A dawning of fear
The Elements of Oblivion
Prologue
A dawning of fear
It was a morning like any other Princess Celestia had witnessed in her life-time, or rather it should have been were it not for a deep sense of dread and a sense of……..wrongness in the general atmosphere as she raised the sun for another day’s dawn. Luna had been returned and Discord sealed again in his stony prison and yet……..she hadn’t felt this much uncertainty about what the sun would bring with the dawning day when the threats of Nightmare Moon and Discord had loomed high upon Equestria and her subjects. By all conventional logic there shouldn’t be anything else to think of and yet……….
“Sister, we would wish to speak with thee”
“Luna?”
Celestia turned to face her sister, the now-returned Princess of the night Luna, she’d been in recluse for a time after the elements had restored her to her rightful self and even after she’d started to regain her power. Even now it was rare to see her out and about even after her trip to Ponyville for Nightmare Night. Under normal circumstances Celestia would’ve thought that Luna had merely come to stay and talk for a while before heading to sleep for the “night”, but the look on her face gave away any doubts as to her reason for coming today.
“Hast thou……noticed anything peculiar as of late Sister?” Celestia’s face furrowed slightly in a mix of confusion and worry at Luna’s question. It was obvious that she wasn’t the only one that had felt the odd change in the world around them.
“You feel it too?” Luna nodded her head silently as she proceeded to walk next to Celestia on the balcony overlooking Canterlot, and beyond that the rest of Equestria.
“We had hoped it was simply our imagination or something that hath…..disagreed with us, but we had to make sure. This past year hath been……eventful.”
Celestia lowered her head in thought slightly, remembering once again the threats and trials Equestria had suffered through in such a short period of time since the last summer solstice.
“When did you notice it?” Celestia finally replied as she motioned to dismiss the royal attendants in the room behind them.
“Truthfully we were not aware of it at first, it only became disconcerting as of a few hours ago, and even then we were not sure if it were merely our mind playing tricks on us.” Luna frowned “Sister, thou dost not think that perhaps Discord hast not been sealed correctly? ”
Celestia’s face darkened at Luna’s question, “No I checked when his statue was re-erected, the elements, Twilight and her friends, sealed him as efficiently as we did the first time, better even. There’s no possibility of him escaping his prison within the next few millenia”
“And the elements would hath annulled all facets of his magic upon his return to such a stony prison. Thus the possibility of his placing any traps doth become an impossibility.” Luna added before she fell silent again and the two alicorn sisters sat there watching Celestia’s sunrise in mystified worriment. After a few moments Celestia sighed, closed her eyes and leaned her head on Luna‘s shoulder.
“Sister?”
“Luna, when was the last time we spent time together? Without the attendants and the royal guards I mean? Just the two of us, relaxing?”
“We-I-think it was the first night I had “returned” after the solstice. You came to check up on how I was doing, although your greeting was a tad….aggressive.” Luna chuckled sheepishly as Celestia grinned almost ear to ear.
“I remember that, I was so relieved that you were back that the moment my duties for the day had ended I teleported to your room and gave you the biggest hug I can ever remember giving anypony in my life. The guards went into a panic because they didn‘t know where I‘d gone, poor Aquilinus almost broke a leg falling down the stairs looking for me.”
“HAH! You almost broke my ribs with that hug of yours too!” Luna laughed ”We’re just lucky that the royal groundskeeper was passing by and overheard us before the whole castle started to riot. Imagine the whole Equestrian Royal Guard mobilizing across the countryside trying to find a Princess that was right under their noses the whole time.”
“Ah, dear old Green Thumb, were would be without him?” Celestia chuckled “Although tell me, the hug didn’t really hurt that much now did it?”
Luna shook her head. “No, well yes. It did hurt. A LOT.” Luna replied as she edged her face closer to her sister’s with a playful grin. “But it didn’t matter that much next to the fact that you’d just teleported into my room and hugged me. Honestly I was more excited and happy then I could ever remember being before. I was back, my sister was with me and we were going to be together again, there wasn’t much else I could ask for beyond that. ” Luna smiled as she lightly kissed Celestia’s forehead, “In all due honesty though the only thing that really bothered me then was how the elements left me looking so ridiculous”
Celestia smiled and then chuckled at Luna’s statement. “Oh I don’t know I thought you looked simply adorable with that haircut, it made you look so cute. And your size! I wanted to just hug you every time I saw you. Actually talking about hugs…..” Celestia turned to face Luna with a mischievous smirk stretching from ear to ear making Luna back up a bit in the process.
“Oh no, knock it off then! We’re thousands of years too old for this Celestia! I mean it!”
“Nopony’s too old for a good hug now and then, especially when said pony is immortal~” Celestia remarked as her smirk grew wider and she prepared to pounce.
“I’m warning you Celestia if you do this I’ll-”
“Too late!” Celestia cried as she jumped on Luna and proceeded to wrestle and tickle her into submission among scattered pleas of Stop! And Knock it off! Finally after what seemed like hours the two sisters lay on the floor of Celestia’s study exhausted and giggling amid what was now VERY messy room.
“Aaaaaaaaaaah, It’s been too long since we had a chance to relax like that.” Celestia giggled.
“I’ll agree it’s quite……..relieving from time to time, though I do wish you’d give me a bit more of a warning before you do anything like that dearest sister.”
“Oh there’s no fun in that and you’d just find someway to get away before I could do anything, besides-wait…….is someone knocking on the door?”
Celestia and Luna turned towards the door in silence, and sure enough a few moments later a fast paced knocking followed ending as abruptly as it came.
“We dost think that your duties await, sister.” Luna remarked as she stood and regained her stoic, reserved manner before heading towards the door.
Not for the first Celestia felt sorrow at the circumstances that had brought her and Luna’s time together to an end, it couldn’t be helped she knew that, but did it always have to come so fast? She sighed as she made for the door regaining her “proper” posture as she did so. Celestia stopped abruptly before the door, turning to face her sister.
“Luna”
“Yes?”
“Tonight…….do you think you could show me the constellations again?
“I” Luna hesitantly spoke, surprised at her sister’s odd request before realizing what she had just asked and smiled. “Yes, of course.” She replied, bristling with joy.
“Thank you” Celestia nodded courteously doing her best to suppress a smile. Before opening the door.
“Yes? What’s wro-” Celestia never managed to finish her sentence as a white blur streaked into the room babbling at a pace so fast that even the most attentive of ponies would have found it hard to perceive the sounds emanating from it to be anything but incomprehensible blabbering. The blur finally came to a halt in the middle of the room revealing an exhausted and very alarmed Prince Blueblood as he surveyed the chaos strewn about the study with a horrified look.
“Nephew! What is the meaning of this outburst!?” Celestia cried out after Blueblood with a stern and annoyed tone in her voice.
“They can’t have gotten here already! Auntie what happened here!?” Blueblood shouted as he turned around to face Celestia a crazed, terrified look in his eyes.
“Who can’t have been here already Blueblood? Explain yourself!”
“The parasprites of course!”
“Parasprites? What parasprites?” Celestia was worried now, Blueblood had never been one for social interactions but he had never displayed maddened behavior like this before.
“The ones coming from the east! I was out in the gardens with Miss Lupa, my assistant you remember her? The klutzy buffoon from-”
“Blueblood!”
“Right, sorry, we were out in the gardens taking geographic notes when Lupa noticed the parasprites through her binoculars. Naturally I told her she was an idiot and-”
“Blueblood!”
“Well I double checked with my own binoculars just to be sure and there they were! I didn’t notice them at first because they looked like a storm the way they were all packed together but then I remembered that there weren’t any storms scheduled for today and-”
“BLUEBLOOD!”
“There’s a horde of parasprites bigger than any I’ve ever seen, granted I haven’t seen any before, and THEY’RE HEADED THIS WAY!” Blueblood finally managed to scream the last bit before he fell to the ground, exhausted and out of breath. It took Celestia and Luna a moment to fully process what Blueblood had just said, as realization dawned on them they rushed once again to the balcony using their horns to relieve Blueblood of the binoculars stowed in his packs as they did.
“What? No thank yous? What DID happen here anyway?” Blueblood huffed as he watched his “Aunts” raise the binoculars to their eyes.
“Dost thou see anything Sister!?” Luna cried as she scanned the skies for the parasprite horde.
“No, I can’t see anyth-THERE!” Celestia shouted as she pointed a hoof in the direction of the horde. Just like Blueblood had said, there was storm raging towards them comprised of hundreds of parasprites. The storm was no longer a barely observable oddity however, it could be seen below the rising sun as it swelled and grew, advancing towards Canterlot at an alarmingly fast pace. That wasn’t the least of it however, because it seemed to be that even as the horde advanced more parasprites flew up to join them from their various hiding places all over the countryside. This gave the horde an added effect of looking like a storm raining in reverse a sight entirely unnatural and alarming. At this rate the horde would reach Canterlot in minutes.
“GUARDS!” Luna and Celestia cried at the same time. Almost immediately a patrol appeared in Celestia’s study.
“You two! Go alert the city! Have all of the windows and doors boarded and locked! Make sure everypony is indoors!” “Prithee ye seek and summon all of the bards in Canterlot, tarry not!” Luna and Celestia commanded the four ponies working in unison to secure the city and repel the swarm before it sustained any immense damage. No sooner had the guards received their orders than they had left the room, within moments bells tolled across the city and the entire Royal Guard mobilized for every four guard ponies rushing everypony into the nearest building there were two seeking out musicians among the crowds and at their homes.
“Blueblood! Dost ye naught here thine Princesses’ commands!? Go forth and secure thine residence!” Luna chastised Blueblood.
“Wha-? B-b-but that’s all the way at the other end of the castle! You can’t seriously expect me to make it there in time! Why can’t I just stay here with you two!?” Blueblood pleaded
“Durst thee refuse thine Princess!?” Luna exasperatedly shouted.
“N-no auntie it’s just that-”
“Then MOVE IT OR LOSE IT!” Luna shouted losing all of her composure at once as she used the “royal voice” and sent Blueblood into a panicked gallop as he rushed out of the room and into the hallway. Luna huffed in satisfaction as she turned around to face a chuckling Celestia.
“What? What is it?”
“Oh, nothing” Celestia laughed “Come, help me board the exit to the balcony with the furniture then we can teleport to your room and do the same there.”
“You know you should really think about getting some enchanted doors sister, or at least enchanting your doors, it‘s far easier than having to use your furniture as barricades.” Luna replied as she used her magic to seal her own study from afar.
“Ah but then I wouldn’t have an excuse to have you help me, sister.” Celestia remarked mischievously causing Luna to smile as she joined her sister in barricading the balcony door.
“You truly are ingenious now aren’t you?”
“I’ve had more than enough boring audiences to think of some amusing ideas I’ll admit.”
“Sister!”
“Now, now I seem to remember somepony laughing uncontrollably when I switched Blueblood’s wine with hot sauce the other day.”
“That was you!?”
“What can I say? It’s the little things sometimes. I mean after all-” a resounding SMACK cut off Celestia’s sentence as a parasprite crashed into the door and was repelled off of it in a rather loud manner.
“Right, we can schedule some sort of “ceremony” or another for us to talk later, right now we need to-”
“Celestia. Look.” Luna pointed out to the window as the Parasprite swarm descended upon the city, at least a few thousand strong by now and so tightly packed together that their presence blocked the sun and plunged the city back into darkness. Celestia stood there, waiting next to Luna for what seemed like minutes, hopefully the guards had managed to round up all of the musicians in the city so that the swarm could be expelled- They were leaving. There wasn’t any music in the air, no signs of anypony playing anything and yet……the parasprite horde was flying away. As light poured back into the city Celestia could see that the parasprites hadn’t even touched anything. All of the fields in Canterlot remained upright and undisturbed. Not even the small flower gardens hanging from the balconies of the towering pony residences had been so much as nibbled on. Whatever their reason for coming through it seemed as if the parasprites had merely decided that Canterlot was not worth paying attention to and continued on towards their destination whatever that might be. No, the parasprites hadn’t just been flying through, Celestia had never seen parasprites give up a meal before. These had been running from something, and whatever that something was it had caused hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of parasprites to flee from their hiding places all over Equestria.
“Celestia.”
“I know”
“I think we may have to reschedule that constellation date” Luna remarked solemnly.
Celestia lowered her head in regretful acceptance and disappointment.“ Could you pass me the paper and quills please Luna? There are a few letters I have to write, and a certain purple unicorn to ask a favor of, again.” Celestia sighed, she had a feeling that her royal duties would keep her and Luna from enjoying time together for a long time to come.