“You got a letter from Luster Dawn!” Spike said excitedly, and Princess Twilight smiled. He knew how much she enjoyed those. “Dear Princess Twilight, today I learned that while it’s good to want to help your friends, if you don’t know what you’re doing your help might not be that helpful, and you might even end up doing more harm than good. You should listen to your friend’s opinion, and if they don’t think your plan is smart, or even call it a ‘half-baked wild-eyed cockamamie scheme and we’ll be lucky if you don’t burn the town down’, they probably aren’t just being ungrateful, and you should think about whether they have a point. Thankfully, you can always count on your friends to help you clean up a mess – once everypony knows what to do. Well, it sure sounds like somepony had an interesting day.”
The two of them were wandering down a hallway of the New Canterlot Castle as they spoke, and Guard Sergeant Gallus saluted and opened the door for them as they went past. “I’m glad she finally met somepony who will speak up to her when she does her ‘wait, wait, I can fix this’-routine,” Twilight said with a giggle. “What’s next on today’s schedule, Spike?”
Spike ran down the list, reciting items they’d already done under his breath. “Oh wow, we’re way ahead of schedule! We have some free time.”
At those words Twilight let out a playful cry of triumph, and changed course towards the royal gardens.
“What else...” Spike flipped through his papers. “Oh, right! Starlight sent the latest report from the school. Grades are up and there are more applications than ever! She wants to expand the student wing to take in more students.”
“I’m sure we can find room in the budget for that,” Princess Twilight said. “Anything else?”
“Honestly, not much,” Spike said. “You know how we’ve been arguing with the deer and moose leaders about the railroad expansion? They finally accepted our designs for a forest-friendly track and agreed. With that out of the way, it sort of seems like your schedule is going to be pretty open for a while.”
Twilight giggled. “There’s always more to do, Ambassador Spike.”
“Yeah… But maybe now’s a good time to do something different. Maybe something you normally don’t have time for.”
They wandered through the scenic flower gardens, out to the hedge maze and statue park as they talked. A few groups of visitors gawped and grinned at her, and she stopped and exchanged a few words with each of them. She even made a silly face at a baby griffon, who laughed while his mother squealed in delight.
Spike followed Twilight’s steps to the center of the statue garden, where she paused to consider the statues of the three villains.
The spot was not completely abandoned, for all that it held the three greatest villains who had menaced Equestria in living memory. Tirek and Cozy Glow did not receive any tributes or adulation, but opposite Chrysalis… Thorax’s hive still sent her little gifts, and placed opposite her, for her to look at always, was a wooden sculpture of Thorax himself, smiling and waving at her.
“There they are as always,” Twilight said, looking into Cozy Glow’s too-innocent face. “Turned to stone by the power of Harmony.”
“I’ll be honest, those three still creep me out,” Spike said, eyeing the snarling Chrysalis warily. “I hope we never hear any more from them.”
“Maybe someday we might, unfortunately,” Twilight said. “Them or someone else like them.”
“You can take on any villain that tries anything,” Spike said, and blew a raspberry into Tirek’s face.
Twilight chuckled, nodding, then turned pensive. “We’ve been doing quite well,” Princess Twilight Sparkle said. “I’ve been very lucky.”
“Very lucky? Are you kidding?” Her dragon assistant-brother-Friendship Ambassador said. “You’re doing great. Equestria’s gone from strength to strength ever since you took over. Since those three, you’ve never even had to use the Elements of Harmony.”
She was studying the statues of the three great evils, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow, as Spike walked along behind her. She looked into the eyes of little Cozy Glow.
“You’re right, Spike.” She said, slipping into her thoughts as she gazed over the stone figures. “This is a good time. Maybe it’s finally time to think about some things… Spike? Write a letter for me, please.”
– – –
“I’d like to talk about petrification,” Princess Twilight had began.
They were sitting at a round table in one of the many rooms of Canterlot Castle, she and the three others: the Royal Sisters, and Discord, who had all come at her invitation. The Sisters sat in their seats, while Discord had slithered in through the air and sat on the edge of the table itself, and upon hearing Twilight’s words the three elder immortals shot each other curious glances.
“Petrification?” Celestia said.
“Since things have been relatively calm the past few years, I’ve been thinking more about the theoretical side of being a Princess,” Twilight said with a smile the former ruler of Equestria recognized, the smile of her old student taking joy in her studies. “I want to do the best I possibly can for Equestria. And there are a lot of weighty conundrums I have to consider. In order to responsibly wield the powers of the crown, I need to have all the information. And lately I’ve been thinking about the stone spell again. To put it briefly, I have some difficulties with the concept.” Twilight drew a breath and continued. “This is maybe the most severe punishment magic can conjure, and I and I alone have to decide when it’s appropriate to use it… and to end it. Which is why I’d like to talk to you.”
“You are quite correct, Princess Twilight,” Celestia said kindly. “This is indeed one of the heaviest decisions that a Princess may have to make. We trust you to decide what is best. But if you want our advice, we are of course happy to offer it to you.”
“That’s great! Let’s get started then.” Twilight brought a pencil to her notebook. “So, Celestia… What were you thinking when you turned Discord to stone?”
There was a moment’s silence, during which both Luna and Discord looked at Celestia, Discord leaning forward with eyebrows raised in expectation while Celestia leaned away with a slight deer-in-the-headlights expression. “That’s… That’s taking me quite far back,” she said with a stiff smile.
Twilight continued. “I don’t mean to second-guess your decisions. I just want to know what went into them.”
Luna sat up in her seat. “Well, I’ll start then,” she said, ignoring the sudden shrinking of her sister’s pupils. “What was I thinking? I was thinking that Discord was a terrible villain who was beyond redemption and who needed to be stopped at all costs, and that nopony would question the means by which we did so. I was thinking of the ponies of Equestria, who suffered terribly under a reign of chaos in which neither earth nor air nor water could be trusted without suspicion, in which any moment could see you snatched up as a plaything to a cruel being who cared nothing for your fears and took pleasure in your screams.”
“And was devilishly handsome too.”
“Luna!” Celestia frowned at her sister.
“I was only answering honestly.”
Princess Twilight raised a gold-slippered hoof. “It’s okay, Celestia,” she said. “Please continue, Luna.”
“Well. I did not conceive of any notion that this fiend could be worth sparing, or entertain the possibility that the spell might someday falter, or else I would surely have worked harder to make it stronger.”
Celestia facehoofed. Discord only nodded. “Yes, but tell us how you really feel.”
Luna waved him off. “I felt a great relief at the deed. I had no thought for mercy or hesitation, or any doubt that we were doing the right thing. On the contrary, I remember feeling a great joyous exhilaration, secure in the knowledge that ponies were finally free, that we had triumphed. We were the heroines, the saviors of ponykind, we had beaten back evil and proved the strength of good.” She sat back in her chair. “Of course, a few years later that same spell was cast on me. I saw then how misleading such thoughts could be.”
Celestia let her head dip at this as the three of them listened to her sister, Twilight attentive and silent as she wrote down notes.
“In truth, I never recovered my former confidence,” Luna continued. “I had seen my reason’s failing all too keenly. You may not know this, dearest Twilight, but after my return I had fewer duties than I did before my banishment.” She raised a hoof to silence any objection, and looked to her sister. “I do not complain – do not misunderstand. All of us have made mistakes, but mine were greater. Equestria survived under my sister all those years in my absence, so I trusted in her judgment, because I know how mine can falter.”
“You were always a help to me,” Celestia said under her breath. Luna reached out and touched her hoof.
Twilight waited in respectful silence for a moment before continuing, speaking softly. “If you’re willing to talk about it, Luna… My next question is: what was it like to be under the spell? What was it like on the moon?”
“It’s fine. Really, I think this matter has been covered extensively already, so I don’t know what more I can add to it,” Luna said, sitting back in her chair, pushing her hooves against the table’s edge. “But since you ask… It was varied. It was not constant. There were times when I was consumed by vengeance, and swore bloody havoc. There were times when I was remorseful, resolved that when I would return I would come only to speak. There were times when I could barely stop weeping for months on end, and times I raged endlessly at the blue orb wheeling above, and times when I was above all else bored out of my skull… There were times when I pondered that all those I had wronged, and all those who knew them, were by then long dead, that without us immortals no living pony would have thought to be bothered by my crimes. I had the opportunity to consider every question from every angle I could devise, to settle upon firm conclusions and to doubt them again. The only thing I could not do was seek another’s opinion, except insofar as I could imagine it myself, which rather removed the point from the entire exercise. But when the time to break free came in the end, in spite of it all my mind was set on vengeance.”
“You certainly hadn’t gone rusty,” Celestia said.
“Well, I was not exactly cut off from the source of my power all that time.” Luna let her mouth curl into a little smile. “You know, somepony might call that a strategic error on your part.”
Celestia chuckled back.
Twilight nodded as she took her notes. “Would you say these varied feelings on the moon were a reflection of your feelings before the battle? Or was there a split, a clear divide from how you felt before?”
Luna shrugged. “Truly, I cannot say now. I imagine my mindset was the same.”
“That’s interesting,” Twilight said under her breath. “Thank you, Luna.”
Twilight turned to Discord, who hovered in his chair in a seating position, his arms crossed and his face locked in a serious expression as he gently rose up and down in the air. “Discord… I’d like to talk to you about the time you spent under the stone spell.”
“Oh don’t act like I’m some sensitive child. Just tell me what you want.”
Twilight sighed. “Here’s the thing. And much of this applies to you as well, Luna.I know that when you were trapped in stone, you heard everything that happened around you. And to be honest, that idea kind of horrifies me,” Twilight admitted. “Being fully conscious but unable to move, speak, or do anything to respond to the world around you… Solitary confinement is torture that drives ponies insane, and stone imprisonment seems like that multiplied by magic.”
Celestia and Luna glanced to each other, and to the Draconequus, but otherwise remained calm and impassive. Discord pointed an eye at them, a gesture that seemed more of satisfaction than of accusation. Twilight cleared her throat and continued. “And, well, I need to grapple with that. I’d like to know what it was like for you. Because on the one hoof, when you were first released you seemed much the same as you were before you were originally imprisoned. Going by historical accounts, I mean. That suggests to me that petrification puts you in stasis that keeps you whole and, well, healthy. On the other hoof, just because something is true for Discord doesn’t mean it’s true for any other creature.”
“Very perceptive of you, Princess.”
“If it is true, then the stone spell doesn’t do lasting harm to its targets,” Princess Twilight continued. “That makes it a lot less worrisome.But that also means the spell isn’t really helpful for rehabilitation, which is always my first choice. If a villain is completely set on revenge and destruction, then putting them in stone will just guarantee that they stay that way for however long it takes them to break free again. Even if it’s a thousand years. So I kind of think that the stone spell might be more of a temporary measure to contain a threat while I work on a more permanent solution, like Fluttershy was for you, Discord.”
Discord’s whole body coiled up and down like a figure-8 while he looked at them. “There is another option you haven’t considered, which is that those thousand years were exactly as traumatic and scarring as you imagine but I’m just that stoic and resilient and I didn’t let it bother me.”
Twilight leaned forward and placed her forelegs on the table. “Yes, that’s also possible,” she admitted. “It raises the question, then, why did you suggest using it on the others?”
“Well maybe I’m just that spiteful,” Discord suggested. “They had just betrayed me, you know.Or maybe it’s because I know you can undo the stone spell anytime. Maybe I’m just waiting for you to get a better idea and leap to it.”
“…If I ever think of one, I will,” Twilight said, looking into his eyes. “I promise.”
“I don’t care. I was being sarcastic.”
Twilight nodded, not breaking eye contact. “Alright. But I still don’t think that’s the answer. You’re a shifting creature, Discord. But by all the historical accounts you were much the same when you were released as you were before. I don’t think you would stay the same for so long if it was up to you.”
“So if a shifter shifts he’s staying the same?” Discord said, twirling and coiling. “And if a shifter stays the same he’s shifting? Truly this is a marvelous conundrum you’ve dreamt up, but it’s one I don’t actually find at all interesting.”
Twilight looked at him with an expression of concern. “Maybe this was too much to bring up all at once. You don’t want to talk about it. That’s alright. But if you ever decide you want to tell me something… I’ll be here.”
“Your concern is simply touching. But you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Princess.”
He stressed the final word, the sibilants lingering like a snake’s hiss. Twilight blinked in a moment’s confusion before nodding.
“If you’re done, Discord,” Celestia said, shooting him a disapproving glance, “I suppose I am next, then.”
“Um, yes, if you would.” Twilight turned to her old teacher and flipped through her papers. “Let me see… Right, right. Well, you already heard my first question, if you have more to add to what Luna said. My second question was going to be a followup, what were you thinking when you released Discord? You clearly didn’t think he was an uncontrollable force, even though we’d all seen what he was capable of very recently at that point.”
Discord turned, giving every impression of eagerly anticipating hearing her answer. Celestia changed her position in her seat with a gesture that, if it had been any other pony, Twilight would have called fidgeting. “Well, Princess Twilight, one reason I quit was exactly because I didn’t want to have to deal with these kinds of question anymore. So thank you, my old student, for reminding me why I love retirement.”
“Sorry,” Twilight said, breaking out into a sheepish grin that made her look like her younger self, and making Celestia giggle.
“Well, I can’t argue with what my sister said,” Celestia said, glancing back and forth between the two other elder beings. “When I was young I thought as Luna did, that Discord was an unstoppable force of nature, completely beyond reason.”
Discord leaned back in his chair with a look of satisfaction on his face at this. Celestia shot him a glance as she continued. “But when you first returned I saw that I had misunderstood you. I saw that what I first took to be a mindless force was really a consciousness with clear, if peculiar, views on the world. And between your friends, Twilight, and the renewed Elements of Harmony, I saw that we were in a good position to try to engage with Discord on our terms rather than his.”
“Oh honestly, Celestia, this overwrought sentimentality is making me uncomfortable,” Discord said. “Try to stay calm, will you?”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Discord. I appreciate the reminder. But Twilight… I think I can see what you’re considering, and I should warn you. Unless you find reason to think the same is true of Tirek, and Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow, that they are only misunderstood rather than malicious, that it’s possible to persuade them… I would leave them as they are.”
“So you don’t think the stone spell will change them, no matter what?” Twilight asked, her pencil poised above the paper of her notebook.
Celestia sighed. “The truth is, Twilight, that I don’t know what the stone spell does to you. I trusted in the Elements of Harmony to be kind and generous, even to those they bound. I even hoped the Elements would mollify them, and make them more peaceful and friendly. But, even a thousand years of harmony did not bring Luna and Discord back to me on their own. They needed your help, and your friends. And after Star Swirl’s disappearance, and Discord, and Nightmare Moon, I never had time to think about it too deeply. I had to keep moving forward, and do the best I could with what I had.”
“That’s actually also what worries me,” Twilight said, pressing her old teacher. “It’s not just about Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow,it’s also about who comes after them. Ponies already wondered why I didn’t use the spell on Scylla and Charybdis. Maybe I should have. But when it was only my choice, I balked, and looked for other ways instead.” She fell silent for a moment, fear written on her face. “Maybe next time I hesitate innocents will suffer for it. I need to understand the spell if I’m going to use it responsibly. This is what I’m most afraid of as a Princess, Celestia. That when the time comes I won’t know what to do.”
Celestia looked at her old student with concern. “Twilight, listen,” she said, with a subdued, quiet voice. “I understand your worry, and your desire for… Well, for understanding. The Elements need hearts and minds to guide them, otherwise they are just signs and tokens. But one thing I’ve learned in all my years on the throne is that you cannot control everything. My reputation as a master planner who can see the future and lay schemes centuries ahead is sorely overrated. What I came to understand is that you must make the best choices you can in the moment, and then move on to the next. Planning and preparation are good things, but you can’t let fear of regret stop you from acting when it’s necessary.” She stood up from her chair. “I stand by my decisions, Princess Twilight, but you must find your own answers. Maybe they will be better than mine. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help than that.”
“Well!” Discord said in surprise as the eldest alicorn walked away. “I wonder what has her in a tizzy.”
“Shut up, Discord,” Luna said. She looked from her sister to Twilight, and stood up as well. “It was good to see you again, Twilight… I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
And she turned and left, following Celestia. Discord only grunted, and snapped his claw, and was gone, and Twilight was alone. She sat unmoving, deep in thought.
After a minute, the door opened and Spike peeked his head through and waved. Twilight waved at him, and he came walking in. “Did everything go okay?” Spike asked. “They looked a bit, um, ruffled.”
“Things may have gotten a bit more personal than I’d hoped,” Twilight admitted. She sighed. “But I think it’s fine.”
“That’s a relief,” Spike said. “Did you find out what you wanted?”
“Some,” Twilight said, deep in thought. “There’s an idea growing in my head… But I still need more information. Spike? Write another letter for me, please.”
– – –
“This might be a touchy subject, but I’m not here to open old wounds or second-guess your judgment,” Twilight said. “I would like to ask you about Limbo. What was Limbo like?”
“That is… a difficult question to answer,” Star Swirl the Bearded said in his calm, contemplative voice. “On the one hoof, there was no sense at all. One moment I cast the spell that hurled us all into Limbo, and the next instant we were pulled free by you. There was no passage of time. We were outside of time entirely, and it could not touch us.”
The other ponies around the table glanced from one to the other, and Twilight sensed that there was something unspoken. “But on the other hoof…?”
“On the other hoof… It was endless. Infinite. But it was an infinity that my ordinary senses could not grasp, and so it only slipped away. I… have a dream of memories of the infinite void, only darkness, only shadows… And the knowledge that it was I who brought it down upon us.”
“It was sleep,” Mage Meadowbrook said in her soft, melodious voice. “It wasn’t a good sleep, and it wasn’t a bad sleep either. When I was just a filly my dam told me that the dead are asleep. It was that sleep. A sleep that can’t be good or bad, it just is.”
“So much time, lost,” Star Swirl continued, talking more to himself than to anypony else. “Not so much for myself. I was fully prepared for the sacrifice I was making. But I asked these ponies to abandon everything in their lives for what I believed was the right decision. Everypony we knew, and loved, who would never see us again, and never know what had happened, or where we had gone. We would be ghosts to them.”
“Ponies vanish,” Flash Magnus said bluntly, cutting off his companion’s spoken internal monologue. “All of us had lost ponies before. The world is full of unanswered questions. I’m not a philosopony, Star Swirl. We learn to cope. If the worst that Limbo had to throw at us was a few bad dreams, then that was worth doing for a good cause… Of course, we were wrong about the cause. But we didn’t know that, and now it’s done. And we’re alive, all of us.”
“I do not have Star Swirl’s magical senses,” Somnambula said. “I did not feel anything, or any time passing in Limbo, and I still don’t. If that’s a wound I do not have because of my limitations, well… Perhaps that is a good thing.”
“It is a wizard’s duty to carry unusual wounds,” Star Swirl the Bearded said. He looked at Twilight and she could see all the ages in his eyes, even more than in Celestia’s. “And a Princess’s duty, for that matter. If you are to rule, then you must be prepared to make these decisions. Even if, as I did, you might make a mistake.”
After the Pillars dispersed, one remained behind.
“Rockhoof,” Twilight said. “I wanted to talk to you in private. I think you can guess why.”
“Aye, Princess,” the big stallion said in his deep, rumbling voice. “I know what you want to ask about. Go ahead.”
The tall stallion had grown old, and his mane and beard had turned white, but he remained as strong as he’d been when he had dug his trench.
“You asked me once to cast the stone spell on you,” Twilight said. “And I was going to, if the students hadn’t convinced you not to go through with it. But Rockhoof… Even if it was only for a short time… You’re the only pony who was ever pulled out of time, and who wanted to go back. So I have to ask… What did you think the stone spell would be like?”
“I don’t know, Princess,” Rockhoof admitted. “I thought it would be a step into the unknown. And I have never shied away from the unknown.”
Princess Twilight looked at the old stallion, a hint of the old sadness on her face as she thought again about the old memory. “I don’t know how Star Swirl the Bearded managed to convince you of all ponies to go along with his plan. You seem like the kind of pony who would appreciate freedom more than anything. It’s hard to imagine you happy unless you’re standing on top of the world, looking out to the horizon. But you already jumped into the void once, and for a short while you wanted to do it again.”
She put a hoof softly on his fetlock. “Can you explain that to me?”
“The truth is I thought you’d understand – because you and I have that in common,” Rockhoof said calmly. “You also want to see into the unknown, and bring back what hides there.”
Twilight nodded.
“In my time, a chief could do that. You could travel the world for decades without seeing your home, and bring back tales and treasures from beyond the horizon! But now…” The old warrior turned from her and looked off into the distance. “Now the world is all explored, and you Princesses have to stay in your castles every day or everypony loses their minds with worry. I was an old fool, a hero with no monsters left to fight. Useless.”
“That’s not how ponies think any more, Rockhoof. I didn’t want you to suffer. And I definitely didn’t want you to suffer because you thought you couldn’t change.”
“I know you didn’t, Princess. Your students taught me a different way to be a hero. But listen to one more story from an old stallion, your highness. Stone preserves. You may think of them as monsters, and they are. But they are more than that. They are legends from an ancient past, built of stuff ponies today rarely see, and because they are laid in stone the ponies of tomorrow will know them, and it will light a fire in their hearts. They are a gift you’ve given to the future. They are legends, stories, dreams. It’s what heroes do, your majesty. We inspire other heroes.”
The room fell silent, except for the ticking of the medallion around Princess Twilight’s neck. The shadows lengthened in rhythm with the ticking as the sun set outside the windows. “Thank you, Rockhoof. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
– – –
The Crystal Empire Express train drew to a halt at Canterlot Station, and the Crystal Princess disembarked. She looked up the broad avenues towards the New Castle at the top of the city where she had once lived.
Shining Armor stepped out of the carriage behind her, a worried and uncertain expression on his face. “You’ll be able to handle this?”
“If I can’t, nopony can,” Cadance said.
Shining nodded, and watched as his wife spread her wings and kicked off into the sky.
She swiftly crossed the span of the city and came in for landing at the front gates of the castle, and stepped forward as the guards stood at attention.
“I’m here for a private meeting with Princess Twilight. She’s expecting me.”
The doors were opened and she made her way through the New Castle to Twilight’s private chambers, where she found the ruler of Equestria sitting over a pile of papers. She looked up at the sound of the door. “Cadance!” Twilight’s eyes widened, and she ran over and hugged her sister-in-law. “I didn’t think you’d be here so soon! You got my letter?”
Cadance gently patted her wing against Twilight’s side, and extricated herself from the hug. “Yes, Twily, I got your letter. And I read it.”
“And?” Twilight waited.
Cadance looked her sister dead in the eyes. “Well, Twilight, you’re proposing to abandon your duties to go on some kind of journey of personal discovery. And I have to be honest, I don’t think this is responsible leadership.”
“Not responsible…?” Twilight halted in surprise. “Cadance, I’ve thought this through very thoroughly. I put it all in my letter, all my reasons, all the data. This is the only solution I could find, and I’m taking every precaution. I’m going to make sure Equestria runs smoothly, and nopony will be hurt.”
“You’re leaving Equestria, Twilight! You’re leaving it behind!” Cadance said, not breaking eye contact. “Everypony will be hurt!”
Twilight took a step back, blinking in shock. “You don’t understand, Cadance.”
Cadance frowned. “Twilight, listen to me. I may not have ever cast the stone spell, but let me remind you that the Crystal Empire was also banished out of time for a thousand years,” Cadance stepped back and paced around the center of the room. “You saw what it was like after the return. Add that on top of everything Sombra did to them, and they were traumatized, Twilight. I was their Princess, and I had to help them. I heard them talk about their most secret pains, I let them share things they wouldn’t tell their own spouses. It was horrible, sometimes completely overwhelming. I had to help them, but I did everything I could to keep my own head above water, because I wouldn’t be of any use to them otherwise. You don’t need to suffer yourself to understand the suffering of others, Twilight. You just have to be there for them. And I’m afraid that’s exactly what you won’t be.”
“I hoped you of all ponies would understand, Cadance! This isn’t about personal feelings. Or – Or maybe it is, and those personal feelings are just part of the puzzle. How good a princess could I be if I put my own feelings above doing what’s right?”
“You need to find a balance, Twily. You can’t think that you alone have to know everything! You’ll burn out, you’ll lose faith in yourself, and your kingdom will suffer because of it.”
“I know how to delegate, Cadance. But I can’t delegate questions of moral principle! Some things I have to do for myself.”
Cadance scowled, then drew a deep breath to calm herself. “I can see that you’re set on thinking about this philosophically,” the Princess of Love said. “So I’ll try something else. Twilight, have you considered that ponies are going to miss you? Have you thought about those you’re leaving behind? Your friends? Your parents? Me, and Shiny, and Flurry Heart? That we love you and don’t want to lose you?” She stepped forward. “Did you stop to think that you’re making us all think we don’t matter to you?”
“Of course I have!” Twilight shouted.
“Well you sure aren’t acting like it! Can you really tell me you’ve thought about everything you’re going to miss and still go through with this?”
Twilight glared at her sister-in-law, then closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. “I have thought about it, Cadance,” Twilight said quietly. “I’m going to miss the Friendship Council sessions more than anything. It’s time lost that we’ll never get back. Little Cheese and Apple Muffin are growing up so quickly. I’m going to miss the grand opening of Carousel Boutique Elytra in Thorax’s hive, and the bunny census where Angel’s first grandkitten will be in the family photo. And Rainbow’s team is going to perform with the Crystal Guard at the next United Ponies Guard Games and I won’t be there to see it. There are so many things happening that I want to be part of. And this is still the calmest it’s been since I came to the throne. There will never be a better time than now.”
Cadance stood beside her sister-in-law and gently brushed a wing over her withers. “It doesn’t have to happen at all, Twilight.”
“I’ve thought about other loved ones too, Cadance,” Twilight said. “I’ve thought about Scorpan, having to return and tell his mother and father their son was never going to come home. I’ve thought about Cozy Glow’s parents, somewhere out there, leading lives of silence rather than admit to the world who they are, wondering whether they could have done anything differently. Chrysalis had her hive and they hate the fact that she rejected them. Thorax doesn’t want her to be trapped in stone with her face locked in a hateful snarl for all eternity. He would much rather have his mother back. Pharynx doesn’t want to even say her name, and those hurt feelings will live on long after everything else. Maybe even Discord had a mother once who missed her son. Bad ponies have loved ones who get left behind as well. I just…” Twilight finally ran out of words. “I just think this needs to be done, Cadance.”
The silence stretched on as the two alicorns looked at each other.
“I’m really not gonna be able to convince you, am I?” Cadance asked. She closed her eyes, sighing. “I’m going to miss you so much… Alright then. Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll try to keep the house clean for you.”
Twilight nuzzled her. “Thank you.” Cadance hesitated, then returned the hug, holding her sister close. When they pulled apart Twilight had moisture on her lower eyelids. “I was afraid nopony would understand.”
“Well, Flurry for one absolutely loves the idea,” Cadance said with a chuckle of maternal exasperation. “She absolutely can’t wait until I leave and she gets to be Crystal Princess. I love her more than anything, Twily, but technically a legal adult or no, she’s still a real selfish brat at times.”
“She’ll learn. I think this will be good for her.”
“We can hope. If things get far out of hoof I can always send Shining to give her a stern talking-to. He won’t have any official power over her, but he still has fatherly privileges.”
Twilight laughed softly. “Yes, and we all know how good Shining is at saying no to his little girl. Remember that time…?”
They talked on from there, and they kept talking until the sun went down.
– – –
The next moon the day came.
In the office of the Princess in New Canterlot Castle, Princess Cadance looked down at a sheet of parchment with worry in her eyes, her husband sitting at her side. She glanced across the table at her sister-in-law. “Last time I ask, I promise. You’re sure about this?”
Princess Twilight Sparkle nodded. “I’ve thought this through, Cadance. It’s the only way.”
Cadance sighed. “I still disagree. But if that’s your choice, I’ll respect it.”
Cadance put the quill to the parchment and signed it, then passed it over to the Princess of Equestria.
The Council of Friendship was there in full, bearing witness to the ceremony in silence. Their faces showed a mixture of sadness, uncertainty, stoic acceptance, and anger.
“I didn’t expect her to go through with it,” Discord said under his breath, his claw resting in Fluttershy’s mane, she holding him tight. “She surprised me. She’s never going to let me live it down.”
Twilight raised the quill, dipped it lightly into the inkwell, and signed her name on the bottom of the parchment without fanfare. She sat back. “There. It’s official. Congratulations, Cadance. You are now the Princess of Equestria.”
She took off her crown and placed it on the table, and a glass display case was lowered onto it for safekeeping. “Equestria thanks you for your wisdom and your love,” Cadance said, and held her husband’s hoof tightly with her own.
Twilight stood up and stepped away to her friends. Spike stood before her first. “Do you really want to go through with this? It’s still not too late to change your mind.”
“I’m sure,” Twilight said. “Listen, Spike, this responsibility is too great to be taken lightly. It should only rest in the hooves of somepony who’s fully conscious of what it means. Equestria needs a princess who knows that…And this is the only way I can make that happen.”
Spike hung his head. Twilight put a hoof under his chin and pushed it up. “Be strong, Spike. And keep an eye on Luster for me?” He nodded.
The rest of her friends stood waiting, and she turned to meet them. “Thank you all for coming… I know this isn’t easy,” she said. “I love you all more than anything. I just want you all to know that this isn’t because of anything you did, and it doesn’t mean I love you any less.”
Fluttershy sobbed, Pinkie and Discord on either side holding her hooves. Applejack let out a grunt. “We know that,” the farm pony said. “Ya told us a hundred times already, ya big galoot.”
“It’s never a bad idea to tell your friends you love them,” Twilight Sparkle said softly, smiling through her tears.
She swept the Council of Friendship up in an embrace and hugged them tight, and they hugged her back. “Please don’t cry,” she said, while a tear of her own ran down her cheek. “I’ll be back before you know it. And then you’ll have to tell me about everything I missed, okay?”
They all nodded and promised that they would.
The company walked out of the gates of the castle and made their way through the palace grounds to the statue garden, to the place Twilight had chosen.
Twilight stepped forward and felt the grass under her hooves. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and she was surrounded by ponies who loved her. “This is a good time.”
She stood straight and made herself comfortable. “I’ll see you all in a year,” Twilight said, as she cast the spell and felt the stone begin to take shape around her hooves.
Author's Note
This story was written in a great rush to meet a contest deadline, which is very unusual for me. I ask you to be forgiving for its rough edges.
