***
Chapter 9, “The Silver Roses”. This fragment was written as part of work on Chapter 9 in August-September 2019. The dining room, to Luna’s surprise, was in semi-darkness, barely dispersed by a magical lamp that gave a dim, silvery light. And on the table, among the various dishes, there was a vase… With blooming silver roses! Luna could not believe her eyes. Luna turned to her sister with a shocked look. She smiled back, pleased with the effect. “How?” Luna exhaled in an almost whisper. “They bloom only under the Moon’s light… And I thought that you destroyed them, when… well…” “I was about to. One night I couldn’t sleep and was already walking in the garden when I stumbled upon them. The decision was quick and unambiguous. A fire spell was ready to go off my horn when…” Tia sighed moodily. “I looked at these beautiful flowers, bobbing their heads in the gentle gusts of wind, inhaling their delicate fragrance… They lived, they gave me their beauty and their wonderful smell, and I stood over them and was about to destroy them… After standing like that for a few moments, I just turned around and walked away, angry at my indecision and an incomprehensible feeling of disgust towards myself.” *** Chapter 16, “Burn It All Down” This fragment was written more like a joke for my own self during work on the 16th chapter :) The beginning of November 2019. That’s it, damned cowards, you made me go wild! “Twilight.” I addressed to my companion phlegmatically. “Are you familiar with fighting magic? Can you cast a lightning or something?” “Fighting magic?! N-no…” The unicorn looked at me cautiously. “I can do a firefly and that’s it… Why do you need this, Nightmare?” “A firefly you say.” I grinned evilly at the panicking and cornered doctor. “Hey, can you do me a favor: burn this nothingness’ coat, please.” The mare stared at me in total shock and stepped back, just in case. “Gonna write this in obituary: “Burned on the job.” I delivered the final blow, approaching the alarmist with a gloomy grin. “Unless he finally picks himself up and starts treating me!!!!” I yelled, hovering over the panicking stallion.***
Chapter 29, “Ponysutra” If you look at the chapter 29 you’ll find the moment of the MH’s inspection of Rarity’s bookcase, from which this fragment grew :) It turned out very good, in my opinion, but it did not fit into the mood of the chapter at all. Approximately June 2020. So. What do we have here? I shook my head and turned to the bookshelf. I looked at a book, inconspicuously placed in the corner of the top shelf, which was, for some reason, facing inwards with its backbone. I couldn’t get a hold of it with my hoof, so I applied energy to the horn, pulling the obviously hidden piece of writing into the light with my telekinesis. “Dance of Lust,” the simple white cover with a heart on it read. Well… Oh. A randomly opened page contained a colorful and detailed illustration with numerical symbols. “…to give the stallion maximum pleasure, you can stimulate zone 4…” I hurriedly turned the next few pages. I don’t think the info from that illustration would be useful for the next year… There was an illustration of a stallion and a mare on the opened page. I ran across it with my gaze, hummed, turned the page again. Rustle. Wow. I didn’t think ponies can bend in such ways… Rustle. Well, this is almost classic now… Rustle. Mare with a mare? Hm… Rustle. Heck with it, it’s uncomfortable… Rustle. Rustle. Rustle. “Nightmare! I almost… O-oh…” In fact, there was another idea, which did not take shape in the text, but which amused me a lot, on the topic of how this fragment could have been developed. Instead of Rar, the CMC would break in and, having spotted the book the MH was reading… start to discuss it :) Like giving advice, to check a certain page — like, look, what a mess… Why do they do this to her?.. In a nutshell, they gave the outsider the understanding — in every way possible — that they’ve researched this sexual education handbook at least once because of their insatiable curiosity :) And after all that the fuming Rarity would come in :))***
4. A canceled chapter, between 27 and 31, “A Lifeless Gaze”. Rather curious moment with Tia’s thoughts on Nightmare Moon. I can’t remember the reason for giving it up anymore: ((Approximately May 2020. “Greetings, sister.” Luna entered the Princess of the Sun’s study. “Greetings, Lu.” She delayed her answer. Deep in thought, she was drilling a document before her with her eyes. “Is it a bad time?” The Princess of the Night became confused a bit. It would seem that Celestia’s vacation ended only yesterday, and already today Luna was dining alone… Well, not alone, of course, but with Cadence, but… without Tia. As the servants said, she had asked for lunch at her place of work — that was where Luna had come. She wanted at least to say hello to her sister, to make sure everything was all right… “Yeah… Yeah, no, come in. Happy to see you.” Celestia raised her gaze and put the documents aside, giving a smile. “If I have interrupted thou, I’d hurry to leave…” Luna heard the hesitation in her sister’s voice and made a step to get out. In the end, Tia has been around her for the entire week. Interrupting her just to say “hello”… “Behaving like a little filly!” The junior sister bit her lip. “Stay, please.” The white alicorn stood up from the table. “I’ll always find time for you. And, on top of that, I need a break either way. I look at the text, but the thoughts just seem to wander someplace else… I’m afraid I don’t know what to do.” Tia rubbed her forehead tiredly. “What’s the matter, sister?” Luna perked up. “I’m doubtful I can help you much, but…” “You know, the matter is Nightmare and I wouldn’t like to…” The senior Princess hesitated. “What happened?” Luna repeated and came closer. “You’ve met yesterday, haven’t you?” “We have.” Tia gave up. “Everything went well, my concerns haven’t confirmed, but… I’m afraid for you, Lu.” “Afraid?” “Yes. And I don’t know what to do. She’s a threat to you! I must not let her harm you! But… How? Because at the same time, she’s a poor, misguided mare that deserves something good… And with all that said, she hates you and she does not hesitate to use force. I have to do something, but I don’t understand what.” Celestia drooped tiredly. Luna did not know what to do either. She spoke to Cadence over lunch, but she hadn’t the time to talk with the Mare in the Moon enough to say anything definite. She only marked that Nightmare clearly avoids conversations about the past. “Maybe I was wrong?” The quiet sister’s voice pulled the Princess of the Night out of her thoughts. “Sorry, what?” Luna raised her gaze from the floor. “Saved Nightmare’s life.” Tia explained with a colorless voice. “For her to… But I couldn’t, shouldn’t have done otherwise! But now I’m so afraid to lose you!..” The snowy alicorn, sighed heavily and turned to the window. “She… What is she, Ti?” Sister came to Celestia. “Why are you so sure that…” She hesitated. A silly question. “She… Every word that I can say about her hurts your heart, Lu. I don’t want to make you hurt.” The Princess of the Sun drooped and closed her eyes tiredly. “So be it. It’s earned by my misdǣd.” The blue alicorn shut her jaws, trying to seem defiant, but a hint of the old style of speaking gave her away completely. “Luna…” Celestia shook her head disapprovingly and went silent in uncertainty. Luna herself was tensely silent as well. “Fine.” Tia gave up after a few seconds. “If it’s so important to you — I don’t have the right to not tell you. But, in any case, I don’t know much about her.” The junior sister stopped again, gathering her thoughts. “She… You know, it’s hard to look into her eyes, especially if she’s deep in thought. Her gaze is scary: empty, lifeless. She didn’t say anything like that, but at times like this I think that if I told her that she was going to get executed tomorrow morning, she’d be happy and ask me to bring it forward to save time… You know, when we first met, I was a little surprised by the way she was talking to me. Later, Twilight mentioned in her letter that Nightmare liked to be feared… I wondered — why? And then I realized: she just doesn’t care about her own life, she has almost nothing in the world to hold on to. At times, she shows uncertainty and nervousness in communication with me, but quickly regains her composure. And why should she be afraid when she has nothing to lose but her life, which, in her eyes, has no value? Maybe that’s why she hates you so fanatically and clings to this feeling, because it brings some meaning to her existence…” With a sigh, Celestia poured some water from the carafe into a glass and drained it slowly, trying not to look in the direction of the stiffened Luna, who was staring at the floor. “On the other side, she is not completely desperate: she can joke, laugh, show a kind of touching spontaneity… But the moment she goes into herself, it disappears: leaving only the lifeless look… I try to help her somehow, but, I am afraid, my efforts do not bear the desired results: Nightmare just doesn’t trust me enough. However, according to her words, she does not trust anyone at all, and I do not know any other way to show her the joy of life other than through friendship. And friendship is impossible without trust… That’s it: I cannot soften her heart, or she will be a threat to you. I have to protect you, but even if Nightmare would tell me “Thank you” for her death — what will I become then? What should I do?” Tia drooped and whispered quietly. “I have to fix everything!..” Luna said quietly with a cracking voice, swiftly dashing the coming tears away. “What, sorry?..” Celestia perked up. “I have to fix everything!” The Princess of the Night cut it off, standing tall and looking right at her sister. “I don’t know how, but I have to! I did all of this to her — I’m the one who should pay the price!***
5. A canceled chapter, between 35 and 38, “Flaw of Weakness”. This fragment was written before my decision to not show Tia’s perspective in the 4th and 5th parts (Translator’s note — chapters from “A Look Behind” to the end). The end of April 2021. “Good morning, auntie!” Celestia shivered when the cheerful voice of the niece got her out of her thoughts. “Is everything alright?” She asked a bit worriedly, taking a seat across the table. “Yeah, of course… I was just thinking. Good morning, Cadence.” Tia answered, professionally hiding behind a smile her vile mood. She had the desire to fall down and sleep right on the table. The nightmare was exhausting, almost impossible to sleep a wink this night. Nightmare Moon, towering over Luna’s lifeless body with a bloody glaive and a triumphant grin, claiming that she would make a better sister than this, was still before her eyes. She, Celestia, did not protect her sister. She couldn’t do anything at all when it was necessary!.. She did not even understand what was going on until it was too late! Left Luna alone in the middle of an unfamiliar world, believing that to meet once a day and ask “how are you?” would be enough! She shouldn’t have!.. “Celestia, are you okay?” The Princess of the Sun flinched again at the sudden sound of Cadence’s voice, which was already much more alarmed. She lifted her eyes from the plate she’d been aimlessly picking at — she hadn’t even noticed when it arrived… — Tia met her niece’s gaze, filled with worry and a hint of reproach. “Yeah, pretty much…” Junior Princess’ eyes started to radiate even more reproach. “I just can’t throw what happened out of my head.” “Yes… Poor Luna and Nightmare!” Cadence sighed. “Nightmare?..” Celestia unwillingly raised an eyebrow, feeling strange annoyance. Over the past couple of days, the black mare’s mere existence has begun to make Tia feel this way… How to treat her? What to do with her? She wanted to bestow all her anger upon her, but the pity for this deeply unhappy pony, who draws things that would make your fur stand, for pleasure, was stronger time after time. And was it all really her fault?.. Yes, she’d hurt Luna, but left her alive, and that was, without any doubt, a titanic struggle. Left her alive for her, for Celestia. And still Nightmare dared to threaten her sister’s life… “Yes.” Cadence answered meanwhile. “Maybe we haven’t spoken to her very much, but… I do feel how her heart bleeds. And, if I’m allowed, auntie, I’d like to try to help her.” “Like with Luna?” She barely managed to swallow the toxic mockery in her own voice, and immediately chided herself for the irritation that was still there and didn’t want to go away. “I tried to be near Luna.” The pink alicorn drooped. She had felt something and taken it to heart, and it caused a painful shot of conscience. “But alas… Another pony was needed to be around her.” “Sorry, Cadence. I…” Celestia lowered her head. Niece’s evil barb hurt her. And good that it did!.. “What are you talking about, auntie?” Junior Princess sincerely didn’t understand. “I just hoped, that if I couldn’t help Luna, then maybe I could help Nightmare Moon? To become her friend, the one I tried to be with Luna — who, as it turned out, needed a sister, not a friend?..” Celestia closed her eyes for a few seconds. What is going on with her, damn it?.. She loses her temper, imagines things and all… “I’m afraid I don’t need your help here for the time being.” Tia shook her head, having restored her composure. “I can’t afford to give my sister so inexcusably little time now… So, Cadence, please, take at least some duties from me! Let me be with my sister!..” “Fine, auntie.” The Princess of Love sighed. “And what about Nightmare?..” “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.” Celestia smiled. Except she wasn’t sure about it herself. Nor was she sure if she should do anything at all…***
6. A canceled chapter before 37, “Men Were Eating Meat”. The idea is funny, no doubt about it. :) But I quickly discovered, that there’s nothing to write a whole chapter about — the essence can be put into two paragraphs. So, I did just that and left this for memories) The end of April 2021. Once upon a time At his modest home A stableman was serving meat to his dear guests I tried to sing one catchy song about meat under my breath, cringed. It rhymed horribly in Equestrian. And also, this “meat” with the meaning of “food” is clearly borrowed from some other language, hence sounds somewhat foreign… A-a, damn it… The initial spirits and jocularity about Gilda’s request were gone, but the question of “where to get meat in the land of herbivorous ponies” remained and, logically, was quite non-trivial. Go to Fluttershy, who already almost faints from my presence? Now she does for sure, yeah… Not an option, I see. Applejack, who has pigs? Doubtful. Even if she doesn’t tell me to go… myself right off the bat, I’m sure she won’t sell me a piggy. And do I even have the money to buy one is a question in itself… Perhaps I could try hunting? Well, first of all, I can be hunted myself. Second of all, I can hardly imagine the process of skinning and cutting the future food… By the way, this is a problem: no one here will sell me a ready-made loin. Damn. Tho-ough… I can pretend I’m a newbie, right? I could bring a boisterously screaming pig to this cat-bird and be like “now you”. I’m a simple herbivorous horse, how should I know what to do next? And if the cat-bird doesn’t know how to do it herself, there would be a good reason to die from laughter… I chuckled. But it would be better if she does: I will have many things to laugh at I think, can’t say the same for tasting meat. But in any case, for starters I’d better find someone feasible to be the meat… Getting back to the ideas — hunting seems more realistic than going to someone to sell me livestock for slaughter. But the problem with hunting is that I don’t even know which of the local woodland inhabitants are eatable — at the same time, I’m quite sure about chickens, geese and pigs… Hm… Hm!.. I stopped, feeling my lips part in a slightly malicious smile. I know there’s one plump town horse around, Name’s Twilight……
”…At all? Or here, “News from the fields”, quite a good monthly!” The first thing I heard upon entering is Twi trying to convince someone. “Wha don’t I know there, sugarcube? Our apples are the best even without yer these mags! And 'cos they’re grown with ‘onest hoof work, not some flapdoodle!..” Applejack was fighting with indignation. “But the achievements of science!..” “Ballyhoo and all, Twily! No iron thingy is going to be more better than the Apples when it comes to growing crops, I ‘sure ya!.. O, Nightmare?..” A disgruntled farmer turned around and spotted me with a slightly unpleasant surprise. “Nightmare Moon.” Twilight reacted to her friend’s words, turning around and formally stated my presence as well, carefully hiding her dread. “I’m happy to see you as well.” I chuckled, causing some grumpy looks on the friends’ faces. “Hi to everyone. Has Celestia written something to me, Twi? Or about me?” “Just warned about your arrival.” The unicorn shook her head. “And also mentioned that she’s waiting for you to apologize to Gilda, which you have almost hurt!” She said fervently. But after meeting my gaze, she hastily folded her ears against her head and tried to be as small as possible. Thanks for being the first one to shed light on that topic, by the way. “I’ve just come back from her. I wanted to apologize myself, really…” I moved my wing under surprised ponies’ gazes. “Why so?” AJ cocked her brow distrustfully. “Don’t think that, it’s alright and stuff, I just can’t understand ya sometimes, really.” “What is there to understand? She was up to bully Fluttershy in a very wrong time. If I hadn’t been stopped — I’d have skinned her right at the spot. And killing for a scratch isn’t really a good thing to do…” Ponies went pale and took a few steps backwards simultaneously. “…And this is why I’ve come today. To apologize for getting crazy.” I moved my wing peevishly. “If you hadn’t decided to let it rip, you wouldn’t have had to apologize.” Applejack mumbled under her breath. “What can a pony do if this is often understood better than words?” I sighed with a feigned pity. “But the desire to pick on Fluttershy — and ponies at all — of our claws-and-feathers friend has drastically lowered. “So you think you had done the right thing?!” Twilight stared at me with an unreadable look on her face. Applejack held herself from yells — just looked at me with disapproval. “I do. Just a bit too rough — and I apologized for that.” “Just?!..” The unicorn choked on air. “You almost killed her!” She and the farmer boiled over in unison. “On the upside, the lesson taught is pretty understandable indeed!” I answered with annoyance. The topic has started to tire. “And by the way, Gilda has recognized my right to do like I did and accepted my regrets! Except…” “Pf-f…” The orange mare cringed at my argumentation. “Except what, m?” “O-o, this is why I had come here.” I smiled in foretaste. “I assume that you know that griffons are predators, right? So… Twilight, you know everything here — wouldn’t you mind telling me whose meat do griffons prefer?”***
7. Fragment from somewhere around 24-31, “Tia And Medicine”. Strange thing, but I can’t remember why and when I had been writing this part at all. I have to go through my archives… This one tells a little about Tia’s skills and knowledge :) “Sister, why haven’t you gotten rid of this scar?” “I’ve left it as a reminder. Yes, you’d say that with our memory reminders are barely needed, but…” Tia thoughtfully casted a sidelong look at the barely visible foreign line at the left shoulder. “At first, of course, I wanted to get rid of it immediately, but medponies of those times couldn’t heal scars from magical weaponry completely, and my own knowledge of healing was very limited. “I saw a magna cum laude diploma of a medical institute in your living room.” “And it’s completely well-deserved.” The snowy alicorn nodded. “I had to fire two rectors in order for them to stop overscoring me! I was a C student on the second semester.” She added awkwardly. “Then fixed that.” “Understood.” Luna giggled. “And why did you start it at all? Because of the scar?” “We-ell…” Celestia became confused for some reason. “You know…” Luna leaned forward in anticipation. “When I found out that I was pregnant — I was in such panic… I can’t describe it.” Tia smiled nervously. “I don’t even know what to do with this! What happens, how, when? What if something happens wrongly? What if something happens with the foal or with me?! I was worried terribly and I kept pestering the doctors non-stop — they almost ran away from me by the end of the second month… At the same time I took up self-education, having promised myself that after that I would study medicine and from now on I would know what was in my body and how it worked. I graduated in two specialties at once: equalogist and surgeon. And I even keep up with the innovations in the fields, so that I won’t be out of the loop.” “By the way… Was it compulsory to herd me to your equalogist? I’m a Princess! And she, me!.. There!.. THERE!..” Luna looked indignantly at her sister, while turning red with embarrassment. “What’s wrong with it?” Tia shrugged with her wings. “You, apart from being a Princess and an alicorn, are a mare.” Besides, if we ever want to solve the problem of natural reproduction of our race, it needs to be researched. Equalogist Cadence wrote a wonderful dissertation on the peculiarities of the alicorn reproductive system, for example. So, this is all important not only for your health, but for our science, sister!”***
8. An ancient fragment, “A Wedding in Canterlot”. Written in times unknown, when the feud with Luna was already forming as an idea, but I was still estimating the length of the fic until like season 3. Written sometime in late 2019 or early 2020, I think. I can’t be more precise. :) “Why were you on the wedding, Nightmare?” Luna asked with defiance. Celestia quietly sighed. It seems that she is already regretting putting these two in one room. “Why I was there is crystal clear: I was invited by Twilight.” I waved away from junior Princess’ complaint. “I think a more interesting question is why weren’t you there?” I looked at the enemy with a squint. “I can’t stand any capital holidays. It’s not an enigma. I’m surprised you still haven’t figured it out.” The Princess of the Night answered caustically. What a beautiful answer, truly… “A cozy reason, really? Allows you to be out of the loop, doesn’t it, Luna?” I gave the blue alicorn a hard look. “What do you mean, Nightmare?” Celestia asked coldly before her sister could speak. “I mean that you shouldn’t turn your back to her.” I answered Tia’s question, still looking at Luna. “See how curious this is: she makes a reputation as a loner who doesn’t like holidays, so that her absence won’t arouse suspicion. Then she hires Chrysalis and her bugs to attack the city just as you, Cadence, and the Elements are here. She knocks all of you out of commission, taking as payment all the love in the city that she can, and leaves. Returning Luna “suddenly discovers” that a nightmare has occurred, blames me for it, and, with her guards, dispatches Cadence, and, after crying in public, becomes the sole ruler of Equestria as the only remaining alicorn.” Silence falls for a few seconds in the hall. “A good plan, Luna.” I continue after taking a pause. “Too bad this dragonfly failed everything, isn’t?” “Nightmare!” Tia’s voice boiled with indignation. “Maybe you’re not on the good terms with my sister, but such accusations are an overkill!” The Princess of the Sun pressed me with a gloomy look, and the dazed Luna stared back and forth between Celestia and me, unable to utter a word. “Accusations? No, just suspicions for now, Princess.” I countered calmly. “Or you would say that my words are baseless? I’ll let myself remind you that your precious sister has already tried to kill you once.” “Like you haven’t, hypocritical monster!” Luna yelled angrily with a suspiciously clinking voice. “Guess what, I haven’t tried to kill my SISTER.” I chuckled in response. “You had created me to help you to seize the power — and I truly helped you to the best of my ability. Not very successfully, it’s true, but I followed my destiny. And I betrayed no one, unlike you!” “Enough, Nightmare!” Celestia took me down a peg. “I’ve heard your opinion. If you don’t have anything else to add — you can go.” “Two there should be. No more, no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it.” I cited thoughtfully into the space. “Be careful, Princess. If one day you don’t wake up.” I nodded at Luna. “Because of her — I’ll take offense and stop talking to you. Farewell, Celestia.” I said goodbyes and went out into the corridor, leaving the sisters alone.