Celestia Sleeps In--Chapter 4 thanks and story fragment · 4:04am Feb 20th, 2013
Chapter 4 Notes
First, a big thanks to my prereaders:
My parents, who are way smarter than I am
Woonsocket Wrench
and
Humanist, who inspired much of Celestia's dialogue in this chapter.
Here is the original conclusion of the chapter, which I decided to leave out, since it did not advance the plot in any meaningful way. Forgive any spelling errors; it was dropped early in the editing process:
Princess Celestia nudged the doors to the throne room open. She frowned, seeing the throne vacant.
“Luna?” She looked down at the page next to her. He looked back with a worried expression.
“We apologize.” Luna poked her head around the corner of a tapestry. “We had naught to occupy our mind on the throne.”
Celestia nodded. “Where are your guards?”
“We do not know.” She looked around the throne room thoughtfully. “In sooth, they have proved to be more creative in their obfuscation than we would have believed possible. We refuse to locate them with our magic, as it would spoil the game.”
“The game.”
“Yes, we are amusing ourselves playing hide-and-seek.” She looked brightly at her big sister. “Surely thou knowest the rules? One pony plays the aggressor, oft called ‘it.’ She seeks—“
Celestia rolled her eyes. “I am glad to see that you have found a way to introduce levity into a serious role. Might I discuss a more pressing matter?”
Luna pouted. “We suppose.”
The two moved to a small room to the left of the dais. Here was where the Princesses met with advisors or prepared themselves for their duties. Nopony was allowed in the chamber except by invitation, including the guards.
“I have been thinking, Luna, that I should anchor the spell someplace where even a glance through the portal will reveal nothing, yet is close enough that, should the creature come with an army, we will be able to see it and react in time.”
“An island caused your failure to discover the creature, or its kin. We feel that an artificial island should serve in its stead. A barge, anchored in the center of a reservoir would provide the ideal anchor point for the spell—big enough for a pony to move about on, yet not so large that many creatures would fit. Most creatures native to land are barely able to swim, which would give us plenty of time to react if it were needful.”
Celestia nodded. “If it was in a slight depression, it would be clearly visible to guards stationed around the perimeter, yet an entire company could remain hidden behind the hill. Everypony knows it’s best to fight from an elevated position.”
“We shall locate a suitable location before the night ends.”
“I do not wish to let the guards know of the creature, but I want them to be prepared for it. They would be suspicious if their training schedule suddenly changed. Sister, if you were to give Shining Armor a dream of minotaurs attacking—since they are kind of similar to the creature, and probably have the same fighting skills—he might boost the training regime.”
Luna shook her head. “We keep ourselves away from influencing dreams, sister. It is fraught with danger. We only helpfully advise ponies when they are frightened by their dreams.”
“You mean nightmares?”
“In Prance they say ‘cauchemar,’ a term we much prefer.” Luna sighed. “We probably should not tell thee, but there is a minotaur by the name of Iron Will who calls himself a ‘motivational speaker.’ He seeks influence and recognition. Were thou to summon him to give a demonstration of traditional combat, he would be gratified, and we are certain that the captains of the guard would implement what they had learned into their training regimen.”
Celestia smiled. “Thank you, sister.” She bowed slightly, and let herself out the side door into the hallway. Perhaps Luna is ready to begin attending Solar Court.
“Fool! Thou shouldst not have left thine concealment! We have spied thy tail betwixt the ferns!”
Or, perhaps she isn’t quite ready. Humming softly to herself, Celestia began walking to her room.
No comments in almost a year? How odd. In any case, Luna playing hide-and-seek is adorable.
1686676
I'm surprised, too. Not so many people read and/or commented on the blog posts back in the early days of the story; now they're quite popular. The most recent blog post for Onto The Pony Planet has 18 comments and 682 views.
I like the bit you cut. It has some nice character development and the explanation of why they chose a reservoir for the experiment is interesting.
1857413
I should tack that up as a side story. Dunno why I haven't yet.
1857474 Do you know why yet?
2629249
Nope. Honestly kind of forgot this was here. I'll have to remember to dig out the gDoc, fix the formatting, and paste it up.