Author's Note

Sorry for the massive chunky paragraphs, but I really wanted to get this out of the way to resume the story. So...Merry Christmas and go easy on the eggnog or sugary foods if you're under 18!!

Chapter 30: The story is told, Part 4

As Celestia sits in the chair, suffering from grief over what happened in the past that seems intent on crushing her soul into powder. She barely contains her desire to curl up and cry for a long time, and raises a trembling arm in front of her face and continues with the story saying, "I remember what happened next far too clearly...We both fell asleep on her bed when I was awoken a few hours later by the full moon's light shining through the back windows and onto my face. I sat up and stretched out my arms, hearing my joints pop louder than usual when I opened my eyes and looked over at my daughter. What I saw lying there beside me caused my eyes to go wide with terror as my heart started to hammer wildly in my chest. I began to reach over to touch my daughter's rotted corpse when I noticed my arm had also rotted away, causing me to get distracted as I tried moving my arm, hand, and fingers. I spotted a tall mirror in the side of the room and stood in front of it to see my body was in a severe state of decay. The only thing left behind were bones, my slitted eyes, flesh, mangy patches of my coat, and even my mane limply hung in the air. When took a few steps closer to it, I stopped once my body left the moonlight and returned to its previous appearance. I stepped backward into the moonlight and saw my appearance change and return to its previous decayed look, I found it curious how I was still able to control my body. I was then pulled from my thoughts when the cabin door opened as Jack walked into the room and chuckled while rhetorically asking, 'so I finally learned about this little bit, eh?' He then walked forward and stood into the moonlight himself, then took out his cursed coin and shuffled it across his fingerbones. With a chuckle, he then told me the moonlight shows us for what we really are, that we were not among the living so we cannot die. Yet neither were we dead, that we would simply just exist like this. Suffering from an unquenchable thirst, and insatiable hunger, unable to feel anything at all, wind, cold, warmth, softness. That we had been eternally cursed, just like he planned just to accomplish their goal, and would continue to teach all of Equestria what true pirates are like. He even told me that I better sleep while I could before that little pleasure was taken away. I stared at him in shock at what he just told me, so while he prepared to go to sleep, I went to our daughter's bed and hastily threw the covers over her cursed body. I watched over her while trying to think of how I could save our daughter from a life of misery and suffering, and realized there was only one thing I could do. So I put my plan into motion once Jack fell asleep, grabbing a small pouch before exiting the cabin quietly and going down into the hold. I searched for the coins that each crew member had, placing them inside the bag and counting them to ensure I had them all before making my way back to the cabin. I quietly entered the cabin and closed the door behind me, then walked toward the bed and searched my husband's clothing for his coin. After putting it into the bag with the rest, I kissed his forehead and apologized before asking him to forgive me. I then gasped in surprise when he opened his eyes in a squint and whispered to me it was alright, he understood, and that there was nothing to forgive before going back to sleep..."

Starlight's brain lurches forward as a chunk of the puzzle becomes clear and says, "I'm starting to understand now."

Still fighting to keep herself together, she looks at Starlight curiously and asks, "What do you understand, Starlight Glimmer?"

She sighs and looks at her mentor saying, "He knew."

Celestia looks at her with confusion saying, "He knew what, that I took his coin?"

Starlight looks at her questioningly and cocks her head asking, "You haven't realized it yet, Princess Celestia?"

The princess gets even more confused and a little annoyed and asks, "Realized what, Starlight? Please make sense."

She then looks at her with a sympathetic smile on her face saying, "Your husband knew that you would betray him. The mystery is starting to become clear, please continue on with the story so I can solve it and tell you all."

Celestia then blinks in confusion and says, "Uhm, okay then. After he returned to sleep, I hurried to my daughter's bed and cast a spell on her to ensure she would remain sleeping so I could pick her up. I sensed that the sun should be raised in a little while, so I opened the door and exited the cabin and heard a small rustling noise behind me and looked behind me over my shoulder to see Cotton's parrot open his beak to squawk out in alarm. I then softly shushed him and threatened him saying, 'Dead birds tell no tales...understand?' Once he nodded his head quickly in understanding, I took off and flew towards the ruined castle. I was halfway to the castle when I had to stop and hover in the air to raise the sun and lower the moon while holding my sleeping daughter in my arms. After that was done, I continued on my way toward the castle in a hurry before the others could come after me. When I arrived, I hurried through the passages when I heard a sword drawn from its sheath as Hector greeted me saying, 'Who or what creature dares to tread upon these haunted halls?!?' I continued around the corner and into the room telling Barbossa that it was just me and my daughter, which he then rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword saying, 'Here I was, hoping that some poor wanderer had come here searching for treasure. What brings you back to these ruins, hmm?' I then looked down at my daughter and told him how she had followed us into the vault and taken one for herself, then how I intended to save my daughter from the curse so she could enjoy life. Hector then looked down at Summer and chuckled saying, 'Mischievous little whelp, she is definitely Jack's daughter alright.' before looking up at me and asked things were going on the Black Pearl with my husband and the crew. I looked away in shame as tears rolled down my cheeks when I remembered the attack and managed to choke out that things were horrible."

Luna listens as her sister continues on, telling them about the conversation she and Hector had. Hearing more about what happened in detail during the attack, even telling her what she did after that.

She continues with the story, telling them how he momentarily surprised her by jerking his head toward a corridor saying, 'Oh the things we do for those we love.' then continued watching as he got up and started walking toward the passage behind him, stopping a short distance away, glancing back at her over his shoulder, and saying, 'Well...aren't you coming?' I then followed him through the empty ruins and recognized an empty bottle of that mana-infused wine we used to drink when trying new spells. I then followed him to the vault and activated the secret mechanism, and let him go in first so he could unlock and open the door for me. I entered the room after he stood to the side of the room, to show the open chest in the center of the room with no barrier around it. After reaching the chest, I laid my daughter down on the floor and then stood back up. I took the ancient dagger from the chest and knelt down beside my daughter, taking her hand in mine gingerly with her palm up. Even though she was under a sleeping spell, I told her that she may never see her father again after that. I then used the dagger and sliced her palm open, then set the dagger down and grabbed her coin, then laid it in her palm. I then closed her fingers around the coin and squeezed her hand tightly to stain the coin with her blood, then opened her hand and removed the coin before looking up at the chest and tossing the coin up into the chest. As I heard the metallic clink of the coin landing on top of the others, I watched with a baited breath for any sign of the curse lifting from my daughter. When I saw her shiver and unconsciously wrap her arms around herself, I let out a sigh of relief and then looked at my own palm. Eager to be rid of the curse, I picked the dagger up in my right hand and quickly sliced my palm open. In my haste, I accidentally cut it rather deeply. I couldn't feel the pain as blood ran up my forearm from my upraised palm, distracting for a few moments before I snapped out of it and tossed the knife back into the chest before retrieving my own coin. After placing it in my palm and closing my fist around it tightly to stain it, I opened my fist to see my blood coating a good portion of one side of the coin. I then chucked the coin toward the chest and watched it as it flipped end over end and disappeared past the rim, hearing a metallic clink as it struck the other coins and bounced a couple of times before coming to rest with the others. Moments later, I felt a tingling sensation engulf my body all over which startled me at first, but I reached back to bring some of my mane before my eyes. I smiled as I saw that it was back to its original color, then ran a tongue along my teeth to find they too were all flat when I heard Barbossa comment, 'Such a beautiful thing to watch...you are back to looking like the Celestia I know.' I then smiled happily and looked at my daughter, then cast healing spells on me and my daughter's hands. I watched as a small scar formed on my daughter's hand, while a more prominent scar appeared on mine and let out a sad sigh saying how it was a small blessing to feel things again, and that the times ahead would be difficult, but my daughter would be free to live a happy life away from the wretched curse. I then turned to look over at Barbossa and told him he could do the same and live a peaceful life, but he told me that he had is own destiny and would keep the deal he made with Jack. He also told me to feel free to stop by from time to time to tell him of recent events, which I did for a time. I then picked my daughter up and blinked away a tear as I told Hector I looked forward to my next visit, then we both left the chamber, he locked the inner door then I closed the outer one and finally took my leave of the cursed treasure."

Applejack then cocks her head curiously and asks, "So...I take it that Barbossa is still there, guarding the treasure? Because when we were exploring the ruins, I don't remember seeing anyone else there besides us girls and Spike."

Celestia nods her head solemnly saying, "He is indeed still there, do you remember that low voice that called out saying, 'So it came to pass that the sister returns. Curious and perilous times lie ahead for Equestria's future.'? That was Barbossa, he must have been watching you from the shadows since you arrived. Did anything else happen while you were in the old castle ruins?"

Fluttershy quiets down a little and says, "W-Well, I thought I heard somepony say abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

She sighs and half chuckles saying, "That would most definitely be him messing with you while ensuring you didn't go near the vault." With a heavy sigh, she then returns to the story saying, "I wish I could say things got better and we were happy, but it is not what happened..." She then tells them about the fights that began during the first two months of their lives together in the castle at Canterlot saying, "Two months went by when my daughter barged into my room, startling me awake when she kicked the door open as hard as she could with a frown on her face stating that she was angry and demanded to speak with me. I then calmed myself down and told her she startled me and then asked what she needed at that hour, she crossed her arms across her chest and asked why I keep her locked up in Canterlot, stating that she was not a criminal. Knowing what was coming next, I cast a privacy barrier and told her that she wasn't, but her father, however, certainly was after having attacked and sank twenty merchant ships in the last month and leaving no survivors. I then stated that if she was going to demand to see her father, the answer was no. She then responded by scowling and stomping a hoof saying that she didn't care because he was her father, and unlike me, she still loved him asking if it was too much to ask for her father to be in her life. Her words hurt me emotionally, causing me to wince as I then recalled how I betrayed him, so I then narrowed my eyes and told her that I still loved him, but he could not be a decent father figure for her as he was then. She then crossed her arms again and started tapping her hoof against the floor in aggravation, then rolled her eyes at me and told me to stop lying already, saying that she knew I hated him and asked why I was still married to him if he was such a monster. I then winced at the emotional pain her words caused and kept trying to be a good mother to her, telling her that it was no concern of hers and that she was still grounded for taking one of those accursed coins. She then glared at me and thanked me for giving her the small scar on her palm and that it made her want to be more like her father instead of me. Her words caused me to wince again from the emotional pain they inflicted and I got tired of her treating me that way and angrily used the royal voice to bellow at her while pointing at her room, telling her that I've had quite enough from her that night and ordered her to go to her room immediately. She wilted before me as her hope turned into sorrow, crushing my soul as tears started forming in her eyes when she started sniffling just before turning around and racing away from me out of my room. Seeing what I did took my anger and instantly changed it into sadness, as I then immediately collapsed back into the pillow and began sobbing. Completely forgetting about the barrier as I thought about how things came to be that way between my daughter and me, I looked at the scar on my hand and wondered if things would have been better if I hadn't removed her curse as she slept. After thinking that, I cried myself to sleep.

Fluttershy looks at the princess with worry as she asks, "Princess Celestia, did you try to go to her and apologize for yelling at her?"

Celestia looks at her and smiles briefly saying, "I did Fluttershy, and she forgave me for it but still wasn't happy that I wouldn't let her see her father." She then sighs and the smile falls away saying to no one in particular, "Perhaps I should have, maybe things would be different..." Catching herself thinking out loud, she shakes her head and continues with the story saying, "Anyway, back to the story... As I kept trying to get Jack to stop attacking the merchant ships and raiding ports...the Black Pearl ignored my requests and continued to terrorize the seas and burned Fillycity to the ground one year later, sailors were terrified of sailing the seas and we began to have problems getting things like wood, high-quality cloth, imported fruits, and spices. That led me to search for a way to deal with the Black Pearl and her cursed crew, which took me a couple of years to find which was a spell I hadn't used in a very long time and forgot about. The only problem was that I had no ships that could challenge the Black Pearl at sea, so I had many skilled ponies discuss ideas for a new ship design. When we finally settled on a design, it was a challenge to get the proper wood it required as well as a few other materials. Luckily I thought it would be wise to have craft that would move through the air, so we experimented with the idea a bit over a few years. They proved to be very helpful with keeping the Black Pearl from destroying them, though the crews were fired upon by muskets from the cursed crew. When the ship was finally completed, it was painted white and had gold trim with white sails bearing my cutie mark..."

Hearing the description brings a smile to Rainbow's face as she says, "That's the Sunrise you're describing, Princess Celestia! I'd know that description anywhere because I read a few tales that all said the fight between the Black Pearl and the Sunrise was EPIC, the battle was so large that smoke could be seen from Columbuck way to the North. When the Black Pearl was finally defeated, the sky all around Equestria turned red for a few short minutes!"

She looks at Rainbow with a soft smile, not realizing that her spell actually did that and says, "You are right Rainbow, it was the Sunrise that I took to face off against Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl. However, the real story is nowhere near as grand as the story makes it sound. When we set sail from Van Hoover, it took us to track the Pearl down. We came to the last known location the ship was sighted, on the sea near Aquastria. We then received a new report that she was a hundred miles west of our location, so I gave the order to change course and pursue. A few hours passed by when we came within sight of each other, and Aquastria was only a few miles behind us as the wind was against us. With 62 six-pound cannons on the three lower decks and on the top deck, four cannons at the stern and two at the bow, everypony believed the Sunrise would come out unscathed. Even though I knew we wouldn't get out of this fight unscathed, however, I hoped that Jack would surrender if I put the Black Pearl in a magically sealed port to lock it in place until I saw fit to release it when he made amends for his crimes. I also hoped that my daughter would forgive me and start loving me again. Fearing for my safety when the conflict finally came, Captain Hoofington asked if I would protect them from above the ship to keep myself safe from the cannonfire. When the Pearl turned to her starboard and the Sunrise to port, the cannons were rolled out and the ships began to fire at each other. Watching from above, I did what I could to protect the sailors on board, but the heavier cannonballs just shattered my shields and went on through. Seeing how poorly the Sunrise was faring against the Pearl, taking more than a fair amount of damage while only dealing light damage to the Pearl. When the main and aft masts of the Sunrise went over her port side, the Pearl sailed on and came back around to attack again. This time, however, I heard Jack give the order to load the heavy burning shot, so I started to cast a spell to protect everyone on the crew. I was too late because right when I began to cast it, the Pearl started to fire once more. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the first round leave the cannon and began burning while moving towards the starboard hull of the Sunrise and punching right through, a moment felt like an hour when I heard a low crackling begin to fill the air. The low crackling grew louder and faster when a reddish glow began to emanate from the open gunports of the Sunrise, I then watched as fire appeared out of the gunports and rushed outwards. While time continued to slowly progress, I watched as each board around the center of the ship bulged outwards and slowly transformed into splinters that were sent outward by the exploding magazine. Once the boards became splinters, what remained of the deck collapsed into the lower decks and the ship slowly broke in half and started slipping below the water. The speed returned to normal with a loud boom as the explosion sent splinters every which direction while the two halves of the ship sank down a little ways before staying afloat for a few seconds burning wildly. After watching the Sunrise and her crew become little more than burning debris on the ocean's surface, my vision started to turn red from rage as I snapped my focus to the one who caused it all. I then faced him while glaring at his face and used my royal voice to shout, 'Captain Jack Sparrow, you have taken my subjects from me for the last time! Everything and everypony you come in contact with is ruined...now you shall be punished for it!' So I charged the spell I hadn't used in a long time and continued shouting, 'disappear from my life and sink to the bottom the seas with your beloved Pearl you monster!' I then fired the spell at the Black Pearl, causing it to start glowing a sickly green color, and shouted, 'I banish you for all eternity!' As he stood on the bow, he looked at his ship while it began to glow and slowly drift forward with the bow slipping toward the water's surface. Then he pulled out his locket we got at the wedding and started to wind it up while looking up at me saying it's all sticks and stones, then asked if I knew that he finished putting words to the song that meant so much to us both. He then rhetorically asked me to allow him to sing it for me and started to walk toward the back of the ship as he started singing along with the music box."

Celestia then pulls out the locket with the two rings sitting around the chain and winds it up with a smile on her face, saying, "I was still seeing red when he sang it to me, but once the ship vanished under the sea, the haze faded and I recalled everything that he said. If I remember right, I think it went like this." She then opens the locket to let it play and starts singing, "Brave and bold, like a ship at sea, you saw me, and restored to me... Hope and love, oh please grant me, a new life, with you now... Troubles come, and they all shall go, I shall face the foes, or be the foe... Through long years, I shall be with you, our love won't ever die... Come, my love, our life at sea waits, by my side, til forevermore... Through the screams, to eternity, I claim the sins, as mine... Hear our song, and think of me, when dangerous, times seem to come... You shall know, that I will be there, I'll always be, inside... Cursed and dark, may I have become, evil still, but maintain hope... Wounds I caused, may sometime mend, but you shall, always be. Brave and bold, like a ship at sea, you saw me, and restored to me... Hope and love, oh please grant me, a new life, with you now..." As the locket stops, she closes it and tucks it away saying, "When the locket stopped playing the last note, he closed it and tucked it away under his shirt before taking hold of the wheel with his left hand. Grabbing his hat with his right, he then took it off and flourished a bow to me while saying happy anniversary Your Highness to me and then adding, or rather...pirate Princess Celestia. He then returned the hat to his head and called up to me as his feet went under the water saying, 'Remember this day as the day you almost...' but was cut off as his head went under the water. When I figured out every word he said, my wings fluttered for a moment. I lost some altitude as tears formed in my eyes. I tried to wipe them away a few times but they just kept coming and I started to sob, then looked down to where the Black Pearl was and watched as the green glow became dull and vanished from sight. When I realized what I had just done to my husband, it hit me so hard that I nearly fell from the sky because all I wanted to do was curl up and cry. To keep myself together, I looked around the floating wreckage of my flagship and only found the ship's captain alive. I then pulled him from the water and made my way back to Van Hoover. It was a long flight with tears streaming down my face endlessly, the captain in my arms, and fighting my sobs to remain in the air. When I landed, I laid the captain on the ground and shouted to anypony, saying that the brave pony captain needed help immediately. Then a nurse and doctor came to start looking him over when the doctor asked what happened to the Sunrise and her crew. I then began to cry in front of a crowd of ponies and fought to get it under control, managing to sob while telling them that the evil was vanquished at a great price, how the Sunrise and her crew were claimed in the battle against the Black Pearl. Wanting to get away and let myself cry myself dry, I told them I needed to leave and return to Canterlot to rest before starting to repair the damage caused by the Black Pearl's reign over the seas. After saying that, I quickly turned toward Canterlot and took off while still sobbing."

With the most painful part of the story remaining, she hesitates as her body shudders even harder, every muscle threatening to go limp and make her curl up into a ball on the floor to cry her pain away. Taking a shaky breath, she steels herself the best she can and begins the last part of the story saying, "When I entered the castle, I made my way toward my room while ignoring the guards' questions. When I reached my chambers, I hurriedly opened the doors and walked in before slamming them shut. I then ran towards my bed and fell upon it, barely having enough strength in my body to crawl onto it fully. When I was on the bed, I grabbed a pillow and clutched it my chest while casting a quick privacy barrier before letting myself cry over banishing my own husband. As I cried uncontrollably into the pillow, my daughter came into my room and entered my privacy barrier saying that we needed to talk. I then looked at her from the corner of my eye and asked her if it could please wait until tomorrow, but she persisted and said that it could not. She then told me she wanted to see her father right now or she would punish me, I responded by sobbing and clutching the pillow closer to my head mumbling in a quiet voice saying I was sorry and that it was impossible. I couldn't see her face, but I heard her ask what I said and commented that she didn't speak mumble. In a fit of grief, I lifted my head up to look at her and cried out saying I was sorry but it was impossible. As she looked at my face, having clear signs of grief on it, she narrowed her eyes and asked me why it was impossible. She was silent for a moment before she asked four one-word sentences with anger in her voice, asking what did I do. Feeling like a filly caught with her hand in the cookie jar, I weakly turned away from her in shame and looked at the wall choking up while asking her to please forgive me. She got madder because she shouted at me in the royal voice, demanding that I tell her what she did at that moment. My body quaked from the volume she used with the royal voice and started to hiccup-sob, barely telling her I had banished him from Equestria. She then responded by screaming at me in the royal voice, saying, 'I did what!?!' I turned back toward her and tried to curl up on myself, telling her that I had no choice after he destroyed the Sunrise and killed her entire crew and that I had planned to arrest him to put him in the dungeon so she could visit him while keeping the Black Pearl in custody. She then used her royal voice at full volume saying how dare I, that it was her father's ship and not ours and that I knew it. With the same volume, she demanded I bring him back immediately. I looked down at the pillow sorrowfully and shook my head saying that I could not, that it was too late because the spell I used couldn't be undone by me, him, her, or anypony else. I then apologized and asked her to forgive me for wanting her to live happily without suffering from the curse. After I said that, something changed because she calmed down instantly and glared at me in disdain before turning away, accepting what I said and telling me that I have chosen my punishment. She then started walking away from me quickly and I weakly tried to reach out for her as she turned and went down the hall. Something about the way she said that upset me, so I attempted to get off of the bed. I had enough strength to manage to barely steady my upper body, but as I stood up, I barely had enough strength to hold myself up. I found it difficult to walk as my legs would give out as soon as I tried to move one forward, so I resorted to crawling on my hands and knees after several attempts at walking. As I crawled after my daughter down the hall, she would wait until I got within sight of her latest point and move to the next one. Guards continuously asked if I was hurt, in pain, or needed help, and each time I told them to shut up and do their job. After a while, I reached the double glass doors leading to the Canterlot gardens and saw my daughter standing a fair distance ahead of me. Reaching up for the handles, I managed to grab them and pull myself up enough to stand on my wobbly legs. When turned the handles to open the doors, they were pushed open as I fell forward. With tears streaming down my face, I then returned to my hands and knees and proceeded to scramble toward my daughter as she stood next to a short column. As I got closer to her, I tried to stand again and managed to take a few slow, weak running steps and called out, pleading with her to please do anything to punish me if she would not run from me. I continued my slow, wobbly, and weak running steps as she climbed onto the column and stood upon it holding an open book in her right hand and a round object in her left. She then looked at me over the top of the book and grimly told me she intended to punish me and that she wasn't running away, also intending to have me look at her every day of my entire eternal life and remember what I did to deserve it. She also told me that she would return when her father does. I then watched as she closed her eyes and started channeling her magic into a spell chanting lapis immortalis transformatio, fatum patris. She then crushed the object in her hand and kept her fist closed as a non-existent wind began to blow, causing her long mane and tail to wave behind her, and her cloak to flutter in the breeze. As I got closer, I looked at the book and felt dread course through me when I recognized it. I watched as my daughter began to turn to stone, starting at her hooves and slowly moving higher. As she kept her eyes closed, she said that she utterly despises me for how I took her father away, and that I would now suffer for the crime. When she was almost completely stone, she called me mother with as much venom in her voice as she could and smiled slightly and opened her eyes to look down on me."

Luna's eyes are running over with tears as she heard what her sister's daughter had said and done, she watches as her sister crosses her arms in front of her and begins to hug herself while starting to slowly rock back and forth, hearing her say in a soft tone, "As I watched the spell finish and turn her into a statue, I crumbled into a heap on the ground and started to openly sob about her choice of punishment for me. My sobbing slowly devolved into uncontrolled crying, then into all-out wailing as my composure evaporated when I started frantically clawing at my daughter's statue. Unfortunately, I can't remember much after that because my mind shattered and I went insane from losing my daughter as well. It took me a year to somewhat recover my sanity, which I then learned that a maid investigated the statue and found me dragging my bloody fingers against a stone statue while wailing out in complete misery screaming incoherently. Out of her area of expertise, she went to get my assistant Swift Quill, who then told the maid to get things to treat my wounds before coming up and knocking me out with a hard blow to the back of the neck."

Everypony is frozen in place at what happened with her daughter, too many emotions were racing through their heads to let them do anything as the princess continued to tell them more of what happened during her bout of insanity, and after once she regained it.

Unable to take anymore, Luna sprints over to her overwhelmed and severely distressed sister still rocking back and forth in the chair, and throws her arms around her shouting, "I AM SO SORRY YOU ARE IN SO MUCH PAIN, PLEASE LET YOURSELF CRY, YOU HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY HERE TO SUPPORT YOU!!"

Celestia's final thread of resistance snaps as she subconsciously reacts by wrapping her arms around the hugging pony's back and squeezing them against her as she breaks down. She bursts into tears and her cries change into screaming wails as she leans against the warm pony holding her.

One by one, each one rushes over and joins in the hug, with Twilight being the last one due to her heavily medicated state. They then pull the wailing princess into the center of the room, closing the study doors to keep the sound from drawing the eyes and ears of other ponies to prevent having to explain what happened to them.