//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: In Canterlot // Story: Princess Sweet // by rosebudthefoal //------------------------------// Princess Celestia recovered from her current coughing fit. She felt as if she should both smile and frown as she glanced up towards the calendar. Two weeks left. Where was Luna? She had to tell her of this news... "Princess?" a white pegasus guard donned in the usual armor trotted up to her. "Are you alright? Do you need me to call the royal doctor?" "I'm fine, General." Celestia assured him. "But I will need you to call for somepony. Please find Princess Luna for me; she said that she was going out for a flight so she should be flying somewhere near Canterlot." The stallion nodded. "Of course, your highness." He turned and spread his wings, flying out the doors of the throne room. Princess Celestia held the small, pocket calendar in front of her face as she sat on her throne. She looked around and saw nopony with her in the room. Knowing she was finally alone, she allowed her eyes to water. "Only two weeks left." she whispered to herself. She looked away from the calendar and observed the stained glass windows, each showing different events that had happened since she had become princess nearly three thousand years ago. She sighed happily as she saw the one of the element bearers curing Luna from her dark half. The large white alicorn stood from her throne and trotted down the long side of the room, admiring how well-made the windows were. There were also many more normal windows, left for any more important events that should be recorded in the form of art. "Fine Craft and his team sure did well making these." she said, running on hoof along one that showed Princess Cadance and Shining Armor banishing the changelings. "Princess?" a voice called from the doorway. Celestia turned to see a white unicorn stallion poking his head in through the double doors. "Yes, Shining Armor?" she asked. "You wanted me to give my report on the protection of the Griffon Empire." he said, trotting in and closing the door behind him. Celestia nodded. "Yes, I do. Are they faring well after the incident?" "Yes. There have been no reports of any Shadow sightings and no more disappearances. It looks like it was only that one griffon, maybe they've moved on." the stallion said. "Let's just hope they haven't moved on to Equestria." Celestia sighed and looked at the stained glass window. there was a brief moment of silence before she asked, "How is my student? I heard that she has come to Canterlot. Do you know why?" Shining jumped up into the air. "Oh, no, I don't. I didn't know she was here. If I'm dismissed, I'd like to go look for her. I haven't seen her since the Crystal Empire reappeared." "You are dismissed, go see your sister. And if she wishes to stay in Canterlot, let her know that there is always a suite in this castle for her." Shining nodded. "Thanks, Princess." then he bolted out of the room unceremoniously. Celestia smiled at this and let out a soft chuckle before falling into a fit of coughs again. "Where is Luna?" the princess wondered once she recovered. She looked out one of the normal windows left and scanned the skies. She couldn't have gone far... there she was! She was being led back to the castle by three pegasi guards. Celestia opened the large window with her magic and hopped out, her powerful wings not yet weakened by her sickness. "General, you may return to your duties now." she called to the pegasus in the lead. He nodded and the three guards turned and dived for the streets of Canterlot below. "You wanted a word, sister?" Luna asked, looking a bit worried. She knew what was coming, but it would be much worse than she thought. "My three thousandth year is approaching, Luna." the sun princess admitted. Luna's eyes widened. "But... it won't happen, will it? There is nopony-" Celestia held up a hoof to silence her sister. "Mors Minatio is still alive." she told her. ~<3~ Twilight groaned. "Are you sure there's no more trains today?" she asked the pony standing at the ticket stand in the train station. "Sorry ma'am, none until tomorrow." the pony, a brown mare with a blonde mane and tail and a ticket for a cutie mark, shook her head. Twilight groaned again. "Looks like I'm spending the night in Canterlot." she sighed, turning and walking out of the train station and out onto the streets of Canterlot again. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air next to her. "I could push you on a cloud again." she offered. "I'm not flying again, not even if I had wings." the unicorn told her, a little annoyance in her voice. "Alright, sorry, sorry." Rainbow replied. "But where are you going to stay?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. "'You', as in just me?" "I've got weather duty tomorrow, and wings. I gotta head back to Ponyville." the pegasus said. "Fine. I guess I can spend the night at my parents', or visit the royal library." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Only you would want to spend your vacation in Canterlot surrounded with books." "I call it's not really a vacation, it's more like I'm stranded here." Twilight pointed out. Both mares trotted down the street. Twilight started to think of the whole matter with Sweetie Belle again. "You have to admit something really weird is going on with her. She's not blood related to Rarity, Magnum, or Pearl, she's really powerful all of a sudden, and she had those cuts on her back... what do think that could mean?" Rainbow shrugged. "Maybe her real parents just abandonded her." "But what about those cuts? That seems like an odd place for somepony get hurt, in the same place on each side... and why would the scars be coming back all of a sudden? Why is she suddenly so powerful?" "I dunno." Suddenly, Twilight spotted a white figure racing towards her from down the road. "Shining Armor!" she shouted happily, recognizing the figure. She raced towards it and she and her brother met, hugging each other. "How are ya, Twily?" Shining asked, laughing as he left the embrace. "Fine, How are you?" Twilight asked, also leaving the embrace. "What are you doing in Canterlot?" "Rarity's little sister... sort of... has been acting pretty weird lately so we wanted to talk with her parents. They're staying in the 'Amanezing Hotel'." Twilight explained. "It's nice to see you again, BBBFF. It feels like it's been forever." "It does." Shining agreed. "Are you staying in Canterlot for a bit? The princess told me to tell you that there is always a suite at the castle open for you." "Well, I am kinda stuck here until tomorrow." Twilight said. "There isn't a train leaving until tomorrow and I'm not trusting Rainbow to fly me back after I almost lost my lunch the first time." Shining Armor chuckled as he saw the look on Rainbow's face. "Well, I can take you to the castle if you want." "I wanted to visit the royal library while I was here anyway." Twilight told him. She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Are you going back to Ponyville now?" Rainbow nodded. "If I hurry I'll have time to practice my new quadruple-barrel-roll-dive move." "Well then, make sure you tell the girls where I am and remind Spike to feed Owlioucious before he goes to bed." Rainbow saluted. "Gotcha." then she turned and flew off towards Ponyville, leaving rainbow trail behind her. ~<3~ "So, what are we gonna do?" Apple Bloom asked. The three crusaders were in the wagon, being pulled by Scootaloo on her scooter down the streets of Ponyville. "Maybe we can stop at Rarity's." Sweetie suggested. She had tucked her flowing mane under her helmet, but had nothing that could hide her tail from view except sitting on it. She looked around at the ponies whizzing past as they sped down the street. None of them gave the fillies a second glance. "We're almost at Rarity's shop." Scootaloo told her. "Aaaaaaaaand... here we are." she leaned back, bringing the wagon and scooter to a complete stop right outside Carousel Boutique. "Maybe Rarity'll know what ta do." Apple Bloom said, hopping out of the wagon. Sweetie Belle slipped off her helmet and hopped of out of the wagon as well. The three fillies headed for the door of the boutique, but Sweetie suddenly stopped as she saw something flicker out of the corner of her eye. "What was that?" Sweetie asked. "What was what?" her friends asked, looking around. The white filly looked in the direction she had seen the flicker. There was a shadow cast across the ground, coming from a sign next to the shop. For a split second, she thought she had seen the shadow move, even though the sign hadn't. After looking at it for half a minute and not seeing it move, she turned back to her friends. "Nevermind, I must have imagined it." and the three trotted into the shop. Behind them, the shadow of the sign flickered. Although no light was moving, the shadow stretched over to the door and managed to slip through before it was closed. ~<3~ "Mors Minatio can't have returned." Luna paced the throne room with worry. "She can't! She disappeared, didn't she? That's what you told me!" "I thought she had disappeared as well, Luna, but my sickness itself proves her survival." Celestia held her wing over her sister. "We need to find Mors, Luna. She will be young, but it will be her duty to take her place." Luna kicked the throne in anger and frustration. "Why did Mors have to live?" "Don't curse life, Luna." Celestia said kindly, smiling to her sister as if to reassure her all would be alright. "I'm not, I'm cursing death." ~<3~ "That's really weird." Shining Armor commented as him and Twilight trotted through the halls of Canterlot Castle. "And scars on her sides?" Twilight nodded. "Her adoptive parents said that the scars were the injury she had when they found her. It just seems so odd... and somehow really important." "I don't know." Shining Armor looked down at his hooves for a moment. Suddenly, he spoke up, changing the subject. "Has Celestia seemed a little... off in any letter's she's sent you this week?" "No, I haven't had a letter to send to her since two weeks ago, so she hasn't sent me a letter at all. Why?" Twilight asked, looking slightly worried. "She's been kinda sick lately. She's been coughing and hasn't been going out for walks or flights anymore. I've ordered the guards to ask her if she needs the royal doctor whenever they hear her coughing, but she always declines." Then he looked up and saw the wide-eyed look of anxiety on his sister's face. "Don't worry." he said quickly. "She's Princess Celestia, Twily. She basically immortal; if it was anything too bad I'm sure she could handle it for herself." he looked away, not quite believing his own words. "I hope she's okay... what if-" Twilight stared, but was interrupted as Shining Armor blocked her mouth with his hoof. He knew his sister; she was about to rant about all the things that could possibly be wrong with Celestia then have a mental breakdown about she didn't want anything bad to happen to her mentor. "I said not to worry, Twily." Shining said. Twilight nodded, pulling her face away from his hoof and they continued down the hallway "If you're that worried, we're about to pass the throne room." Shining told her, pointing to large double door near the end of the hallway. "She's in there. Maybe you could try to talk to her." "Oh no, I wouldn't want to bother her." Twilight shook her head. "The princess would never be bothered to talk with you." Shining said. "You always seem to think she's some mean ruler, you gave up completing your test for the safety of the crystal ponies and Equestria and you thought she would hate you and fail you on your test." "No, she's not mean, it's just-" Shining Armor grabbed the unicorn and pushed her towards the doors. "Come on, Twily, just knock." ~<3~ Sweetie leaped into the air, startled. "What was that?!" she asked. "What was what?" her friends repeated. "I heard somepony whisper something, didn't you hear it?" Sweetie asked. Her friends shook their heads. Sweetie sighed. "Nevermind." the three fillies walked forward into the trashed shop. They weaved their way through discarded rolls of fabric, spools of thread, and knocked over ponnequins. "Rarity?" Sweetie Belle called. "Rarity, where did you go?" "This place is spooky." Scootaloo said. Indeed, the lights seemed to be darker and there was an eerie silence. No sun made it through the windows, and as the Cutie Mark Crusaders made their closer to the stairs they saw that it was nearly pitch black upstairs. "Really spooky." Sweetie agreed. Sweetie jumped again. "Did you hear it that time, girls?" she asked. The confused looks on Apple Bloom's and Scootaloo's faces gave her her answer. "Nevermind." she sighed again. They continued on their way to the stairs. "SWEETIE!" a shriek from upstairs nearly knocked all three fillies backwards. "Rarity!" the Cutie Mark Crusaders shouted. They bolted towards the staircase. However, just as they reached the bottom step, Sweetie Belle stopped. "Sweets, what are you doing?" Scootaloo asked, looking back when she noticed Sweetie had stopped. "We gotta save Rarity!" Sweetie Belle just stood there, one hoof on the bottom step, eyes wide as she stared at something about two feet above Scootaloo's head. The orange pegasus turned to see what she was looking at. On a wall was a huge shadow of a pony. It had bat-like wings and Sweetie could see fangs in its open mouth. A quick look behind her proved that there was no such pony in the room. The three fillies were frozen with fear. "You are not fit for the job Celestia wishes to put upon you shoulders..." the shadow hissed Suddenly, none of the Cutie Mark Crusaders could see. They were wrapped in shadow, nothing but blackness around them. Sweetie found her consciousness ebbing away.