The sky was dark over Ponyville by the time that we had all gathered at the train station. There was no moon lighting our overcast evening. I wasn't wearing a coat as I approached the stairs to the platform, which had on enormous puddle at the base of it. I walked through it without thinking, then wiped the mud from my hooves as I climbed the steps. My friends were there, both of them in jackets on the cold evening. Scootaloo wore the same one that I had gifted to her years ago despite it being a bit too small for her now. Apple Bloom had on a coat that looked too large for her, but upon closer inspection it was just very thick. I walked over, smiling at the two of them.
“You two ready?” I asked, looking over at the clock hanging on the station wall.
“Sweetie how are you not freezing? Are you sure that's good for you, standing out here without a coat on?” Scootaloo asked, looking me over.
“I'd say that she knows her limits.” Apple Bloom said.
I nodded, standing next to the both of them. “It's not really cold out… so are you two packed?”
Both of them pointed back to luggage they'd left sitting near the benches behind them. Normally this place was fairly busy, with at least a few dozen ponies about. However, we were catching the very last train until tomorrow. It had just gotten done raining, and in the cold weather nopony wanted to be out there. I looked back to my two friends, standing there next to me in the cold. They had determination written on their faces, despite how chilly it was out there. As I looked at her, Apple Bloom smiled.
“Twilight said she'd be meeting us at the castle, so we'll be staying the night there before we head out on whatever lead the princesses give us. You feelin' alright Sweetie?”
I shrugged my shoulders, unsure. I felt horribly nervous, and even though I knew that we would be safe at the castle, I didn't know what would happen after that. Apple Bloom looked at me with concern, blinking as a small raindrop hit her cheek. I could see my own face reflected in her eyes. My pale complexion and my coal black sclera stuck out more than anything else. My green irises looked like emeralds sinking into a pit of tar in my eye sockets. I looked away from her, trying not to think about my own condition.
“We could be away for a long time is all.” I replied, looking at my hooves. “A few years is a long time to not see Ponyville.”
Scootaloo walked over and set a hoof on my shoulder. “Come on, Sweetie. Don't go getting cold hooves now. We're right here with you, the whole way through.”
I let out a held breath and nodded. She was right. After all, how did they feel? They would be away from their families and friends just like I was. They weren't complaining at all either. Scootaloo didn't even look nervous. That or she was just tremendously good at hiding it. I heard a distant rumble on the train tracks as I stood there, and I realized that it was time for us to go.
“Our greatest adventure yet… I can't wait.” The excited pegasus said, her wings fluttering.
As the train could be very faintly seen rolling across the Equestrian countryside, I admired Scootaloo. She had grown a lot in the past year. Her wings now fit her perfectly, and she was now taller than me. With her newly grown wings she could even fly now. Apple Bloom was still only about as tall as I was, though she was never going to be able to reach tall shelves on her own. Applejack suffered the same problem, as well as Granny Smith. Height was just something the Apple family didn't have, with Big Mac being an exception to the rule. Still, both of us were only two inches smaller than our older sisters, so it didn't matter. I was stuck at my incredibly short stature, having stopped any growth as of last year.
The train was visible to my friends within a minute. I walked back and got their luggage, levitating it with ease before heading back to them. I seated their saddlebags across their backs, turning back to the tracks. I had to muffle the sound of the train with a spell on my own ears, wincing as I heard the brakes engaging with an ear-splitting screech. I hoped that the lights in the train carriage weren't too bright… I really didn't want to ask one of them if I could use their coat as a blindfold. I watched closely as it pulled up to the platform, seeing that most of the lights onboard were all dimmed. While it wasn't perfect I could at least see my surroundings still.
All three of us got onto the train, taking our seats. My friends tossed their luggage next to them, not concerned with taking up space since there was nopony else in there. Almost immediately Scootaloo rested her head on her pack , shutting her eyes. Apple Bloom leaned over to me, smiling. At first I didn't understand what she was doing. It became clear once she pushed her lips to mine, breaking away after a moment.
“G'night Sweetie, make sure we wake up at the right stop.” She said, yawning.
I nodded, drawing my tongue over my lips. She had a very distinct taste, one that I'd grown rather aquainted with last year. If I pushed my muzzle to her I knew I would smell her normal earthy scent that was mixed with apples, and her mouth always had the faintest flavor of golden delicious. Her blood was a different story. It was always a delight, warm and faintly sweet every time drank from her. She had a small set of circular scars on her left upper leg where I had taken to biting her.
“Sleep tight, we have a lot to do when you wake up.” I said, smiling.
Once she had rested her head I looked out the window. The train lurched and began to move again, gaining speed until the trees and fields were zipping by. I had the feeling I still had a long night ahead of me…
Hours passed before I could see Canterlot in the far distance. I didn't wake my friends until I could make out the castle, gently nudging them both with a hoof. Scootaloo grumbled about not getting up until we got there, while Apple Bloom was much easier to rouse from her slumber. The farmhand opened her eyes, looking up at me before she sat up, yawning awake and looking out the window.
“There it is… suppose Twilight's looking at us right now through her telescope?” She asked, looking at the castle perched on the mountainside.
I shrugged, looking at the city itself rather than the castle. I had heard from Twilight that the castle actually ran deep into the mountain, on top of already towering above everything. I could only imagine all of the secrets that were in a place like that. It had to be at least two thousand years old. My view of the city got better as we grew closer. I could make out the individual towers that the castle had, and the complexity of the architecture. Most of the city was made of the beautiful marble that was so abundant in the area.
The train began to slow as we neared the station, and I pushed Scootaloo to the edge of the seat to wake her up. She shot up, looking around and wondering what was going on. I pointed out the window as the train slowed, rolling up to the platform that had about a dozen ponies on it, and three guards. Two of the guards were at the entrances to the train platform, while another was actually standing near where our exit would be. Scootaloo gathered her things while I stood, stretching out my legs. Once the train was at a total stop the doors opened. The three of us walked out onto the platform just as ponies began to shuffle past us to board. The guard that looked strangely out of position walked over to us, clearing his throat.
“You three are Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom?” He questioned.
“That's right. Are you our escort?” I asked, looking between my friends and the guard.
He nodded, motioning for us to walk with him. I was stuck squinting as we walked off the platform, walking around the outer side of the train station. The lights around the station were blinding to me, and soon Apple Bloom noticed me stumbling a bit, nearly running into the wall to our right occasionally.
“Hey Sweetie, I packed a pair of sunglasses you could use if you can't see too well.” She said, motioning to the bag on her back.
My horn lit and I dug into her luggage, eventually withdrawing a set of what looked sort of like sunglasses at the time. I put them on, blinking. The lights were still brilliantly bright, but nowhere near the blinding effect they had on me without them. So long as I avoided directly looking at one of the streetlamps I had no problems telling where I was going.
“Thanks Apple Bloom.” I said, giving her a smile.
Scootaloo gave us a rather odd look, commenting. “Isn't it a little strange, wearing sunglasses at night? I mean sure these street lights are really bright but now you look like you just-”
“It doesn't matter what we look like, Scootaloo. We're a bunch of noponies. Nopony knows us, nopony is gonna bother us with nothin'.” Apple Bloom said.
The guard looked back at us, smiling. “See, this mare has the right idea. Suprising, since she sounds like she's never been to a city in her life. She's right though. There isn't a single pony who's going to bother you about anything in Canterlot. Folks around here have seen far stranger than a filly wearing sunglasses at three in the morning.”
Apple Bloom beamed under the attention of the guard, getting Scootaloo to roll her eyes. We walked in relative silence as we made our way down the street. The ponies that were out at that time of night seemed too busy to be bothered with us. We got some glances, but otherwise it seemed to be normal. We let our escort guide us through the city, walking until eventually we began to get out of the more well-lit streets and into some of the residential areas. We didn't spend very long walking near ponies' homes though, because it only took ten minutes after that to reach a street that stopped at an enormous gate. Our escort brought us up to the entrance to one of the hundreds of castle courtyards and said something to the guards, some kind of code or maybe a secret passphrase. Either way I couldn't remember it no matter how hard I tried. A moment later the other guards opened the gate, and our escort brought us inside the courtyard.
The courtyard was brightly lit compared to the surrounding city streets, leaving me squinting even through the sunglasses. The source of the lights were crystals that sat inside small enclosures on the walls, looking like small suns to my delicate eyes. Through the overly bright haze that obscured my vision I could see a circular lawn, with a fountain in the center. There was a staircase leading to an enormous set of double doors, which a pony stood by. It took me a moment to piece together that it was Twilight, waiting for us to approach. Apple Bloom let me lean on her a bit as we walked, in case I stumbled or fell. I was especially grateful on the stairs, since I would have fallen no less that a dozen times. Once we reached the top Twilight motioned us inside, and she shut the enormous door behind us.
It was much darker in there, allowing me to take off the sunglasses and shove them back into Apple Bloom's luggage. There were chandeliers high above us lined with crystals much like there were outside. The ones in there were dimmed, and the sheer distance between the arched ceiling of the grand hallway and the floor left only a very faint glowto light the way. It was a good balance between what was well lit to me, and what looked to a normal pony like mood lighting. As I marveled at the nicely lit corridor Twilight began to speak.
“I'm glad you all made it… and early too. Celestia is resting, like I should be. However I wanted to make sure you all made it here safely. Seeing as you're all mostly alright, I would say I did a good job.”
“So Celestia is sleeping?” Scootaloo asked. “I kind of wanted to talk to her first...”
“I didn't say sleeping. I said resting.” The princess corrected. “Sweetie Belle isn't the only thing in Equestria that never has to sleep. You could go see her if you wanted, she may be busy with something though. Nights are her free time.”
“Okay… and Luna?” I asked.
“She is busy with foreign affairs. That's her royal duty, while Celestia deals with things here in Equestria. That is the really simplified version of what they actually do, but it's what I think you three will understand.”
Scootaloo had no problems with nodding to that. I felt curious about what they did in detail, but I wasn't about to waste everpony's time launching Twilight into a lecture right there in the middle of hallway. I was sure that the studious mare would, too. Instead I looked down the hall, tapping my hooves on the marble floor. Scootaloo noticed things go quiet for a moment, so she jumped back into the conversation.
“So can you take us to see Celestia?” She asked, her wings fluttering.
Twilight nodded, setting off down the corridor with us trailing behind. There were a surpising lack of guards in there, before I realized that they must all be sleeping or on post somewhere on the outside of the castle. I took note of everything in there as we walked, especially the number of rooms. There seemed to be no end to them as we walked along. The hallway itself looked like it never stopped, trailing as far as I could see. It had to be farther than a mile to walk… and there were so many equally long corridors branching off of it. I could just imagine getting lost in there at night. It would be better to sit and wait to ask directions than to keep wandering.
Eventually Scootaloo began to flap her wings to lazily hop and glide her way along the floor. Apple Bloom seemed to have no problem keeping up on her own, and my hooves weren't quite sore enough to warrant complaining. I was getting impatient however. After what felt like forever we turned, and began to walk down a different corridor. After another half an hour of walking I was beginning to get bored, and I could practically see Apple Bloom trying not to mention her aching hooves. The solid marble floors were doing her no favors. Finally, after what felt like forever, we reached a set of double doors that had two guards outside. They didn't move as Twilight walked to the door, opening it to let us through. We were led into an enormous tower room, with a set of stairs on the opposite side from the door. A large pillar stood in the center of the room, seeming to be the backbone of the tower itself in addition to being a decoration.
I liked the look of the deep red carpet and nice furniture, but Twilight began to move at a very brisk pace as she led us to the stairs. I hardly got to see any of the magnificent room, or the next three the we passed. I would have liked to stop and look at all of the nice décor or some of the paintings that hung on the walls, but Twilight seemed to deem that a small priority compared to finding Celestia. Two more climbs later we stopped, with Twilight motioning for us to be quiet. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were both panting from the stairs we'd all but run up, though I was much less tired than they were. The moment that they had caught their breath Twilight led us further into the room.
The room had no windows, and had a single source of light in it. The fireplace was lit to keep the room warm on the cold night,and in front of it stood the sun goddess herself. The princess had an eisel set up, with a canvas in front of her. Looking closer and ignoring how blinding the light from the fire was, I could see that she was actually done with the painting. Most of the paint was dry, meaning that it had been somewhat complete for a while. She seemed to just be touching up the portrait she had made of the fireplace. Nopony wanted to say anything to disturb her focus, so we stood there and waited for her to be finished. Our patience paid off after the princess turned, taking the canvas with her magic and folding up the eisel. She set the painting supplies aside and put the painting itself on a small table to finish drying.
Once everything was in its proper place she turned to us. Twilight cleared her throat, speaking up once she had Celestia's attention.
“This is Rarity's younger sister Sweetie Belle. She's the one that I mentiond contracted vampirism.” The youngest alicorn said.
The ruler nodded to her, waving Twilight away. She walked downstairs before Celestia pulled the trapdoor over the staircase shut, to ensure privacy. My friends looked at me nervously as the princess' horn lit. The fire in the hearth went out, leaving my us in total darkness. I had the feeling that she had mostly done that to be considerate to me. I could now see the inside of the room properly, with a nice lounge couch and chairs surrounding a coffee table near the fireplace. On the other side of the room stood bookcases and stands with old artifacts on them, as well as a painting of Luna. Once she had assured herself that we were alone with her, she began to speak.
“So you're Sweetie Belle. It's nice to meet you, at last.” The alicorn commented, seeming cheery.
I nodded, watching the princess light her horn again. A single one of the crystals that normally illuminated the inside of the castle lit up above the fireplace, giving the room one dim source of light from her and my friends to see by.
“Come, have a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”
My friends did as they were told, and I joined them on one of the couches while the goddess lounged in one of her chairs, smiling at the three of us. Once we were settled Scootaloo spoke up, seeming nervous.
“Your highness, we came here to, uh, ask you some things. If that's okay?”
The princess chuckled, waving a hoof at the pegasus. “I am already well aware of Sweetie Belle's condition, and Twilight told me yesterday of the rather curious quest you three are going on.”
Scootaloo nodded, looking at the floor. “Oh… so, do you know where we could start?”
“To start, I would like to warn you three.” The alicorn began, looking between my two friends. “There is no shortage of tears and anguish that have been shed on this quest. Imposing immortality on a mortal creature is a complete transformation from what both of you are now. I'm impressed by your dedication to Sweetie Belle, however. Your goal is very noble… I know what it's like to not have anypony through the ages you can call your best friend. Luna is back now though, something I'm very grateful for. In order to keep Sweetie from that lonely existence, I would be happy to help you three. That isn't to say the road to get there will be easy, but I will try to assist you with any information I can provide.”
The alicorn paused, as if to let that information sink in. Once she had let us ponder her words for a moment, she continued.
“There are many ways to live forever in this magical world. From distilling unicorn's blood into an elixer of life every month, to binding one's soul to an object while your body falls apart. Most of these methods are far from a perfect existence… after all, look at Sweetie Belle. She will never know the sweet embrace of my sun again, and must consume the blood of ponies to maintain her immortal body. All of the methods to prolong life come at a cost. That is why, before you even start your adventure, I want you two to think about what you are willing to sacrifice in order to stave off death.”
I looked to my friends, feeling sorry for both of them. I hadn't been in their situation before… my choice had been made for me. They both looked like they had seen a ghost, after listening to the alicorn. The ways of living forever she had mentioned were awful. I couldn't help but wonder if they were all equally as bad.
“Your majesty, not all of the ways are like that… are they?” I asked.
“Considering how long we will know each other Sweetie Belle, I would prefer you addressed me as Celestia. To answer your question, no. Many ways are preferable over those ones. Those were simply the less desirable methods. Nowhere near the worst, but still undesirable. I used them to make your friends think seriously about this, and get their priorities in order so they don't make a decision they regret forever.”
I didn't exactly approve of her scaring my friends, but she had a very good reason. She let us sit with our thoughts for a few minutes. I secretly wished that I could know what my friends were thinking. The suspense of not knowing what the might choose was making me nervous. On top of being in a room with Celestia, I could feel the stress fraying at my nerves. Once she seemed confident my friends had some sort of order in their minds, the princess continued.
“Here is how this will work. I will give you three a lead on a possible source of immortality. Then, you will seek it out. If you decide to use it once you possess it, and I approve of the method as well, then you may use it to your heart's content. However, if I do not approve of what you have found, I will take the source and destroy it so that it may not be abused in the future. I'm mostly talking about things that I mentioned before. It isn't likely that I will choose to take away something you worked very hard for, unless it was a danger to yourselves or others.”
I didn't get the best feeling at that comment. What was the point of sending us out to search for something if she knew that we shouldn't have it in the first place?
“You won't send us to look for things like that, right?”
“Of course not Sweetie Belle, what good would it do me to send you all on a fruitless chase? I have a legion of guards to do things like that. I'm only doing this for your benefit.”
The way that she'd phrased that was almost defensive. It made me think that perhaps there were some ulterior motives for helping us besides the kindness in her heart. Rarity had taught me enough about the way royal ponies worked to know that their decisions were seldom one-sided. The princess spoke again before my thoughts wandered too far down that road.
“Personally I only know six or seven ways that one could truly live forever, barring an unnatural death like murder. The first is of course, vampirism. The second and third are the methods I've mentioned before. The fourth is to become an alicorn. Of course, that is a bit out of your reach… so onto the fifth.”
I looked to the side to see my friends looking disheartened by the options listed so far. I hoped that the princess actually knew some we could use.
“Certain species of dragon are known to be extremely long-lived, and consuming their scales has a curious effect of slowly warping a pony into a smaller form of those dragons. They are terribly endangered due to the lack of laws regarding their hunting. The sixth option involves the use of Changelings. The highest ranks among them are known to have the ability to live forever on a steady supply of affection. It would require a pony to be corrupted and warped into a Changeling for that to happen, something I'm sure none of you want. In addition you would need a significant amount of time near Queen Chrysalis in order to gain her favor… something I don't think would be good for any of you.”
Scootaloo shrugged, while Apple Bloom looked disgusted at the thought. Satisfied she had at least turned one of us away from that idea, Celestia continued to the last option.
“The last option I will provide is to track down one of the many artifacts that were created, and succeeded, in making a pony effectively immortal.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, my suspicions all but confirmed. She was looking to have us be errand ponies that could go and find these artifacts for her. I'd been wary of the princess when she had threatened to deny us certain paths to our goal, but now I was sure she was only looking to use me and my friends. I stood up, stretching my legs.
“Well… that's really too bad, then. I don't think that my friends are really interested in any of that.” I said, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked confused at my behaviour, while the princess glared suspicously at me. After standing there for a moment, I looked away from them, not knowing what to do. My friends weren't picking up on the cue for us to leave, even though we needed to before things got complicated. Before they could sort out what I was getting at, Celestia spoke out to me.
“So you think that you can go and find a way to live forever on your own?” The princess asked, seeming very displeased.
“No, I was just going to ask somepony else.” I said, trying to conceal my own nervousness.
“Who?” Celestia inquired, even though she probably already knew the answer.
“Luna, of course.”
What I was trying for was horrendously risky. She knew that I did have the option to go to her younger sister. She would most likely be much more honest with us than Celestia had been. My goal was to get Celestia to loosen up her grip on us, by threatening to go to the other celestial alicorn. It was a difficult gamble, one that I was sure she saw through like it was written on paper in a glass box. However, she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't stop us from going to Luna, that would raise tons of red flags to my friends and Twilight. She could either amend her statement there, or have us walk away with her gaining nothing from our meeting.
“Now that you've reminded me…” Celestia began, sounding a bit more stiff than before. “There are certain ways that I forgot to mention. I personally don't know how to make them work. However… I know someone that would.”
“Sure, just point us to the right pony.” Scootaloo said, happy to hear we had more options.
“You see, that's the problem. The one that I just mentioned isn't a pony. They're a Draconequis.”
Me and my friends groaned at the news. That was the opposite of helpful. None of us wanted to go through Discord. The sheer frustration from dealing with him would be enough to make even the most patient pony question themselves. In addition, the amount of time we would have to spend around him might just leave enough time for the trickster to skew things to his own amusement. Possibly at the detriment of my friends.
“We're fine… anypony else?” I asked desperately.
The alicorn was silent for a while, seeming pensive. I couldn't read her face at all in that time. She wore a mask while she thought about her response, one that both impressed and scared me. I had no idea what she could be thinking, After nearly a minute of silence, she spoke again.
“My sister. I wasn't going to tell you, but before her banishment the descent into her becoming Nightmare Moon was a very rough one. She dabbled in magic that I have since outlawed, though she did spread it to the wind so that certain amoral sorcerers could abuse her findings throughout the years. Not even I know the real extent of her knowledge on this topic… but I don't want you three going to her with this. Luna washed her hooves of such magic long ago, and she doesn't need you to drag her back to it.”
I sighed, shaking my head. I knew that the princess was doing her absolute best to stop us from consulting Luna. I even felt a bit bad about considering it, now that I'd heard Celestia's reasoning. I had to, though… I had no choice. She wasn't helpful at all, unless we wanted to go running all over the world trying to find artifacts for her. Even once we found such treasures, she might not even let us use them on ourselves without her permission. Nothing about the deal benefited us at all.
“We need some time to think about this… alright?” I said, looking back at my friends for support.
Apple Bloom saw me and picked up on the cue. “Yeah… much as we want to give you an answer, it's pretty late. The sun should be coming up in just a bit, so we need to go get some shuteye.”
“That's alright, I wasn't expecting an answer today. Just take some time to think over your options.” Celestia said, seeming a bit dissapointed. “I'll be raising the sun in an hour, so you have that long to be in your room. Please stay in there until the morning, for Sweetie Belle's safety.”
We all nodded, my friends standing to leave with me. I could feel the eyes of the alicorn on me as we walked to the stairs. As we approached the alicorn opened the trapdoor to let us out, watching us until we had left the room completely. We walked to the base of the tower, where Twilight was waiting at the door.
“So, how'd it go?” The lilac mare asked.
I nodded, smiling. “It went pretty well. Can you show us our room now? It's been a really long night… I want to rest a bit.”
Neither of my friends thought twice about what I had just said. Twilight however seemed to pick up on how off the phrasing had been. Logically speaking I didn't need to sleep, or even stop what I was doing to recover. She nodded, leading us out of the tower and down the hallway to a door. She took a key from under her wing and inserted it into the lock. Once the door was open she waited for my friends to walk into the lavish bedroom, not moving to follow them. I stayed out there with her, looking up at the studious alicorn. Once my friends were out of earshot I asked the question burning at the back of my mind.
“Twilight, can you take me to Luna before the sun comes up? I need to talk to her, really badly. Celestia doesn't want me to for some reason, but I need to know some things. I feel like only Luna can help me.”
Twilight looked conflicted, scuffing her hoof. “I don't know Sweetie… Celestia usually has some pretty good reasons for things like this. She told me specifically not to mention you to Luna, either.”
Frustration flared like a fresh blaze in my chest, and I had to struggle not to speak badly of the sun princess. Instead, I looked at my hooves, pretending to be heartbroken by her words. I did my best to sound tearful, distraught.
“Twilight, this could be my only chance to ever talk to Luna. What if she has something really important to say? Something that could help my friends make a better choice? What if my friends have to make a horrible decision, that Luna could stop from happening?”
The much older pony let out a sigh, tapping her hoof. “Fine, fine… only because you're thinking of your friends first.”
With that she shut the door to the bedroom, leaving my friends in there on their own for the day. She locked the door before she lit her horn, looking around in case anypony would see us. There was a flash of purple light, and I stumbled a bit as we landed in a dark corridor. I had been teleported before, but it was a sensation that took a lot of getting used to. I felt dizzy as I looked around. I was trying to piece together where we were. The hall was much like the one that we had just been in, but with some noticable differences. No lights illuminated the dark floor, which was so polished and smooth I could see my reflection in it. If I could take any guess I would say that the floor was obsidian, by how glass-like the surface was. Instead of crystals in the chandeliers, there were candles that seemed to have not been lit for ages.
Twilight cast a light at the end of her horn, looking around. I winced at how bright it was, and followed her when she set off. She led me to an enormous door with a moon emblazoned upon it, motioning for me to stand in front of it.
“In about an hour she'll be here. Until then, just wait. Nopony ever comes down here anymore… not even guard patrols. The only thing you might see is the enchanted broom that goes along and cleans the floor once a week. It's the only reason that there isn't a mound of dust laying in the corners.”
She turned to me, waving as her horn flashed purple. She vanished, leaving me alone in the darkness. I looked up at he monolithic door, letting out a held breath… it would be a long, suspenseful wait.