Fear and Trembling

Chapters

one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine

one

"Did you see how Wavebreaker burst out of the water at the end?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a glinting grin. She rocked back in her chair beneath the bright blue afternoon sky over Ponyville, and with a wave of her forelimbs towards the sun, she shouted, "Sploosh! With the droplets coming off her wings and everything! She looked just like a blue sailfish leaping out of the ocean! Yeah! Haha!"

Across the round table in front of a downtown eatery, Rarity finished taking a dainty sip of tea and said, "My my, Rainbow Dash. It's unheard of to see you cheering so much for another athlete, especially one you barely even know."

"You kidding?! Who here hasn't heard of Ponyville's undisputed champion of speed swimming the last four years straight?" Rainbow smirked and slicked her multicolored bangs back. "I'm telling you: Wavebreaker's got a lot of good things going her way. If she keeps it up, she'll make the national championship!"

"Hmmm..." Rarity flipped through a fashion magazine and smirked. "Then what? I suppose you'll compete and show her true aquatic brawn."

"Ewww, no!" Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out. "I'm Equestria's fastest flier. Yanno... as in using my wings in the air?" She folded her forelimbs and tilted her nose up. "Wavebreaker can have the oceans for all I care. Besides, it's really lame making sonic rainbooms underwater where nopony can hear it."

Rarity chuckled airily and winked. "If you say so, darling."

"Still..." Rainbow Dash gazed off into the clouds. "Just watching Wavebreaker do her stuff..." She smiled, her nostrils flaring softly. "It kind of makes me think of when I won the Best Young Fliers' Competition. You remember that day, right?"

Rarity shuddered and flipped another page with a spasming twitch. "Do I ever..."

"Err..." Rainbow Dash winced and chuckled nervously. "Besides the stupid stuff that happened at the end. Ahem." She stuck her hooves out and played with the edges of the table as she thought aloud, "What I'm getting at is that I had a moment... my moment, a moment like no other when I realized that everything was great and awesome with the world, cuz I had made it so."

"Mmmmhmmm..."

"Hey! I'm not just spitting hot air, Rarity! This is important... at least I think it is..." Rainbow Dash smiled meditatively. "Watching Wavebreaker win the swimming competition, bursting out of the water and stealing the applause—it reminded me of my best day ever, 'cuz she was having her moment, y'know? That victory was her moment, and it was really... really cool being able to watch it."

"Indeed," Rarity said, stifling a yawn. "'Tis a shame that I wasn't there with you and Pinkie Pie to bear witness."

"Yeah! Just what the hay were you up to anyways?"

"Sewing a scarf, I suppose."

"Sewing a scarf?! Rarity, for crying out loud, it's summer!"

"It helps to be prepared, darling."

"Oh, for the love of feathers..." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and smirked over towards the other edge of the table. "Can you believe this mare, Twilight? Giving up watching an awesome swimming competition for a lousy scarf in July?"

Twilight Sparkle said nothing. She had been staring into nothingness the entire time. Her mane hung just like her eyes: jaded, motionless, and reflecting nothing.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Twilight? Yoohoo! Equestria to egghead!"

"Mmm..." Twilight blinked, blinked again, and cast a dull expression Rainbow's way. "Huh?"

"What's the matter? Got up on the wrong side of the tomb today?" Rainbow remarked, trying not to snicker.

"I... don't understand," Twilight murmured.

"You look positively exhausted, dear," Rarity added, glancing up with a glint of concern as she blindly flipped another page. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you weren't in the best of spirits."

"Oh. I'm... uhm... I'm fine," Twilight said, cracking a brief and noticeably feeble smile. Her chin spasmed, as if she was trying her best not to grimace. The breath that came out of her was as short as the shifty twitch to her eyes. "I'm just enjoying my tea on a beautiful day."

"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash pointed. "If you say so."

Twilight followed the path of Rainbow's hoof. Before her, a cup lingered, filled to the brim with untouched liquid. "Oh. Yes, well..."

"Would you like to share with us what's on your mind, Twilight?" Rarity asked, giving a delicate smile as she leaned her chin on her forelimbs. "That is what dear companions gather together to do, after all: share feelings, both delightful and distressing."

"I'm fine, really. I was... enjoying Rainbow Dash's tale about Dancewaver—"

"Wavebreaker." Rainbow Dash's voice cracked.

"Er, right..." Twilight said. She shuddered and ran a hoof through her straight bangs. In a dry voice, she said, "Actually, I was thinking of asking... uhm..."

"Yeah, what?" Rainbow asked.

"It's... well... it's an awkward kind of a question. At least, I think so..."

"Ask away, Twilight," Rarity said gently, smiling even more. "You know that you can trust us."

At hearing that, Twilight's face jerked up. Her eyes widened, briefly showing color, then once again fell beneath a dull shade of anxiety. Stammering at first, Twilight asked, "Have either of you felt ill at all?"

"Ill?" Rarity asked.

"Well, maybe 'ill' isn't the right word," Twilight murmured. Gulping, she then said, "But have either of you felt strange? Different? Like something was... wrong inside of you? And it needed to be fixed?"

"So, 'ill,' then?" Rarity managed with a slight giggle.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with me!" Rainbow Dash said, then made a show of flexing her forelimb's muscle. "Fit as a fiddle, see?! Nothing to worry about, Twilight—" She slapped herself in the chest, then immediately winced. "Owww... Uhm. Y-you didn't see that, eh heh heh." Rainbow wheezed.

Rarity smiled and looked once again at Twilight. "My right rear hoof was aching when I woke up this morning," she said. "But I suspect the manner in which I slept overnight is to blame." Rarity blushed slightly as she continued, "Sometimes I work myself to exhaustion and simply collapse like a helpless damsel within the confines of the Boutique. Oh! When will I ever learn to take care of myself as I do my craft?!" Rarity waved a hoof and rolled her eyes. "Art is not without its sacrifice."

For some reason, Twilight winced upon hearing that. She leaned forward, saying, "But if you were feeling odd in any way, you would tell me, right?"

"What are you, now?" Rainbow Dash squinted. "A physician? Don't we have Nurse Redheart for that?"

"Y-you know what I mean..."

"No, I don't think we do."

Twilight took a deep breath, rubbing circles along the lid of her teacup and staring into the rippling liquid. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that... that I care for you girls, and I would hate for anything bad to happen to you." She gulped and put on a brave smile before them. "If you need anything, anything at all, I'm always there for you, with all the magic I have at my disposal."

"Well, of course we know that, dear!" Rarity exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side. "You sure you're okay, Twilight? You're... looking kind of freaky pale."

"I..." Twilight's shoulders shook, but soon she sat up with a determined posture. "I'm okay. I just..." She bit her lip. Her voice shook a little. "I have stuff I need to work on back at the library, and I've been putting it off for too long." She spoke the next bit with a deep exhale. "It's been weighing quite heavily on me."

"Well, we can most certainly see that," Rarity said. "Do you need help with any of these tasks?"

"No, but thank you." Twilight stood up, stretching her limbs. "This is something I must do on my own."

"Well, if you insist..." Rarity gave Twilight a prolonged, worried expression.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was suddenly beaming. "Think you'll get whatever it is done in time to join us at the next Swimming Competition?"

"We'll, uh..." Twilight shook her mane in the wind and smiled awkwardly. "We'll see. You two enjoy the rest of your day."

"Sure thing, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, waving the unicorn off. As Twilight left, she and Rarity glanced down at the table where the full cup of tea was still sitting. They exchanged quiet glances.

Twilight trudged across Ponyville. She gazed down at her shuffling hooves, sighing in time with her sluggish pace. The sounds of the lively village rang all around her. As each progressive minute passed, her limbs shook more and more, overwhelmed with a jittery sensation that started in her teeth and snaked down to her tail. She looked up, her eyes wrought with a feeble expression.

Ponies walked by her. Some looked Twilight's way, others even waved. Twilight returned the gesture with muted enthusiasm. The moment she was out of sight from the crowd, she shuddered, taking a few seconds to recollect her breath.

In such a sulking manner, she made her way to the library treehouse. She opened the door weakly and was greeted by the sounds of Spike in open conversation with a visiting equine.

"Here it is, Wavebreaker!" Spike exclaimed proudly. The young whelpling waddled up to a lake-blue pegasus with a white-streaked mane, extending a thick, dusty tome in his claws. "I finally found it: 'The Unhappiest Mare' by Soaring Cantergarden. Yeesh. This philosophy stuff is really depressing. You’re sure this is what you wanna study?"

"I promised my parents I'd get a firm grasp of the material before I got started on my major," she replied. Her calm, emerald eyes dispassionately reflected the brown tome as she held it up in one hoof. "If this writer's stuff is as complicated as Kanter or Haygel..." Wavebreaker paused to sigh. "Then I've got my work cut out for me."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Studying old philosophy is, like, hard on the brain noodle and stuff," Spike said, his eyes momentarily crossing. He shook his head until he could give a straight smile again. "Still, you're gonna get plenty of practice in for the next swimming competition, right?" He beamed with fanged teeth. "Those wet-hooves from Trottingham are coming to town and you're just the pony to show them who's boss!"

"I..." Wavebreaker's ears drooped as she bit her lip and glanced aside. "I-I don't think I'll be swimming that much anymore..."

"You won't?!" Spike's tail fell to the floor as his scales went pale. "But... B-but you're the best swimming pony this town has had in decades! It's your talent, isn't it?"

"My talent is not letting my parents down with my studies."

"But I'm sure you can find time to splash those Trottingham snobs in the face! You just gotta!"

"Spike, if she wants to study, let her," Twilight said in a dull tone as she trotted over beside them. "It's our place to give ponies books, not lecture them on their talents."

"Gah!" Wavebreaker jumped, dropping the book and shaking slightly. "Who's...?!" The startled pegasus glanced over, then sighed with relief. "Oh. Hey there. You must be Twilight Sparkle."

"Don't mind me. I'm just passing through." Twilight levitated the book off the ground in violet telekinesis, shaking the dust off with her magic. "Soaring Cantergarden: not exactly easy reading." She glanced over with a raised eyebrow. "Did you just say that this is in preparation for a major?"

"I'm starting college soon," the young pegasus replied in monotone. "My parents have hoofed me bits to attend Manehattan University. I don't want to let them down."

"Well, philosophy isn't my strongest point, but if I were you..." Twilight gave a slim smile as she levitated the book over to her. "I'd consider delving into some Platoats and Socratrots before anything else. Just like all fields rooted in history, it's best to start at the beginning—relatively speaking."

"Why thank you, Miss Sparkle," she returned with an eager twitch of her wings. "I never thought I'd be getting advice from Equestria's most powerful magician." Wavebreaker smiled warmly. "It really is an honor, especially after what you did in the Crystal Kingdom."

Twilight's jaw fidgeted as her eyes fell to the floor. "Err... yeah." She glanced at the pegasus' cutie mark: an asymmetrical arrangement of white, watery swirls. "Breakdancer, was it?"

“'Wavebreaker.'"

"Wavebreaker, what you're doing for your parents—and for your future—is very noble here." Twilight deposited the book inside the pegasus' saddlebag. "Never lose sight of those who have provided for you. Trust in them, have faith, and they will guide you to where you want... and need to be."

Wavebreaker took a relaxing breath. "I really do hope so." Her eyes wandered towards the far corner of the room. "I've given up a lot for this chance at Manehattan University. I just recently had a long talk with my parents, you see, and I've come to agree that my talent is what we make it to be. It's so easy to be distracted by frivolous things, such as silly games." She gulped hard and her eyelids were thin. "It was fun, but now I need to grow up and find my true strengths."

"Heh..." Spike rolled his eyes. "You could have showed those Trottingham punks your true strength in an instant."

Twilight glared at the dragon.

"What?"

Twilight sighed, then turned to cast Wavebreaker a calm grin. "Borrow that book as long as you need it for, ma'am. We have quite the extensive philosophy section. Come to us if you need any help with studying as well."

"I'll be sure to." Wavebreaker nodded. She turned and trotted swiftly for the door. She paused at the exit, however, and turned to glance at Twilight one last time. "Miss Sparkle?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you... for the advice, I mean. I can see that you're a mare of great integrity."

Twilight stared, frozen in place, even as Wavebreaker left with the door shutting creakily behind her. After several seconds, it took Spike tugging on her tail to snap the unicorn out of it. She turned to look at him.

"She's broken three consecutive swimming track records, and now she's gonna be sticking her head into Coldgardens?!"

"'Cantergarden,' Spike." Twilight groaned. "And if you ask me, I think that's a good thing. The world could stand to have more..." Her voice lingered as she stared off into the shadows. "More ponies dedicated to their craft..."

"Heh. Says you. What kind of parents wants their kids getting into philosophy anyways? What a downer!"

"I..." Twilight breathed in and out slowly. Her ears drooped. "I wouldn't know..."

Spike's slitted eyes narrowed. "Twilight? Are you okay? You look just as tired now as you did this morning."

"I'm fine, Spike..."

"Does this have anything to do with the letter?"

Just then, Twilight's ears jerked up. Her facial muscles twitched as she swung her head in Spike's direction. "Letter?"

He leaned back from her, wincing. "You know... the one fr-from the Princess! Did you read it yet?"

"No," she said, softly at first. Then, with a stronger voice, she repeated firmly, "No. I've just had a lot on my mind, is all."

"Feh. When do you not?" Spike rolled his eyes, chuckling. He waddled off to the other side of the library with a dustpan. "If you need me, I'll be in the corner, dusting. Yeesh! You would never guess how much dust collects in the philosophy section of the library! Er... wait, on second thought—heh—I guess you could."

Twilight watched him leave. Once she was alone, she turned about and strolled up the steps that led to her room. Her hooves made echoing clops against the floorboards, silencing only once she had opened the door to her chamber and closed it behind her. At that moment, she paused, regarding the shadows of her room with muted suspicion. Anxiously, she shuffled forward and immediately approached the bedside table. With a swish of her telekinesis, she slid a drawer open and produced a scroll with a red seal that had been opened that very morning.

Plopping down on the bed, she took several heavy breaths, like a diver about to pierce deep fathoms. She clenched her eyes shut, her face tensing as if from labor pains. Then, once she was sufficiently calm, she unscrolled the letter and finally... finally reread each glossy, golden word, letter by letter, with twice the utmost scrutiny as she had upon the brink of dawn.

Dearest Twilight, my Good and Faithful Student,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this missive to you. There is a great evil ahoof, a spirit of unmitigated darkness. This horrible taint has spread its way through the ranks of the innocent and has corrupted countless ponies' souls. Even as I write this, I feel that wickedness spreading like a filthy pestilence. I cannot write for long without the agents of shadow catching wind of my intent to inform you. After all, there are few left in this kingdom who are unaffected, and even fewer whom I can still trust.

Your spirit is pure, Twilight; of this I am certain. Only a soul of absolute conviction and magical mastery would have been capable of defeating Discord and warding off the powers of King Sombra. I've tutored you all of these years not only because I believed in your future potential, but because I was keenly aware of your essential goodness of heart. You possess infallible integrity, and there is no other pony in Equestria I can trust more to follow through with my commands.

The sanctity of the Elements of Harmony has been compromised. The only reason chaos has not broken out across the landscape is because the core of the Elements—magic, you, Twilight—still remains pure. However, the same cannot be said for the other five elements. Evil has spread so far in this land that it has changed your friends irrevocably. They may not know it yet, but soon the seeds will spread root and sap them of all goodness and morals. It is too late to change this, too late to save them, and the fragile state of Harmony cannot afford for the Element Bearers to turn to chaos.

This is my current task for you, Twilight Sparkle: you must eliminate the other five ponies who make up the Elements of Harmony. This must be done swiftly and quietly, so as not to attract attention. If you tarry, if you waste any time in performing this act—however grim—it will risk the spread of evil to the furthest corners of the globe, for Harmony itself will have fallen to darkness. So long as magic remains, so long as you are untainted by evil, it is within your power to annihilate the other five. This is Equestria's one and only opportunity to avoid eons of pain and suffering.

I am aware of the gravity of this ultimatum, though I cannot pretend to imagine what is going through your mind right now. All I ask is that you reflect on everything I have taught you, all the wisdom that I have imparted. You must have faith in me, Twilight, as well as in my boundless love for you and all our fellow Equestrians. I would not ask you to do this if it was not for the good of the kingdom and for the good of us all.

The other five Element Bearers must be exterminated. In their place, the Elements of Harmony will find new sources of binding, and we can finally come out of hiding and confront this evil face to face without fear of losing all that's precious and holy in this land. I trust you will follow my orders swiftly, or else we may never have the peace of mind to commune again.

With deep faith,

Princess Celestia of Equestria

two

When Twilight was done reading, she took a deep breath and read it again. Then she read it once more. She read and perused and studied the missive over and over, patiently and dutifully, as the sunlight outside melted into golden amber. The day was coming to an end, and it was draining Twilight's spirit along with it. When she finally tore her eyes from the fateful letter, they were dull and dry, incapable of producing any tears beyond the doubling, tripling, and quadrupling gravity of the message.

Twilight received shocking letters from the Princess before. When she was told she'd be moving out of the Royal Palace and into an apartment of upper Canterlot so that she could focus better on her studies, her heart sunk. When she was instructed to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, her frustrations reached a boiling point. Here and now, receiving such a morose directive from her one and only mentor, Twilight's spirit was utterly shattered.

She didn't even know how she was capable of staying conscious, much less trotting around on all fours after having received such a blow. She hypothesized that the only reason she was capable of meeting her lunch date with Rarity and Rainbow Dash earlier was due to a frigid numbness that had covered her from head to toe and allowed her to participate in the mundane routine of things.

Now, after having saturated her mind once again with the contents of Celestia's personal note, she was incapable of thinking. She could only sit there on her bed, gazing out upon the darkening day, watching as phantom shades of the letter’s paragraphs spelled themselves out against the waning sky.

She wanted to weep, but all that she managed were dry heaves, the same shivering sensations that had overwhelmed her that morning, twelve hours ago, when she had first opened the scroll and realized her mentor was asking her to do the impossible.

But was it so impossible? Princess Celestia possessed wisdom that was unfathomable to mortal pony minds. She had proven time and time again that she was always a hundred steps ahead of any other soul. When Celestia revealed to Twilight that her "entry exam" with Spike years ago had been planned specifically for her, she wasn't mad, because she knew that the Princess was helping Twilight wake up to her own potential. When Celestia requested that Twilight be in Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, she understood in hindsight that it was the Princess' way of having her become the bearer of the Element of Magic so that she could assist in the purging of Nightmare Moon.

Only now, she was being told to eliminate the other Element bearers? She was being told to annihilate them? To kill her own friends? Just like all the other times Celestia asked things of her, it didn't make any sense. But this time there was such a dark, bitter edge to the request, and meditating on the matter only stung at Twilight's dizzied mind more and more.

Twilight curled into a lavender ball in the corner of her bed and hid her face in her forelimbs. She wanted to cry; everything was so confusing. However, each time she tried to summon tears, they wouldn't come. She was a pony who was equipped for thinking her way out of a complex situation, but this debacle had erected an impossible maze to her mind. She felt trapped, imprisoned, and everywhere she looked she saw Princess Celestia's penmanship, glaring at her, burning, melting.

She wanted to scream, but that didn't come out right either. So she tried sleeping, then reading, then both at the same time. This restlessness melted along with the last remaining shadows of the day, until Twilight found herself alone with the grayness of her room, tossing and turning between sheets and sighs. She looked out the window and gazed upon the fresh glitter of stars. In her mind, she knew that there was only one way that she could concentrate, think, or even relax.

Trotting downstairs, pacing herself quietly beside a sleeping Spike so as not to wake him up, she made it to the far end of the library and... began reorganizing. Carefully, like a harvester would separate crops, she filtered rows upon rows of manuscripts and arranged them by chronological order, then by alphabetical, then back to chronological.

She shuffled novels by the number of letters in their publishers' names. She filed books by type of binding and even color of embossed titles. She threaded a stupidly complicated order of arrangement through the entire array of tomes, constructing herself a convoluted labyrinth, only to go back through and unravel the entire mess, restoring it back to the original order in hopes that she could consequently deconstruct the tangled mess of worry that had formed a knot in her mind.

This did a good job of consuming the first hour of passing. But then the second hour dripped by, and her motions slowed down as if they had been driven through a puddle of molasses. By the third hour, Twilight was squatting in the center of the floor, surrounded by books, hugging her limbs to herself like a little foal lost in the middle of a dusty forest.

There was no escaping her duty, no forgetting Celestia's order, no shirking the responsibility that she held as the Princess' prized student. It was all because of Celestia's divine intervention that she had grown to be so intelligent, so learned, so proficient in the magical arts. The very reason she began living in Ponyville to begin with—having made such fantastic friends and memories—was all because of Celestia's doing.

Yes, the letter was grim, horrible even, but who was Twilight to judge? She was a mere mortal, a young pupil just starting to grasp the truths behind sorcery. The world was far older than she was capable of imagining, with incalculably immense forces that threatened to devour Equestria at any moment. There were powers too large, too grand, and too dark for any light to illuminate, much less for any feeble mind to comprehend.

If Celestia told her that there was an evil at hand that needed to be extinguished, Twilight would have been a fool to have judged the Princess. Still, she only wished that Celestia had provided some sort of explanation, a means of clarifying the purpose for such a heinous act that Twilight was being requested to commit. The nature of the matter went well beyond Twilight's personal, emotional biases. She had always been taught that murder was wrong, disharmonious, and antithetical to all the morals that Celestia had raised her to respect. If suddenly Twilight was required to kill, what did that mean for everything else Celestia had used to lay down the foundation of her studies?

Sniffling, Twilight glanced up with moist eyes towards a single candle she had lit hours ago. The window beyond brimmed with starlight, a bright speck for every tear begging to leak out of her. She thought of warm, toasty nights when she sat on her bed as a filly and stared out the window, admiring the heavens, rejoicing in their immensity.

Life too was complex, but Twilight was starting to dread the new and darker shades of it. Perhaps this was something Celestia had always intended to teach her, but had held the revelation back for too long. Now everything was falling apart. A great evil was spreading through Equestria, and Celestia needed Twilight to grow up overnight, even if it cost her both her peace and dignity.

Twilight sniffled again. She clenched her jaw and sat up straight, her limbs tightening.

No, there had to have been something she wasn't taking into account. She had read the grim words of Celestia over and over again, but had she taken a moment to see between the lines? Perhaps there was more to the letter, just as there was more to the Princess. The Goddess was anything but simple; her spirit had to have been capable of rough edges, dark tones, and—yes—maybe even mistakes. What if the Princess, in her desperate need to protect Equestria, had overlooked something? What if worry and anxiety had clouded her judgment, just like Twilight's spirit was so currently dashed? The Princess had chosen her as an apprentice for more than mere talents; the two were alike in numerous ways.

Yes, perhaps all it took was reasoning with her. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since Twilight first received the letter. All things considered, she wasn't wasting much time by delaying the cold task for the better part of a single day. However bad the "evil" that was spreading through Equestria, Twilight had the opportunity to make sure that something wasn't muddying Celestia's vision. Perhaps all she needed was a response, a message from a kindred soul, a sign of communion with the one pony in the kingdom whom the Princess could still trust.

So, tripping over her books, Twilight scampered her way to her writing desk. She took out a scroll of parchment, a quill, a well of ink, and simply... stood there.

The unicorn fidgeted, biting her lip and squinting through the candle-light. Just what kind of a response could she give to a letter like that? What could she convey to the Princess that might salvage the situation, if there was any hope at all of restoring harmony without violence? Every time she thought of Celestia's words, the urge to reply grew thinner and thinner. She felt the quill slipping from of her telekinetic grasp, and the only thing that kept it from falling wasn't the thought of Celestia's approving voice...

Twilight saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash at a table over teacups and magazines. She saw Applejack smiling alongside her family in the glistening sunlight. Pinkie Pie bounced gleefully across Sugarcube Corner and Fluttershy nuzzled Angel while smiling.

Clenching her jaw, Twilight plunged herself into the parchment like a deer sprinting through the woods. Her pen strokes were swift, dark, and determined. The whole process went by faster than she had anticipated, and in less than half-an-hour, she was staring at her finished work. She took several deep breaths, meditating on her work, hoping that they carried her concerns cohesively:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have read your last letter to me over and over faithfully, and I still have a hard time believing that the order you've given is the only solution to this spreading evil of which you speak. Please, Princess, if you will take the time to consider my words here, it will mean the world to me.

You are capable of such intensely powerful magic, and you have taught me so many gifts of sorcery over the years. Would it not be possible for the two of us to come up with a way to put my five friends in some sort of containment so that the dark seeds planted within them could be kept from spreading root? Could there possibly be some way of purging them, carefully and secretly, without the agents of this new and present darkness taking notice?

We've overcome so many terrible forces before, and all of them just as antithetical to the essence of harmony as this corruption you speak of. The power of friendship—channeled through the very companions you are now asking me to eliminate—was what took Ponyville back from Discord. The spirit of love and harmony is what drove Queen Chrysalis and her hive away. A communion of kind hearts even overcame the hate of King Sombra when he was just inches away from reclaiming the Crystal Kingdom.

Can we not use this same power, this same force of goodness and benevolence, to bring the Bearers of the Elements back to the light?

These are not just ponies destined to carry magical pendants; these are my friends. I care for them, I cherish them, and I cannot imagine them ever turning evil to such a degree that the only harmonic solution would be to destroy them altogether. The essence of harmony, after all, is in its tranquility and persistence of well-being. How can this be upheld through the utter destruction of five precious, priceless souls, regardless of their worth to me?

Please, Princess, I must know more. I apologize for the forwardness of such a request. I'm sorry if my faith has wavered to such a degree that I must question your wisdom, but I have to understand just what it is that we are dealing with. If you could find it in your heart and mind to explain this evil to me, to elaborate on just what needs to be done in order to preserve the sanctity of Equestria, then I would be immeasurably grateful.

I've included in this letter a list of spells that I've been working on throughout the last two years that I've spent in Ponyville. They are new and improved experiments in magic, projects that I have been undertaking on my lonesome since you assigned me to this village as your ongoing apprentice. Perhaps you'll find new and refreshing opportunities in their descriptions, and maybe we can utilize what I've learned in order to find a more amiable solution to this problem together.

As always, Princess, I will abide by your wisdom and grace. I just humbly ask if you are sure that all options have been fully considered, just as you have always taught me to anticipate any potentiality of a given experiment.

Sincerely, your good and faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

After several read-throughs, Twilight managed a confident smile. The letter was perfect, or at least as perfect as she could make it. She trembled slightly as she slid the written copies of her spells in with the scroll and applied the ribboned seal. What she was about to do, no matter how strongly-worded, was the first and only time she had ever come close to defying the Princess' will. It was not something that Twilight enjoyed doing, but she forced herself into the act for fear of having to do something she would enjoy infinitely less.

It was still dark outside. Twilight could hear Spike's snores from the base of the library's stairs. There was no sleep, only waiting. Twilight took the time to sit and gaze at the framed photographs on a nearby end table. She reflected on the past, on how distant her memories were, and on how life was threatening to run out of cheerful recollections altogether.

With a shudder, she closed her eyes and meditated.

three

"You've written her a letter?" Spike asked, holding the scroll tentatively in a pair of scaled hands.

"Yes, Spike," Twilight said. The morning sunlight cast shadows over the bags beneath her eyes. Stifling a yawn, she paced to a bookshelf and put up the last of several manuscripts back into place. "And now that you're awake, I'd appreciate it if you sent it to the Princess without delay."

"What I mean to say is"—Spike scratched the spines on his head and squinted quizzically at her—"you wrote a letter to the Princess without me?" He looked hurt as he hugged the scroll to his chest and bit his lip. "What... what if there are spelling errors or grammar mistakes?"

"I wrote it just fine, Spike. I checked." Twilight dusted off a few more books as she said, "I need your help with making many letters, just not this one."

"But what if the letter's creased along the edges? I know how much you hate it when there are wrinkles in the scrolls you have me send to the Princess!" Daringly, he poked a claw at the red ribbon. "Lemme just open it up and take a look—"

"No!" Twilight shouted.

Spike hopped back, juggling the scroll a few times before clutching it and shivering. "Okay! Jeez! I'm sorry! I didn't realize it was that private!"

"It's a letter that I wrote—me—to the Princess!" Twilight snapped. "What did you think, Spike?"

"I..." He gulped and stared guiltily down at his feet. His voice shook as he managed, "I-I dunno, Twilight. Please forgive me..."

Twilight blinked at him. She sighed, ran a hoof over her face, then trotted over. Bearing a gentle smile, she held his shoulders and said, "Spike, thank you for offering to help. I expect no less from my favorite assistant. But this is a matter of importance..."

"Isn't it always?"

She frowned briefly. "Extreme importance." Her face stretched as she softly added, "I can't explain it, Spike, but only the Princess and I can see this..." She fidgeted. "Th-this conversation that we're having. There's... uh... a lot at stake."

"You mean..." Spike gulped, his eyes twitching in momentary fear. "Like 'Discord-is-back-and-ticked-off' at stake?"

"I..." Twilight chewed on the end of her lip, then smiled. "Trust me, Spike. If it was something truly that severe, I w-would let you know first and foremost."

He gazed at her for several seconds. Eventually, his expression softened and his spines stopped drooping. "Okay, Twilight. I'm sorry for being so nosy."

"Nothing to be sorry for, Spike. As a matter of fact, I'm glad that you're always looking after me..." Her voice trailed off. She couldn't look at him straight anymore.

It mattered little. He was already holding the scroll high up, opening his mouth, and launching a breath of fiery green magic. Licking his lips as if to clean the embers off his face, he pivoted and smiled proudly at her. "There! Sent!"

Twilight breathed easily, as though a massive weight had been taken off her shoulders. Whether her letter was a good idea or not, it made no difference; it had been delivered. It was out of her hooves. "Thank you, Spike," she muttered in a breathy voice as she turned around, teetered slightly, and made for the stairs. "You can go back to your morning business."

"Yeah, but what about your morning?" Spike's voice remarked in a concerned tone. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?"

"Well, no, not really." Twilight fidgeted at the base of the stairs. "I've just been... busy..."

"Well, that much is obvious." Spike folded his arms and nodded. "Would it kill ya to try relaxing today? I mean, you sent that letter to the Princess; maybe an early morning nap or a walk would do?"

"I can't go to sleep, Spike," Twilight muttered. Her eyes blinked lethargically, and a thin smile crossed her lips. "But a walk sounds really, really nice..."

"It's a lot better than pacing!" he exclaimed with a fanged grin. "And you get plenty of summer sights to enjoy! I can't think of a better way for Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's most powerful magician, to put her mind at ease!"

"Hmmm..." Twilight chuckled breathily. "Somehow, Spike, you always know how to turn advice into flattery."

"Hey, what else do you pay me for?"

"But I don't pay you anything."

"Yeah, well, someday we'll fix that," he stated with a mock snort.

Twilight chuckled again, then fidgeted where she stood. A cold breath overcame her as she turned and murmured toward her assistant, "Spike, do you remember our trip to the Crystal Kingdom?"

"How can I not? It was, like, four weeks ago!"

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is: did you enjoy it there?" She turned and looked steadily at him. "The place? The ponies? The weather?"

Spike scratched his head, shrugging. "Well, it was kind of chilly, but nothing that a dragon can't handle. And the Crystal ponies turned out to be really fun and interesting once they got the depression of King Sombra out of them." He looked up at Twilight, his slitted eyes squinting. "Why do you ask?" His face lit up with a grin. "Are you thinking of taking us back there on vacation sometime?"

Twilight slowly nodded. "Something like that, yes..."

"Well, lemme know in advance before we go! I wanna pack properly this time!" He waddled off towards the far side of the library. "Such a nice place with so many juicy rocks around, and I can't even eat a single one? Brrrrr... I'd better bring some dragon snacks or else I might offend the locals."

Twilight smiled to herself. She trotted up the stairs and entered her room. She noticed how brightly the sunlight was pouring in through her window. The sounds of Ponyville wafted in, complete with birds and chuckling ponies and bustling activity. She had spent the last twenty-four hours under a virtual cloud; she had forgotten the beauty in everyday details. It amazed Twilight just how easily she could have given into despondency. Surely the Princess just needed a fellow mind of rationality to convince her that her missive was misguided. The world was so bright and lively that Twilight couldn't rightly imagine any amount of darkness consuming it. Some way or another, everything was going to be alright.

Yes, a walk would do her good. She had to see more of that brightness—had to fill her eyes with color and life. She grabbed a saddlebag, filled it with a few cherished books, and set out for the town park in north Ponyville.

Just as she was stepping out of her room, however, she bumped into Spike. The breathless whelpling had a scroll in his claws. "Twilight! This... This came for you, just now!"

"I'll check the mail later, Spike," Twilight said. "I'll remember to thank Derpy next time I see her—"

"No, not that kind of mail!" He coughed up a few ashen green fumes, wiped his chin dry, and held the scroll out further. "The Princess—"

"Already?!" Twilight's exclamation was higher pitched than she had intended. She fell back on her haunches, trembling visibly. "But...but... are you sure?"

"Of course I am! I belched it up just a minute ago!"

"It... it..." Twilight snatched the letter out of his grasp with lavender telekinesis, turning it over before a pair of twitching eyes. "Is it my letter, and she just returned it to me?"

"No way! The seal is different. Besides..." He rubbed his throat, wincing. "There was something heavy inside it this time, like a thick pebble or something."

Twilight stared breathlessly at the parchment. She gulped and glanced forlornly at Spike.

Spike saw the look in her eyes. Without protesting, he stepped backwards and made for the bottom of the stairs. "Right. Well, uhm, hope everything turns out alright." He gave her one last, worried glance before disappearing towards the lower end of the library.

Twilight trotted numbly back into her room, shutting the door behind her. She stopped beside her bed and ripped the seal off with one flick of her magic. Immediately, a jagged purple crystal fell out. She caught it in her telekinesis before it could hit the floor. She stared at it intently, unsure as to the sharp prism's purpose. Reluctantly, she turned her attention to the unrolled manuscript. As she read more and more, her jaw dropped and the saddlebag slumped off her spine.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Though I had anticipated doubt and uncertainty to vex your spirit upon reading my letter, I had not expected you to respond directly to it, especially without having acted out the command which I had expressly given you.

Yes, I know that the task is grim, even incredibly heart-breaking, but I thought that I had made it clear in the first letter that all of Equestria is at risk and our time is of the essence. Every moment that you and I waste in this secret communication over the leylines of Spike's breath, we risk losing any and all control of the Elements of Harmony. Once the Elements have been consumed by the spreading evil, all hope for Equestria is lost. I cannot pronounce the form of this evil or else malevolent forces may intercept our messages, and then we would lose all chance of restoring balance to this world. Perhaps I was not emphatic enough about this in the original missive, and for that I can only blame myself.

No, Twilight, there is no other solution to cleansing this abominable taint. I had thoroughly considered all options and explored all magical possibilities long before giving you the unsavory command in the first place. If there was a peaceful solution to this, an answer that would not involve the elimination of those whom you've allowed to become so dear to you, I would not have even given you the order in the first place. Alas, too much has been compromised already, and I fear that you—in tarrying to fulfill your necessary task—have come close to risking the security of this entire kingdom.

To make things more expedient, I have provided within this letter a crystal carved from the heart of the Canterlot Mountains, from the oldest and most purified rocks that form the foundation of Equestria's capital. The substance is a pure conductor of magical energy, and it will give your powers a buffer that will multiply your spells by tenfold. If you use this in conjunction with a high level transmogrification spell, you should be able to reduce any matter within a small radius to pure steam, living or otherwise. The evaporation would be purely instantaneous, not to mention painless. I trust you know the purpose of this, Twilight; it is the means to do that which needs to be done as swiftly and mercifully as possible.

I do not expect you to appreciate the nature of this task. I won't be surprised if you come to disrespect me, or even hate me. I do, however, expect you to trust me, my good and faithful student. I knew from the days when you were a little filly that you would grow to accomplish great and mighty things. I did not state that they would all be pleasant things. For the good of the many, the sacrifice of the few is something that must not be disputed, for that is what this is: a sacrifice. Harmony must stay harmonious; our world depends on it.

Take this crystal, and then take your friends someplace quiet, someplace peaceful, someplace where the knowledge of their passing will not spread to other ponies. When they are gone, and the Elements are restored, we can work together on vanquishing the rest of the evil from this land, and then I will take it upon myself to explain to the kingdom what has been done and the sacred reason behind it. Again, you must trust me, Twilight, as I love and trust you.

Earnestly,

Princess Celestia of Equestria

Twilight held a hoof over her face. There was no point to re-reading the letter; the message given to her was clear, concrete. The Canterlot crystal weighed heavily in her magical grip, like a violet dagger waiting to plunge into weak flesh. Every time a gust of wind blew in through the window, the crystalline object resonated with an unearthly ringing noise, piercing Twilight's ears, wringing the shivers out of her soul.

She trotted over and sat on the bed, positioning the crystal beside herself on the covers. She stared out the window into the bright vistas of Ponyville. All of the colors were gone; all joy was drained from the landscape. Just as warmly as the day began, it had been sapped of all hope, so that what remained was a gray, threadbare frame of that which had so briefly blossomed before her desperate senses.

Twilight had contested the Princess' royal authority. She had, for the first time, taken the expressively written words of her mentor and treated them like garbage. There simply was no other way to look at it; her respect for the ruler of Equestria had dwindled to such a low point that she had challenged her integrity by suggesting an alternative to her plan.

But what of Twilight's friends? What of her life in Ponyville, the companions she had made, or the memories that they had formed together? Was all of that nothing? Did the Princess have the right to take all of that away, regardless of the ends that justified it?

Twilight shuddered. Her ears drooped and she lowered her face to her folded legs, trembling.

Of course the Princess was right. She was always right. Her knowledge was infinite; her wisdom knew no bounds. She had asked Twilight to do confusing, alarming, and even painful things before, and they were all worth obeying through acts of absolute faith and trust, for Celestia always had a plan in action that would profit Twilight in the long run. Even if Twilight's friends had to perish overnight, it would only mean a promising future and the opportunity for better learning, better growing, better being.

But what had Twilight done now? She had doubted Celestia, questioned her, even insulted her with her letter of response. She shuddered to imagine the degree to which Celestia had withheld her anger and disappointment, choosing instead to focus her reply on the problem at hand. She even had to resort to hoof-holding Twilight like a foal, delivering her a crystal buffer through which Twilight's necessary task could be made all the easier.

Twilight held the violet prism in her hooves, gently toying with the jagged edges as it reflected her jaded eyes in the noonday sunlight. The piece of Canterlot rock was like a poison pellet, an end to the lives of those she had come to love and cherish.

And, yet, it was also a key to a new chapter in her life. Celestia had always been opening doors for Twilight, ushering her into daunting yet rewarding experiences, evolving her into a masterful sorceress destined to help the ponies of Equestria. Now, just as Celestia was giving her yet another opportunity, Twilight was dragging her hooves, and for what? Sentimentality?

Celestia had lived for countless centuries; surely she knew both the preciousness and frivolity of existence. Was this something she was attempting to impart upon Twilight? Did Twilight have to learn for herself that there were unfathomable sacrifices that needed to be made for the good of the kingdom?

The only thing she was certain of was this: Celestia had given Twilight so much, and Twilight had given back so little. A master was supposed to grant wisdom to a pupil, but the apprentice was also bound to adapt and grow from the knowledge bequeathed her. Right now, there was no growing, there was no evolving. There was only doubting.

And Twilight had delayed enough as it was.

Gripping the crystal hard, Twilight clenched her eyes shut, took several breaths, and steeled herself for what she was about to do.

four

"Mount Mare?" Applejack bore a confused face. She adjusted her hat and squinted across the table at Sugarcube Corner. "Where in tarnation is that?"

"Just northwest of Trottingham," Twilight said with a placid smile. "It's only a three-hour trip by train." She turned and grinned at the others at the table. "Celestia's asked that we go there for an important meeting."

"The Princess wishes to see us at a mountain in the middle of the country?" Fluttershy remarked, blinking. "Why not in Canterlot?"

"Yes, it does seem rather odd," Rarity added, leaning forward in her seat. "Half of the reason I love paying visits to her Royal Highness is because I get to see more of her gorgeous Palace. Eheheh..."

"We..." Twilight chewed on her lip and fidgeted. "We're not going to see the Princess."

"We're not?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "But I thought you said—"

"It's a meeting just for us," Twilight clarified. "Once we're at Mount Mare, we will... receive further instructions."

"Oooh!" Pinkie beamed, rocking in her seat. "So it's like a scavenger hunt! Oh, how exciting!" She clapped her hooves together, grinning. "An entire mountain for us to search! Whew! You can fit a whole lotta candy in there!"

"The Princess ain't makin' us go halfway across the country to fetch ourselves sugary treats!" Applejack snapped. She turned toward Twilight and murmured, "Ain't that right?"

"I... uhm..." Twilight Sparkle avoided Applejack's gaze as she said, "I-I haven't been given many details. All I know is that Celestia's asked us to go to Mount Mare as soon as possible."

"Couldn't she have been more specific?" Rainbow Dash asked with a frown.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity gasped. "This is the Princess we're talking about! You know how cryptic she can be when it suits the moment. Still..." She ran a hoof through her mane and smiled fabulously. "I rather like it this way. It brings an element of excitement into our lives."

"I'll say!" Pinkie's teeth showed in a wide grin. "An entire mountain that I've never been to! Wow, I wish Princess Celestia would send us out on hikes more often!"

"This doesn't sound like no ordinary trot through the woods," Applejack said with a shifty-eyed expression. "The Princess is never sendin' us nowhere unless it's for some really important reason."

"Applejack," Twilight said softly. "If the fate of Equestria was at risk, I'm... I-I'm sure the Princess would have told me." She gulped hard and added, "Whatever she has in mind, it's in our benefit. I'm sure of it."

"Then I don't see why we can't take the opportunity to enjoy such a trip," Rarity remarked, examining her pale hoof. "The bearers of the Elements of Harmony can enjoy a nice, outdoor soiree from time to time, yes?"

"I've always wanted to see that side of the country," Fluttershy said with a rosy-cheeked smile. "I've been told the songbirds of northern Trottingham sound absolutely beautiful, and what I wouldn't give to see their bright plumage too!"

"We can make a picnic out of it!" Pinkie chirped. "It'll be totally fun!"

Twilight turned and looked at Pinkie. She slowly exhaled and said with a calm smile, "Yes. Yes, I think we should plan to enjoy our time together." She sniffled and forced her lips to curve even more. "That would be nice..."

"When does Celestia want us to make this trip, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"As soon as possible," Twilight remarked, staring down at the table top. "I was about to propose we head out tomorrow morning."

"Well..." Applejack scratched her brow beneath her hat. "Reckon there's no harvest loomin' on the immediate horizon, and my brother's easily got the chores covered with me gone for just a single day." She smiled. "Sign me up, Twilight!"

"Me too!" Rarity elegantly hummed.

"Me three!" Pinkie bounced. "I'll bring treats! And a picnic basket! And a blanket! And a basket for the blanket! And... and... mmmm—golly, this is gonna be so terrific!"

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy glanced over, blinking. "Are you coming too?"

"Of course she's coming, silly head!" Pinkie Pie cackled. "The Princess wants us to go on a picnic; we're going on a picnic!"

"But I thought we were the ones who decided on the picnicking part—"

"You can and will eat trail mix for the Princess!" Pinkie eyes narrowed venomously upon Fluttershy. "Or do you wish to be convicted of treason?! Picnic treason?! Mmmm—!" She went wide-eyed as a blue hoof was clamped over her mouth.

Rainbow Dash hovered behind Pinkie Pie, holding her straight and sighing. With a tired grin, she looked over at Twilight. "I was kinda hoping to catch Wavebreaker at the swimming meet tomorrow afternoon, but she's backed out for some reason." She shrugged. "But, y'know, who am I to say 'no' to one of the Princess' requests? Even if it is a boring old mountain." She dropped Pinkie Pie hard to the floor and winked. "Count me in, Twilight!"

Twilight took a deep breath and nodded. "So it's decided. Tomorrow, we're going to Mount Mare."

The other ponies cheered and chuckled merrily. Twilight sat still.

five

The next day's train ride to Mount Mare took three hours, but it felt to Twilight like three days. She rode quietly the entire way, but the same couldn't be said of her friends.

"Shucks, I can't seem to remember ever seein' these fields before. They've got some mighty handsome crops growin' this side of Equestria."

"Wow! Check out that ravine! I bet I could do some sick dives through that, just like Ghastly Gorge back at home!"

"No flying in the passenger car, Rainbow Dash. Celestia's specifically asked us to make this trip; it would be most uncouth of us to act like anything less than Equestria's harmonious Element bearers."

"Are we near the Trottingham countryside yet? Oh, I can't wait to see the beautiful fauna."

"Oooh! Oooh! I see a cow! No, wait, that's just a bale of hay. Oh! Another cow—no, that's an even fatter bale."

Fluttershy brushed aside Pinkie to give Twilight a concerned expression. "Why didn't we bring Spike along? He joined us the last time we all went on a trip for the Princess."

"Betcha Twilight here figures he would have eaten half the stuff out of the picnic basket by now!" Pinkie winked, bouncing in her window seat. "He's a growing baby dragonlinglingling, after all!"

Twilight took a deep breath, a task made all the more difficult from the jostling motions of the chugging train car. "Spike had some overdue chores back home in the library," she said. She shifted uncomfortably, the weight of a saddlebag hanging off her flanks. "Besides... th-this trip was meant for us and us alone. I woudn't... uhm... want to disappoint Her Majesty."

"Well, if you insist," Fluttershy quietly remarked.

"Oh, I just can't wait to find out what Princess Celestia's message is!" Rarity exclaimed with a flush to her face. "The wisdom and mystique of royalty knows no limits! We do live in exciting times, my little ponies!"

"You don't suppose she's fixin' to put us through some sort of test or nothin'?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, Applejack. We're to head out into the countryside and... wait for further instruction."

"Well, I sure hope she doesn't mind all the vittles Pinkie Pie has brought along with us," Applejack said, pointing at the offending wicker basket stuffed with goods. She smiled wickedly. "I'm starvin' something mighty fierce, and I'd hate to be stuffin' my face while on royal duty!"

"Hey! Hey! Look!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her wings flapping as she pressed herself up to the passenger window. "I think I see the mountain!" She beamed, and then her ears drooped as her voice cracked. "Ew, it's way smaller than I thought..."

The other girls giggled at her. Twilight remained silent.

The train came to a stop at a tiny town nestled at the base of several richly forested hills. The village barely had half-a-dozen buildings to its name. All of them were over a century old and populated by elder ponies smiling and gossiping with Trottingham accents. After a quick stop by the general store, the six ponies took a trail that led them up through the woods and towards the southern face of the highest hill. A few scant signs were all that indicated that the topographical anomaly was actually "Mount Mare," and the most dramatic feature of the place was a craggy cluster of rocks at the very summit.

This discovery evidently bored Rainbow Dash, but she filled the time by flying zig-zag patterns above the other five in their ascent, joyfully regaling them with stories of tempestuous weather experiences as well as personal anecdotes involving mountain fly-bys. Rarity trembled upon hearing each narrative, but Pinkie Pie merely giggled and asked for Rainbow Dash to talk even more. Fluttershy dragged her hooves at the rear of the group, gazing with sparkling eyes at one or two flickers of colored feathers above the six mares. She glanced fitfully from tree to tree, calling out to the local fowl to take air and show their pretty wings. By the time she began calling out to them with self-practiced bird calls, a sighing Applejack trudged back and nudged her into a faster trot with a persistent head butt, forcing the rest of the group to giggle at Fluttershy's blushing expression.

All the while, Twilight was silent as stone. She hung towards the back of the line, gazing at her five colorful friends, cherishing the sight of them, relishing the melody in their voices. Memories dripped off every word they had to say, only to be swept away in the chilling wind that swept over Mount Mare. The weight in Twilight's saddlebag shifted, and she sighed, forcing herself to stare at the thinning grass beneath her as she ascended higher and higher up the craggy hilltop.

The world was tranquil there, lulled by a hushed murmur that hung between the trees and the buzzing of summer cicadas. Not even in a cemetery did Twilight feel such peace and stillness. She knew that the elder populace of the township at the base of the mountain couldn't be bothered to venture this high up the landscape, and Mount Mare wasn't exactly a hot tourist spot. They were treading on ground that hadn't been touched in years, and wouldn't be covered again in twice as much time to follow.

"I can't wait to have you all try out Mrs. Cake's new double-seasoned cinnamon sticks!" Pinkie bounced with the picnic basket rattling on her spine. "They're packed with extra 'delish!' That's like two 'Yums' combined with three 'Mmmms' to make an explosion of sugar in your mouth!"

"First thing's first, darling." Rarity turned to look back at Twilight. "Not to ruin a most charming moment, Twilight, but would you happen to know if we are getting close to our destination? We've been trotting for almost an hour and my delicate hooves are getting sore."

"We will be there soon," Twilight softly said.

"Do you even know where our destination is?" Rainbow Dash asked, an eyebrow raised as she hovered overhead. "Every square foot of this hilltop looks the same to me."

"Did Celestia tell you to look for a marker or something?" Fluttershy added.

Gulping, Twilight looked straight ahead and said, "Celestia will provide us a sign once we're there."

Fluttershy blinked at that. Rainbow Dash shrugged and resumed her wild zig-zagging, summoning a cheer from Pinkie Pie and a grumbling comment from Applejack. Soon, though, the group broke into a cheerful discussion about past hiking trips, vacations in the countryside, and places in Equestria that they each hoped to someday visit. Rarity got nostalgic over her earliest recollections of the emerald plains of Dream Valley. Fluttershy made a passive comment about a lake house near Ponyville and made herself blush. Pinkie Pie struck a muse and began singing, much to the mixed joy of her fellow mares.

Twilight winced each time she heard the cheer in her friends' voices. She concentrated on the hoofsteps that brought them up the mountain. The marching sound morphed in her mind and formed an echo in her ears, becoming a deep pulse that throbbed harder and harder against her senses. Soon, life was nothing but the tenuous fibers dangling between the pulse and the crystalline weight in her saddlebag. The warmth of sunlight drew away as if a funeral shroud was kissing Twilight's coat with frigid lips, and suddenly she heard Fluttershy gasp.

"Oh my, what a wonderful little glade." The pegasus cooed.

"Mmmm... so cool and inviting!" Rarity hummed, her eyes sparkling as they took in a shaded enclosure beside a cluster of green trees. A butterfly or two lingered above a line of flowery bushes before a gentle breeze scared them off into the dangling branches of a thick forest. Birds chirped overhead as aphids hopped between the springy blades of grass. "Oh, I could just collapse here and nap for a fortnight!"

"Darned if it doesn't look nice and cool-like," Applejack muttered, fanning herself with her hat. "I wouldn't mind stoppin' by here on the way back down."

"Why wait?! Huh?!" Pinkie spun around in a circle. "This is the most bestest spot for a picnic in the whole wide world! Wouldn't you agree?"

Twilight stepped up. She looked at her friends, at them gathering in a tight, happy cluster within the soothing shade of the soft glen. She felt joyous and mortified all at once. Nevertheless, it was with a heavy lump in her throat that she murmured, "This is it." She gulped. Everything was peaceful; everything was perfect. "We're here..."

Rainbow Dash blinked over at her. "For real? Celestia wants us to meet here?" Upon receiving a firm nod, she froze her wings and plopped down onto the ground. "Good! 'Cuz I'm starved! Pinkie?"

"Cinnamon sticks coming right up!" Pinkie reached into the basket and gleefully whipped out a jar... full of brown powder. She blinked at it. "Oh no!" she gasped, her face bearing puppy dog eyes. "Mrs. Cake's sweet sticks have turned to sweet gravel!"

"Well, darling, that's what you get for gallivanting around as if your hooves were on fire," Rarity said. She eagerly rolled out the blanket and lay down on it with her forelimbs curled up to her chest. "Mmmmmm-Oh, this is the living end!" She grinned towards the tree canopy. "I've never felt so relaxed in my life! It's as though I came home from running the mile!"

"Oh don't toot yer horn." Applejack grunted with a smirk as she plopped down onto the blanket opposite to her. "Y'all have galloped longer distances than this before!"

"Yes, certainly, but I've been hard at work in my Boutique as of late!" Rarity exclaimed while Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie began placing dishes and food packages out across the blanket. "I'm out of practice, and excessive calisthenics will only complicate my artistry!" She waved her front hooves delicately. "All of those scarves won't knit themselves, after all!"

"For crying out loud!" Rainbow Dash lay down beside Rarity, rolling her eyes. "What's with you and scarves lately?! At least wait until it's cold before you make winter wear!"

"Rainbow Dash, being a pegasus, surely you must understand the need to prepare for the changing of seasons way ahead of time."

"Don't pay her much mind, Rainbow." Applejack placed her hat onto the blanket beside her and winked. "Rarity's always had a thang for winter; she just needs the excuse to obsess with it ahead of time."

"So sue me!" Rarity closed her eyes and waved them off. "Winter is both the prettiest and most delicate time of the year; I'm proud to make so much fashion to complement it."

"I'm rather fond of summer myself," Fluttershy said with a warm smile. She glanced excitedly at the others across the blanket. "Spring may be when all the adorable little animals come out, but summer is when they're most alive."

"Give me a good spring rain any day," Applejack said.

"Oooh! Oooh! My turn!" Pinkie Pie gasped, juggling bottles of jelly and peanut butter. "I love Thursdays! Thursdays are the best!"

Rainbow Dash glared at her. "Pinkie Pie, 'Thursday' isn't a season."

"Well, it should be!" Pinkie pouted. "That's when deliveries of licorice arrive at Sugarcube Corner, and licorice always reminds me of cold, chilly mornings on the rock farm!" She remained frozen with a bright grin, her left eyebrow twitching. After an extended blink, she chirped. "Ooh! Who wants some celery?"

"I do!"

"Pass one of them stalks thisaway, sugarcube!"

"I'll have mine with a dollop of peanut butter, please."

"Oh, Fluttershy, you always have the daintiest way of eating vegetables. I find it most charming."

"Uhm... thank you, Rarity. I-I think..."

"Cider...? Where's the cider?!"

"Over yonder, Rainbow. The thermos is all yours."

"Heck yeah! Now this is what I call a picnic!"

"If you girls like, I'll use the cinnamon powder on our toast and jam!"

"Sounds mighty tasty, Pinkie. You do that."

"Heehee! Best picnic ever!"

The five mares moved in tighter, their hooves passing food along to each other. They were chatting up a storm. They were smiling. They were all in one place.

Twilight was standing that entire time on the edge of the glen, gazing at them. Their voices became distant murmurs in her ears as the heavy thuds of her pulse overtook everything. The world drowned out, and she felt a beam of magic drifting through the leylines of her horn. The saddlebag unzipped coldly behind her, and a crystalline shard floated out.

The group blurred into a foggy cluster of shapes as Twilight levitated the violet prism into focus. She saw a pair of vacant eyes reflecting off its kaleidoscopic surface. Light refracted through the crystal, giving Twilight a final glimpse of color, and then all became black and white, like letters carved into a dull sheet of parchment.

She inhaled deeply. There were sounds in the distance, the dissolving tendrils of joy. Soon the moment solidified before her like a sheet of ice, as rigid and unfeeling as the violet shard of rock in her telekinetic hold. She felt its sharp edges with her magic, with her soul, and carved open a gaping hole in her resolve.

Twilight's stature was perfect, unyielding, like a statue hardened by purpose. All she had to do was fall forward, collapsing along the flow of Celestia's command, losing the fragments of her cowardice and doubt with one single act of unwavering faith. But as soon as she took one hoofstep, the reflection of her jaded eyes disappeared, replaced instead by five sets of warm, concerned gazes from beyond the prism, looking towards her.

"Twilight?" Applejack's voice softly rang.

Twilight gasped. The colors had returned. She stood, full of fear and trembling upon the crest of the unthinkable. Twilight thought she was alone; she wasn't.

"Why aren't you joining us, dear?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow Dash finished an ecstatic sip of cider, burped, and squinted her way. "What's that you got in your magic field, Twilight?"

Twilight wasn't moving. She should have finished the job by now. There was a sacrifice to be made. She had the will of Celestia, her wise and all-knowing mentor, to perform, and yet she hovered there upon the precipice of frailty, slowly collapsing like the whole of Equestria to darkness. She didn't ascertain the gravity of her failure until her lips began trembling.

Fluttershy was the first to see it, and her face stretched with concern. "Twilight? Is... Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, Twilight," Pinkie Pie asked between bites of toast and jam. "You don't look so good. Wanna lie down?"

"I want..." Twilight stammered breathily, her limbs shaking. The violet crystal dangled loosely in her grasp, like it was caught in a tangled spider's web. "I-I want..."

Her friends sat up straight, gazing at her, adoring her.

When the first tears sprang from Twilight's eyes, it wasn't from shame. It was something else, something holy. She fell to her knees, shivering from head to tail. The crystal plopped to the grass before her, but she couldn't hear it from the sound of her own sobs.

"I want... I-I want to tell you how much I love you," she whimpered, hugging herself as tears streamed down her wincing face. "I love each and every one of you." She hiccuped and wiped her wet face with a quivering forelimb. "I... I-I don't tell you this enough, but it's the truth. You all m-mean the world to me..."

"Why..." Applejack gasped, her eyes curved with concern as she and the others stood up. "Why of course we know that, darlin'!"

Fluttershy was the first to trot over. "You don't have to tell us every day for us to know how you truly feel, Twilight." She placed two hooves on Twilight's shaking shoulders as the others gathered around closely. "But, if it helps you to say it, then just let it out."

Twilight hid her face and muttered into her forelimbs, "Please, b-believe me. I would never... ever d-do anything to hurt any of you. Not for anything in th-this world..."

"Oh, Twilight," Fluttershy smiled softly, her eyes watering as she leaned in and nuzzled the unicorn dearly. "Why should you ever have to say such a thing?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie hopped in, hugging Twilight gleefully from behind. "You're the reason we're all together and stuff!"

"No reason to get all sappy and crud, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, albeit fidgeting as she stood close by. "You're fine! We're fine!" Her voice cracked. "Everything's cool! Seriously..." She gulped a nervous lump down her throat. "What's gotten into you as of late?"

"Nothing... everything..." Twilight looked up from Fluttershy's and Pinkie's embrace. With a face full of tears and smiles, she grimaced as the truth came out of her in a murmur, "You're the very reason I'm... I'm so happy these days. I wouldn't be where I am... I wouldn't be as powerful and st-strong as I am now if it weren't for you girls..."

"Birds of a feather, darling," Rarity said with a gentle smile. She leaned in and nuzzled Twilight. "Now no more crying. You're making an absolute mess out of your pretty face and mane."

Twilight squeaked forth a laugh. It was painful and rapturous: both cleansing. Sniffling, she nuzzled her closest friends back and managed, "Thank you, everypony. Thank you for everything. I mean it..."

"We know, Twilight," Fluttershy said hushedly, staring into her face. "We know."

"So what was this thing all about?" Applejack's voice drawled.

Twilight and the others looked to see the farm mare standing with the violet crystal in her grasp.

"Looks kind of important," Applejack added with a raised eyebrow. "Did it have somethin' to do with our comin' here?"

Twilight stared at the offensive thing like it was a forgotten splinter from ages gone by. Eventually, she dried her face and spoke in a solid voice, "It's a symbol..." Her lips curved. "A gift..."

"From Princess Celestia?" Pinkie remarked.

Twilight nodded, smiling even more. "It... it has reminded me of what's truly important in my life." Weathering a final shudder of emotion, she said, "And now I'm showing it to all of you, right here in this beautiful countryside, far away from everyone else, so that you may know what's important too." She leaned against her friends, closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth of their embrace. "We've brought so much peace to Equestria, and we will continue to do so. We are more than just the Elements that we are bound to. Not even a Canterlot crystal can outshine us."

"You mean to say we're more perfect than this most dazzling gem?!" Rarity gasped with sparkling eyes. "Oh, lesson learned, Twilight! Lesson learned! But... mmm... may I at least hold it for a while?"

All the ponies around her laughed, and the most jubilant of giggles came from Twilight. After a few more dear words were shared, they passed the violet crystal between each other before resuming their joyous little picnic. The day never stopped being perfect, and Twilight never stopped finding reasons to smile.

six

The day came to a close softly; the picnic on Mount Mare lasted for hours. The girls took the late afternoon train ride home, and they talked and gossiped and laughed the whole entire way. Stars peaked through the hazy sky by the time the six mares returned to Ponyville. After a group hug and a few lasting words, they parted ways under the hush of night. Twilight didn't feel even remotely sleepy; her trot had a springy step to it as she made her merry way home.

It wasn't until she had closed the door and stood in the hollow of the library's front room that Twilight became reacquainted with silence. Through it all, she felt the familiar, numb thud of her pulsing heartbeat. It sounded very much like the paranoid percussion that had overwhelmed the unicorn's senses during her trip up the mountain twelve hours earlier. With a cold shudder, she lifted the violet crystal out of her saddlebag and gave its jagged surface a guilty glance. A pair of violet eyes reflected multiple times, as if displaying all the other Twilights who could easily have crossed the same damnable line that she had collapsed in front of through the aid of her friends' embrace.

Twilight had failed Princess Celestia. She remained powerless to stop the spread of evil from polluting her friends, and all it took was keeping her own heart from falling into darkness itself. She had stayed pure, and for that sake she had doomed all of Equestria.

Twilight's jaws clenched as a determined breath flowed through her. There was something she still needed to do.

Knowing that there would be very little chance of sleeping that night, Twilight trotted up the stairs and went directly to her bedroom. Once there, she grabbed the majority of her belongings and stuffed them into her saddlebag. She sat on her bed, willing herself into slumber, but ultimately finding herself staring listlessly into the nightly shadows. Thoughts rolled through her mind, both saddening and frightening. Remarkably, however, all it took was a quick mental revisit to the warm embrace of that day, and she rediscovered her smile. A part of her contemplated that she had been reborn on the mountain, having turned into a different mare on the way down than when she first ascended. She wasn't sure if it was something to be proud of; only time was capable of telling.

Twilight's thoughts were finally interrupted by a glint of sunlight. Dawn had arrived faster than she had anticipated. There was no delaying what needed to be done next.

Not bothering with breakfast, Twilight stood up, grabbed her bags, and made for the exit on the first floor of the treehouse. She passed by Spike, gazing at his slumbering figure. Leaning over, she kissed him gently on the neck and nuzzled his spines. It took a great deal of effort not to wake him; it took an even greater effort not to cry.

Exiting the library, she made swiftly for the far side of town. She wasted little time, breaking into a near-gallop. It was still early morning; there were very few ponies around. Still, Twilight didn't want to risk any chances of being seen. She trotted speedily towards the train depot, her hooves splashing dew drops loose from the grass. She smiled breathily to herself, almost reaching her destination, when she heard a sound above her that sunk her heart.

"Hey! I see her, Applejack! You were right! She's here!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. With a surge of wind, she glided over and touched down directly in front of Twilight, blocking her path to the train depot. "Hold up, there! What's the big hurry all of the sudden?"

"Hurry?" Twilight panted, straightening her sweat-soiled bangs. "I'm in no h-hurry!"

Rainbow Dash squinted at the unicorn's trembling limbs and flaring nostrils. "Yeah," she muttered. "Sure you're not." Flexing her wings, she stared pointedly into Twilight's guilty face. "Out with it, Twilight. What are you galloping to the train depot for?"

"I... I don't get it. What's the big deal?"

"You've had a lot on your mind lately, and you were bawling like a schoolfilly yesterday during the picnic." Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "Just what's going on, anyways? What aren't you telling us?"

"It's nothing!" Twilight frowned, barely catching her breath. "I'm fine!"

"Twilight!" Applejack huffed and puffed as she skidded to a stop. "Heavens to Betsy! I thought I was just seein' things! Turns out you were really bookin' it through town after all! What's gotten into ya, sugarcube?"

"Can't a unicorn have a morning jog if she feels like it?"

"Cut the horse hockey!" Rainbow Dash growled. "Something's wrong, and for some reason you're trying to catch the first train to Canterlot!"

"Okay, fine. Guilty as charged." Twilight tried brushing her way past them both. "Now if you would just let me pass—"

"Twilight, darlin'," Applejack said in a sympathetic tone, reaching out to her. "We're worried plum sick about you. You were a real mess yesterday, and now yer headin' out of town? Just what for?"

"And for how long?!" Rainbow Dash asked. "You've got a lot of stuff packed there, girl! Are you in trouble with the pony mafia or something?"

"Rainbow Dash, please..." Applejack groaned. "T'ain't no interrogation."

"But she's packed up like she's gonna be gone for a super long time!" Rainbow Dash's face showed the faintest sign of a foalish pout. "You going away and not telling us is so not cool, Twilight!"

"I'm glad that you care so much, Rainbow Dash. I really am. But..." She seethed briefly before finally uttering, "I really must go see Princess Celestia."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash merely stared at her.

She cleared her throat and clarified, "I have to give the crystal back to her. You know, the one I showed you all yesterday?"

"But we thought she gave it to you as a symbol of our friendship..."

"She... uh... lent it to me!" Twilight said with a grin. "And now I must give it back to her." She took a deep breath before adding, "It's outlived its usefulness, and it's my place as her pupil to give it back."

"If that's so, then—like—why were you running like your tail was on fire?!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked.

Twilight glared at her with bored, thin eyes. "Because I have a train to catch...?"

Rainbow Dash blinked. Eventually, her cheeks blushed bright red. "Oh. Eheheheh..." She scratched her head through her mane. "Yeah. I guess that's kind of important." She hovered up on flapping blue wings and smirked. "You know... if you gotta get to Canterlot super crazy fast, I could totally give you a ride."

"That's awfully nice of you to offer, Rainbow Dash, but I'll be fine."

"You sure about that, Twilight?" Applejack asked with a nervous tone.

"Yes. Thank you. Thank you, both." Twilight gave them a reassuring smile. "Now, will you please let me catch my train? You know how much I hate being tardy."

"Reckon so," Applejack said with a nod. She looked up at her feathered friend. "False alarm, Rainbow Dash. Sorry to get yer wings in a knot."

"Hey! I can manage!" Rainbow Dash saluted and aimed for the distant rooftops of Ponyville. "Well, I've got some clouds to kick! Sniff you mares later!" She was gone in a blue blur.

"So long, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cheerfully called out to her.

"Well, I hope you have a safe trip, Twilight." Applejack smiled and tipped her hat. "Whew! So many train rides lately! At this rate, you might as well make one of them locomotives yer permanent address. Heh." She turned to trot away.

Softly, without looking, Twilight murmured, "Applejack, don't go. Not yet."

The mare froze in place. She turned and squinted curiously at the unicorn. "Twilight...?"

Taking a deep breath, Twilight pivoted and gazed at her friend. "I didn't want to say anything while Rainbow Dash was here, considering how impulsive and dramatic she can be: loyalty and all."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "You didn't want to say what exactly?"

Twilight opened her mouth, hesitated, and ultimately said, "I want you to do me a big, big favor. Your honesty has always meant a great deal to me, and I can trust you with a secret more than anypony."

"Just say it, sugarcube," Applejack said, her attention stolen completely.

Twilight faced her directly and uttered, "If I don't come back from Canterlot... if you don't hear back from me in the next few days... I want you to send Spike up north..."

"Up north?"

"To the Crystal Kingdom," Twilight said. Gulping, she clarified, "To Cadence and my brother. They will take care of him there."

Applejack blinked. "T-take care of him from what?" she stammered.

"I don't know," Twilight said in a wavering voice. "But whatever it is, he will be safest there."

Applejack's mouth hung open. She stripped her hat off with a fearful glance, gazing towards the ground. "I... I don't understand, Twilight. Is... is there something dangerous ahoof?"

Twilight slowly shook her head. "I'm not sure exactly, Applejack. But I promise you, I will do everything that I can to find out." With a firm breath, she added, "And I shall protect everypony."

"But... But..."

Twilight reached in and held Applejack's shoulders. "Will you do that for me? Will you tell Spike what do to?"

Applejack stared nervously at her. She shook when the distant whistle of the train blared, announcing its pending departure. Finally, she nodded. "Well, alright, Twilight. You know that you can trust me."

"I always have," Twilight said. "And I'm glad to know that you trust me too."

Applejack nervously smiled, then jolted as Twilight gave her a firm hug. She patted the unicorn's back, then stood in place, watching as the unicorn trotted off and boarded the train, chugging her way down the horizon and east towards Canterlot.

seven

Twilight walked through the lengths of Canterlot like she was in a dream. When she reached the gates to the Royal Palace, the guards allowed her inside without question or hesitation. It was almost as though the young apprentice had never left the place. This was, after all, her home away from home. Princess Celestia had promised that to her long ago.

Princess Celestia had promised Twilight Sparkle a lot of things.

Trotting down the lavish, grand hallways towards the royal chamber, Twilight glanced at row after row of portraits on either side of her. Images and profiles of magicians long dead loomed above, stretched like shadows by the weight of time. She wondered if someday she too would be reduced to a graven image blanketing a dusty wall of the labyrinthine castle, or if perhaps her legacy would be too muddied to earn so much as a footnote in history.

The eyes of standing guards followed her, a gesture that the apprentice had earned over a decade previous when she was an innocent little filly, running back and forth from one study room to the next before them. There was a time when Twilight knew the names of each of these armored pegasi like they were distant family. Now, the air about the place was cold, stale, devoid of color. She imagined the rigid words of Celestia stretching across a parchment of paper, emotionlessly issuing their heinous command; Twilight had no doubt that such pitiless words started here, born between the staunch marble columns, fueled by the shadows that lingered amongst the ghosts of history.

When she reached the door to Celestia's throne room, her shadow formed a trembling silhouette against the golden finish. She was nothing now but the shade of the petrified unicorn who stood on Mount Mare the day previous. The apprentice who existed beforehand was gone, and in its place stood something braver. She only trembled because she knew that there was nothing beyond this, no future, no hope of salvation. She was about to see the Princess, and it was to be her last time.

After a brief exchange with the lead guard, the doors opened. Twilight saw the shimmering visage of her mentor instantly, and her heart leapt and sank at once. Shifting the weight of her saddlebag, she marched firmly ahead. Several guards were trotting past her, exiting the throne room by Celestia's command. Soon, the doors closed behind her, and the unicorn stood alone in the aura of Equestria's immortal leader.

"Twilight Sparkle." Celestia spoke authoritatively, staring down from her regal perch atop the steep set of stairs. She stood up from the throne and shook her billowing mane towards the ceiling so that she could gaze at her student, unimpeded. "This is most unexpected. What brings you to Canterlot Castle? Shouldn't you be in Ponyville?"

Twilight took a deep breath. Her spirit was already fleeting; it was obvious to her from Celestia's tone that she was disappointed, that she had expected Twilight to be elsewhere, performing her duties... performing the duty. However, there was no place she could afford to be but there. Twilight could no longer turn back.

"Princess Celestia, I've come here bearing the portfolio of all of my magical knowledge, all of my completed lessons, and all of my personal logs of spell-making over the past five years." Twilight took a deep breath. "You may keep them in your personal library if you so wish. I will have no more need for them, starting today."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "No need for them? But..." For the briefest of moments, the almighty and wise ruler of Equestria fumbled for words. She stared incredulously while Twilight stripped of her saddlebag and plopped the offensive item down before the throne. "But, I do not understand, my student." Celestia's rosy eyes glistened. "Why would you give me all of your personal study records?"

"Because..." Twilight Sparkle's lips trembled. She stifled a whimper, then said, "Because I h-hereby resign as your apprentice. I no longer wish to serve the magical arts, Equestria, or even y-you, Your Highness."

Celestia's face was still. Her eyes narrowed; she said nothing.

Twilight's heart beat swiftly. It took all her strength to summon the next breath. "You may take on another apprentice as you see fit, but I humbly request that you do not involve me in anymore of y-your experiments of sorcery or st-studies on friendship." She gulped hard. "Please forgive my boldness, Your Majesty, but I cannot and shall not work for you any longer."

Celestia slowly walked down the stairs, her eyes trained on Twilight the entire time. Her voice was like the ringing of cold metal bars. "And just what, my little pony, has made you come to such a decision?"

"Because..." Twilight Sparkle gritted her teeth, her eyes convulsing. Her voice squeaked quietly, "B-because I have failed you, Your Majesty. I've failed you, and I did so willingly."

Celestia came to a stop on even ground before Twilight and her discarded things. "Did you, now?"

"I could not do what you asked me to in your letters..." Twilight clenched her eyes shut.

Celestia leaned forward. "Twilight—"

Twilight blurted, "I cannot kill my friends!" She opened her eyes, brimming with tears. Bravely, in spite of her spasming sobs, she glared at the Princess and hissed, "I won't do it! You c-cannot make me! Not for Equestria! Not for the Crystal Kingdom! Not for the Elements of Harmony! Not for anything!"

"My student—"

"No!" Twilight growled, falling to her haunches and hyperventilating. "I... I-I am not your student any longer! I c-can't serve a Princess who forgets what it means to be merciful, what it means to be k-kind, or what it means to love other ponies with all one's heart!" She sniffled. "I don't care if I sound biased or selfish or weak! I love my friends! I adore them! They mean more to me than my life and the well-being of Equestria, and I will not destroy th-them for anything! I d-don't care h-how powerful or wise you are!" She briefly buried her face in her forelimbs, heaved, and whimpered, "I'm so sorry, Princess, for letting you down. But I just won't do it. I just won't. You... you c-can punish me all you want to, but leave my friends alone. Please, I beg you..."

At the end of her outburst, Twilight fell prostrate to the floor of the throneroom, shuddering and heaving. She was prepared for a wave of solar magic to knock her off her hooves, or for a beam of light to send her screaming to the moon. She lingered there, in cold silence, punctuated by her weeping breath, until a gentle warm hoof stroked her mane.

"Twilight, your resolve is admirable and inspiring," Celestia's voice soothingly said. "But I must ask: what would ever possess you to think that I would request such a thing?"

Twilight sniffled and gazed up at the Princess, her lips quivering. "You... You..." She blinked wide. "Huh?"

Celestia gazed down at her with a neutral expression. "The very thought of murder is repulsive to me. It always has been and always will be. Even in the face of great adversity, I've never resorted to annihilation, and I refuse to, ever. It is for that reason that an evil as banal as Discord has been banished to stone, instead of erased from this mortal coil." She reached down and tilted Twilight's shivering chin up to stare evenly with her. "Now, please answer my question, Twilight, for you have me at a grave disadvantage. What would make you think that I would ask you to do such a thing, and... to your friends of all ponies?" She finished the last part with a distraught expression unbecoming of an alicorn.

Twilight panted heavily. She stood up on wobbly knees, gulping and stammering, "You... you mean... you mean you d-didn't send those two letters?!"

"What letters might you be referring to?" Celestia leaned her head to the side. "The ones regarding my thoughts on the Crystal Ponies?"

"Princess, that was over four weeks ago!"

"That was the last time you and I held an epistolary conversation."

"You mean to say th-that you know nothing about writing me and t-telling me to destroy the other five bearers of the Element of Harmony?!" Twilight spoke rapidly, her voice dry, her words coming out like chalk bullets sailing out of a gatling gun. "You didn't g-give me a piece of Canterlot Crystal to vaporize my friends with a steam transmogrification spell?"

"Good heavens, no!" Celestia actually gasped. "Twilight, please tell me that you possess these impossible letters of which you speak!"

Twilight practically dove into her saddlebag. She scrambled with her belongings, fumbling with numb hooves. Finally, after what amounted to a frenzied wrestling match with over four dozen sheets of paper, she produced the two dismal scrolls from her pile along with the translucent prism.

Celestia eagerly snatched them in her telekinetic grip and floated the items up to her squinting, studious eyes. After several moments—with Twilight watching in breathless, tail-twitching anticipation—the Princess uttered, "I most certainly did not write these manuscripts. These are forgeries of the most masterful kind. I do not know nor do I pretend to comprehend the type of nefarious mindset behind such a hoax, but I do fear that some evil presence has attempted to deceive you, Twilight."

She took a deep breath, her face hardening into a frown. Celestia lowered the three pieces of evidence beside the throne, her nostrils flaring.

"I must confess: this is not the first time that such a thing has happened. Millennia ago, when I was in a similar, long-distance communication with Starswirl the Bearded, several members of the changeling hive of that time period attempted to convince my loyal apprentice that I wished for him to start a famine across ancient Whinniepeg. He would have followed through with such a ridiculous command, only that the faked documents were replete with errors unbecoming of my penmanship. Thankfully, Starswirl was of both sound mind and conscience; he brought the false material to me, and together we exposed the changeling plot."

Celestia paced around in a tight circle, flexing her wings with an air of passing anger and frustration.

"This troubles me greatly, Twilight. If you received these manuscripts, then some malevolent force must have found a way to directly intercept the leylines through which Spike's emerald breath is bound. The one responsible for this apparently possesses crystals of magical enchantment, which suggests a knowledge of sorcery masterful enough to rival even my own. It is a good thing this was discovered sooner than later."

Scuffling to a stop, Celestia turned around and gazed at Twilight.

"I assure you, my little pony, I will not rest until the Canterlot Guard and I have tracked this evil to its root and imprisoned those responsible. I will not stand for wayward magicians endeavoring to deceive my loyalest of subjects." Celestia paused, her gaze narrowing. "Twilight...?"

Twilight Sparkle had collapsed. She lay low on the floor, her tears forming a tiny puddle on the plush, velvet carpet before the throne.

Softly, Celestia formed a smile. She trotted over, lay down, and stretched a wing over Twilight's trembling form. "Twilight," she said lovingly. "Why do you cry, my pupil?"

"I-I can't believe I was so st-stupid!" Twilight whimpered, covering her leaking eyes. "To think that I fell so easily to such a ruse! I doubted you! I-I even blamed you for things that you didn't do! I'm a horrible student, Celestia. You don't deserve to be the mentor to such a failure."

"And just what failure is that, Twilight?"

"I..." Twilight gulped hard and looked up with a moist face. "But I took the letters at face value and thought that you were actually wanting me to kill my friends—"

"And did you?"

Twilight blinked. Sniffling, she wiped her cheek dry and stammered, "No. Of c-course not. I couldn't..."

"Even if you had no reason to believe that another force was responsible for the false command?"

"They are my friends, Celestia," Twilight said in a shuddering breath. "I couldn't bring myself to hurt them, no matter who I thought was telling me to do so."

"Twilight." Celestia tilted the unicorn’s face to look up at her. She stroked her lavender cheeks dry with a plume of snow white feathers. "You have brought amazement and wonder back into my life. Since the day that I first took you under my wing, you have impressed me time and time again with your insatiable thirst for knowledge and your ability to grow. You have performed feats of magic unheard of for mares your age, outshining the likes of many unicorns to come before you, such as Starswirl himself." With a soft breath, she caressed Twilight and said, "Never in all our years of study together have I been as proud of you as I am right now."

Twilight's breath left her. Her moist eyes twitched. "Pr-proud, Your Majesty?" she breathed.

Celestia gently nodded. "When your spirit was conflicted, when your soul was strained between devotion to me and devotion to your friends, you did exactly what I would have hoped you would do in such a situation."

"I defied a direct order of the Princess..." Twilight winced. "Or, at least, I defied what I thought was a direct order."

"Do you truly believe that I am insulted by that?" Celestia's wings flexed as she said, "Twilight, all of these years, I have taught you the values of harmony and goodness of heart. By refusing to eliminate your closest companions, you have shown me that not only have you retained the knowledge of what you have learned, but you have applied them to the very fiber of your being. You have just now displayed a true value for friendship, a respect for life, and an unwavering faith in righteousness. You didn't need my guidance for that; you relied on your own heart, and you acted upon pure love and devotion. It is this pony that I am proud of, this wise student of good conscience, who rightly deserves every skill I have bequeathed her throughout the years."

Twilight gazed up at the Princess. Her lips struggled to form a smile against her grimacing sob. "I was so afraid... so afraid th-that I would be wrong and you w-would take me away from my friends forever..."

"Shhhh..." Celestia raised a hoof to calm Twilight's shivers. "You are so very righteous, Twilight. Look into your heart. Once you see the goodness that lies there, you will realize that there is nothing to fear, for you have conquered all."

Twilight took several heavy breaths. She smiled, and when she did she had her eyes clenched shut. More tears squirmed out, but they were warmer this time. She buried her face in Celestia's side as her whole body melted with contentment. "Thank you, Princess," she murmured. A hiccuping spasm jolted through her body, forcing the next few words effortlessly out of her mouth: "I love you so much."

"And I cherish you, my student," Celestia said, nuzzling Twilight dearly. "So long as you live and grow in this world, I see hope."

Twilight chuckled, her smile becoming more and more placid as she rested in Celestia's embrace. The alicorn patiently held her until her sobs resided, and soon the walls of the throne room echoed only with stories and laughter.

eight

Over an hour later, Twilight emerged alone from Princess Celestia's throne room. She stood with her saddlebag as the large doors closed behind her. With a deep breath, she smiled upon the lengths of the castle interior looming beyond. All of the shadows had vanished; Twilight saw so much color and detail that she wondered why she was so blind to it when she first arrived.

Twilight felt like she was weightless. If she jumped off the ground, she was certain she'd touch the ceiling. A flighty sound escaped her lips, like a foalish giggle. She was in Canterlot; she might as well go visit her parents, or stop by her favorite doughnut stop, or maybe even pay a visit to Moondancer. Life was long and rich and full of opportunities.

What was more, she knew that this truth—this sudden, ecstatic contemplation—would stay with her for a long time, come rain or shine, come day or night, come good or bad.

It had been a harrowing couple of days. Her countenance had been stretched to the limit, and she had cried and laughed until there was nothing but dust left in her body. Still, she could only look on the past forty-eight hours and smile.

She had done the right thing; she had always done the right thing. Twilight wondered if there would ever come a day when she would catch herself worrying and learn her lesson ahead of time, but then she realized that such wasn't the point of learning.

So, with a spirited chuckle, she pivoted towards the far end of the castle and broke into a brisk trot. Her tongue toyed with the edges of her mouth. She imagined glazed cream and doughnut sprinkles...

Just at that moment, a lock of midnight blue hair twinkled in her peripheral vision. "You are leaving so soon, Twilight Sparkle?" uttered a deep, regal voice.

Twilight spun. Upon seeing the alicorn's holy visage, she swiftly bowed with a graceful smile. "My apologies, Your Highness. I was just passing through. I already spoke at length with Princess Celestia, and she gave me her blessing to leave and go about my business."

"I see," Princess Luna said, her cold eyes narrowing on the unicorn before her. She stood in place, her mane billowing in a magical wind. "Then your business in Canterlot is concluded?"

"I... w-wouldn't exactly call it business, Your Majesty," Twilight said with a nervous blush to her cheeks. "I... uhm... just needed to have a few things clarified with your sister—erm, I mean—with Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria..." Reeling slightly, Twilight rubbed her temple with a hoof and moaned, "Ugh. Listen to me trip over myself. I apologize, Your Highness. Eheh... I've missed a lot of sleep lately. I meant no direspect."

"By no means," Luna said. She leaned her head forward. "You are in good spirits, at least?"

Twilight nodded. "Absolutely!" She smiled wide. "As a matter of fact, I'm feeling the best I ever had in years!"

"That is good to know," Luna remarked unemotionally. "Then I suppose that you made the right decision." That said, she shuffled about on her hooves and trotted towards the balcony.

Twilight stared at her. Slowly, her eyebrow raised and her lips pursed. A few blinks later, she pivoted and broke into a soft canter immediately behind the Princess of the Moon. Trotting out onto the windswept marble platform, she saw the dark alicorn's body gazing into the misty vista of the Canterlot Mountains.

"Uhm... Princess Luna?" Twilight quietly entreated. "If... uhm... If I may be so bold, what did you mean by that?" Twilight gulped. "About me making the right decision?"

Luna stared coolly into the high mountain winds. She was still as a night's sky over the ocean tide. A sparkling blue mane framed her statuesque figure, untouched by Twilight's daring inquisition.

However, the unicorn persisted. "Luna...?"

Suddenly, the Princess' lips moved. "Trail Rain."

Twilight's eyes twitched. "Huh?"

"General Trail Rain," Luna murmured. "He was a high ranking pegasus military commander. One thousand years ago, I endeavored to bring perfection to this world. Equestria was plagued by death and chaos, and it needed salvation. I had found a solution, or so I had thought. However, to bring it into fruition, I needed more power than just what my magic alone could provide. I needed ponies to support my cause, and General Trail Rain of the Pegasus Airborne Division was fully devoted towards providing me the army I needed to make my plans come true."

Luna's head tilted ever so slightly. Her eyes just barely reflected the image of Twilight.

"Trail Rain's absolute faith and devotion gave me the edge I needed to make my first move towards transforming this world into a paradise of my own conception. As a consequence of his unwavering allegiance, entire legions of ponies sided with my regime. They followed me as I attempted to pave the way towards a promising future. What they got instead was a maddened despot, Nightmare Moon, a demonic creature corrupted by envy and malice. My delusions became their delusions, and because of this, Celestia could not stop me without hurting them. She had only one option left: to use the Elements of Harmony and banish me from Equestria."

Twilight stared, her jaw agape, her face wrought with confusion. A cold shadow loomed over her as Luna trotted up, standing tall and resolute with a frigid stare.

"For one thousand years, imprisoned on the moon, starved of almost all self-awareness beneath the plaguing spirit of Nightmare Moon, I blamed myself and myself alone for my fate. But, now that I have had time to reflect, time to look at history from an objective point of view, I realize that I wasn't the only one at fault." Luna took a deep breath before adding, "General Trail Rain shared the blame. The pegasus commander helped me acquire the forces I needed to make an impact on the fragile world. He was loyal to my cause, and yet his devotion forced him to overlook the pain Nightmare Moon was causing to the very landscape around her. He was faithful, and yet he was blind. His trust was a poison that nearly killed off all hope in Equestria. To this day, there is only one pegasus to every five unicorns or earth ponies; his culture never entirely recovered from the consequences of Trail Rain's shame, not even after a thousand years."

Icy silence followed the culmination of Luna's speech, during which Twilight found herself breathless. Eventually, she found the courage to respond. "I know a great deal about pegasus military history, Your Majesty," she said. "But... but why are you telling me this?"

"I only hope that you of all ponies understand the importance of what has just happened," Luna said, her face as tranquil as it was deadpan. "I would like to know that you are a creature of wisdom, Twilight Sparkle, whose intuition is a shining beacon that casts off any and all blindness."

"Blindness? What are you talking about—?" Twilight froze. Her eyes widened as her ears drooped. "It was you."

Luna stared at her.

Twilight began trembling. "You... you posed as Princess Celestia..." She gulped dryly. "You asked me to murder my very own friends..."

"I asked you to make a sacrifice for an indeterminate cause," Luna said in an arid tone. "You tackled this quite exceptionally, did you not?"

"This... this was some kind of cruel experiment?!" Twilight snarled, the very tip of her horn sparkling with lavender fury. She was seconds away from grinding her hooves across the marble balcony. "Does Celestia even know?!"

"She does not, though she likely will soon," Luna said, unfazed. "Either way, it matters little what consequences I have to face. The results of your actions are what factor the most."

"How can you s-say that?!" Twilight shrieked, almost hyperventilating. "You deceived me and your sister! You posed as Celestia and commanded me to kill in cold blood! What if I had actually done it?! What if I had gone through with the act of murdering my friends in the end?!"

"I had no true way of knowing the outcome of the test," Luna said. "Nor the fate of your friends."

"Then why did you even send me those letters?!"

Luna's eyes narrowed on Twilight. "Because mortals aren't the only creatures whose faith needs to be tested, Twilight Sparkle."

To that, the unicorn's eyes twitched. She leaned back, exhaling in confusion. "Wh-what...?"

Luna's nostrils flared. She paced slowly before Twilight, speaking, "My sister has invested a great deal of confidence and hope in you, Twilight. Have you ever once thought that there may be a reason for this beyond simple admiration? You are a pony of great talents, yes. But there is more to it than that, more than my sister is willing to tell you."

Twilight gulped. With a quivering lip, she murmured, "Like what?"

"Celestia and I are powerful beings, Twilight, but our magical gifts are hardly divine. We may live for an indefinite number of years, however that does not change the fact that our essence is very much bound to the foundation of this world. The truth is quite simple." She trotted to a stop and turned to stare coldly at Twilight. "We are the past. But you, Twilight Sparkle: you are the future."

Twilight's brow furrowed at that.

"My sister has told you time and time again that you are destined for great things. She is right to imply such a truth, to prepare your spirit for what is to come. However, in time, Equestria will face a trial by fire. There is no telling when or where, but forces far more powerful than Discord, far more elusive than Chrysalis, and far more malevolent than Sombra will assail this beautiful landscape. When the time comes, it will be the harmonic spirit of mortals that shall ward off chaotic evil. Though Celestia desires to cultivate a power in you strong enough to combat these sorts of antagonists, her method is not without its faults."

"What..." Twilight blinked. "What kind of faults?"

"I love my sister, but there are things she does not understand, simply because it is not her place to." Luna exhaled softly, and her features drooped with the first sign of emotion since Twilight saw her that day. The Princess gazed into the misty sunlight as she said, "She is a spirit of light, the Goddess of the Sun. It is her innate gift to uphold life, to think only of prosperity and hope. She is more powerful than me, yes, but she is also built out of a strength that is separate from me, as opposed to superior." Luna turned to look at Twilight as she said, "She does not understand the darkness that comes with my nightly tasks. She cannot fathom the vacuum of warmth that I must embrace in order to become one with the moon. What this means, Twilight, is that she has been and shall always be capable of cultivating the strengths in you, but I fear that she is unable to properly address your weaknesses."

"But... but she has only ever taught me the skills and the lessons I needed to grow," Twilight murmured.

"But has she ever truly tested you, Twilight?" Luna asked with a cold glint to her eyes, like starlight off of pond water. "Has she ever given you a baptism by fire, an experiment that puts more than your patience and anxiety to the test, but one that makes you question yourself, your mentor, and your morals?" Luna took a deep breath and added, "Has she ever asked you to rebuke her, for the sake of protecting yourself—or more importantly, something holier than yourself?"

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but hesitated. She stared down at the floor, at the random specks of dust that the wind blew across her hooves. "She's never given me a reason to doubt her in all my days as her pupil..."

"And in all of that time, you trusted her unwaveringly..."

"Until now," Twilight breathed. She swallowed and ran a hoof through her mane, shuddering. "But it wasn't her test! It was still you pretending to be her! I..."

"Tell me, Twilight Sparkle..." Luna spoke firmly. "Regardless of what you now know, did you fail that test?"

Twilight shivered. "I-I failed... I failed her. I refused to do what I thought Celestia had asked me to. I directly disobeyed her. But... the test?" She seethed through her teeth, then looked up with wounded eyes. "I spared my friends' lives. They could be dead now, but... but they're not. I couldn't go through with it. There was just no way I could vaporize them into steam. I was weak, doubtful, hesitant and cowardly..."

Luna watched calmly, patiently.

Just then, Twilight felt a faint smile coming to her lips. "And yet, in that moment, when I held the crystal in my magic and was prepared to make the killing blow, I... I knew that I was doing the right thing by d-doing nothing." Twilight shuddered. "I... I felt right because I was right. I had to fail; there was just no other option. There was..." She choked on her breath, her face scrunching in brief pain before uttering, "There was so much joy in knowing how wrong the letters were." She closed her eyes and exhaled a huge weight out her lungs. She fell on her haunches and whispered, "I just can't believe that I almost thought twice about it. I knew from the start that I had to fail her. My friends depended on it."

Luna slowly nodded. She trotted over and extended a hoof.

Nervously, Twilight took it—only to feel herself being hoisted strongly onto her four limbs.

Luna stared deeply into her eyes. She said, "Life is not a perfect garden to be cultivated entirely in the light. There is darkness too, Twilight Sparkle. There is fear, there is trembling, and there is doubt. All of these elements only serve to make a mare like you stronger, and yet weaker. You are that which neither my sister nor I can afford to be. Where she is light and I am shadow, you are the balance in between, the quintessential example of the Equestrian spirit. If you are to make an impact on this landscape and shape the future with your magical arts, then you must be equipped with the power of distinction, to know that there is something far more sacred to trust than the supposed intellect of a pair of timeless goddesses. That something is your faith in yourself, Twilight. There will come a time when you'll find yourself alone—as we all are—and the only guiding compass will be the one deep within you. Such a beacon isn't defined by the light my sister gives to illuminate it, nor the darkness I provide to distinguish it, but your own power and commitment to maintain it. Stay true to yourself, and all will remain harmonious in your life. Consequently, all will stay harmonious in this land of yours."

Twilight's mouth quivered. "Do you really, truly have that much faith in me?"

"I do now," Luna said, her lips forming the slightest hint of a curve. "I am convinced that neither of us are creatures of blindness. You have given me the assurance that the likes of Nightmare Moon shall never plague this world again, so long as faith continues to be tempered by righteousness."

After several seconds, Twilight produced an exhausted smile. She shook her head in awe and said, "I hope that someday I'll have wisdom like yours, Princess Luna."

"Do not covet it too much," Luna said. "After so many long eons, wisdom has become a poor substitute for joy." She reached a hoof forward and caressed Twilight's shoulder. "You have my hope, Twilight, but you also have my envy. Go home and live. Allow your love to become your legacy."

nine

The door to the treehouse opened slowly the next morning. Tiredly, Twilight trudged through with her saddlebags. She stared into the front atrium, and what she saw immediately brought wakefulness to her eyes, as well as a calm smile to her lips.

"I know I'm back early, but I'm not ready to return the book by Cantergarden just yet," Wavebreaker said with a restless twitch. Her back was to Twilight as she stood before Spike with a list of titles gripped in her hoof. "There's this publication of literary commentary made that addresses the... erm... denser material of Cantergarden and other philosophers. They're written by several esteemed scholars in the collegiate circles—"

"What?" Spike smirked knowingly. "You mean ‘Hoofnotes?’"

Wavebreaker hissed. "Please! I... I just need some help with understanding some of the longer passages! It's... it's not like I'm trying to cheat or—"

"Trying to understand a written work better is hardly what I would call cheating, Miss Wavebreaker," Twilight said as she trotted up.

"Graaugh!" Wavebreaker jumped, startled, dropping her things and forcing Spike to scramble and catch them.

"Heeheehee... I'm so sorry," Twilight exclaimed as she waved an apologetic hoof. "I really gotta learn to stop creeping up on you like that. Still, I couldn't help but overhear: you're having trouble with studying?"

"Well..." Wavebreaker fidgeted, her green eyes darting guiltily left and right. "It's not so much trouble as it is... just tr-trying to stay awake."

Twilight giggled again. "I understand completely. Philosophy has the same effect on me. Who'd think that thinking would be so hard to think about?"

"Yeah. Right?"

"I was gonna go fishing around in the resource section and see if we had any Hoofnotes on Pre-Classical Philosophers!" Spike exclaimed, then frowned. "By the way, where the heck were you yesterday, Twilight? Did you go on vacation or something?"

"We'll talk about that in a moment, Spike," Twilight said. She pulled her saddlebag off and levitated it towards him. "Do me a favor and go put these up in my room."

"Uhhh..." Spike blinked at her things, then at Wavebreaker's study materials in his arms. "What about—?"

"Just put it down for now."

"Sure. If you say so." Spike shrugged, placed Wavebreaker's stuff on the table, then dragged Twilight's saddlebag up the tall, tall stairs.

With a confused expression, Wavebreaker pointed at him. "But... but I thought I needed him to help me find—"

"Wavebreaker, listen to me."

"Huh—?" Wavebreaker's eyes went wide as she found Twilight gently gripping her shoulders.

Twilight looked sincerely at her. "Is this something you wish to pursue? Is this really something you want to study for the rest of your life? A field you wish to make a career out of?"

"Why..." Wavebreaker blinked, then produced a weak smile. "Of course, Miss Sparkle! M-my parents are counting on me to learn up on all these old writers so that I can begin my major in—"

"But is it what fulfills you?" Twilight asked quietly. "Is it what makes you feel whole, complete, and happy?"

"It... it..." Wavebreaker gulped and stammered, "I don't see why that matters—"

"Of course it does, Wavebreaker," Twilight said. "Everypony in Ponyville knows that you are a great swimmer. Being athletic underwater is your talent; it's what you're good at. I'm willing to bet that it's what makes you happy. Am I wrong?"

Wavebreaker bit on her lip. After a few seconds, her eyes fell to the floor between them. "Yes. I... I love swimming." She sighed. "I love it so much..."

"Then why aren't you pursuing that?"

"I would, but... but..." She gulped hard. "My parents... I trust them..."

"Wavebreaker..."

"They've done so much for me; they wouldn't lead me astray. They only want what's good for—"

"Wavebreaker, if you know what is good for yourself, then why rob yourself of the opportunity?" Twilight smiled warmly. "Don't you see? This is more than just a noble pursuit for your future. This is your moment, this is what defines you, this is your chance to find yourself and never let go. I'm sure that your parents love you and want the best for you, but they can never be you. It's okay to trust them, but don't lose faith in yourself. If you let that slip from your grasp, you won't ever be happy. All your days will be fear and doubt... and worst of all, even regret."

The pegasus' breaths became shorter. Her eyes moistened as she looked up at Twilight and spoke in a shaky voice. "I already regret, Twilight. I already regret so much. I love my parents... b-but I just can't do this philosophy thing. Just what do I do?"

"It's a good thing to respect your parents," Twilight said. "And I know that you respect me—and the things my friends and I have done for the good of Equestria. But what's important is that you take all of that, all the things you've learned, and that you respect yourself and follow the conviction of your heart. In an unpredictable world, the only thing you can't afford to lose is faith in yourself. It's not too late to find the path that's destined for you, Wavebreaker. Please, consider this, instead of swimming blindly into the storm."

Wavebreaker stared at her. Slowly, like melting ice, a smile adorned her lips. A lone tear trickled down her cheek as she spoke in a voice that was the firmest Twilight had heard from her. "Thank you very much, Miss Sparkle. I have a lot of..." She glanced limply beyond her study materials and stifled a chuckle. "A lot of thinking to do."

Twilight grinned back. "I know you'll make the best of it."

"Why not?" Wavebreaker stood back, gathered her belongings, and trotted energetically out the door. "What are we alive for if not to be the best?"

Twilight watched contentedly as Wavebreaker exited. The door didn't close before a group of colorful heads poked in.

"Hey! You were right!" Pinkie Pie beamed, then bounced inside, followed by several familiar faces. "She’s back! She is back!"

"Welcome home, darling!" Rarity added as she filed in beside Fluttershy and Applejack. "You most certainly get around these days!"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash blurred in, hovering towards the ceiling of the room with a playful frown. "It's almost as if somepony's trying to wreck my cross country record!"

"Hmmm..." Twilight chuckled, shaking her head. "I couldn't possibly be so cruel, Rainbow Dash."

"Listen to you! You sound like a basket of kittens, and all of them full of milk!" Pinkie Pie dove into Twilight with a tackling hug. "It's so, so good to have you back! You sound like you're in a good mood! Good mood Twilight is the best Twilight!"

"How did things go in Canterlot?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "We heard that you made a sudden trip to see the Princess. Is everything all right?"

Twilight hung in Pinkie's embrace. She stared at everypony surrounding her, at their bright and lively expressions. Her gaze finally fell on Applejack. A look of worry hung on the farm mare's freckled face, but it soon dissolved under a bright grin as Twilight smiled back in silent confidence.

"Yes, it's perfect," Twilight murmured. She hugged Pinkie Pie back and shut her eyes peacefully. "Everything is going to be just fine."

This fanfic is dedicated to the prompt made by Fimfiction user TraleRayne, winner of the SS&E trivia blog. Their prompt was this: "Basically, Princess Celestia trolling Twilight. But since there's enough of those kinds of fics, it's actually Luna framing Celestia. Super awesome bonus points if you can write it without letting anyone know it's Luna until the end. Up to you. And that's pretty much it."

In addition to this, they asked that I include their friend's OC pony, Wavebreaker.

"She said her pony is a bit shy and quiet, but will speak her mind when she feels it's important. Also loves swimming and flying."

The nature of this story would not have come to fruition if it wasn't for my having intercepted a conversation in the Noble Jury skype group, specifically when Dream of Ponies put forth: "What would happen if Princess Celestia asked Twilight Sparkle to kill the other Mane 6?"

Much thanks to everyone who influenced the creation of this latest train wreck.
-SS&E