Broken Pieces

Ruby couldn’t begin to imagine what had happened! The Solar Empire had set fire to most of Manehattan!? Why would they do that? Was the war really that bad? Had Ruby caused this…?

She didn’t have time to think. As soon as Princess Celestia had told her about the mass fire, she found herself right in the middle of it all.

“W-what!? Celestia!? Take me back! Please…” Ruby began to cry, knowing that soon she would see many of her friends here in Manehattan.

Ruby had actually grown up in Manehattan. She hid most of her past life from all of her friends in Ponyville. It wasn’t that it was so bad that it was to be kept secret. She just didn’t want to remember the incident that had happened right before she moved.

Looking up, Ruby gasped. Everything was charred, and the bodies of ponies long gone stung the air with their stench, composed of burnt flesh and smoking hair. All townsponies that hadn’t been smoked to the bone gathered around the small apartment building that had been turned into an inferno just moments before.

The head pony of the town rushed in. There was not actually a mayor of manehattan. All the ponies just looked up to one another.

“Is everypony okay!? Has any pony that lives been hurt?” Not a peep erupted from the crowd.. All around. loved ones cried over the deaths of family. Children screamed for their parents, their tears erupting a river onto their parents, now gone to Heaven.

Ruby only looked around in horror. Why would anypony be so bold as to kill at least one hundred ponies? “Those damn Republicans…”

Her face squinted, only slightly, trying to keep the tears in. She knew she had to say something to these ponies, if only that she was sorry. Walking up in front of them all, Ruby stood tall, her voice echoing across the lands.

“Citizens of Manehattan, my name is Ruby Star. I am a member of the Solar Empire. Now, I, from Celestia’s castle, have witnessed this travesty against you. I am sorry to say, the dead are assumed to all be part of the Solar Empire. I take the blame for this fire. I hold within me a power like none other.

“I cannot imagine what you are going through. My own mind is clouded with ignorance of the past. I do not mean this in an insulting way, but as a hopeful one. A hope that your loved ones will be remembered. We all desire to bring them back, but we also know that it would be impossible to do so.

“I promise to bring these miscreants to justice. They have brought a great damage on us all. For now, we shall mourn. A ceremony will be held, and you all protected. It will be hard, I cannot deny, to live like this forever. For now, I advise you all to move to another town, while yours is rebuilt on my behalf. My friend, Princess Twilight, resides in Ponyville. She will help you all, of that, I am sure.

“Please, have no fear. These deceivers will live no more. Or my name is not Ruby Star.”

Ruby Star twitched, a huge shock jolting her body one way. She gave a shaky smile, standing somewhat hesitantly on the stage.

“What just happened? That was a small power surge...I’d better watch out.”

Ruby watched as the crowd’s buoyancy increased. All the ponies stomped their hooves, a smile beginning to return to their faces. Ruby beamed back at them, starting to slowly walk off stage. Inside, she was in a state of absolute terror. How had she even had the courage to go up there!?

Right now, it really didn’t matter. Ruby had to get out of here. Whoever had set off this fire was obviously superior to Ruby. She had just lied to the whole town of Manehattan. What would happen to her if she didn’t live up to her words?

Backing up, Ruby bumped into another pony. "Oh, my ba-"

Her mouth was covered. She looked up into the eyes of an unknown assailant. The voice that came from the mouth of this kidnapper was feminine, slightly southern.

"If ya'll know what's good fer ya, keep yer mouth shut, kay?"

Ruby just nodded her head. What was going to happen? Was she going to die!? She couldn’t die now! She was chosen, right?

The unknown villain trailed behind Ruby, leading her to a destination unknown. For a while, they walked across the city, eventually leaving the town to trek the plains. An hour later, they were in a castle, far from most of civilization.

Ruby knew about this place. She didn’t exactly remember what book it had been found in, but this was the “Castle of the Two Sisters.” Originally, both Luna and Celestia resided here together. One day, Luna went crazy for power, turning into Nightmare Moon. Apparently, Celestia fought valiantly. She had not wanted to do it, but in the end, she had to banish Luna to the moon for 1,000 years.

It was odd, finally seeing this place in person. It was bigger than Ruby had expected, and it was supposed to be secret.

“If I may ask, now that we’re away from the crowd, why are we here?”

The invader spun Ruby to face her, taking off her mask. Ruby recognized the face. This pony owned the Apple farm, didn’t she?

“Yer ‘ere ‘cuz Princess Luna wants to see ya.”

Princess Luna wanted to see Ruby? That made no sense. The princess on the opposing side of the war never talked to a member from the enemy. The only logical explanation could be that it was, in truth, Princess Celestia, and this apple-bucking mare was lying.

She was lead into what seemed to be a once beautiful throne room. The drapes, lined with the finest material, were ragged, cut to shreds, most likely in the battle of the sisters. The concrete floors were cracked, chunks sticking up, jagged. On the far wall there sat two chairs, woven with the finest velvet. It wasn’t hard to deduce that these chairs were the main seating place for Princess’ Luna and Celestia.

Ruby stopped in the center of the room, on the emblem that once meant peace and harmony. Today, she recognized peace and harmony as six elements, taken to the form of six friends. The country mare stepped out, leaving Ruby all by her lonesome in the room. The closing of the door echoed through the deserted halls, ricocheting back to Ruby’s ears.

It was a joke.

Ruby started to believe that nothing was to come. Some mares from the Republic probably set her up to be here, and she was probably going to die. Turning around, she came face-to-face with none other than the number one enemy.

Princess Luna towered a foot above Ruby, staring down at her. Ruby looked up, cowering down, no match for the large princess who stood in front of her. Her voice was even worse, shouting above the normal tone for any pony.

“RUBY STAR, I SEE YOU HAVE TAKEN TO JOINING THE SOLAR EMPIRE!!!”

Ruby became terrified. She was going to die here, and at the hands of the pony who she had wanted most to avoid. “Y-yes, Princess Luna, I have. I would hope that is not an issue to you…” Her face twisted into a smile, her fear protruding from every angle.

“A PROBLEM? I DO NOT CARE WHO YOU DECIDE TO JOIN!! I CARE ONLY ABOUT THE MARK ON YOUR FLANK!”

Ruby had totally forgotten about her new cutie mark. She turned to her side, revealing the moon of Princess Luna on each flank. She appeared to be a member of the New Lunar Republic, which was, in fact, untrue.

“I understand why you would be interested, Princess, but I’m not special. It’s just a mishap. I’ll get it changed next time the Solar Empire meets.”

“THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY. I WANT YOU TO WORK UNDER THE COVER FOR ME!”

Undercover? For Princess Luna? Why would she even...that made no sense! She would always be loyal to the Goddess of the Sun, would she not?

“I-I’m sorry, Princess, but I can’t. Princess Celestia is my guardian, and I must follow her word.”

Ruby Star wasn’t going to hear any more of this. Pushing aside her fear, she stepped past Luna, walking out of the door and down the hall.

“BUT DO YOU NOT HAVE MY MARK!? YOU WERE DESTINED TO BE MY SUBJECT! I WILL TRAIN YOU!”

Ruby Star briefly looked back, muttering small words, only audible to Luna. “I will never be your student, Princess Luna.”

And she was out the door. It didn’t matter to Ruby. She didn’t want to be one of Luna’s children of the night. She didn’t want to live in the shadows, as she was now. Her choices were unlimited, but she had chosen her path. It wasn’t going to change just because she was different from everypony else.

For one final moment, Ruby looked back at the castle. She saw Luna standing at the front doors, looking sadly at her. For a second, Ruby actually felt sorry for her. A thousand years on the moon must’ve been hard, even for a princess.

Turning back to the path ahead, Ruby had a lot on her mind. She would be thinking for hours.

~~~

On the outskirts of Ponyville, Ruby contemplated whether she should go in or not. If she did, ponies would surround her with questions. If she didn’t, she would probably never see her friends again.

When she originally left, she told herself that she wasn’t going to come back. For the days missed, her heart was strung up, being pulled every which way. Nothing was right, and nothing was wrong. It was just a big jumble of mismatched ideas.

Ruby turned to face the bakery that Pinkie Pie so lovingly baked her treats in. She saw the six friends all gathered around the counter, sharing treats with one another. Looking in, she saw a pony she didn’t recognize.

Pinkie was conversing with this strange pony. The mare herself had a purple mane, a rock lying inside of her pocket. She never seemed to smile, but her and Pinkie seemed to converse, a lot.

Ruby sighed. Her life had gone downhill, and she didn’t have anyone to come back to. She had no choice but to turn around, away from Ponyville. Her tears were mottled by the night, her figure descending over the hills.

A couple of hours later Ruby stopped. Looking up, she realized that she was lost. There were no lights around, save for the moonlight, and howls could be heard from behind her, quite far off. Without a sense of direction, Ruby didn’t know what the nearest town was nor where it was.

Just as suddenly, the moonlight changed. It shifted from its downward position to a full beam on Rubys’ left. Turning left, she noticed that the beam illuminated a city far off in the distance. Shrugging, Ruby decided to migrate to the city, no matter which one it may be. It was her only shot at surviving the night.

The walk was incredibly slow to Ruby, when in reality, it only took about half an hour. Halfway through her journey, though, a voice spoke softly inside of her head. “Find the traitors. Come to me.”

Ruby stopped, quite abruptly, in her path. She could’ve sworn another pony had just spoken to her. “Hello? Is somepony there?”

The voice continued to whisper, the same words flowing into Ruby’s head time and time again.

“S-stop it! I don’t want your advice! Stay away from me!”

She began to run, still on the path of the moonlight. No matter how fast Ruby ran, the voice kept whispering to her. The closer she got to the dim lights of the city, the louder the voice got. It was an unrecognizable voice, and Ruby was freaking out.

“SOMEPONY HELP ME!! THEY’RE FOLLOWING ME!”

Not a single pony came from their houses to investigate the loud yelling that could probably have been heard for at least a mile.

Ruby continued to scream, running through the streets of a town until she came upon the only place with lights on. Forgetting her manners, Ruby bursted in, slamming the door forcefully behind her.

The voice stopped, only one more sentence fading from her thoughts. “What’s life without a little fun?”

And just like that, the voice was gone. Ruby’s eyes fluttered open, a sigh of relief coming from her mouth. Finally, she had time to observe her surroundings. Over time, Ruby had developed a sense to quickly assess the situations she was in. The strange thing was that she had never even thought of where she was standing before. Now, she couldn’t enter a room without noticing every little detail it had to offer.

The room was dimly lit, only illuminated by a candle that sat on top of a wooden desk. The desk was ornate, probably new, with papers scattered across its surface. A fireplace, newly furnished and most likely never lit, held a ship in a bottle on its mantle. The room itself was fairly small, and the only other object in the room was a mini refrigerator that could hold at least three meals for a pony.

Ruby’s stomach burbled, only then making her notice how hungry she truly was. Stepping carefully over a broken floorboard, Ruby used her mouth to open the fridge. The handle was almost too small to fit in her teeth, but somehow she managed to find a way to open the door.

There was nothing inside the fridge. All the shelves were bare, and not even a speck of food was left. It was as if this fridge was never touched, just like the rest of the room.

Ruby was just about to close the fridge, when a small twinkle hit her eye. It wasn’t the twinkle of an ice cuber, or even just the light in the fridge turning off. She looked closely at the contents of the fridge, just then realizing that there was a compartment above all the shelves.

It was fairly hard to open. After failing numerous times to open it with her nuzzle, she resorted to using her front hooves. It took her quite a few times, but finally she hit the right edge, throwing open the drawer. It flung back, hitting her in the face.

“Ouch...well, I sure am smart…”

Ignoring the bruise on the right side of her face, Ruby peeked into the drawer, its contents filling her eyes with wonder.

There was only one food in the drawer. All of the wrapped food had one word labeled on their silver foil: “Chocolate.”

Right now, Ruby didn’t care what it was, or where it came from. Picking up one of the chocolate bars, Ruby took it all into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it, wrapper and all. Aside from the papery taste, she really liked it. She took a couple more into her stomach, making a grossed out face after each of them. When she had had her fill, she put the drawer back in its place, yet again with a lot of failure, and turned to face the door.

To Ruby’s amazement, the door was gone, and now there was a book on the table. It looked strangely similar to the journal she had seen Twilight carrying so often, with only one slight difference. The cover design was that of the emblem for the two sisters.

All of a sudden, the world spun around Ruby. Her eyes became a dizzy mess, orienting themselves after she fell on the floor. She didn’t really know how long she had been on the floor, but when she got up, a strange sight met her eyes. Celestia was sitting at the desk, her horn illuminated and a quill floating beside her. She was writing in the book that was on the desk, speaking each of her words as she wrote them.

“My beloved sister,

Your presence still lingers, as if you are watching me from above, from the moon. I am so deeply sorry for what I have done to you. I had feared your power, and I was a coward. I had no choice but to banish you, as I have never wanted to see you leave like I had to tonight, I write to you from my secret room, of which you know well. Sister dear, I miss you so deeply, and I long for your presence. I am so sorry, I truly am.”

Celestia stopped writing for a moment, tears filling her eyes. She cried, whispering Luna’s name over and over again. When she wiped away the tears, the page was already wet, and she once again floated her quill to the pages, her words flowing like the breeze of the trees on a cool fall afternoon.

“My past haunts me, and I know of the power that you are capable of. That is why I am leaving, not to return for a long time. I understand that when you return, things will be different between the two of us. We will stand united, but our views will be different. I cannot change this, but I can assure you that this will happen.

“And this, therefore, is why I must leave. It is too painful for me to stay. So, in a few hundred years, a mare will be born, under the last name of Sparkle. I will transfer some of my power over to her on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight Sparkle will become a princess, as we are.

“And then, before you return, I will be gone. You will never see me again. Dear sister, I will love you, forever and always. Do not forget me, or the sacrifice I have made for our kingdom.

Your beloved sister,

Princess Celestia”

This couldn’t be true. Princess Celestia wasn’t a coward. Ruby knew all about the battle that the two sisters shared on that fateful night when Nightmare Moon was banished. Princess Celestia fought valiantly against Nightmare Moon, did she not? When she looked up, Princess Celestia was gone, the book having been lost with her.

The door had reappeared, and Ruby jumped out, hoping to catch a glimpse of the quickly fleeing princess. No pony was in eyesight, and Ruby felt slightly confused. She had just seen Princess Celestia writing to Nightmare Moon, who had been defeated only years before by...Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

Could Twilight really be the mare that Celestia had mentioned? Had Ruby seen a painting of the past, stroking itself as time progressed? Would that make Twilight a princess? Wasn’t she a part of the Republic!? This just didn’t make any sense!! There was only one way to find out. She would have to go back to Ponyville, and question Twilight.

As soon as this thought crossed Ruby’s mind, a bright flash hit her eyes. In the sky, a large star flew upwards, and blinded Ruby. Just as suddenly, it hovered to the ground and was gone. Ruby wasn’t able to see, and she blacked out, in the open.

Her body fell slowly, and her eyes fluttered as she hit the dirt. “Don’t...take...me...please…”