AN: This was meant to be a One Shot, nothing longer than 10.000 max. Now we're here. At a 63.000 Longfic. This is my longest (finished) Fan Work so far.
Also, this is a procrasti-writing piece. I meant to finish a different work in progress, but this one got finished first. Well, at least I finished some Longfic and not another One Shot. Anyway, Canon will be ignored, it is a guide line at best! While this rehashes the series to some extent at the beginning, the further we go, the more Canon's leaving though the window.
Constructive Criticism is appreciated and welcome! Any comment is, for that matter.
I intended to post this yesterday, but FFN was down for me. But to keep my posting pattern,chapter two will come in two days while all the other chapters will come in three days. As I have pre-written the whole thing, I can guarantee this fic ill be complete.
Ciao for now,
ABSOL_uteOG
This week had been the worst for Princess Celestia. Not only was she forced to banish her own sister to the moon, she discovered that she had a niece! A few hours after Luna – or Nightmare Moon as she had been calling herself – was gone, a bat pony approached Celestia.
Her fur was dark gray, her wings that of a bat, fur tufts on the ears, a black messy mane and yellow slit eyes. Despite her dangerous appearance, she radiated a nervousness, maybe even fear.
Bat ponies – often called thestrals as a slur - are considered Luna's people, a separation Celestia never really liked. They are part of Equestria and Equestria is both Celestia's and Luna's. Either way, Celestia interacted rarely with the bat ponies, so it was weird when the servant approached her.
"Your highness, I-I need to show you something, regarding Princess Luna...", said the bat pony carefully, as if she wasn't allowed to speak to the day sister. "P-Please follow me."
"Of course, uh…" Normally Celestia knows all the servant's names. But this one never interacted with her prior to this.
"Crowley.", introduced the bat pony herself. "That way..."
While Celestia was busy restructuring so much – and moving to Canterlot Palace as this castle was done for – this was about Luna! Maybe a clue to what had corrupted her sister. Crowley guided Celestia into Luna's private chamber. Walking in, Celestia saw nothing weird. Until Crowley opened a hidden passage behind a book case, one Celestia was unaware of. Crowley then lead her in. They walked up a spiraling stair case until they reached a room. There she saw a nursery and a different bat pony tending to a filly.
"Is that…" asked Celestia, not believing what her eyes saw.
"Your sister had a foal.", informed her Crowley as if she should know that and took the foal from the nanny. "We thought you should be aware of your niece now that Princess Luna is gone." She showed the child to Celestia.
The filly was – which shocked Celestia greatly – an Alicorn. A natural born Alicorn. She had a lavender coat, a midnight blue mane with two streaks. One is hot pink and the other a dark purple, while her eyes were cyan. Only odd thing about her – besides her being an Alicorn – was her horn. It was not like a stone spiral like any other Unicorn has, hers was smooth and crystalline and cyan blue like her eyes. It reminded her of Sombra's horn, but less threatening.
"She's beautiful... I... I have a niece. Why didn't Luna tell me?", she asked.
"Well,", said Crowley, "You see..."
"That was a stupid question, of course.", corrected Celestia. Luna became Nightmare Moon, of course she didn't tell her quite a lot of things. "What is her name? And who is the father?"
"Aurora Dawn.", said the Nanny. She hesitated before saying, "No one knows who the father is. We never dared to ask Princess Luna."
From then on, Celestia tried to raise her niece. The problem is, something – or someone – tried to take Aurora from Celestia. A cult – there is no better word to describe them – that hated Luna and Aurora by proxy. As well as a dark, shadowy force. Maybe the thing that corrupted her sister? Was it trying to corrupt her niece as well? Or was it Luna reaching out from the moon?
It was a difficult decision, she decided to send her niece into the future. For many reason's, in fact. First of all, to get Aurora away from it. Secondly, people see her sister as evil, this may transfer onto her niece if that cult was anything to go by. But before she send Aurora away, she cast a glamour – a self sustaining shape shifting charm – onto Aurora.
Obviously to hide her wings and odd horn and to lock some of her magic to more normal Unicorn levels, but she also changed her eye color. It hurt her to erase an obvious hint of Luna, but she really wants to protect Aurora. But to compensate, dhe gave Aurora a necklace that used to belong to Luna. Silver chain, silver scythe moon and a cyan gem hanging in the moon. Simple, but Luna's style. But before she could send Aurora into the future, Crowley came into Celestia's chamber.
She nearly demanded, despite her inherent nervousness around the sun princess, "Send me with her."
"What?", asked the Princess.
"Send me with Princes Aurora. As a care taker. You decided to send her nearly a millennia to reunite her with Princess Luna when she returns. Even with your power, there will be a catch with the spell – you won't be able to decide where she lands. Even I know time magic is fickle like that.", said Crowley, slowly becoming more confident with each word. "Which means she may end up in a forest no one goes into. Which, as she is nearly a new born, won't end well. Send me with her as a care taker."
Celestia sighed, Crowley had a point. "But sending you along gives me even less control where she lands... fine. I send you along.", decided Celestia. "In fact, I want you to find me when you arrive."
"Thank you, Princess." She then bowed to Celestia. "I will do my best."
Nearly thousand years later, Crowley and Aurora nestled on her back found themselves in the remains of the old castle. Crowley muttered, "Looks like she would have been strong enough to pin point the area we land at. I need to apologize, it seems. Well then, Princess Aurora, let's find your aunt in this day and age. I hope she remembers me..." She then checked the bag she was given if it's contents survived time travel. It did, which included food for Aurora, as well as a letter from Celestia. A permit so that Crowley can go to the capital of Equestria. Crowley noted Aurora was nearly sleeping, so she decided to walk though the forest she was in until the little princess was rested.
Two hours passed as Crowley walked in silence, not shaken by the forest the modern pony would consider scary. A dark forest like this is a bat ponies home. She trod though the forest as if it was nothing. She came out near a town. Seeing Canterlot afar on a mountain, Crowley realized this town was, for all intents and purposes. new to her and Aurora. Crowley saw that as a positive. If the land still sprouts new settlements, the land does well, Celestia then hasn't fallen in that millennia Crowley had been gone.
"Oh my...", spoke a female voice. Crowley saw a mare, pale green coat and graying hair. An earth pony with an apple cutie mark. She stared as if she saw a ghost. She ran off, yelling, "Thestral! Thestral in Ponyville!" Crowley flinched, looks like that slur is alive and well in this day and age. The apple mare continued to yell, "Thestral!"
Other ponies came out of their homes, to see what the mare was yelling about. They ran when they saw Crowley. Only a few dared to approach Crowley. A stallion that looked like he worked for Celestia's justice branch being one of the brave ones. "Mm! That Thestral has a foal! A foalnapper!" As he yelled that, Crowley flew into the air. "Stop the foalnapper!"
Crowley does not like how this is going. She hopes the princess can help her.
Celestia sat on her throne, signing papers. Her thoughts wandered to her niece and care taker, Crowley and Aurora should have returned to the time stream by now. Maybe she should look for them herself? Ponies this day and age don't think of bat ponies – now referred as Thestrals despite that word having started as a slur – as anything other than bad omens at best and pure evil at worst. Yes, she should if it isn't too late.
A member of her guard opened the entrance to the throne room. His armor reflected the light as the stallion moved. He ran in and clearly was alarmed by something. "I am sorry to bother you, your Highness, but we spotted a Thestral!"
"Really?", she asked. Is it Crowley? It better is Crowley! "Were is she? And the word is bat pony, guard."
"How did you know it is a she?" He shook his head, "There she is, the Thestral." A colleague of his guided Crowley into the throne room. A second guard – a Unicorn – carried a bag with his magic. But no filly to be seen anywhere. "What do we do with that criminal?"
"Criminal? Did she do something?" The last time she was presented a bat pony, that pony was accused of a heinous crime with no proof. That was five centuries ago. "And where is the foal?"
"Foal? How did you know she had snatched one?", answered the guard. "The child had been send to the closest orphanage and they are trying to track down her parents.", he announced proudly. "Now what do we do with the Thestral?"
"First of all, you let her go. I know for a fact that Crowley didn't foalnap her, as I tasked her to bring the filly to me.", decided Celestia. "Haven't you read the letter Crowley carried?"
"W-We assumed it was a fake! Why would a lowly Thestral have a royal letter?", answered the guard in a panic.
"Let her go, track down the child and bring her to me!", demanded Celestia as she stood up from her throne. The Guards let Crowley go and left Crowley with the princess.
Crowley said sorrowful, "I am sorry for failing you, Princess."
"You didn't. I didn't think that your species standing would deteriorate so much in the time.", said Celestia. "We better get you settled here, then I'll track down my niece... wait, how long have the guards held you?"
"A few days, your Majesty. They weren't sure if they should bother you, until they found the letter.", explained Crowley. "Why?"
"Tracking Aurora will be difficult. The bureaucracy of Equestria is odd, it can process fast, slow and varies how much of a pain it is.", explained Celestia. "For all we know, Aurora had been adopted already – foals her age get adopted the fastest, especially if the parents can't be found – and she probably got a name change due to that, so it is not like I can just search for 'Aurora' in the paper works."
"But shouldn't it be easy to find an orphan that just appeared?", inquired Crowley.
"Normally yes, but... a few days ago, a cult was busted, which caused many orphans to appear 'out of nowhere', especially since it was a Unicorn cult.", said Celestia. Unicorns are most likely to join cults. "Looks like I have to check each orphanage and hope Aurora hadn't been adopted yet... Well, at least she is save from the thing that was after her."
"Have you discovered what it is?" asked Crowley, her yellow eyes looking at the princess intensely. It is fair to assume Celestia figured it out by now.
"No, I just know it vanished. The... Crystal Empire made a short return, but I had to make it vanish again.", explained Celestia frustrated. She hates to admit failure. "Without Luna, I wasn't sure how to fix that situation. That thing... I am not sure that it is gone."
"I am sure all issues will be solved one day, your Highness.", reassured her Crowley. "And I am sorry for assuming your power won't be enough. Aurora and I appeared in the old castle."
"I really should have checked for you two myself." said Celestia, nearly in a whisper. More to herself than to Crowley. "Well, you better rest, Crowley."
A family of minor nobles was over the moon! After struggling to have a second child, they finally got approved to adopt! They choose a very young Unicorn filly – they got a hunch their extended family who are already not a fan of adoption won't exactly accept a Pegasus or let alone an earth pony – a girl at that. Twilight Velvet and Night Light wanted a daughter as they already had a son. Shining Armor would have favored a brother, but who his parents adopt was not his decision. They named her Twilight Sparkle. That name was not chosen to compensate for Velvet's family, who uses Twilight as a family name. They just liked the ring of it. Names aren't always super deep.
Celestia was saddened that she still hadn't found Aurora. She was presented fillies that look similar, but they weren't her. Some were scams. From hair dye, to having blood relatives to not even being a Unicorn, none was close to trick her. Let alone that none was covered by a powerful glamour that was powered by a certain necklace.
Crowley adapted to modern day, as much as a bat pony can. She became the care taker of the new Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Crowley may or may not have told the princess about Aurora and Luna... which Celestia confirmed with more detail. But the newly crowned royal didn't really care, as she was busy with someone else.
Mi Amore Cadenza, preferably being called Cadence, had a friend – not a colt friend yet – named Shining Armor. His family was pure chaos at the moment and she tried to be emotional support for them.
As they adopted their daughter, they of course noted the necklace she wore. While they didn't plan to take her necklace away – only insecure adoptive parents would erase the existence of her biological parents like that – Velvet didn't think it was save for a filly to wear a fine necklace all the time, especially while sleeping. They were in for a surprise when their daughter grew wings, a weird crystalline horn and had a different eye color when they took the necklace off.
"By Celestia! Should we inform the princess?!", wondered Night Light, just so little away from a panic attack. "She has to be informed about Alicorns, right?"
"And risking we get her taken from us?", countered his wife. "We hide her wings. And... maybe we partly disable the glamour for the eye color? They look similar to mine."
"Seriously, Twilight?" His wife may be a bit insecure. But considering his in-laws everything... he's not surprised. He then remembered Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. His son's friend – he is still impressed Shining managed to befriend a princess – left her home after her ascension. She was adopted as Princess Celestia's niece, then. This could happen with Twilight as well. "Fine."
Shining Armor felt bad for not being able to reveal that his sister is an Alicorn to his friend. But things are how they are. Albeit he could ask her if she knows how to disable parts of a glamour. His friend used to be a Pegasus before ascension, so she is always excited to use her newfound magic.