Chapters This day was princess Twilight Sparkle’s birthday. True the day was almost over and the most directly concerned wasn’t that much concerned about it to begin with, but that was still her birthday for another three and a half hours.
Twilight was reading a book about the efficiency of reading in her huge crystal castle. From time to time, she would enjoy a sip of hot cocoa that Spike had prepared for her. With extra marshmallow, because he had found out it was actually incredibly good.
She had no other plans for the evening than to finish her book, put in back in the library, maybe take one or two out just in case, and go to bed to, well, read herself into slumber.
Then she heard the knocking on the castle’s main door.
Only three knocks, fast and briefs, followed by a deep silence as if the outside world had emerged for a second only to disappear completely the next. Twilight looked up from her book only to face the emptiness of her room and the absence of sounds. She pricked up her ear, but could only hear hers own breath. Had she not known any better, she could have thought to be the only pony in existence.
Then the knocking happened again.
“Twilight!” Spike shouted from another room pretty far away, “Do you want me to answer the door?”
“No, I’ve got it, thank you.” Twilight replied.
The weight of the book between her hooves reminded her of the sacrifice those words had meant. Yet, she truly wondered what pony could consider visiting at such a late hour. So she stood up, took the candle to light her path and walked in the crystal passages to the front door.
She put her hoof on the handle and opened it.
“Happy birthday Twilight!” shouted all of her friends in unison.
“Happy birthday Twi’.” Applejack said as she entered.
“Happy birthday dear.” Rarity said with a smile.
“Happy birthday! You thought we had forgotten, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash joked as she flew through the entrance hall.
“Actually, we had forgotten… I’m sorry. Please forgive us.” Fluttershy corrected.
Twilight look around in shock and quickly replied:
“What?” Applejack and Rarity asked.
“It’s not my birthday, not for at least four more months. Not that I don’t appreciate the attention…” Twilight explained.
“Happy birthday Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted in an explosion of candies and confetti before falling onto Twilight.
“It’s not my birthday!” The latter explained for the third time.
Her five friends looked at each other in dismay, giving room for twilight to recover from Pinkie’s suffocating hug.
“Are you certain of that?” Rarity asked. “I mean, we were lead to think this was your birthday that we had all forgotten about. Not that I would consider putting any blame on our source – everypony can make a mistake – but she seemed very trustworthy.”
Twilight laughed. In a way, it was a relief for her, after having forgotten up to the very name of some of her old friends, to know that those ponies she held in such high esteem were also fallible.
“I can assert without a doubt that my birthday is still four months from now.” Twilight said. “But again, I’m very pleased to see you all and if you have planned to be here tonight, I can offer you all a good cup of tea.”
“Sign me up for tea.” Applejack replied. “It actually all ends well. I mean: we were all so taken by surprise that none of us had had the time to find you a gift or prepare a cake.”
“I brought a cake!” Pinkie victoriously shouted, holding a giant cake above her head for all to see. “I made a very special cake my great friend Twilight Sparkle.” she explained.
“What’s going on?” asked Spike who had just arrived due to all the ruckus the ponies had made with their entrance.
The mares turned to him and with a smile, told him that due to some unexpected events, he was now invited to a surprise tea and cake party if he wanted. The cake looked very tasty, he knew the tea would be great if he made it and Rarity was there, so he played it cool and accepted right away with glee.
Nothing else really happened that evening: everypony shared some tea, plenty of cake though it was too big for them to finish and a lot of fun. Then the five mares said goodbye and went back home while a yawning Twilight decided she wouldn’t need any reading to fall asleep but still took a book with her as she went to bed, just in case.
As for Spike, he chose to go to sleep too, certain that the events of the evening would soon be forgotten in the flow of those little things that happen all the time but have no impact on the long term.
He went to his lair, that is to say, his bedroom on the door of which he had written “Spike’s lair”, coiled up into his bedsheet and closed his eyes. The darkness around then left place for the brightness of the dream world in which the sun never sets, or only just a bit to offer some scenery when he would walk along the beach with Rarity, quietly, without any word being needed. They knew each other too well and for too long to need anything else than the collusiveness of the silence who would transport the messages hidden into their looks from one to the other in a beautiful yet invisible dance.
It was great. It was cozy. It was quiet.
Very quiet.
Too quiet.
Spike opened his eyes and yawned. A quick glance at his alarm-clock informed him it was still the middle of the night. He tried to go back to sleep, put the cover back over his head, then turned back, rolled to the other side, made a few groans and gave up eventually. He was simply awake.
And if he was awake, there was no reason why he couldn’t use the opportunity to go to the kitchen and finish the party’s cake.
He got up and made his way through the castle’s corridors. As he approached the kitchen though, he noticed the light coming out of the open door. Scared at first, Spike quickly realized there were only two possibilities. Either a burglar had come to steal something out of the castle’s kitchen, which was ridiculous for so many reasons he didn’t even know where to begin or, more probably, Twilight too had gotten up for a little midnight snack.
He looked inside and, as he had predicted, saw Twilight with her face stuck in the midst of the remaining of the cake.
“Hum… Twilight?” Spike called out.
She immediately raise her head and looked straight at him. She didn’t respond anything though, she just intensely fixed him for a while and, as the situation was slowly becoming pretty awkward, she made one step in his direction. It looked like she would have lost her balance for a second, but she stayed up and made another less clumsy step toward Spike.
“So… hum… you couldn’t sleep either, right?” Spike asked.
He wasn’t feeling very comfortable though. With each step, Twilight was closing in on him and with each step a bit faster, so he started walking back to avoid contact until he felt the corridor’s wall against his back.
“Twilight, what’s going on? What are you doing?” He asked.
She was very close now. Spike looked for an exit but saw none. He felt a drop of water form on his front and run down along his nose then down to his chin. He heard the sound of the drum louder and louder in his chest. When Twilight’s hoof left the floor and extended in his direction to reach him, he felt the cold touch of fear slapping him on the back.
“Wait, I won’t say anything about the cake I swear! I wasn’t even here. Twilight!” Spike yelled.
But Twilight’s hoof didn’t stop. Twilight’s hoof didn’t even slow down. Twilight’s hoof approached, approached even more and then, at the most critical moment, it pressed slightly against his nose.
“Twilight!” Twilight shouted while her face lit up with a giant smile.
Spike stayed still for what felt like an eternity and then asked:
But Twilight moved her hoof again and, smiling even more at each time, started to repeatedly hit Spike’s nose harder and harder while shouting “Twilight, Twilight, Twilight!”.
Surprised the first few times, Spike eventually dodged the attacks and very amateurishly parried with his left claw before he pushed Twilight back with a spin.
Twilight started crying.
“Wait, what?” Spike let out in total disarray.
He instinctively approached Twilight to help her calm down, leading with his right claw and saw with horror as Twilight’s head turned to him with the speed of a ninja to let her jaws closed down on his innocent claw.
Then she meticulously started to chew, which did seem to make her kind of happy again.
“Okay, great, you can let go now.” Spike asked.
She just kept munching with obstinacy. Spike waited for a bit but, as it didn’t seem that it would end anytime soon, he decided to take matters in his own claws for lack of a better expression.
“Give it back!” He ordered.
Twilight refused.
He pulled to get his claw out of her mouth but she just tightened her grip and got up on all her four hooves to pull in her own direction. Spike fought for his freedom and Twilight fought back with apparent glee. They rolled on the floor, bashed against the kitchen table, found themselves up on the shelves and everytime they moved faster, pulled harder, made a mess of the kitchen as what was left of the cake fell down on the floor and the whole content of the shelves followed, putting carrots, lettuce, floor and eggs everywhere.
Suddenly, Spike managed to free his claw and took the opportunity to flee. Twilight chased after him. He was pretty sure he could hear her giggle.
They ended up in the living room where Spike tried to hide behind the couch only to have Twilight knocking it over. He went on top of a cupboard only to be followed by Twilight who clumsily climbed it and made it fall down. To escape, Spike jumped on the chandelier but the chain didn’t hold and both him and the chandelier fell on the ground. He saw Twilight spotting him as well as the smile of satisfaction and victory on her face. She ran towards him but suddenly fell.
She had tripped over the carpet and fallen face first onto the floor, putting an end to the chase.
She started crying again, louder this time. With her hooves, she reached for her face but only achieved to make a mess of her mane.
“Alright.”
He held his claw out to Twilight who immediately started chewing on it, which calmed her down. Spike looked at her and sighed again.
There wasn’t much to be done though, so he just sat at her side, let her munch as much as she wanted and just waited.
“Spike! Spike, wake up!”
Spike slowly regained consciousness and opened his eyes. Twilight was there, looking at him. He couldn’t make out if she was angry or just panicking.
“What happened here? What are we doing in the living room? Why are we covered with floor? Why is everything covered with floor? How long did we sleep? What about our schedule?”
She was panicking. Spike yawned. She sure was a weird pony from times to times.
“Don’t you remember?” He explained. “I caught you in the kitchen yesterday and then you tried to eat me and you chased me… you seriously don’t remember? How can you not remember?”
She had stopped moving in all direction and was just looking at him with a very concerned look:
“Really?” Spike asked back. “… well then I managed to bring you under control and I told you to stop and you marveled at how strong I am.”
“Sure Spike…” Twilight replied, returning at her task of assessing the damages. “Just look at this mess. It’s like a tornado went through here.”
She suddenly turned to Spike and blushed a bit, then waited for a response. Spike sighed, but couldn’t escape her look.
“I’ll go get the stuff to clean everything.” He said, totally giving up. “It still is all your fault though.”
She just went to him and caressed his scales:
Spike exited the living room and made his way to the first of the castle’s bathrooms he could find to wash up, then went to the cleaning closet to grab his material. Fully armed with sponges, mops and buckets of water, he came back to the living room where he found Twilight gazing at her hoof.
“What now?” Spike asked.
Startled, Twilight hid her hoof behind her back and replied:
“Shouldn’t you be reading books or something to figure out what happened? Or just at least have taken a bath by now?” Spike asked.
Twilight’s face turned to red as she revealed her hoof again. And there was simply nothing abnormal with that hoof that spike could see.
“I’m sorry…” Twilight apologized. “It’s just… I don’t know. I was trying to examine the floor when I noticed how weird my hoof looked. I mean, it’s all roundish and bouncy and soft and it makes that fun squeaking noise when you press against stuff!”
Spike rolled his eyes. She was describing a pony’s hoof. Nothing new there.
“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Spike asked.
“Oh I’m fine, but you should just take the time to look at things again. I mean, look at that!” Twilight said. She then took hold of a book that was laying down on the floor. “Have you seen that? I can grasp stuff. And I can put them down, and grasp them again, and put them down and grasp them…”
Spike looked at the book going from Twilight’s hoof to the floor and back into Twilight’s hoof. He tried to understand what he should find so amazing about picking up a book.
But now, Twilight was fixing him. And for a second he recognized that intense look.
“Spike, don’t move. I just want to see something.”
She approached and Spike tried to stay as immobile as possible. At least she was finally working again to find clues about the event of the night. He felt her touching his scales and asked:
“Spike…” She replied. “You’ve got scales!”
And she giggled while playing with his scales.
“Okay, that’s it, I’m calling Zecora.” Spike replied, leaving both Twilight and his cleaning material behind.
He came back and immediately noticed that Twilight had decided to leave everything in its state, probably not to temper with the evidence… His sigh got covered by Zecora’s remark:
Spike avoided Zecora’s smile. He should have known she wouldn’t have believed his epic battle story. It was not his fault if what happened wasn’t as exciting as a good story should be.
They found Twilight in the library. She had washed herself and was going through a huge pile of books. When she heard them enter, she stopped reading and greeted them only to admit she hadn’t found anything.
“We could really use your help.” Twilight told Zecora. “Nothing in my books explains what happened.”
“I am sure this is nothing.” Zecora said to reassure both Spike and Twilight. “Yet there is no conclusion to which we should be jumping.”
She took a bowl from her saddle’s bag and spread some powder on Twilight who sneezed, though nothing else happened. Zecora looked satisfied and took another bowl and spread a weird orange powder in the air that just fell down on the floor.
“It would seem you are not ill, which is good. Now please open your mouth if you could.”
Twilight complied with the request and opened big. Zecora inspected something inside, shouted words from a foreign language and listened to the echo, then frowned and gave Twilight a potion.
“This is probably a false lead. That I must concede. Yet as impossible as I may find it, a diagnostic must be thorough and to that end I will commit.”
Twilight shrugged and just drank the potion. It didn’t taste very good. It also made her shine, literally emit light, first blue, then reddish, almost pink, before turning back to blue and back and forth from blue to pink.
“You’re blinking!” Spike joked.
Both he and Twilight laughed as she had in fact turned into some sort of rotating light. But Zecora didn’t laugh with them. She didn’t look amused at all, quite the contrary.
“It can’t be…” she said. “I can’t believe what my eyes see.”
“What is it? What does it mean?” Twilight asked. “Is there a problem?”
She had hoped that her friend was exaggerating, but quite on the contrary, Zecora seemed to hold back:
Twilight and Spike looked at each other and both understood that the other had no idea what Zecora was talking about.
“Could you maybe be a bit more precise?” Twilight asked.
“Inside you is a growing threat that had been sealed. You are in danger and I wish I could help, but this dark secret can only be by light revealed.”
A little silence ensued. The blinking lights had disappeared and a few birds had found their way inside the castle to sing their ode to the glorious sun outside.
Spike decided to break the silence:
“There is no time to waste” Zecora replied. “Be on your way Twilight Sparkle and make haste!”
At those words, Twilight made her decisions and, following the advice, rushed outside the room and, soon, the castle.
Zecora didn’t reply, though he couldn’t help but notice her amused smile.
Then he understood.
“Oh… the light, of course. She is going to see princess Celestia.”
Zecora nodded.
“You know…” Spike told her, “… one day, somepony will really misunderstand what you say if you keep speaking in riddles.”
“I say what has to be said. Not one more word than the minds need to be fed.” Zecora replied.
But at that moment, Spike realized Twilight had left without informing Celestia of her visit. And also without any luggage… He accompanied Zecora to the door, decided he would take the next train to Canterlot so he had to prepare everything. And the first thing was to write a letter to princess Celestia.
He struggled with it for a moment, incapable of finding the right words to explain the situation. In the end, not wanting to waste too much time with the letter, he just wrote:
Twilight wasn’t really herself lately. We asked Zecora who gave us the explanation about the dark secret inside her and the seal and everything we needed and not a word too many.
Twilight is on her way to Canterlot to find you.
Your loyal servant,
He decided that would be good enough and sent it with his magical breath. He then went packing everything Twilight and he would need.
As soon as Twilight had put her hoof on the Canterlot train platform, she got accosted by a guard:
Despite his serious tone, Twilight smiled and started walking along with him. The streets of Canterlot were full of ponies enjoying the day, speaking, having fun and slaloming between the cohorts of guards. In fact, Twilight noticed there wasn’t a street without at least ten guards taking position or passing by.
“Is something the matter? Has a threat been made against the city?” Twilight asked.
“To be honest your higness, I had hoped you could tell us. Princess Celestia has ordered for the royal guard to be ready to evacuate the whole city. We try not to show it, but may be panicking a little here.”
Twilight looked around. Now that she had been told, she could indeed notice some marks of nervousness on the guards’ faces. One had his left eye twitching a bit. Another was grasping at his shield as if somepony was trying to take it away. She even saw one guard stumble. His officer, instead of getting upset just lent him a hoof and the squad continued on to some other part of the town.
Twilight looked up, but saw just a clear sky. All around her, she couldn’t hear anything else but joy and laughter. Even by Canterlot’s standard this was a magnificent day.
The guard took her to the royal castle and told her to go to the throne room where Celestia was awaiting her.
“Won’t you accompany me?” Twilight asked.
“I am sorry your majesty, but the entry to the palace is now forbidden to all but you and her higness.”
A few steps in she quickly looked back to watch the heavy doors close behind her and shut her from all the outside noise.
In normal days, the corridors of the Canterlot palace would have been filled with very busy very serious ponies, guards and maids taking care of every kinds of important matters. That day, however, it was all silent. She could still perceive some faint echoes of the outside world, but other than that the world of the palace was filled by the sound of her hooves on the tiled floor only.
It reminded her of her own castle. Huge, magnificent and lonely.
After much walking, she arrived in front of the throne room's door which was closed and hesitated. She knew she had come for some weird matter, but something else was now at stake and she didn’t know how to approach the situation.
Just in case, she decided to knock on the door.
“Knock knock”.
She didn’t get any response.
She knocked again, this time trying a more elaborate code:
“Knock. Knock knock. Knock, knock, knock knock.”
She heard loud footsteps from the other side of the door and a yellow wave of magic took control of the door to half-open it. She saw the white face of a pony for a second and heard:
The yellow aura disappeared and Twilight chose to simply thread her way through the opening. Once inside, she saw Celestia landing before her throne and turning back in her direction in a cacophony of metal pieces.
She was more radiant than ever. From the tip of her hooves to the top of her head she was covered in golden plates meticulously arranged. She looked taller than ever before, she looked larger than ever before, she looked fiercer than Twilight could have ever imagined. On her right was the Equestrian banner floating on a pole, just at its side was the solar banner flying proudly and on her left her trusted golden spear with which she had so often gone to war and vanquished her enemies. The intense light coming through every stained glasses on the walls was making her battle armor shimmer, bouncing off like some puny attacks incapable to find their way through and making her shine with an aura of pure invincibility.
“I have been expecting you.” Celestia told Twilight. “Spike told me you had learned everything I have done and were on your way here. Please do not hold a grudge against his loyalty toward me and Equestria. I understand your intention of defeating me and for what little my word may be worth to you anymore, I do not blame you.”
Twilight stayed there, stunned.
Half of her focus was lost in the contemplation of the golden armor and the more she looked at it, the more fine amazing details she found, fine embellishment, delicate gemstone inlaid with care both for the esthetic and the canalization of magic.
But Celestia was waiting, defiant. Twilight had to say something, so she very clearly articulated the words:
“Your battle against me.” Celestia explained. “I have dreaded this day since the first second, but I fully understand your intention of vanquishing me. I do however consider it to be my right not to run away and to defend myself.”
Now it wasn’t possible to deny anymore. She may not have been able to say why, but Twilight understood she would have to fight Celestia just as her sister had a thousand years ago. Of course she didn’t want to fight but, at the same time, she felt the fear taking over her. She wasn’t nearly powerful enough to withstand Celestia’s assaults. And it wasn’t her wish to hurt or to be hurt.
She made a step back and tried to gather some magical energy, just in case, in vain. She was unable to focus. Celestia, on the contrary, was looking confident and at the peak of her incommensurable power. Twilight tried to find out what she could have done that was so wrong that Celestia would want to attack and failed. Or maybe it was just Celestia who had gone mad.
That prospect alone finished to absolutely terrify Twilight.
Celestia raised her spear and slowly moved her hooves for what would clearly be an assault jump.
Then Celestia flinched. She tried to find her balance again, groaned, violently clenched her teeth and suddenly, before Twilight could even react, threw her spear that made a big hole in the tiles of the throne room not even two feet away.
Then Celestia just let herself fall on the floor, keeping only her head and shoulders straight but slightly down out of exhaustion.
“I am sorry.” Celestia said. “I just can’t bring myself to harm you. The idea itself is hurting more than any blow you could deal onto me.”
Useless to say, Twilight still didn’t have a clue to the point she couldn’t even feel much relief of the turn of events.
“Not quite a great battle to go down in history. I failed but I imagine it’s better this way. Now do what you have come here to do and let’s finish this once and for all.”
This was just too much. The empty corridors, the empty room, the threats, the call for battle, it was all just way too much for Twilight who exploded:
Celestia didn’t respond. She just looked at Twilight in silence with eyes lost in themselves. Her lips did move at some point, but no sound came out of her mouth.
And so, both alicorns faced each other in the throne room under the light of the stained glasses.
“I’m sorry princess Celestia, I shouldn’t have yelled like that. It’s just, I don’t understand what is happening. I come here for answers and you act all weird. We tried to ask Zecora for answers and she acted very weird too and it would seem that even I have been acting weird lately.”
“So…” Celestia finally replied. “You haven’t come to vanquish me.”
“No. I would never do something like that.” Twilight explained, happy to see Celestia slowly going back to her former self. “What even gave you that idea?”
For the first time since Twilight’s arrival, Celestia gave a hint of a smile.
“This is quite embarrassing then…” She let out. “I may have misinterpreted Spike’s letter just a teeny tiny bit I fear.” Celestia got up and took away her helmet with a sigh of relief. “Please excuse my early behavior.”
She then swept away a bit of sweat out of her forehead and added:
Twilight laughed and helped Celestia get rid of the huge plates of gold to the best of her ability but didn’t forget to ask her questions:
“It was the most logical conclusion.” Celestia explained. “After all, the seal has been broken and now you know about it.”
“No, I don’t know.” Twilight replied. “I mean, I know that something was sealed inside me and Zecora told me to come talk about it with you, but I have no idea what it is or what it has to do with you.”
Celestia offered a gentle smile that caressed Twilight’s fur and warmed her heart.
“So this is how it is. Then maybe…” She muttered.
She then turned to Twilight who had tripped over due to the unexpected weight of one of the shoulder pads.
“Tell me Twilight, do you have trust in me?” She asked.
Surprised, Twilight tried to think about it, but quickly decided that this wasn’t a matter that needed reflection:
“Then please listen carefuly.” Celestia told her. “I know you must have experienced some very weird events lately and you may not be aware of it, but it’s only going to get worst with time. If nothing is done, your very existence can be put in jeopardy. This I want and can prevent. It would only take one spell to restore the seal and everything would be exactly as before. But I won’t do it if you do not allow me to. So if you trust me, I beg of you to not ask any more questions and give me the permission to save you while there is still time.”
Twilight always knew the princess had had to hold many secrets and she had always accepted it. She had already discovered some of them, like her love story with a Sombra from an alternate universe, or the fate of Sunset Shimmer. Celestia’s secrets had always been kept secret for the benefits of Equestria or to protect the ponies.
Had it been one of those secrets, about a door she was forbidden to open, or a path she was forbidden to take, Twilight would have abided. And even there, as she knew the secret was about herself, she was considering just following her heart and believing in Celestia as she had always done.
And yet her curiosity was devouring her. She thought that, logically speaking, she had, as a princess, to collect all the data before taking a decision, but that was just a pretext. She was just curious, curious out of all measures.
She simply had to know, no matter what. That was who she had always been, always curious, always putting her nose in matters that didn’t concern her, sometimes to the point of blinding her to what she should have truly been aware of. And there was no way she would be able to forgive herself for giving up on that opportunity of knowing what seemed to be such a weird secret.
That and, to be honest, she couldn’t see how bad of a secret it could be.
“I trust you completely.” Twilight told Celestia. “And I will agree with your request. But please, can’t you first tell me more about that secret? What could be so important that you would need my approval to save me?”
“I truly wish you wouldn’t ask me about it.” Celestia replied.
But now, Twilight had another reason to press the issue. Between Celestia’s words, Twilight noticed the accents of distress, of fear, sadness and, most of all, guilt. She had already seen the effects of the weight of that very same guilt on Celestia’s sister and she knew from that experience that the darkest of secrets are better shared with a trusty friend. She hoped she could be that friend and free Celestia from a part, as small as it may be, of the weight on her shoulders.
Celestia didn’t agree immediately. After Twilight’s argument, she just kept looking at her without a word or even a blink to betray her inner emotions. But as it was clear Twilight’s determination wouldn’t waver, she sighed and walked away, followed by Twilight who she brought through a bunch of corridors to a balcony overlooking Canterlot and, beyond the walls, all of Equestria below.
Only then did Celestia start her explanations:
“I don’t understand…” Twilight said.
“A pony cannot have two souls.” Celestia replied. “Only our alicorn magic can create such a situation, but even so, one soul will always consume the other entirely. That is the natural order of things and that is why I had sealed the other soul.”
Twilight took some time to make sense of those information. She looked at herself, but she didn’t feel like there was somepony else inside of her. She did however felt the warmth of the sun rays falling down on her and that was exquisite.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t?” Celestia asked.
“What?” Twilight asked back.
“Peace.” Celestia replied. “That is all I have ever wanted, to see Equestria at peace and all of its inhabitants protected and safe. From my very first thought I never had any other goal in mind and I dedicated myself fully to that end.”
Celestia stopped to look away and turned to Twilight. A gust of wind made her mane flow and capture the sun’s brightness in many sparkles each shinier than the other.
“For a thousand of years I made every necessary sacrifice, endured all torments and never found any rest until I was certain my subjects were safe. But for a thousand years I knew that wouldn’t be sufficient. Nightmare Moon would come back from her lunar prison and I foresaw that there was a risk I couldn’t oppose her. I couldn’t let my dear ponies know, but with every day passing I worried more to the point where it became unbearable. I knew I had to find another to help me protect Equestria against its enemies be it from outside or even worse inside. I had hoped destiny would provide me with an ally but as the years passed, so did my hope. And every night I could hear the voice inside my head telling me it was all my fault. There was one chance I would fail and even if it was just one chance, I had to do something: anything. I realized that if destiny wasn’t going to provide help on its own, then I had to create somepony myself. Somepony perfect. Somepony powerful enough to stand at my side when Equestria would be in peril…”
“Is that the soul you sealed inside of me?” Twilight asked.
“No.” Celestia replied.
“Then who or what is that soul?” Twilight asked again, a bit frustrated to have guessed wrong.
Then she heard the answer from Celestia’s mouth and the words she had uttered were full of attention and care, but as they entered through one of Twilight’s ear, they seemed to escape through the other the next second. They simply didn’t make sense.
So Twilight asked again:
Celestia nodded and repeated:
“Please excuse me, but did you just say the other soul is named Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight asked.
Celestia nodded:
Twilight just stood there in silence. She was looking at Celestia, yet her eyes were watching way beyond, or not at all.
“I really didn’t have a choice.” Celestia explained. “I had to protect Equestria from Nightmare Moon by any means necessary. I didn’t choose Twilight Sparkle for her abilities, but for her parents. They had already very well raised a fine young stallion who was a testimony of their competence as caretakers. They would raise you correctly. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t more than eight months old, so nopony would notice, even if putting you in such a young body had to force you to lose most of your memories. I tore you apart from me because you were the part of me that always had the biggest potential and yet at the same time, the one that would weaken me the least. Also, I admit it, it did allow me to stop having to repress you all the time.
Twilight snapped out of her thoughts and almost shouted:
“I didn’t, obviously.” Celestia replied. “I am ready to make all the sacrifices necessary, but I just couldn’t harm that innocent soul. It was too much to ask from me, so I just sealed it, hoping you would never notice… I was weak and because of my weakness, here we are.”
“You weren’t weak!” Twilight responded.
She calmed down a bit and added: “Compassion is no weakness.”
Twilight had expected to see a confirmation smile on Celestia’s face, but if she indeed was gently smiling, she could tell it was full of sadness and remorse. As for why, Twilight couldn’t really understand.
And Celestia didn’t let her enough time to:
It was time for Twilight to decide. And truth be told, she had no idea what side to take, or even if there truly were sides to take. Her head was hurting and she couldn’t tell if it was from the mountain of information she had just been entrusted with, or because of the other soul fighting her own inside of her.
She looked at Celestia and remembered her own words. Celestia had told her everything she wanted to know and she herself had promised to agree with her request if she did so. After all, it was princess Celestia, one of the ponies if not the pony she respected the most in all of Equestria. It was almost a crime to simply question her wishes. As a faithful student, Twilight should just accept that her teacher just knew best as she had always had. She almost couldn’t remember why she was debating that request at that moment.
Twilight Sparkle. Of course. She wasn’t deciding for herself anymore. There was another pony directly concerned by the matter. More importantly: that other pony was utterly innocent, yet was forced to suffer.
As she saw Twilight struggle internally, Celestia tried to plea once more:
Those words cleared Twilight’s mind like a summer wind can chase all the clouds away. She was a princess and she had to act as such.
“I am sorry princess Celestia.” Twilight said. “I must save Twilight Sparkle. She too is one of our subject: it is our duty to take care of her.”
Celestia didn’t reply. She just looked away and sighed.
“Please, I understand how much you are counting on me, but if there is one thing I have learned during my life, it’s that every pony no matter how small or weak can make a difference. And even without that, don’t we protect Equestria so that ponies like her can enjoy life?”
“Is that your final decision?” Celestia asked still without looking at Twilight.
Her words had created a tremor in the cascade of sun rays falling from the sky. It was a completely new vibration that the universe didn’t know how to respond to because it hadn’t been made to handle such an emotion. It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t regret either. It wasn’t anger, nor disappointment or guilt. And at the same time, it wasn’t relief, nor excitation or even madness.
And it didn’t undermine Twilight’s determination:
Celestia slowly turned back to face Twilight while displaying her everlasting gentle smile:
A little silence ensued during which Twilight and Celestia just stared at each other with the distance between them growing with every passing second until they just couldn’t see but each other’s silhouettes.
“I will respect you decision.” Celestia finally said. “Once you are ready, come to me and I will seal your soul instead of sealing hers.”
At that precise moment, despite the deceptive smile, Twilight saw a tear form under one of Celestia’s eyes, but the princess had already moved away.
“I must go for now. I have a lot of guards to reassure. But I will be back in the throne room once you are ready.”
Celestia passed under an arch and disappeared into the palace.
Left alone, Twilight sighed. She looked at her hoof and saw how it was violently shaking against her will. Her heart was racing faster than she could have thought it possible and she was completely soaked with sweat. But still, she was victorious, or more precisely, she knew she would do what was right, even If the consequences for herself were very scary.
She wondered what it would feel like, or if she would feel anything at all. She asked herself if she would have the courage to keep her eyes open, or if she should just shut them when the moment would come. One thing was for sure, she would have to say goodbye to the sun and its light. Her world would be made of darkness. Deep darkness taking over from every side, surrounding her to the point of hiding the real world and becoming their own black universe.
Twilight noticed, but too late, that the darkness were indeed taking over her. The sun was already hidden behind a veil of shadow and a second later everything was black. She ran in a direction but encountered no balcony or wall. She ran in a different direction and didn’t encounter any object whatsoever.
Before she could panic, however, she felt a hoof grasping her head and found herself face to face with Luna.
“It’s you, isn’t it? I can’t believe it was you all this time!” Luna shouted.
Her eyes were scintillating and her rapid breath was betraying an overpowering wave of emotions.
“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, it’s me. Oh I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.” Luna replied.
At the same time, she hugged Twilight with all her strength and didn’t let go.
“I heard everything.” Luna explained while Twilight felt drops of water falling onto her fur at the place where Luna’s head was. “I always knew there was something special about you, but I could never figure out what. I even thought you were some kind of threat! How could I have only imagined something so incredible? Can you even forgive my blindness? Oh I missed you so much!”
Twilight was suffocating, but Luna still didn’t let go. She ran out of air eventually and only then realized she wasn’t breathing at all. Luna noticed her surprise and, happy to impress her, explained:
Twilight took the time to think that sometimes, the magical abilities of the two sisters were still so far out of her league that it was kind of scary.
Luna didn’t let her finish her thought though:
Luna’s horn lit up and the surrounding darkness covered itself with thousands and thousands and millions of stars and galaxies.
Startled for a moment, Twilight came back to her senses and finally escaped Luna’s grasp:
All the stars blinked out at once leaving only the darkness to replace them.
“Oh…” Luna replied.
She looked away a bit and scratched the ground a bit with her hoof, but still kept her smile.
“You haven’t changed, have you?” Luna said before making a little pause. She then laughed and continued: “I guess space could become very boring after a while. It doesn’t matter, as long as we are together I don’t mind staying here and taking care of your precious ponies. So, what is your plan?”
“My plan?” Twilight responded, unsure of what was going on.
“Yes. You can’t truly think of sacrificing yourself to save one little filly’s soul. You too know why she didn’t try to get rid of the other soul. I can see right through you! You only let her think that was your intention so that I could help you destroy her and reclaim her body for you!”
“Wait, are talking about princess Celestia?”
“Yes, sure.” Luna replied. “We will pass through all of her tricks and defeat her together. Once she is no more, I will take your soul and put it where hers was. We won’t have to care about her anymore, you will be free and Twilight Sparkle as well. It’s a perfect plan!”
“No!” Twilight shouted.
Luna froze.
“No, no, no and no!” Twilight kept on shouting. “I have more than enough of all the machinations and plans of battle and epic fighting! This all ends now. I have no intention of harming princess Celestia: she is my friend, heck, she is your sister!”
Luna still didn’t respond, completely taken out of her element by Twilight’s vehement recrimination.
“I am going to save the one trapped inside of me and if I have to go so that she can live, then that is what I will do, not matter how much it scares me.”
“But…” Luna finally faintly responded.
“But what?” Twilight asked back, with probably a bit harsher tone than was truly needed.
“You can’t go when we just met each other again after all that time! Please. You won’t have to harm her, I can do it all on my own if need be. I just don’t want to lose you.”
“You certainly won’t! If you try to oppose princess Celestia, I shall be at her side and so will all of Equestria.” Twilight replied.
She then calmed down and approached Luna with a gentler and caring tone, one she had heard Celestia use so many times and she didn’t even know she was capable of:
Luna didn’t reply, but started to cry a bit, even if she was trying to hide that fact. Twilight hugged her and slowly, the dream faded away as she was waking up.
Spike had come in Canterlot not much later than Twilight had. He had seen all the guards in the streets, but discarded them as another problem that didn’t concern him. With him were the elements of harmony. All had come when, after a chain of events beginning with Rainbow Dash coming to Twilight’s place, they had heard about the situation.
They went to the Canterlot palace where the guards told them they couldn’t enter. So they waited there, certain that nothing bad could happen during a meeting between Twilight and princess Celestia. Then the latter appeared at the door and told them that they could come in and where Twilight was.
They entered, went to the balcony where she should have been, but didn’t find her. So they started searching the palace and quickly found her a bit further away. She was contemplating a stained glass depicting the windigos and their eternal winter.
“Twilight?” Spike called her out.
She turned to him and he didn’t need more than a look at her face to know that she wasn’t herself at that moment. She ran toward him, ignoring all of the others’ greetings, jumped on him and hugged him.
“Twilight.” She said with glee.
The others just didn’t know how to react and observed the scene with mixed feelings about the childish behavior of their friend.
“Spike.” Spike told Twilight once he recovered from the hug. “You should really learn my name.”
Twilight let go and just watched him, seemingly lost.
“Spike.” Spike said again, pointing at himself. “Twilight” He said, pointing at her. “Spike” He said again pointing at himself.
“Spike!” Twilight replied joyfully while putting her hoof on Spike’s nose.
“Hum… please excuse me asking, but why is Twilight acting in such a puerile manner?” Rarity asked.
“Could somepony explain what in ‘tarnation is going on?” Applejack said in a more direct manner.
Spike turned to them, then looked at Twilight who had made a few steps back under the pressure of all those looks targeted at her. He sighed.
“Well, everypony, I present to you Twilight two. She is the one I told you about in the train.”
“The one you tamed during that epic fight that almost destroyed the whole castle back in Ponyville?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Spike blushed. He was glad to have some friends like Rainbow Dash who didn’t immediately see through his lies, or, at least, didn’t mind playing along.
“Yes, the very one.” Spike asserted. “But I’m not sure how and why Twilight becomes Twilight two. They just act so very differently that I call them that way.”
Suddenly, Twilight two fell on the floor and immediately her friends went to make sure she was doing okay, only to realize she had fallen asleep.
“Maybe… maybe one of use should go ask for help?” Fluttershy proposed, a bit shaken by the unpredictability of the events.
But Twilight was already waking up again. This time, however, it was clear in her eyes that she recognized them all.
“Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? What are you all doing here?” She asked, still completing to recover from her forced slumber.
“The more important question is what is happening to you?” Applejack asked. “Spike told us about your weird behavior, but it’s even worse than he described.”
Twilight looked down for a moment. A lot had happen and it wasn’t easy to explain. She herself wasn’t certain to understand every aspect of the whole thing. But she did her best nonetheless and so she told her friends everything that she knew, from the actions of Celestia long ago to the consequences of the broken seal and her decision to let the filly’s soul take over her.
That last part was the one her friends found the most difficult to accept.
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked. “No way we are going to let you go. Not under my watch you are.”
“Certainly there must be another solution…” Rarity proposed. “I am certain that princess Celestia would never allow you to do something so, pardon the word, reckless.”
But the most shaken of them all was Spike, who had already understood from Twilight’s look and tone, from all those little details in her expression that he had learned to decipher after all those years, that Twilight was serious and that he would never see her again.
As the others were trying to convince Twilight to change her mind, he just suddenly ran away, as there was nothing else he could really do and he didn’t want the others to see him face the prospect of losing his closest friend.
It wasn’t just losing his friend even. Twilight had become way more important during all those years. She was more of a mother to him. She had always been there for him, when he was scared of the thunder as a very young baby dragon, or when he would cry for entire nights and she had to rock his cradle for hours until he would finally simmer down. And now that he was crying again, she wouldn’t be there anymore to collect his tears and give them a taste of joy and a feeling of comfort.
“Spike… are you alright?” Twilight asked.
She had found him. She always found him. She just knew him too well. Still, Spike made sure not to look at her. After all, she had already decided she didn’t want to be there anymore, didn’t she?
“Spike, I’m sorry.” Twilight continued. “I just have to do it. The other one, the true Twilight Sparkle, she deserves a life.”
“No you don’t!” Spike yelled in his corner. “You just don’t care about us. You want to pretend you’re a big pony like princess Celestia and now you are just throwing me away because of some filly we don’t even know…”
For a moment, Twilight just stayed immobile and silent. Had Spike looked at her, he could have seen her own tears forming and the shiver in her legs. But despite her emotions, she eventually made a few steps toward him.
“I do care about you. Especially you. I would have never gone anywhere in my life if it hadn’t been for your constant help. I watched you grow and each day you made me feel prouder to be your friend. You are my very first true friend. You are my very best friend.”
“Then let Celestia cure you and come back to Ponyville with us!” Spike shouted.
And as he did, he also turned back to her and hugged her leg as if to prevent her from ever going away.
“You know I can’t do that.” Twilight replied, while trying to comfort him the best she could.
“I just don’t want to lose you!” Spike shouted in the midst of his crying spasms.
“I will always be there, inside. But there is another Twilight Sparkle who will need your help. She will be lost, she will need a strong, honest and brave dragon to guide her.”
Spike didn’t respond. He just tightened his grip on her leg a bit more and kept weeping. Twilight just let him exhaust all of his tears, as she herself was fighting hard not to echo them. But he eventually ran out.
“Do you feel better?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” Spike lied.
“Then let’s join the others.” She told him.
Spike nodded and climbed onto Twilight’s back. She then proceeded to walk back to the throne room where their friends were waiting for them. Spike first just stood on her back, but he quickly just grabbed her neck and cuddled against it. Twilight decided to make a few detours through the palace corridors. It was still all empty. It was just them and the millennia old walls.
Twilight stopped in front of a pot full of flowers. They had been place there that very morning and were still blazing with all their colors. But Twilight knew those flowers would wilt eventually and would have to be replaced.
She resumed her journey and, after a few more detours, arrived in the throne room.
Her friends were there. They weren’t alone though. In their midst were Luna and Celestia and also Twilight Velvet and Night Light.
Mom and dad.
Twilight ignored how Celestia looked away as she arrived and ran towards her parents to hug them.
“Good thing you’ve finally arrived.” Her father said. “Your friends and the princess have tried to tell us that you’re not our daughter and that you’re going to disappear. Now you can tell them that nothing of the sort is going to happen, right?”
Twilight avoided his look and made a few steps back.
“It’s not true, is it?” Her father insisted. “Please Twilight, tell us it’s just a bad joke.”
“I’m sorry…” Twilight replied.
A deathly silence followed those words. The ponies assembled there were looking at each other seeking signs of a happy ending they couldn’t themselves offer. But no matter where they looked, none of them, not even the wise and reassuring princess Celestia seemed able to provide.
“There must be another way!” Twilight’s mother shouted. “I won’t lose my daughter. Isn’t there anything we can do?”
“Maybe…” Celestia said out loud without even realizing she had let that word out.
All the head instantly turned to her. She had no choice but to explain the last alternative that could be considered:
“An already existing soul can only be transferred into a living body.” She explained. “So if any of you was willing, you could make the sacrifice in her place.”
Instantly, Twilight Velvet volunteered:
“No!” Responded both Twilight and her father.
“Heck, it’s not that I enjoy the idea, but if it’s for Twilight’s sake, then I guess you can have my body.”
“Nah, forget it.” Rainbow Dash told her in reply. “Twilight needs an awesome body: she can have mine. Sacrificing ourselves is what we pegasi are all about. No matter how fierce the storm we face, we will always go in and do our duty.”
“Hey, you can’t keep Twilight all for yourselves!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “She can come in my body too and then we will be together forever and have lots and adventure and we will share secrets and we will argue about the movie we want to see and we will laugh and have tons and tons of fun!”
“No! Stop it.” Twilight ordered. “Nopony sacrifices herself today, I forbid it! Also, Pinkie, I think you may not fully understand what is going on here.”
Pinkie Pie scratched her head, looked at the others who weren’t sure how to react to her antic and just said:
Twilight turned to her parents. She grabbed her mother’s hoof and said:
Twilight Velvet said something her daughter couldn’t understand because she was enjoying the deep and warmth embrace of her mother.
Luna approached Celestia and asked:
Celestia just looked away.
“I thought so.” Luna continued. “At least Nightmare Moon wasn’t hiding behind lies.”
Celestia ignored her sister’s cutting remarks and approached Twilight.
“You can still change your decision.” She told Twilight. “It isn’t too late. Look at your friends, look at your parents. They all want you to stay.”
Twilight took the time to look at each and everyone in the room. It was true: every pair of eyes was telling her not to go away.
“Please stay…” Fluttershy whispered.
“Please stay.” Applejack echoed.
“Please stay.” Said Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in unison.
“Please stay.” Said both her parents.
For a moment, Luna stayed silent, but after a few hesitation she also said:
“Please stay.” Celestia supported.
Spike just avoided her look. He just knew her way too well and she could hear his thoughts without him saying anything anyway.
Twilight smiled.
“I truly want to stay. I swear I do. Truth be told, I’m terrified right now.” She told them.
And indeed, her whole body was shivering no matter how much she was trying to prevent it to.
“All I am asking now is that you watch over Twilight Sparkle like you watched over me. She may not be me, but she too will need great parents and great friends. She will need each and every one of you.”
She then turned to princess Celestia and added:
Celestia’s horn lit up but immediately stopped.
“No.” Celestia replied. “I am sorry. This isn’t something I am willing to do. You will have to perform the spell yourself if that is truly your choice.”
“I will do it.”
Twilight smiled and tried to thank the princess for her help.
“Don’t you dare!” Luna replied. And she pushed Twilight back. “I will only seal your soul as Twilight Sparkle’s soul was once sealed. And I am only doing it because you are a stubborn old mule and I don’t want you to screw up the spell if you do it yourself.”
Twilight nodded and Luna simmered down. She called upon her magical powers and soon the whole room overflowed with rivers of light all converging around Twilight lifting her off the floor and forming a giant lock. Every pony’s fur bristled under a violent magical wave that seemed to plunge the whole world into darkness for just a second.
Then all lights dissipated, everything went back to normal and Twilight’s body fell back onto the floor.
“Twilight!” Her parents shouted.
They ran to her and made sure she was alright. They quickly sighed out of relief once they realized she was merely asleep.
None realized that Celestia had already left the room.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and saw many unfamiliar face looking at her and saying many things she couldn’t understand in a big cacophony. She got frightened and instinctively started to cry as well as look around for something to comfort her.
Her eyes lay onto Spike and she went to him to cuddle. Spike didn’t let her cuddle though and Twilight couldn’t understand why. She tried to bite his claw but he pushed her back. So she was all alone, in a place she didn’t know with ponies she didn’t know and had no idea what she should do at all.
Two hooves took hold of her and a single soft voice spoke to her. She recognized the tone of that voice. Not completely, not much, but it was familiar. It was something she had heard already, long ago and that comforted her. She was a bit safer, so she let the voice lull her while the hooves were helping her stand up again.
“You better take her home.” Luna advised Twilight’s parents. “It will take a bit of time, but it’s just a matter of weeks until she will have gotten access to the body’s memories. She will know how to talk properly, she will know how to do everything she used to know, but I am afraid she won’t remember you.”
Twilight Velvet sent Luna a desperate look that was asking: “What about Twilight? Where is my daughter?”. But Luna was already shaking her head.
“Take good care of her.” She told the ponies. “I entrust her well-being into your hooves.”
On those words, and understanding there wasn’t anything else to be said or done, Twilight’s friends and her parents made her way out, bringing Twilight Sparkle with them.
Spike first hesitated, but decided his place was at Twilight’s side, even if it wasn’t really Twilight. He was going to go and catch up with the group, but a hoof stopped him right in his track. He turned back and saw Luna looking down on him.
“Spike, I need you to do me a favor.” Luna told him.
Spike just nodded to indicate he was willing to.
“I want you to keep a close eye on Twilight sparkle and make sure nothing happens to her. I also want you to report to me about everything that happens, no matter how small of insignificant.”
Spike agreed. He was going to look after her anyway. After all, inside of Twilight Sparkle was his great friend. He wouldn’t leave her alone.
Luna didn’t reply immediately, but in her silence she didn’t deny there was something that could be done, so Spike insisted. Finally, Luna asked:
“I would do anything. If there is a way, you can count me in.” He replied with confidence.
Luna’s horn lit up and walls of shadows cut them from the rest of the world.
“There is one body she belongs into. The one body she comes from.” Luna let out innocently.
“You mean… princess Celestia’s body? You want to steal the princess’s body and give it to Twilight?”
“I haven’t said anything of the sort.” Luna replied. “I am just stating the fact and the fact is that body belongs to her, so it would only be fair to return it to her.”
Spike first rejected the idea, then considered it and after some more thinking he just said:
Luna approached Spike and the shadows around them shrunk to the point of suffocating them.
“Choose your next words carefully Spike.” Luna told him. “Because I want her back more than you can even imagine. But I am ready to respect her decision if and only if you do too.”
Spike thought about it. In all honesty, he knew he should just give up. He knew he should just accept what had happened and, just like princess Luna, accept the decision Twilight had made. He was perfectly aware that he was only motivated by very selfish reasons and that those were anything but good. But his choice was already made:
Luna came even close, putting her mouth just right near Spike’s ear and whispered:
But Spike’s choice was made. And there wasn’t any other for him to make:
Luna laughed and the shadows dissipated leaving just a thin veil between them and the real world.
“I am never allowing Nightmare Moon to return and I couldn’t care less about ruling over Equestria. The ponies can rule over themselves.”
She broke the last of the shadows and Spike found himself once again in the throne room, alone with Luna.
“You can go now.” Luna told him. “I expect to hear from you very soon. Know also that your wish has been heard as it is mine also. But it might very well be that we will both regret it very soon.”
“Save Twilight.” Spike simply replied.
And having said those last words, he went away, unaware that by his sole wish he had just put an end to an era of Equestrian history and opened another one full of tears and tragedy, hope, scream for freedom and constant fear.
[THE END]
Author's Note
I just truly hope you weren't too disappointed...
