Chapters A recently crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted hurridly through Canterlot castle. It was her new home now, she couldn't live in Ponyville anymore, she couldn't go back to her friends. Ever.
She might have been going in the complete oposite direction she was intending to, but she didn't mind. She had to run to get her mind of ther thoughts, the same thoughts that kept her up at night and bit at the back of her mind by day.
She quickened her pace and closed her eyes, praying that anypony that so happened to cross her path would move out of her way and not disturb her.
She was an alicorn, she would literally live forever. Her friends wouldn't, her friends would age and fade away slowly from her life and memory.
She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't let them fade away one by one, painfully slowly from her life.
The very prospect of that saddened and frieghtened her so greatly that she had so do the right thing, because it was the right thing to do, right?
She cut them all of from her life all at once, a few weeks after her corination she moved to Canterlot, and vowed that unless the fate of Equestria depended on it, she would not speak to her friends again.
She had also relieved them from their duty as element barers, with some help from Celestia she now weilded all of the elements of harmony by herself, as her mentor had once done.
She didn't expect to use the elements, in fact she hoped she wouldn't have to, it was the greatest remeinder of her dead friendships.
She had to keep telling herself that it was the right thing to do, for both her and her friends.
They-they understood, didn't they? That was the question that troubled her. Did her friends understand, accept, and possibly even agree with her decistion?
She thought for a moment, but she always reached the same answer. They did not understand. They hated her for leaving them and cutting them neatly out of her life, they fought ever crazy foe Equestria could find with her, and depending on how you looked out it, for her. They comforted her in her every hour of need and what did she do? As soon as she became a princess she packed up and left with little more than a good bye. She had to hurt them now, or it would hurt her so much more later.
Twilight grunted with frestation and anger. She opened her eyes and found she was headed straight for one of the many castle balconies, overlooking Equestria. She spread her new wings and prepared to jump over the side, maybe flying would clear her thoughts more than running.
She cleared the barier with ease and was just airbourn when she heard a shout from behind her.
"Princess!"
She stopped midair and turned around, a gaurd, heavily panting and sweating underneith his armor was running up the coridor leading to the balcony that she had recently run across.
Landing with practised gracefulness she adress the gaurd.
"Yes, sir?"
"Your magesty," the gaurd spluttered, evidently trying to catch his breath from chasing the young princess. " *pant* Princess Celestia had requested you presents in her *pant* private lounge."
With that the gaurd leant against the wall and fell asleep.
Twilight sighed stepping over the gaurd.
She was not in the mood to be lectured on the importaunce of keeping peace with the griffin kingdom.
Her hourn glowed and less than a second later she was outside the wood varnished door that lead to her mentor's private lounge. She knocked politely on the door, plastering her ready-to-learn smile on in teh the process.
"Enter." came the calm authoritive voice of Princess Celestia.
She opened the door with magic and strode across the book filled room to the wide fireplace and velvet cusion on which her mentor, Luna and Cadnce were sitting on.
Twilight covered her surprise quickly and greeted them with the calm and control of a princess.
Cadence greeted her and beconed for the purple alicorn to sit next to her. Twilight smiled and sat but couldn't help catching the nervous glances she shot at Celestia, the only half genuine smile. Luna was acting strange as well, she had recently aquired 'head phones', one of the more igenius invenstions of Vinyl Scratch, and was listeing to said DJ's music loudly, as if trying to block out somthing.
This was strange since Luna usually paid close attension to her, and she liked to think that they had respect for one another.
Celestia seemed to be the only acting normal, but with practised royal manners, she politely ignored the behavior of the two alicorns.
"Ah, Twilight." Celestia began, smiling gracefully. "I have invited my sister and Candence to reveal to you to most important thing about behing an alicorn is." Twilight raised a mental eyebrow. If this was going to be some super secret power that alicorns possessed, surly she could have done it with a less dramatic build up? But Twilight for one had more sense than to voice this out loud.
"I'm ready to learn whatever you have to teach me!" She chirped automatically. Celestia smiled, like she was explaining to a fille that Santa Clause wasn't real.
"I am glad you are so egar my faithful student, I only hope your enthusiasm lasts." Twilight tried her best to look past the melodramatic setup of her teacher's dialogs and take the information seriously.
"Sister," Luna spoke for the first time, taking her headphones off and massaging her temples with her fore hooves.
"Prolonging it with dramatic dialogue won't make it any easyer to take." Cadence shuffled uncomfortably. And examined the cushion. Celestia seemed torn between glaring at Luna or talking to Twilight, who had not changed facial expression at all.
After an uncomfortable silence, Celestia spoke. "Twilight, do you know how many alicorns there have ever been in Equestria?"
"Of course Princess," Twilight took pride in memorising every position of power there had ever been in Equestria. "Legend has it, that there were your two parents, you, Luan, Cadence and now me."
Celestia nodded at the carpet. "Well done my faithful student, perfect as always." She exchanged looks with Luna before continuing. "My parent created Equestria, they were alicorns, gods. Alicorns can live forever, any book will tell you that much.
"But if alicorns can live forever, where are my parents? Where are they if they can live forever?" Celestia stopped, looking around at Luna and Cadence for help. Cadence came to her aid.
"From the moment a alicorn become a alicorn, be they at birth or at any other time in their life, they begin having significant increase in magical ability, surely you have noticed?" Twilight nodded, sincerely interested now. "After they have been around for roughly three thousand to four thousand years, the raw energy they posses become too much for any physical body to bare, so they simply...dissolve I guess, into raw energy. But they loose all that they were when they were physical except their power.
"So yes, alicorns live forever, but only three thousand years off that is...real experience, I guess you could put it."
Cadence was silent and they all seemed to await Twilight's reaction.
Twilight had many questions, but the one that survived journey from brain to mouth was;
"But what happens to the things that the alicorn was responsible for? Like the sun, the moon and love?"
Celestia nodded "the energy of the alicorn becomes their responsibility. My parents responsiblities were to simply keep Equestria existing in a state of being. Now that they have.....call it what you will, their energy is doing that, and will keep doing that until the end of time."
Twilight absorbed the information, it all made sense, sense was somthing she could deal with.
"But Twilight," This time Luna spoke; giving her a warming smile. "In a thousand years our time will be up, as physical beings at least."
Ah. That was why she was meant to be upset.
"But, Princess!" She smiled nerviously, "If you are..disolved, then..do I rule Equestria?" She knew she would take up a large amount of responsibility, but ruling by herself? No, she couldn't be serious.
"Twilight, we will be here to help you for another thousend years at least, to help you rule in anyway we can, but you must find a sucsessor before you too..disolve-"
"Needless to say, you won't need to worry about that for quite a while." Celestia cut off her sister, giving her Luna a 'don't over worry her' look. "But your sucsessor will also co-rule with you, as you do now."
"I am sure you have many questions," Cadence smiled warmingly, resting her hoof on the purple alicorn's shoulder. "But it's late try and get some rest." Twilight stood and bid goodbye to the princesses as Luna left to lower the moon.
She walked back to her room deep in thought.
It was a ominmous prospect, finding a suitable sucsessor, not to mention taking on nearly all the responsibility of Equestria, and her mentor, Luna and Cadence fading away into pure energy, the same fate that would await her somday.
She reached her bedroom walked calmly on the balcony, her magic stripping her of her crown and golden slippers as she walked. She stood on the balcony in the cool night air, the hint of dawn on the horizon. She looked up at the beatiful silvery ord in the sky, and saw an alicorn silloet against its ghostly white aura. Luna Flew the moon over the horizon, and soon another orb appeared in the sky, its firery golden light illuminating Equestria. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth break onto her face, savouring the thought that she would enjoy this for the next three thousend years, before becoming Equestria itself.
"The academic records from all around Equestria, your highness." The unicorn gaurd bowed, levitating the enormous stack of paper to the ground.
"Thank you sir." Princess Twilight Sparkle said, her voice deep and regal. She nodded her noble head to her personal assistant, who began to sort through the considerable mountain of acamdemic records in Equestra, picking out the good ones for the princess to examine.
Twilight had grown so much over the last two and a half thousend years, she now reembled Celestia almost entierly in her height and figuer, she aslo wore her own golden neclace, set with a purple gem shaped as her cutie mark.
Her mane billiowed out around her head, but it remained straight as it had always been.
Celestia had disolved around a thousend years ago, Luna and Candence following shortly, she missed them so much.
Her- her friends had also died. Their deaths lost in the blur of life that had been the last two thousend years.
She visited their graves, from what she could tell they had lived a happy life, but anyone who knew them knew that they had resented her right from where she left until their deaths.
It did not hurt to see their graves so much, but it hurt so much to know that they died hating her.
"Princess?" Her personal assistant looked at her nervously, the pile of selected records hovering next to her.
"Ah, thank you Sunset." The unicorn bowed and returned to her seat next to the throne to continue filling out endless paperwork.
Twilight examined the floating bits of paper, each one held the resolts of the highest achieving unicorns in Equestria. One of them, would be her new air.
Diamond Charmer, Dream Pleasure, Pheonix Sparks, Charmer Regal, and Solar Mist were after closer examination, the top achievers in all Equestria.
Now all she had to do was meet them in person, test their social skills and run them through some tests.
Celestia would probaly tell her to not foucus on purely the acidemics, but Celestia was gone and evan after knowing her for a thousend years she didn't know what else to look for in a sucsessor.
The magic of friendship would only hurt alicorns, look where it had gotten her. Celestia had been crule to give her friendships and them force her to out live them all.
She shook her royal head, no time to dwell on that, they're gone, they're dead and you need to find a new air.
"Sunset," her PA seemed to appear out of thin air next to her.
"Yes, Princess?"
"Go find these foals and bring them here as soon as you can." Sunset nodded, her horn glowed and she vanished.
Twilight dismised the gaurds, and slumped in her throne, her mane falling into her face as the spell keeping it flowing wore off.
A new air...It was up to her to find one that would lead Equestria into another eara of sucsess.
Urg, she sounded like Celestia. All those years ago, the ruler of the sun reconised her for her magical abilities and, look where she was now. Now it was her turn to decide, her turn to teach and raise this new air... She had never really realised how important it was that she get it right.
"Princess, the foals you requested will arrive at the castle tomorrow at noon. I'm sorry, they simply refused to come any sooner." Sunset was trotting up the throne room, informing the princess as she walked.
"Thank you, Sunset." Her PA bowed and returned to her seat next to the throne, mumbling about classless unicorns with no respect for their princess.
Twilight smiled at her personal assistant. "I need some air, if anypony needs me, please try and cover it yourself or tell them I'll do it when I get back." Twilight was not one to ever think about ever falling behind on her royal duties, but she needed to fly right now, she hadn't for a while.
She left the throne room and walked until she got to one of the many balconies in the castle.
Flight was ever so relieving. She soared around Canterlot, her mane naturally flowing behind her for once, she dived and swooped and thought of Rainbow.
She quickly chased the thought out of her head, Rainbow died hating her, and any thought of her would only result in sadness as she had found out too many times.
She flew until the sun set and the moon rose, by itself of course, the engergy from Luna and Celestia doing it for her as it would until the end of time.
As she entered her room, taking off her slippers and heavy neclace in the process, she remembered that the two sisters were only rumors and legends now. As were her adventures with her friends, that now hated her. Nopony exept her knew that they ever existed at all.
As she began she fall asleep she remebered that she told Sunset that she'd return to the throne room after her flight.
Nothing urgent had happened, or the whole of Canterlot would be looking for her, so she fell asleep, promising that she'd apologise tomorrow.
The princess' personal student
The first thing Twilight noticed the next day at noon, was that they weren't so young at all. Not as tall as a fully grown pony, but by no means as short as a foal. She made many other careful observations of the five possible airs, each looked healthy,each displaying different body laungages that were quickly noted.
Sunset was by her side, levitating a clip board and making notes of pretty much anything she could think of about the five ponies, fericly intimidating the,.
"Welcome, welcome all of you." Twilight began, radiating calm and authority. "I will see each of you one by one to talk, if at any point you get hungery," Her hourn glowed and a plate of sandwiches appeared at theit hooves "Please, help your selves." She smiled.
She prayed that she would have the same affect of these students that Celestia had had on her, for if they had no respect for her, then any hope of making a sucsessor out of these would be hopless, she decided her best bet was to be good humored and relatable.
"Charmer Regal?" She asked, looking down at the small ponies. A colt that resembled prince Blueblood horribly stepped forward. "Here, Princess." He bowed, his voice was a bit low for his age, somthing that was quickly noted by Sunset.
Twilight took Sunset and Charmer into a small seperate lounge type room, and asked him a few personal questions, but mostly amidemic to test his social skills. His scores did not lie, he was incredibly intelligent, but also snobbish and stuck up. He seemed always eager to steer the conversation back to his multipul achievmeants or any other thing about himself he could think of.
It was all noted by Sunset, and he was dismised.
The next three were mostly the same, they were all amazingly bright but were either snobbish, overly shy or so maddingly egotistical and disrespectful that she would rather slam her face into a brick wall then give them private lessons to become the next ruler of Equestria.
The last colt left was Pheonix Sparks. He was no more intelligent than the rest, but he was friendly, likeable, funny and handsome. He had a slightly big ego, he was by no means arogant.
Twilight actuly enjoyed talking to him.
As he walked out he smiled at Sunset, who blushed profously. Twilight smiled and walked elegantly back into the throne room where the filles and colts were being lead out by the gaurds.
Twilight for the second time in two days slumped in her throne, her magicaly billiowing hair falling onto her face.
She closed her eyes ad breathed.
"Sunset?"
"Yes, princess?"
"What do you think, about the foals I mean." Sunset was more than an assistant, she was an adviser and one of the closet things she would let herself have to a friend, she probaly trusted her more than anypony else.
"They are all exeptionaly bright, princess."
"Yes, well their amademic records could tell us that much, what else did you think about them?"
There was a tense silence where Sunset seemed to be deciding if she should voice her opinions out loud. She inhaled loudly.
"Charmer Regal seemed to thing that the whole of Equestria resolved around his manicured hooves, Dream Pleasure simpely refused to say anymore than two word answers and only made eye contact with the floor, Solar Regal thought he could run the world single hoofidly and had no respect what so ever, Dream Charmer was wearing earphones under her mane and was chewing bubble gum throughout the interview, I honestly have no idea how she got those grades, and Pheonix Sparks..."
She trailed off and met the princess' gaze. "Yes, what did you think of Mr. Sparks?" asked Twilight in her serine tones.
"He was...interesting."
Another silence in which Sunset seemed to be surpressing opinions.
"I mean, he obviously has a flourishing ego a mild attitude problem, but, princess, he's....he's so..." Sunset furrowed her brow, trying to place the word. "He has a certain quality about him, a leaders quality..and he has comendable social skills, not to mentoin his ease around people, especialy royalty."
Again they exchanged looks, it was one thing being likeable but entirly another being a princess' student, not to mention the futer ruler of Equestria.
"Princess, do you think he should be the one?" asked her PA slowly.
Twilight rubbed her temple, her hourn glowed and her hair resumed it's billowing, "He seems to have all the qualities required, and he also seems to be the only one we've got."
"Yes princess, so, should we send him back in tomorrow? Him and his family are staying in Canterlot." Twilight thought for a moment.
"No, ensure every family of the selected filles and colts stay in Canterlot for the next three days, on the third day send in Pheonix to begin his training. That way it will look like we've thought about it and we won't offend anypony, some of those foals come from powerful families."
Sunset nodded and teleported away to tell whoever needed to know that sort of thing.
Twilight stared down the long throne room, feeling very alone.
Her friends were dead, her brother was dead, her parents were dead, her mentor had disolved to become part of the sun, the only other beings she thought she could count on not loosing were part of the moon and whatever love was.
The closest thing she had to a friend was her personal assistant and the countless nobles and snobs of the Canterlot eleite.
For the first time now, she understood how Celestia felt in the period after she banished her sister to the moon, and she to was alone, at the time she must have thought she would be forever.
But, now she was going to have a student. A student that would grow and somday rule with her, a student that could be (dare she say it?) a friend.
That was a nice thought, maybe she wouldn't be alone for the rest of enternity (or at least the next one and a half thousend years).
There was a soft wooshing sound and Sunset was standing next to her telling her that she needed to be at some duke's dinner party followed by a conference with the Royal Court.
She smiled, and got up to leave not really hearing what her assistant was saying.
She somhow managed to reply and the young mare bowed and left as she was esscorted by gaurds into a carrage.
As she flew through the sky and over the top of Canterlot, one thought seemed to guid her through the messed up thoughts. She would not be alone for eternity.
Princess Sparkle closed her eyes and breathed in the light morning air, the sun rose magesticly into the sky and seemed to add the finishing touch to the scene before her.
The princess was standing at one of the many open windows lining the circular room at the top of the highest tower in Canterlot Castle.
It really was a beatiful room, the stone lining it was white but the sun streaming in through the windows lit it a orangey glowing cream colour. The roof had inticate designes of pegasuis unicorn and earth ponies bowing down to a huge circle in the middle of the cieling, with an image of the sun goddess and her sister survaying their subjects, an blank stare on their inked faces.
Twilight spread her wings, the morning breeze ruffling her purple feathers. She might have just flew out the window if she hadn't heard a noise behind her.
"Princess Sparkle...." She turned, her surpirse vanishing as she remembered why she was up in the tower in the first place."
"Pheonix, welcome. Are you ready to begin our first lesson?" The colt stared up at her with eyes the colour of glowing embers.
Pheonix's fur was charcole grey, but his mane was edmittedly the most extodinarily coloured one she'd ever seen.
It was a red orange with flecks of gold in it. It didn't have two or even three defined colours like most ponies, each hair was a different shande of red or orange, it reminded her alarmingly of fire.
"Yes princess Sparkle," When he spoke his head and his mane moved, it really did look like fire, flickering and tossing, it was fasinating to watch.
Twilights hourn glowed and out of no where in front of her student appeared two spheres. One was solid gold, the othre solid silver, they were about the size of ping pong balls.
The princess trotted nobly towards him, lowering her magestic head to his height. "I want you to levitate them for me." She could feel the colt smile. His hourn glowed the same ember red as his eyes and the gold and silver ords lifted into he air with ease.
Pheonix smiled, this easy? wow, his parents were over recating about these lessons. Just to prove to the princess this was too easy for him, or to impress her, or because he was bored, he made the two ords rase each other round the circular room. The princess raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything until the spheres came to a stop in front of them.
"Pheonix, did I ask you to do that?" He had gotten this stuff from teachers a hundred times, and would have gotten it alot more if it wasn't for his considerable charm. But it was different coming from a princess, maybe it hadn't been one of his better ideas to mess around in her private lessons. Not that he would let her know that.
"No princess, but you see, I was bored." It came out before he could stop it. Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell, oh hell.
"Bored Pheonix? Well, we shall continue with the exersize and see if it entertains you." She stared at him coldly as he turned back to the ords floating before him. He had avoided prison, that was a relife, he just had to use all of his self control and not buck this up.
"What shall I do now princess?" He asked, trying to sound as inncent as possible.
"Just hold them there, Pheonix." Her own horn glowed and the orbs enlarged slightly, to about the size of a tennis ball.
It was slightly harder to hold up, but a hardly noticble difference. The Princess's purple aura again burst into light, makking to two ords every so slightly larger and harder to support.
This continued until they were the size of a football. Baring in mid they were both solid heavy metals, the young colt was straining to support them.
His hooves spread on the stone floor, his head down and a bead of sweat trickling down his face.
The princess, watching him carefully, expanded them even more. His magic gave out and he fell over panting on the cold floor. She caught the two spheres before they could dent the floor and getly lowered them to the ground.
Standing next to pheonix she lay down next to him.
"That was to show you that you still have much to learn, and you should listen and respect me as your princess and your teacher." Pheonix gazed up at her, his puppy eyes coming out just when he needed them.
"I'm sorry Princess Sparkle." The monarc smiled, puppy eyes clearly wouldn't work on her but she seemed amsued, was that a good thing?
"We shall resume your lesson, then you may rest." She stood up and wlked over to the basket ball sized gold and silver orbs.
She levitated the gold one to the top of the room, where it glowed for a while and then burst into flame. It was a moment before he realised it was a miniature version of the sun.
Her aura disappeared and the ball of flame still hung there, mirroring the real sun's position in the sky.
He watched it for a minite and opene his mouth to ask a question.
"It gives off no heat, and is only alight when its elder," She nodded outside "Is masked by cloud and the ponies in here needs light to work. At night its sister will appear so that this room is never without a gardian, like the world you see before you."
He colsed his mouth and nodded.
"Now, we shall continue your lesson."
--Three hours later--
The sun hung low in the sky, preparing itsef to make the journey over the horrison to make way for its sister.
Pheonix Sparks was laying next to Princess Sparkle, still panting from the exausting practises that she had planned for him, he had extrodinary magical ability but had never had had it tested to this extent. It was almost as exausing as having to be amazingly awesome 24/7.
He watched the sun in the room, it was lowering as well, hovering a few feet from the floor.
He looked up at the painting on the cieling, examining it closer.
There were unciorns earth ponies and pegasuis bowing to a circle in the middle of the cieling. Squinting he saw it was a large white alicorn and a midnight blue one. They stood twice as tall as their subjects, survaying them regally.
Celestia and Luna he thought, thinking back to his days in the academy where he had nothing better to do than pour through half the books in the mythology section.
Mythology, they were myths. There were painting of them here and there in the castle and a statue in Canterlot but ot many ponies believed they ever existed at all.
He had been relively well behaved during the remainder of the lesson, but he hoped he wasn't streching his luck.
"Princess, were princesses Celestia and Luna real?"
Twilight turned around and looked at him with a sad smile.
"Yes Pheonix, they were."
"Oh." Was all he could manage before coming up with another question.
"Did- did you know them, Princess?"
Twilight smiled sadly at him again, he stared back at her curiosly.
"I more than knew them. Celestia was my mentor and Luna was my friend. I became Celestia's student when I was a little younger than you. Celestia raised the sun each morning and raised it in the evening and Luna did the same with the moon. They ruled over Equestria in peace and harmony." She glanced spitfully at the painting on the cieling. "They never made ponies worship them like that."
Pheonix digested the information, expecting the princess to say no more on the matter and dissmiss him, but she went on.
"I assume you are familiar with the holiday tradition of nightmare night?" She asked, turning yet again away from the now setting sun. Pheonix nodded, confused by she was bringing this up.
"Do you know why you celebrate it?" He frowned. "Isn't it somthing to do with pleasing a god? It used to be conpulsery to surrendor candy to the god, but nopony does that anymore."
The princess nodded, pleased by his answer.
"You are half right, Luna thought that ponies weren't paying enough attension to the night so she turned to the darkness and became 'Nightmare Moon'. She rose up against Celestia, who was forced to banish her own sister to the moon for a thousend years." Pheonix was enthralled. He hadn't heard this myth before, and Twilight knew it actuly happened! He sounded like a geek, but..there was somthing about fresh information that motivated and fasinated him. It was even possible that nopony knew for certain if Celestia and Luna ever existed at all exept the princess and now himself.
"Did she ever get out?"
"Yes, and she would have likely distoried Equestria if I hadn't found the elements of harmony and converted her with the powers of friendship." She said this whilst looking out the window, and he couldn't help notice she was blushing slightly.
The powers of friendship? It sounded like it came from a foals story book, but he had heard of the elements of harmony, and from what he had read, he thought that there were six of them and each needed to be held by indvigual ponies. But the princess was very powerful, and she could easily control all of them. But she wasn't that powerful then, right? that was about two and a half thousend years ago and she would still be mortal because she was crowned two and a half thousend years ago, any book will tell you that.
"You harnessed the elements of harmony all by yourself?"
"Well, no I had help."
"Who helped you?"
"My..my friends."
Ha! answer! But she was definitly blushing now, it was clearly a painful topic.
"I'm sorry if I offended you princess." Again, puppy dog eyes came out right when he needed them.
Twilight turned around, smiling magesticly.
"Why would you offend me, my student? You have worked hard today, I dissmiss you. The guards know who you are, they will let you pass. Goodnight Pheonix Sparks. I shall see you tomorrow."
Pheonix left feeling confused but excited, he actuly wanted to go to her lesson the next day, he had never wanted to go to school, dispite his amazing gardes.
As soon as Pheonix was out of the room, Twilight ran at the window and jumped through it.
She let herself fall, once again considering and disgarding the possibility of suicide as she caught herself with her wings and flew agrass the gardens, her gold slippered hooves skimming the lush green grass.
Whenever anypony asked, she told them she had harnessed and used the elements, but that was the first time she emmitted to anypony that she had had help.
Circling around like a bird of prey, she turned and flew in the direction of the throne room, ready to smile and act calm and magestic to whoever Sunset had arranged for her to meet with.
"YAAAAAHOO!" A older Pheonix sparks zoomed through Canterlot Castle, his hourn was glowing and each of his hooves was surrownded by his aura, a speed spell he had recently learned from his mentor. His handsome youthful smile lit up his face as he wizzed past the dumfounded gaurds and into the throne room. He skidded down the length of the room and landed laughing at the foot of Princess Sparkle's throne.
"Moring Pheonix." She glanced over the parchmeant she was reading and smiled motherly at him.
"Moring Princess!" he wasn't always this chirpy in the morning, in fact this was the first morning since he was a foal he had woken up with a smile.
"Morning Sunset!" He sat down next to the PA who was blushing furiosly but didn't look up from her parchmeant. He sat next to her and imitated her in a high pitched giggly voice. "Oh Pheonix, thank you ever so much for saying good morning to me, for I shall spend the rest of my day trying to find how I can ever come up with a equily amazing how to greet you in the morning." He finished his monlouge by layign drmamticly on the throne room floor, hoof to forehead.
Sunset put down her papers and smiled at him. "Good morning Pheonix Sparks. I will be forever greatful for your morning greetings." The papers positioned themselves directly in from of her body, effectivly forming a barrier around her.
Pheonix mumbled somthing about uptight PAs never letting anypony have any fun while the princess oberved her PA's blush and shy smile, shielded by her paperwork forcefield.
"Pheonix, we have an important lesson today. Meet me in the pracise room." The room at the top of the tower had become their offical practise room, and though Pheonix would never tell anypony, he felt more at home in that room than he had anywhere in his whole life.
"Yes princess, bye Sunset!" He blew the mare a mock kiss whilst she dismantled her paperwork fort.
Twilight watched him go, she had raised him from a young colt and now...now he was almost ready to begin his rule.
She eyed her PA, she was very young for the job. The youngest to have ever gotten in fact, and all those ponies who said she was too young were looking pretty stupid considering how she was also the most sucsessful at the job there had ever been.
"Sunset, do pardon me asking but do you think you may have intrest in Mr Sparks?" Her PA yelped and turned to look at her ruler.
"Um, no, I mean, well, no..but..Princess." She finshed desperatly, realising the sentance made no sense whilst saying it.
"Because, I think it's safe to say that he may in you." She smiled knowingly at the mare. Truly he had never told her of such intrest, But nearly three thousend years of dealing with Canterlot's Elite had taught her a thing or two about body launage. "Ah, well. Must be off the the practise room. See you at lunch, Sunset."
With that her horn glowed and she teleported out of sight, leaving the mare gaping.
Miliseconds later she was at the top of Canterlot's highest tower, her student waiting for her and the miniature sun suspened in the east of room, evidently having just risen.
"No practical today Pheonix. I must tell you somthing crucial."
This was the day she'd been waiting for. Today she'd tell him that he was goin got be Equestia's futer ruler. She ws going to tell him, not give him wings then tell him that he ws destined, leaving him with a sense of crushing pressure.
No, she was going to do it differently. Calmly and controled so that he knew what was going on, how he must choose a sucsessor then disolve and become part of Equestira itself.
They sat, Twilight talked and Pheonix listened, his expression unreadable as his futer was explaned to him.
When he wanted to, Pheonix could very convincingly look like he felt somthing on the outside whilst either mulling it over or feeling the exact oposite. His parents never had a hope of seeing what he really felt, not that they cared as long as he got the grades and made the family look good.
Twilight herslef somtimes had trouble seeing what he really felt, the only pony in the world who could consistantly see under his mask was Sunset.
When he was told that he would become an alicorn and the futer monarche of Equestria, he immdeianlty split himself into the mask and his feelings.
They mask beamed and said, "Awesome!"
His feelings fought back tears and said, "Sunset.."
Unlucky for him, this was one of the rare times when Twilight was able to see how he really felt, and not just the mask.
Her suspitons that she hadn't really believed were true became confirmed.
It was then that she realised what she had done to Sunset, they could never be together if he was going to live forever. It would tear him apart just as it had with her and her friends.
Her smile was slightly tearful as she explained to him the basics of ruling a kingdom, immortality was cruel but she had to trust he would be strong and he wouldn't let it tear him apart.
Pheonix Sparks returned from another exusting practice with the princess, it was rare now that they do actual magic in their lessons, now it was endless tips on how to rule his futer kingdom.
He was still youthfully handsome, he still had his charm and ego, but he was slowly becoming mature. This was an extreamily good thing because Equestria couldn't afford a prince who ruled Equestira puerly for the fun of it.
He was also more emostionaly mature and had finaly addmitted his feelings for the princess' personal assistant.
She was older than him but the way he towered over her, nuzzleing her mane lovingly, nopony could tell.
They were the talk of Canterlot, the princess' second in command and the young prince. Nopony took it to seriously, nopony considered the fact that they both knew that one would live forever.
Tomorrow was the day he would get his wings and the day after he would be crowned the prince of Equestria, he was actuly going to be the prince. He was actuly going to become an alicorn!
Upon arriving at the entrance to his room in the castle, he walked past the gaurds, ignoring them. As he entered and fell down onto his bed and imaged life with wings, being able to just..take to the sky whenever he pleased...The way the other alicorns had done before him.
He loved attention, money, fame, he loved everything about the possibility of being a prince, exept loosing Sunset.
Sunset...nopony would ever know how deeply he loved her, her soft orange coat and long flowing pink mane. The way her amber eyes lit up when he talked to her and her adorable blush that she'd get when they walked through the street swarmed with press.
She was smart and kind and beatiful...He sighed. He wished notihng more than to spend the rest of his life with her.
What if..what if he just didn't become an alicorn? and he could spen the short time on this earth with her in the castle.
But, Twilight's time was running low and she had devoted so much into training him into the best prince he could be. They had shared so much together, she was more like a mother to him then his biological mother had ever been. And it would take time to find another foal, raise and train them. She had givin him so much, and she was plainly excited fot him to rule. And there was somtihng else as well, somthing that had been there since she first met him but he had only recently realised and understood what it was.
She didn't want to be alone. Over the time he hd spent with her he had learned of the sacrafices she had had to make for her friends. Her mentor, her friends, her parents and brother were all gone and she didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted to share the last thousend years she had with another eternal being, and though she had never said it he knew that she considered him a friend.
He couldn't just leave her like that, he couldn't just run off with Sunset abandom her to find another foal.
As he engulfed himself in thought, he didn't hear the door open and his marefriend enter.
"Hey Pheonix," She lay next to him in the bed, while he stared at he cieling. "Pheonix, have you gone to get your corniation cape mesured?"
"Cape mesur-OH!" He sat up, suddenly remembering that really importnt thing he had to do. "W-was that for today?"
She smiled her cute little smile. "Yeah, I told you eight times yesterday."
"Nah ah, you couldn't have," He opened the door and smiled at her before he left. "Other wise, I would have remembered. "
She laughed as he blew her a kiss and left the room dramaticly.
She loved him so much, it brought tears to her eyes when she remembered that he would live on and she would die.
He knew that she knew that he would exist forever but only live in a physical form for three thousend years, and once he disolved he would forget her all together.
She would never forgethim, even when she died and her soul went to wherever it went to, she would never forget the young colt that walked in with those five brats to interiew to be Twilight's personal student.
She would never forget watching him grow into a stallion, seeing his failed attemps at speed spells, and that one time where he went to the grand galloping gala and pointed at one mare with a truly vulgar outfit on, and shouted as loud as his little lungs could manage; "PRINCESS, WHAT'S THAT THING ON THAT MARE'S HEAD?" Oh she would never the awkward silence that folowed.
Now he was going to be crowned prince of Equestria, and she...would he think of her? She was certain he would at least think of her, but where would their relasoinship go?
She pushed her face into the matress, and mumbled somthing into the sheets. "Please don't leave me Pheonix. I'm sorry I acted so uptight and crappy all those years, but please don't just forget about me."
She stayed there, face in matress like it was her only friend in the world. Eventully she pulled herself up to reume her job and tackle the ever growing amount of paperwork.
She had not idea how much he would fight for her.
The Alicorn Prince and his Bride
"The, Prince of all Equestira,
"Behold, behold,
"The Prince of all that there is,
"Behold, Behold
"All shall bow in favour, of Prinnnnnnnnce Pheeeeeeonix,"
The song reach it's climax and the prossestion leading up to the throne arrived. At the head of the train of Canterlot Royals, was Princess Twilight Sparkle, Levitiating the crown above his head.
"Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaarks!" The crown was placed on his head as he bowed to the Princess. When he looked up to see the throne room full of people, he broke into a youthfull grin.
The music finished and he stood up to address his subkects for the first time, his new wings speading as he stood.
"My loyal subjects! I welcome you for on this glourious day I become your co ruler and monarc. Under my rule, Equestira shall continue this age of peace and harmony!" He coninued to speek perfectly not really hearing what he was saying, for behind his supposed joy he was thinking about other things. This was possibly THE most important day of his life, but he couldn't keep himself from thinking about Sunset. He was going to propose, and then when they were married and the princess saw how happy they were she would have to make her an alicorn. That was his master plan, it was what he was counting on. This way, he would become an alicorn, thus pleasing Twilight, and marry Sunset, thus pleasing himself.
The on,y thing that could possibly go wrong was if Twiight refused. But why would she do that? He was like a son to her, and he had become an alicorn for her. If she didn't do it out of love she would do it out of dept.
Coming back to reality in which he had just finished his speech, he heard the crowd error in cheers as he lead the possession out onto the balcony to see the rest of Canterlot cheering his name from below the castle.
He made another short speech, nothing of which he heard himself say, and disappeared into the castle for the traditional royal feast that was apparently held after ever coronation but there hadn't been a corrination since Princess Spakle was crowned nearly three thousand years ago.
He did most of the talking, avoiding his parents entirely in a half hearted hope that they would see they were unwanted and just leave.
After nearly four hours of small talk and forced laughter, the new prince was allowed to retire to his royal chambers to rest and summon the courage to propose to the one pony that he truly loved.
--half an hour later--
Sunset could see that he wasn't really listening to what he was saying in any of his speeches. Nopony else seemed to notice that faraway glazed look in his eyes behind his handsome smile. She didn't talk to him much, staying firmly by the princess's side and fake laughing at the poor attempts at humor from whoever was talking to her majesty. But when Pheonix retired to his chambers she was dismissed Ann followed him. It was probably the pressure of his parents being there, they just wanted t talk to the princess and act like they had raised the prince lovingly and caringly from foalhood. From what she could gather from Pheonix and the princess, his parents had sent him to boarding school not expecting him to turn out to be anything special and hoping to see as little of him as possible. He spent his early years trying to impress them with fancy grades and an angelic personality, still they ignored him. He turned to being a trouble maker around the time of his first interview with Twilight. Eventually his parent realised how off the charts his grades were, the only difference this made was that he was invited to their dinner parties to make the family look good.
She shuddered with rage, how could a family be so crule to their son who only wanted their approval and attention?
She was so deep in thought that she walked head long into the prince's door. Rubbing her face she lifted a hoof to push the door while staring resentidly at the ornatly carved wood work.
"Pheonix?" the newly crowned (as in, five and a half hours ago) prince of Equestria had his winged back to her and was sitting in the corner of the room fiddleing with somthing and talking to himself. Conserned she took a few more caucious steps into the room. "Pheonix, You alright?" He turned towards her, his handsome features breaking into an insanly nervios smile.
"Oh, Sunset, hey! I'm fine, wait can you stay here for a sec? Just need to -no, actuly it's fine, I'm fine, just come back in a seocnd and I'll -No, don't listen to me. Stay here. Wait, no-"
"Pheonix. What are you doing?"
She had never seen him this nervos. She could actuly see him sweating under his new bronze crown. He was properly distressed. "Do you need me to send for the doctors?"
He looked confused for a moment. "Why would I-? Oh, I guess I must look pretty weird right now, huh?" He turned around and murmered to himself. It sounded like self encoragemeant.
Just as she was about to leave and find the medics, he turned around holding a -no, she was seeing this wrong. Was that a..a ring?
"Wanna get married?" He was smiling genuinly, beads of sweat still running down his face.
She could never remeber being as happy as she was in that moment. She split into a grin and threw her forlegs around him, shouting an indestiguishable stream of 'yes!yes!yes!yes!yes!'
They lay there for a minite, Pheonix smiling like mad feeling immensly releved and overjoyed, and Sunset crying with happieness and only stopping her yesses to breath.
Needless to say, three weeks later a wedding was held in Canterlot.
They had been married for a year now, both happier than they had ever been in their lives.
Sunset knew he would outlive her, but she wanted to spend as much time as she could with him before she died. She knew that it would be difficult for Pheonix when she was gone, but she had every faith in her husband that he would do the responsible thing and move on with his life and continue to rule Equestira peacefully.
Her husband loved her so much. She was in his every thought, she was in his very heart, in his soul. He was so happy with her. So happy. But all the while the thought that he would outlive her was there in the back of his head.
Everytime they kissed, every morning when they woke up next to each other, he would see flashes of her gravestone. It was probaly because of thinking about her dying too much that caused it, he just couldn't bring himself to fully enjoy being with her without thinking of her eventula death.
He had planned to wait at least five year before asking the princess to make his bride an alicorn, but he was so haunted by the prospect of her death that he needed to ask now after only a year. He needed to know that she would be there for the next three thousend years with him.
So, he dropped by to the princess' study one evening, to ask her to change her or at least give him the spell.
He could be charming when he wanted somthing, more than enough to satisfy most ponies, but could he be charming enough for the princess without her seeing how bad be needed this. He needed to make it look like a light favour.
Letting himself into her study, trotted into the room with a handsomly brazen air about him. The princess put down what ever she was she was reading.
"You should really knock you know, Prince Sparks." She smiled at him warmly. At least he had caught her in a good mood. "What can I do for his magesty?" She laughed and walked elegently over to greet him.
"I thought you could brief me some more of the griffin kingdom poltics, seeing as we're meeting with its royal family next week and I want to appear well informed." He actuly had no intrest what so ever in the griffon kingdom's royal family and was going to find some excuse to ditch the meeting next week. But he had rehursed this and it needed to work. It needed to.
"Really Pheonix? I seem to remeber last week you were asking me to make an excuse to the griffin kingdom for your absense." Wait, what? he didn't remeber telling her that. Not letting his surpise show at all, he laughed and continued.
"Did I now? Well, that completely distroies the point of he teleporting all the way over here. Just have to find another thing to talk about or this is a entire waste of precious royal time." He punctualted the last three wrods with an exagerated Canterlot excent, making Twilight smile.
"How's Sunset?" asked the princess politely, a daintly tea cup appearing in front of her.
He blinked, her bringing it up first made his whole speech irrlevent, but him asking a whole lot easier.
"Oh, she's fine." He shrugged. "We're thinking of having foals." The princess smiled warmly over her cup.
"Is that so?"
He nodded feverishly. "Yes Princess, I was going to ask about somthing, actuly." He pretended to be embaressed, hoping he was fooling Twilight. "Will..will they be alicorn?"
The princess considered. "Well, no alicorns since Celestia's parents have reproduced, and they were both alicorns. So..there is a fifty fifty chance that one could be an alicorn."
He nodded, looking at the ground.
"Pheonix? are you alright?"
"Princess, I'm scared of Sunset dieing." He added embaressment into his voice, mingled with heartfelt honesty.
There was a silence, the first awkward silence they'd shared together since they first met.
"Pheonix, did I ever tell you about my brother?" Asked Twilight, her voice quiet.
He shook his head, not looking up. He was actuly pulling this off.
"He married an alicorn, her name was Cadence. History seems to remeber her as the queen of the Crystal Empire, but it doesn't mention my brother at all or that she was an alicorn.
"She asked Celestia and Luna to change him into a alicorn because she was terrified of him dieing. Celestia refused and Cadence took it hard, she was depressed for a long time." She paused and placed an elegent forehoof on his shoulder. "But, she got over it and lived with him happily for as long as he lived."
His heart pumped furiosly in his chest, was she on to him? did she know what he wanted?
"So, make the most of her while she's here, I've never seen two ponies as deeply in love as you are."
"But princess!" He raised his voice slightly, genuinly desperate. "If the foals and I live on and she dies, that will be killing both of us! it-it, no please princess, make her an alicorn.
Twilight was taken aback by his sudden desperation, she had never seen her student like this.
"Pheonix, you must learn to control your emotions. You are a good stallion and prince, you are strong enough to love her while she's here and then move on." Her tone was a little colder now. "You should go rest, I wish you the best of luck if you decide to have foals. Tell Sunset she's more than welcome to take a break if need may be." She smiled slightly.
Pheonix knew he had angered her slightly, or at least annoyed her. He bid the princess good night and left for his room that he shared with Sunset.
Clearly it would be harder than that, had she seen through his faking all along? He didn't think so.
But as he closed his eyes he say pictures of her coffin, her gave stone, her elderly face and his as young as it had always been. He cried out, his shout shout echoing through the hallways of Canterlot Castle, a few guards turning their stone expressioned faces towards him. He smiled weekly and teleported the rest of the way.
She was his only hope of staying sane while Sunset was still alive.
Eight.
Eights attempts, each in a different way to try and perswade Twilight to make his bride an alicorn.
He had tried charming, sudtle, bribing, begging, he even brought up the fact that she owed it to him because he had turned into an alicorn for her.
The princess was getting more annoyed and impatiant each time. She always told him that he had to stay stong and he couldn't let imortality or love for that matter sadden him. She told him to make the most of their time together while they were both still alive, and he told her that he couldn't love her fully as long as the thought of her death slowly wound its way into his thoughts whenever she smiled at him.
He thought she would have more sypathy, more emotion at least. He was cried in front of her, somthing he had never done in front of anypony. He had at some point givin up being subtle and openly begged her, he was sure that that would at least make her think about it,
He needed his wife to live forever with him, he needed to know that in a few years that passed like hours he would be looking at her grave stone foreved to live the next a thousend years alone.
Although he didn't notice it, he was slowly going insane. He smiled in front of the kingdom and his wife, but he wasn't handsome anymore. He had bags under his eyes from countless hours staring at the moon and thinking of either her death of ways to perswade the princess, his glowing ember eyes here blood shot and occationaly swollen from crying, and
his voice was quiet and raspy.
The kingdom had yet to notice the change in their prince, but his wife and the castle staff did. Sunset asked him why he wasn't sleeping and he made some excuse to do with the stress of being a prince. She tried to make him smile more, but whenever she surpirised him or laughed he would only look more sad. So she would sit next to him at night on their balcony and sleep there. She didn't mind, she would do what ever it took for him to smile again.
Pheonix was running out of ideas, the princess was annoyed and imaptiant with him when ever he talked about anything that wasn't to do with his royal duties and he had tried every possible thing he could think of. One night has he sat on top of the barrier to the balcony with his wife sleeping next to him, he changed.
He watched her peacfully sleep, chest rising and falling rhythmicaly, beatiful eyelashes relaxed onto the pillow she had brought with her, her mane and tail fanning out behind her from the occational breeze in still night air.
As he looked at her and thought of her death, all youthful innocents left him. His face hardened and his eyes narrowed. The princess was too cold hearted to give him the one thing he couldnt' live without? Fine. He would have to get it from her.
He slid off the barrier and levitiated his wife back into bed. As she landed on the silk sheets, murmering contentidly, he vowed that he would get it from Twilight and push as hard as he had to, so that she could stay alive with him.
He sat next to her for the rest of the night at the end of the bed, carfully planning every detail in his head of what he must do. Not a thought crossed his mind that it was unspeakably crule to do this to the one pony that had been a mother to him, he didn't care, she had her chance to tell him the spell and save him from this misery. As far as he was concerned, she had brought this upon herself.
Torture.
You brought his upon youself, Princess.
Princess Twilight Sparkle went to bed worrying about Prince Sparks. He was an amazing ruler, level headed and rational. He was well respected every where. Until recently.
He had started asking her to make Sunset into an alicorn, the first time he asked, she remembered when she had told him he was going to become an alicorn and rule Equestira, how he had been crying for her on the inside whilst pretending to be happy on the outside.
She had trusted him to stay strong and not let love tear him apart, but his love for her was too strong. She saw it in his eyes, he needed her to live forever with him. Now that he had tried no less than eight times to get her to grant his bride imortality, and been denied all of them, now she was worried how far he would go to get the spell from her.
Her question was answered when she woke up in the practise room at the top of the tallest tower in the castle, the light streaming in through the many windows and the scale sun suspended near the east of the cieling. Squiting against the sun's harsh light she looked out the window. Canterlot was just waking up, the variously coloured ponies trotting merrily down the cobbled streets to their various occupations of the day were just multi coloured blurrs from the tower.
Why was she here? She didn't sleep walk, the possibility of kidnapping was laughable as the gaurds to her private chambers were the most highly skilled in Equestira, and teleportation into her bed room was impossible for anypony but her. But, she didn't have to think about that now. Sunset would surely know by now, or she could contact the gaurds that were on durty last night. It was but a minor concern.
She spread her wings and sprung elegantly out of the window, only to be hurled back into the room with such force that she fell completely onto her back and slid across the room. Producing a quick healing spell as she walked back over the the window. She streched a gold slippered hoof out of the frame, it was thrown back against her chest. A forecefield? strange. Sompony wanted her to stay here, she would find who it was easily right after she broke through the window.
Her hourn glowed as she disarmed the forcefield, the beginings of panic slowly fading inside her. She was the most powerful being alive, some reble unicorn's feble attempt at a force field was a embaressing aponent for her godly powers.
Again her wings spead and she lept out the window, only to be thrown back into the room.
What? She'd just dismantled the forcefeild! annoyed, the beginings of panic returning to her normaly calm and authoritive brain, her hourn glowed and she stared at the window. She felt it dismantle, but as soon as it broke it rebuilt itself.
What? It required extrodinary magical ability to do that. She foucused all her energy into shattering the forevefeild completely, it didn't work. Her magical ability had never failed her not been tested since she was crowned. To have somthing not work for her was maddening.
She tried again, the results didn't change. Frestrated she tried teleporting, her hourn glowed and she felt the familiar whooshing sensation of wind in her ears, but when she opened her eyes she was still in the room.
The most powerful being in existense was trapped in a simple room.
All the windows were forcefielded, she couldn't teleport, there was no way to open the door and when she resulted to physicaly breaking down the walls and door, they rebuilt themselves as soon as the damage had been done.
Only one physical being in existense could rival, and apparently be supirior, to her magic.
His name was Pheonix Sparks, the only other alicorn in existence.
So, this was the length he was willing to go to to get the spell. He had managed to trap the princess of Equestiria in their old practise room, and had sucseeded in making her begin to panic for the first time in two and a half thousend years.
She sat down in the middle of the floor, then the thought occured to her that he may be watching her through magic.
So she spoke out loud in a hope to adress him.
"Pheonix Sparks, it is you who has trapped me in this room to procure the information needed to grant your wife immortality. Come to this room that I have practly raised you in so I can beg you to see reason and you can attempt to aquire the spell."
She sat there for who knows how long, feeling betrayal and uptmost sadness seeping in to her heart unstopably.
The colt she had hoped to find a friend in, the young stallion that she had raised. She looked at the floor, a single tear escaping her and falling as though in slow mation onto the white stone floor. She didn't know what he was going to do to her, but she would not hurt him in offence. He was like a son to her, her child, her friend trapping her in a room and possibly resulting to torture, all for the mare he loved.
Maybe, this is why she had never dared to fall in love. Maybe this was what she had been afraid of.
She had never really known why she didn't want to, even before she was crowned and the possibility of outliving them was not a concern at all, for as long as she could remember love had been daunting and scary but she never knew quite why.
Maybe the possibility of being hurt? that was probaly part of the reason. But now that she had seen was Pheonix had become, she knew what it was. She didn't want to fall to deeply in love and go..well, insane. As an alicorn this had been much more of a threat when the love of a mortal was thrown into the equation. When she had been crowned and she had cut her friends off, she now saw it was partly because of her feelings for Rainbow Dash that she had never edmitted and never would now. When she becme an alicorn she couldn't face loving Dash because she knew she would probaly end up like Pheonix, begging Celestia for the alicorn spell.
As to why she couldn't just give him the spell, it all bordered on one fact;
Celestia had told her to use the spell only once, on her air. The spell was to be givin to her air to choose his sucsessor right before she disolved. The spell must stay in the alicorn line for all eternity, for if the spell got out, then every unicorn with the magical ability would be using it, and a world full of immortals would creat chaos beyond chaos, not to mention gortesque over population.
She had gone against alot of what Celestia had told her in her rule, such as not teaching her student to magic of friendship, or disbanding the Solar and Lunar Repulbic for her own system.
But if there was one thing she would do for her mentor before she disolved, she would keep the life blood of the alicorn race between alicorns only, to be used on alicorns only.
And she strongly believed that the prince would not get what he wanted through insane methords. As she had taught him in younger years, 'I want doesn't get.'
She sat in that room for hours, not really noticing time pass until she felt sompony teleport into the room.
She turned around to see a stallion standing where a colt should be. He looked the sane rugged state as he had for the past few weeks, but he looked older and frankly, insane somehow.
"Pheonix." She greeted him with a curt nod, as if he had walked in on her in the middle of somthing important.
"Princess." She saw that he was levitating a leather bag next to him, he followed her eyes to the floating object next to him.
"I assume you know, Princess," He pronaounced her titel mockingly, throwing her a spitful glare as he turned to face the window, the moon rising gracefully into the sky casting silver light over the evening inhabitiance of Canterlot . "That alicorns can't die. But they can come close, so very close." He turned slightly to check her ubreadable expression, his mane looking more and more like flames in the dark. "They can be distoryed completely, crushed, starved, sufficated, tortured. But they will still be alive, barly breathing, but they will still be alive."
He turned to her, the moon casting shadowns on his twisted young face. "When they are hurt so much that all they want is death. But it does not come. And in that moment," He dropped the bag in front of her and it spilt open, a selection of knives and other general torture divices spilled out in front of her. "And in that moment, their immortality becomes thier greatest weakness." He took a step closer to Twilight, who's expresion remained unreadable.
He lowered his head to her height and spoke, his face inches from her's. "You are dening me the one thing I cannot live without. I tried asking you, and you refused me. " His hourn glowed and he levitated a small knife from the open bag. "You brought this upon yourself, princess."
Sunset had always been a smart mare. Not alot of natural skill at magic, but acamdemiclu brilliant. Though she didn't have to be to know that somthing was terribly wrong.
Yesterday night, she had slept on the balcony with Pheonix again, but woken up in her bed with her husband next to her, an occurance that was surprisingly rare. He was acting differently, smiling more which was wonderful, but he looked slightly deranged. He had refused to see the doctors about his increasingly rugged and sleep derprived appearence and insisted it was stress, but now..it was hard to describe. Before it looked like a temorary thing, like when you wake up and you look horrible but only for a while, it looked like it was just a passing faze he was going through, it wasn't really him. But now, now he looked like an insane copy of himself, in a creepy way, it suddenly seemed he was meant to look like.
He didn't talk much, he just mumbled somthing about meetings and left the room. She watched him go, worrying. She really was worried, the staying up all night on the balcony, looking sad when she smiled, somtimes unable to make eye contact. She thought he was ill, but why he was refusing to speak to the medics was beyond her.
She finished styling her mane in its usual loose bun, and trotted out the door cheerfully into the castle corridor. Pheonix was sick, she was certain of that now, but the princess would help her. Twilight was like a older sister figure to her, they talked somtimes, mostly about Pheonix, and she was certain that she had seen a side to the princess that very few had.
Twilight would understand, she would talk to him and in would all be ok.
She reached the throne room, and greeted the princess cheerfully before taking her seat next to the throne. She busied herself for half an hour with whatever was on the top of her paperwork pile, then looked up at the princess curiosly.
She hadn't said anything and barely greeted her when she walked in. Right now she was reading a piece of parchmeant with a stupid smile plastered onto her face. This was very odd, as years of watching her monarc read parchmeant had taught her, when Twilight read, she narrowed her eyes and bit somtimes bit her lip slightly. She never just sat there smiling at it.
"Princess, are you alright?" She asked cautiosly.
"Yes, Sunset, why do you ask?" She turned towards her, head cocked slightly to one side and eyes narrowed as if trying to figure out her own question, like a confused puppy. This was very odd, the princess never looked like that.
"You were just acting differently, that's all." The royal's expresssion changed as soon as she finished the sentance, she now looked mildly insulted, the princess almost never got angery at her, especialy at a harmless comment.
"I am acting as I always do, now Sunset. Get to work I have important things to do."
Twilight turned back to the parchmeant and continued to smile like a foal.
Sunset absorbed the informasion. Twilight had never gotten angery at her, she had never acted like she was a slave or that she had better things to do then talk to her, and had always taken whatever she asked her seriously.
This was not Twilight.
She didn't talk to the princess for the rest of the day and worked furiosly through her paperwork in record time, all the while pondering this impossibility. Nopony else seemed to notice the change in the behavior of their princess , somthing which infuriated her even further.
She would ask Pheonix tonight if he knew anything about why she was acting so different, it was really starting to scare her how her husband and boss/oldersister figure were acting this way.
Her parents were all the way back in Filydelphia and frankly, she felt very alone.
She couldn't really even look forward to seeing Pheonix, because of the way he was acting latly.
By the time she finished her work she was truly miserable and depressed. All she wanted was somone to talk to and her ture love to stop acting the way he was.
And to improve her mood her husband wasn't even there when she got back, or for the rest of the night. Nopony knew where he was, so she suspected he was just flying around in some remote part of Equestira for what ever reason he couldn't even be bothered to tell his wife.
She magicly undid her hair and slumped against the pillows of her silk bed. She loved Pheonix more than life itself, but all she wanted was for him to tell her why he was changing and if he was really ill, and other warnings that he may be disappearing some nights.
She rolled over, face into pillows, tears stinging at the courner of her eyes.
Did he not love her back? was he avoiding her eye because of that? She didn't want to believe it, and she didn't think it was true but what was she supposed to think?
She lay there feeling alone in the world and wishing with all her heart that when he came back in the morning, he would be the same as he was the day they first married.
Princess Twilight Sparkle sat in the middle of the practise room at the top of the tower in the room she had been trapped in for almost a week. She could only asume that Pheonix had made a copy of her to rule the kingdom, the copy should mirror her well, but Pheonix didn't know all of her social behavior to program into it so it would act differentlly. She hoped that sompony would notice the minor differences, and what, save her? The door was sealed and nopony would expect her to be in here anyway. The only was Pheonx got in was through teleprtation.
She wasn't severly physicly hurt, she used her magic to defend herself but never in offence to hurt her student.
She honestly didn't know how to feel about Sparks, he was a son to her which was why she wouldn't harm him but she was hurt beyond reason that he would do this to her.
She shook her head, tossing her deflated mane off her face. She was weak, that much was true. No food and water wasn't as harmful for her as it would be for any normal pony, but it was taking its toll on her mood. She couldn't conjur any thing in this blasted room either, so no blankets in the could nights or shades from the sun. The prince came every night at sundown, and would stay with her often the whole night each time looking more and more deranged and insane. She could only imagine how Sunset must feel seeing her husband like this, let alone him disappearing for whole nights.
He knew that she extreamily powerful, and just because he had managed to capture her didn't make him supirior to her in anyway, he couldn't physicly torture her aside from starving her, so he mentaly abused her.
From all the years he had spent as her pupil he had learnt alot of sensitive information about her past that he was using against her now. And it was working.
"Remeber when you first met them, princess?" She fought off the memories of last night, it was bad enough when he was here, she couldn't afford to think of it anymore than she had to. "Remember how you avoided them, called them crazy, thought they were freaks. Remeber how they never gave up on you, can followed you into that forest to flight your battle? They did that for you, they fought your battles and put themselves in danger for you." She could hear his ruined raspy voice echoing inside her head, she couldn't block it out, it boomed through her head, filling her ears with his ruined youthful drawl. It was like standing next to Vinyl Scratch's speakers with the volume turned up dangourosly high, it was tearing apart her ear drums.
"You even kept them believing that 'friendship was magic'! That was crule, really. Friendship is magic, is it? how magical was it when you left them a meir week after your corination. What were those last words you said to them?" No, stop, not this. "'I'll see you at Pinkie's party,' That was what you told them all, 'I'll see you at Pinkie's party'. She threw that party for you, you know. Did you even go to that party, princess?"
"No!" she shouted out loud, tears streaming down her face, she looked up and the scale sun, it was nearly at the bottom of the room, he would be here soon.
"You didn't even show up. They waited for you for two hours, then they went to the library thinking you were /hurt!/, they always believed the best in you. And when they went inside to see the building deserted and all your belongings gone, they thought you'd been /robbed/ and /kidnapped!/ They were about to find the police, when they found a note from you. Do you know what that note said, Twilight? Of course you do, because if you have any decency in that sugar coated heart of yours you will never forgive youself."
Tear rolled down her face as the voice of her student boomed through her num brain.
"'Dear girls, moved back to Canterlot perminatly. Do not contact me. Twilight.'" A cold laughter eachoed horribly, it was truly frightening to remeber the voice belonged to the colt she had practicly raised in this very room.
"And they still didn't believe it. They waited all day for you to come back and you didn't. Did you care? Did you mention them again after that? No, you acted like they never existed, ruled Equestira and pretended even to your mentor that everything was perfect. And then they died."
He paused, she could visulise him standing over her sniveling figure, smiling insanely.
"You did visit their graves, after they had been dead for twenty years. You asked ponies who knew them what they were like, you hoped they had /foriven you/.
"But they hadn't, they died hating you as they had since the started believing the letter. How could you expect them to forgive you? They fought your battles, they trusted you, believed in you, right until the end. Then you left them. Just. Like. That."
The sound disapered, leaving her whole head hurting and her hears humming .
She glanced up at the cieling, the miniature moon was not rising above her aching head. A tear rolled down her cheek, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the last peaceful moments of the night. Soon she felt the air ripple and saw a flash of burning red, momenterily blinding her. When she could see clearly, there he was. Standing over her, mane seemingly glowing against the silver dark room.
"Hello, Twilight." She looked up at him, still refusing to hurt him but hate tinging her glare. "Since you still seem to cold hearted to grant me the one thing in this world I cannot live without, I have to punish you further. Did you like listening to last night again? because from now on, if you still refuse to just tell me already and save youself the pain, My memory will torment you by day and I will myself my night." His face became level with hers. "I will get to you princess, you will eventuly become too weak to cast your defending spells and I will perform my truth spell and finally, finally!" his face seemed to alight with a disturbing smile. "I will have my immortality spell. We can either draw it out, or you can just tell me."
She stared at him, begging him to see reason only to be met with logic clouded with insane love.
"No? we shall continue then."
She lay there listening to him, it was amazing how much words could do. They seemed to circlate into her soul and torment her from within.
She lay there through the night, the most powerful being in Equestira slowly crying until she ran out of tears.
Prince Sparks teleported into his chambers at three am, he was beaming, foal like happieness filling him like a balloon.
"Sunset!" He ran over to his bed, and he looked at his wife withour picturing her death for the first time in a year and a half.
".........Pheonix?" Came her weary voice from the bed. She had become acustemed to sleeping by herself.
"Sunset! I - I have the spell!"
"Spell, what spell?" She sat up, confused, her was a mane a mess. He had never appreciated how beatiful her mane looked when it was a mess.
"What spell? What spell? the spell for immortality of course!" he beamed, but it didn't look right. His new face was not suited to happieness.
"Why would you need a spell for immortality?" She asked, sounding slightly more awake, but still heavily confused.
He looked at her, puzzled. He was sure he had told her about his plan to make her an alicorn.
"To..to make you immortal of course, we can live together forever!"
"Why would I want to be immortal? I thought alicorn spells were only used on sucsessors, wait, is this why you've been acting differently?" Her expression hardened.
"Acting differently? Oh, this is just from stress, the point is, we can be together now!"
"For the last mounth you haven't been here a single night and for the last seven mounths - yes I've been counting! - you haven't smiled or looked me in the eye, when you do sleep you do so outside and you haven't bothered to explain anything to me!" Her voice rose hystericly. "Explain."
He was frestrated, this wasn't the point. Didn't she know it was all because he had been mortally terrified of her death?
Did he really have to spell out the obvious? He figured he might as well, just to make her happy and then she would fully understand how wonderful it was that they could rule together.
So he told her about his grand fear of her death, how he had tried asking Twilight and how she had declined, so he had made her talk. He only told her that he made her, she may feel attached to Twilight and thus mournful.
"What do you mean you 'made her talk'?" She asked, her voice quiet, afraid of the answer.
"It's not the point! Now please let me-"
"What do you mean, Pheonix?"
He started into his wife's expresssoin of fear anger and confusion. It was no point hiding from her.
"I tortured her." he looked at the ground, feeling no guilt at the deed, it had afterall proved sucsessful, but he couldn't bare his wife's expression. "I tortured her until she told me the spell."
Sunset went pale, her husband had tortured a princess and put a puppet in her place to rule a kingdom. Her husband had gone insane with /love/ and made her miserable just so they could be immortal.
But she couldn't live forever with him, not anymore, not after what he had made her feel and what he had done.
"So, now you have the spell, I'm meant to live forever with you?" She asked quietly.
He brightened up, a happieness that didn't look natural on his deranged face, "Yes! We can live forever!" He began babbling about somthing while she felt like crying. She couldn't live forever with a insane stallion who had tortured the princess herself, and made her feel alone for seven mounths without bothering to explain anything to her.
"-so you want me to cast it now? like, right now?!" Wait, what? now? No, she wouldn't. She would stand up to him and do what she wanted.
"I don't want to live forever with you, Pheonix." She stared at him bluntly, her voice catching slightly. She didn't want to do this.
"What?" He asked, asuming he had herd wrong and his smile faultering slightly.
"Do you know how I've felt these last seven mounths? You haven't looked me in the eye, you've barely slept at all, you start to change and I don't know if you don't love me anymore or if you're sick, or what! You haven't told me anything! And this past mounth I've been sleeping completly alone because you didn't even bother to tell me where you were going, and now I find you you've been torturing not only the princess but somepony who was like a sister to me and I thought was like a mother to you! All for somthing I never said I even wanted in the first place, I don't want to live forever with you or anypony else! I wanted us to enjoy the time we had together, I thought you did too."
He listened to her, anger slowly rolling in, his whole body starting to heat up like a furnace.
He had been scared to death of her dieing, he had givin everything he had into getting this spell. And now he had it, now they had a chance to live together and she didn't want it. His eyes narrowed, his magic heating his body too hot, it hurt.
"...I don't even know you anymore Pheonix, you've changed, I'm sorry." She finished her monolouge, tears rolling down her face.
"You don't want to come with me? After all I've done, you don't want to finally live together forver?" His insane smile was back, he took a step towards her. His body heating up to the extent that he felt like it was alight.
She looked terrified, but stood her ground and shook her head.
His hourn glowed a blinding orange and his whole body burst into flame. She sceamed and tried to shuffle backwards.
The room began to burn. His ember eyes narrowed and a beam of pure fire hit Sunset in the chest. For a moment she was surrowded by a blinding white light, she stayed there for a moment, her body put through heat no living thing could wishstand. Then, the light disappeared and where his bride had just been, there was nothing.
The room burst into flame, and he walked in the remonece of their few happy mounths of being together.
The gaurds that had been standing outside came rushing in, only to be hit by the same white light
He walked through the corridor, everything he touched bursting in to flame, gaurds being burt to death whenever they got to close.
Nothing in this world is right, he thought, Nothing is fair.
There's no point of it even being here, just another misery after the next. He arived at the belcony, the stone burning from the touch of his hooves.
Nothing is right. He looked up at his kingdom, filled with miseries, sadness and lies.
Why did it even exist? What was the point. And in that split second, he decided the fait of Equestira. Evil burned behind his ember eyes.
It can all burn.
One mounth. It had been a blur of painful crying, eachoing defening voices, and pain.
She was skeletal thin now and dangorously dehidrated. He was right, she couldn't cast her spells repelling his truth spells anymore.
On the night marking one mounth, she lay in a state of semi consiousness on the stone tiled floor, her purple aura slowly stuttering out as Pheonix Sparks stood next to her, his hourn glowing as he shattered her defence spell. He smiled, all that reserch into her memoury and her friends had been worth it.
His hourn glowed again, a truth spell seeped its way into her brain.
"What is the spell for immortality?" He wispered in her ear, savouring her weakness. At first she didn't answer and he was afraid she was too weak even to speak. Then he herd her wispering somthing, her eyes didn't open and it was barly audible but he heard it.
A happieness he hadn't felt for almost a year and a half returned to him, he had the spell, he and Sunset could live together forever! A smile spread across his face. It wasn't as twisted and evil as it usually was, but it would never again be handsome.
As he teliported out of the room, Twilight lay there, her body slowly begining to disolve into purple mist. She opened her eyes and saw Celestia Luna and Cadence, she had forgotten what they looked like. She smiled slightly, Celestia reached out a hoof wordlessly and she took it. Leaning on her mentor, the alicorns disolved into Equestira itself.
