Chapter 4
Morning rays crept inside her room from her window, waking her up from her slumber. Celestia yawned a little bit before stretching her hooves in the air. She went to stretch her wings only to feel that they were confined. It only took her a minute to remember her punishment is still in effect, before she got out of bed with a small frown on her face.
She only got her wings wrapped up a few days ago but already did she miss the feeling of flying.
The air under her wings.
Wind under her hooves.
Spinning.
Laughing as she did so.
The ground below.
The Sun.
Oh how she even missed the idea of the sun as she remember the view of said glow of light dripping upon the valleys of green lush fields and tall brush tree tops.
If only she could just get closer…
She heard the sounds of tiny running hooves outside her bedroom door. She trotted over and opened the door to reveal her ever energetic sister. Luna was smiling as she greeted her sister a ‘fair good morning.’ The little filly then gave her elder sister a quick hug before running downstairs. Celestia heard the other sounds of her parents walking around.
She walked down to greet them with a warm smile, only to see her father looking over some paperwork. He had a frown on his face as he walked around, not noticing his oldest daughter stand by the bottom of the stairs. He eyes darted from one paper to another as a look of worried spread across his face. Celestia felt upset that her father was upset. The meeting of the council was certainly not a pleasant one.
The idea alone troubled both the adults in the crowd expressed with both anger and concern.
All that yelling.
Yelling out bitter comments of the war that has yet to be.
Concern of lands of their ancestors.
Not one concern for the ponies that would be in grave danger.
She never really stated it out loud. Nor would anypony take her seriously if she did.
Yet…
It was hard to recall when started to feel this way nor why, but as far back as she could remember...she didn’t have feels of hatred of the pony tribes. Now wasn’t that just strange. Everypony around her never really cared one way or another about the supposed ‘prideful, rude, dirty, low class’ of the three pony tribes. However, she never really saw them as that. She didn’t even know theses ponies. Did she like them? Well...no. Again, she didn’t know them. She cannot just hate nor like the ponies of the three tribes.
She didn’t know what to feel about them.
Still, they were ponies after all.
So…
Why did the council want them gone?
Why would the council care whether they went to war or not. Afterall, they didn’t live there anymore. So was it really about the protection of the homelands of their ancestors? Once again, she didn't’ think they even cared anymore.
So...why then?
The Empress's vision…
Was there more to it than what the council was telling them? The Empress herself didn’t even speak that night during the whole meeting.
She just…
Sat there.
Quietly.
It was as if she not even there. Like a…
A ghost.
Luna entered the room to grab her sister for breakfast. Celestia didn’t know she hadn’t moved from standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her little moon sister laughed about how silly her sister was acting as she pulled her into the kitchen. As they entered, she saw that her mother was by the table with her morning meal consisting of bread and bowl of lumpy porridge. Her mother, like her father, was looking lost in some papers of her own. Instead of papers with formal stamps, they were plain save for some writing of addresses and a basic broken stamp. If she had to take a guess as to where they were from, Celestia would believe that they are from close friends and distance family members. Her mother held a frown looking at each letter, concern in her eyes.
She sat at the table in front of a smaller bowl of porridge with a single piece of bread. Her sister sat next to her with her own bowl. Only instead of bread next to her, she a small plate of strawberries. Little Luna smiled as she dived into her treat of her favorite fruit. Mother looked too lost in thought to remind Luna to eat the porridge first as not to ‘suddenly be too full for her treat.’ Celestia stared down at her food before her and slowly began to eat her meal.
“Come on Celly!”
Celestia looked up to see Tang with an impatient look as she stood on top of the cloud hill. She could also see Mousy, Jelly Spin, and Written Way already up there stand behind Tang. Though they didn’t have looks of frustration of her. Celestia picked up her pace and trotted up the large hill to meet up with her friends.
“Finally! What's got into you Celly? Normally Mousy here is the slow snail.”
Mousy took a gulp and looked like he was about to speak. Tang gave him that look of ‘down-even-think-about-it.’ His head moved down and walked backwards a little.
“So Celly,” Tang looked back at her with a change of expression, “Ready to try to test out those wings?”
“I don’t know about this Tang. Mother is going to notice that my wings aren’t tied up the same way.”
“Don’t you wish to fly like the rest of us again? Besides, I can tie just as well if not better. Remember the knots I made in school? They looked and worked great.”
“You mean the rope you made to get out staying after school with Ms. Scriptland?”
“Oh be quiet Mousey! So Celly... ready?”
Celestia looked towards to sky. The air is warm as it lightly passes by. Very few clouds are this high up that are not already part of the city in the sky.
The wind under her wings.
Blowing by.
It see the lush green valleys and bush like treetops once more.
The sun. Oh how she wished to see to feel its warm glow once again. Even now it calls to her.
If only for a moment…
“CELESTIA!”
The voice of her mother snaps her out of her mindscape to see her standing near the bottom of the hill with a look of anger on her face. The bubbling of worry fills her and she looks down to her mother then back to her friends. Tang looks slightly annoyed while the other show a look of concern for her. She takes a gulp of slight fear. She looks at each of her friends.
“Sorry guys, Looks like I have to go.”
The other say their good-byes, Tang mumbled hers, as Celestia trotted down the hill. She walked down and stood next to her mother who still had a look of not quite anger but still was not neutral.
“Dearest elder daughter of mine, in what of all of the Empire art thou doing out here? Didst thou ask for permission before accompanying thy friends?”
“I am…”
“Celestia”
She closed her eyes and took a breathe.
“Thy humblest apologies dearest mother of mine for I lost track of the very time. Dost thou have need of me?”
“Nay, not I but thy father does in deed request your presents.”
“Wherefore thy father?”
“He is currently located at the Palace dear daughter.”
Celestia’s eyes widen when she heard what her mother said. She looked behind to see her friends aren’t paying any sort of attention to her, well most of them. Mousey keeps looking behind but Tang is shouting at him to pay attention.
She turns back to face her mother, still with a small expression of shock still on her face. Her mother turns around.
“Come along then.”
Celestia then starts to walk with her mother to the grand Palace.