//------------------------------// // The Room // Story: Redemption. // by Lord Vinder //------------------------------// The door to Luna’s room had not aged since she had been banished to the moon one thousand years ago. The oak was bruised from bangings, and had little dents in it from single solid strikes against it. The handle was still the exact same brass from whence she had left, but looked as if it had been touched recently. But the hall was cold, and not door in it had been opened in centuries. The torches were not lit until Celestia did so as she entered. From darkness, to a long row of red-orange lights filled the old hall of the Lunar Corridor. The white alicorn walked down the corridor, glancing at the other doors and the barely visible tags on the door. “Night Guard Mess,” “Night Guard Bunk,” and “Office of the Night Guard Captain.” No true Night Guard had been appointed since the Lunar Rebellion, rather the task had been made up of the Solar Guard, which had been renamed, and moved to join the Canterlot Defence Force in light of the Rebellion. “Another thing to deal with,” Celestia mused off with as she made it to Luna's door. She looked at the door and closed her eyes. She could feel pure evil coming from it, but something else as well was behind the oak frame. Jealously, to a level Celestia had not known in centuries. “Your highness?” A voice asked, pulling her head from the door, and eyes to the bringer of the question. “Yes?” She asked, looking in the direction of it. “Who calls for me?” No verbal response, but the figure approached her and soon she knew who it was. The Captain of the Guard for Canterlot Castle. “Captain Armour, your highness.” “I can see that, Captain. What brings you here?” Celestia asked, standing in front of the door so as to hide the name plate. “I could ask you the same question,” he replied with. “Isn’t this area restricted?” “Then what are you doing here?” Celestia asked with an eyebrow raised. “I have come to ask what is the meaning of my sister being sent to the town of Ponyville?” The stallion began with. “I understand, to oversee the festival, but could that job not be done by Dr. Quill? He has done so before, and to great effect.” Celestia just gave Shining a smug grin. “You’re complement of Dr. Quill’s talents is noted,” she said. Shining could do nothing but drag a hoof on the ground and give a sheepish laugh. “Well, I,” he started with before stopping and sighing. “It’s just that I-” “Worry about your sister and that she has lost favour in me?” Celestia finished. A pause filled the air between the two. “Yes,” Shining admitted, his eyes to the ground. “Twilight is scared, and I want to reassure her.” “Then tell her what I tell you, Captain,” Celestia said, her tone calm, but mouth neutral. “Yes?” “Trust me. Trust me when I say follow my orders.” “Your highness, I,” he tried to say. “Follow your orders,” Celestia said with a firm tone. “Trust, and do what I say.” “Ye-yes your highness,” Shining said, turning to leave her, his muscles tight and mouth still as he turned. “A moment, before you go, Captain,” Celestia called out. Shining turned to face her, now standing several doors away. “How did you know where to find me?” “Dr. Quill told me,” the unicorn stated, his voice neutral. Celestia frowned at him, but said nothing further on the topic. “You are dismissed, Captain.” A salute, and Shining was gone. When she was sure he left, and could not watch or hear her, Celestia pushed open the door to her long since gone sisters room. The evil, however held her back. However, the alicorn Princess was ready. She cast a rejection spell and sensed the evil was pushed away. Celestia pushed the door again, but it did not move. “How can this be? I can feel no pressure, but it does not open,” she wondered, stepping back to examine door. She looked at the handle and tried to twist it. It didn’t move. A brief burst of her horn caused the brass annoyance to shine for a moment, before a soft click. “That,” Celestia said. “Was not my finest moment.” She pushed on, and walked into the room. It was, like hall before, dark so she used her magic once again to light the torches in the room. What she saw, however, was not what she was expecting. Rather than Luna’s old bed, desk, chair, tens of thousands of books, cabinet and stuffed teddy bear that had been given to her for Hearths Warming Eve, Celestia saw a new world; unlike anything she had seen in recent times. The room, if it could even be called that, was open and in a world of perpetual storms. Thunder and lightning, rain and snow. Trees fell every few seconds, and the wind howled with a fierce roar that punctured though Celestia’s coat and she soon felt very, very cold. “This is not natural,” she said, trying not to shiver in the face of unbearable temperatures. “This world, it is not healthy.” She began to trot deep into the frozen land, where the wind screamed, the nature was destroyed, and the cold froze all it touched. It was as if, to the mare, all hope was lost. Tree after tree fell, till only a few remained--standing against the wind, but if only just. She moved to the last of the trees, their pines poking her coat when she got to close and their fallen friends and branches were crushed beneath her hooves. The trees provided some shelter from the weather. Enough to protect her, but not enough to stop the armada that presented itself to her. “How did this happen?” she asked, brushing off a stump and sitting down on it. She closed her eyes and focused her magic, trying to call nature itself. But try as she might--and did-- she heard nothing. Not a word, not a feeling, nothing. She tried again, and got nothing. It was as if all sense of this world had been cut off to her. Nothing spoke. Her eyes opened and turned to the trees, finding them still fight against the storm. Celestia, despite years of living well beyond that of any mortal, was not an arborist, however even she could tell that the trees that stood before her, and the one that gave her a place to rest the royal rump, held little difference. Strong, and healthy bark, green needles, tall and thick. The two trees looked like near clones. She closed her eyes again, and focused on the dead tree just feet from her. It did not speak, but she could tell it had once been alive and well. Unlike the world itself, however, Celestia could get a feeling from it, not a thought, but a translation of its internal magic. It felt warm, and made her smile; not unlike a hug from Twilight, or Quill when he remembered her preferences. She ceased her magic and did the same spell on a tree that stood with little issue. It, like its fallen companion, had feeling. More so than the previous tree--it was stronger, more evident, and with a dangerous aura to it. Celestia, for a moment, was nervous. Sweat gathered on her brow as she released the spell, She took a breath, and let the cool environment return her to a calmer state. “That,” she noted. “Was not something I hope to experience again.” Celestia, however, redid the spell on the tree until she got a true feel for what it had to say. Where as the dying tree on the ground gave her a smile, this one did no such thing. The only feeling for what the tree had was pain. Not physical pain, but deeper. She closed her eyes and let the pain of the tree wash over her. In moments, she had fallen to the ground and let out a gasp of pain. It was as if the voices of all she knew had silenced. Not death, but like if the magic of everypony from Bean Counter, an earth pony in accounting who just started working for her two weeks ago, to Dr. Quill, to Twilight Sparkle. As if all their voices and all the magic that made them up had been silenced. No screams, no torture, nothing. Just. Stopped. Celestia disengaged the spell, unable to take it anymore. “No. No. No,” she said, stepping away from the trees and into the cold. “Not this, not this.” She started shooting bolts of magic in random directions, her eyes shut, before she unleashed a massive spell that left her horn and shined as bright as the sun she raised. Opening her eyes, she saw the room she expected to see. A dark room, with a bed, a desk, a few bookcases, and curtains that were torn. Boards kept the windows from bringing in light, adding to the darkness of the room. But something else was not going right. She wasn’t alone. “Stand,” Celestia yelled to the figure on the ground. “Who goes there?” The figure stood, and turned to face her. It wore a cloak and appeared to be a unicorn. It started off firing spells at her, but Celestia absorbed them into her shield. “Did you cast that illusion,” She asked the figure, refusing to attack. But she got no answer, only more spells. Weak spells, but oddly enough, they were also low level, easy to learn spells. The military didn’t even start training with spells this weak. She fired a single bolt of magic at the cloaked figure, hoping to stun it. But her aim was truer than she hoped, and the figure collapsed with ease. She ran over to the unicorn, and moved the cloak away. She knew the pony before her--the yellow mane and the soft blue coat with her dark green eyes--she was Luna’s last student before the rebellion--a pony named Waterwheel. She was from Manehatten, and was about seventeen before the war, she had gotten her cutie mark when she became Luna's student. “Waterwheel? But, but you died, centuries ago,” Celestia said, her voice astonished to see the living dead. “You died at-” “I did, and I am, but I am not,” Waterwheel said, a weak smile on her face. “It’s good to see you again, your highness.” “You’re, you’re not angry,” Celestia asked, her voice in shock. “I thought you’d be furious with me.” A cough left the unicorns lips, along with a bit of blood. “I’ve been here a long, long time. Anger left me about two centuries ago. But by then it was too late. Please, Princess, I beg of you. Save Princess Luna, she needs you.” “Two centuries? Waterwheel, what are you talking about?” “I don’t have time to explain, my existence will end soon. Get to Fort Vanhoover soon, stop Nightmare Moon, and save Princess Luna,” the mare explained, blood starting to trickle down her lips, and down onto her grey cloak. “I will, I will,” Celestia said, nodding as she spoke. “Be warned, Fort Vanhoover is not alone. The army of old will still stand there,” she explained, now coughing and sputtering after each word, spraying blood all over the place. Some of it landed in her yellow mane. “Let the dead rest, for once.” “What? Waterwheel I don- Waterwheel? Sweetie, can you hear me?” Celestia asked, as the pony’s last breath left her nose and mouth. “Waterwheel?” The unicorns body lost all colour in an instant, and became a pile of dust in seconds. The room, however, was put to peace. The wood panels on the windows cracked, and fell off. Light shined through them for the first time in centuries. The room was no longer dead. It was alive. The objects shined a mixture of brown, black, and blue. The dust of Waterwheel, on its own, left the room out of the window and shot off in all directions. It was, in a way, a peace. “This, this is.” Celestia tried to say. “This is strange, but, I feel. I feel a calm?” She closed her eyes and breathed a deepness of which she did not do often. Her sisters scent was no where to be found, but she found a natural air in the room--the likes of which she could find anywhere in castle. She left the room, and returned to her office. Dr. Quill, it seemed, had not found her time away to be pleasant. His head was bandaged, and his front left hoof was bleeding--enough to worry her, but not enough for it to drip on the rug. “Your Majesty,” Quill said, as she walked in, as he organized his desk. “Good to see you again, should I get tea?” “And you as well Doctor, is everything alright? And no, I need to leave soon.” “Yes, yes, why do you ask,” he asked, pausing to look at her. A genuine look of curiousness was plastered on his face. “You are wounded. And you work in an office,” she mused. “What happened?” “I, I fell,” Quill said, returning to his work. His eyes avoiding the alicorn. “I fell and banged my head against the table, right there.” He said, pointing to her desk where a small dent that was not there when she left eariler. “And your leg?” “I dropped a tea cup, I cut it as I used my magic to pick it up,” Quill explained, his voice stable, but his eyes never left what he was doing. “How did it go in Luna’s room?” “Quill.” “Your Majesty?” “Look at me.” Quill did as she asked, and his eyes joined with hers. She walked closer to him, and put a hoof on his shoulder. The unicorn shuddered as her hoof connected with his body, and he winced, bracing for impact. “Are you alright?” “Your highness, I-” “I asked you a question, Doctor. Are. You. Alright,” she asked softly, looking deep into his eyes. “I, I will be fine, your majesty,” Quill said, looking away. “I should return to work.” “Quill.” “Really, I’ll be fine. I’m, I’m used to this, its typical, it’s what happens to me. The dif-different pony. I’m, I’m fine. I will be fine. I, I don’t have a choice,” he explained, walking back to his desk. “Right?” he asked, turning at the last second, before he resumed his work. Celestia just used her magic to pull him close and ruffled his mane with a hoof as if he was a foal. She said nothing, but let him go and nodded. “How, how was Luna’s room,” he asked, looking at her with a neutral face--as if nothing happened. “It went well, I think. I know where to go next,” she explained. “You were gone for awhile, anything happen?” “Illusion magic, very strong too,” she noted. “What happened?” “Trees, a storm. It’s painful to talk about. I think I felt my sister, at least her emotions,” Celestia explained, struggling to find the right words. “It’s difficult to say.” “I don’t follow.” “Illusion magic does that, but I was in a snowstorm, and I watched trees fall. I checked each tree, to see what was going on, the trees were emotion,” Celestia explained. “That’s pretty detailed magic,” Quill noted. “To have a tree give off emotion, it must have been powerful magic.” “The conjuror, was Luna’s last student. She’s gone now. Away into the world,” Celestia explained. “I’m sorry for your loss.” “What?” “I’m sorry you had to say goodbye again, its never easy,” Quill explained. “Waterwheel was a talented unicorn. Her books should have achieved more fame.” “You know of her? I am surprised,” Celestia noted. “Well done.” “Waterwheel wrote one of the few documents about Luna during the rebellion. ‘The Greatest Student,’ was what Luna’s diary called her, and ‘The Most Faithful follower,’ was what she called herself,” Quill explained, his tone calm. “Any connection?” “No, we always called our students ‘The Most Faithful Student,’” Celestia explained. “But good thought.” “Where are you off to,” Quill asked. “Fort Vanhoover?” “I, how did you know?” “The birthplace of the rebellion,” Quill noted. “My home, they always told us the story of the day we became strong, and famous.” “And the day that it ended?” “With only the most bitter of remorse. They remember that day well,” Quill explained, his tone quiet. “I assume you will be heading to the Fort at once?” “Yes, I must ask of you t-” “Stay, and keep the country running, got it,” Quill said, with half a smile on his face. “Go, I’ll keep the world at bay.” Celestia could do nothing but smile at him. “You deserve better Quill, I swear it,” she said before trotting out of her office, and though the castle, ready to pay a visit to the long since disabled fort.