NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 12

“My dearest Twilight Sparkle,” The unicorn read out loud, casting a basic ‘flicker’ spell to light the nearby candle, giving her enough light to see the words properly, “By now you will probably be needing the piece I contain in this letter and I apologise for withholding it from you for such a long time.”

Which meant that the Princess had to have had it for a while, though Twilight was not sure when she had taken it. The unicorn was not entirely sure how she felt about the fact that the Sun Goddess had effectively stolen a piece from a treasure that her dam-sire had given her, though she was sure that Celestia had had a good reason for it.

“I have had it since you first showed it to me, back when you first moved into your rooms in the school and I know you will probably be angry with me for not returning it to you sooner.” Celestia’s letter continued, “However, before you put this letter down and refuse to listen to me any longer, please read through why I thought, at one point, that it would be better for you never to complete the puzzle.”

Twilight grimaced, trying to work out why she felt like that was not the Sun alicorn’s decision to make. She was the Ruler of all of Equestria after all. What she said was law. If she had thought it for the best that Twilight did not complete the puzzle, then really the young unicorn should have had no say in that matter. That did not make her feel any better.

“It all starts in a country known as Equigypt, where your puzzle comes from. A country that ceased to exist long before Equestria was ever thought of.” Twilight knew this, Treasure Trove had told her all the tales surrounding the puzzle as a kid. She had committed them to memory, hoping that they would help her solve the secrets of the artefact that she had been working on for going on eight years. “A dark magic destroyed the land thousands of years before even I was born and was sealed away by a powerful alicorn who gave her life to do so.”

That she had not known. Her dam-sire had not told her that part, though it was quite possible that he had not known as nothing she had read on Equigypt had ever informed her of what had happened to ruin the once proud country, only that it had disappeared overnight and become part of Saddle Arabia.

“My sister, Princess Luna, went to Saddle Arabia in order to work her diplomatic magic and came back with reams and reams of notes on the magic belonging to a vizier she had met while there. I allowed her to explore that magic, hoping that it would distract her from me while I dealt with my ever increasing duties, not noticing that slowly and surely Luna was losing more and more face with the nobles as they looked upon the ‘Night Queen’ as a necessary evil rather than understanding the true balance of day and night.”

This was more honesty from her tutor on these matters than Twilight had ever experienced and she was not quite sure how to take it. Celestia had obviously needed to get off of her chest and in revealing her theft to Twilight she had obviously felt that now was the time for the truth. About everything. It was probably easier to do it on paper than it would have been to tell her all of this to her face.

“I did not see Luna’s decent from studying the dark magic that she had discovered, to using it, but I was the cause for her final fall into Nightmare Moon, for I pushed her away and when the nobles came to me, asking why we even needed the night, I did not scold them and defend Luna’s night as I should have done. Instead I allowed them to turn against her and drive her further into the darkness. It was that darkness that finally controlled her and turned her into the demon sorceress, Nightmare Moon.”

Who was due to return tomorrow during the Summer Sun Celebration if the legends were true.

“I had no choice but to banish her to the moon for a thousand years for her own protection and for that of the mares and stallions in our care. I lost my last student, Sunset Shimmer, to that same magic after she discovered my sister’s notes locked away deep within the castle, but unlike my sister, she banished herself to a place from which she could never return and where I could never reach her. I could not lose you the same way.”

Twilight blinked at those words. She had heard only brief rumours of Sunset Shimmer, who had been Celestia’s personal student before she had. The rumours spoke of an arrogant unicorn who had delved too deep into the darker side of magic and had lost her place at Celestia’s side. This was new information about that too. However she had never found the notes of Princess Luna and she did not understand how her puzzle linked to any of this.

“I know you’re probably wondering what this has to do with your puzzle.” Celestia’s letter continued, causing the unicorn to smile slightly at how well the Princess knew her, “Well, your puzzle is an artefact that was once worn by the same alicorn who sealed the darkness away in the first place and since her seal had quite clearly started to fail, I was worried for your safety. After all, the darkness quite clearly held grudges and I was frightened that either you would be lost to the same darkness when your curiosity drove you to investigate it’s properties, just as my sister had, or you would be attacked as the holder of the artefact belonging to that long lost Princess.”

That made a worrying amount of sense. Twilight had trouble bringing herself to be angry when Celestia had stolen the piece from her out of concern for her wellbeing.

“My concerns were not alleviated any when a zebra by the name of Zecora, who held two of the golden relics, a Key and a pair of Scale and came to me not long after I took you on as a student and hid the piece away. She told me that the puzzle granted one wish, but it also gave the wielder power over the darkness and granted them the title ‘Guardian of Shadows.’ Then she warned me of dark days ahead and vanished from my castle. I have had people searching ever since but no one has managed to locate her.”

She knew about the wish. Her dam-sire had told her all about it when he had first given her the puzzle, claiming it was the prize for passing the test of completing it. A test she now knew that the Princess had been preventing her from completing. She had not known, however, about the ‘Guardian of Shadows’ part and she could not help but wonder if Treasure Trove had when he had given it to her. She doubted it. He loved her and she was certain that he would not have willingly put her in any danger, but the part about ‘dark days ahead’ was worrying and Twilight was sure they probably related to what was due to happen tomorrow.

“I believed that I could make the choice for you. That if I took away a piece of the puzzle that you would be safe and I could find some other way of understanding the darkness. However, I was wrong. I have spent the last one thousand years trying to find a way to break through the darkness and free someone from them to no avail and now I have run out of time. Tomorrow the demon controlling my sister will be free once more and I had to make a choice. Allow you to complete the puzzle and claim your place as the Guardian of Shadows, as is your right and risk losing you forever but chancing that if I fall, you will be able to bring Luna back to her senses. Or keep this piece from you and send you far from the danger. I was thinking over those choices when you sent me your letter about Nightmare Moon’s return.”

Which was why it had taken so long to get her reply, Twilight now understood.

“It was actually your letter that helped me decide. That and the tale of an old stallion I once met who I believe is related to you, a Treasure Trove. He knew the Shadows better than any pony alive when I met him and we searched together for a while. He was supposedly doing it to protect his family. Now I know he meant protecting you. We turned up dead end after dead end until finally he reminded me that Unity, the power that we discovered the alicorn Princess had used to seal away the darkness, was another name for Harmony and that maybe the answers I sought were not that far away from home.”

The Elements of Harmony. That was what Celestia was clearly talking about when she mentioned Harmony. Twilight did not know what she meant by the Equigyptian Princess’s Unity, but she understood that her dam-sire had meant the Elements when he had spoken to Celestia.

“Time grows short and you will be pacing your library or perhaps working on your puzzle, waiting impatiently for my reply, but I ask you to think carefully before you make your choice. Do not rush into what seems right for Equestria, do what seems right for you. If you choose not to complete the puzzle and stay out of whatever happens when my sister returns, I will understand. However, if you do choose to stand and fight, I beg that you find the Elements of Harmony. They allowed me to seal her away and may give you, in your role as Guardian, the chance to free Luna where I cannot.

Whatever you choose, I will always be your teacher and support you through any choices you make,

Princess Celestia.”

NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 5

“S…Sir Art Nouveau…” Spike stammered, bowing to the unicorn who was easily twice Twilight’s age and had been knighted for ‘his service to unicorns everywhere’ after his game had drastically improved the training of young unicorns across Equestria and beyond as they learned fine control of their magic through playing Duel Monsters. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Twilight winced as she recognised that Spike was going to gush about how much he loved Duel Monsters and start asking the millions of questions about how it was made and how Sir Nouveau had come up with the ideas that Spike had, at one point, been bombarding her with. They did not have time for that and she let out a sigh before speaking.

“Sorry, sir.” She bowed herself briefly, before she picked up Spike and plonked him back on her rear, “But the Princess is waiting. We really have to go.”

“A shame, I do so wish to talk with you at some point. I’ve heard you’re rather spectacular at Duel Monsters, even White Lightning was no match for you and he’s the best in all of Equestria. You might be just who I need to help me with a project.” The unicorn sighed, “But still the Princess can’t be denied, have a good night, Twliy-girl.” He bowed back to her, “I’ll try and catch up with you another day.”

“Yes sir.” Twilight nodded, “I look forward to it.”

He just smiled at her and trotted down the hallways, leaving the young unicorn filly to carry on towards her mentor. Spike sulked a little as they went, put out that he had not gotten to talk to Sir Nouveau for any length of time. It was not until Twilight reminded the baby dragoon that the genius behind the game of Duel Monsters wanted to talk to her about a project of his, which meant that they would be seeing the gentlecolt some point soon, that he cheered up any.

By the time she had managed that, they were almost at the great big double doors that led to the main hall, which, on occasion doubled as Celestia’s throne room. While the attempt to cheer up the baby dragon on her back had been a good distraction, the moment Twilight saw those doors the nerves came back with a vengeance.

They were slightly ajar and while she did not normally eavesdrop she could not help but hear the conversation within when she approached the entranceway. Inside her brother, who was Captain of the Palace Guard and the Princess were discussing options for the safety of the palace while Celestia herself was away at the Summer Sun Celebration’s main event, which this year was going to be held in a small rural town known as Ponyville.

“My Princess, if I might speak freely…” Twilight’s brother sounded tense, not that his sister could blame him. The Summer Sun Celebration was the biggest holiday in the Equestrian calendar and for the last few years it had been his job to organise the safety and security of the Princess while she travelled to and from the various cities it had been held in. If they were taking the threat of Nightmare Moon seriously on top of that, it was a lot for her brother to worry about.

“You’re practically family, Shining Armour.” Celestia on the other hand sounded calm, almost completely unconcerned, just as she almost always did, leaving Twilight with no idea of how the Princess was feeling, “Your sister’s grown up in my tutelage and your relationship with my niece…well…” The Princess chuckled slightly. “Of course you may speak your mind.”

Twilight poked her head around the door in time to see her brother shuffle from hoof to hoof, looking embarrassed. She would be willing to bet that he was blushing under his coat too. “Princess Celestia…you realise that if my sister is right and Nightmare Moon is returning, you will be fighting her alone according to your current plans? I really believe that I should sent a platoon of guards with you.”

“I thank you for your concern, Shining Armour.” Celestia sounded fond, “And that has occurred to me too. However I have yet to attend a single Summer Sun Celebration with an armed guard and I will not start now. Ponyville deserves better than to have their carefully planned events overrun. Besides the one pony I need will already be there, ready and waiting.”

“They will?” Shining Armour sounded surprised, “If I might be so bold as to ask, who are they?”

Celestia started to speak, saw Twilight was at the door and smiled instead, “Ah, my dearest Twilight Sparkle, come in. We have much to discuss.”

“S…sorry, am I early?” Twilight asked nervously as she entered the room, looking between her brother who looked exasperated and the Princess who seemed oddly amused. The phrase ‘dearest Twilight Sparkle’ put her mind a little at ease. She obviously was not in any trouble which was a good start.

“No, no, your brother can finish up after I’ve sent you off.” Celestia shook her head, her pale, shimmering rainbow hued mane flowing like water in the breeze coming in through the open window.

“Where am I going?” Twilight could not help but ask, “And why? I could help.”

“I know you could, my dear student.” The alicorn reassured her, causing Twilight to unwind a little further, “But I have a very important task for you to complete and it’s imperative that you do.”

Twilight stood ramrod straight at that. If the Princess was entrusting her with an important mission then she would do everything within her power to complete it.

“I’m sending you to Ponyville ahead of me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Celestia informed her, “And while you’re there, I want you to try to do something that you’ve been shying away from since White Lightning left my school.”

“Princess?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Make some friends.”

“What?!” Twilight yelped, ignoring the poleaxed look on her brother’s face. “But Pri…”

“Hear me out, Twilight.” Celestia’s tone was firm, making the unicorn filly stop to listen. “You are young and there’s more to life than your studies. It’s very important now that you find other ponies that you can trust and you enjoy spending time with.”

“I don’t understand.” Twilight admitted, though she hated to do so, too caught up in her confusion to realise she was questioning the one person in her life she had never dared to question before, “Why now?”

“I want you to take this with you.” Celestia said, using her bright sun yellow magic to levitate a letter over to her. “And open it tomorrow evening, before I arrive in Ponyville. You’ll understand when you read it, but believe me when I say this is your most important test to date.”

Twilight still could not believe what she was hearing as she took the letter from her mentor. It was true she had kept mostly to herself since White Lightning had been withdrawn from the school, but even he had not really been a friend. A rival yes, they had competed in everything and they had pushed each other to greater things, but a friend…not so much. There had been no one at the school who had even come close to them by the time he had left and she found herself ostracised for both her grades and for ‘her part’ in White Lightning’s accident, even if she had not been involved in what had happened.

She had no clue how she was going to make friends with anyone from some backwater town where she did not know anyone. She certainly doubted that she would find anyone who held similar interests to her or could match her in learning.

“You know Twily.” Shining Armour spoke up, looking between Celestia and Twilight with an odd expression, as if something had occurred to him. “You might start with Duel Monsters. That’s something most people are interested in.”

“But I don’t play any…”

“You played today.” Spike pointed out, trying to be helpful. “And you’re still really good. You could totally make friends that way.”

Twilight harrumphed and shook slightly, causing Spike to yelp and dig his claws in as he nearly fell off of her back. She did not want his helpful comments, she wanted to comprehend why she was being sent to complete a test that she did not really understand and was not sure she could complete.

“I’m not going to change my mind about this, Twilight.” Celestia warned, her voice stern as he beheld her student’s displeasure and confusion. “No matter how much you dislike it. Now, do you have anything you need to get from the palace before you go?”

“No, Princess Celestia.” The unicorn bowed her head, trying to get her emotions under control. This was a test. She had been given an assignment and a test. It did not matter how she felt about it, or how little she understood. Celestia would not have given her this test if she did not believe that she could pass.

“Then I’ll wish you good luck and look forward to seeing you during the celebrations.” The Princess smiled at her, “Shining Armour, would you walk her to the chariot? You can join me in my private study once you’ve seen her off, but I’m sure you two would like to talk.”

“Yes, Princess.” Shining Armour herded his sister from the room and back down towards the courtyard. They travelled down in silence for while before Shining Armour sighed and asked, “Did you pack your puzzle?” to break the silence.

He was not expecting the reaction he got. He watched in both shock and confusion as Twilight’s head sank and her steps faltered, her shoulders drooping and she slowed to an almost stop.

“Twilight?” He asked, concerned, “You didn’t forget it did you?”

“Worse.” Twilight muttered, wincing, “There’s a piece missing. I can’t complete it.”

NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 3

“No problem Twilight!” Spike nodded, keeping a tight grip on the saddle bag as he returned to Dark Moon’s side.

“Since this is just a demonstration duel and apparently your letter is so important, how about we both start with just a thousand life points?” Lightning asked as he stepped into the red circle on the other side of the grid and stepped on his sigil. His side of the grid lit up in a blue that was so light it was almost white, the same colour that White Lightning’s magic had always been before his horn had snapped. “Mares first, of course.” He gestured to her in a mocking version of a bow.

“One thousand points is fine by me.” Twilight agreed, only to become startled when the box in front of her circle lit up with the number ‘1000’ in it.

“No more having to do life points manually.” White Lightning boasted to the crowd, “The DuelRune grid does that for you.”

Twilight was actually impressed as she placed her deck on the square of solid light that had appeared in front of her. It was hard enough to make runes do anything like addition or subtraction without manually putting in the input, yet alone making them remember things. Somehow he was literally getting the runes within the grid itself to change in order to provide the life point counter and while it would mean that you would have to reset the grid for every duel, which meant a little more maintenance, the purple unicorn could quite easily see the benefits and doubted that many people would object.

“Two cards face down.” Twilight informed Lightning, “And I summon the Coltic Guardian, in attack mode!”

The DuelRune grid shone brightly for a moment, then a young Eath pony stallion appeared before her in a swirl of autumn leaves, with a deep, mossy green coat and long, neatly platted, yellow mane and tail, protected by impressive looking silver and green armour and holding a sword between his teeth, over which he glowered at White Lightning.

“Since my Guardian can’t attack this turn, it’s your move.” Twilight continued, gesturing to her former classmate.

“One move is all I need.” White Lightning smirked at her, “Come forth, my might Blue Eyes White Dragon!”

Twilight gulped as her Coltic Guardian was dwarfed by the huge white scaled dragon that appeared in a blaze of light and a crackle of electricity. The mighty dragon seemed to peer down at the opposing creature as if contemplating whether to eat him for lunch. To her Guardian’s credit, he did not do anything more than peer up at it in reply as if considering the best way to strike the beast down.

Though Twilight did not appreciate the difference, the crowd did and while some outside the ring of spectators were terrified of the dragon, those who knew enough about the DuelRune grids to know that before the monsters had always been kind of static and nowhere near this interactive, were impressed.

“Blue Eyes!” Lightning called, over confident grin plastered across his features as his three thousand attack point beast stared down at Twilight’s fourteen hundred attack point Warrior, “Destroy her Guardian and end the game!”

The huge dragon, which was easily the same height as the nearby buildings reared back it’s great head and opened its maw, building up a blast of light and electricity before loosing it to strike the Warrior below who did not stand a chance.

Or would not have done if Twilight had not called out, “I don’t think so!” with a grin as she activated one of her face down cards, “Magic Cylinder! It negates your dragon’s attack and you take the same amount of life point damage as its attack points!”

The beam of light entered one of the two multi-coloured cylinders and exited the other, shooting straight back at the dragon, who let out a furious roar and shattered into a million tiny, shimmering pieces.

White Lightning’s life points hit zero almost instantly.

“I don’t remember that being in your deck.” Lightning commented, his tone neutral though his expression was anything but. Instead an odd mix of curiosity, anger and excitement featured prominently upon his face as Twilight stepped off of the sigil and packed away her deck.

“I might not have played much since you left school, but I’ve kept upgrading my deck.” Twilight replied with a nervous smile before turning to her companion, “Spike, we need to go.”

“But Twilight…”

“Now, Spike.” Twilight’s tone brokered no argument. The dragonet scurried to Twilight’s side as she settled the saddle bag back on her rear. Before he could climb up the unicorn levitated him onto her back and the crowd parted for her again, this time more in awe than anything. Before anyone could say anything about how easily she had won that duel, Twilight galloped away to somewhere a little more private.

“You know,” Spike commented when Twilight finally slowed down, “We could have done the letter there rather than racing away like that.”

“I didn’t want to cause a panic.” Twlight shook her head, using that as the excuse rather than the fact that she had felt awkward being stared at by that many ponies and that White Lightning had creeped her out a bit. It did not help her mood at all that seeing his broken horn reminded her that while her special talent was magic, it could be taken away from her just as easily as Lightning had lost his and she did not know what she would do if she ever lost it. “Now please Spike, take a letter.”

“Fine, fine.” Spike grumbled, pulling out a quill and parchment and putting it to paper. “Ready.”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight started, smiling slightly as Spike started scribbling it down, rather proud of the young dragonet who had worked so hard to learn how to write. She had been studying under Princess Celestia for as long as the baby dragon had been alive and Spike had been desperate to help her in any way he could. In the end she had caught him copying her written work in a rather sloppy scrawl and had started teaching him in what little spare time she had. “I have been diligently continuing my studies and have found that we may be on the precipice of disaster...”

“Pre-ci…” Spike looked at her in obvious confusion causing her to sigh and remind herself that he was still learning the language. He was a baby dragon after all.

“The edge?” She tried instead, discarding some of the bigger words she had been about to offer in the place of ‘precipice’ and nodding when Spike wrote that down without a problem. “I have found evidence that the Mare in the Moon is in fact the Alicorn Sorceress, Nightmare Moon and that she plans to return during this Summer Sun Celebration to try and bring an eternal night.” Twilight dictated slowly enough for Spike to keep up with her. “Something must be done before this disas… can happen.” She changed what she was going to say midword, reminding herself that Spike wouldn’t be able to spell it, “I await your reply, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twi...light...Spar...kle.” Spike finished the letter off with a flourish and a grin.

“Alright, Spike, send it.” Twilight ordered, only to frown when her companion hesitated, “What?”

“Now?” The purple dragon asked even as he rolled up the letter and sealed it with a thin red band. “I mean she’s going to be really busy with the celebration, it’s only a couple of days away.”

“I know, Spike, but that’s the point. If Nightmare Moon is returning, then the Princess has to be warned.” The mare replied, frustrated, “I’ve wasted enough in responding to Lightning’s bait as it was and it’s imperative that she gets that letter right away.”

“Imperative?” Spike asked confused.

“Important!” Twilight exploded in frustration, trying not to take it out on Spike but unable to bottle it up much more when she knew she had taught Spike the meaning of ‘imperative’ last week.

“Alright, but you’re allowed to have fun.” Spike objected, before loosing a small green flame that seemed to burn up the letter. The ashes floated in the air for a moment before becoming sparkles that shimmered as they shot upwards, over the rooftops and headed towards the palace. “And I bet she already knows. I mean its Princess Celestia. She knows everything.”

“Even if she does, at least I’ve sent my letter. I couldn’t just find out that without trying to warn her.” The filly replied, feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders as she trotted towards the library that was home. It had not started that way. Originally it had been her and a few books, but over the course of her studies she had steadily built up her own personal library of research texts and copies of books she had found interesting in the stacks of the school and palace libraries.

She always felt more comfortable amongst the lengthy volumes than she did amongst other ponies and after running into the one pony she had both looked forward to seeing again and dreaded meeting once again she wanted nothing more than to return to her beloved books and hide until she was certain he was gone.

Spike seemed to know what she needed and the moment they were through the door, he cleared a space for her on the desk and pulled a golden box down from its hiding place behind a huge text on dragon care that Twilight had memorised years ago when she had first hatched him.

Twilight herself dumped her bag by the door and flopped down on the cushion next to the rather worn wooden desk, staring at the box for a few moments before seeming to make up her mind and opening it.

Spike knew why she had hesitated before opening the golden box. It contained the fragments of an Ancient Equigyptian artefact that her dam-sire, Treasure Trove, had brought home from one of his many trips abroad. Supposedly it was cursed but neither Twilight nor Spike had seen evidence of such a thing. Inside the golden box with its odd eye like symbol were about fifty pieces of an ancient puzzle that Treasure Trove had said was ‘the ultimate test.’ Twilight had been trying to complete it for about eight years.