"She's going to be here in a bit. So, please. No anger, no wanting to hurt each other, just..be nice" Sunset takes a breath, she wanted everything to go well.
"Alright, I can do that. But I do have a question before she comes down here, it's been nagging me in the back of my mind. But how did the Kings defeat Discord?" Chrysalis wondered.
"Hey...yeah...how did they beat him?" That was a damned good question.
"Beat....him? Ohhh..." Sunset looked back at the stairs, then back to Chrysalis. "Well, He never came out of the statue, and the Kings got rid of ALL the statues in the gardens...so, I'd guess he's at the bottom of the sea right now."
Chrysalis smirked, giggled, then laughed out loud "HA! SERVES THE WORM RIGHT! HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A CHANCE! THAT'S RICH!"
You just went wide eyed, the disapproved screams of every Discord in every dimension crashing in your mind. What a pathetic way to lose. "Sheesh....what a way to go"
"Hehehehe, Indeed. I don't even care that it's not our Discord. Just the fact that he lost worst than I did is enough to make me feel better." Chrysalis snickered
..Oh wait...speaking of losing. "Speaking of which, You sorta lost a bet Chrysalis. You gonna make good on your word?"
Chrysalis stops snickering, and rolls her eyes. "I was just joking about that."
"Are you serious?" You would not let that stand! "You're a queen! You're supposed to stand by your word! So I expect you not to try anything on Fluttershy at all! And be nice to her!"
"Shhhh! Anon, she's almost here" Chrysalis shushes you.
"No! JUST ADMIT Y-MMPH!"
Your mouth gets closed shut by Sunset's magic. "Please, the both of you, stop fighting? Please?....Just let her have this..."
"Well, he was the one who was yelling...But fine." Chrysalis settled herself on her chair, and shifted her eyes at you as she hid her grin behind her tea cup.
"....Yeah...sorry..." You let out a low growl, dammit. The one time you were being assertive and you were still shut down.
And as you looked towards the tower stairs, you could see the white coated legs of Celestia. With every step. Her visage became clear. She was...nearly the same. No crown or shoes...and her mane...oh no...It...wasn't flowing. It wasn't radiant. It just hung down. She still looked good. But still.
"Sunset? I hear voices, do we have visitors?" Celestia says with a sunny disposition. She was excited.
"Princess Celestia! Mhmm! They say they came to see you. I even served tea..." Sunset fills Celestia's cup "Would you like to sit with us?" Sunset made herself match Celestia's sunniness in her own speech.
"Of course!" As Celestia steps closer, she notices both you and ‘Nymous’. "Ohhhh, a cute little colt and a beautiful young mare. May I ask your names?" Celestia asks as she happily sits down.
Chrysalis points to herself. "I am Nymous, it's good to meet you..."Princess" Celestia"
Celestia chuckles. "Oh...you don't need to call me that" Celestia lifts her cup and sips "I even keep telling Sunset that, but well...Sometimes you just can't convince a pony" She giggles.
....Well...she seemed ok. She didn't even have crazy eyes or nothing.
"And I'm Anon, It's a pleasure to meet you Celestia!" You say with near obscene adorableness
"Awwww, You're so adorable and very well mannered. Would you mind if I..." Celestia seemed nervous all of a sudden...very uncharacteristic of her. "Hug you, you wouldn't mind...Right?"
Oh no.....dammit...here it comes. You hesitate for a moment, then nod, and brace yourself. "I don't mind"
Suddenly, you are pulled right into her chest with her magic as she hugs you...ridiculously tightly....of fucking course. You could hear Chrysalis snickering as you do your damn best to handle it. Though, you had to wonder why it was so tight, your Celestia was much softer than this. "MMnnnnnnnnnnnggghhh"
Luckily, the hug didn't take too long. Celestia puts you down gently with her magic and gives you a gentle pat. "Thank you young Anon, so..." Celestia goes back to sitting down, and sips her tea. "What do we have planned for today, Sunset?"
"Well Princess Celestia, I thought we of course would start with some tea. A board game, lunch, Then touch up the garden in the back, rearrange some of your things, dinner, and then bed." Sunset informs her.
"Splendid! It sounds like another fulfilling day! But for now, let us enjoy the company of our new friends, Anon and Nymous!" Celestia said with unbridled cheeriness
.....Oh christ. You look towards Chrysalis, yeah...she was cringing too. That was bad. Something wasn't right.
"Now then...where do you two come from? I want to know everything! So don't hold back any details. I want to know how happy the ponies are there and all the amazing sights" Celestia says with a gentle giggle.
.......How the fuck do you answer that? ".....Well, we're from....Buenos Aires..and...Anon?" Chrysalis wasn't prepared for this, and passes on the explanation to you.
"Oh..erm. They are all pretty happy. And...we have a desert. It's errrr....very clean and nice with a bright blue sky. There's also the city itself, everypony is....generally happy. They smile, they laugh, they have friends. We don't really have any other sights though. It's pretty modest." You explain rather nervously
Celestia clapped her hooves and smiled towards Sunset. "See? There is a vacation spot we can take next year. It sounds like a very nice place, I just hope we don't get swamped with all the work we do around here"
...Work? "....What kind of work do you do?"
Sunset was trying to cut you off the moment she realized what you were saying, but...you said it.
"Oh, you know. Fixing up the house, raising the sun and moon, tending to the garden, and helping my little garden friends." Celestia says, with no hint of shame or insanity. it seemed so genuine, it was creepy.
"So..you do have friends?" Chrysalis said, curious.
"Yes, she has friends" Sunset cuts in. "Princess Celestia, perhaps we should move on to another subject."
"Nonsense...hold on" Celestia's horn glows as...two pony garden gnomes float into the house from a window "I want them to meet my garden friends. This one..." She makes a soft eyed and gentle looking mare gnome shake a little bit. "Is called Philomena....and this one," She floats over a darker, more determined looking unicorn gnome. "Is called Luna. They are my garden friends, would you like to say hello?"
Sunset was now frustrated, but she held it in. She dare not upset Celestia.
"...You've got to be kidding. Do you seriousOMPH!" Your tea cup "accidentally" goes flying into Chrysalis' face.
"Oops!" You had flipped your teacup into her to get her to shut up. Knowing what she was going to say. Because this?....Oh god...
"W-WWEFREW" Chrysalis tried to say something more. But thankfully, Sunset came in with the combo save of using her magic to shut her up. Using her magic to hold her muzzle together
She then started to drag Chrysalis into the kitchen with her magic. "Nymous, I need you for a second. Don't worry Princess Celestia. We'll be right back!"
Thank Christ that movement pretty much synchronized...that could have been really bad. But there was still..this. Luna, Philomena?...Ahh shit Celestia. How far gone were you?
"Well, erm...Well.." Celestia seemed to already start to get upset, she moved both gnomes towards you. "Would you like to say hello, Anon?"
.....Here we go. "Hello Philomena, Luna. It's nice to meet you. I'm Anon!" You say as cheerfully as possible...how awkward. And then...silence...Celestia just...sat there staring at them. "E-ermm.."
"Awww, they said hello back! And now, we're all friends!..well, that is. You don't mind being our friend, right Anon?" Celestia pouted at you. God, she became so miserably broken. No wonder Sunset is so protective of her. She could shatter at any moment....you didn't even want to go back to the hotel. You wanted to stay here with her, help her.....you had to fix this world somehow.
"Of course! I'd like to be friends with all of you. If you don't mind that is!" ..Geez..
"We do! We all do!" Celestia turns her head back towards the kitchen. "Sunset! Can we have lunch now! We must celebrate with our brand new friends!"
"O-of course! Princess Celestia!" Sunset yells back from the kitchen. "I'll even ask if Nymous wants to help..."
Chrysalis must have been getting worked over at this point. Chrysalis was low power in this world, and Sunset, considering she was Celestia's Pupil, and had been taking care of her all this time, must have towered over her in magical power right now.
Then silence again.
"Ahh I see, well, if you must..." She had been wanting to speak to Chrysalis as well.
Celestia floats the gnomes back through the window, and then looks at you with a gentle smile "They always get tired so fast when they leave the garden. That's why I usually talk to them when I'm actually tending to it. Anon, do you have any other friends? And is that mare your sister?"
"Nymous?...ermm.." ...What do you go with? Adviser, or sister? Maybe saying sister would sound...cheerier? "She's my sister"
"Oh...." Celestia stops for a moment, like, she was hit by a ball of soul crushing darkness. But then she went back to smiling a moment later. "That's great! Family is very important you know, especially siblings. And your parents don't mind you being here?"
You shake your head. "We don't really have parents, but we're quite capable on our own."
Celestia frowned at that. "..Oh dear, have you...ever thought of being adopted?"
Ok fuck..bad answers right there...ermmmm..well actually, this could be advantageous. "Not right now, but we don't really have a place to stay...an-" And before you could explain further.
"Then this will be your home until you decide to move on! Sunset!" Celestia called out. "These two ponies are forever our guests until they decide to leave! We'll have to set up some beds for them! Clear my schedule! I want to get to know them better!"
"WHAT?!" Sunset and Chrysalis say as they come back out, Sunset holding a large plate with some smoking cheesed hay that looks like it could feed five ponies.
"Princess Celestia...are you sure that's a good idea?" Sunset asked, she trusted you, but she didn't trust Chrysalis.
"Anon....what are you doing..can't you see she's..." Chrysalis looked to Celestia, who only looked back at her with a cheerful smile. Chrysalis then sighed "...Never mind..." She moves in closer so she can whisper to you "...She actually provides good sustenance. I'll be needing that...but don't expect me to be anywhere near her if I can help it. Nod if you understand"
You do nod...dammit Chrysalis, Celestia could really use some cheerfulness and friendship....you felt so bad for her.
"I think it's the best idea I've come up with in a long time!" Celestia munches on the hay, and moans in delight. "Delicious! Speaking of which...we are having cake after...right?" Celestia looks to Sunset with big puppy dog eyes.
Sunset smiled a tired smile. "Princess Celestia...come on, you know you only get cake after every other dinner. You can't have too much or you'll lose your royal figure"
"....Awwww...." Celestia leans close to you and whispers. "What she doesn't know is that I'll sneak into the kitchen sometimes and make my own cake. Then blame Philomena for it. She never figures it out."
.......Oh christ. You let out a nervous chuckle and whisper. "T-that's pretty funny."
"It is" Celestia giggled, then made an announcement at the table. "Fellow ponies! Let us have this lunch that our host Sunset Shimmer has made for us! Do not hold back for there is plenty for everypony!"
..Ugh, you didn't have much of an appetite. But you ate anyway, for her sake.
Chrysalis just looked at the hay and nearly gagged. "....Egghh...erm, actually. May I go out and look at the garden for awhile? I've already eaten."
"Oh, of course. you are our friend and guest. We don't expect you to eat if you are already full. Enjoy yourself Nymous" Celestia tells her, her tone as motherly and tender as ever,
And with that, Chrysalis excused herself to scheme, and to feed by hanging by a nearby window.
Chrysalis was already concocting the next part of the grand plan. She now had a way to get close to the kings. But what use could that be for? She noticed Flam had no interest in her. And she already guessed they were too dangerous to be close to for too long. They were con artists, she acknowledged that, and as soon as they became perceptive, she'd be screwed. She'd need to plan thoroughly , she could probably call in the dinner date to get more information. And to get closer to Flim for use later.
As for you, you ate what you could, sat back, and rubbed your tummy. "Well, that was delicious..I'm full!"
"Anon..." Celestia swallowed her hay, then washed it down with tea. "What would you like to do after we're done eating? Would you like to play a board game? Or perhaps listen to a story?"
A story? Hrnnn… "Sure! I'd like to hear a story! But what would it be about?"
"Hehe!" Celestia let out a happy giggle. "It's about a princess and her pet Phoenix."
Sunset went wide eyed when she heard that "P-Princess Celestia...Maybe we should play a board game. I mean, stories are usually good for bedtime."
"Oh come on Sunset, it's a nice little story. Why don't you set up the beds for when our friends would like to go and sleep?" Celestia advises.
"......" Sunset silently groans, then bows. "Of course Princess Celestia...but wouldn't you like to tell another story? I'm sure I can find a book you can read to Anon"
"No no, why use a book when I know this one by heart?" Celestia grinned.
..........You said story because you thought it might get you more information. You now started to dread this decision. "Erm, can I change my answer?"
"...Oh" Celestia's ears go down. "...You don't want to hear my story?"
"O-oh I do! I do...sorry, I just thought Miss Sunset may have been right. B-but if you're that eager...." Dammit
"I am! in fact..." Celestia slowly slides the food away from her. "It's not good to keep a guest waiting."
Shit this was awkward. It almost felt like she was going to say a bedtime story right from the chair. Well, you thought so until she pointed to you to sit on a sofa to get more comfortable. You comply as she sits in front of you on a stool. And she just pressed on, her eagerness to tell the story was high.....you did said you wanted to hear it.
You had a bad feeling, but..it may have been wrong. What could possibly go wrong?
"Well Anon, this is a very special story to me. So I'm glad you're willing to hear it. Oh!" Celestia wonders. "You are comfortable, right? I don't mind if you fall asleep. Stories like these are meant to be meant for bedtime. But, I just feel like sharing it. It's very rare I ever get to"
This sofa was pretty comfy, well, if she wanted you to be comfortable… You stretch out like a cat and lay the bottom of your chin on a sofa pillow. "I'm comfortable. And no worries, I don't plan on sleeping anytime soon."
Celestia smiled, a smile as if no one had truly cared to listen to her for quite some time. "T-thank you Anon....Hmnnn...Ahh yes, the story. Ahrmmm..
“Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Equestria, there was a princess. This princess was very well beloved by the ponies who depended on her, but the princess herself was oftentimes lonely. Her duties not letting her have time to do many of the things she's wanted to do, or speak with many of the ponies she'd call her friend. This was only made a little more difficult to bear as the Princess's sister.....well, she wasn't around. But one day, this princess met a very beautiful and playful phoenix she called Philomena. They became fast friends, and what was even better was Philomena could be considered the princess's pet. Which let her be by her side very often. The Princess often took advantage of this during her down time. Both her and Philomena often playing little tricks or pranks on her own guardspony. Though Philomena had a tendency to overdo it sometimes, they were still very happy together, and both always found joy in one another's company. One day, the princess started having dreams. Visions like her sister returning, or dreaming of six very special ponies who would uphold the very basis of Friendship and Harmony itself."
"The Princess would tell Philomena of these dreams and visions. And despite Philomena never saying a word, she was smart enough to understand. Everyday the Princess would have these visions and dreams. And at first, she thought of them to be very important. But as time went on, the Princess began to realize they really were just dreams....Because as time moves on, things became darker. The ponies she once cared for had started to move on, disregarding her word while listening to a pair of ponies who had outdone her in defeating dangers to her own realm. These pairs of ponies, brothers...Many ponies started to feel their words had more meaning as they were able to better protect them from dangers with their gadgets and soldiers. And as their influence spread, Equestria itself began to change. And as it became darker, polluted, and putrid. The princess bid a farewell to her best friend, Philomena. She did not want her phoenix friend to suffer, and let her take flight to cleaner skies. Philomena at first, would not leave. It took the Princess a great deal of time to convince her. And when she finally did...the Princess was then truly alone. To the point she was no longer a princess. With her subjects willing to start a war. She gave up her title so there could be peace. In return, she was given a modest home with a tower. Where she would spend her time raising and setting the sun...and nothing more. But there is a happy ending to this tale, because the Princess had run into one more friend to keep her company. Her faithful student" Celestia never broke her now unsettling smile. "What do you think Anon?"
You were wide awake...and holy shit..that was painful. Was she really that far gone? did she not notice how dark that was ? Or perhaps that story made her more aware than even she realized. Either way, that was far from a happy story. The entire world is fucked. And with every moment, it seemed more impossible to save Equestria.
In fact, as Celestia kept her smile up. Tears started to slowly flow from her eyes...oh geez. What the fuck do you say? "I-it was a good story Celestia. I-I liked it"
Was that even....right to say? It was basically a short story of her downfall. Her very visions of the Equestria you knew only remaining as such as the world just crumbles around her....
"T-that's...I-I'm...mnnn" Celestia didn't even know what to say herself as her smile slowly breaks. She just looks away from you, depressed as tears start to flow down. "I'm sorry, I-I'm suddenly so scatterbrained" Celestia chuckles nervously. "I-I will go tend to my garden now. And recollect my thoughts..Y-you don't mind if Sunset entertains you for awhile...d-do you?"
Shit...was it something you said? No, the reality was is that it was actually a depressing story. It seemed deep down, even Celestia knew that. So...why tell it?