Sisters Forever

by Arya Stark

The Racing Cavern

Celestia couldn’t claim to understand why everyone had met in a bar, when there was no obvious race track in sight, but the fledgling princess’s wonderments would be answered soon enough, for not shortly after some large burly officials dressed in odd multicolored cloaks and some form of a leather mask over their face pushed in through the back room to announce the race was about to commence.

Celestia was still as the excitement picked up in the closed, dark quarters, mares and stallions alike abandoning their drinks to head back to the doors in whence the odd official had shown up, all crowding and congesting the room in a flurry that made Celestia want to do nothing more than get back to her private room and spend an hour with her hoofmaid brush the smell and gunk out of her mane. But stupidly, she had let her stubborn little sister talk her into it, and now she was stuck here.

Speaking of which, where was that irksome little runt?

“Move it,” a growl came from behind her, and she squeaked indignantly as a large stallion shoved past her, stinking of sour ale and something raw and bitter. She was shouldered into another pony making his way through impatiently, and before she could help it, she was swallowed with the crowd, forced to move her hooves forward in an awkward stumbled to keep up, or else be threatened to be trampled underhoof.

This is no way for a princess to be treated! Celestia fumed inwardly, shrugging her cloak on her shoulders tighter. She was herded in through the doorway, and gasped as with a sudden tilt, the narrow hallway led her downwards, the plastered wall disappearing into a damp stone wall, rickety old wood beams the only things keeping the cavern in place. Celestia felt her ears draw back as she glanced up, not liking how at a moment’s notice, it could collapse. She couldn’t help but wince as the hooves of the race-goers clattered loudly, expecting the vibrations to set a stone loose and let the whole thing ruin down upon her.

They seemed to travel downward for hours, getting darker and dampers, until the cloak upon her shoulders hugged her sides in an uncomfortable manor, like a second, slimy pelt. Celestia found herself cursing Luna once again as she was rushed forward with the wave of bodies, knowing it would take forever to get the grime out of her hoof flecks. And to think she had just polished them. At least her perfect wings would remain untouched under her cloak.

Just as Celestia started to have a hard time breathing, and she didn’t know if the cavern walls could get any narrower, all at once she and the herd were spat out into an opening, and despite the pushing and shoving, Celestia found herself halting with a gasp.

A stream of fresh air tickled her muzzle as she peered over the mass of bodies. Branching outward was a large bridge that led to a large underground stadium. It looked like the coliseum that resided back at home, though much larger and not as in the open. The first thing she noticed was the stalagmites and stalactites that jutted dangerously out from the roof and bottom of the cave, dripping in moisture, ending in a sharp fang. Netting on the celling of the cavern seemed to be the only thing keeping the loose stones and boulders from falling onto the track, and a sense of foreboding made Celestia’s skin crawl.

This place looks centuries, maybe even eons old, under our hooves all this time, and we didn’t know about it? A shiver traveled up Celestia’s spine as she thought about what it could mean.

“Move it, ye’ buckled kneed filly,” a grunt snarled at her behind, and Celestia gasped as the chest of a large pony pressed into her flank, forcing her forward. Ears laid back, Celestia resisted the urge for retaliation, demanding his proper respect to his princess, and instead swallowed hard and carefully placed her hooves in front of her again, crossing the narrow stone bridge that led to the seating for the spectators.

“Princess,” came a hiss from somewhere to her right, and she paused before entering a row – E24, the front seat said, and perked her ears, searching for the speaker. She found the speaker quickly, a small pony who was standing at the beginning of the next row. Their eyes met, and Celestia thought she saw a flash of red, but it was hard to see past the heavy woolen, black cloak the stallion held over his face, concealing his features almost as carefully as Celestia was. “This way, Princess,” he hissed again, jerking his muzzle upward.

Letting her gaze travel up, she saw that further up the ramp was a roped off area, the rope a royal, red velvet material, oddly out of place compared to the rest of the place. At first Celestia was leery of the stranger beckoning her – how did he know she was the princess? But then pride got ahead of her – the roped off seating would only be fitting for her - and she moved her hooves forward to meet the stranger, who stared at her from under the hood, expression fierce with scrutiny that made her pelt heat up.

“After you,” the stallion murmured as Celestia passed, his mouth unnervingly close to her ear. His scent waved over her, an odd murky smell that reminded her of a pond, but then it was gone as she traveled up the smooth ramp, all scents being replaced with the cave’s ever present damp, stony smell instead.

The stallion quickly roped off the entrance again after she went though, following her to the large seating of more velvet covered chairs. A bit less than a throne, but Celestia supposed it would do. Bending her forelegs gracefully, she lowered herself down, using her training of dress etiquette to position the cape of her cloak just right. The stallion – a light red pelted pony, she could now see – plopped down less gracefully next to her, eyes on the track before them.

“The name is Bastard Squinat, but you may call me Bass,” the stallion spoke before she could open her mouth, as if he could guess what she was about to say.

Celestia blinked, ear twitching. “Bass…tard? That is…” She hesitated, trying to recover from her shock and blunder. “…quite the name, sir.”

Bass spared her a side glance, “My sire was not fond of me, needless to be said. Even you would understand the meaning behind that, despite your sheltered royal life, I reckon.”

“Yes, despite my claimed ‘sheltered life,’ we in fact we have many bastards amongst our staff,” Celestia barely bit back her sharp retort, realizing how much she sounded like Luna. She shook her mane, and started over. “Where are you from, Sir Bass? I can’t claim to have heard of any Squinat’s around Canterlot.”

“Where I am from hardly matters, and you haven’t heard of any of my namesakes around because I am happy to report, I am the only remaining Squinat around.” He glanced at Celestia, and as if predicting her next comment, gave a rather disturbing lopsided grin. “I killed the last known Squinat, who happened to be my father.”

To this, Celestia didn’t seem to know what to say, which seemed to be the small stallion’s objective. Giving a low amused snort at her silence, he turned his muzzle back to the arena, gesturing to it. “First time out of the castle, and you come to a place like this? I must say, I am impressed, though based off our newest competitor, it wasn’t your idea to attend.”

Overwhelmed by her surroundings, the ponies, and her new companion, Celestia could barely keep up. She let her gaze travel to where he pointed with his muzzle, and noticed that on the track, several ponies, all donned in their mysterious flank tight material and leather masks. There had to be at least a dozen competitors, all stretching at the start, wings flashing in the odd light of the cave, ranging from various sizes, though they all were large in stature, extremely muscular, broad in chest with wide, angular wings.

She caught a flash of a smaller pony, donned in similar clothes that traveled down her flank and halfway down her forelegs, along with a simple leather mask covering up her muzzle and forehead. Suspicion arousing in her chest, she squinted, watching carefully as the figure stretched, rearing and scraping the air with hooves before landing upon all fours again, unfurling her wings to stretch them, and as the cavern light caught the wing feathers, she recognized the glimmer of dark azure, and gasped.

“Luna!”

Comments

[FamousLastWords]

This story. It's good.

[Arya Stark]

4722901 Thank you! :) Stay tuned, more to come soon