Luna sat in anxious wait. Her glittering blue throne normally made her feel powerful and relaxed, but now, she had no room for anything but terror. Twilight had requested her audience, yet Twilight herself was nowhere to be found. What's more, the throne room, which was normally empty, contained five of Twilight's one-eyed children.
"Where is your mother?" asked Luna. "She sent for me an hour ago, yet she is not here."
"Mother and I ran into a slight delay with the prisoner." said Flash Sparkle. "She sent me ahead of her. I don't doubt that she'll be here soon." No sooner did Flash say this did the doors burst open, marking the entrance of Princess Twilight. Twilight strode across the room and took a seat to Luna's right. She opened her mouth once before closing it. Twilight raised her throne with her magic and brought it around Luna's front, then sat down face-to-face with the Queen.
"Hello, your highness." said Twilight. "I take it you know why I wanted to speak with you?"
To kill me!, Luna screamed in her head. If you're going to kill me, just do it!
"I haven't the faintest idea. I do hope that you're not wasting my time." said Luna. Twilight squeezed her fists together uneasily.
"I brought you here to discuss the proposal of releasing Celestia." said Twilight shakily. Her children tensed uncomfortably. What Twilight was suggesting was nonsense. The guards glanced at each other in shock; Twilight always stayed true to her vow that Celestia would never see the outside of a prison cell.
"We discussed it. I said no." said Luna. "What else have you brought me here for?"
"I really think we should talk about this a little." said Twilight. "More than not at all."
"May we speak in private? Your children are rather nosey, and I fear they may have heard too much already." said Luna. Twilight peeked over her shoulder anxiously, more than just scared, Twilight was terrified.
"I… I would prefer if they were to stay." said Twilight slowly.
"For what reason?" asked Luna, oblivious to Twilight's fear. If Luna wasn't so scared herself, she might've noticed.
To kill you, thought Luna. She wants her children here to kill you!
"I enjoy their company. They make me feel protected."
"And what would you need protection from?" asked Luna, raising an eyebrow.
From you! Twilight shouted to herself. If they leave, I'm as good as dead!
"Just… You know how careful I am. I like to leave nothing to chance." insisted Twilight. "Let us begin, unless you have any further objections." Luna gazed at the five guards in the room, each looking attentively back to the Queen. They had their hands away from their weapons, and Luna guessed that at least three of them had no reliable magic, which put the Queen's mind to rest ever so slightly.
"Fine." agreed Luna reluctantly. "You wish to release Celestia. Why?"
"I believe that she will be much more useful as an ally rather than a prisoner." said Twilight. "As you know, those books gave us nothing. Mostly because we're still not even sure if we're reading them correctly. I say that the best way to get this information is to take it straight from the horse's mouth."
"And why does she need to be freed for this?" asked Luna. "We've been trying to get information from her for years. It's like pulling teeth! Quite literally, in some cases."
"Right, sorry about that. She was speaking ill of Flash." brooded Twilight. "But, as you said, we've been trying for years. Emphasis on trying. We can bring the horse to water, but we certainly can't make it drink."
"Why so many horse metaphors? Is it meant to be humorous?" Luna straightened herself in her throne. "Am I missing the joke again?"
"Not any more than usual. Fine, then. Why do you think we should keep her imprisoned?"
Luna stood up angrily, making Twilight flinch. There was no denying that they were both in a panic.
"She is still not to be trusted. Sometimes, she seems truly regretful for her actions. But recently, she's been very…" Luna struggled to find the proper words. "Very hostile."
"I suppose you have a point. Tell me, is the story with the silver true?" asked Twilight. "Did she really execute somepony with molten silver?"
"It wasn't her, per se, it was more of our father." explained Luna. "It was her idea, but she meant it more as a joke than anything. Father took it one step above and beyond. Not only did he take it into consideration, but he made her do it. She had nightmares for weeks. I still see traces of the terror in her dreams."
"See? She's not an altogether violent person." said Twilight. Luna scoffed. "Okay, perhaps I'm giving her too much credit. She's not being violent right now."
"Are we going to free her and wait until she does? And you proved that she is up to something." said Luna, hoping, praying that she was doing her job correctly. Negotiations were a very volatile process, one push being more than enough to send it over the edge.
"I don't very much see how. She told a little fib about something she probably doesn't remember perfectly." said Twilight. "So what?"
"She remembers. And it's not about her lies." said Luna. "Why would she bring up that memory? Celestia, unbeknownst to you, buries her emotions even better than I. If I were to bring up the silver incident, Celestia would suddenly fall deaf and dumb. To her, it never happened."
Twilight pondered Luna's question. Why would Celestia do such a thing? It would be unnecessary, and Celestia was never the type to waste anything, especially when she was in a bind.
"But what harm is she to us now? She has no horn." said Twilight.
"And what do you think will be her first request?" asked Luna. "'My name is Celestia, and I just got out of prison! Does anypony know where I can find a banana?'. No. She's going to ask for her magic back, and we'll have no real choice but to give it."
"Was that sarcasm? Are you learning to be funny?" asked Twilight. "And sure, she'll ask for her horn back, and we'll give it to her. Eventually. I'm sure she'll be reasonable enough not to ask for it back immediately."
"So our survival depends on how reasonable Celestia is?" Luna scoffed again. "Start writing your will now, Twilight Sparkle. You have plenty of children to include."
"Okay, Luna. What do you suggest we do?" asked Twilight sharply. She was getting rather frustrated. "If we sit here idly, our people will die! Is this not worth the risk?"
"Not when there are hundreds, thousands of lives at stake!"
"These are my children, Luna. If they were to die because of your unwillingness to act, I will hold you personally responsible." said Twilight.
"Are you threatening me? I am not frightened by the likes of you, Twilight Sparkle." Luna half-lied. It wasn't Twilight she was really afraid of. "You are not very good at threats, Princess Twilight. If you wish to make me respect you, then-"
"Do not make me act on my threats! If I see you as a hazard to my people, I will not hesitate to put you down!" shouted Twilight. "Do not think that I won't. You and your sister are not so different after all."
Luna let out a shout of frustration. Her horn crackled with cerulean light, her eyes glowed slightly. She took in a deep breath and calmed herself.
"Twilight, I do not want to fight with you." said Luna. "I honestly do not. I truly respect you and what you are doing, despite my personal disagreement." She sat back in her throne. "Let us discuss again what we should do, without the petty arguing over opposing views."
"That's it? We're not going to argue anymore?" asked Twilight in surprise. The gears in her head starting grinding harshly, a million ideas and explanations running through her brain at once.
"There are some things that are more important than my opinion, or my desires." said Luna. "This is bigger than me. Bigger than you, even. Too much is at stake to be foolish about this."
Something else is going on, thought Twilight. I'm missing something.
Twilight raised an eyebrow in surprise, but leaned forward to continue negotiating nonetheless. She kept an eye on the clock, the hours until six melting away into minutes. Twilight and Luna discussed and reviewed for hours, neither of them giving much leeway. Despite Luna's insistence that she didn't want to argue, she fought hard to ensure that they were making the right decision.
"Luna, I think I know what we should do." said Twilight at five minutes to six. She breathed in sharply and worked up some courage to take the gamble she was preparing to. "I think that we've been thinking about this issue all wrong. Celestia isn't the solution. She is the problem."
"So?" asked Luna in confusion.
"Let's solve it."
"I don't understand what you're implying." said Luna.
I'm missing something, said Luna to herself. Something is amiss.
Twilight leaned forward and began whispering her plan to Luna. They were finished debating at the stroke of six. Together, they rose to their hooves and left to free Celestia.
Celestia gripped her knife behind her back. She didn't think she would need it, but it would be foolish not to prepare in every way. She was wide awake, too excited to sleep, but kept her eyes squeezed shut in feigned sleep anyway. She heard the door creak open and peeked out of one eye.
"Are you awake, sister?" asked Luna. "Wake up, Tia. It's time for you to get out."
Celestia gently lowered her blade to the floor and opened her eyes completely. Luna stood to her left, holding a long white dress in her hand. Twilight held a dented black key, which she hovered into Celestia's shackles. They fell from the Sun Princess' wrists, clattering onto the floor. Celestia pushed herself to her hooves, grabbing the knife on her way up. She hid the blade behind her back and stepped forward cautiously.
"I think I need to see a doctor." said Celestia, gesturing at the wound across her midsection. "I've lost a lot of blood." Luna tossed the dress to Celestia and began digging in her own robes.
"You are not the only one who needs a doctor." said Twilight. "I, for one, have a splitting headache."
"Me as well." agreed Luna. She pulled a syringe from her robe, a needle filled with a cloudy blue liquid. She took it to Celestia and forced it into her sister's flesh, just above the wound.
"I wonder what would cause such pain." said Celestia. The blue liquid fled from the needle and rushed into Celestia.
"I know exactly what it is." said Luna. "It was your mind games."
Celestia's vision began to fade and go blurry. She stumbled and fought to stand. Her mouth opened, but words didn't leave it, only babbling.
"You almost had us beaten, Celestia." said Luna. "Our back was to the wall, but we broke through."
Celestia took a step to the door, the door that was a million miles away. Luna grabbed her wrist firmly and pulled. Celestia fell back and swiped her knife at Luna's chest. The Queen gasped in pain before yanking the dripping blade of her sister's grasp.
"Restrain her, Luna." said Twilight.
Heat built in Celestia's chest, fiery energy seeping through her body. She dropped to her knees and began to tremble. Luna grabbed her other arm and wrestled Celestia to the ground.
"Fall!" shouted Celestia. A burst of bright yellow light exploded from her, slamming Luna against the wall. Celestia dizzily crawled forward for the door, her strength leaving her with each step. Twilight's hand grasped Celestia's mane just as she lost consciousness and fell into darkness.
Beams of white light burnt through Celestia's closed eyelids. She begged herself to return to sleep, but a strange pain assaulted her mouth, keeping her awake. She wrenched her eyes open and surveyed her blurry surroundings. She couldn't see much, but it looked like she was in the throne room. A great chair sat a few feet in front of Celestia, made of glittering purple steel. Celestia tried to pull her arm forward, but the chains around her wrists kept them pinned to the wall. She could move her head only left and right, but couldn't look down due to the steel belt wrapped around her throat. She wanted so desperately to glance down at whatever was on her lap. It was round and dripping some thick, warm liquid, and it was connected to something sharp poking Celestia in the gut.
"You were right." said Twilight. She stepped from the left and into Celestia's view. Blood was splattered across her face, from her chin up to her forehead. Her hands were also painted with red. Celestia tried to speak, but she couldn't do more than grunt and groan.
"You were right." repeated Twilight. "What you said about threats. They're only good if I act upon them." Celestia grunted a question, which painted a sinister smile onto Twilight's face.
"What's the matter, Celestia? Cat got your tongue?" she said mockingly. She smiled even wider. "Or perhaps it was an alicorn."
Celestia's eyes widened. She opened her mouth and pushed out more primitive noise, trying, fighting, begging herself to speak. Now that Twilight mentioned it, Celestia noticed that she couldn't feel a tongue in her mouth. Tears grew in her eyes, and her arms began shaking. She tried to clench her fists, but found that she couldn't move her fingers.
"Yes, I took out your tongue." said Twilight. She reached into her robes and withdrew a rag, which she used to wipe the blood from her hands. "I also cut off your hands and hooves. You were thrashing quite a bit in your sleep. Between you and handling Luna, I've been busy. I'm glad you managed to stay unconscious for as long as you did. It took me a whole day to evacuate and quarantine that part of the castle." Celestia couldn't hold on to the conversation; She was absorbed in the lack of feeling at the end of her wrist. She expected something like that to hurt, but she felt… nothing.
"Your plan. You convinced me that Luna was a traitor intent on killing me and freeing you." said Twilight. "You then convinced Luna the same about me. That way, we would both try our best to free you without anypony dying. No bloodshed. I must admit, that was a surprisingly eloquent and peaceful solution to an otherwise bloody dilemma. Unfortunately, you chose not to take my advice. If you would have forced me to free you the day we spoke about it, Luna and I would not have had time to discover that the traitor as a hoax." Twilight's smile grew even more evil. "You didn't trust yourself to keep your pieces protected, and your own distrust ended up being your undoing."
That grabbed Celestia's attention, and invoked her rage. Twilight simply laughed and took a seat at her throne.
"Luna shared that story with me before we went to free you." said Twilight. Then, all trace of amusement left her face. "Which brings me to the subject of Queen Luna. You did quite the number on her. Would you like to see her?" Celestia nodded as best as she could with her neck restrained. It didn't matter. Twilight would've shown her, regardless of Celestia's wishes.
Twilight's horn began to glow with lavender light, and the thing in Celestia's lap rose slowly. It crept into Celestia's view, first the horn, then the vacant cyan eyes. Celestia let out a shriek, and the tears in her eyes burst down her face.
"It was that blast of magic." said Twilight. "A new strain of Eclipse. Even I feel slightly ill; What chance did our poor Queen have? It melted her down to sinew and goo. I decapitated her post-mortem, so that we'd have something to bury." Celestia sobbed in sorrow while choking down the vomit working up her throat.
"It's basic knowledge that a unicorn's magic doesn't actually have anything to do with their horn." said Twilight. "There is a separate system in our bodies, weaved in with the nervous and circulatory systems, that sends the charge of magic. We use our horns only to channel it. This means that, theoretically, a hornless unicorn could potentially use some sort of crude magic if their life was in danger. You proved that theory."
Luna's head dropped back down onto Celestia's lap. Twilight ran her hands through her mane in frustration.
"Do you understand what you've done? Do you even care?!" asked Twilight. "Luna is dead! Only she understood how to treat Eclipse! Only her! Now my people will be dead within a year, all because of you!" Twilight sighed and ran her hand through her mane again. "Since I am probably going to kill you anyway, I'll tell you what happened. You still don't understand why you're where you are, do you? Well, here you are."
"The day after the feast, a massive earthquake shook the Crystal Empire to rubble. You sent me and the girls to aid Cadance and Shining." began Twilight. "It took us three months to sift through the dust and pull out all the corpses. Half of the Crystal Ponies died from the quake, and more from the aftermath. Starvation, dehydration. After a while, Cadance sent us home. She could handle it, she told us. We arrive in Canterlot to bring you up to speed and we found out that things changed drastically. You claimed that there was some dark evil in your land, and that you had to eliminate it. The only problem was that you had no clue who or what it was. So you decided to put all of your suspects into concentration camps."
Celestia grunted her argument. Twilight didn't need to hear her to understand that the sun princess was denying it. She still didn't believe she was capable of such atrocities.
"The Camps didn't sit well with us, but we didn't do anything. How could we? We couldn't very well go up to the princess and tell her she was doing her job wrong." said Twilight. "Then you moved on from Camps to Crucibles. Every month or so, you would take thirty suspects from the Camps and put them in a pit, where they would fight until one pony, most often a child, killed the others with their bare hands. We were appalled, disgusted, but still we did nothing. That is, until Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were taken into the Crucible."
Celestia could remember that: The blank looks that the three fillies had when they were taken from their homes. Sweetie Belle wouldn't stop scratching her ear, until the flesh was red and irritated, while Applebloom sang an Apple family lullaby ceaselessly under her breath. Scootaloo… Celestia remembered Scootaloo falling mute with no sign of her speaking.
"So you remember that much?" asked Twilight. She could see the look of realization on Celestia's face. "Do you remember who won that Crucible? It was Sweetie Belle. The things that poor girl had to see, to do, at the age of thirteen. In the arena, Scootaloo went mad and attacked her friends. Sweetie Belle had no choice but to kill her, to protect Applebloom. She bashed Scootaloo's head in with a large stone and after that, Applebloom stopped. She gave up. In the end, Sweetie Belle walked out of the Crucible victorious. She left breathing, but she died in that arena. Rarity never properly told me what happened, but I imagine she committed suicide."
Celestia forced out a sound like a garbled choke. Twilight had her repeat herself a few times over before she discerned what her prisoner was trying to ask.
"How did Applejack and Rainbow react?" asked Twilight. Celestia nodded. "They forgave her immediately, which I think was part of Sweetie's sorrow. With those three dead, I now had to try to calm three of my friends. Rarity, Aj, and Dash all wanted your head. They started a rebellion. After the Cakes were taken to the Camps, Pinkie joined. I helped, but I never fought. I just did logistics, things like that. Then came Eclipse."
"We called it Eclipse because when it came, it was a cloud of black that blotted out the sun. It killed an unfathomable amount in a short span of time. Rarity died, and Dashie fell into a coma that she would never wake from. The survivors fled and quarantined as best as we could. One day, Fluttershy got stuck on the wrong side of the fence. I promised her that I would get her out, but she knew she was already infected." said Twilight, choking back a sob. "Applejack as well. Her face was so disfigured… I didn't even realize I was looking at a corpse at first. She looked like a rotted log. When it was down to me and Pinkie… Well, it quickly went down to me."
Celestia had another epiphany. She could suddenly recall the rebellion. They called themselves "Harmony". They would attack Canterlot Castle whenever possible, burning it, bombing it, but they all fell eventually. Celestia choked out a question that Twilight was able to decypher immediately.
"You want to know what Eclipse did. It essentially melted us from the inside out. We would grow boils that would pop, and pus would leak from the wounds for a day. Then it was blood and muscle tissue liquified." said Twilight. "If it didn't kill you outright, you might be crippled or mentally handicapped. All who were exposed to the pathogen, even in it's most diluted form, suffered from infertility and magic loss. Except for me. Nopony knew why, but your Eclipse wouldn't touch me. I found a team, people who could help me overthrow you and fix Equestria. I found Flash Sentry, Shiny, Cadance, Trixie. I even went through the mirror to get help from Sunset Shimmer. We fought you at every turn, and you slowly whittled us down. You killed Shining Armor and Cadance right in front of me. Trixie saved us, bought us enough time to escape from a raid. She didn't make it."
Celestia gripped Shining's horn and pulled it to the wall. Her horn was surrounded by yellow light and she brought her index finger across the back of Shining's knee. Blood spurted outwards, and his leg fell away from the rest of him. An agonized scream came from him as Celestia extended her palm to Shining. Flames erupted from his body, scorching his flesh.
An evil smile spread across Celestia's face at the sight of Twilight's horrified expression. Cadance ran forward savagely, swinging a sword at Celestia. The Sun Princess avoided the swipes and grasped Cadance's wrist. She spun Cadance around and wrenched the blade from her hand.
"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." Celestia remembered saying. She brought Cadance into a sort of shielding position. "Look to your sister-in-law. Look at her!" Cadance stared at Twilight with tears in her eyes when the sharp tip of her own sword pierced her chest.
"You're remembering. You killed Cadance. We couldn't find Luna anywhere. We were going to die." said Twilight. "Until one day, you let your guard down. We caught you when you least expected it, on the day that used to be the Summer Sun Celebration. But it was too late to reverse the damage. We were at about ten percent of our original population, and nopony could reproduce. We eventually found Luna, brought her down from the moon, but she couldn't solve our problem. We were dying off, and Flash suddenly had an idea."
Twilight laughed darkly. She remembered her reaction to Flash's proposition at the time, how absurd it worked. Halfway through her laugh, she stopped. She missed Flash with all her heart, maybe a little more than even her friends.
"I took a sample of Flash's DNA and replicated it. He impregnated me and I acted as a tissue culture. Eventually, I copied the idea with Sunset's DNA. That's how I got my children." said Twilight. "The cloning process wasn't perfect, which is why they're missing an eye. After the first batch of Sunset Shimmer clones, Flash died. He was infected, as was Sunset. Then, it was just Luna and myself. We bunkered down underground and began torturing you for the cure. You wouldn't give for years and years. Luna started taking your blood to see if she could find the cure, but never found anything conclusive. We already searched my blood to isolate whatever made me immune, but we couldn't find it. A thousand years or so passed, and a wave of magic passed through that shocked your frontal lobe. Your hippocampus didn't know how to react to the surge of energy, and you lost memory. The rest is history."
Twilight rose to her hooves with a look of exhaustion plastered across her face. She drew a knife from her hip and took a step towards Celestia.
"Are you remorseful?" asked Twilight. "Do you regret what you've done? Don't bother lying to me. I won't change my mind, regardless of what you say. Do you regret your crimes?" Celestia nodded and closed her eyes. She braced herself for death, and didn't even flinch when Twilight pressed the sharp blade against her throat.
"I wanted you to die today. I think I changed my mind. I don't want you to die." said Twilight. Celestia opened her eyes just in time to see Twilight swipe her knife to the left. Red cascaded down the former Sun Princess' neck. She produced hacking, gurgling sounds as she tried to force air down her blood filled throat.
"I want you to suffer." said Twilight. She dropped the knife to the ground and left Celestia to bleed in her chains. Celestia convulsed in agony once before closing her eyes. Darkness crept to her, and she met with sleep for what would be the last time.
Author's Note: Another journey's end! What do you guys think? Did Celestia deserve her punishment? Were Luna and Twilight in the right for their actions? Feel free to PM me with your perception of the "Good Guy" and "Bad Guy" of this story. Also, please review to tell me how I can do better. And, if you really liked, tell your friends. I appreciate your time, guys. Until the next one. Farewell!