The Path to Transcendence

Thunder rumbled through the skies as a bright flash of lightning scattered through the heavens above. The torrential rains poured down vigorously soaking the pink pony. She stood there unwavering through the horrendous weather. Her tears mixed in with the water dripping down her face splashing onto the grass below her.

She gritted her teeth, grinding them as she stared at the tombstones in front of her. The headstones displayed two names in an eloquent and decorative writing, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.

The mare screamed into the sky as loud as she could only for the thunder to drown out her blood-curdling shout of anger.

Princess Cadence was no longer the benevolent princess of Love. Her heart had grown cold as calloused with a desire for vengeance and retribution.

Her gaze lifted from the headstones into the direction of Canterlot Castle, “I’m coming for you Twilight Sparkle; I will avenge my sisters’ deaths.”

……………..

The long hallways of the castle were no longer bustling with ponies seeking to speak with the royalties. Instead, they were now desolate and derelict. The only pony that walked through them was a purple unicorn. Her horn lit aglow with a soft, white light that illuminated the path before her.

She sighed looking down at the floor as she passed Celestia’s personal chambers. A lump in her throat formed and she tried to choke back the tears that were pooling in the sides of her eyes. She shook her head trying to focus on the more important issues.

I forgive you Twilight.

The unicorn swiveled her head in all directions looking for the pony who spoke those words.

“Who’s there?” she said nervously, bracing the ground and preparing for a fight.

There was no response.

A ball of light shot out from her horn ascending quickly to ceiling above her. The vast room was now bathed in the luminescent light. Still, she saw no pony around her.

She shook her head and continued forward until reaching her destination. A spiral staircase made out of stone that descended below into the castle’s barracks and prison.

Her hooves clopped against the stone steps as she soon made it down to the bottom level. In here was where her assistant, Fluttershy conducted the gruesome ‘conversion’ experiments. The acrid scent of death and blood filled the mare’s nostrils making her gag slightly.

She could hear the moans of her test subjects throughout the hallway. She approached a wooden door leading into the prison and opened it quietly. She stopped a lone Pegasus in a white lab coat standing over an operating table. The subject didn’t move an inch, yet restraints bound the pony to the cold metal table giving it no chance of escape from its fate.

“Good morning Fluttershy.” Said Twilight with a warm tone.

The Pegasus squeaked and jumped before turning around to see who it was.

“Oh Eclipse, you scared me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Umm… so what brings you down to the laboratory?” The yellow pony asked sheepishly.

“I… couldn’t sleep.” Twilight said looking down at the ground.

“Oh… I’m sorry, do you want me to get you something to help you sleep?”

Twilight shook her head, “no drugs please, but if you wouldn’t mind, would you come and sleep with me? I just want somepony to hold onto. It gets kind of lonely sleeping alone all the time.” The lavender mare’s face blushed deeply.

Fluttershy smiled and kissed Twilight on the cheek, “I’d love to. Let me just put the patient on life support and I’ll come join you.”

The purple unicorn smiled and watched her assistant connect the various life support machinery. It wasn’t long before she stepped back from her patient and stood by her lover.

The two ponies walked through the hallway. The rain was beating down on the castle harder than before making each pony nearly yell to each other so they could hear.

“So, who was that pony you were operating on?” asked Twilight.

“Oh… Umm…” she studdered before whispering the ponies name, “Shining Armor.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t hear you, could you say it again?”

“Shining Armor.”

Twilight stopped walking and stood still for a moment looking down.

“Oh… I see.”

“Please don’t be mad Twilight! I’m just doing what you told me to do!” She said cowering down with her hooves above her head fearing Eclipse’s wrath.

“Fluttershy! Relax! I’m not mad at you. I’m just… sad. I completely forgot about him. I… I can’t believe I didn’t even remember my own brother. I mean, so much has happened this past decade and I didn’t even once think about him and now he’s gone forever. I’ll never be able to talk to him again.” A few tears fell from her face pattering on the ground.”

“Well… umm… actually, there might be a way.”

The purple pony lifted her head up quickly, “h-how?”

“You could create him, like you did with Project Alpha.”

“F-fluttershy! That’s brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

The timid little Pegasus smiled at her lover, “let’s get to bed.” She said with a soft yawn, “I’m really tired.”

Twilight giggled, “Alright, let’s go.”

The two ponies soon arrived at Twilight’s chambers. The door opened with a magical push from Twilight and the two ponies stepped inside. Twilight’s bed still remained in disarray from earlier and the two mares looked at each other before climbed into the bed.

Twilight wrapped her foreleg around Fluttershy’s waist and pulled her up against herself.

The pegasus’ smiled and pulled the blanket over them and spoke softly, “I love you Twilight.”

“I love you too Fluttershy.” Said the unicorn as she nuzzled her head onto Fluttershy’s shoulder breathing softly, “and I always will.”

…………

Spike entered the small hut. His scales glistened in the magical light amplified by the water that dripped off of him. He walked over to the fire pit in the middle of the room and dropped the large bundle of wood. It was more soaked than he was but he knew he could get it to light. It would just take a bit. The dried out herbs would make for good kindling to get the fire going.

Rarity came out of a room and smiled at him. “Good to see you darling.”

The dragon smiled, “good to see you too babe.”

Spike gathered the dried herbs and placed them atop of the wooden and took a deep breath. The scorching flame he exhaled could have set the whole hut on fire, but he managed to control it into one steady flame that quickly ignited the kindling and soon after the wood below it.

The crackling hiss of water evaporating and tree sap popping echoed through the room.

Spike sat down near the fire and put his hands over the flames. Being a dragon his scales were impervious to the high temperatures that would usually cause third degree burns for any other creature. He sighed and smiled as Rarity sat next to him leaning her head onto his shoulder.

“Spike… do you think we did the right thing? I mean… this could have all been avoided if Rainbow Dash, Applejack and I didn’t tell the Princess Celestia what Twilight did.”

Spike face grew flat as he drew in a breath, “I don’t know Rarity… I really don’t know. I’ll always love Twilight. She was like my mom, but I knew what she was doing was wrong and I couldn’t tell her to stop. I was too scared to. I guess we’ll never know if either of us did the right thing.”