Spyra, part fifteen

Twilight froze, her heart thumping so hard in her chest that it made her body tremble. A dozen guards stood at the entrance to the castle garden, accompanying Princess Luna and her brother Shining Armour.

She didn't move a muscle, hoping against hope that they would believe they had got it wrong, that she wasn't out here. She was still cloaked by her invisibility spell – the only way they could have discovered she was here was by the aura given off by her magic, when she attempted to free Discord. Perhaps, if she stayed quiet, they would believe it was just a trick of the light.

Princess Luna stepped out onto the lawn, her expression stern. "Twilight, please make yourself visible. We are not going to hurt you. We know you are here because we heard you talking."

She felt the last flicker of hope fade away. They had heard her? That was impossible. The main castle building was several feet away from the courtyard and she had whispered as quietly as she could.

"Twiley, please," said Shining Armour, "We're all worried about you. This has all been a terrible misunderstanding. Let us explain."

The sound of her brother's voice was soothing, but not enough to bring her down from the heights of terror. However, it did convince her to cancel her invisibility cloak. They knew she was here anyway, so there was no point in it any more.

Shining Armour's look of concern deepened when he saw the state she was in. She hadn't slept in more than 40 hours and it showed. Her eyes were wild, unfocused and the area around them were darkened by her tiredness.

Her underbelly was still dirty from the time she had been hiding in the Everfree forest, and the rest of her coat was unkempt. Her bedraggled mane was frayed and out of place.

"Sis…" He began to walk towards her and she panicked, backing away and bumping into Discord's plinth. She looked up at his statue and let out a squeal of horror, then her horn flashed as she tried to cast a teleportation spell. Nothing happened, save for a few sparks of magic.

"Okay, calm down," he said, holding up a hoof. He was on the lawn, several feet away from the courtyard, but given her state of mind he thought it was unwise to get any closer. "That's not going to work, Twiley. I've set up a protective shield around the entire area. Nopony's going to be able to get in or out. It's just going to be the three of us and the guards, nopony else. We're just going to talk this out, okay?"

Twilight swallowed hard, trying to steady her nerves. If there was anypony left in Equestria who she could trust, it was her big brother.

She tried to speak but found herself unable. Despite the fact she knew he would never do anything to hurt her, there was a voice in her head screaming at her that he wouldn't be able to protect her from Celestia.

"Eyes on me, okay?" he said, "Just focus on me, Twiley. I'm here for you. Princess Luna's going to explain what you saw. It's going to be alright. Believe me."

She let out a shuddering breath and did what he said. Luna came forward, next to him.

The princess spoke calmly and quietly. "Twilight, you were already aware that Discord was imprisoned here, as a statue. My sister cast that spell on him. She holds power over the Sun's energies and the turning of the seasons. Her control over the elements includes the ability to restore life or hold it in stasis – something that was greatly needed after the devastation that Discord's rule wreaked on our planet. He had damaged the natural order of things so seriously that the world was unable to function without our help.

"Even after all he had done, my sister did not believe in capital punishment. To take another life would make us just as bad as the villain we had overthrown. That was the code she instigated in the first days of our rule, and one that we have lived by ever since.

"But Discord was too dangerous, too powerful to be allowed freedom. Our victory against him was hard won. I had been all but defeated. I combined my power with my sister's in one, final, all-or-nothing effort. Using her own innate ability, enhanced by the Elements of Harmony, she froze him in stasis."

Twilight looked up at the princess, her fear slowly leaving her. Luna's voice was having a calming effect on her, and it sounded like she was building up to a reasonable explanation of why that other pony had been imprisoned in stone.

Luna and Shining Armour came a little closer, up to the edge of the courtyard. This time, Twilight made no move to escape. The guards remained in their positions just outside the castle.

"The spell was incredibly powerful, cast using my sister's very last reserves. We thought it would hold forever but, as you know, that was not the case. We are uncertain how, exactly, Discord managed to break free. It could not have dispelled by a single effort. We believe that, on a subconscious level, he must have been chipping away at the curse over the course of several centuries, gradually whittling it down.

"And that is something we are going to have to consider seriously. For around you, Twilight, are the most notorious villains in the history of Equestria. Beings so powerful that the only way we could stop them was to inflict the same fate upon them."

Twilight held a hoof to her chin, looking away as she contemplated Luna's words. She believed everything she had just heard, but she wasn't willing to relax just yet.

Shining Armour noticed her pensive mood and tried to reach out to her. "Come on, Twiley. Come inside. We can get you cleaned up and you can hear the rest of the story in the warm."

"Not… yet," she said cautiously. "Not yet."

Luna looked at Shining Armour to gauge his reaction, then continued. "As I said, my sister and I vowed to never take a life, no matter what our enemies had done. The ponies here are guilty of a multitude of sins – some tried to overthrow us, to turn Equestria back into a dictatorship. Others committed murder. All of them were deemed too dangerous to be allowed to roam free."

"Too… dangerous?" Twilight repeated, a small spark of fear reigniting inside her. She tried to snuff it out, resolving to hear what else Luna had to say.

"That's right," replied the princess, "And as you can see, by the small number of statues here, it is a punishment that is very rarely meted out. In fact, there is only one statue that was not here before my banishment. Given the peace Equestria enjoys now, I believe there will never be another."

The purple unicorn waited a while, to see if the princess had anything more to say. Shining Armour watched her, uncomfortable at her lengthy silence.

"So, they're just going to stay here forever?" she asked. Luna nodded, her expression dispassionate.

Twilight gave a worried frown. "But… that's horrible. No matter what they did. They're neither alive nor dead, they're just frozen in time. There's no chance of reconciliation or reintegration, no way for them to redeem themselves. And if they are as beyond redemption as you said, then why keep them this way at all? Wouldn't Equestria be put in danger if they ever got free?"

"That is something we're looking at, Twilight," said Luna, "Especially given Discord's recent escape."

The young unicorn gasped as another thought struck her. "Discord. That's, that's right, there was something he said. 'It's quite lonely being encased in stone.' Do you have any idea what that could mean? That he was sentient the whole time he was trapped?"

"Twilight, I'm quite sure that wasn't the case," Luna said immediately, but then her eyes widened after she gave the idea a second's thought. She quickly resumed her neutral expression, though her mind was racing. Twilight had unwittingly offered an explanation as to how Discord had the presence of mind to break free from his stone prison.

"Can you imagine that?" Twilight cried, "Centuries upon centuries of being alive but completely locked in. Not being able to see, hear, speak or touch. Nothing but your own thoughts for company. No wonder Discord behaved the way he did when he got free – he was letting off steam, having fun after an eternity of misery. And now, because of Celestia, I've sentenced him to face it all over again!"

She stopped to catch her breath, exhausted by her outburst. Luna looked to Shining Armour for support and he inadvertently took a step back, disconcerted by the horror his sister had detailed.

Luna herself was starting to question what she had done. She and her sister had always seen their method of dealing with their enemies as merciful. After all, when mortal ponies were turned into stone they never had any memory of their time in stasis. They had assumed that more powerful beings would have the same experience. There had never been any reason to suspect otherwise, until Discord had broken free.

If their enhanced power allowed them to retain some kind of sentience during their imprisonment, then their punishment was worse than death. It was an eternity of torment.

"There's another thing," said Twilight, "Luna, think about what happened to you. When Celestia sent you to the Moon. You were trapped there, but you still had freedom to move, to exist. That was only because you're her sister. If not, you would be with these ponies here, forever."

"Twilight," Luna began to speak, but stopped when she noticed the tremor in her voice. She forced herself to regain her composure. "Twilight, I have no memory of my time on the Moon. No memory of my time as Nightmare Moon. My sense of self was consumed by an outside force."

"But I'm right, aren't I? If you hadn't been her sister…"

"That is enough, I beg of you," she said, raising her hoof. "You have raised some… difficult questions. It would be better if we discuss them with my sister when she arrives. This is something she needs to hear."

The mention of Celestia caused fear to rise within Twilight again. She stepped forward, coming to the middle of the courtyard.

"You can't, you can't expect me to stay. Not knowing the truth. Not when you know what she's going to do to me."

"What are you talking about?" asked Shining Armour, suddenly very concerned. "Twiley, you heard what the princess said. Only the most dangerous ponies…"

"Celestia thinks I'm dangerous!" she cried, "She's been keeping watch over me ever since she accepted me as her student. That's why she accepted me as her student! She even employed spies to keep tabs on me when she couldn't be around. Heartstrings told me so herself – she's the one who warned me Celestia thinks I'm a threat, and I know she was telling the truth because I had her under a spell. You have to let me go!"

"Twilight, I can promise you that she doesn't think that about you," said Luna, though she knew that was a lie. The unicorn was right – Celestia had taken her as her protégé to ensure the powerful mare was kept under control. "I can understand your fears and I know that you're under a lot of stress, but I can't let you go."

"You saw me, didn't you?" said Twilight, now truly afraid. "You saw me trying to release Discord. You think I'm dangerous as well."

Luna grimaced, realising she had just lost the young unicorn's trust. She turned to her brother for help. "Shining Armour, what say you?"

His concern was etched into his face. "I think… I think we should speak to the princess first. Before she has a chance to see Twilight."

"Very well," she said with a sigh. She offered a hoof to Twilight. "Come with me. I will ask the guards to find you somewhere to rest while your brother and I discuss the matter with my sister."

"I'm not going with you," she said, shying away. "You're just going to put me in a room somewhere, then, no matter what Celestia says, you're going to turn me over to her. Let me go. Shining Armour, turn off the barrier. Let me teleport out of here."

"Twiley, please. Try to see reason," he said. Behind him, his team of guards were mobilising into position, ready to capture her if she made any attempt to escape. "Celestia means you no harm."

"So, you won't let me go either?" she said, "Well, you can't keep me here. I may not be able to teleport, but if I make it to the edge of the barrier I'll be able to force my way out. I'm not going to let Celestia get her hooves on me!"

Luna shook her head sadly. "Don't do this, Twilight. The guards will catch up to you before you get the chance. Just surrender peacefully. You have nothing to be afraid of. I'm not going to let you escape again and get yourself lost or, even worse, killed because of your paranoia."

With a pang of fright, the young unicorn realised there was only one way she was going to get away from them. Feeling a surge of adrenalin, she adopted an aggressive snarl and slowly lowered herself into a combat stance.

Luna gasped, her eyes wide. "Surely you jest?"

Twilight glanced frantically between the two ponies in front of her, still unsure as to whether she had the courage to go through with this. They were her closest friends in Canterlot castle and she cared for them both.

But Celestia had a terrible fate planned for her, she knew it. Perhaps it was a punishment the princess would deeply regret imposing on her, but it was one that had been a possibility ever since she showed the extent of her power in that incident during her entrance exam.

If Twilight was to survive, she would have to turn on her friends.

Feeling the same trepidation as a pegasus learning to fly does when they make their first leap off a cloud, she summoned the last reserves of her energy to make her last stand.

Her horn glowed, she narrowed her eyes, then she fired off the first bolt of magic as she made her attack.

Shining Armour summoned a shield, protecting the two ponies effortlessly.

Twilight fired again, then again, until a purple barrage of energy was flying through the air in a withering assault.

But the bolts spattered harmlessly against her brother's shield like rain on a window pane, none of them standing the slightest chance of getting through.

She stopped, realising it was hopeless. The guards sprang into action, flying over the heads of Luna and Shining Armour to capture her.

She gasped in horror, feeling the net finally closing in on her. On instinct, she turned tail to flee. Luna looked up and saw the swarm of ponies descending on Twilight.

"Stand down! You could hurt her," she ordered, "I will handle this."

On a simple whim, she cast a spell that froze Twilight's legs in place, forcing her into a standing position. It was the worst possible thing she could have done.

The young unicorn found herself unable to move and immediately assumed the worst – that she was being turned into stone.

If she had the presence of mind to think about it, she would have realised that she wasn't in pain, which was a key symptom of that curse. One look at her legs would have made it clear that her worst nightmare was not coming true.

But she was already frightened and this served only to terrify her beyond reason. First she could only whimper, in denial that this was really happening to her. Then she gave voice to her terror.

"No!" she cried, her anguish piercing the night. She began to buck against the immobilising spell, even though she was only able to move her upper body.

"No! No!" She began to cry uncontrollably, a protracted mixture of screaming and sobbing, as she succumbed to blind, unfeeling fear.

Shining Armour raced to her side and placed a hoof on her side in an attempt to calm her down.

Before he could say a word, she lashed out with a psychic blast that lifted him up into the air and slammed him against a nearby statue. He fell to the ground and didn't get up.

"Twilight, I pray thee – stop this!" cried Luna, the shock causing her to slip back into her old vernacular.

The unicorn couldn't hear her over the sound of her own screaming. She tried casting the cockatrice remedy on herself but, of course, it had no effect. She mistook the fact there was nothing for her spell to heal as proof that she wasn't able to fight the stone curse.

Desperate to escape, she bucked against her immobilisation with her full strength. The only thing she succeeded in doing was dislocating one of her back hips.

Luna heard the sound of it, along with Twilight's heightened screams, and released her from the grip of her spell. The young unicorn collapsed, out of her mind with terror.

"Twilight, thou art free!" said the moon princess, her voice shaking. "We have no wish to imprison thee. Thine cries dost wound our heart, please, calm thyself!"

Shining Armour let out a groan and picked himself up, winded from the blow he had suffered.

Twilight lay helplessly on the ground, trying to find a means of escape even as she sobbed her heart out. In her mind, she was still falling victim to the stone curse - the spreading numbness from her hip exacerbating her misconception.

She couldn't cure herself using the cockatrice remedy, she knew this. The only other solution she could think of was to free one of the other ponies in the hope they would save her.

She reached out with her magic and found the pony she had almost freed earlier – Krastos. With all the effort she could muster, she cast her spell.

None of the other ponies realised what she was doing at first.

The strength of her spell caused a magical backlash, the force of which prevented Shining Armour from getting close to her.

"Twilight!" he cried, "Twilight, what are you doing? Please, just calm down!"

Luna held back, unsure of whether to interject. It was unlikely she could do anything to soothe the poor mare, but it broke her heart to see her friend in such distress.

The guards also stood firm, waiting for some form of command. A couple were murmuring to each other that the only way to stop this was to knock Twilight unconscious, but they wouldn't dare do this to a friend of the princess without her say-so.

Twilight's spell continued its work, revealing Krastos' red mane and then releasing his head from its stone form. He blinked a couple of times as he recovered from the surprise of being free again, then frowned as he saw the situation in front of him.

"What in the name of… why, 'tis you again," he said, noticing Twilight lying near his plinth. Then he looked towards the castle and recognised an old nemesis.

"Luna," he said, a cruel smile curving his lips as the Moon princess finally noticed him.

"No…" she murmured, scarcely able to believe her eyes. Krastos, the stallion who had almost taken everything from her. The demigod who nearly killed her, murdered her closest friend and sent her into the spiral of depression that led to her becoming Nightmare Moon.

Krastos felt Twilight's spell reaching his front legs and tried to flex them, then grunted in frustration as he realised they were still encased in stone.

"Little one," he said to her, "Little one, hurry. I know not what misdeed thou hast committed, but thou must make haste before my fate is yours."

"No!" cried Luna, casting a counterspell almost on instinct. It halted the progress of Twilight's spell, but she was afraid to go any further. She could feel the young pony's faltering mental strength in her magic. If she pushed too hard against Twilight's mind, there was no telling what it could do.

The palace guards came to her side, awaiting her order.

Krastos scowled at the princess, then turned his attention back to the purple mare. "Listen to me well," he said, "The only reason I can think that thou wouldst be in this predicament is that you too hath fallen into the princess' ill favour. Know this – in my time, I was a freedom fighter, trying to overthrow the two sisters' villainous dictatorship. I fought for my people, yet to no avail. I know not how long I hath been trapped here but I know that I can help…"

"Twilight, don't listen to him!" cried Shining Armour, "Think about what Luna said. Only the most dangerous ponies in Equestria's history are imprisoned here. You don't know what you're doing!"

Twilight couldn't respond. She was lying in a broken, shivering heap, fighting to keep her spell going. It was as if she was being driven by a power outside herself, a power she had no control over.

"Freedom fighter?" Luna snarled, struggling to contain her rage. "Thou art nothing of the sort! You convinced your friends that the only way to escape our race's slavery was to have your body imbued with the highest power, to absorb the strength of your tribe's strongest wizards! Once the deed was done, thou henceforth slaughtered every one of them and assaulted the castle!"

She turned to the guards, then nodded her head towards Twilight. "Stop her!"

As one, the armoured ponies walked towards the fallen mare, fighting their way past the psychic storm whirling around her with the intention of rendering her unconscious.

Shining Armour saw their advance and felt a surge of rage, the desire to protect his sister overriding his sense of duty. "Stand down," he demanded, his words coming out as a snarl. They hesitated, but the princess had higher authority so they kept moving forward.

"Stand down!" he cried, placing himself between them and his sister.

"Quite the predicament," said Krastos with a smile. "What wilt thou do, Luna? Kill her? She is but an innocent child."

He turned his attention to Twilight. "Young one, I know you can free me. A little push, and I can release you from your torment. Luna shall receive what she deserves, as will her pretty sister." He smirked at Luna. "As did that foolish mortal who attacked me. He only delayed your fate, princess."

That last comment provoked a flash of rage within the dark-coated goddess. Her power spiked briefly, but that was all it took.

The extra push against Twilight's magical ability overwhelmed her. She felt a sharp pain within her skull, a bursting sensation.

Krastos didn't get a chance to react. Twilight's spell faded immediately and his head was consumed by the curse, turning to stone instantaneously.

Luna stared at his confident expression, now hopefully frozen forever. She exhaled hard several times, trying to exorcise the hatred she felt for the stallion.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a small, terrified voice.

"Twiley?"

Shining Armour kneeled down next to the mare, who was shivering and struggling for breath, only able to inhale in short, quavering gasps. The strength of Luna's magic had triggered a serious physiological reaction – her vital organs were beginning to shut down.

"Twiley!" He laid a hoof on her face as her eyelids flickered, as she began to fall into unconsciousness. "No. No no no. Twilight, keep your eyes open. Twilight!"

Luna held a hoof to her mouth, eyes wide in horror as she realised what she had done. She walked towards the two siblings hesitantly.

"Stay back! You stay away from her!" he cried, his voice breaking. He lifted her limp body and held her head close to his chest. The young mare had now passed out.

The princess felt a lump rise in her throat, along with a feeling of pure helplessness. She looked around the courtyard, the palace guards staring back at her – their normal stoicism giving way to accusing glares. Shining Armour spoke about his sister so often that it almost felt as if they knew her themselves. If she should die…

Luna was suddenly aware of a presence not too far away from her. It had been there for several minutes but she hadn't fully recognised it until now.

She looked through the gloom and saw her sister, who was watching the proceedings with a neutral expression.

Celestia caught her eye and slowly shook her head. "Luna," she said, her voice emotionless, yet reproachful. "Luna, what have you done?"

"Tia!" she cried, her voice belying the fact she was on the verge of tears. "Tia, you have to help! It's not too late yet, she can be saved! Tia, please – you have to make this right!"

Celestia moved wordlessly towards the brother and sister, looking down upon them with an emotion that verged on contempt. Shining Armour began to weep as he heard Twilight's breathing begin to fail.

Luna watched, growing more horrified with every passing second of her sister's inaction.

"Tia!" she cried, a single word of outrage.

Celestia closed her eyes and her horn glowed. The life-giving energies of the Sun passed through her and into Twilight, acting to heal the damage that had been done. The unicorn's brain's synapses began to fix themselves and her body was imbued with the extra strength it needed to keep its vital functions going.

But then the princess's magic faltered and the aura around her former student disappeared. Twilight was still not fully healed – her life began to fade again. Celestia grunted in pain, then focused harder.

With more effort than it should have taken, she completed her spell. Twilight's breathing regulated as she lay unconscious in Shining Armour's embrace.

Luna sighed in relief, shaken by the young pony's ordeal. It was then that she noticed her sister had broken a sweat. This gave her cause for concern – the spell she had just cast was difficult, but should have been no matter for a being as powerful as she.

Celestia met her sister's eye. "Do you believe me now, dear sister? Do you not agree that my ex-student has proven herself to be dangerous?"

Shining Armour gasped and looked up at his ruler, gripped by shock.

Luna couldn't reply. The night's events had been too much.

Celestia turned to the guards. "Take this mare and find her a bed, but keep a close watch on her. She will be held in the castle until I can decide what I am going to do with her."

"What? What?!" Shining Armour was barely able to contain his anger. "Princess, my sister almost died tonight and you intend to treat her as a common criminal? She needs her friends. She needs to rest. She belongs back in her bed, in Ponyville!"

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Commander, you forget your place. But I shall be merciful." She spoke to the guards again. "Take Twilight Sparkle to the library in Ponyville and stay there with her. She is hereby placed under house arrest until further notice."

"House arrest? How dare you…" His words caught in his throat as he was met with a ferocious glare from Celestia.

"Do not push your luck, Shining Armour," she said, "Guards, I want you to place a magic-inhibiting forcefield around Twilight's home. It will not do for her to get out of control again. I will even allow her brother to stay with her." She turned to him. "Am I not merciful?"

He bowed his head, unable to fight any more. "Y-yes," he said, "Thank you, your highness."

"And take Luna to her quarters," she said to the guards. "I will have words with her later. Now I must rest." She closed her eyes briefly, trying to blot out the tired, aching sensation in her head. "I am not feeling well."

Luna watched Celestia head into the castle, then followed the guards as they led her away.

She knew, with absolute certainty, that something was terribly wrong with her sister. In the many centuries she had known her, she had never behaved like this. Acting with outright cruelty, even to the point where she didn't seem to care if those close to her lived or died.

She would have to speak with her when she could get the chance. Though she had never seen it in Celestia before, Luna recognised this behaviour.

For the Moon princess had acted in much the same way, once. It had been almost a thousand years ago.

She had acted this way in the days before she succumbed to the darkness and became Nightmare Moon.