Tyrion couldn’t recall when the panic had started, it was so sudden, unexpected. He was too busy contemplating the events of the night he was freed, his brothers farewell, finding Shae in Tywins bed and his subsequent murder of her, the satisfaction he felt when the arrows from his dead nephews crossbow found their way into his father’s chest, oh how he savoured that feeling, even if it made him a kinslayer in the eyes of the gods.
He had only become aware of the current danger he was in once Varys had called his name and released him from the box that contained him. At first he berated him; after all he was a fugitive, sentenced to death for regicide, and the whole idea of confining himself to that box was so he would be smuggled around unnoticed, he wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous of people, and he was sure that the first sailor that saw him would gladly chain him up and ship him back to Kings Landing as soon as possible, mainly for a reward Tyrion supposed. He doubted he would be able to bargain his way out of that situation if it occurred and was therefore reluctant to remove himself from his wooden sanctuary. But as Tyrion became more aware of his surroundings, the more he realised the gravity of the situation.
The ship was sinking, rocking back and forth as waves crashed into it from the outside. Those left on board could care less about the now revealed half-man, seemingly being more interested in scavenging what they could, praying to their chosen gods, or as Tyrion suspected, throwing themselves overboard in a futile attempt to save themselves. Water started to rise between the cracks in the wood quicker than Tyrion thought possible and within moments he was up to his waist, whist it only reached Varys’ knees. The bald eunuch, wasting no more time, lifted Tyrion out of the box and onto the stairs that led to the deck, who promptly made his way up with Varys close behind him.
The scene on the deck was one of utter chaos. Men were attempting to prep longboats to flee left and right, their panicked shouting overlapping with each other, becoming completely unintelligible when combined with the constant impacts of the waves and the thundering of the rain. Tyrion, after taking in the scene, quickly ran to the nearest boat that was about to drop off, only to be pushed out of the way by another sailor, who proceeded to clash with the other men also attempting to enter the boat. He was fairly sure that amongst the screaming and fighting someone had fallen off and another had been sliced open by a panicked man’s sword, though Tyrion paid attention no longer than necessary, after all he had himself and Varys to worry about.
‘Where the fuck is Varys?’
Once Tyrion had recovered from being pushed aside, he turned around only to find that his companion was gone, he proceeded to desperately search for him, calling his name and whipping his head around, hoping to catch a glimpse of his robes, or maybe even the dim light of the moon reflecting off his head, but Tyrion neither found nor caught a glimpse of the Spider, and was now close to panicking himself over the situation. ‘Were we separated? Was he attacked? Is he looking for me? Is he looking for a boat? Has he left with said boat?’
He was knocked out of his vacant state when he was budged aside by another running sailor, quickly realising that wasting time looking for Varys was more likely to result in him getting killed than if he focused his efforts on getting off of the doomed ship. It was then he made a quick observation, which only discouraged him further, there were more men on the ship than there was space for them in the limited number of longboats available. This wasn’t a war ship, no; this was a shipping vessel, used to transport goods and the occasional wanted criminal, longboats were primarily used getting to and from land, which usually involved multiple trips to accommodate the whole crew.
‘Oh I am fucked’.
Tyrion knew he couldn’t fight off a bundle of panicking men all pushing and shoving their way into the life-vessels, yes he’d killed before, some very recently, but he knew that in a life and death situation, he would need advantages that he just didn’t have here, a weapon, armour, and luck being among them. Right now he was literally on a ship full of men who, as far as they were concerned, would likely die unless someone else did first.
Tyrion realised the long boats were a lost cause, but that didn’t stop him trying anyway, after all he didn’t exactly have a lot of choices. He ran into the legs of the men in front of him, only to be kicked away every time he tried, it never deterred him, only made him more desperate. But as much as he punched and shoved, cursed and yelled he couldn’t break through the wall of soaking men.
A relatively high kick made contact with his cheek, pushing him back and knocking him over, he splashed on the floor, rolling around unceremoniously, both due to the pain, and due to the disorientation brought on by the attack. Recovering slightly, he sat up and leaned against the damp wood behind him, grogginess blurring his vision, the coldness of the water contrasted with the familiar warm feeling of blood from his cheek, he didn’t pay it any mind, instead focusing on the ensemble of men brawling over their seemingly last chance of salvation.
Tyrion cursed them. The hopelessness of the situation finally setting in. He had journeyed to the Wall and back, set the Blackwater on fire, escaped Kings Landing, braved the Trident, sailed through Ironmans bay, only to end up sinking in the Sunset Sea, so close to his destination of Casterly Rock. It seemed unfair to him, not that death was ever fair to anyone in the first place. Why accomplish so much, power through and endure so much pain, only to meet such a trivial end in an almost pathetic way. Dying in a glorious battle on top a mountain of corpses, caked in the blood of your enemy’s was a death to be remembered by. Sinking on a ship full of dead fish isn’t even joked about it occurs so regularly.
Tyrion honestly hoped for and expected more, though dying in bed of old age with his favourite whore at his side was still his preferred method to go, if he wasn’t going to be remembered for his death he may as well enjoy it. But instead here he is, lying in his own blood, sweat, and he suspected piss, about to drown amongst a bunch of peasants.
How boring.
It was so… common, uninspired, but it was still enough to make Tyrion contemplate his life up to that point, wondering how he could have avoided this situation. The panic was once again setting in, he blocked out the shouting, the hammering of the elements, and the pain he felt. Anger replaced the fear. If this was how he was meant to die he would not go quietly and he would not go sitting on his arse. He rose to his feet and did something he was sure he would be ridiculed for if he ever made it back to land again. He clambered into an overturned barrel that had just rolled into his vision, for no reason other than it might protect him from the rain. If he was going to defy death he would do so in comfort. His small stature allowed him to lie in the barrel completely covered from head to toe, providing him with some much desired security.
And then it got worse.
The rain turned to hail, whipping down so fast Tyrion was sure it was enough to kill a man. The sky became so black no light could break through, Tyrion could barely see past his own nose. The waves seemed to grow in height, no longer simply hammering at the sides, instead overflowing on to the deck, knocking over any men still on the ship, and more overboard Tyrion suspected.
It was biblical. Ferocious beyond words. A sight many would wish to see, but never want to experience. Tyrion was of those people, the weather would be fascinating to observe, but right now he would have preferred his cell, at least it was dry, relatively.
All of a sudden the rocking of the ship stopped, and the heavens seemed to close for a moment. Tyrion opened his eyes, not really knowing what to expect. He glanced outside his barrel, and almost rejoiced as a few surviving sailors picked themselves up, he was ready to leave his sanctuary, and congratulate those left for enduring as long as they had, but before he could act further he froze when he heard a sound, unlike anything he’d ever heard before.
It was thunderous, like a never ending horn increasing in volume, he easily identified it as the sound of a wave building, but Tyrion knew something was wrong when the wave continued to build for several moments longer. He didn’t dare leave the barrel now, it may not protect him, but it would provide a least some security that wouldn’t be available if he left.
‘Well, and truly fucked’.
Celestia never really enjoyed the early hours of the morning, but she forced herself up in order to preform her duty and raise her sun. It was a pain. A royal pain. It was too early for her to start the rest of her day, and too late to return to bed. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy it, on the contrary, raising and lowering the sun was what she enjoyed most about her role as Princess, it was so important, and so appreciated by her subjects that it was the highlight of her day, a sentiment she shared with her sister.
It was just the dullness between raising the sun, and going on to do whatever it was that was planned for the day, maybe she had a court to reside over, or a royal visit to attend. But until then it was just the same routine every day, bathe, brush, eat, greet, etcetera with little to no variation.
But, she had a duty, it may be routine but it was still expected of her, what kind of ruler would she be if she started to put her own interests above those of her subjects, it may seem small but it was a slippery slope that would only lead to negativity. She knew how quickly a self-serving ruler could break their land into conflict, something which she has experienced far too often. The birth of Nightmare Moon being the most blatant example.
She would lead, she would guide, she would watch over her subjects for as long as she was able. The day she did something not in the best interest of her ponies was the day she relinquished herself from the throne.
“What?”
She froze where she stood; a brush grasped in her magic fell to the floor as she felt an unfamiliar tingle run up her spine into her horn. She didn’t pause because of the feeling, in fact nothing else happened and she was unharmed, the reason she froze was because it was a feeling she hadn’t felt for a very long time, so long in fact that that it took her a minute to recall what she had felt it before and what it meant.
‘Oh’.
When she finally remembered, her wings flared open involuntarily, and she stared at her reflection in sudden fascination, before turning and stumbling out of her room, bursting the doors open and shocking her guards out of their daydreams as she did. Before they could question what was happening the Princess recovered and galloped as fast as she could through the various doors and halls she had memorised from all her years living in them. Anyone else traveling though the castle watched in both shock and wonder as their Princess uncharacteristically ran past them, without so much as a smile or even acknowledgement. Celestia knew exactly where she was going, and running was just easier than attempting to teleport, she doubted she would be able to concentrate.
She turned a corner and reached her destination, bursting through a pair of dark doors into an even darker room. “Sister!” she cried, much more urgently than she had intended. Her sibling in question had her head under the covers of her bed, apparently Celestia had startled her awake. After scrambling under her covers Lunas head popped up, her mane almost comical in appearance, normally Celestia would take this moment to tease a little, but she had other things on her mind than potential jokes.
“Honestly Celie!” Luna whined in frustration, “I fail to see what you find so amusing about waking me so early, especially when you berate me for…”, she paused when her eyes fell upon her sister, who stood hunched, almost shaking. “Sister what’s wrong?” Luna asked, no longer angry but now concerned.
Celestia stared blankly, before responding slowly, her voice unsteady, “I felt…” she paused, blinking slightly before steading herself and standing tall again, her lack of composure from before seemingly gone, she gave Luna a new look of determination, which Luna noticed also contained a look of dread.
“Something crossed the seal”.
Luna gasped, backing up and almost falling out of bed. She quickly composed herself, though her uneasiness still showed, “But. Nothing crosses the seal!” she responded shakily, giving her sister a pleading look as if to say, ‘please tell me you're joking’.
Celestia head sank grimily, “This time. Something did”.
Author's Note
My first MLP story! Which is a mature crossover... certain to appeal to all audiences.
So yeah, my first real story. I didn’t want to just do X goes to Equestia, because let’s face it that’s been done, and it’s been done well. I tried to go a little different, whether or not it succeeds remains to be seen.
Hopefully I have your interest.
Twilight hated it when she was summoned to Canterlot, for no reason other than it was usually bad news. She loved meeting with her former teacher, there was no denying that, but she wished it could occur under different circumstances.
She had received a letter from Celestia in the middle of her break between her early morning study session, and her mid-morning study session, urging her to drop everything and come to the castle as soon as possible. Twilight, after reading it, wasted no time in leaving her library for Canterlot, opting to fly instead of waiting for the train or the chariot that she had politely declined when she sent her reply through Spike confirming that she had received the message.
She was specifically instructed to come alone, much to her dragon assistances displeasure. Being forced to go alone only discouraged her further, for it meant that whatever was happening would likely have to remain discreet between her and the other princesses. Events like this were scarce, and if Twilight assumed correctly, usually didn’t end well. Still, she couldn’t deny that she was intrigued, what could be so important that it couldn’t leave the castle walls?
‘I’ll find out soon enough’, she assured herself. She was a Princess now too, she had more responsibility now than she ever did before, she couldn’t disappoint the sisters or Equestria, and she didn’t intend to start now.
By now she was closing in on Canterlot, having been flying for a good twenty minutes. She soared over the rest of the city directly towards the castle gates, catching the attention of some of the citizens below her. She was still getting used to flying, and was out of breath as she was nearing the castle, both due to her inexperience, and due to the fact she had flown as fast as she could. Teleportation, even though she was well experienced in that form of magic, was just too dangerous to perform over long distances, even with her recently acquired alicorn magic.
Setting down at the large gates that served as the entrance to the castle grounds, she took a moment to catch her breath, not noticing a royal guard galloping towards her, who had previously been standing off to the side of the entrance. “Princess Twilight!” the dark aqua stallion called, announcing his presence to the exhausted Twilight, who looked around in sudden confusion, noticing the now bowing guard for the first time, who she realised immediately was a Crystal pony.
The bowing, kneeling and other formality’s she encountered were things Twilight personally didn’t enjoy seeing but accepted as it was expected of both her and her ‘subjects’. ‘Uhh’, she hated that word. Simply having wings and a title didn’t make somepony superior to anypony else as far as she was concerned, that kind of respect should be earned and rewarded not given because somepony was ‘entitled’ to it. Ponies didn’t bow to Celestia simply because she was princess; they did it out of admiration, love, gratefulness and a hundred other reasons. Whereas at the moment Twilight just felt unworthy, as if ponies bowed simply because they thought they had to. Not that she would enjoy it even if everypony did feel she deserved it for some reason other than simply being a princess.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts from it, her celebrity status as a princess was a ‘problem’ that could be dealt with another day, right now she was required by Celestia for a matter that was likely of upmost importance. She turned her attention to the still bowing Crystal guard, once again feeling awkward upon seeing him, “Um, hi” she began lamely, taking note that the stallion was a Pegasus. The guard took this moment to stand, appearing completely stoic, a trait that almost seemed to be required amongst the royal guards, both Equestrian and Crystal.
“Princess Twilight, I’ve been instructed to escort you to the royal conference room, and I’ll be acting as your personal guard for as long as I deem necessary”, he had a deep but somewhat playful voice, but Twilight was focused less on that and more on what he had just said, staring at him in wide eyed confusion.
“What? Personal guard?” In her confusion, she took note of the guards armour, which unlike the golds and the blacks of Celestia and Lunas guards, was a hypnotic silver with a noticeable purple tint when it caught the light of the sun, which combined with his natural crystal shine, made him look quite majestic. He also wore a dark under-suit, something that wasn’t standard issue uniform if Twilight recalled correctly, having read her brothers uniform guidlines as a filly.
The guard decided to continue during Twilights silence. “Yep, I’m Lieutenant Gallant Venture, commander of your personal detachment of royal guards”, he brought a hoof across his chest as he bowed his head, “At yer service”, he stood tall again, looking down at the Princess, whose confusion seemed to grow every time the guard said something.
“Uh, since when did I have my own detachment of guards” she stated, her thoughts of unworthiness from before coming back in full force.
The newly revealed Lieutenant remained as stoic as ever, though Twilight could have sworn she sore him smirk, “Sort of became required when you became a Princess”. Twilight considered that answer to be a little too obvious, and was about to ask him some specifics until he spoke again. “Now I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me Princess, but you can ask those later after you get finished with whatever it is your here for”.
Twilight wanted to protest, and by all means she probably could. She had just met somepony who she would absolutely be seeing a lot of from now on, and he had raised more questions in the four sentences he had spoken to her than she could probably count, but then she remembered the reason she was in Canterlot in the first place, and the fact she had her own guard to greet and protect her just confirmed her fears that no good news would come from today. “Uh yes, sorry, you just caught my… curiosity I suppose”.
The guard nodded and turned to the side, “Of course.” He monitored to the castle with a hoof, “After you, I assume you know the way.” He waited for a response, or for Twilight to start moving, but when neither happened he turned back towards her, she was staring at his tail, or at least, where his tail should have been.
“Your tail…” she began, she seen tails cut before, heck it was one of the first things Rarity did when she met her for the first time. But Gallants tail wasn’t cut, it was completely gone, right down to the root, there wasn’t even a stump.
The guard took notice, but remained silent, with an expression Twilight was unable to read, “All in due time Miss Sparkle”, he turned, once again monitoring with his hoof, “Now I’d rather not keep the Princesses waiting”.
Twilight gave a quick nod of acknowledgement and began trotting forward, her guard at her side. They proceeded through the gates, up a grand set of stairs into the castle, with golden armoured guards standing to attention on either side of the hall they entered. Twilight turned to her companion, but continued to walk, “So…” she began, just to make sure she had his attention, “Do you know what’s going on?” She knew she would find out soon enough, but the more she thought about it the more restless she got.
Venture remained facing forward, though Twilight could see the contemplative look hidden on his face, “Not a clue”, he said blankly, much to Twilights disappointment.
“Oh come on! I’ve never had a personal escort any other time I’ve been to Canterlot, why start now?” She wasn’t angry, just confused, and not knowing what was going on was making her restless.
Her companion simply shrugged, like he had already given up looking for an answer, “I dunno, I was told by Princess Cadence to stand by your side for as long as me and she deem it necessary, if something is going on, I haven’t been told, and frankly, I don’t really care”.
Twilight was about to ask her mysterious guard another question from her growing list, and attempt to avoid correcting his grammar, until she fully grasped what he just said, “Cadence is here?” She asked in excitement, until she remembered the circumstances she was probably here under, which promptly dowered her mood.
It was at this point Gallant stopped, along with Twilight once she’d zoned back in, realizing that they had just passed by the throne room. Her companion pushed open a door that was off to the right of the throne room’s entrance, making his way inside with Twilight behind him, forgetting about the question she just asked.
Of all the rooms in the castle this had to be the one Twilight hadn’t entered for the longest time, simply because she had no reason until now to go in. Its ‘official’ name was the royal planning room, a boring but meaningful name Twilight thought. In actuality it was the Canterlot war room, though it had never actually been used as such, something Twilight was eternally thankful for. She was one of the few who actually knew what the rooms intended use and name was, simply because she had read up on the castles construction, most of the staff thought it was simply where the princess planned the summer sun and recently reinstated winter moon celebrations.
It was large and circular; with chalk white marble benches looping around for ponies to sit and plan whatever it was that had to be planned. In the centre, surrounded by the raised benches was a large model of Equestria and all the known lands beyond it, which Twilight noticed now included a newly built miniature Crystal Empire as well.
She would have loved to just sit and observe the craftsmanship of the model, which she often did during her early years as Celestias student, as the room was almost always empty, perfect to study in peace. Heck the cleaners probably entered it more than the princesses did.
She and Gallant made their way down the steps around the model; it was at this point Twilight noticed three other royal guards sitting spread out throughout the room, she recognised them, but not enough to know their names. They continued onwards towards another door, on the opposite side of the room to the entrance.
‘The royal conference room’, Twilight thought. ‘Where words were spoken that would never be spoken again, where secrets remain secrets, where most ponies who go in never come out! Oh Pinkie and her theories’. She gave a quiet giggle to herself, noticing that Gallant had gone and sat down, it made sense she realised, since he probably wasn’t allowed in, like the other three guards, who were probably the other princesses’ personal escorts like Gallant Twilight reasoned.
“S’cuse me Princess”, Twilight blinked, realising that she had been staring at her sitting guard for a few moments, “They’re waiting” he continued, monitoring towards the door, Twilight blushed muttering a quick thank you, as she hastily made her way through. Her guard simply shook his head and laid down, intending to catch up on some much desired sleep.
Wet. Cold and wetness. That’s what Tyrion felt when he awoke. Light blinded his vision as he opened his eyes, forcing him to squint and turn over in a futile attempt to comfort himself. He opened them again; careful to not look at the piercing sun, instead continuing to lie on his side, observing what he could of his surroundings as he attempted to adjust to the feeling of consciousness.
He was no longer held within the wooden barrel he had sort refuge in, in fact as far as he could tell there was no wood around him what so ever, just rocks both smooth like the one he was lying upon, and jagged ones protruding from the earth. He could hear waves gently splashing against the rocks, sounding quite soothing when compared with the sounds they had made during the previous night.
‘The ship!’
The memories suddenly came flooding back, prompting Tyrion to sit up upon realising he was still apparently alive. He whipped his head around as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings, almost in disbelief of its existence. They had been in the middle of the sea, miles from land, at the mercy of a storm unlike anything Tyrion had ever seen or heard, and yet here he was, not only alive but returned to the shore. After being confined to a box for so long in order to remain hidden he couldn’t help but relish feeling the ground below him provided, if for no reason other than it didn’t rock back and forth constantly.
“By the Gods”, he exclaimed, before giving a broken laugh and lying back down, wishing for the content feeling he had at that moment to never end. The thought of simply still being alive outweighed the thoughts of dread and anger he had felt almost constantly since leaving Kings Landing. He had cheated death once again.
But the feeling was soon gone quicker than it came, the happiness erased while the anger returned. The smile on his face dimmed to one of indifference, as he realised he had to face the reality that he was now completely and utterly alone, Varys was most likely dead, and he was lost, with nothing left but the clothes he wore and the coins in his satchel.
He gave a deep sigh as he sat up again, before rising to his feet, he stumbled slightly, both from the blood rushing from his head and a slight pain in his back, he promptly stretched, satisfied once he heard a click, before he once again looked around, this time looking for specifics instead of confirmation that he was still amongst the living.
He could see that he was on a beach of some sort, sand was littered between the cracks in the rocks, but plants and grass were located not too far away. He deduced that the tide must have pushed him onto the land, before going out again, and further inspection led him to finds bits of broken wood and the occasional piece of snapped rope and twisted metal, ‘Parts of the ship’ he reasoned, ‘No doubt they probably helped me stay afloat’.
From what he could see there was nothing worth salvaging, nothing he could use. He instead decided to take a look at the surrounding countryside, perhaps there was a nearby settlement where he could find assistance, the name Tyrion Lannister might be associated with the one who killed the king, but he doubted news of his escape would have reached the more isolated areas of the country, and even if it had it was even more unlikely that they would know his face. That, and at the moment he hardly looked like a Lannister, more like fisherman down on his luck.
If he was lucky enough to find anyone he could hopefully find out exactly where he was and how far he was from Casterly Rock. He had convinced Varys heading there was the best option they had, Tyrion had many allies from his time living there, some more respectable than others. Though Varys thought it would be better to cross the Narrow Sea, and that it was too much of a risk to trust “Men who put gold before reason” with their lives. Tyrion had of course disagreed, some men may be loyal only to gold, but Tyrion was sure they would help him just as he had helped many of them before.
Or so he hoped.
Of course there was the possibility they would betray him and sell him back to Cersei for a rather handsome profit, but he told himself as he had told Varys before.
‘What other choice is there?’
Cross the Narrow Sea into uncertainty? Or return to land he knew best with the people he knew most. They would help him, ‘They have to…’.
With that thought, he climbed the nearby grassy slope, but not before taking a moment to observe the scenery, which he found quite appealing. Everything just seemed so clean, the water reflected the dawning sun rising above the ocean brilliantly, and the sky was completely devoid of any clouds, a stark contrast to the night before Tyrion noted.
With his observations done he turned and began walking, hoping to find a path or a road that could help lead him towards civilisation.
‘The sun is rising from the west’.
The thought just came to him, it took him by surprise so suddenly that he turned back around instantaneously; he simply stared at the sun in confusion, as if hoping he made an inaccurate observation and the sun was actually setting from the west into the sea, as it was supposed to. It was called the Sunset Sea for a reason after all.
But as he watched he noticed the minute movements the sun made as it raised itself higher into the sky. “That’s not right…” he said simply as he contemplated the situation, ‘Obviously I’m facing the east, except I’m facing the sea, so either Varys deceived me into thinking we had really left the Crownlands or…
The second option was enough to make Tyrion mouth fall open simply by contemplating it, mainly because it sounded quite ridiculous when said out loud.
“I crossed the Sunset”.
If a man was to say that in the western regions of Westeros he would be ridiculed beyond belief and deemed either a liar or a man with needs. The Sunset Sea had never been crossed, small islands had been discovered, but to venture out any further has been deemed suicidal, those who travel out usually return as having found nothing, and more never return at all.
And yet Tyrion was watching the sun rise from the west.
“Where the hell am I?” Was his answer to the situation, he was either still in the eastern lands of Westeros, or he had crossed the uncross-able sea and was currently looking towards Westeros, and then there was the third and least likely option that the sun was in fact rising from the west. He wasn’t sure which option was more terrifying.
Deciding that simply standing and causing any further damage to his eyes would get him no answers he turned and began to walk once again, his original plan still in his mind to find someone to tell him what the hell was going on. He took great care to ignore the suns existence, almost as if it simply being there was mocking him.
His thoughts of loneliness seemed even more profound now than ever before.
“Twilight! It’s so good to see you!”.
Twilight didn’t know what to expect upon entering the conference room, surely everypony would be completely serious, awaiting the arrival of a new threat, or to discuss a matter of national importance, instead she received an unexpected embrace from her sister in-law, who she hadn’t seen or heard from for a few months.
Rather than ruin the moment by asking what was going on, she returned the embrace, “Cadence! It’s great to see you too!”
She would have continued by asking her old foal-sitter questions about any recent developments in the Crystal Empire but Celestia made sure to stop them before they started, “I understand that you both have a lot of catching up to do. But I called you both here for a matter of great importance, which must take precedent”. She made sure she didn’t sound too demanding, but had enough authority behind her voice to make them listen, which they did, as they both made their way to the round table that Luna and Celestia were already sat behind.
Once seated the young alicorns stared expectantly at the older sisters, Luna gave a quick glance towards Celestia, who hesitatingly began.
“What I am about to share with you both is knowledge that has gone unknown in Equestria from everypony except for Luna and myself for over two-thousand years”, at this both younger alicorns perked up, Twilight considerably more so, ‘Knowledge unknown for over two millennium? How amazing!’ As much as she knew she shouldn’t be she couldn’t help but be excited regardless if the knowledge was good or bad, it was a chance to learn something completely new. After her pause, Celestia continued, seemingly taking the time to think about her words before she said them, with a deep breath she began her explanation.
"There exists a land beyond the eastern sea. Our knowledge of it is limited, as there has only been one known instance of inhabitants from it entering Equestria”. At this both younger alicorns couldn’t help but grasp, a thousand questions racing through both their heads, ‘An undiscovered land? Amazing…’.
Luna took this moment to present a black box she had under the table, she held it in her magic as Celestia inserted her horn into its lock, it seemed to hiss as it clicked itself open.
Twilight was leaning upwards to try and catch a glimpse at the boxes contents. While Cadence decided to speak her mind, the look on her face being one of both confusion and disbelief, “Wait, there’s a land known to both of you, and neither of you ever decided to take a trip, maybe form an alliance with its populace? What gives?” Cadence couldn’t help but sound a little condescending, after all her Crystal Empire was a completely unknown land to many ponies including herself when it reappeared, and yet the first thing Celestia did upon its return was send her and Shining Armor to protect it, ‘So why not do the same with this place, what’s different about it?’
Celestia expression seemed to remain neutral, though Luna could see the conflict in her eyes clear as day, “I understand Cadence why our decision to not engage with this land can be argued against. I myself was tempted many times during Lunas exile to travel to it”. She signed before levitating what Twilight now identified as a scroll out of the box, it was sealed within an airtight glass container, and Celestia handled it delicately in her magical grip, “But we both decided that it was simply too much of a risk to expose Equestria to a land so potentially… unruly”.
She rotated the scroll into Twilight and Cadences view, allowing them observe it, aside from noticing how old it looked there was not much else they could do, as it was written in the ancient language of the unicorns, something they both had knowledge of but neither were fluent in, despite Twilights repeated attempts to learn it. Celestia had stated during her studies that, ‘When unicorns once considered themselves the only known species of pony, they had no reason to simplify their hornwriting so other tribes could understand it”, which helped explain why to any modern pony it just looked like a bunch of scribbles. Though with the development of translation spells, learning dead languages was a dying art, not that that stopped Twilight from trying.
“This scroll was written by the ruler of the Unicorn tribe which as you both know was located to the east of the land we know now as Equestria. It is roughly five-thousand years old, and it is the first and only known recorded encounter with the habitants of this land”.
Twilight was giddy, written records from anything before the founding of Equestria some two-thousand years ago are notoriously hard to find, and yet here was a scroll five-thousand years old, history just waiting to be revealed, “Well what does it say, neither Cadence nor I can read it”.
Cadence meanwhile was just letting the thoughts sink in, still waiting for a legitimate reason why this land has been left alone ‘Why does Celestia of all ponies consider it unruly?’ Celestia had by this point turned the scroll back around, both she and Luna were fluent in the language, they’d had more than enough time to learn it. They decided against using a translation spell on the parchment long ago, not wanting to risk jeopardising its contents, “It states and I quote…”.
‘To my successor, I, King Cadmium, ruler of the Unicorns and the known lands and seas, hereby decree that from now until a time deemed appropriate by the appointed, that a sealing spell of my design be placed around the known lands and isles of Unitopia. A great evil lies to the east, a sickness that if left unchecked could destroy our home and all its settlers. It is a world plagued by blood and death, and it must not be allowed to spread to our land of tranquillity.
By now you’re probably wondering whether or not my mind has succumbed to the inevitability of time as my body has, but I assure you, if you fail to heed my words, you may as well unleash the fires of Tartarus upon our lands right now, it would arguably be more pleasant. These are not the ramblings of an old pony; these are the warnings of a guardian who wishes to see his subjects survive, and to do that I need to tell you a story…
I was but a young king, having inherited the throne from my long deceased mother, one day I decided to accompany a party of soldiers and mages to inspect an incident reported by a famer who lived away from our settlement, I was bored and reckless so I decided to go, no questions asked. We arrived to find a ship floating in the sea, anchored to a nearby tree. It wasn’t one of ours, it was far too big, we approached it cautiously, though I made sure to hide behind my biggest guard whist the others preceded forward. Suddenly we heard hoofsteps coming from the ship, a creature appeared, and then another, four in total, though there could have been more within the ship, we weren’t sure.
They were not ponies, that was evident, they stood on two legs, though appeared to have four like a pony, their skin was hairless and lumpy, of varying colours, one even appeared to have skin made of iron, with one giant sharpened claw the size of a tree. The moment they saw us they appeared almost fearful for a moment, though it passed quickly, I swear I saw the iron one lick its lips as it began to approach us, drawing its claw up high as it brought it down on one of my mages, my friend, who ventured too close to them, apparently in curiosity.
The moment it happened I knew he was dead, the rest of them appeared to cheer, looking back I think I know why, he was food, we were food, they were going to gut us and eat us and probably everypony else. And we could not allow that to happen. I ordered my companions to attack, to drive them back onto their ship so we could force them to leave. Our magic seemed to surprise them, the lumpy skinned ones retreated but the metal one swung he claw again, beheading another one of my friends, a mage by the name of Conscience who had been half responsible for raising me.
It was at this point I knew these creatures had to be stopped, not driven away and be allowed to flee to bring reinforcements. I instructed my mages to take the metal one down lethally, something nopony objected to. We levitated him back onto the ship, unhooked it from the tree, and with a combined effort set it ablaze before it or its companions could attack again, which they attempted to do with more metal claws. We contained the ship within a shield of magic, not taking any chances whatsoever, and sat there as we watched it burn and them along with it. It burned so hot and so bright that when we finally stopped several hours later nothing remained, and even then we floated the shield several miles out, if for no other reason than to ensure nothing remained.
We gave our fallen friends quick and quiet farewells, and I gave those who witnessed the event fierce instructions. “Nopony must discover this” I told them. How could the ponies live in tranquillity knowing there was a race of demons across the water? I made sure that didn’t happen.
I tasked a small group to sail east and report back with their findings, they returned in less than a fortnight. They had discovered a new land, but they never went ashore, too fearful for their own life’s, I don’t fault them. Their notes were promptly destroyed, and we never spoke of the incident again, but not before we developed a sealing spell to prevent the creatures from crossing into our land once more.
Knowledge of this spell which I now pass to you, along with this plea. Do not let them come back for all our sakes, maybe one day, once they have learned harmony, but right now? No. Don’t, please…’
Celestia gave sigh as she finished reading, not bothering to go into the specifics of the sealing spell that was explained later on. She hated it, both the actions of the creatures King Cadmium describes and of the ponies themselves, their brutish ways, while done in their defence, could have been avoided, maybe they could have restrained the creatures, imprisoned them, attempted to find out why they had attacked.
It was at this point Celestia gave a deeper sigh, it had not been the first time she had contemplated the different ways the story could have ended.
Her reading of the scroll seemed to have left everypony drained, a feeling of uneasy now resided in the room that hadn’t been there before, akin to the feeling you got as a child when something went bump in the night.
“This scroll was passed down through every ruler of the unicorn tribe, which each consecutive ruler taking on the responsibility of learning and maintaining the sealing spell with a select few others, once the previous casters past the knowledge on. It remained that way for around two-thousand five-hundred years, by which point Equestria had been founded, and the last ruler of the unicorn tribe and friend of ours, Queen Platinum passed the knowledge onto us”.
To say this wasn’t what Twilight was expecting to here when she was summoned to Canterlot would be a huge understatement, as far as they knew there was a land filled with blood thirsty monsters, and it was right across the sea at that very moment.
“This is all we have? One scroll and we seal the land off from the rest of the world?” Cadence once again decided to speak her mind, attempting to sound civil, though considering the circumstances it was proving quite difficult for her.
“What would you have us do my niece?” Celestia responded, appearing unaffected by Cadences tone, in actuality she was conflicted herself about what she should do, debating with herself countless times on what was best for Equestria and what was best for the future.
“You’re basing everything on an isolated case over five-thousand years old. In that time Equestria was founded and the three pony tribes learned to live in harmony, yet we’re hiding from a land we know nothing about because they might be monsters, and that’s coming from the pony who burned them alive!”
“You’re not wrong Cadence”, this time Luna spoke up, apparently to Celestias relief, Cadence turned to face her, wanting her to continue, “This scroll may very well be a case of biasness in favour of ponykind, at one point me and Cellie thought it might just be an elaborate prank that got out of hand”. She turned back to Cadence giving her a look of complete seriousness.
“But what if it’s not?”
Cadences own glare didn’t let up, though it did falter for a moment, “What if, this is a land full of danger, what if we reveal ourselves and they sail to Equestria in fall force? Is it worth risking everything and everypony for the chance that things could turn out fine?”
“I’m hearing a lot of ‘what ifs’ and not enough facts. What makes them different to the first encounter with the Griffins or that Manticore you met in the Everfree forest when you were building your castle? Those events didn’t exactly occur without incident. Why is this any different?”
“We were there and we resolved those events! And it’s not like we were never planning to cross the sea, it takes time for a land to go from primal to peaceful, Equestria has achieved it and this land may too eventually”.
“Peaceful doesn’t mean run and hide from the possibility of danger! You’re too full of fear from a five-thousand year old scroll to cross the sea and find out what their like for yourself”.
“How dare you insinuate that I…!”
“ENOUGH!”
The arguing princesses were silenced by the interruption of Celestia, using for the first time in recent memory her royal Canterlot voice, both the now silent alicorns turned to face her not daring to make a sound.
Celestia promptly calmed herself, returning to her more natural indoor voice, “This is a debate I want us to save for another day, Luna and I have had this same argument many times before. Right now there is a potential problem, and we are going to deal with it appropriately and how we are expected to, like Princesses. Agreed?”
Cadence and Luna made quiet apologies to each other before sitting back down; unaware of how much they had gotten into each other’s faces. Twilight just sat there awkwardly, in her mind it just seemed wrong for the princesses to be disagreeing with each other, whist both having convincing arguments to back themselves up. She was after all still rather new at this.
The three turned the attention to Celestia, whose conflicted emotions from before were gone, a new sense of purpose in her eyes, “Earlier today, something crossed the seal”, Cadence and Twilight grasped, while Luna was almost overcome with dread once again, different scenarios of chaos running through her mind.
“I do not believe it was anything more than a single life form, the feeling I received was small, if I wasn’t paying attention I may have missed it completely. But we must take precautions, regardless if their intentions are peaceful or not”, at this the other alicorns nodded, thought Cadences and Twilights were more hesitant. “All we know is that whatever is coming is doing so from the east, Luna maintains another seal along the western sea, whist mine is along the east”.
“How exactly does the spell work?” Twilight spoke up for the first time timidly; she wanted details staring with the sealing spell.
Celestia acknowledged Twilights question, looking down at her whist giving her a genuine smile, “I’m glad you asked Twilight, it is not a ‘seal’ in the traditional sense, more like a perpetual storm, that grows in intensity the closer to Equestria you are, when the knowledge of this spell was past to us we altered it to be less… lethal, we sort to simply deter them from sailing onwards rather than punish them for being curious… though some have been more ambitious than others, and accidents are believed to have happened”.
Celestias averted her eyes from Twilight, Luna decided to take over, “As long as the spell is maintained we can feel whatever is caught inside it, if something retreats, we know, if it is destroyed by the storm, we know, and if it manages to…”. She didn’t continue, her dark thoughts from before returning, Twilight decided to remain silent, not knowing what she could contribute.
“This discussion can continue later, right now there is something on its way; and it’s possible it’s here already. We must find what crossed the seal; we can plan further from there”. Celestia stated, the other princesses agreed. Cadence was still conflicted, but realised that this matter would have to take precedent over their debate.
“Okay, so what do we do?” Cadence asked, completely at a loss on how they should approach the situation.
“You probably wondered why Shining Armor didn’t accompany you here my niece. I instructed him to take a chariot to Baltimare and await further instructions, I would think it best that we have him organise search parties along the eastern coast, as we do not know exactly where the voyager from beyond the sea will arrive, assume it is coming to Equestria at all”.
Cadence momentarily grimaced, manly at the thought of her husband being in danger, “Well, what do we tell him and the guards? I assume we want to keep this quiet for now?”
“That would be the best course of action I think, a panic would occur quickly if news was to spread about what they are searching for. We will inform them to be on the lookout for potential ‘creatures’ of unknown description, and to approach them cautiously”.
Whist the other three princesses agreed and began to discuss specific details of their plan Twilight remained silent as a thought lingered in the back of her mind. “What if their peaceful?” she stated quietly, causing the other princesses to look at her.
“They may very well be here peacefully Twilight, but we must take precautions, the risk is simply to great to approach them with open arms”.
“My sister is correct Twilight, besides, it’s not like we intend to cause them harm, we simply wish to be safe, and if they are civilised they would understand why we would approach them in such a way”.
“I may not be fully on board with this idea Twilight, but I would expect them to approach us in the same way if one of us entered their land. It's just the safest option".
Twilight just contemplated their statements, honestly she just wanted an option which resulted in no violence whatsoever, but the more she thought about it the more she realised that doing something hoping everything would turn out okay was a rather naïve way to approach a situation, especially as a princess.
‘I not going to disappoint them ‘.
“Okay. Let’s go find this thing".
Author's Note
Just a word about the OC, he's there for story reasons, he's not there to be shipped with anyone, he's not the focus of the story, and he's not me. I was going to have a bodyguard for Twilight anyway, I just decided to give him a name and make him as interesting as possible, at first it was going to be Flash Sentry, but I didn't want a romance subplot. Tyrion is still the focus, and will remain the focus.
Also I changed the story to teen, mainly because it really doesnt get that overally mature from now on, and the explicitness of things are more implied rather than described. Also, I've read far worse things from a teen rated fic.
It took me a while to write this because I wanted to read the Journal of the Two Sisters first, it proved instrumental when planning this stories history.
Next chapter will have more Tyrion, and Shining will join the party.
