March 18, 1825AD
Castle of the Two Sisters, South Equestria
A new day dawned across Equestria. For the castle, still under construction, that meant another day for the ponies to keep working on it to finish the job. They were already awake as the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon, as the moon made its way down to the western one. If anypony bothered to look up to one of the finished balconies overlooking the north, they would see the two alicorn sisters at work. Side by side yet facing opposite directions, horns aglow, they would concentrate on the sun and moon in the sky, directing them in one more shift of positions across the sky as their gazes followed. The moment the moon was gone beyond the west horizon and the sun had risen enough, their horns ceased to glow, and the sisters made their way back inside.
The ponies on the ground, for their part, continued their morning preparations. Few had stopped to watch. It was a sight they had watched in amazement at first, but had become used to for the past few weeks. What they were still not used to, however, was in regards to the creature that was waking up nearby. At first glance, it could’ve been mistaken for a particularly large red maned lion. But as it rose to its feet, and stretches its limbs, it was hard to ignore the bat wings and scorpion tail. Local ponies had come to call creatures, such as it, as “Manticores”. They were one reason nopony had dared to approach the forests south of Equestria, where said creatures made their home, among others equally deemed dangerous. The fact the castle wasn’t that far from the forest’s edge was not lost on them. Thankfully, the creatures of the forest rarely, if at all, wandered out.
And then this manticore stood out, literally. The ponies were wary to approach it, even if sometimes it was necessary. Hard as some still found it to believe, the manticore too was helping in the construction of the castle. They knew it had the trust of the new princesses, but the ponies themselves held a different opinion. For its part the manticore, after stretching, let out a half-yawn half-roar, and then took off, heading towards the forest. Ponies knew what that meant, it was going to hunt its breakfast. To the shudder of a few.
Ponies weren’t ignorant to the concept of carnivores. Some had such animals as pets, like cats, for example. But one thing was an animal they knew eating a pony wasn’t first thing on their mind when hungry… and another was one they knew they would. They had to find out the hard way when too many a close call in the forest put an effective stop to exploration, long ago. As such, the idea of having one of the latter around, for quite the undetermined period, it was an uncomfortable subject that was hard to ignore. On the other hand, since construction begun no major incidents had happened, so the situation was tolerated, if to a degree.
But once the manticore was out of their sight, the atmosphere at the camp relaxed, even if it was a brief respite, as ponies went on to tend to their own breakfasts, and finish preparations for the day itself.
After having moved the sun and moon, the sisters had retreated from the balcony back inside the castle. The balcony was connected to the inside with another balcony, this one overlooking the castle’s entrance hall. While structurally finished, it was still devoid of any furnishing. It had doorways to the sides, and a staircase at the back, with more doorways at the three sides of the upper level. The balcony itself had doorways on its sides, but no stairs connecting it with the ground floor. But to the alicorns, there was no need to go the long way around, for they simply unfolded and flapped their wings, flying down.
No sooner than their hooves touched the floor, did a flash of bright light materialized before them. It was only brief, but they still shielded their eyes with a wing on reflex. And no sooner that it dissipated…
“Good job as always, your highnesses,” a voice was heard.
The sisters removed their wings from obstructing their vision, to reveal the recent arrival was none other than Starswirl.
“Given a few more weeks’ time at this rate, and I would dare say you would master already moving the sun and moon on your own,” he continued, a small smile could be seen.
“Ah, Lord Starswirl,” one of the sisters said before they both briefly vowed.
Starswirl chuckled.
“Oh, Celestia, Luna,” he said as the sisters rose back.
“Soon, almost every single pony in Equestria will be the ones vowing to you two,” he continued. “As some already do. And yes, that includes me.”
“But, Lord Starswirl,” the one named Celestia protested.
“Our coronation is still days away, we are not officially princesses until then.”
“And it is precisely because of that,” Starswirl said, “that you have the time to adjust. And yet even at this point it seems there has been little progress. New princesses or not, defeating Discord is no small feat. Something not even I was able to accomplish.”
“That was only because of the Elements of Harmony,” the sister named Luna spoke now.
“Surely, Lord Starswirl, if you had been the one to find them…” but her words died down as the unicorn briefly raised a hoof.
“It is true they are powerful artifacts,” Starswirl stated, a more serious expression taken hold.
“And no doubt if it had not been you two, it could have been anypony else. But it is also not something anypony could have accomplished. You braved those dangerous forests. You confronted the beasts that dwell within, even befriended one of them. You found that crystal tree. You used the elements to stop Discord.”
He paused as he then turned back, head glancing upwards.
“And I did not,” he continued.
“Keeping the capital safe was an accomplishment, but I was not outright dealing with the problem, just preventing it from spreading to a specific area. And even if I had, the legends stated not everypony could use their power. For all the magic and I power I wield, there are things outside my grasp. And as we now know, the elements are considered such.”
He faced back the sisters, who had lowered their heads in slight shame.
“It is admirable to remain humble. Other ponies in your position would have already failed. But also, take pride in what you have accomplished, and what you have become. And take this time to prepare. You have done well so far, but if you are not willing to fully commit, then I cannot prepare you to be fully ready for the world you are about to enter.”
The sisters didn’t dare to look back at him, but after a while of not hearing him continue, they finally did. He was smiling again.
“But, as you mentioned earlier, there are still days away from your coronation,” he now stated in a more relaxed matter.
“We still have time, and not everything has to be learnt in that moment. Not all will wait, however.”
“We understand, Lord Starswirl,” Celestia replied.
“Good. Now, there is something I must attend to, before we start. Your highnesses,” he bowed slightly, before his horn briefly glowed, and disappearing in a flash of light.
The sisters only stared at the spot the unicorn used to be, before glancing at each other, and sigh.
“Luna, I am afraid we cannot avoid this any longer,” Celestia said.
“You don’t think it is too late to decline, now, can we?” Luna asked.
Celestia turned the stare at her. Luna simply chuckled.
“Luna! This is a serious matter,” Celestia sighed.
“As Lord Starswirl said, we need to take this more seriously. That sort of attitude is one we should drop.”
“Oh, relax, sister,” Luna dismissively waved a hoof.
“I’m sure we will be ready once the coronation happens.”
With that attitude, maybe you won’t, Celestia thought, but nodded nonetheless.
Western Border of Equestria
In the boundaries of Equestria lied many small settlements. They weren’t actual villages, only composed of few buildings. They were the kingdom’s many border outposts, serving to stand watch over what may approach. And for one in the western border, it had become just that.
In the middle of last night, the watchpony had reported of two figures approaching. Most of the ponies stationed were asleep, with only the night shift awake. But waking the rest up was not needed, but the approaching figures had been fellow pegasi. Thunderbolt and Scud.
No sooner they had arrived, the ponies of the night shift had already gathered before their landing area.
“You’re from Wing Shield’s group, are you not?” One of them had asked.
“Yes, we are,” Thunderbolt said between pants.
“We are here to report, we found travelers from across the sea.”
The ponies briefly murmured between themselves.
“This must be delivered, as soon as possible,” Scud added, he too catching his breath.
“Very well, just inform us the main details.”
Once that had been done, a pegasi was sent flying east at that very moment despite the late hour, and Thunderbolt and Scud were guided to one of the buildings so they could sleep the remainder of the night. And now, the following day, activity at the outpost was bustling despite the early hours. For the night shift were now spreading word to the now waking ponies of the next shift. And despite the sun only having rose not long ago, Thunderbolt was already waking up.
He groaned as he rose his head from the pillow and stretched. The sleeping quarters were mostly vacant, with only he and Scud present. The latter was still asleep, and despite having his back to Thunderbolt, he could still hear some light snoring. Memories of last night came back to Thunderbolt. They were too tired and more focused on their mission, focusing on who had won the race had taken a back-seat. And then soon afterwards were being guided to the beds. But they did notice. There just wasn’t time to comment about it.
I bet once he wakes up and remembers, I won’t hear the end of it, Thunderbolt thought as he made his way outside, shaking his head. At least Scud usually wakes up late.
He knew it was going to be, either way, as Scud’s rambling about the supposed score had revealed to him. The score would either tie, in which case he’ll pester him about the tie breaker, or he could increase his lead, and Scud will be adamant in catching up. But that was concern for later in the day. For now, he will enjoy the time before that happened.
“Ah, good morning,” Thunderbolt heard a voice as soon he stepped outside. A small glance to his left revealed an earth pony, right by the building’s entrance.
“Good morning,” he greeted back.
“Thunderbolt, was it?”
The pegasus nodded.
“We expect for the message to be delivered at any moment now,” the earth pony continued.
“Was it taken straight to the King?” Thunderbolt asked.
“Absolutely, the highest priority,” the pony replied.
“He had orders to ensure the message is then brought to the princesses, but with some luck, Starswirl may be there to hear it, saving up time.”
Thunderbolt nodded.
“That’s good to hear,” he simply said before trotting away.
“There’re still serving breakfast in the mess hall, the big building to the right!” The pony called out.
“You might still find something!”
Thunderbolt didn’t shout back to indicate he heard, but he did shift his direction towards the mess hall, and perhaps that was good enough. The outpost wasn’t that big, so he didn’t have to traverse long.
This better not take long, he thought on the way, and we can be heading back as soon as possible.
Their orders hadn’t been anything beyond heading back and report. He knew he would have to wait now for further orders, and he wasn’t fond of that.
Thundershock, whatever situation you may be now, you better be safe.
“Thunderbolt!”
His ears twitched, at the sudden shout. He turned back to see Scud, barely off the ground, flying towards him.
Oh great, he woke up, Thunderbolt could almost groan. He barely noticed the flash of light behind his view.
“Don’t think you can sneak away from me!” Scud continued.
“I quite remember last night, and…!”
But whatever else he had to say it didn’t came, for he had come to an abrupt stop, hovering in place with a surprised face. Thunderbolt was left slightly confused at this.
“Why did you…?” But a hoof raised as a pointer cut off Thunderbolt’s question, who proceeded to turn back.
Only to find none other than Starswirl the Bearded before him.
“Well, hello,” the unicorn said with a smile.
“I take it you have something important to report?”