The Scrapbook
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Celestia and Luna watched out through their royal balcony as Twilight Sparkle's train headed to Ponyville. The mare of the sun watched the Friendship Express while Luna focused her magic onto a small book in her library- a small one with three pages, saved for only the best occasions every five hundred years. She teleported the book just in the range of the sunny mare's sight.
Celestia's eyes widened as she realized what Luna was doing.
"I just can't believe we're going to send her out to this," whispered Celestia. "She's... so young."
Luna's eyes matched Celestia's, the meaning beyond a thousand years evident in her gaze.
"We have to. You know it's the only way," she sighed.
Celestia turned away from Luna, her eyes watery, and bit her lip.
"I just wish it wasn't," whispered Celestia.
Luna heard the sound of Celestia's voice and her face turned into an apologetic frown.
"Maybe taking a look at it will make you realize why we do this," frowned Luna.
Celestia turned around slowly, her eyes puffy from tears, and apprehensively walked away.
"I'm not falling for this again; last time was bad enough. I lost her, Luna," frowned Celestia.
The moon princess stared at the open, blue sky, however it contrasted her view.
"Why are you so picky, Chromosome?"
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Luna opened to the first page of the black book, a blue unicorn filly documented, research done, shown throughout the stages of her life. The page was titled Derby Skies- an unfitting name for a unicorn. He was born to two pegasi who didn't know she was a unicorn until the paperwork was filled out.
He was such a cute filly, that Derby. It was her lifelong dream to find magic and grow herself a pair of wings. It was no wonder she got accepted into my Lunar Academy For Gifted Unicorns, thought Luna.
The pictures showed the worst and best of Derby's life: from the pictures of her foalhood to her rebellious teenage years, from the good to the bad- she used to be a nerdy filly with braces, but she filled out quite nicely, the pictures revealed.
The final picture was her with Luna: smiling, a graduation cap present on her head, hoof thrusted up in the air at the mention of him on the honor roll. Multiple tear stains from once before were also there, blurring the ink of the photo, a couple new ones coming in.
A tear slid down her cheek as she remembered how she went; Chromosome made a show of her every time you closed your eyes for the next 3 months. The entire world was sleepless, everyone bloodshot in their eyes as they with their twisted reasoning thought Luna was the problem, and drove her out of her own private academy.
Derby was the only one who understood me, thought Luna. She probably would have stopped me from that Nightmare Moon fiasco.
Luna had to bite back her tears at the memory of the next one in the book. She forced her hoof to turn the page, as the next one was probably the worst for her; even though she was a student of Celestia's, a deep bond had formed between the two. Her name was Sky Blue, a deformed pegasus with a half-horn and orange-tipped wings in contrast to her blue coat.
Her parents abandoned her for her looks; that just isn't right, sighed Luna.
The gold lettering of the name Sky Blue was faded from age; the pictures barely readable. Luna squinted to see the little filly she always loved, the filly that spent time with her when she was alone, the filly that learned to do magic with just a half-horn.
And most of all, the filly that sacrificed her life to Chromosome for the world.
The moon princess turned to the next page; it was empty except for a simple pattern of gold lettering at the top, reading simply:
Twilight Sparkle
Luna peered out to the setting sun, realizing how much time had passed. Silently, she walked to her quarters, past a sniveling Celestia, eyes red with the looming disappearance of her student. The lunar princess stopped in front of her 3,000-year-old cabinet, extending her hoof through the gilded wood and opened the highest shelf. This cabinet was made so that you had to be a certain height to reach the door; it was magic-proof, in other words.
A puff of dust shot out of the closet, hitting Luna square in the face, but an alicorn can't cough. It's just impossible.
She grabbed the parchment, opening up the contract, and grabbed a quill from the other room.
Dear Princesses,
I, Chromosome, have returned. If you do not fear for your subject's well-being, I would advise you to send me 3 sacrifices-one every 500 years. By writing their name down below, they will disappear forever and be my slave. If you don't send me them, I will unleash a brew of chaos every 10 days you do not. No, they cannot be one of the royal guard; they have to be your most precious student, as they will need the magic to hold up the sky- and the fact that it hurts you more.
-Chromosome, Albeitor/Heavenly Deity
1.___Derby_Skies________________xxx
2._____Sky_Blue__________________xxx
3._____________________________xxx
Luna's quill quivered as she wrote the first letter on the page- an evil, glowing hiss emanated from the page. Then the second letter, the third, and then the final, condemning one.
After Luna finished writing the name, the paper looked like this:
3._____Luna___________________xxx
I'm not losing another student- and Celestia's not, either.
Tendrils of fire erupted from the page, enveloping Luna in a searing cocoon, but still she stayed silent. The fiery cocoon brought her into the old, crippled parchment, sizzling up for no traces to be found. After all, Chromosome stayed secret.
Twilight Sparkle, when the time comes, you'll have to make the ultimate decision against Chromosome-
I hope you make the right one.
-Fin
