Corruption

The Gala

Princess Celestia stared at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. She adjusted her dress that had the colors of her mane with yellow and white. A large sun was connecting it all at the base of her chest with a long train dress. She used her magic to adjust her mane which was styled into a fancy bun. Which had taken hours to make because the stylists usually don't work with manes that move by themselves.

She sighed as Arone walked in with a scroll and wearing a black bow tie to match his glasses for the Gala. He used his quill to check off the last of the Gala preparations before the big night.

"The last of the decorations are up. Princess Luna is currently introducing herself to some of the first guests and Bini Filters had locked down the Library to make sure no pony walks in and takes any books for security reasons. The guards are all in place." Arone reported.

"Thank you, Arone. You may take the rest of the night off now." Celestia granted. Arone looked back at her in surprise. "Enjoy the Gala with your friend."

"Friend?"

"Bini Filters of course. You have been spending your free time with her." Celestia explained as she did the final preparations for her outfit before turning to Arone. "Am I wrong?"

"Well, we are more of acquaintances. We are currently solving a mystery." Arone quickly replied. Celestia raised an eyebrow towards him.

"Mystery? About what?"

"As Bini would say, classified," Arone replied with a chuckle. Celestia chuckled and they started trotting towards the door. Celestia stopping at the sound of the rough male voice in her head. Inviting her back to her darkroom as they entered the bright corridor.

"You go on ahead, Arone. Go find Bini. I forgot something in my room." Celestia insisted with a small smile. Arone nodded and walked down the corridor. Occasionally nodding a greeting to the guards as he passed them. Celestia's smile fell as she reentered her room and headed to the mirror.

In her reflection, she saw a second pony. One that was identical to her except she wasn't wearing a dress. Her mane was in its usual form, her usual royal jewelry was on, and her eyes were red and green with purple streaks coming from them. The...Imposter behind her gave her a toothy smile with a laugh that sounded like the voice. This was another sick game it was playing.

"What do you think this...image will accomplish?" Celestia asked with venom in her voice. The figure chuckled.

"This is who you were meant to be. I assumed that by you seeing your true form, it would encourage you to take the final leap."

"We have had this conversation many times. So, I will ask again. This time I expect a real answer. How does me using evil magic lead to my truest form? According to you." Celestia asked.

"You already know the real answer. I have never lied to you. You want to be free from responsibility, from duty, from having everypony look down on you for your actions. You know that they talk about you behind your back. They are too scared to actually say it to your face of course. You want them to fear you. To fear you so much that they wouldn't dare talk about you in secret."

"I do not!" Celestia snapped in rage. Taking a moment to look around the room to make sure no pony heard her before looking back to the imposter in the mirror. Still standing behind her in the mirror. "As you have already informed me. They already do fear me. I don't want them to."

"Oh, your mortals are kicking in. Wonderful." The imposter let out in the usual male voice with sarcasm and rolled their eyes. "Now you are lying to yourself. Well...Me. In reality, you are the bad pony now."

"Don't you dare-"

"What are you going to do? Hurt me?" The figure pouted. "Good luck with that."