Cheese, CHIM, and Ponies

by SkoomasJustaStaminaPot

3: Celestia

She had felt the disturbance during her court. She could remember how her heart raced, knowing that the last time she had felt such a sudden shift in the world, she’d delayed confronting the issue. That lax action then most likely ensued that she would lose her sister to the Nightmare. Doing her very best to keep her outward appearance calm, she had sent a silent glance to her guard captain, knowing that she would recognize the signal to prepare an excursion. She was relieved to see her Captain’s silent salute and departure, it meant she would be ready to embark quickly to investigate this surge. With that she moved to address her court, so as to postpone any further petitions for today and the next. “Unfortunately dear ponies, I must inform thee that there is something that calls me away from court. Let it be known that upon my return, notices shall be sent for those still queued and they shall retain their place in line when court resumes.”

While she had seen some of the more pompous nobles having to hide their displeasure, and was thankful to see some open commoners who were comfortable enough to not be so subdued in their feelings, she saw nopony who had begun to panic that their petition would not be heard. After her announcement the ponies began to slowly file out into the hallway. As the petitioners had finally been drained from the throne room she turned to her assistant. “Your Highness, what would you have me do?”

“Thank you, Steady Quill. We have felt a disturbing amount of magical discharge coming from the forest at the base of the Canterhorn. The last time We felt such power was many years ago, before the change of the Era. We did sorely regret not reacting swiftly to such an anomaly that time previous. We have signaled Captain Tenacity to prepare a dozen Guard to join me to investigate posthaste.”

“I shall make the required alterations to Your timetable for appointments immediately. Though Your Highness, I must remind you of your request to have me correct you when you slip into older vernacular. You used the royal We rather than I and said thee At one point.”

“Ah indeed. We-oh, rather, I thank you Quill”. To that slip her assistant made a polite laugh, then moved to do his work. She couldn’t help but slip into long familiar habits at times when her beloved sister came to mind. It was just something about remembering the happy times when they could happily converse that made her slip back into that way of speaking. With that out of her way and her schedule clear she moved to meet her Guard Captain in the armory with a weak and gentle teleportation spell. Upon her arrival, her day captain, a youthful upstart unicorn named Tenacity, greeted her.

“Princess, I have assembled a 12 pony team in a 4-4-4 diurnal tribe formation.”

“Excellent work Captain. I take it the arrangements been made with the night captain for relief for when the time comes to make camp?” She knew they would be, but asked for confirmation regardless.

“Of course Your Highness. Though I shall admit my husband’s reply of ‘they’ll be ready to relieve her camp in 2-6-2 nocturnal so please let me go back to sleep already please’ was somewhat humorous to hear.” Celestia couldn’t help but laugh at that, the dynamic between her two Captains has always been a joy to witness. This was only multiplied when they got married the previous year.

“I must thank him for that humorous response, the abrupt circumstances have left me rather unsettled. Now then, shall we depart?”

“Yes ma’am!” Several Minutes later, the 14 ponies were on a train car headed down the mountain. Once they were in the station at the base of the mountain, the group disembarked and began their trek. The pegasi took turns between circling, scouting ahead, and trotting alongside the rest of the formation. While the unicorns were within a elliptical formation mirroring the spread out formation of earth ponies, with her and Tenacity in the center. The distance to the location of the surge was a solid 5 leagues, the path was long and winding to traverse the river branches that form at the base of the falls. Roughly a 4 hour trot full of quiet conversation later, they approached a heavily wooded area that seemed to be the site of the disturbance. The only unusual aspects to the site was the noticeable lack of brush, and the pony that lay in its center. “Captain, surround the disturbed area, I think I’m going to approach them under disguise to scout out their intentions. Let’s see if they know anything about what happened.”

“Understood, please be careful” and with that, Tenacity quietly saluted, moving to order her ponies into position. She watched as her Guards moved to surround the small clearing, noting that the unknown pony was now sitting up but otherwise still. One weak-for-her-but-advanced-for-everyone-else glamour spell later she was slowly walking into the clearing. As she got closer she began to take in the details of the stranger, taking note of his size.

The pony was a stallion of considerable size, his height reminded her of Lun- NO, do not lose your composure- Rockhoof, yes, he was similar in stature to Rockhoof. What was unusual was that he was a unicorn, as unicorns of such size were not common these days. She was at the wrong angle to see his full face, but it appeared that he had a black mane and beard, with his coat being a darker shade of yellow, and wore layered pale blue robes that covered his most of his body and had sleeves on all four legs. What stood out as odd about him was the appearance of boots on his hind legs but not on his forelegs. She could see his ears rotating at the sounds of the forest that were all around her and-the Guards! He had somehow heard and knew about the Guards surrounding them. She made sure to keep her outward appearance calm, as he had not reacted to them, and then slowly approached him. As she got closed she heard him mumble and call his appearance here a prank by someone named Sheo. Deciding this is a good time to announce her presence, she called out to him. “While I don’t know who this Sheo person is, you’ve certainly gotten quite far from home” especially when such power is involved “However 4 leagues from the closest village seems extreme to be brought on a prank”.

She didn’t really pay attention to the majority of their conversation, though she was amused at one point. She was preoccupied observing his reactions and appearance. Now that she had a view of his full face, she saw that while his beard was indeed full, it failed to cover a scar that trailed up his left cheek from his upper lip. Their conversation continued until her attention was brought to something he said. “I’m sorry miss, but I think whatever brought me here was pretty jarring, because I can’t remember much of anything about an Equestria or much of anything else about here.”

What? That statement meant one of two things: that he lost his memory to the magic that brought him to this spot, or that magic brought him here from far further than she had thought. Well, that would explain his odd attire and confusion. “Oh my! What a terrible thing to happen to somepony, I’ll be happy to tell you what I can on the road to the nearest town. It’s a small town formed at the base of the Canterhorn on the road to the capital. I shall fill you in on the way.” From there he would be able to be tempted by the library and its maps to come to Canterlot, where she’d be able to keep a metaphorical eye on him until he was acclimated. However the relaxed atmosphere shattered when he said “Thank you kindly miss. Though I must ask that your friends that surround us introduce themselves before we get going.”

The clearing grew silent. Celestia was surprised, but not that he realized she wasn’t alone, but that he was so willing and calm about mentioning it. That either meant he was a fool, or the exact opposite. But if there was one thing was certain about him, it was his lacking of hostility. “Ah you must mean my Guards. You see, your apparent arrival here was very loud, and had distracted me and my escorts on our journey. Would it bother you to come with us on our trip to town? I could understand apprehension of an armed presence when we first encountered each other, so I bade them to stay out of sight and let me introduce myself.”

“Of course madam, I can understand perfectly having guards on your travels. I would certainly appreciate your group’s company on this unfamiliar road.” Again, he does not seem any different, neither relied nor distress at my having a concealed escort. May as well call them out into the open.

“Captain, please have everyone come out.” The guards began to slowly come into the clearing. Celestia took notice of how Raven seemed to do little more than take notice to the new ponies in front of him. “Ser Black-Mane, I introduce to you Captain Tenacity of the Equestrian Guard.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance Captain.”

“Likewise. I must ask, you seem quite calm for somepony who was just surrounded by previously unknown assailants.”

“Ah, I’d be happy to answer, and perhaps give some advice.” To that comment Celestia could see her Captain give a small scoff, and could feel herself getting sceptical at his comment. That doubt changed to concern, however, when she heard the unicorn’s next words. “Shiny, unpadded armor walking through well lit woods does not a stealthy pony make. You did indeed avoid making much noise, but your lovingly polished armor was reflecting the light and your movement caused other animals to go quiet around us.” He has experience in finding hidden enemies, and it would be safe to go foreword assuming he has experience combating said hidden enemies. At least that explains his nonchalant attitude towards being surrounded by-

“Impressive. Being able to detect armor enchanted to be quiet. Though it is our folly to assume our bright colors would not matter, even if us Day Guard are typically not required to be stealthy.” Thank you Tenacity for voicing your own similarly inquisitive thoughts.

“Thank you for the compliment Captain, though I was unaware of their enchantment. I do believe now that I am indeed in a new nation then.” Well that confirmed that he had indeed been brought here from a distant Country. She couldn’t help but feel some pride that there were ponies that had integrated positively with foreign societies. I wonder which country he’s from. Let Us hope that Tenacity continues to bring out answers through her conversation.

“Are you sure? I’d have figured you’d at least have been in the Guard unit from your local Fife.”

“Yes I’m quite sure. While I did briefly spend time in the army, I distinctly remember the armor not being enchanted.”

“Army? Was there a separate armed force dedicated to guarding territory and upholding the law?”

“No, they typically were one in the same. The troops dedicated specifically for law enforcement duty were the only ones called guards. The rest, and the group I was in were called the official name, were known as the Imperial Legion.” That was a surprise for her. Though there were several empires in the world, she was not aware of any of them that called their army a legion. There were those that had legions as the size of a unit, but not as the name for the whole army. A cold pit grew in her stomach as a new theory began to take hold. She would need to keep a close eye on him to see if he was hostile. Especially with Lu-with her sister and the Elements not here to help.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your budding conversation, but I think it would be best for us to get back to the road to cover some more ground before we have to make camp for the night.”

“Yes ma'am. I guess we’ll have to continue this later then. Guards! Into formation! Let’s get moving!” With her guards responding with an affirmative, Celestia turned back to their new companion.

“Shall we then good Ser?”

“Of course Miss, though I’d appreciate a slower pace to start. I think I’ll need some time for my disorientation to fully dissipate.”

“Gladly so.” With that, they set off on the walk to the road, and beyond.

Author's Note: