Limbo is What You Make of It
“Get 'em back through the door!”
“We cannot force it through ourselves; one of must keep it there so another can close it!"
“Zis beast vill not stay zhere for long!”
“We've come this far, inferior spirit!”
“Gah! Almost there..!”
The echoes of words pervaded her mind as she felt herself overwhelmed by the white void all around her, the beast having long since left.
“W-wait, no, Ollie!”
“This quest will not be in vain!”
“There's gotta be another way!”
“There isn't.”
“I'm… sorry…”
She knew what needed to be done, and let the only other willing to make the sacrifice ensure she wouldn't be lost for no reason.
“Wh.. what is this place..?”
“…It's not Tartarus, at least.”
“What… happens here?”
“…Nothing does.”
"I-I can't… am I.. dying..?”
There were no answers, as it was no place for logic or reason, only an endless void between realms. She couldn't see, for there was no light, and she couldn't hear, for there was no sound. There was nothing to feel, taste, or smell, and she wasn't even sure her body remained intact within this place, but she could still sense the Demon beside her.
And he was scared.
“F-Fred…”
“Ollie…”
“Are we… dying..?”
“…No. But… I don't know what's going to happen.”
“…”
She didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. What was there to say in a place with nothing, where will had no power and even the knowledge of an ancient Demon held no experience?
“…I think I feel.. something.”
“…It feels like the Hold.”
“…An exit?”
“There are no exits to place like this.”
“T-then, wha—”
The void fell out from under her, and suddenly the ephemeral white became an opaque black.
Slowly, things starting to come back into being from the darkness.
She could feel heat on her back and pressure against her underside, and hear some quiet splashing and chirping noises. She could smell salt and daylight, and taste the dry cotton of unconsciousness. And when she opened her eyes, she could see—
“AH!” She winced at the bright light and raised a foreleg to cover her eyes, though could tell it wasn’t the omnipresent void within the Hold, but instead the light beaming across the Solar System from the Sun 8 light-minutes away.
‘It seems my faculties are returning, at least...’ Oleander mused in her mind, opening her eyes more to let them get used to the light, and kept her leg raised, though as her senses returned to her and she could feel more of her body, something just felt... off about it.
She put it out of her mind for the moment though, and as her eyes adjusted to the bright Sun high above, she looked around and found herself laying on a bed of sand, many specks of it standing out across her dark grey fur, which itself felt stiff from presumably all the salt still within after being washed up from the ocean. On that note though, she looked out across the way and audibly gasp at the sight of it.
Crystal blue water rolled out in waves from the beach upon which she laid, flowing up and down the nearly white sand and breaking into a white froth as the waves came in and out. The sea itself glittered in the light of the sun, refracting and reflecting in all sorts of ways that mesmerized the Unicorn, who could do naught but lay there and breathe as she watched the sights beheld before her.
She had no idea how long it went on for, simply enraptured by the beauty of nature she had only seen once before, and wasn’t sure she’d ever get to see again, it reminding her of the life she still somehow had, and that reminded her of—
“FRED!” She abruptly called out into the air, quickly pushing herself up onto her hooves, getting a bit disoriented in the process, with both the sudden rise and that returning offness to blame, and her head whipped around, eyes darting about frantically for the tome she carried with her into the Hold.
Soon enough, Oleander spotted something dark and purple partially buried under the sand, and swiftly trotted over, almost tripping a few times, still feeling off about her body for the moment, and reached for the thing with a hoof, swiping away at the sand that covered it and finding that yes, it was the book she was looking for.
“FRED!” She called out to the Unicornomicon, though the entity within didn’t reply. “FRED!” She screamed at the book, trying to wake it up while keeping any hint of despair hopefully hidden.
“Uggh... what?” The Demon blearily replied, the eyes on the upward-facing side of the book lighting up.
“Are you alright?” Oleander asked, watching as the book fiddled around a bit, pulling its cover up and flipping through some of its glowing amaranth pages, as if yawning or stretching.
The tome then pulled itself out of the sand, shaking off any of it that stuck, and then floating slowly up to the Unicorn’s eye level before responding, “Nothing a demonic entity trapped inside an enchanted book can’t handle.” The glow of his eyes sharpened for a moment, focusing on the other creature before him, and he added, “You should probably be more concerned with yourself, fragile mortal.”
Oleander just laughed and rolled her eyes. “I appreciate your concern, Fred, but just because I’m mortal hardly means I am weak.”
“No, but you do look weird,” He shot back in a more deadpan tone.
“Hmph. That’s quite rude, you know,” She replied, waving it off, and was prepared to add something else until she caught sight of her own hoof. Unlike her usual delicate and cloven hoof, her foreleg how held a wide oval at its base, all but the back of her hoof protruding down a tiny bit more and leaving softer flesh inside it, where some magic could still be felt swirling around.
Of course, that was only a single part of her body, and so when Oleander traced her gaze up her leg to find that not only was it thicker than normal, it was also quite a bit shorter, rendering her entire body quite a bit closer to the ground than her normal form. Her body, too, was more thick and staunch, and her tail was longer and more full, lacking the furry length bridging the gap and instead connecting directly to her dock.
Breathing heavier for a moment, she channeled her magic and thankfully found it worked the same as it always had, albeit the length of her horn also seemed shrunk, and when she used her magic to funnel over some of the saltwater from the ocean and form it into a solid, flat-surfaced puddle in the sand beneath her, she found that her horn was indeed shorter, completely straight, and the same colour as her fur. Her neck was a bit shorter as well, and her head was more round and bulbous, her muzzle thicker and shorter, and her ears were placed a little higher on her head and pointed directly upwards.
Overall, she looked less like an elegant and magical Unicorn, and more like that tiny and dumb calf she had just fought alongside.
“Fred,” She stated, her voice devoid of emotion.
“Yeah?” Fred asked, and it seemed like he was trying to hold back a snicker.
“Fred, what... am I?”
The Unicornomicon swiveled a bit, as if possessor was tilting his head in bemusement. “You’re a Unicorn, dummy.”
“I’m tiny and fat, Fred,” Oleander replied, her gaze rising back up to look at him, “Unicorns are not tiny or fat.”
“Hmm,” Fred mumbled, still sounding very close to laughing as he floated down a bit to get a better view of the maybe-a-Unicorn’s barrel. “Maybe you’re pregnant.”
Oleander’s cheeks puffed up and she fumed in indignant rage, “That’s not helpful, Fred!”
The Demon actually broke into laughter at that, the covers and pages of the book flapping about somewhat as his deep, vociferous laughs echoed out from within.
The Unicorn hmphed in annoyance and turned her head away, though her eyes got drawn to the area further up the beach, where the sand faded to grass and some tables sat around, though with no creature sitting at them or with any items resting atop them. However, the tables were next to a dirt path within the grass, one that went quite far in both directions, though one directed her eyes to what looked like some sort of city off in the distance, with large buildings made of stone and glass.
“Well, in whatever humiliating form I managed to reincarnate into,” Oleander grumbled, looking back over to Fred, “I would still very like to live, so lets head over there—” She gestured to the city with her head, “—And find something to eat so I don’t starve.”
A short laugh came from the book. “Sure, just don’t mind if I get a snack as well. I’ve been having a craving for cats’ souls lately.”
The Unicorn just sighed.
Soon enough, Oleander was heaving out exhausted breaths, sweat trickling down across her coat while the Sun continued to beam down on her, it having only risen further into the sky as she trotted on, occasionally glancing down at her hooves to make sure she didn’t trip over herself yet again. Around her stood massive buildings, their walls made mostly of windows as they stretched dozens of stories upward, only reflecting more light down onto the stone roads below.
However, there were many, many other Ungulates like herself walking or standing around the city, with a decent chunk of them being horned Unicorns like herself, though others instead had wings with which some flew through the air above, and Fred knew of myths of their kind and had called them ‘Pegasi’, plural, or for a single Ungulate, a ‘Pegasus’. The remaining ones though, had neither horns nor wings, so she had little clue as to what abilities they had, other than perhaps super-strength or micro-terraforming, if Cows were anything to go by.
And while they were not Cows, or any other type of Ungulate she was familiar with, they all still seemed to have an affinity for pun-based names.
“Mare-ami? Really?” Oleander grumbled as she heavily trodded through the streets, panting through her words while the Unicornomicon still floated on by her side. “What kind of bloody name is that?”
“A name made by stupid mortals,” Fred noted before another scream cut through the air, the Unicorn beleagueredly raising her head to see another Unicorn galloping down the street past them, carrying multiple green scaled ‘Alligators’ with them. Most of the other Ungulates around the (probably) hysterical Unicorn hardly even seemed phased, just brushing them off as just a ‘Mareami Pony’. “Ponies, apparently,” He added with a bemused barb.
“Ugh, is that what these Ungulates are collectively called?” Oleander asked, grimacing as she tried to focus on looking around for... something that made sense; maybe a restaurant that didn’t serve weird food or a hotel that didn’t look overpriced (and thus likely packed with security). She shook her head, feeling some level of dizziness start to ensue, but knew she wasn’t going to give up just yet, so as she paid some more attention to the... ‘Ponies’ around her, she then started to notice how more and more of them were around the further she looked down the street, where at the end, she could see the makings of a crowd.
Grimacing again, she slowed her pace a bit, glancing down at her (broad, ugly, fumbling) hooves instinctively once more, but then tilted her head as she tried to see what that crowd was doing. They didn’t seem to be up to much at the moment, just standing around a couple building-widths down the street in a decidedly more green place than the rest of the city, with grass and trees breaking up the dull colours all around it.
She kept a skeptical look as she sped back up, befuddled as to what such a large group of Ungulates were going in one place, especially as they were packed quite closely together, just milling about for no visible reason. “Fred, what are those fools up to?” She asked her companion, gesturing with her head to the crowd down the road.
“Hmm...” Fred mumbled, turning the tome around a bit so its eyes faced towards the crowd. “I can feel their anticipation,” He replied with some amusement, moving the book up to (presumably) get a better view, “It’s frothing off of them.”
“Interesting...” Oleander mused in response, having out another sigh before squinting a bit and continuing forward, trying to observe them better. “Now what exactly could they—”
“HEY, COLTS AND FILLIES!” A sudden voice boomed out, cutting her off and freezing her in place. “HOW ARE YOU ALL DOIN’ TODAY!?”
Judging by the voice’s location near the crowd, and how said crowd immediately shouted and cheered after it faded... “Well, I suppose that answers that,” Oleander said, sighing deeply again as she relaxed her body a bit back from her shock.
“WELL, I THINK I’VE KEPT YOU IN ANTICIPATION FOR LONG ENOUGH, HUH!?” The voice begun again, and now that she was a bit calmer, the Unicorn get easily tell it was a quite charismatic and youthful female, somewhat in line with Velvet, just not nearly as rude. With a short laugh that echoed out through the area, the voice also added, “ESPECIALLY IN THIS WEATHER. QUITE WARM FOR SPRING, ISN’T IT?”
Another cheer came out, those this one held some more amusement in it. “You’re telling me,” Fred groused with an implied roll of his eyes, “I’d say the humidity is worse, though. My pages are practically curling right now!”
“That’s most likely the beach,” Oleander shot back with a snort, wiping some sweat from her forehead with a foreleg.
“THAT’S MAREAMI FOR YOU, ISN’T IT!?” The voice came back, and the Unicorn could just barely make out a sense of exhaustion with it as well, showing that whoever was speaking had been out in the Sun for a while already. “ENOUGH OF THAT, THOUGH! LET’S GET ON WITH MY NEW TRACK: RAINBOW!”
The crowd went even more wild than when the speaker first showed up, and Oleander just sighed in defeat and turned to Fred. “Well, this is likely to make things quite loud for a while...”
A short laugh came out of the Unicornomicon before its spine cheerfully bumped against her shoulder. “Ah, and here I thought you actually knew how to have fun, Ollie!”
“And here I didn’t think you cared about anything us ‘petty mortals’ did,” The Unicorn replied with a teasing tone and a raised eyebrow.
As Fred grumbled off to the side, swaying less and lowering towards the ground, probably regretting his (mild) change of heart before they got tossed to... wherever they were at that point, and a slow and tender musical beat started up from the crowd, though no lyrics just yet. “FINE!” The Demon soon spat out in annoyance, “Yes, I do enjoy the music mortals have manage to create, especially the peppy ones! Happy?”
Oleander smirked back at him. “Quite.” Her expression soured as she turned back towards the crowd, which she was still not very privy to. “Well, I suppose I shall indulge you this time,” She spoke somewhat cordially, then flared her magic, grabbing both herself and the tome beside her, then sharply teleported over right to the edge of the crowd, appearing just behind it with barely an inconvenience.
Now being much closer, she could get a good view of where the music was coming from, as there stood a large stage made amidst the small area of the city devoid of huge buildings, a Pony Pegasus atop it, her mane in bangs of gold and black and hiding her eyes. Of course, the music was also quite a bit louder, but it wasn’t too much at the current moment, so Oleander kept her bearings as she looked across the massive crowd between herself and the stage, with no doubt thousands of Ponies within in.
Mouth left agape for several seconds (with Fred clearly snickering off to the side), it took until the Pegasus started to sing for her to audibly snap her maw closed and suck in a breath, putting all of her senses out of mind so she could—
“Ack! FRED!” She sputtered back in shock as she felt the Unicornomicon’s spine bump her in the rear, then start to shove her forward.
“Don’t back out of this, Sheep!” Fred retorted as he pushed the Unicorn forward into the crowd, not caring at all about the other Ponies that got displaced, stepping or otherwise getting bumped out of the way, most of them that actually noticed tossing a glance, glare, or bewildered stare at the Unicorn and the evil floating book pushing her.
“Stop it!” Oleander shouted back over all the noise, trying to waver her way out of his pushing, but the Demon proved quite adept at dealing with her frantic wiggling. “I’m not letting you suffocate me with these Ponies!”
Laughing at her in turn, Fred just replied, “Suuure, you aren’t.”
Snorting and firing up her own magic, the Unicorn was about to teleport only herself straight back out of the crowd, leaving her book-bound compatriot to his own devices, but unfortunately (or practically inevitably, if Fred’s tactics were taken into account), she ended up bumping straight into another Pony.
“Gah!” Oleander grunted out as her attention jerked to the Pony she bumped into, but only for a moment before glaring back at the Unicornomicon and kicking it in the face with a rear hoof. Snorting in satisfaction, she looked back to the Pony before her, who was still recovering from the impact with a hoof held to her head as she shook it a bit, then looked at Oleander herself with a mostly just startled expression.
“Uh—sorry about that, miss,” The off-white-coated Pony called back to her with a female voice, and Oleander could see the gold mane with a blue accent around one of her ears atop her head as well as the wings at her side, signifying her as a Pegasus. “Are.. you alright?” She asked, sounding confused and slightly worried.
“...I’m fine,” Oleander returned curtly, continuing to stare at the other Pony, noting the odd golden amulet around her neck, and while looking mostly innocuous, something about it seemed off.
The Pegasus blinked at her for a moment, then looked down at her amulet, then raised a hoof and pawed at it awkwardly. “Um, yes it is magical if you’re wondering...” She said, easily telling the intent by the Unicorn’s stare, though still pulling back at its continued intensity. “I’m Golden Feather, and you are...?” She prompted, holding out a hoof in a partially desperate-looking attempt for... something.
Looking back at the other Pony’s face, the Unicorn simply returned, “...Oleander.”
“Oh, that’s a nice name!” Golden Feather chirped, then went on, “A very tough flower, though quite toxic... which...” She seemed to think for a bit, then leaned over a bit, her eyes going down Oleander’s body before her expression quickly shifted to bewilderment, “Er, you don’t have a Cutie Mark..?”
Oleander grunted and recoiled, sharply asking in disgust and confusion, “Sorry, a what?”
The Pegasus blinked, biting her lip. “A Cutie Mark, Oleander...” She started hesitantly, though didn’t get any understanding in response. “You don’t know what one of those are?”
“I most certainly do not,” Oleander replied, more baffled than ever about these Ponies.
“Well,” Golden Feather mumbled, tilting her head left and right thoughtfully for a second, “You can see mine right back here,” She spoke, rotating sideways slightly to show off a weird symbol on her flank; a simplified Sun with a pair of purple sunglasses. “This is my Cutie Mark, and it relates to my Special Talent,” She continued, adding another term with the same level of emphasis, “Well... i-in my case, it’s about my proficiency in Summer-related sports!” She finished, notably stuttering for a moment, possibly due to embarrassment about that ‘Talent’, or maybe something else...
Humming for a moment, Oleander was still quite baffled by the concept; “So you paint symbols on your butts so everyone else knows what you’re good at?”
“Uh—” The Pegasus tried, but trailed off into laughter. “N-not quite, Oleander! Um,” She hesitated again, glancing back towards the stage for a moment, but then went right back to say, “Maybe can we talk about this later? I’d like to have fun in this concert...”
“...Sure,” Oleander replied, mostly just to get the weird topic over with so she could focus on whatever the hell that thing on the Pegasus was.
Thankfully, Golden Feather took the hint and gave a slightly forced smile and said, “Alright, I’ll see you after the concert!” She quickly turned around and headed off into the boisterous crowd, though the other Pony didn’t take her attention off of her.
“Fred, did you see that?” Oleander then called back to the Demon with intrigue, watching the wary Pegasus weave through the crowd, seemingly eager to get way from the Unicorn.
“What, you kicking me in the face?” He replied, part sarcastic, part annoyed while he floated back up next to the Pony.
“Oh, be quiet, baby,” Oleander shot back with a roll of her eyes, then sharply gestured over to the Pegasus with her head, “No, that ‘Golden Feather’ over there! I think she has some magic on her amulet.”
The book tilted around slightly, its eyes glowing brighter as its possessor seemed to analyze the Ponies before him, eventually replying in agreement, “Wow, that’s a lot actually. I’m not surprised even a mortal like you can sense that amount of dark magic.”
“Now that you mention it actually, that is quite dark, isn’t it..?” The Unicorn mused to herself, tuning her own senses for the familiar darkness around her, and specifically the magic swirling around the Pegasus, emanating from the amulet around her neck. She started forward through the crowd after the other Pony, pushing past and bumping through the other random cheering Ponies around her, tuning them out as she observed the magic for a couple seconds, and noted, “It’s biological, no doubt about that.”
“Shapeshifting,” Fred added from her side, flitting around her to avoid getting hit by any of the other Ponies around them, “...With some added meta cloaking for good measure.”
Oleander squinted in suspicion at Golden Feather, who was still making her way through the crowd, quite possibly aware of and attempting to avoid the Unicorn following her. “Now why exactly would such a random Ungulate need such powerful spells, hm?” She mused, making her way through the crowd faster, but hardly able to gain on the other Pony with all the ruckus around her. “Hmph!” She soon snorted in annoyance, flaring her magic again and aiming it precisely, then firing off a quick blink of teleportation—
“Wah—!”
—So that she arrived right before Golden Feather, startling her and making her cry out in surprise, and without a moment of hesitation, Oleander whipped a foreleg forward around the amulet and yanked it back.
However, it didn’t break or snap, just go taut in her grasp, pulling her attention down to it in surprise; she knew that would’ve been enough force to break a normal necklace, so some extra magic must’ve been keeping it together.
“Wait, no!” Golden Feather shouted and tried to use one of her own forelegs to swat the Unicorn’s away, but Oleander didn’t care for her plea and flared her magic again, grabbing the amulet with both her magic and hoof, then yanked it back even harder than before.
CRAK-K!
The necklace of the amulet snapped, and its magic shattered, the darkness blasting off of the Pegasus, ripping through space around her as its effects became undone; from the point the amulet rested against Golden Feather’s chest, malachite flames swiftly tore across her coat, burning off the false fur to reveal the true pearlescent colour underneath, and as the flames made their way to her wings in a split-second, her feathers changed colours as well, though the wings themselves got stretched outward into an expansive pair that extended past the Pony’s body.
The Pony’s actual body held more revelations as well, with her ‘Cutie Mark’ losing the pair of sunglasses to become a pure Sun, and her legs below lengthen in a similar way to her wings, forcing the Pony herself to stand up nearly twice the height of all other Ponies around her. Her head also changed, with her muzzle lengthening somewhat and her mane burning off to become a pastel rainbow that wafted off of her, but most notable of all, a horn sprouted out of her forehead in a long, yet straight spiral.
Oleander’s eyes followed the other Pony’s head up while all the other Ponies’ attention were grabbed by the flames, and with the shock of the fake Pegasus’s eyes looking back at her, it was only a split-second before that Pony’s horn flared up with a golden glow, and then blasted out with a flash of light, which quickly faded to reveal she was gone.
Blinking in bewilderment for several seconds, Oleander couldn’t help but utter quietly, “A... Winged.. Unicorn...?”
The rest of the crowd around was shocked as well, with their own level of silence being quite deafening and a tad off-putting, but Oleander could eventually started to hear their quite mutters of ‘Was that Princess Celestia?’
Soon enough though, she got startled back out of her stupour by the booming voice of the singer asking, “EVERYTHING ALRIGHT OVER THERE?”
Whipping her head around to look at the Pony on the stage, looking at her (she thought, anyway; those bangs made it impossible to tell what exactly she was looking at). Blinking for a second and looking back down to her hoof, which still held the amulet atop it, she took a deep breath and called back to the singer, “No troubles here!”
The Pony nodded in affirmation, then went back to address the crowd, “Alright, now where were we?”
“That was weird.”
Jumping and sucking in a sharp breath, her attention was swiftly returned to the Unicornomicon beside her, which seemed to hold a mix of annoyance and confusion its pseudo-face. “Keep ditching me with your teleports, will you?” He said tauntingly, the book itself tilting slightly as if raising an eyebrow.
Oleander just scoffed at him in unconcern, then looked back over at where the Winged Unicorn just was, and she spoke, “This ‘Princess Celestia’ seemed to be quite powerful, if that teleport was any indication.”
Fred tilted a bit, observing the spot for a moment as well, then replied in minor indignation, “Very powerful. That cloaking was obviously there for a reason.” Turning back the Unicorn, he pre-empted her question by adding, “Her signature’s quite powerful too, and it’ll be cake to track it, but we’ll need some uninterrupted space to actually follow.”
“Got it,” Oleander nodded sharply in determination, then swiftly grabbed the amulet in her magic then whisked it away with a storage spell so she could stand on all four legs, letting her look around the city beyond the dancing ponies all around her, spotting some tall buildings that weren’t too far a jump for her. “Up there...” She muttered, flaring her magic once more, focusing on the spot for a better aim, then with a louder crak than normal—
—She stood on top of the building, Fred having come along with her. Looking around, she observed the dusty grey rooftop with a solid railing around the edge of the wide building, and some odd boxes of metal marring the otherwise flat surface, making some decent noise that she quickly rolled her eyes at.
“Dumb Pony buildings...” Fred grumbled, though floated his book down to the floor and opened it, unfurling out its pages with dark magic starting to pour off of him and into the floor itself. The dark power started carving amaranth lined into the stone of the floor, forming into circles that Oleander helped along from within, forming from memory the full sigils of the ritual meant for long-distance teleportation she had used several times in the past. Once complete, both creatures started to charge the ritual with their magic, the pure darkness surging through the arcane circuit, sparking out of it with its sheer power.
Oleander grunted as she felt the magic flow through her, it being far more than she expected for a ‘simple’ teleport, but she weathered it even as her eyes glowed white with power, then ripped open and split with darkness, the pain that once was agony now little more than a metric by which to measure the power of the spell, which needed to be guided by the Demon before her. Holding on as she felt the magic spark and tear through the roof around her, she soon felt the prod from Fred that signified he was ready, and as one, they fired off the spell, quickly engulfing them in the darkness and shooting them off through the higher dimensions of reality towards their destination, ignorant of the massive BOOM! of space cracking and rippling from the spot they left behind.
BOOM!
The air cracked and split open, a blinding flash of incomprehensible dark magic exploding outward, blasting away the air while space rippled from the force of the teleport, then snapped back into place and revealed the Unicorn and Unicornomicon that had just arrived.
...And then they both fell out of the sky.
Senses returning to her from the power of the teleport, Oleander shook her head for a second before looking down to see the ground faaar below her, a large smattering of white and gold all about, surrounded by some grey, then a massive expanse of green. It took her some more time to realize that she was indeed falling out of the sky, but she was hardly bothered by that, and instead focused on the shapes below her.
Most of the white and gold seemed to make up a large city, with a decent chunk of it being a castle that she was centered above, a section at its rear being greener than the rest of the castle combined. The city itself then seemed to stand upon a mountain, which was quite lone amongst a hilly field that stretched out in all directions, with forests and lakes going on as far as she could see.
Though that wasn’t as far as she initially thought, as part of her view got cut off by a spire of the castle to her side, and she took a deep breath to focus on falling towards the green section, which was likely a courtyard. Tilting her body in a way learned from the times Tianhuo forced her to learn, she soon found herself barrelling for the courtyard at a few dozen meters per second and only getting faster.
More and more of her vision was taken up by the expansive castle, and the wind whipped through her mane and tail, though she remained unperturbed, instead keeping her eyes locked on the grass of the courtyard while making sure to feel for the magic in her hooves, which she thankfully could still feel in this punitive form. She rolled her eyes, recalling it again, only bothering to feel insulted by whatever this world was doing to her, as the rest of her magic was still rightfully in her hold.
Soon enough though, only a couple dozen meters from the ground, she forced her hooves down and pushed the magic out through them, and then all her motion swiftly ground to a halt in less than a second, and, with a bit of exertion with the unusually large force she pushed out, she then found herself in the midst of her double-jump. Only for a moment though, before she reached the apex of her jump, where she then flared her magic once more, then—
Flash!
Thump!
—Landed on the grass of the courtyard with ease.
Taking a moment breath in the suddenly somewhat brisk air of the new location, Oleander felt the mild strain in her horn from her strenuous long-distance teleport, but it wasn’t much compared to what she had dealt with in the past, so she just looked around the place, seeing some other Ponies around... and all of them staring at her with wide eyes and gaped maws.
It took her a few moments, but she then snorted in amusement; clearly these Ponies weren’t used to the power of dark magic, and what it could do by an Ungulate that knew what she was doing. There were even a couple of the Pegasi in the air near her, probably believing they needed to catch her to stop her from falling to her death.
Interestingly, most of the Ponies seemed to be wearing some odd uniforms, with some white and black maid dresses, like those from Reine, if Oleander recalled correctly, and others donned in golden armour—more ceremonial than protective, though, and it all raised some questions about the castle and the nation it resided within.
“A place of peace, though likely of ignorance rather than actual peace-keeping,” She mused, watching as some of the Pegasi returned to the ground and went back across the courtyard, presumably to return to their work of servitude, “These ‘Ponies’ and true Unicorns seemed to share much in common, huh, Fred?”
A beat passed in silence.
Oleander looked over to her side, where the Unicornomicon most often floated beside her, but then she let out an ashamed groan as she realized; air resistance was a thing.
Turning her head upward, she soon spotted the weighty tome that was falling through the sky above her, having fallen most of the distance now, and while her motion got the attention of the couple Pegasi still near her and caused them to look up as well, it was too late before the book made contact with one of them.
BONK!
The Pegasus, even with the helmet atop their head, was immediately sent crashing to the ground, their body thumping heartily into it with their limps sprawled outward and eyes swirling about in their sockets. The other Pegasus—this one a maid—quickly dropped to the ground and rushed to their side, pulling the heavily-dented helmet off their head and doing what was likely some medical checks on them, but Oleander was more focused on the book that caused it, which had flopped to the ground after the impact, then floated up before the Unicorn.
“Usually our teleports are more precise than that, Fred,” She admonished the Demon within, though only lightly due to the annoyance it caused her, “Surely actually following the transport isn’t all that difficult here?”
“Oh, now you’re acting like that was a botched spell?” Fred asked, sounding genuinely offended, “She’s a Winged Unicorn; a fall like that means less to her than even us!”
Sighed and acquiescing to his superior logic, Oleander looked around the courtyard once more, uncaring for the befuddled glances of the ponies at the talking tome next to her, and then she asked of its possessor, “Well, where, pray tell, would this ‘Princess Celestia’ be, then?”
“I have a few guesses how to find out,” The Demon replied, seeming to focus on the fallen guard, much to the terror of the maid attending them.
Swiftly realizing his intent, the Unicorn just rolled her eyes and waved him forward, casually saying, “Go ahead.”
With vigour, the Unicornomicon darted over to the other Ponies, making the maid yelp and hop up before quickly scampering away, letting Fred snort in amusement from within the pages before spreading them all open while turning to face downward, the covers bending open so far the spine creaked while the pages glowed, and then in a mere moment, dark tendrils of his essence shot out between the pages and quickly sunk themselves into the guard’s head. They shuddered and spasmed with the violation of their very brain, and as all the other Ponies around (except for Ollie, of course) jumped in shock and horror, Fred found himself able to read the guard’s mind, every memory visible to him like... pages in a book, including a handy-dandy map of the Castle.
Oleander simply watched it happen with a disinterested frown, though she did find the expressions across all the other Ponies quite amusing; clearly they weren’t expecting such a dark and ‘malicious’ action to be taken so casually, and while she could hardly fault them in their little utopia, she didn’t really care about breaking their fragile innocence.
With the shlllrp of Fred’s tendrils retreating back into his tome, Oleander returned her attention to it once more, seeing it close back up and float back over to her with an almost playful demeanor. “Wow, the privacy in this Castle is terrible if this lowly guard knows this much about Celestia,” He remarked, amazed and disappointed at the same time, “Barely a second-rank door guard, and yet the primary Mistress of this place’s cake addiction is simple fact to him.”
Oleander scoffed—these Ponies really were that stupid, but something the Demon said made her ask, “I was expecting a Queen to own this Castle.”
“Nope, just two Princesses, but,” Fred replied, the glow of his eyes modulating in a way she’d long since learned was his version of an eye-roll, “Apparently they are the cream of this nation’s crap, after all. The quality control’s pretty bad if there’s five of them, and one’s literally a baby.”
“Hmph. Nobility as usual, I see,” The Unicorn muttered, giving a restrained glare out across the courtyard, then focused towards a large pair of doors which led into the Castle proper. “Let’s head on, then. I’d like some damned answers by now.”
The Unicornomicon just floated on by her as she headed for the door across the way, and while she may have simply wished to enter, the two guards beside the door didn’t seem inclined to let that happen by the tensing of their forms. Oleander just rolled her eyes, and as she arrived some dozen steps away from them, she flared her magic and swiftly shot out a dark bolt at the left guard—a Unicorn—who quickly shot up a shield to block it, and the right guard took the opportunity to jump at her, flaring their Pegasus wings to dart forward, only to be met face-first with a thousand-page tome of dark magic.
Unfortunately for the Unicorn guard, their simple shield started to get eaten away by the dark magic of Oleander’s bolt, and they hesitated for just long enough for another blast from her horn to go under them, blowing up and tossing them into the air, their shield instantly dissipating before Oleander’s magic grabbed them and threw them downward. They landed with a harsh thunk! onto the grass, and she grabbed their helmet with her magic, wrenching it off their head before raising and then slamming into the back of their head multiple times.
Meanwhile, Fred was having his way with the Pegasus guard, merely needing to flit the book around to knock them off their hooves before striking upwards into their plot, tossing them upward enough so Fred could shove the book down into the ground and force a huge phantasmal arm out through his pages and grab ahold of the guard’s tail. Whipping his hand around to let the Pegasus flail around uselessly as their momentum only increased, getting whirled around faster and faster until—
“So long, gay Pony!”
He hurled them away, angled up and with enough force to propel them all the way over the walls of the castle courtyard and presumably out into the street (or off the city entirely, leading them to fall down the mountain—wait, no; they can fly).
Hearing repeated echoing bangs from a short distance away, the Demon looked over to see Oleander slamming the helmet into the Unicorn guard’s head a few more times for good measure, then toss the heavily dented thing to the side like trash. She looked over to Fred in turn, and seeing no other guard there, simply shrugged and started back towards the door to the Castle, and no word between them was needed for him to hover back towards her, then lead on through the Castle towards their destination: Princess Celestia’s personal chambers.
“How?”
That was the main question on Celestia’s mind as she was left breathing heavily on her bed, utterly confounded as to how a simple Unicorn was able to not just see through a full-on Changeling disguise, but shatter it like fine china. She didn’t know the full ramifications of her reveal in that crowd; hopefully all those Ponies would just carry on, only some minor rumours appearing about how Celestia showed up for Songbird’s concert, but...
“Who?”
Really, that was the ultimate question here, as that seemingly normal mare was instead capable of shattering magic that was stronger than any non-Alicorn Pony, and with barely any hesitation after just meeting with her disguise...
Her head flicked up as she sensed a familiar magic quickly approaching, and she sighed; clearly her quick teleport didn’t go unnoticed by everypony.
The doors to her room opened, and her sister stepped through, a concerned visage on her face as she was able to note the missing amulet. “What happened?” Luna asked firmly, not willing to take any dodging on this question.
“...Somepony saw through it,” Celestia spoke defeatedly, though carefully and only after her door was closed back up. “I don’t know at all how, or who she truly is, but she said her name was Oleander. She was able to see something was off immediately, teleport at will, and... she didn’t have a Cutie Mark.”
Luna raised an eyebrow at her. “Truly?” At her sister’s solemn nod, she closed her eyes and hummed. “This is concerning. What else could you tell of her?”
“She was very... intense, even with just her stare,” Celestia noted warily, “And she seemed uncomfortable with the crowd we were in.”
“While her personality may help up predict her future actions, I would like to know about her capabilities, sister,” Luna stated in mild annoyance.
A small laugh came from the other mare. “I’m aware, Lulu,” She hummed out, giving a lopsided smile, but one that quickly faded into a wary frown, “But with how that amulet dampens my actual Unicorn magic, I could hardly tell much about the magic on her. It was certainly unique, at the very least.”
Luna just sighed in disappointment. “I do understand your goals with that amulet—which, I can presume this Oleander took?” She asked, getting nod from her sister, “And I do know why you wished to use it with such priority, but,” She continued, sounding slightly exasperated, “You do still need to be wary of those that may wish ill of you. ‘Tis a concern of civilians as well, ‘Tia.”
Celestia rolled her eyes; “Was I really supposed to expect that there was a pony with more power than any mortal just flitting about in Mareami?” At her sister’s lack of verbal response, she smirked, “Exactly. Now—”
A sudden noise cut her off, and both mares turned towards the main doors, listening as more sounds came from beyond it. Grunts, yelps, and blasts of magic warned them of a fight between the two guards just outside and some other creature, so they steeled themselves before each of them grabbing one of the doors in their respective magic auras, then throwing them open to reveal...
“You again...”
The dark grey Unicorn fired another bolt of her amaranth magic at the guard Pony below her, knocking him out and letting her look up and over towards the Princesses. “You are the illustrious ‘Princess Celestia’, I believe?” Oleander asked with a tone that said she already knew the answer, and had no care for the title itself.
“I am,” Celestia stated carefully, watching the Unicorn, but her sister seemed more concerned with the book behind her... and the guard helmet laying on the floor, its owner conspicuously missing.
“What have you done with the guard, Pony?” The Lunar mare questioned firmly of the Unicorn, who pulled her attention away for a moment, seeming to just notice the absence as well.
However, from there, she looked over at the book that was floating—without visible levitation magic—beside her, and as her expression remained neutral for a few seconds, and both Celestia and Luna looked over at it as well, the book eventually spoke in a deep, accursed voice, “What?”
A sharp inhale and reel back came from Celestia, but Luna growled and glared at it, commanding of it, “What hath thou done with our fair guard, cursed tome?”
“I ate them,” The answer came simply, and the nearby Unicorn snorted in casual amusement.
“You what?” The response came from both Princesses at once; Celestia’s shocked and Luna’s enraged, whereupon which the latter lit up blazing cobalt magic from her horn, and growled at the book, “Do not say it so, or thou shalt incinerated by the power of the Moon itself.”
The floating tome just laughed at her, and while Oleander rolled her eyes at first, she soon tilted her head, seeming to read the magic coming from the Mare of the Moon. “How serious are you about that, Winged Unicorn?” She asked, curious, but not especially wary.
“Quite,” Luna spoke, baring her fangs and flipping open her leathery wings. “I am she who wields the Moon, master of the night and an Alicorn Princess, with power and knowledge rivaled only by mine sister beside me,” She continued, letting her eyes glow just enough to show the power she held, though her mentions sister watched her carefully, letting her speak but still wishing to keep her in line.
“Terrifying,” The tome replied, hardly caring for the power bared before it, “Especially coming from a P—”
It was cut off when Oleander swiped a hoof at the front cover of the book, smacking it in the face, getting an annoyed ‘Ow!’ out of it before the Unicorn reprimanded it, “Oh be quiet, Fred—I’d like to gets some answers sometime this week.”
“‘Fred’?” Celestia questioned dubiously of the two intruders, getting a sidelong glance by her sister, not doubt for ‘getting off-track once more’.
“It’s ‘Fhtng’, lady,” It—he?—replied, sounding somewhat offended, but the nearby Unicorn just rolled her eyes.
“Just call him ‘Fred’,” Oleander muttered, giving a deadpan glare at the book, then returning her gaze to the Princesses. “I do know how difficult ‘Fhtng th§ ¿nsp§kbl’ is to pronounce.”
Celestia pursed her lips in comprehension, though lack of full understanding, but Luna still pressed, “The guard.”
The book twirled around in place, indicating an eye-roll, and he muttered, “Fine. They didn’t even taste that good, anyway.” Whipping open his pages before either Princess could get a word in, they glowed their amaranth for a moment, then with a sicking pair of coughs and the sound of retching...
Splat!
...the guard, unconscious still covered in most of his armor landed on the floor, though now also covered in a thin layer of slippery goo the colour of wine, which Celestia saw fit to quickly pull off with her magic, levitating both the guard and a ball of the goo in her golden magical aura for a moment. Observing the guard for a moment, she quickly found his pulse and other vital signs still there, and so teleported him away to the infirmary, leaving her with the ball of unholy saliva before them all.
Both Alicorns, as well as the Unicorn, were visibly disgusted with the substance, but Celestia still wasn’t certain of its potential danger, so she froze it with her magic, then teleported it away to a frozen vault elsewhere within the Castle, finally leaving the four creatures alone (except for the other guard, which she swiftly teleported to the infirmary as well, much to Oleander’s disappointment).
“Now,” Luna spoke firmly to the Unicorn and the living book, “Who are you? And I don’t mean just your names.”
“Hm, finally some relevant questions...” Oleander muttered to herself, though still audible for the others to hear and glare at her for. “Oh, fine,” She assented, rolling her eyes, and went on, “That truly is related to why we are here, but in short... we are simply not from around here, and would like some answers about this place.”
“...And for the full story?” Celestia prompted, curious yet wary.
The Unicorn bit the inside of her cheek, seeming to debate answering, but Fred beat her to it; “There’s a whole race of cursed spirits made into tangible beasts known as Predators, who were eventually sealed away by some weird giant Goat Prophet lady in the space between dimensions known as the Hold after snapping one of her horns off and turning it into a key. It wasn’t a permanent seal though, and eventually the Predators starting breaking out and into the world of Fœnum, which is where we are from, and after a lengthy discussion by a bunch of stuffy council members, they decided a group of Champions from separate nations should gather from all over the world to push back the Predators into the Hold. Only part of that actually happened, as the Champions were instead made up of a vain instigator, a useless dogsitter, a dumb kid, and a cute, yet brain-dead alpaca. Thankfully, there was also us, as well as a flaming Dragon-Horse hybrid known as a 龍馬 (Longma in English) who was actually capable of combat and strategy. And with the three of us, and the other buffoons, we managed to push those beasts back where they came from, and we all learned some important like lessons along the way. Hooray, insert cheery song and credits roll here. However, instead of simply being able to just close the bloody door to the Hold, there was a final, massive Predator that we all had to work together to deal with—one that we had to deal with by... pushing it inside and keeping it there, with the Longma closing the door behind us, leaving us both suspending in an eternal expanse of nothingness for however long before we fell through another exit into this world (which may or may not be the same one, but in all likelihood isn’t), where we woke up on a beach like all those other stories about random Ungulates/Ponies/Creatures/Humans/Pokémon showing up out of nowhere and knowing nothing about the current world we’re in.”
There was only silence after that statement, with the two Princesses staring at the tome in a heavy mix of awe, dread, confusion, and disbelief, though the Unicorn beside it seemed just somewhat surprised.
Eventually though, Oleander did add to the Alicorns, “He is correct about everything. We spoke about much on our journey to seal away the Predators, and most of that has already been stated, I am still willing to trust the ancient Demon about things that happened millennia ago.”
That statement only added to the mess of reactions the other mares were experiencing, but Luna soon enough managed to force out, “...‘Demon’?”
“That’s right,” Fred stated as little more than fact, “I’m not actually a book—I can read the way you think about me. I just trapped in this stupid Unicornomicon...” He sounded somewhat miffed, even about what must’ve happened so long ago. “About a millennium and a half, if you want to be specific.”
Celestia tilted her head and pulled away just a little, bewildered as to how her thoughts were being read so easily, but soon shook it off and replied, “Well, that’s quite a story, and answers many of our questions about you, but how about you two specifically?”
“‘Tis a question that ought to answer why thou art so persistent, and how thee may bypass the dark enchantments of our amulet,” Luna added somewhat calmly, though a bit forced through her anger, where she continued imploringly, “And, for what thou hath done with that amulet itself.”
“Not yet,” Oleander returned with a small smirk at the request, then looked between the Princesses to speak, “And I do still want my own answers in turn. Understand?”
“Thou shan’t be making such statements in our presence, foolish mage.” Luna’s speech was colder, and her head raised higher, looking down upon the mare that seemed to believe herself above the Alicorns—but a look from her sister kept her silent long enough for Celestia to speak.
“My sister is correct,” The white Alicorn spoke measuredly, “I have seen some of your capabilities, and how they go beyond any other of our subjects, as well what they may wreak upon me, but—” She paused for a moment, her expression turning into a stoic, unquestionable frown, “You still must know that we possess power and abilities you cannot fathom either, so we are not something to take lightly, Oleander.”
The Unicorn in questions didn’t seem particularly convinced, nor did the possessed Unicornomicon at her side, but she at least acquiesced and responded, “Oh, fine. I’ll answer first, but I’d like my own before returning such a dark artifact to someone I don’t know or trust.”
The expressions of both light and dark sisters calmed in turn, and they returned a ‘Of course’ and ‘Very well’ respectively.
“I won’t give you my entire life’s story, but I’ll give you the highlights.” Oleander tilted her neck to the side, letting in crack a bit to relive some tension, then again to the other side, before finally clearing her throat and starting, “I first found Fhtng in a dark cavern below my home, sealed away by light magics that I found all too easy to unravel. When I realized the power trapped within, I knew that I could use them for more than the ill my religious Order believed they were solely capable of, and with the returning threat of the Predators years later, I decided to act when they did not, and forged my own path to save Fœnum.”
The silence returned, though less deafening than before as the Alicorns processed what was spoken.
Eventually though, Celestia spoke with a stoic, masked tone, “I know better than any other that religions are capable of distorting the truth; I have torn down many cults made in both me and my sister’s names.” Her tone into a more friendly, partially genuine one as she continued, “I may not be inclined to trust a Demon, but I am quite willing to let you prove yourselves here in our nation.”
A look came from her sister—tense and still wary, but she didn’t speak.
Oleander took note of that, as well as Celestia’s previous mention of her alone tearing down cults, but she still went with the conversation; “And that nation is what I hope to learn about here. So if you’ll allow me...” A nod came from Celestia, “What is this nation? Who truly are you? What are these... blech, ‘cutie marks’, exactly? And... why, pray tell, were you using such dark magics to hide within an audience?”
The white Alicorn nodded at the barrage of questions, replying cleanly to them all, “This is Equestria, Oleander, a nation we—” She gestured at her sister, “—Made as a bastion of harmony and friendship between all races of Ponykind. We are Alicorn Princesses, nearly immortal and decidedly eternal, serving as true leaders of our nation, representing Equestria’s virtues as well as the Sun—” She placed a hoof on her chest “—And the Moon,” She pointed at her sister again. “Our Cutie Marks,” She went on, emphasizing the term, which made Oleander roll her eyes, and the Unicornomicon’s odd tilting indicated Fred did so as well, “Are symbols of our special talents, what we are good at, and what we mean to others. And as for my disguise...”
Celestia’s mien faltered a bit, her expression turning downcast before her gaze fully fell to the floor, and she got a concerned and understanding look from Luna. “Truth be told,” She begun, exhaustion and loathing replete in her voice, “I am so tired of this existence, of ruling a squabbling nation made of creatures that may as well be moths to me. So many of them are petty and foolish, fighting each other for foolish reasons, and it always comes down to either me or my sister to settle things in the end. I’ve fought, slain, and bled entire oceans for this nation, and I couldn’t be prouder of it, but sometimes... I just want to be able to relax.
“But... day in, day out, I raise and set the Sun. I am guarded at every turn, guided at half and am the guide the other half. I sit atop my spire at my beautiful nation frolicking beneath my hooves, and I should be nothing but joyous for it, but I can’t help but feel trapped and tortured by my obligations to it. Every soul under me is one I raised myself in some part, and one I could end in a single moment. I’ve already seen millions die in wars and by time itself, and every time I blink, others follow in their wake. I am their Sun, their shining star in the sky, perfect and impregnable, to warm them and give them light, and so I must for all of eternity...
“But...” She looked back up, tears pouring down her face as she looked at Oleander, a smile on her, though one sadder than a sea of tears, “Sometimes, all I want is to relax, to... live. And so, with the power of an artifact I stole from the Changelings centuries ago and have never had the heart to return, I harness their power, and... become a normal Pony, even if just for a time. And..... you broke that.”
Oleander gulped in fear, though there was little anger in the Alicorn’s face; she was instead simply sad and exasperated. “S-sorry,” She muttered back, unable to think of anything else to say, and flared her magic, returning the golden amulet from the ether and holding in her aura for a moment, then tossing it to the other mare, who quickly grabbed it in her own.
Celestia hesitated a second before looking at the amulet, and she stared at it blankly for several more. Opening her mouth, still she remained silent for a time, but eventually uttered in a blank, dead voice, “Empirically, I know that my disguise is hardly compromised, and there will merely be some questions I will have to deal with if I return to it, before my peace fully returns, but...”
“You’re terrified regardless,” Oleander concluded, getting a solemn nod from the Princess, who soon summoned a small box before opening it and place the amulet upon its velvet interior. She stared at the magical piece of jewelry for a moment, specifically at the broken necklace of it, but then just simply closed the box and returned it to whence it came.
“I can’t I say empathize, Celestia,” The Unicorn added, bringing the mare’s gaze back to her, emotions still hidden but plain as day, yet the intrigue in her sister’s was enough. She went on though, emphatic, “I’m no immortal, and while Fred certainly is, neither of us have really desired to hide from our own actions. No; if anything, we force ourselves into those consequences, as we’ve been trapped without purpose or meaning for far too long.”
Luna tilted her head just a bit. “‘Trapped’?”
“Metaphorically for her, literally for me,” Fred butted in, wavering somewhat in place. “Sure feels nice to play with a living soul like putty after fourteen-odd centuries of held under a seal in some dumb cave.”
“And that damned Order...” Oleander grumbled, looking down for a moment, missing the glare Luna leveled at the tome, who waggled his ribbon bookmark like a taunting tongue. “The High Priestess was hardly evil, and did care for us, but was simply too damned entrenched in her religion to actually bother to be pragmatic.” Taking in a breath, she stared in a somewhat deadpan look at Celestia and said, “I know massively important figures in my world are nowhere nearly as stressed as you are, and I believe it’s just down to the way they approach things. The High Priestess has everything come down to religion, and the Council, when they actually do something at least, always delegates tasks to others like the sociopathic diplomats they are, and the Empress...
“Okay, there is some needed explanation for her,” She went on to say, and paused while looking pensive for a moment before continuing, “The Empress of... how is it pronounced again?” She asked, looking over at Fred.
“火山, or Huoshan,” The Demon answered, “And the Empress herself is 女皇, the Nuhuang, or in full, 火山女皇, a.k.a. Huoshan Nuhuang.”
Nodding and looking back to the Princesses, not a single mare missing a beat, Oleander continued, “I’ve never met, or even seen the Empress of Huoshan before, but I’ve heard a lot about her from her Captain and Champion, Tianhuo. She’s undoubtedly immortal, and even records from the Order have confirmed as much. However, even the Order doesn’t know her name, and Tianhuo explained that it was because it doesn’t matter.
“I know such a ‘diplomatic’ and ‘optimistic’ Ungulate such as yourself despises communism and the rule of Empires, but...” The Unicorn trailed off for a moment, then just rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Her subjects are happy and safe; pirates have been trying to penetrate their capital to steal things for centuries, and they’ve succeeded maybe only three times in total. She’s devoted herself to her Empire, even stripping herself of her name, and...” She tilted her head just slightly, pensive, but confident, “Yet, I’ve never heard her be described as exhausted in any capacity. Not by those who’ve fought her, tried to flee from her, nor even her closest subordinates; no, instead she’s always lively and calm, the perfect picture of who she ought to be in spite of every reason to be otherwise.”
Oleander leveled a stare at Princess Celestia, disappointment and beleaguerment directed at the ruler that was hardly a ruler, and she finished, “The High Priestess and the Empress have given themselves to their positions, becoming the leaders their subjects deserve and being satisfied with that, but you... You’re just a mortal trapped in an eternal body.”
The Alicorn smiled through her tears, the specific type of joy that came from being understood clear on her face. “Exactly,” She said, sitting up and wiping her eyes, “I’m exceptional at hiding my pain, at keeping all that agony to myself, but all that does is let it build... You’ve only seen it because of how you broke something I thought indestructible, and pursued it further with unshakable will.”
“Eh, we’re just being nosey,” Fred commented from the side, bringing an odd look from the sisters and a deadpan one from Oleander.
“I’m looking for answers, Fred,” The Unicorn corrected, looking back towards the other Ponies, “And a Winged Unicorn in a world devoid of them seemed as good a place as any to find them. And while you have provided me some answers,” She went on, sighing a bit, “You haven’t with the most important of them all: how the bloody hell are we supposed to get back to our world?”
Luna took the conversation from her sister; “‘Tis a good question, and one we must need to understand the magics that govern these world before an answer shall come to us.” Before she could continue though, her ears pricked up at something, and then both other Ponies actively did the same, allowing them to hear frantic hoof-falls rapidly approaching the door behind Oleander. “However, it seems that must wait...”
Oleander and the Unicornomicon beside her turned around while moving away from the door, and none too soon before the door burst open, a guard in slightly less polished armor than the two that were guarding the door itself looking between all the creatures inside for a moment, then settling on Princess Celestia. “Princess, there is an urgent issue within the Castle,” They spoke, their voice beleaguered from their galloping, but still dutiful and controlled.
“If you mean the guards that have been knocked out, I’m already aware,” Celestia spoke, her voice having turned into a fully controlled and resolute tone befitting her position, which did manage to calm the guard before her, but only slightly.
“Affirmative, but there is something else recently brought to our attention from elsewhere,” They returned, an odd hint of something in their voice that felt almost... helpless?
“Let me guess,” Luna begun, grabbing the guard’s attention with her forceful and commanding tone, “Ponyville?”
The guard nodded, getting an exasperated snort out of the Princess. “It seems we shall have to postpone this discussion until later, Oleander,” She said to the Unicorn in question while she moved for the door, the guard backing out while Celestia stood up.
“How bloody convenient,” Oleander sneered as she let Celestia follow her sister out of her room, and then trailed the two of them, with Fred at his side, the door slamming closed behind them.
Author's Note
This one definitely got out of hand.
I had a vague idea of the plot points I wanted to follow here going in, and tried to add some other stuff I was interested in at the time, but it just really diluted the story here.
However, I am quite happy with Oleander and Fred’s characterization, with the whole ‘casually dealing with extremely dark magics’ making for great fun.
Celestia is obviously more important here than Luna, and I feel I did her better as well, with her characterization under her disguise being fitting for her situation.