Equestria Metrion Zinthos prologue
Celestia strode through the city, struggling with the mixture of disgust and pity. She never liked to leave to leave her dimension but sometimes her duties as a solar deity required it, and at least she was finished and ready to go home. Unfortunately that meant coming here, this cesspit of a city was the closest place where the walls between realities were weak.
Her head snapped to the side, and she watched in shock as a green haired man with a face covered in some sort of white paint jumped ran across a rooftop and jumped to another, pursued by a man wearing a costume that seemed to have been inspired by her sister’s guards. Shaking her head, she turned away from the strange tableau, this wasn’t her world, and for one these weren’t her problems to solve. Still, walking through this city did drive one thing home, this was why she spent her time riding herd on greedy nobles and corrupt politicians, so none of her little ponies ever had to live someplace like this.
Absently, she tapped her fingers against her legs as she walked. While the body imposed by this reality was strange, it wasn’t as bad as some. A memory of having dozens of slimy tentacles with which to move an amorphous blob of a body was interrupted by a scream. As she turned and saw the source of the scream, she felt her lips draw back to bare her teeth. This might not be her world, but there were limits to what she could live with ignoring.
An obviously pregnant woman struggled to escape a pair of robed men. As the two men got a firm hold of the woman’s arms and began to drag her towards an all, Celestia began to channel her power. Sunlight erupted from her body and balls of Sunfire encased her clenched fists. As she walked towards the three people, she schooled her expression, forcing it into a pleasant smile.
“And what is going on here?” she sighed internally as she realized her present body was incapable of producing the Royal Canterlot voice.
“None of your business.” Even as one of the men snarled a reply, he kept his eyes on the woman he dragging.
Though Celestia kept smiling, she quickly walked between the men and the alley they were intent on reaching.As one looked up and actually saw her for the first time she saw fear enter their eyes. Unfortunately, the fear quickly vanished, replaced by an arrogant sneer.
“Move. This woman belongs to lord Scath and if you stay where you are, your blood and soul soon will as well.”
Standing her ground, Celestia watched impassively as one of the men released his hold on the woman. As he screamed something in an unintelligible language and gestured as her shadows and formed a spiked chain that promptly flew towards her. A tiny part of her, one she didn’t even like to admit existed, enjoyed the sudden look in the men’s eyes as the sunlight surrounding her melted the chain. That enjoyment only grew as she watched the fear morph into terror as she ideally swung one of her hands through an iron lamppost, melting everything that came within a foot of her hand. As the men screamed and ran that same part of her urged her to chase them, reduce them to ash, show them how she and her sister had unified the ponies and driven back all those who would pray on them.
“Not only did you witness their crimes,” Came the quiet whisper. “They admitted what they intended to do to you just for trying to help this woman. This world would be better without them, it’s not like their even ponies.”
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath Celestia firmly pushed that part of her back, suppressing it the way she always did when it whispered to her. The balls of Sunfire encasing her hands vanished and the sunlight that radiated from her from her faded in intensity until it was little more than a faint glow. Smiling gently at the woman who was now shaking and leaning against the side of a building, she extended a hand. Her eyes widened as, instead of taking the hand, the woman threw herself against her and wrapped her arms around her, then promptly started crying. Wrapping her own arms around the woman, Celestia spent the next couple of minutes simply making comforting noises as the woman cried.
“What’s your name?” Celestia had waited until the other woman’s sobs had finally stopped before asking the first of the several questions she had.
“Arella, Arella Roth”
Celestia’s heart sank as she listened to the report from one of the castle maids.
“And you’re sure it was a suicide attempt, not an accident?”
Though she asked the question, in her heart, Celestia already knew the answer. Since being brought to Equestria, Arella had twice tried to destroy the child growing in her, but both times she’d been defeated by its magic. Even unborn, the foal had a massive amount of magical power and apparently instinctively knew how to use it to preserve its life. She supposed she should have anticipated this as a logical next step.
“I’m sorry, there’s no doubt. To have been that far from the cliff’s base, she must have been at a full gallop when she went over the cliff. A Pegasus saw her as she was falling but couldn’t reach her before she hit the ground. According to the Pegasus, something was already healing her by the time he got there.”
Celestia blinked rapidly, fighting back tears. “Where is she? I’ll talk to her.”
Celestia looked at the newborn foal that slept on the tiny bed in front of her. It was light gray with a tiny violet mane. Arella had insisted on leaving the room the moment the foal was born, refusing to even give it a name, but Celestia had stayed. As she looked down at the abandoned foal and felt its magic, she made a choice shed been debating since she’d brought Arella to Equestria and heard her story. There was still more than a quarter century before her sister would make her return, plenty of time to take on one more student, or possibly even two. She smiled as she looked at the foal’s spirit and lowered her head until her muzzle was almost touching the foal’s ear.
“Raven. Your name is Raven little one.”
Author's Note
Time flows at a slightly different rate on Equestria and Earth, the main story takes place not to long after Twilight's ascension and two years after the Titans defeat The Brotherhood of Evil.
