//------------------------------// // Chapter 100 - The Capital Of Terraria. // Story: Terraria: Friendship Is Magic // by Pomp-Neigh //------------------------------// -TERRARIA, OUTSKIRTS OF THE CRIMSON BIOME- In a spiral of flames that shoots down from the sky, Twilight, Tori, Celebes, Linn and her trusty mount, Ves, suddenly appear on the edge of the biome of flesh.  “We have arrived,” Celebes comments as she wields her Fiery Greatsword. “I’m glad that I incorporated the effects of The Ice Mirror into my blade. I owe you a lot, Rarity.” Tori’s usual attire was now noticeably red; as if the bird-like humanoid had done so in order to match this biome of putrid flesh. The raptor takes in their surroundings and surveys the area as they imitate Celebes’s voice and comments: “It’s been an age ever since one of my kind has traversed here. The biome of flesh, gluttony in its purest form which ever seeks to consume the land.”  Ves claps a forehoof against the earth before the horse then nudges their master with a series of neighs and a slight nudge with their head.  “Easy there, girl. I know you’re just looking out for me but I won’t let my guard down.” Linn comments as she presses her head against the horse’s face in a comforting gesture. Twilight was impressed by this for the fact that despite horses being considered as a non-sentient species here in Terraria, Linn was able to communicate with Ves as if the horse was capable of speech. “That’s really impressive. I assume you’ve trained Ves to make certain gestures in order to communicate more effectively with you?” Twilight inquires. “In a manner of speaking. Ves and I have been together ever since I was a little girl. I was there the very day that Ves’s mother, who happened to be my own mother’s mount, gave birth to Ves. Also, just because horses are considered to be non-sentient species, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be incredibly smart entities. I’d trust Ves to watch my back even more than any of my fellow terrarians.” “From how highly you speak of horses, you make it sound like your family worked very closely with them.” Linn gives a soft chuckle before the terrarian replies: “I’ll give you a small bit of history but my home town used to provide a lot of the horses that were used by many adventurers, and the royal army. My family bred strong and fast horses, like my beautiful Ves here. Throw some armor on top of these beauties and you’ve got yourself a hulking juggernaut fighting at your side, not to mention having a great option to make a hasty escape.” “Wait a second, royal army? Hold on! Is there a kingdom of sort that we haven’t visited yet?! I’ve heard Celestia mention something about a capital before, the same place where The Order Of The Guide is apparently positioned.” “Tanner didn’t tell you? Shame on him. The Capital is indeed home to the guild that Tori, Shadow Thunder and myself belongs to, along with other guilds. Fun fact: Did you know that there’s even a guild for magic? The Mages Guild.” “What?!” Twilight exclaims with excitement. “A guild that focuses on magic?! I need to see it someday! Why has no one told us anything about this until now?!” Linn could only shrug in response before she says: “Maybe after we’re done here, you and your friends can come with us to The Capital. I’ll even introduce you to the headmaster of The Mages Guild. A couple of your friends seem very eager to join The Order Of The Guide so it would be a very great opportunity if you all came to visit. Plus, you’re all practically celebrities there.” “Celebrities? But, we didn’t do anything that would cause us to be that famous. Also, it’s not like we were sent letters or anything that specifically asked for us in Home Town. I always figured that we were just completely unnoticed.” “Lemme ask you something, Twilight. When you first met the adventurer’s who traveled with you to The Crimson, how did they act?” Twilight places a forehoof to her chin as she momentarily ponders on the recollection. The alicorn then lowers her hoof before replying: “Well, they did seem to be somewhat familiar with us but I just assumed that it was due to Tanner telling them about us.” “That’s partially true. However, we also heard about you from a certain individual who The Princess has great relations to,” Linn comments as she gazes towards The Dryad, who in turn was checking their equipment along with Tori, as the pink haired terrarian then looks back to Twilight and continues: “Celebes has amazing ties with the royal family. Rumors say that The Dryad saved one of The Princess’s ancestors and has been a friend of the family ever since.” Twilight’s eyes were simply widened in shock and awe before she then shakes her head, in an effort to recover her composure, and exclaims: “Oh my gosh! I have to meet The Princess! I must establish friendly ties between both of our worlds as a Princess Of-” “Hahaha! Calm down, Twilight,” Linn interjects as she recovers from her laughter and says: “There will be more than enough time for that. Like I said, we can all visit the capital one day and I promise to introduce you to her.” “About that,” Twilight comments with a thoughtful expression. “What's the capital and The Princess’s name? It’s kind of awkward that you just refer to it as: The Capital.” Linn lets out a small chuckle before she responds: “My apologies. I’m often always away on quests, not to mention staying with you all in Home Town as of late, that I often refer to it as such,” Linn then clears her throat as she declares in a prideful fashion: “Camelot, the capital of Terraria. Ruled by Princess Cadenza Mi Amore; the current descendant of King Arthur Mi Amore and the wielder of Excalibur.” An awkward silence takes place as Twilight’s facial features drop into absolute disbelief and shock. “...” “Twilight?” Linn inquires. “...” “You ok? Your face is frozen-” “Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” Twilight exclaims with a small hint of her Canterlot Voice. Having overheard the conversation, not to mention Twilight’s exclamation, Celebes draws near and chuckles to herself as she says: “Forgive me, Twilight. Aside from Tanner, I guess I should’ve told you more about our world,” Celebes then looks up towards the sunlit sky, due to them not being in The Crimson but on its border, as she comments: “During the fight with Cthuhlu, King Arthur was among those brave souls who fought alongside me. As Linn mentioned before, the rumors are actually true. I saved King Arthur’s life on that very same day and he became insistent on wanting to honor me. I remember the exact words he told me that day…”    “Celebes, my dear dryad, from this day forward and until the end of my line, if ever, I, king Arthur, hereby declare that you shall forever be welcomed with open arms in my kingdom and I shall also bestow upon you the status of nobility. Also, I would forever be honored if you would accept my hand of friendship.” A vibrant smile was present on Celebes’s face as she recalls King Arthur’s words. She then sighs contently and says: “After we defeated Cthulhu, not to mention when I banished Disidian, I created a piece of myself before I went to the moon and left it behind to spend a lot of time with King Arthur and his family. Having lost my own family during the battle and being the last of my kind, they welcomed me with open arms as if I were their very own. It was a great anodyne for my broken heart. I watched as my dear friend grew old while his children carried on his legacy. I watched them in turn have their own children as the cycle continued for all these years. Sadly, the piece of myself that I left here was forced to return to me when Calamitas fought me on the moon. And now, here we are with his latest descendant: Princess Cadence. I believe one of your fellow Princesses has her exact same name if I’m not mistaken?” Twilight was still in an absolute shocked state as she strugglingly replies: “This is… I can’t… everything about this is just so weird, and amazing! Meeting this world’s version of Celestia was already mind blowing in of itself but now there’s a version of Cadence here too?! This is even crazier than when I traveled to Sunset Shimmer’s world.” “Sunset Shimmer?” Linn inquires. “She’s a unicorn and like myself, she was also Princess Celestia’s former pupil. That is until certain… events, happened.” Twilight comments with a sheepish smile. “I still can’t imagine seeing Celestia as a pony,” Linn comments as she then bursts out into a fit of laughter. “Oh, she wasn’t just a pony. Well, an ordinary pony, that is. Princess Celestia was an alicorn like me and she ruled Equestria for over a thousand years. She’s also the ruler of the day and, what many consider her to be, The Goddess Of The Sun. Although she herself never liked being called that.” “Goddess Of The Sun? you mean like, Daybreaker?” Linn inquires with a hint of caution. “Linn! We do not speak of her!” Celebes exclaims in response. Even Tori’s eyes were widened in horrific recognition as the humanoid bird looked to Linn with a disapproving expression before they looked back to their equipment. “Daybreaker?! No! Nothing like that monster! Princess Celestia was a kind hearted pony and loved her subjects with all her being! She’d never become something that would spit on her very image! Just like Nightmare Moon did to Princess Luna!” Twilight exclaims as the lavender alicorn had taken offence to Linn’s words. Linn seemed to have realized her mistake, albeit an accident, as the pink haired terrarian sighs and scratches the back of her neck in a nervous gesture. “I’m sorry, Twilight. Hearing that title just makes me think of, well, our world’s Sun Goddess.” “No, no, it’s fine, Linn,” Twilight replied. “You had no way of knowing since me and my friends don’t often talk about our world. I guess we were just so caught up in trying to return there that we didn’t often speak to you all about it.” “Well then, now you piqued my curiosity,” Linn responds as the terrarian conjures forth four chairs from her inventory. “We’ve still got a lot of time left for a small history lesson on your world. Seriously though, Tanner is a piss poor guide for not providing you all with our world’s history.” No one was able to realize it but upon saying those words, Tori’s features took on a serious expression as little did they know, the humanoid bird wasn’t at all surprised by Tanner’s actions as the raptor says internally: -You purposely didn’t give them information about our world, traitor-