Chapter 2

Courage and Prejudice.

There was one more category of alicorn known in those times. They were known as The Prime Ones. They were the ones who had shaped this world into the form that it is now. There was Helia, the shaper of the forests and the skies; Naltor, the shaper of the rivers and seas; and Eden, the shaper of the earth and the mountains.
After their task of shaping the world was complete, both Helia and Naltor seemed to have disappeared from existence for unknown reasons. But Eden had taken it upon himself to ensure the beauty of the world would remain, so he rose to power and became the King of the Alicorns and ruled through many great and prosperous eons.

A great fear came to me after hearing Discord's telepathic message. I was gathered with some other ponies in my hometown and each of them had a frightened look on their face. "P-p-perish?" One said, "Who was that?" Another asked, "Does this mean... War?" A third added.
Of course, the ponies in my hometown never had been in a fight, nor had any training for that matter. My parents and I had lived at the very edge of the Kingdom, whereas the school of magic arts was right at the center of it. After my education and training was finished, I had decided to move back to my hometown and see in what way I could help the ponies there. A few weeks later, this message was spread telepathically to me, and, as I later found out, every pony in the entire Kingdom.

Within moments, a town meeting was called and the ponies gathered in the town's center. My parents stood at the very center with me by their side, urging ponies to calm down and listen to what they had to say.
"We know you're scared and fear for an age of war, but currently my husband, our child and I are the only alicorns in this town." My mother started.
"We desire peace and we shall keep living in peace, we are far away from the capital, where this message originated from. My wife and I have means of keeping this town hidden from invading ponies, you do not need to worry." My father added.
With the further explanation of their plans, my parents had soon calmed the ponies down. The town was right in the middle of a giant forest, so hiding it would be a simple matter of disguising the town as just another part of the forest. A runic circle was made in the very center of town and soon enough the town was enveloped in an auto-casting illusion spell.

After those few hectic hours, calmness had returned throughout the town, but I still had this feeling of uneasiness. As I sat at home with my parents at the dinner table, there was a complete silence as we were eating. With a growing tension in my stomach, I could hardly get anything down, when suddenly my mother looked at me with a smile.
"You're still worried about the rest of the Kingdom, huh?" She said, following with a soft shake of her head and a little chuckle.
"Always our little saving angel..." My father sighed.
I nodded with a slight blush on my face before looking determined "You've got this place covered, and even though I don't know if I could help in the time to come, I would still like to see if I can help in at least some way!"
My mother showed me a bright smile and nodded "We know honey, and we think you should go and see the princesses in their castle! We will always be here when you need us, but we can't put ourselves into this war like you can, we have to protect the ponies in this town!"
My father sighed deeply and looked at me with some sadness "You'll always be my little girl, but I know when you got your mind set on something, you won't falter. I also know that you're more than capable to protect yourself from any harm, but still, be careful out there, okay?"
I nodded and smiled softly "Thank you both for understanding, I know it must be hard to say goodbye again after I've been back for only a short time, but I have to go... I feel it in my bones that I must help the ponies in need..."
They both nodded in agreement and we had a lovely last dinner together and that night I felt the same fear for what's to come, but a strange excitement for it as well.

The morning after I had packed my bags, gave my parents a last hug and kiss before waving goodbye and setting off on my path to the princesses. By that I mean, I transcribed a spell in a runic circle I created with the light from my horn, creating a portal between my hometown and my destination, The Castle of The Two Sisters.
I knew that the capital, what nowadays is known as Canterlot, but back then was known as just The Capital, would be too dangerous of a place to go since this apparent new King Discord had taken the throne through force and there was a possibility that his followers had overtaken the city and that the princesses wouldn't be there.
My current residence, the little town of Ponyville, didn't even exist back then, it was just a barren land right next to The Capital. And on this land, it was where the Last Battle was fought... But more on that later.

During my years of study, I became acquainted with the princesses themselves, Celestia and Luna. They were born from our great king Eden and our lovely queen Tuila, but sadly, Tuila had to give her life to let Luna be born into this world. But once grown into young mares themselves, they had nothing but love for one another and for their father, who loved them back equally.
They had grown into bright and promising young mares as well, eventually taking part in their father's daily work for the kingdom by accepting the duty of the day and night cycles of the sun and moon respectively.
I became somewhat of a friend to them during the years of my training, but mostly out of an interest from them in how a pony with such a low amount of inner magic could rise so high in the ranks of our school. From that interest came knowledge and from that knowledge came a friendship. After I was done with my training and I went back to my parents, they went back to their current residence in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Which was away from their father, but always close enough to keep an eye on him and for him to keep an eye on them.
So I knew that if I wanted more information on what happened and still be safe from Discord, I would have to go there.

I arrived at some distance from the castle, so as not to invade in this time of crisis and having to explain that I was not some pony that would mean any harm to the Princesses.
As I walked towards the main entrance, through the dense forest that surrounded it, I started to ask myself some questions to prepare for when I would meet the two princesses.
Who was this Discord? What had he done with our king Eden? If he had beaten him, how? Wasn't Eden the strongest alicorn known to ponykind? And also, if he did, how can WE hope to stop him?
My train of thought was broken when I suddenly felt something behind me and I quickly jumped away from whatever it was. It turned out that my instincts saved my life because, only a moment later, something that seemed like a knife flew in and lodged itself into the tree, right where my head would be.
I quickly looked around to see who threw it before noticing that the knife suddenly went up in a smoke. A thick black smoke trailed off from it and seemed to mix itself with the overall shadows of the trees and their leaves. I instantly recognized it as shadow magic, and immediately wondered if Discord had somehow gotten information on the princesses and their castle and had sent an assassin to kill them before they could gather up an army against him.

I took a deep breath, shone my horn with magic and drew in power from the forest around me, creating a shield of light around me to keep myself from harm. I exclaimed to the unknown assailant "You cannot hurt me anymore! Reveal yourself and tell me your intentions!"
I suddenly heard a slow clopping of hooves from behind a nearby tree and soon enough from behind it came a black-furred pony. I quickly analyzed her and saw that she was an alicorn, like me, but about twice my size, a size that would actually be considered 'normal' for a mare my age. Her fur was a deep, dark black and there was something strange about her wings, they seemed to slowly move around a bit while she had them folded, each row somehow moving on their own and not all as one. Her mane and tail were a dark gray from what I could see, just like the tip of her hooves, but what had alarmed me the most was her eyes, a deep and bright, almost glowing red, with just a slit of black which must have been her pupil. She looked at me with those eyes, but it felt like they pierced right through me.
"Well, well, well," the mare said as she slowly walked closer to me "what have we here? It seems like we have a little lost filly in our hooves, huh? Shouldn't you be at home, little one? I'm sure your parents must be worried, heh heh heh..."
"For your information," I quickly replied "I am a lot older than you might think and very capable of taking care of myself AND you! Now tell me who you are and what you're doing here, or else!"
"Or else what?" She said with a smirk "You're gonna hide in your bubble some more? Are you gonna run to your mommy and cry? We don't need weaklings like you where we're going, so get lost before you get hurt!"
I growled, "That's it!" And ran at her as fast as I could, my shield still intact.

She chuckled and summoned another knife seemingly from the shadows and threw it at me, expecting my 'novice' shield to shatter at the very touch of it "You got lucky the fir-" she started, before the knife poofed and fizzled away against the shield "-st time... What the-"
I had reached her and tackled her hard, forcing her to fall on her back as I stood up on top of her chest and summoned a small spear of hard light which I pointed at her neck "Who are you?! Are you in cahoots with that Discord? Are you here to assassinate the princesses?! Tell me now, or I swear to the goddess that I will shove this thing right through your brain and deep fry it!" I had managed to say this all without giving away my intense trembling shock of adrenaline that was shaking me to my very core.
I had never done something like before! I had been in a few training fights, but I had found that combat was not really for me, unless absolutely needed. My frustration at her words must have awakened some primal instincts in me and forced my body to do things that I never expected it could! It was exciting and frightening at the same time. On one hoof, I had taken control of a situation where I was almost certain that it would end badly, on the other, I had done so without really meaning to. I had gained and lost control at the same time.

As she was tackled, the air in her lungs was forced out harshly and she looked at me with big eyes of surprise, suddenly putting her hooves up with a panic in her voice "Woah, Woah, Woah! Calm down, little one, I'm not an enemy I swear! I'm part of Luna's personal guard, sent to scout the area and look for anything suspicious! My name is Tracie, Tracie Abbadon!" She chuckled nervously "Holy crap, you really surprised me there! Hehehe..."
I snarled at her again and poked her neck a little with my spear "How can I trust you? You use shadow magic! What if this is some trick?!"
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow "Hey, I'm the guard here, I should be the one asking you those same questions! And are you saying you don't trust me because I use shadow magic and all dark magic is inherently evil? Because that's just plain rude! Luna, the princess of the moon uses dark magic all the time!"
I gulped a bit and started to fear that maybe she was telling the truth "I-I know that! I was friends with both sisters not too long ago! S-Sorry?" I shook my head and poked her with my spear again "W-wait, no! This could still be a trick to fool me and get close to the princesses!"
Tracie sighed a bit "Then we're a bit stuck here, I'm afraid... Look, you don't seem like a bad kid-"
"I'm not a kid!"
"You don't seem like a bad MARE, with the intention of protecting the princesses, so how about this? You keep that spear pointed at my neck, but let me turn around and get up while you stay on my back. I will walk towards the castle and ask somepony there to confirm my story. If at any point, you feel like you cannot trust me or you need to defend the princesses from me, you can pierce that spear right through my throat, alright?"
I looked at her with some suspicion and thought it over in my head, concluding that it would be best "Well, okay then, but don't try anything sudden or funny, you hear?"

Tracie nodded and soon enough I slowly moved off her chest, she turned over and I climbed up on her back, all the while holding my spear of light very close to her neck. She then got up and started walking towards the castle. Soon enough it came into view and with it, a few guards patrolling the castle as well. Soon enough, I yelled at one of them "Hey! I found this dangerous looking alicorn nearby! Could somepony help?"
As it so happened, one of the closest guards was also part of Luna's guard and looked at us with quite some confusion on his face as he pointed his spear towards them "Uhm, captain? What's that young alicorn doing with that spear against your neck?"
Before I could protest against the 'young' comment again, Tracie chuckled and smirked: "Not to worry, Clyde, just tell the MARE very clearly and exactly what my name is and who I am to you..."
Clyde nodded slowly "Uhm, okay... Your name is Tracie Abbadon, you are the captain of Luna's personal guard, and therefore you are my higher-up, ma'am. But, can I ask why and how a filly is currently upholding what seems to be a powerful shield and a spear of light threateningly against your neck?"
I huffed and at this point had figured that the mare's story was true so I hopped down from her back and fizzed out the shield and spear "For your information-"
"She's not a filly, she is a lot older than you think she is and she is more than capable of taking care of herself AND me, as she clearly showed me!" Tracie took the words from me and ended with a wink towards me and a chuckle to boot.
Dang it, now she started to make me like her as well!

Clyde shook his head and sighed "Okay, that's all fine and dandy, but what's her name? Where did she come from? Why is she here? Have you asked her that yet, captain?"
Tracie chuckled some more "Hahaha, nope! Didn't get the time with the spear in my neck and all that!" She then looked at me expectantly.
I stood there for quite a few moments, the situation only slowly getting to me "U-Uhm... Well... Uhm..."
"Who are you? Where are you from? And why are you here, little one?" Tracie tried to help.
"I'm not little! I'm just vertically impaired!" I yelled out without thinking, getting a laugh from both Clyde and Tracie. I huffed and pouted "My name is Everlight Helios, I came from a small village on the edge of the kingdom, I teleported here using a runic portal and I came here because I heard the telepathic message from this Discord, who claimed himself the new king... Fearing danger in the capital, I thought I'd come here and see if the princesses were here to ask for plans on what to do..."
Both Clyde and Tracie stood there, with a look of wonder. "That's... Impressive! And very smart of you to come here, miss Helios..." Tracie said with a smile on her face "The princesses are actually building an army as a counter-offensive against the... King... Wait, did you say Discord was a new king?"

I nodded "Yeah? I presumed something happened to Eden or he did something to the King... Why? What happened exactly?"
Both Clyde and Tracie looked at each other with worry before Clyde left to patrol the premises some more "I'll leave this one to you, captain..."
Tracie looked at me with what I can only guess was compassion "Everlight... King Eden... He... Something drove him mad! Eden wasn't defeated by this Discord... He IS Discord! We're not certain how, or why it happened; maybe it was a madness for power, maybe the loss of his wife because of his daughters, maybe his duties as a ruler overwhelmed him. Fact is, we don't know, but we do know that we have to stop him, or else he will destroy everything and everypony we know and love!"
This news was somehow an even greater shock than thinking Eden was defeated by Discord. Now, one of the greatest and strongest alicorns that had ever lived had somehow succumbed to madness, and with it, brought chaos and evil to the land.

What would become of the kingdom? How did the princesses react to their own father turning on them like that? I was hesitant for the answers and too scared to ask.
"Let's just introduce you to the princesses, see if your story about you knowing them is true as well!" Tracie calmly continued and started trotting into the castle.
I meekly followed, still wrapping my head around this whole ordeal I now apparently became a part of.

Author's Note

Woah, a second chapter, only a few days after finishing the first and at least twice as long?!
In all seriousness though, I hope everypony is liking the story so far and will keep reading!
My plans for this whole thing are quite big and maybe a bit ambitious, but I actually want to write this whole thing down, cuz I've been keeping it in my head for way too long.
And really, these first two chapters are really only just the start, so be prepared for a LOT more, when I find the time and will to write that is.