Founding Harmony

by True Blood

Lost in the Waste

The young filly crouched protectively over the younger-still foal who was huddled beneath the elder’s wings. They were both covered in cuts and bruises, manes dishevelled in tangled messes, and their eyes spoke of a desperation that screamed out for food, water, shelter, and protection, though the older filly showed a fiery determination to protect the younger. They both stared up at the figure standing before them; a hulking mass of metal and menace, it had approached them under their small overhang made by a series of large rocks the two had been using as cover to hide, without a word, and was now simply staring at them with an unwavering gaze.

“Celestia…” the young foal whined. “Tia, I’m scared” Celestia crouched lower, shielding her dark-blue-coated sister with her own white-coated body.

“It’s okay Luna” Celestia reassured her. “We’re going to be ok” She hoped her sister could not hear the lie in her voice, because to her it was as plain as day. “Just stay close, we’re going to be ok.” The figure before them shifted its head slightly, and Celestia’s eyes were immediately drawn to it again. She glared up at it defiantly.

“What do you want with us?” She demanded, putting on her bravest voice, if only to try and comfort Luna. The Pony in front of her – for it was a pony, Celestia saw; one encased in a huge set of burnished silver Sentinel armor – tilted its head slightly to the side. A hollow voice rang out from inside the helmet.

“You two are sisters?” it queried, and Celestia was taken aback, for the voice was female. It was a moment before she was able to stutter a reply.

“Y-Yes, we are” The Sentinel pony studied Celestia from behind her metal helmet, taking in her wings, her horn, her bedraggled coat and tangled mane. She mumbled something that sounded much like ‘prophecy’, before clearing her throat, and spoke clearly.

“You are…” she paused, seemingly searching for the right word to use. “You are different.” she concluded. “You have wings and a horn; a sight I for one, have never seen before, and you show determination in your stance, and fire in your eyes. You are fuelled by your desire to protect your sister, but even you are afraid.” Celestia snarled, and the Sentinel quickly continued. “You are right to be afraid. These are harsh times.” She gestured towards the surrounding landscape. Barren hills and desolate landscapes stretched out as far as the eye could see, ending in a blood-red horizon which expanded into a crimson sky. On the side of a distant mountain nestled a castle city, its black spires and nightmarish buttresses reaching up into the sky, as if to shout defiance to the heavens themselves. It was home of the tyrannical rulers who took such delight in the suffering of their subjects. Screams from the prisoners in the castle could be heard even from this far away. Other sounds permeated the waste, such as the predatorial wails of carnivorous creatures, searching for their next meal, or the screeching of the huge carrion birds that were a constant presence in the sky. Volcanoes erupted in the distance, spewing forth constant streams of smoke, fire, and molten rock. Celestia grimaced at the sight, and she heard Luna whimper behind her.

“You see, you are no coward. Even my armor is not enough protection to ensure my safety.” Celestia took a closer look at the armor the pony was wearing. It was indeed an impressive display of strength that she was even able to move whilst wearing it, let alone fight. This, as well as her lack of a horn, bespoke the Sentinel as an Earth Pony. Pegasi and Unicorns lacked the physical constitution for such a feat. It was clearly practical armor, not ceremonial too, as it lacked decoration above an insignia on the chest and helmet – a pony reared on its hind legs, brandishing a sword in triumph over a fallen opponent. – The breastplate was a solid wall of metal, which connected in some unseen way to several moving plates covering the pony’s joints. The entire suit seemed to be made out of overlapping plates of thick steel, which slid over and under one another to give the wearer as great a range of movement as possible, whilst still providing a comprehensive defence. A mark had also been engraved onto the armour’s flank, in the same spot the pony’s cutie mark would be. The mark shown on the armor was a large silver kite shield over two crossed swords. The Sentinel noticed Celestia studying her armor, and gestured back to the mark on the flank.

“This is the symbol of the Sentinels. It means we are a steadfast defence for our comrades, and others who are in need.” Next she gestured to the insignia on her chestplate. “And this is the sign of The Sanctuary. We are a group of ponies dedicated to the safety of the remaining residents of this land.” Celestia’s eyes widened, and Luna gasped quietly. “You are lucky I found you, instead of more wild beasts or, even worse, the agents of Chaos. My name is Glimmering Light, but my comrades call me Glimmer. I heard your sister call you Celestia, and you call her Luna. Who are you?” Celestia paused, confused.

“You… you already know who we are” she stuttered, and Glimmer shook her head.

“No, child” she replied. “I know your names. Not who you are. Tell me about yourselves, I want to know your story.” Celestia glanced around nervously, afraid of staying in the one spot for too long. Glimmer noticed this. “We have some time” she reassured the frightened filly. “You have an eye for cover, it seems, and this spot is well hidden from unwelcome eyes; for now at least.” Celestia gulped, her nerves taut to breaking point, and then began her story.

---

It had been several weeks since she had woken up, dazed and disoriented, in the ruins of a destroyed building, desperately clutching a small, dark blue foal protectively to her. She remembered nothing of the events that had led to this scenario. She remembered some basic things, like her name, and basic facts known to every pony; but above all, she most remembered the fierce desire to protect the child nestled against her chest, who was not much younger than herself. They had clearly been in the building when it had collapsed, but thanks to their small size, they had managed to avoid being crushed. Once the foal had awoken, and Celestia had managed to quiet her crying, she told the younger filly her name. After establishing that the foal’s name was Luna, and that she too, remembered nothing other else, the two had crawled through the wreckage of the house, trying to find a way out. There had been bodies. Half a dozen crushed or burned corpses were visible under the rubble, and Celestia had to look away, and cover Luna’s eyes until they were out of sight.

They stayed near the ruins of the building for several days, mainly because it was the only source of food and shelter the two knew of, but eventually, they could scavenge from the wreckage no more, and were forced to find somewhere else to hide, and something else to eat. Ever since then, they had been wandering aimlessly, finding any shelter they could, surviving by eating from whatever vegetation they could find, and by hiding from any dangers that had come their way. There had been many close calls throughout the weeks; many times had a beast come so close to discovering them that Celestia had been about to dive out of hiding and hope she could defeat or scare off the creature before it discovered Luna. That was never necessary though, until a constellation beast – a creature seemingly made up entirely out of a dark blue, starry night sky in the shape of a snake – had surprised them while they were sleeping. Its hissing had woken Celestia, and in that critical moment of realisation and comprehension of her situation, she had truly believed she was going to die. But then a pony-shaped lump of metal – which Celestia now knew was this Sentinel, Glimmer – had attacked and slain the creature. Its broken corpse was merely an indistinct blur at this point, as the bodies of fallen constellation monsters faded into nothingness when they died.

As Celestia told her story, Glimmer listened intently, asking odd questions about the hiding places they had chosen and the foods they had eaten and, stranger still, how Celestia had felt during all the tense moments of near discovery. She had nodded in approval at everything the filly had told her, from the covered outcrops and rocky valleys they had used as cover, to the roots of the gnarled trees and the bulbs found under the small bushes they had eaten, to the primary feeling of desperate fear Celestia had felt when coming seconds away from being eaten alive by a giant wolf or bear; but the fact that Glimmer approved of most, was that Celestia was never afraid for herself. She was afraid for her sister. All of her fear stemmed from the overpowering desire to keep Luna safe, and the worry that she would get hurt. This was a quality that Glimmer admired.

Once Celestia had finally finisher her tale, several hours had passed. This was the longest the sisters had ever stayed in the one place before; they never spent this long at one spot, even when they slept; always forcing themselves to move to a new location to avoid the risk of something stumbling across them, like it had earlier that night. Even Glimmer seemed anxious to keep moving.

“And… and that’s everything…” Celestia concluded. The Sentinel pony merely stared thoughtfully at her. It was a full minute before she said anything.

“That is indeed quite an adventure” she stated, causing Celestia to scowl. ‘Adventure’ was putting it lightly. “You have spirit, determination, intelligence, survival instinct and a strong will to live and protect those you care about” Celestia couldn’t help but cock her head to the side inquisitively. Did she? All she seemed to do was run and hide. “You have one special property that’s let you survive up until now, and that will continue helping you throughout your life. You, Celestia, have heart. You may not understand that just yet, but you will in time.” Celestia shook her head this time. Glimmer was right; she didn’t understand. She had heart? What did that even mean? The Sentinel pony nodded, trying to reassure Celestia.

“Now, if you want food, shelter, and protection, for you and your sister, you will come with me.” Celestia hesitated. She knew they would not survive much longer out in the waste on their own, and this pony HAD saved their lives, and hadn’t attacked them yet, so she had no reason not to trust her. She nodded.

“Ok” Glimmer beckoned a foreleg for the two to follow, turned around, and walked out from under the boulder they had been taking cover underneath. “We have several underground sanctuaries scattered around the wasteland, and the closest one to us now is our capitol, called Haven, though we are still several days’ travel away.” Luna huddled close to Celestia as the elder sister made her way out of the overhang and followed the Sentinel.

The outcropping containing the small cave was partway up one of the rolling hills that dotted this part of the landscape, and as the trio came out into plain sight, Glimmer halted them.

“No matter what happens, you must do exactly as I say, do you understand?” she asked the sisters. Celestia nodded, and Luna shyly bobbed her head as well. “Good” Glimmer continued. “It is dangerous to be outside at all lately, so you must stay close to me. We will rest when needed, but will only stop to sleep when we find somewhere well-hidden. Be on your guard.” With that, the Sentinel took off down the hill at a slow trot, and Celestia, all but dragging Luna behind her, hurried to keep up. For hours, the three trekked along in silence, eyes wide, searching for any sign of threat or danger. Many times, they hid from flying predators, and occasionally from the land-based beast that came too close, but for the most part, they were able to skirt around most of the danger that may have confronted them on the ground. Glimmer was surprisingly lithe, agile, and stealthy in her heavy Sentinel armor, and as the day was nearing its end, Luna overcame her shyness, perked up her courage, and asked a question.

“Um… Glimmer?” she queried hesitantly. Being the first words the foal had ever spoken to her, Glimmer started, but immediately nodded her head for Luna to continue. “Um… your armour… is it… very heavy?” the Sentinel laughed. She had been expecting this. Everyone who hadn’t seen a Sentinel in armor before always asked. She stopped her trot, and turned to the young filly.

“The armor is very heavy” she replied. She looked around and, seeing that they were in the shade of a hill, with plenty of rock cover around, she reached a hoof up to her mouth and unclasped a small catch on one of her armoured boots. When she put her hoof on the ground, then took it away again, the boot stayed behind, revealing a light teal coloured foreleg. She turned back to Luna.

“Try lifting it, little one.” Luna’s eyes brightened and she looked back to Celestia for permission. Celestia glanced around herself and decided that, as long as this didn’t take too long, there was no harm in stopping here, so she nodded her assent. Luna smiled, and moved towards the armoured boot. It was almost big enough to fit two of her hooves inside at once, and when she wrapped her forelegs around it and tried lifting, it didn’t budge at all. She strained with all her filly might, but could not even move it a single inch. She moved away from the boot panting, and Glimmer couldn’t help but chuckle again as she placed her hoof back into the shoe, and clipped it shut with a stomp.

“You see Luna, we Sentinels train from a very young age to be worthy of this armor, and we practically live in it from the moment we are able to wear it. I spend almost every waking moment inside this shell, though the helmet is only really necessary when I’m outside.” Luna gaped at the pony who was so easily moving about in armor she couldn’t even lift a single piece of.

“Hey Glimmer?” Luna asked again, and the Sentinel bent her neck, so she was at eye-level with the foal. Luna looked at her pleadingly. “Glimmer… Do you think I’ll ever be as strong as you?” even Celestia giggled at this, and Glimmer gently put a hoof on the young foal’s head, ruffling her mane. Her touch was surprisingly gentle, considering the weight of her armour.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever be THAT strong kiddo” she replied, and Luna’s head drooped, all excitement gone from her eyes. “But” Glimmer continued, perking the foal’s ears back up. “I know for a fact, that you’ll grow up to be a strong, confident, brilliant mare someday, capable of great things” Luna lifted her head, and beamed brighter than Celestia had seen her since they had awoken in the wreckage that day several weeks ago, and from that point on, Luna was much more comfortable around their new friend.

---

The trio’s trek through the waste was indeed taking several days. The going was slow, constantly hiding from the unwanted attentions of the wild beasts and the Agents of Chaos that roamed the desolate landscape. Only once more did Glimmer have to actually fight, and that was against an Agent of Chaos that had found them whilst they were still a day’s hike from Haven. The black-cloaked unicorn featuring a dull grey hide and no cutie mark had discovered their hiding place when they were settling down to rest for the night. His eyes had been solid ovals of evil red light, no pupil or iris, and he cackled manically as he strutted confidently up to the trio.

“Stay low” Glimmer had cautioned, as she stepped in front of the two fillies. The menacing unicorn in front of them did not stop his advance as his horn charged with the tell-tale glow of magic. Celestia had felt a sensation run through her limbs and up her spine as the spell their foe was preparing charged in power, and the shiver she felt from Luna huddled beside her told her that her younger sister felt it too. It was a strange awareness that gave Celestia a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Whatever spell their enemy was about to cast, it was nothing friendly. She was about to warn Glimmer, when a bright red beam of magical energy burst forth from the Chaos agent’s horn, directed straight at Glimmer. The Sentinel merely puffed out her chest, and the spell rebounded off her armor, impacting against the ground several metres away, puffing up a huge cloud of dirt and debris as it exploded. The unicorn ceased his manic laughter, and stood, looking puzzled for a moment, before a look of fear overcame his confident expression, and he began frantically charging another spell. He never got the chance.

Glimmer charged him at that moment, and slammed the entire weight of her body and her armour against him, smashing him to the ground. Celestia had heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking, and felt sick again. The unicorn was still conscious, however, and struggled to rise despite the obvious strain of breathing with several smashed ribs, but didn’t get far as Glimmer approached and placed a hoof on his throat. She pressed down, and ignored his struggles until he stopped moving. It was an awful sight, and Celestia covered Luna’s eyes with her wing, and hugged her close as they cried into each other’s manes. It was one thing watching the Sentinel kill a monstrous beast, but to see her so dispassionately dispose of another pony… it sent shivers down Celestia’s spine.

“Are you alright?” Glimmer asked, as she returned after knocking the unicorn’s body down a small ravine nearby. Celestia, still holding Luna close, nodded, and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes before the stalwart mare could notice. She was surprised when Glimmer sat down next to her, and gently put a hoof over her and her sister.

“I’m sorry you had to see that…” She began, and held up a hoof when Celestia opened her mouth to say something. When she was sure the filly was not going to speak up, she continued. “The agents of Chaos… are not the ponies they once were. They have had their minds and souls stripped from them, and exist solely to wander the waste, killing or capturing everyone they find, Ponies, Griffins, whatever and whoever they come across.” Luna shivered again, and Celestia held her close as her little sister cried a new batch of tears. But despite this, it was the younger filly that spoke up first.

“Why… why didn’t he have a cutie mark?” She asked between sobs. “I mean… Tia and I don’t have our cutie marks, but we’re not old enough, are we?” Glimmer hesitated, and then gave the two a little squeeze before answering.

“Because the pony’s minds and souls have been corrupted, and all but removed; that pony doesn’t have an identity anymore. So their cutie marks vanish. They were once regular ponies, just like me once, before the ones who call themselves ‘rulers’ took their minds away. Having no cutie mark is one of the signs that a pony is an agent of Chaos. The other is their eyes. They have no pupils, no irises, and they glow red with some sort of inner light. It makes them easy to spot when its dark, but they creep even me out.” Celestia shuddered, remembering the hungry, deranged look in the Chaos agent’s all-red eyes, and the deranged laughter as it had approached. Still, to just kill another pony like that… Celestia couldn’t stand the thought.

“Can’t they be cured?” she asked, and Glimmer frowned sadly. Celestia knew the answer from that expression alone.

“No…” The answer was slow in coming, and Celestia knew that the Sentinel had asked the same questions of her own superiors. “We have had our top magicians and scientists working to find a way to restore these Ponies to their former selves but… no cure has been found. The few Agents we have managed to capture alive all either died in the attempt, or just go worse.” Celestia felt tears welling up in her eyes again. Glimmer gently nuzzled the filly, and she felt herself calming down again, though the sorrow she felt had not lessened. After several minutes, Glimmer spoke up again.

“We will stay here a little longer. This Agent was alone; the Unicorns usually are, so we should not be bothered again for a while.” Celestia nodded, and gave Luna a squeeze that comforted them both.

For an hour or more, the three lay in silence, until Luna’s whinnying snores began drifting up from under Celestia’s wing. Celestia herself could not slow her mind down enough for sleep. She was reeling with thoughts about Agents of Chaos, and monstrous rulers, and this mysterious mare who had saved their lives and promised them sanctuary. While it was true that Celestia had no reason not to trust Glimmer, it could also be said that she had no reason to trust her blindly either.

“Glimmer?” She queried, and the Sentinel, still fully armoured, perked her head up a little. “Why did you save us?” Glimmer shook her head.

“It’s a long story” she replied.

“Ok… how come you were on your own in the waste in the first place?” Celestia asked, and got another head shake in response. “Come on” the filly asked. “I want… no, I need to know Glimmer.” She tried as hard as she could to fill her voice with as much determination and strength as she could, and Glimmer sighed.

“Alright” she finally relented. “I guess it’s only fair you knew the whole story. I was originally sent out with a contingent of soldiers; there were ten of us, including two other Sentinels besides myself; we were escorting a Very Important Pony from Haven to one of the outlying Unicorn colonies. The pony we were escorting was a Research and Development scientist who was sent to the colony when they found… something there. I’m just a soldier, and her purpose in the colony wasn’t important to me. We managed to reach the colony without too much delay, and drop the VIP off in good time. The trip there only took us two weeks, a few days shorter than we had anticipated. But as we set out on our way back to Haven, we were ambushed about three days out by almost three dozen Agents of Chaos. They had been waiting for us, knew our exact route, our exact numbers… the only thing they didn’t seem to have right was the time, because they were clearly waiting for the scientist, rather than just us.” Celestia’s lower jaw was at the point of resting on the floor by this point. She swiftly snapped her mouth shut once she realised. Glimmer sighed, and continued.

“They weren’t expecting us to come from the direction we did. We saw them first, which helped us get the jump on them, but still… almost forty Agents of Chaos against ten soldiers? We never stood a chance, even with the element of surprise. They had hidden themselves amongst the stones on top of a plateau, and the more we took down, the more came out of hiding to attack us. A Sentinel’s armor has no weak spots, and can deflect bolts of magic thanks to special enchantments laid on it by our own magicians, but those in our company without Sentinel armor fell within the first few minutes, and even we can be overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers, and a slim sword or dagger can split between our armour plates.” Celestia couldn’t help but shudder as she imagined the confusion, the chaos of being involved in such a skirmish. A fight where order was thrown to the wind and it was all everypony could do to stay alive. Even that was beyond most of them, it seemed. She looked over to Glimmer, and saw that the Sentinel had removed her helmet, and was staring at the ground, lost in thought. There was the faint glisten of a tear in the corner of one of her eyes.

“How did you escape?” the filly asked. Glimmer came back to the present with a start, and grimaced at her before continuing.

“Before twenty minutes had passed, it was just me and one other Sentinel left standing, facing off against the better part of a dozen of them. We fought, back to back, as we had many times before…” Glimmer’s eyes began to properly tear up now, and Celestia would have gone to comfort her, would that have not disturbed Luna. It was several moments before the Sentinel spoke back up again, and when she did, her voice had regained some of its steel.

“He was… a very dear friend of mine... but the sword that was intended to slip between my armor plates and strike me down… instead smote him… he had thrown himself between me and our last opponents, crushing them with his armour’s weight. I lay there next to him as he died…” She trailed off, eyes glazing over again in painful reminiscence. Celestia struggled to find something to say, and came up short, so she sat there in silence, still unable to imagine such turmoil as the battle the Sentinel had just described. She didn’t need to say anything though, because the soldier spoke up first.

“He died an honourable death, in combat, like he would have wanted… We used to joke around about our future… getting married when times weren’t so tough… it would have been a grand wedding, in a huge, beautiful city. It would give everypony reason to hope and be happy, it would be a time for celebration and good cheer… we lack so much happiness these days…” It was all Celestia could do to stop her own eyes tearing up at this point. They had been in love? No wonder he had leapt in to save her, even at the cost of his own life… It was a lot like the determination she had to protect Luna. Several times over the past few weeks was she ready to do the exact same thing for her sister.

“Wow” a small voice spoke up, and Celestia started, not realising the foal was awake and listening. “Is there really beautiful city out there?” Luna asked, lifting her head so she could look at Glimmer, and the soldier looked startled herself that she had been listening too. She put on a brave face and smiled for the young blue filly.

“I’m sure there is Luna. Somewhere out there… and if there isn’t, I’m sure there will be one day. You never know, you might even help build it.” She winked, and Luna giggled, and lay her head back down again, and almost immediately fell back to sleep, no doubt dreaming of a beautiful city with pure golden sunlight streaming down onto a picturesque wedding, the teal-coloured bride, and unknown groom standing before the altar as a huge crowd gathered in celebration and joy. It was a vision that took over Celestia’s mind at that moment, and when Glimmer suggested they get some sleep, the wedding filled her dreams too.

---

It was only after a total of four days of quietly trekking through the waste that Glimmer finally brought the trio to a halt, with a short “We’re here”. The two fillies looked around eagerly, but couldn’t see anything aside from the same desolate landscapes that made up the majority of what they had been looking at for the last several weeks.

“Um…” Celestia spoke up, intending to ask where exactly here was, when Glimmer held up a hoof to silence her.

“Keep close to me, and try not to make any too sudden movements. The lookouts are always quite jumpy” the Sentinel declared as she moved slowly forwards down the entrance to a low valley that stretched out in front of them. There were several trees and shrubs dotted along its slopes, but the main feature here, as anywhere else they had seen, were the rocks and boulders that provided cover for any number of Sanctuary lookouts; or ambushing foes. The valley sank into the earth and the trio along with it, and as they descended, the walls swiftly became sheer cliffs far too steep to climb. Celestia quickly began to feel deeply claustrophobic. Her anxiety rose as her eyes caught movement in her peripheral vision, and she clutched Luna close. For better or for worse, they had followed the ironclad Sentinel pony here, and it was too late to turn back now. She just hoped she had made the right decision.

After several minutes of the walls getting higher, and closer, and the light getting darker, and Celestia’s nerves tightening almost to the breaking point, Glimmer brought them to a halt in front of a seemingly innocuous slab of stone wall, five or six times Celestia’s height, and of a similar width, surrounded by the sparse bushes that littered the rest of the valley. It was only when Celestia studied the slab closely that she noticed that this was not just another ordinary slab of stone wall. It was too smooth, too uniform in its dimensions. She was just coming to terms with exactly what this slab of stone meant when Glimmer raised an armoured hoof, and pounded on the stone, three quick raps, followed by two slower beats, and declared;

“I am Sentinel Glimmering Light! By the will of The Sanctuary I departed, and with the goodwill of all Pony kind in my heart do I return!” Her voice bounced mutedly off the walls of the valley around them, only traveling far enough for those very close to them to hear. For several moments after Glimmer’s words faded from the air, nothing happened. Then the flat wall in front of them began to shudder and shift, and then it slid away, seemingly into the patch of stone wall beside it, revealing a very tall, wide doorway.

Celestia gasped, and heard a mirrored intake of breath from Luna beside her. The portcullis opened up to a tunnel dug through the very earth. It stretched forward a dozen paces, before descending steeply into the depths below. The walls were all rigidly square, and covered with engravings of trees, plants, animals, ponies and all manner of other things that spoke of beauty and peace. Lanterns burned at regular intervals, shedding a reasonable measure of light along the whole passageway, and as they moved inside, Celestia’s gaze was drawn to a particular impression on the wall, depicting a stalwart pony wearing a massive suit of armor, standing protectively in front of two small fillies. The two fillies had both wings and horn, and one was slightly smaller than the other. She was just about to make an excited comment when Glimmer spoke hurriedly.

“We must keep moving, little ones. They must close the gate, and it is not safe to be near here when the stone moves.” The armoured pony gave Celestia a nudge with a foreleg, and the filly reluctantly moved away from the wall and let herself be guided down the passageway. She noticed a small door cut into the wall at the top of the slope they were about to descend which probably contained the controls for the huge stone door. She didn’t get a good look inside, but she saw several lightly-armoured ponies working the levers of a huge mechanism of gears and rollers, along with several ranks of battle-armoured Ponies standing ready to exit into the hallway, before she began her descent, and had to pay attention to where she was walking.

“Normally, you would have been accosted by the guards at that outpost” Glimmer said, noting Celestia’s interest in the side chamber. “But these ponies know me, and they trust my judgement on you. You will still be questioned when we reach the main chambers, but with your passion and heart, as well as my word, you will not be harmed.” Celestia finally allowed herself to relax somewhat, her fears of betrayal from Glimmer assuaged. If she wanted to kill them, she would have done it long ago, or at least before she let them into Haven.

After that, they trotted along in silence for several minutes, the only sounds the hollow clops of their hoof-steps echoing around in the tunnel, before the downward sloping passage flattened, and opened out into a large cavern.

Large? Celestia thought. The cavern wasn’t large. It was HUGE. It spanned a few thousand paces to a side easily, and was tall enough that the ceiling faded away into a distant sky overhead. The huge space was filled with nothing but ponies, from guards standing at gates or patrolling in rank-and-file, to civilians moving about on their daily business, to a few ponies in lab coats who were hurrying between gates; the only exceptions were several griffons flying overhead, and some buffalo who were milling about in one corner. Celestia even thought she saw a Zebra pass through the crowd, but when she looked again, the striped creature was gone. There were no dividers, no partitions; it was all just one huge space. A massive stage with a grand speaking podium was set into the wall at one end, making this gargantuan cavern an assembly place of some sort. The entire scene left both Celestia and Luna in a wide-eyed gape as the sounds of hundreds of ponies going about their business in this Haven assaulted them from seemingly every side.

Glimmer led them around the circumference of the space before turning into another tunnel on the side opposite the one they had entered on. This tunnel was significantly smaller – about twice as tall as the Sentinel pony but still wide enough for all three of them to walk side by side with room to spare – and had other passageways leading off it at semi-regular intervals. This was not a busy path, however, and most of the noise was left outside in the main cave, so Celestia could finally hear herself think.

“Where are we going?” She asked Glimmer as they reached the T-Junction at the end of the tunnel they were following, and turned left. Glimmer spared the filly a glance, and a reassuring nod.

“I’m taking you to see the council. You two are new, and there are things you need to know, and things we need to know about you, if you’re going to be staying here.” Celestia nodded slowly, her mind racing. Staying here? They were going to have a place to stay? It was almost too good to be true, and once the full reality hit her, she almost fell to her knees. Glimmer put a reassuring – and supporting – hoof on her shoulder, and she managed to keep her balance as they approached a large, fashionably decorated metal door. It was a double-door, and each face was the mirror copy of the other. Twisting curlicues framed the edges, whilst the centre was made up of twisting vines that spiralled around before leaving a circular gap in the middle, which contained the emblem of The Sanctuary, a Pony brandishing a sword in victory.

Guarding the egress were two fully armour-clad Sentinel ponies on each side, their armor much like Glimmer’s, except with far more decoration, such as the flared wings on their helmets, and the flanges on their chest plates, which Glimmer’s armor certainly did not have. Their faces were hidden behind their helmets, but their stoic poses were intimidating enough without seeing their expressions. One of them stepped forward as the trio approached, and spoke in hushed tones with Glimmer for several minutes, their voices too low for Celestia to make anything out, but soon the iron doors ground open, and they were ushered inside.

The room beyond the steel portcullis was a large waiting room of sorts, lined with benches, but little in the way of decoration. Several ponies were seated about the room, all apparently awaiting an audience with the council. When they were immediately directed past all the waiting ponies to a passage cut into the far wall, several stood to complain, but one glance from one of the guards from outside who had followed them in, silenced them before they made a sound.

The path they were following let out into a large, well-lit room that featured several wall hangings depicting scenes of victory in battle, or of safety and growth above ground, or other scenes of hope and inspiration. In the centre of the room sat a large, curved table, almost a full semi-circle, at which sat six weary-looking ponies in high-backed chairs, two Unicorns, two Pegasi, and two Earth Ponies, one male and one female each. Glimmer halted just inside the entrance, so Celestia and Luna came to a stop behind her. The guard that had followed them in spoke in a clear, loud voice.

“Sentinel Glimmering Light returning from escort duty, bringing two new guests!” One of the Unicorns who sat in the middle of the table waved a hoof in dismissal.

“Thank you Sentinel Ironwall, you may return to your post” Ironwall snapped a salute before turning around and exiting the room. The whole council turned their eyes towards the trio they had been left with; Glimmer standing proudly as ever in her heavy, travel and battle worn armor, and the frightened Luna hiding behind her older sister. The Pony sitting to the far left side of the table spoke up.

“Glimmer, we would have you make your report” Luna flinched at the commanding voice coming from the wizened Earth Pony echoed around the room. Glimmer gave her a sympathetic look, and placed a hoof on her shoulder before turning back to the council.

“I will give my full report in good time, councillors, but I must request that you allow me to begin with these two. They have been through severe hardships, and should be attended to with all haste.” Many council members shook their head at the Sentinel pony’s defiance, as if it were a regular occurrence which, Celestia figured, was probably the case. The council ponies glanced at each other, before the Earth Pony spoke again.

“Very well Glimmer, we will tend to these two first, then we will expect your report in full.” Glimmer nodded, and began to tell the story of how the three had met, but was interrupted by the second Unicorn council-pony, her voice ringing out like a crystal bell.

“Actually, Sentinel, maybe it is best we heard from the fillies themselves.” All eyes turned to Celestia and Luna, and the younger shrunk under their gaze. Celestia wrapped a comforting wing around her. The Unicorn continued. “Tell us little ones, what is your story?” Celestia hesitated, and couldn’t stop herself from glancing towards Glimmer. The soldier gave her a reassuring nod. She looked back to the council, and recounted the events of the past several weeks, since the moment she awoke with no memories.

The council listened, and asked many of the same questions as Glimmer had, though far less of them, and even Luna perked up enough courage to add a few points in as well. They also asked her many questions about her past like who her parents were, and why she had wings AND a horn, none of which she was able to answer, which only seemed to spur more of the same questions. When she reached the point where they met Glimmer, the Sentinel pony began adding things she had noticed about the sisters as well. She was far too flattering, in Celestia’s opinion; claiming she was courageous and brave, as if she did anything but hide.

By the end of the tale, the council looked more exhausted than ever, and Celestia certainly felt the same. Luna was lying on the floor at Glimmer’s feet, sleeping fitfully. The council ponies began discussing amongst themselves, but Celestia was too weary to pay attention. She caught snippets of their conversation; things about rooms, duties, and magic. It wasn’t until Glimmer gave her a nudge after several minutes that she realised that the council was finished its discussion and was trying to get her attention.

“Sorry, what?” she asked, still half in a daze.

“I said that you, Celestia, and your sister Luna, are free to go.” One of the Unicorn council-ponies repeated. “You have been assigned to room two-one-oh-seven for temporary residence. You will be given a week to recover from your journey, then you will both be given responsibilities around Haven. We will send a messenger to you in the morning to inform you about Haven policies and procedures. A guard will escort you to your room now, where you will find two beds, and some food. Sentinel Glimmer will remain behind and make her report.” She waved a dismissive hoof at the two, and Celestia looked worriedly at Glimmer, who smiled back as a guard entered the room, and approached the two fillies.

“Room two-one-oh-seven you two. Follow me.” Celestia gave Glimmer one more look, before turning to her sister and, rather than wake the sleeping filly, nudged her nose under the little blue foal, and hoisted her onto her own back. As the guard trotted off out of the council chamber and through the reception area, still half in a daze, Celestia followed, careful to walk steadily, so as not to wake Luna, but heard the voices of the council ponies arguing. The rock walls were quite soundproof, but her tired mind managed to catch snippets of their conversation.

“They’re… important… just leave them alone?… Zebra… about the…Pegasus Seer… Prophecy.”

The sound of the argument faded as the distance between her and the council lengthened, but Celestia perked her ears up at the second mention of prophecy she had heard since meeting Glimmer, and reflected on the strange carving she had found on the wall up by the city entrance, as the guard led her down the tunnel and away to her new room, and her new life.

Comments

[Ravenmoon05]

This is pretty awesome, not the sort of story I've seen before There were no grammar or spelling mistakes that I good see and overall it seems like this is going to be good

[True Blood]

1511090
Hey, thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it, I really appreciate feedback, it helps me to improve my writing, and give you a much better read. I was trying to make this as original as possible, but keep to the Cannon as much as I could, and I think I've gotten that down pretty well, as you'll see in the coming chapters. I've got so many ideas for this fic, it's hard to keep myself concentrated on the part that I'm up to writing at the time, haha.

[Berry Punch]

This is good