“My name is Stargazer”
Twilight was snapped away from the thoughts of the letter she had been given by princess Celestia. The flickering light within the castle’s tower gave her something she could do. Unlike before all she had was to wander Equestria in hopes that she could find this mysterious Alicorn but now she was able to do something with purpose. Finding out who had ventured into the Everfree forest found the ruins of old Canterlot and gone inside.
“Come on girls lets go see who is in there, and lets stay quiet I’d rather not take the risk of whoever it is being hostile.” She spoke with a slight amount of optimism her mind being kept away from what had happened merely minutes ago. She looked around at her friends, Rarity was trying to get the mud off of her shoes. Rainbow Dash was pacing around in a huff obviously trying to figure out a plan to go and rescue the Princesses from that creature, Nightmare. The name seemed to fit his image Twilight thought to herself shuddering at the image of him. Pinkie’s mane had drooped down straight as it was accustom to whenever she was depressed and Fluttershy was standing looking straight ahead of her. Her eyes were glazed over her mind had seemed to stop processing information. She had seen her father killed right in front of her, her family was gone. Applejack was standing nearest to Twilight with a reassuring smile on her face obviously trying to be strong for her friends at this time.
“Well then Twi you lead the way, ah was never good at leading ponies” She tipped her hat as Twilight turned towards the door that lead to where the Elements of Harmony used to be held. It had already been 2 years since they had defeated Nightmare Moon but nature had been working its way through the room. The Altar which the stones had been held upon had vines all over it, tree branches were growing through some of holes and window frames throughout the room. The group made their way through the room remembering back to their battle with Nightmare Moon heading towards a hole in the wall on the other side.
They squeezed through the hole and found themselves in a much larger chamber than the previous one. The room was clear at one point a throne room due to the thrones that sat at the other end. They had been chipped and cracked through time and neglect but at the top there was an unknown piece missing from both, most likely insignia’s belonging to their previous owners. The room was much worse than the previous one vines and grass covered the floor and the walls that must’ve been beautiful at one point had moss and leaves growing on the dark cracked columns, the ceiling had a gaping hole allowing the place to be illuminated by the moon and also showed their destination which through a bit of guesswork could be entered by a small set of stairs hidden in the corner of the chamber.
They climbed the spiral staircase cautiously there wasn’t much room for them to manoeuvre and it was dark with incredibly small windows that only shot small amounts of light in where they had been position making it slightly harder to see as their eyes were forced to constantly adjust. From what Twilight could see the tower seemed to be in better shape than the rest of the ruin almost like it had been cared for.
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As they rounded the top of the stairs they came face to face with a wooden door that from the way it hung had been kicked open by the occupant that was now inside. The light cast a shadow at the wall letting Twilight decipher what the creature was before entering. It seemed to be a pony in shape but that was all that could be assumed from the shadow. Twilight nudged the door open cautiously not wanting to give herself away before she had at least seen whoever was in the room and gauged the risk of letting herself be known before doing so.
As she cautiously opened the door her friends behind her each holding their breath not wanting to make a sound the one hinge holding it in place creaked. Twilight yelped as a bolt of pure magical energy shot inches in front of her face ripping through the door and then into a brick making it crumble as the pony in the room addressed them.
“GET OUT HERE NOW OR THE NEXT ONE WON’T MISS!” the voice was odd it sounded as if it would belong to a pony around the same age as them but conveyed knowledge far beyond their years with it. They shuffled into the room shaking and lined up against the wall furthest from the bearer of the voice looking at the ground. They didn’t know what was going to happen to them but they were sure it wouldn’t be good.
Twilight was the first to look up and her eyes were met with a sight she hadn’t expected. Before them stood an Alicorn, around the same height as Luna. He was quite lean but Twilight was sure he was stronger than any of the ponies in the room. His coat was a dark red with multiple scars covering him. His horn was mostly missing just a jagged stump left on his forehead and a portion of his right ear was missing giving the Alicorn an intimidating presence. He had a long unkempt mane and tail both of which were black and clearly hadn’t been cleaned for a while. His impressive wings were spread out ready for anything that was going to happen. His brilliant sky blue eyes were focused on the group before him clearly not expecting Twilight and her friends to have come to the ruin.
Stargazer was taken back slightly by the sight before him. Six mares wearing party frocks standing right in front of him inside his old home his mind racing having expected one of the many wild creatures from the forest or worse. But he didn’t want to take any chances he had learnt not to take risks throughout his life.
“And what are you lot doing here? In case you hadn’t noticed this is the Everfree Forest, Ponies aren’t meant to come in here.” His voice came across accusing but he didn’t falter, he didn’t want to show any weakness just in case.
“We….we were….at” The lavender unicorn was obviously scared by him and on the cusp of tears but he used this to advantage. Maybe he could get some information out of them if they were against him.
“What’s that? Speak up unicorn!” She looked him straight in the eye tears pouring out of her eyes and sniffling in-between words.
“We were at the gala with Celestia. And then, and then……….THEN WE FOUND OURSELVES HERE AND WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING!” She was full blown crying now. She obviously didn’t know anything. He could tell that from her outburst, they were clearly just a group that somehow ended up in his old home.
“The town of Ponyville is to the west it shouldn’t be that far. Now get out of here and forget about me and this place you got that” He turned around to get back to whatever he was doing before they had entered which was when Twilight saw his cutie mark. It was a gold shield with two silver crossed swords over the top of it. The same as on the clasp of the letter! She couldn’t believe it was this really the pony she was meant to find?
He looked over his shoulder at the transfixed unicorn confused by her sudden apprehension on leaving, all the time she was talking she kept looking over at the door looking like she wanted nothing more than to bolt.
“Is she staring at my cutie mark? I guess they wouldn’t have seen one like it there hasn’t been any form of war in many centuries.” He pondered to himself as he was accustom to do but quickly brought himself out of his head.
“What? There’s the door now like I said get out of here before I change my mind about letting you leave” he snapped at her annoyed that she had interrupted his studying he had been in the tower for a few months now reading through every scroll and document left behind.
Twilight jumped as he snapped at her making her fumble with her thoughts as she tried to pull out the letter.
“I think Princess Celestia wanted me to give this to you.” she had stopped crying now focused on finding out what was contained in the letter intrigued as to how it could be useful with what was happening now. As she held it up to him he snatched it out of her grasp and began reading it his face turning to a look of dread as he read the words on the paper in front of him.
Stargazer.
If you are reading this then I am either dead or dying and must pass along the responsibility of protecting Equestria to you. I know that it is a great deal to thrust upon you in this way and I hope that this letter never has to be sent. I have just seen you leave Canterlot. What has transpired can never be undone and I deeply regret having to make the decision I made. There is so much that I wish I could have said to you. I wish I could have made things better I know how much it hurt you but I am just one pony and there are things that even I cannot change. So please forgive me and answer this call as I am leaving this as a last resort for the world.
Signed your mentor and friend
Celestia
Stargazer looked up at the ponies in front of him a sense of urgency blazed into his eyes.
“We’re leaving this place in 60 seconds. You need to get out of those frocks and throw them in a pile over there.” He pointed to an empty spot on the floor and headed over to a box which he pulled a chest plate out and put it on. It was old and covered in scratches and in a few places had been chipped away, it had clearly once been a marvellous gold but had faded with time to a dull orangey yellow. He also pulled out two ornate pieces of armour that he attached to his wings, they too were old but not the same age as the chest plate having faded too from their once gold colour. Finally he threw a cloak over himself covering his wings and pulled a glass bottle out filled with a yellowish liquid.
He turned over to the mares satisfied he had the stuff he needed to see they had done as he said and had piled the clothes in the free space on the floor. He uncorked the bottle he held took a swig of the liquid and then poured the rest of the contents over the garments. He then rushed over to where a small lantern was providing the room with its glow picked it up and smashed it against the wall. He took it over the clothes and threw it on them, as the flame hit the liquid it went to a blaze in seconds making Twilight realised the liquid was obviously a very strong alcohol. He then moved over to the exit and beckoned for them to follow.
“So where are going mister?” He turned around to look at the lavender unicorn and spoke to her aggravated from having to answer yet another question.
“I don’t know to be honest but away from here. If you want to stay safe then keep up with me cause I’m not gonna slow down. Oh and don’t call me mister. My name is Stargazer”