Ascension

“Are you going out, Snowy?” Her mother asked as the white coated alicorn was about to open the door of their apartment.

“Yes, Queen Twilight wants to see me,” She answered as she spun around to look at her mother.

“Good, don’t disappoint her. We’re the only ones to have come this far in years, so maybe we could become royalty, soon!” Her mother explained in excitement. “I talked to Peppermint yesterday, you know. She was so jealous when I told her you were an alicorn now!” She added before chuckling pridefully.

“I-I’m sorry, mom. But is there a point to what you’re telling me?” Snowy inquired while shaking her head. Her mother frowned as she approached her.

“I’m just reminding you that you should be wary and avoid making mistakes. It would be embarrassing if you were to bring shame on me. On us,” She answered as she placed a hoof on Snowy’s head and caressed her mane. “I’ve always told you, didn’t I? The world is a cold and cruel place; if you’re not perfect… Then nopony will ever love you…” She whispered before letting go of her. “Honestly, you’re not thanking me enough for everything I did for you. I’m going out of my way to give you life lessons here. But since you don’t seem to care, you can leave,” She grumbled before turning her back on her daughter and going towards the living room.

“I… Okay… I’m sorry, mom… See you later,” Snowy stuttered before leaving their home.

“Pft… Ungrateful brat,” Her mother muttered under her breath right after her daughter left.

Snowy sighed as she exited the building. She rarely understood her mother, and no matter how hard she tried, nothing ever changed. One day, she stopped trying. Her mother had always been like this, so she wasn’t expecting her to change anytime soon. And honestly, she was mostly happy to have friends who supported her. And she thought the same about the Queen, even though she was harsh and demanding, she always understood her. The young alicorn would forever be grateful to Queen Twilight. Besides, she couldn’t deny she would love to see Midnight’s look when she would show her wings.

After several minutes of walking, she was on the castle’s ground. As usual, she waved and greeted them. Most didn’t answer and simply kept a straight face as well as a cold demeanor. Snowy didn’t really know why they seemed to be so distant, but she didn’t blame them. They must have had good reasons after all.

When she was walking through the castle’s corridors, stress and fear started filling her heart. She never knew how her meetings with the Queen would go. It mostly went well, but she was naturally always scared something would go wrong. That the Queen would give her an objective that she wouldn’t be able to accomplish or that she would fail her in some way or another. In her heart, she knew her majesty’s kindness knew no bounds; she wouldn’t want to disappoint her and see what she looked like when she was really mad. She reassured herself by remembering all the good times she had with the Queen. There was no reason something bad would happen. She was her student after all. And she had to be perfect.

Suddenly, now that she was in front of the throne room, the door was opened to let someone out of the room. Snowy let out a sigh of relief as she noticed it was Rune.

“Oh! Snowy! You’re here to see Queen Twilight?” She asked while the door closed behind her.

“Y-Yeah. What were you doing in there?” She inquired while trying not to sound nervous as Rune smiled.

“Giving her my monthly report,” Rune answered before looking at Snowy from head to toe. “Don’t worry, the Queen is in a good mood. One of the rare times I saw her smile!” She added before letting Snowy go past her.

The white alicorn breathed out as she went in, feeling more than ready after what Rune told her. When she entered, she was delighted to see that the Queen was indeed smiling. However, she didn’t rejoice too soon and hid her joy as she walked to her teacher. The Queen was taller than any other pony in Equestria, and that alone made her quite intimidating. However, those who had the ability to sense one's power in the field of magic would be able to tell that her magic knew no limits. As many feared her rule; she was truly deserving of the title of devil. But not to Snowy. The younger alicorn was seeing someone very different than what most described.

“Ah, I’m happy to see you, my student,” Twilight greeted her as Snowy bowed her head.

“I came as soon as possible,” She said as she raised her head.

“I know. How did your friends react when they saw you? Not mad, I hope,”

“Mad? Hum… No, they didn’t really have a reason to get mad. They threw me a party actually!” Snowy beamed as the Queen nodded.

“It’s good, then. Now, the reason I have called you here to talk about your new duties,” Twilight explained as Snowy gulped nervously. “Why don’t we talk about it over tea?” She suggested as her horn glowed, making the doors to the balcony open.

“I-I’d love to!” Snowy quickly replied as she followed her teacher out of the room.

The white alicorn was delighted to hear the queen’s suggestion since tea always had a calming effect on her. It was a great way to keep her from doing or saying something stupid, and avoiding disappointing her. When Snowy looked at her; all she could think was that the Queen seemed to be oblivious of her nervousness. She didn’t know if she actually was or if it was just a feeling, but the student would have preferred if she didn’t notice it. So she remained silent and waited for the tea to arrive. Strangely enough, Queen Twilight didn’t say much. Instead, she simply stared at her student.

The younger alicorn wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react. Was her teacher waiting for her to say something? Snowy was still hesitant, but even if she spoke when she wasn’t authorized to, she knew the Queen would forgive her; simply because she was such a merciful ruler. That was what she learned by staying with her. When she finally made up her mind; she opened her mouth, ready to speak loud and clear before she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

“Your tea, Your Majesty,” A unicorn maid announced as she placed the tea just prepared on the table.

“Thank you, you may leave,” The Queen said as the maid bowed and left. “I invite you to take a sip my student,” She brought the tea to her lips while her student did the same, slowly feeling more relaxed.

“Thank you for the tea, Your Majesty,” Snowy thanked her.

“You are welcome. Now… Those duties I’ve talked about…”

“Y-yes?”

“As you know if something ever happens to me, you will rule in my place. However, until that time comes -if it ever does-, you’ll be in charge of something else,” Twilight started as Snowy nodded. “You will be considered royalty from now on. And you will be my personal guard… Or rather right-hoof type of pony I should say. Nothing too difficult of course. At first, all you will have to do is guard some districts,” Twilight explained as Snowy’s eyes widened.

“R-Really? But I… I thought I sti-still had a lot to learn before having such a high position…” Snowy stumbled on her words while Twilight stayed impassive to her worried tone.

“I know, and that will be a good learning experience for you. As you know, Equestrians outside of Canterlot are slowly losing their faith in myself, they don’t believe in peace as much as old times,”

“That’s because they don’t know you! I’m sure if we gave them the chance to, they would see how great you are!” Snowy jumped on her seat while Twilight didn’t budge.

“Naturally. That is why I can’t blame them. There are billions of them, so I can’t speak to all of them individually. It is not their fault that they lack the wisdom necessary to see the error of their ways. It is our duty to bring them back to the light,” The ruler explained as Snowy nodded eagerly.

She knew it! That was exactly why she loved her teacher so much. She was always so benevolent and forgiving! How could Snowy refuse to help her, and to help these lost ponies see the light?

“You will start with an easy task at first. I wouldn’t want to overload you after all. I want you to regularly patrol districts A and B and stop any commotion you may see. Your main purpose is to bring order,”

Snowy did her best to keep her happiness hidden. Those districts were by far the most calm compared to the others. There weren’t that many crimes or issues, and that was also where Azure and Blueberry lived! She could sometimes take advantage of that to visit them.

“Understood, Your Majesty. I won’t disappoint you!” Snowy saluted her before realizing she almost forgot something. “Ah, right! About my wings… I think I need to learn how to fly. And should I know anything about how to take care of them?”

“Don’t worry. I can teach you everything about it; and when you’re ready, you’ll have to take the test to get your flying license. It should make your patrols easier if you know how to fly,” Twilight replied as she sipped at her tea again.

“T-Thank you, Your Majesty! I don’t know what I would do without you! I’ll do my best!” Snowy replied as she jumped down her chair and bowed. Suddenly, she widened her eyes as she felt something warm wrap around her. It was the Queen’s wings pulling her into an embrace.

“I know you will,” The Queen softly said as her student closed her eyes.

She wanted to enjoy her warmth the longest she could; her wings had always been comfortable. Unfortunately for her, the warmth surrounding her soon disappeared as Twilight stepped back a little.

“Now for lighter matters. Why don’t you tell me how life's going for you? Nothing bad, I hope,”

“Oh, hm… It’s great! My friends threw me a party yesterday! Thank you for worrying about me,”

“You are my student, after all,”

Snowy couldn’t stop herself from smiling before sitting back in her seat. Naturally, she spent some more time conversing with her teacher. As usual, it took her some time until she was relaxed enough to hold a conversation without stuttering or hesitating about what she wanted to say. She didn’t mention the few problems she had, but the Queen always looked at her as if she already knew, and simply waited for her to open up. Of course, that was just Snowy’s speculations, and she couldn’t be sure of it.

She didn’t want to bother the Queen too much; she was already so lucky to be able to talk to her so freely after all. She saw how her majesty was with other ponies: cold, distant and a mare of few words. It intimated a lot of her subjects, because they usually thought she was mad at them. They knew if she was… she could end their lives in a blink. Snowy thought their fear was completely ridiculous, though. And quite exaggerated, too! She spent a lot of time with the Queen; and she knew she would rarely get really mad.

After about an hour, the Queen had put an end with their little discussion since she had duties to attend to. Her job made her quite busy after all. However, now that she was outside the throne room, Snowy was suddenly reminded of her new duties. She walked past the guards while keeping her mood up and trying to keep herself from panicking. Right! The time when she kept worrying over nothing was over! Now she was a changed pony! She was an alicorn, and one of Equestria’s higher ups! She couldn’t lose her cool anymore!

“Hey, Snowy! So how did it go?!” A voice shouted right behind her, making her jump in surprise as she was woken out of her thoughts.

“No! I promise I won’t fail! I’ll do my best!” She screamed while spinning around to talk at the pony face to face, then realized it was actually just Rune. “Oh… It’s you. Right! Yes! It was great! No problem there! It’s just… you startled me, and… I have something to tell you. I think I’ll need some help,” She said as Rune raised an eyebrow, having not followed everything she said.

“Did the Queen give you an assignment?”

“Something like that. I have to keep districts A and B in check, so I was hoping you could give me some pointers since you’re the captain of the royal guard,” Snowy explained as Rune raised her eyebrows.

“Of course, I’ll help you, but I’m kinda surprised this is the duty the Queen gave you. Probably the thing I was expecting the least,” She replied as Snowy gave her a questioning look.

“Why? It looks normal to me,”

“Well… since you are an alicorn, it should mean that you are royalty, right? Royalty is supposed to stay in their castle, ruling over things. I feel like she just made a special kind of guard instead,” Rune answered while Snowy slowly thought about it.

“I-I mean… there is probably a hidden purpose behind that. Maybe I’m supposed to learn something… I’m not sure now that you’re telling me this,” Snowy looked down. As much as she thought about it, she still didn’t get why the Queen assigned her this role. But she was pretty sure there was a good reason behind it.

“Anyway, I can give you some advice, but I won’t be able to leave Canterlot today, so you’ll probably have to ask Azure to accompany you,”

“I’m afraid I’ll be busier keeping her from raiding the bakeries we come across than catching criminals, though,” Snowy chuckled, then joined by the orange coated unicorn.

Meanwhile, in the castle’s underground dungeon, a male royal guard was saluting. Like a lot of them, his coat was white, and his mane black. And although he was saluting, he didn’t look serious at all. No, he was ecstatic because he had finally done it! His dream of being in the royal guard was fulfilled! However, he still wasn’t at the top. No, his next objective was to be captain! The hardest part was probably getting accepted into the royal guard, but he was sure that he could easily surpass whoever was the captain now!

“Recruit Dyson! Are you listening?” Another guard said, who seemed to be much older than the recruit. He also was more serious; and the few scars on his face were making him more intimidating, which woke Dyson out of his thoughts.

“Ah! S-Sorry! I was… hum… thinking about something,” Dyson stuttered as he stepped back.

“Well, now the time isn’t for daydreaming, recruit. It’s your first day, right?” The guard inquired while Dyson nodded in response. “It doesn’t have a great start, does it?” He glared at the recruit, who simply smiled nervously.

“I-I apologize, but you see… it’s because I was thinking I could be the captain, soon. I don’t want to boast, but I have pretty much a phenomenal potential,” He replied while the guard stared at him impassively.

Suddenly, laughter broke out. The guard, who looked more than serious earlier, was laughing while holding his stomach and stomping the floor. Just as Dyson opened his mouth to say something, the prisoners trapped in their cells started laughing, too. The recruit looked down in shame as the loud laughter echoed around the dungeon. After a whole minute, it died down as the guard started catching his breath.

“Ah… That… Ah… That was hilarious,” He commented before wiping a tear off his face. “Don’t get too cocky, recruit… Or too dumb in your case. Those are rookie mistakes only regular guards would make. Now that you have this position, think more thoroughly or else you won’t live very long, okay?” The guard warned the recruit.

“Okay…”

“Good! Now for your first task as a royal guard, you’ll be the one patrolling the dungeon today. All you need to do is check on the prisoners and make sure they don’t do anything suspicious. Sometimes give them water or food, just kidding, seriously don’t. The most important rule is to never go to the lowest level of the dungeon, alright?” The guard explained as Dyson looked around.

“I think I get it, but why am I patrolling the dungeon? Alone? I would think it would need a better security,” Dyson pointed out while raising an eyebrow.

“The guys in the cells here are behind the toughest doors in Equestria and are all unable to use their magic -if they had any- thanks to the Queen’s spell. Believe me, the really dangerous ones are the statues in the garden. Otherwise, it’s pretty peaceful there, except when they decide to insult you. Unless you go to the lowest level. Don’t!” He clarified as he shrugged.

“Oh, okay. And what’s that about the lowest level? What’s so special about it?”

“We can’t go there; it’s forbidden,”

“Okay, but why? What’s down there?”

“Nopony knows. Except the Queen, of course. All you need to know is that it’s forbidden, okay? That means not going down there!” He warned with narrowed eyes.

“Okay, okay! I get it already! I’m not dumb, you know?” Dyson looked offended as the guard started leaving, looking satisfied by his answer.

“Great! If you understand, then I trust you to fulfill your duties correctly!” He exclaimed before leaving Dyson alone.

The unicorn looked around him as he walked through the corridor. As the other guard had told him, these doors looked quite sturdy, he doubted even a minotaur would be able to put a scratch on them. He patrolled the place as he was ordered to. However, he quickly realized that nearly no time has passed since he started. It was mostly boring, and apart from walking around, he had absolutely nothing to do! Most prisoners were pretty quiet, too. And before he even knew it, he was leaning on his spear, ready to fall asleep at any second.

His eyelids were heavy, and forced him to use all the strength he had to keep them from closing. He kept telling himself that the heavy burden of keeping this place secure was on him, that the Queen herself would probably reward him! And all he had to do was to stay awake!

He fell asleep. After a few minutes of fighting it, he was now snoring so loud that most of the prisoners could hear him. Soon enough, his spear slipped and fell on the floor before rolling a few feet away from him as he collapsed on the ground, waking himself up.

“Uh?! I wasn’t sleeping!” He screamed as he quickly got back on his hooves and looked around, seeing that he was still alone. He breathed out in relief before noticing he didn’t have his spear anymore. Dyson looked around until it was finally in his sight. “There you are!” He muttered as he walked over to it. It seemed the spear was near some stairs leading deeper down into the dungeon. “That’s where the lowest level is supposed to be, huh? I wonder what’s the big deal...” He asked himself before looking left and right. “A quick peek never hurt anypony!” He told himself before going down the stairs.

One of the prisoners, who was looking through the bars of the small window on his door looked at one of the other cells.

“Did that guy really go down there?”

“Looks like it! Wouldn’t want to be him!” The other prisoner laughed.

Meanwhile, Dyson calmly walked down the stairs. It was a bit cold, but besides that, he was perfectly fine. He wasn’t worried at all since whatever was kept down there wouldn’t do much to him. It was probably tightly shut in a cell fitting for it. Taking a look at it wouldn’t be so bad. Moreover, he was pretty confident that he could beat anything in a fight!

He had no choice but to use a spell to illuminate his surroundings at some point since it had gotten too dark. He shouldn’t be surprised considering no one has been down there for years, so there couldn’t be torches or light.

“Oh!” He was finally there! The lowest level! It was much smaller than the others, but the one thing he noticed was the cell. It was the only cell on this floor. When he approached it, he quickly noticed it was unlike the others. Instead of a door, there were rusted steel bars, and inside it was… “A statue?! All of that for a statue?!” He blurted out.

It was the statue of a unicorn, whose expression was of both fear and pure anger. Besides that, there was nothing special in this cell except for some anti-magic chains attached around the statue.

“And here I thought there was something exciting…” He sighed before taking a longer look at the statue. “I have to admit she’s kinda bad, though!” He said to himself as he walked back towards the higher levels.

The moment he was gone, the statue’s horn gained a taint of purple. After a few seconds, a dark smoke came out of it and closely followed the guard that had been there, unaware that his mind was in danger.