Celestia’s Prophet
Part 5: The Color of Blood
Celestia smiled contentedly over a chessboard, clacking a white knight onto a certain square and leaning back. Across from her sat little filly Twilight Sparkle. Sometimes, quiet time and meaningful meditation spoke volumes over regular schoolwork. Being a Princess, she could certainly appreciate the absolute quiet around them. The spell on the door and window certainly helped, but that was beside the point. The heavy red velvet curtains weighed themselves against the brilliant summer sun, casting the room into a pleasant pinkish glow.
Twilight Sparkle’s little tongue was sticking out and up in concentration. Celestia had laid two traps on the board, and was waiting to see if she could see them.
A tap-tap-tapping at the door turned both of their heads. “Come!” Celestia said melodically. The quiet afternoon had put her in a wonderful mood. A maid pushed in a cart bearing a tea set. “Oh, is that the jade set, Broom Brush? How wonderful!”
The mare blushed a little. She’d dug out a particularly old and fancy tea set for one of Twilight Sparkle’s first lessons. The sun’s favored foal deserved some pampering after all. The green and gold tea cups and kettle were simply lovely to look at. Leaning and serving the Princess first, she gave both of them steaming cups. “Here we are,” after making sure milk and sugar had been offered, she left the cart and bowed herself out.
“Remember Twilight, savor then sip,” Celestia reminded. “It’s not a soda to be gulped down.”
“R-right!” the little filly squeaked, nodding and looking down into her cup. She watched Celestia lift her cup, take in the scent, then sip daintily. Twilight mimicked.
“Most of our sense of taste comes from smell, so it’s actually best to sniff it first,” Celestia said with a smile. “Isn’t that funny?”
Twilight nodded with an innocent smile, sipping a second time as she considered the board. She nudged a pawn forward one space, off to the side, to free her rook. A rather direct approach, but she was still learning.
Celestia leaned forward to move a piece with her magic, but gave a little yip of pain quite suddenly. Three drops of tea went down her front, dark and foreboding. She looked at the lip of her teacup. It had broken off due to sheer age, cutting her lip only slightly. Something silvery had spotted the sharp edge. Blood. Celestia’s face fell. Gingerly, she set down the ancient cup and picked up a napkin to wipe her mouth. Pushing the tiny piece that had come off out of her mouth with her tongue, she touched her lip a few times to make sure it wasn’t flowing.
“Are you okay Princess?!” Twilight looked horrified at her. “You’re bleeding!”
So she bled silver. Celestia knew it was a sign. Or perhaps a warning. The Prophet had gotten rid of General Night Light rather easily only a week or so ago, was this a warning that she could do the same to her? “I’m alright Twilight, it’s just a little cut,” she assure the purple filly. A quick little flick of healing magic and the cut was gone, but Celestia was not so foolish as to think that it was circumstance. “How about we go for a walk and get some fresh air?” she offered, rising. “I think my legs are falling asleep. Have you seen the royal gardens yet?”
“I haven’t seen them, no!” Twilight looked at her, completely star-struck. “I would love to!” she leapt off of her little sitting pillow, forgetting the chess game entirely and bolting for the door with all her childish energy. Celestia watched the door flicker purple a few times, then inch open. “Oof!” the filly had managed to wedge herself in the inched-openway, then fall on her belly. “I’m stuck!” she whimpered, flailing a little.
“Heheh,” a guard’s deep voice could be heard as he pushed the door the rest of the way open for her. “There y’go, little one,” he said with some affection.
“Thanks!” Twilight was already ready to bolt down the hallway. Celestia followed, smiling and shaking her head. The guard that had spoken winked at her as she passed and she gave a nod. Following the galloping filly at a brisk pace, the Princess chuckled to herself. She’d forgotten what it was like to have foals under her hooves. She’d not had a young protégé like Twilight in some time. So young and full of ener— “OOF!” Twilight crashed headlong into somepony, and Celestia hurried around the corner in concern. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Twilight untangled herself from a white colt exactly her age.
“Oh, it’s okay!” He was a blonde-maned thing with a compass on his rump, and quite possibly the most dazzling smile Twilight had seen in a while. “I crashed into a cider barrel once during fall festival, and my horn went right into it! Boooosh!” he flailed his front hooves high. Twilight giggle-squealed. A nearby butler smirked, herding the colt along as they went.
“Oh, hullo Aunt Celestia!” the colt smiled gaily and waved. Celestia jerked to a halt, her eyes wide. Aunt Celestia?
“I didn’t know you had any relatives here in the palace, Princess,” Twilight said, looking up at her. “Do I get to meet the rest of your family since I’m your student now? Who’s this?” Celestia’s mouth was a little dry and she couldn’t make herself speak. She only stared at the handsome young colt who was staring up at her as though expecting a hug.
“Oh, hullo there,” Celestia smiled carefully, leaning down to nuzzle with him for a moment. “May I introduce Twilight Sparkle, my new personal student,” the alicorn worded herself carefully to learn more. “Introduce yourself, like a proper gentlecolt?” she said with a feminine chuckle.
“Oh! Uhm! Yes!” the colt straightened his shoulders, throwing out his chest a little. “I am Prince Blueblood, of the Western Herds!”
“You are?” Twilight said curiously.
“Mhm! I’m a descendant of Princess Platinum, of the original Unicorn Herd of Equestria!” he said proudly.
“Wow neat!” Twilight belted. “A real life Prince!”
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. Not actually Aunt Celestia then, just a term of affection. Still, she’d never heard of him and that aroused her suspicions.
“Wanna come play?” the colt said, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to have a new playmate. “The palace has a huge hedge-maze and I wanna see what’s in the middle! It’s my special talent, finding my way!” he turned profile to show her his cutie mark, a compass rose.
“I would love to!” Twilight suddenly stopped, looking up at Celestia, “Er, I mean, I would be most honored, Prince Blueblood, but the Princess and I…”
“--were just going into the royal gardens for a lesson. Perhaps another time,” Celestia smiled delicately. The alicorn wasn’t sure if the Prince was real or not. Had she truly never heard of him? There were plenty of noble families, and a few of them did descend from the original three herds of Equestria. Aunty Celestia, though… it made her uneasy. She wasn’t sure she wanted Twilight to play with a colt that had just popped into existence. The little purple filly looked glumly at the ground, and it made Celestia’s heart sink a little. She couldn’t resist that! “Mmh, very well. But I’ll be sending one of my guards with you to make sure you don’t get into any trouble. Present company notwithstanding, of course,” she smiled to the waiting butler, who bowed when he was acknowledged.
“Yayyy!” Twilight bucked then reared, bucked then reared, then both foals took off down the hallway to play together. Celestia smiled, gesturing to a guard with a silent command. He smiled, taking off after them and the butler ran in tow. Closing her wings at last, the white alicorn turned towards the nearest staircase. She had another playdate it seemed.
=-=-=-=-=
Celestia slowly sat across from the Prophet. It crossed its legs in a rather uncomfortable-looking way, so the alicorn merely sat on her haunches. “Silver,” the princess finally admitted. “I bleed silver.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Lauren said, eyeing her up and down. “It wasn’t much was it?”
“You tell me,” Celestia murmured rather crossly, opening her picnic basket to share some fruit with her.
“Well in mare’s your age it's not very common, but you are an alicorn so there’s no telling,” the creature said impishly.
Celestia refused to rise to the bait of a menstruation joke, but pinkened in the cheeks none the less. She settled instead to roll her eyes. “I cut my lip a little,” she said after a long silence. The creature did little more than eat a grape, saying nothing. “I understand your warning.” She admitted after a time. Lauren ate another grape, saying nothing. “You got rid of General Night Light, you could just as easily get rid of me.”
“Oh no, who better qualified to take care of me than you?” Lauren said, picking up the watermelon. “…do you mind?” she asked. “They don’t let me have knives.”
Celestia leaned and, with a few quick slices of magic, cubed the watermelon onto the waiting dish between them. They shared a few cubes back and forth, and the Princess let herself be petted. “I met Prince Blueblood today,” she said.
“Oh did you? Nice kid,” Lauren said with a little smirk. “Not for long, but for now.”
“You plan to kill him?!” Celestia sat bolt upright. “He is innocent! Leave him be!”
“Oh please,” Lauren rolled her eyes a little, smiling. “I’m no more threat to him than I am to you. Perhaps you’ve not been taking notes, Princess, but I can only create things. I can’t destroy them.”
“How do you mean? Your powers reach well beyond these walls and into the cracks of creation and reality.” Celestia said, brow knitting.
“Imagine if I were an artist,” Lauren said, turning and gesturing to the pile of art supplies in the corner. “And the world is my canvas. Once I’ve put paint on it, I can’t take it off without ruining the canvas. People… er, ponies, that looked at it would see the big, obvious mistakes.”
“Additive magic,” Celestia murmured, her gaze falling to the table in deep thought. “Did you ‘add’ Prince Blueblood, then? Is he one of your creations?”
“Yes of course,” Lauren nodded.
“Why?” Princess Celestia asked. “Why are you doing all this? Adding ponies in and giving them histories? Lovers and foals and Faust knows what else?”
Lauren smirked at the sentence but said nothing for a few moments. She seemed to be considering her answer. “Why not?” she asked slowly.
“What do you mean why not?” Celestia asked. “You can’t just go creating new ponies as you please and inserting them into our world! It’s unethical!”
“You should try to outlaw sex, then. I hear that’s how a lot of ponies get made,” Lauren smiled, popping another piece of melon into her mouth. The Princess went hot in the face. “Though I don’t think anypony would appreciate that.”
Celestia sighed, letting her head sag for a moment. There was really no reasoning with this thing, despite its imprisonment and perfect mortality. She just didn’t understand. “Why are you doing this?” she tried again.
“All the world’s a stage. And it’s only as interesting as the characters in it. You. Twilight Sparkle. Even Prince Blueblood. You all have your parts to play. I just make sure you’re there to play them.”
“You think you’re Faust now?” Celestia said a little wryly, tilting her head.
“Just Lauren will do,” the red-maned creature said. She squealed a little when some fruit juice went down her chin. “Mhh! Good stuff! I love watermelon,” she said absently. Turning and swallowing so she didn’t make a mess of herself in front of the Princess, she finally gave a straight answer. “Yes, I made Blueblood. And no, he’s not actually your nephew. That’s more of a title-system sort of thing. He is a Prince, but he is below your station. ‘Aunt and nephew’ is the closest I could come up with that would fit in his adorable little head.” She paused to daintily wipe her mouth while Celestia stared. “Not that you wouldn’t do well to have somepony closer to your level of station. A husband— or at least a lover. What’re your thoughts on male alicorns?” she turned over a sketchbook that was on the bench next to her.
Celestia stared at a picture of a large, barrel-chested alicorn stallion. He had gruff, orange-wheat-colored locks and scarlet fur. His bright-colored hooves set off his piercing green eyes. The muscles and stance were simply exquisite— the perfect example of virility and unobjectional maleness. The Princess quickly closed the sketchbook with a snap. “Don’t you dare,” she said quietly, looking away.
“No?” Lauren looked disappointed. “Very well. I’ll put him elsewhere. Maybe an earth pony…” she trailed off in thought.
The Princess sighed, turning from her, “Enjoy the rest of the fruit,” she said softly. “I’ll return to speak with you again soon. I need to pick up Twilight so we can continue our chess game.” She gingerly closed the door behind her, locking it with magic.
“I like chess,” Lauren said. “Good on her, teaching Twilight chess so young.” She slowly went and get her sketchbook, laying on her belly on her soft cot. Getting an eraser, she leaned over the red alicorn drawing. Sighing a little that the Princess didn’t want such a wonderful treat as that, she gently erased his wings and horn. Smoothing out the lines of the now earth-pony, she adjusted his proportions until he was sized properly. One of red’s compliment colors was green, so she decided on a green cutie mark.
It was only perhaps an hour later when Celestia connected 'Blueblood' with the Prophet's earlier comments. Blue blood, silver blood, it was all connecting in a lot of ways that was starting to make the Princess more and more uncomfortable.
=-=-=-=
On the far side of Ponyville, well beyond Canterlot’s walls, Big Macintosh sprang into existence. Ultimate Ponyville heart-throb, most reliable of stallions, pride of the Apple family.
“Big Mac! Supper’s on!” Applejack shouted from the porch.
“Eyuup!” he called back, turning to unhitch himself from his plow and turn in for the day.
End of Part 5