A Twilight Princess

by Mekon

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Princess Luna, Original Character, Spike, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 22546

More crazy alicorn Twilight shenanigans.

Magic is a peculiar force. It lives in and through everypony, but none more so than Twilight Sparkle, the famous element of magic. In her mission to ascertain the true nature of magic and its most basic origins, she accidentally finds herself in a new plane of existence where light and dark are neither the same nor different. The world of twilight opens up to her, unleashing her true power and self. But in the process a shadow creeps forth, threatening to forever eclipse the land that is Equestria. What does it truly mean to be A Twilight Princess?

Cover Image by me.
-Hopefully it's not that bad. I don't usually do digital art. I'm much more fond of the pencil like my profile pic.

Published 2012-05-28 05:54:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-13 03:51:10 UTC

The Twilight

A Twilight Princess

Disclaimer

All respective characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro. OC's created by me.

Summary: Magic is a peculiar force. It lives in and through everypony, but none more so than Twilight Sparkle, the famous element of magic. In her mission to ascertain the true nature of magic and its most basic origins, she accidentally finds herself in a new plane of existence where light and dark are neither the same nor different. The world of twilight opens up to her, unleashing her true power and self. But in the process a shadow creeps forth, threatening to forever eclipse the land that is Equestria. What does it truly mean to be A Twilight Princess?

Rating: Teen

“ ” = Talking

' ' = Thoughts

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Darkness and light. Light and darkness. Everypony always thought about them in the same way, separate and opposite. It was always the same. Books, plays, paintings, and legends all discussed how they were never to mix and eternally fighting. The light was salvation, beauty, enlightenment and the symbol of all that was good and right in the world. The darkness was damnation, monstrous, confusion, and of course, evil.

No pony ever seemed to see differently. Everything was either black or white. Even the royal pony sisters, the goddesses of the sun and moon, were viewed differently.

Celestia, the shining and glorious leader of Equestria, was the epitome of all beauty. Her heavenly features gleamed as if the very angelponies themselves had crafted her graceful form out of the purest marble crafted lovingly by the hands of the Earth itself, devoid of cracks, errors and malformations. She was the light, imposing, yet delicate, like the morning rays of sunlight filtering through one's bedroom window while asleep.

The Sun Goddess was perfection given form, light given a face and hope given a voice, and just as her sun watched over Equestria, Celestia watched over the kingdom in all of her radiant glory.

The Moon Goddess, on the other hoof, was viewed differently. Though she had demonstrated her true nature, perception of the lunar goddess had yet to fully change. Equestria knew that Luna was anything but evil now, however, that didn't stop anypony from fearing her. A thousand years of dark legends are hard to live down.

To the populace, Luna was quiet, mysterious, mystical and reserved. Her arcane blue coat and flowing mane of dancing stars mirrored her night sky and its wonders, seemingly distant and cold. She was a enigma, something out of the legends of old, like watching a dream come to life from the darkest shadows. Ponies were hesitant to approach and even more apprehensive to interact.

Luna's true self only shined through to those who had come to know her well. She was a mischievous trickster, full of life and twinkling ambitions, an embodiment of the truth behind her night sky which only wished to be embraced and accepted. And just as the night sky kept its celestial secrets close and hidden, only discernible to those who looked hard and long, Luna hid herself, fearful of the possibility of rejection, revealing her inner secrets to a select few who had pierced the veil. These few knew the true Luna, privileged and happy to know the real Lunar Princess.

Oh, and of course, she was gorgeous as well.

Twilight giggled to herself as she thought of these things, her eyes were trained on the setting sun. Idly, Twilight wondered why everypony seemed to see one as better than the other, just like how they saw a supremacy between light and darkness. To her, both of them were wonderful, both with their own special little quirks, oddities and weaknesses. Light and darkness were her friends, and the lavender unicorn loved them both. She had had experienced memories in the light and in the dark that she would not have traded for the world.

Twilight shook herself, reminding herself why she was standing outside in a field on the edge of the Everfree Forest, surrounded by a array of six perfect gemstones, three shining diamonds and three starless onyx. It was almost time to test her theory.

“Spike! Ready?” Twilight called over her shoulder, a bit anxious about her newest experiment.

“The gems should be aligned perfectly Twilight!” Spike said with a claws up, “Though, can you remind me why we are even using these....delicious...gems in your experiment?” Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

“I told you. I'm testing the feasibility of spell decompilation, sentience transport and magical tracing through complete magical etherealization,” the lavender unicorn answered, “The gems are going to be used to focus my magic because out of all the other gems, these two produced the best resonance frequencies and positive interference interactions. That way, I'll be able to pull together enough magic to, theoretically, etherealize.” Spike just nodded mutely, not even attempting to translate what his sister had just said.

It had taken months of research, weeks of calculations, and a bit of complex math to triangulate the perfect position for the perspective to be just right. It would all culminate into the next few minutes when the setting sun would perfectly match the rising moon. Twilight hoped that all of her hard work would pay off.

“So wait...why are we all the way out here in this field then? Why wait for the sun and moon to match? Couldn't you have tested this theory closer to....you know..the library? You did with all of the other spells we practiced and all of the other crazy experiments,” Spike asked, a bit unsettled with being so close to the Everfree Forest near nightfall.

She sighed and quickly looked up at the sun and down to the horizon. There were about five minutes left until the alignment would begin.

“Because Spike! Since it takes so much magic to cast the spell, I'll need the biggest target to hit since it will be more than likely that my control will be extremely weak after casting. My magic could be so sporadic that it couldn't hit a side of Applejack's barn!” Twilight exclaimed, “So instead! I decided to go for the sky. When the sun and moon sets and rises, Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's magic will be at its peak. It will be the best chance I'll ever have at proving my theory. The chances of the moon and sun perfectly aligning again within my lifetime is close to point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero one zero two two five percent. This is quite literally, a once in a lifetime event, so I have to do it now out here.”

Spike's eyebrow rose. “And what does Princess Celestia and Princess Luna think about this? From what you told me earlier. This spell can unravel how to actually cast the spell you tap and the history behind it. Isn't that like....an invasion of privacy?”

“Oh, it won't be harmful. I don't think they will even notice!” Twilight said quickly, trying to reassure herself of her sentiment.

“You haven't told them yet have you.....” Spike deadpanned.

“Well....no. But! I will eventually. I really don't want to bother them with an experiment that could completely fail. I don't want to waste their time. They are very busy after all, being the princesses and whatnot,” Twilight evaded, trying to ignore the look that Spike was giving her at the moment.

“They're your friends Twilight. I'm sure that if you told them, they would have been happy to....”

“Shhh Spike. I need to concentrate now,” Twilight interrupted, dismissing her number one assistant. Spike shook his head, sighed and took a few steps back.

It had begun. The now orange sun dipped below the horizon, sending up shades of lavender, pink and red light, painting the blue canvas of the sky. The moon, reflecting the vivid display of colors, amplified the dancing lights, its surface bouncing the rays of the sinking sun back to its sender.

Twilight began channeling her magic into the gem formation, the three diamonds facing the sun and the three onyx facing the moon beginning to attract the arcane energies. The tendrils of magic snaked out of her horn, wrapping themselves around the attuned stones. Slowly, just as Twilight had predicted, the magic began resonating with the stones, creating a constructive wave the continued to build up magical energy. The air around the unicorn began to cackle and crackle with magic, causing Spike's spines to rise up in warning.

Finally, the magical focus completed its shape, a circle with a six-pointed star inscribed inside. Spike noticed that it was strangely similar to Twilight's cutie mark.

Spike didn't have a moment to ponder the strange coincidence because, moments later, Twilight's magical focus exploded as a beam of the brightest violet magic struck the sky. The blast sent the small little green and purple baby dragon tumbling into a nearby tree, the collision producing a dull thud and a grunt of minor pain. Spike was more focused on what was happening to Twilight, however, and ignored the pain. The magic continued to rise and conglomerate, becoming more and more dangerous with each passing second. The air seemed to protest as well as it hissed and screeched as if scalded by a magical branding iron.

Then, everything went quiet.

Spike pried himself painfully off of the tree bark and wasn't surprised to find a small shape of a dragon imprinted on the wood. He looked himself over. No splinters, no cuts, and no broken bones. He was a bit sore, bruised and disoriented for sure, but he'd live.

“Did it work Twilight?”

Shaking himself to correct the spinning ground, he looked towards Twilight, only to find the spot absent of one lavender unicorn and occupied by an enormous crater. He didn't remember Twilight talking about any sort of explosion.

“Oh...ponyfeathers...I probably should have paid more attention...”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

'Ugh.....dear Celestia...I don't think I'll be trying that again anytime soon....' Twilight thought out slowly. She had never summoned that much magic before and for good reason. The mental and magical exhaustion that she was feeling now was definitely not worth it. However, she looked herself over to assess the success of the experiment. She was completely translucent, almost ghostly. Looking up, she gasped.

She could see it, the crisscrossing of magical spells that spread across the sky and celestial bodies that kept the “natural” order of the world in check. Curiously, half of the sky was occupied by one web which was a brilliant white and held reigns upon the sun, guiding and directing its path. That was, no doubt, Celestia's magic. It was effective, ordered and did it's job perfectly without any troubles.

Looking across from the sun, a similar structure was brushed in the night sky, much less ordered than Celestia's. It reminded Twilight of a painting. Luna's magic was layered and natural, the edges and vertices converging and diverging at various famous constellations and star formations. Indeed, upon closer inspection, Twilight could literally see the brush strokes of magic that Luna had laid upon the dark, a labor that was unfortunately missed by many ponies. And of course, Luna's moon hung in the sky as a magnificent centerpiece, surrounded by a thin layer of magic.

Twilight marveled at the two distinct regions of control, both of which resembled the royal pony sisters perfectly. Truly, she could understand why Princess Celestia was referred to as the Sun Goddess and Luna, the Moon Goddess.

Knowing she had little time, Twilight floated up one of Celestia's lines of magic. Being purely ethereal had its benefits; gravity definitely had no purchase upon her being. Hesitantly, Twilight synced her presence with the Sun Goddess' magic. Instantly, her consciousness was thrust back thousands of years to the moment where Celestia had first crafted the spell, and she was able to pick apart every little component of her mentor's creation. The spell was precise, collected, and very efficient. There was a strange aura of calmness that was imbued into the incantation, which Twilight found to be almost exactly like her beloved teacher's presence.

Pulling out of the older princess' magic, Twilight reveled in her success.

'Etherealization.....check. Magical decompilation....check. Sentience transference....check. Magical tracing.....check,' Twilight thought to herself gleefully, her mental checklist now complete. The experiment had been a complete success! The lavender unicorn gave herself a mental pat on the back for her achievement. Her eyes began to wander towards the lunar princess' magic, however. 'Well a good scientist doesn't take just one sample. I'm sure Princess Luna won't mind. This is for science!'

Convinced by her own convictions, Twilight flew over to Luna's side of the sky where she proceeded to probe a patch of magic that was on its way to the Andromeda Galaxy. Just as Celestia's magic had shown the history and components of the spell, Luna's magic began to spill out its secrets. It had been reforged recently, which made sense seeing as Luna had just returned. However, what struck Twilight the most were the emotions and passions laced in the spell. It was very different from Celestia's spell. She began viewing the piece of art, one layer at a time. At the base, a layer of sadness and regret was present, painted over by a layer of intense loneliness. As she continued to plow through the levels, however, the emotions began to change. She felt Luna's happiness and joy. Finally, at the tip, desire and admiration rounded off Luna's creation.

Twilight quickly cut herself off from Luna's magic right after that, feeling a bit embarrassed for prying into such intimate details. Content with her new-found knowledge, she began moving down to the ground to corporealize which she hoped wouldn't be as difficult as etherealization.

Something caught her eye as she crossed the sky, however. At the border between night and day, Celestia's and Luna's magic met and mixed. No resistance from either side was apparent, and it puzzled Twilight greatly. It was a very smooth transition. Light to dark and dark to light. She moved to it and observed the strange synthesis of opposite energies. It was a strange phenomenon; one would think the energies would have just canceled out.

Twilight noticed that there seemed to be a small chasm present between the two sides of the sky. Curiously, Twilight prodded the junction, attempting to discern what the strange anomaly was. She suddenly gasped as her ethereal body began being pulled into the chasm, like a ship in a whirlpool.

She tried to pull back and escape, but it was too late. Equestria faded from view.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Meanwhile Near the Outskirts of Ponyville

“Oh what a glorious sunset!” a certain white unicorn exclaimed as she turned to take in the full effect of Celestia's falling star. Today had been simply perfect, and Rarity felt like a million bits. As per every Sunday afternoon, she had met her dear friend Fluttershy for their weekly spa appointment, and as expected, it was marvelous.

“Oh yes. It's very nice,” Rarity's pegasus companion, Fluttershy, agreed quietly, “It's...peaceful.” The shy yellow pegasus softly smiled as she also turned to face the sinking sun, basking in the warm afternoon rays.

“It is indeed the small things in life that really let you know you're still alive, “ Rarity sighed contentedly, “You just don't get this kind of serenity every day, especially for ponies as busy as ourselves.” Fluttershy nodded.

“Yes, usually something strange or exciting happens by now...” Fluttershy added, thinking about all of the crazy things that happened to them and their friends almost daily.

“Let us hope nothing of the sort occurs. This magnificent sunset is simply divine. Celestia forbid.....” Rarity began, wishing for the moment to last. Fate just didn't want to see it her way.

Without warning, a deafening boom steamrolled over them as a brilliant beam of purple magic burst into the sky, causing Fluttershy to squeak out of fear and lock up. Rarity shrieked as the abrupt blast of air tousled her mane, causing it to stick out in a strange angle. Immediately, she began freaking out, trying to frantically re-style her disheveled locks.

The ordeal went as fast as it came, and the quiet returned, save for Rarity's panic attack. Fluttershy regained control of her body and slowly wobbled to her feet. She looked around cautiously. Everything seemed to be calm again, well except for Rarity. What was that strange explosion?

“Um..Rarity?”

“And I just got this done! Oh the hours of time I'll have to spend to get it just right again!”

“Rarity!” Fluttershy said louder, attempting to be more assertive. It didn't work; she took a deep breath.

“And then I'll have to brush it and curl it, and then make sure that the color is just right! AH BUGS!”

“RARITY!”

Said white unicorn sky-rocketed high into the air, extremely startled by Fluttershy's loud outburst. “What! What! What happened!” Rarity exclaimed, shifting back and forth rapidly as if preparing for an attack. All she saw was Fluttershy.

“Um...If you're okay...Shouldn't we go see what happened?...If you think we should I mean,” the usually-shy yellow pegasus answered, her voice returning to it's normal volume and timidness. Rarity blinked slowly, processing the events of the last few minutes.

She gasped, “Of course! It would be completely irresponsible not to!” With a flick of her head, her mane returned to its usual perfect state just like magic. Unknown to Rarity, Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I was hoping for something exciting to happen today.”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

With Twilight

“Ooo...my head,” Twilight groaned, placing a hoof on her face. “Wait....hoof?” She looked at the offending appendage and gasped. She was real again! However, that wasn't the only surprise. Twilight was gray! Alarmed, Twilight looked herself over to find that her entire body was grayed, like a Sunday newspaper comic. Various shades and hues coated her, corresponding appropriately to her body, like someone had sucked the color out of the world, leaving only a black and white photograph. “What's going on! Where am I!” She looked up and her eyes met black, white and gray. That's all there was. Blobs of darkness and light floated around, swirling and purling in harmony like a vast ocean. Pockets of gray dotted the vast sea of light and darkness. “Okay..calm down Sparkle. Assess the situation.”

The lavender unicorn rose to her feet, finding that there was a very strange sense of “floor.” She looked up to see a similar sight to what she saw in front, more whirlpools of light and darkness. It was strange to see the concepts of light and dark mix like colors. “One, I seem to be corporeal now....Two, I'm definitely not in Equestria....Three, the environment seems to be....”

“Rather strange yes?” A voice called out from no particular source, finishing her sentence. Twilight screamed, and feeling “startled” would have been an understatement. “Oh dear, I do hope you're alright. I didn't mean to scare you.”

“Who are you! What are you! Where are you!” Twilight yelled, jumping left to right to down to up, still extremely alarmed by the unexpected voice. A small chuckle, resounded throughout the empty landscape. “Where am I! What did you do to me!”

“Please do calm down my dear. I do no mean to hurt you at all. I am merely intrigued,” the voice answered, amused by Twilight's antics.

“Answer me!” She wasn't about to just believe the strange voice on a whim.

“Do not worry dear princess. I shall answer your questions. Do forgive my ramblings. I haven't conversed with another friendly soul in many a millennium,” it answered back pleasantly.

“I swear on Princess Celestia, that if you try anything funny, I'll blast you to Princess Luna's moon and back,” Twilight threatened, not about to let her guard down by any amount of flattery.

“Oh how are Celestia and Luna? Do they still fight a lot? It's been ages since I've seen them. I do miss them very much,” the voice said, a tint of sorrow underlined in its speech.

“That's Princess Luna and Princess Celestia to you!” Twilight snapped reflexively. It laughed, not a mocking laugh, but a genuine joyous laugh.

“Ha. I've never quite called them that. It would be strange to refer to one's sisters that way. Don't you think so?” the voice continued, shocking Twilight into near silence.

“si..si..sisters!???” she exclaimed, unable to believe the idea, “Lies! That's Impossible!”

The voice sighed, “Perhaps we should start from the beginning.” Twilight was about to ask it what it was talking about when suddenly, the gray began to conglomerate and form a shape. She watched, stunned, as it started looking like a....pony? It began to tower over her, and with a pop, the form solidified. Twilight's jaw could have literally hit the floor. The gray wisps had formed an alicorn, a male one.

“Hmm? What's wrong?” he asked, noticing the bewildered look plastered on Twilight's face. She continued to stare. He was as tall as Celestia, if not taller, and like the rest of the world, his coat was various shades of gray. Strangely, she found that it seemed to fit him to a tee. His mane, rough and wild, was three different shades: white, black and gray. He had all the characteristics of any other alicorn, well the three that Twilight knew, long horn, powerful wings, and a very impressive stature. A sleek modest crown adorned his head, the left half filled with white gems and the other with black. Sneaking a peak out of curiosity, Twilight found his cutie mark to be very peculiar. It looked like the sun and moon layered over each other and cut in half diagonally, so that the moon pointed towards the ground and the sun towards the sky. Perpendicular to the cut, a halo of stars surrounded the strange combination of celestial bodies, twinkling even in the dark. “Are you alright?” Twilight shook her head, refocusing.

“I...I guess...Who are you?,” the lavender unicorn answered, picking her mouth off of the floor. Twilight's hostility had been completely replaced with confusion and surprise.

“Oh where are my manners? I am Prince Caesius, but call me Caesius. I'm well past all of the titles. I am Luna's and Celestia's older brother,” he said, ignoring the apparent shock still filtering through Twilight's face. “And you are my dear?”

“Tw...Twilight Sparkle,” she answered, her mind telling her to get a grip.

Caesius' eyebrow rose up in questioning as if scrutinizing the unicorn in front of him. “How peculiar...”

“Excuse me...but where am I?” Twilight continued, finally coming to grips with the current situation, her voice becoming a bit more demanding.

“That is what is peculiar my dear, because you see Princess Twilight, you currently reside within THE twilight, the realm that lies between the night and day. Few ever see it as it is fleeting and short,” Caesius responded with a cheeky smile. “How strangely coincidental...” The pony, Twilight, looked at him strangely. She could derive what he meant by “within the twilight”, after all she had been messing around with the magics of the night and day. But princess?

“I'm not a princess,” Twilight responded, her face scrunching up in confusion. Caesius grinned, finding her continued confusion endearing.

“My dear, if you are not a princess, why do you wear a crown?”

“Huh?!” She looked up for the first time, and saw it. Her crown, the element of magic, was currently residing on her head, and Twilight wondered why she hadn't noticed it before. “Oh...it doesn't mean I'm a princess. This is just the element of magic.” Caesius' eyes widened. It was now his turn to pick his jaw off of the floor.

“The element of magic. I SEE! It seems the spark was finally revealed,” he said and then chuckled to himself.

“What?” Twilight demanded.

“Spark...Sparkle. How appropriate,” he said, covering his laughs with his left hoof, finding the pun hilarious. Twilight frowned and facehoofed. Here she was in a strange, mystical and faraway land, and a strange “prince” that claimed to be Celestia's and Luna's brother was making jokes! “I'm sorry about that. It was just so funny.” Twilight let out a long sigh, her patience wearing thin. “Anyways, no matter what you say Twilight, no pony is just granted a crown.”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Well there we go! First chapter! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it.
*Cover pictures and marks made by me!
Thanks for Reading
-Mekon

Shadows

Last Time:

“The element of magic. I SEE! It seems the spark was finally revealed,” he said and then chuckled to himself.

“What?” Twilight demanded.

“Spark...Sparkle. How appropriate,” he said, covering his laughs with his left hoof, finding the pun hilarious. Twilight frowned and facehoofed. Here she was in a strange, mystical and faraway land, and a strange “prince” that claimed to be Celestia's and Luna's brother was making jokes! “I'm sorry about that. It was just so funny.” Twilight let out a long sigh, her patience wearing thin. “Anyways, no matter what you say Twilight, no pony is just granted a crown.”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Chapter Two: Shadows

Twilight stared at him, mulling over what the strange alicorn had just said. “That's just.....it's because....well...no...It's just an element of harmony. There is nothing that points towards me being royalty or a princess,” she firmly denied, refusing to trust a single word of the gray alicorn. She didn't even know if this “Caesius” actually was an alicorn. For all she knew, he could be some evil avatar of the unusual world she currently resided in, plotting to catch her off guard, steal her powers, take over Equestria, become supreme ruler, and commit a myriad of evil acts. Twilight couldn't trust him.

“Do you really think so?” Caesius asked calmly, no amount of detectable treachery in his voice, “If that is so, why are all the other elements of harmony only necklaces? Why is it that only your element, magic, is a crown? Doesn't that strike you as odd?” Twilight blinked slowly, processing what the gray alicorn had just said. It did seem a bit odd, but something else was also a bit off.

“Wait a minute! How did you know that the other elements of harmony, manifested as necklaces?!” she snapped, trying to find any reason to shut out anything Caesius told her. He chuckled, his eyes lighting up in amusement.

“My dear, the elements of harmony are thousands of years old, older than I, Luna, and Celestia. Ever since their creation, they have manifested as necklaces donned by their respective bearers. I do not believe that they have had any reason to change, and of course, it is plain that the element of magic is a crown.” The once-lavender unicorn spluttered indignantly, her attack shot down and obliterated.

“That still doesn't mean anything,” Twilight answered grumpily, grudgingly allowing her first argument to wither up and die.

“That is not the only proof of your true nature Twilight. Your own magical signature and essence is of the same form and strength as my sisters and mine,” he continued.

She shook her head fiercely, refusing the accept all the evidence that Caesius was presenting her. “I'm just a unicorn, a plain old unicorn living in Equestria with her friends. Sure lots of crazy things happen to us, but that doesn't mean anything,” the female unicorn asserted, stomping her hoofs in defiance.

The gray alicorn fixed her with a quizzical stare that seemed more amused than actually curious. “Just a plain unicorn?” he asked almost smugly. Twilight shuffled her hooves uncomfortably, knowing already that she was no ordinary unicorn. “Tell me then 'mere unicorn', how is it that you find yourself here? This realm is not just open to the casual passerby. A certain kind of magic is required to enter and leave this place, a magic that no 'ordinary unicorn' possesses, Twilight Sparkle.”

The female unicorn quirked one of her eyebrows in confusion, her intense curiosity goading her to investigate. “What do you mean?”

“Well as I have already told you, this is the realm of twilight....In Equestria there are three distinct realms, if you want to call them that. Most ponies just refer to it as 'times.' The day. The night. And the twilight.”

“What about dawn?” the unicorn Twilight countered, hoping that she had found a rather large in the alicorn's explanation, because that would prove everything he said was a lie, allowing Twilight to completely disregard everything about her being a princess and having unique otherworldly magics. Caesius smiled, glad that she seemed to be paying attention.

“The dawn and the twilight are one and the same. However, they are mirror images of each other, but are both made up of the same energies. You can say there are four times, but there is not four realms,” he smoothly answered, not missing a beat. Twilight sighed in frustration, throwing her hooves up in the air.

“So? What does that have to do with me?” Twilight asked impatiently. All she wanted was to get out of this freaky place and get a daffodil sandwich. Caesius smiled apologetically.

“I'm getting to that Twilight. First, let me ask you this. What is the twilight?” the male alicorn questioned, conjuring up two chairs and a table for them. They seemed to be made of the strange landscape itself, constantly changing colors and matching the background behind. Only a thin gray line kept the shape of the furniture intact. Caesius motioned for Twilight, patting the chair next to him. Hesitantly, she made her way over to the seat.

“The period in the evening between the light of the day and the darkness of the night,” she answered almost instantly, like a reflex. Her response was strictly denotative, and Caesius grinned causing Twilight to scowl. “What?” He waved her off.

“Essentially correct,yes. However, on the most basic level, the twilight is nothing more than the mixing of the night and the day, a synthesis of light and darkness. The darkness dominates the twilight while the light leads the dawn.” Any surprise that Twilight felt at the moment was masked completely, and instead, she turned her attention to studying Caesius. Nothing in his tone or body language seemed to elude to deception; everything he said seemed genuine.

“And?”

He smiled and looked over to the sitting unicorn. “Surely you understand the complications of mixing two opposite energies. Isn't it logical for the two sides to cancel out and become nothing? A void? Non-existent?” Caesius asked, his expression expectant and knowing. Twilight was silent, wondering how Caesius seemed to know exactly how she thought. He continued, “However, this is not the case. An anomaly occurs, something that surely caused you to investigate, leading you here.”

“What does that have to do with anything! You haven't explained a single thing to me about this place, how I got here, who you really are, and if I can even trust you!” she snapped, now at her wits end. She had been patient and waited and waited and waited, but so far, no answers had been revealed to her by the strange alicorn that was currently sitting down to her right as if it was some casual cafe meeting. Caesius sighed.

“We are getting there my dear,” he said, knowing that he was being a bit indulgent in their conversation. He hadn't talked to anyone in a couple thousand years after all. “Perhaps I should start with the trust obstacle. There really isn't any point to this if you aren't willing to listen and learn.” Twilight snorted.

“How are you going to prove that one? Show me a memory spell or something? The mind can lie,” she answered flatly.

“True. But the heart cannot,” Caesius countered, his horn beginning to glow. The unicorn began to protest, saying that no one can read a heart, proven for centuries upon centuries and tried by powerful unicorns throughout history. However, he ignored her and finished igniting his horn, his magic beginning to envelop the smaller pony. Twilight gasped as her sentience was sent back in time, and she saw and felt it all, the creation of Canterlot, the first cities being erected, the arrival of Celestia and Luna, the love Caesius held for them, and then the birth of civilization as she knew it. There was just so much, little moments that Caesius had spent teaching Luna, helping Celestia in her studies and even simpler moments such as them eating dinner. Suddenly, a shadow passed over the vision, and an dark cackle rang through her ears. Then everything disappeared.

Twilight whipped her head back as she was forced out of the memory. She looked up to see Caesius panting, obviously taxed.

“Do...do you trust me now?” he huffed out, beads of sweat dripping down his face already.

“I...I don't..I don't understand...That seemed like a memory spell....but I knew it couldn't be. I felt it. I felt you.... Regular memory spells don't work that way,” she said slowly, trying to make a heads or tails out of the things she had just seen.

“It was...a memory...a heart memory, one that I hold very close. That is why you felt it. A plain memory held in your mind holds no attachments. It is just information. But the memories of the heart hold it all,” the gray alicorn explained, his breathing beginning to even out. Twilight pondered this new information and the heart memory she had just experienced. She knew it was true; she had already admitted that she had felt the memory.

“What...what was that blinding darkness at the end?....and that evil laugh?” she asked, faltering over her words while trying to grapple with the feelings of absolute terror and sadness that were associated with that part of the memory.

“That....that was the last thing I ever saw and felt before coming here.”

“What was it?” Caesius shook his head, saying he would tell her after he had gotten all of the other important things out-of-the-way.

“But...Do you trust me now?” he asked looking her in the eyes. Twilight returned the eye contact confidently. It didn't take her long to respond.

“Yes,” she answered with no lack of conviction present in her voice. Caesius smiled, glad that he would finally be able to talk to the unicorn comfortably.

“Good. There is much you must learn before you leave this place. I fear that there is not much time left.”

“Let's start with how I got into the twilight and this 'power' you keep mentioning,” Twilight said, finally able to act out her list of questions that she had been making in her head for the last twenty minutes. He nodded.

“Twilight, what would you describe Celestia's magic as? And likewise Luna's? Either light or dark?”

“Umm...Well, Celestia's is definitely light magic....Luna's would be...” Twilight hesitated, knowing the stigma that was attached to the phrase “dark magic.” Once again, Caesius chuckled at Twilight behavior, amused by her courtesy towards his youngest sister.

“Dark magic. Do not fear it Twilight. Darkness is not the same as evil. Evil and darkness were never the same,” Caesius finished, “I've always found it strange how ponies classically paint the darkness as bad and the light as good, don't you? Even in my time, they did that.” Twilight nodded, saying that she had expressed a similar sentiment only moments before she had entered this realm. “They forget that true evil does not distinguish between light and dark. True evil is as comfortable in the light as it is in the dark.”

“I guess ponies think darkness is evil because it's misunderstood.”

“Exactly.”

“Plus, the Nightmare Moon incident probably didn't help ponies think any differently,” Twilight added, not thinking about the connection between the past-villian and the alicorn in front of her.

“Nightmare Moon incident?” Twilight opened her mouth to explain how Princess Luna had turned into an evil alicorn that wanted to bring about eternal night, but thought better of it, seeing as she was talking to Luna's older brother.

“Um...some evil confused pony who wanted to bring about eternal night, but realized the error of her ways and is now a good pony who serves Equestria faithfully. Nothing too serious,” she dismissed quickly, not wanting to elaborate on the unfortunate tale.

Caesius stared at her as if scanning her very soul for the truth. Twilight blanked her face and stood firm in her choice to hide the truth from him, even though she couldn't hold a secret to save her life. She guessed that she had been successful for once, because he eventually let it go.

“You were saying about light and dark magic?” Twilight pressed on, hoping to get as far away from the subject of Nightmare Moon as possible.

“Right. As I said, do not fear darkness. It is natural and a part of everypony's world. And as I stated, the twilight is a state of light and darkness, together in harmony. To enter one must be able to break the light and darkness at the same time for they are the ancient guardians of this place,” Caesius began.

“Break the light and darkness? Together? How?”

“Yes. First..What do you get when light and darkness mix? Tell me Twilight,” he coolly asked. Twilight only blinked in response, thrown off by the abrupt riddle. She assumed that the answer had to do with entering this realm somehow.

“Um....not life.....not a heart...um..” Twilight attempted to deduce, with very little success. With each answer, Caesius' smile continued to widen.

“I'll give you a few hints. This object follows you around wherever you tread in Equestria whether you see it or not. Everything and everypony has one.” She thought long and hard about all the clue Caesius was giving her. It was a mix of light and darkness. Everything and everyone had one. It followed her around whether she could see it or not....what could it possibly be?

Caesius could almost literally see the gears turning ferociously in Twilight's head as she searched her vast library of knowledge to determine a possible answer. He decided to spare her before steam started streaming out of her ears, pushing her into meltdown mode.

“A shadow, Twilight. The answer is a shadow,” Caesius said, placing a calming hoof on Twilight's right shoulder.

“A..shadow? I don't understand. How is a shadow light and darkness?” she asked.

“Think about it. How can a shadow exist without light or darkness? It needs both to exist, and likewise....” Caesius started.

“....shadow magic needs both light and dark magic,” Twilight finished.

“Correct. This is what allowed me to show you my heart memory. Hearts have both light and darkness within them, so with shadow magic, you may venture into your heart and others', unharmed.”

“But I can't do light magic or dark magic. Only Celestia and Luna possess those powers. All I have is regular unicorn magic.”

“You continue to reiterate 'the fact' that you are a regular unicorn, but we both know that you are anything but normal,” Caesius reminded, “You are the element of magic, what magic can you possibly not possess? It is against your own nature. And who knows? You may have already performed shadow magic without you knowing it.” Twilight rubbed her hooves together uncomfortably, knowing the truth behind those words. Reflecting on her memories, she was sure that she had used the same heart memory spell to save her friends from Discord's mind spell, and of course her entry into the twilight would have required some form of shadow magic.

“You're saying that I can raise the sun and moon like Celestia and Luna do, that I can paint the stars and black out the sun, that all the powers that the princess's possess, I have,” she murmured, thinking about the spells that she had already traced and unraveled from Celestia and Luna.

“You do....this power is a part of who you are. Why? Does it bother you?”

“Yes! Of course it bothers me! Who said I wanted to be as powerful as Celestia? How do you know that I want to help rule Equestria?” Twilight shouted, thinking about the consequences and ramifications that could result, “What if they want to banish me!? What if Celestia sees me as a threat!? What if I have to fight them!?” She trembled at the thought of fighting her beloved mentor.

“Twilight!” Caesius boomed, causing the once-lavender unicorn to revert back into her meek state, “Do you know Celestia and Luna? Are they your friends?”

“Yes.....Celestia is my teacher...and...I saved Luna...” Caesius smiled, glad that Twilight had already met and gotten to know his sisters.

“Then you know, as well as I, that they would never do those things. They will accept you, no matter what you are. To them, you will still be Twilight Sparkle and will always be Twilight Sparkle. Your other friends will treat you the same way. They will support you one-hundred and ten percent,” the gray alicorn soothed, “Do you really fear such things may come to pass? Are you afraid of the power that you really do possess?”

“Yes...and...I don't...I don't know really...” Twilight answered, once again rubbing her hooves together to avoid answering all together. True, she had always dreamed of possessing such power and being a princess like Celestia and Luna. She should have been ecstatic and deep down, Twilight knew she probably was. But that wasn't all she felt....she also felt...terrified. “I'm just afraid that things will change....and I'll end up alone again....” Caesius gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Change is inevitable, but you will be okay Twilight. You will always have your friends there to help and guide you. When the day finally comes, you will still have them right there next to you.....Now, we must get you out of here-” he said, dropping his voice to extremely low levels, almost to where it was inaudible, “-before IT finds out.”

“It?” Twilight said in her regular voice, not catching on.

“Shhhh..IT is the shadow that you saw in my memory. IT was trapped here, along with me, condemned for all eternity. But I fear any possibility of escape...the results would be disastrous!” Caesius muttered.

“What is IT?” Twilight whispered, feeling the atmosphere drop a few degrees and the air become thicker.

“The Umbra Magnus....an ancient evil that wished to consume Equestria's energy. By my sisters' powers and mine, we were able to seal it here after I battled it and severely weakened it. I had to be sealed along with it, here, and I, the light, and the darkness have been standing guard ever since,” he explained, “It cannot learn that we are going to create an opening to Equestria through which it may escape.” Suddenly a dark, low laugh surrounded Caesius and Twilight. It was already too late.

“Well well well....how flattering....ancient evil no doubt.....and what do we have here? Prince Caesius and a strange, insignificant unicorn that has fallen into my realm. How wonderful of you to drop by and create an exit for me to leave through!” the dark voice said as a ball of black and white flames smashed into the table where Caesius and Twilight were sitting, throwing the occupants into the ground and disintegrating the furniture. Instantly, Caesius sprang into action.

“Umbra! Show yourself! How did you get out of your shadow cage!” he yelled into the shadows, his head darting back and forth, anticipating the next attack. He was greeted with another dark chuckle.

“Let's just say that....time rusts all locks. It definitely didn't have to do with the enormous surge of power that happened to reverberate through this realm a few minutes ago,” Umbra taunted. Twilight gasped, knowing what the true cause actually was; it was her. She had to help! Twilight leapt to Caesius' side, igniting her horn, preparing for the worst. “How amusing...the little unicorn thinks she can stand up to me? Pathetic. Die.” Twilight gasped as a storm of spikes materialized out of the shadows and sped straight towards her. She conjured up her strongest barrier, hoping that it would stop the oncoming needles, but Umbra's spikes were too powerful and made her barrier look like wet newspaper.

They instantly shredded the construct and continued to pursue their target.

“No! You will not harm her!” Caesius yelled as he summoned a tidal wave of shadow about ten times taller than him, which rushed forward, absorbing the projectiles and providing them with the briefest amount of cover. He turned towards Twilight, having only seconds before the wave dissipated and reveled them. “You must leave now! I will hold him off for as long as I can. Find my sisters as soon as possible and tell them what has transpired here...”

“I can't leave you here all by yourself! You need help!” Twilight protested, preparing to stand her ground. Caesius closed his eyes regretfully.

“I'm sorry Twilight. You are the world's only hope,” he said as his eyes changed, one glowed with the purest white while the other was the deepest black. His horn began to hum with power, and he released. Twilight screamed as his bolt of magic struck her horn directly, and she saw no more. “It's up to you now Princess Twilight. I wish you luck....My dear sisters...know that I will always love you both, and I send to you the only salvation.” With a flick of his horn, a hole in the floor opened up and swallowed Twilight. She was gone just as his attack disappeared.

“Fool...you shouldn't have given her the rest of your power. Now you can never hope to defeat me!” Umbra laughed manically as a form cloaked in shadowy flames materialized in front of Caesius, “You are doomed!”

Caesius smirked and replied coolly, “Perhaps. But only one may hold the power of the twilight. I was already destined to pass it on. But even without all my powers, you won't be having any picnic fighting me Umbra! En garde!” Caesius exclaimed as he brandished his magic-covered horn like a sword, knowing that this would be his last epic battle and it would end in shadow.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Awakening

Last Time:

“I'm sorry Twilight. You are the world's only hope,” he said as his eyes changed, one glowed with the purest white while the other was the deepest black. His horn began to hum with power, and he released. Twilight screamed as his bolt of magic struck her horn directly, and she saw no more. “It's up to you now Princess Twilight. I wish you luck....My dear sisters...know that I will always love you both, and I send to you the only salvation.” With a flick of his horn, a hole in the floor opened up and swallowed Twilight. She was gone just as his attack disappeared.

“Fool...you shouldn't have given her the rest of your power. Now you can never hope to defeat me!” Umbra laughed manically as a form cloaked in shadowy flames materialized, “You are doomed!”

Caesius smirked and replied coolly, “Perhaps. But only one may hold the power of the twilight. I was already destined to pass it on. But even without them, you won't be having any picnic fighting me Umbra! En garde!” Caesius exclaimed as he brandished his magic-covered horn like a sword, knowing that this would be his last epic battle and it would end in shadow.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Chapter Three: Awakening

Soft....so very soft.

Twilight giggled to herself as she clutched the squishy object between her hooves, a silly smile spreading across her half-asleep face.

"Why of course Luna. I would love to. I thought you'd never ask," Twilight murmured into the object, eliciting a happy sigh to usher from her lips.

"Ask what Twilight?" a sudden and extremely amused voice asked, piercing the already thin, degrading shroud of sleep that had been covering Twilight.

Instantly, the now-lavender unicorn's eyes snapped open, her mind racing and hoping that her subconscious hearing had been completely wrong. She didn't even want to think about who her eyes would meet when she removed them from the dark blue pillow that she recognized as one of the pillows from her old bedroom at the Royal Palace. However, this fact only served to reinforce her resolve to not look up from the pillow currently resting in the clutches of her hooves.

A light delightful chuckle reached Twilight's ears, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could resist not looking. Maybe she was wrong? What if the pillows, sheets and blankets had distorted the voice that was currently speaking to her into what she thought she had heard.

Either way it was time to face the music......or in this case the light.

Removing the pillow from her face, Twilight blushed a harsh shade of scarlet as she laid her eyes on her beloved mentor, Princess Celestia, who was currently sporting what looked like an amused smirk.

"Princess Celestia!....um...it's not what it sounds like I swear!" Twilight attempted to explain, "What I mean by that is...uhh..."

"Hush my faithful student. You have no reason to explain anything to me," Celestia answered, setting a calming hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I'm sure whatever it was was nothing of malicious or.....inappropriate content," she continued, a mischievous twinkle shining in her eyes.

Just as Celestia had expected, Twilight nearly fell out of the bed in embarrassment, stammering and babbling a random stream of words which she attempted to string into a sentence in vain, and Celestia laughed openly, having gone too long now without being able to interact personally with Twilight and enjoy all of the eccentricities and hilarity that went with it.

"It is okay Twilight," Celestia soothed, attempting to calm her frazzled pupil who's face seemed to refuse to return to her natural lavender. "I was merely teasing you dear."

It took a while and more than a few deep breaths to finally calm Twilight down, and then the lavender unicorn finally realized something was very strange.

"Um...what am I doing back in Canterlot? And why am I in my old bed in the castle? I don't remember traveling here....." Twilight said, now trying to rack her brains for a reason as to why she was here. Celestia's face changed from her light and happy face to a rather serious and focused one.

"What is the last thing that you remember Twilight?" the sun goddess asked suddenly, leaning in a bit closer.

"Um...a field?" Twilight ventured shyly, not entirely sure she could trust her foggy memories at the moment.

"Go on,” Celestia encouraged.

"A field in..Ponyville...I was doing something....testing something....A theory," she answered slowly, "A theory...of magic..."

"From what I'm told that seems consistent," Celestia said, "Is there anything else dear? It is quite important that you try to remember. It would explain almost everything most likely."

"Explain what?"

"Nothing dear....go on." Twilight looked at her beloved mentor strangely, wondering what was going on. She decided to dismiss it for now and keep going.

"Oookay...There were...gems? Yes gems. White gems...and black ones....and then..." Twilight started, scrunching up her face in frustration as she attempted to defog the hazy mist that was clouding her mental vison. Alarmed, Celestia put a hoof on her faithful student's shoulder.

"Don't force it dear. Let your memories flow into you...lest you lose them. You must relax, some answers only come with time." Fortunately for them, that time would be rather short.

"Magical etherealization..." Twilight murmured, closing her eyes as she dove into the mental memory pools of her mind that were rapidly refilling and clearing.

"What was that Twilight?" Celestia asked, her eyes wide and alert. She was not sure she had heard her correctly.

"An in depth study of the feasibility and direct applications of complete and total magical etherealization...." Twilight continued, "In other words... the ability to trace all magic to its source point and decipher the exact components that are contained within..."

"I don't think anyone has been able to..."

"It worked..." Twilight interrupted, much to Celestia's surprise, "But then I found something in the sky....an anomaly. It was a conglomeration of Luna's night and your day....."

Celestia's heart and head began to race as she began to understand. But it had to be impossible, she and Luna had tried for quite literally ages and in vain.

"So, I got curious and prodded the fissure...then, I ended up in this weird world where I met this strange gray Alicorn named...."

"....Caesius," Celestia whispered, her eyes closed and her heart tight. She could not remember the last time she had ushered that name from her lips, but she could remember how he looked exactly and all the times they had spent together. Celestia tried not to think about how they had failed, but even with her long hardened years and impressive composure, she could not hold back the tears that leaked from her light magenta eyes.

"Aww...c'mon Tia, you know I hate it when you cry," a sudden and warm voice said causing the sun goddess' eyes to pop open and her head to lift. It couldn't be....

"Caesius?"

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

"This waiting is, without a doubt, undeniably and unquestionably uncool!" Rainbow vented, stalking back and forth in front of a large ornate door.

"Um..I'm really anxious to see Twilight too, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it," Fluttershy said quietly as she sat on a large comfy couch that currently resided in Luna's room, playing idly with her hooves.

"Ah' gotta agree with Rainbow. We've been waiting longer than a rattlesnake sleepin' in the winter waitin' fer the sun to shine," Applejack agreed, giving a long sigh.

"I do hope nothing truly dreadful has befallen our dearest Twilight. Oh that would simply and truly be...the..WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!" Rarity exclaimed before falling over dramatically onto Luna's bed.

"Oooorrrrr! Maybe something super-duper cool happened to Twilight! Maybe she's learned the secret to making everlasting candy or never melting ice cream! Or maybe she was inducted into this super secret flower club that goes around the world keeping the balance with their magical powers!" Pinkie rambled, excitedly hopping up and down in place, "Oh I know! I'll throw a CONGRATULATIONS FOR LEARNING THE SECRETS OF EVERLASTING CANDY AND SAVING THE WORLD FROM THE HORRIBLE GRIP OF THE OLD MEANIE FIRE KING PARTY!!!!"

"Pinkie...what in tarnation are ya' talking about?" Applejack asked after a moment of awkward silence. The pink party pony blinked for a moment before answering.

"I have no idea," she answered with a silly grin.

Applejack facehoofed and sighed, "Ah' hardly see how that helps Twi."

“I really hope she's okay,” Spike said as he thought about how they had gotten here in the first place.

"Don't worry everypony, Celestia is tending to her as we speak. She would never let any sort of harm come to her," Luna soothed, trying her best to calm the frzzled ponies. Twilight was indeed a fortunate mare to have such caring friends. “But, if it will soothe you all. We will go and check on them.” The six worried friends agreed without a moment of hesitation.

“Oh that would be simply wonderful Princess. All we need to know is that our Twilight is unharmed,” Rarity added, gaining a nod of understanding from the Moon Goddess. Luna opened the door quietly and walked further down the hallway that connected her room and Twilight's old room in Canterlot Castle, which happened to be conveniently nearby. Just earlier this week, this particular hallway had been completely jammed packed with doctors, nurses, specialists, medical theorizes, sages, and a strange blue pony that insisted that she be called the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria in the wake of Twilight Sparkle's 'Demise.'

Luna shook her head, remembering that said hallway was now completely devoid of any guests and only held the occasional patrolling guard that gave her a salute and nod before continuing on their way.

The dark blue alicorn raised her hoof to knock on the similarly ornate door that acted as a barrier between her and her sister's faithful student's room, but paused as her delicate ears detected the sounds of her sister.....crying?

“Oh no...” she breathed, pushing aside the large wooden door, fearing that something terrible had happened. “Tia are you....” Luna was stopped dead in her tracks, rooted in place by the impossible sight that her eyes were currently projecting through to her brain. Her eyes became impossibly wide as she processed what was going on.

“Lulu! It's been so long!” Caesius exclaimed turning his body to face his youngest sister, beaming, “Look at you! Little Lulu all grown up.” He smiled sadly. “I wish I was there to see it.....”

“How are you....I don't......” Luna stuttered, the emotional flood that was already drenching her reducing her ability to form sentences.

“Shh...I have very little time,” he said, giving her an apologetic look, “I'm sure you can both tell that this is not the real me.” Celestia and Luna nodded slowly, really wishing that it was. “Although you haven't seen it in a couple millennium, I'm sure you both remember my ability to create living messages.”

Once again, the goddesses of the sun and moon were reduced to merely nodding.

“This will be my most important one ever and....my last,” he said with sorrowful eyes, “I fear that it is even too late now. So, I shall be direct and to the point.....Umbra has broken free.” Immediately, Celestia's thought processes responded.

“What? Impossible. All three of us, our powers combined, sealed him to be forever bound to the twilight in the fledgling years of Equestria, doomed to lurk and suffer in the shadows for all eternity,” Celestia said, “How is it possible that he overcame all of our powers combined to break free of his eternal prison?”

“Anything and everything is possible Tia. I must remind you of such. One day perhaps, you'll find an earth pony that seems to possess even more magic than a mere unicorn, or maybe you'll find a pegasus fast enough to convert speed into light.... All things are a possibility,” Ceasius sternly reminded, much to the embarrassment of Celestia.

“Then how do you appear before us now? We would state that communicating with you has been impossible ever since that day, but clearly that is not the case any longer,” Luna asked.

“It is all due to this extraordinary mare whose body I am currently using as a vessel for this message. She had somehow pierced the locked gate of the twilight and revealed herself to me. Quite a special one if you ask me,” Caesius said with a grin.

“She has always been,” Celestia answered proudly. The gray alicorn smiled.

“I continue. She did not appear to trust me at first, but with some coaxing and a little bit of magic, I gained her trust,” he continued.

“What did you do Casi?” Luna asked hesitantly, knowing her older brother had a similar penchant for mischief, sometimes even more so than herself.

“All I did, Lulu, was make her realize her true self with a couple heart memories. Needless to say, I believe she will be questioning you both about your time as fillies soon,” the gray alicorn said with a happy grin. “I might have or might not have shown how adorable you two were when you were fillies.” Luna groaned.

“What happened next Casi?” Celestia asked, fearing that the message's life would end soon, leaving them with far too many questions.

“Right! We talked and discussed her nature, but then were attacked by Umbra. You would think that a couple millenniums would douse one's power a little, but Umbra was as strong, if not stronger, than ever. I could not defeat him. My own melancholy and long depression had contributed to the slow decline of my own powers. A couple millenniums is a long time to stay awake alone.....”

Celestia and Luna remained quiet, refraining from interrupting. Their hearts ached at their elder brother's speech, wishing that they could have somehow saved him all those years ago.

“Seeing that I could not overcome his still potent powers. I did the only thing left to me that would give you both and Equestria a chance to defeat him. I gave everything.....”

“....to Twilight...” Celestia finished, finally understanding. Caesius nodded. Luna's mouth curled up into a sour frown. Fresh tears began to roll down both princesses face now.

“I apologize Tia and Lulu....I will never be able reunite with you. But I leave you one last gesture of my love. I know with Twilight, you will all stand a chance,” Caesius said, beginning to now fade away.

“No! Please don't go Casi!” Luna pleaded, grasping onto his left hoof desperately. She had only come back from her exile a few months ago to find that everything she had loved had been lost. She didn't want to lose something again.

“I will never be gone Lulu,” he said as he bent down to nuzzle his littlest sister, “I will always be with both of you in your hearts. If I had to give a thousand lifetimes to save both of you, I would do it without a single thought.”

“How are we supposed to defeat Umbra? There isn't anyway for us to teach Twilight Shadow Magic,” Celestia protested, “Without you, we're powerless against Umbra.”

“Without me perhaps now.....but not with Twilight,” Caesius answered, “Have faith in me and your friend. If my character judgment is still good, I do not see her failing.”

For the first time, Celestia laughed during the exchange. “Yes....Twilight and failure very rarely mix.”

“My time nears it's end. You must guide Twilight, without both of you there to help her, Equestria will fall to the great shadow. I leave her in good hooves.”

“Casi please....” Luna begged, her heart aching with the sadness that was weighing it down. “Don't leave....”

“I must Lulu....though know I do it with much sadness, but no regret. This is my choice. If I know that you two will be safe, that is all that I need before I pass.”

“We will need you Caesius. Is there anyway...” Celestia ventured before being quieted by a firm shake of the head.

“You do no need me any longer. You have both grown into beautiful adult mares without me. I'm so proud. I can see that you both have learned and done much. Besides, if you could have saved me, I would still be bound to the twilight. This is a blessing as much as it is a curse. I will be free,” Caesius stated, half happy, half said. His form was nearly invisible now, a small gray outline being all that was left of Caesius' sentient message. “I leave you with one last piece of help, a prophecy that I now see was meant for this occasion.”

A millennium of lunar confinement and the years that follow hist
the celestial lights shall align themselves at where magic doth hence exist
A dance of light and darkness shall become free, and within shall shine with sparkle
There the twilight will rise in her greatest form and the shadow shall unshackle
The dark hand will grab for power and the great light shall fall prey to its heart
The love of the night and twilight must overcome, lest the world be torn apart.

“I go now. Know that I will forever be your brother and that I will always love you. Farewell my dearest sisters. I will see you again someday...”

And with that said, the image was gone.

“Caesius!” Luna nearly screamed, launching herself forward, only to collide with a lavender pony.

“Ow.....my head...” Twilight groaned, and slowly opened her eyes to find them staring directly into Princess Luna's azure eyes, a bit red from the crying she had been doing. “Um...Princess Luna? Are you okay?” Luna opened her mouth to speak, but was suddenly cut off by a voice from the door.

“Is everything alright in here? We could not help but overhear some sort of trouble coming from this room. Is Twilight alright?” Rarity asked, noticing a rather distraught Celestia and an....interesting spectacle on the bed. “Um....are we interrupting?” Pinkie unfortunately had no qualms about interrupting and zipped right up to the side of the bed, noticing that Twilight was pinned underneath Luna, awake.

“Twilight! You're finally awake!!! Now I can throw a TWILIGHT'S STILL ALIVE AND IS NOW A PRINCESS AFTER ONE WEEK IN BED PARTY!”

Twilight visibly twitched. "ONE WEEK!!?!?"

Realization

Last Time:

“I go now. Know that I will forever be your brother and that I will always love you. Farewell my dearest sisters. I will see you again someday...”

And with that said, the image was gone.

“Caesius!” Luna nearly screamed, launching herself forward, only to collide with a lavender pony.

“Ow.....my head...” Twilight groaned, and slowly opened her eyes to find them staring directly into Princess Luna's azure eyes, a bit red from the crying she had been doing. “Um...Princess Luna? Are you okay?” Luna opened her mouth to speak, but was suddenly cut off by a voice from the door.

“Is everything alright in here? We could not help but overhear some sort of trouble coming from this room. Is Twilight alright?” Rarity asked, noticing a rather distraught Celestia and an....interesting spectacle on the bed. “Um....are we interrupting?” Pinkie unfortunately had no qualms about interrupting and zipped right up to the side of the bed, noticing that Twilight was pinned underneath Luna, awake.

“Twilight! You're finally awake!!! Now I can throw a TWILIGHT'S STILL ALIVE AND IS NOW A PRINCESS AFTER ONE WEEK IN BED PARTY!”

Twilight visibly twitched. “ONE WEEK!!?!!??!”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Chapter Four: Realization

So many things happened at once.

Luna blushed hotly as she noticed the compromising position she had been caught in and clumsily climbed off of Twilight, muttering about out of context scenes and conveniently interrupting ponies. Excusing herself, Luna left them to wallow in her own thoughts in her room alone. She had much to think about.

Twilight continued to flip out, saying that everything in her 'lenient' schedule was even messed up, pondering if she was malnourished now due to a week of being asleep, and altogether wondering what in Equestria's name was Pinkie talking about. Her a princess?

Her thought processes weren't helped by the fact that all of her friends were now crowding her bed, rambling and chattering amongst themselves regarding Twilight's current condition and new appearance.

"Oh Luna's stars...Look at you Twi!" Applejack exclaimed, "Who'd a thought the princess look would work so well fer ya. Lookin' purtier than a glistenin' apple on the first day o'harvest."

"For once, I actually have to agree with Applejack on a matter of fashion. You look absolutely marvelous dear!" Rarity admitted, "Oh you must tell me how you get your new mane to look that way!"

"You gotta come flying with me sometime Twilight! I'll teach you all the cool tricks and everything! Sure you won't look as awesome as I am, but you'll still look pretty sweet," Rainbow gushed, thinking about all of the new possibilities.

"You look really nice Twilight," Fluttershy said quietly, but with no amount of lesser meaning, "I really think that crown suits you."

"Sooooooo? Can I? Can I pleasseeeeee? I really really really really realllllllyyyy want to throw you a party!" Pinkie asked hopping up and down in place, positively shaking with uncontainable joy.

Spike didn't say a word and instead started his morning routine, feeling a bit sorry for Twilight who was currently under heavy verbal bombardment. He left the room to fetch Twilight's morning ritual, coffee and a piece of toast with some butter. Within five minutes, the royal chef had whipped up a large pot of premium brand coffee, apple juice and a large stack of buttered toast, sending it up with two extra servants and Spike.

When he returned, he could tell Twilight was at her breaking point. Coming to her rescue, Spike quickly deposited a hot and fresh cup of coffee into Twilight's hooves.

"Thanks Spike," Twilight sighed, patting him on the head gratefully. She waited a moment for the coffee to cool and then downed the glorious, black liquid. She felt so much better now. However, much to her chagrin, the five other ponies continued to chatter, oblivious to their friends increasing headache.

"Girls!" Twilight exclaimed as she attempted to get the situation under control. No such luck. "GIRLS!" she tried again, exponentially louder than last time. This time the five other mares stopped talking and faced their weary friend.

"Yes dear?" Rarity asked out of politeness and concern.

Twilight rubbed her face stressfully. "I have no idea what's going on here! I've been asleep for nearly a week apparently, and all of a sudden a million things have apparently happened over that time. What happened to me?" Twilight demanded, knowing her mind would never stop bugging her if she never found out, "And what in Equestria are you all talking about? Flying?New Mane? Crown? Princess!?"

"Well that's easy!" Pinkie said as she began to recall the tale in quite vivid detail.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

One Week Earlier

"What in Celestia's name was that!?" Rainbow yelled as she turned towards the Everfree Forest, the remnants of a strange explosion lingering in the air. Dash shook her head lightly to clear her ears. Crashing into the pressure wave at high altitude was not pleasant.

"Oooo! I know! I know! I felt a back scratch, itchy nose, belly rumble combo! Twilight was doing some experiment again!" Pinkie declared.

"Well let's go check it out. I don't think most of Twilight's experiments include a violent explosion. C'mon Pinks," Rainbow said, cutting their pranking session a bit short, but Pinkie didn't mind.

"Okie dokie lokie!"

The one great thing about being with Pinkie meant that Rainbow didn't have to hold back on her speed. No matter how fast she went, Pinkie would find someway to appear there before her no matter how fast or how far.

So literally, Rainbow was able to get to the edge of the Everfree Forest in ten seconds flat, only to find Pinkie was already there, popping her head out of a nearby bush. Dash rolled her eyes, but shuddered at the thought of Pinkie somehow becoming a unicorn or pegasus somehow one day.

"Rainbow Dash! What impeccable timing!" a recognizably lofty voice praised.

"Oh hey Rarity! Fluttershy! What's going on?" the cyan mare asked. She highly doubted that they knew anything seeing as they had arrived as the same time as them. "Pinkie said that it has something to do with Twilight."

As if on cue, Spike came running from further down the forest, yelling and frantic.

"Help! Help! Something happened to Twilight!" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs, the worry easily filtering through his rapid speech.

“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy squeaked, her maternal instincts instantly flaring.

"Where is she?" Dash asked immediately, taking control of the situation. As head of the weather department, she had been trained to deal with emergencies. Sure it may have only dealt with wild tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards and a couple other unwanted weather anomalies, but the leadership required was the same.

"Just over there in that grove of trees!" Spike said pointing further down the edge of the Everfree. Rainbow nodded, understanding why they couldn't see her in the first place.

"Come on everypony!"

The four friends rushed to the little inlet of trees and gasped at what they found. The ground, charred and scarred, had been warped into a huge crater and in the center lay an unconscious lavender unicorn, unmoving and seemingly unalive, with a crown on her head, surrounded by smashed jewel bits of black and white color.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy said rushing forward to see if her friend was okay. She checked to see if Twilight was breathing still and if she had a pulse. Fluttershy sighed with relief as she found that her friend was indeed still alive, but worried as she noticed nothing she did seemed to do affect her unicorn friend.

"What happened here Spike?" Rarity asked immediately, turning towards the small purple and green dragon.

So Spike told them everything he knew. He recalled how they had appeared there at some special time when the moon and sun aligned to test some magical theory that Twilight had come up with a couple months ago.

"Then she started talking about this crazy magical eth....etheresomthing through magical...well something that made her magic more powerful, " Spike continued, "I don't know if it worked or not, but out of nowhere she just exploded and disappeared! One second she was there....about a minute or so later she reappeared, completely knocked out." He simply put it that they should know the rest from there.

"Okay! First! We gotta get Twilight to the hospital," the rainbow colored mare commanded, "When she wakes up, we can figure out what happened then. So who want's to carry her?”

The circle of friends answered with a resolute and rather pronounced silence. Suddenly, a sharp voice broke through the forest.

"What in the hay is goin' on here!"

“Perfect!”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

"Anddddddd then you wouldn't wake up, and then we all started worrying lots, and then Spike sent a letter to the princess, and then they sent a carriage to bring us up here where you were seen by like a bazilllion doctors and nurses, and then you finally woke up!" Pinkie concluded in one big gulp of air, having said the entire sentence non-stop. Twilight's face was blank as she attempted to process the entire story.

"Um...well that's...informative Pinkie," Twilight slowly stated. Bits and pieces were slowly starting to make sense.

"Well?" Rainbow Dash said expectantly, crossing her hooves

"Well what?" Twilight responded cluelessly. Rainbow facehoofed.

"What happened to you before we got there?!?" Dash practically shouted, gritting her teeth. “Honestly Twilight, what did you expect? We've been worried sick for a week wondering what in the hay happened to you!”

"Oh..Right," the lavender librarian said sheepishly.

She started, telling them how she had been planning to test her theory of magical tracing for over three months, perfectly calibrating the time and date of the optimal testing time. Adding onto her tale, Twilight recalled how, after successfully etherealizing, she had traced and decomposed Luna's and Celestia's spells, much to her embarrassment and to the utter confusion of her friends. She squeaked an apology to Celestia who readily accepted, urging her to finish.

Next she came to the exciting stuff. Her friends were literally on the edge of the bed as they listened to Twilight tell her story, soaking in every word. Not a single syllable was said as she went from discovering the twilight, finding and talking to the gray alicorn, Caesius, and escaping from Umbra.

"That sounds like a lot to do in only a minute Twilight," Spike said skeptically.

“A minute?” she asked, giving her assistant a confusing stare, “I was in there for at least an hour!”

“Well it definitely didn't seem like it..out here anyway,” the green and purple dragon said, scratching his head in confusion.

Twilight didn't quite know how to respond to that, but luckily Celestia, who had been listening and watching the entire exchange, stepped in to help.

"The twilight runs on a time much faster than ours. A minute here translates to roughly an hour there," Celestia said, her voice a bit heavy as she thought of the time her brother had to spend in there.

Twilight paled, thinking along the same lines. Her own lifetime would have translated to at least a millennium!

"No wonder he said it had been many millenniums since he had seen another pony's face. I thought he had simply lost track of time.... How did he not go insane?" Twilight said to herself, feeling an immense amount of guilt and sorrow for the gray alicorn.

"Caesius was always remarkably strong, but even I do not know how he managed," the sun goddess said, also feeling a crushing guilt on her heart and soul.

"What about how you became a princess?" Fluttershy interjected bravely, wanting to change the subject.

"Now that, I still don't understand," Twilight said, "You guys keep going on and on about how I'm a princess, but I'm not.”

"Ohm but you are darling!" Rarity claimed, "And a rather beautiful one if I might shamelessly add."

"Here see for yourself!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew into the nearby closet, the sounds of her crashing into things resounding through the room,causing Twilight to wince with each crash. She would have to clean that later.

Rainbow floated out with a rolling, full body mirror that had obviously not been used, ever. "This should be pretty clear," Rainbow said as she deposited the reflection device in front of the bed. The effect was instantaneous.

Twilight's eyes became as wide as saucers, almost popping out of her now regally shaped skull. It couldn't be....

She waved her hoof at the mirror only to find the lavender alicorn waving back. Twilight blinked; she blinked. Twilight opened her mouth; she opened her mouth. Twilight pinched herself; she pinched herself. Twilight fainted; she fainted.

"Rainbow. Ah don't think that was the best way to go 'bout telling her," Applejack said with a frown as she poked the unconscious alicorn.

"She had to find out one way or another," the cyan pegasus said, rolling her eyes.

“Perhaps it would be best to not be so blunt next time Rainbow Dash and handle the situation with some iota of tact,” Rarity suggested, “I would imagine finding yourself a member of a different species would shock anypony.”

"She isn't going to be all sleepy for another week is she?" Pinkie asked sadly, her hair slightly deflating, "She's going to miss her party if she does!"

"She is going to be fine my little ponies," Celestia said, rising from the corner of the room, "I suggest that we give her some time to process this. She has undergone much for one day alone.”

They nodded and headed out the door, followed by the regal sun sister who lightly closed the door on her way out and levitated the mirror back to it's place in the closet.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

An hour or so later

"Ugh...what a crazzzzyyy dream," Twilight murmured turning towards the window, finding that she was a bit late in waking, but she decided that it wasn't a total waste. "Sleep is very important after all.”

Swinging herself out of bed, she found it strange that the floor seemed to be closer than she expected. Her sleep boggled mind didn't think much of it, however, and she pressed on.

Trotting sluggishly to her bathroom, she magically grasped for the comb lying on the sink, intent on brushing her mane. She heard a snap and looked at the comb, noticing that it now lay in a couple pieces. "Tsk tsk. You would think they would make these things better. I must really talk to Princess Celestia about selecting better quality brushes."

She decided on just taking a bath. Moving to the double alicorn-sized tub, which Celestia had insisted be installed, Twilight's mind continued in its state of denial. For now, she was just plain old Twilight Sparkle, a perfectly normal unicorn awakening in her room in the castle. Nothing was amiss at all.

Humming a familiar tune in her head that had something to do with wrapping, she began washing herself. Hair check. Hooves check. Face check. Body check. Horn, a bit longer than she remembered, but check. Wings...

"Wings?" she blinked looking down at herself. "WINGS?"

She rocketed out of the tub, carelessly flinging water all over the floor. Moving to the sink, she dared a look in the mirror.

"Flowing hair? Longer horn? Wings? Taller? Oh dear Celestia...." Twilight said, her eyes impossibly wide. Everything came back. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no!"

Casting a drying spell on herself, she escaped the bathroom, only to run into Spike.

"Oh hey Twilight! I thought you'd be up about now," her number one assistant said, “Are you hungry?”

"Spike! Oh thank Luna! You have to help me!" Twilight gasped, rushing to close the doors and curtains.

"With what?" Spike asked, extremely confused by Twilight's frantic actions.

"Hide me! I'm a princess!" Twilight said, "Oh what will Celestia and Luna think?"

The baby dragon shrugged. "They already know," Spike said nonchalantly, "And it's about time you came to terms with the fact that you somehow magically became a princess. You fainted right away when Rainbow placed that mirror in front of your bed."

Unfortunately, Twilight wasn't paying attention and lost the end of Spike's sentence. The only thing going through her mind over and over again was "They already know..."

"Eeek! They know? Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! I have got to get out of here!"

Ignoring Spike's protests, she opened the door and peaked outside the door, finding no guards. "Coast is clear." Tiphoofing out of the room for a moment, she looked left and made a mad dash for it. If she could somehow make it to the main gate, she could escape.

"Hey! There she goes!" a couple of guards said as the speeding blur of lavender whisked past them. "Do not let her escape!”

To say Twilight was freaking out now would have been an understatement. She was in all out, 'my next assignment is going to be tardy!', panic mode.

Looking up ahead, a whole row of guards were waiting for her, blocking her way. Screeching to a stop, Twilight ducked into a nearby side-passage, the day-guards following just behind.

She found herself in another long hallway, adjacent to the main throne room. Twilight didn't have time to think about it and instead kept running, her hoofsteps echoing loudly across the tiled floor of the castle.

"Twilight Sparkle! Stop!" a guard yelled as he charged. Twilight quickly teleported out-of-the-way, but had misjudged just how much power was needed and instead ended up in the royal kitchens.

Nopony was around; it was just her, pots, pans and large amounts of cake. This was her chance to escape.

She could hear guardponies coming and looked around for an escape route. There was only one other way out of the kitchen to escape the storming guardponies, the garbage hatch.

"Ugh...it stinks in there," Twilight said, nearly puking as she undid the latch, "Brilliant plan Sparkle." Moving back she prepared to dive in, but suddenly, the hatch closed, a pure white aura surrounding it as it did.

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight," a soft regal voice said while shaking her head.

"Ce..Celestia! I um.." the lavender alicorn choked out, while simultaneously backing up until her backside hit the wall. There was no where to go. She gulped.

Celestia was getting closer. What was she going to do? Twilight shut her eyes tight and held her breath. This was the end!

…......

If the end felt like gentle nuzzling, it wasn't so bad.

"Um...Princess?" Twilight asked as she opened her eyes, a bit unsure as to what was going on, "Aren't you going to punish me or banish me or something?”

Celestia chuckled as she pulled back. "For what my prized pupil?"

"Um....Uh..." Twilight stammered, "For...being a princess?"

"Now why would I punish you for that?" Celestia asked, smiling down at her faithful student.

"Right. What was I thinking. It's not like you're some tyrant that eliminates all threats to the throne or anything like that," the lavender alicorn said, chuckling nervously, “Right?”

"Or am I?" Celestia said, drawing up her full height and smiling madly, “Twilight Sparkle! It is time to pay for your crimes against the royal throne!” Twilight looked on in horror. This was it; she really was a goner. "Kidding!" Celestia laughed as she toned down her aura to regular levels. Twilight looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "Oh dear. Luna always said that I should work on my delivery. I'm sorry about that Twilight."

Taking large gulps of air to make sure she was still alive, Twilight finally felt her heart rate return to normal levels. "It's okay Princess Celestia. I forgive you." Celestia smiled.

"Come. It is not best to stay in the royal kitchens for too long, lest my craving for cake come back to bite me," Celestia said, her eyes staring wistfully at a simply divine piece of chocolate crumb cheesecake. Well, it wasn't so much as a piece as it was a whole cake.

"Oh, right," the lavender alicorn answered, quite aware of her mentor's strong penchant for sweets and confectioneries.

Celestia lead her student out of the kitchens, but not before ordering one of her servants to bring them each a slice of that cheesecake and some tea.

"We have much to talk about... Princess Twilight."

Princess

Last time:

If the end felt like gentle nuzzling, it wasn't so bad.

"Um...Princess?" Twilight asked, a bit unsure as to what was going on, "Aren't you going to punish me or banish me or something?”

Celestia chuckled as she pulled back. "For what my prized pupil?"

"Um....Uh..." Twilight stammered, "For...being a princess?"

"Now why would I punish you for that?" Celestia asked, smiling down at her faithful student.

"Right. What was I thinking. It's not like you're some tyrant that eliminates all threats to the throne or anything like that," the lavender alicorn said, chuckling nervously, “Right?”

"Or am I?" Celestia said, drawing up her full height and smiling madly, “Twilight Sparkle! It is time to pay for your crimes against the royal throne!” Twilight looked on in horror. This was it; she really was a goner. "Kidding!" Celestia laughed as she toned down her aura to regular levels. Twilight looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "Oh dear. Luna always said that I should work on my delivery. I'm sorry about that Twilight."

Taking large gulps of air to make sure she was still alive, Twilight finally felt her heart rate return to normal levels. "It's okay Princess Celestia. I forgive you." Celestia smiled.

"Come. It is not best to stay in the royal kitchens for too long, lest my craving for cake come back to bite me," Celestia said, her eyes staring wistfully at a simply divine piece of chocolate crumb cheesecake. Well, it wasn't so much as a piece as it was a whole cake.

"Oh, right," the lavender alicorn answered, quite aware of her mentor's strong penchant for sweets and confectioneries.

Celestia lead her student out of the kitchens, but not before ordering one of her servants to bring them each a slice of that cheesecake and some tea.

"We have much to talk about... Princess Twilight."

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Chapter Five: Princess

Twilight gulped, dutifully following her mentor to her study where they could talk undisturbed. Her stomach felt like it had been twisted and pulled into a knot; she couldn't help but feel apprehensive. What would Celestia say to her? Was she disappointed? Would she approve? In addition, a hundred other questions were flying through her head at a mile a minute, and she was so burred in thought that she almost missed what her teacher had said to her. Pulled out of her head, Twilight suddenly realized that they had already arrived.

“Come and sit Twilight,” Celestia said, patting Twilight's cushion on the floor. The lavender unicorn stepped back for a moment, just now noticing that her cushion had apparently always been sized for an alicorn and wondered if anything else she had ever used in the castle had been fitted to be as well.

She sat, feeling a bit awkward now. It wasn't every day that she started off a conversation with her mentor along the lines of “Hey, Princess Celestia! Guess what! I'm a princess now! What do you think?” Luckily, for her, Celestia had the insight to instigate the conversation, sensing what bothered Twilight.

“I imagine that you must have many, many questions Twilight,” the Sun Goddess said, turning to face her prized student. She found it a bit unsettling that she no longer had to look down upon Twilight.

“Yes...” Twilight answered quietly, looking more at her hooves than at Celestia. Her mentor smiled fondly, remembering when her faithful student had been too shy to ask her questions before. That had been when she had been a filly.

“You will never get your answers without asking my dear,” Celestia said with a grin. Twilight returned the smile, also remembering when her teacher had said the exact same words to her when she had first started learning under Celestia's tutelage.

“Right. Sorry Princess Cel...” Twilight started, before being cut off.

“I insist that you refer to me as Celestia from now on. You of all ponies deserves that right, and if not for your accomplishments, loyalty and friendship, then for your new rank and power. Regardless, I want you to call me by my name.” Celestia had wanted to tell Twilight that for ages now, but her prized pupil hadn't been back to Canterlot ever since the wedding, and had had little correspondence since then.

“Oh um...well I don't know...” the lavender alicorn answered, twiddling her hooves timidly. The idea of so shamelessly talking to the princess in such an informal tone was a bit overwhelming.

“Please,” Celestia simply said, silencing all of Twilight's objections.

“Oh...well okay..Cel...Celestia,” Twilight said, her mouth feeling extremely foreign. She had never referred to her mentor without her title before, and it would take some getting used to. Twilight kind of liked it though.

“Now let's get back to those questions,” Celestia reminded, not losing track of the real reason why they were talking. Her student nodded and asked the first thing that came to her mind.

“Am I really a princess now? And if I am...then..of what?” she asked, immediately feeling a bit dumb for asking such a simple question. “I'm sorry. It's just that...”

“Twilight. Any question deserves an answer,” her mentor said, “And as to the answer for your question, many will now view you as such. You certainly command the power required. Your magical aura is incredibly strong, stronger than mine and Luna's if I might hazard.”

Twilight blushed. “I would never be able to match you P..Celestia,” the lavender princess said humbly, “You have hundreds of years of experience and wisdom. You've seen and done things that I can only fathom...” Celestia decided to simply ignore her student and move on.

“Now as to what plane you command or whatever celestial body you would be linked to....I can only guess I'm afraid,” the Sun Goddess said with an apologetic smile.

“If anything, your guess is worth a lot more than two bits to me.” Celestia nodded, readying herself for what she had to say.

“I'm sure...Caesius talked to you about magic,” she said, feeling a small pang at speaking the name so soon, but she knew it was necessary.

“Yes..” Twilight responded slowly, easily sensing the distress on her mentor's face, “He talked to me about magical classifications and explained how names should not be associated with evil or good, but the user instead.”

“A valuable lesson indeed. Continue.”

“He discussed how your magic draws from the sun and day, light magic, and how Luna's comes from the night and moon, dark magic. Then he told me about his kind of magic, a combination of the two, shadow magic.”

“Correct. Our magic types have always been rather clear to us,” Celestia said, “I cannot paint the night sky in a fashion as beautiful as Luna, and likewise, she could never create a day as brilliantly bright as I could. We balance each other, but we never did it alone. Caesius was the in-between, the mediator between is. He kept the peace...and he kept us together.” The Solar Princess sighed as she looked out the window. “A few thousand years ago, things were much different here. Evil lurked in every corner of Equestria, and the only thing we had was each other.”

“What about your parents?” Twilight asked. Right away, she felt like she had asked the wrong question. Instead, Celestia smiled sadly.

“We never knew them. We have no knowledge of how we came into this world,” the Sun Goddess said, “But I digress and must continue.” Twilight nodded. “With us three, we did all we could to protect each other and create a haven for every pony. I soon found my talent for raising the sun, and not far after, Luna found her talent for raising the moon. It took many years for Caesius to discover his own talent. He had thought he would be attuned to another celestial body out in space like Luna and I, but he found one day that his celestial body and plane was Equestria itself.”

“What!” Twilight exclaimed, “But....with him gone, doesn't that mean...”

Celestia shook her head, turning back towards her student. “He many be gone, but his spirit and power lies with another.”

“You don't mean....” Twilight said apprehensively.

“Yes Twilight,” Celestia said with a small nod, “It is in you, and from his passing, you have been reborn as the Twilight Princess. Fitting isn't it? Only Caesius would pick someone so ironically appropriate.”

This was just so much. Her? Princess of the planet Equestria? More power than Celestia and Luna?

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, her voice a little bit higher than usual.

“Like I have said, it is a guess...but my guesses have usually been good,” Celestia said with a small chuckle.

“Why the twilight? What's so special about it?” the lavender alicorn followed up.

“The twilight and the dawn are the two veils that separate our world. Equestria is always half dark and half light, except on the rare moments when the sun and moon pass. We have always used the twilight instead of the dawn in the title, and this is because the dawn, as it is the first signs of day, is the first layer of the boundary. The twilight is the underlying seam and gate that holds everything together,” the sun princess said, “Therefore, it is the true power.”

“How can I possibly be stronger than you and Luna then? Equestria is any old regular celestial body like the sun is,” Twilight said, mulling over the information she had just been given.

“Partially true my dear. However, my sun and Luna's moon nurture Equestria. Every night and day, you gain more and more of our energies, only further increasing your natural strength. This is how Caesius, and now you, was able to use shadow magic. I cannot perform high degrees of dark magic and the same with Luna and light magic. It is against our nature. However, you have none of these inhibitions, and in addition to this you are the element of magic, a rather potent combination if I may add.”

“You make it sound like I'm so.....” Twilight said tentatively.

“You are very special my faithful student, incredibly so. I think Caesius knew that, which is why he chose you.”

“What could I do though? What have I done to deserve this?”

“Twilight, you have saved Equestria not once, but three times. You have saved me, Luna and now Caesius. I do not believe there is another pony in existence that is more worthy of the title and power you now possess,” Celestia answered seriously.

“But...I didn't do any of those things by myself. I've always relied on the strength of my friends. I'd never be able to do those things alone,” Twilight answered, as she looked towards her crown, remembering what it stood for.

“Perhaps in the case of Nightmare Moon and Discord, but you latest escapade was only accomplished by you. Even when all of your closest friends and family had abandoned you, including me, you found the strength to continue and ended up saving all of us. It wasn't I, Luna or any magical miracle that saved the wedding; it was you and you alone,” Celestia told her, apologizing again for being so foolish during the wedding. Her student waved her off, saying that everything had been sorted a long time ago. “That is what you are capable of my prized pupil.”

Twilight looked away; she didn't like admitting it to herself, but it was true. All of it was true.

“You are the cornerstone of the Elements of Harmony, even without the support of your friends, you stayed resolute and true. What other proof do you need of what you can do?”

The lavender alicorn shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, unable to come up with any sort of effective resistance.

“But..I have so many flaws and have made so many mistakes...”

“We all have flaws, and we all make mistakes Twilight, myself included,” Celestia said softly. Twilight sighed, remaining silent. “My most faithful student, the most important thing you should be asking yourself is this: do you want this?”

Twilight tried to filter through her large range of emotions, attempting to assess her own feelings. She hadn't really thought about it; she had only really thought about how others would feel, not herself.

“I...I...really like it. It feels like a dream come true, as cliché as that sounds....” Twilight said, looking away from the piercing eyes of her mentor, “I've always wanted to be like you....but, it feels so selfish. I'm happy at the expense of your brother.....” Celestia stopped her there.

“Never think that way. My brother may have passed, but it should not weigh upon you. You would never allow something like that to happen,” she stated confidently.

“But it was my fault,” Twilight muttered, continuing to hide her face from Celestia, “If I just stopped sticking my snout in places where it didn't belong, Caesius would be okay, and Umbra would still be imprisoned.” She shut her eyes tight, trying not to think about the deceased alicorn. Twilight had never experienced the burden of death, and it was overpowering. Celestia lightly wiped Twilight's tears away with the tip of her wing.

“He never blamed you. I know that much. If anything, he was grateful you showed up. As for sticking your royal snout in places where it doesn't belong, I am glad you did. If you hadn't, Caesius would still be trapped forever in the twilight. You did not see his face, but he looked so peaceful, happy even. You ended his torment, something for which I will eternally be grateful for. However, his passing was never on your hooves,” Celestia soothed, “Caesius passed on his powers to you. If he had believed for one second that you were responsible for his death, his power would have rejected you and would have been lost forever as well as any chance for defeating Umbra.”

“But Umbra...”

“...would have eventually escaped...as all evil does. Time weakens nearly all things. What matters is that you were there to warn us and give us a chance. Caesius found you worthy of the title and power of a goddess, and I could not agree more.”

“What am I supposed to do though? I don't know how to be a princess or goddess or deity or any of that stuff,” the Twilight Princess said sadly.

“Then don't be. All that Equestria requires of you is for you to be Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia answered, grinning.

“Don't princesses have to help with governing and stuff like that?” Twilight asked, thinking about all of the royal duties Luna, Cadence and Celestia took care of.

“Luna and I can handle that easily. Cadence helps because Shining Armor is here, though it is not her true calling. You will never be obligated to help, though your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I really can't remember the last time I took a vacation,” the Sun Goddess said with a cheeky smile, causing Twilight to laugh earnestly.

“That reminds me to go and break the news to Shining and Cadence,” Twilight said with a small giggle, “I imagine Cadence will be thrilled, but I have no idea how Shining will take it.” Celestia actually giggled there, imagining her head guard completely stunned speechless. Twilight sighed, thinking about the first day she had discovered her talent for magic. “Princess....who would have thought?” Celestia smiled.

“Be happy with your gifts. Sometimes you are given more, sometimes less, but always be grateful and use your talents,” she concluded, “I do hope you are feeling better Twilight.”

“Much. Thank you Celestia. I really needed that,” Twilight answered with a fond nuzzle which the Solar Princess happily returned.

Pulling away, Celestia sighed as she looked back outside towards a specific tower where a certain Lunar Princess was still grieving. “Now if only I could help Luna....”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Twilight walked down a familiar hallway of the castle, able to recall and perfectly name all of the tapestry paintings, portraits and marble statues that lines the walkway. Further down, she could hear excited and lively voices which she easily identified as her friends.

She opened the door manually, afraid that using magic might reduce it to a fine pile of splinters and a golden knob, and Twilight didn't want to break anything else today. The voices stopped as she stepped in and all eyes were on her. Twilight smiled nervously, feeling like she was some sort of rare exhibit that was being studied intensively. She began to break out into a sweat as no pony in the room moved.

“Hi...” she said quietly, and it instantly ignited the group.

“Well howdy there Twi,” Applejack said first, coming up to hug her good friend. Twilight smiled with relief as she returned the strong hug. “Ah see that ya ain't faintin' willy nilly no more.”

Twilight chuckled. “Nope. But it still seems a bit surreal.”

"I imagine sugercube. Somethin' that big ain't to be taken lightly," the hardworking earthpony said with a little chuckle, "If anythin', this is just the start."

"Yeah....there's a lot of work and stuff that I need to figure out," Twilight said, "But with the princesses' help, I'm sure I'll be able to figure all of this out."

"I must say that I am extremely envious. They say that a princess' beauty outshines all others, though of course, I am the only exception. I'd like to believe that I'm on par at least," Rarity gushed as she began looking her friend over, countless designs and ideas forming. Twilight giggled, imagining the dainty unicorn in her position.

“You always look gorgeous Rarity,” she answered, returning the fashion diva's hug, while the white unicorn started going on about designing her a new dress and wardrobe, seeing as she had spontaneously outgrown hers.

"If anything darling, you will need to look beautiful and pristine at all times. Of course, I can always help you with that!" Rarity exclaimed happily, just shaking with the prospect of dressing for royalty permanently.

"You don't have to Rarity," the lavender alicorn said, "I wouldn't want you to strain yourself."

"Oh nonsense darling! I insist! I would be simply delighted to do it!" the white unicorn continued, and Twilight gave in.

"Oh alright. But don't go to overboard with it," Twilight said with a happy grin, hugging the generous fashionista. Rarity was absolutely thrilled, and started bubbling about testing out new designs and materials.

“So get a chance to use these babies yet Twilight?” Rainbow asked as she flew over to Twilight and poked her new wings.

“Nope. But I'm counting on you to show me how to Rainbow,” Twilight said with a wink, and the cyan pegasus puffed her chest out proudly.

"Ahh yeah! I'll teach you everything that I know! We'll start off small, basic rolls and loops, but then we'll move onto the fancy stuff afterwards," Dash said, "By the time we're done, you'll be able to fly circles around any pony, except me of course, and you'll look SO AWESOME!!"

"Looking forward to it Dash."

“How does it feel to be a princess Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as she stood in front of Twilight, feeling a bit small, but still smiling at her friend.

“Not too different actually Fluttershy,” the new princess said as she went down to Fluttershy's level, “Just a bit taller, a bit bigger, and a lot more power. But I'm still me.” She gave Fluttershy a reassuring hug, which was happily returned by the shy pegasus.

“Well duhhhh!!” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around the larger pony happily, “Who else could you be?!? Of course you might be taller, bigger and royal-er, but you're always going to be Twilight to us you silly filly.”

"Still up for that party Pinkie?" Twilight asked with a giggle, already knowing the answer.

"Still up for it? STILL UP FOR IT!?!" Pinkie exclaimed, "OF COURSE I AM!! I'M GOING TO MAKE IT THE ABSOLUTE BESTEST, MOST AWESOMEST, MOST TERRIFICALLY FUNNEST PARTY EVER! IT'S GOING TO BE MY FIRST 'CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ALICORNATION' PARTY! SO OF COURSE IT HAS TO BE PERFECT! IT'S GOING TO HAVE BALLONS AND STREAMERS AND CAKE AND DANCING AND SINGING AND SARSAPARILLA AND GAMES AND MUSIC AND....."

Dash groaned, sticking her hoof into Pinkie's muzzle to get her to stop. Pinkie continued to talk vigorously, much to Dash's chagrin. She grimaced as some drool began to leak from her mouth, soaking her hoof with Pinkie's spit.

Twilight turned towards her number one assistant waiting anxiously for his reaction. He folded his arms and frowned before speaking.

“Princess or not, you're still the giant egghead, crazy magical mare, and obsessive royal student we all know and love,” Spike added, his face breaking out into a large grin.

“Thanks guys,” Twilight said, pulling them all into a group hug, “I really needed that.”

“So what's the plan now Twilight? Are you going to help Celestia run the kingdom? Think you can make an official 'Rainbow Dash Day' for me?” Rainbow asked jokingly.

“Nope and nope,” she answered with a smirk, drawing laughs from everyone in the room. It felt good to 'feel' normal again.

Suddenly, loud bang shook the room, causing all of them to pop up into the air.

“Oh dear....she's still at it. The poor dear,” Rarity lamented, wiping a small tear out of her eye.

“What's wrong?” Twilight asked, looking from friend to friend for an explanation.

“Princess Luna's really upset. She's been crying for the last hour or so,” Fluttershy said, “I think that was the sound of her blasting her pillow....again.”

“We tried to cheer her up. I tried singing and cupcakes and balloons and dancing, but nothing worked,” Pinkie said dejectedly as Rainbow removed her hoof, knowing only a few things could prevent her from cheering her friends up.

“Oh no...” Twilight said, raising her hoof to her mouth, “I've got to do something.” She turned immediately and headed for Luna's room. She had another princess to talk to.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

How long had it been? Two hours already?

Luna lay crumpled up in her bedroom underneath the tear stained covers, sniffing periodically, her pillow still moist from the crying she had been doing. Her thoughts were a discombobulated mess, stretched and mixed in every which way.

How could he? How could he just leave like that? Why did he have to?

“Why Caesius....” the Moon Princess whispered into her pillow, trying her best to stave off another round of tears that were threatening to create another large dark spot on her pillow.

Caesius had been her rock, the one pony back then that had really understood and supported her. Sure she had had Celestia back then as well, but the filly Sun Princess had been too preoccupied with building a kingdom to make enough time for her little sister.

Luna still remembered the day when Umbra had appeared, the dread and danger that had dominated their lives during that time. The battles were fierce, each one being more deadly than the last. Then came the faithful day when they had successfully defeated Umbra, casting him into the twilight for all eternity. It had been a glorious victory, until they learned and witnessed Caesius being pulled into the twilight with their foe, cursed by Umbra to be imprisoned with his adversary for all eternity.

The Luna Goddess had thought that was the worst day of her life. She had cried for days and days, locking herself in her room and refusing to speak to anyone. Celestia had tried to get through to her, but had miserably failed.

She recalled the sleepless nights and the nightmares, shuddering at what came next.

In her moment of weakness, a voice floated through the darkness, promising power, revenge, respect and above all, happiness. It had been too much for her. Luna wanted to forget her pain, her memories and that deep hole that was left in her heart. She accepted, and Nightmare Moon was born.

It was all a haze from there. She watched from the prison in her mind as the nightmare confronted Celestia and was defeated.

Then the thousand years of hate and anger came, consuming her very being.

The Moon Goddess closed her eyes as her painful memories continued to run through her. She remembered her escape from the nightmare at the hands of the new Elements of Harmony. It was like waking from a fitful sleep. For the first time in a thousand years, she felt whole.

Now here she was, crying her eyes out again for her brother who was well and truly gone, her old scars being ripped open again. She wanted somepony to blame; she wanted to be angry.

“Punish her....” a familiar seductive voice whispered from the blanket of darkness that seemed to be getting thicker and closer, attempting to smother the Lunar Princess. Luna had learned, however.

“No...she saved me from you....she saved Caesius....Twilight would never...” Luna said, placing her hooves over her ears, trying to block out the smooth voice, but you can't block a voice that is in your head.

“She took his powers. It is her fault that Caesius is now dead, and Umbra is on the loose,” it purred into her ears, setting Luna's coat on end, “I can help you. Help you punish her, punish them all...”

“NO!!” Luna screeched as threw her pillow at the wall and blasted it, incinerating it into a pile of fine ash.

Suddenly, the sounds of a door swinging open dispelled the aura of darkness that had been clinging to Luna and lingering in the room like a depressant cloud. A voice reached her, clearing her head.

“Princess Luna? Are you alright?” Twilight asked quietly, moving to the foot of Luna's bed. The Moon Princess didn't answer, laying back down on her bed, turning away from Twilight. “I'm sorry,” she continued, her voice a bit unsteady as she watched Luna's unmoving form, “I'm sorry...Celestia tells me that it wasn't my fault....but I still feel somewhat responsible.” More silence hung in the room, breaking down Twilight's resolve a bit. “I know what he meant to you....I don't know if you hate me now or don't want to be my friend or if you'll even forgive me...but I still want you to know that...” Twilight started, her voice laden with sorrow and her face stained with fresh tears.

“We could never hate you Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, hiding her face and fresh tears. She didn't want this. She should have been the only one crying her eyes out, not Twilight.

“Why?” Twilight croaked as she moved to the side of the bed, “He was everything to you...” She sniffled a bit. This was much harder to talk about with Luna, because before she had left Celestia, the Solar Princess had told her about how much Luna had relied on her brother for strength and guidance.

“You saved us. You saved Celestia. You saved Equestria....” Luna admitted, sitting up to face the new alicorn, “And.....you saved Caesius.” She closed her eyes, knowing she had to let go, but not finding it easy. “He....he is free....after millenniums of confinement,” she said, her voice still a bit distressed, “I...I should be happy for him...and grateful to you. But I cannot and will not be able to express them. It is going to take much time, but I thank you for helping me come to terms with his passing.” The Twilight princess nodded. “As for forgiveness, there is nothing to forgive, but we give it to you all the same.”

The purple alicorn gave a watery chuckle, and Luna found herself smiling a bit as well. Suddenly, the Luna Princess found herself in a tight hug, causing her to blush just a bit, but she hugged Twilight back, feeling a bit better.

From outside the room, Celestia sighed with relief as she removed her eye from the little slit between the door and its frame.

Things were going to be okay.

Family News

Last time:

“Princess Luna? Are you alright?” Twilight asked quietly, moving to the foot of Luna's bed. The Moon Princess didn't answer, laying back down on her bed, turning away from Twilight. “I'm sorry,” she continued, her voice a bit unsteady as she watched Luna's unmoving form, “I'm sorry...Celestia tells me that it wasn't my fault....but I still feel somewhat responsible.” More silence hung in the room, breaking down Twilight's resolve a bit. “I know what he meant to you....I don't know if you hate me now or don't want to be my friend or if you'll even forgive me...but I still want you to know that...” Twilight started, her voice laden with sorrow and her face stained with fresh tears.

“We could never hate you Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, hiding her face and fresh tears. She didn't want this. She should have been the only one crying her eyes out, not Twilight.

“Why?” Twilight croaked as she moved to the side of the bed, “He was everything to you...” She sniffled a bit. This was much harder to talk about with Luna, because before she had left Celestia, the Solar Princess had told her about how much Luna had relied on her brother for strength and guidance.

“You saved us. You saved Celestia. You saved Equestria....” Luna admitted, sitting up to face the new alicorn, “And.....you saved Caesius.” She closed her eyes, knowing she had to let go, but not finding it easy. “He....he is free....after millenniums of confinement,” she said, her voice still a bit distressed, “I...I should be happy for him...and grateful to you. But I cannot and will not be able to express them. It is going to take much time, but I thank you for helping me come to terms with his passing.” The Twilight princess nodded. “As for forgiveness, there is nothing to forgive, but we give it to you all the same.”

The purple alicorn gave a watery chuckle, and Luna found herself smiling a bit as well. Suddenly, the Luna Princess found herself in a tight hug, causing her to blush just a bit, but she hugged Twilight back, feeling a bit better.

From outside the room, Celestia sighed with relief as she removed her eye from the little slit between the door and its frame.

Things were going to be okay.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Chapter Six: Family News

Twilight's entire frame shook with fear as she moved ever so closer to that hellish plane that loomed in the distance. How could sweet Cadence be working HERE of all places? The mere thought of that hell sent Twilight into near mental breakdown, and here she was, walking, well more like crawling, there on her own accord.

She gulped as she read the sign hanging over the gates of fire itself.

“Magic Kindergarten.”

Oh it was horrid, the false sense of security and happiness it promised with its bright, squiggly text and vibrant, smiling butterflies. However, this wasn't even the worst part. Twilight could already hear the little devils squealing about madly, taunting her and laughing at her expense.

“I can do this,” Twilight said, puffing her chest out in a brave display that she knew deep down would do nothing to help her face this. She sighed, trudging past the gates of oblivion, already noticing the beginning signs of her final destination. Small paintings of indecipherable words, discombobulated shapes, and convoluted colors began lining the halls like ancient hieroglyphics spelling out her impending doom.

She kept her mind focused on her sister-in-law and old foalsitter, hoping the pleasant memories would distract her from the panic and trepidation poisonously filling her chest. How could Cadence WORK here of all places, much less BE here!?

Finally, the lavender mare found the door number that was given to her by one of the hoof-maidens, and lightly rapped on the door, emblazoned with a golden number “9”, hearing some commotion from the other side.

“Com in!” a familiar, yet strained, voice called from the other side of the oak door. Twilight braced herself as she opened the portal to the last circle of hell.

Immediately, the racket of little foals playing and talking filled her ears, assaulting her senses in the most evil way possible.

Cadence had her back turned, not noticing Twilight as she attempted to mediate between two fighting foals, a rather aggressive little filly and a mischievous colt.

“Now Misty, you know better than to whack Ash in the head like that,” the pink alicorn scolded as the small butter-yellow unicorn 'hmmphed', whipping her blazing orange-red mane back in disdain.

“He deserved it,” said the little filly flatly as she folded her hooves, showing her displeasure, “He stole my bike during recess and killed it!”

“I didn't mean to!” Ash, a smaller colt with a dark-blue coat and jet-black mane that looked like it hadn't been cut in months, protested, holding his hooves up in defense, “I was going to give it back. I swear on Celestia!”

“I hardly see why you would need to borrow MY bike to test out a magnetism spell, which also FAILED!” Misty retorted bitterly, “It was more like a frying spell, which is exactly what my bike is! FRIED!” He cringed, feeling a bit bad for destroying the filly's bike, but not bad enough to back down.

“Well at least I'm not afraid of bugs!” Ash bit back, not really having any defense against what Misty had just said to him.

“We'll see who's afraid!” Misty nearly screamed, lunging for the smaller pegasus colt, intent on bashing him into a bloody pulp, but a firm dark-oak hoof kept her back.

“Alright break it up you two,” an older, more mature voice commanded, easily holding the two fighting ponies apart with his earth-pony strength. Cadence sighed, as she wiped her face hopelessly. Most of the foals weren't this troublesome; only these two were.

“Brock, can you handle this please? Keep them busy and apart,” she asked, glad that she had an older pony helping her a bit, even if he was a bit.....overly affectionate. Nonetheless, Cadence silently thanked whoever decided to come up with the TA volunteer program. “How can I help you?” Cadence asked as she finally turned around to face a bewildered Twilight. She blinked, taking in the sight before her.

“Uh.....hi Cadence?” Twilight said slowly, feeling a bit awkward.

The pink princess wasn't quite sure she was seeing things right, but this alicorn had the same voice, same mane, same coat color, and the same cutie mark. It really couldn't be anyone else.

“Twilight? Is that you?' she asked, wondering what kind of crazy adventure her old charge had gotten into.

“How'd you know?” the purple alicorn asked, her voice considerably brighter. She was glad that the ponies closest to her seemed to still see the real her.

“Oh....Royal Intuition I guess,” Cadence joked, chuckling a bit. She walked up to Twilight, enveloping her in a hug and getting a closer look at her. She definitely had all the defining features of a princess alicorn, longer horn, bigger wings, and a taller form. Now that she was up close, Cadence actually noticed that Twilight was a bit taller than her, which felt really strange to the older alicorn. Twilight was probably on par with Luna. “So what did you do this time Twilight?”

“Oh you know...the usual. Planets align. Prophecies fulfilled. Doomsdays unleashed. That sort of thing,” Twilight joked back, feeling relieved that she could still talk to another pony normally.

“Do tell.” Cadence grinned, looking back to make sure Brock was doing okay on his own. No pony had started a riot yet, and there was no blood on the floor. Things looked good so far.

“I'm more interested in what you're doing here of all places,” Twilight answered, looking around apprehensively as if she was going to be attacked at any moment. Cadence giggled, remembering her-sister-in-law's rather irrational fear of Magical Kindergarten.

“Tell you what. You tell me your story, then I'll tell you mine. Deal?” said the pink alicorn, pulling up two chairs for them to sit up. Twilight nodded.

“You go first,” Twilight insisted, knowing that her tale would be quite the long one.

“Mine's pretty simple really,” Cadence started, “The teacher here got injured last week in a strange magical accident that's left her in the hospital and on sick leave. They asked me to take over since I had some experience dealing with foals,” Cadence sighed, rubbing her temples tiredly.

“Not so happy with agreeing?” The lavender pony smiled sympathetically, just imagining the chaos if these little fillies and colts acted with one-tenth the energy levels of the CMC. The thought of being surrounded by hyperactive foals in Magical Kindergarten was enough to give Twilight the shakes.

“Oh don't get me wrong. I love them all dearly. They really are quite sweet and easy to manage.....” said the pink pony as she looked back towards a sulking Misty who was muttering murderous intent under her breath, “...most of the time.” Twilight put a hoof to her mouth, giggling into it. “But that's pretty much it like I said. Pretty boring really. I want to hear about your exciting tale!”

“Okay. Okay,” Twilight ceded, knowing Cadence wouldn't let her delay it any longer.

“It started off like any other experiment.....”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

“And then here I am telling you about it....” Twilight finally finished about twenty minutes later. Cadence had been extremely attentive, asking questions and for clarifications the entire time.

“So let me get this straight,” Cadence said, no small amount of wonder in her voice, “Luna and Celestia had a brother that had been trapped for many thousands of years that you somehow met by tampering with the ancient flows of magic, resulting in the release of a dangerous villain intent on destroying the world, freeing their brother from his long imprisonment, granting you powers on par with a goddess, and turning you into a princess.”

“Um...well...I guess,” answered the purple pony, a note of nervousness accompanying her statement, “Celestia said that I'm not bound to serve or anything like that, but most ponies will still see me as a princess, even if I say I'm not.”

Twilight's sister-in-law nodded, understanding that the idea that all alicorns were royalty was basically embedded into the mental DNA of every living pony today.

“What happened to Umbra?” Cadence asked, a bit worried about the “villain intent on destroying the world” part.

“I don't know....Celestia told me nothing out of the ordinary has popped up. Maybe he defeated Umbra, or maybe he found a way to re-seal Umbra.” Twilight said, “But Celestia says that we still need to be ready.” Cadence nodded. “You know...you're taking this really well. I was worried that everypony I told was going to freak out. I really hope my family takes this as well as you do.” Cadence smiled.

“Well, honestly, I always kind of hopped something like this would happen somehow really. I think it's great that one of my best friends, who also happens to be my wonderful sister-in-law, is an alicorn,” she admitted, “I think it's fantastic to have another pony that I can talk and relate to completely....And speaking of family, have you told Shining yet?”

“Nope. I was planning to after I finished up here.”

Cadence grinned mischievously. “Brock! Take over for a while. I'll be back in a few minutes! C'mon Twilight, I got an idea.”

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

Twilight really was trying, honest, but it was so hard, especially with all of these ponies look at her! She really hoped that she wasn't giving anything away.

“Cadence....I can't do this,” she whispered in a tone low enough to only be hard by the pink princess walking in front of her.

“You'll be great Twilight! I believe in you! Just have fun with it,” Cadence responded with a wide grin, “And imagine the look on Shining's face!”

Twilight gulped, but she couldn't help but lightly giggle at the mental image.

The lavender alicorn had walked this path many times, but never like this. With every step, she came closer and closer to the entrance to the guard headquarters, the day-guards bowing deeply as they both passed, calling her “princess” or “your highness” or “your majesty”. It was a bit frazzling to know that some of these ponies were childhood friends, guards that she had known since she was a little filly.

She couldn't really blame them for bowing though; she didn't exactly look like Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight was so busy thinking about how ponies were now going to treat her that she almost crashed into Cadence who was currently identifying herself and her for the door guard.

“I've never heard of this pony.,” the white, pegasus guard said, looking at Twilight suspiciously. “How do I know she isn't some kind of changeling in disguise or something? She could be that changeling queen....chrysawhatitsname.” If Cadence was worried, she certainly didn't show it.

“She is not the pony we are looking for. However, she is under my supervision. I guarantee that she is of no threat, but if you have a problem with her, perhaps you would like to explain to Princess Celestia why you have treated her esteemed guest with such disgusting disrespect. I hear the dungeons are unfortunately uncomfortable during this time of the year,” Cadence said in a refined tone that demanded adherence. Twilight raised her eyebrow, having never heard that voice from Cadence.

The stallion visibly shrunk as beads of worried sweat began to drip down his face

“Of course not Princess. My apologies. Go right on ahead,” the door guard said, his voice trembling and a bit higher than before.

“Thank you guard,” Cadence said, her voice returning to it's usual cheery and happy voice. They turned left at the first fork where not a single other pony was in sight. “Phew...I thought they were going to magically search you right there. That would have ruined everything.”

“How did you do that anyway? I thought I was toast. I've never heard that voice from you before,” Twilight asked as they walked towards Shining's main office.

“The Royal Voice can have a strong influence on most ponies,” Cadence answered sagely, “Celestia taught it to me when I was little.” The lilac alicorn nodded, making a mental note to ask a certain Solar Princess about it. Luna knows how much Twilight needed training on how to get out of situations.

“Well here we are!” Cadence stopped in front of a heavy, ornate oak door with a gold plate that read “Captain of the Guard.” The pink alicorn chuckled, just imagining the expression that was going to be splayed across her husband's face in a matter of moments. “Alright here we go. Remember to stick to the plan.” Twilight nodded, swinging the heavy wooden door with a bang.

Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω

It was shaping out to be an absurdly normal day. Regular and updated patrol schedules were posted on the bulletin board with pencil mark checks adorning the small boxes on the side, and small notes and memos were tacked and pinned to the cork board haphazardly, reminding anyone who bothered to read them about various events, messages and times.

Shining Armor stared at the gold, wall clock mounted over the door to his office. He hated this part of the day: filling out paperwork. Normally, he'd be out on a patrol himself, accompanied by his lovely wife of course. Wanting to distract himself from the gruelingly, mind-numbing task at hand, Shining blankly focused on the second hand of the clock, the sounds of his breathing and the clock being the only noises in the room.

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...To...BAM

“Shining Armor!” a lofty, loud voice declared, the sound of the door slamming into the wall following afterward. Twilight inwardly smirked with satisfaction as she watched her brother flail around helplessly in his chair, almost falling backwards onto the floor as he was caught off guard. “I have come to inspect your proficiency in managing the Royal Guard! I hope that you will not disappoint.”

“Buh....buh...” Shining stuttered, completely at a loss for what to do.

“Surely you were informed of my arrival?” Twilight continued, trying her best to keep a straight face, while also holing back the giggles in her voice. Shining continued to blab incoherently, much to Twilight's delight. “I, Princess Midna, am displeased.” Cadence filed in after Twilight, putting on a guilty and embarrassed grimace that said, “I'm sorry I couldn't get the message to you sooner.” Secretly, however, she was reveling in the hilarious and adorable facial expressions her beloved husband was making.

“A thousand apologies princess!” Shining exclaimed, finally getting a rope on his treasonous tongue. He bowed, deeply to the gray-blue alicorn in front of him, trying to hide the mortification rising in his chest. Twilight was lucky that Shining was looked down at the ground at that moment. Her face had briefly cracked. It was becoming painful to hold back so much laughter, and she admired the genius of this little prank. Normally, she wasn't one for this kind of stuff, but she could see some of the appeal.

Earlier, Twilight had cast a simple light bending spell that altered her appearance completely. While it was a simple spell, it took immense reserves of imagination and mind-power to pull off anything this complexly detailed. She had recolored her coat to a soft caesian color, and her hair was now a jet black, accented with small slivers of vibrant orange. Her new bright-red eyes shined as if they were the real thing, and her cutie mark, the piece de resistance, had been re-imaged into a neon blue-green pyramid of three equilateral triangles, two forming the base and one making the top layer, all of them only touching at their verticies. With a little voice disguising, Twilight was a completely different pony.

“I was not informed of your arrival your highness. I hope that this does not adversely affect your feelings about how well I can manage the Royal Guard, Princess Midna,” Shining continued, a visible layer of sweat beginning to coat his face. Inwardly, he cursed the fact that no one even bothered to tell him that he was going to have an important visitor this afternoon. Dear Luna, Celestia was going to send him to the moon for this.

This was just too much for Twilight and Cadence. The dams broke, and they both literally dropped to the floor, rolling around in euphoric laughter until tears leaked from their eyes.

Twilight clutched her sides in a desperate attempt to stem the pain from laughing so hard, and her hind legs kicked up, moving randomly in the air in response to her jovial howls. Cadence was in no better condition.

Shining Armor just sat there on his haunches, extremely confused and quite perturbed, his mouth agape and useless. Wiping a joyous tear from her face, Twilight finally dropped the disguise, turning back onto her belly and standing up. She drew up to her fill height before looking down on her brother with a silly smile.

“Gotcha Shiny! Now I know why Celestia likes doing this so much,” Twilight giggled, her voice easily recognized by the captain. Shining would have been able to pick out that voice anywhere, but despite what his ears told him, his eyes were having a hard time agreeing with them.

“Wha....what....” the captain continued, blinking over and over again in an attempt to either dispel the image in front of him or confirm its existence. Cadence took some pity on her husband and went over to him, giving him a quick kiss, grinning ear to ear. Despite this, he continued to babble dumbly.

“Oh dear, I think we broke him,” Cadence said, waving a hoof in front of Shining Armor's face. Nothing happened. The pink pony smirked, putting her muzzle right on Shining's ear where she began to nibble, much to embarrassment of Twilight who looked away.

Shining shot up so high into the air that Cadence was surprised he didn't end up embedded in the stone ceiling.

“CADENCE!!” Shining yelled in mortification, his face resembling a certain farm pony who had a penchant for answering in monosyllabic sentences. His sister was here for Celestia's sake! Cadence chuckled, nuzzling her husband fondly.

“Glad to see that you're back in the land of the living love,” Cadence said with a shameless smile.

“That was mean,” Shining pouted, crossing his hooves stubbornly.

“I'll make it up to you later,” she said in a low, sultry voice, eliciting another intense blush from the flustered Captain of the Royal Guard.

“AHEM!” Twilight coughed, none too subtly, and Cadence had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed by her display

“Sorry about that Twilight,” said the pink alicorn. Her sister-in-law merely nodded, hoping that she would be able to forever forget the implications of what she had just heard and witnessed. Twilight then looked to her brother with a warm smile.

“Is it really you Twilight?” Shining asked uncertainly. He was fairly certain it was her, but then again, he did mistake a deadly, power-hungry, parasitic love-sucker to be his wife.

“Dark blue is still my favorite color. Starswirl The Bearded's Exposition on the Magical Interactions is still my favorite book. And I still hate eating the stems of broccoli,” Twilight answered with a silly grin, earning on in turn from Shining.

“You always were a picky eater,” he said with a fond chuckle, getting up from the ground to hug his little, well younger, sister. “So let me guess. You defeated a powerful, evil spirit and absorbed its powers? Or maybe you attempted a magical ritual and it failed?...Hmm...or you just seduced Celestia and Luna.”

“SHINING!” Twilight choked out, pulling away from her brother's embrace violently, her face beet red.

“Sorry Twily,” said the extremely amused older brother, reaching up for a playful noogie, “I couldn't resist!” Disregarding his teasing, Twilight giggled, so glad that things seemed to still be the same between them, no matter how she looked.