//------------------------------// // Paved With Good Intentions // Story: Incarnate: Conversations // by Revel Montaro //------------------------------// Occurs after Chapter 4 of Incarnate. Two days before destruction of the portal to Equestria The tall hedge bushes of the Canterlot Maze Garden swished about violently as the air near the center was displaced by a powerful teleport exit. The two ponies who had been side by side quickly moved away from one another as if a foulness drove them apart. In truth, one might say it had. "Star Swirl! That was highly inappropriate even for you. Explain yourself." "Certainly!" the elderly stallion said, gesturing back to the castle with a hoof. "After you explain to me why I just ran into the Ignis Ferrum Incarnate!" Celestia gasped. Her eyes had opened wide. Wider than what one would have imagined possible while her pupils shrank. The words he just spoke, she must have misheard them , she thought. He could not, should not have known. Unless... Celestia pushed that thought to the side. She would deal with it later. The pure white alicorn shook her head in recovery and leveled a heated glare at the elder grey stallion with the flowing white beard. Such a powerful gaze would have burned a hole in all but the strongest of metals, but bounced completely off Star Swirl the Bearded. The legendary mage had known Celestia for far too long to be so easily intimidated by something as harmless as a scornful glare. He simply straightened his bell lined chapeau and took a seat, crossing his forelegs. Looking all the more like the grouchy teacher who had grown tired of his student's behavior. “I am waiting for an answer, princess.” “You are as brash and conceited as always, Star Swirl,” Celestia hissed through clenched teeth. She closed her eyes and took a breath to calm herself. “You had no right to remove me from the throne room in such a manner. We have procedures and protocols for a reason. I can only hope the guards and Raven are not in a blind panic given your stunt.” “They are irrelevant and useless as always and YOU are stalling. Now answer me. What did you do? Why is the Incarnate here? Why does it even exist and more so, why is it carrying your heritage markers?” Celestia turned away her gaze, biting her tongue to hold in her retaliatory response for calling Sunset Shimmer an 'it.' “What is done is done, but do you have any idea what you have done?! It was to be made of steel or clay! Not flesh and blood! Do you have any idea h-” “Mind. Your. Words, wizard." The words were more hissed than actually spoken. "You may be my former teacher and a hero of legend, but I am still the Princess of the Sun and co-ruler of this nation. You will not speak to me with such flippant disrespect on such a sensitive and personal matter regardless of the history we share.” “Do not threaten me, silly filly. Unlike the fat suckling sycophants that pass for nobility and the ignorant masses, I do not worship the very ground you tread upon in the hopes that you may grant some holy blessing with a wink and a smile because I too have had to move the sun and moon for a time. I know you are not an omnipotent goddess. Not a real one. Like your mother.” The grass beneath Celestia smoked and then quickly curled over as it scorched black. The bushes behind her began to burn away to ash and embers as well. Once again, the alicorn princess had to count backwards in her head and calm her breathing lest she cause an uncontrollable inferno that the local papers would have a field day with. Despite the turmoil churning in her guts, Celestia fought down her rage. She would not let him win by showing that she was too emotional to handle harsh criticism. He had not been there. He had not seen… Celestia swallowed and it tasted of sulfuric acid. She had made plenty of hard decisions in the past. Many of them she regretted, but a choice had to be made. Star Swirl narrowed his eyes as he stroked his beard, observing every movement and detail about the mare before him. She was struggling, fighting with herself. He had seen it before. His eyes glazed over as he skimmed information that only he could see. Celestia suspected he was reviewing the information he must have stolen from Sunset Shimmer not long ago. Intimate information he had no right to have. After a minute of muttering, Star Swirl’s eyes regained their focus, but the distain remained. “Why?” Celestia paused, glancing to the direction of the city. Somewhere nearby, her estranged daughter was in Canterlot proper, going about her day. It was unusual for Sunset to visit Equestria at all, let along Canterlot. She did not know why and it was making her both curious and concerned, but that answer would come soon enough. No reason to develop an ulcer when only patience was required. Sunset was likely accompanied by Twilight Sparkle since the mirror was still in Ponyville and she would likely see them at some point before the day was over and they caught the last train out. It would have been unusual for Twilight to visit Canterlot and not at least say hello. Especially if Sunset was in tow. Celestia made a mental note to send a dragon fire message to Twilight if she had not heard anything from the pair by late afternoon. With her anger finally in check and a plan for moving forward, Celestia put the last of the embers out with her magic and sighed with resignation. The old unicorn did not have a right to know, but he already knew too much. Better that she at least give him context and perhaps he would understand. “As you already know, after you were gone, Luna became corrupted by the darkness of her nightmares. It twisted her into Nightmare Moon and by her own words, she planned to plunge the world into eternal darkness.” “I am aware, surely you did not go to such an extreme and extraordinary step as this to 'replace' your sister?” “No, not replace. To defend Equestria against her nightmare… in my absence.” Star Swirl arched a bushy brow. “I had no intention to fight Luna, even corrupted as she was. I fully expected her to come directly for me upon her release and to strike me down with little to no hesitation. I would have allowed it because I would not kill her and I lacked my advantage to banish her once more. Not that I would have even if I could have. "As time passed and centuries of wait dwindled to only a few decades, Sombra, my Sombra, convinced me that if I was unwilling to fight back then I should at least find a champion to stand in my place. But who could stand against the power of an enraged, corrupted alicorn? An army of my most devout and loyal willing to throw their lives away? My enemies manipulated into doing my dirty work for me? Dark magic? There were no good alternatives. That was when I rediscovered that old journal. I recognized your hornwriting. I recognized some of the inflections as my mother’s words. I knew what it said must be true. The ability to create a perfect weapon at my command. The flaming sword alicorn golem. It was the only alternative I could see at the time.” Star Swirl removed his hat and examined it, contemplating what to say and how best to say it. He could be compassionate, understanding. However, the large, white alicorn before him was not a naïve, young mare and had not been for a long, long time. She knew better, she must! If not… then perhaps she has no business ruling a nation. He replaced his chapeau, his old eyes full of cold steel once more. “You are a damned fool, You Highness.” Celestia glared again. “You have no right to judge my actions. You were not here! I had to fight my own beloved sister! We destroyed Old Canterlot and most of our old castle! I tainted the Elements of Harmony by using them against my fellow wielder and thought I had destroyed them or made them inert beyond recovery! If I had to pay for those sins with my life I was willing, but all of Equestria should not pay for my mistakes! That is what I believed wholeheartedly at the time. The perfect flaming sword was the answer. Then, Sombra suggested the golem be something more than just steel or clay. He suggested a powerful defender that also had a soul. An heir worthy of the throne if my life was unsavable.” “So, you did give birth to the weapon. But she was not an alicorn, not from what I saw. Something close, but not quite.” Celestia bowed her head. “No, I did not complete the ritual. She does not know the truth of her design or that she is my daughter. Once I held my foal for the first time, I could not use her as such. I refused to make her a weapon to fight her own aunt who I was too much of a coward to face myself. Instead, I bucked destiny and tried to raise her as a mortal unicorn and my student instead. But even in that I failed.” “How humbling. To try to fight against fate and destiny and to know the taste of defeat. You are making what I have to do all the easier to decide.” Celestia’s wings unfurled and her horn took on a bright, golden glow as did her eyes. “Hear me, Star Swirl the Bearded! You will NOT speak to Sunset Shimmer again on this matter. Preferably, if at all possible, you two will never cross paths again. She is to live the remainder of her life by her choices without mine or anypony else’s interference. She deserves that much from me. A chance to grow and become who she wishes to be in this world or the one on the other side of the mirror. This is my royal decree and you WILL OBEY.” They held each other’s gaze for several seconds before Star Swirl finally yielded and bent his knee. “The choice of which world she wishes to live in must be made soon. I fear the tampering with the mirror by your former students may have already caused irreparable damage. However, I will obey and not seek out the unsheathed weapon.” “She is my daughter, wizard. And in spite of my many, MANY failures I love her with all my heart. Never forget that. If you somehow do have a moment of clouded judgment and harm befalls to her, you will see how much like my mother I truly can be and how I was able to hold this nation together all alone for a thousand years. Do not test me.” Celestia folded her wings and teleported back to the castle. Star Swirl stepped to where the alicorn mare had been standing and pawed at the scorched lawn. He felt a pang of pity for the groundskeepers who would eventually find the vandalism brought on by barely contained rage of the sun goddess. The last thing our world needs is another alicorn. Especially not one that can wield the power of an Incarnate Soul Blade. It could quite possibly kill a true god or the world itself. No, I will wait until they depart and after the creature passes back through the mirror. Then, I will destroy it, sealing her on the other side. After which, if I am able, I will destroy all the information I have in the library on how to build another mirror. I will undo my own hubris and see to it that our universe is safe. If I must forfeit my life to do so, then so be it. Without another thought on the matter, Star Swirl teleported away to plan out his evening and to wait.