The Remanding of Twilight
“Twilight—“
“No, Princess! The time for you to speak is over!”
“Twilight—“
“You thought you could keep your pieces blind, well, hear this. We are taking our own king out of the equation!”
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” the roar came. Nopony had ever seen Celestia use the Royal Canterlot Voice, and it was downright terrifying. Every light grew dim, and all warmth left the hall. “”You dare use the accusation of others as a basis for your little game? I have ruled Equestria for over a millennia. What makes you think you can take what has been Ours for generations? This charade is OVER! Discord, now!” Celestia quickly threw a shield around her ponies, making sure to exclude the six. Discord would never harm a soul, but she wasn’t about to take the risk. She waited…
And waited…
And waited…
“D-Discord? Where are you? You said you would assist me!”
A laugh drew her attention back to the center of the hall. Twilight stood there, her head thrown back, cackling at the stars. “Oh, Princess. Did you really think we would overlook somepony as devious as Discord? What did he tell you? ‘Just give the word?’ Well, obviously, you didn’t give the right word. Flutters, would you care to do the honors?”
Fluttershy held out her hoof, and uttered one single Word. Celestia tried to grasp the Word, but it fell out of her memory like the echoes around the room, leaving her with only a remembrance of raw, untamable power. At that moment, all light and dark in the room was drawn to a single point. A chain of dark energy fastened itself around Fluttershy’s hoof, and at the other end manifested Discord. Rather, what was left of Discord. He was no larger than a small dog, laying on the floor like her common ponies did when they saw her. When he spoke, it came out like a small animal’s voice instead of the harsh cackle Celestia was used to. “You called, Ms. Fluttershy?”
“Is there something you would like to say to the Princess, -“she spoke the Word again. Discord visibly shrank, then nodded. He flew – not teleported, but actually flew—to Celestia, stopping just short due to the taut chain around his neck.
“I’m sorry, Celestia, but I had no choice. I found them like you asked, but they somehow captured me. Twilight drained me of my chaos energy until she forced me to give it up.” Discord looked on the verge of tears.
“Give what up, Discord?” Celestia had an inkling of an idea, but needed to hear it for herself.
“My Name, Celly. I was forced to give them my Name, you know, the one reserved for calling beings such as myself into existence? The Sacred Name that all beings on this plane of existence have? Twilight said she would give my power back only if I helped her. It’s not like I could resist anyways, with her saying It all over the place. Also, Fluttershy promised me Saddle Arabia. Saddle Arabia, Celly! Could you imagine me as a sultan? … No, really, imagine it. I barely have enough power to keep myself here.”
“[Word], I think that is quite enough out of you. Seeing as this whole trial nonsense will be over soon, did you bring our gifts?”
Discord whimpered, stole one last glance at Celestia, and then nodded at Twilight. As he passed Celestia to fly back over to Twilight, he turned his head again and gave Celestia a greatly exaggerated wink. Celestia struggled to hide a smile.
From his pocket dimension (yes, Discord has one. Doesn’t every multi-planar being?), he produced a familiar purple box. Twilight reverently took it in her magic, opened the box, and distributed the objects to her friends. Within were the six Elements of Harmony, but not as Celestia remembered them. These Elements were jagged, the gemstones as black as night. The necklaces and tiara were unruly heaps of metal, rather than the simple shining gold pieces they once were.
Twilight smirked as the Elements fastened themselves around her and her friends. “You see, Celestia, there’s the look I wanted to see! That look of defeat; so sweet to my tastebuds. You know girls, I did have this whole plan and everything, but…” With a flash of her horn, Twilight teleported a confused-looking Pinkie Pie next to her, the mare sprawled over a large, nasty piece of black metal Celestia realized was Pinkie’s Party Cannon.
“Aww, Twilight! I was just telling Luna a really good joke while we waited for you to get Celestia upstairs!”
Celestia stared at the pink mare. “What did you do to my sister?” she demanded.
Pinkie giggled. “Oh, just helped her see the happier side of life! You wanna try?” She ran a hoof lovingly over the opening in the cannon.
“There’s been a change of plans, Pinkie,” Twilight lectured. “Instead of all that complicated stuff, we’re just going to blast Celestia now and get it over with. I’ll begin; I’ve wanted to do this for so long.”
She strode ahead of the group, her horn sparking. Celestia took a step back; she had no intention of harming her student, even if she was currently as mad as Sombra. Then she saw Discord, still floating behind Fluttershy. He just smiled, winking again.
“Take this!” Twilight roared as she let loose a torrent of magical power.
Snap!
Pomf!
Celestia blinked in surprise as a large ball of flower petals struck her, exploding all over the hall.
“What?” Twilight said, shocked. She tried again, but this time a large flower sprouted from the tip of her horn. Celestia could see the rage burning in Twilight’s eyes as the sound of snickering filled the hall.
“Discord!” She growled, turning to the Draconequus. He was still floating in the air, whistling aimlessly while spinning a keyring around one claw. He and Twilight locked eyes, and with a devilish grin, he fitted the key into a small keyhole on the chain, and his leash evaporated into nothingness.
“Ah, that feels much better,” he purred, stretching himself back to his full size.
“What is the meaning of this?” Twilight seethed. “I demand you stop this at once, [Word]!”
Discord just cocked his head at her. “Really, Twilight? You honestly think I would give any mere mortal my Name? Nah, it takes a lot more than what you did to me to coax that out. Although, I must say, I have to give myself props on that spectacular performance.” From nowhere, a golden pony statue appeared out of nowhere. Discord squee’d, grasping it tightly. “Oh my! I’d like to thank the academy, my mom, and these six ponies right here, for believing in me!”
Celestia could see Twilight shaking. “But what about your Chaos energy? We drained it out of you!”
“Yeah, about that,” Discord taunted, “I run an entire chaos dimension, filled to the brim with my energy at my beck and call. You honestly think this is the first time a mare’s tried to suck me dry? I’d say Lilith still holds the record. You six barely took a teaspoon. By the way, I do charge interest.” With another snap, Discord donned a beige jumpsuit and strange-looking goggles, a vacuum-cleaner like device strapped to his back. “And I expect immediate repayment!” Flicking a switch, a stream of energy emerged from the mare’s horns, flowing into the nozzle of the device. A much larger amount flowed out of Pinkie, leaving the mare lying on the floor twitching. A few moments later, he switched the device off, spinning the nozzle and fitting it to the side, then making the getup disappear.
“Discord,” came a small voice. He looked over at Fluttershy. “I thought you were my friend.”
“I’m sorry, Flutters, but as a dearer friend of mine once said,” Discord said, pulling on a red facemask, pinstripe suit, and tie. He took a long pull from the cigarette in his claws, then remarked “I never really was on your side.”
He shimmered out of sight. Moments later he reappeared next to Celestia, looking at a watch while snapping a cigarette case closed. “I managed to keep them down for a moment, but they’re going to be back at it any second now. By the by, they got captured by Chrysalis, killed her, and are now half-changeling.”
With a snap, several ponies were lifted into the air, shrieking. Producing a bucket, he splashed the ponies with whatever was in it, burning away their disguises to reveal them to be changelings. With a flick of his wrist, Discord teleported them away. “There’s more on the way. I have a plan to stop Ms. Crazy over there, but I need you to distract them until it’s ready. Incoming!”
Celestia ducked as the thing that used to be Rainbow Dash threw herself at them, sailing over Celestia’s head and landing on the wall behind the thrones. Six flashes of fire surrounded the Element Bearers, revealing twisted half pony, half changeling bodies. Twilight laughed, swaying back and forth as she shook off the effects of the sudden magic drain. “You think this changes anything, Discord? Each of us has enough power to defeat both of you single-hoofedly! This won’t take long. Girls, if you would.” Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy nodded, charging at the solar princess.
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Brb, Celestia. Don’t have all the fun!” Discord poofed away.
“Guards! Get everypony out of here and defend Canterlot!” Celestia shouted as she brought her magic to the fore, projecting a bubble shield around herself and deflecting Applejack and Fluttershy’s charge. Rarity, however, drew upon her magic, forming it into a wedge and forcing her way through the shield. Celestia rolled to the side, using her wings to land on her hooves. She kept the shield up as Applejack began bucking at it for all she was worth; it would be better to deal with them one at a time.
“Now then, Princess,” Rarity said, her voice echoing strangely throughout the shielded space as she circled around Celestia, “why don’t you just relax? It’s not like you have much of a choice in the matter. Just lay down and let it hap-” She was cut off by a blast of golden magic missing her muzzle by an inch.
“You’ll find it difficult to beguile me, Rarity. Remember, I’ve been around a lot longer than you can imagine. Subjugation magic was one of the first I learned to overcome.” Celestia lifted the surprised Rarity in her magic, throwing her out of the shield and through a window.
Crack!
A fracture appeared on the shield where Applejack had been bucking away at it, quickly growing larger with each strike. Celestia glanced at the other side; Pinkie was trying to be inconspicuous as she wheeled her cannon up to the shield. She draped herself across it, took a black chain in hoof, and pulled.
Celestia, thinking fast, dropped the shield, flying upwards and narrowly avoiding the burst of black confetti aimed towards her. Applejack, caught mid-buck as the shield fell, inadvertently propelled herself forwards from the force of the buck, colliding with the confetti. She was knocked backwards, colliding with a wall and slumping to the floor.
“Oh my gosh! I'm sorry AJ!” Pinkie gasped.
“Pinkie… y-y-you-ou-ou-ou wh-wh-whorse!” Applejack cackled, standing and spinning around. Her muzzle had been stretched into a wide, almost painful-looking smile, and while she was overtaken by laughter, her eyes burned with rage.
“I was aiming for Celestia!” Pinkie noticed a golden glow surrounding her beloved Party Cannon. Wide-eyed, she looked at Celestia, the Princess's horn alight. With a heave, Celestia flipped the Cannon, and it sailed through the air, landing behind Twilight and on top of Pinkie, pinning the mare to the ground.
“DIE!” Something struck Celestia in the back, it's momentum carrying her to the floor. She tried to cast a spell to extricate her foe from on top of her, but a hoof bashed at her horn, shocking Celestia and leaving her disoriented. Craning her neck slightly, Celestia caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash, holding her to the floor.
“Oh, Celestia,” came the voice of Fluttershy, dripping with venom, “I’ve always thought you had the most beautiful wings.” A hoof ran lightly along her wing, moving towards the base. “It sure would be a shame if… something were to happen to them!”
Crunch!
Celestia cried out as a hoof smashed down on the primary joint of her wing, breaking the bones within. “Oh! I’m sorry. I really should watch where I’m going. Here, let me just-”
Crunch!
“Whoopsie, sorry about that.” Celestia felt a hoof wrap around her horn, whimpering from the pain of having both wings broken. The hoof jerked her head up, and she came face to face with Twilight.
“Hey Twi,” Rainbow Dash said, still keeping Celestia pinned. “You don’t need her in one piece, right? ‘Cause I think she’s still got some feeling left in these wings.”
“No, Rainbow, I don’t. Have fun; I just want to see her writhe.”
With a snicker, Celestia felt Rainbow Dash’s mouth wrap around the broken joint. The fangs easily broke her skin, finding purchase in the muscle beneath. Then, she pulled.
Celestia screamed as tissue and sinew tore. She struggled, trying to escape, but her thrashing was limited by Rainbow’s weight and Twilight’s grip on her horn. She could beel blood gushing from the rapidly widening wound, until everything went white, and Celestia’s eyes rolled back in her head.
When she regained herself, Celestia saw her bloody, mangled wing, dangling in front of her muzzle. On the other side was Twilight, grinning maniacally. “Well Celestia,” the madmare taunted, “I guess you won’t be needing this any more.” She gasped. “Oh! That’s it! That’s the look I wanted to see! So much better than before; pure despair. That’s the statue I want, broken, battered, and abandoned. Girls? I think it’s time we end this.”
A black aura surrounded Twilight. Through the pain, Celestia glanced around. The six were arrayed around her in a circle, one of them having helped Pinkie out from under her cannon. Blackened tendrils of magic arced from Twilight’s horn, connecting her to the other Bearers. The six rose into the air, the black magic permeating everything in existence.
“Goodbye, Celestia. Enjoy the rest of your pitiful life as a statue!” Six beams of magic lanced overhead, meeting above Celestia. The magic coalesced into a large sphere, then a tendril shot downwards at her. Celestia braced herself for the end.
And waited…
And waited…
When she didn’t feel any magic striking her, Celestia spared a look up, and gasped. Discord was hovering right over her, containing the black energy within his claws.
“D-Discord?” She managed to choke out.
“Sorry about the -ngh- wait, Celly. Like I said, I -rrr- have a plan.” He manipulated the energy as more flowed into his claws. From the black sphere, more tendrils emerged, plaid, polka-dotted, and every color pallette in between. The new tendrils struck the Element Bearers, making them shriek in surprise. The magic cut off, and the six and Discord fell to the ground.
“What… what did you do?” Twilight slurred, struggling to her feet. She tried to walk towards the draconequus, but frowned when she found she couldn’t move. She looked down at her hooves and gasped. Spreading up her legs was a gray material. Celestia’s heart leapt into her throat as she realized it wasn’t something spreading; her legs were turning to stone!
“I turned your magic against you. Elements of Harmony those may be, but you wielded it with an amalgamation of pony and chaos magic. I just took the chaos magic and twisted it a bit.”
Thud.
Discord turned his head as his tail met the ground, turning to stone like the Element Bearers. “However, I wasn’t fully immune from the effects.”
All around, the mares screamed as the stone overtook their bodies, petrifying them.
“Somepony do something!” Rarity shrieked as she covered her head with her hooves, only serving to spread the petrification faster.
“You can’t do this! We’re the Elements of Harmony! We do this to others, not ourselves!” Twilight growled as the stone reached her barrel. Around her, the screams slowly died down as her friends were fully turned to stone.
“I was able to snap Luna out of the trance Pinkie put her in, but you two need to be strong.” He reached down, cupping Celestia’s chin in his claw. “You especially. I know you and Twilight were close, but don’t let her actions destroy you from the inside. Faust knows I went through enough of that over the millennia.” He let go as his claws became gray and lifeless. “We will meet again, Celestia.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Twilight roared. “You will pay for this! I swear , no matter how long it takes, I will break free and end you, Celestia! I Pinkie Pro-”The petrification overtook her head, finally silencing her.
Celestia lay there in the now silent hall. Putting her head to her hooves, she wept.
“Alright, ponies, if you just come this way, we can continue our tour!”
The guide pony led a small group of tourists through the gardens surrounding the Royal Castle, pointing out the statues carefully placed around and explaining the feats of the beings they represented.
One small filly walked alongside her mother, gaping in awe at all the things that had happened because of these ponies, from the most basic magics to the hot air balloons that had become quite common recently.
Then she noticed something odd. A branch shooting off from the main path towards a grotto bathed in darkness. The tour guide seemed intent on ignoring it.
“Um, Miss Guidepony?” the filly piped up.
“Hmm? Yes?”
She pointed a hoof towards the grotto. “What’s down there?”
The guide hesitated for a moment, then sighed. “That’s… that is the memorial to our darkest moment in recent history.” The other tourists muttered amongst themselves; this was a sudden change from the accomplishments they had just been hearing about. “Follow me. Just a fair warning, these statues may be a bit frightening to behold.”
The guide led the group down the side path and into the grotto. The tourists were momentarily blinded as they moved from bright daylight to almost pure darkness. As their eyes adjusted, they gasped. In front of them, positioned in the center of the area, was a statue of a monster! It was tall, a strange amalgamation of parts, with arms and legs of griffon, dragon, pony, and more. Arrayed around the center, in separate grottos, six more statues could be seen, these no less terrifying. These at least somewhat resembled ponies, but the holed wings, horns, hooves, and fangs said otherwise, like they were strange combinations of pony and changeling.
“What… what is this?” One pony asked.
“This is a reminder. Tell me, who here remembers Princess Celestia?” All of the adult ponies raised their hooves. The filly had heard about the Solar Princess from her mother, how she was a fair and just ruler who just disappeared one day, leaving her sister to rule in her stead.
“And you know how she just up and vanished some twelve years ago, correct?” the ponies nod. “Some say that these six pony-things are the reason she left us.”
“And?” one of the older ponies could tell there was something she was not saying.
“And that’s really it. Nopony knows exactly what happened, and those few who probably do have likely been sworn to secrecy. The creature in the center is a draconequus, one who helped the Princess defeat the six. I’ll be at the entrance if you have questions.”
The tourists begrudgingly dispersed, examining the statues more closely. The filly walked around the draconequus statue; it seemed sad, like it was unhappy with what happened. She could almost imagine it crying.
No, wait, she actually did hear crying. Turning around, she saw the sixth pony-thing statue, it’s grotto a bit farther back than the others. She slowly walked down the short path, the crying growing louder. When she came to the secluded spot, she shivered. The last pony statue stared down the path with such rage and loathing, it felt like it’s eyes were boring into her.
“I’m sorry.” The filly’s head whipped around; in the shadows near the entryway sat a cloaked pony. The only things poking out of the cloak were the tip of a white muzzle and white horn. The crying was coming from within the shroud. The filly cautiously approached the pony.
“Um, hello? Are you okay?”. She asked.
The pony's head jerked up. The filly could see a single eye staring at her, filled with tears. “Y-yes, young one. I'm fine.”
The filly's intuition told her that no, this mysterious pony was in fact not fine. She sat down next to the tall pony. “I'm Cherry Berry. What's your name?”
The pony sighed, looking away from Cherry. “I… I used to have a name. Not anymore, though.”
Cherry Berry gasped. “That's horrible! Did one of those nasty changelings take it?”
From the cloak came a short laugh. “No, nothing like that. I just… lost myself. And when I lost myself, I lost my name. Now, I just wander the land.”
The filly looked thoughtful for a moment. “But you gotta have a name! Everypony’s got a name! Um… how 'bout Wander?”
The pony looked at her. “Excuse me?”
“You gotta have a name. You said you just wander around, right? Then your name should be Wander!”
The pony tilted her head, then laughed again. “Very well, Wander it is.”
Cherry suddenly remembered the original reason she had come here. “Why were you crying, Wander?” She asked.
Wander sighed sadly. “I used to know these ponies. Back before… before they became like this.”
The filly's eyes went wide with curiosity. “Really?” She squeaked. “What were they like?”
“All six of them were the best of friends, able to help each other through thick and thin. Even when one made a mistake, the others were there to help her through it. They had a very special kind of magic, too.”
Cherry pouted. “I'm just an Earth Pony. We don't have much magic.”
She could sense Wander smiling at her. “Would you believe me if I said two of these ponies were, in fact, Earth Ponies?”
“Whaaat?” Cherry gasped. “No way! What kinda magic did they have, Wander?”
“The magic of friendship, Cherry Berry. Tell me, what does the plaque on this statue say?”
Cherry nervously turned to the statue. It was no less terrifying than before, but she did notice a golden sign under it. She trotted closer to make out the single word. “It says 'Magic.’”
“Yes. If you were to see the other statues, their plaques would read Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, and Loyalty. Each of these ponies were the very embodiment of these ideals, and together, they created the magic of friendship. It wasn't a learned magic; nopony taught them how to be loyal or kind. They just… were, and they came together at a dark time to become heroes.”
Cherry asked, “then why do they look so scary?”
“Because even the brightest of lights holds darkness. They became corrupted, their ideals twisted, transformed into the statues you see today. The Princesses were able to stop them, but at a great cost of losing their closest friends.”
“That's really sad, Wander.” The filly's ears perked up; she could hear another voice.
“Cherry? Cherry Berry, where did you go? The tour group's leaving!”
She jumped to her feet. “Oh no! That's my mom! I gotta go!”. She trotted towards the entrance, but stopped when she realized Wander hadn't moved. “Wander, thank you for telling me that. You were super helpful. You should do that more.”
“Do what more?” Wander asked, confused.
“Help ponies. You travel a lot, right? That means you must meet a lotta ponies that need help. If you can make me happy by helping me, then you should do the same by helping other ponies.”
“Cherry! I'm not going to tell you again!”
“Coming, Mom!” She shouted. “Thank you again, Wander.” The filly scampered off.
Wander sighed, smiling beneath the hood of her cloak. “No, thank you, Cherry Berry.” Her horn lit up, golden in color, and with a pop, she vanished from the grotto.
