//------------------------------// // [RVS]14 - Reunion // Story: A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone // by gerandakis //------------------------------// Chapter Fourteen Reunion Princess Celestia sat down in her study, ready to tackle some of the inevitable paperwork that came with ruling a country. She had just set the sun and wished her new student good night before she teleported back to her room on the other end of the castle. The thought of her new student inevitably brought her mind back to her previous student. She glanced over at the journal that stood on the shelf, still and silent as it always was. She heaved a weary sigh. There was no point. She had only written Sunset yesterday. What would she even write? There was nothing to tell, nothing left to say that hadn't been said. All she could do, was wait. Wait and hope. Hope that her student was fine. Hope that she and Philomena were happy, wherever it was they had gone. Hope that they would, one day, return. Hope that they hadn't – no. They couldn't. Sunset was fine. She was alive and well. She would not consider anything else without good reason. But was the lack of a reaction for closing in on five months not reason enough? Once more, she sighed. She had had this mental debate with herself dozens, if not hundreds of times. There was no point. She turned back to her paperwork. She had just finished looking over a proposal made by a noblemare and was ready to reject it outright, when a sound reached her ears. Involuntarily, they flicked backward, listening closely. There it was again. A sound she hadn't heard in nearly half a year. A low hum, lasting a few seconds, falling silent, then starting back up a moment later. She turned her head and saw the journal glowing and vibrating on the shelf. Indicating a new message. Something it hadn't done in nearly two seasons. She lit her horn and carefully, almost reverently, pulled the journal from the shelf. Her magic slightly shaky despite centuries of experience. The proposal was swept aside along with the rest of the paperwork to make room for the tome. She could sort it later. Barely daring to breathe, Celestia opened the book and turned it to the glowing page. There it was, the familiar writing of Sunset Shimmer, slightly different than she remembered it, but that needn't mean anything. Even before the message had finished appearing, she began to read. Dear Princess Celestia, I am so terribly sorry. I am sorry for what I said, for how I acted, for simply leaving. And for taking so long to realize what a spoiled brat I had become. Philomena and I are safe. We went through the crystal mirror in the dimensional section of Vault 7 in the royal treasury. Philomena landed on the upper part that acts as the dimensional tuning fork. She must have messed up the calibration because this is not the world Starwirl's notes describe. First of all, there is magic here. The ambient field is weaker, but it is there. There is a significant non-magical population as well as a hidden magical community. They have completely different spellcraft as well. They have made some interesting forays into mental magic. They have spells to read minds and extract and alter memories. But when it comes to teleportation, their magic is remarkably primitive. They only have one true teleportation spell and it's extremely unsafe. They just kinda do it without understanding even the basics of how it actually works. I've been offered to go to a magic school here. Of course, I wouldn't miss a chance to learn the local brand of magic. Combining it with magical knowledge from Equestria, the possibilities are endless. But that is something we can discuss in more detail later. I am truly sorry for all the grief I have caused you and others. And I would really like to meet Twilight one day. Your former student, Sunset Shimmer Celestia couldn't believe it. Her Little Sun was safe. She wanted to celebrate, to sing and dance. In fact, she could feel a heartsong coming on, but she quashed it with vigor. There were more important things to do now. Dear Sunset, I am so happy to hear from you. Don't worry about whatever you might have said or done. I can't even remember what it was anymore. I'm just glad you're okay. Before she could think of anything more to write, words formed on their own. Princess? Yes, its me. Oh it's so good to hear from you. I am so sorry for how I acted. Enough of that now. It's in the past. Let's leave it there. What have you learned in this new world you are in? Quite a lot actually. Did you know that phoenixes could use their fire to travel? What? No. I can't say I ever have heard of that. Maybe its something about this world then. Or maybe Equestrian phoenixes can do it too and just don't realize it. Actually, hold on. I wonder ... Celestia was startled away from the book as she heard a crackle of fire from behind her and saw light reflect from the marble wall before her. Turning, she saw a familiar unicorn filly next to another unicorn filly with a sea green coat and a wavy brown mane with pale blue streaks in it, falling all to one side of her face except for a single braid with a red ribbon woven into it that fell to the other. Hovering above them, trilling proudly, was an equally familiar phoenix. The princess only had eyes for the amber filly, barely registering the phoenix and the other unicorn. She lit her horn and a second later the filly was sat before her wrapped in her wings while the princess shed tears of joy above her. Absently they both registered the other unicorn speak to the phoenix. "Huh, guess that means you can." Hermione's rather blasé comment was not the result of her being unfazed by the sudden changes. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was the result of her startled mind clinging to the one thing it understood about this strange situation. Sunset had told her about Equestria, but seeing it was something else entirely. The pearl white being before her was absolutely gorgeous. Hermione idly wondered how she got her hair to keep flowing like in a gentle breeze despite any wind being markedly absent. Intellectually she understood that, being a pony herself now, she would be just as small as Sunset's pony form. Still, Princess Celestia was remarkably huge by comparison, easily towering over them both. Oh, and then there was the fact that she was a little unicorn now. That part was probably important. Seeing that the two other ponies in the room were still hugging and sobbing, Hermione began to study her new form. Her soft, sea green coat was quite pleasant to look at. She also noted that the ribbon she had braided into her hair was still there, but her hair, now her mane and tail, were no longer the monochrome brown her hair had always been. She now had streaks of pale blue running trough it. In all honesty, save for her different hairstyle, she might easily have been mistaken for a recolored version of Sunset. Looking over at her reflection in one of the windows, she noticed her eyes had changed to a pale green that matched her magic. Oh and she had a horn. She tried to get up and walk over to look out of the window, but only managed two steps before face planting. Fortunately, being as small as she was, she didn't have far to fall, so it was little more than a minor inconvenience. She studied her hooves again, trying to get a feel for them. It took a few more tries, but she soon managed a slow, careful walk. Anything faster could wait for later. Making her way to the window, she saw that it was opened partially and actually led to a balcony. She lit her horn, marveling at how natural it felt, and pulled it open a bit further. Far enough to get through. She recognized that she was in a castle tower, looking down at the city below. From what Sunset had told her, she could conclude that this had to be Canterlot. A city built onto a mountain. It was hard to see over the lights of the city in the darkness of the late evening, but she thought she could just barely see the edge of the great platforms the city was built on. Faint lights far in the distance indicated the presence of other cities. Taking a deep breath, she enjoyed the cool, clean mountain air. She could feel the magic in the air. It was that lingering feeling she had had all her life. The feeling that there was something there. Something she could reach out to and make use of. It hadn't even been half a year ago when she had learned that that something was magic. Most of the time she didn't notice the magic, but here, where it was so much stronger than at home, it was clearly noticeable. "Sunset, it's so good to see you again. But how about you introduce me to my other guest?" Hermione was still marveling at the sensation of her ear tilting to pick up the words behind her. She turned around and stepped back into the room, just in time for Sunset's answer. "Oh right. Princess, this is Hermione Granger. Her family took me in ... after I came tumbling out of their bathroom mirror. They've been nothing but kind and generous ever since." She turned to Hermione. "Sis, this is Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia Solaris, Steward of the Sun, Princess of the Aetheris Tribe, High Admiral of the Aeolis Tribe, Warden of the Eterris Tribe, Protector of the Land, Conqueror of Chaos, Bringer of Light and Harmony and Ruler of Equestria and its Territories." Hermione bent her forelegs and lowered her head in the best approximation of a bow she could manage in her unfamiliar form. "It is an honour to meet you, Your Highness." The Princess giggled. "Just Celestia is fine. Sunset, did you really have to list all of my titles?" "Of course," Sunset joined in her mentor's mirth, "Everyone should get to hear them at least once." "Everyone?" "Well I can't really say everypony, now can I? Hermione isn't exactly a pony." The princess looked over the sea green unicorn filly. "She certainly looks like a pony to me." "Well here, yes. Not over there. I actually changed to look like them when I went through the portal. Actually, hold on." Sunset took a step back, closed her eyes and, after a moment's concentration, flowed seamlessly into her human form. "Huh. So it does work. Neat. That's what I look like in the other world. Hermione, try focusing on how your magic flows in your human form." Hermione focused. She focused for several minutes. Under Sunset's gentle guidance, she carefully explored what Sunset had explained from her own experience as her own magical essence, it took her nearly half an hour to find what she was looking for. There, she could sense her current form and the form she had been born with. She knew from Sunset's explanation, that the next step was much easier, but also far more time consuming. She had found the two 'locations' in her magical essence, now she had to create a path between them. Once she did, she could go back and forth at will. After how long it had taken Sunset, she expected it would be at least a month, if not longer, before she managed it, but she had laid the groundwork. Celestia watched with pride as her former student easily assumed the role of a teacher in her own right. Her form was a bit strange at first, but not all too difficult to get used to after a while. She had, of course, heard of humans. The legends had existed even when she and Luna were still foals. Not to mention that she led the school that taught magic to Lyra Heartstrings. How could she not have heard of humans? Still, she had never expected to actually meet one. Seeing a sweet little unicorn filly turn into one was even more surprising. She stood tall enough to look over Celestia's back when she stood, and was fully clothed. She wore a light blue dress, boots and leather jacket as well as a bag slung over what Celestia could only assume to be her shoulder. She had to admit that she was not an expert on the anatomy of mythical creatures. Her eyes, she noticed, were remarkably small. The most remarkable feature, of course, were their hands, allowing for far finer manipulation than hooves ever could, even without the natural sticking charm that all ponies had in their hooves. When Sunset was once again focused on gently guiding Hermione on her explorations into her own magical essence, Celestia got up and poked her head out of the door. "Could you go fetch Cadence?" She asked the pegasus guard standing on one side of the door. He saluted and flapped his wings, flying down the corridor. Satisfied she pulled her head back into the room. Hermione only absently listened to Sunset catching up with the princess, most of her focus was on her magical explorations, even though the glow from the horn on her forehead was a bit distracting at first. Just when she had found what she had been looking for and returned her attention to the conversation, a knock on the door prompted the princess to her to light her horn. Sunset returned to pony form and gestured for Hermione to follow her, taking up position so that the princess was between them and the door. Meanwhile Celestia smirked. "Come in, Cadence." Princess Cadence made her way to her aunt's chambers with some trepidation. It had been some time since Celestia had called her at such a time. When asked, the guard that had been sent for her had explained that he didn't know why she was being called, only that he had been asked to fetch her. That it had been worded as a request rather than an order was reassuring and indicated that there wasn't some kind of crisis. Before she could think on the matter any further, she arrived and the pegasus guardspony retook his position beside the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. She only had to wait a second before she felt the familiar sensation of Celestia's magic running over her, followed a moment later by the words, "come in, Cadence." She pushed open the door and stepped into the room, finding Celestia sitting on a cushion not far from her desk. "You called, auntie?" "I did. I've had some late night visitors and I thought you might want to meet them." With a gentle smile, the princess of the sun lifted a wing, revealing two unicorn fillies that had been hidden behind it. The one on the left she didn't recognize, judging by her expression, the filly didn't recognize her either. The filly on the right she very much did recognize. "Sunset?" she breathed. Unable to believe her eyes. The amber filly stood there with an amused smirk. "Is that really you?" The filly nodded. Next thing she knew, Cadence was across the room hugging the little filly for all she was worth with hooves and wings alike. She wasn't entirely sure how she had crossed the room, but she didn't care to guess. Her mind was busy with the little filly that was vigorously hugging her back. "Where did you go?" "Oh that's a bit of a long story, but I'll tell you if you want." "Sure. I've got time." From across the room she heard the other filly speak. "Yeah, this will take a while. Princess Celestia, do you have something to write my parents a note, I'd like to let them know where we are, so they don't worry." "Of course dear." The phoenix disappearing in a flash of flame barely registered to the princesses. Both were far too focused on Sunset's story.