//------------------------------// // 9 - Friendship // Story: The Seventh // by Arvaus //------------------------------// At the source of the stream was a small pool, where clear spring-water welled up through the rocks below. The pond was completely still, sheltered by the tall trees which surrounded its banks, and its surface shone in the early evening light. The stillness was disturbed for a brief moment as a stone skipped across the water before sinking under with a small splash. Aaron stood on the bank, a small collection of flat stones in one hand. He threw another one out over the water and it bounced across, falling in just a few feet short of the far bank. He glanced back at the trees, where he had left his belongings. Beyond them he could see Celestia walking amongst the undergrowth, looking for plants to eat. While he had enough supplies with him to last a few days before restocking, she had chosen to continue living off the land for simplicity. It was strange seeing her like this. Her tiara still sat proudly on her head, and it was hard to ignore her wings and horn, but with her mane still short she looked almost like a real horse. Her magic was beginning to return, though. It was a lot weaker now than it had been, and the only visible change was a very slight buoyancy in her mane and tail, but it was no longer solely occupied with tending to her injuries. Neither of them had talked much about the incident since it had happened, even though nearly two days had passed now. Aaron was glad to see her becoming more comfortable with having company, but he had decided not to push too hard in case it just upset things again. And just being able to spend a few quiet days exploring the countryside had been a welcome holiday. He then looked up at the sky. The light was starting to fade, and they would need to get moving soon if they were going to get back and find a spot to camp. He decided to give Celestia a little while longer, though. ~ ~ ~ Five minutes and numerous thrown stones later, Aaron heard hoofsteps behind him. He turned round and saw Celestia walking over. “Ready to head back?” he asked. “Yes, thank you,” Celestia replied, nodding. “I have enjoyed this. The peace and quiet has given me time to think.” “About anything in particular?” Aaron asked. “Everything, really,” she said. “This experience has given me a lot to think about, and I fear I have been ignoring it. There are many questions to answer.” “No doubt,” Aaron said. “Well, if you want to talk about them, I’d be happy to listen. I guess you don’t get much peace in Canterlot,” he added as he skimmed the last of his stones across the pool. “Indeed not,” she said, stepping forward to the water’s edge and looking down at her reflection. “I am allowed to take sabbaticals as I require,” she continued, “but with so many ponies depending on me it can be difficult to find the time.” “I guess Equestria has the advantage that you've got your friends around you, though,” Aaron said. Celestia nodded but didn’t answer, just continuing to stare at her reflection. That was a stupid thing to say, Aaron thought, scolding himself mentally as he turned and went over to pick up his belongings. When he reached the rucksack he knelt down and started to make sure everything was secure, but got distracted when he noticed Celestia’s regalia piled up by one of the trees. He hadn’t even noticed that she wasn’t wearing them when she came over— There was a loud splash from behind him. He turned round and saw Celestia in the middle of the pond, rolling around in the water. “Having fun over there?” he called. She rolled over to her front again and threw her head backwards, splashing water everywhere. She shook her mane, and the spray of water droplets trailing from it almost made it look like its old, full self again. “I couldn’t resist,” she called back, “and I have not had many opportunities to bathe properly over the last few weeks.” Aaron laughed, then glanced up at the sky. It was starting to turn purple as the sun set. Part of him wanted to move on so he could set up the tent in the light, but at the same time he didn’t want to disturb Celestia. Seeing her actually happy had unfortunately been a rare occurrence for him. He sat down on his rucksack and watched as she swam back and forth in the shallow pool, occasionally ducking her head under and throwing water across her back. “We should get going before it gets dark,” he said after a while. “Unless you want to just camp here tonight.” At this comment, Celestia paused and looked up. She glanced off down the stream, thinking, then turned to Aaron. “I think I would prefer to head back,” she said, and she started climbing back out of the pool. As she rose out of the water she spread her wings and shook them, spraying a fine mist around her and filling the air with rainbow patterns. “That’s just showing off,” Aaron said, laughing. “Are you ready to go, then?” Celestia nodded. “Just about,” she said. “I just need to get dressed.” They gathered up their belongings, Aaron helping Celestia dress to avoid overusing her magic. They then headed off back in the direction of a path that cut across the fields towards the woods. Aaron looked sideways up at Celestia. She was still smiling, fortunately. Now’s as good a time as any, he thought to himself. “How are you doing, Celestia?” he asked carefully. Celestia paused for a moment. Aaron watched her, wondering which way this would end up going. “I’m doing well, I think,” she said eventually. “You think?” Aaron responded. “Anything you want to talk about?” Celestia chuckled. “I know what you’re trying to do, Aaron,” she said. She paused and looked down at him. “But as a matter of fact, there is,” she continued. “Like I said, this experience has raised many questions,” she said as they started walking again. “Questions about this world, about my world, and indeed about myself. There is one in particular that has occupied my thoughts over the last few days.” “Did you want to talk about it?” Aaron asked. “Yes, and I was wondering if you could tell me what you think the answer is.” She turned and looked down at him. “Do I exist?” Aaron thought for a few moments, scratching the back of his head with his hand. “I’m not sure how to answer that,” he said uncertainly. “But the thing is,” Celestia continued, “you already have. It was one of the first things you said when we met. You told me that I was made up. That I was a story.” Aaron was slightly taken aback by the comment. He could barely remember what he had said back then, and, while it was technically true, it didn’t feel like the right thing to say now. “That’s not what I meant,” he said. “I was trying to say that—” Celestia waved a hoof, cutting him off mid-sentence. “Please,” she said, “don’t try to side-step the subject. That is what I am trying to avoid. If it makes the question clearer, allow me to tell you about somepony I know.” Aaron looked up curiously. “Anypony I’ve heard of?” he asked. “I doubt it,” Celestia continued. “Her name is Rosepetal. She owns a small florist’s shop in Las Pegasus. Although she is skilled at her art she has never gained a huge amount of attention. She has no grand destiny, no great purpose to fulfil, but she is happy in her life.” Celestia went silent again. Aaron waited for her to finish the story, but she just continued walking quietly. “I’m not sure I follow,” he said eventually. “That is because she actually has nothing to do with this discussion,” Celestia replied. “In fact, she is not even real. I have never met a florist called Rosepetal; I just made her up. She is nothing but words from my mouth.” Celestia stopped again and turned to look at Aaron. “But this raises a problem,” she said. “At one time that is all I was as well. Here and now it does not seem strange to say that Rosepetal does not exist, and not too long ago you would have said the same of me. But now you have met me, should this change your answer?” Aaron’s head began to hurt. He had had various conversations remarkably similar to this one before and was familiar with the problem, but that didn’t make it any less tricky. Over the years, as science advanced, humanity’s understanding of the universe sometimes shifted to the point that entire concepts had to be redefined. It was like how the discovery of thousands of objects looking like Pluto had effectively broken the existing notion of what a planet was. “I see your point,” he said. “Where should you draw the line between fiction and reality?” “And if there is no line,” Celestia added, “then is the concept of ‘reality’ even meaningful any more?” Celestia started walking again, and Aaron followed closely behind, trying to get the concept of reality to align properly in his mind. “I guess ultimately it might just be up to us to define reality,” he said. “The word, I mean. For instance, maybe you only became 'real' when you crossed over to our world.” “But if I return,” Celestia continued, “do I stop being real then? And what if you accompanied me as well? Would you still be real?” “Okay, yeah, I guess that definition doesn’t work,” he conceded. “It’s certainly interesting to consider, though.” “Indeed,” Celestia said. “It raises another issue as well, but I am hesitant to mention it.” “You’ve got me curious now, though,” Aaron said. “What is it?” Celestia paused for a moment. “Two weeks ago, I discovered that the world I had lived in for my entire life was actually part of a story told in this world. I have believed for thousands of years that my world was real, never having any reason to doubt it. So what is there to stop the same being true of your world?” Aaron stopped walking and glanced around nervously, half expecting to spot a TV camera. “Ok, you’re right,” he said. “You shouldn’t have mentioned it.” The conversation reached a natural pause and Aaron looked around again, suddenly realising where they were. Instead of following the drier path across the fields that he had been aiming for, they had ended up walking along the bank of the stream again. “Wait a minute,” he said. “How did we get here?” Celestia had walked up to the wall by the stream, and was looking around for something. “That was my fault,” she said. “I decided to make a slight detour. There is somepony I thought you could meet.” She started trotting away along the wall, and Aaron had to run in order to keep up with her. “What do you mean, ‘meet’?” he asked. “I didn’t know you had met anyone else.” Celestia then came to a halt and looked over the wall into one of the fields. Aaron stopped next to her and followed her gaze, seeing a horse cantering around near the far end of the field. Celestia shook her head and snorted. Aaron did a double-take at the action; that was the most horse-like mannerism he had ever seen her use. This seemed to get the horse’s attention, and he turned and cantered over to them. He headed straight for Celestia, and Aaron was momentarily worried that he was going to vault the wall and attack, but instead he slowed to a standstill just on the other side, eyeing the two of them inquisitively. “Who’s this?” Aaron asked. “This is Chestnut,” Celestia answered. “I met him a little under a week ago, and have managed to gain his trust after visiting a few times.” She bowed her head slightly and the horse did likewise. He then walked up to her and they nuzzled against each other. A wide smile spread across her face, and Aaron found himself smiling as well, but something did concern him. “I hate to have to say this,” he said, “but you know he’s not like Equestrian ponies right? He hasn’t tried to—” Celestia snorted with laughter, causing Chestnut to start slightly. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He’s been a perfect gentlecolt. I appreciate your concern, but I can look after myself. Besides, I suspect that he’s been gelded, poor thing.” She then gestured towards Aaron with her head and Chestnut looked over, eyeing him cautiously. “Go on,” Celestia said. “Say hello.” “Er,” Aaron responded, feeling slightly imposed upon. “I’ve no idea what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “Neither did I,” Celestia said. “It took a bit of trial and error to get it right at first. Particularly error,” she added. “He did not take kindly to my wings.” “I can imagine,” Aaron said. He raised his hand over the wall but hesitated. He was wary about trying to touch an animal that could probably seriously injure him by accident, but when he looked round at Celestia she looked so eager for him to make friends with Chestnut that he continued anyway. He moved forward slowly, holding his hand out towards Chestnut, and the stallion took a step towards him in response. But as Chestnut lowered his head towards the hand, Aaron changed his mind and stepped back. “I’ve never been good with large animals,” Aaron said to Celestia. “You’ve been fine with me,” Celestia replied, smirking. “That’s different,” Aaron said defensively. “You’re not… I mean he’s… Chestnut’s not… You know what I mean.” Celestia laughed as he fumbled with his words, but her attention had turned back to Chestnut. The two of them were looking at each other, moving around as if they were communicating. Aaron couldn’t help but feel left out of the conversation. “I hadn’t thought of this,” he said. “I didn’t even consider what would happen if you met a real horse. Are they very different here?” “Less than you might expect,” Celestia replied, not turning away from Chestnut. “I was surprised by how quickly I learned to communicate with him.” Without warning, she tensed her back legs and leapt over the wall, joining Chestnut on the far side. The stallion reared up in excitement, and the two of them set off at a canter around the field. Aaron watched them from the wall, a pensive expression on his face. This was quite a surreal sight – more so than everything else from the past two weeks. It was great to see Celestia enjoying herself, for whatever reason, but it still felt a bit odd. He couldn’t tell if it might be jealousy, feeling left out as the two of them played with each other. Or was it just that it was so strange to see a princess galloping about a field? What was strangest, though, was seeing the transformation she went through. It was remarkably subtle, just small features of her behaviour shifting, but she looked more and more like a real horse by the second. This was even stranger than when she was eating earlier; now he thought about it, that had been more like she was pretending to be a horse. This was something much more real. She really was a horse, and it fitted her perfectly. After a while, she turned and galloped back over towards the wall, leaving Chestnut cantering idly at the end of the field. As she approached the horse gradually faded away again until Princess Celestia came to a halt in front of him. “You look like you’re enjoying yourself,” Aaron said. “I am,” Celestia said with a wide smile. Here eyes were practically glowing, and she was bouncing around restlessly on her hooves. “I know he’s not a true replacement, but he reminds me of Equestria, and it’s nice to feel that connection again.” “That’s good,” Aaron said. “You know, I could go and…” He trailed off as Chestnut appeared next to Celestia again. The stallion was pawing at the ground with his hooves and shifted around, clearly indicating that he wanted to play again. Celestia looked back and forth between him and Aaron indecisively. “I could go ahead and set up camp if you want,” Aaron said. “If you want to stick around here, you can.” “I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” Celestia said. “Don’t worry about it,” Aaron said. “I don’t want to get in your way if you’re making new friends.” “Thank you,” Celestia said, “I appreciate…” She stopped, suddenly looking thoughtful. Turning round, she looked back at Chestnut, watching him silently for a long while. “Are you okay?” Aaron asked. She stayed silent, just watching the horse cantering back and forward. When she turned round again, Aaron was surprised to see that her face had gone back to its old, inscrutable expression. “I am fine,” Celestia replied with a nod. “But I think it best that we make our way back. I would not want you to have to wait up for me.” Before he could protest, she leapt over the wall again and started to walk back along the stream towards the woods. Aaron stood for a while, unsure what he had just seen. He glanced back at the stallion, who was still cantering around by the wall. Chestnut probably had as much idea as he did what had happened. “Celestia! Wait!” he called as he ran after her. When he caught up, she looked round at him, greeting him with a surprisingly warm smile. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “I am fine,” Celestia repeated. “Honestly, you can stay if you want to,” Aaron said. “No, I would prefer to return,” Celestia said. “This isn’t because I mentioned your friends earlier, it it?” he asked. “I know it must be hard being separated from them, but—” “It is not that,” Celestia said, shaking her head. “I am just tired after a long day, and think we should get some sleep.” “Come on, Celestia,” Aaron persisted. “A minute ago you were running around a field, and now you’re just ‘tired’? There’s something else going on.” “I am fine,” she said again. “Look, Aaron, I am grateful for your help and your company, but you do not need to pry into every aspect of my life. Please.” Aaron buried his head in his hand, trying to keep hold of his impatience, but he had had enough at this point. Holding his hand out in front of her, he drew Celestia to a standstill and stood in front of her. “Look, this is starting to get old, so I’m just going to say it,” he said sternly. “I’m trying to help you here, but there’s nothing I can do if you’re not going to let me. I wish you would just talk about things with me instead of trying to hide them all the time. I thought we were making progress, but now you’ve gone and shut up again just because… actually, I have absolutely no idea why this time. “I get that you don’t want me to worry about you, but if you keep acting like this I’m going to worry anyway. The only person I’m trying to help here is you. Please, don’t make this hard on yourself. Just tell me what’s wrong.” They stared at each other in silence. Aaron suddenly became aware of the fact that he had just raised his voice to a very powerful magical being, and winced as he started to worry how she might react. But she didn’t get angry. She just stood there quietly, her face eerily still. When she finally spoke her voice was perfectly level, held with a calculated calmness. “I can’t,” she said. “Why not?” Aaron asked, trying not to shout at her. “Don’t you trust me yet? And seriously, who am I going to tell?” He held his arms wide, gesturing to the empty countryside that surrounded them. “I haven’t even told anyone you exist yet!” “You don’t understand,” she said. “I just… I can’t!” Aaron immediately regretted deciding to do this. Celestia’s entire demeanour was shifting again, but there was nothing natural about this change. She still held herself tall, but she was starting to shake as if her legs were about to buckle. She began to truly look her age, her wings sagging and her face falling, losing all expression. Aaron held a hand out towards her, but she shied away from it, shaking her head. “I… I’ll see you back in the woods,” she said, before galloping past him and heading along the stream into the distance. ~ ~ ~ Aaron dropped his rucksack and sat on it, holding his head in his hands. What just happened? He thought to himself. He had hardly expected a warm reaction, but still… He sat there for ages, unable to work up the courage to follow. The final rays of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon, and as he watched the sun set Aaron started to worry that he had lost Celestia. It felt like such a petty thing to think; he had always sort of hoped that she would leave eventually, that she would be rescued and return to Equestria. But he felt like he had managed to make a friend in her, and he didn’t want to be the one to destroy that. Especially when he was just trying to help her. Nearly half an hour later, he finally stood up and started to make his way back towards the woods. He had no idea if he was even going to be able to sleep now, but maybe then he would have time to work out what he would say to her in the morning. It wasn’t going to be easy, but for both of their sakes he needed to try.