Twilight's mouth hung open. I would have guessed she was comatose if not for the occasional twitch indicating some thought.
'What was in that letter?'
Spike had come down with Princess Celestia's reply. Twilight had hastily ripped it open and began to read. Her expression grew more and more stiffened the further she read, but it wasn't the stiffness of a statue. It was the fullness of a strongly sealed boiling pot, seconds before it exploded. Before the inevitable explosion, I reached over and picked up the letter she had dropped. I wasn't sure if it was within my rights to read the personal correspondence between a royal and her protégé, but if it made Twilight react like this (no matter how over-reactive she appears to be), it had to be important. As I began reading, I almost mimicked her shock.
~~~
Dear Twilight,
I congratulate you on your prompt discovery on the source of the disturbance. However, I must admit I did not reveal all I knew to you beforehand. For this, you have my sincerest apologies, as it pains me to hold any secrets from you, my faithful student. I was aware of the nature of the source from the start, and expected you to find him quickly. I need to see the human immediately in person. To fulfill this, I have dispatched a small chariot manned by two royal guards. They shall escort you to Canterlot.
Do not worry Twilight, you are not being tested (so please, do not attempt to bring several scrolls or writing implements), but I repeat, it is important you depart with the guards in all due haste after their arrival. Due to the time constraints and the transportation in place, I sadly tell you that you cannot bring your friends. And please, do not feel pressured to over-prepare the human before we meet. It wouldn't be right for me to ask that of you or him on such short notice. Regardless, I expect that you shall arrive within two hours, approximately when I lower the sun and when Luna awakes to raise the moon. Again, I apologize for withholding information from you, but it is important I speak with the human.
Your mentor and Princess,
Celestia
~~~
Spike was the first one to break the silence, as both Twilight and I were still flabbergasted.
"Whoa, does the letter have a spell that finally makes Twilight stop talking?"
The bad attempt at a joke snapped both me and Twilight out of it.
I started shouting. "She knew! SHE KNEW I'D COME HERE!"
"Calm down, Robin! I'm sure she has her reasons! I'm one of the closest ponies to her, and she didn't even tell me beforehand," Twilight whimpered, ears flattened. She looked genuinely hurt and confused.
My righteous justice deflated, seeing Twilight like this. I continued onto a different train of thought. "Ugh, well... If she knows about me or how I got here, maybe she knows how to get me back." My mood was dark, a bittersweet mix of diminishing hatred, fresh guilt, and fleeting hope.
However, Twilight grew extremely optimistic in response to my idea.
"You - you're right! Don't you see? Celestia probably already figured out a way for you to get back home!"
My hope sparked, but skepticism is important when it comes to distant hopes. "Yes... perhaps you're right. We'll find out when we meet her in person."
Twilight nearly jumped at this and ran quickly through her wooden abode to where I presume her laboratory was. She called back, "I have to get you your cloak before the experiment is finished!"
I nodded for a moment then stopped. I looked at the patch of wooden floor in front of me, as if I were discerning a secret. 'Why would she need to get it before the experiment is done?'
I looked up and received my answer in the form of a half-pink robe that resembled my previously regal purple and gold one.
"Twilight... what is this?"
The unicorn behind the cloak was panting. "Well, *huff*, Robin... well you see--"
"WHY IS IT PINK!?" I blurted out in despair.
She recoiled. "The magi-chemical mix used to analyze objects normally takes a full day to react properly. Before it finishes, it sorta stains the object pink... for a while." She grinned sheepishly.
My eyes stared at the half-pink half-purple monstrosity of fashion in shocked silence. I grabbed it from Twilight's magic and just gaped at it.
"How long...?"
"Excuse me?"
"How long is 'a while'?" I demanded
If it was possible, the pony looked even meeker.
"A little over two hours." I could've sworn I heard a *squee* of sorts when she half-heartedly grinned and blushed in embarrassment. My hand met my face. Hard.
I looked at the robe again. 'At least... at least it's dyed cleanly down the middle. Maybe I can just claim it was some odd fad in my kingdom that I didn't agree with.'
Twilight added, "Well, it progressively fades, so most of the pink should be gone by the time you start talking to the Princesses. Just hide the left side of your body until then, okay?"
"Ugh, okay."
"Oh!" Twilight brightened. "And apparently, Rarity is adept at removing vomit stains, so your shirt is as clean as a whistle!" As she said this, she lifted my shirt out of the bag she carried out earlier. I thanked her for getting it cleaned, and put it on. I donned the half-pink stained cloak over the shirt and noted that besides the color, it felt exactly the same. The enchantments were still intact, lending me some sense of security.
Twilight spoke up again, "And also, Rarity was really impressed by the skill of human fashion artists, so she mapped the design of your shirt to pony proportions to be used as formal wear. She asked me to tell you in case you'd care."
One of my eyebrows raised at this. "Well, I suppose that's one way to leave a good mark on this world after I leave." I chuckled a little bit. "It seems everywhere I go, a part of there comes with me. First, the cloak and undergarments from Plegia, then the outer armored parts from Ylisse, and now, I got a makeover from Equestria that made the robe half-pink. It's like I'm a living collage. At least, until the pink wears off, but I don't think I'll forget the day I spent in Equestria with my robe stained pink." I suddenly raised my head and perked my ears. 'It sounds like... two heavy cavalry, one light war machine, thirty meters west.' My instincts pointed to the right. My eyes followed to meet the front door. Before Twilight could ask what I was doing, there was a knock. I narrowed my eyes.
"They're here."
"Who's here?"
"The two guardsponies and the chariot. It's almost been an hour since we've received the letter." I thought, 'It must take about an hour to travel from or to Canterlot via chariot, then. Huh, I imagined the capital would be farther away.'
I asked Twilight about it as we made our way to the door, "How far away is Canterlot? If it's an hour away, it can only be a few miles at most. Not to mention I can see it from the window of your treehouse"
She tilted her head and paused for a moment. "Canterlot is... roughly 50 miles away."
"What?! But I thought we were travelling via chariot." 'And if it's 50 miles away, it is MUCH larger than I thought!'
We reached the door and the reason became clear as Twilight opened it.
"Well, a magical chariot driven by two royal guard pegasi is much faster than one on the ground..."
I blanched. "Of course... of course..."
We made our way to the elaborately decorated chariot. Twilight cantered up to the two 'guardsponies' who would fly us. They exchanged a few words and the guards nodded. As she walked back to join me in the carriage, one of the guards looked back at me and stared. '...Hello?' Not knowing how to greet someone about to fly me somewhere ('Sumia was always better at that sort of thing...'), I simply nodded with a solemn expression, similar to how I'd motion to my soldiers to execute planned formations in battle. To my surprise, he nodded back with a look of dedication not dissimilar to the faces of my soldiers before they fought.
Before anything else could happen, Twilight planted herself next to me and called out, "Alright gentlecolts, let's get moving!"
To my surprise, we almost instantly lurched forward and took off, violating any laws of physics or balance I previously held dear.
~~~
"Oh geez -- Robin, are you okay?"
Twilight leaned down to see my green face, attached to my hunched over, quivering figure.
"I never was one for.. *urk*... flying."
"But I thought you said you rode pegasi at high speeds into battle?"
"Good gods -- by high speeds I didn't mean 70 miles an hour! Your pegasi are ridiculously stronger and faster than any I've seen." I almost gagged again. "And I'm sure your race's magic has something to do with how blatantly we disobeyed the laws of physics." I shook my head at how the chariot was perfectly straight the entire time, even though all support came from two pairs of wings towards the front.
'At least we made it in one piece, and if this castle is the capitol, thank the gods it's impossible to miss.'
With that in mind, I looked around the outside of the castle. With my motion sickness forgotten, I marveled at the beauty of the castle and the surrounding city, its seamless, nature-embraced construction accentuated by the time of day: sunset.
'It's... beautiful.' Knowing some amount of architecture, I simply marveled at how the castle seemed to capture and disperse the fading sunlight, flooding the surrounding mountainside in a cascade of orange phosphorescence. 'It reminds me of the place we met Naga... Mount Prism, I believe it was called.' I looked around again at the diffusing shades of gold blanketing us as we walked to the front doors of the castle. 'I wouldn't be surprised if this mountain were named the same. And there's some irony in meeting Celestia and Luna, Princesses of the Sun and Moon, on a fairy-tale-like mountain, almost exactly like the one where Chrom and I met Naga. I feel like this meeting is fated somehow... but it feels like there's something I don't understand. It's like I'm still missing something.' I hated the feeling of forgetting something that could be important. It normally resulted in risking the life of a soldier. 'And if this castle is anything to go by, the productivity and wealth of this nation must be ridiculous.' Something figuratively slammed into the back of my head. 'Does this place even have war? Or even a noticeable crime rate? Nothing in the books I've read about politics ever mentioned anything about wartime diplomacy. The only thing of any sort of conflict I noticed is about how Princess Luna was corrupted by Nightmare Moon and imprisoned for a thousand years... Muriel would have a field day with the implications of all this.'
My attention was drawn back towards the castle doors when two guards stopped us. Twilight, who had been silent to allow me to appreciate Canterlot and the palace in all its glory, now wore a puzzled look. Her look was met by the stern glares of two guards and the sunlight glinting off their armor and crossing spears.
"Ummm, excuse me? I received a letter from Princess Celestia. She wanted to see me and this human" -*she motioned a hoof towards me*- "as soon as possible, soo, heh, I think we should just be making our way to the throne room right about now-"
"I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle." One of the guards interrupted. "But we were told by the Princesses that Robin shall meet them alone."
Twilight goggled at this with her mouth agape, and I, panicking, looked to her for support.
"I'm.. I'm sorry, what?" Twilight was still confused.
I thought of an explanation to stop her from melting down. "Well, if I'm acting as a formal diplomat, it wouldn't do well if you, a citizen of this country who barely knows me, would try to frequently provide input that may be emotionally influenced."
Twilight still looked confused and started panicking a bit as well. "B-but, Celestia asked to see us together on the letter! Oh no, she didn't, did she?!"
I tried to calm her down. "Please, don't worry, Twilight. Although it's not my forte, I've learned how to control my tongue in the presence of people -- ponies, I mean, of power. It comes with the job. And I feel minorly prepared from the books you gave me. Besides, Princess Celestia sounded reasonable enough: she told us not to strain ourselves over appearances."
"But... oh, okay, fine. You should be okay, I've known her since I was a foal. Just, try not to say anything stupid, okay?"
I nodded and gave a confident smile. "Okay." 'I am not confident at all right now.'
I slowly turned back around to face the guards, who opened the great doors, and motioned for me to follow closely by. I waved at Twilight through the closing doors behind me; my last sight of her was her sad but hopeful face and her half-hearted wave back. I walked inside the palace.
~~~
Twilight stared at the sealed doors in front of her. She was left alone with the two guards who had flown Robin and her in the chariot. She slowly turned around, saw the two just idling about, and walked towards them. Surely she could make some idle chitchat while waiting for Robin to finish his talk with the Princesses. She gulped again at the thought of Robin's fate being invested in his knowledge of a world he didn't know, but before she knew it, she was standing in front of the guards. They awkwardly looked at each other, and then at her again. Twilight blinked, quickly composed herself, and opened her mouth to say something simple like a comment on the weather. She lifted her head a bit and took a breath, but as it was about to leave her mouth, it suddenly got caught in her throat.
'No...'
Her pupils contracted as a thought thrust itself into the forefront of her mind, blocking all other impulses out.
'That guard called him Robin...'
She turned her head towards the palace again, mouth still open.
'...I never told the Princesses his name.'
~~~
I continued walking through the castle. The guards had not led me far, but the anxiety I had built up made every step seem to consume an eternity. The anxiety was not simply from the fact that I was being led by armed guards to a duo of powerful rulers I knew nothing about, not to mention how they apparently knew a good amount of information on me. No, the premonition I was feeling was caused by the missing piece: the idea that I had forgotten something. This impulse surprisingly was not fading away over time, but it was actually getting stronger the closer we made our way to the throne room. I clenched my eyes shut.
'Why... why?! What is it that I could've forgotten? What haven't I figured out? What am I missing?!'
I almost wanted to slam my palms against my forehead to help jog the memory if I wasn't convinced the guards might take that as a sign of hostility.
'Okay. Deep breaths... Think, Robin, think! Recall everything that happened after this morning.' I saw a mental image of Twilight, telling me she had sent a letter to Celestia stating she had found me. 'That letter... wait, what did Twilight say she wrote in it?' I thought harder, and was rewarded with snippets of Twilight's words.
"I didn't want to reveal too much through the letter. It would look better for you to introduce yourself."
I grit my teeth and kept thinking.
"But I did mention how you've acted kindly and responsibly, and that you're a human. I tried describing how you look so the ponies and guards at Canterlot wouldn't freak out too much. Though, I didn't mention your name."
My eyes shot open.
"Since you're probably going to meet the Princesses soon, I figured you'd be able to tell them about yourself personally."
'And... the guard... he said that --'
"We were told by the Princesses that Robin shall meet them alone."
" - Robin shall meet them alone - "
" - Robin - "
" - alone."
I stiffened immediately.
My mind reached the conclusion I had not found before. The idea that my premonitions foreshadowed. My reaction was fear, confusion... rejection.
'It... it doesn't make any sense.'
I noticed the grand doors to the throne room only a few dozen paces ahead.
'They're not even the same species. Dragons are enemies of ponies!'
We reached the doors. I unconsciously nodded at the guards who pushed the doors open.
I stepped inside. My eyes were held straight forward. I refused to believe it. My mind refused to take the final plunge into the conclusion that was irrefutably thrust in front of me.
I shakily took a step. Two. Three. I could take no more.
I looked forward. I beheld Celestia...
...And everything clicked.
I fell to my knees.
Celestia rose from her throne.
She began to transform.
Her figure was bathed in a divine, blue-green glow. She rose onto two limbs; her figure slimmed and grew taller. Her hair burned white, then faded to green, and her regalia melted from metal into cloth; both unfurled in the same nonexistent, ethereal breeze, flowing around her. Her eyes closed, and her eyelids flashed; upon opening them, her irises were no longer purple, but a shade of gold resembling her unearthly light. She was now standing tall on the wide throne, emitting a warm green and blue glow, almost floating off the ground on some hidden wind. Her regalia was replaced by a dress that flowed down to her ankles, seemingly made from starlight, flowing like a woven nebula. The light surrounding her transformation dimmed, and she began to descend from the throne.
She stepped down, and moved towards me. She seemed to float rather than walk.
She approached me, and spoke with a voice that echoed throughout eternity. There was no mistake.
"Rise, Robin. Do not bow, for I am no god. I am no creator."
I tried to stand, and rose onto one leg. I could rise no more.
All I could do was say her name, the name that had been gently pressing against the back of my mind until it finally made its way through, the name of a deity that had helped me once before, the name of the deity that would help me once more.
"Naga..."