All Behind Celestial Rays

by Cosy Purity

Priorities

When they reappeared, something seemed very off to Celestia. Maybe it was the fact that they looked to be nowhere near the delivery room. Instead they were in the midst of a small, narrow passage, dimly lit by an unknown source of light. Air echoed through the quiet of the place, its breezy whisper faintly soothing to Celestia’s augmenting dismay. The entire surrounding area seemed to be made up of dirt and very old rock, with a small piece of grit falling every now and then from the ceiling.

A fleck of dirt hit her muzzle and she recoiled, crossing her eyes as she focused on the dirt that had just landed there, an awkward expression on her face.

She caught a faint snicker from Starswirl, at about the same moment that she heard something odd.

“Hush!” She hissed, though she only wanted him to be quiet so that she could listen for the sound again.

She could sense the surprise from Starswirl and knew he’d taken her command the wrong way.

“Sorry,” She breathed, “but I need for us all to be quiet for a moment. I think I heard voices.”

“It may have just been the wind,”

Starswirl muttered, his voice giving off no hint of the hurt she’d felt from him a second before. She felt a small flash of relief and then focused intently on the silence amid the elderly passages, while being grateful that Starswirl was holding his tongue despite his protest.

Then soft, numerous murmurs bounced off the dusty walls, and her eyes widened.

Skim poked Celestia’s shoulder with a hoof and plodded ahead of her, motioning for the two young ponies to follow.

Shoving her uncertainty to the back of her mind, she trailed behind with Starswirl directly beside her, his expression revealing a slight interest in what lay ahead of them.

As they grew closer, she detected fear resonating from the source of the voices, and after a step further she was able to pick out a few sentences.

“I think someone’s coming!”

“They’ve found us!”

“We’re going to die!”

“Mamma, have the bad-guys come to get us?”

Confusion pulsed in her chest at the terrified mutters. Finally, they reached a large opening that widened out from their tunnel, where the voices were loudest. A spot of light poked out from the ceiling, and Celestia realized there must’ve been, amidst the dirt and regular mineral, a type of lunar-rock like the kind abundant on the paths separating the fields on the castle’s campus.

Celestia’s gaze followed the ray pouring from the lunar-rock and saw below it a large group of familiar-looking alicorns. As the illumination grew, the mutters of fear quickly transformed into relief and delight.

“It’s Celestia!” One exclaimed, and another added,

“With Skim Branbury and ….” his voice dropped slightly as he continued, “...Starswirl!”

Several alicorns quickly shuffled over to their visitors and welcomed them.

A female alicorn a few years older than Celestia known as Springtime Mist patted Celestia’s head and told her as the voices began to die down,

“Who led you here? The guards took us down to these passages once the attack on the castle started and then came back outside to aid the other soldiers. Everyone has been looking for you and Skim.”

“And Starswirl?”

Celestia asked.

“Er, Yeah,” Spring said, her tone of voice betraying her indifference, then repeated, “how did you find us?”

“Well…” Celestia said quietly, searching for an answer, “um, we kinda teleported and then ended up here.”

Spring’s red-violet eyes flashed with surprise.

“Teleported?” she echoed.

“Y-yeah…” Celestia stammered.

“How in the world…” The adolescent alicorn began, then shook her head and changed the subject as if figuring the previous question would have been useless, “Look… I bet you’re probably wanting to know where your parents are.”

Celestia nodded, lifting her head to meet Spring’s gaze, eyes filled with new energy and excitement.

Spring smiled.

“Well then, follow me!”

Celestia plodded beside Springtime Mist through a new passage, eager to see not only where her parents were, but - well, mostly - to meet her newborn sister. She began to bounce beside her companion, her overwhelming elation only able to be expressed in her childishness. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so happy.

Searching through her memories, the only things that came close - but not quite as much - were seeing her father when she rarely did, the little moments she spent with her mother (again rarely), and that time Starswirl put the rose in her hair (the rarest).

Spring stopped in her tracks and put a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. At first she’d guessed it was to calm her jovial hopping, but then she realized they had reached a shady, small hole which led into a larger room that she figured must’ve been where her family was staying. She could only guess that the inside was several metres long. Celestia squinted inside to try and make out the form of her parents, the shape of an identical, smaller Celestia, and maybe a doctor. But she couldn’t see a thing.

Perhaps she needed glasses.

Then the teenager-reminiscent voice of Spring broke her out of her thoughts.

“It’s an illusion-portal,” she explained, “for privacy. We see the image of a long room without anyone in it, while in reality there’s something quite different. It’s a sort of door with a spell that tricks your eyes. Sound-proof too. The thing is that I’m not sure if your little sibling is even out in the world yet.”

Celestia tipped her head to one side.

“How do we get in then?” She asked, “if they don’t know we’re here because of the illusion thingy or if Momma’s … done with whatever it takes to have a baby….”

Springtime cut her off and winked warmly at her.

“Just watch,” She said.

Celestia obeyed the order as Spring trotted over to what appeared to be the entrance to the long, shadowy room and reached out a hoof.

Celestia’s head tipped even further, her curiosity growing.

What’s she going to do?

Answering her question, Springtime knocked onto thin air. Because of the illusion, it looked incredibly odd to Celestia, but she could clearly hear three loud noises resounding in time with Spring’s knocking.

“See? Like a door,” Spring smiled.

After a few moments the image became even stranger as the illusion seemed to open up to a new room, and the head of a doctor poked out behind it.

Celestia wondered if she’d ever see anything more odd.

“No kidding,” She whispered.