As Blue as the Ocean

Princess Celestia sighed and looked back down at the papers cluttering her desk. She glanced up and around the room, searching, hoping, for a distraction. Logs had already been added to the fire, the bookshelf already dusted, the curtains ironed, the rug cleaned, the ceiling repainted, the desk refinished, and the palace guard had already had a surprise inspection. Well, nothing left to do but this. She sighed again and picked up a quill with her magic, pulling the first of many sheets before her.

As she was just about to begin, a knock on the door interrupted her. Thank Me!, she exclaimed in her head. “Come in.”, she voiced. The door creaked open and a grey unicorn with a copper mane poked his head in.

“Pardon me, ma’am, but it’s, uh, that time of the year again.” The unicorn gulped, and looked at the princess, who only sighed in relief.

Celestia glanced at her calendar, double checking the date. “So it is, so it is. Please inform the guards and staff that I will be taking a few days off this week. The Day Court will have to be shifted to at night. I must speak with Luna now. Thank you, that is all.” With that, the princess rose and walked out of her study and down the hall only to take a left at the third intersection.

Now in the inhabited wing of the castle, Celestia opened a door engraved with the picture of a full moon, the constellations providing a light backdrop for the image. Inside the room was dark, the thick, wafting grey curtains repelling any light that sought to enter the room via the windows. It could not, however, block the bright light coming from the far corner of the room. A large silhouette stopped most of the light from reaching the alicorn’s eyes, causing her to stumble on her way across the room. The noise from this caught the attention of the owner of the silhouette.

“Good day, sister. What brings you here so early?”, said the shadow, still dancing in front of Celestia’s eyes. Celestia’s supposed sister move from the desk, her horn glowing as she lighted the room’s candles. Celestia finally was able to see her sister staring at her from a few paces away. “Is there something you wanted to speak to me about.?”

Celestia sighed. “Always to the point, aren’t you? Well, it’s that time of the year again...”, Celestia trailed off.

Luna nodded. “I see. I shall take over court and leave you free. Have a nice trip and say hello to him for me please?”

“I will. Just remember, next year, it’s your turn.”

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Celestia made her way to the courtyard next to the royal gardens and enlisted the service of a nearby chariot. The pegasi asked where to take her, to which she only replied, “To the ocean, doesn’t matter which or where, just to the ocean.” The confused pegasi, not wanting to question their princess, immediately took off and headed east from the castle.

The ground seemed like a blur, the ponies; ants, and the buildings like  a foal’s toys. As she pondered some random thought or other, trying to pull her mind off the immediate future, she realized that they had almost reached the ocean. The chariot started to descend and circled a section of the beach with many ponies enjoying the sunny spring weather. They all looked up in awe as the golden chariot banked and landed on the edge of surf. They all bowed as Celestia exited the chariot and made her way to the water’s edge. She reached the water and, looking down, said, “I know you can hear, open up.”

The ocean suddenly became calm, not a single wave stirred its flat surface. The earth began to shake slightly, the water made ripples from a single point not five feet from the water’s edge. As suddenly as it began, all the tremors stopped, and for a moment, the panicking ponies fell silent. The water had begun to open. Five feet from the beach, the water and sand fell away to reveal a gaping hole that only lead into darkness. The princess confidently stepped forward into the hole... and fell.

...and fell

...and fell

...and fell.

She fell until she had no idea how long she had been falling. She continued to fall, her descent finally slowing, eventually coming to a stop at the ocean’s floor. Her sun’s light barely reached this down, and it cast an eerie glow about her. The rocks around reflected little light, most seeming to absorb it rather that than reflect, and the fish surrounding her lit up in an unknown, visual fanfare of blues and reds and yellows.

Celestia paused before the blue palace in front of her, taking a moment to drink in her surroundings. No matter how many times she had come, it never ceased to amaze her; the rock formations the same, yet different. The fish changed, but only enough to challenge you to spot the differences. And the palace. Dear Me, that palace. The entire palace was hewn into the side of a trench, the deepest trench in the world in fact, but that was only known by one pony ever in existence. The palace was made of blue and red coral, that by all rights should not be growing this deep, but did so never the less. She stepped forward, and the doors took it upon themselves to grant her entry, as nopony was around to do it open them.

Stepping in, a small, blue-green hippocampus with green fur and a light brown mane greeted her. “Good day, Princess. Are you here to visit, or there some business needing attention?”

“There is no business. It is a personal visit this time. It’s that time of the year again.”

The small sea-pony frowned, the look completely ruining the aura of cute and innocence that surrounded it. “I didn’t know it was. The years go by so fast don’t they? I’ll lead you him.” With that he turned and lead her down a hall. Shadows cast from the lights danced forebodingly across the hall. As the princess looked at the lights, a small light detached from one cluster and made it’s way to her guide. It moved close to the sea-pony’s ear and appeared to talk to him.

“Oh, is he now? Well that’s just a shame... What’s that? Again? Well, atleast the Princess is here to help.”

Needless to say, Celestia did not like where this was going. “Well I’ll see what I can do to help, but I hope he allows me to.”, she said with a sigh.

When they had arrived at a large, silver and copper accented door, depicting the a large wave crashing down onto the sea, the sea-pony said his goodbye and left her to stand in front of it. She raised a hoof to knock, but a voice interrupted her. “Come in.” She opened the door, and immediately sighed in exasperation. The room was a mess. Things thrown  here and there and, oh, how did that tie get tied to the flat ceiling 100 hooves up? It was ridiculous.

“How can you live like this?”

A voice from the dark side of the room answered her, “Define ‘living’.” The voice was sad, accented by old age, with just a touch of tiredness to it. The kind of tiredness that never goes away.

“Oh, come on now. It’s been, what? Several centuries at least. You need to get out and meet some mares.” She was getting annoyed already, this was going to be a long day.

“I should say the same to you. When are you finally going to meet a stallion? Or is it a mare? I haven’t been following trends lately, even among my subjects. It is your duty. Only a female can continue the line of the alicorn.” The owner of the voice finally revealed himself. Said owner stepped from the darkness into the light, but the shadows almost  seemed to cling to him as he moved. “I missed you. Even surrounded by my subjects, I’m still lonely.” The, for lack of a better word, ocean-green alicorn stepped fully into the light. His dark blue mane faintly shining for a moment. His head held high, he had an air of authority, even more so than Celestia herself. But the image shattered, falling away as he sighed and slouched his shoulders, his head slowly falling until it was barely raised.

“The truth is, I don’t know if I can stand being alone any longer. Of course, you wondn’t know what that’s like. Basking in the love and respect of all your ponies, while all I get from mine is pity.”

“Maybe I should visit you more often, brother.”, Celestia said with a sigh. A long day indeed.