Ancient Adjustment

by Jolttra

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Fire. All around. Deafening roar of flames. Nostril filled with burning smoke. No escape in sight. No place to run. From the depths of blinding red and yellow, a voice called out.

“Wake up.”

A dark figure appeared behind the burning wall.

“Wake. Up.”

The fire crept closer, seeming erupting inwards as the figure approached. A wave of heat shot toward a scared face.

“WAKE UP!”

Cold engulfed the monster's body as a buckets worth of icy water was splashed on him. The beast sprang up in shock but fell back to the hard stone floor, unable to stand up fully. He was trapped in darkness, with not even enough light to see his own snout. In confusion and panic, he struggled to lift his body. He might not have been able to see the bonds holding him down, but he could hear them clearly. Loud metallic clanging let him know immediately that it was chains, but ones stronger than ever before encountered. He strained against them, putting all of his great strength in breaking through, only to collapse. His efforts were unavailed.

“It’s pointless trying to escape,” a voice called from the inky blackness. “Those are Mithril chains. They would hold down a full grown Hungarian Horntail for a hundred years.”

The beast had no idea what Mithril was. Or a Hungarian Horntail, for that matter. But he knew when he was beat.

“Who is there?” the creature called out into the darkness.

“We are the ones who will be asking the questions here,” the voice called back. “Who are you? What are you?”

The creature adjusted himself, turning this way and that trying to find a more comfortable position. Eventually he settled on leaning most of his weight on his front right elbow.

“My name is Parvula of the mountains. And I am Yael.”

“pss.” The voice whispered, trying not to be heard. “What’s a yael?”

“i don’t know,” another voice whispered back, “ask the expert.”

The faint sound of fluttering pages followed a third, somewhat familiar voice.

“I’m looking. none of these books say anything about it.”

“Are you lying to us?” the first voice called out, this time much louder.

“How many?” Parvula called back.

“How many what?

“How many are there with you?”

“I’m the only one here.”

“No. There are three. One as you are. And another with books, female perhaps.”

“….”

“Am I not correct?”

“….”

“Do you plan to answer or not?”

“You are correct.”

There was a fourth now. A calm voice that also seemed familiar.

“Or rather you are close to correct. And since there is no more need to hide that fact,”

Light pierced darkness. Pitch blackness dispersed as sunshine poured over. Parvula closed his eyes. The bright midday sun was too much for him at the moment. Warmth enveloped his soaking body. Parvula opened his eyes, blinking until they adjusted. Before him was a Goddess, shining brilliant as the Sun. Never before had he witnessed something so beautiful.

“Angelus pulchritude,” Parvula said to himself in utter astonishment. “Am I… is this Heaven?”

“Heaven?” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “No. This is not Heaven.”

“Then Valhalla? Or Jannah? Or Elysium? What higher plain of existence can produce such beauty?”

“Beauty?” she giggled. “I assure you, Parvula, this is the land of the living. You are not dead.”

Parvula surveyed his new surroundings. The room was bare. No doors, no windows, the perfect prison. Light was shining, but he couldn’t tell from where. The ceiling just seemed to glow. The Goddess, no. She said he was not dead. And Gods do not walk with the living. Whatever the radiant being standing before him was, she was on the other side of the empty cell. At her sides were two creatures wearing golden armor. They were smaller than the shining one. In the corner was a fourth being. She was much smaller than the others. She was wearing no gold, or anything else for that matter. Her fur was violet instead of white and around her were books, some of which looked very very old.

Parvula adjusted himself again, this time raising his head as high as possible to meet his captor’s eyes.

“Who are you? Where is this place?”

“She is Princess Celestia, ruler of this land Equestria,” one of the solar guards spoke up, offended at the beast’s ignorance. “And you best learn to speak to her with respect.”

“Big talk I see. Say that again when these chains are off.”

The guard moved forward. He had a whole speech in his head ready to scold the despicable creature and teach him a thing or two about manners. But the eyes. For one small moment the Yarel’s, Yeaal’s, whatever. Its eyes flashed. Animalistic fury bleed from its small, darting eyes. From then he knew what was in front of him was a monster like that which has never been seen in his lifetime. And given the chance, it would destroy him. The guard stepped back. He was afraid. Afraid of a fully bound prisoner he was tasked to watch. That’s also the moment he realized that he hated his job.

“So since you asked, I guess it is my turn. What are you?”

“We are Ponies,” Twilight said with great excitement. “Well to be exact, I’m a Unicorn, those two are Earth Ponies, and Celestia is an Alicorn. There are also Pegasus Ponies. They have wings like Celestia but no horn. We have a Hierarchy society between the four subclasses. Equestrian rule has prevailed for over five thousand years and Celestia has ruled over the last thousand. Since then we have had a period of peace that only occasionally-“

“Enough!” Parvula interrupted, “I did not ask for the entire history of your people. Is she always like this?”

“Every day of her life.”

The guard regretted those words as Celestia shot him an angry glance.

“My student is simply dedicated to discovery and knowledge. You owe her a great debt. If not for Twilight Sparkle, you would still be trapped in that tomb.”

“Tomb? Are you sure I am not dead? What tomb do you speak of?”

“We found it in Saddle Arabia.” Twilight pouted. “It was buried in the sand. There were a lot of old symbols, including the crest of Ki-Lin. We thought it was his tomb, but instead we found you.”

“His tomb.” He repeated it to himself. “His, tomb.”

Parvula slumped onto the ground.

“My Emperor is gone. Everything I had known is no more.”

Quiet. Long, uncomfortable quiet. What felt like an eternity passed without a word. Twilight shifted uncomfortably. She wanted to say something, but had no idea what. She scratched her face, waiting for somepony to speak up. To say anything to relieve the unbearable tension.

“You asked me,” Parvula finally said. “What am I. Does this mean there are no more like me?”

Twilight lowered her head. She didn’t know how to say what needed to be said. With a heavy heart, the Princess spoke to her newest subject.

“No. There are none like you.”

“The shrine, where you found me. Were there others?”

“…No.”

“How long was I gone?”

“We don’t know for sure. We will need time to-“

“HOW LONG WAS I GONE?!!”

Anger echoed through the small stone room. Resonance of the Yael’s roar shook the four ponies to their cores. The Celestial Guards clung to the wall farthest from their prisoner. If the room had doors, you can bet a month's’ worth of bits they would have ran for it. Twilight hid behind her mountain of books, as if they were enough to protect her. Only the Princess was unfazed. With more sorrow than fear, she walked closer.

“Ten thousand years. That’s how long ago Ki-Lin perished. That is at least how long you were gone.”

Long sharp nails dug into the stone. Twilight stuck her hooves into her ears. Closing her eyes, she pressed down harder. Piercing screeches filled the air, the noise seeming to reach all the way into her brain. Cries begging for her agony to stop were drowned out as it grew louder and higher in pitch. Then, nothing. The pain had stopped. Twilight opened her violet eyes. Shallow scratch marks perforated stone. Parvula’s body trembled as he lost all control. Rage, fear, sorrow and agony built up and finally exploded. He swung his head, straining the chains holding him, thrashing in anguish. The Yael screamed louder in a long mournful outburst of pure emotion. Twilight closed her eyes. The giant gaping maw filled with teeth was more than she could handle. The screams continued as she buried her face in her hooves, trying to find a happy place. Then the screams stopped. Twilight lay there, too afraid to move. A few brief moments of deafening silence broken by the gentle clopping sound of somepony’s hoof steps prevailed.

“Twilight.”

Celestia’s voice was soft and sad. The young mare removed her hooves from her face to see her teacher’s sorrowed eyes.

“It’s time we leave. There is nothing more we can do here.”

Celestia’s horn glowed and a door of light appeared on a near wall. The princess gestured her student to leave first. Twilight ran to the door, but slowed before walking through. Curiosity got the better of her and she took one last look at Parvula. What she saw was not the mighty beast that had tried killed her in Saddle Arabia. The fight was gone from his eyes. No semblance of his strength and ferocity could be seen. Just a sad, pathetic animal. Twilight had seen the Yael inches away from death, but this was the only time he had truly seemed crushed.

Twilight stepped through the door into a stone corridor. More Solar Guards were standing post outside. After stepping out, the two Solar Guards from the room rushed out. They were breathless and afraid they could barely stand. One of them pushed his hoof against the wall trying not to fall over while the other sat on the floor, splayed out and relieved to be free. Celestia was the last one out. The shimmering door closed behind her, replaced by stone marked by a Yellow symbol of a sun. Each Solar Guard straightened to attention. The guard on the floor tried to stand but fell on his back and passed out. The other guard continued to lean against the wall, breathing heavily and still in complete panic.

“Take these two to the infirmary,” the Princess called to the captain. “I think they have earned a few days rest. Come, Twilight.”

The Solar Princess walked away down the hallway. Twilight stayed behind her teacher as they left the guards behind. Together they walked down corridor after corridor, not saying a word. Celestia’s steps grew faster and more rushed as Twilight struggled to keep up. Finally they reached the throne room. Celestia stopped. In the empty room, surrounded by stained glass windows with her favored student watching, Celestia collapsed onto the floor.

“Princess!” Twilight cried in horror. “Are you alright? I’ll call the doctor and-“

“NO!” The Princess yelled. “No. No doctors. I’ll be fine.”

“But...” Twilight didn’t know what to do.

“No. Twilight. I’ll be fine. I’m not hurt. Just… scared.”

The violet mare’s jaw dropped. Celestia, the Solar Princess, ruler of Equestria for a thousand years and her teacher, was scared. It seemed impossible.

“B-but” she stammered. “But you’re the Princess. You’ve never been scared of anything.”

“Twilight, I am always scared. Terrified, even. I have so much to fear. I fear for this land. For my subjects. For the day when I will fail them all.” She stared into her student’s violet eyes. “And I fear for you. And the day I will no longer read your letters.”

Twilight’s eyes moved to the floor, unable to look her teacher in the face. She had never realized how much the Princess had deal with. But more than anything she never realized how mortal the Princess truly was. All this time she had looked up to her as some sort of God, but she was just as full of fear and doubt as anypony else. Morning sun seeped in from the stained glass windows, illuminating the room with color. The young, disillusioned mare watched the Solar Symbol above the throne grew brighter. Everything had changed. Everything…