Background Pony #D767
Deletion reason: Rule #4 - use your filters, stop creating drama on Discord images
“The Legion dies with Caesar. What follows is the last steps of a man who does not yet realize, that he is walking dead…”-Joshua Graham, Fallout: New Vegas
“But that doesn’t mean everything that wasn’t there before Nightmare Moon isn’t still going through her head.” There was a slight pause as Twilight let out a tiny laugh. “Heh, if anything, it’s even worse!”The last bit that Twilight doled out made Celestia’s cry that such a thing wasn’t true die on her lips. The fear snuffed it out. “What’s that supposed to mean?” the goddess asked with a frown.Twilight actually rolled her eyes and looked up at Celestia like she was a student who wasn’t paying attention in class. “You have a holiday celebrating your victory over Nightmare Moon, and another one that has foals offering up a candy tribute so that she doesn’t come down and kill them!” the little unicorn exclaimed. “The ponies of Equestria don’t just feel apathetic towards Luna anymore, they outright fear and hate her! And they’ve done so for generations! Everypony was sent to bed without supper at least once while being told that one day Nightmare Moon would come for them if they didn’t do their homework. Do you think that’s just going to disappear because of your say so? Because Luna looks different?”The lavender unicorn let out a mirthless laugh. “You stupid old nag. During her absence, you have taken what drove Luna to become Nightmare Moon in the first place and made it a thousand times worse! Nopony is ever going to appreciate her, nopony’s ever going to love her-”A tiny spark of anger lit in Celestia’s heart at Twilight’s words and she stepped forward and brought her hoof down hard enough to crack the stone beneath them. “I LOVE HER!” the alicorn shouted back at the unicorn.It was anger that Twilight returned in earnest. “AND IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT YOU, ISN’T IT!?” she screeched. “Always about what you want, always about you, you, YOU! Nopony else matters but CELESTIA! Who cares if everypony hates Luna? As long as Celestia likes her, it’s all fine! Who cares if she’s always alone, as long as Celestia is happy? What does it matter if she’s miserable as long as CELESTIA GETS WHAT SHE WANTS?”-Take Two, Chapter 8 by LordBrony2040, Published in 2014
“But did you ever ask if that was what I wanted?”The throne room fell silent. Twilight repeated herself. “Well? Did you? Even once? Did you ever ask me if I wanted to become a princess or an alicorn?”The silence was telling. “No. You didn’t,” Twilight answered for her. “You sprang it on me. Just like you sprang my… ascendance on me. It was nothing I ever wanted. Nothing I ever even IMAGINED wanting. To be a Princess? To wield power over others? To be lifted above and away from my family and friends? I never wanted any of this, no sane pony ever would.”“And you object to being ascended?”“Do I look stupid?” Twilight looked Celestia in the eye. “What I resent is… not being forewarned. Not being made a part of the decision. And I KNOW that there were like, a billion variables that you couldn’t account for,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I know that ascension is a crapshoot. Heck, I know that the other Bearers stand a good chance of ascending just by being on the periphery of the fallout— and don’t you think that I didn’t let them know it once I figured it out!’ she dropped her eyes unhappily. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I feel left out of the decision.”“Then why did you follow so eagerly in my hoofsteps, my faithful student?” Celestia asked. “Why did you become my pupil at all?”“Because I wanted to study from you! I wanted to learn from you! I wanted to study magic under the most powerful being in Equestria– to learn things no other pony knew! I did it because I loved learning, I loved magic! Not because I wanted a throne!”“Is this not what you wanted?”“I was already DOING what I wanted!” Twilight Sparkle shouted, stamping her hoof angrily. “I was a scholar, I lived in a home filled with books, in a town that welcomed me that was filled with friends who were dear to me! Maybe it wasn’t as glamorous as being a princess in Canterlot, but I could have lived my entire life happily as a librarian in Ponyville!”“Look at yourself, Twilight,” Celestia said. “You are an alicorn now. You should be happy with this, should you not?”“Of course I should. Every little filly wants to be a princess, right?” Twilight snorted disdainfully, brow furrowed, refusing to turn around. “That’s what everypony tells everypony else, without ever asking the little filly.”-Alicornundrum, Chapter 26 By Ralph “Reality Check” Hayes Jr. Published in 2013