Does Faust Play Dice?

by herfaithfulstudent

Chapter 4: Aunty Clover

I wake up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I'm quicker to get my bearings than when Celestia woke me up, but this whole pony situation still feels like a dream.

The light of the predawn sky slipping through the windows is the only thing that lets me walk to the door and answer it. A tired looking Luna, clad in armor, stares at me and then at my bed, which occupies most of the sitting room by the fireplace. “Well at least you're still here and not dead,” she says with a lazy smile. “So, you’re not dangerous enough to kill and didn't manage to escape.”

“Did you actually expect that?” I ask in disbelief.

“Not really, but being overly trusting is dangerous. Especially since I can't rely on magic to protect myself like my sister.” At that, Luna peers behind me to my right. “Speaking of Celestia, is she still here? I want the full report of her spell before I go home and sleep.”

“No idea, but it's exactly what I told you yesterday. I'm from another world and I've seen some things about your world.”

“We'll see… I'll wait here to ask Celestia when she's back.” Luna then sidesteps me and moves into the living room.

I shrug, close the door, and go sit on my bed. Once Luna finishes removing her armor, she just stands and stares at me, occasionally glancing around the room. “Do you want to have a seat?” I gesture to the foot of my bed. “Starswirl The Be- I mean The Great moved all the cushions away to make room for this last night.”

“N-no!” Luna breaks our eye contact and looks away. “I will not be found in a stallion’s bed by my sister, let alone one I just met. I'll stand, thank you.”

Yikes, I didn't realize ancient Equestria was so old fashioned. Or maybe it's just Luna… Celestia showed me that journal on her bed last night without making it seem weird.

The next five or so minutes pass in awkward silence, with me not wanting to insult Luna again, and her finding the wall much more interesting than me. Once the sun begins to rise, Luna turns to one of the windows and announces, “Good, she should be back soon.”

I glance towards the blue pegasus and then look out the window myself. I’m usually not one to watch the sunrise, even though I try to get up before dawn, but something about this just feels special. It doesn't look any different from a normal sunrise, but it feels like I'm seeing one for the first time.

I'm broken from my reverie by a loud bang coming from the ceiling followed by some muffled words and footsteps. A few seconds later, Starswirl The Great walks down the stairs, his beard and mane looking just as tangled and messy as last night.

“Ah, Astraeus, Luna, you're already awake and here. Please come with me, I'll make some tea while we wait for Celestia.”

“Good morning, Starswirl. Sorry for coming in while you were sleeping.”

“Oh, you know I don't care about those sort of formalities, Luna. Besides, if you weren't welcome here, it'd take an awful lot of magic to get in,” he says with a hearty laugh.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask curiously. “Also, good morning, and thanks for the bed last night.”

“Thank you, my colt. Oh! I almost forgot.” Starswirl stops right before opening the door to the other part of this floor, turns around, quickly zaps away the bed, and moves the sitting cushions and furniture back to their places. “And I keep a barrier around this tower that prevents unwanted intruders from getting in without an invitation. Luna is on my short list of ponies who are welcome here anytime.” Starswirl gestures at Luna and gives her a welcoming smile which she returns in thanks. Then Starswirl turns back to me and begins talking again, “Also, before I forget, I should remove the…” He stares at me for a second and blinks. “What happened to my enchantment? Can you dispel magic?”

I glance at Luna, then back to the old mage in confusion. “Uhhh… I don't know what you're talking about.”

Then something seems to click in his head. “Did Celestia ask you to leave the living room last night?” he asks with a knowing smile.

“Yeah… she wanted to talk to me,” I admit hesitantly. I'd rather not discuss our conversation about Luna while she’s here.

A wide grin breaks on Starswirl face and he mutters, “She can break my enchantments at half the age Clover could. Absolutely amazing…” He leads us into a kitchen with a small table setup with three chairs, then turns to Luna and says, “You have a very powerful sister, you know. That mare has been gifted with magic beyond her years.” Luna nods but doesn't offer any words of response.

“Sorry, I think I'm missing something,” I say to Starswirl. “What happened?”

“Do you remember the spell I cast on you last night?” I think back and vaguely remember him mentioning it. “Had you tried to go up the stairs, open a door, or even jump out a window, you would have met with a magical wall far stronger than any stone. Apparently, it suited my ward to release you from your imprisonment early.”

Starswirl then walks to a side door and opens it just as realization suddenly appears on Luna’s face. “You mean he could have escaped any time last night‽” she shouts.

Starswirl nods dismissively and ushers us into the kitchen.

“If it makes you feel any better, I had no idea,” I say trying to quell Luna's exasperation. She sighs and seems to drop it for now.

Luna and I are directed to sit at a small table with three seats. After rejecting our offers to help, Starswirl begins making tea. “Unfortunately, I can't really make anything edible, apart from drinks and sweets, so Celestia does most of the real cooking.” He levitates a large copper tea kettle in front of him after filling it with water. “Before she moved in, my breakfasts were nothing more than plain fruit and hay.”

The kettle, still surrounded by the white glow of Starswirl's magic, begins to whistle after about 3 seconds. At the same time, drawers and cabinets open and close as Starswirl levitates out teacups, saucers, spoons, and a jar of tea leaves. It's like the grey unicorn made the whole kitchen come alive during our chat without any effort. I’m starting to get why Twilight idolizes this guy.

After a couple minutes of waiting, Starswirl levitates over a small plate of thin metal sticks with what appears to be rock candy on them and pours four cups of tea. “That was amazing!” I yell, still marveling at his telekinesis. Luna, meanwhile, sips her tea, unfazed by the display.

As he sits down in the remaining seat, Starswirl smiles, “Oh that's right, I forgot you don't have magic in your world.”

Any response I’m about to come up with is interrupted by the dark blue pegasus going into a fit of coughs. Thankfully she doesn't spit out her tea, but Starswirl floats a napkin to her anyway. Once she's almost done choking, Luna demands, “You mean he's actually not a pony‽”

I grin. Finally!

“Well, technically, he's a pony now, but Celestia said she saw him as a different creature in his memories before you met him, so I guess the proper statement would be ‘he actually was not a pony yesterday,’” Starswirl says with a chuckle.

“Told you so.” Oh my god her face is priceless.

“But that doesn’t mean-” the midnight blue pegasus sputters angrily.

“Have some compassion Luna,” Starswirl says “The poor colt has absolutely no one in this land, family or friend.” Okay, that kind of hurt.

Luna lets her head hit the table with a painful sounding smack and then mumbles, “Well at least I won't have to report this.” She begins to suck on one of the rock candy sticks but makes no motion of raising her head. I think Luna broke.

I spend the next five minutes trying, not completely unsuccessfully, to eat the rock candy and drink my tea. God I miss having fingers. Thankfully, Starswirl doesn’t seem to mind fixing my shattered teacup four times.

Soon after I sort of figure out how to grab things without hands, I hear the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by Celestia walking in the kitchen. She greets the three of us in a perfunctory manner and begins to make breakfast without saying a word.

Either the pony with a sun on her ass isn’t a morning person or she’s still worrying about the Nightmare Moon thing. It seemed like she got over it last night, but I should definitely talk to her again when I have the chance.

All of a sudden Starswirl stands up, knocking his chair back in the process and pulling Luna out of her stupor. “Young mare!” Celestia’s attention snaps away from her ingredients as the old, yet surprisingly imposing, stallion marches towards her. “Did you dispel the imprisonment enchantment I put on Astraeus last night without my permission?” Celestia looks nervous but she doesn’t turn away. She merely gives a small nod. And with that, Starswirl’s scowl breaks into a grin as he nuzzles her. “I’m so proud of you! How long have you been able to dispel that kind of magic?”

Celestia, seemingly stunned by the lack of anger from the other unicorn, takes a few moments before answering with a small smile. “I’d never tried dispelling your sealing magic before so I had no idea if I could do it, but it didn’t feel right to bind a messenger of Faust like that. You’re really not mad? I know should have just waited until the morning but…” Celestia trails off as she glances at me with a smile.

“Mad‽” Starswirl booms. “Of course not! I’m just amazed at how fast you’re progressing. You’ve outpaced both your mother and Clover in terms of raw power by around a decade. We must tell Clover about this after breakfast.”

“Actually, I had planned to show Astraeus around the kingdom, if you don’t mind,” Celestia says. “He should probably learn about our culture while he’s here. I assume it’ll take you a while to send him home, right?” She sounds almost hopeful asking that last question. Oh god, I really hope she doesn’t want me to tell her more about the future.

“Oh! Of course. Yes, it should take at least two days to gather everything I require for the spell.” Starswirl looks over at me as though he just realized Luna and I were still there. “And I don’t imagine you share my penchant for staying hauled up in this tower for extended periods of time.”

Even though I have to get back as soon as possible, I still want to check the place out while I’m here. I nod in agreement as he turns back to Celestia. “I shall inform Clover of your milestone when I ask her about my old mirror. I’ll also need to send a letter soon if…” Starswirl mumbles the last part to himself so I have no idea what he said.

Starswirl comes back to the table to sit down as he levitates over some paper, a feather quill, and a bottle of ink. Celestia moves to begin preparing breakfast again, but then Luna clears her throat, “Celestia, may I speak with you privately?”

“Always, Sister,” the tall mare replies kindly while keeping her gaze on the food for a moment before leading Luna out into the living room.

My stomach growls as I sit and wait for the sisters to get back, so I suck on another piece of rock candy to pass the time. Much easier than holding a teacup. Starswirl doesn’t seem to realize I’m in the room as he writes on the parchment with his telekinesis. More of that scribble writing I saw in Celestia’s journal last night.

After what feels like ten minutes, a tired looking Celestia returns, followed by a slightly irritated Luna, who’s now back in her dark armor. The former returns to making breakfast while the latter thanks Starswirl for the tea.

Luna then turns to me. “Astraeus, I want to thank you for not running away,” she says with a smile. “I’d like to talk with you more, now that I know you’re not trying to infiltrate my tribe –” She tries and fails to stifle a yawn. “– but that can wait till I’ve gotten some sleep.” Luna says her goodbyes to each of us and heads off to wherever she lives.

I wait eagerly for Celestia to finish making us breakfast, since she insisted she didn’t need any help. Starswirl finishes his letter and uses his magic to put a wax seal on it identical to his cutie mark, a large five pointed star with two smaller ones to its left and right. Once that’s done, he asks me more about how Earth revolves around its sun without magic, something Celestia also seems very interested in.

Finally, after dozens of questions about astrophysics that my mechanical engineering classes really haven’t prepared me for, Celestia brings over several platters of different food. Food that should probably be preserved if the windigos are going to ruin their harvest at some point and possibly cause a famine.

“So, uhh… this really seems like a lot of food for breakfast,” I say with the smoothness of sandpaper.

“Of course,” Celestia assures. “You’re our guest. It wouldn’t be right to skimp on cooking today.” Shit! They’re wasting possibly precious food because of me. What if the windigos come soon?

“Oh, I really appreciate all this, Celestia, but it’s too much just because I’m here. Don’t you need your food to last until the next harvest?”

Starswirl responds between spoonfuls of a delicious smelling vegetable stew. “I appreciate your consideration, but there’s no need to worry. The pegasi are due to wrap up winter very soon, and the harvest begins shortly after that.”

Celestia, who has taken Luna’s old seat to my left, lights up. “And if you stay until then, you’ll be here for the winter festival!”

“Is that just singing while you wrap up winter?” I ask, having already seen that episode and not having much interest in plowing snow all day.

“No,” Celestia responds. “Wrap Up is a pegasus-only thing, but all the tribes hold their own parties the day before.”

“It’s Celestia’s favorite day of the year,” Starswirl says with a chuckle, as though he just thought of something funny. “You might enjoy it.”

“Thanks, but I really need to get home as soon as you’re able to send me back Starswirl.” I’m also worried about dying from starvation or freezing to death but the windigos might not be coming for many years from now.

“Yes yes, I’ll get started as soon as we’re done eating,” he says nonchalantly before he returns to his food. Not seeing any way to convince the two unicorns to ration out their food more sparingly, I unceremoniously dig in. In lieu of hands, I just sort of shovel food into my mouth. The two unicorns don’t seem to fault me for it, commenting that they’d probably be just as useless eating with their hooves as I am.

“Celestia! This is amazing!” I say between mouthfuls of the stew and bites of toast with jam. It might just be the pony taste buds, but I’ve never had fruits and vegetables this good before!

***

We spent the better part of that hour enjoying our feast. Celestia asked me a few questions about what my world is like and what some of the things she saw in my memories were, although she avoided bringing up anything MLP-related, thankfully. I asked her what she was out doing this morning (even though I had a pretty good idea) and I found out she leads the sun raising and setting teams. Starswirl was quick to tell me that the position is usually reserved for the archmage or one of the senior-most members of each team. According to him, Celestia has “a rare knack for guiding the sun into its proper position.”

Once we all finish breakfast, Starswirl lightly coughs and says “Now then, my young stallion, would you mind helping the two of us with the dishes?”

I nod, stand, and reach over to stack the dishes (which I can reliably do without breaking anything) as the two unicorns do the same with their magic, resulting in three messy towers on the table. I look over and notice Celestia’s grinning for some reason.

Starswirl walks around the table so the dishes are between him and the kitchen. “You may want to look over there,” he instructs as he directs my attention to where Celestia was cooking before.

Celestia’s horn begins glowing a bright pale yellow as she faces the same direction as I am. “Whenever you're ready!” she says confidently.

One by one, dishes begin to fly towards the open cupboards, still covered in food and encased in the white aura of Starswirl’s magic. Before any of them have a chance to get put away, Celestia sends out lances of what looks like living fire at each plate, cup, and spoon. I feel the heat on my face as Celestia immolates the food scraps with her magic, leaving them spotless before they fly onto the shelves. The kitchen and the dishes themselves must be magically protected because the flames pass over them harmlessly.

After a dozen items go by, Starswirl begins sending them out two or three at a time which makes Celestia speed up with her spellcasting. Then he begins to change their course in mid air which trips the unicorn mare up a little bit, but by the time everything is put away, not a single dirty dish went inside those cabinets.

***

After the amazing display that was ‘doing dishes’ in Starswirl's tower, Celestia took me on a tour of the castle. Princess Platinum was holding court, so we avoided the throne room; apparently having an earth pony brought in personally by the archmage's apprentice would attract some attention, especially if I didn't have anything to ask the princess for.

As we walk through the castle, almost every unicorn greets Celestia by name. Some of the ones in armor even refer to her as ma'am and salute.

“I had no idea you were so popular,” I tease, knowing full well that eventually she'll be the most beloved pony on the planet.

Celestia’s mood seems to deflate a little at that. “Actually,” she says, “I often lead their magic training, but I can’t really consider any of them my friends. Clover and Starswirl are the only ponies who I can really open up to, and they’re like family to me.”

“What about Luna?” I ask automatically.

“She’s the only blood relative I have left, but we’re not that close anymore.”

“Does that mean you used to be?”

“Yes, when we were foals,” she responds tersely.

“What changed?” I’m probably overstepping here, but now I’m curious.

“I moved into the castle and she enlisted. That’s all there is to it.” Our conversation dies down for a bit after that.

In silence, Celestia leads me back over the bridge I crossed with Luna last night. The land just outside of the castle is filled with plenty of sturdy looking stone houses, shops, and other buildings, all inhabited by unicorns. Celestia and I spend the better part of the morning going through town as she tells me about the different places and ponies. There’s less formality towards Celestia here than in the castle; most ponies greet her by name or as ‘Apprentice Archmage’ and give her a smile, but there’s no one who stops to talk to her beyond that.

My white-coated tour guide then takes me to a football-field-sized area of grass, completely free of the snow that blankets the rest of the ground. There, dozens of unicorns are casting spells at each other and magically throwing spears. They’re all sparring in pairs, with one erecting a shield to defend himself from his partner’s attack before they switch and repeat the process. The area is filled with a cacophony of sound as bolts of different colored magic impact against shields of similar pastel hues. At the far end of the field a grey stone building that stands two stories high, it's wider than any other structure in the unicorn village, save for the castle.

“Welcome to the training grounds, Astraeus,” Celestia says as we step onto the field. “That building down there is the barracks.”

Before I have a chance to ask any questions, Celestia calls out to a mare nearby. “Focus, Dazzle! You need to concentrate if you want that shield to hold!”

A handful of unicorns notice us and salute Celestia before returning to their training, decidedly faster than before.

“This is where I do half of my studying,” Celestia continues. “And where Aunty Clover usually works during the day.”

“And what exactly do you study here?” I ask, a bit surprised to see the sweet mare so at ease in a military operation like this.

She scans the armored unicorns and comments, “The same thing as everypony else here.” Just then, she grabs a flying spear out of the air with her magic and sends it back in the direction it came from and snaps, “Emerald! I keep telling you to watch where you throw that spear! If you accidentally hurt somepony, you’ll be the only one on cleaning duty for a month!” Shifting her attention back to me, she continues, unphased by her sudden outburst, “I practice spells.”

“Wow, so both you and your sister are soldiers,” I say with a hint of awe and surprise.

Celestia stops walking. I turn around and see her staring at me with all the seriousness in the world. “I train guards, not soldiers. They protect other ponies from monsters; they’re not training for war, like the pegasi.”

“Sorry, I just…”

Celestia continues after I trail off, “It’s okay, Astraeus.” Her face relaxes into her usual smile, but when she begins walking again, she takes up a brisker pace than before. “But just know that we’re not killers like them.”

We continue to the end of the training grounds and enter the barracks. Celestia leads me past several very well-kept rooms filled with bunk beds and storage spaces for weapons and armor. Enough for far more than the roughly thirty guards out on the field. It looks like this place could outfit and house hundreds of unicorns in here.

As we enter the room at the end of the main hall, we’re greeted by a unicorn mare sitting behind a desk. She has a mane the color of grass, violet eyes, and a coat of such a pale shade of green it might be mistaken for white. She’s not nearly as ancient as Starswirl the Bearded, but she does have a few creases around her eyes and muzzle.

The room is flanked by a book shelf on either side and a large window behind the desk, which lets plenty of light in. There are several scrolls of parchment and ledgers on the desk along with a quill and a bottle of ink. They’re all extremely well organized–a stark contrast to the desks in Starswirl’s tower.

“Good morning, Aunty!” Celestia says as she prances over behind the desk to nuzzle the mare. “Astraeus, I’d like to introduce you to my master, protector of-”

“Clover The Clever, at your service,” the mare in question says with a smile, cutting off Celestia’s introduction and giving me a firm hand hoofshake. She motions for Celestia and I to sit at the chairs in front of her desk as she sits back in her large cushioned chair. It makes me feel a bit more at ease in front of the third super powerful unicorn I’ve met since coming here.

Celestia is nothing but warmth (when she’s not talking about Luna) and Starswirl is a bit too eccentric to take seriously most of the time, but something about Clover worries me. It might just be the fact that her posture shows she’s a military commander (or guard captain), but I feel like I definitely shouldn’t get on her bad side.

The mare in question continues with her introduction, “I’m in charge of security and maintenance around here.”

“What? I thought you were the archmage,” I remark in confusion.

“Yup, I’m in charge of almost every unicorn with magic worth a damn around here. We make sure this castle and the surrounding land is well defended.”

“And the maintenance?”

“Of the night and day,” she finishes. “My old master told me a bit about your home-”

“Starswirl’s here?” Celestia interrupts. She casts a quick glance around the room and over her shoulder, looking on guard for some reason.

“No,” Clover responds. “He said he had to go take care of something with the chancellor’s secretary, of all ponies.”

“What? Why? He didn’t mention anything about that to me.”

“I have no idea, Celestia,” the green mained unicorn says with a sigh. “After half a century, I’ve learned it’s usually easier to just not question the old stallion when he's working on something.” Clover then turns back to me. “Anyway, before my apprentice interrupted me-” Celestia gives her master a sheepish look. “-I was trying to say that here the sun and moon don’t just move themselves. My unicorns take care of that. Although, Celestia’s been running the sun raising and setting teams for a few years now.” The young mare’s expression turns to one of pride at that comment.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” I reply. “And if Starswirl came by earlier, does that mean he mentioned what I'd like to ask you?”

“Oh please, you’re not one of my guards and nopony else is around,” she smiles. “Just call me Clover, but don’t forget,” her expression goes serious for a moment, “in public, I’m Archmage Clover. And yes, Starswirl did tell me about your request. I’d like to hear the full story from you before I agree to help, though. Consider it payment: you satisfy my curiosity about your world, and I help you return there.” Her stone visage turns into a grin.

“Deal,” I say as I match her expression and give her a hoofshake. She seems like a good pony overall. Less eccentric than Starswirl, and definitely more serious.

“In that case,” Celestia chimes in, “why don’t you join us for lunch, Aunty Clover?”

“I’d love to. Just let me make sure these ponies won’t go soft on me while we’re gone.”

Clover the Clever dons a plain-looking winter cloak, and we follow her out to the training grounds. She calls for everyone to stand in attention and then yells, “Shields up!”

The ponies arrange themselves in two long rows facing towards each other with the three of us standing at one end.

“Astraeus, get behind me,” Celestia whispers.

I quickly move behind the white unicorn and she erects a golden shield in front of us. Bubbles of magical energy colored differently for each unicorn appear as every pony other than Clover mirrors Celestia.

Clover takes about ten steps forward and yells, “Ready!” A few dozen pink spears appear and fan out in front of her like a spiked tutu. One for each shield, I assume. Then a significantly larger one materializes, pointing straight at Celestia’s head. I gulp and take a step back, but Celestia and her shield don’t move.

Without warning, every spear shoots away from the archmage. The first impacting Celestia’s shield with a definite crunch. It stops with an inch of the tip poking through to our side, about a foot directly in front of her muzzle. Celestia didn’t even flinch. Then the rest of the spears hit the other shields is rapid succession making a quick series of thumping sounds. Some shields hold and knock the spears harmlessly to the ground, plenty of others manage to catch the spears before they fully penetrate, but over half of them shatter, allowing the spears to sail over the heads of the unicorn guards. I think Celestia’s spear was the only one aimed directly at her; that's either complete confidence in the younger mare or reckless endangerment.

“Those of you who stopped your spears, good job! Take the rest of the day off,” Clover bellows. “Anypony who’s shield didn’t hold, get lunch and then continue drilling until sunset. And be thankful that wasn’t a real attack. Dismissed!”

The lines of ponies relax. Most of them leave the training grounds in small groups, talking about things I couldn’t make out. I do, however, hear a few murmurs of “earth pony.” I guess it is weird for me to be here; I haven’t seen another non-unicorn, save for Luna, in this whole place.

The guards leave a wide berth for our little group of three to cross the training grounds. We head into town and make our way to what seems like a small, fairly empty café. It’s a stout stone building that’s lit by candles on the walls and on the tables. The warmth inside is a welcome change to the frigid weather. We take our seats, and I begin recounting the events of yesterday to the Archmage.

***

Clover The Clever listened in silence for the duration of my well-rehearsed tale. If she had any guesses as to what the hell happened to me, she let on just about as much as a professional poker player. Once I was finished, I was hit with a barrage of questions about what I felt like before and after landing here, if anything unusual happened in my world, if there were any magical disturbances in my world that I was aware of, etc.

Celestia kept quiet for the majority of lunch; she was just looking out the window most of the time. She’s probably just as bored listening to the story as I am telling it.

Once Clover is all out of questions, she says, “In truth, I haven’t heard of anything like this Astraeus. I can actually see why you think this is Faust’s will Celestia.” The mare beside me perks her ears up and finally looks over at her mentor with a big smile. “But if you were sent here by magical means we’ve encountered before, I’m sure we can get you home.”

“Thank you Clover,” I say and let out a sigh of relief.

Our food arrives and the conversation dies down as we eat. Thankfully, Clover seems to be understanding about my terrible hoof-eye coordination. Or, if she is bothered by me slurping my bluebell soup like a dog drinking out of a water dish, she doesn’t let it show.

Towards the end of the meal, Clover clears her throat to get Celestia’s attention. She had been spacing out again. “Starswirl told me about the enchantment you broke last night.” She smiles with pride at the younger unicorn before getting back to business. “I’ve decided I want to measure your progress and see for myself just how much you’ve advanced. I can’t go rushing your lessons because the old stallion can’t seal a room as well as he used to,” she chuckles. “You’ll run the gauntlet as soon as we’re done here. This morning, I asked Starswirl to set everything up when he finished his errands, so he should be done by now. Once we see how you do, I can adjust your lessons accordingly.”

Celestia’s demeanor shifts. She’s not looking out the window, but she’s not smiling either. She’s just staring at Clover The Clever, as though she’s looking for something. “We’ll begin immediately?” Celestia says without emotion.

“As usual,” replies the older mare with a smile.

“Can Astraeus join us?”

“If he wishes.”

Because the only other pony I know is probably sleeping somewhere in the sky, I nod. Although, I have no idea what’s going to happen.

“It’s settled then,” Clover says with a smile as she gets up from the table. “Astraeus, give me your hoof.”

I stand and reach out a hoof to Clover, and once she takes it in her own, I feel like I’m pulled by my stomach as my inside and outside parts quickly forget where they belong. The world becomes a flash of pink. I shut my eyes and vomit right where I stand and soon feel a pat on my back and hear Clover laugh and say, “Sorry about that, kid. Your first time teleporting is always the worst. It’ll get better. I promise.”

I open my watery eyes and blink a few times as I get be bearings. The first thing I see is the mess I made, followed by white. There’s snow everywhere, heavier than in town, and we’re surrounded by mountains.

A moment later I hear a crack of magic as Celestia teleports next to us. She-

I hear the rush of air and turn to see a sphere of white energy shoot towards us from some unknown source.

Celestia’s eyes go wide and she disappears in a flash of yellow magic, leaving nothing between my body and the high velocity crackling magic energy death ball! Then the world goes pink as the sphere impacts. I shut my eyes instinctively as the explosion roars, but I don’t feel a thing. I assume it’s because I was killed quickly. At least that’s one positive about my final moment on earth, or wherever the hell I am.

But then I hear laughter. I HEAR FUCKING LAUGHTER! I open my eyes to see a frowning Clover drop her pink shield from around us. We are now standing in a small circular patch snow, surrounded by a 15 foot radius circle of totally snow-free and partially on-fire dirt centered a few feet in front of me.

The laughter dies down and I realize the source as he begins to talk, “Sorry to scare you my colt, but I knew Clover would keep you safe if Celestia didn’t.” Starswirl emerges on top of a snow bank and smiles down at us.

“You almost killed me man! What was that for‽”

“Sorry Astraeus; he does this a lot,” Celestia calls out nonchalantly from about 50 feet to my left.

“Your friend is right, Celestia! If I hadn’t been with him, he would have died,” Clover chides, concerned.

Starswirl’s horn lights up. I’m suddenly teleported again and the 4 of us are close together in a different part of the valley. I manage not to vomit this time, but that's probably just because I already lost the contents of my stomach with the first teleport.

Starswirl lets out a sigh. “This is why I keep telling you it’s not enough to just get out of a dangerous situation. As archmage, it will be your job to protect everypony. Self preservation is essential of course–you can't do your duties if you're dead–but the position of archmage is meaningless if your people have all been killed.”

Celestia’s ears fold back as her other mentor adds on, “Malicious attacks are far different from duels. If you let an errant blast from either yourself or your enemy go unchecked, ponies could get hurt.” Celestia turns down to look at the ground, but Clover gently raises her chin with a hoof. “You’re a wonderful mage, Tia. You can outcast every unicorn, save for Starswirl and myself, but you’ll rarely have time to think everything through in a real-world situation.”

“Exactly!” Starswirl exclaims. “The decision to cast a shield or redirect a spell as opposed to just teleporting away when there are other ponies in the line of fire has to become second nature. There’s rarely time to stop and think when ponies are in danger. Sometimes, you’re forced to just act. I continue to test you like this to make sure that your instinctive response is the right one. All the studying in the world means nothing if you can’t implement the best solution when you really need to.”

Celestia nods. “You’re both right. I’m sorry.” Thankfully, she looks more determined than upset now. And because of that, I think I look more happy than nauseated now.

“It’s alright,” the pale green mare says to her student. “No harm was done. I just want you to be more aware of your surroundings in the future. Now, let’s get started.”

As Clover leads us forward, I get a good look around the area we were teleported to by the crazy almost-murdered-me-to-make-a-point unicorn. I notice that we’re beyond the snow bank he was standing on earlier (unless there’s another area where someone blew up a huge area of snow). It’s a large valley tucked between several mountains. The most noticeable feature is a huge black cloth covering some lumpy… thing that’s about the size of a small building. The snow around the structure seems to have been magically melted.

The Archmage seems to be leading us away a short way from the shrouded thing to a vertical wall cut into one of the mountains going on for what seems to be the length of a football field. On it are dozens of round holes about one to two feet in diameter. They seem to have been made in pairs as they get progressively deeper every other hole. As we walk along the wall, they go from a few inches to several yards deep. I notice some of that scribble writing under each hole.

Clover The Clever stops walking and breaks the silence I didn’t even realize had surrounded us for the past minute, “Astraeus, these were made by Astral Charm and I when we were training.” Her voice was sad, but she wore a small smile as she spoke. “She was Celestia’s mother, and my best friend…”

“You were the best apprentices I could have asked for,” Starswirl says as he puts a hoof on Clover’s shoulder. “Do you remember how you two would get so worked up about who could blast deeper into the mountain?” The old stallion chuckles a bit as tears begin to form in his eyes.

“I remember that Charm would almost always beat me. And these past few years, you’ve surpassed both of us my faithful student.” Celestia thanks the older mare and they share a nuzzle before we continue.

I feel like I’m intruding on a really personal moment. All three of these ponies are tearing up, but I have no idea what to say. We pass a few moments in silence before we continue to walk down the stone wall.

At some point, the holes change from pairs to being spaced out one at a time, each one significantly deeper than the last. Celestia reads off the date from the hole at the shift and tells me that one was made by Clover a few months before the summer she was born.

Eventually, we get to the end of the holes and the Archmage instructs her protégé to begin. “Astraeus, just so you know what’s going on, the rules are simple. Celestia has to make the deepest hole in the mountain she can while taking as much time as she needs, but we won’t be here long.” What follows is a sudden, almost blinding, burst of golden light emanating from Celestia’s horn directed into the mountain. Several popping sounds follow and the next thing I know there’s a deeper hole in the mountain than any of the others before. It has to be at least the length of a football field and about 30% longer than the hole it’s next to.

“Wonderful power as always, Celestia!” Starswirl beams.

“Yes, but you still need to work on your precision,” Clover counters. “I’d prefer to have you show a little more restraint if it’d let you keep your blast straight.” I look at what the archmage is commenting on and see that the walls of the still molten earth are crooked and rough unlike the earlier holes made by Starswirl's previous students.

“But what’s the point of that, aunty?” Celestia whines. “This is a test of raw power, so what better time to let loose?”

“Fine,” the tired looking green mare sighs. “Just try and remember that The Gauntlet isn’t a test of how hard can you hit something with your magic.”

***

We arrive at the formerly shrouded... device? apparatus? obstacle course? in question. The eager white mare goes to stand on a raised pedestal with confidence I would have expected from the future god-princess. This is surprising because the sheer amount of barbaric killing equipment is scaring the shit out of me, and I’m not the one who has to cross it to reach the small yellow flag that is her finish line. There are pony sized meat tenderizers, a dozen guillotines at various angles, swinging blades, and glowing objects that definitely don’t look friendly. To make things worse, there are only a few small platforms at varying heights leading from Celestia to her goal. What kind of monster came up with this‽

“This is my favorite way to test students!” Starswirl announces. “I don’t remember how many times Charm and Clover ran through it.” I see the archmage smile as she fiddles with a series of levers and ropes with her magic.

“Aren’t you worried about Celestia’s safety‽ This stuff could kill her!”

Clover’s eyes leave her work for the first time since arriving. She stares me down and responds with the quiet force of a mountain, “I’d sooner die a thousand times than see any harm come to that mare. It’s my job to make sure she can deal with anything the world throws at her. This is just a test. If she takes on any injuries, Starswirl and I are right here to patch her up. But when we’re dead and gone, she’ll only be able to rely on her own strength and wit to survive. That’s why we make these tests so treacherous.”

Starswirl chuckles and adds, “Besides, it’s not like Celestia hasn’t dealt with a dozen different gauntlets in the past. She needs this to learn how to be an Archmage.”

“Umm, but how exactly is this useful for Archmages?” I ask, like the only reasonable person here. “Is Celestia really going to be facing giant hammers in the future?”

“You never know,” Clover replies, turning back to the devices controlling Celestia’s foe. “But it’s not about the hammers. It’s about problem solving. Celestia just has to touch the flag. But with new traps, obstacles, and enchantments each time, her simple task has to be solved in different ways every time. The only rules are no teleporting and no touching the ground. Apart from that, anything goes.” Then the archmage yells up at her pupil, “Are you ready?”

Celestia nods and Clover responds by pulling multiple levers, which turns the monstrosity in front of us, turning it from from a terrifying show piece into a living beast. Blades spin like tornadoes. Guillotines drop and raise back up like the maw of a starving creature. The giant mallets thump a fast rhythm into the ground that would be pretty good for a rave if we had more ponies and I wasn’t worried about one of my few allies in this world becoming chunky salsa.

The white mare, who hasn’t said a word since getting on the starting platform, eyes the blades in front of her steadily. I assume she’s planning her timing to jump to the next safe spot. There’s only one guillotine blocking her way and she can probably make it if she’s quick. Instead, her horn lights up and the guillotine’s blade begins to flicker with the golden light of her magic which quickly fades. The Celestia shoots a beam of energy at one of the posts holding the guillotine up. It ricochets off and blasts the peak of a nearby mountain, causing enough snow to shift to trigger a small avalanche. Thankfully, we’re far enough away that it probably won’t reach us.

Celestia lets out a grunt of irritation and creates a coating of magical energy on her back hooves. I can’t help but chuckle at how they make her look like she’s wearing socks. The old stallion standing next to me misinterprets my thoughts and speaks up, “It’s not a bad strategy, you know. She actually managed to destroy the course once with that spell.” As he speaks, Celestia turns around and tries to buck the same wooden post she just blasted. Unfortunately, her magic socks shatter and she lets out a cry of pain. “But every time she completes it, Clover adds the necessary countermeasures to prevent her from using the same method twice.”

“Then why bother trying the same things again?” I ask in bewilderment.

“Celestia knows that it’s important to feel out your opponent to asses their weaknesses. She’s learned that much from my old student. But she hasn’t had to rely on much beyond her magic in life. That’s what Clover struggles to teach her, and that’s why she must continue to run The Gauntlet.” Celestia seems to relax as she takes a few deep breaths, then she forms a pale-yellow sphere around herself. “Interesting, she hasn’t tried a full body shield before. But this definitely won’t work; Clover enchanted all the weapons to repel magic like oil and-”

Starswirl doesn’t finish his sentence as Celestia jumps from inside her sphere of magic through the first guillotine. It begins to fall and strikes the shield when she’s a little over half way through and we both hold our breaths. What follows is a high-speed series of crashes and screams as Celestia barrels back and forth through The Gauntlet like it’s a pinball machine. Her shield holds, thankfully, but she doesn’t seem to have much control over where she’s going.

“I told you not to treat this like a stone wall you can blast through, Celestia!” Clover bellows, showing no indication of plans to slow down the blades. “This is what happens when you don’t think!” Celestia, to her credit, tries to respond. Sadly, all that comes out is more screaming. “Don’t give up! You got yourself into this mess, now figure out a way to use it to your advantage!”

The young unicorn quiets down even though she continues to speed up. I have no idea if it’s due to whiplash or if she’s calming down. I get my answer a few seconds later when large yellow walls materialize and angle themselves around The Gauntlet. Then they move in the path of Celestia’s shield and cause the angle of her bounces to become less unpredictable. Eventually she’s able to send herself hurtling towards the flag at the end of the course and drops her shield just in time to grab it. Sadly, she’s still moving incredibly fast, so she falls into the snow bank below. But I can’t help but let out a cheer when she floats the flag up out of the pony-shaped indentation in the snow she made before climbing out herself.

The three of us rush over to the victorious mare. Starswirl appears delighted and even Clover the Clever wears a pleased smile. “That was amazing!” I cry out. “How did you get yourself under control when you were moving that fast‽”

“It was nothing,” Celestia says with a look of embarrassment, but her heavy panting suggests otherwise.

The older ponies spend the next few minutes giving her observations and critiques, but overall, they seem happy with her performance. By the time they’re done, Clover notes that she and Celestia should get back to help set the sun and raise the moon. I’m about to ask if I can come along to watch when Starswirl hollers, “Wait! Don’t set the sun yet.”

Clover responds in a what-bullshit-is-this? kind of way, “Why should I delay the-”

“I’m supposed to bring Astraeus to stay with the earth ponies before sundown and we’re almost late!”

“What‽” Celestia and I ask simultaneously.

She continues, “Why can’t Astraeus stay with us?”

"I’d need to give a very good reason for keeping an earth pony in our tower, and I do not think saying he’s a being from another world who can see the future would go over well when ponies start asking questions. Now hang on, my colt, try focusing on your hoof to keep from getting dizzy.”

Before I can protest, the crazy old stallion slaps me on the back and I’m re-acquainted with the horrible feeling of teleportation.

Comments

[Time Reaper]

Great to see this story alive. Now, for Celestia's trial, this is the music that brought the mood for me:

It's called "Birth of a Wish"

[TheJoffa]

The wait was long, but it was worth it. Can't wait to see what's next

[theRedBrony]

Overall a nice bit of worldbuilding, and I hope you write more.

Oh, almost forgot. Remember your medium:

because the old man can’t

[Prince Jules Moonshade]

This is pretty good an I hope to see more soon.

[Shadic Midnight Blitzer]

Continu!