Born
- - 50 years After Banishment - -
The Castle of Canterlot was dark, especially on this night, the absence of a moon leading to a sense of foreboding, and the Princess of the Day did what she did for the past fifty years, and what she would continue doing for the rest of her life.
She overlooked her subjects, Never turning a blind eye.
No matter the cost
No matter how tired.
‘Is this my punishment? I sent the corrupting monster to the moon, but condemned my innocent sister to the same horrible fate, and now I watch my subjects suffer in their dreams, plagued by the nightmares that I am incapable of stopping.’ She thought as she gazed at the thousands of sleeping subjects.
She had tried to enter the dream scape, like she saw her dear sister Luna do every night. It was successful, at least at first, the dreams were to confused to where its owner had gone, and never noticed her meddling. But, over time, the mind caught on, and the realm of dreams rejected her. After all, how dare the princess of the day interfere with the comforting darkness of dreaming. How dare she interfere with the dreams precious garden, Lulu's garden of shadows. As the ruler of day, she should stick to her own realms of work and play, and stay out of the realms of sleep and dreams But without its owner, and without a guardian, nightmares entered into the Garden. They played in the minds of foals, tormenting them. Stallions and Mares could only hope to avoid the monsters, and pray for a good night's sleep.
Celestia knew that if she was to have a fully restful night again, she would need to keep her hooves out of the dreams.'But tonight I’ll remedy that.' she thought 'I will protect my subjects, even in their dreams.'
A day guard walked up behind her. “Princess Celestia?” he whispered, not wanting to bother her thoughts.
Celestia turned to the guard, her sleep deprived eyes staring at him from behind her illusion spell. “Yes Night Sparrow?” she said in a casual tone.
The guard nodded, “They are ready to begin your highness. We are waiting for you.”
“Thank you, I will head to The Castle of the Royal Sisters” she responded, levitating a necklace around her neck before she unfurling her wings, and leapt off of the balcony.
It's hard to describe the feeling of the crisp night air as it swirls past you. although Celestia would describe it as rather chilling, and not in a good way. She would enjoyed flying in the day, with the warm rays of her sun beating down on her. Luna on the other hoof…
Luna was the one who loved flying at night, the chill that hugs you, the wind that whispers in the trees, and the calmness of it all. Luna could, and has, written poetry about the joys of night time flying. She had even tried to convince the ponies to join her
'Sadly it never caught on' Celestia thought as she plummeted down the tower, before pulling up and gliding the rest of the way to the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Celestia walked up to the wrecked entrance of the castle of the royal pony sisters. ‘It’s been years since we lived here with our parents…’ She entered, and looked at the pedestal in the center of the room.
There sat all six of the most powerful artifacts, the elements of harmony, fully activated. Celestia gazed upon the intricate designs forming a mystic circle around them, Runes branching off from them to a much larger circle. At the moment, several mages were at work, marking extra lines with chalk, carefully drawing runes. The atmosphere of the whole ordeal was an overbearing silence, A pin drop would be heard, although in this case, a rhythmic chime of bells would be more appropriate.
A mage with a long beard came up to her, his hat adorned with jingling bells. “Good Evening Princess.”
Celestia smiled, “Ah, Arch-Mage Star Swirl, will the spell be ready soon?”
“Yes Princess, Although I fear what might happen if word gets out, we are using several different types of thaumatic methods that you yourself outlawed, after all.” The grey unicorn said worrying. “Although I do find the chance to partake in the creation of a magical construct to be quite exciting.”
Celestia stepped forward, “I knew that I chose the right pony for the job when I chose you.” she said with a smile.
Star Swirl nodded as the rest of the mages finished up the circle. “I still find it hard to believe that we are going to be doing this. I mean, are you sure that there is no other way?” he said with a worried expression.
Celestia nodded as she took her place at the podium at the front of the room, at the edge of the circle. “We must, I cannot enter the dreams of my subjects like my dear sister could. If I am to protect them from the nightmares, I will need a something that is infused with her magic.”
Star Swirl stood next to her, and levitated a thick dark tome onto the podium in front of her. “Here it is, the Nigrum Librum Magica Incantatione”
“Thank you” she replied and, as the mages set up around the circle, she opened the ancient tome, and forced herself to look at the center of the circle.
There, in the center, was a white clay sculpture of an earth pony. Life size, its empty eyes and opened mouth lead deeper into the almost hollow body. What was done to create this sculpture was wrong. But still, her subjects were suffering.
Shuttering, Celestia began the spell, her horn glowing, levitating the necklace from around her neck, and placing it in the circle.
“Nova ossa intra luti carne”
“Fiam puer de Die”
“Fiam puer Noctis”
“Vivat sicut servum utrique”
The Circle pulsed with octarine, as blackness and whiteness began to encircle the clay sculpture. The necklace opened up, and a small trickle of deep blue magic was drawn into the swirling magical field.
“Veritas”
The elements of Harmony glowed, an orange beam shooting into main magical array.
“Clementia”
A pink beam joined the orange
“Gaudium”
A blue beam followed
“Tribuentes”
Then a red beam
“Pietas”
Then a purple one.
“Magia”
The rainbow of colors swirled around the center, mixing with the white and black. The circle pulsed, as the magic contained within formed a black ring around the sculpture.
Celestia breathed in, ‘this is it, finish the spell and hope for the best’ she thought as she uttered the final line.
“Liga, Name: Tantibus”
The black ring turned to a thick goo, and hit the floor.
Celestia and the mages stared at it.
…
…
…
“D-did it fail?” somepony finally said.
Then the room was filled with a bright light, and everypony shielded their eyes.
After a few seconds, the light faded to the room, and with it everyone’s sight.
Celestia opened her eyes, blinking. “Is everypony alright?” she called out. A chorus of “Yes Princess” followed, and somepony coughed next to her.
Star Swirl picked himself up, “Yes - *cough* - Princess, Everypony is -*cough* - fine.”
Celestia smiled, ‘Thank Faust their alright.’ she thought as she gazed at the cloud of smoke in the center of the room. The sculpture in the center of the circle was moving.
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Celestia lit her horn, illuminating the sculpture. its reddish eyes staring intently at her. She meet its gaze, staring back at it. “Hello my little pony, I am-”
“Princess Celestia” the black haired alicorn said, blinking, its webbed wings shifting a bit. Then it bowed.
“I am Tantibus, How may I serve thee?”