Skystriker: seeking Aspects

I stepped lightly through the barrier wishing, not for the first time, that there was some way to thicken the hedge to prevent things from getting in. smaller animals sometimes used my home as an escape path, and from the claw marks around the door, such had been the case that night. I wiped away the claw marks as best I could and started walking toward the castle, wondering how the guards would greet me.

A strange pony they’ve never seen before comes walking out of the most dangerous forest in the land without even a hint of worry on his face and requests to be allowed in. The best I’ll get is an escort around the city, worst is a jail sentence. I’ll likely be turned away though.

I reached the long wooden bridge that spanned the moat-like ravine around the castle. Looking across I noticed two things wrong. The first, being several large holes in the castle structure, the second being a distinct lack of guards at the end of the bridge. I started moving just a bit faster, wondering what kind of creature could have been powerful enough to make such large holes in enchanted masonry and removed the guards.

As I reached the guard post, I looked around, carefully checking for any indicators of what type of creature I was dealing with here. There was absolutely no sign of a fight or the standard markings of a recent kill being dragged away to some lair or cave to be eaten. It almost seemed as though the guards had been eaten by the mist that filled the ravine for much of each day.

The farther I traveled on the island, the more uneasy I became. The castle of the ruling class-and thus the capitol of equestria-should be more alive than a ghost town. Even this I could accept if there was some sign as to where they went, but stone did not take tracks, and there had been no recent ones at the far side of the bridge. Everything I found indicated the entire castle-town had been emptied of inhabitants by air. That was impossible however, as much of the population had not been Pegasi, and thus were unable to fly out of the city.

A stone clattered to the ground. I turned, looking at it before following its trajectory back to where it had fallen from. A gaping hole in the side of the castle dropped another rock as some unseen force dislocated it from its position. I quickened my step, encouraged by the prospect of answers to the questions raised by the vanishing populace.

About halfway to the castle I began wondering what I was doing and why. I’ve no reason to help these ponies, so why do I seek to know where they went? Because it might have been some new creature whose aspect I can use? And what of the comet last night, what caused it? Does that have something to do with this? I groaned internally, shaking away my thoughts.

“I’ll never know if I don’t look.” I checked my daggers to make sure they were in place before using the Aspect of the chameleon to hide better against the white stone walls, then began my ascent of the walls, using the improved climbing abilities given by the lizard aspect and the flight given by the phoenix aspect to speed the climb, while staying near the walls to keep my camouflage simpler.

As I reached the hole in the wall, I because aware of a quiet sobbing sound. Not the type of sound one expects from a supposed victorious predator, but it meant something was alive in there. Or something, I added, expecting to see a dragon or some such large flying predator. I peeked over the edge of the hole and pulled my head back quickly to process what I had seen without being seen.

There was a large hole in the roof, and the biggest pony I had seen sat… or maybe lay, I wasn’t sure, on the floor, sobbing quietly. I slipped into the room, darting behind a pillar to hide better in the room before checking again. The pony had both horns and wings, marking a princess. Given the white color, I’d say That Princess Celestia was lying on the floor, seemingly withdrawn from the world around her. I didn’t know much about the princes, but I knew that as a princess, she couldn’t be this detached from the world often. I stepped out from behind the pillar, padding over to the alicorn.

“What happened here?” I had no desire to speak for longer than necessary. She looked up, looking around for a moment before her eyes focused on me. She blinked away tears, looking very different from the imperious leader she’d been on many battlefields, for a moment, she was just another pony.

“I… I banished her.” Her voice was defeated, as though she had been victorious by Pyrrhic victory, picking the lesser of two evils.

“Banished who? To where? Where is everybody?” With any luck she’d stay focused long enough to answer before receding into her grief.

“L-Luna… I banished… But she wasn’t…” I frowned, wishing that I hadn’t asked. At this rate, I’d miss the rest of the day. But would that be so bad? You’ve finally got a chance to see the other side of sombra’s destruction, of discords petrifaction, why shouldn’t you stay for a while? I almost growled; my internal thoughts had a point, even if I didn’t know where they came from.

“Slow down Celestia. What happened first?” I pulled a manticore fur blanket from my saddlebag and spread it over her, hoping to provide enough comfort to stabilize her mind. Her eyes were roaming over everything, but there was no sign of recognition in her eyes, as though she were blind.

“Luna… she, broke… turned dark… evil… wouldn’t…” She shuddered, and I placed one hoof on her shoulder, smoothing out the blanket with the other.

“Shhh… don’t worry, it’s in the past, we can only try and fix it now. I’ll be back soon. You try and rest.” She laid her head back on the ground and closed her eyes; she was asleep as soon as her head hit the ground.

I flew out of the hole, traveling faster than I ever had before as I burned mana to enhance my flight capabilities. I hit the ground running, knocking loose the thornspitters from my door and going in. I started up a fire in the middle of my clearing, then hung a pot over it, gathering two hoof full’s of oats and a few apple peels in anticipation of when the water in the pot began boiling.

I soon had a strong broth boiling with a few extra ingredients, mostly herbs to calm the mind, but I had added a few grains of powdered Lignum vitae, an herb I had created which healed injuries and restored energy at a rate so high that it was unsafe in even small quantities. With any luck the potent combination would bring her out of the current shock and reduce chances of long term PTSD. I picked up the pot, carefully transferred the broth to a covered bowl, and flew back.

I landed outside the hole, peeking in to make sure Celestia wasn’t looking my way before entered the room, not wanting to reveal my talents before I wanted to. After making certain that she was still asleep I entered, clearing a space and starting a small fire on the floor nearby, placing the pot nearby to keep it warm while I waited for her to wake.

While I was waiting, I wondered what Luna could have done for Celestia to have banished her. Assuming that however Celestia did it, Luna was likely at least part of the comet that crash-landed on the moon, indicating that’s where she had been banished to. As I pondered this question a low moan interrupted my thoughts as Celestia began to rise.

“You might not want to do that, you still need rest. Drink this though, it should help.” I pulled the pot over to her, making sure that it wasn’t too hot before I handed it over. A faint yellow glow surrounded it as Celestia levitated it to her mouth, drinking deeply before placing back on the ground. If I allowed for some imagination, I could almost see the effects of the brew on the injured princess.

“We thank thee for thine aid.” I cocked my head slightly at Celestia, before deciding it was better not to wonder why the language had not changed in the past thousand years. I thought it better for both of us that I wait until after she had finished before continuing our conversation.

After several minutes, the pot sat empty next to the fire, and Celestia and I sat facing each other, looking into the flames. She pulled the blanked tighter about her against the chill of night that seeped in from the Everfree. I ignored it, as I had every night before.

“Last night, you banished Luna when she became possessed by some evil force, locking her away in the moon for some amount of time currently unknown to me. Care to fill in the details?” She looked away for a moment, then suddenly looked back at me, as if studying me. A moment later she removed the blanket from her shoulders and levitated it to me. I pushed it away.

“You’ll need it more than I. Night in the Everfree is punishing for those not used to it.” She wrapped it around herself again.

“We hopped thou wouldst say that, though we wonder if Thou art simply deferring to us because we are rulers of equestria.” I snorted at that.

“If ever I defer to a ruler, it’ll be as an undead minion of some necromantic lord.” Celestia looked at me curiously at my response, but did not press me on the matter.

“We were attacked by our sister when she raised the moon and refused to lower it again. As she did this, she became… something. A nightmare, as it were, and attacked us in an attempt to… We are not sure what she desired to accomplish in truth, as she never said.” She shivered as a wind swept the cold night air through the hall. I frowned, thinking.

“I am going to tell you a story that’s been kept in my family for a long time. When I finish, I wish you to tell me your side of the story.” Celestia tipped her head to one side before shivering as the next gust of wind whistled through the air.

“Once, several generations ago, a unicorn came to our home, traveling north, trying to find a place for himself. He had been using magic fueled by rage and anger, and so had been chased from place to place, from city to city. Here though, nobody had done so. He asked if we would provide him with a place to spend the night before he continued on. This wish was granted, and he was given a nights rest.

“The next day, he and the inhabitants of the house left it, traveling northward for the tundra, leaving behind the Everfree for the time being. Two months later, they stood above a city hidden away in a valley of ice. The two stallions that stood at the top of the ridge each had their own ideas of how to go about their entry into the city. The first thought that the best way would be to join with their society until such a time came as they needed to become otherwise. The second chose to try and become an aid for the ruler of the city. Shortly thereafter however, the ruler fell ill as a side effect of an experiment gone wrong, and had to go to equestria for treatment, leaving the friends in charge. Three months passed as they awaited their ruler’s return, with winter swiftly approaching, they choose to send all the citizens who could be spared into the mines to gather what more crystals they could to sell and support their city against the winter. Two weeks later, an army appeared on the horizon, proclaiming it to be from equestria and coming to take the city back for its rightful ruler.

With all but the young, the elderly, and their caretakers in the mines, the friends faced a choice. Surrender, and give up the charge they had been given, or fight for their ruler. Eventually, the unicorn sent his earth pony friend to go find their ruler and discover what had happened to her, while he tried to defend their city. As the earth pony crested the hill, he looked back to see his friend had once more turned to his fear fueled magic, blending it with the innate magic of the city, to protect it against the invading host. As he watched however, the city was consumed by a damaged experiment, locking it away in stasis. That city has not yet returned, but we have yet to give up our charge to find the ruler of that crystal city.” I paused, seeing recognition of Celestia’s face.

“As you likely have guessed, that unicorn was the one called Sombra. Now, tell me. What did he do that earned him that position as a fugitive, and then enemy of equestria because he obeyed his ruler?” I looked at her as the alicorn shifted uncomfortably beneath my gaze, unable to meet my eyes. After a long moment, she looked up at me.

“Sombra used long forbidden magic to enhance his magic. That alone we could turn a blind eye to, but when we found him in the royal archives, looking through certain volumes that were locked away from the public for good reason…” She broke off and looked away for a moment, then continued.

“As for the second, when Cadence awoke from her coma, perhaps we did not listen as well as we should have. We only knew that she said that the Empire was at the time under the control of Sombra.” I hissed a loud feral noise that made her jump in fear and more importantly, made the cockatrice behind her retreat. After a moment, Celestia realized I had not been looking at her and followed my gaze to the creature.

Less than two seconds later the ceiling was sporting a new hole and Celestia was falling back down from the roof. I chuckled slightly.

“

Congratulations, if the roof hadn’t been in the way I think you might have been able to see how your sister was adapting to her new home.” Celestia frowned, not understanding. I groaned and slapped one hoof to my face and briefly wondered if it was too soon to be joking about that.

“Oh come on! Do you even have a sense of humor?” A few seconds later Celestia smiled, even managing a quiet chuckle.

“We have never had anypony speak to us to easily before. It is an enjoyable experience.” I rolled my eyes at her.

“Well, glad we settled that. Now you need more rest, and remember, you cannot rule well if you fall into the past. Look forward, and fix what you have done wrong. That is the best you can do.” I grabbed the pot and walked out the door, leaving the now solitary ruler of Equestria to her own thoughts. With any luck, she’d think this was a dream and forget me within the week. I only hoped she took my counsel with her no matter where she went.

"But why do I care? They're not the forest. What changed?"