Discovery of the hidden dragons

Chapters

What Happened Here?
Why?
Uprising
Consequence
A snap in the night

What Happened Here?

Chapter 1: What happened here?

Twilight looked curiously at the mysterious lock. It was as large in diameter as a dinner plate, and made out of the same dark grey metal as the chain it was tightly bound to. In its centre was a bronze circle, encrusted with four gems that seemed far too opulent for anything that hung off a stone door. One was dark, sapphire blue, one pearly white, one of pink diamond, and one clear crystal that was marked with a question mark, arranged as four quarters of a circle. There was no place for a key.

"You must understand, Princess Twilight," the scatterbrained animal keeper explained for what seemed the thousandth time, "I need to get in there! The princess trusts me, the animals trust me, and-"

"And you accidentally spilled coffee on the list of barns that you had to look after this week, so you checked with all your coworkers and checked all the barns that no one else had on their list, including some that turned out to be empty. But this one you need to me unlock," Twilight finished. She would have been annoyed, but honestly, this intellectual challenge felt like a break from sitting on her throne and listening to ponies' problems. Celestia was out on a five-day diplomatic tour, and as a result, Twilight was filling in on throne duty.

She put a hoof on the shoulder of the anxious rose-coloured mare. "Thank you for your diligence, Tenderheart, and don't worry one bit. I'll make absolutely certain that this barn is opened. No creature will go unfed."

"Thank you," the mare said breathlessly, before leaving Twilight her privacy.

I wonder if that she's related to Fluttershy, thought Twilight, It's possible. Her brother had children. Maybe she's her great niece? Ah, well. Where were we?

A tap on the pink jewel revealed that they pressed in, though it popped back up immediately afterwards. Twilight tried the clear one, and then the white one. The white one stayed pressed in. As if their colours hadn't made it obvious enough, Twilight could now assume that each stone represented an alicorn, the clear one with the question mark representing herself. Whatever this lock was, it had to have been made before Celestia had made her an alicorn. She tapped the blue, then the pink, and they stuck. But when she pressed the clear stone, they all came back up again. "Huh?"

Twilight thought. It seemed as though the stones had to be pressed in the order of the ascension of the alicorns. But then, why did it stop at hers? Or did it? She pressed the white and then the pink. Predictably, it came up when she pressed the pink. Now Twilight was confused. She began to guess randomly, hitting the first three in order, and then the white. Fail. Upon trying the process over, she hit the blue gem fourth. This time, it stayed down, below the other two pressed gems as it had been pressed twice. Huh? Twilight thought. That doesn't make sense. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and then Luna? But wait... when Luna became Nightmare Moon, she definitely seemed unponylike. Was she something other than an alicorn? Or at least, is that what the designer of this lock thought? That would mean... she became an alicorn again, after Cadance, but before me.

Twilight tapped the clear crystal, and a the lock clicked. It was undone.

Twilight's jaw went slack as soon as she saw the sight behind the door. There were dragons. So many dragons. There had to be a few hundred in the large but crowded royal stable. And they were staring right at her. After a moment of confusion, a green drake close to the door spoke up, "hey, everyone. Celestia sent us a visitor!"

He then held out his hand to shake, at which point Twilight realized that the dragon was shorter than her: he was no taller than an average stallion.

In a daze, Twilight shook his hand. "You look... confused. Are you alright?" Twilight said nothing, so the the dragon just shrugged and walked off to a stool before a mirror, the other dragons similarly losing interest. He picked up scissors, and began to casually cut into the orange membrane of his wing.

"Stop!" Twilight yelled, "What are you doing?!"

"Trimming my webs," the dragon said, as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Why?"

"Because it's good hygiene?"

"Who... told you that?"

"Celestia."

Twilight sat down on the floor, mouth agape. A concerned crowd of small, webless dragons gathered. A yellow dragoness walked over to her and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Sorry," Twilight said, getting herself together, "this is just... Such a surprise. Can I speak with one of you? I'm extremely curious as to how you've been living."

"Ooh, me!" A slate-grey dragon piped up. He pushed himself through the crowd. "Will you tell us about the outside world? I'll tell you everything you want to know if you can do that!"

"Sure, I'l do that," Twilight responded, smiling awkwardly.

"Great. My name is Carver, by the way. I'll show you my place of work," he said kindly. He turned to face the crowd. "Some privacy, please." They turned away and returned to their activities. Twilight saw dragons polishing armour, smelting metal pieces, chatting, and even a few playing cards. Twilight knew she shouldn't say it, but she said it:

"You're awfully polite for dragons." Twilight cupped her hoof over her mouth. "Sorry! That was inappropriate!"

"It's okay. Honestly, it's more confusing than offensive. Where did you get the idea that dragons weren't polite?"

Twilight was no longer surprised by how little this dragon knew. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know about the outside world after you tell me about your world, alright? Let me just check my schedule..." Twilight went through her list of royal duties. Her assistant could handle the throne room for her for an hour, and after that it was her lunch hour. After that she had an important meeting with the Canterlot education directorate, and she couldn't make it seem like she didn't care about the education of young ponies, especially since she did care! "I can stay here for an hour and fifty minutes. So, a fifty-five minute question session for me, and then one for you sound fair?"

"Sure. Now, ready to see my place of work?" he asked rhetorically, puffing up with pride as the pair approached a stable area entirely covered in tarp. His claws gripped the fabric, and he looked into Twilight's eyes, as though expecting them to glitter in excitement. Twilight mirrored that desired excitement. Clearly the dragon wanted it, even if all Twilight wanted was to start the interview. Carver tore off the tarp to reveal a stable full of stone carvings. They weren't the best stone carvings, but for an amateur with no real training, they were rather impressive. Twilight could spot a mare's head, a few dragons' heads, a potted plant, an orb, and few other carvings.

"Wow!" she beamed in mock excitement, "These are really impressive. You learned to make these all by yourself?"

"Yes. No one even told me what art was until Celestia called my stone carvings as such. It's a natural part of me."

"Wonderful! Now, ready for the interview?"

"Sure," he said quickly, a bit disappointed that they couldn't dwell on his art a bit longer.

"Question one: how long have you been here?" Twilight asked as she conjured a quill and some parchment. The dragon was not surprised by magic. Though with Celestia seemingly being their only caretaker it was hardly surprising, Twilight took note of that.

"I don't know. I stopped counting long ago. Ever since Celestia took us out of this place... we've started calling it the test running place. But that was thousands of sleeps ago."

"Tell me about the test running place."

"I couldn't tell you much about it. We were kept in glass cages at night, with a dog bed and a few dog toys. We were fed dog food. That's where we were most of the time. Sometimes they'd take some of us out. It seemed like some they didn't have use for, but maybe they just had shorter tests than I did. I don't know."

Twilight was growing very concerned. "What... were the tests? Anything inhumane?"

"Mine weren't. They had me breathe fire for treats. I think they were measuring the length and heat, but you have to understand that we didn't understand what was going on very well, back then. They'd have me exercise and grip things, and run a maze. I actually liked it. For many of the tests they'd take off my constraint gloves or muzzle, or both."

"That's very interesting. But, what do you mean, yours weren't? Were others?"

Carver looked down as though ashamed. "I know someone who would... really like to tell you about that. Follow me."

The dragon in the far corner was lying down in a corner. It seemed as tall as Twilight, and fat: a sign that it had nowhere near the power it desired. Two other overweight dragons were lazily hanging around it. "Fang?" Carver began, "a guest is here to see you."

"What do they want?" the dragon groaned in a deep, but distinctly female voice.

"She wants to hear about your time in the test running place," Carver responded, minimal annoyance seeping into his voice. "That's what she wants."

The orange she-drake rolled over to reveal a mess of scars on her belly. Some of them were very clean, as though from surgery. Some were messier. Her horns were both broken off, fairly close to the base. "Well, hi, pony," she began, putting a maximal amount of bitterness into the word. "You want to know why I'm lying back here while fools like this," she got up and pulled Carver over by the the arm, "are hauling bricks around all day?"

"Actually I honou-" Fang gently held his snout shut.

"It's because I'm one of the first ones they tested. The best of the first ones they tested, apparently."

Twilight stared at the comparatively huge she-drake in her face. Everything in her wanted to look down, but the idea of showing this aggressive dragon weakness seemed extremely foolish. Her poker face, honed by her many trials as leader, remained. "Please elaborate. I need to know exactly what they did to you. I'm not necessarily on their side."

"Right. Well, I don't even remember when it started. No one here seems to remember. But in the beginning, it was just me and a bunch of other dragons: the first dragons. We were just little baby dragons, and they cut us open and prodded at all the... inside bits... Gronkle, what are those called?"

The stooped green underling scratched his chin. "Uh, guts? Organs! It's organs!"

Fang slapped him in the face. "No, they make music with that! How do you make music with something stuck in a dragon's body, Gronkle? Idiot!"

"Wait," Twilight interjected. She had nearly faded into her own overwhelmed thoughts, "are you saying that they performed a vivisection on you... And you lived? Were there others?"

"Yeah. I let them know how tough dragons are. Anyhow," Fang continued, "they did that to a lot of dragons, I think. I know I saw them move a lot of little dragons, and some came back with stitches up their stomachs, and some didn't come back at all." She grinned a nasty grin, "Do you know why they call me Fang? It's because it's all they left of me. They took the horns, the claws, the other fang, but I didn't let them take this one," she rolled back her upper lip and stuck out her one ugly, sharpened yellow canine. Twilight could smell her sour breath. "They wanted a safe little victim. They only liked seeing me bleed. But I didn't let them take this one. You know why I'm so big and tall? It's because these dragons let me hoard everything there is to hoard here!" her voice reached a fever pitch. "So it all worked out for me. Thank the white one," she finished, lying back down.

Twilight shook. There was much to take in. However, she managed one final question. "By the white one... You mean Princess Celestia?"

Fang groaned, "Tell her, Carver," she answered lazily.

"Let's go," Carver said, holding Twilight's forehoof to lead her away from the aggressive dragon that he clearly wanted to be nowhere near. "We love Celestia, Twilight. She took us away from the place that she's describing and gave us a life here: work, food, a nice big area to move around, some favours..."

Twilight nodded slowly. She wanted to say something. Say, 'but that isn't a full life," or, 'but who put you in there to begin with?', but she was afraid of upsetting a balance that she didn't understand. "I have to go," Twilight said finally. "I promise you, though, I will see you again. For the interview." It took all of Twilight's strength not to gallop straight out of the room.

Why?

Celestia was relaxed. Her foreign affairs tour had had a few bumps in the road (one misspeak could offend a yak to no end), but all in all, Equestria's relations with other nations were improving. Her last stop was Civil Dragon Commune, a place in which Celestia expected no issue. Spike, the foreign ambassador, welcomed her in. His elderly wife, Fluttershy, stood next to him, the only pony in the village.

The town was now fifty years old, and had grown from being seven dragons come down from the Dragonlands to live as ponies to being nearly one thousand. There were vast fields, a gem mine, a large, fenced-in herd of caribou, and a fair amount of domestic animals that the dragons had bought from ponies. There was a school, a town hall, and meeting circle that would be their meeting place that night. A feast was held beforehand, in a storage silo turned dining hall. It allowed Celestia to chat with Smoulder, the first dragon student at Twilight's School of Friendship and one of the founding members of the commune. In a while, the non-officials would clear out and the meeting would begin: a simple matter of renewing the trade contracts and international legal documents that were about to expire. That wouldn't take more than an hour, and then she could go home at last.

From Canterlot castle, Twilight was using her magic to watch. She knew she shouldn't be, but, well, she knew where Celestia would be and wanted the reassurance that Celestia was still the good, kind pony she knew.

Why would Celestia do this? Did she order the experimentation, or was it someone else? There was only one thing to do: wait and ask.

At nearly midnight, Celestia teleported herself from the commune to her chambers, only to find herself nose to nose with Twilight Sparkle.

"Celestia, I need to talk to you."

"Why the grim face, Twilight?"

"I found the dragons. Tell me about them." Celestia looked puzzled. Twilight's tone hardened. "The ones in the barn. The ones that experiments were done on."

Celestia's mouth hung agape. She never thought this could happen. Until Twilight mentioned the barn, she hadn't even considered it. "Twilight, please stay calm! I promise you that it's far more reasonable than you think. We'll have a civil discussion, and then we'll talk about solutions."

"Solutions?! They've-" Twilight started, yelling. But then she calmed down. "Alright. Let's hear it. What's going on?"

Celestia sighed. "Twilight, when were you born?"

"A decade or two before the return of Luna. Why?"

"Because that means that you're old enough to remember back when we thought dragons were no more sapient than a dog. Don't you remember all that hullabaloo that happened when Spike spoke for the first time? We had no idea that was possible!"

"I do remember that!" Twilight said, almost laughing. "You guys had had him registered as a pet lizard!"

"Yes. But anyhow, the migratory dragons hadn't reached Equestria. They'd left during the reign of Discord and been gone a thousand years. And Twilight, after the reign of Discord, many things had changed. Many recombinant creatures such as manticores and the cockatrice were made by him, for instance. So when the sapient dragons left, leaving behind only the feral ones who had lost their minds to greed, we thought that that was just how they were now. They were monsters that I had to protect my little ponies from. I eventually came up with the idea to capture their eggs to prevent them from overpopulating. We didn't know that the dragons we were dealing with were hardly in any position to look after hatchlings. And after that, it was a short step to using them for teaching purposes and research. Research especially, as it could be used to learn about the dragons so we could better defend ourselves against them. Then, you, my protégé, hatched Spike's egg. You nearly cried when we tried taking the hatchling away for research, and so I decided, well, why not? Let her keep it. They're tiny, wingless, and relatively harmless for the first fourteen or so years of their lives. I wouldn't have done it if it weren't for the fact that you'd be so close to me. A few years passed, and it became more and more apparent that he was sapient. I knew then that I'd made a horrible mistake, especially since it seemed that a group of dragons were going to be migrating here within a few years. I rented some trucks and had the researchers quietly pack the young dragons in, blinded and muzzled. I led them into the stable and tended to their wounds. I took the hoods off for that so that they'd see me as a friend and not a foe. And Twilight, let me tell you, I was terrified to take off their restraints. Some of them were somewhat violent. I've kept them in the barn ever since. I alone see them. I had the researchers assigned the to new tasks immediately and never told a soul why the project had been shut down, just that there had been violations. And that's the whole story."

Twilight was silent a long time. "Well, I'm glad it was nothing malicious. But Princess, why keep them in a barn?"

"What else could I do?"

"You're telling them all kinds of weird things. Like to cut their webbings-"

"So they're less dangerous. So they don't fly away."

"Then what about their height? Some of them are so short that they haven't even hit puberty point."

"Dragons grow by owning things. There's a lot of them. I couldn't bring in enough things for them to all grow without attracting attention. And what would the benefit of them growing bigger be, to them or anyone else? They don't have to hunt or protect themselves against anything."

Twilight fell silent: a silence that lasted over half a minute. She had come into this situation fully believing that her mentor was terribly in the wrong. Now she didn't have a clue. "And why is is that? Why don't you let them go?"

"Where would I put them that benefits me, them or anyone more than the current arrangement?"

"As far as you knew when Spike had just begun to speak, dragons lived as wild animals. Why not just release them?"

"For what? We didn't know how much of what dragons need to know to survive is ingrained and how much is learned. I could have been sending them to their deaths. And if I wasn't, we'd have hundreds of extra predators in Equestria. It just wouldn't be to anyone's benefit."

"...I get what you're saying. I really do. But it still seems wrong."

"I know. I'm Sorry. But it's unchangeable now."

Twilight nodded. She knew that Celestia was right. Now that dragons and ponies had their allegiance- and not a particularly stable one, at the moment- this history of racism and abuse could break it. The Dragonlands were already somewhat suspicious of ponies destroying their lifestyle thanks to the Civil Dragon Commune. The barn had to stay hidden for the sake of peace. "I won't tell anyone." Twilight said with resolve.

Uprising

Twilight paced the hall outside of the dragon barn. Fluttershy and Spike were taking their sweet time, and it was scaring Twilight to death.

Twilight had meant what she said when she told Celestia she'd keep the secret, but it had weighed heavily, and visibly, on her. "What's wrong, Twilight?" Sunburst asked, "you've been staring at that page for ages."

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just tired."

"Really?" Sunburst said in a concerned voice. Twilight furrowed her brow. Her husband knew her too well.

"Fine, it's...royal stuff. Top secret. Can't tell you."

Sunburst nodded. "Okay. Well, maybe we should do something to cheer you up." He began tickling her stomach with his muzzle, his tried-and-true way of initiating intimacy.

"Oh, stop it, you!" Twilight said, but she couldn't help but roll over on to her back. She liked it when he did that. She liked Sunburst. And there'd never been a single secret in their marriage before. Twilight rolled back into a more dignified position and sighed. "I don't want to keep secrets from you," she began. "The truth is... I had a nightmare last night. It was that I found a barn full of these dragons that Celestia was keeping. It was like protective custody, but they were cut off from so much of life. They were small, and stunted, and dependant. And I didn't know how to help them."

"Hmm..." Sunburst got up and walked up to the shelf, looking thoughtfully at it before picking out a book on dream interpretation. Twilight let go of breath she didn't know she was holding. Sunburst had bought the lie.

"I don't think that's it. Just... Since I woke up, I've been thinking... it could have been Spike. If I did find something like that, do you think I'd owe him the knowledge?"

"I don't know, Twilight. I know that you two used to have a mother-son relationship, but I don't know all the details. From what I know about him though, well... he trusts you to know what's best. What do you think that would be? Have you ever lied to him before?"

Twilight told Spike. Spike told Fluttershy. Fluttershy wanted to see. And Twilight made plans to show them. She knew she was digging herself deep, but she didn't know how else to do this. Twilight knew Fluttershy. Her loyalty was to kindness before reason or country. She might tell someone if she thought the dragons were abused and felt helpless to stop it. At very least, Fluttershy had agreed to let Spike go with her for her protection. Fluttershy had been living with dragons for decades now. She knew how aggressive some of them were.

Finally, they emerged. Spike's face read concern. Fluttershy's read determination.

"We should talk this out," Twilight said stoically. It was her instinct: that phrase had saved her from a number of prickly political situations.

"Twilight, we... um" Fluttershy hid behind her mane momentarily before looking up again, assertive force in her eyes, "We have to let them go. Trapping them here is wrong."

"Yes. I know. But our alliance with the rogue dragons-"

"-Unconverted dragons," Fluttershy corrected. Twilight winced. Fluttershy only cared about semantics like that when dealing with someone who might actually think of dragons as wild beasts. She must not have seen that as Twilight's mere misspeak. She continued nonetheless.

"Yes, unconverted dragons- is really tenuous. Dragon Lord Garble is already just itching to attack us. Fluttershy, if this gets out, dozens of dragons and hundreds or thousands of ponies are going to die. I'm sorry. They have to stay."

Fluttershy looked down, and Spike put a comforting claw around her. Her silence lasted a few seconds before Spike spoke up. "You snuck her in here once. Maybe you could do it again. Even... Regularly?"

"But why?"

"So that Fluttershy could visit them and increase their quality of life. A compromise."

"I don't know..."

"Twilight, do it or I'll tell!" Fluttershy nearly yelled.

Twilight sighed. "Celestia has meetings with the Canterlot board of directors every Tuesday from one to three pm. Then. That's when you come." Her secret had once again become more tenuous.

"It's a deal," Fluttershy said.

"Hold on. We need to set some conditions. First of all, I need to make sure that you don't bring anything in there. At least, nothing you won't bring back out. At 1 pm, I'm going to come here and magically search you. I'll make a list of every item you bring in. I'll do the same at 3 pm. If there's any difference, I'm never letting you in there again. Second, both Spike and I are going in with you. Maybe, eventually, I'll trust you enough to go in there just with Spike. Thirdly, don't ever threaten to tell anyone again. Fluttershy, I really don't want to threaten you, but there are memory erasure spells in the library. They won't hurt, but they might cleave out memories I don't mean to. I don't want that to happen. Please make sure I don't have to do it." Twilight paused a moment. "That's everything. Deal?"

"Deal," Fluttershy said.

"Spike?"

"Deal."

"Great. Now, how's your garden doing this year?" Twilight said, going off on a tangent. She desperately wanted to preserve her friendship with Fluttershy, even in these odd circumstances.

They carried on their conversation, and in the passing months, carried out their plan. Twilight was surprised to find that Fluttershy was adored by the dragons. Even Fang came out to greet her. Maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise. She told them all about the outside world. They were always full of questions. Twilight kept every promise she made, but Fluttershy never snuck in anything that could harm. A few books, some paints for Carver (though Carver, much to his dismay, had to give all his painted sculptures to Fluttershy so that Celestia wouldn't see.)

It was five months later that Twilight saw any consequence for her actions.

Twilight had been having a normal dream without much pattern, the kind where one is barely aware, that just moves with one's random stream of thought and would be forgotten by morning. Then, Princess Luna appeared, clear as day, and everything else faded out.

"Twilight Sparkle, You have to wake up!" She said. "The dragons are in grave danger!"

"No, that can't be! This has to be a nightmare. How would you even know?"

"I've been looking after Celestia's thoughts and dreams for years, how could I not? But she does not dream tonight. Look!" Luna used her magic to give an image of Celestia commanding dozens of royal guards in fire-proof dragonscale armor. There were bites and scratches on her neck. Twilight had feared that, and known it was but a matter of time before the trapped dragons began seeing her as a warden instead of a savior. And of course, Celestia couldn't put herself in danger for their sake. Extermination had become the only option. The thought shook Twilight awake.

Twilight thought about those dragons, safe and relatively happy in their protective custody before she had known about them.

"What have I done?" she asked Luna, who had been standing next to her.

"What you have done is show me that there's a better way to do things than what Celestia has shown. Truly, we cannot build a just society by trampling on the rights of sapients. Now, give me orders, Twilight. We will save them."

Author's Note

Sorry that this story has been somewhat slow to get going. Things will get a lot more action-oriented after this chapter, I assure you.

Consequence

"Alright. Let's talk about the consequences," Twilight said.

"First of all, I'm going to have to step down," Celestia deadpanned.

"What?!" Twilight yelled.

"Well, most likely, anyhow. How did you describe it to the ponies of Equestria, Twilight? Unless you were very careful about it, you might have made me look like a monster."

"I didn't name any names. Just said that we'd been historically ignorant and handled the situation the best way we could think to with the knowledge we had."

"That was a mistake. True, but a mistake. If you give them someone to blame, they won't blame us as a group, and the group can keep its approval. Now is not the time to take one for the team."

"Celestia is right. When a war is won we blame the enemy. We have to make it seem like a triumph against evil was made."

"I guess you're right. It's only the old ones out there that remember a time when we didn't think dragons were sapient."

"I'm not talking about the ponies of Equestria. They aren't going to rebel against us. They practically worship us. But it would be foolish to feed them one story and Garble another. He'd figure it out and come to the worst conclusions."

"But... Celestia... Where will you go?"

"Where I'll go, I don't know. But, don't worry about me. I can transform into anypony I please, so I'll make it by."

Twilight came up with an idea. "I got it! You could come back as my head advisor! Your life would hardly have to change at all!"

Sunburst looked stunned. "Um... Twilight... Could we get a moment alone?"

"Sure."

The two broke away from the group and entered one of the stables.

"Twilight, if she did all this, why do you even want her to stay?"

"I...don't know. I guess because things are changing so fast, and she's been in my life since I was a little filly. I don't want to leave her.

Sunburst seemed rather confused and distressed. "I just punched her in the face twice. I was ready to kill her if I had to because I thought she was the bad guy. Twilight, if it wasn't Celestia who'd done this, would you let them go that easily? Heck, what would the book of law say?"

"I...see what you're saying." Twilight said, lowering her head. "I guess we should talk about punishing her. But later. After we figure out how to tell Garble."

Sunburst looked only somewhat reassured. "No, not later. Now. The four of us can't be going against each other like that. You have any idea how we can keep her from doing that?"

Twilight tapped her chin. After a moment, she said, "Yes."

The two shared their idea with Luna. "Celestia," Twilight began, "I think that Sunburst and I have decided what your consequence should be. As planned, you'll be made to look like a regular pony so that you can act as my advisor. However, you'll also have the magic of one."

Luna gasped. "Twilight, you don't mean-!"

"Yes. We're going to use the Rock of Tirek."

The Rock of Tirek had been used before-for dangerous, aggressive prisoners who left no other option. Once free of any magic, even the roughest and heartiest of them had become weary, idle shells of their former selves. It wasn't something that wardens liked seeing done to anyone.

"Against my sister? Have you left your senses?!" Luna growled, scowling. Beside her, Celestia looked terrified.

"Twilight, please! You know the position I was in!"

"I'm not going to leave you magicless. We'll find a weak magical force in the Rock of Tirek to give you. But I still think it's necessary. It's not because you locked up the dragons, Celestia. There was no good option in that situation, and I can understand that. It's because you went behind my back to solve the issue. If we're going to be fighting a war, then we need our unit of leadership to communicate. It needs to be many brains in one head. A beast with two heads is forever bound to fight itself. I need to make sure that you don't do this again."

The look of disapproval on Luna's face softened. Celestia looked almost resigned.

The plan was implemented. The three alicorns announced that Celestia was stepping down because of her disastrous attempt to cover up the past of Equestria's racism. Celestia was at this time escorted out. She held her head low and appeared without any of her jewelry. Four guards surrounded her, but their armor was blue, orange, and purple, not yellow. They were there to prevent her escape, not her harm. A few ponies in the crowd were angry, and yelled and booed and kicked up sand. The vast majority, however, were stunned. They felt as though a constant part of their lives had been uprooted. Like from now on, the sun wouldn't rise. One pony even spat into the eye of Twilight's guard. In the end, though, Celestia was transported deep into the woods.

It wasn't until late that night that Dulcet Song returned, having taken the form of a green earth pony with a limp yellow mane and tail and soft blue eyes. The three ruling alicorns took out the rock of Tirek and stole her magic, replacing it with the magic of an average pegasus. Celestia would never be able to transform into anything, let alone her old form, again.

A snap in the night

"Assign half your on-duty guards to me for the night, then take the rest of them and go get Spike. The dragons trust him. He can relocate them to the Civil Dragon Commune until we think of something more permanent. Make sure Fluttershy stays at home. Sunburst-" Twilight shook her husband awake. He jerked up and unfurled his wings in surprise. "Sunburst, this is an emergency. That dream I told you about? It wasn't a dream. I need to take half your on-duty guards for the night. Take the rest and declare that there is to be an important announcement to the ponies of Equestria in an hour."

"What?" He asked.

"Trust. Me." She replied.

He scanned the room and saw the distressed look on Twilight and Luna's faces. "Alright," he said, "I'll announce the announcement."

"Excellent. Now, go!" Luna commanded Twilight. "I shall alert thy active guards. Go!"

Twilight teleported herself to the barn door, knocking back two white unicorn stallions who had been pressing down stones on the lock. "Stop. You have new orders and they're to return to your positions." Twilight commanded.

The guard was entirely impassive. "Celestia said you might intervene. Your Majesty, I have to ask you to step aside."

"And if I don't?" Twilight was trying to sound brave.

"We won't harm you, but we will have to remove you from the premises. We have nine trained unicorns here to do the job."

At that moment, several members of Twilight's and Luna's guards came up behind her. She knew that over a third of them were unicorns. "You'll have to tear me away from them."

"Very well," the guard responded, lighting his horn. Twilight heard the sound of dozens of horns lighting up all around her. She could feel the tug of Celestia's guards until she added her own magic. They were no match for the combined power of an equal number of guards and an alicorn. They stayed locked like that for some time. Celestia's guards began to grunt and strain to no avail. Twilight and her guards were beginning to show strain as well, until some of Sunburst's guards arrived, making their task easy. The horns of the Celestia's guards dimmed as they realized the futility of the situation.

"Call in reinforcements," one of Celestia's guard commanded.

"That will not be necessary," a voice from the back of the room boomed. Celestia stepped forward until she was in view. "Twilight, step aside."

Twilight looked at the pink scratches on Celestia's neck and thought of the alliance to the Dragon Lands. She could have had an hour to ponder the decision she was about to make and it still wouldn't be long enough. She stood still, more out of indecision than anything. Celestia continued to step forward. "Twilight, step aside," she said, now in a firmer voice."

"If I do, will you kill them?"

"What choice do I have?"

"You have the choice to be honest, and take responsibility for what you did."

"You're putting honour before reason," Celestia replied. Then, she lit her horn. Twilight's guards lit up to help her. This time, Twilight could feel herself struggle against the force of the thousand-year-old alicorn. The guards broke down, many collapsing from exhaustion. Twilight felt their help give out one by one until she was fighting a hopeless battle alone. Sweat poured down her forehead. Finally, Twilight could take no more. Her horn went dull and she flew into a wall. "Sorry, Twilight. I didn't mean to use so much force." Twilight watched helplessly as Celestia pressed the buttons on the lock. Then, looking back she saw them flying to her rescue: Luna, Sunburst, and Spike.

Luna cast a spell on Celestia. And when she tried to light up in return, her horn produced nothing but a few sparks. Celestia gasped in surprise.

"Guards, back to your stations. All of thee. We bid thee dismissed!" Luna shouted in her Canterlot voice. A few of Celestia's guard passed her confused looks, but she merely nodded, not willing to let them get hurt for what she thought could be solved with words. She stopped only three of her own, all earth ponies.

"You too, Luna? And Sunburst?"

"I can understand thy actions, sister. But no longer can I accept them."

"I... Found out about this... um..." He summoned a pocket watch. "half an hour ago, but it seems right to me."

"Fine, then. But I'm not stepping away from this door. This is for the good of Equestria."

Spike stepped forward and pushed Celestia out of the way with his draconic strength. Celestia tumbled to the ground, scrapping her face, but got up quickly and locked arms with Spike, evenly matched as they wrestled. A guard ran forwards, ready to stab Spike with his spear. "Look out!" Twilight yelled. Spike raised his tail to swing it at the guard, but in his distraction, Celestia gained the upper hand and knocked him to the ground, her hooves landing landing on his chest and knocking the air out of him. The guards ran forwards, but were blocked by the three alicorns using magical forcefields. Spike dug his claws into Celestia's legs, causing her to jump and allowing him to get back up on his feet. "My spell will only last another thirty seconds, and I cannot cast it again," Luna said, "Spike, the dragons! Twilight, the announcement!"

"Got it," Spike replied. The two broke away from the fight. Twilight pressed the correct combination into the lock and then teleported away.

Celestia ordered her three earth pony guards to gather the others to stop Spike and the dragons. Luna left to gather hers and ensure that they wouldn't be successful. That left Celestia and Sunburst. Did that mean... that he was to face off against Celestia. He may have been a younger alicorn, and had never been the most athletic of ponies, but he was also the only male alicorn in existence, and was very strong as a result. But as strong as Celestia, who had just thrown off a male dragon? He was stuck standing there awkwardly between Celestia and the door. Celestia didn't seem aggressive in her stance. She stepped forward with the same regality she showed in front of her people.

"Sunburst," she began.

"I don't want to hurt you..."

"Well, I don't want to hurt you. I think this is all rather much, is it not? Some of my guards and Luna's are going to get hurt or even die. Spike assaulted me, and I had to shove Twilight against a wall using magic. All for something like this. Be honest, don't you feel like this is just senseless chaos?

"Well...yes. No one expects to wake up to something like this."

"I know. I'm rather disappointed in Twilight and Luna. They're acting out of passion when reason is needed. One of Twilight's greatest strengths is the way that she values relationships, and my sister has always cared very much about justice, but you and I, we're analytical. We can see the big picture. So I hope that you can see that this is unwise. In short, please move."

Sunburst had no idea what to say or do. He was practiced at not looking as irresolute as he often felt, but Celestia had a point about him not knowing anything about the details of the situation. And Celestia was the wisest alicorn he'd ever met. Was he doing the right thing?

A sudden thought emerged of what Twilight had said to him: it could have been Spike. He could so easily been one of them. "I'm not moving."

"Very well," Celestia declared, taking to the air to fly over Sunburst. He caught her and dragged her back down. They wrestled on the floor, Sunburst finally pinning her down after a over twenty seconds of struggle. Celestia teleported herself back behind him, and they began to joust with their horns. While their horns were locked, Celestia laid a heat spell on Sunburst. Heat began to burn in his hooves, spreading to the rest of his body, as though he were being dragged hoof-first into an oven. He responded by punching Celestia in the mouth, knocking her backwards and mercifully, breaking her spell. She returned with an equal blow, and Sunburst was preparing to match it when a voice yelled, "Stop!" It was Twilight. "It is done."

The two alicorns stopped immediately. "Oh, Twilight..." Celestia sighed. "I'm not going to punish you. The natural consequences of this are going to be punishment enough."

Twilight looked upon the scene. Spike and the dragons had already left- the only creatures who remained were the three alicorns, none of whom were entirely unhurt. She was particularly concerned with her ex-mentor, now fellow ruler's bruises and bloodied mouth. She could even see the marks from tears from when Celestia had cried from physical pain. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Not as much as you soon will be."

"I can honestly say that I don't regret it." Twilight turned to Sunburst. "I'm sorry to you, too. That was an awful lot to have you do as a snap in the night."

That might have been especially true for Sunburst, who hadn't even known about the situation mere hours ago, but Twilight knew that it was true for all of them. The decisions they'd been forced to make within seconds would be affecting their lives and the lives of countless others for years.