Nostalgia
Noon: the easiest hour of work for a Princess. She sat alone, perusing through what forms she had missed or ignored during her earlier hours of work. A small pot of tea sat on a nearby stand, a thin column of steam rising from the spout. The princess eyed the tea for a moment and sighed; it was simple things like this that she seemed to be losing touch with, what with her duties becoming more and more demanding as the days went by.
You’re getting old, Tia, a voice at the back of her mind said. You’ve had to handle much more demanding work in the past, and you think simple paperwork is depriving you of tea? She smirked and continued writing, using her magic to grab the teapot and bring it to her spot on the floor. She fluffed her wings once more and continued working, the sound of her pen scratching across the parchment the only sound she could hear.
She continued for several minutes before something landed on her back. She turned and saw Philomena, the phoenix’s red and gold feathers a welcome sight for the princess. Philomena cawed again and moved closer.
“Hello, my friend,” Celestia said, smiling at Philomena. “Have you been watching the rest of the castle as I asked?” Philomena chirped and bobbed her head. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Philomena chirped again and took off, but instead of heading for her normal perch she landed outside a closet on the far side of the room.
“What do you want, Philomena?” the phoenix chirped and pointed a wing at the door “Oh, you know I can’t do that... I’m not that kind of pony anymore.” the Phoenix squawked in annoyance and pointed back at the door. Celestia sighed and stood, crossing the room to where the bird was standing.
“Listen to me. I could not do that; I may lose myself and... well, remember what happened last time?” Philomena squawked. “Well, yes she had declared war on my throne... but you didn’t see the rest of the guard; they were terrified of me, that their leader could be so... ruthless.” The bird chirped and took off, landing on the knob of the door and allowing her weight to open the door.
“I swear, you’re worse than Luna was...” She moved to close the door, but a small glint of light caught her eye. She hesitated, before sighing once more.
“Well... Five minutes, then we’ll have no more of this.” Philomena chirped in happiness as Celestia pulled open the door. Inside the closet was a suit of armor, scratched from repeated use but still shining as brightly as the day she had forged it in the fires of ancient Equestria. Unlike the armor of her guards, which was more for ceremony, this was designed for war: each plate was more than four inches thick, forged from a material capable of withstanding the concentrated power of a star. Her neck and forelegs were protected beneath two massive shoulder pads, the first adorned by an etching of her cutie mark, while the second held the image of a giant eagle, wings spread and talons extended as if ready to strike. The chest contained the insignia of her old life: a double headed eagle, both heads turned outward towards her shoulders.
Using her magic, she pulled on each individual piece of the armor, the joints clicking into place. As each piece was applied, energy began to flow through the joints and seams of the suit, allowing her freedom of movement that no other living being would be capable of when wearing similar armor. When the armor was assembled, she pulled out the final aspect of her past: a longsword, elegantly crafted and adorned with an apelike skull in the pommel. She used her magic to attach the sword to a clamp on her flank before closing the door and walking towards the balcony.
“I feel silly, dressing up in this.” she muttered, hoping Philomena was still within earshot. The bird paid her no mind, swooping down from her perch and landing on her left shoulder, her talons hooking into a groove in the armor. Philomena chirped again, stroking her head against Celestia’s neck. Celestia smiled.
“Well, maybe not as silly as I think.” Celestia normally kept a rein on her ego, but being as she was alone she allowed a little bit to slip through. She looked out across Equestria, her home and kingdom. She remembered all that had happened since she had been brought here; forming and encouraging life, raising the sentient races from the muck of creation. She remembered forming Equestria, battling against the forces of destruction and chaos. She remembered slaying the last of the windigos, remembering how Her blade had cracked and sparked as the last of the Forces of Nightmare were torn asunder by Her wrath. She remembered her battle with Discord, striking him from the heavens and confronting him on the open plains.
She remembered...
Her mind drifted to another time, another universe. There, she commanded legions against the Ruinous Powers, purging the Galaxy of the unclean. She remembered the Heresy, channeling Her powers to smite Her traitorous son. She remembered being entombed inside the Throne, watching in agony as Her body rotted and Her utopia degraded into the very hell She had fought against.
She remembered being freed, and striking with the full of Her power. Mutants, hellspawn, even the Gods of Chaos themselves, nothing stood to slow Her wrath. Countless fell with each sweep of Her mighty blade, their blood staining the ground black as She purged them from the Galaxy.
I smote the Gods of Chaos. I brought Humanity back from the ashes and set them on the path to an age of prosperity and glory. I forged this world from dust, and I crushed the last traces of Chaos beneath my hooves. I possess more power than any before me, and I have used it to forge the society I would have wished to rule over.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Celestia!” Celestia was pulled from her memories. Some mortal was intruding on her, Her, of all ponies. Keeping her temper at a minimum, she unsheathed her sword and activated it, arcane power flowing down the length of the blade.
"Do you think that you can just intrude upon my presence at will?" she growled. "You are not one of my regular messengers, so I must assume you are some infiltrator hoping to get close to me. Leave now, or I shall destroy you and everything you hold dear in your pathetic life." The only response she got from her threat was... crying. Celestia blinked and turned to see her opponent: a small lavender filly, barely seven years of age, cringing and crying at Celestia's warning.
“I’m sorry, Princess, I’m sorry!” the filly cried. “I-I didn’t mean to! I’m really really sorry! P-Please don’t be mad, I didn’t mean to! Oh, please don’t hurt me! Please!” Celestia deactivated the sword and lowered it. Her mind was pulled back to reality: she was no longer a commander during a time of war, but a teacher who had just threatened to kill her favored student. Oh no, I went too far again...
“T-Twilight?”
“I’m really really sorry, I didn’t... Oh, please, don’t hurt me, I-I only wanted to... to...” Twilight could not hold back before bursting into tears, a small puddle collecting beneath her hooves. Celestia dropped her sword and raced towards the filly, her armored boots causing small tremors as she ran.
“Please, Twilight, don’t cry.” Celestia said, wrapping an armored foreleg around the crying filly. “That was my fault, Twilight; I got carried away for a moment. Don’t cry, I did not mean to harm you.”
“B-But you were shouting, a-and you had that sword...” Twilight said through her sobs.
“Artifacts from an older life, Twilight. I would never do anything to hurt you.” Celestia leaned in and nuzzled Twilight, the filly’s crying dying down to sniffles. “Please, calm down... please.” Twilight sniffled some more before nodding.
“O-okay.” she said, her voice quivering.
“Good. Breathe easy, Twilight. Here,” Celestia grabbed the teapot and poured a cup for the filly. “Drink this; it will make you feel better.” Twilight hesitated for a moment before nodding and taking the cup in her hooves.
“Th-Thanks you, Princess.”
“You’re welcome, Twilight. Now,” Celestia turned the filly around to fully face her. “What is it you wanted to tell me?” There was a pause before Twilight spoke again.
“W-well, I was just reading some things... and, I found something that... that...” Twilight stopped talking. Celestia raised an eyebrow in confusion before tracing the filly’s gaze to her chest.
Celestia sighed and lowered her head, a small smile gracing her lips. “Is my armor distracting you, Twilight?”
“Um, yes?” The filly said, shying away slightly
“You wouldn’t be the first. I normally don’t wear this, as most ponies have a similar reaction. I guess... well, I guess I got nostalgic and decided to wear it. If you’re curious, you can come and get a closer look.”
“B-But you got really mad when-”
“Twilight, that is in the past. I was a much different pony when I first became ruler of Equestria, and I guess I lapsed back into that habit when I put on this thing.”
“Oh.” Twilight stood and crossed the room, stopping once she reached her mentor. She looked closely at every piece of armor the Princess wore, flicking them occasionally to see what they were made of. “Why did you make something so... big?”
“When I first came to this world, I was... lonely, for a lack of a better word. I forged this armor and that sword to remind me of where I came from.”
“‘Where you came from’?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?”
“Oh Twilight, surely you of all ponies know this story.”
“Um, kind of. My parents always said Equestria didn’t have any shape or life until you showed up and made it all nice and stuff. But...” Twilight paused, shuffling her hooves a little.
“But?”
“But you couldn’t have just shown up from nowhere. There had to be somewhere you came from.”
“Correct, my little filly.” Celestia grabbed Twilight with her magic and placed the filly in front of her. “And where I came from was not a nice place to live. That’s why I needed this armor.”
“Um, can I ask what it was like? Coming to Equestria and all?”
“You can, but let me warn you, it is not a pleasant or short story.” Celestia flared her wings and shuffled around a little to make herself comfortable, no easy task when wearing heavy armor.
“I came from a world known as Earth,” she began. “But most people-”
“What?”
“People. I used to be a human.”
“But humans don’t exist!” Twilight said, defiantly pointing her hoof in the air.
“No they don’t... not here, anyway." Celestia shook her head. That is a thought for another time. "As I said, I came from a world known as Earth, but most called it Holy Terra, the heart of the Imperium of Man. Humans had spread out across the Galaxy, forming a mighty empire that they felt would last for eternity.
“However, the Imperium was everything Equestria is not; humans lived in filth and decay, fearing for their lives as the years went on. Ravaging hordes of monsters and barbarians savaged their borders, wiping out entire planets and untold billions of lives. Legions of corrupt and heretical forces poured out of what was known as the Immaterium, bent on destroying all that could be seen as good and pure.
“I was a leader during the strife; I guided the forces of Humanity against the Chaos spawn and the alien, destroying many in costly wars. The humans venerated me as a mighty king, a ruler of all humans to have ever lived.”
“Wait, ‘king’?" Twilight asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion. “You’re not a stallion, so how can you be a king?” A bad joke from a Chaos Daemon, Celestia thought, bristling with anger for a brief moment before composing herself.
“I was... changed when I came to this realm, but that will come up later. As I was saying, thousands would bow to me, swear in my name, and the mere mention of my power and presence was enough to sunder the forces of Chaos like a wave against a rock.
“The humans called me the God Emperor of Mankind. And I am here because of my sacrifice for them...”