Cracks in Reality - Book One

No matter how many times Celestia reassured herself that what she was seeing was real, she couldn’t bring herself to believe the reality presented before her. Twilight Sparkle was home. After being missing for ten years she was really home. Yet all Celestia could do was just stare at her lost, now found, student. Suddenly her present student stepped in front of her, and began roughly shaking her.

“You have to snap out of it, Celestia!” Sunset Shimmer implored. “Please, I need you!”

Celestia blinked several times, as though coming out of a deep trancelike state, and began issuing orders, like she should have done from the first moment she had laid eyes on Twilight Sparkle. “Get me a gurney, Sunset Shimmer. Nurse Redheart, I need you to prepare the ICU room immediately. I’ll need two liters of blood, it matters not what kind. I’ll also need a saline drip and complete quietness while I work. MOVE NOW!”

The room was suddenly filled with bustling activity, as everypony,-doctors, nurses and surgeons-went about completing the orders they had been given. Celestia’s horn glowed forming thick golden ribbons of healing magic which began wrapping around Twilight’s body. The golden ribbons passed over Twilight’s wounds and began stitching them closed. They then moved to her broken wing and began resetting the bones back into their proper positions before sealing the cracks closed. It had been many years since the last time Celestia had used this ancient form of healing magic, and beads of sweat began forming on the princess’s brow as she put all her efforts, energies, and concentration into healing Twilight’s body. Sunset came back with the requested gurney, and not stopping her ministrations, Celestia placed Twilight’s limp body on it and began wheeling her down the halls to the ICU.

When Celestia burst into the ICU room, Nurse Redheart had just finished setting up the requested saline and blood IV lines, and she began helping Celestia to hook up her student. Now that the worst of Twilight’s injuries had been taken care of, Celestia began redirecting the streams of magic to flow into her body. Celestia looked up at Nurse Redheart. “You may clear the room now, and take the rest of the doctor and nurses out of here. Go tend to Sunset Shimmer and her friends.”

When the nurses and doctors had left the room, Celestia cut away Twilight’s dark clothes, and what she saw made her blood freeze in her veins. On Twilight’s left shoulder was a large swirling rune branded into her flesh, it glowed with dark blue light. Her fur also seemed several shades darker then when she was a filly. There were also many, large and small, battle scars covering various parts of her body, and when Celestia pulled up one of Twilight’s eyelids, her student’s previous violet eye color was now speckled with dots of dark electric blue. The only thing Celestia recognized about her student was her mane and tail, which thankfully still had the same style cut, and colors.

Celestia took a much needed deep calming breath and placed a hand on Twilight’s bare abdomen, using her magic to turn her whole body translucent. Once more, Celestia was shocked beyond belief at what she was seeing. Twilight’s magic was no longer the bright violet she had grown used to during their lessons together, but instead it was instead a dark blue and in the form raging flames through her veins.

Celestia manipulated the magic, and this time she could see Twilight’s bones, some of which had a casting of stalgamite- a black, glasslike substance- around them. The bones in Twilight’s left wing, and both her legs were cast entirely in stalgamite, as were parts of her arms, and her entire right hand. Once more Celestia manipulated the magic, this time revealing her well developed muscle structure. Celestia’s attention was once more brought to Twilight’s left wing, which had a massive amount of scar tissue where it connected to her back. Another manipulation of magic revealed Twilight’s organs, and this time Celestia lost her already tedious self control at what she was seeing.

She released the X-ray spells, returning Twilight’s body back to normal, and stumbled to her knees in front of the waste basket, just in time for her to vomit up her entire day’s meal. Once she was done, Celestia wiped her mouth clean with the back of her hand and slowly rose to her feet. Besides several organs with scar tissue, consistent with the scars on her skin, Twilight’s entire heart was covered in glowing blue runes and sigils, which was without doubt the source of her strong dark magic.

There was only one pony in existence who knew how to successfully perform such a ritual, and Twilight had spent the last thirty years of her life under his tutelage. Darklight.

Strong anger and rage, the likes of which she hadn’t experienced in nearly fifteen hundred years, spread throughout Celestia’s body like a raging fire and she had to clench her teeth hard in order to stop herself from screaming out in fury. She clenched her hands so tight, her fingernails drew blood, and Celestia focused on the pain in her palms to distract herself from the rising storm of fiery fury rising through her body.

Just thinking Darklight’s name caused Celestia’s body to flicker with angry flames. That miserable excuse of life had once again crossed an unforgivable line. He had corrupted her surrogate daughter with his darkness, but unlike Luna, there was no way Twilight could come back to the light. She was too far gone. Celestia’s gaze flickered to a table containing operating equipment, and she focused on the scalpel.

Thoughts of what she should have done to him so many years ago danced in Celestia’s mind like poison, and her gaze flickered to Twilight laying motionless on the gurney. How many lives would have been spared, had she acted against him so many years ago. How many years of light and friendship had been wasted because of her inaction. Celestia’s gaze flickered back to the scalpel, and it floated in the air surrounded by her golden aura of magic. The laws she had set for Equestria were crystal clear regarding the intolerance of dark magic, as were the punishments for those who used it.

The death penalty.

The scalpel moved closer to the form of pure darkness laying motionless and defencelessly on the table.

And then two words crossed her mind stopping the deadly blade in its path to Twilight’s throat.

Sunset Shimmer.

Celestia blinked several times at what she was doing, and with a cry of disgust she threw the scalpel across the room. She couldn’t believe what she had been about to do. For just a brief moment the pony she had been during Equestria’s darkest times had broken though her new personality, but she wasn’t that pony anymore. Sunset Shimmer was proof of her love and leniency towards her subjects. That unicorn was the living embodiment of her forgiveness. Tears stung Celestia’s eyes and left wet trails down her cheeks. She was no longer the pony she had been in the times of times of war, so why was she acting like that now?

The answer came clear to her. Because of the hatred she held towards him. She was willing to forgive Sunset Shimmer for her past transgressions, and she was willing to at least try and cure Twilight Sparkle of the darkness that she had been infected with. But he was too far beyond her forgiveness, he had done too many unforgivable things that he needed to answer for.

The door to the ICU slowly creaked open and Celestia spun around to berate whoever had the nerve to disturb her, she stopped herself when she noticed it was her sister Luna. Yet another victim of him.

“Art thou alright sister? We sensed thine emotional disturbance, even in our room.”

Celesita sighed and covered Twilight’s naked form with a hospital sheet. “I am very far from alright my dear Luna, but you needn’t worry yourself with my problems just yet. You yourself need some time to get over, and process what has happened this past day.”

Luna didn’t answer, instead she just stared at Twilight’s body. “Just before thine student and her friends used the Elements of Harmony on us, we fought with this alicorn, and she would have killed us were it not for the intervention of a demon we long ago trapped in Tartarus. Her magic and combative skills could have only been taught to her by one pony that we know of.”

Celestia looked away from her sister’s gaze. “You are correct in your assumptions, Luna, she was Darklight’s pupil for the last thirty years, it is for that reason I must insist you stay away from her until I have cured her.”

“We will obey thine wishes, sister, we owe thee that, and so much more.” Luna took another lingering glance at Twilight before turning and walking away. Celestia waited until she was out of sight before summoning a small wooden jewellery box from her personal chambers in Canterlot castle.

“Please forgive me for what I’m about to do Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia whispered softly. She opened the box revealing a pure white ring which she placed over Twilight’s horn. The ring was designed to inhibit the use of dark magic without affecting the wearer’s use of pure magic. It was the only way Celestia could, in good conscious, allow her student to stay in Equestria. But since Celestia knew Twilight had been trained by Darklight, binding her magic wouldn’t be enough to keep her placated, she needed to keep Twilight psychically restrained until she figured out the extent of her damages.

With a heavy heart, but knowing that it was necessary, Celestia walked to a cabinet that housed several thick leather restraints used on prisoners to keep them still, and the doctors safe, while they were being worked on. Celestia picked more restraints than what was technically necessary, but she wasn’t willing to take any chances. It was for that reason Celesita used her magic to activate the Royal Regent, and put the Wonder Bolts on security level Defcon one. Once Twilight was sufficiently restrained to Celestia’s satisfaction, she wheeled both her student and the IV stand out of the ICU and into the lobby where she found Sunset Shimmer sitting in the waiting room holding what looked like several heavy items bundled up in a black cloak.

Celestia’s brow creased with worry as she recognised the scent, and icy sensations, of dark magic coming from the bundle. But what really worried the princess was the fact that Sunset looked like she had been crying, and crying hard. Sunset’s eyes were extremely bloodshot, the fur on her cheeks were stained wet with tears, and she was sniffling as though she had a severe cold. The last time Celestia had seen her student in such an emotionally distraught state was four years ago when they had their falling out regarding her use of forbidden magic.

Sunset finally raised her gaze to look up at Celestia, who once again felt her blood run cold as she saw the dark blue dots speckled throughout Sunset’s normally teal eyes.

Sunset's lower lip quivered and she burst into tears at the sight of her mentor, whom she had once again betrayed. “P-please d-don’t hate me.”