The New Gods

She would have hated to admit it, but Celestia had felt slightly dissapointed when she learned that Philomena was not the only phoenix in existence.

She should have been delighted when, at age five, she was presented with a beautiful polished egg as an exotic gift from the Sheikh of Saddle Arabia. She loved the bird that had been her constant companion since her early months, and should have loved all phoenixes as a result. Instead, the sudden diminishing of her pet and gift from HER to less-than-unique had burned at her hooves, and in a later moment of spoiled abandon, it had passed to the hooves of her younger cousin, then princess heir of the Crystal Empire, who knew not what to do with it and had broken the precious thing.

Celestia near cried when she thought of the incident, and how alone like herself Philomena was; and she cringed when she recalled having finally mustered up the courage to ask HER:

"You know," she began, cheekily informal, "most subjects only gift the princess with objects considered to be one-of-a-kind upon her birth." SHE looked down, a single eyebrow pulled sardonically up upon her forehead. "So why did *you** only give me a mildly exotic egg?"*

SHE had smiled. "Because *you** are not the only star in the sky, Celestia. Remember that."*

This wasn't enough. "Is there something really special about Philomena?" the child had mewed up at the great enigma beside her.

SHE had cocked the eyebrow higher. "Don't you *know*? I'm dissapointed in you, Celestia." The little princess had shrunken back from her beloved mentor in childish heartbreak. "What do you know about phoenixes?"

The quiet filly had blinked her violet eyes and gulped. "Well... the Sheikh said they live for a thousand years...

"Go on."

"and... Mother says, that for every star in the sky, there is a phoenix, which guards and nourishes the heart of its flame, until the end of time. But that's just-"

"Well? Just what? Philomena looks perfect for the role, wouldn't you say director?" She had smirked at her curious little jibe at her dear apprentice, who had finally cast her eyes to the perch where the subject of discussion had sat, ruffling its ruby plumes for attention.

"crrrrrooohhh..." Philomena added happily to have finally made eye contact with her wondrous master. Maybe she could convince her fairy-floss-maned friend to go flying with her!

Celestia was suddenly racked with pangs of guilt for what she had just been suggesting. "Sooo... is that why Philomena is so special? Because it's her destiny to care for me?"

"No." The reply was simple, the great being's expression taking on an edge. "and if you do not know what is, I could always take her away for you to make room for a far more *special** replacement."*

SHE had now looked hard at the princess. This was a test. A test Celestia had passed before the sentence was up. The rustling of her beloved companion's feathers suddenly took on the appearance of a great fire in Celestia's tear-blurred vision, burning her insides in agony as the slivers of the minute ruler's broken heart began to pour from her eyes at the end of "away". The word had come to her: "No!" Then had come the learnings which SHE had not needed to teach: In that second it was known. "No! Please! Philomena *IS** special! The most special thing in the whole, wide, world, to me. She's my friend. She takes care of me when I'm sick, and tickles me when I'm down, and comforts me when I cry, and takes me for games when I feel-"*

SHE motioned for the outpouring of sentiment to go silent, and took the weeping filly into her arms, smiling broadly and kissing the tiny princess on her fuzzy white forehead. "You know all that you will need to know about special already, then" SHE nuzzled and hugged her soft-hearted student till the sobs began to slow and relax slightly, dying down to sad little hiccups and a runny nose. "I gave you Philomena," SHE had finally explained, "because you need her. For all your food, guards, maids and subjects, and for all the energies of your sun, you could not live without her. And you never will. When all others fail you," SHE sighed, standing up, "Philomena will be always by your side. Is that not special?" SHE brushed the discolourment from her tear-stained front, and the last drops from her apprentice's face.

"Is this magic?" stutteringly queried a wide-eyed princess.

SHE beamed down happily. "This is friendship.":

Celestia would cringe at such memories of spoilt frivolity in her childhood as her moral and physical worlds conflicted.

She was not one to be ungrateful.

But she was dissapointed now.

"WHAT?" She cried, tossing her long pink mane and flicking her tail.

Mere days before her 20th Summer Sun Celebration, the young goddess still bore the appearance of a waifish filly of 12, if that, and was beginning to bear the air of a precocious teen. Still, she was quick to remember her royal manners, politely clear her throat and still herself before speaking again to the aged stallion.

It also happened to be the twentieth year of the rule of Queen Amo Pertina of the Crystal Empire, and when the delegates had arrived at the Everfree palace for the grand joint celebration of the partnership between their nations, Celestia had been quick to seek out in the grand mage a novel new teacher for herself. After all, she knew nothing of the Crystal Empire, and now was a better time than any to start learning. but first thing was first: She had held the mysterious gems of her tenth birthday in her possession for a decade now, and could wait no longer for an explanation, one which her mentor seemed too mysterious to bother giving. The elderly mage Cutglass was a famed expert on crystals. If the horseshoe fit...

The mage now stood before her, his tufted beard quivering ever so slightly at having been spoken too in such a manner by one so young and so powerful.

"I-I-I would hate to b-be misinforming you, princess, bu-but, the facts seem all straight out and clear..." He stammered, before calming himself once more. "I would be the most surprised of anypony to find such a crystal in Equestria. I would never, in all my life, expect even one so far from our empire. But there is no mistaking it: This is the exact material that makes up the ground and city of our empire. Th-th-this, my dear..." he began to stammer once more, reaching forward with his magic to take one of the stones from the princess and inspect it in the light. "is... wh-why, it's amplification crystal!"

Celestia, barely able to hear the mage over the sound of rushing in her ears, perked one ear higher than the other, which was flat against her skull, at the sound of the unknown term. The mage seemed excited by the find, but from what she knew of the Crystal Empire, the ponies built their houses out of this stuff! She had never felt more put out in her life. This had to be a joke!

The mage, looking past his delighted muttered ramblings about his excitement at the little greyish gem in his grasp, finally noticed the look on his royal client's face. "I-is there s-s-something th-the matter, dear princess?... I have no idea what such stones are doing in Equetsria!"

The alabaster scowl before him took on an even more bitter, grey note. "So you're saying," she slowly, quietly moaned, "that for all these years, I've been so excited about a bunch of dumb, grey, crystal rocks!" Her inpolite and poorly-expressed choice of words bit deeply into the air around her before she had time to draw them back. From behind the darkish gem he hovered just before himself, the mage stared blankly at his company for a moment. His face went dark as his large white eyebrows slowly lowered into place above his eyes in a silent scowl of even greater disappointment and bitter irritation than the princess. As if he were only speaking to a disobedient child, and not the princess of the sun, the old teacher snapped.

"Well, if you're going to be so unappreciative, I believe this is where my schooling ends for you: I cannot fill the mind of one already so full of their own ideas of what specialties life has truly given them!" With that, he set down the little gem with a surprisingly loud thud at the princess's hooves, and marched away. She had more than offended him. She had deeply, deeply offended him. More than she thought it were possible to offend someone with only a few roughly spoken words. She felt put out, like a candle under a bucket of ice water.

"Hrmph. What was his problem?" Commander Brightline stepped forth from where he had been guarding the door to the quiet meeting. "talking to the princess like that! I should have whacked some good sense into that old man. Must be totally senile. Who do these crystal ponies think they are anyway?" Celestia sighed at her friend's unhelpful comments. Brightline meant well, but more anger was hardly going to help the fact that her entire education of the mysterious Crystal Empire had seemingly just stomped out of that door in a hurry.

Try as she might, the young princess could not catch the eye of the mage over the salt at the royal banquet that evening. From only a few seats down, he managed to make himself as accessible to his adversary as a key locked securely inside its own safe. She sighed deeply as her dessert came: The royal bakers had outdone themselves, glazing their cakes to look like multicolored gems, in tribute to their esteemed guests. The mage would be returning to the empire after tonight to deal with some urgent business about young magic users misusing their spells around some vital object in the city square. Celestia had heard something about a heart, and an upcoming festival. It seemed she had lost all chance at sating her questions on the Crystal Empire, or at least what was meant by the gift of her six little stones.

Or so she thought. After dinner, the crystal Queen Amo Pertina and her daughter Princess Aimoria Serenity requested a private meeting with Celestia, without even her mother the queen invited. Puzzled, the regal young mare cordially invited them to her private balcony to witness the display of her sunset first hand.

Queen Pertina was delighted. "Aimy", as Celestia knew her rarely-seen cousin, pricked her ears up happily at the idea, and couldn't seem to contain her excitement as they trotted briskly up the many spiraling flights of stairs that led to Celestia's quarters. The two sat on the edge of the sun mare's bed, no less, and jostled excitedly, mother and daughter, like small fillies waiting for a puppet show to begin. Laughing at their excitement, Celestia felt obliged to give an especially grand show. At each glittering ray of golden light, the two "ooh"ed as if watching a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower. The fuschia clouds garnered big grins from the queen and gasps from the slightly misnamed Serenity. The green glow of her horizon was duly complimented, and the soft pink had both matriarchs sighing with gentle delight. When the last sliver of the fiery orb had gone, they applauded.

Blushing, and slightly weary, Celestia indulged them with a bow and joined them on the edge of the soft makeshift seat, trying to remain awake as her weight sank easily into the feathery mattress.

"Oh, Tia, that was just marvelous!" Aimy wouldn't wait to speak informally with her cousin, and her pale, blueish-grey fur glittered slightly as she ruffled her purple-tipped wings in pleasure. "I've never seen so beautiful a sunset in all my life!" She was squeaking slightly with each word.

Her mother was not so easily broken from royal composure. The soft orange fur of her forehead creased very slightly into a frown at her daughter, reminding her that it was not yet the place for complete childishness. "Actually, I have something of a more official nature to share with you, my dear niece, but it cannot leave this room. That is why I could not accept guards to this meeting. You must promise me this."

"Of course." Celestia stated without question. She trusted her aunt, for all the mysteries of her rule, and wanted to get to the bottom of whatever surprise was coming for her.

So what was her surprise when the queen reached into a delicately embroidered saddlebag and pulled an enormous crystal from within! Celstia knew, instantly, that it was the same material as her own six stones, but this was much larger, and a pretty shade of pale purple. Her violet eyes widened at the stone before her. Serenity giggled happily. "Well? Don't you want to know what it is?"

"Amplification crystal..." Celestia sighed.

The two beside her looked suddenly very taken aback. "What? Who told you that?" cried the queen as if her most private secrets had been leaked to her niece by a criminal informant. For once, Serenity was speechless.

Then Pertina calmed down. "Ah, of course! Your mother must have told you!"

Not wanting to offend any more crystal ponies or bring up her earlier encounter with the mage, Celestia just nodded. "So you know all about what this is already then?" Her niece shook her head.

"It's your official gift from the Crystal Empire Delegation." she stated.

Oh no! thought the little princess. I wanted answers to all my questions! Now I have more than ever!

The queen saw her puzzled look and chuckled."You must understand, Celestia, that we keep the nature of our empire's magic an extremely closely guarded secret. We could never afford to let such knowledge fall into the wrong hands!" She paused while this idea was mulled over beneath the wispy pink mane next to her.

It finally occurred to her. "So... the nature of this... amplification crystal.. is the secret to your people's strength and unity? How is that possible?"

The queen glanced behind her before answering to check that the room was empty, as though readying to relieve the name of her foalhood crush. "Celestia... Dear... Amplification crystal..."

"Amplifies the emotive energies of whatever magic you shoot through it!" interjected an always impatient (and very poorly named) Princess Serenity. Her mother glared at her fully this time. Sighing, obviously looking for more words to put to this grand and secretive occasion, she finally admitted defeat.

"Exactly."

A long, drawn out pause followed.

"My dear one, I cannot explain everything to you, but the nature of the very ground of our empire is to amplify the emotional energies of our people. That is why it is our tradition to focus the work of the Empire's ruler on spreading love and happiness through our people. So long as positive energies are radiated through our homeland, feelings of love and peace are distributed all across our world, from Pinto Rico to the frozen wastes of the Wendigonia. But if ever anypony were to misuse the great power of the Crystal Throne, the darker unrefined materials from beneath our world would be activated, and their corruption would be all-consuming!". Serenity seemed to role her eyes a bit at her mother's dramatism. She had heard this before.

Celestia gasped at this, and several other revelations. She wished she had time to apologize to a certain mage!

Pertina beamed happily. "...Which is why we are giving you this most rare of gifts: It is a crime to cut our crystal wrongly, as it corrupts the flow of energy through the gems... We wished to thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Ever since your sun came exploding into being 20 years ago, our people have been more happy and full of love than ever before. You, Celestia, have brought peace to all of our lands!"

She felt humbled. Enormously so. She had been given something extremely special, twice, and her gratitude and unworthiness swelled up within her, threatening tears. She felt guilt at having not seen that SHE would have her own purposes in giving her the enigmatic objects, and suddenly burned to continue in her teachings harder than ever till she was ready to hear what purpose those particular, ordinary-looking six were to have.

She was humbled by something else, as well: It occurred to her that even when the brightstar was only just that, ponies still had to have lived, and loved, some way or another. Her power, with all the sun's energy pushed into it, could never be enough to change the emotions and connections of an entire world. This ancient chunk of gemstone to Equestria's north did just that and more, and it was an ancient civilization of rich culture and time-honored traditions that had somehow remained so sturdy in its balance for so long that no one beyond their borders could have any idea why their streets were so clean and crimeless, or their people so content and peaceable.

Celestia was not the only star in the sky. She would not forget that.

With tears in her eyes, she clasped the hoof of the queen to her own over the gift that so well represented the harmony of the union between their lands.

"The friendship that lies between Equestria and the crystal ponies..."

"Is magic." finished the queen happily.