It took the elevator a full minute to reach its destination. Astral could only assume he was now on the top floor of the tower. He also assumed that the elevator was unspeakably old to take so long. Original equipment, maybe?
After a few seconds of waiting for the doors to open, he realized they weren't going to. He hit the control panel, hoping it would force an override. It didn't.
He inspected the panel closer. It had all the standard controls you would expect from an elevator. Door open, door close, go up, go down, emergency stop. He hit the control for 'door open', and watched for a change. There was none. No lights changed, no sounds beeped or chimed, and no haptic feedback device buzzed.
Astral tapped it a few more times to be sure. Then he tried all the other controls. When he received the same lack of a response, he carefully pried the control panel open. The problem was immediately visible. There were two sets of wires running to the panel. One was labelled power. The other, frayed and split, was labelled data. The panel would basically be a fancy light source until those wires get replaced.
With no other options, Astral knocked on the elevator door. "Hello? If somepony's out there, can you open the door?"
A mare's voice answered him. "Just a moment, I'll get it."
He heard hoofsteps on metal, followed by the tap of hoof on control panel. That was followed by a few moments of silence, then another tap. This was immediately followed by three more taps in quick succession.
"I'm afraid the panel seems to be broken.” The pony on the other side sighed. “That’s what you get when you put off seven hundred years of maintenance and upgrades. Am I correct in assuming this is Astral Plane that I am speaking to?"
"Yes" the unicorn answered. "Who's this?"
"My name is Celestia. Can you teleport yourself out of there? There's five meters of open space directly in front of the door."
Unfortunate name. "I can't teleport." Astral sighed. If he had his knife, he could probably cut himself out, but a certain celestial saw fit to wad it up like paper. Did she know how expensive those things were? He inspected the panel again. "The wiring in here is pretty beat up, but I could probably fix it if you give me a few minutes."
"I'm going to try to force the door open."
"Let me try it first." It sounded like this Celestia wasn't a unicorn. A unicorn might have offered a teleport. Then again, he was living proof that not all unicorns could teleport. He focused his magic on the door and pulled. When that failed, he tried a combination of magic and muscle, but had to stop because of the strain it put on his shoulder. He was still pretty sore. "Ok, I can't get it. I don't think one pony will be able to. Is there anypony you can get to help you?"
"Mister Macintosh could probably open it, but this is the only way up here." There was a confident chuckle from the mare. "Don't worry, I can get this open too."
Confident mare. "Oh, you're an earth pony then?"
"Not quite. Stand back."
"What?" How can you 'not quite' be an earth pony? That seems like something that would be rather cut and dry. And why would he need to stand back? Through the door, he could hear Celestia taking deep breaths. They were short and measured, like the preparatory breaths a martial artist takes during certain exercises. "Don't tell me you're going to try-"
Accompanied by a sharp shout, a hoof punched through the elevator door. Astral stared at it, not quite believing what he saw. A white furred hoof, with a brushed nickel shoe that wrapped all the way around it, was sticking through a hole near the elevator floor. The metal at the edge of the hole was curled away from the hoof, and Astral could see that it was almost two centimeters thick. Unless the door was the absolute cheapest grade of poorly cast aluminum, or made to do that, this shouldn't be possible.
"I'm going to pull the door open now. Jump out when you can, and watch your step."
With a solid grunt, the hoof grabbed what it could of the door and started pulling. The metal creaked and complained, but it moved. A few centimeters at a time, the office beyond was revealed. A desk sat on a patch of carpet in the middle of a large metal room ringed by windows. Several windows were open, and a strong breeze filled the room.
Also revealed, was the fact that the elevator was just under a meter above where it should be.
By the time the door was halfway open enough for him to get through, he could see a mane flapping around in that breeze. It was pastel shades of pink, blue, and green, and rather shiny.
As the door open further, he caught glimpses of the mare's face. Purple eyes set in determination, framed against white fur. She was gritting her teeth and wore an expression that made it look as if she was locked in combat, and enjoying every second of it. He could also see a horn amidst the wind-blown mane.
Instead of dwelling on that, Astral watched the opening. The moment it was wide enough, he jumped out, taking the weight of the landing on his right leg to protect his injured left. He then turned around, and his breath caught in his chest.
He had noticed that Celestia was tall, but he didn't realize the full extent of it until now. She was easily twice as tall as Mac, the largest pony Astral had seen until now. She was probably as tall, if not taller, than most humans. Not only that, she was imposing. She wore the same nickel shoes on every hoof, and wore a similar crown. It might have been decoration, but the heavy plating invoked images of combat armor. A segmented, jeweled neckpiece of the same metal supported a cloak of shimmering material and the raised collar was lined with more of the same metal.
She glanced back at Astral and relaxed her hoof. The elevator door snapped halfway shut, pulling her with it. With the door stuck partially open, she tried to pull her hoof free. It caught, and eventually, she just braced her other hoof against the door and tore her hoof free, pulling chunks of metal with it.
With a long sigh, she shook the punching hoof. "It's been too long since I've done that. I need to practice more." She walked to the desk and sat down behind it. "I apologize for that, Astral. I should have made sure the elevator was in working condition before calling you up."
Astral said nothing.
Celestia smiled. "I know that look. You have a question. Ask if you want, but I suspect you already know the answer."
"You're an alicorn, aren't you?"
In response, she cast the robe back and spread her wings high over her head. Just before they reached full spread, Astral ducked away and covered his eyes.
After a moment, he blinked and lifted his head. "Why did I just do that?"
"Because you have good instincts." Celestia gestured to her right wing, and Astral noticed there wasn't a left one to match it. "If I still had both, it would have gotten quite bright in here." She folded her wing back beneath the cloak and folded her hooves on the desk. "If you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them. Though, I will stick to words, so I don't startle you too badly."
Astral shook his head. The name wasn’t a coincidence then. This was the original Celestial. The mold the others were patterned after? "I have too many questions. It would take years to get through all of them."
Celestia nodded once. "I will cut to the chase then." She opened a drawer and pulled out a set of golden armor. She held it out in her hoof. "Astral Plane, congratulations on your new position as captain of the royal guard."
Without any other reaction, Astral tilted his head to the side. He would be lucky to leave this tower with his mind intact.
"Sister, now is not the time for jokes."
Astral looked back at the sound of a familiar voice. "Silver?" The mare stood just in front of the elevator, looking at him. Not past him, straight at him. "No... who are you?"
The mare walked forward, darkness billowing from her hooves with each step. The clouds of night surrounded her, completely obscuring her form. Then, they faded just as fast, leaving another pony in their wake.
"You do have good instincts." Nearly as tall as Celestia, this alicorn was dark blue with an even darker mane. She wore regalia made of the same metal that Celestia wore, though it was of a simpler, purely ornamental design. "How good?"
"You must be Luna." Astral glanced back at the other alicorn. "Night and day?"
Celestia clicked her tongue. "Sun and moon, actually. But you were close."
"That's two out of the four Silver mentioned." Astral looked around the room, half-expecting another sudden appearance. "Where are the other two?"
"One of 'em's up here. Discord is elsewhere."
Astral looked up. There was a hammock stretched between two ancient light fixtures. The creature looking down from it looked like a pony would if ponies were carnivorous insects. Large incisors, slit pupils against green irises, and satin black skin was framed by a long, metallic, blue-green mane.
She waved with a hoof full of holes. "Name's Chrysalis," she said in a dissonant voice that would have been ominous, if it wasn't so laced with boredom. "You can call me Chrys, or Chryssy if you want." Then she rolled back into the hammock with a small groan. "Her royal majesty, queen of everything, works too." She yawned and shifted her weight in the hammock. "I'm going back to sleep."
Astral looked over at Celestia. "What was that? And please tell me she wasn't talking about the creep who runs Fun-world."
The white alicorn pointed at the hammock. "That was a changeling queen. They are highly territorial, and not native to this region." She opened another drawer on her desk. "I have some bug spray in here somewhere."
A pillow came sailing down from the hammock, narrowly missing Celestia. "Try it, and I'll... Oh, I don't know. I'll do something, and you won't like it. Just keep it down."
"Very well, Chryssy. We'll let you get back to your nap." Celestia stood up from her desk. "Astral, would you care to join me on the balcony?"
The unicorn shrugged. "Why not?" He started following her to the far end of the room, hoping he would finally get some serious answers, and not more nonsense. Silver said they weren’t related, but it seemed like this, ‘true alicorn,’ had created at least one, ‘fake alicorn,’ to carry out her bidding. She wasn’t gaining his trust with just a smile and a few jokes. "Just to be clear, if this Discord character is the same one that runs Discord's Fun-world, I want nothing to do with him."
"He is indeed the Discord you speak of, but he will most likely remain safely at home." When they reached the wall of windows at the end of the room, Celestia opened one of them and climbed out. "I am not surprised to hear that you had problems with him. He can be... difficult to deal with sometimes. What did he do to draw your ire?"
"He cheated me out of seventy-five thousand bits, that's what." Astral followed the alicorn out the window, onto a covered balcony the same size as the room they left. The wind this high up was strong, and he was almost shouting to be heard. "I delivered three full runs of cargo, for the agreed upon price of fifty thousand bits. He paid me in cash, and I left. Then, as soon as I reach the next system, the bits turn into ladybugs. it cost me ten thousand bits to get them removed from my ship, and another fifteen in customs fees for transporting exotic creatures."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. Her mane floewd the same in these strong winds as it did in the breeze inside. "Ten thousand bits seems a bit expensive for an exterminator."
Astral shook his head. "Not an exterminator. If I just wanted to kill the bugs, I could have vented the ship's atmosphere. But you can't just leave that much organic material in the workings of a ship. I had to have the ship quarantined, then have every single ladybug removed." He sighed miserably. "It took two weeks to get them all."
Celestia walked to the edge of the balcony. "It sounds like the ladybugs survived the ordeal. You didn't happen to donate them to the entomology department of Luna's academy, did you?"
Astral followed her over. From above, the city looked very different. The tops of buildings, covered in gardens and greenery, made it appear like there was only forest nearby. Only the buildings farther away from the tower appeared as buildings. "What else was I supposed to do with them? And how did you know?"
With a smile, the white alicorn replied. "It is an academy legend by now, but there was a donation of insects several years ago which turned into bits after a few days. It was quite unexpected."
Astral groaned quietly. "Of course they did." The unicorn looked up at Celestia and watched her for a moment as she looked over the city. As the purple alicorn put it, this Celestia could dump a planet into its star. A being that powerful could be ruling things from the shadows, leaving trifling tasks to underlings and minions. Why meet with him? And what was with those other two?
Every so often, she would wave to a passing aircar and sigh sadly. "This is the closest I get to interact with most ponies anymore. From far away, they can't tell that I am any different than they are."
Astral shook his head. "I don't get it. You might be a bit different, but so are humans, curaxxans, gryphons, dragons, and that changeling thing on your ceiling. I may be misunderstanding this, but it seems like you're in hiding. Why bother? Hell, Discord openly runs the galaxy’s largest tourist trap and he’s as different as you can get."
"You should know the answer to that better than anypony." She turned her back on the late morning sky and looked at the floor. "Differences in appearance may not be important, but differences in power are. Serus and Hoofton station four are not the only recorded incidents where false alicorns have wreaked havoc. Though, they are among the worst. If alicorns remain legend, fewer ponies will see them as a goal. I can only hope this will prevent more incidents from occurring."
The Celestial’s have shown up elsewhere? This was the first Astral had heard of that. Maybe Silver would be able to fill him in. "It hasn't so far."
"It doesn't seem that way. But, it's possible that things could be worse."
"That sounds like an excuse to me."
Celestia chuckled. "It does, doesn't it. But it's an excuse I will be sticking to for at least a while longer."
"Then, what?" Astral waved a hoof out over the sprawling city-forest. "What do you do, look at the scenery everyday? If so, why am I here?"
Celestia looked back out at the city. "If I could just enjoy the scenery, I would be happy. But, I do not have that luxury." She looked down at Astral. "Despite my sister's words, I was not joking when I offered you the position of head of the royal guard. I may no longer be princess of Equestria, but I still have need of an agent to carry out certain tasks."
"So, I'm just a convenient mercenary then."
"If anything, you are quite inconvenient. Though, you are less of a mercenary, and more of a bodyguard."
Astral laughed. "A bodyguard? Whose? I doubt even Silver needs protection. Mac could probably use a guide, but not a bodyguard. And don't get me started on that Sparkle bitch."
Celestia blinked slowly. "I'm sorry, what did you just call her?"
"What, Twilight Sparkle, that Fake alicorn bruiser you have working for you?" Astral sat down and crossed his hooves angrily. "She attacks me, tears my ship apart, and nearly kills me. Then, she has the gall to expect a thank you because she didn't finish me off, that-"
Celestia quickly lifted a hoof. "Let me stop you there."
"Why? You've got a bloodthirsty maniac working for you, and I think you should know."
With a nervous chuckle, Celestia smiled and replied, "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding."
"Yeah, she doesn't understand that most ponies don't take kindly to being thrown into open space."
Celestia's smile disappeared and she looked past Astral. "You threw him into space?"
Astral didn't have to look back to know that Twilight was standing behind him. "Repeatedly," he enunciated carefully.
"Twice." The purple mare walked past Astral and sat next to Celestia. "And that was only after you tried to shoot me."
Celestia gave Astral an angry look. "You tried to shoot her?" she asked quietly, not quite believing it.
Twilight snorted. "He tried to stab me too."
"Really??" Astral walked over to Twilight and poked her in the chest. "What about that kinetic mine?" He poked her again, same spot. "That's where you stuck it."
Twilight shoved him away. "After you tackled me!"
Astral shoved her back. "You mean, after I saved you?"
The two butted heads, locking their horns together as if they were dueling. "I was drawing them out into the open. If you hadn't interfered, I could have wiped them out in one shot!"
They pushed against each other, each trying to force the other back. "How was I supposed to know you were a plasma-immune freak?"
"Walking around in total vacuum wasn't enough of a clue for you? Must be hard being so stupid."
Celestia sighed quietly and shook her head. "Are you two going to be able to work together?"
Twilight and Astral immediately broke their stalemate and looked over. "No!" they yelled in unison.
With another sigh, Celestia raised her hooves in defeat. "l was just asking." She walked away as they started arguing again. She walked to the window and went inside, leaving the arguing ponies behind. She then walked to her desk. Luna was waiting patiently nearby, and Chrysalis was still asleep in her hammock. "Somepony go out there before they kill each other."
Chrysalis raised a hoof. "I nominate Luna."
The dark alicorn looked up. "Very well. If you are too lazy to do it, then we must." She walked to the window as her sister laid her head on the desk. "Tia, this is not your fault. We shall simply have to find somepony else. Jasper can help us in the meantime."
"Yes," the changeling queen rolled over in her cot, letting her hoof hang over the side. "Because pulling the president's top aide away from his duties raises no suspicion whatsoever. And surely, nopony would ever recognize him. He's only at the president's side every other broadcast."
Luna shook her head at the sarcasm, but offered no rebuttal before heading through the window.
Chrysalis shifted in her hammock again, ending up with all four hooves hanging down. "You two worry too much. He'll accept the job. Nopony can refuse the offer of adventure, especially not somepony like that."
Celestia looked up. "I wish you would stop doing that. It makes you look like a spider."
Chrysalis looked over the edge of the hammock. "I'll make you a bet. If Astral agrees to work for us, you stop complaining about me laying like this."
"No deal." The white alicorn laid her head back down on the desk. "No bets without a time limit, remember."
"Fine. Fifty bits says that he not only accepts the mission, but agrees to work with Twilight. And as for the time limit, by the end of the mission, those two will be sleeping together."
Celestia laughed despite herself and looked up again. "You are a terrible pony."
"Of course I am." With some difficulty, Chrysalis pulled her hooves back into the cot. "But I am a wonderful changeling, and my very existence depends on understanding the psychology of you ponies. Tension like that doesn't last long, something will give."
"You're basing that on an overheard argument?"
"Maybe. Do we have a bet?"
Celestia dug around in her desk and removed five loose ten-bit coins. She stacked them neatly on top of the desk. "I know my student."
Chrysalis yawned. "And I know what I'm going to buy."
Celestia didn't respond to that. The offhand statement made her remember that Chrysalis could take another form and leave the tower. Even Luna could do that, even though it was difficult, and she had to work hard to master even one form at a time. The white alicorn hadn't left the tower in nearly a year, and the last time she had, it was to take a shuttle to some other building where she continued to remain out of sight of the general population.
There was a click behind her, and Celestia looked back. Luna had come back in and shut the window. "Shouldn't you leave that open?"
Luna cleared her throat before replying, "There is no need. Those two will need to return some other way."
Celestia stood up slowly. She looked out the window, searching for any trace of purple or grey. All she saw was blue sky. "Luna, what did you do?"