"Let me out! Please!" I cried. I kicked against the ice with all my might. I could see Celestia walking away. I didn't know if she could hear my pleas or not. I didn't care. I just had everything taken away from me. My family, My home. My friends. And so, the days droned on. I couldn't die or anything and my magic worked. I couldn't break the ice. I spent most of the days sobbing and crying. I missed my parents. One of my regrets is that I couldn't remember them much. Every day, they faded away. I can hardly remember what they looked like. The stories I was told, I hardly recall them. I tried to keep my mind busy with memories of them, no matter how hard. Eventually, I stopped. It was too painful, my tears were running dry. I could hardly remember how long it was. Then something happened. I saw a banner with a picture of my mom on it. A pony set fire to it. I gasped in horror. I heard another pony yell things I didn't want to remember. What I do remember though, is that he said something about it being 1 year since my parents were killed. It felt way longer than one year. I screamed in anger. I blasted everything in sight with my horn. I hadn't done anything wrong and here I was locked up for all eternity. My parents hadn't done anything wrong and they were gone. I tried to remember them. I remembered their names, their appearance, a few stories they told me. I wanted nothing more than to listen to them. I wanted my mom to put her wing over me and tell me it'll be alright. Celestia had gone mad. Why couldn't she at least imprison them together? What was the need to imprison her at all? The only hope she has was if somepony talked sense into Celestia, or if somepony broke the curse. And so it went for moths and months. I used magic to create a home for myself. I tried to break the curse and tried to exploit any loophole I could find. It was useless. I stopped feeling sadness, or anything for that matter. I listened and watched Equestria. I documented it all in a journal so that if somehow, I got out, I would have gained something from my imprisonment. A great deal happened in the 5 years I had been in there. Using the time of my parents anniversary as a guide, I figured out when my birthday was. On my birthday, memories flooded back to me. I remembered what happened that night. It's funny really, my mother and I used to idolize Celestia. If mom is still alive, she probably hates her now. My mom. She must think I'm dead or something. I had gotten over missing her. I realized there was no point in hoping to get out. I wouldn't. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. I prayed to every being I could think of. I suppose you want to hear about what happened in those first 5 years. Well, not much. A small settlement formed near me. I heard from the ponies there that Celestia was still crazy. The settlement was short-lived and died out within a few years. Two I think. And after that. I didn't see another pony in 3 years. During that time, I created illusions. Fake ponies that pretended to be real ones. But no matter how realistic they were, I always knew they were fake. It was hopeless. I would be forced to stay in there for all eternity, trapped within the body of a 12-year-old. I hated life and had nothing to look forward to. I would sometimes spend entire days sleeping, that's how idle I was. It was pretty boring. Until they came. Screwball and her dad were, strange to say the least. I still missed her. With my parents, I pretty much knew their fates. With them, it was a mystery. They were probably wondering what happened to me. They got lucky. Not only were they living out their lives peacefully, they could grow up. I was still twelve. The rest of them, they were teenagers now. Or so I thought.
It was the first day of spring. I woke up at I don't know when and sighed. I looked up to see if anypony was passing by. Another settlement had started nearby and a few ponies were getting out of their houses. I didn't even bother yelling for help. I learned over the past 5 years that nopony could hear me. Nopony. Eventually, night came and I sat down. I documented all that happened in my journal. I didn't want illusions. I didn't want to pretend. I grabbed my journal and read about the history of Equestria in those years. I heard a sound. It sounded like a pony's hooves crunching under ice, teeth chattering, and a teleportation spell. This was strange. Why would somepony teleport here? I heard her panting. She raced towards the ice. I looked at her. I gasped. It was Screwball. "Hello?" she said, sounding worried.
"Screwy!" I shouted. She couldn't hear me though. She pounded on the ice.
"I can't hear or see you, but I sensed a magical imbalance and I had to investigate. I heard what happened! I'll get you out! I can at least change the curse! Hold on!" She was an earth pony, but could still use magic. The area where her horn would be glowed. Her face was dripping with sweat and her eyes were shut tight. A large explosion followed. If you're wondering how nopony saw this, by the way, that's because the settlement was just a temporary thing, and had already moved. Anyway, after the explosion, Screwball looked at me with excited eyes. "Pandora! I can see you now! It's been so long!" My jaw dropped.
"Screwy! I can't believe it!" I said in shock. Screwball spread herself out onto the ice and pressed her face against it.
"I've missed you so much!" she exclaimed. "How are you?"
"Well, I've been trapped in ice for six years, I haven't talked to anypony for that entire time, and I can't age," I said.
"Yeesh, being in here for all that time made you sarcastic too."
"Sorry. It's kind of weird talking to you right now. You're a teenager and I'm twelve." Screwy rubbed the back of her neck.
"Actually, Lilac and I used a spell so that now, we can't age either. We're both going to be twelve until you get out." I was shocked.
"Wait, you two cursed yourselves for me? Wait, if you just performed the spell today, wouldn't that make you teenagers forever?"
"I've known for the past 6 years Pandi." Pandi was her nickname for me. "I just came now because I had to perfect my magic," she explained.
"Well, be prepared to be twelve for all eternity. Hey, where are your parents?"
"Daddy's going to try and reason with Celestia and mom's with Lilac." Lilac was one of our other friends.
"What happened to Amethyst and Pearl?" They were pretty much our only two other friends. They were twins. Screwball frowned.
"They... They sided with the rest of them," she said, looking down. She started drawing circles in the snow.
"It's alright," I said. "They always were the most popular out of our friends. They were bound to stick with what the rest of society believed," I told her. She stomped her hoof on the ground.
"Well society is wrong!" she yelled.
"Screwy, it's okay," I said. I had learned to keep my voice calm. It was a trait I inherited from my mom.
"No, it's not! Nopony in your family did anything wrong and you've been locked in ice for all eternity!" I kept my cool. "And they're on the side that literally supports it! I always knew something was wrong with them." My dad told me that her father, Discord, always ranted about anything and everything. I guess we're both like our parents then. "See, that's why I hated those two! They were so snobbish and acted like the rest of us were freaks!"
"Wait, you didn't like them? Why'd you not tell them off or stop hanging out with them?"
"I-I didn't wanna lose you," she answered.
"Wait, what?"
"I thought if I said something about them then you would leave me."
"I would never leave you. And the only reason I hung out with them was because they were constantly clinging to my hooves because I was a princess. They weren't real friends. They didn't care about who I was. You and Lilac, you guys cared about me and were my friends because you liked me. Not because I was a princess." Screwy looked up. She was sitting down on the ice now.
"Really?"
"Really." And for the first time in a long time, I smiled. She smiled back. Her ears shot up.
"Hold on," she said. "My dad's back." She teleported away. She returned a few seconds after with her dad. She cast the spell again so her dad could see me too. "So, how'd it go?" Although I didn't show it, I was hoping for the best. He hesitated.
"Not too great," he said.
"Why? What happened?" Screwball asked.
"Things have gotten worse. She's not herself. Her mane turned pink and became limp and dirty, she seemed like she was a werepony. I honestly don't know what to do."
"It's alright," I said.
"Screwball, can you go see how your mom's doing?" Screwball nodded and teleported away. Discord turned to me.
"Pandora, are you sure everything's alright?"
"I'm fine."
"You're trapped in ice for all eternity and you're cursed to remain twelve forever," he pointed out.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," I said sarcastically.
"Alright, I get it!"
"Sorry," I said.
"It's fine. That tends to happen when you're trapped in ice." He paused. "Did Screwball tell you about what happened to Lilac?"
"No. What happened?" Discord hesitated.
"When I told you Celestia had gone crazy, I didn't just mean she was acting crazy. She's reverted back to a more medieval way of thinking."
"What do you mean?" Then it hit me. Lilac's parents were both mares. "Oh no." Discord nodded slowly.
"Fluttershy's talking to her right now," he said.
"Well, I know how she feels."
"Look, I don't know what happened to your mom. But I do know that wherever she is, she's looking out for you. Even if she is in another plane of existence." I smiled. I heard Screwball appear close by. She walked over. "So, is she okay?" he asked.
"Mom says she's taking it hard but they're making progress," she answered. She always seemed to spare everypony details about everything. When I asked her what she did on the weekend, she'd just say something like, "I did something cool." And this conversation was no different. And so it carried on. Eventually, her dad left. She stayed there until sunset. She came back the next day, and the day after that. One day, I asked her how Lilac was doing. "She's alright. She's living with Derpy and Dinky now," she answered.
"Oh. What happened to Dawn?" Dawn was my mom's friend's daughter. She was pretty much my worst enemy. She and Screwy hate each other too. On April Foal's day, she teleported into her house while she was asleep and wallpapered her room with carrot jerky. She got her back by dumping a bucket of slime on her. After that, it got ugly.
"She told me something."
"What?"
"That she misses you." I was stunned. Never in my wildest dreams would Dawn like me enough to miss me if I disappeared. I thought back to when we were in fourth grade. Dawn and I actually liked each other. We hung out a lot and were always together. Until she started acting really horrible to Screwy and Lilac. She would say bad things about them and treat them like dirt. So, one day, I told her off, and since then, we've hated each other. But deep down, I missed her. She hardly even speaks to me now. "Heh. I didn't believe it either."
"Wow. I did not see that coming."
"Yeah. I always knew there was good in her." I was having a flashback. Dawn and I were hugging each other. We swore to be friends forever. I guess that's one more promise I broke. I snapped back to reality. "I'm not gonna lie, she may not exactly have been the best pony, but she wasn't terrible." I smiled. For once, I had hope.
The next few decades were rather interesting. Settlements came and went, but very few formed here. I learned that Celestia had gotten worse. The next thing I knew, Equestria was about to go to war. Some ponies supported Celestia. Others felt she needed to be destroyed. Equestria will soon meet its fate. There was rioting in the streets and a few ponies were nearly killed. Our once peaceful country was being torn apart. Screwball's family was always advocating for peace, and this war was no different. One day, Screwball came by with a bandage on her hoof. "What happened to you?" I asked.
"I was shot."
"With what?"
"Somepony's bow and arrow. Things have gotten a bit more medieval in some ways."
"Why did somepony shoot you?"
"Well, I'm friends with ponies whose parents aren't the same type and well, apparently that's a bad thing."
"What?! That doesn't make any sense!"
"Nothing's been making any sense here now. When ponies have so much anger, they do terrible things."
"I suppose." I thought of something. "What happened to Princess Luna?" Screwball's expression turned grim.
"She's gone. Celestia destroyed her when they had a large disagreement."
"About what?"
"Luna told her that what she was doing was crazy, and things got worse from there. Luna tried to defend herself, but Celestia drew on some mysterious power source that seemed to feed on her anger and amplify it."
"Wait, were her eyes glowing red? And, how do you know this?"
"I traveled into the past. And her eyes were red."
"The Alicorn Amulet! She used it to magnify her power!"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"The amulet corrupts its user unless the user has a strong mind. When the amulet is taken away, the user's mind is cleared."
"Don't you think Celestia could resist the dark magic?"
"She was under pressure. She could have been corrupted."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, that if somepony gets rid of the amulet, Celestia will return to normal."
"Maybe. I'll see what I can do." She teleported away.
It's been 35 years I think. To most ponies, that's a very long time. But 35 years makes a tiny dent in eternity. Each day, I become more and more like a shadow. When I walk, my hooves fade into the space around me, and smoke follows me around my prison. Screwball still visits. Eventually, the war started and has been raging on for many, many years. Screwy has almost lost her life several times. I ee her one day. She has scars on her face and hooves. Somehow, she's still bright and happy. That's more than I can say. Lately, I've just been sitting around thinking about absolutely nothing. 65 years have passed. I'm still 12. The war is still going on. Screwball comes a lot now, making sure I'm not lonely. She's the only thing I look forward to. She's immortal, like me, so I will always have a friend to talk to me. It's funny really, I was always seen as mature for my age, and could handle anything. I always wished I could be normal. I would like that right about now. I thought about yesterday, Screwball told me what day it was. In three days, I would turn 112. It would be, my first hundred years in my eternal prison.
Author's Note
Okay, this is my first fic entirely in first person. This is also the longest chapter I have ever written, and I am quite proud of it. In case you're wondering, Dawn is Starlight and Sunburst's daughter, and Lilac is the adopted daughter of Lyra and Bon Bon. Oh, and Amethyst and Pearl are Rarity's daughters. Fun fact, Dawn's relationship with Pandora was based on my friendship with another girl. I always knew that if she didn't change, she's become a younger version of a crazy cat lady. And I was right.
