Assassinverse: Vengeance of the Star

In Ponyville, many of its citizens were going about their business... until a pillar of rainbow-colored light erupted from the depths of the Everfree Forest. Everypony stopped what they were doing and gazed up at the mysterious light, all of them wondering just what was going on, had another evil creature been defeated by the Elements of Harmony? Had they unlock some sort of strange new power from the elements? Or, as a few conspirators were thinking, have the remaining element wielders risen up against Twilight herself?

Their answer soon came as 5 bright beams of energy shot out from the pillar towards the town, each one landing in a different location around the town.

The pink beam landed at the edge of Ponyville, on the opposite side of the stream that bordered the town.

The purple beam landed just on the edge of Rambling Rock Ridge.

The yellow beam landed near the edge of Froggy Bottom Bogg and Ghastly Gorge.

The orange beam landed at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

And finally, the blue one landed right at the top of Winsome Falls.

For a moment everything was silent, the beams slowly took the forms of orbs, each the size of a full-grown pony, and slowly sank into the ground.

Then, a powerful earthquake shook the entire town, soon the earth where the orbs had landed fractured, shafts of brilliant yellow light shining up from underneath, in each area a slim crystal spire began to rise out from the cracks, it started out small, but new structures pushed higher and higher in a blaze of light they soon rose to the point where it dwarfed town hall in size.

Eventually the towers stopped growing, they were each tall, slender, and seemed to be fashioned from a certain kind of crystal, each one the exact same color as the orb that produced them. They all rested on a type of arch, making it look like a miniature version of the castle from the Crystal Empire.

Just when the citizens thought it was over, another quake occurred, however this one was less powerful than the first. Each tower glowed its respective color and immediately an aura emitted from them, slowly the aura expanded from both sides of each tower, both auras from the respective towers meeting in the middle, creating a circle around Ponyville, Rambling Rock Ridge, and the entire Everfree Forest.

As swiftly as they appeared, the auras merged together before solidifying into a massive wall made out of crystal circling Ponyville and it's surrounding areas. While the lights emitting from the towers and the wall, one location was still glowing:

The Castle of the Two Sisters, which was engulfed in a bright lavender glow... along with most of the Everfree Forest.

Deep in the forest, the Castle was undergoing a drastic change as well, The ruined castle, once abandoned over one thousand years ago and left to collapse, collecting dust and cobwebs over the years was slowly brought back to its prime by the magic from the Tree of Harmony and the ones who wielded it's very Elements. The trees roots slowly erupted from the ground and encased several parts of the abandoned the castle, slowly growing into new parts and merging with the old structure, encasing it with blueish-violet crystals while several streams of magic with the halls and windows, blasting away the moss and vines while thoroughly repairing it to the point where it looked as if it were brand-new. The collapsed bridge was rebuilt in seconds, the shattered windows were immediately restored, every corridor, every room, even every trap had been brought back to its prime.

And right before the entrance, the apparatus that originally held the Elements was repaired as well, but instead of a gem held on each pedestal, there were statues of the elements current wielders, each one in a pose that demonstrated them perfectly.

As the lavender light began to die down, the final part of the castle was completed, near the very back of the castle where most of the upper-structure had become nothing but rubble, a structure took form. The most prominent part of the entire castle, what looked like a cross between the Tree of Harmony itself and Twilight's library, it's doors, roofs, and balconies were made of gold, and a large star in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark at its top.

Twilight, her friends and the Royal Guards immediately appeared in front of the castle doors, all of them looking over the new and improved structure in awe.

"By Faust..." Flash whispered. "Is... is this...?"

"Our new home..." Twilight finished for him, giving him a subtle wink before trying to addressed the entirety of the guard. "I need you all to head back to Ponyville and reassure the citizens that there is no need to panic. I will be with you shortly to explain the situation to them."

"Yes, your majesty." Flash bowed before he took off into the forest, the remaining guards quickly following behind him.

Twilight then turned her attention to Zecora and the Timberwolves, who were carrying the cauldron filled with her brew. "You know what to do, make sure you don't waste a single drop."

Zecora simply nodded as she made her way back into the forest as well.

“And now… for the real trial...” She told herself. Concentrating hard her horn glowed brightly and she soon found herself in her throne room with her five friends.

“Now... I know you all have a lot of questions, and I’ll try my best to explain.” She told them, the five mares said nothing as they gathered up… Applejack in particular looked angry.

“Yeah... Ah got some questions alright...” She grumbled as she stormed up to Twilight. “-AH CAN’T BUCKING BELIEVE YOU!” She shouted as she socked Twilight across the face, to which the alicorn barely even responded.

"Yes darling... where do we start. OH RIGHT! THE PART WHERE YOU BECAME NOTHING MORE THAN A SELFISH CRUEL PONY! HOW COULD YOU?!" Rarity screamed at Twilight with tears in her eyes, she hadn't been so eager to voice her opinions before, but Applejack's bold move seemed to give her a good amount of confidence to speak out.

“You know… that actually hurt just a bit Applejack.” Twilight told her, with no indication that it registered as pain to her. She sighed, she knew they'd react like this... though she mainly expected Rainbow Dash and Pinkie to join in. "Nothing to say?" She asked, turning to the ponies in question. "I figured you two would be just as vocal as they were..."

"I do particularly care about what you did to the foals Twi... but other than that I don't particularly give a crap about what you did to the adults." Rainbow told her with a shrug.

"ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME RAINBOW DASH?!" Applejack screamed, now inches away from her face. "YA'LL ACTUALLY SUPPORT THIS MADNESS?!"

"Not all of it Applejack." Rainbow said before she pushed her friend away from her.

"Not all of it?! Innocent lives were taken!" Rarity added. "They were forced to pay the price for a crime they didn't commit!"

Twilight shifted her attention to the Party Pony, her mane still completely deflated and her coat dimmer than ever. "And what say you Pinkie?"

"I... I don't know what to say Twilight.... I just think what you did was wrong but it happened." Pinkie said quietly. "Nothing we can do to change that."

"Oh, but there is something… rather something I already did to change it anyway." Twilight stated calmly, getting everyone's attention.

"What did you do Twilight?" Rainbow asked her cautiously.

"It's actually quite simple..." Twilight began. "You see, there's a reason I have postponed their executions for an entire month…"

"What is it then, ya no good varmint!?" Applejack snapped at her.

Twilight ignored her and continued. "It all started on the very day that they had captured the traitors..."

Twilight stood before the the Royal Sisters in the throne room, having just arrived after her brother told her the news. "Where. are. they?!"

"Twilight we're not telling you until you calm down." Celestia told her. "We can't have you doing something rash..."

"I'LL CALM DOWN WHEN THE PONIES WHO KILLED MY SON ARE DEAD!!" She screamed, had the Sun Princess not cast a soundproofing spell beforehand Twilight might've shattered every window in the room.

"And then what Twilight?" Celestia asked her.

Twilight blinked. "What do you mean by that?! You can't honestly be suggesting that we spare them?!"

"I'm not Twilight, they will be brought to justice, but I'm asking you... if you just go off and murder them... then what?" Celestia asked her.

As Twilight calmed herself, pondering over the same question… then what? She had to come here wanting justice for her son's death... but what came after that?

"I...I just want them to pay..." She began, tears threatening to fall. "I just want them to feel the pain that I felt when I saw my son die..." It was at that moment Twilight's eyes widened as she realized... she had just the thing to truly hurt them, and send a message to anyone who planned to stand against her.

"Luna... Celestia... when will their trials be held?" Twilight asked.

"In two days.... why?" The Lunar Princess asked curiously.

"I would like to make a request... that you postpone their executions for an entire month."

"What?" Luna asked her.

"I realize now that I've been going about this the wrong way… I need more time to think, but I also need to be present for their trial..." She finished with a bow. "... could you possibly grant me that request?"

"Very well Twilight... and once more I... I'm sorry about Spike." Celestia told her while Luna was just... silent.

With but a simple nod, she teleported out of the room…

"All Ah'm hearing is you slowly becoming a psychopath." Applejack told her.

"There's more to it than just that." Twilight stated. "Upon postponing the trial I did some research on who exactly my assailants were… including their family lineage." Twilight paused, expecting another interruption.

"You... you took their families.... Twilight Sparkle I thought you of all ponies would understand family but this.... i-if this is where you're going then I good conscience can't be your friend." Rarity finally said.

Twilight sighed, she'd been expecting this, it was time to drop the big one. "Before you make that decision, tell me, have you ever heard of the phrase "What the ears hear and the eyes see, the mind believes"?" She asked. "You see, ever since we started accepting more species into our culture Luna had taken the opportunity to bring some of them into her employ, a few Griffins, a Diamond Dog or two, and of course, Changelings..."

"Wait, the creatures who become anypony they want to?" Applejack interrupted.

"Exactly. After Chrysalis' untimely demise, we made an effort to make peace with them... under certain conditions." Twilight shook her head, she was getting off-topic. "The point is, she was planning on relocating them after their family members after they were sentenced, but I came up with a way to use them to both send a message and provide a legit cover story for their "disappearances"…"

Twilight entered the throne room with a seemingly content look on her face. The Royal Sisters stopped their current conversation and teleported in front of her. "I can assume that the preparations for the guilty parties families have already been made?"

Luna nodded. "You need not worry, I've managed to recruit enough changelings to impersonate their families."

"And I've already given them new false identities and have made arrangements for them to be relocated." Celestia added. "They've already been warned about what will happen if they ever reveal their real identities... but I'm curious as to why you requested that you be allowed to handle that the explanation for their disappearances?"

"You don't need to worry about that, I've already taken measures to ensure the reasons for their "disappearances" are legit and believable... as for any other traitors that may be associated with them, I plan on sending the message to all of them during the trial… all I ask is that you play along, otherwise it may have the opposite effect..."

Celestia gave her a confused look. "What kind of message will that be?"

"A simple one: if they attempt to assassinate me again, there will be consequences… dire consequences."

"So... Celestia & Luna knew?" Rarity asked in shock. "...it was all an act?"

"In a sense, she knew that Twilight was going to send a message, she just didn't know how she would send it." Fluttershy started, getting everyone's attention.

"Wait, you knew?" Rainbow Dash asked, outright dumbfounded by how the Pegasus scared of her own shadow could've possibly known.

"The reason I was in the forest most of the time was because I was helping her tame the more ferocious animals there… when I brought the Timberwolf pack to her I saw the fake execution..." The shy Pegasus explained.

"Who else knows about this?" Rarity asked curiously.

"A few of the more loyal Royal Guards, Zecora, my brother, and Princess Cadence."

“Oh, is that all?!” Rainbow exclaimed as she just glared at her. “Twilight… if they find out about this, if ANY noble found out, then this whole thing goes to shit! You know it will!”

"You don't think I know that?!" Twilight groaned. "I had their families sent to more remote areas in Equestria. And I have at least two teams of Royal Guards watching them. The point is that the message has been sent."

“Er… one question then.” Rarity meekly asked.

“What is it?”

“What did you tell Celestia?” The fashionista continued. "I mean, if she knew, then she seemed awfully mad..."

Twilight just smiled at that.

Twilight then walked up to Celestia and merely whispered into her ear.

"I've been cleaning up your messes for long enough, now it's your turn."

Celestia glared at her for a moment, but nodded, she spread her wings and flew up to sit beside her beloved little sister, who gave Twilight a less than happy look but said nothing.

"She's just mad that I made such a spectacle of it. And now she's saddled with cleanup duty and has to do damage control." Twilight scoffed as she turned to the window. "Like I said before, if I had executed the guilty parties they would simply become martyrs for more to rise up against me..."

"And you don't think that killing innocents will have the same effect?!" Applejack snapped. "If anything you're just giving them an even bigger reason to fear you!"

"Correction, I'm giving them a bigger reason to fear acting against me." Twilight stated, not turning around. "I'll ask you the same thing I asked her; would you be willing to risk your life or the lives of your family just to achieve your goal?"

"Mah life of course!" Applejack responded without a second thought.

"Exactly, however if your families lives were on the line whether you failed or succeeded, would you still be willing to pursue that goal?"

Applejack went silent, realizing where this was going.

"Besides, even if I had simply executed the guilty ones the families would still be suffering in some way or another. Think about it; they would forever be associated with the one who murdered a Princess's son. Ponies would persecute them and treat them as criminals even if they weren't the ones who committed the crime, even if they had nothing to do with it the fact that they are related to the one who was guilty would be more than enough for them to treat them like criminals."

Pinkie winced as she remembered some of the gossip she'd heard at Sugarcube Corner before the executions. A lot of ponies were less than subtle with voicing their hatred towards the assassins, some of even going as far as to curse their families for "raising traitorous bastards". A small shudder went through her body as she imagined what those families might have gone through had they continued their old life with the public now hating them for being the relatives of a traitor.

"So by faking their deaths and giving them a new life somewhere else I have effectively "wiped the slate clean" for them, I have given them a different life, one that they can live free from the taint of the crimes their traitorous family members have committed."

"I still can't believe that the princesses would allow this…" Rarity said. "I mean, sure they objected during the trial… But to simply let you go through with it…"

"It's because they knew they were in a tight spot, they couldn't stop me from going through with it without revealing what they know… and if they did then the message would lose its impact and would probably result in those who oppose me to become more bold in their so-called "Noble" attempts to remove me from power."

"I still don't like it…" Pinkie muttered to herself.

“Me neither.” Applejack agreed.

"You don't have to." Twilight responded as she turned turned to face the five mares. "They just need to fear my wrath, and I've instilled more than enough fear to make sure they think twice before assuming I'll just lay down and die for them.” She explained as she trotted towards the door. “Granted, some may still try to oppose me, but it will be hard for them to find more support when many know that their necks won't be the ones on the chopping block if they get caught."

"So... what happens now?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

“Why I thought it was obvious Rainbow?” Twilight said as she opened the door. “I start making my kingdom.” She stated before teleporting away…

In one of the towers of the castle, Twilight sighed as she watch her friends leave, she then felt a small chill and turned to see Luna standing before her.

"I was expecting you sooner..."

"Hello Twilight." Luna said as she walked towards the Princess

"Well? What do you want Princess of the Night?"

Luna glared at Twilight. "I think you already know. What in Equestria is all of this?!" She asked, gesturing to the Castle. "First you pull that stunt a the trial and now this!"

"What? I'm a Princess am I not? Shouldn't it be fitting that I own a castle?" Twilight asked innocently.

"Don't play innocent with me!" She snapped. "And what about the wall surrounding the entire town as well as the forest and the mountains?!"

"I just don't want anyone invading it is all. You really are overreacting Princess Luna."

"Do talk to us as if we were some naive foal!" Luna shouted before calming herself. "Do you not see how your actions are affecting not just your image, but me and my sister's?! Ponies are branding you as a tyrant, and and my sister are merely seen as your "enablers"!"

“So what if what I’m doing makes me look like the villain right now? I can protect ponies! I can guard them better than I could before! So if you will excuse me if I don’t seem all that excited and appreciative of your threats Night Princess.” Twilight told her with a sneer on her face.

"Do you really think this is what Spike would have wanted?!" Luna fired back.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME ABOUT WHAT HE WOULD WANT!" Twilight shouted at Luna. "I WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT HE WOULD WANT BECAUSE NOT ONLY IS HE DEAD BUT BECAUSE YOU DID NOTHING TO WARN ME ABOUT THE ASSASSINATION!"

Luna winced at that. "H-how did you even-"

"Shining Armor had a little "chat" with Gallant Heart sometime before the trial." Twilight interrupted. "I had one of my own little spies listening in, he told me everything."

"Twilight-"

"No. No I want a straight answer. What... what made you POSSIBLY think it was a good idea to keep this away you... MORON!" Twilight shouted as she punched Luna.

Luna wiped the blood from her lips before giving Twilight a cold stare. "I was doing it to protect you, you so much to deal with and didn't want to pull you into the middle of this conspiracy." Luna explained, I had already sent one of my own to infiltrate their little organization and stop them from within, I just didn't realize how quickly they intended to act... or the their leader was aware of my attempts and by the time I was made aware it was too late..." As she finished she looked down at the floor, ashamed that despite all of her spies and connections, she failed to realize her contacts had been found out until it was too late… and an innocent child paid the price for that.

"You.... you are nothing more..... than a selfish... arrogant princess who thinks that she should hold the whole world on her bucking back. You're so... so HARD HEADED I can't believe you even agree to everything that your sister says!" Twilight shouted at her throwing another punch that hit Luna. "You didn't want her to know because you wanted to be first at something! This was pure selfishness! You let my son die because you did nothing! YOU! ARE! NOTHING!"

"ENOUGH!!" Luna shouted as a shield appeared around her, her glowing fiercely as her mane flowed like it had become a hurricane. "I TAKE NO PRIDE IN THE FACT THAT MY SPIES COULDN'T PREVENT SPIKES DEATH, BUT DON'T YOU DARE INSULT ME BY SAYING I KEPT THIS A SECRET FOR MY OWN SELFISH DESIRES!!"

The Princess of the Night calmed herself before continuing. "I kept things hidden because I couldn't risk letting the organization know that I had discovered their intent or even their existence. Otherwise they would have covered their tracks and we be back to square one, had I known they had found out about Gallant I would have warned you myself!"

She paused, taking a deep breath. "Twilight... you must understand, even I couldn't have foreseen this outcome. And with everything you were going through before the assassination, do you honestly think you could've handled the knowledge of the fact that someone was planning to kill you? Worse, the fact that they had many spies in the Royal Guard, the very guards that you trusted with your life?"

"I-I... I could've...." Twilight stammered as she tried to find a response. There.... there has to be one. Luna HAD to be in the wrong somehow. It just HAD to be her fault!

It was at the point where she turned away, directing her attention to Canterlot. "I understand that you are upset with me, I truly am. I know that I should have been more careful while keeping tabs on the organization... but these ponies are nothing like what you base before. They are not only very crafty, but they have been around for longer than you could possibly imagine, even before I had returned from my banishment."

She then turned to face the Princess again. "I'm not going to stand here and say that this is in no way my fault, far from it. But I will not be accused of simply letting a child die for my own purposes. If your spy heard everything then you should know what's coming... and your current actions are only adding more fuel to the fire."

"I.... I understand." Twilight said as she felt tears come to her eyes. "I-I'm so sorry."

"I understand your pain Twilight.... believe me I understand your pain." Luna said.

"I-I know..." Twilight stuttered as she wiped away her tears. "...but these ponies...they can't be allowed to roam free after what they've done. I will see to it that they are brought to justice, one way or another…"

"Please be careful Twilight..." She said before she vanished into smoke, Twilight simply nodded.

"Awww... that's sweet..." A voice chuckled, getting her attention. "...so sweet I might just throw up."

Twilight simply rolled her eyes as one of the Royal Guards stepped out of the shadows. "Shut up, Stag."

"I'm just saying, you're playing a very dangerous game Princess, one that many nobles have been playing since before your parents were even born..." The guard said as he left the room.

"Then it's a good thing that I'm a very quick study…" She said before casting a glance at a familiar mirror, its surface slowly starting to ripple. "And I plan to even out the playing field..."