//------------------------------// // Part 9: The Letters from Beyond // Story: Once a Time Lord... Well, actually still that, but now a Pony as well... // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// “Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.” ― Vincent van Gogh Canterlot Castle: And so life continued on in Canterlot, the incident at the Castle fading from all but the minds of a few. Princess of the Sun, Lady Celestia, despite dealing with nobles who droned on and on about various things she frankly couldn't be bothered to listen to was not -despite all evidence to the contrary- bored out of her mind. Why, you ask? Well, you got to have a bit of backstory first to understand this. Despite not adventuring with the Doctor as she would have liked, she did keep up on his whereabouts, by messages from the Time Lord himself. Every month, on the exact same day and at the exact same hour she received a message. It had been like this for a few months now. Actually, it was about time for one now, if his schedule kept up. And so it did. A white cube, a Time Lord's communication cube flew in with a purpose and played its message. Celestia listened in interest. “Hello again, it's me! Had an interesting week. First thing first, I visited with some Crystal Ponies, on the Moon! Imagine that, ponies, on the moon! I learn something new every day. Visited with Lu... Oh, wouldn't want to give away what's coming for you soon. Spoilers! Huh, why do I feel like I should have heard that sometime in my timestream? Never mind. Then, I met with this wonderful, no FANTASTIC mare named Vinyl Scratch and laid down some backing vocals to her newest tracks. Not sure why she calls them Wubs when they are so very obviously techno or dubstep beats, but to each their own I guess. Also, recently visited an entire planet where the entire infrastructure was made of living shrubbery! Imagine that! Course, it’s scheduled to be swallowed up by a black hole in a few odd decades if my memory serves so best you take this vacation spot while it’s still there! Oh dear, in my ramblings I seem to have forgotten to check where I was going and… Oh dear,  I seem to have crashed into Prance! Least the weather’s lovely this time of year. Ah, that summer sun! Not as fantastic as yours, of course… Or is it, considering you’re raising the same sun over Prance as you are over Equestria? Ah… I’ll think about it later. See you again in a month!” Celestia chuckled to herself. “Never change Doctor, never change.” All seemed to be well with him. Though she did have to wonder what he didn't want to spoil. She did catch a brief snippet of what he was going to say before he realized he was about to spill a rather large secret. “He said Lu, before he quickly changed subjects. Could he possibly mean… Her? My sister, is she coming back, and not as Nightmare Moon as the prophecy predicts?” Celestia was not a stupid mare, she knew when secrets were being kept from her. The stars would aid in her escape, that’s what the legend said. Celestia knew the stars had to have been at least six of the Elements of Harmony. Trouble was, finding the bearers was nigh-impossible. You didn’t just find them, the Elements chose you. There had to be a Spark as well, something that brought them together, bound the six. And Faust only knew who that could be. Before her untimely death, Celestia had pegged Raven as the Loyalty Bearer, but her wielding that element was impossible now. And Celestia herself certainly couldn’t do it, not anymore. She may have used the Elements once, but they were now unresponsive to her. No matter how much she wanted to use them, they simply wouldn’t let her. Celestia had two suspicions. One, because the Elements were used against her sister, a Bearer herself, they no longer responded to Celestia’s magic. Secondly, the Elements were sentient, at least in some manner if not completely alive and thinking for themselves. Them “Choosing” their Bearers led credence to that theory. Time passed, until once again a message from the Doctor came and played itself out. At one point her dear nephew Prince Blueblood asked her why she loved these letters so much. “But Auntie, he's a foreigner for who knows where, and a strange one at that,” Blueblood had whined, almost like a small foal who’d been denied their favorite toy. Celestia suppressed a sigh. “He's not even nobility! Why do you look forward to his messages so much? Why… Why are you archiving them, even if they’re just mindless, possibly insane drivel.” Celestia sighed, he'd never understand. Not her nephew. He was like almost all of the other nobles she’d dealt with in her lifetime. A leech, sucking on, or in Celestia’s case, up to her. A slimy leech from some forsaken bog who didn’t know the meaning of the words boundaries or “Leave her the Tartarus alone!” Once, Celestia did have hope for Blueblood, she honestly did. But that was before the life of nobility got to him. Him schmoozing amongst the upper class who knew just the right words to say to get to the foolish pony -and lest Celestia forgot to mention his wealth from the Royal Treasury and the power he held- and when you combined all of that, and you had a perfect recipe for somepony’s ego going all to his or her head. Sadly, that was what had happened with Blueblood. She did love her nephew, make no mistake about that, but she’d felt sad for what he’d become. Perhaps he was another one of Celestia’s many mistakes. If she had guided him properly, instead of letting him fend for himself he might have turned out very differently. But Celestia didn’t like to control other’s lives. Treat them like pawns on a chessboard, it felt wrong to her. There was a reason Celestia hated chess. It was an emotionless game, you could never get attached to your pieces. And Celestia, fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, had the luxury of getting attached to things. She preferred gentle guidances, nudges in the right direction instead of outright control over “Because…” She had told him. “He shows me what it's like out there, beyond the throne. Wondrous, and numerous worlds, beyond our comprehension. We’re closed off to the rest of the galaxy, and our current state of technology makes it impossible to see what’s beyond. The Doctor provides us with a service. He offers us glimpses of what’s out there, whether it be delightful wonders or terrors that would freeze our souls. For better or for worse, the Doctor is our telescope to the rest of the universe beyond our little planet.” And so it went, with Celestia eagerly awaiting his next message. And they came, right on time as always. On the right day, right time just when it was needed the most whenever Celestia felt as if the weariness and the pressure of ruling an entire kingdom solo was getting too difficult to bear. “You know, you really should tell me more about this student of yours, Twilight something or other. Was it Twinkle? See, don't even know her full name! Anyways, my knowledge and all that is limited. She sounds like an interesting mare, from what little you have told me. By God, that intelligence! Mark my words, Princess, that’s a mare who will go on to do great things on whatever course she sets her sights on. Really should get out more though. See the sights and all that. Honestly, all work and no play makes a very dull day. I mean, why do you think I keep wandering around the universe so much? It’s certainly not because I have nothing better to do! Speaking of interesting ponies, how's our favorite Captain of the Guard?” Celestia sighed sadly. He wasn't doing well. Shining blamed himself for Raven’s death, and it was obvious to anypony that knew him. Even his marefriend wasn't helping. The Doctor needed to help him, as she figured it would be the only way to put him back to normal if the Doctor told him it wasn't his fault. It was worth a shot anyway. ...Or, at least that’s what Celestia wished it would be. It would have been so simple if it was her Captain of the Guard suffering from PTSD, wouldn’t it? No, it was Celestia herself who blamed herself for Raven’s demise. Even now, she thought back to Raven’s last moments... Raven smiled as a tear dripped from her eyes before she wiped it away with a hoof. No, better to face death with dignity than to let anypony see her cry like a coward. “Celestia, you were right. This world doesn’t belong to us, not any more than the eagle owns the sky. We’re all a part of a grand design, and I’ve figured out my place in it long ago. Helping you in any way I can… Now, let me do it one last time. RUN!” Celestia nodded sadly, a tear slipping from her eye, and even as she teleported the Doctor, herself and Shining away she heard the distinct sickening crack of a neck snapping and bricks tumbling from the ceiling onto stone. It would have been so easy, wouldn’t it? Just to teleport Raven out of harm’s way. Night after night, Celestia kept asking herself why she didn’t use her magic and solve what should have been an easy problem. But instead… She did nothing and now Raven was dead because of that. At one point, Celestia decided she’d finally had enough, and she called in Shining himself to ask for his thoughts on the matter. Shining wasn’t stupid, he’d noticed something had been bothering his Princess for the past few months. And now that Celestia had called him to her personal quarters and was asking him about why she faltered and didn’t save Raven from the Angel when she very easily could have, his theory was confirmed. “Honestly, Celestia… You were afraid, that’s all there was to it,” Shining stated firmly. Celestia gaped, her… afraid? No, that couldn’t be it… Could it? But Shining stood steadfast in his beliefs and explained what he thought. “I was afraid too, anypony would have been. You’re all high and mighty sure, but that doesn’t mean you’re above a pony’s base instincts, fear chiefest amongst them. I could have teleported Raven out as well, you know that. But I didn’t. Why? It’s a simple matter of physiologically. Fear often overtakes rationality when we’re faced with situations like this. I should know. I’ve been in situations where I couldn’t think straight just because I was afraid. I’ve lost men because of that, and I do question myself what I could have done differently like you are now. But we can’t change what we did or didn't do. What’s past is past. Right now, we need to look ahead to the future instead of beating ourselves up. Raven would have wanted that, wouldn’t she?” Shining asked and Celestia finally relented, letting out a deep sigh. “Yes, she would have wouldn’t she?” Celestia smiled. “Think of her as we knew her, not on how she died. And besides, I like to think of death… Well, it’s probably just the next great journey for us all isn’t it?” Celestia continued to speak, her beliefs now back where they belonged. “Treasure your friends Shining, and their lives… For who knows when things will change for them, and you,” Celestia told him while taking a sip of wine from a golden goblet. “That I will Princess, that I will…” Shining said with a bow. It seemed the Doctor had picked up on her worries as well, in his own way, as for his next message he’d left not a letter, but a book. Celestia read the title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And for hours, even after finishing the book there was one quote that stuck out to Celestia. Her wine goblet lay empty, lying on the floor beside her bedside table. “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.” The man, Albus Dumbledore, despite all of his faults, manipulation amongst them struck a chord with Celestia. They’d lived such a long while, and lost so much… And yet, they still had a kindness about them. Living lives like theirs, they could have turned out very different, couldn’t they? They could have turned out to be something far… darker. Celestia’s attentions were then drawn to the room around her. Her personal chambers, while normally shades of bright colors to best reflect the sunlight that shown in her room every day, had dimmed their lights. And from her bed, Celestia’s eyes then shot upwards to the moon and the visage of the Alicorn upon it. Or to be more accurate, the Alicorn who was no longer there. “No… No, that’s… That’s impossible. It’s not time yet!” Celestia whispered to herself, her voice filled with both equal worry and hope. Hope, because her sister had returned and there was a chance to bring her back to the light. Worry, because of what her sister had brought back with her on her return. The darkness of the night seemed to creep into the room and clamber up the walls as shadows seemed to take minds of their own. And then, laughter filled the room. But not joyful, ringing, cheerful laughter as Celestia normally knew it from its user. No, the laughter of the maniacal kind as a form manifested itself in the darkness and in the shadows. Two great black wings expanded, and a misty mane and tail like the stars themselves followed that as a form came into being. Dark blue armor around her chest and head, with a long sharp horn protruding like a lance jutting out from her forehead. “And so the stars will aid in her escape, or so the legend goes. Isn’t that right… Dear sister?” Nightmare Moon asked with a small laugh, one of pity as she trailed a hoof up Celestia’s face. “Oh, I’m sorry, have you forgotten about little ole me? What a pity…” She cooed. “You’re… You’re not supposed to be here!” Celestia stammered out in fear, neglecting to charge up her horn out of both fear and kindness. Fear, for what was in front of her, angry beyond belief. Kindness, as the power of her spells could do untold damage to her sister if not used with the utmost caution. “It’s… It’s not time yet! I still have two more months to go before the Summer Sun Celebration!” “And yet… Here I am,” Luna… No, Nightmare Moon as Celestia had to remind herself remarked. “And look at you, all defenseless and without the Elements of Harmony to defend your precious kingdom… Why it’s all so easy, isn’t it? Almost a pity that there’s going to be no challenge in taking what’s rightfully mine…” With that, Nightmare Moon and all that she had brought with her vanished and the light came back to Celestia’s room as the Princess herself shook in terror, beads of sweat trailing down her face. Her sister had returned, and this time, there was nothing she could do to stop her.