I
Chapter Eight
Canterlot
Her friend, who had been dressed as Iris, had this necklace because it was the final piece of the costume. The rest of it, she had said she wouldn't wear often but she admitted to having grown attached to the little necklace she had obtained from the convention weeks prior. If it was here, she was here or it had been stolen, or she had experienced something horrible and died.
A few more tears escaped and Aranea wiped them away before nodding to Magnus once more, “Come on, let’s go,” she said.
The woman grasped the necklace in hand, tighter than perhaps necessary as she walked past her companion. Magnus stared after her, a look of contemplation briefly flickering across his face as he pondered the meaning of the jewelry, before following behind her quickly. The soft hoots of owls and other small rustlings of creatures replaced the sounds of combat.
The night seemed to lighten at the defeat of the earlier monstrosity and the lantern the two travellers had with them appeared to touch further out in the darkness. Despite this, their travel remained at a similar pace as the approached the tunnel. Dark and unyielding, the inner parts of the long corridor that housed the tracks were shrouded. With a prayer on his lips, to any deities he could remember, Magnus followed Aranea into the tunnel.
The crunch of dirt and gravel quickly replaced the forest, echoing quietly in the humid underpass. Magnus, in the dim yellow light, could see that Aranea’s hand still grasped tightly around the chain of the necklace she had found. For what reason she seemed to react so badly, he was not sure. The strain of her skin, whitening as it was, showed the force she was putting behind it. The small chain jewelry was important.
Unlike the walk through the fields, and the hours it had taken, their journey through the tunnel took less time and Magnus could see the light of the city coming forth from the exit in just a short time. The present glow was the lampposts that marked the streets, giving a deeper yellow hue to everything as the crunch of gravel began to lose its volume. The hollow echo faded as they passed from underneath the tunnel roof.
The soft churning winds of the night whirled around them, touching the flames of the lampposts and making them dance. The soft wisps of light bent and folded, causing the city to dance with light. The castle, though on the other side of the town, loomed far overheard.
The town itself was eerily quiet, and no one could seen in the windows. The wind on curtains and litter was the only movement aside from their own. Despite it being the middle of the night, the silence was still eerie and gave the town a disturbing feeling. The walk to the castle was far better lit, and the two guards weren’t visible.
“Do you find it odd that no one is out?” Magnus asked, a magic flask held in his hand. The soft glow of elemental magic gave an odd contrast to their appearance and Aranea looked at her companion.
“Very odd, even with demons people should still be active,” Aranea said, “they don’t attack many populated areas as far as I can remember.” She walked up to the doors and rapped her knuckles against the thick wood. When that didn’t get a reply, she pushed on the doors and they swung open. Frowning, she walked into the castle and found it brightly lit. Guards stood at other doorways, and the two at the door itself just nodded as she passed.
“They expected us, right?” Magnus asked, slowly lowering the hand that had lifted the magic flasks. The guards themselves, within hearing range nodded. Magnus frowned and Aranea just nodded to him. “Why aren’t you concerned?”
“For simplicity, and because of the current events, I don’t need to worry about this,” she answered as their footsteps took them through the hallway. Arriving at the door to the throne room, she pushed it open and Magnus looked around.
The room was massive, and adorned with columns on her walls. The windows were colored glass and each depicted a scene. One depicted the fall of chimera creature, with a reptilian leg, a bird’s claw, a lion’s paw, and a hoof. It seemed to stand on two legs, but the creature was being turned to stone by two larger horses, one white, one blue. A chessboard ordained the background scene with clouds of purple.
Magnus clutched his head as another headache torn through his head, and Aranea looked at him in concern. At the other end of the room, the physical version of the white horse sat upon a throne. Unlike Aranea, her expression was that of confusion. Nodding quickly to Aranea, Magnus waved off her concern with a stray hand.
“Princess Celestia,” the warrior said, staring straight into the mare’s eyes. The Princess’s eyes held both a warmth to them, as well as a stony challenge. Yellow-gold met magenta and suddenly the Princess sighed.
“I know why you’re here,” Celestia said, stepping down from the throne. “It’s about my sister and I.”
“More than that, it is about what comes at the cost your divinity,” Aranea answered, stepping forward. “You let your sister absorb daemonic powers, but at what cost? In the end, her actions cost more innocent lives than they saved.” The warrior had waved her hand, gesturing to the windows, “You depict even the scene in which you were forced to banish one you called family? Aranea’s finger pointed at the window situated awkwardly behind the throne.
“Yes,” she answered softly, “I wished to replace it, but none of the glass makers were willing.” She looked behind herself, “I managed to get them to remove it, but despite my insistence they would not destroy or replace it. So there it remains, a physical reminder of what I did.”
“Are you not a princess? Destroy it yourself,” Aranea said, before stopping. Celestia’s head had fallen forward and the Princess seemed to have grown sullen. “You can’t? Guilt?”
“It reminds me of my own failures, as I said,” the alabaster alicorn responded, “if I do not remind myself, how can I avoid repeating them?”
“By not doing what you did, letting it happen,” Aranea said, crossing her arms. “You know full well that absorbing it results in more evil, or you should now.” the warrior gestured forth at the image once more. Celestia remained silent for a bit.
“The others have done it,” she said, “the other leaders have continued it. But, it would seem, they are more divine, as you call it, than we. The Dragon Lord himself no longer finds his lands plagued, but the dragons have become more aggressive.”
“Dragons have always been aggressive,” Aranea interrupted, getting a nod from Magnus who had taken to looking at the windows. “It is part of their nature.”
“I do not mean their usual, I mean they have become more feral, more as animals than what their elders were,” she said, looking at yet another window as Magnus gazed at it with her. “A few hunted ponies a few years back, but they were exiled or killed, I know not which.”
Aranea went silent, “They are afflicted by the disease as well then.”
Celestia sighed and gave a curt nod. Magnus, however, looked up. “Can I ask why you two are acting so friendly?” he asked, looking between them. “I find it odd, as you’ve only met once before, and quite badly it went as I understand.”
“We both have the same intentions here,” Aranea responded, looking back at the white alicorn.
“Twilight did not fail to mention that in her letter,” Celestia agreed, “And, for all it is worth, stories still remain about her actions against the Daemos and even here, despite my lack of response, it is clear she is more knowledgeable on these abominations than myself.”
“More than most people here,” Aranea said, giving a nod, “but I did not finish the game, so I do not remember much beyond the explanations I got online.”
Celestia blinked, “I got very little meaning behind that, especially on the topic of ‘the game’ and ‘online’, the first makes no sense in this context, and the later confuses me.”
“Oh yeah…” Aranea muttered, “To cut it short, in my world, the demons were creatures or enemies you would fight against while playing a ‘video’ game, or something on a projector. As for online, think of it like worldwide book that constantly updates with information that people add, amongst other things.”
“Curious,” Celestia said, touching her hoof to her chin as she looked away, “I can see how one would get pleasure from playing something like that, whereas the secondary object sounds very useful.” Celestia suddenly perked up, “Unlike the other bits,” she interrupted before Aranea could open her mouth, “I do get the idea of you being from another world.”
Aranea blinked and Magnus looked at Celestia with a mildly impressed expression. Aranea looked at her companion, and then back to Celestia. “See, now I’m the confused one.”
Celestia smiled, gesturing for them to follow as she moved towards the door. “I will admit, the idea of you coming from another world has occured to me before.”
“From what?” Aranea asked.
“Starswirl the Bearded,” Celestia pushed open the door to a study that was blanketed in dust, and with an old mirror on the other side of the room. Amongst the dust were various tomes and odd artifacts. Aranea looked around the room, noting that Magnus, who had passed her earlier, was already opening some of the dustier volumes. The air was thick with enough dust, it seemed like a fog had fallen.
“Starswirl the what now?” she asked, waving the dust cloud from her face as the other’s followed suit, Celestia using her wings. Aranea grimaced and shook her head. Celestia stared at her for a moment and frowned.
“An intelligent unicorn and a good friend of mine,” the alabaster alicorn answered, “He studied many things, among them being the existence of other worlds, universes as he eventually called them.” Celestia picked up a few books in her magic, the dust clouding that part of the room as she did so.
“Huh, unexpected but I suppose it makes sense,” Aranea said, pointing to the mirror, “but, let me guess, this goes to another world?” She chuckled.
“Yes,” Celestia answered, perfect monotone.
“...As surprised as I feel I should be, I’m not,” Arane shook her head and Magnus looked at the mirror. Raising his hand, he brushed the dust off the mirror and it swirled, both the mirror and the dust. “Do you even clean?”
“We’ve not disturbed anything since Starswirl left,” Celestia huffed, watching Magnus poke the mirror. Each time he did so, it danced with color. She approached and touched it herself, though the mirror remained unaffected.
“Don’t mind me, then,” Aranea said, coughing. “I’ll just sit here and choke on the dust bunnies.”
“Strange,” Celestia commented, “What about you, is different from I?” The mare stared at the man, them locking eyes momentarily.
“I can’t tell,” Aranea monotoned, “Could be anything.”
Celestia blinked and facehoofed, letting out a, very much not royal, groan as it fell down her face. A blush of red spread through her cheeks and she coughed, looking towards the mirror. A few moments of silence after the embarrassment faded, the princess tapped the mirror. “Is the mirror solid to you?””
Magnus touched it again, pushing his hand through. “It feels more like… jello? I believe that is the word I am needing.” He pulled it back and the arm remained as it was, untouched.
“Curious,” the princess said, “though, I do remember Starswirl mentioning something like this in his older writings.” She grabbed a heavier book, surprisingly dust-free, with her magic. Heavier than it ought to have been, she made a quick effort of removing it and a yellow manila folder fell forth.
“...Well, that’s curious,” Aranea said, leaning forward and picking it up in hand. The old paper of the folder nearly crumbled in her hands. Carefully, she opened it and looked at the front page. “Dimensionally Misplaced? Also known as… Displaced.”