“I am beginning to think that choosing Ponyville as the site of the Abbey was a mistake,” Princess Celestia finally said after Arthas finished his report regarding the events that had transpired a few hours ago at Everfree Abbey. Keeping her voice light she continued: “Both you and that town seem to be ‘trouble magnets’ in your own rights.”
Arthas, his image as clearly projected on the mirror in her chambers as if he were right before them, sighed upon hearing the joke. He opened his mouth to reply, but Luna, who stood beside Celestia, beat him to it.
“To be fair, Sister, based on what we heard from Arthas, and earlier from both my nightwatchers and Doctor Thaumaturgical, there wouldn’t have been any trouble had the doctor’s device not malfunctioned in such spectacular manner.”
Celestia had to agree with her sister. Nodding, she once again thought how glad she was she hadn’t decided to test the Proving Grounds herself. No matter whom of the foes she had faced the Examining Band would deem as the toughest one - whether it would have been Discord, King Sombra, Nightmare Moon or Bane the Hippogriff (or Queen Chrysalis empowered by Shining Armor’s love) - a fight with either of them would destroy most of the castle.
“Well, unless it was Discord,” she added with a silent sigh, recalling how easily he’d overpower her and Luna when they were younger, before they’d found the Elements of Harmony. Rolling her eyes inwardly, Celestia added: “The Nadire Crystal would likely run out of power within a matter of seconds, assuming the Proving Grounds actually could recreate Discord’s powers.”
“True,” Celestia said, turning her attention back to their discussion. “Doctor Thaumaturgical had assured me that he will make necessary modifications to the Examining Band so that it won’t happen again. And that the safety measure won’t be disabled so easily. But let us leave this subject and turn to more pressing matters. Now, seeing how you want us to wait for a letter from Fluttershy to hear more about the powers she has apparently learned and their source, could you tell us more about those val’kyr instead?” she asked Arthas.
“Of course, Your Majesty,” the paladin replied at once. “The val’kyr are ascended warriors of the Light that serve Titan Keeper Odyn, Azeroth’s Prime Designate. As I had told Twilight once, the titans had created titanic watchers, which were led by nine Titan Keepers, empowered by the Titan Pantheon themselves, in order to defeat the Old Gods and later shape and protect the world.”
Both Celestia and her sister nodded, remembering what he had said during the Council meeting and having read in Twilight’s letters everything he had told her about the history of Azeroth. Though understandably Arthas’s knowledge regarding the dawn of his world was trifling, it was still surprisingly informative. Both alicorns found his tales to be very interesting, especially after he had suggested a possible connection between the Old Gods and Luna’s corruption into Nightmare Moon and her return.
“Among those nine, Odyn was chosen as their leader, the Prime Designate,” Arthas continued. “The Keepers would go on to create more races to help them in their task, such as earthen, mechagnomes, vrykul, and a few others. A lot of the races currently inhabiting Azeroth descended from those titan-forged after they were infected by the Curse of Flesh.”
“Including the human race,” Celestia thought; she wondered how it would feel to know you are a descendant of somebody’s creation. A creation to which flesh was a curse. “Well, their creators are considered gods… though maybe not knowing your race origin isn’t a bad thing,” she mused, thinking about how little it was known about ponies’ origin, thanks in large part to the Windigoes’ blizzard that destroyed their lands and caused them to migrate south.
“Not all, though,” Arthas continued. “Proto-dragons are one of the few races that weren’t created by the Keepers; I don’t know for certain how they came to be, though. In any case, five proto-dragons were eventually empowered by the titans themselves through the Titan Keepers, becoming Dragon Aspects and transforming their race gradually into dragons.”
“While it all sounds very interesting,” Celestia interrupted him, “we have been informed about all of this already by Twilight.”
“I’m starting to think you just like to brag about how much you know,” Luna added, smirking. As Arthas shot her a bemused stare, she turned to Celestia. “It is becoming clearer with every day why your student likes him so much, wouldn’t you agree?”
Stifling a giggle (caused both by Luna’s remark and Arthas’ poorly suppressed sigh), the older alicorn waved at him to continue.
“I wanted you to understand the… background behind the creation of val’kyr,” the paladin explained. “You see, Odyn, from what I’ve been led to understand, considered dragons to be unworthy of being charged with protection of Azeroth, as they were not a titan-forged race. He opposed the idea, but all the other Keepers had decided to go through with it. In response, Odyn had asked his daughter Helya to raise a section of Ulduar, the titan-forged complex, into the sky, creating the Halls of Valor. He wanted to create a mighty army that would defend Azeroth from threats, composed of vrykul whom he saw as the mightiest of warriors. Odyn announced to them that those who’d prove their bravery by dying a glorious death would live again in the Halls of Valor, being given new, immortal, storm-forged bodies. However,” Arthas added, pausing for a second, “he first needed somebody to bring those souls to his halls.”
“I’m guessing that’s where the val’kyr came in?” Celestia asked.
It made sense. If those beings indeed could travel freely through the Spirit World (or ‘Shadowlands’ as it was apparently more commonly called on Azeroth), they would be able to guide those souls to the Halls of Valor.
“Yes. Unfortunately, Odyn couldn’t find any volunteers to be transformed into val’kyr,” Arthas said, frowning. “Though now this charge is considered among the vrykul warrior maidens to be the greatest honor, when the Titan Keeper first introduced the idea thousands of years ago, strangely nobody wanted to damn themselves into the eternity of servitude as phantoms. And since Odyn was still determined to carry on with his plan, he decided to create the val’kyr by force.”
“Oh,” Celestia exclaimed; she hadn’t expected a Titan Keeper to something so… horrific. From what little they had learned about them from Arthas, she had thought them to be benevolent beings.
“He was opposed, however, by Helya,” the paladin continued. “She was repulsed by the idea of enslaving titan-forged against their will, and admonished Odyn for his willingness to do so. Helya argued with him and even threatened to return the Halls of Valor to Ulduar.”
Celestia shared a look with her sister. Seeing how the val’kyr were eventually created, she had a sneaking suspicion as to how this argument ended.
“So the mighty and noble Odyn struck her down, and transformed her into the first val’kyr, forced to obey his commands. The first command being to transform more vrykul into val’kyr, of course.”
Even though she had expected to hear this, she still looked at Arthas wide-eyes. “His own daughter…” she thought, feeling dread.
“I am starting to think that you are right to advise us against attempting to reach out to Azeroth,” she said after a moment, sighing. “So a very powerful being with an entire army of immortal warriors had sent two of his possibly enslaved servants to keep an eye on you and by extension us? Did we miss anything?”
“Hold on a moment, Sister,” Luna interrupted her exasperated joke, frowning as she turned to Arthas. “If that Titan Keeper had indeed created such an army, how come it hadn’t intervened during the Third War when the Burning Legion and the Scourge threatened Azeroth? Or during the War of the Ancients for that matter? Or now when the world is on a brink of breaking apart?”
Celestia blinked, then mentally cursed at herself for not thinking to ask about the War of the Ancients or the current crisis. Though Arthas never fully explained to Twilight what this “Burning Legion” was, he had told her that it was an evil force that threatened to destroy Azeroth ten thousand years ago, and because of that conflict the huge continent was sundered.
“And as for the Scourge and the Third War…” Celestia thought, glancing at her sister.
Though for a long time Celestia had been content to just trust Luna’s judgement and didn’t ask her about more details regarding Arthas’ previous life, she had to do so after the Council Meeting. Luna, albeit a little reluctantly, had told her, although avoided going into too many details, and as a result, Celestia had learned more about what was happening on Azeroth during that time rather than Arthas’ role in those events. Or, rather, she didn’t understand how he “came about“ his role, as she knew who or what he was.
She knew what name he bore for the last few years, and whom he had ruled over.
Shaking her head slightly, Celestia focused on following the conversation, “Oh, that’s because Odyn is, according to some of my sources,” Arthas paused to clear his throat before apparently reciting, “‘a short-sighted fool’. Personally, I would use some less kind epithets than what Annhylde had said” he added with a roll of his eyes, “but nevermind that. To answer your question, Princess, his army - called ‘the Valarjar’ - didn’t intervene during those events because they can’t leave the Halls of Valor. After the Old Gods had corrupted one of the other Titan Keepers,” Arthas continued as Celestia and Luna exchanged surprised glances, “named Loken, he broke the spells that forced Helya to obey Odyn, and convinced her to turn against him. Using a powerful spell, she sealed off the Halls of Valor in its own plane, along with all its inhabitants. Only those of the val’kyr that remained loyal to Odyn can leave through the Shadowlands, bringing more worthy souls to join the Valarjar.”
Celestia stared at him, blinking, not sure if she should feel pity or relief to hear what had befallen the Titan Keeper. “You reap what you sow, I suppose,” she finally said. “What happened to Helya?”
“She and the val’kyr that followed her founded a new realm, called Helheim, with the intention of continuing to care for vrykul spirits. However, the anger that festered in her heart had transformed her, her val’kyr and her realm into the stuff of nightmares, and the vrykul who end up there are either those that had dishonored themselves or were killed by the cursed kvaldir before they could have been judged, becoming kvaldir themselves.”
“Oh, for the love of-” Luna exclaimed abruptly, then brought her wing-tip to brush against her temples. “Is everything on Azeroth so easily corruptible?”
Upon brief reflexion, Celestia found herself agreeing with Luna regarding that question. And her initial reaction.
Arthas’ eyes traveled to the side before he replied. “Pretty much,” he finally said, almost casually. “Though to be fair, there are three - I think - Old Gods buried deep within it.”
Both alicorns once again exchanged looks. Celestia could easily see in her eyes that Luna agreed with her earlier statement regarding reaching Azeroth. Just the thought of risking spreading those malefic being’s influence to Equestria made her bristle.
Sighing, Celestia turned back to Arthas. “If I may ask, how exactly do you know all of that?”
“During my… um,” the paladin momentarily hesitated; it became clear to her why the next second. “During my evil reign, I had enslaved several of Helya’s val’kyr-”
“Of course you had,” Celestia thought, little annoyed at herself for not thinking of this possibility.
“-as well as some of those that chose to serve neither her or Odyn. One of them, named Annhylde, had been among the first ones forcefully transformed by Helya, and from her I learned most of that story. I also learned a lot thanks to the visions Ner’zhul had,” he added.
“Based on what we’ve heard, it’s clear that those two val’kyr that bound themselves to your soul know of your past as the Lich King,” Celestia said; she was happy to see that Arthas only slightly twitched, and didn’t appear to be either hurt or angry with Luna for telling her. “They probably know about those other val’kyr as well, then. Do you think they mean any ill will towards you?”
“Possibly,” Arthas replied, shrugging. “One of them definitely seemed hostile towards me. However, it doesn’t matter. With them bonded to me, they won’t be able to cause any harm to me or anypony. And after I release them and they return to Halls of Valor, they shouldn’t be able to cross the Shadowlands all the way to Equestria so easily.”
“That’s a relief to hear,” Luna said, then frowned. “Though why have you insisted they’d be ‘put to work’... ”
“It might have been partially because I was annoyed to find out I’ve been spied on ever since I had been resurrected,” Arthas admitted, though he appeared to be only slightly abashed by saying that. “Regardless, since they are already here they might as well do some good. As confident as I am about my paladins’ abilities, it would be a relief to have val’kyr watching over them on the Dread Isle.”
Celestia nodded, a slight frown being the only expression she allowed herself to make as the name of that island was brought up. “On that note, how are preparations for the journey coming along?”
“All four should be packed by now, and soon they will be here for the briefing. I’ve also arranged for Liturgy to stay at Sweet Apple Acres while we’re away, as well as talked with Cheerilee about her joining Ponyville School. And the two young griffons when they arrive.”
Both sisters nodded, happy that he had dealt with those matters so quickly. Though it would be some time before Prince John and Lord Francis would arrive, it was better to have assured they’ll have proper conditions (well, “proper” being an operative word, given their social status). But this young Liturgy, whom Serenity had brought to Ponyville without any warning, was a more pressing matter, and Celestia was relieved that the young filly would have a safe place to stay and wouldn’t miss out on education.
“What about you, though?” Luna asked Arthas. “Surely, with what had happened to Holy Avenger-”
She stopped talking as Arthas gave out a tired sigh. “I’ve already been lectured by Twilight during the party about how stupid if was of me to use a sword made out of pieces of my own soul and for not telling her or anypony else about it, thank you very much. My ear is still swollen,” he added, flicking his right ear.
Suppressing a giggle, Celestia spoke: “My student was right. You should have brought your suspicions to our attention regarding your blade months ago.”
Both her and Luna had read about weapons like those. They were called Spirit Weapons, and they were materialized fragments of souls capable of being wielded by mortals. In most cases, they had been created by unicorns in times before the Founding of Equestria and during the Equestrian-Griffonian War (a practice that would be banned in the years following that conflict, as it was deemed unnecessary with the advancement of metallurgy). There were a few unique ones, though, like the Spring Bringer that Knight-Lieutenant Storm Clash now carried, that the spirit of the Windigo had left him in return for freeing him. However, there weren’t any recorded occurrences of a Spirit Weapon being created from fragments of a soul of a living pony, and as such even after witnessing Arthas summon the sword several times it never occurred to either of them that the Holy Avenger was created from his soul.
“But, of course,” Celestia thought, “Arthas’ case is unique.”
“Forgive me, Your Majesties,” Arthas replied to her comment after sighing, then bowed his head and continued, “but when one has another fragment of his soul stashed in a cursed helmet on a world all the way on the other side of Great Dark Beyond, they tend to overlook such matters.”
Celestia had a suspicion that he had said the same thing to Twilight earlier. And probably got his ear pulled by doing so.
“I will look into how we can rejoin those pieces of your soul, but I’m afraid it would have to take place after you return from the Dread Isle,” she told him. “Considering the possible damage caused by the spell cast by the image conjured by the Proving Grounds, I don’t think I have to tell you to not use the Holy Avenger from now on.”
Arthas nodded quickly. “I will pick something from the armory for the time being.”
“Good,” Celestia commented, then frowned as she changed the subject: “Now, regarding your requests…”
Luna immediately intervened. “As I had told you after hearing my nightwatchers’ report, Sister, I had my own… misgivings regarding the moon and the results of the Nocturnification Process. I support Arthas’ request, and will go to the moon along with him.”
Celestia sighed. During their earlier talk, she had tried to discourage her sister from going to the moon as well. The Princess of the Sun didn’t know what kind of impact it could have on her to return to the same place she had been imprisoned on for a thousand years.
To the same place her daughter had died.
Unfortunately, Luna had made a very compelling argument that she would have the best chance of finding whatever it was they’d be looking for on the moon. Celestia was forced to concede.
Even though the mere thought of her younger sister being back there clawed at her heart.
“Very well then, if you’re both determined, I won’t oppose this,” she sighed, defeated.
“Thank you, Sister,” Luna said, smiling at her, before turning back to Arthas. “We’ll go two days after your return from Dread Isle, then. We’ll be joined by two of my guards and possibly Doctor Daring Do; she had expressed to me a desire to see the moon for herself one day,” the younger alicorn explained.
“On that note,” Arthas spoke up, “so had Twilight and the rest of our friends when I mentioned this to them.”
“Of course they had,” Celestia thought, warmly amused.
“I see no reason to deny them this request,” Luna replied, smiling. “I’m sure it would be an interesting experience for all of them.”
“So it would be for Daring Do, if my suspicious would prove correct,” Arthas remarked, frowning.
“What exactly do you suspect to find on the moon, Arthas?” Celestia asked, curious what he could be thinking about.
“Honestly, I would prefer if we were to find nothing,” the paladin replied, sighing. “But I suspect that we will find something, but what it could be…” he trailed off, hesitating before continuing, “I dunno; at this point, I expect it to be anything between a titan vault buried deep within the moon, or an outright Forgotten One. Light damn, I’m already having Inner Kingdom’s flashbacks by just thinking about it…” Arthas murmured, massaging his temples.
Taking the advantage from his distraction, Celestia leaned closer to Luna and whispered: “Was it really that bad?”
As her sister, who had seen the monster (along with everything else that was in the Inner Kingdom of Azjol-Nerub) Arthas spoke of in his memories, grimaced and nodded, Celestia briefly pondered whether or not she should give Twilight and her friends the Elements of Harmony, just in case they would indeed stumble upon such creature. She ultimately decided that there was no need, though, as undoubtedly both Arthas and Luna would be able to sense it in advance and not get close to it before coming back for the Elements.
“Also, I think somepony would have noticed if a giant beast made of tentacles and jaws was on the moon,” Celestia remarked with a roll of her eyes.
“How come you suspect a Forgotten One, instead of an Old God?” Luna questioned Arthas, causing Celestia to return her attention to the conversation.
“Because I am pretty sure there would have been a lot more conflicts in the history of this world if there was an actual Old God anywhere near here,” Arthas replied. “Especially considering the kind of power the moon radiates with… and an Old God would find a way to pervert such power in unspeakable way. Not just cause a single entity to become corrupted, however unfortunate it was,” he added with a nod at Luna. “Also, I believe your bat ponies would have several more side effects caused by the ritual that granted them void powers if it was an Old God involved. Not to mention what a thousand years on the moon would have done to you.”
“From what little you were able to tell us about them, I think you must be right in this regard,” Celestia said; she recalled Chrysalis’ reaction to the mere sight of one of the Old Gods, C’Thun. Though nopony knew what their connection could have been, if just the sight of it could cause the Changeling Queen to become deaf to the world and repeat words in that dark language… “I trust that regardless of what the moon hides, you will both be careful,” she added, banishing that dark train of thoughts from her mind. “Now, let's move on to the last issue; the other ‘expedition’ you’d want to organize.” Celestia allowed a smirk to crept on her face as she continued: “You do realize the Gates of Tartarus are not that far away from Ponyville, right?”
“It has been brought to my attention at the party, yes,” Arthas replied, deadpanning as the sisters shared a chuckle. Sighing, he added: “I suppose it’s my fault for never taking as much interest in this matter as I should have.”
“It is understandable for you to have some hesitation when approaching this subject,” Celestia told him comfortably.
“Not when we consider just how much could be at stake. Medivh had warned me that if I don’t pass all those steps to ‘heal the wound within me’ or whatever, my fate would be the same as before, and this land would fall.” It was hard to not hear the self-loathing in his voice as he had said those last three words. “Whoever brought me back from the dead had placed this huge risk on the entirety of Equestria.”
“And the fact how much you worry over it fills us with confidence that you will pass those steps, whatever they might be,” Luna retorted, echoing Celestia’s sentiment.
“While I am honored by the amount of faith everypony seems to have in me, I wouldn’t mind if I were able to ask whoever brought me back some questions,” Arthas in turn replied. “At any case, the fact that it’s so close to Ponyville means we don’t have to make any special preparations to go there… I wish we’d have some means of contacting Brann, though. On the off chance of the Gate of Tartarus actually being a titan relic of some kind, it would be comforting to have him.”
“Excuse me, Arthas,” Celestia interrupted him frowning. “But if you want to contact Brann, why don’t you just send him a letter through Spike?”
The paladin blinked, appearing confused. “I’m sorry, Princess, could you elaborate?”
Three months ago…
“And he brought the little wee one back te life?” Brann asked, clearly surprised as he looked at the napping little foal, cradled in Luna’s forelegs. As both Princesses nodded, the dwarf glanced to the side, at the half-conscious form of Matthias Lehner laying on a sofa. “After a thousand years?”
“I take it that it is unusual?” Princess Celestia asked, somehow managing to turn her eyes away from her adorable little niece and her sister, who was more happy than she could ever remember seeing her.
“Resurrectin’ an infant demigod-like being, a thousand years after she died while being born, all on the surface of the moon?” Brann summed up with a raised eyebrow. “Aye, I guess ye could say that is a bit unprecedented. Though te be fair we can't just pop up on either o’ the moons on Azeroth. Kinda makes me wish I had joined him.”
“If it is a trip to the moon you wish, Brann Bronzebeard,” Luna said without looking up from her daughter, her voice light and cheerful “if you do not lower your voice it could be easily arranged.”
The dwarf, being as intelligent as he was, easily realized that despite her tone she would follow up on this promise. “Oh, right, sorry Yer Highness,” he immediately said, his voice dropping to a whisper as he spread his arms and took a cautious step back. “At any case, I’m happy for ye… even if I have no idea how he performed such a miracle.”
“Maybe that’s what it was,” Celestia couldn’t help but chime in, “a miracle.”
At that moment, Matthias, his mind still heavily affected by the moon’s magic, exclaimed: “I am the Light!... ‘s vesel… thingy…” he trailed off as he slowly began to lose lucidity.
Brann chuckled at the paladin. “Ah, makes me wonder if I should go grab me brother to see him.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Celestia said, momentarily diverting her attention from her niece, “what are your plans, Brann Bronzebeard? I assume you’ll be returning soon to Azeroth, but will you come back?”
The dwarf grinned. “Will I return to an entire world never before explored by anybody from my world? Most certainly. If it weren’t for the Cataclysm, I would have stayed longer and already started explorin’. But, ye know, the world is breaking apart, kinda need te pitch in. Might find something that helps.”
“Of course,” Celestia immediately agreed. “That amulet you’ve got allows you to travel between our two worlds, correct? However,” she asked after Brann nodded his head, “it doesn’t allow you to communicate or anything of that sort?”
“Nay, Yer Highness, I don’t think it does,” the dwarf replied, frowning. “I might figure somethin’ out if I’d brought it over te the Kirin Tor, but I’m a bit hesitant, considering the attention ye would all gain.”
“I see,” Celestia hummed and nodded. “While I’m sure the scholars and mages of your world would be able to find something - as would we if we had more time to study it - I might be able to offer you other means of communicating with us, if you’d like.”
“Oh, really?” Brann asked, intrigued. “Aye, by all means, I’d like to. Never can’t have enough friends.”
Celestia smiled, growing to like the dwarf more and more. Her horn began to glow as she focused on a spell. A small pillar of light appeared between her and Brann, its color slowly changing from golden to slightly greenish, and soon, a small candle formed from it.
“This candle is connected to the same spell connecting me to Spike’s firebreath,” she told dwarf as she levitated it to him. “Let’s call it… a Friendship Candle. If you light it and burn a letter over it, it will send it either to me or to Spike, depending on your intention. Likewise, both myself and Spike will be able to send you messages.”
“Wow, that’s mighty clever,” Brann said, clearly impressed, as he took the candle carefully. “And it will work even between worlds?”
“While I never had to opportunity to test it, the distance doesn’t matter to this spell. Feel free to use it whenever you wish to, though I understand that you will be quite busy when you return to Azeroth.”
“Aye, probably,” Brann nodded. “Still, if ye ever need any help, or if ye stumble upon some mysterious relic from the past and need an expert, don’t hesitate te summon me, I’ll find the time somehow.”
Both Celestia and Luna nodded, then the older alicorn turned to their paladin. “Did you hear that, Sir Matthias?”
“Yes,” he mumbled, somewhat incoherently, “send letter through… smokin’ or something.”
Present…
“I’m afraid I have no recollection of that conversation whatsoever,” Arthas replied after she and Luna finished recounting (which, considered how often they had to stop themselves from bursting into laughter, took a while). Frowning, he added: “Also, I don’t believe that even in that state I would have said such a ridiculous sounding word as ‘smokin’’.”
“Well, perhaps we remember that bit wrong,” Celestia conceded, while Luna pressed her forehoof to her mouth as tried to mask her giggle. “Regardless, if you wish to invite Brann - whom I think everypony would be happy to see again - all you need to do is ask Spike to focus on him instead of me when he sends a letter.”
Sighing, Arthas nodded. “I’ll write one right after I finish briefing my paladins, then… wait, if you can communicate with Brann whenever you want, how come you didn’t use this Friendship Candle to gain more information about Azeroth?” he asked, confused. “You could just ask him to burn an entire library or something with it.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I sincerely hope you never say such a sentence in the presence of my student,” she said, causing Arthas to stare at her wide-eyed; apparently only now he realized how that sounded. As Luna once again giggled, Celestia continued: “Just like Brann had mentioned, he’s been very busy, examining more titan relics at both Uldum and Ulduar, helping Ironforge with the ice trolls’ unrest, and with your requests. We didn’t want to burden him unnecessarily if we could help it.”
“I see,” Arthas said, nodding again. “Considering there are other members of the Explorer’s League that could look into those relics and Zandalari seems to be focusing on helping Gurubashi and Amani tribes instead of smaller ones such as Frostmane, I think he should manage to find some free time though. Especially when I tell him that we plan to take a closer look at something that apparently can bring people back to life in new bodies.”
“That does sound like something that would grab his attention,” Celestia agreed.
“On that note, Arthas,” she said, reminded of something she had thought of after hearing the bat ponies report, “you were surprised when, instead of becoming an avatar of the Light as you used to, when you empowered yourself the manifestation of the Light appeared in the form of two wings.”
“Um, yes, I was,” Arthas admitted, sounding confused to the sudden change of subject. “I think I recall one of the librams Brann had brought me to refer to that empowerment as ‘Avenging Wrath’.”
“Possibly a fitting name,” Celestia agreed. “However, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I think I understand why you didn’t change into the avatar of the Light. Or rather, why you could assume that form. I think it might have been caused by your body having been recently created, by the Gate of Tartarus most likely. It’s purely theoretical, but if we assume your body was created from some pure form of energy, then due to the primordial nature of your body by gathering a massive amount of pure energy - such as the Holy Light - could have caused it to revert its state of being. Now, however, it would seem too much time had passed since your body was created, and they no longer can do it.”
Arthas, who was listening with deep concentration, nodded slowly. “I understand… I think. It didn’t really bother me, anyway,” he added with a shrug, “this form of empowerment doesn’t have such drawbacks as the previous one had. Anyway, back to the previous subject,” he quickly said; Celestia wondered if, while possessing some understanding of such precise attributes of magic, he found the topic to be complicated to follow. Hoping that Twilight didn’t go into such detail about magic around Arthas if that was the case, Celestia shook off the humorous thought and continued to listen: “as I said, I will write to Brann, and I will begin for the trip to the Gate of Tartarus once he replies. I will mention to send the letter to you due to the Order’s training expedition. And speaking of,” Arthas added, looking to the side, probably at the time, “my paladins will soon be here for the briefing.”
Both sisters nodded in understanding. “We wish you a good journey tomorrow, Sir Lightbringer,” Celestia told him, smiling.
“May the Light shine upon you,” Luna added.
“Likewise, Your Majesties,” Arthas replied as he bowed, then he disappeared. The mirror became just a mirror again, showing Celestia and Luna their reflection.
“It would be good to see Brann Bronzebeard again,” Luna commented after their connection ended. “It’s a shame we couldn’t spend more time with him when he arrived… though in my case it had been more understandable,” she added with a smirk.
Smiling at her sister’s comment, Celestia thought for a moment before speaking: “Do you think we could convince Doctor Daring Do to stay at the capital until he arrived? I feel that the meeting of those two would be very productive, for both of their researches-”
“Excuse me, Your Majesties,” a pleasant sounding voice suddenly interrupted her. Both Princesses turned to see one of the castle’s maids, Pixie, standing by the chamber’s door and bowing. “I hope I’m not interrupting?”
“No, we just finished conversing with Sir Lightbringer,” Celestia quickly assured her. “Was there something you needed Pixie?”
The maid, who had uttered a short sigh of relief upon hearing that she hadn’t interrupted anything, raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Princess Celestia, surely you didn’t forget that you asked me to make sure your chambers are clean before you’ll be spending time with Princess Moonlight while Princess Luna takes over the court?”
“Oh, right, of course I didn’t forget,” Celestia quickly replied, smiling. “Forgive me Pixie, Sir Lightbringer’s report took longer than I had thought. We will leave you to do your job,” she told the maid as she nodded at her sister, and both of them began heading for the door.
“What a dutiful mare,” Luna commented quietly, smiling back in the direction of the chamber that they left after the exchange of respectful bows from the maid and friendly nods from the Princesses. “Thank you for agreeing to look after Moonlight,” she added, turning to Celestia as she changing the subject. “She’s becoming more… active. Angelic Heart and Caring Star are having a tough time keeping up with her.”
“I can imagine,” Celestia replied, thinking back fondly to Luna’s first months after she was born. “I’m sure it will pass with time.” Her sister cast her a dubious glance. “Alright, she will grow up enough to understand what ‘grounded’ means, and then it will pass.”
Luna giggled in amusement, quickly joined by Celestia.