Chapter 5 Share with Me

Twilight relaxed on her own cushion, finally ready to get some answers. She wanted to write this down, but wasn't sure if she was allowed, something in her said that wouldn't be polite.

Clestia cleared her throat and began

𖤓 𖤓 𖤓

It was a thousand years ago, you must understand, though for you Luna, it was yesterday, and the world was viewed very differently. Equestria was more wild back then, monsters roamed in the night, villains appeared and wrecked chaos every now and then. As such not much had changed in a long time, my sister and I had finally gained control of Equestria for a period of time longer than fifty years for the first time.

But ponies were still afraid of the dark, and would rise and sleep with my sun. Luna had adopted a nocturnal habit so she could catch monsters at their most active. She was always the more warlike of the us two.

☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾

“Pft, it's not like you didn't wipe out an army all by yourself without magic because you were fed up with how the minotaurs wouldn't stop raiding settlements.” Luna scoffed before biting down on a randomly chosen doughnut. She froze for a second before inhaling the entire thing. “HUZZAH! Dough Friar's legacy lives on! I can see why you grew as big as thou has, Tia,” she poked her sister in the stomach, giggling. “You didn't want to appear disproportionate.”

“Hush, I am the proper size for a full grown alicorn, you still have some growing to do,” Celestia chided Luna before continuing.

𖤓 𖤓 𖤓

As such, despite providing a surface of safety and raising the moon to give the ponies a proper time to relax and be safe, my sister fell out of favor and public eye or knowledge, I know not which, as I was busy trying to run the new Equestrian kingdom. I am ashamed to admit it, I was relatively new to the whole thing. Our tutors had long since died during the Discordian era which disrupted the first Equestria, and their teachings were more relevant for a small-scale government.

I threw myself into my work and found that I was getting better at it, ponies started to love me for being the princess not just providing light for their crops. I led the armies in the day to unite the states that had split off during Discord's previous reign. The only failure was 25 years previous when the final section, Old Equestria, disappeared from the map.

As time wore on I was so focused on work that I failed to notice that my dear sister Luna was falling into my shadow and couldn't get out. I for my part thought that I was helping and ignored the issues while trying to put on a brave face for her. That was my mistake, and Equestria paid the price.

In a desperate bid for attention Luna made a deal with something, I know not what, and with it removing itself from her memories I doubt we shall ever know. The thing merged with her and corrupted her even farther creating the being, Nightmare Moon.

I realized what had happened all too late, she fled the castle to some remote area. When she returned 5 years later, she had raised an army of such ponies I'd never seen before. Thestrals, niriks, dragon born, and shades lined her ranks. All created for one purpose, to crush Equestria into submission, kill me and cast the world into eternal night.

She almost succeeded too. The Equestrian army was skilled and led by my champions, but they were no match for the sheer numbers Nightmare Moon had. After two long years they pushed all the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters. I realized that there was only one thing I could do at that point. I had to abuse the power of the Elements of Harmony.

You see, the Elements require multiple beings to wield them properly, and even then require a proper connection to the being's souls. I don't know the exact details as our mother made them to help us overcome Discord.

I meant to use them to separate the Nightmare from my sister but things went horribly wrong. Despite ambushing her army and surrounding them, she pulled a nasty trick and raised the moon over top of the sun, casting the world in shadow. Empowered by the false night, her troops were stronger and wiped out all but one of my champions. Ignoring my army, I pushed ahead and confronted her head on. In the chaos, with my power drained from direct connection with the sun, I misfired the elements.

Instead of separating the two, or purifying as I meant to, they banished her to the moon. In a last second attempt of spite, Nightmare Moon used as much power as she could to chain the moon in front of the sun. My last champion sacrificed himself to return a bit of my power to me. I was in the end able to move the moon and I have ever since.

✶ ✶ ✶

Twilight watched as Celstia ran a hoof through her mane. “That was when my mane gained the blues and greens.” she paused to look at Luna, “I have been waiting since then for the day I can hand your domain back to you. I haven't the control that you once displayed. Can you forgive me for it? The pain that I have caused you, all of you?”

“Yes,” Twilight and Luna responded at the same time, Luna throwing herself into a hug around her now way older sister. The look of relief on Celestia's face was visible to the room as she accepted the hug.

“Wait,” Applejack said, “you mean that there was a whole war a thousand years ago, with niriks and thestrals and what not. Where did they go and why isn't this taught in schools?”

“Well,” Celestia leaned back from the hug, “Once the defeat of Nightmare Moon happened, the thestrals fled, as did the niriks. I was unable to track them down. As for the history, I had a thousand years to plan for my sister's return, with enough backup plans in place, I wanted to remove as much about the war from history to start my sister with a blank slate when she returned. I was very successful in some regards and unsuccessful in others. Nightmare Night for example took over the harvest festival.”

“T’is a strange thing,” Luna observed, “I have no recollection of all this happening, I remember feeling unloved and betrayed that nopony enjoyed my night, and now I am here. You all speak of horrors and dark magic, but none are in my mind. Perhaps the Elements drove them out?"

“That is a possibility,” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof, “It's too small of a sample size to be definitive. That is something to look at later. But now, I want to hear Rarity's story. How does a pony get thrown into a wall like that and walk away?”

Rarity felt the gaze of five ponies and two alicorns dig into her, trying to worm their way past her fragile disguise. “A lot going wrong and some accidental transfer of souls.” she responded, one white hoof rubbed at the other as she looked away, unable to meet any gaze.

“I would strike you down for your admittance that you manipulated souls, save that you wield the Element of Generosity and you saved my sister.” Rarity shivered at Celestia’s declaration and forced herself to meet the gaze. Steely judgement shone in the eyes fixed upon her. "Explain."

Taking a deep breath Rarity began her story.

♢ ♢ ♢

14 years ago

Rarity sat in the hospital waiting room nervously turning the object in her hooves over and over. The air was filled with a soft high pitch hum from the new fluorescent lights installed in the ceiling, the old candle sconces were still attached to the wall, now used to hang charts and hats. Rarity felt excited and yet nervous, only a few days before she had discovered her cutie mark and made the costumes for the school play. Now her mother was about to give birth to a foal.

Rarity hoped that it was filly, a filly would become a sister she could dress up and make dresses for. A filly would appreciate the finer things like tea and fancy hats. A colt would only track mud in the house and use the scrap cloth for something like a pirate cape or something. Well, maybe if it was a colt, that would be fine too. She could teach him to be a gentlecolt, make him jackets and coats, make him a monocle, all gentlecolts had monocles right?

A scream of pain, muffled by the wall reached her ears. They flattened in response, it sounded awful. “It will be here soon,” she murmured as she continued to turn the gem over in her hooves. It was purple with hints of pink, something told her it was an amethyst. It would be perfect to give to her new sister, or brother, of course she wasn't going to just hand it to the baby as it was. The gem had a purpose, an inner beauty that Rarity need to make come out, by cutting and using it in something.

Another scream, this one joined by a faint softer crying. Rarity perked up at the sound, trying to figure out if it was a filly or colt. The door opened and a nurse galloped out and down the hall not even noticing the young filly sitting by the door. Cautiously Rarity edged off the seat, something was wrong, that much was obvious to her, but she didn't know what. The door hadn't fully closed and she could smell some weird smells as well, the coppery tang of blood was recognizable but the other ones weren't familiar. A soft crying seeped through the ajar door as she creeped closer.

The nurse returned at top speed holding something on her back, she scrabbled her hooves against the tile floor as she almost slid past the door she had come from.

“RED HEART! Don't break it!” a voice greeted the nurse as she entered the room, “We just got that!”

Rarity looked inside the door but was immediately usured out by her who was leaving, his brow creased with worry. The large stallion scooped his little filly, his little Rarity into a hug.

“What's wrong?” Rarity had a thousand questions, all of them about the new foal. “Is it a filly or colt? Have you named them? Can I see?”

Her father stroked her mane with a large hoof. “She’s a filly, so beautiful, so sweet…” he took a breath, “The doctor said there is something wrong with her heart. It's not beating right. They are going to do the best they can to fix it, but they are unsure if they can.”

Rarity looked down at the crystal she held, her sister needed a better heart? She could make one.

Two days later.

Rarity gazed down at the snow white filly sleeping in the crib, wires and needles stuck out from the poor thing. Nearby an enchanted crystal was beeping softly. Though she knew that the point was to keep her sister alive, Rarity thought they looked, what was the word, she had just read it the other day in her mother's magazine… Garish, that was- no, garish meant there were too many bright colors or something. What was that word? Gastly! That was it. Linguistic endeavors complete, she looked to the crystal that she held in her hooves.

Over the last two days she had researched what she could about hearts and had carefully shaped the crystal into one. To her surprise, hearts weren't shaped like hearts and didn't have anything to do with love. So instead of a symmetrical symbol, the crystal she held looked sort of like a lumpy and lopsided strawberry with tubes stuck in the top. At least the card ologist who had seen her bring it in recognized it. What was a gambler doing working in a hospital?

As she has carefully cut the crystal with a cutting spell, Rarity had found that the amethyst had more pink in it than she realized, amethyst also changed, what was it, diaphaneity, it changed diaphaneity from a transparent purple on one side to a translucent pink on the other.

“Here,” she whispered to her sister, who had been named Sweetie Belle, “I made you a new heart. Please get better.”

The tiny filly shifted in her sleep, letting out a whimper of pain as one of the needles dug in a little. A tiny hoof bumped the offered heart and retracted from the cold.

“Please take it” Rarity whispered, she didn't know when someone would notice her, “You need it.”

Sweetie shifted again, another whimper as a tube became taunt.

“You need to get better” She whispered, “Mom's not eating and Dad doesn't know what to do. You can help them, please.”

Another shift. Then something happened, there was a pause in beeping from the monitoring crystal, then two rapid beeps.
Rarity stiffened. That was bad. “No.”
Then it happened again. Silence then two rapid beeps.

“No, no, no,” Rarity grabbed one of the tiny hooves, “No, don't, they need you, I need you.” The hoof felt cold. Rarity shoved the heart at Sweetie Belle. “Take it! Your heart is bad, you need a new one. I made you one!” Rarity started to ramble. Trying to wrap her sister's forelegs around the crystal. Dimly she heard the silences get longer, and the beeps closer, somewhere in the hospital there was a shout of alarm.

“Don't go!” Rarity grabbed at her sister, “What's wrong?” Then the beeps stopped. “Nonononono!” In her panic Rarity fell into the crib, coming in full contact with the body of her sister.

Last week the substitute teacher at the school had gone over spirits and souls. She had explained that there were three parts to a pony, each interwoven and irreplaceable, if removed then the pony would die. Maybe not immediately but eventually. The body, the spirit and the soul. The body was the physical part, the soul was shorthoof for life force and was where magic came from, and the spirit was the personality of the pony.

Rarity realized something as she lay in shock on top of tubes and a half limp sister.

“You don't have a soul,” she whispered in shock.

Rarity looked at the heart she had made as things started to line up in her mind. Fact one, crystals are magically conductive. Fact two, souls provided life force and magic. Fact three, her sister lacked a soul, either strong enough to fix her heart or wasn't born with one, or had just lost it. Fact four, Rarity had a soul.

“We can share.”

Touching her horn to the crystal heart, Rarity started to channel as much magic as she could through the horn. Elsewhere the shouts were getting louder and hoof beats got closer. If they got to her they would ruin everything! Desperate Rarity reached inside herself and poured even more of her magic into the crystal.

“Take it, take it, take it,” she repeated over and over, her eyes closed in concentration on what she could not see. With all her heart she wanted Sweetie Bell alive. Later she learned that when the doctors and nurses rushed in they could hardly see because of the light shining from the crib.

Deeper she reached, shoveling with all her might every scrap of magic she could find she shoved out of her horn to her sister.

“Save my sister,” she told it, “be her lifeforce.”

Until there was no more in her, she felt weak, but she couldn't hear any beeping. Was this it? All the magic she had and still nothing had changed? It wasn't fair! She scraped something hard within herself, like a giant crystal. In her mind's eye she found something large, crystalline, solid, and purple. And most importantly it was leaking magic. This was what her sister needed. But she needed to move it. How?

She tapped on it and she felt her whole self resonate with the tap. She tapped again, another vibration. “MOVE!” she yelled and threw herself against it.

It moved. Not much, but it moved. That was enough for Rarity. She grabbed the magic it was leaking, and heaved. It responded, and shifted in the direction she intended.

“You are going to Sweetie!” one final heave and she felt a profound emptiness appear as the object disappeared.

Beep…

Beep… beep… beep…

Yes, Rarity sighed in relief, she felt so tired. Just needed… to sleep, yes sleep. She had saved her sister and everything was right with the world…

Intern Red Heart opened her eyes as the brightness disappeared from the room. There was a brief silence, then the crystal started beeping. That wasn't right. They had gotten the alarm only 15 seconds ago that the heart beat was irregular, and then stopped. Cautiously she trotted towards the crib and looked down.

Inside there were two fillies. One was white with a rich purple mane and a faded trio of crystals for a cutie mark, the older sister. Questions of how she got in here unobserved were pushed to the back of her mind as she saw the other filly, tucked under the first. The IV and sensors were in the right places for the filly that had been here, Sweetie Belle, but that wasn't Sweetie Belle. Instead of the albino that had been, this filly had an ivory coat and her mane was divided into light purple and pink streaks.

Red Heart reached into the crib to remove the sister, Rarity, but froze when she grabbed the filly. Rarity was cold as ice and didn't have a heart beat. “Docter Stitch?” she called in horror, “Get in here!”

♢ ♢ ♢

Rarity opened her eyes, but there was nothing to see. Panic set in as she realized there was no floor, no up or down, There was nothing. It was so dark she couldn't see her muzzle. And cold, she felt so, so cold.

“Mom? Dad? Anypony? Heeeellp!” she called into the void but nothing answered. Was she dead? Was she destined to float in nothing forever? That was boring. Nothing to look at, nothing to do.

Slowly the absolute black started to turn to grey, there was still nothing, but now there was light coming from somewhere.

“Hello?” she called, the sound of her voice obtaining a soft echo as if in a large empty hall. Her hooves found a surface, though she still couldn't see it. The light got brighter, now coming from her left. The greys around her gained color as she turned to see what was casting the light. With nothing better to do, she started to walk towards it, somehow staying on the invisible path.

“Halt!” A voice thundered, “do not come closer, lest you be burned.”

Rarity stopped, one hoof raised. “But I'm cold.” she replied, glancing around to find the source of the voice. It sounded loud and imposing, but also warm like a mother who was warning her child away from something, inviting like a grandmother offering a warm cookie, yet distant like a person separated by a great gap.

“Be as that may, you can not come closer,” the voice responded. “Listen to what I say, child, dear Rarity.”

Rarity felt as if her very being rippled at the mention of her name.

“You have made a grave mistake, and yet the most noble of sacrifices. And now you are dead.”

“Dead?” Rarity squeaked. No wonder she was so cold. “Is this the Celestial Realm then? What about Sweetie Belle? Is she here?”

The voice chuckled. “No, you accomplished the task you set out to do. You managed to give your soul to her and heal her body, you gave her a new heart. That was your sacrifice. But also your mistake.”

“How can it be a mistake if it saved my sister?” Rarity demanded, her raised hoof coming down in a stomp.

“By giving your soul to her, you sacrificed yourself. Saving your parents from one blow by giving an even greater one,” the response came. “You may not realize it, but so many ponies were counting on you. Though I suppose that the very reason that they counted on you was the reason you gave yourself away.”

“Sure they will miss me, and I will miss them,” Rarity countered, her little mind racing for a justification for her actions. She had just meant to share the soul, not completely give it away. She hadn't thought that her parents would be heartbroken if they lost either of their daughters. “I'll see them later, I already made memories with them, now they get to make memories with Sweetie Belle.”

“You will understand in time,” the voice continued, “but for now I must send you back with something to allow you to fulfill your destiny.” A piece of light split off from the bright light and floated towards Rarity. “This is my blessing, it will keep you alive despite your lack of soul. It is nothing more than a bit of power, you will need it and it will protect you from physical harm. Though be warned, it can not stand the presence of darkness. If you stray too far it will return to me.”

The mote of light floated in front of Rarity, bobbing slightly on unseen currents. Slowly she reached up a hoof to touch it, feeling the warmth it radiated. As her hoof drew close it darted forward and impacted her in the chest. She gasped as warmth flooded her body.

“Go in peace, Rarity, fulfill your destiny, one day you will understand.” The invisible floor dissolved and Rarity tumbled downward away from the light, faster and faster she fell, then it was dark again.

♢ ♢ ♢

Rarity jolted out of the position she was in with a loud gasp.

“Ahh!” screams broke out around her as she looked at her surroundings. She found that she wasn't in her sister's room anymore, instead she was now sitting on a cold metal surface, in a room that was cold and had a strange amount of drawers on the walls. Around her ponies in green smocks and face masks were panicking, in the corner her parents were trembling, eyes wide with terror directed at her.

“What’s going on?” Rarity rubbed at her eyes with a yawn.

✶ ✶ ✶

“Wait, wait, wait.” Twilight waved a hoof. “You mean to tell us that you, just having got your cutie mark, carved a crystal heart for your sister. Gave her your soul and the heart when she died, then died yourself. Basically talked to who I can only assume is Faust herself. Who told you that you made a mistake and sent you back with her blessing to keep you alive until you fulfilled your destiny. Which, I can only assume, is being the bearer of the Element of Generosity?”

“Well, yes,” Rarity responded, “I had no clue what was going on at the time. But it seems that I made myself into a pseudo-holy-litch with no study or intention. It still baffles me how I managed.”

“Baffles? It is not supposed to be possible!” Twilight threw her hooves in the air. “Lichs take years of study and need at least nine sacrifices to transfer their souls into an inanimate object. Putting it in another pony is straight up impossible!"

Fluttershy and Pinkie both approached Rarity, drawing her into a hug from each side as Celestia shot a disapproving glare at Twilight.

“And how do you know this?” Celestia asked her student. “All the works on necromancy and resurrection of the dead are locked in the prohibited section that only I, and now Luna, are able to access.”

“Er… I might have snagged one or two when I was still learning teleportation. It turns out that teleportation wards are only useful when the caster is using teleportation spells with all the safeties on and a high degree of precision…” Twilight trailed off at the exasperated sigh of her mentor. “Um, I suppose we could say that Rarity was able to accomplish it because she was giving herself with no expectations.”

“Be as it may, darling,” Rarity interrupted, “I caused quite a stir suddenly waking up in a mortuary. I found out later I had been dead long enough that they were having my parents identify my body, which was when I awoke. After everything calmed down some tests were done, they were rather inconclusive. You see I am dead, but the blessing keeps me in a state of regeneration, hence my earlier meeting with a wall ending up not as expected. There also is the added conundrum that any injury that Sweetie incurs is transferred to me.”

“Does she know?” Fluttershy whispered.

“Not yet,” Rarity hung her head, “None of us know how to broach the subject. The doctors cleared her that day, she is in perfect health. Since then I’ve been trying to live up to what I learned that day, and convince myself that I really was worthy of what I gained.” She held up the necklace that had appeared on her neck earlier. “I guess I know now what she meant when she said that so many counted on me.” Her eyes glistened as she pondered it.

“If what you say is true, and you really did meet my, our, mother that day. Then I extend my sincerest apologies that you went through that.” Celestia turned her attention back to Rarity having silently berated her student long enough for reading forbidden knowledge. “However, it is getting late in the day, and the nobles must be out of their minds. Luna and I must return and see that order is established. But first there are two things that need to be dealt with.

“The first is the elements. While I trust all of you to not abuse the power within these. I doubt that leaving these scattered here would result in anything but pain. As such they should be kept hidden in Canterlot in a secret vault. Do not worry, distance nor physical barriers can fully separate a bearer or their element, they are connected to your very souls and spirits.”

“It makes sense to me.” Applejack responded by taking off her stetson and slipping off the necklace over her head. “What?” she asked as she noticed the room looking at her.

“They have clasps, darling,” Rarity pointedly reached up behind her neck and undid hers.

“You're a silly pony, Applejack," Pinkie hooved her necklace over to Celestia, “But don't worry, you could never be sillier than me!”

“Ah,” Applejack looked a little red, “It's uh, been ah while since I wore jewelry.”

The silence was punctuated by Rainbow Dash also slipping hers over her head as well. “Well, I've never worn any jewelry. Because this is the only necklace that is cool enough.” she proclaimed.

Once all of the elements were handed over to Celestia she conjured a box around them. “Now to the second matter,” Celestia turned to Twilight, “my faithful student, it has come to my attention that the amount that I can teach you in a book is drawing to a close. As such it is time for the self study portion of the program to start. The subject matter is yours to decide, though I might suggest that it be on the study of the magic of friendship.” she leaned close to Twilight and conspirally whispered, “It’s a subject not even Starswirl the Bearded could figure out, and you already have an upper hoof.”

Twilight was shocked. In the span of 48 hours she had gone from being practically friendless, to starting her graduate program, and having friends. “Where will I live?” she asked as her mind finally caught up everything that Celestia meant.

“I will have to talk with the lovely mayor of the town, but I hear that the last librarian moved on and there is a vacancy.”

Graduated, working on a self-study, with friends, AND librarian? This was too much.

“Twilight?” Spike asked from the top of the stairs, “What’s going on? Why is Princess Celestia here and why is there another alicorn?”

Celestia winked at Twilight, “I'll let you explain, also, don't forget to send me updates on your progress whenever you learn something!” With that a golden glow flashed from her horn. Once it disappeared Celestia, Luna, and the elements were gone.

“Well,” Applejack stood and replaced her stetson, “Ah need to make sure the farm is okay and let mah family know what happened.”

Fluttershy was next for the door. “I need to check on my animals, they were so scared when the sun didn't come up. I'll, uh, see you around. Please stop by at some point, Spike, I would love to take a look at any loose scales you have.” She disappeared before Spike could respond.

Rainbow, and Pinkie excused themselves as well, one with concerns about the weather, the other wanting to start preparations for a ‘We-saved-the-world/welcome-back-Princess-Luna’ party, leaving Rarity, Twilight and Spike in the Library. Twilight walked over to Rarity as Spike left to start cooking something for brunch.

“I'm sorry about what happened earlier,” she began, “I was a little freaked out, what with everything that's been going on.”

“I forgive you, darling,” Rarity replied, “looking back it was a mistake and it has made life a lot more complicated, last night is evidence of that. But you know what?” she turned and looked at Twilight with a soft smile, “I am never sorry I did it. Every time that I see her smile, or do something, even if it is burning down the kitchen, every moment we spend together, I know that I helped make that possible, I got a gift even better than the one I gave. I am her sister and I wouldn't change it for the world.” She turned towards the kitchen. “I know that you feel the same way.”

“My situation's a little different, but yes, I know what you mean.” Twilight responded as wonderful smells wafted from the room. “Want to stay for brunch? I know we just had some tea and doughnuts, but Spike makes some mean pancakes.”

“But of course, darling, one of the few benefits of my condition is that food doesn't really do anything to my figure.”

The two friends walked towards the kitchen with the promise of pancakes, trouble was far from their minds, and no secrets held between the two.

Author's Note

No Questions were asked of the Characters. Please ask some in the coments below.
Whew, that was a tough one. So, Much, Lore. Almost all of the statements here have meant something for the story, or world building. Before I continue I want to Tolkien up again. I don't hold to the three part being system, it's just a tool I needed to make the story work, that's it. That said, we are out of the first two episodes and now things get to pick up, I hope. I originally wanted to start the fic here, but I needed the first four chapters because just enough changes have been made that somebody would point them out if I didn't, plus reference, plus character sketches. ergo, over 15k of my mind recreating the “Get on with it!” scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

That said, I will be changing the order of some episodes (e.g. Fall weather friends and winter wrap up) and completely leaving some alone (I am NOT touching Over a Barrel with a ten foot pole, despite having the ‘She's not a tree Dashie’ convo, one of the best in season 1)

The main story of this chapter was inspired, in large part, by the story Sweetie Bot - A Heart's Warming Tale by Grimweird. A well written tale about, if it isn't obvious from the title, Sweetie Bot. Highly recommended, though it gets very dark and has almost no humor. I can't say how it inspired this chapter, because that would spoil some big revelations if you are interested in reading it, so go read it.