Author's Note
I said it in the description, I'll say it here and in the author's notes of ever chapter if I must. Leave the negativity at the door please.
The First of Many
Celestia watched her student pace the length of the room. It wasn’t far, her castle was much smaller than Canterlot castle, but the throne room was still large. The stallion seated next to her stared stoically straight ahead, ever the dutiful one. The object of today’s frazzle-ment was the small scroll sitting in front of Twilight’s seat.
“You know how nobles are Twilight. You and your family are nobles yourselves. They are always locked in paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense. There is nothing I can do this time.” Twilight didn’t hear her. So lost in her own thoughts, Twilight wouldn’t have heard an explosion going off right behind her. Celestia continued to watch until Twilight was behind her. A sigh escaped her, and she glanced at the stallion next to her. He simply stared straight ahead. She could see only his silver eye, the other covered as it was by the mask he wore.
She once asked him about the mask, during his training under Captain Bulwark and Lieutenant Steel Hammer. He wore it to hide his own parentage, something he wasn’t entirely proud of. At her insistence, he’d revealed why, but he’d only done so in private. Bulwark had been as frazzled as one could expect. A guard in training all but demanding to join Celestia in her private chambers, with no other guards present.
She had to admit the boldness had been refreshing. Once in her room, he removed his mask, revealing the golden eye behind the eye-patch… and the sharp canine teeth. At her insistence, he revealed his parentage, and his past. His mother was a relatively well-known songstress, Violet Aria. A pegasus with a voice like no other before her, Violet had sung once or twice at the Grand Galloping Gala. She was a lovely mare. His father was some unknown stallion who had managed to seduce his mother at a bar. Only it wasn’t the stallion he’d met.
His mother had revealed to him later in life that his father was a Changeling. A scout from Chrysalis’ hive that had been in Canterlot for months, scouting for potential entry routes. Long before Princess Cadance’s wedding to Shining Armor. The Changeling had seduced, impregnated, and fed on Violet’s love for years before a curious friend, wanting to finally meet this “new husband”, had come to investigate while Violet was at a concert. The friend discovered the father’s identity and alerted then captain of the Canterlot Guard, Stalwart Shield.
After revealing to the Princess that he was at least half changeling, he tested the waters with her. “If you tell anyone, I’ll have to kill you.” his tone had been dead serious, the look in his eyes free of any mirth or humor. Celestia had found it humorous anyway and his smile told her that he’d been joking.
When Twilight came back around to his line of sight, his eye snapped to her and Celestia cursed that he had to wear that stupid mask. It didn’t hinder his breathing, but his eyesight wasn’t perfect with it on. He could only see out of one eye while wearing it. “At least consider the alternative, Twilight. If you don’t accept a guard from myself, Luna or Cadance, the nobility of Canterlot will assign you a guard. A guard that will be under their hoof, on their payroll, and report to them any time you do anything that might seem… out of character for a Princess.” Celestia said and Twilight finally stopped pacing, now just staring at the stained-glass window that had been transferred to her castle.
Her first victory with her friends, and the restoration of Princess Luna. “With Guard Arcane Sigil as your Captain of the Guard, you will retain the autonomy to do as you please, go where you please, and continue to teach at your school. If you are assigned a guard by the nobility, it is likely they will find some reason for your school to be shut down by the EEA.” she said and Twilight continued to stare at the window, but now Celestia could see the wheels turning.
She’d known Twilight Sparkle long enough to know when the little purple mare was considering all of the options.
1: Accept Arcane as the Captain of the Guard in Ponyville. Retain her autonomy to continue teaching at the school as well as go off on crazy adventures when the map called her.
2: Don’t accept him and be assigned some random pony from Canterlot, who will likely be given orders by the nobles of Canterlot to keep her in Ponyville, where she will be a Princess and nothing else.
3: Do nothing and hope it goes away.
She didn’t want to consider option four… but marriage was always on the table. If she didn’t want a guard… they’d accept a husband with military training. She knew that. She also knew that even if he wasn’t a guard, they’d have no choice but to allow her to keep her autonomy and do as she please, if her husband was trained as a guard.
“How long do I have to consider my options?” she asked and Celestia smiled.
“We can give you a week, safely. Any longer than that, and somepony will send guards to you to report on your actions.” the elder Princess said, and Twilight nodded then looked at Arcane.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“What would you like me to say, my Princess?” he asked, and she felt her entire body shiver. That voice… it was like honey on silk. Smooth, flowing, beautiful and sweet and powerful all at the same time. She knew why he’d kept quiet now. Celestia’s smile widened, and one eyebrow quirked upwards.
“Anything. You must have thoughts on the matter.” Twilight said and Arcane paused for a second, the one eye she could see closing in thought.
“I’m sure you considered your options, my Princess. Accept me as your guard, continue to live as you have with no further problems from the nobility in Canterlot. Refuse and be assigned a guard who will report back to nobles such as Hoity Toity or Upper Crust. Ignore the situation at hoof and hope it just goes away eventually because the nobles will get tired of trying to force your hoof.” he said and she blinked. It was like he could read her mind.
“There is always a fourth option.” Celestia said and Twilight’s eyes went wide as Celestia smiled. “If becoming her guard is out of the question, as the reigning High Princess of Equestria, I can order documents be written up proclaiming the two of you married and all I would need is a signature from him.” Twilight blinked. A forced marriage? Would Celestia actually do that?
“I want time to think about it.” Twilight said, looking at Celestia. It seemed to take the wind out of Celestia’s sails, and she could almost see the tiny Celestia in her mind dropping the string she was about to tie around the pin on the “shipping board”. “However… to appease the nobles of Canterlot… I accept Arcane Sigil as the first of my guards and as acting Guard Captain.”
“I will have the paperwork drawn up and sent via dragon fire once I return to Canterlot. In the meantime, I shall leave Arcane Sigil, Captain Sigil, here so that he may familiarize himself with the area he will be guarding.” Celestia said and Twilight nodded. “With that settled, I’ll be on my way. Congratulations on the promotion Captain. Be sure to inform Shining Armor you’re the same rank as him now so he can’t push you around.” Arcane saluted Celestia as the Princess stood, his salute flowing easily into a bow as Twilight escorted her mentor to the door.
She walked in silence while Celestia went on about potential changes to entry into the Guard that she could implement, as well as the odd suggestion or two that she add more ponies to her own guard, so Arcane doesn’t have to protect the entire town on his own. Something Princess Celestia said caught her off guard, however. “I am certain a stallion of his overwhelming magical capacity could handle it, but it’s still too much for one pony.”
“Princess, what do you mean by that?” Twilight asked as they reached the door.
Celestia smiled as she turned to her former student. “Why, just that he’s the most powerful unicorn I’ve ever met. Magically speaking… he makes you look like you’re still in Magic Kindergarten. And you’ve handled all of the magic of the four Alicorns on your own.” Celestia said and Twilight’s eyes went wide. “I shall see you and your friends, and your new captain, at the up coming Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight.” She said as she turned and walked away, climbing onto the chariot she’d arrived on and flying back to Canterlot.
Twilight watched her leave then turned to look at her new Captain, who stood behind her, just far enough back that he wasn’t in her personal space. “Magically speaking he makes you look like you’re still in magic kindergarten.” Was it really possible that a single stallion, a pony who was an unknown quantity entirely, could have so much magic that he dwarfed the Elements of Harmony? He caught her staring and just stared back at her for a moment.
“What?”
She’d put it off long enough. Two days was all she’d managed before they finally just… came over. Now they knew. All of her friends, including Trixie, knew about Arcane. He was none to happy about it.
“So this is the stallion that was with Celestia huh?” Rainbow asked, flying slowly around the silently fuming unicorn. “Pretty nice colors. The white, red and blue mane and tail stand out against the dark grey coat.”
“Nice? Darling, his coat is a marvelous shade of slate gray. I would love to design an outfit for him for the Gala. That is, if the gentle stallion would allow me the chance to measure him.” Rarity said and he finally took his eyes off of Twilight to smile at the unicorn mare. At least Twilight hoped it was a smile. That mask hid everything.
“Of course Miss Rarity. It would be my pleasure to model for your designs.” he said and Twilight had to watch as most of her friends all but swooned. The only ones who remained unaffected by his voice alone being Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
“Your voice is so gorgeous darling. Tell me you sing from time to time. You must be a bass. At least a low baritone.” Rarity said and he nodded.
“You would be correct. My mother is Violet Aria. Singing is in my dna.” Applejack whistled.
“Violet’s mighty popular round these parts. Real good country singer but she does do some opera sometimes.” she said and he nodded.
The introductions went relatively smoothly. Twilight’s friends asking him questions about his past during his training. Starlight needling him about the mask, which he shrugged off easily. Rainbow eventually asked him to take it off and Twilight froze.
She hadn’t seen him without it on. Even when he slept, and she’d managed to follow him to his room at least once to see him take it off. She pretended to scold Rainbow, Rainbow actually flinching back a little when Twilight yelled, but her eyes were on Arcane. She wanted to see it too. She went silent when his horn lit, and the clasps of his mask were undone. Would he really take it off? Just like that? Simply because someone asked him too? The bottom of the mask came lose and they all turned as he took it off. There were no marks on his muzzle, no marring features they could see. Nothing out of the ordinary.
“That’s it? So… do you just like wearing the…?” the question went unfinished as he drew his lips back in a pantomime of a snarl. His teeth, from his canines to his molars, were razor sharp. A squeak from Fluttershy and the false snarl disappeared as the shy yellow mare dove under her rainbow maned friend. Twilight took note for a moment that the eyepatch stayed on before turning to Fluttershy.
“It’s ok Fluttershy. He’s still a pony. He’s just… different from us. That’s normal.” Twilight said and Fluttershy looked at him for a moment before crawling out from under Rainbow.
“That’s impressive, but there was somethin’ else Princess Celestia said ‘bout you. Ya make Twilight look like she’s still in magic kindergarten?” Applejack asked and he looked at her as he put his mask back on.
“An exaggeration. Twilight is former barer of the Element of Magic. The Elements of Harmony wouldn’t have chosen her as that element’s barer if there were a pony stronger.”
“Still, Ah think we should see ya use some o that magic.” Applejack said and he stared at her for a moment before nodding and turning away, walking away from them a fair bit. They had started to follow him at first until remembering what he was about to do.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. His horn lit and everything was normal. Then gravity was suddenly pulling everything towards the ground. Even Rainbow hit the dirt pretty hard and immediately went to her knees. Twilight looked around and realized it wasn’t gravity. It was air pressure. He had increased the air pressure by a very significant amount in the span of half a second.
Just as quickly as it had gone up, it was back to normal. The air pressure was normal again. But now it was boiling hot. Applejack stood and fanned herself off with her hat, Rainbow using her wings to blow cool air on the other ponies. Twilight’s horn lit to keep herself cool, Rarity doing to the same and the effect spread to the other mares present as soon as Starlight’s horn lit as well.
Suddenly it was too cold for the cooling spells. Their magic snapped off immediately as the temperature dropped rapidly. Normally, a sudden rise and sudden fall in temperature like this would mean heat stroke or frost bite. But it wasn’t that it was cold. Twilight and the others quickly realized that they weren’t cold. They were drenched. The air temperature had returned to normal but suddenly there was a mist so fine yet thick that they were soaked through to the bone.
They were just about to dry themselves off when the moisture in the air disappeared and was replaced by rapidly moving air currents all around them, blowing at them from every direction at once. They were being air dried where they stood.
The air went back to normal, as did their coats and manes. They were suddenly invigorated, ready to take on the world. Twilight wanted to go back to the castle, go straight to the library, and reorganize the entire library by alphabet. From the looks on her friends faces, they felt it too.
Everything went back to normal within a blink of an eye and Twilight looked at Starlight. The entire time, she hadn’t taken her eyes off of Arcane. His horn had been lit through each change. Every time something had changed, his magic had changed color and a section of his cutie mark had lit up, as if fueling his magic.
“I’m sure that’s not enough to really show you what I can do, but it’s a taste.” he said and the mares all stared at him for a moment before Starlight’s eyes went wide. Trixie seemed to come to the exact same conclusion at the exact same time.
“You can control the Elements.” Starlight said and he nodded. Twilight had to think for a moment. He couldn’t possibly control the Elements of Harmony, they chose their barers and they were sealed within the Tree of Harmony to prevent the spread of the Everfree Forest. Then it clicked.
She remembered reading somewhere about other elements. “Five Elements of Nature. The element of water, which heals the wounded and gives sustenance to the land. The element of earth, which grants stability of mind and foundation to thought. The element of wind, which guides change through the land and offers clarity of mind. The element of fire, which grants life and restoration to the soul. The element of Spirit, the most powerful of all, housing the very being of all who live on this plane.”
They had just witnessed a single stallion command all five of the Elements of Nature. She watched him for a moment before noticing something. He was shaking. He still stood on his hooves, but his legs were shaking. His chest was also moving quite a bit more rapidly than before and his horn was smoking. It took her a second to realize what she was looking at before she teleported over to him just before he collapsed. She’d seen magic overheat before, experienced it herself. She knew the signs.
His head hit her back just as his body hit the ground and she dropped with him. Rather to cushion the blow than let him pass out and possibly hurt himself. Her friends joined her a second later, all of them concerned for him.
Four hours later, Arcane finally woke up, a carrot stick in his mouth. “Overheat?” he asked, and Twilight nodded. “Bad?”
“Not really. You pushed yourself to show us your magic and it made you pass out.” Rainbow said, hovering nearby, close to the ground. He crunched into the carrot while looking around at them. They’d only taken off his muzzle. His eye was still covered. “Twilight said you might need something to eat when you woke up, so AJ ran back to the farm and grabbed some things.” she said and he looked at the banquet of food on the table near him.
Apple tarts, apple pies, apple bread, even cider and a few other apple-based foods. Looking at them reminded him of the first time he’d overheated. His mother had brought him a slice of pumpkin pie with a pile of whipped cream covering the whole thing, half of a whole carrot cake, a barrel full of his favorite drink, and five sub sandwiches he was certain she’d made herself. “Thank you.” he said as he picked up an apple tart and bit into it.
They all watched him as he froze, the apple tart still in his mouth. “Oh shoot… ah did somethin’ wrong didn’t I? Yer allergic t’ apples. Dang it, Ah shoulda…”
“No… no it’s… it’s fine.” he said and they all looked at him. He knew his voice sounded choked, like he was fighting something back. “I’m not allergic to apples. Just remembering.”
His mother used to make the best apple tarts.
Author's Note
Dun, dun, dun? Some back story, as well as a show of incredible magical power. Might have jumbled up a bit, with the "is" at the start in reference to Arcane's mom and then the "used to" at the end, also in reference. It wasn't a flub, I promise, it's on purpose. Ya'll are gonna have to wait until a later chapter to find out.
