//------------------------------//
// Pocket 
// Story: Sol Point 
// by CoffeeBean 
//------------------------------//

The cool dawn air filled Celestia's lungs as she took in a long, deep breath. Smiling, she pulled her head back through the wide open window behind her desk in the study, turning to face the inside of the room and taking a sip of her morning coffee, her horn holding a gentle glow as she worked to bring forth the day. Setting the mug to a coaster off to the right of where her writing mat lay, she looked up into the fairly dim room, the aurora around her horn gaining intensity as she brought two logs from a brass rack beside the fireplace, dropping them inside and setting them ablaze. Her magic's attention now went to the phonograph that stood at the left wall of the room, a spell surrounding the tone arm and dropping it to the beginning of the record, a static-y crackle coming as a prelude to the first track as it began to play. 

Humming along to the slow piano and gentle male vocals, she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, letting the song wash over her as if it were the waves of the ocean. Seeming to move on its own merit, her hoof tapped in unison with the bass drum hits that now worked their way into the music, her head now bobbing side to side as it too followed the music's rhythm.

"♫Walk with an angel because she said she can't fly♫" she sang aloud, resuming her humming as she had only memorized portions of the song.

"♫I was the king, but not the king of anything♫"

Her voice had gained volume and her tone now followed the highs and lows of the song appropriately.

"♫Call me mister righteous even if I always sin♫"

Drawing in a breath, she resumed humming as the chorus ended, a quieter, more relaxed part of the song now taking over. Over the music came the crackle of magic, her eyes opening to find that Luna's morning documents had arrived; the stack was a far shorter than normal, and atop it was an envelope similar to the one used to send her portrait, this time the parcel clearly containing more than a single paper. Still humming and tapping her hoof to the song, she set the stack off to the side, giving her attention to the envelope first, undoing the familiar light blue wax seal to find a letter as well as many smaller photos. 

Dear Celestia
Enclosed are the photos you provided me of your staff... and Discord. As you can most likely assume, I found myself awestruck to see that picture. I do hope he has not caused problems. If he has, inform me. He may be far from me, but he is not out of reach. Changing to the matter of these photos; I have given you two copies of each. I know they shall find their place in your album, but I thought it best to provide extras in case you wished to frame some for display. Secondly, and I do hope you do not mind me doing so, I submitted all of the photos to local newspapers for them to use in articles. None of your photographs gave any clues as to the whereabouts of Sol Point, so I felt there was no harm; only good, in fact. The citizens of our country have been quite enthralled with the prospect of your departure, and many have come to me with questions on how your life has been playing out. When the pictures I provided to the papers were published, many articles sprung up about how they had never seen the fun-loving side of you. One even rambled along with the subject of your missing Royal Attire; weeks ago, one would never see you without them.

Even when you are far from this land of ours, you bring it happiness. I was witness to many of the castle staff pouring over the pictures and many discussions on how strange it was to see Discord in your company. Do send him my greetings, and tell Chef Tea Leaf that I dearly miss how she prepared my dinner. Chef Chopping Block is a wonderful cook, but Chef Tea Leaf put such a great caliber of love into her work that nothing could ever match it. 
I do so dearly miss you, sister. Love, Luna.

Sure enough, within the envelope were duplicates of the pictures she had taken, a smile dawning on her lips as she flipped through the little rectangular photos. Looking up, her magic called upon a fairly large binder that sat on a shelf at the other end of the room, its spine reading 'life since the advent of photography' written in her usual calligraphic penmanship with a little sketch of her sun beside the text. Setting the album before her on the desk and opening it to a random page, she flipped to the very end, the already slim number of empty pages now further slimmed as she began sliding pictures into their protective, clear pockets. 

"I'm gonna need another one of these soon." she commented upon depositing the last photo, leaving only three more pages vacant of pictures.

Admiring the photos one last time, she closed the album and levitated it back into its home, her attention now turning to the duplicates as she pondered what could be done with them. Discord was currently asleep, so having him conjure up some frames was well out of the question. Shuffling through them, an idea clicked in her mind. Such grand pictures needed to be preserved, and keeping them in her album didn't quite meet the requirement. With the photos in her magic, she got up from her chair, turning off the record player and quietly making her way down the stairs of the study, making sure to keep her hoof falls quiet as to not wake the still soundly sleeping staff.

Shuffling her way down the hall, she came to the third-floor balcony, her eyes wandering from the tall interior of the entry hall to the fabulous dawn landscape that lay beyond the tall windows. Carefully trotting her way down the cast iron spiral staircase she came to the first floor of the hall, turning and going to the wall that stood to the right of the tall main doors. To anyone but her, this wall looked totally ordinary. There wasn't a single thing to indicate a secret door or panel, as to anyone but her, there was no door or panel. Working with her magic, she cast arcane spells of ancient origin to bring forth a simple wooden door, and with a push of a hoof, the door swung into the once-solid wall to show her into a room similar to the interior of the estate.

The hardwood floors, white walls, high convex ceiling, and dark wood highlights made the room seem as if it were just another place within Sol Point, but when one's eyes wandered to the few big windows in the room, one would find this idea to fall quite flat. Instead of the wide river, lush vegetation, and high valley fjords was a purely gray void, a void that spanned in all directions. This room's true location was not within the estate, or anywhere within Equestria, or even anywhere within the known universe. In simple terms, it was a pocket dimension; a place only Celestia could access, and for fairly short periods of time, considering the great strain it put upon her magic. 

This little room was the one place the items she held closest to her heart could be kept where they would be safe no matter what. Only a few things of value remained in the physical estate; anything she felt a close tie to was placed within this little room that dangled in space. The photos held in her magic made the cut, despite being the least valuable thing in the room in terms of actual material value. Walking inside, she took a deep breath, the ancient, dusty scent of the room being pleasantly familiar. Smiling, she looked over the very first crown she had even been adorned with as it sat upon a little white pillow beside many other valuables, its silver construction still as shiny and untarnished as the first day of its conception and the simplistic jewel mounts and engravings reminding her of a far-gone time when things were far less complicated.

Suddenly, she felt a presence. Moreover; the dimension felt a presence, an outsider, one who should not belong. The gray void beyond the windows had begun to crack, black space leaking in.

"You have a pocket dimension?" 

Her heart skipped a beat as she flipped around, her now angered eyes meeting with Discord's. Without a word, she encompassed him in a spell, forcing him out of the room and back into the entry hall. With haste, she slammed the door shut, turning back to her world as her magic worked within the space to seal the leaks, which by this point had already begun to widen. The breaks in the void had spread to the structure itself, little breaks in the wooden floor appearing and the panes of glass rattling in their window frames. Shutting her eyes, she poured magic into the realm, leak after leak beginning to close, and the cracks in the wood beginning to repair themselves. 

She took a deep breath, her head throbbing as she frantically looked around the now silent room. She let out a sigh of relief; she had been quick enough to re-stabilize things before the multidimensional space beyond the confines she had constructed could do any real harm. Now, burning anger began to wash over the relief she felt, her entire body feeling warm as she flipped around and stomped towards the door. Flinging it open, her eyes met with Discord's, and instantly, she encompassed him in a tight spell, holding him in place as she came close.

"Do you realize what your ignorance nearly caused?" she growled, her eyes burning into his.

"I-I-"

She dipped her head, glaring at the fear-ridden Draconequus through her brow. "Why did you follow me."

The magic she cast to hold him in place had begun to increase its pressure, a warmth akin to standing right before a fire too spreading through the magic.

"I-I saw you come downstairs, and-"

"I have maintained that place for a thousand years. I will not have its security and secrecy jeopardized by you."

Frightened beyond the capacity to speak, Discord stumbled over his own tongue for a fair while, the heat from her magic becoming uncomfortable.

"P-Please put me down."

"Do you know what you almost caused?" she enunciated.

"Celestia, I forgot that pocket dimensions are fragile." 

She aimed her hoof back at the shut door. "Every item of importance that I have ever owned is within that place, everything that I've been able to keep over my life, every gift, treasure, and trinket. You nearly caused that place to collapse inward on itself," a puff of black smoke drifted upward from her nostrils, Discord's eyes following it for a moment before he returned her glare, "Think before you act."

"I-I will, and I forgot they can be fragile, now please; put me down. I feel like I'm in an oven."

His words took a moment to push past the flames of rage burning in her mind, the spell totally ceasing and dropping him to his feet.

"I'm sorry."

"You're very lucky."

"Yes, I am. Like I said, I apologize from the bottom of my heart."

Celestia closed her eyes, letting her head fall and taking a long, deep breath. There was a break of silence between the two while Celestia collected herself.

"Please don't kick me out."

"I'm not going to kick you out. It was a mistake."

Again, she took a deep breath, bringing her head back up and looking at Discord, her eyes no longer burning with anger.

"I shouldn't have held you like that. I'm sorry."

"You had every right to remove me."

"Maybe so, but... I was far too rough." she sighed, looking away. "I should have better control over my anger."

Discord chuckled. "Even you can't control your emotions."

"If I can't do it, no pony can."

"Speaking of things no pony else can do... how in the world did you get a pocket dimension to actually remain stable?"

"Stable until you showed up."

Her words had a bite to them. A little embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes, until I showed up."

"You'll have to ask my sister how to get a pocket dimension into a stable state; she did most of the technical work."

"She did?"

Celestia nodded. "She was the architect, and I was the designer. That may explain why you destabilized the place so horribly by just coming inside. The different types of magic we wield might have been clashing."

Humming in acknowledgement, he looked past Celestia to the closed door. "So... this place is like a vault?"

"Yes. Every material item I've ever cared about is within that room." the photos still held by her magic were held up. "I was going to put these in there."

He stared at the pictures, seeing the one of himself and Celestia. "You... were going to keep that picture of us in there?"

"Of course. This is the only picture of you and me together."

Discord remained speechless a moment, looking from Celestia to the photo, then back again. "I... don't quite know what to say."

A bit confused, Celestia turned the pictures back to herself. "I don't see what you're getting so flustered about."

"You consider that memory important enough to keep it forever. That means an incredible amount to me."

"Oh! Well, you're very welcome, Discord," she looked over her shoulder at the shut door. "If you'll stay here a moment, I'd like to put these away now; maintaining this is starting to become a bit bothersome."

"You don't mind if I... take a peek inside, do you?"

She scowled. "Yes, I do mind. Just... stay here a moment."

With an agitated haste, Celestia flipped around, the door swinging open to allow her a quick entrance, her eyes meeting with his for a split second as she looked over her shoulder, quickly closing the door. A little shocked, Discord remained totally still as the newfound silence of the entry hall seemed to ring in his ears. He took a breath, holding up his paw and talons to find them shaking quite profusely with fear. 

"Well, that was terrifying." he mumbled, holding his hands back down and resuming his idle stance. 

"Good morning, Discord!" chimed Chef Tea from the third-floor balcony, Discord looking up to see the mare peering down at him.

"Oh, good morning!"

"What's with the door?" she asked, the clack of hooves on iron echoing in the tall space as she descended.

"It's Celestia's."

"Okay, but where did it come from? There's never been a door there before..."

"It's Celestia's pocket dimension."

Tea paused about midway down the stairs as she stared at Discord for a moment. "Pocket dimension?"

"Yes. Hard things to make, and even harder to get them to stay around. Somehow, she's gotten this one to remain stable."

"A pocket dimension... I have so many questions." 

"Well, don't bother asking. She's not in a question answering mood. Apparently, this door is 'secret'."

Resuming her descent, Tea chuckled. "Not in a question answering mood, huh?"

"I may or may not have angered her."

The door of the hour gave off a click as it swung open, Celestia stepping out and making sure to shut it with haste.

"Good morning, Celestia." spoke Tea as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

Celestia stared at the chef with wide eyes, her mouth hung open a tiny bit. "G-Good morning," she replied after a moment.

"Where's that door go? And... what's a pocket dimension?" 

Celestia now glared at Discord, who held his hands up in defense. "I didn't say anything."

"Good."

"Why's it so secret? What's in there?" Tea prodded, beginning to approach Celestia and the door.

A glow surrounded Celestia's horn, the door behind her vanishing with a pop. "It is secret because I say it is secret." she proclaimed, heading for the stairs.

"Told you she's not answering questions." Discord said with a smirk. 

"Indeed, I am not. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish my coffee and listen to music."

Tea and Discord remained silent as the unusually agitated Alicorn trotted her way up the stairs. 

Tea whistled. "Must be something cool in there."

"Something cool is in there; my picture." Discord returned, holding his head up proudly.

"Ew."

Discord scowled at her. "Ew? Excuse you; I look wonderful in that photo."

"And that's why she hid it in an entirely different dimension?"

"She put your picture in there, too."

Tea hit her hoof on the marble. "Damn."

"Chef Tea, before I forget!" echoed Celestia, both Discord and Tea looking up to see she had come back to the balcony of the third floor, "My sister wanted me to inform you that she dearly misses your cooking."

Tea blushed. "Awww~, she's too kind. Make sure she knows I'm grateful."

"She shall. Oh, and Discord; she said hello to you, as well."

For a millisecond, Discord hazarded making some sort of jest about Luna, but the more rational parts of his mind reminded him that he was currently on thin ice. "Oh... uh, tell her I said hello in return."

"I shall."

With that, she disappeared back over the railing, Discord looking back down to Tea, who now looked up at him.

"Haha, Luna likes me more." Tea taunted, turning and heading for the hallway of the main room.

Grumbling, Discord folded his arms across his chest as he hovered along behind.