Chapter 4
Celestia ran as fast as she could toward the castle infirmary. When she learned that the mysterious filly was awake she was ecstatic, but that quickly changed to horror when she heard what had happened to the doctor. There was a sense of fear as the possible disastrous outcomes ran through her mind. She wasted no time and immediately ended day court and closed the castle under an immediate lockdown and that all unnecessary personnel, maids, servants and the like, either be evacuated or transferred to the other side of the castle.
As the elder mare rounded the corner to the infirmary, she was greeted by a squad of her ever faithful guard. All six of them stood around the area adjusting armor, weapons, or preparing in their own way to enter the room. As they stood, Celestia could see that nervous look in their eyes. Many had never dealt with something like this before.
Especially since the outcome could be death.
“Captain, report,” she ordered as soon as she slowed her pace to a mild walk. The stallion in question raised his head from his shield at the mention of his name. He stood at roughly five foot six, dark bronze-colored fur and deep amber eyes, and clad in the day guard's set of golden armor with a large white star painted on the side of his helmet. He stepped up to his commander and promptly saluted.
“Your majesty,” he started before dropping the salute. “The squad is ready to enter at your command,” he reported. He sighed softly afterwards and turned to look back at his soldiers. “I wish it didn’t come down to this, your majesty…” he turned back to the solar mare. “But she is a threat, unfortunately.”
Celestia leaned to the side to look past the stallion at her now attentive guards. “This is madness,” she said silently, mostly to herself. The thought of six stallions entering the room to subdue a child made her slightly nauseous. And from the short report she was given, the first pony through the door would surely be injured… or worse.
The mare searched each one of her subjects eyes carefully, taking in their color, look, and emotion. No… she couldn’t let these ponies die due to a sheer misunderstanding. As she steeled herself, the demi-goddess looked her captain firmly in the eyes. “I’m going in there!”
Her captain's eyes went wide at the declaration. Dumbfounded, much like his stallions behind him, was unable to come up with a response as his commander stepped past him and towards the door. “Waitwaitwait!” he quickly got out before turning around and quickly stepping between Celestia and the door. “I will not let you through that door!”
“Get out of my way, Captain!” Celestia replied forcefully before pushing the slightly shorter stallion out of the way. The stallion in question stumbled as his armor clanged against itself. He quickly regained his balance and grabbed Celestia’s left arm just as her right hand touch the doorknob.
“Celestia,” he said softly. In that moment, all hostility came to an end as Celestia slowly turned to look at the hand on her arm over her shoulder. Her gaze slowly shifted to the stallion holding her, not enough to hurt, but enough to get the point across.
The mare in question sighed and closed her eyes while her head drooped slightly. “I’m sorry, Bronze,” she apologized while slowly opening her eyes. She released her grip on the knob and turned to face the stallion fully as he released her arm. “She’s just a child,” she said in an almost pleading tone. “She’s lost, scared and confused. She… well, she needs somepony to love her…” The mare looked Bronze right in the eye. He could just see that determination in her massive, magenta orbs. “And I will be damned to Tartarus if it isn’t me!”
Her significantly younger captain examined her eyes with a slack jaw. Nopony, and I mean nopony, has ever heard the princess swear. He couldn’t believe his ears. For all he knew, his princess, his friend was going to walk in there and all he would hear is a loud explosion and a body hitting the floor. Then what? Slowly, the captain closed his open maw and swallowed what little saliva was in his mouth. “Please don’t do anything rash?” he begged in the most professional, and less pleading way he could.
The mare gave a brief nod before turning around fully. Behind her, she could hear her captain's hoofsteps as he started to give preparation orders. The mare grabbed the knob of the door and paused. Taking a deep breath, she said a silent prayer to the gods and opened the door.
As she stepped inside, a light clicking noise grabbed her attention. Her gaze shifted from the tiled floor up towards the bed. Just like she remembered, sat the little filly she saved. But that peaceful, sleeping face was gone as her one good eye narrowed. In her hands was the mysterious weapon. “Uh… hi?” Celestia started. “I… just want to talk,” she started gently while closing the door behind herself.
The filly didn’t answer and only continued to keep her weapon ready. The pearly white mare stepped away from the door and held up both her hands to reveal that she was indeed unarmed. The furless fillies one good eye narrowed for a millisecond as she examined the mares opened palms.
Another light click graced Celestia’s ears as she lowered the weapon. The seemingly simple gesture in turn allowed Celestia to lower her arms to her sides. Celestia wasn’t out of the woods yet as the weapon sat in the fillies hands as they laid in her lap. “May I take a seat?” Celestia inquired.
The filly glanced up at Celestia. Unresponsive, Celestia pointing a finger at herself, just above her ample bosom before pointing towards a nearby chair. Confused, the child furrowed her eyebrows and turned her head in the direction of where Celestia was pointing. Still not understanding, she looked back at the mare for clarification.
The mare held up both of her hands and made a ‘siting’ action with both of her hands, using her left as a makeshift chair and her right as a little hand-person. The filly continued to watch the mare with a suspicious gaze as Celestia slowly lowered her arms and held her hands together in waiting response. The injured filly glanced back at the nearby chair before gazing back at Celestia.
She gave a sharp and almost hostile head tilt toward the object in question. With an understanding nod, Celestia slowly turned and headed towards the simple wooden seat. She could still feel the almost furious like gaze on the side of her head. Ignoring the invisible force trying to blow her head off, she promptly took a seat. She smiled warmly as the filly occasionally glanced at the mare, making sure to avoid eye contact.
“My name is Celestia,” the mare started, causing the filly to jump and raise her weapon toward the mare. Celestia’s eyes widened slightly as she started at the shaking hands of the filly. Slowly, she raised her hands and bobbed her hands up and down in a ‘calm down’, gesture. Understanding the motion, the filly slowly lowered the weapon. “I just want to talk and be friends, okay?”
The filly remained silent as the mare talked. Slightly hurt, but also understanding of the situation, Celestia continued, “My name is Cel-es-ti-a,” she said slowly. The filly raised her head and gave the mare a curious look, causing her to giggle. The mare held a hand to her chest. “Cel-es-ti-a,” she repeated.
“Cel-esh-ti-a?” the filly repeated to the best of her ability. The mare nodded happily with an equally happy smile. In time, she might be able to help this filly fully to understand their culture. But, first things first, she needed to get her to talk.
“And yours?” the mare asked a moment later. The filly gave her a curious look. The mare just smiled again and pointed at the filly. “Name?” she repeated slowly.
The young girl swallowed the lump in her throat. She understood the basics of what was going on, but everything was a jumbled mess of noises and sounds. She was able to understand the elder females name as ‘Celestia’ or something similar. But why she was named after a solar body was a little beyond her, and the distinct ‘animalistic’ design of her form was interesting to say the least. “Raven,” the girl answered after several seconds.
The pearly white mare furrowed her brow. She barely made out the pronunciation of the name. She had been informed earlier how the way she spoke sounded like some sort of hissing noise. “Rav-an?” The mare repeated to the best of her ability.
The younger filly shook her head upon hearing her name being repeated. “Raven,” she corrected a moment later. Celestia opened her mouth and let out a silent, drawn out ‘Ohhhh,’ upon hearing the correction.
“Raven,” Celestia repeated a second time. Much like the bird. She let the name linger in her mind as it slowly started to sink in. The mare smiled lightly. “Raven…” It was a nice name and a very simple on at that. A low grumble grabbed the mares attention. Lifting her head toward the noise, she noticed the filly looked down at her now grumbling belly with a slight blush.
The filly lifted her head slightly and locked eyes with Celestia for a moment before the elder mare started to giggle, only to cause the young girl to blush a little bit harder. She couldn’t even remember the last time she actually had a real meal. “Hungry?” The mare asked, earning a raised eyebrow from the filly. The mare quickly improvised with a simple ‘eating motion’ with her hands and mouth. The filly gave a tentative nod, the mare only smile in return. “I’ll get you something.”
Standing from her seat the mare made her way towards the door. After opening it, each of her guards snapped to attention but relaxed as their leader poked her head out. The panic of her being maimed lessened at the sight. “Bronze?” she asked nicely. The stallion in question stepped up a moment later.
“Yes, your majesty?” he replied. “Are you alright?”
She gave a nod and a soft smile. “I’m fine, but could I ask a favor?” The stallion gave an unsure nod, letting the mare continue, “Could you please send a message to the castle chefs?”
***
Roughly ten to fifteen minutes later a light knocking on the door caused Raven to reflexively reach for her weapon. Calmly, Celestia rose from her seat while gesturing for the young girl to lower her weapon. A light clicking sounded out as Raven did as was asked of her. As Celestia opened the door she was greeted with her Captain holding a large silver tray with a large salad, a bowl of applesauce, a cup of apple juice, and a small sauce plate full of various different types of salad dressing in it. The mare smile and thanked the stallion before taking the tray in her open hands and closing the door.
As the mare entered back into the room, Raven eyed the massive tray with both hunger and caution. The massive green mass of leaves caused her suspicion to only rise. Once the mare was close enough, Raven lifted both her arms to allow the platter to be placed in her lap. As the young girl suspiciously eyed the meal in her lap, Celestia just giggled.
“Here.” The mare grabbed the silver fork on the tray and gingerly grabbed Raven's right hand. The young girl resisted the urge to laugh at the tickling sensation of the furred womans hand. She slowly and expertly help to guide the child’s hand over the meal and poke the salad, causing a few green leaves to crunch and stick. Releasing the child’s hand the mare waited.
Raven held the fork and leafy greens up to her face and examined them. Celestia, on the other hand just rolled her eyes before leaning over slightly and pulling a piece of salad from the pile and dipping it in the saucer of ranch dressing. “It’s not going to kill you,” she said before popping the leaf into her mouth and moaning in pleasure. “Oh… I love ranch to much…”
Raven swallowed nervously before reaching over the same saucer and dipping the leafy mess into it before moving the fork to her mouth. She hesitated for a second before closing her eye and going for it. It opened wide a second later as the unique flavor graced her tastebuds, She had to have more! Even if it killed her via poison or other means she didn’t care, it was too good!
Nearby, Celestia took her seat once again. She smiled happily as she watched the filly devour her salad. With no sense of urgency she waited in hopes that her previous ‘conversation’ could lead to further results in identifying more about the circumstances that led to Raven’s incident. While she waited, the mare's eyes slowly drifted down towards the weapon at the filly's side. It was grey in nature, except for the black looking handle. It appeared to have something etched into its side. The grip appeared to have a hand guard similar to that of a rapier. It was bent in almost a ninety degree angle.
Curiosity got the best of the mare as her horn started to glow a bright yellow. The weapon was quickly surrounded by her aura and levitated over and into her hands. She grabbed it by the grip and started to examine it a little closer. She turned it over, held it up and down and even tried to look down the open hole at the end. She tried to take in every little detail she could. A resounding clang of metal and the shattering of what sounded like plates knocked the mare out of her thoughts.
Her eyes widened as she watched in horror as Raven was on the farthest part of the bed away from her. Terror filled her every being. Celestia could see the fear in her one good eye. Celestia quickly stood up, causing the girl to yelp and ultimately fall off the bed, her I.V. stand fell a second later, clanging against the hard floor. Celestia gasped before unceremoniously tossing the weapon onto the bed and quickly running around the obstruction.
Raven sat on the floor propped up on her elbows as tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheek. As soon as she saw Celestia she crawled away as fast as her arms could carry her. Celestia took a simple step, which caused the girl to scream and back away even faster. It was all in vain as her back quickly greeted the wall. Nearby, Celestia just froze at the foot of the bed.
“I… I’m sorry, Raven!” Celestia apologized in a pleading tone. “I didn’t mean to scare you!” Raven gulped nervously, unable to understand a single word Celestia just spoke. The mare bit her fingers and frantically looked around the room for something that could help her. She froze as an idea came to mind. Using her magic, a small flash of light and a light ‘pop’ happened as a small teddy bear materialized. By the looks of it, it was well used. It had a few bare and faded spots and it's right button eye hung loose. It was one of her favorites over the years.
She gently levitated the stuffed animal towards the now actively sobbing girl. When Raven refused to look or even reach for it, she made the little animal bob side to side in a simple little dance. When she finally noticed, Raven glanced at the teddy bear before looking back up at Celestia. The mare smiled warmly. Raven gently wiped her eye with her sleeve and sniffled before reaching out with a shaky arm. She quickly swiped the animal and held it close to her chest before curling up into a tight ball.
Celestia let out the breath she had been holding before gingerly approaching the girl. Sitting next to the child she gently reached out and wrapped her arms around her. Raven went tense and tightened up even more but offer no resistance as she was pulled into the lap of the larger woman. She quickly buried to face into Celestia’s collar bone and continued to sob.
“Shhh, shhh… It’s okay Raven,” Celestia cooed softly. “It’s okay…” The mare gently leaned forward and opened her massive, angelic wings before wrapping them around her’s and Raven's forms.