Far to the west of the Crystal Empire, located somewhere on the Equator in the South Luna Sea, was a solitary string of islands. They were beautiful, covered with green plants and tall trees that bore coconuts, pristine white sand made up the beaches. To the untrained observer, these islands were completely uninhabited. The largest of them barely covered five acres in total, there wasn’t much room for any sort of structures. It was this small stature that made these Islands, known only as ‘ The Sierra Alpha Seven Chain’, into the perfect place for someone to hide.

For Celestia, that was all she needed. The alicorn was reclined in a beach chair on the largest island, two dozen books piled up next to her while she levitated one of them in her magic. The island had been her home for the past couple years, every now and then a ship would stop by to drop off supplies, but aside from that she spent her days in solitude. Her usual routine consisted of watching the waves on the ocean, reading, and making her own fun by use of her magic. Celestia had also taken an interest in all the various plants and animals that called the island home, they had gotten used to her presence and she had gotten used to occasionally dealing with them. All in all, the island wasn’t a bad place to spend her exile…

The mare flipped one of the pages in her book, her expression remaining neutral as her eyes scanned over the words on the page. She had read this particular story half a dozen times, but she wouldn’t get a new shipment of books for another week or so. Personally, she almost felt like the occasional check ups on her were more annoying than anything else. They disrupted her routine and made her feel like her privacy was being encroached on, something that she found rather ironic considering how she had come to be exiled in the first place. As Celestia began to turn to the next page she stopped, off to her right she heard footsteps. Slowly the mare lowered her book and looked over, to her surprise she saw a human. He wore a black suit and tie, with a rather large gut and a large nose, his short black hair was combed back in a regimented fashion.

“Dawnguard.” The man said simply in a very rough, raspy voice while he adjusted a pair of mirrored sunglasses that were perched on his nose.

“Agent Adams.” Celestia replied in a similar tone, the two of them seemed to be sizing one another up. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you visiting my humble island? It can’t be time for my yearly evaluation, can it?”

“No.” Adams said as he walked towards Celestia’s beach chair, his open jacket fluttered slightly as a soft breeze blew in from the ocean. “I’m here because of our agreement, Dawnguard. The Agency needs information, information about arcane artifacts.” Celestia stared at the man for a couple seconds, then sighed and looked back to her book. She set it to the side and turned her full attention back to Adams.

“Mmm… What can I tell you that you can’t learn from my sister?” Celestia asked, Adams adjusted his tie and maintained a stoic scowl.

“The Farlands.” Adams said simply, Celestia stared at him quietly. “We know that during your time in control of Equestria you sent dozens of expeditions, mysteriously all their findings were destroyed as Equestrian forces were withdrawing from Canterlot during the war.”

“Surely the Onorussian Government has the resources to launch their own expeditions.” Celestia said flatly. “What makes you think that I know anything about the Farlands? They weren’t of much importance to me.”

“Everybody lies, Dawnguard. Even you.” Agent Adams flatly reminded her. “It makes sense that you would hold back information, that’s the only way you can cut time off of your exile, by sharing it with us.” Adams looked around the island for a couple moments, then back at Celestia. “We’ve found more than a few artifacts that point to ancient experiments with the intention of creating portals to inhabited worlds. As you know, transdimensional warfare is something the high command is very interested in.”

“I’m aware, yes…” Celestia replied with a slight huff, she leaned her head back in her seat and looked up at the clear blue sky. “You could’ve asked me about this at one of my evaluations, but you chose to make a personal visit instead…” Celestia trailed off for a couple seconds, then looked at Adams with a worried expression. “You found something… Didn’t you?” Adams remained quiet, his expression stoic as before. Celestia felt a pit forming in her stomach, nothing good had ever come out of the Farlands, many a villain had called it home in a time long ago.

“What do you know about a glowing orb.” Adams asked flatly, Celestia felt the pit growing even more than it was before. “Our scientists have been examining it and the area where it was found, we’ve found remains… Alicorn remains, as well as the remains of two sets of bones from a species that we haven’t seen before.” Celestia swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat, Adams could see she appeared to be uncomfortable. “What do you know?”

“All I can tell you is what I remember from when I was very young…” Celestia admitted quietly, she looked towards the sand and sighed. “Luna was too young to remember any of this, but I can still see bits and pieces.” Adams stood their patiently as Celestia gathered her thoughts, images of what had happened flashed through her mind. “Our parents were scientists, they were part of a project to ‘build a bridge’ between worlds… I had no idea what they meant at the time, only that they were very excited.”

“What does this have to do with the orb and the remains?” Adams asked in his usual stoic raspy voice, Celestia closed her eyes tightly to think.

“I believe the Orb you discovered is their life’s work, or part of it at least… An artificial trans-dimensional portal, one created through more science than magic…” Celestia explained quietly, the pit in her stomach had yet to go away. “The portals you use to go between Terra and Equis are mere toys compared to that orb…” Adams continued to look at her quietly, the only sound between them was the lapping of the waves against the shore. “All the evidence that was destroyed during our retreat, every scrap of paper, every artifact, every single log entry… I had been searching for that orb, but not to use it. The Farlands were created because of that orb, an entire continent turned to ruin, my entire species reduced to my sister and I.”

“So you’re telling me that we should destroy it?” Adams asked, Celestia shook her head.

“Destroying it would do even more damage… No, you must contain it, build an entire fortress devoted to never letting it see the light of day.” The Alicorn replied firmly. “You found remains that you can’t identify next to a doorway between worlds, a doorway to a world you don’t know anything about…” Celestia was sitting fully upright at this point, looking directly at Adam’s eyes, even with his sunglasses on. “Some doors… Are never meant to be opened.”

“I’m sure my superiors will take your suggestion under advisement. We’ve scheduled an expedition deeper into the Farlands in a couple years, who knows, maybe you’ll be out of exile by then… If not, don’t worry, I’ll bring you a souvenir” Agent Adams said in his usual raspy voice, Celestia sighed as she could tell that he likely wasn’t taking her seriously. “Go ahead and enjoy your book, Dawnguard. I’ll be seeing you.” With that Adams turned and began walking along the beach, Celestia looked towards her book for a couple moments. When she looked back in the direction of Adams she had found the large young man had seemingly vanished, as usual. The former princess sighed and leaned back in her seat, trying to think of a way to get her point across. If only she had more time…

[♠]

Blueblood smirked to himself as he sat in his study, a fire blazing in the fireplace while the stallion looked over the latest blueprints for his newest bomb. The room was adorned with trinkets and other trophies, parts of exploded prototypes, scale models of bombers and fighters, and even a bear skin rug. The walls were covered mostly with book cases, though there were also classical paintings from the glory days of the Crystal Empire. Blueblood had worked hard to get where he was, designing weapons for both the Crystal Empire and the other nations of the world that feared the Onorussians. This had earned him a spot at the top of the Onorussian’s Most Wanted List, but Blueblood wasn’t concerned.

At the moment he was at his vacation home on a small island off the coast of the Minotaur Republic, the Minotaurs were one of his best customers, almost as good as the Crystal Empire. Tensions between the Minotaurs and Onorus were at an all time high after evidence of Onorussian involvement in espionage was revealed to the public, that meant that the Onorussians wouldn’t dare send someone after Blueblood for fear of starting another international incident. The stallion reached a hoof up to where his horn had been broken off all those years ago, he would’ve loved to see more harm come to the apes that had taken over Equestria, but at the moment he had to think of a much larger picture.

The blueprints that he had in his possession were part of a new bomb that would’ve been effective against Onorussian tanks and other armored targets. To Blueblood, the destruction of that super power had become his life’s work, his constant struggle for vengeance against the one that had left him hornless and homeless in a desert. He wanted to take every chance he could to ensure the maximum amount of pain was inflicted on the enemy, even at the cost of lethality. The stallion felt untouchable, like a god of death preparing himself to reap the souls of the guilty. With all the money he had made, he could begin putting his plan for revenge into motion.

Blueblood stopped mid thought as he heard the door to his study swing open with a slight creak, the stallion slowly turned towards the door to see if who it was. He assumed it was one of his staff, but that thought was quickly dashed as he found himself staring at a squad of tall bipedal figures in black fatigues and ski-masks. Each of them was holding an assault rifle, and each was pointed directly at Blueblood. The stallion grinned to himself, these apes would capture him and take him to their country, thus creating an international incident… There could even been a war. That was the last thought to run through the stallion’s head as the Onorussian hit squad pulled the triggers on their weapons, bullets tore through the office and books, as well as Blueblood.

The stallion gasped loudly for breath as he looked down at himself, bullet holes were scattered all over his body and blood was seeping out of each one. Blueblood collapsed to the floor as the hit squad began scouring the room for documents and information. While the stallion lay on the floor, he saw one of the assailants walk up to him, standing over him with his rifle pointed at Blueblood’s head.

“The Imperator warned you, all those years ago…” The masked figure said, Blueblood’s eyes went wide. He knew that voice, the voice of the man that had taken his horn and his dignity. “He told you that if you went against us he would end you.” The stallion could see the hate in those intense blue eyes that stared down at him, Blueblood hadn’t seen that much hate since he had had his horn snapped off.

“Sir, we’ve gathered the intel.” One of the other figures announced, the man standing over Blueblood looked at them and nodded.

“Rig the charges.” The man ordered, the other figures began going about different tasks, leaving Blueblood with the leader of the group. The man placed a large boot on the stallion’s throat, then kicked downwards, crushing Blueblood’s windpipe. The stallion writhed around for a couple moments before he went still, the blood stopped oozing from his wounds. The man removed his boot from the throat of Blueblood and walked over to one of the tables, resting on it was a humidor filled with numerous cigars. “It’d be a sin to leave these behind.” The man said as he picked up the humidor and tucked it under his arm. “Let’s wrap it up here, boys.” The others nodded, they had been planting explosives around numerous points in the house, especially in the study. After a couple minutes the charges were set and the Onorussian hit squad had slipped out the back door, making their way towards a group of Zodiac boats on the beach.

The sound of explosions ripped through the quiet night air, massive plumes of fire and smoke arose in the sky as Blueblood’s vacation home became splinters and rubble. Burning papers and books landed on the ground around the destroyed structure, illuminating the area while the booming blasts covered the sound of the zodiacs as they made their way out to see. Faintly visible from the coast was the outline of an Onorussian submarine, but the minotaurs that lived there were too focused on the exploding house to notice the Sub as it slipped beneath the waves.

[♠]

The sound of air raid sirens running their usual test pattern was something Altair had gotten used to over the years, it happened with such efficiency that he could set his watch by it if he wanted to. The Twelve year old sat at his new desk, it was very big, but his dad had said he’d ‘Grow into it’ eventually. It was made of sturdy cherry wood, and Altair liked that it had so many drawers for him to hide things in. Normally he would’ve slid away from his desk to go and get some dinner, but it was one of those nights where all the members of his family had been called away on business of varying types. Altair didn’t feel like going to eat yet, especially since he didn’t want to talk with the castle staff.

The boy instead picked up his ball point pen and looked at one of the things that had come with his desk, a very large leather bound book with hundreds of blank pages. He had already written on the first page ‘This Journal is Altair Occisor’s’, though his handwriting was atrocious. It felt nice to have a place to jot down his thoughts and to occasionally doodle in, his very own fortress of solitude, condensed down into the pages of a book. With his pen in hand, Altair flipped to one of the blank pages and began to write, it wasn’t much of anything, just what had happened to him that day. How he had spent time in the garden with his Mother, how he’d watched TV with his Mom, and how his dad had introduced him to some sort of music called ‘Blues’, something that Altair liked a lot more than he thought he would.

Of course, every word he wrote was illegible to anyone but him, but no one else would be reading the journal but him. The sirens outside died down while his pen scratched against the paper, it became the only noise that seemed to fill the room, which helped to sooth Altair’s mood. He would’ve felt better if he could listen to more of ‘The Blues’, but for the moment he didn’t have access to his father’s Blues albums. That annoyance was jotted down on the paper, and that seemed to make him feel better, letting his thoughts out into his journal seemed to be relaxing. The boy paused his writing and put a hand to his cheek, sighing as he felt the scar that had resulted from a disease he had had when he was younger… People always seemed to stare. These thoughts too were added to the journal. All in all, Altair figured he’d be jotting down his thoughts about the days gone by for the rest of his life, there certainly seemed to be enough pages...

Author's Note

Well, here's the first chapter in what I hope will be a good foray into slice of life. Go ahead and comment below, I'm interested in your thoughts.

As with the last story, I'm gonna post something funny or cool for you guys to watch. Here's you clip of the day.