• Published 20th Jan 2016
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Gems I: The Sun Princess - Pen Dragon



Two thousand years have passed since the princesses had vanished from the face of the earth leaving the ponies under the control of the Order. But when a pony claims to be one of the princesses a stallion named Watcher tries to help her.

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Chapter Eleven- Two of Deception

Author's Note:

Warning!!!

From this point on in the story, the writing is going to be slightly different since these new chapters were made recently. Please enjoy and give both me and my friend Spirals95 a round of applause and support the both of us on our pages.

Chapter Eleven- Two of Deception

Watcher and Celestia had traveled nonstop throughout the night, hoping that at the very least they would be able to find a place to stay for the night. Eventually word would get out and Celestia’s existence would make things difficult for them, not to mention Watcher would likely be wanted for treason against the Order.

“Alright… It’ll be dawn soon… so once we find an inn we’ll be able to rest easy for a while, but we leave immediately as soon as we have lunch, but I think we’ll have a problem though?” Watcher said, looking towards his companion as she gave him a curious look.

“What’s the problem?”

“I only have enough bits to last us a few days… so once we stop by the next town, we grab the essentials and we ration our supplies, depending on whatever we can afford. After that we’ll have to change our identities and appearances so we don’t draw too much attention.” He explained to her as she nodded in agreement.

“A-alright… How long until we reach the next town?” She asked.

“We should reach it soon… shouldn’t take too long,” he answered as he carried on.

Pushing past a grove of tall pines, Watcher shoved aside a branch magically, pulling it forward and out of his face. As he stepped forward past the tree line, he released the branch, and it smacked across poor Celestia’s face leaving her with a fresh set of pine needles in her mane hair.

“Watcher you buffoon!” she shouted, “I just bathed!”

“Watch out for the branches, Tia,” came the response, very late and very sarcastically.

On the other side of the clustered pine trees was a small village Watcher had known about since he had started studies at The Order. It was a secretive, humble town in the depths of the woods, an area cleared out by lumberjack ponies ages ago to provide a safe haven in the middle of the otherwise dangerous forest.

As was to be expected, most of the buildings in the village were built like log cabins, with solid walls made from the surrounding heavy trees, and green roofs made from slanted boards that funneled down into water tanks that collected the runoff rain to drink or bathe with. A path made from white-colored gravel connected the homes scattered in the mile-wide forest town, and a couple of shops and inns stood out only because they sported extremely basic signs hanging in front of them. Beyond them, a fast-moving river flowed past the town, turning a water wheel that powered a mighty sawmill built from orange-painted wood, though the saw was silent that day.

“This is it,” said Watcher, smiling, “this town chops up firewood from the forest and sells it to homeowners in Baltimare.”

“I’ve never imagined Ponies would try to settle in the Everfree at all,” said an amazed Celestia, “What do they call this humble place?”

“Small Pines, just a little village I used to visit when I was a student,” he answered, “Hardly anypony knows it’s here, so we should be able to buy supplies and head on our way without trouble.”

“Why did they call it Small Pines?” She asked.

“Because the founders… they liked the name… even though it’s stupid and unoriginal and had a debate about it for days. If it was me I would have called it Sapling Creek, or Smallville, because this forest has a lot of acorns and saplings. As for Smallville… well the town speaks for itself.” He explained as he sighed at the sight of the title of the town, “Whoever came up with it was either stupid or had bad tastes in names.”

“I suppose you’re right… However, I think we should spend less time debating about the name and more on finding a place to rest.” She suggested, earning a groan from the stallion as he began leading her towards the town.

Right away Watcher could tell something wasn’t quite right. They should have seen a couple of lumberjack ponies carrying felled trees from the forest line to the sawmill like it said in the books he’s read about the town. But there were no ponies in sight, and the place looked like a ghost town. Doors were being shut as they walked by, and not a single store was open for business.

“Where is everypony?” muttered Watcher, “They can’t all be asleep at this hour, the streets are usually more lively then this”

Keep your heads down...” whispered a voice.

Celestia caught the words and turned around, looking down nothing but a dark alley between two stores.

“Excuse me?” she asked aloud, “Is anypony out there?”

He’ll get us next, don’t say anything!” pleaded a voice as quietly as possible, yet still audible to the ex-alicorn.

“I can hear you talking you know!” huffed Celestia indignantly, “You shouldn’t be afraid, we are just guests in your quiet town. It’s quite beautiful!”

Don’t listen, they will get us if we move an inch!

The unicorn noticed her friend seemed unaware of the very rude, inconsiderate whispering, “Watcher, do you hear those voices? They’re acting like we’re trouble!”

“Huh?” he asked her, spinning around, “Yeah… I’ve noticed that too, you don’t think they know about you already?”

“I-I don’t think so? Even if word got out… I doubt it would have made it to a remote town like this… they seem scared of something else.” Celestia said as they looked around.

“We better head towards the inn… it’s probably not far from here.” He suggested as he eyed the ponies, hiding behind their windows and doors. As the made their way through the town, they had finally made it to the inn like he said they would. “Alright… maybe we can get some answers inside, hopefully.”

Just as they entered through the door, saw a red stallion talking to somepony else and from the looks of it they seemed upset.

“Stellar, we need a plan if we’re ever going to-” Just before he could finish he soon noticed the two unicorns standing by the entrance, staring at them questioningly. “Oh, hello… I didn’t expect anypony to come here at this hour… who are you?”

“The names Watcher and this is my… uh sister yeah! And we wanted to ask for a room for two… with separate beds until we heard your argument. Is there something wrong?” Watcher asked as Celestia raised a brow at him, but didn’t say anything.

“My name is Blazing Stone and t-that’s not your concern at the moment… but my friend Stellar Moon is more than glad to escort you the two of you to your room.” Blazing said, motioning his hoof towards the dark grey unicorn.

“It’s nice to meet you Watcher… but I don’t think you introduced your sister to us… Surely somepony as beautiful as her has a name right?” He said, lifting her right hoof and kissing it gently, earning a blush from her as Watcher groaned.

“M-my names’ Tia… It’s nice to meet you S-Stellar.” She stuttered as Watcher gagged behind her. “At least somepony here knows how to treat a mare!”

“Yeah sure, says the mare who pigs out whenever there’s a cake lying around or some kind of junk food.” Watcher counter as Celestia puffed out her cheeks and glared at him in embarrassment.

Wanting to break the awkward pause, Blazing pushed forward, “Well anyways, I guess we can find rooms for the two of you. We are sorry we weren’t so hospitable at first, things have been quiet here lately and it makes the townsponies a bit paranoid sometimes. Hard living alone in the woods, ya know?”

“Absolutely,” agreed Celestia with a sympathetic tone.

“I’ll take them to their rooms,” said Stellar calmly, waving a hoof in his direction, “please, follow me. I know the perfect place, and it’ll be well within your means as travelers.“

He led them to a small inn built at the edge of town, a long and flat building with just eight small rooms. One of them matched the description Watcher had asked for, two single beds with a nightstand and a candle lamp. The unicorn sighed, knowing he was going to miss electricity being readily available until they reached the city, but at least it was only for a short time, and choosing the backwater town meant staying hidden, which was more important than having a light bulb or two. A small window at the side of the room clearly had a draft coming in, which made it a little colder than what he’d like, but Celestia didn’t seem to mind, and she quickly claimed the bed closest to the windowsill.

“Well this room is very quaint!” she said to him, smiling, “I’ve never been out in the woods before, Watcher. Are all living quarters in the forest like this?”

“Not really,” he answered, shaking his head, “normally you’d be out in a tent without anything as nice.”

Her ears sank back, “Oh my, sounds dangerous. You could be eaten by timberwolves out here without proper protection.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Celestia.”

She rolled her eyes, “Sorry, Watcher. I’m just saying I would never leave one of my little ponies out here in the cold where they’d make an easy treat for a forest monster.”

“There is no need to worry about monsters anymore… The Order dealt with them, a long time ago.” he answered plainly.

“I’m starting to think they’re the real monsters,” she said, frowning as she laid her chin down on the soft, white comforter of the bed, “given that they wish to get rid of us. What do you think, Watchie?”

“Hey, don’t call me Watchie!” the other unicorn said, turning red.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t call me your sister then!” she returned, lifting her head up and smirking at him.

“Look, we don’t have time to argue about this,” he huffed, “I’m sorry about that, but ponies are starting to think we’re a thing if you haven’t noticed. I need to not have that kind of teasing aimed at me right now.”

“A thing? What sort of a thing?” the mare asked, pretending she wasn’t understanding.

Watcher put a hoof over his face, “Please don’t do this to me! Look, I’ll explain later, ok?”

She winked, continuing to mock him, “You’re so easy to tease.”

“Maybe… but I’m the one getting you out of here in one piece, so maybe you ought to ease up on the mocking a little, Your Highness.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds as Celestia absorbed the insult, rolling her eyes in disbelief. Even raising the sun hadn’t been enough to get Watcher to treat her more like a lady and less like an annoying family member. Was this what friends did, mock each other when nopony else was looking? It felt empty to the former princess that she couldn’t ask her top student for an answer to that question, but she didn’t dare show sadness on her face to Watcher again.

“Anyways we should try to get some rest for now… after that we can get the supplies and head out, ok?” He said, laying down on his bed. It was true it wasn’t like his other bed, but it was a lot more comfortable than he thought it would be.

It wasn’t long before they were both passed out on their comfortable beds, the constant running from the authorities had drained them of their energy, and they hadn’t noticed until they had laid down. Watcher slept in a comfortable position on his back, snuggled warmly in the sheets, looking away from the light coming into the window. Completely knocked out by the heavy sudden exercise of the day, he was unaware of a figure creaking open the door of the room to spy in. It was Stellar, having decided to take the liberty to “check up on his guests”, and the villagers stared through the opening he had created at Celestia. As opposed to Watcher, she slept on top of the sheets in a loose ball like a cat, her head rested gently on the pillow, soaked with her drool.

“What a beauty, that stallion’s companion is,” he whispered, eyeing her over like she was nothing more than a piece of meat, “her soft ivory coat, her magenta eyes… she’s almost perfect. It’s a real shame… that her death is imminent.”

Stellar could only smile at the sight of her before closing the door as he made his way back downstairs to the lobby where Blazing Stone had been waiting patiently. “Stellar, I need you to take care of our new guests while I’m out… I need to gather a few things in the city so you're in charge for the next few days.”

“R-really?!”

“Now don’t get too excited Stellar… It’s only temporary until I get back.” He said, putting on his jacket and grabbing his satchel.

“Oh you don’t have to worry… everything is in good hooves.” He said, hiding his smirk as the stallion went out the door, leaving him alone with his two guests.