A New Starting Point

by Lunar Flarion

Chapter 27: The City and Consoling

Flare looked over the large, cyan glowing walls with a curious look. He hadn’t seen anything like this before. Sithis had told him when they were nearing the walls of the city that they would be glowing bright cyan, so he followed the light and the massive dragon. Flare barely started to realize that, the closer they got to the wall and giant entryway, the less Sithis seemed to emanate the cyan hue he had on him. Soon, he started to look more grey, his scales darkened and the jagged spike coming from his head faded to a light grey.

“Wow...” Flare said as he looked at Sithis.

“This is how I truly look,” Sithis admitted,” Once you enter the city, you will realize that all of the ones in there have the same effect.”

“Alright,” Flare replied,” How do we get in?”

“Like this,” Sithis gave his first toothy grin and shouted,” Hey! I have the Stallion of the Underground!”

With that, the doors of the large entryway started to clank and creak as they opened up. Flare and Sithis stood in the in front, in the middle of the doors. Once the doors opened wide enough to allow both of them in without issue, two guards, or what Flare assumed were guards, walked towards them, their spears held high and their armor gleaming because of the walls glow. Their masks covered their faces and when they spoke, the suits seemed to hide their voices.

“Welcome back, Sithis,” one of the guards said,” You know the rules, drop all weapons at the checkpoint.”

The second guard looked at Flare, and he felt as if the pony’s cut right through him. With a much more hollowed voice, they said,” Do you think we should get a magic nullifier ring?”

“No, she trusts him,” The first one replied.

“Hm... alright,” The second one replied,” You may come in.”

As Flare and Sithis passed by them, he couldn’t help but remember two guards that once stood post to the Reactor’s elevators. He was... more than upset when they both passed away due to starvation. As the two went through the gate, the guards turned and followed them, then yelled for the gates to be closed. The doors creaks echoed behind Flare as he went to the checkpoint. The checkpoint itself was a single building that was not too big, yet not too small and a large gate with a fence that stretched from one part of a distant wall to the other part of the same distant wall, just opposite to the other. As they walked up to the counter, a mare greeted them happily. This mare took Flare by surprise, since she had feathery wings and not leathery wings that all the others had, as well as regular eyes, not slits. She had light purple fur with a sorta turquoise mane. She smiled and told them to leave any and all weapons behind at the checkpoint so. Apparently, Sithis had ways of hiding a sword on his person without Flare even noticing, he only knew that when Sithis laid the sword down on top of the desk. Flare gave a deadpan look at the sword, then at Sithis, who merely chuckled at his confusion. The mare grabbed the sword and put it below the counter. She then clicked a button, and a faint buzz came from within the building. The door leading out of her room opened to reveal a rather large stallion who was a unicorn, he bore the same eyes as the mare, not ones of the bat ponies that he had gotten used to. He was rather buff, his fur was a dark grey, much darker than Sithis’s scales, his mane was a light, almost neon yellow. His horn glowed a soft amber color and Flare felt the magic encompass him completely. He remained still and calm as the magic aura faded.

“They’re clear,” The stallion’s gruff voice stated.

“Alrighty,” The mare chirped back happily. Her hoof reached under the desk, a soft click came from under there. The gate opened up quickly and Sithis bid the two farewell and walked on. Flare followed, and soon, they exited to the checkpoint and went right to the city.

---

The city wasn’t like anything he had ever seen before. It was huge, many homes lined some streets, but you could see in the distance a castle and what looked to be office-like buildings. Many ponies and even non-ponies walked the streets. Dragons, ponies, bat ponies, griffons, even changelings and minotaurs! Some looked on as the two walked past, Flare’s senses kicked into high gear and he soon grew nervous with all the eyes that stared at him. Sithis looked around and smiled, some of the residents waved at him or just batted an eye and nodded in a friendly manner. For Flare... well, he stuck out like a sore hoof when it came to how he looked. Some of the foals that ran around seemed to stop and look at him with both awe and slight fear.

“It seems they like you,” Sithis whispered to him with a grin.

“No,” Flare whispered back,” I can feel their fear and see it as well.”

“Well, fear or not, we need to get tickets to the castle,” Sithis stated.

“Why?” Flare asked as Sithis started to slow down.

“So that the Moon Mother can meet you,” Sithis replied calmly.

The two walked on for a little while longer, by this time, most of the gazes didn’t land on Flare or Sithis, they landed on what they were doing at the time. The walk to the train station wasn’t too far from the main entrance, and when it came into sight Sithis, once again, sped up which made Flare have to trot once more. Once Sithis stopped at the ticket booth Flare finally managed to catch up. He had asked for two tickets and paid the fee required. The pony, or more accurately, changeling was handing the tickets over to Sithis as Flare walked up. The changeling looked at Flare for a moment, then shrugged, as if this was normal.

“Come on,” Sithis said as he gave Flare the extra ticket,” The Moon Mother waits for you.”

Flare didn’t say a word as he accepted it, all they had to do now was wait for the train to arrive. In the meantime, Flare would take the time to reflect and ponder what this place was and how it remained so well hidden.

---At the Castle---

Prim had gone back and grabbed the book from Midnight’s desk and went to her room to look over all the pictures. She felt a sharp pain in her heart at the thought she had been lied to about something like this if they lied to her for 10+ years... then what else would they lie about? She hoped that the pictures would both give her answers or prove her wrong. The room was quiet, too quiet, but she didn’t care as she stared headlong into the book. She had gotten past her own pictures and on to the main pictures with her and her sisters. Faint memories surfaced as she turned each page. A small birthday party for Midnight when she turned eleven, Prim was seven and Night was ten. Another one caught her eye, it was of her and Night playing what looked to have been tag. A smile crept upon her lips as she kept on with her search. Till a sharp knock came from her door.

Prim’s head rose and looked at the door, calmly, she asked,” Who’s there?”

“Your mother,” the familiar voice replied sadly.

“Mom?” Prim asked as she jumped off of her bed and trotted over to the door. She opened the door to reveal her mother, who had a sad look on her face.

“Hello, dear,” She managed a weak smile,” May I come in?”

“Oh! Of course!” Prim replied as she opened the door completely to allow her mother to enter.

Honey walked in and looked around Prim’s room, then at her bed where she saw the book.

“So... you did find out,” Honey uttered sadly.

“Yes,” Prim said as she shut her door.

Honey walked over to Prim’s bed and gently picked up the book. She glanced over the page that Prim had been studying prior to her arrival. Honey sat down and gently placed her hoof in the book, a look of grief ran across her face, much worse than the one she had as she came inside. Prim walked over and sat next to her mother, her eyes scanned her mother’s face.

“I’m sorry...” Honey muttered gently as she turned back to the page of pictures with mini Prim. Honey’s voice shook a little,” I was worried when Midnight told me what had happened, both that fateful day and today... I never wanted to keep secrets from you... but-”

“I understand,” Prim smiled calmly,” You feared that I might become more scared if you told me when I woke up...”

“I didn’t want to put you back in that hospital bed...” Honey admitted, her wing extended and wrapped around Prim. She pulled Prim into a side hug, then continued,” The doctors said that... the trauma of saying that to you when you woke up could already worsen your heart and put you back into a coma...”

“I- wait, my heart?” Prim questioned as she put a hoof to her chest.

“The lightning nearly stopped your heart,” Honey chocked slightly,” When they told us that you could die at any moment in your coma... I... I nearly broke. I stayed by your bedside nearly every day and night, making sure you were still breathing and that you were okay. Midnight came over almost every day to do the same.”

“She told me that as well,” Prim replied as her wing slowly extended to hug her mother back.

“When you woke up, it felt like a weight of great proportions was lifted off of my shoulders,: Honey smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek,” My little filly was awake and alive, Midnight was so happy that she cried for an hour, it was one of those rare moments whenever your oldest sister cried.”

Prim took in a breath to say something, but her throat tightened.

“I wanted to tell you, but the doctors said it could put you back into a coma,” Honey stopped for a moment, her mouth slightly agape,” A-and that you wouldn’t wake back up from it... the trauma would have been too bad, it would’ve been too much stress for your little body to handle... you were only just a filly! Four or five! To be alive after being struck by lightning is near impossible! Though it didn’t come with side effects. Your eyes changed from red to pink, your growth was slightly stunted, you had to be left alone for most of the day while you recovered... the worse of it was that you had slight amnesia.”

“I didn’t know it was that bad...” Prim spoke, flabbergasted.

“W-well... all that matters now is that you’re okay and that you know,” Honey managed a weak smile as she kissed her daughter’s forehead.

Prim felt like a filly again, being talked to by her mother, but this time about something bad and sad, whenever it was something that made Prim sad Honey would always kiss her forehead. It always seemed to comfort her, as it did now. Yet a question still tugged on Prim’s heart.

“Just... why didn’t you tell me when I was older?” Prim asked as Honey’s wing tucked itself against her side.

“Well... because I didn’t want you to be hurt... or scared,” Honey answered honestly,” I would’ve told you, I was going to... but then the attack and... and Flare...”

Prim looked down for a moment, all this time, he had been in the back of her mind and she had kept him there. She still loved him, she still wanted to be with him, but with the current situation, she couldn’t. This was one of her reasons for reading up on the old world, to distract herself from what had happened. Honey slowly realized that she had put forth a memory that her daughter was trying to bury or hide. She realized it too late for Prim’s posture had sunken a little bit. That seed of doubt had grown already, but now, it felt like it was about to bloom. Prim softly shook her head, as she swept the idea of Flare back into the corner of her mind.

“I’m sorry for bringing him up again!” Honey quickly apologized,” I hope I didn’t...”

“No... no, it’s alright...” Prim reassured her mother,” I’ll... just go back to reading a book or something like that, maybe talk to Midnight or Night.”

“Please, I know that something is bothering you,” Honey replied as her hoof rested gently against her daughter’s shoulder,” Tell me what it is...”

Prim sighed and told her mother how she felt about the whole situation, how she had been reading books to keep him off her mind and how this seemed wrong, as well as how Flare might get killed by the less than kind bat ponies who think of him as a menace. Honey could only listen as her daughter listed off her problems, her worries, and her fears. The menace part hit Honey in the gut, for it was kinda their fault for they gave him that status when the exiled him from the kingdom. Once Prim told her last problem, Honey tried to give her advice in ways she thought might help, such as talking to somepony she trusted as she did now or to write it down in a journal to keep her mind clear. Prim took her mother’s advice to heart and with a final hug and a loving nuzzle, her mother departed from her room. Yet, with the talk of Flare, she couldn’t help but wonder where he was now.

---Entrance to the City’s Castle---

“Shiny,” Flare replied as he looked on at the tall castle. It’s walls looked to be made of very light blue crystals, the castle stood tall amongst all the other buildings in the immediate area for it stood on top of a large hill. The view of not only the castle but the surrounding forest was beautiful, even though it was dark. The road leading up to the great castle was that of cobblestone with lamps illuminating the path for those who wished to visit at the late hours of the night.

“Yes, it is rather shiny, isn’t it?” Sithis replied with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah,” Flare admitted,” I’m surprised that this city hasn’t been found, enchantments or not, this castle is rather bright in the night.”

“The original creator of the city made sure it was hidden well,” Sithis explained as he finally pushed open the door.

“Do I smell a story?” Flare said with a smile.

“No,” Sithis replied with a smile,” Not this time anyways, any and all stories might as well be told by her.”

“Playing the Pronoun game are we?” Flare replied with a smirk.

Sithis rolled his eyes as he walked in with the smirking stallion in tow. The inside of the castle looked rather nice. Two Purple banners hung on the side of a staircase that branched off in two different directions. The floor was a was a simple gold hue and the inside walls were painted a more royal purple and white. The air was still as Sithis took in a deep breath. It wasn’t long before he moved forward towards the staircase, in which Flare groaned and simply teleported to the top. Once Sithis reached the top, he motioned for Flare to follow him, in which, again, he did, it was what he mostly did for the past three days. As they moved forward, they had entered a long hallway, there were doors on either side, but not as many as the castle where he used to live had. The doors were spread apart evenly, there were some tables that held lit candles. As soon as they entered the corridor of doors, it came to an end. The room soon spread out a little ways away from the opening. The room wasn’t as long as the one behind them, but it had an eerie feel to it. For one, there weren’t any light sources in here or at least none that were lit and visible. Second, large stain glass windows that bore six colors on either side. The colors went in order as such, purple, pink, orange, cyan, pure white, and finally, a buttery yellow. The windows converted the light from the moon into each respective color of the glass window. The two moved forward, passing under each pane of glass until Sithis stopped in his tracks.

*Fwoom!*

Two torches facing each other lit automatically, a blue flame sprouting from the once lifeless wood. Flare’s eye shrunk to the size of a pinprick as he scanned the area behind him. That was when the torches started to burst into flames faster, each set increased the speed of the next set, till finally, the whole room was alive with the blue flames. Flare looked on and saw a throne of gold, and somepony sat on that throne, their head covered by the purple cloak they wore. All that could be seen from under the cloak were two pink slit eyes. Sithis bowed deeply at the figure, Flare, however, did not, for he didn’t know who he bowed to.

“Bow,” Sithis hissed at Flare when he saw that he did not move.

“I will not bow to one I know not of,” Flare spoke clearly.

Sithis was about to argue, but a soothing, female voice came from under the hood,” I can agree with your idea, though it is rude to not bow to a ruler.”

“I do not mean to be rude,” Flare smiled,” But before I bow, I would like to know who lies under the hood.”

“Hm...” the figure mused,” I see why the royal family liked you, you listen and are kind, but you don’t break and go to every beck and call.”

With that, the figure removed the hood. Flare’s suspicions were correct, under the hood was a mare, a unicorn to be exact. Her mane was a light purple while her fur was nearly the same shade of dark blue as his own. The mare seemed to wear her mane in a ponytail. As Flare looked her over, she told Sithis to rise, in which he did slowly. She then turned and looked down at Flare, a smile formed on her lips,” Hello, my name is the Moon Mother, but you may call me Star.”

Comments

[ToffeeL]

Awesome story)

[Lunar Flarion]

9322345
Thank you ^^

[ToffeeL]

9322403
I hope they'll be together)