Celestia XVII

by brokenimage321

Memory: The Day I Learned My Destiny

“Sit still, Cece,” Mrs. Velvet said. “You’re making me nervous.”

But I would not sit still. This was exciting.

We sat in a private box, in the stands behind the platform. The only light came from the lanterns hung on the walls, and stars hanging above us in the pre-dawn gloom. Mom had said Blueblood and I could bring someone along to this year’s Summer Sun Celebration. It was going to be in Cloudsdale—somewhere I’d never been. So, I picked Twilight, and Blueblood had, for some reason, picked her older brother, Shiny. Mom thought it would be just as well if she invited their Mom and Dad to come along—which turned out to be a good idea, as Shiny’d gotten airsick and his dad had to take him back down to the ground.

But still: Me and Twilight, together, watching Mom about to raise the sun, and in the really nice seats, too? Ordinarily, the Celebration was kinda boring—whichever of the Guards was watching us that day would make sure we were sitting up straight and that I was paying attention. But this time, Mrs. Velvet had bought us popcorn, and I thought I’d seen a candy bar or two peeking out of her bag.

And Cloudsdale was so pretty, too—all fluffy and white, with wide streets and tall pillars on every corner… I wanted to go exploring, but they’d told all of us—every non-pegasus in the group—not to step off the stands they’d constructed for us. They had a double safety patrol out for the Celebration, but still—one wrong step, and splat.

I almost wanted to throw something off the side, just to see what would happen. Mom would probably tell me to act my age. I would say that was a perfectly reasonable course of action for a ten-year-old, but she’d probably just ground me again if I did.

I heard a stealthy sort of rustling noise beside me. I looked down, then yanked my bag of popcorn away from Blueblood. “Hey,” I cried indignantly, “you have your own, don’t eat mine—”

“Young Lady,” Mrs. Velvet said, a faint warning in her voice, and a little too much emphasis on the capital ‘L.’

I huffed, then slumped down in my seat. I shoved a hoof-full of popcorn into my mouth and crunched noisily, then turned to Twilight. “Hey,” I said, spraying her with little bits of popcorn, “Affter this, we ffhould—”

“Shh,” hissed Mrs. Velvet, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “She’s starting.”

I rolled my eyes. This was the worst part of the whole thing, really—listening to Mom talk. It was dark, and most ponies weren’t used to getting up this early, and she had to talk at them. Why couldn’t she just get it over with? Raising the sun wasn’t that hard…

I tuned her out, and took a few more mouthfuls of popcorn. She was facing away from us, towards the gathered pegasi, so I could barely hear her anyways—all I could make out was the sound of her voice, but not the words. But it didn’t matter, really; just another few minutes, and we’d get to the cool part.

Finally, I heard her voice slowly rising in pitch and volume. I sat up; that meant she was almost done. She stamped her hoof and said something loud and brave, and everyone went crazy. Stamping, clapping, hooting, hollering, all that stuff. I grinned, and squirmed in my seat.

Mom finished talking, then turned to face the eastern horizon. All around us, lanterns went out as ponies snuffed the lights. Mrs. Velvet reached over and put ours out.

Soon, all I could see was Mom, standing on the platform, outlined against the stars. She spread her wings and lit her horn. A second later, the stone on her chest glowed, so bright it almost hurt in the dark.

Mom ducked her head, and, slowly, powerfully, like she was dredging something up from the bottom of the ocean, began to raise it. As she did, the sky in the east began to turn pink—then, a little sliver of burning orange peeked up over the horizon.

This was my favorite part—watching the sun actually rise. But I’d seen it a million times before. Twi never had. So, I turned away, and watched Twilight and Mrs. Velvet with a smile on my face.

Slowly, the orange light crept up their faces. Twilight stared, eyes wide and mouth open, and Mrs. Velvet looked like she was about to cry.

I smiled wider. This was awesome. I mean, getting to see Mom raise the sun all by herself was cool, but—

Suddenly, a new light—white, not orange—shone on their faces. Mrs. Velvet looked around surprised.

“What was that?” I asked, looking around too.

But Mrs. Velvet was staring at me. “Cece,” she whispered, the sun’s glow still creeping up her face, “your flank.”

I turned and looked. For a second, I thought I’d sat on a Cheez-Twist or something—but then I realized that orangey color on my flank wasn’t a stain—my fur had actually changed.

“My Cutie Mark!” I squealed. I stood and turned in a circle, trying to get a better look at it.

“Cece,” Mrs. Velvet said, “sit down, your mom’s not done—”

But then, I saw it.

“A sun?!” I cried.

Just then, Mom finished. Every pony in the audience went nuts again.

Which was just as well. Their screaming meant no one else could hear me shout all those swears.

* * *

I sat in the back of our compartment, scowling.

Mom had some stuff to do before she was ready to leave, so it was just us and Mrs. Velvet going home on the zeppelin in our own private compartment. Mom would make it home whenever she would make it home. Whatever; I didn’t really want to see her right now anyways.

Mrs. Velvet sat beside Twilight, watching me out of the corner of her eye.

“I think it’s neat,” she said at last. “Getting your Cutie Mark is always a big time in a pony’s life.”

“Yeah,” I grumbled, “but it’s supposed to tell you your destiny. And I already know what my destiny is.”

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked.

My scowl deepened. “It’s no fun,” I whined. “It’s like—Blueblood got a star when he went stargazing with the Colt Rangers, and Lyra got a harp when she figured out she was good at music. Theirs actually meant something.” I crossed my arms. “Mine is just a stupid sun, when I’ve known I’m gonna move the sun ever since I was little. So why did I have to get a cutie mark in it?”

Mrs. Velvet opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Twilight snuggled up closer to her, and Blueblood, for once in his life, was trying to ignore me.

I scrunched lower in my seat, and wondered if mane-bleach might be enough to give me a do-over.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again an excellent job on this flashback chapter depicting how Celestia got her Cutie Mark in this universe (oddly similar to how Twilight got HERS in canon in a way because seeing that Summer Sun Celebration is what motivated her to study so hard to learn magic) . Again, the exchanges and characterizations are great and now I'm on to the next chapter.

[PresentPerfect]

She's such a rotten little shit, I love her. XD

[Cosmic Cowboy]

That's a pretty top-tier cutie mark story.

[Zuabug]

Aww.. I can't help but sympathize with her :(

[Sylica telca]

Awww the poor girl