“But why do you have to go?” Twilight whined from her place in Celestia’s bed.
“I just need to check up on something,” the alicorn replied, smiling weakly. “It won't take long at all.”
The filly grumbled and crossed her hooves over her chest, glaring up at the ceiling from under Celestia’s covers. “Well, I don't like it. You said it was bedtime. Why do you get to stay up late?”
“Cause I’m the princess,” Celestia shot back with a smirk, giving the filly a gentle noogy. “When you become a princess you can stay up as late as you want.”
Twilight tried to maintain the grumpy expression on her face, but she couldn't help but smile under the attention of her teacher. “Okay, but you better not wake me up when you get back!”
“I won’t.” Celestia leaned down and gently kissed the filly’s forehead. “Goodnight, Twilight.”
Twilight, however, did not seem entirely at ease, and she watched Celestia get up and cross the room before building up the courage to speak, “C-Celestia?”
“Yes, Twilight?” Celestia replied, turning to face the filly as she donned her regalia.
“What are you really doing?” the filly asked.
Celestia paused as she was about to don her tiara. “What do you mean?”
“I, uh…” The filly tapped her forehooves together nervously, unable to meet the older pony’s gaze. “I know my food has meat in it.”
For a moment the princess said nothing, only for the alicorn to place her tiara on its pedestal and turn back to the filly, crossing the room once more and sitting on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Twilight. I’ve been trying to find a cure for your eyes and the other things that have changed in you.”
“It's just fish, right?”
“Yes, and even then it's only really water boiled with fish in it,” Celestia replied, laying a forehoof over the filly’s. “I promise to tell you more soon, but right now I really must get to my appointment.”
The pair’s eyes met, with Twilight peering within the gentle pink orbs of the alicorn as if searching for something. For several long moments they remained there, with the filly trying to use her newfound abilities to suss out the meaning behind the alicorn’s cryptic words. Though Twilight could not pierce the guarded mind of the ancient alicorn, she could tell that she was saying these things not out of malice, but rather love, and with that in mind, Twilight sighed and relaxed.
“Okay,” Twilight muttered.
“Thank you,” Celestia whispered, giving Twilight’s hoof a final squeeze, “for trusting me.”
“Yeah yeah,” Twilight murmured, turning over in the bed and looking away from the alicorn.
Whom, in turn smiled, made her way over to the door, and donned her tiara once more before straightening her posture and pushing through the portal and into the hall beyond. The guards on either side of the door greeted her silently, casting only a quick sidelong glance of acknowledgement before turning back to their duties, their faces becoming stony masks once more.
Celestia, on the other hoof, did not acknowledge them at all, a small sneaking part of her mind silently wondering if they were already moving against her, or if it was possible that they still remained loyal. With a shake of her head the alicorn dismissed such thoughts and turned to the left, beginning her long trek towards the lab, only to stop and realize she accidentally disrupted Twilight’s usual schedule without contacting her dedicated psychiatrist whom the filly was supposed to have met with.
Turning back around, Celestia began to trot towards Twilight’s room, hopping to find someone who could get word to Velvet Touch in order to inform the mare that today’s session was cancelled. When she did though, something else made her stop, namely an elderly blue-eyed mare clad in stately golden armor who was walking confidently towards the alicorn. The mare’s armor was heavy and bulky to the point of cumbersome, but the unicorn wearing it didn't seem to notice the weight of it, or the large tower shield strapped to her side. The deep orange gems set near joints and prominently displayed on the centre of her breastplate glowed faintly in the evening light, illuminating the unicorn’s aged features and shock of golden hair that barely poked out from beneath the helmet she wore.
“Ahh, Golden, and to what do I owe the pleasure?” Celestia began, stopping only a foot from where she began.
The armored mare smiled widely, her blue eyes almost glowing under the scrutiny of her sovereign. “I was hoping to give you a report on the project you had me begin, in pony, that is.”
The alicorn nodded, motioning towards her office that lay only a few doors down. “I believe this conversation would best be taken in private.”
“Of course. Lead the way, Your Majesty,” Golden Glaive replied with a nod.
Together the mares trotted down the hall and into Celestia’s private office, with the alicorn holding the door for her subordinate before they both took their seats. Once seated, Celestia lit her horn and activated the various charms and wards that stopped any would-be eavesdropper from listening in. With that done, Celestia allowed herself to relax, a large, proud smile crossing her face. “Golden Glaive,” the alicorn muttered, a grin growing across her face. “I assume you have nothing but good news for me?”
The aged mare laughed a deep, rumbling laugh that seemed to emanate from the mare’s very stomach. “As always, Your Majesty, as always.”
Celestia smirked. “Well, don't keep me in suspense.”
“Right.” Golden nodded, her smile falling away, and being replaced by a stern, serious expression. “The loyalty test you devised is working well, for one. It's subtle enough that I don't think anyone has caught on to its true purpose.”
The alicorn leaned back in her chair, tapping her chin. “That is good. I had concerns I had made it so subtle as to become useless.”
“We’ve already weeded out numerous recruits, and…” The unicorn’s face grew grimmer still. “I just never would have guessed their agents would be so numerous. What are those damn fools planning, anyway?”
“I’m going to be honest with you.” Celestia sighed. “I have no idea. That being said I have plenty of theories but not much to go on I’m afraid.”
Golden ground her teeth together before giving her head a firm shake. “Anyway, the training itself is going well, and we should be up to a full company by the end of the year, and a battalion within three…”
“I’m sensing a but in there,” Celestia pointed out.
Golden chuckled, flashing the alicorn a wide smile. “There's always a butt in here, Princess! The griffons may have nicked ol’ lefty but I assure, my ass is as amazing as ever.”
The ancient alicorn stopped and blinked, only to break into her own fit of laughter. “Oh, Golden, I missed your presence in the castle.”
The unicorn snorted. “I’m just glad you finally let me out of retirement. I was just about ready to strangle that husband of mine.”
“How is Shoe Shine anyway?” Celestia asked, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hooves.
“Annoyingly happy.” Golden grunted. “He's taken to retirement like a fish to water. Sometimes I think he loves that garden of his more than me.”
Celestia chuckled. “That's good to hear. And the kids?”
The unicorn stared down at the floor suddenly, shaking her head. “The last one finally flew the coup after his divorce to that bastard he shacked up with finally went through.”
“That was… Brick, right?” Celestia inquired.
“Yeah…” Golden mumbled. “He always did have a spot for fixer uppers.” The mare suddenly breathed deep and shook her head. “But you don't have time to hear about what my fool children have been up to. What else do you want to know?”
“Hmm.” Celestia tapped her chin. “What about the new weapons and armor? How are they faring?”
Golden Glaive raised an eyebrow. “Before I answer that I gotta ask, where in the hay did you find the designs for those things? I ain't never seen anything like that in all my years, not here, not in Griffonia, and not even in the minotaur lands.”
Celestia leaned in and winked. “It's a secret, I’m afraid.”
Golden glared at the alicorn for several seconds before snorting. “Well, wherever you got them, you better thank whoever made them, before giving them a smack upside the head.”
“Oh? Proving too heavy even for Mrs. Never Takes Off Her Armor?” Celestia shot back.
The unicorn laughed loudly, covering her mouth with a hoof as she shook her head. “Oh stars above, no. But it has been quite challenging to even teach them how to put on the damn things. It wouldn't be so bad, but that big circle thing-”
“Shade Projector,” Celestia corrected.
“Yeah, that thing.” Golden agreed. “It’s been quite a pain just to put together and get working, and then you have to attune to it, maintain it and you can't even swap a busted one without first unattuning the last user and reattuning the new one.” The mare threw up her hooves in frustration. “And you haven't even told me what it does yet!”
“I suppose you should know that at least,” Celestia began. “The recovered documents mention that it should be able to create a temporary copy of the user, but it also went on to list several other abilities that the copy, or shade, would have, including the ability to swap places with the original, potentially saving them from harm.”
Golden Glaive sat back in her chair and shook her head slowly. “Well I’ll be… Where was this thing when we were putting down that riot on fifty-third street?”
Celestia’s features hardened and she sighed. “Lost, I’m afraid.” She shook her head. “More to the point, how soon do you think your battalion could be trained with the full suit, including the shade projector?”
The aged unicorn sat back in her chair, tapping her chin with an armored hoof. “I’m gonna be honest here, I am not entirely sure. The armor isn't too difficult for some recruits to even use, but add the fact that we have to move slowly, and secretly while screening all recruits and ensuring they get the training they need and we’re looking at a six to seven year deployment window. I could get the numbers up there like I mentioned before in a much shorter time, but doing everything at once, well that takes time.”
The alicorn, rather than be shocked or annoyed as Golden expected merely nodded slowly. “That is acceptable. Will you be able to train a second in that time as well?”
“Trying to make me retire again, are ya?” Golden remarked with a chuckle. “And to answer your question. Six years. I got a good idea of who I want to replace me, but they are young, they need guidance, and more importantly, they need life experience, and varied experience at that.”
“Good,” Celestia murmured.
The alicorn continued to stare off into space for a few moments before she suddenly stood up and made her way around the desk. “I’m glad you're willing to take on this task. There is nopony else I would trust this to.”
The armored mare stood up, and shook the offered hoof, squeezing tightly. “Think nothing of it, Your Majesty. I’d follow you to Tartarus and back if that fool Tirek needed a second whoopin’.”
Celestia smiled, and squeezed back, silently impressed that the mare had stayed so strong despite her age, and the years since spent in retirement. “I don't think it will come to that, but you know what they say-”
“-Murphy has a funny sense of humour,” Golden Glaive finished. “Good to be back, Your Majesty.”
“Good to have you.” Celestia released the mare’s hoof and gestured to the door. “Now if I may. I have an appointment to keep.”
“Absolutely.” Golden turned and trotted out the door, stopping only briefly and casting a glance over her shoulder, a small, genuine smile crawling across her face.
The alicorn chuckled and shook her head, following behind the mare, after closing the door behind them. Once more in the long halls of the royal apartments, Celestia took a moment to watch her old friend trot away, a slight spring evident in the armored mare’s steps. The alicorn turned back around and made her way towards Twilight room.
Only to once more notice that there was a pony waiting for her, only this time she was looking away from Celestia, and shifting nervously from hoof to hoof while she chewed on her bottom lip. The alicorn smiled faintly and rolled her eyes, surprised to see the usually calm and collected unicorn so out of sorts.
“Velvet Touch,” Celestia stated when a good distance away, hoping to not startle the pony too much.
Unfortunately her good intentions meant little as the squirrly mare nearly jumped out of her skin before spinning around, her eyes going wide. “Oh, Princess Celestia! I, uh, didn't see you there. Don't worry about me, I totally did not lose Twilight.”
Celestia rolled her eyes and chuckled. “She's in my room. The poor filly is tired and a little lonely, so don't worry, she is definitely not lost.”
The other mare opened her mouth to speak only to sigh deeply, her entire body visibly relaxing. “Stars above, that's good to hear. I assume tonight’s session is cancelled?”
“Indeed it is.” Celestia gestured further down the hall, prompting the mare to walk in that direction, sticking close to the alicorn’s side. “I must apologize for not sending someone to notify you, but I’m afraid I was blindsided by an old friend who popped up unexpectedly.”
“That's fine. I was just letting my nerves get the better of me,” Velvet remarked dismissively.
“Still,” Celestia continued, “this breach of communication will not be repeated, I can assure you.”
The unicorn beamed, smiling wide, her face lighting up. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Think nothing of it.” They turned down a side hall and passed by another duo of stone-faced guards. “I don't suppose you would know how late Silver was planning to stay in the office, would you?”
Velvet paused, catching the subtle undertone of worry that had wormed its way into the alicorn’s speech pattern. “I think she is going to be there for another hour or two, she mentioned something about chasing a lead and keeping her staff a little later than usual.”
“Ah, excellent,” Celestia remarked serenely, her calm tone bellying her hidden worry. “I must apologize again, but it might be that she will end up being a tad later than anticipated.”
Velvet was about to glare at the alicorn, but something about the serious way the alicorn held herself coupled with how calmly, yet seriously she stated things told Velvet that Celestia had good reason to give her girlfriend a little overtime. “Alright, but you better let her out before Donut Joe’s closes, we had a late night date planned.”
“I will make sure to dismiss her before ten thirty then,” Celestia remarked.
Velvet stopped and looked up at the alicorn, startled, yet not completely surprised by the fact that the ruler knew the odd time that the late night diner closed at. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“It is my pleasure, Velvet Touch,” Celestia remarked, giving the mare a slight nod. “Good night, and pleasant dreams.”
The alicorn paid the younger mare little mind, and simply made her way deeper into the castle, turning a corner and proceeding down a hidden staircase towards the labs she had sequestered away in the deepest parts of the castle. Making her way there was quick, and relatively easy, as she knew well the safety protocols at this point, and easily passed through the screening procedures in record time. Her quickened pace was so different from her normal speed that a few of the ponies milling about the halls at such an hour stopped and stared at the alicorn. Concern evident in the way she briskly trotted deeper, making short work of the security posts placed at even intervals.
In no time at all, she had reached her destination, and after one last mana signature test, she pushed open the double doors to the largest of her hidden labs. The enormous room ringed with smaller offices had changed dramatically since the first time she had been down here. Most notable of which was the fact that it had gained a rather lived-in look, which for a lab, meant experiments covering nearly every conceivable surface not obscured by papers of all shapes and sizes. Several large blackboards had also been wheeled in, and contained numerous technical drawings, as well as an equally numerous amount of expletives and question marks.
The few scientists left at such an hour, all looked up in shock, the clang of the doors hitting the wall startling them from their work. Several made short bows, others gave a simple nod while fewer still simply turned back to their work, unable or unwilling to show the alicorn a modicum of respect. Celestia didn't have time to overthink this particular aspect of her arrival however, and quickly scanned the room, and found what she was looking for in the form of a silver white unicorn leaning heavily on a water cooler, a coffee cup in her hoof.
As she trotted up to the mare, Celestia made sure to make her hooves clack heavily against the floor, only for the mare to not even notice the approaching alicorn until she was only a few feet away. “What, who?” she muttered, turning and looking at the alicorn’s chest, her eyes crawling up Celestia’s neck until finally their eyes met. “Oh uh… hello?” she half asked, half greeted, dropping into a slight bow.
“No need for such formality right now. I have a stunning development that requires you and your best’s eyes immediately,” Celestia stated evenly.
Silver’s eyes went wide and she turned, threw back the last of her coffee and gave her head a firm shake before yelling, “Beaker, String Theory, Bunsen, get over here!”
Two unicorns and an earth pony all stopped what they were doing and ran over to the lead scientist, each one with questions burning on their lips. Questions that were ultimately silenced when they noticed the alicorn’s dominating expression.
Raising her hoof, Celestia lit her horn and teleported a rather strange potted plant onto the outstretched limb. “Twilight grew this without using her horn. I need you to tell me how, and what the heck it even is.”
“What in the hell?” Velvet muttered, a sentiment shared by the rest of the scientists who gawked at the bizarre, twitching abomination.
“What was she doing when she grew this… thing?” one of the scientists, whom was an older unicorn stallion with a greying orange mane asked.
“I taught her how to grow a plant like an earth pony does,” Celestia began, gesturing to the plant. “This was the result.”
The younger, brownish red colored earth pony scientist stepped forward, his jaw falling open. “That's amazing. I mean even if she was an earth pony that would still be quite a feat for somepony her age.”
“It's miraculous, but I’m more confused by the fact that it seems alive, in the animal sense and not the plant sense,” the third, shorter unicorn scientist muttered, turning her head this way and that as she stared down at it.
Silver pressed a hoof against her face and sighed long and hard, shaking her head. “Now she can grow plants like an earth pony, great. Back to square bucking one yet again!”
Celestia snickered to herself. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m afraid I must insist that you get as much information as possible on this… thing. I have a feeling it won't last for much longer.”
As if on cue the tentacle like appendage at the centre was already beginning to rapidly lose its color, the limb falling still as it became more and more grey by the second. Silver frowned. “Right. Bunsen, get the arc scanner up and ready.” She pointed to another scientist. “Beaker, I want you to take tissue samples and do everything in your power to try and keep them alive for a little longer. String Theory, I want you on preliminary scanning. Use every spell you know, starting with the ones you think would be most beneficial and working down from there. I want as much information as possible before this thing kicks the bucket on us.”
The three scientists all nodded and started their task, with the bizarre plant quickly being whisked away by a lab hand. Leaving Silver Scalpel and Celestia standing alone, the unicorn having pulled over a black board and was now hastily erasing a small section before grabbing a piece of chalk. “Have you ever seen a plant like that?” Silver asked.
“Not in all my years have I ever seen something quite so grotesque before. The closest I can imagine would be the canopy wraith from the eastern zebra lands,” Celestia remarked, Silver already writing notes on the blackboard. “It uses a long flesh-like appendage to grapple and kill small rodents, pulling them back into the central mass wherein they are digested.”
“That is… disturbing.” Silver tapped the board a few times, deep in thought. “Is there any chance she came in contact with one of these plants?”
“Unless she made a trip to the eastern zebra lands, it would be impossible,” Celestia remarked. “The wraith itself is extremely finicky and cannot be replanted easily. Only one was able to be recovered during an expedition thirty years ago, but it died in less than three weeks after reaching Canterlot.”
“Hmmm,” Silver muttered to herself, staring off into space. “What about the actual texture of the uh, organism? Is there anything that appears that, flesh-like?”
Celestia hummed, tapping her chin. “Not that I can recall. There is a flower that mimics a rotting rat corpse fairly well in both smell and appearance, but even that doesn't look quite as fleshy as this… thing.”
Silver wrote a few more lines of notes on the board, ending it with a question simply stating hybrid? in bold letters. “Is there anything you can think of that would look or act at all like this new organism? Or any other information you may have gathered.”
Celestia shook her head. “As far as I’m aware it's an entirely new organism. As for other information, I can produce a memory crystal of what I saw when she was growing it. If you think that will help.”
“That would be an excellent idea,” Silver remarked, adding another line, simply stating see memory crystal #404 at the bottom of her notes.
“I’ll have that to you shortly,” Celestia remarked, looking over her shoulder to the buzz of activity and the various scientists and lab assistants running this way and that. “Do you have any theories on the sudden way it started dying?”
Silver frowned, her gaze lingering over her personnel. “It appeared to be some sort of cellular degeneration. I’ve seen something like it in Equestrian journal for health, but that was when a flower was exposed to high levels of thaumatic radiation.”
“Which wouldn't be applicable here, unless it's background tolerance was much, much lower than most Equestrian plant life,” Celestia concluded. “It was also fine, at first anyway, and only showed signs of degradation when it was brought down here.”
“Perhaps it's the lack of organic lighting down here?” Silver half stated, half asked. “Interesting.”
“Quite,” Celestia murmured, looking on as the scientists continued to run this way and that, the plant at the centre of their attention slowly becoming greyer, until within a few minutes the thing had lost its color entirely.
The two mares leaned in, watching closely as the plant trembled a moment before disintegrating into a pile of ash, just as the large array of crystals around it stopped humming. For a moment everyone stopped moving, the scientists and Celestia all staring at the strange organism that was now little more than a small mound of grey. Printouts continued to spit out of machines, spells fizzled, and then all at once the ponies began to move once more, gathering up whatever data they had managed to acquire so far.
Great piles of data printed on what looked like miles of paper were folded and placed in piles, the various assistants already beginning to organize their findings as the more senior members of the staff began to comb through the more interesting sections. Celestia meanwhile, was staring closely at the pile of ash, noting that the dirt had lowered significantly since the organism’s death.
“Complete cellular death,” Celestia remarked with a shake of her head. “I never thought such a thing was even possible.”
Silver snorted. “Impossible is the new normal, apparently.”
The alicorn merely shook her head and watched the experts as they read through the results, most either shaking or scratching their heads as they did. A few could be heard mumbling their confusion, muttering such phrases like “What the hell?” “What does this even mean?” and “How, just how?”
Celestia’s frown deepened, and Silver took a step forward. “Did she grow the plant from nothing or was there a seedling already present?”
The alicorn shook her head, and looked down a the unicorn. “There was a seedling present and it was an ordinary flower.” The alicorn rolled her hoof in the air as she tried to remember what exactly it had been at first. “I believe it was a dandelion.”
“That certainly did not appear to be an average weed,” Silver muttered.
“Evidently not,” Celestia agreed.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, Your Majesty, but I don't have a hot clue what this means and judging from the baffled looks on my staff’s faces neither do they,” Silver Scalpel remarked. “It's probably going to be matter of days or even weeks before we can comb through all this data and really figure out what exactly happened to your dandelion.”
“Wait!” Bunsen suddenly yelled, standing up and waving a chunk of paper in the air.
“Or apparently someone will find something right away,” Silver muttered.
The stallion ran over to the pair, his eyes wide. “I think I found something you may find interesting.”
“Well? Go on,” Celestia invited, motioning for the stallion to speak.
“From these readings here I can tell that the plant still had some base genes of your weed,” Bunsen exclaimed, gesturing to a large chunk of numbers in the bottom left of his sheet of paper. “It also has what I think is our subject’s aura attached to it.”
“Let me see that,” Silver demanded, grabbing the sheet of paper and scanning down the page.
Celestia raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. “Is that true, Silver?”
“I think so…” the mare muttered, shaking her head. “It seems to have part of the filly’s magical signature implanted within it.”
“And what does that mean, exactly?” Celestia inquired.
“I don't know…” Silver murmured.
“She may have been exerting some level of control over the plant,” Bunsen offered. “I’m not exactly sure but when an earth pony grows a plant their essence lingers within it for a little while. It's theorized that this is where the experience of connection earth ponies feel comes from.”
“I want a team looking into this,” SIlver commanded, turning to her staff member. “Take as many junior staff members as you need.”
Bunsen frowned. “May I pull a few hooves from other projects?”
“Low priority projects only,” Silver clarified.
“Alright,” Bunsen muttered before turning and leaving.
Silver Scalpel’s frown deepened and she looked up at the alicorn with worry on her face. “I don't suppose this means we are going to get any more hooves down here eh?”
“I’m moving as fast as I can but it's difficult to find someone whose expertise you would find useful, and whom is also not compromised by outside influences,” Celestia remarked, a frown crossing her own face.
Silver looked down, her jaw clenching and unclenching before she stood suddenly. “I should go over the results with my team quickly if I want a chance of getting out of here anytime soon.”
Celestia chuckled. “See that you do. Velvet would have my hide if you didn't make it to your date.”
Silver Scalpel’s frown deepened and she trotted away from the alicorn, leaving Celestia alone with her thoughts. The alicorn studied her chief scientist’s body language as she crossed the room, and was unable to stop herself from wondering if she was uncorrupted by the houses’ promises of power and money.
Just another thing to check up on, Celestia thought to herself, before turning and walking away, heading back to her bed, and a filly who needed a little love and attention.