Chapter 6.

Celestia sat in her bedroom, her face filled with sadness as she watched the moon float in the sky. Her eyes kept on the moon, there came a gentle knock on the door “Come in.” The door opened revealing her mother “Mom, what are you doing still up?”

“I couldn’t sleep, figured you couldn’t sleep as well.” Moonlight said as she brought a small metal cart with some cake and tea “I also brought us a snack.”

Celestia chuckled “Of course, you bring the cakes.”

“I mean, cake always makes me feel better.” She said chuckling as she cut a couple of slices.

“Why did Luna have to leave? Between you and Luna I had some hope, feeling I was doing good in this world and now,” She turned away from her mother and looked out at the world “I have to face father with only you by my side.”

“I know I’m not much help when it comes to your father, Luna has been your rock for most of your life.” Moonlight placed the cake to the side as she kept her eyes on her daughter “You still have your dreams to speak with her when you need her.”

Celestia slowly turned towards her mom “Why did she have to go find herself now? I have till the end of the year before I’m named Queen, once I’m Queen she could have gone off to find herself.”

“Tia, sit.” Moonlight patted her bed and Celestia made her way over and took a seat “There comes a time in everyone’s life where they need to explore, you got to spend time in Cloudsdale for two years, Luna has only ever been with us traveling.” Moonlight took a sip of her tea “It’s her time to find herself.”

“I-I know I shouldn’t be upset with her leaving, yet I feel like she left because of me.” Celestia took the cup of tea and took a sip hoping it might calm her down.

“You know Lulu loves you and would never be upset with you.” Moonlight placed her hand on her daughter’s shoulder “We’ll get through this together.”

Celestia smiled as she knew her mother was right, she took some cake and began to eat some of it “I swear if the cake didn’t make me fat I would eat this every day.”

“I know right!” Moonlight said chuckling as they ate their cake and talked.

The moon was high in the sky as Matthew sat outside on the porch. His mind on what had happened. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and he looked up to see the moon princess herself standing there “I know you lost a close friend but we do need to talk.” Luna said softly. He nodded as he stood and followed the princess inside. He noticed Applejack by the fireplace with the strange pony that was with Luna “Matthew, why don’t you take a seat, you too Applejack.” Matthew took a seat on the couch as Applejack sat next to him. He didn’t know what she wanted. Luna took a seat across from them as she looked for the right words to say “I know you’ve been through a lot so far Matthew, this news should help you feel better.” Luna gave him a light smile “You are my older brother.”

Matthew blinked “W-What?” His mind began to race a mile a minute. Applejack on the other hand looked at him.

“Your mother Moonlight fell in love with a servant, this servant bloodline was that of the Avalon heir.” Luna noticed Matthew was still staring at her and she kept going “He bared the mark of the king, your eye is what gives you away.” She said pointing to his right eye “Our mother thought you were dead, knowing you're alive not only does she fear you may be discovered and killed again.”

“S-So he’s of royal blood on both sides? W-Wait, why are you even tellin’ him this? Wouldn’t it be better ta have him kept hidden?” Applejack asked.

“Matthew is the king of both humans and Ponies and he’s the firstborn son on both sides making Matthew the heir to both thrones.” Luna said as she looked over at Matthew, “Matthew, I cannot force you to become a king, however, I have to at least train you how to be a leader and Fire here will teach you the art of the sword.”

Matthew looked away from Luna as he was lost in his thoughts “I-I have sisters! I have a mother! Y-Yet I’m king! I-I can’t be king! I’m a slave, a worthless slave! T-This has to be a joke! Yet I have family, something I’ve always wanted.” He felt a hand touch his breaking him out of his thoughts and he looked to see Applejack staring at him with concern in her eyes “Ya alright? Ya have been quiet for a good while.”

“S-Sorry! J-Just a lot to take in.” He said, giving her a light smile showing he’s alright. He looked over at Luna who was also slightly concerned “S-So you’re my sister?”

“I am.” She said with a slight smile “And I’m happy I know I have a brother, knowing I have someone like you makes me happy.”

This made Matthew happy knowing his sister was happy to have him “I-I don’t know if I can be a good king.” He looked at the bracelet on his wrist, he was always a slave, he wasn’t a leader. He worked hard in the fields along with helping carry items.

“I know you won’t make a good king.” Luna said being honest with Applejack shooting a glare “Before you bite my head off Applejack let me explain.” Luna stood and made her way over to Matthew so she could explain everything to him “You have been raised to fear ponies, since the day you were born all you’ve known is fear, you weren’t trained in the ways of negotiations or how to act at a royal dinner or even know how to run a war if needed.” She kept her eyes on Matthew “However you are a royal line, it’s my job to protect you and to get you to at least lead your people, when the time comes for you to make a choice to be a king or to live a normal life, only you can make that choice.” She placed her hands on his “I will be there with you through everything, and one day Celestia will be with you as well.”

“W-Why isn’t she here?” He asked slightly concerned.

“She doesn’t know, to keep you safe we need to keep this between us, moving forwards we need to get you at least ready for what’s to come.” She said keeping her eyes on Matthew, She lowered down to get a better look at Matthew’s face “I know this is something you are afraid of, I’m with you on that front, the best place for the both of us is your homeland, Avalon, my sister’s student Twilight is there, with her help we can get you ready for the world.”

“W-With this bracelet I-I’m afraid me leaving with you won’t happen.” He said looking at his bracelet, with Sawdust gone the magic within will now inform the slavers his owner was gone and he would be dragged back to the marketplace to be resold.

“Oh, I already know of this Matthew.” Luna placed her hands on his bracelet “I will buy you, so you don-” Matthew pulled away from Luna and stood “I-I cannot let you buy me! W-Were family.”

“Then Ah’ll buy ya Matt.” Applejack said, trying to help.

“No, you will be breaking your own ways, I-I cannot let you all break the way you are for my sake.” Matthew looked away from everyone as he looked to the floor, tears were being fought back, he didn’t want them to break their own rules or even morals on him, he wasn’t this king, he was a worthless human.

“Matt ya goin’ ta be bought by one of us now, we ain’t lettin ya be taken away.” Applejack said “While I’m against ya owning a slave, ya ain’t goin’ to be a slave in my eyes, ya goin ta be free.”

“You can’t Applejack, none of you can own me.” He stood “I can’t let any of you own me.” He quickly moved away from them and up the stairs he went. Leaving the three alone.
“He can’t really stop you two from buying him.” Night Fire said as she watched it all go down.

“I know it goes against his wishes however we need to keep him close,” Luna said with a slight frown on her face, she really didn’t want to own her brother nor did she want Applejack to own him as well. Yet they needed him safe and the only way was to buy him.

“Ya family, you shouldn’t own a family member.” Applejack said, looking at Luna who was still standing nearby.

“Yeah I agree however you have made a strong stance on owning humans, I am known to a family of slave owners, so, me buying a new slave won’t bat an eye.”

“No one is buying me!” They heard him shout “I am buying myself.” a small carry bag hit the table with a thud “T-This is enough to buy myself, no coins by anyone.” They all looked at the coins “T-This way no one bought me.”

Luna counted the coins “H-How did you make this many gold coins?”

“I saved up from Sawdust and from the job I took painting.” He said as he watched Luna count the coins.

“You do know one of our names will be on ya papers right?” Applejack said.

“Y-Yes but this way it doesn’t go against your wishes of owning a human, I paid for myself, I just had to go through one of you two.” He lowered his head, he didn’t feel all that right about it however the coins that were going to go towards an art kit he was wanting will be used to help buy his freedom instead.

“I’ll make this easier on his mind.” Night Fire said stepping forwards “I don’t mind owning Matthew here, since I was already told to do whatever it takes to keep him safe, might as well keep both of you out of the spotlight.”

“Are you sure?” Luna asked.

“It keeps you two from owning a human one being your brother,” Night Fire looked over at Applejack “And the other being a lover.” Night Fire said making everyone look at her with a shocked look on their faces.

“Now hold on! We ain’t lovers, we’re friends.” Applejack said with some red on her cheeks.

“It’s no matter whether or not both of you will be in the clear.” Night Fire said as made her way towards the door and left the three alone.

Luna looked at Matthew and Applejack “There is much we still need to discuss however, I think it will be best if we all get some rest, I know a lot has been thrown upon you Matthew, try and get some rest.” She said following Night Fire out the door.

The damp tunnel that ran under the ruins of the castle slowly began to glow with light as Twilight walked through the tunnels with magical orbs floating around her lighting the way.

“These tunnels are weird, it’s like some are made like decoys.” Blaze said as he marked an X at the entrance of the tunnel as a dead end.

“The castle in Canterlot has tunnels that lead to dead ends, it’s so those chasing get lost.” Twilight as she sent an orb forwards down a tunnel nearby “Ah my orb found a large chamber!” Twilight said with excitement. The two made their way down the tunnel and the chamber reviled a large cavern and a large metal vault door “I think we found what we were looking for.” Twilight sent her orbs to surround the door to shed more light and what surprised her was the strange ruins around the door. Two large metal swords were locked within a shield which looked to be the locks on the door to open the vault. The shield had words carved “The eyes of our king shall forever seal these doors.”

“These doors are sealed with a magic I’ve never seen before.” Blaze said touching one of the runes and it lit up in blacklight and shocking him, Twilight quickly rushed to Blaze’s side only to see Blaze was fine “Huh, this must be why the king couldn’t destroy it back in the day, it’s a protection spell.”

“You alright?” Twilight asked still concerned.

“Yeah I’m fine, just a slight shock nothing to worry about.” Blaze said with a grin.

Twilight examined the ruins “This is old indeed, something about screams older than Equestria.” She pulled out a book from her bag as she began to read and try and find anything about the runes.

“While you study those I’ll head back up and grab some more items so we can try and figure this out.” Blaze said as Twilight was lost in her own thoughts. He just left her alone as he went back to the surface.

After a while Twilight managed to translate some of the runes “Huh, what does chaos have to do with this door?”

The morning sun started to rise as Matthew who hasn’t been to sleep, his mind still racing with what-ifs, Matthew kept looking at his hands then back outside as if he was expecting to wake up from a dream. A soft knock interrupted his thoughts as he looked at it “It’s me Applejack, came ta check up on ya.”

Matthew stood and made his way over towards the door and opened it “I-I’m doing fine.”

Applejack could tell Matthew hadn’t slept with the dark circles under his eyes “You haven’t been to sleep, which tells me ya been thinking hard about everything.”

“It’s a lot to take in, everything I thought I was has been flipped upsidedown.” His mind then started going back into many thoughts and he was quickly taken out of his thoughts as he felt Applejack hand land on his shoulders and he looked back at her, that’s when he noticed the dark circles as well under her eyes as well “She’s been up all night as well.”

“A lot has indeed been thrown on your plate, however, you have ponies here to help you through it.” She said with a smile which made Matthew smile.

“T-Thank you,” Matthew said feeling his cheeks lightly heat up.

“You should try and get some sleep, Ah’ll wake ya when we have some food made.” Applejack said as she removed her hand from his shoulder.

He nodded as he felt a bit of relief yet he knew there was much to do and his mind was still in a haze on what he can do.

With Applejack gone Matthew laid down and slowly tried to let his mind rest and hopefully calms down a bit. As he slowly fell into a deep sleep he felt a strange sense wrap around his mind, it didn’t feel right and his eye felt off as if it was telling him something was wrong. He found himself standing in front of a strange door and strange laughter coming from within, he felt a jolt run through his system as he awoke to find the sun had moved to a lower spot in the sky. He let out a calm sigh as he figured the lack of sleep was messing with him.

“Chaos.” He heard a voice say causing him to look around.

“H-Hello?” He asked out loud to no answer “I-I think I need some food.” he said as he felt a rumble in his stomach.

Celestia stood in the grand throne room as her father looked down upon her “I will be leaving across the seas, in my sted you will be in charge of some key things.” He said as he kept his back turned towards his daughter as he spoke “This will be your test to see if you’re ready to rule or if we need more time to teach you.” He turned back towards Celestia with some hate in his eyes as he looked at his daughter “Three weeks you have to prove you are ready.” He said as he walked past her “You start today.”

Celestia smiled, she knew what she had to do and she wouldn’t let her father stop her from showing she doesn’t need a stallion to rule this country “I will make you proud.” The last part made her feel sick to her stomach yet she knew she had to say that to keep him from staying.

“Now with your father gone, we have a list of things for you to do.” A dragon said as a scroll fell to the ground “Lots of items today and so little time.”

Celestia put on her best smile and went with the dragon to do her royal duty.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait and a short chapter life and all!