Author's Note
I feel it reads best with a heart beat playing.
What was originally released as a one shot, not nearly intended to be as well received as it has been, nor as well read. This was—to me—my first story that I felt had a significant difference in quality to everything else I'd written.
...Now I cringe while reading it. So I re-edited it, fixed as many errors and minor annoyances as I could in a few hours, and here you go.
Silence [Remastered]
The sun itself pulsed like a heart beat, as did the temperature too. The world felt connected to life, but... Our world was dead. I never could have possibly imagined this is where all of our hard work, our eons of dedication, all the blood, sweat and tears we spilled over this. The innocent lives, the daily struggles—all to ruin? I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I stepped on the Cutie Map with a copy of Starlight Glimmer's spell—a remarkable piece of work I might add—but it wasn't this.
The Castle of Friendship was completely obliterated. Where was once the grand tree castle of crystal and likely the new center for Equestrian knowledge, was now vaguely purple and violet rubble. The Equestria the Cutie Map displayed was more than destroyed, it just... Wasn't. It wasn't even recognizably the same continent; the craters and hazy green and black clouds surrounding the toppled Canterlot Hillside wasn't the most heart breaking thing however, nor was the ash clouds that were circling every ruined town I knew about, including those I didn't. Not to me at least.
What most concerned me was I couldn't sense myself. I couldn't sense Luna, Cadence—Tartarus, I couldn't even sense Discord. I couldn't sense anypony. Except Twilight. In the dust on the ground, in the calm winds and the dead flora; I felt her—and only her—everywhere.
As I wandered the desecrated corpse of my beloved land, I could only vaguely pinpoint the center of Twilight's life force. It felt weak and overwhelming all at once, like a swarm of crows. I hadn't felt so tiny and insignificant in a very long time. It was coming from the Castle of the Sisters general location in what once was the Everfree Forest. But the once dangerous—yet, beautiful forest was razed to the ground. I coughed, the same cinders and ashes bellowed through the air here as everywhere else. I vaguely took note in the far dark crevices of my mind that I was likely breathing in the remains of countless ponies and other creatures of Equestria, the poor souls who had been disintegrated by the same force as everything else.
Then I felt it. The heartbeat rhythm that flowed through the whole world in silence, I felt it now in my very being, resonating in my core. Then I saw it along the immense black and purple flow that waved from the cave the Tree of Harmony resided in. I spotted the Elements Bearers cutie marks flicker along the mane, among many, many others, and I knew I had found her. "Twilight..." I breathed the words out in awe. Her mane reached from the cave to above the ravine, wrapping around the world like hugging wisps, clinging to all which it touched, but sticking with nothing.
I descended the hillside, the natural staircase was still mostly intact remarkably. Hummm... I heard the now slightly deeper voice of my faithful student echo from the cave, humming a song I couldn't name. Her voice sounded distant and seemed to echo, but not in the obvious way. "Twilight?" I called into the cave, only slightly above a whimper. The humming continued and I ventured forth into the cave. I followed her flowing ocean of mane, feeling very inadequate regarding my own mane. I always thought I had at least a sort of beautiful mane, but Twilight's was beyond that, it was... breath taking. Yet it felt ancient beyond any way I had of understanding, if that makes any sense.
It didn't shudder and twitch like it was overflowing with uncertain power; not at all like the time we all gave her our magic to keep it from Tirek. It moved only slightly; calm and lazy. Waving with her heart beat. "Twilight." I whispered as I finally saw her. She was laid on her side, every feature of her body was sunken and defaced by Mothers' knows what, but she was alive. She faced away from me, staring intently at the withering corpse of the Tree of Harmony.
"I felt you arrive." Her voice echoed, I saw her jaw move but not in time with her words. The sorrowful hum continued in the back of my mind, registered, but ignored. "I haven't felt your magic for quite a long time, Celestia." She doesn't turn, nor move in any normal way, but I feel her looking at me in every other way. "You're so young... What year is it when you're from?"
"Twilight..." I lost my voice, I didn't even know where to begin. "I..." I didn't know what to say.
She laughed a mirthless laugh, as though remembering an old friend's bad joke. "Come here, sit with me." She paused only a moment before adding, "Please." I numbly sat where I felt she wanted me to, not daring to look her in the eye, even then that I was able. "How old are you now?"
I tilted my head, but understood why she asked. "Nearing on two thousand now, but I've lost count on the specific decade." I took a deep breath, readying myself to ask. "How old are–"
"Two thousand years old." She echoed my words, also cutting me off mid-sentence. "Mothers are you young. That's right around when I ascended, right?" I nodded, my eyes exploring the Tree of Harmony in defiance to what my brain was demanding I look at. The once vibrant blue and crystallized tree was pale and dead. It's limbs torn and shattered. But it was much bigger, more than twice as big and sprawling as I remembered it being. And dozens of new cutie marks were stamped around the trunk, most faded beyond recognition, and the ones that weren't were almost all unfamiliar.
"Twilight–" I caught the panic in my voice quickly, but likely not quick enough to fool her. "Twilight, what happened? How did Equestria come to be this way? Where am I? Or at least my sister?" I looked left and right in rapid thought. "Cadence? Discord?"
This laugh pierced my thoughts again—I will never forget that laugh. "Too many questions all at once for an old, lonely mare like myself." A deep heaving sigh sounds from her body, but from the corner of my eye I saw only her lips move in the same vague and slow recognition of words and sounds. "But, I can't tell you, Celestia. The way the world is, all the mysteries still left for you, there are too many spoilers for you. It could change so much in the timeline, even I can't predict the horrible changes that might occur." She paused. "But I'm sure you've sensed it by now, you know where they all are."
Dead. I took several deep breathes, trying to steady my thoughts. I took a big breathe, "I just..." I let the breath out, "How long has it been?"
She was quiet for a long time, seeming to lose herself in thought. "It's rude to ask an old mare her age."
"You asked me a couple moments ago, if memory serves–"
"You're not old!" She abruptly cut me off, her voice rising above her impassive monotone to an angry bark. "Barely even what I see as a matured Alicorn." I felt strangely hurt. I was complimented by her saying I'm young, but I wasn't by her almost snide remark. I almost felt the chance to ask again, opening my mouth to try. "Rest your question, Celestia. I'm not going to answer." I closed my mouth, trying to wet it to continue, the air was very dry.
"You've changed a lot." I remarked, trying to keep a nonchalant tone of voice.
"Why are you here?"
I paused. "I wanted answers."
"You haven't had the experience in time magic I have had, Celestia. You don't know the repercussions me telling you could have."
She unfortunately had a point. I had no idea what had transpired, what she had learned. She knew a lot more than I did, for once making me the underdog. "You've grown powerful."
"Useless power." She remarked bitterly, if she were able she would've spat the words I'm sure. "What use is my power if I couldn't stop it from destroying everything I loved?" I remained silent, as did she. "How's Twilight?"
Hearing her refer to herself in third person confused me, but only for a moment. "She's fine, she just made friends with Starlight Glimmer last week."
"Starlight..." She sighed the same as before. "I'm tired, Celestia." She changed the subject again.
"Do you want me to leave you to your sleep?" I raised an eyebrow at that.
"Not that kind of tired." The age in her voice showed again. "I'm dead, Celestia. From old age, wear and tear..." She paused again, she seems to like pausing mid speech. "And pure negligence."
My mouth hangs open as my mind whirs and clinks like an old clock. "But alicorns–"
"Live for a very, very long time. But we aren't completely immortal in regards to time." I dared my gaze towards her face. Two white fires stared from empty eye sockets at me, causing me to look away again in abject horror and... vague disgust. "When a pony ascends, their hearts are turned into a sort of necrotic magical device; infinitely self–sustaining." I've... Never considered why alicorns are immortal. "But that only keeps our bodies alive for so long." I shifted my gaze around the ground, staring at pebbles and dust mounds. "My body is mostly dead, Celestia. I'm sure you can see that. And soon, it will turn to dust and only my heart will remain, leaving my consciousness forever in torment."
I could feel my nearly eternal heart breaking, but my mind ran along several new tangents. "How did we die?" I asked before I could still my lips.
"Your hearts were corrupted and destroyed by magic darker than anything you could possibly imagine right now." Magic surrounded her body and she moved, heaving and bones cracking under their own weight. As she shifted closed to me, I heard something tumble around and land on the cave floor."Come to me."
My legs moved before my mind could think, her voice compelled me like no other. I rested under her deathly gaze and she tipped her head to me, her horn numerous times longer than mine. "Before I die, I have one last thing to give you. My final Friendship Report." She rested her horn against mine, "Blink."I blinked,
Blink
and we were in the Canterlot dungeons, though not as I remember them. They were tilted on their side; the back of my mind cleared her throat, reminding me that part of the mountain itself was on its side. "The dungeons survived that devastation on the surface?" My question was absurd as we were standing in the answer.
"Indeed. Rather unscathed, which is why I store what few possessions I have left in the world here." Her mane is flooding the corridor behind us, so I assume we have no choice but to continue forward.
Stepping morbidly over bits of skeletal remains and broken furniture, I decided to strike up a less depressing conversation. "How did you ever get anything done with that mane of yours?" I grinned a little, despite the situation. "It's huge."
She was almost hovering along with me, her steps were deathly silent. That, combined with her breathlessness, left me feeling like I was talking to a corpse. Which... After further thought, left me gravely disturbed. "Alicorns, as you've undoubtedly realized to a degree, do not have a naturally flowing mane. It only flows when they have an excess supply of magic, which you should know at this time."
"I've wondered about that somewhat, but never ventured to answer it." I commented.
She continues as though I hadn't spoke. "When there were other ponies and creatures around to worry for, I had twelve iron bands crafted to limit my ever growing innate magic. My magic only grew stronger each decade, at seemingly random intervals, expanding completely out of control." She seemed to regard herself for a moment, eye flares shifting slightly to the side. "I still haven't ceased to grow more and more powerful, though the changes are very small in relation to the amount of magic I already have." I could only imagine how much power she had. "But, to return to the original subject; I personally enchanted the bands to respond to my magic. Setting and lifting limits when I tried to call for more power than I used on a day to day basis, and always making sure I wouldn't lose control again."
Again? I nodded slightly, "Wow. Quite the feat, Twilight." I smiled, her brilliance had only grown of course. A thought occurred to me rather oddly, "Where are they now?"
"We're here." She blatantly ignored my question. I glanced around the room in shock. Photos of ponies I'd never seen and some that I had. New alicorns of many colors and mane sizes, dozens of them I feared to guess. Her Ponyville friends, though none are alicorns, they are all old ladies and she's young and small. I spotted a glint and shifted my gaze from the photos, "Is that..." I pointed to a large purple plate larger than my hoof.
"One of Spike's scales from his awkward teenage years. It's much too thin for an adult dragon scale, but he bore them proudly until they shed in adulthood. That was the last one he shed. I kept it to remember those times." She went over and hovered a hoof over it, gently caressing it. "He's been gone a long time as well, but everything in this room has been enchanted with a self–recharging preservation spell that recharges by tapping into the ambient magic in the world." She 'glanced' around, "These enchantments almost failed at one point..."
I raised an eyebrow, "A spell you created perhaps? I have not heard of it."
"Yes." She nodded. "After Granny Smith passed, Applejack wanted her necktie preserved, but after a few times of reactivating the preservation spell over the course of only ten years... I created my own. The old preservation spells were all but forgotten after that." She turned towards me, and I towards her, our eyes locking. "You were very proud of me."
I didn't exactly know what to say. I instead turned and examined the scale myself. "You're at least thirteen to fourteen hundred years old. If Spike... Passed naturally, you could be anywhere above four thousand years old."
She stared at me. "I've grown old and rambling it would seem." She leaves me with the scale, going instead to a shelf where a number of small items were housed, including a single scroll. Her magic lifts the scroll and she eyes it for a while, leaving me to look around the room a while longer. "When I wrote this scroll..." I turned away from a photo of her and two other Alicorns, neither of which I knew the names or faces of, "I never got the chance to send it to you, you never knew it existed. I had just finished the report and I was about to send it, when I was informed of your death."
She turned her gaze back to me. "Don't read it yet. Wait until you think you're ready to read it. It will talk about a lot of things you won't understand, many thing you won't believe and some things that will break your heart." She offered me the scroll. "But it is yours to have, not mine to leave for oblivion."
I hesitantly took the scroll and set gaze intently at the star seal on the red sash clasp; Twilight's cutie mark. "Okay. Thank you, Twilight." Something gold caught my eye, I turned and looked.
"Your solar emblem. It was mass produced in honor of your death as a sign of mourning, but this is the original one from your personal study though." She remains silent as I continue to stare. "I retrieved it from the castle ruins after... The preservation magic on it reminds me of my own spell, but it was linked to the sun. Solar powered magic... If only I had thought of such a thing before..." She regarded it herself, her thoughts trailing off. "Beautiful piece of work, truly."
"It was a gift from my and my sister's Mothers." I commented idly. "I never figured out the enchantment, but my talent never was complex magic." I shifted my gaze to Twilight, "That was your talent, Twilight."
She stared at me silently for a moment. "Are you going to kill me?" Twilight had grown even more blunt it would seem. Her words lacked the subtlety that would pierce me, instead they seemed to slam into me like a hammer. "Or are you going to go home?"
"I..." I looked away from her, trying to find my voice. "I don't know."
"You can't stay here." The air shifted ever so slightly. "Make your choice." As silence crawled out, I looked back to ask her something else, but she was gone.
«♦»
My magic gripped the scroll tightly as I stood aside the Cutie Map, though I only vaguely registered it. She wasn't going to stop me, I could've just left and forgotten any of this ever happened. Spared myself the guilt of murdering my student for her mercy. My gaze shifted towards where the Tree of Harmony resided. On the other hoof, I would've been damning her to an eternity of loneliness and unrest.
As I felt the tears on my cheek, I knew the answer.
I trekked back to the Tree, not wanting to teleport so I might have had the chance to change my mind. As the ravine came into view, I realized I wouldn't be changing my mind. The climb down into it was hazy, I don't remember much of the trip there either. My mind was clouded by the guilt of what I was about to do. "Twilight... I'm sorry." I said aloud as I entered the cave.
"Don't be. You will be saving me this way." Her voice echoed, bouncing around the walls of the cave.
The reply was as heart breaking as if she'd broken down in tears, if not more so. My tears redouble their efforts to break my will, but I couldn't let them. She's right. "What do I have to do?" I finally rounded the bend and I was met by Twilight laid out, her chest cavity, now facing me for the first time, was nothing but bones. Save her slightly glowing heart. It was vibrant and alive, still beating loudly despite its dead host. "Remove my heart from my body, that will remove the final layer of enchantment protecting it. Then simply stab it with a blade formed from concentrated dark magic." She paused. "It will bleed, but not much. When all of the blood is gone, I will be free."
I gulped, though there was nothing in my mouth or throat; they were bone dry. "Will it hurt you?"
"Yes." She considered her answer regretfully, "But not by much. Nor for long."
"You will be conscious?"
"In a way. An alicorn's soul is no longer stored inside their mind and their body, nor is their sense of self or their memories. Everything that makes them who they are, is inside their enchanted heart and their magic. I will be quite aware of what's happening, but I will have no feeling of it as you know pain, nor any true way to interact with the world." Her flares flickered, like a blink. "It will be like a bad dream, coming to a close."
I tore my gaze from her heart and looked into her eyes, then almost instantly started to internally question which I'm supposed to look at. "What if your heart was placed into a new body?"
"No." Her answer confused me slightly, "While, technically it's possible. It wouldn't be safe for the time line. It might even destroy reality itself to try and prevent my death with the death of somepony from your time." Her head raised, her eyeflares flickering again, "There's no way I would ever allow you do that, even if that danger weren't a problem, Celestia." Her head rested again, "We all have our time. And mine is long over due."
I nodded. "Okay."
"Be careful," I paused to listen to her. "Don't lose yourself to the magic, Celestia. Surely you know of it's thought corrupting nature."
"Okay." I gulped, nodding again. "I'm ready."
As I stared at her silently, she calmly voiced one final thought. "Do you think I'll see my friends again?" I closed my eyes, and she laughed, the song she hummed before started again as I willed my magic around her heart. It fed through her body, snipping the heart from the small tendrils of flesh and decayed bone. Her eyes grew dimmer and dimmer, her song grew quiet. Soon, with one loud crack, I removed her a chunk of her rib cage. And with a tug and a wince, her eyes flickered to darkness and her hums died in an instant.
Her still beating heart hovered in front of me, the veins glowed with the power of the Mothers themselves. Even now, I felt the temperature of the world drop. I saw the light from the mouth of the cave dim and dim further with each passing second.
Bum bum... Bum bum... Bum bum...
I concentrated my magic into a blade of sunlight, usually it shone down and lifted the fears of my beloved subjects. But that didn't happen. I didn't feel better, I didn't feel less afraid or less guilty. I felt my dread build and bubble up my throat like vomit: warm and uncomfortable, and directed it into my magic. I felt light–headed and my hooves shaking under me as I dared the blade closer to her heart. green and purple light flickered off my magic, like tangible dread and guilt.
Bum bum... Bum bum... Bum bum...
«♦»
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight greeted me with a beaming grin as I stepped off the Cutie Map. I could only look at her small, tiny hooves. "How was your trip? What does Equestria look like in the future? Can me and my friends go take a look now?"
"No." I stepped past her, "You may not go into the future Twilight, nor may you ask me what it was like. Please," I dared myself to look at her face, "Give me some time to myself. I will find you when I'm ready to speak of this matter again. But until then, forget about the Cutie Map's ability." I bend down and nuzzle her cheek, "Go. Have fun with your friends. I will have Luna take over for your duties today."
She blinked, her brow creasing as her muzzle twitched. Then she shook her head in confusion. "But Princess!"
I turned and walked out of the council room. It took all I had left to keep from sobbing after looking at Twilight. Igniting my horn, I turned my head to the side and called back to her, "Please, Twilight." I looked back to my confused and worried student. "Trust me."
Flash!
I blinked as I appeared in my personal study.
Bum bum... Bum bum... Bum bum...
I lit my horn, lifting the cloak I had placed on Twilight's heart and the scroll, then levitated it to my desk. I gently rested them in my desks glass vase, enchanted by the royal chronomancer to put whatever is inside into a form of stasis. Then I sat the time spell of Starlight's next to my golden sun emblem.
Then I sighed loudly, sitting roughly onto my bedside, my eyes never leaving the heart. I will my tears away once again. "Mothers... Forgive me."
«♦»
“It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.”
― John Steinbeck
