Canterlot; 6:30pm

Zen stood on a tower’s roof somewhere in Canterlot, and taking a glance around he saw the castle just a couple of buildings away south of him. The existence of alternate Equestrias, the Displaced, but most of all, a way to contact others like him… but he thought he found the answers he was looking for. All I got were more questions then ever.

A pop-up appeared on his heads-up display, giving him an enlarged view of the world map; on it were large grayed portions which weren’t scanned yet, making those areas unknown, but the areas that were revealed interested Zen. All of central Equestria was visible, with the next area being scanned was eastern Equestria, the map showing several interesting points of interest, some landmarks, a few settlements and cities, and finally some very specific energy signatures.

The energy signature at Canterlot was gone now, leaving the one at the forest south of Canterlot – which was discovered to be the Everfree Forest – and three others signatures just somewhere in eastern Equestria. One appeared to be in another forest but oddly enough, the center of the forest was grayed meaning something was blocking the scanner from pin-pointing its exact location. The second was just located farther east than the previous one what appears to be in the middle of the ocean on some sort of island. Finally the last one was just south of some bay in a swamp, past dense forests and a settlement nearby.

So one’s in another forest, one’s on a weird island, and the last is in some swamps… Can’t say which is harder – not knowing where they are or knowing where they are, but having to know what you need to go through to reach it.

Zen forego for now on going for those three as they were all equally far, and didn’t have any tracks leading straight to them. Going back to his normal vision, he spotted something on one of the castle’s towers; zooming in with his made-in sight enhancers, he was able to get a better look as if he were standing there. Standing or rather leaning on a balcony rail was Princess Celestia; she had a solemn look on her and seemed to gaze at the moon, particularly staring at the face on its surface. She then gazed down sadly and turned to go back inside.

What’s wrong with her?

Zen then went to look at his objectives that he had left to do – the duel with Warcry in two days, regain all his remaining weapons, and explore the world – but there was no reason for him to leave Canterlot so soon… not when there was one more thing for him to do.

“Jiule, I want you to bring a possible route for me to take to Canterlot Castle, without being spotted,” said Zen.

I’d suggest using Void Warp, but you can go so far with it and you used up a lot of your natural void energy in that other world. I’d suggest you take to the alleyways and shadows, and find a side gateway when nearing the castle; is there something you plan to do there?

“Nothing much… I’m just going to go visit somepony.” With that, Zen dropped down from the tower he stood on, rushing through the darkness of Canterlot’s alleys.

Earlier before Zen’s return – Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s Tower; 6:20pm

After seeing Zen earlier for tea in the afternoon, Celestia went to handle several different issues – bringing a short message to the ponies of Canterlot of the news of what happened to Vanhoover and to calm their unease, send reports to different outposts near Vanhoover to report any signs of movement from the city, speaking to the minotaur diplomat about this incident, and overseeing the ponies who were sent to scout ahead of those you overtaken Vanhoover – which afterwards she headed back to her tower to rest and set the sun.

While the ponies still favor the sun more than the moon, every living being must find the need to rest, and have accepted that part of their lives. In the past, many ponies would stay awake at night afraid of the horrors – both factious and real – that lurked outside, which caused several cases of insomnia and sleep deprivation over the first hundred years since… the incident.

It was during this time that Celestia had eased and tried her best to have her ponies forget… but not because of the tragedy that occurred five-hundred years… rather because of the pain of having her subjects demonize the one pony she truly cared for.

Celestia gazed at the sky, looking back at the face of a mare that many astronomers and stargazers over the years have dubbed it; “The Mare In The Moon” – aka Princess Luna, Celestia’s younger sister.

Oh Luna...oh sweet sweet Luna… I miss you; these last five-hundred years have not been easy on me. While it was true that our ponies loved my sun, you were the real leader, not I, I simply waved and reassured our ponies of something and announce a victory we have achieved. You handled the creation of our cities, you handled our military and training of our forces, and you personally crafted and made the greatest spells ever made.

I myself were more of a shut-in at best – all I done was ate cake, read books for countless days in my room, and even enjoy a small prank here and there – and while I did handle all our diplomatic and meetings, you were busy with things on a more, hooves-on approach while I used words of persuasion and suggestion at best.

I wished I was the ones sealed… not you… And now with the elements useless, and the surroundings nations showing signs of retaliation coming closer, I feel as though the very same walls you built are being crumbled. I can’t do this… I just can’t…

Celestia started to have silent tears stream from her eyes, as it stained and flowed onto her alabaster fur, making two small puddles on the balcony’s rail. Unable to continue staring at her greatest regret, Celestia turned and went back inside. She would continue to weep in solitude, if a knock on her door didn’t signify somepony’s approach. Quickly and calmly, Celestia followed a small technique to keep her calm and cleaned herself up, before speaking to the one on the other side of her door.

“Who is there this late of the hour?” asked Celestia, speaking loud enough to be heard.

“It is I your majesty, Captain Blaze Sentinel; I came to tell you news of those scouts you sent some time ago,” said Blaze.

They already spotted something already? “You may come in Captain Sentinel,” said Celestia.

The door opened and the one entering was a pegasus wearing the same armor of the royal guard with the captain rank engraved on his peytral. Underneath his armor though, he had a blazing red spiky mane and tail like his namesake, and dark orange fur, his cutiemark being a stone brick tower with a blazing fire at the top.

The captain saluted toward the princess before going for a kneel and removing his helmet in respect. “Your majesty, the scouts have sent a quick message by magic just a couple of minutes ago. The guard who received the message would of given it to you in the morning, but I thought it would have been important now than later.”

“I see, what does this message entail exactly?”

“Well, the message speaks of the scouts finding a trail of hoofprints – minotaur by the descriptions they’re giving – heading just diagonal of Canterlot, but were unable to follow as they led up Unicorn Range. They found more tracks that seem to lead to Vanhoover, but due to the fact they couldn’t send somepony by hoof back to Canterlot and that their main objective was to discover the enemy’s defenses at Vanhoover, and find out what happened to the citizenry and royal guard at the captured city.”

Celestia rubbed her chin in thought, the news bringing bode things to come in the days to arrive. It appears the minotaur renegades sent a contingency of their forces to Canterlot, but why take the path to Unicorn Range, it’ll take them forever to get here and we’ll be able to see them before they have time to prepare an assault.

“How large were their forces that went through Unicorn Range?”

“By the description and estimation of the scouts… one-hundred… Around one-hundred and fifty, but it could be more.”

Celestia bit her lip in worry; while those forces weren’t big, and Canterlot was a perfect defensive position, their forces were spread thin as a majority were led to dangerous parts of Equestria that had to be controlled and quelled of dangerous elements – wild beasts, bandits, and dangerous terrains – with most forces either north or south of Canterlot, dealing with the harsh deserts south and the vast empty plains north.

Canterlot only has at least a quarter of their original military might, with two quarters heading respectively north and south, while the other quarter were sent to reinforce and handle small groups of bandits from Canterlot to the cities in the east. “Have the southern and western barracks’ guard platoons, patrol and defend the western walls. The northern guard platoon will patrol their side of the city, while the western guard platoon patrols around the city and castle; I want to make sure that if the enemy enters the city, the guards have choke-points and defenses set up if the worse happens.”

Blaze nodded, accepting these orders flawlessly. “It’ll be done your highness; all one-hundred and sixty of the Canterlot Royal Guard will follow as you demand, and will not allow these rogues to invade or threaten our fine city.” With that Blaze did one more bow and salute, leaving with his helmet back on.

After the door closed, Celestia settled back onto her large cushions near the fireplace. She sat down, before going back to her solemn state, as she laid down her head on both her forelegs, with a quiet whimper.

Nearby Canterlot Castle; 7:00pm

After moving through Canterlot and passing a few patrolling guards, Zen made it to a small gate used by some of the guards to get through the castle better. Nobody – guard or anyone else – was standing by the gated entrance, so with a quick and easy glance, Zen warped through and reappeared on the other side.

Quickly take a notice of his surroundings, Zen bolted into some of the garden’s shrubbery before heading into a hedge-maze. Once inside, he made sure he was alone and then stared at the tower that was Celestia’s, but just as he was about to warp toward it, Jiule spoke.

Zen, what may I ask are you planning to do? While I can sense that when you Celestia at that balcony earlier, you also spoke to her during that small conversation during the afternoon… and mentioned about her hidden emotions. Out of curiosity, how do you know what’s she going through…

Zen stayed quiet before he made his move, contemplating all his actions so far today since he met Celestia. She’s right… Why am I doing this? I only met her today, and I’m acting as if I know exactly what she’s going through yet I know nothing about myself… Unless… that’s why I’m doing it.

“I don’t know either Jiule… but the fact is that I have nothing to go back to… Even if I do manage to go back to my old life, my memories… I feel as though they’ll never return and if they do, by the time that happens, what they mean to me may change too…” said Zen, staying silent for a few seconds. “...I have nothing to hold onto… but when I saw her, I saw the loneliness, the reality of knowing that you are all that’s left… That the feeling and comfort of connecting with another on a certain level will never happen or never want to happen again… To lose someone close, and never go through that ordeal again...”

“It may seem selfish… but for some reason I want to talk to her… even if it means I’ll get myself in trouble...” With that, Zen vanished and reappeared at Celestia’s balcony; the moonlight reflected against the marble tower, but once it touched Zen it seemed to absorb it, creating an almost darker visage he gave.

He was about to open and enter inside, when he looked in the room… and what he saw gave him pause. Celestia was weeping – her head deep in her own front legs, cradling her head but the quiet sound of someone weeping and sobbing was still audible, albeit muffled – and her form was disheveled to show how badly her sorrow went.

The once glorious goddess of the sun, princess of Equestria, was crying in her chambers, believing to be alone to once act how she truly felt for the last five-hundred years… and Zen didn’t feel a thing. No empathy, no sorrow from seeing another being so broken and hopeless, nothing… but… Zen still felt an urge… to connect… to be there for her… An urge…

To be someone to lift from her sadness.

Opening the door, Zen found it to be unlocked and entered inside without trouble; Celestia was too deep in her own loathing that she didn’t even hear the door open. Now having the door not muffle the noise that much, he could now hear how loud and badly her crying was. Zen spotted on the mini-map that the nearest guards weren’t even on this level of the tower, that this whole floor was empty with the guards guarding the door below that led to this floor.

She probably didn’t want anyone hearing or seeing her like this, so she had the guards stand by the door to this floor. The tower is thick enough so no noise can come in or out, and magic could probably make any sound in this room not come out.

She kept on crying, occasionally whispering a word or line about somepony called “Luna” or saying something like, “Its all my fault,” or “It should have been me,”. Having enough, Zen settled down slowly and sat with his legs crossed – surprisingly the armor was flexible like a normal body, maybe more so – and with a long moment, he hovered a hand over her head… then gently placed on her head.

This shocked Celestia for a moment, but when Zen gently scratched the top of her head with his gauntlet, her shock went to quiet calm. She still sobbed but it was more controlled, her body relaxing as her whole form seemed to collapse, as she lowered her head and neck onto the ground, the scratching on her scalp, growing.

The gauntlets on Zen while dangerous and were practically weapons on their own, shifted when Zen wasn’t fighting, similar to the rest of his armor. While in battle, it gave off an intimidating look from staring at it or being near it, other times outside of battle, it changed; the look became smoother, the more sharper points became rounder and smooth as marble, and most importantly the gauntlets from their spiked tips changed to rounded, more small points that were twice smaller than their more intimidating variation.

This simply yet calming action continued for several minutes – to Celestia felt like hours – before the scratching went from to a simple movement of Zen moving his hands back and forth against her mane and then her back. The sobbing stopped, replaced by sniffling, until soon after she was almost ready to sleep under the calming maneuver, but managed to stay awake. Celestia turned her head slowly to look at Zen, his armored figure while originally gave sign of suspicion, was a happy sight for the alicorn.

“Thank you…” said Celestia, quietly.

“I kept my promise; I’d be a shoulder to cry on if need be… I have no need for any favors from you either, you done what you could for me since I came to this city,” said Zen, his petting continuing.

“I… My words of thanks are not enough for what you done for me… but I must ask… Why?”

“...My reasons aren’t important, nor do I have a reason to give. When one is deep in the scars and mistakes of their past, that it breaks them from within, to go so far to self-loath and hate themselves, not even wishing for redemption. One who spreads love, but cannot love thyself… for they are the ones that need love the most… Since I came here, you out of everyone I had met have given a positive outlook toward me; while not every single encounter I made was terrible… something about you has… ‘awoken’ a strange feeling within me. As of now I question why I do this… but to ask why I’m doing this isn’t important anymore… All you need to know, is this.”

Zen gazed back at Celestia and for the first time he was showing his ever-glaring look; his pupils dilated, they became less threatening and… held something within… something… familiar to her.

The eyes of someone who is burdened since the day they opened their eyes.

“You may not need hold this burden alone; I won’t leave, nor will I let you fall to a state. To be sadden by a lost and reflecting the memories of those you loved is important… but to carry such a view on yourself, and put blame when the blame can’t be placed on anything else… Moving forward, but never forgetting is an important aspect to life… so don’t let this hold you back, and look forward to how you can make it better,” said Zen, wiping the renewal of tears on Celestia’s face.

For as long she has lived, Celestia being immortal, she was unable to find someone to connect or share her pain with, for she herself was the only immortal and while there existed beings with long lifespans, they alone weren’t able to help in her grieving.

So why… after all these years, someone who she met only for a day, was the one to break this chain of sadness?

“Who… are you, really?” asked Celestia.

“I am Zen; all my life I have no recollection of my past, a wanderer, purposeless and lost. Material things don’t have meaning to me, my emotions do not respond… but when I saw you, standing on that balcony, the tears of someone who lost another… It seemed to have awoken something – a spark, a light – within myself… Something I may, no… would like to have...”

Zen placed both his hands onto her hooves, clasping them together until he lowered himself, with his helmet touching the ground itself.

“Princess Celestia – leader of Equestria and goddess of the sun – you may see this to be much to be asked of you, and somewhat foolish… but through this short time I met you, I felt something I may… have wanted for a long, long time. Would you your highness… be willing to accept me be a part of those close to your heart; I promise to stand by your side, to be there when needed, to aid those you wish me to aid, to strike down those deserving, and to be the ever vigilant forever till I give my everything,” said Zen, his oath coming to its end. “Would you… be a sister to me, and I a brother to you?”

Celestia listened to Zen sudden oath, but what she heard in the end wasn’t what she expected; over the years many have tried to court with her, propose, or serve her loyally to a personal level… but nobody, has ever tried to be a part of a familial relationship. Many saw her as something beyond themselves, and be unable to reach such a closeness – due to seeing her as a goddess and their mortality – but Zen… she could tell he wasn’t some ordinary being.

So with controlled happiness, she calmly exhaled then gave a small smile – a genuine smile.

“I’d be happy to be your sister… Brother,” said Celestia, just happy from saying it.

“Thank you… little sister,” said Zen, the last part spoken unconsciously.

“Little?”

“Hmmmm, did I say something?”

“No no no… but I think I’ll keep our relationship this way; I never had a brother – not even an elder sibling – before… I hope we become a wonderful family.”

“And I hope so in return… but I believe we must rest. The night is late and I kept your time, so-”

Suddenly before Zen could leave, a tug from his arm came to him and looking back Celestia wrapped yellow glow, before Zen was gently brought back down. She then wrapped her front-legs around him, and placed her head on his lap.

“Oh? Are you uncomfortable sleeping with your younger sister already, big brother?” Already now, Celestia has gotten used to calling Zen by the sibling term of an elder sibling; she gave a playful smile, giggling lightly. Not arguing back, Zen relaxed as he grabbed a few pillows and cushions, then created a small pile of them around himself and Celestia, placing one cushion on his lap before gently laying her back.

“No; I’d gladly have the time to stay in your room… That, and as you are my younger sibling, I find it important to reassure you – as the saying goes – ‘that there are no monsters under the bed’,” said Zen, jokingly. This gotten a reaction as Celestia pouted, before smiling back; for a short while they kept to gazing at the glow of the fireplace.

Sooner later, the heaviness of the day’s evens came to Celestia, her eyes closing gently as she slept peacefully for the first time, ever. Zen was awake but not wanting to awaken his new family, he too went to ‘sleep’. The two beings slept in one another own embrace, the contact reawakening old feelings from long ago – to have the warmth of another close by.

Author's Notes:

A lighthearted moment to show how serious the next chapter to come shall be; the duel is coming up, and Canterlot is about to be invaded (not by changelings sadly).