Chapter 2
Aryn woke to the sound of hooves clopping against the cold stone floor. He shifted in bed in order to see who it was. Before him, standing proud and regal as always, was the Princess of the Sun. She seemed to have adopted her “ever calm” look again. Aryn was surprised by Celestia’s control over her emotions, considering the previous night’s events, but the princess did seem her royal self.
Suddenly, he realized that Celestia had been talking to him. “I’m really sorry, Princess, I was lost in my thoughts. Could you repeat that?”
At this Celestia chuckled. “No harm done. I was simply trying to tell you that all the other ponies are up and ready to listen to your plan, if you’re ready to present.” The Princess turned to leave, then hesitated, unsure. “And...If you are a friend of Luna, then you are a friend of mine. Please call me... Celestia.”
Aryn was feeling a bit stressed now. The lead rule of being an entertainer is to never let your crowd wait too long, and that’s what he was doing. That, combined with his sudden awakening, and the Princess asking him to use an informal name, was making this morning a bit surreal. “Thank you for waking me up Pr- um, Celestia. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
Celestia left the room and Aryn got out of bed. He tugged his mane into a somewhat reasonable state, and went outside to the hallway. Down the hallway to the left was Luna’s chamber. To the right were the doors to the throne room. In front of him were two large doors which lead to the ‘Royal food quarters’, as the sign said. Aryn took a right and stopped before two medium-sized doors that said ‘Conference Hall’. I guess this is the place. He pushed open the door with his magic and moved in.
Inside, seven ponies were waiting. They all looked extremely tired, aside from Celestia. A cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow mane seemed to have fallen asleep on a pink earth pony, who didn’t seem to be having the same problem; Aryn noticed that the pink pony was almost vibrating with energy. Assuming this pony would be quite loud, and wake the pegasus on top of her, he smiled to himself as he asked a simple question.
“Okay, I need you all to introduce yourselves to me before we go. Starting with you.” He pointed a hoof at the pink pony. “I’ve already met you,” he added, nodding to Twilight.
“Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m throwing this party just for you!” she almost screamed. Aryn was confused. What party? He opened his mouth, but before he could ask his question,Pinkie Pie dragged a cannon out of nowhere and fired it without any kind of hesitation. The next thing Aryn knew, the whole room was filled with streamers, candy, music and everything else a party needed.
The formerly sleeping pegasi jumped at least three feet out of shock and landed on her belly. Twilight facehoofed. The white unicorn and the orange earth pony just sighed. The pink maned pegasi squeaked and jumped almost as high as the first pegasi did. Aryn wasn’t sure what to think.
“What the hay did you do that for?!” the blue pegasi asked. Pinkie just giggled in response.
Aryn finally managed to speak up. “Okay, let’s go on with the names, shall we?”
“What about the party?” Pinkie Pie looked a bit disappointed.
“How about after we get the Princess back?” Aryn was getting desperate to move on. The time was limited, and the journey would be pretty long.
“Okey dokey lokey! Then we can have a welcome back Princess Luna party, too!” Pinkie Pie was even more cheerful than when Aryn had first come in. She was bouncing on the spot. The stallion was pretty sure she could explode at any moment.
“-With streamers, and balloons and music and... did I say streamers?”
The next pony in line ignored her. “Quite enough with the silliness. My name is Rarity, Ponyville’s local fashionista.” Rarity said, extending a hoof.
“Pleased to meet you, miss Rarity.” Aryn returned the gesture before looking over at the orange earth pony, who grinned at him.
“Howdy, name’s Applejack! Mighty fine to meet ya!” Applejack introduced herself while shaking his hoof furiously. Before Aryn could respond, the cyan colored pegasi shot straight at him and landed a couple of inches from his face.
“Name’s Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier in Equestria, and soon to become captain of the Wonderbolts.” she said with a lot of pride in her voice. Aryn liked her attitude, and so forgave her the aggression. Rainbow seemed like the kind of pony who would never back down. It kind of reminded him of Daring Do, that book series all the fillies were in love with.
Down to the last mare. Aryn trotted over to the yellow pegasi with the pink mane, and extended his hoof, smiling.. She backed away from the stallion and hid her face in her mane. Aryn looked over at Celestia.
Before Celestia could say anything, although, Twilight broke in with a sigh. “That’s Fluttershy. She’s a tad... well, shy.”
Aryn nodded, wondering how the yellow mare would fit in at all on the journey. Putting it out of his mind, he slowly walked to the end of the table in the middle of the room. Gesturing for the rest of them to stand around the table, he pulled out the map with his magic.
“Okay. Before we descend into Tartarus, we need five items. The first thing is the Elements of Harmony. The map I have doesn't tell me where I can find those, but you mentioned them earlier.” He pointed at Twilight. “What exactly are the Elements of Harmony?” Six of the ponies stared dumbfounded at Aryn. He looked at the seventh, the Princess and prayed to Cel... Luna that she would act less childish than the others.
He was correct. “The Elements of Harmony are one of the most powerful weapons in Equestria; the very elements that make up the power of the peace in the land. In order to use them, the six spirits of the elements, usually represented in ponies, must wear the amulets that represent each one.”
Aryn took this in. “So... where do we find these six spirits?”
“We’re right here!” the six elements shouted, in perfect harmony.
Aryn was taken aback for a moment. The others shared a small laugh at his face. Aryn felt the tension in the room gone, for the moment. This made it easier to explain his plan, or at least the next part.
“Okay, so, second thing on the list is: a scale, from a full grown dragon. I know a pony in a small village north of Canterlot who would probably be able to get us one, but if I remember right, he’ll want a pretty hefty favor for it.
The next item on the list is ashes from a phoenix. Do any of you know where we can find a phoenix?”
“What about Philomena?” Twilight asked.
Aryn didn’t know who that was, but he listened as the Princess answered. “She’s not reincarnating for about six months.” Celestia answered with a small frown.
“We’ll just have to try and figure out that part later. Now, the fourth item is not that hard to get, I hope. The blood of an alicorn.”
Aryn looked up at Celestia and prayed to Luna that she wouldn’t be angry. Celestia didn’t look angry, but her expression was far from pleased.
“What is it, Princess?”
“The blood of one of my kind is a very powerful thing. If it falls into the wrong hooves, Equestria as we know it could end. We were quite lucky to catch Luna’s killer before he managed to escape. If he had, with some of Luna’s blood on him, no pony could say what could had happened.”
Aryn could see why Celestia was worried, and went on. “Alright. I guess we’ll leave that until it’s absolutely necessary. The last item on the map, then, is the ‘Sphere of a Thousand Flames’. It’s located on the top of a mountain, north of Clopenhagen. From the location, I’m guessing it’s not going to be easy to retrieve. Also, I lack any helpful information on this one. Do any of you have any clue what it might be, and what we have to do with it?”
The six elements just shook their heads. The unicorn stallion looked over at Celestia, who appeared to be deep in thought. After about thirty seconds she shook her head.
Aryn sighed. “Then we’ll just have to improvise as we go. With the recent assassination of Luna, I believe traveling as a Princess would not be safe. Your sister mentioned how you can hide your celestial form when I was in hospital. Can you do that, during the journey?” The unicorn held his breath, hoping that was an appropriate request. If not, he was not treading deep water right now.
“Hide my celestial form? ….Hmmm. That’s something I haven’t had the freedom to do for over a decade.” Without further warning, Celestia began to radiate light. The brightness was overwhelming, and the seven other ponies in the room had to look away. After a moment, the light died out, and they could feel a divine presence leave the room. Where Celestia had stood was now an alicorn the size of a normal pony. She was white, just like her normal form, but her mane was pink instead of multi colored, and it did not magically flow as her other one did.
“When I’m in this form, I tend to go under the name ‘Sunny Skies’. Now, if you all will excuse me, I need to get everything set, so the castle can handle my responsibility for the time this will take.” She began to leave, then paused, looking back.
“Oh, and Applejack- I’ll have the castle send bits to your farm so they may hire someone to take over your chores while we’re gone. And you, Rarity; I can furnish the bits needed to cover the expenses of the boutique when we come back.”
“That sounds like a fine deal ta me, thankya kindly, Princess.” Applejack answered. She would normally have rejected such an offer, but the farm could never manage without her for a long period of time. At least, not if no pony took her chores for a while.
Rarity, however, declined. “There is no need for that, thank you. I can afford shutting down the boutique for a while. The business has been excellent after Hoity Toity saw my collection.”
Celestia nodded. “The rest of you, please write the letters you need in order for Ponyville to continue with your absence while we’re gone. We shall meet here again in a hour. I’ll take care of supplies for the trip.” With that, the Princess of the Sun was out the door, closely followed by a concerned-looking Twilight.
“Well, shucks, ah gotta write to the farm. Would ya mind helping me out, Rarity?” Applejack looked over at the fashionista with a very friendly smile. Aryn could clearly see there was something beyond friendship there.
“Certainly. I could never leave a friend in need.” Rarity beamed before trotting out of the room behind Applejack. A couple of seconds later, Fluttershy exited the room without a single word. Aryn had barely noticed her doing so.
Rainbow Dash looked at Aryn. “Hey, could you-! Err... What was the name again?”
Pinkie answered first.“Oh Dashie, you’re such a silly filly! His name is... What was your name?”
“I suppose I never did introduce myself properly. Name’s Aryn, nice to meet you two.”
“Cool! Well, what I was going to ask, was if you could maybe help me write a letter back to Ponyville? I hate putting unnecessary things in my mouth, like a quill.” Rainbow explained.
“You didn’t mind having my tongue in your mouth!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily.
“Pinkie! That was supposed to be a secret! you pinkiepromised not to tell anypony!” Rainbow Dash was blushing furiously.
“No, you said I couldn’t tell any of our friends! Aryn isn’t our friend.” Pinkie Pie gasped in horror. “Oh no! He’s not! Aryn, do you wanna be my friend? Do you? Do you?”
The pegasus ignored her. “Please don’t tell anyone!”
“First of all, sure, I’ll help you. Second. Your secret is safe with me, buuutt...” Aryn looked amused. “...I think other ponies just might notice.” He looked at Pinkie. “Third... I suppose?”
“YAY!”
~~~~
Aryn was trotting towards Celestia’s chambers. He knew that the princess probably was busy, but this topic was way too important to ignore any longer. He was about to knock on the door when he heard a small moan from inside. He hesitated. The guards outside didn’t seem bothered at all.
“Come in” he heard Celestia say. How did she know I was out here? He didn’t question it further. Pausing a moment to build up some courage, he pushed open the doors and walked in. Celestia sat in her non-divine form on the bed, with her front hooves placed strictly between her back legs. The rather easy levitation spell she was casting was being used in such a complex way she could have a hard grip on the item currently going up and down with almost no concentration. Aryn was left stunned by the sight. Another moan, just higher this time, and the Princesss broke the little concentration she had, letting the item fall to the ground.
“Argh! I should really do this more often than once every decade. I just lose it every time I reach a hard knot.” The alicorn picked up the hair brush in her magic once more. Her mane did indeed look like it had not been brushed in a long time. “So, what was it you wanted to talk with me about?”
Aryn had to suppress a laugh at what most ponies would assume in the situation he was in moments earlier. Luckily, he was not the type of pony to assume anything before he got hard evidence. He trailed a bit off before realizing he should answer.
“...After Luna told me about her prophecy, I did some research. According to most books on Tartarus, ponies who are in love that enter will have their love turned to hate. This could post a problem, because I think some of the ponies with us may have feelings for each other.”
This didn’t phase the alicorn. “For the sake of the journey, I don't think we should mention that just yet.” Celestia answered calmly. One of her servants came in with two pieces of paper with a perfect drawing of a small sun, with a few of clouds around it.The Princess noticed Aryn looking curiously at it.
“It’s a sticker, which will only fall of if a certain spell is cast. It will hide my cutie mark so no pony recognizes it.”
“What will you do about the fact that you have both a horn and wings?” Aryn was curious on the matter.
Instead of answering, Celestia cast a spell Aryn recognized; an invisibility spell, useful for turning small objects invisible. However, this was the first time he’d seen it used on a horn.
“I have to learn how to do that to my horn! That would go pretty well with my entertaining.” Aryn said with excitement in his voice.
“There should be some books on the subject in the library. I’ll have somepony get one to you when we get back.” she answered with a warm smile. “However, I think it’s time we got moving.”
The group was gathered in the throne room.There were eight saddlebags filled with supplies, each with the carrier’s cutie mark. They each hefted their packs, except for Rarity, who placed hers on Applejack, who didn’t seem to mind. Aryn saw Twilight about to say something, and silently shook his head at her. Celestia spoke.
“We’re taking an alternate route to the village Aryn spoke of. You may remember the cave Twilight was trapped in during the royal wedding? After it was over, Luna recommended we dig a tunnel from the castle to the other side of the mountain, as an escape route, in case of another attack we can’t handle. Twilight, could you scan the wall to the left for openings?”
Twilight did as she was told and located the passage. Behind the wall was a dark tunnel with what seemed like a rail system and a couple of minecarts on it.
Celestia walked through the opening, then stopped and looked at Twilight. “Would you please supply us some light? I’m currently hiding my horn.” Twilight nodded, and a moment later, her horn began to give off a soft glow. The rest followed into the passage.
Rarity was the first to object. “Are we riding that thing?” She pointed a hoof at the minecarts. Twilight and Applejack looked worried as well. Fluttershy, predictably, looked like she was about to collapse from fear.
Rainbow Dash had no problem. “That’s so awesome! Let’s do it!”
“Oooooo, that looks like fun!” Pinkie Pie was vibrating and bouncing at the same time out of excitement.
“It’s perfectly safe.” The Princess’s voice was calm, but underneath, she wasn’t sure. According to the plans it was supposed to be perfectly safe, though they had never tested it.
“If you say so.” Twilight responded, looking unsure.
They each got into a cart, Applejack convincing Fluttershy to join them. One of Celestia’s guards pulled a lever.
The speed was intense. Aryn could feel the adrenaline running through him, and the wind on his face made his eyes water. Behind him somewhere, Rarity was screaming.
It only felt like seconds before they could see a light at the other end of the tunnel. They slowed down before coming to a complete stop, and stepped out of the carts.
“That was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash squealed.
Fluttershy, on the other hoof, wasn’t moving. She looked like she was in shock. After Twilight convinced her that they were safe, it was over, the group walked through a door at the end of the tunnel and into the light they had seen.
They were in a living room. Aryn glanced back at the door they had come through, which Applejack was now closing. From the outside, it looked like the door to any other room of the house that they were apparently now in.
“Where are we?” Twilight asked.
“Luna wanted to keep the escape tunnel secret. So she built a house on the mountain side, just in order to hide it.” Celestia answered. “We occasionally send a guard down to turn the lights on and off, so it looks inhabited. Come, that town is quite nearby here. You may not realize how far the carts took us.”
They stepped out of the house and walked towards the little town Aryn had been talking about earlier. It was only a couple of minutes of walking before they were at the outskirts of the town.
“Hey, Aryn!” they heard a voice call. “Long time, no see.” The unicorn recognized the voice, but couldn’t believe his ears. Is that...
A dark blue pegasus came into view, wearing a black headset. His cutie mark was emblazoned on the side, and he was wearing red sunglasses.
I’ll be damned, Aryn thought. It is him.
~~~~~~
Authors Note:
I’ll be posting longer chapter’s from now on.
About that Celestia brushing her mane scene, I simply love messing a bit with the head’s of the readers so i could simply such an opportunity slip away :)
Also thanks to PhantomFox for allowing me to use some of the elements from his story in the description of how Celestia camouflaged herself! Check out his story, “Sunny Skies All Day Long!”
Please leave some feedback on the story, I love all feedback that can help me improve!
I hope you enjoyed and once again thanks to Aryn240 for editing :D