It was on a day like any other day, in an old-timely cabin-like shack that a newborn filly breathed her very first breath of life; in fact, five fillies were borne there. In all retrospect they weren't fillies at all (though just by looking at them you wouldn't be able to tell otherwise). They were a cross between a stallion and a female Kirin named River Flow Efengottee. Though they were half pony their mother loved them all just the same. She sprawled all five of her newborn daughters out on her chest (they were all very tiny) and gently stroked them all with tender love and care.
Suddenly, the once very silent room filled with love and tranquility was disturbed by the loud bang of the cabin door being pounded open. In marched the fillies' father, Titan, stomping, as if upset about something.
"What's wrong, Titan?" River asked softly.
"Nothing!" Titan sneered back slamming the cabin door shut behind himself; only it didn't close. Instead the old planked door fell off its very hinges and made a loud clamoring sound as it hit the floor. With all the noise, each of the fillies were awoken and started to wail loudly.
"WHAT ART YE CRYING ABOUT?" The stallion wrathfully shouted turning towards the newborn fillies. He angrily looked them all over; however his eyes were especially fixed with fury on the runt of the litter (a light cornflower blue foal with a baby-blue mane and tail, along with turquoise eyes) who was about one-third the size of her other four sisters; she was also the youngest out of the bunch.
He was snapped back into reality by River's words spoken. "They art probably crying because thee woketh them up with all this noise," she answered back with fear in her voice. "There there, wilt be alright," River calmingly lulled redirecting her attention to her daughters.
Rolling his eyes at his wife's words, Titan simply scoffed and started trampling off before River called out gently, "I also suppose thee canst guess who came into the world whilst thee wast gone." It really wasn't a question.
Turning around sharply as if anger was controlling his every movement, Titan irately made "death glares." "THEY ART ALL RUNTS! EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!" The fillies' father roared furiously making his daughters cry again, "SHUT UP! YE GOOD FOR NOTHING MONGRELS!"
"Yelling at them willeth not maketh a difference," River replied in a teary shaky-like voice.
Her husband slowly and speechlessly came closer and closer to River's face in a way that let her know he was crossed with her. Fear rose up in her the longer the bitter silence lasted. Finally, after Titan had pushed the end off his mussel up against River's, out of the inaudible room (even the fillies had stopped mewling) Titan declared in an irate whisper, "Thou listen to me! I willeth not be disrespected by scum likest thee! I am going to goeth out and dost what I wanna dost for a couple days! That smallest filly the size of a mouse, if she is not gone by the time I getteth back...wilt never see any of thine daughters ever again! Dost I makest myself clear?!"
With that Titan marched right back out of the used to be door now large opening in the wall, not even waiting for a reply. But before he left fully (just to be mean) he used one of his hind legs to kick at the fallen planks of wood. This naturally caused a racket and once again made the fillies scream.
Despite the noise everything appeared still to River, as if time had slowed down... or stopped entirely. This was not the way things were supposed to happen! River thought over and over again until it became verbal repetition.
River's eyes flowed with tears and her bottom lip quivered; she couldn't stop it; all she felt was despair. She wept where she was for a while before she finally got up and dressed herself in a dirty, coarse, tan "rope" stained with blood spots here and there.
Since River was preparing to leave with the runt, she asked a mare named Strawberry Shortcake (she was another one of Titan's wives) if she would watch her other four children while she was gone.
Strawberry originally tried to convince River to keep the filly and let her stand up against Titan; however, River's continual response while she bore a fake smile was, "No, that is okay." In truth that was simply the briefest excuse she could think of on a moment's notice. The real reason was much more complicated. First off, she feared Titan and how far he would go just to get his way. Secondly, she wished no harm on Strawberry or her family were she to stand between them. And thirdly, she felt it to be unfair on the filly to keep her in a house where she would constantly be despised by her father. Maybe... just maybe I canst giveth her a better papa than I had.
As hard as it was to deny Strawberry's persuasive words, River did so until they eventually stopped. "Fine," Strawberry finally conceded, "if thou art sure about this?" River forced herself to nod.
"Okay... dost worry not, River. I willeth takes good care of thine newborns whilest thee art gone..." Strawberry paused, taking time to gently touch her hoof to River's face and kissed her on her forehead (as was common greeting and closing in pony culture back then), "and when thee get back I willeth get thee some better clothes to wear."
River gave a subtle smile, though by now Strawberry could tell it wasn't a real one. "I willeth be back soon," River voiced trying to choke back the tears.
Taking her runt of a daughter in her arms, River wrapped her up in as many blankets as she could find in order to make her daughter easier to hold. Sure River probably could have used her horn's telekinesis but at this point it would have felt insensitive.
With her baby bundled up, River was all prepared to leave and practically out (Strawberry's) door when she was stopped. "Art thou sure thee dost not want me to accompany thee?" She gently asked in a concerned pitch.
"I willeth be alright," River partially lied. She knew it was extremely dangerous for a Kirin to walk around (even a little bit) a week following birthing young, but she just couldn't asked Strawberry to do anything else for her. So, consequently she made a big mistake.
"Okay, if thou say so?"
"I dost," responded River as she stepped out the door, closed it carefully behind herself, and began her journey. As she did so she started a one-way gentle/mournful conversation with her daughter. "I hope thee know I love thee," she announced overwhelmed by emotion, "and I am not choosing thine sisters over thee..." River was now blinded by the tears which filled her greenish-blue eyes. "And...and..." River continued so overcome by her grief that she barely spoke in words, "I...I...I...know...know...that...that...thou...dd do dost not under...understand this now...bb...bb...bu...bb...bu...but I...ww ww...wouldst nn...nn...never be able to...to forgive... mm my myself if... if I did not tell thee. I love thee my daughter... I...I...I dost...dost not want to...want to giveth thee up...bb...bu...but thee m...mm...must understand I...understand I hath no choice. Thy father's threats art something to not be taken lightly. I...I canst not let... let thee or...or thine sisters get hurt. I..I hope thee willeth one day understand, Mm...Moon...Moonshine Eclipse."
River was so caught up in her "conversation" that she arrived at destination in which seemed like no time at all. She slowly approached a very beat-up, old-looking, four-story building that had crooked windows and looked as if a couple of drunken monkeys had put it together. Above the building was a battered sign which had the words Orphanage inscribed on it.
Coming up on the door to the orphanage River spotted two pieces of parchment nailed to the dry splintering wood. One read no Unicorns accepted here and the other one read no Pegasus accepted here. She simply shrugged it off and knocked on the door.
A dirty green colored earth pony (or he could have just been dirty) with a mustard yellow mane opened the door. He only had to take one look at River before he started to shut it again.
"Wait!" River desperately exclaimed stopping the door from closing with her available forearm.
"Did thou not read the signs posted on the door, Lassi... whatever thee art?" The earth pony questioned rudely beginning to close the door once more.
For the second time River stopped it, this time via telekinesis. "She is not!" River distressfully cried incoherently.
"Excuse me?" The earth pony skeptically asked with an eyebrow raised.
"She's not a Pegasus! Nor a Unicorn!" River declared with tears in her eyes.
"We dost not accept..." the earth pony paused taking a moment to look River up and down, "whatever thou art either!" He shouted back passionately feeling like he had finally made his point. Unfortunately for him, River wouldn't be deterred, nor was she done defining her own point.
"But she does not even look likest a Kirin!" Retorted River, "in fact, she could practically pass off as an earth pony if thee keeps the tufts of hair on the back of her legs shaved off!"
By now the earth pony was very tired of arguing so he eventually gave up and gestured for River to hand him the baby. When she did he gasped as he looked down at the unbelievably small filly wrapped in layers upon layers of blankets. His mouth hung open and with wide eyes he continued staring.
"Is something wrong?" River uncertainly asked getting more than a little nervous at the staggering silence the stallion before her seemed to emit. He simply shook his head as his response until he could think of something to say.
"No, no problem," the earth pony replied unsteady finally being able to talk, "I just hath never seen such a small filly before."
"Yes, she is the runt of the littler," River shakily answered before there was a long silence between the two. Since neither seemed to have anything more to say to each other they just exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"Well..." the stallion broke the "never ending" awkwardness (he had a bit of embarrassment in the tone of his voice), "I hath to goeth back...in there."
"Oh, yeah...okay...of course," River somehow managed to squeeze out through the emotional pain, and now a worrisome physical sharpness that seemed to coat the inside of her being; River ignored it (the best she could) however and continued on in her earlier statement, "goodbye, my baby! I love thee greatly."
As the earth pony closed the door, for the third time now, River brought forth a slight smile to hide her grief, not to mention the (inevitable) immense bodily pain she was now feeling because of her earlier actions. Once the entrance had been shut however, River dropped the falsehood and her smile quickly shifted into a frown accompanied by teary-eyes. She already missed her little filly, and to be honest, the cutting sensation in her gut wasn't helping with that. Feeling defeated by the circumstances, River's emotions got the best of her and she started for home.
Earlier that day (when she first found out she would have to give up her daughter) River thought she couldn't feel any worse, yet she did now by some logic. The journey to the orphanage that took her only mere moments in her mind was now taking hours the way back. On account of all the heart-rending thoughts... and most likely the ever-increasing tearing pain River was experiencing, it made things way more difficult the way back: she tripped over rocks... and her own cloven hooves, ran into trees and bushes for seemingly no reason, and barely managed to escape the smallest of obstacles.
If River had been paying attention perhaps she would have noticed she was going the wrong way; however she was much too busy "surviving" to acknowledge a very important danger weighing against her. River had unknowingly (because the tears made it extremely hard to see and since the "stabbing" distracted her) been walking too close to a cliff. It wasn't until it was too late that River's dreadful "fate" was brought to her attention. The ground crumbled beneath her very hooves and sent her tumbling down the mountain.
On the way down River couldn't count how many rocks, bushes, and trees she hit. By the time she was at the bottom she couldn't even move because of all the pain; not to mention the pain inside of her became agonizing and overbearing. Nor could she see (and no longer just at a direct cause of her tears) no, now she also had dirt along with dust particles in her eyes.
River tried with all her might to get to her hooves, yet rocks rained down on her causing her to moan and groan. She especially shrieked in pain when she felt something large, heavy and hard fall on one of her back legs. "HEEELLLPP!!" River shouted hoping with all her being that someone would answer or at least be in earshot. "HEELLLPP!!!!" She yelled over and over again until it slowly shifted into blubbering sobs.
Even after rocks stopped burying her, River still couldn't move, and she was certainly too weak to use her horn. She instead lie helplessly under a pile of rocks knowing deep down that no one was coming.
How she wished she was a toddler again: playing out in the fields by her childhood home; with a mother close by were she or her siblings to fall and hurt themselves. However this was not then; it was not simply a bump on the head; her mother was no where around.
River and her three sisters playfully galloped and cantered in the fields/knolls that were near their family home. They laughed and tumbled in the two foot high grass in a way that were they adults they'd be considered totally mad.
"I am gonna get thee!" River remembered Sunny Blossom (one out of three of River's older sisters) squeak. She clumsily pounced on her as a lion would attempting to catch its prey. Sunny took her out immediately, she was a wild force of nature for sure, that or it was because River was one-third her size. Either way, they both went flying down the hills like a strong stallion had picked them up and thrown them.
When Sunny and herself were finally at the bottom of the mound, they were so disoriented that neither knew what to do. They had been banged and bruised in so many places that they couldn't even tell where all the extreme pain was coming from (it at least felt like a lot of discomfort since they were only four). Sure the knolls were barely hills to an adult, but to the young Kirins they towered over them as if mountains.
The two hesitated for a couple seconds before they started wailing and screaming bloody-murder. In mere moments did their mother, Willow Rose Efengottee, rush out, scared quite frankly to know what had happened. She hurried over to the "crime scene" to find her two youngest children on the ground bawling. Seeing the scrapes and black'n blue bruises, didn't need to guess what had happened to her kids.
Once sitting down, Willow picked them both up, using her horn/antler thing. She then proceeded to sit them down on her forearm that was rested against her knee and chest. Soothingly she lulled them until they were calmed enough whereas they only whimpered now and them.
"Shhh," Willow hushed, "everything willeth be alright... I promise."
It was a nostalgic memory for sure, though one that still brought tears to her eyes. Her mother was always there for her, yet now she wasn't; no one was; no one was coming.
River had almost given in to the rest that giving up and waving the white flag tantalized her with when a couple more small rocks tumbled down onto her, making her jolt awake. She thought she saw a faint light in the distance, though she could of just had a concussion. However the light got brighter and a familiar voice called out her name.
River had by now lost her own voice because of the horrible cold that was quickly rolling in; so she could not respond. Since she could not call back to the mysterious figure it was a great relief that they kept moving nearer to her. Finally the pony that the familiar voice was from came into full view: it was Strawberry. She was wearing an obviously thick shawl in order to keep herself warm, and a lantern which she held in her mouth lit her path. Other than that, the only thing River particularly noticed about her was a thick rope tied around her waist (River only imagined that was how her rescuer got down the mountain safely).
As soon as Strawberry caught sight of River she immediately dropped the lantern, ran up to her, and started unburying her. She worked her way from the tinier rocks on top, all the way down to the large rock on River's hind leg. "Thou came for me," River barely managed to say through her raspy broken voice and tears; Strawberry still managed to hear her though.
"Of course I came for thee," Strawberry warmly stated as she removed the last of the rocks on top of River. After which she brought River near to herself by pulling her from underneath her forearms. "Thou art as much of a daughter to me as any pon...umm...anyone," Strawberry finished, "and I wouldst never leave one of my children behind. Speakest of which, worry not, I left thine newborns with my daughter Sugar Bread."
"Bbbb...bbb...uuu...hhh...oowww...d...ddd...iiiii...ii...ssst...thhh...ooouuu...ffi...nndd...mmmmeee!?" River struggled between coughing and shivering. Strawberry picked up on this and took off her robe which she wore over her usual yellow jumper. She tightly wrapped it around River which seemed to ease her jittering.
"We sure hath cold autumns here dost we not?" Strawberry playfully asked, though it simply fell flat as all River could do was give a subtle nod. Strawberry had to admit that River did look quite cute wrapped up in a coat that was obviously too big for her... like she had been shrunk. "Is that better?" Strawberry kindly asked looking down at her little bundle. Shakily nodding in response, River thanked her with her eyes (even though the shawl did nothing to aid her with the ever growing pain in her gut). "Good," Strawberry tenderly stated, "and to answer thy...thou left me quite an obvious trail to follow. I am not sure if thee wast angry or what but let us just say... thee were not hard to find." River couldn't help but grin.
River winced in pain and writhed as Strawberry loaded her into a bag (that she had with her for some reason) and slung it around her back. She securely refastened the rope so it was tight around both herself and now the bag River was placed in. It was at moments like these that River really had respect for how hard simple tasks must be without a horn.
"So why did..." River coughed and instantly felt more agonizing pain because of it, "why did thou bring all of this...CCAUCCCUUCCA! Stuff? Did thou somehow know I...CCCUUACACUCCAUCA...fell down a cliff?"
Smiling back at her, Strawberry replied, "not exactly, I just canst never know what thee get thyself into nowadays. I actually brought a lot of other things that I left up on the cliff. Long story short, I did not think it was safe to scale a mountain while carrying poison darts." River gave an odd look in response. "Likest I said, long story," Strawberry repeated.
Getting down the cliff may have not been that challenging, though climbing back up it was a completely different story. While it wasn't a total drop, it was still a pretty steep cliff. River certainly commended Strawberry on the amount of strength she demonstrated. Sure River wasn't any bigger or heavier than an average twelve year old filly, but Strawberry still had to carry her and her own body's weight up a practically ninety degree angle with nothing more than a thick rope.
"We art almost there!" Strawberry called out through heavy breaths. No sooner than she said so were they on all fours again. Strawberry only took a moment to pant before she grabbed her saddlebags and cantered away from the cliffs with the rope still tied around them.
"Dost thou not needeth a break?" River concernedly queried, her voice still raspy and rough.
"Yes, I could use a breather," responded Strawberry, "but I plan to get away from this cursed cliff first... lest the unstable rocks crumble beneath us." River nodded; she now understood Strawberry's logic and planned to wait intently for them to reach a desired distance.
It didn't take long; only a moment at a steady pace for Strawberry to become satisfied. Once so she took a seat in the grass and started fiddling through her saddlebags. She pulled out a knife that she used to cut rope still fastened securely around the two. "There, now there art no ropes attached," Strawberry joked getting nothing but silence as a reply. River's throat and body were even now too sore to give as much as a pity laugh, "tough crowd," Strawberry humorously mumbled.
Strawberry (next) swung the bag River currently resided in, from her back around to her front, causing River to squirm from the sudden whiplash it gave her; not to mention the horrible discomfort that the said 'whiplash' brought forth. Once Strawberry did so, Strawberry took River out of the potato sack she was nestled in and rested her on one of her hind legs against her belly. Following this, she again searched through her bags and pulled out a few items: some olive oil, gauze, a little bit of water in a glass canister sealed with a quark, and some white cloths.
Again and again Strawberry took the cloths, wet them with the water, and used them to wipe away the dried blood from River's cuts. She utilized the olive oil she had pulled out to soothe all her injuries. Finally she bound them with the gauze. Strawberry repeated this process until all of River's wounds were mended (at least the ones she could see that was). Unfortunately, Strawberry could do nothing for River's most critical lesions: her internal mutilation.
"Thank thou," River's raspy voice rung out of the silence.
"For what?" Strawberry sweetly asked.
"For saving me," River responded.
Strawberry smiled down at River, "Thou art very welcome," she answered warmly, "but I hope that thou know there wast never another option in my mind. I willeth always come for thee."
A smile crept across River's face as her eyes welled up with tears. "Dost thou really mean that?"
"Of course."
River's grin couldn't of gotten any larger, she was smiling ear to ear, so to speak. Perhaps I dost hath a mother near by after all, River inwardly contemplated as she felt her head hit Strawberry's chest. Her grin sloped back into a content smile before she closed her eyes for the last time.
Author's Note
Sorry this chapter doesn't actually have that much to do with Luna. I promise I'll make use of the extra words in another story I plan on writing after this one. Also in case you haven't already noticed (from the fact Celestia isn't mentioned yet) in this (and all my future fan fictions) Celestia and Luna will not be blood-related-sisters. Another important fact I feel I should mention is that this story takes place sometime between 70 and 50 bc. It will be an important detail in this story, as well as the next.
two and a half years later
Celestia lie underneath her blankets waiting for her mother to come and kiss her goodnight. Her father, Prince Iron, had already come, so all that she was missing in order to drift off into dreamland was her mother. She would have went to find her mother herself and see what was taking her so long, but she feared what creepy things waited in the dark were she to leave the comfort of her bed.
To pass the time Celestia read through some of her Jewish scrolls she had lying around her bed set (the ones she forgot to clean up). She had gotten them from a Jew named Mordecai that often passed through their newly forming civilization. She couldn't help but reread a particular part that stood out to her. Those who walked in darkness hath seen a light great. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, a light has shined upon them. She read it over and over; it was a complete mystery to her.
"But what does that mean?" Celestia asked no one. "What dost thou mean a light great?" She interrogated the scroll, by some logic expecting it to say something, "and is this said 'light' for only the Jews, or the Gentiles als—" Celestia's train of thought was interrupted by her bedroom door creaking open. Princess Platinum walked in, or as Celestia knew her: Mother.
"Mama!" Celestia joyously shouted putting away the scroll she had been contemplating moments ago.
"Hello dearest," Platinum answered tiredly, "sorry we took so long. But that darn Puddinghead wouldst not let us leave! Thou know how he is!"
"That is for sure," Celestia retorted gleefully, "is he still trying to make all earth ponies drink carrot juice with every meal?"
"Afraid so," Platinum responded as she collapsed onto Celestia's bed next to her in a very un-princess-like way. "However the carrot fiasco is hardly the worst problem our royal trio hast to deal with... but enough about that! We heard Starswirl wast teaching thou how to both use thy horn to hover and to walk on clouds?"
"Yep," Celestia confirmed, "We fell through almost a hundred times!"
"Oh dear."
"Yeah but Starswirl caught us so dost not worry," Celestia answered back with a giggle. "He actually said we wast helping him practice catching." Platinum couldn't help but laugh a bit herself at her daughter's antics. "And 'twas kind of fun falling through the clouds! It gave us a rush."
"Is that so?"
"Yep!" Celestia exclaimed with a grin. Though it quickly faded as she suddenly noticed her mother beginning to act oddly. She seemed concerned... perhaps antsy...maybe nervous. "Is something wrong?" Celestia shyly asked.
"Oh no...yes...well, kind of. Thou art very observant art thou not?" Celestia simply waited for a further explanation, "actually we hath a favor to ask of thou," her mother finished.
"Oh yeah? What?"
"Well as thou know..." Platinum began, "our newly forming kingdom, with all pony-kind together, is hathing some issues."
"What kind of issues?"
"Well, each pony race only respects what their said race's leader says." Celestia glanced at her mother confusedly trying to comprehend what was just said. "For example..." Platinum started trying her best to make her daughter understand, "let us say Commander Hurricane makes a law which states...um...that every pony has to wear armor. Now this did not actually happen; it is just an example. Anyways, since Hurricane is a Pegasus, only the other Pegasus think they need to follow that rule. Not to mention how the different races feel about intermarrying. Get the picture?"
Nodding Celestia replied, "Yeah we guess, but that does not sound likest that big of a problem."
"Maybe not now, however if this continues and ponies art constantly divided by certain appendages... we art afraid our kingdom willeth not last," Platinum gravely finished.
"But how canst we help?" Celestia queried, "we may hath been born a princess, but at the end of the day we art just a Unicorn. We dost not even hath our cutie mark yet!"
Scooting closer to her daughter Platinum wrapped her forearms around Celestia and gave her a big kiss on her cheek. Celestia burst into fits of laughter as her mother tickled her playfully. "No! Stop!" Celestia screamed through her guffaws. Eventually Platinum did stop, but only after she was satisfied with the amount of tickle-torture she dealt.
"Dost not ever let us hear thou call thyself 'just a Unicorn!' Thou art the most talented special Unicorn we hath ever layed our eyes on. And wilt get thy cutie mark eventually. Dost not worry." With that Platinum gave Celestia one last kiss before releasing her grip.
"Yeah okay! We get it," Celestia wryly answered, still recovering from her "punishment," "but again we ask... how canst we possibly help?"
All of the antsy-ness and concern seemed to all rush back into Platinum's features at Celestia's question. "Well..." she began, "Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane, and ourself included hath all agreed upon ways to make each of our families more diverse. Puddinghead and Hurricane art both going to marry a mare from both races they art not and procreate with each of them... not too much of a surprise. We however, because we art a mare... and because we dost not needeth another husband, let alone two of them, we art going to adopt two foals instead."
Celestia's mouth hung agape at hearing her mother's words. "But, Mama, we dost not want anymore siblings," she whined; Platinum tensed up at her daughter’s words while gazing down at her ever growing baby bump Celestia somehow failed notice, "we already hath five sisters and three brothers! Long story short, they art all either jerks or brats. We hath thou know two of them attempted to execute us!"
"Yes, we know. But on the other hoof, the foals we art going to be adopting willeth be coming from nothing. They willeth not be spoiled brats,” Platinum replied back regaining her calmness she had lost only seconds ago.
Frowning and lowering her face, Celestia eventually nodded. "Fine."
"Great," Platinum exclaimed, "Clover willeth take thou to the Earth Ponies' orphanage tomorrow to pick out thine new sibling."
So many thoughts were going through Celestia's mind. What dost thou mean we art going? What dost thou mean pick out? We thought we were getting a sibling not a puppy! All she finally said after sitting in shock was, "Yeah, okay." She would have argued further but she pretty much thought it would come to no avail.
"Anyways, is that all thou wanted to tell us?" Celestia asked hoping her mother wouldn't drop any other surprising news on her for the day...or night that was.
"Yep, pretty much."
Thank goodness.
"Actually, there is one last thing," Platinum hesitantly said stopping Celestia's inner celebration in its tracks.
"Wwwhhaaattt?" Celestia was honestly afraid to ask. Platinum picked up on this and decided it would be better to tell her daughter she was pregnant another time. But that didn’t solve the problem of what to say instead. She had to act fast or Celestia could possibly get suspicious.
“This,” Platinum responded finally getting an idea. She pressed her lips back against her daughter’s cheek, giving her a third kiss. Platinum tickled Celestia once more before she shuffled off her daughter's bed and made her way to exit the room. She stopped however, right before she walked out and turned to face Celestia. "We love thou, our little princess," she said smiling.
Celestia smiled back. "We love thou too," Celestia declared with a toothy grin. Platinum's smile also shifted into a grin which proceeded her leaving the room, taking the torch which lit the place with her. That wast a close one!
Once her mother was gone, Celestia waited for the sound of hoof-steps to fade into the distance before she slunk back into her pillow and took the scroll back out. She ignited her horn so that it gave off a faint yellow glow.
"Now where were we?" questioned Celestia to herself as she levitated the scroll in front of her face. She read the prophecy again. Those who walked in darkness hath seen a light great. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, a light has shined upon them. "Ugh!" Celestia groaned, "we still dost not know what that means!"
"Seen a light great?! Seen a light great?!" Celestia repeated to herself, "a light! Light! Light! Li—Wait!" She interrupted herself. Celestia rolled out of her bed, not sticking the landing very well. She scurried over to her bookshelf and rummaged through her scrolls. She tossed multiple to the side until she found what she was looking for. It was a piece of ripped off parchment that had belonged to the scroll she had been reading.
"Found thou," Celestia exclaimed, "Isaiah, by far our favorite prophet." She scanned the large piece of paper from top to bottom until she found the part she was looking for. And indeed He says it is too small a thing that Thou should be My Servant to rise up the tribes of Jacob and the preserved ones of Israel to restore and I willeth giveth Thou as a light to the Gentiles that Thou should be My salvation to all the earth. "That is it!" Celestia squealed in delight as a ginormous grin spread across her face, "they must be talking about the same light! And this settles it, the light is for the Gentiles also!" Though her smile quickly faded as a realization dawned on her, "what light is it talking about?" She pondered before another optimistic beam presented itself on the young Unicorn's visage, "We guess this requires more digging!"
The door to Celestia's room opened letting in a bright beam of light which crept through her eyelids. Her eyes flickered open as she yawned and attempted to remember what she had been doing the previous night.
Considering she woke up in a pile of scrolls, Celestia could only assume she had been up late studying. Then it hit her. She rolled over onto her belly, acting as if she wasn't even tired a moment ago. After which she again fiddled through the scrolls she had been reading the previous night.
"Uh hello?" A familiar voice called out making Celestia stop what she was doing and look up: it was Clover the Clever. "Art thou going to get dressed or art thou going to goeth in thy pajamas?" He impatiently questioned. At his words Celestia slightly blushed and tried to cover herself with her forearms.
"And that is when we discovered that this 'light' Isaiah wast talking about must be the same!" happily Celestia rambled to Clover while she scribbled her notes onto a scroll. But Clover wasn't really listening to her, just nodding along to whatever the young princess said, only catching a word or two here and there.
"But then we came to the conclusion that we hath no idea what 'light' the prophet wast talking about," she continued as she jotted down; Clover meanwhile pretended he was listening.
...
"So then, since the word salvation seamed to be directly coordinated with the 'light,'" proceeded Celestia growing as an irritation to Clover, "we hath taken note of every sentence in Isaiah's prophecies that has the word salvation in it."
Willeth she not just shut up? Clover contemplated. I wish I could simply pluck out my eyes and shove them up my ears so I dost no longer hath to hear the sound of her voice! Luckily, before Clover got to consider this thought much further, they arrived.
"So then we cross-referenced all of the definitions of salvat—“
"We art here," Clover interrupted causing Celestia to look up from her scroll for the first time in thirty minutes. Only when she did, she wished she hadn't.
Gazing at the horrific sight before herself, Celestia felt her heartbeat start to pulsate more rapidly as she dropped the scroll she firmly grasped a moment ago. She had heard that orphanages were bad, but not even in her worst nightmares did she picture such a traumatizing sight...
First off, the building itself looked as if a gentle sneeze could knock the whole structure over like a house of cards. Secondly, the windows were so crooked they were in the shape of diamonds. Lastly, the windows had no glass and the whole rickety "tower" was covered in filth. That wasn't even mentioning the way all of the surrounding flora added to the creepy effect.
Celestia hoped with all her being that their destination was actually behind the giant, terrifying, four-story, forsaken place. But to the greatest of griefs, there was an undeniable orphanage sign hanging from the roof. Literally, it was dangling! It was only still up because of a single nail.
CRASH!!
At least it was. The moment Celestia looked at it, as if on cue, it dislodged from the building and broke into smithereens when it hit the ground. "Art thou sure we art at the right place?" shakily queried Celestia already pretty much knowing the answer.
"The resent Windigo blizzard caused great destruction to many houses...especially when all the ice and snow melted," was Clover's brief answer.
Celestia only grimaced, "We dost not think that is this place's problem," she inaudibly muttered.
"What wast that?!"
"Nothing!" Celestia defensively replied in speedy speech.
"Well art we going to goeth in or not?" Clover asked getting quite bored standing around.
"Oh thank goodness, thou art coming with us?"
"Of course, I wouldst rather die in a haunted mansion than face thy mother without thou!" Clover joked, "but in all seriousness she wouldst kill me!"
Ignoring Clover's final statement, Celestia only had one thought on her mind. "Dost thou really think it's haunted?" she shakily pleaded for the answer to be no.
"Most definitely, hath thou not looked at this place?!" At Clover's words Celestia cowardly jumped behind him with a fearful shriek. She tightly gripped around one of his back legs, holding on for dear life. Her little body was rapidly shaking and she hid her eyes from the train wreck before herself. "Oh I am just kidding! Ghosts art not real!" he assured.
"How dost thou know?" asked Celestia as she hugged onto Clover's leg tighter, "demons art real! Angels art real! Why not ghosts?"
Clover didn't respond, he simply began to walk forward with the young princess still clutching onto him. Celestia was pried off however (by an orangey-yellow aura) once they were near enough to the orphanage's entrance. She was dragged from behind her "defender" and placed in front, only cubits away from the door. "Well goeth on," Clover urged, "knock."
"Why dost thou not? After all, thou art the stallion."
"Oh cometh on, I thought thou were a brave filly?" It came out like a dare! And Celestia took that dare. It was enough to motivate her to take a step...then another one...and another one yet. She was doing it! She was walking towards the scary spawning place for all nightmares! Sure it took every ounce of her strength to keep her legs from buckling beneath herself...and yes she couldn't bring herself to look at cursed structure. But nonetheless she was making progress.
Later on Celestia would actually be glad she was peering at the dirt instead of the orphanage. If she hadn't been staring so closely at the ground, she would have missed a world changing little detail nestled against the building's old splintering door.
previous night
In the orphanage Moonshine Eclipse (the light blue filly River gave up) was shifting between sleep and consciousness, for the usual painful sensation that belonged to her body crept through her tummy—her personal sleep depriver. The discomfort itself never actually left; it only lessened. She wouldn't ever cry though; Eclipse knew the unpleasant reaction the orphanage leader, Rocker, gave to mewling. No matter the circumstances, he would always yell if any of the foals produced any noise at all. So none of the orphans made as much a peep. They were all deeply afraid of Rocker.
Despite his name however, he didn't give the infants any affection. The only time they were even the least bit coddled was when their napkins (diapers) were changed. Eclipse personally enjoyed every second of the process—when she, for a brief moment, felt the warmth of another being hold onto her; it was comforting. But to Eclipse's dismay, sometimes her nappy went days without being exchanged with another. Fortunately though, this appeared to be one of the favorable nights where she did get changed.
Rocker picked her itsy-bitsy little form up in one of his forearms. Eclipse beamed up at him when he did so; she then nuzzled him gently. This was her small way of showing love to him and her secret way of begging to be held more often. Unfortunately, like always, he ignored her little gestures and continued to walk her over to the "changing table." It was basically just two bricks with a cloth over them. Either way, once he was over by it he slammed her down onto the "table" like they were pillows. But in spite of this, Eclipse didn't finch in the slightest. She was used to Rocker's rough methods. She was also familiar to his weird practices.
Every time he would change her napkins he would peek around like he was looking for something. To her reproach, Eclipse knew what he was looking for—something she couldn’t provide...
All the other foals, when Rocker would clean their nappies, they would always had some smelly treasure that Rocker seemed to like to collect. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that was in fact what he was always searching for. He always appeared so disappointed when he didn’t find any. And for some reason she couldn’t give him the least bit. This time was no different.
Rocker unpinned her extra small diaper, slipped it out from underneath her, and did his usual examinations. He also completed his normal groaning when there was, to no surprise, no “treasure” found. But this time something far from ordinary took place. Rocker snatched her back off the “table” without replacing her napkin. He then proceeded to walk towards the doorway. Eclipse understood this was highly irregular; Rocker never left, especially not at night.
At first she even got excited. Eclipse thought Rocker was going to take her someplace exciting. She thought he was going to finally give her some much needed affection. That being said, she shouldn’t of been too surprised when she found out that wasn’t the reason for his odd behavior. Instead of loving on her, when he got to the door he dropped her outside and closed the entrance behind himself.
In the beginning Eclipse merely assumed Rocker was playing a game with her. He wouldn’t just leave her outside...right? She slowly got to her hooves before making her way to standing on her hind legs. Once she did so she slammed her teeny forearms, along with her puffy bloated belly against the wood. She lightly banged her baby hooves on the rough planks while shrieking for the first time in a couple years. Eclipse figured that Rocker might get angry with the obnoxious noise, but she was outside all alone... and at the moment she didn’t care if she got punished. In lieu Eclipse continued pounding. She did so for hours on end until the pain in her stomach became to extreme to stand. Once it did she slid down the side of the door and cuddled around her tail. She began to hopelessly whimper, yet there was no one around to hear her cry.
present time
Celestia stared intently at the mysterious tiny being before herself. Considering where they were she originally thought it was a small rat or a baby opossum. But as Celestia inched closer she discovered the unnerving truth; all the fear melted away as it hit her: it was an infant foal—albeit an extremely teeny one.
Celestia gasped in shock at the sight. And the sudden outburst of sound seemed to make the baby stir. She opened her eyes and struggled to sit up. Once on her flank Eclipse gazed up at the white Unicorn filly in front of herself. She was greatly confused by her. She wasn’t near as big as Rocker, but she also wasn’t as small as the other foals around herself all the time. Another intriguing attribute was the thing on the young pony’s forehead; she had never seen anything like it. Even her mother who had a horn-like thing did not possess this particular type.
Because Eclipse was curious about the thingamajig, she naturally wanted to touch it. So she reached her tiny forearms out to do so—obviously she didn’t come close but either way Celestia took this as a sign that the baby wanted to be picked up.
Celestia stooped down and scooped up the pocket-sized infant in her forearms holding her up to her face. Honestly, Eclipse was quite surprised she got picked up at all. So in return she smiled up at the young Unicorn, beaming with her mouth open wide and her gums showing; this was her way of showing gratitude. She then nuzzled Celestia’s muzzle before she continued reaching for her horn.
“Awe, thou art the cutest thing ever!” Celestia shrilled as the baby proceeded to bat her little hooves against her forehead. It took yet another minute or so though for Celestia to realize Eclipse was in fact struggling to touch her horn, “Oh, thou want to see our horn?” Celestia softly queried one-sidedly while pushing the baby up to get a better look at the object protruding from her head, “we guess thou hath probably never seen a Unicorn before, huh?” Eclipse merely giggled, wrapping her little arms and legs around the dojiggy on the Unicorn’s head.
“Thou art adorable! And so tiny!” Celestia exclaimed again, “hey Clover! Is she not adorable?” She turned her head to face him who, not too shockingly, wasn’t paying her any attention.
I wonder if Butterfly wouldst let me trade our da—
“CLOVER!”
“What?” Clover asked being dragged out of his daydreams. Once so his attention was instantly fixed on the small being hanging on Celestia’s horn. “What is that thing?” He asked in disgust, “and why dost thou hath it on thy head?! It could hath lice, or... uhm ticks. Oh worst of all it could hath rabies! Thou know, once thou hath rabies, thou canst never get rid of them!”
“Same thing with demons yet thou art perfectly fine with sending us into a haunted mansion,” smugly replied Celestia before glaring at Clover.
“DEMONS ART NOT REAL!! GHOSTS ART NOT RE—“
”CANST YE PLEASE KEEP IT DOWN OUT HERE?!!!” a voice suddenly boomed from within the scary condemned building. Both Unicorns jumped at this and Celestia hid behind Clover, clutching onto him once again. Next, the entrance to the place proceeded to be slammed open. Neither reacted to this however; they were both far to crippled with fear to move in the slightest.
“DOST THOU THINK IT IS A DEMON HERE TO DRAG OUR SOULS DOWN TO HADES?!” Celestia cried as tears ran down her cheeks.
“I dost no—“
”FOR THE LAST TIME!!! I AM NOT A GHOST, AND I AM NOT A DEMON!!!” the voice for a second time roared ferociously. Only this time they were given a face to match with the earth shattering vent...
An earth pony stallion stepped out of the darkness that accompanied the building. He came forth in a slow gait practically limping. The sight was a little nonplussing to Celestia. The stallion wasn’t very large or muscular, yet he somehow produced a sound as loud as the Royal Canterlot Voice. The circumstances gave Celestia enough bravery to let go of Clover and step out from behind him. She wanted to get a better look.
“Why dost every pony always think I am a gho—“ Rocker started to ask before he trailed off... for he immediately took note of the Unicorn filly who was decked out head to tail in all sorts of diamonds, jewelry, and other golden things. The whole arrangement was made complete with a tiara encrusted with purpley-pink gemstones that rested on the young Unicorn’s head. Rocker figured she was rich...and probably gullible.
“Ge we dost not know!” Celestia sarcastically retorted, PERHAPS THOU SHOULD LOOK AT THE PLACE THOU LIVE!!!!” Celestia was now the one screaming; only her bellow was twice as loud as Rocker’s. Clover even had to put his wizard hat back on after it got blown off. That made Celestia pause being reminded of the baby (on her head) she had completely forgot about. She quickly glanced up at the itty-bitty foal...slouching contently on her horn?
Yep, the baby seemed completely calm, not the least bit fazed. For a brief moment Celestia even wondered if she was possibly deaf—even if the baby could hear before, she figured she probably couldn’t now.
Celestia knew if she even shouted the least bit around a normal foal, they would start to wail or cry. But this filly, she appeared to remain pacific at all time (or monotonous and downcast at worst).
“Wow thou hath a loud voice on thou, sweetheart,” Rocker finally commented following his “recovery” from the windstorm that exploded in his face.
“Sssorry,” Celestia apologized flushed, “thou just really scared us.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Rocker stated almost proudly, “now what canst I dost for the two of thou?”
“We art here for a foal.”
“A foal thou say?”
“Well is that not why ponies come to an orphanage?”
“Fair enough. Cometh on in,” Rocker said motioning towards the orphanage entrance.
Clover shrugged beginning to walk forwards before he was abruptly stopped by Celestia’s nervous vocals, “wait!” She communicated loud and clear.
“What is it, filly?”
“Is this place haunted?” Celestia skeptically questioned.
“No it is not, young lady.”
“Art thou sure?” Hesitantly asked Celestia.
“I live here dost I not?”
“Yeah, but thou may want to think about moving,” Celestia humorous exclaimed a smirk forming.
“I agree. Perhaps an outhouse?”
“It wouldst be an improvement,” Celestia continued the joke further.
"So art we going in or not?" Clover suddenly chimed in out of nowhere.
"Yes of course, sir, and, little lady, right this way," Rocker again gestured towards the gateway. This time though, they actually made it inside without any interruptions. Once they were indoors Rocker closed the rickety door behind them and continued quickly guiding them forwards. He was just itching to see how much he would be able to scam them for.
...
As they made their way deeper into the building Celestia sporadically began to spot foals lying on the floor motionlessly. It confused her. Dost they not hath beds? Another interesting characteristic she spotted in all of the foals was the fact none of them appeared to be any older than infant-stage. She really wanted to raise the question but she figured she would wait until they got into the main chambers. Perhaps there willeth be some older foals elsewhere. Only there wasn't; there were more infants and toddlers (a lot of them) but no elder colts or fillies. Eventually Celestia couldn't stand it anymore. She just had to know. "Hey canst we ask thou a question?" she softly asked.
"Of course, little filly," responded Rocker.
"Okay, well..." proceeded Celestia kind of bashfully, "why art there only babies here?"
"Oh, well...uhm..." Rocker paused attempting to plan his words out carefully. He couldn't tell the Unicorn foal the truth; that would be counterproductive towards his goal. He thought a little longer before the perfect words came to mind. They would surely prosper. "Well thou see, filly, my foals art the strongest and best behaved within the whole land of Eqestria! Ponies come from all over to adopt foals from my orphanage. Therefore no foal stays here very long! Why they art usually out of here by the time they art two years old!" Rocker finished feeling quite proud of himself. Sure the whole thing was just a lie... but a very cleverly crafted lie.
"Oh, we guess that makes sense."
"Thou bet it does."
"We just hath one question."
"What is that," Rocker haughtily queried.
"If every pony comeths here, why is this place such a dump?"
Celestia's question caught Rocker by surprise. She is clearly more cleaver than she lets on. "Well thou see..." he trailed off not really having a set reply. Was he trapped in a corner? No of course not! He was a scam artist after all! That was how he "earned" a living! No pony could back him against a wall. He would simply have to come up with a little sappier fib to get out of this one. "Well... as sad as it is..." Rocker made fake whimpering sounds between breaks in speech, "not many ponies can afford to pay any decent money to adopt a foal these days. So, out of the goodness of my heart, we dost not charge very much for them..." *fake cries* "so the poor little fillies and colts canst find good loving homes. Unfortunately," *whines* "that comeths with a price. I canst not afford very much. So the rest of these poor infants art subjected to these horrendous living conditions. I dost all I canst: I work the fields, I fix houses, and tirelessly toil at the hooves of a cranky old stallion just to put food on these poor infants' tables!"
"That's terrible," cried Celestia as she felt her already moist eyes let out a shower of tears. Rocker could tell he had her ensnared and luckily her "guardian" wasn't paying much attention to warn her of his tricks.
“Yes I know. If only there were more generous ponies in the world.” At this point Rocker was merely being dramatic with his hoof signals. To any normal pony his methods would of been plain and transparent; however Celestia was far too sheltered to even know there were deceitful ponies in Equestria.
“Here,” Celestia finally stated taking her coronet off her head, “thou canst hath it.”
“Awe, that is so sweet,” Rocker pretended to be touched, “if only there were more ponies likest thou in the world.” A grin plastered itself on Celestia’s countenance.
Author's Note
In case you haven’t already put two and two together, Moonshine Eclipse is in fact Luna. She was originally going to just be referred to as the baby but that gets tiring and frustrating to read after a while.
As for Luna’s mysterious disease. I’m taking inspiration from the pseudo-obstruction motility disorder.
Also, I’m not putting humans into this story. With the Jews I’m picturing them something similar to the great seedling. I may add that description in a future story.
Finally last chapter I got a comment about the thees, thous, and thys—I appreciate your comment by the way, Posh. Anyways I was thinking about changing the dialogue in this story to be modeled after Old English but it is so far away from Modern English I figured it would be hard and frustrating to read. So to answer your question, yes I am going for a old-timey Elizabethan English wholesale lol. I have decided that is the way ponies in this universe used to talk. It’s make-believe anyways.
