I stirred not that evening, but the next morning. I could hear the door being opened and bolted upright. I had removed my robes and weapons, both lying on the table. I found it odd that my robes were folded and cleaned. It meant that I did not hear the door open twice before now. I recognized the face of Princess Celestia looking at me. Her gaze reminded me of two things: I didn’t have to go for my blade and that I should be past that.
“Anaria shola princess,” I rubbed my eyes and relaxed. “Forgive me that was a little rude first thing in the morning. I mean to say good morning princess.”
Her smile hid her irritation. “What did you say to me the first time?”
“I asked for your business. As I said, I was-”
She held up her hoof, “you were defensive.” She glanced over to the desk. “Though the candle has melted, that flame hasn’t even flickered while you were asleep.”
“I had a good teacher,” I glanced over to the unsettling black flame, “one of the best.” I reached out with my hand and it snuffed itself. “Conjured fire can be adjusted to be painful, luminescent, or whatever I wanted. That was the only lesson about fire he ever gave me. Lessons that were about a specific spell that involved fire built on that singular idea.” I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I focused, seeing the fire in my mind, and as I reached out my hand a small orb of green fire erupted in my palm. I calmly opened my eyes to see the mesmerizing flames. “Eventually I learned to control it. My master claimed it was Flawless.” I quickly closed my hand, snuffing the flames in an instant. “I disagree though. I find my technique flawed. It lacks emotion…purpose.”
Celestia smiled at me, “you do have quite the fair bit of control. If this was a time of war I would gladly fight by your side.”
I gave her a skeptical look, “it isn’t right?”
“Yes Val, there is no immediate violence upon us in Equestria. Now, I can tell by your markings,” she pointed her hoof towards me, “that you’ve lived a painful life.”
I looked down at my body, magical burns, scars, and even needle tracks. “It’s a very colorful past to say the least.” I reached up and ran my fingers along my neck where I could still feel the impressions of the suckers of a tentacle that grabbed me. “Every battlefield left its own mark on me.” I chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t like to reminisce about such things, though I find it easy to slip into those thoughts. I don’t want war to define me again.”
“Yes, that is why I came here today. My sister Luna and I have decided to let you grow accustomed to things around the castle at least.”
“What about my study? Has it been a burden in your audience chambers?”
“Actually we made sure they were moved away quickly so I could hold court. We had to move everything into an unused chamber, but some unicorns began to reassemble a study out of it last afternoon.”
“And what about my phoenix Crest?”
“Your phoenix has been outside a lot,” she gave me a playful smirk, “seeing the sights as it were.”
“He does that a lot. I feel like I spoil him sometimes. Giving him so much freedom I mean.”
“Why yes, I feel like that sometimes with Philomena.”
“And who is Philomena?”
“Philomena is my phoenix. Yours has such lovely black and purple plumage.”
“Let me guess, Philomena has red and golden plumage right?”
She nodded. “Please stand up; you must need to stretch after being asleep for a day.”
“Beg pardon,” I gave her a shy smile, “but I would like to get dressed if I am to be getting up; my pants and belt at the very least.”
Princess Celestia giggled, “I’ll wait outside for you to get dressed. I have nothing to attend to today so I will escort you around the castle.” She promptly left, the door closing behind her.
I smirked; she was cute when she giggled like that. I unfolded my clothes and removed the sheathed sword from my belt. In reality, it was just a focusing dagger hidden by a glamor spell. After dressing calmly I saw Crest on the windowsill, I gave the window a quick glance and opened it to let him in.
“Like it out there?” Crest replied with a high note. I spent enough time around him to know how he felt with a note’s pitch. “Well, that’s good since it seems like we’ll be spending time around the palace. The Princess is graciously giving me the tour.” He sung a slow flat for me. “Yes, go ahead and get some rest.”
After Crest perched himself on the table I left the room. There was no need for my robes and cloak. “Did I keep you very long highness?”
“Celestia will do Val,” she said calmly. “You could’ve taken the time to brush your mane at least.”
I ran a hand through my frazzled hair and snickered. “I’ve not taken good care of it in years. Ashes of the Firelands, life or death struggles in the depths of the ocean, all-nighters trying to leave my world; I don’t think there was much time in there for hair care.” I tapped a finger against my chin, my face coated in a contemplative look. “I suppose I could’ve taken care of it while I was studying, but I may have lost my train of thought.”
Celestia giggled. “Tell me about these Firelands.”
We began to walk down the spiral staircases leading down the tower while I began. “Naturally tied to my home, Azeroth, are four other worlds, one of them is the Firelands. The lord of the Firelands sought to invade Azeroth twice. I hadn’t fought against him the first time, and I threw down my weapon during the siege on his citadel during the second attempt. I was done trying to claim glory in war by then and our leader accepted that I was sick of it. I fought against his brother years before, one of many who laid siege to and even pressed deep into his stronghold. I didn’t do it alone, that would’ve been lunacy. I volunteered to head in with a small force into that fortress and we all came out in some ragged semblance of the word alive. At least we all survived right?
“A ‘semblance of alive’ doesn’t sound very comforting.”
“We had many skilled healers, even able to restore the dead to their bodies. I could even do it…eventually. With an orb of magic designed to draw in a person’s soul and return it to their body through powerful arcane magics. In time, I learned to do this while in battle, though I still had to recreate the orb after every use. Crude but effective would be the best way for me to put it.”
“And what are the other three lands?”
“They are Deepholm, an earthen realm. Abyssal Maw, an aquatic world. Lastly, there's the air domain called Skywall. They aren't individual worlds per se, more like a sphere, each land taking up a quarter. There is one other world I'm very familiar with as well: the shattered world of Draenor, though most call it the Outlands now. Then there is one other world I am not quite sure of, its true definition has always eluded me, it is called the Emerald Dream. The druids of my world guard the Dream’s secrets well. Those are the worlds I know of, but there is plenty of evidence that there are other worlds.”
“So you had the speculation that somewhere away from such conflict existed right?”
I smiled, “that was the theory. That theory brought me here.”
We finally reached the bottom of the staircase, leading out into a long hallway with a few guards along the way. Guards aside, I recognized this hall. It was the first glimpse of the palace I had. How I hadn’t noticed before, I must have been more tired than I expected before. As we continued I always saw the castle walls, knowing there was more out there to see. That was the solemn truth about going somewhere new: you never saw everything. Soon enough she was pointing out several rooms that I expected to learn about, off limits places, private studies, the kitchens, dining hall, even where my things were. close to the end of the day she led me to a high balcony.
“Val,” Celestia said to me, “I wish to formally welcome you to Canterlot.”
It was a sight to behold, familiar architecture from home meshed with an almost human flair. This was a rather simple, and yet elegant, thing before my eyes. What amazed me were the people. Ponies, to be more accurate I suppose. I saw unicorns, pegasi, and even normal ponies everywhere.
“Anar’alah belore,” I eventually managed to say. I was indeed an unholy pilgrim in a paradise, or at least that is how I saw myself. My eyes were wide, a broad smile upon my face. Such wonders I have not seen since I was a child in Quel’Thalas, conjuring my first sparks of magic.
Celestia’s laughter snapped me back to my senses. “And that was..?”
I turned to look back at her smiling at me. “I said ‘by the light of the sun,’ not a common thing for one of my practice to say.” I smiled, “I found myself in awe of the sight and the Thallasian just slipped out. This is just once city correct?”
“Yes my dear, but you will need to get accustomed to our way of life. More importantly,” she giggled, “I think you should get your native language out of your system a little more.”
I stifled a laugh, “I doubt it will subside entirely. I’ll still blurt it out some if I get upset or surprised.” I looked up at the clear sky with a smile, “perhaps if I find someone for me I would also want to call them dalah’surfal, ‘my love,’ from time to time.”
“Do you know many languages Val?”
“I know a few; both Thallasian and, to an extent, its sister language of Darnassian. As part of my practice I had to learn Eredun, at least enough to know what kinds of names demons were calling me behind my back.” We shared a laugh.
“Like what kinds of names?”
I gave her a mockingly superior face. “Meddling dog, miserable insect, worthless mortal,” I smirked, “and a few more tasteless things.”
“Hearing things like that had to be rather disrupting.”
I shrugged, having grown to ignore it after a while. “I also studied in a mostly human school so I learned their language as well. Based on the inflections though, I’m willing to wager your language to be very close to the human language.”
“That would be rather astute of you, provided you are correct.”
I sighed. “Your world is a precious one, a paradise I have no words for. Though I have been here for such a short time, I feel that I must protect it when called upon. In the meantime though I would love to learn about your way of life and perhaps adjust myself from my normal source of magic to the natural flow of this world.” Though the latter will be more painful than you can imagine, I added silently. It is true; feeling the loss of magic after bathing in its might all my life nearly drove me insane. I’ll have to temper myself or drive myself nuts. “Do you have any advice for the latter?”
“I have a student who will be far more than willing to teach the merits of magic to you. Perhaps you will enjoy comparing notes with her.” She gave me a wiry grin.
I caught how she was thinking. “I’ll try to study hard, but I’m not sure I’d be too interested in her though, I like experienced women.”
“She fought against Nightmare Moon and a spirit of disharmony aptly named Discord.” Celestia was starting to sound like she was trying to play matchmaker.
I grinned, looking past Celestia. “Dora-” I sighed. “I’m sorry, I mean how do you fare Princess Luna?”
“Your language is colorful,” replied Luna pleasantly, “do you not agree sister?”
Celestia merely smiled as she turned to look at her sister. “He’s adjusting Luna. He loves the view though.”
I grinned. “How is the city at night highness?”
“Wait until sundown and you can see for yourself,” Luna replied with a smile. With that, she withdrew from my sight.
I returned to staring out over the city, an ear-to-ear grin on my face. “I look forward to it.”