Alethophobia

by Ice Star

Rating: teen
Tags: Equestria Girls, Suicide / Self Harm, Tragedy, Discord, Princess Celestia, Death, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Princess Luna
Length: 1350

A sample of one hundred lies told by a mare named Celestia. After all. How bad could one lie be? How bad could it be to keep lying? How bad is it when you can't stop? How bad is it when you don't want to? What about when you don't know how to?

Nothing hurts quite like honesty. How bad could one lie be? How bad could it be to keep lying? How bad is it when you can't stop? How bad is it when you don't want to? What about when you don't know how to?

When you're Princess Celestia, lies can be as everyday as the rising sun.

An experimental foray into minimalism and extended epilogue to the previous story. The red tags are for notable mentions of the subjects, not outright depictions. The edit of the cover art was done by me. Contribute to the TVTropes page!

Published 2023-05-24 21:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2023-05-24 21:00:02 UTC

11-20 [My Heart is a Battleground]

Starswirl the Bearded is our only option
I did what I had to do
He can't be that bad
Everypony has good in them
He's starting to make sense
Maybe Luna is too odd
She could be a problem
All those other animals she is around damage her social skills
As the eldest, I have the best perspective
I wish we weren't ever sisters

21-30 [By the Hoof of the Victor]

I do not understand why you look at me like that, Luna
You have got to stop trying to escape
Fighting Starswirl won't help
I haven't changed
I know the right ponies
They'll up us out of here, you aren't helping anything
I just want you to stay away from me
I want you as close to me as possible
We work better together
We should stay apart

41-50 [The Mare Who Sought the Top of the World]

Platinum didn't commit suicide just because she lost Clover
She overdosed on accident
Luna, this will not cause more trouble than it is worth, we just need to arrange a clean funeral
Clover and her friends were national heroes, you can't speak of them that way
Discord can't be back
Discord is a threat that cannot be reasoned with
I am the princess regnant, I do not need your input for this particular battle
Discord, your magic cannot harm me
I feel just fine, everything is actually quite wonderful
Luna, I've always loved you and wanted to be your sister

51-60 [Hubris Would Be a Blessing at This Point]

I will never recover from this
Luna did this because she didn't love me
I never saw this coming and don’t know why she would have done this
There were no signs
I didn't know how she was feeling
She could have told me what was going on
I have been the best princess I could
Luna was just so much trouble
I've always been the more stable of the two of us
I'm going to get through this well and be better for it in the end

61-70 [To Want Nothing is to Need Everything]

I will never go through the mirror
There is nothing good on the other side of it
Now that I've seen both sides, I'm happier on this side of the mirror
I don't need any help
I'm doing well
I can just forget things
This is a senseless tragedy that one cannot extract any moralizing from
History can be made to forget
I will never see my sister again

71-80 [Above All Other Things, Be Kind]

Sunset Shimmer, your accusations against me are entirely unfounded
This is your home, young lady
I am not the ice queen you make me out to be, and your problems would be solved if you just finished your homework
I promise you'll always feel safe here, Sunset Shimmer
Kindness is not inauthentic, Sunnybun, you would learn so much more if you would just be kind
I don't remember saying that
Good will always find a way to win in the end
The oracle could have been lying
I do not need help, nor will I ever
Things have never been better in Equestria

81-90 [Love and Librarians]

I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration
You needn't worry at all
And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!
You are entirely prepared for what I'm about to assign you
I would never keep a secret
I'm prepared for this day
Nothing could possibly go wrong
It's all going exactly according to plan
I am fearlessly confident in your ability to succeed, Twilight Sparkle
Your chance of failure is non-existent

91-100 [The Truth Flees with You]

I can stop this at any time
I have power of my mind
Having Luna back will solve all my problems
I have no doubts that Discord can be reformed
I am not surrounded by yes-mares
I have perfected myself into exactly who I need to be
History has left my an unscarred victor
I know what to do with every pawn on my board
My relationships are as secure as I want them to be
This is my happily ever after

101-110 [Minds that Never Knew You]

Love does not require honesty
All my partners have known exactly what they should about me
Love needs kindness above all else, any other suggestion is folly
True love is worshipful
Balance is not essential to relationships
I cannot prevent my partners from dying
Teamwork is an overstated clicke in relationships
How others view the relationship is incredibly important
We should all just want to fit in to a happy community together
My relationships have been successful

111-120 [My Faithful Student]

I never doubted you once, Twilight Sparkle
You've worried me far less than you think
You remind me of myself when I was younger
In fact, I can say that you know me quite well
We could all stand to be more modest
Nonsense, you are not of my making
I've exposed you to as much of the world as I comfortably can
Never have I doubted your loyalties to me
I'm delighted to know you want to be exactly like me

1-10 [Lie and Lie Again]

I promise our parents are coming back
You should listen to me
I know where we're going
We really need to find some ponies
Discord is such a good friend, he'd never leave us
The three of us are the perfect family
The world is so ugly and dangerous now, you should trust me
I'll be a good leader
Don't eat those berries
I promise I'll always be here for you, Luna

31-40 [Historical Revisionism]

The Tribal Era was quite quaint underneath all the prejudice
Starswirl the Bearded was a lovely and wise teacher
Princess Platinum was not vindictive or bloodthirsty
Clover the Clever had a wonderful life
The pegasus ponies did not practice eugenics, incest, or cull undesired pegasi
Starswirl the Bearded perished of natural causes in the valley we left him in because he was too stubborn to leave
The earth ponies were not politically corrupt
The Tribal Wars were not savage at all compared to modern standards
We were really quite fair to the buffalo
Luna, I feel that your sympathies are becoming quite traitorous

121-130 [Locked Out of My Own Mind]

All my successes have been my own
Authentic connections are within my grasp
I know what the truth is
Everypony loves me
I got better without help
Nopony needs to be concerned about me
Anypony who thought I needed help could see past my mask
I have never hurt myself on purpose
I know who I am
I am not beyond help I do not need

Author's Note

Consider this the sequel:

TEnemy of Mine

MLP: FiM

Romance

Dark

Mystery

A few years after Luna's return it seems that Equestria will finally know an era of peace and appears to be on the verge of a new renaissance. Ponies are happy. Luna is recovering. Celestia is miserable.

Narcotics

Non-con

Celestia

Luna

OC

Discord

King Sombra

Ice Star · 280k words  ·  105  13 · 5.8k views

Is this a decent story, or just a fun experiment? Let me know in the comments. This was an old idea that I'd had lying around for years. I was never convinced it would work, but I finally managed to get myself to draft a few convincing bits. This was an adventure to see how little I could tell a story with, even in contrast to the prequel and more lore-heavy stories I've written from the eras in each segment.