Infinitas Exemplum

The crowd of ponies stood at the edge of Ponyville, some clearly trying to stay awake as they waited by the stage for the sun to rise. The entire town had gathered, braving the slight chill on the wind, seeing the moon set and the stars begin to fade in the path of the coming dawn.

And in-front of them all, standing in excited anticipation by the stage, was Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Pinkie Pie was barely containing the excitement, unlike the calm and collected Fluttershy next to her. Rainbow Dash and Applejack waited patiently, smiling as they shared a laugh over Rarity’s extravagant hat, which blocked the view for a few unfortunate ponies behind her.

But the most excited of all was Twilight, for this very sight was what inspired her to practice magic in the first place, the reason for her cutie mark and subsequent being made the student of the Princess herself.

As the sky to the east began to tinge orange, she walked onto the stage. She appeared radiant as always, as if she was the light source of the world, not the sun. Taking a wide stance, she spread her wings and lowered her head, concentrating on everypony and everything around her.

She felt the earth and all its energy, even through the stage beneath her hooves, she felt the wind – west north-westerly based on the direction – as it filtered through each and every feather. As all of this was done, she also summoned all the power within her, and channelled it up into her horn, concentrating hard as she felt her magic now reaching across the immeasurable gap between the world and the sun.

Feeling the connection, she took a few powerful flaps and was airborne within seconds. As she rose, hooves outstretched, she felt the warmth of the sun as she reached out to it, willing it to move. As she rose higher, the sun, much like it had for millennia, answered her call and followed her lead, ascending above the horizon and spreading its rays of light across the land and sky.

She came to a stop in the sky, before a pillar with a sun insignia resting atop it. She stretched out her wings, the light from the sun filtering through her feathers as it shone from behind her, casting an amber silhouette in-front of it. She descended slowly as the ceremony came to a conclusion and before the joyous ponies of Ponyville stood their Princess, her white coat gleaming in the sunlight and her mane and tail flowing in the solar breeze radiated by her celestial counterpart.

As other ponies began celebrating the longest day of the year, Princess Celestia smiled as her faithful student approached, and she smothered a laugh as she spied the young dragon sleeping on Twilights’ back.

But a scream ruined it all.

Celestia’s head whipped around in an instant to see a beige earth pony with a red mane and tail and a rose for a cutie mark pointing a hoof to the sky, her eyes wide and rife with fear. Celestia turned to see why as more ponies began to emit sounds of panic and terror. And, for one infinitely rare moment, Celestia could not comprehend what she saw.

The sun had risen, so the ceremony had indeed worked, but now, without any explanation or reason, the sun was expanding, blotting out more and more of the sky as the temperature and light increased. If this were to continue, the crops of farming ponies would surely be lost, and the risk of forest fires would soon raise its head.

Celestia made haste, soaring into the sky towards the near-blinding light, focusing her power once more and concentrating as she willed the sun to cease, to return to its original state and leave the ponies below be. But as she reached out once more, a sharp stabbing pain struck her mind, and rendered her paralysed as the light and heat overtook her, blinding her before her vision faded to darkness.

Groaning, the first sensation Celestia felt was pain, and lots of it. Her entire body ached, though the epicentre focused on her forehead and horn. This must be what it feels like to break a horn, Celestia mused to herself as she moved, causing more pain. Lifting her head off the ground, she opened her eyes, expecting to still see the blinding light that had engulfed her.

Instead, there was darkness.

As Celestia stood, waiting for her eyes to adjust, she realised she was missing the shoe of her right fore-hoof, and felt the grass beneath her. It felt strange... like a fire had charred it to dust. And the air carried a smell from distant times, of large amounts of smoke.

Fears beginning to emerge in her mind, Celestia forced her eyes open, disregarding the pain she felt. Upon doing so, however, she instantly wished she hadn’t and something began creeping into her heart, a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time; pure dread.

The sky was dark, barely any light shining through from behind darkened clouds, and off in the distance, a pillar of smoke rose to meet it, the glow from beneath it indicating a fire of mammoth proportions. Everything that was once green was now charcoal grey. Every tree that still stood was now a blackened corpse, leafless and lifeless.

But it wasn’t these sights that gripped at Celestia’s heart. It was the ponies.

Stretching into the distance were the bodies of ponies, many of whom were at the Summer Sun Celebration, lying prone on the ground... Not one of them was breathing. Some had large scorch marks pocketing their coats, while others had gaping gashes dug into their bodies, the flies already flocking to them.

Celestia’s mind began racing. H-How did this happen? Did-Did I do this? No, she shook her head. This couldn’t have been my doing. Something attacked me, and then the sun... As she surveyed the landscape around her, noting the remains of Ponyville in the distance, an important fact emerged from the fog of her mind.

“Twilight,” She whispered and immediately opened her wings, which groaned and ached in complaint. But before the Princess could attempt a take-off, she heard something behind her, the sound of rustling grass. Celestia turned, prepared to defend herself from whatever monster had done this to her beloved ponies, but all of her momentum froze when she saw... him.

Before her stood a royal blue stallion with white hooves emerging from his coat, and a slightly dark orange mane and tail. He stood tall, barely a few centimetres shorter than Luna, and his body lean, but muscular, while his eyes were a dark emerald in colour and on his flank was a shield, with a sword and shooting star crossing behind it. Celestia could not stop herself from staring, her mouth agape at the sight.

“C-Cobalt?” She asked, her voice betraying the feelings of confusion, sadness and surprisingly joy all at the same time. “Cobalt Shield, is it you?” She stepped forward, inching closer to the pony she knew, the one who at times she would see in her dreams, her old friend. But as she raised a hoof to touch his face, he stepped back, a smile forming on his face, one too sinister to belong to a friend of Celestia.

“Not quite,” He replied, though Celestia gasped at the voice. It wasn’t his, it was too cold, too callous, and in one swift movement, the Cobalt impersonator summoned a razor-sharp cone of magic around his horn, black in colour and outlined in red, and pierced Celestia in the right shoulder.

With a shriek of pain, the Sun Princess fell to the ground, writhing in pain as her beautiful white coat was stained crimson, blood beginning to flow profusely from her wound.

“Ah, it’s been too long since I’ve heard that sound,” The being pretending to be Cobalt gloated, sneering at Celestia. “But you’re moving too much to let me see it. Hold still.”

His horn glowed once more, and Celestia became immobilised within his magical aura. But it was different. Every inch of her that was sore from before now flared in pain, as if every pore was being skewered. It took all of her strength not to slip into unconsciousness as the aura was lifted and she was left shaking on the ground. Whether it was in fear, anger or a mixture of those two was uncertain, as the pain roared throughout Celestia’s body, drowning out almost everything else.

“Who, who are you?” Celestia asked weakly as she glared up at her assailant, though it was clearly an underwhelming stare. “Why... do this?”

“You’ve forgotten me?” The pony replied in mock shock, putting a hoof to his chest. “Why Princess, I’m hurt. How could you forget the face of your oldest friend?”

As he finished, his coat began changing colour, dulling until it became a shade of metallic grey while his mane and tail darkened to a black darker than the highest point of Luna’s night. Then the whites of his eyes turned black as his once green irises became blood red. In a final change, his cutie mark burned off his flank in a blaze of purple flames, being replaced with a symbol made of blood red lines. The same symbol also appeared on his chest and forehead, the highest middle line running the length of his horn.

As the changes ceased, Celestia felt her eyes widen despite the exhaustion threatening to overwhelm her, as the fear in her heart returned and was joined by shock. She knew who he was, but the fact he was standing before her didn’t add up.

“R-Ragnarok?” She asked in-between gasps, the pain of her wounds getting to her. “But.... But how? It, it hasn’t been-”

“Five thousand years yet?” He finished for her, his wicked smile growing. “I thought I’d skip out early to pay you a visit. True I’ve only served a tenth of my sentence, but after my time spent in captivity, one year already feels like an eternity, let alone five thousand.” Celestia’s eyelids grew heavy as Ragnarok came closer, leering down at the weakened Princess.

“I could kill you so easily right now, but you know how much I love giving creatures a fighting chance. So this is your one and only warning; in three days time, my sacrifices shall be chosen, and on the fourth, I shall escape my forsaken prison.” With that, Ragnarok began shifting back into Cobalt Shield, though the demonic eyes and glowing mark on his forehead remained. “You’d best hurry if you don’t wish to repeat what happened to poor Cobalt.”

Those words reignited something within Celestia, a feeling she seldom entertained; Hatred. Ignoring the intense pain emanating from the hole in her shoulder, Celestia stood once more, glaring at the demon standing so smugly before her.

“You...” She panted, focusing what magic she had left to her horn, “I... won’t... let you!” With that, the Princess fired a blast of golden energy, hoping to smite the foe once and for all. But when the beam made contact, the pony’s body disintegrated into dust, leaving a floating, smirking head looking back at her from within a cloud of dust.

“Ah,” the demon chuckled, “These next few days are going to be fun.”

As his face faded to dust as well, Ragnarok’s new form began charging at Celestia, entering her wound and radiating energy from within. Celestia roared in pain, covering the wound and shutting her eyes in an attempt block out the pain.

When Celestia opened her eyes, she was greeted by darkness again for a split second before light burst in from two doors a short distance away.

“Princess,” a familiar voice asked, worry evident in its tone, “Are you alright?”

As the light filtered into the room, Celestia realised where she was; in her bedroom back at Canterlot. So, that was just a dream? But she knew that wasn’t right. She actually felt the pain. There was no gaping hole in her shoulder, but there was numbness where the wound was struck. She looked around, noticing her bed sheets were drenched in sweat, Philomena sat on her perch looking worriedly back at her, before turning her attention back to the guards.

“Yes,” She lied, donning the smile she used during boring royal court meetings. “It was just a bad dream, nothing more.”

The guards looked at each other before turning back to the Princess. “Is there anything we can do for you?” One asked.

“Yes, please inform my sister that I wish to see her when I raise the sun. Also, could one of you bring Lieutenant Razorwing to see me? There’s something I need to discuss with him that cannot wait.”

“Yes Your Highness,” The two replied simultaneously with a bow as the turned and left the room.

Celestia, however, stood from her bed and walked to the doors of her balcony, looking out the glass-paned doors at the stars of her sisters’ sky. She sighed, not sure what else to do.

“Mother,” Celestia whispered, “Please, watch over us.”