//------------------------------// // Chapter 2. Meeting Celestia // Story: The Last Human // by Blackdragn18 //------------------------------// Eventually reaching the house of this so called witch I was surprised. The house wasn’t all that flashy or impressive, just a simple cottage in the middle of some woods. Jumping down from the tree I was standing on I entered my human form, having stayed in the pony body for the trip to avoid people seeing me. Slowly sneaking towards the cottage I eventually found an open window. Jumping into it I got a look at the interior. It seemed to be some kind of lab, there were all sorts of beakers and test tubes filled with many different colored liquids. A shelf with different items lined the wall near the door, there were strange things like dead frogs, eyeballs, and some rats. Against the wall near the window I found a desk with some empty beakers. Looking away from the desk I finally headed towards the wooden door, carefully gripping the metal door knob I quietly opened it a crack to look outside. The next room looked like it was probably the rest of the cottage for the most part, there was a small area that was likely a living room/kitchen having a small chair and table along with a small fire pit and sink. In the center of the room I finally spotted her, details were lacking since she was wearing a cloak of some sort. The strange thing was the fact she wasn’t doing anything, just sitting in the middle of the room mumbling to herself. Silently opening the door enough to get out I slowly moved towards the cloaked figure. As I neared her I turned my hand into a sword, just as I got close enough to cut her there was a faint blue glow and I was thrown at a wall. Slamming into it, groaning I tried to stand, only to be lifted and thrown at another wall bouncing off it and smashing the table I had seen earlier. Before I could react, the blue glow appeared again and I was slammed into the wall this time being held there. “That was too easy.” A feminine voice said. I watched as the cloaked figure approached me, once she was a few feet away she flipped her hood back so I could see her. She was one of those horned ones, with a blue body and lighter blue hair. Her face carried this smug grin as she looked me over. “What manner of beast are you?” “What is this?” I ignored her question, forcefully attempting to escape the blue glow that surrounded me. “Nothing special, just a simple spell to detain you.” The horned creature yawned and turned away. “I must say, it was fun watching you think you were sneaking up on me.” Her horn glowed and she began to carry a crystal ball, coming back she showed me. Inside of it there was an image of me. “So, I’m guessing you’re some kind of monster sent by those ponies to kill me?” “Maybe.” I pulled at my binds again. “So could you be kind and let me do it?” “Sorry, but I have no desire for death.” The witch sat down and looked me over. “Let me ask again, what are you?” “So is this magic?” I looked at the glow that covered me. “Of course.” She nodded, looking pretty smug. “Great.” I smiled, my dad’s book said something about draining magic. Concentrating for a minute I began to feel the magic flow into me. After a second I fell to the floor, free of the blue prison. Before the horned freak could react she was tackled by me. Sitting on her chest I began to punch her in the face, after a few hits she was coated in blood and wheezing. “How..” *Wheeze* “How did you?” “Nothing special, just simple magic sponging.” I mimicked her earlier comment. “Fascinating.” She coughed. “What else can you do?” There was no harm in telling her, after all she was about to die and I hadn’t had a conversation this long in years. “Let’s see, I can suck up magic, change form, and heal any injury.” “Interesting.” Then her horn glowed and I was blasted with a blue laser. Flying off her I fell to the ground. “Ow.” I sat up and rubbed my head, pulling it away as a yellow hoof touched it. “What?” Looking myself over I realized I was in my pony form. “What is this?” I glared at the witch who was somehow able to cackle. “A spell some changelings use.” She wheezed. “It locks them into the last thing they transformed into, in your case a Pegasus.” “Change me back!” I ordered as I stood over her. “Now!” “Sorry, can’t.” She whispered. “I’m too weak now.” Coughing she smiled. “You’re stuck, the only pony in the world who could reverse this is Princess Celestia.” Her eyes began to close. “Good luck getting her help.” Then her breathing stopped. “Hey! Don’t die yet! Fix me!” I growled before kicking her in the side hearing several cracks. “Bolas!” After maybe three days of dragging the blue jerk's lifeless body across the country I eventually came back to the town. Finding the two ponies that hired me I gave them the corpse. They were very surprise I managed to kill her, luckily they were good on their word and gave me 200 “bits”. Most of my pay was spent on food and a room in the local inn. Sitting on the bed of my room I stared at the wall thinking. “Celestia.” I muttered. “I know I’ve heard that name somewhere.” Taking out my dad’s journal I flipped through the pages until what I was looking for appeared. “Aha! Celestia.” The name was right there, next to changeling in the list of creatures I shared DNA with. “I have to find her and get this fixed.” The next day I went around town asking questions about this Celestia. Most of the ponies gave me weird looks since the things I was asking about had very obvious answers for people of this country. According to my sources she was the ruler of this country, which I learned is called Equestria. One pony told me that to find her I’d need to travel to some fancy place called Canterlot. So draining what was left of my “bits” I bought a ticket for something called a train. The pony selling the tickets assured me it was completely safe and would get me to Canterlot. “That pony lied!” I shouted as I gripped the seat. This thing did not seem safe at all, it’s flying across these thin metal things called tracks at a million miles an hour. “I’m gonna die.” “Calm down son.” An older brown pony, one of the simple ones comforted me. “This is completely safe. Trust me, I’ve ridden this thing several times.” “If you say so.” I continued to hold onto the seat for dear life. “Don’t worry, it’s only a two day trip.” He patted me on the back. “There it is.” The brown pony said looking out a window. “Canterlot.” “Where?” Following his gaze I saw it, a massive city built into the side of a mountain. Even from here the sheer size of some parts was apparent, especially what looked like a castle that stood near the edge. “This is where we part ways.” The brown pony told me as we got off the train. “Good luck with the princess.” He said before turning and walking away. “Thanks.” I smiled before heading in the opposite direction. Canterlot was amazing, many of the buildings that looked big on the train were even more impressive up close, some forcing me to actually crane my neck to see the top. A lot of these structures were round and bubbly. Everything was very clean, most buildings consisting of white, purple, and yellow. My hooves made fun clicking sounds as they made contact with the stone streets. “Watch it.” A pony I had bumped into while admiring the city said angrily. He was a large white horned pony glaring down at me. “I’m sorry.” I apologized. “I didn’t mean to hit you.” “Just watch where you’re going next time fool.” He shoved passed me and began to walk away. Then I realized something. “Um, excuse me.” I chased after the pony. Luckily he turned to me still not very pleased looking. “What?” “Could you please point me to the palace?” This place was huge! The horned one had grudgingly given me directions through the streets of this massive town after a bit of begging. Honestly the palace was bigger than any building I had ever seen. Like the rest of this city it was a clean white with purple and yellow roofs. At many parts it did resemble old castle pictures I had seen in books. Having massive towers and decorative columns, there was even a large wall encircling it, coming with a drawbridge. Unfortunately the area was filled with those mean armored ponies. Summoning my courage I walked towards the palace. Eventually reaching the large gold doors I prepared to knock. “Halt!” A gruff voice said behind me. Turning my heart sank to see one of the winged armored ones flying towards me. “I need to talk to Princess Celestia.” I said, my heart beginning to pound. “None see the Princess without an invitation.” He glared at me. “Please, I need her help.” I pleaded. “Back away from the door.” He ordered. “No.” I turned and prepared to knock before something grabbed my tail and threw me away from the door. Looking up I saw the winged pony standing above me. “I warned you.” He then kicked me in the face. Flying back I groaned, something was trickling down my face. Rubbing a hoof across my face and looking at it I gasped to see it was covered in red. How was I bleeding? I thought that spell only took my transforming. “Look buddy, you can either leave now or be sent to a hospital.” “I just need to see her for a minute.” I said as I stood back up. “You have three seconds to leave this property before I begin to get serious.” “I’m done.” I growled before swinging a hoof at his face. Looking bored he spun around and kicked me with his hind legs. Flying back I slammed into the ground. “Ow.” “Bad move kid.” The winged pony said as he came to stand over me. “You’ll pay for that.” I said before sweeping a leg, surprisingly it actually got him and he fell to the ground. Taking the chance I jumped up and punched him in the face twice before I was enveloped in a white glow and lifted into the air. Looking behind me I saw there were two more, a horned pony and a normal one. “You think this will stop me?” I smirked before trying to absorb the magic, my eyes went wide as nothing happened. So even my magic draining is gone. “You’re going to be sorry now boy.” The winged one had gotten up. I was then thrown to the ground. “Uh oh.” I said as the three armored ponies stood over me. Weakly opening my eyes I looked around. Darkness was the main thing that greeted me, from what was visible I was likely in an alley. Attempting to stand up I quickly sat back down as pain surged through me. Looking myself over the damage from those ponies became very apparent. My body was covered in cuts and bruises, dried blood covered most of my now messy yellow fur. Noticing a nearby puddle I weakly dragged myself to it, gazing into the water a mess of a pony with a black eye and dried blood around his muzzle looked back at me. Looking up I was able to see a glimpse of the palace, it was so close. Dealing with the pain I stood up and spread my wings, surprisingly they were undamaged aside from some missing feathers. Flapping them I was able to clumsily lift myself off the ground and fly out of the alley. Thanks to my injuries I had to stop once the protective wall was close enough to land on. I had to hide in the shadows as some armored ponies got close. Looking around the palace I eventually spotted a door on one of the towers that had light shining through it. Hopefully Celestia was in there, taking flight once again I quickly reached the tower. Smiling I lifted a hoof, wobbling slightly as the support left me before knocking on the door. Falling to the ground I sat there, weakly staring at the glass doors hoping for them to open. After a few seconds without an answer hope began to leave me. Preparing to cry I looked to the ground, then the light in front of me got stronger and a shadow appeared. “Hello?” A warm kind voice said. Looking up I smiled as a large white pony stood over me. From the lighting I couldn’t see much of her but I could tell she was tall. “Can I help you?” “Yes, I need your help.” I weakly replied. “Can I come in? Please?” “I don’t usually take visitors this late or under these circumstances.” My ears dropped. “But just this once, I’ll do it.” “Thank you so much.” I smiled as she turned and walked back inside. Standing up I slowly followed her. “So, what can I do for you?” She asked before sitting down on a cushion. Carefully sitting down in front of her I began to speak. “I heard you’re the most powerful creature in the world.” I looked her over. She was a clean white just like her city, her height was impressive as well, likely rivaling my usual form. The weirder things were her details and hair. She had both wings and a horn like some kind of strange hybrid, her hair was multiple colors and did this creepy thing where it was blowing like there was some kind of wind even though we were inside. “I wouldn’t go that far.” She shook her head. “Oh.” I looked at her sadly. “Though I’d like to think I’m skilled in magic.” She smiled. “Great, I need you to free me from a curse.” All I got in response was a squint. “Tell me about this curse?” She looked like she didn’t quite believe me. “Well I was fighting this witch that was messing with one of your towns and she hit me with something.” “Interesting.” Her horn glowed and she looked me over. “I can tell there is a spell on you. Tell me more?” “Ok, so I got hired by some of your ponies to go take down the witch. After thoroughly beating her she hit me with some kind of spell that reverted me from my true form to this body.” After I finished that sentence I covered my mouth. “What was that about your true form?” She eyed me. Great I blew it, she’s going to think I’m some kind of monster. “Did I say that?” I shook my head. “You must be hearing things.” “I can tell you’re lying.” She told me. “Bolas. Well I guess it’s over now.” Looking at her I took a deep breath. “Let me explain.” “And that gets us here.” I finished my story. I had decided to tell her the truth before she did who knows what to me. To my surprise she was giving me a look I had never seen before, it was like a mix between pity and disbelief. Not two things that go together well. “I’m not sure how to take all of this.” She finally said. “It’s apparent that you are not lying.” She looked me over. “But now what am I to do with you?” “Please just let me go.” I begged. “I don’t want to die or go to jail or whatever.” Tears began to well up in my eyes. “Calm down.” She raised a hoof. “I’m not going to do any of that?” “You’re not?” “No.” She shook her head. “While I don’t entirely trust you, I don’t want any creature to needlessly suffer.” “So you’ll help me?” I looked at her hopefully. “I’ll see what I can do.” She smiled. “It may take a while as I will need to find out exactly what she did to you.” “Oh.” I frowned. “For now I can only offer two things. This.” Her horn glowed and I was wrapped in a yellow glow. “What are you doing?” I began to freak out. “It’s ok. This is going to help you.” As she said that I began to feel strange, looking at my leg I watched as all the injuries on it began to vanish. After a few seconds the glow was gone, looking in a nearby window I saw my reflection. To my surprise all of the injuries I had gotten from the guards were gone. “Whoa!” I looked myself over. “How did you do that?” Celestia chuckled. “It’s a basic healing spell. You’re lucky it was nothing too serious.” “Cool. Wait, what was the second thing you can offer?” “A place to rest.” She nodded. “What?” I looked at her in shock. “Really?” “Certainly.” Then her horn glowed and there was a flash. Once it went away I saw we were in a different room. “Where are we?” I looked around. It seemed to be a bedroom, there was a large white bed in front of us on it there was a picture of a sun. There was also a large dresser with a mirror and an area with a few books and chair in the corner. “This is my bedroom.” She nodded. “You may stay here until I find a cure for you.” “Are you serious?” “Of course.” Her horn glowed again and a small bed appeared in front of me. “Now I suggest you get some rest.” Princess Celestia watched the sleeping yellow Pegasus in front of her. She wasn’t sure what to make of him, his story was true, every detail showing positive with her spell. The danger was what he says he can do, based on those claims there is a chance that he could be dangerous if fully restored. She was going to have to be careful with him. That was also part of her logic with keeping him in her room, so that she could keep an eye on him. Yawning she decided to go to bed. Opening my eyes I squinted as sunlight shined into them. After my eyes adjusted I opened them fully, the light was shining in through a large window across the room from me, sitting up and stretching I looked around in confusion. “Where am I?” Then I remembered last night. Looking to the large white bed I became confused when nobody was there. “Weird.” “Good morning.” I heard the pleasant voice of Celestia as she entered the room. She was carrying a plate in a yellow aura. “I brought you some food.” Levitating it over to me I saw it was a plate with some toast and fruit. “Thanks!” I grabbed the plate and began to eat it. After a second a thought crossed my mind. “So did you find anyway to fix me yet?” “Not yet I’m afraid.” She shook her head. “Oh, ok.” “Though I was just about to go to my study and search.” “Great.” I nodded as I finished the food. “Then let us go.” Her horn glowed again and we were teleported to the room from last night. “Ok, you just get comfortable while I search.” Celestia closed another book. She had not found anything so far and was running out of books covering spells like this. Her guest had fallen asleep quite some time ago, softly snoring. Celestia did actually want to help this creature, so it was all the more frustrating that nothing was helping. An idea then occurred to her, searching and finding a book on changelings she began to flip through it eventually coming to a portion discussing their ability to transform. Carefully reading it she was delighted to find the magic they use to do it. Hopefully that curse was simply suppressing his use of magic which would explain the reason none of his abilities were working. Figuring out how to reverse the spell she smiled. There was one thing she was going to have to do that wasn’t something she necessarily enjoyed. She wasn’t going to completely remove the curse, she needed to trust him before giving him what seemed like god level powers. The best she would give him for now was his shape shifting. “Sean, wake up.” I felt someone shaking me. “What?” Opening my eyes I saw the face of Celestia looking at me. “Good news.” She looked happy. “I found the cure.” “Really?” I shot up in surprise. “Yes.” She chuckled. “This should give you your powers back.” “Great! Let’s do it.” I was then covered by a yellow aura, after a moment pain began to surge through me. I cried out in pain closing my eyes. Soon I felt the grip of magic leave me and I fell to the ground. “That was not fun.” I said sarcastically. Opening my eyes I gasped to see hands below me instead of hooves. Slowly standing up I smiled to feel myself wobble a bit as my center of mass had changed. Looking myself over I became even happier to see my normal feet and I was only standing on two legs. Moving my gaze forward I saw Celestia looking at me in surprise. Just as I thought we were about the same height. “So that’s what you look like?” Celestia finally said. “Yep.” I smiled even more. “Thank you.” “Of course. So did it fix your powers?” “Let’s see.” Looking at my hand I was happy to watch as it changed into a sword. I noticed Celestia look a bit uneasy so I quickly changed it back. “Shape shifting, check.” grabbing my wrist I quickly yanked it in the wrong direction. Crying out in pain as it broke but didn’t heal. “What?” “Strange.” Celestia’s horn glowed and my wrist fixed itself. “Try the magic absorption.” Celestia enveloped me in a yellow glow. Trying to absorb it I was disappointed to see it didn’t work. “What’s going on?” I frowned. “I thought you said the spell would fix me.” “I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what happened.” “That’s disappointing.” “I promise you I will find a way to completely help you.” Princess Celestia smiled as she headed towards her room. It had been three weeks since Sean had shown up. The princess had to say, she was enjoying his company. It was refreshing to have a being who treated her like she was any other pony. One thing that was surprising to her was how quickly the young human had become attached to her. It may be attributed to his lack of contact for so many years. None the less it felt good to have someone excited to have her around for reasons other than hoping she would not do something to them. She had decided it was time to give him back another ability. He had shown no signs that he may turn on her. Though to be safe she did have a fail-safe, knowing a spell to take his powers back if he did become a threat to Equestria. There was one more thing bothering the princess, after she fixed him completely where would he go? She didn’t want to abandon him to the world. There was one idea but she wasn’t sure if it was the best. As she came to her bedrooms doors she shook her head. There will be time to worry about that later. I was so bored. For some reason Celestia disappears after breakfast, comes back for lunch, then leaves again for some hours. It gets lonely in this place, plus what are you supposed to do locked inside a pony’s room? There isn’t really anything. Celestia said I had to stay in here until she thought the time was right to release me. That’s the problem though, I want to be able to leave the room but not the palace. It has been great having food, shelter, and most importantly a friend. I sat up as the click of the door opening was heard. “Hello Sean.” Celestia’s head poked in. “I’ve brought lunch.” She walked the rest of the way in and closed the door. “Great.” I stood up as she handed me the plate of food. An apple, along with a salad, and peanut and butter sandwich. She had luckily listened when I said that plants like daises weren’t good for me. “Thanks.” I sat back on my bed and began to eat. “I have some good news.” Celestia said as she sat down in front of me. “What is it?” I asked as I finished the sandwich. “I may have found another spell to help you.” “Really?” I smiled. “Yes.” She returned the smile. “Finish your food and then I’ll try it.” Quickly finishing I stood up. “Let’s do it.” Being enveloped in the yellow aura I felt warmth surge through me, I guess she had found a way to keep it from hurting me. After a few seconds the glow vanished and I stretched. “Alright. Let’s give this a shot.” Grabbing one of my fingers I snapped in back, to my joy it went back into place and healed. “Awesome. Let’s try the magic.” Celestia nodded and wrapped my left hand in a yellow glow, concentrating I tried to drain it but nothing. “Dang, at least we’re getting closer.” “How much longer do I have to be cooped up in here?” I asked Celestia as we played go fish. “Just until this war is over.” She answered. “Any eights?” “I swear you cheat.” I handed her the cards. “How long will that be? Jacks?” “Go fish.” She smirked. “Bolas.” I grabbed a card. “I’m not sure about the war, the griffins are putting up quite the fight.” She looked her cards then me. “Queens?” “Argh!” I tossed her my last card, growling as she put yet another stack on the table. “I believe that is game.” She looked at me smugly. “I’ll beat you some day.” “Sure you will.” Celestia stood up and headed for her bed. “Well goodnight.” “Night.”