Sol didn't say a word as he slipped through the opened doors to the ruined castle. Looking upon the old entrance hall, memories from before he'd been sealed sprung to the forefront of his mind. Despite it having been over a thousand years, to him it felt like he just went to sleep like any other night, and then woke up the next day. Seeing the cracked and weathered stone, and the remains of tapered banners and carpet, Sol let out a sad sigh and slowly walked down to the stairs on the far side of the room.
Ascending the stairs, he then headed off up the left staircase, wanting to see more of the castle before heading in the other direction. Ignoring the bats that had taken up residence in the ruins for the night, Sol made his way down the abandoned halls, idly having taken notice that somepony had apparently tried to clean up the ruins as he did. Several long minutes of silence and walking later, he came to the first place he'd been looking for, which just caused his sadness to grow.
While hearing about how Luna became Nightmare Moon and had fought Celestia was difficult for him to hear and believe, the aftermath of their battle in the throne room had only solidified it. All around him, Sol could see the evidence of what he believed to be the location for the majority of their conflict. Thanks to Luna's moon providing light through the gaping holes in the room, Sol could easily see where the beams of magic had carved into the stone, and the magical blasts that had scorched the stone they hit.
Walking up to Luna's throne, Sol brushed a claw over the old chair, feeling the once soft fabric that had gone damp and dirty due to prolonged exposure to the elements. Sighing sadly, Sol leaned his forehead against the throne.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help you."
Turning away from the thrones, Sol made his way back down from the dais and backtracked his way to the entrance hall. Entering it, he made his way over to the opposite set of stairs and ascended them. Despite the poor condition of the castle, Sol's fresh memoires kept him on the path to where he wanted to go. Several corridors and a spiraling staircase later, Sol came upon a collapsed bridge leading to one of the castle's towers. Stopping before the burn marks from what he predicted to be a magical beam that had cut through it, Sol spread his wings to get a feel for them. With the gap being too big to jump over, the only way he'd be able to reach the other side right now would be to use his wings in giving him a boost. Satisfied with the few test flaps he gave, Sol leaped off the collapsed bridge and used his wings to get him safely over to the other side. Landing on the other side and wincing from the soreness of both of his wings for suddenly using them like that after so long without use, Sol folded them back beside him and continued into the tower on the far side of the bridge.
Pushing the rotted wooden door open, Sol found himself torn as he saw that the room had been damaged from the fighting, which resulted in a chunk of the wall having been blasted in. With the bed ruined, vines growing wild across the floor and walls, and the furniture all molded and rotted beyond repair. Sol sat down and let out a sad sigh.
"My old room," he muttered, his sad frown further growing after he took a look around with another sigh. "And no sign of my hammer and shield."
Pushing those thoughts off to the side for now, Sol recalled a trinket of his that Celestia and Starswirl made for him. Hoping that it was still there, Sol got up and made his way around to the other side of the ruined bed to the collapsed nightstand. Despite the wooden legs having been rotted and collapsed due to it being unable to support the weight of it, the reinforced drawer was still locked, minus the handle that had been attached to it. Using his claws, Sol dug them into the face of the drawer and gave it a small tug. Frowning at it being stuck, he dug his other claw into it and pulled at it again with a grunt of effort, this time accidentally tearing it off with the rest of the drawer still jammed up inside. Tilting the nightstand, Sol heard some items sliding out of it. Seeing what they were, a small smile formed upon seeing the golden chain necklace with a ruby setting in the center of the pendant, and a small brown leather pouch that held Sol's small emergency stash of twenty Bits.
Having what he came here specifically for, Sol looked over them to see if they had any damage from aging. Seeing that they were both in fine condition, he sat them down on his bed and looked around in the dresser drawers for something to attach his pouch to. After a bit of searching, he found an old leather belt. Despite it having aged, it was still durable enough to wear and strapped it on his waist. Walking back over to the ruined bed, he then slid the necklace over his head until the chain laid securely on his neck with the gem resting against his chest, and tied the Bit pouch to the side of his belt. With the necklace on, he brought his claws up to look at and frowned when he saw no changes to them.
"Guess the enchantment on it wore off," he muttered to himself before closing his eyes with a sigh.
For a few moments, Sol sat there in silence in the middle of his room until he heard the sound of wings flapping behind him, which was soon accompanied by the sound of hooves landing on stone. His ears perking up at the sounds, Sol looked back behind him to see Twilight standing there with a concerning look on her face.
"How are you holding up?"
Sol looked back in front of him with a heavy sigh. "... I'm... I can't say."
Twilight took a hesitant step closer to him. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I know you said that you wanted to be alone, but I thought that you could use a friend now that some time has passed."
A friend, huh? "Sure. I suppose I could use one right about now."
With his permission, Twilight came over and sat down beside Sol.
"I'm also sorry that I didn't tell you about what happened with the princesses right away when you asked about them and how they lost their connection to the Elements. I wouldn't blame you for being untrusting of me, but please believe me when I say that it was never my intention to keep it from you forever. I just thought that it would've been easier for you to hear it after you had some time to adjust was all."
Sol opened his mouth to say something, but found his words faltering and instead sighed.
"I appreciate the thought, Twilight," he said with a sidelong glance, "but regardless, if something's happened to either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, I'd like to know about it."
"Okay. But besides that, nothing's really happened between them since then. There have been a few times where they've been captured, but were freed not long afterwards without any harm to them."
"Alright."
Noticing a glance of moonlight shining in her eye, Twilight looked down and saw the necklace hanging off of Sol's neck.
"That's a really pretty necklace you have," she complimented him. "Where'd you find it?"
Sol brought a claw over the gemstone. "It was locked in the nightstand where I left it. It was a gift from Princess Celestia that had an enchantment on it, but it looks like that it's worn off over time."
"What kind of enchantment?"
"It was a sort of transformation spell similar to the ones that the changelings use. I couldn't go out in public as a kirin, so to help fix that, she and Starswirl put an enchantment on this necklace so that whenever I wore it, it would turn me into a unicorn."
"I see." Twilight stared at the necklace for a few moments in thought. "I'm sorry. I would try to do it myself if I could, but I'm afraid that I don't know of any enchantment spells like that. I've studied a few transformation spells, but none that you're looking for."
Sol nodded. "In that case, I'll need to hide myself until I can meet with the Princess and ask her to restore it."
"And how do you plan on hiding yourself from everypony when we get to Canterlot?" Twilight questioned. "Because while I do know an invisibility spell thanks to Starlight, neither of us can hold it for very long. Not to mention the crowds of ponies who'll more than likely be bumping into you while you're invisible."
Looking around the room, Sol found a pair of brown tattered window drapes hanging over the window on the undamaged side of the room. Walking over to them, he tore one the drapes down from the rings connecting them to the pole hanging across the top of the window, tossed it over him, and tied it down around the base of his neck in a makeshift cloak. With the cloth reaching down just barely out of reach of the floor, and hiding his face beneath the hood of it, Sol looked it over and adjusted it a little bit before he was satisfied with it.
"It's crude, but it should do the job in keeping other ponies from seeing what I look like underneath it," he said, turning to Twilight. "By the way, where are the others?"
"They all went home for the night," Twilight answered. "I thought that it would be better if I came alone so that you wouldn't feel overwhelmed with so many of us here."
A small smile formed on Sol's lips. "Thank you, Twilight."
"You're welcome," she said before letting out a tired yawn. "Excuse me. I guess that today's taken more out of me than I thought."
"You should head on back to your home then and get some rest. I'll stay here and find myself a room to sleep in for the night." Sol paused when he heard his stomach rumble loudly. "... and something more to eat as well. Apparently that food I ate while riding the gargoyle wasn't enough to fill me."
"Actually, if you want, you can come with me and stay at the castle with the Spike, Starlight, and myself."
"Thank you, but I'd rather not be of any inconvenience to you or the others."
"Well, it's a good thing you aren't then. Besides, we've got plenty of food in the kitchen, and there're so many spare bedrooms that we could probably house half of Ponyville."
"Ponyville?"
"It's the name of the town we live in. It sits near the edge of the Everfree Forest, so it won't take us long to get there, and even less by teleportation... that is, unless you really don't want to."
Though hesitant to accept her offer at first, a safe and secure place to rest for the night with good food did sound good to him. Besides, with how weak he still was, he doubted that he could properly fight off even a lone manticore right now, or even a timberwolf if one were ever to dare attack him. Believing that he'd be better off with her, Sol agreed to her offer.
"If you insist on it, then I would be honored and grateful for your hospitality, Twilight," he thanked with a bow.
Twilight nodded and approached Sol with focused eyes. "Before we leave, though, I have a question for you, and I'd like for you to be honest about it."
"... alright. What is it you wish to know?"
"Applejack is the Element of Honesty, so she's pretty good when it comes to telling when ponies are lying. Now, I'll understand if it's too private for you to answer, but I'd like to know what it was that you were lying to us about. I hope it's nothing dangerous to us."
Sol bit his lower lip as he hesitantly thought it over. "That... depends. I've been hiding the fact that I'm a kirin from everyone because of who's son I am. There are those, like Dragon Lord Inferno for example, that found out about me and had planned to use me to get to my family, so it was imperative that I kept my true nature hidden from everything else. That's the dangerous part."
"Alright, but what about what you've been lying to us about?"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you that."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "And why not? I'm sorry to press, but if it's going to put my friends and I in danger, then don't I have a right to know?"
"Yes, you do," Sol agreed with a frown, "but I can't tell you because Princess Celestia told me not to tell anypony without her consent."
"... is it really that big of a secret?" Sol gave a single nod, causing Twilight to sigh in reluctant acceptance. "Alright. I promise to let it go and not ask you about it anymore."
"Thank you, Twilight."
Twilight smiled. "So, are you ready to go then? I understand if you'd like some more time to think things over and come terms with all that's happened."
Sol looked around his old bedroom and shook his head. "Thank you, but I don't think that staying here is going to do me any good. It'll take me a while, but I'll get over it... eventually."
Nodding silently, Twilight stood beside Sol and lit her horn to teleport them away.
Reappearing in the middle of the entrance hall of her castle, Twilight stood beside Sol as he shook his head.
"I don't remember being teleported to be so disorienting," he said, blinking the spots out of his eyes. "I used to teleport and be teleported before, but I never had any problems with it."
"Well, you have been sleep for over a thousand years, so your body is probably not used to it anymore," Twilight figured.
"I guess."
Seeing a nearby coat hanger, Sol pulled off his cloak and moved to hang it on one of the hooks, but paused.
"Do you have any castle staff about that I should know of?" he asked, cautious that he doesn't accidently reveal himself to anypony else.
"No, actually."
"... so no guards or staff at all?"
"Nope."
"... why? You're a princess living in her own castle. Shouldn't you at least have a few guards to make sure that nopony tries to steal from you or ponynap you?"
Twilight was about to say that she didn't feel like she needed it, but memories of Starlight's revenge and the changelings started to resurface. Remaining silent for a few moments, Twilight made a mental note to ask Celestia if she could have a few guards assigned to her castle.
"... okay, you do have a good point," she admitted. "But still, you don't need to worry about anypony coming in here and seeing you, so you can relax."
Knowing that he would have some privacy in here with the lack of castle staff, and feeling assured by Twilight's words, Sol hung his cloak on the coat hanger. Free from his makeshift clothing, Sol followed after Twilight down the halls of her castle, paying extra attention to the material it was made of.
"This looks like the same crystal that the Tree of Harmony is made of."
"You're right," she confirmed. "After my friends and I defeated Tirek two years ago from yesterday, the Tree of Harmony gave me this castle."
Sol froze in place. "Tirek broke free from Tartarus?! How?!"
"Escaped is more like it. We believed that it happened when Cerberus left his post a while before then. But, like is said, my friends and I defeated him and sent him back in chains and in a cage."
"Oh... well thank you then. Having to deal with him once already was bad enough."
Twilight nodded before looking back at him with a concerning look.
"By the way, I remember Tirek saying something about how you'll pay for sending him to Tartarus."
Sol frowned. "So he's still holding that grudge then."
"It sounded like it."
"By the way, what exactly happened after Tirek escaped? Because I could've sworn that my crystal was shaking, and that I felt an incredible influx of power."
Twilight blushed with embarrassment. "Sorry. That rumbling would've been from my battle with Tirek. As for the power influx, that was because he was holding my friends hostage, and in exchange for their freedom, I had to give him all of the alicorn magic that I was given."
Sol's eyes widened in surprise. "Tirek had all of the alicorn magic in Equestria?"
"That, plus all of the earth pony, pegasi, and unicorn magic."
"... no wonder why my crystal was cracked then. With all of that power under his control, the requirements for my release were met and my seal was being released."
"Yes, but like I said already, my friends and I defeated him, returned the stolen magic back to everypony, and returned Tirek back to Tartarus."
Letting it end at that, Twilight led Sol to the kitchen where she went around to make a late lunch for them. While she was busy with that, Sol looked around the kitchen in wonder at all of the new equipment in there, namely the lights, which he found most interesting as he found the light switch and began to play with it. After a full minute of flipping the lights on and off, he was finally stopped when Twilight, who was becoming somewhat disoriented with the lights going on and off, held the light switch still with her magic and asked him to stop it. Having his attention drawn away from the lights for now, he went up alongside Twilight as she continued making them something to eat. As she did, she gave him a quick rundown of some of the implements that were there, like the refrigerator, air vents, microwave, the stove, and the oven. While they did have ovens during his time, they didn't look anything like this, or even run the same.
Offering Twilight his help, Sol assisted her in their meal as best he could without getting in the way. Not long after that, they were finally finished with their late dinner. While it might've been just a few sandwiches and a simple salad, Sol was grateful for the food and made sure to voice his thanks to Twilight before the two of them dug in. Humming with how good it was, Sol found himself so lost in it that he didn't notice the other pony who had entered the kitchen.
"Oh, you're here... both of you."
"Hello," Sol greeted.
"Hi, Starlight," Twilight greeted as well as she walked in. "Where's Spike?"
"I put him to bed. The poor guy was so tired that he didn't even make it to the castle before he fell asleep on my back."
"Thank you for that."
Starlight gave a happy nod and pulled out an apple from the fridge before joining them at the table.
"So, what's going on here?"
"We got a bit hungry and decided to have a late dinner. Also, Sol will be staying here for the night."
"Alright. Oh, before I forget to tell you, everypony's coming with us to Canterlot tomorrow morning."
Twilight paused from her meal. "But what about Rarity and Applejack? I thought they said that they had work to do tomorrow?"
"Normally, yes, but given what all we found down there, they agreed that it would be better for all of us to go."
"And what about Daring Do?"
"She's currently staying over at Rainbow's place and said that the two of them will meet us at the train station in the morning."
"I bet Rainbow's really excited to have her over like that."
"Heh. That she was."
Finishing up their meal with a content sigh, they cleaned up and headed back out into the halls. Going up a flight of stairs, Twilight led Sol to where the guest rooms were and stopped in front of one of the doors.
"You can stay here for the night," she said, opening the door for him and following him inside. "This room has a private bathroom connected to it through that door over there, so feel free to help yourself with that."
"I probably should," he figured before turning around to Twilight with a smile. "And thank you again for letting me stay the night here, Twilight. To be honest, with how weak I am, I doubt that I would be strong enough to stop a manticore or something from attacking had I stayed inside the castle."
"It's fine, Sol. Don't worry about it." Twilight walked over to the doorway and stopped with the door half closed. "Before I call it a night myself, is there anything that you need?"
"Thank you, but you've done more than enough for me. Have a good night, Twilight, and I shall see you in the morning."
"Alright. You have a goodnight too, and I'll see you bright and early. We'll be catching the morning train to Canterlot."
Seeing her close the door, Sol unbuckled his belt and laid it and his necklace down on the nightstand. Making his way to the bathroom, he played with the lights again for a while before finally leaving them on. Taking notice of the nice water fixtures over by what looked to be a bathtub, he walked over to it and turned one of the handles. Seeing the water shooting from the nozzle above his head, Sol jolted back in surprise, but calmed down soon after and held a hoof up to the water, only to recoil it when he felt how cold it was. Turning the first handle back, he then began to turn the second one and reached up again to feel the water getting hot quickly.
So they learned how to freely control the temperature of their bathing water? Interesting.
Fiddling with the two water valves for a little bit longer, Sol got the water to the right temperature for him and stepped into the shower. Feeling the water washing over him, he sighed in relief and closed his eyes in relaxation.
Several minutes later after his coat and mane were cleaned, Sol stepped out of the shower and dried himself up with a towel hanging on the towel rack. Clean, refreshed, and relaxed, Sol walked over to the bed and slipped under the covered where he blissfully sighed at the softness that the bed and pillow provided for him. However, despite how relaxed and tired he felt, with everything he went through today, and what he knew tomorrow held for him, Sol found that sleep wouldn't come easily to him tonight.