Astral’s Estate
Honour Bound and Verity woke up earlier than usual today. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, but they had a lot to discuss.
“You felt it didn’t you?” spoke Honour Bound, eyes set on the sunrise
“I did,” replied Verity “I just hope the poor girl’s alright,”
Honour merely nodded. Their safeguards were old ones; they were cast eons ago by Astral, times long forgotten. Thousands of years ago, on the other side of the world, they had lived. The possibility of living so long, and so well would have never occurred to them, yet here they were.
“Do you think she would try again?” inquired the changeling
“I have no reason to doubt her,” answered Verity “But intuition tells me that Astral has yet to be discovered,”
Honour merely nodded “We should go prepare breakfast; the others will surely be waking soon,”
In silent agreement, they trotted down to the dining hall.
“Scootaloo, you awake yet?”
“Not with you talking to me,” Scootaloo grumbled
The filly’s room was still dark, heavy curtains masking the sunlight that barely made itself known through the window. The other foals were sound asleep, not a single one snored.
“Sorry,” apologised Applebloom, sounding genuinely sorry for it “Somethin’s been bothering me,”
“Care to share?”
“We haven’t heard Verity’s cutie mark story yet,”
“Really!” the orange Pegasus exclaimed “That’s what you’re all worked up about?”
“Just ask her during breakfast!”
“AAAAGGHH!”
The two fillies rounded in surprise to see the grinning face of Elysium, lit an eerie blue by the light of her horn. “Simple!” she continued “Hers is quite a story!” she paused thoughtfully “But you might not want to know about Honour’s cutie mark,”
“But I thought he didn’t have a cutie mark,” Scootaloo said curiously
“That’s ‘cause it’s not a cutie mark!” the yellow unicorn giggled
“You’re makin’ less sense every minute I talk to ya,” commented Applebloom dryly
“I get that a lot. I just call it, intuition!” she smiled, annunciating each syllable of the word carefully, then trotted out the door.
Shortly afterward, the other foals woke up. Noctilucent and Sweetie Belle immediately picked up a book and read it, while Asphodel and Snowdrop still lay in bed. Elysium poked her small head back into the door, an impatient expression on her face.
“Move it! Breakfast is ready!”
*=_/)|*|(\_=*
The foals fixed themselves hurriedly and bolted down the hall, following the small yellow blur that was Elysium. In seconds, they found themselves in the dining hall. The hall was not so much a hall, but a large room. A simple, circular white table stood in the middle, with enough seats to occupy the foals, Astral, Verity, Honour, Charlene and Chest Nut. Windows to the back of the estate encompassed to of its walls, the entry/exit occupying one, and a counter and entrance to the kitchen on the last. What was special about the room, was that everything inside it was enchanted to become anything they wanted. Today, they opened the door to find themselves in Ponyville Park, their breakfast assembled on a picnic table on a hill, overlooking the sunrise. There sat Verity and Honour Bound, waiting patiently for the foals to join them, while Astral was already tucking in. Breakfast was simple, eggs, toast, hash browns, bread and a veritable cornucopia of drinks and pastries. As they all ate, a question began to creep into Apple Bloom’s mind.
“Miss Honora?” she asked cautiously
Verity finished her mouthful, delicately setting her cutlery aside, and dabbing her mouth with a napkin
“Verity is fine,” she replied “What’s on your mind Apple Bloom?”
“I was just askin’, how’d you get yer cutie mark?”
Verity looked taken aback, but recovered quickly “Well then,” she began “Where to begin…”
\|*Verity's POV*|/
No doubt you have heard Astral’s story, correct? Well, mine is a little less sad, but tell me if I get a little too detailed. When I was young, just like you, I was an energetic little filly. I always wondered about the world around me. While I took the active approach to learning, Astral was content with his books for answers. While my method yielded better results, it often got the better of me. One day, I was playing in the fields close to my parent’s house. It was common practice for me, to run about the flower fields, without a care in the world. Then suddenly, I fainted. I didn’t just collapse into unconsciousness, like normal ponies do, I was fully aware of what happened to me. My body became rigidly still, and I felt my mind begin to wander, away from the fields where I played. I found myself on a street, several minutes’ walk from my house. Confused, I began to look around, searching for a familiar face to point me home. As I reached an intersection, I watched a pony in a black cloak, run off with what looked like some valuable jewellery. Seconds later, alarms blared in the street to my left, and an angry shop keeper barrelled past, hurling abuse and insults to the cloaked pony. I put two and two together, and figured out that the cloaked pony must be a thief. Before I could do any more, however, some unseen force yanked me back to the present.
I lay on the flower fields, nauseous and cold. With no idea what happened, I stood up on shaky hooves, the light of the moon, and the stars of the night sky guiding me home. The house we owned was a simple, two storey cottage, not unlike the houses in Ponyville. The first thing I did was to tell my brother, he was sitting in the window sill, reading a book. True to his nature, he raced to the bookshelf and plucked a book from it using his teeth. We were very young at the time, I had barely begun to fly, and Astral had yet to master his magic. The book was a history text on the Matriarch, the ruler of the land I lived in. According to the book, what I saw was a vision, a brief look into the future. I dismissed it as ridiculous, despite his protests. I paid no heed to his arguments and forgot about it for the rest of the evening. I told my parents, and they said they would take me to the doctor in the morning. Apparently, I was lying in the fields for 3 hours, and they were very worried. They asked me to describe my ‘vision’ in detail. They wrote it down, and sent it via royal messenger to the Matriarch. The next morning, I awoke to hear my father discuss today’s paper, on the front page, a black cloaked pony was escorted to the Matriarch’s palace in shackles.
I was utterly confused. Ignoring my parent’s greetings and ‘Good Mornings’ I grabbed a copy of the newspaper and skim read it. Apparently, the stallion in the cloak was a wanted criminal, charged with several robberies. He had been caught because of a tip off that the Matriarch received from an undisclosed source. Guard were waiting at the store on the street I saw in my vision. I finally realised what had happened. The Matriarch took my vision, and used it to stop a thief. The mere ridiculousness shone to me, but truth won out. A white light emanated from my flank, and there it was, my cutie mark. Part of it anyway…
\|*End POV*|/
“Whaddya’ mean ‘Part of it’?” didn’t you get the whole thing?” Asked Apple Bloom, clearly confused
“No, I was a special case,” Verity answered, she looked to her flank, and on the simple, sun shaped mark she bore today. “That day, I only earned the base of my cutie mark, the circle,” she continued “I had to earn each ray individually, before it became a full sun,” she paused, throwing a glance to the CMC “Would you like to know more?”
“Yes please!” replied Dinky enthusiastically
“Alright then, for the rays on my cutie mark…”
\|*Verity's POV*|/
I had to achieve several tasks, eight in all. My first ray was earned in my entrance exam to the Matriarch’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It was a highly prestigious school, and the most advanced, I’ve ever been in terms of education and resources. It was also the largest building in all the land the Matriarch ruled, next to her palace of course. For convenience, let’s refer to her land as ‘The Sphere’ from now on.
My brother and I always seeked to learn, taking advantage of the opportunities that life granted us. We were also very ambitious, for going into that school was no easy task. Our parents were worried that we might be aiming to high for our age, but they helped us get a place. Before I could start however, each of us needed to pass an entrance exam. Each pony’s exam was different, but all of them were difficult. Mine was to circumnavigate The Sphere, in 10 seconds. I wasn’t the best flyer, but I was a good student. Because I was a Pegasus, and one of noble blood, they had expectations. Little did I know, that the Matriarch was behind it all. Approaching the window in the test chamber, I looked to my brother for support. He saw I was worried, but he gave me a smile and a wave for good luck. Mustering my courage, I said a prayer to the Matriarch, and took off.
Flying was always a pastime of mine, no matter how ‘average’ I was. I always enjoyed the freedom of flight, the sheer thrill of being in the air. I felt no such euphoria on this flight. I pumped my wings as fast as I could, ignoring their protests and the tears in my eyes. It has already been 4 seconds, and I barely reached the outer rim. Thoughts began to circle in my mind, I thought I’d never do it, it would take nothing less than a miracle to complete it. Doubt was blinding me, and I began to slow down, possibilities of failure were weighing on my shoulders. Then I thought of my brother, my parents, how they believed in me. I couldn’t let them down, not now, not ever. Gathering my remaining strength, I sprinted through the rim, flying faster than I’ve ever flown before. The pain in my wings was drowned in the thrill of flight. My hooves stretched out in front of me, bolted for the finish, mere kilometres from me now. A warm light began to radiate from my body, but I just kept flying. As the light intensified, it pooled at the front of my hooves, a spiralling miasma of colour. I was determined to touch it, flying even faster and faster. When my hooves finally reached it, the world was drowned in a deafening *BOOM*. Light cascaded behind me as a reached an all new level of speed. The land seemed to halt as I became faster, eating up the final distance in record-breaking time. When I reached the window I started from, I slowed to halt, and calmly flew in, as if nothing extraordinary happened.
I trotted over to the Judges, a silly, smug smile on my face. They were literally speechless; one reached for a stop watch and showed me my score. I had apparently navigated the whole outer rim of The Sphere in 4.67 seconds. I paused, that would have meant that it took me four seconds to get to the border, and two thirds of one to make it all the way back, from the other side of the land, no less. Suddenly, the judges began to bow. I thought they were bowing to me, so I bowed back. This drew an amused chuckle from a tall figure behind me. I quickly found the Matriarch was behind me and quickly rounded to bow to her, but a hoof on my shoulder stopped me. The hoof belonged to the matriarch, and she smiled warmly down at me. The Matriarch is a tall, beautiful Alicorn, a splitting image of Celestia, but her coat, mane and tail were mixes of gold and yellow. Like the sunrise, her long mane shifted and flowed on the lightest of breezes. She cast no shadow, because she radiated light, illuminating the room far brighter than any lantern or crystal. She said to me:
“You have done well, young one. You have past your test, and are now one step closer to being ready. From this day forth, I will teach you personally,”
I am embarrassed to say that as she finished, I hugged her on the spot. Many ponies would have me pried off in a heartbeat, but she just chuckled, and gently returned it. It was truly one of the most magical moments of my life.
\|*End POV*|/
“… and that’s how I got my first ray,” Verity finished
“Whoa” the assembled foals looked utterly impressed. Although, none of them wanted to admit that they have no idea where she lived, or who the Matriarch was.
“It sounded like a mix of Twilight and Rainbow’s cutie mark story,” commented Dinky
“That it does, little one,” replied Verity “my other seven rays would take just as long to explain as this one, so we’ll just have to leave it at that,”
“Aww!”
“No pouting! Charlene will escort you back to your room to pack away all your things. We’ll meet you in the lobby where your sisters and mother will pick you up,”
She motioned for Charlene to stand, but was interrupted by a small voice
“Miss Verity?” Sweetie belle asked
“Yes, can I help you?”
“Can I please burrow some of your books?” she asked, practically begging with those big green eyes of hers.
“Okay, just make sure you don’t lose them,” Verity sighed
“Yay!”
With that, they all galloped out the room, Charlene trying desperately to keep pace. The remaining four shared a laugh at the scene, then things became more serious.
“You’re going soft on them,” said Honour Bound
“I was never hard on them,” pouted Verity
“True,” admitted Astral “But we have to be careful what they find out about us,”
“If my intuition is correct, they will find out everything,” she paused “How she reacts, and how she finds out is up to us,”
Astral nodded, conceding the point “Well, if we are going to open up to them, we might as well get it over with,”
“Aw, but where’s the fun in that?” inquired Honour playfully “I kind of like playing this charade,”
“Well whatever you do, be very careful. I don’t want to lose any of you to Celestia’s interrogations,”
They all nodded, and made their way out the door.