Chapters Her hooves were cracked, and her coat and mane covered with a layer of dirt and dust, her eyes now a dull purple instead of the vibrant violet. Wearing a tattered cloak blowing in the sandstorm winds, she soldiered on. Twilight had been on this journey from the other side of the world for years, now. She saw creatures she could only imagine, some who wanted nothing more to skin and eat her for dinner, or sell her as a slave to the highest bidder, or far worse that she refused to think about. These were lands that did not know friendship, only power and survival of the fittest.
She had almost lost her life more times than she could count, simply from being naive or thinking every creature could have the kind or gentle nature of the ponies she had known. Her kind wasn’t welcome here, so she donned a tattered cloak to hide her nature. Through these long years, all she could think about was what she did wrong, or why nobody (pony, she slipped again) bothered to search for her. For all she knew, she was cast out of equestria for ruining Starswirl’s spell or angered Celestia somehow. This would not be a problem had she made some friends, but all these creatures wanted from her were to harm her or steal what little she had. She tried, she really did. All her lessons in friendship were as good as useless outside of Equestria.
Growing tired for the moment, she decided she needed a drink. Finding a tavern, she tossed over a few gold coins she stole via teleport from an unsuspecting shopkeeper to the bartender. “Something refreshing if you don’t mind.”
“So I heard them ponies are gonna open trade wit’ us soon.”
Twilight adjusted her regalia and triple, no, QUADRUPLE checked she had everything ready for the her first official day as ruler. First impressions are everything, and she knew this would be what historians would write about in books about her in the future.
Once she arrived at the station and boarded, she began to see some ponies... oh how she missed them! And many other creatures too. Those fish people were right about trade opening up. But that wasn’t the end. The view from this route was something else. It went through hippogriff lands and had rather scenic views of the ocean. Twilight was nearly glued to the window taking it all in, how just a few years could change everything. It’s good that Equestria was still staying true to harmony and friendship, they at least found some creatures of a similar mindset.
“First thing I need to do is see them again. I could use a good party with some cake. Sheesh, when WAS the last time I didn’t eat rotten food or meat?” She sighed as she stared out the window. Twilight somehow survived off the disgusting diet but her body wasn’t holding up too well in the looks department with the scars and dullness of her coat. On the bright side, her hardened lifestyle made her able to survive long stints without food or water and she had amazing endurance.
The train chugged through fields of dandelions and sunflowers (she could really go for some of those right now) before arriving at the long awaited Ponyville stop. Twilight gasped.
Twilight pulled the hood back over her and walked to town. First thing was to see Spike again. He would have been so distraught that she absolutely had to reassure him first. The town luckily still had a familiar layout to her so she navigated it with relative ease. But as she got closer to the crystal tree, she realized something had changed quite a lot. Her treebrary was gone. Somehow this tree replaced it, but she had no idea what kind of magic could do something like this. She didn’t want to dwell on it now, though. And the building next to it was definitely a school on closer inspection, with a variety of creatures moving in and out of it.
“Hmm... I wonder if it’s a magic school? But creatures like griffons can’t use magic. Odd.”
Applejack felt odd not saying her daily greeting to Twilight. It has become part of her routine, just like apple bucking and selling apples. It felt like a part of her was missing now, and it just felt wrong. But she knew Twilight was meant to rule, it was her destiny and her personal feelings weren’t all that important on something as big as ruling a country. She adjusted her hat and put on her best, and still honest smile for the customers regardless.
Applejack soon made her way to Sugarcube corner with a cloaked Twilight following behind.
Rarity shrieked in such a high pitched one of her windows cracked.
Everyone gathered at Rarity’s and conversed amongst each other about Twilight’s condition.
“So wait, how have you been away this whole time when we just saw you like, a few days ago? Time travel?”
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“Oh sweet Celestia it’s finally over!” Twilight had bags in her eyes and many hairs in her mane out of place from sheer stress of dealing with so many ponies all day. The fact that Celestia kept her regal look all the time despite this meant she had a way to go before reaching that level of composure.
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Twilight wanted to throw up. She saw another version of HERSELF standing in the throne, with patches of skin visible, scars on both body and face, cracked and worn hooves, and a tail that looked almost like a lion’s due to missing hair. She was so thin her ribs were showing, and had almost no fat at all on her. She would have assumed her mirror self if not for the fact that she had no glasses and had a different air about her that showed through without her even needing to speak. One that said she had a hard life. But if that weren’t all, she had no wings either. It was like looking at herself before she became an alicorn. She wanted to throw up because a part of her felt guilty for doing nothing to help doppelgänger, and that she had never seen a creature in such a sorry state as this in her whole life.
Author's Note
Had this idea after seeing that one European cover on a pony DVD that had two Twilights in it. This isn’t going to be an epic or anything, but I do kind of want to write a prequel as well about unicorn Twilight’s trip around the world.
“Oh my, that’s another point for me, Tia!” The lunar alicorn grinned.
“Celestia, Luna, there’s a lot that needs to be explained tonight. Do you mind if we come in?”
Both Celestia and Luna looked perplexed and wondered who this pony or perhaps even creature could be, but they decided not to comment further on it.
“So I’ve got some books from Canterlot that are on their way to Ponyville, that should make the crystal castle much cozier. It is your home now, just as it was mine.” Alicorn Twilight smiled at herself, putting a hoof on the scarred Twilight’s shoulder.
“It’s not a problem! I am slowly getting used to being a princess and Spike is helping me adjust. Plus we are planning monthly friendship meetings. I just wish I could do more to help you, after you’ve been through so much.” The alicorn couldn’t help looking at the scar across the unicorn’s face as she said this, wondering the true extent to which her counterpart had suffered, while she was living a mostly lavish life, surrounded by her friends.
“Speaking of Spike, I hope I get to see him soon.”
Suddenly, the front door to the castle creaked open, and both Twilights looked ahead at the same time.
Starlight pondered on the new information and said slowly, “okaaaay… didn’t expect that.”
“Soooo…. You’re apparently the original Twilight? That must be awkward, seeing yourself. Like looking in a mirror.” Starlight rubbed her shoulder, not really knowing how to talk with this other version of Twilight. She didn’t want to bring up her curiosity of her scars, though. She could at least easily separate this Twilight from the one she already knew just by physical appearance, but beneath the surface she wondered how much she was like her alicorn counterpart.
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“That’s the friendship school. I work there and so do your friends. We teach classes on friendship basically. We get creatures from all over wanting to attend, it’s great.”
“Wow, is that princess Twilight? She looks… different.” A light blue insect-like creature glanced at Twily and Starlight, head tilted to the side.
Starlight was glad this version of Twilight wasn’t violent, she knew she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but her scars made her look ferocious to her. In pony society, things like scars were seen as violent and made ponies unapproachable. Tempest Shadow was a good example of this attitude.
“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH” Twily was jumping up in down in pure joy, with a large smile plastered on her face.
Twily’s smile turned to a downcast look, and she was reminded of the pure Tartarus it took getting back home and finding out she had a counterpart living all this time as a princess. At first, she was a bit jealous. Those feelings quickly went away when she saw how kind and understanding the alicorn princess was to her, and really, she couldn’t be mad at herself for long.
“It was a hard conversation to have, but princess Twilight and I worked through it. Celestia should have never sent me that spell.”
The moon shimmered in the night, bathing the lake in a white glow. Sitting on the grass looking out onto the lake, the moon princess was quiet.
Celestia sent her to the moon for a thousand years, and she had spent those thousand years on the moon in a slumber, unaware of the passing of time. All her advisors and guards had passed on when she had awoken again as Nightmare Moon. She was in an unfamiliar world, alone. Even as the Nightmare, she just wanted somepony else to appreciate the night as she did. When she became Luna once again, she thought her sister had known what she wanted. She has been very accommodating to her, but she still hasn’t been as open with her as she’d like.
When Celestia announced that she would retire, she was not as thrilled. She wanted to rule beside her, as an equal. However, she had to admit that Twilight was by far the better option in terms of diplomacy of non-ponies than she or her sister. Celestia always abided by whatever is the most harmonic option, even if it’s not an easy decision to make. So, for the good of Equestria, she retired with her.
But now knowing Twilight on the throne was all a machination by her sister, and she knew of its implications, she had trouble forgiving her. Celestia had kept the entire thing a secret from her, probably thinking she would tell Twilight and jeopardize everything. And knowing herself, she would have done just that. Celestia probably saw it as more harmonious to sacrifice one pony to save a world. Still, Luna thought there could have been another way, Celestia didn’t have to become a villain.
The night both Twilights left their home, Luna had told her sister she needed to be alone. She didn’t mean in the short term. The next day she talked a real estate agent and found a small home a few miles away, and moved her belongings to that new home the very same day. She needed to be away from Celestia for awhile, maybe indulge in some hobbies or meet new ponies. The retirement home they both had lived in was fine, but the ponies there treated them like royalty rather than normal ponies. Luna sometimes liked being treated as royalty, but not when she had retired. Nowadays she appreciated things more pedestrian like the post office and other new inventions that had been created that Celestia took for granted.
This would be a new beginning for her, and she hoped Celestia could use the time away from her and Twilight to reflect. Twilight, despite now having higher authority than Celestia, decided not to charge her with any crimes despite the premeditated nature of what she had done. It was out of kindness, but Twilight has not spoken to Celestia since that night. The original Twilight was asked if she wanted to press charges, but she had the same opinion on the matter as her counterpart. Personally, Luna would have punished her if her sister attempted to murder her, but she wasn’t going to argue with Twilight over it. Perhaps that’s the last grace Twilight will grant to Celestia before shutting her out completely.
Luna looked up and gazed at the moon, she no longer had to move it, but she still felt a connection to it. She didn’t perform that duty anymore, but she wished she did sometimes. She didn’t even interact with ponies’ dreams as much either, which she enjoyed, but ultimately it was a duty she performed as a princess.
She was no longer a princess, and it felt like a part of her vanished as a result. Ponies often say once one retires, there may be a loss of purpose. Luna somewhat feels that way now. She knows her sister doesn’t, she may have left Equestria in Twilight’s hooves, but she had probably had enough ruling after over a thousand years of it. Anypony would. Her sister was an adrenaline junkie and wanted to do things all the time since retiring.
“Sigh…”
Really, she wanted to forget thinking about her sister for now. She can lie in her bed that she made. Luna wanted to live life that wasn’t on her sister’s terms. Ever since they were both fillies, Celestia took on the role of deciding everything they would do together. She probably thought she was being a good big sister by doing that, but to Luna it felt like she wasn’t living her own life. And thinking on it now… who says she has to retire?
“I’ve got it!” Luna stood up and stomped a hoof on the ground.
“I’ll get a job! Delivering mail! It could even be… fun.” Slowly, a smile made its way onto her muzzle.
