//------------------------------// // Part 2: Gifts // Story: Statues // by TypewriterError //------------------------------// Majesty sat in her backyard, staring up at the full moon. The light from the house behind her pasted squares of yellow onto the dark blue grass. Lightning bugs floated past her, contrasting the silver stars with their golden pinpoints of light. She listened, wanting to hear the tingling stillness of night’s silence. Perhaps it was just too early in the evening though. The light and the house behind her still created too much noise. “Majesty!” her mom called from the house. “Yes, Mom?” “Time for you to come in. Princess Celestia told us that she would like to wish you happy birthday tomorrow so I want you to clean your room.” “Mom... Princess Celestia isn’t going to run straight to my room as soon as she gets here to make sure it’s clean.” “You never know,” she said. Majesty laughed to herself and stood up, magically brushing the grass off of her shield cutie marks. She had received them the night after she first met Celestia in the garden ten years ago. She could still hear the voice she had heard whispering “Her” and almost instantly afterwards her shields had appeared. They were bold red with a lion on each of them, poised to fight. Celestia had joked that Majesty was “marked to be a soldier” when she saw her during her family’s yearly trip to the gardens on the day of Nightmare Night. Her parents had never looked so surprised or proud of her. “Close the door behind you,” her mom reminded her as she entered the bright house. Majesty grabbed the handle with her teeth and pulled it shut. “Majesty, I’ve told you before to use your magic when closing the door!” “Sorry, Mom. I forgot. I can’t use my magic for everything though,” she said before giving her mother a quick kiss on the cheek. “How’s the moon tonight, Fuzzball?” her dad asked from the living room, levitating a glass of water and a newspaper at the same time. “Nightmare Moon’s still up there,” she remarked. “Good, and she better stay up there,” he replied as his daughter kissed him on his cheek. Majesty had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as she walked up the stairs. Each step was starting to creak under the weight of her hoof now. How long had her family lived here? She entered her bedroom and closed the door before magically depositing all out of place objects into a large black trunk. That took care of the clutter. She closed the lid with a snap and was glad she had learned that “bottomless pit” spell from Celestia last year. She would have to go through that trunk one day but that would have to wait for a day when Princess Celestia wasn’t about to unintentionally drive her mother into a nervous breakdown over needing to clean the house. After her clean-up was finished, she opened her window, folded her forelegs across the windowsill, and stared at the sky again. Would Celestia understand if she visited the garden tonight? She could easily see the hedge surrounding it, a constant blockade. She watched as the Princess flew down from Canterlot castle into the garden, disappearing behind the tall, thick hedge. It was best for Majesty not to risk it tonight. She sighed and her hooves clopped onto the aged cherry floor. Too bad. She couldn’t quite understand her obsession with the statue garden. It had just always been there since she had first seen it over a decade ago. Something about the statues called to her, sometimes she could almost be positive she heard the statues calling for her. She had asked Princess Celestia about it and, while the alicorn had appeared a little distracted, she would just smile and say the imagination is a powerful thing and that she too sometimes could hear the statues. Majesty stood in front of her dresser and magically picked up a hairbrush to brush her mane. It never seemed willing to calm down or stay in one place. Brushing was always a temporary solution. When she was done she placed the brush on top of a short stack of books she would need for her final year at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The thought of her final year weighed on her again. Everyone kept on asking what she was planning on doing with her life just to make conversation. She never really had an answer. Yes, her cutie mark stood for bravery but what salary did that come with? She was good at magic but how was the spell she was taking so much time learning practical? Why not some other spell or some other career choice? Even though she never seemed to have a career choice, none of the suggestions other ponies had made interested her. She still had time to decide anyway. She noticed her mirror had become dusty and levitated a tissue to wipe it off. The problem was she would always be good at what she did... but never the best. Of course she wasn’t the worst but she had always just been... average. Never extraordinary, never special, never important. She brushed any clear space on her dresser with the tissue and deposited it into the wastepaper basket. She looked at herself in the mirror again. Would she ever leave an impact in Equestria? Or would she die without anyone remembering her years afterwards? Did it matter if she was always... average? She crawled into her bed and pulled the thin blankets over her. They were perfect for summer weather like this. The night was balmy but an occasional breeze could cause shivers. Majesty Song closed her eyes and tried to relax, but could not silence her brain for the entire night. A gentle nudging woke her up. She opened her gold eyes to see her mom’s brown eyes smiling at her. “Good morning, little Majesty.” “I’m not that little anymore, Mom,” she laughed and shuffled out of bed. Her mom chucked with her. “No, to me you’ll always be my little filly.” Majesty smiled but had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. “Love you too, Mom. Is Princess Celestia here yet?” “No, not yet, she sent us a note saying she would be here in an hour. Bless her for giving us enough warning,” the tan mare said as she and her daughter left the cosy bedroom. “Mom, you don’t need a fair warning, you always keep the house clean.” “Well, you always need to be ready to accept guests,” she pointed out. “Is that my little lion I hear?” her father called from downstairs. Majesty gallops down the protesting stairs and jumped on her dad as he levitated a candle over a delicious-looking birthday cake. “Can I try a bit?” Majesty joke and lowered her mouth to take a bite of her mom’s delicious orange frosting. “Not until you blow out the candles and we are not lighting them until Celestia arrives,” he said, pushing another candle into the smooth icing surface. There was a knock on the front door. “I’ve got it,” Majesty’s mother announced and opened the door. “Hello Dad!” she exclaimed and Majesty turned to see her Grandpa Bass giving his daughter a quick nuzzle while Grandma Cotton climbed the front steps, moving slowly. Oh. Great. “Go give your granponies a hug, Majesty,” her father gently commanded. Majesty obediently trotted over and gave each of them a nuzzle. “So how is your singing coming, Little Song?” He had always called her that and it was no subtlety of his that he was determined to see Majesty Song musically inclined since her second name came from him. “I’m still, tone deaf, Grandpa,” she reminded him bluntly. “Well, I’m certain there is a spell that can fix that,” he said, good-naturedly, ruffling her mane up again with his hoof. “Now Horace Bass, don’t you be trying to make her do what she don’t want to be doing!” Grandma scolded and magically straightened Majesty’s mane. Majesty had always liked Grandma Cotton. "Oh, I'm just encouraging her," he said with a resonant laugh. “You’ll encourage her to be sleeping in a nut house if you don’t stop your pestering!” she scolded and jokingly nudged him with her right forehoof. Her grandpa laughed and trotted off to greet her father. Majesty loved her grandpa but her grandma was right, his generous encouragement could be somewhat overbearing. Within the hour a few other close relatives arrived and her father began to grill the carrots and veggie cakes on the backyard charcoal grill. About two minutes to Celestia’s arrival Majesty looked towards the castle in the distance to see the Princess take off and begin the flight towards her house with two guards following her. Celestia had admitted to her once that she wasn’t too thrilled to have guards constantly around her every time she went to visit ponies outside of Canterlot Castle. That was why she walked in the statue garden many nights. That was the one time where she could sneak past her own guards and walk around without being scrutinized. As Majesty watched her approach she suddenly realized something and sprinted to her mom. “Mom,” she asked while he mom chatted with one of her aunts, “Mom did you tell...” “Just a minute...and I tell you, Peony, that foal is the cutest little critter I’ve ever seen!” For some reason, Majesty’s mother always broke into her old accent Grandma Cotton had given her whenever she talked to her siblings who had stayed around their hometown after marriage. “Mom, please, it’s kinda important,” Majesty prodded. “Excuse me, Peony,” she said and Majesty’s aunt nodded and trotted off. “Now Majesty, that was rude what you just did right there.” “I am sorry, Mom, but did you tell anyone that Celestia was coming?” “Well...I...oh.” her mother realized with a look of horror and glanced at old Grandpa Snap who had fallen asleep in a lawn chair and was snoring under the sound of everyone chatting pleasantly. At this point Celestia’s trajectory would be obvious to anyone who looked up and noticed her, which is exactly what cousin Cherry Blossom did. “It’s Celestia!” she shrieked and dove into the nearest butterfly bush. Majesty’s mom facehoofed herself as the relatives began to look and panic at the approach of royalty. Celestia lightly touched down in an empty spot of the back yard and stood in her majestic glory. There was a small moment of awkward silence when she smiled warmly at the ponies and they stared at her with their jaws dropped. Majesty’s dad looked up from flipping a vegtable cake on the grill, looked at Celestia, then at his wife and the relatives staring at her. His expression deadpanned. “You forgot to tell them too, didn’t you?” he said to her and she laughed nervously and shrugged. Majesty cleared her throat and approached Celestia who was beginning to shift her weight on her hooves, uncomfortable. She jumped up and gave her a quick hug around the neck, trying to ignore the gasps behind her and the glare of the guards. Celestia tensioning muscles relaxed a little bit and she hugged her back, whispering a slightly indecipherable “thank you” to her. After that, the evening went mercifully better. The food was all delicious and Majesty’s family eventually learned to loosen up around Princess Celestia, talking, asking questions, even risking a joke. Even Cherry Blossom crawled out of the bush long enough for Princess Celestia to give her a smile. She darted back to her hiding spot almost instant. “She’s... shy,” Majesty excused. “She’s not much younger than you were when I first met you,” Celestia remarked. “Yeah, she really is a sweet girl once she gets over her shyness, though.” “Well, perhaps you can let her know I empathize with her,“ Celestia said. “I will,” Majesty promised with a smile. After spending the whole night celebrating her birthday her relatives left and piled their gifts for Majesty in the living room on top of “Dad’s chair”. Celestia stayed a moment longer to personally wish Majesty a happy 16th birthday. She touched her horn to to top of Majesty’s mane, which had again become wild, and quickly whispered that her gift for Majesty would be waiting in her room once she went to bed. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” Majesty said back. “And thank you, Princess Celestia, for honoring us tonight with your presence,” her mother graciously said. “Oh please think nothing of it!” Celestia said with a laugh. “Thank you for making me feel welcome,” she said and gave them all one last nod before taking off. “So are you going to open your presents now?” her father prodded. Majesty’s mind was on the one present she knew was waiting for her upstairs but she was content to open the gift from her other relatives first and show her parents what had been given to her. Most of them were things associated with future careers she could take. She couldn’t help but sigh as she unwrapped paper covered in musical notation from a book of music spells given to her by Grandpa Bass. “He means well,” her mother said. “I know. I just wish he wouldn't expect me to be exactly like him. I mean not everypony can get into the Royal Canterlot Opera Company.” “I’m certain he’ll be proud of you no matter what you do. As we are.” her dad said, bringing her to give a small, but genuine, smile as she floated the book to sit on top of a sewing machine from her aunt Peony, next to her paternal grandma’s typewriter from Grandpa Snap. Majesty magically hoisted her presents up the stairs and placed them on top of her large black trunk. She would have to put them away later. A large, flat, rectangular box sat on her bed with a scroll on top. Majesty hastily unfurled the scroll. My dear Majesty, I believe you can make good use of this. It once belonged to someone very much like yourself. And also for tonight, you may meet me in the statue garden, where you normally sneak in when you believe I’m not there. Yours, Princess Celestia Majesty almost choked when embarrassment stopped her heart and lungs, realizing that perhaps she wasn’t as stealthy as she had thought, but she was excited to be allowed into the garden at night without having to sneak in through that weak spot in the hedge. She lifted the lid to the bright red box and her mouth dropped open. It was a genuine edged shield. The shield was divided into three parts, the top seemingly devoted to the stars, being dark blue steel and glittering in small diamonds, the lower right was devoted to a mosaic of mother-of-pearl to show one third of the moon inhabiting that section. The last section was dedicated to the sun with beautiful gold, copper, and brass to create a smaller third of the sphere than the moon and the rays that almost stretched to the edge of the shield. Majesty had never seen anything so beautiful. She slipped it onto her back and instantly felt like a turtle. It was obviously made for a larger pony than herself. She couldn’t wait to take it into the garden that night.