//------------------------------// // The traveler // Story: Fahdon // by Productive faffer //------------------------------// Chapter two: The traveller Celestia looked on in horror at the scene before her, which had started moments after she had left her side of the stone cutter's passage; an ancient and powerful artifact that lived among hundreds, if not thousands, of other ancient and powerful artifacts in the bowels of the Canterlot palace. The stone cutter's passage was not, by any means, the most dangerous of the artifacts down here, far from it, but it was one of the more…unpredictable of them; it was made by an amateur marble sculptor and appeared to be rough and amateurish to the untrained eye…mainly because it was rough and amateurish, the first and last piece of work by a unicorn named Marbles. Marbles made this 'arc' as a starting project, something to work up from, a sensible notion in the eyes of many, but as fate had it he fell ill shortly after he finished it. Not wanting his life's work to go forgotten he had a curse placed on it by a less honorable unicorn in his bitterness, a curse that turned his humble arc into a doorway, a portal if you will, that could appear anywhere and that rule was binding; the mind of Discord, or the vacuum of space, this doorway way an invitation to disaster, as any number of things could go wrong with a portal such as this. What was happening before the ruler of Equestria was just the reason for this paranoia. A skeleton appeared before the princess of the day; it was formed from, what can only be described as, pure magical energy; gold, blue, reds and orange streaks of pure energy swirled with the distant sound of winds accompanying it in its arrival, as the swirls began to form ribs, a spine, four limbs and a skull. Next, like burnt parchment moving backwards in time, skin tissue and muscle started to grow on the skeleton; the body was toned and muscular, strong like an earth pony but also light and nimble like a Pegasus, with the distinct presence of magical power. Celestia frowned; this was like no other power she had felt before. With this realization, the Alicorn backed up, arching her back in a stance that told anypony, or whatever else may be coming through this portal, that she was ready to fight. Now the body's details were starting to take shape, hair appeared on its head and body, the whole length of it becoming covered in its warming layers. After another few minutes of this, rather grotesque act of something being re-birthed, Celestia could make out more details; it was lying on its back, had a very strong physic and was a little rough around the edges. The dictionary's representation of 'regal' took a look between its hind limbs and blushed. He was male, VERY male. It suddenly struck her that this being was not moving and was taking very shallow and strained breaths, Celestia's eyes widened, he may need help, could be dying and here she was checking him out. She focused her magic on the limp body, a golden glow surrounding the body, and he was levitated onto Celestia's back, she strained and grunted under his weight; he was heavier than he looked. Celestia was an Alicorn and had all physical and magical attributes of all three races, the strength of an earth pony being the one that was least regularly used but it didn't change the fact that she was stronger than the average pony but this one, he was on an altogether different type of heavy. Another golden glow emitted, this one enveloping the one casting it and the one on her back, a flash of light illuminating the room on the lowest level of the Canterlot palace, and Celestia and her passenger were gone. Not a second later Celestia was in one the spare rooms of Canterlot castle, admittedly even one of the nobles of the capital would kill for one of these rooms but they paled in comparison to hers and Luna's so technically they counted as spare so that was what they were called. Celestia placed the ragged body onto the lush bed in the middle of the room. She straightened up and looked over the one resting on the mattress; she couldn't help but think he was a little handsome, even like this. He also struck her as somewhat familiar; she didn't know how he just… did somehow. The princess of the sun turned and took her leave, leaving whoever he was by himself. Trotting down the hall she began to wonder just who he was and how he had come to…arrive in Equestria, for there was no doubt about that; he was definitely of another world, if his unorthodox means of arrival was anything to go by, she felt the need to find out more about him but she had day court to attend and other royal duties to perform and Luna was asleep, resting for night court. An idea popped into her mind and her face lit up. 'Twilight.' The smile on her face would be recognized by any of the staff of the castle; maid, guard or adviser would know the small and motherly smile that marked that the princess had thought of an excuse to see her prize student, without cause for alarm. She trotted merrily to her private chambers, a spring in her step as she went, passing stallion and mare alike, all of them recognizing the smile on her face, each giving a small smile of their own at the prospect of seeing young Twilight again. She stepped into her room and sat at the undeniably royal desk, a piece of parchment ready to be wrote upon, and sat down with a phoenix feather quill in magical grip, ready to wright. Dear Twilight Sparkle I require your assistance in a most unusual of circumstances. A body appeared in the storage levels of Canterlot palace; though I know how he appeared, I do not know why, where he is from or even who he is. I need your assistance in finding the answer to these questions, be it through study or asking him when he awakes. Hope to see you soon. Princess Celestia. The princess straightened up and looked over the letter, watching as it rolled up in her magical influence, before sending it on its way with a spell she had learned only so she could stay in touch with her student. Celestia watched the golden mist flow out of her window on its way to Ponyville, her student's new home, and eagerly awaited the reply. Twilight, as per the usual, was reading. This time she had delved into some of the older books of the library tomes of old magic that she could only begin to comprehend, a bunch of old books on the ancient history of Equestria and the one in particular that she was reading now, one that had caught her eye rather easily and one that even Spike also showed some interest in; it was a short book on the ponies limited knowledge on the dragons, barely twenty-five pages long and most of it what she already knew. What she didn't know however fascinated her greatly, the last five or six page told of the few ponies who would fight them, slay them and defend the land form them. She knew that during the war against Discord, many of them had sided with him; Celestia herself had gone up against more than one single-hoofed and defeated more than that alongside her sister and guards. She devoured each and every word, the book telling of a few powerful individuals that slayed dragons for a living, pretty much all of them perishing at the hands of the so-called 'dragon king' the most powerful of all dragons. When she read this she couldn't help but doubt the stories; she had met the equivalent of teenage dragons and she had almost been turned into a snack, so she could not comprehend how anypony, powerful or not, could take down a fully grown dragon by themselves. By the third time she had read the book she had waved it off as simple old-mare tails, stories and nothing more. "Hey Twilight, you done with that thing yet" her assistant, Spike the dragon, the equivalent of a toddler dragon, asked from her side. She looked over at him and smiled slightly, she had been reading the book for nearly three hours non-stop, starting at eight in the morning, and the child dragon was beginning to worry about her. "Yeah, guess I got a little carried away, I just find these stories a little unbelievable" she admitted. The dragoon nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I don't think a lone pony could take on a fully sized-BUUURP!" He was cut off by a green flash of fire and the parchment that followed it. Twilight seized it with her purple aura as soon as it materialized and began to read it. Spike watched her reaction as it turned from glee, to confusion and finally to excitement as she read. "What is it" Spike asked, unsure whether to be worried or not. "It's a note from Celestia." Spike's face went flat. "Duuh." Twilight shot him an annoyed look. "It's a note from Celestia saying that I should go to Canterlot, she says she needs help with some kind of research project." Her face lit up as she said the last two words. Spike hit his face with the palm of his hand. "Oh brother…" he said at length as he ran his palm down his face. "Spike, do you think you could watch over the library while I'm gone?" Spike nodded nonchalantly. "Sure…wait, what. I'm not coming with you?" Twilight smiled sweetly, causing Spike to reluctantly agree with her. "It'll be fine Spike, I'll be a few days nothing too bad. Nothing my number one assistant can't handle." Spike blushed slightly as his adopted mother/sister ran her hoof through the spikes atop his head. The two then spent an hour packing Twilight's saddlebags and making sure she was ready for the journey, once she was set with all necessary supplies she made her way to the train station, luckily a train had just arrived and she hopped right on it. The journey was long and not particularly engaging; she occupied her mind with thinking about what she would say to Celestia when she got to the palace. It would be nice to be able to speak with her teacher when the fate of Equestria was not in the balance, she noticed that she had not spent all that much time with those she had spent it with in her foalhood; Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armour, she had seen none of them as much as she would like to in recent years. She looked over the book on dragons she had taken from the library again as she rode the train, lost in thought she did not notice the time pass and she soon found herself in Canterlot train station. Hopping off the train and trotting up to the castle she took in all the sights and sounds of the big city; she had to admit it though, after so long in Ponyville she had gotten used to the quietness of the small town and though the Canterlot streets didn't exactly overwhelm her, she found herself wanting the peace and quiet of Ponyville. She passed a few familiar faces on the way to the castle, some nodded, others smiled and one or two said things like 'welcome back to the city' and 'hello again'. The trot through the streets was, decidedly, uneventful besides the occasional greetings sent her way, soon enough she found herself at the gates of the palace, two royal guards standing to attention either side of the majestic entrance. "Afternoon boys" she called over. The guards spotted her, smiled and nodded her way, opening the gates to permit her entry. Keeping her pace, she trotted through the palace doorway and into the grand hallway that served as the entrance hall. She saw Celestia almost as soon as she entered, the princess of the day was moving from one room to another with what could only be described as a look of confusion on her face. She turned her head; Twilight could only guess she was trying to get her bearings within the palace when she spotted her, Celestia's face brightening up as soon as she saw her student. "Twilight" she exclaimed as she saw her student, galloping over to her, in a not too regal manner, and scooping her up into a hug, again in a not too regal manner, but she would be damned if she cared. "It's good to see you again my…most faithful student." Not many in the room clocked the pause in the princess's sentence, even if they had who would say anything anyway she was the princess, but unbeknownst to everypony in the room Celestia had almost said 'daughter'. "It's good to see you to princess" Twilight told her truthfully, she hadn't noticed just how much she had missed her mentor but it certainly shone through now as she hugged Celestia back in earnest. The two released each other and proceeded to walk down a corridor that Twilight could have sworn the princess had chosen at random. "I trust you know why you are here" Celestia asked in her motherly voice. Twilight looked up at her and more or less shrugged. "Well you said that you needed help finding out who somepony is and that you needed me to research where he might be from, just point me in the right direction and I'll get right on it" she said dutifully, causing Celestia to swell with pride. "Well rather than show the way, why don't I take you there?" Celestia then proceeded to teleport the two of them outside, the 'newcomer's', as Celestia had taken to calling him, room. "He's in there but I don't think he'll be awake just yet." Twilight nodded but raised an eyebrow at her mentor. "He had a very…unorthodox method of arrival and I think it took its toll on him" she elaborated. Twilight nodded again, she moved towards the doorway and opened it with her magic, taking a look at her 'subject'. She was taken aback to say the least; he was like no other pony she had seen before. He lay atop the sheets giving her a good view of him; he had an unkempt and windswept mane, reaching down to his back. It seemed to have been washed about as many times as it had been combed keeping a greasy sheen that likely would have caused Rarity to feint, the mane was a deep raven black, the only attempt at order being a braid running down the left side of his face. The braid also kept the mane away from his horn that protruded from his fore-head. Twilight raised an eye brow; she had only just noticed the large body that the unicorn had, he was muscular in the ways of one of the royal guards but had a certain element of nimbleness to him, something that reminded her of Rainbowdash, it struck Twilight that this stallion had the physical attributes of an Alicorn, just without the wings. His coat was another oddity; it was pure, bright white, the colour reminded her of virgin snow. The white fur reminded her of Celestia's coat, just without the well-kept quality that the princess's always had, also, Celestia did not have the ice blue patterns on her fur; she recognized some of the more flowing lines as simple patterns of fire and the jagged lines as ice. The stallion stirred and turned over on the bed, Twilight caught sight of what had caused Celestia to blush earlier. Turning quickly back to her mentor, eyes wide, she closed the door and looked up at her. "Well… he's certainly different" she commented. Celestia nodded he agreement, a small smile on her face as she saw her students redness. "I've never seen those marks on his fur before; they could be nothing or they could be important. That and his means of arrival certainly strikes me as odd." "Just how did he arrive?" Celestia looked at the door to the newcomer's room, contemplating whether or not to tell her. Taking another look at her pupil's curious eyes, she felt her resolve crumble and told all; giving great detail about the way he had appeared in the room that served as the vault of potentially dangerous relics. Once she was finished Twilight's eyebrows had shot into her mane line. "Wow…that certainly is…unorthodox" she said at length. "Indeed, but I think that would be a good place to start in your research." Twilight nodded but hung her head; Celestia figured it was in disappointment that she wouldn't be able to spend any time with her. The princess of the sun felt the same way. "Tell you what" she said a little mischievously "when you're done, what do you say we spend a bit of time together." Twilight beamed in response. "I'd love that" she responded. The two parted ways soon after; Celestia for the day court and twilight for the library, though only one of them was going to get anything from it. For nearly six hours Twilight poured through books, everything from the markings on his body that had her curious to the peculiar way in which he had arrived, the only bit of useful information she got from her reading being that the portal was not restricted to dimensions so it was entirely plausible that he was from another universe, though she doubted it considering that he was a pony. All theories aside, the purple mare was beginning to get frustrated with the lack of information in the library, and had taken to slamming her head into the book to try and relive some of the stress. From her left somepony giggled, she looked up and saw Celestia standing with Luna. "Celestia, Luna" she called, overjoyed that she would be able to see Celestia's little sister again. She trotted over to the princess's and smiled at them. "How did the research go my student" Celestia asked with a small grim on her face at how she had found her student. The question caused Twilight to drop her smile. "A disaster, there's nothing here whatsoever; nothing on the way you told me he arrived, nothing on his patterns and there was very little on the stone cutter's passage and even less on the possibility of it bringing somepony over. I did find something on it appearing in different dimensions but I doubt that's the case, considering that he's a pony." Celestia listened to the report, somewhat disgruntled with the turnout of information but she had to admit, she'd more or less seen it coming. "I see, but enough of that, we will get our answers when he awakes but for now, we have some catching up to do" she smiled down at Twilight, who smiled back in return. The only one who wasn't happy about the prospect of a sleepover was Luna, silently cursing her duties in night court. Celestia noticed her sister's expression; she felt for her, knowing that not many ponies saw her as a pony, rather just a ruler and had been getting lonely as of late. "Luna, why don't you take the night off, I'm fairly sure that I took care of pretty much everything this morning, what with all the ponies that came today and besides" she looked over at Twilight "it's such a rare occasion that Twilight comes to Canterlot and it would be a shame for you to miss it." It was all Luna could do to stop herself from lunging at her sister and wrapping her in a bone crushing hug, all in all she failed anyway, as she found herself embracing her big sister in a not-quite-bone-crushing-but-airflow-stopping hug. "You're welcome sister" Celestia choked out. In Celestia's private quarters, after Luna had raised the moon and declared that night court was cancelled due to the arrival of somepony important, they sat on Celestia's bed and talked into the night. Unbeknownst to them, a certain stallion was stirring in his bed. Remus's eyes fluttered open, he immediately felt the change; he knew he was shorter, he held himself on the bed differently and he could feel something brushing against the back of his legs. He noticed he was in a pitch black room, though he made no effort to make it easier to see, be it through mage light or his night eye power that he had retained from his vampirism. He sat up; he could feel a headache developing. No matter how used to this feeling he felt he got, it did not change the fact that he had a rather bad pain building up behind his eyes. He raised his hand and rubbed his temple, in an effort to dispel the pulsing ache that was building up, though he did notice something off about his hand. It seemed…harder somehow. He took a casual look at his appendage and saw the hoof there. "BY TALOS!" The Thu'um in his words, shook the very foundations of the palace, throwing staff off of their hooves and, much to the dismay of the cleaners of the palace, shook the long forgotten dust from every rafter in the grand castle. The words he roared also caught the attention of the three mares in Celestia's bedroom, knocking them all off her rather sizable bed. Remus took many shuddering breaths in an attempt to calm himself but it was all in vein and resorted to blaring out curses left, right and center in an effort to be rid himself of his anger. "BY SHEOGORATH'S GREAT HAIRY BALLS AND SANGUINE'S RUINED DAMNED LIVER!" His Thum'um once more carried his words through the castle, electing laughs and confused and amused looks from those who walked its halls. Celestia, Luna and Twilight however, had no looks of amusement on their faces as they galloped to the newcomer's room. None of them dared enter as more of the weird curses rumbled the castle. "Aalhenvo dinok dur rok wo drey daar!" The three mares looked at each other in confusion; the last outburst was rage fuelled and was in a language not recognized by any of them. It further disheartened them and did nothing to encourage them entering the newcomer's room. "The sea will run red in their blood once my voice finds them" the Dragonborn growled. Remus was not one for cursing so much but he felt he was sort of entitled to it, given the situation. He made his anger known to those who would hear it in the draconic Paarthurnax had taught him during his time atop the throat of the world. He wasn't sure where this rage came from but he suspected that it was coming from the fact that he was now a gods damned horse and that he had taken quite the hit to the pride. Another wave of rage overcame him, this one much more violent than the last and he knew that some simple curses would not suffice to let loose his anger. Turning to the door took great effort; he was not used to this body but his warrior's instinct flowed through him, pumping him full of adrenaline and attuning his mind, if only temporarily, to his hew form. Spying his target, his filled his lungs with air. Fus, Ro Dah The blast of raw, unrelenting power that was the unrelenting force shout, powered through the door, blasting it off its hinges and slamming it into the wall opposite it. Outside the room Celestia, Luna and Twilight looked on in horror; the door, that was by no means light, had just been thrown off its supports by three words of immense power. The stallion that had been laying on the bed trotted out, looking like he was either drunk or had awful balance, and turned his head around, looking at the three of them. Remus looked over the horses that surrounded him; one was tall and white, one was short and purple, and the last was dark coloured and around his height. He paid them no mind, looking for someone, pony…whatever, that posed a challenge. "Who are you" the purple one asked quickly. Remus looked at the, what he assumed to be a mare from the voice, that had spoken to him. The red mist had descended and he did not register that a pony had just spoke to him. He didn't even have time to respond as a group of gold clad horses rounded the corner at a gallop. The Dragonborn recognised them as guards and grinned; some blood would be spilled tonight. He let loose a deafening war cry, the kind of battle cry the Nords were known for, his bellowing roar putting fear into the hearts of those around him and putting them out of the fight before they had even joined it. Celestia's eyes widened as she watched the stallion send a cry to the ceiling, reverberating a putting an unnatural fear in her. She used her magic to pull Twilight and Luna closer to her, putting a cowering Luna under her wing and holding Twilight in a mothers embrace, as she watched the snow white and ice stallion move towards her day guards with a strange sense of certainty in his step. And she knew why, she had felt his power for herself. Fo, Krah Diin A powerful wall of frost sped towards the guards and slammed into them, freezing them to the bone and nearly freezing them to death. A few of them fell to the ground, exhausted and weakened by the blizzard Thu'um. Out of the seven that had first advanced, only three now continued with the attack; two of them wore golden armour and one in gold and purple, this one stood out and spoke out 'higher rank' to the Dovahkiin. The two grunts that approached were now nervous, approaching Remus with more caution now, the higher ranking stallion acting much the same way. It suddenly struck the Dragonborn that he was fighting horses and he gave a small smirk. "What's so funny" the purple clad stallion demanded. Remus didn't answer, instead he attacked. Holding his left hoof out, an arc of lightning building in power as Remus pumped his large reserves of magicka in to his spell. The violent lightning sparked off of the concentration of magic in the Dragonborn's hoof shattering the tiles that lined the walls and floors as the mage lightning bounced off it, lashing out at other spots of wall and floor as it gathered power, the smell of ozone emitting from the snow and ice stallion. Thrusting his hoof forward the mage's thunder careered towards the three remaining guards, striking out at the tiles as it made its journey towards them. When it hit the stallions they were put down immediately, the lightning flowing over them and electing a bark of pain from one of them. The lightning spread between them in spider web like pattern that jumped from them and reached for the walls and floors as the powerful spell struck down two of the guards, the grunts, where the captain, as Remus presumed, blocked the spell with some kind of purple barrier or ward. The grunts fell to the floor, skidding a little as the momentum of the spell carried them, and didn't move unconscious but not dead. A small portion of Remus's mind didn't want to kill them with magic, he wanted the final blow to be up close and personal. The captain looked Remus dead in the eye an unspoken challenge in his gaze, he drew a sword from the air, a long, double edged blade with a purple shimmer around it, reminding Remus of a bound weapon. The Dragonborn cursed mentally, wishing for a weapon of his own, as the stallion advanced, he noticed that this pony seemed to be using magic to use his weapon and that the magic seemed to be flowing from the horn atop his head. When there was no more than fifteen feet between them, the armoured stallion stopped and spoke up. "I'll give you one chance to back down" the guard captain called over. Remus grunted. "True Nords never back down" he growled. The two stallions charged each other, the guard slashed horizontal with his weapon, Remus ducked and countered; slamming his hoof into in to his opponent's chest, knocking him back and knocking the wind out of him. Shining Armour was taken aback by the pony's raw strength, more so that he had managed to throw him off balance despite his champion's battle stance. During his shock Remus took advantage of his distraction, pulling his head back and slamming it into the guard's face, causing blood to pump from his muzzle but he wasn't done there; a hoof in his temple, a chop to his neck and an uppercut to his chin, all delivered faster than anypony could properly register, sent the purple garbed stallion flying and the Dragonborn thanking Vilkas for those lessons in hand-to-hand. He looked down at himself. Hoof-to-hoof he guessed. Shining lay on the ground, blood leaking from his snout and mouth, the magical blade dispelled. Remus was about to deliver the finishing blow, he was pretty sure that a snapped neck would do the job, but as he reached for the horse's chin and horn he felt a distinct magical presence behind him; he had begun to notice the strange tingling sensation in his head soon after he had obtained the staff of Magnus and he knew to trust his instinct when it came to this feeling. Turning around he saw he was wise to have done so; the white, tall horse that he had found outside the room he had slept in was charging what appeared to be a great ball of fire, almost like a sun, and was aimed right at him. He snarled, knowing he was not likely to survive a hit like that, and decided a vanishing act was called for. Gol The shout, the first word of 'bend will', erupted from his maw, striking not the mare that charged the attack but the ground before her; the tiles cracked and split, a small mountain emerging from the ground as the gold and orange shout made contact, separating the Dragonborn from the raging inferno that was threatening to turn him to ashes. Turning to the nearest window he let loose another shout. Fus, Ro The two worded Thu'um shattered the window with very little resistance, he looked out and saw a perils drop awaiting him. With a grunt he turned back as he heard a deep rumbling, the called for his attention; it seemed that the white mare had smashed through his barrier with the spell she had been charging and was now looking Remus dead in the eye. "Princess at your front, a lethal drop at your back, what do you do?" The 'princess' had an air of sureness about her. Remus merely grunted, turned to the shattered glass and bounded towards it. Feim, Zii Gron The shout lashed through the air and the words cast the ancient magic that turned his body from that of a physical one, to an ethereal one, making him immune to and incapable of inflicting damage, namely the hundred foot drop that threatened his life before he had used this shout, one of the shouts that Paarthurnax had guided him in meditation atop the throat of the world; the whole process of thought and contemplation had taken him a month in total, the entire time he barely moved, rarely ate and rarer still slept, what he took from this was the understanding that a Dovah's soul, their spirit, is much more powerful and much more malleable than that of a joor's, a mortal's. What he took from this understand was that, even as a ghost one of the Dov still retained life-like qualities allowing them heal to themselves as a spirit. The main downside to this shout was that its user would still feel pain and Remus was going to feel the hundred foot drop and feel it good. As he threw himself from the window the Dragonborn knew what fate awaited him when he hit the ground; the pain of all his bones breaking at once. The air whistled past his ears as he went, nothing but a flat look on his face served as his expression as he descended. Crashing to the ground he knew that he would have to make a hasty exit, though as a thief he had more than a little experience with this and as Dragonborn he had more than a few tricks up his sleeve. His deadpan face looked at his bare leg and hoof and he had to fight to stay calm and not tear this world apart. He looked around himself and realized he was in a city of some sort, he also noticed that he had just rolled down the side of a mountain when he had leapt from, he looked up, a rather magnificent palace. He heard shouts and the sounds of alarm coming from the streets and knew he would have a hard time getting out of here in this form. He grinned at the prospect of using a new shout. Ven, Mul Riik The fog, the thick and damning fog that had once served as a soul's snare in Sovngarde, quickly formed in the alleyways and streets of the town he was in, obstructing his presence from any guards that may see him and giving his escape a rather effective and thick cover. It did not go unnoticed, however, that right after the palace had been breached, thick and unexplainable smog gathered faster than any unicorn or Pegasus could form it. "What's all this" a disembodied voice called from the slate grey mist. "The buck should I know" another answered. Remus grunted. 'Buck…must be their version of fuck. Huh, wonder what other words have been exchanged for horse related phrases…' The thought was fleeting as he made his way through the alleyways and side streets of the city, he found it surprisingly easy to stay quiet on his hooves, making careful but fast steps staying silent but not stopping, utilizing skills he had honed since the first time he had sneaked past a bear. He found his way out of the town within about ten minutes, it was there he realized his problem; he had no idea where he was, even with his peerless sense of direction it was the simple fact that he had nothing go on, not a map, directions or anything. He looked around himself, his eyes settling on…well he didn't really know what they were; what appeared to be wooden boards with metal strips laying on top of them, he recognized them from some of the mines he had been but not to this scale before. With nothing else to go on he decided to follow them, wondering just what he had got himself into. Celestia had been enraged by the escape stallion, the fact that he had escaped and the hate-able sureness he had about himself, but it was quickly replaced by the presence that clung to her chest; Twilight Sparkle was still clinging to her, tears streaming down her face as the weird fear that came with the roar he had gave still holding its effecting her. The princess of the day sat against a wall, cradling the filly with a mother's love. "It's alright, he's gone now" she soothed to no avail, instead Twilight just pulled in harder, a gesture that Celestia returned. Celestia picked up the purple mare, her little sister and Shining Armour, the latter two with her magic, intent to carry them to her quarters so they may rest. She left the clean-up to guards that had just arrived and just trotted, weary to her room. Laying her sister and captain of the guard on her bed, she looked at the mare she had taken in and tutored for most of her life. Twilight's eyes fluttered open and they took a look at each other for a single second before they embraced once again, in relief and affection. It was lost on neither of them that it was much like a mother and daughter's embrace. "Do not worry Twilight, I'll be sure to deal with him." A spark of hate ignited in her chest as she felt the mare sob a few times. It was in that moment that she made a rather life changing decision for the both of them but she couldn't deny the way she felt for Twilight. "I'll deal with him personally." Her eyes narrowed at the thought of that stallion making her adoptive daughter cry.