Lost Kingdom

by Riku006

Ch8: Students

It was a beautiful day. There were only a few small clouds dotting the sky and the sounds of bird songs and the occasional passing car created the perfect ambience of suburbia. The sun created little patterns on the lawn as it filtered through the tree in Claire’s back yard. The space was a bit small in her opinion, the big tree above her took up a big majority of the far left corner of the yard. In the other corner was her dad’s old tin shed, in which all the garden tools were gathering dust and cobwebs while he was on duty. Against the back wall of the house was a clothesline lined with drying clothes, while underneath was Claire’s mom’s flowerbed with roses and sunflowers in full bloom.

Yet, as she sat on a swing hanging from a thick tree branch, Claire wasn’t at ease. It was Sunday, four days since Luna had transformed Dustin and yet she still hadn't seen him awake. The agent-turned-pony had said that she would tell him as soon as he was awake, yet she hadn’t heard anything. She stared at her phone, Luna’s number displayed on the smart phone screen. Claire had thought of calling, but for some reason she always hesitated. It’s not like Luna and Dustin are purposely forgetting to call, right? Taking a reassuring breath, Claire stood and was about call Luna when her ringtone went off, Vince’s picture appearing onscreen.

“Hey Vince,” She quickly answered, masking any feelings from earlier in her voice. “What’s up?”

“Hey.” Vince replied, a small puff being heard before he continued. “Have you heard anything about Dusty yet?”

“Well...” Claire trailed off, wondering whether he should tell him what really happened. Vince had been kept out of the loop the entire time and even though she wanted to tell him, she understood why Luna needed Dustin to be kept a secret. She couldn’t just go and say “Well, your best friend has been turned into a unicorn by two magical ponies that live in the ruins.” That would confirm her status as insane.

“Claire, what is it?” Vince asked, concern coming from the other end of the line that snapped Claire out of her train of thought.

“Sorry Vince.” She replied. “I haven’t heard anything yet. I was about to call L-Skye before you rang.”

“It’s alright,” Vince sighed. “But I mean, why move him to some secret place where even his best friends aren’t allowed to go? It’s just so... argh.” Vince’s angry grunt was followed by an impact sound.

“Vince?” Claire worriedly asked.

“Sorry Claire. I’m just at the gym and hit a punching bag, that’s all.”

“Vince...”

“I know, I know. Listen, just... keep me posted if anything happens, alright?”

“Okay, see you later.”

“See you Claire.” Vince said as he hung up, Claire following suit. A breeze blew her streaked hair out past her and she tucked it away before looking up at a hollow in the tree trunk higher up. “This is so messed up. I suppose you wouldn’t know what to do, would you Oswald?” Silence greeted her, though she expected this from the owl that always hung around and turned her gaze to the wooden bird-feeder her father had made years ago.

It wasn’t the most simple of designs but that was what Claire liked about it. On top of a wooden pole sat a finely crafted miniature house. The roof was held up only by four wooden pillars and birds could reach the birdfeed in the centre by flying through the gaps where the walls would’ve been. But Claire’s favourite feature was the jewel. Just beneath the arch of the roof there was a jewel her father had fixed onto the wood. All she knew about it was that her father had found it while going through her great-grandmother’s house one spring cleaning. Though she had grown out of the colour pink or butterflies, Claire still smiled every time she looked at it.

Her ringtone interrupted her moment once more and she answered it before the second ring could start. “Hello?”

“Claire, it is me, Skye.” Luna’s voice came through the other end.

“Oh, hey. I was just about to call you. How’s Dusty? Is he okay?”

“Calm down Claire.” Luna replied. “Yes, Dustin is fine. Actually, he and I were in the middle of a lesson when I remembered my promise to contact you. I want to apologise for that.”

“Oh.” Claire said, a little surprised at the response. “He’s... having a lesson?”

“Yes,” Luna replied, drawing the word out slightly. “It would be easiest to explain when I bring you to see him. Are you free later on today?”

Claire beamed. “Y-Yeah. Is it okay if we meet at the university dorms in about an hour? And can I bring Vince as well? It’s just that he’s been really worried about Dusty and-”

“Claire.” Luna interrupted her. “Meeting you at the university will be fine, but I am unsure whether it will be a good idea to bring Vince along. You witnessed my sister’s reaction at the arrival of Dustin and yourself. It would be unwise to test her patience further.”

“But he has as much right to see him as I do.”

“That may be but he is unaware of our secret, or of what Dustin has become.”

“Please Luna? Just this once? It’ll be easier if we both explain it to him.”

Luna sighed. “Just... Allow me to discuss this with my sister. I will call you when we have reached a decision.” Claire nodded, though Luna couldn’t see it. Judging by how overjoyed Celestia was to see them before she wasn’t sure if Vince would get the all clear, but he deserved to know what had happened to his best friend.

“Alright, I’ll see you later then.”

~~~

Luna hung up just as Claire did, releasing the phone from her aura as she placed it back on her dresser. Hearing a voice mumbling to themselves off in the distance, Luna turned and walked away from her bedroom area and came to the edge of a ridge, looking down at the exercise before her. Dustin was getting ready to attempt another lap of the training circuit Luna had set up the night he agreed to be her student. While Luna thought it important he knew the most basic spells, it would mean nothing if his body wasn’t as fit as his magic.

The track was a standard oval obstacle course. Halfway through the first curve was a set of three hurdles, then there was a brick wall with a very small space at the bottom, followed by spinning boulders held aloft by an anti-gravity spell. After a pool of water with a hurdle standing above the surface, the last obstacle on the home stretch was another wall, though this one was made of solidified magic and would provide more of a challenge getting past it. While Luna allowed Dustin to think up how he was overcome each obstacle, each segment of the course was made to help improve three spells in particular; telekinesis, a magical beam attack and teleportation. While Dustin had taken to telekinesis fairly quickly and the beam attack soon after, teleportation seemed to be presenting more of a challenge.

Without any warning or prompt Dustin set off at a gallop, quickly approaching the set of hurdles. Concentrating, Dustin’s horn became engulfed in a green aura. Soon the same light surrounded all three hurdles and pulled them together, leaping over all three in one bound before releasing them and moving on. Approaching the wall, Dustin quickly dropped down and rolled through the wall before focusing again and setting his sights on two of the three spinning boulders. His horn lighting up again, Dustin fired his beam twice, knocking two boulders out of the way and allowing him to gallop past the last one easily. Using the momentum he’d built up, Dustin leapt over the pool and cleared the hurdle but saw he wouldn’t make the other side. Thinking fast, he grabbed the hurdle with his telekinesis and pulled it back, using it as a platform to jump back onto solid ground from.

Luna smiled slightly at the feat, but it quickly faded as he came towards the wall of magic, knowing this would be the hardest part of the track. She had tailor-made the block of blue light so his only option to pass it would be teleportation. Dustin slowed slightly but still charged at the wall, his horn glowing brightly once more. He focused on getting past the wall and, when he was a metre away from it, released the energy. Unfortunately however, the spell backfired and Dustin was thrown back by the discharge, suffering no more than a numbing headache.

Dustin sat up, rubbing a sore spot on his head as he gave an annoyed look back at the unmoving wall. The last lap he had tried using his beam to propel himself over it, only to have the wall match his ascent and force a mid-air collision. Before that he had tried moving it via telekinesis, only to run into the wall face first.

“Are you alright Dustin?” Luna asked as she approached. Dustin sighed as he stood to meet her, though he winced as his horn still ached from the discharge.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He groaned, but Luna’s gaze showed she wasn’t falling for it.

“Your tenacity is to be admired, but you should rest. After all, you would not want to be hurt when Claire arrives, would you?”

“...Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He admitted, walking to the side of the track before collapsing onto the ground. Luna followed him over and calmly sat next to him.

“But,” Dustin continued, now looking back at the princess. “But what if, what if Claire doesn’t like what I’ve turned into?”

“She did not care what you became when she begged me to save your life. She only cared that I did so. And also, she is your friend. Being as close to you as she is, I highly doubt she would ever abandon you for such a trivial reason.” Dustin thought this over and smiled, thankful that the small voice of fear in the back of his mind had been silenced. But now a voice of curiosity took its place.

“Luna, can I ask you something?” Dustin sat up to meet Luna’s gaze.

“Of course Dustin.”

“Well, why does your sister hate me?” Luna’s eyes widened for an instant, but faster than one could blink the image was gone, leaving a slightly sombre expression on her face. “I mean, you told me she has some past grudge with humanity and I can understand that. But I don’t understand why she’s focusing on me like an eagle on a rabbit.”

Luna composed herself before answering, though her expression remained unchanged. “It is... complicated. I do not feel easy talking about my sister like this, especially behind her back.”

“Oh, sorry I asked.” Dustin replied, looking away while bringing a hoof behind his head.

“No, it is not your fault. But if you could, let us not discuss my sister without her permission. On any other matter however, I can answer your questions freely.”

“Oh, okay.” Dustin thought of another question. One appeared when he thought back to the university. “Actually, why did those terrorists attack the university in the first place?”

Luna’s look hardened. “They were trying to deny us the shield and flag.”

“But why?”

“Those men refer to themselves as the Human Defence Front, or H.D.F for short, and claim they fight us to protect humanity.”

“Does... that mean that they’ve seen...”

“Some of their ancestors may have noticed us using magic while in human form hundreds of years ago, hence their naming us as witches. The reason they were after the artefacts was because nearly everything from our former kingdom would still contain a limited magical charge. They seek to deny us said magic in the hopes of stifling our power.”

“So the H.D.F and D.S.I have been fighting some sort of underground war?”

“That is one way to look at it, yes.” Luna nodded as she stood. “But I believe that is enough rest for now. Are you ready to try again?”

Dustin knew she was hiding more but brushed it off and stood up, feeling that his headache had vanished. Satisfying her question wit a smile, Luna walked to the side of the track as Dustin returned to the starting line. The princess extended one wing, holding in place and seeing him waiting for the signal. When she lowered her wing Dustin took off, quickly passing each obstacle the same way he had in the last attempt. It wasn’t long before he approached the wall of magic once more, and this time he was determined to pass it. Dustin concentrated, focusing all of his magic to his horn and picturing the cave on the other side of this wall and jumped at the wall. Luna watched as he did this, pleased with how he was performing on this lap, and saw he was about to pull off the spell.

But then she realised Dustin had timed his leap a fraction too late.

Just as he released the spell, Dustin’s horn made contact with the wall. Luna wasn’t exactly sure what happened next but a bright flash lit up the entire cavern, forcing the princess to shield her eyes with a wing. When she looked again, shock and fear began to take hold within the princess; shock that the wall of solidified magic was now nothing but rubble, and fear that Dustin was now nowhere to be seen.

~~~

Dustin landed with a thud, rolling as momentum carried him across the cave floor another metre or so. Groaning, he shook his head as he made it to his hooves, hoping that he had at least teleported to the finish line of the circuit. Opening his eyes, what the unicorn saw dashed those hopes in an instant. He was in a completely different part of the caves, with neither Luna nor Celestia in sight. But that wasn’t what had his attention.

It was the crystal.

It was massive; the top point nearly reaching the roof of the cavern while from the middle it was as wide as one and a half school busses were long. It shone with a teal light, illuminating the entirety of this cavern. What interested Dustin most were the strange symbols that faded in and out of sight on its surface. Not all of them were clear, most overlapped others that started fading, though Dustin could make out a few images; a scroll, three small flowers, and an hourglass among those he could recognise. Another thing Dustin soon realised was that he was hearing things. Every now and then a sound would brush by his pivoting ears, begging for his attention and scuttling away only to return and repeat the process. Once or twice though, he made out what sounded like whispers.

Unfortunately, those whispers sounded anything but pleasant.

“What are you doing here?”

From the razor sharp edge of the feminine voice, Dustin immediately knew he was in trouble. Slowly, he turned to see Celestia staring back at him with wings flared and her face locked in a state of anger. The look in those magenta eyes seemed capable of obliterating a mountainside if they felt like it, which Dustin imagined could be the case right now.

“I-I’m sorry.” Dustin stuttered, taking a step backwards. Celestia matched this with a step forward, her longer stride helping close the small gap between them.

“You have no right to be here.” Dustin could almost see the venom in Celestia’s voice, his heartbeat accelerating as she continued glaring at him.

“I-I’m sorry! I-I was training, a-and I tried teleporting and-and-”

“Then I have some training for you as well.” Celestia replied, catching off guard while also scaring him even more as her face had not changed.

“Y-You do?”

“Yes. You must teleport yourself away from this place while under duress, to simulate a combat situation.” Dustin’s eyes widened with fear while his pupils shrank to pinpricks. This brought a small smile to Celestia’s face, which only fed his fear more. “Since you understand my role in this exercise,” the tip of her horn beginning to charge energy of a golden hue, “You now have five second to teleport. Go.”

Dustin bolted to Celestia’s left, zigzagging as he tried focusing through the fear of this situation. He almost had Luna’s cavern pictured when a bright beam scorched the ground next to his hoof, and he looked back to see Celestia lining him up in her sights once more. Dustin yelled in fear as he ran and just focused on casting the spell more than his destination. He didn’t care where he wound up as long as it was away from this psychotic princess. His horn began shining furiously before the telltale flash of the teleport spell sounded.

The first difference Dustin noticed was there was wind where he ended up, and he opened his eyes to find he was back on the balcony outside. The view blurred by, however, as his momentum from running from Celestia carried him towards the stairwell of the tower. Dustin tried stopping, but tripped over one of his hooves before tumbling down the stairs. He had rolled down four flights before finally stopping himself with his fore-hooves, merely a few stone steps from where the stairwell had crumbled away over time into a near nine story drop. For a few minutes the unicorn didn’t move outside taking deep breaths, staring at what could’ve been his death. Sweat matted his mane as it rested against his neck and onto his face.

“Dustin?” A worried voice called out. Despite hearing it, Dustin remained as still as the stone steps he rested upon. Soon enough Luna appeared in the stairwell behind him, gasping at the bruises that were starting to form underneath his coat. “Dustin! Hold still.” Luna quickly took hold of Dustin’s form with her magic and brought him back to the balcony, taking care not to bump him against anything. Once he was sitting down once more, she saw that he was still staring straight ahead, petrified of what had almost been his fate.

“Dustin, relax. You are safe now,” She said soothingly while her horn began glowing green at the tip. She placed her horn at the back of Dustin’s neck and let the healing spell begin seeping through his body. As it spread it brought with it a reassuring warmth that flowed throughout his body, relaxing him enough to ease him out of his shocked state. Releasing a massive sigh of relief, Dustin slid onto his stomach as Luna removed her horn, thanking her mother that he only received minor bruising.

“Dustin...” Luna asked again, concern etched onto her face as she came into his sight. “What happened? I tried tracing your spell but by the time I found you, you teleported again. Where did you teleport?”

“He found the crystal.” That familiar voice instantly put Dustin on edge once more. Luna turned to see Celestia standing near the stairwell entrance, her frown back in effect. Luna took one look at her new student before throwing a glare at her sister and standing at her full height.

“Dustin,” She said, nothing but authority and contained anger filling her voice. “You are to return to my quarters and remain there until I return.” Before he could do or say anything Luna cast a teleportation spell for him, blinking him out of sight and leaving the two princesses alone. The tension sky-rocketed as Luna created a powerful Silence Field. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.

“What did you do?” Luna asked grimly, returning the look her sister was giving her.

“No,” Celestia countered. “The question is what are you doing? He isn’t a pony by birth and yet you trust him to the extent of teaching him magic?”

“Give me one reason why I should not trust him. One that is not fuelled by racism.”

“We don’t know his true intentions.” Celestia took a step forward now. “For all we know, he’s aligned with the H.D.F, chasing after the crystal for Mother knows what purpose.”

“If he were a terrorist, why would he save my life?”

“To get closer to you Luna. To gain your trust so that he may crush in due time. Mark my words; sometime in the future you will regret bringing him under your wing. He will do something terrible, something unforgivable, and when he does it’ll be you that’s left to suffer the mistake!” Luna just glared at her sister until something about what Celestia said clicked in her mind. At that moment, everything made sense and almost all anger seeped away from Luna’s body.

“That is why you are so afraid of him.”

“Excuse me?” Celestia asked incredulously.

“You are afraid because I have a student to call my own. You are afraid that he might corrupt me, or worse, that he will intentionally hurt me.”

“N.,” Celestia growled, moving to the guardrail and staring out at the human civilization before her to hide her face from her sister.

But Luna pressed on. “But, you are most afraid of me being hurt by my student protecting me. Just as you feel you were hurt by yours.”

“ENOUGH!” Celestia shouted, the royal Canterlot voice testing the limits of the Silence Field. Luna complied and for a few moments the world dared not make a sound, as is even nature itself was afraid of bringing forward the elder sister’s wrath. But when Celestia sat down, emitting soft sobs as her shoulders shuddered, Luna knew the argument was over. Cautiously, she moved to her sister’s side and draped a wing against Celestia’s back. Celestia didn’t look her way but instead leant into Luna’s side and continued weeping for a time long forgotten.

“It is okay Tia.” Luna soothed despite her sisters crying. “We could still find her. We could still find all of them. The Elements are still out there, I know it.”

“If we haven’t found them in millions of years searching, what chance do we have finding them now?” Celestia asked through her tears. “I scoured every single inch of that stars forsaken forest and beyond. Cadence hasn’t found them either and it’s been millennia since we’ve heard from Spike... I... I just miss her Luna. I miss her so much.”

“I know,” Luna replied, tracing small circles on her sister’s back with her wing.

“...W-Why did she have to leave? Why did she do it?” Luna untangled herself from Celestia before grabbing hold of her shoulders with both hooves, forcing the older princess took look her in the eye.

“She did it to protect Equestria, to ensure we had a chance to survive our end... She did what she had to in order to prevent you from making the same decision yourself.

“Because,” Luna faltered, her voice near breaking for but a moment as tears began forming in her clear blue eyes as well. “Because had it been you that was lost... then everything would be lost. Including Twilight.” Celestia couldn’t hold it in anymore and the two embraced each other in a comforting hug, not caring for the tears streaming down each other’s face. For a time, they remained like that, oblivious to the world around them.

“I-I’m sorry Luna.” Celestia sobbed, but she was shushed by her younger sister.

“There is no need, I understand your concerns. But if I were ask you to trust me on any one matter, it would be Dustin.”

Celestia nodded. “Alright then. I’ll apologise to him later.” As the two untangled themselves from their hug, Luna looked to the positioning of the sun to check the time, and her eyes widened when she realised she needed to be somewhere soon.

“I am sorry sister,” Luna apologised, stepping back before donning her human disguise. “I told Claire that I would meet her so she can see Dustin. I hope you do not mind.” Despite promising Claire she’d ask if Vince could come along, she didn’t want to reignite such a touchy issue. Especially after an argument like theirs.

Celestia shook her head. “No, you should go. She’s probably wondering where you are.”

“And... If you want, I could search the forest again for you. Things might have changed since you last searched.”

“...Yes,” Celestia replied. “Thank you little sister.”

Luna nodded, smiling a small sad smile at her sister before closing her eyes and teleporting away in a flash. Within moments Celestia also vanished, leaving the balcony devoid of life once more.

That was, until a certain tawny unicorn exited the stairwell, a shocked look on his face from what he had just heard.

“Holy shit.” He murmured to himself before moving over to the guardrail and looking out towards the Shadow Forest on the far side of the city and valley. “Okay.” He thought out loud. “So the princesses are looking for someone. Someone called Twilight... and Celestia said she searched for her in that forest.”

Every previous though Dustin had about Celestia went out the window. Clearly whatever happened had left her emotionally scarred and Luna’s theory on him being her student as the cause of the elder’s anger made sense. Looking back at the forest again, an idea presented itself. Although the plan Dustin was forming seemed sound to him, a part of his mind was calling him crazy for even thinking of what he was about to do. But the more assertive part of his mind countered that this could be the only way that Celestia could trust him.

While his mind waged its own civil war on the issue Dustin pictured the trail leading into the forest, remembering the scenery from the one school excursion he’d been there on. Spreading his legs out to a wider stance, Dustin focused, took deep, measured breaths and began charging a lot of magic. Knowing that this would be the biggest jump he had attempted by far, he kept building and building the amount of magic until it started giving him a headache.

“Well,” he muttered under the strain of holding the spell on standby. “Guess there’s only one thing to say. Geronimo!”

With that Dustin activated the spell, and prayed to god that he would make it there in one piece.