//------------------------------// // Further Tests and Troubling Thoughts // Story: 1000 Years Later // by DekaSkittalz //------------------------------// For the first time I can remember, I can actually feel a genuine smile coming on my face. For the first time, something went right. “YES!” I pump a hand in the air. “Do you even know how you did that?” Skyline questions. I give him a look. “Really? You’re just gonna rain on my fun like that?” He shrugs. “Either way, better get a handle on that before you start teleporting all over the place randomly.” I raise a finger in protest but realize he could be right. “... You... Yooooouuuu…. Bah, forget it.” I say as I stretch a little bit and feel around mentally for anything familiar to what I just felt. After a couple moments, I find it, but it’s not exactly the same. Latching onto that feeling, I think about where I wanna be. Luna’s room, Luna’s room, Luna’s room. sure enough, I find myself going through that same vertigo; but instead of Luna’s room, I find myself in the spot where I was looking at, a couple feet away from where I originally was. Another thing I notice, is that it hurts this time. Not too badly, but enough to notice it. Rolling my eyes, I groan. “Of course it’s limited. Can’t ever just get a straight up gift!” “What are you talking about?” I hear Skyline question from the side. “What I’m talkin about is, it hurts to use it, and I can’t just teleport wherever I want. I gotta see it apparently. But why didn’t it hurt the first time…?” I explain then question to myself. Suddenly Skyline takes another swing at me. I roll my eyes and go back to trying to dodge him. “Why are you still going at this?” I question with a dodge roll to the side. “You told me not to let up. Plus, someone has to lose for the barrier to go down.” he explains, and to add to his both proverbial and litteral point, he does another quick thrust at me. I just barely manage to dodge it this time, and I figure I might as well prep another teleport to use in case I can’t avoid him in time. A couple more swings, rolls, and it becomes routine. Me barely keeping up, and him getting more predictable with his attacks as he continues to do the same swings and thrusts. I’m quickly tiring out though, my moves becoming more sluggish by the second, but I don’t know why. I know what’s going on, but my body just can’t keep up… In that moment, I wasn’t paying attention and notice a bit too late as he goes for another thrust. Having that teleport prepared, I look a few feet behind him and pull the mental trigger. Sure enough, I end up in that spot; but it doesn’t hurt for some reason. I tuck that tidbit in the back of my head for now, and turn to focus on Skyline again. I’ve got a few seconds to catch my breath, and I decide to start preparing another teleport to test my brewing theory. He charges me this time, something different from what we’ve been doing for the past couple minutes, and is coming at me with a large swing. A bit intimidated by the huge swing, I take a step back and look behind him again, and just barely get the teleport off in time. Okay, so if I time it right, it’s got no drawbacks… risk vs reward it seems. Turning to face him again, watch him evenly. “Hey, try to keep on me after I blink. I need to test something.” he nods, and once again he’s on me. I backpedal a bit, and he forces me into a corner again, then does the thrust I’ve come to anticipate. Blinking behind him, I quickly turn around to face him, only to see his blade flying in my direction. I quickly blink past it in a blind panic, only to see Skyline himself flying at me this time. I blink above him and fall to the ground, unable to keep my footing. Before I can react, we are caught in magic, him and his blade inches from my face as he came at me with a downward dive. I float away from him and the magic drops both of us, and I lay there resting. so I was right. Good to know. He offers me his hoof, and I take it as he pulls me up. “Alright, that’s enough for tonight.” I look at him confused. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” He simply smiles. “It’s not hard to tell when someone’s body has had enough. Keep pushing yourself tonight, and you’ll pass out.” I sigh. “You’re probably right, but I don’t get why. My body just doesn’t want to keep up!” He thinks about this for a bit as he stays quiet. “Didn’t you say you were fourteen? You’re still a kid.” “I’m older than you and your past five generations combined!” I quip. “But your body isn’t.” he states. I stop and take a look at my body. I don’t think I’m any different… I must still be fourteen. Bah, of course my body wouldn’t have aged a second while I was imprisoned. letting out another sigh, I stretch and leave the circle. I start to head back to the castle, and I hear Skyline follow behind. “Where are you going now?” he questions. “To drown out my screaming muscles.” I state. “Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?” he asks me. “I’m gonna find where they keep the alcohol in this place and drink til I can’t feel it anymore.” I explain. “You sure that’s such a good idea?” he asks in mild concern. Whether for me or his own safety, or even the safety of others, I can’t tell. Doesn’t matter though. “I won’t do anything stupid if that’s what your getting at. Now come on, you lead. I know you gotta know where they keep the stuff, and I’m not gonna wander around aimlessly while you know where what I’m trying to find is.” I state. He sighs and walks ahead of me. “I’m sure it’ll be easier to watch over a drunk anyways. Remind me where this idea of yours even came from?” “Because I’m well over old enough, and I don’t wanna think coherently right now; I’ll probably just end up pissing myself off. And if I do while drunk, at least I won’t remember it.” I explain. I find myself on a balcony with Skyline. I’m not exactly drunk yet, but I’m well on my way if the bottles lined up on the ledge have anything to say. I chugged down quite a bit at first, despite Skyline’s warnings that i’ll regret it. Bah! Let me regret it. It’ll teach me not to drink again. Until then, oh well. Thankfully, pony alcohol tastes pretty good! At least whatever I grabbed does. Standing there for a while, I look at my watch and see that it’s a little past eleven P.M. “Hey Skyline, question for ya. Why are the regular guards so weak?” I ask out of the blue. He looks at me oddly. “I wouldn’t say they’re weak… They just have a lower standard than the lunar guard. Plus, unlike myself, they weren’t trained by a princess.” “And why do they have a lower standard?” I question. He eyes me a bit more before looking out over the balcony. “Over the years, Celestia lowered them. Peace lasted for so long, she didn’t think they needed as much combat readiness; she wanted them to be more prepared to keep the peace among the citizens.” This time I look at him. “So why is the lunar guard better? At least according to what Luna said.” He chuckles a bit. “We left. When Luna disappeared, we all went back home. We followed Luna, not Celestia, not some parasitic shadow. So when she disappeared, we did too. We upheld everything she stood for; and when she returned, so did we. we didn’t really change much from back then; we just survived.” I nod, taking this information in, as well as another sip of booze. “And where did sanguines come into the mix?” “Sanguines have always been around. Even longer than regular thestrals like myself actually. It’s… difficult to explain really. It’s what you could call a pureblood lineage; at least that’s what it was originally. Now it’s mixed all over the place. But basically, when some sanguines started breeding outside their own kind, we thestrals were made. So there’s a little bit of sanguine somewhere in me, but it’s not enough to wake up on its own.” he explains. “Uh huh… so that’s why… a thousand years ago, Celestia’s guard was pretty well matched with the lunar guard.” I state randomly. “Yeah well, without that eye of yours, I’m sure anyone could take you. Even a foal.” he quips. “Oh yeah?!” I state and turn to him. He merely chuckles to himself. “Relax, I’m just messing with you because your drunk. Its hilarious.” I turn and grumble to myself as he continues to chuckle. Flopping over, I lay upside down across the railing. Then something catches my interest out of the corner of my eye. Looking up and out into the distance, I see light shining through the window of what seems to be a giant tree. Normally, I would probably think nothing of it. But in my alcohol addled mind, all I find myself thinking is: “Shiny….” and with that, I teleport to it. I find myself spacing out in the main dwelling area of the Library. The girls agreed we should have a little get together to try and take our minds off of Null. Sure, we all deserve a bit of relaxation, but I just can’t rest easy with him running about as he is. He’s dangerous! He tried to KILL Princess Celestia! Admittedly he’s not done it yet, but he still wants to! Who knows what else he might want to do! I mean, he said he has no qualms with anyone else… but… that isn’t exactly reassuring. If he kills Princess Celestia, we’ll have no choice but to confront him… thus, making us his problem… but… as much as I hate to admit it… it’s justified... and I don’t know what’s worse: Losing the Princess, or the fact that she did such a thing… at first I didn’t believe it. Princess Celestia would never have done such a thing! But… she did. She admitted it… she told us everything she did. How she used the elements on him without even trying to identify friend or foe… how she convinced her sister to help her... how she was against Princess Luna’s attempts to free him... how she left him a thousand years ago at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. None of it sounds true… but she swears up and down that all of it is… I… I just can’t look at her the same anymore… ever since I was a little filly, she was always my faultless idol; I looked up to her as the one who could do no wrong. She was The Princess Celestia. but now… I don’t know what to think… And his eye… it’s so… mysterious… and obviously dangerous. I’d love to study it, but given who it’s attached to… I doubt i’d get the chance. What else can it do? How does it work? I’ve never seen anything like it… or anything like him! He’s an entirely new species! When I first saw him in the castle gardens, I thought he was just an artistic vision and thought nothing else of it. I never knew there would be a living being inside of it! Luna never mentioned him either… though it was never really brought up… and she was busy readjusting to today’s society. Where does he come from? Are there more? Do they all have eyes like his? So many questions buzzing around my head… I certainly feel terrible about what happened to him… but he can’t keep going on the way he does. I’m torn from my inner turmoil when my friend Pinkie Pie hops past me on the table. “Pinkie? What are you doing on the table?” She stops mid air and turns to look at me. “Trying to distract you!” she exclaims with a smile. Looking at her, you wouldn’t even think something was bothering her. But something was. All of us were. At least she’s trying. She then turns and resumes obeying gravity and continues to hop around. Surveying the rest of the room, I see Rarity chatting with Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash is locked in a hoof wrestle contest with Applejack. They’ve been like that for the last five minutes… one of them will budge soon. I get up and head over to the snack table that Pinkie set up, and grab a small plate of cookies and a cup of apple juice. I sit back down and go to attempt to distract myself with the treats when a knock at the door stops me. “Who could that be at this hour? It’s almost 11:30…” I mutter as I get up and head to the door. Walking down the stairs, there’s another knock at the door. “Impatient pony…” I mutter to myself as I reach the bottom of the steps. Another set of knocks, and I speed up my pace a little. “One moment, I’m coming!” I call out. I get to the door, and open it up. “Hello, who… is…” I trail off as my heart drops into my stomach. I backpedal, and scramble away from the door. Standing in the doorway, is the cause of all my scramble thoughts… Null.