//------------------------------// // Egg // Story: Metamorphosis // by Fabella //------------------------------// As the solar princess, wandered in thought, watching as each tile passed by, she wondered about what she would do next, if what she was doing will be worth it, and heading silently to her destination, the consequences or price that may be paid shall she go through with her rather ambitious motive. She walked through the quiet halls of Canterlot Castle alone as her head hung down low, her mane disheveled as it may be, sliding across the floor pathetically while her eyes were red from lack of sleep and fatigue claimed her body from lack of rest. Her entire posture bled the signs of a ruler broken down by burdens and stress but had done her best to press on for the sake of leading her kin. The entire hall was silent as no servants, no nobles, and no guards walked among them. The castle staff had retired for the night and the soldiers were still recouping from their most aggressive and serious war that was only three months before. The gryphons wanted back their territory and when negotiations and patience ran thin, they attacked with great fury. It was the princess herself who was force to lead them and the loss and sacrifice had been almost too much to bear. She had been in minor squabbles and battles before but this one had taken the cake as the most ruthless. The war was violent, bloody, nasty and the most heinous. It was an event that rubbed salt in her already deep and lacerated wound. For her, it showed her how much of the skills she seem to lack ruling alone. It was grevious and was a perfect example of a world that was void of absolute.... Harmony. Celestia cringed at the words. Such things no longer sounded pleasant and it left a bitter taste in her mouth to speak of it ever again. Harmony was something that Equestria had once. It was physical, its magical presence located inside the likes of the most refined gemstones. She and Luna held those stones within their grasp but now the only thing that they were good for was being hidden away within the confines of her newly built home. They did not respond to her call, her grief and nor did they even lift themselves to respond to her magic. They faded in color like the sun at dusk, standing on the ground like broken gems. They were useless. Celestia lifted her head that tied its eyes to the floor and looked forward upon realizing she was coming to the end of the hall. She turned and walked down another until finally she had reached that of her mentors room. She beheld before her in the shadows two large doors holding the very symbol - cutie mark - of the most influential pony of her time. In the middle of the large doors was a large spiral that bore the image of a large yellow star in the middle of it surrounded by smaller stars of the same. around it. The doors carried an overwhelming feeling as to stand before the very room where her mentor and teacher worked was one that nearly gave her second thoughts. Other ponies would be enthralled at the ability to even see such a thing. To stand before the very room where the most powerful and authoritative unicorn worked his magic at and crafted spells. For others, it carried a since of dread. Guards themselves refused to even go near it as Starswirl was one who did not like any old pony coming within a range of ten feet of his study room. Yelling or screaming at them to continue about their business shall he catch them so much as staring too long or standing too close to his chambers. Most of the time if not always, it was locked by that of a spell that prevented any old pony from entering without his worded permission. A magical lock crafted by himself to ensure that his studies, books and handiwork was safe and kept within good hooves from being damaged or altered in anyway. He was protective of his things and his studies more so. Celestia however, thanked her blessings for she not only was the graduated student of Starswirl the Bearded but also knew exactly what spell was needed to unlock the existing magic on the doors that kept the room shut off from outsiders and unwanted visitors. Taking a deep breath, Celestia lit up her horn with yellow aura. A few glowing spirals emitted its way from off of the tip of it and struck the middle of the the door right on the picture of the middle star. Causing it to emit a soft yellow glow. Seeing this, Celestia moved her horn causing a light beam to follow its direction. She connected the middle star with the rest of the smaller stars that surrounded it, creating finally a larger star that engulfed the entire spiral. Celestia stood back as the newly made star glowed strongly before swelling in brightness. It then exploded into a dazzling array of golden sparks as the stars faded back into their dull colors into the darkness. She head a few locks click and after a small second pause, the split door opened slowly within the confines the room. Creating a small sound as it did before stopping. The princess walked in and used her magic to alight each and every candle in the room from where she stood. Starswirls room was a giant mess. Paper was everywhere, his desk was cluttered with pens, ink and scrolls and his walls were hardly able to be seen as book cases lined with books and scrolls filled them to the very brim. He never cleaned the place and the one maid who insisted on being nice to straighten it was yelled at by Starswirl for touching his things. For him it was organized chaos and the poor maid didn't take kindly to being told off. Lest to say, she never bothered Starswirl's possessions again...or did a nice thing for that matter. Celestia walked among the room, eyes gliding across the plethora of information that she could take from. She had entered the room before and had spent quite some time in it to remember the exact information she was looking for. After all, the spells she was looking for were not complicated spells and only required an average level of magical talent to understand and use them. She was taking a risk. She was breaching on his trust of her but she swallowed her guilt and pushed back her convictions. She could not continue ruling like this. Harmony was what she was bred to breed and it was something that she going to gain back. With or without the Elements of it to do so. Celestia approached Starswirl's desk and shifted through his paper work. Picking up each paper one by one as to make sure she did not over look the very spell she was aiming for. Her heart thumped hard against her chest and every little sound coming from outside or around her made her more frantic and panicked. She shifted through them quietly but quickly as if she was running from a guard as an escaped prisoner. As she went through the multitude of papers on Starswirls desk, two scrolls fell down by her hooves to which she picked up and unfurled. They were exactly what she was looking for. Smiling Celestia took the scrolls within her magic and placed the papers she had shifted back to how they were arrange previously but not before also taking hold of a paper depicting a magical circle. Celestia made her way outside the unicorn's room. She unraveled the scrolls and took one last look at them to ensure that she had obtained the correct ones. Reading over them and seeing that she did, she rolled them back up and shut the doors to Starswirl's room, placing back upon them the seal to safeguard against any hint that some pony had entered his domain. Celestia gave one last look at her mentors room before heading to where the elements themselves were stored. "Forgive me..."