Legends from Ages Past

Celestia felt the darkness around her, its menacing presence crushing her down into the depth of its heart. How long had she been here? It felt like months, but that was impossible. A small voice in her head was telling her that it had only been a few minutes. Her breathing was heavy. Luna clung tightly to Celestia’s leg as their mother wrapped her forelegs around them both to shield them from the Shadows that had found their home. Celestia felt Luna’s grip loosen. Her breathing steadied as they sat motionless in the darkness. Somehow, something was calming Luna in the pitch blackness around them, but Celestia could only feel its cold touch against her skin.

The darkness embraces its children.

A familiar voice spoke in the depths of her mind. Celestia sat frozen in terror but neither of the others seemed to hear it. Rose continued to hold her daughters tight out of fear she might lose them, whereas Luna seemed almost at peace in the dark…

Was it my imagination playing tricks on me? Celestia strained her ears to listen to what was happening beyond the secret panel that hid them from the Shadows.

The sounds of the fighting outside had died down and now silence had claimed their darkened world as well as the world beyond. It was deafening. Like a great weight pressed against the inside of her ear, it felt as though all sound was being blocked from entering their world. Celestia’s heart was pounding in her chest as she thought of all the possibilities of what was out there awaiting them. Was it going to be a small host of evil creatures who sought to kill them? Or would it be a group of friends chatting away about the battle and comparing scores for who had killed the most? Perhaps outside they would find their friends crouched around the body of a fallen comrade. Iron Shield was strong but he was predictable. An enemy could have found a way through his defences after watching his fighting style. Nzuri, though agile and quick with her small curved daggers, could not fight off a continual assault from anything before being crushed beneath its strength. Angus was enormous and could easily take a hammering, but what if the enemy were many and swarmed over him, toppling him like an ancient forest tree who had stool tall for a millennia only to be devoured by a horde of tiny termites at its base. Then there was Freya, and Beardy too. Though powerful their magics could be countered by other unicorns who possessed similar gifts and without their magic there was nothing to stop somepony sinking a blade into their flesh. Celestia prayed to every benevolent deity she knew of in the hope that her prayers might spare the lives of those closest to her.

She heard a shuffling sound. It was moving towards the hidden panel that separated them from oblivion. It’s breathing was heavy and grew louder and louder before it stopped directly on the opposite side of the panel from them. Celestia’s own breath was caught in her throat. Her horn began to glow faintly as she readied herself. Not a moment later light poured into the small room they were hidden within. Rose and Luna cringed away from the light as it burned into their eyes but Celestia embraced the burning fire while forming a shield around her and her family to protect them.

“Well it’s good to see the lessons paid off in the end,” the silhouette standing before them said. Simply hearing his voice was enough for Celestia’s spell to shatter as she was overwhelmed with relief. As she heard the sounds of the others in the main room of their cottage Celestia felt a spark ignite inside her. Luna came galloping out from the hidden room and nearly barrelled straight into Beardy who narrowly missed being trampled under the small Alicorns determination. She ran into the middle of the room and looked about at each of their friends before slumping down and staring blankly at the floor in front of her. Celestia and Rose followed her out of the room, their eyes searching every corner of the room to make sure all of their friends were safe and that there were no lingering shadows hidden there. Everyone was there and accounted for, all except Iron Shield. Celestia’s felt a cold dark object sinking in her stomach as she turned from left to right hoping he would be there in the corner of the room or sitting in a chair or looking out the window or walking out the kitchen. Luna too was looking about now after having realised all but one were there. But he was nowhere to be seen.

“Dammit I can’t get this blood off my armour!”

Celestia darted through to the kitchen as fast as an arrow and as true. She found her mark and launched herself at him. Pressing her face against his chest she began to cry. She thought she had lost him to the darkness, but he was safe and thats all Celestia could think about. The cold rock that had sunk in her chest moments before had transformed into a swarm of tormented butterflies as she felt Iron Shield wrapping one of his mighty armoured legs around her and holding her close to him.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she whispered. Celestia opened her eyes and looked up into his. His brown eyes were staring right back at her. She blushed and looked away for a moment before letting her gaze drift back to his, “When you weren’t there in the other room, when we came out… I need you to be safe. I can’t protect my family all on my own.”

“Child, all of us are here to look after you, not just your knight in shining armour,” Beardy’s voice pierced through her moment of relief and comfort, causing Celestia to jump back from Iron Shield. She could feel her cheeks blazing but as she looked up at Iron Shield it was comforting to see he had turned to a similar shade of red.

With one hoof raised up to scratch the back of his head he cleared his throat and spoke, “She was just upset Starswirl. Nothing to worry about now though.”

“Nothing to worry about indeed. Next time an emotional young mare and a handsome stallion such as yourself are both left alone I will be the one to decide if there is anything to worry about.”

Rose’s head peaked out from around the doorframe, “I think perhaps we should start packing. It’s not safe to stay here any longer.”

A cold, empty feeling spread throughout Celestia’s chest. She turned to look at Rose who simply looked back at her. Celestia could feel a wave of tears building up as she tried to force the words out of her mouth.

“Leave?” Inside Celestia a spark ignited, “But this is HOME! We can’t leave! Where will we go? What if we never come back?” She could hold them back no longer, tears began streaming down her cheeks as she hoped Rose would reconsider, but she knew deep down that false hopes were doomed to disappoint. The two of them stood there staring at one another. Neither had to say anything, the look on Rose’s face said there was no other way. Celestia knew that what she said was the truth and that it was no good to argue, but she couldn’t just leave. Her home was her world. Everything that had ever been, had been here, everything that could have been, was meant to have been here.

“Go do as your mother says child. I know you know Rose is right, we need to move as quickly as we can.” Beardy nodded to Iron Shield and the two of them left through the door to headed outside.

Celestia continued her pleading gaze, but seeing how upset her mother was she bowed her head in acceptance of what Rose had said. Slowly she made her way back through to the main room, nuzzling her mother gently as she passed her, before turning right to head upstairs. Soon after came Luna once Rose had explained the situation to her. Neither of them said anything as they ascended the stairs to their rooms. Looking over her small but cosy sanctuary, Celestia had no idea what she should leave and what she should take. Each and every item there held fond memories, but not everything would have a use for a life on the road. Luna was obviously having similar trouble across the hallway, adorned across all of her walls were her various paintings, on top of her desk sat mountains of poems and songs she had written over the years.

“What do you think mother expects us to bring?” Luna asked, raising her voice so she could be heard without having to leave her room. The quivering in her voice was enough to tell Celestia her sister was crying.

“I’m not sure,” Celestia admitted. There were so many things she wanted to bring. The sound of hoof-steps behind her caused her to turn her head.

“Well, I have several cloaks we will need to wear once we leave the safety of the forrest,” Rose said as she appeared in the doorway. “We can’t let other ponies see you have horns and wings. I may not have said it outright in the past, but you two might be the only Alicorns in existence.”

While she had sort of known it in the back of her mind, to finally hear those words seemed to make the world seem a whole lot bigger.

“Other than that I believe we should bring things that are important to us, not necessarily just the things we will find useful. Beardy and Shield went outside to get the wagon from round back ready, so we aren't exactly lacking in space.”

Celestia felt a small flicker of happiness rekindling inside her, it would have torn her apart leaving a lot of her belongings behind to simply waste away to the passage of time. Though she still wasn’t sure where they would keep it all, would they carry it with them for the rest of their lives, or would they eventually find somewhere new to call home?

Luna’s head peaked round the corner of Celestia’s bedroom door, “So if I wished to bring my paints and brushes I could?”

“Of course you can sweetie. Even though we are leaving this cottage behind, we can’t leave all our memories behind too. Bringing things like that, and the robes Iron Shield gave you Celestia, will give us and the others precious things to remember this place by.” With that Rose went into the hall and brought in several saddle bags from one of the chests of drawers and gave one set to each of the girls, “We are to head directly to Freya and Nzuri’s home. It was once a small cottage same as this but since the two began living together they needed more space for their studies. I think you will both be impressed when you see how they have managed to build it up into a small fort over time. A very small one that is.” A smile touched the edges of Rose’s lips, “That at least means we can safely store most of our things before we begin our journey. We definitely won’t be able to bring any of this where we need to go.”