And they shall know no fear

by Naroe_Clan

Chapter 9: wanderings and wonderings

I walk through the forest, wandering with no direction. I barely catch glimpses of a few creatures as they run from my presence, but I can hear the heartbeats of dozens more hiding in panic within their burrows. The forest remembers me now, and through it, the creatures fear me.

As they should...

But some part of me remains saddened by the necessity I see in making this place know to never mess with me. The magic here creates terrible creatures. Some of the most dangerous animals on this world come from this place. But that same magic also creates some of the greatest beauty I have ever known, and by the same carefully cultivated fear that has always protected my friends I am prevented from seeing such places and creatures.

I eventually come across an empty glade upon the top of a cliff, overviewing a large swath of forest. I see that the sun is beginning to set, painting the clouds above me in fantastical golden and red hues. I stand there for several minutes, motionless. I sit down, never letting my eyes leave the split between the sea of dark green against the swathes of blue, yellow and red floating above.

I sit like a statue until the sun finally touches the horizon, slowly sinking below the rough line so far away. As the last sliver of light disappears, I feel strong magic activating to either side of me. For a moment I tense, but I soon remember the feel of this magic and swivel my head for a moment to see Luna and Celestia with their wings spread and horns glowing standing either side of me.

I remain silent until they finish their spell, letting the moon begin its nightly journey. As they turn to me, I comment “I am honored, but was sneaking up on me really necessary?”

Celestia titters and Luna giggles as they both simply respond “Yes.”

I slowly stand and turn towards them as they walk over to each other. I am smiling under my helmet as I simply ask “How have you been?”

Luna answers first by saying “We have been doing well since my return. Much of Our time has been spent with Our sister, learning of the events of the past millennium.”

“Have you been told yet that the Royal We has been out of fashion for most of that millennium?”

She grins as she responds. “Of course We have. Multiple times in fact, but We find it amusing to keep to Our ways. That doing so annoys a set of nobles is an unintentional effect.”

I laugh at that, and turn towards Celestia, silently asking her to speak next.

“Most of my time not spent helping Luna has been spent in court settling the reformation of most of our legal system. It's been a pain in the flank to be forced to do so instead of just saying 'my sister's back. Deal with it.'”

That makes me laugh even harder, but I manage to say “Language, your majesty.” between spouts of hilarity. Both of the sisters join me in my laughter until we all get it out of our systems.

We stand there for a few moments longer, thinking of times long past. I eventually sadly state “I've missed this for so long.”

Luna looks away and Celestia's face forms into a carefully emotionless mask. Celestia carefully responds with “I know. And I've always been sorry for what happened, but you know why it did.”

I sigh and say “None are exempt from law. I remember, but I also know that I was not the one who committed the crimes for which I was punished.”

Celestia's mask slips, letting loose some emotion. I can't exactly tell whether it's sadness, anger or something else. “I know. I've always known. But as I've always tried to do, I made the best decision of the ones I was given.”

Again, we all stand for a moment, lost in thought. When I finally speak my voice is quiet, almost defeated. “And yet we still lost so much.”

This time, Celestia's face remains defiantly unchanged. Luna finally looks me in the face, hopefully saying “We found a way for you to return.”

Beneath my helmet, my expression turns to surprise, and some of the emotion leaks into my voice. “How? A banishment is not ended lightly, and as we just covered, breaking the law isn't an option.”

Her expression turns mischievous as she says “And yet, foreign ambassadors are allowed exemptions from many such laws. And We are rather certain that, with some work, you would very much qualify for just such a position.”

I just stare for a moment, before bursting into another bout of laughter. Thinking about her proposal, it sounds just the right kind of ridiculous to actually work. “Oh that's good. Playing laws against laws. Always such fun.” I lower down onto a knee, extending an arm in a hand-shaking gesture. “Thank you, little princess.”

Luna rushes forward, surprising me by wrapping her hooves around my torso. “Anything for you, Daddy.”

A pink head appears from behind a tree to the sound of “Dun, dunn, duuuunnnn.”

All three of us stare at pinkie for a moment before Celestia asks “How did you get there?”

Pinkie giggles and says “Through the fourth wall, silly!” before disappearing again.

We stare for a moment longer before Luna comments “So, Angelcake's powers are hereditary?”

Celestia nods and says “It would seem so.”

I return Luna's hug, and then gently push her away, saying “Thank you again. Now, I am sure you have duties which you must return to. We shall speak later.”

Celestia nods and says “Indeed we do, and indeed we shall.” as both the sisters raise their wings and fly back to Canterlot, I wave them goodbye. We all smile at each other, knowing that we are finally reunited after so long.

Author's Note:

Dun, dunn, duuuunnnn indeed.

I've also slightly revised the previous chapters for some clarity where I thought it was necessary

Comments

[Jarimor]

[Bronzer]

But some part of me remains saddened by the necessity I see in making this place know to never mess with me.

What, like we do on Earth? We make sure everything knows not to dare attack us. Though, there are some odd ones who forget and then we kill them.

Celestia carefully responds with “I know. And I've always been sorry for what happened, but you know why it did.”

I sigh and say “None are exempt from law. I remember, but I also know that I was not the one who committed the crimes for which I was punished.”

I know. I've always known. But as I've always tried to do, I made the best decision of the ones I was given.

Actually, I'm pretty sure intentionally imprisoning someone whom you knew to be innocent of what he was accused of is itself against the law. So, you broke the law while claiming to uphold a law you knew accused was innocent of and your reasoning is that no one is above the law...which you broke and you knew he did not. So...go imprison yourself now, Trollestia.

[Radioactive Dragon]

A pink head appears from behind a tree to the sound of “Dun, dunn, duuuunnnn.”
All three of us stare at pinkie for a moment before Celestia asks “How did you get there?”
Pinkie giggles and says “Through the fourth wall, silly!” before disappearing again.

GOD DAMMIT PINKIE THIS IS THE 19999999TH TIME YOU BROKE THE FORTH WALL! WE HAVE TO FIX IT AGAIN EVERY TIME!

[Radioactive Dragon]

6775215 just roll with it

[Naroe_Clan]

6775215
I might actually be going a bit too far into "show don't tell" with how I write. I know exactly why everything so far makes sense (and it really does (to me anyway)), but in doing so I'm sort of referencing things which won't be revealed in-story until I feel them relevant, which may take a while.
So basically, all of my characters are mysterious wise folk, speaking of things the listener knows not.

[Hoppa_21]

Luna rushes forward, surprising me by wrapping her hooves around my torso. “Anything for you, Daddy.”

Sooooooooooooo, is Luna joking or not? I mean he already adopted Angelcake (Disgaea reference since there is an item called exactly that?).

[Naroe_Clan]

6815541 you'll have to wait and see. MWAHAHAHA!

Also, I have no idea what Disgaea is. I sort of remember a game called that I think? also, an angelcake is an actual, real life kind of cake.

[Hoppa_21]

6815980

Yeah, it is a game. Quite in fact an old game. I still remember then I bought the game for PS2. It is an interesting game about demons and the Netherworld. The Disgaea games are always funny and might be worth looking into, since I can recommend the series. It had quite a few editions over the years and there is even an Disgaea 5 now, as far as I know. (Only played till Disgaea 3, so I have still a bit to play through.)

Also worth mentioning is that the first part (the best one in my opinion) is coming out for PC on Steam this year. Here a Link.

Also didn't know there was a cake called that. I looked into it and found out that the German name is completely different and has not the word angel in it. It's always good to learn a thing or two!

[Vitae]

I stared at the picture of that spas mureen for about five minutes and the only thing I can think of is that in warhammer 40k humans believe that shoulders are the most vulnerable part of the body....its all I can think of since seeing that damnable picture

[Sharp77]

.....did he.....no he......wha.......

now that was twilight

HE FUCKED A HORSE

now that was me

[Naroe_Clan]

7119016 explaining it would be spoilers, although I will say I plan on not ever adding a sex tag to this story.

[Sharp77]

7119669 no need to explain anything

[Wir sind verloren]

A pink head appears from behind a tree to the sound of “Dun, dunn, duuuunnnn.”

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