The kingdom on the cliff glistened in the rising sun. Scrap—no, his name was Grecio now—raised his paw to shield his eyes from the brightness. Noir lashed her tail from side to side. The sight of the city was clearly causing her agitation.
"This is Canterlot," she said simply.
"You said the capital was in a forest," the diamond dog replied gently. His command of language now was far superior to the stilted conversations they'd had in the dark, cold cave so long ago, and Noir cast him a sidelong glance, her blue eyes narrowed. Grecio had grown; no longer the skinny pup catching rats for the injured alicorn, he had developed long, muscled arms and broad shoulders. His muzzle was wide and stout, like a bulldog's, his grey coat thick and silky. Exposed to fresh air and the nourishing light of Celestia's sun, the diamond dog had matured into a prime example of what his species could become if given the chance.
"I... must have been feverish. The capital hasn't been in Everfree Forest for centuries," she answered after a while. "And I've been missing from Equestria for a long time." She stretched her good wing.
Grecio watched as the young alicorn stared at the palace dominating the skyline, her fangs protruding over her lower lip. There was none of the confidence she had displayed during their journey through the wastelands and mountains present now.
Noir shifted her weight from one forehoof to the other. "The sun rises well today," she observed.
Grecio frowned, setting the bag with their supplies down on the ground. "Why do you hesitate?" he asked.
"There is still parchment and ink from the last town, yes?" Noir queried instead of answering him. Her green aura lifted the flap of the supply bag. The diamond dog knelt and helped her search.
"Two sheets and maybe enough for one letter."
"Quill?"
"None."
Noir made a pained face and sighed, turning her head back to her right wing and placing a primary feather firmly between her teeth. Tensing her entire body, she closed her eyes and yanked, making a small sound of pain. Blood dripped from her wing onto the ground. Grecio watched with sad eyes. Noir arranged a sheet of parchment in the air before her, holding the inkwell aloft and dipping her feather into the black liquid. She moved the makeshift quill slowly, thoughtfully, every now and then pausing to frown, at one point fighting back tears. When she was done, she blew softly on the ink to dry it, and rolled the parchment tightly.
"Take this," she told Grecio, "to Canterlot Castle."
The diamond dog gently grasped the letter in his large paw. Noir had not bothered to seal it; she knew he could not read. "A-alone?" he stammered. "They'll kill me!"
"Tell the guards at the gates you bear a message for Princess Celestia from Noir de Plume," the alicorn replied, her eyes distant and sad. "Give me your paw."
Grecio extended his other arm, and she nudged it with her muzzle, turning the palm facing upward. Her aura dipped the feather into the inkwell once more, and the pointed tip danced in intricate curlicues and vines. When she was done, Grecio stared down at the glistening design. It matched the sunken brand on her flanks.
"They shall not harm you."
Grecio eyed the mark dubiously, but only for a moment. Noir had not let him down all these years... No reason to assume she would start now.
"I will wait for you here."
"So I told Star Skipper there was no way that new breastplate was solid steel. Forty bits?! Plated, if best!" the blue guard snorted. His purple companion chuckled in agreement.
"Some day he'll have to learn that buying 'outside the armory' is not the deal he thinks it is," the other stallion smirked. "Woah..." He held out a hoof, indicating the figure making its way up the path towards them. "Wind Blaze, do you... Sweet Celestia, is that—"
"It's a bucking diamond dog," Wind Blaze interrupted, eyes wide. "I can't believe it."
"It is... Is it honestly walking up here?" the other guard asked, jaw dropping. Wind Blaze just stared. His companion began to panic, hopping from hoof to hoof. "What do we do? We're city gate guards, not real ones!"
"You sound like a ninny!" Wind Blaze hissed. "And for Celestia's sake, stop prancing! You look like a fool!"
"We don't even have weapons!" the stallion whinnied. His voice climbed several octaves.
"Are you gelded or something?!" Wind Blaze snapped.
"I didn't sign up for this!" the cowardly guard almost sobbed.
Grecio approached the two Earth ponies slowly, holding out the paw with the rolled parchment, trying to look as non-threatening as possibly. He watched the purple stallion to the left of the gate dance from hoof to hoof. Was it customary in Equestria to greet strangers this way? Noir had not mentioned anything of the sort.
"See, Plum Tree, now it's staring at you. Probably thinks you taste better because you're more athletic," Wind Blaze laughed.
"I am not here to eat anypony," Grecio protested. Both stallions froze at the sound of his voice. Grecio took this as encouragement to continue, and proffered the parchment. "I bring a letter for Princess Celestia."
Four eyes went from the diamond dog's large paw to the rolled parchment, to his honest bulldog face and open green eyes, back to the parchment, and back to his face again, before both ponies burst out laughing.
"You bring... a letter... for Princess... Celestia?!" Plum Tree managed to gasp between hysterical barks.
Grecio furrowed his brow. He was unsure what he had said that was so funny. "Yes. From Noir de Plume."
"Buddy, I don't care if that's from Nightmare Moon herself, you are not getting into Canterlot, much less to the castle," Wind Blaze chortled.
"But—" Grecio began. He frowned. His cheeks felt hot. His did not like these stallions laughing at him. It reminded him of the before times, when the other dogs would surround him and kick him, calling him names because he was small. "Noir said I must—"
"Gimme this." Plum Tree snatched the parchment from Grecio's paw. Grecio growled and lunged for it.
"No! That is for the Princess!" he protested.
"I'm being attacked!" Plum Tree shouted. "Help! Help at the city gates! A diamond dog is storming Canterlot!"
Wind Blaze dove at Grecio, knocking the bulldog-like creature to the ground. Grecio felt the air leave his lungs as a hoof hit his ribs, and curled into a ball as another found his abdomen. Shouting. So much shouting... and hoofbeats on cobblestones. Alarm trumpets sounded, and Grecio remained curled in a ball, wishing and willing the awfulness to go away.
The entire assault, he held his marked paw aloft, displaying Noir's ink-work like a magic charm.
It did not protect him.
The cell stank of urine and straw. To Grecio's ultra-sensitive nose, it was odious to the point of causing him nausea. He wrinkled his muzzle and pulled himself further into the dark corner, only his large hindpaws visible in the moonbeams shining through the barred window.
"What're we gonna do with it?"
"Dunno. Plum Tree sent word to the palace hours ago."
Grecio's ear twitched at the voices. These were new; lower in octave and pitch, they sounded older and more experienced than the guard ponies who had accosted him at the city gates. His stomach growled, reminding him how long it had been since he last had eaten. Would they feed him, he wondered?
'What did it want, anyway?" the softer of the two voices asked.
"To deliver a letter to Celestia," the other answered, scoffing. "As if that would garner it entrance."
"A letter?" Soft Voice echoed curiously.
"Yeah, some scroll."
"From a diamond dog," Soft Voice continued. The other pony made an irritated noise.
"I said yeah, you hard of hearing?"
"Diamond dogs don't have a written language."
"So?"
"Did anyone bother reading it?"
"Probably just a ruse to get through the gates. Why bother?"
"Because a society that doesn't have a written language wouldn't come up with a plot that incorporated a letter!" Soft Voice snapped. Grecio heard hoofs stomp. "Did you learn nothing in guard school? Was that deduction and intuition course a waste on you? Where's the damn letter?"
"On the desk..." the other pony replied, his voice somewhat chastised. Grecio imagined his ears must be lowered the way Noir's were when she was thinking of something sad.
He heard the scrapings of paper against paper as Soft Voice unrolled the parchment. Silence ensued for several long moments, finally broken by the guard pony's gentle question.
"Who did it say this was from?"
"I dunno, Noir de something or other," his companion guard replied, obviously losing interest.
Hooves on stone made Grecio look up, and Soft Voice was standing outside his cell door. He was a tall pony, elegant and auburn, with a short gray mane that poked out from beneath his guard helmet. Sharp gold eyes pierced the darkness, and Grecio met them.
"From whom do you bring this letter?" he asked.
"Noir de Plume," Grecio answered, his voice gravelly, his throat dry from lack of water.
"They said you had a mark on your paw when you were arrested."
Grecio nodded, once. The pony narrowed his eyes.
"Approach the bars. Slowly."
Grecio climbed silently to his feet and padded to the door. The pony lifted his muzzle slightly, his nostrils flaring. Grecio recognized the expression; he was on the hunt, closing in on his prey.
"Show me," he commanded.
The diamond dog turned his paw over, revealing the black ink mark on his palm. Soft Voice sucked air in through his teeth, his eyes widening. The other guard looked over.
"What is it, Sterling?"
"Go to the palace," Sterling said. "Now. Celestia needs to know about this."
Grecio stood impassively in the foyer outside the throne room, flanked by the two city guards. The manacles at his wrist and ankles pinched painfully; they were sized for ponies, and his anatomy was far more muscular than a typical stallion's ankles. He shook the chains experimentally. The guard to his right glared.
"Knock that off," the pony snapped.
"I am not a threat," Grecio replied gently.
"You assaulted the gates of Canterlot and took down three of our best guards," he shot back. Grecio arched an eyebrow, something he learned from Noir, at this stretching of truth.
"If those ponies were the best of your guard, I fear for your city in the event of an actual attack," the diamond dog replied.
To his left, Sterling snorted back a chuckle. The dog's Equestrian was accented strangely, but Sterling could not place the origin. If he was indeed traveling with Noir de Plume... Though how she was still alive was a mystery.
"Celestia will see you now," the royal guard announced. Grecio lifted his eyes as the massive door swung open before them, and the guard that was not Sterling—he still did not know his name—nudged him unkindly in the small of the back with his hoof.
"Speak when spoken to. Avert your eyes. And most of all—"
"Why is this diamond dog in chains?"
The voice was powerful, elegant, yet still somehow gentle. Celestia descended the dais from upon which her throne sat in slow, even steps, her ethereal pastel mane shimmering in the moonlight. Grecio found himself speechless. If Noir was a pretty pony, this creature was beyond all conceivable beauty in the universe; more lovely that the purest gem he had ever laid eyes upon below ground.
"I was under the impression this individual arrived bearing a message for my royal person," Celestia continued, the sound of her delicate hooves on the marble flooring echoing throughout the candlelit chamber. Grecio looked up from his bow.
"I do," he said.
"Speak when spoken to!" the guard snapped.
"You will allow me to conduct this audience, Butterwort," Celestia said curtly.
Grecio was unsure what the pony's name meant, but it sounded fitting. Butterwort made a face as though he tasted something bad in his mouth.
"You may rise," Celestia continued, nodding to Grecio. He nodded, rising to his feet. "Please unchain him."
"My Princess, he was implicated in the injuries of three guards at the gates," Sterling interjected. Celestia offered Sterling a warm smile.
"Your concern for my safety is touching, Sir Sterling, but I do believe I am safe within my own walls. There is nothing about this diamond dog that tells me he means me harm. Please... The shackles." She gestured with a wing at the manacles.
Grecio sighed with relief as Sterling removed the metal bindings from his wrists and ankles. The blood began to rush back into his fingers and toes. He wriggled them for a moment. Celestia watched him quietly, her rainbow mane flowing with a wind only she could feel.
"Where is this message?" she asked finally. Grecio blinked, realizing the magnificent princess pony was addressing him.
"It was taken from me," he answered.
"I have it, my Princess," Sterling chimed.
"Return it to his person," Celestia said.
Sterling passed the scroll to Grecio, who took with back with gratitude.
"Now leave us."
"Pardon?" Sterling blinked.
"My Princess—" Butterwort began.
"He has suffered enough of Canterlot's 'hospitality.' I would like to hear what he has to say," she continued, flicking her tail. "Delayed as the message may be. You are dismissed."
Butterwort looked as though he were about to say something else, but Sterling nodded.
"As you wish, my Princess."
Grecio watched as the city guards trotted out of the throne room, the doors swinging closed behind them. He suddenly felt very exposed, alone in this large room with a creature who commanded the entire city he had seen from the hills.
"You have a letter for me, my diamond dog," Celestia prompted gently. "From someone whose name I have not heard in quite some time."
"Yes," he replied, clearing his throat. He proffered the scroll, watching in awe as a soft light gold aura emanated from her horn and drew the parchment to her. "Noir said it had to go only to you."
"Noir..." Celestia murmured. Her magenta eyes traveled over the scribblings Grecio understood to be words. He saw sadness in them, and anger, and when she reached the end... resignation. "How did you come across this pony...?"
"Grecio," he answered after a length, realizing she was asking for his name. "Er, it was Scrap, but she gave me a new name after we had spent so long together."
"Grecio," Celestia echoed, smiling faintly. "Yes, very like her." He lifted his ears, confused, but also curious. "Tell me, please... how you came to know this pony?"
Grecio nodded, retelling the tale of their first encounter, how he found the bleeding, dehydrated alicorn near death in the rocky outlands of diamond dog territory. Celestia listened silently, not interrupting once, her face looking pained when he described Noir's horribly deformed wing.
"How long has it taken you to reach Canterlot?" she asked finally when he reached the end of his story. Grecio frowned in thought.
"I... I am not good with... numbers?" he tried. "But... summers." He held up four fingers of one paw and three on another.
"Seven years you wandered, dear gods," Celestia breathed, closing her eyes. "And still her wing bleeds?"
"Yes. But I am confused... She said the capital was in a forest., but knew to come here... and you seem to be a very kind pony. Why would you not welcome her home?"
"Grecio," Celestia sighed, her voice sounding sad and far away, "I am so very sorry to be the one to tell you this... but Noir is not the pony you think she is."
"She was your student!" he replied. Celestia shook her head, and the diamond dog saw tears glitter in the lashes of her eyes.
"Can you read, Grecio?"
"No," he answered.
"Then I must ask you to trust me, and believe what I tell you to be the truth," the Sun Sister continued. "Will you walk with me?"
Without waiting for an answer, the alicorn started for a door to the side of the throne room. Grecio ran a few steps to catch up, his paws slapping loudly on the marble. When he reached her, Celestia, motioned with her wing, and the door opened, revealing a stone path lined with hedges taller than she. Starlight sparkled in the midnight sky, and the moon shone down upon them brightly.
"Your Equestrian is accented," she said softly as they walked. Grecio looked over at her. "Not surprising, as Noir is not a native of my nation."
"There is more than one pony place?" Grecio asked, keeping stride with the alicorn easily. Celestia nodded.
"Many. The one Noir calls home is Prance. She was part of a work study program in my castle centuries ago."
"Centuries?!" Grecio exclaimed. "But—"
"Noir is not an alicorn, Grecio. Nor was she ever my student," the elegant white princess continued. "Who she is now is the result of a very unfortunate set of circumstances I wish I could have prevented, but ultimately, she brought upon herself."
"I do not understand," Grecio said, furrowing his brow.
"You will," Celestia answered gently.
They continued to follow the stone patch through the hedges, Grecio wondering where the turns were taking them. Everything this pony princess was saying he wanted to deny, but in his gut he knew it was the truth. Something about the ethereal being put her above the ability to lie. It was in her eyes.
"Here," she said finally.
They had reached a clearing, in which were several statues. A rearing mare, a rampant stallion, a strange dragon horse bird mish-mash of a creature... and many others. The one Celestia stopped before was of three unicorn fillies, all smiling as they poured over a large book.
"What is this?" Grecio asked.
"These three young ponies had their futures taken from them," Celestia replied sadly, lowering her eyes. "In their zeal to become my student, it cost them their lives." Grecio watched as a single tear rolled down the alicorn's perfect ivory cheek. "I still blame myself for not seeing the jealousy in Noir's heart; for not anticipating her actions."
"What... what happened?" Grecio whispered, afraid of the answer.
"A fire. Started by Noir, it trapped the three in the library where they were studying late for the final exam. I do not know how or why, only that they could not escape the smoke and flames."
"No..." Grecio breathed.
"Before she could be apprehended, Noir had misused both a transformation spell and a teleportation spell. She was nowhere to be found in Equestria." Celestia took one final look at the smiling fillies, forever immortalized in their youth and joy. "It makes sense now; she was trapped in the aether. Why it chose to expel her when and where it did I do not understand, but she is fortunate the energies did not destroy her."
I don't know that they didn't... Grecio thought.
"I cannot welcome her here, Grecio," Celestia continued. "Her letter shows no remorse, no acceptance, no admission of wrongdoing and no growth. But I cannot have somepony of her potential and with her talent wandering free in my lands unsupervised."
"She will magic her way out of a cell," he said, remembering how she handled the alpha. Celestia nodded sadly.
"I need her in a gilded cage," the princess replied. Grecio cocked his head.
"I do not understand."
"With time, I believe she can be an asset to Equestria, but so much must be done with her heart to be a worthwhile pony. And you, Grecio... I see in you potential that may frighten the other ponies, but I value."
"Me?" he echoed. Celestia nodded.
"Eloquent, given the time to learn, and fresh air and sunlight, look at how your body has grown. You are not like your cave dwelling brethren."
"Noir has taught me to speak," he said, feeling the need to defend the pony. Regardless of her history, she had saved his life, and freed him from his chains. She was his only friend.
"Be her guardian. I have a place for her, if you can swear your services to watch over her actions and report them back to me."
"Guardian or spy?" he countered. Celestia shook her head.
"You have spent seven years with her now... you know she is still just a child in her heart. For all her centuries, most were lost in time... Grecio, this is the only option that saves her life... and her soul."
The diamond dog looked down at his paws. They were large, perfect for throwing rocks aside and digging in the cold dirt for gems.
Perfect for wielding a sword... Celestia's warm voice tickled his mind.
His head snapped up in shock, and the alicorn princess smiled.
"You will learn to read, to write... and to fight."
"To protect Noir..." he murmured. Celestia nodded.
"To protect Noir."
"I accept."
"Take this."
There was a brilliant flash of light, the same light gold aura he witnessed in the throne room, and he raised a paw to shield his eyes. A sword hovered just before his muzzle, sheathed in a brown leather case, the hilt was silver; on the pommel was the same mark Celestia bore on her flanks. He hesitantly reached for the weapon.
"Should anyone question you, the seal will protect you. Use it only for good, Grecio."
His paw closed around the hilt. It felt warm. He drew it close to him, and the light faded.
"There is one last thing," Celestia said. Her voice was serious now. Grecio met her eyes. They were deep, and ancient. "I cannot know what the energies of the aether have done to Noir, and I do not know what her forcing wings upon herself has caused her body to go through. I need her to try - to find a path that she walks down that does not lead to self destruction and that lets her use her talent for the good of Equestria and for herself. To do that... I need her to live."
The diamond dog nodded slowly.
"She will not accept a gift from me. Nor can I allow her in the city—the families of the fillies lost in the fire still remember her name. She must think her longevity is a result of her own doing, and this requires trickery. It will hurt you."
"Hurt me?" he asked. Celestia nodded sadly.
"I will give you a scroll in return to give to her. It will detail the assignment I am offering in lieu of prison, and the 'spell' to give you a longer life."
"But you said—"
"I will lengthen your years, and she will borrow from you," Celestia interrupted. "I am the only pony powerful enough to perform such a spell. I shudder to think what would happen were Noir to actually try."
Grecio pinched his brow together, genuinely afraid for the first time since the incident at the gates.
"I'm sorry... truly. There is no other way to do this," the alicorn said sadly. She lowered her horn to his forehead, touching the pointed tip to his flesh.
His heart exploded. Grecio roared. Time stopped, ran backwards, and started again. He saw the stars swirl into a thousand suns, die, and be born again. A searing hot pain burned the flesh of his right inner forearm.
"It is done."
Panting, Grecio opened his eyes to find himself laying on the grass, flat on his back. He sat up slowly, his head spinning, and looked at his forearm. It throbbed awfully, a red welt the shape of a lemniscate glistening wetly in his fur.
"You are brave, Grecio," Celestia told him as he climbed to his feet, clutching his sword. She proffered a scroll with her aura, and he took it, unsure what to say. "I wish you well."
"What do I—" he began.
Celestia blinked him out of the garden.