Chapters The Third Student of Celestia
Chapter 1: new morning
It was a peaceful morning in Canterlot just like every other. Birds flew by chirping, stray cats roamed looking for food, as the ones indoors only wished that they could be outside. The light shined through the crack in the curtains of one boys room.
His name was Steel Heart. He went to canterlot high just like everyone else in town but he never was one for falling into one of the usual genera’s of students. He was a loner who was really a nice guy but unfortunately no one could get past his enthusiastic, random and rather eccentric exterior.
As he got up today he yawned and sighed as he put on his half rim glasses which he only ever cleaned once in a while so they had various smears and fingerprints on the lenses. Steelheart walked over to his dresser and removed his pajamas. He pulled out his red t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants along with some boxers and got dressed.
As he finished brushing his teeth and combing his hair he walked to his desk and grabbed his messenger bag which he placed his books, phone, ipod touch, 3ds, game case, and laptop in. He stepped out of his room and his younger brother Cypher rushed out of his own room and hugged Steelheart.
“Morning Steely”. The nickname his six year old brother gave him. Cypher was wearing blue sweat pants and a yellow long sleeve shirt since the mornings were getting colder as fall neared.Steelheart patted him on the head with a smile
“Hey Code” he replied with the nickname he had given cypher as his brother let go of him and they headed downstairs.
Their mother was cleaning the family trophy case which held Steelheart’s fencing, and MMA medals. Not to mention the various 3d puzzles cypher loved to make that would keep anyone busy for hours. Steelheart went to the fridge and grabbed some leftover Chinese food and a fork and began to eat. His brother grabbed his tricks and poured himself a bowl.
“You know that’ll give you cavities” Steelheart said.
“Yeah well if you eat that you’ll get fat” Cypher retorted.
They chuckled and Steelheart checked his phone and saw the time.
“Well I gotta get going” he said ruffling his little brother’s hair as he walked out of his house and plugged in his headphones and listened to his dub step playlist as he walked to school. He was met with the usual stares and chuckles he received each day as he hung his head low and walked to his once again vandalized locker with various notes stuck to it saying things like “Freak” “Weirdo” and “Psycho”. “Oh boy how original” Steelheart said as he swept the notes away and punched in his combination and grabbed the water bottle he had inside and gulped it down. He always did get thirsty whenever he got to school for some reason so he started to keep drinks in his locker. He crushed the bottle when he finished and then threw it into the nearby trash can and headed off to class.
The Third Student of Celestia
After Classes were over Steelheart walked over to the gym with a smile. Today the fencing club was getting the gym for practice instead of the school basement. As he walked in he greeted the other members of the team and soon they were all fitted in their gear. The captain, or as some call her the current freshman legend Rainbow Dash paired Steelheart with the vice captain Honeyrose. Honeyrose and Rainbow Dash were the top fencers in the school and had high hopes that they would take the gold at Nationals this year. “Ok guys right now run basic thrust and counter drills alright” Rainbow Dash said and they all fitted their helmets on and took positions on the spread out mats.
Steel heart and honey rose shook hands respectfully and went to the opposite sides of the mat they were on. They held up their foils and began. Steel heart made the first move and lunged forward and was parried by honey rose as she waited for his blade to pass her's before moving it three inches or so to the left causing his blade to miss her and she then straightened her blade and lunged at him scoring on his chest. She simply smiled at him.
“You’ve been getting better with your accuracy but you can’t make your attacks so obvious.”
“Yes ma'am" he said respectfully. Practice went like this and at the end steel heart was chugging yet another bottle of water as he made his way home. On the way he passed the canterlot high stallion statue. He sighed and looked at one of the four mirrors on the base of the statue and then began to clean his glasses before he took a look at himself. “Why is it that the only time people actually talk to me is during fencing?” he said putting his glasses back on and gulping down more water.
“Because that is the only time you can get your energy out” Steelheart jumped as he spat out the sip of water he was taking and gasped as he saw it was honey rose standing a few feet from him
“Oh uh hey honey rose how ya doing”
“I’m doing ok just wondering why you where here staring at the statue”
" Oh I’m just uh you know……..admiring the detail.” He said rubbing the back of his head.
Honey rose giggled “You really are weird you know.”
“Tell me something I don’t know” they both chuckled and then honey rose sighed
“Well I gotta get going my family is gonna worry if I’m not back soon”
“Ok well see you later…..i guess” he said as she walked off. It wasn’t until he started to walk home that hefelt warmth on his cheeks and realized he had been blushing the whole time. You couldn’t blame him though. He had been a social outcast since freshman year and had hardly struck up a conversation with anyone let alone the vice captain of the fencing team. Unfortunately for him she already had a boyfriend. As far as Steelheart could tell, he wasn’t the stereotypical jarhead jock who only goes out with a girl for her body but a genuinely nice guy who cares about honey rose. That knowledge was rather disappointing to steel heart but he figured he shouldn’t be mad that the girl he had a slight crush on is with a guy who treats her right. In his moments of thought he was distracted and ran into a lamp post before falling to the ground. He hit the ground with a thud and just lay on the sidewalk for awhile t take in what just happened “Glad no one saw that” he said to himself standing up with a slight wobble he shrugged off his previous thoughts and continued to make his way home.
The Third Student of Celestia
Steelheart woke up the next day and went through his normal routine before heading out to school. This time he took his bike to get to school sooner since he hates walking through the cold.
When Steelheart finally arrived he hooked his bike up to the bike rack and walked into school. he walked into school and was met with the usual exiled expressions from his fellow students. He grabbed his textbooks and went through his usual day but today at lunch some wise guy who was deemed in steel heart’s mind as the local bully decided to show the others in the school that he was top dog by holding out his leg and tripping Steelheart. As Steelheart hit the floor which caused his food to spill all over the place he sighed and stood up staring at the boy. The males name was somber and he had jet black hair which he highlighted with radiant red strips. “Oop sorry freak” he chuckled along with his posse.
Steelheart lives by a certain code of conduct. He will let any insults or threats go without a reaction as he feels no need to stoop down to another bully’s level. However he knows that if he lets a physical confrontation slide that the one who initiated it will see him as weak and pick on him in the future. So as a result Steelheart would have to show he isn't someone to mess with. He looked at sombra who was roughly two inches or so taller than him and had much more muscle then him but he wasn’t worried about that since he had fought several opponents bigger than sombre in his MMA competitions.
“Oh so I guess you find that funny huh?” he states wiping some food from his shirt.
“Actually yes I do”
“Yeah well I would suggest you apologies”
“Oh yeah and what happens if I don’t wanna?” he says standing up
“Now you look like a smart enough guy to realize that if we get into a fight it won’t end well for either of us” Steelheart says removing his glasses and placing them in the leg pocket of his cargo pants
“Is that right…” he says looking around before throwing a punch at the skinnier males stomach. Steel heart quickly steps to his own right and follows the punch with a kick directly to sombra’s left knee cap and it connects perfectly. The kick was nearly enough to break the knee but sombra’s leg buckled and he fell to his knee’s which is what Steelheart was going for as he grabbed sombra's head which was now at stomach level and drives a knee into his nose with a very audible crack as it easily broke along with knocking sombra out as he flops onto the floor, his nose dripping blood at a large rate. Steelheart places his glasses back onto his face and looks at Sombra’s posse as they look at him.
“Apology accepted” Steelheart says as he grabs his lunch tray and walks off. He takes several deep breaths and tries to relax as the rush from the adrenalin in his body slowly dies down.
Later that day after talking with the principles and reviewing the camera footage from the lunch room, it was determined that steel heart was fighting under self protection and was not the instigator of the fight so he was only given two Saturday detentions as a result which he accepted without argument.
After fencing club let out, Steelheart listened to his music as he walked towards his bike. However before he could reach it he was grabbed by two boys from sombra’s posse and dragged him over to the statue in the center lawn. Sombra chuckled with a bandage over his nose. “Not so tough now huh?” sombra said walking over to Steelheart and throwing a punch into his solar plexus. The punch knocked the wind out of Steelheart's lungs and he gasped for air as he received a hook punch to his left cheek followed by another to the right side of his mandible causing him to black out for a few seconds.his glasses danggled by one ear before falling to the ground. He was jarred from his daze by somber grabbing him by his hair and pulling it so his face was directly in line with a third fist hitting him directly in the nose. Blood dripped rapidly to the ground staining the concrete as somber spoke
“I’ll take that apology now you little freak.”
“F*** you. You’re to much of a coward to even fight me one on one” steel heart retorted only to receive several more body and face shots over the course of five minutes.
when sombra finally let up, Steelheart was a bloody, coughing, and broken mess. He had three broken ribs, his face was bruised, cut and swollen from the punches, his mandible had been dislocated, he lost four teeth, and he was in so much pain that he could barely stand.
“So Steelheart still wanna go one on one?” snapping his fingers the two guys holding Steelheart let go and he crumpled to the ground panting heavily.
“Come on get up already I’ll count to ten. One, Two, Three”
Steel heart slowly managed to push his chest off of the ground and slowly moved his knees under him. He picked up his glasses and with shaky hands he placed them back on his face.
“Four, Five, Six”
At this point he had his one foot planted on the ground and then began to wobbly stand up.
“Seven, Eight, Nine”
He was now standing on his two feet and had his hands held up in a defensive stance.
“Ten”
Sombra charged as if going for a punch which steel heart readied to block but was faked out as a steel toed boot slammed into his stomach knocking him back into the statue’s base. However instead of impacting against it, there was a glow and a bright light as Steelheart seemed to fall back into the statue before he was sucked in and disappeared into the statue.
The Third Student of Celestia
Princess luna was on the balcony of her bed chambers as she rose the moon to start the evening. As she finished their was a knock on her door
“Yes, who is it?” the door opens and Celestia walks into the room.
“Hello Luna I just came to tell you that the mirror is being placed in the throne room if you’d care to see it.” Without saying anything else she turned and walked out of the room as Luna followed her. After a short walk they ended up in the throne room where they turned their attention to the new mirror that had been put into place on the left side of the room.
“I wonder what star swirl had to go through to establish a link to another world”
“One can only imagine his level of discipline to do this Luna. Though I do wonder what the inhabitants of this other world are like.”
“I do hope they are not hostile to us. I would very much so like to avoid any unnecessary….”
She was cut off as the mirror began to glow with a strange light as the glass seemed to almost morph and alter its shape before it began to push outward. As it did it eventually began to reveal a strange red bulge that pushed out further from the mirror and it slowly began to show shoulders and the back of a neck. It was obvious that it wasn’t something coming through but somepony. Both princesses were in shock and the royal guards were the first to react and point their spears at the intruder. The rest of the intruder fell out of the portal and onto the floor in front of them, they saw it was a teenage male unicorn with a red coat and silvery grey main and tail. he also had a strange set of goggles around his neck, a pair of unorthodox glasses, and what appeared to be a saddle bag strung over his left shoulder and under his right front hoof. They quickly noticed the young unicorn twitching and his muzzle broken as it bled onto the floor. The boy coughed and wheezed with his eyes shut before passing out on the floor. Once the princess’s realized that the young unicorn wasn’t a threat they immediately called for the doctor to take him into the infirmary where they would wait until he awoke before they began to ask him questions. Celestia stood in the throne room with luna as the blood was cleaned up.
“what do you think sister is there really another universe of ponies?”
“I’m not sure but we will definitely need to have a very long discussion with the child once he wakes but for now let us just let things be”
the two sisters said nothing else and stayed in the throne room as they went through their normal duties until the doctor came into the room to give them the news. “pardon me your highnesses. It is about the unicorn you brought in.”
“how is his condition” they both said in unison and gave a light smile to one another at saying the same thing in unison before returning their attention to the doctor. “ oh yes of course, he’ll be fine but I must say that when we examined his x-rays the breaks we saw were rather unusual to say the least.”
“what do mean by unusual” asked Luna
“come I’ll show you” the doctor said as he led them to a room filled with x-rays and brought them over to a row of slides that were filled with the mysterious unicorns x-rays “well the breaks that stood out the most were the ones to his rib cage. You see most of the breaks were towards his sternum and not to the side of his body like you would normally see in a fight. It is almost like he was on his back or possibly back legs as he was beaten. Now moving to his head the breaks are generally focused to the sides of his muzzle which is again strange cause the formation of the breaks indicates somepony was swinging their front hooves to impact him. Plus the way the bones have broken doesn’t suggest the hard surface of a hoof was what broke it but something with a softer exterior like glove or something similar."
Luna, having missed out on centuries of medical advancements raises an eyebrow “and you are certain of this?” she asks.
The doctor simply chuckled “with all do respect your highness I have been observing x-ray films nearly all my life so yes I am certain. Now moving on, the weirdest thing is that his horn is completely untouched by anything.”
Celestia looked at Luna and spoke “so wait all this damage to him is obviously out of rage and yet the assailant leaves a unicorns most vulnerable part of their body untouched?”
“that is correct your highness”
Luna then stepped forward “perhaps his assailant had more plans for him but he managed to get away.”
“yes that is one of our current theory’s. but in any event he should be up in no more than a few hours”
Both sisters thanked the doctor for his services and decided to wait for the new guest to wake up.
The Third Student of Celestia
Another peaceful morning in Canterlot as the royal palace was the first to be hit by the rays of the rising sun as Celestia used her magic to bring it into its morning position. On the balcony of the tallest tower she stood with a look of relaxed focus showing her thousands of years of experience. As the suns accent slowed and halted Celestia turned to make her way back into her chambers, passing by her sister Luna. The younger alicorn held a look of admiration as she followed only a few steps behind her elder sister. Once they left their chambers they were immediately surrounded by their attendants. Some holding new tax protocols and others with official forms from Mayors of the many towns and cities located in Equestria.
Luna took half the work brought to them so they could finish up more quickly. Celestia turned to Luna “You don’t have to do that younger sister, I can handle the workload myself”
“Please sister, though I am younger than you I am still royalty and as such I must bare the responsibilities that you bare. After all I need something to do when I’m not watching over the night.” Luna replied as the papers she took were held in place by a night blue glow that is a result of her magic.
The papers were flipped through and after signing a few she came across a notice of an ongoing excavation of Starswirl the Bearded’s many secret workshops which he had used over his many years of study to hold items he discovered or constructed until he had a complete understanding of how to control them and find out what their full potential could be. Apparently this particular workshop held the byproduct of his multiple worlds theory. He had made a mirror that was supposedly linked to another world.
Luna read the notice and brought it to celestia's attention. “Sister I do believe we should have the item brought here for further study and safe keeping.”
“It could definitely be useful as an enhancement for cultural and equinepological studies. I agree Luna, we should have it brought to us at once.” The two sisters nodded and passed the paper to an attendant with specific instructions and then went through their scheduled day. Fortunately, being royalty generally means things work much more quickly for them and with a work force of fifty Pegasus the mirror arrived no later than sun down that very day and was set in the throne room for the time being until the research team arrived later the next morning.