A Broken Crown

by Qibli2

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Tragedy, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe
Length: 1003

A dreary forest.

A broken crown.
A dreary forest.
A lost era.
A forgotten promise.

A Thousand Words Contest: 3rd place in grim.

Published 2022-04-18 02:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-04-18 02:40:01 UTC

A Fallen Princess

”Twilight Sparkle is dead.”

“She very much is. You helped, I’d expect you to know.”

”What are we going to do with her?”

“What else do we do with dead bodies? We hide the evidence.”

In a dreary forest, two stallions trot. Between them, the ex-ruler of Equestria. The forest is dead silent. The only sound is their hoofsteps, voices, labored breaths, and the dragging of the body.

”How do you propose you do that?”

“We have a shovel, a lantern, and the rest of the night.”

”Right, I suppose we do.”

“Here, take the lantern.”

The lantern trades hooves. One takes a shovel and breaks the ground, the sound echoing throughout the forest, bringing a sound into a lifeless place.

”Do your think we should’ve killed her?”

“We do what we’re asked… we’re hitponies after all. No questions need to be asked.”

”Shoot first, ask questions later. I know. But it’s later.”

“Astute observation.”

The shovel breaks the ground some more. The one who was digging gives a labored sigh.

“Who asked us again, those pegasi?”

”You were the one that asked, but I believe so, though that doesn’t really address the task at hand.”

“Maybe they wanted Canterlot or something. Again, it’s not our job to ask.”

”Why would you overthrow a ruler to gain control of a city?”

While the shoveler keeps digging, the forest returns to silence. The two stallions think to themselves, wondering how to answer the question at hand. Finally, the silence is broken.

“They’re pegasi. Canterlot has mountain access, maybe they want to live up high for all I know.”

”But they haven’t been able to fly in who knows how long.”

The routine shoveling stops for a second. One pony turns to the other.

“Pegasi are strange creatures. Who knows what they think.”

More silence, then, the digging continues.

”Are they not still ponies?”

“Perhaps, but they haven’t really come down since they stopped flying.”

”They’re really concerned about this if they managed to come down and ask for it.”

“It’d appear so. They want Canterlot.”

”Hopefully they won’t interfere with the unicorns.”

“They’ll keep to themselves, and we’ll keep to ourselves.”

”But what if they don’t?

Soon, there is a shallow hole. The digger carefully puts Twilight’s body inside.

“Could be a little deeper. Guess I’m pulling her out.”

”Fine.”

The two ponies heave the body out of the shallow hole. It softly rustles the leaves on the forest floor.

“She really had all the power she wanted.”

”Everypony liked her, for a time.”

“Promised equality for all races, after the Legion incident, something appreciated.”

”Shame it didn’t work.”

“Ponies just stopped caring. Envied each other, as far as I’ve heard.”

”The pegasi retreated, the earth ponies left, the unicorns were trapped by ourselves.”

“That’s probably the reason why.”

”Why?”

“They ordered us to kill her. The pegasi, at least.”

”Total destabilization?”

“Close to it, at least. That’s what they might’ve wanted.”

”Where will the unicorns go if this total destabilization carries through? They won’t leave us alone.”

The hole is now deeper. The shoveler still keeps digging.

“I’m sure there’ll be someplace for us, somewhere, I’m sure of it.”

”Maybe, but still, why’d we kill her?”

“You look for the bits, and they paid a hefty sum.”

”We sacrificed our queen for a knight.”

“I suppose we did. But then again, they did offer ten thousand bits.”

”What do we do if the pegasi kick us out? What if they reinstate the monarchy?”

More digging, the shoveler wipes sweat off his brow.

“We’ll head elsewhere, of course.”

”Where can we survive when we don’t have any magic to survive with?”

“Somewhere where nopony would expect.”

”Everypony cares about unicorns nowadays. A lot of them think us upper-crust hoof kissers.”

“They don’t have to.”

”We’d have to hide ourselves pretty handily.”

“Not an impossibility.”

The hole reaches a modest size. The shoveler sets the shovel aside and audibly drags the body in, getting hooves metaphorically and literally dirty. The dirt is disturbed.

”I’m wondering how we managed to get to this point. With the races ignoring each other coolly.”

“After the Legion incident, with some ponies still leery. She intervened with the fractured bits.”

”Then?”

“She built them up while keeping them isolated. When it was done, they had no reason to intermingle.”

”That’s what happened?”

“It’s what I’ve heard from a few sources.”

”Were our clients one of those?”

“No, they were pretty straightforward about just wanting Twilight dead. Never said why.”

The dirty shoveler steps out of the ditch. He begins burying Twilight’s body, illuminated only by the lantern light.

”I trust you found all this out on your own?”

“I have to admit, I was a little curious. You were.”

The burying continues, Twilight is soon mostly invisible to the naked eye.

“I have to say, it’s very impressive we managed to do all this without magic.”

”We’ve done most of the hits post-magic.”

“But Twilight was a queen. She had a lot of protection.”

”I was there, too. The Royal Guard, several traps, alarms, I saw it all as well.”

“She resigned into retreat after she got rid of all of the magic. Didn’t come out for a while.”

”There was an incredibly harsh winter.”

“But after that incredibly harsh winter, she entered overkill mode. She got rid of all of the magic with one spell, including her own.”

”It did warm up fast.”

“But they have to be connected in some way shape or form.”

”Perhaps, but I still have on thing on my mind. Why’d you take it, even if it was worth so much?”

“If you had instructions on how to remove a figure of absolute power, who may have caused an incredibly frigid winter, took away our livelihood, and drove us apart, and an opportunity to… Wouldn’t you take it?”

The last piece of dirt is rested over Twilight, her body is hidden. The shoveler trots away. Silence. The other pony follows.