Chapters Scroll 1: How Beautiful Is The Moon
At first, Twilight, I didn’t believe that I could fulfill your request. It seems that age eventually catches up to everyone, and I could remember few scant details about the happenings that occured that night. I found myself thinking back into time and finding nothing but the same details over and over again.
I used the elements of harmony and sent her into exile on the moon . That was all I was going to send to you until I went to revisit some old areas from long ago.
I traveled to the old castle. The walls were crumbled and seemed to be breaking, and it looked to me like they were always that way, even though I knew they weren’t.
I didn’t remember anything about the place.
I entered the throne room. There hung two banners, held up by some unknown force from long ago. I moved to my throne and sat down in a regal position. I started the quick shouting of commands in the olden vernacular to help engage any memories.
They didn’t.
I stood up and started down the hallway, passing by countless rooms for all different purposes that now looked identical to one another. Inside one room I heard a group laughing. I rushed in and frantically searched for anypony that was inside.
There was no one, but it was a start.
I continued down the hall until I reached a set of large double doors which opened up into a chamber. Inside everything seemed to be sun themed; the large windows were open to encompass everything in natural moonlight, and the bed seemed to be themed with white and gold.
It was my old room, and where everything started.
Although that night took on many names, the first one that was ever used was of my creation: The Eternal Evening.
It started in my chamber with Luna. We both stood in front of a large window that held room for both of us. It wasn’t every night we would switch the planetary bodies in a sensational way, and when no one was watching us it was it was not as complicated as we made it out to be. I started to lower the sun, and she began to raise the moon.
The time in between we both cherished as the best part of the day. The twilight was always beautiful as it was something both of us were able to take pride in. Everything seemed to glow to both of us, and the longer we both looked the more we found to enjoy.
As the ending stages of dusk commenced I glanced at Luna, who wore a solemn look. It didn’t fit her. She was staring directly at the moon, almost as if she was trying to drill a hole into it.
“What troubles you, Luna?” I’ve decided to translate what anyone says into modern vernacular for you, Twilight, as it saves lots of time. Luna seemed to jump as if in a state of shock, but quickly recovered. She flashed a bright smile.
“I was simply enjoying the show that we put on.”
“It seems you think it was awfully boring, then, focusing on your moon alone.” Her smile became strained.
“I was concentrating on what it looked like,” she breathed out. “It is beautiful, right?”
“Why would you need to concentrate on your moon, Luna?” I jovially accused. “You can look at it again tomorrow night, and the next, and so on.”
“Why should I wait until the night to look at it?” She glanced up and frowned before staring back at the floor. The frown turned into a wince and she closed her eyes in pain.
And keeled over.
And fell on the ground.
And looked up to me.
And stared into my eyes with pure hatred.
And teleported away.
I was transfixed to my spot, unable to understand what had happened so fast. We weren’t supposed to show so much weakness or lack of control. At the time I didn’t realize how immortality did not mean invulnerability.
I find it important to note that this was the moment my beliefs in myself started to falter. I was the ruler of my country and had all of the wealth to go along with it. Along with that came enough arrogance and narcissism to make anypony annoyed by how vain I acted. In retrospective, I shouldn’t have been so surprised at how Luna would act that night, as the option of talking things out was off the table from day one. Even though she was technically on the same level as me and should have been referred to as a Princess, no one gave her the correct title, or the same level of respect.
Knocking out of my trance I galloped over to the double doors to go on a search. Before I opened them I glanced back out the window at the moon hanging the sky. It was full and brighter than ever before.
I picked up a fast trot down the hall to hopefully find Luna. A group of guards were laughing in the lounge and I peeked my head in to inquire if they had seen her. A gray-coated guard stood up.
“You just missed her, Your Highness. She grabbed one of us and continued down the hallway,” he explained, “but didn’t tell any of us why.”
She’s at least walking, that’s good. I was speculative at what her plan was, but more afraid than anything. I didn’t hate her, and the anger she directed towards me had never felt so genuine. Still, if she was planning on hurting anyone or disrupting our growing country then I would have to stop her.
Then came the screaming.
I looked out the door of the lounge to see a stampede of ponies going straight towards me. They flowed into each room until it was fully filled. Each guard threw on their helmets and rushed out to help control the ensuing chaos. I flew into the air in the hallway and started to make my way towards the throne room.
As I entered the room I found two things that were one in the same: Luna, and the problem that caused everypony to run out screaming. I landed onto the floor.
She had created three blades out of condensed magic. Although hard to do for a normal pony, an alicorn can make a blade sharper than anything in existence. It’s a great tool for battle, but not so great when it’s being held to your neck.
One of the three blades did exactly that to me as I entered the room. I could have easily blocked it and gotten away, but I wasn’t going to do that as there were two more ponies in the room with me.
The first was an earth pony guard of similar coat color to Luna’s with brown hair. He seemed to be trying to keep his calm in between his shivers as he felt the knife on his neck. Our guard uniforms at the time didn’t protect the neck; most ponies would aim for areas lower or higher than that as they were easier and quicker to atack. That isn’t to say that their uniforms made of a mixture of stone and wood would have held back a blade created by Luna—
No, Luna wouldn’t do this. This is something else. Whatever afflicted her in my chambers has obviously changed her in some way. Although the name Nightmare Moon became popular afterwards (mainly through The Nightmare naming herself before I sent her away) I chose a different name beforehand.
That isn’t to say that their uniforms made of a mixture of stone and wood would have held back a blade created by The Affliction anyways.
The final blade was held to the throat of a scarlet unicorn mare. She was more focused on The Affliction than the blade which had already cut some of her golden hair. I scanned her eyes to see any sort of fear but all I saw was a sense of disappointment. The mare moved her neck to look at me (a dangerous feat with a blade close to it) and smirked. She shifted her eyes back to the The Affliction and gave me a light nod. I took it as my cue to start talking.
“What is this, Luna?” I tried to be as gentle and mellifluous as possible.
“YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS, SISTER!” The Royal Canterlot Voice was used once again. As she yelled I could feel the blade slowly inch closer to my throat. It didn’t help trying to remember what conflict this was about. I was thick-headed back then and that didn’t change for a long time.
“Luna, you’ve taken two ponies hostage, and for what point? Stopping now is better for all parties.”
She was unfazed, but lowered her voice. “I will release the hostages, but I’m going to need a trade.”
Progress was being made. “What do you want, sister? We can get anything adequate for your needs, as you know.”
“There’s a mountain north of here.”
“Yes. What do want with it?”
“Turn it into a monument. Of me. Once it is built I will release these two.” All of us in the room except The Affliction were confused. Why would she risk murder just for a monument of herself?
“Luna, it will take days to build something out of that mountain. Release them when it is half finished, and we will finish the second half afterwards.”
She smiled. It was sinister. I glanced over to the scarlet mare, and she frowned. She lightly shook her head, No.
The Affliction responded, “Very well. Have it done fast.”
I stepped back from the blade and it didn’t follow me. In the hallway the guards looked at me expectantly. Ponies popped out of doorways with eager and anxious looks. Everyone was looking at me for ruling, for support. I had never made a major decision without consulting with Luna first. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was about to give my first order as Monarch of Equestria.
“EVACUATE THE CASTLE!”
Signed,
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed! This will update eventually.
Scroll 2: Moving Too Fast
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I realized that I did not greet or close my last letter to you; I was frantically putting my words into parchment because I wasn’t sure if they would have held onto my memory if I had stalled any more. I found some irony in the situation, at least; I can memorize whole books and documents but when it comes to memory I’m worse than a goldfish. Fortunately, after sitting on my thoughts for a few days I seem to recall most of the events that occurred.
The first was that yelling out an order of evacuation stirs panic. Everypony scrambled for the exits, but the guards stepped in to prevent too much chaos. I started to trot to an exit but first glanced back at The Affliction.
She wore a look that I had only seen once before when we were both young fillies. We had both escaped our cottage in the middle of the night to gallop down to a creek. We had loads of fun until we both fell asleep and woke up the next morning to find out our mother was ready to destroy us. Luna, who was never a morning person, was still groggy. I blamed the whole outing on her and escaped with no problem. The look she gave me was the same as then: betrayal and anger.
I turned away and left the castle.
The Everfree wasn’t once so natural, and had a normal amount of trees for a forest. The brisk night air rushed in between them in a whir, with a moon so luminous I could see as clear as day.
Past the large outside staircase stood a large crowd all unified in confusion. As I stepped up onto the top staircase all eyes turned toward me.
I had to explain a situation I didn’t understand.
My posture became evidently lackluster; I eyed my hooves until reluctantly glancing up.
“I assume most of you want to know why you’ve been interrupted from your normal duties tonight, and I, uh, can explain why,” words flew out of my mouth, “We have a situation inside the castle that some of you are aware of. My sister, Princess Luna, has two hostages held against their will inside. She has requested that we build a statue and monument,” I turned toward the Northern Mountain, “On that mountain over there. We will start as soon as possible.”
I scanned the crowd for reactions; they were unconvinced.
“You’ve kicked us out of our home and expect us to go building? That’s not fair,” Somepony in the crowd stated, “I’m going to go to the farmhouse nearby and wait until this blows over. Who’s with me?”
Ponies started to turn around and walk away, and what was left of my confidence started to falter. Chefs, guards, workers, lawmen, and everypony else didn’t care enough to stay.
“That was not a suggestion! It was an order!” I yelled.
It didn’t work. The crowd was quickly dwindling down to a minute amount of ponies that were still watching me.
“If anyone thinks they can get away with this they are wrong! Come back now and there will be no punishments...” My voice trailed off. Eveypony was walking away, and more ponies started to drift out of view.
Is this what I had come to? Leadership, stability, and any semblance of normalcy I held had been thrown away in an amount of time shorter than a normal court session. I wonder now, looking back from the present, if every event transpired so fast. Has age and natural instinct shortened down how I view my life?
I can't say I remember everything I that went through my head back then; but I remember the words that came out of my muzzle.
“Fine! But if you leave, don’t consider yourself an Equestrian!”
There are right things to say in every situation, and I hit one. I straightened out my back and raised my head in a regal position.
“That’s right. All I—all we have worked for in Equestria is to build a nation not on war, destitution, or hatred. One thing that I have encouraged since day one is to work together and not give up on each other. We all share this castle as a home, and that means we are family. There is no possibility that not a single pony here cares about the two ponies that could be harmed or worse right now.”
Some ponies had stopped walking. One of them was an indigo-coated guard stallion.
“You!” I pointed a hoof at him. “Did you see the guard who is being held in there?”
He paused and glanced around. “I saw who it was, yes.”
“Did you know him?”
“Yes, I did.” Each guard spent more time in the lounge than actually on duty. The chances of a guard not knowing another would be rare. “We played hoofball together.”
“And what happens if you walk away tonight?” I stomped a hoof on the ground. “Goodbye hoofball, and goodbye to your friend. If I was the pony being held inside there, plenty of ponies would try and save their Princess. But when it’s a guard? By not helping another when something gets tough, we’re diminishing our own worth as Equestrians. If we give up on one another we’re damning ourselves to failure.”
Most of the ponies had turned back towards me or were already listening in. One pony yelled, “Why can’t you just fight her? It seems like an easier option!” The idea was tempting.
“My sister has never acted this way since before tonight, and I have known her longer than all of you have been alive. Our Luna wanted nothing but our nation to grow and to protect it. I’ve come to the conclusion that something sinister—an affliction, you could say—has attached itself to her with the intent to maim and destroy us. That is no longer Luna, but a monster who will not stop at any cost.” I didn’t know If The Affliction could hear me, but I hoped she could. “If I fight her and lose, there is nopony who can stand up to her and come out alive. Plus, going in to fight her would put both of the hostages in danger.
“We’re still thinking too far ahead; we need to get those ponies out of there, and the easiest course is to follow what The Affliction says. I need everypony to join together and help one another.”
Herd mentality is an interesting thing; the herd's leader had been reestablished and everypony was in front of me in a blink.
I scanned the full crowd all eagerly watching me. There was something about the way they all were engaged: it was lively and patriotic. I could feel the crowd’s excitement rush through me, and I blasted out with my loudest voice, “We can fight in our own way, and fight we will! Who will we fight for?” I paused.
Everypony was near jumping with excitement. I took in a great breath and the whole crowd exploded with unitedly noise,
“THE PONIES OF EQUESTRIA!”
I had done it; every member of the castle was ready to work on the monument. I could feel the adrenaline surging through me, and I was just as ecstatic as everyone else. The moment was, for lack of a better word, awesome.
My attention was drawn away from the crowd when I saw a small object appear in the air in front of me. It twinkled and fell to the ground with a clink. On closer inspection it was a small shard of a sanguine gem.
I didn’t want to admit to myself what I thought it was.
I picked the remnant up with my magical aura and started to examine it. The magical energy it was transferring to me just from holding it was enormous. I needed to keep this out of The Affliction’s knowledge and sight.
“Does anyone have a pair of saddlebags?”
After finding a pair that would fit my size, I gently placed the red shard at the bottom of my left pouch.
The ponies were starting to get jittery from the lack of work mixed with the excitement. A plan was needed.
"Okay everypony, listen up," I started, "I'll need three ponies to direct each species. Do we have any volunteers?"
Two stallions and one mare emerged from the crowd: Sky Flyer, the gray-coated weather manager, Mixed In, our head baker, and Clean Tome, the head unicorn librarian. I went down the steps and met them at the front of the crowd.
"Okay," I said, "Our goal is to build the foundation and outline of the monument on the mountain. If she wants to have half of it built and see it from inside the castle, it will need to be fairly large. So, we'll need materials."
"There are plenty of trees we can cut down," Sky Flyer suggested.
"That's what I was thinking," I responded, "All three of you should create teams of three to six ponies, send them out on a radius from this spot, and have them work their way back here. Make sure that they get as much material as possible."
"Wait," Mixed In interrupted, "We can't cut down everything. Leave trees that are of other uses, like apple trees, and anything that isn't worth picking up."
Clean Tome entered the conversation. "Speaking of apples, we'll need nourishment. You've still interrupted everypony's night, so food and rest are going to be necessary."
"You're right," I said. "Set up a camp here. Once you've made some groups, allow some to rest in shifts and others to go find food."
"Most importantly," Sky Flyer said, "What is this monument going to look like? We'll need building plans and ponies who understand construction."
I grimaced. "That's going to be the hard part. Eventually we're going to take some groups and split them up to start building. I'm going to go to the mountain now and see how we can build onto it."
Nopony continued on, so I nodded. "Get started then," I ordered without a smile.
They each nodded and turned around toward the ponies. As they started to organize, I took to the air.
The mountain was colossal, even from a far away distance. I flew through the night air above the blanket of trees and as the mountain took up more of my vision I began to make up some ideas.
Excavating or carving into the side was out of the picture; it would take too much time, and it was surrounded by problematic areas like a waterfall flowing down the side and a snowy apex.
I flew onto a perch on the side of the mountain. The cold stone echoed with each hoofstep I took.
A statue leaning on or being supported by the mountain could work. I imagined a mountain-sized Luna leaning against the side with a hoof, gazing across the landscape.
I couldn't see her without that look.
I turned away from the large view of the mountain and stared at ground far below me. Hoofsteps that were not my own grew louder and louder until they stopped right behind me. The unknown pony spoke.
"I loved the speech—it was very uplifting, and I would've done worse if our roles were reversed—but isn't it just a bit hypocritical?"
I looked up at the mare who had just spoken only to gawk in absolute shock.
The mare who Luna was holding hostage was right in front of me, completely free.
Princess Celestia
Scroll 3: Imaginary Facades
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
As you know, I’m not one for superstition. There have been too many times where I have muttered the phrase, “That’s impossible!” to the point where I wonder if it has become my ultimate mantra. Each time, I quickly find that whatever doesn’t have an explanation can be simply explained in a short briefing. It was one of the biggest reasons for starting my school, as you know.
Even I didn’t know everything about the arcane at one point. Starswirl the Bearded had left notes and theories that most ponies wouldn’t understand, and my ability to raise the sun and Luna’s moon were more of a feeling than actual magic.
Most unicorns went through life content that they could levitate objects, and found no reason to question it. Most pegasi didn’t check to see if their wing anatomy actually allowed them to fly with great stability, because they could and didn’t need to worry. Most earth ponies considered their green thumbs as part of the family and what they could do specially. This idea of simple dismissal for lack of an explanation is what gave the arcane the term magic .
But, like Starswirl, somepony eventually comes along and starts asking the right questions. When they find answers and show them to the world, we might claim that it is impossible at first, until an explanation is given. Superstition vanishes, and all goes back to normal. You are a great example of an open scientist yourself, Twilight.
Every now and then, we get somepony who asks the questions, but doesn’t dish out the answers. Motives switch from the love of knowledge to an entity unknown, and that can entail lots of problems up ahead.
How does this relate back to me meeting that unknown mare that night?
She was trying to impress .
The pale moonlight highlighted her scarlet form; amber hair flowed down to her neck with no instruction, yet managed to stay kempt. I glanced at her cutie mark to see an interesting sight: it was a red giant star, very similar to my sun, except hers wasn’t filled in with a special color, but shared the color of her coat.
I stared at her face. She was a unicorn that clearly understood magic; I peered into her teal eyes to see if I could learn something about her, but all I could sense was the confidence that accompanied her smirk. The mare took a step forward and raised a hoof in greeting.
“The name’s Glowing Sera.”
That is the best translation I can give you for her name; the olden language isn’t perfect (and neither is my memory) but I can assure you that it was a name of similarity to yours, Twilight. Her voice was harsh and worn, and it sounded like she was tired.
I outstretched my hoof and shook hers, shock still evident on my face. Eventually I shook my head to clear my thoughts and said, “Princess Celestia.”
Her smirk widened into a near smile. My name held some recognition to her. “I know,” she responded, “You’re causing quite a stir to everypony out here tonight.”
I was reminded of where I was: the side of the rocky mountain was cool and my hair was being more active than usual with interaction from the wind. The castle looked somewhat small from the distance.
“I would say you’re causing something interesting as well,” I started, “It isn’t everyday I see somepony both being held hostage miles away from here and walking free at the same time.”
“Ah, that,” she sighed, “I’m not exactly here right now.”
“What?” I asked. My questions were silenced when I saw what was happening to her muzzle.
It was fading from a rich red into a muddy gray. As I watched more the clay-like color spread to the rest of her face, then neck. Her face was no longer moving, but staring at me with that same smirk. Her eyes had become holes that I could see inside of. As the color spread down to her body and legs, I tapped the side of her muzzle. It was cold and wet.
The mare I was just talking with had transformed into a pony-shaped clay golem.
As the final bit of color disappeared, I tried to make sense of how that was even possible. Quickly, though, her legs started to fade back in and the scarlet started to spread upwards.
Once she had fully returned to a pony in front of me, she grinned wider. “How?” I gawked.
“It’s easier to explain how I did that by explaining my specialty. I’m a magician, if you couldn’t tell. More importantly, I’m a scientist, and one great spell-maker at that. That’s my specialty: I see a spell, and I can extrapolate to find new uses or combine it with other spells. What you just saw is called extended animation.”
“Extended animation?”
“Well, if I’m able to teleport myself to a different area, why couldn’t I teleport just my magic? It turns out that you can teleport your magic out to an object and inhabit it. I’ve gotten so good at the spell that I can throw half of my magic into this golem and stay half-alert in my real body!”
A feat like that is impressive in modern day, and back then I was amazed at how a spell like that was even possible. “So you’re not physically here right now?” I asked.
“No. I actually am in your throne room being held hostage, but I’ve been sort of half watching everything that you’ve been doing outside. And—getting back to what I originally said—it is awfully hypocritical.”
Although I was still trying to wrap my head around her strange spell, I decided to continue onto the next subject. “How is that so?”
“Well, your speech was all about not giving up on one another and joining together, but you’re doing the exact opposite of that such to Luna. For being impromptu, it was mustered up very quickly to denounce her as a monster.”
“You heard me in my oration. Luna has never and never would in her right mind do this to—”
“Are you sure about that? Because this doesn’t seem too surprising to me.”
I paused. Although I wouldn’t admit it at the time, she had a point. I was quick to jump at the fact that The Affliction was an affliction. Is it possible that I was wrong in assuming she was evil so quickly? No, I told myself, I’m not .
“Why would you know my sister better than me ?” I asked.
“Do you remember Luna’s trip to Fillydelphia a few months back?” I did. Luna left on her own to the growing town to see if they were following the laws of Equestria and if anything had gone wrong. When she came back I received a letter from some of the sympathetic Fillydelphia natives explaining the trip didn’t go too well for her, as none of the figures of authority took her seriously. I helped calm her down—I got her to stop fuming—and figured it was okay.
“Well,” she said, “I happened to be living there. When Luna saw me she took me back here as the castle’s official Spellmaker.”
“We don’t have a spellmaker, you must be mistaken.”
“I know,” she looked down, “Luna never went through with getting me set up. She used me to create spells specifically for her and to help train her magic to make it stronger.”
“What kind of spells did you teach her?” If Glowing was able to conjure up a spell so advanced as allowing her to take over objects, what she could have made for Luna could have been used against us.
“It was mainly just building up the magical strength and power, but I made a few spells. She wanted a spell that would give her more control in the dream-realm; instead of being able to only get rid of nightmares in dreams, she also wanted the ability to switch somepony’s dream into something happier. At least, she told me that was its use. I also created a spell that would allow the overlapping of magic; the blade she is holding to my throat right now has the power of three blades in one.”
“You’re telling me that you gave her the ability to triple her magical power?” I started to raise my voice.
She put her hooves up in defense. “No, no . She can’t triple all magical power, but for spells where she uses an aura to reach out—like levitating an object or conjuring up a blade—she can bend her magic to support itself as an extra foundation. I can teach you the spell as well, if you’d like.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea ,” I got out through gritted teeth, glaring her down, “You’ve hoofed over valuable tools to my enemy.”
I was leaning over her, and although it looked like she was cowering under me, she showed no fear on her face.
“First off,” she announced, “You’re quick to call Luna your enemy. Like I said before, maybe you don’t fully understand Luna. I believe she considered me a confidant when she first hired me. Luna was full of anxiety and paranoia toward you and the nation in general. She subtly put her thoughts about Equestria into conversation. I remember, she believed you were trying to throw her out completely.”
“What?” I was shocked; she never showed any sign of such.
“Yep. She lost trust of me sometime in the last week as well. She said I was plotting with you to stage an attack against her through my spells.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Not in a mind as paranoid as hers. I’ve seen this night being built up to for the past few months. Fortunately, Luna wasn’t completely wrong in her accusations. I weaved a catch into my spells. If any spell I create is used in a negative way, whether it be full-out murder or holding a blade to my throat , the catch will activate. The spell will inflict pains similar to poison on her. The more she uses any spell for wrongdoing, the more the spell will increase the pain felt. It will never kill her—no, I couldn’t do that—it won’t even weaken her that much, but it will hurt like Tartarus .”
“So what’s the point?” I inquired, “It’s not going to actually do any physical damage to her.”
“The goal was to discourage her from continuing down that path. I think it just enraged her more.”
Glowing Sera guiltily shrank and frowned. As she stared at the ground, it looked to me like she was contemplating voicing a thought in her mind. She boldly looked up and stared into my eyes with determination. “I’m sorry, Princess Celestia, but your sister—not some monster that you think has taken her over—has been waiting for this night to come for a long while. I don’t know what her end game is, or how she expects to win, but I know that the best pony to face her is you . I am certain that I will come out of this okay—but if you continue lying to yourself, then I can’t say the same for our diarchy or Equestria in general.”
Glowing was wrong; she had to be. My sister was An Affliction, A Nightmare Moon that wasn’t thinking correctly.
Glowing was wrong; she had to be. I had seen the hatred in its eyes; there was no Luna in there.
Glowing was wrong; she had to be. I couldn’t fight my sister, and I wasn’t going to.
I realized I had been staring into Glowing’s eyes for a long while. I could feel sweat drip down my muzzle.
“I’m sorry, but what you’re saying is false . I need to get back to our camp to see how everypony is doing in gathering materials.”
She could see through me. “Okay,” she answered suspiciously, “I’ll switch back to my body in the throne room and see what is happening there. I hope you’ll change your mind.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again as I took to the air off the mountain slope, “but I can’t .”
Glowing Sera was—if anything—bold. The ability to stand up and call out your ruler is rare, but she talked to me like I was an average pony.
I think it made her argument more believable.
That didn’t mean I was going to stop planning my fight against The Affliction—An Affliction that wasn’t my sister, but something else.
As I flew back toward the camp, I couldn’t seem to shake a peculiar feeling coursing through me.
It was superstition.
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
Ha! I can release a chapter that isn't almost two weeks apart from the last! I hope everyone enjoyed reading this, and thoughts/criticisms are always welcome.
Scroll 4: Giving and Taking
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I’ve always been what most ponies would call generous . I’ve funded towns, sponsored students, and dedicated more than enough time on the job that the overtime pay would be enormous (if I actually got any). It’s always been this way for me; my raising of the sun is the power I wield to give .
If someone asked me, though, if I was a generous pony, I don’t think I would answer yes.
There are ponies even I look up to, and the ability to give is one of the few traits I find most admirable. My mentor, Starswirl the Bearded, gave himself up in so many different ways for ponykind, by raising the sun previous to me, teaching Luna and I the rules of life, and (as far as I know) giving himself up to save us all. I also point to many members of the nobility, who although overshadowed by a select few, have only done good for the nation by giving all of their time and resources away to help aid us.
That’s the problem I have with myself and generousity : I view it as synonymous with self sacrifice . In my position, the only thing I’ve sacrificed in a long time is my time, but I’ve got a nigh infinite amount.
Even if time wasn’t a part of the equation, I still get a good rest over the night and subtly extended tea-time over an extra ten minutes. It becomes impossible to actually be generous or sacrificial when it’s your job .
That being said, I was off of the job when the sun moved below the horizon that night.
Normally I would go right to sleep. Ruling a country takes energy, and even I can’t go long without my beauty rest. I used to be in a groove for sleeping: after I would lower the sun, I would rest until about thirty minutes before the raising of the sun.
When I get into a groove, it’s tough for me to get out of it. I find my ruling becomes lackluster and I start to become irrational.
As I flew back toward the camp in front of the castle, I realized that I couldn’t let myself fall asleep that night.
My eyelids immediately became heavy and my wings started to freeze up. I just had to point out to myself that I missed my critical slumber. I shook my head, yawned, and focused on the cool night air.
And careened into a cloud.
I scrambled out of the white fluff and glanced around to see if anypony saw me. I was nearing the camp, but far away enough that unless I was being watched I was okay. The crash woke me up, and through my sudden lucidity I managed to get back on my hooves.
As I leapt off the cloud and took to the skies I judged the moon’s position to find the time of night. It was about 11:00, two hours after ~~Luna’s~~ The Affliction’s act of treason.
I glided down to the grass outside the castle and gently (and more regally than last time) touched down. Sky Flyer was discussing something with a group before seeing me and dashing over.
“Do you have an idea for how to build the monument, Your Highness?” he asked.
I nodded my head. “I’ll need a team that can carry some resources and eventually start building the foundations.”
He grinned. “I know who will take up that offer. There are two groups resting right now,” he pointed to a small camp area with around twenty cots laying on the grass surrounding a crackling fire. Twelve of the cots were filled with ponies sitting down, talking, or sleeping. “And you can have both of them. Once they get to the mountain you can direct them on what to do.”
“Thank you, Sky Flyer. How is everything working around here?” He grimaced at my inquiry.
“Well, it’s becoming a bit of a task for some groups to get resources. We stopped sending out teams for food because, well, look to your left.”
I turned my head and saw a mountain of red apples carelessly tossed on top of one another. I reached out with my aura and grabbed one. “That’s an awful lot of apples.”
“That’s what we said. Clean Tome and Mixed In are out trying to give everypony more clear directions. The abundance of apple trees is becoming a burden where the groups are spending more energy to find trees that aren’t near here and are usable. ”
I took a bite out of the apple. “Maybe we should start a farm; it seems that’s the more successful endeavor at the moment.”
He gave a curt laugh and said, “There won’t be enough resources easily available to us unless we take the trees surrounding the castle, and even then, the size you want for the monument could be too large. What do you think we should do?”
I pondered the question. Resources have never been dire for us, because we never had a need to use so much. Even if we had enough wood and stone to build the full thing, the lack of time and preparation would make its appearance laughable. There was no way that we could build it all and make it look nice. We were doomed from the start.
“I don’t think I’m going to need those two groups. Building the monument has been all talk from the start, and completing it in time is a mere illusion that we can’t—”
My last words struck me; a mere illusion . If I could get enough ponies to learn an illusion spell, then we could pretend we already completed the monument.
I refocused on Sky Flyer and reassured, “I know what to do.”
He slackened his shoulders in relief. “What are you planning?”
“Once we get the foundation and outline built on the monument—which will take a good amount of time, still—I’m going to need every unicorn to come back to this spot. They’re going to learn an illusion spell.”
Sky made an “oh” in resignation. He paused. “I didn’t think you used much time in learning magical spells, Your Highness. Who will teach them?”
I grinned. “I know a mare.”’
He stepped to the side and insisted, “Your ponies are over at the campfire. Take it away.”
As Sky Flyer disappeared into the forest—most likely to help another group—I trotted over to the campfire and the ponies loitering there. Once I came into sight, each pony quickly scrambled to their hooves and bowed.
“Rise, my little ponies,” I declared. “I’m going to need you all to accompany me to the Northern Mountain and start building the monument. Bring all the materials you can carry.”
I scanned the twelve ponies who were moving to the spare materials on the ground. They were evenly split into thirds for each species, and all seemed to be comfortable around one another; a few couples were staying very close to their partner. As most of the ponies strapped items like wood, stones, or tools onto their backs, I took to the air and started toward the mountain again.
I landed at the base of the mountain slightly off-balance. I stumbled in place before two ponies, a pegasus and a unicorn, straightened me out.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?” The unicorn asked.
Or was it an earth pony? My eyes were starting to drift shut, and the world transformed into a blurry haze for a few seconds. I quickly raised a hoof and slapped the side of my muzzle. I glanced at the pony below me, watching with worried eyes, and was relieved to find the she was indeed a unicorn.
“I’m fine. Just a little bit tired. Let me go to the waterfall over there and reawaken.”
She stepped away from my side and returned to the rest of the group beside the pegasus.
I hastened over to the waterfall that fell to the base of the mountain and dunked my head in. The cool waters rushed over me and I felt awake and relaxed for the first time that night.
I pulled out of the waterfall and shook myself off. The rest of the group was congregating a pile of all the materials they brought along, as well as a unicorn teleporting more in. As I neared their chosen spot I examined what was inside the pile: wood planks, loose stones, an apple or two, and cloud bits that would be used to bind everything together.
There was no way we could build a good monument out of those materials, but we didn’t need to.
“Okay, everypony! Come around and hear my plan!” The ponies circled around me and I started to speak.
“The goal is not to build a full monument. We’re going to build an outline of half the monument, and for a short period of time, cast an illusion spell on that half. When The Affliction sees half of the monument completed, she will release the hostages and we can let down the spell.”
“Won’t that anger her more, though?” An azure earth pony asked.
“If she gets rid of the hostages we can handle her being angry. I’ll start to plan an attack alone . I can’t risk anypony else getting hurt because of this.”
I scanned the ponies and found that most were ready to start building.
“Now, building up to her chest is what we will consider half of the monument. I want everypony to start building,” I pointed to an area higher up on the mountain, “There.”
The crowd started to murmur and shift in place. They went from ready to build to ready to go back to camp.
“What is it?” I inquired.
The crowd continued to look around at one another as if asking, who’s going to bite?
The same earth pony as before did.
“Uh, how should we get up there? Only a third of us are pegasi.”
I looked up at the spot I wanted them to build at. Although there was a path up to some spots, that wasn’t one of them. There was no way to get up there unless, “We build a staircase,” I ordered.
The crowd was still skeptical. “Very well, Your Highness,” The ponies said at once as they turned to the mountain and started to move toward the building site.
I could see them shuffling hesitantly along. Some of them wore angry frowns, and subtly glared at me as they passed. This wasn’t what they signed up for, I thought. Their thoughts shifted from believing I was a good leader to believing I didn’t want to work.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to help build a staircase up the mountain, but I felt like it would drain the small amount of energy I had left out of me.
The only thing I could give was my energy, but instead I was taking theirs.
They were sacrificing time for me, and I responded by adding more loads onto their backs.
Who’s generous now, huh?
I needed to build that staircase.
“We have a change of plans, everypony! ” I announced. The ponies that had passed me turned back with eager looks. I softened my voice. “I’ll build the staircase, if all of you can provide me with the materials.”
As everypony trotted back to me, I could see them smile, not just at each other, but me as well.
I switched places with them; the mountain loomed over my head, and the ponies behind me were either resting or handing me tools.
“Well, no point in wasting time. Let’s get started!” I cheered. They cheered back.
I took a bit of cloud with my magic and stuck it on the side of the mountain to my left. Although it wouldn’t seem like it, if we made clouds out of a viscous liquid, it would stick to anything easier than glue.
The wood plank was about my width and was the size of a normal hoof. I jammed it onto the cloud, and it stayed. Carefully, I raised my foreleg and placed it on the plank. I still had my back legs on the ground.
It creaked and slid down on the cloud, but held in place.
The next bit of cloud hit the stone about the same distance above the first bit of cloud. After placing a similar-sized plank onto the cloud, I stepped up onto it. I was now fully on the two planks.
They creaked and slid down on their clouds, but held in place.
And thus I continued the process; place down some cloud, stick a plank into it, and pray that I wouldn’t fall. There was a rhythm to it. I didn’t need to focus on it, and because of that my body remembered it was tired.
Eventually I was on the twentieth step, about halfway to the area I was trying to reach. I moved my head down to look at the ground, and saw small specks of ponies through blurry eyes. By now pegasi were flying up to me and handing materials. One pegasus flew up and delivered some bad news.
“We’re out of wood planks.”
“You only had twenty of them?” I asked, irritated.
“Well, we need to save some for the building of the actual monument itself. If we use them all on just the staircase, we’ll need to set out for even more materials than we already have.”
“You’re right,” I acknowledged, “But what am I going to use in their stead?”
He lifted up some cloud and three stones. “We figured you could stick these three together and have a decent hoofhold.”
The three stones were half my width; I was going to have to scrunch up to continue on.
Yet I did; the three stones were placed to the side of the mountain, and I tried to fit two hooves onto it; I’m sure it was quite the comical sight.
After about ten of those I got back into a rhythm, albeit harder to keep. I placed another step and one of the stones fell off into the abyss below me. I hugged the wall tightly and recoiled my hoof.
There was nothing to do but continue on; although I just had a scare, I still found myself getting sluggish. I teetered to the edge of the step without realizing it and continued a mere misstep away from death. I was unfazed behind my sleepy eyes.
I was on the thirty-ninth step; the pegasus flew up, handed the final batch of materials to me and flew back down into what was now a foggy haze from so high up. My tiredness locked up my wings. The part of the mountain that I had built to dipped in and was a great viewing spot from inside the castle. It was probably why Glowing Sera teleported her magic there; you could see it perfectly through a castle window.
I plunked the cloud and stones to the left side of the mountain and took a step forward.
In a spot that didn’t exist.
I was thrown off balance. My left front foreleg also left the staircase. I could feel the wind ripping through my ears as my eyes turned to face a ground below that was suddenly and terrifyingly clear. All but one hoof was off the staircase, and I could feel it starting to lift into the air—
“Woah there!”
I was enveloped in a teal glow that carried me to the top of the mountain. I was turned around to face whomever my savior was, though I had a feeling I already knew.
“What were you thinking! ” Glowing Sera yelled. “Why did you have to scale the mountain? Anypony could have done that! Don’t you understand your value in this situation?”
I was placed gently on the mountainside. “I needed to prove to everypony down there that I was willing to give as much as they have, and in turn they will now build with more confidence and energy than before. I gave some of my energy to them because it was the right thing to do .”
Glowing Sera stepped closer and opened her mouth before being interrupted by a twinkle in the air.
The twinkle hit the mountain stone and rock with a clink. I picked it up with my magic and raised it into the air.
It was a small shard of deep purple that was emitting waves of magical energy.
“Is that what I think it is?” Glowing Sera exclaimed with growing curiosity.
I sure hoped not.
-Princess Celestia
Scroll 5: The Beginning Has Just Begun
Nothing ever goes to plan, Twilight. I planned on writing this letter to you, but each time I crumpled up the parchment and started anew and crumpled up the parchment and started anew and
And I forgot to address your name at the top. I'll just start the letter over and formulate how I want to write this out.
Actually...
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Nothing ever goes to plan. I'm sure you know that by now, but as time swiftly passes on, I forget the small elements of a plan that end up changing the course of events completely. Of course, the elements that changed my plan were a bit more important.
They were The Elements.
When I first found the red shard on the ground, I knew right away. That didn't stop me from denying it, but when the second element appeared before me there was no way to get around that fact.
And that hurt me the most.
You see, when The Elements first appear, it means they have chosen somepony as their rightful owner. Depending on the situation, an element can switch and find a new bearer at any time. With this thought in mind The Elements become less of an object of power and more of an entity unknown.
An entity that only appears when it knows it will be used .
The Elements of Harmony will stay around until they are no longer needed. That was why their appearance brought out denial and pain in me.
What would I need to use The Elements for?
"I need to study this, Princess Celestia!" Glowing Sera exclaimed. She grasped the shard and examined it closer. "I haven't seen an Element of Harmony before! How many more do you have?"
I clasped the shard in my own magic and floated it into my saddle bag. "We don't have time to study these right now. You can look at them later."
She frowned. "They're here for a reason."
The workers appeared at the top of the staircase with supplies. They split into for groups; one for each leg. None of them showed any sign of witnessing my fall, and started to build the monument with the same materials that I built the faulty staircase with.
"You're awfully quick to stop berating me when something interesting appears," I commented.
"I'll care more when your life is actually on the line. You're dodging my question."
I trotted over to the edge of the mountain and gazed at the castle down below. Although a mere speck from so far a distance, its ostentatious design stood out from the green shadow of forest. Glowing trotted to my side.
"I don't know what The Elements are here for." I admitted.
"Really? I have a few ideas."
I turned my head to face her. "Like what?"
"You know—send her to Tartarus, exile her from Equestria, deal the final blow—"
"Don't say another word," I ordered, "Or I'll consider it treason."
"You're still in denial."
"I am not in denial!" I shouted. "You have decided to slander my name and Equestrian Royalty by suggesting such acts! Luna will not face any harm because Luna is not the one inside that castle holding you hostage! It's something else that's—"
"She removed the blades from our throats."
"What?" I asked.
"We're not tied up. It isn't exactly subtle to leave one's body, and she's noticed I've been projecting outside, but hasn't decided to kill me. In fact, I don't think she wants to. She wants to arrest me. And the guard, and you, and anypony who defies her."
"Why does she want to arrest me?" I was confused.
"She's been rambling to herself the whole time we've been in the castle. One word that kept coming up was what you just tried to use on me. Treason ."
I sat down on the ground. "Oh no."
"What is it?" Glowing asked.
"She's the one in the wrong. She has to be. Because," I pulled out the two shards in my bag. "I've got the Element of Loyalty."
I showed Glowing the red shard in my bag and she examined it. "That's the Element of Loyalty, as far as I can see. If you're in the right, then why does she think you're in the wrong?"
"She's not aggressive to you two at all in there?" I questioned.
"No."
"Then I have no idea."
I glanced up at the builders; they were making fast progress. The wood I had previously used was starting to shape a frame of four legs and the bottom half of a horse's body. Glowing watched them work as well.
I now had a second wrench in my plan. First The Elements, and now I had Glowing's information.
"You don't actually think Luna will view this junk pile as passable, right?" Glowing wasn't wrong in calling the "monument" junk. The frame was full of crooked edges, the planks were balancing on top of one another so dangerously that a large gust of wind would destroy the whole operation. One pegasus was frantically dashing between the four legs with cloud adhesive to prevent the wood from completely tumbling down.
"We're only building the frame."
"And why is that?" She asked.
"I—I need your help, Glowing Sera."
She grinned and turned away from me, mocking hurt. "Oh, I see how it is. Try to arrest me for treason until I'm needed, and then I'm free to go."
"You're right, this is rude of me." I admitted. "We've gotten off on the wrong hoof tonight. I want to extend an invitation to you to help aid the nation of Equestria." I extended a hoof.
She turned back to me and reached out her own. "I can't really say no, can I?"
We shook.
"What do you need?"
"I want you to teach every unicorn we have an illusion spell. We'll use the illusions to cover up the open space between the frame and make it look like a beautiful monument of Equestria's own Princess Luna."
She put her hoof to her chin and pondered the request. "How much time do I have?" She asked.
"The faster you get everypony to cast the spell, the faster your real body is out of the castle and your 'hostage' situation is resolved."
She grinned. "If you get them all up here, I can teach the spell you want in thirty minutes."
"Okay."
She stood up and trotted over to the statue. "We're going to need anypony that's capable, Princess. Including you."
I opened my wings and got ready to fly. "Of course."
I took off into the open air and soared across the clouds. I flew above the castle and peered into the throne room through a window.
Inside was Luna, pacing back and forth. I couldn't tell what she was muttering, but given what Glowing Sera told me, I had a few ideas.
Glowing Sera was in the room as well. Her eyes were closed and her horn was faintly glowing. She was right , I thought. ~~The Affliction~~ ~~Luna~~ whoever was in there wasn't doing anything to stop Glowing from casting her spell, if it even knew what the spell did.
I realized I had been staring too long as my eyelids started to drift shut again. I kicked back up and brought myself to the campsite.
I couldn't call every unicorn and tell them why they were needed. Luna would hear and our plan would be given away. I needed to trust everypony to trust me .
"All unicorns !" I shouted. "Come to the base of the Northern Mountain immediately! Climb the staircase up to the monument for Princess Luna! "
That wouldn't raise suspicion from Luna/The Affliction. I took to the air and made my way back to the top of the mountain.
As I touched ground I saw Glowing Sera scribbling notes down into a book. I cantered over to her.
"Almost ready?" I asked. "They'll be here any moment."
She looked up and smiled. "I've got it."
The frame of the monument was nearly done. It looked like I wanted it to, although a hobbled-together mess. You could clearly see that it was an outline of a pony's legs and part of their body.
After waiting for a few more minutes, unicorns started appearing at the top of the staircase. After a large enough crowd appeared Glowing Sera stepped up and began to explain what we would be doing.
The illusion spell was a simple one, at least. It was the first illusion spell I learned, and was what I would teach all of my students in the future. That includes you, Twilight. It was muscle memory to learn it; envision what you wanted to exist, point, and cast. We were each tasked with adding an azure-coated layer in the open areas of the monument frame.
The illusion spell was simple for me, at least. As I watched everypony around me I found most were struggling with casting a large amount. By the end of the magic casting session, we had a lot of tired unicorns and three quarters of the frame covered.
Glowing Sera moved over to me with a strained look. "We don't have enough," she sighed, "And I can't cast any more spells or this body I'm in will collapse. We're going to need you to finish the final part for us."
I looked at the only uncovered area; it was the upper half of the left foreleg, along with part of the body and breast.
It wasn't until later in my life that I started to focus on magic, and I was at the time poor at casting a large amount of spells. There was a chance that I would pass out and be completely useless for the rest of the night.
"I'll do it."
I had more ego than energy in my head back then.
I managed too, though. My golden aura finished off the monument. It shared the color of Luna's coat, and the bottoms of the legs were a darker color for her hooves.
There was one problem, though.
I had no sleep, and the sun wasn't out. I had little energy at my disposal, and a lot of nighttime left that needed me at the top of my game. I could feel my eyelids once again drifting shut, and rest sounded more appealing the more I thought about it.
The monument was completed and my job was done. I could lie down, take a nap, and wake up to find that everything was okay.
"Well," Glowing Sera said, "You followed through with your part of the deal. Go into the castle, negotiate, and get us out of there!"
"Yeah! " Everypony's cheers rang out and startled me awake once more.
There were so many wrenches thrown into my plan, but the one I least expected was coming to play. It wasn't The Elements, or Glowing Sera, or if I was going against Princess Luna or The Affiction.
I was still tired.
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
Surprise! I didn't think I could do it this week, but I did. I hope you enjoyed!
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I forgot, originally, how the exchange actually occurred. Everything was flowing back to me smoothly, but when I started to delve into the more detailed parts, my memory just wasn't able to keep up. Why , I asked myself, do I keep forgetting?
Is it because I'm old?
Some half-baked spell is blocking my memory?
Or do I just want to forget about Luna?
I don't know, but the only way to reignite the memories was to revisit the old castle once again. It's been about a month since my previous visit, and it looks just as it did on the exterior as it did 1,000 years ago.
The exterior was as far as I got, though, before the memories kicked back in. All I had to do was stand in front of the large double doors that held my story inside.
The moon hung directly above me. It was midnight.
The caretaker of the moon was separated from me only by a pair of wooden doors and a cold, dark hallway.
I glanced behind me, and down the stone staircase at the ground below. Every pony that had previously lived in the castle watched tensely as I prepared to take more ponies out of it.
I pushed open the wooden door with a hoof and peeked through into the hallway and scanned around for any traps.
There were none.
I stepped into the hallway and trotted down to the throne room. The carpet that lay on the ground did nothing to muffle my steps as I trotted past the vacant rooms. Every noise echoed off the walls, and yet that didn't faze me.
Nothing was fazing me much at this point. I was too tired.
I was able to function though. With a little help from Glowing Sera, I learned a spell that would wake me back up anytime I got too sleepy. I didn't have to deal with constantly fighting sleep, but holding it off until later was going to curse me once everything was said and done.
As I neared the end of the hallway, the throne room grew closer, its harbinger a warm light and the sound of hoofsteps pacing back and forth.
I stepped into the throne room, and all eyes turned toward me.
There were three pairs: Glowing Sera's, the male guard's, and Luna's. Or maybe four; I couldn't decide who Luna was at the moment.
"Is it finished?" Luna asked. She slowed down her pacing to a stop in front of the window facing the monument.
I stared into her eyes. I looked closely. They weren't able to focus well enough from so far a distance.
"Yes, half of it. Look out the window."
As Luna moved to the window facing the mountainside, I faced Glowing Sera. She must have switched out of her golem body and moved back into her original one. As usual, she didn't seem that worried about the situation. She pushed back a lock of golden hair out of her eye and flashed me a smile.
The guard, on the other hand, was still nervous. Although he had stopped shivering profusely, he was sweating a good amount. Whether from fright or from the heat of the lamp next to him, I wasn't able to tell. He had taken off his armor, which I would have done too. It was heavy, rough, and not very practical when you actually had to fight. He matted back his brown hair so it stuck to his azure coat.
And back I glanced at Luna. She was still staring out the window, closely examining our monument.
"Hmm."
"Hmm what?" I asked.
She turned around and stared at me. "You can't tell a lie, right sister?"
Could she tell? Had we done so poor of a job using illusion magic that she saw straight through our plan?
"I'd like to think I'm an honest person, yes."
"So tell me," she began with a grin, "is that monument real? It seems like you finished it awfully quick. How long has it been, about four hours?"
I quickly glanced back at Glowing Sera. Her smile had faded, and she started fidgeting nervously.
Honesty was something I was lacking that night. When your whole plan is to swindle somepony, you can't just flip around and admit it to their face.
And then I felt a jingle in my saddlebag. It sounded like two shards hitting against each other.
Two Elements of Harmony, giving me a curt reminder, Don't forget about us!
At the sound of the jingle Glowing Sera jumped slightly. She tilted her head and frowned, don't do it.
"Do you remember when we were kids, Luna, and we went to the creek by our house one night?"
Luna thought about it for a few seconds before nodding, "Yes. We only went once. What about it?"
"Do you remember what happened the morning afterwards?"
"I . . . I think you blamed everything on me. Even though you planned it, and you told me what to do the whole time."
"You're right."
I had no idea where I was going, but I was going to follow it to the end.
"You're stalling." Luna accused, "Tell me: is the monument real? Yes or no?"
"I learned a few things that night. The first, although simple enough, was that the night was very pretty. I think you were more infatuated with it than I was. That's not very surprising, considering how things turned out."
Luna was frowning. Glowing Sera was looking at me concernedly, and the guard was rubbing his hooves through his hair in confusion.
"Yes or no ?" Luna repeated.
"The second thing I learned was that bugs don't like me at all. I don't see you ever having problems with mosquitoes but anytime I go for a walk I run into some, and then I have to go back to the castle and get checked for malaria. You're lucky."
"Answer my question!" Luna snapped. She had taken on a predatory pose, and seemed ready to pounce at any moment.
"The final thing I learned was that lying is really useful. It makes things way easier on small things that nopony cares about. A little fib never hurts. I felt bad, though, when I saw you take the beating for everything that night. Still, I continued to lie, as it was easier and you didn't seem to mind—"
"YES OR NO?" She commanded.
"Yes! It's fake! Do you think we can do that in such a short amount of time, in the middle of the night at that? What's gotten into you? "
I was fuming.
She was fuming.
The guard was gawking at us.
Glowing Sera was staring silently out the window.
And the room was silent.
I may not have looked it, but I was hating myself a lot at that moment. I had wasted the night's work, had my sister ready to (as far as I knew) kill me, and everypony waiting outside had no doubt heard me give away the whole plan.
Everything could still be okay, though. I just needed a twinkle in the air. If the element appeared, it was worth it.
I waited, silent. No one had dared to make a sound, and I could hear Luna and I huffing out air. There was a strange relief to facing up against her; it made everything simple. Whatever she was, I was against it. That was clear to me and her.
I broke eye contact with Luna and looked into the air, waiting. Nothing had appeared yet. No elements, no escape.
Luna straightened out of her fighting stance. I did the same, but we both cautiously kept our distance.
"Thank you for your honesty, sister." She wasn't smiling, and her tone was monotonous.
I stared into her eyes again. Nothing had changed. They were Luna's eyes.
She was scanning my eyes as well. Could I say the same for myself?
"How tired are you, sister?" She smirked.
I saw her game. It was simple enough: be truthful with each question I answer.
"Very tired."
"How did you all learn an illusion spell so fast?"
"She taught us." I pointed a hoof at Glowing Sera.
"Were you planning to trick me?"
"Yes."
"Did you think it would work?"
"I was hoping it would."
"Are you trying to overthrow me?"
"No."
"Are you trying to overthrow me? "
"No."
If she was going to barrage me with questions, I could respond with some of my own.
"What's gotten into you, Luna? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong with me . How about you?"
"I feel fine. Why would you want us to build a monument?"
"I . . ."
She paused.
"I'm not going to say."
"Then let us go."
"No."
"Why not? If you don't have a reason for it, we don't need to build it, and the three of us are wasting our time."
As Luna thought, I scanned the ground once again for a shard. Nothing caught my eye.
Glowing Sera was still staring out the window at the faux monument. Her horn was glowing, and she was concentrating on something.
She caught my glance and motioned her hoof in a twirl, hurry up .
"Yes or no, Luna?"
"N—"
She grinned malevolently.
"Oh, what the Tartarus. Go on ahead."
We all were shocked. The guard let out a sigh of relief, and I furrowed my brow in confusion.
"What are you planning, sister?"
She stared directly into my eyes.
"Nothing you can prevent."
I turned around to face the guard and Glowing and said, "Come on. Let's go."
They both followed behind me as I stepped out of the warm light into the cold hallway.
As we walked down, Glowing Sera caught up with me, and through gritted teeth said, "The illusion is about to drop. Once it goes, all of the frame will fall with it. I've been holding it up, but I can't do it much longer."
We walked faster.
I turned back around for one final glance at Luna. She caught my eye, before keeling over and wincing similarly to how the night started.
She threw her head up and pierced a look of fury into me.
I turned around and didn't look back.
At the end of the hallway loomed the two wooden double doors. I pushed one forward and opened up to see the crowd below in a similar state as I left them.
We stepped out at the top of the staircase.
I opened my mouth to speak. "My ponies of Equestri—"
A shattering crack rippled through the air.
All eyes turned toward the monument. The illusion had fallen away so it was just a wooden frame.
A wooden frame that snapped under its own weight.
As the planks, stones, and clouds toppled over one another into a pile of earth and dust, I reopened the door and listened into the castle hallway.
Luna didn't make a sound.
Once the monument was finished crumbling, I closed the door and faced the crowd again.
"Go set up a campfire. Get some rest, and we'll work more tomorrow."
They agreed and cantered off to different areas across the forest. I looked at the guard next to me.
"You should go with them. It's been a stressful night."
He nodded and went down the staircase to a group of ponies who offered kind words and comforting acknowledgements.
I turned to Glowing Sera, but she cut me off before I could speak.
"What were you trying back there, just giving everything away?"
"I was hoping for another element. Honesty."
She raised her hooves in the air. "Well, there isn't one. Look how great you did. If Luna wasn't planning something else , we'd be back to square one."
I nodded. "You're right. I was trying to force The Elements to appear. They don't want to, for me at least. It was foolish, and putting everything into jeopardy for a hunch was even worse."
"Well," she sighed, "at least you're honest about that. Let's go find a campsite. There's got to be one group that'll let us join."
She started down the stairs, and I followed.
Until a twinkle shined in the air.
A shard fell onto the staircase with a clink.
On closer examination, it was orange, and radiated large wafts of magic from its center.
"You've got to be kidding me."
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
Well, I can't say where we are chapter-wise or how far we are on the word count in total, but I can say that we're around the halfway point for the story right now.
Get ready for some more twists and turns and I hope you enjoyed reading!
Scroll 7: Faux Celebration
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Some cruel entity was laughing at me inside my head as I picked up the Element of Honesty and placed it into my saddlebag. I faced Glowing Sera.
"I don't really know what to say for that." She commented.
I took a step down the staircase. "Well, at least we know they're still coming my way. Go on ahead and find a group to join." I continued walking down the stairs and found her trotting next to me.
"Don't alienate yourself, Princess. I said that the both of us will find a site, and I meant it."
We reached the bottom of the staircase. "Okay," I murmured.
"So," I said as we walked into the forest, "What are you going to do now? Your 'position' isn't exactly around anymore."
She looked up at me. "I don't fully know yet."
"If I were you I'd just hightail it back to Fillydelphia, and get out before this situation gets any worse." At the mention of Fillydelphia she closed her eyes and winced before quickly readjusting.
"No, I don't think that's the right place for me to go. I'll ride this one out and see what comes of it."
I peered at the moon above. "Aren't we all? "
We continued in the direction of an orb of light. As we grew nearer the ponies sitting around the fire became clearer in our vision. I stopped.
"I don't know if I should go over there."
"Why not?"
"I'm tired. If they see me they'll start to lose faith in a weakened ruler."
"That's foolish. You're tired and not thinking straight. You weren't hiding it very well before. We're going over there to sit down, whether you want to or not." Glowing started forward again.
"I'll just sleep right here. I need it anyways." She turned around and trotted back up to me.
"No ," She demanded. "Talk with your citizens. It might be more enjoyable than you think."
I wavered on what my decision should have been. The spell I had cast to keep me awake was wearing off, and the energy I had left to renew it wasn't enough to prolong the spell. I wasn't going to be able to keep awake much longer anyways.
"Fine, I'll do it. I'm going to fall asleep eventually."
In retrospective, that decision to stay awake a little longer was both life-saving and damning at the same time.
We approached the campfire to find it held the standard look: there was the flame in the middle, surrounded by four logs a few feet apart from one another. It formed a somewhat even square. There were six ponies taking residence on three of the logs. Five were faces I had seen in the crowd. The sixth pony was the azure guard who was previously held hostage. He was the only one who was asleep, and deep at that.
We heard them talking amongst themselves until we stepped out from behind the brush.
Immediately all five of them bowed; nopony bothered to wake the guard.
"Rise," I lightly ordered, "I'm not here to rule. I need some rest, just like all of you."
Glowing and I sat down on the unoccupied log. To our left was the sleeping guard and a violet earth pony stallion. To our right was a gray unicorn stallion with what seemed to be a green pegasus marefriend. Across from us were two unicorn mares: one was Clean Tome, the librarian, and the other was tan-coated and holding a mandolin.
"How is everypony doing tonight?" I asked with a smile.
No one made a sound. I eyed each of them and they each awkwardly tried to avoid my gaze.
The green pegasus quietly said, "I'm doing fine, thank you."
Those ponies did not understand how to handle a Princess sitting down with them. And why would they? I had to be the one to get them used to me if I wanted to relax. I looked at the sleeping guard.
"You know, he isn't going to be waking up any time soon. You can talk as loudly as you'd like."
I payed attention to their faces. There were not any welcoming smiles.
"Or . . . not."
I stared into the fire. Its crackles failed to mask the sound of loudly chirping crickets, but easily silenced all of the ponies sitting around it. At the time there were few swampy areas and few dry areas in the Everfree forest, so the wood and kindling were always great for fires. The one in front of me enveloped the dark area into light. It wasn't a warm light, like inside the castle, though. At its core the fire was white, yet on the surface it sheened with a magical glow. Much like my sun, this smaller fire's caretaker aided the fire's development with magic.
That meant that I was able to play with it. If I couldn't break the ice by talking to them, I was going to put on a little show.
I reached out a hoof and neared it closer to the fire. Each pony let out an exclamation of surprise and Glowing Sera reached out to try and stop me. She didn't get there in time, and my hoof was already basked in flames. I pulled the hoof out and showed the whole group.
"Controlling the sun has its perks. I didn't just get this because I wanted to put my hoof in fire. If you find the right materials," I stood up and started looking through the brush with my magic aura, "you can put on quite the show."
"What are you doing?" Glowing asked.
"I may not be amazing at some areas of magic, but a kind zebra once taught me all about fire !" I found what I was looking for: a small yellow flower that was common in the Everfree area. Along with that was a rock with a white crystalline layer on top, and some charcoal from the fire.
"More specifically," I exclaimed as I prepped myself to add the three items together, "Pyrotechnics !"
I placed the three items onto my hand and the fire shot up into the air. It was accompanied by a whizzing sound and a loud pop as it reached its peak. The fire bloomed into an orb that resembled a sun, my sun.
I turned back at them with a grin and saw all five of their faces along with Glowing Sera's were in awe.
"How was it?" I asked as they each erupted into applause.
There isn't a better way to break the ice than with a little party. Everypony was lively and talkative as I sat back down.
I noticed the guard was still asleep. "Looks like somepony isn't that interested in fireworks," I quipped to a series of chuckles.
And we continued on having fun; I showed some more tricks that I could perform, and Glowing Sera helped explain the background behind each spell I casted. Eventually we winded down and kept on talking. The unicorn next to Clean Tome had set her mandolin on the ground.
"Hey," I said to grab her attention, "Why don't you play us a tune?"
She looked down at the mandolin and back at me. "Oh, you wouldn't want me too," she hastily sputtered while raising her hooves up, "I'm not that good."
The couple on the other wood bench sat up. "Oh, come on, you're great!" The stallion complemented. "I'm sure the Princess would love a show."
She hesitantly looked back at me. "Well, okay."
All eyes turned towards her as she picked up the instrument and set it on her lap. She was bracing it against her with her hooves but pushed down the strings with her magic and got ready to strum with a pick.
The barcarola cooled down the excitement from a burning sun to a relaxing pool. That wasn't a bad thing, though; her fast strums combined with the long held notes created a beautiful sound that washed over us all at the same time. Once again, a magic had overtaken my thoughts, but it wasn't a sun this time. It was music.
I could see myself rowing along a lazy river, without a care to be held. I was taken back to a time when I was no Princess, just a child and sister with ambitions and goals. Goals that I shared with another, that I would eventually succeed in reaching and fulfill my role as a pony the world would pay attention to. As the music sped up the river swiftly passed by ponies from long ago that I barely remembered, but each pony was calmly wading in the river, happy about what they had achieved. I was too. I flowed along and held the elements of a happy life with me. A harmony that I held with myself and myself alone, but with every other pony that I came across.
I realized that as the tune played I had forgotten about everything that had occurred through the night. I had a friend by my side, a group to join and have fun with, and a place to relax. There was no need for a new plan, or place to go next.
My sentiment was shared with the rest of the ponies in the circle; I had not only calmed myself but made the night better for these ponies.
It was a small step to serve the ponies in the world I had control of, but the most important one I could take.
As the mandolin slowed down and faded away, I looked back up at the moon above and grinned. I next looked at Glowing Sera, and she was grinning too, along with everypony who was awake around the campfire.
"That was beautiful."
I watched as directly in front of me something twinkled in the air.
It fell to the dirt ground with a pat .
On closer inspection by me and all of the ponies around the campfire, it was a light blue shard.
Glowing Sera looked at me in awe. "Is that . . . another one?"
I levitated the shard up in the air and felt the magic wafting off of it.
"This is definitely another one. I would say it would be the Element of Laughter, by its color."
"How many do you have now?" She asked.
"This should be," I levitated the saddlebags off of my back and peered inside, "the fourth one."
"Amazing."
The Element was amazing in how much it reminded me of where I was. I was not carefree, and was not ready to use The Elements on my sister. They took me out of the small dream I created for myself from the music.
"Well," I said aloud to the ponies around the campfire, "You can take a closer look."
Four of the ponies scrambled to look at The Element with ooh's and ahh's. The fifth one, the violet mare who sat next to the sleeping guard, prodded his side with a hoof.
"Come on, get up. We've got something you don't see every day, you don't want to miss your chance."
She prodded his side again, except a little harder. "Hey," she said loudly, "get up."
I had taken notice of her at this point. I stood up from my seat and cantered over to the guard. She grabbed him by the shoulders with and started to strain her voice.
"Wake up!" She yelled. The other ponies stopped paying attention to the shard and joined me in examining the guard.
"Is he still breathing?" Glowing Sera asked.
I placed my ear in front of his mouth. His breathing was shallow, but there. I moved my ear down to his heart, and found that it was still beating, albeit lightly.
"He's alive," I said, and the ponies sighed in relief. "But he's as good as dead if we don't figure out what's wrong with him."
I looked at Glowing Sera. Her face had paled and her eyes widened.
"What is it, Glowing?"
She looked me in the eyes and said, "I know what's happening."
Through our silence rang out the cries of help and terror that littered through the forest.
As that voice started to laugh inside my head once again, I wasn't able to tell if I was burning up or drowning.
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
This was chapter was a bit harder to write than usual. I didn't know how I wanted to show the Element of Laughter, and I decided it would be good for it to appear when Celestia allowed herself to celebrate and pretend it life was better for a little while. It can't be too happy for too long, though.
Tune in once again sometime in the future!
Scroll 8: Trying To Prevent
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
When you look up at The Moon, what do you see? A looming threat? A great friend? A bringer of solace? Or just a rock?
Now think back to the past, when its visage displayed the silhouette of Nightmare Moon. Is your answer different?
When you live as long as I have, everything shifts meaning constantly, and oftentimes it would be the result of my own meddling with what I want the public to think. Call it what you will, but not everything that is part of history is completely true; sometimes it is better for ponies not to know.
No matter how hard I try, I can't influence, meddle, tamper, or shift the meaning of The Moon. Tales involving The Moon, ponies involving The Moon, and history involving The Moon can be changed, but it doesn't stop everypony from forming their own opinion about the cratered rock.
Why should I be surprised it is the one thing out of my own control? It's my opposite; anything the controller of The Sun says about The Moon is biased; why listen to her?
This is the same flipped around, though; Luna was never able to mess with The Sun and everything it was related to, yet I could. The meaning of such an object could only be determined by its specific handler. Anypony else would have no luck.
That night shifted The Moon's meaning once again; as cries of panic grew evermore louder it lingered above, watching.
This is my playing field, it says. Don't fool yourself in believing you have the upper hand.
"What is going on, Glowing?" I asked. Without breaking eye contact she answered.
"Do you remember the spell I mentioned earlier? Involving giving Luna more control in the dream-realm?" She waited until our earlier conversation struck my memory.
"I thought you said it was to get rid of nightmares, not lock somepony in sleep! " I exclaimed, aghast.
"It was to get rid of nightmares. At least, that's what she told me. The spell was actually able to shift the dream a pony was having in either direction ."
I broke eye contact and looked at the sleeping guard behind me. "How does this still relate to being unable to wake up?"
"If Luna used enough magic, she could create a dream so real that it could affect the body of a pony; almost like a paralysis until the dream ends. The easiest way to do this would be to create a nightmare."
Not only was the sleeping guard stuck in sleep for an indefinite amount of time, it was all spent living the worst nightmare possible.
"Why didn't you mention this could happen earlier?" I derided.
"I didn't think she would do something like that! I made the spell early on, before I got to know her well. I still weaved that catch into the spell. Each time she locks someone like that guard into sleep, she inflicts more pain on herself."
"So she can only do this to a limited number of ponies, then."
Glowing didn't respond and instead looked into the air. I raised my head and my ears caught noise that I was afraid of.
Wake up!
I thought it was just loud yelling at first. But as more and more of the same words bounced off of The Moon, more and more of my hope began to dwindle.
I took my eyes out of the sky and instead focused on the group of ponies I had been conversing with. Gone were the happy smiles and jovial games, replaced by worry and fear. The green pegasus yawned, only to stop in the middle with wide open eyes. With eyes full of dread, she looked at me and started to speak.
"What happens when we start to get tired?"
Instead of answering, I looked back at the sky and frowned. The Moon had a new meaning for me.
The clock is ticking. Everypony will fall asleep eventually.
I couldn't prevent everypony from falling asleep entirely, but there had to be something I could do. I looked back to the green pegasus mare.
"Don't worry. I will find a way to stop this. From now on," I glanced across the group of ponies, "don't let one another fall asleep. Please ."
Glowing Sera spoke up. "There's still a chance that not everypony asleep is under the spell yet. It takes a good amount of time to cast, and if she's feeling pain from my catch we might be able to wake up some ponies before they are afflicted ."
There was that word again; affliction . This had to be The Affliction's work; Luna wouldn't do something so evil. I glanced toward The Moon for confirmation.
It didn't respond. What once was mocking me turned into an echo chamber. My eyes flashed with a way to solve a part of our problem.
"I know how to wake everypony up." I said. I took in a deep breath. "Everypony! Try to wake up anypony with you that is asleep. This is for your own safety! We are still fighting Princess Luna! I repeat, conflict has not ceased! "
There was no way anypony that was able to wake up wouldn't be opening their eyes shortly. I launched off into the air and floated in front of the ponies around the fire. Glowing Sera asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to see some of thr other groups, and how far Luna has gotten to them. I want to know how bad this really is."
"Be careful," She responded, as I raised higher in the air and aimed toward the closest light I could see.
Looking down on the forest, I found it was a lot more peaceful than what was transpiring down below. The thick trees muffled sound, and I began to worry that my warning wasn't heard by everypony. I hastened my flight.
The strange tranquility up above started to take a toll on me as well. My eyelids grew heavy. The world started to dim, and I found the trees growing larger, getting nearer, and looking more comfortable than ever before. I landed in the brush, and with stark terror woke back up. The spell keeping me awake must have worn off.
I was going to fall asleep soon.
Sleep had once been an inconvenience; now it was an enemy . I glanced up at The Moon once again.
It's nothing you can prevent.
Luna's words. They now made clear and horrible sense to me. I could prolong it, but there was no possible way that I could not fall asleep before the night was over. Fortunately, the light from a new campfire came into view, taking my mind off of those thoughts.
I landed on the ground a short trot away from the campfire. I couldn't hear anypony talking from its direction. As I grew nearer, I could make out the figure of one pony sitting up by the campfire, and four ponies lying down. I made my way through the brush and cantered over to the sitting pony. He had a rust-colored coat and a red mane.
He turned towards the noise and widened his eyes. Quickly, he bowed down low on the ground in front of me. "Your Highness!"
I watched as he shook on the ground. Whatever happened at this site was worse than what we dealt with. "Rise, my pony. Tell me what happened here."
He rose and nervously glanced at the bodies of the sleeping ponies around him. "I-I was sleeping, and then your voice woke me up," he said, and I was slightly relieved to know my warnings were heard and useful. "I went to everypony else and tried to wake them up but none of them would even budge."
It was just like Glowing had said, and what the guard was experiencing. Each pony was laying still upon the ground. On each face was a look of utter horror, accompanied by short, quiet breaths and eyes that were clenched shut. I turned my head away and looked back at the stallion.
"I'm sorry you had to see this. If you hadn't woken up in time, there's a chance you would have been in their place as well." I had seen enough, and most campsites were probably similar to the one here. "I'll be leaving now," I said, as I lowered myself to his level, "so find another group. You don't need to see this. Meet up with any other ponies who are still awake."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"I haven't done anything yet," I said weakly. I took off into the air and started to fly back to my campsite and Glowing. I looked up at The Moon again.
There's no point in trying .
"Yes there is," I said aloud, even though I knew nopony could hear me. "There's something I can still do. There must."
I found myself above my campsite once again. I coasted to the ground and landed in the brush. Glowing Sera, whom I had landed behind, heard me, jumped up, and looked in my direction.
"Princess Celestia!" She yelled after seeing me emerge. "We've got a big problem."
I galloped up to her and could see she was shaking with nervousness. "What is it?" I asked. "I found that other ponies have fallen asleep as well. The guard isn't the only one."
She rubbed her hooves through her amber hair. "Oh, that's not good!" She said anxiously.
"What?" I repeated. "What isn't good?"
"What's to say Luna only attacked us? What if she locked people in sleep all across Equestria?"
In all of our tiredness we forgot to realize that we might not have been the only ones. My eyes widened as I scanned the area around me. "Why would she go after anypony else?" I asked.
"Fillydelphia!" Glowing exclaimed. "Any of the higher officials! If she's against you, why wouldn't she try to disable people who have disrespected her in the past?"
She was right. There was no way that some of my top supporters wouldn't have been targeted; not doing so would have been a bad move on her part, and she seemed to understand her plan well.
"We can't wake all of Equestria up. There's no way we have time to do that." Glowing started murmuring to herself different ideas and solutions to the problem, to no avail. "Maybe a spell? No, not enough power. Ah . . . I don't know." I looked back up once more at The Moon to see what it had to say.
The nighttime aids me. Try as much as you like, but as long as I am here, you will fail .
As long as the night was alive, more and more failure would reach us. I coudn't tamper with The Moon, I couldn't influence it, couldn't fight it. "Just be quiet," I told The Moon.
A light went off in my head. Although dangerous, I could wake up everypony on the planet by doing one simple movement.
I could silence The Moon by raising The Sun.
"I've got it, Glowing!" I proclaimed.
"What is it?" She inquired.
"I'm going to raise The Sun."
"Oh. That should work." She blanky muttered. Her eyes widened and she grinned. "That'll work wonderfully!"
"Let's hope so," I positively replied as I planted my feet on the ground.
I flared up my horn and started to lift the giant orb. After not sleeping for so long, it was significantly harder to do so than before. I felt like I was dragging The Sun along and barely moving it an inch. As it climbed higher and higher, the load grew heavier and heavier on my magic.
It wasn't just my tiredness stopping The Sun from rising, though. I could feel the aura of another around it. Luna was trying to hold it back, realizing my plan quickly enough to respond.
The Moon's controller didn't have much power on The Sun, though. Slowly and painfully, it came into view and basked the world in a warm light. I moved it in the direction of The Moon. As it grew closer, I felt more resistance on my end.
Finally, The Sun found its resting place; right in front of The Moon, blocking it from view and silencing its taunts.
This is my playing field now , I declared.
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
It's been a little while, huh? I'm happy to say that I am back and ready to finish this! Who knows what will happen next? I do, but I'm not telling until the time is right.
I hope everyone is still enjoying and liking this story!
Scroll 9: Failing To Prevent
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I understand the irony of the situation; I made the first move that Luna would replicate mere hours later. Luna and I always had an agreement when we took over controlling The Sun and Moon, and I broke it. Under the long list we created, my act of blocking out The Moon breaks the rules as follows:
Do not stop one of the celestial bodies from moving and let it travel freely.
Do not end the night or day earlier without full permission and supervision from the other.
Do not cover or obstruct either celestial body.
It’s one thing to break the rules, but it’s another to have to deal with their consequences. I should have realized right away that by raising The Sun I had given Luna full ability to enforce our rules, but the intense strain on my body and mind from exhaustion let it slip. There is one final rule at the bottom of our long list. It was one that I remembered after I let The Sun rest in front of The Moon, and the rule that broke every chance of reconciliation we might have had beforehand.
Failure to follow any rule without forgiveness is an act of treason, and the other must deal with it accordingly.
Luna had played her hoof well.
Although she had to hurt people, she got me to slip up. I was under her mercy in the eyes of Equestrian Law. What she could do to me, though, was up to her. She could challenge me in battle, evict me from the castle, send me to Tartarus, whatever she deemed fit, and I had a feeling it wasn’t just going to be a slap on the wrist.
The only thing I could do now was wait for Luna to make her move. I spent the next half and hour diligently waiting for The Sun to shift, budge, or show a sign that she was going to fight. Its golden rays basked the forest in a warm glow, and although the intensity of the situation never faltered, a peace seemed to come over me. Chirps of birds replaced the crying out of ponies, and a spring breeze rustled the leaves on the trees.
I took my eyes off of The Sun. There was no point in wasting any more time when I was at a disadvantage already. The campground I was at had been deserted, with nopony around a fire that was recently put out. I opened my ears for any noise that would identify anypony nearby.
The sound of saddlebags being strapped on alerted me to another’s existence. The noise came from behind me, slightly muffled. Whoever was getting ready inside the forest was doing a good job at hiding from me. I stepped through the brush and started looking in between the trees.
It wasn’t that hard to find the pony, as her scarlet coat contrasted with the green of the forest easily. Glowing Sera was sitting on a fallen log next to lifeless clay golem, and she seemed to be packing up the few items she had.
“Glowing?” I called out. She jumped up and turned in my direction, surprise evident on her face. She quickly looked away and sighed.
“Hello, Princess.” I trotted over to her and sat next to her on the log.
“You seem to be in a hurry to go somewhere,” I commented nonchalantly.
“I—I’m leaving, Princess. There’s no point in me staying here.”
I looked at her with worry. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You’ve been a great help.”
Her downcast figure seemed to flinch at my praise. “No, Princess. This is my fault. When I came here I just tried to impress everypony, and in the process harmed so many people with my spells. I realized it when I was trying to find a way to wake everypony up; I wasn’t going to be able to do any good. There’s no point in me staying here if all I do is cause more problems.”
“Glowing, you may have made the spells she used, but you didn’t intend for them to be used that way. Don’t try to shoulder all of the guilt on yourself.”
“But I have to,” she said. “Look at my cutie mark.”
The cutie mark was a sun, similar to mine, except its color was the same as her coat, a bright red. It was also proportionately larger than mine. “It’s a red sun. What’s wrong with that?”
Softly she said, “It’s a red giant star. Do you know what a red giant is, Princess Celestia?”
“It’s a star that grows very large after it runs out of helium in its core. Eventually, my Sun will become one and destroy our world. There’s nothing we can do about it. There’s also nothing wrong with having a star as a cutie mark—trust me.”
“Yes there is. Me being able to extrapolate to create a new spell is only half of my talent,” she admitted. “I’m great at magic. I always have been, and I’m sure I always will be. But any spell I create—no matter how complicated or extrapolated it is—always ends up going wrong. Just like a red giant, they will eventually destroy or harm something. This is my fault for not realizing how bad things were going to get.”
“Not every spell you’ve made is dangerous,” I said. “If you managed to get one of the leaders of the country to bring you to the castle as a spellmaker you must have done something right.”
“I didn’t convince her to bring me to the castle on her trip to Fillydelphia.”
“What?”
“Fillydelphia kicked me out. They said they didn’t want me to cause any problems while The Princess was there and I wasn’t allowed to go back in.”
I was shocked; she gave no hint that she was an outcast. “They—I don’t think that’s allowed or right in any way.”
“I don’t blame them.” She stared deeply into the ground.
“Why not?” I asked, worried.
“I—I created a spell that was too dangerous for the officials and mayor to allow me to get away with. It was made of. . .” She went quiet and didn’t answer.
“What?” I asked quietly. She looked away and silently cursed herself. “Come on,” I said. “With everything you’ve said so far, I won’t be angry at you.” She turned back towards me and I smiled in encouragement.
“It was made of dark magic. I ended up casting it on a rabbit just to see what would happen. It. . . didn’t get far before I had to put the rabbit down.”
“Oh.” I said blankly.
“Either way, after Luna got kicked out of Fillydelphia, she found me sitting outside of the gates. At that point I looked like I had been living homeless all my life. I explained my story to her, and she let me tag along back to the castle with her. I was ecstatic. I had a place to live, she offered me a job, and I gained a friend. It’s a shame I lost all three.”
I was sorry for Glowing Sera. I assumed from the start that she was just a pony with her mind set on success. It turns out she had her fair share of problems as well.
“Glowing, just because you make spells that are dangerous, it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad pony. If you were a bad pony you would still be inside the castle with Luna, instead of helping Equestria succeed tonight. If you think that leaving will do any good, you’re wrong. If you had left earlier, we would have never built the monument, and would probably have already failed. So please, stay!” I smiled at her.
She looked at me with shock. “Th-thank you, Princess. It means a lot that you think like that.”
“As far as I’m concerned,” I said with a grin, “you’re my friend, and friends are welcome at my castle anytime.”
I turned my whole body to face her and gave her a hug. “Thank you.” She murmured over my shoulder.
“You’re welcome, Official Spellmaker of Equestria.”
She removed her head from over my shoulder and gawked at me, flabbergasted.
“S-Spellmaker? I just told you how all of my spells are dangerous!”
“I’d rather have somepony that knows their specialty and cares than somepony who doesn’t. And, having the country’s most expansive spell library could allow you to create spells that aren’t harmful, or point out how they can be exploited for the future. If you’d take the job, that is.”
She went back to hug me and squeezed tighter than before. “Of course! Oh, thank you so much Princess!”
Because Glowing was looking behind me, she didn’t notice a twinkle in air. This time, I caught it before it hit the ground and quickly stashed the pink shard into my saddlebag. The Element of Kindness decided to show, and now there was only one left to appear.
Glowing removed her forelegs around me and sat back down on her log, grinning. “What do we do now?” She asked.
I glanced up at The Sun. It hadn’t moved in the previous time I had spent talking, and I couldn’t feel any forces acting upon it that weren’t my own. It seemed that Luna was still waiting for something to happen. “We wait.”
She looked at me. “How do you look at that without burning your eyes out?”
“Being in control over The Sun allows me to have more connection to it than others. Its effects strengthen me.”
“Ah,” she said, smiling. “It was amazing seeing you raise The Sun so up close, Celestia. I’d like to give it a crack sometime and see how much I can do.”
I looked at her and chuckled. “You’d burn up. I would have put the energy from The Sun into one of the sleeping ponies to try and wake them up, if I was able to. It would be more magic than Luna could hold resist and it would wake the pony up, but it would also be more magic than the body could hold. There’s a reason very few can handle The Sun with magic.”
Glowing smiled mischievously and said, “Well, if you ever need somepony to help you, I’d still give it a shot.”
“Don’t get any rash ideas,” I said, poking her side, “or you’ll have even bigger problems on your hands.” I stood to get up off of the log, but my legs felt weak and I landed back down unsteadily. Glowing rushed to my side and helped balance me again.
“What’s wrong?” She asked worriedly. While she watched me, I was gazing up at The Sun, and saw it started to fall. I reached out with my magic to push it back up, but the second I grabbed a hold my aura shattered.
As darkness started to encompass the land once again, my eyes started to drift shut. It seemed that my tiredness finally caught up, and I wasn’t able to retaliate in any way. Glowing looked up at the now lowering Sun and back at me with panic etched across her face. I lifted a hoof but found it barely responded to my lack of willpower. Whatever was doing this was sudden, surprising, powerful, and—
”Nothing you can prevent.”
Luna’s words echoed through my sleepy mind. She wasn’t warning me about everypony else falling asleep, but myself. I now was under her control, and The Moon held power over the land. As her plan’s pieces fell into shape, what was left of mine fell apart.
How was I supposed to lead my country if I was dreaming?
Out of sheer willpower I opened my eyes, which felt like prying open two strong steel doors. I managed to croak out a few words to Glowing Sera. “Wake me up . . . Soon . . .”
As I started to drift into lethargy I viewed hopelessly as the Sun slid down just below the horizon, peeking out slightly to bask the world in an unnatural evening. I gave up and closed my eyes.
My comatose mind finally let go.
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
We've only got 3-5 chapters left! Next chapter is going to be a pretty important confrontation, so stay tuned. I plan to be done by the end of the summer, but who knows? Criticism, comments, and likes are always appreciated!
Author's Note
Violence Warning! From now on, the violence tag is in effect. Just a warning in case you don't like blood.
Scroll 10: Elements
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Sorry for the wait on this letter. Dreams were never my specialty, and when I tried to remember what had occurred when I was asleep my mind would fog up instantly. Funny enough, I had to contact Luna to help me in engaging my memories. She wasn't very keen on the idea, and left very quickly from my dream once I started to remember.
After fully viewing the dream once again, I can see why she didn't want to be witness to its events.
"Here we are."
A voice, echoing off of every wall in every direction. I was in my chamber by the foot of my bed, sitting on the ground. Luna walked up to me with a frown on her face, and came to stop above me. I'm in a dream.
"Obviously."
Luna had heard my musings. Not a thought was safe in this realm, and I had to be extra careful.
"What do you want, Luna?" I asked.
"To ask you some questions. There's no avoiding or games in this realm. I'll know when you're lying."
I thought it over for a few seconds, before realizing it was pointless either way. "Go ahead, as long as I get to ask some of my own."
"Okay. Why did you raise The Sun?"
Was she this foolish? Did she not see her own work cause so much harm to everypony? "When people can't wake up from their dream, I want to save as many lives as possible. It seems you don't share the sentiment —"
"Halt! How dare you spout such hypocrisy towards my face! 'Saving lives' while you try and take my own!"
"What? I'm not trying to kill you."
Luna paused. She scanned my eyes to find any lie. Of course, I knew she would find anything.
"But. . ." she murmured, "The dream realm can always sense a lie. And that was a true statement."
"I don't know anything about what's happening to you Luna."
"I'm not sure I know anymore either."
I stood up. "Let's find out, then. Use your dreams to go through my memories and replay tonight over. We'll start in these chambers after you raised The Moon, and end when I evacuate the castle."
Luna pondered the option, before nodding her head. She ignited her horn, and I found two figures appear to my left, standing in front of a window. It was sunset, and the two celestial bodies were drifting in opposite directions. As the ending stages of dusk commenced I saw the taller, white alicorn look down at the blue alicorn, who held a solemn visage.
"What troubles you, Luna?" The white alicorn asked. The blue alicorn jumped, but quickly recovered with a smile. Although I hadn't noticed it then, her jump was not of surprise or shock. Her eyes were filled with fear.
"I was simply enjoying the show we put on." The blue alicorn said.
"It seems you think it was awfully boring then, focusing on your moon alone."
"I was concentrating on what it looked like," she breathed out. "It is beatiful, right?"
I looked over at my Luna and raised a hoof. "Pause it." The two ponies looking out the window stopped still, and I turned to face her. "Explain what's going on here, Luna. Why were you acting so strangely?"
She stared at the blue alicorn's back. "I thought you were confronting me."
"About what?"
"The poison ! You were taunting me! Listen to what you say next."
The white alicorn looked at the blue one and said, "Why would you need to concentrate on your moon, Luna? You can look at it again tomorrow night, and the next, and so on.
The alicorns in front of the window paused as I yelled, "What poison! I don't know anything about that! I was joking with you because I wanted to cheer you up!"
Luna turned around looking away from me. "I thought you were finally admitting to poisoning me. I can sense you aren't lying. I figured you said that because you thought you had already beaten me and was ready to take the throne to yourself. What happens next solidified my thoughts. I had made up my mind to fight back ."
The two alicorns unfroze. The blue one frowned and said, "Why should I wait until the night to look at it?"
Her frown turned into a wince as she keeled over and fell to the ground. She looked up at the white alicorn and her eyes switched from fear to hatred. She teleported out of the room as the white alicorn froze in shock, trying to understand what had just occurred.
The scene paused once again. "That was where the poison kicked in. Do you know how much it hurts, Celestia? It clicked in my brain, right before the effects of poison struck me: I was either going to die at your hooves or try to save Equestria. That's what I meant, by not wanting to wait until night to view my Moon, my glory. I had to take a stand now ."
I looked away from the window and towards Luna. "Luna, I never meant any of the things you saw. I don't even know anything about this poison."
Her face heated up as she scowled at me. "It's you and that damned Glowing Sera! You're conspiring against me! I've seen you working with her this entire night. How asinine of me to trust her."
"Luna! You know I can't lie here! I didn't try to poison you!"
Luna became even more flustered as she realized I wasn't lying. "Well, she—she wiped your memories! Oh, she's a sneaky one to try and get around me like that! I'll have to wait until she falls asleep as well, and then we'll see who's—"
"Stop!" I yelled. "You've gone insane, Luna! How much have you been overtaken by paranoia? Listen to what you're saying!"
Luna did as I asked and stopped her tirade, but only frowned in response. She reignited her horn, and I found she teleported us to the entry hall at the front of the castle. Unlike any other time I had seen it tonight, each room was full and lively. In the middle of the hall stood a kneeling blue alicorn, who quickly stood up and started to trot toward the guard's lounge.
Luna started following the blue alicorn and said, "These are my memories now. Let us continue through the night to find out what truly happened."
The blue alicorn stood in front of a doorway and pushed it open. Peering in from the outside, the room was full of guards in uniform, laughing around a table. She opened up the door wider and cleared her throat to notify her entrance.
One guard looked up at her. "What do you want, Luna?" He spat out.
She scowled. "That's Princess Luna to you. I need one of you to help me apprehend a traitor of the crown."
The ponies glanced around each other, shifting slightly, until an azure earth pony stallion stood up and said, "I'll go. Let me get my sword."
The guard grabbed his sword and trotted up to Luna's side. "Lead the way," He curtly commented.
The blue alicorn then left the room with the guard and moved to the throne room. Although neither ruler was occupying it, plenty of ponies were bustling through. The blue alicorn scanned the room for the pony she was looking for, but couldn't seem to find her target. The quickly made their way to the other end of the throne room before she stopped dead in her tracks.
Glowing Sera had just entered the room. The blue alicorn's eyes lit up in fury. She didn't make a move, though. As Glowing passed her by she was grabbed in a magic hold and pulled directly in front of the alicorn's face.
Shock quickly flashed in Glowing's eyes, but she calmed down to enough that she was able hide it with a smirk. "What is this, Luna? Would you like to discuss something about our spells—" She was interrupted as a blade conjured up by magic was placed in front of her throat.
Now, the guard that was with Luna was awfully confused at the events that were unfolding. Luna went from determined to furious and ready to kill. Following his duty as a guard, he stated, "Princess Luna, a princess is not allowed to threaten or attack any subject or denizen. I will handcuff her and bring her into the dungeon for questioning." He stepped forward. "Please, let me—"
Another knife was conjured and placed on his throat. "Don't make any moves," the blue alicorn threatened. "I don't want to cause any more trouble."
"Pause," I said. "What were you thinking? That's against rules you helped create!"
Luna stomped her hoof on the ground. "How am I supposed to follow the law when it is against me, sister! I did what I had to."
The scene unpaused, and the ponies traveling through noticed a manic Luna holding two blades to two different ponies throats. She glanced at them. "Go."
There were many different reactions from the ponies to this response, but the majority were screaming and running away. Most of them ran toward the entrance and past the guard hall, where a frazzled white alicorn was asking the guards for any information in their lounge. Quickly, the white alicorn soared over the stampede and landed down into the throne room. A blade met her throat as well.
"What is this, Luna?" The white alicorn asked gently.
The blue alicorn responded with a scream that did not help with making her sound sane. "YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS, SISTER!"
"Luna, you've taken two ponies hostage, and for what point? Stopping now is better for all parties."
An idea struck the blue alicorn. "I will release the hostages, but I am going to need a trade."
"What do you want, sister? We can get anything adequate for your needs, as you know."
"There's a mountain north of here."
"Yes. What do you want with it?" The white alicorn inquired.
"Turn it into a monument. Of me. Once it is built I will release these two."
I jumped in quickly and raised a hoof. "Luna, why did you make us build the monument of you? What was the purpose?"
Luna grinned. "I've known you for too long, Celestia. I had to keep you on my plan, or you would devise something to stop me early on. Not only that, I know how easily you get tired at night. Making you build a monument took a lot out of you, and it showed." She looked at the two ponies her younger self was holding hostage. "And, being honest, I don't want to harm either of them. But there must be a necessary evil to achieve success in preserving Equestria's future."
"But, why a monument specifically? Why not make me renovate the castle or something?"
"It was an act of folly, but I wanted a monument. As a way to show that I had succeeded. Deep down, though, I knew you wouldn't actually build one."
"Okay. You can resume."
"Luna, it will take days to build something out of that mountain. Release them when it is half finished, and we will finish the second half afterwards." The white alicorn said.
Originally, I thought Luna's smile was sinister. After looking at it again, I think that was a mask. She seemed more worried to me than before. "Very well. Have it done fast."
The white alicorn stepped away from the blade, and it didn't follow. She turned around and looked down at the hallway, meeting faces of eager and anxious ponies, afraid of what to do. Her face fell into a regal gaze, and she shouted out her line. "EVACUATE THE CASTLE!"
Then, she disappeared. The blue alicorn disappeared as well. Everypony had vanished in the throne room except me and Luna.
"Well, there we have it," Luna announced, "Everything that went on in the castle tonight. Are you happy now, Celestia? Satisfied seeing me make another blunder in the countless line of them?"
I trotted over to Luna and stood in front of her. "Luna, how did you come to the conclusion that I was trying to poison you?"
She scoffed. "You take me as someone who hasn't dealt with poison before. I know what it feels like, and you and Glowing are the only ponies that have the means to pull it off. When will it actually kill me, though?"
"Luna, how many times must I say that neither I nor Glowing poisoned y—"
"I weaved a catch into my spells. If any spell I create is used in a negative way, whether it be full-out murder or holding a blade to my throat, the catch will activate. The spell will inflict pains similar to poison on her."
Glowing's words when we first met echoed through my mind. We did poison her, in a way.
"Oh, Luna," I whispered, "It's the spells Glowing made you."
She looked up at me. "What?"
"Glowing put a vice in her spells that would harm you if you were trying to do something wrong with them. What have you been doing that's caused the pain? When did it first start?"
Luna shook her head. "That's not true. I first felt the poison when I was—"
She tilted her head down at the ground, defeated. "When I was trying out and testing what the spells could do."
I put my hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay, Luna. I forgive you for misunderstanding. It's partly our fault for not realizing how seriously harmful the catch was to you. Let's wake up, explain the situation, and let bygones be byg—"
"We can't get out of this that easily, Celestia!" She blurted in. "The only way to keep you in this dream is if it's a nightmare. We haven't really gotten to any painful part yet, right? That's because you're still stuck. I'm not letting you out."
I stepped back in shock. "But, Luna, we can figure this out—"
"No we can't!" She yelled. "You committed treason, Celestia! You've rallied every pony of Equestria against me! There's no way we can just walk out and say that we've made up. Despite all of that, there's still one big thing blocking us!"
"What is that?" I asked.
"I still haven't forgiven you! " She huffed out air. I watched solemnly as she brought out her magical blade. "You've made my life like Tartarus for years! So what if this was a misunderstanding this one time! Now we've shown our true colors, and whatever mine is, it isn't compatible with yours! This was bound to happen sooner or later, Celestia. It's a shame that it's come this way, but I'm going to take the crown for myself."
Luna's words flew right past me. I focused fully on the knife that was in her hand. She swung it to the left.
"This is still your nightmare Celestia, and I think I know just how engage it."
She swung the blade to the right.
"Not being able to escape the dream and watch as your kingdom gets brought into a new age is one thing that terrifies you. But that isn't enough. You have to feel some of the pain I've felt trying to keep up a facade all of these years."
The blade was right in front of me.
"For the better of Equestria !"
It swung forward and sunk all the way into my chest. She pulled out the blade and jabbed it into my neck as well.
I stumbled to the ground as my legs fell out from under me. The two wounds in my front were starting to ooze out blood, and I felt like the ground was spinning.
"I think that's a good enough nightmare now. The wounds will never heal, but you'll never pass out."
I looked up at Luna and tried to speak, That's torture , before feeling my throat catch up in blood. She looked down at me sadly.
"I'll see you when it's all over, Celestia."
As she vanished from view, the pain began to reach immense heights. I sat up from the pool of blood I was in and looked around the throne room for anything that would help to stop the bleeding.
Everything in the room that I could have used disappeared instantly when I looked at it. She thought of everything. I laid my head down in defeat.
That was it for me; The Princess of Equestria doomed to a fate of lying on a floor, drowning in blood. I was useless. Luna was right that it was my worst fear: I was alone, without a single pony to save. I reevaluated who I wanted to be when I was laying on the ground. I wanted to be the pony that didn't just rule, but cared for and connected with my ponies. Experiencing death had taken me down a level, from ruler and commander to just another pony with hopes and dreams.
Hopes and dreams of wading down a river, strumming a tune, waving to friends, and basking in the glow of my own Sun.
I couldn't let Luna rule, but she had already beaten me.
The warm light coming from the inside of the throne room was a small comfort. I stared directly into it, the closest thing I had to The Sun. I got on to my weak hooves and moved closer to it.
You can wake up.
No, I couldn't. There was nothing but pain and the throne room. I was going crazy as well, listening to the lights.
One of the lights floated down in front of me.
You can wake up, just touch me.
"What?" I said aloud. Wait, I wasn't able to speak earlier. The wounds on my chest had disappeared, as well as the blood I was soaked in.
Come on!
I reached out a hoof and placed it on the light. It started to grow brighter and larger. I stood still as the light enveloped my body and all I could see was its rays.
"NO! " I heard Luna yell.
The light was warm, comforting, and—
Familiar.
I had felt that light before, each day. However it managed to get into my dream, it knew its purpose: save its controller .
And then I woke up.
I was staring directly at The Sun. I felt it shine through me, and I felt it bring back my vigor to a full. I was laying on the ground. My head shot up and I quickly glanced around the area, making out the surroundings.
Then I saw Glowing Sera.
She was floating in the air, forelegs raised, eyes glowing and wide. Her horn was shining brightly and her magic was covering The Sun, giving it a tint of teal. Then, as she placed The Sun over The Moon as I had earlier, she floated back down.
"G-glowing?" She smiled.
"You said that you could wake somepony up with the power of The Sun. So I did, to you."
I scrambled to my hooves and cantered over to her. "H-how?!"
She grinned. "I might have gotten a little bit of help," she lifted her hoof, "from this."
A magenta shard; wafting out more magic than any of the previous elements. We had completed a full set.
"Glowing, you've got The Element of Magic!" I exclaimed. "See, even The Elements know that you're a great magician."
She flushed. "Thanks, Celestia."
My mind made a quick realization. "We've got all of The Elements now!"
"Huh? Where's The Element of Kindness!"
"Oh, I got that earlier when I was comforting you. I didn't think it was the right time to show it to you."
She nodded her head. "Oh, okay. So what happened in your dream?"
My smile vanished and she took a step forward. I sat on the ground. "It was all a misunderstanding, Glowing. She thought we had poisoned her because of the catch you put in her spells."
Glowing's eyes widened in shock and she sat down next to me. "But. . . that means we've sorted it out, right? We can explain everything and she'll come back."
"I'm afraid not," I said with a hint of sadness, "she's decided that there's no way to come back from this. We're still going to have to use The Elements on her, or worse."
Glowing stomped a hoof on the ground. "Damn. I guess there's nothing stopping us from confronting her now, then. Do you feel refreshed, Celestia?"
I looked down at my hooves. "How long was I out?"
"An hour. I only got The Element when I tried to lift The Sun on my own."
"Ah, okay then. It's almost morning."
Whether it was the rest I had just gotten, The Sun flowing through my veins, or the power of The Elements, I felt more than ready to take Luna on, even if I didn't want to.
"Let's go get this over with."
-Princess Celestia
Scroll 12: But In Equestria Do As They Do
There's no point in introduction anymore, Twilight. This will be my last letter.
The Northern Mountain, which we constructed Luna's monument upon, had undergone a large change. Where once stood grass, stone, and our broken resources now stood a city of enormous size and luster.
Large spires the colors of pearl, gold, and grape covered in intricate and ornate patterns touched the golden sky. Down below, streets winded throughout corners and alleyways, all connected to one elevated and raising thoroughfare of white and green limestone. Even from a distance, it glittered and shined across the land.
But the real jewel was right in the front; the new castle. From such a distance you could see that it emanated a warm light that drew oneself into its walls. It commanded attention, and let you know somepony important was there. The Elements truly outdid themselves.
There was no question that it was our new capital, and I could see why we needed one. While the castle on the horizon looked to be made of gold, the one I was in was crumbling and decaying, surrounded by dirt and stone. I got to my hooves and started heading down the hall to the door.
"Come on, Glowing! I think there's somewhere we need to be!"
Glowing Sera jumped up to her hooves, taking her eyes off of our capital to actually travel to it. She caught up to me.
"Celestia, will you be okay?"
I paused.
"Yes."
I wouldn't be for a long time.
We opened the double-doors to find that a crowd of ponies had gathered at the foot of the steps. When they saw me appear, each eye turned my way. It was nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd; the group I shared a campfire with, Clean Tome, Sky Flyer, the pony whom I helped wake up, Mixed In, and the countless guards who tried the best they could to control the chaos that ensued throughout the night. Worry flashed across their faces at my state; I'm sure that I looked like an utter mess.
There was no time to be nervous anymore; I had a country to lead. I straightened myself out and as regal as I could muster, began to speak.
"Citizens of Equestria, we have lost one of our rulers tonight. Princess Luna was . . . burdened , and found herself in a poor and confused state of mind. In her anger and confusion she turned into something that acted irrationally and dangerously. It was her that locked many of you into your dreams, and her that led to the destruction of the castle behind me. But it was I who helped save you, along with a few friends, and I hope anypony can appreciate that. There was one person that I didn't save, though: my sister. I'm sure you've noticed The Moon has had a makeover."
Eyes raised to the sky, accompanied by gasps of shock. The Sun and The Moon were next to each other, and I started to move The Sun away from The Moon.
It felt different, though. I checked up above and found that I had instead moved The Moon to the other side of the sky, basking the world in another evening—or dawn, if I chose so.
"I have failed in that regard. The one thing I desired most was to save my sister, and I was unable to. I cannot apologize to her, nor can she to me, but I hope you will accept my apologies and forgive me. I will strive to create a better future for us, and if you follow me to that capital I will make sure that Equestria will become a word known across the world as the top , no matter what anypony or thing tries to tear us down. There is an arduous future ahead, and I hope to prevail with all of you. For Equestria !"
"For Equestria!" The crowd shouted. I smiled and turned toward Glowing Sera.
"I'm going to fly to the capital. Meet me there." She nodded.
I launched into the air and took flight. Of the many travels I had taken in the past night, this felt the most refreshing. I spread my wings out fully and soared through the air. As the capital came closer into view, I found more details emerge on the structures. The road to the castle held many houses and buildings, all vacant, yet ready to be filled. I landed in front of a drawbridge.
Glowing Sera teleported next to me. "This place looks like it's out of a dream."
"I'm starting to wonder if it is."
We crossed the bridge, went through an archway, and entered the beautiful city.
I can't say how long we spent cantering about, taking in the sights. It was so magnificent that I didn't want to take my eyes off of anything. I kept reminding myself that this was my city, and I was in charge of it. It made me feel even more relaxed. My mind drifted off of every burden I held.
Eventually Glowing and I reached the large doors to the castle. She turned to me.
"What are you going to name it?"
I turned around and gazed down the winding path. I saw ponies excitingly cantering around, discovering new minute details that made everything just a little bit better. I looked away and in the direction of The Castle of The Two Sisters.
It had dulled. What once was my pride and joy had almost completely vanished, and I could barely see it. The trees of the forest were already growing into the castle, wilder and free. Mere hours ago I could make out such small details from such a distance, but it now concealed itself from my eyes.
Then I realized the real gift from The Elements of Harmony.
The new capital that you couldn't take your eyes away from and the camouflage of the old castle. The denizens just as enamored by the sights around us as myself weren't focused on what previously happened. The same goes for me; I wouldn't need to look up at the face of The Moon if there's so much I have to view below.
The Elements created an escape from my own thoughts.
Such a city would need an accurate name.
"Canterlot."
Glowing nodded. "I see."
I grabbed a hold of the doors with my magic and swung them open. Inside of the large castle appeared to be years worth of work. Stairs led to upper rooms and passages, each covered by a soft rug made from the most expensive fibers; banners five times the size of the previous ones hung on the walls; the floor's polish never wore off. At the top of the staircase directly in front of us was another set of large doors.
We moved up to the top of the staircase, and opened them.
It was clear that this was the throne room; towering columns bisected the large glass windows that seemed to be begging to be turned into a piece of art. Each step echoed throughout the large room, but still stayed warm and welcoming.
There was only one throne, though.
I trotted over to it and sat down. Glowing Sera stood in front of me.
"What should the name of tonight's events be called?" she asked.
"I think I'll call this night The Eternal Evening ," I announced.
She pondered it. "I don't think that name fits."
"And why would that be?"
"Well, the night wasn't really eternal for us, was it? The only person that will have to live in the night forever is . . ."
She glanced out of the window at The Moon. I lowered the celestial object quickly.
"I understand what you are saying."
"For her, this is just An Eternal Evening . One of the thousands she'll have to face."
The rest that happens from here on you already know about Twilight. It never really set in, how long one-thousand years was. For the being upon the Moon's surface, it was all too clear. I never had a battle with Nightmare Moon; I fought Luna, and in my own foolishness and desperation created my "Affliction". I didn't have the time to think about that, though. Each day crept onward, and my duties consumed more and more of my mind.
I genuinely believed for a small moment one-thousand years later that it was all just a fairy tale, and in my old age mixed up truth and fiction. I can blame the Elements of Harmony for my poor memory, say it was all the castle's influence, but I'd be lying. They knew what I wanted, and provided the means for me to take it.
Because what I did when I sat on that throne would set the precedent of every Equestrian for years to come; it was a blessing and a curse, and haunted me right up to when I first put feather on parchment to write this set of letters.
I forgot.
Sincerely,
Author's Note
Thank you for reading and sticking through it all. I'll have a blog post Right Here explaining what I thought about this and what I'm planning in the future.
Until next time!
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Scroll 11: Don't Know What The Country's Coming To
"Thanks for coming here, Twilight."
Princess Celestia took a sip of her tea, a blend of leaves and spices so meticulously crafted that it didn't have a name.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, directly across from her, took a sip as well.
"It's the least I could do, with you writing all of those letters for me. It must take some time to remember everything."
Celestia set her cup down on top of a saucer. "It does. I'm not sure I remember it all myself, to be honest." She chuckled. "I need to ask you a question, though. Where are you putting my letters when you are done reading them?"
Twilight placed her cup on her saucer as well. "Well, when Spike is done reading them to me, I place them in the history section in the libr—"
"Don't ."
Twilight jumped up in shock, before sliding back onto her chair. Celestia was glaring at her with an intensity saved for few, and it shook Twilight to her core.
"Twilight, those scrolls are not meant to be public knowledge. When you get back, the first thing you will do is remove them from your shelves. Has anypony read any of them?"
Twilight fidgeted in her seat. "Umm, one historian came in and checked out a few—"
"Find whoever it is and get the scrolls back . The next letter I send will not be read by anypony except you, Twilight. Not even Spike. Place them in an off-limits area, or even send them back to me. This is for Equestria's safety."
Twilight understood, but an itch in the back of her head suggested there were more reasons than protecting Equestria. "Okay, Princess. I'll get to it right after this."
They finished their tea after exchanging more pleasantries, yet neither mind was interested in conversation.
"Thank you, Twilight."
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I'd like to apologize if I came across as rude at our last meeting, Twilight. My mind has been a bit of a mess these past few weeks, and although I'd never admit it out loud, the source of the confusion is from these accounts I'm writing.
An imaginary wall in my mind is blocking me from remembering even large details about that night, and now that we're near the end of it, the wall has gotten stronger. I've pushed through, though. I can recall every bit of what I have left to put down, but forgive me for straying off topic a little.
The Elements of Harmony are not as easy to control as you and your friends make it seem. Most if not all of the previous times The Elements were used in a form, and with varying effects. Unlike you, we didn't have control over what the final verdict—more accurately final punishment —would be for whoever was on the receiving end of The Elements. It takes a lot of power to control them. This was true that night; I knew that whatever The Elements wanted to do to my sister, they could.
This doesn't mean that they wouldn't put your wishes into consideration, though. If I wanted to send somepony to Tartarus, they would deem that acceptable. Of course, I didn't even know what I wanted to punish Luna with at the time.
There was at least a minor upside to it though; The Elements always trade something in return for their use. If one has to wield The Elements, whatever they destroy or alter will be compensated for in some way or another. For your case Twilight, you have had enough control over The Elements to make their trades more subtle. Simple things, like adding extra magical power to your reserves, or possibly sending some good fortune you and your friends' way.
As I was walking toward the castle with Glowing Sera by my side, I was trying to figure out not only what The Elements would do , but what I would be forced to take in return .
If anypony told you that it was actually nighttime, you would have laughed in their face. The Sun illuminated the world in a warm glow. It strengthened me, flowing throughout my veins. The viridescent forest carried a cool summer breeze, and plenty of critters scurried along the ground. I envied how oblivious they all were to the events that were unfolding.
I glanced to my left; Glowing Sera had strapped her saddlebags around her and was floating a clay horse-shaped golem in the air by her side.
"You don't think you'll be able to bring that into the castle, do you?" I inquired.
She grinned. "No, but I still need to set it outside just in case."
I chuckled and looked away. "Okay."
We passed through more forest as the castle came into view. Glowing stopped and turned to me.
"What are we going to do, Celestia? Attack her? Use The Elements right away? Maybe we shouldn't use them at all—"
"The Elements are here for a reason, and they will be used. I can't say I have anything else planned yet. I just. . . I don't know how she's going to act. I'm going to try and get her to wake everypony back up, at least."
We continued at a faster pace and neared the steps of the castle.
"Then let's be extra cautious. If she attacks, we need to be ready."
My mind flashed back to the nightmare she locked me into. If she pulled out that blade again, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to fight back. I hadn't taken the time to fully think about that nightmare; I didn't know that Luna could be so sinister. I don't believe I could have done the same if the roles were switched, but then again, Luna had been through a lot more than me. If anything, she showed us both one thing: the game is almost over, and somepony has to make a move.
"We're here." Glowing Sera announced as I found myself standing in front of two large, wooden, double-doors. The castle looked worse than it did from earlier in the night; the stone that it was made up of looked cracked and broken, while moss and vines seemed to cover the detailed designs on the towers up above even more than usual. It went from the capital of our country to a structure that was old and breakable.
It seemed to know that it was abandoned before we ever left it.
Glowing Sera took off her saddlebags and placed them along with her golem on the ground. I followed suit, but kept The Elements on hoof. Glowing faced me with a smile.
"You go on ahead Celestia. I've got one more thing I want to do out here."
"And what would that be?"
"You can say it's . . . casting some helpful spells, just to be safe. And . . . enjoying the air in case it's the last time."
I was suspicious, but as long as she faced Luna beside me, I was okay with it.
"Fine. I'll be right inside."
I turned away from Glowing and opened the door with a creak. The hallway had surprisingly not changed much, but the warm light that normally emanated from the throne room was now completely gone. I stepped inside.
Once I was inside, I heard one spell cast before Glowing opened the door and moved by my side. "That was quick," I said.
"I didn't have much to do. Let's go and try to work things out."
I leaned down to talk in Glowing's ear. "Glowing, if she attacks me, don't get in her way ."
She frowned. "I'll try not to, but I'm going to fight just as much as you will."
We trotted down the hallway. Each empty room echoed of what was once a civilization, but was only filled with light from The Sun. I wondered where everypony was now. Sure, the majority were stuck in comatose, but some had to be active somewhere. I later found out that they had split into three groups.
The first and smallest group took refuge slightly north; they later founded what would eventually become Ponyville. The second largest group were all waiting inside the Everfree Forest for news about my battle. They stuck with me to eventually become the occupiers of Canterlot, and some of them became the ancestors of Canterlot Nobility. The final group, which held most of the ponies, decided to spread out. All directions they traveled, they told the tale of Nightmare Moon as heard in books on library shelves. I think they all took some liberties on what actually occurred, though.
We had reached the end of the hallway far too quickly. I looked at Glowing Sera one more time before stepping into the throne room. Whatever awaited me was going to change the course of Equestria forever.
I took a step inside.
There weren't any demons, monsters, or anything in between. Luna wasn't all black and cackling the days away. There was no entity that would control somepony so pitiful. After everything she did, I was still tossing around the thought that The Affliction was in charge, but I was obviously wrong.
She looked extremely worn out.
She was sitting on her throne, but slumped forward. I had never seen her so gaunt before in my life. Her eyes were sunken in and bleary, her hair was disheveled, and her posture was nonexistent. Her throne wasn't holding up much better; it was cracked on the sides and decaying.
"Hello, Celestia." She quietly whispered in my direction with a pallid face. "I see you made it out."
It was clear to see that something was wearing her down. Glowing stepped forward. "Luna, holding up so many spells at once is destroying you. You need to stop and release everypony."
Luna weakly stood up on wobbly feet. "I would have liked a warning about the spells, at least. Now look at what I've done."
Glowing frowned. "I'm sorry. You're still able to come back from this. We can explain to everypony—"
"Don't bother."
"Huh?" Glowing said. "Everything can be fixed still."
"I don't think so, Glowing." Luna said. "You may not understand it, but Celestia and I have rules. And those rules have been destroyed tonight, and won't be able to be put back together. Although I may look weak, there is still plenty of fight in me. I know it, and Celestia knows it. I'd suggest getting out of the way now."
It was just as I feared. Luna was not willing to understand, and it was going to tear us apart. I started walking toward Luna's throne. "Luna, I don't want to fight y—"
"Stay back! " She yelled with a surprising amount of force. She aimed her horn at the ceiling and shot a beam of light out. I jumped back just in time, missing a boulder from landing on top of me. At closer inspection, it had the designs and carvings of our castle on it. Glass fell onto my head and back and cut into my coat.
"Destroying our castle is not a good idea, Luna!"
She responded by firing more shots at the ceiling. As stone and glass started tumbling down around us, I quickly tried to advance forward. Luna fired a series of shots in a circle around herself to prevent me from getting closer. I backed up and noticed that Glowing was surrounded by debris. I hastily grabbed some with my magic and threw it at Luna's defense, cracking through it and preventing Glowing from getting crushed. I formed a shield around the two of us to prevent any more glass from hurting cutting our coats.
I rushed forward in the small opening that I broke through to get in the same circle as Luna. When she saw me enter, her firing stopped and she took a defensive stance. She faced me and sneered. "I think I want a makeover. Sure, a monument would have been nice, but some of the decorations in here are very drab."
I took a fighting stance, charged my horn, and pointed it at her. "Don't make me fire, Luna!"
Luna stopped and got out of her stance. "I don't think you'll actually do it, Celestia."
"What?"
Luna trotted over to me. She conjured up a blade of magic, and I froze. "There are many reasons I chose to stab you in your nightmare, sister. A big reason was that you simply don't like blades."
She took a step forward and swung the knife to the left. Glowing Sera appeared behind me and shot out a shield spell in front of Luna. Her blade cut through it effortlessly, and it crumbled.
"I had questions about it for a while, but I noticed it when I put the blade to your neck earlier. I've seen you in enough dangerous situations, but your eyes always stay cool. They betrayed you tonight, though. I could see the fear in them when I confronted you."
Luna took another step closer and swung the blade to the right. I tried to move my legs, but found they were locked in place.
"I don't think I have to say it again, but I've been thinking Tartarus could be better than living with you. I put up the same charade as you everyday, but I'm treated like dirt . For some reason, I'm not real royalty, just connected to it. And what do I get from you? 'Did you see how I handled the treaty today? Flawlessly! You need to brighten up more, though. You're ruining our chances!' Celestia, can you blame me for being paranoid? I've spent lifetimes dealing with the same sycophants who coddle up to you and spit on me ! Call it petty, asinine, or a waste of my time, but you can only hold it in for so long ."
Glowing ran up to my side. I barely noticed, because the blade was directly in front of me.
"But you know what, Celestia? You made many mistakes tonight. You broke our rules. I don't let that go easily. So, go ahead and say I'm insane. What did I hear you reference me as in my dream? An 'affliction '? Maybe I am one, but it's of your making. Let's not waste any more time, though."
I felt Glowing pushing me, physically and magically, but she wasn't strong enough to move me anywhere. Luna completely ignored her. I couldn't take my eyes off of her blade.
"My punishment to you, for breaking three of our highest rules, is death. For the better of Equestria! "
Luna lunged the blade forward, but it never hit me.
Glowing Sera jumped in the way of the blade and it plunged deep into her chest. She didn't flinch, and made no indication she was in pain. Suddenly I was able to move and I quickly rushed to look at the wound. Luna was frozen in shock; she didn't expect somepony to get in her way.
The magic blade (which dissipated after it entered Glowing's chest) left a large cut in her chest, but no blood flowed out. I glanced up at Glowing's face and saw that she was glaring at Luna. That might have been what shocked her so much.
"You would dare ," Glowing rebuked, "to murder your own sister? Luna, I've known you for some time, and you've never acted so foolishly. Take a step back and think about what you're going to do next."
Glowing turned around and looked at me, unaffected by he injury still. "What?" She asked.
"Your . . . chest."
Glowing looked down. "Oh. That's no problem." She grinned as her muzzle faded from a rich red into a muddy gray.
The rest of her body followed suit; her eyes disappeared and became hollow holes as the rest of her face turned to clay. Her body and cutie mark disappeared, and her hair lost it's amber color. In her place was the golem she had supposedly left outside.
A light flashed in front of me as the real Glowing Sera teleported into the room. "I had a few important spells to cast." She grabbed The Element of Magic off of the golem. "Now then."
Luna shook her head to get out of her shock. She looked at me and glared. I saw her horn light up to start the creation of another blade, but I wasn't going to be caught again.
With the power of The Sun I charged a shot and aimed it at Luna. It landed directly and sent her flying backwards into the air. She flapped her wings to help balance herself. I launched into the air as well.
"This is it, Luna! You've got nothing left!" I flied toward her, dodging and rolling between the shots of magic she was sending my way. If one had hit me I was sure it would do more than send me flying backwards.
I was gaining on Luna and she flew up higher through the broken ceiling. The strain she was putting on herself was starting to show; she was getting paler and paler, struggling to gain more altitude. I fired magic up above and tried to knock her down slightly.
In a flash, she stopped flying in midair but stayed afloat. She lit her horn, but not in my direction. I noticed it started to get slightly darker.
Luna, instead of keeping The Moon behind my Sun, shifted it to the right to allow its energy to flow. Now we both had the power of our celestial bodies on our side. Her face regained some of its color and she sent more shots down toward me.
I managed to fly up in front of her. We charged. At the last second, Luna flew upwards and bucked me with her hind legs. I quickly regained my posture, but sunk lower down. It gave me the opportunity to quickly slam into her from below. I wasn't fast enough, and she quickly grabbed me with her magic.
She lowered me to face her directly. The fury she contained was starting to break through, and she punched me with a hoof. I tried to break free from her restraints, but her magic was too strong.
"Do you know what I still have Celestia? " She yelled into the sky. "I still have everypony locked in a coma forever! You can't win tonight, not without me agreeing to free them! You know what else I have? "
She thrust a hoof into my face once again.
"I've got you! "
She repeatedly started to beat me; punches, kicks, bucks, magic spells, and disorientation was all I could feel. Each hit to my body hurt more than just the physical pain; my own sister had gone so far down a path that went against everything we strived to achieve. I watched attentively as she continued to hurt me, waiting for an opening, or the pain to go numb.
Glowing fired some magic shots from below to help me, but they weren't enough to stop her.
I scanned Luna's eyes one last time. They weren't crazed and evil, like The Affliction ; they weren't cold and ruthless, despite her attempts at being a killer; they were still Luna's. Or maybe they never were Luna's in the first place; I wasn't able to tell.
Luna charged a shot above her head with all the power of The Moon. She raised me higher into the air, and her horn grew brighter and brighter. It looked like that was it; Luna won. She pointed her horn directly at my face and—
Her horn went out as she keeled over in pain. Her wings gave out and she started to drop, but I wasn't going to let her fall easily. I charged my horn and shot directly below me into her. She plummeted toward the ground.
I slowly descended as I watched Luna crash through the broken ceiling of the castle. She landed directly on her throne, and it broke into smithereens underneath her crushing weight and speed.
I landed on the ground and saw Glowing Sera already had rushed over to Luna to check on her. Luna was limp, sprawled across the ground.
Defeated.
I made my way over to her body and kneeled down to see if she was alive. I put my ear up to her mouth. Shallow breathing. I hadn't killed her, although she was near close enough that I might as well have.
I stood up as Glowing started to speak. "I guess this is when we use The Elements, right?"
"We haven't freed all of the ponies from their dreams yet. We need to wake her up."
"I've got a solution for that," Glowing said.
She lit her horn, and encompassed the collapsed Luna in a sphere of teal. Inside the glow, Luna's cuts and bruises disappeared. She looked like she had in the beginning of the night, before everything went downhill.
Luna woke up inside with a sharp draw-in of breath. She stood up, but her limp body didn't follow. Her spirit looked at the two of us, and then down below at her damaged form. "Oh no. What have I done . . ."
I turned to Glowing. "What is this spell?"
"It's a spell that allows somepony to temporarily have their conscience pulled from their body. She can't escape the sphere I have around her, or touch anything. She can cast magic and talk to us, though."
I turned to Luna. She seemed to be examining herself carefully, finding all of her injuries. "Luna, you've lost."
She jumped up in fear at my voice. "Yes. I have." She slumped onto the ground. "Send me to Tartarus if you must, and I have no reason to ask this of you Celestia, but please don't kill me. I—I don't want to die yet."
I glared. "With what you said to me and the actions you took tonight you should be dead. Anypony knows that."
She sunk to the ground. "I know. I don't think it matters, though. Our fight, combined with the strain of holding everypony in sleep is killing me right now. I can feel my heartbeat slowing."
I was struck with a fear that rushed back to me after having disappeared for a long while; a fear for the loss of my sister. "Luna, release the ponies and you will have a chance to live. Quickly ."
Luna lit her horn and cast a spell. Soon after, the murmurs and yelling of ponies were heard outside.
"There you go. I only feel weaker now."
I took a step forward but Glowing placed a hoof in front of me. "Don't go inside, you'll break the spell."
"Okay. Luna, you're still my sister. We're going to use The Elements of Harmony on you, and they'll decide what happens to you. I—I understand that this was a misunderstanding, but like you said, this had to happen eventually. Don't forget that despite me doing this, I still love you."
Luna, crumpled on the ground, next to her real body, and smiled. "Too late for that." She looked into the air. "The Moon is quite beautiful this evening."
And with those words, the spell that connected to Luna broke. I galloped to Luna's side and put my ear next to her heart.
Slow beats, near to death.
"Glowing, she's going to die! I-I've killed her!" I exclaimed. Glowing ran over next to me and listened to Luna's heartbeat as well. She looked up.
"Celestia, we still haven't used The Elements. Can they heal her?"
"N-no, they only purge and sentence evil."
Glowing put her hoof to her chin. While she was thinking, I started trying to resuscitate Luna. It was not an area I was well-versed in, and my efforts felt more and more useless by the second.
After pushing on her chest for a long time, Glowing jumped up. "I've got it!"
"What do we need to do?"
Glowing looked at me. "Do you remember the spell that got me kicked out of Fillydelphia? The one I used on a rabbit?"
"Yeah, didn't you have to kill it?" I said, continuing to pump on her chest.
"The rabbit was already dead beforehand, I tried to bring it back to life. If I cast the spell on Luna, it will heal her, but fill her with enough dark magic for The Elements to respond and punish her!"
I stopped pumping and sat back. "Is that all you have?"
She nodded. "We'll need to be quick. I'll cast the spell and then we activate The Elements."
I nodded in response and we took a step back from Luna. "Okay. Let's get started."
Glowing Sera ignited her horn and shot out a spell onto Luna, and unlike her light teal color, it was a dark blue, bordering on black. The spell hit Luna, and its color started to spread across her coat, removing all of the cuts and bruises she held. She started growing in size as well.
"Now!" I yelled.
The Elements of Harmony were in to make their play. I felt myself rise into the air as the glowing shards circled around in front of us. What was once Luna now stood up and stared in anger as The Elements spun.
"Princess Luna," A voice that sounded like my own, Glowing's, and something else boomed, "you have committed enough evil to be worthy of punishment. I hereby banish you to ONE-THOUSAND YEARS UPON THE MOON!"
A rainbow beam of light shot out from The Elements directly into Luna's chest. The light then shot out of Luna's back and directly into The Moon.
She screamed.
And then she disappeared.
The Elements of harmony broke down into dust, Glowing and I hit the ground with a thud, and the castle stayed destroyed.
I lifted my head off the ground. The first thought that came to my mind: one-thousand years. Oh my, it still baffles me that I said that all these years later. I had to wait one-thousand years to see my sister again, and she would still be in the wrong state of mind. It was hard to handle at that moment.
Then I thought of The Elements and their usual compensation. I glanced around the room for anything.
My cuts weren't healed, and neither were Glowing's.
The castle was still broken, along with Luna's throne.
I looked in the sky to see The Moon next to The Sun. One had the face of a pony upon it. I turned away quickly; I wasn't ready to look too closely at that yet.
Were The Elements so cruel that they would leave me with nation, heart, and happiness all broken?
Glowing Sera gasped behind me. I turned around to see that she was looking up through the broken ceiling in awe.
When I found the object of her attention, I was in awe as well.
-Princess Celestia
Author's Note
There's one chapter left, everyone. Sorry for the long wait. Lots of stuff came up, and I was a bit worried about this chapter.
I guess now is a good time to ask for everyone to like and comment any questions or feedback. It's been a great journey to write this. Thanks a lot.
