The Past Hurts

Celestia looked over her kingdom on the highest tower in Canterlot. Everything she saw was her doing. She made Ponies a force to be reckoned with, she helped build towns like Ponyville, Manehatten, and Stalliongrad with her power and will. And she made her empire a peaceful one. Removing any doubt her subjects had in her. This was her kingdom, the kingdom her kind deserved. She regretted many things she did over the years to make her dream come true. She had to deceive a pony or two here and there, but ultimately it was for the start of something new. Luna came up behind her.

“It appears the day has come at last.” Luna smiled. “All those years of planning, all the times of deceit, all for this day.” Celestia looked to her sister with her ever knowing smile.

“Yes Luna, finally the damage Discord did will be ultimately erased, his failure will be complete.” Celestia motioned for Luna to follow her. “Is everything prepared?”

Luna nodded and said, “Yes, we've made it so the ceremony will take place in front of the portal. When you raise the sun, I'll get the Elements to power the portal. With the power of the sun and the power of the Elements, the portal will open and our brothers and sisters will finally be free.” Celestia glared at Luna.

“They will be free Luna, but do not mistake the fact that in order for our dream to come true, we have to keep our position of power. If we lose that, we'll be disorganized and will fall prey to what happened before.” Luna shrugged.

“I know big sister, worry not.” Luna smiled. “You know I've made the sacrifices just like you did, perhaps even more so.”

Celestia saw the anger in Luna's eyes. She still held a grudge for her, “banishment.” Everything that happened, aside from when Discord broke free, was all staged for the big show that would happen tonight. Celestia laughed with excitement, “This is going to be quite the party.”

Twilight and her friends got off the carriage and made their way to the Ceremony. The party was in full swing at this point. Thousands of ponies, dancing, drinking, playing games, and just having a good time. Twilight and the others smiled with excitement. Twilight was the first to speak.

“Well girls? What should we do first?”

Applejack responded, “I have to get my Apple stand set up. I can't miss this opportunity to make some bits.” She pushed her Apple cart to a position that would get her a lot of patrons. Twilight slumped her shoulders and turned to Rainbow Dash to find that she was already off, flying to the Wonderbolt try outs. She saw Rarity talking with some Unicorns that belong to the cultural elite of Canterlot, obviously enjoying herself. Fluttershy was moving with impressive speed to the woods near Canterlot. Twilight didn't want to take Fluttershy away from a place she felt most comfortable. And Pinkie Pie was . . .

“WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!” Pinkie Pie was screaming and firing her Party Cannon all over the place.

“You can't stop Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said looking at the ground. Spike patted her mane.

“It's okay Twilight, you still got me.” Spike said.

Twilight smiled, “Thank you Spike. What would you like to do?”

“Well I was thinking we could-” Spike was interrupted when Pinkie Pie grabbed him and started dancing with him. They both disappeared into the crowd. Twilight was alone in Canterlot, again. She decided to walk to her old study place and see what was happening there.

Orion got off his carriage and made a signed agreement with the ponies pulling his carriage about the drinks. He turned to face Canterlot, his old home, where he shamed himself. Orion rushed to Ceremony as fast as he could. He ran past so many places that flooded his mind with memories. He eventually came upon his old school for gifted unicorns. He cringed at the sight of this place, he always felt uncomfortable here, after what he did. He shook his head and continued to run to the Ceremony. He looked back at the school just once, until he knocked into somepony.

“Oof!” he said as he fell. His satchel opened up, send his father's notes flying everywhere. “Sorry!” he said to the pony he knocked into. He tried his best to gather his things and get out of there.

“Maybe you should watch where you're going next time?” The pony he knocked into was a mare. Orion organized all of the notes and placed it in his bag.

“I know, but I've got to get to-” He turned to the mare he bumped into, turns out he knew her. The purple mare had a shocked expression just like Orion did. All those years, all those painful memories returned all at once to the two ponies. “Hey there . . . Sparkle.” Orion said softly.

“Hi . . . Orion.” Twilight said with a look of fear and sadness.

The two looked at each other with so much awkwardness it would fill Equestria ten times over. Orion was the first to speak.

“So um . . . how have you been doing?” Orion was trying his best not to bring up any painful emotions or memories within Twilight.

“Oh . . . great. Thanks for asking.” Twilight said with a chuckle. Scratch ten times over, make that 20 times over on the “Awkward Meter.”

Orion knew he had to say something to her, he had to say a lot of things to her. But the most important was the prophecy he found and how it concerned her.

“Listen, Twilight, we have to talk about something, it's very important.” Orion said.

Twilight glared at Orion. “Oh? Are you going to apologize for what you did to me?” Twilight asked.

Orion shook his head and said, “You know I apologized a thousand times over for what I did, and I sent you many letters saying how sorry I was, which you never responded to.”

Twilight gave a deeper glare to Orion. “Yeah well, maybe an apology is just too little for me.” Orion was confused, he apologized and left the school after what he did. Why is she still feeling anger?

“Twilight, I don't know what else I could say or do for you.” Orion said.

“Well maybe you should, considering what you did.” Twilight turned her head to Orion.

“Twilight, I think about that day all the time. I know I hurt you, but not to this point.” Memories suddenly filled Orion's mind.

It was a winter's day in Canterlot many years ago. Twilight was reading a book while a “Hearth Warming” party was going on. She always hated those parties, she couldn't relate to anyone. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. A blue unicorn came in. “Hey there Sparkle, what are you doing in here by yourself? Don't you know it's a party?”

She continued to read her book. “Not interested.” She couldn't have said that without any less emotion, Orion thought.

“Come on Twilight, we've got a lot of fun stuff out there, and it wouldn't kill you to socialize for a bit right?” Twilight lifted her head from her book. “Just five minutes, and then I promise if you ain't having fun you can come back to this dark library and read about whatever it is you read about.” Twilight gave a weak smile to Orion.

“Ok, you win Orion, let me put this book away first though.” Twilight said with a smile. She went off to the section where the book belong.

“You do that Sparkle.” Orion said with a smile. He exited the room and came out to a bunch of ponies that were waiting for him.

“Well?” An orange unicorn asked. “Is she coming out?”

Orion snickered. “Yeah she's coming. You can pull your prank now.” He trotted away from the door and went off to get some punch, only to find the bowl missing. He turned around to see it levitated above the door Twilight was going to come out of. He dashed back to the door to stop them. But he was too late. The door opened with a happy Twilight Sparkle coming out. The punch fell from the bowl and onto Twilight Sparkle. Orion was shocked, he knew they were going to prank her, but not so meanly. The other ponies laughed like hyenas at Twilight. They pushed her and shoved her around while she was just sitting on the ground.Twilight started to cry, and as Orion was trying to make his way towards her, she saw him and erupted in anger. With that, her eyes started to glow, and all the other ponies stepped away from Twilight. She lifted her body off and gave off a huge magical discharge. Orion used his special talent of creating shields to save everypony. The building itself however, was destroyed. A few days later, there was a hearing with Celestia as the judge. The hall was filled up with Ponies except for Twilight Sparkle. Orion stood before Celestia looking down all the while.

“Well?” Celestia said, “What do you have to say Orion? Who was responsible for this?”

Orion looked up and said, “I was the eldest pony there Princess, I should have stopped the prank before it began.” He looked back down again.

Celestia shook her head. “I thought that one day, you'd become a pony that would earn honor and respect. Perhaps one day, become a Guardian of Equestria.” Celestia looked away and said, “But I guess that isn't your destiny. Orion closed his eyes, he knew what was coming next. “Orion, you are hereby expelled from the school with no chance of re-enrollment. What's more, you are no longer eligible for holding a position in the Ministry of Magic.” Orion walked out of the court, with ponies yelling at him and throwing things at him. Celestia then teleported him back to Trottenheim back to where his father was. Orion's father looked at how broken Orion was and said, “Oh my.”

Orion looked at Twilight who still felt the pain of that day. “Twilight I paid the price, and I'm carrying it with me, even now.”

Twilight turned away from him and started walking away. Orion grunted.

“Twilight, none of that will matter if we don't stop what's coming.” Twilight stopped and turned to Orion.

“And what do we need to stop Orion?” Twilight asked with a hint of spite.

Orion put on a stern face and said, “The end of Equestria as we know it.”