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.
Not much research occurred for Guardian Angel the next day, or the next week even. Sometimes being involved in school and the military had a way of being more than time consuming. He had not forgotten about the tattered journal sitting in his room on his desk, but a library book from the Canterlot Archives was good for a month. This was fairly important since if he wanted to stay in school he needed to actually do the normal homework that he was assigned during the week.
When Guardian Angel finally sat down to read that Saturday evening, it was already well into the night. He was very pleased that Sunday was the day they did not have PT. Praise Celestia and her orb! He simply could not wait to see what other secrets he would discover in the musty old journal. Thus, Guardian Angel again opened the fateful book and began reading.
Unfortunately, most of the entries were Star Swirl’s magical calculations, spell lists and nonsensical speculations. Reaching about two-thirds of the way through the journal before taking a break, he started taking notes of how much was actually missing from the book.
The tome had once been able four times as thick. The binding was mostly shredded, though it was still marvelously strong for being 1000 years old. This meant it had likely been saved from destruction by Star Swirl himself and magically preserved, that alone was one Tartaros of a discovery. If he took the book to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, he’d never see it again, because of the amount of magical analysis they would do to it.Without even reading it.
Done staring at the journal, Guardian Angel picked up from where he left off. The last third of the book finally had some information in it that he was trying to find. It was on a mostly full page, that had Star Swirl’s thin magical-quill-writing only missing from a burn in the top left corner that had normally been indicating the entry number. The journal read:
-able. Malgust was forced to reveal to me the true nature of his body today. I still am trying to recover from the sight as I write this, but I do not believe I truly ever will. I cannot believe those *Things** were Lord Splinterwing and Lord Stormwalker.*
Omnipegasi, definitely are not to be trifled with. They must never be allowed to realize that we Unicorns are sheltering the only Alicorns remaining.
The mixing of a Shadow-pony and pegasus, is something both terrifying and overwhelming. I could not teleport out of the Splingterwing estate quick enough! However, now that I have my wits about myself once more, I will attempt to make sense of all my previous notes, and what I just witnessed.
Omnipegasus:
A rare species of pony that is typically much larger than their more common pegasi brethren. A good place to see them is the Cirran Empire, they comprise the nobility of the land there.
This pegasus’s main characteristic is that they are half-demon half-pony. Capable of taking different forms, and negating magic cast from a horn as if it did not exist.
This pegasus-genus is exceedingly dangerous and are extremely hostile towards non-pegasi. They possess the normal behavior of a pony however, and are generally very intelligent. Though as mentioned, they also have a different form that I have witnessed that I intend to desc-
The page was covered in dried blood staining certain sections, making words unreadable. The message still came through.
--Flaming Mane and Tail. Boosted muscle struc---- --fangs, slitted eyes, like that of dragon, that glow a bloody re-----
----Fearsome and horrifying they--- magical powers that===-//
=-/ elements, lightning in partic----- ---Regeneration also seems to be something they are capable of, when converted physical wounds do little to affect them.
Guardian Angel had to stop reading there. He sat gaping at the journal, jaw slack and hanging.
It simply wasn’t possible was it? A different species of pegasus? That he was descended from? Clearly, when Malgust Splinterwing had said that the Stormwalkers had been thorough in their containment of the true nature of the Cirran Lords, he had not been lying.
“WOW!”
He practically yelled to trying and kick-start his brain again, in an attempt to raise it from its stupor. When it came back to functioning in a semi-logical manner it told him to read more. Though Guardian Angel protested, his curiosity got the better of him, but he turned to the back of the journal first trying to avoid any more information about his ancestors brutally murdering their comrades.
What he found there was worse. In the very back of the book. There was a page of paper that had been carefully placed there as if to make it fit in with the rest of the journal. Turning it over Guardian Angel found Star Swirl’s writing again, though it appeared less thin and curvy than the other entries. The paper itself was also tattered with age, in comparison to the journal which looked as if it could have still had small fires burning its edges. Guardian Angel gulped down some fear as he began to read.
I, Star Swirl the Bearded, write this note to whomever finds this journal.
Know that what I discovered could have saved Celestia and Luna’s Parents from the Omnipegasi, and I was a fool not to have used its knowledge to my advantage.
Alas, I did not, in my age, and in my fear, I forgot entirely of the importance of these notes, and that they recorded the reactions of the Omnipegasi, to their possible exposure as demons. And the possible existence of Alicorns.
But with my entries on their actions destroyed now, i must write a new note on how they behaved, particularly the Stormwalkers.
Violent warriors possessing neither pity nor mercy. They were created long ago, before even the formation of the now defunct Cirran Empire, from demons known as shadow-ponies. The demons combined with the ancestors of the pegasi we see today. They granted the pegasi unimaginable strength and powers that defied magic, and even death himself.
IT was with my discovery of a diary kept by our two young princesses’ great-grandfather that I learned this. Alas, that history was destroyed by those infernal wretches as well. Thus, I will try to recall my memories of their behavior and what I have witnessed in that tiring year.
It was not long before Lord Stormwalker began to get suspicious of Malgust and I’s activities. I wish he had not decided to appear without warning in the midst of my magical calculations. I had been conducting tests based on the amount of magical energy Malgust actually kept stored in his body when the incident occurred.
“Unicorn.” He had snarled at me. Even then I think I realized what they truly were, but I kept the thoughts from my mind. It should have been no surprise with his attitude during the visit, but fear clouded my mind. Pointed questions, sneers, and the like were how he addressed me, yet I chose to ignore him.
Thus, even when he revealed his true nature I still was struck with utter terror.
“You will not reveal to the world what we have been trying to keep from it! I will never let you expose what we did, how we ruined all of pony-kind for no other reason than hatred. That secret shall die with you, unicorn! For I shall have your head served to your pathetic Princess Platinum on a platter!”
“No Maelstrom, you will not.”
**“You dare challenge me Malgust? We already know who will win.”
“It doesn’t matter. The Gryphons are soon to attack and the other Tribes must know what we are if they are to trust us. We will need their help if the Empire is to survive. Run Star Swirl! AGH!”
Stormwalker’s blade plunged into Malgust’s chest. It excited not much more than a growl from the noble Lord as he drew his own sword and began fighting. They wounded each other greatly before I teleported away. But they persisted, blood splattering everywhere as they continued to fight as my vision of them evaporated. I believe the description of their converted forms is still intact in the journal, though the drawings were destroyed. More importantly though, It was then that i realized what was at stake for the Pegasi and how far some of the would go to make their goals become reality. However, I was unable to stop what happened to them. Luckily, the current Pegasus leader, Commander Hurricane, is not one of the previous Lords of Cirra. I am sure that they will appear again once things have settled down and our young Royals forget the warnings I tried to provide them with. The Stormwalkers are good at putting themselves in very subtle positions of power and I suspect they will be elected to the nobility of Equestria some time soon.
I leave you with this my reader, tell the Royal Pony sisters about the treachery of the Omnipegasi. They will kill Alicorns without hesitation once they have their chance, I'm sure of it, that is what happened to the Princess's parents and it will happen again if they are not aptly warned.
Guardian Angel let out the breath he did not realize he had been holding. Slowly, thought returned to him. All that it chanted to him was:
His family had killed the Alicorns.
Alicorns.
The parents of Princess Celestia no less had been slain by his family.
Horror and revulsion is not capable of describing the disgust and nausea Guardian Angel felt as the reality of Star Swirl’s words fit together.
He simply could not believe what he had read. To have ancestors that played such a dark role in the forming of Equestria and if the book was to be believed the very world itself was unsettling to the point of causing a nervous breakdown.
Guardian Angel began gasping for air as he started to hyperventilate. Somewhere in his mind, the Scholarly Logic section in particular, something told him to remain calm, that this journal had no validation, just breathe and look for other texts to back it up. However, animal instinct told him to burn this book where it sat on his desk. That what it spoke of was an unfathomable truth that should never be told to the world. Luckily, the logic won out just barely and he calmed his breathing, wiping the drool he had created from his mouth. Talking to himself always helped to relieve a little stress so he did so, allowing his Logic to remain strong as he did.
“Okay. There are no other sources to prove this correct. In fact this may be an elaborate fake....”
“Except for the blood...and the burns...and the clear difference in the writing style of ‘Star Swirl’”
“But that doesn’t mean this text is legitimate. In fact, it makes no sense for Star Swirl the Bearded to have written a document based around the Cirran Lords at all. The three tribes had not even met yet!”
“Except it is explicitly described that the nobility knew of the other tribes...common for the times, monarchs and nobility liked to really keep a grip on the pony public...and...History does state that the parents of Celestia and Luna were in fact murdered and the culprit never caught....”
And Scholarly Logic said unto Guardian Angel, heir to the title of Lord Stormwalker:
“O.K. You can panic now.”
“But how? WHY?! NO....no..... Dad....Dad has to know about this! He has to! If it’s real he’ll know or not! Please by the stars let this all just be a crazy speculation by an overly eager student!!”
Guardian Angel jumped from his chair and half-hovered half-ran to the door to his balcony. Opening the door he took and moment to back up. He caught a glimpse of himself in his bathroom mirror as he did. His yellow-colored eyes piercingly bright for the low light of the apartment. For a moment the image of flames engulfed his mane and his face in the mirror began to change, but he did not stay to look at it. Sprinting from where he stood he jumped over the railing of the balcony snapping his wings open just before he reached to top of the arch of his jump. The big feathers catching wind with ease, he began gliding. Pumping the great limbs he climbed away into the night, the moon casting her blue light on his white coat. He planned on forgetting about this whole night and if possible forgetting to ask his father. But as terrible and disturbing his discovery was Guardian Angel still happened to be just a tiny bit curious.