There was something on the other side of the wall that drew her to it.
Standing alone in one of the many empty and ruined hallways of the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight Sparkle gazed at the stone wall in front of her; its masonry covered in dirt, dust, and mold. Many hundreds of years have passed since its creation, and many hundreds of years have passed since the castle around it fell into ruin. Its age was clearly proclaimed on its face, as the elements of time carved away and withered its surface. To any other pony, this was nothing but an old and crumbling wall, inside of an ancient artifact of a castle.
But Twilight wasn’t just any other pony, she was a pony who was well educated in magic, as well as being an alicorn who was sensitive to all of its types. Because of that, she could sense the truth that the wall was hiding in plain sight.
Stepping forward, she moved closer to the crumbling wall, sensing the hidden energy of magic within it as she got closer. Its heat was faint and low, but it was still there. Whatever was cast on the wall, it was done so a long time ago, long enough for the original spell to weaken through time. Spells, no matter how powerful, erode and lose their energy in time. Without constant maintenance and recasting, it would ultimately die out and disappear.
Lifting a hoof, she slowly placed it onto the stone, immediately feeling the faint heat of magic emitting from it. Closing her eyes and concentrating, it didn’t take her long to study and identify the magical energy patterns carved into its very matter.
“Roboris magicae...” She muttered under her breath, before recognizing another pattern entangled in the walls' matter. “De custodia magicae…”
Lowering her hoof, she stared at the wall and wondered why such spells were cast onto it. What was so important on the other side that such powerful spells were needed on these walls?
The first spell allowed the simple stone material to have such strength and versatility that it would not only survive powerful physical impact, but also be able to have an immense level of survivability against magical bombardment. For a castle that held such importance as this one during the past, such spells were common and necessary.
But Twilight wondered why such a spell would. be cast on this wall specifically? She was deep within the ruins of the old castle, far away from the main outer battlements of the structure. If anywhere, it would have been the outer castle walls that the spell should have been cast, not here on a wall of a hallway that seemed to serve no other purpose but lead from the library to a section of the castle that excited to a garden. Another thing that was strange was that no other section of the hallway seemed to emit magic like this at all. It was only here in this part, an old section of wall that, based on the rotten old fallen frames, did nothing but hold paintings.
It just didn’t make sense.
To top it of, the second spell on it just didn’t seem necessary at all. That spell was a spell of silence and entrapment. With it, anything on the other side of the wall would be trapped and cut off. Escape through teleportation would be impossible, and any attempts to shout or emit a magical burst that cried for help would not get through.
Such spells were often reserved for the cruelest of dungeons, where beings of the greatest evils were trapped and kept. For a moment, Twilight considered if that was what was behind that wall, if it was just a section of the dungeon of the castle.
But she knew that was wrong. She had recovered and studied the schematics of this castle days ago, and knew that the dungeons were on the other side from here. In fact, remembering the schematics, she recalled that the plans stated that behind this wall was nothing but a hollow area, nothing but a large empty space of a room.
So why would a seemingly useless hollow area need such protective spells.
Given the two spells, it wasn’t too hard for Twilight to draw the conclusion that the area was used as a hidden unmarked dungeon. It made perfect sense when she thought about it, and knowing the threats and dangers Princess Celestia and Luna had to face during the time this castle was running, it wouldn’t be too bad to have a hidden dungeon to imprison dangerous foes and contain deadly magical artifacts.
So what creature or artifact ended up being trapped inside, and why was it calling out to her?
She first noticed it when she wandered close to this area, a faint cry in the silence of the ruins. Following it and tracing its origin, she occasionally felt it every few minutes, the burst of energy weak yet present. It took her awhile to understand its message, the lines of magical energy being weak and scribbled, making it hard to read and hard to understand.
But when she did, she was left with a desire to know more. Each burst of crying magic only said the same thing over and over again:
‘Come back to us.’
Ultimately, she followed the trail here, onto this enchanted wall. Although still emitting the magic of the spells, time managed to weaken it, as it was unable to keep the same energy and strength it once had. This allowed magical bursts and cries to reverberate past the wall, echo in the abandoned hallways, and be felt by her.
There was something, or somepony, there, and with its magical cry, it was looking for somepony to come back to them.
Sighing, Twilight shook her head and began to think. Who knows how long that creature or thing has been locked up within those walls. The Castle of the Two Sisters had been abandoned many centuries ago, and whoever or whatever was in there could have been trapped for a time longer than that.
Now, as she stood in the hallway, the magical burst calling out to her by an unknown being behind this magical wall, Twilight wondered what she would do next.
She had no clue what was on the other side, and she had no other means of finding out unless she herself went inside. But going inside ran the risk of encountering a powerful being that would endanger her life.
But then again, it could also hold a great magical artifact that might prove helpful in solving her current problem and predicament.
Its has been weeks since the Tree of Harmony left her and her friends a locked chest of mysteries. Since then, she had been scouring and reading every book in Equestria, hoping to find answers to their questions. In fact, the reason she was here in the castle was to collect more ancient books for her to study. She had been going here daily, trying to find a book that can give her answers. But so far her research had proven unsuccessful.
Frustrated, she wandered around the previously unexplored areas, hoping to not only calm herself down, but also find anything that might prove useful. In the end, Twilight guessed that she did find something that might be useful, as whatever lay behind the wall could indeed help her.
But she wasn’t certain yet, and the only way to find out is to check it herself.
Debating in her mind, she wondered if it was wise to go in and have a look around. Sure, the reward might prove high, but the risk was also great.
What lay in there? What was hidden behind those walls? Was it something dangerous? Why was it kept such a secret?
In the end, curiosity got the better of her and she decided to risk it and enter. Convincing herself that it was a good idea, she mentally reassured herself that if there ever was a creature in there, then it would most likely be chained up and seeing that it was still trapped and could only ask for help, and not completely escape itself, then it only meant that the magical bonds on those chains must be still holding up. Either way, if those chains proved to be on the verge of breaking, she could easily recast the spell with her own magic and prevent the escape of any creature inside.
Hopefully though, there was no Faust cursed powerful creature seeking vengeance, and instead a magical artifact that could prove useful.
Making her final decision and full confidence on her own abilities, Twilight pointed her horn onto the stone wall and began using her magic on it. Concentrating on the spell, she soon began countering till the small section of wall in front of her was free from its magical bonds.
Once this was done, Twilight gave a small grin of pride at what she had done, before concentrating her mind and focusing on the space at the other side of the wall.
With a flash of magic, she disappeared from the hallway.
Reappearing on the other side of the wall, Twilight looked around to find herself engulfed in total darkness. With her horn, she let out a small amount of magic so that it would glow and act as a torch in the dark. As she did so, the light slowly began to reveal what was inside the room, and what she saw shocked her so much that she almost completely cut off her magic and cover herself in dark once more.
With a shriek and a panicked retreat backwards, she desperately moved away, as she saw the horrifying sight before her. Heart racing and mind filled with fear, she felt her fur stand up, bith in fright and disgust.
All over the place, littered on the floor and leaning on the walls, were bones, skeletal remains of ponies long passed. The bony remains laid everywhere, with them even piling up in some areas. The scene of such horror frightened Twilight to the soul, and she was tempted to teleport away and forget the place existed.
What had happened here, she thought to herself. What happened to these poor creatures?
Then an even sickening though filled her mind. Did the Princesses know about this?
That very thought made her shiver, as her mind wondered about that possibility. This was their castle afterall, and such powerful spells casts could have easily been casted by them.
Remembering her earlier theory, she was starting to think that this might be a dungeon after all. But looking at all the skeletal remains, Twilight found it hard to see the Princess being so cruel that they would let these many ponies rot to their death.
There must be another reason for this.
As these thoughts ran through her head, a familiar call came towards her, momentarily shook her away from any further pondering.
The feeling of the magical call struck her loud here and remembering her reasons for being there, she did her best to swallow her fears and gather the courage within her. Taking a step forward towards the source of the call, she made her way through the bones that littered the floor, doing her best to avoid stepping on them.
This was definitely a dungeon of some kind, she thought to herself. But there was still the lingering question as to who were the ones imprisoned here and why they were left to such a cruel faith.
Studying one of the close skeletal remains, she could clearly distinguish the familiar form of a pony. But daring a closer look, she soon noticed something odd about these bones.
Despite bearing the same shape and form, she began to notice that this pony, in fact all of these ponies, had skeletons that seemed bigger than the average pony. From her rough estimates, they seemed to be three times bigger in size when compared to an average pony.
Twilight was then left to imagine how huge they would have been in life, and she realized that they would have been taller and larger than her. Staring even more, she thought that they might even be bigger than ponies like Big Macintosh.
It seemed like the only ponies that were bigger than them would have been the Princesses.
Further investigation of the bones also revealed to her the wide variety of species present there. Earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, all three races were present here, and all of them bearing the same humongous bones.
Who are these ponies? She wondered.
But as she moved through the bones, making her way in search of the magical call, she suddenly heard a new message brought by it.
‘I can sense you.’
Hearing this startled Twilight, and made her halt in her tracks, as she froze and stared into the darkness. The call, that one sounded different. Instead of hearing through magic, it seemed like it came from inside her head, as if it were thought. The was strange and it scared her.
But it also meant that she was close enough to the source for it to notice her and feel her presence.
Taking a deep breath, she did her best to calm herself down, as she sudden felt scared to see what was there. She was walking into the unknown here and taking a big risk, and all her instincts were telling her was to go out now.
True, it was her plan to go here and investigate. But ever since she saw the strange bones and eerie darkness, she started to feel that maybe this was a mistake.
For a moment, her earlier determination wavered, and she felt the urge to step back and teleport away. She was desperate to find a solution to open the locked chest, but she knew she wasn’t stupid enough to risk her life by going into the unknown.
This was a dungeon, that she knew, and the Princesses most certainly locked these creatures here for a good reason. They wouldn’t do something so cruel as this without reason, and it only meant that imprisonment like this was the only acceptable way to protect Equestria. If they went through these much trouble sealing this place, then it meant that these creatures must be really dangerous.
Given those facts, Twilight concluded that whatever was making the magical calls was one of those creatures, which somehow survived after all these centuries.
The only logical thing to do now was get out of here and tell the Princesses what she saw. They would provide her the answers, and explain to her what these pony-like creatures were.
Taking one last look at the pile of skeletons, she had to shake off a shiver of fear from her back before closing her eyes to concentrate her magic. Horn glowing bright, she was about to cast her teleportation spell and get out of the room, when the call came and sent another message to her.
‘Don’t leave me.’
This caught Twilight off guard, as the voice came back and spoke in her head. Stopping, she began concentrating before casting and glance back towards the source of magical energy where she believed the calls were coming from.
‘Help us.’
‘Help me.’
‘I’m the last of the Warriors.’
‘Don’t let our line die.’
By now, Twilight’s interest and curiosity had peaked, as she quietly listened to the magical calls that were bombarding her.
“Hello?” Twilight called out cariously. “Who are you?”
A groan came as reply, a loud echoing groan that frightened her. It sounded like no pony or creature he had heard before. Scared, she considered her earlier plan of retreat.
But the fact that this creature didn’t attack her and was instead asking for help was telling an inner part of her to go forward and give the help it was asking.
Against her better judgement, she took a step forward towards the unseen creature calling for help. Horn glowing with magic, she did her best to illuminate what was ahead of her, as she twisted and turned to avoid the pile of bones that never seemed to end.
As she moved, she sensed a magical source nearby, and knew that this must be the one sending her the messages. Feeling adrenaline fill her bloodstream, she began moving faster, in order to see the creature she had been trying to find. Weaving through bone piles, she soon encountered a new sight.
Before her were rows upon rows of large glass vats, all of which were broken and open. Sharp shards of glass littered the floor, forcing Twilight to move away from it, or else have her hooves covered with them.
Moving now at a much slower pace, she managed to get past the vats and reach a new section. This time there were no more vats, but instead metal tables. For a second, Twilight thought that they resembled operating tables.
Moving around here, and shining the light of her magic around, she soon saw what she was looking for.
Lying flat on one of these metal tables was the figure of a large unicorn. Moving closer, cautiously approaching as she kept her eyes focused on it, Twilight noted the terrible state the pony was in. Its fur was completely gone now, its skin was completely exposed, while all over, various scars and open wounds were cakes with dried out blood. Moving her attention to its head, she couldn’t help but gasp as she saw the grizzly sight.
Its jaw was completely gone, leaving nothing behind but an exposed opening, which was also caked in blood. Moving her gaze towards the eyes, she saw that there were nothing but an empty socket on one side, and a dried up eye on the other. It was a frightening sight, and Twilight felt sick staring at it. But some sorrow also filled her, as she realized the suffering it must have gone through.
From looks alone, it seemed like this pony was dead. But from the magic that emitted from it, Twilight knew that it was still alive.
Daring to get even closer, she began to notice something that made her heart race, as her fur stood up high from fear. The eye, it was moving, and it was following her.
Before she got any closer, a sudden glow from the creature’s horn startled her, as a barrier quickly formed between her and the strange pony. Reacting to this, she quickly backed away, before starting at it in confusion.
Despite its state, it was amazing that the creature was still able to form such a complex and powerful spell. It soon became clear to her that despite its broken body, its inner magic was still strong and powerful. She needed to be cautious with this.
‘Were you sent by her, you foul looking replica?’ Came its words through that echoed in her head.
“What?” Twilight said, confused by the question.
‘Don’t play me for an idiot.’ Came the reply. ‘I am no foal, I am more than a thousand years old!’ Twilight felt the intensity in that one, but did not understand what could have caused the sudden hostile reaction.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean.” Twilight told it.
‘Of course you don’t.’ It sent, a hint of a mock clear to her. ‘You were probably just been released from your vat yesterday, knowing nothing but what had been magically programmed into your brain. I bet she sent you here without telling you who I am?’
All this only served to confuse Twilight even further, as none of what he was saying made sense to her.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Twilight admitted, feeling scared yet trying to handle the situation the best he can.
‘Then it seems that she has buried our memory.’ It called out, its echoey voice carrying a sense of sadness that did not fail Twilight’s notice. ‘Tell me, are those Solar Guards of hers still exist, or are you ugly alicorn mockups the new guardians of the sun?’
“You mean the Royal Guard?” Twilight responded.
‘Ah, so they do still exist.’ This one came out as if it were a sneer. ‘Can you believe it. She annihilates the entire Celestial Warriors when she created the Guard, but she spares the Guard when she creates you, whatever you are.’
Twilight took this in, but shook her head. He wasn’t making any sense at all, or maybe she just lacked the information to understand.
She did understand one thing though, this thing was talking about Princess Celestia.
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but Princess Celestia did not create me.” Twilight told him. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I was born a unicorn before ascending to alicornhood and being appointed the Princess of Friendship. Celestia may have thought me and aided in my ascension, but I can assure you that she did not create me.”
‘The Princess of Friendship, you say?’ The thing asked her, but without waiting for a reply it continued. ‘So you’re not any of her creations then, but an equal to her?’
“No, I am not a creation that you keep talking about.” Twilight said, before hesitantly asking it something. “Are you? Are you one of its creations.”
A loud howling like sound came from its body, as its single eye morphed to a shape that looked strange to interpret. Howling and howling, Twilight wondered what it was doing.
Staring at its eye, she couldn’t help but think that it looked happy. Was it laughing?
‘Let me tell you who I am, little filly.’ It told her. ‘I am Captain Radiant Flare of the Celestial Warriors’ 1st Company. Created, not birthed, in the laboratories of Princess Celestis. A warrior at heart, a fighter in spirit, and a defender of Equestria. I am a Seniorem Consiliario to Princess Celestia herself, and was loyal to the Solar Throne until she betrayed us. And now, I am a pony out for revenge. I was hoping to get the Solar Princess herself here, but to bring down one of her equals would surely suffice in hurting her.’
With that, the magical barrier separating Twilight and Radiant Flare disappeared, as silence filled the room. Staring at the pony, Twilight wondered what it was doing, as its body seemed to have become more lifeless than it had earlier.
Then she began to notice the glow that emitted from its eye, which was followed by a similar one that shone from its horn. Watching suspiciously, she took a step backward, as a sudden gush of heat came from Radiant Flare.
Then, within a blink of an eye, the room seemed to have been lit entirely, as a powerful glow of magic blasted from his horn and eye. Looking around, Twilight now saw the whole room with ease, revealing the various machinery and skeletal mounds that had earlier been shrouded in darkness.
Turning her attention back to Radiant Flare, she watched at the magical aura coming out if him started shifting in color and form. From what had been a bright yellow at the start, his magic slowly started to become darker and darker, which was soon mashed up by a corrupt like purple hue.
At first she had thought this was dark magic, but the feeling it gave didn’t tell her it was that. In fact, it felt like the same energy Discord often emitted.
Seeing this, she realized that she was in much greater danger than she initially thought. From what she could see, the magical aura of Radiant Flare had now grown exponentially, and as it turned its eye to lock on her, she had no doubts who its target was.
Raising up her own energy, she prepared to quickly teleport out of the way before he could fire. But just before she could, a flash of bright light covered her eyes, forcing her to shut them close, as she desperately used her hooves to shield her face from the hit that came.
Was it too late? Had she been too slow?
Had Radiant Flare fired his magic before she had the chance of teleporting away.
Opening her eyes, it seemed that it wasn’t the case.
Instead of the menacing sight of the large pony glowing with magic, what she saw was darkness. No magic, no heat, just cold empty darkness.
But there was something that attracted her, a glow of gold and blue that popped up on her peripherals.
Turning towards it, Twilight concentrated her eyes towards the glow and soon realized where it came from.
“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! What are you two doing here?” She asked.
“Well, Twilight Sparkle, it seems like we’re saving your life.” Luna said in an unhumorous tone. “More specifically, I was saving your life. One millisecond too late on my shot and you would have been, as the ponies these days say, toast.”
“I have to agree with Luna on this one Twilight, you almost got yourself killed here.” Celestia said, as she moved towards the younger pony and gave her a concerned hug. “I know you have been in many dangerous situations before, but it was reckless of you to go on here alone. You should have contacted me or Luna.”
“I’m sorry, Princess…” Twilight said, ss she looked down. “I guess my determination to find a key for the chest and my own curiosity got the better of me. But, how did you know I was here or that I was in trouble?”
“We sensed the magic old Radiant Flare there. Once gap was made on the spells, it wasn’t too hard for his chaos magic to be sensed from Canterlot.” Luna said, approaching the remains, which were nothing but scorched flesh now.
Hearing what Luna said, Twilight stared at the Princess, wondering if he really heard her right. Did this Radiant Flare pony really posses chaos magic? Then her heart sunk as an even bigger possibility came to her mind.
Radiant Flare said that they were created by Celestia, so did that mean that the Princess intentionally added chaos to such a being? But why? This made Twilight's head go around, as she wondered why it was necessary to add chaos to anypony.
Chaos magic was unstable and deadly, and only a powerful being such as Discord could properly wield it. And yet Celestia placed it into a pony on purpose.
“Did…” Twilight began, hesitant at first. “...did you create him?”
As if having expected this question, Celestia turned towards her with a calm look on her face and nodded.
“Yes, Twilight, I did.” Celestis replied. “Him and the hundred more who now lie as bones.”
“But...but why?” Twilight asked, still very curious about the reason for their existence and cruel deaths. “What were they for? Why was there chaos magic? And why...why leave them here.”
Celestia looked away from Twilight for a moment and turned toward the darkness around them. Following her gaze? The young lavender colored alicorn saw that the older alicorn was staring at a nearby pile of bones, a grief stricken expression almost plastered on her face.
“It was a long time ago, Twilight, such a long time ago. Over a thousand years ago, me and Luna watched as Equestria suffered under Discord’s rule. The laws of logic were redefined by him, and everyday was a challenge to stay alive. It was terrible, and we knew we had to do something.
“At first we did it the old fashioned way. We trained an army and attempted to meet him in battle. But that went terribly. Our army was massacred. With his chaos magic, he turned our soldiers into rocks, plants, and all sorts of things, making the rest panic and become easy picking for his followers.
“It was then that we knew that we had to change strategies, and as luck would have it, Luna provided us with a solution. In one of our battles, Luma managed to get close enough to Discord and graze him with her spear. Although it wasn’t enough to significantly hurt him, it did provide us with a sample of his blood...a sample of his DNA.
“We managed to study that sample and soon realized that if we clone his DNA, the chaos magic within it is cloned too. This got us thinking, what if we make ponies, with this very DNA, so that we can have warriors resilient to chaos magic. So we started our work, developing the ultimate warrior. Adding in our own DNA in order to give them strength and wisdom, we eventually managed to create the ultimate warrior. The ones with my DNA were formed into the Celestial Warriors, and they had the advantage of harnessing the heat of the sun to double their magical ability. Those with Luna’s DNA became the Lunar Warriors, and they were stealthy, sneaky, and were able to shift into shadows under the moonlight.”
“Despite these differences in special abilities, both Warriors had a couple of things in common.” Luna interjected. “Making use of our experiences in war, we were sure to add things that would make them perfect fighters and soldiers. They had great strength and agility, ones that was only below our own capabilities. Such things as these allowed the Warriors to outfight almost anypony. But as soldiers, we needed them to be able to communicate with one another with ease, and so we developed and gave them a telepathic mind, that allowed them to speak clearly even through the greatest of noise. That way, better coordination in battle could be conducted. But most of all, the most important thing they all had was their resistance to chaos magic. Because they also shared Discord’s DNA, none of his tricks worked on them.”
A grin then formed in Luna’s face.
“You should have seen the look on Discord’s face when he snapped his fingers on them and saw that it did nothing.” She finally said.
Turning towards her, Celestia nodded her head. “Yes, they were a great counter to Discord. Without them, we would have never defeated him.”
“So they were heroes of Equestria?” Twilight asked, finally realizing their significance, but still not understanding why they had to be trapped in a dungeon and suffer until death. “So what happened to them? Why did you leave them trapped in a dungeon?”
“Because there were side effects.” Luna pointed out.
“They were made for war, more specifically a chaos war. They did not fit in well during peace.” Celestia said with regret. “Discord’s DNA made them highly unstable, and when the war was won over, they were assigned as garrison troops...and ended up causing a lot of trouble.”
“It led to many unfortunate incidents.” Luna said solemnly. “They were prone to abusing their power and ability, and often started fights with ponies who wanted to mind their business. They also showed some signs for a desire in chaos, and they thought that nothing was more chaotic than looting. This resulted in many of the companies wreaking havoc on the very towns they were sent out to garrison and protect.”
“In the end, we had to pull them out of garrison duty and find a suitable replacement for them.” Celestia said.
“That would be the Royal Guard?” Twilight guessed.
“Indeed, Twilight.” Celestia replied. “The Royal Guard was created under the same manufacturing principle, however, changes were made to make sure that they worked better as a peaceful garrison force. First off, instead of using our DNA, we made use of the DNA’s of the best and most disciplined soldiers of each race. For my Solar Guard I used the best of the best from the Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi, while Luna made use of the best Thestral for her Lunar Guard. By using the DNA of an average pony, the Guard became normal sized and less intimidating to the population.
“The next thing that we did was lessen the specialized abilities these ponies had. No more telepathic communication, no more harnessing the light of heavenly bodies. This way, production would be simpler, easier, and faster. Less complication also meant less defects and malfunctions within their systems.
“Lastly, and most importantly, we didn’t add Discord’s DNA. There was no more point using it with Discord imprisoned in stone, and its effects brought problems that we didn’t want the Guard to inherit. In the end all these changes and improvements worked out, since the Guard you see today is little different from those we created all those centuries ago. Of course, they did have their disadvantages, and weren't as tactically or strategically brilliant as the Warriors, but that was quickly resolved by having them be led by Academy trained pony officers, just like your brother.”
Listening to this, Twilight nodded her head, taking in the information. But as Celestia finished, she remembered something Radiant Flare said earlier.
“He said that you annihilated the Celestial Warriors when you created the Guard…” Twilight said. “...what did he mean by that?”
Sighing sadly, Celestia nodded.
“If things had gone differently, then I wouldn’t have done it. But circumstances at the time forced me to do so.” Glancing towards her, Twilight soon saw Celestia’s eyes become watery as she continued. “It was right after my fight against Nightmare Moon, the Celestial Warriors saw my injuries and just...they just lost control. They let out a rage that I have never seen before and behan rampaging all over the castle in order to, according to them, avenge the injuries brought on to me. Their target were the Lunar Warriors.
“I’m not sure how they did it, but their rage managed to tap into their inner chaos and gave them overwhelming power. Both sides managed to harness their chaos and they ended up bringing more destruction to the castle than my fight with Nightmare Moon did. In the end, however, the Celestial Warriors won, and the Lunar Warriors were killed to the last.
“Appalled and disgusted at what they had done, I realized that it was no longer safe for Equestria to have them. I started to see a river of blood in the castle, and decided it was finally time to disband them. But you can’t simply disband Warriors bred for fighting, so I knew I had to imprison them and let them slowly diminish. Under the guise of throwing a victory banquet, I lured them here, into the very laboratory they were born in. I had already enchanted the walls by then, and just had to wait for the remaining thousand survivors to enter. I placed them all here, the strong, the wounded, all of them, the I stepped out and sealed the wall.
“It wasn’t easy though. They were like my own, every single one of them. In a way, I guess they were my own…”
Looking away from Twilight once more, Celestia turned around. A light sniffle could be heard im the stillness, as the Solar Princess allowed herself a moment of emotion.
Then, with a deep breath, she turned back to Twilight, an apologetic on her face.
“Sorry, Twilight.” Celestia said. “I know I should have told you sooner, but it isn’t something I am actually proud of.”
Staring back at Celestia, Twilight gave an accepting smile and nodded.
“It’s okay, Princess, I understand.” She said. “Being a Princess is hard, and from what you told me I’m realizing that sometimes we have to make tough decisions that will hurt us.”
“Thank you, Twilight.” Celestia said, moving closer to giv Twilight another hug. “Now, if you don't mind, I would prefer that we don’t stay here any longer than we have to.”
“Agreed, Princess.”
Being joined by Luna, the three were about to teleport away under Celestia’s magic when a thought occurred to Twilight.
“You know, it's quite amusing to think about it now, but Radiant Flare thought that I was one of your creations. Like, I was one of them.”
Celestia giggled at this, causing Twilight to do the same.
“Well that’s just silly, Twilight.” She said. “But I can assure you that you are not one of my creations.”
With that they disappeared in a bright flash of magic, leaving the room dark, cold, but never empty.
