Twilight Sparkle had never seen or smelled such a horrific place in her life. She found herself in an enclosed spherical domain, a half-formed clone floating unawares before her. Her panicked eyes could make out barely legible scripts on what appeared to be the place’s boundaries–ragged symbols written in a heavy, dark ink. Before she thought to look down, she turned to see a conscious, albeit malnourished, copy of herself looking straight at her. Some of the writings were spellcasting instructions! Twilight read and her eyes grew wide. She had to destroy the other her to escape?! This spell would hardly accomplish that ethically! She had her objections, but this had to be done. As she did as she had read, there came another hitch; she felt like she was being undone herself.
Her other self found the issue in the spell, and while Twilight again couldn’t help but question the ethics, she reconciled that her survival here was necessary in order to prevent another similar event. She focused and strained to complete the matrix sequence, but it wasn’t enough. Her conscious copy gave her the extra reserves to follow the spell to its end.
She would make it out! She would make it out! She. . .
There came a flash and bang in the ballroom as Twilight reappeared at Princess Luna’s side. Twilight wobbled, dazed. Time had slowed to a crawl. All around her were indistinct colors and shapes, although she recognized them. To her left, there was the midnight blue of a deluxe tiered cake. To her right was the night princess herself. In front of her was a microphone.
Suddenly, Twilight clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. The pain from just a few seconds before persisted, and she kneeled to the ground to prevent herself from falling.
The party’s attendees looked on, aghast. Twilight remembered that she was supposed to give a small speech before they had begun digging into Luna’s birthday cake. They weren’t pigs, after all. She had reappeared as normal from having teleported from across the ballroom, having been caught behind schedule. However, from what Twilight could see on the onlookers’ confused faces, she did not appear normal. In a moment’s rendering, parts of her coat were scorched sable, her mane disheveled and her gala gown tattered. Bitter smoke rose from her aching hide.
Princess Luna, as she seized the microphone, wore a concerned visage. “Please excuse our guest speaker. I’m afraid our dear Princess of Friendship has botched her teleportation spell in her rush to arrive on time.”
Twilight’s eyes immediately shot open at the mention of teleportation. She locked her frantic eyes onto Luna’s as she struggled but managed to arise.
“Teleportation. . .not botched. . .unintended consequences!” Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Luna as she began to collapse from the sudden rush of blood from her head. “Totally new dimension! . . .other sel–“
Twilight slumped to the floor at Luna’s hooves, totally spent.
Luna turned again to address the rest of the guests. Her astonishment had visibly grown, as had that of the others when Twilight passed out.
“And it would seem that our friend has been seized by her nerves,” Luna announced over the murmuring circulating through the room. Luna knew this was more than simple nerves, although Twilight had withered somewhat with age. Some guard ponies had begun charging up the steps to the platform Luna stood upon, but the princess waved them off with a grin. “Do not worry, friends! Let me see to her recovery personally, as her host.”
Luna teleported Twilight away with her own magic, blinked from the flash, and then addressed the crowd. “Please, help yourselves to some cake and other refreshments in the interim.”
Princess Celestia called to her telepathically, as she was seated on the room's opposite side toward the end of a long table reserved for Luna’s closest acquaintances. “Are you sure you don’t want a little help with that? It’s your birthday, after all.”
Princess Luna looked to Celestia and nodded with a look of determination she knew Celestia would recognize. “Thank you, but I think I can manage, sister.”
As Luna turned and expeditiously ambled to her bed quarters, Celestia reflected upon times when she had previously underestimated her sister’s magical capacities before her mind drifted back to the cake, as its elusive flavor had been her principal preoccupation during the entire mundane evening.
Upon entering her bedroom, Luna beheld Twilight Sparkle’s peacefully slumbering face as it lay half-sunk in her pillow. It struck her as awfully ironic, given the past twenty seconds of sheer horror she seemed to have experienced.
Princess Luna had always noticed Twilight’s apparent innocence. As wise ponies know, with knowledge comes power, and with power comes the temptation to abuse it. However, Twilight had set her heart in the right place throughout all her trials in life, and she used her intelligence and erudition to benefit ponykind. Her resolve was commendable.
Princess Luna considered simply letting her rest. The party, and what would become of it, would likely be quite trying to her friend. Social engagement and all that still seemed to exhaust her.
Not to mention that her ramblings were downright portentous.
Princess Luna first set to work ridding Twilight of her pain. When the healing spells were complete, she magically sheared the destroyed dress in half, gently lifting Twilight to remove the pieces before slipping some of her own spare robes upon her. As Luna had begun brushing Twilight’s mane, Twilight stirred.
Twilight could see clearly again and was hardly as tense as before. She realized why her pain was gone as she took in Luna’s soft yet concerned expression.
“It would seem you’ve experienced quite a mishap,” Luna said. “Would you care to use my washroom to get that, er, char off your coat?”
While Luna had been offended by the odor of Twilight’s burnt hair, Twilight had been oppressed by far more fetid scents in what seemed to be a minute ago to her.
She regarded Luna gravely. “No, there’s something incredibly urgent I need to tell you.”
With her magic, Luna discreetly opened the door leading from her room out to her balcony to let fresh air enter. “If it is about why you’re late, I can certainly understand.”
Twilight shook her head, frustrated by the dismissal. “No, not that! This is really bad. Well, the overarching implication is.”
Luna looked worriedly at her and interjected, “There’s something more?”
Twilight’s verbal recollection took off like a fusillade. She had been brought to a mysterious plane upon casting the teleportation spell and beheld a copy of herself forming and deforming before her. Taking orders from a somewhat younger but much gaunter version of herself to annihilate the copy, she had followed instructions written in crimson on an ethereal wall to cast a complicated series of magical components, one of which she had to eliminate in order to break free. The gaunt Twilight had channeled her last magical reserves to her, and this had apparently permitted her to escape.
Princess Luna assumed a look of utter puzzlement as Twilight spoke of her brief but harrowing experience. Upon the tale’s conclusion, Luna asked for her thoughts on her magical misadventure’s hows and whys. Twilight, being the insightful unicorn she was, could not help but opine.
“Well, it seemed that that Twilight couldn't just teleport me out of the place.” She closed her eyes tightly. Her memory was not photographic, but with the incident still fresh in her mind despite the interruption, she meandered her way through the minutiae of her experience. “Other than the command on the wall telling me to destroy the Twilight in front of me and slow her generation with my magic, there were a number of other scribblings.”
“You mean you could cast magic and she could not? How could your other Twilight have been deforming?”
“I suppose the me who was there was simply jamming her magic into whatever part of the spell was causing the new copy to form. The reality surrounding me and the copy allowed spells to be cast, but the copy was unconscious, so I doubt she was casting anything.” Princess Luna took note and nodded for Twilight to continue.
“There were dates and details about some really insignificant parts of my past. The writing was all dark, as I said; the copies that remained in this plane were apparently cataloging when I was teleporting.”
A little breeze blew in from the outside, and Twilight realized Luna had opened it to let out the scent of her burnt hair. Twilight pulled herself from Luna’s bed, making for the balcony. She didn’t want to be obstinate and stink up the place. Luna snorted and followed.
Once outside, Twilight resumed. “Which reminds me, the place smelled of the worst rot you could imagine, Luna. It is likely my selves were using their own blood, well, sort of their own blood, to write on the walls.”
“That must have been a lot of blood.” Princess Luna said unthinkingly.
“Well, of course. Wait.” Twilight shook her head. “We need to let ponies know about this! The construction of this spell is causing undue suffering to ponies without their even knowing it!” Twilight turned to Luna. “Who knows how long this has been–”
“I guess I do.” Princess Luna chuckled. Twilight ceased speaking in realization. Princess Luna’s proudest achievement as a princess-in-training had been the development of the teleportation spell. It had occurred to Twilight that such a spell should have been forbidden, not taught to promising young unicorns. Luna’s smile grew wolfish as her horn lit up.
Twilight jumped backward. Her first thought was to teleport to her mentor’s side; she hesitated, however, at the thought of being transported back to the plane with no one there to help eject her from it.
Luna did not hesitate. Twilight felt her eyelids close and the sensations of the cold night breeze fade as she fell fast asleep.
Perhaps Twilight’s resolve was not as commendable as Luna had thought. Her reflexes certainly weren’t.
The Princess of the Night teleported the Princess of Friendship to a faraway place.
Luna sighed and blinked from the flash. Twilight was nearly peerless in discernment, duty, and detachment; the paragon of righteous magical might Celestia had wished Luna had turned out to be. Of all ponies, Twilight would have been the one to break out of her personal hell first. That is, if Luna had left most of them open as long as Twilight's.
Luna reflected. Blinking was a simple act, nothing too suspicious about it. She could do it from anywhere. From her lunar prison, she had watched Celestia pick her prized pupils in her quest to raise a student to be the sister she had actually wanted. Luna had reveled as each one unwittingly fell into her torturous domain, over and over, and Celestia never knew until she delivered herself to her own hell. But Luna never gave Celestia a chance to consider escape, blinking away her spheres every time she caught Celestia teleporting. In a way, Luna treated her greatest transgressor with mercy and settled for spiting her faithful students.
Celestia was slow to learn, however, that her pupils needed to be granted independence for them to submit to her molding. Sunset Shimmer had been the last before Celestia learned her lesson. Luna sneered. It had practically been written in Sunset's name to become Celestia's closest ally. But no. Celestia's little surrogate Luna had to resemble the real one: in her temporal name and her appearance! And Twilight's student. . .
Luna's stomach panged. She had to calm down now. Her ulcers would be gone soon anyway, and later she could finally eat. Focus on the positives.
Luna had spared a blink as each student forsook his or her master. Truly, Luna had exuded mercy each time she blinked. She was ending the sufferings of a poor, lost soul each time. Blinking was also a selfish act, however; she no longer had to support another dimensional sphere and would absorb the magical remnants of its contents.
And supporting the spheres had become quite taxing for the alicorn. Celestia was a fool, thinking her sister could never match her. They were equals. Luna’s magic had to have gone somewhere over the years.
Tormenting her ultimate protégé was only half the reward. For her immense and prolonged magical investments, Luna had accumulated quite a sum in her account with Twilight Sparkle. Luna took inventory: countless copies of the Element of Magic, and at least 50 full sets of the Elements of Harmony. That should be enough.
Luna blinked.
But her eyes felt sewed shut.
A single note spanning every known frequency resounded in her ears with the intensity of 50 cataclysms. Blood dripped from her ears, but Luna felt nothing but exaltation. The Elements’ completed energies were seamlessly flowing into her.
Surely she should have had the strength now to open her eyes, but she couldn't. Luna focused and sensed Twilight’s plane. Of course.
The remnants of innumerable Elements of Harmony were refusing to be coerced into pure energy by Luna’s malicious soul. Magic, being the most prevalent Element among them, had focused the resistance. They wanted to remain. Luna had figured the sheer mass of all the corpses within the glutted hell was going to be difficult to convert into magic, and the combined effort of all the lost Elements further maintained the heap's integrity.
Luna twitched and struggled, trying collapse the hell. She needed her eyes back. But it was futile; the remaining copies of the Elements would not give themselves to her as magic for her disposal.
In a transcendent tone, Luna muttered, “Fine. You’ll get to stay. But you are coming out!”
Celestia had diverted herself with cake and conversation before her thoughts had wandered back to Luna and Twilight. The botched teleport had visibly scathed Twilight, but Celestia hadn’t thought it would take half an hour for her to pick herself back up. Twilight’s many adventures had proved her sturdiness.
Still, Celestia apprehended that something was amiss when she sensed for their auras. Twilight was no longer in Luna’s room. Perhaps she had been embarrassed by the whole affair and gone home, but surely Twilight of all ponies knew that her friends at the party would understand. At any rate, Celestia excused herself to leave for Luna’s room. Replete with cake, she teleported there in lieu of walking.
Luna's view from her balcony room would be ruined, come morning. Of course, it was only a matter of time before dawn was hers, too.
She laughed as she cloaked her enormous pet's massive aura. She wanted Celestia to come, but not that quickly. Best to have her arrive alone and unsuspecting, too. She had a lot of mercy to make up for.
As for Twilight, what good would she be to her alive? Mind control would be an inadequate punishment for her previous allegiance. Twilight knew many things, but in particular, she knew of many ponies. She was also remarkably mobile for her age, although these things couldn't help her while she was still asleep.
Asleep! What better way to spread the news from afar than by showing Twilight Celestia's waking nightmare! She'd wake up and know it was real.
Luna could see it now. Any usurper could be said to be seated upon a throne of blood.
Hers would be a throne of detritus.
When Celestia arrived in Luna’s room, she first noticed that the only light came from the doorway to the balcony, which was left open; however, it should have been brighter. Luna always asked for a clear night sky on her birthdays. Her younger sister’s silhouette was barely visible, leaning against the railing. Strange, she must have heard her come in or at least seen the flash in the darkness. Celestia decided to approach her; she must have been awfully disappointed to have Twilight gone and her moon obscured on her special night. The least Celestia could do would be to convince Luna to enjoy her party while it was still in swing.
The sound of Celestia’s gold-shod hooves against the balcony floor made Luna flinch. She blinked and whirled around, her eyes burning with a solar brightness and her horn glowing.
“Haste makes waste, Tia!”
As Celestia drew a breath to respond, she promptly coughed. As she inhaled again, nausea swept over her. A horrible stench had doused the once-fresh night air, as if the doors of a flooded charnel house had been opened. She regurgitated the sweet sponge cake she had nibbled minutes earlier. Her eyes watering, she strayed a glance beyond Luna to find what was obscuring the light: a mountain had formed just beyond the balcony, blocking out the moon.
Celestia did not see the necrotic tendril closing in on her until it entered Luna’s glowing field of vision. It slammed against her, curving up and smashing her against the wall just above the balcony doorway.
Too stunned to scream for help, she found herself already becoming one with the conglomerate.
As the abomination absorbed its thrashing target, Luna glanced at the part of her cake Celestia had defiled. What a waste.
Aware that Twilight was still watching through her eyes, Luna looked back at Celestia as she became less and less recognizable. The tendril, which was doing most of the work, it seemed, was wrapped in unmarked purple pelts. Pondering the detail for the moment, Luna chuckled and turned back to appraise her moment of triumph. Of all ponies, she had not expected Twilight to be so vain about her own corpses.
Author's Note
Not in Blood, but in Bond by Hans Zimmer
