Grace of Light, Part 1: Song of Light
Bells tolled in the City. Bells tolled from the towers in the Titans' Wall, from the churches and temples, from the opera halls. Bells tolled the coming of midnight, the arrival of the new day. Bells tolled, and the Traveler began to glow and hum. Engineers and researchers watched in curiosity and awe as their sleeping god seemed to awaken before them. This was the first time in generations the Traveler had moved, and the people of the City bowed in prayer.
As the bells tolled twelve, the light dripped down the surface of the Traveler, like water off a smooth stone. It rippled and shimmered as it flowed, borne down to the surface of Earth by gravity. The light collected in a small, insignificant drop, and fell to the ground in silence. It hit the dirt road without a splash, and no witnesses to see it. But a moment later, the light returned in the shape of what vaguely resembled a person.
From the head down, the person began to form from the light. First a horn, down to the head, with hair like dawn that flowed with a cosmic wind, down the torso, with seraphim wings on her back, down to the hips, with a tail like her hair, down to her feet. She was granted a dress to cover her body, and a crown to remind her of who she once was, and who she had to be again. But aside from those things, she was granted nothing.
White fur covered her body, blending in with the flowing silken dress she was given. Her eyes opened, and suddenly she felt cold. She crouched to the ground, her arms curling around her body trying to keep the warmth in. Her teeth chattered, and any memories of the astral plane were soon forgotten.
A little girl, who couldn't have been older than six, and should definitely not have been out at this hour, turned a corner, entering the plaza directly under the Traveler. She saw the woman shivering on the ground and cautiously approached.
"You look cold," the little girl observed out loud. The crouching woman looked up at the human child with her bright pink eyes, but offered no response. A few seconds later, she removed her own jacket and draped it over the woman's shoulders. "Here, take my jacket. It's a bit small, but you need it more than me right now."
"What's your name?" the child asked, pulling back her bright red hair behind her ears. After a moment without a response, the girl added, "My name's Rosie."
The woman did not respond, but did manage to smile at Rosie as she shivered uncontrollably. "I'm usually not out this late, but my grandma needed me to go to the store and get her some medicine. She has a cold right now. Do you want to come with me? I could get you something warm to eat."
The woman nodded weakly in response, and managed to find the strength to stand. Rosie stood up too, and took her by the hand, walking down the street, presumably towards the store in question. On the way, Rosie talked to the woman about how she was spending the weekend with her grandma, and how she loved when she got to spend time with her grandma, and all the shenanigans she and her grandma would get up to, like playing board games. Eventually they made it to a store with lights still on inside, and Rosie led her inside.
In the store, it was significantly warmer, and the woman stopped shivering after a while. Rosie proceeded to find where the medicine was, and picked a bottle off the shelf. After paying for the medicine, Rosie left the store with the woman in tow, walking across the street to another building with lights on inside.
The building in question was a diner. "Grandma always says 'If you ever get hungry past midnight, go to a diner.' I always forget to ask her why," Rosie said.
The hostess greeted the two, and Rosie took care of the talking, having assumed that the woman she was dragging around couldn't talk for one reason or another. Once seated, the two were handed menus, though Rosie never picked hers up. "I know what I want anyway. You should get pancakes too. Pancakes are always good."
The woman smiled at Rosie, and nodded in agreement. The waitress came, Rosie ordered for them, and the waitress left.
"I met someone once who looked kinda like you," Rosie said. "Maybe you know her?"
At this, the woman perked up, looking at Rosie intently.
"Her name was Applejack. She said my hair reminded her of her sister. She seemed sad about it," Rosie continued.
"...Applejack..." the woman spoke under her breath. Her voice cracked, as though it hadn't been used in a long time, but it was enough for Rosie to hear.
"You have a pretty voice!" Rosie smiled at the woman, one of her front teeth missing, making her face just that much more endearing.
"Rosie..." the woman said tentatively.
"Yeah?" the little girl replied.
"Do you... know... where... Applejack is?" the woman asked, struggling with each word.
"I only met her once like a month ago. She might be on Venus fighting the Fallen! Or she could be in the Tower of the Guardians," Rosie replied. "I could take you there tomorrow!"
"Could you... give me... directions?" the woman asked. "I need... to go there."
"Yeah," Rosie said as their food arrived. "But after we eat, okay?"
The two began eating their pancakes, the mysterious woman digging in furiously upon the first bite. To Rosie, it seemed like this strange woman hadn't eaten in weeks, judging by how quickly she was eating. But she just offered her grandma's advice to slow down to not get a stomach ache, and poured a generous helping of syrup on her own pancakes.
The strange woman finished her pancakes first, downing her water just as quickly. After a moment, the woman said, "My name is Celestia."
"That's a really pretty name!" Rosie smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Celestia!"
"Thank you for your kindness, Rosie," Celestia said. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier."
"It's okay. My friend Bonnie took a while to introduce herself too. Grandma says it's cause she has autism," Rosie replied. "I don't know what that is, but Bonnie's still a great friend! I thought maybe you needed time to talk, like Bonnie does sometimes."
Celestia smiled softly, seeing in her the same kindness she ruled with in her previous life.
"To get to the Tower of the Guardians, you'll have to get to Refuge Road, and then you'll head east on that until you get to the Tower. It's huge, you can't miss it!" Rosie said, setting a few cubes on the table and standing up. "I gotta get home to give grandma her medicine. I hope you find Applejack."
"I hope your grandma gets better soon," Celestia replied, also getting up from the table. She knelt before Rosie and gave her a gentle hug before standing up. "Thank you again, Rosie."
"It's all good, Celestia. I'll see you later," Rosie said, before turning on her heels, skipping out of the diner, medicine in tow.
Celestia stepped out of the diner and found herself to already be on Refuge Road. She looked both ways, and determined which way was east. As she walked down the road, those who were still awake at these wee hours of the morning stopped to watch her pass. Even in the darker areas of the road, she was still plainly visible, as though she was giving off a faint glow. Though she had nothing to cover her feet, they did not get dirty as she walked down the road.
She made it to the Tower's entrance, which was guarded by multiple Frames, all bearing weapons. The Frames looked at her as she approached, and one raised its hand in a motion to tell her to halt.
"Authorization?" the Frame said flatly.
"Is Applejack here?" Celestia asked in response.
"Invalid authorization. Alerting Guardian 'Applejack'," the Frame replied.
------
The waiting room in the Tower's infirmary was about as sterile as an actual hospital, and it certainly smelled the part. The harsh odor of bleach and other heavy cleaning chemicals permeated the room, making everyone in it feel just nauseous enough to render them unable to fall asleep, but not enough to keep them awake. Thus, people like Applejack entered a hazy 'I'm just resting my eyes' state that was neither awake nor asleep, and neither alive nor dead.
And on the topic of alive or dead, the entire situation reminded Applejack of the cat paradox. She could have sworn the name was something like Shoeinger's Cat or something close. But that was a question for Twilight later. All she remembered that was relevant was that she didn't know if Shirska was alive or dead, and her mind was insisting both and neither. As much as she wanted to rush back behind those doors and check on her friend, she knew it was beyond her power to help him.
So she waited. And her friends waited with her. The hours passed. The tick-tock of an analogue clock gave the space a liminal feel. Time was passing, but no time was passing. Applejack counted the ticks and tocks, counting up to sixty before looking up again, only to see that the minute hand hadn't moved. It was still two-fifteen in the morning.
The door from the main hall opened, revealing Ikora with her personal shotgun in hand. She approached Applejack, who was somehow the only one truly conscious at that moment, and said, "Any word?"
"None yet. Reason for the buckshot?" the farmpony replied.
"I'm here to take up your vigil. You're wanted at the ground floor. Someone asked for you by name," Ikora said. "Go. I'll contact you immediately if any word comes down the pipes."
"Think I should wake the girls?" the Titan asked.
"Let them rest. I'll let them know where you went if they wake," Ikora advised. "And, I'm sorry to hear about Shirska. I know you were close."
Applejack simply tipped her hat and left the room, heading down the hall towards the elevator she'd carried Shirska's limp body through to get down here. She pushed the button and waited. The doors opened and a Frame with a bucket and mop stepped out, and she stepped in.
Once she reached the bottom floor, she stepped back out of the elevator and turned down the hallway, towards what she assumed to be the main lobby on this floor. She made it to a desk with a Frame sitting at a desk, typing away at a keyboard. When it turned to face her, she said, "Someone's lookin' fer me?"
"Applejack, yes. A woman of unknown identity showed up about fifteen minutes ago. She is waiting for you outside," the Frame replied.
"Thanks kindly," Applejack muttered as she turned and walked towards the doors.
When she stepped outside, she froze. Of all possible people who would come looking for her, Princess Celestia was definitely not one she expected. She looked like herself and the others; transformed, but still recognizably ponies. Celestia still had her horn and wings, but now stood on two feet instead of four hooves. White fur covered her body, and it blended seamlessly with her white dress. And somehow, she still had her tiara.
Applejack approached and knelt before the Princess, only for Celestia to rush to her and give her a hug before anything could be done about it. To say it felt awkward would have been generous. And while the earth pony was certainly a fan of hugs and physical displays of affection, she was still in her armor, which was coated in blood and ash and dust, and smelled of sweat and death. Plus, the concept of her former ruler hugging her as though they were merely friends was particularly difficult for Applejack to wrap her head around. The late hour, the hospital atmosphere, and the grief definitely didn't help.
"Princess...? How?" Applejack struggled to articulate.
"The Light, the Traveler, they needed me," Celestia replied. "I've missed you and the other Elements."
"But you were dead..." Applejack murmured.
"I was," Celestia said, pulling back from the hug. "But I was reforged by the Traveler. I'm here now."
"Do you know what happened to Princess Luna?" the Guardian asked.
Celestia's smile faltered, and her eyes fell to the ground. "...where are the others? They will need to hear this as well."
"It should also wait till morning. The girls are passed out in the infirmary," Applejack answered. "Only reason I'm up is because someone woke me to come get you. C'mon. You should probably rest as well. It's past two in the morning."
Celestia marveled at the technology as Applejack led her upstairs. Such wonders like elevators and automatic doors caught her eye, and she felt drawn to them like a moth to a flame. She felt she could study as voraciously as Twilight and not learn everything about this place and its technology for a hundred years.
After a while, they made it up to the Tower's infirmary. Applejack peeked inside to find her friends rubbing sleep from their eyes, and Ikora standing guard at the doors to the emergency rooms. Applejack stepped in, greeting her friends softly.
Celestia poked her head around the corner, and Twilight immediately spotted her. For a split second, Celestia watched the gears turn in Twilight's head as her brilliant mind began processing the image in her half-asleep stupor. But even barely conscious, Twilight's mind was a force to be reckoned with, and she snapped to alertness immediately. She leapt up covering the few meters to Celestia in no time at all, forcefully hugging her mentor.
No words were necessary. Not for something as pure as that. Raw emotion, raw sadness and joy mixed into melancholy. Pain, relief, anger, sadness, joy, all present in that one hug. Tears streamed down Twilight's face, staining Celestia's white dress. Celestia, caught off-guard by the sudden display of affection, could only hesitantly return the gesture. Her head tilted down to rest on top of Twilight's, and she too began to shed tears.
"It's okay, Twilight," Celestia murmured. "I'm here."
------
That morning the sun rose, as it always had, and the world awoke and went about the day. But, as Celestia always had, she awoke before the sun, and was out on the Tower's balcony watching the sunrise. It was a strange feeling to her, having no connection to this world's sun, no influence over it, and no responsibility for its proper orbit. To this world, the rise and fall of the sun was a given, a constant that everyone could rely on. Celestia took a deep breath of the sweet, crisp morning air, and held it. She took in the feeling of her chest puffing out to hold the air in her lungs, the sounds of birds chirping in the morning light, the texture of the dress on her body, the sensory confirmations that she was alive.
"Always knew you'd look beautiful as an anthro pony," a sly, somehow jagged voice said from somewhere behind her.
"Can't say I thought you were wrong," Celestia replied. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Discord?"
"Oh, just a few millennia. It's like that time when you turned me into a statue and decorated your garden with it," Discord mused, taking a spot next to Celestia leaning on the railing of the balcony.
"I suppose it is," Celestia mused. "So what kind of trouble are you up to these days?"
"Oh, the usual, causing chaos here and there. I try to not get in the way of the Guardians though," Discord answered. "We have a mutual enemy."
"Never knew you could restrain your magic," Celestia chuckled to herself.
"Never had a reason to care," the shape-shifted draconequus quipped. "But enough about little old me, what about you? How was being dead?"
"Busy, surprisingly," Celestia said.
"Remind me to never die," Discord mock gagged. "But anyways, I've got havoc to wreak and me to sew. I'll see you around, sun-butt."
"Wait," Celestia called, grabbing Discord by the beard before her could turn and walk away. "What happened to Equus? Is the planetary cycle broken?"
"I managed to freeze it in a time-loop. It'll keep resetting every year until we get the chance to go back and rebuild," Discord said. "Your sun and your sister's moon are keeping rotation as they had when you were there."
"And what of the ponies?" Celestia inquired. "Shining Armor, and Cadence, what of them?"
"The Cabal kept their word. They were flown to a nearby planet with similar conditions and dropped off. Shining and Cadence are probably dead by now, but by natural causes," the chaos-god answered.
"Thank you, old friend," Celestia said, letting go of Discord and returning to her original position overlooking the City. "Happy haunting."
With a snap, Discord was gone, leaving Celestia alone with her thoughts once again. Her mind turned back to the white sphere hanging above the City, forcefully occupying the perspective of the Tower's vantage point. How had it been able to recreate her from missing information? How had it known about her before she knew about it? And most baffling to her: why?
She was just a pony like any other. Sure, she was an alicorn, but that only provided her with biological immortality. That didn't make her a goddess. Sure, she raised the sun each day, but that was merely her talent. It was no different than Twilight's talent for learning magic, or Fluttershy's talent for working with animals. But the Traveler picked her. Out of everyone possible, it picked her: Celestia Sun, Solar Diarch of Equestria, Princess of nothing.
"You're a new face," a synthesized voice broke the silence. "Look like those new Guardians, like Twilight and her gang. Wouldn't happen to know them, would you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Celestia replied, turning to face the newcomer.
"No kidding," Cayde said. "Name's Cayde. Yours?"
"I prefer Celestia," the alicorn replied. "Pleasure."
"Pleasure's mine," the Exo insisted. He took up the same stance as her, elbows on the rails, back hunched forwards and hands clasped loosely. "So here's a question for you. How did you get here?"
Celestia looked over to him, seeing his glowing eyes staring back at her. She then turned her gaze back out to the Traveler, and gestured vaguely at it in response.
"...right," Cayde grumbled.
"I heard you like stories," Celestia said.
Immediately this earned the attention of the Hunter. "You heard right."
"Here's a story for you," she replied. "Imagine remembering everything. Remembering who you were before you were here. Remembering how it came to this. Remembering waiting for a heaven or hell that wasn't meant for you, because you were meant for something else. Imagine remembering extending the olive branch only to be met with war."
"Soun—"
"I remember everything about the day I died. I remember everything before, and I still bear the scars in my mind watching my Twilight die in front of me. I remember losing my sister. I remember losing the Elements. I remember losing myself."
Cayde stared in silence, watching Celestia's facial expression as it contorted in pain and tears began to form.
"Imagine bearing that kind of pain. Just try to imagine the burden that puts on someone," Celestia choked out.
"I can't," Cayde replied.
"I don't know why that thing picked me. I don't know what makes me so special," Celestia sobbed, her head lowering into her arms. "I didn't ask for this. I don't want to see Twilight die again. I can't take that."
"None of us can," Cayde said. "I've got PTSD, Zavala's a paranoid trainwreck, Ikora's clinically depressed, Twilight and her gang all have their fair share of problems, as does every other Guardian I know. What the fuck this would do to a living, not reanimated corpse, like any of the civilians down there, I can't imagine. But better for us living corpses to take the suffering so the living don't have to, right? We've got Ghosts so we can keep taking the pain."
"...Ghost?" Celestia murmured, wiping away her tears and looking up at him curiously.
"...oh don't tell me you're not a Guardian..." Cayde sighed.
"I don't think I am," the alicorn replied.
"Welp. This just got awkward," the Exo said, turning on his heels and walking away. "Enjoy your morning... whatever this is."
And once again, Celestia was left alone, confused, and scared.
------
There is an ancient legend. An old folk tale of the Eliksni, now called Fallen. In this legend, there is a prophecy of one who will unite all Houses under one Eliksni banner, one driving purpose. The title given to this prophecised leader is Kelgakel, or Kell of Kells, chosen by the Great Machine alone. Many have tried to claim this title. Yvek, Kell of Stone before Chelchis, tried to unite the Houses under the Stone Banner, weaving tales of taking back the Great Machine from those it graced. But Yvek was cast out by the other Kells, and everything he worked for was undone. House Stone is now as this legend: a thing of history, to be remembered cautiously.
There were many names, many claims, many flames set, many wars waged over who would be the Kell of Kells. Countless lives were lost, wasted to these petty vies for power and control. Many resources were wasted to the destruction that were even more scarce after the Whirlwind. Archives stored in the personal libraries of Kells' ketches destroyed. Elders who remembered legends murdered. The Kelgakelgare was darker than the Whirlwind itself.
The legend of the Kell of Kells stopped circulating. Partly because so few remembered the true version, partly to stem the ambition of those who would lust for power. House Winter's nobility knows the legend, but the majority of the House does not. House Devils has forgotten almost entirely. House Exile remembers not. House Kings remember it too well.
Zeklas, though not arrogant enough to claim the title for himself outright, hoped to find the Kell of Kells and kill them before the Great Machine said their name, hoping this would force the Great Machine to choose him. His perversions cost the lives of thousands of children the legend said were almost old enough to be chosen. His desire for control and power caused the Prime Servitors to turn against him, allowing intruders to end his sickness.
Now the Great Machine awakens. It has generated a physical manifestation of Light, one of the signs of the coming of the Kelgakel. The Servitors of all Houses turn their sensory arrays towards the Great Machine, listening in electromagnetic spectrums for the name of the Kelgakel. They wait now upon the end of the Whirlwind, for the one who will restore peace.
In the atmospheres of planets, and in the deep blackness of space, the Machine Gods listened for the name. They were built for this task: to hear the name when it is called, and to aid whomever bore the name. They were built to ensure their creators would survive and live long, healthy lives.
The frequency tuned in, hitting sensory arrays like the first note of a symphony. It played like a melody, describing the name and its bearer. It spoke of Light, and forgiveness, and mercy, and compassion. Within a few hours, every Servitor in the Sol System knew the name, and was given the directive to immediately defect to join the Kell of Kells on sight. Every Eliksni from Kell to Dreg would know the Kell of Kells. There would be no denying it. No stalling of the inevitable as Zeklas had done.
The Kelgakel has been chosen. The legends are history no more.
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Celestia is the Kel of kels
Well this is interesting for sure! So the Travellers light brought her back without an ghost and the hint saying she Kell of Kells.
Also loved Cayde's reaction about her not having a Ghost it was funny and made me laugh.
Could I have my Guardian join in this story at some point? If so PM me so I know to give you the info and without causing an uproar in your comments section and also to keep your comments section from being cluttered.
8236250
I didn't see any hint that shes the Kelgakel all it said is that she is a physical manifestation of the light, which is a sign of the coming of the Kelgakel, and signs cannot be the ones that are destined to fulfill the legends... I think.
Is this going to update soon?
I. Am. Dying. From. Anticipation!
Please update soon.
8577869
Usually.
Please update soon!