The Stolen Child

by Thistle Charm

When Her Horn Begins to Glow

...Four Months Later...

It was well into the night, at the time just before the unicorn mages would prepare for the resting of the moon and rising of the sun. Celestia’s horn pulsed achingly against her head. Her body wanted to sleep, but she would not have it. Celestia was arced over her mahogany desk, focusing intently on every page of Clover the Clever’s Compendium on Unicornian Charms. Yet as she read deeper into the text, memorizing each diagram and phrase, turning the page with her magic was still a chore.

As her exhaustion continued, the pages felt more like lifting an Ursa Minor than flipping paper. Celestia groaned and pushed all her focus into her horn. It’s glow was wispy, hardly strong enough to have any color at all. The page before her just rippled, refusing to turn.

“I command you to flip over!” Celestia muttered through gritted teeth. Finally, she gave up and jabbed at the paper with her hoof. Its corner ripped as the page turned. Celestia’s eyes were tired and blurred; the text was beginning to smear into swirls of nonsensical black doodles. The alicorn finally gave up, and turned to her bed. She collapsed onto the mattress of hay. She lazily bit the corner of the quilt and pulled it over her bare flank.

How will I be able to be apprenticed if I can’t turn the page of a book? Celestia thought. She snorted angrily and closed her eyes, nestling against cotton-stuffed pillows. With the general ease flying had come to her, she had never thought performing magic would be as much trouble as it was. True, she had never been able to use telekinesis -- but she had thought that was lack of application, not lack of ability.

In the pre-dawn silence, she could hear the servants downstairs begin preparations for morning. Doubtless they were polishing the floors and tending to a new fire in the hearth. The cook would be heading down to the Earth Pony market for bread and fresh harvestables while the maids began preparing a cup of tea for when her father returned. Celestia wondered how the staff dealt with her family’s contrasting schedules -- Nobulis was a Cloudsdale Captain, leader of the old Pegasopolis Midnight Sentries, while her mother, Solaria, was the lead mare of the Diurnal Unicorn Mages. It was only during midday and twilight did they ever truly see one another.

Celestia’s ears pricked as she heard her mother’s slippered hooves shuffle down the stone staircase. The muffled greetings of the morning staff rumbled in her ears. It was a wonder Solaria was still going to raise the sun; ten months along meant she could go into labor any day now. The thought of a baby sister excited Celestia. She smiled gently. What would having a foal in the house be like? Ever since her mother had told her of the pregnancy four months prior, the hopes and wishes of a little sister occupied a great deal of Celestia’s mind. Well, that, and her future magic apprenticeship.

“Ugh,” Celestia groaned. She rolled onto her back and hugged a pillow to her chest. She stared up to the canopy draped around her bed, a soft pink mesh, and cursed her ineptitude with magic.

A noble alicorn, whose magic isn’t strong enough to even lift a book, she thought miserably. The pounding throb of her horn had subsided by now; all that was left in her was sleepiness. She tried not to think of the other unicorns and alicorns that would be vying for apprenticeships soon; she tried not to think of the disappointed looks she would get from her parents. Instead, she thought of the smiles they had when she had aced her Young Flyers’ exam. As she drifted to sleep, Celestia wondered what her sister would look like; what she would be like.

“A sister...” Celestia whispered. Slumber finally took her.

“M’lady, it’s mornin’. Time tah rise ‘n greet the day,” Flora Wheatley, Celestia’s earth pony maid, cooed. She pulled aside the thick velvet curtains, letting in the rays of wintry sunlight into the bedroom. Celestia groaned slightly, sticking her head beneath the pillow.

“Come now, m’lady. Your father instructed me tah rouse you. Ya didn’t forget what today is, did you?” Flora asked. She noticed the cluttered desk with crumpled and shuffled papers. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly and began tidying the papers and books with agile hooves.

“Today is the day I lose my dignity,” Celestia muttered. She yawned and flapped her wings twice, shaking drowsiness from her wings.

“Oh, come now, m’lady. You ain’t going to disappoint nopony, so there ain’t no use in moping around now with worry,” Flora said. She trotted over to Celestia’s bedside and peered down at Celestia, who was sprawled over her bed dramatically.

“Flora, I can barely turn the page of a book. There are unicorns younger than I that can lift small statues! I’ve studied and I’ve practiced, yet it seems my horn just won’t cooperate!”

“Enough of this sad news ‘n blues, m’lady. You can’t lament somethin’ when you haven’t even tried. I’m sure when the time comes, you’ll get a fantastic mentor,” Flora said, grinning. Although her eternal optimism sometimes nauseated Celestia, on this morning, the earth pony’s tender marigold eyes soothed her. Celestia gave out a laugh for her own dramatics. She rose and stood at the foot of her bed. Flora bit the thick silver handle of a brush and began to work through the knots of Celestia’s soft pink mane.

“Ow!” Celestia winced.

“Sowwy, m’wady. Yow haiw is vewy knott’d today,” Flora said, brush still held in her teeth.

“It’s all right, Flora. I can hardly tame it myself.” As Flora continued to brush Celestia’s mane, and eventually unknotted her tail, Celestia began to reminisce about the dream she had. What had been a nice dream degraded into something of a nightmare...at first, she had been romping around with her future sister. In her dream, the young foal was the cutest shade of pink with a smile that could break and mend your heart in one instant. But then, her sister had knocked one of the pony statues in the garden...she was trapped. Celestia had tried lifting the statue, moving it, saving her sister...but each time she tried to lift the statue, it crushed her sister more. Every time she tried to help, the situation got worse until...

“M’lady? I asked you what slippers you would like to wear.”

Celestia snapped out of her reverie. “Oh, I’m sorry, Flora.”

“Would you like tah talk about it?”

“What?”

“Whatever thoughts you were trapped up in just now?”

“I’ll use the gold slippers today.”

Flora sighed, “Yes, m’lady.” She shined the gold slippers and took away the other three pairs. Celestia slipped into each slipper slowly before trotting down the stairs. The staircase emerged onto the foyer, where her father sat sipping his morning cup of tea.

“I was beginning to wonder whether Miss Wheatley would need a small band to wake you,” Nobulis said. He grinned at his daughter and motioned for her to join him by the hearth.

“I’m sorry, father. I had been dreaming,” she said.

“Good ones, I hope,” he said. Celestia didn’t replied. He sipped his herbal tea.

“I’ll be accompanying you to the Presentation today. Considering how much pain your mother has been in lately...well, I cannot have her over-exerting herself,” he said.

“I figured as much, father.”

“You must understand, though, Celestia, that...well, I had my moment with you during the Young Flyers’ exam. She feels that she is missing out on her moment with you,” Nobulis said, “though she would never admit it aloud.”

One of the maids trotted over and lowered a silver tray of fruit and a steaming cup of tea on the pine table beside Celestia. She nodded to the servant before replying to her father, “But this is just the presentation of young unicorns and alicorns to the mentors. It’s not as if I’m graduating my studies in magic today.”

“Yes, but I was the one able to select Lieutenant Cyclone as your flying tutor. Don’t you think your mother is envious that she cannot do the same for you?”

“I guess so...” Celestia said. She nibbled the fruit from the tray, but the sweetness was overpowering. She shuddered; she never liked sugary foods or sweets. Celestia pushed aside the fruit and just sipped her tea; her stomach was quickly beginning to flutter nauseously.

“I just tell you this so you act accordingly with your mother. Helping to raise the sun each morning has...not been easy during this pregnancy. It’s surprising, really; she had no trouble performing her duties when she was carrying you,” Nobulis said. He smiled and finished his tea. One of the brown pegasus servants quickly came and noiseless removed the empty cup and saucer.

“Why does she still go every morning if it’s so much trouble? The other mages would understand if she couldn’t perform her duties right now...” Celestia trailed off.

“She has a sense of duty, Celestia. If nothing else, your mother is a mare of responsibility. Be it with her role as a mage of the day, a wife, or a mother. She may be serious at times, but she does this out of love,” Nobulis said. He smiled reassuringly and stood from his ottoman.

“I must speak with my valet; just wait here and relax,” Nobulis said. He trotted to the servants’ quarters downstairs. Celestia sighed and stared into the flames licking in the hearth. The roiled and slithered against the timber inside, eating the wood and breathing out warmth. She felt little of it, though, cold from anxiety and worry.

Celestia glanced to the silver tray beside her. She narrowed her eyes and focused all her will onto the small cup of fruit. Her horn vibrated and began to glow weakly. The magic wrapped itself around the cup, shaking it gently. Tink, tink, tink, it clang against the tray, but never lifting. Sweat beaded on Celestia’s brow as she pushed harder. The glow became stronger, but still too faint to have any color or substance.

Lift! By the Sun and Stars, lift, damn you! In a second, the glow of her horn sparked to life. It roiled, thick as flame, and the fruit cup slammed into the hearth. The fire cracked and spat as it burned the fruit to ash. Celestia gasped. In an instant, she had gone from unable to lift a page to hurling the cup into the hearth.

I...did...it? Celestia thought. The double doors to the foyer opened, though Celestia did not hear; her lavender eyes were fixated on the fireplace.

“Good morning, m’lady,” the maids chimed.

“And the same to you as well,” Solaria said tiredly. “Celestia, where is your father?”

“Huh?” Celestia turned, surprised by her mother’s appearance. “Oh! I’m sorry; I didn’t hear you come in--”

“Daydreaming will not serve you before the Presentation, Celestia. This is a vital moment in the learning of a magic pony,” Solaria paused as one of the maids took the shawl from her shoulders, “and requires focus and dedication. You may have been able to get away with dilly-dallying during your flight tutorship, but magic is an entirely different entity of learning and study.”

“Yes, mother,” Celestia said dejectedly.

“Well, wherever your father is, tell him to remain quiet during the Presentation. The ceremony is between student and teacher, not parent and tutor.”

“I will,” Celestia said. She noticed the lines dragging beneath her mother’s blue eyes. How tired was she? Her girth had grown substantially; her stomach protruded in a comically round manner, a swollen cream belly.

Celestia remembered what her father had said -- her mother was actually sad about not being able to come to the Presentation. What could she say?

“I’m sorry you cannot come to the Presentation, mother, but I will be sure to give you all of the--”

“Violet, would you warm I bowl for my hooves? They are aching terribly today,” Solaria said. Violet acquiesced and trotted to the kitchens. Celestia’s ears folded in embarrassment. Her mother didn’t even hear her at all! Or did she not want to hear?

“Darling, how was the dawn?” Nobulis asked, rising the staircase from the servant’s quarters.

“Bright and exhausting, as usual,” Solaria sighed. Nobulis nuzzled her neck, which she returned with a light nudge.

“We will return straight away after the Presentation is over,” he said.

“I may be sleeping by then. If I am, do not rouse me from my nap,” she said. Celestia joined her father’s side while Solaria sat by the hearth. Violet placed a large bowl of warm water in front of the fire, which Solaria gently dipped her front hooves into.

“Come now, your mother is tired,” Nobulis whispered. Celestia nodded and they left the manor quietly. In silence, they trotted to Starswirl Square, where the many unicorns and alicorns were gathering.

“Are you excited for the beginning of your magic studies?” Nobulis asked.

“Y-yes,” Celestia answered tentatively. She glanced back at her home before they turned the corner and walked further down into the second tier of Canterlot. Her mother...she hadn’t sounded sad at all. In fact, Celestia thought, she sounded rather pleased to not have to attend the Presentation.

“Here we are,” Nobulis smiled. His great plum wings flapped once excitedly. Celestia gulped as she looked upon the large marble square, now teeming with magical fillies and colts.

Say goodbye to your dignity, Celestia thought.