Chapters "Another long morning, and we're still out of coffee," Twilight said to herself, agitated and yawning.
Twilight sat in the silent royal dining room, the morning light gleamed through the tall windows and trailed along the table. Birds faintly sung outside, wind brushed against the windows. She mulled over old transcripts of incomplete spells while eating her pancakes slowly. Though rusty on Old Ponish , she attempted to discern a few words on the first page.
"Éar Bealucræft …Earth magic? Are these supposed to be spells related to the earth, like the ground? Or… these couldn't be spells for Earth Ponies, right?! How could they perform spells without a horn?" She read on. Her eyes traced over each word, trying to comprehend any of it.
Her attention was soon broken by the dining room doors swinging open. She turned to the Princess of the Sun, Celestia, walking through the doors. Each of her steps echoed through the room. Her multi-colored mane was still in somewhat of a mess, and her crown shined in the faint morning light. She mumbled to herself as she floated to the table, subsequently sitting across from Twilight.
"Are you okay, Celestia?" she asked. Her apprehension carried clear.
Celestia straightened her posture, clearing her throat. She pondered a response, then slumped back down into her chair. "If I could go one day without having to deal with angry delegates from another country over trivial fights, I think I'd throw a party out of glee."
Twilight chuckled, imagining what kind of party she'd actually throw. “I didn’t take you for much of a party goer Celestia. You just seem a bit too proper for that” she said, sticking her tongue out at her.
“If I hadn’t pulled you away from your constant studies here in Canterlot, you would have ended up being a hermit yourself!” she gazed through one of the tall windows, “In fact, you never let loose ‘til you made friends with Ms. Diane Pie. She—” Celestia hesitated, her eyes trailed back onto Twilight who sat with a blank expression. “I’m sorry Twilight, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s ok!” Twilight interjected. She sat up straight, her mouth spread slowly to form a weak smile. “You’re right! She was the best at parties wasn’t she?” The magic holding the transcripts up started to flicker.
Celestia nodded slowly as she watched her with apprehension.
“I remember when I first moved to Ponyville. She threw me a ‘welcome to ponyville’ party in my own house! Isn’t that crazy?” Twilight’s bottom lip quivered “L-like how did she even get in my house in the first place?”
Celestia stood up and had begun to make her way towards her.
“Oh and her b-baking skills were through the b-bucking roof!” Her smile was forced wider, tears had begun to pour down her face. “I swear to C-Celestia that m-mare could bake anything!” Her body convulsed. Her hooves pressed into the wooden table hard enough to lift the other end up in the air.
Celestia wrapped her hoof around Twilight, embracing her old student.Twilight sat there, her smile faded. The words spilled from her mouth between gasps of air.
“She…She…She …” Twilight clung onto Celestia, the transcripts fell to the floor. "It's been 40 years!" She exclaimed, her voice cracking with emotion. "Why can't I think about them without bursting into tears? Why can't I accept that they're gone? Why can't I get over feeling empty inside without them?"
She ran her hoof down Twilight's mane. "I'm sure they wouldn't want you to feel like this, Twilight. They loved you, and still do. Even in their passing they are with you. Keeping you strong, always being there for you."
Twilight pulled away, rubbing her face off with the napkin from under her plate. "Sure," she sniffled. “That’s easy for you to say…” said through clenched teeth.
Celestia looked at her, confused at the sudden change in Twilight’s tone. “Pardon me?”
“Of course you can say things like that. It’s not like you’ve been alive for well over a thousand years,” she pushed away from the table forcefully. The table slid across the room, hitting the wall with a loud echoing thud . “You couldn’t possibly understand how I feel! They’re all dead Celestia. They’re dead !” she wailed as she stomped the ground. The ground shook, cracks formed beneath her hoof.
“They…they were my everything…” she trembled to the floor, each word grew heavier than the last, “They made me who I am today…If I knew back then that I would have to watch them go...one by one…"
She weakly stood up and put the transcripts in her saddlebag that hung from her chair, "…I would have never accepted becoming an Alicorn…" And with that, she left the dining area, leaving Celestia alone in the empty room.
"Twilight…I'm so sorry…"
*****
The sun reached its peak, just starting its descent back down. The breeze gently swayed the trees back and forth, as if they were dancing in the wind. The cobblestone path that surrounded the castle shone in the light of the sun. Twilight trotted along the path for the third time today, looking back at the old transcripts, trying to piece them together.
"None of this makes sense!" she said to herself, “These look like they’re supposed to be spells, but with so little to go on all I can do is speculate what this all actually means!” She groaned. "I'm going to have to cross reference this with some of the older transcripts we have in the castle." Defeated, she slumped her head and put the transcripts back into her saddlebag, headed back toward the castle.
The path leading back into the castle lead Twilight through the royal garden. The breeze blew harder, the grass waved like a green body of water. Twilight stopped in her tracks, mesmerized by the beautiful sight. The smell of the summer flowers hit her nose, the sound of chirping birds as they fly by are all she could hear. She sat and watched a little longer, her mane flowing in the wind. In the sky up ahead, she saw beautifully colored butterflies leaving one of the restless trees. All of them in different shapes, sizes, and colors.
But three stood out to hear. Blue bodies with pink wings, they flew together, as if they were dancing in the wind.
Do you know why I just love these beautiful birds, Twilight? They're free. They reach heights that I can only wish to achieve. Maybe one day, I'll feel just as free as they are. I'll fly all the way up to the heavens and not be afraid to look down at this beautiful world. When I make it all the way up there, Twilight, will you come fly with me? Maybe the others will come too! All of us can fly through the clouds together, just like those birds way up high.
The wind softened. The butterflies drifted away, leaving the birds to sing and play in the garden before Twilight. She wiped a running tear off her face, getting up to walk away. She turned back to look at the garden one more time. "I haven't forgotten my promise. It might be a while, but I'll fly with you girls one day." And with that, she set off to the castle, hoping to find more transcripts to help her solve the mystery of this supposed Earth Magic .
*****
As night fell over Equestria’s sky, Twilight sat in the Canterlot Archives, where the only light that illuminated the shelves of ancient articles, transcripts, and books was the purple glow from Twilight’s horn. She was surrounded by old, delicate transcripts, cross-referencing everything from Alchemy to old stories of magical feats that were written by Earth Ponies at the time. With each page she read, the more confused she became.
“This isn't right!” she said to herself, skimming over one of the many transcripts she had read for the third time in a row. “As far as I know, these should all be fairy tales and exaggerated stories! And even if they're not, none of these scripts describe how this sort of magic works!” She put the transcripts down, and looked up into the skylight above her. She stretched and let out a gentle yawn, the moonlight seeping into the room, smothering Twilight in the soft light of the night sky.
She looked over to her left as a reflection caught her eye. The light shone over the locked bookshelf. Each shelf was lined with books and scrolls that appeared to be older than anything else she’d ever read. Twilight stood up and slowly made her way towards it, carefully eyeing the entrance to the room. As she reached the shelves, it became apparent that the lock was no normal lock. The keyhole wasn't in the shape of a key, but was simply a circular hole.
“What sort of key would unlock this? This doesn't seem conventional...” She spent some time inspecting the lock and chains. Placing her hoof on the lock, she noticed a strange energy that radiated from it. “This magic… it's some sort of protection spell. I can't tell what kind though, It's different from anything I've studied.” She gave the lock a forceful push, sending a shock through her hoof and up her foreleg. She pulled back, wincing at the sudden pain that shot through her. “That wasn't smart...” she groaned.
A few moments later there was a knock at the door. Twilight jumped back away from the bookshelves and quickly grabbed one of the books on the table. Luna stepped in, taking a quick look around until her eyes fell on Twilight.
“Hast thou found what she was looking for?”
Twilight gave her amused look and giggled. “You've been back for almost a hundred years now and you're still talking like it's the tenth century.” Luna made her way towards Twilight, but kept her eyes up at the skylight.
“Just like the moon rises in the night, some things never change. That includes some of my old habits.” Luna looked back down at Twilight, now only a few feet away. “Like how you still fail to get adequate sleep after all these years,” she said, giving Twilight a playful wink.
She looked up at Luna, her mane radiating with magic as it flowed behind her, shining with what looked to be little stars in the beautiful night sky. The air around them was still, filled with the awkward silence between them. She sat down next to Twilight, levitating one of the old transcripts. “Galdorcwide …these are old song spells, very powerful ones at that...though incomplete. What caught your interest in these?”
Twilight shuffled through the transcripts on the table, looking through the pile that had grown into a mountain during her time studying them, until she found the one that troubled her the most.
“This…” she pointed at the top of the page. “Éar Bealucræft . Earth magic. I originally thought it meant spells that had to do with the earth around us, but the more I looked over it, the more I realised these were spells cast by sayings that had nothing to do with dirt or ground. I believe it means spells that can be done by Earth Ponies, but that's impossible…right?”
Luna set the transcript to the side and took a deep breath. “This is something that has not been discussed in over a millenia. Such magic feats were just rumors and tales told to us as foals. Whether or not such tales were true, I do not know myself.” She arose from the floor, glancing up towards the skylight before looking back down on Twilight. “All I can say for now, Twilight, is to not let yourself be consumed by old tales and goose chases. You may have all the time in the world, but time wasted is still time you cannot get back.”
She made her way to the door, taking a moment to look around the room one more time. “If you need me, I shall be in my room to do my nightly duties. Let us hope that I won’t run into any…suggestive dreams tonight. Farewell, Twilight!” And with that, she was gone.
Not a minute later Twilight was back at the mysterious bookshelves, analyzing the old and tattered books and scrolls. She noticed that not a single book had any indication of what they were on their bindings. No titles, numbers, not even a symbol. “That’s weird,” she said to herself, “why wouldn’t any of these be labeled? Hell I label everything I own!”
She covered her mouth to hold back a small laugh, then softly let out a melancholy sigh. “Ya know, I miss having a little sidekick to laugh at all the silly comments I make about myself. I can imagine him now saying, Ya know this is your chance to finally stick your horn in something just to tease me about putting my horn in the lock.” She took a moment to think about her old assistant, then quickly shot up, coming to a sudden realization. “Wait, what if that is the key?!”
Twilight ran to the to the Canterlot Archives’ entrance and made sure no one else was around. She closed the door, locking it behind her. More than ever the books and transcripts called to her. She needed to find out what they held inside. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m about to stick my horn in a lock that might kill me.”
Knowing this was probably one of the poorest decisions she’d made since trying to snatch a Daring Do book from Rainbow Dash, she tilted her head down. “I hope this works.” Her words faltered as they came out. She took a deep breath, and quickly slid her horn into the lock, bracing herself for another shock.
Then nothing. Her horn rested firmly in the key hole, yet the lock did not cease to hold its grip onto the chain. Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Did I do it wrong?” she said as she pulled away from the lock.
“My horn fit almost perfectly, so that's gotta be the way to do it. But is there something else is have to do?” She pressed her hoof to the keyhole. “I'm pretty sure I don't have to turn my horn, that seems like it would be painful at that angle”.
Twilight looked around the bookshelves for clues. She looked for any riddles, symbols, anything that could indicate what to do while putting her horn in the lock. But to no avail. She looked over the lock once more, tracing her hoof over the engraving that decorated it.
“It's an hourglass…” she looked back at the giant hourglass behind her that sat just under the skylight. As the sand reached its end, it flipped back over to start a new. “For as long as I've known it's always kept the same pace. Never stopping.”
She turned back to the lock giving it a long hard stare. She wondered what relationship the lock had with the hourglass. “Could it be time? But what sort of time? The time the lock was put on? No that can't be it… how would I figure that out?”
Twilight gave the hourglass another look, watching the sand slowly drizzle down to the bottom. “I've never seen it end…meaning it could have to do with time not ending, like forever !But from the looks of it, the spell on this lock looks to be way older than either of the sisters. So I'm guessing it'll be in Old Ponish.”
She tilted head, leaning her horn towards the lock. Nervous, she took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing…” She pushed her horn into the keyhole.
“Écnes! ”
A bright light filled the room as the ancient magic evacuated from the lock. The lock cracked open, dropping to the floor along with the chain. Twilight jumped with glee. “I did it! I broke an ancient spell!”
After patting herself on the back for breaking the lock, she took a quick look back toward the room’s entrance to make sure no one was trying to come in. The gate on the bookshelf creaked open, causing Twilight to jump back quickly. “For the love of Celestia why do I still jump over the smallest things?”
Twilight opened the gates more, taking a closer look at the transcripts and books. She pulled them out one by one, examining the cover of each book and the outside of each rolled up transcript. Clearing the table, she laid them out one by one. She took careful note of what row they went in, so she can put them back exactly how they were before.
“Given that none of these have any titles, I’ll just have to skim through all of them! Maybe one will have something to do with earth pony magic!” Her horn grew bright with magic as she levitated all the transcripts and books around her. One by one she would rotate them in front of her, she skimmed through each page in a matter of moments. A few would catch her eye, but not what she would be looking for.
Twilight stopped, reading carefully over one of the books. “Capitolas be Éar Bealucræft,” her wings sprung up, “I found it! I can’t believe there would actually be a whole book of lessons still in existence!” She places all of the other transcripts and books back in their respective places, closing the gates and re-sealing the chains and lock. Before she left the room, she looked back up into the skylight.
“Maybe I’ll go for a little walk around the castle tonight. It’s not often I get to enjoy Luna’s sky.”
*****
The air was cool and still. Twilight walked along a narrow path through the beautiful garden she gazed upon earlier that day. The path went through tall hedges that were decorated with rows of flowers. On the other side stood a metal arch with a sign that hung from the top.
Gone but not forgotten .
As she walked through, her eyes wandered over the surrounding gravestones. Each one named with those who had lost their lives protecting Equestria. The path Twilight walked down ran through the middle of the graveyard. When she got to the end, she stood before a row of 5 graves. Each adorned with a symbol made of crystal that represented their respective element.
Twilight opened her bag, to which she pulled 5 flowers from. After wiping away the dirt and debri from the gravestones, Twilight placed a flower against each of them. She sat down, putting her saddlebag to the side.
“So I had another boring day today. Mostly studies and paperwork,” her words receive no response. “Being about a hundred and thirty years old, you’d expect that I get some kind of break. But no, I seem to work harder the older I get!” Still silence.
Twilight’s mouth parted to form a smile, but to no avail. A knot grew inside her chest. She clenched her teeth, her lips turned into a trembling mess. Her body shuddered and and convulsed. “Why?” she wailed, hammering the ground with her hoof.
“All because of these goddamned wings!” She glanced back at her wings. “Why couldn’t I just have lived a normal life? Why couldn’t I have grown old with all of you? Shared my last moments with all of you?” Her breath faltered, tears ran down her mouth. The heaviness she felt in her chest waned.
“Why couldn’t I have just died with all of you? Life isn’t worth living if I can’t have you all with me…” the night sky above started to clutter with clouds, blocking the natural light of the moon. Twilight, mentally defeated, couldn’t bring herself to get up. Her eyes leaked out the rest of her pain.
“Then why not have them with you?”
Twilight jumped up and stepped to the side. She spun around defensively, but no one was there. “Who are you? Show yourself!” she blustered.
“Who am I? You're thinking about it all wrong princess.” the voice mocked. “You should be asking why I'm here.”
Twilight looked around, her eyes darted left and right in search of the ominous voice. “Then why are you here then?”
“I have what you desire, something you cannot refuse.” his voice grew closer to Twilight, causing her to look around her more frantically.
“And what could that possibly be?” she asked hesitantly. The air around her grew cold. The wind blew hard, as if a tornado was forming around her. She could sense something was coming.
“Your dear friends,” he whispered into her ear, his hoof rested on her shoulder.
She jumped to the side, glaring down at the figure that had startled her. He was concealed in a black robe that covered most of his face and body. He appeared to float above the ground, but no shadow fell below him.
“W-what do you mean by my friends?” she tensed up, “you shouldn’t go around talking about someone’s dead loved ones like that.”
“You see, all I want to do is help you. You feel remorse for not being able to grow old with your friends, do you not?”
Twilight dropped her head, her voice drew quiet. “As much as I want them back, that will never happen. They’re gone…forever…”
The stallion pulled a scroll out from beneath his robes, “this, princess, is a spell that can bring them back. But it comes with a cost.” He tossed the scroll towards her.
Twilight hesitated, staring down at the scroll is dissbelief. “And let’s say I believed you, what sort of cost do you mean? My soul or something cliché like that?” She suspended the scroll in the air in front of her. “This looks like it’s written in old ponish as well…”
“Your wings,” he stated blankly.
She dropped the scroll to the ground. “My what?” she exclaimed. “It’s not like I can just pop them off! What are you trying to pull?” Twilight stepped back and glared at him.
“More specifically, to bring your friends back to life, the spell absorbs your alicorn magic. The magic that keeps you immortal will be used to breath life back into your precious friends. Which in turn rids you of your wings. What you wanted in the first place right?” He stepped forward, nudging the scroll to her again. “You could have a normal life with them. Even grow old with them. Just like you wanted.”
Twilight stood there, flabbergasted. Could this be a real spell, she thought to herself. The scroll floated up in front of her, unraveled to reveal the spell inside. “And what do you get out of this?” questioning the old stallion.
“Oh me? Don’t be absurd Princess. This is the least I could offer for such a tormented soul as yours.” A devious smile spread across his face, “but an offer as good as this doesn’t last forever. Now go on, show your friends how much you truly love them.”
“This isn’t right… This sort of magic isn’t morally right…” she took a moment to look at the scroll again. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
He hovered closer to her and picked up the scroll. “Are you saying you would rather let your morals get in the way of finally being with your friends? Do you want to go for the rest of eternity repenting the day you left your friends behind?”
She looked over at her resting friends, If this is what I have to do to finally feel whole again … Twilight took a deep breath and took a moment to clear her mind. “Fine…I’ll do it.”
“Good!” The scroll drifted above her friend’s graves, “Now all you need to do is release your magic into the scroll, and it will do the rest. Though, fair warning, this is going to sting a bit.”
Twilight faced the scroll and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry Celestia, but this is what I have to do.” She focused all of her alicorn magic into her horn, the energy emanated from her body immensely and lifted her off of the ground. Then with one final push, her alicorn magic shot into the scroll. Like a tornado, it was sucked into the scroll. Her wings began to fade. But once her alicorn magic was depleted, the scroll kept pulling.
“What’s going on!” She shrieked as her body began to feel numb.
“Oh, did I say alicorn magic? Silly me. I meant all of your magic!” he exclaimed with a maniacal laugh.
Twilight’s magic dwindled to nothing as her limp body fell to the ground. The scroll only a few feet away. “Why?” she sputtered weakly. She coughed up blood as she gasped for air.
He lowered to the ground and walked over to pick up the scroll, putting it under his robe. “Because, I’m dying. And frankly I would rather live.” He turned around, “oh, before I forget,” the stallion leaned in, putting a hoof to her head. “I didn’t want to give you the satisfaction of being with your friends, dead or alive. So while you’ll never regain your magic again, the spell I created is going to keep you immortal.” he said as he spat on her muzzle.
“Please…” Twilight could barely utter a word as the world around her fell into darkness. All she could see was his impression in the dark as he walked away.
“Thank you for your time princess. Or, should I say, former princess.” his muffled laugh was the last thing she heard before the silence consumed her.
Please…help me…
The light is blinding today…today…what day is it? What year is it? And what happened to Fillydelphia?
Honk!
“Ah! ” Twilight shrieked. She spun around, face to face with a strange wagon. “Is that wagon moving…without anyone pulling it?” She cocked her head to the side, confused but oddly intrigued.
The wagon growled ferociously. Its rear wheels spun rapidly as smoke spewed from beneath them. Twilight jumped to the side as the wagon peeled away, smothering her with clouds of burnt rubber. The stallion inside yelled at her as he flew by, in what sounded like a foreign language.
Twilight coughed up a storm as she ran from the heavy smoke, pulling the hood of her cloak over her muzzle. “What was that for?” she wheezed. Fillydelphia is a lot less inviting than it used to be.
She remembered the tagline a stallion once told her the first time she visited this place, Welcome to Fillydelphia: Home of the friendliest equines in Equestria! Her eyes rolled as fast as the wagon’s wheels spun. “Friendliest equines in Equestria my flank.”
Twilight made her way into town as her ears were bombarded by the sounds of the roaring city. Ponies walked around with weird looking devices, tapping on them with their hooves and talking into them.
The longer she walked the streets, the more apparent it was that she couldn’t understand any of the signs. Equestria couldn’t have changed that much…right?
She tried to get the attention of a few mares as they passed by in hopes they could help her find the nearest tavern.
“Hey girls! Mind telling me whe―” They kept walking with their eyes locked to their devices. She froze, her left eye twitched as she tried to assess what just happened. “Did they… did they just ignore me?”
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. ‘Alright Twilight, it’s fine. Let’s just try to find somepony who isn’t glued to those insufferable bricks.’ Her eyes swept the area, and came to the realisation that this was going to be harder than she thought.
Twilight kept up a brisk pace, scanning for any signs of a sane pony. “There!” she exclaimed breathlessly. She quickly trotted across the street, an oncoming wagon screeched to a halt behind her.
She herself slid to a stop, startling the young mare. “I’m… sorry… ” she panted between each word, “hold on… just a second.”
After Twilight composed herself, she smiled at the young mare, who responded with a cocked head. “Can you give me directions to the nearest tavern? You wouldn’t believe the experience I had today!”
The mare cocked her head to the other side.
“Oh, did I say something wrong?” Twilight asked, now a bit confused herself. “I just need directions to―”
The young mare backed away in fear. Her eyes were wide open, giving Twilight chills down her spine. The ponies in the area started to crowd over towards the scene.
Why is she looking at me like that? Twilight reached out towards the frightened mare, “Don’t be frightened! I didn’t mean to sca― “
The mare spun around and ran away, screaming and yelping.
“Come back!” she called to no avail.
She looked down at her hooves. Great…
Her ears perked up. Is that…whispering? she glanced ahead to see that ponies were crowding around her, giving Twilight scathing stares.
She backed away. What do they want?
Thump!
Twilight spun like a top and jumped to her side.
“Please just leave me alone!” she shrieked.
The crowd kept their distance, but continued yelling and pointing at her. Their incomprehensible cries echoed in her head, only matched by the growling wagons that passed by.
Twilight’s legs wavered. “Please… just go awa― ah!” she reeled back in pain at the sudden impact, a yellow liquid drizzled down her forehead to her muzzle. She tasted it hesitantly. ‘An…apple?’
Her legs stopped shaking. Her body still as a rock. Her hood slid down, leaving only her expressionless muzzle exposed. “Go away.” she said impassively. The crowd continued on, pieces of apple dropped to the ground.
“Go away.” Her voice grew louder, but the crowd carried on.
“I said,” she stepped back, placing her hoof on a parked wagon. Twilight cleared her mind, cancelling out all the noise around her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Byre Clæppetung!”
The air around Twilight was suddenly still. Then, instantaneously, the wagon shot up in the air at inconceivable speeds, crashing into the building adjacent to Twilight. Sheets of glass came crashing down to the paths below. Ponies in the area scattered, running frantically in all directions.
Twilight stood there, panting. Her heartbeat skyrocketed.
Her hind legs gave out from under her, and she looked around in a daze. The sound of sirens blared as flashing wagons came around the block ahead. The world spun around her as she reached out for the flashing wagons. Then the world faded to black.
When I make it all the way up there, Twilight, will you come fly with me?
“Aaugh …where am I?” The world slowly materialized around her. Twilight struggled to lift herself off the cold floor. When she finally had the strength to lift her head, she was greeted to a door made of steel bars. The light just outside flickered like a dying fire.
“Oh no…” Twilight muttered. She fell back against the cold wall, resting her head on the even colder bars. “Great…good job Twilight. Once again you screwed everything up.” Her words cut into her own heart.
In the dismal silence, she played a melancholy rhythm: her head being the stick, and the cell door the drum.
Hoofsteps echoed through the hallway. Please, don’t come over here. She pleaded. But to her dismay, the guard stopped under the flickering light she’d grown accustomed to.
He leaned in and examined her, resting his hoof against the bars of the cell door. He whispered something to her as he cocked his head to the side.
Twilight let out a somber breath. “I can’t understand you. I’m sorry.” Her forehead hit the bars of the cell door. “Just leave me alone…”
“Now why would I want to leave my dear old friend alone, Twilight Sparkle ?”
Twilight jumped back, stumbling back on her hooves. “W―what? You can understand me?” she stammered, her heartbeat pounding a mile a minute.
The stallion pressed himself against the bars, his body spilled through into a puddle on the ground. “Could you have really forgotten about me ?” The puddle rippled and splashed, droplets suspended into the air. An amalgamation of a creature stood before Twilight, his arms crossed.
“D―Discord? How did you find me?” Her eyes locked on the old draconequus in disbelief.
“Well, it was hard not to find you after your little incident in the city was all over the news! Heck, you’re even trending on HoofBook right now!” Discord exclaimed.
Twilight shook her head and took a deep breath. “This is all just crazy. I can't recognise anything here! I can't even understand what anyone's saying! Did the world change that much?”
Discord threw his head back and laughed. “Oh Twilight, Equestria has surely changed a lot since we last saw you. But I can assure you that the dialect hasn’t. The same can’t for you though.”
“What?” Twilight cocked her head to the side, “What do you mean I have the dialect issue? I can read, write, and talk as well as anyone else out there! I've written at least four spell books as of late!”
“Let me make it easy for you.” He sat down in front of her, now at eye level. “You're not speaking modern Equestrian. I don't know what happened to you the past sixty years, but it looks like during that time you've forgotten modern Equestrian and replaced it with Old Ponish .”
“What? No. That can't be.” She pulled on her cloak and looked down at her hooves. “You're telling me I can't speak or understand modern equestrian anymore?”
He stood up and pulled a paper and pencil out of thin air, and quickly wrote something on it before he placed it in front of her. “Well?”
Twilight looked down at the paper. She traced the word with her hoof, then looked up at Discord in dismay. “I…” she dropped her head, shaking it slowly.
“Fluttershy.”
“W―what?” her heart skipped a beat.
Discord turned away. He grabbed onto the bars of the cell door, pressing his head to it, “The paper. I wrote her name on it. It's the first thing that came in mind when I went to write on it.” He closed his eyes and let out a subdued sigh. “…She's always the first thing that comes to mind.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. Her breath came to a halt as she stared down at the paper. A tear escaped, landing over her old friend’s name. I forgot how to read her name …
Discord cleared his throat and spun around, his bottom half still facing the cell door. “Well, now that we have that settled. It's time to go. Celestia is waiting on you.”
“No.” She pulled her hood over her eyes. “I'd rather rot in jail. I can't face her after all of this…”
“Don’t be like that.” He floated over to Twilight, “The sisters miss you!”
Twilight turned away, tugging at the end of her hood. “Leave. Please.”
“Well fine, I’ll leave then.” He snapped his fingers, rope slithered from the ground around Twilight, tying her hooves together.
“What are you doing!” Twilight shrieked. “Let me go!”
Discord took the end of the rope in hand. He lifted her up and swung her over his shoulder. “Time to go!”
“Wait sto―” And with a flash, they were gone.
I’ve been ruling for almost sixteen hundred years, and I’ll be damned if I go a day without dealing with trivial arguments.
“Thank you for resolving our haydog stand issue, Princess! I don’t know what we’d do without you!” the stallion said as he bowed in respect. His grease-stained apron fell to the floor, leaving streaks on the marble.
“You’re very welcome. I hope your haydog stand does well!” Celestia said with her Pan Am smile. Now if you can leave I’d like to get back to my cake.
The haydog stallion said his goodbyes before he left the throne hall. The beautifully engraved, gold accented doors closing behind him.
Canterlot Castle, unlike the rest of Equestria, hasn’t changed since the day the castle was built. Stained windows spoke stories of heroes who risked their lives protecting Equestria for the sake of its inhabitants. Her gardens grew the most beautiful flowers and held praise from many visitors. The royal guards that patrolled the castle still adorned with armor of yesteryears. The throne hall, where Celestia holds most of her royal duties, underwent one of the only changes to the castle. Luna’s throne.
“Vanilla raspberry cake this time?” She took a small bite of her cake, “Mmm! Guessed right! I think I’m starting to like this monthly CakeBox service!” Celestia’s mouth watered as she levitated a big slice of cake up to her muzzle. She scanned the hall to make sure none of the guards were watching and opened wide. Down the hatch you go!
Mid-bite, she was blinded by a flash of light, followed by an explosion of confetti. “We’re here Tia!”
Celestia choked on her cake and leaned over the edge of her throne. “Why can’t you use the door like everyone else?”
“Why can’t you eat cake like everyone else?”
Celestia shot Discord cold stare, until she noticed what he had behind him. “Is―is that who I think it is?”
Discord pulled Twilight over his shoulder from behind, she dangled upside down in front of him.
“Twilight!” She exclaimed, shooting up from her throne. “Oh how I’ve mi―” Her eyes hovered over her. Her cloak was pulled down, exposing her back. “Discord. If you think taking her wings is a joke then you’re not going to like my punchline.”
“I would never!” He objected. “She’s had that cloak on since before I grabbed her. So excuse me if I didn’t notice it at first.”
Twilight looked around.
Celestia made her way down to her wingless friend. “Oh Twilight, what ever happened to you?”
Twilight looked at Celestia, the back up at Discord. “Rúmgál mec!” she yelped.
Celestia gave Discord a perplexed look. “Did you understand that?”
“Ah yes, she told me to release her.” He said with confidence. “As you know, I can speak over two hundred languages.”
“First off, put her down.” She demanded. “And second off, what language was that?”
Discord snapped his fingers and Twilight floated down to the marble floor. She struggled to stand up, her body noticeably shivered under her cloak. “She was speaking Old Ponish. And as hard to believe as it is, she’s completely forgotten how to speak and understand Modern Equestrian.” He returned the same perplexed look Celestia gave him a moment ago. “What’s also hard to believe for me is that you couldn’t understand her, being well over a thousand years old.”
Celestia took a step back, getting a better look at Twilight, who in return pulled the hood of her cloak over her eyes. “Yes, back then I was fluent in Old Ponish, but that was back then. I haven’t spoken it since I was about three hundred years old.”
Discord pet the top of Twilight’s head. “I would talk to her, but I don’t think I’d get through to her as much as you or Luna could.”
“Brád onwegbacraut.”
Discord swiftly pulled his hand away and stepped to the side. “Someone’s still grumpy.”
“Do… do I want to know what she said?”
The doors to the throne hall blew open. “I heard there was a situation, is everything okay sister?” The intruder scoured the room, ready to attack. Her eyes darted left and right, then locked onto Twilight.
“Ah, nice of you to join us, Luna! Just in time actually. We’re going to need some…assistance with our grumpy little friend over here.” Discord gestured toward Twilight, who turned around to look at Luna.
Twilight pulled back her hood just enough to reveal her face. She looked at Luna with wan and bleary eyes.
“T-Twilight, is that really you?” Luna stammered, rushing over to the sickly mare.
“She can’t understand us, dear sister. She seems to have forgotten how to understand our modern equestrian.”
“Then how can I be of assistance, Discord? I can’t read her mind if that’s what you’re asking” Luna wrapped her foreleg around Twilight’s neck, pulling Twilight into her chest.
“I wouldn’t do that! She almost bit off my ha―” He watched in disbelief as Twilight clung to Luna. “Never mind.” He muttered, then looked back at Celestia. “Anywho, that does prove my point from earlier, Tia. She’d be more open with Luna than yours truly.”
His eyes went back to the hugging mares. “As for your question, Luna, the reason we need you is because I believe you’re the only one who she’ll talk to. And one of the only ponies here who can speak Old Ponish. It seems that’s the only language Twilight can comprehend currently.”
Luna held her tighter, “Oh Twilight…I’ll take her to in my living quarters.”
“I believe you’d be more comfortable talking alone for now.” she whispered into Twilight’s ear, who kept her eyes to the ground as they made their way to the doors.
After they left, the guards closed the doors behind them. Celestia took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh. “I hope Luna can help her. I feel useless not being able to talk to her.”
“There is one way you could help our dear old Twilight.”
“How so? I’ll do anything to help her!”
“Go down to Fillydelphia and talk to the mayor. You might want to pardon Twilight for her multiple accounts of civil destruction and attempted murder.”
“Oh dear …”
“Your room hasn’t changed much since the last time I was here.”
Luna closed the door behind them. “My room hasn’t changed in over a thousand years, Twilight. I like to keep things simple. All those devices and gadgets ponies use nowadays are merely distractions. And you wouldn’t catch me dead in one of those cars .”
“Cars ?”
“Never mind that. The more important issue at hoof here is you, Twilight.” She gestured for her to sit on the bed next to her. “You’ve been gone for sixty years. You look like you haven’t eaten in months”— she pulled Twilight’s cloak to the side —“and as I feared, you lost your alicorn magic. If you still had it I would have known straight away it was you. I would have felt your presence.”
“Not just my alicorn magic,” Twilight said, pulling her hood back off her horn, “all of it. I’m an earth pony with a stick jutting out of my head.”
Luna’s eyes grew wide. “But how? Only Tirek has that sort of power, and he’s been locked away in Tartarus since he was defeated.”
“I...” she hesitated, before continuing. “I thought I could bring them back with a spell! All those years of suffering would have meant nothing of I could see my friends again. But I was wrong!” A tear ran down her muzzle. “My blood boiled under my skin as my magic was ripped out of me. He pushed my head into the ground”―her eyes filled with rage―“telling me he wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of being with my friends, dead or alive.”
Luna pressed her hoof against Twilight’s foreleg. “It’s not your fault, Twilight. He played with your emotions. Your mind wasn’t in the right place.”
“He didn’t play with them. He used them as a leash and controlled me with them.”
Luna paused for a moment. “I know this is hard for you, but this stallion, what did he look like?”
She spoke in a sombre tone, “He wore black robes and hovered above the ground. That’s all I could see of him.
“I see.” Luna mulled over the description of the stallion, looking at the floor as she dug through her thoughts, but nothing came to her mind. “This is perplexing. I’ll have to ask my sister if she knows anything about this flouting equine.”
She turned back towards Twilight. “Where have you been the past sixty years?”
“After that night, and after the fight Celestia and I had earlier that day, I just couldn’t face her. So I ran. I ran far away. I didn’t stop until I found an abandoned cottage in the middle of Haysead Swamps. That’s where I spent the past fifty eight years.”
“And what of the two years before that?” Luna leaned in closer.
“I ran.”
Her eyes traveled down Twilight’s body. ‘Twilight …’ Scars ran up her legs. Her hooves were blackened and cracked.
Twilight pulled her hood back down over her face. “I couldn’t sleep for months. Every night I laid on the cobblestone floors awake.”
Luna pressed her hoof to Twilight’s foreleg again, brushing over her scars. “I’m sorry Twilight… I can’t imagine the pain you went through…”
“I wanted to die, Luna.”
Luna shot up, locking onto Twilight’s cold, glistening eyes.
“Every day I wished that I'd drop dead. That I’d see my friends again. I'd dream almost every night that I was with them, finally happy. Only to wake up alone in that empty cottage.” She leaned in closer. “Do you know what kind of hell that is?”
A flood of tears ran down her muzzle. Luna pulled her in and held her tight. Twilight pressed her forehead into Luna’s chest. The room filled with her muffled cries.
“Why…why does it hurt so much?” she cried, her voice muffled under Luna’s neck.
She sat silently, running her hoof up and down Twilight’s back.
“I just want to go back… Is that too much to ask?”
“Well you two took long enough.” Discord remarked.
Luna closed her bedroom door behind them. ”She’s asleep, so lower your voice.”
His mouth separated from his head and floated down to the floor. “Does this please you, princess?”
She shook her head, then turned towards Twilight laying on her bed. “This is terrible. Twilight has been through so much hardship in the past sixty years. Her body is frail. I couldn’t count the scars she has on her legs. And none of them compare to the scars she has on her heart.”
Discord sat in the air and rubbed his chin. “No, that doesn’t sound good at all. Did she happen to tell you what happened to her wings?”
“A mysterious stallion stole them. He tricked her into shooting her alicorn magic into a scroll, saying it would bring her friends back to life. Instead, the scroll swallowed it, and then took the rest of her magic.”
“Did you just say the rest of her magic?” His eyes hovered over the sleeping unicorn.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. Using her friends against her like that is unforgivable. I’ll be sure he atones for the crimes he committed against my Twilight.” Luna said fervently.
Discord chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Luna.
“What’s so funny, draconequus?” her eyes pierced through him.
“Oh, nothing,” he stepped down from his invisible chair, “just didn’t know she was your Twilight.”
Luna flushed. “N-now Discord, it’s nothing like that!” She stammered. “Twilight is my only friend. I care for her just as much as my sister. I hate seeing her like this, it hurts that I couldn't have been there for her during all that time.”
Discord floated over to the foot of her bed. “She's lost all her magic, she can't speak and understand modern Equestrian, and the perpetrator who brought all this upon her has had sixty years to cover his tracks!” He snapped his fingers, and in a cloud of smoke appeared a top hat and a monocle. “Quite the perplexing pickle we're in my besotted friend!”
Luna rolled her eyes. “I’ll go wait in the throne hall and convey the information to my sister when she gets back. If you’re not too busy I’d like you to watch over Twilight. I don’t think she can handle being on her own for now.”
Discord rested his paw on the edge of her bed. “Do I look like I have anything better to do?”
She left the room, closing the door behind her.
“You know you’re going to have to tell them soon.”
Twilight rolled over and looked towards Discord. “Tell them what? You know I couldn’t understand what you two were talking about right? Old Ponish dialect over here. And how did you know I was awake?”
“That’s easy. When you sleep you snore like a bear.”
Twilight blushed a bit and looked away. “Anyways, what do I have to tell them?”
“What you did today was no normal magic. Luna said you didn’t just lose your alicorn magic, you lost all your magic.”
She sat up and looked a her forehooves. “Yes, I did.”
“Then what in the world was that out there? From what I saw on the news, all you did was put your hoof on the car and it shot into the third floor of a building!”
Twilight sighed. “It’s probably the reason I’m stuck understanding Old Ponish. Over the past sixty years, I studied, perfected, and even started building up on an ancient form of magic. Magic that has been dead for longer than Celestia has been alive.”
“And that would be?”
“Earth Magic. Magic that was used by ancient earth ponies.”
“That’s impossible! And this is coming from the embodiment of chaos himself!”
Twilight closed her eyes and raised her right foreleg, resting her left hoof on top. She cleared her mind, focused on the end of her hoof, and took a deep breath. “Cáfnes Flán Gearwung!”
The room illuminated with a bright light that emanated from Twilight’s extended hoof. “Still don’t believe me Mr. Chaos? It’s a ball of pure energy.”
He rubbed his chin, examining it. “Impressive, but I’ve seen better from baby unicorns.”
Twilight smirked. “Then how about this?” She focused harder, “Ætíecnes!”
A whirlwind blew around Twilight. Her cloak flowed behind her like a cape. The small ball of energy grew to the size of a boulder. Streaks of energy trailed around it.
Discord stood back dumbfounded. ‘This is a whole lot more powerful than I imagined.’ He thought to himself. “Unless you plan on destroying Luna’s bedroom, and possibly most of the castle, you might want to cut it off!” He shouted. Not that I’d mind
“Undón!”
The air around Twilight stood still once again as the ball of energy dissipated. “I’m a mare of Science and Magic. If I claim something is real then you bet your flank it is.”
“I’d rather not bet my best quality.”
She looked down at her hoof while she fixed her cloak.
“Hey… can I ask you something, Discord?”
“You just did.”
“Why can’t I remember?”
“Remember what? Modern Equestrian?”
“Why can’t I remember their names anymore?”
Trending now, a cloaked unicorn caused havoc in Fillydelphia earlier this morning. According to eyewitness reports and viral videos, the cloaked unicorn, believed to be a purple mare, launched a parked sedan into the side of Hoofstead Bank’s office building. Ponies fled from the scene soon after.
“Mister Coil, who’s that pony on the TV?”
“Her .”
“Luna?”
“Yes?”
“You know I’m not the only one sleeping tonight, right?”
“I’m sure our subjects can last one night without me watching over their dreams.”
“Sure, but—” Twilight looked over her shoulder, “—it’s been five nights. In a row .”
Luna turned away to hide her blush, “They can get by for a week or two, I’m sure.”
After all, they lasted a thousand years without me. Luna thought.
Twilight sat silently, flipping through one of the many books that surrounded her.
Luna looked around, gazing at the bookcases that lined the endless walls on either side of the two mares.
“How big is this library?” She asked.
“I don’t know. I lost track after wing five hundred and thirty.”
Luna blinked, “…And how many books are in each wing?”
Twilight let out a long yawn. Then looked up for a moment, quietly counting to herself, “About three thousand, give or take.”
“H-how—”
“Don’t think about it too hard. It’s just something I picked up a while ago.”
How does one simply ‘pick up’ something like this?
Luna, taking a moment to question Twilight’s sanity, looked over the unicorn’s shoulder, “So what is it that you’re reading?”
“A book,” Twilight said as she flipped another page.
Luna sat back, tapping her forehooves together softly.
A few minutes later, Twilight closed the book she was reading and stretched, letting out a faint moan, “Welp, I’m done reading for tonight.”
“What now?” Luna asked. “We still have five hours ‘til daylight.”
Twilight stood up, “Hmmm…I think I might practice.”
“Practice?”
Oh Celestia
“Líesing!” A burst of pure white energy ripped though yet another building. Leaving the earth below it scorched. “And that makes twenty one.”
Twilight fell back down on all fours, “Might try mixing the fire spell in this time…” Her words trailed off into thought.
Luna shook her head, pulling herself out of a bewildered stare, “So…this is that ancient earth magic you told me about?”
Twilight walked over to her, “Yeah. I only ever get to practice it here, but the results are still the same when I do it outside of my dream world.”
“May I ask how it works?”
“It’s hard to explain the specifics, but here are the basics,” Twilight sat down next to Luna. “You know how earth ponies have a special kind of magic that helps them with growing crops?”
Luna nodded, “I am familiar, yes.”
“And you know that once a pony ascends into being an Alicorn, that she gains the magic of all three races, right?”
Nods
“That being said, even after I—” she let out a deep sigh, “—lost my magic, I still retained the core earth magic.”
“I see.”
“Well ancient earth magic revolves around an earth pony’s ability to use the energy in the environment around them, like so.”
A sapling materialized in front of them. Twilight planted a hoof on the ground next to it, and closed her eyes. The sapling twitched, then twisted and turned as it grew into a small tree.
Luna stared at the now grown tree, “That I have not seen before.”
Twilight continued, “What ancient earth magic is, essentially, is using the energy from the environment around you and channeling it through your body.”
“And that is all?” Luna asked, breaking her attention away from the tree.
“No. It also requires a lot of concentration. Each spell is also attached to certain words and phrases, so you have to say them out loud.”
Luna chuckled quietly to herself. Reminds me of those cartoons my sister watches.
“I think I understand,” Luna said.
“Good!”
Twilight stood up, and the world around drained away like water down a sink. The two mares now stood in a black void.
“How much time do we have till daylight?”
“One more hour. Do you need me to wake you up in the morning, Twilight?”
“To tell the truth, I’d rather sleep in. It’s not often I get a chance to rest like I have the past few days.”
“I see,” Luna took a moment to think. “Shall I go then? I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome.”
“Well…” she looked to the side. “I wouldn’t mind the company.”
Luna looked back up at Twilight with gleaming eyes, “Really?”
Twilight chuckled, “I need to make up for lost time somehow, right?”
The next night, Luna and Twilight rested in Twilight’s dream library. For a while they sat in silence as Twilight read through one of the many books around her.
Twilight stood up and turned around, “Hey, Luna”
“Yes, Twilight?”
“I was wondering…” Twilight looked down at her forehooves. “Is Celestia disappointed in me?”
“Why would my sister be disappointed in you? She was very delighted to see you when you came back to us.”
“Well, over the past few days, I’ve tried talking to her. She told me she was happy that you were teaching me modern Equestrian,” she looked up at Luna, then back down, rubbing her foreleg. “But her voice, the way she talked to me, it felt weird. She didn’t look at me as her old student or an old friend,” she paused for a moment, letting her head drop down. “She looked at me the way you would look at a lost puppy. Our conversations always ended up awkward and silent, with one of us making an excuse to be somewhere else.”
Luna stepped closer, placing her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, “You have been gone for a long time, Twilight. I can assure you that she will come around in due time. It took her and I months to talk to one another as sisters again.”
“Yeah, I guess,” she turned away. “It’s not like I’m pressed for time anyways.”
Luna’s hoof slowly dropped to the floor. I have to do something. Think Luna, think!
“Twilight, can I show you something?”
Twilight turned around, “Sure, what is it?”
“Close your eyes.”
“Alright,” Twilight shut her eyes.
Twilight’s dream library faded away, leaving them in a black void. The darkness of the ground drained away, leaving it light gray. Large indentations — craters — formed in the near distance. A blanket of stars unfurled across the night sky, giving texture to the vast, empty nothing.
“Go ahead, Twilight. Open your eyes.”
Twilight opened her eyes, then gazed on the beaten landscape around them. “Where are we?”
“Turn around and you’ll see.”
Twilight looked behind her, “Oh my gosh.” She stood there with her mouth wide open, “Luna, this is—”
“What I marveled at for a thousand years. Even through the eyes of Nightmare Moon, I could still bask in its beauty.” Luna stood next to Twilight, “A beauty only rivaled by someone who is very dear to me.”
Twilight looked up at Luna, “And who’s that?”
“You will find out someday, Twilight.”
Before Twilight could ask any further, Luna turned away and closed her eyes, “I will be back, Twilight. It seems I am being pulled away for a moment. It will not be long.”
“Take your time, I’ll be fine,” Twilight said with a half-smile.
Luna nodded, then stepped forward, leaving Twilight's dreamscape.
“Girls! No, don’t run! I’m coming! Just hold on, please!”
Twilight ran as fast as she could, but each step she took brought her two steps back. She felt her blood burn through her body as she tried to cast magic that wasn’t there. Her screams fell on deaf ears as her old friends faded into the distance.
“Please!” she called. “Come back. Don’t go…”
Luna hopped into Twilight’s dream to find her sitting on the ground, leaning forward with her forelegs between her hind legs, as her tears fell to the floor.
“Twil—”
“Why?” she wailed. “Why me? Of all the ponies in the world, why give me such amazing friends, just to take them away from me?” her voice clung to the pain in her heart as her words poured out of her mouth.
Twilight …
Luna stepped forward towards her slowly. Each step she took rippled on the ground like water. Twilight, through her watery eyes, saw the ripples flow below her.
She turned head, her eyes met with Luna’s, “Luna.”
“I am here, Twili—”
“Luna!” Twilight cried, twisting her body as she stumbled over to Luna, tripping over her own hooves. She clung to Luna, holding her tight as she pressed her head into her shoulder.
Luna wrapped her forelegs around her as they collapsed to the floor. She sat with Twilight crying into her chest.
“Luna…it’s getting worse.”
Luna pet her mane slowly, “It will get better.”
“Their names, their faces, our adventures we had,” she looked up at her. “They’re gone. It’s all gone, Luna.”
“They are not gone. And I am still here.”
“What if you’re aren’t? What if I wake up tomorrow and you’re gone too?”
Luna pressed Twilight into her chest, “I will never leave you, Twilight. You have my word.”
Twilight looked up at her, the side her muzzle resting on Luna’s chest, “You’ve done so much for me.” She gripped onto her tighter, “I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”
“Being with you is all I could ever ask for, Twilight. You are the light that welcomes my night sky. I should be thanking you for trusting in me to be by your side.”
Twilight shifted looking down, still pressed against her chest.
Why is she quiet? Did I say something wrong?
Luna looked down at her, “Twilight?”
“I need you to do something for me.”
Luna cocked her head slightly, “Anything, just ask.”
Twilight pulled away and stood up, glancing at Luna for a moment before she looked to the side, “If the day comes where I’m not here—” she turned towards Luna, closing her eyes as she smiled, “—don’t forget about me, okay?”
Author's Note
Short chapter this time. Next one will be longer. Hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!
