn illuminated brighter. Then her tiara began to hum.
“Yes, that’s it!” she shouted to the open void proudly, “Let’s give it all we’ve got! And no holding back!” Clenching her teeth, she pushed her magic, and sparks began to fly from her horn. The gems on the Tiara of Harmony once again lit up with colour. Sparks of energy emanated from her body, and she continued to push harder. Wincing from the immense power, she kept pushing.
“Focus!” she yelled, “Concentrate!” She cringed from the pain and had a hard time keeping her head up. “F-focus!!” Feeling herself struggle, she began to limply lose strength, and in the midst of her weakening state, she felt a warmth in her heart. Her eyes widened; it was as if she was lent a hoof, like she was lifted up.
“Don’t give in, you’re doing wonderful! Keep it up! ” Rarity’s voice rang in her mind.
“W…what?” Twilight turned her neck, and she could see transparent images of her friends holding her up beside her. Her eyes lit up with glistening tears, and she could express no words.
“We’re here for ya! ” Rainbow Dash chanted to her, holding her up with the others. They all had determined grins on their faces.
“Let’s do this, together! ” Applejack shouted.
Twilight nodded, and she nearly sobbed. “Yes!” she yelled, determined, and looked back up at the empty void, fully renewed. “Yes, we can do this! Let’s light up the darkness!”
“We believe you in! ” Fluttershy cheered her on with the others.
“Go, Twilight, go!!! ” Pinkie shouted.
The Tiara of Harmony illuminated brightly with a full spectrum of colour, and a vibrant humming sound of pure magic emanated from it. Her horn glowed bright and powerful, and determined to keep going, she pushed herself harder. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”
Screaming into the void, there was a sudden twinkle in the distant, empty void. That one speck of light in the black sky heightened her motivation to an extreme level. Pushing her magic harder, and with the help of her friends, more stars began to appear in the sky, one by one.
The Princess of Harmony had a wide grin on her face as she accomplished this feat with their help.
“Yeeeah!! ” Rainbow exclaimed proudly.
“Do more! ” Pinkie’s voice rang loudly.
More stars appeared with several pops, filling the sky with glowing sparkles. Brighter and brighter, the atmosphere began to light up the dark world below with its glittering twilight. Until the Princess of Harmony became too exhausted to push any further, and her beaming horn faded back to normal. Gasping for air from using so much energy, she descent to the ground to catch her breath. Then from the grey rocky floor, she looked up at the sky.
Yee’ha! That’s the way to do it! Good job! ” Applejack’s voice cheered for her.
“It looks fabulous, darling! ” Rarity said with excitement. “They’re like diamonds in the sky!”
Admiring the work she had done with their help, she grinned happily at the beautiful starlit sky. Slowly, the world she was designing was coming together to a way she could see fit.
You should get some rest, Twilight, ” Fluttershy suggested, “You look like you’ve drained nearly everything out of you.”
Twilight didn’t have to be told twice. She was exhausted. She turned where she stood to face her friends, but they were now nowhere to be seen. Their transparent images had disappeared.
“W-where?” She gasped and spun around, searching for them. “Where did you go?!” The lonely alicorn was frantic, and desperate for a friend. Beyond her, all she could see was the barren rock and grey soil. She could do as much to this world as she wanted; she could fill it with plants, she could fill it with colour. But even if she did all that and more, she knew in her heart it would never replace her old home.
Sitting on her flank, her ears fell back, and that forlorn feeling came back again. Slowly looking back up to the starlit sky, she exhaled a deep and desperate sigh. Gritting her teeth, she refused to believe that those images of her friends that she saw were mental displays in her head.
“My friends,” she cried to the heavens, “Thank you for everything. You’ve really always been there for me, and you’ve all given me so much to be thankful for.” Lowering her head, she murmured silently. “But… who am I going to share this place with?” Her eyes wandered, and tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “I’m all alone. I know you’re there for me, but I… I’m still, so alone…”
She waited for a response, but their voices were unheard. Her loneliness was simply because she was without a live, physical pony. How was she expected to live up to her destiny—whatever it was—without anypony to share it with? It was painful to think that the only thing she had to talk to were voices in her head emanating from hallucinated depictions of her friends. Although, it was nice to finally be able to speak to them again after so long, even if it was just through images projected from her mind.
Resting on her haunches, Twilight breathed silently through her nostrils, and she quietly cried to herself. Looking up and around her from where she lay, she cringed at her empty world. There was nopony there. It was just her. Every visible horizon had nothing in it. Just rocks and dirt, the wind, and the voices in her head.
Lifting her wing, she levitated her journal to lay it before her. With her magic, she opened it up, and pulled out the loose pages of the ancient book she found. Letting out a quiet exhale, she read the pages to herself again. Specifically the phrase, ‘keep it together.’
Her ears fell back, and she slipped the pages back into her journal, and closed it back up. Looking up again to the sparkling twilight in the sky, the alicorn took a long glance at her conjured atmosphere of stars. Her eyes wandered, and she lowered her head onto her front limbs.
Sleep was going to be difficult with so much turning in her mind. Trying to rest, she continued to think of her old home. She began to think of how peaceful it was, and realized just how much she had taken for granted. She had everything anypony could ever ask for in Equestria; a bright and beautiful kingdom, a cozy home, friends who loved her… But she was never happy there; she could never let go of her friends’ passing. She continued to neglect what she had, and never took her role as Princess seriously. Celestia made her a Princess for a reason. Why that was though, she still failed to understand.
“Ngh…” she muttered and stood up. “I’ll never sleep.”
Trying to take her mind off of everything, she took a walk. Trotting beneath the stars, she strolled through her grey, empty world. Turning her glances in every direction, she tried to appreciate the place. However, it was hard to. Nothing was alive; nothing was moving.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For hours she walked, trotting aimlessly in this empty land. She created this place; but why? Celestia had always taught her that there was a reason for her existence, and there was a reason for everything else that had ever happened.
“What is my purpose…?” she pondered to herself. “Through the magic of friendship I had created all this, but how am I supposed to appreciate it?” She stopped to look back to the sky. Then some tears began to trickle from her eyes again. She grit her teeth, and she sniffled to herself. Then, something twitched inside of her; something snapped and she furrowed her eyes, furiously. “Why did you send me out here all alone, Celestia?!” she screamed to the heavens, stomping a hoof into the dust beneath her. Her voice was angry, but she tried not to be. “Why…?” she whimpered and slumped to her haunches. Then uncontrollably, she began to sob. “There is nopony here! Nopony to share this with, nopony to be my friend!” She hiccuped and lowered her head into the dirt. “Nopony… to love me, nor to love.”
Gasping for air as she cried, she pounded the ground a couple times. “It’s not fair. Why is this happening to me? Why am I all alone out here?!” Gritting her teeth, she stood strong and angry, and she conjured some magic in her horn. Then she pointed to a rock, and fired a violet missile spell at it. “AAAHH!!” The spell struck the boulder, and it exploded into rubble. “I can’t take this anymore! I’m going to go insane out here!” She turned where she stood, and continued to shriek at the heavens. “Wha… what am I here for? Who am I here for?!” Spinning in place, she lurked at every horizon, looking for something significant. There had to be something that wasn’t nothing. “What is out here for me?!” She looked back up to the stars. “Talk to me!” she yelled to her friends, “Please, tell me! If you’re really, really out there, do something!” She let a long and frightened weep. “I’m scared! I’m so scared! I-I don’t want to eternally be alone out here!”
Turning her head to look through her tear-filled eyes, she searched for signs. For something; for anything. Even another page of the Book of Prophecy would be something, but there was nothing. Panicking as she spun where she stood in a desperate search, she suddenly halt where she was. Before her, a few meters away, was a very unique rock. It was the boulder she had shot with her spell; it had crumbled away into the shape… of a small pony.
It wasn’t perfect; in fact it had many jagged edges. But the outline… there were the legs, there was a its head with ears and a snout, and all its other significant contents were together in one beautifully shaped piece of stone.
“It… it’s a filly,” she murmured to herself, suddenly feeling warm in her heart. Astonished by the statue, she looked up to the sky with a heavy heart, and then back to the incomplete stone filly. She didn’t understand why, but she felt she had to do something.
Illuminating her horn, she felt inspired. “My friends…” she whispered and a smile found its way back to her face. “Help me finish this. I must do this.”
Then with her motivation heightened, she very gently cast a beam of magic from her horn and into the surface of the stone like a laser. Nibbling her bottom lip, she carefully carved away at it with precision, and with care—small section at a time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight spent hours carving away at the statue, shaping it more evenly and smoothly, cutting away any excess stone. Concentrating on the head, she chiseled away at it with her magic, forming its eyes, and perfecting its ears, and she left a cone on its forehead to give it a horn. She formed its snout, and gave it nostrils and a mouth. She was so focused on shaping the rock into a filly, she had forgotten to even be sad. It was as if instincts had told her to finish it, and that nothing else mattered at that moment.
Working her way down the statue’s back, she carved out its haunches, and evenly curved its flanks and limbs. There was enough excess rock on its shoulders that she was able to chisel out wings—so she did just that. Taking her time, she spent more hours on shaping it to fit the image of a pony as closely as she was able. Chiseling the feathers in the wings, she gave it detail. Carving a spiral in the horn, she gave it character. There wasn’t enough stone in the incomplete statue to give the filly a mane or tail, but she kept pressing on.
Working her way down the figure’s limbs, she gently shaped out its legs, taking her time to ensure it was perfect at all angles. She chiselled all the way down to the base of its hooves. Until finally, after countless hours of work, she was finished.
She was mystified by her own creation. Sure it was stone, but it was so perfectly shaped, she could’ve sworn it was looking straight back at her through those colourless, grey eyes.
Letting out a sigh, she sat there, admiring her work. The filly alicorn that she had carved out of a rock was incredible, but she couldn’t seem to smile regardless. It wasn’t alive; it was just as faux as the voices in her head were.
With nothing more to do, she exhaled through her nose, and she lifted the Tiara of Harmony off of her head with her magic. “Here…” she whispered to the statue as if it was a living thing. “Maybe this will suit you.” Hovering it above the statue, she slowly placed it down upon the filly’s head in the attempt to give it more character—to make it seem more like a living pony. With half a smirk, Twilight tried to stay positive and whimpered at the small pony statue, “You look… just like a Princess.”
She stared at it for a very long time. The more she watched at it, the more saddened she felt that it wouldn’t move, or look back at her in response. The loneliness in her heart grew stronger yet again, and she knew that she was trapped here without a walking, breathing, living pony to be with her. A being with a mind and a soul. Looking into the soulless eyes of her creation, she felt the desperate need for the lifeless pony statue to talk to her.
Tears in her eyes, she made eye contact with it, inches from its face. “Please,” she cried. She bowed her head, and her glowing horn sparkled against the sculpture. She closed her eyes, and focused all her will into the lifeless model; hoping, wishing that it would ignite a spark. Nothing seemed to be happening, but she didn’t stop trying.
She held onto the spell, believing in every ticking bone of her body that it was going to work. A part of her mind kept telling her that it was just a statue of dust and stone, that nothing was going to come out of it; that you can’t just bring something to life with magic. But that part of her mind was completely ignored, and with love in her heart, she wrapped her hooves around the statue in an embrace as she continued trying to bring it to life. “Please, please come to life,” she whispered to the sculpted rock. Opening her damp eyelids, she looked back into the eyes of her creation. “Please…”
After her silent weeping, there was then a sudden crackling sound that emanated from the Tiara of Harmony. She watched in suspense as the five gems that were within the crown illuminated and separated from the tiara. They hovered up into the air, leaving the gold tiara on the statue’s head, and then they began to spin around Twilight and the pony sculpture. Twilight was confused, and she watched the gems rapidly spinning faster and faster, forming a sphere of colourful magic, with her and the statue in the center. She turned back to the filly alicorn in her arms, and she thought for a second, that she saw a hint of colour in its iris; a touch of purple. She was mystified by this, and kept watching as more and more evident purple appeared within its eye… and then the stone filly blinked.
A shiver was sent through Twilight’s spine when she saw her creation in her arms wake up. It blinked again, making her gasp and weep. Tears of joy trickled down her cheeks as the alicorn foal before her slowly gained more colour as the elements of harmony spun around them at an increasing pace. Then from upon the filly’s head, a glow of pink magic flowed with the wind forming a curtain of mystifying hair, followed by a swaying tail to match.
The alicorn mare’s jaw hung open as she looked down upon the filly in her grasp with adoration. The foal’s ears twitched, and she went in motion. Then the spinning gems surrounding them came to a sudden halt, and they dropped into the ground.
The filly swayed to the side, and tilted her head quizzically, looking back at the sobbing Twilight Sparkle.
“Why are you crying?” the foal in her arms asked her.
“Y-you speak,” Twilight exclaimed aloud, “You... see me.” She was wide-eyed and found it difficult to say much else.
“Um, yeah?” the young one replied, tilting her head in question.
Twilight’s lips trembled, and she burst out sobbing. “Oh Celestia, she’s so beautiful!” she wept, and she sat on her flank while holding the live filly close to her. The immense loneliness that she had felt had suddenly evaporated. At the corner of her eye, she saw one of the gems from the Elements of Harmony. She turned to look at the gem, and then turned her neck to see the other four that were lying around her in the formation of a circle. Her jaw slowly lowered at the realization; this foal was a gift. A gift from her friends, formed from the Elements of Harmony through Twilight’s spark of magic, the birth of this live alicorn was made possible, for the sole purpose so that Twilight could have somepony to watch over in this empty world. Her lips trembled, and she lowered her head over the filly’s shoulder, and continued to cry. “Oh, thank you,” she whispered in a flutter, “My friends, thank you so much…”
“You seem happy,” the child observed her behaviour. “Are you happy?”
“Uh?” Twilight snapped out of it, holding the alicorn at a better distance so she could look her in the eyes. “Yes, I am,” she replied in a whimper.
“That’s good,” the young alicorn exclaimed with a bright and adoring smile. “It makes me happy that you’re happy.” She then tilted her head in question. “Um, who is Celestia?”
Twilight’s ears twitched, acknowledging that she spoke Celestia’s name before the child. “Oh,” she murmured, “Celestia is, well… she’s my um…”
“Is that my name?” the filly asked her. “I like that name.”
The question caused Twilight to momentarily freeze. It took her a moment to register the question, but she smiled and nodded happily. “Yes, I like that name, too,” she agreed, officially naming the filly after her former mentor. She gently placed the child down on the ground, and the young Celestia stood at her hooves, beaming up at her adoringly.
“So, what’s your name?” she asked Twilight with sincerity.
“Oh,” Twilight paused briefly, then cleared her throat as she attempted to introduce herself. “Well, uh… my name is…”
In the middle of announcing her name, Celestia interrupted her answer with another question. “Are you my mother?”
The question sent a chill down Twilight’s spine. Looking down into the filly’s innocent eyes, she could see the hope the child had for a good answer to that question. But how could she answer it? She’s never been a mother before, and wouldn’t know the first thing about parenthood. However, with the circumstances considered, she could feel a heavy weight in what her response was going to be. Twilight created this child. Yes, with the help of the Elements of Harmony and through the magic of friendship, but all the same, she ignited the spark to create this foal from mere stone. Then as if through sheer instinct, Twilight gave her response.
“Yes,” she said in a warm and accepting voice, “…Mother.”
Celestia giggled happily in response to Twilight’s answer, and she skipped up to her and hugged her right leg. The moment Celestia came in contact with her in this affectionate way, Twilight felt a sudden surge of heavy responsibility rushing through her. The realization toward what had just happened lit up her eyes with both nervous fear and blissful joy at the idea of being a parent. With her free foreleg, she placed her hoof around the child’s shoulders in a comforting manner, and her eyes wandered with many thoughts burning through her mind.
“Oh, goddess, I really am a mother…” she whispered to herself at the epiphany. She let out a small breath of laughter, and looked back down to the child with a beaming smile. She couldn’t seem to figure it out, but she knew in her heart that she had never been happier in her entire life than she was right then.
Releasing Twilight’s leg, Celestia began to turn where she stood with mystified expressions. She trot the other way a few feet and stopped, standing tall and alert, with her ears perked. She was examining the world they were in. “This place is really big,” she said with admiration. She then turned back to Twilight, still smiling as bright as ever. “Is this place ours?”
“Uh… yeah,” Twilight replied, nodding contentedly.
“Woooah,” Celestia said and turned to look beyond the horizon again. “Lots of… uppy and downy things.”
Twilight burst a giggle in response to that. “Those are called mountains,” she corrected the filly.
“Oooh.” Celestia nodded. “Mountains,” she repeated, carefully trying to say it right. Glancing at her surroundings, she soon looked up. Taking a seat on her blank flank, she pointed skyward. “What are those bright, tiny polka-dotties?”
The mother alicorn snickered and squinted joyously at the filly. “Those are stars.”
“Huh.” Celestia blinked, then looked back down at the grey landscape. She turned back to Twilight and tilted her head with a grin. “It would be easier to see everything if there was a much bigger star up there, don’t you think?”
“Uh?” Twilight fumbled her words in response to that. For a filly so young, she was certainly wise with her observations. “Yes,” the mother agreed and nodded. “I bet it would.” With that said, an idea struck the elder Princess. With a smile, she lowered to her haunches so she was eye level with the child. “Hey… Do you want to make one?”
“Make a big star?” The foal was ecstatic. “Yeah! How do we do that?”
Twilight placed a hoof on her chin. “Well, it won’t be easy. First, I will need to teach you how to use magic.”
“Magic?” Celestia tilted her head and her ears twitched. “What’s that?”
Twilight took a moment to think about how to define it to a filly new to it. “Well… Magic is what makes up all things.” She cleared her throat as she tried to explain it. “You and I each have a horn on our heads.” She gestured to her own horn. Celestia watched Twilight, and then she went crosseyed to see her own.
“Oh!” the filly exclaimed cheerfully.
“Hehe, yes. Now, if you concentrate hard enough, you can feel a sort of… pulsing energy.”
“A pulsing energy?” Celestia questioned, and tried to focus on her horn. Then after only a few moments of concentrating, there was a sudden bright spark that flickered at the tip of her horn. “Oh!? What was that? That was cool!”
Twilight giggled and clunked her hooves together to applaud the filly. “That was very good for your first try! Good for you, Tia!”
“Tia?” Celestia tilted her head.
“Oh, it’s just a nickname for you.” Twilight said, “Or do you prefer Celestia?”
“I like Tia,” Celestia replied with a grin. “Kay, so to do magic, I just… kinda do this…” She then went right back into practicing it again. Concentrating, she managed to fully illuminate her horn in mere seconds.
Twilight was left dumbfounded and in awe toward how fast Celestia was learning. She had never seen a filly learn spells so quickly, and she already figured out how to use a spell to cast light.
“Wow, I’m very impressed,” Twilight exclaimed proudly, and then noticed Celestia’s horn was getting brighter. “Tia… Tia, how are you…?”
“This is easy,” Celestia said, and she tried something else. Focusing on a stone, she lifted it with ease in an aura of magic. She turned to Twilight with a wide grin. “Mother, lookie!”
Twilight’s jaw was hanging wide open. Little sense could be made from how powerful Celestia was for her age. This was her very first time casting magic, and she was levitating rocks with ease. And on top of this, she could even control it at her will. Celestia then tried lifting several rocks at a time, and hovered them around in the air in golden auras.
After proudly watching Celestia for a few minutes, it suddenly made sense to Twilight. It didn’t need explaining; Celestia was simply born from the most powerful magic in existence. It was clear to her that all of Celestia’s power had come from the Elements of Harmony upon her creation.
“Let’s make that big star now!” Tia suggested, putting the rocks back where she found them.
“Wh... Now?” Twilight raised a brow. “But, you’re still just learning… Creating that star will be very difficult; you may not be ready just yet.”
“How am I supposed to know if I am able to do something if I don’t try it?” Celestia grinned.
The foal’s optimism was unquestionably powerful. Twilight smiled at her filly with proud admiration, and she nodded. “Well, okay, if you’re up for it. Are you sure?”
“Yea!” Tia cleared her throat and trotted up close to Twilight to nudge her. “But, em... You’re going to help me, right?”
Twilight giggled and knelt down beside her. “Of course.”
Celestia beamed. “Okay! Now, let me try something.” Bowing down, she illuminated her horn again, and concentrated. Twilight at first stayed back, and watched the filly push her magic out of her horn with full determination. At first, nothing very big was happening. But then there was an ignited spark at the tip of Celestia’s horn, which hovered a few inches from her head. Twilight’s jaw hung low as she kept watching, and that tiny sphere she formed from a mere spark began to grow before them.
“Oh my!” Twilight was absolutely awestruck. “Tia, that’s incredible!”
“Oaah! Oh, this is hard!” Tia whimpered, feeling overwhelmed by the bright sphere she was creating. “Ahh!”
“Here, let me help you,” Twilight whispered and leaned in to help Celestia control the spell. Together, their combined magic assisted the sphere of light to grow. Both smiling and reveling over their expanding golden light, they lifted it up into the air.
Slowly it ascended into the sky as it grew, and they raised it higher and higher to join the stars. As it rose higher, the black atmosphere slowly faded into a brilliant cerulean blue. They held onto it for several minutes, helping it grow, until there was a point it was giving off a comforting heat. The warmth soothed the two ponies, and once it was big enough, they released it to remain afloat in the sky.
“You did it, Tia!” Twilight was mystified by the child’s capabilities. “I am astonished that you can control your magic so well…” She tilted her head. “You are so young, Tia, this… this is beyond anything I have ever seen in my life.”
Celestia shrugged with a beaming smile. “Well, you helped!” she replied modestly, and then looked back up into the blue sky to admire her large sphere of warm, flaring light. “It’s so pretty,” she murmured.
Twilight smiled. “Yes, it is. You did really good…” she calmly said, “I’ve seen something like it before… A wise Princess once built one, just like it.”
Celestia looked up at her creation with a bright smile. “Let’s call it the Sun.”
“The… Sun?” Twilight felt her heart skip a beat when the child gave the large light in the sky the same title as her former mentor did. Dumbfounded, she looked down to the foal, who smiled back up at her.
Celestia nodded to the title she gave her shining creation, and in her moment of admiration toward her sphere of light in the sky, there was a faint glow on flanks that Twilight noticed at the corner of her eye. She was quick to look and witnessed the foal gain her cutie mark, and when the image appeared on her flanks, the sight of her talent symbol caused Twilight to gasp with an immense epiphany. It was the sun—Princess Celestia’s sun. Every detail about it was the exact same cutie mark that her former mentor had. Tia acknowledged Twilight eyeing her flank in shock, and out of curiosity, she looked at it herself.
“Woah…! What is it?” She was mystified by the image of the sun that magically appeared out of nowhere.
“Well, it’s… called a cutie mark,” Twilight slowly explained to her. Watching over the little alicorn, the answers were beginning to come together. Her eyes wandered, and slowly widened as a great epiphany came to her.
“O-oh my Goddess,” she stuttered, and her eyes widened with the impossible realization. “Was I… Was I sent back in time?!” She was so overwhelmed she could hardly believe the reality, but it began to make sense. This filly had to be the very same Celestia she knew back in Equestria. That portal that she was hurled through when she entered the Door of Prophecy sent her into the past. And just now, she had witnessed the birth of Princess Celestia—and she was her mother.
But, why would Celestia from her original timeline never tell her she would be sent into the past if she went through the Door of Prophecy? Why did nopony ever know about Celestia’s mother? If Twilight was the reason for life’s existence in Equestria, why did she never even know until she made this time jump, terraformed the land, put the stars in the sky, and created Celestia herself?
“This cutie mark is neat!” Celestia beamed. “What does it mean?”
Twilight looked at her in awe, and felt nervous to speak to her. “It’s because… you’re the Princess of the Sun.”
“Huh?” Tia tilted her head. “I’m a Princess?”
“Yes…” Twilight nodded, still dumbfounded and finding it nearly impossible to believe the reality. “You are Princess Celestia…”
Looking up at the Sun that Celestia had created, she acknowledged something floating through the sky down toward her in a spiraling motion. The silhouette of the object became clearer when it got closer, and she found it to be another page of the Book of Prophecy. Reaching up to grab it, she caught it out of the air. She nervously hesitated at first, but she then held it up, and read it to herself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now, you understand.
You, Princess Twilight Sparkle, wrote these very words in your journal—the Book of Prophecy. And you and I are the very same pony, but from different timelines.
You were never told of this, because if you knew, it would break history’s balance. Equestria would not have been born, because if you knew how much responsibility would rest upon your shoulders, you would have refused to set hoof in the Door of Prophecy, and thus you would have never gone back in time to fulfil your destiny.
If you were ‘told’ what to do—if I revealed your task to you in the very beginning—the flow of time would not have gone naturally. This had to be discovered all on your own, otherwise creation would have been by force, and not by the magic of friendship. As a result of this, you are in fact, Princess Celestia’s Mother. Be proud of that.
One day, your future, younger self will be born, and she will follow the same path you did. She will be ascent into an alicorn Princess, and she will open the Door of Prophecy to return to the very beginning of time to rewrite history like you are doing right now. Being sent to the past, you have formed a perpetual time loop. You came back to write history how it was meant to be, so that Equestria could have life in it.
The Door of Prophecy was created with a lock spell that only I could open. And my prophecy foretold that you would be able to open it, too, because the Pony of Prophecy is the same pony that created the door.
Born as a common unicorn in your original timeline, you grew wise and old enough to become an immortal Princess, to fulfil your destiny… to rewrite history. And now it’s time, Twilight Sparkle, to understand your destiny. You know what you must do. Unfold history, and give birth to our world in all its glory!
And always remember, your friends are forever there to guide you.
