//------------------------------// // 16 // Story: Son of Eternity // by Secrets and Lies //------------------------------// (16) The days after the siege of Canterlot Castle, there was a lot of labor involved to restore the ancient citadel, even for the unicorns. They made the reconstruction process twice as fast, but it was still a large clean up nonetheless. The town wanted to know what had happened and rumors had spread like a wildfire throughout the citizens. The soldiers were told specifically from the higher ranks not to tell the people what had happened and to just fabricate a story. The best they could come up with was that a magical explosion had accidentally occurred in the Magic School and some casualties were lost. Most of the denizens of Canterlot went on their merry way after hearing this news in the newspaper headlines. Those were the ponies of the high life, not caring for others and going about their day in prefabricated safety, not knowing that they had been lied to. Pinkie Pie was sent back to Ponyville the next day, even though she wanted to hang out with Zack a little while longer. Two Royal Guards delivered her back to the Cakes who formed the same lie to them. None of Ponyville knew what had happened in Canterlot and Celestia wanted to keep it that way as well. This wasn’t the first time Celestia had to cover up an accident and lie to her people about it. It was for their security and to let the ponies go on with their carefree lives. She thought that they shouldn’t worry about things like these, but she did feel bad for lying to them in the first place. This was a vicious cycle she didn’t know how to break apart from. Everyday, different parts of the castle were shut off for construction, even to Celestia, so that the working ponies could restore each and every room, hall, window, painting, vase, tile, brick, and piece of decor that seemed to be broken. The Royal Garden was a disaster and even Zack felt a gaping scar of sadness slice into his mind as he looked out into the violently razed flower beds. Celestia showed similar and silent signs of misery as she examined the garden as well. She didn’t have time to wallow in her despair and continued through her day, even though the lingering pains from her garden she had worked ever so hard on was nearly destroyed. Valiant Steed came the next day and was informed on the attack; Zack enlightened him personally on what had occurred in the Throne Room as well. The pegasi wanted to help out and restore the castle to its formal glory, so Celestia decided that it was fine for him to aid the others in the remodeling process, even with his injuries still present. Zack wanted to help too and asked if he could, but Celestia denied his request, saying that he still shouldn’t show his presence around the workers or stay in the garden uncloaked. Zack expected this, so his anger blew over and he still felt very eager that day. After a quick lunch, Zack proceeded to meet with Celestia. He found her at the top of the Eastern Tower, where the Observatory was. He entered the dome where he saw Celestia personally quizzing her student, Twilight Sparkle, on the constellations. Philomena was perched over a large telescope, staring down at the purple unicorn as if stalking prey. She swiveled her head over to the approaching Zack and swooped down over towards him. She landed on his cranium and began to poke his head as if it was bird seed. “Really, Phil,” Zack blurted out, unaware of the volume of voice he used. Twilight’s concentration was swayed as she turned around to see the commotion. Philomena squawked at Zack in playful manner, she was having too much fun to stop. “Hi Zack," the purple pony happily greeted, "how’s your day going?” Zack redirected his attention towards the filly and toned down, “Oh, it’s going well, I suppose.” Zack noticed Celestia’s look. She gave him a sarcastic looking expression of dissatisfaction because of his blatant interruption during Twilight’s quiz. Zack remembered what he came in for and swatted the bird away once more with an arching sweep of his arm. The bird glided around him and flapped over to perch herself on Celestia’s flank. Zack properly asked the Princess, “I need to ask you something, privately.” She turned towards Twilight Sparkle and calmly ordered, “Stay here and finish your quiz. Philomena will keep an eye on you.” The phoenix then swooped off of Celestia and onto Twilight’s head, bending her body over and staring into the unicorn’s eyes in a silly, but serious fashion. She giggled and responded, “Don’t worry, Miss Celestia. With Philomena around, I’m sure I won’t find out a way to cheat now. Like I ever would!” Celestia smiled at the child-like innocence of her student as she and Zack stepped out onto the porch of the Observatory. She closed the window-panned doors behind her magically and the two were now alone. The eastern porch faced the high reaching mountains that Canterlot was built on; a steady updraft blew the duo's hair in the cool, Autumn breeze. Zack began, “So, we know where The Prevailer is. We need to go and get it.” “I was thinking the same thing, I just wasn’t sure if you were ready yet to go and retrieve it.” Zack spoke with preconceived intentions already at the tip of his tongue, “You don’t need to worry about me. It’s in Ponyville, right? It shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Celestia looked away off into the snow-capped mountains and replied, “I have an idea to where it might be, but I don’t know what dangers you might face again when retrieving it.” Zack boasted with a hint of pride, “I’m sure it’s nothing I haven’t been able to handle so far.” Celestia grinned and asked, “We’ll go late tonight when the town is asleep. Will you be ready by then?” “I’ll prepare for the worst,” he said with a confident smile. __________ Zack had indeed prepared. He slipped both the Ethereal Sabatons in his backpack along with The Vessel of Millennia Celestia granted him use for. He had taken a nap during the afternoon so he could be wide awake late that night. He also prepped a few extra items he didn’t tell Celestia about, not yet that is. He wanted to knock out two birds with one stone while in Ponyville and was thinking over his plan the rest of the day. While waiting for the right time of night, he killed time with Celestia in the dining hall who had prepared Zack a cup of coffee to keep him awake. Even though he didn’t need it, he knew the coffee was delicious, even if it was black. As life in the castle finally died down, now was the time to leave. He followed Celestia out into the Royal Gardens; the morning dew had already washed over the blades of grass and the moonlight above made them shimmer like tiny, scattered jewels. Even though the gardens were still tarnished and in ruin, there was still a tranquil essence that captivated Zachary. He stopped and peered up at the Mare in the Moon; he wondered how Luna was doing up there. His focus was brought back by a sudden and forced cough by Princess Celestia, ushering back his attention. Zack continued into the garden and stopped on a strange looking stone pedestal that Celestia stood on as well. Zack was a little surprised that he had never noticed this in the garden before. The circular foundation had Olrugena runes engraved around the circumference of the stone. The runes read, “Step forward and embrace the rays of infinity.” “I forgot to mention one other magical artifact I possess,” the alicorn smirked, seeing Zack’s rightfully puzzled expression. “I know what you're thinking, how come you’ve never seen this before in the garden? Well, magical artifacts tend to be overlooked by creatures who do not have the will to look for them. That is why they are so hard to find in the first place.” She looked down at the artifact and continued, “Unlike the rest of my artifacts, this one was discovered here in Canterlot, though we didn’t realize it was an artifact for a very long time. We built the castle around this strange ruin of old. This is called, 'The Panexus'. With unicorn magic, it can teleport you anywhere you have been to before in this world. All you need is the mind set and memory of the place, and with a little magic, you are there. Although it is only a one-way trip, it is quite useful. We believe that before ponies settled in Equestria, the creators of this artifact used this to teleport to other, similar gateways. Though sadly, we do not know if there are any others left in the present world.” Celestia’s horn glowed and she concluded, “Well, let's go!” The runes glowed with a navy tint as the cracks in the stone began to radiate. A beam of sudden light flashed down from the heavens as if from no where and the two were gone in a silent scintillate of cyan light. No one in Canterlot saw the ray of light as the wind blew silently once again in the darkness of the night. __________ Ponyville was fast asleep as Celestia predicted. The dirt and grass laden streets were cloaked in thick shadows. The buildings slept soundly without a light present in any of them. The only lights came from the flickering street lamps which lined the sides of the road. The towering Town Hall, the hub and center of Ponyville itself, lay dormant in the cool, early morning. The temperature in the valley where the town slept was strangely a tad warmer than up in the mountains of Canterlot. A sudden flash from the heavens once more struck the planet. In a gleaming instant, much like in Canterlot, it shot back up into the air and disappeared; leaving Celestia and Zack on the ground where it struck. Zack was very lightheaded from that new experience and felt like he was going to be sick. He tried to steady himself and his equilibrium balanced itself out. His feeling of wooziness slowly faded as he caught his breath. Celestia grinned and acknowledged, “Usually teleportation spells makes ponies sick the first few times. I’m surprised at your strength, Zack.” Zack uttered weakly, “Ya well, I guess it was beginner’s luck.” “I believe what we are looking for is inside the Town Hall, but stay still for a moment.” Celestia’s horn glowed as she looked around. It pulsated three times and with each ripple of yellow energy it gave off, the brighter the light shown. When her horn stopped glowing, Zack noticed that around the town center and the Town Hall, a thin layer of magic in the shape of a sphere could barely be seen. It moved like the surface of a pool of golden water, he thought of her magical work as quite beautiful. “What did you do,” asked Zack, re-examining the magical spell around the area. Celestia turned and replied, “I created an illusion charm. Other ponies on the outside will see nothing but the Town Hall as it was. Now we are completely invisible and inaudible from the outside.” Zack rubbed his chin and commented, “Very clever.” Zack was about to proceed to the Town Hall when something in the corner of his eye sight caught his attention. He looked down and jolted back immediately in fright. Celestia noticed Zack’s reaction and looked to see what he saw. She too hopped back in sudden fright upon seeing the intruder. A wall-eyed, gray filly stared up at Zack with a simple grin on her face. He didn’t even hear or see the pony when he looked around and wondered where she had came from. Its gamboge, crossed eyes blinked curiously at Zack’s appearance. It wasn’t afraid, but very intrigued. Zack motioned his hands in a sweeping action and said in a still frightened tone, “Shoo...” The little pegasus didn’t move or even acknowledged Zack’s command. “Go away...” he said with a slight increase of dour in his voice. The strabismus inflicted pony turned her head toward Celestia who beamed, “Hello, Princess!” “Hello... you silly, filly,” she replied, looking for the correct words to say. Her horn glowed once more and a portal stretched open in the magical bubble around them. Celestia proceeded, “Why don’t you leave us, we need to do something in private.” The mare slowly blinked once more and flapped her wings to gain lift. She made her way to the portal, but rammed her head into the magic wall next to it. After several failed attempts at flying through the portal, Zack reached over, grabbed the filly and set her gently outside of the magic sphere. The portal closed and the filly stood still in silence, wondering what had just happened. Without further delay, Celestia and Zack made their way into the Town Hall. Interestingly enough, the building was unlocked and they proceeded inward; both of them had to duck their heads through the small, regular pony-sized entrance. They stood in the middle of a poorly lit meeting room, with the only light source being the moon’s rays coating the marble, tile floors. Zack was waiting for Princess Celestia to say where The Prevailer might be, but she appeared to have her eyes closed and was focusing intently on something. She opened her eyes and diverted them towards the center tile of the floor. “Here,” she signified, her horn now glowing with a golden aura. The stone square was enveloped in magic and was soon levitated out of the floor, revealing a dark, oblong hole. The two looked down and saw nothing but sheer, intimidating blackness. The same darkness could be found in the deep caverns of the world and could not be made by the night only. A chill temperature change from the hole filled the room with a bitter and uncomfortable coldness. Zack grabbed a small pencil from a nearby table and dropped it into the hole to see how deep down it was. The pencil hit the walls a few times as it echoed deeper and deeper into the hole. They heard no sound of the pencil hitting the floor. Realizing that Celestia was too big to fit into the hole, Zack figured he was going to be the one doing the spelunking. He stepped back and placed his backpack on the ground with ease, not wanting to damage its contents. He withdrew his Ethereal Sabatons and The Vessel of Millennia carefully and placed them on the floor. He took off his current shoes and the Sabatons laced themselves to his feet with a perfect fit once again. He stood up and opened the lantern in front of Celestia. She focused her magic and a ball of light was produced from her alicorn horn that remained inside the vessel once he closed the object shut. “Please be careful," Celestia voiced with concern. "Who knows what dangers lurk down there.” Zack, the incredible imbecile, was unconcerned about his safety. After everything he had been through and had accomplished so far in Equestria, his courage and determination to do things that seemed dangerous evaded his consciousness. He was planning to do something unpredictable in Ponyville and prepared for anything and everything. He took one last look into the dark hole and with a sharp breath, jumped in. He fell rather quickly into the shadowy abyss as Celestia watched from above. The bright glow of the lantern gradually faded and Zack was consumed into darkness. Celestia began to worry for once if this was the right thing to do. Her mind sped with ideas and events that might endanger Zack. She heard no fall; she heard nothing but the creaking of the Town Hall's walls. She had become very troubled for Zack’s condition. After five short minutes passed by, which seemed more like five hours for Celestia, Zack shot up from the darkness and floated downward onto the tile floor. Celestia gasped in excitement and joy as she saw Zack was safe. She also noticed that he did find the white blade, The Prevailer. It was a beautifully crafted sword. The pommel of the hilt held a diamond-like gem. The grip was twisted and warped to Zack’s own hand structure, making it easier to control the blade to whomever owned it at the time. The cross-guard had a flowing metal look to it like a crashing wave. The blade itself was straight as an arrow and had the glimmer of pearl and fine, unnatural metal. Runes were incrusted inside the blade itself, which gave it a very epic and ancient look. The rim of the double-edged sword was a fine, pearly metal, much whiter and purer in appearance than the center of the blade. The point looked devilishly sharp and the blade itself was ultra thin, yet as solid as a mountain. When turned it to the side, it was nearly invisible, except for the hilt. It appeared like a sliver of moonlight through a pin-sized hole in the roof. Celestia trotted over and hugged Zack; he was a little surprised at her sudden response, but excepted her admiration. “I worried about you, Zack," she imparted with care. "I’m immensely surprised at how quick you retrieved the artifact.” Zack began to elaborate on his experience under Ponyville, “Well I fell for about a minute and landed safely on my feet, thanks to the sabatons. I landed in a small room and the sword was in an unlocked chest in the corner of the chamber. I just took it out and hopped back up. Well, I had to grab the wall a couple of times to get a few more boosts, but it was fairly easy, no dangers at all.” Celestia smiled and her eyes met with the blade he was holding, “This is an incredible work of ancient craftsmen. May I see it?” Zack eagerly held it up in front of her, expecting her to levitate it with her magic. Celestia focused her alicorn magic, but for some reason, couldn’t grasp the magic artifact. Her magic was simply not affecting it, even though she was focusing her hardest on the object. Zack wondered what was going on when she began sweating and panting. She finally gave up and said, “I guess The Prevailer isn’t effected by pony magic.” She reached to actually grab it from Zack’s hands. She held it for a second, but a sudden and intense weight overcame her and the artifact seemed to weigh a ton. Her hoof dropped rapidly and the sword hit the ground with a thud, not even bouncing from the unknown weight it possessed. When Zack was wielding it, it felt as light as a stick; there was something obviously odd about this artifact Zack thought. Celestia bent over and tried to lift it, but couldn’t even budge the blade. She stood up and looked at Zack with utter confusion plastered on her face. Zack shrugged his shoulders and simply picked up the sword without any effort. He held it with both hands and closely examined the weapon. He read the runes that were inscribed on the blade aloud: “We Prevail”. “So,” Celestia inquired, “This artifact, like some others I’ve read about, must have a master over it. Only its master can wield it and use it to its full potential.” She looked up at Zack and stated, “You are the Prevailer’s new master. It has chosen you.” Zack stepped back and retorted, “Hold on there. This is a sword, an object, it doesn’t have a mind of its own... Does it?” “Powerful artifacts like this exist, Zack. Only a few handful have the ability to choose whom can use them properly. Much like the Elements of Harmony, even though I can exert my magic through them, I cannot use them effectively. I cannot wield The Prevailer, even through magic, but you can easily because it has chosen you and you alone!” Zack looked down at the blade and back up at Celestia. “Fair enough. I am the master of The Prevailer.” “And you must discover its full properties. It is not only a sword or a magical artifact, it is a tool and extension of one’s self. Only you can learn how to use it properly.” __________ Celestia and Zack walked out of the Town Hall, noticing it was still nightfall and the town was still asleep. Zack had wrapped the sword in a long cloth he had packed in his bag to act as a sheath for now. He then tied The Prevailer to his back to secure it properly. Celestia spread her wings and turned her head towards him with a smile. “Climb on and I’ll take you back to Canterlot before anyone sees us.” Zack stopped and asked, “May I... perhaps... stay here instead?” She turned back around and folded her wings up to face Zack. “What? Why? We can’t let the ponies see you yet.” Zack raised his hands and agreed, “I know, I know. But hear me out... Could I perhaps spend a day with Pinkie Pie?” Celestia stood silently and thought for a moment, trying to think if it was a good idea or not. While she was doing this, Zack pulled a map of Equestria out of the back of his backpack and brought it over to her. He pointed and revealed, “See, I was already planning and thinking about spending a day with her. I was looking around Ponyville and thought–since you told me once–Whitetail Woods is hardly inhabited by ponies before the 'Running of the Leaves', which is going to happen a week from today. I already checked the weather reports for today and the Weather Pegasi said that it was going to be sunny, but chilly and windy as well. So! I had already packed supplies for the two of us. I packed a breakfast, a lunch, and I thought I would have her back around the afternoon and maybe you could send a royal chariot to come and fly me back... or something along those lines.” He lowered the map, looked her in the eyes and asked, “So, what do you think? Can I spend a day with Pinkie Pie?” “Well...” she replied with hesitance in her voice, “It is a school day tomorrow for her...” Zack’s look of eagerness began to fade with a preconceived idea about what she was going to say next. She looked him in the eyes and her solemn frown began to slowly scrunch into a smile she was holding back. Tears formed in her eyes as Zack’s face turned into a worried and baffled expression. Princess Celestia bursted out with rolling laughter as she pointed and laughed at Zack, who just stood there, disconcerted. She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and stammered through her guffaw, “Y-you should have seen the look on your face!” Zack’s mood now turned to vexation as she continued to laugh. After a minute of Celestia trying to catch her breath, she seemed to have drained all of the ‘giggles’ out of her system. She responded with in light-hearted tone, “Of course you can spend a day with Pinkie Pie! Why would I say no to your plan, it sounds great!” Zack gave a warm smile, relieving the built of crossness he had composed. “Thank you,” he breathed as she turned and lifted herself up in the air. The illusion charm had finally dissipated and the alicorn flapped her snowy, white wings through the night, heading back towards Canterlot. Zack noticed that the darkness was fleeing and the light of the morning sun was approaching rapidly. He didn’t have much time to warn Pinkie Pie, so he took off towards Sugarcube Corner with haste in his footsteps. Upon arrival, he gathered a few small pebbles from the road and judging by what Pinkie Pie had told him about her room and house at Sugarcube Corner; in her letters she sent him, she wrote that she lived on the top floor, overlooking the town square. He stopped and took his time to aim, not wanting to miss her window and to hopefully get her attention. He focused his eyesight and cocked back his throwing arm; he noticed that the temperature was dropping for some reason and could now see his own breath as he blew a puff of dense water vapor from his mouth. He threw the pebble and it nicked the window pane. He grabbed another pebble from the stash in his other hand and tossed another. After four hits on the window, it opened and a dazed and confused Pinkie Pie wobbled out of the window to see who it was. Zack smiled and waved quickly at her. She was still half asleep as she rubbed the sand out of her sapphire eyes, unsure as to what she was seeing. She was wearing a white night cap and pajama top with little cupcakes on it. It was an oversized shirt that must have belonged to one of the Cakes at one point in time. Her hair was much more frizzy than usually, which made Zack believe that she did actually comb it neatly in the mornings before going out. She blinked a few times before realizing who it was below her in the streets. She gasped in thrill for whom she saw as her eyes glowed with jubilation. Her hair filled outward and back inward, adjusting itself naturally as every hair that was out of place on her curly, pink head was set neatly in order to her well known mane style. She stretched herself, almost falling out of the window, and shook her hoof excitedly at Zack while the ball on the tip of her night cap bobbed violently about. “Oh my goodness! Zackie! What are you doing here? I’m so happy to see you!” Zack cleared his throat and invented a song on the spot to sing just for Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie, my dear sweet mare, With eyes of blue and curly hair! Come frolic with me in Whitetail Woods, Where we’ll have fun and eat baked goods! Don’t forget to dress real warm, It’ll be cold... but it won’t... storm? Oh, I’m trying my hardest to sing like you, ...Do I have the talent, I have no clue!” Zack had closed his eyes during the middle of the song, and when he opened them, Pinkie was no where to be seen. He then saw a pink blur hop out of the window, followed by a torrent of wild giggles. Zack’s eyes widened and he scrambled to grab her before she hit the ground. She safely landed in Zack’s arms; he looked down and saw her fully dressed and ready to go. She was dressed in a blue sweater and a boater hat with her blue mane ribbon Zack gave her tied around it; which all matched her eyes, the same eyes staring back into Zack’s darker ones. “I knew my Zack would catch me, for he loves me dearly! I think his voice is super-terrific, but could work on spontaneity! So what’s first on your list, is it breakfast? But you, my Zack, I always miss! So let’s not waste this awesome day, and let’s go on our merry way! Yay!" She placed her hoof on Zack’s nose and yelled, “Honk!” Zack laughed and placed the pink filly on his shoulders as they ran towards Whitetail Woods.