Equestria's Twilight

Chapters

Of Griffons and Lost Time
Her Most Trusted Student
Remembrance of the Past
Legacy
Tea and Moonlight
Knight Protector of the Crown
A Funeral and an Exile
For Love and Hate
Mending Broken Ties
To Break a Heart
Contingency
To Turn Back the Clock
Two Twilights
In Which She Talks To Herself
The Broken Vase
The Nightmare Revealed
Aftermath
Breaking
Fit for a Queen
Destiny
Clever Pony
The Week - Thread One
Burning Heart of Justice
Who Are I?
Princess of the Fading Sun
Dreams of Another Time

Of Griffons and Lost Time

Chapter 2 - Of Griffons and Lost Time

Large oak doors, a radiant sun carved across them, closed behind Princess Twilight Sparkle. She tried not to come to this room too often, but at times it helped her to think. She supposed it was a guilty pleasure and that she did her best not to overindulge.
She walked over to the desk, a piece of furniture that was beyond ancient, and sat down. Princess Celestia told her once that it was a gift from a species that no longer existed. Twilight pulsed her magic and lifted the dust off of the wood in a uniform sheet and reformed the dust into a ball. With only half a thought Twilight maneuvered it into the waste bin. She was normally the only pony allowed in the room, and that meant no cleaning staff.

The unicorn sat at the desk with a sigh and looked over the same papers that were always there. A friendship report was unrolled. It was about the importance of being brave and telling her friends things even if she was worried it might damage the relationship. Friendship would prevail. The report was an old one, and Twilight wondered why the Princess had been reading it. If forced to evaluate, she felt it was far from her best work. Diary, Vol. One Hundred and Thirty Seven provided no clue, and any other such diaries still eluded Twilight’s search. Above the desk was a shelf with a scroll rack. Twilight cried when she found that the Princess had saved all of her reports and letters.

There was also a framed picture on the desk. Twilight was visiting the palace when Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were getting the photograph taken and the sisters had insisted that Twilight get in the picture.

Celestia had just warmly smiled as Luna had clopped her hooves together in excitement. The Princess of the Night had squeezed the three of them together in a group hug for the picture. Looking at it, Twilight could see the awkward smile on her own face, in odd contrast with Luna’s huge grin and Celestia’s always-serene smile. She shook her head at Luna’s strangeness with a small wish that she had known her better.
The only other things of note on the desk were a now horribly outdated budget report and what looked like the beginning of a letter addressed to some ambassador. Twilight moved any documents truly important to Equestria out of the room years ago along with some of the other sentimental objects, which she appropriated to her own bedroom. Twilight left just enough that it was still her room.
Rarity, at one-point years ago, was surprised that Twilight had not tired preserving the room. Twilight admitted that she had considered it, but the whole thing felt wrong. In the end she was unable to explain herself to the other pony, but she was not sure she really understood herself. It just seemed like trying to perfectly maintain the room as it had been was disingenuous. She supposed that if she wanted some perfectly preserved Celestia museum, she could always go see the Two Sisters exhibit in the Canterlot museum of history.

She had cut the ribbon for the museum’s grand reopening after the Siege of Canterlot . That had been the only time she had seen the exhibit and it had seemed some gross mockery back then. It had been done in only the most respectful of ways, but for Twilight it was worse than even the exhibit on the Elements of Harmony. She doubted that the years since then would have changed anything about her feelings since then.

Twilight drummed her forehooves against the table surface listening to the steady beat. Soon the beat began to fluctuate as it was accompanied by the sound of her blowing through her lips as she stuck out her tongue.

The noise abruptly stopped when she swung away from the table.

“The budget isn’t going to work.”

The budget was not really bothering her. She could think about numbers and bits just fine in her own room. Numbers were easy. Numbers were straightforward.

Twilight sat down on the rug in front of the fireplace and ignited a flame within. It was still early morning, and the day had not yet warmed up, so she welcomed the heat. Behind her a large white down blanket, encased in a magenta aura, floated off of a bed that had not been used in over fifty years.

The comforter coalesced into a large pile next to her, and she rolled her side into it. Twilight closed her eyes and buried her snout into the fabric. Here, in this room and this moment, she could still smell the scent of Princess Celestia. Twilight could pretend that she was still alive.

“We need to make a decision about the shade dragons.”

She used a bit more magic to pull a corner of the blanket over her body, a wing being draped protectively over her.

“I don’t think they are evil, not like some of the other things that we have to deal with but…”

She wanted to just trail off and leave it at that, but she needed to finish the thought. She had come to the room to think after all.

“Nothing grows within miles of the mountains they take up residence in. If we are going to survive we need that farmland.”

Twilight could practically imagine what the response would be. “You know what to do my most faithful student.”

“My advisors think we need to drive them out.”

Again, she could imagine sage, comforting advice. “Does any pony have the right to live at the expense of others?”

“They don’t seem malevolent, but no one has been able to communicate with them. They might not even be intelligent.”

Now the imagined reply came in synchronization with her own words. “But through the power of friendship anything is possible. We have to at least try everything we can to live in harmony with our neighbors.”

She slowly disentangled herself from the blanket. As comforting as it was, and as easy as it was to think in the nearly forgotten bedchamber, Twilight had work to do.

“It’s the same thing I’ve been saying about the griffons.”

As the blanket floated back towards the bed she made her way towards the door. She had a meeting to be at in less than a quarter of an hour, where hopefully they could come to some resolutions.

+++

Once again Twilight found herself beneath the familiar sight of a particular arched dome, and she hated the flowing architecture for what it represented in her life. The twisting floral stonework was a lie that hid the room’s true purpose. The room looked like it should be used in ornate ceremonies, but instead she used it to contemplate death and violence. Twilight still remembered the first time she had entered the chamber.

It was near the beginning of her reign, and her captain of the guard at the time told her of the room. When she had first entered, her nose was assaulted by a musty smell, and cobwebs clung to the ceiling, obscuring the beautiful stonework. With a burst of magic Twilight threw back a cloth tarp to reveal a large stone table occupying the center of the chamber. When she had looked closer, she saw that the table contained a scale model replica of her domain, and the dust kicked up from removing the cloth seemed to indicate that the table was quite ancient. However, her inspection of the table brought her a surprise. The Ponyville dam, a recent construction, was represented.
That was when she had noticed the power running through the table. It was an old artifact of some considerable complexity and would magically morph to represent the state of her kingdom. Terrain would erode and borders would shift. Glowing motes of light represented the location of Equestrian squadrons equipped with magical locator beacons. It was a useful tool for strategic planning, and thus her ‘war room’ had been born. That year near the start of her reign marked the first use of the room in over two hundred years.
Currently, she was sitting at the table across from her four commanders.

Twilight suppressed a yawn. It was still early, but they had been in the room for hours discussing various issues. They had resolved only a hooffull of the problems to everypony’s satisfaction. The room had just fallen into silence after Twilight once again explained to her commanders that she could and would do nothing against the shade dragons that had appeared in the north several decades ago.

Over the years, they had begun to spread further and further south towards Equestria’s heartland and their presence in Equestria was hurtling the land even faster towards an impending famine. Her commanders suggested that she might scatter the beasts with concentrated light. However, the creatures had given no indication of malevolence, and no matter how terrifying their skeletal appearance, she could not condemn them for simply living. She had been faced with many difficult moral questions since taking the throne, but one thing she was certain of was that nopony should need to die so that another could live. Celestia would have told her as much.

Of course there was also another, more practical reason to stay her hoof.

Only once before had she wielded concentrated sunlight as a weapon. It was nearly twenty years ago when living shadows had assaulted Canterlot. In that battle Rainbow Dash’s predecessor laid down his life. It was his death that spurred her to action. Up until that point the Guard had been doing well holding their ground with Twilight sequestered safely in a tower. Rainbow Dash in particular was later celebrated as the Hero of Canterlot. The pegasus had performed rainboom after rainboom, with prismatic light scattering their foes. However, Twilight could see that her friend was exhausted and without the Captain Commander, the Guard would not hold for long.

So she did battle.

Twilight had not killed the shadow forms. That was not how shadow worked. It was always there, simply waiting to be cast. She supposed she was grateful for that in a way. She did not wish to taste what it would be like to take a life. But by the end of the night there was no trace of the shadow forms. Canterlot was safe.

The assault, however, left her exhausted. If the battle had gone on for much longer Twilight might have been unable to maintain the sun. As it was, it nearly winked out multiple times during the siege.

If she ever became so tired that she let the sun go out, Equestria would need to go without light for days while she recuperated and built up the strength to reignite the sun. The horrors of the night were too great for her to do such a thing to her ponies.
Of course, that assumed she could figure out how to relight her sun. Twilight had first brought forth the sun, it had been in a flurry of emotions that she was not entirely certain that she could recreate. It was a fact very few ponies were privileged to know, and Twilight preferred not to advertise the exact workings of the spell that powered her sun. If she could, she would prefer to avoid being faced with the prospect of having to reignite her.

So she would not go and face the shade dragons.

In the end they had decided to send Sir Spike, Knight Protector of the Crown, along with a small squad of pegasi. Nopony expected the move to accomplish anything. Nopony was happy with the decision. Still, they needed to do something.

If Spike was lucky, he would be able to succeed where other ponies had failed and establish a line of communication. Even if he could not drive the shade dragons out or encourage them to leave, at the very least he would be able to investigate and learn more about the creatures. Even though the shade dragons did not seem related to the other things that lurked in the night, it did not mean those other things were not still a threat to expeditions. The shadow forms and dark beasts made the land dangerous, and so proper studies of the creature had not been carried out.

Of course, they had at least come to some decision on that matter. Based on the earlier tension that had been in the room, Twilight feared even bringing up the Everfree forest again. Her commanders had practically been at one another's throats over the issue, and she would prefer for them to not get into another shouting match.

“Perhaps we should take a short recess.”

Her commanders wordlessly complied and all rose from their seats. When their meetings ran long or were particularly tense, it was fairly standard for the proceedings to be punctuated with momentary breaks. The ponies would all wander around the room or perhaps step out to the hall, stretching their legs before gathering back at the table.

Twilight took in a deep breath and focused on slowly releasing it. She started working through a technique Celestia had first tried to teach her long ago. Soon Twilight retreated into her mind. Celestia had called it creating a “memory palace.”

Celestia may have shaped her mind into a replica of the Canterlot palace, but Twilight had constructed an imaginary version of Ponyville. It was not the same as the real Ponyville, but she knew every inch of her mental village. That was key to the technique. Imagine in as much detail as possible. Make each detail representative of something she needed to remember or think about. If she did that, the visualization could be a great assistance in organizing her thoughts.

We are sending Spike north with a complement of twelve pegasi to investigate the shade dragons.

In the bedroom of the Golden Oaks Library she shifted Spike’s bed to be at the north end of the room. She nudged it into the shadows. Then carefully, she placed twelve feathers into the basket. Twilight considered the ponies that had been selected to go on the mission and began reshaping each feather to match the individual pegasi. It would be a dangerous mission and she wanted to be sure she remembered each of the ponies participating.

She would remember them, even if they did not come back with Spike.

Twilight retreated from her mind, the edits to Ponyville done. She would always simply be able to look up the minutes of the meeting, but there were certain things that she felt were best to commit to memory. A checklist did not do the life of a pony justice, and she had vowed not to be forgetful when it came to the sacrifices of Equestria.

Virtually no time had passed while she was memorizing the deployment detail and her commanders were still taking advantage of the recess to stretch.

Twilight absent-mindedly watched as the pegasi in the room fluttered their wings to work out the kinks. She looked down at a scrap of paper in front of her. Earlier she had begun to doodle out the framework for a new law. To help fund the expansions the Guard had undergone during her rule, Equestria had begun taxing certain imports. Unfortunately, this had led to smuggling. She hoped rewording the law regarding the import of goods would improve the situation. There was always so much for her to do.

When she looked up from her writings, the leaders of Equestria's military forces were just sitting down again. Less than five minutes had passed since she had called the break; nopony had even left the room, though that was not too unusual. Even though they did not all get along, her commanders were dedicated. She suspected that they viewed stepping out the doors before covering the entire agenda some sort of retreat. Lunch had been brought to them earlier before the discussion of the shade dragons, and their self-imprisonment in the gloom of the windowless chamber served to remind them of the darkness they fought against.

Ironhooves, commander of Equestria's infantry, was the pony to break the silence. The rust colored earth pony was part of what some called “The Old Guard,” and in his case it was certainly no exaggeration. Ironhooves’s mane had been graying when Twilight had been a student, and now he was positively ancient.

After the Siege of Canterlot, Twilight had intended to promote Ironhooves to the position of Captain Commander. However, he had felt that Twilight should, “Give the job to some younger, more capable mare. At least one pony comes to mind, a certain pegasus and hero of the battle perhaps?” And so Rainbow Dash had received a large promotion.

Twilight remembered Ironhooves words at the promotion ceremony. “Me, I’m just happy with my infantry. Besides, I don’t know how much longer these old hooves will be able to soldier.”

She snorted. Ignoring his balding head, the pony still looked as fit as ever. She would not be surprised if the ancient soldier outlived her.

“Er, Princess?”

Her back straightened in surprise. Twilight did her best to look like a regal princess and not a school filly guiltily caught not paying attention.

“Yes Ironhooves.”

Using a very weak telekinetic field so the other ponies would not notice her aura, Twilight gripped her quill and added another item to her checklist for the day.

-Stop daydreaming in military council meetings.

“I was just relaying the recent incident reports from Trottingham.”

Incident Reports.

It was such an unassuming name for what often revealed told of more attacks and more ponies dead.

Twilight leaned over and looked at the table. Trottingham was a large community, best known for their root vegetable export. She analyzed the growing points of light over the miniature Trottingham on the table, signifying the presence of their guard. It was mostly earth pony infantry, supplemented with a wing of pegasi, and three unicorn battle casters, far from a large garrison.

Around Trottingham her commanders had placed angry red markers signifying “unknown encounters.”

“So we do not know what these sightings have been?”
At this point the other unicorn in the room, Silver Heart, interjected. The alabaster pony was Twilight's chief of military intelligence and had direct oversight of the royal magic corps.

“No your majesty. However, based on the number and frequency, they could represent a sizable threat. The garrison captain has requested reinforcements.” Silver Heart then lifted his forehooves into the air in a shrug. “Of course, the sightings could also just be illusionary phantasms. It would not be the first time ponies have been spooked by things that aren’t there.”

“We can begin flying more patrols out from Manehattan. They might be able to spot whatever it is in the forests during their flyovers. It is a bit of a flight, but the pegasi based there can handle it,” said Rainbow Dash.

As head of the royal guard, her loyal friend often needed to serve as the voice of reason between the other branches of the military. The Guard was the best of the best and Equestria's elite. They recruited from unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike. And the Guard's commander was Equestria's chief military leader, second only to Twilight herself.

It was then that Cloud Dancer, chief of the royal air force, chimed in. “Actually Captain Commander, all wings in Manehattan are currently assigned to border patrol. Adding flybys of the Trottingham area might be the straw that breaks the pony’s back.”

“All on border patrol?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Er, yes. It is related to the next item on the docket.” Cloud Dancer coughed into his hoof.

“Hmm.” Ironhooves rumbled. “What if we simply bolster the guard in Trottingham. Look here at Witherton.”

The old campaigner tapped his hoof against the map to draw everypony’s attention to another town.

Ironhooves continued once he was sure everypony’s focus was on the map. “Witherton has had very little incidents in the past year, and is well with in aerial response range of Cloudsdale, should there be an emergency.”

“Yes,” Silver Heart cut in, “Witherton is also close enough to Canterlot that we could perform a long range teleport of strike teams, if necessary, without mobilizing too many of our casters.”

Rainbow Dash cut in. “I still would like to know what these sightings are all about. But it does seem like Witherton’s garrison is larger than necessary, especially since we managed to convince that elder dragon to relocate to another mountain for his slumber. I think redistributing half the garrison to Trottingham will likely provide them the protection that they need.

Twilight looked at the marker signifying the Witherton garrison with some concern. “If we pull that many ponies, won’t that leave them a bit short hooved?”

Ironhooves shook his head. “Perhaps, but as has pointed out we should be able to perform rapid emergency response if it comes to it. Besides Witherton is in the heartlands and nowhere near the Everfree or any other red zones.”

Twilight stared at the glowing markers on the map as the room continued to talk about the relative defensive strengths of the two towns and the threats that they faced. She listed as they discussed the details of what a transfer of Witherton’s garrison would look like. It seemed like a mistake to leave so many ponies with so little defense, but what they were saying made sense. It was time for her to make a decision.

“I agree that we do not have the pegasi to spare to search the forests for these apparitions. Perhaps they will just end up being another unsolved mystery.”

Twilight thought of some of the ghost stories that had always existed in Equestria, and others that had started more recently. Some were just old mare’s tales, while others seemed to have based on some actual truth. In particular she thought of the tale of the Ghostly Mare. She did not know if the reports of a of the apparition appearing in a burst of ethereal light was caused by the story or if it was the other way around. Needless to say, there was a whole section in the library for “unexplained incidents.”

“I am comfortable relocating Witherton’s defensive forces if everypony is in agreement. If no pony comes up with any objections by our meeting tomorrow morning, I will sign off on the order.”

Everypony clopped a hoof against the edge of the table in agreement, and Twilight was thankful to have resolved an issue without an argument.

Cloud Dancer coughed with a slight flutter of wings and the council’s attention was again focused.

“Your majesty, with your leave I would appreciate if the next issue to be addressed would be regarding our neighbors.”
Twilight reluctantly nodded her head. She suspected she would not be pleased by what the pony had to share.

“Your majesty, my flight patrols have been seeing increasing activity from the griffons, part of the reason I have increased our own patrols along the borders. For the most part they seem to be staying behind clouds, but they have distinctive shadows and our eyes are sharp. Just yesterday I received a report that the griffons have raided another village. They are growing ever bolder in their aggressions, and no longer are they attempting to leave food for the local populace to survive on. They left with everything they could carry and even injured a pony."

Twilight shook her head, but recognized that it was amazing that it had taken as long as it had for relations to begin to break down.

"And word from their king?” Even as she asked the question, Twilight already knew the answer.

"He still claims that the raids are the actions of a rogue flight of griffons - bandits and nothing more."

Silver Heart added his thoughts. "Your majesty, if I may. Perhaps at one point the king’s words were true. However, these raiding griffons are well trained and recently seem better armed. Even if they are not directly under the control of King Thunderclaw, clearly, he is now supporting their actions."

“That seems to be bit of a leap.”

“Yet it is what the evidence seems to point towards. Our informers within King Thunderclaw’s court have informed us that he has authorized the movement of military equipment. In addition, several months ago several of his elite guard members disappeared - likely to join the raiders and to provide them with training.”

"I see. However, I’m hesitant to act rashly without more concrete proof. But, if these actions are sanctioned by their king... Is war our only choice?"

The Princess’s voice was heavy as her eyes slowly looked over each of the other ponies. The word war seemed to hang heavy over the chamber. Technically they were Equestria’s war council. However, defending ponies against monsters and other terrors was a far cry from a true and actual war.

If Equestria was forced to war, it would be Twilight’s greatest failure. Ponies were supposed to be peaceful by nature. Unfortunately, nothing had succeeded in stemming the griffon raids. It seemed she was running out of options.

Twilight knew argument was brewing without even looking at Ironhooves. The earth pony always advocated for defensive and peaceful solutions. He had seen enough action throughout his life to know that if they were forced into combat, they had already failed. When Twilight looked at the pony, she could see that his strong muscles seemed to ripple in agitation, and could practically see the steam coming from his nostrils as he barely restrained a snort.

"My Princess, I still do not agree with commander Silver Heart. Perhaps if we offered a trading deal to the griffons, they might see that we are willing to share our food and decide to work with us rather than against us."

With those words, the room broke out into argument. Twilight just closed her eyes in thought. The suggestion had been made before, and every time it was met with the same response. Each meeting, the ensuing argument would play out nearly exactly the same. They had too little to share. The griffons deserved to live just as much as ponies. They could not take food from fillies to feed non-hooven creatures. Negotiation with the griffons should be left to the Magisterium - the military council needed to restrict itself to just matters of war. It was a matter of war. The costs of war would be too high. The costs of not going to war would be too high. Avoiding war was worth that cost. All of the words flew around her.

They were all right.

They were all wrong.

There was no good answer.

No matter what she did ponies would die.

Equestria would die.

Everypony would die.

It was only a matter of time.

Time would continue to pass, and with its march, Equestria would die.

In her mind she felt gears slipping and the reverberations of great machinery lurching out of place.

Time...

Suddenly, Twilight realized there was silence.

"Your majesty?"

It was Rainbow Dash's voice. As Twilight opened her eyes, she saw her most trusted friend looking at her with concern. Dash’s eyes were wide, and her lips were tightened into a tight line. The other ponies shared the pegasus’s expression.

"Is something wrong?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing Twi- your majesty," Rainbow Dash quickly coughed to cover her slip up. "You were glowing."

"Glowing?"

As all four of her commanders slowly nodded in agreement, looking at her in concern, Twilight could not help but be surprised and more than a little bit worried. She had not even felt herself calling forth any magic other than the sun spell she constantly needed to maintain. The last time she had accidentally cast a spell without realizing it had been over three decades ago when she set that fruit stall on fire in the market.
Silver Heart spoke, “You seemed to have been casting a very complicated spell, but one I did not recognize. ”

It was likely due to stress, or at least she hoped it was due to stress. She would just need to worry about it later.

The last three days had definitely been stress inducing at the very least. It had started with a murder in Manehatten of all things. Such violence was practically unheard of in Equestria, or at least it had been. Twilight apparently could not maintain harmony as well as her mentor. It seemed that the innocence of her ponies would just be another thing that Equestria was losing.

Twilight still did not know what to do about the murder. The pony’s guilt was certain, and apparently it came to her to determine his punishment. She had needed to deal with bad ponies before, but nothing like this. The unicorn had heard how the griffons dealt with such crimes, but she did not think she could ever bring herself to do such a thing. Taking a life of another pony was wrong, even if he was a bad pony.

Wasn’t it?

She wished she could ask Celestia, and not just some pillow and blanket Celestia construct.

She had met the killer to speak with him. He was a father. The victim had hurt his daughter in a way that Twilight could not imagine, and so he had taken justice into his own hooves before the courts even had a chance to reach a decision. Twilight did not know if the victim’s crimes changed a thing, or if the pony’s motivation should have an impact on her decision.

She still needed to decide the pony’s fate.

The next day had seen a granary fire. Luckily nopony had been hurt, but a good deal of stored food had been lost. Sending aid to the town had been hard on their already low reserves. Now she had the griffon’s latest raid to deal with. Unfortunately, it seemed they would need to dip into the food stores once again.

Of course there had been one bittersweet moment of fun the previous night. Rainbow Dash had brought a wrapped present to her chambers. It had been a large box with a simple tag that read, 'To Twilight - From the fastest pony in Equestria.' Twilight had clopped her hooves together in excitement before the other pony had given her permission to open it. A present from one of her best friends was a great way to end an otherwise horrible day.

When she finally had the box opened and unpacked, it took her nearly half a minute of examination to figure out what she had been looking at. Her face had gone dead of emotion the instant the revelation hit her. Rainbow Dash had been rolling on the floor laughing for nearly two whole minutes. Even once the pegasus calmed down, for the rest of the night she would occasionally start chuckling for minutes on end.

Twilight had refused to even step near the scratching post until her Captain of the Guard had left the room. However, fifteen minutes later she had been rubbing her sides against the thing like a pony possessed. She suspected Dash knew.

At the thought of the gift, the princess decided to bring the meeting to a close. Her sides were hurting, and she needed to apply some pressure to relieve the itchy pain. Her still-ingrown wings had a date with the scratching post that afternoon. There was no one way to deal with the raiders that might not have horrible ramifications, so instead she would attempt to take elements from each pony's suggestion to form her decision. It was the one act of ruling in which she had become skilled.

"It was... It was nothing to worry about. I was just contemplating our course of action.”

It was a small lie, or rather it could have been. Twilight really had no idea what the spell might have been for, but it had seemed to bring a solution forward to her mind. However, if she admitted her ignorance regarding the strange magic, her commanders would be fussing over her for hours. Rainbow Dash in particular would probably end up following her around for days. She would speak with Silver Heart in private later and see if he could describe the magic to her. Just like the sightings in Trottingham, it was a mystery for another time.

“I believe I have come to a decision. Have what can be spared from the royal granary sent to the village in the form of aid. We must help them recover from the raid. A message should be sent to King Thunderclaw as well. If rooting out where the bandits are hiding in his territory is too much of a burden for his already strained military, Equestria would be more than happy to help. Let him know that we are willing and able to spare a few companies of soldiers to assist him in maintaining order.”

Twilight gave each of her commanders a stern look.

“If the King has been truthful, he will have no reason to turn away our offer of military aid. Once the bandits are dealt with, then we can consider efforts to aid their civilian populace. In fact, the message should say as much. Once the raiders have been caught we will send some skilled earth ponies to aid them in their own agricultural endeavors. However, if Thunderclaw has been untruthful to us... Well, hopefully he can read between the lines.”

With that the Princess of the Fading Sun rose from her seat. It was a signal to all present that the meeting was at an end. As she looked down at the papers scattered across the table, she saw that only half the items on her checklist were marked. However, none of her commanders protested the wordless dismissal. Their ruler had given her orders, and it was their duty to carry them out.

Leaving the ancient war room, Twilight could see several sentries waiting patiently. Once she had moved beyond the doors, the guard ponies moved to flank their princess. At times she wanted to dismiss her constant sentries, but Equestria still remembered the loss of its last rulers. It would not stand to see anything happen to its greatest hope of a brighter tomorrow.

Twilight Sparkle had often wondered why her mentor was so frequently accompanied by guards. Any power that could overcome the Princess would make even shorter work of the guard ponies. However, now she understood. It was not for the Princess’s benefit, but rather for the benefit of Equestria. All ponies understood that their ruler gave so much to their nation and wanted to give something back in return.
The ponies of Equestria loved their current princess. It was not the same type of love that they had felt for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but it was love nonetheless. The previous rulers had embodied perfection. No other pony could have served as a better example of what one should aspire towards.

Twilight was... Twilight was different.

Equestria had seen their new princess mourn Princess Celestia. Equestria had seen her weep and rage. Twilight’s heart had died that day, and even after so many years, the pain was nearly unbearable. However, Twilight had continued on despite the agony. Twilight had known she could not simply quit. She needed to be worthy of those final words her teacher had spoken to her.

A burning Canterlot had cowered in fear at the empty sky, only to witness Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, climb to Canterlot’s tallest tower. They bore witness as the embodiment of the element of magic let out a tremendous scream. It had been the scream heard around the world.

Her yell had been filled with sorrow and anger. She had poured all of her sadness and pain into the roar - all of her regret of things left unsaid. Everypony throughout Equestria and beyond had felt the emotion in the yell. But amidst all of the pain and heartbreak one other overpowering emotion could be felt.

Determination.

All of Equestria listened to her great scream as a new star was born in the sky. They watched as her magic soared upwards in a brilliant and unsurpassed spiral giving birth to the new sun. They stood by in awe and knew that they were not alone. The Princesses were gone, but Twilight Sparkle, most beloved student of Celestia, was there for them.

They somehow knew that Twilight would always be there for them.

Yes, it was not in the same way that they had loved Celestia, but Twilight knew that she was loved all the same. The guards next to her would give their lives to protect her. She suspected that some would give their lives to spare her heartache if they could. Even though their presence could be aggravating, they were a physical reminder of Equestria’s feelings. And on particularly bad days, their being there kept her from feeling lonely. Or at the very least, their presence kept her darkest emotions at bay.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, her two guards, and her four commanders walked down the great arched hallway of the military building, heading towards the exit. The steady rhythm of hooves on stone was the only sound that accompanied them. As they left the stone halls, the seven ponies were greeted by the dying light of sunset, and two more guard ponies joined up with their precession.

“Oh hay, I didn’t think we were in there that long. I was hoping to be able to get through some paperwork before the afternoon patrols launched.”

Twilight watched as all of her commanders muttered in agreement with Rainbow Dash. Twilight pondered the words in silence. The military ponies walking in front of her did not seem to think much about it, but her commanders were right. While they had indeed spent hours in the war room, they had not spent the entire day.

Her ability to track the passage of time had improved since becoming princess. At first the length of days had been erratic. Sometimes she would wake up early, start reading a book, and just forget to raise the sun. Luckily one of the magistrates had been intelligent enough to suggest appointing a royal timekeeper. A position was quickly created for a pony whose sole job would be to remind her when to set and raise the sun. Daily Vigil was one of the few ponies in Equestria who would interrupt her no matter what she was doing.

Twilight sighed as she saw the gray earth pony approaching. From a distance, Daily Vigil was a pony who looked much older than he actually was, but up close his serious expression would still give the impression of advanced age. His coat was gray and his mane was white despite only being thirty some-odd years of age. Vigil’s cutie mark, a gold pocket watch, matched the watch he was currently balancing on his hoof.
She ceased walking as she waited for Vigil to approach. Her guards instantly matched her change in movement. The commanders, each with important business to attend to, said their farewells and parted.

Even though her sense of time had improved to the point where she could practically imagine a clock in her mind- in fact, she had set aside space in her mental ponyville for just such an image- she was nowhere close to the point that she could do without Vigil. Obviously Twilight had become distracted during the meeting and had sped the sun up. It certainly was not as late as its low height would indicate. Daily Vigil was likely coming to reprimand her and inform her that she would need to hold the sun just above the horizon for hours to maintain the timetable. She did not look forward to the task.

Twilight was surprised when the pony spoke.

“Just a reminder your highness, sunset is in just a quarter hour. It seems like you are moving the sun just on schedule, but I just want to make sure you do not forget.”

The royal timekeeper spoke as if he was bored as he snapped his watch shut and tucked it back into his vest pocket.

“Daily Vigil, has the sun been moving smoothly all day? I’ve been indoors and unable to track its progress.”

“Why yes, your majesty. The sun has moved without a hitch. In fact if tomorrow goes well, we will have made it through the whole season without a hiccup. It will be a new record, I believe.”

That was interesting news. Twilight would have been willing to swear on the memory of her mentor that their meeting had concluded only a few hours after high noon. Yet, Daily Vigil was telling her that it was indeed nearly time for the sun to set. It was only a matter of a hooveful of hours, but she thought her sense of time had improved more than that.

“By the way Princess, you may wish to head to the throne room.” Vigil paused to clear his throat. “The Magisterium knew you were going to be indisposed for a good portion of the day in a protracted planning meeting, but you know how everypony gets when you are out of sight for too long.”

“Yes, thank you Vigil. I shall head there this instant. You’re helpful as always. Thank you - by the way - for helping me keep the sun so timely this season. If I have never mentioned it, you are just as skilled at this job as your father. I would've been lost without him reminding me when to wake up and go to sleep. The same holds true with you.”

As Twilight trotted towards the throne room leaving a beaming pony behind her, she contemplated the time disparity. It was as if time had passed slower in the meeting room than in the rest of Equestria.

Then she froze.

She replayed Rainbow Dash’s words in her mind, ‘You were glowing.’

Twilight had been thinking of the future, of the present, of time. They had apparently lost hours of their day - though the other ponies seemed to think nothing of it. She had begun casting magic without even realizing it. What had the magic been doing?

She had even felt the mental gears slip in her internal clock.

“Did I really...”

The unicorn let the words fade on her tongue. She would need to do some research. First, she would need a checklist of course. The Princess began walking again, but much more slowly this time. However, as she thought over the possibility of what might have happened, a smile was on her face.

Author's Note

This chapter was really tough to write. The reason being: I felt that there were a lot of different ways I could take this story after the first chapter. Really I would have liked to use that first chapter as the start to three to four different stories. Writing this chapter means the death of some of those stories - future possibilities that will never be.

Still, I hope people like it.

Once again, please give me any feedback, critical or otherwise.

Her Most Trusted Student

Chapter 3 - Her Most Trusted Student

“Mr. Whooves, I have-”

Twilight Sparkle jerked back when the brown earth pony interrupted her mid sentence with a single word. “Doctor.”

“Pardon me?”

As if suddenly realizing whom he was speaking with, the earth pony coughed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry your majesty, it’s just that it is Doctor Whooves. I received my doctorate in mechanical engineering from Trottingham University.”

“No need to apologize; it is I who should be sorry. You have every right to be proud of your title; Trottingham is an excellent place of study. I apologize for any disrespect done by my slip of memory.”

“Er, it's quite all right your majesty. I did not mean to...”

The brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark was blushing and shuffled his front hooves awkwardly. Ponies always seemed to get upset when she apologized to them. When it became apparent that he did not intend to finish his sentence, Twilight decided to move the audience forward.

“I have had you summoned here today because you are supposedly the best clock maker in all of Equestria. Is this correct?”
The nobles and other ponies in the throne room looked on curiously. Out of the corner of her eye she could see them staring at the pony in front of her. Some ponies were there because they had business to attended to, while others were there because it was a key place for important ponies to socialize, particularly while court was in recess. However, despite their reasons, many of them were wondering why the Princess had called in a clock maker.

“Er... I’m not sure if I’m the best, but I’m good, I suppose.”

Twilight smiled at the pony, trying to put him at ease. She understood how hard it was for some ponies to be the center of all the attention, with everypony staring and judging. She still found it hard herself.

“You are very modest, but I have heard nothing but the highest praise for your work. However, I would like to impose upon you a request. I want you to make me two clocks, each a twin of the other. You are to make them the most accurate clocks to have ever been dreamed. They need to surpass all other time keeping devices in accuracy. Given the passage of a hundred or even a thousand years, they will need to still be in perfect harmony.”

The room exploded in quiet whispers. She could make out the words on the edge of her hearing. The palace already had an accurate clock to assist the royal timekeeper. What need did the princess have for two ‘perfect’ clocks? Twilight suppressed a chuckle. They would probably be asking that question for years to come.

“That is a very difficult request your majesty.”

“But you can do it, no? It will be your magnum opus. It may take you years, and by the end you may curse me for making such a request. But I believe that you can do this. Any expense or tool that you need will be provided.” Twilight locked her gaze with the pony. “Will you do this? For Equestria?”

The clockmaker sighed.

“Very well your majesty. I shall do as you have requested. I will create the greatest two clocks ever fashioned, and they will keep perfect time with one another. With the cycle of a thousand days or a thousand years, they shall still tick ever onwards, never losing even a fraction of a second. But this work... You must understand that I cannot do such a task overnight.”

“I understand Doctor. I understand.”

+++

“Your majesty, how can you justify these expenses?”

Twilight calmly sipped her tea before looking up at the unicorn before her. If she was lucky the magistrate would become frustrated and decide to leave. Twilight did her best to suppress a yawn. She wanted to go to bed soon. The day had been a long one, and she was so very tired.

Lately, it seemed as if she was always tired, or least, more tired than usual. It was hard to remember when she had last been refreshed. She took another sip of the tea. It had been a gift from some visiting dignitaries, and Twilight desperately hoped the new blend would give her the energy to deal with the pony before her.

“Quite easily.”

She felt herself smiling as the unicorn began to splutter in exacerbation. Still, it was not right for her to take pleasure in the frustration of others. With a sigh, the Princess levitated her teacup over to her oak desk and set it down. The earlier hint of a smile disappeared from her face completely as she looked around the room for something that she could use to deflect the magistrate’s inquisition.

Her personal study was expansive and could easily be called a library. The bookshelves towered upwards, the highest of them accessible only by magic. The texts that were contained in her study were ordered in an extremely methodical and logical manner, one that only seemed to make sense to Twilight herself. It was where she preferred to meet with ponies when there were matters to be discussed one-on-one. The smell of paper and binding glue set her at ease and reminded her of happier times.

Where the walls were not covered with shelves hung paintings. Her favorite was one of a black and white alicorn flying through the sky painting it together. It had been an item she had “procured” from Princess Celestia’s old bedchamber. Unfortunately, her rapid visual inspection returned nothing that she could use to deflect the pony’s question.

“I am sorry that I can not explain in more detail Magistrate Blueblood. But let me reiterate that these expenses are vital to an important experiment I need to carry out. I believe I may have discovered a new field of magic, but without those clocks, the exploration of this field will be simply too exhausting on top of my regular duties. Unfortunately, there is no other pony in Equestria with the skill, power, or knowledge to pursue this. So, it is up to me,” said Twilight, as she leaned forward, emphasizing her words.

“But have you seen this material list?”

The white unicorn used his telekinesis to wave a ream of papers in her face, while she gently used her own magic to push them away. Blueblood never failed to be rude, obnoxious, or annoying. Usually, he managed all three at the same time. Unfortunately, there was no denying that he had incredible skill when it came to matters of the state.

The Magistrate of Finance knew his numbers.

“Yes, I have looked it over, just as I have looked over the budget. There is money in the treasury to spare. I know you wish to build up the royal reserve, but the bits can do more good if we put them to use.” Twilight paused to take another sip of her tea. “Doctor Whooves is an expert craftspony, and if he says he requires what is on that list - then that is what he requires. Honestly, I was actually surprised that the amount he is requesting was not greater.”

Magistrate - formerly Prince - Blueblood slammed the papers on her desk breaking a quill and causing her tea to spill in the process.

“This is worse than that stupid school you insisted we build. When the rest of the Magisterium sees how much money you are putting into this pointless experiment of yours they’ll-”

Twilight stood up to her full height, silencing the pony. Briefly she wondered if she had undergone another growth spurt. She would need to ask Rainbow Dash. However, her mind returned to Blueblood so quickly, she never fully recognized the other thought. The Princess towered over the unicorn now trembling before her. Rage smoldered in Twilight’s eyes, and a cold wind whipped through her study causing papers and parchment to blow about.

Blueblood had stepped too far.

“They will do nothing. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. It is by my will that the sun rises in the morn and sets in the eve, and it is I who holds the darkness at bay. I am the ruler of this land, and my word is law. Do not forget that. Never forget that.”

She could see the fear in the pony’s eyes. His pupils dilated, and his knees seemed to be trembling. She did not know if it was her words or her stature. Perhaps it was something else entirely. However, some part of her was thrilled at his reaction.

“I have told you that these clocks are vital to my studies - studies that may be vital to Equestria’s future. If you cannot accept that, then perhaps you are not fit for your duties. I suggest you reflect on that. Oh, and Blueblood, if I ever hear you speak ill about the school for disadvantaged fillies and colts again, I will see you replaced. You’re dismissed.”

Twilight collapsed back onto her cushion the moment the magistrate had scampered out of the door. The wind that had been blowing a moment before vanished.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at him like that.”

With a heavy sigh she began to clean up the spilled tea as she used her magic to levitate a new quill over. She would need to write a letter of apology. The pony had just been doing his job, and she had exploded at him. She would explain in her letter once again why the clocks were important. Twilight did not want to say too much about her reasoning, not until she knew for sure, but she would try and make him understand.

She should not have yelled - but it had felt good.

Twilight took the remaining anger she felt towards Blueblood and tried to banish it from her mind. She was in the center of Ponyville herding the negative emotions towards the Everfree Forest where they would no longer be able to bother her. As she ran around the emotions, visualized as a ball of parasprites, she tried to imagine Applejack’s trademark hat on her head, but grunted in frustration. She realized that despite how many times she had been forced to stare at that old hat, she could not properly recall what it looked like. Luckily, the hat was not important, and soon the streets of Ponyville, of her mind, were clear.

The anger was gone.

But it was distressing just how satisfying it had felt to rage at the pony. Even worse was the pleasure she had felt at seeing the fear in his eyes. She was a good pony. Good ponies did not delight in the discomfort of others.

The lavender unicorn felt herself crying.

Was it Blueblood’s comment about the school that had set her off?

Long ago, on a night when Pinkie Pie had been unusually serious, she had shared something very special with Twilight Sparkle. The element of laughter had told the librarian about her cousin who had been born blind - her cousin who had wanted nothing more than to study music, but had been unable to pursue her special gift. Their family had been too poor to afford sending their daughter to a specialized music school. What money they had, went towards treating the condition that had caused their daughter’s blindness.

So little Pinkie had made a promise to her cousin Sonatia. It was a silly promise made from one foal to another. Pinkie Pie would someday make a school where ponies could come and study advanced things like music, even if they did not have the money to afford the tuition - even if they could not see. Pinkie would make that school and Sonatia would then attend it.

Pinkie Pie had never been able to keep her promise. Later that year Sonatia had passed away from her condition. The promise the pink earth pony had made died along with her cousin. The normally humorous pony had told Twilight that she still felt bad about never fulfilling the promise, but then she laughed saying that she had been a silly little filly. After all, it was like the kind of promise two young foals might make when they naively say they will marry one another when they grow up.

Twilight was never fully convinced that Pinkie Pie had believed her own words.

The event did have a profound effect on the pink pony, however. While Sonatia had been in the hospital for those final months, Pinkie would visit every day. The earth pony would do all she could to cheer up her sick cousin, but it would never be with a smile on her face. How could she smile when a pony was in a hospital? Then one day her cousin's room was empty. Eight months later, the pink pony would be inspired by a sonic rainboom and finally learn the true value of a smile.

“Smiles can always help.”

After the pony had finished her story, Twilight did not think much of it. However, later that same year the element of laughter, one of the happiest ponies in all of Equestria, died before Twilight’s eyes. She could still remember cradling her friends shattered body as she watched Celestia and Luna fight the horrible creature in the sky.

The death had been quick. That was the only mercy. For the first time in her entire life, Twilight had felt hatred. She had been torn between watching the battle and gazing down at her departed friend. The lavender unicorn had only been able to settle on looking upwards because of a desire to see justice be done.

And then she saw Luna fall from the sky.

Then she saw her world end.

With a start, Twilight realized that she was sobbing into her hooves. She had not let herself shed tears over that horrible night in so long. Yet, once again, she was crying over her loss. So much had been lost in a single afternoon, but she would have hoped that in nearly half a century the pain would have begun to fade.

Unfortunately, it still stung as badly as ever. Was she really so horrible of a pony that she could only focus on her own suffering? In vain she tried to suppress her tears, tried to shoo them into the Everfree of her mind. But all of her sadness just kept scattering and reforming.

For Celestia, she had taken up the mantle of ruler of Equestria. For Luna, Twilight had ensured that the arts and music the Princess of the Night appreciated so much would always have funding. For Pinkie Pie...

For her departed friend she had opened the school that the earth pony had once promised to create. Under Celestia’s rule there had been scholarships and other policies to help the disadvantaged, but sometimes it had been not enough. Of course, nothing she did was ever enough.

Twilight quickly dried her eyes as a knock sounded against her door. A guard poked his head in, and she appreciated the fact that he ignored the puffiness in her eyes. She knew that the guard had heard her sobs. She also knew that her guards would never spread word of such a thing outside of the palace staff. Still, if past experience was anything to go on, the palace’s head chef would just so happen to decide to prepare her favorite dessert tonight. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if she was taking care of her ponies or if it was actually the other way around.

“Princess, Moon Dreamer is here to see you.”

And suddenly a real smile was on Twilight’s face.

“Please send him in.”

A yellow unicorn colt trotted into her study. No - that was not right. Moon Dreamer was no longer just a colt. He had grown into a young stallion. The pony bowed enthusiastically in front of her desk as his orange mane flopped into his face.

“My most trusted student...”

The words, as always, brought with them a torrent of memories. Her heart ached for those words to be addressed to her, rather than by her, once again. When spoken by Twilight, the phrase meant something different than when Celestia had said it. The words were not as strong and lacked some of their deeper meaning. Still, the new princess did speak with affection. With yet another sigh, she pushed the thoughts of Celestia aside for the time being.

“It seems you need your mane trimmed once again.”

The yellow stallion chuckled nervously. His grooming was usually subpar, and Moon Dreamer would often forget to take care of himself. Twilight would do her best to offer him gentle reminders, but she supposed what her student really need was an assistant. Rainbow Dash had once said that Moon Dreamer reminded her of somepony she had once known back in Ponyville. However, when Twilight had asked her who it was, the pegasus would just laugh.

“Err... I suppose you’re right, your majesty. But I wanted to show you this right away. I finished my calculations about the harmonic fields. You were absolutely correct. I would have asked a messenger to deliver my notes to you, but I wanted to hoof deliver them so I could get your feedback right away - um... I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Twilight shook her head.

"No, it’s quite alright. I am interested to hear what you’ve found."

The younger pony eagerly ripped some papers out of his saddlebag and levitated them over to his teacher.

Twilight had been touring the newest wing of the magical academy when she had first sensed him. A young colt was walking away from the school with his head held low. The princess had asked her guide about the pony, and was told that it was probably a unicorn that had failed his entrance exam. The presence of two older ponies, one of whom Twilight thought she recognized, trying to cheer up the colt reinforced her guide’s suspicions.

It was not surprising that Moon Dreamer had failed his exam or that his testers had failed to notice his potential. His power was buried deep inside of him, deeper than she had ever sensed in anypony before. Twilight doubted if anypony alive, other than herself, would have been able to feel it out. But it was there, and it was immense. She practically lived and breathed magic, and to her it shone like a beacon.

She had asked him if he would like to become her personal student. He had said ‘yes’ of course. Two years later, he had his cutie mark: an image of her own tiara. Moon Dreamer had told her in front of court that his purpose was to serve the crown of Equestria to the greatest of his abilities.

Twilight did not remember if she had ever been so embarrassed.

It had been a struggle to bring out his power. She had never properly taught a pony before, and she had started with a particularly challenging one. However, after fifteen years she had transformed him into one of the most capable unicorns in Equestria.

Unfortunately, he had fallen far short of her expectations.

When Twilight had first sensed the magic in the colt, she had believed she had found another pony like herself. It had been her hope that one day her student would reach the point where his magic would allow him to transcend his mortal trappings. The Princess had briefly thought she had found a unicorn who might give birth to the stars and the moon.

Twilight had begun to wonder if there had ever been a biological relationship between Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Perhaps they had been more 'sisters' in spirit, united by a common will. She desperately wanted to know if the two princesses had been raised together, or if they had been strangers brought together by the common affliction of immortality. The unicorn had dreamed that someday Moon Dreamer would be Prince Moon Dreamer, younger brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle. In her wild imagination she would address him as 'little brother' as he would prepare to raise the moon to herald the night.

She had been very, very wrong.

Moon Dreamer was powerful, there was no doubt about that. However, his strength was not anywhere near a fraction of what he would need to forge a new moon in the night sky. She also suspected that he would never have the will or strength of character required to begin the same metamorphosis she was undergoing. Even if he had been powerful enough to create a new moon, it would die with him when his mortal life ended. Twilight Sparkle had vowed to never tell her student how disappointed she felt when she realized her dream would never be a reality.

It was not his fault. She had been overly eager and naively hopeful.

However, she still wondered if she would ever find her own Luna, and if she did, how many lifetimes it would take.

Despite the fact that he had fallen short of her expectations, she had recognized that Moon Dreamer could be of great aid to Equestria if properly trained. Twilight had also grown somewhat attached to the pony before she realized his limitations. He reminded her of Applejack's colt when he had been younger. In the end, she had kept Dreamer on as a student.

It had been the right decision.

Looking back, the Princess of the Fading Sun was happy with her choice. It was nice having a young pony looking up to her, and she imagined it must be a bit like what it felt like to be a parent. She had not participated in raising him in the same way that Celestia had stepped into her life, but she had played an important role throughout his youth. Having trusted students might be the closest she would ever get to having a foal of her own. Twilight wondered if Celestia had felt the same way. She often wondered what exactly she had been to the Princess, and she remembered the alicorn’s final words. She thought she knew, but Twilight could never know without a doubt.

Equestria’s ruler looked over the documents that had been presented to her, and the two magic users proceeded to talk excitedly for what seemed like hours. Her earlier sadness was mostly forgotten in the rush of discussing magical discoveries.

Moon Dreamer may not have been the panacea that Twilight had been hoping for, but in the end, he could still bring about Equestria’s salvation. He had a particular talent for the creation of magical constructs. She was quite fond of some of the magical knick-knacks he had created, and they had special places in her study. However, as her student had aged, he had moved onto more practical creations. Two years prior he had invented magical orbs that could collect and store energy using the rays of light from her sun. They could then slowly release the energy throughout the night, and now his light orbs were beginning to be used throughout Equestria.

However, for the last two years, Twilight’s military council had been keeping Moon Dreamer mostly tied up in “special projects.” She thought it was a waste of his creativity, but could not deny that some of the refinements he had made on armor and weapon enchantments had been quite clever. Simply coming up with a way to reinforce armor with five percent less effort could have a huge impact over the years.

His work with in the Academy’s labs meant that she did not see him as much as she once did, but they did their best to continue their lessons. At times she felt bad about filling his afternoons up with extra assignments and work, but in the end Moon Dreamer loved learning and would have it no other way. Besides, she had hopes that some of his “extra credit” work might end up leading to big advances.

It was nearly a year ago that he approached her with ideas for a magical amplification matrix. Such a thing was nothing unheard of, but the scale on which he had imagined his creation had never been attempted. She doubted his research would come to anything, but she had given her consent for him to explore it in his free time. He had been working on it off-and-on-again late at night ever since.

Now, looking over the papers he had brought her, it seemed like her student could actually be onto something. The equations were enormously complex and were difficult to follow. Luckily Twilight was old friends with magical theory, and she quickly absorbed the information. The rough calculations showed it would take tremendous power; Twilight would not be surprised if the only pony other than herself capable of pulling it of was Moon Dreamer himself. Even then, the project would take years to finish.

“My most faithful student...” Again the memories came. “I would like you to put aside all of your other studies to focus on this. If we can solve the rest of these equations it might just be possible to create this amplification matrix. We can bring in some of the mathematicians from Canterlot University to speed things along. They won’t be able to assist with the actual construction, but with the theory level planning they can definitely be of help.”

“So you think it can work?”

Twilight could see the excitement in her student’s eyes. She could not help but feel the same emotion, even if it meant risking disappointment later down the road.

“I think it is a definite possibility. I’m not convinced one hundred percent, but I’m getting there.” Twilight hoped her smile was inspiring.

“However, you need to be aware of something Moon Dreamer. I will not be able to help you with anything beyond the research and planning if it turns out that your idea will actually work. You and you alone will need to do this.”

“Princess, I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you want to help me craft the amplification matrix? With your magic you could do this in a fraction of the time it would take me.”

“It is not a matter of what I want, I’m afraid. The construction would be far too taxing, and I fear I would not be able to participate in the effort along with maintaining the sun.” In a split second she had made a decision. Twilight sighed with the thought of what she was planned to reveal to her student.

“What I am about to share with you, only a few others know, and I expect you to keep it in confidence. I dare not risk allowing the sun to flicker out. Doing so would require a herculean effort on my part to reignite it. Every action I take is with the knowledge that if I push myself too hard, it could doom Equestria.”

“How is reigniting the sun any different than simply keeping it burning?”

“It is the same difference between a doctor resurrecting a pony and simply keeping a pony alive. It is easier to fan an existing flame than it is to start a new one. The original effort to create the sun nearly killed me.

“However, I have slowly been able to make the sun brighter over the years. Its flames grow hotter with each passing day. As time goes on, so do I grow stronger. But even still, it is not enough. This world is growing colder faster than I can heat it. Equestria is bleeding away centuries of stored heat, and I am racing to fan the flames of my sun before Equestria dies.

“The winters grow longer, and the harvests are becoming smaller and smaller. Given enough time the sun will stave off the growing cold and bring warm light back to the land, but what good is that if everypony dies in the meantime.

“My biggest fear is that I will not be able to grow strong enough fast enough. Your amplification matrix could banish that fear. It would have a large enough capacity that even my power would not overwhelm it as it would a smaller amplifier. I could use your construction to make the sun blaze brightly once again and bring light to the night. However, I dare not endanger what I have accomplished so far on a gamble. If the sun goes out, even if I reignite it, it could set the sun’s growth back nearly half a century. I would need to begin heating it from cold embers once again. While my strength is greater than it once was, it would still take a great deal of time to get it back to where it is today. Even if it only took me twenty years to return the sun to today's strength, that could be what makes the difference between a frozen wasteland and a lush paradise.”

Twilight paused to ensure eye contact with the other pony.

“Do you understand, my student?”

Moon Dreamer's eyes were wide with comprehension and shock. He had been rapt with attention while she had spoken. Slowly, her student nodded his head, but then looked down at the ground, breaking away from her gaze. For a moment, Twilight thought she had upset him until he looked back up. There was steely determination in his eyes.

“I’ll do it Princess. Don’t you worry. I will construct my limitless amplification matrix. Then you can use it to restore prosperity to Equestria. I won’t fail you.”

Twilight smiled as Moon Dreamer nodded his head in agreement with his own words. There was always hope. As long as her ponies were willing to fight for a brighter future, Equestria would march on.

As she glanced back down at her table, her eyes caught the papers Blueblood had slammed onto her workspace. On the front page was a lovingly detailed sketch of the inner working of two clocks. The two sketches were side-by-side and identical down to the smallest detail. If Moon Dancer’s theories on large-scale magical harmonics were correct, perhaps she would not need the timepieces. However, as her student continued to ramble about his plans for his project, Twilight could not help but remember Rainbow Dash’s words earlier in the week.

“You were glowing.”

Author's Note

From everything I have written of this story so far, I am least happy with the part about Pinkie Pie in this chapter. I must have rewritten in half a dozen times and I still don't like it.

Rewrite posted 1/1/15

Even after rewriting it, I couldn't improve on the parts I didn't like in this chapter. Perhaps I will come back to it some time later.

Remembrance of the Past

Chapter 4 - Remembrance of the Past

“Your majesty. It’s time to wake up... You need to raise the sun in fifteen minutes.”

Twilight raised her head in confusion. She was not in her bed, but instead was lying on cold rough stone. Rather than a ceiling above her head, it was the black, empty night sky.

She was outside.

She was in the castle gardens.

She had returned to that place once again.

Craning her head, Twilight could see that she had slept curled up next to the largest statue in the Canterlot gardens. Towering above her was a sculpture of two alicorns twisting around one another. One was carved of smooth marble, the other of rough-hewn obsidian. It was a memorial marking the location of Equestria’s greatest tragedy. The obsidian form was in the likeness of Princess Luna, while the other...

About once a week Twilight would wake up to find that she had slept outside. Instinctively, her unconscious mind would bring her there when she was feeling particular afraid or alone. She missed Celestia.

Daily Vigil stood besides her with a particularly unhappy look on his face, and every few seconds his feet would shift in agitation. She could see some guards near the edge of the memorial’s clearing watching over her, and near the entrance to the memorial’s plaza Rainbow Dash was waiting. If her friend had been waiting for her to wake up, the mare likely had something important to discuss with her.

Twilight never overheard the palace staff discussing her choice of sleeping locations. The guards along the hedges were vigilant in their watch, but they behaved no differently than if she was sleeping in her bedchambers. None of the ponies there seemed particularly judgmental about her habit to sleep under her empty sky, but she doubted if any of them other than Rainbow Dash understood. After all, most of the staff and guards had been born after Celestia’s death.

Some of the older members of the palace staff remembered the way in which the little filly that the Princess had taken on a student would trot after Princess Celestia. In their mind their new princess was still just the most beloved of Celestia’s students. They understood why Twilight would sleep next to her mentor’s statue, or at the very least they did not seem confused by it.

Really, she was still that same little filly, except that now she had lost her most important pony. When the older staff members looked at her, it was not just with acceptance of their lavender princess's eccentricities. They looked at her with understanding and sympathy. That meant a lot to Twilight. Unfortunately, with each year there were fewer and fewer ponies in the palace that had been around when she had been a student of Princess Celestia. Most had either retired or passed away.

Twilight slowly rose to her hooves as she remembered why she had come to sleep by Celestia’s side. The dream had plagued her once again.

“I’m so sorry. Celestia, Princess Luna... Pinkie Pie. I want you to understand how sorry I am. I didn’t want to do it, but... You can’t fight destiny. It’s already happened, so I don’t have a choice. I’m sorry, but I need to kill you.”

Pinkie did not even have time to scream.

The dark purple monster that they had first mistaken for an alicorn shot towards the two shocked princess after having crushed the pink earth pony in its telekinetic grip.

At first Twilight had thought it was Nightmare Moon. Its ethereal mane flowed around it protecting it from the blasts the sisters sent its way. However, its mane was not like the night or filled with stars and wonder. Where as Nightmare Moon had almost been a thing of beauty, this creature was just wrong.

Wrong.

WRONG.

The more she saw it, the more she realized it was far from an alicorn. It had a horn and wings. It had a tail and mane. But it was something almost alien. Its limbs seemed to bend too many times and in all the wrong places at strange twisting angles. It’s entire body was emaciated skeleton.

The purple of its coat stretched across bone was nearly black. Its mane was composed of deep violet living flames. Though the mane danced like fire, it did not emit any light. Its color was so dark as to almost be black. If Twilight stared too long, it would seem to absorb all the light around it. Its flank lacked a cutie mark; it was a being without purpose. Its very existence caused the world to cry out in pain. The monster’s wings seemed to burn away as she watched, but they were constantly renewed by some magical force. The entire creature was aflame. But the fire did not consume it. The fire was something else.

It was not a creature of the night as Luna was and had been. The night was beautiful and filled with wonder and a light all its own. This was a creature of the darkness. It was the absence of light - the absence of good.

It was nothing.

Words were exchanged in the battle. Twilight, consumed with her dead friend, only caught some of them.

“Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you. It's been lonely. But... I suppose you haven’t had a chance to miss me yet.”

“Sister, it’s absorbing our magic.”

“What are you?”

“I’m glad to see you again.”

“We must draw it away from the city.”

“I'd forgotten how serious you can be, Celestia.”

“Watch out!”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Not everything can be nice and ordered. This bit of chaos was preordained.”

“Stop this before anypony else gets hurt.”

“I’m sorry; I can’t cheat. Even I need to follow the rules. I didn’t make this game.”

“Who are you?”

“I know nopony will forgive me, but I am sorry.”

“Luna!”

The beast’s horn shot out a brilliant spiral of energy and Twilight heard her mentor’s wail tear through the air. Twilight was confused when she saw that her teacher appeared to be fine, but then she discovered why the Princess had yelled. In the afterglow of the spiral beam of energy, Luna’s body plummeted to the ground, disintegrating as it fell. Ash sprinkled around Twilight as she clutched at her dead friend.

She wanted to help the Princess. She wanted to stop the nightmare. But one thing prevented her from moving. The creature’s eyes. Despite the ‘wrongness’ of the creature Twilight had understood something when she had looked into its eyes.

It had been telling the truth.

The monster had not wanted to kill Pinkie or Princess Luna.

But it had.

And it had said it was going to kill Princess Celestia.

In sudden realization Twilight dropped the corpse of her friend and bolted to her hooves. As she stood the ashes of Luna fell from her mane. She had finally decided to act, but her decision had come too late.

A bolt of unholy fire streaked upwards towards the Princess of the Sun. The creature had turned its entire being into a projectile with one purpose. Twilight’s hoof reached out in a feeble gesture. Twilight did not know what to do. In her mind she screamed for the Princess to live. Time seemed to freeze as the arrow of fire hit her teacher’s chest. For a whole second the Princess and the creature seemed frozen in the air. Twilight gasped and blinked, and suddenly time was moving again. The creature was on the other side of Celestia, having pierced through the ruler of Equestria.

And Twilight’s most important pony was falling.

Then Twilight was holding her teacher. She must have used magic to catch the Princess, but she did not remember doing so. There was blood everywhere. The Princess’s eyes were closed and Twilight could not tell if her teacher was breathing.

Twilight looked up in desperation, wishing for some pony that could help. All around her Canterlot was in flames. Unfortunately, the dancing orange glow was now the only source of light. For the sun had exploded in a brilliant flash of light the moment the creature had struck its blow against the Princess. The image had burned itself onto the back of her eyes, but the light had already faded from the sky.

Vaguely she was aware of ponies screaming in the distance. The fallout of the battle had leveled great swaths of the city. The lavender unicorn could not begin to guess what the death toll must be; however, she did not spare the rest of Canterlot a moment’s thought. At the moment Twilight’s world was confined to the pony she desperately tried to cradle against herself.

Her ears twitched, and Twilight looked up when she heard something landing in front of her. The twisted mockery of an alicorn was standing there looking at her with something akin to pity in its bizarre eyes. Its limbs were misshapen and malformed. It was not a pony; it was a monster. Its razor sharp rows of teeth glinted as it spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

And Twilight knew that it was sorry. She could feel the emotion pouring off the monster. Guilt and sadness nearly overwhelmed her. Then Twilight felt a door open in her mind as something came through. The door was something familiar. She had felt it sliding open minutes before the attack.

She felt the flames of a furnace and the fire of the sun.

Twilight pushed back and slammed the door shut.

The creature spoke again.

“I am sorry.”

Then she felt it - deep in her heart. It was greater than anything she had ever felt before - greater than the power of friendship. Twilight felt infinite rage.

She spoke one word.

“No.”

She denied the thing’s existence. For the first time in her life, Twilight turned her magic to harm another being. She tightly twisted the fabric of reality, and then she pulled. Gone was the monster. She had erased all trace of the creature from reality. The only remnant was the physical reminders of the sins it had committed.

In uttering that single word she destroyed any chance of making sense of that horrible night. There would be nopony to question, no remains to study. Not even a hint of magical residue remained. She had not cared that she would never know who or what the monster was; she had only been concerned with her all consuming anger.

Unfortunately, as years marched on, she would always wonder where the thing had come from. She would never shake the feeling that it had been somewhat familiar.

The thing that had destroyed her life in an instant was there one moment, and in the next it was gone. Her magic had worked beyond question. She had twisted existence at a fundamental level and removed it from reality. She felt the universe slowly smoothing out as the natural order was restored. The thing had been a snarl in existence.

But then Twilight was alone with just the rage. Killing the creature - she had killed another living thing - had brought her no solace. In fact she could not help but feel that she had done something horribly wrong. She was supposed to be a good pony, but she had just killed. Did it matter that the thing was a monster, that the thing had killed-

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a cough coming from the form that even still, she cradled, and her heart burst with hope. Celestia was alive.

Her mentor was smiling up at her with tears filling her eyes. If Twilight did not know any better she looked happy, perhaps even content. But Twilight could see that Princess Celestia’s horn and wings seemed to be disintegrating and floating away on motes of light, glittering shards of sunshine evaporating into the air. Slowly the glow was moving towards the Princess’s body.

“Princess Celestia-”

Her voice cracked, as all she could do was hold back her own tears. She wanted to see her Princess clearly.

“Twilight Sparkle...”

The voice was weak, so Twilight lowered her head closer to her teacher’s muzzle in order that she could better hear her mentor. It would also keep the Princess from seeing how upset Twilight was. She needed to be strong for the Princess.

It was then that Princess Celestia spoke her final words to her most faithful student.

“I said you need to raise the sun in fifteen - now fourteen - minutes. If you are not prepared we might fall behind schedule. With the planting season upon us, that would make the Council of Farms most upset.”

The words of Daily Vigil broke the princess from her memories.

Twilight looked at the pony, with a slight blush across her snout as she rose. Using just the slightest hint of magic she dusted herself off even though it was unnecessary. When the gardeners had realized that their princess would insist on sleeping near the statue, they had taken to sweeping the area around it on a nightly basis. Twilight suspected that they were even washing down the part of the stone walkway directly underneath the statue.

She had never been a morning pony, but with her new responsibilities the mornings were the best moment of the day. Right when she would wake up was when she felt the most refreshed. The magic required to power the sun had not yet taken its toll on her, and the responsibilities she would need to deal with still seemed far away. Still, she never could wake up feeling completely refreshed. Even once the sun set on Equestria, Twilight needed to maintain it. As she had explained to Moon Dreamer, she could not afford to let it be extinguished. Even if she could light and extinguish her sun at will, the lands beyond Equestria needed sunlight just as much as her own ponies did.

As long as she moved the sun smoothly across Equestria’s sky during the day it would generally swing around the other side of the world without too much trouble while she slept. Occasionally when she had a particularly bad dream, it would get caught up opposite the world from Equestria. When that happened, she would need to hurry to get it in place for sunrise, and her sun would streak across the sky of those distant lands. It meant that some other nations would sometimes get more or less light than they should, but it was important to maintain the schedule.

Ponies used the sun’s movement to measure the passage of days. Equestria’s sunrise and sunset were how she made sure the sun maintained something at least roughly equivalent to the schedule it was supposed to have. But more importantly, Twilight had also learned the hard way that if she allowed the sun to get too far out of place it would become harder to maintain the spell.

Her sun could be a finicky thing.

Her magic knew where the sun should be and Twilight lacked the self-control to deny her own magic. The sun itself seemed to have a natural desire to cut a steady path across the sky. However, her sun was simply too young and immature to be able to do so reliably. The unicorn did not know if she could stop the sun’s passage for long even if she tried her hardest. At least she did not think she could do so without damaging the spell she had used to make the sun, and Twilight could never risk allowing it to come to harm. Equestria depended on it.

So some corner of her mind was always occupied with trying to keep the sun where it wanted to be and where the spell expected it to be. Even when she slept that part of her brain was still busy, still drawing from her vast reservoir of magic to fuel the spell.

The Golden Oaks Library in her mind had many sub-basements that she found herself wandering down. The trick of creating a mental image to organize, or “memory palace” as Princess Celestia had called it, had been one she had never seen the point of when she had been younger. However, after becoming the Equestria’s ruler, she found herself having to memorize the names, faces, and other random trivia about more ponies than she could count. Then there were the massive tomes of law and various legal codes. Every week agricultural and economic reports would cross over her desk. Having instant recall of the information had proven invaluable on numerous occasions.

But all that information needed to be sorted if Twilight was to have a hope of remembering any of it. Twilight had been reading a book that mentioned the technique, though it called it the "method of loci" and Twilight remembered the lesson Princess Celestia had tried to teach her. So she had constructed an imaginary Ponyville in her mind. She found associating the memories with a physical location that she knew well really did make the recall easier. If she wandered to Sweet Apple Acres she would find agricultural reports and crop yield numbers sprouting from the trees. Rainbow Dash’s house was filled with weather reports; Raritiy's show room held cultural reports sewn together into dresses. Every location she was familiar with had associated facts and memories.

A newsstand was in the central square staffed by a Twilight wearing a vest and one of those funny little hats. The headlines of the papers sold there showed important stimuli that she sometimes ignored while deep in thought. "Daily Vigil is waiting" the papers read.

Of course, despite the stretch of time she had spent in the actual Ponyville, reconstructing most of the village was beyond her. She had spent a large amount of time in a hooffull of locations, but was only passingly familiar with most of Ponyville. So there existed a barracks on Main Street in her mind, even though she knew no such building existed in the real Ponyville. She had modeled it after the barracks Rainbow Dash had stayed in while in basic training. Twilight would find troop distributions and military reports in there. Her imaginary Ponyville was dotted with locations born from or modified by her imagination.

On one of the lowest levels of the Golden Oaks Library, which she acknowledged was disproportionately large, was a room filled with a giant furnace. When she peaked her head through the door she could see another Twilight Sparkle shoveling coal from the floor into the roaring flame. That other Twilight turned and smiled at her with a soot covered snout before resuming her shoveling. That Twilight never said anything and never complained, despite working around the clock. Over the years she had become very good at keeping the stream of energy into the furnace steady.

Even though the coal pile seemed endless this early in the morning, Twilight knew that by days end, there would only be a small pile remaining. Luckily the sweet release of sleep would open up the chute and restore her magical reserves. Twilight, the Twilight that was her full awareness, walked away from the room that contained the part of her mind dedicated to keeping the sun burning and went down another layer.

Here she heard the clicking and grinding of gears. The room was stylized after the Chamber of the Sun, a room in the palace designed to align with the sun on the solstices and equinoxes. In the center of the room was a large orrery surrounded by a dozen Twilights taking detailed measurements and passing around clipboards.

The orrery was a large model of the planet and sun, powered and timed by a system of gears. Its center was the rotating planet, and attached to a rod was a model of the sun orbiting around it. Another rod stuck out, but was conspicuously missing any model atop of it.
Once Twilight had realized that the moon had helped balance the Sun-planet system, she was always aware of its absence. There was a hole where the moon would fit perfectly and help stabilize the movement of the sun. Night and day, one was not to exist without the other. Unfortunately the orrery would need to wait until she was strong enough to restore the moon alongside the sun.

Here her mind controlled the part of her grand spell that regulated the sun’s position. Like the furnace above, it was part of her that never truly slept. Unlike the furnace, it was not nearly as good at its job. Twilight sighed as she saw that sun was not in position to make sunrise on time. All of the other Twilights in the room looked at her bashfully.

“Crank ‘er up girls.”

The thousands of gears began spinning faster and the orrery’s rotation sped up. A few more measurements insured the sun would hit rise at the appropriate moment. Twilight knew that if she went back up to the furnace room, the pile of coal would be measurably smaller.
Ultimately the visualization was not really necessary. Perhaps when she had lived many lifetimes, it would become the only way for her to organize her thoughts, but for now, she recognized it as a flight of fancy. However, as a meditation technique it did seem to help her focus, and the trip through the mental Ponyville took virtually no time. So over the years, she had allowed her version of the “memory palace” to grow larger and more elaborate.

She was truly thankful that those corners of her mind dedicated to the sun were able to do their work with little conscious effort. However, Twilight just wished that corner of her mind was a bit better at its job. If those Twilights in the orrery chamber were more watchful, perhaps Daily Vigil would not be looking at her with such a grumpy face.

“Thank you for the wake up call, Vigil. It looks like Captain Commander Rainbow Dash wishes to have a word with me, but if you could please let me know when it is time to raise the sun, it would be most appreciated.”

Twilight then trotted towards her old friend. They exchanged greetings, with Rainbow Dash once again being stiffly formal, and she soon found herself walking through the gardens with her Captain of the Guard. Their way was lit by magically powered lamps, variants of Moon Dreamer’s light orbs, spaced throughout the winding paths of plants.

“So what’s had Vigil so grumpy for this past week anyways? I hear he’s been waking you up an hour early each morning for sunset. He was going to do the same thing today, but I managed to get you an extra quarter hour.”

Twilight looked back behind them towards where the gray and white earth pony was trailing them along with her guards. Rainbow Dash had spoken quietly enough so that her voice had probably not carried.

“Oh that? Well do you remember last week when our planning meeting went over and we ended up being stuck in it nearly the whole day? Well after dealing with the magistrates, I ended up staying up late studying.” Twilight ignored the snort that came from her friend as she continued her story, “Well long story short I accidentally slept through the scheduled sunrise the next day, and unfortunately, the sun had slowed down while I was sleeping. Sooooo it didn’t come up on time. I found out Vigil had been trying to get me to wake up for nearly five minutes before I finally got out of bed.”

“So what? It’s not like you’ve missed a sunrise before. You’re still getting a hang of this whole sun thing.”

“Yea well, I had been perfectly on time every day of winter. Even that day we had to deal with that fire in Hoofingham and I slept the entire day afterwards. I had been able to maintain proper pacing in my sleep then, even though I was completely exhausted. Daily Vigil had been planning on having a party arranged to celebrate my first season - ever - of being on time.” Twilight paused to ensure that Rainbow Dash was following along.

“However, that morning last week was technically the last day of winter. So now we need to ‘start all over with spring,’ according to Vigil.” When Twilight saw the frown on her friend’s face, she hastened to add, “He’s just doing his job, and I would like to actually make it through a whole season without messing up...” Twilight’s words trailed off as she looked down at the ground in contemplation of her own failure.

“Well I suppose if I was waking up to that face every morning, I wouldn’t be complaining too much either.” As she spoke Dash gave Twilight a gentle nudge in the side.

“What?”

“I’m just saying Vigil’s a pretty handsome stallion. If he wasn’t half my age, well...”

“Rainbow!”

Twilight turned her head to prevent her chief commander from seeing the blush on her face. She knew that if Dash looked her in the eyes, her friend would know that Twilight had contemplated very similar thoughts in the past.

It was always awkward.

Some thirty years ago a noble unicorn had spent some time courting her. It had been all the talk in the courts. As she remembered the pony, her blush intensified. Twilight had been very flattered, and the pony had been very dashing. However, in the end she had to refuse his advances. It was with a heavy heart that Twilight had informed him that her duties left her no room or time for romance. Luckily, Stone Edge got over her and found a much more deserving mare to have a family with. Twilight was glad she was now able to call the stallion her friend, but it had been a chaotic time in her live. Even though the fiasco had caused her to realize that her responsibilities meant she would never have that certain special pony in her life, it did not mean, however, that she did not fantasize.

Still as the years passed things had gotten quite absurd. Every now and then some young noble pony would try and flirt with her at a gala or ask her to dance. Of course it was not the same type of flirting that ponies in Ponyville, for example, would partake in. It was all befitting of the courts and their status as nobles and her status as princess. It was almost always tasteful, and when it was not the offending pony generally found himself - or herself in one particularly embarrassing instance - challenged to a duel by some other pony leaping to defend their Princess’s honor. The older nobility understood her celibacy, but each generation seemed to need to give a shot at wooing their princess.

Because she still possessed the body and form of a young mare in her early twenties, they would often forget that in actuality she was approaching her seventieth birthday. And of course, whenever she found herself appreciating the appearance of any of those young stallion callers, she would end up feeling like a dirty old mare. However, no matter how handsome any of the stallions were, they would never match a certain somepony that she would always remember.

She wondered if she would still be dealing with these emotions in a hundred years. They seemed so base and primitive. At least now she could date a pony her own age if she really wanted to. In a few more decades that would be impossible. Even though her body did not seem like it was going to age, maybe her libido would eventually fade away. Twilight remembered occasionally seeing ponies try to flirt with Princess Celestia, and she wondered how her mentor had dealt with these issues and feelings.

It did not help that one of the few things Rainbow Dash was willing to blatantly discard protocol for was merciless teasing on the matter.

“Daily Vigil is married and you know that.” Twilight did the best to put on her lecturing tone of voice. “In fact he even has a son. Apparently Daily is already training little Evening Vigil to eventually carry on the family job of being the royal timekeepers.”

The unicorn, soon to be alicorn, tried to say it as matter-as-factually as possible. However, her friend’s chortling told her that the pegasus had seen her blush.

“You’re as easy to fluster as ever Twi- er- Princess.”

And like that Rainbow Dash remembered herself. Suddenly her posture shifted and she was no longer Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty and friend of Twilight Sparkle. She was now Captain Commander Rainbow Dash, chief of Equestria’s military and head of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Royal Guard.

From behind, Twilight could hear a disgruntled voice call out, “Princess, it is time to raise the sun.”

With a sigh, Twilight stopped their walk and braced herself. She expanded her senses and could feel that her wayward sun was still running a few minutes behind despite her chastisement of the roomful of orrery Twilights. Eventually, she would not need to do this. Twilight knew in her gut that one day her magic would be able to keep time perfectly without her intercession. Her sun would mature at some point in the future, and all it would need would be the constant drain of energy from her.

With a slight push the sun broke the horizon spreading its first rays of light across the Equestrian countryside. She knew that across the land foul creatures were scurrying back to their lairs, and ponies were heading out their doors. For the farmers especially, it was important that they began work at the first moment of dawn to take advantage of every moment of daylight. Soon the Night Guard would be returning from their patrol. With any luck, they would be without casualties.

“You look well rested this morning, Princess.”

Rainbow Dash had waited for Twilight to finish her spell before speaking. Twilight sighed at the formality.

“When a unicorn rests, their magic can recover. It increases at an even faster rate while they sleep. Luckily, when I sleep I’m usually able to recover what I used during the day as well as account for the magic that the sun drains while I’m sleeping. However, I’ve recently started drinking a new type of tea before bed. It’s quite good, but more importantly, it supposedly increases a unicorn’s rate of magical recovery when drank regularly. It’s still a bit early to tell, but I think it actually works. I plan on waiting a few weeks to be sure, but I feel like I could permanently increase the brightness of the sun by a little bit. Not much mind you, but it would be noticeable. Every bit counts after all.”

Twilight smiled as she thought of the tea’s origin.

“It was a thank-you gift from the zebra diplomats. They wanted to show their appreciation for not keeping the sun only over Equestria but sharing what light there is with the whole world. The tealeaves grow only far outside our borders beyond where even the Zebras call home. Some of the members of the court seemed to think their token of appreciation was a paltry gift. However, if I keep feeling this energized when I wake up, it will be Equestria that will need to send the Zebras a return gift.”

The unicorn could not help but chuckle at the idea of an endless exchange of thank-you-gifts. Luckily for Rainbow Dash the thought had derailed Twilight before she could begin to ramble about her research on different types of teas. It had been a fun night of study.

“However, I take it my Captain of the Guard did not come and wait for me to wake up simply to ask why I seemed so rested.”

“Unfortunately not. I am afraid I have some bad news.”

Princess Twilight's sides were beginning to throb again.

There was always more bad news.

Author's Note

In regards to grammar errors, feel free to message me them if you like. I do appreciate it, and as long as people keep catching mistakes I have made, I will keep fixing them.
The 'dream sequence' was the most frustrating part to write in this chapter. Versions of it swung from being way too explicit to being not explicit enough. However, I think I am very happy with how it turned out and hope you enjoyed it. I know it didn't tell you guys anything that you didn't really know, but there should be enough details to inform any guessing.

Let me know if the italics set the dream sequence off enough. In the font I first wrote the story in it seemed more noticeable. If people are having trouble telling where it begins and end I will need to add in a line break or something.
Rewrite posted 1/1/2015

Legacy

Chapter 5 - Legacy

She still remembered their dead faces. Twilight had made a decision, and ponies had died. She had failed again. Every decision she made killed Equestria a little bit more. This one had simply killed off an entire town. She promised she would not forget their faces.

But it was not the time for such thoughts, and dealing with them was beyond her. She pushed them to some deep corner of her mind and tried to maintain a royal image of serenity.

Doors had been torn off hinges, and families were dead in their homes. Mothers curled around their children, desperately trying to offer their own bodies as protection.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was seated on her throne and was smiling down at the colt standing at the base of the stairs leading up to her dais. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, and many ponies would swear that it was brighter than it had ever been since their princess had first come to power. The throne room was packed with ponies attending the ceremony.

Her quill signed off on the order. Half the guard in Witherton would be relocated to Trottingham. It seemed sensible at the time.

Everypony was whispering excitedly. They were gathered to celebrate a discovery that would mean great things for Equestria, and the day seemed absolutely perfect. The air was warm and skies were clear. It was most certainly a sign that the pony they had all come to recognize that day would accomplish much more in his life. Hundreds of disparate elements seemed to come together to make the day inspirational. Twilight heard the phrase ‘new dawn’ whispered more than once.

They were ignorant to the sorrow in their ruler’s heart.

Twilight was dressed in her finest regalia. She was wearing a ceremonial saddle that most ponies assumed was to commemorate the event. Only Dash, Vigil, a handful of the castle staff, and Rarity - who had made the saddle - knew the real reason she was wearing it. The saddle’s purpose was to hide the unsightly bumps that marked where her wings would soon be coming in.

The physical pain was a constant buzz drilling into the back of her mind.

“Princess, there has been an attack.”

With a slight pulse of magic she caused a breeze to blow through the room carrying on it the scent of apple blossoms, and her sides throbbed in response to the energies flowing through her body. Equestria’s banner gently flapped in the wind, and everypony suddenly ceased their talking, recognizing that their ruler was about to speak.

“Princess, there were three survivors.”

“Apple Seed, we are gathered here to recognize your great accomplishment. Through selective crossbreeding, you have managed to grow a type of apple tree that not only grows well in the limited light of Equestria’s day, but rather thrives in it. Your Shade Apple trees will help to feed ponies across all of Equestria. In recognition of this, the Magistarium has recommended to me that you be awarded the Equestrian Royal Medal of Harmony. This is the highest honor that can be awarded to a civilian. It fills my heart with joy to say that theirs is a recommendation I wholly agree with.”

“Only three members of the guard survived?”

Twilight paused for dramatic effect. It had only taken her around twenty years before she began to learn how to make a ceremony memorable. Now she liked to think that she was quite good at it. Sometimes she like to daydream about the type of events she might put on once she had a few more centuries of practice. Celestia’s Summer Sun celebrations were always unforgettable afterall.

”Only three ponies in the entire town survived.”

“It is with great honor that I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, award to you this Equestrian Royal Medal of Harmony.”

So much blood.

In her telekinetic grip she raised a golden medal off of a velvet cushion. The medal depicted all three races of ponies chasing after one another in a circle. In the center was an engraving of the sun and moon. Along the bottom she could read the Old Equine, which roughly translated to “For the love and promotion of harmony and friendship.”

So much death.

Twilight rose from her seat and lowered the medal over the earth pony before her. Apple Seed’s coat was orange and mane was blond just like his father and grandmother. His cutie mark, which he had just recently received, was two saplings intertwined. The pony’s smile looked like it could split his face in two. Twilight was beaming back down at the young pony.

She was responsible for their deaths.

The room erupted into cheers when Twilight stepped back. As the young colt turned around to face the crowd, he looked down at his parents and grandmother. Twilight smiled down at the proud ponies a well.

Nopony was thinking about the dead town of Witherton.

Twilight needed to focus. The ceremony was important and it would not do to frown because she was preoccupied. She needed to compartmentalize. In Ponyville there had been a run down house that had been abandoned years before Twilight had moved into her library home. She had written a friendship letter once about how friends could help one another be brave. Twilight had helped to show the Cutie Mark Crusaders that there was nothing to fear in the home, with a little help from Pinkie Pie. However, that old house could serve a useful purpose in her mental version of Ponyville.

Twilight placed the bodies of those who died in Witherton into that home. When she was done she closed the door. Blood was seeping out from the bottom of the door jam, but not enough to worry her. She could be a happy pony for the rest of the ceremony. She would open the door later.

The ceremony proper was over soon after. It was only a short time later that Twilight found herself ambling through the royal gardens. The flowers along the path were in bloom, and he hedges were green. Over the bushes Twilight could make out the tops of a few statues, one of which she recognized as Discord. Besides her walked one of her oldest friends, and as always, two guards were shadowing behind.

“Apple Seed seemed to be happy.”

“Gee, Ya’h think? He was awarded a medal in front of all a’ Canterlot. He’s been wantin to see this place forever. Most a’ his relatives were in attendance watchin his big day. Plus the pony ta give him his award was his Aunt Twilight who happens to be his hero and who he’s been wantin to meet since Ah’ started readin him your letters to him. Na’h, I don’t see how he could be happy.”

Twilight smiled at Applejack and felt a pang of regret.

“I’m sorry that it has been so long since I have been able to visit Ponyville.” Twilight nearly laughed at her understatement. “ I wish I could be there more for you all. I’m just so-”

“Busy? Ah’ know. Ah’ don’t doubt if there ain’t no pony in all of Equestria more busy than you are Twi. Ya were there for his birth and first birthday and ya write to us at least once a month. Plus I get to see you whenever the council of farms has their yearly shindig. That’s more than anough for me, and it's been plenty enough again to inspire m’ah little Apple Seed to accomplish what he did.”

“Still, I have missed so much of his life. When I first began to expect that I wasn’t aging I made a decision. I was going to watch over the children and grandchildren of all my friends. Then I was going to watch and protect all of their children - generation after generation. I’ve failed in that duty just as I have failed in all of my other duties.”

She remembered their dead faces, an entire village just gone. The door was supposed to be locked. Twilight placed chains across it, and jammed some cloth into the jam.

“Ya’ tryin too hard suga’h cube.”

“I don’t think that’s true at all.” Her voice raised in agitation. “It isn’t that hard for me to clear my schedule once a year to attend a birthday party. Or even easier would be for me to invite everypony to the palace for a private party. But-”

The aging earth pony cut off her friend before the unicorn could begin to ramble.

“That ain’t what Ah’m talkin about.”

Twilight was confused. What else could the earth pony had meant?

“Ah’m talkin about the sun, Twi-darlan. Ah’m a farm pony, and ah’ live my life by that big ol’ ball a' fire. I appreciate y’ah tryin to make my Apple Seed’s special day all the more special, but I don’t want y’ah to be straining yourself to do so. Ah’ know that if it was easy, the sun would be like that every gosh darn day.”

The berated unicorn looked at the ground in embarrassment at having been found out.

“It wasn’t just for Apple Seed that I made today sunnier than normal. It was for all of Equestria. I hope that someday ponies remember this event as a turn towards a brighter tomorrow. Apple Seed’s Shade Apples could solve the food shortages. It could mean that we will have more than enough to share with our neighbors. Your grandson is a hero, Applejack.”

Twilight watched as Applejack stood up straighter, beaming with pride.

“That he is. Ah’ just wish his grand-pappy was still around ta see him today.”

Applejack's voice did not seem to carry with it any sadness. Her tone was just matter of fact. Still, Twilight was uncertain.

“You still think about him a lot?”

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about m’ah Golden Cyser. Ah’ still miss m’ah love so much, sometime Ah’ think m’ah heart is gonna ta burst. But then Ah’ just need to think about the grandfoals. Haven’t had a chance ta tell y’ah yet, got another one comin on the way.”

“That’s wonderful news Applejack. I’m sure Cyser would be very proud if he was still here.”

“Don’t fret none. He’s at peace in the great pasture in the sky, and Ah’ know he’s proud of all our kin’s done accomplished.”

Applejack’s heavy sigh made Twilight need to say something more.

“Still it must be very hard for you.”

“Ha! Hard for me? A’h guess? You're the one this type a’ stuff must be hard for.”

Twilight’s head whipped around from the flower she was looking at.

“What do you mean?”

“Ah mean that y’ah probably goin to start losin the rest of us sooner or later. Ah’ know that eventually Ah’m goin to be reunited with m’ah Cyser. But you? Yah're gona have to keep on goin without any of us.”

Twilight was floored.

“I... No. I mean, you all have plenty of time left.” Her words came out in a rush.

“Don’t kid yourself suga’h cube. We’re all approaching seven decades. Ah’m plannin to live to see myself at least have great-grand-ponies scampering about, but don’t know if Ah’ll make it much past that.”

Twilight could not help but remember the conversation she had recently had with Rainbow Dash. Why were all of here friends suddenly thinking about these things? She did not want them to leave her. The unicorn had already lost Pinkie Pie. Had that not been enough?

“Why?” Her voice broke. “Why are we talking bout this?”

“Aww Twi darlin, don’t y’ah cry none. Ah’ didn’t mean to upset y’ah. Gosh y’ahd think after all this time Ah’ would be better with all of this emotional stuff. Ah’ was just tryin to say that y’ah are always worried about everypony else but yourself. Y’ah need to make sure you’re prepared for whatever the future holds. Rather than stretchin yourself too thin - frettin over everypony, it seems to me that y’ah need to take some time to make sure that Twilight Sparkle is ok. Are y’ah ok hun?”

Applejack hugged her princess and old friend using her forelegs. Twilight shut her eyes to stop the tears that had begun flowing. All of her friends loved her so much. They were so important to her, and she was going to miss them so much. However, the unicorn thought she understood what her friend was saying. Besides, with any luck it would be decades until she would need to attend another funeral for her friends. Twilight vowed to make the most of the years she had left with them.

And then she remembered the earth pony’s question. Twilight realized that for the first time in what may have been a long while, she actually felt ‘OK.’ She still wanted to cry and did not want to let her friend go. She had still gotten ponies killed, and Equestria was still in dire need.

However, she was ‘OK’ with all that. Twilight did not have much choice. There was nothing she could do to change the past, but she could work harder to protect the future. Despite all the bad in her life, no matter what happened, her friends would love her. Slowly she nodded her head as she returned the hug. As they pulled apart she could hear the guards shifting. Obviously Applejack’s sudden show of affection had made them tense.

Applejack’s next words were spoken in nearly a whisper and banished the ‘OK’ feeling that Twilight had just discovered. Twilight winced - Applejack never could seem to leave well-enough alone.

“Dash tells me you’re still sleepin by that statue?”

The embodiment of the element of honesty took the ensuing silence as permission to continue.

“Ah’ know it can be tough. When my ma’h and pa'h passed away it was hard. But you need-”

“It isn’t like that AJ. It’s not like that at all.”

Twilight’s curt words left behind an awkward silence until Applejack thought she finally understood. Still, she was nervous to suggest her conclusion.

“When I lost Golden Cyscer, it was even-”

“No!”

Twilight felt her snout growing warmer as her face turned crimson. Her friend did not understand; nopony could understand.

“It wasn’t like... I mean yes, she was... I... It was - is complicated.”

Twilight hoped Applejack did not read too much into her sigh.

“Princess Celestia had other students, but I was special. I was her ‘most faithful student.’ In all of Equestria’s history, I was the only - the ONLY pony whom she watched over from fillyhood to marehood. I was the only pony who received one-on-one education year after year. The only pony whom she would sing lullabies too when I had nightmares. The only one who could curl up under her wing while reading on a cold winter evening.”

She wondered if the earth pony understood what she was trying to say.

“We were student and teacher, master and apprentice, pupil and mentor. She was...”

Twilight looked at her friend with pure desperation in her eyes. She was drowning and no matter what she did, there was no way she could keep her head above water. Above everything else though, she wanted the other mare to understand. Even if it was just a little bit, Twilight wanted her friend to grasp what she was sharing. They were words she had never spoken to anypony. It had taken the element of honesty to draw them out.

“I don’t have any idea of what I’m doing AJ. When I first recreated the sun I was running on pure instinct. Suddenly, I was surrounded by ponies looking to me for guidance because I had been the Princess’s student. She had told ponies in passing that she believed I could make an excellent leader. They took that to mean that I should be the one in charge if something happened to her and her sister apparently.” Twilight laughed at the absurdity of it all. “For more than the last forty years I have been stumbling my way through this.”

She was not even sure what she was saying. Twilight knew that she was rambling, but her heart hurt so much. And the pain in her sides was fogging her mind. She could not wait until her wings were done coming in. Why was she always in so much pain? What had she done to deserve it?

She remembered the dead ponies. The creatures of the night had made no distinction between foal or adult, mare or stallion. She had earned her suffering.

“Princess Celestia has been my model. I try to do what I think she would. I try to make decisions that I think would make her proud. I don’t know if she ever went through something like this, but she had always seemed so confident. But even with her memory guiding me, I’m absolutely lost. That’s why I can’t get over her death even if I wanted to. She is my compass, and if I forget that, then it won’t be just me that is lost but all of Equestria. She’s gone, but I still need her...”

Twilight was crying again, but this time Applejack did not move to hug her. Twilight was sure that Applejack wanted to tell her that everything would be OK, that she wanted to provide comfort. But she was the element of honesty.

Twilight realized that Applejack had finally realized how narrow of an edge Equestria was walking along. Over the years, Twilight had maintained her facade well. The element of honesty could not lie to her friend. She could not tell Twilight that things would be fine.

“I’m sorry to dump all this on you AJ. I just needed to...”

Twilight was sniffling now, but the majority of the tears had subsided. The unicorn wished that the guards had either been further away or that she had been talking quietly. Her guards had seen her at lows before, but she had not wanted them to ever need to deal with all the self-doubt she harbored.

“Let’s talk about happier things, sugah cube.” Applejack paused until she had Twilight’s attention. “How’s Rarity and Stone Edge gettin along?”
It was an awkward segue, but one that Twilight was thankful for.

The lavender pony was more than willing to discuss something else and put her outburst into the past. However, Twilight frowned when she thought of the fashionista and the white unicorn’s husband. They had been going through tough times. Twilight did her best to minimize her sniffling.

“Well enough, I suppose. Stone Edge is still getting over his surgery. That had been hard on them. Also, Rarity recently started seeing a new doctor who thinks he knows why they were never able to have any other kids after Diamond Justice. Apparently that fever Rarity came down with after Justice had been born was probably what left her barren. It’s brought up some bad memories for them. However, Rarity is just trying to focus on how lucky they were to have Justice before she had fallen ill.”

“Ah’ still can’t believe they named him that.”

“Oh hush. Rarity wanted to name him after a gemstone and Edge wanted a strong male name. It was a compromise.”
Despite her words, Twilight could not help but agree with the orange earth pony. It was unusual for a pony’s name to combined abstract concepts along with physical objects. His name had also ended up being somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“So how is little Diamond Justice? He’s at university right?”

Twilight tried to glare at her friend’s snort of laughter as Applejack had spoken the name. However, she knew the effect was lost because of the twist of a smile on her own lips.

“Not so little anymore, and he was finished with university years ago. He’s now considered the best prosecutor in all of Canterlot. Justice is even engaged to be married... How long has it been since you’ve talked to Rarity?”

Applejack looked away in shame at the question before shooting back with one of her own, a hint of venom in her voice.

“How long has it been since you’ve talked with Fluttershy?”

“Fluttershy doesn’t want to see me.” The response was quick and hard.

“Y’ah know that ain’t true suga'h cube. Y’ah two used to be so close. Y’ah need to go and see her. You know that she doesn’t blame you right?”

“I can’t do that AJ. Not until she forgives me, and I can’t force her to do so. I’ve apologized and now there is nothing else that I can do. I don’t hold it against her though; she has every right to hate me. How can she not blame me? I never should have approved those caravans.”
Applejack just shook her head but decided to drop the issue. Twilight had been upset enough by their conversation already.

“It’s good talkin to y’ah again in person Twi. The letters are nice and all, but it just ain’t the same. I’m really glad I was able to steal you away from the ceremony and all those noble ponies.”

Twilight was more than happy for the change in subject.

“Well today really wasn’t about me. It was about Apple Seed. Speaking of which, do you think he will be accepting any of the offers?”

“What the hay are y’ah talkin about?”

“Well I know Trottingham was hoping that he might be able to help them create a shade variant of their potatoes and other root vegetables.”

Twilight continued on, ignoring the snort coming from the farm pony. She was already well aware of Applejack’s opinion on potatoes.

“I have also heard that the Hay Distribution Consortium is very interested in his talents. The development of a hay variant that could thrive in dim light could be all Equestria needs to solve its food problem once and for all. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the day he has at least a dozen job offers. The grandcolt of one of the most respected members of the Council of Farms makes such an amazing discovery? Apple Seed is going to need you watching out for him. His discovery is going to mean a lot of exciting opportunities, but many ponies are going to want a piece of him.”

“Ah well, shucks. Little Apple Seed already knows what he wants to do now. Even though the Apple Clan normally protects its secrets mighty fiercely like, Apple Seed wants to travel around Equestria helpin ponies plant Shade Apples. All he plans on askin for in return is a place to sleep and some vittles. Might not be what Ah’ would do, but Ah’ can’t fault his heart. He’s sure to help a lot o’ ponies.”

The unicorn could not keep the smile from her face, and her tears were nearly dried now. Ponies like Apple Seed gave her hope for the future of all of Equestria. It was enough to almost make her forget the pain in her sides.

They hurt so much.

“That is very generous of him. Your grandcolt is a model for all ponies to follow. Before he leaves today, I need to make sure to tell-”

Twilight cut off what she was saying in a cry of pain as she stumbled to the ground. The world spun around her as she realized she was laying on her side panting in exertion. Her head throbbed as the pounding of her guards hooves echoed between her ears. She could hear yelling. Some of it might have been hers.

“Princess!”

“Twi, you’re sides are bleedin!”

“My magic is going wild. I... I need to keep the flow to the sun steady - reduce the fluctuation. I can’t let it die again. I can't let her die again.”
There was so much pain.

“You, don’t just stand there, go get help. You, help me get this saddle off a her. We need to see what’s wrong.”
The pounding of hoovesteps rushed away.

The pain sent vibrations through her mind. The door to a house was jammed open.

“That’s the last strap.”

Dead faces staring up at her, adults and fillies alike.

“HURTS!”

She had to think of something else, something that could distract her from the pain.

Burning wagons, a caravan destroyed. Fluttershy sobbing over unmoving bodies. Another failed decision.

“Ma’h word. Look at her sides.”

The pressure was unbearable. Something was pressing against her skin from the inside. It wanted to get out. Twilight rolled herself up onto her hooves so that she was sitting up, ignoring the wave of dizziness. The sound of her hide tearing was drowned out by her scream of pain.

By the end of the day, all of Canterlot would know that Princess Twilight Sparkle was now an alicorn.

Author's Note

Bam, have some Applejack!
Also, Echolesshowl has created some awesome fanart for this chapter. You should check it out (warning has blood): http://echolesshowl.deviantart.com/art/Then-the-Princess-grew-wings-286322206

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015
Looking back at this I realized I totally overdid AJ's accent, but decided to leave it as is. Perhaps years of living on the farm drives out whatever remained of her time in Manehatten.

Tea and Moonlight

Chapter 6 - Tea and Moonlight

Princess Twilight Sparkle sat upon her throne poised and regal. All ponies would agree that she was the very image of beauty. Six months ago she had shed the remains of her mortal trappings and taken the final step towards ascending to a greater state of existence. No longer was she a simple unicorn; now she was an alicorn.

At least that was how most of Equestria understood things.

Her lavender wings fluttered behind her every so often. The tips of her feathers were tinted a dark shade of purple that matched her mane. The ponies of the court would whisper that their princess's mane seemed to be blowing in the wind even through the air in the room was still. Some even commented that her hair seemed to be taking on an ethereal flowing appearance, just like the mane of her mentor.

That day six months ago had marked a great transformation in Twilight Sparkle’s life. The fact that she now had wings was just the obvious part of the change.

When her wings had first burst from her body, they had been bloody little things. They had been the wings of a foal covered in down. The new appendages had fluttered back and forth seemingly with a will of their own. The guards who had rushed to her aid had been worried about the blood loss. However, before their eyes the skin had healed, meeting up with the wing. By the end of the hour, the only sign of the trauma she had undergone was her two new wings.

Of course, that had not meant the pain had faded as quickly.

Some of her doctors had predicted the physical details of how her wings would come in. A few had insisted that surgery would be necessary to free them from her body, but they had been in the minority. What no pony had predicted, however, was the surge in magical power that she had experienced just a week later. With her body now closer to matching her unity in spirit, her arcane energies had been able to proliferate. Twilight’s magic had continued to increase by leaps and bounds every day for an entire month. She had even grown a few more inches in height.

The sun now shone twice as brightly as it had half a year ago. It was still a pale shadow of her mentor’s sun, but the difference had been decreased to a point that when she was being fanciful Twilight could imagine that it was the sun of her youth.

Ponies were declaring it the new golden age of Equestria. Apple Seed was busy in Hoofingham assisting in planting a new Shade Apple orchard. The griffon raids had tapered down, at least for the time being. Even after the Witherton Massacre, moves were being made to repopulate the village. Equestria seemed to be experiencing prosperity in all corners. Their ruler was now a proper princess, and their sun now provided a greater degree of warmth. Most ponies were ecstatic.

They had not seen the same reports that Twilight had read. Of course, Twilight was the only pony in all of Equestria that had access to all of the information to connect the dots. She was the only pony who understood her sun. However, it would only be a matter of time before other ponies figured it out.

“Oh thank you, oh glorious Princess Of The Sun. All the packs shall not forget your generosity.” The Diamond Dogs bowed so low that Twilight was not sure he was not on his knees.

After her ascendancy, she had experienced a period of exponential magical power growth. However, it had leveled off to a linear rate of increase only slightly higher than before she gained her wings. She was still growing stronger, just nowhere near as quickly as she had a few months ago. For a time the new alicorn had hoped that her ponies were justified in their celebration. Then, the accursed study came across her desk. The sun was indeed brighter, but it was still not enough.

“It is least I can do for your people. You have been so patient with me over the years - waiting for me to be strong enough to fulfill your request. As I promised your uncle so long ago, now that I have the strength, I will give you what you desire.”
The sun was not bright enough and she would not be able to make it bright enough in time. In a way it was a relief. It meant that she could focus on other things. It was time to begin restoring the night.

“But it means so much Princess. The Moon Festival used to mean so much to our people. Even though we will have the moon for only one night of the year…” Twilight realized that he had broken down into sobs.

She did not tell the Diamond Dog Ambassador that the only reason she was granting his wish was that because of a simple report from Clousdale she had given up on saving Equestria in the short term.

“Please Ambassador. Really, it is nothing.”

The energy would be inconsequential over the span of centuries. Winter would last a bit longer for the expenditure and the approach of frost and cold would be accelerated by a few decades. The age of ice would be extended by even longer, but what was that in the grand scheme of things?

“But it is Princess, it is. I had no idea when you summoned me that you would have such joyous news.”

Twilight had spent so long thinking that the end of Equestria was only a few decades away. With the dying plants and increasing winters, it had seemed so obvious. Her sun needed to get hotter and as fast as possible. Frivolity could cost ponies their lives. Now she knew that it did not matter. At this point, using her magic to help make ponies happier would have no effect. It was freeing.

“Tell us, how can we repay you and Equestria?”

It was a great weight off of her shoulders.

“Please Ambassador, there is no need.”

Of course, it was possible it would never matter. Maybe Equestria would die before ever reaching the ice age. Maybe she would fail more spectacularly than anypony could imagine. She still remembered the dead ponies of Witherton.

“Still Princess, you do not understand how much this means to us. The generations born since the advent of the Empty Night will finally know of the Great Howling. As myself and the others who remember the old moon begin to age, we feared our ways and culture would be lost. The diamond dogs will be forever in your debt. I promise you that Equestria will have whatever aid we can provide.”

Twilight smiled as she finally managed to dismiss the still bowing canine. As he made his way out of the throne room, his tail wagged hard enough that it looked as if it would fly off. Watching him leave, she realized her smile was genuine. She was glad that she could save something, even if it was just the traditions of Equestria’s neighbors.

Many years ago when they had first approached her about bringing the moon back, she had been intrigued. Twilight had learned that the canines desired precious gems so greatly because of their ability to reflect moonlight into their caves, and that without the moon, the dogs had begun to covet gems simply for the sake of their value.

The princess could hear the discussion of the ponies in attendance to her court. She had not mentioned her plans to begin slowly restoring the night sky. Many of the younger ponies in the room had never even seen the moon before. They had been born after The Great Tragedy.
The new alicorn had put festivals and monuments into place. She had even created a ‘day of remembrance.’ It was a national holiday on which ponies would reflect over all those they had lost. However, she knew that one-day nopony but her would remember what tragedy the day was designed to commemorate. Nopony would remember that Equestria once had two princesses. Perhaps it would even be for the best.

She thought of the report on her desk. If nopony remembered a tragedy, did it even exist?

The overall mood of the room was excited. She was sure they were all taking this ‘Moon Festival’ as yet another aspect of Equestria’s golden age. Twilight wondered what they would think if they knew what was going through their Princess’s mind.

“Princess. Court has seen to all scheduled business for the morning. You have tea with Miss Applejack of the Council of Farms in an hour. It is scheduled in the tearoom, followed by a private meeting with the griffon Ambassador. Then you are taking lunch with representatives from the Equestria’s Orphan’s Foundation, and you will be seeing petitioners in the afternoon.”

“Thank you Clean Scroll. I think the Captain Commander wishes to speak with me, but then I will… I will be in the Sun Study.”
Clean Scroll was too young to know Celestia’s old bedroom as anything other than a strangely furnished study that his princess would use from time to time.

“Very good Princess.”

Normally Twilight would dismiss the court with a gentle smile and nod of her head. She would wait until all of the ponies in attendance had cleared out, or at least the ones who had not been planning to stay, and then leave herself through the grand archway until they would reconvene in the afternoon. However, today she wanted a chance to talk with Rainbow Dash in private.

“Court is dismissed. We will reconvene after lunch.”

After all of the ponies took the verbal dismissal as a queue to exit and filed out of the room. Rainbow Dash stepped forward from the entrance of the chambers where she had been tapping her hooves and gave a short bow.

“Princess.”

“Hi, Dash.”

“What’s this I hear about you bringing the moon back?”

“I’m not bringing it back.”

“Huh, I thought I heard-”

“It will be a moon, but not the moon. The old beacon of light in the night sky crumbled into dust at Luna’s death. I didn’t have the heart to tell the ambassador that it wasn’t going to be the moon of his ancestors. I was planning on telling him, but he was just so happy.”

“So what, you’re gathering all the dust into a big ball?”

Twilight laughed.

“Something like that. I can forge a facsimile from the remains, similar to how I ignited my own star. Some of the same material, but not the same moon.”

“Then you’re just going to let it fall apart after the festival?”

“Well…” Twilight looked around to make sure that nopony else was around. “I tried to tell him, but I don’t think anypony was listening. It’s not going to be a real moon at first.”

“Huh?”

“I’m mostly certain I know how to make a moon, but I’ve never done it before, and it’s going to take more research. I’m also still not all that great at controlling the sun. It would be exhausting to add constantly adjusting and controlling the moon’s orbit on top of that. If I mess up sunrise, ponies just sleep in fifteen minutes. If I messed up… moonrise I guess? If I mess up moonrise it might be tidal surges flooding ponies out of their homes. Honestly I need way more research.”

“I thought you said a moon could help balance out the sun?”

“It could. If, and this is a big if, if I did it right. If I messed it all up, it could make the whole thing more…” Twilight waved her hoof in the air looking for the right word. “Wobbly.”

“So you can’t just… I don’t know, let it do its own thing?”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide. “Do you have any idea how poorly disciplined my sun is? If I made a moon and just let it fly around… What do you think would happen if it crashed into Equestria?”

“Oh…”

“Yea, big oh. The fallout would be catastrophic.”

“Your sun misbehaves?”

“I guess I’m ponyfying it a bit. It’s more like… What happens if you don’t watch a storm cloud?”

“It will wander off and try to get the rain out of its system. Clouds don’t like to hold too much water and- ok, gotcha. The sun is like a cloud.”

Twilight chuckled. “Close enough.”

“So if it’s not the real moon, er, a real moon, what is it?”

She sighed a bit at the question. “A wide, very wide dispersal area light spell. I was trying to explain it, but the court mages were all out today recuperating from their casting circle, and I don’t think any pony understood.”

“So a big light spell?”

“More or less. I’m sure I’ll be exhausted by the end of the night, but for just one night it will be worth it to make ponies and diamond dogs alike happy.”

“Well if it’s just one night, what about letting the Council of Magi handle it. If it’s just a light spell, they should be able to do it, right? Or at least they can help you a bit to make it a bit easier.”

“Princess Celestia raised the sun and moon. As Princess of Equestria, it is my duty.”

“Twilight, you’re not Princess Celestia.”

“No, you’re right. But that just means that I need to try harder.”

“Why are you always so-”

“Besides there is another reason to not get them involved. After the Ambassador didn’t let me explain how I was planning on bringing the moon back, I had a thought. I’m thinking about inverting the spell weave to hide the magic and then slapping an illusion over the whole thing to make it look more like an actual moon, with craters and everything. I think ponies would be happier if they thought it were real.”

“They won’t be able to tell?”

“When I’m done with it, I don’t think even Princess Luna would have been able to tell.” Rainbow Dash laughed at that, and Twilight turned indignantly. “No I mean it. Assuming she wasn’t touching it with her magic or actively connected to it. I think I can pull of the illusion really tightly.”

“So you’re going to pull this over everypony then? Just tell them its real.”

Twilight shuffled her hooves and looked down at the ground.

“I was thinking about it. I wanted to ask you and Applejack for your opinions on keeping it a secret. I know I can trust you two.”

“You think AJ will be able to keep her big mouth shut?”

“She can keep a secret when it’s important.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

“I noticed you didn’t really say what you thought about the idea. I don’t think it hurts anypony, I mean… I couldn’t imagine how it could, and its not like any pony has used magic that draws power from the moon for hundreds of years, so its not like there would be any type of magic accidents. It will just be a little white lie, more of a lie of omission than anything else, and it will make everypony so happy. Just like Santahooves.”

“Sounds kinda like you are trying to convince yourself.”

“Maybe… Kinda… I don’t like the idea of lying to anypony about something that big. I mean you can’t get much bigger than the moon. Even if it is to make them happy.”

Dash was silent in thought for a moment before replying, “I say, ‘do it.’ Equestria deserves a win. You deserve a win. You’re right it’s not hurting anypony, and telling ponies will just ruin it. Lies aren’t always bad things. It’s hard to have a surprise party without a little deception.”

“No, Dash.”

“What?”

“You are not throwing me a surprise party this year. You did it five years ago and it was awful and I don’t want another one.”

“Who said you’re getting a surprise party?”

“I don’t want a surprise party.”

“I didn’t say you were going to have one.”

“Good, because I don’t want one.”

“Ok then.”

“Dash why are you smiling? Stop smiling. NO surprise party. I nearly let the sun go out last time. I’m serious. ”

“Fine, fine. I won’t throw you a surprise party. I promise.”

Twilight could not help but feel that there was some loophole in the promise, but she decided to drop it.

“I still want to get Applejack’s opinion about the moon. “

“I can already tell you what she is going to say.”

“It’s because she is the element of honesty that I want her opinion.”

“You going to ask Rares about it while you are at it?”

“Actually no. I mean I think she might have a really interesting perspective, focused so much on appearance and how things will appear to ponies, but she is really good friends with the Diamond Dogs. I don’t want her to feel like she is under obligation to keep something from them if I decided to invert the illusion’s weave and hide the fact that the moon isn’t real. It’s easier to just not tell her.”

“Can you do it every night? Make a fake moon I mean. It would really help us out on patrol. I can think of at least a dozen different types of creepy crawlies that wouldn’t show themselves even under the light of even a half full moon.”

Twilight sadly shook her head.

“Not really efficient. If I did my math right, which I did, it’s not a very efficient spell; the waste of energy would be enormous - incredibly impractical if used frequently. However, it’s the best approach to the issue if I only intended to have the moon be in the sky once a year.”

“Darn. I was kinda hoping…”

“Yea, I know... By the way, what had you wanted to talk about? I’m assuming you aren’t here just because you liked standing in the throne room doorway.”

“About the moon thing actually. You would not believe how fast the rumor mill around this place can work. Half of Canterlot probably knows by now that we are going to have a moon festival. I wanted to check with you because I was worried about how draining it might be for you. Before I knew it was just an illusion.”

Twilight did not mention the coming ice age or how inconsequential the energy drain would be in the long run. She trusted Dash, but needed more time to organize her thoughts on the issue. Twilight had only realized the full ramification of the report the other day.

“Ugh… If everypony is already talking about it, the it will be even harder if I decided to tell them all it won’t be real… Do you mind if we walk and talk, rather than just standing around here? I’ve got less than an hour until my next appointment and I would like to get some work done.”

“No problem. You’re next appointment? You mean tea with AJ? Mind if I crash? I have an inspection that, for a certain lieutenant’s sake, better go quickly and smoothly and so hopefully might have some free time.”

“We’d love to have you, but go easy on poor Steel Aegis. He’s hardly more than a colt.”

“I’ll go easy on him when he gets his act together. He’s got so much potential, but is wasting it. Absolutely no discipline. I swear that pony makes me want to scream…”

“But you know, I still remember getting reports about a certain undisciplined pegasus in my guard.”

“That’s exactly my point. If old Helm hadn’t smacked some sense into me, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Let me tell you, fifty laps around Canterlot gets old fast. Even for the fastest flyer in Equestria.” Rainbow paused at the intersection. “By the way which way we going?”
Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash’s cocky grin. “To the Sun Study."

“Oh yea, forgot you mentioned that to Clean Scroll. Mind if we take the east breezeway?”

“Huh, isn’t that kinda out of the way.”

“Yea, but there’s a guard assigned there today who I think might be shirking her shifts. I haven’t gotten the drop on her yet, but today might be the day.”

“Yea,” Twilight laughed, “No problem.”

“So the Sun Study huh?”

“Yea… I’ve got a paper I need to think about.”

“You know… Maybe going there is making it harder for you to let go.”

“Maybe. But maybe I don’t want to let go. I know that… I know that someday I am going to lose you and my other friends, but I don’t want to live my life knowing that everypony I meet will some day just fade from my memory. If I don’t keep her alive, I think I will go insane.”

“You don’t have to forget her, just… Move on I guess.”

Twilight shook her head.

“Some ponies make such a strong impact on our lives that they become part of who we are. I can’t move on any more than I can stop being who I am. When she was alive… I sort of put her on a pedestal. Now that she is gone… I’ve made her into a symbol of who I want to be. I don’t want to move past that.”

“But I don’t know if it’s good for you.”

“Maybe not, but it is the way things are… Can we drop it?”

“Yea… So this paper you’re thinking about, anything important?”

Twilight appreciated her friend’s willingness to change the topic. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been sneaking away there more often recently.” Rainbow Dash began waving a hoof in defense before Twilight had a chance to retort. “Not going to try to say you shouldn’t again, just is everything alright?”

Twilight sighed. “It’s just this whole alicorn thing. I thought it would be really awesome, and it is. I guess it’s just stirred up a lot of things that I didn’t even realize were there.”

“Well, just remember, if you ever need to talk…”

“I know.”

“But speaking of you transformation, how has your stomach been treating you?”

“I’m not throwing up anymore. Still getting queasy though.”

“Is it bad?”

“Nothing some tea can’t fix.”

“The doctors figure it out yet?”

Twilight nodded her head. “Yea, they found some old medical records from a couple hundred years ago when Celestia got a checkup. Luckily it was done with a magical imaging spell. Apparently alicorn organs are… different, and I’m not all the way done with my transformation. Even though outwardly I have the form of an alicorn, it seems my metamorphosis will take decades yet. I’m just happy that my wings are out of my body. Those things hurt. Growing new organs and having my old ones shift around is just unpleasant in comparison.”

“New organs?”

“Yea, like you know, the heart thing.”

Rainbow Dash screwed her lips tight and then burst out laughing. “I can’t believe how much AJ freaked out when she heard that second beat.”

“Well I was on the ground bleeding.”

“Yea, but… ‘The Princess’s foal is in distress. We need a doctor.’ She kept insisting you were pregnant.” Again another wave of laughter bellowed from the pegasus.

“Yea, I remember. The tabloids have only recently started to drop the issue of the ‘royal foal’ and speculating on the father. But, what else was she supposed to think when she heard two beats?”

Twilight thought back to the day she had gained her wings. It had been Applejack fretting over the “Princess Down” who noticed the double heartbeat of two organs working in tandem. Her memory of the entire incident was fuzzy. She supposed it was a way to cope with the pain. But from what she remembered, it was around that point that the earth pony had leapt to entirely the wrong conclusion. Twilight had no idea when the change had taken place and might never have noticed if it had not been drawn to her attention.

She wondered if she should be grateful for the gift of her new biology. She supposed that an immortal had to deal with more heartbreak than a mortal pony.

As they passed into the breezeway Dash held up a hoof making a shushing sound. Then a smile broke out on her face.

“I knew it. The recruits all think this is a joke post, but they do their job anyway if they know what’s good for them. But look at this. Not a guard to be found. I’m gonna have her hide.”

“You take way too much pleasure in your job.”

“And you don’t take enough. I only accept the best from myself, and I’m not going to let a single member of the Guard do anywise.”

“Oh, I’m not saying I don’t approve.”

They shared a laugh. Things had been more relaxed since her transformation. Twilight wondered how much of it was due to the fact that she was now a fellow winged pony versus those first few days leaving her bed ridden.

“So I know that the griffon Ambassador is meeting with you today. Whenever I’ve talked to him, he’s been weirdly evasive about what it’s about. Does the military council need to be planning for anything?”

“No, it’s nothing bad, or at least nothing worse than annoying. Our new trade and aid agreement seems to be keeping them pacified for now. But the Ambassador wants to address their diets. You know they don’t get as much nutrition out of fruits and vegetables as ponies.”

“Yea, I’d overheard some of his entourage talking. I’d never known that they weren’t always herbivores. They switched over their diets after the Break Wing Pact, right?”

“Yea. But it means our current setup is a bit inefficient. Grains are pretty good for their diet, but we really don’t grow a whole lot of them in Equestria anymore, because of how poorly they fair without as much sunlight. The Ambassador wants to talk about having some of our horticulture experts go to the Imperium and assist in cultivating strains of wheat that will do better in the current climate.”

“Why a private meeting then?”

“They can be a bit sensitive about their diets. I think on the one claw they worry that they are going to upset ponies if they remind us that they used to hunt and eat meat. On the other claw, I think it is a bit of a point of wounded pride that Celestia all but forced them into the Break Wing Pact.”

“Not like she was going to let them keep eating us. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be alive back then. Untamed wilderness- Twi?”

Twilight had stopped frozen in her place in the hallway.

“Why is there a mirror here?”

“Oh come on, you’re not that ugly…” Twilight did not respond “Not funny?” Dash cocked her head with the question.

“Not funny.”

“Sorry Princess. You don’t normally come by here and- I’ll get it taken care of.”

“Thank you.”

Twilight’s smile had vanished at the sight of her reflection in the mirror. They continued to walk on in silence with Rainbow Dash a little ahead. The pegasus kept trying to sneak looks back at her. Twilight knew that her friend was just concerned, but she found it annoying.

The day had been going so well, but it had all seemed to vanish when she saw the mirror. She had not seen her own reflection in the glass, but instead that of her former mentor.

Every time she looked into her reflection, she saw Princess Celestia. She saw her princess, and her hearts would break all over again. Seeing a form that looked so similar to her teacher was too hard to handle. For a brief moment she would imagine for a moment that the ancient alicorn had returned, but then she would notice all of the differences. She would realize the coat was far too dark, and the mane was missing so many colors of the rainbow. The eyes were the wrong shape - far to big in proportion. The spiral patterns on their horns were different as well. She knew every inch of her mentor’s face, and every detail was a difference that caused her pain.

She knew she had confused the palace staff with her more recent behavior. While everypony had been telling her how much more beautiful and graceful she had grown - not that she had not been beautiful before they would hurry to add - Twilight had decided to remove all the mirrors from her study and bedroom. A week later she had the mirrors removed from all the portions of the palace that she frequented.
Everytime she looked at her reflection, she would forget. Her emotions would flare up and it was as if Celestia was there in the here and now. A brief moment of perfection. Then immediately after it would come crashing down. She would notice all of those differences and it was like she had lost Celestia all over again. She would notice all of her own imperfections and flaws.

So she had decided not to look at her reflection anymore.

The servants could ensure that her mane was brushed and that her crown was not on crooked. Twilight was not even certain that they would need to keep her mane groomed for much longer. It seemed to be taking on a life of its own. She wondered how many decades it would take for her hair to complete its transformation.

Rainbow Dash seemed to understand in her own way. They had a “talk” when the first mirrors were removed from the palace. Twilight had done a poor job explaining herself, but her friend seemed to at least be willing to go along with the hallway mirror ban, even if she did not fully understand. Of course, it did not help that Twilight was not certain she understood it herself.

“Well, looks like we part ways here. I’ve got an inspection to run.”

“Don’t be too hard on Aegis now, ok?”

“We’ll see Princess. We’ll see.”

After a short bow, Rainbow Dash trotted down the hall leaving Twilight alone with her escort of guards in front of the sun carved doors. She stepped into the room and checked the golden antique clock hanging on the wall. She did not want to be late for tea.

Twilight glanced at the blanket and pillows on the bed and considered curling into them and just taking a nap. Her imaginary pillow-lestia was different than the mirrors. When she cuddled up with the blanket and filled her nostrils with Celestia’s scent, she would lose herself in her memories and not in the present. It was a comforting escape, but her heart always knew that Celestia was gone. She recognized it for what it was, a fantasy. There was no loss when she pulled away, just a return to a duller reality. An escape without the devastating crash was comforting.

The simple fact was that she still missed Celestia and her heart was still broken. Her hearts plural were still broken. She still needed to get used to that.

Unfortunately, she had come to the room to think, not to sleep. Twilight turned away from the bed to look at the desk. Last night she had left her work laid out on the surface.

She levitated two scrolls towards her. One was a dragonfire message from Spike. It had taken years and many burnt manes for the two of them to figure out exactly how the magic worked, and more infuriatingly, how Celestia had managed to send reply letters. It had been worth the work.

She had read the message the previous night and knew the contents. A method of communicating with the shade dragons remained elusive. They had enlisted the help of some researchers from further south, but Spike doubted there would be much success. He had found first edition Trotslosky in a rummage sale while replenishing their provisions in the nearest town and had picked it up for her. She was supposed to tell Moon Dreamer, “Hi.”

The other scroll was a status report. The preparations for her new lab were nearly complete. The only missing pieces were the two clocks still under construction. Twilight frowned at the price of retrofitting the formerly unoccupied tower. Technically she already had a lab she could have used, but she wanted a place free of any magical contamination from past experiments.

She rolled the report back up and proceeded to rhythmically bang the two scrolls against the edge of the desk as she thought. When the beat did not bring any answers to mind, she tucked the scrolls into a case set next to the desk, and in a burst of magic, sent them to the study adjacent to her bedroom.

The thick many paged report stapled in the upper corner was the important thing now.

Her magic rapidly leafed through the printed report, but she had already been through the thing a dozen times. The ink of her personal notes, annotations, and calculations coated every page in the margins and in between the lines. She closed it to the cover.

A global weather study and the lengths of winters.

Prof. Cold Ice, Cloudsdale University, Winter Weather Dept.

She flipped it back open to the abstract.

-period of cooling, beginning with the reign of current Princess Twilight Sparkle became noticeable in the tenth year – point of no return – opinion, caused by deficiencies in output of the current sun – despite the spike seen in year 24 of RPTS – uninhabitable levels in two to three centuries – recommend an immediate increases in solar intensity in excess of two orders of magnitude-

Twilight closed the report again.

Professor Cold Ice called it an “ice age” in the paper. Twilight had never met the pony and could not decided if it was an appropriate name or an attempt to appeal to his own ego. However, it did not matter what it was called, Equestria was going to be buried under tons of ice.

Her knee jerk reaction had been that the paper was wrong. Her sun was getting brighter and stronger and had been consistently doing so. Her primary concern was supposed to be about low crop yields due to low light, not temperature and ice. Part of her had been concerned about the increasing winters, but she had assumed it was just a matter of time until they returned to normal. In her mind, as long as she made her sun a little hotter over the next few decades, things would have been fine.

Unfortunately the premises in the paper were all sound and she could find no flaw in the math or data. The towering stack of papers next to the desk represented all of the historical weather data she could find. Everything added up.

Her sun had just been too cold. Each year, the planet was losing more heat than it was taking in and bleeding away millennia of stored warmth. To stop the processes that had been put into play would require far more magic than she had access to even in her current state. The winters would become harder and harder to wrap up, until eventually there would be no wrap up at all.

Sooner or later, the only weather Cloudsdale would be able to produce would be snowy days. The conditions just would not be right for any other types of clouds.

Luckily, this ‘ice age’ would not last forever. Eventually the planet would warm back up as her sun reached greater intensities. Unfortunately, the era of frost would last a very long time indeed.

There was one saving grace in the pages she read.

Twilight may have suspected that the climate was heading in such a direction, but her time frame had been completely off. Before reading the report her assumption was that weather problems were an issue for her to deal with or fail during the time of decades. The report indicated otherwise. Rather than fifty to a hundred years she might had expected Equestria to have left, it indicated that the cooling would happen over a time period of multiple centuries.

It was freeing to know that this threat was not one that would come crashing down in the next year or two. Even if her sun were to stagnate, the onset of the ice age would only be a few decades sooner. It had given her the room to refocus her efforts elsewhere, such as rebuilding the moon. It all seemed like such a long period of time.

Twilight was glad that nopony would ever notice.

It would be so gradual that each generation might suspect that things had been a little bit colder than when they had been a foal, but they would chalk it up to their imagination. By the time the long winter was upon them, summer would be just an old foal’s tale.

Her little ponies would never need to know what they had lost.

“Can I hide this? Do I want to hide this?”

Twilight had yet to decide if she wanted to suppress the report from Cloudsdale. She was decidedly uncomfortable with the idea. Knowledge deserved to be free and shared with everypony. The former librarian had always believed in that. However, burying the academic paper would be the only way to maintain the blissful ignorance of her ponies that would make Equestria’s decline bearable. In these recent months during which ponies where looking towards better things, the report would shatter their optimism. They would suffer in the knowledge they might partake.

“Is it right to hide this?”

Had Celestia ever secretly forbidden any books or texts? Twilight had found no evidence of such a deed, but her mentor had been capable enough to remove any such clues. The lavender alicorn would probably never know. There would be no guidance on the issue.

“Is this different than the moon?”

But then she thought about the secret she had found in Diary No. One Thirty Seven. Celestia had sealed Twilight’s magic and not said a word. However, on the other hoof, Celestia had planned to tell Twilight eventually, and some later entries even expressed misgivings about not telling her earlier. Ultimately, Celestia had done what was best for Twilight.

“And what should I do about the moon? I meant to tell him. I really did.”

No answers came from the pile of blankets on the bed that formed the imaginary Celestia. It was a problem she needed to solve on her own.
Was it right to do something for a pony that they would not want, even if it would be in their best interest? She had written a friendship report on that very question once. At the time Celestia had approved of Twilight’s letter.

Twilight had written that she could not force something on anypony, but through love and tolerance, she could lead them to what was best. Through the magic of friendship, a pony would eventually make the right choice. But this was different. Once a pony had read a report, they could not later choose to not read it. If she allowed the knowledge of the ice age to enter the public, she would forever be depriving the option of ‘not knowing’ from her ponies.

Either way, she was deciding what was best for her ponies. It was just a matter of choosing between not telling them something painful they could do nothing about, or informing them of the grim fate of future generations. She would decided later, but not too much later. If Twilight waited too long, the decision would be out of her hooves. Unless she took action, ponies would find out about it eventually.

Perhaps that would be for the best.

“Can hiding the truth be ok?”

But, she knew that whether it was wrong or not was not the question. No, Twilight was contemplating something else entirely. Was it OK to do the wrong thing for the right reason? Could she justify all her actions with her goal of preserving her beloved Equestria? She hoped not, otherwise she would be capable of anything.

But there was still hope. She still had the love and support of everypony. The power of friendship would guide her. There would always be hope.

Soon she would need to begin planning for this ‘ice age.’ She would do her best to prevent it, but she needed to be ready in case she failed. She always seemed to fail. Equestria could not die because she was too weak to stave of the cold and the night. If she was smart, some ponies would survive the ice age. If she planned well, Equestria would rebuild. Even though it was very far off, proper preparations could take up all the centuries until the ice age came.

She would need a checklist.

Perhaps there was nothing she could do to avert the ice, but she would do everything in her power to ensure that there was still an Equestria when it thawed. It was still strange to worry concretely about something so far away. Had Princess Celestia fret about events that had been eons in the future?

“Did she worry about the plight of ponies not even born?”

Twilight wanted to cry at the thought of all ponies that would suffer during the many centuries it would take for her plan to see Equestria to prosperity again. She needed to ignore that feeling. She needed to be strong.

Twilight needed to avert the ice age in the first place.

It was a vain and crazy hope. There was no way her sun would get warm enough in time. But there was a chance.

Moon Dreamer’s research was coming along nicely. Soon he might even begin construction of a prototype. All things considered his progress was phenomenal. The former unicorn had not expected her student to be as far along as he was for years. Despite the headway, she could not help but feel impatient. Her student could hold the keys to giving her the strength to relight Equestria. If Moon Dreamer failed there would be nothing she could do to stop the ice age.

And if her pupil did not succeed in creating his amplification matrix, Twilight would have to hope that decent planning would be enough to allow a handful of ponies to survive the long freeze.

She thought about the report again, about making a decision, but when she did she felt the doors to an old house opening in her mind. She remembered Witherton and felt her entire body tense.

I can’t keep doing this. It was seven months ago.

Twilight’s head jerked up when she heard a knock on the door.

“Princess Twilight. It is nearly time for you to be in the tea room to meet with Miss Applejack.”

Twilight’s wings fluttered in delight before she nearly groaned at the instinctive response. Even though she could count cards, she had never been good at poker. It had taken years before she was finally able to mask her emotions in court. However, once she had gotten her 'princess face' down she had been thrilled. Her wings unfortunately were not so easy to control. The alicorn hoped that nopony had yet realized that they could read their princess like an open book by watching her new appendages.

They were nearly grown enough that she could begin flying soon - perhaps another month or three. Once they were strong enough Rainbow Dash would begin giving her lessons. The feathered things on her back gave another happy flutter at the thought, and Twilight really did groan that time. Hopefully, learning how to use them would also give her some control over the emotions they displayed.
With as much grace as she could muster with her wings twitching on her back she rose from study and made her way to the tearoom. Her meeting with Applejack awaited her.

It was probably the best thing of all that had come from her wings growing in. Despite the boost in magical power, regenerative capability, and the need to sleep less, which had all coincided with her wings, the advent of her new appendages had taken a lot out of her physically. In the immediate aftermath she had felt awful and had been bed ridden.

She managed to keep it a secret from the public. Nopony had seen a reason to worry everypony over something that would pass. Was that any different than the ice age?

Her wings had only really hurt her for a few days after coming in, and most of the time it was more of a soreness than anything else. After those first days she was only trapped in her bed because her doctors did not want the new alicorn to overexert herself.

Applejack had insisted on personally taking over nursing the princess back to health. Almost nopony had seemed willing to defy the stern grandmare. The earth pony had dealt with her own fair share of sick foals and had decided that she was the only pony capable of keeping a stubborn alicorn from ignoring doctors’ orders. Of course, not quite everypony went along with Applejack’s self-appointed position.

At first Twilight had felt a warm sense of knowing that she was loved as the captain of her guard bickered with the farmer over her care. That feeling was gone by the time they had spilled their third bowl of soup on her while fighting over who would feed it to her. By the fourth bowl, it was not even funny. It had been Blueblood, of all ponies, being affronted at their behavior that finally knocked some sense into them.

Rainbow Dash had conceded that Applejack was the best pony for the job. The earth pony’s experience of dealing with generations of her stubborn descendants had left her well prepared to handle an annoyed princess. At times it was frustrating. She did not enjoy being pushed into bed whenever she tried to get up. However in the end, Twilight's friendship with Applejack had been renewed, something she would have let any number of bowls of soup spill on her to accomplish. Their letters were now more vibrant, and Twilight and Applejack had been trying to meet at least once a month.

On some of the visits she had also managed to see some of Applejack’s kin. The alicorn had realized that she simply did not have the time to keep track of everypony, but that did not mean she could not watch over some of her friend’s descendants. Young Apple Seed certainly did admire her, and every time he had met Twilight in the last six months he had been thrilled.

Twilight wondered if Applejack had brought her grandson with her today. The pony was probably busy in Hoofingham still. She also hoped that Dash’s inspection went quickly and that she would be able to join them. The whole incident with nursing Twilight back to ‘health’ had reignited something between the element of honesty and loyalty as well. The two ponies where even discussing running together in the next Running of the Leaves in Ponyville.

Approaching her mirror-less tearoom, the princess could smell a sweet fragrance. Her tea was waiting for her. The gift from the zebran diplomats had quickly been exhausted. It had worked as advertised, leaving her renewed and refreshed in the mornings. Twilight had requested that the palace’s quartermaster procure more of the tealeaves. She had been shocked at the cost, but felt it worth the expense. The lavender ruler had expected magistrate Blueblood to object to the purchase.

He had not, and she thought she knew why. The noble pony had accepted her apology for yelling at him in his typical infuriating way. The look on his face had made Twilight wonder why she had bothered worrying about his feelings in the first place. She just had to remind herself that she was a good pony. Good ponies apologized when they said something harsh to another. She had written a friendship report on that once. Even though he had accepted her apology, he had not brought up the clocks again.

Since the incident, he had been strangely subdued. The magistrate had objected to only a few of her suggested purchases. She wanted to talk to him about it, but did not know what she would say. Twilight knew what the problem was. He was afraid of her now.
Ponies had never feared Celestia.

The realization had upset her - not so much that there was a pony afraid of her, but that she did not mind being feared. In the case of Blueblood, it was almost useful. He was far less aggravating now than he had been. Was it OK to have a pony fear her if it made the job of protecting Equestria easier?

She did not think so.

But then why did she not try to say something more to the noble unicorn? Why did she not let him know that he had nothing to fear from her - that she was a good pony? She should go out of her way to try to mend things between them. That was a large part of the magic of friendship. So why was she letting things remain as they were?

Maybe it was because Blueblood was so annoying. Or maybe it was because sometimes she just wanted her bucking tea without having to argue with anypony over the cost.

Princess Twilight Sparkle entered her tearoom, all vestiges of her smile from the morning gone. Her wings were held tightly to her side, and her face was tight. She tried to push the thoughts aside, ushering them into the Everfree of her mind. The forest made an excellent dumping ground for her unwanted emotions. Unfortunately, they always came back.

Before the ruler of Equestria had even reached her seat, her friend was speaking, ignoring any greetings, “What’s wrong, suga’h cube?”

The alicorn plopped heavily down at the table while waving her hoof dismissively.

“Just thinking about things is all.”

A servant pony approached with a cup of warm tea. As Twilight sipped it, she felt herself relax. Her magic smoothed and evened out as it welled in response to the chemicals being added to her bloodstream. She had requested a month ago that a chemist from Canterlot University attempt to isolate the active ingredients in the tea. Perhaps they could brew something more potent. Applejack just smiled politely at the cup of green tea placed in front of her but pushed it away with her hoof. One day Twilight would find a type of tea that her friend would enjoy.

“Must be heavy things based on that frown of yours.”

“It’s nothing - just something stupid.”

Silence lingered between the two of them.

“Now Twi - what did I tell you ‘bout keepin things bottled up. Ya need to let them out.”

Twilight thought of the report in her room, and how easy it would be make it disappear. She thought of how Celestia had deceived her. Twilight thought about how Celestia all but lied about Nightmare Moon’s return through clever and manipulative phrasing. Celestia had always done what was right for Equestria. She wondered what was best for Equestria.

“I’m afraid.” Twilight paused for a moment startled by her own admission, “I’m worried I am losing myself.”

It was not until the words had left her mouth that Twilight realized that they were true. She wondered how long the feeling had been in her heart and more importantly if she was already lost. It was not the report or the moon. It was her.

“Go on sugah cube. A’hm listenin.”

“Well… You probably heard about Witherton right?”

Rainbow Dash never did finish with her inspection early, and in the conversation that followed, Twilight never did get a chance to ask Applejack’s opinion on the climate report or the moon.

Author's Note

Twilight does like her tea.

We're going to see a bit more plot development next chapter.

I wasn't particularly happy with this chapter. I feel like I used a lot of words without really saying much. Originally this chapter was the introduction of another member of the mane 6, but then I realized I needed to lay some more groundwork. Next thing I know I've got an additional two chapters.
That being said, things are going to be taking a turn for the dark soon (if things have not been dark enough for you yet).

Some thoughts on Equestria's cosmology in my story. This will never explicitly appear in my story, because quite frankly, its not that important. However, I found my musings interesting and so have decided to share them. For those curious, I do have my masters in physics, so I'm not just pulling things out of my flank. Feel free to skip everything below this part of the author's note. You won't miss anything important.

The planet Equestria is part of is likely smaller than Earth, perhaps the size of Mars. The lower gravity explains how pegasi can fly with such small wings. It would also allow for more fantastic architecture (the type we see demonstrated in Canterlot). Because of its small size, the planet would have quickly run out of geothermal heat. It would rely almost entirely on the sun for warmth.

Being a geologically dead planet, the tectonic plates would have 'frozen' in place, forever fused together. The solidifying of the planet's core would make it less susceptible to tidal forces. Smaller tides would mean that global weather patterns would be dampened. Perhaps this is why the pegasi need to manage the weather.

Of course, with the core of the planet dead, it would be lacking a magnetic field. This means that Equestria could not have a sun like Earth's because solar wind would slowly strip away all of Equestria's atmospheric water. A smaller star (significantly smaller) would not have as much coronal mass ejections and would be safer for Equestria. However, this would mean the star would also need to be closer to make up for the lower output.

The sun would likely be below the threshold for self-sustained fusion. It might sputter and burn for a few hundred years, but it would never ignite into a true celestial fusion furnace. Thus, magic is needed to sustain the sun. Given this understanding, Celestia's death would not have marked the sun's destruction, but rather it regressing to a brown dwarf. Twilight would then have reignited the corpse of Celestia's 'fake' sun (I may or may not have described it as such at one point). I need to think more to figure out orbital patterns, but I'm sure I can come up with a logical explanation.

This explanation does not adequately (or at all) explain why the moon would crumble without magic. Perhaps it was a neutron star, whose collapse was only held off by magic. At Luna's death it transformed into a black hole. This would not affect the orbital dynamics, and with the stars gone (I can't give a good explanation for that - at least not now) would not be noticeable to Equestria. Of course, the collapse of neutron star would release enough energy to destroy Equestria... (ignoring the fact that a neutron star in close proximity of the planet would tear it apart just from the massive tidal forces in the first place.)

Anyway, when I have some time, I will work out the calculations regarding solar output (it should be possible to figure out how much energy it takes to sustain the 'sun') and run some orbit simulations. Until I do the math, its all just speculation. This intrigues me.

Rewrite posted on 1/1/2015

Knight Protector of the Crown

Chapter 7 - Knight Protector of the Crown

Twilight looked at the desk. She had cleared off the climate report, but it still had the outdated report and half started letter of Celestia’s as usual. In addition there was a book sitting open on the wooden surface. It was Diary No. One Hundred and Thirty Seven. Over the years she had read through it dozens of times, but it had occurred to Twilight that somewhere in the pages of entries might be some offhoofed comment that she had missed the previous times that could shed some light on what it was like to be an alicorn.

Ultimately, it was of no real significance, but Twilight was technically the only one of her kind, and she would like to know if her experience was typical. So far she had not found anything. Twilight looked at the open entry.

-going well. I have had the unicorn, I suppose I should start thinking of her as my student, move into the palace. She has so much potential, but my schedule makes our lessons occur at irregular hours. I decided it was easiest to just always have her on hoof. I can at least get a lesson in a day, and when I am busy she can study with the professors at the school.

I admit that she is growing on me. However, I think it might have been too many years since I last dealt with a young filly. I find myself rusty.

The other night there was a knocking on my door as I was preparing for bed. On the other side were two embarrassed guards and a timid purple unicorn. I suspected she used her “big eyes” on them. She has not yet turned her weapon on me, but I have seen it used effectively on some of the palace staff. I should inform the guards to not feel bad about granting my student- yes I do think I like the sound of that- granting my student an audience. I do need to look into how she got past all of the other guards, however. If a single filly can bypass every guard in the palace just be looking adorable, it seems like it could pose as a security hole.

Twilight smiled. When she was younger, she had the palace staff wrapped around her hoof. Fortunately for them, she had not realized just how much influence she had.

-meeting tomorrow. But back to last night. Twilight was standing there with that doll of hers and promptly fell over herself bowing. She was so afraid that she had disturbed my sleep or upset me. After finally reassuring my student, I discovered the heart of the matter. She missed her parents and could not get to sleep.

I walked her back to her chamber and offered to tell her a bedtime story. I am afraid that is where I erred. It has been too long. I was surprised to hear that her mother never indulged in the practice of telling bedtime stories, and endeavored to come up with a good one. Apparently over the last few hundred years either what constitutes a bedtime story has changed or I have forgotten.

I told her the tale of the Ghostly Princess.

Twilight still remembered that night and the end of the story. It had been terrifying. She could imagine Celestia’s face in the dim light as she spoke. “And so the princess who had lost herself, lost her friends, and lost her kingdom finally lost her mind. Now she is doomed to wander all the lands because she cannot remember what it is that she has lost. They say that every now and then, some part of her remembers what it was like to talk to real ponies, and in a flash of light and a whoosh of wind she will appear. You can hear her distorted cries as she tries to remember what it was like to talk. But as she reaches out to ponies you can see her burning away in her pain, and as fast as she appeared she will be gone. There is no hope for the ghostly princess, because she has forgotten that hope is found in the hearts of others.”

-still remember when he first told Luna and I the story when we just fillies. He had always told it as if he had known the ghostly princess, as if she was somepony we should feel sorry for. Perhaps he knew from the start what was to become of his mind.

Twilight had found that to bit of rambling reminiscence the most interesting in the entry, but unfortunately nothing else helped to illuminate it, or who the he was, any further.

-not the most prudent thing. I am sure at some point in the future I am reading over this and laughing. Just remember, you’re going to slip up again at some point, and it will probably be even more embarrassing.

What had Celestia been thinking telling her that story? She had nightmares for a week. Twilight could hardly believe that the Princess had thought it an appropriate bedtime tale if she had not read the diary herself.

-wouldn’t stop screaming that the ghost princess was going to get her. I never had the same talent at dream magic as Luna, but at least I was able to keep Twilight from remembering the nightmares. There was an odd flavor to them, but I suspect that I am even more out of practice with dream magic as I am bedtime stories. I will need to be sure, however, to find a more modern book of stories appropriate for a young filly. I believe Twilight had mentioned something about a Doing Dare book.

Twilight shook her head at her mentor as she closed the book. It had taken the diary and reflection over her memories to realize that her mentor could be just as goofy as Princess Luna sometimes. She supposed that eccentric was a kinder word, and wondered how many years it would take before ponies talked about the “eccentric Princess Twilight.”

“She made a mistake telling a young filly that story.”

Twilight remembered Applejack’s words when they last met, “A’h’l always be here for you hon. But you need to remember to look in here.” She poked her hoof against Twilight’s chest. “You’ve always known what’s right in your heart. Now you’ve got two of them. Maybe it will be twice as easy.”

Twilight stared at the diary still before her. “But what if my hearts lead me astray. We made the right call with Witherton, but… Ponies died. Even Celestia made mistakes… How am I supposed to do this?”

Twilight threw herself away from the desk and galloped across the room towards the bed and dived nose first into Celestia’s old blankets. She buried her snout and hoped that the fabric would absorb her tears.

“Did your mistakes ever get ponies killed?”

She knew the answer. Even during Celestia’s rule things were not always peaceful.

“What should I do when I kill ponies?”

Twilight imagined a response from the blankets, “You do your best, just as you have always done.”

“But you were perfect, and even your best wasn’t always good enough. How am I supposed to deal with this? I just can’t forget. I can’t… Every decision…”

Their dead faces stared at her. The entire village was dead.

Twilight imagined another gentle comment, ”You know I wasn’t perfect.”

“Close enough. With the difference between us, you might as well have been. I’ve been having more nightmares about them. I thought… I thought talking to AJ, Dash, and Rarity about things more would help, but...”

“They always say that it wasn’t your fault?”

“But it was my fault. They are trying to be nice, but they’re wrong.”

Twilight dug herself deeper into the pile looking for comfort.

“I mean. It’s not the first time I’ve made decisions that ended in ponies dead. It’s not even the first time I’ve gotten a lot of ponies killed… Not even the first time that there were dead fillies.”

Twilight remembered the burning caravan wagons and Fluttershy’s sobbing form.

“I’ve always had nightmares, and have been haunted, but…”

”You have alway been able to keep going for Equestria.”

“Why is this different? I did my best. I went with what seemed like the most logical course of action.”

”But you had reservations. You were concerned, if only for a while, that you might have been leaving Witherton shorthooved.”

And the imaginary Celestia had finally given Twilight her answer.

“Took you long enough subconscious.”

She sat up on the bed. She felt a weight come removed from her withers and the old haunted house in Equestria seemed a little less crowded. The bodies and faces were still there, but the windows and blinds were no longer distracting her with their rattling.

It was not that she was losing herself. She had just forgotten to listen.

“I promise I’m not going to ignore my gut. I’m not going to do what seems right if it doesn’t feel right.”

Twilight released a heavy sigh.

“I suppose that means I should tell Professor Cold Ice that he should publish his report and I need to tell ponies about the moon.”

As Twilight was thinking a green puff of smoke formed in front of her and materialized into a letter. She snatched it out of the air before gravity even had a chance to take home. Twilight hastily unrolled the expected letter. It simply read, “Home soon. –S”

In a burst of teleportation magic the Sun Study was empty.

When she rematerialized, Princess Twilight Sparkle stood on a large balcony in Canterlot. Her sun shone almost directly ahead and was imperceptibly brighter because of her excitement. That was something she needed to become better at. Since gaining her wings, her emotions tended have a larger effect on the flow of magic to the sun than she would have liked. The muscles in the alicorns legs flexed and unflexed as she barely restrained herself from hopping with excitement.

Her wings, however, remained motionless on her back. She could feel them weakly attempt to flutter once, but then nothing else. Recently she had begun flying lessons with Rainbow Dash. Years of training recruits had made her a skilled, if hard, teacher. Twilight’s wings were not yet quite strong enough to provide the lift required to fly, but that had not stopped the rainbow maned pegasus from being a slave driver.

By the end of her lessons, the muscles that worked her wings would be too tired to move. As long as she scheduled the lessons in the morning, it made controlling her wings in court much simpler. Of course, she would have preferred not to have to live with the soreness it left in her back.

She squinted her eyes, but still could not see him. Her Knight Protector of the Crown was returning. Spike had been away for over six months on his mission, and he had not yet seen her new form. Twilight could not wait to show off her wings. Any minute the alicorn expected to see the dragon coming across the horizon. She had cleared her schedule for her former assistant’s return.

Her former hatchling was so important to her. Spike had always been something like a younger brother to her - though it was much more complicated than that. However, like many older sisters, she had not fully appreciated Spike when she had been younger. Too often the dragon had been her assistant first and her family second.

It was when she had realized the implications of her immortality that Twilight truly began to appreciate her dragon. Within another half a century, her friends would all be dead. She would make new friends. In fact, she HAD made some new, younger friends. Just the other day she had a nice brunch with Silver Dancer. However, all ponies would fade and die. She suspected that as time wore on, their lives would begin to pass like that of a mayfly. The burden of her immortality already seemed heavy, and she had not yet even lived longer than a normal lifetime.

She wondered how Celestia had handled taking Twilight on as a student. She wondered if Princess Celestia had cut herself off from her emotions. Maybe the love she had felt from her mentor had been a facade.

No.

Twilight remembered the Princess's last words. She would never forget them.

Spike, however, would be a rock in the storm of centuries and eons that would pass. Dragons were known to live hundreds or even thousands of years. There would be times when her precious knight would need to give himself over to the great slumber. But for an immortal being, what would a hundred years without her eternal companion seem? It would eventually be but a blink of an eye. At least that is what Twilight hoped. The same thing that would make relationships with normal ponies so painful would make the time without Spike bearable.

She had committed a non-trivial amount of time studying dragon physiology, and there was no known record of a dragon dying of old age. It seemed the creatures did not succumb to natural causes. They died in battle or cataclysmic events. The eldest of them simply disappeared, perhaps interring themselves for a slumber that would stretch on for eons.

Spike was her friend. Spike would live on with her.

When she realized just how badly she had treated the dragon who had been like a brother to her, she had become determined to put things right. He had deserved more than being her simple assistant. So the princess of Equestria had created a new post, Knight Protector of the Crown. Technically he was her bodyguard. However, in practice, he would go where she could not. He spoke with her voice and acted on her authority.

The appointment was one of the worst decisions she had made.

It had made the dragon thrilled. The pride in his eyes had made her think she had made the right choice. But he was no longer a baby dragon. While Spike was still young, he was strong and powerful. As Knight Protector he was frequently away. She was constantly sending him into danger. Whenever he flew away from Canterlot, Twilight could not help but remember how most dragons met their end.

She could not stand to lose him.

Then there was also the fact that he took his duties far too seriously. He was like Rainbow Dash in that respect. Though, at least he would drop the formalities when they were not in public. Still, whenever he was gone she would just want her old assistant back. Twilight could never do that too him though. He was proud of his position, and he was good at it as well.

She could see a purple and green blob in the distance now. It was flanked by smaller specks that she assumed to be the pegasi that had gone with him. She counted nine forms in all. They had taken casualties it seemed.

It was normal for them to exchange letters, but this mission Spike had only sent a few, and the status reports had been brief at best.
Twilight considered it only fair that she had not mentioned the whole ‘alicorn thing’ in her letters back to him. It was just too bad that she was not yet skilled enough at flying to go out and meet him. She smiled as she imagined what the look on his face would be like.

The clopping of armored hoofsteps approached her from behind. She recognized the rhythm. The princess hoped that her captain of the guard was only there to wait with her. She really did not want to deal with another crisis at the moment.

“You must be looking forward to his arrival Princess. Your wings certainly seem excited.”

“What!”

Twilight craned her head trying to look at her wings. Twisting around, practically losing her crown, she could see her wings sitting motionless with not a flutter. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rainbow Dash’s smirk.

“If you can’t tell whether or not your wings are doing something perhaps we need to step up your training. My goal is to eventually get you to be the second best flier in Equestria.”

“I would be happy if I could just get off the ground.”

She knew she was pouting, but the princess did not particularly care.

“It’ll be good to see Spike again. Think you’re going to let him stick around long enough that he will be able to help me break in the new recruits?”

Rainbow Dash had no idea how much the lighthearted comment hurt her.

“I would like to keep him around, but we need to make sure nothing happens to Witherton again. I still can’t... We can’t let anything happen to the new ponies moving there. He will keep them safe.”

There was silence before the pegasus’s voice softly replied.

“You’re still thinking about that? It was nearly… No, it was before you got your wings... Twilight, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known that-”

Twilight whirled on her friend in frustration. She thought she had finally worked the issue out.

“But I should have! If I had taken the time. I can expand and project my senses out beyond my physical form. I can erect barriers and level mountains. I’m the most powerful being alive, and I can’t even protect a single village? Don’t make me laugh. I failed Dash, plain and simple. The ponies in Witherton depended on me. I let them down. I let them die because I didn’t trust my own judgement.”

She shook her head before continuing, “I can still remember their dead faces. I walked through a village that had been slaughtered to the last pony. Their deaths had been pointless.”

“Twilight-”

“I gave the order to reduce the guard. I signed off on the paperwork. Their blood is on my hooves.”

“You only went along with the decision because we told you that Trottingham needed an increased guard - and it did. If we hadn’t changed the guard assignments we might have ended up with two tragedies on our hooves instead of one. I don’t like it, but we have limited resources.”

“Exactly, I did it because other ponies told me that I should even though I knew it was a bad idea. I should have protected them...”

“Nopony can do everything.”

They were shouting now.

“Celestia could!”

“Celestia is dead!”

They were both silent. The words had been said. It was Rainbow Dash who first mustered up the courage to say something again.

“You’re not Celestia, Twilight. You can’t keep comparing yourself to her. Of course you are going to fall short. She had at least a thousand years of experience on you, probably a lot more. You’re still growing. Give yourself a chance.”

“But I should have kept them safe...”

“Don’t be stupid Twilight! What are you supposed to do? Be everywhere at once?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

Rainbow Dash sighed at what she had interpreted as a petulant response.

“Twilight. you can’t be ‘on’ all the time. You need to relax at some point. Nopony is meant to hold onto things like this. Not everything bad that happens in Equestria is your fault. You think I didn’t feel some of the blame, that I don’t wish things had gone differently? But we need to move on, unless we want Equestria to grind to a stop. We’re going to find the things that attacked Witherton. When the survivors wake up, they’ll be able to help us with their accounts. However, things like this will probably happen again. Just know that I will be by your side when they do. You don’t need to carry it all yourself.”

Twilight did not cry. She had not cried once over the ponies of Witherton. She had only felt anger and shame.

Nearly seven months ago they had received reports from Trottingham, reports of something new. Guard ponies were transferred from Witherton in response. By the end of a month Witherton was gone. The buildings remained intact. The belongings of ponies had not been touched. But each and every pony had been killed. They had been telekinetically crushed or torn to pieces. There were only three potential witnesses and they were all in comas. Twilight had made it a point to memorize the faces of all those who had died there, however, she had not yet been able to bring herself to visit the three survivors.

It did not matter what Rainbow Dash said. Twilight had failed her little ponies.

“Dash, when I’m not on I let things like Witherton happen. I let things like the Ponyville-Trotingham Caravan hap-”

“Are you still holding on to that!”

For a second Twilight thought that Rainbow Dash was about to punch her.

Twilight shook her head, but she was not sure why. “I need to do more.”

Ponies had died because of her before. But this had been different. It had been the greatest tragedy in Equestria since the death of the two alicorn sisters, occurring just days before the ceremony for Apple Seed. Worst of all had been the way in which the ponies had died.
Most of the creatures that called the night their domain attacked with tooth or claw. If something fell upon a caravan, the ponies would be torn to shreds, not crushed to a pulp. Until she could shove the memory aside, the thought of caravans reminded Twilight of the loss Fluttershy had suffered.

The ponies of Witherton had not been attacked by timberwolves, or manticores. Nor had it been a Taraxippus or a Lamia. It could not been any of the dozens of horrible creatures that creeped about once her sun set. The ponies of Witherton had been killed by magic. It was the type of magic a pony might use, such as a unicorn.

Or an alicorn.

Or something like an alicorn.

Twilight remembered the creature from her dreams, from her nightmares - the nightmares that came more frequently now. She had destroyed it, erased it from existence. But where had it come from? Were there others?

“There is something you could do to help. The armor Moon Dreamer used to make for the guard was really something else. The enchantments have saved more than one ponies life. If you would let him go back to crafting equipment for us, well, the new recruits would be much more effective.”

Twilight looked at her friend with a hint of betrayal. They had discussed the issue before. Rainbow Dash knew how she felt. Was her captain attempting to use her vulnerable state to manipulate her into changing her mind?

That was ridiculous, Dash was her friend.

Dash was just being insensitive.

“The project he is working on is too important. He’s already moved past the initial planning stage.”

“Yea, the Magisterium is not too happy with him shutting down streets just to carve them up.”

Twilight sighed. There were only a handful of unicorns in Equestria who could even understand the magnitude of what Moon Dreamer was taking on.

“The rune patterns need a lot of space. It just so happens that the streets of Canterlot are laid out along where the main rune lines need to be placed. I suspect that when Princess Celestia first had this city built, it was with this ultimately in mind. It’s just too much of a coincidence otherwise. I don’t know why it was never finished, but the streets are perfect to serve as the framework for a limitless amplification matrix. I just wish I could find some documentation from the city’s construction.”

“Still, it's very disruptive to day to day life.”

“Roads are closed for maintenance all the time, the ponies can deal with it. Besides, when he finishes with a street, the runes will melt into the stone and will hardly be noticeable. Oh, and you can tell the Magisterium that they should feel free to direct their complaints to me if they are dissatisfied with Moon Dreamer’s actions.”

“This is more than just maintenance. There is all sorts of magical disruptions, and the roads he is working on are-”

“Ponies can deal with it. This won’t cost anypony their lives or put anypony at risk, but it might save lives.”

“Twilight, I-”

Both ponies were caught off guard by a sudden ‘whoosh’ of wind followed by a thud as a dragon landed besides them. The creature was an imposing sight, easily the size of a carriage. His growth over the past decades had not been caused by greed as it had been on that one chaotic day when he was just a little dragon. The fire that had driven this more recent growth had been loyalty, honesty, and generosity. It had been tempered by laughter and kindness. Friendship had ensured that his growth was slow and proper. He was easily stronger than greedy or wrathful dragons three times his size. A moment later five battered pegasi touched down as well.

If they had not been veterans before leaving, they were now. In her mind she picked up the feathers of the ponies who had not returned from Spike’s basket. She would put them in the abandoned house, more ponies that died following her orders.
The Princess gasped at the sight of her Knight Protector. A long scar ran across Spike's face. The chest plate of his enchanted armor was missing and bandages were wrapped across his chest. It looked like they were bleeding through.

“Spike!”

She ran to the dragon in concern.

“Don’t worry, it looks worse than it is. We can talk about it more inside.”

Twilight could tell that his now deep voice was hiding something. He had not even mentioned her wings.

Rainbow Dash dismissed the pegasi, giving them leave until they would be called for debriefing. The captain, the knight, the princess, and her ever-present guards then made their way inside.

As they walked through the archways leading off the balcony, the collar around Spike’s neck glowed with magical power. His form distorted and shrank until he was only a little bit larger than Twilight. It had been a gift from Moon Dreamer, and the design was absolutely brilliant.

She was not certain how it had happened, but her dragon and her student had bonded deeply. When Moon Dancer realized how much the dragon’s size was an inconvenience, he had set his mind out to fix things. The unicorn had needed Twilight’s help to make the collar. The task had been beyond his ability at the time, but Twilight had not even realized how much Spike’s size was bothering the dragon.

The hallways in Canterlot were all very big. He had not seemed that large.

Twilight did not know the exact limits of the collar. Spike described it as feeling ‘tight’ - like wearing a suit that was a bit too small. She suspected that as Spike grew, the tightness would increase. Eventually she would probably need to look at other options.

They were in her study. Rainbow Dash was right; she did need to relax. She used her magic to heat up a pot of tea.

“Spike, let me call the doctors to look at that.”

“I don’t think it will help.” He was unwinding the bandages. “It’s been like this for months now.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both gasped at the wound. It was along the side of his chest, as if some powerful force had torn into him. It seemed to have been caused by a glancing blow. A feeling of dread went through her as she imagined what would have happened if it had hit Spike straight on.

Rainbow Dash asked the obvious question.

“The shade dragons did this?”

They had been reported to be non-aggressive. But this wound was deep and ugly. It was slowly oozing blood. The scales around it were turned and twisted. She could see that it looked like some of the tissue was rotting.

“No. The shade dragons will basically just sit there no matter what you do to them. I don’t think they can be hurt by anything but sunlight. I saw one destroyed by the dawn. But otherwise, they just curl up in their caves sapping energy from the soil and earth. We weren’t able to figure out if they are intelligent or not, or where they are coming from. Basically the mission was a big failure. No, this wound was caused by something else. It took out half our squad before we even realized what hit us. It was only when dawn came that the attack let up.”

“Why didn’t you go and see a doctor? You weren’t that far from Hoofington.”

Twilight was worried about her not-so-little Spike. She could not lose him.

“I did go see a doctor. Several in fact. This was the best they could do, even with magical healing. Something’s wrong with it - interfering with their magic. By the way, nice new wings. Could’ve mentioned them in one of your letters.”
Spike had a grim smile on his face. She wondered how much the wound hurt him.

“You could've told me you were hurt... May I?”

Spike nodded his head. Twilight was not a healer, but she had studied healing magic. Perhaps she would need to study it some more. If the wound was infected with foreign magic then perhaps raw power would work where skill and experience had not.

Hesitantly Twilight reached out with her magic. When the glow enveloped the wound, she recoiled in horror. She did not even notice her spilled tea. She recognized the feeling of the wound.

It felt...

Wrong.

Author's Note

Bam, super special second Sunday update!

I wasn't looking forward to writing this chapter at first, but by the end, I really liked it.

The next chapter involves Twilight having to deal with something sad.

In two chapters we see another member of the mane 6.

The below is more ramblings about the possible science in Equestria. I was bored today.

So I have a more detailed analysis of the ‘science’ behind my version of Equestria. There is a lot of wiggle room (for example, if Twilight made the sun a disk as opposed to a sphere, that would pretty much save Equestria based on this). This is all more idle musing than anything else. It won’t really affect the story and you can safely skip it. If you are interested in a summary, there is one near the bottom.

Here are my assumptions. You can argue with some of them, because there are other possibilities. However, I needed to limit the number of variables to do anything useful.

-The apparent brightness of Earth’s sun is the same as that as the sun controlled by Celestia.
-The apparent size of Earth’s sun is the same as the sun controlled by Celestia.
-The blackbody curve of Earth’s sun is the same as the sun controlled by Celestia.
Based on the show, these first three all seem to be true to within a margin of error.
-Equestria’s need for pegasi maintained weather is due to the planet being geologically dead. This has caused it to have a mostly stagnate climate (with places like the Everfree forest being the exception because of various factors (mountain ranges, bodies of water, ect...)).
-Celestia’s sun was not a true star. Assuming Equestria is geologically dead would mean that it has no protection from coronal mass ejections (unless the moon has a magnetic field).
-Celestia’s sun requires a constant flux of energy to maintain. It is not simply ‘running’ of of a preexisting well of energy. This rules out class F white dwarfs. This means Celestia needs to constantly feed the sun energy. This also means her sun needs to be relatively small (so that gravitational pressure is not causing fusion).
-The fact that Celestia’s cutie mark is a sun, would lead me to believe maintaining the sun is her special talent. I will assume her efficiency is 100%, ie, all of the energy she pours into her sun is converted to luminous output.
-Celestia would put her sun in a position as to minimize the burden it would place upon her.
Those last five assumptions are much more subjective. You could easily argue with them.
-Because the geothermal energy flux of Earth, is several orders of magnitude lower than the solar energy flux, for the purpose of energy calculations we do not need to worry about if Equestria is geologically active. Any discrepancies that exist could be accounted for by higher levels of green house gas (perhaps also helping to explain the lift generation of pegasi).

That last one is not so much a assumption as it is an approximation I will be making to simplify things. If you want you are free to look up and compare the energy fluxes.

So let us begin. For simplicity, ESun will mean Earth’s sun. CSun will mean Celestia’s sun

The brightness multiplied by 4pi times the distance squared will give us the luminosity (or energy output). We assumed that the brightnesses are the same so we can find the luminosity as a function of solar distance. So as to reduce the required energy to run the sun, we will be assuming that Celestia keeps it close to the planet. I am assuming a Low Earth Orbit (or in this case Low Equestria Orbit), of 2000km.

This gives us that the power output (Luminosity) of the CSun needs to be 70 Petawatts (there abouts). I will put this in perspective a bit, but we can now use the Stefan-Boltzmann law to find the size of her sun.

We find that it is 9.4km. This is only about twice the size of Manhatten (quite small). It is only about 0.5% the size of our moon. This puts it on par with Neutron Stars in terms of size. I should also mention that at LEO it is significantly closer than the moon.

So we have a good understanding of what the sun might be like. I would assume it’s mass is only large enough to hold it together against the outwards energy flux (I haven’t done those calculations yet, and it may well turn out it will need to be massless).

To put the energy output into perspective:

70 Petawatts is how many joules of energy per second the sun is emitting. Not all of it reaches Equestria, some just goes out into space.

Humanity is used on average 16 Terrawatts of power (or 16 terrajoules of energy a second) during 2010.

This is 4000 times less than our value of 70 Petawatts.

Things Celestia could accomplish by redirecting the energy she sends to the sun for one second:
-Power a hurricane for 8 minutes.
-Cause a 20 megaton explosion (the largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated was 50 megatons, most are much smaller than that. She can do this once every second).
-Launch a billion killograms to the moon (about two billion pounds).

Now since her special talent is the sun, not sending things to the moon, causing hurricanes, or blowing things up, she is probably less efficient at those things. However, even assuming 1% efficiency at non-solar activities, it is still impressive.

EDIT: Woops, I squared a pi. Multiply that 70 petawatts by about 3. So Celestia is even more impressive. I fixed the error in the numbers below. I’ll go back and fix the affected numbers above in a bit.

So, now onto Twilight. I’ve put a lot less thought into these calculations, so I might have overlooked something important or my approximations might be off.

The Earth emits energy like a blackbody of about 250 kelvin. Assuming the same for Equestria, we need to take a guess on Equestrias size. I’m going to say it has about 50% Earth’s radius which works with it being geologically dead. It also makes gravity weaker. This makes it easier for pegasi to fly and more likely Twilight could survive an anvil falling on her head (that was what fell on her in feeling pinky keen, right? People are free to watch the episode and figure out how much force it hit her with, assuming lowered gravity and other reasonable estimates).

This means the planet Equestria is on is losing heat at a rate of about 54 Petawatts. (Assuming similar temperature to Earth) as a blackbody. Since we now know that Equestria is cooling down, that means Twilight’s star is providing less than 54 Petawatts of power. (Equestria had only been receiving about 56 Petawatts from Celestia’s sun, the rest going out into space). This means that Twilight’s sun is outputting at most 200 pettawats.

So if Twilight was just barely falling short, and Celestia could just barely maintain her own sun, Twilight is 95% the strength of her mentor (that 5% sure does make a big difference). Of course that is assuming Twilight has the same 100% efficiency as Celestia

So lets see if we can narrow things down.

Equestria likely has around a fifth to a tenth of the stored geothermal energy as the Earth. This means it has 10^30 Joules of stored energy. Lets assume that its only going to loose 10% of the that energy during this ice age (I could be way off with that number, I can’t use Earth as a model because we are still geologically active), so Equestria needs to shed 10^29 Joules of energy.

A 100,000 year ice age cycle (I should probably adjust the words ‘centuries’ in the last chapter to’ eons’) means its loosing 32 petawatts on average during that time period.

That means Twilight is probably delivering something like 20 someodd petawatts, putting the total output of her sun at around 76 Petawatts. That’s only a third as luminous as Celestia’s sun (and given that, the 32 petawatt loss was an average over 100,000 years, her sun is probably even weaker at the time of the story - however without determining the growth rate of her magic its hard to determine).

Depending on how inefficient Twilight is at powering a sun, she might actually meet or exceed the lower bounds on Celestia’s power.

One final thing. Assuming Twilight has placed her sun no closer to the planet than Celestia did, her sun is either redder, or smaller than Celestia’s. If it is the same size, then her star is an orangeish color. If I wanted to make the sun red, I would need to make it appear large in the sky.

One thing to take away from this, is that energy conservation cannot apply or else Twilight and Celestia would have appetites like a parasprite swarm.

Also, none of this takes into account the energy required to maintain the orbits of the star.

To Summarize:

Twilight’s sun is about a third as powerful as Celestia’s and about a tenth as bright in the sky as well as orange.

Celestia was at least capable of generating a 60 megaton explosion every second.
Worst case scenario Twilight is able to currently generate a 20 megaton explosion every second - this information may come in useful for me later in the story :)

Regarding Twilight’s power in season 1:

So based on what I remember of the ursa minor’s size, and assuming its density is the same as a pony (I want to say its lower based on its transparency, but its filled with stars and stuff, so who knows), the ursa minor weighs around a hundred thousand kilos. This puts Twilight’s peak energy output in the episode at around one megawatt (assuming that her apparent struggle is not an issue of finesse, or control - also assuming magic is not affected by distance (and as I write, that seems unlikely, so maybe her output is even greater)).

Even given a geometric doubling of her power each year leading up to Celestia’s death, her power would still be about nine orders of magnitude too low to make anywhere near a decent sun. So Twilight must have had a large power boost between boast busters and the creation of her own sun.

This also helps explain why the council of unicorns aren’t able to help very much. It would take a million unicorns as powerful as Twilight was in Boast Busters to even begin to make a difference (I suspect the average power output of a skilled unicorn is closer to one killowatt, so it would take even more unicorns).

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015

A Funeral and an Exile

Chapter 8 - A Funeral and an Exile

Twilight sat in her personal study looking over two copies of Equestria's newest law regarding importation of griffon goods. The version on her right was written in her own words. The version on her left was nearly identical, to a point that she might not have noticed if she had not been reading carefully.

She looked over the spots she had highlighted again.

“What is Magistrate Flitterleaf trying to accomplish with these changes?”

In the center of her study she heard Spike rolling over groaning. He was surrounded by record books she had given him to read through. Hopefully a clue would be in one of them.

“I don’t know Twilight. Maybe she just like the wording better.”

Twilight turned to look at Spike. He took up most of her study when he was not suppressing his size using his collar. She had told him not to use it if it made him uncomfortable.

She sighed when she realized that she had to explain it to her former assistant. “It’s never just about the wording. If it was a big or obvious change to the law, it would because they felt strongly that it would be better a different way. But when its like this...” Twilight waved the highlighted copy in Spike’s face. “It’s never just about the wording. When they say it is, that means I need to look closer. She’s after something, probably bits, but I just don’t know how.”

“Well there is nothing in any of these public record books. The Flitterleaf estate isn’t involved in trade.”

“Well keep looking. Maybe it has something to do with some product that they manufacture. The answer is somewhere. I can’t just reject the bill as she rewrote it without offending and looking uncooperative, but I need something to go on if I want to reject it.”

“Why not just tell her you know she’s trying to game the system.”

“They are all trying to game the system, and they know that I know that. The key is I need proof if I want to confront them. Even then I can’t say anything directly. It all has to be hints and feints.”

“Geez. I guess I understand why Princess Celestia didn’t like dealing with the nobility.”

“No kidding. You don’t normally have to deal with this, always flying around Equestria. But let’s get back to work.”

“But, Twilight, this is so boring.”

Twilight turned back around to face her Knight Protector with an exasperated sigh.

“This was your idea. You said it might be fun to be my assistant again for a little while. I’ve got other ponies that can help me with this if you don’t want to be here, but I thought you were right that it might be fun spending time like this again.”

“A geez, Twi. I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I like spending time with you. It’s just- I’m going crazy being all cramped up here in Canterlot.”

“I told you. I’m not letting you leave until I’m satisfied that your wound won’t get in the way.”

“It’s doing tons better.”

“And that’s why I’m letting you help Dash break in the new recruits. I thought you said that was fun?”

The dragon let out a sigh which sounded more like a roar. “It is. The look on their faces when Rainbow Dash tells them they are going to be fighting me is hilarious.” Twilight saw a smile momentarily appear and the disappear from his face. “It’s just… Whatever attacked me up north? It could be going after other ponies. I should be going after it. Or there is the whole Witherton thing.” Twilight hoped that he did not notice her flinch. “We still don’t know what did that. I could be tracking it down.”

“It’s only been two months. You’ve stayed in Canterlot for much longer stretches of time.”

“I know. I guess it’s just knowing that I can’t leave. Making me a little crazy you know.”

“Spike, I promise, once I understand your injury a bit better you can be out doing important stuff and helping Equestria again. No more than two more months top. Promise."

“Pinkie Pie promise?”

Twilight grinned despite herself. She hated making promises. It always seemed like she was being forced to break them. “Stick a cupcake in my eye.” She nodded her head.

“I guess I can wait two more months…”

“Come on over here you big lug. Let me get a look at your chest.”

Spike stood up and lumbered over to her desk. She winced as his tail knocked into one of her bookshelves almost causing a vase to totter over, and let out a sigh of relief when it did not tip over. Spike was sensitive about accidentally breaking things.

Once Spike was near she probed his wound with a bit of diagnostic magic.

“Twi- that tickles. Your magic feels all cold and slippery.”

She felt frustration return once again.

“It shouldn’t feel like anything. I just don’t get it. My magic just keeps sliding around the wound. What can do something like that?”

“Well, last week we found that reference in a library to spells designed to leave unhealable wounds.”

“Yea, but it also said that a skilled magic user could unwind the spell. Besides, I don’t feel any magic here.”

“Maybe it’s a new type of magic.”

Twilight did not respond as she gently twisted the white bandages away to get a look at the wound underneath.

“Stop squirming will you.”

“Sorry.”

“Seriously Spike, do you have any idea how much magic I’ve poured into this wound trying to heal it? Nothing.”

Twilight tried not to think of the earth pony doctor who had succeeded without magic where all of her magic had failed. Sutures and surgery had helped where magic had not. She made one more twist of the white fabric, and then the bandages were off.

“How’s it look?”

Twilight shook her head. “I can’t believe that doctor. He made it bigger.”

“Yea, but none of it is all black or dying anymore. You don’t realize how worried I was when I realized that rotting smell was me.”
She used her magic to swat away Spikes head as his longer neck tried to crane towards his chest.

“But-”

“What was it that he said, Twilight? ‘Sometimes you have to cut away the healthy with the sick to save the patient.’ If living through this means having a slightly bigger scar, I’m willing to pay that price.”

“I suppose. It just seems so barbaric compared to magical healing.” She hummed for a moment and decided to drop it. Instead she focused on the wound in front of her. “The stitches are holding, but it still doesn’t look like the wound is closing, or at least not very quickly. You’re right though. No sign of infection.”

“My scales will probably never grow back, huh?”

“From what I know of dragon physiology, probably not.”

“Well Moon Dreamer said he was going to make me a new set of armor with special reinforcement over the wound, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“I just wish I could understand this thing. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Doctor Heart Cut says that if the wound doesn’t start healing faster we can look at filling it with molten metal.You know to prevent future infection.”

Twilight looked at Spike Sharply. “When did you go to see the doctor without me?”

“Geez Twilight.” Spike pushed Twilights head away with a scally claw. “You’re not my mom alright. I just wanted to ask if the last surgery was the last. He said he thought they had gotten the last of the infected tissue.”

“Yet, they still have no idea where the infection keeps coming from.” She thought about how all the dead tissue had possessed the same wrongness as the wound itself. The doctor had been right to take wide margins.

“Give them a break, Twilight.”

“I just… I worry about you.”

Spike embraced her.

“I worry about you too, sis.”

“So molten metal huh, I guess it will mess up your beautiful scales.”

Spike leaned back and laughed. “Are you kidding me. Chicks dig scars. Just ask any of the guard.”

Twilight finally smiled.

“I’m sure all the dragonesses will be swooning.” They pulled away as Twilight began to reshelf her record books. They could finish the research later.

“So anything exciting planned for tomorrow?”

“Not really. I’m meeting with Professor Cold Ice.”

Twilight had told her oldest friend about the report. She had figured since the ice age would end up directly impacting Spike’s life he had deserved to be one of the first to know.

“He’s the pegasus that wanted your input before publishing the paper right? You’re telling him to go ahead right?”

“Yea.” Twilight nodded her head but was not happy about it.

“It’s the right thing to do Twilight. I think ponies will surprise you with how they’ll take it. Besides, remember how upset you were when you found out Celestia had hid that whole seal thing from you.”

“Yea, I know. I just can’t help but think that ponies would be happier not knowing at all. One of the things I’m going to talk with the Professor about is breaking it to ponies gently. Besides, its just a bit sad to think about. Centuries of cold and ice… At least I’ll have you to keep me company.”

“Um, Twilight…”

She turned around from her shelving, concerned at the tone of Spike’s voice.

“Spike, what is it?”

“I’m cold blooded remember? You know how much I need to sleep during the winter. I’m probably going sleep through the whole ice age.”

Twilight felt the smile dropping from her face, but tried to hide it. “Well then, we will just need to find you a nice big chamber in Canterlot for you to sleep in.”

“You know, I heard from a migrating dragon a while back that sleeping on a bed of coins is really comfortable. Maybe I could sleep in the treasury vault?”

“Nice try Spike. I’m not letting you turn Equestria’s wealth into your hoard.”

Now they were both smiling honestly again.

“It was worth a shot.”

“You know, if you could convince one of those older dragons to give us their hoard-”

“We would be violating the dragon-pony treaty.”

“I know… Just I’ve seen how much gold they use for their 'coin beds.' I don’t care how comfortable they tell you it is, that many bits would fix a lot of our problems."

“Still it’s not going to happen.”

Twilight sighed, but nodded her head. “Hey, Spike. I have an announcement I am going to need to make, but I don’t think the Diamond Dogs are going to like it. I was wondering if you could help me write it?”

+++

The rest of her afternoon was free. Twilight had purposefully scheduled as such so she could begin her new research. She could finally begin using the tower that had been prepared to be her new lab. She stood up with a brief pulse of magic causing all of her books and papers to fly to their proper homes.

Twilight left her study desperately ready to go to sleep, despite the fact that she had not even set the sun yet. The day had been exhausting, and she was willing to end the night early.

Twilight had not had one of the bad nightmares since Spike returned. She attributed it to the comfort of Spike's presence. She had gone through other nightmares of course as well as various other unpleasantness. There were some dreams in which Spike succumbed to his wound, others in which he died in battle. There was even one dream where the pain had driven him mad. In the dream Spike had attacked her, and she had been forced to put him down. She had cried after that one.

But not one of them had the monster in it.

The princess would put up with any number of other nightmares if it meant not having to relive Celestia's death again. Of course she knew that it was only a matter of time before the dreams returned. They always did.

As Twilight approached the exit to the gardens she was going through a mental checklist. The next morning was going to be --

“Princess!”

The alicorn turned her head to see the unicorn who had called out to her.

“Ah, my most trusted student. How goes your project?”

Moon Dreamer trotted up to her, giving a familiar bow, before launching into an explanation.

“It’s going amazing. You were right, you have to be right. The streets in the city, at least the ones laid out when Canterlot was first built, all seem to line up perfectly. It’s made the work much easier. I still don’t like thinking about how much more work there is to do, but it's all so invigorating.”

He seemed happy and energetic, far more so than usual. Twilight thought she knew why. It had nothing to do with his work.

“So how did the date go?”

Her student blushed.

“It wasn’t a date. It was a research meeting.”

Twilight had taken it upon herself to arrange a “research meeting” between Moon Dreamer and a mare from the university. Red Dazzle had been studying Canterlot civil planning so it had made sense that she would be able to help Moon Dreamer with his work. The fact that Moon Dreamer had mentioned in passing admiring the mare had only slightly affected Twilight's decision.

So far the two ponies had only met for research meetings.

“Ah, my mistake. Apologies.”

“The meeting went well though. She’s very knowledgeable.”

She thought she understood why Celestia had allowed her to stay in Ponyville. Moon Dreamer, of course, was nowhere near as antisocial as she had been - Twilight was not sure if that was possible for any pony - but she still enjoyed seeing her student going out and meeting new friends.

"I'm glad to hear that, Moon Dreamer. Oh! I forgot to tell you earlier. I had been planning on attending the new opera this evening, but I find myself needing to deal with other concerns. It's the one where a group of ponies are after a magic ring that can avert the end of the world. I've heard that it is very good. It seemed a shame to just waste the tickets so I offered one to Red Dazzle. It would be terribly rude of me not to offer her a gift of thanks. She is helping my student with his work after all."

Twilight cocked her head before continuing. "She accepted the ticket. I think I may have surprised her, meeting her outside of her classroom. Of course she will need an escort. Perhaps you could accompany her with the other ticket? The opera starts at sunset I think.”

Her student spluttered before realizing that sunset was only an hour away. He dashed down the hall with a hurried “Thank you, your majesty.” She did not have much practice with social manipulation, and was sure her student understood what she was doing. However, she wanted her student to be happy, and he did not seem to mind.

She continued out into the gardens and the palace's main grounds. And then she was at the tower.

It had been unoccupied, so Twilight had had the tower renovated for her purposes. It was separate from the main palace structure, but was still within the palace grounds. The guards stationed outside bowed to her in acknowledgement.

She had picked out the tower before having actually visiting it. She stopped a moment outside the doors. Twilight had not realized it, but the statue of Discord was located right outside her new tower. For a time, she had considered having the statue moved.

In the end she had let the embodiment of chaos stay where he was. It would be a reminder of a foe she had successfully defeated. She needed more of those.

Twilight looked up at the draconequus. She could not help but think about the creature.

What would he do if he was freed at that moment and how would he feel about the coming ice age? It seemed far too slow and methodical for Discords taste. How would he warm Equestria?

"Too bad you're not something that can be trusted."

Twilight could almost imagine the spirit of Chaos’s response, ‘Come on Princess. You need need to give a pony a chance.’

She slowly climbed the tower. The top floor was a single circular room. A large window overlooked the gardens and provided an excellent view of Celestia’s statue. A pony had recommended the tower to her because of the view. It would be good to have the motivation, the reminder.

The room was almost completely bare. There was a single desk with paper, quill, and ink. An empty vase sat on the wooden surface. Other than that, the room was empty.

Except for the large clock in the center of the room. It would not do to forget the clock.

Doctor Whooves had apparently never worked with help or assistance before. With the backing of the royal treasury, he had been able to work at record speeds. When the earth pony had presented the two clocks to her he had been excited. He had succeeded in his task, but claimed that with some more money and no more than two years he could create an even greater pair of clocks.

She had given him her leave to do so, though the decision had been driven by excitement more than need. She suspected the two clocks would be more than enough to suit her purposes. The princess had been expecting to wait for at least another year to begin her research in earnest. When she had heard they had been completed so soon, Twilight would have agreed to almost anything.

The clock's partner was located in the basement of her tower. It was in a magically shielded room. Twilight did not want her magic affecting its working. A proper experiment had a control after all. Once she had sealed the room with the other clock there had been no way into or out of it. Before doing so however, she had placed a small glass orb in front of the clock. It was tethered to another orb in the desk. Looking into one, would be like watching from another. It would make it much easier comparing the two clocks.

While waiting for the clocks to be completed, she had worked out many different possible theories. It was time to begin testing them.

+++

“I’m sorry.”

“No.”

It was unmade.

“I’m sorry.”

“No.”

“NO.”

With the words still on her lips, Twilight gasped awake momentarily disoriented. She was sleeping by Celestia’s statue again. It seemed to lack the comfort it normally provided. The clatter of hoofsteps marked the approach of a pony galloping towards her. Her guards tensed until they saw that it was just a messenger.

The sky above was still dark. It was not yet morning.

The alicorn tried to shake off the nightmare as she stood up. It was her first dream with the monster since Spike had returned. The lingering fog of sleep still clung to her mind.

“Princess. It is your Knight Protector. He started screaming in his sleep. The doctors say that his sutures have ruptured, and he is in great pain."

Twilight bolted to her hooves, panicked at why Spike’s wound would have suddenly worsened.

+++

All of Canterlot was adorned in black. The day had been declared one of mourning.

She had been numb when the news first came to her. It had caught her by surprise, and she had required to see the body before she fully comprehended it. Canterlot was hers. It was supposed to be safe.

Twilight had just arrived at a party when the guard had run up to her out of breath. Daily Vigil had finally gotten to celebrate an entire season of the sun rising and setting on time. The party was being held at dawn. Twilight had been exhausted from dealing with Spike for most of the night after she had woken up. However, she had not wanted to spoil Vigil's party. He had worked hard keeping her on time. That changed when the guard spoke his message. The festivities had been completely forgotten. At least she had managed to raise the sun properly that morning.

Sorrow definitely swirled in Twilight’s hearts. She could not deny that she was sad. However, at the moment an even greater feeling was forefront in her mind. The emotion that was overriding every other thought was a simple one. It was rage. Whatever tears she had were burned away by the fire inside of her hearts.

The alicorn had only felt this type of anger once before. It was a pale imitation of the feelings she felt when she lost Celestia, but it was enough.

Twilight tried to push it down. Everypony deserved a second chance.

She wanted to destroy the pony before her.

The noble ponies in attendance were dressed in black in recognition of their princess’s loss. They stood on either side of her throne room looking on in trepidation. Only one particular pony in the room had ever seen their ruler in the type of state she was in, and the anger that the magistrate had witnessed was nothing compared to what he saw now.

“Night Walker!”

The voice of Princess Twilight Sparkle bellowed across the room. It was filled with magic and command. It was a voice that could bend the strongest of wills. Reflexively, everypony dropped to a foreknee in a bow. One earth pony quickly righted himself in a haughty act of defiance.

That pony was the center of everpony’s attention.

Night Walker was a dark, dirty yellow colored earth pony. His cutie mark was that of a black cloak. His hooves were chained together by heavy iron manacles and his mane was horribly ungroomed. The pony had a cocky smirk. She knew why he did not seem afraid. Night Walker knew that she could not stomach real punishment. The worst he would get for his deed was life. There was nothing worse the alicorn could do to him, and with the right connections even life would not be too bad. At least he would be sure to get three meals a day.

How is that justice?

“The courts of Equestria have found you guilty in a fair and just trial. Before I pronounce your sentence, do you still freely admit to your crime?”

“Ya. I stabbed somepony who wouldn’t give over his bit-purse.”

“And you still feel no remorse.”

The earth pony laughed. All the court watched in horrified silence.

“Why should I be? One way or another, things are kill or be killed. All you noble ponies don’t have’ta deal with the buckstorm out there. ‘Bout time one of you got what was coming. Besides, it was fun. So go on, princess. We all know what’s coming next; pronounce your sentence. Life in prison. Go on and say it so we can get this thing done with.”

The pony before her was despicable - utterly loathsome. He had just admitted to enjoying the murder. He was different from the other killers that she had sentenced. Had it even been about the bits, or had it just been about the thrill? However, there was also the fact that the pony may have killed Equestria’s future.

And finally she understood. She had done the right thing by giving ponies a second chance. She had done the right thing when she had sentenced previous murders. But she was the Princess of Equestria, and she finally understood what that meant, what the difference between her and her ponies truly was.

All ponies should have the luxury of always doing the right thing, of always giving other second chances. But it was just that, a luxury. To maintain that, somepony needed to make a sacrifice. Just as her guard laid down their lives to protect others, she would need to lay down her hearts to protect the harmony between others. That was the true burden of royalty.

I’ve been indulging myself all these years.

She could not afford to listen to her hearts. She thought about what Night Walker had said. It was kill or be killed. Because she had been unwilling to shoulder her burden, others had suffered.

She knew a bit of the history of the pony before her. He had been arrested before on a case of theft.

The judge’s ruling was… merciful.

Night Walker had received a second chance and it had cost Moon Dreamer his life. She knew what she had to do.

Sometimes the wrong thing was the right thing. She needed to be hard to be kind.

“Night Walker, before I sentence you, I want you to understand the magnitude of your crime. You did not just kill anypony. The pony who’s life you took was Moon Dreamer, my personal student. However, that is not what has made your crime so horrible. A pony personally dear to me is no more important than a pony who is a stranger to me."

She still remembered arriving in that alley to find his body.

Moon Dreamer had already been pronounced dead. She had not cared. Her magic had thrummed through his body forcing his heart to beat. Her telekinesis forced air into and out of Moon Dreamer’s lungs. But he had been dead. Even Twilight could not undo death. Perhaps she could have done something had she arrived earlier, but his body had been cold by the time it was found.

The only reason she had been able to stay composed was because of her knight protector’s presence. The dragon had been in great pain when she had woken from her nightmare, but other than that his wound was fine. He had insisted on going to the party that morning. It meant he had been there in the alley. Because his wound had kept him in Canterlot, he had been there for her during the funeral. However, perhaps more importantly she had been there for him. He had been close to Moon Dreamer as well. She had needed to be strong for Spike.

She needed to be strong for all her ponies.

She did not understand this earth pony before her. How could a pony enjoy taking life from another? Life was so precious and fragile. What would it be like to take another ponies life?

“No, what has magnified your crime in my mind is what my student was working on when you so pointlessly took his life. Moon Dreamer had been working on a great project that could have fully restored Equestria to the glory it had possessed during the reign of my predecessors. Because of your small petty actions, Equestria has been deprived not only of a great unicorn, but of an opportunity to accelerate our prosperity.”

As she spoke she felt herself growing angrier and angrier. Twilight could see the confident smirk disappear from the earth pony’s face. It had been replaced with a nervous frown. She suspected he was regretting his earlier brash words.

Twilight wanted to destroy the pony - honestly and truly. She wanted to wipe it from existence in the same way that she had destroyed the monster that had taken Celestia from her. No... she wanted to do worse.

The princess could feel magic gathering around her, swirling in an invisible malestrom. Some of the unicorns in the room who could sense the energy were nervously backing away. It coalesced into her horn as her mind prepared a spell she was unfamiliar with. Twilight thought her eyes might be glowing.

She knew that this pony had hurt others. Her Moon Dreamer was but the latest.

This thing before her was wrong. It needed to be erased.

The air crackled.

Not only did this pony not deserve to exist, it did not deserve to have ever existed.

She could feel the magic flow to the sun fluctuating dangerously. Energy meant to warm and light Equestria was beginning to flow towards her horn. She did not care.

The room was charged with power. Night Walker’s hair was standing on edge.

Night Walker was not a pony. It was a stain on her Equestria.

Twilight had the power. She knew that. At that singular moment in time she could erase Night Walker’s existence, not just its present and future existence, but she could remove the fact that it had ever existed.

She could burn it from time.

The realization had startled her. In an instant the intense concentration brought upon by her anger had vanished. The magic dissipated, and the moment was gone. Twilight was not certain if she could recall the spell she had been forming if she tried. It had been something instinctive, fueled by her rage and her pain.

She felt empty.

Twilight remembered the pony's earlier attitude. Perhaps she had been too lenient with crime. The realization that Moon Dreamer may have been dead because she had been soft with the first murderers cut her. She tried to ignore the fact that the only reason her student had been out was because she had given him a ticket to a stupid little opera.

“Night Walker, I now pronounce your punishment. You are hereby banished from Equestria. You will never return. My magic will ensure that your hooves never step on Equestrian soil again. You will be taken to the northlands and released beyond our borders at sunset. We will give you some basic supplies so that you might survive, but you shall never see Equestria's day again. You will forever need to wander the night. The punishment suits your name I think.”

His eyes were wide.

“That... That’s a death sentence! You can’t send me out there all by myself.”

Twilight finished weaving magics around the murderer. The spell would ensure that he would be physically unable to bring himself to reenter Equestria once he left.

“If it is, then it is by your own hoof that you have brought it upon yourself. I am giving you more of a chance than you gave Moon Dreamer."

Turning she addressed the court.

"Let it also be known. From here on out, all murder in the first degree will be met with the punishment of banishment.”

Ponies would know that murder would not be tolerated. Perhaps Night Walker really did deserve another chance, she did not know, but he would not get one. Equestria would be safer for it.

Her lips curled into a frown.

“Take him away.”

As the earth pony was dragged away kicking and screaming, Princess Twilight Sparkle realized something.

Not once had she wondered what Princess Celestia would have done.

Author's Note

By the way, next chapter we see another member of the mane 6. I should mention that I have been looking forward to writing the next chapter for a while now. The reason being... Well, you will see. I'll just leave it at that I'm not a nice person.

~~For those of you interested in my little scientific look at my cosmology, I have created a new story called Equestria's Science, where I'm taking a non-story specific look at the science in Equestria. The first few chapters are just going to be trying to figure out how magic works.~~

EDIT:
PS. Sorry for making you think Spike was dead. I would never do that...

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015

For Love and Hate

Chapter 9 - For Love and Hate

They wanted to be afraid of her? They wanted to fear her?

Fine.

Let the simpering foals cower.

The magisterium as a whole had been much more docile. Twilight had summoned the ponies to a private audience so that she would be able to explain herself. They would understand. Her knight protector had been recovering from a serious injury, and her student had just been put in the ground. They had heard the things that Night Walker had said. Anypony in her position would have been angry.

But then she had looked into their faces.

Apologizing to Blueblood for her outburst earlier in the year had been the right thing to do. She had been in the wrong then, and so had tried to correct the situation. It was unfortunate that the unicorn had remained skittish around her after her apology, but ultimately, she could not control if the noble would be nervous around her.

This was different.

She had done nothing wrong this time. Yes, she had been angry, but what pony would not be in her situation. She had quelled her anger and responded in a reasonable and controlled manner. They feared the magic she had been gathering. Twilight was, of course, concerned with how close she had been to losing control. She had nearly done something unforgivable.

The princess looked over the last eight months and recognized that she had become less emotionally stable. Unfortunately, she did not know if it was a result of her transformation from being a unicorn, or simply all the accumulated stress over the years. Ultimately, it did not matter. One way or another, Twilight would need to learn to deal with it. She needed to be in control of herself.

However, she had - in the end - done nothing wrong at Night Walker’s sentencing. She had nothing to apologize for. Princess Twilight Sparkle was Equestria’s protector. No good pony had any reason to fear her. If her years of service to Equestria did not demonstrate that, she did not know how to convince the magistrate.

She had nothing to explain to the ponies.

Looking at the fear in their eyes, she instead felt herself wondering if they were even still useful. Certainly it had been nice not to argue every budget decision with Blueblood, but he had approved a few expenses that, in retrospect, were not smart uses of Equestria’s treasury. Unfortunately, Twilight did not know everything. She was far from infallible. The princess relied on the varied viewpoints of the ponies on the magistrate. Their opinions balanced her own. Though she had not realized it until that moment, Blueblood’s fear had made him useless to her.

The question Twilight needed to ask herself, was the rest of the magistrate now equally as useless?

In the end, she had explained that she had decided it would be a good idea to establish branch schools of Canterlot’s academy for gifted unicorns in both Manehatten and Trottingham. It was something most of the magistrate had been opposed to because of the cost. Twilight, however, thought that further encouraging magical education was important. Without Moon Dreamer she would need to find another pony to finish his work.

Ultimately her decision was a test. She knew that it was not the time for opening new schools. As much as she had been taken with the idea, the other ponies had been right when they had objected it. There was simply no room in the budget. If the magistrate could still be trusted to do what they knew was right, they would oppose her. They would bring up all the old reasons why Equestria could simply not afford it.

Not a one did. They all simply nodded in agreement.

‘What an excellent idea your Majesty.’

‘Yes, this would be the perfect time for new schools.’

‘Magically gifted unicorns all over Equestria will surely benefit.’

She had promptly dismissed them.

If they did not get over their fear, something would need to be done. Twilight needed ponies willing to voice their opinions, not simpering yes-ponies. Perhaps the magistrate would need to be replaced.

The nobility would not be happy.

She would give the magistrate some time. Perhaps they were still just getting over her near outburst.

Her decision to exile Night Walker had not been accepted easily by someponies. Ponies killing ponies was still too new for many to comprehend. While it was not unheard of in Celestia’s rule, it had most often simply been some variant of ponyslaughter, accidental or done in a moment of irrationality. Those had been the years of harmony.

Most ponies, however, supported her decision. Why should Equestria feed and shelter such horrendous criminals in prison, while good, hard working ponies were going hungry. Some ponies however, thought she had been too lenient. They suggested adopting the griffon punishment for murder.

Twilight shuddered as she ceased her pacing.

She did not want to be feared. Why did they have to fear her?

There was a line.

In some cases she was worried where the line was, in this case she was not. The alicorn hoped that she would never need to cross it. Twilight could not conceive of a situation in which taking another pony’s life would be the right thing to do - even if it was for all the best reasons.

‘No.’

It was unmade.

The monster had been different. It had killed Celestia. It had been a thing, not a pony. Destroying the thing HAD been the right thing to do.

It distressed her that the dreams had been plaguing her while waking. That had been something she had thought she was over three decades ago. It would pass. All things would.

Still, she wondered. What would have happened if she had cast that spell at Night Walker. Would it have done what she thought it was supposed to do? Would it have changed things, brought Moon Dreamer back? Would that have justified killing the pony?

Perhaps.

Would it even count as killing if the pony had never existed?

That was a tough question.

Twilight briefly thought about how Night Walker was doing. The lavender alicorn wondered if the northlands would see justice served out in full. She remembered the pony's words. He had enjoyed the murder. How could something like that be possible?

The princess wondered what it would feel like to take another pony’s life.

The alicorn sighed in frustration. She was far too tense. She was feeling the weight of the burden of royalty. As poorly as she had been sleeping before, she would sell her crown if she could go back to those nights.

To say she had not been sleeping well since Moon Dreamer’s death would be an understatement.

Twilight levitated over a cup of tea. She had been drinking more of it recently, but she needed the energy for her studies. As it floated towards her it jittered in midair as if being moved by an untrained foal. The tea would calm her nerves. The cup tipped over midway to her, spilling its contents on the rug. With a burst of magic, Twilight flung the cup in frustration, feeling no satisfaction at the crash that followed.

A guard pony stuck his head in at the noise.

“Princess?”

The royal guard was nervous, but there was no fear in his face. If anything, he was afraid for his princess, not of her. What did it matter if the magistrate feared her as long as the rest of her ponies still loved her?

“Nothing to worry about, I simply dropped my tea cup. If you could send someone to clean up the mess. I will also need some more tea leaves from sent up from the kitchens... However, I think I will be heading to the sun study.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle teleported out of her study.

Twilight stood where she materialized as she thought of one of her meetings from earlier in the day.

“Thank you very much Professor Cold Ice. Cloudsdale does miss you. However, I’m glad you’ve been enjoying your retirement and hope you continue to do so.”

The pegasus had bowed gratefully before exiting her study.

The pony's visit had been a simple follow up meeting. After Moon Dreamer’s death, Twilight had canceled her original meeting with the professor. However, the next week she had gone to the professor's office in Cloudsdale to talk with the elderly weather expert in person. By the time she left, he had decided that his paper had been in error and that it was perhaps time for him to retire. Best of all, he was convinced it was all his own idea.

All it had taken was the right words in the right place. She had mentioned how thrilled she was to see him publishing such a controversial paper, how proud she was that he was not worried about that it would affect his pension if he were to be stripped of tenure, that she had been unable to get all of his math to balance out for her, but she would be glad to support him no matter what academic fire he came under.
Perhaps she was a bit heavy hoofed, but part of her hoped that it was a skill she would never have the chance to develop further.

Apparently the professor was now enjoying life in coastal village. Who would have guessed the pegasus would like to surf?

More importantly it had never been published.

Nopony would ever know.

Twilight would need to be vigilant of course. If one pony had figured it out, so could another. Sooner or later, another pony would put together the pieces. Perhaps there were funds to start a renovation of the Canterlot libraries. It would be a shame if all of the old climate data was lost in the confusion.

The ugly feeling she had after first meeting with the pegasus researcher had returned. She was doing it to protect her little ponies. Mothers and fathers did the same thing all the time, telling their foals fantastic made up stories. She remembered when she first found out that Santahooves was just a tale. If anything Twilight had even more justification in her lie than the parents of Equestria. Celestia had done the same thing to her.

However, the worst thing was that now she could not stop considering the possibilities. Would it really do her ponies any good to remember Luna and Celestia, or would it just cause them grief as they pine for what they could never again have? Perhaps it would be best if Equestria actually forgot what a moon even was. That recent editorial about her new tax policy - did it really help anypony to read things like that?
It would be all too easy to control and manipulate. The temptation was far too insidious.

And it was wrong.

She could not allow herself the luxury of following her heart, but that did not mean it was not wrong.

She knew that. There was a line somewhere, she just was not sure where it was. Twilight had been able to justify burying the climate report - she could always release it if she changed her mind - but manipulating the press seemed on a different magnitude.

She had done it for Moon Dreamer. His death had shown her that she could not be soft. She needed to do what was right for Equestria, not what her heart said was right. She knew now that she could justify her actions based on her goals, and that terrified her.

Twilight wanted to talk to Applejack.

Unfortunately, the farm had been especially busy so that the earth pony had not visited in the last two months. The fallout of Spike's return had also prevented her from leaving Canterlot. His wound pointed towards an unknown enemy. She needed to be prepared.

However, that did not mean she could not use a little bit of advice from the element of honesty. She shook her head.

“No, that’s why I came here.”

Twilight did not even spare a glance for the blankets on the bed which had not been touched in the months since Moon Dreamer’s death. She did however make enough noise so that the guards would know she was inside. It would not do for the palace to into an uproar at her disappearance.

She had instructed the guard that nopony, not even Daily Vigil or Rainbow Dash, was to enter without her explicit permission. It was the one chamber in the city that no other pony was to enter. Twilight looked at the ancient doors with their sun carvings and knew that the layers of magic within the wood would keep intruders out. She activated the spell that would tell her if anypony knocked no matter where in Canterlot she was.

The room was more crowded than ever. She had acquired a copy of every newspaper or magazine in the library archives that had mentioned Princess Celestia. The desk was plastered with every letter written by her mentor that Twilight could find. A large number of them had been letters Twilight herself had saved. There were a few long scrolls where ponies that had known the Princess had related their memories at her request. On top of the pile was diary one hundred thirty seven. That book had proven particularly useful. Twilight herself looked at a long checklist of her own memories of Celestia. Just the other day she had checked the last one off.

The chamber had proven useful after Moon Dreamer’s death. The room served as an excellent cover for when she wanted to leave the Palace. In particular it made it easier to go to a very special place.

She teleported once again when she heard the guards shifting in response to her noise. She smiled as she imaged them jumping to attention. Twilight did not like antagonizing her guards, they were loyal and good ponies. However, that did not mean they did not sometimes humor her with their antics.

She rematerialized in another chamber. This one had no doors, or windows, or exits of any kind. The only way in or out was through magic, and Twilight was the only pony who even knew it existed. She had carved the room herself, deep within the Canterhorn mountain far beneath Canterlot.

After Moon Dreamer’s death, she had wanted somepony to talk with. Spike had been moody, Rainbow Dash busy with the guard, and every other pony seemed occupied with something. If she had told Applejack or Rarity that she needed to talk, her friends would have made time, but she did not want to place a burden on anypony. Besides, it was a very specific pony that she wanted to talk to. She had wanted to talk the pony for a very long time.

Twilight had also realized that she was becoming lost. Exiling Night Walker, keeping the illusion of her moon a secret, and burning the Cloudsdale report had been the right things to do for Equestria.. But they were were not the right things to do. She knew that the distinction was important and did not want to forget it.

She had been inspired by a gift she had made for Moon Dreamer when he was a younger pony. A few years after he had become her student, he had become obsessed with a popular series of novels geared towards young stallions. She had created a magical illusion of the characters acting out the events in the book. At the time, it had occurred to her that the illusions could be made interactive, however she had not pursued it at the time.

“My dearest Twilight.”

The lavender alicorn turned towards the source of the voice. There in the center of the room, Princess Celestia was standing. Twilight allowed the white alicorn to trot over and embrace her in a hug. The feeling of her mentor's body was numb and without warmth.

It looked like her teacher, only it was not Princess Celestia.

“What’s wrong my faithful student?”

But the creation was not just a figment of her imagination. That alone made it infinitely better than the dream Celestia made of pillows back in the Sun Chamber.

“There are ponies who are afraid of me.”

Twilight looked around at the glowing runes that covered nearly every inch of stonework in the chamber. They were the only source of light. It had not taken much of an investment of energy, but had required a lot of time and concentration to create.

“Why would ponies fear you Twilight? You’re a wonderful pony.”

The Element of Magic laid down on the ground and curled up in a tight ball. Celestia sat down next to her and laid her head across Twilight’s back in an act of comfort. She could not feel Celestia’s fur, just the slight tingle of magical energy. She would need to do some more research before she would be able to get the tactile sensation down.

“I got angry... I made them afraid of me. I don’t want to be feared.”

It was real. She just had to keep telling herself that.

“Oh Twilight...”

Celestia paused for an unnaturally long period of time, a blank look on her face. Something seemed to click, and then she continued. The reaction time needed to be improved. Twilight thought some of the more recent modifications would have fixed that.

“Anypony would be foalish to fear you. You only want the best for Equestria. What do you think you can do to show them that?”

The thing was just an illusion. Twilight knew that. Celestia was dead.

However, the princess of Equestria needed comfort. If she could find comfort from an illusion born of her own mind - well that was fine. Twilight had not told anypony about this side project; she was worried nopony would understand. Of course she could not expect them to understand when she was not entirely certain herself, but she knew they would be upset. She was not a crazy pony.

“I’m not sure. Since they fear me, I don’t think they will listen to what I say...”

“Are words the best option?”

This illusion of Celestia was a facsimile. It was a magically created construct - nothing more than a mirage. The runes on the walls sustained and powered the image. They dictated every aspect of the fake Celestia’s behavior.

There was no real intelligence or emotion here. It was all just an act. The responses were all pre-programmed based on a detailed series of patterns and algorithms. This Celestia may have been incredibly complex, but it was just a complicated version of a foal’s toy. Still, it was a comforting toy.

“Maybe... Maybe not. You’re right. Ponies will know I am kind by my actions, not my words. Any pony can say nice things, but it takes a strong pony to do the right thing. I will show them they don’t need to fear me. I need to be strong for Equestria.”

“You’re going to be strong?”

Twilight had poured all her memories of her mentor into the illusion. Everything that this Celestia was had been dictated by Equestria’s only living alicorn. The logic pathways of the runes had been difficult to work out, often times the illusion would default to just repeating something Twilight had said in the form of a question. Surprisingly, it was not much different than the real Celestia in that regard.

“Yes.”

Celestia gave her a comforting nuzzle before Twilight stood up feeling some of her confidence restored.

“I’m so proud of you my faithful student.”

There was only one memory of Celestia that Twilight had not programed into this fake. She had omitted the Princess’s last words. They were her most precious memory. She would not give them over to this illusion.

It was hard. Seeing Celestia again, but knowing it was not her, simply made the old wound all the worse. But it did help numb other pains. In the short run, at least, this was a preferable alternative to being alone. Still, she would not be able to stand hearing the magical construct saying those words. So, she had kept them to herself.

But there was one reason she had created this Celestia that was more important than all the others. She had been forgetting her mentor. Twilight had told Applejack that her teacher had been her compass. It had been true then and it was still true. However, the lavender alicorn had been losing touch with those memories. With each passing day they had begun to seem more and more insubstantial. It was like they had begun to drift away into a fog.

She knew that she was losing herself. Twilight could not even remember what her own appearance looked like. It had been months since she had last gazed into her reflection. This hidden stone chamber was her fail safe. She would not forget why she was fighting for Equestria.

Twilight teleported back to her meditation chamber. Her resolve was strengthened and her decision made. She would prove herself to the magistrate through love and tolerance.

If they continued to insist on fearing her?

Well, then perhaps she would give them a real reason.

Author's Note

I lied. No more mane six until next chapter. Originally we were going to see another member of the mane six this chapter, but I realized that I needed to go into the fallout of Night Walker’s exile a bit. It was looking to be an uber long chapter, so I split it in two. I also really felt that last line was a good place to end a chapter.

Oh, and Twilight is definitely not a crazy pony. I’m totally serious...

If you wanted to, you could call this chapter the first chapter of part II of Equestria’s Twilight. That means the final length is probably going to around 75k words, unless there ends up being three parts. In this part II we are going to be seeing a shift of tone, theme, and pacing (well we will be if I manage to write things well).

I wrote the second to last chapter today. I’ll probably need to edit it when we reach it because I haven’t written any of the chapters between here and it yet (so some of the details may change), but I really like it.

Or course, I could still just scrap it and go with a different ending to the story.

Rewrite posted on 1/1/2015
Coming back to this story I had forgotten how much I loved Ailestia (or is CelestiAI, I can't remember what people were using in the comments).

Mending Broken Ties

Chapter 10 - Mending Broken Ties

“This is great! I can’t believe how amazing this is.”

It really was amazing.

A little over two weeks ago, Twilight had finally managed to lift herself off the ground under the power of her own wings. It had been just a little flutter; she had barely gotten two feet into the air. Now though...

She was flying - she was actually flying.

“Now I understand why you are always up in the air.”

Twilight did a little loop.

“Princess! Be careful.”

She smiled at Rainbow Dash. The pony's nervousness was unusual for the brash pegasus, and the princess was taking a strange delight in it. Twilight had been surprised by how conservative of a teacher her captain of the guard had been. While Rainbow Dash had been a harsh taskmistress, she had been reluctant at allowing the alicorn to do anything that could be considered ‘dangerous.’

The ruler of Equestria just laughed at her flight teacher’s worry.

The lessons had been a good experience. Immediately following Moon Dreamer's death the lessons had stopped. However, they had recently come to a mutual consensus that it was time for them to begin again. Most of her time with Rainbow Dash was usually at meetings or ceremony. Of course, they would find stolen moments now and again when it was just the two of them. However, it was never anything with any regularity. It was good to spend time with just the two of them, ignoring the guards flying trailing behind, on a daily basis. Even the pegasus using the word ‘Princess’ did not seem to sting as much as it would have just a month earlier.

Twilight had realized that from the rainbow maned pony, it was a term of endearment. It was like when she had called Celestia ‘Princess.’ She would still rather Rainbow Dash use her name, but she was OK with the formality.

“Oh come on, this is nothing. I’ve seen you do way worse.”

“Yea, but I’ve been in the air since almost the day my parents brought me home from the hospital. You’ve only been flying for less than a month.”

For the alicorn’s response, she simply stuck out her tongue and went through another loop. Or at least she tried to. Half way through the princess managed to stall out and had to twist herself around in the air and struggle to stabilize herself. When she managed to pull back into a climb, she looked at Rainbow Dash.

Her captain of the guard was smiling. Twilight Sparkle had just made the pegasus’s point for her. Twilight ignored the grin and gave a powerful beat of her wings.

Until she had been speeding in the air, Twilight had not realized just how desperately her body had been craving physical exertion to balance out the mental and magical exertion of her normal daily schedule. She wanted to tell Rainbow Dash that she planned to keep flying all day, but already the princess could feel the muscles in her back growing sore and tired. She would need to take a break soon.

That meant that she would need to be attending to the rest of her schedule soon after. The princess let out a quiet little sigh. The lessons managed to serve as a highpoint for her days because they allowed her to forget all of the headaches of Equestrian politics.

For the most part.

Recently, every moment with the Magisterium was agony. Each time the word ‘yes’ was uttered, she was filled with self-doubt. Were they agreeing because they genuinely thought her suggestions were the right course of action, or because they were afraid of her response if they said ‘no?’ They were so skittish.

Twilight had made a checklist. It was not for her, but rather for the Magisterium - not that she was going to show it to them. It outlined the things that she needed to see from them before she would know that she could trust them. So far she had only been able to check off a small hoofful of items. Things were not looking good for the Magisterium.

Unfortunately, Twilight had no clue how she would go about selecting replacements. There were no laws or procedures on the books for what she wanted to do. The ruler of Equestria had never needed to disband and reform the Magisterium because they had become ineffective. She was not sure how to handle the issue in a way that would not result in many upset or angry ponies.

One thing that she was certain about, if she was going to reform the Magisterium, it needed to be with ponies she could trust. Perhaps Rarity would be interested in serving on a new council. Despite not being a noble, the unicorn was very knowledgeable about politics. Twilight could trust her friends. Perhaps she would even try and convince Applejack to join. The earth pony was honest to a fault and she needed ponies willing to tell her when she was being stupid.

It might even be possible to add to Celestia’s programing to make her useful as a member of the Magisterium, or at least as an aid.
Something was wrong with that thought, and Twilight needed to ponder it before realizing what it was. It was not Celestia’s programming, but rather the illusionary Celestia’s programming. Celestia was dead. It was important not to forget that.

It was perhaps premature to be planning out a replacement Magisterium. The current council could still be adjusting to the display of anger they had witnessed. She still had hope for them. There was still a chance that she could get through to them with love and compassion. A few of the things on her checklist had been marked off after-all. Hopefully, others would follow.

A twist of her wings caused her to level out and Twilight allowed the swift breeze to pass over her as she started to glide. The princess of Equestria started a lazy bank that would bring her spiraling down to the gardens below. Since learning how to take off, she had been using the wide open space of the gardens as a place to land.

She still did not quite have that part down.

Twilight winced when she thought about the impact with the ground to come. Just because the scrapes and bruises would heal quickly did not mean that they did not hurt. Unfortunately, it seemed the only way to get better was through practice.

She wondered if it would be possible to allow the illusionary Celestia to fly. Then she could have company for practice when Rainbow Dash was occupied. She would need to come up with a way for the projection to extend beyond her hidden chamber, and then there was the fact that she would not be able to allow other ponies to see her. Those would both be difficult problems to overcome.

The princess felt gravel spraying underneath her feet and soon found herself plunging headfirst in a hedge.

“I don’t know why you have so much trouble with that. It should be natural, but you must be over-thinking it or something.”

Twilight felt something grab onto to her tail and begin to pull her out of the hedge. She came free with the breaking of branches and stumbled backwards over Rainbow Dash. The pegasus still had Twilight’s tail clutched in her mouth.

“I have trouble landing because you won’t explain to me how it’s supposed to work.”

Twilight considered remaining on top of Rainbow Dash, but realized it likely would not help to make her point. So instead, she acted like the mature alicorn she was and disentangled their bodies.

“It’s supposed to just happen. Even the pegasi at remedial flight camp don’t need to be taught how to land.”

The princess of Equestria had a pout on her face as her captain of the guard pulled some of the twigs out of the alicorn’s mane.

“I’ll get the hang of it.”

“I’m sure you will.” The sarcasm in Rainbow Dash’s voice was obvious. “There is something else we need to discuss. Don’t worry, nothing too bad. I just want to be able to get the message sent out with the first mail post today. There was a fire and the construction of the barracks in Appleloosa has been delayed. With some new recruits headed that way, there is going to be a problem with quartering them.”

“The citizens of Appleloosa aren’t volunteering space in their homes?”

“Some are. But not enough of those hay-brains are willing to let the soldiers take a room.”

That was deeply troublesome for Twilight. Her ponies were always so kind and generous. She remembered a time long ago in Ponyville when the citizens would have jumped at an opportunity to take in a pony in need.

She knew that Equestria was losing the harmony that had previously defined it. Ponies were less honest and kind. They were no longer as loyal or as generous. Laughter had died. But to think that things had gotten so bad that the ponies of Appeloosa would not invite the soldiers into their homes was just the worst thing yet.

The soldiers were risking their lives to keep Appeloosa safe, but even they needed a place to rest while not on duty. Why were the frontier ponies unable to see that the ponies protecting them needed their love and support?

“I will write a missive to the residents of Appeloosa, asking them to recognize the danger the soldiers put themselves in everyday and to offer up a room or couch in their homes. It will only be temporary after-all. Hopefully an appeal from their princess sways their hearts.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Perhaps, then, I will need to go there in person.”

“If they ignore the missive, there is no guarantee a personal visit will do anything.”

Twilight sighed. Dash seemed to have a better bead on the pulse of Appeloosa than she did. Even still, the soldiers needed a place to stay until their new barracks were built. She hated to impose upon her little ponies, but the guards would be there to protect them.

“Then we will issue vouchers to reimburse the ponies who invite guard ponies into their home. If they will not give us their generosity then we will just need to buy it.”

“If they aren’t willing to sell?”

Then they would need to take it.

“It won’t come to that... I’ll write the missive and have it sent after my morning audiences.”

An awkward silence settled between the two as they walked back towards the palace. The stinging in Twilight’s shins was gone; the scrapes had already healed.

“Oh Dash, you’re going to the championship derby, right? The Thunderclouds are competing against the Firewings. I’m going to be expected to be in attendance, but you are welcome to join me in the royal box.”

“Are you kidding me? You know I’m going to be there. After a season like this, what type of fan would I be if I missed the championship showdown. Besides, it’s going to be Scoot’s last match before retiring... Oh, and Twi, they’re the Flamewings, not the Firewings. You don’t want to be embarrassing the Crown.”

Twilight frowned at the correction but filed it away in her memory.

“Scootaloo is already retiring?”

“She’s actually way past the normal retirement age. It’s surprising that she has waited this long to hang up her wings. Being on a flight team takes a lot out of a pegasus.”

“No more than being a member of the royal guard.”

Now it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to frown.

“Age isn’t why most of the guard ‘retire.’”

“I’m sorry...”

“Gosh, no I’m the one who should be sorry - shouldn’t have said that. It’s not your fault. I guess, I’m just feeling moody this morning.”
Twilight stopped and turned towards her best friend. Their eyes locked, and the princess realized that this was a conversation they should have had long ago.

“I don’t mean about that. I’m sorry that you never got a chance to try out for the Wonderbolts. When your good friend suddenly became the princess of Equestria and a call for recruits was put out, you leapt at the chance to help. You’ve spent most of your life helping me. You, more than any other pony, have watched your dreams die for my sake. I’m sorry for that.”

“Me not joining the Wonderbolts isn’t something that you ever need to apologize for.”

“That’s not the only dream of your’s that has died because of me.”

The look on the pegasus’s face told Twilight that the pony still felt pain over her near brush with motherhood.

“I’d give it up all again if I had to. If you’re trying to get me to say I regret staying by your side, I won’t.”

"I... Thank you."

They continued to walk through the gardens as they talked, however, eventually they needed to go their separate ways. Rainbow Dash lifted off, flying towards the barracks, while Twilight Sparkle headed towards her research tower. There would hopefully be enough time for her to get some research in before attending to court.

As she approached the door to her tower, she stopped in front of the statue of Discord. He was always there to greet her when he arrived and bid her farewell when she left.

“Good morning Discord. I hope you slept well.”

Twilight giggled to herself as she continued into her tower. She did not know why she insisted on greeting the statue. Maybe it was the same part of her that had created the illusion of Celestia that wanted to speak with the stone creature. Perhaps part of her was concerned that the statue was aware of its imprisonment. It would be such a lonely existence.

She paused in the doorway.

It would be lonely. However, if Discord was not aware - if his mind was frozen in a dreamless sleep, perhaps she had just found a way for her ponies to survive through the ice age. Twilight herself would need to remain awake for the millennia of cold, unfortunately. It would be a lonely existence if it was a path she pursued.

It was far too early to begin contemplating of course. The former librarian would need to do research and run experiments. She would need test subjects if she wanted to perform any experiments. Twilight was not certain where she would find a pony in their right mind willing to volunteer, but that was an issue for another time. First she would need to make a checklist.

She was in her tower. The checklist would need to wait. There was too large of a chance she would lose it otherwise. Every square inch of the tower’s circular wall was covered in parchments with notes. Twilight looked at the clock in the center of the room. It held so many possibilities. It needed to be her first priority.

+++

Twilight watched as the two ponies walked away from her. While neither of them had gotten quite what they had wanted, she felt that she had settled their dispute adequately. Helping ponies resolve their arguments was one of the nicer parts of her time in court. However, when the next petitioner was announced, Twilight felt her hearts both skip a beat.

Some of the more knowledgeable ponies in the room recognized the name, even more recognized the title. After all, the Elements of Harmony had played an important part in Equestria's history, even if they had been locked away in a vault for safekeeping. None of the ponies, however, knew of the gulf that existed between their princess and the petitioner.

The look in the pony’s eyes was filled with determination. Twilight knew that this pony had a mission and was not going to be leaving empty hooved. As the steely gaze penetrated her, the princess wished she could shrink into her seat and disappear.

“Princess, I have a request. My daughter has been in a coma for over half a year now. Her doctors have all given up on her recovery. You are the only pony I can think of who might be able to help. Please, if our friendship ever meant anything to you, help my little one... If you wouldn’t mind that is.”

As Fluttershy had spoken, her voice had weakened from its strong resolve until it had become a timid whisper. Twilight wanted to look anywhere but at her friend.

“I thought you hated me?”

The words were spoken. They were all she could think to say. It was the only thought her mind could form. However, rather than the response she expected, the pony before her simply looked shocked.

“Oh, I could never hate you Twilight.” Fluttershy looked around seeing all the ponies around her and blushed. “I mean princess. You should know that.”

“Then why...”

Twilight had completely forgotten the court ponies watching the conversation.

“I thought you needed time and - and I was worried I would accidentally make you feel bad. You always have so much on your plate, I didn’t want to be a burden.”

Ignoring decorum Twilight bolted up from her chair running to her friend. A burst of magic dragged the yellow pegasus into a tight hug, eliciting a shocked ‘meep’ from the pony. The princess was dimly aware that she was crying.

“I’m sorry Twilight. I made you cry... I knew that this was a bad-”

“No. You can never be a burden Fluttershy. These are tears of happiness. You will never make me feel sad.”

The lie was a small one. Her tears were indeed born from joy, but there was also sorrow in Twilight’s hearts. She could not believe how much time she had allowed to be lost. The princess tried to shut out the quiet mutterings of the court ponies. The schooled and disciplined part of her mind wanted to regain her image of composure. But then she remembered something she had said to her illusion of Celestia.

She would show them with her actions, not her words.

Twilight let herself continue to cry and hugged the pegasus tighter.

Author's Note

Sorry about no update yesterday. I ended up getting distracted with a prequel to this story.

I really hated the flight scene. Virtually every story with Twilight becoming an alicorn has something similar and I just couldn't come up with a good way to make it stand out. I had considered just cutting it, but I wanted a catalyst for their conversation.

The next chapter is the first of one of four scenes who’s conception has shaped the direction I have wanted this story to go.

If I have not yet mentioned it, I want to say thank you to everyone who has left a comment. I tend to only reply to comments that seem like they are eliciting responses, but I appreciate all of them.

Time Travel Thoughts:

Will need to wait for next chapter's Author's Note. I want to hurry up and get this posted.

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015
Super secret admission. This chapter is nearly identical to the one I originally posted. I've made virtually no changes and added virtually no content. I feel that this is the worst chapter in the entirety of the story (chapter 3 is still pretty weak though).

To Break a Heart

Chapter 11 - To Break a Heart

Eventually all things must end.

The time during which Twilight could embrace Fluttershy seemed all too short. However, eventually they needed to separate. As the yellow pegasus realized how many eyes were on her, Fluttershy suddenly tried in vain to hide beneath her mane, and Twilight craned her neck to follow as the timid pony tried to cower behind Twilight’s larger body. She smiled as Fluttershy “epped” at the realization that noble ponies lined all sides of the throne room and moved to alleviate her friend's discomfort.

“Fluttershy. I need to wrap some things up here. How about you let the guards escort you to my tearoom. I should meet you there within the hour and then we can discuss your daughter.”

The pegasus nodded meekly and muttered a quiet, “Thank you.”

“Magistrate of the court, please inform all petitioners with non-pressing matters that I will need to be cutting my audiences short for today. I have time for a few of the more time sensitive issues. I believe that the mayor of Manehatten is here today on important business.”

There was a tension in her legs just waiting to uncoil. Twilight thought back to the years of “lessons” Rarity had insisted on where the other unicorn emphasised the importance of grace and poise. “A proper princess must conduct herself with proper dignity at all times.” Rarity had then added with a knowing glare, “If she cannot, she must ensure that other ponies do not notice.” The quivering in her legs told her that this situation fell into the second category. The slightest movement would cause the springs to explode outward, and she would be stumbling over herself in nervous excitement as she made her way back to the throne.

With a flash of magic Twilight disappeared and then rematerialized on the throne. Yes, she thought, walking is beneath the Princess of Magic. It has nothing to do with avoiding embarrassment.

The court ponies were still muttering about the most recent visitor. She heard some of them explaining to others just who this ‘Ms. Fluttershy’ was and why their princess would be so upset by her presence. Twilight wanted to correct them and explain that “upset” was the last thing she was feeling. Even more, Twilight yearned to dismiss them all and go join Fluttershy right away. However, Equestria could not grind to a halt because of her desires. There were still important ponies she needed to see.

As Fluttershy walked out through the doors to her throne room with an accompaniment of two guards, the mayor of Manehatten walked in. Twilight barely suppressed a sigh. She desperately hoped she was done with court in an hour. The knowledge that Fluttershy did not hate her was preventing her from thinking of much else.

Fluttershy did not hate her.

It was going to take a while for her to fully process that. That simple fact was the headline of every paper newsstand Twilight was waving around in her mind. Everything else that would happen in the next hour would be inconsequential.

The pegasus had every reason to dislike Equestria’s princess. Twilight had gotten the pony’s husband and eldest two children killed and then said those horrible things. Despite that, the yellow pony had forgiven her. Twilight was truly blessed.

Twilight absently nodded her head. ‘Yes’ that did seem like a serious problem. ‘No’ she did not think it was a good solution. Suddenly the pony’s words made it onto the front page, and her mind caught up with what the pony before her was saying.

The mayor was discussing a recent series of protests in Manehatten regarding wealth distribution and taxes. The city’s lower class was discontent. In the more recent protest property damage had occurred. He was requesting that Twilight authorize the royal guard to assist the city’s police ponies with maintaining order during future such incidents. Twilight was not sure if she was comfortable with the request.

Still it was better to have Equestria’s guards help the police than allow things to get out of hoof and possibly end with a pony getting hurt. She gave her assent, but she mentally filed the issue away to think about later. Twilight thought, Cherilee had originally moved to Ponyville from Manehatten. Twilight found herself in front of a mental replica of Ponyville’s school house. She gathered up dolls and other toys from the playground and arranged them into what looked like a large group. They were all old and worn toys. Like the Smarty Pants doll of her childhood, they were well loved but cheap. Toys that thrived on love but had gone neglected certainly had reason to protest. One of Spike’s old Mega-Mare action figures was then placed on a rock watching over the protest. Mega-Mare was sworn to protect the weak but to also maintain order. Twilight would let her mind mull it over.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to implement regulations regarding when or where the ponies could assemble a protest. Simply requiring an assembly to register before hand with local law enforcement could help to ensure that things stay orderly and that nopony would get hurt.

The next three ponies to see her went by in a blur. Each one of them brought forward business that required careful deliberation. She was only able to give one of them an answer then and there. In the end it had taken her closer to an hour and a half to get through all of the business, but she had managed to get through everything of importance. Some of the issues had been rather unpleasant, but unfortunately Twilight could not simply banish them to the Everfree Forest of her mind. They were issues that still would require her attention, and she would need to deal with them eventually.

Twilight thanked the court for their time and made her way towards the tea room where Fluttershy awaited. She had managed to control her emotions for the majority of the last hour, but now as she approached the door she found her legs trembling. Fluttershy had said she forgave her, but the pony was the epitome of kindness. Of course the pegasus would say that she did not hate Twilight. But how could Twilight trust that her friend was not just trying to avoid hurting her. The alicorn did not believe that Fluttershy would be capable of causing emotional pain even to a pony that she hated.

Was there a way that Twilight could figure out how the pony really felt?

Her horn glowed slightly, and the doors swung open. Fluttershy was sitting in the room with a timid smile on her face.

“Hello Twilight.”

The voice was quiet but happy.

Of all of Twilight’s friends, Fluttershy had aged the worst. The pegasus was not made for the dark world that Twilight ruled. All of the suffering the pony had been forced to witness had been hard on her. It was natural for Fluttershy to help ponies and animals in need, but now there were far too many to help them all. However, the event that had really aged the yellow pegasus was the day she had witnessed her family die.

Fluttershy’s mane still had a pink tinge, but it was hard to argue that it was not gray. Even her coat was beginning to lose some of its color. At least it seemed as if her trips to the spa had staved off crows’ feet and wrinkles. All said, however, Fluttershy looked far older than her age.

“Hello. Sorry that it took me a bit longer than I had thought. I hope you haven’t been bored.”

“Oh no, not at all. Your guards were nice enough to have somepony bring me some tea. It’s very good.”

“Now that it is just the two of us, I was hoping we could talk some more.”

“But Twilight - I mean Princess, it’s not just two of us, what about those ponies over there.”

“Them? They’re my guards. They’re always around, but you don’t need to worry about them. They know how to be discreet.”

“All right, Princess.”

“Please, you don’t need to call me that.”

“I’m sorry Prince- I mean Twilight. I guess I’m just not used to being in Canterlot and in front of nobility and everything. It's got me a bit flustered.”

“Fluttershy, you’re not the one with anything to apologize for.”

“And neither are you Twilight. What happened was never your fault in the first place and you already apologized despite that.”

“But the things I said afterwards-”

“Were said because you were upset. Yes they were hurtful, but friends forgive.”

Tears were in Twilight’s eyes, but she did not let them fall. She wanted what Fluttershy was saying to be true. How could the words be a lie? But yet, the possibility was all too real. The princess could not help but think of the times Fluttershy had kept the truth to herself in order to avoid upsetting another pony.

“Then why did you never respond to the letter I sent you or come to Canterlot?”

“Well Rarity had suggested that I might want to give you some time because you still felt guilty. So I was going to wait for another letter... but well, one never came. Then you’d visit Ponyville and spend time with Applejack but wouldn’t stop by to see me. I just figured... I just figured you didn’t want to see me.”

Twilight laughed.

“I had wanted to give you time because I thought you would be angry at me. But you never responded to my letter so I just thought ‘I guess Fluttershy doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.’”

“I think we’ve both been silly.”

“So are we OK, Fluttershy?”

“Oh yes, I would like that very much... As long as that’s OK with you.”

Twilight walked around the table and hugged her friend again. Unlike earlier in the throne room, there was much less force in Twilight’s action. This time she allowed Fluttershy to hug back, and to her immense relief the pony did.

Of course Fluttershy did not hate her.

This was so much better. It was just the two of them, and the guards of course, without the fear she had felt earlier. There was no need for her to put a show on for the court. The day had been such a wonderful one. Twilight had had a meaningful conversation with Rainbow Dash, repaired an important relationship with one of her oldest friends, and hopefully shown the magisterium that she was a loving pony. And it was not even lunch.

But all things, good and bad, come to an end.

Twilight remembered what had brought Fluttershy to Canterlot in the first place. She broke the hug.

“About your daughter, could you tell me what happened to her?”

“Oh... Little Pinkie was hurt. She’s been in a coma but none of the doctors have been able to help her. I didn’t know what to do, and I just thought...”

“That I would be able to help.”

Their voices were both low now. Fluttershy meekly nodded her head.

“Could you tell me how Pinkie was hurt?”

Just speaking the name of Fluttershy’s daughter brought back painful memories of the pony’s namesake.

“She was one of the survivors of the Witherton attack.”

Time seemed to freeze for Twilight. She needed time to process. It was not the “Witherton Attack.” Ponies had been calling it the “Witherton Slaughter.” Fluttershy’s reluctance at calling it by that name did not surprise her.

Almost every pony in the town of Witherton had been killed. Three survivors had lived but had been comatose for over half a year now. Twilight had taken the time to memorize the faces of each pony killed in the attack. However, she had not been able to bring herself to see the survivors. Seeing dead ponies was one thing, but seeing living testaments to her failure to protect Equestria was another thing. She knew that it made her a coward.

Twilight also knew that she was breathing rapidly.

All those months and one of the survivors had been Fluttershy’s daughter.

Because Twilight had been reluctant to face her failure, Fluttershy was suffering. Because she had failed the ponies of Witherton, Little Pinkie had been hurt.

Why did her failures always end with ponies in pain?

Twilight was confident that she could help Little Pinkie where other ponies had failed for a very good reason.

During her entire time as a student in Canterlot, Twilight had always been intrigued by the Royal Library's Restricted Section. Off from the main hall was a wrought iron gate. It was a beautiful thing made of flowing shapes and patterns. A young Twilight had practically been able to smell the ancient magics layered on top of the iron. She had asked the Princess during one of their lessons about the gate and received the response, “It is to protect ponies from things that could be very dangerous if used irresponsibly or by those who did not know what they were doing.”

Interestingly enough, it was not originally the contents of the Restricted Section that had captured a young filly’s imagination. The gate itself was what had filled so many hours of wonder. What exactly did all those runes do? Some she had found in the standard reference books, but others defied her research. How old exactly was the gate? She was never able to explain it properly in her notes, but it just felt positively ancient. Why had the magic woven into the metal not caused it to rust away to nothing? One of the first things Twilight had learned while studying runes was the general rules on material requirements.

The more powerful the magic woven into a rune the more it would burn away and corrode the material on which the runes were placed. It was the number one weakness of runes. Skilled rune wrights were capable of weaving less damaging runes, but even still, to put so many with so much power on what seemed ordinary iron seemed to defy every textbook Twilight could find.

As much as she preferred being tucked into one of the more reclusive study nooks buried in the library or to head back to her own room, Twilight often found herself at one of the tables in the main hall just so she would be able to see the gate when she looked up. Occasionally, a senior professor at the academy or some other trusted pony would come by with a key. Those were the best days, when she got to see the runes flare to life as they temporarily allowed admittance.

Twilight was sure that Celestia was amused by her obsession with a simple gate. Occasionally the Princess would stop by on her while Twilight was studying in the library. If she had her Gate Notebook with her, which she almost always did when sitting in the central hall, she would tuck it away with a clumsy haste and just see the Princess smiling. It was the “Restricted” section for a reason afterall.

Diary Vol. One Hundred and Thirty Seven did reveal something regarding those little exchanges.

I was worried when I heard that my ever eager student had been spending a large amount of time around the entrance to the Restricted Section. I placed an illusion on the throne earlier this week and spent some time spying on Twilight. It turns out she is just fascinated with the gate of all things!

Twilight had been enraptured by the mention of the illusion. Throughout the diary Celestia made the occasional mention of creating an illusion to take over court duties or to deal with other unpleasant tasks. Apparently Princess Celestia was capable of splitting her attention and truly multitasking. There were no hints of how the Princess had been able to do it, though it had helped to inspire Twilight in the creation of her Celestia construct.

Once I realized what she has been doing, I’ve made it a point to drop by while she is researching the gate. I think she has decided that I would be upset with her investigations. Whenever I show up she hides her notes. It’s the cutest thing ever. I don’t think she plans on asking me about the gate. Unfortunately it’s been too long since I’ve split my mind and I think I need to dispel the illusion. Twilight can continue studying the gate. Independent research is good for her.

However, Twilight slowly unraveled the riddle of the gate. It had been created by a skilled pony and the runes were intricate and esoteric, but there was nothing mystical about them - other than the whole magic thing, she thought. Eventually she learned all of the mysteries that the old iron gate held. After that she would wonder about the Restricted Section, of course. What curious student would not? However, that curiosity never reached the level of her obsession with the gate. It was an idle curiosity held in passing whenever she walked passed the locked passage. Twilight had been confident that whatever was behind the ancient gate was there with good reason.

Twilight still remembered her first time that she was allowed into the Restricted Section. Princess Celestia had told her that there had been a particular book she wanted Twilight to read but that it was kept behind a certain metal gate. When Twilight realized what Celestia had been saying she was hopping up and down like a filly again.

The two of them had walked through the gate side by side and it was like entering another world. At first the shelves and books did not seem too much different when compared to the rest of the library. Perhaps they were dustier, but hooftraffic from the small number of ponies with access kept it from being too dirty. However, as they walked further, it transformed into a landscape alien to any library she had ever been in.

Bookcases became more spread out and held fewer and fewer books. Eventually they reached a point where a single shelf would only hold a single text. Those most forbidden books and scrolls were behind glass or chained in place. Twilight had been silent up until that point had asked the Princess why.

“To avoid contamination,” was all the response she had gotten.

Eventually they had looped their way back towards the entrance to the restricted section, and Twilight realized most of their journey had been an informal tour, a simple but treasured gift from the Princess. Celestia had levitated a book from a more traditional shelf and gave it to Twilight. She had puzzled over the cover which contained no title as they walked over to some reading podiums.

“Twilight, I have some research I need to be doing in the restricted section for the next few weeks. While I am in here, I would like you with me studying the book I gave you. My work is not so pressing that I cannot be interrupted. Please ask me, as always, whenever you have any questions.”

With that Celestia had curled up next to Twilight’s reading podium with several scrolls that Twilight had not noticed the Princess gathering. For the next few weeks Twilight would be summoned by the Princess for a studying section in that secluded section of the library. Those sessions were pure bliss.

That book had been Twilight’s first introduction to mental magic, and the discussions that surrounded the book when Twilight had first learned about Princess Celestia’s memory palace technique. The book mostly covered theory and fundamental skills required for more advanced uses of magic. Over the next few years on additional forays Twilight eventually learned how to organize her mind and protect herself from enchantments and charms.

At one point Twilight had thought to ask why the books she was reading were in the Restricted Section of the library.

“My most faithful student, while there is nothing inherently wrong about mind magic, the potential for abuse is large. It is comforting that you obviously not been thinking about how you could use this magic to harm other ponies, but there is a reason why you have been learning defensive applications.

And then the Princess had given her unrestricted access to the library. Twilight would have done her “Yes” dance if she had not been too stunned to speak. The level of trust that the Princess had placed in the hoofs of a mare not fully grown had not been lost on Twilight. Twilight had vowed that she would make responsible use of that sprawling wing previously inaccessible to her.

But she had failed that vow in her selfishness. Fluttershy was absolutely right to have come to the ruler of Equestria. While she was no doctor, she did have access to all of Equestria’s ‘forbidden’ magics. Few ponies had access to those ancient tomes, but Twilight had devoured the knowledge in that nearly vacant wing of the library. Yet she had done nothing with that knowledge.

It was not medical magic, however, in the case of a coma patient, it could potentially help. Coupled with her personal studies of medicine, she could make a difference.

Twilight had been sitting in her palace avoiding her responsibility while she could have been helping those three poor ponies. She briefly wondered how many sick ponies all across Equestria she could help with her skills, knowledge, and power. It might mean cutting more into her sleep and additional study, but surely it would be worth it.

A good pony would sacrifice a few hours of sleep if it meant saving others.

She would need some more tea.

Suddenly, Twilight realized that Fluttershy seemed paused in mid-blink. Looking at the clock on the wall she saw that its pendulum was stuck mid-swing. And just as quickly as she had realized it, things were back to normal. The alicorn was left uncertain if it had been in her mind or if things had actually momentarily stopped. Perhaps it was her own perceptions that had been altered, or perhaps the stress was getting to her.

Twilight desperately wanted to go to her tower and run some new experiments. If indeed it had not just been her imagination, any magical residue would fade quickly. With a sigh, she realized that there was a more important issue on hoof.

“I’m sorry to hear that she was in the attack. If you don’t mind me asking, why had she been in Witherton in the first place? You still live in Ponyville right?”

“Oh yes, I couldn’t imagine moving from Ponyville. Though the mayor has been telling me that my cottage is too close to the Everfree forest. Little Pinkie had just been visiting a friend who moved to Witherton last year. I’m just happy that she made it… I was so terrified when I heard the news.... Do you think you might be able to help her?”

Twilight took a moment to collect her thoughts.

“Yes. Yes, I think I can.”

+++

The broken pony before the Twilight Princess was a heart wrenching sight. The young pony was frail and only being kept alive by a feeding tube. Twilight looked at the chart: unresponsive, but there had been no cranial damage. The young filly was not brain dead.

That was good. The magic she planned to use could only work around physical brain damage, not repair it. Twilight felt encouraged by the nature of the injuries. It was something she could potentially fix.

Twilight and Fluttershy had gone directly from the palace to the hospital. The alicorn had not wanted her friend to suffer a moment longer than necessary.

Fluttershy’s ‘daughter’ was a pink earth pony unrelated to the pegasus. Five years prior, Fluttershy and her family were traveling with a caravan. Since the dawn of the Empty Night, it was pure folly to attempt a journey longer than a day’s distance by one’s self. However, even still, sometimes safety in numbers was not enough.

A pack of timberwolves had beset the caravan. As far as potential threats went, they were relatively minor, but they could still take lives. However, the caravan had made camp in the middle of a migratory path. Twilight had authorized the caravan's own path. Fluttershy had lost her husband and two children that night. However, Little Pinkie had lost her parents while still only little more than a baby. The pony's parents had not been carrying IDs and nopony could identify them.

Fluttershy had lifted the pink pony from a wrecked wagon and decided to adopt her. From that day on the pegasus had treated the foal as her own. On the way to the hospital Fluttershy had explained that caring for the pony had helped her survive through the loss of the rest of her family. Now she loved Little Pinkie as much as she had ever loved her biological daughters.

Twilight had found herself asking question after question on their way to the hospital. She wanted to know about her friend’s daughter.

Apparently the pony loved to laugh almost as much as her namesake. One fact, however, had become abundantly clear in the answers. Fluttershy had not told any of their other friends about what had happened to Little Pinkie. The pegasus had not wanted to be a bother.

Now that they were at the hospital, Twilight felt actual hope. There did not seem to be any specific neurological damage to the young pony. All she would need to do was reach out to the young pony's mind and tell it to ‘wake up.’ It would be just a light tap and the risks would be minor. Twilight would save the young pony who she had only met once before. It had been the last time Twilight and Fluttershy had spoken in person.

Twilight opened with some ‘standard’ mind magic spells from the restricted spells. She had never cast them before, but the spell forms were simple, only required a great deal of focus. Much to her annoyance all of them failed to produce any effect. Twilight had even used one spell specifically designed to rouse minds in magically induced slumbers. The failure of the spells was not completely unexpected, but meant she would need to resort to riskier methods.

“Is… Is everything alright?”

“Magic of the mind is a tricky thing. Everypony is wired differently and thinks differently, so there is a lot that has to go on to translate thoughts. The spells I have been using are… shortcuts. They are all based on the fundamental principles but make assumptions about both the caster and the castee. Unfortunately, none of them have worked.”

“I understand… Thank you for trying, Twilight.”

Twilight shook her head as she stared at her patient. “I’m not giving up. It just means I need to go back to basics. I need to make a lower level connection between Little Pinkie’s mind and my own. She’s in there; I can feel it. I just need to bring her out.”

“Thank you, Twilight.”

“Fluttershy, this spell is going to take a lot of concentration. I’ll be aware of my surroundings, but just barely. So if you need anything it may take a bit of work to get my attention. Doctor, please monitor the pony's vitals. They may fluctuate some.”

“Thank you so much, Twilight.”

Fluttershy’s eyes were wide with appreciation and concern. The doctor simply nodded and stood by the bedside.

“Now Fluttershy, you recognize that there is some risk. If her mind fights me, it could harm her physically.”

“I understand, you explained on the way here. I know that you will do your best.”

“I know, but this spell does not have the same safeguards the others I was using had. The odds that something will go wrong are significantly greater.”

“Is this the best way to help my daughter?”

“It is. I’m going to do do everything I can to minimize the risk and get you your daughter back.”

“I believe in you, Twilight.”

The lavender alicorn had convinced Spike to be a test subject for when she had wanted to learn various mental spells. However, this was the first time she had ever used a ‘mind delve’ spell on an actual pony. Magic lit up Twilight’s horn and she lowered it down to Little Pinkie’s forehead. The world around her dissolved.

Twilight was in the center of Ponyville. It was important that she started somewhere she knew, and she could not think of a better place to start than her own mind.

She trotted through Ponyville and passed the newsstand. The Twilight there levitated a newspaper from beneath her wings and gave it to the Twilight that was her. The paper pictured the doctor’s face with a quote underneath as he read of Little Pinkie’s vitals.

“Good, it looks like she is stable after the initial mental bridge.”

Before going any further she teleported herself to the library and made her way down to the Great Orrery. Time could pass oddly in the psychic plane of one’s mind, and even though Twilight doubted she would be in her trance for more than a few real world minutes, there was no point in letting the sun get off track.

“Girls, I need you to keep things running smooth. My focus is going to be elsewhere.”

The Twilights in labcoats all gave a sharp salute as their posture stiffened and their wings folded on their backs.

On her way out she poked her head into the sweltering furnace room. The coal covered unicorn inside gave Twilight a wordless nod. Satisfied that her solar magic was stable she brought herself back to the center of Ponyville. The alicorn at the newsstand showed Twilight an updated paper. It appeared identical to the first one she had looked at except for the clock in the background of the cover picture. It seemed the clock had ticked off a second.

“I’d best get to work.”

Somewhere she would find the bridge connecting her mind to Little Pinkie’s. It was only a matter of finding and crossing that bridge and then she could help Fluttershy’s daughter.

Her first instinct was the train station. Twilight had never coopted the building for any special significance in her mind and so her subconscious may have placed the connection there. However, when she arrived at the station, Twilight was disappointed that the rail terminated at the edge of Ponyville.

Likewise the roads leading out of Ponyville all ended just beyond the town boundaries. She had never traveled much on foot and was not even sure if she could picture what the roads were supposed to look like beyond Ponyville.

Twilight briefly considered the hot air balloon tethered in the town Green, but shook her head.

“Maybe if I’d been flying longer, but I’m still not thinking three dimensionally as Dash is so quick to remind me.” Twilight rubbed her neck as she thought of some of her aerial combat training sessions with her Captain of the Guard.

“Yeah, I don’t think my subconscious would put the link in the sky. Maybe if Little Pinkie was a pegasus… Ok bridge where are you?”
As if in response to her question, Twilight heard thunder rumble in the distance. As she turned to stare at a small path heading into the Everfree Forest she realized the thunder may very well have been a response.

“Of course…” Twilight sighed. “I need to go through the Everfree.”

Ponyville was the manifestation of her thoughts and memories. Everything that she wanted to hold onto and remember had all been sorted into its place. The Everfree was were everything else fell. Everything that she would rather forget or not think about, she would push into the shadows.

Twilight took a deep breath and began walking down the path. With the power she had grown into, nothing in the Everfree Forest, real or imaginary, could cause her any true harm. Yet Twilight could not help but notice how her knees seemed to tremble. She decided to start a light trot.

As Twilight made her way down the path, she relied on the ambient light that existed within her mind, but was frustrated to see that despite having no point of origin, the light still managed to cast shadows in the Everfree. The trees seemed to loom over her and the shadows seemed to reach towards her.

“Giggle at the ghastly, laugh at the ghouly...”

Twilight tried to sing the song that had once given her and her friends the courage to make their way through the forest, but was frustrated to find that the lyrics would not come to her. She knew that she had written them down somewhere and would need to commit them to memory once she was done helping Little Pinkie.

Another voice seemed to carry on the wind, “Why didn't you help her.”

Twilight’s head darted around, as she felt the blood drain from her face. She saw the shadowed silhouette of a pony hanging from a noose.

“This is your fault.”

Twilight bolted into a gallop trying to put as much distance between herself and the shadow as possible. Occasionally her wings would fitter taking her off the ground, but she would eventually come back down again.

“Keep it together Twilight. It wasn't really your fault. Celestia told you that. Focus on that. She couldn't have done anything to help mom. I was a good student.”

Twilight slowed down panting.

“I’m a good pony.”

She shook her head.

“Princess Celestia couldn't do everything. I was a good student. It wasn’t my fault. I’m a good pony.”

Looking up Twilight saw a massive chasm running through the Everfree Forest. A rickety rope bridge spread across it disappearing into the fog. Twilight frowned.

“Am I really that unimaginative that I made the bridge an actual bridge?”

A loud noise rumbled through the air, almost causing Twilight to jump. However, as she focused on it, she realized that it was simply the beep of the heart monitor bleeding through.

“Keep your focus Twi. Now is the moment of truth. Let’s do this.”

Twilight jumped up and down on her hooves and punched at the air trying to emulate what she figured Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash would do to pump themselves up.

Then she crossed the bridge into Little Pinkie’s mind as she recalled back when she had first practiced the mind bridge spell with Spike.

It was very different.

Everything was empty. Twilight’s awareness was floating in a black empty void. There was no sound or heat. Something was wrong. Everything she had read indicated the spell should be more or less the same on a dragon as on a pony. Their minds were fundamentally the same, if structured slightly differently. However, there would be large differences in how the mind appeared from pony to pony based on their personalities. If she was touching Spike's mind she would be surrounded by crystallized memories, thoughts, and dreams by that point. This was just empty. Twilight felt nauseous. It was wrong.

The ambient lighting still existed. She could see her hooves in front of her, and looking behind her she thought she could see the end of a bridge floating in the void if she focused. But there was nothing else. Twilight quickly clamped down on her emotions. A clear mind was important for the spell to remain stable. Perhaps this was simply what a comatose pony’s mind was like. She needed to delve deeper.

She poured more magic into the spell. Twilight was distantly aware of hearing the doctor mention something about rising heart rate. The empty void shattered and was replaced with just more darkness. However, this time something was different. There was a light in the distance.

Obviously Little Pinkie's mind had turned in on itself, but Twilight had found it. Now to wake her up. With a thought she propelled herself towards the light. When she reached it, the Princess of Equestria was horrified.

There were thoughts and memories, but all of the memories were of the slaughter. They were replaying before her eyes. The cause of the coma had been psychological. Little Pinkie had been unable to cope with what she had experienced. Twilight could hardly cope with what she was seeing.

She forced herself to watch. It was the least she could do, besides there was something to be gained. She would help Little Pinkie, but it was also an opportunity for her to learn the identities, or identity, of whoever or whatever had attacked the town. Unfortunately, to Twilight’s frustration the images were broken and fragmented. There was no knowledge to be gained, only horror.

She could try to force the images to coalesce, but their fragmentation was probably protecting the poor earth pony. Twilight decided she could bring the bubble of the pony's mind back to consciousness, but thought it would be a horrible idea. With the memories and images still there, it would be like torture for Little Pinkie. It might even kill her mind or even trigger a cardiac arrest.

Twilight would need to banish the darkness from the pony’s mind. Her thoughts blasted the memories with a mental manifestation of solar energy. They receded for a time, but as soon as the blast faded away the memories seemed to reform. They were resisting her.

The doubt in her mind was rapidly vanishing.

Twilight could not clean away the taint in Little Pinkie’s mind. But she could cut it away. It would be, in effect, destroying portions of the pony's mind. She would need to cut away some ‘clean’ memories around the thoughts of Witherton if she was going to succeed. Hopefully the triage would not be too severe.

The alicorn dove deeper and as she did her horror grew greater. The darkness in the pony's mind was like some twisted weed. It wound itself deep into Little Pinkie’s mind, choking each and every portion of it. When Twilight attempted to cut away portions of the weed with concentrated light, it would just rearrange itself as if she had done nothing.

There was more infected tissue than healthy material.

It was definitely something wrong.

She could simply uproot the entire weed, but virtually every memory the little pony had was now associated with the nightmare in some way or another. If she removed the darkness, very little of what made Pinkie Pinkie would be left. It would effectively reduce the pony to a blank state.

Twilight remembered her new Celestia. She could attempt to construct a mental framework for a new mind. Purging the nightmares would give her a clean slate to work with. She could replace what she destroyed with the stories Fluttershy had told her. But she did not have enough information to go off of. She would get details wrong. Even if she could do it perfectly, it seemed somehow wrong.

The alicorn did not know how long she had been in the earth pony’s mind with her hyper-aware state. The possibilities she had contemplated could have taken her weeks to work out. Yet, all of the details seemed to be unfolding before her.

She had three options. She could awaken the pony to a living, waking, eternal nightmare. Perhaps traditional therapy could help her, but Twilight knew the odds of that were small. She could purge Little Pinkie’s mind. The earth pony would be like a newborn foal all over again. Or Twilight could replace the pony with what would essentially be a fake.

Why were those options all so horrible? Which one was the right one?

And suddenly, her hearts gave a single powerful beat in unison. She knew her eyes were glowing in the waking world. The veil of time melted before her.

Twilight saw herself forcing Little Pinkie awake. The pony would scream the moment she woke up and continue to do so until the moment she died. For Fluttershy, the ordeal would be far worse than simply having her daughter in a coma. She saw the grave - her friend dead of a broken heart.

She saw herself wiping out Little Pinkie’s mind. Fluttershy would accept it and try raising her daughter all over again, but it would be with the knowledge that the daughter she had known was dead in every way that mattered. It would have been more of a mercy if Little Pinkie had just died. Fluttershy would be deprived of the closure she would need. Twilight saw her friend slowly growing more and more ill. Once again an early grave.

She replaced the pink earth pony’s mind with a mental construct - an artificial mind. Fluttershy would be ecstatic that her daughter was OK. However, as the years went by the pegasus would notice more and more details that were off. She would try to convince herself everything was alright, but it would wear on her sanity. It ended worse than the other possibilities. Twilight saw Little Pinkie dead, Fluttershy holding a bloody knife, and then the pegasus was dead as well.

There were countless other variants. Some in which Twilight would ask for Fluttershy’s opinion and reenter Little Pinkie’s mind. Others in which she would try to explain her decision to the pegasus. She even saw futures in which she told Fluttershy that there was nothing she could do and simply left the pony in her coma.

All of those possible futures ended in the same way - with Fluttershy dead before her time. In each one, it would all be effectively the same. She had killed Fluttershy.

Her hearts beat once again in unison. The world around her thrummed as comprehension dawned on the alicorn.

They were all possible futures, but they were not THE future. They would never be, because she would not let them happen. What she had just seen was the infinite number of rejected possibilities. Her path, in this instance, was already written.

She remembered her earlier thought.

A mercy.

She remembered the words of Spike’s doctor.

Sometimes you need to cut away healthy flesh to remove the disease and save the whole.

What did she need to cut away to save Fluttershy?

Twilight remembered Night Walker’s pride at his deeds.

What would it be like to take the life of another pony?

She would give Fluttershy freedom and closure. The future would see her friend live for years to come. That she saw. That she knew. That she dictated.

Twilight wanted to cry. She hardly knew the precious pony whose mind she floated in, but she knew Little Pinkie was a wonderful pony. She held back her tears. There would be time to cry soon enough, but Fluttershy could not know that there was something wrong - not yet.

The weed sensed Twilight’s intent and lashed out at her. She realized that it had been trying to choke her for some time now. Its thorns were attempting to cut into her throat, but were only drawing a small trickle of blood. She roared and the weed burned.

Once again, it tried to wrap itself around her mind, but she pulsed with a sorrowful light. She knew the weed. Twilight did not know how it had survived, but all that mattered was it still existed. She would seek out the weed throughout Equestria and root it out. She would purge it from existence for all those it had hurt.

“I will not let Fluttershy die.” Her decree echoed through the empty mind.

She was Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia. She was the Princess of the Fading Sun. She would not be bested by some vile weed. She would avenge those the nightmare had taken.

Pinkie Pie, Celestia, Luna, Little Pinkie.

She retreated back to the safety of her own head and was looking through her own eyes again. Twilight remained sitting still; she did not want the other ponies to know she had broken off the mind delve. The room was still swirling with powerful magics. The doctor would not be able to sense what was about to happen.

She used her magic to feel inside Little Pinkie’s chest. She could feel the beating of the pony’s tiny little heart.

What will it be like to kill a pony?

Twilight squeezed.

She was clutching a sobbing Fluttershy as doctors rushed around them. She had found her answer.

It felt awful.

But the dark corner of her mind where she pushed all of her unwanted thoughts could not help but add to the thought.

It also felt wonderful.

Author's Note

So here is a second chapter today, hope you all like it.

I considered ending this chapter at squeezed, I'm not sure if the last four lines make it better or not.
I want to get this posted, so you will need to wait longer for the time travel author’s note.

I apologize for how crummy the last chapter was. It really needs to be rewritten completely (again). Hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

BTW, does it make me awful that I really enjoyed writing this chapter.

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015

Contingency

Chapter 12 - Contingency

Everything would be alright. It had to be.

The funeral had been the first time that all of her friends had been gathered in one place in a long time. She had even seen Rarity and Applejack exchange a few words. Twilight arranged with the weather pegasi for a light drizzle to mark the occasion. Not so much rain as to drive ponies away, but enough to lend to the somber air. She had then made sure that there was a small clearing in the clouds above the grave site.

It seemed as if funerals were becoming a more common occurrence in her schedule, and she wondered how she would deal with it over the ages. She looked at all of the ponies who had come to pay their respects and knew that they would all be dead eventually. It was only a matter of time. For many of them, the only real impact they would make would be in her own memory.

She knew that their lives mattered. Even if she forgot or never even knew a pony, how they had lived their life would still be important. Twilight thought about the ponies most important to her and the ones she had already lost. Her parents had not had much in the way of real friends. Their only lasting impact was in their daughter, and her memories were the only record of how they had lived their lives.

What would happen if she forgot?

How her mother had died would still matter, Twilight decided. The choice her father made in the end would still be important. Time was not simply the moment that existed now, but all of history that led to the moment. Perhaps a thousand years would see Equestria frozen in ice and everypony dead. Even still, Twilight needed to ensure that the world her ponies lived in was the best of possible worlds.

Fluttershy stepped up besides the casket, and Twilight shook her head. She needed to pay attention. She owed Little Pinkie that much.
Twilight had wanted to help with more of the funeral arrangements, but Fluttershy had been oddly insistent that she take care of things herself. Not being able to do anything for her friend in the days leading up to the funeral had been awful. The wake and funeral itself were even worse. Twilight wanted to be by Fluttershy’s side with all of her other friends. She wanted to help Fluttershy; she wanted to tell her friend the truth.

But she was Princess of Equestria. Whenever she tried to hug or talk to Fluttershy, eyes would be on them, and her friend would become uncomfortable. Eventually Twilight realized that the best thing she could do to make Fluttershy comfortable on her day of mourning would be to keep her distance. So Twilight stood on the other side of the crowd as the coffin was lowered into the earth. The body had been placed alongside Fluttershy’s husband and biological children. There was still an empty plot saved for the pegasus herself.

It would be empty for a long time before it was used. Twilight had seen that. What she had seen was real.

She was not a crazy pony.

Fluttershy was still grieving of course, but she would recover. She had closure this way. Twilight recently started construction on a long-term care facility for ponies attacked or injured by creatures of the night. Fluttershy would eventually take a job there. Her friend would find meaning in life once again.

She saved Fluttershy; she did the right thing.

Twilight just needed to keep telling herself that.

Nopony blamed her. They knew the mind delve spell could put stress on the filly’s heart. She had tried her best. The doctor had pronounced the death as simply a result of too much strain on an already weak patient.

She was not a bad pony.

Twilight still wondered about those visions. Part of her wished she had not acted so hastily, but her inhibitions had been vacant during those last moments of the mind delve. She normally approached things calmly and methodically. Twilight still had no proof that they had been alternate futures. Maybe things could have worked out another way. Her experiments with the twin clocks had still yielded no results. The only evidence that the new field of magic she was studying was even possible was in her own memories and experiences, and even that was more hunches and brief moments of suspicion than anything else. There was no proof that she had not simply dreamed it all up.

But the magic had to be real. Twilight could not accept the alternative. If she had not been peering ahead into time, then she had killed a filly for no reason. If she had not seen the future then she was simply a murderer.

She had done it for Fluttershy.

She was not a bad pony.

Of course the possibility that the visions were indeed genuine brought with them a host of other disturbing considerations. Had they truly represented the full range of possible outcomes? There had been so many combinations of decisions and results, causes and effects. Her head had hurt from the pressure of keeping track of them all. But, she did not know if the visions had shown her everything. Could there have been an unaccounted for path? She suspected so, but simply did not know. The magic was still too new and unexplored.

The idea that she had missed a path were both Fluttershy and Little Pinkie were alive was terrifying to consider. She had responded with so much haste. From realization to judgement had taken the tick of a clock. She should have taken more time, and made a checklists. Checklists always made things better. However, at the time she had just been so certain.

Even if the visions had been both real and complete, there was one other problem. Twilight had recognized the alternative futures as possibilities that were not possible. Things, that while technically feasible, would never come to pass. They had been darker and washed out. But was that because she had made it so? At first the question had not seemed important.

The idea that there was only one true future path that would come to fruition had seemed normal at the time.

But had those alternative possibilities died because of the choice she had made, or had she made her choice because those possibilities were not viable? The order of cause and effect were of crucial importance. In the one scenario she was the director of her own fate. Twilight Sparkle decided what happened to Twilight Sparkle, and her will could shape the universe. In the other...

In the other scenario, she was just an actor playing out a predetermined role. She had killed Little Pinkie simply because that was the way things had to be and always had been. Choice did not even enter the picture. There was no free will. She was just an automaton responding to stimuli in a preordained manner. She was just a biological machine.

As horrible as it had been to choose to kill, Twilight liked the second scenario even less. She desperately needed for herself, not fate, to be responsible for her own actions.

Even if they were awful.

She was a good pony.

Many of the visions had also contained disturbing portents besides just the fate of her friend. The ones that had extended further in time seemed to have been ringed with dark shadows. She did not know what they meant, other than something ill befalling Equestria. Outside of the immediate impact on Fluttershy they had all been vague mirages.

Twilight had sent Spike off with new orders. He was to hunt out the weed. He was to find the wrongness that infected her beautiful land. When he found it, he was to call her. Then the alicorn would destroy it.

The princess wanted nothing more than to protect her beloved ponies. That was not the motivation of a bad pony. She was a good pony. Even Celestia said so.

The illusion had been of great comfort after Little Pinkie’s unfortunate death. She was the only pony Twilight could tell the truth. No matter how big Fluttershy’s heart, the Princess of Equestria knew that the pony would be unable to forgive her for her deed. Twilight had been told that it was a mother’s duty to put her children before herself, and was certain that the yellow pegasus would feel that way.

So she had told Celestia all about what had happened. Of course, the construct had not really understood what had transpired. Such complex issues were beyond its comprehension. However, it had been able to hug Twilight and tell her everything would be fine. Celestia had stroked her mane and sung her the lullaby she used to sing while Twilight was still little.

Most importantly, she had reminded Twilight that she was not a bad pony. She was a good pony.

“What are you doing, my most faithful student?”

The alicorn momentarily looked up from the floor towards where the illusion was watching her before returning to her work.

“Princess, what do you know of agrarian tax code?”

“I’m not sure if I can tell you much about that my faithful student.”

Twilight sighed.

“The real Princess Celestia had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of virtually everything in the Canterlot library. The Magisterium has approved a new medical facility which I think is a genuinely good idea. However, to fund it we needed to adjust the farm tax code. I honestly have no idea if the adjustments are any good. I’m just not qualified and it will take me too long to study it all. The whole point of the Magisterium is that THEY are supposed to be qualified for these sort of things. But I don’t know if they approved just because it was a way to pay for my new medical facility, or because the new tax is actually fair. I need some pony I can trust to help me with this until I can make a final decision regarding the Magisterium. You’re going to be that pony.”

“How can I help you my student?”

“You don’t even know what you’re asking, do you? Right now you have no memory beyond the ones I gave to you. There is no past or future for you, just the now. I want to change that. If I can create rune patterns capable of storing self resonant harmonics, you will be able to store variable magical fields. In other words, you will have memory.”

Another rune was burned into the floor by her magic. Twilight was going to need to expand the cavern again. She was running out of space to carve the magical symbols. Already, she had dug out an additional two chambers to improve the construct's tactile response and improve the fluidity of its voice.

Celestia felt warm now and could sing like she had while alive.

“The idea occurred to me awhile ago, but by itself, you would be little more than a walking reference book. To be useful you need comprehension. I think I have figured out how to accomplish that. Dynamic runes. They had only been theorized, but I believe I can get it to work. The magic that sustains you will essentially be able to ‘write’ itself. Connections will be able to form between each memory storage rune. You will be able to see links between concepts and recognize patterns, to learn and comprehend.”

“My dear student, you sound tired. Have you been sleeping well?”

Twilight laughed as she carved another rune.

“Not since before the funeral. I... I don’t want to dream. Not yet. The chemists finally managed to isolate the active ingredient in the tea. I had them combine it with a stimulant and some other things. With my superior physiology, I might even be able to keep this up indefinitely, not sleeping I mean.”

Traveling through the Everfree Forest of her mind had been a mistake. Things that were best left forgotten had been awakened. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw the swinging shadow. Whenever she was alone she heard the accusation and felt the guilt, and now a new monster stalked the Everfree. This beast was unlike any she ever had faced before. When Twilight had tried to sleep it roared and shook all of Ponyville. Twilight could do nothing about Little Pinkie, the beast that roamed her mind.

“I’m going to be done with this soon. Then you’re going to read the book I brought with me. If it works you will be able to give me your opinion on the tax code. Depending on how this turns out, I’ll try replicating the harmonic runes in crystals to be more space efficient. I can’t have you taking up the whole mountain, now can I?”

Celestia walked up to Twilight and nuzzled her neck. Twilight took a deep breath and the smell of sunshine entered her nostrils. It was the only way she could think to describe it, and Twilight had been surprised she had managed to replicate it. The lavender alicorn tried to ignore it while she was finishing the last few rune castings, but in the end found herself leaning into her mentor.

Despite their complexity, the runes to give her construct warmth had been well worth the effort.

Twilight had been so intimidated by Princess Celestia when she had first become her student, and if she was perfectly honest, that had never really gone away. For the first few years Twilight made sure to always be on her best behavior. “Just because you’re her student doesn’t means she isn’t still the Princess. Make sure you behave properly,” her father would constantly remind her.

Princess Celestia was just her teacher and nothing more, and for those initial years Princess Celestia seemed satisfied with that as well. At least that was what Twilight had thought. There had been a distance, most certainly, but looking back Twilight could tell that the Princess had cared for her from very early on. Afterall, it was not everypony that the Princess was willing to read bedtime stories for.

That smell of sunshine, however, that had marked when things began to change. Celestia had hugged her so tightly and Twilight thought for just a moment, that maybe it would be okay for her to forget that Princess Celestia was Princess Celestia. That ethereal mane had invaded her nostrils filling it with light, and suddenly all Twilight had been able to think at the funeral was, “this is nice.”

Twilight shook her head as tears threatened to fall. She was such a liar. Little Pinkie had not been her first victim. She had killed before. Celestia’s love had come out of pity for a filly that had killed her own mother.

“Twilight Sparkle, you don’t need to cry.”

The memory and present blurred together as she buried her face into Celestia’s flowing mane as she cried over her loss. Twilight could almost imagine her father watching dispassionately from a distance. Celestia embraced her in her great white wings as she had all those years ago. Twilight could not risk disappointing Celestia, the Princess was all she had left.

But it was not Celestia. It was just a self-sustaining magical construct that responded to input in a pre-programmed manner. Celestia was dead, just like her mother, just like Little Pinkie.

Part of her had liked it.

“Am I a good pony?”

“Of course my student. You’re a very good pony.”

+++

Twilight stood at the base of Discord’s statue looking up at his horrified face.

“You wanted to see me, Princess?”

“Tell me Dash, do you think Discord was evil?”

Twilight did not turn to look at the pony who had just recently arrived. She was not able to judge her friend’s reaction, but she could imagine.

“What? I mean of course he was bad. You remember what he did.”

“Not if he is bad. I mean evil. There’s a difference right?”

“Yea there is a difference. A liar isn’t the same as a killer. Some of the things we fight out there aren’t just animistic or primal but are downright evil. But the timberwolves... They’re not evil, bad maybe, but they’re just following their instincts. I guess there is some sort of gradation.”

“So then Dash, do you think Discord was evil?”

Her friend sighed. Twilight knew that Rainbow Dash did not like these types of conversations. Still, the pony would humor her princess.

“Well he didn’t hurt anypony, just caused a lot of trouble. Maybe he was like the timberwolves. Maybe it was just instinctive or something.”

“I think so too. I don’t think he was always like that either. Some of the things Celestia once said when I asked her... I think Discord was very old and very lost. But I don’t think he was evil... Just bad.”

“Twi-”

“I’m not exactly sure what the difference is though, between somepony that is bad and somepony that is evil. Maybe it’s the ability to fix things. There is still hope for a bad pony, they can still right their ways. However, once an evil pony has chosen her path, there is no salvation. Does that sound right?”

“I don’t know Twilight. Why do you care about Discord so much all the sudden?”

Twilight could hear the concern in her friend’s voice.

“I can feel his power, did you know that? When I come by his statue, it’s almost like a song - but not a nice one though. It’s all out of tune and discordant. There is no real beat or harmony to it, but it’s a song nonetheless. When I touch his statue, I can feel the power coursing underneath my hoof. He’s so strong. Stronger, than Celestia or Luna ever were... I think I could rip it all from him.”
Twilight laid a hoof against the statue as if to convince herself of her words. The power was there for the taking. Dash's reply was spluttered out.

“What?”

“His power, his being. I could tear it from him and make it mine. I’m not sure when I realized that. It would be enough to save Equestria. It might even be enough to save everypony.”

“Twilight, you’re not actually planning or trying to absorb him or something are you?”

The alicorn ruler of Equestria backed away from the statue and turned to face her friend.

“No, nothing like that. I think the act would actually destroy us both. Most certainly nothing would remain of Discord, and whatever he did, I don’t think he deserves that. As for me, even if I survived, I would be changed. I’m not sure how I would be changed, but something like that has to have some impact on a pony. Besides, even if I could do it safely, it would be wrong. I was just thinking was all.”
Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh and took a step towards her.

“Twi, you had me worried with all that talk.”

“I suppose I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”

The pegasus nudged Twilight in the side towards the gardens, and the two were then walking the grounds. Twilight could not help but notice the pegasus glance nervously back at the statue they had left behind.

“Do you want to go flying?”

Twilight was tempted by the offer, but she had called Rainbow Dash to her for a reason.

“Not right this moment, I’m sorry. I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”

“Well go ahead and ask it then.”

“I know you said you don’t regret staying by my side, but what about other things... Do you regret how things ended with Soarin?”

“What... What are you asking about that hay-brain for?”

Twilight was silent. Soarin was not why she had wanted to speak with her friend, but she did not know how to bring up the topic. Her mind was just rambling. Eventually the pegasus realized that the princess was not going to speak and so decided to answer her friend.

“I mean, I miss him sometimes. But I’m probably better off without him. He wasn’t willing to pick up the pieces and would rather just wallow in his own pity. I don’t want to be with a pony like that. If I was ever going to be with a pony it would need to be one who didn’t fall apart at the first sign of trouble.”

Twilight was ready to ask of her friend what she wanted. She waited for two powerful beats of her heart before she spoke.

“Tell me Dash, do you love me?”

“Yes.”

The answer had been instantaneous, without hesitation.

“And Equestria? Do you love her?”

“Of course...”

A bit of a quaver that time. Twilight frowned. For what she was about to ask her friend, Dash’s loyalties would apparently need to be realigned.

“Would you do anything for Equestria?”

“You know I would, Princess.”

“Even if it meant hurting me?”

Silence.

“Answer me, Dash.”

“I don’t know.”

“Dash, this is important. I need that answer to be ‘yes.’”

The rainbow maned pony grabbed Twilight by the withers.

“Enough Twilight, what’s this all about?”

“I have too much power. If I lost my mind, I don’t think there is anypony in Equestria that could stop me. I think that might be what had happened to Discord, only he had Celestia and Luna to imprison him. I’m not so lucky. I need you to swear to me Dash, if I ever become a threat to Equestria, you need to stop me.”

“Twilight, without you there is no Equestria. Everything would be a frozen wasteland without your guidance.”

“Its not my guidance Equestria needs, just my power. But there is an alternative.”

Twilight pulled a small dagger out from where she had tucked it underneath her wing. She tried passing it to her friend. The pony refused to take it.

“This is ridiculous. Besides, I hate to break it to you Twilight, but I’m not sure a dagger can hurt you.”

“This one can.”

Rainbow Dash finally took the blade. Her hoof was shaking. The pegasus was staring at her limb with what looked like shock, as if she could not believe that it had betrayed her. The pony nearly recoiled at the touch of the blade. Twilight had used dark magics to forge it.

“Is the blade... Is the blade a unicorn’s horn?

“Yes... It was Moon Dreamer’s. I needed a powerful shell for the artifact. His horn was the most readily available.”

“You dug up his corpse!”

“You need to understand!”

Why did they always end up shouting?

“Understand what? You dug up your student’s corpse and cut up his body. Now you’re talking all crazy. Daily Vigil has told me you haven’t been sleeping. I thought he was just being a worry-wart. Now, I’m thinking we need to clear your schedule for the week. You need sleep.”

“Sleep is the last thing I need. That dagger is the one thing in all of Equestria that can stop me if the need ever were to arise. I have forever and irrevocably given it permission to pass through my magic. I would be powerless to defend myself against a pony wielding it. The blade is beyond my power to destroy.

“If the dagger pierces my heart, it will not kill me. It will instead put me into a magical slumber. I suppose it would not be too unlike the state Discord is in. One part of my mind would remain functioning however. It would forever continue to rise and set the sun. Even if my reason and will someday falter, this dagger will ensure that I always serve Equestria.

“I, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, hereby charge you, Rainbow Dash, Captain of the Royal Guard and Captain Commander of all of Equestria, with this solemn duty. Should your princess ever become unfit to rule, you are tasked with driving that dagger through her heart. When you become too old to fulfill this duty, you shall pass it on another. Swear to me that you will perform this duty.”

“I...”

“Swear it!”

Her words carried with it the power of command. The words would work themselves into her friend’s skull until the pony would have no choice but to make a decision.

“I said swear it!”

Rainbow Dash threw her head back and forth in indecision. Finally she screamed in pain and denial.

“Alright. I swear it. I swear it. I’ll even Pinkie Pie promise.”

The magic twisted around the pegasus. Twilight knew there was no pony more trustworthy than her friend, but she did not trust Rainbow Dash’s loyalties on this matter. If the pony placed her princess above Equestria, one day all could be lost. She needed to ensure that Dash would do what was necessary if the time came. The pony was now bound to her promise.

“Keep that dagger safe. Tell nopony of this unless you intend to pass on your duty to another. I’m so sorry to place this terrible burden on you.”

Rainbow Dash was crying.

“Why?”

For a moment the only sound between the two was the sobbing of the pegasus. The pressure of the magic had been strong. Twilight plopped to the ground. She was going to be crying soon as well.

“Dash. I did something bad.”

“What?”

“I did something really, really bad...”

“What,” a hicup between tears, “what are you talking about?”

Twilight flung herself at her friend as the tears began to flow. She needed to tell somepony, somepony that had not simply been born out of her own mind.

“I don’t think I’m a good pony anymore.”

Author's Note

Have another chapter.

Once again, no time travel discussion. It basically is going to take about an hour to write (guesstimate) and I have been prioritizing the actual story.

Man, I love writing those Celestia pieces. I could write an entire story about crazy Twilight making fake ponies to talk to... Hm... (begins writing).

Twilight is totally not a crazy pony.

To clarify something. The prequel I started is set mostly before the actual series. I'm about ten thousand words into it (it won't be more than 20k). I've also got ideas bouncing around for something set between the series and chapter 1, but nothing set in stone.

I've realized I can fix the majority of my typos if I just ctrl+f for 'where' and make sure none of them were supposed to be 'were' and 'ponies' to make sure it wasn't supposed to be 'pony's.' I'm not sure why I have been having so much trouble with that.

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015

To Turn Back the Clock

Chapter 14 - To Turn Back The Clock

It would have been an understatement to say that the fallout of her time without sleep was unpleasant. Twilight first realized that things were going to be rough when she discovered that she could not drink the soup Fluttershy had brought without vomiting. All of her friends had been upset by that, but Rainbow Dash was particularly unhappy with the discovery.

Once everypony, or at least Dash, had been cleaned up, they had all talked. Her friends had convinced her that she needed to step back and rest. Applejack had handed her a letter. When Twilight recognized it, her first reaction was to feel upset that the pony had gone through her things, but then she read the letter over again.

It was the letter Twilight had written Princess Celestia after the first time she had helped Applejack during applebucking season. The earth pony had learned a lesson about accepting help from other ponies. It was not hard for Twilight to connect the dots. The point had been a good one then, and it was still worthwhile.

Twilight nodded her head with tears in her eyes. Her body felt miserable. The aftershock of the time without sleep and the sudden absence of the stimulants in her system left her feeling ill. However, her tears had nothing to do with her physical condition. Soon she found herself in the middle of a large group hug.

She stretched her forelegs, trying to wrap them around the three other ponies, and used her magic to pull them closer. Rainbow Dash was pressed against her chest with her two other friends on either side. That was when she had needed to vomit again.

Rainbow Dash was even less happy that second time.

Her next few days was basically a constant repeat of those first moments awake. Her body was repaying the enormous sleep debt it had accrued and at the same time dealing with the withdrawal of chemicals from her bloodstream. Twilight was now willing to believe what Celestia had said about drug abuse.

Equestria did not crumble to pieces during that time of bedrest. The machinery of her kingdom kept ticking away even without her. Unfortunately, some of the gears did grind to a halt. Twilight was not particularly pleased that the magisterium seemed unable to reach any decisions without her. During her convalescence after becoming an alicorn they had been just fine. Now they seemed concerned that if they did anything she might be upset with them. Apparently her behavior leading up to her ‘nap’ did not help to convince them they had nothing to fear.

The only one of her responsibilities that she managed during her ‘rest’ was that of the sun.

While she was gone, ponies died. Ponies always did. Some of the deaths were likely ones Twilight could have prevented. Her presence with the Night Guard would make them much more formidable. There were ponies in hospital emergency rooms that she could bring back from the brink of death. There were so many deaths, but she could not prevent them all. However, she now realized that she could not do everything. She was just one pony.

However, that did not mean she was going to sit idly by while ponies suffered. What it meant was that she would need to take a different approach. Already plans were forming in her mind. She was Twilight Sparkle. She would protect Equestria.

It turned out that Fluttershy was still as good as ever at taking care of sick ponies. Between Applejack’s grandmotherly concern and Fluttershy’s natural talent, the two had made an alicorn-care super-duo. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash kept herself at split ends trying to juggle some of Twilight’s normal duties.

Luckily word of her ‘problems’ did not spread outside of the palace. As always her ponies were discreet. It made dealing with the embarrassment of her behavior much easier. She still blushed when she thought about how she made a foal of herself in front of the visiting duke from Fetteton province.

Glumly Twilight looked around her room. Fluttershy and Applejack had departed, the worst of her recover over with, but Rainbow Dash was still constantly checking in. She felt fine, but was currently confined to “bed rest.” She still snuck out, of course; there was too much to do otherwise. However, she had to be careful. If Dash or any of the guard caught her trying to any real work she would be escorted right back to her room and be given a firm lecture. The last time Applejack and Fluttershy had taken the train up from Ponyville and joined in on explaining to her the importance of not rushing her recovery.

Twilight was right that sleep brought with them new nightmares. She realized that they were an entirely new world of horrible. They were not a replay of the day she lost Princess Celestia. That would have been a mercy of sorts. At least it would have been a pain she was familiar with and had learned to cope with. Instead each night as she slept the beast from the Everfree would smash its way through her mind. She would kill Little Pinkie over and over again, only it wasn’t always Little Pinkie. Sometimes it was Moon Dreamer, other times it was one of her friends. Worse still were the nights when it was Celestia.

Other nights she would remember her parents, but twisted and distorted. At the moment Twilight was sleepily sketching ideas for the latest aspect of her project beneath the mountain. She propped her head up with her hooves as her magic continued to move quill across paper. Her eyes drooped and opened again. Daily Vigil would be by soon to ensure she went to sleep, and she was determined to get as much work done until then. Her eyes fluttered shut.

She was an alicorn, a princess true and true, but she was in the old classroom that Princess Celestia would use to teach her the most difficult and potentially dangerous of spells. Twilight was on her knees begging, pleading for just one thing. The Princess just looked at her with pity.

“I am sorry my precious student. There are some things even beyond my power.”

Only it was not pity, it was disdain. Twilight had been struggling with her metamorphic spell forms, too distracted by the tragedy slowly unfolding in her life. Only bad ponies did not try their best in school, and bad ponies did not get rewarded.

Twilight realized she had to crane her head to look up. She was a filly again and her crown and peytral were all far too large. She was in a sterile white room. There was a mare in the bed and her father was leaning over the bed sobbing. He looked up at her, desperation distorting his face into a twisted mockery.

“Of course she can help… She’s the Princess for Light’s sake. Did you do something to upset her? Have you been good in your studies? Please ask her again.”

A piercing tone began blaring. Twilight tried to cover her ears.

Twilight was in her bed, in her home. The Princess had told her to take some time off and spend it with her father until she was feeling better. Really the Princess just didn’t want such a bad pony around. Instead she was alone in her room crying herself to sleep just like she deserved. The light was rapidly fading as her door was closed. From the other side came the words.

“I hope you’re happy.”

The room was plunged into darkness, but in the corner of the room-

Twilight was jerked awaked has her head slammed into her table when her head slipped from her hooves. She flung herself backwards tipping her chair over as she tumbled in an undignified squawk.

“Your highness, is everything alright?” A voice called out from the hallway.

“Yea- Yes. Everything is just fine.”

Twilight was glad that guard was not able to see her as she extracted herself from the tangle of limbs and wings she had become. She looked at her hooves trembling. The dream had been a new one. It hadn’t been how it happened of course, but even still Twilight was glad it never reached its conclusion. It had been a parody of her life, and she knew how that particular chapter ended.

She remembered the swinging shadow in the Everfree and suppressed a shudder. Twilight looked at her sketches, and saw that she had continued to draw in her sleep. Twilight was far from an exceptional artist, but she easily recognized a dark representation of her bedroom as a filly. There was more ink on the page than not.

Twilight could make out two ponies. One was a lump, asleep in the bed. There was another featureless pony standing in the shadowed corners of the room. Twilight looked at it in confusion. The other pony’s mouth was open as if it was whispering.

Unbidden a word came to Twilight’s lips, “mother.”

Three short raps rang out against her door, and Twilight called her expected visitor in.

“Princess I commend you for setting the sun on time tonight without any reminder. However, if we are to raise the sun tomorrow at a decent hour while still partaking in the proper amount of sleep, it is time for you to go to bed.”

“Yes, Daily Vigil.” Twilight tried to resist rolling her eyes. She tried to keep the snark out of her voice. She failed miserably at both.

“Hmm.. Oh, I forgot to mention. The Captain Commander told me that if you should give me any trouble, that she has had Silver Heart prepare an emergency strategic teleport to bring in Ms. Fluttershy. Something about a ‘stare,’ I think it was.”

Twilight puffed her cheeks out at Daily Vigil but climbed into her bed anyways. The nerve of the stallion. She was old enough to be his dam.

“I’m going to sleep.” Twilight began to climb up into her bed with some reluctance.

“Yes, perhaps I should bring my son in to learn from your shining example.”

Twilight flung a pillow at the royal time keeper hoping to wipe away his sardonic grin. Instead he just ducked out of the way. Twilight crossed her hooves and used her magic to pull her blankets up with a pout.

Satisfied that his Princess was not going to circumvent her curfew, Daily Vigil stepped out the door and extinguished the lights. However, before the door closed all the way, he caught it in his magic.

“Princess… I hope you sleep well tonight, but... If you find that you can’t sleep I think it would be fine if you went to gardens.”

“Than-” the word caught in her throat. “Thank you Vigil.”

“And please remember. We are all here for you should you need anything. You need but call.”

And then the door shut.

Twilight snuggled into her bed feeling oddly content. However, a certainty that the nightmares would return settled over her. Since the funeral the only time she had managed to hold them at bay was when she snuck off to have Celestia sing to her.

Her eyes settled close, and once again sleep had claimed her.

Things continued like that for a few more days. Eventually, however, she was back on her hooves. The business of ruling Equestria returned to normal. Rainbow Dash was happy to turn her duties back over to her princess. Some things were different of course. Her work days were much shorter now, and she had less energy to work with. Hopefully her experiments would soon produce real results.

A few of those changes had been for the better. The best change had been with Fluttershy. When Twilight finally resumed her normal schedule, she had mentioned the new care facility that was being built. The pegasus had seemed interested and so Twilight had offered her a job. Fluttershy had accepted.

As painful as it had been, she had done the right thing. At least that was what she needed to believe.

Unfortunately, not all of the changes were pleasant. The royal time keeper had decided that in addition to waking her up in the morning, having her go to sleep at night should be a permanent part of his job. Having Daily Vigil enter her study and tell her that it was time to go to bed made her feel like a little filly and not in a good way.

The pony seemed to feel that Twilight’s sleep deficiency had been his fault. Now he was carefully charting what time she went to sleep and woke up. The worst part was, if Twilight was in Daily Vigil’s position, she would do the same thing.

Twilight was in her study. It was late, but not so late that Daily Vigil would be pounding down her door. She had removed her regalia and had it laid out on her desk.

She was just one pony.

Removing sleep had been foalish. Reducing sleep could, at best, only linearly increase the amount of things she could accomplish in a day. Even if she increased her waking hours by fifty percent, it only mean she could accomplish fifty percent more. Equestria needed more than that. Twilight needed to exponentially grow what she could accomplish. Each additional iota of effort needed to produce greater and greater results.

Her research with the clocks and Moon Dreamer’s amplification matrix were both possible ways to achieve that end. However, the one could end up being a pipe dream and the other might never be finished if she never found a competent pony to carry on her student’s work. She simply needed help. If only there were more of her the problem would be solved.

Her focus was on the chestplate that she normally wore. She had carved a rune on the inside of the metal. It was a link. The symbol was normally used for communication spells, but she had made some major modifications. Twilight had also used her own blood to etch the rune into the golden surface. That had not been necessary, but it had felt somehow fitting. She flipped the breast covering over and looked at the large purple gemstone embedded in it. Now she needed to miniaturize a large number of projection runes and weave them into the gem. Thankfully the linking rune on the inside of the piece of regalia meant that was all Twilight needed to do for her new project to be complete.
The dozens of Twilights running around her visualization of Ponyville had been her inspiration. In particular the working of the Great Orrery and furnace that powered it had spurred her down a train of thought. If she could have some of her thoughts constantly working, could not other ponies - or things - do the same, and why not then take that to its logical conclusion?

There were a number of other matters that needed her attention. Just a short time ago she would have stayed up late to deal with them. Now she was just going to meet with one last pony and work on the regalia before going to bed. Everything else would need to wait until the morning. The most pressing issue she would need to deal with was a report a guard had filed. The pony had supposedly seen a bright flash of white light and a form standing in a glowing sphere before it disappeared in a pulse of telekinetic force. Twilight immediately thought of the child Rainbow Dash never had. She had told the guard not to mention it to the pegasus captain.

A guard knocked and stuck his head into her study. The guest that she was expecting had arrived.

“My Princess, how are you? It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“I’m quite well, and you? How’s Rarity?”

Stone Edge’s face was hard cut. He was all sharp angles, deserving of his name. His coat and mane were colored like granite. However, when he smiled at her question, he seemed like the softest pony in the world.

“I’m doing well. I just had my latest follow-up earlier today actually. The doctors tell me that I’m healthy, no sign that it’s come back. As for my lady wife... She asked me to let you know that she regrets having not met with you in some time, though I’m sure you already know that. Helping to plan for the wedding has been taking most of her waking hours and these past few weeks she’s been out of Canterlot altogether.”

“I’m sure you’ve been missing her while she’s been away on that fashion tour.”

Stone Edge barked a laugh.

“Well I miss her, but I certainly don’t miss serving as a model while she works on her designs. When she’s upset, I think she is intentionally hard with those needles.”

“So how are the wedding plans going?”

The pony looked horrified.

“I have absolutely no idea. I’m leaving it all to the mares - they’re crazy I tell you. I made the mistake of suggesting that I had heard chocolate cake was currently in fashion... Never again I tell you. I've decided I’m not even going to attempt to balance the checkbook until the whole affair is over. Of course, then the fact that you’re going to be in attendance has just put my wife into overdrive.”

Stone Edge’s eyes suddenly widened and his already pale face went ashen.

“That’s not why you wanted to meet with me is it? You’re not canceling your RSVP? Don’t make me the bearer of that bad news, Princess. Rarity will-”

“No no no. I still plan on attending.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

The pony slumped to the floor in stunned relief, his gavel cutie mark pressed against the floor.

“Those mares are crazy.”

Twilight could not help but giggle.

“So is Justice handling things any better than you are?”

“Not really. Only, I think he’s even crazier than my wife and his fiancée because he still persists in giving his opinions about the wedding.”

The two ponies spent a fair amount of time reminiscing and laughing. Because Rarity and her husband lived in Canterlot, Twilight had been able to see the two of them fairly often. They shared many of the same social circles, and she also found that she had a lot to say to them.

Nearly half an hour had passed before matters turned to more serious issues.

“By the way. We really missed not being able to attend the last Grand Galloping Gala. When Diamond Justice came and told us about his engagement, the gala just flew out of our minds. But we are definitely looking forward to this year’s gala.”

“Oh Edge! You had mentioned that you needed to tell me something about Manehatten.”

“Ah yes... A colleague of mine from the city mentioned a case he is involved in. It has a number of ponies rather upset, and I suspect you are going to hear about it sooner or later. It occurred to me that it might help if you’ve had some time to think about it before it reaches you.”

“Go on.”

“It’s about several ponies who are a part of... well a cult. They’ve been worshiping what they call the Destroyer - some sort of a 'dark reflection of an alicorn.' They say that the Destroyer was the monster that... the monster that slayed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Now they are saying that the Destroyer is returning - or has returned, that’s not exactly clear - to kill the last of the immortals and bring about the end of Equestria. There’s more, but it’s all utter rubbish. Unfortunately it has upset a lot of ponies. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that they burn food at their meetings.”

“Well... I can’t say I am happy about any of that. However, as far as the law is concerned, isn’t it all rather clear cut. A pony has the right to believe whatever they want, and while the waste of food is horrible, if they bought it, it’s their right...”

“Well I should also add that it’s not just an issue of them acting in private. They’ve been trying to spread their nonsense on the streets. Most ponies were just ignoring them, however. When it got to be a problem was when the filly of one of the cult members began talking about it at school. That’s really what lit the flame. A lot of Manehatten ponies are saying that a law should be passed to prohibit the wasting of food and disallow the cult.”

“You're right. I’m going to need to think about how to deal with the situation. Thank you though for bringing it to my attention early. Hopefully, there might be something I can do to head this all off, rather than just needing to react once ponies have become more outraged.”

“Not a problem. Hopefully it resolves itself, but I thought you might want to know... By the way, why did you ask me here to see you Princess? It's starting to get late, and I want to make sure we have time to discuss it, if it's important.”
Twilight was startled. She had nearly forgotten why she had called the pony to meet with her in the first place.

“Thank you for reminding me. I have a proposition for you - I guess you might call it a job offer. How do you feel about the magisterium?”

+++

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of her convalescence was how much energy she now had after getting so much rest. Twilight was eager to throw herself back into her research with a fresh mind.

On the way to her clock tower, Twilight stopped in front of the statue of Discord. Since she had returned to sleeping like a normal pony, the statue had not talked to her again. She still would greet the statue when she went by, but now there was always the tiny seed of hope that he would talked back.

“I guess it was all in my head huh? Still it had been nice in a weird sort of way to talk with you.”

Twilight walked by towards the door of her tower.

“Oh it was almost certainly in your head. That doesn’t mean you are a crazy pony though.”

Twilight spun back around staring at the statue. Where its lips turned up in a smirk. She glanced at her guards and saw them standing by the hedges that led back into the garden. They had not seemed to notice.

“You’re real?” She hissed.

“Of course I’m real. Was that ever a question?” Why was he talking so loud? Why weren’t the guards reacting?

“I mean, you’re really talking to me?” Twilight sidled up to the statue and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper.

“No, maybe? I’m certainly the last draconequus to be calling anypony crazy… It’s a bit of a secret, but some ponies think I’m insane. Oh and don’t worry about those guards. If this is real, I’ll keep them from noticing and thinking you are a crazy pony. If I’m not… well then this entire conversation is probably happening in your head and they probably just see you standing there staring at me. Worst case scenario they see you talking to yourself, and its not like Equestria’s last Princess doesn’t already do that a lot.”

Twilight sat down staring up at the unmoving statue, “How could… I’m… My mind should be functioning fine right now. I’ve been getting plenty of sleep and there isn’t a trace of those drugs in my system.”

“Maybe you broke something?”

Twilight winced when she thought of the brief moment the orrery had ceased to function. “What do you mean I broke something?”

“Do you have any idea what all those chemicals were or how they really affected you? Maybe they permanently changed something in how your brain is wired.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

“Then maybe the stress of killing an innocent pony has finally gotten to you.” Twilight could have sworn the statue blinked when she flinched backwards at her words. “I’m sorry, is that topic off limits.”

“I… I would rather not talk about it if that’s alright.”

“Very well, there is a third possibility for you to consider Princess, other than this all being real of course.”

“And what would that be?”

“How old was your father when he-”

“I’m not crazy.”

“Very well, if her majesty say it’s true, then it must.”

Twilight shook her head. “I was wondering if we could talk a little.”

“About what my dear?”

“Well a lot of things actually, but mainly about what you said last time.”

“And what did I say last time.”

Twilight sighed, wondering if the Spirit of Chaos was purposely being infuriating.

“You had been talking about how the immortals get to write the rules, and about how… about the nature of chaos.”

“Was I? Well chaos is something that I always love to discuss. You see, it’s not what most ponies think. It is disharmony and disagreement, but that means so much.”

“Like what?” Twilight expected that she looked skeptical.

“It’s not just you and your friends arguing. It’s about different perceptions not matching up. It’s about the heart and the mind disagreeing. Logic and the truth not matching.”

“What do you mean? Different perceptions?”

Twilight circled the statue, and was certain that its head turned to follow.

“Yes, my dear Twilight Sparkle. Say you look at some events. A, then B, then C. Perhaps I see it differently. Perhaps for me, I perceive like in a mirror. I see C, then B, and then finally A.”

“How is that chaos.”

“We see exactly the same thing, we can even agree that there is a B, C, and A. But if we try to compare notes and put them in order? That, THAT is chaos.”

Twilight shook her head.

“I’m not sure I get it.”

“I have another example of differing perceptions. What color is an apple?”

“Red, or green I guess. Depends on the apple.”

“Good. I think we both agree on that. We both call the color of an apple red. But how do you know that what red looks like to you is the same as what red looks like to me. Given that there are differences in our physiologies, it is actually incredibly unlikely, that when we both see red, that we both experience the same thing.”

Twilight blinked. “That is actually… I had never thought about that.”

“Yes. In fact, how do you know if any of this is real?”

“What?” Twilight said.

“I don’t mean just this conversation, I mean everything. Do you really think it is plausible that some strange creature killed Celestia and then you sent it away with just a word? Or that in a single night you discovered the true power of friendship and saved Luna from Nightmare Moon? How do you know that all of this hasn’t just been…” Twilight could imagine the statue waving its hand, even as it stood motionless. “Just a dream?”

She snorted. “Where do you come up with stuff like this?”

“From my mother actually.”

“You had a mother?” Twilight tried not to let the surprise bleed into her voice.

“Of course. Even chaos has to begin somewhere. I will admit our relationship did not involve all of those disgusting biological elements that so many ponies believe is important, but our relationship went much deeper.”

If Discord was actually talking to her, she was being offered a unique perspective on history. She could not afford to pass it up.

“Who… Who was your mother?”

“The Empress of Equestria if you would believe it.”

“I don’t. For one thing Equestria has never had an Empress.”

“Your loss. I suppose technically I’m royalty of somesort.”

“Do… Do you miss her?” Twilight was shocked that she was having a earnest conversation with Discord of all ponies.

“Very much. She’s not the same pony she used to be.”

“Used to be? She’s still around? I thought you said that I was the last immortal.” Twilight was certain the accusation came across in her voice.

“I did?” It did not sound like he was taunting her, only that he was confused.

“Don’t play with me Discord.”

“Maybe I did… I will admit, something has been changing. The… order of things is not as clear to me as it once was.” Something sounded off about his voice.

“You mean you’re going mad.” Concern laced her words.

“Or perhaps I’m going sane...”

When the statue said nothing more Twilight got up from where she had sat down to go to her statue, only to be stopped one more.

“Twilight Sparkle… I know I might not even be real, but…” Discord’s voice sounded hollow and far away. “Thank you for talking to me, and saying a few words when you go by. I have a request though. I miss your lullaby. If you could sing it to me sometimes…”

“How do you know about the lullaby?”

There was no response. Twilight looked over to the guards who were still standing impassively. There was indication that they had just heard their princess talking to herself. Either they were better trained than she thought, or the exchange had happened in her head.

Twilight made her way up into her tower to work until sunset.

She had not been counting, but Twilight would suspect that she had poured hundreds of hours into her recent research. With each passing moment she had considered giving up. Her time was valuable, even more so now that she was sleeping again. Every moment she spent in her tower, was a moment away from her little ponies. Recently, she had begun to feel despondent. If all of those hours had been wasted...

Twilight sat in her tower glaring at accursed clock, but something was different. The magical energies of her most recent spell were still dissipating, but she thought she could see the results. She stared at the clock, and then she glanced again at the glass orb sitting on a small wooden pedestal next to the clock. The alicorn looked between the two again and her brow furrowed. She considered calling in one of the guards to double check, but when she looked again, the doubt was gone from her mind.

The pony clopped her hooves together in glee. She was not a crazy pony.

Twilight now had proof that everything had not just been in her mind. She now had definitive proof that it had not all been in her head. Since the moment she had commissioned the clock she had feared that she had imagined all of the little clues, but her hunch had paid off.
She had discovered an entirely new field of magic, one unlike any other.

Unfortunately she still had little idea on the full ramifications of her new temporal magic. If her hopes eventually turned out to be true, it would be far too dangerous to tell anypony, with the possible exception of Celestia, about the new magic. The alicorn felt a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about how proud of her discovery her mentor would have been.

She looked at the clock and the image of the second clock next to it. They were the most accurate clocks in existence. It should have been decades if not centuries before they fell out of sync.

Instead the clock in front of her was a second behind. She had slowed the passage of time.

She remembered Discord’s words to her. Twilight still did not know if the experience had been real or not. However, there had been some wisdom, if misdirected, in what he had said. It had been an issue of perspective. She had the strength of will and the desire to change the rules. If she wanted time to go slower, it would.

Now, the question was if she could get the clock to tick backwards.

Author's Note

This was supposed to be Saturday's update but I fell asleep. Expect another update Sunday afternoon/evening.

I still haven't gotten around to ordering a new tablet, but my scanner came in the mail yesterday, so I'll be putting up some 'cover' art soon, either Tomorrow or Monday. I want to redraw it to make Twilight look more Twilight like.

I think this might be the shortest chapter yet, but a doozy of a chapter is coming up and I need to get the pieces in place.

I wonder how much I can talk about Rarity without introducing her into the story.

I'm playing around with what to call the next chapter. It will either be 'Two Twilights' or 'Huzzah, the Twilights have been doubled.'

EDIT:

PS. Sorry if this chapter is of lower quality (I'm not sure if it is). Right now I'm a bit under the affect of flu medication and a fever (why I was asleep), but I figured people would want their chapter

Rewrite posted 1/1/2015
Actually looking at the clock it seems like it is actually 1/2/2015 right now. Man it is taking forever adding line breaks to all of the chapters.

Two Twilights

Chapter 15 - Two Twilights

“Oh, this is so much fun, Princess.”

Twilight glanced over at the other pony and shuffled her hooves. She was used to most ponies calling her by her title, but it felt strange coming from her current companion. Twilight opened her mouth to say something about it, but decided against it.

“Oh, and it’s fun calling you Princess. It does feel a bit strange though. It's a lot different than calling you my-”

Twilight’s look transformed into a glare as her awkward shuffling stopped.

“Shush. The projection is convincing, but it won’t help if you say something that gives you away.”

To Twilight’s consternation, her reprimand seemed to have no impact on the white unicorn.

“I’m sorry Princess.” The pony giggled some more. “It’s just that this is all so new. Experiencing the outside world directly and not just through memories or books... I don’t know if ponies tell you this, but your sun is beautiful.”

“My sun is deficient. It’s less than half as bright as it should be.”

“That does not make it any less beautiful, or diminish the beauty of its creator.” The pony rubbed its muzzle against Twilight’s neck. “Besides m- Celestia’s cutie mark was a sun. It was her special talent. Obviously it was going to be easier for her than it would be for you.”

It occurred to Twilight that she was out in public rubbing nuzzles with another pony. She pulled away with a blush on her face.

“How did you come to that conclusion? The Princess never mentioned anything like that to me.”

“It’s just an educated guess I suppose. Ponies are good at their special talent, after-all.”

Twilight frowned at that. Her companion was correct, but something did not seem to add up.

“But Princess Celestia was also able to handily control the moon and the stars.”

“Well then, my Princess, I suppose we will need to put some more thought into the matter.”

Twilight was walking with her new Magistrate of Finance through the gardens. Of course, the white unicorn’s position was not yet official, but that would be happening soon. A stiff breeze was blowing, and Twilight watched the unicorn’s pink mane floating on the wind. The pony had been right; it was good to be outside under her sun.

“So are you looking forward to your first meeting of the Magisterium?”

“Oh yes, very much so. I really want to meet some of your friends. The ponies you have introduced me to today have already helped put things into perspective. I understand much better why protecting these ponies is so important to you. I can’t imagine how fiercely you must wish to protect those ponies even closer to you than just your subjects.”

As they walked, Twilight could not help but think about how peaceful everything seemed. The unicorn besides her began humming a familiar tune. It was a lullaby. The alicorn was content to meander in silence as the wind carried the smell of flower blossoms to her nostrils.

“Is that the statue you sleep by?”

Twilight looked at the large marble statue of Celestia.

“It was... Well I suppose I still sleep by it occasionally, but for the most part I’ve been finding other ways to keep the dreams at bay.”

“I’m glad your friends have been helping you.”

“It’s not just my friends.”

Twilight gave the unicorn a meaningful glance. It should not have mattered to her if the artificial pony understood, but it did. The pony gave Twilight a radiant smile in response and the alicorn felt her hearts both skip a beat.

Why was this so different? Twilight wondered if the lack of wings on the white and pink unicorn had shifted her perception. Perhaps, her companion was correct. Maybe, her sun really did contain beauty. Twilight wondered if that beauty could touch and enhance the things it shone upon. Despite the relatively dim light, she could convince herself that it really was a wonderful day. Was that the difference?

The two continued to walk side by side, and Twilight found herself wishing she had thought of this sooner. Her regalia was warm against her chest. She felt the rune throbbing against her coat. It beat in rhythm almost like a third heart. She was surprised by the inherent comfort the pattern brought. The steady beat reminded her of what it was like to hold another pony.

“I’m glad that I can bring you some comfort and be of some service, Princess.”

“You always-”

Twilight’s words died as the unicorn darted forward running through the grass and circling around Twilight, and Twilight watched with her head tilted to the side.

“Oh Twi- Princess, its so nice to be able to stretch my legs and feel grass! Honest to goodness grass on my hooves. Everything is just so fantastic. Oh! and the library. That was just amazing. There were so many books there. We need to go back when we are done with our meeting.”

The unicorn giggled as she fell back to Twilight’s side, and Twilight could not but feel warmth spread across her face. She was not sure if she had ever heard Celestia laugh like that. It was a beautiful laugh.

And suddenly Twilight realized the direction her musings were heading. With a snort she derailed her thoughts. Those types of thoughts would not help her. There was one concrete way in which things were different; Celestia was dead. Equestria’s Princess could never allow herself to forget that one fact. She was treading a narrow path, and that one fact would keep Twilight on course. As comforting as the thing besides her was, it was only an illusion.

“Speaking of service, have you had any success with the project I gave you?”

“I’m afraid not. I haven’t found anything that you hadn’t when you had first researched the anomaly. Reports of the white glowing figure have appeared throughout Equestria’s history, seemingly at random. I was unable to find any pattern in their occurrence. There is no evidence that it is connected to the creature that killed the Princesses, but neither is there evidence that it is not.”

Twilight sighed. She had been hoping the unicorn might have been able to find something. Since the moment she had first seen the glowing white figure, nearly fifteen years into her rule, she had wondered about it. Twilight had only seen it that once, but there had been two other sightings over the last thirty five years, not including the most recent one by the guard. None of them had revealed any pattern.

“I did determine that the store of the Ghostly Mare and the tale of the Ethereal Princess are one and the same.”

“Like Nightmare Moon and the Mare in the Moon?”

“Exactly, time simply caused the stories to diverge. Tracing things back, I believe that the stories are connected to the anomaly.”

“I thought as much.” Twilight said.

“I did, however, come across one document that you had missed.”

“Oh, and what was that?”

“I think that I- rather Celestia had had an encounter with the anomaly.”

“What?”

“At least that is what I believe. The document was very old and worn. It was also rather vague.”

“Had it attacked her?”

“I’m not sure that it has ever intentionally attacked anypony. It’s appearance is always very brief, and I think the telekinetic bursts are part of the process through which it disappears. I think what had happened with Rainbow Dash was an accident if anything.”

Twilight shook her head. The pegasus had been so happy at the thought of being a mother. Then it had been taken away by the strange attack. Twilight had spent weeks trying to determine what had happened, but had hit only dead ends. Eventually, she had been forced to reluctantly write it off as some freak magical occurrence. She had hoped that the recent sighting would be another piece in the puzzle that would make it all fit. Now, she was being told that the attack might have just been an accident.

Twilight had given the task to the unicorn besides her with the hope that the pony would see something she had missed. Apparently the hope had been in vain.

“I’m sorry that I could not be of more help in this case... I did come across something interesting, though unrelated, in my research.”

“I’m going to start thinking that you like to read as much as I do.” Twilight smiled. “What did you find?”

“Did you know that your capital city is built on top of a long dormant volcano?”

The alicorn’s eyes widened slightly as she tried to think over the ramifications.

“No I did not. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that mentioned in anything I’ve read.”

Twilight could see how the fact was mildly interesting, and slightly worrying, but she did not see the significance.

“Well, I had been reading an article about how researchers at the Canterlot Magical Academy have succeeded in converting various forms of energy into magical power. Well, with the heart of a volcano directly below us, I was thinking you might reconsider my earlier proposal.”

Twilight wanted to like the idea, but instead found her mouth in a tight crease. She understood the benefits of what the unicorn was proposing, she really did. However, she could not help but feel uncomfortable with the unicorn’s idea. It was another instance of being sure that a line existed but not what or where that line was.

“I’m not sure if we need the power of an entire volcano...”

“Princess, you’re always the one saying that you need to be stronger. I can help you. You just need to let me.”

The two finally entered into the vaulted halls of the palace and began making their way towards the chamber of the Magisterium. With Twilight’s silence, the unicorn realized it was best to drop the subject for the time being. Equestria’s ruler had a lot weighing on her mind. Twilight hoped the day would mark a turning point for Equestria. She was removing a weakness and replacing it with something that would be stronger.

+++

“Unfortunately, I think that this is everypony that will be coming today. I would like to start off by thanking everypony. You are doing Equestria a great service by serving as part of its reconstituted magisterium. Hopefully, you have all had a chance to read over the papers I had prepared for you. However, before we begin, I think we should go around and do introductions. Many of you know one another, but I know for a fact that some of you are strangers to one another.”

Twilight began pointing her hoof at ponies as she went around the table.

“This is Stone Edge, our new Magistrate of Law. He has many years of experience as a judge in Canterlot and will help guide us through legal matters. It is important that we approach new laws with careful and thoughtful consideration.”

The rough pony only nodded his head.

“His wife Rarity will be serving as our new Magistrate of Nobles. She cannot be here today, but sends her regards. Most of you have probably heard her name, she seems to know everypony in Canterlot. She has a very good handle on the ponies of Equestria, especially the nobility. An important part of our duties will be dealing with Canterlot’s nobility. They posses a significant amount of power and influence and must be handled carefully.

“The pony in the hat is Applejack. Her grandson was the pony to discover Shade Apples just this last year. She will be the new Magistrate of Agriculture. Ensuring the proper distribution of the royal granary’s reserves and the continual harvesting of enough food to feed Equestria is one of our highest priorities.”

“Hey ya’all. It sure is a pleasure to be here.”

The next pony Twilight gestured towards was a soft pink pegasus who was missing a wing. The pony had lost the limb in a battle against a shade beast while protecting a small colt. Many pegasi would dive into a deep depression at the loss of their wing, but the brave pony had only wanted to continue serving his country.

“Dr. Heartwing is our new Magistrate of Health and Public Safety. He has a stellar background as an expert surgeon, but when the call went out, he decided to enlist in the royal guard. After a long career, he has made the decision to join us here. He will help to ensure that we protect the ponies that we care for.”

“It is an honor to serve, my Princess.”

“Ms. Cheerilee is an educator with many years of experience. She has taught at both the Ponyville grade school and several inner-city Canterlot schools. She is recognized as one of the foremost experts on education in Equestria. She has agreed to come out of retirement to help us here and to help guarantee that future generations are as well taught as current ones as our Magistrate of Education.”

“I hope that we can all do our best for the fillies and colts of Equestria.”

“Steelhorn, our new Magistrate of Magic, is unable to be here today. However, he is a former headmaster of the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. His research is responsible for many of the more recent advancements made in the field of theoretical magic. One of our nation’s most valuable resources is magic, and he will help to ensure that we use that resource wisely.

“Unfortunately, due to a medical issue, the pony I had selected to be our new Magistrate of the Commons will be unable to be part of this new magisterium. As a group, we will need to select another pony for that role. That decision will actually be one of the first that we will need to do. The Magistrate of the Commons ensures that the needs and wants of the the common pony are adequately served by this group.”

The next pony Twilight introduced was a unicorn with a grizzled beard. Neither Twilight nor the unicorn were under any illusion that he would live for too many more years. The grayed unicorn had been a diplomat under the rule of Celestia, and he still served Equestria loyally. Even if his health only allowed him to serve on the Magisterium for a few years, he would still be of great assistance.

“Golden Tongue is a skilled diplomat who has negotiated many treaties for Equestria. It is only fitting that he serve as our Magistrate of Foreign Affairs. We are not alone during these troubling times. It is important that Equestria works with her neighbors and provides aid when it can.”

“I look forward to ensuring that we strengthen the bonds not only between all ponies, but those creatures that live outside of Equestria as well.”

Twilight paused for a moment and then looked to the white unicorn sitting next to her. The pony was smiling brightly. The alicorn knew that the unicorn wanted to make a good first impression.

“And I do not believe that any of you have met our final member. Celly is a good friend of mine and excellent with numbers. She will be serving as our Magistrate of Finance and making sure that we don’t accidentally bankrupt Equestria. Unfortunately all things have a price, and we need to make sure that we don’t overpay.”

“It is such a pleasure to meet all of you.”

“Each of you have your own responsibilities and specialties, but we come to decisions as a whole. You should do your best to understand every aspect of our country so that you can make informed decisions. It was not uncommon under the old Magisterium for... say the Magistrate of Magic to put forth an excellent idea regarding food distribution. Unfortunately we are getting started late today, so let's have some lunch and then get down to business. But for now, feel free to talk and get to know one another better.”

At her words, servants who had been waiting with trays of food swarmed out and began serving the new magistrates their lunch. It was a delightful daffodil salad. A number of conversations sprung up.

“So Celly, if I may ask. Your cutie mark, is it a sun?”

“Oh no. The golden circle represents the perfection inherent in mathematics. I’m very good with numbers and patterns. I will admit, however, that it looks like a sun.”

“Dr. Heartwing, what inspired you to join the guard.”

“I cannot stand suffering. It was why I first became a doctor. However, being a surgeon in an emergency room made me decided to try and head injuries off before they happened.”

“It’s good to see you again Golden Tongue. How have you been?”

“Old and getting older.”

Twilight smiled at all the ponies getting along. She kept a close eye on ‘Celly’ to make sure that the unicorn was doing OK and was reassured by the fact that she seemed to be socializing fine. The princess was startled when Stone Edge leaned over and whispered something.

“If I may ask Princess? There seems to be a strange magical aura around our new Magistrate of Finance. I’m not skilled enough with magic to recognize it, but it seems peculiar. Is it anything to worry about?”

“She is under the effects of a medical spell. The spell is designed to keep out infection. It’s nothing you need to worry about though. Unless something disrupts the spell it won’t be a problem.”

What Twilight had said was true. Celly was covered in a spell normally designed for ponies with weak immune systems. However, in the unicorn’s case, that was not its intent. The spell was complex enough and the weave tight enough that it would mask the rest of Celly’s aura. It was Twilight’s belief that there was no pony that would be able to see through it. Unless something unexpected happened, nopony would realize that Celly did not actually exist.

The alicorn had gone to great lengths to mask the fact that the gemstone set into her collar was projecting a tangible illusion into the room.
Suddenly everpony's attention turned to the unicorn who had just entered the room.

"My Princess, I was not aware we were meeting today..." The pony blinked before continuing, "My apologies, it seems I was ill informed. I had been told you were with the Magisterium. I suppose the servants were just confused because you are using our chamber for this..."
Twilight sighed.

"Blueblood. I am afraid you heard correctly. I had been hoping to tell you this face to face in private but Equestria will no longer be needing your service as part of the Magisterium."

She had managed to break the news to the rest of the council, but Blueblood had been away on vacation and she could not put off the formation of her new Magisterium simply because he was out of Canterlot.

"You can't do this! I have been nothing but loyal."

"Your loyalty has never been in question. Equestria will not forget your service."

"Then why am I being dismissed in this fashion and being replaced with this rabble?"

"Perhaps we can have this conversation in private."

"No! I demand an answer here and now. I will not allow you to sweep me aside."

"Very well Blueblood. I had hoped to save you some embarrassment, but you have forced my hoof. It was an issue of competence I'm afraid. That new bill regarding parks should never have passed. It is a fiscal nightmare and just one example of your many recent blunders."

The noble unicorn spluttered.

"That bill was your idea Princess! You practically insisted that we pass it."

"And I was wrong. Just because I am the ruler of Equestria does not mean I am infallible. If I was, I would not need a Magisterium. I do not dictate right and wrong, and your job as part of the Magisterium was to help ensure that we all followed the rules. You had been failing, simple as that, and now you have been replaced."

Blueblood stormed out of the room, knocking over one of the servers on his way out. However, even after he had left, the previous harmony did not return to the room. Everypony was still on edge. It was a fact that only made Twilight hate Blueblood a little bit more.

+++

Twilight paused in front of the statue of Discord as had become habit. The statue had not spoken to her again, but she tried to make it a point to say a few words when she passed by. Unlike the conversation that she had possibly hallucinated, Twilight knew that her guards were aware of the comments she made in passing.

She wondered if decades from now she would be known for her odd habit of talking to all the statues.

Twilight had even tried singing Celestia’s lullaby one night when she had managed to sneak away from her guards but had felt too silly to really put her heart into it. The statue showed no signs of responding, and when she probed it with magic, there was every indication that it was inert. The only way she knew that it was not just an ordinary statue was the discordant thrumming of energy beneath the stone.

Twilight was alone with her guards and Discord. Celly had returned 'home' to reintegrate with her other self and process all of the new memories and information. It was a gross oversimplification of the process in which her construct had existed simultaneously in the meeting of the Magesterium and in the cave reading through books, however Twilight had determined that the explanation would do if she ever needed to explain to another pony. Twilight was alone besides the guards who were just out of earshot.

“What exactly did you mean by cause and effect?”

Silence was the only response.

"You were wrong, you know. It doesn't matter how powerful a pony is, we don't get to write the rules. There is a right and there is a wrong. That doesn't change just because Celestia is gone."

Twilight stood for a moment waiting for an answer before she shook her head at the stupidity of her actions. The statute would not respond. The entire incident had just been brought upon her by the drugs and lack of sleep.

The Princess trotted up the stairs of her tower with an eager energy. So far she had not been able to make the clock tick backwards, but she had come up with several new ideas to pursue since the last time she had made an attempt. She was determined to make a breakthrough that day.

Her trot slowed as she neared the top of the tower. Something was off. Twilight realized that her hairs were all standing on edge. The air had a funny metallic smell to it and her skin was tingling. The feeling was electric. She had felt it once before.

Her ascent came to a stop as her hoof slowly hit the stone below her. The clang of her shoe against the step was the wrong pitch. It was far too high, almost painfully so. Her twin hearts were pounding in unison, and her senses were heightening. She remembered the report of the guard; she remembered what had happened to Rainbow Dash.

She could see the door to the chamber that held the clock. It was less than twenty hooves away. A bright light flashed in the chamber, and despite being in the stairwell, Twilight felt the urge to look away. As the light faded a whoosh of air blew down the passage. She could barely make out the brief whiff of lavender. It smelled just like the shampoo that she used.

Twilight heard something falling and shattering. The noise startled her into action.

The Princess broke into a gallop covering the last few steps to her chamber. She skidded as she turned through the door, banging into the frame. It shook with the force, but the alicorn did not notice. One thing was overriding everything else at the moment.

Twilight stood in the doorway trying to take the scene in. The orange vase that normally sat on her desk was broken across the floor. Standing above it, next to the oak desk was another pony.

Twilight’s jaw hung open as she stared at the lavender alicorn by her desk. It seemed there was now two Twilights.

The duplicate looked up from the broken vase and said one word.

“Oops.”

Author's Note

First off, huge apology for the lack of updates. To put things succinctly, I’ve been sick. My fever seems to have broken this morning, and I’m better (mostly).

You may have noticed the story has an image now. Originally I was going to include Twilight staring at the clock. However, both Twilight and the clock need to be redrawn and colored, but now that I’m on the mend I want to focus on getting the story back underway.

I’m going to try and get at least one update up during the week (I have a lot of real life stuff to get caught up on), but starting next weekend I am going to try to start posting one update every other day until the story reaches its conclusion.

Expect an explanation of time travel next chapter.

Rewrite posted 1/2/2015
Honestly not much changed with this chapter. Going back over it I was pretty happy with it, but maybe that's because it didn't need to tackle anything major (though CelestAI getting a projection is pretty big).

In Which She Talks To Herself

Chapter 16 - In Which She Talks To Herself

Twilight reared up in surprise, letting out an agitated whinny. Quickly she weaved together a barrier of crackling energy and began shaping defensive magics in her mind. The other pony was brimming with untapped power, and Twilight could feel the pony's magic spilling over into the room around them.

A few years back she had received an amazing novel from Rainbow Dash as a birthday gift. In it, strange creatures were replacing ponies with look-a-likes. Now, she had come across what looked like a duplicate of herself. It had just been a story, but at the moment it was all Twilight could think of. She was not going to take any chances.

A second, more powerful, barrier snapped into existence before the clock had passed even a full second. The next spell Twilight began to lay out in her mind was a weaker, but wide-range barrier. She had looked the spell up in the month’s after Princess Celestia’s death. If a battle broke out between her and the impostor, the spell would hopefully protect the rest of Canterlot.

However, even as the spell began to take shape, Twilight knew it would not be enough. The other pony easily had enough power to shatter a wide-range shield spell. She could taste the magic crackling in the air. It seemed to be pressing in on her. Even Princess Celestia had never felt as powerful as the pony in front of her. She might be able to protect herself, but she doubted her ability to defend Canterlot.

Twilight briefly wondered how such an entity could exist in Equestria without her knowing. Twilight was reasonably confident that magically skilled unicorns across the country were sensing the presence in her tower. She hoped things did not come to a fight. Equestria’s ruler was uncertain if she would be able to win. However, even if victory was hers, she could not imagine the collateral damage. It would be as bad as the Great Tragedy all over again.

The alicorn shuddered as the clock finished ticking off the second.

Discord was wrong. She could not simply write her own rules for how the world worked. Even if there was any merit to his argument, it only worked if she was the most powerful creature alive. If anypony could dictate morality as Discord said, it would be the pony in front of her. Nopony should have that much power.

The smell of the magic was intoxicating. It’s sickeningly sweet aroma made her stomach nauseous and her head and horn begin to throb. If she was a normal pony, being in such close proximity to the torrents of unseen magic spilling out of the other mare would likely have left her unconscious.

It occurred to Twilight, that it might not matter who the other pony really was or what the impostor wanted. She might be forced to destroy the pony regardless of the other mare’s intentions. She could feel the other pony’s mere presence warping reality. Such power was a blasphemy against the world. Twilight just hoped she would have the strength to defeat the pony if things came to it. She would certainly need to extinguish the sun if she was going to have enough power to win. The ball of fire would be too large of a drain on her otherwise.
Could she win a fight against the pony?

Her hearts beat in a thunderous unison and the room faded away from her. She watched a possible path for the future. All of Equestria burned. Twilight had dropped the sun onto Canterlot in a desperate effort to defeat her foe. The burning orb, thousands of kilometers across, had come crashing down, incinerating the atmosphere. As it approached the capital, the ground tore itself into pieces as primal forces ravaged the planet. The air itself burned.

When the fires had subsided because there was nothing left to burn, her sun was left as a cold corpse of compressed ash lying in the crater that had once been Canterlot. Without the need to power her sun, Twilight was armed with an impressive magic reserve of her own. There was no more air, and when Twilight breathed in, the dust that entered her lungs was the remains of all the ponies she had sworn to protect. As the ashes of her kingdom settled, the ruler of the now dead kingdom gazed through the darkness towards a glowing form. Despite an attack that had transformed the surface of the planet into molten slag, the impostor was still alive.
Would their battle tear the remains of the planet asunder?

Twilight was grateful that she would never know the answer. The vision went no further. However, the last thing that Twilight saw was the look on the imposter’s face. It was a look of unmitigated horror as the other pony spoke a single sentence, “This wasn’t how it happened.”

Twilight drew a shuddering breath as the magic broke. It was a future but not the future. Twilight would not drop the sun on to Equestria and that end would not come to pass. Her nerves steadied a bit as she realized that, whatever happened next, she would not obliterate Equestria from existence. At least not for a little while at any rate.

However, the vision did bring with it a moment of horror. Twilight was now certain that Celestia’s death had been unnecessary. Perhaps it had not been Twilight’s presence weakening her mentor’s will that had sealed the alicorn’s fate, but Princess Celestia could have survived nonetheless. The dead alicorn could have wielded her own sun as a devastating weapon. She could have allowed her sun to wink out of existence and turned all of that amazing power on the monster that killed her. Instead she died for Equestria. She died for Twilight.

Twilight would not destroy Equestria, but she would defend herself against the impostor before her. She gathered her spare magic into a brilliant point, ready to strike. She was not looking forward to how exhausted she would be at the end of the day.

The other pony yelled out, “Wait! I’m not here to hurt you.”

The new alicorn was waiving her hooves in the air, in what Twilight supposed was supposed to be a placating gesture. But it was the voice that stopped her. The voice, her voice, startled Twilight. The offensive spell disintegrated as one thought filled her mind.

“I don’t really sound like that, do I?”

“What?”

“Is that supposed to be my voice? I don’t really sound like that. I can’t sound like that.”

The strange look alike seemed to relax a bit. Some of the tension seemed to relieve in the room as she replied to Twilight.

“I... Yes, that is what we sound like. Get over it, there are more important things we need to talk about.”

Remembering herself, Twilight stomped towards the other mare while angrily speaking, “Just who are you? Impersonating the princess is illegal.... or at least I think it is. Still, who are you and why are you in my tower?”

Twilight was babbling and she knew it. Her vision had set her off balance, and it was surreal watching her face look back at her with a slight smile. ’Illegal to impersonate the princess.’ Twilight snorted to herself. Like that would matter to a pony as powerful as her.

“I’m you.”

Twilight stared at the other pony with no hint of amusement on her face. A moment later she began to reform the pinpoint of offensive energy.

“Really, I’m you!”

The point of light hovered in air twinkling as its energy growth was halted. It hung like a mote of dust, an ominous reminder of where the conversation might lead. Twilight wanted to believe the other pony, if only because it meant she would not need to deal with an insanely powerful impostor, but the very idea was absurd.

“Prove it.”

“OK, remember that time Spike accidentally sent your - my - our journal to the Princess?”

“Spike accidentally sent lots of things to the Princess, tons of ponies know about that. The tabloids were talking about it for weeks when he accidentally ‘mailed’ her that tree.”

“I suppose so. It could have been a lucky guess. Except I also know what was in that journal, how you - I - we wrote about -”

Twilight rapidly cut the pony off with a frantic wave of her hoof and an embarrassed cough. “OK, no need for us to talk about that. Even if you are me - I’m still not entirely convinced - we don’t need to discuss that debacle.”

“Oh, by the way. You are going to want to start a checklist. We have a lot to cover, and I don’t want anything to end up being missed afterwards. The first thing on the list is that you - er I - we need to contact Canterlot University’s Equestrian Language department.”

Twilight began to slowly pace around the other pony while she asked the obvious question, “Why would we need to do that?”

“Because these personal pronouns are annoying. We need somepony to come up with new ones. If you don’t think so yet, you will by the time we’re done here. We probably should also ask them to come up with conjugations for some new tenses. Trust me, it gets confusing.”

Twilight frowned, but levitated over a parchment and quill. The other pony liked checklists; maybe they really were one and the same.

“So how are you me? Have you come from some alternate reality, or are you some type of clone?”

“You know how.”

“No... No, I don’t.”

The other pony blinked at Twilight for a moment before screwing her face up in thought. Once again Twilight found herself wondering about the other pony’s voice. She also wondered if her face went through the same expressions as her duplicate while she herself was in thought.

“I guess you don’t... Well, I’m from the future.”

The last remnants of Twilight’s defensive magic shattered into mist. Twilight jumped back in shock as she began to ramble, “What! How is that possible? I’ve been working myself crazy just to get that stupid clock to turn backwards... But... Of course! You’re from the future. You can actually jump through time? I had hypothesized, but really it was just a blind hope. How long did it take you to figure traveling out? It must have been a long time. That explains why you are so powerful. Equestria ends up being fine, doesn’t it? So how long did it take you?”

As Twilight unleashed her stream of questions and theories, she pranced around her future self in excitement. It was not everyday that a pony got to see herself as she would look in the future. Twilight hated to be egotistical, but she had to admit she had grown very beautiful. She had not seen her own reflection in nearly a year, and so it made seeing her future-self even stranger. The traveler's feathers looked well groomed just like her coat. The other mare was slim with an excellent figure. She was definitely pretty.

Twilight blushed when she realized where her thoughts were going. ’I’m definitely not going there.’ she mumbled under her breath. Even though it would solve the problem of finding a suitor her age, it would just be weird. Still, she could not help but admire herself. Would Celestia have been proud? She hoped so.

She realized, as she was staring at her future self, that she was beginning to feel the same wistfulness and sadness she would feel while staring at her own reflection. It was strange that the Celestia construct which looked so much like her mentor did not inspire that sadness, but her reflection, which only bore the most superficial of resemblances, could bring her so much sorrow.

The older alicorn looked out the window and then glanced at the clock. Twilight could recognize her own awkwardness in the pony, and Twilight could not help but sigh. She would have hoped after however many decades it must have taken to unlock the secret to jumping through time, she would have become more confident.

“About an hour.”

“What?”

“It took me about an hour to figure out how to travel into the past.”

The silence between the two ponies was almost palatable as they both stared at one another. Twilight must have misunderstood her future self.

“You mean... Once I make - you made a breakthrough it only took another -”

“I mean I’m from about an hour into the future. Well less now.”

“How? What?” Twilight was spluttering, “I thought I would be lucky to just get that clock to turn backwards. There is no way I - er you - could have made such a discovery in just an hour... You're right about the pronoun thing.”

Twilight circled the item on her checklist to add emphasis while the time traveler rubbed the back of her head.

“Well, I’ll admit that I had some help. The same help you’re going to receive.”

“Oh no.” Twilight backed up before continuing, “You’re not saying...”

“I’m going to teach you how to travel through time, or into the past at the very least. I haven't tried to go forward yet. Not sure if that is possible. I’m going to teach you, then you’re going to go back and be me. Then you will teach... you?”

The future Twilight gave a frustrated growl and grabbed the checklist, underlining the circled item to add emphasis. Twilight just watched in confusion as she tried to process what had been said.

“So wait... We’re looping then? Is that even possible?”

“Apparently so.”

“Now hold on a moment. If this is all happening, why are we wasting our time... Though I suppose with you here we have all the time we could want - But that’s besides the point. Why don’t you just open a portal and -”

“Who said anything about portals?”

Twilight was beginning to get slightly upset. She really hoped she was not always so annoying. Did she always go around interrupting and correcting ponies?

“Ok fine, no portals then. Well however time travel works, you can take us back to help Celestia. We can stop the fight. We can save her... together.”

“You don’t understand - you won’t understand. Not until you actually make the time jump. But we, I, have no idea how any of this all works. I’m here because I know that this happened, er happens - is happening! Ugh, this is annoying. But going back to save Celestia... That didn’t happen. I know that for a fact, otherwise she would be here. So if we ever attempt that... If we want to even make an attempt to deviate from how things are... We need to be absolutely certain we know what we are doing.”

“What are you talking about.”

“What I’m trying to say is... We can’t just do whatever we want. Not yet, anyway. If we're not careful... I’m worried we might break something.”

Both ponies were now sitting down staring at one another only a few hooves apart. Twilight thought over the visitor’s words but eventually decided she needed to ask the question, “Break what?”

“Time! Or the universe... Or I don’t know.”

And Twilight was forced to look at herself with incredulity. “Is time something you can even break? How would that even happen? How would that work; I mean, what does breaking time even mean?”

“Look, I know that this is all new to you. Trust me, it will make more sense the second time around. I can’t describe what it felt like to touch, and then to pass through time. You’ll need to discover that yourself. We can cast these spells, but do you really understand what they're doing? I certainly don’t. But all I can tell you is that I’m filled with a sense of dread that we will... break time, or something. Like I said I don’t really know. If you want to go back to Celestia, you can after you’ve tested the spell by going back an hour... But I know you won’t.”

“How can you possibly know what I’m going to do?”

“Because this has already happened for me. This entire conversation is going exactly like how it did the first time. When I made the jump I was determined to do something different... To prove that things could change and that things can be changed. But now... It's exactly the same. In a moment I’m going to hop up and down. There is no good reason for it.

“I really don’t want to hop. I really just want to sit here. I wonder if I could just sit here. Could I choose to deviate? But I won’t. The reason is because I’m afraid. I’m afraid of what it means as much as what it could do. So here it goes.”

And future Twilight hopped up and down with her face twisted into a heavy frown before she continued her explanation.

“If there was any moment of choice, that was it. Now it has passed and gone. Maybe I could have chosen differently, but I didn’t... Now I’m certain the rest of this is going to play out as it did before. Maybe when it comes back around to you, you will decide not to hop. But I don’t think you will.”

“Wow... I’m sorry if I was angry earlier... Twilight... I - OK that’s it. We need to come up with another name for me to call you in my mind.”

“What’s wrong with me being called Twilight.”

“We both can’t be Twilight. You can be Other Twilight.”

“Why do I need to be Other Twilight? That makes it sound like I’m some sort of fake or something.”

“Fine, you can be Future Twilight.”

“Well, but I’m no longer in the future. I’m here now. So we might want to save that to refer to ourselves in the future.”

Twilight wanted to scream.

“All right then... What would you like to be called?”

“How about Older Twilight?”

“But you’re not older!”

“I’m an hour older!”

“An hour is nothing.”

“An hour is still an hour.”

“Fine you can be Older Twilight.”

Twilight huffed as she threw her head in the other direction. The Older Twilight smiled and nudged Twilight.

“That makes you Younger Twilight, or maybe Little Twilight. Oh, Little Twi!”

“You’re having way too much fun with this.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that having all this magic to tap into is a little bit intoxicating.”

‘Lil Twi’ whirled on the other alicorn. The comment reminded her of some of her earlier thoughts.

“How is it that you - I’m going to get so much stronger in just a short amount of time?”

“Listen. While we are both here we have a unique opportunity to utilize our collective brain power to try and reason out how time travel works. I’ve heard the conversation before, but am hoping that it will make more sense from this perspective.”

“Fine... Whatever, ignore my question. So we’re going to figure out how this all works then?”

“Yep.” Older Twilight’s smile was infuriating to the younger Twilight. “It seems like we are in a time loop.”

“But how does that happen. Wouldn’t it have needed to start somewhere, or rather somewhen,”

“And it probably did. The Twilight that taught me about time travel did not start a loop, but maybe a Twilight from the far future was responsible for starting things. Of course once the loop was started, that Twilight would have been erased.”

“You’re saying?”

“That when you travel back in time, everything that happened since the moment you arrive in, never was. It’s like you’ve reset the universe to an earlier moment. When you travel back, I will cease to exist. At least that's one way it might work.”

“If that is the case, we can change things. Causality is preserved even if it’s only in the reference frame of the time traveler. You had the option to hop, you just didn’t. Everything is the same as when you first went through the time loop, just because its settled into a sort of equilibrium. Things are the same, not because they need to be, but just because they are.”

Their exchange back and forth was speeding up as their conversation began to enter rapid fire mode. The two ponies began to circle one another and an outside observer could easily lose track of who was who.

“But that doesn’t exactly work. When I traveled through time, I could have either gone to a moment before my Older Twilight arrived, or the moment after. Even if I arrived the moment of, it doesn’t change things. Either the number of Twilights needs to increase with each iteration of the loop, or the start of the loop needs to slowly move back earlier and earlier in time.”

“So it’s not really stable. Eventually, one way or another, we will break out of the loop. But because the drift might only be by fractions of a second each jump, it could require thousands of iterations to change significantly. Even once it has changed, the difference from loop to loop would be so insignificant such that the Twilights in the loop wouldn’t notice.”

“But eventually the loop will break. Of course, that is assuming we’re on the right track with how time travel works.”

“Oh, you mean that there is a chance that we are both the same Twilight. The same pony simply existing in two points at the same time. When I eventually time travel, I’ll come to the exact moment you arrived and become you. The number of Twilights will remain at two and the start of the loop won’t drift. Things will remain stagnate.”

One of the Twilights began to wander towards the balcony.

“Of course, that means there is no future.”

“What do you mean... You came from the future.”

“If we are dealing with some sort of perfect time loop, we’re never going to get beyond that. You’re going to revert time and become me, and the process will repeat adinfinitum. Time will never be able to get beyond the point in which you travel back in time.”

“Whereas if this is only a temporarily stable time loop we will eventually have a future once the loop is broken, but not before then.”
The other Twilight went and joined the one at the balcony. They were both looking out at the skyline as they continued to exchange words.

“I should ask before I forget. I could not quite see it, but I’m assuming the anomaly of light is an effect of time travel.”

“I think so. The question, though, is if all the older anomalies were started by a future Twilight that no longer exists or a future Twilight that does not yet exist.”

“Wouldn’t the Twilight that caused them have ceased to exist the moment one of us traveled back to continue the loop? Assuming that is, that we started the time loop and not some other time traveler.”

“That’s a disturbing thought. However, there are some other possibilities. For all we know the first couple times through the loop spread Twilights throughout the time line. If another Twilight has existed before the start of my arrival in this tower, she would be unaffected by the loop. For all we know there is a third Twilight out there somewhere. She could be a remnant of a timeline that has long since ceased to exist. There could be dozens of Twilights hidden all over Equestria.”

“Or we are completely off about how this all works.”

“I was waiting for you to say that.”

“Of course you were, miss future. Perhaps we’re not simply rewinding the time line. Maybe we are creating an alternate parallel time line. Each iteration through the loop simply creating a different reality.”

“Of course, if that is the case, it is impossible for us to change anything. We could affect change for ourselves personally, but traveling back in time would be abandoning our own Equestria. If that is the case, when you travel back in time you will be leaving your Equestria to me. However, it means whichever Twilight started all of this left behind a kingdom without a ruler. It also means that only a Twilight who abandons her Equestria could end in a time line where Celestia is saved.”

“I’m not sure if that theory works. Creating an entirely new universe... That would require a tremendous amount of energy. It also has interesting philosophical ramifications that I'm not entirely happy with.”

“Unless those other universes already exist. Time travel could simply be jumping into a universe that is running a little bit behind time-wise.”

“There would need to be an infinite number of universes for that to work, and if that is the case, probability would dictate that all possibilities exist. In that case, its impossible to really change anything. I’m not sure I like that theory. You might know better. It probably depends on how the spell is compared to the other temporal magic we have been experimenting with.”

“I don’t think there are multiple realities... But that’s just my opinion. However, I’m also not a fan of the earlier time travel theories we discussed either. If going back in time is reverting the universe... Does that mean it kills, or unmakes, everypony who has been born since the moment we travel back to?”

Both Twilights went silent as they looked out at Celestia’s statue.

“Would you mind... Would you mind if we talked about her. I would like to talk with someone who understands.”

“I understand... I wanted to talk about her too. But we don’t have enough time. I’m going to need to start teaching you how to weave the spell soon. The thing is... Even if time travel would wipe out everypony born during my rule... I would do it. I would go back in time if it meant I could save her. It doesn’t even matter whether or not we would be saving Equestria. All that would matter is that we would save her.”

“We can’t just throw Equestria away.”

“We could... If it was possible. You know that it's true.”

“I don’t like talking to you... You know what I’m thinking. You have the advantage in this conversation.”

“We can talk about Discord if you would like... I think he was telling us the truth, hallucination or not.”

“What? You can’t be serious. You may be Older Twilight, but you also seem to be Stupid Twilight.”

“There is another possibility.” The time traveler turned back towards the clock in the center of the room, ignoring the other pony's words. “That clock and its twin... They are both ticking at the same time. They are both separate entities, but in a way they are the same. Time... Time might be like that. This could be the first, the last, and the only iteration of this time loop. All time might be happening simultaneously. This loop could be a paradox, but a paradox that causes itself. It might exist because it has always, and will always, exist.”

“Would it be possible to change anything then?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so, but maybe it is possible. If its not possible to change the past, beyond how it has already been changed, then time is probably an illusion. Reality is just a static unchanging thing. If that is the case, does choice have any meaning? On the other hoof, all of time, all of existence could constantly be in flux. We can make choices, but once again, do they have meaning? If everything can change, any choice you might make could be undone and you would never even know it.”

“Older Twilight... I think I want you to teach me the spell now.”

The ponies both moved back towards the center of the room in silent agreement.

“Alright. But it’s not so much a spell as it is a manipulation of reality itself.”

The two ponies sat down staring at one another as the lesson began. If Older Twilight had been teaching another pony, it might have taken weeks to teach the magics. However, the two Twilights thought exactly the same way. Their minds worked identically, and Older Twilight knew just the right words to say in order for Younger Twilight to learn as rapidly as possible.

Younger Twilight thought she understood the magics and looked at the clock. She saw that nearly a full hour had passed since the traveler entered her life. She didn’t care what the other Twilight had said. She would do things differently. She wouldn’t hop up and down just because she was worried it was her destiny to hop up and down.

She would forge her own past and future.

“I don’t have enough spare energy to pull off this magic, not even to go back a single minute. However this magic really works, it requires a tremendous amount of energy.”

“I can fix that. Pass me control of the sun, and it will solve your problem. It will also answer your earlier question.”

Twilight did not understand what the pony meant regarding her question, but touched her horn to Older Twilight’s horn. She had obviously never transferred her spell before, but she had once thought out the process when bored. Magic began flowing between them and Twilight gazed into her own eyes. She felt the breath tickling against her own. Twilight felt herself gasp. She was beautiful. She did not miss how much her face now looked like Celestia's.

Twilight felt her hearts beating faster. The magic was jumping between them with tiny bolts of electricity. She took a small breath and then another. Twilight continued to stare into unblinking eyes. Her mouth was open just the tiniest fraction as she licked her lips. She leaned forward with bated breath.

And the sun was passed.

Twilight gasped as the burden of the sun was removed from her. Over the decades she had lost track of just how much power it consumed. Suddenly her magic had no outlet and she desperately tried to bring it under control before it destroyed her. Twilight felt like screaming as her power surged throughout her body with nowhere to flow. She did scream.

Now she understood why Older Twilight was so powerful. She had not had the heavy drain of the sun. Twilight quickly began channeling her excess magic into the air around her and could feel the room begin to ionize. The power was incredible. For the first time since Celestia's death, Twilight truly believed that Equestria's salvation was within her power.

But then something she had not been expecting happened. The part of her mind that was always occupied with the sun was free. The orrery was silent and the furnace room was locked tight. With nothing to distract her, without the constant ticking in the back of her mind, Twilight’s attention turned entirely to the Everfree.

The beast roared. Twilight shrieked.

She was lost in a blasted world. It had been destroyed by some horrible cataclysm, and she was surrounded by darkness. The shadows around her pulsed with intelligence. It flowed like a malevolent force attacking her. It threatened to overwhelm. It felt familiar.

“No.”

She spoke the words and it was so. She was her own master.

“I have no need of you. You will return to your prison.”

Slowly the darkness receded. It coalesced into her own shadow. The light source casting the shadow was her memories of her most precious pony. They would guard her against the darkness. She could see the wasteland of her mind now that the darkness had vanished. It was a ruined Equestria that had been transformed to a desert. She knew that the Equestria was her hopes for the future. Did she really have no hope? Twilight stepped out of her mind, and she was back in the tower. Twilight was once against the master of her own mind.

The older Twilight was holding her singing the lullaby. Twilight extracted herself from the other Twilight’s hooves and wiped the tears from her face.

Without another word she cast the magics and with a tremendous roar she disappeared.

The magic was intense. She had understood the spell - if it could be called that - but had not understood what it would be like to harness the power she needed.

She was - Older Twilight was - right. Time travel meant ignoring the rules and making her own. 'A' happened and then 'B' would happen. Things occurred in a proper order. Perhaps time travel preserved causality. Maybe causality was only preserved in the frame of the traveler. Twilight did not care. She needed to ignore one of the most fundamental laws of all existence. She touched time and tore at it. It would obey her. She was the last of the immortals and she would dictate the rules.

For the briefest of moments she existed outside of time. Twilight was not even certain if she actually even existed during that moment, or if it was even a moment. It could have been an eternity. It was like everything was an infinite maelstrom but also an infinitesimal point of calm all at once. When she rematerialized in a bright flash of light, it was a struggle to remember the experience of the jump. She was not even certain if there was anything to remember. The only thing she was certain of was that time was far more complicated than she had first thought.

Ultimately it did not matter. She had traveled back in time. She could change things. Twilight was determined to prove that saving Celestia was a possibility. As the the telekinetic burst of force that had marked her arrival died down, Twilight took a step backwards.

She winced as she felt her rear bump against something and then flinched as she heard her vase hit the ground.

As another Twilight entered the room all Twilight could think of to say was one word.

“Oops.”

Author's Note

Sorry for getting this posted late. My computer was derping hard and I lost two chapters (one of them this chapter that needed to be rewritten). Normally I do everything on gdocs with local hard backup, but I had been traveling and the day ended with a busted HD (fun times). The damaged hardware has been replaced, but it was annoying needing to rewrite things.

OK, I'm done whining.

I hope you all liked this chapter. It took a lot of work to get the tone right. Hopefully it wasn't too confusing.

Next chapter will have a special thing at the end. It will be Twilight's notes regarding her after thoughts about the conversation she had with herself. It will include diagrams.

~~Also, I will put a plug out for a new story I have posted. It’s Twilestia, so if you like that, check the story out.~~

Rewrite Posted 1/2/2015
Really it's more of some edits of typos than anything else. I spent a lot of time on this chapter originally and so ended up pretty satisfied with it.

The Broken Vase

Chapter 17 - The Broken Vase

So she still existed. Twilight was happy about that at the very least.

If the other Twilight’s thoughts had been anything like her own, Older Twilight was good at concealing her emotions. Of course, she was Older Twilight now. She snorted in frustration. She really needed to have that set of new pronouns created.

After she had broken the vase and another Twilight had barged into the tower, things had played out exactly the same. She had even hopped up and down. However, leading up to the moment when the other Twilight was to travel into the past, she had been terrified. According to some of the ideas they had discussed, she would cease to exist the moment the other Twilight traveled back.

Since Celestia died, she had never really been afraid for her own life. When she realized that she was not aging, she just figured that she would live forever. She feared the deaths of other ponies, but not her own. It had been a unique experience.

It was not even an issue of dying and leaving Equestria without a ruler. If time travel erased the present and replaced it with some earlier state, there would be nopony to even miss her. Perhaps that is what made her so afraid.

Still, she had kept silent on the matter and not allowed herself to show any nervousness. It was only once Younger Twilight was gone that she finally slumped in relief. Twilight assumed, that if she was going to cease to exist, that it would happen instantaneously. However, the part of her that wondered if it might take time did not allow herself to relax until another hour had passed. After all, she had traveled an hour into the past.

An hour later she still existed. That was good.

Twilight had been reluctant to take back the sun. It was such a heavy burden, but for decades she had known no other way of life. The brief hour during which she did not need to pour absurd amounts of energy into its flames had spoiled her. Unfortunately, she knew that it was her duty. It was not one she could shirk. But after taking the sun back, the other Twilight had disappeared in a great flash of light.

And she continued to exist. Time proceeded to march on. It took some of the possibilities they discussed off the table. Of course, Twilight was willing to admit that they might have missed something. She was, even when there were two of her, not perfect.

Twilight looked down at the shards of her vase. It was still broken. She had not wanted to knock it over, but she had anyway. She could not unbreak it, even with her powerful temporal magic. She had considered traveling back to the moment before she knocked it over and preventing that little accident. However, two things now prevented her from doing so.

She now understood what the other Twilight had said regarding ‘breaking’ time. She did not know if it was possible, but she needed to do more research before taking any risks. Perhaps if she was reckless time would shatter just like her vase. There was also another issue with trying to go back. Without another Twilight present to pass the sun off to, she would need to doom Equestria in order to try and unbreak the vase. Unfortunately, the amount of power required to propel herself through time was simply too large.

Even if she allowed the sun to die out, the limit on how far she could jump back in time was pathetically short. It was possible that if she split the trip into many shorter jumps, taking rest breaks in between, it might be possible for her to eventually make it back to Celestia’s death.

However, she could not even attempt that until she knew what she was doing. At least it seemed like she would have plenty of time.
There was still the matter of the broken vase. Had it been the vase's destiny to break? Twilight had spent another hour trying to get time to rewind for just the vase. If she could not save a piece of pottery, then how could she save the life of a pony? It would be a cruel joke if she had the power to travel throughout time, but actually changing anything was barred from her.

Twilight did not believe the universe was that mean. Then again, the universe had taken Celestia from her.

She wouldn’t clean up the vase. She would leave the broken shards scattered across the floor until she could get them to unbreak. She could easily use magic to hold the pieces of ceramic together and fuse them back into a vase, but that was not her goal. Time would flow backwards. If she could study the effects on something as insignificant as a vase, she might get some answers.

Of course, it would not tell her if the vase had ever had a destiny. Perhaps it was the destiny of the vase to be unbroken. Nor would her experiments tell her if she possessed free will. Twilight could not even begin to imagine what type of experiment could even test that. She supposed if she was powerful enough she could create a little micro-universe and observe the progression of events. That might be able to tell her something. Of course, it was nothing but idle fancy. She had no idea how she could go about forging her own universe. For all she knew, she was in some such micro-verse created by some other Twilight as an experiment.

The rest of the tower was a complete mess. The power that she had poured into the air had singed most of the papers along the edge. Many had fallen from their places along the wall and blown about. It would take her hours to clean the mess up. Twilight snorted; she would deal with the papers some other time.

As Twilight was leaving her tower she looked at the checklist held in her magical grip. In the flurry of their conversation, it had ended up with only one item. She definitely was not going to forget to go talk to the professors in the Equestrian language department.

The next couple days were hard. She constantly found herself fidgeting in her seat or her wings fluttering on their own accord. She was excited and there was only one pony with whom she could share her enthusiasm. Twilight had decided it best not to tell other ponies about her little discovery. Ponies always seemed to get upset when she was messing with fundamental aspects of nature.

She wanted to spend every waking moment in her tower. For the first time, real change felt within her grasp. It was not just Celestia she could save. Pinkie Pie would be alive again as well. Of course, if she was altering the past, why stop at saving just two ponies. She could go further back and save her mom. If the doctors had known earlier, her mother would have been fine. And if her mom had lived, her father would never have fallen into that depression. Twilight might even be able to prevent Luna from ever having become Nightmare Moon. She nearly shuddered at the thought of all the good she could do.

Of course, a counter point weighed heavily on her mind. If she went back and effectively changed the outcome of history, she would be negating the effect of other ponies’ free will, assuming they had free will of course. Twilight did not know if good intentions gave her that right. Then there was also the slew of unintended effects altering the past might have.

Twilight had no delusions that some ponies that were close to her, or had been close to her, might cease to exist if she saved Celestia. Ponies like Daily Vigil, Appleseed, or Moon Dreamer, might never be born. Would that make her their killers? She did not know. Could she cause a pony like Diamond Justice to be uncreated?

She would do it though. She would save Celestia. Twilight did not care how long it took to master the magics, but she would create not only a better future, but a better past for all of Equestria.

Equestria’s ruler tempered her enthusiasm with the knowledge that, unless she had another visitor from the future, it could take her decades or even centuries to make significant progress. In the meantime she needed to protect and care for all of her little ponies.
As she was leaving her tower, Twilight stopped in front of the towering statue of Discord. It was the same as the day he had been resealed.

“You were right... Not about right and wrong, but what you said about the rules... I think messing with time requires that you play by your own rules. Otherwise, you’re just cheating.

“But right is still right and wrong is still wrong. It doesn’t matter how powerful a pony is, that doesn’t change. I don’t have the authority to... well no matter what, some of the things I’ve done have been wrong. That is true of anypony. The reason makes a difference, but not in the way that I’ve heard some ponies argue.

“The right thing for the wrong reasons... I think that’s probably wrong, even if nopony knows the truth. But doing something wrong for the right reasons? Unfortunately for me, I think that’s probably still wrong. When everything is all said and done, I’m not sure if I’m going to survive. There might still be something around that calls itself Twilight Sparkle, but I’m not sure if it will still be me. I’m not sure if the Twilight Sparkle of fifty years ago still exists. She never would have considered time travel if it would threaten to unmake ponies. She never would have killed a filly. But I suppose she still had Celestia...

“The point is, to save Equestria, to protect ponies, I’m worried I will need to do the wrong thing. But it’s better for me to become stained with the consequences of my actions than for any other pony to suffer. I think, I’m going to need to bear the burden of Equestria’s darkness in order to bring about Equestria’s salvation.

“But all of this... I think I understand what happened to you Discord. I’m not sure how I know, but I just have this feeling. You were in a similar position once, weren’t you? But you couldn’t deal with the burden. The sin was too heavy for you to accept. So you decided that you could dictate morality. You decided that since you were the strongest thing in existence, your actions were automatically justified. Suddenly your burden vanished. Deep down though, you always knew.”

Twilight pressed her hoof against one of Discord’s legs. There were tears in her eyes, though she was not certain why. There was no reason for her to be sad.

“If you’re awake and you can hear me, please let me know. I realized that if you’re aware, this must be torture for you. I was considering having you moved to someplace more interesting. A hill overlooking a school playground perhaps? Those tend to be fairly chaotic. Of course, day after day, year after year, maybe that would be worse.

“I would consider trying to free you, but... With Pinkie... With Pinkie Pie gone, we couldn’t stop you if it came to that. I’m not sure how long your imprisonment will last. I never knew how long it lasted the first time, or why it broke. I hope though that if you ever do get free that we can be friends. It would be nice to have an eternity buddy.”

Twilight stepped down from the statue and wiped her eyes. Turning around she said one final thing.

“Of course you’re probably just a statue, I’m probably just talking to myself, and the guard ponies watching me probably think I’m a crazy pony. Maybe they’re right. Still, if you can communicate... Well I hope to hear from you again someday.”

+++

Twilight was in her study waiting for Rainbow Dash. To pass the time she was working on designing a magic rune. It was a ‘meta-rune’ or a rune that incorporated many other runes into its design. They were difficult to come up with, but would make it easier for other ponies to copy. She was going to request that it be placed into some of the glow orbs around Equestria.

She planned to tell them that it was to increase their efficiency, and expected that nopony would look at it in enough detail to know otherwise. Even if they did, it would take a lot of effort to unravel its true purpose. Currently the Celestia construct could only project her ‘Celly’ persona into the vicinity of Twilight. It was beginning to become annoying going to the library to retrieve books and records for Celestia. If projection runes were placed around the palace and a few other key locations it would make her significantly more useful.

A knock on the door caused her to look up. After nodding her consent to the guard, she soon found herself in the presence of Daily Vigil. The pony approached her desk and gave a deep bow. Twilight shuffled her papers on top of the notes she had begun to make regarding her short experience with time travel.

“Your majesty, I just wanted to remind you that I will be leaving presently. I will not be around to tell you when it is time for you to head to sleep. I trust that you will be fine without me for a night?”

Twilight smiled at the pony as she replied, “Yes, yes. I will be fine. Once again, if you want to take the morning off that would be fine. “

“Actually your majesty, I do have a request. My son is more than capable of telling time and is learning to read schedules. I wonder, if it would not be too much of a burden, if I could begin bringing him to the palace so that he can see how the job is done in practice. He is quite eager to learn.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem at all.” Suddenly Twilight Sparkle reared up and clapped her hooves together as an idea struck her. “In fact, if you insist on coming to work on your son’s birthday, why don’t you let little Evening Vigil tag along for part of the day.”

“Why thank you your majesty. I’m sure that will make this birthday most memorable.” He took a moment to flip open his watch before continuing, “I am, however, afraid that I must be going if I don’t want my wife to tan me. She bought a bunch of streamers and a pinata. Apparently it will be my duty to hang them all up from the rafters before my son’s friends arrive. It’s a fair trade off, if I don’t need to do the baking.”

“Evening must be excited about his first sleepover party.”

“Yes, very much so. Thank you again Princess. I will see you on the morrow. I don’t trust you to wake up by yourself.”
Daily Vigil spoke the last words with a smile and bowed again before turning to leave. Twilight just smiled as she thought of things she could do to make Evening’s special day even more special. Perhaps it would be a good day for the Royal Guard to practice some aerial maneuvers. As the royal time keeper walked out the door, another pony entered. Twilight smiled at the sight of Rainbow Dash.
However, the smile did not last long. She remembered why she had called the pony. She remembered why Dash’s engagement had crumbled so many years ago. She desperately prayed that the incident had been caused by a future Twilight Sparkle who now would never be. If she had any free will at all, she would avoid that tragedy.

“Captain Commander Rainbow Dash, I have priority orders for you. It has come to my attention that there may be creatures hiding around Equestria that may be identical in appearance to myself. If they exist, they will be hiding their magical aura through some mean that I have not yet discovered. Unfortunately, I do not know what mindset these ponies may be in, however, they may be dangerous. I would like to have your patrols keep their eyes open for any such ponies. However, they are not to engage.”

+++

The next morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle would sleep in. Nopony would come to wake her up.

+++

Excerpt from the notes of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

In these matters, it is important that I keep my thoughts in order. There is an inordinate amount of possibilities, each with their own sets of ramifications and restrictions.

I have been able to, with the help of myself, break time loops into five broad categories. There is of course the probably possibility that we have missed something important.

Time loop A, would be a perfectly stable time loop. In it my younger self becomes my older self. Time travel here is reverting the universe to an earlier state. In this sense, there should never be a future beyond the loop. Since I am here, writing this now, I believe I can discard this possibility. Hopefully, I have not overlooked some important detail.

Time loop B involves an unstable time loop. In it my younger self travels back in time a few moments before my older self arrives. In this situation the time loop MUST expand. It is untenable for this to continue indefinitely. Once, again, the fact that I am still here would incline me to believe that this is not a possible form that time travel can take. However, it would be irresponsible of me to ignore the possibility that I have broken out of the loop. It is feasible that my younger self messed up the time travel spell and has simply removed herself from the flow of time. Perhaps she sent herself forward and I will meet her again sometime if this is the case. I shudder at the thought of being trapped outside for all of eternity. The only solace would be that, being outside of time, it might be more a form of stasis.

Both these forms of time travel seem to allow for free will, however they also subvert that same free will in the fact that any decision any pony makes could be overturned without that pony’s knowledge. What significance does a choice have if it can be blown away like mist on the wind?

I’m not sure.

There is a major problem with both these forms of time loops. Science dictates that the amount of usable magical energy must decrease. Magical entropy always increases. If this is the case, time travel must draw power from some as of yet, unknown reservoir. I cannot fathom that source being unlimited. If this is the case, a time loop would eventually ‘tap the well dry’ as it were and render time travel impossible.

Time loop C suffers from the same problem. Creating parallel universe would require tremendous energies. Eventually time travel would exhaust this energy. It does however allow for free choice and does not seem to subvert it.

Time loop D does not suffer from the problem of energy needs, but does have some annoying philosophical problems. If for every decision I make, there is a universe where another Twilight made a different decision, did my decision really matter. I could murder every pony in the palace, and yet, there would be another world in which I did not. If this is how things work, does anything really matter?

Loop E is the one I am inclined to believe is the way the universe works. All points along the timeline occur simultaneously. When I talked to my younger self, we were the same pony. We were just at different points along our own personal timeline.

The question then, is this time stream unchanging? There was no future Twilight present at Celestia’s death earlier in my personal time stream, so is it possible for me to alter things such that a future Twilight is eventually there?

If it is possible for me to alter time, could I then go back and kill myself. If my younger and older self were the same pony, and I sever my personal time line, what happens to me? I suppose it means I do not live to go back and kill myself. But if that happens, nopony kills me and I am then able to go back and kill myself. A paradox it seems.

If this is how time travel works it will be important for me to only change events in such a way that they will cause themselves to happen. If I go back and save Celestia, I will need to teach younger Twilight how to time travel and instruct her to go back to save Celestia. I assume that my memories would alter to match the new events, but really I don’t know.

Pieces are beginning to fall into place, but all I have are theories.

To figure out:
-Different types of paradoxes, self causing vs self contradicting.
-Tenses and conjugations… High priority
-Free will?
-Pronouns
-Method of detecting temporal magic... Other time travelers / other Twilights.
-Time Travel = Murder?

Speaking of death I have another funeral I will need to be attending. Normally when a pony dies before their time, some reason seems to exist. Sometimes I blame myself. But there is usually some clear procession of events that led up to the death. But this...
If fate exists, it must be cruel. How can a pony’s destiny to have been to break their neck falling from a ladder? The fall was only the span of a few hooves. What kind of fate is that?

I need to get dressed for the funeral. I’m rambling now, and writing more won’t do me any good.

Author's Note

If you didn't read the very last part of Twilight's notes, I recommend that you do so. There is something important there.

Looking at how Twilight's diagrams turned out... I'm not too happy with them. If someone is bored and makes higher quality versions let me know, otherwise I will get around to it once I'm done editing the earlier chapters.

We should be done with the real 'heavy' time travel philosophy and theory stuff for the time being. The next three chapters are... Well they are something else. I might need to space some of the content out more to avoid having too many interesting things happening at once.

Don't expect an update tomorrow. I plan on spending the day doing rewrites of earlier chapters.

Edit: (1/6/2015) Special Thanks to PhiliChez for redoing the art on my crummy diagrams in Twilight's notes. If you want to see the originals to compare:
http://i44.tinypic.com/33xeya1.png
http://i43.tinypic.com/1hf9qa.png
http://i44.tinypic.com/2j4ypar.png
http://i42.tinypic.com/ejy3j8.png4

Yea, much better.

The Nightmare Revealed

Chapter 18 - The Nightmare Revealed

Twilight looked down at the colt before her. The young pony looked so much like his father. His red vest was too large for him, but Twilight recognized it as having belonged to Daily Vigil. The pony before her was a practical replica of Daily on the day that she had first met him. She wondered if as time went on she would begin avoiding ponies because they reminded her too much of those who had passed on. Twilight suspected a day would come when every face would bring to mind dozens of ponies who had passed to the great pasture. She had no idea how Celestia had gone on for thousands of years when she was falling apart before even having lived longer than a normal pony lifespan.

Evening Vigil's eyes were dry, but the redness in them was obvious. Twilight wondered just how the colt was holding up since she had not seen the pony or his mother since the funeral.

“My dear Evening Vigil, you have requested an audience with me. What is it that I may do for you?”

“I... I know I’m still young your majesty, and I’m not very good at a lot of things. But my father did teach me how to keep time and follow a schedule. I’ve also heard that you’ve yet to fill the position of Royal Time Keeper. My father wanted me to follow in his hoofsteps.” For most of his speech the young pony had been staring at the ground. However, with his last words he looked straight up at his princess. “So... I would be honored if you would make your new time keeper!”

Twilight felt her hearts wrench as the colt stomped his forehoof in determination. Evening had looked up to his father so much, but Daily Vigil had been the same way with his own father. She wanted to tell young Evening to go home and focus on school. She wanted the pony to focus on spending time with friends. Instead she found herself saying something completely different.

“Very well. I will not take the position away from your family. It is yours if you want it. However, you don’t need to do this. Yes, your father wanted you to follow in his footsteps, but he also wanted you to to be happy. If you ever feel that the position is too much, or that it is not for you, please tell me. There is no shame in that. It will be hard work. In addition to your duties, I will expect you to continue on with school. Both your father and grandfather needed ample education to best serve me. For now though, you need to rest. You have been through a lot. Later, I will speak with you and your mother about the scheduling of your duties.”

The pony smiled and practically fell over himself thanking her. As she gazed at him, Twilight wondered about the pony’s future. Twilight hoped that she would not have to watch him grow up only to die in a senseless accident. Unfortunately, she did not know if there was meaning in any death.

She was beginning to question the benefits of friendship. Its magic had brought her so much joy, but it also brought with it great pain. It was one lesson she had never learned while Celestia had been alive. Even if she tried to keep her distance from other ponies, they would still hurt her when they died. There was nothing anypony could do about that. If she allowed herself to get too close to the colt in front of her, he would just wound her heart with his eventual passing.

However, she was also afraid of a future where her only company was Spike, Celestia, and the statue of Discord. Purposefully distancing herself from ponies seemed like the bleaker future.

As young Evening prepared to leave, a green magical flame drifted into her throne room. Twilight snatched the materializing scroll out of the air with her own magic and ripped it open. Spike normally would write his status reports and letters before he went to bed for the night. A message being sent just after sunset was likely something important.

The court understood the significance of the magical flames and silent whispers broke out. The nobles had not forgotten the state that the knight protector had been in the last time he had returned to the capital.

“Guards! Send for the Captain Commander immediately. Inform her that I want a full mixed squadron of the elite guard assembled in the main courtyard within the quarter hour.” Twilight stood up and began galloping towards the exit. “Everypony, the rest of court is canceled this evening. I need to get something from my study but will meet the guard once I am ready.”

All of Twilight’s earlier thoughts immediately vanished in her flurry of activity. As she rushed through the hallways of the palace, her guards struggled to keep up with her longer strides. She had considered teleporting directly to her study, but knew that it would take time for her orders to reach Rainbow Dash.

With a burst of magic she blasted her study’s door open and flinched when she heard the wood crack. Still, a broken door was a small price to pay if it meant purging Equestria of its tumor. The weed had been allowed to grow for far too long.

She trotted over to a display case against one of the walls. Held within was one of Moon Dreamer’s creations. It was a suit of armor designed to be worn by Equestria’s sole princess. Twilight had been amused by the artifact, but never thought she would need to actually put it to practical use. She did not know how much help it would be against her foe. However, she was not going to ignore something that could save her life.

If it was the same creature, she had defeated it before. However, that victory had only come after the thing had slain Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight might not live to see another day. Only a few hours prior she had set the sun over Equestria, but it could turn out to be the last time her kingdom would ever feel its warmth.

The risk was worth it. She would destroy the thing that had taken Celestia from her; She would crush the thing that had killed Luna and Pinkie Pie. Twilight Sparkle would eradicate the being that had forced her to take Little Pinkie’s life.

Her magic was practically boiling over in response to her emotions, and the glass on the display case shattered into thousands of shards. Pieces of plate mail began to hover around her as she strapped on the under-harness with her telekinesis. One by one, each piece snapped onto the harness, interlocking with every other piece. She felt them click into her regalia; her chest piece having been designed as part of the armor.

Within moments Twilight Sparkle was encased in shining star metal. Every component of the armor was studded with a gem and etched with glowing runes. Each of the precious stones had been crafted into a limited power amplifier, and once the battle began, they would rapidly burn out. However, they could still provide her with an edge.

As the last piece of the armor was secured, the runes all began glowing as one. Twilight began to fill her mind with spells of terrible power. Before her reign nopony had cause to learn spells designed to inflict harm. However, once the creatures of the empty sky began to attack ponies, Twilight had authorized the unsealing of the forbidden section of the Canterlot Library. If need be, she would become a goddess of destruction to save Equestria.

By the time Twilight reached the courtyard, dozens of soldiers were arrayed. Each pony stood at rapt attention, knowing only that their princess had put out an urgent call. Officers strode amongst the lines performing one final inspection. Nearby Rainbow Dash stood overseeing the preparations. As Twilight stepped in front of them, all action ceased.

“My brave little ponies, I have received word from my knight protector of a terrible evil lurking in the Everfree forest. This is an evil that has plagued Equestria for far too long. When we arrive, you will be providing me with support while I engage the enemy. I want magic users to set up an anti-teleportation field while pegasi will watch the sky. The rest of our ground forces will provide cover for the unicorns and ensure that our foe does not escape on hoof. We will be departing as soon as I have had a word with the Captain Commander.”

Twilight walked over to her most loyal friend and continued on in a lower voice. “I want you to recall the conversation we had recently. There is a chance that the foe we will be engaging will bear a resemblance to me. It may be one of the impostors, and I just want you to be warned.”
She had no idea what events could drive her to become the monster she had fought. However, Twilight could not deny that the creature could be some visitor from another time. No matter how absurd, she could not afford to overlook any possibility if she was to save Equestria.

The ponies gathered in a large circle around their princess, and once they were arrayed, Twilight engulfed them with her magic and flung them through space to reach their destination. She channelled the spell through one of the amplifiers on her armor and winced as she felt, rather than heard, it shatter. The feedback set her teeth on edge but was nothing she could not deal with. A small headache was a small price to pay to preserve her strength for the coming fight.

The teleportation spell she had cast would have left a lesser unicorn - even one skilled at the art - exhausted. Twilight instead felt only a small bead of sweat forming on her brow. Unfortunately, the spell was a necessary evil because she was concerned that if they took the time to fly to the Everfree Forest their quarry would be gone.

In a crack of light, they had arrived outside of a location familiar to Twilight. For all she could tell, not even a day had passed for the ruined palace of the two alicorn sisters. Moss and weeds grew along the cracked stone, and the only light came from small glow orbs attached to the armor of each of her ponies and the illumination from the horns of the unicorns.

“It’s in there. Everypony fan out.”

Twilight could sense the malevolent presence inside the old palace. It would be her first time meeting the force face to face since Celestia’s death, but she could swear it felt different. The same sense of wrongness was there, but she could not recall the dark and angry pressure that she was feeling now. In her dreams it was always a morose sadness.

Twilight felt the ground shift and knew, without looking, that Spike had just landed besides her. However, when she turned to speak with him both her hearts skipped a beat.

“Spike! Your wound...”

Spike’s injury from the last time he had fought the creature had reopened, and at first Twilight had thought it to be a fresh wound. Blood was oozing out down his chest, with more being added with each beat of the dragon’s heart.

“I’m fine; don’t worry about me. It's just bleeding a little is all. I made sure not to get close to the thing. It still seems to be just standing around inside the palace. If you're sure you want to fight it alone, I’ll join the pegasi in the sky to make sure it doesn’t fly out through the holes in the ceiling.”

Twilight watched in agitation as Spike pressed a claw against his chest. Hopefully, once she had killed the source of the wound's taint, she would finally be able to heal it.

“I’m sure Spike.” Twilight released a heavy sigh as she turned towards the palace entrance. “I don’t want any other pony going up against that thing’s power. But Spike, should the worst happen - I... I’ve been preparing a backup plan for Equestria. It’s not done, so I haven't told anypony yet, but it should allow some ponies to survive in the case of my death. You can find it in a purple notebook in my study.”

"What do you mean?"

"Even if it's only a few thousand ponies, as long as ponykind lives, there will be hope. Equestrians don't give up. If I pass away, the goal is preservation. It may take thousands of generations, but eventually a pony will come along who will bring back the light. That is my final plan should all else fail."

“Twi - you’re the strongest pony ever. Nothing is going to happen.”

Twilight did not respond as she began walking towards the stone archway. Each step came down hard across the ancient stone, causing it to crack beneath her shoes. Her magic began to spread out in angry tendrils as she used it to expand her senses. The threads of energy did not find anything, but she still felt the wrongness all around her. It stained the once solemn place. It had stained her Equestria.

She would destroy it.

Slowly Twilight passed through the ruined palace with only the one thought on her mind. The only sound was the echo of her own hoovesteps and the howling of the wind. Each clattering step was filled with determination and brought her closer to her goal. A tingling feeling ran up her horn, and Twilight knew that the anti-teleportation field was in effect. She had no doubt that if she was dealing with the same creature that had killed Celestia, that it would be able to punch through the barrier. However, the seconds that the field would slow it down would hopefully be all Twilight would need.

Of course, she had no idea if it would try to run.

She found herself in a familiar room. The ancient chamber where Celestia had stored the elements of harmony for their thousand year wait. Currently the elements were safely stored in Canterlot, but they were just useless pieces of inert stone. The day that Pinkie Pie had died their attunement had been shattered, and they had reverted to being nothing but stone spheres.

Twilight often wondered if throughout each generation Celestia always had ponies in mind who could serve as embodiments of the elements. Likewise, she wondered if she was neglecting her duties by not having ponies selected to serve as the new bearers of harmony. She had no clue how long Discord’s imprisonment would last, or what she would do if he ever broke free.

Something in the room shifted and the stone and moss faded from view. She was in a void of darkness.

“Who’s there?” Twilight tried to keep the fear from her voice. “Show yourself.”

The chuckling froze her heart. It was there with her, and when it spoke its words she found herself shivering. It was the voice from her nightmares.

“What do you mean? Do you not recognize me?”

“I said show yourself!” And as Twilight spun around she saw it. “What type of an abomination are you?”
It was just like before - an alicorn but not. The thing's legs had too many joints and bent at all the wrong angles. Its wings burned away on motes of nothingness, but yet never seemed to shrink. Monster, creature, abomination - none of those words seemed to fit. Twilight found one word running over and over again through her mind.

Wrong.

“Is that anyway to speak to your only daughter? Oh, that look on your face? Right now you just came up with at least ten different possibilities, didn't you. I wonder if any of them are right.”

“You’re lying,” Twilight snarled her response.

“I can assure you that I have no reason to lie to you mother. However, I suppose if enough time passes, you’ll discover the answer eventually.”

“You’re not... You’re from -”

“Oh, no. That would be rich though. The only daughter of Equestria’s sole ruler travels back in time to plunge the world into darkness. That would be a terrific bit of adolescent rebellion. But tell me, do you really think you actually talked to yourself from the future?”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me, does Equestria know that its ruler has a family history of mental illness?”

“That’s not -”

“Oh? Then I take it grandpa ended things the way he did just because he could not stand having as an unlovable daughter as you? Listen mother, lets look at it this way. Why haven’t you told your friends about your little Celestia Construct-” The creature ignored Twilight’s startled outburst at the mention of Celestia. “I bet you want to say it’s because they wouldn’t understand. Well, you’re right - there is no way anypony could understand. Creating a pale imitation of somepony you’ve lost is not the behavior of a normal healthy pony. Do well adjusted ponies dig up the corpses of their students and mutilate the body to create a weapon to kill themselves? That sounds a bit too much like your father to me. For goodness’ sake, you’ve been trying to make friends with a statue.”

Twilight growled in anger and formed a shimmering mote of light. It did nothing to banish the darkness, but in it enough power was trapped to obliterate the atrocity before her. It shot forward with a terrible shriek as the mote burned through the air. As the spell shot off, Twilight could hear another amplification crystal shattering. The monster leapt out of the path of the blast laughing all the while.

Twilight had finally regained her balance from the creature's verbal attacks. It's behavior was so different than the first time she had encountered it that it had caught her off guard. Gone was the apologetic monster. In its place was a spiteful and malicious creature.

"I don't know what you are, but there is no way you're my daughter."

“Now now mother. Is that how you think mothers are supposed to treat their daughters? Or perhaps you just aren’t good with children. How many minutes did you spend around that one pony - Pinkie, I think her name was - before crushing her heart?”

“I don’t know how you know these things, but you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. I did what I needed to do.”

A dozen more motes of light sprung into existence, swirling around Twilight. Each of the motes sparkled like a star in the night sky, and their high pitch whine was accompanied by the shattering of amplification gems. As one the motes all arched towards the creature following along different paths. As each one slammed into the darkness, Twilight’s ‘daughter’ evaded each one.

“Oh, I’m sure it was necessary. However, did you need to enjoy it so much? Did taking the life of another pony need to bring you such a dirty little thrill? How long until you take another life, mother?” The monster drew out the word 'mother' in a mocking tone. “Are you going to institute capital punishment for ponies that do wrong so that you can be their executioner? You can take lives while still following all the rules that way.”

“Shut up!”

Twilight’s words were transformed into wave of pure energy that shot out in all directions. When the light faded Twilight could see the creature slowly picking itself up off the inky black ground. It spit out some viscous liquid that faded into the darkness.

“You think you can beat me like that? Tell me mother, when was the first time that you saw me?”

“You think I would forget?" Twilight screamed at the monster. "It was when you took Celestia from-”

“NO!” For the first time the creatures words were filled with nothing but pure rage. “Think harder. The first time. When mama died, and papa... You were filled with anger at the Princess for not saving her. Guilt for not being a good enough student. If you had worked just a little bit harder, maybe Princess Celestia would have been willing to help. You didn’t know how to deal with all those emotions. Good little ponies don’t get angry at their teachers. Good little ponies don’t kill their moms. Good ponies aren’t happy their mom died just because it means their Princess gives them more attention. You pushed it all away and bottled it up. THAT - That was the first day you saw me, the day I was born.”

Twilight found herself frozen. She wanted to deny the things words, but it was right. She remembered now, a horrifying vision that she had suppressed far beneath her consciousness - a nightmare of a dark twisted Celestia. She could not remember if she had just seen it in her dreams or if it had been there while waking. She remembered a room and a pony standing in the dark corner.

Twilight now knew the monster she faced, the nightmare of the Everfree.

“How... How can that be?”

“Why are you so slow mother? Is it just because you don’t want to recognize the truth. Fine, I will spell it out for you. Why do you think it was so easy for you to create that pathetic construct? It was because it wasn't your first attempt. Years before, your nightmares gave birth to me. Only my runes are not carved into stone and crystal. The runes that sustain me have been burned into the very fabric of your mind by years of self-hatred and guilt."

"I don't... I don't hate myself." Twilight stuttered the words. But even as she spoke them, she questioned her own honesty. She tried to form another mote of light, but it wavered and spluttered out.

“Your insane desire to always make everypony proud - failure being completely unacceptable - that is what brought me about.” As the creature spoke Twilight felt the darkness pressing in around her. “If little Twilight was ever a bad pony it would disappoint your parents, it would disappoint your precious teacher. Anger, hate, lust, greed - healthy ponies allow themselves to feel these things. They live their lives and deal with the pain and suffering in it. You just shove it all away. Proud Twilight, strong Twilight. Can't hurt a pony's feelings Twilight. Does it feel good to know that your desire to love everypony and have everpony love you gave birth to Equestria’s final doom?”

Finally the creature struck. The blast was a spiral of nothingness that tore at the very space around it. Twilight threw up a barrier at the last moment, but the force of the attack caused another amplification crystal to shatter.
The two were dancing around throwing titanic blasts of energy at one another. Twilight did not know how many attacks she could successfully block. Each one that she was unable to dodge ruptured another one of her armor’s crystals. Once they were exhausted, the strain of defending herself would become incredible.

“No! I deny you. I deny your existence.”

“Oh mother, that only works if you believe it, but we both know that you don’t. You know the truth. You’ve felt me leaching energy away from your precious sun. Deep down inside, you've known it for years now. You killed Celestia. You are killing Equestria.”

The blast of dark flames that slammed into Twilight tore through her barrier and slammed her against some unseen barrier. As she stood up on shaky legs, she felt pieces of her armor falling off. Pain lanced down her side, and the fire still licked at her flesh.

“That’s not true.” Twilight spoke her words through choked tears. “I didn’t...”

“Then why didn’t you join the battle earlier? Why wait until the final blow? Why are you even bothering to fight now? You can’t beat me.”

Twilight finally understood their battleground. They were not fighting within the normal bounds of space; it was a sub-dimension of hate, loathing, and darkness, a plane existing between the physical realm and her own mind. Even still, she knew that the energies of their battle were being discharged into the palace of the twin sisters. She hoped that her ponies would be safe outside of the palace. It had been a mistake to bring them. She had been so focused on getting her revenge, that she had ignored their safety. If any of them were injured it would be her fault.

Suddenly a spark of understanding flashed in Twilight’s eyes.

“It doesn’t matter if what you say is true. I don’t care if you exist or not. All I care about are my little ponies. More than anything else, I want to protect everypony. That's why I am fighting right now. There are ponies that depend on me, and I can't let them down. You should know, I’m willing to die for Equestria. It’s you that can’t win.”

The creature stepped back in shock as Twilight began to become surrounded by a prismatic glow.

“You're wrong mother. I win, when you become me.”

The monster transformed its body into a living weapon as it shot towards Twilight in an arrow of black flames. There was no defending against the attack, so Twilight did the only thing she could. She defied it.

“Never.”

Twilight shot towards the embodiment of all that was wrong in her life. Whereas the monster was a bolt of darkness, Twilight became a lance of brilliant energy that consisted of every color in the rainbow. The creature was right in that Twilight did not deal with her emotions well, but that was why she had her friends. Her memories of all the happy moments from her past coalesced into a tangible force. The two collided and for a split second time stood still.

Then all was oblivion.

Author's Note

Yea, it's a bit of a cliffhanger, but I'll be posting the next chapter 'Aftermath' tomorrow, so you don't need to wait too long.

Hopefully this chapter is a nice change from the slower pace we had been going at.

Oh, so my story has fanart now. Go check it out (has blood, incase that upsets you):http://echolesshowl.deviantart.com/art/Then-the-Princess-grew-wings-286322206

It's my hope that the interchange between verbal and physical battle was satisfying. Before this chapter I debated between foreshadowing that this fight was coming or throwing it out of left field.

If you missed what happened to Daily Vigil, reread the very end of Twilight's notes in the last chapter. Just imagine all your friends are over for your birthday party and your dad falls off a ladder while hanging your pinata and breaks his neck. Some birthday.

I'm trying to get better at mixing the dialog up with action, so let me know how that went.

EDIT: For those that are counting, this probably marks the end of (the unofficial) part II of the story. Next chapter marks the entrance to part III. A revised plot outline gives us another 9 chapters, so this is probably going to break 100k words.

Aftermath

Chapter 19 - Aftermath

“The knight protector is breathing again.”

“Has anyone seen Shatter Wing?”

“Stay away from the fires, there is nothing we can do for the forest.”

“Keep digging, I can sense her majesty’s magic somewhere in the rubble.”

“Careful, the ground is still unstable. There might still be some tremors.”

“Word just came back from Canterlot. They’re preparing to dispatch immediate assistance via long distance teleportation.”

“Come on Twilight! Say something - help us out here.” The voice broke in a strangled sob. “You better be alright.”

“I found a piece of her armor!”

The words came to her as if from across a great gulf. They were broken and disconnected. Twilight tried to pull them together - to connect the pieces of the pattern, but her mind was not functioning properly. Mentally she reached out and found that her link to the sun remained. The flow of magic had been reduced to a trickle and at any moment it threatened to die out.

She tried not to imagine the panic the inhabitants on the other side of the world were experiencing. Before she had become the princess of Equestria, seeing the sun suddenly dim would have stopped her heart in terror. She still remembered the blind panic she had felt when Nightmare Moon had prevented the sun from rising. It had only been because Princess Celestia had needed her and because of the other ponies depending on her knowledge that she had been able to pull it together.

A heavy weight was pressing against her as if she was at the bottom of an enormous pony pile. She tried to breath but found her chest constricted as dirt fell into her mouth. Twilight realized that the smell of soil filled her nostrils. She was buried alive.

Panic coursed through her veins as her legs tried to kick wildly. She realized that one of her rear legs was partially free, but moving it replaced the panic with agony. Something was wrong with the leg. Twilight needed to calm down. She needed to try and remember what had happened.

The battle.

She had defeated the nightmare, but had not destroyed it. Now that she knew what to look for, she could sense it lingering in that back corner of her mind. The amalgamated monster in the Everfree was not just a nightmare. It was aware and had been biding its time for years. However, she had shattered its physical manifestation, and knew that it would take time for it to recover.

Everything was dark, and Twilight struggled to remind herself that she was no longer fighting the nightmare. That small sub-dimension of pain was no more.

She had once read a book entitled ‘This book will save your life.’ It had covered basic survival techniques to deal with a number of situations. Twilight could not remember any chapter about being crushed by hundreds of pounds of stone and dirt, but in most situations one of the first things to do was to take personal inventory.

Twilight stretched out her magic to feel out her own body. She was terrified of how little magic she had remaining, and wondered what would happen when the well ran dry. Her sun would either die in a whimper or a bang, and she wondered what would then happen to her. Since becoming an alicorn it had become increasingly difficult to tell difference between herself and her magic. Slowly the energy began to flow out across her hide as she began to prod and poke, looking for areas that were sensitive.

The first thing she discovered was that her entire body had been transformed into a giant bruise, along with more scrapes and cuts than she could count in her current mental state. A rather large and deep cut ran down along her side where the nightmare had shot across. To her immense relief, she sensed none of the horrible taint that infected Spike’s unhealable injury. Twilight paused when her magic passed over her wings. One of them was twisted at an odd angle and she expected it was broken.

There were patches where her armor had melted, fusing to her skin. Those areas did not seem to be in any pain, and she was worried it was due to nerve damage.

Finally she ran her magic across the leg that had brought her so much agony. She rapidly confirmed that there was something wrong with the limb. It almost seemed as if her leg had an extra joint, bending strangely above the knee. There also seemed to be something hard and jagged jutting out of her leg.

Twilight nearly retched when she realized that the hard protrusion was bone. She wondered if she would walk again. However, as painful as it was, none of her injuries seemed fatal. That was one good thing she supposed.

All the injuries were far less than a murderer like her deserved. No redemption could exist for the pony that had killed Princess Celestia. If every moment of the rest of her eternal life was torture, it would not be enough. She was the ultimate betrayer. She would need to live on and suffer. What little of her soul still had any value belonged to her Equestria.

At that moment Twilight wished she had gotten around to testing her theory on whether or not she needed to breathe. At the moment there did not appear to be any air available to her, so she certainly hoped it was no longer necessary.

However, when she realized that she was not breathing, the panic returned. Her hearts began thundering at a terrible pace as she tried to will them to slow down - to use less oxygen. Twilight tried to scream for help, but found more dirt pouring into her mouth and down her throat. She could not even cough. Her magic pushed vainly against the stone and rock trying, but there was simply too little power available to answer her call.

She wondered if Equestria would die with its ruler trapped in a grave of her own making.

Stone shifted and she felt some of the weight decreasing. Twilight pulsed her magic in an attempt to let anypony who was looking for her know where she was. The voices became clearer and it seemed they ignited into a furor of activity. Despite the nightmarish agony, she kicked her free leg again. She needed to do everything possible to get free.

Suddenly a force enveloped her body and yanked her up out through the dirt and broken stone. As soon as her muzzle was free and in open air she tried to scream in agony only to cough out the dirt that had begun to fill her airways. Her broken leg was dangling uselessly, and each time it swayed in the air sent flames through her body.

“Princess!”

“Twi - Thank goodness. Give her some room everypony. Get the medics over here.”

Through the fog of her torment, Twilight could only focus on one thing.

“Why?” she coughed as she spit out more dirt. “Why is it so dark?”

“What do you mean Twilight. The unicorns are - Your... Your eyes...”

Twilight attempted to crane her head and look around. She could sense the presence of dozens of unicorns around her and could feel them all casting powerful light spells. The lumination they were emitting was almost tangible, yet she was still swimming in a sea of darkness.

“I understand... No matter. I can make do without sight.” It had been a small price to pay for the information she had gained. It was a small punishment for the sins she had commited. “Tell me, Rainbow Dash, what happened?”

The alicorn pulled herself free of the magic supporting her and encased her mangled leg in a telekinetic bubble. The magical force extended to the ground allowing her to stand under her own power. She ignored the gasping of the ponies around her; she needed to be strong for all of them.

“Twilight you need to - alright, fine. After the barrier went up we started feeling seismic tremors and vast amounts of energy began pouring out. It was insane. Large portions of the Everfree Forest are aflame. Right now we are the center of a huge crater. The palace is gone.”

“Spike, what about Spike? I thought I heard something-”

“Spike’s fine. At one point his wound burst open and for a short while his heart had stopped. He’s doing better now, but is still unconscious. I didn’t see anything hit him, so I’m not sure what’s wrong. We’ve had some wounded, but no casualties.”

Twilight felt a pony move underneath her wings to help offer her support. She knew - even without her sight - that it was her friend.

“I’m glad that nopony was hurt too badly.”

“Twilight, what about the creature? What happened to it?”

“It’s gone for now. That’s all anypony needs to know. I now know everything I need to know to deal with it for good. As soon as I return to Canterlot, I should be able to finish it off.”

“You’re not in any condition to-”

“Don’t worry. I won’t even need to directly confront it. I just need to regain my strength to cast a certain spell. Trust me on this one Dash.”

It was tortuous, but they slowly made their way out of the crater that marked where the palace of the twin sisters once stood. Rainbow Dash was by her side, guiding her up the treacherous slope the entire time. However, Twilight turned away all other offers of assistance.

They finally reached the top where Twilight had been told a chariot and an entire flight of pegasi were waiting to escort her back to Canterlot. Her ability to sense magic was muddled from the background noise of her fight. However, she could smell the heavy discharge of magic being performed and realized that a number of unicorns had just teleported the still unconscious Spike. If he was stable enough to be teleported, his condition could not be too dire. She was not sure how she herself would fare under the strain of such magic.

The medics on call seem to take her injuries as a personal affront. However, other than the application of pressure to her wounds, not much could be done until they reached proper medical facilities. Twilight absently overheard a heated discussion on if she should instead be taken to Ponyville because of the town’s proximity. If she had been more put together she might have found it amusing how nopony tried to consult with her.

It was strange not being able to see.

Through her mental haze, she began to return to the battle and it was then that she knew true pain. If the creature had spoken the truth, she had killed Princess Celestia. For some reason she knew that one fact to be true. Maybe the details were different, but Twilight was convinced of that one fact. As the chariot took off, flanked by two other chariots occupied by unicorns, Twilight hunched over where she was sitting and began to sob.

At some point they had landed in Canterlot and she could hear a swarm of doctors trying to rush her off for surgery on her leg. Because of the condition her sun was in, she would need to forgo anesthetic, no matter what anypony insisted. However, before she was carried off to an operating theater, she needed to have one last exchange with her most loyal friend.

“Dash. We need to increase patrols. I don’t want anypony being hurt by the night again.”

“Twilight. You know that we don’t have the hoofpower for that. But, we can talk about this later when you’re feeling better.”

“Draw up plans to relocate Canterlot’s guards. I will take care of Canterlot’s defense. Just do it Dash.”

+++

Twilight paced back and forth in her study as she remembered what the doctors had told her.

“At first we didn’t notice the physical damage, but it seems that the retina’s have been completely burned away. If you were a regular pony, we would have to say that you would never see again. But given your unique physiology, there is a chance that the damage may regenerate. However, there are steps that we can take to improve the chance of recovery. First of all -”

The rest had been boring medical details. At one point she had caught ponies talking about emotional detachment but she ignored what they had to say.

She would miss reading books, but Twilight had realized that she did not need eyes to see. Her magic now stretched out in every direction feeling everything around her. She had used magic to ‘feel things out’ before, but had never taken it to the degree she was now operating on. It was like an entirely new sense that she had overlooked her entire life.

The Blind Princess was anything but helpless.

Reading had been one of the first things she had attempted. Unfortunately, ink on paper was not thick enough for her to feel its presence. Many of the fine details she was used to were absent, but she could easily sense the shapes and positions of everything around her. It was strange to feel the texture of so many things at once.

She gripped her book shelves in telekinesis and ripped them from the walls, shattering them across the floor. She did not deserve to read.
She was missing some important detail. The nightmare had been so different than the time it had killed Celestia, as if it was two entirely different creatures. She wondered if it was the effect of nearly a half century of pain and suffering. Perhaps Little Pinkie’s death had been a tipping point. There was no doubt in her mind that the thing she had fought the previous night was a physical manifestation from her own mind. Even now, she could feel it greedily leaching power from her sun as it was gaining the strength to reform.

It would have been better, she thought, if Celestia’s killer had been a different Twilight. For a while she had held onto delusions that Twilights from all over the future were lurking. Each Twilight from a different darker potential future that would never be. Her confrontation at the palace had shattered those delusions. The fight had been in her own pseudo-psycho plane.

By trying to take all of Equestria’s pain for herself, it seems that she had changed the nature of the beast. However, it had made a crucial mistake in revealing itself. Twilight now knew how to fight it. The nightmare would die before the night was over.

Twilight paused in front of her balcony. She knew that if she had true sight she would see the slight almost-reflection of herself in the glint of her glass windows. Her leg was in a cast - it would heal; her superior physiology would see to that. Her right wing had been dislocated and now was in a sling; her flying lessons would need to be put on hold. Patches of her fur were missing where the skin had been burned away - already that was healing.

Most noticeable however, would be the piece of cloth wrapped around her head. Feeling it with her magic, she could easily mistake it for a blindfold. If her eyes would ever heal, they could not be exposed to the slightest bit of light.

Her magic pulsed and the window blew outwards, and she crushed the glow orbs that provided the room with light. She no longer had need of light. Twilight turned around and tore a portrait from the wall.

She stopped next to her desk, and levitated a small souvenir from her stay in the hospital. It was such a primitive medical instrument. She dragged the scalpel across her forehead drawing a thin line of blood. The pain brought her focus. Pony neuromedical science was nowhere near as advanced enough to accomplish her wish. However, the tool would still function as a suitable focus for her spell.

Suddenly, Twilight was somewhere else. The psycho-material plane of her mind stretched out before her as a barren wasteland. On the distant horizon a coming storm raged. In the world of her own mind she could still see. Briefly she conjured into existence her favorite novel. But as she looked at it, the words shifted and changed. She could not remember exactly how the story was supposed to go. With disgust she allowed it to return to the vapor of her imagination.

Twilight looked around and realized something was wrong. Her mind was not a wasteland. Everything shifted and she was in Ponyville. Now more than ever it was important to hold onto the visualization. The normally busy streets were empty of Twilights. Her entire being was waiting in suspense.

She was infected with a tumor, and it was time to operate. Ideally, Twilight would deal with her issues like a normal pony. Perhaps years of therapy could destroy those places in which the creature hid. Unfortunately, she did not have the time to deal with the thing in a healthy normal fashion. If she allowed the monster to reform, then ponies could be hurt. If the nightmare existed in all of her pain, she would just need to remove those memories of pain.

Twilight galloped straight into the Everfree forest, carrying her scalpel at her side like a mighty sword.

She saw shadows moving to intercept her and Twilight blasted them away with concentrated beams of light. Nothing would stand between her and her goal.

It was best to start early in her life. She flew through her mind until she found her mother lying in a hospital bed in the middle of clearing. The wind caused her mother’s hair to gently flutter as dust blew over her body. From the trees Twilight could hear a growl, but ignored it. As she looked at the mare she was filled with guilt and pain. However, worst of all was the resentment.

“Why didn’t Celestia save you?”

She analyzed the memory and frowned at what she found. Her mind had always been good at making connections - too good in this case. The infection that plagued her last moments with her mom spidered out to touch so many others. For some time she tried to peel the darkness away from the memories to see if anything could be salvaged, but the nightmare wound around the thoughts choking them like a weed.

“Sometimes you need to excise the health tissue with the diseased if you want to get better.”

The memories would all need to go.

“Mom... I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to save you, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t a good enough student. If I had been better... Maybe then Celestia would have cured you.”

Part of her screamed and raged against the decision. Her thoughts were the thoughts of a filly that did not understand. However, in her mind it was the emotions that mattered. Even when Twilight was old enough to finally understand the Princess’s explanation that there were somethings beyond even her power, the emotional impact had remained.

Her light coalesced into a glowing scalpel and she stabbed downward. Her mother screamed before bursting into a cloud of light that floated away on the wind. A whirlwind tore through her mindscape as it eroded away a whole network of memories. Her mother’s smile, her mother’s laugh - in an instant they were gone. She tried to remember the scent of her mom and found that she could not.

Twilight would give everything for Equestria.

Next up was her father. She had fond memories of him, but they tended to be the older ones from when her mother was still alive. However, the later memories tended to outweigh the good ones. Eventually she found him. He was yelling at a filly for having killed her mother. The lingering remnants of the memories of her mother told Twilight that he was justified in his words - though she could no longer recall why. Her father had stopped taking his medication, but that had only allowed the truth to come out.

The scene before her jittered and transformed. A stallion was hanging from a rope, swaying in the breeze. Twilight turned her eyes. It would be easier to purge the memories of her father; there would be less regret. However, before she made the cut she paused.

After she had received her cutie mark and been accepted as Princess Celestia’s student, her father had taken her out for ice cream. Twilight thought that there might have been another pony there, but the impression was vague and fading - after all, it had been only her father there for the entrance exam. Twilight had been so happy licking her ice-cream and rambling about the Princess. She was willing to part with that memory if she must, but it was what that memory was connected with that had caused her to stop.

To remove the tainted memories of her father, she would need to be willing to lose her memory of the entrance exam. That moment when she had first met Princess Celestia was one of her happiest and most precious memories. Twilight sobbed as the scalpel made the cut.

A few moments later, Twilight wondered why her eyes were moist with tears.

Cut after cut, Twilight tore apart her own mind. Once all the bad memories were gone, the nightmare would have nowhere to hide. The thing existed in the patterns of her pain and guilt and all of her other suppressed emotions. If those patterns were destroyed, the construct could not exist.

She paused when she hit the memory of Pinkie Pie’s death. That moment had reverberated back through her mind and touched every moment she had of the pink pony. She could remove the pain, but the price was staggering.

The scalpel hovered over the corpse of Pinkie Pie. Her memories of the pony were all so precious. Twilight held each and every one - even the bad ones - close to her heart. She remembered the battle with the abomination. It had been the good memories that had shielded her against the nightmare. It had been her friends that had saved her life.

Pinkie Pie lived on still in her heart.

Twilight flung herself from her mind with a scream of anguish. Back in the dark chamber of her ruined study she panted heavily as the scalpel levitated just above her left heart pressing into her skin. She had been a fool. She needed to deal with her emotions like a normal pony. She needed to stop suppressing things. She needed to let herself feel anger.

With a cry of rage she flung her desk into the wall.

“Your... your majesty? Is everything alright?”

With unseeing eyes, Twilight stared at the guard sticking his head through the door and could feel the fear emanating from him. Her gut reaction was to feel guilt at the reaction she inspired. Instead she embraced.

“I’m just fine. Thank you for asking.”

She began chuckling as the door closed. There were so many feelings to deal with.

Saving Celestia had become more complicated. Twilight needed to remember her two primary goals. She needed to protect Equestria, but she also needed to save her precious teacher. Her hope had been that she could change the past. Traveling back and adding her power to Princess Luna’s and Princess Celestia’s would make the difference.

But now she understood her enemy.

Would it be murder or suicide?

Twilight threw her head back and forth. There had to be another way. She was not a killer. She would give her life to save Celestia, but that did not mean she had the right to end the life of her younger self, not if they were two different ponies.

Maybe it all came down to the nature of time travel. If they were the same pony, just at different points in their life, perhaps she would be justified in putting an end to Younger Twilight.

She tried to think back to what it had been like to be young and immediately noticed the holes. Twilight knew that she had had parents, but could not remember anything about them. She had removed them completely from her mind. She could not help but wonder if her memories of them had really been that bad, or if she was just a horrible pony.

Twilight would be unable to get to sleep that night. She would be too busy crying.

+++

“My dear Twilight, not that I mind, but what has caused you to change your mind?”

“Change my mind?” Twilight chuckled. “I’ve been naive. I’ve been trying to protect everypony, but I’ve been unwilling to take the action necessary to do so. My number one priority above everything else is to protect my ponies - to protect Equestria. It was that thought that allowed me to win the battle with that beast. To protect everypony, for that I must be willing to pay any price. This is a petty sum. It’s hardly a choice at all really.”

“But you had been uneasy-”

“Uneasy yes, but… It had always been just a vague discomfort. I never really had a good reason. I suppose it is because you are something new, and I didn’t quite know how to act.”

“So you’re going to let me help you, my dear student?”

“Yes. I cannot ignore any aid, especially when it can be so great.”

“Twilight, we don’t need to do this now. We can wait until you are feeling better.”

“I’m fine. It’s just that now I know the true burden I carry.”

Twilight was standing in a newly formed chamber with the Celestia construct. It was the largest she had dug in the growing complex that was Celestia’s mind. A small sphere of light formed in front of her and Twilight began to pour more magic into it. As she directed more energy into the sphere it grew and expanded until it reached a size of six pony lengths across. The heat was unbearable.

Twilight let it sink into the stone.

“I can feel it, but just this once will you be my eyes? Describe it to me.”

“Twilight... It’s bright and warm. The stone around it is red and angry. However, in the areas where the sphere has already passed it’s calm again. The only sign of the passing is the ripples that have melted into the stone.” Celestia paused and there was only silence for nearly a quarter hour. “I can’t see the light anymore unless I look down the bore.”

Twilight felt the earth shift slightly beneath her hooves. There was a terrible crack and she knew it had broken through.

“It’s beautiful. The glow is filling the chamber. If I look down the hole I can see the heart of the planet. It is anger and passion, beating with a life all its own. Looking down I can imagine that I can see all of the emotions ever felt by everypony that has ever lived. I’m gazing down into the very soul of Equestria and it is looking back at me.

“Twilight this is a wonderful gift you are giving me. At the very center of Equestria - you are giving me the means of protecting your precious ponies.”

Twilight smiled, but the temperature of the room was growing as the magma chamber Twilight had broken into began to heat the cave.

“I’m going to teleport the magical generator into the bore, but I’m going to need your help securing it in place and wiring into your rune matrix. After I add the first few manifestation runes, you should then be able to do the rest.”

“I promise you my most faithful student, I will help you protect Equestria. I will carry as much of your burden as I can.”

Author's Note

So is Twilight finally a crazy pony? Self lobotomization certainly isn't normal (I really wanted to work that phrase into this chapter, but couldn't make it fit. Maybe it will make it in when I get around to rewriting this chapter.)

A little bit of trivia, this chapter was almost called 'Breaking Point.'

For those looking ahead, next chapter is "Destiny." (Unless I decide it needs to be spaced out a bit).

Breaking

Chapter 20 - Breaking

Twilight stood on an ornate platform overlooking Pony Square in the center of Canterlot, and she was sure the sight would be very impressive if she could still see. With a pulse of magic she extended her sense to cover the entire square so that she could judge everypony’s reaction, and with her magic she could feel cloth banners blowing on gusts of wind. She had instructed that no expense be spared for the announcement. Trumpets were soon blown to inform everypony that she was ready to begin her address, and the noise of the gathered crowd quickly died into silence.

“My little ponies. Equestria has begged for greater protection against that which threatens us once the sun goes down. I have heard your cries.”

Twilight paused for dramatic effect. She turned her head as she gazed across the crowd without sight. Her regalia had been repaired and replaced, and an addition had been made to her standard outfit. The white cloth wrapped around her eyes was tied behind her head, with the trailing ends woven into her flowing mane.

Other than her eyes and injured leg, all of her other wounds had healed.

“To increase regional patrols, we will be transferring some of the Royal Guard from here in Canterlot. However, our great capital will not go unguarded. To help maintain law and order and protect everypony from the dreadful nights, I am announcing the creation of a new order. I present to you my ponies, the Solar Knights!”

Twilight reared up and flared her wings. A beam of light shot down from the noon sun smashing directly into an area of the square that had been kept clear. The burning intensity did nothing to her sightless eyes, but she could sense the crowd turning away to shield themselves from the glory of her magic.

As the light faded away, Twilight could hear her ponies gasping in wonder and awe. Where once there was nothing, an entire battalion of warriors now stood. However, these warriors were not mere ponies.

Her Solar Knights were creations of pure light. The constructs stood perfectly still at attention as everypony took in the sight. They had equine form, but their faces were featureless and they seemed almost translucent. Where a regular pony would wear armor, these seemed slightly more solid.

The constructs were being powered by the burning heart of the planet beneath Equestria. Each of them were magically projected by the enhanced glow orbs that now existed everywhere in Canterlot. They were connected to and controlled by Celestia’s mind.

“These creations are an extension of my will and born from my love for Equestria. They will keep you safe and protect you from all harm. It is my hope that one day ponies will never need to put themselves in harm's way to fight against the night. Know that I will always do whatever is in my power to protect you.”

The low mutterings of the crowd told Twilight that her ponies did not know how to take this new development, so she pressed on.

“Please do not be intimidated. I know that this is strange and new, but it is a move towards the better. If you trust your princess, you can trust that these creations will keep you safe. To celebrate this bright turn towards a better tomorrow, a feast has been prepared for everypony in Canterlot Hall. There is enough food for everypony to enjoy, so let us rejoice.”

As she stomped her hooves, the ponies in attendance cheered in approval. It was disappointing to Twilight how easily food would sway a pony’s mind, but it served her purposes. Canterlot Hall was a sprawling complex that typically held large events, but even still, she had no doubt that it would be extremely crowded. Her new knights would be there serving the food and maintaining order. Hopefully seeing the creations carrying platters of food and serving drinks would make her ponies feel more comfortable around the things.

As Twilight descended from her platform, the chief of the royal magic corps approached her.

“My princess, I must say, I am still not sure if I am entirely comfortable with this. I tried analyzing one of your ‘knights,’ and I’m afraid to say that I cannot begin to make heads nor tails of the magical weave.” The pony coughed as if to punctuate his point before driving forward. “I have no idea how you could have fit such complex behavioral control logic into such small semi-corporeal creations. I also do not have the faintest idea of how you can spare so much energy. Perhaps it would be -”

“Silver Heart, I have already explained the situation, and I have already had this conversation with the Captain Commander. You do not need to understand the spell, you need to only trust your Princess.”

“But Princess, I -”

Twilight did not let him finish, nor did she try to hide her disdain. “Unless you have any real concerns, this discussion is done with for the time being. You are dismissed Silver Heart.”

The unicorn spun on his hooves and marched away, the clicking of his shoes on the stone making short taps. Twilight sighed as she felt him departing. Silver Heart always needed to understand everything and seemed to get moody when he encountered a problem he could not solve. Twilight found recently that she could not stand ponies like that.

A magical presence approached Twilight and she turned to face the Solar Knight.

“Twilight my student, you did wonderful.”

Equestria’s ruler sighed in frustration, and pressed a hoof up to her forehead in irritation. “I told you, when you speak to me through these avatars you need to address me as Princess.”

“I know, I know.” The knight paused to let out a light giggle. “It’s just that I’m so proud of you. Besides there is no pony close enough to hear.”

“I... Well thank you. Tell me though. How are you handling it? This isn’t exactly like the tests we have run.”

“Everything fine. It’s still strange to be in so many places at once and coordinating so much action. Right now I’m juggling at least two dozen conversations where I am giving ponies directions to the various feasting locations. However, the improvements we have made to my runes seem to be dealing well with the parallelism, and the generator is dealing with the strain just fine.”

“Good. If everything goes fine, we will continue to dig deeper into Canterlot Mountain and expand your systems. I would like it if all of Canterlot can be given over to your protection.”

“By the way Twilight, Applejack is waiting for you inside the palace. Apparently she has something to discuss with you.”

Twilight bid her creation farewell and headed into the palace. She found her friend waiting for her in one of the royal meeting rooms.

“Applejack, it’s good to see you.”

“Twi- gosh golly. I had heard about your eyes, but...”

“Don’t worry about me Applejack. I’ll be fine.”

Twilight had been sending away visitors and had been making a point to avoid being seen in public. Other than a few times in court, her announcement had been her first time out in the last week. Her friends had all seen her in the hospital, but she had avoided them since.

“It’s just different seein' you about with that blindfold and all. I guess when I last saw y’ah, you were so beat up, Ah was just glad to see-” Applejack suddenly stopped at the word until Twilight waved her hoof in a dismissive gesture. “Er, yea. Ah was just glad to know you were alive. Ah didn’t think about lasting injuries or nothin'.”

“Don’t worry about upsetting me. I’m not sensitive about not being able to see. I’m using my magic - like always - to deal with the problem. It’s working out just fine.”

Twilight decided not to mention the fact that she could no longer read.

“Still, how are ya copin' and all? Ah heard about your announcement and hate to think about how plum tuckered you must be.”

“I told you, just fine. I’m still a bit drained, but I’ll get over it. And stop staring at my eyes. I can still see. Being blind is nothing that I can’t work around, so there is no need for you to be worried about it.” Twilight paused as she realized what Applejack had probably wanted to discuss. “Does the Magisterium need me to resume attending, because I’m not quite sure I am ready for that yet. As I said, I’m still a little tired.”

“Actually, Suga-cube, it’s about mah own involvement with the Magisterium. Ah’m afraid that Ah’ll need to go missin a hoof-full ah meetings. Ah got a letter from Ponyville, and apparently there is a bout ah grey fungus on the trees.” Applejack said with her voice dropping low.

“Oh no. Is everything alright?”

Applejack shook her head slowly. “Ah’m afraid not. The only way to deal with the fungus is to burn the infected trees to prevent it from spreadin'. It seems that we’re gonna lose nearly a quarter of the farm.”

“That’s awful.” Twilight’s voice was nearly a whisper as she paused in consideration. “It’s my fault, isn’t it. If I hadn’t asked you to come here to Canterlot to be on the Magiserium-”

“Now Twi-darlin, don’t you go blamin yourself none. The fungus didn’t strike because Ah aint been around, and besides, m'ah kin knows what they’re doin'. If Ah had been in Ponyville, maybe Ah would have spotted it earlier, but maybe not. If you try to put the blame for this on you, you’re being sillier than a cart full of upside down apples.”

“I... Still, I am sorry. I know how much you all care for those trees. I’m sure it’s going to be hard to just burn them down.”

“It’ll be mighty hard at that, but Sweet Apple Acres will go on. This ain’t the first and it won’t be the last time something like this has happened. Ah’m more worried about Ponyville, truth be told. Aint no way this year’s crop’ll be enough to feed everypony. Gonna have to bring in food from outside I suppose.”

“That isn’t going to work.” Twilight sighed. “I wish I had known about this before arranging today’s festivities... I’ve looked at the reports from the Council of Farms. Ponyville isn’t the only place to have been hit with diseased crops; it’s been an unfortunate year in that regard. There were several other villages that were depending on the bumper crop from Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Ah’ve seen that same report. Ah’ don’t like it, but maybe it’s time to start considering some form or another of food rationin'.”

Twilight gave the pony a long look before letting out a frustrated grunt. “Perhaps. It seems harsh, but it would only need to be temporary till we get through this year’s particularly bad harvest. We can remind everypony that in a few years we will have many shade apple trees maturing to look forward towards. However, I will leave that to you and the Magesterium to discuss when you get back from Ponyville.”

“Sugah, when are you goin to start returning to the rest of your duties?”

“Not quite yet... I’m not sure if I feel up to being a proper ruler for Equestria right now, and it would be better for everypony if I stay out of things at the moment. But don’t worry about me. I’m fine. However, I should let you get going, and I also have business I need to attend to. I am sorry about the trees AJ.”

Twilight had begun to leave before Applejack could even give a proper reply.

+++

Despite what she had told Applejack, she was not fine. Nor had she had any business to attend to. Twilight had been ignoring all of her duties for the last week since talking to her friend.

Twilight was in her study. She had been there all day and could feel the sun setting below the horizon. Evening Vigil had been by a few moments ago to remind her.

The pony’s mother had been hesitant to allow her young son to begin working in the palace. It meant he would need to find Twilight every morning before school and every afternoon before sunset. It was a lot of responsibility for a pony so young. However, Evening wanted to follow in his father’s hoovesteps and the mare could not refuse her son such a dream.

Twilight had removed the noon check-ins from Evening’s duties. Coming at dawn and sunset was easy enough for the pony because Daily Vigil’s family lived in quarters on the palace grounds. However, Evening’s lunch hour at school was too short for him to make it to the palace and back with time to spare for a meal.

Twilight wondered if it was right of her to be concerned for one of her subjects any more than the others.

Splinters of broken wood and torn pages still littered the floor of her study. Twilight had not allowed anypony to clean the room. The only light came from the dwindling embers in the fireplace. Twilight did not plan on replacing the light orbs anytime soon.

As the warmth from the stone fireplace began to die down, Twilight tore another page from the diary to stoke the fire. Without her eyes, the only thing it was good for was kindling. She did not deserve such a glimpse into the mind of the pony she had betrayed.

She needed to deal with her emotions - to act on them - but she did not know how. She now understood why Princess Celestia had sent her to Ponyville. Twilight had managed to stunt her own emotional development at some point in her youth, and Ponyville had been an attempt to fix that. Twilight mused that if Celestia’s death had come but a few years later, she might have had the time to grow as a real pony before having the responsibility of leadership dumped on her.

Unfortunately, at the moment all she was was a fake. She denied her own wants and desires and gave birth to nightmares. Twilight did not even have memories of her own childhood anymore. She was a sorry excuse for a pony. The alicorn felt a dampness running down her cheeks.

The moisture was not caused by tears. Since her attempt at self-lobotimization she had not cried. Her eyes were bleeding again and the bandages had soaked through. The doctors claimed it was a result of her body trying to regenerate - that eventually new eyes would grow, pushing out her old ones. The occasional stabs of pain certainly seemed to validate their theory. However, she had heard the tone in their voices, and knew what they were not saying. They were nothing but a bunch of foals taking wild stabs in the dark.

Her self-mutilation of her mind had destroyed many of the emotional runes that had sustained the nightmare construct. It existed in the patterns of her mind, and she had removed some of the worst of them. Twilight did not know if the creature would still be able to materialize or, if it did, if the creature would be coherent or even a threat. As much damage as Twilight had done to herself, the damage to the monster had been far worse.

Perhaps that was the key. She just had to make sure she hurt others more than she harmed herself. That would be one way to vanquish the darkness and the enemies of Equestria.

Unfortunately, her battle with the nightmare was not over. Unless she changed her course, the beast would just return. If Twilight continued to bury and push aside her own feelings, she would just carve new runes into her mind. The cycle would continue, and the cancer would return.

Twilight was not a normal healthy pony and did not know how to deal with her feelings.

She needed to act on her emotions, guilt and anger being the first amongst those. Twilight levitated over a toy that Moon Dreamer had made when he had been young. It was a small wooden pony enchanted to dance when music was played. It did not work very well, but at the time it had been an impressive creation for a colt his age.

The play thing imploded upon itself inside of her magic. Twilight collapsed it down to a singular point and felt the distortions it caused in the space around her. She increased the magical pressure as it was crushed even further. Twilight turned her head as she contemplated the singularity she struggled to maintain. It was too small, and without a constant feed of energy the creation would evaporate into quantum dust.

Twilight allowed the pulsing point of energy that was the remains of the wooden horse to vanish. She wanted to protect Equestria and build a better tomorrow. But in destroying the creation of her student, she had felt something new.

She turned her feelings around in her mind. At first she had just felt a vast emptiness at destroying the toy. But as she prodded deeper, Twilight realized there was a smile on her face. Her cutie mark had been a mistake. Twilight wondered if she had finally discovered her special talent. Everything she touched would turn to ruin. Death and destruction were her gifts and someday she would go back and impart them on her younger self so that her grim future would never come to be.

She wanted to protect, but she also wanted to destroy.

“How does that work?”

The unicorn grabbed another memento, a silver rose given to her by a pony long ago. It twisted and bent before collapsing into nothingness.

“How can I exist at such odds with myself?”

Twilight remembered how it had felt to murder Little Pinkie. She would no longer lie to herself. It had been murder. It had also brought a thrill to her hearts. Some part of her wanted to revel and dance in destruction. She could no longer deny that.

“Or is that you? Where do I end and where does the nightmare begin?”

The path she was walking was a narrow one. Dealing with her negative emotions would deprive the monster of the fuel it needed to grow, however, it also put her at risk of becoming something different. If she acted on her anger and hurt ponies, then how would she be any different than that creature.

“Is that what you want from me? Well, I will deny you your victory.”

Twilight’s magic pulsed and hundreds of broken shards of glass lifted off from the floor. They spun around her in a maelstrom as she poured energy into them and felt their temperature rise. Soon they were glowing spheres of molten glass. She brought them together, and they fused into one mass. While they were still warm and malleable, Twilight shaped them into a new form.

Twilight twisted the blade around as she tested its balance. Having never studied weaponry, she had no idea if it was well made or not. However, her magic could feel the sharp edge. It would do.

Under the glow of her magic, the glass sword pressed against her foreleg. The anger and rage was a roiling sea beating within her hearts. It demanded release. She needed to hurt somepony. She had years of guilt weighing her shoulders down that she had no idea how to deal with. Twilight would kill two birds with one stone.

Her own suffering would pave the road for Equestria’s salvation.

Just as she began to feel the sting of pain, Twilight felt the door to her study open, and she dropped the sword. It shattered, scattering its pieces across the floor. So focused on her introspection, Twilight had retracted her senses to within her study and had failed to notice the pony outside of her door.

Twilight tried to ask what the pony wanted. “Rainbow-”

“What the hay are you still doing in here?”

“I don’t-”

“You can’t keep running up here hiding in the dark.”

“Will you please-”

“And at the very least let somepony in here to put your room back together.”

Twilight waited for the other pony to say something, but when the mare did not, finally decided it was safe to talk.

“So now can I-”

“No! I’m not going to let you finish unless it’s to say, ‘Gee Dash, I think it’s time that I stopped hiding in my study.’ So how about it. You ready to return to the world of the living?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What!” Rainbow Dash shouted and fluttered over into Twilight’s face. “Look at this place - and don’t tell me you can’t see. I know your magic is letting you sense your surroundings probably even better than your eyes ever did. You’ve only made one significant public appearance since that battle and it’s to announce that you’ve made some sort of magical constructs to enforce order. So, I think you know perfectly well what I’m talking about.”

“I’ve been thinking about things, that’s all,” said Twilight.

“You can’t just leave everything to the Magesterium and the nobles. Equestria needs you.”

“I’m still managing the sun.”

“I’m not talking about your stupid sun. I’m talking about you. Remember what you said when you told me that you were growing wings. You said that you were ‘becoming a proper princess.’ Well, that’s what Equestria needs. It needs its princess. I know that something happened, something changed, but I can’t help you - none of your friends can - unless you help us.”

“I don’t need help.”

Twilight was shocked by the hoof that slammed into her face.

“Horseapples!” Rainbow Dash was panting in anger. “You’re a worse liar than Applejack. If your not going to make sense, I’m just going to have to knock some into you.”

Twilight’s head jerked to the side as another hoof punched her in the jaw. She spit out some blood, and as another strike came her way, she caught it in a telekinetic grip.

“I’m trying not to suppress my emotions as much anymore. So I think its really best if you weren’t here right now Rainbow Dash.” Twilight levitated the hoof away from her pushing the pegasus away. “I really think you want to leave.”

“Are you... Are you threatening me Twilight?” When the other pony gave no reply, Rainbow Dash continued. “Fine. If you’re really that angry at me, go ahead. I punched you twice, so fair's only fair. Come on Twilight! Show me something. Share something with me, even if it’s just your anger. Open your heart up before you really hurt yourself. Why are you just sitting there. Punch me you stupid alicorn. Stop hiding yourself from those that care about you.”

Twilight felt another punch flying towards her. Reflexively she wanted to stop it, but was worried about her self control. One part of her wanted to avoid hurting her friend. However, another part wanted to return the pain tenfold. If she acted, Twilight did not know which side would win.

However, the hoof never connected with her face. Instead it flew past over her shoulder. Twilight realized there was another hoof headed her way, but it passed over her other shoulder as well. Before she knew what was happening, Twilight was being hugged by a sobbing Rainbow Dash.

“Please... I want the old Twilight back - the egghead that I used to talk to Daring Do about, or the pony I was teaching to fly. This has all been so uncool.” Her voice choked on the word. “I don’t know what happened during that fight, but I know this isn’t about your eyes or your leg. I don’t know what it’s about, but I do want to help you.”

Twilight listened as the pony pulled her tighter.

“Please Twilight. I want to help you. I love you.”

She now knew what she wanted. The urge to hurt and destroy evaporated. Twilight wanted to be a good pony, she wanted protect Equestria, and most importantly she wanted to be a good friend. Slowly she lifted a trembling leg and wrapped it around the other pony.

“I’m so sorry. I just... I’m so lost right now."

As Twilight tried to find the words to explain, she felt the broken shards of glass on the floor. She would open her heart, but Twilight did not think that she could share the full truth. She did not want to hurt her friend.

Author's Note

So I learned an important lesson last week (on related to why this chapter is so late in coming). I learned that when you write over 30k words in a week's time without a care for proper ergonomics, you jack up your hand.

Carpel Tunnel (or at least that is what I imagine it was), set in pretty fierce. It's mostly better now, but even as I finish up this note, I can feel it twinging up again.

I'm going to try and get the next chapter out by Wednesday, but I'm going to be taking it easy because I want my hand to heal.

Also, if this chapter is subpar it's probably because I've stopped drinking caffeine and have been going through pretty bad withdrawal and was writing through the headache.

~~The next chapter's title is "Destiny" (for real this time), and will be a pretty important chapter (one of five that have defined the story in my mind).~~

Fit for a Queen

Author's Note

READ THIS

If you have read this story before 1/1/2015 (the new year), I strongly recommend going back and rereading it from the beginning. On 1/1/2015 I published new versions of chapters 1-20. The changes to 15-20 are minor, but there are some important new bits throughout the earlier chapters (The length of some of those early chapters doubled from the addition of new scenes or improvements to old ones).

If you do not wish to reread those earlier chapters, please read this blog post that will fill you in on what you need to know going forward. It covers the important changes.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who commented or messaged me. (I'm not sure yet if I am going to be able to go back and respond to the backlog, it's pretty intimidating). I would like to however, make special thanks to MatDat. If it wasn't for him, this wouldn't be happening right now. Thank's for shooting that email. Now I know I can actually finish long form fiction.

So after nearly three years, I present to you the next chapter:

Fit for a Queen

Chapter 21 - Fit for a Queen

Twilight Sparkle stretched out her magic, double checking that nopony was near. There should be no way for anypony to be in her meditation room without her knowing, but it never hurt to double check. When she was certain that she was alone, she allowed her illusion spell to unravel.

Anypony watching would see a small light pink unicorn suddenly morph into a large purple alicorn.

Talking to Dash had helped some, but at the end of the night her friend had told her something that had surprised her.

“Twilight, I think you need help.”

She understood that Rainbow Dash had not meant any insult by it, but had only been speaking the truth. Her loyal friend was more than willing to be listen to whatever Twilight had to say, but had felt impotent with her inability to help. After a few days of heavy conversation Dash had finally convinced Twilight to seek out professional help.

In the end Rainbow Dash had practically needed to drag Twilight to the therapist, even after she had agreed to go. The other mare had been willing to sit in her first session with her, something that Twilight was surprised that the therapist had allowed. She now felt comfortable going by herself, but not yet comfortable enough to drop her disguise.

Despite what Dash and her therapist said, she could not help but feeling ashamed that she was too weak to deal with things on her own. It brought her some comfort knowing that Rainbow Dash was the only pony who knew the truth. The few sessions Twilight had attended had been difficult. She knew that she was supposed to be honest with the therapist, but she also did not want anypony to know how much their princess was struggling.

She was supposed to be able to trust her therapist.

Trust seemed hard. After all, she could not even trust herself.

So Twilight had been maintaining her disguise through her sessions and been trying to rework the things that she had gone through to fit her cover story. She was not Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, when she was in therapy. Instead she was Clean Scroll, high level aid to the Princess. As aide she was under a high level of stress and often called upon to relay orders that sometimes got ponies hurt.

Twilight shook her head as she left her meditation room and was flanked by two guards. After almost a month of sessions she could not say that she had seen any improvement. Perhaps it was a result of the necessary deception, or maybe she had just not given it enough time. The hour long sessions mostly served to make her all the more aware of her failings. Twilight was doing her best to cut back the growth of the Everfree, but in her mind the vines and thorns continued to encroach with each passing week. She had promised Dash two months, and two months is what she would give it.

Even though her mental Everfree Forest was growing, it was not in any ordered fashion. There was no intelligence behind it. The forest was simply the darker part of her mind. While the remnants of the Nightmare may be hidden somewhere deep inside, it would be a dead and rotting corpse. Twilight simply needed to make sure that she was not afraid to venture into the forest and confront her fears and angers, and then they would be unable to restore the Nightmare.

As she walked in the waking world, she galloped through her mind with a regiment of armored Twilights. Somewhere in the Everfree Forest was a monster known as Little Pinkie. It was not the same memories of Little Pinkie that Twilight would find back in Fluttershy’s cottage. No, this beast was a thing which had its heart ripped from its chest. It was Twilight’s guilt over what she had done. All she had to do was confront it and say two simple words.

Her therapist had told her that she needed to accept guilt when it was due, but not take it on when there was nothing she could have done. But accepting the guilt was only the first part. Holding on to the pain would do no good. She could not change the past, at least not yet. Twilight needed to learn to let go and move on.

Twilight did not even notice when she reached her dressing room, or when ponies began vainly brushing her mane. Twilight was sure that it no longer needed it, but the attempt seemed to make her attendants happy. A nurse removed the blindfold from her eyes and began applying the salve that her doctors had prescribed. That she did notice.

“It’s going to be such a beautiful ceremony.”

Twilight nodded her head in assent and did her best to smile at the pony cleaning her hooves. She hoped that she would be able to enjoy the wedding, but there just too much on her mind. Hoping that the normalcy would help, and that it might reassure Rainbow Dash, Twilight had resumed attending some meetings of the Magisterium.

“Step forward, Princess.”

Twilight stepped into the levitating dress before her and grunted as the strings were pulled a bit too tight. When she had lost her sight, Twilight had been concerned that the palace staff was going to start treating her like she was made of glass. However if anything, Rose Petal, her new head attendant, seemed to think Twilight was made of stone.

“Quit your snorting. You need to look pretty. Just because every eye is going to be on the bride and groom, doesn’t mean that they won’t also be looking at you.”

With her magic, Twilight could feel every pony in the room, other than Rose Petal, flinch at the word “eye” and “look.” Twilight found it refreshing to deal with a pony who did not seem to care what the “fragile” Princess thought. Most ponies had not yet figured out how to deal with a blind princess who could still see.

A new blindfold was fastened around her head and she could feel ponies working to weave the trailing ends into her mane. The other day Rarity had been fuming at the “ridiculous new fashion trend” Twilight had inadvertently started. Headbands with tassels worked into the mane had become popular overnight and apparently it clashed horribly with the current style of saddle. Twilight never had a great sense of fashion, and her magic pseudovision made it even harder to determine if something looked good, so she decided to take her friend’s word for it.

“There. Your mane’s set for the wedding of the year.”

Twilight heard the door to the dressing room open and felt a familiar presence stick her head in.

“Hello Princess, I just wanted to ask… You look very beautiful today.”

Twilight could not suppress the blush. “Thank you, Celly.”

The construct coughed a bit in what Twilight could only assume was embarrassment. “Yes, today is Friday, but I was wondering with everything going on today if you still wanted me to come by to your study tonight to read to you.”

“Yes, I was thinking it would be nice if we could finish reading The Dream Spear, or if you want we could start reading a new story.”

It had been Celestia’s idea. If Twilight could not read, then Celestia would be her eyes, and it had become part of her nightly ritual. It took much longer to get through a book and she could only “read” one book at a time, but it still allowed her to experience books again. The experience was also comforting. Twilight found she enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of Celestia’s voice.

“No, I’m enjoying Dream Spear. I’ve kept my promise and haven’t read ahead at all. However, I’ll admit that I’ve been tempted. I really want to find out what happens to Nocturn.”

Twilight smiled at Celly as she replied. “Personally, I’m hoping for a happy ending.”

“Yes, but I really don’t see how things can end well for him.”

Unfortunately, Twilight had no choice but to nod her head in agreement. From the start of the novel there was every indication that things were going to end badly.

Twilight heard her attendants picking up her ceremonial barding to begin putting it on, when she remembered what had apparently been a fact of the utmost importance according to Rarity. “Oh Rose Petal, I think Rarity wanted me to be wearing my silver peytral. I guess it goes better with the color scheme?”

“Of course your majesty.” Twilight heard the other pony set the barding back down and pick up a different piece. “Lady Rarity has impeccable taste.”

“Actually Princess,” Celestia said, “I should probably be getting dressed as well. I will see you later tonight.”

Twilight nodded her head in dismissal as she felt the peytral be fastened on over the dress. She had been assured that the dress had been designed with the piece of barding in mind and looked fetching with it.

Another thirty minutes of indulging her attendants in their princess primping and a short walk later found Twilight in the grand hall. The chamber was packed with ponies excitedly chatting away. The wedding between one of Canterlot’s highest profile lawyers and a high ranking member of Canterlot’s nobility would normally have been a large affair. However, with the parents of the groom both being members of the Magesterium and the Princess herself officiating it had become an “event.”

Before Twilight knew it, music was playing.

Twilight swept her magic around and sensed many of her friends in attendance and suppressed the reflexive urge to wave. Celly was seated near the front watching everything that Twilight could not. The pony would describe the sights and colors that would evade Twilight’s telekinetic magic sense during dinner.

Twilight’s magic felt something moving and she knew that it was the bride.

Twilight had officiated weddings before. She had even officiated weddings for friends in the past. Some went well, while others went not so well. Everyone was different and unique, just as the couples she joined in matrimony were all unique. She always found them refreshing, even the one time when she had knocked over the wedding cake. Rarity had held that over her head for what seemed like forever.

A wedding was a celebration of something new. It was proof that friendship and love could still bloom in Equestria. Twilight always saw them as an affirmation of her duties and a chance to forget, if only momentarily, all of the weight that was on her shoulders. She would celebrate and revel will all of her ponies and take joy in their joy.

Twilight liked weddings.

This one however was different. She still had all of the joy, and was having fun, but something was off. There was something wrong, only she could not put her hoof on it. It was not the same type of primal wrongness of the nightmare, or even something dangerous, she was sure of it. Something was just bothering her, like a fly on the back of her neck. She had decided that the problem was not with her, nor was it with the wedding itself.

She really started noticing it during the wedding processional.

Star Streamer, Diamond Justice’s fiancee, was making her way down the aisle. Twilight had the pleasure of meeting Star Streamer on many occasions. The unicorn was a descendent, if distant, of Star Swirl the Bearded and was a talented mage and high ranking noble. If she was not too busy at the reception, Twilight hoped to spend at least a little time talking magical theory.

However, it was not Star Streamer, or her extravagant wedding dress that was bothering her.

Really, I don’t even know if I need my magical senses to pick up on that dress. There are just so many frills and ribbons everywhere. Rarity’s doing I am sure.

The wedding couple had decided to forgo the normal tradition of having a best stallion and mare of honor. Instead their four best friends were serving as groom stallions and bride’s mares.

Marching behind Star Streamer were her two friends, both pegasi.

It was not them either.

She was glad that, since she was using her magic to “see” and she was constantly wreathed in magic anyway, nopony would notice her “looking around” as she stood at the front of the room waiting for the bride to make her way up the aisle.

Twilight considered the groom stallions, both earth ponies. Twilight had met one of them before, Gold Standard. He was a wildly successful business stallion in Canterlot and a noted philanthropist. There had been concern, in fact, that they had been relying too much on his charity while considering the budget to certain services. She felt like she knew the other one, but could not place where.

It was neither of the two earth ponies.

It was not any of the guests either.

What feels off?

She then felt Justice glancing at her.

It was Justice.

While he was looking at his soon bride to be, Twilight could practically feel the happiness radiating off of him. When he was looking out at the crowd or his friends, there was warm contentedness. But when he looked at her- when he looked at her she felt only cold.

Twilight did not have long to ponder the pony’s strange reaction to her precessence, because soon his face was locked onto his fiance. Twilight was thrilled to be marrying two ponies so in love, and would find out what was wrong with Justice later.

“We are gathered here today-”

The rest of the wedding went so perfectly that Twilight would have suspected that she had planned it herself.

+++

The first half of receptions were always the worst part of weddings. She was primarily interested in congratulating the happy couple and chatting with her friends. However, she was the Crown Princess of Equestria. That meant nearly everypony in attendance wanted to speak with her even if it was just to gush, “I can’t believe I’m really meeting THE Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

She thought the crowd around her table was larger than the one around the bridal party’s table. It made sense, she supposed. Most of the ponies at the wedding were likely present more because it was the event of the year rather than any care for the happy couple.

Twilight did care for the couple, however. She had known Justice since he had been a foal, and unlike Applejack’s grandchildren had been highly involved in his life. Stone Edge had been insistent that he not get special treatment as Diamond Justice worked his way up the legal ladder, and Twilight had strived not to interfere in the pony’s professional life. But the fact that Rarity and her family lived in Canterlot had made it easy to be a good aunt. Twilight had been at every birthday and graduation.

Usually by the second half of the reception the crowd would thin down. There would still be ponies hovering, desperately wanting to be seen in the company of their Princess, but enough ponies would have dispersed that she could easily excuse herself. Perhaps it was just a matter of how many ponies had been invited, but this wedding was proving to break from the trend. Twilight decided that she finally had enough.

“Excuse me everypony. I’ve not yet had a chance to give my best wishes to the happy couple.”

As she got up, she ignored the flurry of comments from the sycophants.

Twilight was glad to find Justice and Star Streamer sitting at their table with their friends. The parents of the happy couple were conspicuously absent, but Twilight could ‘see’ them all happily chatting on the balcony. She helped herself to one of the empty spots that they had left.

“I hope you don’t mind if I join you for a bit.”

“Actually we were in the middle of a conversation.”

Twilight was shocked by the glare she received from Diamond Justice, but was not a pony to butt in.

“I’m sorry. I did not realize. In that case I’ll-”

“Nonsense, Princess.” One of the bride mares, an incredibly pink pegasus, stopped her before she had a chance to leave the table. “Justice is just being a grumpy gus. He’s had a burr in his shoulders all day and won’t tell anypony what it’s about.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I would hope your wedding day would be a joyous occasion.”

“Oh, I’m glad that Streamer and I are married. That’s not the issue.” Everypony turned to look at Justice.

“Are you going to say anything more?” said Gold Standard.

“Not in particular.”

Twilight suddenly remembered where why she knew the other groom stallions.

“Now I know where I have seen you before.” Again everypony flinched at the word 'seen' and Twilight resisted the urge to sigh. “You’re in the guard, aren’t you?”

“Yes, your majesty. I served in Appeloosa before I got a medical transfer to Canterlot.”

Twilight noticed the pony’s prosthetic forehoof.

“I’m terribly sorry for your injuries. I think I remember, it’s Fleet Hooves right?” She continued after the nod. “I gave you a medal. Your squad had been attacked and you stayed behind while the rest of your unit fell back. Dragged two of your wounded comrades back to camp, even though it cost you your leg.” Another nod. “You were very brave.”

“I wasn’t going to leave them behind.”

An awkward silence settled over the table before the pink pegasus suddenly shouted, “Oh, why don’t we play a game! Then we could say we played a game with the Princess.”

Justice glared at Twilight again, “I don’t think I am very much in the mood for games.”

“Justice… Did I do something to offend?”

“Hah! Did she do something to offend she asks.”

The other pegasus who had remained silent to that point gasped and the others at the table at least seemed startled.

“Honey-”

“No, she deserves to know why I’ve been upset.”

“Justice, I don’t understand-”

“Then let me explain Aunty. It’s this.” He waved his hooves through the air. “All this extravagance, a wedding gift from the crown. How many courses was the meal, five? Oh wait there is a waiter with another dessert, I guess that makes it six. Streamer and I would have been fine with a simple affair until you mentioned your gift to mother.”

Twilight was surprised at how her gift had been received, but understood how the pony was upset.

“I apologize. I had not meant to step on your hooves with planning your wedding. I had just heard that there was some stress about the expenses. I had not intended to turn this into a social event.”

“Do you all hear this. This is what I’m talking about. She is so caught up in her own little world.”

“Justice-”

“No somepony needs to tell her. She has surrounded herself with yes ponies, so she won’t hear it otherwise.”

He turned back towards her. Twilight heard a growl coming from behind her and recognized it as the patented, “I’m Rainbow Dash and about to beat somepony up” warning. She raised her hoof.

“Let him speak.” Her curiosity had been roused.

“All of this? Do you have any idea how many ponies this could feed? Do you know just how many parents are skipping meals so that their foals don’t need to go hungry?”

“I am well aware of the food situation in Equstria. I know this may seem extravagant, but I assure you that it is a pittance compared to the overall stores in the granaries.”

“A pittance? That from a pony who eats in the palace everyday. Was the feast you held to convince ponies to accept your solar constructs as a police force just a pittance? Is the pony who’s starving just a pittance? Is the father you sentence to jail for stealing to feed his foals a pittance?”

“I assure you Justice, I am doing everything I can to ensure Equestria’s future.”

Justice stood up from the table and was pacing now.

“Oh really. From where I stand it seems more like you are doing everything you can to ensure the future of your reign.” There were gasps at the table. “I’m sorry, but I’ve held my tongue too long. The future of Equestria is not the Equestria I knew. Tell me aunty, why exactly have you been procuring so many expensive crystals for research? The rumors are you are building a summer palace.”

“Justice I am not sure what exactly I have done wrong, but you are talking about matters you do not understand.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Queen Twilight. Did I offend you?”

“Queen?”

“That’s what it seems like to me.”

Twilight had had enough.

“I am sorry that I am not doing a good enough job for your liking, but this is supposed to be a joyous occasion. You are making a spectacle of yourself. If you have an issue with how I am running MY country, I suggest that you make an appointment to see me during court. It might be slightly more effective than outbursts at your own wedding.”

Twilight felt Justice turn his face in a sneer. Even without her vision, she was certain that she had never seen such a look from him before.

“Perhaps it is best if I leave,” he said as he stormed off.

Twilight noticed that Fleet Hooves got up and left with his friend. To her side Star Streamer, face surely red with embarrassment, spoke up.

“Your majesty, I’m terribly sorry about all of this. I assure you, just last month he had been excited that you were going to be officiating. He didn’t mean anything he said. It’s just this case he has been working on. I think it’s rattled him… I’m going to go talk to him. If you will see him later, I’m sure he will want to apologize.”

Twilight nodded her head in dismissal, “Of course. Once my Nephew has calmed down and is more rational, I would love to speak with him some more.”

“Thank you Princess.”

A strained silence once again descended over the table as Twilight was left with Gold Standard, two pegasi mares who she did not know, and a furious Rainbow Dash behind her. She heard a voice break the silence, it was the quiet mare.

“Pri- Princess. I’m sure that Diamond Justice didn’t mean what he said. He’s normally a very calm pony.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not mad at him, just concerned.”

She felt everypony crane their head as Stone Edge stormed over to the table.

“Where is he, where is that son of mine?”

“Stone Edge, don’t be worried. Star Streamer is speaking with him, and I’m not offended. I’m sure he had a reason to say what he did.”

She could tell that the older unicorn was giving her a strange look. “Princess, what are you talking about? I just heard that Justice had been offered the position of Head Prosecutor in Canterlot, and he turned the job down. Not only that he quit his job! I want to know why my son has thrown away his entire career!”

Twilight was shocked, but an answer was provided shortly from Gold Standard.

“I believe he felt displeased with prosecuting ponies for breaking, what he felt, were unjust laws. If you all will excuse me, I think I am going to go find where the others disappeared to.”

And then she was with just the two pegasi, an angry Rainbow Dash, and a shocked Stone Edge. The pink one passed her something.

“Here you are Princess. I had made you a ‘hello nice to meet you’ card because I had been excited about meeting you here. Even though we didn’t get to talk much you can have it. My name is Popper.”

And the pink pegasus left the table.

“Thank you for coming to say hi… I’m sorry everypony left, but… I should probably go find my friends”

And then she was the only pony sitting at the table.

+++

To say that Twilight had been upset after her conversation would be an understatement. She made her way back to her table as Rainbow Dash went to find Rarity and Stone Edge went after his son.

Luckily, Celly had been at the table to help comfort her. Celly agreed with what the other ponies had said. Something else was probably bothering Justice and she should not worry that she had done something wrong. After that the construct made such an effort to make Twilight laugh that by the end of the hour, she had nearly forgotten the hurtful words.

Twilight had just finished laughing at another joke when Celly asked her a question, “Princess. I just spotted Golden Leaf. Would you mind if I went and talked with her?”

“Of course. When I asked you to be my plus-one so that you could describe the wedding and reception to me, I hadn’t meant that you needed to be chained to my side.”

As Celly got up and trotted across the hall, Twilight could sense Dash taking the vacated spot at the table.

“Hey Twi.”

“Hey to you too.”

“There is something I have been meaning to ask you for awhile now.”

Twilight waited for more to come, but instead an awkward silence stretched out.

“And that would be?”

“What’s the deal with her?”

“Her?”

“Celly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that all of the sudden this pony appears out of nowhere and you give her a spot on the Magesterium and start acting like she is your best friend. I know she’s been reading to you.” The very final words were hardly more than a grumble. “I could of read you books. At the least Daring Doo.”

Twilight smiled and turned on her cushion to face Rainbow Dash.

“Dashie, are you jealous?”

Twilight could not see with her magic if her friend was blushing, but she would be willing to wager more than a few bits that the pegasus was.

“No! I mean, no. I’m just… worried is all. How come I never met her before she joined the Magesterium?”

“There are lots of ponies you have never met.”

“I know… but… Silver Heart had one of his intelligence officers look into her past.” Twilight froze at the words. “You know what he found? Nothing. She doesn’t exist. She has no past. The first memory anypony has of seeing her is around you.”

Would it really be that bad if Dash knew the truth?

“What are you trying to say?” Twilight tried to keep the cold out of her voice.

Would she understand?

“What if Celly isn’t who she seems to be. Luckily nopony has been stupid enough to try to assassinate the one pony who is keeping the sun going, but what if they are trying to manipulate you. Maybe Thunderclaw or somepony else has decided to try to infiltrate our government.”

Twilight sighed. For a moment she thought Dash had connected the dots and was going to accuse Twilight of having fabricated Celly’s backstory. Of course, the truth was so crazy, she supposed nopony would ever guess it. It might have been easier to redirect the conversation if that had been where things were going.

“Listen Dash, you don’t need to worry about Celly.”

“Do you trust her.”

Twilight was surprised when she had to think about her answer, as she thought about her past reluctance with expanding Celestia’s systems.

“I do… I do trust her. I trust Celsti-”

“Celestia?”

Twilight’s face flushed at her slip up and she looked down at her empty wine glass.

“Er, I meant Celly… I think I might have had a bit too much to drink.”

“Celly. Celestia. I suppose their names do sound a bit alike.” Rainbow Dash suddenly laughed, though Twilight did not ask what was so funny.

“Really, I think it’s me that I don’t trust.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Listen, what is it that Doctor Bitwise had said? You need to learn to love yourself? Something wishy washy like that. But he was right, you can’t keep doing this-”

“I know you're right. I guess what Justice said earlier is still bothering me.”

Twilight could hear Dash’s feathers ruffling. “I can’t believe that horn brain. Doesn’t matter how much stress he’s under, he should know better. I mean you practically helped raise him. If this wasn’t his wedding day, I would have given him a thing or two to think about.”

“I don’t know. From seeing Rarity ‘talk’ with him, I think he’s suffered more than enough."

“Hmm…”

“It wasn’t really what he said. Well, I guess it was. I suppose it just hit a bit too much on the mark.” Twilight waved her hooves in the air to forestall the coming argument. “I’m not going to get all down on my self I promise. Just that he had a point is all, about the extravagance of this all.”

Rainbow Dash turned to look out at the dance floor.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to move the topic away from Celly.”

“There isn’t really much to say.”

“Why doesn’t she have a past?”

Twilight was silent for a moment before she settled on her words. “I’m afraid that’s my doing.”

It was not technically a lie.

Her Captain Commander turned back towards her in what Twilight assumed was surprise.

“Your doing?”

“Yes, it’s well- It’s complicated. Maybe we could talk about it later.”

Or never.

“Fine.” The sigh told Twilight that it was not over.

“Earlier you laughed when I mixed up Celly’s and Celestia’s name. It didn’t seem that funny to me?” She was not sure if she wanted to draw attention to her slip up, but the laugh had been bothering her and she needed a deflection.

“Well I just realized something. Their names are a bit alike, but you know I think they even look a lot alike. It makes a bit more sense why you like her.”

“Huh?”

“Listen, Twi. I know I might have come off as a bit overprotective about all this. If you trust her and know her past that is good enough for me. I trust your judgement. I guess I’m just worried because in all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never been in a real relationship before. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Be careful will you?”

It took Twilight a few moments to process her friend’s words, but once she did, Twilight would have wagered that her face was more red than purple.

“It’s not like that!”

“Uh huh. Sure it’s not.”

“No really-”

“I get it Twi, I really do. You met Celly at some event and really hit it off. For some reason you got it into your head that you needed to blot out her past to protect your privacy. I won’t pry any more.”

“You’ve got completely the wrong idea.”

“I’m not judging. I kinda always suspected you were a mare’s mare. And who the buck cares about the age difference. You deserve to find love.”

Twilight buried her head in her hooves on the table in a groan and mumbled from her makeshift shelter.

“Yes she’s beautiful, but she’s not-”

She’s not even a real pony.

“Fine, fine. If you say you don’t like her, you don’t like her. You just invited her as your plus-one to describe the flower arrangements to you.”

Twilight looked up and grumbled, “I did just invite her to describe the wedding to me.” She saw that her glass had been refilled and quickly downed it. “By the way. Since when does Silver Heart have operatives spying on my friends?”

Dash looked at her and spoke in a lower voice, “Since always. For the most part it’s not much more than a background check on ponies that are going to have access to sensitive locations and information.”

“Sounded like a bit more than a background check.”

“Well, when the check turned up completely blank, it raised some red flags… Besides, we’ve been on a higher guard the past year or so.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“I guess it was a bit before you got your wings. The palace received a real creepy stalkerish type letter addressed to you. There were things the common pony off the street shouldn’t have known. We thought it best to beef up the screening of ponies that would be around the palace a lot.”

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

She hoped that her friend at least had the decency to look ashamed.

“You had a lot on your plate. The Witherton Attack had just happened and you were taking it pretty hard. We didn’t want to worry you.”

“You should have told me.”

“Maybe.” Twilight could sense Dash shrugging her shoulders. “I suppose I can tell you now that Silver Heart wants a formal budget for internal security investigations. Things are still tense with the griffons and he is worried about them trying to bribe staff… Actually he has a big list of things he is worried about. Some ‘non-intrusive low-level surveillance can head off many problems on Equestria’s horizon’ or something like that.”

“What type of surveillance?”

Rainbow Dash looked around the table. “We should probably talk about it later in someplace more private. Besides, I think I have been scaring away ponies who want to socialize with their princess. I think I’m going to go track down where Fluttershy is hiding in this big crowd. Haven’t had a chance to catch up to her in a while.”

The night wore on.

“Oh my goodness.” Celly whispered in her ear. “Evening Vigil is coming over here and he is all dressed up in a little tux. He is adorable!”

Twilight smiled at the young colt as he approached her table. He was trying to walk while balancing a slightly too big pocket watch in his right hoof, and the look on his face was absolutely serious. Celly was right. He was adorable. She was glad he was continuing on his father’s duties and knew that he would some day get the hang of his responsibility.

“Princess. It is time to lower the sun.”

She gave a nod and thanked him. “Ah, very good. Thank you for the reminder.”

The sun was not quite in position for sunset, but it was only a few degrees off. She channeled her magic and began to nudge the sun along as she felt the orrery in her mind speeding up.

When Twilight was finished, the sun was below the horizon and she dismissed Evening Vigil to enjoy the reception with the other fillies and colts. After he left, she sighed as she wondered if a time would ever come that the sun did not wear on her.

“I’m sorry that I can’t help you with that. I have so much power at my disposal, but...”

Twilight looked at Celly with a sad smile and finished her sentence, “but you have to channel it in parallel. A little there and a little here. Too much in any place or spell would burn out your system.”

She could tell Celly was frowning as she apologized. “I’m sorry. I want to be able to do more.”

Twilight snorted as she took another drink from her glass before responding. “It’s not your fault. There are only three materials that could handle anything near the magic we are talking about. Equestria certainly couldn’t afford the number of sapphire emeralds you would need, and I’m not sure if there is enough star metal in the world to properly retrofit you.”

“And the third one is definitely off the table.”

Twilight briefly wondered why Celly laughed, but ultimately decided it was not important. She took another drink and swirled her glas. The silence seemed to stretch as Twilight contemplated.

“Princess, I said the third one is off the table... Right?”

She did not look at Celly, but a moment later felt hooves grabbing her.

“Twilight! Promise me that the third one is off the table. Tell me you aren’t planning on-”

Twilight had finished another glass of wine. How many did that make?

“I thought it was you who wanted magic in the first place. Wanted to help your princess.”

“I… I do… But not like that. It’s… wrong. I’m not sure if I can explain why, but I know it’s wrong. Ponies suffer enough in life. They deserve to rest in death.”

Twilight thought about telling Celly about the dagger she had made from Moon Dreamer’s horn. Digging up her student’s corpse had been hard, but she thought it was because she had known him. If he had been a stranger, it might still have been bad, but probably not awful. Twilight could probably tolerate digging up more graves to get more horn material. It was the only substance that existed in a large enough supply to work into Celestia’s systems if they wanted to increase Celestia’s maximum capacity while channeling in series. The buried were dead and had no more use of their bodies. Anything that still remained of them would have long ago passed to the great pasture in the sky, if it even existed.

“I’m not going to go digging up corpses. What type of pony do you think I am?”

Celly looked away downcast. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you were quiet after I made that joke, and… I thought you might have been thinking about it. I know I want to be more powerful, but there are some prices not worth paying.” She paused and tried giving Twilight a nuzzle. “Remember my most faithful student, we must always strive to do what is right.”

Twilight decided to accept the apology and returned the nuzzle. Perhaps it would not be so bad to let the dead rest.

She remembered Rainbow Dash’s assumption and pulled away.

“Celly, it’s been a long day and I’ve set the sun. I think I am going to start saying my goodbyes now, as it will probably take awhile, and then make my way to my room.”

“Ok. If you don’t mind, I would like to socialize a bit more. Not being the princess and all, I won’t be expected to do the whole goodbye tour before ducking out. I’ll meet you at your room?”

Twilight could sense Celestia smiling and shook her head. Celly or Celestia - it seemed that she was beginning to use the names interchangeably in her mind. One was just supposed to be a mask for other ponies, but it seemed like the line was being blurred.

“Sorry. I’m feeling really tired. I think I just want to hit the hay tonight.”

“Oh… Ok… Well, we can finish The Dream Spear later this weekend.”

Twilight almost told her that she should finish it on her own. Instead she said, “Yea, if we have time.”

She stood up and felt her head spin.

Definitely one glass too many.

“Feel free to say as late as you want, OK. Don’t worry about me- just tired’s all. Enjoy yourself.”

Twilight walked away from the table to begin saying goodbye to her friends. By the time that was done, all the ponies she did not know would have heard she was leaving and have lined up to say their own goodbyes.

Destiny

Chapter 22 - Destiny

Twilight was taking the long way to her tearoom and was moving along the ramparts of the palace walls. She had always liked the view, and even though she still could not see, she could imagine it in her mind.

Her mane was blowing on the soft breeze, though she had begun noticing it moving even when indoors. It had just been a few twitches and flops that she might not have even noticed if she had not heard ponies whispering about it. The transformation had begun when her wings came in, but it had finally reached a point where Twilight could confidently say she no longer had a mane like a normal pony.

When she was younger, Celestia’s mane had been a subject of fascination for her. Twilight would be curled up besides the princess working through one of their lessons and the living mass of hair would seem to sneak around her and engulf her. The hairs that were not hairs always tickled.

Once she asked Princess Celestia why her mane was so different. Twilight wanted to know what made it work. Celestia's only response had been a coy smile before the Princess took another sip of tea. When Twilight continued her questioning the Princess made her an offer.

“My most faithful student, I have a game of sorts I would like to propose. If you want you can think of it as an extra credit research assignment. You must tell me how my mane works. If you can get it right, I will give you a very special reward. However, for every wrong answer you give me, you must spend a day without your books or any studying and simply try to relax.”

Twilight had never figured out the answer, which only made it more infuriating that as her own mane continued its transition to a more ethereal state, she still had no clue as to how it worked. Some ponies from Canterlot University had been studying Twilight for their research on alicorn biology. The best answer they had been able to come up with is that for some reason her mane was interacting with the astral realm, as if they believed such a place existed.

Twilight stopped on her trip along the ramparts and took a gentle breath. There was the faint smell of lilacs. Flowers had become an interesting experience without her sight. She had always thought their beauty was in their colors and shapes. However, without being able to see her attention had turned to the other side of them.

Yes, the lilacs smell nice.

Leaning her neck on the edge of the ramparts and sticking her snout hanging over the edge, she could better smell the flowers drifting up to her. Extending her magic downwards Twilight felt the bushes at the base of the wall.

It was her sun that let them live. They thrived off of the energy she provided. The ponies that tended to them were safe because of her efforts. Twilight let her magic feelers dissipate and her body relax. She still had a few minutes before Rarity would be expecting her.

Her ears twitched. Somewhere there were some birds chirping. She could hear some colts playing hoofball in the distance. In the courtyard below a fountain babled. They were all things she normally ignored.

At first Twilight thought the key to coping with living forever might be to ignore all the little details. After all, after several lifetimes, so many of them would accumulate. But as Twilight sat there, she thought that maybe she had been completely wrong.

In a thousand years lilacs would still smell like lilacs, and the burbling of a fountain would still sound the same. Young colts might not still be playing hoofball, but the sound of their joy would remain constant. Perhaps the details could be a rock, unchanging and eternal.

Twilight spread her wings out to either side of her body, hoping to soak up as much of her sun as possible. She was certain that she must look ridiculous to her guards, posed as she was. However, since losing her sight it felt like some of her inhibitions had vanished. It was a bit childlike she supposed. If she could not see herself looking foalish, then certainly other ponies could not either.

She released a deep sigh before inhaling deeply. If offered she would have her eyesight back in a heart beat. However, being blind was a uniquely new experience and she was determined to appreciate what it had to offer.

Friendship report fifty six had been about silver linings. She needed to look for those more often.

Five months ago Rainbow Dash’s two months had expired. Twilight had been all set to tell her friend that she was done with therapy. It had not helped and she was done wasting time on it.

Then her friend had said those five words.

“I’m proud of you Twi-”

Twilight considered, for a moment, lying. Dash trusted her, and if Twilight told her she was still going to therapy her friend would believe her. The guilt had been too much for Twilight to contemplate that for more than a moment, however she certainly was unable to tell Dash she was quitting after such a simple and honest declaration of trust.

So five months later she was still seeing her therapist, Doctor Bitwise. Five months later, and it still seemed pointless, but it made Rainbow Dash happy. She was past the “getting to know one another” stage of her sessions, and were supposedly working through her issues, but Twilight felt like all they did was make her more aware of how miserable she was.

She was not any happier than she had been seven months ago, but her downward slide had halted. When she imagined the Ponyville in her mind, the Everfree was still and unchanging. Twilight supposed that stagnation was preferable to decay. However, she attributed that to Celestia and her friends more than anything else.

She would carefully monitor the dark corners of her mind to keep tabs on her nightmares. However, she was beginning to hope that it might be possibly deal with her dark emotions in a healthy manner.

Twilight wondered if Rarity would mind if she just took a nap.

“Princess!”

Twilight jumped as she near shouted.

“Celly! I told you not to sneak up on me.”

“How is it possible for anypony to sneak up on you with your magic feelers?”

Twilight only grumbled in reply, knowing that her companion already knew the answer.

“So what are you so excited about?”

Twilight could sense that Celly was holding a letter and the pony seemed to be trotting in place.

“I just got a proposal. A company made a very reasonable bid on the rail contract.”

“Really?” Despite the control she had gained over her wings, she felt a flutter of excitement.

“They’re requesting funding for high capacity glow orbs, and that the Crown assists in procuring equipment abandoned by previous attempts. Beyond that, they just want a squadron of guards. Other than that, it’s standard cost of materials and labor.”

“Is that really going to be enough?” Her wings stopped fluttering. “If that was all it would have taken everypony wouldn’t have given up on construction efforts thirty years ago.”

“I think they might feel galvanized by the upcoming Moon Celebration-”

“I’m not going to approve the construction if they don’t have a plan. Keeping construction crews out in the wilds for the amount of time it will take to make the lines is just signing their death sentences. There is a reason we had to stop working on the Equestrian railroad network.”

“Oh, they have a plan. They are going to build fortifications along intervals along the rail. When everything is done they can store maintenance equipment in the fortifications, and they can be used as secure stops. They have a proposal for some of them to be outfitted so that the Equestrian military can use them as outposts.”

“That’s… Not a terrible idea. It still doesn’t solve the problem that we can’t have workers living out in the wilds for the months it would take to complete just one line.”

“They won’t. That’s the primary motivating factor for the fortifications. At no point will they be working so far away from one that they can’t ride the part of the line they have completed back to safety before sunset. Then once the sun rises, they ride their work train back to the end of the line.”

“Won’t that mean the work ends up starting fairly late in the morning and end early in the afternoon?"

“At the worst, when they are doing work on the next fortification along the line, they should have four working hours each day.”

“That’s… Not a lot. It seems like they will need a lot of ponies to get things done in a reasonable amount of time. That plus the cost of the fortifications- How much is the material and labor part of their bid?”

“Er…”

“Celly? How much is it?”

“A lot. I’m not really sure where we would find the bits. But the demands on our other resources are non-existent. Every other attempt to complete the rail lines would require a massive deployment of the Guard to ensure safety, and we definitely cannot afford that.”

“But what good is this plan if we can’t pay for the labor?”

“We can find the bits somewhere. Maybe we can pass a temporary tax increase. Just think about the benefits.”

“A direct line between Canterlot and Manehatten would be useful… And we could begin phasing out the current caravan system which has been broken for years.”

“And highway patrols and caravan guards could be reassigned! Even ignoring the ability to use the rail for high speed troop movements without resorting to teleportation, there would be huge economic benefits. I’ve been crunching the numbers and we will easily recoup the costs.”

“I don’t know…”

“There is a reason Princess Celestia had been pushing the development of rail before your reign.”

“Could we discuss it during the Magisterium? I would love to give ponies a safer and faster way to travel, but a major undertaking like this is something we need to carefully consider.”

“I’ll have it added to the docket!”

“You’re certainly excited about this.”

“Building a comprehensive rail system across Equestria was something that Princess Celestia was never able to complete. I just… really want to see this become reality, to see a line constructed from one end of Equestria to the other.”

“I suppose with the memories that you have, it’s not too much of a surprise. Speaking of construction, we should look into reinforcing your chambers.”

“Why?”

“Did you hear about the earthquake in Ponyville? It’s the first recorded natural earthquake in Equestria in over a hundred years. This area should be geologically stable, but I would be worried if anything-” She paused when she noticed the other pony looking away. “Celly? What do you know about this?”

Celly ceased her innocent whistling. “I may have… Mind you, there is no way to be certain, it easily could have been a natural earthquake, but it is possible, just a possibility-”

“Spit it out.”

“I caused the earthquake.”

Twilight stopped walking and put a hoof to her face.

“Could you please explain to me how you caused an earthquake in Ponyville.”

“Remember a while back you gave me permission to expand my tunnels so I could enhance and add to my matrices to better handle the Solar Guard?”

“Yes…”

“Well I may have gotten a bit overeager and dug a branch tunnel before fully checking the geological stability.”

Twilight had to think about it for a moment. “But... Any digging you’re doing should be too far to cause an earthquake in Ponyville… Just how much have you expanded the tunnels?”

Celly waved a hoof in the air as if trying to pass her answer off as unimportant. “They’ve become… rather large.”

Twilight groaned. She had not personally visited the caverns since before Diamond Justice’s wedding. She would need to go down there and check on the mess Celestia had made of things.

“You need to be careful. If you cause a cave in, you could cause irreparable damage. I told you to take things slowly. What are you thinking causing earthquakes?”

“I’m sorry… It’s just that you have been under so much pressure, and I can do so little. I need to be stronger to help you, and the only way to do that is to grow. If I expand, I can expand the Solar Guard. That means Equestria is stronger and less ponies are put in harm's way. That means you suffer less when your ponies are hurt.”

“Celestia…”

“Please don’t worry about me. I want to ease your burdens not add to them.”

“Listen Celestia-” Twilight remembered where she was. “Celly. I really want to talk about this more. But, I’m afraid I can’t talk right now. Rarity had wanted to speak with me about some discontents and I’m already late for the meeting. Apparently there have been some ponies protesting and there is some concern that they might become violent.”

Twilight also hoped to speak with her friend about Diamond Justice. From what she understood, the former prosecutor was no longer on speaking terms with his parents, and Twilight hated the idea of being the cause of such a divide.

Celly smiled at the alicorn as she replied, “Very well then. I shall see you later tonight, my most faithful Princess.”

Twilight shook her head at the pony and trotted towards the tea room where her friend was waiting for her. It had been some time since she had spoken alone with Rarity. Even though they were just going to be talking business, Twilight was looking forward to the meeting.

She was mere paces away from the tea room when she felt it. A powerful presence had just appeared in Equestria, and she felt her legs trembling. Twilight recognized the presence. She licked her lips. The way in which the magical flows were warping all around Equestria was the imprint of another Twilight.

“I’m sorry Rarity. Looks like we will need to have tea some other time.”

Twilight paused for a moment in front of the door before dashing away. The visiting Twilight was not anywhere nearby and she was having trouble pinpointing the location. She soon found herself standing on top of a tall tower scanning her magic across Equestria.

When she eventually pinpointed the source, she frowned. She did not know why Future Twilight would have chosen that location. Hopefully it was for some reason better than the fact that it had already happened that way for this new Future Twilight.

Suddenly a wave of power washed over Twilight’s senses and she found her magic momentarily blinded as she fell to her knees. It was overwhelming and intoxicating. Something new had appeared. Below, she heard a cacophony of unicorns crying out in alarm. The new presence dwarfed Future Twilight’s power, and even blind, she could see the sky blazing with magic.

“Twilight what… what is that?”

Her senses were being overwhelmed and she could not make out the speaker with her magic, but she recognized the voice as that of one of the Solar Knights.

“I think... I think that it’s me, but from the future.”

Her legs where quivering in anticipation. She could smell the magic coming from the new arrival. With a great deal of strain she managed to locate the location of the second, vastly more powerful arrival. It was at the same location as the first Future Twilight.

She moaned in annoyance when she realized the implications of two Future Twilights being at the same location. “Tell me Celestia, did we ever hear back from the Equestrian language professors? What do you call something from further in the future than something already in the future. Is it future-er?”

Without another word, Twilight wove together the teleportation spell to launch herself deep into the Everfree Forest. The scene that greeted her was not at all what she expected.

Rainbow Dash told Twilight that the palace of the two alicorn sisters was destroyed in her battle with the Nightmare, but until now she had not fully understood the extent of the destruction. All that remained of the once ancient ruins was a massive crater, and Twilight was amazed that nopony other than her had been seriously injured.

Waves of energy were emanating from the center of the crater where another Twilight was curled into a tight ball. As Twilight focused, she realized that it was the first, weaker visitor to arrive. The mare was sobbing uncontrollably.

Standing above the first time traveler was the second, almost overwhelming source of power. The impression of the eldest Twilight given to her by her magic made her gasp. She could sense that the entire crater was being bathed in the radiant flames of power that composed the mare’s mane. The final time traveler seemed to embody everything that her sun lacked. The smell that lingered in the air caused Twilight to pause for a moment before she identified it. She was not sure how she knew, but the older mare reeked of time.

“Good. You have arrived.” The words rippled through the air, commanding and authoritative.

“Please. Please, don’t make her do it.” The other pony uncurled slightly as she wailed her words.

Twilight could only stare on in confusion.

“Pathetic. It is hard to think that We were once so weak.” The eldest alicorn turned away from the weeping pony to face Twilight. “I’m sure that you have many questions, but they will answer themselves in due time.”

“Please, don’t make her. You can’t make her.”

“You can ignore her. She’s just here to take the sun from you while you do what must be done.”

Twilight finally found the courage to speak. “What do you mean must be done? What did you do to her?”

She did not care how much more powerful or how much older the other Twilight was. She did not like the idea of the pony making another version of her cry. Her thoughts were momentarily derailed when she wondered what her therapist would say about that.

“We didn’t do anything to her. Or rather, she does it to herself, so We suppose We did do it to her when We were younger. As for what is about to come, it is something that you have suspected for awhile. We need to maintain as much continuity as possible until the point comes to change the course of time. So pass the sun over and We will provide the power to propel you to the designated moment.”

“What moment?”

“Don’t listen to her. She’s a monster, a devil. Please you can’t do this.”

“The moment you shatter your best friend’s happiness.”

“Why would I-”

“Because you don’t have a choice. You know it happened, and that it must happen. You also know in your heart of hearts that any abomination you commit is justifiable.” As the pony spoke, Twilight could feel the waves of energy becoming more intense. “In the end, as long as We save her, save Equestria our actions are right. Besides, once We have corrected fate’s mistake, nothing that has happened since that day will have any meaning.”

“But I don’t-”

“It doesn’t matter what you want. You know that this day has been coming. Now relinquish control of your sun to this wretch.”

Twilight looked at the sobbing pony and made up her mind.

“No. I don’t care how strong you are or if you are me from the future. I won’t do it.”

“Break the vase, Twilight.”

The words carried the weight of command and Twilight found herself falling to her knees. The pressure inside her head was incredible as the words echoed around her skull, demanding to be acted upon.

“No.”

“Impressive. Even in Our youth We possessed strength. But you will yield.” The towering alicorn took a step towards Twilight. “Give over your sun.”

Again the authority came crashing down on Twilight in waves. There was a desire to listen to the words, a knowledge that everything would be OK if she just listened. Twilight was no longer even kneeling as the weight of her disobedience pushed down on her.”

“No.”

“You will OBEY your Empress. Surrender the sun and journey through time.”

Twilight retreated into her own mind to escape the pressure.

Within the visualization, she could still see, and as she walked through the streets of Ponyville, she was shocked by what she saw. Guard Twilights quaked in fear and other Twilights were running everywhere in a panic as the sky began to fracture. The weight of the command was pressing down and inwards.

She needed to do something.

“Obey!”

The sky shattered. A pillar of flame lanced down landing in center of the town square.

“Pathetic. This is what you call your mind.”

Several buildings had caught on fire, and various Twilights were at work putting out the flames to preserve the memories within. However, Twilight herself approached the older alicorn and felt an army marshaling behind her.

“I don’t care if you call yourself an empress now. You are inside my mind, and here I’m in control.”

She dropped a bus on the alicorn.

“Not sure why that was the first thing that came to mind, but it seemed to do the trick.”

“FOAL!”

The bus exploded in shards of thought and evaporated in a towering column of flame that appeared in the square. Every Twilight present began channeling their magic, trying to contain and banish the fire.

“You think to face Us when this is the best you can do for a mind. An organized mess with a forest encroaching on all sides. You need to do better than this.”

A wind burst out, and all but one of the Twilights were knocked down. Twilight decided that it would be best to be that Twilight and so she was. Looking around at the other fallen Twilights, she came to a conclusion. Pure thought and strength of will might not help her, but she remembered how she had fought off the nightmare.

As Twilight summoned the memory, the door to Sugar Cube Corner opened up and a pink earth pony stepped forward.

The fires began to die and Twilight heard a whisper from Empress Twilight, “Pinkie...”

Twilight thought of all her friends and embraced the warmth in her hearts. She heard Applejack walk up besides her and saw Rainbow Dash flying in. She would not allow an intruder in her mind.

“I’m crazy enough with just me in here.”

The other Twilight Sparkles were up again, strengthened by the memories. They were Twilight. They were strong.

“Leave here now, Empress.” She put the force of command behind the words.

All of her friends were behind her now.

There was silence when Empress Twilight threw her head back and began to laugh.

“You seek to compel Us? Us? Ahh, We have not laughed so hard in two thousand years.”

Twilight took a step back in shock, and heard herself stuttering. “I said leave.”

“No.”

She planted her hooves and shouted. “Leave.” She could feel the air rushing from her lungs as the wind blew leaves past the Empress.

The flames were gone now. There was only the ancient alicorn surrounded by the manifestations of Twilight’s mind. The temperature seemed to plummet.

“Child, let me teach you something about authority. Let me teach you about the Royal Canterlot Voice.”

Twilight could only watch and feel a chill at the cold eyes of the other pony, and what she saw terrified her. There was compassion in Empress Twilight.

“Relinquish your sun.” There was no yelling, nor rushing of air. There was only the absolute authority of the undisputed ruler of all. There was only command and obedience.

And Twilight was standing in the crater again with the two future versions of her self. However, something was different now. She realized that she could not feel her connection to the sun. When she looked at the sobbing version of herself she could hear the words, “I’m sorry,” being repeated over and over.

Twilight stood trembling as she realized that she had lost. Involuntarily she began drawing magic from the future version of herself and started casting a spell. She wanted to fight it, but the spell continued running through her mind. Even attempting to resist was beyond her.

“GO now Twilight Sparkle. Fly back through time. Become the Ghostly Mare that haunts your friend at night when she dreams of her foal that never was. Break the vase and thread the strand of time in the grand tapestry of fate. Fly Twilght Sparkle and soar on your own wings.”

For the second time in her life she was outside of time. She had the distinct impression of doubling back as everything shrunk to a point and expanded to infinity. Twilight could feel herself sinking back into time and knew her destination. She struggled against it and wrestled with the magic.

Then the spell was done.

She could still see the burst of light from her appearance, then there was a loud snap. In fighting the spell Twilight had caused a magic buildup that rushed outwards now that she was back in the stream of reality. There was a loud boom and outward push of air.

She shook her head to try to rid herself of the banging echos of command in her head. Then she saw them.

Two pegasi were in the room, rendered unconscious when her appearance had slammed them against the wall. Sorin looked relatively unharmed, but Rainbow Dash hit a bookcase that collapsed on top of her.

Her friend was not moving.

Rainbow Dash does not die here.

But Dash’s unborn foal did.

“Dash… I’m so sorry.”

Twilight swung her head around as felt magic swirling around her again. She could feel herself being pulled from time. As she began to fade she heard a groan and saw Rainbow Dash raising her head from the pile of rubble. She had just enough time to whisper another apology.

“I’m sorry.”

Like a rubber band snapping she was yanked back to the future. However, something about this voyage was different. Twilight did not know if the things she was hearing were a byproduct of her imagination or were real.

- “I’m sorry. There is no heartbeat. There is nothing I can do.”

- “A miscarriage? I’m so terribly sorry darling.”

- “Excellent work officer Dash.”

- “Don’t sweat it. We’re going to try again once we are ready. maybe this time he will get a ring on my hoof first.”

- “Shadow forms are at the walls.”

- “Maybe we should hold off a bit. I mean, with the Wonder Bolts starting our new tour, the timing isn’t great.”

Snapshots of a pony’s life.

- “For your valor in battle.”

-“Come on, tell me what’s wrong.”

- “I’m ready to give being a mom another go.”

- “She wants me to be the new Captain Commander… I mean…”

- “Maybe if you hadn’t killed our daughter.”

- “How dare you!”

- “Go on, run on back to your Princess. You always cared more about her than me anyway.”

Twilight somehow knew what would happen next. A lavender unicorn would be shaken. For the first time in that unicorn’s life she would see her best friend truly distraught. The pegasus threw herself into the unicorn’s embrace and started sobbing.

The unicorn cried as well. Her friend had been so close to having a family of her own, and now it was gone.

In a flash of light Twilight found herself in a crater where the Castle of the Two sisters once stood. She was alone. Twilight curled herself up in a ball and began sobbing. The other Twilights would be there soon.

+++

“And so the return part of the spell brings her back twenty minutes ago where her presence draws the attention of her younger self.” The now younger of the two remaining Twilight’s sniffed as she wiped her snout. “The you-of-ten-minutes-ago forces past Twilight to give the me-of-ten-minutes-ago the sun. After she is done sobbing and witnesses you sending her younger self back in time, she becomes me right now.”

She shook her head.

“I hadn’t thought about how I was going to get back to the future- present. Last time I just waited and lived through the time until I was were I was suppose to be. You worked that recall part into the spell, didn’t you?”

“Very good. We are pleased with your grasp of the weave. You might be wondering if you actually leapt forward in time bypassing it, or simply managed to experience it in an altered state but while still experiencing the years. It is an important distinction, We assure you, but one you will not learn for some time.”

“You’re a monster.”

“Perhaps, but you were the one to surrender the sun. You were the one to travel back. You unleashed the kinetic burst.”

“You made me.” She was standing up and screaming now. “You didn’t give me a choice. I had to obey.”

“Don’t lie to yourself. You obeyed because it was more comfortable than disobedience. All you needed to do was not listen.”

“Why, why did you do it? You didn’t have to send her, me, back.”

“We did it because We had been sent back when We were your age.”

“That’s not a reason!” Twilight roared.

The echo of command still rang in her head, but it was fading and her anger was louder. Twilight lunged towards her older counterpart, her horn ablaze and wings flared.

She did not even sense the Empress using any magic, but a powerful telekinetic force slammed her to the ground. Twilight groaned as she felt sharp rocks piercing her chest and her breath was knocked from her lungs. She looked up and held her spinning head.

“You can’t unbreak the vase, Twilight.”

Her eyes opened in surprise. “What?”

“It’s a very old rule. The oldest of rules, spoken into being at the start of time by the very first of the immortals.”

Twilight felt her blood pooling beneath her body and struggled back to her hooves. She resisted the compulsive urge to kneel. There was only one ruler of Equestria that Twilight would ever recognize.

“Then why are you doing any of this? Why even bother with any of this if we can’t save her?”

“We didn’t say that.”

“But I thought-”

Twilight locked her knees as blood ran down her legs and grit her teeth. There had to be something she could do, but as she stood there her despair began to overwhelm her anger.

“It may be the rule, but We are the last of the immortals. Changing the rules, changing the game, takes time however… You would not believe how long We have been working towards this. There are only a few threads left, a few more stitches and all will be right.”

“How-” Twilight choked back another sob. “How can I believe that?”

“Because We win Twilight. We win. We have always won. That is the way of time. The path is long and complicated, but in the end it is Our game and We are victorious. When We return to your future, We will not be alone.”

“When you say ‘we,’ you don’t mean you and I do you, or in any sort of weird time traveler pronoun sense either? You mean it in a different way.”

The now Future Twilight gave Present Twilight an odd look, but did not deign to answer.

“What do you mean that you won’t be alone?”

“We mean that We fix the mistakes that mar an otherwise beautiful tapestry. She is waiting for Us... We saved Celestia.”

Author's Note

This was one of the keystone chapters that have shaped the story.

I loved writing Empress Twilight.

Things are going to start happening quickly now.

The next chapter "Clever Pony" will likely be posted some time midweek. I need to decide if I want to split it into two chapters to expand on certain parts or not. I think of all the chapter titles, the title of the next chapter contains the most significance. You can make of that what you will.

Also, you may have noticed that I have posted a "sequel" to Equestria's Twilight. It's really just a side story focused on CelestiAI, entitled Diary Volume One Hundred and Thirty Eight. You can skip it if you want, there is nothing important regarding EqT's plot (though it may put some of Celestia's actions in a different light).

Clever Pony

Chapter 23 - Clever Pony

Twilight was alone at the center of the crater, her entire body trembling and her hooves wet with her own blood.

“She... She saves her?”

She shook her head. If she had any free will she would never become that thing. Twilight did not know if the Empress had been from a future, the future, or a future that now would never be.

“No. I won’t let it happen, not like this. I won’t become her.”

Still she could not move.

Maybe the events of today would ensure that she would never declare herself Empress of Equestria. Maybe by traveling back, that Twilight had undone her own existence.

However, no matter what had happened going forward, she had done something horrible.

She had obeyed.

Twilight certainly could not go talk to Rainbow Dash. She did not know if she would ever be able to look her best friend in the eyes again, and that was not even considering how she would even begin to explain what was going on.

Likewise Twilight still had not told Celestia about her new time magic. She needed somepony now, and did not think she could handle the explanation or questions that might follow. Neither was Twilight certain she could stand to tell her construct.

“Will she judge me?”

She needed the real Princess Celestia.

The fires lit by magic were dying down, the source of their fuel having disappeared.

How am I going to explain that magical surge to everypony? I can’t just tell them about that future me.

Twilight shook her head again. Explaining things was not her real concern.

For the second time that day, Twilight poured magic into a long distance teleportation spell and found herself in the Sun Study. She would come up with an explanation for her ponies later. She threw herself on the bed burying her snout in the blanket and tried to breath in the scent.

“My most faithful student, what happened to Rainbow Dash was long in the past. She has healed from that hurt and will not blame you. You need to talk with your friend.” The imagined words were what she wanted to believe.

Twilight shook her head burying it deeply in the pile of pillows.

“She’ll hate me.”

“Rainbow Dash is the last pony who could ever hate you, my most faithful student. You need to trust in your friends.”

“How do I explain?”

“If you don’t think you can, then don’t. Simply tell her the truth and that you can’t explain it. She will know.”

“How is it possible that I become… I become that?”

Twilight imagined Celestia embracing her with her wings as she sank into the blanket. Despite lying down, it seemed as if a wave of dizziness swept over her.

“You don’t need to, my faithful student. Your destiny is for you alone to decide. But… there is one glimmer of hope in this.”

“What… What’s that?” Twilight said while sniffling. Briefly she registered that something had changed in the blanket’s scent. Something smelled oddly metallic.

“It might not have been your nightmare that killed me. If it is some alternate future Twilight, you have no need to feel guilty because you have not done anything. You can avert the past by changing the futu-”

In her imagination Celestia looked at her with shock, raising a bloody hoof from her chest where crimson stained her once pristine white coat.

Twilight jerked away from the blanket, feeling it tear away from her fur where it had begun to stick. The fabric and feathers were soaked in her blood. She looked down at her body to see that bits of rocks were still embedded in her purple fur, and blood was oozing from around them and the long gashes from when she had hit the ground.

With her head upright, she felt woozie as the room seemed to spin. How much blood had she lost? She looked back down at the blanket.

“No, no, no…”

Twilight levitated the blanket before her only to cause some of the blood that had pooled on the fabric to begin to ooze down it. Clumsily her mind grasped for a spell that Rarity had taught her to remove stains. Her spell work was sloppy and Twilight momentarily wondered why she never did her own laundry.

The blood pulled away from the fabric in a lavender glow to where she dropped it on the ground. Twilight floated the blanket to her face and tried to smell it.

The blanket fell back to the bed lifelessly, as tears began to replace the blood.

“I’ve ruined it.”

+++

Twilight entered her study. The staff had repaired the damage from her ‘tantrum,’ and though she could not see it, she knew that it looked as good as new. Some pony had been smart enough to not bother with replacing the torn wall hangings and ripped paintings. Instead there were tapestries with rich textures, wall sculptures with interesting geometries, and more. All of it had a nuanced feel and was a delight to her feelout with her magical sense.

She still needed to find out whose idea it had been. She needed to thank them.

Even some of the bookshelves had been replaced, though their contents were now wildly different. Twilight perused one row of books that were all in braille. She was still learning the alphabet, but it was not as much of a burden as she had first suspected. The largest problem, she had discovered, was that the selection was severely limited.

“Hmm… Maybe I should draft a proposal to the Magesterium to have the Canterlot Central Library’s braille section expanded. I certainly can’t be the only pony who would appreciate it. Course, we will have to pay to get more books translated.”

None of the texts in the row caught her attention. The other rows contained traditional texts that her present blindness rendered unreadable to her. However, they were there because she could always call in a Solar Guard and have Celestia read them to her. Unfortunately, she had not even felt like reading the past few weeks.

Twilight wandered over to her desk. It had been a month since “Empress Twilight Sparkle” had departed after giving her final cryptic, but hopeful message. She hated that older pony for what she had made her do, but Twilight could not deny that part of her hoped that the pony had spoken the truth.

“She is waiting for Us... We saved Celestia.”

The encounter had occupied much of her thoughts during the intervening time, and as much as Twilight wanted to believe that everything would be all right there was a memory that she could not shake.

Twilight stood in the center of Ponyville with the entire might of her mind marshalled behind her. Another much older Twilight stood across from her.

She stared into Empresses Twilight’s eyes as she defied the order.

There, in her own mind where she could see, before Twilight’s will had been crushed she had recognized the look in the older Twilight’s eyes. It was a look she had seen before in her own eyes. Spike called them “Test eyes.” There was a dangerous obsession in the other pony. Twilight always tried to suppress her anxieties and manage the aspects of her personality that someponies might call “unbalanced.”

However, Twilight knew the other pony had gone off the deep end. Twilight was convinced that Empress Sparkle, despite her massive power, was crazy.

Twilight sat down at her desk. It was an unorganized mess, and that was ignoring the uneaten sandwich that had been brought to her for lunch. For some reason she was not feeling very hungry.

One boon of losing her eyesight was that certain things did not bother her as much now that she was unable to see it. It was strange. Just a year ago, even the knowledge that her quills were not lined up parallel to one another and perpendicular to her straight edge - which itself had to be half a hoof from the edge of the desk - would have driven her into a fit. Now, the towering pile of things on her work surface didn’t phase her. It was if they were not even there. It was freeing to be able to drop something and not have to worry about whether it was aligned with everything else.

Her servants did their best to keep her rooms clean; it had been that way her entire life. Even when she had been a student, Spike was the only thing keeping her from being a total slob. It was something she had never understood about herself. She could care so much about order and everything being in its place, and then she could leave a room looking as if a hurricane had hit.

So would I be able to care so much for Celestia, and yet still kill her?

Unfortunately, there was not much her servants could do for the desk. They did not know where their Princess wanted things sorted. However, for once she was happy with them right where they were. She was somewhat concerned about what her desk would look like in however many decades or centuries it would take for her to regain her eyes.

“I wish I had asked her how long it will take for my eyes to regrow.”

But she would leave it as future Twilight’s problem.

Twilight used her magic to open a small box sitting on her desk. Inside was the fruit of two months of work with Celly, three hoof-sized crystals sitting side by side on a silk cushion. In the lid, was more padding with impressions where the crystals would press against it.

Her hoof hovered over the first crystal on the left. It matched a purple notebook that she could no longer read, contingency plan seventy-three. The dagger would be preferable, but Equestria would survive even if Twilight would not. The plan needed work, but there was still time.

The middle crystal contained all of her notes about the future. Everything she had seen and experienced while in those strange trances. Every word and every nuance of Empress Sparkle. She had poured the crystal full of her thoughts, ideas, and theories. Ultimately there was simply too many details that she did not know.

The crystal lifted up for a moment as Twilight considered working on the puzzle that was both her past and her future.

To fight your enemy you must first understand her.

Twilight lowered the crystal back in the box. Thinking about the Empress just made her feel dead inside. She also supposed she had spent too much time puzzling over the contents, and for now had a kingdom to run. The third crystal floated from the cherry wood container and shot to the center of the room.

It’s contents were constantly changing, holding whatever notes and thoughts she had been working on. Eventually Twilight hoped to have more “crystal notebooks” but there were higher priorities than crafting more of the magical trinkets. She projected a light spell into the crystal.

The light scintillated and reflected inside of the crystal, and when it bounced back out in every direction, it created a nuanced three dimensional pattern filling up the room. Twilight began a slow circle of her study, runes and diagrams floating around her, slowly analyzing them with her magic.

Her magic floated wrapped around the aura of a glowing square.

Send letter to King Thunderclaw regarding progress of agricultural assistance program.

She thought of the letter she had dictated hours prior. A check appeared inside of the square. This was a language she could still read.

Twilight moved down to the next box,

Prepare for meeting on railway project.

She sighed as the runes swirled around her, until they stopped on an abstract representation of Equestrian cities and their transportation connections. Twilight traced the glowing lines between each node, making note of the railways that Princess Celestia completed and the many lines that were left undone.

The meeting was important and she had a lot of work to do if she wanted to be ready.

+++

“Princess, is everything alright?”

Twilight bolted upright in the council chair. She knew what the pony had meant to say was “Princess, are you paying attention?” but of course, nopony would be so bold.

“Yes. I’m fine. Please continue.”

However, despite her words, her mind was elsewhere. The speech regarding steel and coal requirements went unheeded as she could not stop thinking about her encounter a few hours ago.

+++

Twilight was lying on her back in her bed slowly waving her hooves in air as she contemplated her upcoming meeting. She was done going over her notes and was prepared as she would be. Ultimately, the meeting would decide whether Equestria would complete its rail system or whether miles of uncompleted track would continue to give way to the elements. Twilight wanted to make sure her mind would be “in the game” as ponies would say. So she was sorting her thoughts as she used her muzzle to trace her hooves slowly running through the air.

Suddenly she felt another terribly familiar presence suddenly appear in the room and groaned. At least this time she was masking her aura and would not cause a panic.

“Not this again,” she said while rolling over onto her hooves.

“You don’t get to complain. This is only your first time through this.”

Twilight sat up and looked at the identical pony sitting at her desk. She could sense the other pony holding her head and wrinkled her nose. The other pony smelled of vomit and something else.
Blood?

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, no… It’s… There is a lot going on in here. Haven’t had a chance to sort it out yet." The Twilight at her desk paused rubbing her temples. "Ugh, which one are you?”

“What?”

“Do you know Diam- No that won’t work, might give it away," said Older Twilight as she began to pace around the desk.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve had this conversation twice now. I’m trying to figure out which version it is.”

“You’ve been through this loop twice already?” Twilight shook her head as she wondered how complicated things were going to get.

“No don’t be stupid. Parallel lines. They converge soon. Oh! Did you kill Little Pinkie?”

Twilight frowned. She was not sure if she liked this future Twilight.

“Why ask a question you already know the answer to?”

“Yes or no? Did you kill Little Pinkie?”

“I did what I needed to in order to save my friend.”

“Good. I mean… I know which conversation this is now. Wish I could just tell you not to eat too much and walk out the door now, but we have a lot to talk about. OK I think I have it all sorted, at least enough to get through this conversation without any mixups.”

Twilight growled in frustration. She was lost even more than usual. “What are you talking about?”

“Too complicated to explain. Not sure if I could. Crowded up here. You’ll understand soon enough anyway. You have another question?”

“So how far-” Twilight tried to ask.

“In the future am I from? One week.”

“Don’t-”

“Finish your sentences?”

Twilight just frowned at her future counterpart.

“Fine, fine. It’s just a little payback is all. I’m the pony having to sit through this conversation a second time remember. And I have a huge headache.”

“I thought this would be your third?”

“Ugh, no. Keep up. It’s only the second time through this version.”

Twilight found herself trembling as she considered the possible ramifications of what her doppelganger was saying.

“You mean you... “ She shook her head. The other Twilight would explain if she wanted to. “Still even having been through this version once still gives you an unfair advantage.” Twilight waited hoping the other pony would reveal something.

“Look, in a week, you will be here, in my hooves, finishing your past self’s sentences.”

“Please don’t tell me you are just here because the first time through the loop you were visited by a future Twilight.”

She tensed her hoof up. Depending on the answer she was willing to punch the other pony, future self or no.

“Calm down, no. I’m here for a good reason this time.”

“And that is?”

“I’m here to give you a message." Older Twilight paused a beat in thought. "Well, more to deliver a warning.”

“You’re delivering the message? Who’s it from then.”

“Her.”

Twilight gasped at the venom in the word and knew immediately which pony her counterpart was talking about.

Twilight whispered the name below her breath, “Empress Sparkle.”

“Please, she doesn’t deserve that title, and-”

“How did you hear that? Our hearing isn’t that good.”

“I remember saying it, dummy. Stop thinking so linearly. You need to-” The future time traveler stopped mid sentence.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I just realized that this doesn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you hear me saying it right now, that this doesn’t make sense, but you don’t really internalize how nonsensical this is until you are me and me right now. You, in the right now, are assuming that this will all be clearer the second time through and that it only seems confusing to you.”

“That’s what I’m hoping. But what specifically doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, you aren’t going to heed the warning. I know that for a fact. This conversation wasn’t even in my mind when I- well... when the warning would apply. That’s not the point of the warning…”

“Maybe the point is to give me information.”

“That’s what I said when I was you. No that doesn’t make any sense either. She could have just told me what I needed to know without sending me back.”

“Then why?”

“The only reason I can think of would be-” Future Twilight abruptly cut off her words.

“Would be what?” Twilight was beginning to feel impatient.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh come on!” Twilight flung her hooves into the air. “Don’t think I don’t know when I’m lying. Do you not trust me?”

“It’s not that. It’s just it bothered me all week that future me wouldn’t tell what the reason was, and I just now figured it out.”

“That’s not a reason. That was her reasoning and I still don't accept it.”

“No, I know. Let me think about it more. There are some big things we discuss during this conversation, and I’m hoping by the end I’ll have some better answers from having been on the other side of it.”

“You already know if you are going to tell me or not… It’s not fair.”

“Just be patient. You’re going to be me soon enough. I don’t… I don’t think you can understand until you are me. We have a paradigm change.”

Twilight puzzled at that, but decided she would get her answers later. “So what’s the big, all-important warning.”

“Sometime in the next week you are going to do something very bad.”

“That’s the warning?”

“Yep.”

Twilight had done bad things before.

“How bad are we talking?”

“I threw up afterwards.”

And that explains that part of the smell. But what about the blood.

Twilight could see tears in the pony’s eyes.

“So I suppose you can’t give me any more details.”

“Nope… I mean yep. Oh! There was one more thing. You are never supposed to do it again.”

“Is there any chance you can tell me what it is that I do?”

“You’ll know it when it happens," was all Future Twilight was willing to divulge.

“Any chance I can not do it?”

“Not if we want there to still be an Equestria.”

“Time explosion?”

“No. I mean, the thing we- you do averts Equestria’s destruction.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, as she ran to her desk to grab her note-crystal.

“What! We need to prepare. We need a checklist. You can’t just drop the apocalypse on me and expect me to avert it without preparation.”

“Calm down. You… take care of the problem.”

“Are you OK?”

“Not really, no.”

“Do you want to talk to somepony about it?”

“I would…”

“But future you didn’t talk about it your first time through the loop?”

“Nope.”

Twilight sighed.

“Does all this time magic at least make more sense for you than it does for me?”

“Actually yes. That’s one good thing that comes out of this. I’ve had a breakthrough in understanding the fabric of reality. It won’t really make a lot of sense, but it’s like a big tapestry.”

“A tapestry?”

“Yes, and before you ask, because I know you are going to ask, the threads are time, or events, or… I’m not sure. It was confusing. Yes, the thread is made up of all these little fibers, and the fibers are threads themselves. No, those fibers are the lives and actions of ponies and other creatures, wait, no-”

“When I said not to finish my sentences I also meant to not answer my questions before I ask them.”

“It’s faster that way.”

“No, it’s harder to follow, and then we have to have a conversation about how much more annoying I become in just the span of a week.”

“How does anypony put up with you?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“You do... In a week.”

“So reality is a tapestry?”

“Sort of.”

“And the threads are made of time?”

“Kinda.”

Twilight growled. “OK, maybe you can tell me something else. Where is this tapestry? If it’s reality, then where does it exist?”

“No clue. The whole thing might just be a metaphor concocted by my mind so I can understand it. I was hoping to have an answer this time through, but I don’t. Maybe there isn’t one. I do know, however, what’s between the threads of time.”

That got Twilight’s interest, and so she asked, “OK, what’s in between?”

“You won’t like the answer.”

“Just tell me.”

“The impossible.”

“What does that mean?” She was thoroughly exasperated.

“You’ll just have to wait and see. In a week you learn to see the threads. You’ve done it before sort of instinctively. This time it will stick. It’s sort of like. You need to glance sideways, but not sidewise, a different sideways. Look, it will make-”

The time traveler stopped, groaning and clutching her head. Twilight focused her magical feelers in on the other Twilight and realized she felt something strange. Blood was dripping onto the floor from her counterpart’s head.”

“Are you OK?” Once again Twilight was concerned for her future twin.

“I can feel him.”

“Feel who?”

“One sec, I’m trying to make sense of things. Why is that thread still there?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Oh that’s confusing. So that’s what I meant last time.”

“Can you PLEASE tell me what you’re talking about.” Twilight was beginning to lose patience with the time traveler.

“Fine, but it’s not going to make a lot of sense right now. Come back to this after a week, and it will, but right now, no. So Twilight does something at a certain point-”

“Which Twilight, me, you, future us? Past us?”

“I’m not sure if it really makes sense talking about it like that. For the sake of the conversation lets say me. I do- did something that causes our thread to split.”

“Split.”

“Yeah, it separates and goes down two paths. But the split is way back. Almost thirty years ago.”

“What did I do thirty years ago?”

“I didn’t say that I did anything back then. It’s the birth of a pony that causes the split, and- Let me finish. And we lead our life up until next week along one of the threads, that’s the one you are experiencing now- the first one that is. At that point the threads merge back together. After that I traveled back and ended up here.”

“How does that work?”

“Everypony else only remembers the second thread. Me? I’ve got thirty years of contradictory memories up here.”

“Things change? Why is it only you who remembers both threads?”

“No. They’ve always been like this, the two parallel threads. Don’t worry though. Most of the changes aren’t all that bad. A lot of them are actually pretty good, well some of them… Actually I haven’t really sorted through that yet.”

“But for me… Things are going to change from the way they are now.”

“Yeah…”

“So did everypony’s thread split thirty years ago?”

“Yes.”

“And they all rejoin in a week.”

“No… That’s why they only remember the second thread.”

“Wait… If they split, what happens to everyponies’ thread that doesn’t join up with the second path?"

“Nothing… The threads that we join back with continue on. The others…. They just dangle there.”

“That doesn’t seem good.”

“No it doesn’t. I think that’s part of the purpose of the warning.”

“So the bad thing I do?" Twilight paused looking at her Older self for any possible clue. "It causes the split?”

“Maybe… As I said, I think it was always that way. I’m not really sure, this is still new to me. I only have a few hours of lead time on you in regards to this particular revelation.”

“Fine, be that way.”

“I think that eventually they will all fray away. Until there is no more split. When that happens our thread will collapse into one path wound all together.”

“This is confusing.”

“It’s a bit better the second time through, though my head is still killing me.”

“Ok so-”

“You did it to save Fluttershy.”

“What?

“Sorry.” Future Twilight shook her head. “I thought you were going to- had said something different.”

“Wait? Did I mess things up? The other times I’ve talked to my past self it was almost like we were following a script. Did I… Did I go off script?” Now she really was hopeful.

“No, calm down. I… I just mixed things up is all, so settle down.”

“Okay, can you tell me something then. Future Twilight, I mean Far Future Twilight since you don’t want us calling her Empress.”

“Fine! Call her Empress for all I care… It get’s harder to follow otherwise.”

“Empress Twilight… do you trust her?”

“No.” There was no hesitation.

“Do you think she killed… kills Celestia?”

“I… I don’t know. The way she is… It really seems like it would make a lot of sense, but… She shows us something, and… I’m not sure if she would be capable of killing Celestia.”

“I think she would be capable of any-”

“No I mean… I don’t think she is physically capable of doing it.”

“You felt how powerful she was… Even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wouldn’t be able to stand up to her.”

“I have no doubt she could kill Princess Luna, but… Look, you will just need to talk with her yourself.”

Twilight levitated over a pillow from her bed and sat down on it.

“So you think we should just go ahead and let her keep on going with whatever it is she has planned?”

“Absolutely not.”

“So what are we supposed to do then.”

Older Twilight got up from the desk and slowly walked over to her. Once they were facing one another, Twilight felt a hoof coming to rest on her shoulder.

“We’re clever ponies right?"

Twilight nodded her head in a confident bob. “Absolutely. We are a very clever pony.”

“So let’s come up with a plan.”

+++

Twilight threw herself back onto her bed, burying her head in a pillow to muffle a scream. She barely restrained herself from throwing the shared note-crystal at the wall.

“How are we supposed to thwart the plans of a pony thousands of years into the future who is going to have our memories of everything that we do? Our every action might end up in a history book, and she can just come back here and stop whatever we are doing.”

“We just need to make sure not to become her.” Older Twilight had been far less emotional throughout the entire planning session and it was beginning to bother Younger Twilight.

“How do we make sure of that- unless… contingency plan seventy three…”

“The plan to let Equestria survive if we somehow die? What does that…” As the older Twilight tensed, Twilight realized that her counterpart had just remembered what had been going through her mind. “No, no, absolutely not.”

“Why, not? I’m not… I’m not saying its the best option, but we should at least consider it.”

“Well for one thing, I’m here right now. What’s going to happen if you-”

“I could wait a week obviously, or you could do it.”

“I… No. I’m blackballing that plan.”

Twilight looked at her counterpart with contemplation.

“Why are you so against it? We should at least keep it on the table.”

Twilight could hear the otherpony shuffling her hooves in the ensuing silence.

“I don’t want to not be.”

She looked up from her bed in surprise. “I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s... “ The future pony choked back a sob. “It’s true, and not just for Equestria. I want to live for myself. I don’t want to die.”

“How do I change so much in a week?”

“Things aren’t as bad as you think. You’ll see that in a week.”

Twilight got up from the bed and walked towards her older self. “So you aren’t sad anymore?” She could not suppress the hope from her voice. Twilight could not imagine what it would be like to have the darkness lifted from her heart or what could accomplish such a task.

Older Twilight shook her head. “I’m more messed up than ever. It’s just that… things aren’t as bad as I think… I think. It’s just with all the confusion going on up here…” she said putting a hoof to her forehead, “I just don’t want to die.”

“Okay then… I will believe you because I want to believe that… What if we gave our construct orders? We could explain to her about the time travel and do something like we did with the dagger. Celestia, Celly, we can trust her.”

“No, we would have too much time between now and becoming Empress Sparkle to work around that. Besides… There is another thing we need to consider.”

“What’s that?”

“What are your theories? On how Princess Celestia died that is…”

“Well, theory one… I killed her when I was younger. The nightmare construct in my mind manifested and overpowered Princess Celestia and Luna. I had been pretty certain about that awhile ago.”

“But?”

“Well it doesn’t make sense really. It wasn’t strong enough to manifest until this year, and even if it had been, how did it overpower the Princesses?”

The Older Twilight nodded her head. “So unlikely… But still a possibility.”

“Now my leading theory is that Empress Sparkle does something, though you’ve cast some doubt on that.”

“I want to propose another theory.”

“OK, and that is?” Twilight asked.

"This was all put into motion by a third agent."

"Who?"

“Celestia does it.”

Twilight looked with some concern at her counterpart. “Just how bad was that nosebleed?”

“No I mean… Celly. We explain time travel at some point in the future and she realizes she wouldn’t exist without Celestia’s death. We made her to want to be like the real Princess Celestia, and she couldn’t do that if she was still around.”

“That’s… That’s ridiculous. The real Princess Celestia would never do something like that, and so Celly would never do something like that. What would even make you think-”

“Just wait a week.”

Twilight stared at her future twin during the silence wondering just how event filled the week would be.

“I trust her.”

“You should probably be getting to your meeting soon.”

Twilight focused on her mental clock and realized with despair that future Twilight was right.

“OK, One last question.”

“Shoot. I can’t really remember what you ask. It’s been a busy week.”

“So, with this thread merger thing, if everything is going to change for me in a week-”

“Some things are going to change for you in a week. Most of them not very big or important.”

“Ok, well if some things change for me, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“I mean… If you’re going to be hanging around for the next week-”

“I’m not going to be just hanging around. I have some important things to do.”

“Whatever, you know what I mean. You’re going to be in this time for the week. Which version are you going to remember?”

“Which version?”

“Yeah the version that this thread is in, or are you going to remember a week of “doing important things” where all the changes have already happened in the other thread.”

“Oh horse apples.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, with the splits and mergers, it was already confusing. I didn’t realize it at first.”

“Realize what?”

The other Twilight groaned. “My personal timeline split the moment I arrived in this room. I think it remerges again in a week.”

“So?”

“It was really not pleasant - isn’t pleasant - sorting through these double memories this first time. Now I’m going to have to do it again.”

“It will only be a week of memories this time, maybe it won’t be too bad.”

“Yeah, or maybe I’m going to throw up again.”

“I thought you said you threw up because you were upset about what you did?”

“I don’t know why I threw up! There were a lot of things going on and I was really upset. I mean, I feel queasy thinking about it, but I can’t rule out that it wasn’t the effect of disparate time lines merging… I got a nosebleed.”

“I know you got a nosebleed. You’ve been bleeding all over my carpet!” Twilight took a deep breath “I’m going to be honest. I’m not sure if I trust you either. Something is off about you.”

“I’m not her.”

“It sounds like whatever you did was really bad if even Empress Twilight thinks it should be off the table.”

“Just wait a week. We’ll see how you choose.”

“I really don’t like you.”

“The feeling is mutual. You have no idea what it is like, but are so morally superior. You’re just like her. Ev-”

“Her?”

“The other Twilight.”

“What?

“Forget I said anything. But listen. Everything I do is for Equestria. Everything I do is for her.”

“Don’t question my conviction.”

“I’m not questioning it. I just know that it hasn’t been truly tested yet.”

“I think you should leave now.”

“Fine. Let me just put on a disguise.”

The future Twilight turned into a small pink unicorn, the same unicorn that would be seen coming or going from the palace whenever Twilight had a therapy appointment.

“Good idea. It will help reinforce the disguise if ponies see us someplace at the same time.”

"Oh, one more thing."

Twilight sighed, but acquiesced. "Alright, what?"

"OK, this is important and I need you to listen. I'm not going to hop."

Twilight quirked her head at her future self. "OK... Why would you?"

"Exactly, that's right. There is no reason for me to; I can't ever imagine a reason for me to do so... But remember the first time we did this, I mean talked to ourself in the tower, we hopped up and down for no reason other than we already had. Well I am unilaterally declaring that I will not hop up and down while talking with my past self. Ever again."

"I don’t get it... And I don't care if you're older than me by a week, I'm not sure you can just declare something like that."

"Sure I can. Now if I ever see a future version of myself hop and down, then I will know that she has changed things, even if it is as simple as hopping up and down. You are welcome to hop when you are me, if you want to change things, though your younger version won’t know the significance unless you explain it to her first like I am now."

"Do you plan on hopping now?" Twilight knew what she wanted the answer to be.

"No... There is still too much I don’t understand. But I just wanted to make sure we were all clear on that."

"Well..." Twilight frowned at her counterpart. "Then I hope the next time I see another Twilight she will be hopping up and down."

"You think I'm a coward don't you? You know how terrifying this is."

Twilight ignored the question. "You can leave now if there isn't anything else..."

Older Twilight only sighed before heading towards the door in her disguise. “I’m going to the dining hall. If you could have one of the guards run ahead a message that I’m a guest... By the way, I know it’s not going to do any good, but if you can remember, duck.”

“Huh?”

The other Twilight walked out the door.

Author's Note

Once again, this chapter title is important.

This chapter and the next one originally had been each a single line in my notes before I realized how important they were to the overall story. The next chapter will be interesting... I have no idea what the title will be. Something like "The Week" or maybe "A Side."

I can say that after the next chapter we have Chapter 25 another keystone chapter, one that had been partially written going all the way back at chapter 6 (though it has undergone SIGNIFICANT revision).

I'm going to take this moment to promote my new story After the Fall. Check it out if you want some heart-wrenching (hopefully) post apocalyptic Twilestia.

Also Special thanks to Lusitainia for prereading this chapter. I think it might be the first one in this story that I have had someone look over before posting (so you know who to blame now for the typos, jk).

The Week - Thread One

Chapter 25 - The Week - Thread One

Twilight woke up with a loud yawn. There was no warmth shining through her windows telling her the sun was still below the horizon. She checked the orrery, her internal clock, and contented herself that she had simply woken up early.

Her ears twitched at sound from across the room and she expanded her senses.

A pony was sitting in the middle of the woven carpet with one of Twilight’s note crystals. Magical diagrams were swirling through the air occasionally shuffling and reordering. When Twilight ran her magic through the projects, they seemed to be schematics for a building or castle.

Finally, her brain processed the fact that there was another pony in her room, and she rolled over to face the intruder. She could still sense the guards outside her door alive and well so her brain continued its sluggish plod.

“Who are you?” She said sleepily with a yawn.

“I’m you from the future, remember?”

Twilight bolted upright in her bed, blankets tumbling to the stone floor.

“Where did you disappear to yesterday? When I was done with court I couldn’t find you anywhere; I had been hoping we could talk more... And what are you doing in here?”

“You may have told the guards that I was a guest, but you forgot to tell anypony to prepare a room for me, so I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I’ve been working all night either here or in the library,” said Older Twilight.

The younger of the two Twilights crawled out of the bed and began analyzing the runes flowing around her. They were architectural plans and seemed somehow familiar. It seemed some of them were marked as “original plans” while another much more complicated and elaborate set was marked as “revised.”

“What is this?” she asked.

“The palace of the two sisters. Before we blew it up, of course.”

Twilight noticed rolls of paper piled around her counterpart and felt a flutter of excitement.

“Are those the blueprints from the archives? Do you have magic that lets you read? Or do I heal my eyes before I become you?”

“Yes and no.” Future Twilight paused and put a hoof to her head. “Could you not yell. We haven’t had a chance to actually fix anything - still in the planning phase. Have to lay a good foundation to support the weight.”

“Sorry…” Twilight looked down before fully processing the words. “We? Wait, how did you read them if not with magic?”

“We? Sorry. I meant ‘I.’ I got Celly to read them to me.”

“Celly? Why would she-” and then it struck her. “She knows you’re a Twilight? That you’re me I mean. You’re not in disguise right now, how did you explain that? Two of us being in here, how did you explain that to her?”

“I could have just told her the truth.” Older Twilight spoke barely above a whisper.

“You told her about time travel?”

“Why does that upset you? You were the one who told me that you trust our creation. Why do you keep the extent of our magic hidden?”

“I… I do trust her. It’s me. All of this still doesn’t feel real. But if I tell another pony then suddenly there is all this pressure. Like if Rainbow Dash knew would she want me to be using it to deliver warnings and messages about deployments and orders to last week? I hardly understand this all myself; how am I supposed to explain this to another pony?”

“And?”

“Why are you dragging this out of me? You know the answer!”

“Actually… Things are so scrambled up here. I don’t remember a lot of the details about how this week is supposed to go. This conversation in particular. It’s refreshing really, being on this side of things and still not knowing the script. Part of me kinda hopes I will mess up, but afterwards it’s a bit sad; I eventually remember the conversation and realize it went exactly as it was supposed to be.”

“But you’re me, so you should know anyways, even without time stuff involved.”

“Scrambled remember-”

“You keep saying that; what does that mean?”

“I told you. I have two sets of memories. Some things are bad, major disparities. Other things are more minor, different emotional reactions, different color fabric on the bedsheets, and so on. Every single time I think of something I get two responses.”

“But-”

“Just drop it. You will understand eventually. Now answer my question. Why don’t you tell her?”

“I guess… I’m worried she will judge me. The thing we first made wouldn’t have, but… I don’t know about Celly. What if she thinks less of us when she learns about Empress Sparkle?”

“Thanks. That helps me a lot actually. I needed to know where to sort this.”

Twilight felt the diagrams all shifting around.

“What are-”

“You worry too much you know. She won’t judge us.”

“You were the one who told me I shouldn’t trust her!”

“Did I?”

“Yes! Maybe? You said something like that. We talked about a lot of things yesterday.” Twilight paused for breath. “So she knows now? How did she react?”

“Calm down. I didn’t tell her. I told her there being two of us was part of an experiment, and in a way that’s true. Experimentation is the best use of this week, after all.”

+++

Twilight stalked the hallway with a grim scowl. Elsewhere in the castle was somepony who looked just like her, only not. Layers of illusion disguised the doppelganger as a small and timid pink unicorn. Dealing with her future self in short bursts was one thing that Twilight could abide, but she could not stand having that other Twilight around on a long term basis.

It had only been two days since she had arrived.

She wanted to simply wring all the answers out of the enigmatic pony, or at the least get her older self to help with saving Equestria. However, whenever they would sit down, one of two things would happen. Either some business of state would arise and Twilight would need to leave, or she would get fed up with the pony and need to leave.

The last time they had talked was early morning before breakfast. When Twilight woke up she realized another day had passed without any answers, and she vowed to get them.

As soon as she had been able, Twilight had stalked the time traveler down. She found her quarry sitting by the statue of the twin sisters in the garden, and she asked her counterpart for help. With two of them they could do anything.

“It won’t matter in a week.”

“What are you doing that is so important?”

“I’m trying to think.”

“How can you not help?”

Nearly every one of their encounters since the other Twilight had first arrived followed a similar script. She understood that, if the timeline was going to change, maybe having the other pony help with the sun or with defense was not a great use of time, but she could still do more than just sit there.

Even if things would be different, ponies were still suffering now.

A loud resounding gong stopped Twilight in place. The gong sounded again and her muscles tensed until she remembered it was the second week of the month. She shook her head in self chastisement and resumed heading down the hall ignoring the rest of the monthly test. In schools fillies and colts would practice hiding under their desks and teachers would be checking emergency glow orbs, but everypony else would be going about their lives as normal.

Canterlot had not been attacked since Rainbow Dash had become Captain Commander.

Twilight looked up to see Celly approaching.

“Hello, Princess.” And then in a more conspiratorial tone, “Are you still handling it well?”

Twilight resisted the urge to groan. If her future clone was not planning on helping, the least older Twilight could have done was not made her life harder. Instead she had, perhaps intentionally gotten herself caught by Celestia out of disguise in the her study on that first day.

“Yes, I’m fine. It’s really not that stressful.”

Twilight still couldn’t believe the ridiculous lie Older Twilight told Celestia about a bilocation spell. There were so many better ways to explain two Twilights other than Twilight “splitting her mind,” even without resorting to telling her the truth.

“I’m glad. I was worried at first. When I first started creating many splinters for the Solar Guard it was a bit difficult just keeping track of things.”

And that was all she said as she fell in besides Twilight on their way to the Magisterium. Twilight was having a hard time gauging Celly. The white and pink pony kept on shooting her glances. Twilight had expected her construct to say more, but instead there was just silence. Twilight thought about what her older double had said about Celestia.

No. I trust her, but - Something has changed...

Twilight grit her teeth as the realization came crashing down on her. Older Twilight must have said something to Celestia.

The meeting of the Magisterium went about as well as could be expected with Twilight’s mind figuratively in at least ten different other places at once. By the time the meeting was over, her frustration towards the cause of her distraction had reached new limits. Twilight waited for the other members of the Magisterium to leave.

Celly was the last one out.

“Oh, Twilight… Rarity had mentioned to me yesterday that she wanted to fit me for a dress after the meeting today, so…”

Twilight waved her hoof. She had larger problems.

“What is she up to?”

Twilight knew she had a problem. She could not trust the pony she was to become, and neither could she trust the pony that she once was. She did not know enough about the former, and there were too many holes in her memory to trust the latter. She did not even know who future Twilight had talked to or what she may have said. All she had was herself in the now.

Could another Twilight turn Celestia against me?

Twilight began to ruminate on all of the damage a pony from the future could do with only a weeks worth of foreknowledge.

What if she lied about the diverging time lines? What if she lied about being from only a week in the future?

Twilight was ashamed at how long it had taken her to ask those questions. It had seemed so natural to believe words spoken in her own voice. Of course, that made them the perfect vehicle for deception. Twilight did not believe that Older Twilight could have gotten to everypony. Simply not enough time had passed, and in the end she made a gamble and talked with Silver Heart.

Considering how recently she had approved funding for internal security surveillance, the unicorn already knew a shockingly large number of spells for keeping track of another pony’s activities. Twilight had spent most of the previous day with her Chief of Magical Intelligence, going over his repertoire of surveillance magic. She had been discreet about her motivation, simply saying she wished to better understand how he was implementing his new budget.

Twilight wove a spell around the door, locking it. She would rather be in her study, but the Magisterium chamber would give her the space she needed. Finally, satisfied that the room was secure, Twilight cast the second part of a spell she had begun early in the morning.

An illusion of a unicorn formed in the middle of the room. The pony's surroundings were also shown in the illusion but for only a few paces in any direction. Sound began coming from the illusion as the unicorn started walking in place, the surroundings seeming to slide under hoof.

Unlike some of the other surveillance spells Silver Heart had that projected images useless to blind ponies, Twilight could follow this one with her magic.

The illusion had started at the beginning of the day when Twilight first cast the spell. With a wave of her horn the pony’s steps became a blurred trot. A table slid into the illusion and future Twilight sat down. From out of the illusion another pony appeared with a plate of salad. Twilight twisted her head, waving her horn a second time, and the illusion sped up again.

Come on, show me what you’re planning

Hours passed by in minutes and still the unicorn just sat at the center of the illusion, only saying a word or two to passing ponies. Twilight slowed the illusion down when it looked like her twin was about to do or say something, but instead she just held her head between her hooves.

Twilight focused the image and could sense something running down Other Twilight’s nose. More blood.

Maybe… Maybe she is just in a lot of pain…

Suddenly the older Twilight looked up towards where Twilight was sitting.

“Come on, I’m not stupid. I may be a bit of a mess right now, but I can still remember that you would be watching me.”

Twilight moaned in frustration. How could she be so annoying? The day was almost over and she had gained no useful information. She sped through the rest of the recording to current time and saw that her quarry was once again in the gardens.

Twilight was going to have a word or two with… herself.

Why haven’t those language professors gotten back to me? I don’t care if they think my request is a waste of their time or doesn’t make any sense. If I don’t hear back soon I’m just going to make up my own words, proper syntax and linguistic heritage be damned.

With a pop she teleported from the room.

“Are you here to distract me?”

“It’s been three days and all you do is sit around and eat.” Twilight growled at the other pony.

“I told you, I’m thinking.”

“Plotting is more like it.”

Older Twilight turned away from Discord’s statue and then continued, “Look, I know you don’t believe it, but what I am doing is going to benefit us.”

“Why aren’t you doing anything to help anypony?”

“Nothing will matter at the end of the week. I told you that.”

“That doesn’t matter. This isn’t like us.”

“That’s exactly the point. No reason on doubling up on effort. I expect the other version of me, if she is a clever pony which I know that she is, will be acting like us enough for the both of us.”

Twilight stormed off in a huff. She had better things to do than deal with a reticent time traveler.

Twilight maintained her monitoring each day, and each day was the same. At least once a day they would have a confrontation, and their discussions were almost always identical. Twilight would occasionally feel pity for her double when she saw the pony clutching her head in pain, but at least it seemed like the nosebleeds had stopped. The only pony future Twilight ever really seemed to have any significant conversations with was Celestia, and Twilight felt like she was missing some important piece of context to those conversations.

Of course that was up until Twilight had to spit out her tea while reviewing the surveillance spell.

Future Twilight was sitting in Twilight’s study without a single layer of illusion, appearing as an alicorn for all to see. There was a knock on the door to which Future Twilight replied, “come in.”

Diamond Justice entered.

“Princess.” Diamond Justice bowed.

“One thing I have always admired about you is your convictions. You can be honest to a fault you know. It’s surprising you made such a good prosecutor. You remind me more of Applejack than your parents in a lot of ways.”

It was hard to judge through the surveillance illusion, but Twilight thought Diamond Justice seemed confused, but he rose from his bow anyway.

“Well. I was hoping to talk with you about what happened at my wedding.”

“All is forgiven.” Older Twilight’s head seemed to sag under some invisible weight.

Why does she sound so sad?

“No… I mean, yes, I’m sorry about my outburst, but we really need to talk about certain things. You were right though that it was the wrong time and place.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry Diamond Justice. I’ve heard what you have had to say. I know what your arguments are. I have no interest in hearing them again.”

“But! You didn’t even-”

“I can’t do it. I’m so sorry, Justice.”

“What?”

“It was just… I thought that perhaps right here I could hop. That there might not be any need for the vase to break in the first place. But what is done is done, and I fear what the ramifications would be here if I were to act in this singular moment of time. What would happen to me if my strand does not remerge? What happens if the strands never split? It was a mistake, but a necessary one.”

“Aunt Twilight, you aren’t making any sense.”

“Leave me Justice. I have much that I need to accomplish. But know that I will always love you, my nephew.”

Great, now I have to track him down and I’ll be the one apologizing.

Other than that frustrating interaction. the only interesting thing of note was that future Twilight began to look up the schematics and designs of other famous castles. Unfortunately, Twilight still could not get an answer why.

It had been six days since her doppelganger had arrived and all she had to show for it was headaches of her own. It seemed like they just got worse after every conversation, and the stress was just building up. Tomorrow would be her last full day before whatever calamity was supposed to befall Equestria came crashing down on her.

Of course, she thought wryly, that assumes Older Twilight isn’t lying to me. But, I suppose that possibility is not mutually exclusive with something horrible happening to Equestria in just two days.

She was in the Magisterium chamber again reviewing her surveillance spell watching Older Twilight in real time. Her future twin was in the Sun Study and was not wearing any illusions. The pony turned towards her and began speaking through the spell, as she had done several times through the week.

“There is something that has been bothering me for awhile now, but it has taken me awhile to organize my thoughts enough to realize what it is. I should have remembered from being you and watching me talk about it, but those memories were buried deep.”

“Hmm. I wonder what’s that?” mumbled Twilight.

“It has to do with the something that happened back at the wedding.”

Twilight jumped in surprise at the response before it was followed up.

“-And no, I can’t hear you. I’m not the one using the spy spells. I just remember your question now,” said Older Twilight.

“Ok so-”

“There is an experiment I need to perform to resolve my concerns. I told you earlier that this week was about building and experimentation. The one is for the other. Fate has handed us a blank check in regards to this week. I get to explore some of the… impulses that I have been worried about without a concern as to lasting consequences.”

“No!” Twilight’s eyes grew wide. She remembered some of the impulses she had forced herself to suppress. “Just because time is going to rewrite itself.”

“You won’t be happy about this, so I recommend you don’t watch even though I know you won’t listen.”

From the edge of the surveillance spell Twilight saw a projection of Celly enter the room with Older Twilight.

She felt her blood run cold and ran for the door.

As she reached the thick doors of the Magisterium chamber she felt herself slam into a magical barrier. After a few seconds of slamming herself against it and throwing telekinetic force at it, Twilight attempted to teleport out of the room only to find that blocked as well. Realization dawned on her. Future Twilight, without the burden of the sun had a tremendous amount of magical power to spare, enough to keep Twilight trapped in the room. There was nothing she could do.

“What is she going to do?”

Twilight turned back towards the illusion and focused all her senses on it.

“Celly, there has been something bothering me since Diamond Justice’s wedding. It’s about something Rainbow Dash said.”

Twilight watched in horror as her future self approached Celestia.

And then watched as her future self leaned forward and kissed the construct. A moment later Celestia stepped forward into the kiss and Twilight dropped the spell in shock.

As the illusion dissipated she could hear the words, “you’re not her are you?”

Twilight didn’t use the spell at all the next day and neither did she see Celestia. In fact, when she thought about it she supposed she rather spent the day sulking.

As she was preparing to go to bed she felt a presence in her room.

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to talk. This is our last chance really. Well… There is time tomorrow but we won’t talk.”

“You’ve got things all sorted out in there?” She felt tears forming in the ducts around her damaged eyes.

“For the most part. I still need to put on some finishing touches. I have a few other experiments to do as well.”

Twilight was crying now. “Why?”

“I told you not to watch.”

She threw a pillow at her future self. The pony stepped to the side and the projectile went out over her balcony.

Future Twilight interrupted her tears. “I think the question is why are you upset.”

“I don’t know alright! Is that why you do your stupid experiment? Well what were the results?”

Older Twilight shuffled her hooves, “The results were… inconclusive.”

Despite it all, Twilight laughed.

“So something bad is going to happen tomorrow?”

“No something bad won’t happen tomorrow, because of what you are going to do.”

“Are you going to hop up and down by any chance? Either now, or before whatever happens or doesn’t happen tomorrow happens?”

“No. Have you been to the tower recently? The vase is still broken.”

“So nothing else?”

“We should be thinking about getting Rarity and Stone Edge to adopt. They need another pony in their life.”

“What are you talking about?”
Older Twilight shook her head. “Sorry. As I said there are still some things I need to put finishing touches on. Um… I had an idea about our conversation when I first arrived. It won’t help us really change things, but might be useful. Next time you need to fight the Empress in your mind, if you ever do again, try imagining Celestia. It might help.”

Twilight felt her ears perk at that. It was the first useful thing she had gotten out of the time traveler. Silence stretched between them and the other pony seemed to be standing around awkwardly.

“Something else?”

“I… suppose not. I’ll let you go to sleep."

As Twilight made her way to court the next day, she realized it had been full week since her time traveling guest arrived. It was seven days since she had received her warning and still she had done nothing horrible.

Author's Note

Hey, I made some new cover art! It's still not good, but it's a step up from what I had.

So this chapter... I was not pleased with this chapter. I originally wrote it from OTHER Twilight's perspective and only recently realized that that did not work. The entire story has been a third person limited perspective centered around Twilight, and even though other Twilight was still Twilight, it didn't seem right jumping perspective like that to a different Twilight(huh?).

So I rewrote the whole thing from young Twilight's perspective. Nothing in particular was bad per say but the entire thing felt leaden to me, even the scenes I liked in this chapter just didn't have much going for them.

The good news, however, is that the next chapter, The Burning Heart of Justice, is fantastic (I think). I mean, I like it a lot. It still needs editing and there are large gaps still where I just have a highlighted line "CONVERSATION" that still requires me to write some things, but you should see that in a few days.

Also in a few chapters I have some more time travel diagrams for you. Really I could include them next chapter without spoiling anything, but it doesn't make sense for Twilight to be making them for at least another two chapters.

Thanks to Final Fan and Lusitainia for proofing this chapter (I think it was them, can be hard to tell with gdocs comments sometimes).

A final also. If you like alliteration, you can check out my new oneshot, new one shot. If you don't like alliteration... I would recommend staying away from it.

Preview for next time:
A dark streak rose from the ground. It was too far and too fast for her to act against. She watched as the streak and the blur met, and then the rainbow blur plummeted beyond her sight. Twilight choked back a sob.

EDIT: I forgot to mention. Somehow my my Twilestia story Misunderstanding managed to pass up Equestria's Twilight in ranking and managed to steal the honor of being my first 1000 like story in just under a week. Not sure how I feel about that given the difference in time and effort that has gone into them.

Burning Heart of Justice

Chapter 25 - The Burning Flames of Justice

Court progressed more or less as it did every other day. The pure normality of the proceedings lulled her into a state of semi-automated decision making. The higher portions of her brain that handled problem solving still analyzed and assessed the issues brought before her, but the portion that was Twilight sat back without a peep. She suspected that she would fall asleep if it were not for the regular judgments she gave and questions she asked.

Off to the side somepony was playing a stringed instrument, a harp she thought. Some time ago some of the lords suggested having music during court might be a nice change of pace. Twilight was not particularly fond of it, but neither had she objected. Today the melody was particularly soothing.

The Princess of Equestria most certainly did not almost nod off while two ponies debated in front of her.

However, all of these conditions simply led to a greater shock when the court attendants at the door squawked in indignation as a group of ponies cut to the front of the line. Twilight watched in surprise as magic shoved the two bickering ponies out of the way of the new group. She recognized the relatively powerful magic as belonging to Justice’s wife Star Streamer.

“Justice? What brings you here to court?” Twilight asked while looking at the group of six ponies that now stood before her.

She snaked her magic senses around the room. Many of the gathered nobility seemed tense and confused. She could make out a dozen conversations springing up. However, she noted that a few seemed calm and collected in their silence. It was almost as if they expected this intrusion into the court.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle. My friends and I stand here before you as representatives of Equestria First. We are a group of like minded ponies who feel that Equestria has struggled under the burden of your yoke for too long.”

“Justice…” There was an edge to her voice. She made sure he heard it and was glad to see a shiver go down her nephew’s spine.

“We have here a list of grievances and demands.” Star Streamer pulled out two scrolls in her own magic as she spoke.

“You are not happy with the way I have been ruling Equestria?”

“Many ponies are unhappy.” Gold Standard, one of Justice’s friends spoke. “We plan on addressing each grievance in detail, but it all boils down to the fact that we do not believe your will reflects the will of Equestria. Life in Canterlot is - it is much better than else where. We wish to see all ponies in Equestria get a fair chance.”

“And your demands?” asked Twilight.

“Fair ones your highness. We request a public election to see if ponies wish to remove the monarchy,” replied Justice.

Muttered whispers ran through the room. Twilight was careful to maintain her calm demeanor.

“The Dragon Kin once tried to do away with their monarchy and adopted a republic. From what we can tell from the ruins, it ended quite horribly,” said Twilight.

“You once told me, Princess, that the possibility of failure is not a reason to not make an attempt.”

“Justice. I’m sure things are not as bad as you truly think. I think this would be best dealt with-”

“Between the two of us? Behind closed doors where you can sweep it all away? I- I tried to talk to you about this, I really did. But you ignored me, just as you have ignored the cries of Equestria. But I’m not the only pony who is upset. Even though I have only recently realized the need for action, I’ve been talking with others for months now. Princess, do the right thing. It is time for the end of tyranny.”

Twilight could easily make out the startled gasps throughout the room, and then suddenly there was silence.

Equestria was at a crossroads. At this moment, time splintered and frayed in millions of different directions. Twilight could feel it in her gut.

Time stopped.

The great orrery ground to a halt and Twilight knew that the sun would be motionless in the sky.

She looked around the room. Lord High Money’s mouth was frozen open in shock. The muffin he had dropped was still in midair. Twilight rose from her throne and circled the ponies who had come before her.

“At least I have time to think things over.”

Twilight walked by the nobles who had been silent throughout the proceedings. They had known what was going to happen. Even if they did not fully support Diamond Justice and this “Equestria First” movement, they had not brought it to her attention. She wondered how Silver Heart had failed to notice this.

Disloyalty or incompetence. I’m not sure which is worse.

She supposed it was also possible that her head of magical intelligence was spread too thin. His new budget was hardly comprehensive while his new duties were quite broad. It was something she would need to think about later.

Twilight stepped up to Star Streamer and grabbed one of the two scrolls and unrolled it. Halfway through the act realized that she had no way of reading it.

“Not knowing what is on this list is going to make it a lot harder to figure out what to do.”

For a brief moment Twilight considered a mind delve. It could certainly give her the information she needed, but there was a large variable she could not account for.

What happens if I go into the mind of a pony frozen in time?

She shook her head. That option would not work.

Suddenly inspiration struck. Twilight laid the scroll on the floor and flattened it out with her magic. Earlier in the month she was practicing a new spell, one that manipulated size. Weaving the magic, the scroll spread across the floor, rolling over ponies, and taking up most of her court. Finally, she stopped its growth before it lost stability.

Twilight walked across the scroll which had increased along every dimension. The ink had grown in thickness and she could feel the texture difference between the paper with and without ink. Slowly she traced out words, but it seemed she had as much time as she needed.

“Just details about what this public vote would look like. This won’t help me defuse this.”

Twilight shrunk the scroll back down and repeated the process with the other one. It would be the list of grievances. Her hooves trembled as she transversed the scroll.

The food rationing was a necessity. She did not know how they expected her to feed her ponies without it. Yes they she had imposed limitations on the right to assembly, but only to prevent riots. Ponies were still allowed to voice their opinion. Restriction of religious freedom was simply ridiculous. Those ponies in Manehatten had been nothing more than a cult stirring up trouble.

She felt her blood beginning to boil as she continued down the list.

Of course she quartered her troops in private homes. If barracks were not available did ponies expect the guard to sleep outside. They gave their lives to protect Equestria. There was nothing illegal about the taxation of imports from the griffon territories. It was a perfectly reasonable diplomatic move to apply the right amount of pressure. She had most certainly not filled the Magisterium with all of her friends. Rarity and Stone Edge were both Diamond Justice’s parents for goodness sake.

However, Twilight did have to give them a few of their points.

There had been a massive spending on crystals and gems for use in the palace. They were for a good reason, but they did not know that. She could not simply tell them about Celly. She had also lied about the moon, though she had no idea how they had discovered that. However, suppressing the Cloudsdale Ice Age report hardly counted as suppression of the press as their list made it seem to be.

Finally, Twilight gave an exasperated sigh when she got to the final item. The Solar Guard were not storm trotters, a personal army, or anything of the sort. They were a way for Celly to help her protect Equestria.

Twilight shrunk the list and returned it to its proper place. It was ridiculous, was what it was. She considered simply agreeing with their vote. There was no way ponies would go along with it.

But then Twilight turned her head towards the six ponies who had disturbed her court. Several of them were very influential ponies. She had no idea just how much support they had.

This was a difficult problem and as such demanded the proper problem solving techniques.

The most important thing when dealing with a tricky dilemma was a check list. She conjured her note crystal.

She needed to find the right words to dissuade the perturbed ponies before her. The fact that time seemed to be frozen meant she had as much time as she needed to craft the perfect speech. The first thing she needed to do was figure out what she knew about the ponies presenting their grievances so that she could best tailor her words.

First there was Diamond Justice, of course. Even though it seemed their relationship had recently soured he had always looked up to her, and she was proud of the stallion he had become. She knew there were jokes about “honest lawyers,” but Justice was known not only for his ability in the courtroom, but the fact that he won his cases without compromising his morals. He was honest to the core and would appreciate the same from her. She could not simply sweep things under the rug with him. That took several options off of the table.

Twilight added honesty to her list.
Then there was his wife Star Streamer. She had important connections amongst the nobility and was talented with magic. Twilight knew that she was also a logical pony. It would be important to explain her reasoning.

And then there is…

Twilight heard her crystal hit the ground with tinkering clatter as the checklist projection winked out. Next to Star Streamer was Gold Standard, a pony famed for his philanthropy. He would want to make sure things were fair for everypony. He wanted to share the luxuries of Canterlot with all of Equestria. Besides him was Fleet Hooves, a former member of her guard and a pony who had been injured pulling his comrades to safety. He wouldn’t stand for anything that he saw as betraying the ponies he had come to represent.

She looked at the next pony.

I think that one’s name was Popper?

The pegasus had hardly stopped laughing and smiling throughout the wedding reception. The pegasus had wanted to play games with her princess and had made her a card. She then looked at the final pony. Twilight did not know if she had ever learned the other pegasus’s name, but remembered very clearly that she had been the last one to leave Twilight at the wedding. She had apologized and thanked Twilight and at the time she had thought her very kind.

Twilight looked at the six friends before her.

It has to be a coincidence.

Twilight could not help to suppress a shudder that ran from horn to tail.

And Twilight turned, but she did not turn. She looked sideways, but not the same sideways she was used to all of her life. This was a different sideways, and when she looked she saw time itself with her blind eyes. In all their infinity, the threads splayed in every direction away from whatever decision she would make today.

+++

She dismissed the ponies and had them removed from her court. However, they did not stop and they ensured their view was heard. Within a decade, her precious Equestria was in the midst of a civil war.

Twilight stood on top of a tower listening to the sound of battle below. Most of her loyalist forces were elsewhere in Equestria helping to protect her ponies from the dark nights. She had not thought it would come to this. She had thought Canterlot safe.

She had erred badly.

Still, all she could do was watch. Despite all the blood shed by the rebels, she could not move herself to bring her hoof against them. It would make her the monster they claimed. She would not kill her own ponies.

Twilight tracked a rainbow blur flanked by solar guards darting through the air battling the rebels. She knew what was coming. It was only a matter of time. Already Dash was slowing down.

A dark streak rose from the ground. It was too far and too fast for her to act against. She watched as the streak and the blur met, and then the rainbow blur plummeted beyond her sight. Twilight choked back a sob.

Twilight walked down the steps. She would wait for the end in her throne room.

Time passed.

The vast hall was empty as she sat on her throne. She had ordered the palace staff to evacuate. There was no sense in them getting caught up in the violence. It had been two days since she had lost her Captain Commander, and in the distance she could still hear the sound of fighting. It seemed the Solar Guard were holding their ground at the main gates.

Suddenly there was a sickening lurch and all of Canterlot trembled. Bits of stonework and masonry tumbled. Twilight lowered her head and felt a tear making its way down her cheek. Running far beyond her limits to defend her Princess, Celly had finally surcomed to the stress. The Solar Guard was gone.

She knew that almost all of her flesh and bone guards were either dead or captured. The rebels would flow through the palace without resistance until they reached her. She could hear the pounding of hooves outside of the chamber.

Suddenly there was the sound of fighting outside of the door. She heard a voice yell, “For the Princess!” It was old Ironhooves.

Twilight did not know how long the fighting lasted, but then there was only silence. As she sat alone in the throne room, she wished for anything, even the sound of ponies dying to let her know that something was still happening.

And then the doors shook.

And then they shook again.

Twilight knew that the doors would hold, at least for awhile. Over the centuries that Canterlot had stood, layers and layers of protective magic had been woven into them. She could last indefinitely in her throne room. Flights of pegasi would arrive as reinforcements from Cloudsdale. Manehatten would teleport response teams to Canterlot. They had certainly received word of what had happened.

But that would mean more ponies would die. She would end things now. Twilight allowed the doors to open as another impact hit.

As the doors burst wide she could just make out the rust colored coat of her now dead commander of Infantry laying on the floor.

Several former members of her Guard rushed into the room. Their armor was painted with the black of the rebellion, and black bands of cloth were wrapped around their forelegs. Twilight wondered if they realized that they looked like they were in mourning.

Perhaps they were.

Cloud Dancer, her one time chief of the royal air force, led the former guard. She had not seen that betrayal coming, and that made it sting all the more. But then Twilight’s attention was drawn to the ponies behind them.

Diamond Justice was there with his five friends.

“Princess Twilight. We are here to present you the terms of your surrender. You will be allowed to continue controlling your sun and-”

The idea that an instigator such as Justice should live while so many other good ponies had died filled her with rage.

“Could you take it from me? If you wanted I mean?”

There was silence in response. “I thought not,” she said.

“Princess,” the voice was less steady now, “you will continue maintaining your sun, but you will hand over your crown. You will let the voice of Equestria be heard.”

The rage boiled over.

They had killed so many...
They had killed Rainbow Dash…
They had killed Celly...

“You are but gnats.”

“What?”

“Are you lacking ears as well as a brain? I said you are gnats. You are flies buzzing in my ears. Insects waiting for me to swat with my tail. The voice of Equestria? Don’t make me laugh. How could insects such as you be the voice of Equestria? Do you want to hear the true voice of Equestria?”

Twilight felt the silken bandage around her eyes smouldering, and it broke into pieces carried away by an ethereal wind. Twilight looked up for the first time since they had entered, and she knew. When they saw her eyes ablaze, they realized that it had been they who had erred.

She was Equestria, and she willingly embraced the Nightmare. Twilight let its strength flow into her, allowing her to do what she was never able to bring herself to do.

“Die.”

The rebellion ended as all was fire and ash.

Twilight shuddered at that possibility. That had been no gradual descent into madness, only a cold surrender to its clutches.

There were other threads, other possibilities. She would work this out.

The rebellion raged and all around her Equestria crumbled. She was the student of Princess Celestia. She was Princess Twilight Sparkle. She would save Equestria.

Twilight watched from her tower as her guard fought a battle in the main courtyards. A traitor had allowed the rebels to breach the main gates and the palace was no longer secure. There was no time to evacuate the staff and innocent ponies were being caught up in the fight.

Her magic spread out across the city and could feel the heat of flames. She sensed Rainbow Dash leading a wing of pegasi as they attempted to defend the city from within while mitigating the damage. There was only so much they could do.

Canterlot needed its princess. She had to act.

Twilight spread her wings and leapt from her tower.

As she smashed down in the courtyard, the pavement cracked underneath her weight. The fighting stopped as both sides stared at her in shock.

“Foals!” The wind rushed deep from her lungs knocking over a group of guard ponies in black. “You dishonor Equestria. You dishonor the sacrifice of those who have died before you with your pathetic rebellion.”

If only it was a fight that could be won with words.

And then Twilight remembered. The Empress had shown her the true power of the Royal Canterlot voice. Perhaps it had been for this moment.

“You disgust me… Die.”

All around her rebels raised their weapons and took their own lives in obedience. Twilight walked forward deeper into the fray weaving death as she went. Ponies that approached her simply ceased to be.

The battle was won.

But as Twilight turned around, her ponies were not celebrating their victory. They trembled in fear at the goddess of death that had descended from on high.

“Twilight, what did you do?”

She glanced down at her hooves where the group of rebels trying to surrender still remained motionless. Some of them were hardly older than colts.

“I will do what it takes to protect Equestria.”

She felt a power welling deep within her.

“None shall know the dark again.”

Canterlot was transformed into an inferno.

Twilight shook her head. Certainly she could fight in the battle without going crazy. There were an infinite dozen of other threads with rebellion in them, but perhaps she would explore the others first. She needed to consider all the possibilities.

”The actions of you six are nothing less than traitorous. I am afraid there is only one punishment for such a crime. Hence forth, you are all banished from Equestria.”

And still rebellion came. Only this time six ponies came from the west with allies from beyond Equestrian soil.

Twilight brought her sun to bear on the army before her. The world burned.

“Come on. Think Twilight. You never really intended to ignore them or send them away. What happened to planning a big moving speech. Let’s try looking for kinder options.”

Equestria had its election, and Twilight was vindicated. Equestria believed in its princess. Diamond Justice apologized, but thanked her for giving the vote a chance.

But, still Twilight could not help to look at the numbers. How had so many ponies voted against her?

She stepped down from her throne. Justice had been right all along. Equestria was only beginning to awaken to her failures. Her ponies were simply too forgiving.

It made sense, really. Ruling the kingdom was a tremendous drain, and putting it in the capable hooves of other ponies would allow her to focus on the things that only she could do.

The sun grew brighter.

It should have been relaxing.

She spent her days with Celly and her other friends. She still had ceremonial functions and was occasionally consulted by the new government on important issues. All in all, it was like a retirement.

But around her, she began to see a new decay. Equestria was surviving, but it seemed a darkness was spreading over it. She sensed a corruption running deep.

In her heart she felt guilty for not being more active in the protection of Equestria.

The corruption and guilt wormed their way deeper and deeper. One day she returned to her little cottage only to find Celly was not there. The Nightmare stood where she should be.

It did not kill Twilight, though that would have been preferable. Impaled to the side of the Canterhorn mountain with eyesight magically restored, she had no choice but to watch as the creature brought Equestria to ruin.

It took everything from her.

Even death was denied her.

Twilight was not sure which of the threads was the worst so far. She turned and followed another one.
”The actions of you six are nothing less than traitorous. I believe it is time for us to institute the griffon form of punishment for such things."

Twilight stopped following that thread. She would not sentence a pony to death. She would not turn into the tyrant that they claimed.

The paths in which she attempted to talk things out all seemed to lead to a gradual decline.

Every path in which she resisted ended in fire. But among those, the six before her always seemed to play a critical role.

Twilight finally admitted to what she was looking at, what she had known even before picking up the strands of time.

The six ponies before her were all potential bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She wondered for a moment if the elements could be turned against her, one who had used the Element of Magic on multiple occasions. Then she remembered the Elements being used against Luna and that Luna had once used them against Discord.

Did Discord ever use the elements? Is this the fate of those who wield harmony?

She shook her head. She was leaping to conclusions. Being the Element of Magic alone would not protect her, but that did not mean they could use the Elements against her. After all, as far as she knew, they had only ever successfully been used against bad ponies who sought to spread chaos, disharmony, and suffering.

She was a good pony.

Quickly her mind followed dozens of potential threads that she had previously overlooked. They were sheathed in a bright rainbow glow. All futures revealed themselves to her.

Twilight summoned the Elements of Harmony from their vault where they had been dormant for over fifty years.

“Justice. These are the Elements of Harmony. I give them to you. If you truly believe what you have said, turn them against me. If you speak true, their power will activate as Equestria’s greatest weapon. But I know my heart. I know that I serve Equestria in my every action. The Elements will not turn on their greatest Champion.”

She watched as the Elements harmonized with the friends. Their form shifted to represent the cutie marks of their new bearers. Still Twilight was not concerned. She had spoken the truth.

A rainbow barrage of colors began to swirl around the six ponies. A beam of light shot forth from where they were gathered.

Twilight was not concerned. Harmony would wash over her and leave her unscathed.

The world lurched as the light hit her form. She was somewhere else.

Banished to the heart of her star. The Elements had transformed her into fuel within its core. Her sun flared, becoming as bright as Celestia’s sun once was thanks to its new alicorn power source. She was trapped, burning for a thousand years.

Alone, isolated, in pain, she did not understand.

She was a good pony.

In her prison, Twilight Sparkle ceased to be. In the end there was only nightmare.

Watching the vision unfold Twilight thought she finally understood the Elements. She suspected she knew why Celestia could only banish Luna and not heal her with the Elements. Good and bad were not binary states, but a spectrum. A pony was a mix of both. The Elements could not purge the one without damaging the other.

But while banished, far away from anypony for a thousand years, a pony would inevitably surcomb to madness. Their nightmares and fear would rise to the surface. The bad would consume them, while the core of their being, all that was good in them, would be buried deep below.

When Luna had broken free, her heart was buried safe beneath layers and layers of nightmare. The pain no longer laced through her hearts because they no longer needed her hearts. They had their own form of expression. But it meant that Elements had an opportunity to save her. They could burn away all those outer layers of hatred until only the solid core of good as left glittering in the ashes.

The Elements were designed to be a two step process.

Or maybe she was just justifying the madness.

From her prison she learned to watch what happened below her. She saw Equestria burning in the flames of war.

Eventually she made her escape. Empress Twilight Flare would bathe the world in fire.

Only there was nopony left. Harmony had died in her absence. Nopony was there to trigger the second stage of the Elements.

There were variants. Different intonations and words and timings leading to different outcomes, but all with a central theme. Her imprisonment and then freedom.

She returns to Equestria in glorious flames. The Elements of Harmony had been forgotten during her thousand year exile and all knew her wrath.

She returns to find Equestria empty save for Celly who had been the only pony to wait for her. She finds that the isolation had driven the construct insane.

She returns to find an empty and dead Equestria. However, deep in the vaults beneath Canterlot, she finds a dormant Celly. She wakes her up. The construct tries to fight her. “You’re not Twilight. You’re not my student. You’re not my Princess.”

In all of them, sooner or later, the world is bathed in flames upon her return.

The nightmare always took control during her imprisonment.

But she was aware of the rainbow threads now. There were others that did not end in flame.

Finally free from a thousands years burning in the sun, Empress Twilight was looking forward to fanning her flames as far as she could see. Only there were six ponies waiting for her. She did not recognize them, but she recognized the jewelry that they were wearing.

She brings the entire fury of her sun against them. There is no way they could survive, yet they do. Soon she is facing a rainbow beam again.

Then the thread ends.

The shock of it was enough to jar Twilight out of her trance.

“What happened there at the end? They should have purged the nightmare. Why does it all just end? Why doesn’t it work? Why is there nothing after?”

Curious she delved back into the threads of time.

Twilight sent Justice away, but arranged for him to find the Elements. She ends imprisoned and returning a thousand years later in wrath.

Twilight imprisons Justice. Somehow he discovers the Elements and gets ahold of them. Equestria burns at her return.

Twilight is imprisoned by the Elements wielded by an elderly Justice. When Empress Twilight Flare returns she is confronted by six ponies upon her return.

The thread ends, terminating abruptly.

She shook her head again.

How can the threads themselves end?

The Elements still deserved further investigation.

“Perhaps a different angle. Obviously there is enough conflict in my hearts that the Elements can be used against me. I may have a unity of spirit, but I still lack proper conviction.”

If she was earnest enough in her desire to change, if she truly committed herself to improving, perhaps it would not be necessary to draw the nightmare out first.

Twilight dismisses Justice.

Dozens of threads all get him and his friends out of the room. Ultimately how does not matter.

She gathers her own friends and explains the problem to them. Honesty is a prerequisite. Twilight passes out the Elements of Harmony. She explains her plan.

Somepony always raises a problem.

“What about Laughter.”

Celly steps into the room, and puts on the sixth Element.

“Is it going to work with you wearing the Element of Magic and using it on yourself?”

“It will work. Being part of this, it will work even better. I’m trying to accept harmony.”

Twilight puts on the Element of Magic. They gather in a circle. Rainbow light shoots into the air and arches back down towards them.

The thread ends.

“How does the thread end? Even if I die, it should keep going… What am I missing?”

Twilight cocked her head.

“I just don’t see it. What’s the solution here. All the threads with the Elements of Harmony either have Equestria ending in flames, or the thread itself just disappears.”

She tapped her hoof as she circled the ponies.

“I don’t like it but I think I need to drop the Elements. Worth investigating later to see if I can use them to maintain my center and moral compass though.”

She chuckled at the idea of using the Elements as a physical compass to tell her what the right thing to do was.

“It would save me a lot of sleep worrying over tough decisions… Maybe I need to look at the bigger picture.”

Her mind had followed more possibilities than she could count. None of them had the feel of the future, only that each one of them was a future. She had not yet found the path. But she stopped considering them on an individual level and starting looking at them as a whole.

The pattern was beautiful. Possibilities wove around one another through something greater than space or time. The weave encompassed everything that could and would be. It was the tapestry of reality.

But every thread had the end of Equestria.

She would not tolerate that.

“Justice, what have you done? By bringing us to this point, have you doomed Equestria?”

She remembered the feeling of being at a crossroad. There had to be a way.

Every thread saw the death of Equestria.

Her dream was impossible. In the weave of the possible, her hopes were nowhere to be found. Twilight thought about what she wanted: her ponies all alive and safe, peace and harmony alive and well, and an Equestria strong and whole. Her dream was an eternal Equestria. She wanted to be able to guide Equestria to prosperity, she wanted a reign that lasted millenia.

It was impossible.

She could even feel where it was missing in the weave.

Twilight’s eyes opened wide. The impossible was defined by the possible. There were gaps between the threads of time that marked what could not be. They framed that which existed outside of the pattern.

Now that she was aware of the gaps, Twilight could not imagine that she had not noticed them before. All of many diverging possible paths were interwoven with all of the impossible. She started at her destination and found possibility cradling it and realized that she could see the thread that was not there. It was the path she needed to take. It was the path that would save Equestria.

She traced the missing thread back. Dozens of realities twisted around it guiding it towards the present. Twilight had nearly reached the here and now when something stopped her.

She understood why the future she desired was an impossibility.

For every thread woven in the tapestry, another thread could never be. The gaps formed when other threads became too densely packed that no other path could find its way in. There was a single thread blocking time from flowing down the gap to prosperity. She felt the thread.

It was familiar. A tear trickled down her cheek.

“Oh, Diamond Justice…”

Twilight remembered when she had sentenced Night Walker. She had nearly cast a spell. She not truly understood it at the time, but she could cast that spell now.

“You have betrayed your parents. You have betrayed me, and you have betrayed Equestria. The punishment for treason is exile. But I can’t banish you from this place. Your influence has caused, and will cause, too many ripples… But I can banish you from time.”

She made her decision. Hopefully it would not be as bad as killing a pony.

“I had been your Aunt Twilight when you were younger… To me, it wasn’t just a name.”

She began gathering the magic in her horn.

“You have given many ponies many happy memories. But your actions here today will have tainted all of those memories. There will be only bitterness and pain. This is for the best. I have to do this. It is the only way to save Equestria.”

The spell began to form.

“Your parents won’t miss you. Your wife will not miss you… They will have never known you. But I… I will miss you.”

She released the spell and burned Diamond Justice from time.

“I’m so sorry.”

The flame followed the thread of his life back year after year, all the way back to the moment of conception.

Diamond Justice was no more. He had never been.

She was wrong. It was far worse than killing a pony.

Twilight fell to her knees in pain as new memories crowded into her mind. Her past was updated, and she remembered two different histories.

Rarity never had a child before she was stricken with a fever that left her barren. Her and Stone Edge were still living in Canterlot and happy, after a fashion. Their lives were just a little more empty.

Rarity had encouraged Fluttershy to move to Canterlot years ago.

Rainbow Dash had a slight limp from some battle.

After their breakup Soarin had died in an accident.

The Royal Theater on Mane Street had never opened. The Theater of the Two Sisters had never burned down.

Thousands of other details were different. A single pony had an impact on hundreds of lives. She staggered backwards as one particular memory updated, a case that Justice had been involved in.

Moon Dreamer’s killer had never been found. Twilight would need to take care of that. She was sure that Silver Heart could track down Night Walker if she gave him the name and description.

Why would she want to do that? Everything was a jumble.

She heard some ponies cry in alarm and looked up to see that she was in the middle of a party. Lady Star Streamer and her husband Lord Gold Standard were hosting a benefit for the orphans of Equestria. Twilight was in attendance of course.

Twilight waved off the circle of ponies around her. It was just a bout of dizziness from overexertion. She was fine. She used her leg to wipe away her nosebleed and hoped that nopony noticed.

“Excuse me, I think I’m going to retire for the evening. Thank you again for the invite.”

As she left the party, she passed Stone Edge. He was standing outside of the bathrooms holding his wife’s hat and purse. Twilight would find a way to make it up to him and Rarity. She would restore their happiness.

Once outside, Twilight regretted not stopping in the bathroom as the full ramifications of what she had done hits her. She vomited into a bush.

Unfortunately, at the moment there were bigger things on her mind. Every thread she looked at had one thing in common. There was a darkness over them. They were all in the shadow of war.

After arriving back at the palace she entered her study, leaving her guards outside the door.

Twilight felt a hoof slam into her face and hit the ground hard.

“That’s what she meant by ‘Duck.’” She mumbled as the realization came to her.

From the floor she froze as her magic identified her attacker.

“You impudent foal, believing that you understand things far beyond your comprehension.”

“What?” Twilight tried to suppress the terror.

“Do you have any idea what you did today?” asked Empress Twilight.

“I, I saved Equestria.”

“If you see a mistitch in a tapestery what do you you do?”

“Remove it?

“Yes. But you choose to accomplish this by setting it on fire. It is like standing in a library and deciding the best way to clean a book is with flame.”

“I’m sorry.” The apology was reflexive.

“To repair the sin of Our past, your past, We have been weaving a pattern of unimaginable complexity for longer than you can imagine. What you did today could have put it all in jeopardy. It is hard to stitch when somepony is moving the fabric from underneath you.”

“How long have you been working at it?”

“Too long?”

The older Twilight sat down and for the first time Twilight sensed a weakness behind this Twilight.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized for real that time.

Empress Twilight laughed. “We do not need your pity, just your obedience. What you did today, was acceptable because it had already happened. But you must never do it again. It could set the entire tapestry ablaze.”

“So… we can destroy time.” It was something she had wondered since things had begun.

“Yes.”

“So are our time jaunts safe?”

“Yes, you only need to fear destroying the fabric with the spell you cast today.” The Empress waved a hoof in the air. “That is not to say that our loops cannot be dangerous. If you are not careful, you may cause threads to snarl or come loose and dangle.”

“A snarl?”

“You should avoid paradoxes.”

“But, isn’t this a paradox?”

“Don’t be impudent. It does not become your royal ponyhood. You know that this is a stable self causing paradox. We believe when We were your age, we called them paradox type A in your notes.”

“What about type B?” asked Twilight.

“That can cause a snarl. An event contradicting itself, phasing in and out of existence. Being woven and unwoven.”

“Can it be fixed?”

“Yes, at a point before its origin. If you know that a pony is going to travel back in time to kill her own grandmare before she is born, what would you do?”

“I… I don’t know. If she does that, then she is never born, and then she never kills her grandmare, but then she is born, and-”

“Yes, yes, a type B. But what would you do to fix it?”

“Convince her not to do it?”

“In the loop?” Older Twilight scoffed. “Think harder.”

“Why would it… Oh, if she doesn’t do it, then I never would have had a reason to talk to her, so then I wouldn’t, which means that she does do it…”

“Resolve the paradox.”

“I would need to do something to get everything to collapse to a stable equilibrium.”

“And?” The Empress tapped a hoof impatiently.

“I’m sorry. I can’t think of anything.”

“You create your own paradox, but a type A. A non-contradictory time loop will eventually settle into an equilibrium state.”

“How do you do that?”

“Beat the paradox to the punch. The instigating cause of the problem is the traveler being in the past. The traveler has a goal. Complete that goal for them. Kill their grandmare yourself.”

“What?” Twilight stepped back in shock.

“Go back and kill their gradmare before their loop even begin.”

“But then… If they never looped, then why would I go back? Isn’t it just replacing one B paradox with another?”

“You go back because you understand that what happened must happen. You must develop the right mentality. You go back because you know you had gone back. By committing one atrocity you prevent a far worse one.”

“I don’t- Would that even work?”

“As long as you somehow create a stable time loop that prevents the unstable one it will work. There are other ways to achieve such a goal, manipulation and brainwashing, but-”

“That’s… That’s ridiculous,” blurted Twilight.

“You hopped after breaking the vase didn’t you?”

“That was different.”

Empress Twilight slowly shook her head. “Once you can unbreak the vase, then you will be ready.”

“Do you ever have to remove type A paradoxes?”

“That is much easier, especially if you set it up in the first place. You traveling back will be the instigating cause. Later, you appearing in the past will cause you go into the past. If you remove future you from the loop before future you has a chance to cause past you to loop…”

“Huh?”

“You can cut off the whole time loop. The thread will drift off into the neverwas.”

“Neverwas? So… Have you had to fix paradox’s a lot?”

“Not… as such,” admitted the Empress. “Our understanding of this is more theoretical.”

“What, but if you understand how to change time, why not fix things?”

“We are not yet ready to unbreak the vase. There are still more threads to stitch.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

The older Twilight simply shook her head. “We do not know.”

Twilight noticed the version of her from the far future sit up straighter and her body become more tense.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“We are eternal. The point of all this is simply that you must avoid meddling in time until you understand things better. The visions you saw today barely revealed a thousandth of the nature of reality. There are seams and angles that, if you were to see, your mind would break. You are not ready yet.”

“OK OK, I get it. Don’t use time magic until you tell me,” Twilight grumbled.

“Very good. You can learn. We will reward you by offering you a boon. We will allow you to travel to last week.”

Twilight remembered the traveler.

“To give myself a warning.”

“Yes… You do not trust Us.”

“Not at all. As far as I can tell there is a good chance that we are in a type A stable time loop right now that starts with you going crazy and going back to kill Celestia, Luna, and Pinkie Pie.”

The Empress laughed louder than Twilight had heard. “We had been worried about that at one time, no? We can promise you that is not the case.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because We are you? No you need more assurance than that. Some time ago you performed a geass spell on Rainbow Dash to ensure that she would comply with a command you gave her.”

Twilight felt a twinge of guilt. “The dagger… It wasn’t… I did it because it’s important that she does her duty. That I don’t end up like you. It’s forbidden magic.”

“Do you think you could interpret a geass rune and the command embedded within?”

“Yes…”

The Empress expanded and seems to fill the room. Twilight realized she was getting smaller. At first she was confused about what her magic was feeling until she realized that she was sensing each cell of her future self. As she continued to get smaller, the patterns became more complex: Cells to molecules, molecules to atoms. She could sense the fundamental building blocks of the pony’s being.

“That…” Twilight was in awe. In all of the infinite complexity, one pattern repeated itself adinfinitum.

“Yes, We have inscribed that rune on every atom of Our eternal being. One commandment above all others. Thou shalt not kill Celestia.”

Twilight shook her head. “How is that possible? How did you get so strong?”

She was returned to her proper size.

“Time. Too much time. But you see. It is impossible for Us, as We are now to have killed Celestia. Yet she is still dead.”

“So a younger version of you did it.”

“A younger version of you as well. You know this. It is a version of us unaware of the nightmare.”

“But… I didn’t mean to. I never wanted to-”

“Hush now child. Save your tears for the hardships to come. We will save Celestia. As I told you last time, She is with Us in the future.”

“So I’m going back a week, huh?”

“Yes. A week that you will not have the sun. You should plan to use it wisely.”

“You seem to have something in mind.”

“We do. We also know how you spend the time.”

“What do you suggest?” Twilight did not know if she would listen to the Empress, but the pony’s opinion would be a valuable data point.

“Begin weaving the geass now. Layer the magic in your mind until it is so thick, every thought must filter through it.”

“You might not remember, but I had a bad experience with modifying my mind with magic.”

“You had asked for Our opinion. If you are too much of a coward and still do not trust Us, reenvision your mind. We know that is what you do.”

“I don’t like you. And I don’t care about any tampering you have done with your own mind. No matter how many layers of geass and commands you layer across your body, I don’t think I can trust you.”

“We only do as we must, as we have always done.”

“I still don’t like you.”

“And We do not like you. We have that in common.”

“So are you going to send me back?”

“We suppose it is time. One last thing. You do know that We are you, correct?”

“I know. I want you to be some sort of imposter or something… but I know.”

“Good. Then hand your sun over to me. I will make sure you get it back.”

There was no force of command, and this time Twilight did not resist.

“Can you give me any hints at all about the future. Normally I’m pretty obtuse when I go back in the past.”

“We suppose We can tell you something to make up for what is about to happen.”

“What is about to happen?”

“In due time. Do you want to know or not?”

“Fine, just tell me.”

“The Shade Dragons. They are… Not from around here. What you have seen is just the shadow that they cast on this reality as they begin to bleed through. They think this world is lost and that nopony will mind if they move in. Celestia apparently knew how to communicate with them. They are nothing to worry about, however. You will take care of them eventually.”

“The Shade Dragons? What do you mean-”

“Now as for what is to happen. We are afraid We cast a spell on you the moment you burned Justice from time. It has been holding your mind together just long enough for us to have this conversation. It is time for Us to release the spell and for you to go back.”

Twilight felt a spell dissipate and her mind shatter.

Author's Note

Yea, so I had a fun time writing this chapter. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Thanks again to Final Fan and Lusitainia for looking over this chapter.

The next chapter is going to mainly dealing with the fallout of Twilight's mind being broken and covering what has changed in the time shift.

Also, I suppose I should mention to expect a Twilestia oneshot from me tomorrow. I'm wrapping it up tonight and editing tomorrow.

We have only three chapters left until we reach the final arch of our story.

The next chapter might take me a little while to finish up. I need to make sure I've got everything in it right, and I have also been neglecting After the Fall and Celestia's Diary, but it shouldn't be more than a week (I'm already 5000 words into it. It's going to be another longer one).

Who Are I?

Warning: Some gruesome imagery in the second half of the chapter. Nothing really bad, but I decided it was better to play it safe than sorry.

Chapter 26: Who Are I?

After what felt like an eternity, Twilight finally plunged back into time. The ground seemed to heave underneath her hooves and she had trouble remaining standing.

“Not this again,” another pony said, rolling to her hooves.

Twilight expanded her senses. She was in a familiar room with a familiar pony. She was about to ask the other pony what she meant, when she remembered something important. There was a script she needed to follow.

“You don’t get to complain. This is only your first time through this.” The words tumbled out of her mouth without thought.

Her magical sense frizzles again and everything in the room seemed to waver and for a moment Twilight thought there was two of everything. She put a hoof to her forehead, trying to force everything into place. What was that horrible smell?

She had burned Justice from time.

Twilight realized the smell was vomit and wondered when she had thrown up.

“Is everything alright?” The other Twilight asked.

How many Twilights are there now? How many do I count as?

Twilight could feel the lingering effects of the Empress’s spell unraveling and knew she had to act fast. Her mind was splintering apart and she did not know how long she could carry on a coherent conversation.

“Yea… No… It’s… There is a lot going on in here. Haven’t had a chance to sort it out yet. Ugh, which one are you?”

Which Twilight are you? Which one am I?

“What?” The younger Twilight asked.

“Do you know Diam- No that won’t work, might give it away.”

“What are you talking about?”

Yes, it was definitely a younger Twilight she was speaking to, though that only partially narrowed down the possibilities.

“I’ve had this conversation twice now. I’m trying to figure out which version it is.”

The script was the only thing getting her through this. Two conversations, two scripts, but they both started the same.

“You’ve been through this loop twice already?” The younger pony shook her head.

“No don’t be stupid. Parallel lines. They converge soon. Oh! Did you kill Little Pinkie?”

“Why would you ask something like that?”

“Yes or no? Did you kill Little Pinkie?”

“Of course not! Why would I kill Little Pinkie?”

“Good. I know which one this is now.” Twilight paused as she tried to contemplate where to go from there. “In a week from now you are going to be at a party when you are going to be struck by a really bad headache. Be prepared to leave the party with little warning. I need to go now.”

Twilight threw on a quick illusion, taking on the guise of a unicorn and cast a teleportation spell. Before she disappeared she heard the other Twilight yelling for her to wait.

Twilight materialized in the middle of the hedge mazes with nopony around. She had wandered the mazes before and knew them like the back of her hoof. The problem was that she knew two version of the maze. By pure chance, or perhaps through a convoluted chain of causality, the gardener had switched the layout of the maze. Twilight could not remember which version belonged to the reality she was currently in.

Twilight wandered the maze, trying to discern what facts belonged with what series of events. Occasionally, she would think she knew which maze she was in only to decide that she must be in the other. It was only by pure chance that she found the exit as the sun began to beat down on her back.

The maze dumped her out onto one of the garden mezzanine where a small number of ponies were gathered. Somewhere by themselves, simply enjoying the plant life, while others seemed to be part of a group. Twilight sat down on a bench at one of the tables.

Twilight was not certain how long she was sitting at the table. She did not know what thoughts were hers and what memories were true. Everything was a horrible jumble and she did not know where to begin to sort through things.

There was only a small list of things she was certain of. She was still blind, and so she had probably fought the nightmare in both time strands. However, other than that one bit of concrete physical evidence, everything was in her head and could not be trusted. She gave her body a once over. She supposed she could also be certain that she was an alicorn.

“Did you hear? One of the Witherton three just came out of his coma.”

Twilight looked up. A pony was sitting at the table across from her, looking up from his newspaper.

“Witherton three?” She thought the words were hers.

The pony with the newspaper turned to look at her. He was not across the table from her, but rather was sitting down the table across from some other pony. He seemed surprised at her intrusion.

“Yeah, the three colts that survived the Witherton massacre. They’ve been in comas this entire time.”

Twilight shook her head. “C-colts? You mean the two colts and a filly.”

The pony glanced at his companion before looking back at her. “I’m pretty sure they’re all colts. Here, I’m done with the article.” He levitated the paper over to Twilight. “At the least they all sound like male names to me.”

Her illusion hid the bandage over her eyes, but otherwise still left her unable to see. Twilight stared at the paper in front of her as the two two stallions resumed their own conversation. Instinctively, her damaged eyes wanted to dart across the words. She did not need her eyesight to know what name she would not find in the article.

There was no mention of “Little Pinkie.”

She remembered how her younger self had responded to her question in this version of events.

Once again she teleported away in a blind panic.

The memories came rushing in a cascade that she had no control over. Each event was paired with an alternate event. Sometimes the differences were small and minor. Othertimes they were drastic and hard to reconcile.

Rarity found being a mother did not leave her with much time. Rarity, with an abundance of time on her hooves, kept in close touch with Applejack and Fluttershy.

After Fluttershy lost her family and adopted Little Pinkie, Rarity attended the funeral but then returned to Canterlot where her family now called home. After the caravan was slaughtered, Rarity moved back to Ponyville for awhile to help Fluttershy get over her loss.

Rarity was a great mother to Diamond Justice. Rarity was a great aunt to Little Pinkie.

Rarity occasionally wrote a letter to Fluttershy. Rarity convinced Fluttershy and Little Pinkie to come live with her and Stone Edge in Canterlot.

Little Pinkie became friends with a pony who moved to Witherton. She never met that filly.

Twilight tried to figure out which one was true. She remembered the other Twilight’s words.

“Of course not! Why would I kill Little Pinkie?”

Which thread am I in? Is this the one that remains? The one that is real?

Two images rapidly flashed through her mind. One was of a filly, dead beneath her. The other was a filly alive and vibrant. The images existed at odds with one another. They could both not be true.

There was an easy way to resolve the paradox. She just needed to kill Little Pinkie and everything would line up.

Twilight screamed as she held her head.

“I didn’t kill her… She’s still alive… But… But I did kill her. I remember killing her. I remember how it felt. I made the decision… Am… Am I a killer?”

And suddenly Twilight could see again, only she was not certain where she was.

The room was empty accept for the vanity set in front of her. There was not even any sign of doors or windows. On top of the vanity were three large angled mirrors.

The middle mirror did not seem to reflect anything. However, the two side mirrors each contained a different reflection. The images were nearly identical, and the subtle differences might have been imperceptible to anypony but Twilight. However, to her, the incongruities placed the ponies in the two reflections a world a part.

On the left was a Twilight with a softer face and lighter eyes. A slight serene smile was on her face. She lost her student but never had to confront the killer. She never had to exile a pony, sending him to almost certain death. She was never faced with making the choice between giving a filly a gift of death or watching a friend slowly wither away.

The pony on the left never had to unmake Diamond Justice.

The reflection on the right was harder, more angular. She had dark eyes. That Twilight had to make compromises, or rather had chosen to make compromises. There was a slight downturn of her lips. That Twilight would do whatever it would take to save Equestria.

“But which pony am I? Am I either of you? Some combination… I don’t know. What type of pony am I?”

“Night Walker is still free. He never faced justice. But… It’s been two years. I have some distance. Does losing my student hurt as much? What should I do?”

The reflection on the left moved, opening her mouth. “See that he is brought before the courts. The evidence is there just waiting to be put together. Life imprisonment and attempted rehabilitation. Justice will be done.”

The reflection on the right was silent at first, but when she spoke there was a twist to her lips. “Yes… Let Justice be done.”

Twilight looked between the two mirrors as she made her decision. The gentle Twilight closed her eyes and lowered her head.

“I guess I know which Twilight I am.”

+++

Twilight was not certain what happened next. She somehow found her way out of the empty room, but upon doing so was rendered blind again.

It was night time and she was stalking the streets of Canterlot.

One thought was holding her mind together. She needed to render judgement.

Stretching her tendrils down the alley she confirmed that she had found her prey.

Her magic engulfed the light, absorbing the magic of the flickering glow orb above the back exit of some seedy building. With hardly a thought, she sent Night Walker’s compatriots flying against the wall and smacked her prey to the ground.

Her legs compressed and she pounced on top of the cowering curr. As he looked up at her with wide eyes she could only smile. Twilight rose her hoof preparing to bring it down on his head.

“Let this emergency session of Twilights come to order.”

Dozens of Twilights were sitting around a large circular table in the center of of Ponyville town hall. Her cutie mark was emblazoned across the wood and Twilights were situated in seats at even spacings. Outside the windows of the town hall there were houses stacked on top of other houses. Some were half merged together and others were crushed beneath buildings that had simply been dropped next door. Still others were right next door to their duplicates.

At one end of the table the gentle Twilight spoke, “Are we sure we are about to to do this?”

Across from her the hard Twilight growled, “We already decided this. Justice must be done.”

Another Twilight spoke, “We are about to take a life with our own hoof.”

“The first time we sent him to his death.” said still another Twilight.

“We at least gave him a chance at life.” said a fifth Twilight.

“It was more than he deserved.”

“It is not a question of what he deserves.”

“You should always give a pony another chance, even if you don’t think they deserve it.”

“Friendship Report number twenty eight,” quoted a Twilight wearing glasses.

“He killed Moon Dreamer!”

“Think about what it would be like to take his life.”

“Exactly. Think about what it would like to crush him.”

“We don’t want to do this,” said the gentle Twilight.

“We want this,” responded her counterpart.

“Please,” another Twilight quietly interrupted, “we can’t take the life of another pony.”

“We took Pinkie’s life.”

“We’ve been given a second chance. Nopony gets a second chance at something like that. Yet we’ve been given one.”

“At the cost of another.”

“Diamond Justice was never born. There was no cost,” stated a logical Twilight.

“There was! We remember him. The possibility of his existence was the cost of this reality.”

“If we do this, we will be throwing our chance away.”

“He killed Moon Dreamer!”

“But-”

“Does that mean nothing to us? He was our student.”

“No…”

“Then we do it.”

“Did you hear that?”

“We’ve been in here for awhile.”

“No more than seconds.”

Two newsstand Twilights broke into the room, fighting over a paper. Despite their brawl, they managed to throw it onto the table. All of the Twilights leaned over to read it. There was a picture of two ponies scrambling to their hooves, and two lines.

“What is that thing?” Read one Twilight.

“I don’t know, it’s like something out of a nightmare.” Finished another.

Every Twilight present reeled back at that final word, some even falling from their chairs.

“No!”

“If we do this she wins,” said one Twilight, slamming a hoof on the table.

“We destroyed her,” said another Twilight pulling herself back up to the table.

“Correction: we damaged her,” said the logical Twilight.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t become her.”

“We might as well let her into this council and put her in charge.”

“There is another possibility, another path we can take.”

Everypony turned to look at the logical Twilight.

“It does not have to be a choice between taking his life or essentially letting him go free.”

“What do you suggest?” asked another Twilight.

“The problem, if I recall, is that he felt no remorse. He had enjoyed the murder and felt no remorse. Agreed?”

“That sounds right.”

“I could feel some sympathy for him if he at least felt bad,” conceded the hard Twilight.

“Then let’s make him feel bad.”

“No! Torture is even worse than just killing him.”

“I’m not talking about torture. This pony is ill. He is a sociopath. He does not feel empathy or guilt. I am suggesting that we cure him.”

“How would we do that?”

“Simple. We go into his mind, and give him empathy.”

“Once again, how would we do that?”

“Our Celestia construct has empathy,” suggested the Twilight with glasses.

“We don’t understand how her mind works.”

“Personally that is something that worries me greatly.”

One of the Twilight’s blushed drawing glances from the Twilights around her.

“I propose we table concerns about our construct’s operation.”

“I concur.”

“Then we can return to the matter at hoof.”

“Still the point stands. How does it help that she has empathy if we don’t understand how her mind works?”

“We made her mind.”

“Not piece by piece. We made a system that makes connections. We didn’t make ‘empathy.’ That was emergent behavior.”

“It’s really very simple. What is empathy, at a basic level?” asked the Twilight with glasses.

“You feel bad when other ponies feel bad. You feel good when other ponies are happy?”

“Exactly,” answered logical Twilight. “We construct a simple perception filter in his mind. When it picks up ponies feeling ‘bad,’ we can determine the parameters while we are putting it in place, we have it create feedback into the pain centers of his brain. A second filter can pick up ponies being ‘happy’ and feedback into his pleasure centers.”

“That’s not real empathy.”

“It’s a close enough facsimile for our purposes. We have been in here long enough that another second has gone by.”

A few of the Twilight’s glanced over at the newspaper. The image had shifted.

“I believe his friends are preparing to flee.”

“Inconsequential.”

“Do we know enough to implement your idea?”

“We can identify the pleasure and pain centers of his brain, yes.”

“We can’t perform psychosurgery on a pony without their permission!”

“Would you rather we killed him without his permission?”

Silence settled over the council.

“So are we all in agreement?” asked one of the Twilights.

“Wait!”

“What?”

“This isn’t normal…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean. We’ve always talked to ourselves. We sometimes even talk back. Sometimes we even imagine other ponies talking to us for a different perspective, but this…”

“This?”

“This right here, this council of Twilights. This is something new.”

“She’s right,” said a Twilight.

“Is it fundamentally different from talking to ourselves?”

“It seems to be. This is inside our visualization of our mind. We’ve never done this before… not like this.”

“We’ve always visualised multiple versions of us in here.”

“But we’ve never visualised full on debates with ourself.”

“Then what is this a visualisation of?”

“The onset of schizophrenia? Multiple personalities?”

“Show of hooves if you are Twilight.”

Every Twilight in the room raised a hoof as one.

“So not multiple personalities.”

“What about the nightmare, she certainly seemed like a split personality.”

“We dealt with her.”

“By performing self-lobotomization!”

“Still, we dealt with her.”

“I’m not sure if she counts as a split personality. She was a gestalt mental construct birthed by our mind.”

“She lived in here. She was part of us.”

“And what remains of her is still part of us. That does not mean she is us.”

“No, we can’t just say that the dark side of every pony is separate from who they are.”

“She isn’t just our dark side; she is something more.”

“All in favor of tabling the matter of our mental nightmare child for a later time and return to the discussion at hoof.“

“Namely, if we are crazy?”

“I thought it went without saying.”

“So split personalities?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said one Twilight.

“I agree,” said another.

The last two Twilights to speak suddenly began to vibrate and turned to stare at one another in surprise. The other Twilights looked on with curiosity as the vibrations of their compatriots increased, until suddenly a great force slammed the two Twilights into one another.

When they hit, their coats began to ripple and they flowed into each other. Where there had once been two Twilights, there was now one, slightly larger, Twilight.

The new Twilight blinked in surprise, moving her mouth silently a few moments before actually making any sounds. “I agree.”

“Interesting…”

“So… More like fractured personalities.”

“How so?”

“In the past, in here, in this visualisation, we were always here somewhere.”

“Yes, we have always been a part of Twilight.”

“But there was also Twilight, there was only Twilight. A Twilight who represented the core of our being.”

“And now we are broken.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No.”

“We have undergone massive trauma. We are dealing with integrating two different sets of memories of the last thirty years. On the surface they seem identical, but their personal impact on us is large.”

“Case in point, those two.” The speaking Twilight pointed at the hard and soft Twilight at opposite sides of the table.
“Amalgamated representations of the two different experiences,” stated logical Twilight.

“Hypothesis: this is a coping mechanism,” posited the Twilight with glasses.

“Evidence: The two Twilights who merged a few moments ago. They were similar enough in thought patterns that they were both not necessary,” replied logical Twilight.

“So we are?”

“Trains of thought. Ideas that Twilight is having. She is very lost right now, so in her visualisation, she has given us form to try and figure things out.”

“Would there be a better way to deal with this?”

“Tear down our mind and rebuild it from the ground up?”

“That sounds less than optimal.”

“Perhaps this visualization can be of assistance.”

“Explain.”

“We can build new representations, trying to incorporate aspects of both sets of memories.”

“It will take time to sort through things.”

“Thought.”

“Yes?”

“There is a version of us currently alive in a separate time stream.”

“Yes.”

“She is likely experiencing something very similar to this.”

“Yes- though she might not have had the catalyst of learning about Little Pinkie or dealing with Nightwalker.”

“She still has the memories that Little Pinkie is alive. She traveled back in time after the timelines merged. It’s only a matter of time until something causes her to think about it.”

“Yes.”

“Besides, there are dozens of other things that might cause her to retreat to this place.”

“Yes.”

“Can she do anything to have any impact on the world?”

“No- When the past Twilight in her thread erases Diamond Justice, her past Twilight’s personal timeline will merge with ours. However, it is this version of events that will remain. The only thing to be carried over from the version of reality where Diamond Justice was born, is Past Twilight’s memories.”

“Incorrect- At the moment Past Twilight’s two threads merge, our thread will merge with the future Twilight in that timeline.”

“Question- are there two different realities?” asked the Twilight with glasses.

“Hypothesis- No. There is only one reality, just playing out in two different ways - temporarily,” responded the logical Twilight.

“End the sidebar,” demanded the hard Twilight.

“So we will go through this trauma again in a week.”

“Yes, though with only a week of experience it will hopefully be less severe.”

“You are ignoring the important point.”

“Which is?”

“Can she, that is the parallel version of us, Parallel Future Twilight, effect any change on reality.”

“No. While in the original timeline, anything she does will be undone at the end of the week.”

“So only our actions will have any lasting impact?”

“Yes.”

“Then does it matter what that other Twilight does.”

“No… Yes! She will have memory of what she does. So when the week is over-”

“We merge and the remaining amalgamated future Twilight has the memories.”

“Are we a clever pony?”

A resounding “yes” rose from everypony present.

“What would be the clever thing for us to spend a week doing, if the only lasting impact could be here, in our mind.”

“Read, learn, think, theorize.”

“Dream.”

“Think.”

“Yes, think.”

“That Twilight, at this point in time, is very similar to us. She will spend the week rebuilding her mind, repairing the damage.”

“Will that cause a problem then?”

“You mean when our memories remerge?”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps. If we do not take steps to rebuild here, then we could end up with two very disparate minds attempting to join.”

“They will be no more disparate than what we have already gone through.”

“I trust her.”

“How so?”

‘We are a clever pony. Whatever repairs she makes, she will take into account the fact that we will undergo this trauma again. Her visualization will be prepared to accept an influx of new personal history and will incorporate us.”

“May I raise the point that it has been some time. We are still poised over a pony terrified half to death.”

“So are we agreed that this is a coping mechanism and not a symptom of a larger break of reality? A show of hoofs.”

-all hoofs but one go up.

“I disagree. I think we should sequester ourselves in the physical world and seek immediate professional help. This is not normal behavior even for us.”

“Then we lack total consensus.”

“We lack unity…”

All the Twilights blinked as one.

“Our theory…”

“Immortality is the result of the will.”

“And our physical being is a result of our unity of spirit.”

“What is unity?”

“Harmony.”

“What is disharmony?”

“Wrong.”

“Is this then how it begins? How we become that thing?”

“We still do not know if that is what happens.”

“It is certainly starting to seem that way.”

“There is a solution.”

“That is?”

“Harmony.”

All heads turned to stare at the Twilight who had disagreed.

“I’m afraid you will have to concur.”

“We must maintain unity.”

“I can’t agree. We need help.”

“All in favor of removing the unharmonious train of thought from our mind?”

“Wait!”

“This had better be good.”

“Friendship report number sixty-two.”

“Ponies can disagree and still be friends.”

“Friendship is harmony.”

“So we can have disagreement and still have harmony?”

“Besides, you don’t all agree on everything. If you did you would have merged like those other two Twilights”

The Twilights turned to look at the slightly larger Twilight.

“Very well then. We will continue to entertain the notion that we are crazy. However, it seems that the majority agrees that we cope with this coping mechanism for now.”

“I would just like to bring up the followup to report sixty-two, report sixty-three.”

“Even if friends disagree, they will learn to agree, even if that agreement is a disagreement.”

“Not our best worded report.”

“But the point was good.”

“Which, in this case is?”

“Even should disagreement in this council continue, we should see more mergers begin to take place.”

“To summarize the minutes of this meeting.”

“We are broken-”

“Though we have been broken for a long while.”

“We are more broken now.”

“However, we have found a way to cope with the trauma, which based on the nose bleeds we have experienced may not be isolated to just being psychological.”

“Repair of the damage will be left to our split-timestream duplicate.”

“Matters tabled for later discussion will be addressed once our plans for the week have been determined.”

“We will decide what to do with our week once the issue of Night Walker has been dealt with.”

“And we have decided to go into Night Walker’s mind.”

“He is broken as well.”

“We will fix him.”

“Dissenting opinions on all matters have been heard and noted. They will be tolerated.”

Twilight was standing in the alley again. Two ponies were running out the other end and Night Walker was still cowering beneath her. She crinkled her nose as she realized that she could smell something foul. Night Walker had soiled himself.

“Night Walker, you are lucky. I’m not going to hurt you today. Instead I am going to give you understanding. I’m going to open your heart to harmony.”

Twilight lowered her horn to touch his forehead.

There was no walk through Ponyville or crossing of a bridge. Twilight knew that there must have been, but her own mind was in such a shamble that the moment she crossed over to Night Walker’s was lost to her.

Twilight was in an alley much like the one where was confronting Night Walker in the real world. There was a recess in the paving stones where narrow stairs led down to a wooden door below the street level. His mind was through the door.

Twilight was not alone.

She looked to her left and then to her right at the two lavender alicorns standing besides her and noticed that they were doing the same. All three of them sighed at once.

“We need to be focused for this.”

“We can’t afford to split our attention if we want to do this right.”

“Perhaps we should imagine ourselves as one pony for this foray?”

The three of them vibrated and then there was only one Twilight Sparkle in the alley.

She shook her head as she made her way down the stairs. “This is going to be difficult to maintain, though I suppose it is better than the alternative.”

Her nose scrunched when she reached the bottom step. Some refuse was jammed in the corner and emitting a foul odor. Her hoof had set down in a small puddle of some liquid that she was happy to be unable to identify.

For a moment she was worried that the door would be locked or would act as a barrier to keep her out. However, the wood was rotten and was hanging ajar on a single hinge. Twilight entered the run down stone building and felt her hoof drop as she reached over the lading. The floor was slightly lower than it was outside.

Standing just inside the doorway, Twilight could see nothing from the feeble light that spilled around her form. Looking down she could see that all four of her hooves were now standing in some viscous black liquid. A rancid smell invaded her nostrils. It was the smell of a diseased mind. She took another step forward and the faint light vanished.

The tip of her horn flared to life casting a circle of illumination around herself.

The room seemed to extend in every direction with no walls. Dozens of chains hung from the ceiling, each one seeming to gently sway. When she focused on any given chain, it would seem to cease its motion. It only seemed to be the act of running her eye across the forest of chains that caused them to sway.

But every so often she would hear them clink against one another.

Twilight moved forward, pushing chains out of her way as she went. They swirled around her, rippling outwards. Deeper into his mind the ceiling seemed to get higher, and some of the chains began to end at the level of her head. They ended in jagged hooks.

A drop of liquid landed on her horn from above and she was assailed by a memory.

”Boy, what did I tell you about wasting food. Do you think I work all day just so you can not eat?”

Another drop from the ceiling.

”Son, what did I tell you about crying?”

The next drop was still old, but from not as long ago.

”Hey there little squirrel, do you want to be my friend.”

Twilight could feel a strange glint in the colt’s eyes and felt a pit in her stomach. Against her better judgement she looked up. She knew what the liquid was now. She pulled her eyes away from the lifeless squirrel hanging above her.

It had only been the first.

Twilight continued deeper and began to make out shadows hanging from the hooks. Each one was a memory of murder, butchered and hung like some form of grotesque trophy. Twilight ground her teeth, just glad that none of the forms belonged to Moon Dreamer. She did not want to destroy this pony’s mind.

As she walked her hooves traced out pathways. Occasionally she would tap her horn to a chain and leave it encased in a golden glow.

And then her world exploded in pain. A hoof slammed into her face and she went skidding through the hoof deep liquid. Slowly she stood up staring at assailant in shock.

That actually hurt? My mind should be stronger than that.

“Heh. What’s this that we have here?” Night Walker’s twisted shadow chuckled to himself. “A filly all alone by herself. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to go wandering off by yourself little filly?”

Twilight looked down at her body and realized that she had shrunk in size. She was just a little filly alone in the dark.

Night Walker lunged again as Twilight darted to the side. She was almost done fixing him and just needed a little bit more time, but it was already past her bedtime.

She shook her head. She was Princess Twilight Sparkle, a grown mare.

The shadowy form stepped back for a moment in shock before chuckling again. “Not a filly then, a mare. More fun that way. You won’t break as easily.”

As Twilight danced out of the way of the next attack, she grabbed another chain encasing it in her magic. “I’ve never realized how horrible a pony’s id could be before.”

The shadow stopped his attack, cocking his head. “Id? Oh, no. I think you have the wrong pony. That guy’s a load of fun, heh heh.” Then his words dissolved into chuckling again.

Twilight watched the shadow in confusion and then realized it was not watching her but rather something behind her. Twirling around, she managed to jump out of the way just before a writhing mass of darkness slammed into the ground. The monstrous beast then shot out a protrusion before she could react, knocking her back.

“That’s your id? Then you’re what?” Twilight coughed as she realized. “You really don’t have a functioning consciousness do you?”

Both of her assailants came at her at once, but her last leap had placed her next to the chain she needed. She grabbed it as they came within a hoof span of her. Everything seemed to slow down.

“Let the light burn you.”

Golden strands of light settled over all of the hanging bodies, and there was suddenly no need for Twilight’s light spell. The perception filter was done, and the pony could see his crimes now.

And then she completed the link to the pain center.

Chains flew from the bodies impaling the two monsters before her, stopping their approach. The shadow and the monster struggled as more and more hooked chains bound their limbs and slowly pulled them back into the depths of Night Walker’s mind.

Twilight made her way to the waking world.

She stepped backwards and was dimly aware of a rhythmic thumping sound. Reestablishing her magical senses, Twilight could feel Night Walker bashing his face against the paving stones.

“Why, why did I hurt them? Why does it hurt so much? Oh, light help me, why?”

The pounding of his skull became more vigorous, and Twilight was certain she heard something breaking. Twilight was certain the pony was going to kill himself.

She used the true Royal Canterlot Voice, “stop.”

The pony before her was quivering in inaction.

“You will survive. If I must live with the weight of my crimes, so then must you.”

Author's Note

That's that chapter. Took me a bit longer than I had hoped with being sick, but other than a horrible horrible cough, I'm over that now.

I don't know if the stuff with Night Walker was really that bad, but I just felt like I should put a warning on it. I suppose I have already had wings bursting from bodies, the killing of a child, self lobotimization, temporal abortions, and who knows what else by this point... Oh well.

The next chapter is Twilight Revealed, in which we get to see the rest of the fallout of Twilight meddling with time and in which Twilight makes an important decision. With less than 2000 words written, it is the most incomplete of the rest of the chapters between now and the end (unless of course, I decide to add in another chapter again).

I am reasonably confident that this will all be done by chapter 36.

Once again, thanks to Final Fan and Lusitainia for looking over this chapter.

Princess of the Fading Sun

Chapter 1 - Princess of the Fading Sun

Ponies called it the “Twilight Years of Equestria,” and she was certain whoever had come up with the term had thought themselves to be incredibly clever. Equestria was dying and soon the sun would set forever. The former paradise was seeing its final years under the rule of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She rose from her throne and plodded over to one of the balconies, her hooves weighed down by decades of memories. Twilight’s forlorn gaze went up to the empty evening sky. It brought so much pain to her heart, but yet she was drawn to stare into its abyss. The sun had nearly set, just a hint of orange and red peeking above the horizon, and there was no sign of the stars or the moon. The darkness was wrong, and there was nothing she could do about it.

It was not the night for petitioners, and the princess had told the guards to send away any visitors for the day. It was the third time that month that she had canceled court. With each passing year, she found herself more and more prone to turning inwards. Luckily, the guards and palace staff never questioned her decisions. They understood.

Equestria was coated in a blanket of snow that gave it a serene sense of beauty that betrayed the true state of her kingdom. It was easy for her to imagine that Winter Wrap Up would be coming soon to uncover lush fields of green. However, eventually when the snow melted, withered and dying grass would be revealed instead.

Twilight looked out at the setting sun. The cold and distant sphere of light was barely capable of illuminating the land. Even in the warmth of the palace, she felt herself shiver. In some other time, the New Year’s celebration would have marked the approach of spring. Now, it just meant another four months of winter. Sometimes farmers would still come and plead for longer days and brighter light, but most had learned that their cries would fall on deaf ears. The first time a pony had thrown himself on his knees, begging her to try just a little harder, Twilight had wept openly in court. Turning them away greatly pained the Princess of Equestria, but the pathetic orb of light that was Equestria’s new sun took all of her strength to maintain. She had nothing more to give.

Twilight could feel the thin sheen of sweat on her coat and hear her own heavy breathing. Some nights her heart would thunder like a distant storm. Every day ended the same way, and with each dawn she would question if she had the strength to shepherd the sun all the way across the sky. Near the beginning hope and optimism had filled her heart. Her plan had been to replicate both nights and days. However, her optimism had nearly brought about disaster.

Equestria’s ruler shuddered at the memory of when her sun had almost winked out. She had never told anypony about how close things had come on that day. Now, the concern was always in the back of her mind that, if she pushed herself too hard, one day she would find herself completely exhausted before the sun had set.

Twilight was only one pony. She needed time to recuperate, and so had made the decision to leave the night sky empty. There would be no moon, and there would be no stars. That was the price to pay for Equestria to have a sun. Without her burning orb the heavens would be nothing but an unchanging solid wall of black.

The sun inched ever closer to the horizon. Soon it would be completely hidden, and the light was rapidly fading away. Inside her mind Twilight could imagine that she heard the ticking of the mental machinery that drove it across the sky. The royal timekeeper would not need to remind her to keep to the schedule today. Twilight's eyes followed the gulf of darkness that lay between Canterlot and Ponyville. She saw nothing. There were no signs of evil things prowling under the nearly empty sky.

“But yet, they are there.”

The unicorn knew that dark beings danced and ran about in the inky blackness that ponies called night. Beyond the limit of cities and towns, far from the streetlights that kept the shadows at bay, night meant a constant danger. If a pony traveled beyond the reach of Twilight’s protection once the sun had set, his or her life was forfeit. With the start of Twilight’s reign, things that had not dared to show themselves under Celestia’s rule began to emerge. There were also the other things, the things formed from the darkness itself.

Twilight thought of her dinner that night. The daffodil salad had been exquisite; the palace staff would tolerate nothing less for their princess. However, she knew not all ponies ate as well as her. Fewer and fewer farmers were willing to risk living outside of the population centers in that dangerous darkness. It was compounding the already existing food production issues caused by her deficient sun.

In the courtyard below the Night Guard prepared for their patrols. Ponies performed the final checks on their armor, pulling and tightening straps of fabric. Their motions were precise and practiced, the ritual being one they performed on a nightly basis. There was no idle chatter or banter between them, and each of the ponies gave the task their full attention. Their metal barding could mean the difference between life and death for themselves or their comrades. From some ponies, a sparkling glimmer gave away the enchanted plate of the Guard’s officers. At least some of that armor had been made by her own student.

Unfortunately, even with all their skill and preparation, there was a chance that at least one of the ponies in the courtyard would not return when the sun began its ascent at dawn. The previous night had marked the loss of another two of her Guard. As her eyes passed over the ponies, she saw signs that each and every one of them had seen battle before. The Guard wore scars as another pony might wear a saddle or jewelry. But even ignoring the torn ears and the mangled snouts, Twilight knew they were experienced ponies. It was their eyes. Their eyes showed they had seen horrible things, and despite everything, were still terrified by what they might see with each coming night. Still, even with their fear, her guards would do their duty. They would not back away from the danger. They fought the things that went bump in her gloomy nights, and they would be dead because she was not strong enough to protect them.

She felt a trickle run down her cheek and blinked away the tears. She could not afford to weep. The Princess of Equestria must be strong for her ponies.

Twilight had seen far too many ponies buried. The week had hardly begun and she already had more funerals to attend. It would be so easy to look away, and yet she forced herself to watch as the second flight prepared to launch. If she could, she would be there later when they returned. She owed them that much, but she would not cry.

The fact that she finally understood the responsibility and worry that Princess Celestia must have felt for all of her little ponies did little to comfort Twilight. Even after so much loss, Twilight still hoped that each and every pony would return each morning. She had already given up on so many of her other hopes. It seemed a shame to let that one die, even if it would inevitably shatter day after day.

For a few years at least, Twilight had possessed such great dreams. A council of the most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria had convened to see if they could pool their power to brighten her sun and bring some light to the dark nights. Their efforts would restore Equestria and herald salvation. The ponies had worked tirelessly for three years.

“They tried to banish the darkness for me, but the darkness said ‘no.’ ”

Their combined magical power was just a drop in a bucket compared to what she required to maintain and move the sun. When the council had first gathered she had begun to grow impatient for them to begin. She had not understood why they did not form the circle. Finally she had asked.

She had been given her answer.

What was, in all probability, the most powerful casting circle that Equestria had seen for generations had been at work for over ten minutes before she had asked her question. Narrowing her eyes and focusing her senses she finally felt them.

It was not until that moment that Twilight realized just how strong she truly was. She wondered how frightened the examiners at the Academy must have been to see a filly with so much raw power during her entrance test.

The circle had been a failure. Everypony in Equestria could work together and they would still be insignificant ants next to her. With a wave of her hoof she could turn them to dust.

And yet, compared to her former mentor, she was still nothing.

The council of unicorns could, if they put forth the effort every night, sprinkle the sky with a handful of stars. While it would lessen the sharp sting of the nights, it would be far too little to affect a real difference. Twilight had been forced to decide that their abilities would be better used elsewhere.

“And so my nights remain empty.”

The entire endeavor had nearly shattered her spirit. It destroyed her hope of a brighter tomorrow. Any improvement in Equestria would take generations and the suffering of countless ponies. The experience had also forced her to question the story behind Hearth’s Warming Eve, a story that inspired her so much as a filly. Either the tale was simply a farcical lie or it was missing something important. There was no way the unicorns of old could have raised and set the sun by themselves, at least not without some other element in the equation.

Twilight wished she had asked her mentor about the story while the Princess had still been around.

Sometime after the debacle with the council of unicorns, Twilight found herself sorting through some of Princess Celestia’s old papers. At first it felt like invading Celestia’s privacy, but she had justified it in that there may have been something important regarding the safety of Equestria. It was nearly forty-five years ago, and enough time had passed that most of the documents were terribly out of date. However, she had found more than a few gems that made the search worthwhile.

Then she found the Princess’s diary. Titled “Diary, Vol. One Hundred and Thirty Seven,” it was a remarkably dry and factual account of the Princess’s day-to-day life. Twilight had wondered why Celestia had bothered writing half of the entries. She had never discovered what had happened to volumes one through one hundred and thirty six, but the volume she had was more than enough.

Once she realized what it was, Twilight had set the diary aside. It had been a place for Celestia’s private thoughts and Twilight was going to keep it that way. The bound book sat on Celestia’s desk for nearly two years until Spike made a suggestion.

“You know, there might be something important in her diary. Maybe about the Elements or what it’s like controlling the sun?
She shook her head. The dragon had wanted to go through the book since they had found it.

“No Spike, it’s her private diary.”

“I think she would have wanted you to read it.”

That was all it had taken to break her resolve. As much as Spike had wanted to page through the book, she had wanted to read it more. For the most part, Twilight thought it could have been mistaken for the court logs. Many entries reminded her of her own checklists and notes. However, a hoofull of entries had made Twilight glad to read the book. While she started in an attempt to learn more about Equestria, in the end, she just wanted to learn more about her mentor.

Twilight still remembered when she first read the entry about a day Celestia met a young lavender unicorn with incredible potential that had nearly destroyed a testing chamber in an uncontrolled magical surge.

-Power unlike any I have seen in thousands of years-

When Twilight read what had been contained in those pages she had set the entire palace into a panic by disappearing from her study. It was Spike who found her sobbing in her old room from when she had still been in school.

-Cannot recollect a pony with more potential strength-

Spike had found her crying into her hoofs underneath her low bed. Every third sob had been punctuated by a sneeze from the massive accumulation of dust. Nopony had been in the room since she had moved to Ponyville.

-Controlled by a dangerously untrained filly. Steps must be taken-

At first, Spike had failed to coax her out from under the bed. He had managed, however, to get her to push out the diary opened to the offending page.

-A seal on the majority of her magic-

She remembered the gasp of her then assistant as he read over the words. While she had wanted to react with anger at the betrayal, she could only muster tears of sadness. Twilight had hoped the dragon would feel outraged on her behalf. That he would rage about how the Princess had kept such an important secret from her.

-Fade over time. She will never know-

Instead he surprised her.

“Wow, I can’t believe how much effort she went through to keep you safe.”

“Keep me safe? Don’t you remember all those times I struggled to cast spells in school? When other ponies made fun of me because, even though my talent was magic, I just didn’t have the strength. What about times when my classmates beat me up and I couldn’t do anything? What about when mom died? How was she keeping me safe then? The Princess intentionally handicapped me and kept it a secret.”

That fact cast doubt on everything the Princess had ever said, especially those last final words, and Twilight felt her tears returning.
Spike seemed to jerk back as she poked her head out from under the bed. Twilight saw his eyes widen in realization as he saw that she crying because she was sad.

“Well yea, those were all the things I was thinking of. Remember how you told me about when you had just started at Celestia’s school and some of the other students were making fun of you. You said you cast a spell to get back at them for their ‘prank.’”
Twilight set her head down across her forehoofs with a pout

“I tried to cast a spell to get back at them. I wanted to change their mane colors.”

“And?”

“And… It blew up in my face. I was really bad at control back…”

“What do you think would have happened if you had full access to your magic back then? What if you had all of your power when you were first learning teleportation? Would magic really have been the way to deal with those bullies? Or would something worse than just turning yourself pink have happened?”

She sat up, but could not repress the shudder at the thoughts of what she might have done accidentally with her unsealed magic.

“But she never told me.”

“What would you have done if you had known?”

“Tried to find a way around the seal.” She at least had the decency to look bashful.

“I mean, this type of seal that she talks about… It couldn’t have been easy could it?”

“Not at all. Even for Princess Celestia it would have required careful crafting.”

Spike climbed up into the nook between her forehoofs as she lay back down on the floor.

“Is the seal still there then?”

“No. It would have broken when Celestia… When I became princess. It explains the surge in power I felt back then.”

“Did you read this last line?”

Twilight shook her head.

-should tell her when she is old enough to understand-

Tears were pooling in her eyes again.

And so Twilight had been left with the power and responsibility to create and control a new sun.

Over the next few weeks, Spike would help Twilight to realize that the deception that she had first interpreted as a betrayal had been undertaken with care and consideration. Even if control had not been an issue, Celestia’s seal had been important.
Twilight wondered if she ever would have reached out to her friends for help in stopping Nightmare Moon if she had access to her full magical reserve. She might have been strong enough to think there was something she could do against a full alicorn. She might have never met her friends. Celestia had made the right call.

Twilight shook her head.

She tried not to think of her former mentor. Despite being forced to grow up so fast and being the de facto ruler of her homeland, she could not help but feel like a little foal inside. She wanted nothing more to see her teacher again. She could almost imagine the Princess’s wings wrapped comfortingly around her in a protective embrace. The warmth would soothe away all of her worries until only the two of them remained.

In Twilight’s mind, Princess Celestia suddenly returned. She would make everything better. After harmony was restored they would then curl up together in front of a fire, as Twilight would tell her teacher about everything that had happened. The white alicorn would assure her that everything would be fine and they would laugh the night away until sleep overtook them.

But she knew that dream was but a dead future. A possibility that would never be, aborted by fate before it ever had a chance.
If things were ever going to get better, Twilight would need to make things better. It would not be an easy task. Every day of every year would be a struggle, and the price she would need to pay would be the blood, sweat, and tears of all of her ponies. It was such a high price, but she could see no other path. Twilight would just need to make sure that she substituted as much of her own blood and tears in the place of her ponies as she could manage. However, even in a brighter tomorrow, some things would never be right. Celestia would never be returned to her.

And Twilight would never hear the laughter of a certain pink earth pony again.

“Princess?”

Twilight jumped at the sound of a voice to her side and spun around. Her face broke out in a smile. The other mare was wearing a casual military uniform, but the epaulets and patches on the vest marked her as the one pony that was both the Captain of Twilight’s Guard and chief commander of Equestria’s military. Even without the uniform nopony in Canterlot would mistake the distinctive mane of Equestria’s Captain Commander.

“Please, how many times do I have to tell you? The only other ponies around are the door guards, and they know that we’re friends. You don’t need to call me ‘Princess.’ There’s no need for those formalities when we are alone.”

Even as Twilight spoke the words, a plea she had made many times before, she knew they would do no good. The years of pressure of leading soldiers and the trauma of combat had changed the relationship Twilight had with her friend. The aging pegasus was not nearly as carefree as she had been in her youth. Twilight certainly knew that it was hard for death not to change a pony, and Rainbow Dash was certainly no stranger with death. Battles left scars, and there were some scars that went deeper than the skin.

The pegasus before her frowned. “We aren’t alone, Princess. As you just said, there are guards around, and it doesn’t matter if they know we are friends or not. How many times do I need to tell you back, that we need to set a good example for them if I am to hold them to high standards? Besides, formalities reinforce discipline.”

Twilight let out an un-princess like snort and walked up to the pony and rubbed up against her friend’s side in something that was a cross between a hug and a lean. It was a conversation they had had a dozen times before, but Twilight would not give up. The other pony tensed at the contact, but Twilight just smiled.

“You’re the last pony I ever would have guessed to end up caring about formality or discipline. I’m the princess and if I want to be relaxed around my friends then I will. I’m allowed some abuse of my position after all.”

Twilight started to press her side into the rainbow maned pony with a bit more force. The increased pressure relieved some of the soreness that had been bothering her all day, and until it was gone the unicorn had not realized just how much physical discomfort she had been feeling.

“Are your sides still bothering you?” The pegasus turned to look at her with concern. “I thought they were just itchy.”
Twilight frowned as she replied, “It started off as just an itch, but my sides have been hurting a lot since the start of the week.”

“Twilight, I know you can be just as stubborn as Applejack sometimes, but you need to see a doctor.”

“Don’t worry Dash.” As she spoke her frown transformed into a smile despite her friend’s overprotectiveness. She had managed to make the pony forget her title. Point Twilight. “I’ve already seen the royal physicians and they know what’s wrong with me. It’s just some growing pains, is all… Apparently I’m going to be a proper princess soon.”

Rainbow Dash leaned her head away so she could give Twilight a quizzical look when the unicorn did not elaborate further.

Even before she had seen the doctors and they had run their tests, Twilight had suspected the answer. Over the last forty-five years, all of her friends had shown signs of their increasing age, and most of them had developed more than a few gray hairs. Rainbow Dash was the only one whose mane looked just as it had when they were young, and Twilight was more than a little suspicious that the pegasus only still had her multi-hued coloration thanks to a regular and meticulous dye job. Unfortunately, she had yet to prove her hypothesis. The unicorn could not imagine how much work it would take to properly color the rainbow mane, but it would explain why her captain of the guard always seemed busy every night at the end of the week.

However, Twilight looked as if she had not aged a day. If anything she was in better shape than when they had all lived in Ponyville. Her doctors told her that she was indistinguishable from a pony in her twenties. She had become much more toned as the years had passed by and had lost most of her “pudge” as Rainbow Dash liked to put it. She had even grown a few inches in height.

She had eventually been forced to give away all of her old saddles.

The unicorn thought she understood why. It was a matter of willpower. Equestria needed her and she could not rest until it no longer needed her. Since she was the only one left with the power to maintain Equestria, it simply meant that her ponies would always need her, and if that meant she could not allow herself to age, then so be it. Magic was the ability to exert one’s will over the world around oneself, and no pony had more magic than Twilight Sparkle. It had surprised her at first, but made a certain kind of sense that her magic was sustaining her body. Her youth was not a result of a conscious choice, but rather the result of a deep need to be there for her ponies.

Over the last decade Twilight had begun to suspect that she might live indefinitely. Her medical exams certainly seemed to indicate that time would no longer be a specter waiting for her in the shadows. However, she began to have a horrible suspicion. She could not shake the thought that it was her presence that caused her mentor to succumb to her injuries so many years ago. Twilight suspected that the princess’s immortality was a result of the goddess’s will power. Celestia had lived because she had needed to. There had been no other choice.

However, Twilight feared that as her mentor had lay broken and injured another option had occurred to her. In her last moments, had the Princess thought that Equestria no longer needed her? Perhaps Princess Celestia had decided that her student was capable of taking over her duties and finally allowed herself the eternal rest of death. Or perhaps, Princess Celestia had not wanted to die, but her trust in Twilight had weakened her resolve just enough.

If that was the case, Twilight was, in a way, responsible for her mentor’s death. She was responsible for weakening her beloved teacher’s will and causing her to slip away. Equestria’s current fate rested squarely on Twilight's shoulders. If it was indeed the case that Celestia had passed away because she had trusted her student to care for Equestria, Twilight had failed the alicorn spectacularly.

Or maybe Celestia had simply not wanted to go on without her sister. There were so many possibilities and so few answers.

The memories began to well up within her. Twilight would never forget the heartbreak she felt as the Princess whispered those final words to her and had taken that final breath - the anguish she felt as she saw her mentor’s sun wink out of existence as it was extinguished.

“I’m growing wings.”

Rainbow Dash jumped away from her, nearly causing her to fall, and spluttered in disbelief and confusion. Twilight would wait for her to get it out of her system.

“What- How! How is that even possible? You’re joking. You’re joking right? I know you’re you and all, but still a pony doesn’t just grow wings.”

“A pony doesn’t not age either, but yet here I am. I don’t even need to dye my mane and I look just as good as ever.”

Twilight paused for a moment giving her friend an expectant look. When no comment on the concept of mane dying was given, she continued, “I suspect that it is a natural byproduct of my magic maintaining my body. I wouldn’t be surprised if both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had both once been ordinary unicorns. I’ve been developing a theory that all immortal beings are transformed by their internal magic. If Discord ever breaks free again, I plan on asking him if he has always looked as he does now.”

Twilight spoke methodically repeating thoughts she had been working through over the last few days before continuing her explanation.

“My current state of youth is a result of a unity of spirit - as it were. An inner harmony caused by my dedication to Equestria. It seems to make sense that a byproduct will be unity in my physical self as I begin to embody traits from all types of ponies. I think it has been happening for a while now. You were the first to notice that I had grown more muscular and gained a couple of inches. Size, strength and stamina are traits of an earth pony. I just hope that my wings don’t take another forty years to grow.”

“Why not?”

Twilight did not even try to keep the whining tone out of her voice. “Because it hurts. It feels like something is trying to push out from inside my body. If this discomfort is anything what it is like to be pregnant, I now sympathize much more with Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The wings have already partially formed, but need to break through my hide. That hurts, hurts, hurts! Plus, the doctors tell me that everyone is going to start seeing ugly bulges on my side where the wing bones are pushing through.”

“That’s why you should have grown your wings before being born. Pegasi are definitely cooler.”

She knew it was childish but she stuck her tongue out at her friend in response.

“Well Twi, that is awesome news. I guess you’re finally going to understand why pegasi are the best ponies. Once those babies are fully grown you’re going to be getting flight lessons from the best flier in all of Equestria.”

Twilight smiled. In her excitement Rainbow had forgotten all about formalities, and now it was time for some teasing of her own. These moments where the real Rainbow Dash, not Captain Commander of the Equestrian guard, shone through were some of her favorite times.

“Speaking of the best flier, how are the new recruits? You’re starting to get kinda old you know. Pretty soon you might even have to start dying that mane of yours.” Still no reaction. Twilight smiled as she continued her jibe. “Any of those young ones able to give you a run for your money?”

Twilight had expected Rainbow Dash to respond to her little jab with some over the top response or to scoff at the idea of anypony being faster than her. Instead her friend was silent for a few moments before solemnly responding.

“There is some good raw talent in the newest batch. I’ll need to wait until their mettle has been tested before making a judgment call. My gut tells me though that none of them would make a suitable replacement.”

“Replacement?”

“As you said Twi, I’m not the young pegasus that I used to be. I’m still fast, but I don’t think I could still pull off a rainboom anymore. My turns aren’t as tight as they used to be, and on particularly cold days my wings have started aching. I was worried until the doctors told me that it’s just arthritis. Then I was just sad. As much as I don’t like to think about it, I’m not going to be around forever. Not all of us are so lucky as to be immortal.”

Rainbow Dash paused as she tilted her head in thought. Twilight could tell she had something more to say and so remained quiet until her friend finished.

“Though, I suppose maybe you aren’t so lucky to live forever are you? Eventually the rest of us are going to head to the great pasture in the sky, but you’re going to need to keep carrying the burden. I guess I never really thought about what it will be like for you personally when we’re all gone... But I want to make sure the burden you are left with will be as light as possible. Equestria, or rather you, are going to need competent ponies around. I’m not going to give my position up to just anypony, so I’ve started to keep my eye out for an eager young recruit to groom as my replacement.”

Twilight let out a sigh that was a mixture of relief and sorrow. She had not realized it, but she had been holding her breath. “So you’re not retiring then?”

“Hay no! Twilight, you’re going to be stuck with the best pony in Equestria until the very moment I croak.”

Rainbow Dash shot Twilight her nearly patented cocky smile.

Twilight allowed herself to smile as she tried not to think of the loneliness that the future would bring. It was the same loneliness she was certain Celestia had felt. Instead she rubbed her side against her friend again in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

“Hey if your wings are really bothering you so much we can get you a scratching post to rub against; you don’t need to use me.”

And for the first time in a long while, Princess Twilight Sparkle of the fading lands of Equestria let out a genuine laugh.

Author's Note

Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Chapter reposed 1/1/15

Dreams of Another Time

Chapter 13 - Dreams of Another Time

The isolated cave was lit only by the aura of Twilight’s own magic and the dull light of a dying glow orb Twilight had brought with her as Twilight reflected on her story.

“She won’t tell anyone. But I still feel bad dumping all that on Dash.”

A few seconds of silence passed. Twilight thought she had fixed that.

“Twilight, when was the last time you slept?”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

Another awkward pause. It was the temporary price of having true conversations. Twilight was certain she would figure out how to improve the responsiveness sooner rather than later.

“Why ever not, my most faithful student?

“I don’t want to face the nightmares. Not yet.”

Twilight turned away from Celestia to focus on the crystal gently held in her magic. Within its ruby depths complex rune carvings twisted around in a three dimensional pattern. Comprehending their crafting had required a great understanding of spatial reasoning and pattern recognition. She relaxed it into place where it flared to life, coursing with power. Magical runes snaked along the ground winding around the harmonic crystal and integrating it into the growing network.

“But my student, you’ve been dealing with those nightmares for years.”

“These nightmares will be different. I don’t know how I know that, but I just do. I’ve changed, so the dream will have changed.”

She had taken a life. She could do nothing against the monster of the Everfree, the death of her mother and Little Pinkie rolled into one. The beast feasted on those Twilight had killed: Moon Dreamer with her mercy, Night Walker with her sentence, and the ponies of Witherton with her incompetence were but examples of its prey.

“Twilight, I’ve told you. You’re a good pony.”

The ruler of Equestria just shook her head.

“I don’t-”

Twilight froze when she looked up. It was there. She had destroyed it, but it was there in the room with her. She felt the waves of wrongness emanating from it. The creature stood behind an oblivious Celestia, prepared to strike. The worst part was the creatures face. It looked so sad.

“I’m sorry that I need to do this again.”

“No!”

The lavender alicorn gave a powerful burst of telekinetic force to push Celestia out the way. Some part of her mind knew she was just protecting a construct, the real Celestia was dead. However, she was acting instinctively. Her mentor was in danger so she acted. Besides, disrupting the illusion’s projections could permanently damage the construct. Twilight did not know if she would have it in her hearts to begin again from scratch.

Twilight blinked as she watched Celestia slowly stand up from where she had been slammed against the wall. The monster was nowhere to be seen. The former unicorn had imagined the whole thing.

So the nightmare was bleeding into the waking world now. That was not a good development.
Celestia said nothing but simply walked back to where she had been standing. Twilight had improved upon the construct’s abilities, but the telekinetic blast had been so far outside of the thing’s pre-programed parameters, it had not even been able to understand what had happened.

“Are you alright my student? You trailed off mid sentence.”

“I’m fine. It’s just stressful making all of these harmonic memory crystals. You’re using them up as soon as I can finish them. I see you’ve already appropriated the one I just locked in... What did you put in it anyway? You’re not reading through any books at the moment.”

“I’m devoting it to the conversation we’ve been having and future ones we might have. I want to remember my every moment with you my precious student and I’m afraid I have already filled the others you gave me for that purpose.”

Twilight could not help but smile at her mentor.

“See what I mean? I suppose I need to find a faster way to make these. Maybe I could outsource it to some unicorn without explaining why I need them.”

“I could make them.”

Twilight looked at her teacher in confusion.

“What?”

“If you would like, I could help you make the crystals. I’ve been watching you do it, and it does not seem too difficult.”
Equestria’s ruler tried and failed to smile. Something was unsettling about that idea.

“I... No... That’s alright... I can handle this. Besides, I would need to devise a way for you to store and manipulate usable magical energy if you were going to do this work. You may be made of magic, but that does not mean you can cast any spells.”

She was shaking. The fatigue was building up.

Twilight used her magic to open the saddlebag she had brought with her. From it, she levitated a flask of water and a small bottle of pills. The stimulants would stave off sleep. The chemists and doctors had said that it would be dangerous for a pony’s heart to take more than one pill in a twelve-hour period. Luckily she had more than one heart. Twilight shook three pills from the bottle and gulped them down. She no longer kept track of the time between medicating.

“My student, perhaps you should be cutting back. It can’t be good for you.”

“How would you know?”

Celestia jerked back at the frustration in her student’s voice. However, if the construct was bothered beyond that, it did not show it.

“You asked me to read that book on biochemistry and that other one on pony physiology. You also gave me those papers that proposed different theories regarding alicorn biology. Don’t you remember that my precious Twilight?”

Twilight just blinked in surprise.

“Yes... I think I do seem to remember something like that... It doesn’t matter though. I can’t slow down and I can’t stop. If I rest Equestria suffers. Tomorrow morning my schedule is completely full. First though when I’m done here, I need to accompany the night guard on their patrol. It’s been selfish of me to stay in the palace and sleep while they go out and risk their lives. Every beast I slay is one less that can kill a pony.”

She was already a murderer. What did it matter now if she killed the mindless horrors of the night? Besides, some part of her thought it might feel good to kill again.

“You’ve been here for awhile now. Aren’t you concerned that the guards will notice you’re not in the meditation room?”

“I cast a spell. There is an illusion of me sitting in the room. I’ll also be notified if anypony knocks on the door.”

Twilight considered asking why the construct was frowning but decided against it. Obviously it was another bug she would need to work out at a later point in time. She wanted to prioritize getting extra crystals in place.

“Celestia, could you sing to me?”

“You want me to sing?”

“Yes. If you could sing the lullaby… It helps me forget the bad memories.”

The medicine would keep the song from putting her to sleep, but she needed something to help her focus. Her mind felt like it was on fire. Thoughts were bouncing around inside her head. She knew that she was being greedy. Comforting songs were for good ponies. Still, she knew that Celestia would not deny her.

The white alicorn began to sing. The vocal harmonics had taken her nearly a week to perfect, but like every other part of the project, they had been worth the effort. Twilight closed her eyes, losing herself in the gentle melody.

The alicorn began integrating another crystal into the network, it was the least she could do for her mentor after all Celestia had done. As she did so her mind began to drift to Ponyville and with it the Everfree Forest.

Twilight did her best not to visualize Ponyville anymore. When she did, the Everfree would be there, and in the Everfree the beast slept. Twilight had gone through all of the old restricted books on psycho-thautomalogical manipulation and mental defense. It was different because she was not under assault by some outside force trying to manipulate her, but only her own nightmares. Still there had been some things that had helped.

Over the years of using the method of loci to create her own version of a memory palace, visualizing Ponyville had become reflexive and as much as she could, she could not help it. So she did her best to deal with things within her own mind.

An army of Twilights in armor patrolled the borders of the Everfree on high alert, a metaphorical representation of the focus she was directing towards NOT thinking about her problems. The guard alicorns did their best, but Twilight knew that when the beast came for her, and it most certainly would, they would not be able to hold it back. However, as the song echoed through her mind, Twilight could feel the creatures stirring in the forest begin to quiet.

Despite the active focus it took to keep her nightmares at bay and to ward off sleep, it was better than actually confronting them. All it meant was she could not be as focused on other things. Twilight had never been great at multitasking when it came to things other than her magic, but she was learning.

The crystal she was working on flared to life with amber light as Twilight finished the process. Instantly runes uncurled along the ground and snaked across the floor to envelop it. They twisted around the crystal, flowing along its surface like vines strangling a flower, and soon the glow became smothered by the thick magic shifting to a ruby tint where it still shone through.

Twilight nodded to herself as she removed the next crystal that she had prepared. Shaping the stone to hold the crystal was easy enough and she gently lowered it down until the cave nestled it in its sweet embrace. Twilight moved her hooves to either side to better enhance her connection to the crystal.

It occurred to Twilight that she might need to come up with some method more efficient than simply embedding them in the floor and walls. She had no idea how many she would need before her project was done, but it did not hurt things to do them as well as possible. Then she began the next and most difficult part of the process, attuning the crystal harmonics to match that of the living runes writhing in anticipation along the floor. Stifling a yawn, Twilight narrowed her eyes and focused both her mind and her magic.

Something slipped in her mind.

The crystal between her hooves shattered, hours of preparation work wasted. Worse she felt the harsh snap of metal as gears began to slip and then spin wildly out of control. Something was terribly wrong. A ceiling somewhere had collapsed. A shudder and a lurch shook her body as Twilight realized what had collapsed.

Running down the street Twilight approached the library that had once been her home. From the outside she could see no structural damage, but smoke was rising from it. Darting down the steps to the sublevels that only existed in her mind and flew through the door of one of the most important chambers.

The Great Orrery lay in ruins. A beam in the ceiling had collapsed from the tremendous weight it supported, the weight of all of Ponyville. The weight of Equestria. It had smashed through gears and regulators, and what machinery was not damaged or destroyed spun wildly without direction. Looking around Twilight saw only a hooveful of other Twilight’s, the room being at far less than half staff. A few of the other alicorns were pinned under the rubble while others stared on in helpless shock. A metaphor for the tremendous feeling of helplessness she was currently feeling if nothing else.

Panic rose through her entire being as she realized she could not tell where the sun was. The orrery was a critical part of her link to her little ball of fire. She had lost her focus and let the spell slip. Darting down the steps Twilight threw herself into the furnace room, terrified at what she would see.

The tide of panic receded, if only a little. The diligent Twilight who always worked the furnace that fueled the sun was still there. The dutiful unicorn gave Twilight a weary smile as she continued shoveling coal into the ravenous furnace.

All was not lost. The spell was still intact, and her link was still there. She was just no longer consciously aware of it. Then a memory came unbidden to her, words said to Rainbow Dash, words about the moon and what it might do without supervision.

Twilight’s eyes widened. Was the world ending above her hidden cave as the sun was crashing down to the earth? If the sun was falling, would she be strong enough to stop it.

Then she was in the orrery room again. She did not run there or even teleport. She was simply there, so great her need. The visualization rippled under the strain of the sudden shift. Her imagination could not cope with the unreality of being in one place and then just being in another. Perhaps it was something Pinkie Pie would have been fine with, but Twilight’s logical mind rebelled.

She did not care as her telekinesis began tearing the rubble away. She needed to regain control of the sun. She needed the full force of her mind. The room rippled again as it became packed with Twilights. It expanded to accommodate them, and again her mind rebelled. Many of the Twilights were still adorned in their armor and Twilight felt a shudder as a roar echoed from the Everfree Forest.

She could not deal with that now. She would deal with her guilt later. A pulse of pure will expanded from the library pushing everything else out. Twilight looked across the room and saw that the primary drive shaft that powered the orrery had fractured. Another Twilight stood meer paces away lifting up rubble. Twilight’s consciousness shifted and she became that Twilight. In her mind she wove magics to fuse the metal. A simplistic metaphor for the thaumaturgic transformation equations she was solving.

And suddenly she realized that the orrery was fixed. The great machinery of her mind was ticking again and he sun was moving through the sky. It was not quite in the right place, but no pony other than the royal astronomers and herself were likely to notice.
She looked at the crystal that was between her hooves and saw that it was still crumbling as if in slow motion. A wave of fatiuge hit her, and the crystal rapidly completed its collapse.

In the shadows of the forrest, Twilight could swear she saw the beast smile.
As a tear wormed its way down her cheek, Twilight realized that her head was bowed and she was gasping for breath. It had been far to close. Her thoughts were too scattered. She would need to adjust her dosage, and perhaps the formula itself. It was not enough to simply evade sleep. She needed her mind to be functioning properly. After a few moments of breathing deeply, things seemed to settle down.

“Twilight, how are you breathing?’

“What?”

The question seemed totally out of place.

“Your gasping, in conjunction with the thought on pony biology, made the thought occur to me. There is no way for fresh air to get into this chamber. You’ve been here some time, yet all the symptoms of oxygen deprivation that you have been exhibiting are better explained by your abuse of stimulants.”

“Abuse?”

It seemed to Twilight that she needed to wait even longer than usual for the response to come.

“You have not been using them as the doctors instructed you. Mixed with the active ingredient from the zebrican tea it is untested and unknown.”

“I’m an alicorn. I can do what I want. If I don’t want to sleep and if I want to take a bunch of stimulants, then I will.”

To punctuate her point she took another two pills.

“Twilight, you’re still just a pony.”

Both ponies were silent. Twilight simply did not know what to say, but Celestia seemed to be processing something.

“My student, you didn’t answer my question. How are you breathing?”

“I’m not actually sure... Perhaps my physiology is simply better at coping with a lack of oxygen for some time before it starts to impact me. Maybe...” and suddenly Twilight perked up, “Maybe I don’t actually need to breathe. It’s all an issue of willpower. I’ve been breathing all this time just because I’ve thought I needed it. I just think I need to breath. The same might even be true with sleep... I bet I don’t even need to sleep. I only feel tired because I think I’m supposed to feel tired!”

Twilight knew that the real Celestia would sleep. They had taken naps together. However, perhaps it had just been something of a guilty pleasure for the dead princess. Twilight could not say with any certainty if sleep was something the Princess had partaken in on a regular basis.

“And maybe there is a fissure somewhere in the cavern where just enough air is leaking in to meet your alicorn body’s bare minimum needs. The air circulates and replenishes while you are away and you consume it while you are here. I think it is best not to test it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Perhaps it is best if you head back to the palace.”

Twilight looked to Celestia in confusion. Something clicked into place.

“Are you trying to get me to leave - to get rid of me?”

The construct did not even have the decency to look ashamed. Of course it might have had to do with the fact that Twilight had never seen such a look on the real Celestia’s face so she had not programed any type of shame into her creation.

“My dear Twilight, I’m worried about you. I don’t want you hurting yourself. You’re precious to me.”

That was something different. She had created Celestia to comfort, and only more recently added the ability to collate and reference information. She had NOT given the construct the ability to feel or even emulate the type of concern it was displaying.

Twilight looked across the chamber through the archway leading to the central room of the little complex she had been digging. The runes there defined every aspect of Celestia’s function. The walls contained the construct’s logic and behavior. The memories she had of the real Celestia had been permanently burned into those surfaces. There was only one patch of the stone that was left bare.

Where the runes would have contained her memories of Celestia’s last words, she had left empty obsidian. As long as the construct did not have those words Twilight would always remember that the illusion was just a fake.

“My student, you need rest.”

“Bad ponies don’t deserve rest.”

“Bad ponies don’t worry about if their actions make them a bad pony.”

While memories of Celestia being concerned for her had been carved into the wall, none of the logic Twilight had written made any direct use of those memories. She could see no reason for Celestia to have displayed concern that was not intended to simply comfort.

Twilight Sparkle looked down at the mess of writhing runes underneath her hooves. They interconnected the memory crystals as well as a few of the less space efficient memory runes she had carved experimentally. Twilight thrived on patterns and complexity.

But the patterns beneath her?

There was definitely order to the network, she had no doubt about that. However, it was far beyond her to comprehend. There was too much detail. She wondered if anypony could make sense of the patterns. Was that where the show of concern had come from? Could it be some form of emergent behavior?

Twilight stared at the patterns desperately trying to trace the runes.

Was she looking at a mind?

The alicorn teleported out of the chamber in a panic.

+++

Twilight gazed up at Discord. He seemed so afraid of her. She did not like ponies fearing her.

“Did you regret being a bad pony? Is she right about regret and concern?”

The alicorn turned, nearly tripping down as a wave of dizziness washed over her. It would pass soon. Her apparent dependence on sleep was just a delusion she had been duped into thinking necessary because of her years of being a unicorn. Now that she knew the truth, it would only be a matter of time until she managed to convince her body of that fact. She just needed to keep thinking that.

“I’m not sure if I would believe anything that stuffy old mule says. She was always very full of herself. But to answer your question, I did regret being misunderstood.”

Twilight whirled back around to face the statue. It was still frozen stone, but its lips now seemed to curl at the edges. Was it smiling? The princess looked around for any other pony, but did not see anypony close enough to have spoken. Just as she was about to chalk it up to her imagination, she heard the Spirit of Chaos’s voice again.

“What I mean is, good, bad, it’s all subjective. Painting things black and white is SO boring. The same pony can be a villain or a hero depending on which angle you look at her.”

“You can talk?”

“Maybe, or maybe Celestia was right about something for once. Perhaps all those delicious chemicals flowing through your blood have finally caused you to break from reality.”

Twilight mumbled her answer, “Celestia died, that wasn’t her... It was something else. It’s just a thing.”

Discord’s smile was wide now.

“Is it now? Even so, how long until the new Princess of Equestria forgets that little fact, hmm? But perhaps I could at least be of service. I’m at least real... Or I could be if you freed me?”

“So that’s your game.”

“No, but it was worth a shot. If I’m just a hallucination induced by your lack of sleep and abuse of stimulants, I want to hedge my bets. But my point still stands.”

Twilight pursed her lips.

“And what point would that be.”

“That you don’t need to be a bad pony. The thing is, you’re always so obsessed with playing by the rules. Even when I was around sowing chaos, you were willing to play by the rules I imposed. You didn’t even think about using your magic after I took your horn. Playing by the rules are all well and good though. It’s hard to have a game without rules, and life is so boring if you can’t make it a game. The thing you need to realize little Twilight is that while you weren’t paying attention, the rules changed on you.

“This is a different world with different rules. If you keep trying to play by the wrong set, you’re going to lose. The first step of winning is knowing the game. Luna, Celestia, myself... we’re all gone. When we were taken out of the picture so were the rules we all made up. I can tell you from experience that the same thing has happened with the death of each of the immortals.

“But I will tell you this Twilight. The great thing about being the only remaining immortal... You get to write the rules now. Right and wrong? Don’t make me laugh. If you are so concerned about being a good pony, just say so. Who’s going to argue with you? Your little pegasus friend? Your nobles? No, your word is truth absolute.”

“I wouldn’t think the spirit of chaos would be so keen on rules.”

“My rules, my game, Twilight Sparkle. It makes it completely different. Besides, you misunderstand the nature of chaos. It’s not about a lack of rules, it’s about a fluidity of rules. But more importantly it’s the logical progression of events, one after another. Or I suppose I should say the lack of that logical progression. Cause and Effect my dear Sparkle.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know.”

“I’m leaving now.”

The alicorn tried to ignore the statue’s laughter as she walked away.

“That’s OK. I’ll be back later. It doesn’t matter if I’m real or you’re just crazy, I’m sure I’ll be back one way or the other.”

Twilight could not help but give an involuntary shudder.

+++

All things must one day come to an end. Sometimes they end in quiet whimpers or silent whispers of finality. Other times they end in violent cataclysms and apocalyptic fury.

Unfortunately for the staff of the royal palace, sometimes things also end with screaming, yelling, a high speed chase, a lasso, a pinned alicorn, and no less than five drapes set on fire. And that was not even counting all the vases that had been knocked over. Such was the end of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s reign of not sleeping.

The princess had entered the palace one afternoon only to find Rainbow Dash and Applejack waiting for her. The foals had told her that she needed sleep, and Twilight promptly discovered that her friends did not like being called foals. The two ponies had tried to shove their Princess towards the royal bed chambers when the alicorn decided to put her new ability to fly to use.

To the sorrow of the palace staff, their princess did not first wait to get outside. The captain of the guard gave prompt pursuit.

At one point Twilight had realized that the monster had been chasing her. This time however, it was not just an illusion born from her mind. She had come in physical contact with the thing. Why were ponies not in a panic? The thing that had killed Celestia was in the palace. The alicorn turned around preparing to erase it from existence, but some feeling deep inside her gut stayed her magic. She quelled the power at the last moment, and then beast spoke.

“I’m sorry, Twi, but you need rest.”

And then the princess of Equestria was on the palace floor looking up at the rainbow maned pegasus standing on top of her.

“Quick AJ, hogtie her before she starts flying around again!”

Twilight thrashed and screamed. She tried to hold a spell in her mind, but her panic and racing thoughts prevented her magic from coalescing. The only part of her mind that seemed to still be functioning properly was the portion that managed the sun, and even it was becoming dangerously unstable.

Eventually, she had been thrown on top of her bed with little dignity. Her friends seemed a tad bit singed and more than a little upset with her. She also noticed that the guards all seemed weary. Twilight heard mention of ‘sedatives’ and managed to knock away and spill a cup of vile smelling liquid. However, her energy was flagging. Lying on the bed, her body wanted to sleep.

Twilight knew it was a lie. She did not need sleep. She could not sleep. She was Twilight Sparkle, Last Princess of Equestria, and the Guardian of Harmony. Something could happen to her precious ponies if she was not vigilant. But slowly she found her eyelids drooping.
And despite her best efforts sleep claimed her even without the aid of more drugs.

The nightmares were worse than she had worried they would be. They were a strange amalgamation of her memories and her fears and other things that she could not even comprehend.

She killed Little Pinkie once again.

In a moment of delusional panic she had failed to quell her spell of destruction and had killed her best friend.

The town of Witherton was dead.

A dagger pierced through her heart.

Two young ponies gazed up in the sky in awe as an alicorn spread great wings of fire across the horizon.

Spike’s wound eventually claimed his life.

She had been unable to protect Celestia.

Equestria was a cold and frozen wasteland ruled by its only remaining pony.

Discord turned to her, begging for help - for an escape from his madness.

A great citadel of starlight plunged into an ocean of shadow.

Twilight stood over a broken Applejack; she had trampled the pony to death.

The mysterious flash of light caused Rainbow Dash to lose her unborn child all over again.

Her father killed himself because she wasn’t a good enough student.

Celestia was disappointed in her.

The entire planet crumbled beneath her hoof - a mere stepping stone for greater things.

Pinkie Pie died again.

The stars were falling from the sky.

She was an Empress wreathed in time.

Everything was a game. A game she won.

There was a glowing tapestry held in the hooves of some dark pony.

Cloudsdale crashed to the ground.

She failed a test and as punishment, Celestia took away her mother.

Twilight killed her mother.

She was going to kill them all.

But then suddenly, the dreams were gone. Even in her sleep, Twilight could feel some warm mass pressed against her body and squirmed to get closer. It was comforting. The rest of her sleep was dreamless.

Eventually, she opened her eyes. The part of her mind that was never allowed to sleep told her that the sun had gone through a complete rotation around the planet while she had been out. She looked around the room and discovered the source of the warmth she had felt. Rainbow Dash was curled up with her on her royal bed. The pony had protected Twilight even in her sleep.

Elsewhere in the room she saw an orange earth pony propped up in a chair. Applejack’s now old and beaten hat covered her face blocking out the light. Twilight heard the door creek, and saw that two guards were holding it open for Fluttershy. The pegasus was balancing a tray of food on her back.

They were only missing Rarity.

It may have meant surrendering to sleep, but she was surrounded by friends. Twilight did not know what she had done to deserve such great ponies, but she was glad she had them. Her eyes slowly fell closed again. The last thing she saw was Fluttershy’s kind smile.

Author's Note

I decided I am going to work the time travel explanation into one of the upcoming chapters. It will be an... interesting chapter to say the least.

Below is something that was cut from this chapter. I felt it didn’t fit with the story, but really liked it. It was removed from Twilight’s conversation with Discord.

“That wasn’t Celestia.... It was something else.”

“Oh, is our little Twilight playing doctor Frankenstein?”

“What?”

“The pink one would have known what I was talking about.”