Chronicles of an Unknown World - The Awakening

by Blue Blaze {COMET}

Chapter 3: Melancholy of the Sol Goddess, Part 3

As usual, thoughts are in italics and parenthesis

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{*Omniscient point of view, Canterlot Castle: Princess Celestia’s Bed Quarters*}

In the city standing side a mountain, Canterlot, the princess of the land thought profusely on the recent events over her land. Not many ponies knew it, but the storm that seemed to wreck and destroy everything it its path was not just in Canterlot and Ponyville. In fact, the downpour reached from Manehattan to Fillydalphia and everything in between! Celestia’s scouts promptly reported that the rain and thunder fiesta could possibly reach past Equestria’s borders and wrap around the entirety of the planet! It was a very troublesome situation, even for the leader who had thousands of hundreds of years of experience.

Princess Celestia stood proudly over her crumbling kingdom wearing a somewhat exhausted and sorrowful expression. Although her eyes threatened to give in to her body’s demands of rest, years and years of practice over ignoring her need for sleep has toughened her up for moments like these. Dark circle ran over her eyelids as she gazed wearily over the chaos that was the countryside of Equestria.

The rain poured down upon thousands of Kilometers in every direction, creating flash floods in areas that were not prepared or protected. Lightning projected itself from the sky, setting ablaze any building or life that was in its way. Wind washed through the landscape, dragging down those not strong enough to withstand its pressure. In the cooler parts of the kingdom, water turned to hail and quickly broke down any and all structures that were unfortunate enough to be underneath its wrath. Thunder echoed against every single surface, making the scene more terrifying than usual.

The old sun goddess witnessed her ruled lands and wondered if this was truly the last days of equine reign. If that the devastating fury of the storm would bring the country to its knees. She would have adored to fly out and take care of the storm herself instead of her loyal Pegasus subjects, but Canterlot and moreover Equestria needed her at her castle as a symbol of hope and leadership. Everypony looks up to her, so she couldn’t imagine all the panic and terror that would occur if she decided to help take out the storm, not to mention all the guards trying to stop her in the process. For a moment she considered that Luna could take her position as ruler for a few hours or so. However, she swiftly recalled that not everypony was at even terms with the moon princess. Furthermore, Luna said herself that she felt like she still wasn’t ready to take full responsibility yet. She couldn’t sneak out of the castle, considering that some kind of messenger or guard needs her assistance every ten minutes or so, she would be missed immediately after she tried anything dodgy.

And then there was the magic to deal with. Somewhere, in the dead center of all the hullabaloo was an enormous concentration of magic. The storm was a great cover-up for the magic to hide in, because she couldn't see it visibly. All she could do is sense it, which was easy enough for the almighty sun goddess. However, it was a troublesome thing indeed, because from what she could tell, it was the most magic Celestia has ever sensed that was all in one place. She could tell that all the magic in the air was swirling and churning into one point above the clouds where no pony could touch. The arcane mass was creating so much magical pressure that it was messing up the amount of magic in the air. Celestia found it a tad bit more difficult to cast any kind of spell.

Knowing this, all she could do was hope that her apprentice had no trouble casting the spell.

Suddenly, she heard a strong whooshing sound, followed by a flash of light behind her. She smirked, knowing that that was the signs of her lodestone activating. After everything calmed down, she waited and listened, like every old patient caretaker would.

“Princess Celestia!”

She immediately turned around to meet Twilight Sparkle’s hooves wrap around her torso. Embracing the hug, she gave a warm smile over her student.

“It is good to see you Twilight. How are you this evening?”

Twilight gave good consideration over her answer. “I’m ok. It’s been peaceful around the library except for the storm creating disruptive sounds from my reading and studying.” She purposely made her answer general, hoping to avoid some extra-terrestrial subjects.

“I hope that you have been taking breaks from studying from time to time.” The princess mentioned.

“Oh yeah, I have! In fact, I haven’t studied anything in the past two hours!” Twilight beamed.

“Well, that’s certainly a break alright. And I trust that you have been treating Spike and your friends well?”

“Yep! There haven’t been too many problems with my friends, but here and there we get a squabble or two. It’s nothing though, as I’ve learned that sometimes disagreements are unavoidable in friendships, and that once and a while somepony might not agree with somepony else, and that’s ok. No pony’s gonna always have the same idea’s as somepony else. I find a little conflict between friends is a natural occurrence.”

“Well done my faithful student. You have grown much since you left here for Ponyville.”

“Thanks Princess. I guess I have, haven’t I?”

Celestia took a moment to recollect on past memories between Twilight and herself. It only seemed like yesterday that Twilight was showing her what she learned about the basics of telekinesis, one of the simplest spells a unicorn can perfect. The young filly quickly showed her mastery of the skill, and continued to display her magic prowess to Celestia in a display of different spells, conjurations, illusions and jinxes. The white Alicorn knew from the very beginning that Twilight was a very special pony, and she was only beginning to show her affinity for magic, she just needed somepony to point her in the right direction. The princess decided to not only take the purple unicorn under her wing, but to also treat her with care, kindness and respect like any other guardian would.

(She’s just so grown up now…)

“So, Princess, what did you want to talk to me about?” Twilight asked, looking up into her teacher’s amethyst eyes.

“Oh, yes, actually, there is something I need to show you…” The princess began, backing up out of Twilight’s embrace. Not taking her eyes off her underling, she turned her body towards the balcony. “Would you care to take a look outside please?”

Twilight looked curiously at her mentor. Peeking around her pearl white body, she approached the dark ocean blue platform that was the balcony. She could feel Celestia’s wing drape over her back, bring her warmth and comfort.

She would need all the comfort she could get. The element of magic dropped her jaw at the scenery before her. Across the hills of Equestria were faint remains of lush, full farms that used to be prosperous. Now, they were either on fire or missing altogether. Twilight was experiencing all the horrors that the Princess was having just a minute ago. She saw the floods, the lightning, the rain, the ruined houses and building, and the overall devastation that was the country of Equestria.

“Princess, I… What is happening out there?” Twilight questioned, fear in her voice.

“These are the full effect of the storm as you see them. The storm lit the fires burning in the trees, washed away the countryside and tore down the homes of many. All this destruction was caused by this single, brutal rainstorm.” the Princess duly answered.

“But why? How? I thought that this was just a usual, run of the mill storm? I thought that the bad weather would pass in an hour or so, yet it hasn’t? Why not?”

“As you might have guessed by now, this isn’t a normal storm. In fact, this storm was created by abnormal powers and forces. For what purpose, I don’t know. However, what I do know is that the storm involves omnipotent magic, some on par to Luna and I’s abilities.”

“Who could have done this? And why? What kind of a monster would want to see out peaceful little Equestria in ruin?” Twilight began to shed tears.

“Who? Maybe the correct question to ask is not ‘who’, but what? Maybe it was an accident. Maybe it came from a force that is not of this world.” Twilight slightly choked at Celestia’s words. “Maybe this is the actions of a spirit that I have long forgotten. I don’t know.”

The now sobbing unicorn glanced up towards her idol. She abruptly noticed that even the sun goddess had a single tear running across her face. That just made Twilight even more terrified. It seemed that for the first time in her life, Princess Celestia had no clue on what to do next. Her mentor, her teacher, her ruler just couldn’t wrap her head around the situation.

(How is that possible? How is it that she doesn’t know what to do? She always knows what to do! Always!) Twilight panicked in her mind. She looked back at the landscape. (What’s happening to Equestria? What’s happening to my home?)

Celestia gripped Twilight by her wing. She backed up, Twilight forced to follow. Once inside, away from the chilling winds, the regal ruler closed the glass balcony doors with her will and proceeded to kneel down to Twilight’s level.

“Twilight Sparkle, you must be strong. You must be brave. You must be there for your friends when they need you, and they will be there when you need them.” Twilight gave eye contact to her teacher. Celestia wiped Twi’s tears away with the edge of her wings. “And now, most importantly, you must listen to me for what I have to say.”

Twilight nodded her head in attention before Celestia continued. “You must return to Ponyville with this.” Celestia levitated a jewel-studded box from seemingly nowhere. She opened the contents, revealing five stunning necklaces and a beautiful purple tiara.

“The elements!” Twilight cried out.

“Yes. You must take the elements of harmony with you back to the Ponyville library. Then, you have to gather up your friends as quickly as possible and leave Ponyville. Travel down the roads south-east. They will bring you into a kingdom called Ferrasent. You must take refuge until I send you a letter confirming the safe condition of Equestria.”

“What?” Twilight whimpered. “Why do we have to leave? What’s wrong with staying?”

“Equestria is turning into a dangerous place, and I don’t want the elements to disappear when we need them most. If you hide out in a safer place, then I can call you when the time is right.”

“But why can’t we just use the elements to take down the storm?” Twilight pondered, still crying.

“Abnormal or not, this storm is comprised of natural resources, and the magic of the elements of harmony does not affect anything natural because nature itself is harmonic. However, it will be effective as a great source of power. Once I figure out a way to take care of the storm, I will send a letter to you so you can teleport back to my lodestone and power up a spell that my best magicians are working on as we speak.”

Twilight could not believe this. How could the Princess ask her to leave the entire country? Was she joking like she sometimes does? Did she do something wrong to deserve this? Both answers were no, and Twilight realized this. Furthermore, why was Celestia asking only her and her friends to leave and not just evacuate the country altogether? There was something very wrong about the situation and how the Princess was trying to deal with the chaos outside. It just wasn’t how the princess normally reacted. It just wasn’t normal.

But what could she do? It was her word against an almighty goddess. She had no chance, nor was it her place to question the princess of the land. However, it was her gut feeling talking again,

And her gut is almost never wrong.

“Princess, I…I…” Twilight rushed up and bawled into Celestia’s chest. The mentor caressed Twilight comfortingly with nothing else to say. “I…I don’t want to leave!”

“I know. I’m sorry. I am truly sorry.”

{END OF CHAPTER}

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And thus concludes this chapter! I know, short chapter compared to the previous two, right? Well, that's just how it's gonna go for this chapter AND the next one. This chapter and the next one are kinda just interval chapter that move the plot forward. I promise you readers that as soon as we get past chapter 4, chapters are gonna be past the 10 000 word mark again. Whether that's a good thing or not, I dunno. We'll just have to see.

By the way, even this is a short chapter, that does not mean that it is subject to change. I might add a description here or here if I feel it necessary, but it would really help me make a decision if I get some feedback. Do I need more description or a longer chapter? Let me know in the comments below!