Symbiosis

Twilight sat at Celestia’s left side at the table reserved for Equestria’s princesses and other top-tier nobleponies. The anniversary feats was going excellently and it was nice to have it in Canterlot again, the old castle had a charm Twilight’s own crystal castle couldn’t match. The feast was wrapping up, her opening speech had been met with the usual appreciation, the games were as entertaining as always, her friend’s did their usual storytelling, this time Pinkie had done a comedy roast of her which had everypony laughing, and the food was especially excellent.

However this time Twilight had an odd feeling of dread. It had started that morning when Spike had handed her a letter from Celestia. She could still remember it’s exact wording which sounded quite ominous to her mind:

Dear Twilight,

After the feast this evening come and see my in my chambers. I have an important message for you which may not be heard by anypony other than the two of us. Do not mention our meeting to anypony until after we have talked.

-Celestia

Twilight  cast a scrutinous look over Celestia out of the corner of her eye. After a hundred years she had grown wise to Celestia’s unconventional teaching method of forcing her to react to danger. There was a certain look in Celestia’s eyes whenever she concealed information in that manner, it was hard for her to put into words. A sort of squint of glee and curiosity.

The ‘Lesson Look’ wasn’t present in her old mentor’s eyes this time. This look was one of hope, curiosity, and concern which made Twilight far more fearful. The ‘Lesson Look’ had been in Celestia’s eyes when she had sent her to the Crystal Empire all those years ago. It had been in her eyes when Discord was let loose. It had been in her eyes the time the Great and Powerful Trixie had accidentally summoned ten-million vampiric jackalopes. All of these had been an ordeal in and of themselves which required the Elements’ full power to defeat. What in Equestria actually causes you to worry?

The feast wrapped up, everypony slowly leaving as the evening wore on until Luna announced it was time for her to raise the moon for the night and the last few ponies left to continue the festivities elsewhere. Pinkie immediately came bounding up to Twilight, a smile stretching from ear to ear, “Twilight! There is going to be a totally awesome ginormous after party at the Salt Lick Club! They are gonna have a cake shaped like Equestria, and balloons, and Vinyl's daughter is gonna be doing the music, and-”

Twilight smiled softly holding up a hoof to hush her exuberant friend, “Pinkie, the other princesses and I have a little bit of business to take care of. I’ll do my best to make it to the afterparty but I have to take care of this tonight ok?”

Pinkie’s ears drooped instantly, “Oh… But we haven't gone to a party- like a non formal party- together in…” Pinkie giggled to herself cheering back up, “...three days days. Sorry Twilight.”

Twilight returned her smile. After all these years Pinkie had finally started understanding that Twilight had a limit to how many parties she could do in one week. “I promise I will try and make it, but if I don't show up I’ll see you all for breakfast ok?”

“Ok!” Pinkie sproinged away, going to invite Twilight’s friends one at a time to the afterparty.

Twilight quietly slipped out of the great hall and headed up the stairs to the east wing and Celestia’s quarters. The climb to the top of the east tower was very familiar to Twilight, she had walked it countless times as a young adult alone each and every single step was familiar to her as her own mane. Which is why she immediately teleported to the top of the spiral staircase, there was no way she was walking up all 678 steps tonight.

Celestia came trotting up the steps a few moments after Twilight arrived at the top in a flash of magic. She shook her head at Twilight’s antics, “I remember when you didn’t mind the steps so much.”

“That as before I could teleport without line of sight.” Twilight reminded.

Celestia chuckled and opened the door to her chambers with her magic. The first room’s familiar three couches around a coffee table was comforting enough to get rid of the uneasy feeling Twilight’s guesses had foisted upon her. She took a seat on her favorite red silk cushioned couch as Celestia opened the door to her inner chamber, “Not this room.” Celestia informed walking deeper into her personal chambers.

The uneasy feeling came back. Twilight got to her hooves and followed along to the next room, then the next, and at last a side room. Twilight had never been in this particular part of Celestia’s chambers before, the small side room was a trophy room of sorts. The room’s walls were lined with shelves which held up all manner of things from books, to weapons, to gems, to a preserved butterfly. Below the shelves more items sat atop marble podiums under glass cases, each with a label explaining what the object within was and what it’s story had been.

After Twilight passed through the door Celestia closed it with a gentle nudge of her magic, “This is my room of memories. It is one of the safest places in all the world. Nopony will be able to overhear our discussion, which is important as I need to bring you in on one of Equestria’s greatest national secrets.”

Twilight looked up at Celestia with a relieved sigh, “Oh thank goodness! I thought that all of spacetime was going to unravel unless we found a long lost magical relic and tossed it into an oddly specific volcano or something.”

Celestia couldn't help but grin for a moment, “I do often send you on obscure missions don’t I? With even a bit of luck there will be no danger in what I will ask of you tonight.”

“So… what is it?” Twilight asked, sitting on the floor to listen as intently as she could.

“Are you familiar with the Gryphon War of the Second Era?”

Twilight nodded, “Of course! It’s a very important part of history. You even had me write a report on it.”

“That war never happened.” Celestia said in as  serious of a tone as she could manage.

Twilight’s jaw dropped, “Yes it did. That war is what led to our current alliance with the Gryphon Kingdom. There are extensive relics from the battlefields dug up by-”

“The Gryphon King of that age was in on the conspiracy. Every artifact from the war in a museum is a fake.”

Twilight simply could not even begin to accept that history as written might not be correct. “Celestia! Of all the ponies who would believe some conspiracy nonsense-”

“Twilight, I led the army in that war. Do you think even for a moment I could forget anything which happened?”

“...No…” Twilight had to concede, “But if history is wrong why haven’t-”

“Because the actual war which happened was far worse and I have no idea if the invaders will ever comeback. I did not want my ponies to live in fear of a possible war which might or might not come at anytime.” Celestia sighed and walked to one of the glass cases and opened it with her magic, removing an odd silver and green device.

“What is that?”

“Evidence of the truth. This is one of the weapons we fought against. It’s magics are long dead, but this device sent a bolt of magical fire flying at a target. It would melt stone, turn wood to ash, melt most metals, and burn flesh so badly many ponies would die from the pain instead of the wounds.” Celestia set the weapon back in it’s case with a look of triumph and despair.

“Who would use such a cruel weapon?” Twilight asked ears drooping at the description.

“We never learned their proper names. We called them Outsiders. They were a mix of races not from our world banded together for reasons unknown. It sounds like science fiction, but the Outsiders came from the stars, abducted ponies, performed experiments, and once they had learned enough about us they attacked in force.” Celestia’s horn lit up as she projected a magical image to allow Twilight to see her memories as she told her the truth of the long past war.

The Outsiders simply arrive one day and began leveling buildings, killing ponies and causing general terror. The foot soldiers they had were grey frail looking skinned bipedal creatures which most ponies could easily defeat but they had thousands of them, and their more elite soldiers possessed powerful magics, some even had armor which nullified magical effects around it.

“The war lasted for two years. In the first three months most of Equestria’s major cities were in ruins… by the time it was over there were so few ponies who knew the truth that covering everything up was easy. There was no longer a messenger service so the villages were cut off from one another, and most ponies who survived lived in those villages and had not been touched by the war. Most of the others were a part of The Order, the Knights I led in our defense. We won by learning about the Outsiders, their magics, their abilities, their tools. We made their strengths our strengths and attacked any weakness we could find. One day we finally did enough damage to their invasion for them to get serious.”

The image changed to show far more powerful looking creatures, great hulking brutes which looked like hairless diamond dogs, massive robotic enemies clearly designed only to kill, and tall thin creatures in robes who clearly had command over potent dark magics. Finally a massive fortress of metal appeared in the sky over the badlands.

“This was their base of operations. Every single soldier, every single ship, every single captive came from or went to that place. Nothing we had could hope to destroy it, the entire structure was somehow made immune to our magics. Fortunately one of our nations greatest heroes made a key discovery. Sir Cedar Creek-”

Twilight’s ears perked up, “It’s good to hear he was not made up! Sir Creek has to be one of my personal favorite unicorn knights.”

“Actually, he was an Earth Pony.”

“What? But he cast spells! He was a wizard and a knight.” Twilight objected.

“Yes he was. But he wasn't casting pony magic, his magic came from a powerful creature he discovered being held captive in an Outsider base whom he freed and befriended. Her name was Ryuome, and she was an Ethereal-you can put your hoof down Twilight I was about to explain.”

Twilight sheepishly put her hoof down, “Sorry…”

“Ethereals come in two varieties, the sort which led the Outsiders, and the type Ryuome was. She told me of her kind’s history, long ago her people had physical bodies but believed if they shed them and became creatures of thought and magic alone they could become an enlightened people. A ritual was attempted but only a few Ethereals ascended to the form of life they desired… The rest were driven mad and now seek to find any way to join their kin who succeeded. Ryuome was an Ascended Ethereal, and her Fallen kin were using her as a power source for their magics.”

“That’s horrible! But… If she could serve as the power supply for an entire army’s magic just how powerful was she?”

“In truth she only provided a fifth of their strength. On her own she was quite weak, a single arrow hitting the energy which composed her body could potentially kill her. Because of this they rarely manifest a physical form. Ascended Ethereals are not creatures like you or I Twilight, they instead bond to another in a sort of spiritual symbiosis and exist within that creature’s mind. Together the two individuals become far stronger than they would be apart. The Ethereal gains a durable body, the host gains access to the Ethereal’s magic, and they both gain companionship.” Celestia explained.

“So they are a symbiote?”

“Exactly. It was because of his partnership with Ryuome that Sir Creek could use magic… I had him portrayed as a unicorn so his feats would be believed by history without mentioning her. Together, Sir Creek and Ryuome managed to bring down the Outsider’s fortress’s defenses but were mortally wounded in the process. Outsider magic has many cruel ways to harm, and many amazing ways to help.”

Celestia closed her eyes, blinking back tears at the memories, “They were two of my dearest friends. I could never talk to Ryuome directly but Sir Creek was more than happy to relay her messages to me. All she wanted was to help ponies like us. She had lived on our world for millennia, hopping from pony to pony and giving them the ability to do great things to help all ponykind. Apparently they wish for little more than company and to make others happy. Which is why when she died I promised to look after her child.”

“I’m sorry but, why would an all powerful spirit-like creature need a host? It doesn't quite make sense to me.” Twilight mused for a few moments, “Discord doesn't need a host.”

“They are far from all powerful, Discord would be more than a match for all but the oldest Ethereal. From what I understand, they gave up their physical selves. While an Ascended Ethereal has a physical shape and can manifest it in a way we can interact with that is their very life force, completely unprotected by a body.”

“Oh… I think I understand now. You said you promised to look after her child. What happened then?”

“Nothing yet. The final battle the two undertook left them mortally wounded, as I said before. The specific way Ryuome was injured caused her to create an egg. It was damaged, but she told me that I would slowly repair itself as the egg soaked up ambient magic and one day it would hatch. That day has yet to come, but when it dose hatch the child will need to immediately have a host.”

Twilight nodded, she could see where this was heading. “And you think that I am the right pony for the job. I… guess I could share my head with an alien spirit for a while.”

“No Twilight, you can no host it.”

“Why not?”

“Pony magic is… not compatible with Outsider magic. Your natural magical field would make him or her very sick very quickly. We discovered that of all Pony kinds only Earth Ponies are suitable hosts. Also as this is a child it would be best for the host to be the child’s own age.”

“Oh. Well… what do you want me to do then?” Twilight asked curiously.

“I do not believe you would have time to have a foal of your own and it is very unlikely you could have an Earthy Pony with your level of magic. So I would like you to adopt a foal and raise him or her with the young Ethereal hosted within. I sadly have too many royal duties to be a proper mother, Luna is not mature enough for the task, and Cadence has her own colt to raise…”

“You want me to become a mother?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Yes. If we can raise the Ethereal as a friend, as family, and raise it as well as can be we can create a powerful champion to protect our would should the Outsider’s come again and our strength not be enough… Also I promised Ryuome I would care for the child, and I believe I would do so best by giving it to you. Please Twilight, nopony else can be trusted with the truth.” Celestia admitted.

Twilight stood up. She wanted to object but Celestia’s logic was quite sound. There was only one thing left to do. With a sigh Twilight asked, “How do I find a suitable host?”

“Remember the ‘Mage’s Gem’?”

Twilight nodded.

“That is actually the egg. I entrusted it to the most powerful spellcasters to protect whenever I felt a pony could do it better than myself. With the egg now active it should react in some way to the touch of a suitable host.” Celestia pointed with one hoof to the end of the room. A single podium sat at the very end, cradled in a plush red silk pillow sat the egg, energy whirling about just under it’s surface.

“So,” Twilight asked as Celestia gently took the egg from its case, “I should take that to an orphanage and touch all the Earth Pony foals with it and see if anything happens?”

Celestia handed the egg to Twilight who took it gently, “Yes. I can’t think of a better way to do it. Let’s get the egg into a box. You should get started right away, the magic waves within it appeared only this morning. I think it may be hatching soon.”

Twilight gulped. This was a whole new type of responsibility for her. Yes she had raised Spike, and yes she had brought up a few animals in her long life, but she had never before been entrusted with the care of a child who could hold the key to ensuring Equestria remained a free land. “How… How certain are you that the Outsiders will come back?”

“Not at all. We did not destroy them all, but they may not simply want to attack a place which defeated them a second time. We do not know anything about their culture.”

“So… this Ethereal and the foal it bonds to could be the key to our safety, or just the life of two people?”

“Yes. But in either case, they deserve a happy childhood and a reason to want to keep the world a wonderful place to live in.”

Twilight bit her lip for a moment then nodded. I can’t argue against this. I don’t want the responsibility of motherhood yet, but nopony else is suited for the job… Oh dear!

“Er Celestia, we have one problem. If we want this to be a normal life we cannot make an exception to the laws of the land correct?”

“Well yes… Even I follow all of Equestria's laws.”

“Then by Equestrian Adoption law, to become the legal guardian of a foal I must be a part of a stable relationship either a marriage or a domestic partnership… and I honestly do not have anypony in mind for such a relationship. But even if that was not the case a foal deserves two parents.”

Celestia mused for a moment, recalling what she could of the laws she herself had written, “We can place a child under your care as a royal decree… But that can only last until suitable guardians are found and after 90 days the child legally must be returned to government care.”

“I guess… I’ll have to find somepony willing to help me raise a foal.” Twilight’s eyes started to take on a maddened gleam as that particular realization set her on a feedback loop of terror. “I can’t find a special somepony in 90 days!”

Celestia gently set a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, “Twilight… The letter of the law and it’s intent are so that the foal has at least one pony’s income to support him or her should one parent lose their income. This is why I included domestic partnerships in the law, so friends could support a friend's child should a pony’s marriage fall though. You only need to find somepony willing to legally back you. There doesn't have to be a sexual relationship involved.”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief, “That’s right… thank you. Ok, that makes it easier. I think I could do that.”

“Good. I knew you were the right pony for the job.”

Twilight smiled slightly. “Thanks Celestia. I won't disappoint you!”

“You never have.”