Chapters It was a cool star lit night with a full moon shining in the night sky as all of Equestria slept peacefully, however one pony started the day before the sun was even up .
Celestia layed in her bed sound asleep, but moments later she began to stir as she slowly woke up from a enchantment she placed on herself to tell her when to raise or lower the sun.
"Hmm." Groaned Celestia, her eyes slowly opened as she woke up from her magical alarm, rubbing her eyes as she rose from her bed.
She slowly rose from her large enchanted cloud bed, and did her pre morning stretching. Her body gave of several pleasing pops as she stretched out her legs, back, and wings before she began to head to her tower's balcony.
She was greeted by the sight of the full moon and saw the symbol of the mare in the moon, feeling sadness washed over as she looked at it.
Even after 400 years Celestia still had a sadness that weighed on her heart over what happened between Luna and her.
" Huha, Luna I miss you dear sister, but I know one day we will be reunited. " Celestia said as she gazed up at the moon, wiping away a tear with a feather remembering the night she banished Luna.
Celestia lit her horn in her gold aura and started to lower the moon and raise the sun, bringing light into the world just as she had been doing for since she learned her special talent.
Celestia took a moment to admire the sunrise as it slowly rose into the sky, bathing the world in it's golden rays throughout Equestria, signaling the start of a new day.
"Bwagu!"
Suddenly a noise from behind Celestia caused her to turn around as a 2 year old Pegasus filly flew from Celestia's room and clung to her neck affectionately.
" Good morning my little Aurora, I'm sorry did I wake you? " Celestia asked the little filly as she wrapped a wing around her.
"Aaah ~" the filly responded by yawning and nuzzling Celestia's neck, getting comfy as she began to fall asleep in her wing.
" I'll take that as a yes. " Celestia said, smiling as she looked at the filly.
" And on that day Luna I wish for you to meet your niece. " Celestia thought smiling as she looked at the moon and back to the sleeping filly, imagining the the day they would be a family again.
This little filly was Aurora Nebulae, the daughter of Celestia and the newest princess of Equestria.
She was a pale blue white Pegasus with a spiky mane and tail that were the color of the northern lights and the night sky that shined like a gem. Her eyes looked like they were made of white diamonds with a light blue hint to them.
Celestia was always seen as a motherly figure to all her little poines, but she never had any foals of her own. And after centuries of seeing so many of her little poines with their families and children, she decided to have a foal of her own.
But she knew if she found a lover it be would be a matter of time before they died, and she couldn't go through the heartbreak of losing another. So she used her magic to craft a spell to fulfill her wish, and 11 months later Aurora was born.
Celestia had used magic to hide that she was pregnant and only informed those she trusted most, knowing if news of her being with child would give the nobles and her enemies something over her and put her unborn child at risk.
But as the due date was only 3 weeks away, she had to make arrangements and announce the news. And once it was announced she was having a foal, all of Equestria was shocked as the news spread like wildfire throughout Equestria and beyond.
For never in the history of the world has an alicorn ever had a child before, and Celestia's foal was bound to be special.
Five years later
Somewhere in Canterlot castle
"Weeeeee, catch me if you can Philomena!" Aurora yelled as she zoomed through the castle halls, with the phoenix not far behind her.
*Chirp, chirp!* Philomena chirp excitedly as she chased after the young princess in one of their games of tag.
As Aurora grew up she proved to be quite a wild child, she was difficult mostly for anypony other than Celestia to look after. And when she showed signs at a young age of being gifted with a unique magic know as elemental magic, even Celestia was surprised when she found out.
Elemental magic was a art and type of magic thought lost to time to the Pegasie, it was the very origin of how the Pegasie could manipulate the clouds and weather.
At this point Aurora could manipulate the wind and temperature but what was know of what elemental magic it was capable of a lot more.
And having a hyper active rambunctious young filly with magical weather powers made the guards assigned to her jobs to look after her difficult to say the least.
" Which way did she go!" Yelled a royal guard Pegasus captain in a deep voice.
" I saw her fly down that hallway but after that I lost track of her, I'm sorry captain that phoenix distracted us! " said a guard.
" That doesn't matter now just spread out and find her before something happens to her! Make sure to take a unicorn partner and used tracking spells, there's no telling where she could be in this massive castle! " yelled the captain.
" Sir yes sir! " the guards said before they broke into groups of two and began to search for the young princess.
As Aurora and Philomena raced down the hallways Aurora zooming and evaded Philomena's every attempt to tag her, staying just out of reach.
But Philomena saw a corner coming up in the hallway and knew that Aurora would need to turn, which would cause her to slow down just enough to provide an opportunity for her.
As Aurora was in mid turn Philomena flew high in to the air and dived at the filly like a hawk, preparing to tag the filly.
*Woosh*
But as her wing was less than a foot away from tagging Aurora, a gust of wind blew Philomena off course making the phoenix fly right over Aurora.
" Hehe nice try Philomena, you were close that time. " Aurora said while laughing from her perch on a large decorative chandelier.
*Squeak! * Philomena chirped as she flew near Aurora, protesting of how the use of wind was not fair.
"Not fair, what's not fair is that you threw a bunch of your loose feathers in my face last time we played tag. And because of that I almost crashed into a wall! " Aurora said, crossing her hoofs on her chest and pouted at the phoenix as she landing on the floor.
Philomena slumped her head in defeat at that, she knew the filly had a point.
She landed next to Aurora and nuzzled her face as she apologized with soft chirps.
* Chirp, chirp.* Philomena softly chirped as she rubbed her face against Aurora's, conveying she was sorry.
Aurora sat there trying to maintain her pout, but she quickly broke into giggles in the face of Philomea's sweetness and hugged the fiery bird.
" Alright, alright apology accepted, I can never stay mad at you. " Aurora said, smiling as she nuzzled her friend and playmate back.
"I've spotted her Captain Wind Trotter!" A royal guard Pegasus yelled from down the hallway Aurora and Philomena came form.
" Princess Aurora please stop fleeing from us, Princess Celestia will be done with day court soon. We can escort you to the garden while you wait for her." A middle aged royal guard Pegasus with a light blue coat and a silver mane said, as he and a few other guards began to approach the filly princess.
" You'll have to catch us first!" Aurora said smiling as she quickly took to the air and zoomed off down the hallway with Philomena right behind her.
"Wait Princess, ahh not again!" Captain Wind Trotter yelled as he face hooved, he knew they wouldn't be able to catch the filly once she took to the air.
"What do we do now, we can't just let the princess run around the castle like this, what if she runs into one of the visiting foreign diplomats. " Said one of his subordinates, looking very worried.
"Huha, I'm afraid we'll have to inform Princess Celestia of this, go tell her while I try to get Princess Aurora to listen. " Wind Trotter said with a heavy sigh, before flying off in the direction the young princess went.
" So who's going to go tell Princess Celestia? " A guard asked, looked to his squad mates.
" Not me I did it last time. " One of them said, shaking his head to make his point.
" Well somepony has to do let's settle this like usual, not it! " A royal guard Pegasus mare said, quickly raising her hoof.
" Not it! "
" Not it! "
" Not it pony feathers! " Said a Pegasus guard as he was the last to say it.
" Well looks like you drew the short straw Dust stride. " A guard said, patting the unfortunate Pegasus's shoulder.
" Yeah, yeah your not the one that's got to tell Princess Celestia we can't even do foalsitting right. " Dust stride said as he and his comrades set off to the throne room.
In the throne room Celestia was in a meeting pertaining to some poines with weather complaints and issues.
" Now Sir Rulwork as I've previously told others on this matter, you can't keep pressing the weather ponies for more rain showers. They keep to a precise schedule for a reason. " Celestia said, restraining a annoyed sigh as she looked at the pony before her.
" But one rain shower a month is not enough, my farms are showing signs of drought. I'm concerned the clouds the weather ponies are dispersing are not enough or are being blown off course. " Rulwork said in a deep gruff voice, giving Celestia some files with papers of his assessments.
He was a middle aged Earth pony with a dark brown red coat and a copper mane who ran some large produce farms. He wore a light navy blue suit and had a plow going through some soil for a cutie mark.
"Hmm this is concerning, I'll have a Pegasus weather inspector do a field report on the weather team and the clouds dispersal over the land." Celestia said, making a mental note as she finished looking over the reports.
"Thank you for that Princess Celestia." Rulwork said , giving a bow before he started to ahead out of the throne room.
"Huha, who's next Quivil? " Celestia asked while releasing a tired sigh as she leaned back into her throne.
"Hmm, let's see you have a meeting with,
" Pardon the interruption Princess Celestia but I need to speak with you. " said a light brown Pegasus royal guard as he and a few other royal guards suddenly entered the throne room, doing a quick bow as they stopped before the throne.
"Hello Lieutenant Dust stride, is Aurora saying she's having trouble with her studies again? " Celestia asked, trying her best to keep her sadness out of her voice.
" She probably wants me to be the one to teach her so we can spend more time together. Huha I've got to do to more to make time for her." Celestia thought, feeling sad that her schedule took so much time away from her daughter
She knew her daughter was very smart and gifted, Aurora was already well past the educational level for a pony her age. But she always liked to have Celestia teach her instead of any of the teachers Celestia assigned to her.
" Ugh no Princess Aurora has been done with her lessons and studies for over 3 hours now. After that she said she was going to practice her flying and took off. She's currently flying around in the halls of the castle and ugh...we can't stop her. " The Lieutenant said, nervously informing the Sun Princess of the situation.
The news that her daughter was on the loose in the castle unsupervised was alarming, but what got Celestia's attention the most was the time.
" Over 3 hours ago, how could I have been so careless to lose track of the time? " Celestia said, going wide eyed as she teleported a golden pocket watch and saw the current time.
" Oh she must be so mad at me, especially after I promised her again I would be on time and would play with her. " Celestia thought, already imagining her daughter frowning at her for being late again.
" Quivil I need you to handle the rest of the meetings for today please, I owe my daughter some quality time with me." Celestia said, giving her Stewart an apologizing smile as she stood up.
" Of course Princess go and enjoy being with little Aurora I've got this. " Quivil said, giving Celestia a nod as he gather his papers in his maroon aura.
Quivil was a light beige elderly unicorn with a grey mane and thick grey mustache, he had a cutie mark of a scroll with a quill pen on it.
He was Celestia's Stewart and royal organizer, he set up meeting with those that needed to have an audience with Celestia in day court and worked with Celestia's royal schedule organizer to manage the time and place for them.
Quivil's main job was to help make things easier for Celestia, mainly by sorting out who needed to meet with her and assisting in working though all the paperwork she dealt with on a daily basis.
He made it easier for Celestia to focus on the more important things, like spending time with her daughter, ruling the country, looking after the citizens of Equestria and their wellbeing.
" Thank you for your hard work Quivil, it's certainly appreciated. Oh and please send a message to the kitchen staff to fix Aurora's favorite cake. " Celestia said smiling to the elderly stallion before setting off.
" It is no problem your highness, and I'm sure you will smooth things over with her. " Quivil said smiling, bowing before looking through his papers.
" Now Lieutenant don't worry I shall find my daughter, you and your squad go to the castle garden's where the outdoor furniture is and I'll meet you there." Celestia said as she walked up to Dust stride and lit her horn.
" Yes Princess Celestia. " Dust stride said, as he and rest of his squad bowed.
With that Celestia lit her horn and teleported to wherever Aurora was currently.
"Please come back here Princess Aurora!" Wind Trotter said between heavy breaths as he flew after the young princess.
He was running on fumes, and even with his training and full speed he still couldn't get close to the Princess.
" Hahaha no way, this is tag your going to have to catch me if you can slow poke! " Aurora said back, she was smiling excitingly as she and Philomena flew around and evaded the captain.
They had reached the hall of legends, it was a huge and vast hall that had large stained glass windows in it depicting legends and historical events in Equestria's history.
" Looks like I'm going to have to play her game if I want to get her to listen. " Wind Trotter thought, realizing he wasn't going to change the kid's mind.
Wind Trotter knew he wouldn't beat Aurora in speed so he changed his plan, he flew in a complex flight pattern in an effort to out maneuver Aurora. He flew high in to the air nearly to the hall's ceiling and began to fly in a zig zag pattern around the room.
"Oh that's cool." Aurora thought amazed, pausing her flying for a moment as she tracked Wind Trotter around the room as he flew.
" And now! " Wind Trotter made a sudden turn towards Aurora just as he flew behind her blind spot.
" Your good kid but I'm a trained solider of the royal guard. " Wind Trotter thought as he neared Aurora, preparing to tag her and end the game.
But as he was less than a foot away from tagging her she quickly flapped her wings and did a back flip in mid air right over the captain. Causing him to spin in the air for a few moments as he was caught in a spiraling gust of wind.
" Hahaha that was cool Wind Trotter but you still have to catch me!" Aurora said smiling down to the dizzy Pegasus captain on the floor.
"Ugh." Wind Trotter groaned as he layed on the floor.
" Now, now my little Aurora at least give Wind Trotter a chance. " came a sweet motherly voice that was all to familiar to Aurora.
"Mommy!" Aurora said happily as she quickly flew at Celestia, slamming into her chest blowing her mane back with a strong gust of wind. Aurora proceeded to affectionately hug and nuzzle Celestia, burying her face in the white fur of her chest.
" Your late mommy, again." Aurora said slightly irritated, her voice was muffled by Celestia's fur but was still auditable.
" Yes I am, I'm sorry sweety but I'm free to spend the whole day with you now . " Celestia said tenderly as she hugged and nuzzled her daughter back, trying to sooth her daughter.
" Really you can spend time with me now? " Aurora asked excitedly, looking up at Celestia with a hopeful smile.
" Of course how about we go to the gardens to play, I even have a surprise for you there." Celestia said, smiling as she looked at her daughter become excited.
" Captain Wind Trotter I've instructed your squad to meet us in the garden, would you like for me to teleport with us? " Celestia asked the captain.
" Yes Princess Celestia I'd like to, I'm still a tad worn out from chasing Princess Aurora. Next time I'm not going to let her get a head start on me and my squad. " Wind Trotter said, sounding confident as he playfully smiled at Aurora.
" Haha, we'll see about that slow poke. " Aurora said smiling back at the him.
* Chirp, chirp* Philomena chirped as she landed on Celestia's shoulder.
" Right let's be on our way. " Celestia said before she teleported with them all to the gardens in a big gold flash.
In a gold flash Celestia, Aurora, Wind Trotter, and Philomena appeared in the castle's garden where the outdoor furniture was.
"Greeting Princess Celestia, captain. " Dust stride said, As he and his squad mates gave a bow to the Princess and a salute to their captain.
" Thank you for the ride Princess Celestia. " Wind Trotter said, giving a bow to her.
"Your quite welcome Captain, and thank you for always protecting my daughter. " Celestia said, smiling her motherly smile as she watched her daughter fly over to look at some flowers.
" It's no trouble Princess Celestia she's a hoof full but she's a good kid. She certainly keeps my squad and me on our hoofs." Wind Trotter said, giving his wings a stretch.
" She is but I worry about her, she wants me to be around more and I try to be. But being a mother and a ruler of a nation is hard to do. And I'm afraid that I'm going to mess up with her and we'll drift apart." Celestia said, smiling sadly as she looked at her daughter and Philomena looking at the flowers.
" I can't let history repeat itself, Luna turned into Nightmare moon and I was the one that drove her to doing so. I can't let that happen to Aurora. " Celestia thought, remembering the heartbreaking tragedy between Luna and her.
" She loves you and knows you care about her, despite her young age she knows you have a important job. And besides you are a good mother Princess, things will be fine between you two." Wind Trotter said sincerely, getting a warm smile from Celestia.
" Thank you for that Wind Trotter that means a lot. " Celestia said softly while smiling at the captain. She took comfort in those words and felt a sense of relief for them.
Celestia looked to Aurora who was now petting a golden hair rabbit, one of the residents of the castle's garden. While Philomena socialized with the other birds of the garden.
Wind Trotter was a veteran among the royal guards and had served as one for 52 years, he was one of Celestia's personal bodyguards and was a good friend of Celestia. She picked him and those that made up his squad to guard her daughter, she trusted him and knew that he had the skill and experience to keep her safe.
" Well we'll let you two be, me and my squad need to get to patrolling the gardens. " Wind Trotter said, as he and his squad gave a bow to Celestia before heading out to commence their guard duties.
"Look mommy my rainbow roses are finally blooming." Aurora said, walking over to a few rose bushes with roses the color of the rainbow that sparkled in the sunlight.
" Indeed they are and there looking very nice, they make a great addition to the garden. " Celestia said walking to her daughter's side, smiling as she watched her daughter look over her flowers.
These flowers were very rare and were very sought after, making it difficult to find any, though Celestia got them for Aurora's seventh birthday. Aurora liked many things like flowers, art, and music and was very good at painting, something Aurora really liked to as a hobby
" Yep I made sure to water them every 3 days like you said, so what's the surprise you said you had mommy? " Aurora asked, looking at Celestia with a curious happy smile.
"Well I thought it would be nice to have some red velvet cake together before we go flying, would you like that? " Celestia asked gesturing to an outdoor white table, smiling as she saw Aurora's excited smile.
Like her Aurora had a big sweet tooth, and one of her favorite sweets was red velvet cake with pecans.
" Yes I'd love to, then we can go flying right? "Aurora asked as Celestia and her sat down at the table, looking to Celestia with excitement.
Already imagining the taste of the cake and the joy of flying and spending time with her mother.
" Hehe, of course sweety, oh look Caramel is here and she brought the cake. " Celestia said seeing a unicorn mare with a honey gold brown coat and a copper brown curly mane pushing a food cart with her light magenta aura.
She had a cutie mark of three cinnamon rolls, she was Caramel Swirl, the personal maid of Celestia and head maid of day time maids. And her sister a bat pony named Lily Nightshade was the personal maid of Luna and oversaw the night time maids.
Caramel Swirl and Lily Nightshade were more than maids, they were the oldest friends of Celestia and Luna. They appeared very young but thanks to an age spell casted by Starswirl they would stay young forever and had taken care of Celestia and Luna since they were little.
"Caramel!" Aurora said happily, quickly flying to the maid and hugged her.
" Bonjour la` Aurore, profiter la jardins aujourd'hui? " Caramel asked in her native language of Prench, hugging the young princess back.
" Oui moi et maman sont aller aentraine toi en volant, oh et regardez ma des roses sontepanouissement." Aurora said happily smiling, speaking Prench as she pointed to the flowers.
"They are indeed, you've been doing a good job of taking care of them." Caramel said smiling, switching back to equestrian as she walked up to the outdoor white table.
As Aurora sat down at the table Caramel lifted a the glass covered silver plate with the cake on it in her magical grip and placed it, a pair of knifes and forks, and a plate in front of them with a napkin under it on the table.
" Would you like to eat with us Carmel? " Celestia asked, smiling as she knew that Caramel enjoyed red velvet cake as well.
" Yes I'd like to Princess, it about time for me to take a break as well. " Caramel said smiling as Celestia teleported a chair for her.
"What do you think of my Prench mommy, was it good? " Aurora asked eagerly awaiting to her what Celestia thought.
" Your doing very well Aurora, you've got the accent down and your speech it very fluently." Celestia said cutting a slice of cake for Auroa.
Aurora gave a big smile at hearing that, she then picked up her fork and enjoyed her cake.
"Thanks for helping in teaching her Prench Caramel." Celestia said smiling as she thanked her maid.
" Oh it's no trouble she enjoyed learning it and she's a fast learner. But let's talk about something else other than work and enjoy the nice weather while we have the time. " Caramel said smiling as she took a bite of her cake.
" That's right I need to spend as much time as I can with Aurora and enjoy the time I spend with her. She will definitely live much longer than most poines, but the day well come when...she... "
" No, ,no I need to focus on the present, while she's still here. " Celestia thought, quickly pulling herself together and put on her best practiced smile.
She pushed such thoughts away before her emotions got the better of her, the last thing she wanted to was make her daughter worry about her.
" I will enjoy the time I have with my little Aurora, for as long as time allows. And perhaps in time she may be able to ascended to an alicorn. " Celestia thought hopefully, smiling as she watched her daughter enjoy her cake.
Author's Note
I always wondered what the story would be like if Celestia had a daughter. So after reading a few stories about the concept, I decided to write one.
Hope you enjoy the story :)
As Aurora finished getting ready for bed she made her way to her large Queen sized cloud bed, and pulled back the fluffy cloud sheets.
" Ahh what a day, I'll have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow if I'm to be ready in time to leave for Haygrica at 8:30, wonderful. " Aurora said sarcastically as she set the time on her alarm clock with her magic as she got comfy in her cloud bed.
The large bed floated just a foot of the floor and was supremely comfortable, keeping one cool in the summer and warm in the winter, providing a relaxing sleep. As Aurora layed her head on her beds large cloud pillows and was about to turn off the lamp on her nightstand, until she realized something.
"Oh right I nearly forgot to write Mom back, I'm sure she will be happy to hear the news, though I don't know what to say to Luna. I'll just say hello and tell them the news." Aurora thought as she used her magic to grab a blank scroll and a pen.
"There it goes, hopefully Mom gets it at a decent time." Aurora thought yawning as she rolled up the scroll and placed the gold seal on it. She casted a spell that turned the scroll in a glittering cloud of mist, quickly disappearing into thin air as it set out to its destination.
Aurora layed her back on her cloud pillow and turned off the lamp and switched in her room's fans on with her magic. With all things taken care of she got comfy in her bed and closed her eyes as she drifted off to sleep.
*Beep! *
*Beep!*
*Beep!*
CLANK!
Went Aurora's hoof, smacking the blaring alarm on her nightstand next to her queen sized cloud bed against a wall. Luckily the clock was made of strong enchanted metal, otherwise it would have been shattered to pieces by her enhanced strength, like so many before it.
The pale sky blue alicorn slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with the sight of the dark interior of her bedroom in the embassy.
" Ugh, it is to early for this, I don't know how mom gets up so early everyday, probably with a lot of caffeine and sugar."Aurora thought feelings grouchy, she layed in her bed and as she slowly began to wake up, begrudgingly making her way out of her comfy bed.
" 4: 15 a.m is way to early for me. "Aurora grumbled , looking at her alarm clock with a frown as she set it back on the nightstand.
" Huha, well I know how I am in the morning and it takes me awhile to get things done. " Aurora thought, yawning loudly as she slowly walked to her door.
As she opened the door she was greeted by two bat ponies clad in black armour with sliver edges in front of her door.
" Good morning Princess Aurora. " They said, bowing to the her after stepping to the side.
"Mornin." Aurora said still half asleep, rubbing her eyes with a hoof as she yawned, trying her best not to sound grouchy.
Princess Aurora was not in any sense a morning pony, and was a very heavy sleeper and was not very talkative in the morning.
The guards, maids, and embassy staffs new how she was in in the morning and when getting up early. They made sure to give her time to fully wake up, something they learned the hard way after a few incidents.
One time when Aurora had just woken up she tried to take a warm shower. In less than a minute she nodded off and hit her head against the shower knob, and accidentally activate her weather powers in her drowsiness. Coating the whole room in ice and freezing a large portion of the water pipe system.
Another time was when doing paperwork first thing early in the morning, Aurora had nearly nodded off and fell asleep sitting in her chair. When Penny who was helping her with the paperwork, saw this she place her hood on the princess shoulder to nudge her awake.
Unfortunately this startled Aurora, and in her drowsy state she accidentally discharged lighting from her body with her weather powers, shocking her secretary for a few seconds. Ever since then her guards, maids, and staff made sure to give her enough time to wake up.
As Aurora walked past the guards and made her way through the rest of her living quarters in the embassy, she arrived at the dinning room and sat at the head of the table.
" Good morning Princess Aurora, would you like your usual? " A light beige mare with a Cinnamon brown mane and tail wearing a maid uniform said as she walked into the Princess's chair. Placing today's newspaper down in front of the her.
" Yes Ginger I'd like that, and please put extra this time, I don't want to get hungry when I'm halfway to Haygrica. " Aurora said, already feeling hungry.
" Sure thing, be back in a few minutes princess. " Ginger said cheerfully, heading to the kitchen.
As the maid left, Aurora picked up the newspaper and started reading, after reading the first page she saw something interesting.
" Pfft, the lions are still fussing about what happened at the ball, even after five months . " Aurora thought , looking at an article that went over the incident at the royal ball and talked about the concerns of the lions.
"Well I'll let them sweat it out for a few more days, but really Prince Jasiria should have known better than that to speak to a pony like that."
" King Kuwinda said he was flirting with me, but if that is how he flirts, he needs serious practice. Plus he was barking up the wrong tree. " Aurora thought as she read the rest.
" Here is your breakfast Princess Aurora, I hope you enjoy. " Ginger said smiling as she placed a plate with two stacks of four large chocolate chip banana pancakes, drizzled in maple syrup. With Two boiled eggs, and a four strips of bacon with a large glass of orange juice.
"Thank you Ginger." Aurora said, taking a honey soaked bite out of her pancakes and went about enjoying her breakfast.
During her time abroad, Aurora had developed a taste for non-pony cuisine, and being a Pegasus originally she was no stranger to eating meat, one of her favorite things to eat was seafood.
Most poines would be shocked to see another pony eat meat, but it wasn't that uncommon. The Pegasie were known to eat fish and seafood, but most places that catered to that were mostly in the cloud cities.
The zebra's actually had certain kinds of meat in their diet as well, and the poines that had traveled and lived in the eastern lands after travel between them was established. The poines over there were a bit more use to the open to the , and the sight of other creatures eating meat, especially when around lions and hyenas.
"Ahh, nothing like a nice relaxing bath to start the day off with. " Aurora said, sinking to her shoulders in the warm water of the bathtub.
As Aurora went about taking her usual morning bath, she relaxed in the warm water of the large circular marble bathtub. But she found her thoughts on the contents of Celestia's letter from yesterday.
"Princess Luna, the princess of the night, and my long lost estranged aunt. I have seen her in old pictures with mom, and only known as much about her as the Canterlot archives have and what mom has told me. I really hope we get along, other than mom I really don't have any other family members, despite what Mom says I do not see Blueblood as family. " Aurora thought, feeling irritated as she recalled her adopted cousin.
" I find it utterly baffling as to how mom could have the patience to stand that snobbish, self centered, entitled, spoiled, arrogant prick, or how any creature could for that matter. " Aurora thought, recalling the stallions behavior as she grabbed a long handle bath brush, applying lavender body wash to the brush's head.
"Huha I'm just worried about Luna accepting me as family, she has been gone for a thousand years and now she's back and finds out her sister has a daughter. Would she be happy to find out about that? I hope I'm just worried over nothing, I probably am my nerves are just getting the better of me." Aurora thought, scrubbing herself and covering her body is the sweet smelling lavender foam.
As she finished lathering herself she submerged beneath the bath water and washed the soap off. She used her weather powers to change the warm water's temperature to cold, and relaxed in the cool water.
"I'm just nervous that's all, I'm worrying about nothing though I wonder, what to get as a welcome home gift for her? " Aurora thought, as she got out of the bath.
" I'll think about it later. " Aurora thought as she continued to get ready.
The sun was barely above the horizon as Aurora finished with th her preparations on getting ready to set off for Haygrica. She stood in front of her dressing mirror in her bedroom, putting on her regalia.
Her crown, necklace, and shoes were made of shiny white gold, her crown and necklace had a cut diamond shape sky blue sapphire on it. Her necklace was similar to Celestia's, but it was smaller and thinner than her's.
She normally only her crown most of the time and sometimes her shoes, she only wore the full set of regalia for special occasions or when she was going to an important meeting.
" Hmm, I've got an a little over hour and a half till it time for me to head out, they should be finished preparing the airship. " Aurora thought as she finished combing her mane and tail.
Try as she might her light and dark aurora and night colored mane and tail refused to smooth out, maintaining its usual wild spiky look ( similar to Vinyl Scratch mane style) as they blew gently through ethereal wind.
As she left her room she met Gale Winds, Stella Wisp, and eight more armed royal guards outside her door, waiting to escort her to her destination.
" Your guard squad is ready to escort you, are you ready to head out princess? " Gale Winds said, giving a salute to the pale sky blue alicorn.
" Not yet, I've got to head to my office and check some stuff over with Penny before I leave . " Aurora said as she walked down a hallway with her guards in tow.
" Alright that should be it with the stuff that needs your attention princess, the others can manage the rest. " Penny said, putting up some papers and files in her bag.
" Thanks for the help Penny I'll be going now, call me if something comes up. " Aurora said as she got up from her cloud office chair.
" No problem, have fun over there princess. " Penny said to Aurora as she left her office.
*Bing*
Suddenly Penny's phone notification went off, she pulled out her phone and saw she had a text message from her leopard marefriend.
" Hey Penny, you want to go to our usual place after work for lunch, I heard they got a few new things to try ? " it read.
" Sure Lenna, I'll probably be getting off early so meet you at 6:45? " Penny typed.
" Sounds good, I'll be getting off around then too since I've got a day shifts, see you then. " Lenna typed, adding a smiling emoji face at the end.
" Well I better see to getting done with what little I have to do before then, otherwise Lenna will be huffy if I make her wait to long. " Penny thought, putting her phone away and went back to her office.
As Aurora teleported with Gale Wind s and Stella Wisp, and her guards to a landing pad outside of the town where a airship awaited them. It resembled a fusion of a blimp and a ship, it flew the flag of Equestria and the body of the air ship was painted with gold, white, amethyst purple, and sky blue.
" Morning Princess Aurora, we've already got everything ready to take off, with the weather today it will be smooth ride to Haygrica. " Said a white cream colored Pegasus in a deep gruff but friendly voice , he smiled as he gave a quite bow to the princess. He had on a ship captains hat and had a black mane, tail, and a thin mustache.
He was Gust Cloud, he and a two others piloted the diplomatic Equestrian airship that they used to travel the long distances between the kingdoms. Most modern day airships had a magic powered autopilot system built in, but the larger ones need to at least have three pilots and a maintenance crew of ten.
" That's good to hear Captain Gust, after we bored the ship I'll will let you know when we're ready to go. " Aurora said, smiling to the captain.
"Hey princess, mind if Gale helps me fly the ship it would be nice to chat with my nephew and see how his pilot skills are. " Caption Gust said, smiling as he looked at the young light blue Pegasus guard.
" Uncle Gust, as much as I would like to, you now I'm still on the jo-,
" Sure I don't mind captain, I hope your pilot skills haven't gone rusty Gale. " Aurora said, cutting of the young stallion's response and smiled at him.
"Are you sure princess, I'm mean it would nice to but I'm still on the job as your bodyguard." Gale said, trying not to show to much emotion.
" Yeah you can, besides you two haven't had much time to spend together, you can work and catch up with your uncle at the same time. I just hope your pilot skills haven't gone rusty, we wouldn't want to be late, or worse lost." Aurora said playfully.
" Ha! Well you don't have to worry about that with me, come Gale let's chat and catch up. You still remember how to fly an airship right?" Captain Gust asked, patting Gale as they walked up the ramp to the ship.
" Yes uncle, it has been some time since I have flown one but I remember how. This brings back memories of when we flew your small airship back then. " Gale said, smiling as he recalled his uncle teaching him how pilot an airship.
" Ha, yes indeed though nowadays the air ships have all kinds of fancy high-tech stuff in them now, much more reliable than the old ones. " Captain Gust said, as Gale and him made their way into the airship.
As everything was checked and accounted for, Aurora gave the captain the okay to take off.
"Alright this is your captain speaking, we're taking off now, the weather is nice today and we should be arriving at Haygrica in the next four and half hours. Please set back relax and enjoy the flight. " Captain Gust said on the intercom.
" Good, that's enough for me to get a decent nap, and by the time we get to Haygrica's borders I'll had enough time to wake up." Aurora thought, yawning as she entered the passenger area of the airship.
The area was wide and spacious, several large fluffy light beige chairs with dark brown cushions on them lined the sides and where place near where the windows werewere, offering a nice view of the outside.
A small wooden table with gold leafing in front of them was placed in between a few to place food or drinks on.
" Huha I need a nap, Stella wake me up if I'm not up before we arrive at the Haygrica's borders, or if something comes up. " Aurora said, feeling her tiredness catching up on her, she took a seat on a chair near a window and reclined all the back in the chair.
"Sure thing, I'll be sitting right over there if you need me, I'll have two others positioned here as well. The rest well be guarding the doorways. " Comet said as she sat on the seat next to the princess.
" I hope Mom and aunt Luna have already gotten my letter, I'd feel bad if it woke Mom in the middle of the night. But knowing the delay it probably arrived earlier this morning, I wonder how their doing over there. " Aurora thought as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep in the chair.
Earlier that morning.
" Alright everything is ready, I've fixed Luna's favorites for breakfast just the way she likes it. Now all I've got to do is wait for her to arrive." Celestia said, nervously looked over the royal dinning room table, checking the breakfast spread she prepared herself.
After Celestia had raised the sun and got ready for the day, she had went to the royal kitchen to personally prepare breakfast for Luna and herself, glad her cooking skills hadn't become rusty.
Because of their schedules being set at completely opposite times, the two sisters didn't get to spend that much time with each other. Celestia had seen to that, and arranged for them to have more time to spend together, something she was looking forward too.
Luna was making remarkable progress adjusting to modern Equestria in her short time back thanks to Celestia's help.
But Celestia was not going to rush things, she was going to be there for her sister and help her through this, she was determined to not repeat her mistakes again.
" Alright everything is set, she should be here any minute. " Celestia thought, anxiously awaiting has she sat at a chair close the head of the table.
Suddenly the sound of a door got her attention, seeing Carmel her personal maid walking through a set of double doors. The light carmel maid walked in and held the door open with her magic, a second later, her younger sister walked in.
" Good morning sister, I hope that the you are doing well this morning. " Luna said, trying and failing to hold back a loud yawn as she walked in to the room.
Thanks to Celestia's tutoring Luna and using a spell to help her quickly learn modern Equestrian, she was able to speak the modern language easily.
" Good morning Lulu, I made us breakfast. " Celestia said happily, smiling to her younger as she took a seat across from her.
" It smells lovely sister, though I think you made a bit to much for just us. " Luna said smiling, scanning the dinning table and seeing the extensive spread.
There were several plates of many kinds of food spread out on the table, plates with pancakes, oatcakes, chocolate waffles, blueberry, banana strawberry, muffins. With cinnamon rolls, toast, sticks, and boiled, sunny side, scrambled eggs, with along with various fruits laid in bowls and plates lined the table.
It looked more like a buffet had been prepared than a breakfast for two.
Celestia looked at the table and then back at her sister.
" I may have went a little overboard and got carried away with making breakfast." Celestia said, trying to hide her embarrassment.
" I guess I'm just used to making such a big breakfast when Aurora is home, and since this the first time in...in a long time since all of what happened in the past. I wanted this to be enjoyable for us, it has been so long since...since we've spent time as a family." Celestia said, her cheerful mood slowly faded as she spoke, feeling an all to familiar sadness and guilt come over her.
Her usual energy was now gone as she stared at her plate of food, her mane reflected her mood as it lost some of its bounce and flow.
Luna was beside Celestia in an instant, wrapping her forlegs and wings around her sister in a loving hug.
" It is alright sister I appreciate what your trying to do, I don't hold what happened in the past against you Celly." Luna said softly, looking at her with a kind smile.
Luna saw her words had an effect on Celestia, her mood seemed to bright as she smiled back at her. Though it was gone as fast as it appeared, fading as saddens settled back on her face.
" What happened to you back then sister was not all your fault, I am to blame as well for what happened to you. If only I had been more observant to how the ponies back then acted towards you, If only I had realized what it was doing to you, how it as making you feel bitter and alone. If only I had done more to help you, it never would have happened in the first place. " Celestia said, a few tears falling from her as she spoke.
" What happened in the past between us is over sister, I have said this already, I forgive you and love you Celly." Luna said, nuzzling her sister to reinforce her words.
"Thank you Lulu, I love you too. " Celestia said smiling happily, finally returning the hug and nuzzled Luna back affectionately.
" Now how about we eat, the food is getting cold and it would be a waste to let it ruin. " Luna said, taking a seat beside her sister.
" Yes let's. " Celestia said, smiling as Luna and her fixed their plates and dig into their meals.
" Oh right Celly, you mentioned your daughter earlier, you've only told me a bit about her since I got back. I'm surprised she isn't joining us for breakfast. "Luna said, cutting a large chunk of her whip cream covered chocolate waffles.
" Oh that's right I haven't told you yet, she's away often and for long periods of time, so she isn't home often for very long. She's an ambassador of foreign affairs and relations, she's currently in Aforina, a large continent far to the east of us." Celestia said, taking a bite out of her honey glazed biscuit.
" Aforina, I vaguely remember we went there a couple of times to the land of zebras in the past. They were similar to us and different in many ways, though back then travel between the lands wasn't easy to do, I'm guessing it's still a challenge today?" Luna asked, taking a bite of an omelet.
" Yes it is, even with airships the distance takes at least two days to cross. " Celestia said, taking a sip of her tea.
" So about your daughter Aurora, how are things going between you and her, what's she like? " Luna asked, floating a blueberry muffin over to her.
" Things between us are great, though frankly I wished I had been able to spend more time with her when she was a foal. Between my royal duties and raising her, it seemed to me she was growing up fast. "Celestia said, showing a happy but sad smile as she recalled how much time passed her by as Aurora grew up.
" I always felt bad for not always being there when she wanted and needed me, she's such a kind and loving pony. " Celestia said, feeling a little sad as she remembered something.
" I'm sure every parent feels that way Celly, I'm sure you did your best raising her even with ruling a country on your own, you always were a good at multitasking." Luna said, trying to cheer Celestia up.
" At times I wish I had done more, you know I was running over an hour late arriving at her ninth birthday party, because I was held up by a meeting with some nobles. I wished you were there to see how she brightened up seeing me Luna. " Celestia said, smiling as she remembered how delighted Aurora was to see her.
" But when I apologized to her for being late, she said something that hurt me greatly. " Celestia said.
" What was it she said, surly it couldn't have been that bad coming from a foal. " Luna said, feeling concerned as she watched her sister.
Celestia poked her food with her fork for a second, before looking at her sister.
" After I said I was sorry for being late she...she said she was use to it, and not to worry about it. Hearing that hurt Luna, I felt so disappointed in myself, I had missed things and was late for things more than I care to remember." Celestia said looking at her plate.
"Despite that she was always overjoyed to see me and be able to spend any time she could get with me. But hearing that made me feel like I had been neglecting her, like I neglected you back then sister. "Celestia said, feeling disappointment in herself.
" But things are better between you and her now, right? "Luna asked, hoping that was the case.
" Yes Aurora and I are doing well, she has grown up to be a wonderful, capable, and independent mare. " Celestia said smiling, brightening up as she spoke of her daughter, feeling a happiness only a mother could feel.
Luna smiled seeing that, glad to hear her sister had a good relationship with her daughter, though she felt curious about something.
" So Celly, there's something I'd like to ask. " Luna said adopting a playful smirk as she eyed her sister, her toned becoming mischievous and playful.
" I know that look anywhere. " Celestia thought, she knew it very well from experience.
Luna always used that tone or smirk when she would was about to do, talk, or ask something that was embarrassing, particularly when it concerned her.
" Yes sister, what's on your mind? "Celestia asked cautiously, eyeing her younger sister with a studying look, mentally preparing herself for whatever embarrassing thing Luna had planned.
" Tell me who's the lucky stallion or mare that managed to romantically woo you over, I would like to very much meet them. I had nearly given up hope that you would ever pursue a romantic interest, I imagine that you certainly didn't make it easy for them. " Luna said smiling to herself as she saw her sister blush.
" So tell me Celly, who are are they, more importantly where are they, I'm very much interested in meeting your special somepony. "Luna said, raising an eyebrow curiously as she smiled playfully.
" I-I just didn't find myself interested in anypony back then, plus we had to focus on running a kingdom as well Lulu. "Celestia said, blushing as she tried to defend her dignity.
" Huha, you still haven't gave me an answer Celly, " Luna said smiling as she pressed her sister for an answer.
" There's nopony really, I had Aurora on my own. "Celestia said honsetly, surprising Luna greatly.
" W-what, how did you have a foal on your own? Even when it is two mares, the spell needs to have two to work. " Luna asked, completely taken by surprise with her sister's answer.
" Well, I looked up and researched the foal bearing spell and a few other spells that were promising, and I used them on myself. I got pregnant and eleven months later I had Aurora, the birth was very easy on me surprisingly." Celestia said, fidgeted in her seat as she told her sister how she had a foal.
"But why would you do that, sister? "Luna asked, now finding herself both curious and concerned.
" At first it was because I was lonely...I felt so alone, I missed you so much Luna. During all that time without you I felt sad and alone, and I saw happy families with their foals living their happy life's over the centuries. One day I realized that I wanted that too, I wanted a family but nopony caught my interest, so I crafted a spell that would give me a foal. " Celestia said, telling her sister how Aurora came to be.
" I wasn't trying to replace you Luna, I could never do that. I just wanted to experience being a mother, and it turned out better than I could hope for. " Celestia said smiling as she thought of the joy Aurora brought into her life.
" Oh I know you wouldn't do that Celestia, so don't worry about that. I'm just happy that your happy, and hey you still might find that special somepony. " Luna said, hugging her sister.
"Speaking of which, has Aurora shown any interest in romance, or does she have a special somepony already? " Luna asked, breaking the hug and returning to eating her breakfast.
" No I don't think so, even after Five hundred years, she's a lot like me in that regard unfortunately, and very different as well." Celestia said, returning to her breakfast as well.
Luna nearly choked on a bite of her pancakes hearing what Celestia just said, she swallowed and looked at her sister with a stunned expression.
" S-she's five hundred years old, did you place a ageless spell on her. " Luna asked, surprised at hearing such news.
" No, oh that's right I haven't told you, she's an alicorn like us. She's known as the Princess of Unity. " Celestia said, telling Luna a bombshell casually.
" S-she's an alicorn as well." Luna said, staring off into space, finding herself stunned hearing even more shocking news.
" Yes, and contrary to what everypony thought she was going to be like, she turned out to be quit a wild mare. "Celestia said, smiling as she took a sip of her tea, remembering how Aurora was growing up.
" Really, that's funny I seem to recall that you were quite a wild mare growing up sister." Luna said, smiling as she took a bite out of a cinnamon roll.
" W-well I'd like to think I mellowed out, compared to back then. When you were a teenager you were pretty shy growing up Luna, remember?" Celestia said, recalling how timid her younger sister was.
" Yes I do and it was thanks to you that I grew out of that, so what kind of pony is Aurora? You said she's like you but also different, how so? " Luna asked, pausing as she put some syrup and powdered sugar on some cinnamon sticks.
Celestia placed her tea cup on it's saucer and thought for a moment, smiling as she remembered how unique Aurora was.
" Well it turns out that she was born with special magic, weather and elemental magic to be precise." Celestia said, remembering the day she found out her daughter's magic gift.
" Wow, the same kind of magic the Pegasie of old possessed, I believe that those that were very talented with it were called sky sages. " Luna said, remembering the ancient history of the Pegasie.
" She actually got her cutie mark when she testing her weather magic, she was flying and her weather powers imbued her with lighting speed. She was like a shooting star and after no small part on my end to catch her, when I finally did her whole body was giving off a static charge. " Celestia said, remembering how she frantically teleported to the gardens after a guard told her something we happening to her daughter.
500 years ago
In Canterlot castle
Celestia was in a conference room in the castle, in the middle of a meeting with some government officials that had been going on for too long, and was becoming arduous even for her.
The meeting was about increasing prices on the trade of certain crops an goods. By about the first hour in, Celestia had gone into her autopilot mode and just gave a response when necessary .
She had long ago made her decision on her ruling after hearing the ridiculous reasons and changes to the taxes on the goods and which good that would be affected.
" Princess Celestia, there's an emergency with Princess Aurora! " yelled Dust stride, bursting through the conference room's doors as he flew into the room.
" What happened, where is she?!" Celestia demanded as she stood up, shouting in her royal voice. Her bored mind was now on full alert and disregarded everything not concerning her daughter.
She was instantly in full protective parent mode, she didn't even notice the chair she had been seating in hitting the wall after she flared her wings as she got up.
" She's in the gardens we don't know what's going on, we-
That was about as much as Dust stride got to say, before Celestia had teleported away in a gold flash.
" Aurora! " Celestia yelled as she appeared in the middle of the gardens. Frantically looking around for her daughter.
As she frantically looked around, out of the corner of her eye she spotted a blur of familiar colors, zooming through the air high above the gardens. It took her a moment to realize that the blur was her daughter.
Celestia barely could keep track of her, as the twelve year old filly flew around the gardens, leaving behind a multicolored neon trail behind her.
Celestia had never seen her daughter fly this fast before, but what got her attention more, was that lighting was arching from her daughter. She looked like a living bolt of lightning made of aurora lights.
She was flying all over the place, moving so fast she was a blur, doing tricks, flips, and spinning as she flew.
All while the guards tried to catch up to the young princess, though they knew they would have a better chance of catching lighting in a bottle than catching up to her, still Celestia had to give them credit for trying.
Celestia knew that she would not be able to catch up with Aurora, even with her larger wings. She quickly teleported to Aurora, planning to catch her in her magic, as she appeared high in the skies above the gardens.
But as soon as she appeared where Aurora was , she was already gone. Celestia in her panic, didn't think to call out to her to get her attention, she wanted to see about Aurora as fast as possible.
She failed to intercept Aurora mid flight again and again, becoming more frantic with every failed attempt. Celestia decided to cast a spell on herself, slowing down the world around her, the spell accelerated her perception, allowing her to see the world in a slow motion state.
She focused on Aurora 's flight pattern and calculated her timing, teleporting right in front of Aurora.
" Oof!" Went Celestia, catching Aurora in her forlegs as she flew right into her, knocking her back quite a distance, and did a few back flips from the impact.
If somepony asked her how she was feeling at that moment, she would probably tell them she felt like she was hit by an Ursa Major.
Thankfully Celestia's alicorn body was very resilient and tough, plus she had spells that gave her elemental resistance. Otherwise holding onto Aurora with lighting arching off her would hurt quite a bit.
" Aurora are you alright?! " Celestia asked frantically, looking her daughter over for any signs of injuries. Celestia noticed as she was touching Aurora, she could feel a continues low static charge coming off her fur.
" Hi mommy I'm fine, when did you get here, I thought you had some meeting to attend. " Aurora said, affectionately hugging Celestia. Celestia noticed that the lighting arching off Aurora like a live thunderhead moments ago had vanished.
"Nevermind that look what I discovered I can do! "Aurora said excitedly, slipping out of Celestia's grasp and became cloaked in lighting again.
" I can make myself go really fast if I apply my lighting to myself, isn't it amazing? " Aurora asked as she zoomed around Celestia a few times and came to a stop in front of her mother.
"Yes that is amazing sweety, why don't you tell me all about it over some snacks. "Celestia said, Smiling as she and Aurora landed on the ground.
" But what about that meeting you said you had to see about, it isn't s supposed to be over for another hour. Not that I'm not happy to see you and spend time with you mommy, it's just that you said you had a packed schedule today. "Aurora asked, remembering what Celestia said to her earlier that day.
" Oh that silly meeting wasn't that important, besides I think we need to go out and celebrate you finally getting your cutie mark. " Celestia said, smiling as she gestured to Aurora's flanks.
" Huha my cutie mark, my cutie mark! I finally got my cutie mark, yeah! "Aurora squealed with delight as she examined her cutie mark.
"Coincidentally that is what her cutie mark is, a shooting star of aurora lights. Her mane and tail also have the light and dark colors of the aurora lights and night. " Celestia said, describing Aurora.
" Her mane looks like nothing I have ever seen a pony have, it's like looking at a work of art and her eyes are like white diamonds. " Celestia said, recalling her daughter 's unique appearance.
" She sounds very pretty, maybe you can show me a picture of her later. " Luna said, wiping her face with a napkin.
" Oh I have a picture of her in this locket, though it's a picture of her when she was a foal. " Celestia said, smiling as she opened the gold locket on her necklace she was wearing.
"Aww she's so cute, she has that pink color in her mane you had when you were younger." Luna said, seeing a picture of a three year old Aurora sitting on a picnic blanket, playing with a butterfly.
In the picture 2/3rds of Aurora 's hair was pink like Celestia's used to be, while the ends of her mane and tail were the color of the aurora lights.
" Yes she is, she's a lovely mare and I'm sure you and her well get along well. " Celestia said, putting the locket back around her neck.
" Are you sure she won't be afraid of me, you said she knows about my past so she would know about what I did as Nightmare Moon. " Luna said, worried Aurora would be afraid of her.
Even after she was freed from being Nightmare by the elements, most poines that she meet stilled were afraid of her. Though thankfully her niece Cadence wasn't, which did help her stay hopeful.
" I don't think you have to worry about that Lulu, ever since she learned that she had an aunt and learned about you, she has wanted to meet you very much. " Celestia said smiling as she reassured her sister.
" I hope so, I guess I'm just worried about meeting her, I want to make a good impression. So when is she supposed to be coming back from Aforina? " Luna asked as she drank the last of her orange juice.
" Hmm, well she had two months left in her stay there, but she did say something about cutting it down to a month last time I got a letter from her. " Celestia said, remembering what she read from Aurora 's last letter.
" A month, well that's more than enough time for you to tell me all about her, I'd like to know as much as I can about my niece before I meet her. " Luna said smiling, looking forward to meeting her niece.
" I'd be more than happy to tell you all about her, she's has many hobbies, she's-
*Poof *
Suddenly a cloud of glittering smoke appeared above Celestia and turned into a scroll, falling right on top of her head.
" Oh it's from Aurora. " Celestia said, seeing the shooting star of aurora lights on the golden seal.
As Celestia read the letter, she was smiling at first, then laughed a little as she read on, her expression changed to a surprised look at the end.
" What does it say Tia? " Luna asked, arching an eyebrow as she saw Celestia's surprised look.
" It...It seems that Aurora is coming home a lot sooner than I thought, here."Celestia said, passing the letter to Luna.
Dear Mom
Hi Mom hope you doing well, and that this letter reaches you earlier than nightfall like it did me. Long distances always makes the mailing spell take way longer, and with the long distance between Equestria and Aforina it takes much longer, which is way your are probably getting this letter so late.
Since it's nearly midnight as I am writing this, plus I'm pretty tired from getting done doing some paperwork, you know how it is, so I'll be brief.
I'm doing great and things have been going well over here, it's been cooler this month and work wise everything is pretty much taken care of. I'm happy to hear that Aunt Luna is finally back and the you have patched things up with her.
If you are reading this Aunt Luna, I'm glad that your back and you and Mom have made up. I hope you are doing well and are settling in alright, I'm looking forward to meeting you at last and getting to know you.
Oh and concerning what you wrote about in your last letter Mom, I have good news concerning that, I'm coming home early! I'll be coming home this week on Saturday, which well be in four days, surprise!
I'll be visiting my friends here in my remaining time before making the trip back home, see you then.
Sincerely with love, Aurora
" Well this is certainly a surprising turn of events, but it is nice to hear she will back sooner than we thought. Four days, certainly enough time for you to brush me up on Aurora. "Luna said, placing the letter on the table.
" Luna. "
" Yes Tia. "
" She sent this letter yesterday, which means she'll be coming home in three days counting today. I'm glad she's coming home sooner though, I've missed her. I'll need to inform Cadence so that she can be here to meet her. Celestia said smiling as she looked at the letter.
" Yes indeed, she'll be happy to meet and hear about her as well. " Luna said before yawning, she was starting to feel sleepy.
" Though that will have to be later when we have dinner tonight, good day Tia. "Luna said, as she got up from her seat and headed back to her room.
" Good night Lulu, take care sleep well. "Celestia said to her nocturnal sister.
" You too Tia. " Luna said smiling to her before walking out the room.
It was a cool late afternoon in Zecorneigha, the land of the zebras was cooler today than normal, which made it better for those who were not use to it's warmer climate.
The distant and mysterious lands of the zebra's as well as a few others, had made themselves know to Equestria. Establishing foreign relations between them, though the distance between the continents were so vast and not much was known of them. And not many creatures other than envoys, ambassadors, or other royalties visited the distant lands.
In the past Zecorneigha had been in conflict with some of it's neighbors, fighting for resources and land between the baboons, giraffes, buffalo, lions, and hyenas.
At the time the continent was experiencing a severe drought and resources were becoming scarcer as it dragged on. At the time the king and queen of Zecorneigha, King Weku and Queen Brewna were trying to broker peace between the other nations and get the other leaders to work together to solve the crisis.
But with having to deal with their own country's problems and the tension between the other nations, it was seeming to be an impossible task.
But hearing of a distant land to the west of them called Equestria, and hearing of how the three pony tribes who were once at odds, had put their differences aside and together built a kingdom.
They also heard of the wisdom and compassion of their ruler Princess Celestia, this gave them hope she would help them.
When Celestia had received word that a envoy of the Zebras had arrived at the castle, with a message of grave importance from the rulers of Zecorneigha, she quickly arranged to meet with them.
" And that is the situation Princess Celestia, my kingdom hopes you will aid us before things reach a higher escalation. " The envoy of the Zebras said as she spoke with a heavy accent, she and her four guards gave a bow as she finished telling Celestia of her and the other countries situations.
The envoy was a young dark toned zebra mare that introduced herself as Livana, she wore a fancy light brown cloak with gold trimmings on it.
She had a short shaggy Mohawk for a mane and had four gold rings around her neck, two gold rings on her front legs, and had a diamond encrusted earring in each ear.
She also had a gold medallion around her neck that bore the royal crest of the Zebra kingdom, as well as a scroll that was personally written and signed by King Weku. The zebras message was clear to Princess Celestia, they needed help and needed it soon.
"My heart goes out for the zebras and the rest of the struggling kingdoms, tell King Weku and Queen Brewna that I would be glad to lend aid in their time of need. And would like to formally extend a hoof of friendship to them and any others that would take it. " Celestia said sincerely, happy in seeing the zebra mare's relieved expression.
" Thank you Princess Celestia for the good news, and I too hope we can start mending the wounds between us in this crisis, for time we can't lose much more. " Livana said feeling some of the stress and tension in her fade at hearing that they had a new ally that would aid them.
" I only hope that things proceed at a swift rate before it is to late,. " Livana thought, keeping that worrying thought to herself.
" Now then I'm sure your are all weary from such a long journey, my head maid Caramel Swirl will show you to where you will be staying while you are here. Please enjoy your time here and tomorrow we can discuss the details on this. " Celestia said smiling as she gestured to a light caramel unicorn mare to the left of her throne.
Hearing that Caramel took that as her queue and approach them.
" Bonjour ma'am' s and gentlecolts, if you will I'll show you to your guests rooms. " Caramel said, giving a small bow and a warm smile to them before she lead them out of the throne room.
" Hmm, their situation is a dire and tricky one indeed princess, a mysterious continent wide drought that's been going on well past the dry season. And at the same times high tension brewing between countries that are close to going to war, sounds like the whole continent is balancing on the edge of a knife." Quivil said, summarizing what the Zebras envoy 's told them.
" Indeed it does and regrettably we don't know that much about those countries, even I haven't traveled that far across the world very much. " Celestia said, recalling what she new of the lands to the east.
"Well need to send somepony who has extensive knowledge on weather, and experience in foreign policy and culture for this. " Quivil said as he looked over what he wrote down during the meeting.
" Yes Quivil and I happen to know a pony up for the task. " Celestia said, feeling confident in her choice of who to send.
It was a cool late afternoon in the town of Safeirla otherwise known as the " Forest city of the West planes " was buzzing with activity. The " town " was not a typical one and would seem bizarre to others.
The place was a combination of a massive town and forest, many of the buildings had aspects of the environment built and incorporated into them, while others were trees that were used as homes.
The town was built with the concept of coexisting with the land, which meant that rather than tear down and build on it. They built around the forest and combined the town with it. The town had everything a typical town had and more. It did have normal buildings with aspects of the local architecture in them placed among the natural environment of the forest.
The strangest thing to others might be that the town, was that there was activity at almost all hours, which wasn't strange considering that a number of the creatures in the town were nocturnal.
Creatures of various races went about running errands, shopping, and doing business about in the forest town, even late into the next morning. And because there were creatures about at most hours, businesses took advantage of that.
"Fresh fish for sale, caught just hour's ago, 15% discount on all fish at and above 100 pounds till midnight!" Came the loud deep voice of a large copper brown baboon from a large stall, as he and a few other baboons brought in more ice and fresh caught fish to sale.
The stall had a variety of fish that laid in beds of ice displayed for customers to brows, they stayed cold thanks to enchanted crates they stored and displayed them in.
"Fresh cuts of boar meat still bloody, all wild caught and locally butchered! Well be serving freshly cooked meat skewers shortly!" Yelled a bronze coated lioness from an open grill stall, as she and a few others changed shifts with the daytime employees and began cutting and cooking slabs of meat.
The smells of various spices and herbs mixed with the smell of slow roasted meat wafted front the stall from the open rotisserie cooking pits and grills that could be seen in the back of the stall. While slaps of raw bloody meat was cut, packaged and put on beds of ice along with bones for the customers to pick out from.
The town also had a large market area where goods from the locals as well as from other places came and went.
In the past it would have been impossible for zebras, giraffes, hyenas, lions, baboons, buffalo and many more to get along and live so close and peacefully together.
But with the help they got from Equestria, they made peace with each other and unified to solved the crisis of the drought, and brought a new age of prosperity and peace among them. All thanks to the one Princess Celestia had sent to represent Equestria, her daughter Princess Aurora.
In a large building near the center of the town that had several trees that twisted and formed some of the structure of the building, with well crafted detailed windows and doors made of darker wood was the Equestrian embassy.
And in a fancy office with exquisite furniture as well as cloud couches, enchanted so other creatures could sit on was the personal office of the Equestrian ambassador for this embassy .
There were only three occupants in the room, two of them were royal guards while the third was an alicorn.
One of them was Gale Winds, the great, great, grandson of Wind Trotter, he was in his mid 20's and served as one of Aurora's personal bodyguards. He was a light blue Pegasus with a white mane and tail, he had a cutie mark of a cloud blowing in wind swirls.
The other royal guard was a dark blue purple unicorn mare with a light navy blue mane and tail. She was Stella Wisp like Gale Winds she was also in her mid 20's, and served as one of Aurora's personal bodyguards, she had a glittering spiral with a star at the center for a cutie mark.
Both were clad in full gold plated body armour and armed, Stella had a intimidating looking rune engraved war hammer made of dark blue metal propped against her shoulder, ready to use at a moment's notice.
Gale had a pair of wing blades made of mythril that were sheathed and hidden under the the plates of armour that were on his wings.
The other occupant was Aurora, who was now 1/3rd larger than normal pony mare with a short very spiky mane the color of aurora lights and the night. Some of her mane could be seen moving gently in an ethereal wind, which made her spiky aurora coloured hair flow similar to fire.
Her cutie mark was of a bright shooting star made of aurora lights, she was 512 years old now and had the looks of a dazzling super model.
She was sitting on a fluffy cloud chair at a dark wooden desk with a few stacks of papers and some documents floating in a bright white aura.
" Ahh that's the last of the paperwork, now I can relax and enjoy the rest of the day. " Aurora said with a tired sigh, her voice was sweet sounding with a bit of a scratchy undertone to it.
She was finishing up her daily paperwork and placed the last of the papers on one of the stacks and reclined in her fluffy cloud chair.
*Poof ! *
Suddenly a wisp of glittering smoke appeared in the room and landed on the desk, turning into a scroll baring the the royal golden seal of Celestia.
"Hmm, a letter from mother, strange she normally sends me a letter during the day, not when it's almost nighttime." Aurora said curiously, lifting the scroll in her flowing white aura and scanned it with several detection spells for any signs of danger.
Some would call this being paranoid, but they never had a piece of paper or a book exploded in their face before. Celestia had told Aurora that she and Luna had similar experiences with close encounters and dealings with would be assassins before and after they became alicorns.
Among the many things Celestia had taught Aurora, she made sure to teach her how to use her gift and how to protect herself, though Aurora proved to be a natural fighter and learned quickly.
She was a princess by birth and not just any princess, she was the daughter of Celestia and as such was always given special treatment her whole life. But because of this Aurora never felt a sense of accomplishment, having almost everything given to her.
Aurora had felt she needed to show others she was more than just Celestia's daughter and was her own pony, which helped in shaping her into the mare she was today. At a young she strived to help her mother and used her Weather powers and knowledge of weather to improve and invent better weather factories.
She went on and founded an organization that recruited, trained and educated Pegasie into elite fast response units, known as the wonderbolts.
Later in her life Aurore took an interested in other cultures after Celestia had brought her to a party and introduced her to foreign diplomats.
Being exposed to what was beyond Equestria ignited a passion in Aurora, first in wanting to see and know about what was beyond Equestria. Which then lead to her wanting to know more about the creatures and cultures of the other lands
Later on Aurora became an foreign ambassador and had become a royal adviser to Celestia, which also provided them more opportunities to spend time together.
And when Celestia had heard of the Zebras and their neighbors situation, she sensed this was part of her daughter's destiny. And so Celestia put her trust in her daughter and sent her to help the zebras and the other creatures.
It was discovered that the drought was caused by something similar to what caused the winter in Equestria. The creatures of the land held resentment and anger for one another, to the point it drew what they called wraiths.
Like the wendigos they were ancient malicious spirits, the wraiths were made of magical dark red and orange fire and had a featureless malformed face in their flames. There were four of them in total, and each one had went off in a separate part of the continent. They feed off and caused hate and conflict everywhere they went, and left ruin in their wake.
Through the efforts of Princess Aurora and the ones she befriended as she traveled and went about helping. She and her friends went about helping and unifying the creatures, and as they traveled Aurora showed all the traits of the elements of harmony. Kindness and generosity to those in need, and selflessly provided her time and weather powers to help those in need. She brought hope and happiness back into the hearts of those who were struggling and had given up.
She showed unwavering loyalty to those who trusted her and kept her word, she was honest with them and told them what they needed to hear, and what needed to be done to save their lands.
She built friendship with creatures that had been at odds with each other for generations, and showed them what they could do together.
She went about unifying and helped each race and with her friends tracked down and defeated the wraiths. And with the power of her weather magic and the power of the friendship and unity of those she met in her travels, they succeeded in banishing all the wraiths and freed the lands.
With the races united and the land healed by the harmony born from their unity, a rare and spectacular thing happened.
In a blinding white flash Aurora had become an alicorn, and when Princess Celestia was brought to the celestial plane and discovered her daughter's ascension she was moved to tears of joy. Though for Aurora she was understandably completely confused and was having a bit of a freak out.
In then past
Day of Aurora's ascension
In Canterlot castle
Office of Princess Celestia
Celestia and Quivil were facing off against a literally mountain of paperwork, both were pretty tired having been sorting, reading, and signing papers for so long.
Even with Quivil's assistance there was a ridiculous amount of paperwork to be done on a daily bases. Unfair bills, stupid proposals on changing policies or requests for changing taxes or other stuff only added to the growing number of paper, and their headaches.
But relatively speaking things were going as smooth as they could be on a long workday, and thankfully they were reaching the final stacks of papers.
" Ugh. " Quivil groaned as he sat up from his chair and he stretched his back and popped his neck, feeling a series of loud pops and felt some of the tension leave his frame.
He glance over to Celestia who was sitting at her desk, huge stacks of papers stood on both sides of it. He saw a weary and tired expression on the sun alicorn, working through the countless papers like a machine. Only pausing to gulp down a cup of coffee then quickly refilling it before going back to work.
" That's her twelfth cup of coffee I believe, what time is it? " Quivil thought looking to the clock on the wall he saw it was almost 9: 40 p.m, and they started doing paperwork at 6: 15 p.m.
"Princess I believe we should retire from paperwork for the day, night is approaching and you will need to raise the moon soon and we both need our rest." Quivil said, stacking the remainder of his papers and placing them in a file cabinet.
" Hmm, oh yes it is getting late, time just seems to fly by when I'm not paying attention. " Celestia said tiredly, placing her papers down and paused as s her eyes fell on a picture on her desk.
" Do you think she's alright over there? " Celestia asked, looking at a gold picture frame that had a picture of her standing beside a 24 year old Aurora on her graduation day from Hoofvard university, one the top of Celestia's magic universities.
In the picture Celestia was standing beside Aurora and had her wing around her daughter in a loving side hug. Aurora was who was still wearing her graduation gown for the picture, had a big happy smile on her face while she side hugged her mother back.
She was getting worried about her daughter, she had not gotten a report or a letter from Aurora in sometime.
" She may have been busy over there and forgot to send a letter, I'm sure she is alright Princess. You gave her the best instructors on combat and personally trained her as well. Plus she does have that weather magic gift of hers, and her squad of personal bodyguards with her. " Quivil said trying to reassure Celestia, although he was a bit worried himself.
" Right I'm just worried about her, she is my only child and I just want her to be happy and safe. "Celestia said softly, looking longingly at the picture.
" How are you doing over there my little Aurora? " Celestia thought as she raised her cup of coffee with her magic to take a sip. But before she could she disappeared from the room in a blinding white flash.
*Clank !*
Went the ceramic cup as it hit the floor, spilling fresh coffee on the rugs and dark wooden floor.
In the celestial plane
Blinking rapidly Aurora found herself no longer in Zecorneigha, where just minutes ago she and the friends she made in Zecorneigha had defeated and banished the wraiths. But now she found herself surrounded in a sea of twinkling lights.
" W-what's going on, where am I?! " Aurora said frantically, as she found herself floating in a strange glittering plane of lights.
" Congratulations my little Aurora I'm so proud of you, I knew you could do it. "
Hearing a voice that she could never mistake, Aurora quickly turned herself around and saw her mother approaching her. Walking on none existing ground like it was the most simple of things.
" Mom what is this place, and what are you talking about?! " Aurora asked, still caught between confusion and shock from the situation.
" You've accomplished something today that has never been done before. Not even Starswirl the bearded has done something like this. You've united a divided land and created new magic, I can't tell you how proud I am of you. " Celestia said, smiling with pure joy for her daughter.
As Celestia explained to Aurora what was happening to her, scenes from her past played like a movie around them. And as they faded away a aurora light began to swirl around Aurora and envelope her.
Back in Zecorneigha in a giant flash of aurora light filled the sky, with Aurora's cutie mark in the center. Slowly it descended to the ground and as it faded it revealed Aurore no longer a Pegasus but now a alicorn.
Because of how Aurora sought to help and unify those that were divided and in need, she embodied the meaning and magic of unity and so she became the Princess of Unity.
Just as the light around her faded away she landed on her side as she collapsed to the ground. The exhaustion form spending so much magic and stamina fighting the wraiths came back with vengeance.
" Aurora, Aurora are you okay how many claws am I holding up! " Said a gold colored lioness, one of Aurora's friends she made in this land. The lioness quickly rushed over to Aurora and gently picking her head up with her large paws.
"Ugh, I'll tell you when the world stops spinning Carla. " Aurora said to her lioness friend, feeling very sore and drained of all energy.
The last battle with the wraiths was hard fought for them all especially for Aurora, dirt and singed burnt spots covered her coat all over. She was pretty sure she was going be very bruised tomorrow if the throbbing pain and soreness all over her was any indicator.
" What was that all about, you up an vanished then reappear in a rainbow flash. Wait since when did you have a horn? " Carla asked in a sweet sounding voice that was slightly deep, noticing the new addition to her pony friends head.
" Hey is she lright?!
"What just happened?! "
In the distance Aurora could hear the voices of the others that she befriended here, rushing to her side to see about her.
" It's a long and confusing story I'll tell you all about it later, right now I'm going to pass out. " Aurora said tiredly, just before she went limp in her lioness friend 's paws and lost consciousness.
"Hmm, ugh my head where am I now? " Aurora thought, feeling groggy as she awoke in a luxuries bed and room. Aurora quickly recognized that it was her guest room in the royal castle of the Zebra kingdom.
" Your finally awake, how are you feeling Aurora? " Aurora slowly turned her head and saw her mother sitting in a fancy wooden chair to her right, putting down a book she had been reading.
" Water. " Aurora said softly, coughing a bit as she spoke with a dry throat.
Celestia lifted a glass picker from a table near the bed and filled up a cup of water and floated it over to her daughter to drink.
Aurora took several gulps of water with the assistance of Celestia's magic, having little to no energy and feeling very sore all over made it hard for her to move.
" I fell like my body is made of iron and it hurts a bit to move, how long have I been out for? " Aurora asked after draining the cup of water, her throat feeling much better.
"About two days, don't worry I healed you up with my magic but your still going to be sore and feel fatigued for a few days. But I can tell you have more questions than that. " Celestia said, looking at her daughter's somber expression.
Celestia knew from experience that was Aurora's thinking face, she often did that when she was in deep thought or was thinking over what to say.
" Yes I do, I'd very much like for you to explain more about what's going on, and why I have a unicorn horn now. "Aurora said, lazily gesturing with a hoof to her head.
" Of course, but it's a bit of a long story and it will take time to explain." Celestia said smiling happily, she felt nostalgic as she remembered the times she read her daughter stories when she was a foal.
" I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, besides I always enjoyed it when you read me a story. You were always a good storyteller mom. " Aurora said, getting comfortable in the bed as she propped up her head on the large pillow. Groaning a bit at as she adjusted herself in the bed.feeling some remaining soreness in her body.
" Now then this goes far back into the past, and involves me and my sister Luna your aunt. " Celestia said, pausing for a moment recalling her memories of her beloved sister before she went on to explain to her daughter why she was a alicorn now .
Present time
Zecorneigha
Finishing her inspection of the letter Aurora undid the clasp of the gold seal with a spell, unfolded the scroll and proceeded to read it's contents.
Dear Aurora
How are doing over there in Zecorneigha, from your last few letters it sounds like things have been a little busy over there. It's a shame that you couldn't come back in time for this year's sunset celebration, but I understand since Zecorneigha is a long way from Equestria.
Though I wished you could have been able attend this one, because something amazing happen this celebration. You remember Twilight Sparkle my personal student, well I sent her to Ponyville on the same day as the celebration to make friends.
" Twilight Sparkle huh, she was the one that hatched that dragon egg with magic, isn't she Commander Shining Armor little sister? From what I remember of her she's an intelligent pony and talented mage, though a bit obsessed with books. " Aurora thought, remembering what her mother told her of Twilight before continuing to read the rest.
And I hope your sitting down for this, on the day of the sunset celebration Nightmare moon returned. Now I know what your thinking, and don't worry Nightmare moon was stopped by my student Twilight sparkle and the friends she made in Ponyville using the elements of harmony. It brings me great joy to tell you my sister Luna is finally back with us, and we have made up with each other.
I know that you don't plan to leave Zecorneigha for two months, but I really would like you to come home and meet your aunt as soon as possible. And also meet my pupil Twilight and her friends who I have to thank for this, I'm sure sure you will get along well with them.
Hope to see you soon, sincerely with love, mom.
Aurora sat there looking at the letter floating in her white aura, reading and rereading the last part. Utterly stunned as she processed the news of Luna, her aunt she had only seen in old pictures and was told about by her mother was now back.
Aurora quickly picked up her office phone with her magic and hit a button on the receiver.
" Click*
" Penny can you come to my office please? " Aurora asked, calling her secretary.
" Be right there Princess Aurora. " Answered a smooth feminine voice with a hint of a southern accent.
A minute later a pale copper unicorn mare with a dark brown mane with blonde highlights styled in a ponytail opened the door. She wore a fancy business attire with grey and purple tones and had a cutie mark of a notepad and a pen, she was Penney Shine Aurora's secretary in Zecorneigha and long time friend.
" Yes Princess Aurora? " Penney asked, giving a nod to Gale Wind and Stella Wisp as she closed the door behind her.
They gave a nod back but otherwise remained silent and stationary at their posts at the door.
" I'm sorry to spring this up on you but I've decided to head back to Equestria ahead of schedule. " Aurora said, flying around the room and gathered things that belong to her.
" It's okay princess I know you miss home, being away for years at a time can make anypony eager to get back. So I'm guessing you will be leaving next month? " Penny asked, pulling out a schedule organizer in her magenta aura.
" No I'll be leaving in 4 days, gives me enough time to say goodbye to all my friends before I leave. " Aurora said as she finished packing her personal belongings around her office in a large travel suitcase.
" F-four days! But what about the meeting with Princess Miszulri that's next week?! She's the daughter of the hyena Queen Kushona, the ruler of Haygrica! What about your meeting in Purdina with the lion King Kuwinda the week after, you can't just cancel a set appointment with them! " Penny frantically said, nearly dropping her organizer from hearing the news.
" They will understand, plus I have already told them that I planned to head home a month early. I'll call Makali and see if I can come visit early." Aurora said, remembering the hyena princess fondly.
Despite the rough start and hard time she had with the hyenas, she ended up becoming good friends with the hyena Queen and princess. They said they liked her strong will and character, and found it refreshing that she could look past their appearance.
"As for King Kuwinda, he just wants to meet me so he can have his son apologize to me for the comment he made at the grand royale ball." Aurora said with a voice laced with irritation.
" When you hear from him, tell him I'm not mad at him and that what his son did will not affect his standing with Equestria, but you tell him this. I'm still mad about the fact that his son, had the audacity to say to me I quote " You have some fine plump meat buns." It took all my self restraint not to blast him out a window, he should have known that was offensive!" Aurora yelled, feeling a surge of anger and embarrassment as she remembered the incident.
Though she had problems with the lions she was on good terms with them, and got along well with King Kuwinda and his family, well most of them.
There was one family member of King Kuwinda that gave her the creeps, King Kuwinda's brother Bamu. He seemed friendly enough around her, but she felt it was a facade and felt uneasy when he was around.
" Huha, anyway everything else is pretty much taken care of, so there shouldn't be a problem with me leaving earlier than planned Penny, right? " Aurora asked confidently, waiting for her secretary to finish scanning through her planner.
" I-I actually don't see anything else that would need you to personally attend to, but how are you going to tell them and all your friends in such a time frame. " Penny asked, wondering how the young Aurora was going to do such a thing.
" Some of her friends are members of royalty, and the rest of them live pretty far apart. Wait hold on don't tell me. " Penny thought, hoping she was wrong.
" Princess Aurora, please tell me you are not planning on just teleporting to them. It would be very reckless and might cause a incident if you suddenly appeared unannounced. " Penny asked with a flat tone, hoping that was not the case.
" Of course not Penny I plan to call ahead, I am many things but rude is not one of them. Though I have been told I can be a bit bashful but certainly not rude. " Aurora said, playfully showing a look of fake hurt to her secretary before smiling at her.
" Oh well sorry, I am just a little nervous that we might be forgetting something before you leave. " Penny said, checking her planner one more time.
" Don't worry yourself about it Penny, I've got most of the important stuff taken care of and have capable creatures covering the rest. Now while I see about putting my affairs in order and visit my friends here, I suggest you do the same. Wouldn't want that nice leopard of yours to think you forgot about her now would you, how are things with you and her?" Aurora said playfully, smiling as she gave her friend a knowing wink.
" Ahhh well we have been going steady nothing to much, just hanging out and going on a date here and there. Overall things are going well between her and me. " Penny said shyly, blushing a bit as she did.
" Well good for you, since you'll be staying a bit longer to make sure everything is going smoothly after I leave do spend some time with her. Anyways I need to see if I can pay an early visit to Haygrica tomorrow, I know they would like to hear that. " Aurora said, smiling as she shook her head.
" Well I be taking my leave Princess, I've got few thing before I'm done for the day. " Penny said as she began to leave the room.
"Take care. " Aurora said, waving to her before she left.
" Alright I've got a phone call to make so Gale, Stella I'm going to need you both to step out for a bit." Aurora said to her two guards in the room.
" But Princess Aurora what if something happens? " Gale asked in a Baltimare accent, the young guard was good at what he did and he's skills were top notch, but he always seemed to be a tab to serious when on the job.
" It's alright Gale there are multiple magical barriers, wards, and alarms installed in the building. Plus I've got a barrier and a sensory field around the room, she doesn't need us hovering over her to do our job." Stella Wisp said with a roll of her eyes, speaking with a Fillydelphia accent.
" Come on it won't take long, we'll be right outside the door if you need is princess. " Comet Wisp said as she and Gale Wind walked out the room.
" Huha alright now where is that number, ahh there you are. " Aurora said, finding these desired number on her list of contacts on her office phone.
*Ring...ring...click*
" Hello this is ambassador of Equestria Princess Aurora, I'd like to speak with secretary Makali concerning my scheduled visit. " Aurora said, in a rare moment taking an all business formal tone.
A few moments after setting up her magic crystal monitor on her desk, Aurora saw the silver screen glow white. A second later saw a striped hyena sitting in a big chair was on the screen.
" Hello Princess Aurora it is good to hear from you, I was just told you wanted to talk about something concerning your visit. Has something happened? " said the striped female hyena in a happy but concerned tone.
Her voice was light and had a bit of a slightly rough scratchy undertone that was common for all hyenas.
She was Makali the royal secretary of the hyenas, she was a striped hyena with shiny copper brown stripes that appeared to flow over her dark brown coat. And a light fluffy brown mane that flowed down her back and tail.
She wore a thick gold chain necklace with a light blue sapphire encrusted in a gold amulet with rune symbols on it with two fangs on both sides of it, and had a silver earring in her left ear.
Most hyenas were large in stature and were three times bigger and larger than a pony, though there were those that where bigger than that especially females .
" Hello Makali and yes there has been a change to my schedule, something has come up and I'd need to reschedule my visit. " Aurora said, speaking in friendly tone.
" Oh I'm sorry to hear that, the Queen and princess were looking forward to you visiting." Makali said as her ears drooped down, sounding little sad.
" So when do you think you can make it? " Makali asked, grabbing a notepad and pen with her paws.
"Well you see I'd like to come tomorrow actually. " Aurora said, smiling as she watched the striped hyena stop midway through writing down what she said.
" T-tomorrow, well I wasn't expecting to hear that. Hmm yes that can be arranged, I know Princess Miszulri will be thrilled to hear that your coming to visit early. " Makali said cheerful, giving a happy smile that displayed her large razor sharp fangs.
" Yes me too, I'll be planning to leave for Haygrica at around 8:30, well good night then Makali. "Aurora said as she waved at the monitor.
" Yes good night Princess Aurora, rest well. " Makali said back before Aurora ended the call.
" Huha, I better be getting to bed soon It's already nighttime, I'll take a nap on the way to Haygrica. " Aurora said, yawning as she got up for her cloud chair and flew over to the room's window.
She was about to close the curtains, but when she saw the full moon shining in the star filled night sky, illuminating the night with its pale white light. Aurora noticed that the mare in the moon symbol was gone.
" I hope mother and aunt Luna are having fun, I can't wait to meet her when I get back to Equestria. "Aurora thought as she closed the curtains and headed out of her office.
Author's Note
From the land of zebras to the land of hyenas.