Never

by shortskirtsandexplosions

X

...and gazed into the candle-lit depths of the Dawnmist's cabin. She quietly watched Princess Luna as she knelt by Nova Star's bedside, stretching a wing of midnight-blue wings around the tiny unicorn's shoulders and patting him encouragingly.

“That is a most brilliant sphere of flame you have conjured, young one,” she said in her deep, resonating voice. She stared in wonderment at a floating orb of billowing plasma before the two of them. “Now, see if you are capable of altering the shape into something else with your thoughts.”

Nova Star squatted on the very edge of the bed, his entire face tense with concentration. “I... dunno... if I-I can...”

“What is important is that you make an attempt, child. We very well cannot test the limits of ourselves by succumbing to fear and uncertainty.” Luna smiled softly and steadied his shoulders with a pair of gentle hooves. “Imagine as though you are molding a sand castle with your forelimbs.”

“The bullies... at my school said... that I could never go to the beach,” Nova sweated and stammered. “They said I'd just make... all the f-fish blow up.”

“Hmmm. How poetic.” Luna nodded. “Imagine you are molding the bullies' craniums instead.”

“Heeheehee!” Nova suddenly giggled. The ball of fire branched out like a bursting star in front of them. “Wh-whoah!” He gasped and flailed back upon the bed.

Luna erected a protection field of magic just in the nick of time. The fireball erupted, only to settle in an ineffectual puff of fluttering ash and ethereal shadows.

“Awwwwwwwww poop.” Nova pouted, folding his front legs against his chest. “I'm never gonna master anything.”

“I am most certain that you will, child,” Luna said with a soft smile. “Given enough time and application.”

“What about you, your Highness?” Nova looked up at her. “What kind of fire spells do you make?”

“Hmmm...” Luna shook a length of shimmering mane hair out from her brow as she gazed at the ashes. “Not very impressive ones, I'm afraid.”

“No?” Nova Star blinked crookedly. “But... But you are an alicorn!”

“Just because I am immortal does not necessarily mean that I am omnipotent,” Luna stated. “It so happens that flame spells don't fall within my expertise.” She glanced ever so briefly into the shadowed foyer of the room.

Princess Celestia gazed back, holding her breath.

“However...” Luna cleared her throat and looked back at the young unicorn. “If you were ever wishing to learn elemental spells of frost or water, then I would be more than capable of teaching you several volumes worth of mastery.”

“Awwwww... Well that's too bad.” Nova licked his lips and tried to start a floating plume of flame in front of him again. “Cuz I'd really like to get this fire stuff down. The Princess—erm... the other Princess, your sister—she says that I could master my talents if I learned to focus and stuff.”

“She is right about that. You would do well to listen to her wisdom, far more than mine. You see, I have lacked in the area of magical proficiency as of late. There was a time when I could have covered the entire sky of Equestria with a blizzard in a single blink.”

“Really? That sounds so cool!”

“Your witticism is as swift as it is juvenile.”

“Heehee. But... really...” Nova sweat as his eyes darted from the blossoming plume of flame to Luna's face. “What made you stop practicing magic so much?”

“Oh, it is a terribly long story...”

“Celestia says you're all taking me to a new home. I'm never going to have a chance to chat with the Princesses of Equestria again.”

“Hmmm... Indeed.” Luna leaned against the bed and stared into the tiny flame that the young colt was struggling to conjure. “Surely you are familiar with the malevolent entity named Discord.”

“Ew, him? Yeah. All the foals sing nasty songs about him. He wasn't a very nice guy.”

“No. He most certainly was not very nice,” Luna murmured. “He covered this land in chaos and destruction. He had no motive, save for the proliferation of suffering and anguish. He enjoyed causing harm, and he treated the fragility of life as a mere game. I detested him greatly.”

“But... But you and your sister got rid of him, right?”

“Yes. That we did. But it was only after much struggle and turmoil, during which we had to finish manufacturing the vessels for the Elements of Harmony. Those were bleak times, young one. Many ponies died, and the face of the Equestrian landscape was scarred forever.” She paused slightly, her face briefly blending in the shadows of the room. “I used magic as a weapon for the first time in those years,” she said. “All of my life, I had made it my duty to preserve order. Never in five thousand years did I imagine that I would have to wield magic destructively to protect that which I held dear. It... changed me.” She swallowed deeply. “When Discord was defeated, I awoke as if from a deep slumber, and I realized that Equestria had changed as well, and if I didn't do something drastic, then something that was precious and innocent about this fragile landscape would be hopelessly lost, even long after Discord's imprisonment.”

“Did you?” Nova murmured as the flame before him started to take shape. “Did you do something drastic?”

Luna's nostrils flared. She merely smiled at him. “Even immortals are capable of making terrible mistakes, young one. You are not the only soul in this world to have come so far, watching so many things burn.”

“Yeah...” Nova lowered his gaze. The fire began to fluctuate. “I wish I wasn't such a total klutz...”

The flames spat, flickered, and began to disappear. At the very last second, a platinum sphere of energy encased it. Princess Celestia marched into the light with a glowing horn. “Magic is never something harmful or awkward,” she said. “So long as there is somepony proficient in teaching it to you properly.”

“Your Highness!” Nova Star glanced up at her. His jaw dropped as he watched how easily she preserved the flame. “Wow! That's so amazing!”

“I see that you have decided to start your lessons early,” Celestia said as she paced around the locked flame. “It is awfully late for such an exercise, wouldn't you think?”

Nova's ears drooped. He gazed down at the side of the bed. “I'm sorry, your Majesty...”

“Don't be,” Celestia murmured. “I am hardly mad at you.” That said, she cast Luna a sharp but silent glare.

Luna merely smiled. “I think...” She stood up briskly. “...that I shall go and check on the moon. Heaven forbid that I should let it fall from the sky yet again.” She brushed past Celestia with a deliberate flick of her majestic tail. “I trust, dear sister, that you have the wherewithal to entertain our young guest.”

Celestia stammered to say something. She watched in a stupor as her young sister swiftly exited the cabin and shut the door behind, leaving a master and apprentice together with their flame.

“She doesn't talk a whole lot,” Nova said in a gentle voice. “But when she does, I kind of like hearing what she has to say.”

Celestia took a deep breath and smirked slightly. “Yes. She has her own unique sense of... charm.” Clearing her throat, she knelt down and levitated the sphere of flame closer towards Nova Star. “She does not give herself enough credit in her arts. Containing an element such as flame is simple for her, and I suspect it will come naturally to you.”

“But your Majesty, I was barely able to keep the fires afloat for half-a-minute without her help! How could I be a 'natural' at this?”

“Magic isn't something that belongs only to alicorns, child,” Celestia said gently to him. The stars rocked and danced softly outside the windows of the Dawnmist behind them. “As my Father once told me, it belonged to all life. Alicorns are merely entrusted with a larger share.”

“You have a Father?” Nova Star remarked with a gasp.

Celestia hesitated. Eventually, she nodded. “Indeed. He and I built this world together. When Luna was born, he had her paint the canvas of the night. We wanted to build a world that was peaceful and full of order. Though my Father never said it, I truly believe he wanted there to be beauty in Equestria as well. Otherwise, he would have departed for the cosmos much sooner than he actually did.”

“He...” Nova squinted up at her. “He left you?” His throat gulped a sore lump down. “If it was after the creation of everything, then that had to have been a long, long time ago...”

Celestia's rosy eyes reflected the flame icily. “Yes. It has been a very long time.”

Nova Star suddenly smiled, his black tail flicking. “He must have loved you very much.”

At that, Celestia's eyes twitched. She gazed from the flame and stared at the young colt. “You don't say?”

He slowly nodded. “Cuz you love your royal subjects so very much. Why else would you be taking care of Equestria after so many years, and making magic look so good and bright? It's kind of like your Father is loving all of us through you and Princess Luna, isn't it?”

Celestia breathed in deeply, her face lengthening as she digested those words. Gently, she smiled, then shuffled closer to the bed. Spreading one of her wings, she held Nova close while she raised the sphere of brightening flames in front of him.

“Nova Star. Take hold of the fire.”

“Wh-what?!” He gasped suddenly, gazing with frightened, twitching eyes at the flames. “But... But that's way too big! I've never conjured that much before! How could you possibly expect me to maintain all that magic?”

“Shhh... Nova, tell me, from the bottom of your heart.” Celestia gazed deeply at him. “Did your parents love you before they died?”

His lip quivered. His eyes moistened. “Y-yes,” he whimpered.

She whispered. “Show me.” In that instant, she dropped the protection field. The ball of fire exploded right in front of them.

Nova squeaked in fright. His body twitched, flinching away from the shimmering tongues of heat. Panting, he realized that he wasn't on fire. His eyes opened, and he saw that there was another glow. His horn had become a brilliant beacon, masterfully controlling the twirling globe of plasma in front of him. The sphere was immaculate, without blemish, like a pure pearl of golden sunlight.

“It's beautiful...” He murmured, his eyes wide and awestruck. “Am... am I doing this?”

Celestia moved in closer to stare at the flames alongside him. “We all are, Nova. We are all fragile, all unique, and all made strong in the company of each other. Magic is an amazing thing, but it is only a projection of a substance that is far more precious and dazzling. There will always be magic in this world. However, the lives of those whom we love and cherish is as fleeting as dust, but immeasurably priceless and powerful. What your parents made together, what they gave you, is something no spell or incantation can ever hope to emulate. Once you realize that, once you've gained sight of all that is righteous in this world, then you can master even the most complex of magics, for you will have mastered the heart of life itself.”

Nova stared into the flame, and yet his tears were still streaming down his face.

Celestia looked at him gently. “What are you thinking, young one?”

He choked back a sob and murmured, “I had my doubts for so long. But... but now it's so clear.” He shuddered and smiled as the tears doubled. “They would be proud of me...”

“Hmmm...” Celestia reached her hoof over and dried his tears. “Yes. As I know that my Father would be proud of me.”

He did something then that she hadn't expected. He leaned against her hoof and nuzzled it, his moist eyes shut as he smiled in the bliss of his epiphany. All the while, his concentration never wavered. The glowing sphere of flame remained as solid as ever, doubling in brilliance.

Celestia gazed at his tiny face's contact with her hoof. She then looked deeply into the fire as her expression paled over like a gloss of ice.

Comments

[Ponky]

Holy crap, this is so good. Made me tear up in this chapter, Skirts. I love your take on Celestia. Love it.