Family Ties

Chapter 1: A Lack of Book Sources

The rustling of book pages echoed in the nearly silent Canterlot Archives. It was late at night and the only ponies there were the overnight librarian and a history student. The student was a very large white pegasus that happened to not have class the next morning, much to the dismay of the librarian, who had helped him find the tower of books he was now searching through.

Guardian Angel, the young University of Canterlot student, was painfully aware of the angry glare that the librarian gave him. He poked his nose deeper into the history book and pretended to not have noticed trying to hide beneath the spiky ends of the front of his mane. Slowly, after finding the appropriate spot in the historical tome's index, Guardian Angel turned to the page of interest.

It read: Before the formation of the Tri-Pony Pact, the Cirran Empire was the dominant nation in what is now Frozen North. The Cirran Empire was ruled by Pegasi and had existed as the strongest political power after the disappearance of the Alicorns. The Sky Emperor, the ruler of the Cirran Empire, divided his lands amongst his most loyal Lords, whom had helped establish the Pegasi as the dominant species at the time. The Lords and their descendants answered to the Sky Emperor and his descendants, ruling over the great districts as an effective central government.. Peace reigned during this time in history, but little is recorded of the Emperor and his Lords except their names and the territory they ruled. The Lords shared equal rank, and counselled the Emperor, their surnames and domains were as follows: Splinterwing of the West, Valkyrie the Northerner, Tempest the East-pony, and Stormwalker of the South. However, one crucial point is known, the Lords were the reason the Cirran Empire fell when the griffons invaded the continent.

That was it. Dead end. Again.

Guardian Angel grunted in frustration, snorting unintentionally as he did. He grabbed the next book in the pile hoping he would find the information he sought. Research papers in the history department required the appropriate texts as citations when discussing the impact of certain ponies or pony cultural groups. Thus, when you are trying to find information on your family, the only still existing non-Unicorn nobility in all of Equine History, you tend to get rather upset when you cannot find any mention beyond your surname, Stormwalker.

Being the son of the Lord of Cloudsdale was supposed to have some interesting history that came with it. Clearly, picking his own family history was the wrong way to go with this research paper. The last five books on pre-Equestrian culture managed to barely even mentioned the Cirran Empire, and the most recent one was the only book to even mention the names of the Cirran Lords, or that there was evidence of them at all.

By the time he reached the last book in the pile not much had changed. Still he had no real research material beyond old family tall tails, and every book did nothing beyond mention the Empire and how little was known about it. However, when he read the title of the rather thin account in front of him, Guardian Angel's ear flicked back upright from their previously downward position.

***The Cirran Lords

By***

Star swirl The Bearded

Star Swirl the Bearded wrote on the Lords? Pondered the student. He had been alive during the time so Guardian Angel wasn't too surprised. But, Starswirl was supposed to be a famous magician not an historian, that and the three tribes of ponies were not  supposedly to have met until the Cirran Empire fell apart. Whatever had made the Master of Spells write this account must have been profound, maybe even magically important with such implications. After brushing some of his now disheveled mane away from his face, Guardian Angel noticed something about the small book.

Beneath the title was an intricately carved golden design of a Pegasus with a mane and tail that appeared to be great billows of flame. Around the metal fixture long purple lines moved about in swirls giving the appearance of dark clouds. Lastly, the corners of the book appeared to have been lit on fire, but quickly saved.  Ignoring those details though Guardian Angel opened up the book, or rather journal and began reading the manuscript that was well over 1000 years old.

Author's Note: this is my personal record of the studies Lord Malgust Splinterwing allowed me to conduct on him. The journal also includes the reaction of the other Lords of the skies had to the knowledge of their true nature being exposed to the world.

Entry Number One.

Upon undertaking this quest of understanding the fineries of what makes a Pegasus a Lord of the Skies, I came to a realization. All of the Cirran Lords are large. Very very large. They dwarf the size of standard pegasi and some even make the largest of the Earth tribes to appear diminutive in size.

Thus armed with this observation, I plied Lord Malgust with questions. The conversation is as follows. I am the standard quill-writing, Malgust is the other.

"Why are the Lords all so large?"

"I believe is comes from our heritage, we are not standard Pegasi."

"What do you mean by that exactly? Your species is different?"

"Yes, exactly. Our bloodlines are...tainted, we have something of a curse between us, it is about our collective ancestors that formed the Empire. Tell me, in your studies Starswirl have you ever uncovered anything regarding something called "Shadow Ponies?"

"Well, no. I have not heard of such things."

"Then the Stormwalkers have been very meticulous. A shame really. It matters not though, I shall tell you of them. Shadow Ponies are ancient demons, they were the physical embodiment of fear, hatred, and anger."

"Like Windegos?"

"Yes, but they were not ethereal. They existed as real beings sowing destruction, plague, and famine long since the beginning of time. They were the chief enemies of the now extinct Alicorns."

"You mean to tell me that the Alicorns were destroyed by these so called demons? I was under the impression that they simply were victims of age and time."

"You are wrong. They were brought low by the demons they thought they had destroyed. For you see, the Shadow Ponies. before they were eradicated, infested the ancestors of we Lords. They fused with the Pegasi of old and formed an army that was able to withstand the magics of the Alicorns."

Withstand the magic of the Alicorns? No offense Malgust but I am a very talented mage capable of fighting off even the greatest of warriors, but I pale in comparison to the magic skill and sheer power of an Alicorn. So forgive me if I do not believe these demon-infested Pegasi could do much to the Alicorn society.

"I expected your skepticism Star Swirl, but is not the reason you are here? To test my supposed, magical resistance? I know you know of it."

"I suppose you are correct, I cannot prove what you say is not true without ample testing of my magics against your body."

"Well, I am of the pure blood. Fire away at me with your spells, though I caution you, it could become dangerous."

My results were startling. Any spell I cast at Lord Spilnterwing simple bounced off and dissipated into the a---

The rest of the page was ripped out. In fact most of the pages were missing sections some burned out others torn apart. Guardian Angel exhaled in exasperation as he closed the journal, deciding that it would be best to study the text in private later. The mention of his family repressing the information about the Cirran Lords had come as a shock to him. Needing some time to think before reading the nearly destroyed journal, he went up to the librarian who was sleeping at the desk.

"Excuse m-me, miss? Are you awake?"

His voice shook more than he had wanted it to but the realization that he may be stumbling upon a historical discovery made him shaky. Particularly when his own family may be the culprits behind the long lost secrets of the Cirran Empire. The young mare startled from sleep gasped awake.

“Yes! Yes, I am awake. What do you want?”

“I’d like to check this journal out.”

“Where did you get this?”

“You helped me find it, I only have just gotten to reading it. It is perfect for my research paper.”

“Alright, I guess you can have it, typically stuff written by Star Swirl the Bearded is in the wing with his name on it.”

“Yes, I found that odd as well.”

The librarian quickly filled out the papers and stamped the book, before hastily rushing him out of the Archives. She mumbled something about him being a “crazy history nut” as she closed the door to the outside, leaving Guardian Angel to stand in the cold January air.

Alone, Guardian Angel stood wondering about what he was going to do with the journal. He could always read it later, it was almost sun-up. It was then that he realized something horrifying. Though he did not have normal class tomorrow, he did have Pony Training.

“Horseapples!” he proclaimed into the sky, as he spread his big wings out from his sides, allowing the frigid wind to sting his flanks. Shuddering as he flapped hard several times to get himself moving quickly, Guardian Angel cursed at himself for forgetting the daily rituals of military training. He was going to suffer when they began the mountain laps in about an hour.

As he flew the big pegasus turned and looked down at his Cutie Mark. It was a navy-blue, spiked shield, whose field sported a singular red lightning bolt, flanked by two outstretched wings, still within the field of the shield. Above this sat the golden halo of an angel, a perfect representation of his name and special talent. However, right now he was upset that his special talent had compelled him to join the Guard, forget PT, and now have to suffer through two hours of constant flying in low-oxygen air on a lack of sleep. He pumped his wings in anger pushing himself higher above the city, towards the university campus and apartment on the north end of the many sprawling buildings of Canterlot.

Gliding, he continued towards his apartment in the far portion of the Northern Quarter. He looked out across the snow covered roofs of the capital and beheld the gleaming ivory walls of the palace. As he did so he could not help but spy the entrance to what was the Royal Apartments, or literally Princess Celestia’s bedroom. The gold trimmed doors and glass panes of the tower glinted in the pre-dawn light as they opened slowly. The slender silhouette of the only mare near his height appeared, horn burning bright with golden light.

It was not a moment later that the sun peaked over the edge of the horizon, nearly blinding him with its sudden brilliance against the grey of the early morning. He would have to be at the assembly point in full armor in about thirty minutes, less time than he had thought. Turning from the sight of the god-princess and her sun, Guardian Angel flew as fast as his wings would carry him to his apartment so he could deposit the infernal, yet wonderful piece of history he held in his hooves.

Making it there he landed on his balcony and slammed the sliding glass door open so hard he was surprised it did not shatter. He quickly tossed Star Swirl’s journal on his desk before getting his armor out of his closet. It was quite the process to get dressed in full battle armor when you were not a Unicorn. Though he could more easily use his wings to dress himself than other pegasi because of their size and strength, putting on the rear flank plates and tail guard was still ridiculously tedious. Slowly, managing to get everything on, he darted back out the still open balcony door. He shut it gently this time and immediately took the air, speeding with all his might to make it to Assembly on time.

He landed on the old stone square outside of the city, just before the last Unicorn in the PT group sauntered lazily to his spot in formation. He walked quickly to his spot in front of file one and took parade rest position. It was then that the Unicorn Sergeant began berating Guardian Angel, muttering his surname under his breath before shouting it at the young soldier.

“Cadet Stormwalker! You look like you haven’t slept in two days!”

“I have not Sergeant, Sir!”

“Weeeellll then! I guess you get experience some real stress then! ‘Cause today we are practicing full recon ops, so you Cadetl get stay airborne for a whole 2 hours.”

“Yes Sir, Sergeant!”

“Now get in the air, you get to lead the air ops! Unicorn section you’re with me.”

It was going to be a very, very long morning.