Comfort
As was becoming a familiar scenario, I stood in Celestia’s office, patiently waiting for her to acknowledge me. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous; I was probably sweating bullets, acutely aware that the timing of her summon most likely meant that things were going to take a turn for the worse. With but the sound of Celestia’s quill against a scroll filling the room, my thoughts were evolving at a frantic rate.
The foremost of which revolved around the smell of burning ash. My nose could not help but pick up on that light aroma of death and immolation lingering near my cousin at this point in time.
She was truly and utterly pissed.
In one swift motion, the quill screeched against the paper, before snapping in half. Sighing, the white alicorn holding the instrument closed her eyes, presumably to calm down, completely ignoring my wince.
“I trust you know without a doubt the reason of your presence here,” Celestia said, her tone scorching with restrained anger.
Even then, her gaze wasn’t on me. In fact, to my relief, she seemed to be avoiding looking at me. Unfortunately, my guess on the matter was that she was trying to remain calm enough to have a civil discussion with me.
That really didn’t help me relax.
“Perhaps…” I answered in a gruff whisper.
Her eyes finally found me, narrowed and flaring. “…Do not test me, Ventus. You know what you did.”
I had my pride too. As idiotic as it was, the ego I had tried so hard to restrain was resurfacing. In the face of sanctimonious behavior, the mask cracked on my face.
“I’ve created a web of air around his body that redirected every noise as if coming out of his rear end.” I folded my right front leg, leaning forward in a fake bow. “Is that detailed enough for you?”
“You forgot to mention that it was unnecessary, disproportionate and puerile.” She hammered each word with emphasis, her voice starting to strain.
A ripple of indignation went through my body at her words. Barely, I bit back a scathing remark. The only outward sign of my reaction was a bitter scoff.
“Yes, obviously, I reacted in a terrible manner.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, muscles tensing. “I have shown once again that I have a strong temper.”
“This is no small problem, Ventus!” She brought her hoof down, making me flinch. “This morning, I was talking to Catch Crop, your brother’s private tutor.”
For a second, I blinked, taken aback by the sudden angle of approach she was taking. And the image of the mare appearing in my mind did nothing to appease my growing anger. Of course, she heard about this!
“She told me, dismayed, that you had decided she would not be teaching Calx anymore.” Celestia went on, looking stern. “Is that correct?”
“Yes, it is!” I clenched my teeth together. “Did she bother telling you why?!”
My question had more effect than I thought it would, as she seemed to pause, briefly. Her wings and her legs tensed, before slowly returning to their normal state.
“No, I can freely admit that she didn’t. At the time, she seemed afraid of your reaction and refused to speak up.” Her last words rang of accusation.
For my part, it flew over my head, as I struggled and failed to keep my temper in check. “Oh, now she takes my feelings into consideration?! About time!”
“Ventus, if you start ranting and snarking like a young teenager, we will get nowhere fast.” She had reached a level of dryness that would destroy lakes whole. “Elaborate on this.”
“She felt me up!” I snarled, my wings extending in a flash. “After she tried to seduce me and coerce me into having sex with her in front of Calx, I ran away. Hay, I had mostly forgotten about this until I met her again and she decided to keep flirting!”
To my satisfaction, Celestia leaned backward slightly, her gaze visited by a light of unease. It only riled me up more.
“I do not take kindly to mares that wish to use me like that, especially not when things are so complicated between Twilight and me! But what’s worse is that she let my brother bribe her with the promise of leaving me alone with her and giving him an extra credit. How can I trust her to teach him anything after that?!”
By the time I was done yelling, my chest was heaving strongly, more from the emotion than any shortage of air. My eyes were fixated on my cousin, however, scrutinizing her white face for search of emotions.
Her anger with me seemed to have dimmed, at least in part, as she looked down on me with more sadness than disappointment.
“I will admit that my choice of tutor was poor. Her behavior was indeed inappropriate,” she conceded, wearily. “However, this does not explain her outright fear of you.”
It was my turn to deflate, as a shiver went down my spine, memories flashing into my mind. My hooves, the tip of my wings and my tail seemed to be dipped into cold water.
At the edge of my consciousness, there were images of ghostly pony-like creatures, flying through the sky of Equestria.
Lowering my head, I started explaining, with a mixture of resentment and shame. “We had an argument, but when it degenerated, she tried to hit me. I did not allow her. When she raised her hoof, I overpowered her and pinned her to the ground.”
Celestia stared.
“I see…” With a sigh, she massaged her forehead. “And what of Mr. Blotted Ink?”
It took most of my self-control not to act completely dismissive of it. “Same story, different scale.”
Her gaze became stern again. “You’re not feeling guilty.”
“It wasn’t illegal! He dragged our name through the mud and I inflicted the same on him!”
Her frown clearly indicated how little she thought of my reply. “Hiding yourself behind an old law, Ventus? With your age, I expected you to know better.”
For some reason though, her words stroke me as… treacherous. Impressions eternity olds lingered somewhere in my memories.
“W-what are you talking about? …It’s the law, h-how would that…” With a gasp, I stopped talking. Without so much as a warning, my head had started to hurt. My right hoof went to my temples, in an attempt to massage away the sensitive region. “I-it’s like you’re talking about defying…”
All to my sudden pain, eyes half-closed, I failed to notice right away that Celestia had fallen silent. For a minute, nothing happened in the office, as I tried to shake off the pain blurring my perception. Ideas were in shamble, and, as I noticed with a distant sentiment of dread, some rebellious thoughts started to fade.
Violently, I threw the air particles in the room at my body as a multitude of small arrows, making me yelp loudly. Though not causing any injury, that spell had sent a shockwave of pain to counteract my growing migraine.
It worked… somewhat. I could focus my attention toward Celestia again, albeit with some difficulties.
“This is not about defying the law, Ventus.” How strange… She sounded cautious, reluctant… “You have humiliated that poor stallion in front of the whole day court. Worse, you are not even feeling apologetic for it.”
As her words started to sink in, I felt the last remnants of this strange episode rescind away into nothingness. With a new clarity to my thoughts, the pulsing heat in my chest returned, boiling away the blood in my veins.
“Why do you single me out on this? Have you forgotten? Nopony in that court was any better. They weren’t moved by his tears of shame, they just laughed louder! That? That wasn’t a crime, that was justice, taken directly from your own laws!”
A pit of unease formed at the bottom of my stomach, at my use of the word ‘justice’. Something about the term was just… chilling my blood.
If Celestia noticed, she made no show of it. Rather, the white alicorn appeared to be trying to control her own voice.
“Justice that is too old becomes oppression. Sentient beings adjust their levels of happiness, their standards, in function of the world around them. One can live a life of misery and still find some silver lining to it when being shoved in the same position would have another spiraling into despair in a matter of days. What is considered revolutionary one day is called retrograde a century later. We both know this, we’ve both seen it, Ventus.”
Foals growing up in a city under siege… still able to find something to smile at…
“Yet you refused to acknowledge this, for the sake of a petty vengeance.”
“PETTY?!” My eyes almost flew out of their orbits with sheer indignation. “Of course it was petty! He deserved worse!”
Now her voice was gaining in volume as well. “That poor stallion was humiliated in front of his peers and some of his most fervent readership! His reputation is ruined!”
“He insulted YOU! He ruined YOUR reputation! How can you defend him?!”
I just didn’t get it! That article had literally called her an incestuous deadbeat mother!
“I see you still lack perspective, Ventus,” she sighed, though her voice had started to turn sour. “Very well, if I need to spoon fed the facts to you, I will.”
The insult had my nostrils flaring, and I barely kept quiet long enough for Celestia to go on.
“It is a sad thing, but Cutie Marks hold a great deal of power over a pony’s mind,” she explained slowly, as if talking to a child. As she spoke however, I noticed that her tone grew less vindictive and took on a sadder note. “It is quite easy to confuse their meanings as an obligation or the only pursuit of happiness possible. Some ponies drive themselves mad trying to live up to it, some fall into depression trying to live their ‘destiny’.”
T-there were ponies I remembered, from human or alicorn perspectives, that indeed fit that mental image. A few of those breakdowns into madness had greatly saddened the young colt I was back then.
“You were not completely wrong. Nopony deserves to be put through this.” She briefly looked at a conspicuous copy of this morning’s newspaper. “But in the case it must happen, then, yes, I will allow my subject to do this to me, so their happiness is preserved.”
Briefly, my heart went to her, to the struggle it must have been, to love her subjects so much that she would let them attack her name with so much impunity. I knew I would never have the strength to do the same.
“But unlike him, we will outlive those rumors and it will become nothing more than a forgotten piece of gossip with time. Time erases everything, Ventus, even the worst of slanders, but only If there is enough, which might not be the case for that reporter. I’ve already taken measure to hide his new identity, or else his career would be in complete shambles because of you!”
Her words reverberated in the air, going through my whole being and striking into my core. I almost thought I would start bleeding, for this backstabbing blade had hurt, but it was not so.
For a moment, I remained perfectly silent, though this was attributable to a lack of ability rather than a desire to speak. Oh yes, I had dozens of things to say, but my jaw was sending painful signals to my brain, as I clenched my teeth together harder and harder. The taste of metal started to fill my mouth. She… she hadn’t cared!
“How dare you betray our trust like this?!” I finally shouted, my feathers rustled, as I fought an angry heaving. I… I could not believe her! “You invited us in your home, then confined us to it to avoid conflicts no less, yet you were willing to let them do THAT?! Who are YOU to decide the value of our names for us?! Bastards? Degenerates? MISTAKES?! It’s fine if they call us that, isn’t it, Celly?”
Quickly, her eyes widened, as if the weight of what she had said hit her. A brief flash of horror lit up her gaze, as she started speaking with a pained voice. “This is not what I m-”
“He literally insulted every member of my immediate family with this joke of an article! You, your sister, my mother, my father, my brother, myself; this accusation touches all of us! He has tainted the image of my parents and our own, for the sake of sensationalism! And you’re telling me you let them do this!?” Somewhere nearby, a blast of lightning hit the ground, but not of the will of any weather pony. Clouds were gathering in the sky; dark, stormy clouds. “You think this is a small price to pay for the sake of a pony’s mental health?! I’ve heard whispering between every pony in this castle and beyond, I can still hear them, at this very moment! They don’t stop. Their voices, I hear them all! What of my mental health?! YOU THINK THIS IS ANY GOOD FOR IT!?”
The wind was blowing harder outside, infiltrating houses from the tiniest of openings, letting out an ominous whistle that promised a dire future. High-pitched, with an otherworldly echo, it held a beauty, calling me like the song of the most sensual mare.
White branches spread onto windows and toward the insolent warmth of life. Some noticed, squealing in fright.
My hooves were cold, as were the tips of my wings. In response, my mind outright split in half, panic spreading through the corners of my mind as this was unnatural. But this side of me held so little power over my conscious reaction. It only felt right that I distance myself as much as possible from the ponies that rejected my brother and me.
“Ventus!” A voice called, its owner stepping closer to me.
There was a white body, taller than me, radiating heat. T-too much heat… It seared my fur, my flesh, my bones, reaching into the depths of my soul, searching. It found those cores of ice, those virulent, twisting storms of hate, it found them.
With a gasp of shock, I stumbled forward, barely registering the body my horn rested against. One by one, the whispers died out, destroyed by the scorching warmth of another alicorn. Each core at a time, I was stripped of them all.
I was left with nothing but a deep fatigue that blurred my mind. Voices were a distant echo I could not hear. Slowly, I looked up toward my cousin, who seemed startled and a little tired. It was the first time I had ever seen her out of breath.
“Has it always been this way for you?” Celestia asked quietly. “Have you always been unable to ignore their voices?”
My reaction was a split second too late, and she noticed. “Yes.”
“Since when?” She asked, completely ignoring my lie. “What brought this change?”
There was something to say… I knew there was. But the answer escaped me, fleeing as soon as the slightest hints became a possibility in my brain. “The windigo.”
There was no surprise in her traits and my instinct told me she already knew. “What did you do?”
“I got rid of it.” So mechanical… so artificial and stiff that nopony could ever believe that.
“How?” She pressed me for answers.
I wanted this to stop… my head was heavy, almost rolling off the sides of my shoulders. “I claimed what was mine.”
For a long moment, she said nothing, and I almost thought our conversation was over. All I could feel of her were the feathers of her wings supporting my torso, as I struggled to keep standing. Eyes closed, I could already feel my consciousness slipping away, when she refused me this respite.
“Do you hear me, Ventus?”
The sheer ridicule of her inquiry brought some of my wits back.
I scoffed, an aggressive sneer almost on my muzzle. “Are you really asking me that question?”
“Please, listen to my voice.” She shifted, a note of desperation starting to pierce through her voice.
“I hear you…” I grumbled, still leaning against her.
It started as a low frequency, deep, almost too deep for Celestia, but slowly, I started to feel it resonate into me. With an unorthodox note, it rose in pitch, forming the first words of the melody.
Let go of your fear, little oooooooone…
Let go of the shadow in the forest,
Of the growl in the darkness.
And, as the song progressed, with each line sung, I noticed the peace washing over me.
There was only one voice. There was only her voice, a shining beacon to a lost soul like myself.
It refused to let me fall into this comforting darkness. A hoof of light was outstretched toward me, and I took it, letting the mare place herself between myself and the blizzard.
I was as a foal in front of these demons, small, insignificant and desperately clinging to the one that could protect me. Each note rippled through me, a golden chord that vibrated with a comforting beauty until I heard nothing of the contempt and the scorn.
Finally, to my regret, Celestia’s voice died down.
The silence was deafening. After the horror that had been the publication of the smearing article and the bliss that had been her song, this absurd emptiness scared me.
However, for the Alicorn of the Wind, silence was never but a fleeting ghost.
“HEY! Don’t say that about Prince Ventus!”
I know that voice…
V-Violet?
But already the impression had passed, leaving only a lingering echo and an ache in my heart for the young filly.
“You’ll excuse me if I find it more logical to put my faith in the words of one of the few nobles that doesn’t make my job at the castle a living hell, rather than some trashy tabloid!”
All was not lost. There were still ponies that weren’t swayed by such stupid lies.
The warmth of Celestia’s touch left me, having me fight the impulse to step closer to her to find it once more. I… I couldn’t…
My cousin had straightened, growing a little less familiar and a little more regal.
“I sincerely apologize for my poorly worded explanation. I gave you the impression I didn’t…” Her voice trailed off, seemingly as she had lacked the strength to complete her thoughts. “Do you feel better?”
Lie. Lie, you moron. You’ve got a GREAT excuse to chart it up on mild insanity or what’s not, just lie and take advantage of this!
One more lie wouldn’t be much on my conscience, right? …Right?
But the weight was too much. S-she had just… she’d just show one more time that she cared for me on some deep level… I couldn’t do it. “N-no…”
Her face fell, her lips parting and her eyes widening with dismay. Shock was painted all over her traits. I saw a hope die in her gaze.
“It… it doesn’t change the truth…” My voice wavered, sadness and fatigue washing over me. “They still destroy what little reputation we have left… They’re still… saying those things…”
But soon enough, hatred started pumping through my veins again. It was scary to see how smoothly the transition from one to the other went.
“They use ME to insult MY family and this is only because YOU enable them!? If I had gone with my first impulse, that reporter would be DEAD! And now I’m asking myself why I didn’t?!”
Had glares hold the power to combust one into flame, I would have stood amidst a blazing inferno. But so would have a few thousand ponies...
“It’s not even my conscience that held me back!” I went on, my voice building up stronger with renewing anger. “It’s just the simple fact that you would have found out eventually and punished me. If that had happened, any chances of us going back would have been lost, our family would have been severed permanently and Calx would have had to grow up alone!”
Celestia looked as if I had slapped her. Her eyes were slowly growing with horror, as her mouth fell. It seemed likely that I had finally taken her by surprise. B-but there was more than shock in her façade… pain seeped through her being. I had hurt her.
I didn’t expect it to give me even a pause, but my anger started to dissipate quickly. Words filled with fury and indignant rants could not go past my lips. They were blocked every time by a gnawing feeling eating at my conscience.
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it seemed so loud my eardrums could have burst. Each word came out broken, choked out… “So this is what you think of me…”
I went fully silent. There were images… memories, flashing before my eyes. They were of her, of my cousin and her smile, whether sad or warm, but it was there.
She tried. Oh Elders all mighty, she had tried so hard to help everypony, me included. S-she… she just saved me from insanity!
And I was burning every bridge she had set to build.
The anger left. It broke, from top to bottom, by the strike of an overwhelming guilt. I felt weakened without that boiling energy to carry me forward, without that wind beneath my wings…
I wanted to scream, to trash, to yell to the world how much of a moron I was. But there was no strength in my limbs. I couldn’t even bear to look at her in the eyes, I didn’t deserve to stand in her presence.
My voice trembled, coming out as nothing more than a saddened, self-loathing whisper. “I… I’m sorry… T-there’s a monster growing inside me, Celestia. You’ve seen it! There’s just so much hatred in me that I can’t…”
I took a step forward, pleading, but she did not interrupt.
“Stop me…” My throat tightened. “This will end horribly, I just know it…”
“Ventus…”
“I-I just want to leave Equestria forever, to go back to my kin and forget this nightmare ever happened. I never wanted to cause all this! I never wanted to be THIS!” I cried out in shame, lowering my head, shrinking on myself.
Silence.
She was still. Her gaze was locked onto me, but I had already lowered my head in shame.
“I-if I can’t even have that… why must I be subject to this travesty?! Why let them drag the last few things I have into the mud…?” My breath hitched. There was no fighting it anymore. “Must I lose everything before they are satisfied?”
“Stop,” she said weakly, and the impulse to obey her orders came. But I ignored it.
“S-send us back…” I whispered, through sobs and tears; I gripped at her body and couldn’t let go. “I BEG OF YOU, CELESTIA! SEND US BOTH BACK HOME!”
--
He wasn’t quite certain if it was still a good idea… N-no, he knew it wasn’t a good idea, because frankly, he had no plan coming here. In his heart, he certainly understood that any attempt at fixing things would start at their house.
But now that he stood in front of Sam’s father, who looked worse than he had ever seen him before – not that this was saying much –, Eric found out that his mouth had gone dry. It did not help things that there had been an uncertain pause before Mr. Miller could call him by name, and even then, it had been tainted with doubt.
Still, for his friend’s sake, he had to give it a shot.
“M-may I enter, please?” He asked politely, after taking a deep calming breath.
Wordlessly, the man, taller than him or Sam, moved to the side, fixing him with a tired stare.
Feeling as if his heart would burst, Eric quickly entered the living room, almost jumping when James closed the door behind him.
“Would you like something to drink?” He asked with a hollow tone.
There was no hostility in his voice, but no true warmth either. His friend’s father moved about as if he had no choice other than go on, no hope or strength left in him.
The proposition, albeit an obvious icebreaker, had merit though. With his heartbeat so ridiculously fast, with such trouble simply swallowing his own saliva, the thought of getting a glass of water and a few minutes to calm down was unbelievably tempting.
“Y-yes, if it’s not too much trouble…” Eric finally agreed.
Again, with as few words as he needed to, James led his visitor into the kitchen. It was only after a short moment of hesitation that Eric followed him, however as soon as he came in sight of the people inhabiting it, he second guessed his decision.
A pit of cold started weighting down on his stomach.
Oh God, this was a terrible idea. He should leave. He should leave now and bury himself in a hole and never come out.
There were two middle-aged women, sitting at the dinner table. One he had never seen before, one he wished to have never seen in the state she was.
Mrs. Miller was… honestly… a mess. Her appearance screamed of unkempt. Her hair remained uncared for, knots and wild strands could easily be spotted from where he was standing, and it was only the tip of the iceberg. The longer he stared, the more details jumped to him. There had been a slip-up with her lipstick, smearing the corner of her lips; her clothes were wrinkled, badly matched, as if thrown together for appearance’s sake, but changed her mind halfway. In her hands, a cup of coffee shook lightly, overflowing with droplets of hot black liquid, which had smeared her wrists and remained undisturbed.
All of this, absolutely every detail, paled in comparison to what her eyes appeared to be.
Dead. They were lifeless, hollow, reflecting nothing and going over nothing.
Eric now knew what depression did to a person. Whenever he tried to summon the previous image of this woman, the misery in her current appearance only seemed to worsen. She was a shell of her former self.
“Would you like some soda?” He tensed at being brought out of his reverie. “Or some water?”
“W-water…” With his luck, soft drinks would make him belch, which was far from the kind of stupidity and rudeness needed in his situation.
Feeling as if he was acting on autopilot, Eric mechanically picked up the glass extended in front of him.
“Here you go,” James said. “Now, why don’t you tell me what you wanted to talk about?”
The water felt cool against his palate and his throat, a fact he was thankful for. It lessened, if only slightly, the sensation of his vocal chords being damaged by so much stress. Thus, perhaps a bit obnoxiously, the young man took his time to gulp it down and hazarded another look at Mrs. Miller.
Unlike the other woman in the room, she was inattentive, clearly not paying him any mind.
“I… huh…” This was horrible. His face was on fire and he could barely hear himself over his own maddened heart. “As a friend of Sam, I wanted to… you know… offer my support and… that stuff…”
To his lame explanation, he was amazed to feel Mr. Miller’s hand fall on his shoulder.
“Thank you…” The whisper was so quiet he was convinced he had imagined it.
Yet Sam’s mother seemed to have glanced his way.
“We do appreciate your kindness, Eric…” James said with a bit more warmth than before. “It must be hard on you too… on us all… If there is something we can do to help you…”
Being offered the chance on a silver platter, Eric could not help but feel incredibly guilty about doing this. These people were on the brink of collapse, everything about them seemed to scream this at him. His meddling would be just another unnecessary worry to pile on top of the rest.
It was a terrible idea. He should just… just say something to Mrs. Miller, try to cheer her up and leave. H-he had no r-right…
“Is it okay if I… if I enter their rooms?”
The room fell into complete silence.
--
The stallion had fallen asleep in her hooves. He had clung to her as if his life depended on it.
Rarely before had Celestia been taken by surprise, but it had been one of those few occasions where her foresight had proven itself to be less than perfect. Still, she had managed to sooth his mind for at least a few more hours, a maternal instinct guiding her words and her every gesture.
With some determination, he had slowly calmed himself, though not let go of her. There had been something incredibly… foal-like to the gesture, so vulnerable about it… She had not objected.
Alone with Ventus, the stallion’s long since asleep, she was free to observe and draw conclusions from the events of the day.
There was, without a doubt, more than a single influencing force pressing against his mind. His admission to assimilating the windigo he had met had her fearing for his sanity. Caelum had been monstrous and the resemblances between the two had grown bigger with time. However, when listening to her, he had muttered something about the Law and defiance, visibly troubled and pained… The complete opposite of how he seemed to be now.
So peaceful, she thought. He made a better show of his innocence in his sleep that he liked to pretend while awake. He would have looked so young, barely out of colthood if one asked her. But, as ancient as she was, she knew that this alicorn had already lived longer than any mortal in her world.
One certainly did not need to be a few thousand years old to see through the façade of ‘Prince’ Ventus. The young stallion had certainly tried, but if even her nephew Blueblood could quickly notice the discrepancies, then the attempt was doomed from the start.
Her gaze fell on the sleeping pony once more, taking in his form as his chest lifted up and down with each breathe. For a troubling moment, she could not stop herself from narrowing her eyes.
No! I cannot let the past influence me now! With ease brought by practice, Celestia summoned the memories of her young cousins, recalling at least one specific occurrence.
Sam, was it? With that nickname, she could easily see the smiles he gave to ‘Tom’, the most genuine – the only ones? – he had given since his arrival. All guards were dropped when it came to the little alicorn colt. The older brother was only shown giving off the vibe of a living being when in presence of the younger one.
Yes, that name showed a much closer aspect of his true self, she decided.
Yet…
Not quite either.
Beyond both the Prince and the Brother, there was at least one more part of him. It had been neither of those facets that had laughed today, but it was the other two that had cried.
Empty eyes, glancing at a stallion embarrassed to the point of tears. Savage satisfaction, manifested by an almost unnoticeable smirk. Flippant, almost bashful tone to being told his actions were wrong. An insane glint of glee at cold spreading.
Yes, Ventus’s reaction had been far from innocent. More disturbingly, it hadn’t been the first time either.
She could only imagine the reasons.
It gave the Solar Princess a very uncharacteristically cold chill to delve on it, but she could not stop doing so. The young stallion sleeping against her chest kept gathering her attention with but the most simple of reactions, be they stir or groans.
Princess Celestia could not forget whose features he was so uncannily wearing.
She remembered the cold, the radiant blackness that had stemmed from the pure golden coat, from the silvered streaks in that snow white mane and from the greenish blue of his eyes. Too easily, though, she had found herself tricked. A grin, almost too young and pure to be his, had been the last she had seen in a few years, with the knowledge of her isolation as sole company.
Caelum…
The Sky Alicorn, the First of the Fallen. Her sister’s past lover and the very pony that had been reincarnated into this troubled stallion. Him. It was his colors and his voice, all over again.
But that much was of no consequence. Celestia had long since learned of where one’s sin lied and it certainly wasn’t within one’s descendant or reincarnation. That, she could look past.
However, the darkness in Ventus’ eyes had too much of HIS insanity for her to ignore! Every time the young alicorn had looked dissatisfied, it had reminded her of ice and blizzards. Every time, the desire to strike him down had grown.
She shook her head. What was she thinking? Perish the thought!
How unbecoming. She truly had to compose herself and regain some peace of mind. Her little ponies would be so appalled had they known of her moments of weakness. What would they think of her?
Perhaps subconsciously, she refused to notice how her wings were trembling. A monster growing inside him…? If only she could forget those words. If she could brush it off… if she could ignore the festering hatred inside him…
It had been a hot-blooded reaction to yet another unpleasant contact with the darker side of the press, nothing more. There was no reason to believe it stemmed from deeper issues…
She could pretend to believe that for the few hours of nighttime she had left… for the few hours of peace and camaraderie his sleeping form offered. It was so painful to see another member of her family fall…
Her mind drifted away, to times slightly less troubled. There was the thought of the inevitable measures that would need to be taken to deal with him, of yet another way to restrain the unstable alicorn. But she would rather not delve on these much longer, there were other memories she would prefer to focus on. At the front of it all, her faithful student stood, nervous and naïve, but oh so talented. She had cherished every success, suffered at every failure, sharing the trials and tribulations of her student through their times together.
The thought of an attraction between Twilight Sparkle and Ventus Vinco had her uncharacteristically nervous. Trust wasn’t the issue. Her student had a good head on her shoulders and many friends on whom she could count to help her. Her young cousin, however, exhibited a disturbing behavior on occasion, but, simultaneously, the purity of his feelings for his loved ones had her impressed. His devotion to them was second to none. If he loved her student, then he would do everything possible to bring her happiness. ‘If’ he lo-
A small knock on her door took her completely by surprise. Celestia certainly didn’t expect to have her thoughts interrupted by anypony at this hour of the night. Not one visitor in a single night, but two?! Her, who was so used to distance and nervousness from her beloved subjects, getting popular so quickly? What was happening here?
Her magical grip on the handle seemed to waver for a small moment, before her control reasserted itself. She was not a mare to be so easily shaken!
As soon as it was opened, a little colt peeked in, crimson eyes showing uncertainty rather than the boastful bravado they so frequently displayed. Some hint of a grudge flashed in his stare, but it disappeared quickly as well.
“S-Sam wasn’t coming back, so I was wondering...” His sentence ended there, for the foal saw his brother’s sleeping body by her sides and froze. Instantly, the uncertainty was replaced by longing.
A motherly smile – perhaps the first truly genuine one of this emotional night – found its way onto her lips. With just a few tap of her wingtips, she invited the colt to join them.
The invitation did not need to be repeated. Bolting, Calx Iugum dashed forward with an excited smile at the idea of sleeping next to two of his idols.
For a second, the princess feared he might collide with them and wake up Ventus, but the foal showed surprising control and slowed down when he was close enough. Delicately, he climbed over his brother’s body, who barely stirred, and settled down right next to his wings.
“G’night Celestia…” He whispered, already closing his eyes, an adoring smile gracing his features and carrying him to sleep.
“A good night to you too, my little pony.”
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Well......[insert "That Escalated Quickly Meme" link]
Something tells me this is only a small part of the catharsis that Ventus/Sam needs to start recovering. I'm glad to see the outburst and partial reveal of truths to Celestia; now she can help in some regards to his mental health. It also looks like she has had some idea of the Human Sam part of Ventus' current being; though I doubt she'll link it to "alien being from another dimension" without outside assistance.
However....Caelum still waits in the wings (literally?
). 
You know, I doubt anyone truly knows just how alicorn reincarnations work....whether you get a clean, brand new version of the old aspect, or merely a new shell over what was before...
And it looks like human world is about to lose a couple more travelers to Equestria....at least one (Eric is my guess, but I am sincerely betting on both Millers joining in). My question then: alicorn(s), or made into one of the three races? After all, three could probably be sent into Equestria with one portal....and likely split the representation among them. Or maybe not, since Ventus and Calx's parents are shown to be Alicorns....just going to have to wait, I guess.
And who WAS that second woman?! Unless she's the counselor that Sam was sent to see....hmm.
Can't wait for more!
The conversation isn't the problem. In fact, I'm rather impressed by the amount of emotion delivered through it.
The only gripe I can find is the following:
Do you mean "I was probably a sweating bullet," or "I was probably sweating bullets"?
3211370 Well, it only escalated quickly if you don't consider that this is not the first time they had to talk about this stuff. Both are not at their most patient.
Well, this is a small part of what is needed to heal his mind. However, there's no guarantee it will be enough or if he wont relapse.
As for who knows about alicorn reincarnation, well, there's me and... a few others characters. Can you hazard a guess?
Question about possible new dimensional travelers... let's look at what the ritual said.
"Portal opening 101’ brought to you by yours truly, Monsieur Ten Ropes.
Read out the incantation… drop the ritualistic focuses… enjoy.
The three required objects are a cone, earth and wings. Any object vaguely resembling these will do."
So, if I were to be honest with you, I'd say that the portal is made specifically to create more alicorns. Why? ...guess
The second woman was mentioned by name in the previous chapter. It's Diana, James' sister and Sam's aunt.
3211482 Glad you felt the emotions I wished to transmit.
And it's the second one, which I will correct immediately.
I'm pretty sure by never again, you meant:
FOREVER AGAIN! (evil witches laugh)AHAHAHAHAHAHAHH....
I love the emotion.
I need more!
3211647
Holy poop, is that portal meant for reincarnations?
3211647
It's ALWAYS the little details that escape me.
Time for the re-reading to commence!
I WAS hoping for a little surprise twist with the portal (cram everyone into one portal, set it off, representations get divided among them), but I think that's because I just wanted to see that
myself. 
Nope, Alicorns all the way. 
....and I just noticed; where'd Zecora run off to? Must have been a very important to-do.....
Finally! Step one to recovery has been taken!
At least the omega blast has been delayed, for now.
We hardly think it would be a good idea to shove their parents through the portal, the balance is already screwed up as is.
Keep going! ;)
Well heres hoping he can get soem help. Shit, i speck from experience in that regard.
What would be the best way to spike this story up?
Shove everybody through the portal and thus creating more bad guys.
Also, I wonder if Hasbro is taking advantage of the situation and is pumping out Ventus and Calx toys?
3212035 You evil witch. And the portal has one overaching goal, cookies for you if you guess it right.
3212048 I'm sorry, I'm currently a brick wall. Here, take this artifical feels.
More will be provided later on.
3212098 I won't answer your inquiry precisely, but I invite you to ponder this. If Sam and Tom's parents were to pass through the "portal", what happens to the pre-established relation between Ventus, Calx, Magnus and Atonie?
As for our favorite rhyming zebra, Zecora was just living in a monstrous forest that acts exactly opposite to the rest of Equestria, in which I hinted a darker stuff. There's no way anything tragic happened to her. Don't worry.
3212381 Balance is already screwed up, indeed. Badly. But Omega blasts are delayed, yes. This is good.
3214141 I'm sorry to here that. Here's hoping you got the help you needed.
3216251 Nothing quite like an alicorn clusterfuck to boot the ratings.
But in all seriousness, nope, no toys from Hasbro, they're not quite as hated as in their debuts, but darn if they aren't badly regarded by a majority of fans.
3216595 who needs help when you have cookies! Real talk tho i got help, can't just kill random people you know. Tho i still have issues with my anger.
In regards to Catch Crop, the double standard is alive and well. A man treated a woman like that, he'd be under arrest for sexual assault. + Sued for sexual harassment. Instead, she's the victim because of course a woman wouldn't act like that.
Reminds me of a doctor who fart language comic
12:05
I think The Master can relate similar to this because of the drum beat in his head.
What song is that?
I'm not quite sure when they laid down. I imagined them both sitting on their flanks with Sam's face against her stomach but when Tom came I got confused.
I get that Celestia doesn't want to off harmony path but she is being too nice. Ponies won't learn right from wrong easily if they don't have face wrongful behavior. The fact is words hurt and by letting say mean things she is giving permission to them not to be on harmony path.