The night.
A canvas of blackness, painted upon with bountiful glowing lights of all kinds, from the tiniest, dimmest star to the large, bright moon that hung above the world of Equestria. Upon this moon was the most peculiar design of a dark horse’s head. To many of the different creatures of this world, it is the source of many a legend revolving around a dark pony who tried to cover the world in an eternal night. A myth that most take for granted to a young-one’s-centered holiday as the only time it is truly noticed.
But for one single pony, it is always a reminder of her greatest failure. A pure mare amongst her peers, with her tall, slender body and multi-colored mane and tail that forever billow in a nonexistent wind. A being of purest intent, yet still as flawed as any other pony of her kind. For many, she is an inspiration and a guide, beloved by all under her benevolent rule as a sign of true equality. The strength and stamina of an earth pony, the speed and flight of the pegasi, and the greatest magical abilities of the unicorns, all represented in her being with the large, graceful wings that stretched from her back and the long, magnificent horn upon her head. Her pure white coat of fur always glistening in the light of the sun that she helped to bring to her world every morning, key evidence of this emblazoned on her flanks in a symbol of the star.
A teacher, a guide, a ruler, a goddess, and, at one point in time, a sister.
All of this is what made Princess Celestia who she is.
And on this night she stood out on the balcony of her grand castle, the center point of the capital of her dominion: Canterlot, Equestria. Her sage-like, magenta eyes looking up at the bright disk of the moon, once again lost in memories of what once was and what could have been.
She was taken out of her thoughts from a sound approaching her from behind. She continued to look up at the moon as the sound of hoofsteps stopped some odd-meters behind her. Without even turning, she addressed the pony that had interrupted her reminiscing. “What brings you here, Captain? I had asked to be left alone this night.”
The aged stallion bowed deeply to his princess, removing his golden helm as he stood stock before her. “I am aware, your highness. The maids made that quite clear before I entered. But you know I would never interrupt you were it not of utmost importance.”
Celestia let out a soft, yet deep, sigh before she turned to face the stallion. “Alright, Captain Swift Stream. What is the situation?”
The aging unicorn bowed lightly to her as he began to relay the information he’d been told. “This may be hard to understand, your highness, but a large creature has been spotted in southern Equestria causing mayhem and destruction.”
“A large creature?” she parroted with a quirked brow. “Surely it is but an ursa minor. I would have assumed that my guard had remembered how to deal with such an infant from their training.”
In response, the captain shook his head. “No, my princess, we have not forgotten. But this is no ursa minor. It is a creature we have no record of and is on a rampage with incredible strength. When we received the report it had already demolished many of the southern mountains down into prairies.”
Celestia had to blink at that, half hoping she’d misheard the captain of her guard. Such power could not be held by any beast of this world. Even she herself would have difficulty doing such without causing irreparable damage to herself. “You’re certain of this?” His nod was all she needed to be affirmed. “This is most serious then. The further south it goes, the more other nations will be in danger. Tell me, what is this monster that is causing all this havoc?”
“The beast has been described as a giant monkey, your highness.”
Now, Celestia had been prepared to hear many things, but monkey certainly wasn’t one of the options she had considered. “A… monkey?”
The Captain nodded again. “Yes, princess. It was originally thought to be an ape due to its appearance, but it had a large tail proving without a doubt it is a monkey.” Celestia quirked her brow at him again. “...my daughter is a zoologist, my liege. I helped her study through college and I picked up a few things.”
Celestia nodded with a look of acceptance before she turned to look out from the balcony. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Captain. Do not worry about this primate anymore as I shall deal with it myself.”
Swift Stream stared dumbfoundedly at Princess Celestia, watching her spread her graceful wings for take off. “B-but your highness, are you sure that’s necessary?”
“This monster has brought punishment on itself for its destruction and threat to lives,” she explained as her eyes narrowed towards the southern borders of her kingdom. She kicked into the air, flapping her wings once for a brief lift. “I shall end this before any lives are put at risk.” With a mightier flap of her wings, the solar princess flew off into the night, nearly breaking the sound barrier with her increasing speed.
Over the darkened landscape Celestia soared as quickly as she could, refusing to let any beast harm her beloved subjects. These thoughts spurred her on towards once what was the south eastern edge of the Macintosh Hills. The mountains were in tatters now, completely decimated to rubble and dust, the only remains of what was once a lush area of green. Celestia stared on at the destruction as she glided over before a deafening roar echoed out into the night.
GGROOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!
Her head snapped forward and her eyes widened at the sight of the monstrous primate that stomped over the land. The beast was as tall as Canterlot if not the mountain the city sat upon. A relative forest of dark black fur coated the muscled beast as it trampled further towards the Bad Lands, swinging is arms around to destroy whatever unluckily got in its way. The beast stopped for a moment and beat its chest as it roared once more at the moon, the sound deafening to the nearby princess.
Despite the size and might of the creature, Celestia was not deterred from doing what she must. Shutting down any remaining fear of the giant monkey, she flew forward as her horn ignited with radiant power of the sun, glowing a brilliant solar gold. Celestia shouted out as she fired the beam, striking the beast dead center in its back, causing the monster to roar once again as pain coursed through it, forcing it to topple over on to its face.
The princess smirked at her work, but the smirk faded as the beast quickly started getting back to its feet, its fierce red eyes turning to look upon Celestia with pure hatred and disdain. The beast roared in fury at her, displaying incredibly sharp teeth that were no doubt the same size as her. The beast’s left hand rose up high in the air and with amazing speed came down towards Celestia, forcing her to quickly duck down and corkscrew to the side to avoid being squashed against the ground under the massive appendage. When the beast’s hand hit the ground, Celestia could see the ground quaking from the air as all the rubble and loose rocks the monster had created shook and rumbled.
Unfortunately for the princess, watching the monster create an earthquake with one hand was enough distraction for the monkey’s other hand to come from the side. Celestia was unable to protect herself in time for the monstrous paw to slam into with the force on explosion and then send her flying out of control as her wings struggled to right her after sudden trauma. The beast pounded on its chest in victory as Celestia fixed her flight at the last moment before she fell to the ground, quickly soaring up to the height she had been before, glaring daggers of death at the monster.
The poor pony princess was positively peeved at the perilous prinative pest, causing her to decide she was going to end this “battle” here and now. Her horn once again lit with her solar might, however this time she continued pouring more and more of her extraordinary magic into the spell. The monkey must have felt that Celestia was intending to cause it more harm as it roared at her and then leaped high into the air. Had she not have been focusing, Celestia would have admired the beast’s jumping ability, but that could wait for a later time.
Celestia felt she had finally caught a break in this battle as with the monkey high in the air, there was no way for to defend itself, leaving it wide open for her charged spell. Thrusting her horn forward, Celestia let her power go in the form a massive beam of solar magic that slammed directly into the monster’s chest causing it to roar out. The magical laser continued to strike the monkey, pushing it higher and higher into the sky until the beast threw its head back which caused its body to fall out of the beam’s strike, but left the monster to flail about as it fell back to the planet, crashing right into the ground and causing a much larger earthquake.
Celestia dared to fly closer to the now unmoving beast, looking down on it with distaste and pity. “Such a poor creature. Probably didn’t even know any better but it was all it knew. I am sorry, but for the sake of my ponies, you need to be vanquished. I hope you find peace in the next life.” Once again her horn began to power up, aiming to be the final blow.
Then the beast’s eyes jumped open as it roared out, the howl having so much force behind it that Celestia was actually thrown back, causing her to have to right herself in the air again. Her glare returned in full force before fading quickly to confusion as she watched the beast now having its arm raised up towards the sky. It left out softer roars now, almost like a whining as it reached for something that it just couldn’t. Celestia trained her eyes on the beast’s line of sight before her jaw dropped a bit.
Of all things, the beast was reaching for the moon.
Celestia simply couldn’t fathom what she was watching, trying to process in her mind what the beast could want with her sister’s moon. In those thoughts, however, another was given life in accordance with her younger days as practical joker. “If it wants the moon so badly,” she muttered to herself with a smirk as she redirected her spell, focusing on the moon now. “Then let’s take away his little ‘toy’. Was almost time to raise the sun anyway.”
The princess looked to the sky as her magic took effect over the celestial body, lowering further and further down in the sky. She couldn’t help her smirk as the beast roared out as its arms tried to follow the moon. However, once the moon dipped below the horizon, the monster let out a guttural roar that nearly surprised Celestia into dropping her control over the rising sun. She watched on in shock as the beast began to shrink before her eyes as her sun rose up over the horizon. The monstrous roars continued to soften as it shrank more and more, The forest of fur slowly receded, leaving the beast naked to the elements, its muzzle shrinking more and more until its face was practically flat, even its tail shrank down further and further until it was similar to an infant monkey’s.
Celestia’s eyes were as wide as her sun as she stared down at what remained of the monster. It was so small from this height, that it was barely visible, forcing Celestia to soar down to the ground right next to the “monster”. Which she supposed she could no longer refer to it as such. No what was before her was an infant, but of what species she couldn’t determine. It had no fur on it’s skin, short yet spiky black hair, hands like a minotaur but feet similar to a dragon’s, but with no claws or sharp scales. And the most striking of all was the primate tail that twitched as the baby slept, as if completely unaware of the destruction it had wreaked over this land.
She simply could not believe what she was seeing, and deep in the darkest depths of her heart she still couldn't. What was before her held a monster greater than many of her strongest foes and should be stamped out before it could hurt anypony else. However, the creature was but an infant, no doubt unaware of the awful power lurking inside. An infant cannot be blamed for being as such, it simply didn’t know any better unless there was somepony to teach it otherwise. Celestia blinked for a moment, scanning out and around her, looking for any signs of life and finding nothing at all but insects that flitted about in the early morning light. She turned back to the infant and felt her heart melt for it.
“You have nopony to watch over you do you, little one?” she whispered, her voice soft and full of care. She cast her levitation spell and lifted the infant off the ground. Gently caressing the baby in her magic, Celestia couldn’t help but smile as it slept ever so peacefully… correction, he, she discovered upon the close inspection. As she watched, Celestia made a decision: “I think I’ll take you back with me, little one. I certainly can’t leave you out here in the wilderness. Nor will I take your life for something you cannot control. Perhaps we may even be able to help you past that together. Now come along,” she whispered again before jumping into the sky. With a smile on her face, Princess Celestia began her journey back home, now with a little bundle of joy to call her own.
If only she had known then what lay awaiting in the future now, perhaps she may have thought harder upon her decision. An unknown future now lies ahead for herself, and for the strange boy.
