The Princess and the Thief
Celestia resisted the urge to slump in her throne as a representative from Manehattan strutted away. The princess had been in charge of Equestria for over a thousand years and it still took a conscious effort not to slump, groan, roll her eyes or otherwise express distaste when interacting with some of the more… pompous ponies she encountered.
As the doors to the throne room glided closed, she allowed herself a quiet sigh of frustration. The princess was debating an early lunch when she heard knocking from a side entrance.
“Enter,” Celestia called, straightening her posture and ensuring the waving, magical mass that served as her hair was as regal as possible.
“Princess,” Phalanx, one of the Royal Guards, bowed his head as the dark grey pony trotted into the room with a hint of hesitation in voice and movement, “There has been a… minor security issue.”
From the look on his face, Celestia judged that the problem wasn’t a matter of national or international concern. More likely something small where the main victim would be the egos of her Royal Guard.
A mistake they feel responsible for, but hopefully with no real harm done.
“What kind of issue?” she asked, keeping her tones neutral.
“The security spells on the Hyperion Vault, the alarms, have faded to nothing,” Phalanx explained, keeping his head lowered and his gaze averted.
He was always very good at going on the defensive.
“But the vault itself hasn’t been breached,” he insisted.
“And how has this happened?” Celestia asked, walking down the broad steps so she was on the same level as the guard.
Well, their hooves were on the same level, her head still towered over the shorter pony.
“The Captain believes that the newer guards are skipping some of their more, um, mundane duties,” Phalanx forced himself to look up and meet the Princess’s gaze. Staring at her hooves felt disrespectful and slightly creepy. “They sign the logs to say the vaults have been inspected while using the time to take an extra break. So the spells have faded over time without notice. She’s scheduled some additional training and, um, personal reinforcement to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“And Captain Steadfast is certain that the Hyperion Vault hasn’t been breached?” Celestia made a mental note to find out why the Captain of the Royal Guard herself hadn’t brought the issue to the Throne.
“Yes, your Highness,” Phalanx said with another bow of his head.
“Nonetheless, I’d like to inspect the vault myself,” Celestia turned toward a side door, half hidden behind one of the throne room’s supporting columns.
“Princess?” Phalanx hurried to match the taller pony’s stride.
“While I trust Stedfast’s judgement, some of the older vaults have their own peculiarities,” Celestia shrugged, a gesture her unique stature gave additional gravitas, “Besides, I enjoy taking a hooves-on approach from time to time.”
The journey down to the vaults was carried out in silence apart from the clacking of hooves and the repeated opening of secure doors. The air around them grew cool and the stone walls became grey as they moved beyond the marble of the upper levels.
“Princess?” A pale blue guard looked up from her patrol as Celestia and Phalanx appeared around the corner.
“Don't mind me, just inspecting the Hyperion Vault,” Celestia said as the surprised guard tried to shuffle backward, salute and bow at the same time.
“Stedfast ordered extra patrols around the vaults until the specialists can restore the security spells,” Phalanx explained while Celestia nodded silently and the blue guard awkwardly returned to her circuit of the underground hallways.
The Hyperion Vault was one of many on the lower levels and they passed a dozen thick, metal doors before reaching their goal.
Celestia's horn glowed faintly as she leaned closer to the vault door. Purple eyes explored the old metal while her magic probed at the two keyholes on either side of the barrier.
There were no marks, scratches or misaligned tumblers. Nothing to indicate that anypony had tried to break into the vault while the security spells were down. Nothing except the faint scent of musty air that had somehow escaped the hermetically sealed chamber. Something most ponies would’ve overlooked.
Something most ponies couldn’t even consciously sense at that level.
“We’re, um, also carrying out a sweep to see if any other security spells have faded like this one,” Phalanx’s own gaze explored the sealed door, “But even if the rookie guards have been skipping their inspection, the enchantment shouldn't have weakened this quickly. Could something from inside the vault be affecting the spells?"
“The contents haven’t been disturbed in years. It would be… interesting if they suddenly started to change their behaviour,” Celestia replied quietly, "Please stand back."
The guard watched as the alicorn's eyes closed and the glow around her horn intensified. Two spheres of golden magic hovered before her and the guard barely stifled a gasp when a pair of crystal constructs grew out of the glow.
The magical objects started small at first, like grains of salt suspended in the air. But in a few heartbeats they had grown into a twin set of elaborate keys.
Without saying a word, Celestia unlocked the vault door before releasing the crystal keys which evaporated before they hit the floor.
"The internal security has also been dispelled," Celestia noted in oddly neutral tones as she stood on the cusp of the vault and waved her right forehoof through the darkness in front of her.
"Internal security spells?" the guard frowned, “I wasn't aware there were any.“
"The pony who designed the original castle was rather fond of layers and secrecy," Celestia explained, stepping into the vault as her glowing horn illuminated the stone chamber.
Phalanx had never seen inside the vault and hadn’t been sure if the Hyperion Vault was one of many fake doors that littered the lower levels. If he’d been forced to guess the contents, he would’ve imagined a grand chamber filled with treasures from across the continent.
He would not have imagined a plain, square room filled with metal shelves.
He’d never seen shelves like them. They were old, simple and perhaps the most boring shelves he’d ever witnessed. And the wooden boxes that filled the shelves were similarly unremarkable.
Celestia’s gaze swept across the room before lingering on an empty space to the right. Stepping closer, she dipped her head, touching the shelf with the lower edge of her glowing horn.
Purple eyes narrowed, then closed completely as she forced herself to focus. There was the faintest echo of magic lingering in the previously undisturbed room. But it was at the very edge of her senses, like a sound so distant it had lost all meaning by the time straining ears heard it.
“Is, um, everything as it should be, Princess?”
“Yes,” Celestia lied, opening her eyes and turning to face the guard, “Thank you for your diligence, Phalanx. You may return to your duties.”
There was a brief, weighted pause before the guard saluted, “Yes, Princess.”
Celestia watched Phalanx as he trotted away. The grey soldier was smart enough to realise that his Princess had discovered exactly what happened to the security spells. But he was too loyal to allow his curiosity to prevent him from obeying her instruction.
It was a simultaneously admirable and annoying quality.
“You always enjoyed playing detective, Luna,” Celestia barely whispered, purple eyes flashing skyward and finding nothing but cold ceiling above her.
With the vault door closed behind her, Celestia silently passed the blue guard in the corridor. The Princess’s eyes stared down at the floor as she twisted and turned through the subterranean passages. Her lips pursed in concentration as she tried to keep hold of the delicate thread of faded magic.
She was halfway to the other side of the castle when her attention shifted upward.
“I see,” Celestia muttered, heading toward the nearest stairwell.
Celestia nodded to palace staff as she continued her journey through the castle. Leaving the basements, she returned to the marble hallways filled with bright lights and inviting flowers before continuing through the different sections of the palace.
The building had been constructed on an artificial cliff edge, jutting out from the mountain. Everything below ground level was part of the original design and had stood for over a thousand years. But above the surface, the palace consisted of distinct sections that had been built independently over the centuries.
Having so many eclectic areas joined together gave the palace a maze-like structure that forced Celestia to double back on herself a few times as she followed the trail.
Eventually she found herself passing through one of the libraries. The grand, circular hall contained thousands of books and it’s walls were decorated with wood instead of the marble that filled the rest of the palace.
The elderly librarian looked up from his desk and gave the Princess a brief nod before returning to his work.
Celestia ducked through a side door into one of the storage rooms. The area hadn’t been built with the alicorn’s stature in mind, so she had to keep her head bowed as she located the staircase heading up to the library’s attic.
The final door was locked and Celestia wasn’t surprised to discover that the security spell was unfamiliar. Unraveling the magic, she nudged her way inside to find a dark space with a domed ceiling. The wooden floor was covered in piles of books and enchanted devices that’d been taken apart.
Pausing at the nearest device, Celestia found the gemstones and machinery from a food preservation box combined with pieces of a fire suppression system. She couldn’t immediately deduce what the improvised enchantment was doing, but it was clearly doing something if the crystallised food inside it was any indication.
Passing more magical technology among the towers of books, Celestia made her way to the far side of the attic where two things caught her attention. Firstly she spotted the large egg that had been removed from the Hyperion Vault, sitting near one of the small windows. Secondly, and more interestingly, she saw a small, purple pony bathed in soft, pink light.
There’s a filly in the palace attic?
The child was distinctive. Celestia couldn’t remember seeing that particular combination of purple coat with darker mane and bright pink stripe. So the filly wasn’t the daughter of a palace worker, visiting dignitary or anyone that Celestia could think of.
So, what exactly was she doing in the palace and why had she broken into the supposedly impenetrable Hyperion Vault?
The princess found the first part of her answer beside the filly. A pile of blankets was nestled against a wall of books with a pillow and stolen lamp at one end. The young unicorn was evidently living in the attic.
“Hello?” Celestia softly called out to the trespasser.
The purple unicorn seemed unaware of the alicorn's presence, her back to the taller pony and her attention focused on the dismantled device held by her magic.
“Hello?” Celestia tried again, clearing her throat.
“But the insulation needs to be thicker on the exterior,” the filly said to herself, using her magic to strip a layer of wood from an enchanted kitchen implement.
“Hello!” Celestia called, her volume approaching the Royal Canterlot voice.
The filly shrieked and her magic winked out. The device she was working on dropped from her telekinetic grasp and she jumped, awkwardly catching it between her hooves before it hit the floor.
“You’re the princess,” The filly said, waiting until she’d gently lowered her contraption to the ground before turning to stare up at the ruler of the country.
“Yes,” Celestia nodded, lowering herself to the ground so she didn't have to look so far down at the young unicorn. “And you seem to be living in my attic.”
The filly nodded.
“Could you tell me why you’re living in my attic?” Celestia prompted gently.
“Its quiet,” The purple pony frowned as if the answer was so obvious that she wasn’t sure it was worth saying, “I like it here.”
“There are guards and security spells protecting the palace,” Celestia continued as the filly’s attention returned to the device she was dismantling and her horn began to glow as she pulled apart a pair of gemstones and idly examined them, “Lots of guards and spells. How did you get past them?”
“They were easy,” The unicorn shrugged, not looking up from her work, “The first spell was fun to unpick, but the rest were very similar so it got boring. And guards are grownups, they’re all pretty dumb.”
“I apologise if palace security wasn’t challenging enough for you,” Celestia gave a slight snort as she suppressed a laugh.
“Its fine,” The filly shrugged again.
“You seem very calm for a trespassing thief who just got caught,” Celestia observed.
“Caught?” Another frown, “Ponies always chased me when I got caught. Hurt me. I don’t get caught anymore. This doesn’t feel like getting caught.”
The princess remained silent. Soft purple eyes studied the young unicorn with an edge of sadness as the filly continued to pull apart the device, examining each enchanted gem she extracted.
A keen observer would’ve noticed the subtle glow of heat and the faint scent of smoke around the Princess’s hooves as she kept the anger from her expression by channeling it downward.
“Where did you come from?” Celestia asked when she was sure her voice would remain calm.
“I don’t know,” And another shrug.
“You don’t know?” Celestia echoed, “It looks like you’ve been living in this attic for a few moons. Where were you before the palace?”
“In the city. I didn't like it there, it was too crowded and loud. Too many ponies,” The filly’s ears flicked idly as she thought, “Before that I remember being on an airship. But I must’ve been very small back then. Or the ship was unusually big? Maybe both.” As she answered, her voice grew quieter.
The unicorn’s shoulders hunched as she focused more intently on the contraption trembling softly in her telekinetic field.
“What’s your name, my little pony?” Celestia spoke slowly, unsure how much further she could push.
“Twilight,” The filly whispered, “I think.”
“You think?”
“Or it was my favourite time of day,” Twilight shrugged again, “Maybe both.”
“Well, Twilight, I’d like to help you. You shouldn’t be living like this,” Celestia gazed sadly at the filly.
The young unicorn had dark shadows around her eyes and her body was skinny. The kind of skinny that happened when you had access to the palace kitchens, but were more interested in dismantling enchanted kitchen devices than eating the food.
Twilight may be almost impossibly bright, but she wasn’t taking care of herself.
Celestia winced as a flash of nightmare crossed her mind. If she hadn’t found the filly today, how much longer would it be before there wasn’t a filly to find at all?
Not a living one at least.
“There should be no homeless children in Canterlot. Let alone one hiding under my own roof. There are places and ponies which can give you a better life. Keep you safe.”
“I’m already safe,” Twilight frowned, “And I’ve been in the orphanage before. I didn’t like it. The other fillies were… mean.”
“Not an orphanage then,” Celestia forced her voice to remain calm as she made a mental note to visit the Canterlot Orphanage. She was interested to know how they’d let a filly disappear without informing the palace. “Something smaller, quieter. A place where you can keep doing your work, but still be taken care of. I know of several families that would be ideal and I’d like you to meet some of them.”
“I don’t like other ponies,” Twilight replied, remaining hunched over, her eyes never leaving the magical technology in her hooves.
Time to stop pushing.
“Did you dismantle and rebuild all of these devices?” Celestia gestured around the attic space with her faintly glowing right forehoof.
“Yes, they were interesting,” Twilight nodded, her hunched shoulders relaxing slightly, “I’ve never seen so much enchanted technology in one place. Well, not since the airship, but I was too small to take them apart back then.”
“You enjoy machinery?” Celestia gently asked.
“Magical technology,” Twilight clarified, her eyes briefly flicking up from her work, although not quite enough to meet the Princess’s gaze, “And magic in general. And history. And science. And… lots of things.”
Celestia nodded slowly as she glanced around the attic, noticing that many of the books had been recently read.
“And you were interested in my dragon egg?” Celestia pointed to the purple and green object by the window, surrounded by jury-rigged pieces of dismantled devices.“Interested enough to somehow steal it from the vault.”
“The egg?” The filly frowned, getting to her hooves and trotting over to the rock-like sphere, “I… felt it… calling to me. It wants to wake up.”
“It called to you?” The tiniest frown flickered across Celestia’s features, “That dragon egg has been in my care for almost a century and it has been inert the entire time. Not to mention the fact that it was locked in what the original designer assured me was an impenetrable vault.”
“Vault?” the unicorn frowned again, “The locked room? It was easy to get into. I’ve never seen magically generated crystal keys before, but there were simple enough to make once I figured it out.”
Celestia blinked.
Then she took a moment to breathe slowly and blink again before her brain recovered enough for speech.
“You disabled the security spells and were able to reverse engineer the keys from the feel of the keyholes alone?”
Disabling the spells was always a remote possibility, even for the ones on the vaults. No magical construct could be completely impervious. But the keys? Celestia couldn’t imagine where a unicorn would even begin to bypass that issue.
“They were interesting, but pretty easy,” The filly shrugged, gently patting the egg with her hoof before adjusting a long cable attached to the device and leading out of the open window, “The egg is a better puzzle. Much harder to open.”
“I’m afraid you can’t…” Celestia hesitated, “No pony can hatch a dragons egg. It requires dragon magic and very specific conditions.”
“I’ve devised a work-around,” The filly shrugged again and Celestia wondered if the young unicorn’s habit of casually dismissing reality was amusing or terrifying, “I’ve got everything I need right here. Apart from the rainbow explosion of course.”
“Rainbow explosion…” Celestia found herself speechless for the second time during her brief conversation with the trespasser.
“According to my calculations, it should happen any day now,” Twilight tapped a collection of crystals that had been strung together by wire and hung near the window. “The energy has been building up all moon.”
Celestia stood up and took a step toward Twilight and the egg, her eyes never leaving the web of crystals. It appeared to be some combination of scrying magic and measuring spell, but she’d never seen that particular configuration before. She doubted any of the academics at her gifted school would be familiar with it either.
What was the filly observing?
And how? Twilight didn’t have her cutie mark yet, so how was this level of magic even possible?
“You really are a remarkable pony,” Celestia smiled warmly at the filly. And nobody could smile warmly like the Princess, “I believe your brilliance would benefit from a real education. And a real home.”
“Home?” Twilight grimaced as if the word itself had been bitter on her tongue, “Education?” she added cautiously.
“You’re intelligent, Twilight and you’ve already learned a great deal on your own,” Celestia nodded, “But there’s so much more out there to understand, magic and devices more complicated than you’ve ever seen. Think of what you could achieve with the benefits of education.”
“I… was beginning to run out of books to read,” Twilight hesitated, glancing around the attic. “But I prefer learning alone. I don’t like teachers.”
“I think you’ve had the wrong teachers,” Celestia gently nudged the idea forward, “A good teacher will answer questions, point you toward new areas of study, give you the benefit of their knowledge.”
Twilight gave a disgruntled snort. “That doesn’t sound as good as books. I just need more books. There are bigger libraries.”
“You know I’m Princess Celestia?” The princess asked.
“Yes,” Twilight nodded, “You’re the only alicorn.”
“Well, I’m one of two alicorns,” Celestia corrected. “And I’m over a thousand years old. Imagine all I have seen and experienced in that time. All I could show you if I was one of your teachers?”
“I…” Twilight bit her lower lip and shuffled awkwardly on her hooves, “Could you write it in a book for me?”
“I have written a great many books. But there are advantages to having a pony of knowledge and experience to talk to. Advantages you can’t get from books.”
Twilight gasped, taking a step back as her eyes opened wide with shock.
The young unicorn’s trembling lips parted and she was about to speak when a bright light flared outside the window.
Celestia and Twilight turned to see an explosion of rainbow colours shoot across the sky.
“What the-” Celestia crouched down to look out of the low window as the final wave of colours rushed overhead. “A sonic rainboom? I haven't seen one for centuries.”
The princess took a step back as rainbow energy rushed through the cable leading in from the roof and down toward the egg. The prismatic force surged through the device built around the egg as pink light from Twilight’s horn joined it, flowing into the mess of crystals and machinery.
Celestia’s horn glowed instinctively and she was about to offer her own power to whatever Twilight was doing. But for the first time in decades, she had no idea what spell was being cast.
The surface of the egg cracked, like a boulder struck by a hammer. Then the top burst open, showering the room with powdered rock and revealing a small, purple dragon curled up inside the shell.
“Hello… Spike,” Twilight said as the dragon’s eyes opened and he turned to look at her, blinking slowly.
“Spike?” Celestia whispered.
“It feels right,” Twilight shrugged, stepping closer to the baby dragon.
“You… hatched a dragon’s egg,” Celestia failed to keep the slight tremble from her voice.
“Yes,” Twilight nodded, “I said that I would.”
The words ‘but it should be impossible’ drifted through Celestia’s mind. Followed by memories of the last creature she’d met who could do the impossible.
But he had been a monster.
“What do you plan to do with a baby dragon?” Celestia asked, gently reaching forward with her magical field to brush flecks of broken shell from Spike’s head.
Twilight stared at the baby who looked up at her, his eyes wide as his foreclaws reached toward her.
“I don’t know…” Twilight hesitated, “I haven't read anything about taking care of a dragon.”
“Fortunately, I have some experience in this area,” Celestia smiled again, her wings twitching as she debated reaching out to comfort the unicorn and dragon. “I can help you, Twilight. But the first thing we need to do is get you and Spike to a place where you can be looked after.”
“I don’t…” Twilight whispered, her head lowering again.
“It’s not just your own concerns you have to worry about. You have to think of Spike too,” Celestia extended her wings and gently draped one around the trembling unicorn. “And as I said, you won’t have to stop learning or experimenting. In fact, I’m certain you will be able to learn and accomplish more when you’re not living feral in this attic. You’ll be happier.”
“Happier?” Another word that made Twilight wince at the sour taste.
“Please, Twilight,” Celestia almost whispered, “Let me help both of you.”
Twilight stared down at the baby dragon, watching as a tiny, scaled claw wrapped around the hoof she held toward him.
“Alright,” Twilight finally nodded.
“Thank you,” Celestia smiled, “By the way, Twilight, you have something on your flank.”
Frowning, the filly looked away from the baby dragon to find a pattern of stars decorating her coat. “My cutie mark!” Twilight gasped and then giggled with delight as she was led out of the library attic.
Celestia resisted the urge to cheer with joy as Twilight carried Spike in her telekinetic field, gently nuzzling the baby dragon. The princess had been in charge of Equestria for over a thousand years and it still took her by surprise how wonderful it was interacting with some of the more… remarkable ponies she encountered.
