//------------------------------// // - VII - // Story: Solem Perditum // by PropMaster //------------------------------// - VII - Celestia sat quietly on her chair in the throne room at Canterlot Castle, listening to a noble prattle on about some nonsense. Taxes, most likely. She kept her expression neutral and did her best not to roll her eyes or yawn. Her subjects found many things important, and unfortunately for her a lot of those things were on the drier side, conversationally speaking. Celestia’s mind briefly wondered how she’d arrived at the throne room. Hadn’t she been... in bed? She blinked, glancing around herself, trying to take in her surroundings. She noticed that the guards she had at her side were both faceless, just vague shapes in the form of her stallion guardsponies. The lack of detail was slightly disturbing. She quickly began spotting other incongruities, noting that the hallway to the throne room appeared endless, as did the line of petitoners, and that the throne room’s ceiling was gone, simply a black space full of nothing. A dream. Celestia chuckled to herself, standing up. The noble pony speaking to her appeared outraged that she’d dare leave, but she no longer cared. This was her dream, after all. She trotted away, into the endless hallway of petitioning ponies, and made a sharp left turn. There normally was a door here, in the real palace hallway, which lead to... yes. The kitchen. There were chef ponies working away at random tasks, and Celestia stood before them. She resisted the urge to clap her hooves together in delight, her wings opening wide as she assumed her most regal and imperious stance. “Your princess requests cake. Chocolate, if you please, three layers, with raspberry preserves between each layer. Buttercream frosting, and make sure it’s thick on the frosting.” No reason to not enjoy herself. A few dream-moments later, she found herself seated in the royal dining hall, where she and her sister would often take meals in the relative solitude it provided. Servants aside, the royal dining hall was private, and only a few ponies were ever allowed entry. This dining hall was slightly askew, it’s proportions off and it’s corners indistinct. Celestia couldn’t recall if there were pillars along one wall or not, and so it remained empty. She didn’t mind, though, because there was a cake being set before her, and it looked exactly as delicious as she’d imagined. Exactly. She cut herself a rather large and unladylike slice of the cake, and took a slow bite. Raspberry and chocolate mingled with sweet buttercream on her palette, and she sighed. She missed cake, and other food. She was happy for the moment, though, and took another bite of her slice of cake. “Sister?” Celestia glanced up from her imaginary meal. Princess Luna stood before her, looking startled. Celestia’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Luna?” “Art thou really... thyself? It is hard to ascertain. I’ve been ingressing through the dreamscape for days, looking for thou,” Luna’s head tilted to one side as she examined her sister. “... You aren’t part of my dream, are you?” stated Celestia with suspicion. “Nay, sister. ‘Tis I!” Luna beamed at her sister. “Luna!” Celestia stood up, the cake forgotten, and threw her hooves around her sister, hugging her dearly. “It is good to find thee well, sister. We hath been worrying over thy disappearance.” Luna returned the hug, nuzzling her taller sister’s chest happily. “I’m not certain what happened to me, to be honest.” “Where art thou located? I shall send a team of guards at once to retrieve thee. We could tell that thou had been relocated by a powerful spell, but we were unable to ascertain your whereabouts. I’ve been watching the dream realm for many days, hoping you would choose to rest eventually.” Celestia chuckled, blushing slightly. “I believe the guards would have difficulty retrieving me in my present location.” Luna leaned back from Celestia, looking concerned. “Oh? Pray tell, why?” “I’m on the moon,” replied Celestia. Luna blinked, surprised. “The moon? What art thou doing on my moon, sister?” “I haven’t the faintest idea. I can’t get off the moon, either. All my strongest teleportation spells fail, and I am unable to break whatever magic binds me here. Even my wings have been rendered useless, good for no more than gliding,” Celestia explained, trying to keep the concern out of her voice. Luna frowned. “Where on the moon are thee? I shall attempt to scry thy location.” Celestia chuckled wryly. “Something tells me that will be a difficult undertaking, sister. I’m in a city.” Luna’s eyes widened. “A... city?” Celestia nodded, her face growing grim. “It always seemed familiar to me, but speaking with you now, I believe that it might be the same city that haunted your dreams for months after your return.” Luna sat down heavily, her wings shaking. “Tell me everything thou hast seen.”