//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Forgotten Princess // by Okami1197 //------------------------------// "I think it is time that the restoration of the Everfree castle is started. I mean Storm you will need a place to train the soldiers right?" Celestia said as she walked next to Lightning Storm towards the castle armory. "The Everfree castle?" Storm asked as Celestia opened the armory door. "That is were me and Luna lived when we first formed Equestria. After Luna's fall I could not bear to stay there so I had a palace constructed up here and made it the new throne of Equestria. I had never bothered to keep the wilderness under control after I left that forest. There used to be many towns in there but most were abandoned not long after I move to here. With no ponies living there any longer, the forest became violent and unsafe for most." Storm stopped as she looked at a long black lance, that was so black it appeared to be sucking light into it, "Sister, what is this weapon?" Celestia looked at her sister, "That weapon was not created as such, it is the anchor for a spell that shall end when it is need. As for why it sucks in light, I created it using energy from the sun. So to sustain the spell it absorbs light." she stops before a hole in the wall and sticks her horn in. There is the sound of spells discharging and locks releasing could be heard before the wall slid in and apart revealing an unexpected sight. Strange objects on pedestals with a mural on the back wall. "Sister is that what I think it is?" Storm asked warily. "The prophecy. Yes that is it." Celestia walks closer to it and puts her hoof against the mural, "The one that foretold the fall of our parents and their once great kingdom, but there was another section of it that I found before the nightmare incident. It shows two warriors from another world coming to our aid in the darkest point of Equestria's life. Based on the prophecy I was able to make a spell that displaces the warriors that will be coming and when the spell runs out of power they will appear." Storm looks at the lance then back to her sister, "That is the energy catalyst for the spell." "Do you know anything about these "warriors" other than that they are from another world?" Storm asks. "Only that they will appear in a flying metal machine." "Well I'd rather not take help from mysterious beings with a good reason to do so. If this was all you wanted to show me, then can we move on to the matter of making your old castle usable again." "Lets." Celestia closed the hole and started to move back towards the rooms exit, "Let us move to a more comfortable seating area first sister." Storm nodded in agreement and followed Celestia out the room. ----- Twilight Sparkle walks through the castle halls followed by a very quiet Dinok, and Void Star, "So what can you tell me about your family Void?" Twilight asks. "Well from what I can see Celestia has literally left the whole of Equestria in the dark when it comes to the rest of her family besides Luna. So where would you like me to begin?" "For starters has Storm always been that violent towards others?" Void stopped to think, "No she was never like this before now. I think she started being like this when the rebellion attacked our castle all those years ago." he quickly catches up to the pair ahead of him, She used to value life much like Celestia, but I think watching our mother be killed and then me getting eaten right after broke something inside of her." "Well that might have done something, but what I want to know is why she calls her self the Alicorn of War and Storms." "She used too be just the Alicorn of Storms. Yet again I think this has to do with the who rebellion thing." Dinok looks at Twilight and Void, "Is she really my mother? I mean she said that she was and Aunt Luna said that she was, but you are say that she just enjoys violence. Aunt Luna never said that she liked violence." "She used to despise violence, but now I'm not sure little one." Void pats Dinok on the head with his wing as he finishes. "Will I have to leave Ponyville?" "No I don't think you will. Do you like it there?" "Yes I do Uncle Void. All my friends are there." "Good answer. Now if only we could remind your mother of the importance of friends." "What do you mean 'reminded'? I did not think you could forget something like that." Twilight asked causing Void's ears to drop. "At one time she had friends. Many friends, but almost all were guardsmen before our home was attacked. Most if not all were killed in that battle, but the one that pushed her away farthest was her best friend Emerald Lance, whom owned an emerald lance. From what I could get her to tell me she saw his dead body not long after the attack began, and the griffons were searching her room for her." "Wow. Just wow. What kind of monsters do that to others. I mean I know they were not happy with you family, but to hunt you all like animals. That is wrong." "Well they were under the command of a void dragon. He was very much a cruel being. Thank fully Lightning managed to kill him." ------ "King Rauth. He is asking for a vessel to call a body." "Very well. Give him one close to the size of the remains we found at the castle so he can finish his mission." ----- "Celestia is there any abandoned towns near the old castle that could be used as housing for any farmers and such that wish to help with feeding the guard while they are training?" Storm asked looking at a newer map of the Everfree forest. "There was Hoofington, but that town just vanished one day. Anyone who looked for it went missing also." Celestia levitated a quill and ink towards the map, "It was around here." she put an X towards the west of the castle, "Good luck if you try to find it, but if you want I can give you the location of some other ones. Ones that are not missing some how." "No Hoofington is in a perfect place for what I need it for. It is just the matter of finding it." "Are you sure about this? I have no clue as to why it vanished no one does. For all we know the Fates themselves hide the place." "I am sure." I looked out the window on the other side of the room, "There is many things in this world that you know nothing of. One of which is that there is a dragon who is proclaiming himself as the king of his kind. Killing any who challenge him. He is backed by all the races that were in the rebellion." Celestia moved closer and put her hoof on Storm's shoulder, "That is no reason for you to rush getting the guard retrained for actual war." Storm shrugged Celestia's hoof off her shoulder, "Sister you did not see and hear what they were doing to any ponies that they could capture. They are trying to learn about you and Luna. They are even after Cadence and Twilight, and soon me and Void also. They want to finish what was started all those years ago. The extinction of the alicorn race." "Storm how do you know of this?" Celestia asked not sure if she wanted the answer or not. "I killed and tortured the bastards myself after I freed ponies from them. Most killed themselves with nearby weapons before I could question them. The few that did not sang like birds after a little while." a tear slowly trailed down Storm's face, "Help me Celestia." she cried, "I'm broken. I have been for a long time. That is why I sent Dinok here, so that he would be raised under a good influence." more tears started to appear as she continued, "I went to dark places after you took Luna and left. I resorted to violence for everything. I forgot how to love and how to let others get close to me. There is blood from millions on my hooves. I want to be how I used to be. I want to be that sweet mare that I once was, but I need someponies help." Before she could continue Celestia embraced her in a loving hug, "It will be alright Storm." Celestia spoke with a soothing tone, "I want you to focus on the good things that you have done. Like taking care of Dinok for the time that you did." "Sister is there someplace that I can rest, preferably in solitude." Storm said quietly. "You can rest but not alone. Letting somepony help you when you need it is the first step to getting better." Storm sigh in defeat because she was not emotionally stable enough to have an argument without it becoming a trip to the infirmary for one of them, "At least make sure that they are not loud." "I will. In fact I know just the pony to help you."