//-------------------------------------------------------//
                    Unfinished Business                    
                      -by ESCelestia-                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Story 1: Ilioptia                     
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Story 1: Ilioptia
"I tried to nurse him back to health after Nightmare Moon was banished," Celestia said quietly to her sister as they walked through the dark crystal caves beneath Canterlot, "but he kept true to his orders. I had to seal him away. He would have wanted to be here for you, I'm sure."
"Hath he come to harm?" Luna asked as the two neared a large crystal door. "Perhaps we should consult an apothecary."
"He was in a good condition when I sealed him, and there are no more apothecaries in Equestria. As medicine has advanced, ponies have begun going to school to learn to become doctors and nurses. The word ‘apothecary’ can be replaced with ‘doctor’ or ‘nurse’ most of the time."
Celestia stopped in front of the door, but did not open it. For several moments, the two sisters stood silent, and Luna grew increasingly nervous.
"Hath ye spoken truly, sister?" Luna asked.
Celestia took a deep breath before looking down at the floor. "Luna, he did sustain injuries before we fought."
Luna quickly became even more concerned. "Shant they heal?" She asked, her voice strained at the mere thought.
Celestia looked away in shame and fear. Shame because she had not stopped the rise of darkness within her sister a thousand years ago, and fear in how her sister would react upon seeing the handiwork of that darkness. Luna had stated that she could remember nothing after her possession by Nightmare Moon, and what lay beyond the door was the creation of Nightmare Moon herself.
"His wounds have not disabled him as far as I can tell, but..." Celestia trailed off.
"They were our doing, were they not?" Luna asked, her voice nearly cracking.
Celestia nodded her head in affirmation, not trusting her voice to obey her thoughts.
Luna looked down and struggled to hold back a whimper as tears formed in her eyes. After a moment, her face transformed from mournful and filled with regret to cold and resolved.
"Then let us see that which we hath wrought." Luna stated firmly as she slammed her hoof into the door and gave it a mighty shove.
The door swung open and banged against the wall, creating a lonely echo. Luna strode in through the door undeterred, leaving a slightly shocked Celestia behind. Upon entering, Luna was met with a large circular cavern of crystal with an even floor and domed roof. In the center of the cavern, a stage-like slab of rock jutted from the floor, and on top of the rock sat a opaque golden crystal.
Inside of the crystal was a Thestral, his face contorted into a menacing snarl, and his body mid-pounce. Luna recognized him immediately, and ran up to the crystal. Upon stepping on the stone that the crystal was resting on, Luna began to notice that something about his coat and wings were...off.
A pit began to form in her stomach as she realized what was odd about him. Scars covered his body and wings. The random scars of battle, the brutal scars of a whip, or even the sickening scars of torture would have been preferable to the scars that marked the Thestral's body, for the scars that marked every inch of the Thestral's body were precise and deliberate. These scars were crafted by an artist, not given by an enemy. A work of art, unmatched in horror and complexity, marked the entire body and wings of the stallion.
Each cut had been careful and well planned; meticulously chosen by some of the greatest minds of a fallen empire. Given the extent of the work, the patterns probably took months to plan and an equally long time to carve into the flesh of the Thestral. A few of the marks glowed slightly, frozen in time by the magic of the crystal.
Covering the stallion’s body were not scars created by an enemy, but scars created by an ally of sorts. Carved into the very flesh of the pony were a myriad of the most powerful runes Luna had ever known to exist, and many more that were completely foreign to the princess, yet likely more powerful than the unknown ones. Some were large, and some were small. Many small runes occupied the space between the lines of larger runes, and many runes overlapped and altered each other. A few of the runes, Luna recognized, were not normal runes that could be written on a two dimensional surface such as paper, but runes that had to be built in three dimensions, or in this case, cut in three dimensions. Given their size, the cuts must have been several inches deep in places.
More horrifying than the existence of the runes was the implications of them. Runes were difficult to create correctly and highly unstable while being crafted. As such, any magic nearby could disrupt the creation of the rune. That meant that no pain killing spells could have been used when the runes were cut. No spells that made the patient lose consciousness. This Thestral had felt each and every cut with little more pain killer than herbs that would slightly suppress it. Luna could not fully comprehend the pain he must have endured, yet had managed to stay still enough to allow the runes to be properly cut. In fact, Luna could find no errors in a single rune. There were so many, however, that it would have been impossible to check them all in any reasonable length of time.
Luna looked over the Thestral in growing awe and horror. She placed a hoof on the crystal that held him as tears began to fall.
"Hath I done this, truely?" Luna whispered to herself.
She heard Celestia walk up behind her, but she didn't turn her head to look.
"I can only hope he forgives me." She said quietly.
"He fought for you even after you were gone, Lulu. In his eyes, I doubt there is anything to forgive."
"We shall know soon enough." Luna stated as she backed away from the crystal.
Celestia closed her eyes in concentration and touched her horn to the crystal. Moments later, the clear crystal began glowing bright yellow. Just as the crystal became too bright to look at, it disappeared, and an instant later a blur of white and dark grey flew by Luna with a snarl.
Luna watched as the blur slammed into a wall and the white half was soon thrown away from the grey half. The white blur slammed into the opposite wall, and Luna was able to make out that the blur had been Celestia.
The pony that was the grey blur zoomed past her toward the recovering Celestia.
"KIT, NO!" Luna boomed in her Royal Voice.
The grey Thestral slowed down, but not enough to avoid Celestia. The Thestral slammed into Celestia and the two became one once more. They tumbled head over hooves until slamming into the wall a second time.
The Thestral was on top of Celestia, and their muzzles were nearly touching. Celestia placed her forelegs square in the Thestral's chest and shoved him high into the air where he quickly righted himself and began to watch Celestia carefully from the air.
"Kitwana," Luna called, "Nightmare Moon is no more, and we grieve what we hath done under her influence, both unto thee and unto our sister."
The Thestral looked back and down at Luna briefly and saw that she really was her old self again.
Saying nothing, the Thestral dropped down to the ground and landed softly.
"During the last thousand years you have been encased in crystal, Kitwana." Celestia said as she stood back up gracefully.
Kitwana was silent for several moments, and looked up at Luna when she approached. Luna strained to keep from crying again as she stopped in front of Kitwana. "Why did you let us harm thee so whilst we were Nightmare Moon?"
Kitwana looked Luna in the eye. "Thou knoweth that nothing thou hath ever asked of me has been carried out with any less than the utmost joy. Though not entirely thyself, Nightmare Moon's will was the closest thing to thine that I had. I carried it out as such. Verily, thou hath not truly wished for night eternal?"
"For but a moment, we did," Luna answered, "and we let that moment consume our thoughts and actions for far too long, thereby nearly destroying many of the things which we held most dear: our country, our sister, and thee, our friend. Might thee find it within thine heart to forgive that which we hath done unto thee?"
The Thestral thought for a moment. "I do not blame thee for what thou hath done, but I ask that thou refrain from doing so henceforth, for I hath missed thine sure company and guidance."
"Then thou hath forgiven our trespass?" Luna asked.
"Yea, for thou doth know that whatsoever thou ask of me, thou shalt receive it. Naught but my death shall keep it from thee. Nay! Ere my death, I shall ensure thy will be done!"
Six Years Later
Twilight planted her face onto the back cover of the book she just finished translating and let a sound between groaning and crying.
"Hey," Spike called from the next room, "are you sure you don't want to ask Luna for some help?"
Twilight looked up and around the stacks of books around her. "How many times have you asked me that, Spike?"
"Seventeen."
"And what was my answer each time?"
"Some variation of, 'if Luna knew more than I do about Thestrals, then she wouldn't have asked me to study them.'"
"So what do you think I will say this time?" Twilight asked as Spike walked into the room with his paws behind his back.
"I think you'll say that you have checked every book you could find over the last six months that could have even a little bit to do with Thestral culture and history and found nothing at all, and that you really need a tiny bit of help from princess Luna."
Twilight groaned. "Spike, take a letter."
Spike smiled smugly as he brought his paws out from behind his back to reveal the pen and paper that he had been holding.
"Dear Princess Luna,
I regret to inform you that my research into Thestral culture and history has been unfruitful. As far as I can tell, Thestrals have never written books or letters of any kind that have survived to this day.
Due to their generally nocturnal nature and their self-segregation from the rest of Equestria, few to no other ponies have been able to glean information about them. This is especially true over the past one thousand years, during which, the only information I could find was of sightings and myths of them drinking the blood of ponies.
If you could notify me of any source of information regarding Thestrals you may know of, it would drastically improve the speed of my research. I apologize for the delay, but it cannot be helped.
Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Spike rolled up the letter and sent it away in a puff of flames.
"How long do you think it will be before she replies?" Spike asked.
"I don't know, but there is nothing else that I can find from Ponyville that might help with my research. If she doesn't reply within a week, we will have to go on a trip to the Canterlot Libr-"
Twilight was cut off by Spike burping out a flame that materialised into a scroll. Spike picked up the scroll and gave it to Twilight.
"It has Luna's seal." Spike said as the scroll was enveloped in a purple glow.
Twilight opened the scroll and began to read aloud.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle,
Your observations on Thestral seclusion is the reason I have asked you to research them. It is my desire to see them become the great civilization that they once were, or at the very least to remember their heritage, and I believe there is no better candidate for the conduit of this change than you, the Princess of Friendship.
If you are willing, I would ask that you, and in extension Ponyville, help them begin understanding and reestablishing their old culture and magical arts. As you mentioned, the Thestrals are a seclusive race, and they hold many secrets that could benefit Equestria as a whole.
If you wish to help in the reformation of the Thestrals, meet with my contact in the Sugarcube Corner next week at noon.
With sincere thanks, Luna, Princess of the Night."
Twilight looked up at Spike with a deadpanned expression. "She knew I wouldn't find anything, but she asked me to do months of research anyway."
"And," Spike chimed in, "I'm pretty sure she had that letter written already. Nopony can write that fast."
"How very kind of her."
One Week Later
"Twilight," Spike whined as the pair made their way to the Sugarcube Corner, "we don't have to be there for another thirty minutes! We're just going to end up sitting there doing nothing for half of an hour."
"I know Spike," Twilight replied, "but it is better us to be early than to make somepony wait for us. Especially if that somepony was sent by princess Luna. This whole Thestral thing seems pretty important to her.
"Besides," Twilight said as they neared the Sugarcube Corner, "we can get something to eat before we have to meet whoever it is we're meeting."
Spike perked up upon hearing that, and as the two entered the gingerbread house styled building, Spike began thinking of what delicious treats he would soon be eating.
"Heya Twilight!" Pinkie shouted as soon as they entered the building. "Who are you meeting?"
"How-" Twilight began. "Never mind. I'm not really sure, but it is somepony that princess Luna wanted me to meet."
Pinkie pointed to a table in the corner with a pony in a pitch black hooded coat that covered all of his body except for his hooves and snout. "Well there's a super shady pony over there who is waiting for somepony to meet him." She said before leaning in close to Twilight and whispering. "He's a Thestral."
"Well, I guess that makes sense, but we weren't supposed to meet until half an hour from now. Thanks Pinkie."
"You're welcome. He's been here since we opened." Pinkie chipped.
"Are you sure this is the guy?" Spike asked as Twilight made her way to the table. "He might be a creep or something."
"Well, if there is one thing I have learned in my studies, it is that you can't judge a book by its cover." Twilight said quietly before she got into hearing range of the Thestral who was sipping a glass of water.
"Hello." Twilight greeted cheerily. "I don't mean to intrude, but I am supposed to meet somepony here and I wasn't told who to look for."
The Thestral didn't move, and Twilight began to wonder if he had ignored everything she had said.
"Did the princess explain why I am here?" The Thestral asked without looking at her.
"She said I am supposed to help you rebuild Thestral society and culture. Is that not why she sent you?"
"She did not explain why, only where to be and who to meet."
“So, are you a historian?” Twilight asked, curious why Luna would send such a strange pony to her.
“There hasn’t been a Thestral historian since before Equestria was founded, and I am no exception.”
Twilight awkwardly shuffled her hooves as she tried to think of something to say.
"Mind if we sit down?" She said hurriedly.
"I will not stop you." The Thestral replied, still not moving an inch.
Twilight and Spike looked at each other for a moment upon hearing the strangely worded response. Twilight was not sure whether he was implying that he did not want to talk or if he was just that strange, but she ultimately decided to follow through for Princess Luna and sit down at the table.
"So, how would you suggest we rebuild Thestral culture?” Twilight began. “I haven't been able to find anything on the topic in any of the books I have gotten my hooves on. They all say that Thestrals have guarded Princess Luna since the founding of Equestria."
“That is correct.”
“...aaand what else have Thestrals done since Equestria was founded?”
“From what I have heard, we spent the last thousand years hiding from the rest of Equestria.”
Twilight perked up a little bit. “Why weren’t Thestrals hiding before then?”
“Our princess was there to guide us.”
“Why did they hide after Princess Luna was gone?”
The Thestral remained quiet for a few moments, looking slightly contemplative. Twilight could not see his face well enough to tell for sure what his expression was, but from what was not covered by a hood, he looked like he was thinking. After a few moments of silence, he spoke.
“They did not wish to join the Illioptia in his fate.”
Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Who was the Illioptia?”
“Illioptia is a word. It means ‘warrior’ in a dead tongue.”
“So the Illioptia was a warrior for the Thestrals?” Twilight asked, excited at the prospect of learning something that was not in any of the books that she had managed to get her hooves on.
“That is what it means to be an Illioptia, yes.”
“So the Night Guard are Illioptia then?”
“There have only been, and hopefully ever will be, two Illioptia. One having been created long before the other.”
Spike tapped Twilight on the shoulder, gaining her attention, before reaching up with a paw to whisper in her ear. “This dude is creepy. Can we just get Princess Luna to tell us about Thestrals?”
Twilight moved her head so that she could whisper in Spike’s ear. “Of course we can’t. Princess Luna is a very busy mare, and I am sure that she would have already told us everything we needed to know if she...knew…” Twilight paused, realizing that she probably knew far more than what she had let on if this Thestral was any indication. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, we’ve learned so much already!”
“He’s not even a historian! How can we trust that anything he says was true? If Nightmare moon can be discounted as a fairytale after a thousand years, who knows how much of what he says is completely false? If anything, we would be better off spending some time in the Canterlot Library than sitting here with this guy!”
“I believe that a trip to Canterlot would serve us both well, Princess Twilight.” The Thestral said from across the table, apparently completely capable of hearing everything that they had just said. “Both of us wish to speak with my princess, and you always have reason to visit the largest library in Equestria if I am not mistaken.”
“Does everypony know that I like books that much?” Twilight asked.
“Everypony with working ears or the ability to read, I would imagine.” The Thestral replied.
Twilight frowned. “Why do you want to speak to the princess? Your job was to help my research on Thestral culture.”
“My job is as Princess Luna defines it. Until it has been defined by the princess, my job is undefined and my purpose is seek its definition.”
Twilight took a moment to process what he had said. “You talk like a soldier.”
"Or a machine." Spike mumbled.
“The princess has defined my job as such in the past, yes.”
“What did you do as a soldier?”
The Thestral went quiet.
“Hello,” Pinkie said, appearing next to the table from nowhere, “I’m Pinkie Pie, and I’ll be your waitress today. Can I get any of you three something to drink?”
Twilight and Spike ordered water and their meals since they already knew the menu by heart. The Thestral ordered nothing, only offering a polite ‘no thank you’ when asked if he wanted anything.
After Pinkie bounced away, the Thestral decided to speak again.
“What is the purpose of a soldier?” He asked.
“To protect the princesses and country, of course.” Twilight stated, having heard her brother say similar things many times over the years.
“The job of the Night and Royal Guards are to protect the princesses, the job of the princesses is to protect the country, but the job of the soldier is to protect the interests of the princesses. With that, I retract my statement about having been a soldier in the past. I still am a soldier.”
Twilight thought for a moment, realizing just how important the exact meaning of words was to this pony.
“So, as a soldier, you protect the interests of the princesses?” She asked.
“I protect the interests of Princess Luna exclusively.”
“So, you will help me rebuild Thestral society and culture?” Twilight asked.
“I would seek clarification from the princess first. While she may have told you that was why I am here, I have not received word from her myself.” The Thestral said before taking a drink of his water.
Twilight smiled as she pulled the letter Princess Luna had sent her from her saddlebags and placed it in front of the Thestral. “Maybe this will clarify things for you.”
The Thestral picked up and read over the letter, his face unreadable underneath the veil of his hood. After taking enough time to read over the letter thrice over, the Thestral sighed and placed the letter back onto the table.
“This letter does not explicitly state what I am meant to do, only that meeting me is your apparent first step in accomplishing your task.”
Twilight groaned, slumping in her seat. “It’s obvious that you know what I need to know! Why can’t you just tell me?”
“Because some knowledge must be shared with discretion in order to prevent its misuse.”
“Oh, so you think that I’m not responsible enough to know about your history? Is that it?” Twilight said, becoming frustrated at the stallion’s stubbornness.
The stallion did not answer immediately, giving Twilight enough time to become slightly flustered at having blown up at him so easily.
“The blind search for knowledge,” the Thestral began as Twilight suppressed a blush, “is what caused Thestrals to become what we are now. We were once what Equestria is today. The nation against which all other nations were judged.”
“So,” Spike cut in, “you’re trying to protect Equestria from the fate of the Thestrals...by not telling us what caused the fate of the Thestrals. That doesn’t make any sense. How are we supposed to know what not to do if you don’t tell us?”
“I did just tell you.”
“Don’t blindly search for knowledge.” Spike said with a thumbs up. “Got it, but how are we supposed to get knowledge if we have to know what we are trying to know before we can try to know it?”
The Thestral’s attention was now directly on Spike, a fact that made him want to squirm a little due to his creepy hood and emotionless gaze.
“Why don’t we just go get clarification from Princess Luna?” Twilight asked awkwardly.
"I apologize. The letter does not state that meeting me is the first step in your task, rather that it is your next one. You had first to know the absence of our history. Let us be on our way, Twilight Sparkle."
Author's Note
I was planning on making this into a Twilight x OC fic, but chose not to go any further than this. There was too much lore that I needed to explain for the character's backstory, and I didn't trust myself to be able to tell a sappy romance story without boring readers with lore dumps. At the end of the day, I felt that the romance story I wanted to tell did not fit well with the little alternate universe that I had created for it. Perhaps it would have done better as an adventure story, but alas it has been four years since I wrote it and I've forgotten what lore I had devised.
Thank you for reading.