I'll See You Soon

by RainbowDoubleDash

3. The Dragon and the Goddess

Far, far to the north, in the ofttimes volcanic mountain range that served as a buffer zone between Equestria and the various southerly Griffin Kingdoms, lay the dormant but by no means dead volcano in which Celestia, the rightful ruler of all ponydom, had made her temporary home.

Carved from obsidian and laced with veins of gold, the palace that Celestia had ordered her minions to construct sat suspended by three mighty bridges in the crater of a volcano. It was an ideal hiding place for her, as few ponies who would seek her out would ever think to check within a burning caldera. Not that Celestia was hiding. She was biding her time. Planning. Preparing.

A thousand feet beneath the rough palace – rough by Celestia’s standards, anyway – was a vast pool of magma, hundreds of feet wide but stretching for only a dragon knew how deep down into the bowels of the earth. One such dragon rose from the pool, an ancient and powerful example of his kind. Solrathicharnon’s mighty wings took him up from where he had bathed and harvested crystals for a snack, and down onto the suspended palace’s entrance. Solrathicharnon did not particularly want to serve Celestia – or Corona, as she was more rightly known even if she herself hated the name – but at the moment, it suited his purposes, as Corona was a foe of Luna, the one being he hated most in the world. He was very old, even by dragon standards, and though he had lost his sight to time, he had gained patience.

He had, additionally, gained exceptional hearing. Thus, even over the sound of the volcano beneath him, the bubbling and roiling of the magma therein and the hissing and popping of the very air itself over its surface, Solrathicharnon heard the clip-clop-clip-clop of an approaching pony’s hooves across the bridge. It was not, however, a gait he recognized – few ponies came before the Tyrant Sun, and Solrathicharnon had learned the sound of all their trots.

Solrathicharnon turned, growling in challenge as he exhaled smoke. He may not have been able to see the pony approaching, but he could hear it well enough to gaze at it. Surprisingly, it had crossed the bridge fully halfway before slowing, apparently not concerned by his presence until he had made his awareness of it known.

“I could hear you, pony,” Solrathicharnon said, dropping onto all four limbs and spreading his wings wide as he glared at where it was – no need to advertise that he was blind, after all. “I could smell you as you approached.” This, too, was a lie, as the heat of the air made such impossible. Again, though, there was no reason to let this interloper know. “Why have you come here?”

There was a moment of silence, then the sound of one hoof scraping on the stone bridge. “My name is Dazzler,” a female pony voice said. “I seek an audience with Celestia. I…have a question for her.”

“Oh?” Solrathicharnon asked. “And what makes you think that Celestia has any interest in answering?”

“She might not,” Dazzler said. “But it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“It might,” the dragon said with a chuckle. He took a step forward. “Suppose I say ‘no.’ What then?”

“I’d leave.”

“Ah, but here we have a problem,” Solraicharnon pointed out, grinning wickedly, “because you have found this place, this volcano lair of Celestia. You can’t simply walk away from that, little pony.”

Dazzler was silent for a moment. “And I couldn’t teleport,” she said. Suddenly, in Solrathicharnon’s mind, there was a burst of light. The ancient dragon couldn’t see – not normally, anyway. But he could see magic. Before him, the unicorn lit up, piercing the blackness that his eyes normally presented him with. She glowed lavender, bright and strong – a powerful caster, this one. “This entire volcano has a teleportation-dampening field. You can teleport in…but not out.”

“Indeed,” Solrathicharnon observed. “So, then, my very little pony. Where does that leave you?”

Dazzler was once again silent. Her magical aura didn’t disappear in Solrathicharnon’s mind – she was still examining the teleportation-dampening field. “Stuck,” she said at length, bowing low. “And at your mercy, great dragon. I can only humbly beg you let me pass.”

Solrathicharnon smiled brightly. Patience or no, accepting his subservient role to the alicorn or not, it was good to see a mortal being bowing and scraping before him once again. It amused him. Dazzler amused him, and put him in a altruistic mood. “I am feeling beneficent today,” he said, drawing back from Dazzler and using one claw to open the gate into Celestia’s palace. “You may come before Celestia. But I do not guarantee anything after that, little pony.”

“I understand,” Dazzler said, rising from her bow and trotting forward, following Solrathicharnon in.

---

So rough was the palace that it didn’t even have a proper antechamber before the throne room. In point of fact, the first floor of the palace essentially was the throne room, a grand hall supported by gold-and-obsidian pillars that led up to a raised dais, upon which sat Celestia’s golden throne. Surrounding the throne was a massive hoard of gold and gemstones, one she had taken by right of conquest from a dragon - not Solrath, his horde was elsewhere, and, he believed, hidden - and which she had used to fund both the construction of her palace and her recruiting efforts for her war with her sister.

Her eyes had been closed in contemplation as she sat upon the throne, dreaming up plans and schemes as she focused on recovering the full extent of her power. It was nearly hers once again after her disastrous encounter with the corrupted Elements of Harmony, and soon she would be ready to act, to strike.

Her eyes opened when she heard Solrath’s approach, as well as the clip-clopping of an equine's hooves. She had expected to see Zecora, but instead found herself looking at a gray unicorn pony with sparkles for a cutie mark, trotting forward with determination that almost masked her slight fear.

Celestia did not like unexpected visitors. She stood, glaring at Solrath. “Who is this that you have brought before me, Solrath?” she demanded, spreading her wings as she trotted down the dais’ steps. Modern Equestrian was vulgar upon her tongue, but she used it anyway, having picked up the habit in order to better relate to modern ponies. It certainly had nothing to do with certain…insinuations…made by one of her enemies seven months ago.

Solrath flapped his wings. “Might I present, the pony Dazzler,” he said, his voice full of amusement for some reason. The blind dragon waved a claw over the unicorn as she bowed low before Celestia. “She came all the way here, risking volcanism and death by dragon, placing herself totally at your mercy, to ask you a question.”

Celestia blinked at that. She couldn’t help it as she stared down at the pony, who glanced up. The fear was still there, but it was…tempered, somehow. She leaned forward. “Have you come to pledge your allegiance to the true ruler of Equestria?” she asked.

Dazzler’s eyes widened slightly. “Um,” she said. “N…not really, to be perfectly honest…not that I don’t think you’re great and all, your Majesty! I just don’t think I’d be very useful.” She looked directly at Celestia, and mumbled, “That is so weird…” under her breath.

Celestia stiffened. Dazzler had probably thought that she had spoken in too low a voice to be heard, but Celestia’s ears could hear sunlight rebounding off of a frozen lake – she could certainly hear a mumbled comment. She whickered. “What is ‘so weird?’”

Dazzler looked taken aback, and she shifted. “Um…” she said. “Have you ever…like, seen a picture of a friend, but the picture’s from twenty years ago, and they look basically the same but their mane is all different and it’s just weird seeing them like that? Your Majesty?”

Celestia frowned, blinking. Of all the myriad ways this conversation could have gone, this was not one she had expected. Celestia did not like the unexpected, but this was simultaneously so innocuous, and yet still respectful on the part of Dazzler, that she somehow couldn’t become properly offended like she knew she should. “What’s wrong with my mane?”

“Nothing!” Dazzler said. “It’s just…well, I’m used to seeing it different. Your tail, too. And…well, your eyes. I – and this is just a personal opinion, your Majesty – I think your eyes look better when they’re not all, you know, glow-y.” Dazzler bowed low again. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude…”

The alicorn blinked a few times more. “How is it,” she demanded, leaning forward again, “that you are ‘used to seeing’ me as I have not appeared in more than a thousand years?”

Dazzler pursed her lips. “Well, we have pictures from before you…well, before,” Dazzler said. She bowed her head once more. “I’m sorry, though; this is really rude of me.”

Celestia didn’t know what to make of this conversation. She settled on taking the opportunity to leave it behind as she spread her wings once more, gazing down upon Dazzler, though with a bit more charity than she had previously had. This little pony was certainly no threat to her, and seemed to genuinely respect her, which was more than she had yet been able to coax out of most other ponies. “Very well, Dazzler,” Celestia said, turning around and trotting back to her throne, then sitting upon it with wings still spread imperiously. “I have not held an open Court for some time, but I find that the mood now strikes me. Ask your question, and I shall answer.” She leaned forward on the throne. “But understand: I am in a state of war with my sister. I do not know how you found this place, but you shall tell me. And you shall not be allowed to leave until the war is over.”

Dazzler chewed her lip at that. “Okay,” she said, sitting up straight as Solrath chuckled at the entire show. “Okay, then. My question: how do you know if you’re ready to marry a pony?”

Celestia blanched, eyes widening, as Solrath nearly stumbled and lost his balance, letting out a burst of surprised laughter. This…this was not the question she had expected. Celestia stood, incensed. “Do you mock me?” she shouted, her voice reverberating with ancient power.

Dazzler stumbled backwards a step, holding up her front hooves. “No!” she exclaimed. “No, I promise, I’m being dead serious! I’ve asked all my other friends and they’ve been really – ”

“Friends!” Celestia exclaimed. “Friends? I am not your friend! I am your Queen!”

Dazzler cringed. “Sorry…” she said, looking down. “Sorry…I just thought…” she sighed. “This was stupid, I know.”

Celestia grunted, sitting back upon her throne as she considered the gray pony. She was insane, that much was clear. Nopony but the mentally ill would traverse the rocky Skyshaper Peaks, enter a volcano, bargain their way past a dragon, and come before Celestia Herself, simply for marriage advice. She was the Daystar, the Undimmed! She had far higher and more noble things to concern herself with!

Of course, then Dazzler looked at her with eyes wide, enlarged to an almost impossible degree. They were watery, too. “It’s just, he asked me to marry him, and I do love him, but marriage is just a huge commitment, and I was looking into a mirror with a wedding veil on and it just hit me that I’m going to be a wife and we’re gonna live together and wake up together and eat together, and one part of me loves that, but there’s this little tiny niggling bit that thinks it’s really scary…”

Those eyes…

Celestia grit her teeth, glancing away and shivering. Those eyes. How could Celestia be thousands upon thousands of years old and yet still be affected by such a look of pleading desperation? “Very well,” she grunted, glaring at Dazzler and pointedly ignoring, for the moment, the bemused look on Solrath's face. “It is my opinion, as Queen, that marriage is for propagation, through procreation or adoption, and the raising of foals. Do you believe that your fiancé would make a good father?”

Dazzler blinked. “I’m…not sure if our relationship is at that point, even if we do get married. But yes. He’s great with foals.”

“Then marry.” She glared down at Dazzler. “Although I hope for his sake and yours that you were not planning on marrying any time soon. As I told you, Dazzler, you may not leave until my war with my sister is won.”

Dazzler bit her lip at that. “Oh…” she said. “Well, um…actually, I’ve sort of been examining the teleportation-dampening spell this whole time, and…well, bye.”

Celestia blinked, as Dazzler’s horn flashed twice in quick succession. The first burst was a precisely-prepared counterspell, washing over the entire caldera and resonating in just the right way to dispel the dimensional lock that Celestia had placed over the volcano’s crater. So surprised was she at both the finesse and the action itself that she didn’t have any time to act herself as the pony set off a teleportation spell, disappearing in a burst of lavender light and with an audible pop.

“What?” she demanded, standing and stomping a hoof. The whole palace rumbled from her exclamation and hoof-stomp. “What treachery is this?”

Solrath blinked. “Impressive,” he allowed.

Celestia glared at him, her mane and tail burning bright. “She mocked me! I will not be mocked!” she exclaimed, stomping down from her throne lest her own rapidly rising body heat melt the edifice. “She was an agent of Luna, no doubt…sent to spy…to make me look like a fool! I will not tolerate it!”

Celestia turned, trotting from her throne and deeper into the palace. “Zecora!” she called, bringing her voice under control lest she shake the palace loose and send it tumbling into the magma below. “Zecora! Where are you? I have hidden long enough – it is time for action!”

---

“…and then she left,” Trixie said as she held a stack of notes in her hooves, looking them over desperately as she and Ditzy stood at her front door. Ditzy had been trying to deliver mail, but Trixie had appeared with piles of paper and parchment already in her hooves, desperate for help. “What do I do? I don’t know anything about marriage! But now I’ve got all these notes and I'm trying to figure it out and I’m thinking of heading down to the library, and I’ve got Pokey over in the town hall researching divorce rates and marriage rates…I don’t know how to answer!”

Ditzy Doo took one of the notes. It was a mess of ink scribbles and marks, as Trixie had tried and failed several times to set to paper her thoughts on marriage and who and where and why and with how many ponies a particular pony should be married. She raised an eyebrow at that. “Polygamy?” she asked.

“It’s legal in most provinces! Including this one! I checked!” Trixie exclaimed. “What if it turns out her fiancé is into that? What if she isn’t? Or what if she is but her fiancé isn’t? I have to take that into account!”

Ditzy was glad that Trixie’s home was the last stop on her mail route today. “You’re taking this really seriously for a pony you just met,” she noted, looking at another piece of paper.

“I know!” Trixie exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Which is even weirder!” she blinked. “Do you think she put some kind of compulsion on me?”

“What, like a spell?”

“Yes! So that I’d be forced to do her bidding!”

“And she’s using you to sort out her marriage problems.”

“Pre-wedding jitters, Ditzy! Totally different!” Trixie set down her notes, pacing back and forth. “And Pokey’s even going along with it! Oh Stars Above, I’ve never been under a compulsion before, I have no idea how to dispel it – ”

“Trixie,” Ditzy interrupted quickly, raising her hooves. “Trixie, stop for a second and think about what you just suggested.”

The blue unicorn did, taking her hat off and holding it in her front hooves, spinning it around by its brim as she did. “Yeah…” she said. “Yeah, it does sound ridiculous…but what if she only wants me to think that it’s ridiculous and that’s part of the compulsion – ”

“Trixie, a pony did not enchant you to make you help her with her pre-wedding jitters,” Ditzy insisted. “She just made a good impression and you want to help her. That’s all.”

Trixie bit her lip. “I…I know,” she admitted. “It’s weird, though. You know me…I like to think I’m better than when we first met and all, but still. I never trust a pony this much on first meeting them!”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine – ” Ditzy said with a smile, when there was a flash from within Trixie’s home, specifically in her office. Ditzy and Trixie looked to each other pensively for a few seconds before both trotted inside, looking into the room.

Ditzy’s eyes widened. Brushing soot off of her coat, horn glowing lavender to dissipate the soot into nothingness as she did, was a pony that looked like nothing so much as a slightly lavender-tinted, unicorn version of herself, and by proxy an older version of her daughter. When she looked up, the eyes all but confirmed it, and Ditzy’s jaw dropped at the similarity. The unicorn’s own jaw dropped as well for some reason, though she recovered faster. “U-um, hi! I’m Dazzler!”

Interestingly, she didn’t do what most ponies did on seeing Ditzy’s walled eyes, which was overcompensate by staring intently into just one. She looked instead at Ditzy’s whole face, not bothered by the walled eyes at all. In fact, it was Ditzy doing the staring this time, at Dazzler’s sheer similarity to Dinky. “H…hi,” she said.

The silence could not have been more awkward. Trixie was the one who broke it, tossing her notes out of sight and coughing into one hoof. “Dazzler,” she said authoritatively. “This is Ditzy Doo, one of my closest friends, recently knighted Dame of Equestria, the Element of Kindness, a wonderful mother to her foal, and a waymorequalifiedponytoansweryourquestionsorryDitzy!”

She turned around, trying to run away. Ditzy reacted first, however, despite her shock. “Hang on!” she exclaimed, grabbing Trixie’s tail in her mouth. The unicorn yelped as she stumbled to the ground. “Ain nof moah quafified!” she exclaimed as best she could with a mouthful of tail. She spat it back out, looking at Dazzler. “I’m sorry, I’ve never been married, and…and let’s just say I don’t think I’d be a good wife and leave it at that.”

Dazzler blanched. “I think you’d make a great wife,” she insisted. “And you’re already a great mother. I met your daughter earlier today, she was…perfect, if I say so myself. Adorable.”

“Well, wife and mother are two different things…” Ditzy said. She glanced at Dazzler. “I…guess it depends on the pony I met. I’d like a husband, but I don’t really have the time, and I don’t want to confuse Dinky by suddenly bringing a father into her life when she’s just had me for so long…”

“I think she’d be able to handle it,” Dazzler insisted, as her horn glowed lightly. The bow in her hair disappeared, as she turned around to Trixie’s desk and retrieved her wedding veil, holding it in her hooves rather than putting it back on. “I’ve talked to a lot of ponies today already, though. I think I’ve got my answer…”

“What?” Trixie asked incredulously, as she stood. “But…ah, zut. I wanted to help…”

Ditzy turned to glare at Trixie. “You just tried to pass it off to me!”

“And I deeply regret that.” She stood up straighter as she turned back to Dazzler, raising a hoof imperiously. “But I’ve reached a decision on what advice to give.”

Dazzler blinked, then smiled as she sat down, veil still in her hooves. “Yes?” she asked.

“Do you love your fiancé?”

“Yes.”

“Good! Then marry him. See if it works out. If it doesn’t, get it annulled. That’s why annulling was invented.”

Dazzler chuckled. “Should have expected that,” she noted, as she set her wedding veil atop her head and her horn glowed brightly. Behind her, a point of gold-silvered light appeared, expanding and beginning to twist and turn upon itself, somehow seeming to suck itself inwards even as it grew larger and larger, until it was the size of the pony standing in front of it. Strangely, there was no wind or sparks of stray magic, which Ditzy would have expected – either Dazzler was being careful, or else the big effects only happened on the receiving end. Ditzy didn’t know much about magic, but she did know enough to be impressed by how easily the unicorn mare was able to conjure up such an impressive display.

“Oh, and one more thing!” Trixie insisted before Dazzler could speak, turning and dashing into her house. After a moment, she returned, holding a bottle filled with an amber liquid in her telekinetic grip. The label on the bottle marked it as both old and of excellent quality. “Congratulations,” she said.

Dazzler chuckled once more, reaching out with her own telekinesis. On taking the bottle, however, it shuddered and began to crack. Dazzler yelped, quickly setting it down on the ground. “Oh no!” she exclaimed, putting her hooves to her mouth. “Sorry, sometimes I grab things too hard – ”

“It’s okay,” Ditzy said, gingerly touching the bottle, eyes focusing on it. It was cracked near its top, but not leaking. “It seems fine. My daughter actually has the same problem. Right, Trixie?” At a lack of response, she glanced to Trixie. The blue unicorn’s mouth was hanging wide open, eyes wide, and she had one hoof pointed at Dazzler in stunned disbelief –

Wait.

Ditzy slowly turned to Dazzler, still framed by the glow of her teleportation portal behind her. She actually looked at her – her coat, her mane, her eyes. They were just like Dinky’s…not similar, but just like them, in every way, in a way that went well past uncanny and into downright identical. And she had the same problem of grabbing items too hard with her telekinesis.

The gray unicorn smiled softly when she realized her secret was out. “Like I said,” she said quietly, “you’re a great momma.”

Ditzy’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “Din – ”

“Shhh,” the unicorn interrupted, putting a hoof to her lips as her horn glowed, and she took Trixie’s offered bottle of bourbon in her telekinesis, carefully this time so that it wouldn’t break. She smiled at Ditzy and Trixie. “Don’t worry…everything turns out okay in the end. I have to go now…but I’ll see you soon!”

The unicorn stepped backwards into the swirling magical portal she had created. It flashed brightly, then dissipated into lavender-tinged smoke that quickly dissipated into nothingness.

It was several long, long minutes before either Trixie or Ditzy could move, and several more before they could speak. The two looked at each other. “S…so,” Trixie said tentatively. “Um…th…that was…that was Dinky. L…little Dinky Doo. That was her. And...and she's getting married.”

Ditzy blinked a few times as she mulled over that. “I’m leaving,” she said. “I’m dropping off the outgoing mail, I’m clocking out, and then I’m coming back here, Trixie, and you’re going to have drinks prepared for us. Tall and stiff and a lot of them.”

“Oui,” Trixie confirmed.

Comments

[RainbowDoubleDash]

Celestia's volcano lair is based off of this, incidentally:

s.cghub.com/files/Image/006001-007000/6798/881_max.jpg

[vazak]

The opening to this chapter was very well done, a bit sudden, but it works very well. The third paragraph was a bit odd to me, the description of Celestia/Corona's lair was magnificent! But jumping into his perspective seemed a bit random and he sort of laid his motives out very clearly, but without much impetus. The dialogue was very well done in this scene and it was rather interesting to see Solrathicharnon's blind perspective. This line felt a bit odd to me:

Surprisingly, it had crossed the bridge fully halfway before slowing

The next scene had a good intro for Celestia, I really liked the little "he thought hidden" bit in regards to Solrathicharnon's horde. It's cool to see Celestia adopting a more modern speech patter, she sound awesome in classic Equestrian but it does make more logical sense for her to use modern terminology; I can only guess it's Grogar she's referring to? I loved the line about Celestia being able to hear sunlight. Celestia's reaction was fairly well done, especially considering how crazy the situation was, though the foals thing seemed a bit odd, even for someone 1000 years out f date. I also find it very hard to imagine that her spell could be broken, especially so easily, but I won't try and argue that. With that lead out I almost expect Celestia to turn up again in this fic.

Amusing lead into the final scene, but it seems odd that Trixie is taking it so seriously, especially for a mare she does not know. Trixie's ensuing escape attempt and her desire to give advice once the need had passed was great, I liked the divorce bit as well. Good reveal with Ditsy and grabbing things to hard; I like that Trixie figured it out first the mental image of her reaction is great. I can sympathize with needing a drink after meeting a future daughter.

[djthomp]

I so want this to be canon. I also can't wait for Lunaverse season 3, post-redemption Celestia is going to be interesting.

[CrowMagnon]

2575884 My guess is that Celestia doesn't really care diddly-squat about relationships, and pre-banishment Equestria was much smaller than it currently is, so she mostly thinks about marriage as just something that her subjects do for the sake of making more subjects.

[Blue_Paladin42]

Dat chapter ending.

2553941
Whelp, now I have to build that in Terraria. Which means I first have to hollow out a mountain and fill it with lava.....
And all the obsidian.....
Need more details on the interior...

2.bp.blogspot.com/-22OMq_paaZY/UXauLsd0zcI/AAAAAAAAEUk/PVZnKFi9hHk/s1600/Challenge_accepted.png

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Okay, I'm sorry but that bit with Celestia completely shattered my suspension of disbelief. In a bad way, too. Just... no. No way she'd go, no way the dragon wouldn't incinerate her and no way, even with training would she be able to escape like that. Or Celestia kill her on the spot. Again. I know some suspension is required, but this stretches it past the breaking point. Just... I'm sorry, but no.

[Platinum Rose]

Corona/Celestia is always a joy to read.

[Twi-Guy]

2553941
Reminds me of Malachor V.

[ShadowLDrago]

Very nice, so they figured out that Dazzler is Future Dinky, nice. I sympathize, they do need drinks, they are far to sober for this kind of wierdness.