In Which Celestia is the Only Sensible One
In the beautiful land of Equestria, particularly in the marble city of Canterlot, seated upon a mountain like the crown jewel of a brilliant circlet of white, all was peaceful, and all was serene.
Celestia, gazing outside the wide open windows of her private quarters, sighed contentedly as she basked in the rays reflected by the alabaster walls of the mountain city. She ruffled her wings a little, almost tempted to go for an unscheduled flight that day. The weather was perfect, and there was not that much paperwork to be done on her part. Yes, the conditions seemed almost perfect for a brief flight, as she had been feeling cooped up in the palace as of late, and a brief excursion would do her some good. Perhaps she could even invite Luna to join her; her sisters quarters were not that far from her own, and all it would take would be a quick stop on the balcony to her room and everything would be good to go.
Or at least, they would be, if not for one small, little, tiny problem that was currently nagging in her ear about something or other. Maybe if she closed her eyes it would stop.
She closed them.
No such luck. Drat, and it seemed that the disturbance was only growing in intensity with every passing second that went by, slowly but gradually turning an otherwise perfect day into a chore. Oh, now it was calling her name, saying something about indignation of the plebians or some such. It was not a new topic of conversation unfortunately, and Celestia found herself wishing that executions were still a thing. They used to be all the rage back then, whatever happened to them?
Oh, that’s right. She got rid of them, outlawed them as heinous acts of cruelty that only engendered feelings of loathing for generations. Although, as of right now the practice did seem to be rather enticing to her, almost as much as wasting the rest of the day just flying. Not quite there, but almost.
And now it was addressing her by name. If she didn’t respond soon it would only get louder. Celestia doubted anypony would be able to withhold themselves if this continued for much longer. Heaven knows that she was steadily approaching her limit. If the twitching eyeballs of her guards were anything to go by, it would not be long before they would be forced to do something drastic.
“I see what you are saying, dear nephew,” Celestia voiced, finally putting an end, temporary it may be, to Bluebloods prattling. “However, if you have a grievance with the common folk, there are a myriad of other, less irksome ways of relaying your concerns to their ears.”
“But Auntie,” the perfectly trimmed, perfectly coifed stallion whined, sprawled out across Celestia’s personal reading couch. The princess had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything. “You just don’t understand the pains that I’ve gone through, all thanks to those hooligans. How can anypony even begin to understand the contributions that the Blueblood family name has made to their benefit, if there isn’t something honoring those contributions.”
“And I suppose you have something in mind?” Celestia said, regretting the question as soon as it left her mouth. For the past two hours both she and her staff had been subjected to the near constant demands, complaints and general whining of her nephew, and in all honesty she was not sure how much more she could take as Prince Blueblood hopped off the reading couch, procuring a set of blueprints and plans, not to mention easel to showcase them, from seemingly nowhere.
“I’m glad that you asked dear Auntie.”
“I’m not,” Celestia said beneath her breath, but was unable to do much more than listen absentmindedly as Blueblood proceeded with his presentation. She continued to look out the window, dreaming of getting to stretch her wings sometime this century.
“Now, if you will look here for just a moment, these graphs here indicate that Canterlot culture has been rather stagnant lately, especially in the field of the arts.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And as you are well aware, such stagnation would result in the degradation of our beautiful city, and as such something must be done in order to educate the, ugh, common pony of the importance of maintaining the purity of our customs.”
“Mh-hm.”
“As such, I propose that we place objects of high-class art at various location throughout our fair city, so that none may forget what is important. I personally would suggest statues, highlighting the permanence of our traditions.”
Having long since lost any interest in what her nephew was blathering on about, Celestia’s attention was curiously drawn to a little bright speck in the sky above the palace. “Hmm?”
Blueblood continued. “I, of course, would be more than willing to spearhead the endeavor, as I would take on the difficult task of being the model for such pieces.”
“What is that?” Celestia questioned aloud to nopony in particular, and she tilted her head as if to gain a better view of the dot. Was Luna playing tricks on her again? Not an uncommon occurrence, but something in Celestia’s gut told her that this was not the case.
“Er, Auntie?”
Shaken out of her momentary fixation by Blueblood, Celestia attention was still largely focused on the dot as she said distractedly, “Hmm? O-oh yes, that is fine Blueblood, whatever you think is best.”
Seeing as this was the first time Blueblood had ever gotten her seal of approval on, well anything, Blueblood’s jaw dropped upon hearing this. “R-really?! Oh yes! Thank you Auntie! I promise that you will not regret this.”
“Uh-huh,” was Celestia’s only response, having forgotten all about her nephew and his prattling, not even bothering to watch him leave to do whatever it was he was talking about. Right now, her concern regarding this little bright speck in the sky was starting to grow to the point where she feared something terrible was about to occur. Her concern exploded into full blown worry when the dot suddenly expanded into what she could only assume was a portal of some sort, a deep blue hue with grid-like lines of white that were drawn eternally towards an inky black center.
“Oh dear,” Celestia said, supposing she should do something about that.
Waiting patiently in the courtyard with an entourage of Royal Guard ponies, Celestia watched in a mild apprehension as the portal continued to linger above the palace, appearing not to be going away any time soon. Not for the first time she was reminded of Twilight Sparkle’s recounting of her ordeal involving one Starlight Glimmer and her altercation with time portals and whatnot. Celestia wondered if something similar was going on here, but she had yet to hear back from her former student regarding the matter, and it had been a whole two minutes since she sent a message via dragon-breath. Twilight must be busy with something to have not responded after so long.
Or maybe Spike was busy using restroom. It would not be the first time one her letters had unintentionally been lost in the Ponyville sewage system.
In any case, the tension in the air was palpable as everypony in the vicinity stared upward in anxious anticipation at the portal above their heads. Celestia imagined that the situation was much the same down in the city below, perhaps even distant Ponyville, assuming it could be seen from all the way over there.
The screaming and general panic that could be heard, even from the gardens of her palace, was rather concerning regarding her troops ability to get a handle on the situation. The plumes of smoke were rather disconcerting, but she could not be bothered with that right now. She was certain her guards would eventually get a handle on the situation.
Eventually.
The tromp of weary hooves directed Celestia’s attention away from the portal and to her right, where a very tired looking Princess Luna, still dressed in her pajamas, steadily made her way towards the congregation. A cup of coffee express delivered from Donut Joes floated beside her, from which she took an occasional sip.
“Hello Luna,” Celestia greeted.
“Hmm,” was her sisters only reply as she took another swig of her drink, coming to stand next to Celestia. A moment later she blinked her bleary eyes and said, “So, what’s going on? It’d better be good, I was actually getting some decent sleep for once.”
Celestia had to resist the urge chuckle at her sisters quip as she replied, “Well as you can see for yourself, we seem to be in a little bit of a predicament, and presently I am not sure how to handle it.”
Letting out a tired yawn, Luna glanced up at the object in question, squinting her eyes at the odd tear in the in sky. “Well, that wasn’t there before,” she remarked blandly. “Is Discord playing one of his pranks again?”
“I do not believe so. I recall all too clearly the last time Discord decided to cause general mischief in Canterlot, and this is nothing like that.” She hoped so at least. Discord had received a stern talking to from Fluttershy following the incident, and summarily promised never to lace the palace water supply with strange substances ever again.
Before Luna could offer any further commentary, they all noticed that the portal had suddenly begun to emit a bright light from its center, growing brighter and brighter with every passing second until it was almost blinding to look at, forcing everypony watching to avert their eyes.
“Something’s coming through!” Celestia announced. At least, she thought that was case. For all she knew it could be imploding on itself, but it was her best guess. She’d been subjected to late night science fiction marathons by Spike before, so she felt she had a fairly firm grasp on how portals worked, to some degree, and in those the portal always emitted a bright light right before something came careening out of it. As it turned out, her hunch born of late-night cheese-flicks and popcorn binges was actually right for once as the portal flashed brilliantly, and an object, too far away in the distance to see clearly, shot out, leaving a trail of vapor in its wake as the portal disintegrated into nothingness behind it. All around her, her guards were beginning to panic as the object was clearly heading right for them, and both Celestia and Luna prepared to erect shields to protect themselves.
It was at that very moment that Prince Blueblood chose to barge in with a loud and grating, “Oh Auntie, your favorite family member has a surprise for you.”
“What in the-?! Blueblood, what are you doing here now all times?!” Celestia blurted out, barely able to contain her annoyance at his presence as the prince trotted towards them, staff in tow as they struggled to keep up while pulling a large object behind them that was hidden from view by a large tarp.
“And what do you mean by favorite?” Luna added, having found something more important to focus on than the unidentified object careening toward them.
“Well Auntie, as you recall you gave me your blessing to go forward in my plan of fixing Canterlot’s situation with its education in the arts.”
Celestia blinked, and off to the side Luna and a great many Royal Guard gave her an incredulous look as a sound similar to a screeching comet began to echo in their ears. “I did?”
“And as difficult as it was, I do believe I have managed to organize the staff you so generously let me borrow-“
“Since when did I do that?” Celestia questioned, already giving the haggard ponies the signal to leave, go take a break and get some coffee or something.
“-and I must say,” Blueblood continued, unabated by the look Celestia was giving him, not to mention the thing careening towards them at extremely high speed, “I almost thought that we would not be able to get it done to show you, as a fair amount of the sculptors had passed out. The glory and importance of their work was probably too much for them to handle. In any case, allow me to present to you Canterlots future!”
Before Celestia could do anything to stop him, Blueblood ignited his horn in a golden glow, and with a flourish he removed the tarp, uncovering the thing hidden beneath.
Immediately upon seeing it, Celestia’s eyes widened as an embarrassed blush crossed her face. Behind her, multiple Royal Guard ponies turned away, blanching and screaming at what they had just witnessed. Beside her, Luna went incredibly green in the face, her cheeks bulging as she struggled to retain her composure. It was a battle most had already lost, as Celestia could not help but overhear multiple ponies violently ejecting their lunches.
“I. . . uh. . . you. . .” Celestia stammered, struggling for a response, her gaze constantly drawn to a one area in particular. Seeing it now, in its full, unbidden, exposed glory, it was suddenly not that hard to believe why most ponies would be unable to endure the task of actually making it. “It’s, uh, very. . . detailed. . . I will admit that much.” Mercifully, her attention was regained as the sound of the veritable screeching comet hurtling towards them. By her estimates, it would be less than a minute before it landed right on top of them. “However we’re in the middle of something at the moment, so I suggest that you-“
“I’m so glad that you think so Auntie,” Blueblood interrupted, completely unaware of the danger even when it was about to crush him. “Since you feel that feel that way, I’ve also come up with a sort of extension to my original plan.”
“Blueblood. . .”
“I was thinking that instead of just one or two statues showcasing the glory of Canterlot, we have our artisans craft a great many to be placed throughout the city for the whole of Canterlot, no the whole of Equestria to bear witness to.”
“Blueblood, we really should-“
“And after that, we can move beyond mere art as an expression of our greatness, and move on to bigger things. I personally propose starting with the education system. Just think of how many fillies and colts are out there without being educated of what is really important?”
Celestia glanced upward, recognizing that they now had a few short seconds to move to a safe distance before they were blown to smithereens. Rolling her eyes at her nephew, she picked him up with her magic, and promptly teleported both of them as well as her sister and the Royal Guard ponies to a respectable distance from where she estimated the crash site would be. Immediately afterward she conjured a shield, bolstered by Luna’s magic. Shortly afterward the mysterious object made contact with the ground.
The result was a tremendous explosion as dirt and debris were launched skyward, the earth shaking beneath their hooves. Their view obstructed, Celestia was caught off guard as something enormous hurtled past them, narrowly missing the barrier before embedding itself in the side of the palace.
Then, just as quickly as it had begun, it was over, leaving everypony present waiting in anxious anticipation to see what was going to happen next. Risking a quick glance behind her, Celestia took a peek at the object currently stuck in the side of the marble wall. To her, it looked like a massive silvery blue pillar that vaguely resembled something like a bamboo shoot, with several root-like tubes extending out from the end.
Just then the dust finally began to settle, revealing. . .
Blueblood’s statue of himself.
While everypony else let out an audible sigh of disappointment, Blueblood wiped a bead of actual sweat off his brow. “Phew, that was close,” he said. “It would have been an absolute tragedy if it had been damaged.”
Not a moment before those words left the prince’s lips than did a second pillar rise above the cloud of dust, seeming to float independently of anything as it straightened out, standing well above anything else in the garden by a wide margin, before crashing down into the ground, planting itself firmly into the soil, shaking the earth from the impact and sending shockwaves up everypony’s legs.
Blueblood’s statue just so happened to be under it, and in the time took to blink it was reduced to pebbles, a pale shadow of its former ungodly splendor. A moment later a cry of anguish erupted from the princes' mouth as he threw his hooves into the air in despair upon witnessing the destruction the only thing he had accomplished.
Everypony else cheered. Celestia was tempted to join in on the festivities, but at the moment her attention was focused mainly on the pillar before them. Luna had no such reservations, offering to treat all present to a night of drinking in celebration of liberty from unsightly artistry, being met with cries of approval. Unfortunately, Celestia felt the need to curb her sisters’ fun with a nudge of her wing, indicating that there were slightly more pressing matters to attend to.
Leaving Blueblood to his grief the two Princess and the detachment of Royal Guard cautiously approached the object. When they were less than a few dozen feet away from the pillar, a sound akin to a deep, almost synthetic bellow reached their ears, causing armor to rattle and the molars in Celestia mouth to vibrate as another form arose, this one different from the others. In mere moments the object was standing fully upright, towering above the ponies like a pointed mountain and casting them in a long shadow.
Finally the dust settled completely, allowing them all full view of the creature in front of them.
“Oh dear,” Luna said softly, having to bend her head far backward just to see the majority of it, and Celestia could not help but agree with a slight nod of her own head. The creature moved slightly, appeared to rotate its own proportionately tiny head to take in its surroundings. Apparently taking notice of their presence, the creature began the long and seemingly arduous task of bending itself down far enough to get a good look at them.
Celestia was not sure what she was expecting it to look like up close, but she had to admit that the creature possessed a certain air of elegance about it. Only a small mouth could be seen on the lower half of its face, the rest being covered by what appeared to be hair upon initial inspection. However the “hair” did not behave like any sort of mane Celestia had seen, acting more like a smooth sheet of flexible metal if such a thing existed, extending all the way down a segmented neck and past a wide waistline. It had no arms to speak of, at least none that Celestia could see, and its legs were made of a series of root-like appendages similar to those on the pillars, poking out from underneath something that to Celestia resembled a bell shaped dress inlaid with intricate overlapping patterns.
Despite its gracefully benign if somewhat alien appearance, Celestia could still sense an overwhelming amount of strength and power emanating from the creature. A brief glance at Luna confirmed that her sister felt the same thing, as her horn was already alight in preparation to defend herself in the event it chose to attack.
Its curiosity apparently satisfied, the titanic being rose back up to its full height, and the group of stunned ponies bore witness to it as its “legs” began to alternate like those of an insect, allowing it to move at a steady pace forward, every step producing a tremendous thud. Unwilling to be made into roadkill, everypony moved off to the side to avoid being flattened. They had to duck their heads when the pillar uprooted itself from the ground, floating beside the creature independently. The other pillar followed suit, wrenching itself out of the wall and leaving a gaping hole, not to mention a terrified maid, where it once was. Once it had passed them by, Celestia, along with everypony in the immediate vicinity stared after it as it went about its leisurely stroll through the palace garden.
“Well,” Celestia spoke up suddenly, and everypony looked at her. “This is a problem.”
Sighing, Luna raised a hoof to her brow. “I should’ve stayed in bed.”
“I say we destroy it!” one voice shouted. “It is a clear threat that must be dealt with!”
Another voice spoke up. “And how do you propose we do that? Didn’t you see that thing? It’s as big as building, it would crush if you even got close to it.”
“Maybe the answer isn’t fighting dudes and dudettes,” yet another voice drawled, clearly in need of some better life choices. “It hasn’t hurt anypony. I say we try to make peace with our new friend.”
Celestia rubbed her aching temples with her fetlocks, wishing to be anywhere else but here. The throne room, with all of its hard surfaces combined with a spacious interior, was no place for a gathering of ponies to be having a shouting match if one wanted to keep their sanity intact for any length of time longer than five minutes. At least Luna was not here, having to keep watch over their new guest in the garden. With pipes like hers, the palace would be reduced to rubble in but a few moments. As such Celestia had to contend with the panicked masses, a situation she very much wanted to extricate herself from.
Blueblood’s sobbing was not helping.
The arguments continued for upwards of an hour until somepony finally decided to ask the only pony in the room with any sense left for her opinion. “Princess Celestia, what about you? You were able to get rather close to the beast. What do you say we should do about it?”
The room quieted down as soon as the question was asked, everypony waiting on the edge of their proverbial seats for her response. Celestia, still suffering from a migraine brought on by the stupidity of bureaucracy, attempted to ignore the ache in her skull and come up with a satisfactory answer.
“Well, the first thing that must be explained is that we know little to nothing of it,” she said. “This is an entirely new entity, never before seen in Equestria. At the time being we have no idea what its intentions are, or whether it even poses a threat.”
She lied about that last part. Just being around the creature had made the Princess fully aware just how easy it would be for something of that size and power to cause irreparable damage if it so desired. The crater it made was testament to that, and it was why Luna was outside right now to keep an eye on it, after properly inebriating herself with more caffeine than what would be considered safe for any normal pony. Celestia intentionally neglected to let that be known however, feeling it would do more harm than good given how tense the situation already was.
“That being said,” she continued, “you may all rest assured that we are doing everything we can to understand what brought this creature here, as well as if it means any harm. We currently have our best experts working diligently to provide the answers you deserve.”
“What do you have for me Luna?” Celestia asked, landing next to her sister after finding her in the palace garden. “They're starting to get restless in there, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to placate them without being accused of suffering from a neurodegenerative illness. . . again.”
“Wait, you mean you're not?” Luna said, looking at Celestia like she had grown a second horn on her brow.
Celestia sighed, feeling her headache starting to make a vengeful return. “Luna, alicorns don’t suffer from that kind of condition, Twilight already disproved it. Besides, I’m not that much older than you.”
“Well, I was in what one might call a state of suspended animation for a while, so that might have something to do with it. I mean, who knows, you might be completely insane, and you wouldn’t even know it.”
Seeing the wry grin Luna was giving her, Celestia’s countenance turned so sour that it would have curdled Granny Smiths’ hide. “Oh, you did not just go there. You know what, never mind that. Just tell me what you’ve discovered so far.”
Suppressing a chortle, Luna cleared her throat and said, “In all honesty. . . basically nothing.”
“Luna!”
“Well don’t blame me. I’m not that experienced in this kind of field. If you wanted a more satisfactory response to your question, have Twilight do it. She’s the bookish type.
“I would, if she were here. At the moment though she’s not responding to any of my messages, and I’m starting to become concerned as to what she is up to.” Celestia looked up at the creature, which was currently sitting stationary next to a willow tree, much to the chagrin of the pair of birds that had built their nest in it, being none too happy about their new neighbor. From what Celestia had heard, after walking around the palace garden for a little while, leaving trackways and knocking over a few decorative pieces, it had just stopped, planted its pillars into the ground, and there it had stayed for the past few hours while she had been dealing with the bureaucracy. At the moment a contingent of Royal Guard was placed around it, creating a wide perimeter that sectioned off a large portion of the palace. “Until she responds I am left to make do with what I have.”
Rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof, Luna replied with a deep sigh, “Well, we have been able to determine that it is indeed a creature and not a machine of some sort based on its behavior. Its needs seem to be similar to those of plants, as we have learned that it is absorbing nutrients from the soil around it when one of the guards noticed that the flowers around it were starting to wilt.”
“So, it’s a plant then?”
“Perhaps, although I highly doubt that its biology is anything similar to a common weed. I mean, you felt as much as I did how much power it contained. I even cast a minor detection spell, and found that its power has only been growing since it rooted itself in the soil. It's gathering energy for something, though what that is we don't know yet.”
Again Celestia looked at the enormous entity residing in the middle of the garden. If what Luna observed was indeed true, then it could not have chosen a better place to land, if it had a choice in the matter that is, with the possible exception of the Everfree forest. It certainly would have resulted in much less property damage, and her contractor would not be having a fit about the hole in the side of her palace, but in a way she supposed it was better this way. At least here, they could keep in eye on it. If it had landed in those forsaken woods, it would likely be days, even weeks before word reached their ears.
That, and Celestia would be left to deal with the eyesore Blueblood crafted instead, so in the end she decided to count her blessings.
“Have you tried talking to her?” Celestia questioned.
“Not yet. Right now we’re just trying to keep our distance so we don’t unintentionally upset it, although we have come up with plans to-“ Luna stopped herself midsentence, giving her sister a curious look. “Um, ‘her’?”
“Of course. We can’t just keep referring to our guest as ‘it’ all the time. That would be rude of us. And besides, doesn’t it look like a she to you?”
Looking at her sister as though she had now grown a third horn, Luna opened her mouth as if to protest. She apparently decided better of it, shaking her head. “Right. Well, in any case, we have come up with a possible avenue for conversation so that we may be able to speak to. . . her.”
“Only as long as it does not involve use of the Royal Canterlot Voice,” Celestia remarked.
“. . .”
“Luna?”
“. . . Plan B it is then.”
“Luna, are you certain this is the best course of action?” Celestia said, trying very hard to keep her anxiety from showing as she stood just a few short feet away from the creature, reminded once again just how much bigger it was than her. Although she was no slouch and could take care of herself if the situation called for it, she still could not suppress her instinctual skittishness when facing such a titanic entity.
“Don’t worry sister,” Luna called from the faux bush she was hiding in. She lifted the pair of binoculars slung around her neck. “I will be keeping a close watch, and everypony has been ordered to open fire in case anything happens.”
Celestia held her sisters gaze for a few seconds, giving her the stink eye. Luna just motioned her to continue forward.
Celestia sighed heavily, already thinking of all the possible ways this could go wrong as she spread her wings and soared upward, grumbling the whole way. If they did have to use spells, they had better make sure she was out of the way first.
Once she was level with the beasts head, looking at where Celestia presumed her eyes were located beneath her “hair”, seeing only her own muted reflection staring back at her on the its shiny surface, she began thinking of what to say. Taking a deep breath, Celestia proceeded to clear her throat, upon which she started with what she felt was a good opener for a conversation to ensue.
“Hello there, stranger! Um, how’s the weather up here?”
She could hear Luna’s hoof make contact with her face even from this distance, and immediately Celestia recognized that in her attempt to be as informal as possible she had pretty much made herself potentially look like a fool to their visitor.
“Actually, nevermind that. Of course I shouldn’t have to ask you that since I’m already up here and-“
“Celestia, I swear!”
“Allow me to rephrase that and introduce myself properly,” Celestia said, sweating nervously. The entity seemed to be absolutely nonplussed by her minor faux pas of a greeting, and made no reaction when Celestia dipped her head low, placed a hoof on her chest and said, “My name is Celestia, Princess of Equestria alongside my fellow rulers Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, and Princess Cadence. On behalf of the ponies of our fair nation, I bid you welcome and hope that you come bearing goodwill.”
Celestia waited. She was not exactly sure what she was waiting for, whether it be a verbal response, a crushing blow or something else entirely, she waited. After several tense moments she looked up from her bowing position, only to find the entity still looking ahead at seemingly nothing, as though she did not have an alicorn princess floating in front of her face.
Her poker face was amazing. Recognizing that she was not going to get an answer this way, Celestia went on to try and strike up a rapport with the entity.
“Yes, well, now that we have gotten the pleasantries out of the way, would you be so kind as to tell me your own name?”
Again, Celestia waited for a reply, and again none was forthcoming. She glanced down at Luna, wondering if she had anything to offer. All she got was a shrug.
“Right. Um, if you are able to hear me, then please understand that your presence is causing us some concern. Not to mention your arrival which was, shall we say, somewhat unexpected. . . and explosive. I don’t mean to make you feel guilty about anything, nothing was damaged too greatly.” Her mind flashed back to Blueblood’s statue. “And by that I mean absolutely nothing of value was lost during your entry. I only wish for you to understand that we are all rather anxious about your intentions regarding your-“
Celestia was interrupted by a deep, metallic groan emanating from the entity as her series of root-like legs spun her around so that she was facing away from Celestia. The message was clear, although Celestia was none too pleased that she was being actively ignored. She was about to throw her hooves up in frustration and indignation until she noticed something peculiar on the entity’s metallic coat as she swiveled herself around, highlighted by the rays of sunlight glinting off of her shining hide.
A hairline crack, starting from atop her head and extending down to where her head met her neck. Whether the injury was sustained during her landing or if it happened at some point beforehand, Celestia was unable to say, but she imagined that for a creature that seemed to be made entirely of metal, the injury must not be at all comfortable to endure, and she felt her heart tug slightly at the thought of it.
She placed a hoof to her chin in thought, wondering how she might be able to gain the trust of the visitor, and soon afterward an idea came to mind on how to do that. With a flap of her wings Celestia maneuvered herself so they were facing each other again, and she could not help but notice her mouth tighten ever so slightly into a subtle grimace of annoyance.
“Please, just hear me out,” she pleaded while placing her hooves. “I realize how strange everything must seem to you right now, and I can’t even begin to imagine how frightened you must be right now. But I assure you, on my word as a princess of Equestria that I will do everything in my power to ensure that no harm will come to you while you are here.”
After a few of waiting to let her words sink in, Celestia saw the entity’s grimace ever so slightly soften, and she felt her anxiety levels decrease at knowing that she was getting somewhere. Unsure if she should push her luck thus far, Celestia flew just a bit closer to her face.
“I also happen to notice that you've had a bit of an accident there,” she said, gesturing at the crack. “If you are willing, I would be more than happy to-“
Celestia was unable to finish her proposal as the giant leaned away from her, and one of the pillars was wrenched from the ground, angling itself at Celestia as the tubes seemed to “ignite” with a fiery orange glow, and a smell similar to dragon fire reached her nose as a low hum filled the air. Immediately shouting could be heard as the Royal Guard surged forward to protect their princess, and Luna left her hiding place to fly up to join her, fake bush still attached to her person.
“Celestia! Back away!” one pony said urgently. “Get to safety before it attacks.”
“I agree,” Luna added. “It is clear that there is little we can-“
“No! I will not go!” Celestia barked, motioning for the Royal Guard to stand down. As much as she appreciated their resolve, she knew there would be little they could to actually harm the entity. At the moment, she was certain she was the only one that could do anything to ease the tension. Luna was about to argue against it, but a pleading look from Celestia silenced her.
Turning her attention back to the entity, Celestia said in as soothing a tone as she could muster, “Please, I am sorry for alarming you. It was not my intention. I wish to do nothing but help you.”
The entity did not respond, keeping its arm raised and ready to fire. Still, she had not attacked yet, so Celestia took that as a sign that she was at least willing to hear her out. Looking around for something to help to prove her point, Celestia spotted just the thing to help convince the entity that she could help. Igniting her spiral horn in a golden glow, she levitating one of the many garden flowers up to her. A simple orchid, wilted and grayed from lack of nutrients. Choosing to let her actions highlight her intentions, Celestia began to cast a spell on the flower, and in a few moments the orchid became reinvigorated with life as its petals filled out and its stem straightened. Once the spell was complete, Celestia released it from her grasp, setting it delicately in her open hoof. She then offered it to the entity.
Several tense moments passed, during Celestia feared her attempts at peace would be shot down in both the literal and metaphorical sense, until finally the giants arm “deactivated”, and everypony let out a unanimous sigh of relief. The arm floated closer, roots acting like fingers as they grasped the stem with a surprising amount of delicacy, plucking it from Celestia’s hoof. Bringing the flower closer to her face, the entity inspected the orchid, then seemed to look at Celestia in question while emitting a low, synthetic bellow.
Hoping she was correct in assuming she understood the princess’ intentions, Celestia carefully moved closer to the entities face. “That’s right. I can help you.” The entity kept its head leaned back, but otherwise made no move to stop Celestia as she ignited her horn once again, this time focusing on the crack. Celestia found that healing the wound was less like closing a gash and more like fixing a piece of cracked metal with an epoxy.
It took all of Celestia’s concentration to complete the spell, and when she was done, she felt drained, as though she had just run a marathon or had to endure yet another lengthy session of dealing with the nobility.
However, it seemed that her efforts had paid off, as the crack had disappeared from the entity’s face completely, leaving it looking both surprised and perhaps even a little grateful.
Celestia wasn’t sure, it was hard to get a read on what she was thinking.
Again, the entity raised its arm, but instead of using it as weapon, she gently brought it up beneath Celestia, allowing the alicorn to rest on what she supposed could be called a hand. The surface of its hide felt cool beneath Celestia’s hooves, and there was a constant thrumming vibration emanating from within that she was just barely able to discern from the ambient noise in the background. The entity sounded off once more, this time with a slightly higher pitched humming sound as the corners of her slim mouth turned upward in a faint smile, which Celestia happily returned in kind.
“So, as you all can plainly see for yourselves, our guest is of the friendly sort, and means us no harm whatsoever,” Celestia announced to the ponies gathered in the throne room. “As such, I have personally taken it upon myself to extend the hoof of friendship towards our visitor, and I hope that you would all be willing to do the same.”
The mass of bureaucrats and nobles seemed less concerned with what Celestia was saying however, and more with the unexpected presence of said visitor, the top of her head just a few inches short of scraping against the ceiling of the throne room. Getting her inside had been a monumental task that involved a combination of demolishment, angering her contractor for the second time that day which in turn led to him quitting, hiring a new contractor and making a giant doorway just big enough for their guest to enter through. When she came in, everypony inside immediately gathered on the exact opposite side where they could watch from a relatively safe distance.
So nice and considerate of them to give her room like that, Celestia thought.
One pony amidst the crowd cautiously raised a hoof, glancing every so often at the entity. “Um, not to sound disrespectful to the creatu-“ A harsh look from Celestia cut her off. “Er, by that I mean our esteemed. . . guest, but one question that I feel is on all of our minds is how long should we expect. . . her stay to last? Is this an indefinite stay, or is this only a temporary visit?”
Celestia thought about the question for a few seconds, then replied, “Well, at the moment the means by which she arrived is no longer visible to us, and in truth we don’t know if the portal that gave her passage to our realm will ever reopen again. Given how little we know regarding the situation, the possibility of her becoming a permanent resident is there.”
“Oh. . . lovely.”
“And if this is in fact the case,” Celestia added, “then I have faith that my little ponies are more than capable of helping our new friend adjust to her surroundings.”
An audible groan spread throughout the throne room, which was capped off by the doors at the other end slamming open. Celestia felt her skin nearly shrivel off of her bones when the word, “Auntie!” reached her ears, entirely too loud and grating to be shouted indoors. Another groan was heard from the crowd, even more despairing than the last. The entity peered at them in interest, wondering what was going.
Noticing that her nephew was hauling yet another object covered by a tarp behind him, Celestia placed lacing a hoof to her head. She reluctantly asked the approaching prince, already having an idea of what he was doing, “Yes Blueblood, what is it?”
“I have the greatest of news to tell you,” he crowed with his head held high, coming to a stop before the throne. “When the statue I had commissioned was tragically destroyed, I thought all was lost as the future of Canterlot’s, and by extension Equestria’s culture was placed in jeopardy. Thankfully I was able reacquire the services of your sculptors-“
“I would appreciate it if you stopped doing that.”
“-and have since been able to guide their hooves to create a new statue, even greater than the last! Behold!”
Before Celestia could do anything to stop her errant nephew, he removed the tarp. Mass panic ensued as ponies began screaming, vomiting, and actively trying to claw their eyes out, all at once. Celestia was tempted to follow suit, as she barely had the resolve to keep herself from relieving herself of last century’s breakfast. She truly had no words. Blueblood certainly was not lying when he said it was greater than the last.
Still confused by the commotion happening beneath her, the entity leaned her head down in attempt to get a closer look at what was making all these little creatures act so strangely all of a sudden. However, the top of her head bumped against one of the many chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, causing it to sway precariously until it got loose from the hook holding it up.
The chandelier plummeted to the floor, whereupon it landed right on top of Blueblood’s statue, enacting upon the monstrosity the same fate as its predecessor. For the second time that day, Blueblood was reduced to a sniveling wreck as everypony in the room cheered in relief, their prejudices forgotten entirely as they began offering the entity their thanks and eternal gratitude for her good deed.
She still had no idea what was going on, but with a shrug of her floating pillars, she decided to just go with it.
Author's Note
So, this is a little out of the blue, almost as much as a Celesteela falling from the sky, given how long I have been absent from this site. I cannot tell you how good it feels to get back into the writing groove once again after my year long slump. After writing this short little tale, I realize that there were a few things I could have done better on, but I suppose in a way that's the purpose of it: to help me relearn my craft, and be able to properly write little bits of fiction for this site every now and then. I am proud of it, and I earnestly hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Dilos1
