Chpt 19- Celstia's Revalation
#19 of MLP: A Hero's Rebirth
I have lost track of the days I have been held here within this acursed cell. The jailor comes by twice a day with food and picks up the bucket they expect me to use as a toilet. It shakes me to my very core how they can treat a captive this way. My white coat is no loner its pristine color. Thanks to the floor of the cell it is now a dingy grey. My mane once flowed with magic now hangs since they place this platinum ring upon my horn to suppresses my magic powers. Now it's only as dirty as my coat. Some days I look up at the tiny barred window and see the sun rise. I know it is not me so it only three others. But the more I think about it the more I believe that Candence has not the power to move such an object so that only leaves two, Luna or Lunar. Either way I feel as though they are alive, I know it might sound naive but the hope of them coming to my rescue is all that is keeping me going now.
Oh I am sorry, where are my manners. I am Celestia Dawnstar, I am Princess of Equestria and fiance to my childhood friend Lunar Star. My life is a myriad of things that have come and gone. When I was a child my mother and father brought Luna and I up on the principle that one day we would be ruling the ponies of Equestria. We were tutored by the finest minds of the day, that is until Lunar came. His parents were part of my mother and father's legion. The two of them were proud fighters from what I can remember. It might also be the reason as to why Lunar is the way he is today. Anyway Lunar was brought to us after his mother and father were killed in a Diamond Dog raiding party. They died defending our castle as well as their son.
My father being whom he was looked upon the young Lunar and decided to take him in. At first my mother was against it. But giving Lunar another look over, she too changed her mind. I am not sure if there was an outside influence that gave my parents their choice but at that moment it was beyond my understanding. They gave Lunar his own room and instructed one of my mother's servitors to become his caretaker, her name was Autumn Breeze if I recall correctly. He was not much younger then me but much older then Luna.
The days we spent together were some of the happiest I had ever felt. Granted though it maybe that we were prone to playing pranks on one another, I was still fairly happy that I had friends aside from my sister Luna....
The sound of a door opening came from the end of the hall. It was then that Celestia set down her quill and looked up. A female gryphon walked over to her cell, she held within her claws a large bowl of salad. "I am sorry your highness but this is all I could get without getting seen." The gryphon opened the cell door, walked in and closed it behind her. She walked over and placed it upon a small wooden table which Celestia had also been using as a writing desk.
"It is quite alright Hilda I know you are trying your best for me and I appreciate it. I just wish there were something I could do to repay your kindness."
The gryphon bowed her head. "Please your majesty, your words are thanks enough. I am deeply sorry however for the actions of our current ruler. Greaves's father was never this power hungry."
Celestia shook her head. "Indeed he wasn't, nor were the other rulers before him. I do not understand Greaves logic. He kidnaps me to get to Luna and Lunar yet he let Lunar live, why?"
"I am not sure your highness. Greaves was always a selfish child, I should know, I grew up with him. My guess is that with you gone it would have installed a moral blow to them. Though if it is true or not I can not say."
Celestia slowly ate her meal as the female gryphon looked over the parchment she had given to her before. "So this is what you had been writing?" She skimmed through until she had seen the part where Celestia had mentioned her engagement. "I am sorry that they took you from him princess."
"Hmm? It was not by your doing Hilda. They had threatened to kill him if I had not complied with their wishes." The alicorn had finished off her meal before walking up beside the gryphon. "It must be at least a month and a half now since his return. I was merely writing to keep my wits about me as well as to remember all the good things about my life and what has happened."
"I see. Well I have to get back to my rounds princess otherwise Greaves might get suspicious." Celestia nodded as the gryphon walked out and locked the cell behind her. "I'll be back later with your dinner your highness." With that she disappeared down the hall.
I'm sorry for that interruption but when you only get two meals a day when you are used to three it tends to have an effect on you. Anyway where was I?
A week or so after Lunar had started living with us within the castle, he was tutored along with Luna and myself. Luna and I thought that our mother and father might also name Lunar their successor as well but even if they had, Lunar refused. He did not see himself the ruling type. Heh it seems strange now that I think about it seeing as he and I are to be married. Either way I would have hoped for nothing else.
During our childhood Lunar, Luna and myself would often play games in the courtyard while our caretakers watched to make sure we didn't get into any trouble. My mother and father were normally busy most of the day to do much with us. But Luna and I knew that they loved us. Every night before they would tuck us into bed, my mother would read Luna and I a story from one of the many she had. At the time I did not know the impact of Lunar losing his parents.
One night I found out. I had gotten out of bed for some reason and entered the hall. Lunar's room was across from ours so the moment I entered the hall I could hear light sobs. I pressed my head against the oak door and listen closely. My heart nearly broke when I heard Lunar's cries for his mother. I slowly pushed open the door and looked inside. Through the sobbing I could hear a song from his lips. I guessed it was one his mother sang to him when he was just a foal.
To this day I still do not fully understand the meaning nor nature of that lullaby. Still though I stayed and listen to the entirety of it before approaching him. He knew I was there somehow because he spoke to me. I was a little taken back by his voice, it sounded so sad and so void of felling that I shuddered. This was not the colt I had played with that day. He sat on the window sill with the shutters open and a gentle cool breeze flowing in. He was staring up to the moon as I had walked up beside him.
He told me that his mother once told him that the stars were once great ponies. That when they died, their spirits would journey into the heavens and thus that is where they stayed. He pointed to a set of twin stars side by side and said those were his mother and father. Even though I had thought differently The thought of his parents watching over him seemed to comfort him, however small. From then on I would visit him every night and we would sit and watch the moon and stars that my father cared for.
The days following the three of us had become inseparable and would cause such trouble for each other. I recall the one day Lunar and Luna filled one of my favorite shampoos with pink mane dye. I flipped out the moment I saw it in the mirror. The two of them were already running and laughing at my expense. All I could think about was making them pay for ruining my mane. I had chased them through the castle and even into the air once Lunar took off with Luna on his back.
Celestia placed the quill upon the table and lowered her head. Her man hung over her eyes. Never in her long life had any one ever bring her down this hard. She felt helpless. She could try to remove the ring from her horn and escape but there was a spell placed upon the ring that prevented her from taking it off. So there she sat looking to the floor of her stone cell. Thoughts would race through the ancient alicorn's mind. Mostly on is her sister and lover were alright but other times her mind would wander to her beloved student Twilight.
"I am sorry Twilight. I know I normally seem so strong but the truth is I am just like every other mare." The regal pony just closed up the book and placed the quill beside its inkwell. She walked over to a bedding of hay with a blanket over it that her jailor gave her and laid upon it. She looked up through the bars of the window the mid day sun shown softly through it and lit up a spot in the stone floor. Celestia had not felt like this in a long time. The last time she was like this was the day Lunar had fallen from the sky into the forest surrounding their castle.
Her mind would drift to other things as well. Normally during the early mornings there were times where she would become ill. She started thinking that maybe Greaves was slowly poisoning her, but why? He wanted her alive for some reason so killing her would be counter productive. Plus why was it only the mornings? Celestia wrapped her head around many idea of what could be causing her morning illness, then it hit her. She recalled one of her servants becoming pregnant and was unable to preform her duties during the early mornings. "Can... can it be true? Could I really be...?"
She was not sure just how it could have happened, well she had a pretty good guess but was it really that easy? Was the magic the human controlled able to transform his genetic makeup? In the long time that she had lived, the Alicorn mare had seen a number of things that she herself thought to be impossible, so surely that is the reason in this case. It stayed upon her mind till she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
It was not for many hours that the princess woke to the sound of her cell being opened and a female gryphon stepping in. The Alicorn princess lifts her head slowly and yawned. "I am sorry to wake you princess but you must eat or else will have to wait till morning." She then placed the bowl upon the table. The princess softly smiled to her.
"Thank you Hilda, I know I you risk your station by doing this for me."
The gryphon shook her head. "Not at all your highness. there are few of us who have not forgotten the days of the Panther Wars. They were truly dark times for us all. which reminds me princess, are you still feeling sick in the mornings?"
The Alicorn stopped eating her meal and looked up. "So you can tell?" Hilda nodded.
"When I came for your bucket, I noticed there was vomit within it while I dumped it. I wonder princess if you have caught something."
Celestia's eyes softened and she gestured no. "The only thing I have my dear Hilda, the one thing that I can think of is that I am carrying a foal."
Hilda's eye's widened. At first what went through her head was excitement but then she slowly began to be filled with rage. "Damn that Greaves, how dare he do this to you! I kill him myself if I must!" Celestia quickly tried to settle the female before she drew attention to them.
"No my dear Hilda, Greaves has never touched me nor would I have allowed me even if he tried. My magic maybe bound but I am not without the ability to defend myself if needed. No the foal that I carry within me can only be one other's." She gently placed a hoof to her stomach.
"Who's princess?"
"That of my champion, that of Lunar."
The gryphoness nearly fell over from where she had stood. "How is that possible? You said it yourself that he is not a pony. So... how?" Celestia looked down and shook her head.
"I wish I knew for certain. I have been alive a very long time and even there are things about magic I still do not know."