Warrior of Harmony

Celestia stood upon her balcony just outside her chambers as she gazed out over the city of Canterlot as it pushed outward from the side of the tall mountain giving the inhabitants a breathtaking view of the land below and beyond. If Celestia focused she could just see the small town of Ponyville which stood near the dark mass of trees that was the Everfree Forest. Air Ships took off or landed at the port on the edge of the city where the docks stood creating an often dashing view as their sails caught the warm breeze that tugged at her golden dress. The dress was held to her waist by a string of white pearls, the neckline plunged giving a generous show of cleavage and her flat stomach before forming to her slim waist and motherly hips. The back was left open to allow her white wings room to move if she needed them to. Her shoulders were bare while her forearms were gold bracers, a few gold cords wrapped around her calves. She let the summer air wash over her as she enjoyed the peace and quiet over the clamor of the Lords Hall where she met with the nobles to discuss plans or laws that would help Equestria. Her eyes turned from the city and looked at the sky as it remained in the moment of twilight before she would finish her routine of setting the sun. Where once hundreds of Unicorns would gather to perform the task now only Celestia was required she ignited her horn and finished her duty of lowering the sun to bring on the night.

As the sky darkened Celestia let out a sad sigh as she watched the stars twinkle to life in the dark sky above her. It had been on this day a long time ago when she had banished her sister Luna who had turned into the horrible creature Nightmare Moon. Their battle had destroyed their old home which was now a ruin slowly decaying in what has become a very dangerous place. Celestia wrapped her arms around her self as the night air cooled quickly removing the warmth her sun had brought to the air. Her golden dress billowed behind her like her ethereal mane and tail, she wore the regular regalia of her position as Princess of Equestria. She had never thought to rule alone and it pained her every day to not see her sisters smiling face or hear her laughter as they played but as the years passed and the ponies praised Celestia more and more forgetting her sister it was no surprise that Luna had turned to darker powers.

Celestia blamed herself in part she had basked in the adulation of the ponies who looked up to her with loving smiles and words of praise for her beautiful sun. She had let her vanity blind her to the pain her sister was in as she was ignored by the ponies who hid from her stary nights and instead slept in their homes ignoring the beauty her sister made with the stars moonlight. When the moon did not set that day so many years ago Celestia had not asked kindly only demanded that her sister do her duty she had not listened or even tried to talk to her after so many years of praise from the ponies had caused her to forget she did not rule alone. The battle had been fierce magics unleashed that had torn the palace apart as sister fought sister. In the end, Celestia was forced to use the Elements of Harmony against Luna but they were not meant for one pony or even Alicorn to wield alone and forcing them to work had altered her mane from it's pink to its now ethereal appearance with the colors of dawn shimmering in it. As for Luna instead of cleansing her of Nightmare Moon, she was instead imprisoned in the moon creating the silhouette of a horned pony on the face of the moon later called the Mare in the Moon.

Her sister was gone. Gone and locked away because alone Celestia had not been strong enough to make the Elements work properly. As the weight and realization of what she had done settled upon her Celestia had been consumed by grief she wept and tried to undo what she had done but the elements no longer responded to her and had become stone. She remembered moving the court to Canterlot as she took over her sister's duties of raising and lowering the moon, the elements sealed in the old castle to await when they were needed again or chose a new wielder.

Pushing the memories from her mind Celestia again ignited her horn and felt for the moon, as always she felt a sense of malice from the moon no doubt her sister's spirit which was trapped in the moon sensing her magic take hold of her moon to move it. Celestia watched as the moon rose into the night sky lighting the darkened world with its pale glow. Then Celestia felt something she was not prepared for...pain. Sudden and intense pain not from her but the moon as something collided with it, moments later Celestia looked up in time to see a ball of fire streak over the city for an instant it was as though day had returned. She could hear screams from the city as ponies who were still out and about saw the roaring ball of fire as it flew past them and then with a ground-shaking crash which shook the city sending Celestia stumbling forward where she clutched the railing of the balcony. She looked in the distance where the object had crashed and saw the faint glow of the fire the object had left in its wake. Whatever it was must have been larger than it had been when it clipped the moon and fell to the earth or the tremor could've done more damage, the pain soon went away as Celestia finished raising it though she had never felt something like this before. She was first concerned about her sister but then turned her attention to the glow just a few miles from Canterlot before she heard furious pounding at her chamber door.

Recovering quickly Celestia hurried to the door and opened it surprising the guard on the other side as she brushed past him and began walking down the hall with at a quick pace which caused the guard to have to jog to keep pace with her. He hadn't had time to speak and Celestia could make an accurate guess as to why he had come to her, then an instant later she ignited her horn and quickly teleported her and the unaware guard to the throne room. The guard stumbled and fell as they had not expected to be suddenly teleported by the princess who was still walking. In the throne room were a number of Guard Captains led by Commander Nightlight who was looking more nervous than usual. When the blue-coated stallion saw the Princess he rushed over and did a half bow as Celestia came to halt and before she could even ask he spoke.

"I have guards calming the populace as we speak your majesty and I have dispatched Pegasi and Thestral Guards to the crash site with a contingent of Magi to quell the fires," he said his tone full of respect as he gave her a quick report of the actions he had taken before her arrival.

"Ever on top of things Commander Nightlight," Celestia said though she could tell something was off with her commander with the way he was looking uncomfortable in his armor that night and often glanced toward the city. "What's the matter?" she asked showing concern for her loyal subordinate.

"Twilight Velvet is in the Hospital my Princess," he answered and Celestia's eyes widened at the news.

"Is she hurt? Or..." she was cut off by a chuckle and nervous smile from Nightlight.

"Nothing so serious Princess our latest addition was over eager to join the world," he clarified and had Celestia smiling brightly.

"I see that's very good news," Celestia said genuinely happy for the Commander, "This makes number two I'm sure Shining Armor is happy to be a big brother," she added getting a laugh and nod from Nightlight. "Back to the matter at hand are the guards ready?" she asked and Nightlight nodded as he motioned one of his men over who was holding his silver helm that matched his silver armor which marked all the Night Guards. He slipped the helm on and nodded to Celestia as the guards grouped in around the princess.

"The Guard is ready my Princess," he said saluting her while watching her ignite her horn replacing her golden dress with golden armor instead.

"Then let us be on our way," Celestia continued and with a flash teleported all the guards and herself to the crash site.

*******Crash Site**********

Arriving at the crash site Celestia was greeted by the sight of a smoking wreck Magi were running around dousing flames or just trying to get a look at the object to figure out what it was. As she took a step her hoof crunched on something that sounded like glass and looked down to see she had stepped on some shard of glass. Looking back at the object a wave of smoke enveloped her and she couldn't see through it at first but it thinned with a beat of her powerful alabaster wings. The Guards were already moving about clearing broken trees or stamping out small fires, as Celestia's eyes looked through the smoke at the object. It was impossible to tell the original shape of the object with how damaged it was but if she looked she could see places where it appeared one could walk through but the debris made it hard to tell. It was made of metal she could tell though parts of it were glass perhaps to let the crew watch the stars that would mean there might be survivors. The beating of wings filled the air as the Thestrals and Pegasi thinned the smoke some more as a pair landed in front of her. One was a Thestral who was wearing the silver armor of the Night Guards while the Pegasi wore the flight suit of the Wonderbolts which left only her mane and tail visible.

"Captain Nightshade, Commander Spitfire," Celestia said in greeting as Thestral and Pegasi saluted her.

"Princess," the two said in unison as they bowed respectfully.

"What do we have here?" Celestia asked walking toward the smoking wreckage.

"Well..if I had to hazard a guess I'd say a chunk of something metal," Commander Spitfire said as she watched Unicorns in robes blast jets of water from their horns to douse flames where they could.

"More like a chunk of a ship made of metal," put in Captain Nightshade as she looked up and frowned at the moon. Celestia didn't need to look to know she was looking at the silhouette of her sister. The Thestrals were a newly discovered Tribe of bat-winged ponies who had lived in mountains coming out only at night, if she had found them sooner maybe Luna would not have fallen to Nightmare Moon. Celestia had come to them alone and asked them to join the other tribes as part of Equestria. It had been hard at first for the ponies to accept the Thestrals especially with their diet which was omnivorous meaning they ate meat but slowly over the years, the Thestrals were just another tribe of ponies though rarely seen in daylight as the sun made it hard for them to see.

"A ship?" Celestia asked which brought the Thestral back from her thoughts.

"Yes your Majesty I can see areas that one could walk into I sent a few of my Thestrals inside since we can see in the dark," she answered.

"I advised her we should wait for you and Commander Nightlight," Spitfire chimed in and before she could go on one of the Thestrals that Nightshade had spoken of appeared running out of the wreckage.

He saluted Celestia when he got close before giving his report, "We've found the crew...though they did not survive but we did find a survivor," the Thestral said confusing the mares and Commander. "Perhaps I should show you," the Thestral added before turning to the wreckage.

"Yes we had better see this ourselves, a people who can travel through the stars," Celestia said as she tried to come to grips with the implications this had for Equestria and Gia herself. The four of them followed the Thestral guard into what had once been a large vessel, their way was slow as they had to squeeze past places where debris had blocked the path. As they were swallowed up by the darkness inside Celestia and Nightlight conjured balls of light for those with no night vision the two Thestrals quickly adjusted to the lights which floated above their conjurers. Celestia was amazed that it had held up so well after first crashing into the moon then Gia. They passed Halls and what looked like a room for sleeping everything inside was either broken or under debris, soon they came to a large chamber the walls lined with odd-looking objects but what caught Celestia's attention was the torn out section that was churned dirt and twisted metal. This must have been made when the vessel struck the moon. The Night Guard led them to a group of Thestrals who were surrounding one of the odd objects that was in far better shape than the others. Several of them had been opened and the contents laid on the floor and covered with sheets, Celestia could assume they were once the crew of the vessel.

When they reached the group the Thestrals saluted Celestia and backed away from the object, as Celestia approached she saw through the glass front of the object that it held a small infant inside it. The child was bare and she could tell it was a boy, its upper arms had what appeared to be black scales that wrapped around toward its back. Celestia was enamored with the little sleeping child as she approached and placed a hand on the pod the infant had a tuft of bright green hair atop its head and as she looked at it Celestia couldn't help but want to hold it and comfort it. "Is it alive?" she asked looking at the Thestral guards surrounding her.

"It's hard to say the others were...preserved but this one was lit up but we don't know how to open it and not harm the child," one of them finally spoke up. "It's why we sent that one to get the Captain and Commander," they continued stretching their bat-like wings.

Celestia examined the pod closely running her hands over the metal and glass as she tried to find a way to open the pod. Then it suddenly began beeping and a strange voice spoke in a language she couldn't understand but from the hissing, the pod was making she was certain it was doing something. She stepped away when the object made a loud clang and began to open releasing a burst of chilled air, then there was silence as everyone stared at the pod. Celestia moved closer heedless of her guards cautioning words, inside the pod, the infant was beginning to move then the silence was broken as the infant wailed. It was perhaps a motherly instinct that made Celestia scoop the baby out of the pod her fingers finding the scales on its back as she lifted it up. It continued to cry till Celestia brought it to her chest the metal armor fading taking the form of her dress, the baby stopped crying and cuddled up to Celestia clinging to her with its small hands as it shivered from the cold.

"I need a blanket now," she ordered and the normal Thestrals guards jumped to respond. Nightlight came over then and looked down at the infant.

"Odd how only he survived," he said brushing a dark blue fur-coated finger against the bright green hair making it spike up. "What do you intend to do with him?" he asked and Celestia smiled not at him but the baby in her arms and he knew that look. *I'd get mauled if I suggested she hand me the baby now,* he thought back to how Velvet had been when she held Shiny the first time she looked at him just as Celestia was looking at this alien infant now. "Seems he can breathe our air fine," he added as a Thestral returned with the blanket and one of the Magi in tow. Nightlight glared at the Magi never fully trusting the speckled stallion. The Magi had a light gray coat dotted with darker almost black spots that Nightlight saw poking above the neck of his robes which hid the rest of his body making it hard to judge if he was fat or scrawny beneath. His eyes were the most unsettling part about him beetle black and devoid of any emotion his face might show it but the emotion never reached those cold dark eyes. As the stallion drew closer Nightlight noticed the insignia on his robes marked him as one of the High Magi one of the few unicorns that could lead others in moving the sun or moon. Years ago he had tried to convince Celestia to let him and the Council of Magi raise and lower the moon but Celestia had refused to Nightlight's relief.

The Magi approached Celestia giving the covered bodies a curious glance before focusing on Celestia and the child in her arms now wrapped in a warm blanket. "I had heard there was a survivor," he said his voice monotone and even making Nightlight grip his sword a little tighter as he got closer to the princess. "Shame he cannot speak but an examination will at least tell us something," he said and reached for the bundle but Celestia pulled away from him, her wings flared aggressively as she glared at the new stallion.

"I will see to his examination with the doctors back at the palace," Celestia said her tone full of her authority as she wrapped her wings about herself and the infant protectively making Nightlight smile proudly as he took a place that would make it easy to intercept the Magi if he tried anything. "You may examine the ship Lord Shadowfax and be satisfied with that," Celestia finished as she calmed her wings folding back to their normal resting position.

"What of the bodies?" he asked briefly Nightlight thought he saw a flash of anger in those eyes but it was too quick to be sure and might have been a trick of the light from his orb.

"The Commander and the guards will see they are given proper burials," she said nodding to Nightlight who returned the gesture and motioned to the Thestrals who moved forward and carefully began removing the bodies.

"Princess I must protest we have no knowledge what these creatures are or what they might be capable of doing I request-" Shadowfax started but was cut off when Celestia stomped her hoof making a loud clear metallic bang which echoed through the large empty chamber. This was not something Celestia would cater to and Nightlight knew it, he watched the Magi bow and leave. Nightlight noted that the Magi's hands were balled into tight fists and he knew he'd best keep an eye on the Pony.

Nightlight approached Celestia as she resumed coddling the infant, "What do you intend to do with the child?" he asked though he might have an idea already.

"He has no one and is the only one of his kind on our world," she said sadly as she smiled at the mysterious child in her arms, "I'm going to adopt him," she finally finished as she ignited her horn and teleported herself and the babe from the wrecked ship leaving Nightlight to direct the guards and Magi in dismantiling the wreckage and preparing it to be transported to the caves beneath Canterlot.

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Celestia's sudden arrival in the hospital wing of the palace caused the on-duty nurse to panic almost before she noticed that Celestia was unharmed and not even in a panic as she stared down at a bundle in her arms a truly happy smile on her face. When the Princess finally acknowledged the nurse she instructed her to call her personal doctor at once and swore the nurse to secrecy as she was shown the alien infant. The nurse while astonished couldn't help but 'Aww' at the little guy as he slumbered peacefully. In the brighter light of the hospital hallway, Celestia got a much better look at the black scales running over the child's shoulders and down his back noting the odd greenish tint they had in the light. Her doctor arrived in a flash of green the Unicorn disheveled with a tired but fully aware look to his face.

Moments later the doctor had done an examination of the infant once he too was sworn to secrecy while the nurse made a few calls. "Well Princess I can't tell you what he is other than a healthy Colt or male variant of...whatever he is," the doctor said removing the latex gloves he had worn for the examination. "Heavy sleeper too," the doctor noted with a chuckle as he glanced at Celestia who had put a diaper on the baby while he talked. "As for the scales they're natural as far as my examination and scan spell can tell," he continued giving the scales on the baby's back a glance before they were covered in hospital issue baby clothes.

With the examination handled all that was left was the official paperwork for the adoption to make sure it was all legal and that none of the Lords would raise a fuss over her suddenly having a child. For his species, Celestia placed him under Dragon because of his scales. It was around time for her to begin lowering the moon when everything was signed and given the seal of approval by Celestia herself which made the process faster though there were still Beurocrats to deal with that at a later time. Now Celestia was left alone with her newly adopted son who continued to sleep as she ignited her horn, she felt the malice from the moon again but it felt far more subdued after the pain from earlier. Celestia looked up at the moon with its silhouette and smiled, "You're an auntie Luna," she whispered smiling at the moon before she began to lower it, "Happy Birthday my little Spike," she added as she raised the sun.