Tainted Memories

Prologue

Revival Of A Princess

       "So cold, so dark. Why? Why can't I see anything? Is somepony here? Anypony? Answer me please!" A lone feminine voice speaks in a patch of complete darkness, crying out for somepony, anypony to respond to her voice, and yet no answer comes.

        "Somepony please, tell me where I am! I... I can't remember where or why I'm here! Hello? Please I'm begging you! Tell me where I am!" The voice began to sob, as she realized nopony was there, and nopony was going to answer. She was alone, with barely any memories of how she got there or who she was. There was a period silence as the voice cried to herself but that silence didn't last forever.

        "My little pony, please do not shed your tears of sadness. There is no need for them." Another voice said.

        "Who's there?" The first voice asked, "Has somepony answered my plea?"

        "Yes my dear," The second voice answered. "Please stop your tears and I shall provide the answers you seek."

       "You will?" The first voice asked, hope flickering in her voice. "Then please tell me, who am I? And what is this place?"

       There was another period of silence as the second voice gathered it's thoughts, a silence that can only make one ache with anticipation and sorrow. But finally much to the relief of the first voice the second finally spoke.

        "Your name was Gineva and you were once a princess of Equestria, the magical land of ponies. And this place is..." The second voice started before he cut off by the first.

        "What? Were? You mean I'm... " She didn't finish, not wanting to admit the horrible possibility.

        "Yes, you are a soul that has been separated from your body due to your death." The second voice said with a hint of sadness.

       "No! It can't be! It's not true! Tell me it's not true!" The voice known as Gineva exclaimed, desperately trying to choke back her sobs.

"I'm afraid it is, my little pony." The second said sadly, "But the reason why you are here in this dark afterlife is because you were not supposed to die the way you did. Your story was not supposed to end that way."

     Gineva continued to choke back her sobs, "You, are you saying I was...?" She paused, not wanting to say the heinous crime.

"Yes, Princess Gineva was... Murdered," The second voice said with a pause. "To make it worse you were killed by your own sister, The Princess of the Sun, Celestia. After she banished your other older sister Luna, Princess of the Night to the moon, Celestia saw you as a threat to her power that needed to be disposed of. You were The Princess of Magic and were very powerful in the art,  and as a result she plotted your assassination so that way she can have the Kingdom of Equestria all to herself." The voice stopped letting its words sink in.

        "That can't be true, no sister would ever do that to her family!" She responded after a moment of thinking about the words that were said.

        The second voice made a deep sigh, "Alas I had anticipated this, allow me to show you what happened in your life and how your eldest sister treated you. I have the memories that were taken away from you when you joined this place."

        There was a bright flash, and Gineva began seeing several images all at once, detailing every major moment of her life before her death. She noticed she possessed both wings and a horn, and belonged to the rare species of Immortal Alicorns, her coat was a deathly stark white and her eyes were a slightly reddish lavender with scarlet red pupils unlike her two sisters who had normal black pupils. She heard that she wasn't supposed to live past three days but she miraculously did much to the joy of her sisters and her mother. Gineva saw more of her earliest memories, she remembered seeing a body on the floor by her crib and flashes of red, was it blood, was it the body her own mother. After that she saw something different in Celestia's eyes it was faint but Gineva could see that although there was still love there was growing hate, hate that should not be there and directed to such a little foal.

       More images flashed showing how she grew up under the care and love of Luna and earning her cutie mark, a crimson red eight pointed star with a moon gray circle as its core with three little black eight pointed stars surrounding it, symbolizing her proficiency in the two powerful forms of magic. And yet life was miserable for the rest of the Kingdom of Equestria, Gineva saw how determined Celestia was to defeat and take the throne away from Discord in order to stop him from making their lives and the lives of other ponies miserable. She remembered finding the mythical Tree and Elements of Harmony and becoming the bearer of the Element of Magic. She saw her sisters telling her that Discord was too dangerous and unpredictable, and that she was too young to confront him alongside them and yet she saw them defeat Discord but they didn't see her.

    It flashed forward in time where the three were crowned High Princesses of Equestria, Celestia Princess of the Sun, Luna Princess of the Night, and she herself, with her disguised eyes and cutie mark, Princess of Magic. More time passed, she was almost as big as Luna but Celestia still towered over both of them. Gineva saw both  Celestia and Luna grow bitter, Luna didn't like ponies ignoring her night and Celestia didn't like ruling alongside her sisters, she wanted the crown for herself. Luna withheld her bitterness with young Gineva's words, saying how she loved Luna's night but Luna noticed Celestia's bitterness and tried to help her as well but Celestia snapped and attacked Luna, and the eldest two sisters battled. They destroyed part of the castle and Celestia then banished Luna to the moon with the Elements of Harmony. But Celestia lied to the young Gineva that Luna let her bitterness transform her into powerful and evil Nightmare Moon, and had no choice but to send her to the moon.

        It flashed forward again to Gineva's final memory, her death. The young princess was ponynapped by several villagers that saw her true eye color, believing that she was a follower of Nightmare Moon who took over their beloved Princess of Magic and is threatening the safety of last good princess, Celestia. After torturing to get her to confess they sentenced her to death for treason. Suddenly Celestia bursts into the room, seemingly to rescue Gineva, frees her from her brace to allow her to use her magic, but Celestia is hurt in the process. Gineva, distracted by her genuine concern for her sister, gets a metal arrow thrusted through her chest. Celestia then teleports them away, and through her fake tears, reveals that she was the one who put the arrow through Gineva's chest, and Gineva dies watching her sister relish the fact that nopony else stands in her way rules Equestria alone. The memories stop and the world fades into darkness once more.

        "How... HOW COULD SHE?!" Gineva's voice was filled with rage and anger at what she witnessed.  "HOW COULD SHE DO THAT TO LUNA AND I?! WE'RE FAMILY!! SHE DESERVES PUNISHMENT!! BOTH LUNA AND I DESERVE JUSTICE!!"

        "Yes, your story will not end here, you deserve to bring Celestia to her knees and beg for forgiveness."

        "No," Gineva voice was stern and filled with bitterness. " Celestia does not deserve forgiveness, she deserves to die the painful death I suffered for her crimes, no her sins."

        "Indeed, you deserve revenge for your death," The voice said barley able to completely hid his glee. "The preparations have already been complete for your resurrection so that you will have all the powers you possessed before you died, all you have to do is say the word."

        "Not revenge, Evil beings desire revenge. I am not evil. What I desire is Justice." Gineva said sternly unable to hide the growing hate in her voice. " The perfect plan may take awhile to form, but that doesn't matter I have all the time in the world. Bring me back to the world of  the living, I refuse to wait any longer."

        "As you wish, My princess." There was a pause then a painfully bright flash of light that went on seemingly forever.

✳  ❇  ✳

    After a long time, the light faded into darkness once more. But it wasn't pitch black, it was the darkness of nighttime, above in the sky were the shining brilliance of the beautiful stars, on the sides were tall trees of grand stature, and on the floor was a shallow river. In the river was a stark white slender bodied pony possessing both a horn and a pair of wings. She wore shoes and regalia owned only by royalty that were colored a lovely silver, the only thing that was missing was a crown. The pony's cutie mark was that of a crimson red eight pointed star with a moon colored circle as its core with 3 little black eight pointed stars around it. For a few seconds the pony did not move, until she opened her red and lavender eyes and gasped as she came to life. She took several deep breaths and placed one of her hooves over her chest, as if to feel if her heart was really there and beating. She winced suddenly clutching herself through the pain and her horn began to glow a blood red aura. She stood up on her hind legs and her wings began to lift her a few inches off the ground as little red sparks surrounded her as her magic began to travel throughout her body. The glowing stopped and she gently landed back on the ground. She opened her eyes, her scarlet pupils were narrowed slits showing more of her reddish lavender irises.

        "It feels so good to be able to do that again." The pony said happily, she paused before continuing. " My name is Gineva and I am here to save my sister Luna and Equestria from a tyrannical Sun Princess and return the Kingdom to its rightful benevolent rulers, The Princess of the Night and The Princess of Magic." She said to no one in particular.

        Gineva held her eyes closed and her horn glowed, her magic aura changing from a blood red to a light lavender, the red star of her cutie mark changing to lavender as well. Her stark white coat became more of a light grey and her mane and tail changed to black. When she opened her eyes, they the large black pupils of any normal pony.

        "I have to know one thing before I begin," Gineva told herself. "How long have I been dead?"

        She flew into the air, looking for a town to land in. There was one not far from where she was in the forest, she flew towards it as fast as she could. She had to know how long has it been since she was dead and Luna was banished to the moon. She landed in the town virtually unseen and hid behind a building to look without being noticed. Despite it being the middle of the night there were a few ponies on the street. Gineva folded her wings on her sides and walked up to the nearest pony.

        "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you but I seem to be forgetting a lot of things lately," She said sweetly. " Can you tell me the year and where the closest inn nearby is please?"

✳  ❇  ✳

        "Thank you kindly sir, and may you have a blessed evening." Gineva said before she began walking towards the inn. She walked away quietly until she was out of ear shot. "I have been dead for almost a thousand years! How can it be? Does time flow differently when you are a spirit and possess no memories?" Gineva asked herself, baffled by how much time has passed since she died. " Damn you Celestia, damn you. I'll make sure you'll pay for making me miss 1000 years of my life." She said to herself, her rage and anger barely able to contain themselves.