Alicorn Storiesby JordanisChaptersCelestia and Luna's Cutie Mark StoryLuna, Celestia, and the Elements of HarmonyAn InterludeCelestia and Luna's Cutie Mark StoryNeither pony could remember a time when they had not run. By hoof and wing, they circled the globe endlessly, fleeing each other as fast as they could carry themselves. If they had been asked, had they stopped to consider it, they might each have concluded that they had coalesced on the wing, already tearing across the sky at many times the speed of sound. And from that very first moment, they had been filled with the knowledge that they they were being pursued, and that to be caught was death. Fear suffused their entire beings, until all that was left was Run. Flee. Escape. Fear was their existence. Fear, flight, and the certainty of doom should they falter. No questions were asked, and no explanations were necessary; all they were was fear. For untold centuries, they fled each other, so that the far off, rippling roar of their passage across the skies became a familiar and comforting daily constant to those creatures that lived beneath them. And so, the world balanced perfectly on the fulcrum of their fear, and was maintained in Harmony. One day, many centuries ago and many centuries since the beginning, a mischievous spirit stood on the land below and craned his neck to watch the nightly passage overhead. He stared long, and carefully, and slowly a wicked smile spread across his face. He reached upward with his hand, reached even further with his mind, and SNAP! With the click of his fingers, he made a tiny seed, and planted it in the mind fleeing overhead in terror. The seed germinated and blossomed in short order, and it was something entirely new to the world, and entirely astounding and momentous: doubt spread across the pony's mind. For the first time in the history of the world, a pony asked a question. For the first time in the history of the world, one of the ponies overhead slowed, and came to a stop. And she waited. For half a day, she waited and watched, and the moon hung over her head. When they sun crested the horizon, her eyes grew enormous in astonishment and fright. Never before had she seen such light; she was certain that she would evaporate into nothingness in the face of it, and so she nearly resumed her terrified flight. Doubt, though, whispered curiosity and questions into her ear, and she knew that it would never leave her if she ran. And so, trembling faintly, she stood her ground and waited, expecting at any moment to be seared away by the terrible light. The other pony, meanwhile, raced ever onward, her eyes rolling wildly back to watch for the doom she knew followed her. Never had she had to concern herself with what was before her—it was open, endless sky, waiting for her arrival. It was only a chance glance that showed her the deepest, darkest shadow she had ever seen, directly in front of her. She back-winged furiously, shedding speed in utter desperation, for she knew that the impenetrable column of inky blackness before her would swallow her whole and leave no trace that she had ever existed. But she had started too late. She squeezed her eyes shut and slid into the dark. The light subsided suddenly, and the waiting pony opened her eyes and carefully came unbraced. Her mouth dropped open in shock. Before her in the air, another pony hung from slowly beating wings, staring back at her with a matching open mouth. She glanced down at her hooves, then over at those of her counterpart. Then she reached up and felt at her forehead while staring at the long, graceful horn sprouting from the other pony's head, and watched as the light pony did the same. Finally, tentatively, she reached out a hoof, and her action was mirrored. The two ponies who would in later centuries call themselves Princesses touched. First one hoof, then the other, and then a clumsy, unsure embrace in the strange twilight. Above them, the stilled moon hung in front of the unmoving sun in the world's first eclipse. Below them, the first Harmony disintegrated, and Chaos began its reign. Luna, Celestia, and the Elements of HarmonyWhen Luna and Celestia (though they did not yet have those names, of course), first descended to the surface of the world, they found it in shambles at the feet of the mischievous spirit, who was chuckling merrily. They nickered to catch his attention, and he chortled at them. They glared at him, and he broke into guffaws. They lowered their horns and stamped the ground, and he laughed openly. They tried to gore him and trample him outright, and he dissolved into hysterics and draped himself across their backs. They shook him off, and tried to fly away with their sun and moon, but found to their horror that the orbs did not follow them and, as the ponies did not yet understand their own magic, would not heed their calls. Discord—for Discord it was—collected himself, smirked at the two foalish ponies in front of him, and twiddled his fingers. The lights of the sky went rolling madly like marbles. Luna and Celestia fled his presence. Fear was again their existence. They traversed the world at ground level, flitting from hiding place to hiding place and hoping that Discord would forget about them. Now, though, they traveled in one another's company, and the certainty of doom that had once suffused their minds seemed to become much less concrete with each passing day. They paid close attention to their surroundings, watching for the increasing chaos that heralded Discord's presence, and they began to learn. Weaving closer and farther from the spirit, they began to catalog what was natural, and what resulted from Discord's malign influence. After listening to the singing of birds, and the quiet sounds of other animals, they began to construct a crude language. Through careful study, they discovered their magic, and tentatively touched their long-estranged charges in the sky. They believed themselves ready. They seized the sun and moon back from Discord's grasp and thrust them into their correct spots in the sky above. The celestial bodies began to turn at their urgings, and they smiled at their victory—the imposition of Harmony through their own Will and magic. They did not have time to savor their triumph. Discord appeared before them in a flash, and he did not laugh. The ponies stood before him, smiling their defiant assurance. Discord snapped his fingers, and both future princesses collapsed, screaming. Chaos poured into them, and they began to come apart, being dragged toward un-ordered formlessness. Celestia did her best to channel the energy away, and it streamed from her in great incandescent plumes, as if a piece of the sun had come to the world. Luna, beside her, could not withstand the chaos and the sun together, and succumbed. She dissolved into black smoke, but found herself still alive and sensate. The chaos swept past her, still grasping for a form to tear down—for a moment, she had bent herself away from the attack. She seized the opportunity, seized Celestia, and again fled from Discord. *** They fled again across the world, and now, for the first time in their lives, they were truly hunted. They took disguises, and hid among the creatures and beings scattered across the world, never staying long anyplace. In each, Celestia wrung a little of the chaos from the world, leaving behind good water, reliably-growing food, and stout shelters which stood until Discord noticed and again ground away those small seeds of certainty and security. All the while, Luna spun her body back out of her cloud of self, and thought. *** “I doubt,” Luna began one day, as they lay hidden in a forest cavern, “that we will last much longer, fighting against Discord in this way.” Celestia could not disagree. “Our wills impose Harmony, but they are not enough to overcome the beast. We require...assistance.” Celestia frowned, “There is no creature capable, who is not already a servant of Chaos.” Luna smiled softly at Celestia, who frowned a little more deeply at the already-familiar cryptic mannerism. Before she could say anything, however, Luna's horn began to glow, and clay from the floor of the cave began to swirl upward in the soft light. Out of it, Luna spun a tiny form, and whispered to it a love for the truth of Harmony that was hidden behind Discord's deceptions and distortions. When the light from her horn faded, the very first earth pony foal rested between her hooves, fast asleep. *** Once she had gotten over her amazement, Celestia immediately tried her horn at creation. The first she made was a second earth pony, whom she filled with her compassion for the creatures suffering under Discord's rule. She shared with Luna the silently amazed joy that all new parents know, but her mind was not still. After a quiet talk with Luna, she molded a cloud into the first pegasus to calm the weather of the world, and filled her with carefully-hoarded memories of the rare joy and laughter she had shared with Luna and other creatures they had met across the world. Luna, too, made a pegasus, and bound in the little creature her fierce, protective love for Celestia and the new life they had created. The next step was obvious, and shortly, the first unicorn was raised by Luna from the waters of a still mountain pond. She was imbued with a giving determination, to pour all of herself into bending the world back into harmony. The last pony they made was Celestia's unicorn, and into that tiny body, she poured her love, her goodwill, and her memories of every fleeting friend she had made as they had fled across the world. The six little ponies grew up together, and they grew immensely powerful in their love for each other and in the love of their alicorn parents. Wherever they walked, the earth ponies left a trail of luscious fruits and grasses. Wherever they flew, the pegasi stilled the air, and calmed raging storms with a flap of a wing. Wherever they raised a horn, the unicorns cleansed Discord's twisted landscapes and untwisted the minds of broken creatures. In concert, the six of them brought peace to a thousand square miles at a time. They could not help but draw Discord's attention. They believed themselves ready. *** Discord appeared in front of them in a flash, and the six ponies immediately arrayed themselves between the spirit and the alicorns. Vines shot up and bound Discord's feet and tail. The good creatures of the forest beset him from all sides. Immense hailstones rained down upon him, and bolts of lightning. Finally, intense glows surrounded him as he was set upon by immensely powerful hornworks. All six of them strained mightily. "Give it up, Discord!" called the pink pegasus overhead. "Y'haven't got a chance!" yelled the orange earth pony before she aimed a kick at his flank. "Surrender now, and we can find a way to live in peace," said the pinkish-purple unicorn before him with great seriousness and gravity. Discord, however, yawned. The vines withered abruptly and disintegrated. The hail turned into chocolate bon-bons, and the lightning struck several nearby creatures and caused them to be amusingly fluffy and blackened. The magical glow was snuffed out suddenly, and Discord raised his hand, smirking coldly. He snapped his fingers. Chaos passed across the throats of the six little ponies, and Entropy reigned. They dropped bonelessly to the ground in six spreading crimson puddles. Celestia screamed, and dropped to her knees; she reached out with her magic, but the wounds would not close. She felt her little ponies slip from her magical grasp--they were gone. Discord laughed to see the look on her face. Luna trembled, but thought quickly. Blood is powerful magic, and these ponies, at this time... Luna reached out to the blood-soaked earth, reached out to Celestia to demand her attention and her magic, and together, they grabbed at reality and twisted. The six glowed, and the ground glowed beneath them. Discord threw his head back mockingly, and that is how he was when the torrent of Harmony exploded from the earth and washed across the landscape, turning him to stone. When the working was done, blood bound him, and it bound the world; steeping it in honesty, kindness, laughter, loyalty, generosity, and the magic of friendship. And that, my little pony, is how Equestria was made. An InterludeHer hoof trembling slightly, Twilight Sparkle gingerly closed the ancient tome. She stared sightlessly out the window of her old bedroom in the palace, turning the... grim little fairy story she'd just read over and over in her mind. Her wings were puffed out slightly, like they belonged to an agitated finch. It had been in Pr--Celestia's hornwriting. But that wasn't what she'd seen in her vision. There couldn't be any truth to it. Right? Right. ... Right... Absently, she ran the back of one hoof across her own throat. She swallowed, and looked back down at the book. “Alicorn Stories” was embossed on the cover, and it had her in a war with herself. Part of Twilight darkly insisted that the cover looked like real leather, and that maybe she should put the book away and never look it again. At the same time, though, it whispered to her--of unknowns just waiting to prove themselves knowable. She frowned, and snorted softly. All of that, clearly, was ridiculous. She'd seen the fall of Discord, after all, and it hadn't been anything like this story. Celestia had just collected some old pony's tale here. And written it down herself in a sturdy book, laced with preservation spells. And stowed that book away in the restricted archives for a thousand years or more. Twilight shifted her weight from one side to the other and back, and glared at the book. She was interrupted by a polite knock at the open door--Celestia herself! The great white alicorn had craned her neck around the edge of the door so that she could peer into the room, like a curious cat. The playful smile fell from her lips as Twilight turned to face her. She looked down, and finally noticed the book laying on the bed before the smaller alicorn. A pregnant pause. “Ah” --ever so delicately. The larger mare let herself into the room. She crossed slowly to Twilight's bed and carefully lowered herself to the floor next to it, tidily folding and tucking her legs underneath herself, and taking perhaps a bit too long to arrange her wings. Despite Twilight's growth spurt, this still put them just about eye to eye. Then, she waited for the inevitable question which she could see on Twilight's lips, half open in hesitation. It took nearly a minute, as Twilight shifted her gaze back to the book, then back to Celestia, before, softly-- “What were their names?” A ripple of surprise stayed off of Celestia's face, but passed down her wings. She hesitated a moment, then looked away and out the window. “Applejack, Posey, Surprise, Firefly, Sparkler, and... Twilight.” her eyes were closed, but a faint smile graced her lips, “the traditional names must come from somewhere, after all.” “The original Element of Magic was...?” “Yes.” “...wow.” The smile twisted from gentle to wry, “I nearly choked when I found out your name, after your entrance examination.” Celestia tilted her head slightly to regard Twilight, and her face broke into gentle mischief. “You don't look a thing like her, though.” Twilight chuckled, but then the book hove back into her view, and the laughter trailed off into a frown. “But... I saw you and Luna defeat Discord. It didn't happen like that--” Twilight nudged her head in the direction of the book, “--at all.” Celestia shifted her shoulders, looking just past Twilight and, apparently, into the past. “You're right, of course,” she began, her voice low. “It didn't. We weren't as... smart, or as composed as that storyteller would like you to believe. Luna did act first, and she did grab my magic, and we did twist at the fabric of reality, but all we did was try to revive our little ponies, while Discord flitted off laughing.” Twilight's eyes were wide. “Did it--?” “No.” Celestia cut the smaller alicorn off, “It did not.” Her words were clipped, controlled, and precise, each one falling into place like a block of marble. She sighed, and worked her head back and forth in a bid to loose some of the tension wrapped around her shoulders. “I apologize, Twilight. I did not mean to snap at you, but no. When we opened our eyes, an immense tree had sprouted, leafed, and bloomed instead, and the bodies were gone.” She flashed Twilight a sad smile, “I believe you can complete the story from there.” Twilight nodded slowly, glanced at the book again, and froze. Celestia closed her eyes again, not quite wincing in anticipation. Now... here it came. “Then... when you sent me after Discord...” Celestia let out the breath she had been holding as the question was laid bare. She bowed her head, and her voice was very, very small. “I was... terrified. I thought he seemed like he had come out of the stone not... quite the same. He hadn't killed anypony yet, after all. But...” her voice dipped to a whisper, “If he had, it would have only made it that much more important, and I would have sent you all the same.” Twilight rubbed her throat again reflexively, watching Celestia silently. The older alicorn kept her neck proudly arched, but her head bowed and her eyes closed. She reminded Twilight of a potsherd she had once seen, depicting a defeated lord of ancient Unicornia. Another sherd of the same amphora had shown most of what her professor at the time had identified as Princess Platinum, hefting a broad, elaborate axe before her. Twilight shivered. Finally, gingerly, Twilight reached out with a hoof and, after a moment's hesitation, laid it on the side of Celestia's neck. She felt, though she could not see, Celestia flinch fractionally at her touch, and the ache it put in her heart gave her sudden resolve. She quickly looped her foreleg around the back of Celestia's neck, and pulled her friend close, burying her muzzle in the other alicorn's flowing mane. Celestia let out a shuddering breath, and pressed herself into the hug. After a long moment, she continued in a ragged whisper. “I'm sorry, Twilght,” she rasped, “I'm so sorry. I'm sorry to all of you. None of you signed up for any of it, and I did not have the right to ask it, but I needed you all so much...” Celestia took a deep, harsh breath, and Twilight rocked gently forward and backward, making quiet, soothing shushing noises, trying to imitate what she'd seen other ponies do to comfort someone they cared for. Slowly, Celestia's breathing returned to normal, and the Princess gently pulled herself away. The two alicorns looked at each other for a long moment, before Twilight solemnly hefted the book in her magic and held it out between them. Celestia shook her head and gently pushed the book back down to the bed with one hoof. “No. Keep it. You should read the rest of it.” A real smile finally crept out across Celestia's face and warmed her eyes. “There are dozens of pages still blank in it, my-- Twilight. Add to it. I am not the only alicorn with stories anymore.”
Celestia and Luna's Cutie Mark StoryNeither pony could remember a time when they had not run. By hoof and wing, they circled the globe endlessly, fleeing each other as fast as they could carry themselves. If they had been asked, had they stopped to consider it, they might each have concluded that they had coalesced on the wing, already tearing across the sky at many times the speed of sound. And from that very first moment, they had been filled with the knowledge that they they were being pursued, and that to be caught was death. Fear suffused their entire beings, until all that was left was Run. Flee. Escape. Fear was their existence. Fear, flight, and the certainty of doom should they falter. No questions were asked, and no explanations were necessary; all they were was fear. For untold centuries, they fled each other, so that the far off, rippling roar of their passage across the skies became a familiar and comforting daily constant to those creatures that lived beneath them. And so, the world balanced perfectly on the fulcrum of their fear, and was maintained in Harmony. One day, many centuries ago and many centuries since the beginning, a mischievous spirit stood on the land below and craned his neck to watch the nightly passage overhead. He stared long, and carefully, and slowly a wicked smile spread across his face. He reached upward with his hand, reached even further with his mind, and SNAP! With the click of his fingers, he made a tiny seed, and planted it in the mind fleeing overhead in terror. The seed germinated and blossomed in short order, and it was something entirely new to the world, and entirely astounding and momentous: doubt spread across the pony's mind. For the first time in the history of the world, a pony asked a question. For the first time in the history of the world, one of the ponies overhead slowed, and came to a stop. And she waited. For half a day, she waited and watched, and the moon hung over her head. When they sun crested the horizon, her eyes grew enormous in astonishment and fright. Never before had she seen such light; she was certain that she would evaporate into nothingness in the face of it, and so she nearly resumed her terrified flight. Doubt, though, whispered curiosity and questions into her ear, and she knew that it would never leave her if she ran. And so, trembling faintly, she stood her ground and waited, expecting at any moment to be seared away by the terrible light. The other pony, meanwhile, raced ever onward, her eyes rolling wildly back to watch for the doom she knew followed her. Never had she had to concern herself with what was before her—it was open, endless sky, waiting for her arrival. It was only a chance glance that showed her the deepest, darkest shadow she had ever seen, directly in front of her. She back-winged furiously, shedding speed in utter desperation, for she knew that the impenetrable column of inky blackness before her would swallow her whole and leave no trace that she had ever existed. But she had started too late. She squeezed her eyes shut and slid into the dark. The light subsided suddenly, and the waiting pony opened her eyes and carefully came unbraced. Her mouth dropped open in shock. Before her in the air, another pony hung from slowly beating wings, staring back at her with a matching open mouth. She glanced down at her hooves, then over at those of her counterpart. Then she reached up and felt at her forehead while staring at the long, graceful horn sprouting from the other pony's head, and watched as the light pony did the same. Finally, tentatively, she reached out a hoof, and her action was mirrored. The two ponies who would in later centuries call themselves Princesses touched. First one hoof, then the other, and then a clumsy, unsure embrace in the strange twilight. Above them, the stilled moon hung in front of the unmoving sun in the world's first eclipse. Below them, the first Harmony disintegrated, and Chaos began its reign.
Luna, Celestia, and the Elements of HarmonyWhen Luna and Celestia (though they did not yet have those names, of course), first descended to the surface of the world, they found it in shambles at the feet of the mischievous spirit, who was chuckling merrily. They nickered to catch his attention, and he chortled at them. They glared at him, and he broke into guffaws. They lowered their horns and stamped the ground, and he laughed openly. They tried to gore him and trample him outright, and he dissolved into hysterics and draped himself across their backs. They shook him off, and tried to fly away with their sun and moon, but found to their horror that the orbs did not follow them and, as the ponies did not yet understand their own magic, would not heed their calls. Discord—for Discord it was—collected himself, smirked at the two foalish ponies in front of him, and twiddled his fingers. The lights of the sky went rolling madly like marbles. Luna and Celestia fled his presence. Fear was again their existence. They traversed the world at ground level, flitting from hiding place to hiding place and hoping that Discord would forget about them. Now, though, they traveled in one another's company, and the certainty of doom that had once suffused their minds seemed to become much less concrete with each passing day. They paid close attention to their surroundings, watching for the increasing chaos that heralded Discord's presence, and they began to learn. Weaving closer and farther from the spirit, they began to catalog what was natural, and what resulted from Discord's malign influence. After listening to the singing of birds, and the quiet sounds of other animals, they began to construct a crude language. Through careful study, they discovered their magic, and tentatively touched their long-estranged charges in the sky. They believed themselves ready. They seized the sun and moon back from Discord's grasp and thrust them into their correct spots in the sky above. The celestial bodies began to turn at their urgings, and they smiled at their victory—the imposition of Harmony through their own Will and magic. They did not have time to savor their triumph. Discord appeared before them in a flash, and he did not laugh. The ponies stood before him, smiling their defiant assurance. Discord snapped his fingers, and both future princesses collapsed, screaming. Chaos poured into them, and they began to come apart, being dragged toward un-ordered formlessness. Celestia did her best to channel the energy away, and it streamed from her in great incandescent plumes, as if a piece of the sun had come to the world. Luna, beside her, could not withstand the chaos and the sun together, and succumbed. She dissolved into black smoke, but found herself still alive and sensate. The chaos swept past her, still grasping for a form to tear down—for a moment, she had bent herself away from the attack. She seized the opportunity, seized Celestia, and again fled from Discord. *** They fled again across the world, and now, for the first time in their lives, they were truly hunted. They took disguises, and hid among the creatures and beings scattered across the world, never staying long anyplace. In each, Celestia wrung a little of the chaos from the world, leaving behind good water, reliably-growing food, and stout shelters which stood until Discord noticed and again ground away those small seeds of certainty and security. All the while, Luna spun her body back out of her cloud of self, and thought. *** “I doubt,” Luna began one day, as they lay hidden in a forest cavern, “that we will last much longer, fighting against Discord in this way.” Celestia could not disagree. “Our wills impose Harmony, but they are not enough to overcome the beast. We require...assistance.” Celestia frowned, “There is no creature capable, who is not already a servant of Chaos.” Luna smiled softly at Celestia, who frowned a little more deeply at the already-familiar cryptic mannerism. Before she could say anything, however, Luna's horn began to glow, and clay from the floor of the cave began to swirl upward in the soft light. Out of it, Luna spun a tiny form, and whispered to it a love for the truth of Harmony that was hidden behind Discord's deceptions and distortions. When the light from her horn faded, the very first earth pony foal rested between her hooves, fast asleep. *** Once she had gotten over her amazement, Celestia immediately tried her horn at creation. The first she made was a second earth pony, whom she filled with her compassion for the creatures suffering under Discord's rule. She shared with Luna the silently amazed joy that all new parents know, but her mind was not still. After a quiet talk with Luna, she molded a cloud into the first pegasus to calm the weather of the world, and filled her with carefully-hoarded memories of the rare joy and laughter she had shared with Luna and other creatures they had met across the world. Luna, too, made a pegasus, and bound in the little creature her fierce, protective love for Celestia and the new life they had created. The next step was obvious, and shortly, the first unicorn was raised by Luna from the waters of a still mountain pond. She was imbued with a giving determination, to pour all of herself into bending the world back into harmony. The last pony they made was Celestia's unicorn, and into that tiny body, she poured her love, her goodwill, and her memories of every fleeting friend she had made as they had fled across the world. The six little ponies grew up together, and they grew immensely powerful in their love for each other and in the love of their alicorn parents. Wherever they walked, the earth ponies left a trail of luscious fruits and grasses. Wherever they flew, the pegasi stilled the air, and calmed raging storms with a flap of a wing. Wherever they raised a horn, the unicorns cleansed Discord's twisted landscapes and untwisted the minds of broken creatures. In concert, the six of them brought peace to a thousand square miles at a time. They could not help but draw Discord's attention. They believed themselves ready. *** Discord appeared in front of them in a flash, and the six ponies immediately arrayed themselves between the spirit and the alicorns. Vines shot up and bound Discord's feet and tail. The good creatures of the forest beset him from all sides. Immense hailstones rained down upon him, and bolts of lightning. Finally, intense glows surrounded him as he was set upon by immensely powerful hornworks. All six of them strained mightily. "Give it up, Discord!" called the pink pegasus overhead. "Y'haven't got a chance!" yelled the orange earth pony before she aimed a kick at his flank. "Surrender now, and we can find a way to live in peace," said the pinkish-purple unicorn before him with great seriousness and gravity. Discord, however, yawned. The vines withered abruptly and disintegrated. The hail turned into chocolate bon-bons, and the lightning struck several nearby creatures and caused them to be amusingly fluffy and blackened. The magical glow was snuffed out suddenly, and Discord raised his hand, smirking coldly. He snapped his fingers. Chaos passed across the throats of the six little ponies, and Entropy reigned. They dropped bonelessly to the ground in six spreading crimson puddles. Celestia screamed, and dropped to her knees; she reached out with her magic, but the wounds would not close. She felt her little ponies slip from her magical grasp--they were gone. Discord laughed to see the look on her face. Luna trembled, but thought quickly. Blood is powerful magic, and these ponies, at this time... Luna reached out to the blood-soaked earth, reached out to Celestia to demand her attention and her magic, and together, they grabbed at reality and twisted. The six glowed, and the ground glowed beneath them. Discord threw his head back mockingly, and that is how he was when the torrent of Harmony exploded from the earth and washed across the landscape, turning him to stone. When the working was done, blood bound him, and it bound the world; steeping it in honesty, kindness, laughter, loyalty, generosity, and the magic of friendship. And that, my little pony, is how Equestria was made.
An InterludeHer hoof trembling slightly, Twilight Sparkle gingerly closed the ancient tome. She stared sightlessly out the window of her old bedroom in the palace, turning the... grim little fairy story she'd just read over and over in her mind. Her wings were puffed out slightly, like they belonged to an agitated finch. It had been in Pr--Celestia's hornwriting. But that wasn't what she'd seen in her vision. There couldn't be any truth to it. Right? Right. ... Right... Absently, she ran the back of one hoof across her own throat. She swallowed, and looked back down at the book. “Alicorn Stories” was embossed on the cover, and it had her in a war with herself. Part of Twilight darkly insisted that the cover looked like real leather, and that maybe she should put the book away and never look it again. At the same time, though, it whispered to her--of unknowns just waiting to prove themselves knowable. She frowned, and snorted softly. All of that, clearly, was ridiculous. She'd seen the fall of Discord, after all, and it hadn't been anything like this story. Celestia had just collected some old pony's tale here. And written it down herself in a sturdy book, laced with preservation spells. And stowed that book away in the restricted archives for a thousand years or more. Twilight shifted her weight from one side to the other and back, and glared at the book. She was interrupted by a polite knock at the open door--Celestia herself! The great white alicorn had craned her neck around the edge of the door so that she could peer into the room, like a curious cat. The playful smile fell from her lips as Twilight turned to face her. She looked down, and finally noticed the book laying on the bed before the smaller alicorn. A pregnant pause. “Ah” --ever so delicately. The larger mare let herself into the room. She crossed slowly to Twilight's bed and carefully lowered herself to the floor next to it, tidily folding and tucking her legs underneath herself, and taking perhaps a bit too long to arrange her wings. Despite Twilight's growth spurt, this still put them just about eye to eye. Then, she waited for the inevitable question which she could see on Twilight's lips, half open in hesitation. It took nearly a minute, as Twilight shifted her gaze back to the book, then back to Celestia, before, softly-- “What were their names?” A ripple of surprise stayed off of Celestia's face, but passed down her wings. She hesitated a moment, then looked away and out the window. “Applejack, Posey, Surprise, Firefly, Sparkler, and... Twilight.” her eyes were closed, but a faint smile graced her lips, “the traditional names must come from somewhere, after all.” “The original Element of Magic was...?” “Yes.” “...wow.” The smile twisted from gentle to wry, “I nearly choked when I found out your name, after your entrance examination.” Celestia tilted her head slightly to regard Twilight, and her face broke into gentle mischief. “You don't look a thing like her, though.” Twilight chuckled, but then the book hove back into her view, and the laughter trailed off into a frown. “But... I saw you and Luna defeat Discord. It didn't happen like that--” Twilight nudged her head in the direction of the book, “--at all.” Celestia shifted her shoulders, looking just past Twilight and, apparently, into the past. “You're right, of course,” she began, her voice low. “It didn't. We weren't as... smart, or as composed as that storyteller would like you to believe. Luna did act first, and she did grab my magic, and we did twist at the fabric of reality, but all we did was try to revive our little ponies, while Discord flitted off laughing.” Twilight's eyes were wide. “Did it--?” “No.” Celestia cut the smaller alicorn off, “It did not.” Her words were clipped, controlled, and precise, each one falling into place like a block of marble. She sighed, and worked her head back and forth in a bid to loose some of the tension wrapped around her shoulders. “I apologize, Twilight. I did not mean to snap at you, but no. When we opened our eyes, an immense tree had sprouted, leafed, and bloomed instead, and the bodies were gone.” She flashed Twilight a sad smile, “I believe you can complete the story from there.” Twilight nodded slowly, glanced at the book again, and froze. Celestia closed her eyes again, not quite wincing in anticipation. Now... here it came. “Then... when you sent me after Discord...” Celestia let out the breath she had been holding as the question was laid bare. She bowed her head, and her voice was very, very small. “I was... terrified. I thought he seemed like he had come out of the stone not... quite the same. He hadn't killed anypony yet, after all. But...” her voice dipped to a whisper, “If he had, it would have only made it that much more important, and I would have sent you all the same.” Twilight rubbed her throat again reflexively, watching Celestia silently. The older alicorn kept her neck proudly arched, but her head bowed and her eyes closed. She reminded Twilight of a potsherd she had once seen, depicting a defeated lord of ancient Unicornia. Another sherd of the same amphora had shown most of what her professor at the time had identified as Princess Platinum, hefting a broad, elaborate axe before her. Twilight shivered. Finally, gingerly, Twilight reached out with a hoof and, after a moment's hesitation, laid it on the side of Celestia's neck. She felt, though she could not see, Celestia flinch fractionally at her touch, and the ache it put in her heart gave her sudden resolve. She quickly looped her foreleg around the back of Celestia's neck, and pulled her friend close, burying her muzzle in the other alicorn's flowing mane. Celestia let out a shuddering breath, and pressed herself into the hug. After a long moment, she continued in a ragged whisper. “I'm sorry, Twilght,” she rasped, “I'm so sorry. I'm sorry to all of you. None of you signed up for any of it, and I did not have the right to ask it, but I needed you all so much...” Celestia took a deep, harsh breath, and Twilight rocked gently forward and backward, making quiet, soothing shushing noises, trying to imitate what she'd seen other ponies do to comfort someone they cared for. Slowly, Celestia's breathing returned to normal, and the Princess gently pulled herself away. The two alicorns looked at each other for a long moment, before Twilight solemnly hefted the book in her magic and held it out between them. Celestia shook her head and gently pushed the book back down to the bed with one hoof. “No. Keep it. You should read the rest of it.” A real smile finally crept out across Celestia's face and warmed her eyes. “There are dozens of pages still blank in it, my-- Twilight. Add to it. I am not the only alicorn with stories anymore.”
