May Those Who Step Through This Door Know What it Means to Rule
Twilight peered into the dark cavern, the light of her horn only barely illuminating the hole in the side of the mountain. Water slowly dribbled down glistening stalactites, clinging to the slick stone before tumbling down to the tiny pools below. The smell of wet stone clung to the stagnant air. Not a whiff of the wind that whistled around the peak outside touched the interior of the cave.
“Hello? Is anypony there?”
“Ah, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight started, whirling around. “Princess Luna!” She took a step towards her before she stopped, blinking. “Wait, where’s Princess Celestia? I thought she’d be here, too.”
“My sister is otherwise engaged.” Luna raised her head imperiously. “Is that a problem?”
“No! No problem! I just… wasn’t expecting you. Well, just you.” Twilight chuckled nervously as Luna arched an eyebrow.
“And why is that?”
“Well, I… no reason, I guess.”
Luna narrowed her eyes. “Twilight, speak plainly.”
Twilight’s ears fell as she sighed, slowly running her hoof over the stone. “I just wanted to see her.”
“I see.” Luna strode forward. “You do realize that, as a Princess of Equestria, you need not beg for an audience; you may seek her out and speak freely.”
“I know that! I just… don’t want to waste her time.” Twilight looked away.
“And yet you feel it is necessary to vet your every decision through her by letter.” Luna’s voice was neutral, but Twilight flinched anyway.
“I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t making any mistakes,” Twilight mumbled.
Luna sighed. “It is as I feared.”
“What?”
Luna shook her head sadly as she stepped deeper into the cave. “Do you know what this place is?”
“No,” Twilight said as she trotted after her, peering at the walls as they moved towards the back of the cavernous space. “I didn’t even know these caves existed until I saw them on the map you sent me.”
Luna nodded her head slowly. “These are the caves where our ancestors first learned about Harmony.”
Twilight stopped mid-step. “Wait, what? The caves that the three tribes took shelter in were under Unicornia. Everypony knows that.”
“And that is where we are.” Luna’s horn ignited, casting its pale blue light across the cave like a beacon. Two unicorns reared out of the darkness, the dim light playing across their stony forms as they stood frozen, forever standing guard over whatever lay beyond.
Twilight stared at the statues, her mouth agape. “That’s impossible! Unicornia was renamed Canterlot when you and Princess Celestia became rulers of the three tribes.”
“That is correct, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said as she strode forward, her eyes locked on the tunnel beyond the statues. “But Canterlot was not the first city the unicorns built. Before Canterlot, this was Unicornia.”
Twilight trotted after Luna. “If there was a city here, why aren’t there any ruins?” She glanced up at the statues. “Other than this, I mean.”
“Because they were fools.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, her eyes moving back to the taller alicorn as Luna’s horn scattered its light down the passage ahead.
Luna flicked her tail. “The unicorns of old wanted a city that could compare to the one that the pegasi were building in the clouds, one that exemplified their might and majesty. They did not want to be looked down on, but seen as the equals – nay, superiors – of the ponies with wings. And so, they built their city here, perched high on one of the tallest mountains in all of Equestria.”
“Well, it always seemed a little impractical. But Canterlot is still standing; obviously it is possible to build a city above the clouds.”
“Possible, yes; but not the way they built it. They rejected the science of the architects; any city that could be built by earth ponies, no matter how grand, would not suit them. And so, they built Unicornia, the first – and last – city to rely on magic alone.”
Luna’s horn flared as she swept her hoof across the passage. Silvery light began to trickle down the walls of the passageway, the glowing magic flooding into cracks and recesses in the stone walls. As Twilight’s eyes focused on the patterns, they seemed to come alive, thin strings of light flowing along the cracks, moving both down and up against gravity. The lines and curves began to come together, forming the image of hundreds of ponies standing at the base of a great mountain, their horns all glowing with the same silvery light as tall spires and impossibly thin bridges took form.
Twilight gasped. “Is that really what the city looked like?”
“So I am told,” Luna said as she continued to stride down the passage.
Twilight stared at the image on the wall for several long moments before hurrying after the larger pony down the newly lit hallway. “But that’s impossible. The city would have fallen down overnight without—” Twilight stopped again, her eyes widening. “The whole city?”
“Indeed. Every morn and eve, the ponies of Unicornia would hold a great ritual, so that their home might remain one more day,” Luna said as she continued to stride past the images.
Twilight licked her lips as she followed close on the elder alicorn’s tail, glancing down at her hooves to make sure she didn’t stumble on the ancient stone steps, the crudely worked stone marred by millennia of the slow drip of water from the cave above. “So what happened?”
“Ponies left.” Luna shrugged. “With their reserves of magic depleted by the ritual, few unicorns could lead the life to which they had been accustomed. With fewer ponies came a greater need for magic amongst those who remained. In time, all moved to New Unicornia – the city now called Canterlot – and this place was allowed to fall into ruin. It did not take long, without magic.”
“Huh. That’s a little anticlimactic. I was expecting like, an earthquake or something.”
“Not every city is lost to Windigos.” The tunnel levelled out as the images on the wall of ponies flocking from all corners of Equestria to the great city began to fade, the silvery flow of magic leaking from the walls and back into the stone once more, leaving nothing but the dim glow of Luna’s horn to light their way once more.
“So why did you invite me here? I know it wasn’t just for a history lesson.”
“More so than you think.” Luna strode forward as the tunnel opened up into a great cavern, her horn blazing with blue light. Natural stone walls sloped up and away into the darkness, and a cozy warmth began to fill the room as the alicorn stepped over a thick line carved into the stone floor and stepped up onto a stone platform. Her metal-shod hooves clicked loudly on the granite as she strode towards the center of the room, the bright light of her horn illuminating a stone arch tall enough for even Princess Celestia to step through without ducking.
“What is this place?” Twilight asked, glancing around the dark cave.
Luna lifted her head high, her mane flowing behind her on ethereal winds. Magic coruscated around her horn as the same silvery light which had illuminated the carvings in the tunnel began to flow down through the three deep channels cut into the floor. Behind her, the doorway sprang to life as pink light began to leak from the carvings of six ponies on the frame – two pegasi, hovering above the top, joined by two earth ponies on the right and two unicorns on the left. Golden armor gleamed on the ancient rendition of Commander Hurricane, his head held high as he gazed down on the other ponies. The platinum crown of Princess Platinum shone on her imperious brow, and Chancellor Puddinghead’s hat seemed to ripple in the magic’s glow.
Inside the portal, a sheet of pink light throbbed. Veins of magic flickered around the edges of the doorway, forming bright letters that burned against the stone.
MAY THOSE WHO STEP THROUGH THIS DOOR KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO RULE
“Welcome to the Cave of Harmony, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Luna boomed, her voice reverberating off the bare stone walls.
Twilight slowly turned around. Her eyes flicked across the vast empty space, the cave devoid of any sign of life but the two ponies standing near the glowing portal.
“Long ago, the rulers of the three tribes would come here when they took power. With representatives from every tribe gathered as their witnesses, the gate would be activated, and they would step through, and come to know what it meant to rule. Every commander, every chancellor, every princess was to come to this place, step through the doorway, and be enlightened.”
“Why haven’t I read about this?”
Luna laughed humorlessly. “Even by my time, it was an old tale. Not everypony who stepped through the doorway came to understand what it meant, and over time, the tradition faded, then failed as ponies forgot what it meant to rule.” She straightened, looking down at Twilight imperiously. “By the time of Discord’s arrival in Equestria, this place had been forgotten, the gate, lost.”
Twilight looked back to the gate as pink sparks crackled against the polished stone. “Why didn’t they move it? Why didn’t they bring it to Canterlot?”
“Because it is inextricably linked to this place.” Luna waved her hoof across the room. “This place where the three tribes met, and fell to quarrelling over who deserved the greatest portion of the cave.” She snorted. “You can even see where the rock that stymied their borders once lay.”
Twilight blinked and followed Luna’s hoof, eyes settling on a kink in the line halfway across the cave. “Wow. I thought they made that up for the play.”
“I am afraid not.” Luna tossed her head. “One by one, the leaders of Equestria decided it was too much trouble to travel up a distant mountain and down into a cold cave for a ceremony, when they could simply tell their successors all that they learned by stepping through. But I suspect that, without the experience, the lessons of the gate were lost all the faster.”
Twilight licked her lips, lifting her head to meet Luna’s gaze. “Did you and Princess Celestia ever step through?”
“We did, long ago. In the darkest days of Discord’s misrule, we found this place, and activated it in the hopes that our long-dead ancestors might share with us some wisdom.”
Twilight slowly stepped towards the gate, tilting her head. “So, has Cadance been here?”
Luna hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “No, I do not think so. Celestia seemed surprised at the idea that I might take you to the portal and show you our secrets, so I do not believe that Cadance has been here.” Her eyes hardened. “But I believe Cadance already has learned the lesson of the gate the hard way.”
“And I haven’t?”
“No.” Luna shook her head. “We rule Equestria, but in truth, it is Celestia and I who rule, and you who stand aside, save when crisis beckons.”
“I know I’m not much of a princess.” Twilight’s ears drooped.
“You do yourself a great disservice. You do many things for Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. But you forget yourself, and you look to us for aid and succor. You are uncertain, and you second guess your decisions, beseeching my sister for guidance even when you already know the answer for truth. You may be a princess, but you do not think of yourself as our equal, and when you speak to my sister, ‘Princess’ lingers on your lips.”
Twilight swallowed audibly. “And this will change all that?”
Luna stepped towards the portal, lifting one hoof to slowly trail it along the carved stone. “Once you step through this gate, you will be our equal in every way, save experience. There will be no part of rulership that will be more a mystery to you than it was to us when we came to power, all those centuries ago.”
“Will it change me?”
“No more than it changed us,” Luna said, turning back towards the smaller alicorn.
Twilight looked down at her hooves for a moment. “I see.” Slowly, she lifted her head, then squared her shoulders. “All I have to do is walk through the portal?”
“No. But the rest will be obvious once you do.”
“Alright.” Twilight closed her eyes and let the air rush out of her lungs before she took a long, deep breath and nodded her head. “I’m ready.”
“Good.” Luna took a step back, touching her horn to the side of the door frame. “Whenever you are ready.”
“Alright. Here goes.” Nodding her head to herself, Twilight took one step forward, then another. Brilliant pink and purple light filled her vision, but Twilight forced herself to keep her eyes open against the blinding glare. Another step, and the portal was before her, filling her entire field of view. Clenching her teeth, she took one more step forward, extending her front hoof towards the thin pane of magic before she stepped through.
A kaleidoscope of colors flashed around her, magic of every color ponies had seen and more besides whirling around her as magic crashed and crackled overhead. A purple heart hung in the air overhead, soon joined by a silver spear, a silvery crown, and a set of plowshares, whirling around, then bursting up towards the ceiling before exploding in a dazzling display of magical fireworks. Shimmering sparkles of magic clung to her coat, and Twilight’s mane and tail shimmered and sparkled with inner light, flowing on the same ethereal wind as Luna’s own before slowly falling back to her neck.
Twilight blinked, shaking her head to clear her eyes of the lingering blotches of color that clouded her vision. The light from the portal slowly began to fade, the silver lines on the floor draining away beneath the stone platform. Soon, there was no light but the dull blue of Luna’s horn as the older alicorn watched and waited expectantly.
Twilight looked around the room, then back at the doorway, then back at Luna. “That’s it?”
“Indeed.”
“But nothing happened!” She stamped her hoof on the floor.
Luna arched an eyebrow. “Did you not see the pretty lights? The variegated colors of the rainbow spilling across the room?”
“Of course I saw it! But it was all illusion! There wasn’t anything there! No magic knowledge! No new powers! I don’t feel any different!”
“Indeed.”
Twilight opened her mouth, then stopped. “What?”
“You experienced the same thing as ten generations of Equestrian leaders, onto whose shoulders the mantle of leadership was laid.”
“But it didn’t do anything!” Twilight shouted. “I’m exactly the same as I was before I stepped through! Are you telling me I went halfway across Equestria to see a light show?”
“Yes.”
Twilight shook, her wings lifting from her sides. “Why?”
“What do you think?” Luna regarded her coolly.
Twilight huffed a few times, breathing heavily as she paced back and forth in front of the gateway. “This isn’t a trick?”
“No. You are every bit our equal, save in experience.”
“But nothing changed! I’m exactly the same as I was before! Just more… sparkly!”
“Indeed.” Luna stepped forward, brushing past the smaller alicorn. “For all the magic and glamor, no pony who rules is any different from those who don’t. And that is the most important lesson of all. There is no magic to rulership, no secret knowledge. A leader is no more than a pony who is in charge, who everypony else trusts to hold all the answers.”
Luna glanced back over her shoulder and smiled. “Welcome to the throne, Twilight Sparkle.”
Author's Note
I'd like to thank my editors, Icy Shake, RuseMaster, and Nekonyancer, as well as the writers of the Writeoff Association for their feedback on the first draft of this story.
