Memento

by Reviewfilly

Rating: teen
Tags: Drama, Starswirl the Bearded, Violence, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 1006

Celestia reads an ancient letter.

Sometimes prophecies need a little help to get going too.

I'd like to thank Captain Neckbeard for inspiring the story and Equimorto for proofreading it.

Written for the third installment of A Thousand Words in category Drama.

Published 2024-07-05 10:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-07-05 10:20:00 UTC

To my faithful student, Celestia...

She returned to her room. The once-marble Princess now covered in soot and ash. Yet again diplomacy failed her... No, she failed it and her nation was closer to peril than ever. With each step she struggled to keep her balance, her wings bobbing up and down nervously to counteract her weight. She could still recall the faces of those Diamond Dogs. The greed in their eyes as they asked for more and more in return for her ponies. She shut her eyes, grit her teeth, and counted to ten to extinguish herself. In return for the hostages.

After an excruciating minute she finally reached the end of the room, and as she collapsed onto a plush pillow nearby her shoulder bumped into an ornate desk behind it. A drawer popped open, revealing a tattered scroll inside. The Princess stared at it with a gaunt look and, like a fierce explosion, all her burning pride welled up inside, demanding her to just slam the drawer closed and move on. Because she was strong. The dogs weren't. No weakness. Unlike their greed. She was a leader. The moment she showed her true colours, they scrambled. She was perfect. And so was the fear in their eyes when she ignited everything they ever loved.

Shame washed over the cacophony inside, silencing it briefly. The Princess relented and her horn ignited dimly. With reverent slowness, she picked up the ancient text, paying the utmost attention not to harm the frail parchment.

As she unfurled the letter, an old memory crept into her mind. Back when their years were no more than a mortal's. Nascent dreams of higher spheres given shape and form. They wandered the world with no goal in mind, just to survive. No home would take them in. Everypony they sought out felt fear or revulsion, seeing their wings or horns. And so, longing turned to despair and despair to rage. If they didn't deserve the ponies' love, then they would give them every reason to fear. Forests like bonfires lit up the eternal night as the Sisters did what they thought would finally give them satisfaction.

Then the Wizard arrived. The Sisters reared up upon his arrival. With swishing tails and bared teeth, they stood their ground as they unleashed all the evil a child's pain and cosmic power could muster. The Wizard, however, didn't even flinch. Beyond the glimmer of his pale-blue shield, half-hidden under his thick beard, the whites of his teeth shone in the flames as he gave them a toothy yet disapproving smile.

"Fillies," he spoke quietly. As he looked from one sister to another, the bells on his cap tinkled just as softly. "This is no way for a pony to act. Wouldn't you come home with me instead?"

Silence fell on the battlefield and, as the scorching flames extinguished, the blackness of the sky slowly gave way to the crimson hues of dawn. In the place of two vile Goddesses, now stood two bawling foals.

That was many years ago. With the Wizard's help the Sisters turned from a symbol of mistrust and misery into a shining beacon of unity, an example to rally behind. Thanks to his exceptional magic, the Wizard lived to see through the winters of strife and the birth of a new nation which promised to never divide itself again. When he finally felt that his time was short, he invited the Sisters to his old home, a small cabin in the woods. It was a far-cry from the newly finished Everfree capital, yet still no place on the planet could give greater solace to the adolescent mares.

The Wizard smiled at them, as he beheld his protégés from his bed with half-blind eyes. A moment later, however, his expression grew weary and he coughed into his hooves.

"My beloved students," he spoke still so softly. "I fear there is little time left for me to enjoy the light of yours. There is one final matter I wanted to deal with before I pass." His sputtering magic reached into a small cabinet nearby and picked out two small string-wrapped letters. "These are my final words to you. I pray and hope that you might never need read them. But, if fear takes hold and you feel the darkness of your past grip you, unfurl these scrolls and it shall tell you what to do."

And with that Starswirl, wizard, father, mentor, and hero of a nation he hardly had time to enjoy, was no more. Promises were made, rituals were held, and the Sisterly bond grew stronger.

Centuries passed and all was well.

Until the promises broke, the rituals fell neglected and the Sisterly bond crumbled away.

That too, was a long time ago. Agonizingly long. Now, however, was the moment where Celestia put all those regal bonds aside, which kept her from hearing others' advice, and finally laid eyes on her old master's final words. And yet, where she expected to find a speech worthy of an orator, she saw naught but a few short words written in a script so shaky, it was unbecoming of her mentor, the ink having been smudged in places by droplets of water haphazardly cleaned away. Celestia stared at the words silently. She read them over and over and ten times over again.

"Be a pony."

Then, without a word, she stood and left behind the letter, the desk, the room, and her pride. She stepped outside to the Moon-bathed balcony and looked up, the pale light reflecting in her own gathering tears. She stared silently for a second, then her horn lit ablaze. Her magic grew and grew, until she was like a star fallen as she called out to the cosmos, begging for help. And, in the uncaring silence of the great beyond, four finally answered: They, no matter how far they might be, would aid Her escape. It would only take them ten lifetimes to do so.

And Celestia wept.