The REAL Story of Twilight Sparkle

Twilight woke up in a dark room. So dark, she couldn't even see past her own bleeding nose. Her head was throbbing, her world still spinning before her. Once she finally got bearings, she tried to look around the room. All she could see was black, black, and more black. She tried to rub her head with her hoof, but found that it was held tightly in place. She felt a tight strap around her neck as well, and only saw a faint red glow.

“Where am I?” she asked aloud. As if to answer her question, a light flickered on. A small but bright light bulb, brighter than the one in her “home”, was hanging in the middle of the room. She flinched for a second from the immediate light source, but then looked around the room again. She finally caught a glimpse of the horrifying scene.  She was in a small room, again similar to her “home”, except the front wall directly across from her was a line of rusted steel bars. She was in a cage. A cold, dark, stone cage, covered with mysterious blood splatters on every wall, even the ceiling. It looked as if a bunch of ponies were stuffed in here and spontaneously combusted one by one, spraying blood and organs in every direction. She tried her hardest not to vomit before her. She failed and emptied her stomach contents on to the cold stone floor, right on top of a vomit looking stain. Looks like she wasn't the first. What was holding her back was a set of chains on each of her hooves, gripping her to the wall. She could move a little, but not much. There was nothing holding back her torso or her head though, just her hooves. She hung there like a fly stuck in a spider web, about one or two feet off the ground. And the tight feeling around her neck was a collar. A slave collar. She heard a faint cough from the opposite side of the bars. She asked again, “Where am I?”. A stallion that she recognized all too well turned to her and snapped “Quiet you brat!!”

“S-Shining Armour?”

The guard ignored her.

“Shining Armour… GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!” She screeched. She thrashed around in her chains. He just turned to her and said, quite harshly,

“QUIET YOU!! Do you want to die right now, in this cage?!”

Twilight just whimpered.

“Thought so… you maggot.”

Twilight slumped back down in her cage, and softly cried.

“Y-….You know *sniffle* S-Shining… I… I do k-know I’m…*sniffle*…”

“You know WHAT?!” He barked angrily.

“… adopted…*sniffle*”

Shining Armour was silent. She couldn't tell if he was surprised or sad. Probably at this point a little of both. His expression softened a bit. Yep… definitely sad.

“…you know about that?” He asked softly.

“Yes Shining. I-I heard mother and father arguing about how I will never fit in or I will find out the truth that I’m….” she trailed off as she started to tear up again.

“I…I…I’m sorry, Twiliy… that you had to find out about your adoption like this…” If Twilight saw correctly by the dim light, Shining Armour was starting to cry as well.

“Why did you have to fail your test, Twiliy? You could be in Ponyville by now…” He started to cry. “I…I failed the test and I wanted *sniffle* you to pass… for the both of us… so that you wouldn’t have to-”

He was interrupted by a slam of a large golden door.

It was Celestia, and she was closing in on Shining, a stern look on her face. One, out to kill.

“SHINING ARMOUR!!” She shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice. She hadn't used that voice for over 1,000 years. Shining Armour knew he was in big trouble. As in, probably dragged off to the grinder and shredded into fajita meat for Celestia’s dinner, big trouble.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” She bellowed.

He quickly dried his tears and tried to act like nothing happened.

“Your Majesty, I was jus-”

“SHUT IT!! I saw what you did…”

“But Your Majesty I-“

“SHINING ARMOUR SHUT IT OR SO HELP ME I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!!!”

Shining Armour looked away, frightened and depressed. Celestia took a deep breath and did the Royal Canterlot Sigh to calm herself. Twilight just watched silently, trying not to cry.

“Now…Shining… what have I TOLD you??” She said through her clenched teeth.

Shining straightened himself into a saluting position as he recited the law. “Section Five, Rule 62: Never speak to Slaves or Prisoners, Your Majesty.” He said in a noble war tone.

“Correct…now OBEY that rule or you and “Twiliy” will BOTH DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!!! Is that understood?”

Shining slumped down again. “Yesyourmagesty…” he mumbled.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Celestia demanded.

“YES YOUR MAJESTY!!” Shining yelled.

“Good… now get back your shift…” she said as she walked off.

“Whew…” Shining said. He looked back at Twilight, who had her head down, trembling, and silently sobbing to herself once again. Shining felt hurt seeing his “younger sister” like this. He wanted to get her out, have them both escape to ponyville, and never see this awful place again. But if he took that risk, he would be putting their and many other lives on the line. So he just turned around, standing guard.

Twilight finally started to calm down when she heard something. Her ears flickered. She looked up with sore, watery eyes, and heard it again… but clearer this time.

“Hey sugar cube…”