I Could Never Live Without You

by twilightsparkle3562

Rating: everyone
Tags: Tragedy, Slice of Life, Sad
Length: 3240

It may have only been a flashback, but the sight of seeing Princess Celestia lying dead still haunts Twilight following her quest to save the Tree of Harmony.

It may have only been a flashback, but the sight of seeing Princess Celestia lying dead still haunts Twilight following her quest to save the Tree of Harmony. When she does reveal the truth to Celestia and Luna, painful memories of that night are brought up and the relationship between Twilight and the Royal Sisters are about to be brought to the next level.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-14 18:00:02 UTC

“Why Would Luna Do This?”

Disclaimer 1: I do not own “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” or its characters.  They are property of Hasbro Studios and DHX media.

Disclaimer 2: I do not own the original idea of this story.  It belongs to anyone who had similar ideas in the past.

“I Could Never Live Without You”

By TwilightSparkle3562

Chapter 1

                                           “Why Would Luna Do This?”

Twilight Sparkle could not believe where she was.  One moment she was in Ponyville with her friends and the next, after drinking a time travel potion that Zecora had given her, she was standing in the old castle of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.  You see, the two princesses had gone missing, thanks to out of control plants that Discord had planted and Twilight and her friends were tasked with finding them, dead or alive.  They had to have something if anything they could use to find them.  But, Zecora had a magic potion that could allow whoever drank it to see the past events of Equestria.  However, Twilight had not realized where she was.

“Where am I?” she called to herself, but a royal and stern voice came out from behind one of the thrones and emerging was Princess Luna, with a look of anger deep in her face.

“Not another step!” said the Royal Princess of the Night, much to Twilight’s confusion.  Twilight then ran over to her and was thinking that she was really standing right in front of her.

“Princess Luna,” replied Twilight as she ran up to her.  “Where are we?  Why did you and Celestia disappear?”

But then, Twilight began to get a chilling response from Luna, almost as if she didn’t acknowledge Twilight’s presence at all.  From the way she saw it, Luna was talking to Twilight as if she was talking to Princess Celestia.

“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?” asked Luna coldly, a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she stared down at Twilight.

“Precious Light?” wondered Twilight, thinking Luna had gone crazy.

“There can only be one princess in Equestria!” shouted Luna as she came up to a small bridge that gapped between her throne and Celestia’s.  Twilight could not prepare herself for what was about to happen next as the princess of the night, reared up in anger.

“And that princess will be me!” she roared as came back down and destroyed the bridge, her eyes flashing bright white in anger.  Just then, a platoon of dark shadows came up from behind Luna, followed by a dark round circle that crept up to the sun and blocked its light from the room as a stained glass window broke into millions of tiny pieces.  Twilight watched in horror as a tornado of shadows began to swirl around Luna, enveloping her from view.  Soon, that tornado transformed into a fireball and then after a moment, the fireball disintegrated and another larger eclipse emerged for a brief second as a dark pony figure emerged with purple armor, dark blue eyes and razor sharp teeth.

The creature began to cackle evilly as she landed back on the destroyed bridge, her wings opened and the throne room was covered in shear darkness.  Twilight was so scared that her wings were folded back into place as she looked in disbelief at what she was seeing before her very eyes.

“Luna, it’s not possible!” Twilight thought to herself as she stepped back in terror.  “You’re Nightmare Moon again.  Why?”

Nightmare Moon snarled as she stepped forward towards Twilight and then raised her horn towards a statue of Celestia and fired a beam at it, destroying the statue and then raised her beam over the glass ceiling, shattering it and causing large rocks to fall onto Twilight.  Fearing for her life, the youngest princess of Equestria ran out of the way and managed to dodge the rocks as she fell down while Celestia entered the throne room, surveying the damage that her younger sister had caused.

Seeing her target fly up, Nightmare Moon fired another blast at her sister which Celestia managed to dodge at the last minute.  Thinking Luna had gone nuts again, Twilight ran in front of her mentor, trying to protect her from Nightmare Moon’s fury.

“Luna!” cried Twilight, trying to talk some sense into her.  “Think of how long you were banished to the moon.  You’ll give us no choice, but to send you back there if you don’t stop!”

But, Celestia was not willing to be protected by her faithful student and tried to talk some sense into Luna just as much as Twilight herself.

“Luna, I will not fight you!” begged Celestia, her face filled with betrayal and hurt.  “You must lower the moon, it is your duty!”

“Luna?” mocked Nightmare Moon, ignoring her sister’s desperate pleas.  “I am Nightmare Moon!”

Knowing that all was lost, Twilight looked on in disbelief as the former princess of the night came towards them, stalking them like a lion to a wildebeest.

“I have but one royal duty now,” she hissed, raising her magic charged horn at Celestia.  “To destroy you!”

Nightmare Moon fired a beam of dark magic at Celestia , but the elder princess of Equestria acted fast and leaped up into the air, dodging the beam that was meant for her.

“And where do you think you’re going?” laughed Nightmare Moon as she gave chase on her sister.  Knowing that her mentor was in danger, Twilight took flight and joined the chase, desperate to protect her mentor at all costs.  For a few moments, Celestia dodged each blast of magic that Nightmare Moon fired at her with the blasts instead hitting the castle.  Finally, Nightmare Moon seized an opportunity and fired a blast right at Celestia’s chest, causing her older sister to scream in pain and agony as she fell to the castle floor below.

“CELESTIA!” shouted Twilight as she flew down towards downed mentor as Nightmare Moon cackled in victory, knowing that her sister was dead.

Landing towards where her mentor had fallen, Twilight looked at Celestia’s unconscious and at that moment, her worst fears were realized: Princess Celestia, her mentor since she was filly was dead.

“No,” cried Twilight, her eyes filling with tears.  “Why would Luna do this? Why now?”

As Twilight sobbed, she suddenly felt a rustle and at that moment, she opened her eyes, crying as hard as she could while Spike had stepped back in surprise.  She opened her tear filled eyes to see that she was back in the library, but the light was turned on and Spike was out of his bed.  The baby dragon was concerned for her well-being and had to do whatever it took to make Twilight feel better.

“Twilight, its okay,” he said, coming back towards her.  “You just had a nightmare, that’s all.”

“Spike,” sobbed Twilight, as she lowered her head in sadness.  “It was awful.  I was living that vision, the moment I saw Celestia lying dead!”

It seemed that Spike had not realized until that moment where Twilight was reliving the moment she saw the night that Celestia had banished Luna to the moon.  There was a moment where Twilight was sobbing uncontrollably and her friends and Zecora didn’t know what it was while Discord had found it to be quite amusing.

Until then, Twilight had never told Spike or her friends or even the royal sisters themselves for that matter about that dark moment.  But, that was all about to change…

Celestia's Biggest Regret

Chapter 2

“Celestia’s Biggest Regret”

She had been knocked unconscious from the beam that her sister had fired upon her.  However, being the immortal goddess that she was, Celestia rose to her feet and shook off the pain that had been brought onto her chest.  Now, Celestia  looked up at her sister and realized now that had no other choice but to do something that she thought that she would never do and that was put her sister away before she would hurt anyone else.

“Oh dear, sister,” she said remorsefully as she shut her eyes.  “I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these.”

And at that moment, she used her magic to open a chamber and a sphere with handles on it opened up and emerging from the chamber as well were several diamond shaped gems with colors similar to that of the Elements of Harmony.  Using her magic, she raised up the five diamonds and emerging from the sphere was a star shaped diamond similar to that of Twilight’s cutie mark.  The elements then swung themselves around Celestia as fast as they could and the Princess of the sun was starting to become infused by the Elements that were now swirling around her.

Seeing her sister right above her, Celestia flew up and for the first time in her life, she was faced with a difficult task of putting her only sister away.  Celestia was glad that her parents were not around to see this moment and as Nightmare Moon powered her magic, tears streamed down her face as they both fired their beams of light at each other.  Nightmare Moon tried to overpower her sister, but it was no use and the elements of harmony quickly engulfed her.

“NOOOO!” she cried as the beam of light from the elements consumed her and darted straight up towards the moon, giving way to a figure that became known as “the mare in the moon.”  Suddenly, a beam started to come back towards the silently crying Celestia as she was engulfed in the light and at that moment, the Princess of the Sun woke up with a start, tears streaming down her face, although she wasn’t crying.  Looking around, she could see a guard standing right in front of her with his eyes widened.

“Your highness?” he said worriedly.  “Are you all right?  I heard you crying.”

But, all Celestia did was rise to her feet and place her crown on her head.  She had to raise the sun and walked past the bewildered guard without even acknowledging him.  Celestia would never dare show her emotions in front of her subjects.   However, the only time she ever did that was after the Changeling Invasion when she tried to tell them the truth about her failure to protect her subjects from the changelings.

Feeling exhausted, Celestia flew up and doing what she did every morning for 1,000 years, used her magic to allow the sun to rise as Luna flew into her quarters.  However, the Princess of the Night could see that something was wrong with her sister.

“Sister,” she whispered to herself.  “You are not yourself this morn.”

But, Celestia didn’t acknowledge her presence at all and went about doing her royal duties.  Luna was now worried and at that moment, she didn’t feel like sleeping.  Instead, she had to find out the truth and after landing in her quarters, she soon came out and came across the guard that had heard Celestia crying.

“Guard,” she called.  “Is my sister troubled by something?”

“It appears so, your highness,” he said, bowing to Luna.  “I heard her crying, but I did not want to disturb her.”

“You did your duty, soldier,” she replied, looking forlorn.  “Whatever is troubling my sister is something that I need to attend to.  Our recent imprisonment may have put fear into her mind.  Return to your duties.”

“At once, your highness,” he replied, bowing in front of Luna and leaving.  Luna had a very good idea of what was bothering her sister and began to think of that night that both their lives changed forever.

Meanwhile, Twilight had managed to pull herself together and continue searching for information about the mysterious chest that had come from the tree of harmony.  Of course, this was after she and her friends were at the Castle of the Royal Sisters and had started to keep a journal similar to that of when Celestia and Luna were living there.

“You know, Spike, I can’t stop thinking about it,” she said as Spike was dusting down the library.  “It seems like I can’t get that moment out of my mind.”

“Twilight,” replied Spike as he stopped dusting.  “All you had was a nightmare, but I can understand what you are going through.”

“No, you don’t!” snapped Twilight closing the book she was reading loudly.  “Don’t you see?  I saw Celestia lying dead!  I thought Luna had killed her!”

Twilight grasped Spike’s shoulders and shook him like a rag doll.  Of course, Spike had seen Twilight flip out many times before, but this was something completely different.

“Twilight, don’t you think you are overreacting?” suggested Spike, trying to shake himself off.  “Perhaps maybe you should tell Celestia about your nightmare.”

At that moment, Twilight looked away from Spike and froze.  Telling Celestia what she had seen would be something of an entirety for both of them and would only open wounds that would only cause pain and suffering to her mentor who was still recovering from being imprisoned by Discord’s Plunder seeds.  To this end, Twilight merely turned away and ran out of the library, flying away as Spike looked on in disbelief.  He thought that Twilight was going to Canterlot, but she wasn’t.  Instead, she was heading towards the direction of the Everfree Forest.

“Twilight,” shouted Spike as he gave chase.  “Where are you going?”

But, Twilight flew faster and faster from him as she flew towards the forest and dipped herself into the trees.

Spike had to find Twilight and fast, not realizing what was going through her mind…

At the Edge of Everfree

Chapter 3

         “At the Edge of Everfree”

Princess Celestia flew further and further away from Canterlot as Luna watched in amazement of her sister’s sudden departure.  Seeing that she was flying towards the Everfree Forest, Luna once again left Canterlot and was desperate to follow her sister if her life depended on it.

“Why are you going to the Everfree Forest, sister?” Luna thought to herself as she flew.  “The Forest was where Discord held us prisoner.  You are not planning to surrender yourself to him, are you?”

Just up ahead, Celestia continued to fly faster and faster, knowing that her sister was right behind her.  Celestia couldn’t face the truth of what happened on that fateful night where she had to banish her sister to the moon.  She then saw the location of the tree of harmony and dived down towards it, but something else caught her eye.  At the base of the tree, Celestia could see a light purple alicorn at the base sobbing into the tree.

“Princess Twilight,” she thought to herself as she saw the familiar alicorn.  “Why are you here at the tree?”

Seeing that it was Twilight, Celestia dropped her guard and flew down towards her faithful student, although Twilight wasn’t technically her student anymore.  Celestia landed and trotted over to Twilight, her face buried in the tree’s base.  Celestia knelt down and place a wing over Twilight’s head.  Twilight then turned to see Celestia and threw herself into her arms, sobbing loudly.

“Shh, shh, my faithful student,” whispered Celestia, trying to calm Twilight down.  “It’s okay, I’m here.  What’s wrong?”

Twilight tried to speak through her sobs as Celestia continued to hug her like a mother figure would.  After a moment, Twilight calmed down slightly as Celestia released a little bit of her grip.

“Princess,” cried Twilight, her breath ragged.  “I had a nightmare…of when I saw you banish…Luna…to the moon.”

“Yes, yes, go on, it’s okay,” whispered Celestia.

“I thought…Luna…killed…you,” sobbed Twilight, as she let her emotions get the better of her once again.  Celestia’s heart sank upon hearing those words as she once again lowered her head at Twilight, trying to calm her down.  Up until that moment, Celestia did not know that Twilight had seen her use the Elements on Luna the night she was banished because of Zecora’s potion.

“Twilight,” said Celestia, raising Twilight’s tear filled face towards hers.  “Whatever happened that night was something you didn’t need to see, but sometimes we need to face the truth sometimes.  Back when you were my faithful student, I had hoped to one day show you the history of our struggles, but I guess you had to learn that for yourself.”

“I didn’t know I was in the past, Celestia,” replied Twilight, her eyes red from crying.  “I thought Luna had become Nightmare Moon again and finally succeeded in killing you.  It wasn’t until you got back up that I knew you were all right.”

“Then why did you come here?” asked Celestia, getting back to her feet as well as Twilight.  “What does the Tree of Harmony mean to you, Princess?”

“I thought I could get the Elements of Harmony back and my friends and I could use them to protect you and Luna,” confessed Twilight, staring at Celestia, expecting her to be cross.  Instead, Celestia looked towards the chest that had emerged from the Tree of Harmony when the Elements were returned.

“I want to show you something my faithful student,” said Celestia, beckoning Twilight over to her side.  “Look at the chest.”

Twilight looked at the chest and was confused to what Celestia meant by looking at it.  For all Twilight knew, whatever that was inside was a complete mystery to both her and Celestia.

“What about it, Princess?” asked Twilight, still breathing ragged breaths from all her crying.

“Whatever inside that box is mysterious,” replied Celestia.  “You and your friends are the only ones who can open it, but I want you to remember that I will still be here to help and guide you.  Even if you are not my student anymore, you will always be my most faithful student to me.”

Twilight smiled slightly upon hearing this for a moment and her fears were seemingly banished for a slight moment.

“The truth is,” said Twilight, trying to confess her fears.  “I could never live without you, Celestia.  Ever since that day we met at your school for gifted unicorns, you have become an important part of my life as well as the lives of my friends.  And, I don’t know how to say this, but…”

“Yes, my faithful student?” asked Celestia.

“I could never live without you…ever,” replied Twilight and both student and teacher stared at each other with tear filled eyes and embraced, both of them crying silently as Luna flew in and saw what was happening before her eyes.

“What have I done?” she thought to herself as she saw her sister and her faithful student tearfully embracing.  It was here that Luna realized her grave mistake from that fateful night.  “Twilight Sparkle thought I became Nightmare Moon again and killed my only sister.  It was because of my actions that I have changed my outlook and here I am, realizing what I tried to take away from Equestria.”

Luna fell to her knees and lowered her head in shame and relief at the same time.  She could not believe that by nearly destroying Celestia, she almost took away the chance to have ever known Twilight Sparkle and her friends.  Had it not been for them, she would have let her darkness take over Equestria and Twilight would never have made her into the pony that she was today.  It was a hard lesson for all three of them, but it needed to be done.

Sometimes the best way to heal wounds is to open to others and maybe that was what Luna should have done 1,000 years ago.

But, what was done was done and it was time to move forward, as the rest of the main six and Spike arrived on the scene and watched as they saw their best friend and leader hug her mentor and mother figure.

The nightmare was finally over.