The young filly crouched protectively over the younger-still foal who was huddled beneath the elder’s wings. They were both covered in cuts and bruises, manes dishevelled in tangled messes, and their eyes spoke of a desperation that screamed out for food, water, shelter, and protection, though the older filly showed a fiery determination to protect the younger. They both stared up at the figure standing before them; a hulking mass of metal and menace, it had approached them under their small overhang made by a series of large rocks the two had been using as cover to hide, without a word, and was now simply staring at them with an unwavering gaze.
“Celestia…” the young foal whined. “Tia, I’m scared” Celestia crouched lower, shielding her dark-blue-coated sister with her own white-coated body.
“It’s okay Luna” Celestia reassured her. “We’re going to be ok” She hoped her sister could not hear the lie in her voice, because to her it was as plain as day. “Just stay close, we’re going to be ok.” The figure before them shifted its head slightly, and Celestia’s eyes were immediately drawn to it again. She glared up at it defiantly.
“What do you want with us?” She demanded, putting on her bravest voice, if only to try and comfort Luna. The Pony in front of her – for it was a pony, Celestia saw; one encased in a huge set of burnished silver Sentinel armor – tilted its head slightly to the side. A hollow voice rang out from inside the helmet.
“You two are sisters?” it queried, and Celestia was taken aback, for the voice was female. It was a moment before she was able to stutter a reply.
“Y-Yes, we are” The Sentinel pony studied Celestia from behind her metal helmet, taking in her wings, her horn, her bedraggled coat and tangled mane. She mumbled something that sounded much like ‘prophecy’, before clearing her throat, and spoke clearly.
“You are…” she paused, seemingly searching for the right word to use. “You are different.” she concluded. “You have wings and a horn; a sight I for one, have never seen before, and you show determination in your stance, and fire in your eyes. You are fuelled by your desire to protect your sister, but even you are afraid.” Celestia snarled, and the Sentinel quickly continued. “You are right to be afraid. These are harsh times.” She gestured towards the surrounding landscape. Barren hills and desolate landscapes stretched out as far as the eye could see, ending in a blood-red horizon which expanded into a crimson sky. On the side of a distant mountain nestled a castle city, its black spires and nightmarish buttresses reaching up into the sky, as if to shout defiance to the heavens themselves. It was home of the tyrannical rulers who took such delight in the suffering of their subjects. Screams from the prisoners in the castle could be heard even from this far away. Other sounds permeated the waste, such as the predatorial wails of carnivorous creatures, searching for their next meal, or the screeching of the huge carrion birds that were a constant presence in the sky. Volcanoes erupted in the distance, spewing forth constant streams of smoke, fire, and molten rock. Celestia grimaced at the sight, and she heard Luna whimper behind her.
“You see, you are no coward. Even my armor is not enough protection to ensure my safety.” Celestia took a closer look at the armor the pony was wearing. It was indeed an impressive display of strength that she was even able to move whilst wearing it, let alone fight. This, as well as her lack of a horn, bespoke the Sentinel as an Earth Pony. Pegasi and Unicorns lacked the physical constitution for such a feat. It was clearly practical armor, not ceremonial too, as it lacked decoration above an insignia on the chest and helmet – a pony reared on its hind legs, brandishing a sword in triumph over a fallen opponent. – The breastplate was a solid wall of metal, which connected in some unseen way to several moving plates covering the pony’s joints. The entire suit seemed to be made out of overlapping plates of thick steel, which slid over and under one another to give the wearer as great a range of movement as possible, whilst still providing a comprehensive defence. A mark had also been engraved onto the armour’s flank, in the same spot the pony’s cutie mark would be. The mark shown on the armor was a large silver kite shield over two crossed swords. The Sentinel noticed Celestia studying her armor, and gestured back to the mark on the flank.
“This is the symbol of the Sentinels. It means we are a steadfast defence for our comrades, and others who are in need.” Next she gestured to the insignia on her chestplate. “And this is the sign of The Sanctuary. We are a group of ponies dedicated to the safety of the remaining residents of this land.” Celestia’s eyes widened, and Luna gasped quietly. “You are lucky I found you, instead of more wild beasts or, even worse, the agents of Chaos. My name is Glimmering Light, but my comrades call me Glimmer. I heard your sister call you Celestia, and you call her Luna. Who are you?” Celestia paused, confused.
“You… you already know who we are” she stuttered, and Glimmer shook her head.
“No, child” she replied. “I know your names. Not who you are. Tell me about yourselves, I want to know your story.” Celestia glanced around nervously, afraid of staying in the one spot for too long. Glimmer noticed this. “We have some time” she reassured the frightened filly. “You have an eye for cover, it seems, and this spot is well hidden from unwelcome eyes; for now at least.” Celestia gulped, her nerves taut to breaking point, and then began her story.
It had been several weeks since she had woken up, dazed and disoriented, in the ruins of a destroyed building, desperately clutching a small, dark blue foal protectively to her. She remembered nothing of the events that had led to this scenario. She remembered some basic things, like her name, and basic facts known to every pony; but above all, she most remembered the fierce desire to protect the child nestled against her chest, who was not much younger than herself. They had clearly been in the building when it had collapsed, but thanks to their small size, they had managed to avoid being crushed. Once the foal had awoken, and Celestia had managed to quiet her crying, she told the younger filly her name. After establishing that the foal’s name was Luna, and that she too, remembered nothing other else, the two had crawled through the wreckage of the house, trying to find a way out. There had been bodies. Half a dozen crushed or burned corpses were visible under the rubble, and Celestia had to look away, and cover Luna’s eyes until they were out of sight.
They stayed near the ruins of the building for several days, mainly because it was the only source of food and shelter the two knew of, but eventually, they could scavenge from the wreckage no more, and were forced to find somewhere else to hide, and something else to eat. Ever since then, they had been wandering aimlessly, finding any shelter they could, surviving by eating from whatever vegetation they could find, and by hiding from any dangers that had come their way. There had been many close calls throughout the weeks; many times had a beast come so close to discovering them that Celestia had been about to dive out of hiding and hope she could defeat or scare off the creature before it discovered Luna. That was never necessary though, until a constellation beast – a creature seemingly made up entirely out of a dark blue, starry night sky in the shape of a snake – had surprised them while they were sleeping. Its hissing had woken Celestia, and in that critical moment of realisation and comprehension of her situation, she had truly believed she was going to die. But then a pony-shaped lump of metal – which Celestia now knew was this Sentinel, Glimmer – had attacked and slain the creature. Its broken corpse was merely an indistinct blur at this point, as the bodies of fallen constellation monsters faded into nothingness when they died.
As Celestia told her story, Glimmer listened intently, asking odd questions about the hiding places they had chosen and the foods they had eaten and, stranger still, how Celestia had felt during all the tense moments of near discovery. She had nodded in approval at everything the filly had told her, from the covered outcrops and rocky valleys they had used as cover, to the roots of the gnarled trees and the bulbs found under the small bushes they had eaten, to the primary feeling of desperate fear Celestia had felt when coming seconds away from being eaten alive by a giant wolf or bear; but the fact that Glimmer approved of most, was that Celestia was never afraid for herself. She was afraid for her sister. All of her fear stemmed from the overpowering desire to keep Luna safe, and the worry that she would get hurt. This was a quality that Glimmer admired.
Once Celestia had finally finisher her tale, several hours had passed. This was the longest the sisters had ever stayed in the one place before; they never spent this long at one spot, even when they slept; always forcing themselves to move to a new location to avoid the risk of something stumbling across them, like it had earlier that night. Even Glimmer seemed anxious to keep moving.
“And… and that’s everything…” Celestia concluded. The Sentinel pony merely stared thoughtfully at her. It was a full minute before she said anything.
“That is indeed quite an adventure” she stated, causing Celestia to scowl. ‘Adventure’ was putting it lightly. “You have spirit, determination, intelligence, survival instinct and a strong will to live and protect those you care about” Celestia couldn’t help but cock her head to the side inquisitively. Did she? All she seemed to do was run and hide. “You have one special property that’s let you survive up until now, and that will continue helping you throughout your life. You, Celestia, have heart. You may not understand that just yet, but you will in time.” Celestia shook her head this time. Glimmer was right; she didn’t understand. She had heart? What did that even mean? The Sentinel pony nodded, trying to reassure Celestia.
“Now, if you want food, shelter, and protection, for you and your sister, you will come with me.” Celestia hesitated. She knew they would not survive much longer out in the waste on their own, and this pony HAD saved their lives, and hadn’t attacked them yet, so she had no reason not to trust her. She nodded.
“Ok” Glimmer beckoned a foreleg for the two to follow, turned around, and walked out from under the boulder they had been taking cover underneath. “We have several underground sanctuaries scattered around the wasteland, and the closest one to us now is our capitol, called Haven, though we are still several days’ travel away.” Luna huddled close to Celestia as the elder sister made her way out of the overhang and followed the Sentinel.
The outcropping containing the small cave was partway up one of the rolling hills that dotted this part of the landscape, and as the trio came out into plain sight, Glimmer halted them.
“No matter what happens, you must do exactly as I say, do you understand?” she asked the sisters. Celestia nodded, and Luna shyly bobbed her head as well. “Good” Glimmer continued. “It is dangerous to be outside at all lately, so you must stay close to me. We will rest when needed, but will only stop to sleep when we find somewhere well-hidden. Be on your guard.” With that, the Sentinel took off down the hill at a slow trot, and Celestia, all but dragging Luna behind her, hurried to keep up. For hours, the three trekked along in silence, eyes wide, searching for any sign of threat or danger. Many times, they hid from flying predators, and occasionally from the land-based beast that came too close, but for the most part, they were able to skirt around most of the danger that may have confronted them on the ground. Glimmer was surprisingly lithe, agile, and stealthy in her heavy Sentinel armor, and as the day was nearing its end, Luna overcame her shyness, perked up her courage, and asked a question.
“Um… Glimmer?” she queried hesitantly. Being the first words the foal had ever spoken to her, Glimmer started, but immediately nodded her head for Luna to continue. “Um… your armour… is it… very heavy?” the Sentinel laughed. She had been expecting this. Everyone who hadn’t seen a Sentinel in armor before always asked. She stopped her trot, and turned to the young filly.
“The armor is very heavy” she replied. She looked around and, seeing that they were in the shade of a hill, with plenty of rock cover around, she reached a hoof up to her mouth and unclasped a small catch on one of her armoured boots. When she put her hoof on the ground, then took it away again, the boot stayed behind, revealing a light teal coloured foreleg. She turned back to Luna.
“Try lifting it, little one.” Luna’s eyes brightened and she looked back to Celestia for permission. Celestia glanced around herself and decided that, as long as this didn’t take too long, there was no harm in stopping here, so she nodded her assent. Luna smiled, and moved towards the armoured boot. It was almost big enough to fit two of her hooves inside at once, and when she wrapped her forelegs around it and tried lifting, it didn’t budge at all. She strained with all her filly might, but could not even move it a single inch. She moved away from the boot panting, and Glimmer couldn’t help but chuckle again as she placed her hoof back into the shoe, and clipped it shut with a stomp.
“You see Luna, we Sentinels train from a very young age to be worthy of this armor, and we practically live in it from the moment we are able to wear it. I spend almost every waking moment inside this shell, though the helmet is only really necessary when I’m outside.” Luna gaped at the pony who was so easily moving about in armor she couldn’t even lift a single piece of.
“Hey Glimmer?” Luna asked again, and the Sentinel bent her neck, so she was at eye-level with the foal. Luna looked at her pleadingly. “Glimmer… Do you think I’ll ever be as strong as you?” even Celestia giggled at this, and Glimmer gently put a hoof on the young foal’s head, ruffling her mane. Her touch was surprisingly gentle, considering the weight of her armour.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever be THAT strong kiddo” she replied, and Luna’s head drooped, all excitement gone from her eyes. “But” Glimmer continued, perking the foal’s ears back up. “I know for a fact, that you’ll grow up to be a strong, confident, brilliant mare someday, capable of great things” Luna lifted her head, and beamed brighter than Celestia had seen her since they had awoken in the wreckage that day several weeks ago, and from that point on, Luna was much more comfortable around their new friend.
The trio’s trek through the waste was indeed taking several days. The going was slow, constantly hiding from the unwanted attentions of the wild beasts and the Agents of Chaos that roamed the desolate landscape. Only once more did Glimmer have to actually fight, and that was against an Agent of Chaos that had found them whilst they were still a day’s hike from Haven. The black-cloaked unicorn featuring a dull grey hide and no cutie mark had discovered their hiding place when they were settling down to rest for the night. His eyes had been solid ovals of evil red light, no pupil or iris, and he cackled manically as he strutted confidently up to the trio.
“Stay low” Glimmer had cautioned, as she stepped in front of the two fillies. The menacing unicorn in front of them did not stop his advance as his horn charged with the tell-tale glow of magic. Celestia had felt a sensation run through her limbs and up her spine as the spell their foe was preparing charged in power, and the shiver she felt from Luna huddled beside her told her that her younger sister felt it too. It was a strange awareness that gave Celestia a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Whatever spell their enemy was about to cast, it was nothing friendly. She was about to warn Glimmer, when a bright red beam of magical energy burst forth from the Chaos agent’s horn, directed straight at Glimmer. The Sentinel merely puffed out her chest, and the spell rebounded off her armor, impacting against the ground several metres away, puffing up a huge cloud of dirt and debris as it exploded. The unicorn ceased his manic laughter, and stood, looking puzzled for a moment, before a look of fear overcame his confident expression, and he began frantically charging another spell. He never got the chance.
Glimmer charged him at that moment, and slammed the entire weight of her body and her armour against him, smashing him to the ground. Celestia had heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking, and felt sick again. The unicorn was still conscious, however, and struggled to rise despite the obvious strain of breathing with several smashed ribs, but didn’t get far as Glimmer approached and placed a hoof on his throat. She pressed down, and ignored his struggles until he stopped moving. It was an awful sight, and Celestia covered Luna’s eyes with her wing, and hugged her close as they cried into each other’s manes. It was one thing watching the Sentinel kill a monstrous beast, but to see her so dispassionately dispose of another pony… it sent shivers down Celestia’s spine.
“Are you alright?” Glimmer asked, as she returned after knocking the unicorn’s body down a small ravine nearby. Celestia, still holding Luna close, nodded, and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes before the stalwart mare could notice. She was surprised when Glimmer sat down next to her, and gently put a hoof over her and her sister.
“I’m sorry you had to see that…” She began, and held up a hoof when Celestia opened her mouth to say something. When she was sure the filly was not going to speak up, she continued. “The agents of Chaos… are not the ponies they once were. They have had their minds and souls stripped from them, and exist solely to wander the waste, killing or capturing everyone they find, Ponies, Griffins, whatever and whoever they come across.” Luna shivered again, and Celestia held her close as her little sister cried a new batch of tears. But despite this, it was the younger filly that spoke up first.
“Why… why didn’t he have a cutie mark?” She asked between sobs. “I mean… Tia and I don’t have our cutie marks, but we’re not old enough, are we?” Glimmer hesitated, and then gave the two a little squeeze before answering.
“Because the pony’s minds and souls have been corrupted, and all but removed; that pony doesn’t have an identity anymore. So their cutie marks vanish. They were once regular ponies, just like me once, before the ones who call themselves ‘rulers’ took their minds away. Having no cutie mark is one of the signs that a pony is an agent of Chaos. The other is their eyes. They have no pupils, no irises, and they glow red with some sort of inner light. It makes them easy to spot when its dark, but they creep even me out.” Celestia shuddered, remembering the hungry, deranged look in the Chaos agent’s all-red eyes, and the deranged laughter as it had approached. Still, to just kill another pony like that… Celestia couldn’t stand the thought.
“Can’t they be cured?” she asked, and Glimmer frowned sadly. Celestia knew the answer from that expression alone.
“No…” The answer was slow in coming, and Celestia knew that the Sentinel had asked the same questions of her own superiors. “We have had our top magicians and scientists working to find a way to restore these Ponies to their former selves but… no cure has been found. The few Agents we have managed to capture alive all either died in the attempt, or just go worse.” Celestia felt tears welling up in her eyes again. Glimmer gently nuzzled the filly, and she felt herself calming down again, though the sorrow she felt had not lessened. After several minutes, Glimmer spoke up again.
“We will stay here a little longer. This Agent was alone; the Unicorns usually are, so we should not be bothered again for a while.” Celestia nodded, and gave Luna a squeeze that comforted them both.
For an hour or more, the three lay in silence, until Luna’s whinnying snores began drifting up from under Celestia’s wing. Celestia herself could not slow her mind down enough for sleep. She was reeling with thoughts about Agents of Chaos, and monstrous rulers, and this mysterious mare who had saved their lives and promised them sanctuary. While it was true that Celestia had no reason not to trust Glimmer, it could also be said that she had no reason to trust her blindly either.
“Glimmer?” She queried, and the Sentinel, still fully armoured, perked her head up a little. “Why did you save us?” Glimmer shook her head.
“It’s a long story” she replied.
“Ok… how come you were on your own in the waste in the first place?” Celestia asked, and got another head shake in response. “Come on” the filly asked. “I want… no, I need to know Glimmer.” She tried as hard as she could to fill her voice with as much determination and strength as she could, and Glimmer sighed.
“Alright” she finally relented. “I guess it’s only fair you knew the whole story. I was originally sent out with a contingent of soldiers; there were ten of us, including two other Sentinels besides myself; we were escorting a Very Important Pony from Haven to one of the outlying Unicorn colonies. The pony we were escorting was a Research and Development scientist who was sent to the colony when they found… something there. I’m just a soldier, and her purpose in the colony wasn’t important to me. We managed to reach the colony without too much delay, and drop the VIP off in good time. The trip there only took us two weeks, a few days shorter than we had anticipated. But as we set out on our way back to Haven, we were ambushed about three days out by almost three dozen Agents of Chaos. They had been waiting for us, knew our exact route, our exact numbers… the only thing they didn’t seem to have right was the time, because they were clearly waiting for the scientist, rather than just us.” Celestia’s lower jaw was at the point of resting on the floor by this point. She swiftly snapped her mouth shut once she realised. Glimmer sighed, and continued.
“They weren’t expecting us to come from the direction we did. We saw them first, which helped us get the jump on them, but still… almost forty Agents of Chaos against ten soldiers? We never stood a chance, even with the element of surprise. They had hidden themselves amongst the stones on top of a plateau, and the more we took down, the more came out of hiding to attack us. A Sentinel’s armor has no weak spots, and can deflect bolts of magic thanks to special enchantments laid on it by our own magicians, but those in our company without Sentinel armor fell within the first few minutes, and even we can be overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers, and a slim sword or dagger can split between our armour plates.” Celestia couldn’t help but shudder as she imagined the confusion, the chaos of being involved in such a skirmish. A fight where order was thrown to the wind and it was all everypony could do to stay alive. Even that was beyond most of them, it seemed. She looked over to Glimmer, and saw that the Sentinel had removed her helmet, and was staring at the ground, lost in thought. There was the faint glisten of a tear in the corner of one of her eyes.
“How did you escape?” the filly asked. Glimmer came back to the present with a start, and grimaced at her before continuing.
“Before twenty minutes had passed, it was just me and one other Sentinel left standing, facing off against the better part of a dozen of them. We fought, back to back, as we had many times before…” Glimmer’s eyes began to properly tear up now, and Celestia would have gone to comfort her, would that have not disturbed Luna. It was several moments before the Sentinel spoke back up again, and when she did, her voice had regained some of its steel.
“He was… a very dear friend of mine... but the sword that was intended to slip between my armor plates and strike me down… instead smote him… he had thrown himself between me and our last opponents, crushing them with his armour’s weight. I lay there next to him as he died…” She trailed off, eyes glazing over again in painful reminiscence. Celestia struggled to find something to say, and came up short, so she sat there in silence, still unable to imagine such turmoil as the battle the Sentinel had just described. She didn’t need to say anything though, because the soldier spoke up first.
“He died an honourable death, in combat, like he would have wanted… We used to joke around about our future… getting married when times weren’t so tough… it would have been a grand wedding, in a huge, beautiful city. It would give everypony reason to hope and be happy, it would be a time for celebration and good cheer… we lack so much happiness these days…” It was all Celestia could do to stop her own eyes tearing up at this point. They had been in love? No wonder he had leapt in to save her, even at the cost of his own life… It was a lot like the determination she had to protect Luna. Several times over the past few weeks was she ready to do the exact same thing for her sister.
“Wow” a small voice spoke up, and Celestia started, not realising the foal was awake and listening. “Is there really beautiful city out there?” Luna asked, lifting her head so she could look at Glimmer, and the soldier looked startled herself that she had been listening too. She put on a brave face and smiled for the young blue filly.
“I’m sure there is Luna. Somewhere out there… and if there isn’t, I’m sure there will be one day. You never know, you might even help build it.” She winked, and Luna giggled, and lay her head back down again, and almost immediately fell back to sleep, no doubt dreaming of a beautiful city with pure golden sunlight streaming down onto a picturesque wedding, the teal-coloured bride, and unknown groom standing before the altar as a huge crowd gathered in celebration and joy. It was a vision that took over Celestia’s mind at that moment, and when Glimmer suggested they get some sleep, the wedding filled her dreams too.
It was only after a total of four days of quietly trekking through the waste that Glimmer finally brought the trio to a halt, with a short “We’re here”. The two fillies looked around eagerly, but couldn’t see anything aside from the same desolate landscapes that made up the majority of what they had been looking at for the last several weeks.
“Um…” Celestia spoke up, intending to ask where exactly here was, when Glimmer held up a hoof to silence her.
“Keep close to me, and try not to make any too sudden movements. The lookouts are always quite jumpy” the Sentinel declared as she moved slowly forwards down the entrance to a low valley that stretched out in front of them. There were several trees and shrubs dotted along its slopes, but the main feature here, as anywhere else they had seen, were the rocks and boulders that provided cover for any number of Sanctuary lookouts; or ambushing foes. The valley sank into the earth and the trio along with it, and as they descended, the walls swiftly became sheer cliffs far too steep to climb. Celestia quickly began to feel deeply claustrophobic. Her anxiety rose as her eyes caught movement in her peripheral vision, and she clutched Luna close. For better or for worse, they had followed the ironclad Sentinel pony here, and it was too late to turn back now. She just hoped she had made the right decision.
After several minutes of the walls getting higher, and closer, and the light getting darker, and Celestia’s nerves tightening almost to the breaking point, Glimmer brought them to a halt in front of a seemingly innocuous slab of stone wall, five or six times Celestia’s height, and of a similar width, surrounded by the sparse bushes that littered the rest of the valley. It was only when Celestia studied the slab closely that she noticed that this was not just another ordinary slab of stone wall. It was too smooth, too uniform in its dimensions. She was just coming to terms with exactly what this slab of stone meant when Glimmer raised an armoured hoof, and pounded on the stone, three quick raps, followed by two slower beats, and declared;
“I am Sentinel Glimmering Light! By the will of The Sanctuary I departed, and with the goodwill of all Pony kind in my heart do I return!” Her voice bounced mutedly off the walls of the valley around them, only traveling far enough for those very close to them to hear. For several moments after Glimmer’s words faded from the air, nothing happened. Then the flat wall in front of them began to shudder and shift, and then it slid away, seemingly into the patch of stone wall beside it, revealing a very tall, wide doorway.
Celestia gasped, and heard a mirrored intake of breath from Luna beside her. The portcullis opened up to a tunnel dug through the very earth. It stretched forward a dozen paces, before descending steeply into the depths below. The walls were all rigidly square, and covered with engravings of trees, plants, animals, ponies and all manner of other things that spoke of beauty and peace. Lanterns burned at regular intervals, shedding a reasonable measure of light along the whole passageway, and as they moved inside, Celestia’s gaze was drawn to a particular impression on the wall, depicting a stalwart pony wearing a massive suit of armor, standing protectively in front of two small fillies. The two fillies had both wings and horn, and one was slightly smaller than the other. She was just about to make an excited comment when Glimmer spoke hurriedly.
“We must keep moving, little ones. They must close the gate, and it is not safe to be near here when the stone moves.” The armoured pony gave Celestia a nudge with a foreleg, and the filly reluctantly moved away from the wall and let herself be guided down the passageway. She noticed a small door cut into the wall at the top of the slope they were about to descend which probably contained the controls for the huge stone door. She didn’t get a good look inside, but she saw several lightly-armoured ponies working the levers of a huge mechanism of gears and rollers, along with several ranks of battle-armoured Ponies standing ready to exit into the hallway, before she began her descent, and had to pay attention to where she was walking.
“Normally, you would have been accosted by the guards at that outpost” Glimmer said, noting Celestia’s interest in the side chamber. “But these ponies know me, and they trust my judgement on you. You will still be questioned when we reach the main chambers, but with your passion and heart, as well as my word, you will not be harmed.” Celestia finally allowed herself to relax somewhat, her fears of betrayal from Glimmer assuaged. If she wanted to kill them, she would have done it long ago, or at least before she let them into Haven.
After that, they trotted along in silence for several minutes, the only sounds the hollow clops of their hoof-steps echoing around in the tunnel, before the downward sloping passage flattened, and opened out into a large cavern.
Large? Celestia thought. The cavern wasn’t large. It was HUGE. It spanned a few thousand paces to a side easily, and was tall enough that the ceiling faded away into a distant sky overhead. The huge space was filled with nothing but ponies, from guards standing at gates or patrolling in rank-and-file, to civilians moving about on their daily business, to a few ponies in lab coats who were hurrying between gates; the only exceptions were several griffons flying overhead, and some buffalo who were milling about in one corner. Celestia even thought she saw a Zebra pass through the crowd, but when she looked again, the striped creature was gone. There were no dividers, no partitions; it was all just one huge space. A massive stage with a grand speaking podium was set into the wall at one end, making this gargantuan cavern an assembly place of some sort. The entire scene left both Celestia and Luna in a wide-eyed gape as the sounds of hundreds of ponies going about their business in this Haven assaulted them from seemingly every side.
Glimmer led them around the circumference of the space before turning into another tunnel on the side opposite the one they had entered on. This tunnel was significantly smaller – about twice as tall as the Sentinel pony but still wide enough for all three of them to walk side by side with room to spare – and had other passageways leading off it at semi-regular intervals. This was not a busy path, however, and most of the noise was left outside in the main cave, so Celestia could finally hear herself think.
“Where are we going?” She asked Glimmer as they reached the T-Junction at the end of the tunnel they were following, and turned left. Glimmer spared the filly a glance, and a reassuring nod.
“I’m taking you to see the council. You two are new, and there are things you need to know, and things we need to know about you, if you’re going to be staying here.” Celestia nodded slowly, her mind racing. Staying here? They were going to have a place to stay? It was almost too good to be true, and once the full reality hit her, she almost fell to her knees. Glimmer put a reassuring – and supporting – hoof on her shoulder, and she managed to keep her balance as they approached a large, fashionably decorated metal door. It was a double-door, and each face was the mirror copy of the other. Twisting curlicues framed the edges, whilst the centre was made up of twisting vines that spiralled around before leaving a circular gap in the middle, which contained the emblem of The Sanctuary, a Pony brandishing a sword in victory.
Guarding the egress were two fully armour-clad Sentinel ponies on each side, their armor much like Glimmer’s, except with far more decoration, such as the flared wings on their helmets, and the flanges on their chest plates, which Glimmer’s armor certainly did not have. Their faces were hidden behind their helmets, but their stoic poses were intimidating enough without seeing their expressions. One of them stepped forward as the trio approached, and spoke in hushed tones with Glimmer for several minutes, their voices too low for Celestia to make anything out, but soon the iron doors ground open, and they were ushered inside.
The room beyond the steel portcullis was a large waiting room of sorts, lined with benches, but little in the way of decoration. Several ponies were seated about the room, all apparently awaiting an audience with the council. When they were immediately directed past all the waiting ponies to a passage cut into the far wall, several stood to complain, but one glance from one of the guards from outside who had followed them in, silenced them before they made a sound.
The path they were following let out into a large, well-lit room that featured several wall hangings depicting scenes of victory in battle, or of safety and growth above ground, or other scenes of hope and inspiration. In the centre of the room sat a large, curved table, almost a full semi-circle, at which sat six weary-looking ponies in high-backed chairs, two Unicorns, two Pegasi, and two Earth Ponies, one male and one female each. Glimmer halted just inside the entrance, so Celestia and Luna came to a stop behind her. The guard that had followed them in spoke in a clear, loud voice.
“Sentinel Glimmering Light returning from escort duty, bringing two new guests!” One of the Unicorns who sat in the middle of the table waved a hoof in dismissal.
“Thank you Sentinel Ironwall, you may return to your post” Ironwall snapped a salute before turning around and exiting the room. The whole council turned their eyes towards the trio they had been left with; Glimmer standing proudly as ever in her heavy, travel and battle worn armor, and the frightened Luna hiding behind her older sister. The Pony sitting to the far left side of the table spoke up.
“Glimmer, we would have you make your report” Luna flinched at the commanding voice coming from the wizened Earth Pony echoed around the room. Glimmer gave her a sympathetic look, and placed a hoof on her shoulder before turning back to the council.
“I will give my full report in good time, councillors, but I must request that you allow me to begin with these two. They have been through severe hardships, and should be attended to with all haste.” Many council members shook their head at the Sentinel pony’s defiance, as if it were a regular occurrence which, Celestia figured, was probably the case. The council ponies glanced at each other, before the Earth Pony spoke again.
“Very well Glimmer, we will tend to these two first, then we will expect your report in full.” Glimmer nodded, and began to tell the story of how the three had met, but was interrupted by the second Unicorn council-pony, her voice ringing out like a crystal bell.
“Actually, Sentinel, maybe it is best we heard from the fillies themselves.” All eyes turned to Celestia and Luna, and the younger shrunk under their gaze. Celestia wrapped a comforting wing around her. The Unicorn continued. “Tell us little ones, what is your story?” Celestia hesitated, and couldn’t stop herself from glancing towards Glimmer. The soldier gave her a reassuring nod. She looked back to the council, and recounted the events of the past several weeks, since the moment she awoke with no memories.
The council listened, and asked many of the same questions as Glimmer had, though far less of them, and even Luna perked up enough courage to add a few points in as well. They also asked her many questions about her past like who her parents were, and why she had wings AND a horn, none of which she was able to answer, which only seemed to spur more of the same questions. When she reached the point where they met Glimmer, the Sentinel pony began adding things she had noticed about the sisters as well. She was far too flattering, in Celestia’s opinion; claiming she was courageous and brave, as if she did anything but hide.
By the end of the tale, the council looked more exhausted than ever, and Celestia certainly felt the same. Luna was lying on the floor at Glimmer’s feet, sleeping fitfully. The council ponies began discussing amongst themselves, but Celestia was too weary to pay attention. She caught snippets of their conversation; things about rooms, duties, and magic. It wasn’t until Glimmer gave her a nudge after several minutes that she realised that the council was finished its discussion and was trying to get her attention.
“Sorry, what?” she asked, still half in a daze.
“I said that you, Celestia, and your sister Luna, are free to go.” One of the Unicorn council-ponies repeated. “You have been assigned to room two-one-oh-seven for temporary residence. You will be given a week to recover from your journey, then you will both be given responsibilities around Haven. We will send a messenger to you in the morning to inform you about Haven policies and procedures. A guard will escort you to your room now, where you will find two beds, and some food. Sentinel Glimmer will remain behind and make her report.” She waved a dismissive hoof at the two, and Celestia looked worriedly at Glimmer, who smiled back as a guard entered the room, and approached the two fillies.
“Room two-one-oh-seven you two. Follow me.” Celestia gave Glimmer one more look, before turning to her sister and, rather than wake the sleeping filly, nudged her nose under the little blue foal, and hoisted her onto her own back. As the guard trotted off out of the council chamber and through the reception area, still half in a daze, Celestia followed, careful to walk steadily, so as not to wake Luna, but heard the voices of the council ponies arguing. The rock walls were quite soundproof, but her tired mind managed to catch snippets of their conversation.
“They’re… important… just leave them alone?… Zebra… about the…Pegasus Seer… Prophecy.”
The sound of the argument faded as the distance between her and the council lengthened, but Celestia perked her ears up at the second mention of prophecy she had heard since meeting Glimmer, and reflected on the strange carving she had found on the wall up by the city entrance, as the guard led her down the tunnel and away to her new room, and her new life.
“But Tia, why do we have to work?”
The small foal’s voice echoed slightly around the sleeping chamber as Celestia got off the low, stiff bed she had been given to sleep on, which was a far sight better than anything else the two had slept on that they could remember. The bell that Haven used to keep track of time had just chimed its seventh and final note – The guards had told them that the seventh morning bell was called the ‘Wake Up Bell’ – and the two fillies were still dragging themselves into the waking world. Celestia frowned at Luna as the younger sister rolled over onto her back in bed, her head hanging upside-down off the edge of the pallet.
“You know why Lulu” She replied. “Our stay in Haven hasn’t just been given to us. We have to help out and earn our stay here. Otherwise they won’t want to keep us around.” Luna gave a gasp of shock, and a look of horror crossed her face as she leapt out of bed and almost crashed into Celestia in her hurry, a look of desperate pleading in her eyes.
“You don’t mean they’ll throw us out do you?” Celestia breathed and exasperated sigh, and wrapped a foreleg around her young sister, and pulled her into a close hug.
“If we do what we’re told, and don’t make any trouble for anypony, I’m sure they’ll keep us around. We just have to prove that we can be useful.” Luna’s horror turned to grim determination, and her face adopted a look which declared that she would do any task they set her. Celestia felt much the same. They had been given shelter and food, and had done nothing so far to deserve it.
It had been several days since their arrival in the bustling underground metropolis. The room they had been assigned was little more than a square box dug into the mud-coloured ground, braced with stone supports on the rough walls and ceiling, and contained nothing more than two pallets for beds, a low stone table cut out of the same rock as the floor – which currently bore host to a few plates and cups; remnants of the previous night’s meal – and a small side-room for a bathroom. They had been left more or less alone the entire time, with the exception being the pony that brought their meals, who was a small, brown-coated stallion, barely older than a colt, who never stayed long enough for Celestia to strike up a conversation. She wanted to ask about Haven, about The Sanctuary, about the Council; about such a huge number of subjects she didn’t even have time to decide which to ask before the pony dropped off his delivery and scampered out the door.
The complete absence of anypony aside from each other to talk to, combined with the fact that they had been told absolutely nothing about what they could and could not do in Haven, which made them scared to even set hoof outside their door, caused the sisters an immense amount of boredom. They had spent the last three days doing nothing but sit in their rooms eating the meals of dry hay and some sort of vegetable soup that were brought to them.
Celestia had finally decided that she needed to do something. Her limbs itched with the need for action, and her muscles ached from the sudden transition from constant use to sudden inaction. Her mind found itself with more time to think than subjects to actually think about. Even Luna had nothing else to say that hadn’t been said already.
Celestia had kept the continuing mentions of prophecy from her sister, as well as the strange carving she had seen on the wall near the city entrance. She didn’t even know what it all meant, nor if any of it was even relevant to them. There was no need to worry the little foal now that they had finally found a place where they could be completely safe, without the need to sleep with an eye open for danger; a place where they were given enough food, without having to scavenge dirty tubers and bulbs from the ground and still have a hollow feeling in their stomachs afterwards.
The memories of the constant empty stomach, and fear for their lives, made Celestia shudder; it was behind them now, and there was no need to worry about it anymore, unless they got themselves thrown out of Haven, which was an eventuality the filly decided she would do everything in her power to prevent; but she needed to get out and do something. Even if it was only exploring the tunnels around their immediate residence, she was determined that this day wouldn’t be another to go to waste.
She was just about to act on her burst of courage and determination, when there was a knock on the stone beside their ‘door’. Because of the incredible shortage of trees in the waste, absolutely no wood was spared for things like doors or tables or chairs, so the sister’s only means of privacy was a sheet of opaque cloth fastened over the door-sized hole in the wall, which could be unclasped on one side and drawn across to allow entry. Celestia sighed.
Just another food delivery I guess, though he’s an hour or so early this morning, she thought as she moved towards the door to greet the usual pony, but when she drew the cloth door back, she was confronted by a blue-green coated mare with an uncouth but well-kept purple mane which fell in a wavy cascade down one side of her face, and a cutie mark featuring a dark raincloud with a single beam of golden sunlight shooting down from it. The Pony was well toned, with strong muscles and a solid frame, and her steely, knowing, aqua-coloured eyes spoke of a sizeable level of intellectual strength as well. It was during the study of the visitor’s face that Celestia finally connected the dots, and gasped loudly as she realised who this pony was.
“Good morning Celestia!” exclaimed Glimmer as the white filly gaped at her. Celestia shook her head, her frazzled case of bedmane causing her hair to bounce around her face and get in her eyes. Her head clear of the haze, but her vision obscured by her mane, she dashed forward and all but threw herself at her friend, and was on the verge of tears of happiness at seeing the Sentinel again, mixed with the joy of finally having somepony to talk to. Thoughts of her sister calmed her a little; she had to be strong in front of the foal; she had to keep her spirit up, and keep Luna confident.
Her mind calmed, Celestia wrapped her forelegs around Glimmer, and squeezed her in a tight embrace. Luna held no such restraints, and Celestia barely had time to get out of the way before a small blue shape tore past, and slammed itself into the iron-hard wall of pony in the doorway. Glimmer let herself be tackled to the ground under the barely noticeable weight of the small foal, and laughed and giggled along with her as they hugged. Celestia smiled; glad to see her sister so happy again.
She’s finally acting like her old self.
She froze…
The thought was sudden, unexpected, and the filly wasn’t sure where it came from. Was her subconscious remembering something from her past? How had Luna acted before? Why couldn’t she distinctly remember anything? Scores of questions shot through her mind, each one bringing more and more uncertainties. She was so caught up in her thoughts that it wasn’t until she felt a hoof rest itself on her shoulder that she realised Glimmer was trying to talk to her.
“Sorry!” she exclaimed, jumping with surprise. “What?” Glimmer laughed, and Celestia saw that the armourless Sentinel had hoisted Luna up onto her back.
“I said; how have you been doing these last few days?” Glimmer repeated. It still took Celestia a few seconds to comprehend the question as her mind reeled with the repercussions of the thought that had come unbidden into her mind. When she finally caught a grasp on the situation at hoof, she shook her head again.
“Honestly” she replied, “we’ve been bored out of our skulls.” Glimmer released another burst of laughter, and ruffled Celestia’s bedraggled mane with her hoof. “Nopony has told us anything, other than that we have another three days with nothing to do” the filly continued. “Not even the pony who delivers our meals will stay long enough for me to talk to him.”
“Well” Glimmer began, looking down at the dejected filly with a motherly expression in her eyes. “The council decided that, after everything you’ve been through, you could use several days to recuperate.” The soldier studied Celestia from head to hoof, and noted that all the filly’s cuts, bruises and scratches were all healed, and her mane wasn’t anywhere near as horrifically dishevelled as it had been several days ago, though it was still unruly. A quick glance at Luna showed her that all of the foal’s injuries were gone too.
“You have recovered remarkably quickly little ones; we thought you would be bedridden for half a week at the least.” Celestia glanced over herself quizzically. Only having memories as recent as the past several weeks, she had no idea how quickly a pony was supposed to heal, but she had noticed that after that first decent night’s rest, she had felt marvellously rejuvenated. She had simply put it down to finally having a place to rest and be safe.
“How long are you going to be here?” Luna asked, her small voice perking up from behind Glimmer’s neck.
“Well, I’ve been given several days of time off myself” she replied, and Luna made a loud squee noise and threw her tiny forelegs around Glimmer’s muscular neck. “I’m not the kind of pony who likes to lie around and do nothing though” she continued. “So I volunteered to show you two around Haven, and teach you all the things you need to know to fit in here. Just some basic etiquette stuff, emergency contingencies, things like that.” Celestia couldn’t help but move up and hug the Sentinel pony again as they lay down in a circle, Luna hopping off Glimmer’s back to join in.
It was several hours into the day before Glimmer was satisfied enough with the sisters’ progress to let them outside. The Sentinel had instructed them on a great number of things, from how to address other ponies they had not met, to which titles to use for the Council ponies, to where they were and were not allowed to go.
“For now, you had best keep between the Great Entrance Hall and this housing block” Glimmer had instructed them. “Many other areas are not fit for an unwary filly to wander into.” Celestia had sighed at this, and Luna dropped her head. They had known there were probably areas that they weren’t supposed to go, but confining them to the huge cavern they had seen when they walked in, and their rooms? The remainder of the week was going to be a painful experience.
“What kinds of places are there that we shouldn’t be going?” Luna asked, curiosity and adventure glistening in her eyes, but Glimmer shook her head.
“A great many things from sensitive agricultural facilities to construction sites” she replied. “An inexperienced pony may accidentally ruin some of the finer experiments into food growth and water constitution, and a tunnel under construction is no place for a filly.” The excitement died in the small filly’s eyes, and Celestia couldn’t help but move over and give her a squeeze. Seeing the disappointment in her young charge’s eyes, Glimmer hastily continued.
“But, I’m going to be around to keep you two out of trouble until you’re capable of getting about Haven yourselves without causing an incident.” Luna’s ears perked up at this, and the look the filly gave the Sentinel was one of pure joy, which matched the expression in her voice when she spoke.
“Oh Glimmer, thank you!” She exclaimed, wriggling about in Celestia’s forelegs in excitement, and Glimmer smiled at the display of exuberance.
“How long will you spend with us?” Celestia perked up from behind the neck of her excited sister.
“I’ll be meeting you every morning, and leaving every afternoon up until you start your assigned work tasks.” The soldier replied. Another mention of work perked Luna’s curiosity enough to settle the filly’s squirming.
“What kind of work will we be doing?” the inquisitive foal asked.
“Well” Glimmer began, pausing for a moment to think before continuing. “I’m not sure exactly what tasks you’ll be given, but it could be anything from helping out the older ponies, to serving in the kitchens; there’s no telling what you’ll get. You’ll also probably be enrolled in magic and flight schools, seeing as neither of you have shown any inclination to even try and use magic or fly since I’ve met you.” Celestia stretched out her wings, which she usually forgot she had, and prodded her horn with a hoof.
“I’ve never really thought about using magic or flying” the while filly conceded. “It never really seemed important after hiding and finding food to eat.” The filly sisters’ stalwart companion nodded her head in understanding. She was no stranger to the waste, and while the ability to cast magic and fly would have undoubtedly helped the two fillies during their time in the harsh wilderness, it was no place for their first experiment with magic.
“Well, little ones, you’re safe here in Haven, so there’s no sense in both of you not learning to use your wings and horns.” Noticing a shuffling under her forelegs, Celestia glanced down to see that Luna had started wriggling again, the excitement of learning to cast spells and fly clearly racing through her veins as her head shook, making her light-blue mane fly in a wild halo around her head. The safety and security of Haven had clearly gone to her head.
Not that Celestia blamed the little filly for getting caught up in the excitement of finally having a place to stay, with beds to come back to every night, and food to eat when they were hungry. She was just happy that they finally had no reason to worry about beasts sneaking up behind them at night, or soulless Ponies trying to capture them. She knew that here, Luna was safe, so she was content.
“Can we try magic now?” piped up Luna’s small voice from below Celestia’s forelegs. Glimmer cocked her head to one side, raising an eyebrow thoughtfully, and Celestia herself was surprised; only half because Luna was eager enough to try without a teacher. The other half was that she had not had the thought herself.
“I suppose there’s no harm in trying” Glimmer replied. “I’m no Unicorn, but I know the basics, and I know there’s nothing harmful in attempting small magics like levitation with no tutelage.” Luna’s excitement impossibly seemed to grow, to the point where Celestia was sure she was about to shed her skin. The Sentinel glanced around the room, searching, and when her eyes rested on the two clay mugs that the sisters had been using, she smiled.
“Ok, focus on your drinking mug.” Celestia complied, and turned her attention to the cup on the right. Luna crawled out from underneath her to get a better view on the mug on the left. “Now” Glimmer continued. “Close your eyes, and feel deep within yourself. You’ve both got horns, so this should come quite naturally to you. You should be able to feel the flow of energy, of magical power through your body.” Celestia, eyes closed, searched for this flow, and found it almost immediately. If she had to put it to words, she would have described it as a torrent of sparkling, blazing golden light, filling her very being. It was a euphoric experience, and it filled her with a giddy excitement and joy. The small giggles coming from beside her said that Luna felt the same.
“When you have found the flow, tap into its potential, and direct its power up though your horn. Using this magical energy, focus on your cup, and will it to lift off the table top.” Glimmer’s words seemed to echo around Celestia’s head, and she was hyper-aware of everything in the vicinity. She felt the small flaws in the stone floor under her hooves; she heard ponies talking in rooms down the hallway. She smelled the dust in their air, still not completely gone after residing in a room of such prolonged disuse.
There was also another sensation. It was a sensation she had felt only once before; when they had been attacked by the Soulless Unicorn, the Agent of Chaos, on the trek to Haven. It was different though. She still had the tingling sensation throughout her body, but absent was the nauseous feeling she had gotten in the pit of her stomach, which had warned her that the spell the Chaos Agent had been casting was hostile. She did not quite understand why she was getting this feeling until she noticed the left-hoof cup – Luna’s mug – was surrounded in a dark blue, transparent glow. Looking at Luna herself, she noticed the foal’s horn shared the aura.
“Well done Luna, well done!” Glimmer exclaimed as the cup slowly and shakily lifted itself off the table top. It rose, wobbling dangerously, to half a pace above the surface of the table before, under Glimmer’s instruction, Luna slowly lowered it again until it settled back with a hollow plonk. Luna was overjoyed.
“Celestia, I did it! I did it!” The foal jumped circles around the older sister, laughing with joy. Celestia smiled, and caught the filly in her forelegs and gave her a congratulatory hug.
“Well done Lulu, you did great.” In the back of Celestia’s mind was the tiniest hint of jealousy that her sister had achieved it before she had, but her much more dominant sensible part overrode it with a swift and harsh reprimand.
She’s your sister! Her rational side chastised. You should be happy for her. Celestia was interrupted from her inner discussion by Glimmer’s hoof on her shoulder.
“That was kind of you” the Sentinel complimented. “Letting your sister go first. You always did put her above yourself.” Celestia blushed and looked away. It had not been like that at all; her sister had managed it first, and that was all there was to it. Luna had ceased her bouncing, and was again concentrating very hard on her mug, which she was levitating through the air around the room. Again, she felt the stab of jealousy, but squashed it quickly. She was happy for her sister, and that was that.
She turned her attention back to her own clay cup, focusing on it in the same way she had before. Once more, she left inside herself, and found the light flowing through her body, and again she felt, heard, and smelled everything around her. She willed her magic to flow up her horn, and, her attention still solely attuned to her cup, willed the mug to move.
Nothing happened.
There was no glow coming from the cup, nor her horn. She could feel the magic flowing through her, but no visible effect was showing. Luna had stopped her dancing at this point, her own cup sitting on the floor beside her as she watched Celestia, probably expecting her to immediately be able to juggle both mugs at once.
Disappointment engulfed the white filly, and her head drooped as tears attempted to squeeze out of her eyes. She managed to hold them back by tightly closing her eyes. In her hyper-aware state, she felt the movement through the air before she felt her sister’s hoof on her foreleg. At the risk of her tears flowing freely, she opened her eyes and glanced down at her sister.
Luna’s eyes were full of sympathy and loving support. The overload of kindness finally forced the tears out to flow freely down her face, but it also brought a new determination. She steeled her resolve and, bolstered by the willpower given to her by her sister, she focussed again on the clay cup. She squeezed her eyes shut again, sensing the presence of the cup with her magic, rather than her sight. Suddenly, a blinding sensation bolted through her mind, and she immediately became aware of every object in the room all at once.
She knew exactly where every piece of the sparse, simple furniture in the room was. She knew the location of both the other Ponies in the room, of the two cups, of the plates still leftover from last night’s dinner. She felt things in the other rooms around them too; hundreds of objects and Ponies and everything else around her for hundreds of paces in every direction. Such an overload of sensory data shot a stab of pain through Celestia’s head, and her consciousness threatened to shut down in an attempt to stop the raging torrent of information.
“Uh… Tia…” Came Luna’s voice on the edge of Celestia’s awareness, but in her overwhelmed state, she failed to notice the concern in the young filly’s voice. She was determined though, and she focussed back on the mug, and with all her might, willed it to move.
“TIA!!!” Luna’s voice came again, but in a shriek of fear and desperation this time, and it shocked Celestia out of her state of sensory overload and when she opened her eyes, what she saw caught her breath in her throat.
Every single object in the room was surrounded by a brilliant, shimmering golden glow, the same colour as the flow of magic she had sensed inside herself. Even the table, which had been carved from the stone in the construction of the room, had been torn free from its foundations and floated in the air, and her two companions were also hovering above the ground.
“This… this is incredible…” Glimmer commented as she looked around at the aura surrounding her, shock clearly the dominant emotion in her voice, her face slack, eyes full of wonder and thought. Celestia turned her attention to her sister, and realised with horror that the foal’s eyes were filled with tears, the expression on her face one of terror. Shouts and screams from down the hall in both directions which drifted in from outside the room attested to a similar event happening in every room in the vicinity. Glancing up, Celestia saw the shattered remains of her mug pressed tightly against the stone of the ceiling. Where it had evidently flown and smashed with the force of her magic.
Terrified, she cut off the flow of magic from her horn, and the glow around everything in the room vanished, leaving it all to drop to the floor; including the two Ponies. Glimmer landed soundly, if not gracefully, on her hooves, and Luna fell roughly onto one of the padded beds in the corner. Celestia heard more shouts of protest from the rooms down the tunnel.
Glimmer was shaking her head in amazement, and Luna was curled up on the bed sobbing. Celestia sat down with a thump, her face slack.
I did that? She thought to herself. I lifted all those things? Even down the hall... I…her thought train stopped dead at the next revelation that came to her.
I made Luna cry…
She jumped to her hooves and raced to her sister’s side, who was still curled up on the bed, although her sobbing had calmed. Celestia hesitantly put a hoof Luna’s shoulder, and the small blue foal glanced up at her, eyes full of fear.
“Lulu…” Celestia whispered, and Luna flinched. “Luna… I’m sorry…” She lay down and put a foreleg over her younger sister, and nuzzled her neck softly, her own eyes welling up with tears again.
“Tia…” Luna said hesitantly. “Tia… its ok…” Celestia couldn’t help but pull back and stare at her sister in shock. Luna was the one who was scared, and yet the foal was trying to comfort her? “Tia, really, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting to get lifted up as well…” Celestia squeezed her in a tight hug.
“Luna, I’m so glad you’re ok…” Luna squeezed her back, and smiled.
“Wow Tia, you lifted everything in the room!” Now that her fear had subsided, Luna gazed around the room in wonder. The two beds that had previously been their place of rest – and one of which they now lay on – had been flipped over, the straw-filled padding strewn across the surrounding floor. The lump of stone that used to be their table lay on the ground, cracked in half, debris from its rough landing scattered about the room. Bits and pieces of fired clay lay about the floor as well, the shattered remnants of the cups and plates they had been using just the night before. Glimmer was still shaking her head, staring off into space, and muttering to herself.
The blue filly perked her ears up, turning her attention away from the disaster zone that had become of their room, and listened to the uproar that was only getting louder outside. “Hey Tia, what’s happening outside?” Glimmer seemed to snap out of her internal monologue and, getting up, walked over to Celestia.
“Little one, that was incredible!” the Sentinel exclaimed. “Not only did you manage to levitate everything in the room, but judging from the commotion outside, you’ve lifted everything in half of the residential block!” Luna gaped openly, eyes wide and full of wonder.
“Tia… you… wow! You’re amazing!” Celestia blushed fiercely, and waved her sister’s compliments away.
“I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.” She responded, and Luna snuggled against her again.
Some time later, Luna was almost asleep again, snuggled up next to Celestia on the floor, when there was a knock at the door, though the curtain had been torn clean off and was sprawled across the base of the portcullis; judging from the sound of metal meeting stone, it was a pony wearing armor. Slowly extricating herself from her sister, who did not wake, apparently completely worn out by her little experiment with levitation. As she stood to make her way to the door, Celestia staggered, and almost fell straight back down again. Her limbs felt heavy, and her breathing became ragged, as if her energy reserves were almost completely depleted. The adrenaline from her little magic stunt had finally worn off, and now she was feeling the drain of such a huge spell. Glimmer laughed.
“Take it slowly little one; after such a massive output of magical energy, I’m honestly surprised you were able to stand up at all.” Celestia grimaced, and once her knees stopped wobbling and her legs became more stable, she slowly made her way shakily to the doorway.
Immediately outside, a soldier wearing almost full Sentinel plate mail – with the exception of his helmet – waited patiently. Behind him stood half a dozen regular guards who were slightly more restless, and the shouting down the hallway from both directions became louder, though the shouts still blended together to become a harsh buzz. The Sentinel at the door gazed at Celestia with hard, steely eyes, and his face bore an expression of stern and serious business. When he spoke, his voice was deliberate and calm, though the soldiers behind them were muttering nervously amongst themselves, proclaiming them to be rookies.
“Miss Celestia” the guard snapped a crisp salute, his eyes softening a fraction as he saw the weariness on Celestia’s face. “There has been a magical disturbance in this area of the residential block, centred around this room. Do you mind if we take a look inside?” Celestia stood aside with a nod and a quiet “yes sir”, and the Sentinel and his comrades marched inside. Looking around, the heavily-armoured soldier’s eyes fell on Glimmer, and a look of confusion briefly crossed his face, before returning to his normal stern expression a moment later.
“Sentinel Glimmer?” he queried, and the teal Earth Pony perked her head up. She flashed a smile at the newcomer, and stood up.
“Oh, Sentinel Ironhooves, they sent you then?” Ironhooves cocked his head to the side quizzically, his dark grey mane falling in a cascade over one side of his face.
You have information for us Glimmer?” The teal Earth Pony nodded an affirmative, and moved over to Celestia’s side.
“The magical disturbance is nothing to be concerned over. Our young friend here was merely experimenting with her magic and got… slightly carried away.” Celestia winced, and lowered herself to the ground, shame gripping her in its talons. Ironhooves, however, looked neither angry nor disappointed. His face bore an expression of complete wonder and astonishment.
“You mean this entire debacle was caused by her?” he put a hoof to his head, and sat down abruptly. “We’ve had reports from over two hundred ponies in this block, saying that they, and everything in their rooms that wasn’t securely attached to the floor, as well as a lot of stuff that was, was suddenly lifted off the ground by magic with a golden aura.”
Celestia herself was in shock over this. Two hundred ponies? AND everything in all those rooms? She couldn’t help but shudder at this thought. So much power was not a responsibility she wanted. What do I want then? Her mind seized up at this question, and she was momentarily lost in her mind as she processed this thought.
Up until we came to Haven, everything I’ve done was to protect Luna but… now that Luna is safe… what can I do? What am I good at? What is my special talent? These and many more questions floated around her head, each and every one of them without an answer, all only serving to confuse her even more. She shook her head to clear her mind. Luna was laying on her back, passed out completely, hooves sticking comically up into the air, twitching occasionally; Ironhooves and Glimmer were having a quiet discussion with each other near the door, and the rookie guards were milling about the room, surveying the destruction, though they clearly had little to no idea of what they were supposed to be looking for. Celestia trotted over to where the two Sentinel Ponies were talking to each other.
“I’m telling you!” Ironhooves was exclaiming, waving a foreleg about, indicating the mess around them. “This is almost unheard of! If this little one is actually…” He paused as he noticed Celestia’s approach. Glimmer shot him a surprisingly threatening look, and he winced before concluding his sentence. “The council needs to be given a fully detailed report on this.” It was Glimmer’s turn to flash a grimace, though she had to have known what the fellow soldier was going to say. She turned her gaze to Celestia, and her expression surprised the filly, making her stomach flip. There was tenderness and caring in those eyes. They spoke of kindness and love, as a mother to a daughter, or a big sister to a younger.
“We cannot inform the council of too much” She finally rebuked, after several seconds of unnerving eye contact. Celestia was used to being on the giving end of that expression, used to being the protective one; to have somepony care about her the same way she cared about Luna... it was unfamiliar to her. Glimmer continued.
“We cannot be sure how they will react and I, for one, do not wish to see these two subjected to the council’s manipulations.” Ironhooves looked sceptical, his military training and loyalty to the Council too much a part of who he was, but after several moments of internal debate, he surrendered.
“Alright, fine, you win” he resigned. “I’ll let you make the full report then. I’ve got a mess to sort out.” He motioned to his soldiers, who all snapped to attention and followed as their superior officer trotted out of the room. Once the space was empty of all on-duty soldiers, Celestia turned to Glimmer, who wrapped a foreleg around the filly and hugged her.
“Don’t worry little one” she said, her soothing voice releasing stress Celestia did not even know she was carrying. “You are safe.” Celestia gave in to the comforting embrace of the older mare, and leaned against Glimmer’s rock-hard chest. It was the first time she could remember ever having somepony that she herself could lean on. It brought tears to her eyes, and she felt so wholly and completely safe and secure, that she momentarily forgot all of her earlier worries.
For several more minutes they stayed in the embrace, until Celestia finally forced the reality of the situation back onto herself and, with a sigh, pushed the Sentinel away. She looked up to Glimmer’s face, only to find tears in the stalwart pony’s eyes too.
“Hey Glimmer?” she said quietly, almost whispering, though the sound was enough to bring the Sentinel’s attention back from whatever world her mind had wandered to.
“Yes little one?” she replied, hastily wiping the moisture from her face with a hoof. Curiosity about Glimmer’s concerns with the Council gnawed at Celestia’s insides, but she was determined. She had made up her mind.
“I… I want to talk to the Council.” Glimmer did a double-take, and stared at the winged ‘Unicorn’ with no small levels of astonishment.
“Whatever for?” the Sentinel asked incredulously. She shook her head, sending her purple mane flying.
“I… I…” Celestia stuttered, struggling to find the courage to speak. “I want to start work” she finally managed to squeak, and Glimmer laughed, her expression becoming one of understanding, with a hint of respectful admiration. Celestia tried to look as determined as possible. “I’m fine now, and ever since I got here, I’ve been bored out of my mind!” The Sentinel Pony laughed again in complete understanding. As a soldier, with not much of a life outside the military, time off would be painfully uneventful for her.
“Plus…” Celestia continued. “I… I want to help… I want to be doing something!” Her voice raised an octave and a few decibels with the last six words, and Luna began to stir. Glimmer rested a comforting hoof of the white foal’s shoulder.
“Be calm, little one, I understand.” Celestia’s lower lip quivered with pent-up energy, brought on by her sudden burst of determination. Glimmer continued.
“The council will no doubt be waiting for a report from me. They will likely have already received word from Ironhooves, and will want my take on the matter. They may also want to discuss the matter with you two as well. Wake Luna, and we’ll get going.” Celestia nodded, and moved over to her little sister. Shaking her gently, she bent down to whisper in the foal’s ear.
“Lulu, wake up.” Luna stirred a little, then groggily opened her eyes. She stared incomprehensively at Celestia for a few moments before gargling out what passed for speech for a tired little foal.
“Tia… wuss… wuss gon on?” Celestia giggled at her sister’s nearly incomprehensible question. A blush of embarrassment overcame Luna’s features, so she shook her head, rolled over, stood up, and tried again.
“Tia, what’s happening?” Celestia couldn’t help but laugh again, and give the little blue foal another tight hug.
“Some soldiers came by” she replied, letting Luna go and walking over to the doorway. “They wanted to know what happened… Glimmer told them everything, but now we have to go see the Council.” There was still no need to worry her little sister, so she kept the fact that meeting with the council again was her idea.
“Oh.” Was all the response Luna could manage, her mind clearly still thick and foggy from her exhaustion-induced nap. Glimmer, having poked her head outside the portcullis to check on what was happening, glanced back inside long enough to give a nod and a quick “come on then” before exiting the room completely.
The journey back to the Council Chambers was a long one, not because it was particularly far – their room was in a block that was more or less directly beside the area containing the Council’s huge meeting room – but because of the complete and utter pandemonium Haven was suffering at that time. Every single tunnel was packed to the bursting point with the amount of citizens out and about. Celestia had a hard time believing this was all because of her, but Glimmer soon brought light to the situation.
“A huge magical disturbance like that is only slightly less of a threat-scare than one of the Tyrants themselves showing up on the front door” the Sentinel explained when Celestia voiced her concerns. “Very few beings have enough raw power to have such a large influence with their magic.” Luna gazed in wonder at her older sister, and Celestia blushed. She decided to move the topic of conversation away from her overwhelming magical abilities, which she still barely believed she possessed.
“Who are these Ponies everyone keeps going on about?” She asked. “The rulers, I mean… the ones you call ‘Tyrants?” Glimmer gazed at the filly for a few seconds, not even slowing her pace, before sighing and shaking her head.
“They… are not Ponies… But now is not a good time little one” she replied, and Celestia gritted her teeth. Before she could get a word in, however, Glimmer continued.
“It isn’t a pleasant topic, and it’s not one that the ponies of Haven care to hear about. They’ve given up trying to find a way to get things back to how they were. They’ve all given up on living… Now all they want to do is exist.” There was an incredible sadness in the Sentinel’s voice, and it made Celestia’s heart lurch. She decided to drop the conversation completely, so they travelled the remainder of the journey in silence. After several more minutes, they were standing inside the antechamber outside the tunnel that led to the huge gilded doors of the Council chambers. Glimmer had a very short, quiet discussion with one of the guards before turning back to the two fillies.
“The council wants to meet with me first, so you two wait out here until I return” she instructed. Celestia sighed, but Luna nodded her head obediently, so there was little else to be done but sit outside and wait.
She lay on the cold stone floor, head resting on her forelegs, watching Luna try and talk to one of the armoured ponies standing guard by the portcullis that Glimmer had just exited through. She had to suppress a chuckle; there was no denying it, the scene was quite funny.
“Mister?” The little blue foal was saying. “Why don’t you ever move?” The only response the guard gave was a short grunt. Luna was not perturbed.
“Don’t you get bored?”
Another grunt.
“How long do you have to stay out here looking all serious?”
A grunt and a sigh this time. The guard’s composure was clearly cracking. Luna knew it too, and she moved in for the kill.
Jutting out her bottom lip, the devious little foal widened her eyes as far as they would go, and gazed up at the Sentinel with the most pleading expression on her face Celestia had ever seen. She topped it all off by whimpering.
“Why won’t you talk to me?” she whined, and the guard finally gave up trying to hold it all in. He exhaled a huge rush of air, before slumping slightly, his face bearing an expression of defeat.
“Fine” he sighed, glancing back down towards the foal who was still looking at him with an expression that could break hearts.
“Yes, I get incredible bored, I have to stay here from the time the Council gets here in the morning until lunch time, when the shift changes. And yes, looking serious is part of the job.” The pony’s gushing response was exactly what Luna was looking for, and she jumped around on the spot, smiling from ear to ear, laughing happily. Once her excitement had calmed somewhat, she sat down next to the guard, and attempted to adopt his serious expression, which looked absolutely ridiculous on such a small filly.
“Do you like being a guard?” She asked after finally realising that the ‘serious pony’ expression was not working. The guard flashed her a curious look before resuming his line of sight down the tunnel and replying.
“Whether I like the job or not isn’t important” he explained. “I’m a soldier, and I need to protect the citizens of Haven. Succeeding in that is satisfaction enough.” Luna’s face was overcome with a thoughtful expression, and she moved away from the guard to lie at Celestia’s side.
“Hey Tia?” the foal looked up at her big sister, eyes curious. Celestia bent down to nuzzle her. Luna smiled, and nuzzled back before continuing. “Tia, what are we going to do in Haven?” Celestia laughed, and ruffled the blue filly’s mane with a forehoof.
“That’s what I’m going to talk to the Council about” she replied, and Luna’s face brightened.
It was that moment that Glimmer walked slowly out of the hallway leading to the Council, tail and mane hanging limp, head drooping, and her face overcome with a worried and incredibly sad expression. Celestia hopped up onto her hooves, and trotted over.
“Glimmer?” She asked hesitantly, and the Sentinel jerked her head up, as if broken from some inner discussion. Glimmer looked towards the two, then away again almost instantly, not looking the two fillies in the eyes.
“The Council will see you now” she intoned, her voice hoarse, as if she had been shouting. Celestia tried to put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, but got shrugged off.
“Glimmer what …” She began, but the teal Earth Pony cut her off.
“Don’t keep the Council waiting.” That was all she would say, and soon she was out of sight down the hallway.
Celestia, somewhat shaken by the soldier’s sad bluntness, lay a wing over Luna’s back, and moved down the tunnel Glimmer had just exited. Luna looked up at her, and the question was clear in the little foal’s eyes. What happened to Glimmer?
Celestia gazed back, worry for their friend throbbing through her mind, and doubtless showing on her face. I just don’t know.
Soon, the two arrived at the huge gilded doors of the Council chambers. The fine detail drawing the two young ponies’ eyes around the flowing spirals. The two Sentinel Ponies who stood alertly either side of the door remained stiff and motionless as the sisters approached. Before she could think about what to do, the massive doors swung open, and a voice boomed out from within.
“Enter.”
The voice was strong, clearly female, and sounded too loud to be made by a regular pony. The tremors that ran up Celestia’s body told her that the voice was being enhanced by magic.
Entering the room, she saw a scene that was identical to when she had first come before The Council four days previously.
The same six ponies, two Unicorns, two Pegasi, and two Earth Ponies, one male and one female of each, sat arrayed around the crescent moon table. There was a magic aura dispelling from around the Unicorn mare’s horn.
Glimmer had taught them how to behave around the Council. Looking back, Celestia realised how shockingly rude they must have thought she was at their first meeting. She and Luna both gave small, appropriate bows to the Ponies arrayed out in front of them.
“I am citizen Celestia” she said, in a strong, but respectful voice, and Luna repeated the same with her name. This was also customary when speaking to the Council. It was polite to introduce yourself first.
The Council-Ponies never introduced themselves; it was simply assumed that everypony knew them before they entered the room, so Glimmer had told the two sisters their names too, as well as what each was of their responsibilities in Haven were. From left to right they were:
Stronghoof and Dancing Light, the Earth Pony stallion and mare on the council; Stronghoof was a military stallion through and through. He was muscular, blunt, and extremely straightforward. His coat was brown, with a nearly stark-white mane, and an antique soldier’s helmet for a cutie mark; he oversaw the citizen workforce of Haven, and all the jobs the civilians saw to.
Dancing Light, on the other hoof, had a far slimmer frame, but the strong, confident way she held herself, as well as the muscle barely hidden in her limbs, bespoke military training as well. Her lavender-coloured mane, which hung in contrast to her white coat, was familiar to Celestia, but the filly couldn’t figure out why. Her cutie mark was a pool of water, with light shimmering and sparkling on its surface. She was solely in charge of the Sentinel division of The Sanctuary in its entirety, which fully explained her soldier’s physique and posture.
Next were the two Unicorns, High Bar and Rose Prism; High Bar was headmaster of The Sanctuary’s magic school. He was a wrinkle-faced stallion with kind eyes, and was clearly the oldest Pony on the Council, his short, completely grey mane sat tussled atop his greying turquoise head, which sported knowledgeable blue eyes. His cutie mark was several stars arranged in a constellation that resembled a paper scroll and quill.
Rose Prism, who was much younger, but still not youthful in comparison to most other ponies Celestia had met, organised The Sanctuary’s Research and Development sector. This was a massive job, Glimmer had explained, because the Research and Development team worked on a huge number of things, from food growth, to defense and weapons development, and the hundreds of other items in between. She was a fit Pony for the job though, with a stern expression, and wise but steely eyes, framed by a deep crimson mane which complemented her light red coat. Her cutie mark was a large, deep-red ruby, with sparkling white swirls surrounding it.
Finally, at the right-hoof end of the table, were the two Pegasi Councillors, Sky Fire and Snow Blaze. Sky Fire was a rash stallion, and was known to jump into things unnecessarily quickly, but his tactical knowledge and organisational skills put him into position as the coordinator of Haven’s general guard. The guard itself was really more of a military, but the Council insisted that the veritable army of soldiers was solely for security purposes. His cutie mark, a crisp red flame, stood out on his white coat. His fire-red mane stood in a carefully arranged tangle above his glinting turquoise eyes.
Now that Celestia was seeing the Council without having her sight disfigured by the haze of fear and exertion of the waste, she saw why Glimmer had said that Snow Blaze caught the eye of every single being, pony or otherwise, that came before the six Council-Ponies. The Pegasus mare was stunning. Her pristine coat shimmered with a blue that was only a few shades off being pure white, and her ocean-blue mane was neatly trimmed and fashionably short, curling around her forehead and down her neck in spirals that Celestia’s eyes couldn’t hope to follow. Her sharp, cyan eyes were the only part of her that gave away her age; they had a depth and wisdom that could only be obtained through long experience. Her cutie mark was a glinting diamond surrounded by particles of ice. The beautiful Mare was spokespony of Haven, and handled all relations between the three Pony races and The Sanctuary.
The six Ponies arrayed out at the table stared at the two sisters for several moments, as if mulling over recent events, before Stronghoof spoke up, his hard voice booming around the chamber, making the two fillies flinch.
“Do you two have any idea how big a deal such a large magical disturbance is in Haven?” Celestia lowered her head.
“Yes Councillor” was all she managed to squeak, and the Earth Pony stallion sighed, but before he could continue, High Bar intervened, his wise eyes radiating knowing kindness.
“What Councillor Stronghoof is saying, is that very few have such power, and it causes quite a stir when two hundred ponies and their belongings are suddenly lifted off the ground by an unknown magical aura.” Celestia’s head was almost touching the ground, her knees bent, feeling extremely sorry. The Unicorn stallion continued.
“However, you are young, and clearly have extreme raw magical talent, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. This event has caused us quite a lot of work, however while the responsibility of this power is yours to carry, the blame for the event is not.” Celestia jerked her head up, and couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at the Unicorn.
“Y – You mean… I’m not in trouble?” She stammered, and smiles appeared on the lips of a few of the Council-Ponies.
“No, little one, you are not.” The sing-song voice of Snow Blaze was as crystalline and refined as her appearance, and Celestia could not help but relax a little. She heard Luna breathe a sigh of relief next to her, and was touched that the little foal was worried about her.
“This event was an accident” continued Snow Blaze. “You two are guilty of nothing but rash experimentation, which I believe, judging from the report from Sentinel Glimmer, and the apology written all over your face, you have chastised yourself enough over.”
“Yes, I am very sorry” Celestia said hastily, offering another bow to the Council. The six nodded, pleased. Councillor Dancing Light spoke up, her strong, commanding voice ringing several bells in Celestia’s mind, but again the filly could not place why it was familiar.
“We have gotten the full report from Sentinel Glimmer.” The rest of the Council nodded, clearly content to leave it at that, but the Earth Pony mare continued. “However, I would like to know how you came across such magical knowledge. A spell such as that is complex, and even an uncontrolled outburst should not be able to produce such widespread results.” Celestia cocked her head to one side, thinking the question over in her head.
How had she done it? She had just really wanted to lift the cup, but had ended up spreading her attention to everything else… she did not know how she had done it. It had just happened.
“I don’t know how I did it.” She said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the questioning Mare. “I’ve never tried magic before, that I can remember, but Glimmer was teaching both of us about magic and…” she stopped mid-sentence as a thought occurred to her.
How had Glimmer known so much about magic? She was an Earth Pony, not a Unicorn, and only Unicorns were supposed to know magic, weren’t they? It was a question that she knew she would not be able to answer on her own, so she resolved to ask her Sentinel friend about it later. Turning her focus back to the Council, she finished her sentence.
“And it just happened” she concluded. This did not seem to satisfy Dancing Light much, but the rest of the Council was impatient, and before the topic could be discussed further, Sky Fire spoke up.
“We’ve all heard the reports Councillor Light, we need to discuss what happens now.” There was a murmur of agreement from the other Council-Ponies, and Dancing Light sighed defeatedly, and then gave a nod of submission. Satisfied that they could continue, Sky Fire continued.
“It has been decided little ones, that you will both be sent to magic and flight schools. You are both old enough to begin the basics of flight, at any rate, and Glimmer’s report makes it clear that you are both more than capable of beginning magic tuition.” Celestia gaped openly at the Council-Pony. Luna was wriggling beside her again, making small squee noises, excited by the prospect of learning more magic, and how to fly.
“S-School?” was all Celestia could stutter. The idea had excited her when Glimmer had mentioned it, but she never thought the Council would order it. “What about the work you said we would be doing?” She knew she shouldn’t be complaining, but she just wanted to help out around Haven. It was High Bar’s turn to speak up this time.
“You will both be assigned other tasks, fear not, but your schooling is of a higher priority.” The old Unicorn’s soft voice soothed Celestia’s nerves somewhat, but only seemed to make Luna more excited.
“So you’re going to teach us magic? What kind of magic will you teach us? Will it be hard? Will we…” Celestia cut her sister’s bubbly ranting off by shoving a hoof in her mouth, and grinned apologetically at the council. The old Unicorn merely laughed understandingly.
“Your questions will be answered when you begin your lessons tomorrow. I will also brief you on the sorts of chores you will be doing.” Ironhooves sniffed disdainfully, as if he wanted to see them work labour in the tunnels, but said nothing.
“Thank you, Councillors” Celestia said with a bow. Sky Fire held up hoof, however, and Celestia got an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. She somehow knew that, whatever he was about to say, she was not going to like.
“We have also decided…” the fire-maned Pegasus paused, and Celestia held her breath. Luna gazed up at her, eyes tinted with fear and worry. Celestia put a reassuring hoof on the foal’s shoulder, before turning back to the Council when Sky continued.
“We have decided that you will be trained as a soldier, Celestia.” Celestia let her mouth fall open with shock. “You will start at the training academy in the morning. Your sister is not yet old enough, so, while you train in the morning, she will work for Councillor High Bar at the school. Then, you will both have an hour for lunch and rest, before you start your lessons, which you will attend for the rest of the day.” For several moments, Celestia couldn’t speak. Thoughts flew in a hurricane around her mind, and she stood there gaping. Luna was in a similar state of silence, though she was gazing worriedly at her big sister.
“B-b-but… what about…” she began to stammer, before Dancing Light interrupted her.
“Your work?” Celestia shut her mouth and nodded, and the Earth Pony Mare sighed. “Little one, you will barely be able to find the energy for cadet training and school, let alone work on top of it all. No, you will find yourself thoroughly occupied as it is; and besides, guard training is a public service in and of itself. You are learning to defend the Ponies of Haven; learning to defend your sister.” Celestia was trapped at that point, and the Council knew it.
Celestia was so caught up in her mind’s internal workings; she didn’t see the look of intense sorrow that passed across the Earth Pony Council Mare’s face, before her expression flashed back to steely resolve. After a few moments, Councillor Light cleared her throat, and Celestia was snapped out of her reverie.
“You have been briefed on the situation, little ones; you have the rest of the day off, but Sentinel Glimmer informed us that you were growing restless, so you will start tomorrow.” Celestia nodded, her anxiety only partly belayed by the excitement of finally doing something productive. The Council-Pony continued. “Celestia, you will report to the guard training academy at the ring of the seventh morning bell to begin your training. Luna, you will meet Councillor High Bar at the magic school at the ring of the eighth bell to start your chores. A map of Haven will be provided to you, so you will not become lost. You are both now dismissed.”
As Celestia took a moment to process the situation, the Council turned to several discussions amongst themselves.
A guard, who had quite silently entered the chamber, cleared his throat, making Celestia jump. She glanced down at Luna, who was still gazing worriedly at her, so she wrapped a foreleg around the small foal’s neck, and followed the guard out the door.
As she was leaving, Celestia’s set her face in a look of grim determination. She would become a soldier, so she could protect the Ponies of Haven. She wouldn’t be helpless again.
She would protect Luna, no matter the cost.
