The smouldering ruins of this ancient castle used to hold a haunting beauty beyond just its destruction. Tapestries older than most of Equestria’s living inhabitants turned to ashes. A library, holding many books that were lost to the passage of time, destroyed. Historians and archaeologists would break down in despair at the sudden ravaging of this aging piece of history.
Frost covered corpses of bipedal beast-like creatures thawing from their state lay crumpled in the ashen courtyard. The overgrown brush burnt to ash before being wreathed in a glassy ice coating. Further inside the main hall of the castle is a broken ruin of what used to be a well-designed great hall to welcome visitors. Chunks of stone are torn from the ceiling, allowing daylight to creep inside to reveal the devastation wrought; a small guardhouse built into one of the side rooms to the hall was completely blown apart. Pieces of both assorted rusted weapons and rotted wooden beds, lie haphazardly across the tattered red carpet that extends down the middle of the hall leading to elsewhere in the castle.
Despite all this destruction, one of the last standing parts of this castle is an old bedroom now turned prison to its former owner. An alicorn with a dishevelled pink mane looking completely haggard sits in corner of the well preserved room; the events that unfolded days ago having taken their toll on her physically.
Her current form is that of a young unicorn mare just reaching her prime. Yet, the eyes of the mare told a different tale. A life full of experience and several centuries worth of exhaustion is present on the expression on her face. She looks blankly at the wall ahead of her, the aged white marble wall holding no wisdom. It happened so quick and without warning. She lost, the notation of which has trouble settling in for her. No matter what in the past. Winning was always a possibility even if it was a far fetched one. But, now she was not so sure.
Every plan, every failsafe and solution she dreamt of for any potential enemies or catastrophes fell apart in the past few weeks. It eventually came down to the situation she always avoided if she could: direct combat and even in that she was bested, badly. And, now, the kingdom she worked so hard to preserve for all this time is gone. Or, it soon would be.
“If only if I kept myself sharper I would have been ready.” she thinks to herself, blaming her rustiness with the combat side of magic. Yet, she knows if she had, it would have ended the same. She was not prepared to fight when they confronted her. Their ambush caught her off-guard.
She was a fool for trying to fight this “High Lord” of demons one on one after dealing with his soldiers and now she paid for it dearly. Luna would potentially fair no better, especially with the kind of power he was using. It was a perverse twisting of casting and spell-work that reminds her of Dark Magic coupled with a infernal fire that she has never seen before; an art she could barely stand to use, let alone want to study. Many of the strategies she used for fighting foes that used a similar kind of magic worked well. They also led to assumptions that ended with her being bested in the magical duel that would be better described as a brawl.
Dark magic is feral and recklessly charged with negative emotion. A stark contrast from the demon and his kin. From what she could tell, their magic is spurred by emotion but it was a steady stream, a contempt and loathing that is not just wrathful but measured in its use. In the end, she managed to wound him and incapacitate a large portion of his “honor guard” as he called them; destroying most of the old Everfree castle in the process. Their corpses still visible from behind the twisted rebar that blocks her bedroom window.
That did not keep him from beating her to an inch from life and sealing her magic away. Leaving her here to rot until he was finished overseeing the invasion. The mare underestimated her enemy, and now a threat that was beyond her years has been released. A thought like that makes her stare down at her hooves in shame.
She could not do a thing to stop it. It was up to just her sister now. To put it bluntly, she did not have high hopes. With her fall, the invasion force would soon be on its way to Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. The army of the demons kind would not even be phased by the Equestrian military; merely the peacekeeping force that it is. Thanks to Luna’s return, there are large portions of the guard explicitly trained for combat but they are by no means a majority of the soldiers there. Discord, with his ability to manipulate the fabric of reality, is really what lets them be able to stand hoof-to-hoof with the demonic incursion. Even he cannot be everywhere at once.
Turning away from the marble wall she stood up on shaky hooves and looks to her bedroom door. A dark red aura pulsates from it. Magical runes lining the wooden door imbued its material with enough integrity to withstand the power of magic users of her caliber. The runes used were old, but she had an idea of what would happen if she managed to open it. The picture in her mind is not pretty.
Perhaps if she still had her former strength then she could undo the spellwork keeping the door sealed and taken the magical onslaught that it would of released without it killing her. That was not an option now. He managed to completely break her attunement with the sun which, however, brought a whole different set of challenges she didn't even know she had to worry about.
The snapping of her connection to the bright orb outside alongside the enchantment that she could feel wrapped tightly around the core of her being has rendered her into her original, lesser form.
How did he do it? She did not know. Whatever he did do, he did it while she was unconscious. The only books she had about the “Old Foe” were scraps of an old journal leftover from a long dead alicorn that she tried to retrieve from the old castle, which was the reason why she flew over to the Everfree Forest in the first place. She couldn't remember much and what she could recall was very little.
The stallion who wrote it referred to their kind often as the incarnation of true evil in their world, and how he was glad they finally managed to figure out a way to trap them in the realm that they came from. Being so young she took the subject of the books as little more than cautionary tales of a exiled foe long beaten by ancient powers before her time.
His journal detailed a bygone age when Alicorns were as common as every other race of pony. Their magic, being inherent of all three tribes, combined into one unified force that extended an empire across the continent. Magical might was not uncommon to see in their age of prosperity. Then they disappeared and the three tribes of ponies left descended into war over the leftovers. Being barely young foals at the time, both her and her sister were not old enough to remember the event that caused the fall of the prosperous empire, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the this so called “Old Foe” that she faced now.
“Perhaps whatever they did to seal away these demons resulted in their disappearance.” she muses to herself, trying to keep herself occupied with something other than her current situation. A dark thought quickly comes from her conclusion.
“If it took an entire tribe of ponies who were magical prodigities in their own right…” failing to finish her thought aloud. She drops her head low to the stone floor with a sigh, a hoof kicking a small chunk of stone at the wooden door in frustration, impacting it with a thud. To her surprise the magical aura surrounding the door wavered, erratically contracting and expanding before vanishing in a shower of sparks.
Her eyes opened wide, “The runes!” echos through her head before rushing to her old bed.
Recoiling back on her forehooves, she launches a kick into the frame of the old sturdy bed, sending it toppling over to its side and hides behind her new found cover. Cringing, she presses herself hard up against it, hoping that the mattress would take the brunt of the damage. She squeezes her eyes and seconds pass; eventually the alicorn peeks from behind from cover to look at the door, wondering why it did not explode with enough concussive force to liquidate her internal organs.
Behind the mattress, she sees the wooden door still intact at the doorway out of her room. However, the runes that were on the surface of the door no longer glowed with any magical power. Before she had time to think about what just happened, the door suddenly swings open slamming into the wall beside it.
A large figure steps inside the room not too dissimilar from the demons she fought earlier. His bipedal form, now more imposing without her usual stature, stood at least half her height taller. Keeping him upright were two goat legs, bent in shape of a stretched out S. Thick fur covers them that abruptly ends at his midsection and strands of hair trail around the sides of his cloven-hooves. A heavy purple cloak adorns his shoulders that reaches near the floor obscuring part of his ashen skin. The hood hides his face in darkness his eyes glowing an emerald green from under it. In his right hand is a red ornate cane topped with the head of a roaring golden dragon. The other hand twirling an odd looking coin around his scaly knuckles.
He brings a clawed hand up in a placating gesture, “Now before you do anything rash,” the figure states in a low and deep voice, “I am here to offer you a proposal. ”
The mare stood in silence from the cover of the bed frame, surprise on her face. Not expecting a random demon to just bust down her door and ask for an audience. His attitude odd and different from any of his kind thus far is apparent from the manner he carries himself.
Slowly, she stepped out from behind the bed frame and narrows her eyes, absolutely suspicious of him.
“The only interaction I have had with your kind so far has either ended in violence or misdirection to further empower your leader and you expect me to just listen to a proposal from one of you?”
“Well, if you put it that way Princess of the Sun, it sounds a mite ridiculous, but yes.” He visibly shrugs under his cloak, eyes blinking, “I could just seal the door back up and leave the way I came if that is what you desire. However, my kin and I are far more complex than what you have encountered so far.”
She shakes her head, “No that will not be necessary.” a forced smile turning her lips, “ I suppose I do not have a choice not to then, do I?”
“Unless you enjoy starving to death while waiting for High Lord Vayn to burn your precious nation to the ground,” He tosses the coin in his hand at the floor in front of her, “I suggest you at least listen to what I have to say, Celestia.”
As the coin impacts the ground it fizzles and explodes like a firework. The castle stone walls warp around them. Stretching the large bedroom apart, green bursts of magic arcing between the walls. Gasping, Celestia takes a step back as a stone conference table morphs from the stone under her hooves. In an attempt to defend herself she flares her horn to use her own magic, but the effort leads to nothing except multi-colored sparks and a sharp headache.
Celestia brings a hoof up to her head with a grimace, massaging her forehead, “Who are you?” she cautiously asks him.
A pillow, large enough for her to sit on, ripples into existence behind her. Slowly, the green magical arcs surging throughout the room dissolve and abate. For the demon, a office chair covered in leather takes form from another coin he tossed on his side of his table. He sits down with a visible toothy grin.
Clearing his throat before speaking, “My name?” he asks with a smile, “Oh I’ve had many during my time as lord; I suppose I would prefer Larius.”
“Lord… Larius,” she repeats, staring at the demon lord, unamused, “so you are one of Vayn’s vassals?” Her mouth trying to sound out his name.
Larius shakes his head, absently palming a coin in his clawed hand, “Technically I am a lord of one of his dominions, but....” He slides the coin to the middle of the table.
The coin morphs into a miniature three-dimensional auditorium, a large ring of seats surrounding a throne. Larius slammed his scaled fist through it and into the table and denting it, causing the princess to flinch.
“He dissolved the court when he was declared High Lord,” shaking his hand with a slight grimace, “It was one of the first things he did.”
“That’s news to me, however, I am not surprised that he did that,” Celestia remarks, “He did not seem to take critique lightly when we first met.”
Larius nods adding, “I have had no input in the manner he decided to handle delegations thus far.”
“If what you say is true then I guess you have not.” Celestia declares, pausing, “But, what is this proposal that you have if you no longer have power?”
Larius laughs, “No power!?” he sputters, “Oh princess, he stripped me of my title but he most certainly did not strip me of my power.”
The alicorn looks at the shattered small structure on the table, “Your magic,” a hopeful light begins to burn in her eyes, “Can you undo what he did to me?”
“Perhaps I can, but first let me tell you my offer first.” Larius says, recovering from his bout of laughter.
“You see, the majority of my strength comes from making deals: A sword to end a great enemy for a price, The power to crumble entire cities for a great price, and the strength to fell insurmountable circumstances for a rather grand trade in exchange, indeed… in some ways I am more powerful than your avatar of chaos and, in others, far less.”
“The price of a deal must be proportional to the benefits that it gives you. However, the thing is, your situation makes helping you, as a party, absolutely impossible. Not without breaking those stifling morals of yours that you have.”
Her expression fell as soon he made his accession, “What is the point of this if then you cannot help me.” Clearly not wanting to deal with him anymore if nothing could be done.
“Now. Hold on princess,” He draws out his pronunciation, “Do not go about casting me aside before I even tell you what I can do for you.” He admonishes with a wag of the claw.
“Normally I would walk away from you since there is nothing you could offer that you would even consider to pay, but do not underestimate how much I hate that the arrogant prick of a High-Lord currently running around your kingdom. Even he thinks I am just sitting back in my tower on the demiplane in the lands we reside, but he crossed me. I don’t like being treated as if am a just a pawn; the weak link in his ridiculous plan to conquer this plane. I usually run the whole board for the gods sake!” Emphatic in his last sentence, the bottom of cane slams into the marble below as he took to his hooves.
He lowers his gaze down to Celestia, “And, now I am playing the other side.” Larius declares. A malign glint in his piercing green eyes.
The sun princess gulps nervously, “I understand that you are sincere with your intentions. What is the rest of your proposal then?”
Larius steps to the side of the table and approaches her, lowering his head down to her ear, it flicks to the side in response, “You will play a game with me,” He purrs with a voice like gravel, the idea causing the pony to widen her eyes, “Its a form of contract that I have signed only with other demons until now. It will allow me to manipulate what I need to reverse what has happened thus far.”
“A game; what kind of game?” she asks, not sure if the answer would something she would want to know.
“The kind of game where I quite literally, not figuratively, return us to a year prior to when the seals, blocking my kind’s travel here, decay to the point of faltering in their purpose. Which then sparking this whole unfortunate situation. My ter-”
“Bu-but time is imposs-”
The demon silences her with a claw, “My ability to change the fabric of events is far beyond what that whelp could imagine, and now I am stacking the deck against that insolent fool. A last lesson before he truly has earned the crown that he has coveted for so long now.”
His response leaves her frightened, the ability to do that is beyond possibility in normal magic. Even if she had her sister and Twilight to assist her; there was a reason it was a practically a fundamental rule to not even think about messing with the past. If Discord could do it, then she would of never have beaten him in the first place. Despite this, her attempt to calmly collect herself takes a minute. Larius standing, head cocked to the side, with a smirk that shows the fangs in his mouth as she does. She eventually nods for him to continue. He immediately unrolls a long piece of parchment that unwinds down half the length of the table.
“Very well, the game will be a unique one. There are restrictions on both you and I directly built into the contract on interfering during the duration of the wager. Hence, the first rule will be that you will not be able to directly control your body when we unravel this timeline and reset it back to…” He briefly looks up to the ceiling in thought. As he spoke, red words inked themselves on the material, slowly drafting the terms of the deal.
“The twelfth, two months ago, is when the seals were undone correct?” Celestia slowly nods, “September 12th, 1004 will be the date we go back to then.”
The alicorn holds up an alabaster hoof to signal for him to stop. He turns his head back to meet her gaze, “Why won’t I be able to directly participate in this?”
He sighs and nods as if he expected the question, “Essentially, I am using an old loophole I figured out a long while back to not have to directly weigh your benefit as an opposing party in the deal. I am listing you as a consenting third party for the participant of the game.”
The realization was immediate and the reaction not favorable towards the idea. Her expression twists into a frown, “Somepony else is going to play this game aren’t they.”
The demon falls silent. He taps his clawed fingers on the table, “...Yes.”
Celestia looks down back the parchment, the words softly glowing, “No pony will participate in this deal but me.”
“No pony? That makes this a lot harder,” Larius tells her with a frown, “I think I may have an idea for that, but we will get to that later.”
“No one in Equis will be a part of this this game but me.” She corrects, the distinguishment satisfactory.
The demon lord shakes his head while rolling his eyes, “Fine, you are only making this harder for you by doing this.”
“I tentatively agree to the first two terms then,” She says, “What else?”
“There will be no retries, redos, or whatever your preferred phrase is for a reset. Once we agree to this, what happens will be permanent. I can only do this once do you understand?”
“I do.” Celestia replies in deep thought.
“Third, since you want no one but you to be involved in this, the way our stakeholder will compete is using your body as their own for the duration of the game.”
“That is fine,” The alicorn’s eyes lighting up with an idea, “If that is how we will do it, then I wish for the capacity to communicate with the participant.”
“I do not know about that.” the demon mumbles to himself. The idea pondering in his head.
“If I cannot directly control myself as an entangled third party then surely I would be able to communicate with the poor soul you sucker into doing this for me?”
Larius strokes his chin, “If that will be your stipulation then I think that can be agreed too. There will be rules set for doing this if that is what you wish.”
She gives an affirmative, “Indeed.”
“The restrictions on your communications with them are: you will not be able to contact anyone not involved as your stakeholder, you will only be able to contact your stakeholder during the times that they would be asleep, and finally you may only contact them three times a week.”
Celestia gives him an incredulous look, “Are you completely serious?”
The demon shrugs, “Sorry, that’s about as much I can budge on it without involving more than one stakeholder. Turning back to a prior time is most of the cost already.”
Celestia swiftly rejects the idea, “I do not think I can stomach involving more than one even if it is not a pony.” The more she thinks about involving another soul at all it becomes harder to justify.
“Very well.”
Larius continues to outline the finer parts of the contract that were more general foundational items that helped buttress the initial spoken terms to seal the contract in a fine layer of demonic legalese. The very idea that Larius did this sort of dealing and contract drafting constantly makes Celestia thank the sun that they only had to this mind numbing process once. Her own several centuries worth of experience holding court helps them along as they go.
It takes five hours in total to finish the final draft of the contract. Thankfully, the nervousness and uncertainty that she was feeling kept her wide awake through the whole process. The room is now only kept illuminated by the bright lamp that now sits on the table to the side of the drafted contract. A quill rests in front of her with a ink pot filled to the brim with a liquid that looks similar enough to blood that it was unsettling. Celestia decides as an executive decision from her mind to just not think about it.
The hours of talking makes the present silence a stark contrast as demon eye and alicorn eye stare into one another.
“How will this work exactly?” The alicorn narrows her eyes and taps the marble floor with a hoof expectantly.
Larius gives another smile in reply, “Glad you asked,” his gritty voice a stark contrast to hers.
He pulls out another coin and lays it on the contract, near where the signature line is at the bottom, “Once you sign, I will go through a list of candidates that would best be able to handle the sudden implosion and explosion of their souls caused by being inside a body possessing the power of an alicorn.”
“Though it might not be an expansive list Celestia. Not many individuals can handle that kind of trauma, especially outside of this world.”
Mental images of somepony screaming in agony as their inner being was bursted apart like a bad capillary by a flood of magic power filled her imagination. It was not a mental image the sun princess appreciated.
“I suppose our selection would be limited, wouldn’t it?” she says softly, massaging her temples from the unsettling images.
“Good thing we have several nearby dimensions to choose from! We should at least get at least a dozen available selections, don’t you worry princess.” The old demon oddly comforting the alicorn, “I hope.”
“What was that?” The princess inquires. Her upright ears barely picking up his last words at the tail end of his last sentence.
“I said, there was no doubt that we could find a suitable candidate my dear.” He verifies as his veneer of confidence wavers for the first time since she has seen him. The mare fixes him with another withering look before exhaling sharply.
Celestia stood to her hooves and rolled her shoulders, “The only reason I am signing this infernal thing is because of how many corpses that we could avoid creating because of it. I trust you as far as I can throw you Larius,” She informs him sincerely, weakly telekinetically grasping the quill with magic.
“This is a means to an end, nothing more,” She mentally affirms to herself. It does not stop her from feeling as if she is making a horrific mistake. Unease about her decision rising as they speak. It would be better to do it before she loses her nerve.
He stretches out an arm upward dramatically, “Not very much trust at the moment then, is that right? Even after I have given you such a resolute oath to aid you mhm?”
“You are worse than a used carriage salespony.” She spits back with a venomous glare, dipping the quill in the pot and lining up her signature on the line provided.
As she begins to trace her name and title, the world around them quakes with a shuddering reverberation as each letter is created by the crimson liquid on the parchment. The table underneath them follows suit similarly as the quill continues in its path. Celestia, her eyes fixed on the demon in front of her with his smile distressingly growing as each moment passes, grinds her teeth together as the residual magical energy climbs in its intensity. She did not understand the purpose at first. Then reality itself began to splinter; the cracks of pure arcane power rippling in the air around them.
Then realization strikes her quickly. There can be no paradox if the timeline ceased to exist. He was dismantling reality and she just gave him the keys to do it. In that brief moment before it all crumbled and split apart, a feeling becomes more pertinent as the realization of this sinks in. Celestia hated demons with a passion she never thought she could ever have. His form faded away before her eyes before she could shout out to the insufferable piece of manure. His cheeky wave goodbye doing nothing to improve her mood with this development of events.
Her thoughts turn to the contract she signed as the seeds of betrayal burned in her chest. An agreement was reached. “He better follow through.” Is the last sentence she could think before she tumbles into the inky darkness beyond the vale of reality, her pink mane and tail whipping behind in her descent. The void itself shaking as the rest of the world is unmade.
____________________________________________________________________________
Earth, late 2018, Unknown variant of reality
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel of my old pickup. Absentmindedly, I jiggle the gear stick as I stare intently at the red light ahead. Today’s delivery was not that far away thankfully. A nice short ride and then I can get back to just wasting time on the internet like I usually do. Short deliveries weren’t that common in the line of work that I am in and the hand-off went without a hitch.
I smile. It is nice to have things go smoothly for once. Then I look back at the red light above me again.
“Seems like someone forgot to fix this damn light,” I mumble aloud to myself. Not all things could come up my way, of course.
The other drivers behind me appear to have similar feelings about it. I hear one of their voices indignantly yelling from behind me in their own car, but I have the music up too high to make out anything they are saying. Not that it matters, the thing should probably go green any moment now.
Having nothing else better to do, I turn to the sidewalk and spot an older gentleman beginning to make his way to the crosswalk on the left side of the street. An unnerving feeling crept across my back as I silently observe him as he moves to the walkway with his cane to support him on his journey. He presses the button on the post that controls the signal for pedestrians to walk across the road. The image displayed for the crosswalk on the post immediately blinks into a walking stick figure.
For a brief moment a torrent of frustration threatened to escape me, but there was nothing to do about it. I just settle on glaring at the man with a frown until he finally gets across the street.
Stepping onto the other side of the sidewalk, the man turns back to me as he presses the crosswalk button again to go across the street on the other side of the intersection. The bastard stares back at me with a shit eating grin, he definitely knows what he’s doing, that prick. The light turns green and I shift gears and step on the gas pedal, flipping the fucker off as I go across the intersection. I turn back to the front of the truck with a satisfied grin of my own.
Then something slams into the side of my truck sending me spinning across the asphalt. Glass explodes from my left window with several pieces imbedding themselves in my body. The sound of metal on metal grinding together batters my ear drums as the truck twirls around and flips onto its passenger side and slides to a halt.
For a moment I feel fine. Then the pain ripples across my body. Aches and sharp stabbing throbs of daggers wrenching into my body, the worse being my left arm. Dazed, I blearily blink to try and regain my vision but everything stays blurred together. I fall limp, hands dropping from the steering wheel with the blurry shapes fading in and out.
My vision failing me, I focus on trying to hear anything with my ears to stay awake. If I do nod off I’ll probably never wake up.
Voices draw closer and I hear boots stomp on metal.
“-esus christ you really got him good Dale.” A voice half-yells from my left, the truck groans as more weight climbs on top of it, “It’s going to be a pain in the ass to get what he was carrying now you fucking idiot, we should have just shot the guy at the hand-off.”
Another voice deeper and more reserved speaks, “Pull him out and get to the delivery he was carrying. I don’t care if he bleeds out.” That must be Dale.
“Fine, we need to leave before anyone with juice gets over here anyway; You know how vigilantes are in this town.” The other voice replies in frustration.
I hear something pat on the side of the truck, “Yeah, yeah, just rip the damn door off already.” Dale orders.
Groaning of metal and the snapping of glass crashes into my poor, battered eardrums. Suddenly light floods into my faded vision as the door is snapped off with a metal screech.
“Aw fuck, something metal ran through him and is stuck into the seat he’s in,” He informs presumably Dale.
“Just rip him out of the truck, by god, how the hell do you work solo if you can’t figure that out,” Dale, exasperated, admonishes his friend.
Something grasps the sides of my seat and tugs harshly on the metal securing the seat to the frame of the truck, “What the hell are you doing Kelvin?”
“Getting the seat out, dude doesn’t deserve to bleed out on the street,” Kelvin says to justify what he was doing. Dale just stays silent and Kelvin continues pulling at my seat.
Soon enough, whatever keeping my seat attached to the truck couldn’t handle the insane strength Kelvin appeared to have and I am yanked out of the wreck by the dickbags that did this to me. He sets the seat down by the truck, causing me to groan in pain as another wave of sharp needles split across my body.
I feel someone get closer to my ear with their breathing getting louder, “Sorry buddy, wrong package and bad luck. Nothing personal, never meant to kill yea’.” Kelvin whispers to me as I groan incoherently in reply. I still can’t see jack shit, lights dancing across my vision. That didn’t change the fact I am slowly bleeding to death in my seat of my truck. I hope whatever the hell was in that fucking box was worth it.
They rummage around the wreck of my truck for a bit before grabbing what they wanted and stepping away. I can only make out the humanish shapes of them walking away from me as I struggle to blink away whatever is blinding me.
I sit there in silent agony. No help, seems like the freaks that did this scared off anyone who would want to help me. What a fucking laugh. Dying because people are to afraid to even call the police. I hate them. I hate the idiots who did this shit to me. I hat-
“Hello Vincent,” an aged voice breaks me out of my railing against the world around me, and it used my name. Someone walked up to me and I didn't even notice it. What the fuck?
“It appears that your time among the living is short, and your body is failing you.” I stare at the new blurry shape in front of me, familiar tingles creep along my back again. Is this the devil? Who speaks like that?
A long pregnant pause occurs as whoever is in front of me just stares at me, I think? It is hard to tell with my eyes screwed up like this.
“I tell you what, I’ll temporarily grant your sight and voice to you so you can discuss this properly with me. I could simply rip you out of your body, but I do believe that my new… friend wouldn’t much like me to that to you if you survive the process,” He kneels down closer to me, placing two circular objects in front of my eyes. Then pries my clenched jaw open and places another on my tongue. It tastes like he just put a quarter in my mouth.
Then it dissolves and sinks into my tongue, fear springing through me as the metal morphs and clings to my flesh as it sinks down my throat. I scream as my eyes suffer the same material attaching and wrapping around them. I close them and mumble prayers to god, to anything to help me.
“Many of the powers that watch over this realm are dispassionate Vincent, they will not respond. Go ahead and open your eyes.” With great reservation I open my eyes.
I see the very same older gentleman who crossed the street earlier staring back at me with a small smirk on his lips, “Seeing everything clearly now?” he taps his cane on the seat I am in. I nod to him, frightened, scared and everything in between. I can’t tell if the way my body is shaking is from the accident or whatever he just did to me.
“Good.” He replies with another smile, “We better get into this quick before your law enforcement arrives; it would be bothersome to say the least of it.”
“What do you want?” I ask, my mouth feeling dried out and a metallic copper taste lingering on my tongue.
“Why, I want your soul.” He informs me curtly. What a guy.
“Excuse me?”
He chuckles, “Sorry, it always amuses me to say that, but I have a contract I need to fulfill with my friend and I need another soul to sign on to get everything started. I’m also on a bit of time crunch you see.”
“I, uh… see.” I murmur, not quite understanding what he's talking about, “Did you cause this to happen to me?”
He glances to the wreck of the truck behind me, “Nope,” he simply says with a shrug. I can’t say I believe that.
Noticing the look of disbelief on my face, he shakes his head again, “This realm has fates binding it tighter than most others.”
He snaps and paperwork appears in his hand from a small burst of green fire. He gives it a once over in thought before turning back to me.
“Your fate is to be horribly debilitated in this incident and to go forward with severe impairments with locomotion and sight until you finally die from a painkiller overdose in the house of your brother’s family.”
A dark sinking feeling grows in the pit of my stomach.
He then incinerates the stack of papers in his hand with a gesture, “Now, do you wish to enjoy that awful predetermined fate, or maybe assist me and a friend who desperately could use someone to help them out? I think you might be familiar with who they are.”
The old man has another one of his punchable smiles at the end of his last sentence. He mentioned that friend again, what does he even mean, what friend?
“I-I maybe,” I mumble quickly, “Sure, what could you throw at me that would be more shitty than that?”
“Very good!” He says again, “I’m glad you wish to be something more than just a footnote.”
“Thanks?” I say, bewildered and he continues on before I can ask any more questions.
“Now let’s get out of here our time is growing short.” He throws a whole pocket full of green sparking change on the ground and the world lunges around me. The pavement tears itself apart and the air folds in on itself. Darkness explodes, and light stops existing. I no longer feel my body. My pain is gone. I feel strangely immaterial.
I look at the nothing around me quickly spotting the terrifying old man floating by my side. He is gesturing in quick and calculated motions with his cane while his gaze focuses on me, expectant.
“What are you doing?” I question, my curiosity winning me over at the moment. Each movement is deliberate. Occasionally he mumbles in a foreign language I have never heard before.
“Preparing a traveling ritual of sorts with great care on the exact destination, the void between places is not the best to get lost in.” He answers directly, “You would see the arcane spellwork being traced in the air if your creator would have granted you the capacity for magic, but alas you will see just an old man waving his walking stick around at the moment.”
I nod my something, my essence? I don’t have a head anymore, “Where are we going, I agreed to help, but I don’t really know what I’m helping with.”
The man wrinkles a brow and tries to hold in a laugh with some success, “How do you feel about Equestria, Vincent.”
“Equestria? Wait… you cannot mea-” He just gives me a thin smile, “That’s.. Insane. Why the fuck are we going to Equestria?”
“Perhaps I’ll let that be a surprise just for you, but I will give a few pointers for your own sake since you will not be able to speak with her when you first arrive. Hopefully you won’t burn out like the others.” He mumbles something absolutely worrying as an aside.
“Wait hold on, what was that about burning out?!” I shout at him, “and what is this about surprises, don’t be coy now you old prick!”
“You will be using the body of my friend to act in Equestria. The body in question is currently catatonic. The successful introduction of your soul will cause it to no longer be,” His pace in construction of whatever spell weaving he’s doing is happening at a faster pace. The cane swishing left to right, right to left. Eyes still staring intently on me. I feel an unseen force start taking hold of me.
“Steel yourself Vincent, this will not be pleasant,” His jovial tone turning dark, “I need you to focus on who you are as to not unravel your essence when her power washes over you attempting to make you apart of her. She may be weakened at the moment, but it will be still overwhelming for a mortal like you.”
Panic floods through me. No, no! Why the hell did I agree to help some crazy wizard attempting to throw people into Equestria. What the fuck is this, universe? I fucking hope I am dreaming oh fu-
“One last thing before I send you off,” He interrupts my mental break down, “The knowledge you hold of Equestria will be helpful for general information, but the Equestria you know of is not the one you will be arriving in. Keep that in mind.”
“What DOES that even mean?” I scream as the force tightens and coils around me, it's getting harder think clearly about the information he is telling me, “If I live through this I am going to kill you, you son of a bitch!”
“I hope you get the chance to Vincent, “ He tells me sincerely before snapping his fingers. The emptiness around me distorting, coiling then launching forward away from the old man.
Everything blurs as I am sent flying at a high speed towards nothing. I can’t see anything as I travel to wherever he is sending me. A void is the proper name for this stupid place. My flight is chaotic as I flail in what way I can to resist. The fabric of nothing stretches around me as I begin to hit the limits of whatever barrier is now suddenly in front of me. Then color floods into my vision as the tension explodes with a boom that ripples out from where I arrived. Reality reconstructs itself immediately from the hole that I made.
Landscape of all kinds fade behind me as the force propelling my travel continues to shoot me forward like a comet toward a monumentally, large cliffside city. Large white marble walls fly underneath me alongside towers tinted in golden yellow and purple accents on their tops. City streets that are organized in concentric circles whip by me so fast I can barely glimpse the uncountable houses and other structures that are built on them. I look ahead and see the castle itself as shoot toward it. The realization hits me.
This is actually another world, a real different world from earth.
I barely have the time to dwell on that thought before slamming into a wall and experiencing what felt like my essence being poured into a pringles can with all the chips still inside. Excruciating, mind numbing, agony surges through my entire being as I am stuffed into something I couldn’t get a look at quickly enough. My vision goes wild, colors exploding and it feels like someone stabbed my skull with a drill before setting it on fire. Burning fire rolls through me as something stretches my being apart and wraps around and fills the space I can’t occupy.
I open my eyes. I have eyes?
My eyes see yellow tinted sheets and pillows of several different colors surrounding me. A headache gently throbbing in my head to remind me that my new form is real. I look down to see a very equine form instead of what should have been a very human one. A pure white fur coat covers my whole body with a pink tail that clings to the sheets I am laying on. Along with a pair of wings with feathers as white as my coat color, and a pink mane long enough to cover almost a full half of the bed in length.
“Alright, okay I guess I am a pegasus.” Words die in my throat as I look at the cutie mark of this pony body I now have, a sun. The mature and feminine voice causing me to shiver in recognition. Chills go down my spine. A sharp horn on my forehead suddenly becoming more prominent to me. My headache becoming a migraine. Pain is steadily becoming a new permanent facet of my life.
“Oh.” I say simply. My new voice sounding incredibly off without the regal and practiced tone that usually is accompanied with it.
A stiff knock on the door resounds throughout the bedroom, “Your highness, are you awake? Your sister grows impatient in the dining room.” A muffled voice says from behind the door, “She also told me to inform you that she did not appreciate having to raise the sun this morning.”
Taking a deep breath and collecting myself as my headache, hornache maybe? Pulses into my skull, “Is it possible that I can skip that?” I say loud enough for them to hear, whoever they are. I thrust my head into the pillows trying to blink away reality.
Silence is all I hear until, “Are you well Princess? You do not sound like your usual self.”
Oh, right. Regal voice that inspires confidence in her subjects, I sound more like a teenager who does not want to go to class in the morning.
“I am feeling, uh, unwell at this moment. Would you please inform Luna that I will not be present?” I attempt to imitate what Celestia would probably say, her voice sounding stiff and rigid.
“Your highness, if I may, your sister will break down this door if you do not appear for breakfast as you usually do.” He must think that I am lying about how awful I feel. The joke is on him, this horn is killing me.
I huff loudly and attempt to get on my hooves just to immediately collapse in a pile on the carpet with a resounding thud.
“Princess!” The voice from the door yells, “Are you injured, your highness?” The door knob beginning to glow in a orangish magic aura. Oh no you don’t!
Scrambling to get these hooves to work properly, “I will personally ensure that you receive a prepaid, express ticket to the sun if you open that door!” I threaten back without a thought, desperate to stop him in his mission.
The aura surrounding the knob immediately winks out of existence. That worked at least. Thank whatever god is responsible for that.
I take a deep breath and exhale. The headache not going away still, managing bring a hoof up to rub the base of my horn with little relief given from the action. Taking my fore hooves, I push myself up to sit on my haunches then shakily use both sets of legs to stand up. Why is my entire body shaking, nerves maybe?
One step.
Two step.
One step.
Two step.
One step.
Two ste-
I trip and stumble against the wall. Another thud reverberating throughout the room. I cringe. That certainly would have been heard from behind the door. Instead of the voice saying anything else I hear swift trotting away from the door. God damn it. Walking isn’t hard, I just need to keep an eye on my hooves until I can get used to it. Only if these full body shivers would stop! Why do ponies have to care about their executive heads of state?
Soft knocking from behind me causes me to jump out of surprise, and I wheel around to see Princess Luna standing on the balcony connected to the bedroom. Who the hell put that there?
Her astral starry mane billows in the breeze and the stars in her mane somehow glow brighter to distinguish themselves from the light given off by the sun outside. The tail of the mare has a similar effect. She folds in her wings and fixes me with a very judging glare. Eyes giving me a once over then softening in worry.
Oh, okay. Lets just act calm. Sisters right? Those act like brothers, sort of.
I very stiffly make my way over to the glass paneled door of the balcony. Haphazardly hooking my right hoof into the lever of the door and opening it outward, and stare directly into her light blue eyes.
Isn’t Celestia suppose to be taller?
“You certainly appear unwell, sister.” She intones immediately after I open the door, her eyes linger on my pink mane and unfolded wings. The occasional shaking in my limbs supporting me does not go unnoticed. I suppose she thought I was lying as well.
“That is one very astute observation Luna.” I snark back, attempting to use more formal vocabulary.
“Will you be able to discharge your duties for the rest of the day Celestia?” The cold tone does not inspire sisterly warmth. She must not like being mocked in the way I just did to her.
“Would you believe me if I said yes?” I reply sincerely.
Luna gives me an odd look, then shakes her head in the negative, “No I would not.” she says simply.
We stare at each other awkwardly. Why isn’t she saying anything? Christ Luna, work with me here. I plead my eyes, just speak!
“I will inform the day court that you will not be in attendance today then.” She mumbles in thought, “Would you like my company once I do so? I am rather tired from performing my own duties, but if my dearest sister is feeling off then I believe my needs are lesser at the moment.”
Oh crap! That is not what I wanted.
“Are you sure Luna? I would not want to be a bother to you.” Please, don’t say ye-
“Yes, I am sure.” She gives me a small smile.
I release a big sigh, of course, “Thank you, I’ll see you once you’re done I suppose?”
She gives me a curt nod before turning around and leaping into the air with a heavy flap of her wings. I watch her fly until she dives downward beyond my sight. Huh.
Why do I have to speak like a politician with her sister of all things. Perhaps she wouldn’t normally, and upon my greeting with her she immediately adjusted her tone to match mine. Maybe I could try being less formal with her, but the idea of doing something uncelestia-like unnerves me around her. Guardsponies, sure. Her shrewd sister with several centuries of wisdom, I don’t think so.
This pain in my skull is making it hard to think about this.
I close the balcony door and turn around back to my new bedroom and sit down on my haunches again. I distract myself by actually getting a good look of the room.
The wall paper is a warm, dark purple with outlines of clouds of varying sizes dotted around the room. A bed is placed to the opposite side of the door leading out of the room to the hallway beyond. The frame of the bed an odd half circle with see through linen that can be drawn to shroud whoever lays on it. A dresser with various brushes and several glass bottles of perfumes and other liquids I cannot identify. A mannequin of a pony of Celestia’s size sits by the dresser with the standard regalia she wears resting on it.
Then I spot something that is out of place, even to me. The broken cane resting beside the bed, snapped in two halves. Isn’t that… Yes it is. That is the old man’s cane. That golden dragon head on its grip is hard to miss.
“Why are you here?” I say to it, almost expecting an answer yet receiving none.
I make way over to it with my shaking limbs and stare down at the ornate stick. My head throbs to let me know that, yes, it still hates my guts. I slide the broken cane under the bed with a clumsy hoof and leap onto the bed to sprawl out on it.
“I can deal with that after this body stops making me suffer,” I mumble into a pillow that I catch in my grasp.
I lay in silence for a while. The headache is definitely stemming from my horn. Maybe I can ask Luna about it when she gets back.
I giggle a very manly giggle at the thought.
What am I even supposed to do? The wizard guy who sent me here didn't even tell what I am suppose to do when I get here. To think, I am now the ruler of a cartoon pony kingdom that was designed to entertain little girls. But, he said that this was not exactly the Equestria I would know, right.
“So, perhaps this isn’t the Kingdom of Friendship and Rainbows.”
“That would be a very silly thing Celestia,” Luna’s voice responds unexpectedly, “I do not believe such a Kingdom is sound at its foundation.”
I rapidly turn to face Luna. Her head poking out of the door leading to the hallway. She has an amused grin on her face. A light blue aura of magic surrounds the door knob. That sneak. I can see the wrinkles of fatigue under her eyes, but she appears to be powering through it at the moment. Her mane still swirling about as it was earlier.
She opens the door completely and walks into the room heading directly to the bed, “What brought that thought, sister?” Luna closes the door behind her with her magic as she moves.
“Just thinking,” I say simply, maybe being a little open wouldn’t hurt.
Once she reaches the side of the bed she leaps up beside me, surprising me with her sudden closeness. She leans into my side wrapping a wing around me. Why are you being so affectionate, this is completely the opposite of earlier. I don’t understand you princess.
“Such a thing does not exist. For good or ill.” She murmurs as she nuzzles my neck, it feels warm.
“Wouldn’t you think Equestria would be close if there ever was one?” I prod her tentatively, trying to learn more about the kingdom. If anyone had a decent gauge of what their kingdom is like it would be one of the princesses right? Not including me of course.
She hums in thought for a moment before looking up at me to meet my eyes, “As much as you try to protect and coddle our ponies sister, the rest of the world is not so kind as you or I. Our kingdom of Friendship and Rainbows,” she puts sarcastic emphasis on it, “is merely a faint ideal for us to strive too. Even so, our lands are still dangerous for both the unwary and innocent.”
I stay silent and think upon her words. I shouldn’t expect everything to be solved with love or diplomacy then; violence is sometimes necessary.
“Sister?” she asks, the word hanging until I realize she is waiting for me to respond.
“Yes, Luna?” I acknowledge her.
“Did you really tell that stallion, Eden Shield, you would send him to the sun?”
How did she hear about that so quickly? Maybe she heard it on the way back.
“Yes, I did, bu-”
She interrupts my sputtering with her giggling, leaning away from me as she struggles to control her mirth. Unwrapping her wing from my side, “O-oh Celestia why would you do that?”
“He was too concerned for my well-being for his own good.” I reply with a roll of my eyes. This is now far more casual than I am comfortable with it being.
“You know how they are, they’ll be scared to knock on your door now.” She admonishes me.
I sigh and lay my head down on one of the pillows, “Maybe when I tell my guardsponies to leave me they should leave me be.”
“You must apologize even if what you did made me laugh.”
“Maybe later,” I concede.
“Good,” She replies with half-lidded eyes, rewrapping her right wing around me and snuggling closer.
You’re too soft for your own good Luna. It feels awkward for her to do this to me. But if it makes her happy, I guess I don’t have to ruin her little happy moment; Being who she is, she needs it anyway. My headache flares up again. The urge to ask her about it slowly ebbs away as I watch her struggle to keep her eyes open. Even if its causing me to grit my teeth behind my lips.
“Luna, if you really need to sleep, go ahead.” I tell her.
She squints her eyes at me and raised her head up, “I would prefer to speak to you. We never get to spend time like this. Our conversations at breakfast and dinner leave something to be desired.”
“Caffeine can only do so much,” I narrow my own eyes back, having no doubt what she means to do if she does stay up, “Let’s schedule something for tomorrow. How about I wake up earlier than usual and we can do something together?”
“How do you feel Celestia?” She eyes me suspiciously, “I noticed your shivering at the balcony earlier. Not to mention that we can meet each other eye to eye now.” Completely sidestepping my suggestion to her. Thank you for diving to exactly what I don’t want to talk about Luna.
Maybe that is the reason for the attitude change. She is trying to break down the usual barriers that the real Celestia would have to being open. Fortunately for her, I am not the real Celestia, so it is working far better than usual.
Should I be honest with her? What would Luna do if Celestia told her that she wasn’t her sister, but rather a human in her body not of her world. Generally ponies are ridiculously understanding and attempt to work to find a solution to a problem. Yet... I can’t tell her anything yet. I don’t know how she would act if I did. The potential of my soul being dismantled and obliterated by the Elements of Harmony is not a experience I ever want to have; not to mention anything else that could be used against me. Reading fan fiction did not prepare me for this at all.
“Sister?” Right, she is waiting for me to say something.
“To be honest Luna, I am not feeling my best today. My headaches like a pony grabbed a hammer and is striking my skull repeatedly. My limbs shake when I am standing on my own hooves.” The words that come out of my mouth are honest. Truth is always a good go too.
“How curious,” she says, unwrapping herself from me and returning now a very inquisitive gaze on me, “Are you still feeling that way at the moment?”
“Yes.” I simply say. Letting my pain from my headache show on my face. I don’t like that look she has now. I know it well. It’s the ‘I’m going to do my best to help my older sibling' look.
Her horn starts glowing the color of her magic aura, a light blue. A cold chill quickly settles on my skin under my fur coat as whatever she is doing washes over me.
“Celestia, your magic core is at half of the capacity that it should be.” Luna informs me with her expression unreadable, eyes shimmering from what I assume to be her magic, “What did you do that would even cause that? There is little to wonder about why you are having trouble standing.”
“I don’t know.” I say, the information almost meaningless to me without knowing how magic works in this Equestria.
“A single spell that would require half of your core reservoir would be powerful enough to incinerate one sixth of Canterlot.” Her eyes are now wide in shock, “Sister, if you cannot remember what caused this to you that worries me greatly.”
That sounds apocalyptic. My goodness, Celestia. The power to destroy cities at the very tip of your horn. Fucking christ. I hope there's not many ponies that can do that.
“Is there a missing portion of Canterlot right now?” I ask.
She shakes her head, that causes her mane to start waving in the opposite direction, “No, of course not. I meant it as an example.”
Luna shuffles off the bed to stand in front of me. She gives me another full body look over with her horn still glowing in her magic. She mumbles under her breath something about enchantments and diminishing returns. Then falling silent as she does… something.
“Uh, Luna?” I say, not comfortable with not knowing what she is thinking, “What are you doing?”
“I am applying a body enchantment to your nerves at the base of your horn. It should mitigate the pain you are experiencing for a day. I shall recast it upon you until you no longer need it.” A flash of blue light causes me to close my eyes and turn away. I feel what feels like liquid seep into the base of where the horn meets my skull.
My pounding headache disappears, mostly. Sweet relief! I need to learn how to do magic when I can.
I look back to the mare with the biggest smile I can make, “Thank you, that did not feel good at all.”
Since she is standing close enough to the bed, I hook a hoof around her neck and bring her close for a hug. Luna wraps her own hoof around my neck and leans into it. Soft fur dark blue coat is soft. I can’t resist the urge to nuzzle her. My general reasoning being that if she did it to me, I can do it to her.
“You should have told me about this earlier,” She steps away from my embrace and gives me a disapproving gaze, “Hiding something like this is beyond the meaning of silly.”
“I did not want to worry you about something that would be temporary,” I attempt to reason to her.
She frowns at me, “Speaking of worrying, dear sister, I am going to go around the castle scanning for traces of your magic. I will rest after I am done.”
I nod to her as she walks her way to the bedroom door. Something comes to my mind before she leaves, “Do I need to worry about anything at the moment?” I ask her.
Luna stops in front of the door and turns back to me, “What do you mean?” She inquires.
“My responsibilities,” I say simply with hope she fills my own general statement with actual meaning.
“We shall see what your condition is tomorrow, until then, I recommend you relax and avoid using your magic,” Thanks Doctor Luna, I’ll get right on that. She leaves the room, locking the door with a click.
I throw my head back on another pillow and roll to my side. For a encounter so wholesome and inoffensive, that was stressful, very stressful. I wish I had something to drink, alcohol preferably. I don’t think Celestia is a flaming alcoholic like me though, so that might look odd.
Staring at the door the Princess of the Night left through, “What do I do now?” I ask myself.
Author's Note
First chapter is done. I figured that I should just upload things as I complete them. I'll try to upload semi-frequently to have a schedule. Scrapping and rewriting constantly isn't really helping me upload anything, so I hope to start a good habit with this.
2 Getting a Lay of The Land
September 12th, 1004, Canterlot Castle
An off-white hoof waves in front of me. I follow it with my eyes then tense the muscles and tendons that make it curl up. After repeating that motion, I roll it like I would a wrist at the fetlock. I furrow my own brow at the sight. My earlier experiments with the shoulders showed that a pony’s forelegs had the same degree of rotation as a normal human arm. While convenient, it made me desperate to find a medical textbook on anatomy as soon as I could to satisfy my own curiosity about why.
I look at the mare staring back at me through the crystal mirror on the dresser. She smiles, muscles in her face shift and draw her lips back to reveal a small showing of teeth with no canines. Strands of her pink mane curled around her ears which flatten against her head and perk up again. The full length of the mane reaches well beyond her neck and hangs just below the end of the mare’s elbows on her forelegs. Rogue pink strands rebel in different directions without a caretaker to quell them. Her tail is in a similar state of disrepair. A lengthy horn spirals forth from her forehead.
She stares into my eyes. I close my own, darkness highlighted by the pink of my eyelids cover my sight. I reopen them to see her gray magenta orbs staring back at me still; my gray magenta orbs now. My left cheek twitches upward at that thought. Her right, white furred cheek does the same in response. I grit my teeth and screw my eyes shut before shaking my head to rid myself of the creeping despair; reopening my eyes, I see my mane more wildly out of whack than it was before.
“No wonder they prefer the ethereal, wavvy version,” I hollowly observe, a frown on my face. My voice quiet and just as feminine as it was an hour ago when I last used it. I take a deep, measured breath and exhale slowly.
Lack of a nagging, persistent pain from my horn made it easier to have an existential crisis. Moving on would be better than the alternative at the moment. Ignoring my new hair, I turn to the wings at my sides. The feathers appeared to be in order. At least I think so. I’m not an expert by any means on wingology, wing physiology, whichever it is.
I flex the foreign muscles on my shoulders; the feathered appendages spring upward from their limp unfolded state into an impressive wingspan that gives Luna a run for her money. They bristle as I tense the muscles again. I flap them down.
The air underneath me is displaced as I rocket upward off of my hooves and slam back down on my haunches, cushioned by the carpet below after flying backward several feet. A bookcase rattles behind me with my landing next to it; My tail hairs splay out on the floor. Pony wings are no joke. That was a crazy amount of lift for a single flap. Blinking the surprise away, I return my gaze to my feathery limbs with a new found appreciation of their ability. Magic has to be involved to make them so effective.
Now, how do I fold them in? Hmm.
Not really clear on what I need to do, I elect to just contract every muscle in my back at once. Big white feathery wings crash into my sides. My eyes bulge, tears building rapidly. I mouth a silent scream of pain that threatens to become a shriek.
The plain white ceiling is an interesting contrast to the nice purple of the wall paper. My eyes close when the muscles tremor periodically in my shoulders. I laid back down on the circular bed, focusing on gently kneading what parts of the wings that I can reach. The bones are remarkably solid for flight.
“Tha-that was not a good idea,” I cry softly, only able to blame myself for my aches this time.
Blinking away tears blurring my surroundings, I begin to think; I need to strategize. This is Equestria, what do I know? I really wish I kept watching the show after season four now instead of losing interest and just laughing at the memes about it on an imageboard focused on the refined art of shitposting. What little good that does me now.
I awkwardly fold my wings to my sides slowly with a wince.
Of course, the old man who sent me here said that I shouldn’t rely on what I do know. I need to get my bearings somehow.
With that in mind, I stand on my hooves to leap down to the carpet, methodically making my way over to the balcony. I keep my nose down and stare at each hoof as I move. So intensely focused on my own motion, I don’t notice my horn getting close enough to the door to bang on the glass of the door leading outside.
After rubbing my forehead with one hoof and a furrowed brow, I reach with the other hoof and hook it open like I did last time. This time, with less Luna. I step out on the balcony and gaze below. This balcony is a fantastic vantage point is the first thing I notice. Celestia definitely had it constructed because of the view it would give her.
I immediately spot ponies milling about in the streets beyond the castle grounds. Trotting about their business in groups, pairs, or solo. Ponies in pairs seem more common. The closest buildings to the castle appear to be more opulent, and become less so as the streets stretch away. At the very far ends of the edge of Canterlot appear to be structures constructed out of wood instead of the usual masonry that seems typical for the rest of the city. Distant pegasi dart around above the streets, the airspace above the castle distinctly empty, A few cloud houses also hover above portions of the city; none of them near the castle itself either.
My eyes turn to the sizable hedge maze behind the castle walls. A garden laiden with numerous pruned bushes, trees, and uncountable flower beds of dazzling amounts of different types of colors surround the outside of the hedge walls. Small paths wind around the plants with several stone statues dotting the side of the trails; from this distance, I can’t make out the exact details of them. I would have to go down there to see if the individual I am thinking about is still stoned at the moment. Ponies in mostly yellowish gold armor and spears hanging off their sides patrol the battlements of the castle walls; the guardsponies in the darker tinted armor appear scarcer at the moment than their lighter counterparts. They must be the Night Guard.
I turn my head right and see a pegasus in gold plated armor standing rigidly on a small cloud that is a hundredish feet away from me or so. His bored gaze slowly drifts across me before his brown eyes open wide. He makes a point to turn his head away to the city itself.
Is it the mane? It must be the mane. I fix my stare on him. He uncomfortably shifts in place his eyes glancing back to me while I watch him. The smirk on my face is hard to restrain. Oh right. Remembering what I came over here to do, I refocus my eyes toward the green rolling hills beyond the city. Where is it?
“Ponyville, Ponyville, Ponyville.” I say to myself, my eyes tracing the countryside for the town in the distance. I find a train track that guides me to the far off visage of a small town.
Unless there's another town that close to Canterlot that has to be it. There is no crystal-looking castle. I can’t see any large purple buildings at all. Everything is miniscule at this distance so that doesn’t even confirm anything.
I shrug to myself with a sigh tinged in frustration, “I guess I’ll just have to figure that out a different way,” damn it. At least I know Ponyville exists, that's something to be glad about.
Ignoring the watchful eyes I am receiving from the guardspony, my hooves shuffle as my body turns around to go back inside. I need to practice walking. It is a pain in the ass to stare at the ground every time I need to move. The random intervals of my limbs shaking like I‘m going through withdrawal of some kind doesn’t help me either. If this how it feels to have half your magic spent then I don’t want to know what it's like to have none left to spare.
A knock on my bedroom door interrupts my intense walking session, causing me to stumble, but I catch myself before I fully collapse. I’m getting better at it already. Yes! I will not be winning any races any time soon, but it is progress. My temporary elation from my recovery is interrupted by another knock. The silence from behind the door after the knock makes me turn to face it with a perplexed stare.
“Yes?” I ask, figuring they were waiting for a cue from me.
Someone clears their throat behind the wood, “Princess, will you be joining your nephew at lunch?” it is the voice of a mare.
“Nephew?” I say, confused, struggling to remember who that might be.
The voice falls silent at my inquiry, “Prince Blueblood, your highness,” it finally clarifies after some hesitation.
“Oh right,” I say aloud, feeling a bit silly, “Has he made a specific request for my presence?” My feelings are mixed upon learning this.
“Yes he has princess,” the mare clarifies, “The prince said he had a matter to speak to you about if you would deign to hear it.”
He wanted me to speak to him about something? I’m curious what it might be, but at same time I really shouldn’t leave this room until I can brush my own mane. Perhaps I can feign sickness if necessary. You know what...
If he wants Celestia’s presence, he is going to get it. The thought causing a devious smile to cross my lips. Besides, being cooped up in this bedroom is beginning to drive me crazy. Walking about in a bedroom is not the most exciting activity, that's for sure. I walk up to the bedroom door and leverage the handle with a forehoof to swing it open.
I look down to the shocked maid at my door and give her a petite smile, “I believe I will join my dear nephew.” The earth pony mare’s eyes trail my uncombed pink mane and the strands of it that are completely out order.
“Prin-princess? Your ma-” She begins to sputter.
I place the hoof that I used to use open the door on the stone floor of the hallway, “Nope,” I interrupt her. I do not want to go through the trouble of that at the moment.
“Are you not going to wear your regalia?” The mare appears to be absolutely frazzled by my current state of dress. Wide eyes, horrified look, and frantic to prevent me from just walking outside.
A hoof is raised to my chin in thought, “Perhaps you have a point,” I close the door, looking at the mannequin with the crown and necklace adorning it. The audible sigh of relief from behind the door causes me to smile wider.
You aren’t going to prevent me from doing this, my little pony.
I walk up to the mannequin and eye the necklace and crown closely. Made out of what looks like gold; they both have a single purple gemstone set within each of them. A soft engraving of swirls is present on both. With some moderate struggle I manage to slip the necklace around my neck and adjust it to properly to rest on my chest with my hooves. I stare at the crown with a sour expression slipping on my face.
There's no way I’m going to be able to keep that on my head. Not with my mane acting like it is right now. Whatever, the crown can stay. I power walk with my hooves back to the bedroom door again and throw it back open.
“I believe I am ready to attend lunch,” I inform my maid. Her green eyes opening and closing slowly as if she cannot understand what is happening in front of her.
“Princess…” She slowly drawls out, a twitch in her eye. I ignore her.
“Lead on,” I simply reply back.
Helpless, she nods slowly before turning around, mumbling to herself. I follow behind her to finally enter Canterlot castle at large.
Canterlot castle, from what I have seen of it so far, is lavish with decorations. Tapestries and banners of bright colors dot every inch of the hallways as we move through the castle. It does well to invoke the feeling of warmth that I would expect. A red rug is rolled on the floor to conveniently cushion travel between the different wings of the castle. Large, thick windows give me a lovely view of the castle grounds outside as we go.
Many servants of the castle who wander into the little earth pony maid and I on our journey immediately blush, averting their eyes. The guardsponies who I pass by drop their jaws in shock before fixing them and pretending I do not exist. Thankfully, I don’t run into Princess Luna. She is most likely in bed by now. Yet, I don’t get to enjoy as many stunned, silent stares as I wanted to since the meal hall is not far from my bedroom.
It was far enough for me to get the reactions I wanted to though.
I stand before the closed double doors of the dinning area, my lips turned upwards in a smile. The two unicorn guards standing in front of the entrance stare at me, intense concern leaking into their expressions. They turn to look at each other pointedly before turning back to face me with their trademark stone-like impassiveness. The doors glow with the auras of both ponies as they telekinetically move them open.
Behind the doors is a heavy, laminated, wooden dining table that extends at least a dozen ponies in length. The sun’s light peers in through massive windows that extend to the tip of the ceiling that cast rays of light onto the table itself. A red rug, similar to the one that adorns the pathways through the castle, rests under the table itself properly covering its size beneath it. An ornate golden chandelier hovers over the middle of the room. Numerous chairs surround the table, however, there are two larger chairs that are more distinct, one white themed and the other a dark blue chair, each at a seperate head of the table. To complete the set is a table cloth sporting a artistic rendition of the sun and moon on each respective side of the table.
Two ponies are in here right now; both sitting at the head of table with the white chair. One, a white coated unicorn stallion wearing a plain cloth collar on his neck and a dark blue bowtie to go with it. His blonde mane is delicately curled in half around his shimmering horn and finely brushed smooth; lips parted in a dignified curl upwards. A light blue glow rests on a floating cup of what I believe to be orange juice.
The second pony is another unicorn stallion with a steel gray fur coat, sporting a much more visible musculature and bigger frame. His own mane a darkened brown, much plainer than the other stallion sitting across from him who I already recognize as Blueblood, if significantly less cartoonish. A golden armored helmet in the similar legionnaire style of the other Day Guards I’ve seen before rests to the left side of his plate on the table in front of him. A more ornate armor than usual matching the style of the helmet adorns his chest and back. He is wearing a neutral expression on his face, but is focused on what is being said by the other stallion ahead of him.
I begin to calmly walk around to the left side of the table as I make my way to the white chair; the maid who led me here is happy enough to go off to trot off to anywhere but where I am at this time. Leaving my arrival unnoticed by the two ponies as they continue their conversation.
“-eason why I haven’t been around for the past month,” Blueblood explains to the other stallion in his refined speech, “Turns out, the griffins don’t hold much love for pony merchants who don’t pay the proper tariff rate. My friend was an idiot when he decided to try skirting around them to save bits, and now he's rotting in a prison by the border with murderers and thieves.”
The dark coated stallion gives him a low whistle, “Tough luck,” he takes a sip of the cup of water resting on the table by him, “Most ponies know how strict griffins are on goods entering their little provinces. Still, I don’t much like the attitude they give us. Half of Aurora Will’s paperwork is dealing with those cagey, griffin petty lords on silly garbage like this. We don’t even have a tariff on their stuff going to us.”
Upon finishing his thought, the steel grey coated stallion spots me just I cross behind Blueblood’s chair. He raises an eyebrow at the sight of me, chuckling to himself before shaking his head with a roll of the eyes.
Unaware of my presence, Blueblood continues, “I was going to ask Aunt Celestia if she could drop a good word on his behalf. I know the lord of the province he’s in jail in is visiting soon- why are you laughing?”
The other stallion just points a hoof at me as I start to scoot the big white chair out with a single hoof of my own, “Ask the Princess herself, she's right there.”
“Good afternoon, Blueblood,” I politely greet him. I sit down and draw the chair close to the table.
He turns to face me, “Auntie! It’s goo-” he stops mid sentence. He takes a good long look at my completely uncombed mane, strands of hair listlessly hanging in different directions. After, he gives me a complete scan with his eyes.
“You… look younger?” He finally mumbles to himself more than he does to me. I raise an eyebrow at that statement. That’s a new one, interesting.
Breaking out of his thought, he regains the intelligence in his eyes, “Sorry Aunt Celestia, it was shocking for you to arrive in such a state of, uhm, disrepair.”
“I understand nephew,” I say with a nod, “I really did not want to deal with my mane today.” Another truth, always good to start with one.
“Sorry for dwelling on this so long Aunt Celestia, but I’ve never seen your mane a solid color before,” He brings a hoof to his chin in thought, “I believe the last time it was depicted like that in art was many centuries ago just after Aunt Luna was, nevermind, forget I said anything.” He waves off the topic like a bad smell.
He’s a historian? Blueblood, what kind of stallion has this world made you into? The other stallion at the table merely shrugs at the revelation he just gave.
I visibly show my surprise, “I did not know you were interested in history Blueblood.”
“Not history auntie, art.” he clarifies, “But that tends to go hoof-in-hoof with history anyhow.”
A pegasus maid trots up to begin taking orders from the table. She pulls out a notepad and writes down their orders as they give them, punctuating each new item with a nod. I can’t help but stare at her somehow use her hooves to do it. It’s mesmerizing.
“Princess? Do you want something?” Huh? oh right.
“Just a glass of water,” I can’t use magic anyways, and I have no clue how she did what she just did.
She nods and trots off to a sidedoor that I did not see earlier, must be a kitchen.
“Anywho, let’s move on to brighter pastures for conversation, as it were,” He pontificates with a hoof.
“What was that about the griffins that you two were talking about earlier?” I inquire with a tilt of my head.
As he is about respond, the other stallion interrupts him, “Blueblood was hoping for you to speak to Lord Tiven on his next visit to Canterlot about a personal matter to him, princess. I told him he would be lucky to see you outside your room today, but it looks like his fortune has smiled upon him.”
“Indeed, the good captain has summarized my request well,” He turns back to face the aforementioned captain, “Leaving out all of the detail,” he jabs at him verbally, sipping his floating orange juice.
“I live to serve the Princess, Blueblood, not you.” He snipes to the blonde stallion.
Blueblood rolls his eyes, “You serve the Crowns of Equestria, Captain Foresight. The oath the guard takes is clear about that.”
“Not when I took my oath, it was ‘The Crown of Equestria’, a couple years ago.” Foresight recites to him.
The other stallion taps a hoof in thought at that, “You’re correct,” he admits.
Foresight drains his entire cup of water in victory. I shake my head at the sight, real petty. Dare I say it, I actually like these two. They appear to be decent enough ponies. I wonder if there are more ponies in the guard I should know about. Foresight never appeared in the show. Another question is: where is Shining Armor right now?
“Regardless,” Blueblood continues, “I have a close friend being held by Lord Tiven’s provincial guard for evading tariffs. His name is Thrifty Haggle, and he made an honest and sincere mistake by committing the act.”
I cannot help but look at him incredulously, “Sure he did,” I reply, sounds like an upstanding guy just from his name.
Foresight laughs at my curt response and shakes his head, “Did he say that himself when you talked to him?”
“It was very heavily implied,” Blueblood says sheepishly, rubbing a hoof on the back of his neck, “He did me a favor two years ago, and now I would like to make it right by doing him one. The griffin import policies are draconian, so I don’t see it as much of a black mark on him.”
Should I really make promises about things like this when I don’t even know the first thing about Equestrian-Griffin politics? It can’t be that complicated, I mean, do I have anything else scheduled I don’t know about? I need to ask Luna or at least a pony who knows my schedule. Celestia has to have an advisor of some kind right. I hope, dear god, I hope she has one.
“Alright, If I get the chance Blueblood, I will bring it up to Lord Tiven,” I concede to him, narrowing my eyes. We will see how that goes when it happens I guess. Whenever it does.
Actually, figuring out when this meeting is supposed to happen would be a good thing to find out.
“Thank you Auntie,” He visibly tilts his head down respectfully.
After he finishes, Blueblood brings his head back up to meet my eyes again, “Does either the Captain or you know when this griffin is arriving? I’m afraid I don’t recall receiving an exact appointment.” I ask the stallion, meeting his light blue eyes.
“That would be because the griffins never give us a set time for their visits, princess,” Captain Foresight illuminates, an ear twitching in annoyance, “It is a bad habit that appears to have caught on with every single lord who has visited us. The Lord-Secretary just hoofs us a vague list with what week a particular lord might come by and expects us to accommodate.”
“So, we know that he is coming this week, and nothing else?” He nods at my words, “Can they not just send a message to inform us that they are on the way?”
“I wish they did,” The guard captain replies to me. That is just great. I would not be surprised if they did this on purpose to try and deliberately get back at Celestia or Luna for something that happened in the not so far off past.
I eye the glass of water a pony just set in front of me in thought. What a bunch of dicks.
Two other earth pony maids walk through the service door carrying the orders of Blueblood and Foresight. The captain ordered what appeared to be a stuffed sandwich of some sort, cheese with a combination of other greens and mushrooms. Blueblood ordered a salad with so many different ingredients that I’m not even bothered to attempt to figure out what is exactly in it. A dark, troubling thought occurs to me.
I’m going to miss bacon, aren’t I? There is pseudo bacon here, but I know that won’t be the real thing. I exhale a somber breath.
Noticing my dower look, “Aunt Celestia, you look as if something dreadful just has happened. Is there important news I am not aware of?” Blueblood politely asks in between swallows of salad. The captain is busy chewing on his sandwich.
You have no idea my new found nephew, no idea. The loss of real meat is a tragedy I’m not sure I can handle in comparison to everything else that has happened to me so far. Perhaps pegasi eat fish? I won’t know until I see it happen.
“Nothing that would matter Blueblood, just another thing that I have to deal with.” I vaguely respond to him, attempting to stop him from having a conversation with me.
“Nonsense, Aunt Luna always gives me that throwaway line if something is troubling her. Matter of fact, she appeared quite cross with you for not appearing for breakfast this morning,” He presses, digging past my non-answer to his question, “Not to mention your, um, new look.”
I blink at him. My pink mane messily cascading down past my neck.
“It is not a topic that I believe needs to be shared at this point, nephew,” I stonewall him completely.
“Very well, Auntie,” He gives me a sidelong glance before returning to his salad. The captain’s ears perked up at my complete dismissal of the prince, but he continues eating without making any other motions.
We dine in silence for the most part afterwards, the sound of soft chewing echoing throughout the practically empty room. They make occasional small talk about a few ponies in the Guard giving the captain trouble. He also mentions other ponies by name. Aurora Will comes up again and a Triumph Shade. Are they captains too? I can’t ask if they are without Blueblood mentioning that I somehow forgot the names of all the important ponies in the Guard to Luna, absolutely frustrating.
Eventually they both finish their meals. Captain Foresight is the first to stand to his hooves, slipping on his helmet. A portion of his brown mane slips past an opening in the back causing it function like a plume of sorts. I cannot see his cutie mark to see what it is since the sectioned pieces of metal of his armor cover his flanks.
“I need to get back to my desk before Aurora throws her paperwork on top of mine,” He states with a aggravated flick of his tail, “She probably already did it too.”
“Have a good rest of the day, captain.” I say to him, my two fore hooves resting on the left and right of the untouched glass of water I ordered.
He gives a tired sigh, “We’ll see if that happens, but thank you, your highness,” Foresight turns and trots away to the double doors I came through earlier.
“Aunt Celestia, would you prefer if I left you the details of Thrifty Haggle’s charges in your study before I leave the castle?” Blueblood asks me, standing to his own hooves.
I have a study? Good to know, more things to explore. I still need to see if I can read anything. Looking at the books from that bookcase in my room to see if I can slipped my mind. Learning to walk is very important business.
“Go ahead, I think I will stay here a bit longer before heading there,” I say to him, my rumination to myself causing him to stand there awkwardly until my answer.
He looks like he wants to ask me another question, but he just shakes his head to himself, “Have a good day, auntie,”
“Good day, nephew,” I politely respond back, turning my light magenta eyes back to the glass of water on the table.
The two wooden double doors clash together shut on his exit, leaving me alone in a massive dining hall. Seeing no one around, I figure it would not hurt to try and attempt to use my magic. I know Luna told me not to do it, but having no fingers to grasp things with and no idea how to use these magnetic hooves is debilitating for a functioning pony.
I stare at the glass, the liquid resting calmly within it. Is magic willpower, do I just will it to happen? A picture of the glass hovering above the table appears in my head. I close my eyes and focus on it. Slowly, I peer back at the glass of water, seeing nothing different. The liquid H2O at the same steady level point it was at before.
“Huh,” I vocalize to myself. That didn’t work, magic isn’t just powered by the imagination then.
Lets try something different then.
I close my eyes again, but this time I relax. A deep steady breath in, a slow exhale outward. I repeat this again, and continue to for several minutes. Time slowly ticks by as I settle into an adhoc meditation. Nothing happens, the darkness of my eyelids is my only reward.
Luna mentioned a magic core, how do you find that? Is it another muscle I can’t feel? I settle for fixing my thoughts on the idea of it, imagining a surging force building at the center of my body. Soft tingles cause my ears to twitch. My horns starts to ache again, and I know immediately that I just made another mistake.
The force that I was fixated on is no longer imaginary. A roiling core of searing heat boils far bigger than I imagined in my center. Warmth washes through my whole body without direction as it springs from limb to limb. I try to halt its progress, imposing barriers in front of it as it whips through. Fizzling sparks shoot out of my horn and the chair I am sitting on leaves the floor.
My eyes snap open and I see the entire room covered in a golden magic aura so thick it might as well have been a smokey haze. Drapes hanging in front of the large glass windows are pressed tightly into the ceiling. The huge wooden dining table groans as its legs scrape across the floor away from me before hovering above in the air. Chairs crash into each other, exploding from the impacts. Panic surges through my head, how do I get it to stop!
The stone floor just beneath the chair I’m floating in cracks under the pressure of the force being pressed against it. A bubbling pain builds in my horn as I wrestle against the now raging river of what is pouring out of me. I can hear something smashing against the double doors leading to the hallway from the outside. Commanding shouts echo from behind the doors. I sense a foreign magic force try to spear past my own, but mine will not budge.
I feel faint. My vision blurs and my consciousness ends with loud crashes and several more exploding chairs.
Slowly, a green grassy field fades into view. A unicorn mare with a sun cutie mark stands in front of me with a apologetic expression on her face. Her smoothly combed pink mane spread across her head. A lengthy pink tail from her behind lightly swishs. I stumble to my feet. She takes two hoofsteps back to give me room to stand up.
“I cannot say that was the most smart action you have taken since your awakening,” The mare observes, an invisible weight on her upturned lips.
Author's Note
Another chapter done.
(Edit)
Corrected a mistake or two, may occur again in the future.
Confusion sweeps through my mind. I pat myself, feeling the clothing on my once again human body. Moist grass wets the soles of my feet, soft dirt pressing against every step as I tentatively move around the plateau we stand atop. The white coated unicorn silently watches me as I move to look around at the scenery around the both of us. A stiff breeze causing her pink mane and tail to sway softly in the air. The sun hangs above our heads like a watchful guardian in the rose-tinted sky.
Several isolated patches of wild flowers waver in the wind passing by in my eyesight. More level grassland lies around us that end in a thicket of trees that surround the clearing we are in. I look up in the distance to see a familiar mountain lacking a city on the side of it. Instead, there is an enormous foundation of constructed stone with enough scaffolding dotting the outside of it to make me wonder how there are still copses of trees around the base of the mountain itself. A waterfall runs down beside the construction, which I assume is the source of the running water that flows down and past us to my right.
Hooves clop on the ground behind me as she moves to my side. “It is eerie how close to reality it is, is it not?” She muses to me, following my own gaze with her eyes. The mare’s voice is much less mature than the one than the one I know, but I recognize it all the same.
“Celestia?” I ask, my words a whisper. A hand raises to my forehead to rub at the phantom sensation of a horn lingering on my skull causing the tingling sensation lingering to fade away.
She nods to me, “Hello Vincent,” Then tilts her head at me, “I believe that is your name; it was the one I was given when he came to speak about you.”
“Then this isn’t an elaborate fever dream, is it?” I ask aloud, my eyes still taking in the landscape around us. It was breathtaking, the kind of view that I could only ever dream of living since I lived primarily in the city.
Celestia shakes her head, “I’m afraid not, and no, we are not dead. Your violation of my sister’s request to avoid using my magic appears to not have killed us.” she preemptively answers, interrupting me as I opened my mouth to ask the very question. It seems she expected that one.
“Sorry about that,” I mumble sheepishly back.
She shakes her head like you would expect a mother to express a hint of disapproval of their child, “You could not have known the risk you were taking without it being told to you. I don’t blame you. But, in the future please seek my sister's council if we are unable to communicate. Making a mistake is fine, but doing it in a safe and controlled environment, if possible, is ideal. ”
Ignoring the sudden bout of shame I am experiencing, I turn to face her with a level gaze though I had to angle my head downward to meet her eyes, “Well, since you just spoke to our local inter-dimensional entity, and pardon my language in front of royalty, but could you tell me what the fuck is going on?”
She winces at my use of the vulgar language, “I understand your frustration and make no mistake,” For a small moment Celestia drops that controlled mask, anger leaking into her voice, “If I had a better option, it preferably would not have involved a reckless disregard for the lives of others.”
My thoughts turn over what I could remember from what the nutjob wizard told me before he sent me off on a cosmic slingshot into an alicorn’s body. I think I remember him mentioning a deal with another ‘friend’. That would be Celestia then, it has to be. That conclusion only makes me wonder what the hell happened to cause her to take a deal with him. Curiouser and curiouser. While I am thinking about it I notice she appears to wait to give me time to think to myself. Patiently sitting in silence until I motion with a hand for her to continue.
Celestia nods again, “Returning to your question, he did not communicate with me with anymore information beyond than what he wished to. I think it might have been more than what you did receive. He spoke of you, saying that you managed to survive your soul’s placement in my body, much to his surprise. In addition to that, he told me that he would be very busy for the coming week. With what, I do not know.”
It is nice to know he had so little faith in me. He probably would have continued on hucking poor fuckers into Equestria if it didn’t work. I guess it is good to know I beat the odds.
“Who is this guy?” I ask her, “He seems like he does not care one way or another how something is accomplished, only that it is done.”
She hums at my question, taking her own time to think, “He would be a Lord of Hell, a very disgruntled one at that. Enough to turn against his former liege and undo all of the success his kind had made in breaching Equis. Truthfully I do not like him. Yet, I cannot deny that he has prevented thousands of corpses that were made when his sovereign betrayed the agreement we settled on when his kind made entry into the realm proper. Not to mention the severe destruction of the land that their forces marched through.”
My mind blanks, trying to process the information, “Hell, You mean to tell me that actual demons ripped up Equestria before this guy just up and undoes it all, a demon himself?”
“That, well, that would be a decent description of what happened. A generalization, but yes that is a fair summary.” She concedes to me.
“Why? There has to be some kind of cavat. A price.” I ask, It is the most prominent question in my head and most simple.
“Perhaps he has his own scheme in his land that this allows him to employ. It hardly helps us right now if that is the case. The price of the contract was your soul, did he at least inform you about that?”
No wonder he made that damn joke about wanting my soul, what an ass, “Yeah, I suppose he did,” I reply, crossing my arms with a frown.
That only serves to make her snort in irritation, “I told him that he should be clear about the circumstances with any creature he ropes into this.”
Celestia presses a hoof to her temple to soothe the growing headache I assume she's having, “Listen, let us just take a break from trying to decipher the unknown in our equation at the moment. If you or I figure anything out or learn something else we will return to it. Larius is a deal maker, he made a deal with me. I dislike him. You dislike him more than likely as well. Shall we move on?”
“That sounds fine to me, I guess,” I mumble back. Who knows how much time we have to talk like this. I’d rather learn something else rather than tripping over ourselves in speculation.
She closes her eyes in response then takes a deep breath. After a short while, she sits on her haunches and looks up to me, expecting me to do the same. Not seeing a reason why I would not, I take a seat next to Celestia. The grass is remarkably cushioning, it makes me wonder whether grass is like this in Equestria normally. Soon enough the crisp air and the relaxing warmth of the sun saps away even my own impending migraine over the demon that caused it. It is nice.
We both sit on the grass brooding. My thoughts turn to my younger brother for the first time since being sent to Equestria: Trevor, he's a local cop at the police department back in Fieldview. He would always joke if he had a dollar for every time the bullets from his service weapon bounced off the people he was trying to arrest, he would have retired by now. Back then, it made me laugh when he first said that to me.
Ever since I got into the courier business three years ago, the seriousness of his words have rung true far more with me. People who can rip light poles out of the street and swing them like they were playing a pleasant afternoon ball game are far more common than I thought. More than half the people I ran packages for had some sort of power, an ability that put them above the normal person. Being the older brother, the idea that I should always have my sibling’s back seemed right to me. But, how does a normal man stop a person who can casually generate electricity from their palms? The answer comes quickly to me. Why, another person who can shoot lasers from their eyes and generate shields in front of them out of hardened, physical light, of course.
Government black projects to induce manifestations of powers were speculated non-stop across the internet now. It was hard to find a forum or imageboard that didn’t have a general thread for posting about it.
It causes my lips to turn upward before my facial muscles force them into a neutral line. The simple ridiculousness of the idea doesn’t escape me. People with powers are becoming rapidly more common on a scale that the nation’s governments cannot keep up with. I just hope Trevor is still doing his thing and not getting into anything he can’t deal with.
Then, what I have been avoiding as hard as I possibly can this whole time leaps in front my train of thought; do I go back? And if I could go back, where would I even start to figure that out? I don’t know the first thing about magic. My only interaction thus far with my new found mystical powers being a sudden, uncontrollable telekinetic storm that had enough force behind it to crack marble. I can only imagine what happened after I passed out.
Celestia turns her gaze to me and I pretend not to notice. Thoughts of home still linger in my mind. Her eyes trace my face. Regret begins to bleed into her regal mask. She stifles it with a sharp exhale that I allow to catch my attention.
“This is what Canterlot used to look like two years after Luna’s banishment,” she says to me, a solemn cadence tinting her voice. Celestia stands to her hooves and trots ahead, “Wasting time like this won’t help you or myself.”
The world around us begins to morph, causing me to leap to my feet. She briefly looks back at me. I stare bewildered at the environment around us as it begins to mix together like watercolor art. I look back to the pink-haired mare, scared to take a step towards her. She nods reassuringly at me and motions her head forward before continuing in the direction she was walking in. I take slow strides to follow her, carefully stepping in the liquid below.
“I was so stricken by my guilt and foul mood that I could not bear being in the Everfree any longer, so I made a decree to build another capital city away from the old one. It was a necessary relocation even considering my feelings. With the elements being inactive, they no longer supplied the Tree of Harmony the power necessary to keep the Everfree from running wild around the city itself.”
As she speaks, hardened, smoothed stone takes shape under my naked feet. A tasteful blue colored strip of carpet ripples over the stone in front of us as we move forward in the forming hallway. Broken statues of ponies in armor flank our sides. Dimly burning torches highlight our way ahead; their soft illumination barely enough to cast light around them. I notice the occasional random hole in the ceiling blown open in the direction of the night sky which does a better job of providing light to see with than the torches.
We walk on down this new passageway, Celestia leads ahead of me. Her current expression is as guarded and unreadable as I would come to expect someone who has been alive for centuries.
The hallway we walk through ends at an archway that leads to a large hall. Inside, are two large tapestries hung in the middle of the area. A depiction on the golden and yellow cloth of one is of the sun. The other a darker and blue hued cloth is of the moon. Two sets of stairs ascend opposite of each beyond the tapestries at the end of the hall. I continue to closely trail behind Celestia, my unease about the instability of the world around us shelved for the moment.
“Why are we here Celestia?” I ask, curiosity bubbling in my voice.
She thinks to herself a moment, pausing in her gait, “I feel that you should better know me as a pony, and, I admit, I am also bringing you here to impart a lesson on you.”
A lesson, I guess I should have expected that. Even if things might be different like the demon said, Celestia’s tendency to tutor life lessons thankfully appear to be intrinsic to her as a character.
She smiles at me, “If you would care to learn it that is. You are not my student, but I would be humbled if you accept. I would rather not force you to do anything you did not want to. I owe you that much.”
“Of course, I would be glad too,” I say to her, sincerity in my words, “I assume that when this, whatever this is, ends, that I will be acting as you again?”
“Yes, you will be,” She replies, a frown settling her lips. Celestia turns away then walks up to the two stairways upward, hooves clicking on the uncarpeted stone beneath her.
“It would be prudent for me to teach you all that I can in our future meetings. Your time on Equestria will most likely not be a short one Vincent,” She calls back to me, treading steps upward, “There will be much to cover if you would ever have a hope in Tartarus to help my little sister keep Equestria running smoothly.”
With her proceeding forward, I take it as my cue to follow alongside her. We ascend the stairway to the right together. Arriving at the second floor, portions of the moon are visible from the shattered windows we pass; a crater formation of a pony distinctly visible on its surface. I notice her eyes glance to it then return their attention to the large double doors that lay ahead. Another sun and moon is embossed on the white painted wood. Two alicorns are on reared up on their back hooves each facing one another with their horns surrounded in a respective golden and blue hued glow.
Her aura shimmers around the surface of the wood as she grips the two large doors and pushes them open to reveal a throne room, and it certainly has seen better days. Both the large throne chairs appear as if something sheared large chunks of the stone work that they were made from. The four mosaic windows flanking us left and on the smoothed stone walls are half destroyed; warm yellows and blues of the stained glass still remained on the pieces still affixed to the frames. A red carpet completely covers the floor in front of the risen steps that lead to each solar and lunar themed seat; what I think is supposed to be a crescent moon and sun together within a circle in a golden etched pattern lies in the center of the fabric.
It’s hard for me to be sure because the etching of the sun is burnt right out to the masonry below it; my eyes narrow as my imagination fills in the details of what happened. It wasn’t hard to jump to who might have done that.
I look up to see warped metal struts that once supported a glass ceiling above the room. The metal bends in an arc inward that causes me to think that something crashed through it. Sure enough, my eyes trace a trajectory that lines up from the broken ceiling into a large rend in the carpeted floor that ends in a crumbled wall. An assortment of rubble is spread around haphazardly in the room to fully set the picture perfect ideal for a destroyed room.
Celestia slowly moves into the throneroom, her eyes fixed on the remaining crescent moon on the carpet. I stand to the side, watching as she traces an outline around the moon with a hoof in thought.
“This shall be your first lesson,” she murmurs softly to me, “My sister and I are not infallible.”
She turns her sight firmly to me, her magenta orbs holding my own eyes in attention, “Though, perhaps you have already gotten a crash course in that lesson with the knowledge that I signed a pact with a demon of all things.”
I slowly nod, not sure what to say to that.
“Being alicorns, we are immensely powerful beings. The best of all three tribes of ponies together in one. A living representation of the unification of ponykind to face threats without and within. I do not know if we can die of old age, but we are effectively ageless, not immortal in the truest sense.” She tells me, her attention turning to the broken thrones that rest atop of the raised steps in front of us.
“Despite our power, make no mistake, we can die. Still, It will be a challenge for whomever that wishes to attempt to end your life. Do not let your inhabitation of my body cause you to be overconfident.”
“I just barely figured out how to walk without looking down Celestia. I don’t think I’m that confident.”
She chuckles, her laughter measured in length, “Just a gentle reminder from my mistakes that I made. Being young is a crippling disability.”
I raise an eyebrow at her joke, a half-smile on my lips, “Alright, I get it. Is there anything else about Alicorns I need to know?”
“Yes, in fact, there is,” She responds, “Your current appearance is that of when I was a thousand years younger.”
“Blueblood mentioned that,” I say to myself, “That must have shocked your sister when she saw me.”
She rolls her eyes and turns back to me, “It did. With that, and your uncontrolled release of magic, you are going to be under a very close eye from her. Regardless, we’ll worry about that at a later date. The point I was going to raise is that the current size of our magic core can alter our physique.”
Remembering what Luna said earlier, “So, right now we are running at half your usual juice then?”
“That is one way to put it, but you are right,” She says, A layer of amusement in her voice, “Luna was incorrect when examining us. She made the assumption that we released half of our magic core in some way and that this is a temporary state. She is wrong.”
“We are weakened by the breaking of our attunement to the sun, and until we remake our connection we shall remain this way.”
“So, do you want me to attempt to reconnect to the sun then?” I ask, trying to follow her train of thought.
“Absolutely not,” she deadpans, throwing me for a loop. Her jaw sets sternly and she straightens her posture. If I didn’t know better I’d think she was giving me an order.
“Uh, why would we not want to do that as soon as possible?” I say back.
“I am worried about the integrity of your soul Vincent,” She tells me, the bluntness behind her words unmistakable, “The tremors you were experiencing are not caused by magic core exhaustion. That is your soul essence straining to mingle with mine. My fear is that when we reconnect, the amount of magic source that will flood our body will cause your soul to break.”
Oh great. Wonderful. I’ve had enough bad news for a lifetime now. The sun just might barbeque my soul if I try to connect to it. I’m not that surprised. Being human doesn’t afford me the natural ability to withstand direct connections to celestial entities very well; I would hazard a guess.
“Jesus christ, Celestia!” I throw my hands up, “Keep on giving me more shit to worry about why don’t you!”
Shifting her mane side of her neck to the other, she flattens her ears, “Sorry, but it was important for you to know. I do not want you to even attempt to raise or lower the sun until we can be more certain about how stable you are.”
At least she is not trying to get me killed. I cross my arms, and focus my attention on her once again. The mare smiles, deciding to pivot in a different direction for the conversation, “How much do you know about tax code and the general structure of a functional government Vincent.”
That's an oxymoron if I ever heard one. I know enough about government to know that it never usually functions the way it should. No matter what policy it is implementing.
I groan and sit on a nearby large piece of rubble big enough to be a makeshift seat, “Why don’t you tell me Celestia,” the defeat audible in my tone.
My frown is clearly visible when she materializes a whiteboard and several markers behind her. For once, her enthusiasm is plain to see. How exciting.
“We’ll start with the basics,” She starts, noticing my facial expression, “For your sake at least.”
“Equestria’s tax policy is based on a complicated set of parameters to account for socio-economic status and hopefully we won’t have to touch on it too much sinc-”
“-epending on the the business, additional fees may be required for operation in th-”
“The way Luna and I organized the governance of the Kingdom revolves around three simple principles. One is a simple hooves off policy in most matters that only concern the local populace of townships. Problems are best solved by the ponies affected by them and not by somepony hundreds of miles away. I believe that’s a good summary for something as simple as that, let us move on to th-”
“We have executive power over any and all legislation approved by the nobles in our respective courts. Our decision to enact them is typically the final say. However, if there is a super-majority of support for the tabled policy, it will cause my sister and I to hear the proposition jointly. Still, it will not pass without our approval. Normal ponies can petition Luna and I directly if they so wish.”
“Now if you would take a look at this tree chart. There are not that many organizations that supercede local administration, but there are a few... Vincent, keep your eyes open. Actually, hold on, I think I may need a bigger white board.
“I think we have time for a basic foal’s introduction to basic magic channeling. Your mistake earlier was that you started the channel without the usual safety taken to mitigate backlash from a flubbed spell. You attempted telekinesis without any idea of the simple spell weave to keep it from running wild with the source feeding it from your magic core. I recommend finding a book in my study called, ‘Clipped Clove’s Simplified Foundation of Magic’ it's actually an introductory text from the returned Crystal Empire. It was sent to me as a curiosity by Cadence. How long ago did it return? I think it's been two months now.”
I attempt to pay attention to everything she is saying, I really do, but it is difficult to soak everything she is saying at once. Ironically enough, if I didn't spend so much time reading about human politics to laugh at it, I would have no damn clue what she is talking about. Tax policy, structure of government, and finally the brief interlude about magic is the only thing that is keeping me from actively wanting to die. It feels like hours, and she is still talking even now. How can she even do this? It's like being back in university again. Except this time I am the only student in the class room, and the room the lecture is in is the ruins of a castle. In my bleary haze of learning, I just barely grasp on the mention of something very important I'd like to clarify.
"Wait, hold on. What was that about the Crystal Empire again?" I interrupt her mid-sentence. Something about how magic is an intrinsic force in all life, probably.
"Vincent, that was a non-sequitur that I said a half-hour ago, and I'm not going into history yet." Celestia blinks at me, the marker in her magic's grasp hovering just an inch away from the whiteboard.
She looks behind herself at the whiteboard, and the scrawl of notation of theories and governmental functions that cover the whole thing. A grim realization slowly crosses her face.
"Perhaps I have over done it, I sincerely apologize." She chuckles to herself as I struggle to keep my eyes open.
Celestia gives my form a once-over, her voice taking on an ethereal quality, "You're returning to the waking world. Try not to get yourself injured anymore. Even with the resilience of an alicorn, you appear to be quite adept at managing to hurt yourself."
I mumble unintelligible words in reply. My eye-lids shut, no longer being able to stop them from falling down. The color of the world around me becoming blindingly bright.
Author's Note
Not dead yet. Life has a habit of getting in the way, that is for sure.
