Celestial

by -Singleton-


Sleeping Legends

"Move along class, we've still got three more exhibits to see!" Cheerilee spoke in the friendly, yet authoritative voice all teachers were so fond of. The clop of dozens of tiny hooves resounded through the winding hallways of the Canterlot archives as her class shifted and trotted past her down the hall on towards the next exhibit.

Cheerilee nudged Applebloom and her two friends along with a warm smile as the the trio passed her. She started walking quickly towards the front of the train of ponies, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the three little ponies were bringing up the rear of the line. She turned back to face forwards, the black marble floors of the archives shining with an almost ethereal glow. She let her eyes wander towards the ground for a moment, and marveled at the polish of the pristine floors, her own distorted reflection staring back up at her before she returned her gaze to in front of her. Stopping, she glanced over her shoulder, making sure everyone was still in line, and smiling slightly to herself before rounding the corner into the next section of the archives.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders slowed to a halt as Cheerilee disappeared behind the corner, all of them looking at each other anxiously. Scootaloo nudged Applebloom lightly in the side, giving her a knowing look. The three little fillies began to backpedal slowly, keeping their attention on the corner of the hallway as they put some distance between themselves and the group. Appleblooms ears perked up, standing at attention as she listened for the sound of hoofsteps, relieved to hear only the distant echoes of her classmates' steady trot.

"Finally ... that was sooo boring," Scootaloo blurted out as she turned around completely, and started walking down the hall, away from her class. Sweetie and Applebloom followed her lead, and turned to face the opposite end of the dimly lit hallway. Sweetie was wearing her stark white saddlebag, and as she turned, her horn lit up with her magical aura, the energy encasing the fastening strap on her left bag, as she flipped the pouch open. A moment later, a small white pamphlet levitated out of the saddlebag, surrounded by the same pale green energy as her bag's strap as she closed the pack.

The piece of paper unfurled, as the trio continued walking down the hall, while Scootaloo looked at Sweetie expectantly. Sweetie Belle held the map in her magical grasp, before holding up a hoof in front of Scootaloo, signaling for her to stop as she set the large map of the Canterlot Archives down on the floor. Applebloo halted as well, nodding to Sweetie as she turned to face the direction her classmates might be coming from as Scootaloo scanned over the map for a few seconds, before planting her hoof firmly on a small lightning bolt symbol.

"It's not far," she said happily, looking up from the map, and glancing over at Sweetie who looked a bit unsure about the whole situation. The white unicorn shifted uneasily, starting to reconsider her decision to go along with Scootaloo's plan.

"Maybe we should just go and catch up with the class. I really don't want to get in trouble again. Last time Rarity got a bad report from Ms. Cheerilee I got grounded for two whole weeks. Please Scootaloo, I really think we should just go."

"No way! C'mon, the Commander Hurricane exhibit is just down the hall and to the left. Plus, do you really want to go and learn about more boring stuff nopony even cares about? " Scootaloo said emphatically, moving her hoof to the next exhibit on the planned route for the class fieldtrip. Sweetie turned to look at Scootaloo, and then glanced down at where her hoof was placed. She shuddered as she read the small, cursive text. Topography of the Kingdom of Gryphonne.

Sweetie nodded reluctantly as she aquiesced to Scootaloo wishes. "But only if we can go and check out the Cutie Mark Origin section afterwards," she said forcefully, in a slightly pouty tone. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement, not willing to admit that Sweetie's exhibit might be interesting none the less. Sweetie smiled slightly, before turning to take a step down the hall, but, just as she did so, Applebloom whirred around, eager to look at the map for herself to point out her exhibit of choice. Applebloom tripped over Sweetie as she tried to turn, sending her tumbling to the ground, towards the black walls of the hall they were in. Sweetie stumbled forward several inches before managing to awkwardly catch herself, regaining her balance. Scootaloo looked up just as Applebloom was about to collide with the wall, quickly processing the situation and bracing herself for the sharp thud that would ensue, closing her eyes and looking away in anticipation.

She remained there for a second, but was jarred to attention by a firm tap on her shoulder. Scootaloo looked up, opening her eyes and glancing at Sweetie Belle, who's eyes were wide with a mix of curiosity and astonishment. She looked at the incredulous unicorn awkwardly for a moment, before following her gaze and observing the patch of wall where Applebloom should have made impact.

The black tiles of the wall shimmered ethereally, a yellow glow encompassing the entire section of wall as it rippled like water. Scootaloo's eyes darted around the shimmering part of the wall, before taking an unsure step forward as Sweetie's attention shifted to her.

"Scootaloo don't ..." Sweetie pleaded, extending a concerned hoof to try and stop her to no avail. Scootaloo came to a halt mere inches from the strange surface of the wall as it began to settle, the rippling and shimmering of it ceasing slowly, and returning to the same inconspicuous appearance it had possessed only moments earlier. Her eyes narrowed as she attempted to spot any movement, any indication that the wall was different somehow, but after being unable to differentiate it from any other portion of wall, she hesitantly extended her hoof as she held her breath in anticipation.

The wall rippled outwards from where the tip of her hoof had made contact with it, and the yellow glow returned as Scootaloo pushed on the wall, her hoof passing through it as if it wasn't even there. Her eyes widened in amazement as she retracted her hoof, the black tiled wall still rippling and shifting. She muttered something under her breath before taking an unsure step forward, letting her front left hoof pass through the wall as she planted it firmly, still able to feel the hard, cold floor beneath her hoof even though she couldn't see it through the enchanted doorway.

"Appleb-" she began to say as her head passed through the wall, the rest of her inflected word getting cut off. Sweetie could only look on, her face twisted into a mix of astonishment, curiosity, and disapproval as Scootaloo vanished behind the truly odd entrance. Her ears perked up as the sound of hoofsteps roused her from her mesmerized state, the passage shimmering with golden light for a moment, before settling back into its normal state. She looked to her right where the hoofsteps were coming from nervously, her mind playing out the worst case scenario should she be caught straying too far from the class,and on such an anticipated and planned fieldtrip like this? Even Cheerilee was surprised when they had been given permission to take a trip to the venerated Canterlot Archives.

She glanced back at the wall uncertainly , as the sound of several ponies walking briskly down the hallway was all that she could hear now. But there was something off about the hoofsteps, for they weren't hard and sharp like those of bare hooves, rather they were dull and metallic. Royal Guards.

With a roll of her eyes and an exasperated sigh, Sweetie grasped the sprawled out map in her magic, closed her eyes and ran straight at the wall, still worried about what lay just beyond, but motivated by the fear of being caught. She leapt through the wall, the black tiling radiating an unearthly golden energy as the whole section began to ripple outwards from where she had plunged headfirst into the enchanted doorway. Sweetie Belle continued running, even after she had passed through the wall, and with her eyes closed she had no inkling of where she was going.

"Sweetie stop!" Applebloom and Scootaloo cried in unison as Sweetie glanced over her shoulder, opening her eyes to see both of her friends a few steps back, their eyes wide with fear. They weren't looking at her, they were looking up, at something behind her. With a lightning quick motion, she swiveled her head back around to the front as she eased her momentum, digging her hooves as best she could into the slick black floor beneath her. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, unable to control the overwhelming sense of anxiety overcoming her.

As she came to a halt, she looked up at the massive suit of armor set before her, the golden plates of strange metal glinting in the spotlight that was set upon it from above. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, as she simply stood there, paralyzed and straining her neck to even be able to see the full set of armor from her position directly in front of it. It most certainly was no pony, for it stood upon two legs, the massive glinting golden greaves alone taller than she was, and twice as wide.

There was a small gap between the the huge pieces of shin armor, and the azure knee plates that connected the lower leg armor to the upper thigh armor, with each and every piece of the set encompassing all the way around, like a full set of plate. Beneath the massive golden armor was a simple black material that looked as if it too was designed to defend against attacks, the rubbery material shining dimly in the light.

Her eyes continued to trail upwards as she took a step backwards, both to get a better look, and out of fear. A ring of thick golden metal plates resided above the legs, the central plate emblazoned with a stark white skull emblem. Further up, the midsection of the suit was composed of a flexible plate of golden metal that seemed to interlock with the lower and upper pieces of armor, while the black, rubbery fabric showed beneath the plate, and several large tube like structures ran along the lower midsection, slinking up , beneath the broad chest plate.

Resting just above the midsection was the enormous, broad chest plate that curved slightly to each side, wrapping around the whole set of armor, and giving the suit of armor a very intimidating and daunting appearance. Engraved across the plate of golden metal were countless words in a strange, alien text that slinked along the entirety of the chest piece. Grooves within the armor curved and bent in such a way that they all converged in the center of the piece of chest armor, where a raised golden skull motif contained within a thick circular ring of grey steel that had visible bolts attaching it to the suit of armor.

Sweetie took another step back as Scootaloo and Applebloom hesitantly stepped forward to meet their friend, all of them staring up at the massive suit of armor in awe. Scootaloo's eyes wandered to the suit's sides, observing the oversized azure pauldrons that covered each shoulder, with the thick vambraces slinking down onto each arm, before terminating in massive golden gauntlets, the one on the right holding a strange piece of technology. It held the long protrusion with five digits, clad in the same metal as the rest of the armor, the thick and blunt phalanges reminiscent of claws.

In the suit's right hand was an enormous sword that crackled softly with electric energy, a feint blue glow encasing the grey piece of masterfully wrought metal. The grip of the sword flourished up into a stylized double aquila where the blade of the sword was fitted into the base. Her eyes flicked back up to the pauldrons, specifically the left one, which bore a massive, raised lion's head, fashioned from gold. The lion's face was stoic and brave, the curls of it's elegantly crafted mane curving and swaying like the tendrils of a stylized sun.

The three fillies exchanged nervous looks, still too concerned to speak, as they all returned their gaze to the final piece of armor, resting between the huge azure pauldrons whose edges were rimmed in gold, and covered in the same strange scripture as the chest. The light blue helmet that capped off the colossal set of armor was simple, spartan even, but the very fact that it was so made it even more imposing. The helmet's face plate was depressed into the front of the helmet, with the brow of the upper portion of it slanting downwards slightly, so that the relatively small, inset eyes looked angry. The two eyeholes were covered by a strange, glass like material that shone dully in the light, the oddly shaped slots devoid of any kind of light. It's mouthpiece was raised slightly, and it was curved down gradually so that it looked as if the suit's helmet was frowning with its mouth open, the broad piece of black metal that composed the respirator ridged with subtle grooves vertically.

Sweetie craned her neck slightly as she took another step backwards, noticing the two roaring lion heads, fashioned from the same golden alloy as the one jutting out from the left pauldron. The two masterfully made lion heads spoke to her, in a way that the rest of the suit simply couldn't. The iconography of the lion was fearsome but held a noble aura about it, and as she tore her gaze from the two lion heads attached to the bulky metal backpack the suit of armor bore, she looked down at the small metal plaque at the base of the low circular platform the metallic boots of the suit of armor rested upon.

Sweetie Belle read the engraved words of the small, golden plaque her hooves had made contact with earlier before she had backed up, the rectangular piece of metal radiating with the same golden glow as the enchanted doorway. It didn't make any sense, yet here she was, rereading the four simple words over and over, understanding what they meant, but not quite grasping the impact of them. She was so enthralled by the cryptic words, that she didn't even notice the sound of three sets of dull, metallic hoofsteps behind her as she read the golden plate one last time. It read:

Ekene Dubaku, Celestia's Lion