//------------------------------// // 1: Celestia's Curse // Story: A Changed World // by dredaich //------------------------------// It was about ten minutes later. Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were back in the library. Fluttershy was bringing the dead bird to her cottage, but said she would join the others soon. Twilight decided, that she would try her old main strategy for any problem, she couldn't solve on her own: Looking for a book. The others helped her as good they could, but they all had the major problem, that they no idea what they were looking for. So they were all skimming through the books searching, but till now they only achieved to create an impressive mess for the short amount of time they had. Suddenly they heard the door opening. Twilight turned around to see, that a huge, masterly carved door, with a golden door knob, in a matching door frame had somehow replaced the regular door of her house. An unknown creature, she guessed she was a draconequus, made her way through it and shuddered. The moment, when the door closed, it reverted to her normal door. Twilight need some seconds to comprehend, who she saw. “Princess Celestia?” Celestia just nodded. Her head was quite similar to her true one, just two great fang protrude from her mouth now, she had the ears of a goat and her horn was far shorter, smoother and curved upwards. The rest of her body had changed far more. Her torso was that of a snake. Instead of her fore hooves she had a cat’s paw and a minotaur’s arm, while her hind legs were replaced by a bird’s claw and an ape’s foot. She had an oversized pegasus wing next to a wing of a griffon. Her tail was that of a zebra, which had the same colors as her mane, but was not ethereal. Strangely the body didn't look as chaotic as Discords. Maybe it was the uniform white color of it. In fact she instead radiated order and authority, so Twilight bowed to her. She realized this, just after she had raised her head again. It dawned her, that the order and authority were at least partially magical. “Greetings, Princess Twilight Sparkle and my dear subjects,” Celestia said, but somehow the warmth in her voice was missing. Twilight fears, that the princess would be angry at her, resurfaced but somehow she kept herself from panicking. “Rainbow Dash informed me, that you know the culprits, who caused this chaos.” “Yes, they won't be able to do any harm anymore. They're sealed away,” Twilight replied eagerly, in hope that would lessen her anger for her failure. “Then release them. They shall get a trial and a chance to undo their crime.” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. “No, that's...” she exclaimed, but was cut off by a disapproving glare of her mentor. She shied away under it, but she knew she couldn't let this happen. She exhaled deeply to calm herself further and to get some time to prepare, what she would tell to her mentor. “In my opinion this would be a bad idea,” she begun. She then told Celestia the little they found out about the two and stressed the parts, that one of the monsters was able to manipulate minds and has used this ability against its companion, that its weapon seemed to be immune to the power of the Elements of Harmony and that it brought pain to everypony touching it, even if done through magic. ---.--- Celestia followed Twilight and the others to the two statues. It was a good thing, that they had left the chaotic library, somehow she had felt extremely uncomfortable in it. Sadly, another problem appeared to annoy her: walking in this dreaded body. She had started walking on all fours, but it felt uncomfortable for her, so her body switched to walk just on the hind legs, whenever she didn't focus on it. She had stumbled every time, when she realized that this has happened and she then forced herself to walk on all four legs again. She did trust Twilight, but it seemed wrong to her, to seal them away without even giving them a chance to explain themselves. It made her feel like a tyrant. On the other hoof, if they abused her sense for justice to bring death and misery to her little ponies, she wouldn't be able to bear the guilt. So she hoped, that seeing the statues may help her decide. As she should have expected after the events of this day, the statues didn't do her that favor. The creatures were hideous and their pose barbaric. The black-blue sword in the claws of the one remembered her of the chaotic times, before the union of the pony tribes. But they were both unknown to her. Neither even by far resembled any of the enemies Celestia had faced to protect her subjects. Even the wolf was far different from the wolves, that had roamed the land long ago. They were alien to her, she had no idea, what their motivations could be. Maybe they were just misunderstood. She thought desperately for a way to guarantee, that those two wouldn't do any harm, while she could interrogate them, but found none. As she had stated to herself, they were alien to her and if what Twilight told her was true, their powers were alien to. How could she possibly ensure, that they wouldn't harm her ponies, if she didn't even knew what they could do? She sighed. “Celestia,” Twilight said, “there is another thing you should know. The sealing of Elements seems to be... vulnerable. While as far I can see it, it cannot be overcome from the inside, it is far less resilient against support from outside. We have to make sure, that nopony will try to do something like that.” “Why do you believe, that anypony would do so?” “I'm not sure...” Twilight paused a moment, looking at her grinning, scratching her head “but sadly I've seen ponies playing careless with forces they couldn't control, I just want to be sure.” Celestia was proud of her former student. She had overcome her shyness in front of her and told her straight, what she meant. Sadly she had other things to focus on: What Twilight said was right. She knew very well, that many ponies thought, nothing would be willing to harm them and acted carefree. Normally she took pride in the fact, since she had helped to make this belief true. At least as long as they stayed near to their homes and no ancient evil decided to break free from their prison. She surely couldn't bear it, that they might be harmed or even die, because they thought they were safe. Slowly Celestia nodded. “These creatures have to stay locked away. I therefore decree, that releasing them is forbidden. They shall be brought away to a secure place, to further reduce the chance of their escape.” She hated herself for what she had just said. Two creatures, that might be harmless to her and her little ponies, would suffer for the safety of her wards. At least they couldn't die in there, since their bodies didn't age inside. That last thought was intended to soothe her, but in hindsight it did terrify her. They would suffer eternally. Her decision was a mistake, she had no doubt anymore, but a mistake she didn't dare to correct. “Twilight!”, a female shouted from behind. Celestia turned her head into that direction without moving the rest of the body. A huge unicorn stallion and two weird creatures, that seems to came right out of Discord’s mind, approached them. The unicorn was at least as big as she has been as an alicorn. He had yellow fur, orange eyes and an unkempt green mane. He lacked a cutie mark at his flanks, but had instead an eight-sided snowflake slightly above the left hoof. Maybe a strange anomaly, caused by whatever the two sealed creatures have done. The first of the creatures looked like a mixture of a great bunch of creatures like ape, pig and minotaur to name a few. She had a mint green mane with some white strands, shining yellow eyes and was wearing enough clothes for two or maybe even three nobles. She was walking just on her hind legs. The other had the body of a big and strong mare up to the shoulders, but instead of a neck she had an upper body like that of the first creature. She had a pink and dark-blue colored mane and light blue eyes. Her upper body was like the first ones almost completely covered with clothes. She had also brought a plain-looking black book, which she was holding in her left paw of her non-pony part. The two creatures bowed to Celestia after some seconds. Quite likely, that was the time they needed to understand, who she was. Well, at least they tried to, while the unicorn failed to follow the proper protocol and just stood beside them, blinking rapidly with his eyes. Luckily for him her attention was centered on the other two newcomers and their antics. The creature with the pony body bend her fore legs and lowered her head a bit. It looked a bit strange, but that might be because she looked already strange without bowing. The other bend her neck and seemed to try to pull both of her hind legs back simultaneously. She failed and lost her balance, flailed with her arms, but that didn't stop her to fall onto the ground. She could barely stop herself with her strange paws from smashing with her disturbingly flat face into the ground. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I'm not used to that body, your highness,” she said. She brought herself into a sitting position. But kept her head looking downward. “At ease, my little...” Celestia paused a moment to consider how to address her “... citizen. May I ask you, if you know in what kind of creature you have been transformed?” “I became a human and Bon Bon became a centaur, both seem to be species from the land the sealed creatures and Confidant came from,” the human replied, pointing with her right claw at the unicorn, “May I speak to Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia?” the human at the ground asked, while getting back onto her hind legs. “Of course you may,” Celestia answered. She had never heard of either kind. They had to live very far away. “What is it Lyra?” Twilight asked. “You asked us to tell you if we find something strange and while we helped Confidant out of his armor, we found a book in his saddlebags, that startled us.” Bon Bon answered, walking to Twilight giving her the book, “The book is written with strange symbols we couldn't read. Confidant on the other hoof, could, although quite slowly. He said that it's title is 'Death magic', additionally I have the feeling, that there is something wrong with the paper.” “I'll make sure, that it will cause no harm to anypony,” Twilight said, while taking the book under her arm “Were their other things in there?” “Ehm... well, yes. There was a strange knife made of some black metal, and some other things, but we think, nothing is even nearly as scary as that book.” “Still, I should look through them and see if they're safe.” “Well, sure. If I may ask, do you know, when we will turn back and what will happen with those two?” Lyra asked, nodding her head in the direction of the two statues. “Those will stay sealed away for the safety of everyone else. They will be brought to a place, where we can make sure, that nopony will try to help them escape.” Celestia answered a bit louder, than she wanted. Lyra turned her head to Confidant and to Celestia confusion retold what she just said, “I'm sorry Confidant, but Princess Celestia said, that Arlok and the wolf will stay locked away.” Confidants hind legs gave way and his eyes went wide open. His mouths corner's turned downwards and his mouth was slightly open. But only after some more moments, when finally tears welled from his eyes, Celestia realized, that he was in grieve. She was puzzled, why she didn't get this before. But what terrified her was, that she didn't feel any sympathy for the fellow. Not even now, although she demanded it from herself. He was lying on the ground now, his tears streaming down watering the grass, while Lyra was sitting beside him, petting his head, while whispering something to him. Her heart was as cold, as that of the tyrant she was becoming or maybe already was. While Celestia was trying to cope with this unpleasant truth, Twilight answered the other question: “I'm sorry Lyra, but we don't know. The Elements of Harmony were not able to accomplish it and we're now looking for another solution, but I fear that it will take a while. I recommend, that everypony tries their best to cope with this for now.” Bon Bon eyes went wide, while her corners of her mouth fell even deeper than before. “To be honest, if the Elements of Harmony can't fix this, I don't believe there is any other way it could be achieved, especially since all our mages lost their magic and even I as a draconequus can't do anything about this,” Celestia added, since it irked her, that Twilight obviously tried to leave out this information. Bon Bon eyes rolled up and she fell sideways onto grass. Lyra, Rarity and Twilight rushed towards her to help her. Celestia knew she should be shocked about this, but she felt nothing for that mare, but annoyance for the mess Bon Bon has caused with falling unconscious. She looked at the barbaric statues. Wasn't she now a monster as much as they were? Her heart has become stone, while her words were harming those she wanted to protect. Maybe she should also be sealed away for the sake of her little ponies. No, she couldn't run away from her duty just because her body betrayed her. These two have caused so much misery to her dear subjects, who needed guidance in this dark hour. She would do her best to give it to them. Her heart might be gone, but as far as she could see her mind has remained intact. She would find a solution. She sighted. It sounded all well in her head, but doubts crept into her. What if her actions harmed her ponies without her being able to see it? What if her mind was becoming like her body without her noticing? What if she failed? While she was in her dark thoughts, she saw how the others worked together to bring Bon Bon home. It seems Lyra has calmed Confidant enough, that he would carry Bon Bon, while the wielder of the Elements of Harmony tried to lift her onto his back. A small smile appeared across Celestias face, while she went to aid them. She didn't have to do this on her own. Still, she had to be careful, who she would burden with that knowledge. Otherwise, asking for help might cause the panic she was trying to prevent. Confidant couldn't stand up at first, but after closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he erected himself and walked forward baring his teeth, while Lyra, supported by a flying Rarity, made sure, that her friend didn't fell off. When they were some steps away Celestia noticed, that his hooves and legs were covered in a thick layer of hardened mud. She looked back and saw to her disdain, that at the place, where he started, were four lengthy holes like big scars in the otherwise well kept lawn. A snip with the paw later, this mess was brought to order and for the first time after the transformation she felt a bit relief. She didn't waste a thought why, this made her feel better. She had decided, that she needed to talk to her sister as soon as possible. She felt, how her magic has formed a door to her sister. For some odd reason it had replaced the of the nearest house and not just appeared right beside her. She gave her farewells to her subjects, before she rushed to that door, hoping nopony else would use it before her.