My History, Rise, Fall and Return: Starlight's Story

by StormLuna

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Starlight Glimmer, Alternate Universe
Length: 55945

I am Starlight Glimmer and this is the story of my beginnings, my education, my rise, my fall and my return to Equestria.

Starlight Glimmer discovers inequality at a very young age when her family can not afford the fee for her to apply for Celestia's school. She uses unconventional methods to gain entry but eventually gets expelled and banished from Canterlot. When she discovers who her true ancestors are, she realizes that her true destiny is more than bringing about friendship through sameness, it is something much bigger.

A first account story told by Starlight herself.

Published 2015-05-24 01:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-12 22:24:40 UTC

My Early Fillyhood

Author's Note

Hello everypony, I am Starlight Glimmer. Many of you know me as the former leader of "Our Town" out in the desert. I am about to share with you the story of my life from my youth to the present day.

My Early Fillyhood

Before I started school

Hmmm.....where do I start? Well I am one of those types of ponies who like things to be orderly so I suppose I will start from my childhood as a linear approach is orderly. You can't go wrong with that, right?

I am an only child who was born to two working class unicorns in Canterlot. My mother, Primrose, worked as a gardener for Princess Celestia and my father, Stone Gray was a stone mason who helped keep the buildings of the city from falling apart. Of course neither of their jobs paid as much as they should have. Despite us not having all that much money when I was young, we were a happy family.

I remember when I first started learning how to use magic, everypony was quite surprised because I had already figured out how to levitate things on my own before starting school. This is something that made my parents proud. They had a feeling that I would be destined for greatness. Of course there were other fillies with my level of talent that were getting accepted into the princess's exclusive school while I had to start out in the city's public school system.

One may wonder why I was not given a chance to at least try to get into Celestia's school. The problem was that we did not have the income for me to simply apply. I think this may be the very first time I looked at the world around me and saw how unfair inequality can really be. I realized that the system was stacked in favor of the wealthy ponies. A unicorn born into a working class or a poor family could be twice as powerful as a unicorn born into an upper class family or wealthy family but go unnoticed by the powers that be.

My troubles with public school

With the deck being stacked against the less fortunate families in Canterlot, my time in school would become a nightmare. The things the teachers would teach were things that I already knew, things that I had already mastered and I quickly became bored. I often times found myself staring out the window instead of paying attention and of course this always led to a trip to the schoolmaster's office. My parents would get called in and surprisingly, they did not get angry over the lack of attention I gave my teachers. They argued with the schoolmaster about how intelligent I was and that I should not be in the regular school system. They argued that I should be in Celestia's school.

Of course this only caused the schoolmaster to yell at them and threaten me with expulsion if they did not stop mentioning my intelligence and trying to help me get to where I should have been. Not only did this infuriate them, it infuriated me as well. I saw it as them trying to hold me back because I was not from a wealthy family, that I was not from the proper bloodline.

Not only was I stuck in a school system that was too simple for me, I couldn't relate with my classmates either. I was always the oddball that could never relate with anypony else. I felt as though they always behaved in an immature way. While I liked things to be done in very specific and orderly ways, they seemed to like things more chaotic. They did not like things structured and the teacher actually seemed to be ok with it! I once asked her why she let them get away with anything and everything. I still remember her exact words. "Now Starlight, kids will be kids. Just because you are too much of a stick in the mud to have fun doesn't mean they have to be sticks in the mud as well."

It wasn't just their overall classroom behavior that irritated me, their behavior on the days where we would play games was inexcusable as well. I hated game days because my classmates would always do whatever it took, even if it meant cheating, to get ahead. I remember one time we were playing Monopoly and one of my classmates stole money from the bank. I caught him doing this and fired a bolt of energy at him. I burned him and he screamed in agony. I remember yelling, "Serves you right cheater!"

Of course this caught the attention of the teacher and she was very displeased over this. I remember her grabbing me by my mane and dragging me off to the schoolmaster's office and my parents were called in. I remember when they came in they rushed to me to make sure I was ok. The teacher and schoolmaster both stood there with scowls on their faces. The schoolmaster went into detail about what caused me to be taken to the office.

After hearing what the schoolmaster had to say they went off on him. They told him that I was simply trying to keep the playing field fair. They went on a rant that this school does nothing more than preach the same bullshit that ensures that it will always be everypony for them self. They then flew off the handle on how they feel I was denied a chance to apply for a position in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns simply because we were not wealthy enough to afford the fee.

The schoolmaster's response would really piss me off. I still hear those words in my head to this day, "Well, the princess can not have the foals of low class scum in her school. What if your daughter were to get in, become more powerful than her and dethrone her in the name of the working class? I'm sorry, but she will never be allowed to apply for her school." He then sarcastically continued, "It's not like paupers like you could afford the application fee anyway."

Now that day we had glass jars that we were using to catch butterflies so I had a glass jar with me. I jumped in between my parents and the schoolmaster and fired some energy at him. Rather than simply a quick burst, I held him in an aura that he could not escape from. I remember watching in shock as I ripped his cutie mark from him. As it floated to me I put it in my jar and closed the lid. As I did this a black equals sign appeared on his flank and simultaneously I got my cutie mark!

When I looked at my flank I saw a four pointed purple star with a four pointed white star tilted at 45° behind it and two swirling blue columns up above it to the right which looked like they formed a T. While I had no clue what that really meant, my parents had a feeling that it was proof that I was destined for greatness. The schoolmaster had fallen to the floor after I removed his mark and the teacher stood there with a terrified look on her face. I gave the schoolmaster a smirk and whispered, "Look what I have!"

The schoolmaster now had very weak magic so he had no way of getting the jar away from me but my teacher lunged towards me trying to take my jar. I was able to jump out of her way so she decided she would use her magic to take my jar. As hard as she tried, she could not break my aura. Once the schoolmaster got his strength back, he looked at my parents and ordered them to make me give him his mark back.

They gave me a smile and gave a glare to the schoolmaster. My father said, "So, you said the fee to apply to Celestia's school is expensive?" He looked at me and nodded. I continued, "How about this. I will give you your cutie mark back when I am allowed to apply to Celestia's school."

The schoolmaster grunted but realized that my magic was more powerful than they thought. Given that the teacher could not break my aura and get his mark back, they reluctantly agreed to let me have a chance to get into Celestia's school. So my parents, myself, my teacher and the schoolmaster headed towards the castle. This path would take us by the playground and when we passed through it, all my classmates stopped playing and watched in shock. They saw the schoolmaster had a different cutie mark and they saw me, walking with my head high, holding his mark proudly in a glass jar. I could tell by their looks that they envied me. While I have a belief that everypony should be equal, at that moment I felt like I was on top of the world. I knew that I was leaps and bounds more talented than those who made my life so miserable. I just gave them a smile as we headed towards the palace.

Getting into Celestia's School

I remember all of the security that was present when we were led to the throne room. I was in awe of how huge the throne room was. I had a bit of a nervous look on my face but mom and dad reassured me with their smiles. When I was led to her throne the princess looked at the schoolmaster in shock when she saw his equal sign cutie mark. She then looked at me and saw I had his mark in a jar.

I remember her asking, "Child, why is your schoolmaster's cutie mark in that jar?"

I was so nervous at this point. I never imagined that I would have the princess addressing me directly. I replied, "Uh, well, you see, he was yelling at my parents threatening to expel me if they didn't stop saying that I should be in your school so I fired some energy at him and held him in my aura. I ripped his cutie mark off of him and I stored it in this jar."

Celestia took a look at my cutie mark and gave me a smile. She sternly addressed the teacher and schoolmaster, "You see a young filly with the type of magic she has and you deny her a chance to enter my school?" She grunted and continued, "And for you to threaten this filly with expulsion simply because her parents are looking out for her is sickening."

The schoolmaster replied, "Well it is the application fee you charge that keeps the likes of her from being able to apply."

Celestia stopped dead in her tracks and realized that she was operating her school in a way that stacked the deck against families such as mine. Celestia looked at me and asked, "What is your name child?"

I replied, "My name is Starlight Glimmer."

She asked, "Starlight Glimmer, will you give the schoolmaster his cutie mark back if I allow you to take the entrance exam to get into my school."

Seeing the princess asking me to return something to a pony higher up than me under a condition gave me a great amount of confidence. Against my beliefs, I confidently replied, "I will give him his mark back when I pass your exam."

While Celestia could have easily overpowered me and gave the schoolmaster his mark back, she instead ordered a guard pony to bring in a cart which held a red dragon egg with yellow speckles. Celestia pointed her wing at the egg and said, "Starlight Glimmer, use your magic to hatch that egg and not only will you be allowed into my school, I will make you one of my proteges since you have already proven you have powerful magic."

I nodded and smiled at the princess. I lowered my head and fired a bolt of energy at the egg. It quickly hatched and out of it came a red dragon with yellow scales and eyes. Like what had happened with prior proteges who hatched a dragon egg, the baby dragon was given to me as an assistant and companion. I decided to name him Inferno as his colors reminded me of the colors in a fire.

After I passed my entrance exam I reluctantly opened the jar and the schoolmaster's cutie mark floated back to him. While Celestia scowled at my former schoolmaster and teacher as they left the castle, she also had a talk with my parents and I. For me to be able to be a full fledged protege to the princess I would have to move into the castle so that I would be readily available for study sessions.

When I heard this my face dropped. The very thoughts of having to leave mom and dad broke my heart. I felt like I would be betraying them if I chose the princess over them. My mom and dad insisted that I move into the castle so that I can "fulfill my destiny" as Celestia put it. I wondered what she meant by "fulfill my destiny" but I was guessing that whatever she meant by it, that it had to be good. I agreed under one condition, that mom and dad could come and visit me whenever they wanted.

At first Celestia was reluctant. She told me that her other protege, who is a bit younger than me, never has her parents visit her. Soon though Celestia could tell that my family is very close and loving, that is what swayed her. I would soon learn that in Celestia's school and especially with the princess's other protege, that the competition would make the idiotic cheating that happened at my old school look like foal's play.

I remember when Celestia led me up to my new bedroom, which was right across from the other protege's. I was thinking that since the pony I would be working with was Celestia's protege as well, that she would be easy to get along with since our intelligence levels are similar.

My Early Years in Celestia's School

Getting Acquainted

After my folks had packed all of my stuff and brought me back to the castle, I gave them a big hug goodbye as Celestia stood by my side. We all had tears in our eyes and I remember Celestia hugging them as well and reassuring my parents that I would be in good hooves. I remember as they headed home and Celestia led Inferno and I upstairs to where my bedroom was I whispered to myself, "Mom, dad, I will make you proud. I will fulfill my destiny."

When I saw my new bedroom I was amazed by how big it was. I crawled up on my bed and wow, it was so comfy! I sank into it and sighed in delight. Celestia gave me a smile and asked, "I take it you like it?"

I smiled and replied, "Thank you your Majesty, I love it! This bed is so comfy!"

Inferno too had his own place to sleep, a well cushioned pet bed. I asked Celestia why he only got a small pet bed and she told me that is how things have been done ever since she had a school. I was happy though that Inferno found his bed comfortable. After getting settled into my room Celestia led me into the study tower that I will be sharing with her other protege. This other unicorn had a tan coat and had a red and yellow mane, basically identical to the colors of my new assistant. I was kind of nervous but I decided I would initiate the conversation. "Hello." I said to her.

Celestia addressed her, "Sunset Shimmer, this is Starlight Glimmer. I want you to know that she is my new protege."

This did not sit well with her. I still remember how she yelled, "What? I have to share you now? But you said that you would help me fulfill my destiny."

I could tell by the behavior and tone of voice that Sunset was using that her and I probably would not get along. I know that as a filly I probably should not have been thinking this but my first thought about her was, "What a witch!"

Celestia could tell that Sunset was not happy so she had to calm her down, "Sunset, just because I have a second protege does not mean that I am diminishing your role. I still have the same plans for you that I have for Starlight."

The princess could tell that Sunset was going to have trouble adjusting to me being around. To reassure me she whispered in my ear, "Don't worry Starlight, she'll come around and if she treats you poorly, just let me know." She then stood tall and continued, "Well I'll let you two get acquainted."

As she left the study tower I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. I wasn't dealing with a bunch of morons who barely knew how to wipe their asses, I had to co-exist with a unicorn whose magic rivals my own and obviously thinks highly of herself. I decided to again try to initiate conversation with her. "Hi Sunset, how is your day going?"

I don't know what crawled up her ass and died but she replied, "Look Starlight, you address me as SUNSET SHIMMER, not just Sunset. I have been here for a while and even though you are a bit older than me, I still hold rank over you."

Even though she was being a total bitch I wanted to get to know her better. I knew that acting like her would get me nowhere, so I tried to be as polite as possible. I asked, "So Sunset Shimmer, you said you have been here for a while. How did you get in here at such a young age?"

Starlight replied, "Hmmph....Why should I tell you? Why should I tell the child of paupers anything?" She stood there playing with her mane and continued, "So, how does a pony from such a low class get into Celestia's school? It is only supposed to be for ponies who come from wealthy families like me."

I decided that perhaps if I am nice to her, she will become more friendly. I replied, "Well I was placed in the public school system which was way too easy for me. I was able to show off my magic when the schoolmaster yelled at me. He threatened to expel me if my parents kept standing up for me so I took his cutie mark off of him. That is what caused Celestia to be notified of how powerful my magic was."

Sunset scoffed, "That is a lie. You can't take away cutie marks! You made that up, loser."

Unfortunately there were no jars to put a cutie mark in but I decided I would remove her mark for a moment anyway. I fired some energy at her, had her held in my aura and proceeded to remove her mark. She whimpered in pain as it was ripped off of her. As I levitated it to myself, a black equals sign appeared on her flank. It was at that moment that she knew not to mess with me.

I decided to play around with her a bit. While I didn't have anything to put it in, I did hold on to her mark and started moving it around the room. The way she was grunting and frantically running around the room made me laugh. I felt like I was playing with a cat, having it chase a string. Eventually I decided to let her have her mark back. When I let it go it flew back to her flank and replaced the equals sign that had been there earlier.

I could tell by the look on her face that she didn't even know what to think. She asked, "H-how did you do that?"

I replied, "I honestly don't know, when I did this to the schoolmaster it just happened. Perhaps it is a special form of magic that ONLY I have. Just like time lords and time ladies are the only ones who can manipulate time, perhaps I'm the only pony who can take marks."

Sunset, despite seeing what I am capable of, was still being her arrogant self. She mocked, "Oh yeah, look at me! I can take cutie marks! I'm the best thing in the world!" She pointed her hoof at me and snarled, "But you have no way to keep them! So even if you do take my mark again, you will never have it forever, LOSER."

Rather than blowing up at her I decided to try to deescalate the situation. After all, I did not want to draw any unwanted attention to this situation. I did not want Celestia to kick me out of her school the same day I was accepted. I asked, "So Sunset, would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?"

Sunset sighed as she did not wish to tell me anything given that I came from a working class family. She finally broke down and started to tell me about herself after holding her in my aura again. I am guessing she didn't want to lose her mark again.

She boasted, "Well I come from one of the most wealthy families here in Canterlot. My father is a high level unicorn guard for Celestia and my mother works as an accountant so I have never had to deal with economic hardships the way losers like you do."

I asked, "So Sunset, how did you get into this school at such a young age?"

She again boasted, "Well since my father works for the guard, all I had to do was show the princess a few fancy tricks and she let me in. I didn't even have to take that stupid entrance exam!"

I laughed, "So I take it you don't have an assistant since you never hatched a dragon's egg?"

Sunset replied, "Well when you are as good as I am, you don't need some dragon to hack up messages for you. Celestia trusts me completely so I don't need her babysitting me through communicating through a scroll hacking pet."

I couldn't help but sigh. Personally I thought having an assistant was really cool and knew it made communicating with the princess easier. I replied, "Look at this way Sunset, I can more easily communicate with the princess. If she needs me for something or I need to communicate with her, I can simply have Inferno send her a message to her while you actually have to go to her or relay a message through a guard." I began to snicker a bit, "Timeliness is a virtue Sunset, and that is something I can utilize much better than you."

Sunset decided to continue making snide comments and this time she targeted my cutie mark. She sneered, "So Starlight, what does your cutie mark mean? Does it mean that you can swirl ribbons to make them look like a T?" She began to laugh further and continued, "What a worthless talent!"

I wanted to keep my composure but it was getting tough. I replied, "I'll be honest, I honestly don't know what it represents. My family thinks it represents a talent with advanced magic." I took a look at her cutie mark and asked, "So Sunset, what does your mark represent? I doubt it actually has anything to do with the sun because Princess Celestia is the only one who can move the sun."

Sunset puffed her chest out and replied, "It means that I shine like the sun! It means that I am really smart!"

Good grief. I felt like cutting her tail off and strangling her with it. I sighed, "I guess we have one thing in common, neither one of us know for sure what our marks truly represent."

Sunset grunted, "Well I am out of here. It is time for supper. I hope you like vegetarian meals because that is what we eat here. Unlike you lower class paupers, we don't go eating meat."

I followed her to the dining hall and realized that the only time I would probably get to eat meat was when mom and dad would send me care packages and when we were on break. If I can finally fulfill my destiny, whatever that might be, I figured that eating vegeterian meals will be worth it.

Fierce Competition

Several months had passed since I entered Celestia's school and while I was a bit behind Sunset in where I was in my studies, I was quickly catching up to her. At first even the material taught in the special school seemed easy for me. I did know though that I just couldn't stare out the window and not pay attention here. I remember one day both Sunset and I were in the tower studying when Celestia came up to the tower.

She addressed us together, "Starlight, Sunset, as you know the semester will be coming to a close very soon. Both of you are excelling in your studies and I have decided to give you two full weeks off. You can do whatever you like during this time but remember to be back by the end of the 13th day so you will be ready for the new semester."

My eyes lit up immediately as I happily shouted, "I can't wait to go spend some time with mom and dad! Oh I miss mom's cooking so much!"

Sunset rolled her eyes and said, "Hmmph.....me go and spend time with other ponies? I think not, I think I will stay here and study."

She changed the topic entirely and tried to turn the princess against me. She glared at me and sneered, "I know you've been cheating just so you can catch up with me."

Celestia glared at me and asked, "Starlight, is this true? Have you been cheating to catch up to her?"

I replied, "Cheat? I don't even know how one would cheat to get ahead here. I do my schoolwork and I do all the extra credit that my teachers, including you, give me. I made a promise to my parents that I would make them proud and I am not going to let them down."

Sunset sneered, "You mad a promise to your parents to make them proud? How pathetic. I don't care what my parents think, what matters is that I succeed." She sighed and continued, "Well what can you expect out of low class pauper kids, they feel obligated to impress their precious parents."

Celestia gave me a smile as she knew that this was not a matter of me cheating, it was a matter of Sunset simply being jealous. She scolded Sunset over her belittling rant and left the room. Once Celestia was out of earshot, Sunset began to belittle me and called me a "teacher's pet." What a petty thing to say to a fellow student.

While since I had been a filly I always wanted everypony to be equal, I knew that I had to put her in her place. I knew I had to prove to Celestia that I was the better student. So while I was hoping to spend a couple of weeks at home, I decided to spend the whole time up here and study hard. I made a vow to myself that by the end of the next semester, that I would be ahead of her in our studies. Given her attitude and distance from her family, I knew that Sunset would do the same thing. I decided that with the way she had treated me throughout the semester, that the best route to take would be to view her as my enemy, an enemy that I must crush.

During this break Celestia decided to take a week off and go to Las Pegasus, right after the Hearth's Warming pageant. While she was gone both Sunset and I would intensify our studies. While she continued to study history and some spells to manipulate things, I went further back into the archives and studied magic that was considered "too advanced" for either one of us. I began to study teleportation and the thought process that was involved in it. It took me a few days to master it, even at a short distance but eventually I was able to do it. I knew that I would simply need to put more thought into teleporting greater distances.

I also managed to learn how to unlock doors, which is something that I probably shouldn't have done because that would be classified as cheating. That was something that Celestia had planned on teaching us together so that one of us could not simply get into the most advanced parts of the archives while the other couldn't. I knew that I could not simply go around unlocking doors until Celestia taught us this, nor could I do any of the other advanced magic that I learned from studying behind locked doors. Oh boy, Sunset will be surprised once we do start being taught this advanced stuff and I master it so easily!

Finally Celestia returns from Las Pegasus and comes up to see if we are back. She gave us a smile when she saw that we were both studying diligently. Sunset turned around with an indifferent look on her face and said, "Oh hi Princess. How was your trip."

I was a bit more enthusiastic in my greeting. I teleported myself over to her and gave her a hug. I asked, "Hi Princess Celestia! How was your trip?"

Celestia was stunned to see me teleport. She asked, "Starlight, how did you learn to teleport? That lesson is still a few months away."

I replied, "Well I did some studying in the archives and found a book on it. I knew the subject would be coming up during the semester so I decided that to be ready, I would teach myself at least basic teleportation. It never hurts to be ready."

Sunset went into a rage screaming and yelling about how I cheated. She went on and on about how the archives are off limits for students until they have been in the school for quite a while. This caused Celestia to roll her eyes and tell her that with the exception of the Starswirl the Bearded wing, that the archives are open to all her students, even the ones that aren't in the most advanced part of the school.

Sunset's jaw dropped open and I gave her a half-smile. I had a feeling that soon she would begin to cheat and would easily get caught by Celestia. Of course the penalty for cheating is expulsion so I figured that I had nothing to worry about. Yes I have learned how to unlock doors but unlike her, I plan things out very well and can easily avoid being caught.

As the semester progressed and the time for Winter Wrap Up approached, I looked on our schedule. Celestia was actually going to have changing the season as part of our classwork! This is when I knew I could put Sunset in her place. I remember a couple of days before Spring was to arrive Celestia led us into the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the archives and placed the material we needed to study to figure out the spell. Thankfully there were two copies of the spell and explanations on the types of energy we would need to use to successfully do this. I don't think I could stand to sit right next to her for that long.

Given that we were in an exclusive wing of the archives, Celestia stood there and watched us study the whole time. I could tell this irritated my enemy greatly but it did not bother me any. I figured that she was doing this to prevent us from accessing material that we were not supposed to look at. After our study session I asked, "Princess, who will get to try this first, me or Sunset?"

Celestia replied, "Well since she has been here longer, Sunset will go first."

I asked, "But if she succeeds, how will I be able to prove myself?"

Celestia replied, "Well if that is the case you will get the chance to change spring to summer."

I replied, "Ok." I was not happy because wrapping up winter is by far the most difficult season change while changing spring into summer is basically effortless. All I could do was hope that Sunset would fail. On the day before we were to wrap up winter I went to my family's house for supper. I knew that I would need a real meal to do my best.

I was talking with my family and they were happy that I at least had a chance to show up Sunset. I remember mom asking what would happen if I was the one to succeed and Sunset failed. I laughed, "Well I'm not sure but I do know that she will likely throw a temper tantrum."

After supper I got ready to head back to the palace when my mom stopped me. She asked, "Starlight honey, do you want to take some leftovers with you? I'm sure these sausage patties will make for a great snack before the ceremony."

I replied, "They will. I will just have to eat them in my room before I head down for breakfast. I can't have anypony knowing I will have the advantage of a full stomach!"

I hugged my parents goodbye and headed back to my room in the castle. I placed my sausage in a drawer so it would not so easily be discovered. That night, while I was a bit nervous, it was relatively easy to get to sleep since I had a good, filling supper. The following morning I woke up a bit early and quickly devoured my sausage. As I headed down to the dining hall for breakfast, Celestia was waiting for me. She said, "Starlight, today might be a very big day in your studies. Are you ready?"

I replied, "You bet I am princess. If I get the chance, I won't let you down."

Celestia gave me a smile which quickly turned into a frown as Sunset rushed into the dining hall a little bit late. She asked, "Sunset, why are you late?"

Sunset replied, "Well I was just nervous and couldn't sleep much last night."

Celestia rolled her eyes and warned her that such tardiness would not be allowed on such an important day. We ate our breakfast and headed out to the balcony where a huge crowd was waiting. Sunset was on Celestia's left while I was on her right. I still remember Celestia's address to the crowd. "Fillies and gentlecolts, thank you for attending this year's Winter Wrap Up. This year it will be extra special as one of my proteges, either Sunset Shimmer or Starlight Glimmer will be cleaning up winter!"

As soon as she said this I could hear my parents down in the crowd cheering for me. Sunset gave me a nasty look as she had no pony there who even cared about her. I remember Celestia continued, "Since she has been in my school longer, Sunset Shimmer will get to try first."

I still remember that pompous look on my enemy's face as she stood up on the platform and began to focus on the task at hand. She stood up on the edges of her hooves and sparks began to fly out of her horn. It wasn't long until she fell forward and nearly hit her head on the railing. While I kept a neutral look on my face, deep down I was giddy. I knew I had studied harder than her and I knew that my magic was more powerful.

Celestia motioned for me to step up to the platform. While normally most fillies would be incredibly nervous in this situation, I headed up to the platform calm and collected. Once I got up on the platform I began to focus deeply. I could hardly believe it when I felt myself being lifted off of the platform. Suddenly I remember just seeing white as my eyes began to shine white and I fired a powerful bolt of energy from my horn, which spread in all directions. As the energy spread outwards, it cleared the skies, it woke up the hibernating animals, it melted the snow and it increased the temperature to where it was nice and warm. Of course the one thing I could not do was bring the birds back home, that was still a job that only the pegasus ponies could do.

As I lowered down to the platform and I could see normally again, I saw that I had wrapped up winter and brought spring. I saw the crowd was cheering loudly and I could hear my parents yelling over them. My dad shouted, "Way to go Starlight!" and my mom shouted, "We're so proud of you sweetie!"

I smiled and waved at the crowd. I remember Celestia walking up onto the platform with me and announcing me as her "most gifted student." I was so shocked I almost fainted when I heard this. While I knew that I had plenty more to learn in school and that I would have to do much more than just wrapping up winter to truly put Sunset in her place, I felt like a champion. I felt like I had leveled the playing field for fillies and colts who are not wealthy.

Celestia asked me if I would like for my parents to join us for lunch and of course I enthusiastically said yes. While a couple of guards went to bring my parents up to the dining hall, Celestia and I turned around and saw an infuriated Sunset. Sunset shouted, "She cheated your Majesty, she cheated!"

Celestia scowled at her and replied, "She did not cheat Sunset. I saw you two study and it is just a matter of you being jealous that her magic is stronger." Celestia gave me a smile and motioned for me to follow her to the dining hall.

I still remember how Sunset followed us back into the castle, stomping as loud as she could. While the princess and I headed towards the dining hall, Sunset headed up to her room and began to scream and yell. I looked up at Celestia nervously and asked, "Your Majesty, don't you think you should see if she is ok?"

Celestia smiled as she thought that I cared about my enemy when in all reality she could have jumped out of the tower and went splat on the ground and I wouldn't have cared. She replied, "Don't worry about her Starlight, she'll get over it."

My Latter Years in Celestia's School

Attracting Unwanted Attention

Five years had passed since I showed up Sunset Shimmer by wrapping up winter. By this point both of us were in the most advanced levels of our studies and began to wonder what was to come next. Yes we still loathed one another but we had grown to where we could at least tolerate one another. During a study session in the tower we shared one day she asked, "Starlight, both of us are very advanced in our studies now. What do you think will happen next?"

I had my own ideas of what I would like to see happen and deep down I think she knew that I had this desire to bring about equality to Equestria, but I did not dare tell her of what I wanted. I replied, "You know, I'm not sure. I know soon we will learn as much as Celestia will allow us. The only things that we won't learn are the things that are off limits to everypony except her."

Sunset gasped, "Celestia? I have never heard you just call her Celestia. Are you starting to think that maybe she thinks too highly of herself?"

I did feel that way but there is no way I would tell her that. I knew that if I did, she would go and run to Celestia telling her this so I lied, "No, I do not think that. I simply feel close enough to her that when I am not in her presence, I can just refer to her as Celestia."

Sunset puffed her chest out and said, "You have been here for over five years and you are still a teacher's pet. Pathetic, truly pathetic!" She laughed and continued, "You will never be anything more than her little lap dog."

I sighed in frustration but I decided that since she asked me, I would ask her in return, "So Sunset, what do you think will happen next?"

Sunset replied, "Well, I think that eventually I will become so important that she will assign me a special task and once I pass that, she will transform me into an Alicorn princess! That is my destiny, to be an Alicorn princess!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed over her arrogance. I replied, "Seriously Sunset, you honestly think it is your destiny to become a princess? You do know that nopony who has ever entered into this school has been transformed into an Alicorn princess, don't you?"

Sunset stood tall and replied, "Well I will be the first. After all, I'm the best student Celestia has ever had and everypony knows it."

There have been many times I have wanted to take her mark, put it in a jar and hide it in a place where it would never be found but this was one of those moments that if I could have, I would have killed her. I grabbed her with my aura and asked, "What was that Sunset? You know that I'm more talented than you don't you?" I then proceeded to rip her mark off of her for approximately the tenth time since I had known her and like always, I had her chasing it around the room for entertainment.

After a few minutes I decided that I should stop playing with her in the event Celestia were to suddenly come up so I let go of her mark and it flew back to her, replacing the equals sign on her flank. I couldn't help but laugh as she stood there panting like a dog on a hot summer's day. I again asked, "So Sunset, still think you are so great?"

She snorted at me, "Just because you have that fancy talent doesn't make you better than me."

Because of our argument we did not even notice that Celestia had came into the tower after hearing our argument. "Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, what are you two arguing about now?"

I replied, "Well.......you see."

Celestia glared at both of us and replied, "Ugh...I know both of you are spectacular students and have very strong magic but you two both lack the one thing that is preventing me from giving you a chance to move on to the highest level of your studies."

Sunset sneered, "Oh, and what is that?"

Celestia replied, "Friendship. Neither one of you two understand friendship, much less have any friends." She first cast her frown upon me, "Starlight, the only ponies you are close with are your parents." She then frowned at Sunset and continued, "And you aren't even close with your family, much less anypony else." She cast her glare upon both of us simultaneously and finished, "And none of you have any desire to mingle with the other students."

I replied, "Well we want to absorb as much knowledge as we can."

Sunset added, "And taking time to mingle with lesser students would take away from that time. We don't want to be dumbed down by mingling with lesser students."

I had never seen Celestia truly angry in my years in her school but that day would be my first. She yelled, "Sunset, I can understand why you are so pompous but why are you like this Starlight? You had humble beginnings. You know what, you have become everything you hated when you first came here."

I yelled back, "Oh, so I am just supposed to allow myself to stagnate while Sunset here continues to study harder and get ahead of me? Look, I am not going to let my parents down. I will achieve my objective, I will fulfill my destiny."

Sunset added, "So will I."

Celestia rolled her eyes and said, "Neither one of you two will if you don't get out and mingle with other ponies. For a pony to fulfill her destiny, she must be able to at least handle public situations and have friends, not just lock herself in a tower and fill her mind full of knowledge."

Before she left I remember Celestia saying, "Perhaps I need a third, younger protege. A protege that I can work with much more closely and teach her that things such as friendship matter."

She turned her back to us and walked out. Both of us looked at one another and realized that perhaps we need to quit arguing so much and try to get along. Sunset asked, "Starlight, do you think maybe we should try to get along more? No one said we had to be friends but we should try to get along."

The very thoughts of trying to get along with a pony who views herself as better than anypony else sickened me but I knew that we needed to stop bringing negative attention to ourselves. I replied, "Agreed. We need to stop bringing this negative attention to ourselves."

After that we stopped arguing and things between us and Celestia eventually returned to normal, but both of us couldn't help but wonder not if but when Celestia would find a new, younger pony to be her protege. What we didn't know was that an event was about to happen that would make that a reality much sooner than we would like.

Planning for Trouble

For the next couple months Sunset and I were able to coexist without any arguing, which caused Celestia to return to her normal self. This caused the two of us to be a bit less nervous but I still had my concerns that she may try to bring somepony new in and replace us. Eventually that fear escaped both of our minds as Celestia wanted us to help her get the city prepared for the Summer Sun Celebration. Both of us thought of this as a chance to show Celestia that we are deserving of moving on to the most advanced level of our studies. One thing we did not know was that a pony who would one day be our enemy would come onto the scene.

I remember that day very well. The horns began to sound as Celestia stood up on the same platform that I had wrapped up winter on over five years before and smiled at the crowd. I was standing on the left side of the balcony while Sunset was on the right. It was not Celestia stretching herself vertically and raising the summer sun that I paid attention to, it was a little lavender colored filly that had sneaked up to the front to watch Celestia raise the sun. I then looked over at Celestia and it seemed like she made direct eye contact with the filly. I suddenly felt a sense of dread. I know I should not have felt threatened by such a young filly but my sixth sense was telling me that one day she would make my life hell.

I remember after the celebration Sunset approached me and asked, "Starlight, did you see how Celestia made eye contact with that lavender colored filly in the crowd?"

I replied, "Yes, I did. I know this might sound crazy but I have a bad feeling about that one. I saw an instant connection between Celestia and that filly."

Sunset said, "I did as well. I have a feeling that Celestia will simply snatch her up, put her in the school and treat her like a daughter."

I replied, "Well we'll see. I'm not going to panic yet."

After our short discussion we parted ways and got back to our studies. While I had studied so much magic that there wasn't much more that I could study, well that I had access to anyway, I began to study history, particularly that involving the nightmare rebellion and Celestia banishing Luna to the moon. While I thought that casting the world into eternal darkness would have been bad, I could see where Luna was coming from. I could understand why she would want to force night upon the ponies. She simply wanted equality for her beautiful nights. After studying this further and further, a sense of resentment towards Celestia began to grow within me. Naturally I could never openly reveal it or even show it, but it existed.

Sunset was studying in a similar part of the archives when I heard her yell, "WOW!"

Normally I wouldn't give a hoot about anything she found interesting but the way she said "wow" I decided I would go over and see what was going on. I asked, "Sunset, what's so interesting that you would yell so loudly?"

She replied, "Look at this." She pointed her hoof at the page that described a mirror that opens every thirty moons that leads to a parallel world. She continued, "Starlight, if Celestia does bring that filly into the school and decides to give her most of the attention, we will have an escape route."

I asked, "Do you even know where this mirror leads to? For all we know it could lead to a place where we would have no magic and I'm quite sure we would have no place to call home."

Sunset replied, "Well if Celestia brings that filly in and treats her as a daughter and eventually keeps us from ever advancing to favor her, we may have no other choice."

While I still had a bit of concern about how Celestia made eye contact with that filly, I eventually decided that I was probably being overly paranoid. I said, "There isn't even any guarantee that the lavender filly will ever make it into Celestia's school and even if everything happens that you are saying, I would rather go hide out in the Everfree Forest than go through some mirror to a 'parallel world' that we know absolutely nothing about." I sighed and continued, "And how do you even know when this thing will open and how long it will stay open for?"

She flipped the book to the next page and it gave a time table of when it would open and when it would close for many, many moons to come. The next time it would open up would be in roughly 18 moons and say open for two weeks. She said, "With any luck if she does bring that filly into the school, it will be right around the time the mirror opens and we can get through."

I sneered, "Oh, and tell me this. How are you going to even get to the mirror? That thing is locked up behind several doors to prevent anything that might come through it doing damage in our world." I then remembered how she used the word "we" and I continued, "And what is this we stuff? You can go ahead and go through with it but I'm staying. By the time she would get into this school, she will have her mark. I will take it, put it in a jar and hide it deep in the Everfree Forest."

Sunset asked, "When Celestia would discover that she has that equals sign cutie mark, she will know you are the one who took it. You would have to remain in hiding for the rest of your life!"

I replied, "Well that beats going to a world that has who knows what. For all you know it may be filled with things the size of buildings that eat ponies." I sighed and continued, "Enough of this talk. Let's just focus on our studies."

The New Protege

Nearly 17 moons after Sunset made her discovery about the mirror I remember that the two of us were up in our tower studying like we would on any other day. While Sunset didn't want to believe it, I told her about how I heard some of the higher ups talking with Celestia about a lavender filly that they had to judge who had applied to the school. When I heard them mention a lavender filly, I got a sick feeling in my stomach.

Sunset saw me pacing back and forth and asked, "Starlight, I know you heard them talking about a lavender filly but how do you know it is the one Celestia made eye contact with at the Summer Sun Celebration?"

I replied, "Look Sunset, you know I have a sixth sense and it is telling me that we need to be ready for Celestia to give all her attention to this pony if she passes."

Sunset asked, "Hmmm.....think we could try and watch this test if we stay in the shadows?"

I replied, "Yeah, we should be able to. Let's get going."

We headed off towards the room where the new applicant would try to impress the judges. We looked through a cracked door and sure enough, the filly that I heard the judges talking about was her, the lavender filly. Sunset nudged me and nervously said, "You are right, it is that filly."

I replied, "Well all we can do is hope that she fails. If she doesn't get in, she won't be around for Celestia to coddle and mold into a carbon copy of herself."

Well the time had come for this filly to prove herself worthy of being in Celestia's school. She was presented with a cart holding a purple and green dragon's egg. She was ordered to hatch it. With the way things started out Sunset and I couldn't help but snicker a bit. When she was sitting on the cart holding her hooves over the egg making weird faces Sunset and I felt a sense of relief. When she finally showed all she could release was a few sparks and then fell on her stomach, I couldn't believe what we did. We had for a long time considered one another enemies that had to coexist, but we gave one another a hoofbump.

I whispered, "Well Sunset, it looks like we have nothing to worry about."

Sunset snickered, "Nope, we don't. This was quite entertaining!"

Then much to our dismay, a loud boom rocked the castle and the filly's eyes began to glow white. I was thinking, "oh great this does not look good." The filly suddenly began to levitate and turned her parents into plants. Then the worst thing possible happened, she hatched the egg and then caused her new assistant to grow so huge he broke a hole in the roof.

This caught Celestia's attention and she came to see what was going on. She put her hoof on this filly's shoulder and finally the magical burst flowing from her stopped. We saw Celestia put her hoof on the filly's shoulder and tell her that she had never seen such raw ability. We heard her say that she needed to tame those abilities with focused study and when we heard her ask the filly if she wanted to be her protege, both of us were fuming.

What was even worse was that the filly had earned her cutie mark. It wasn't just any old cutie mark though, it was a dark pink six pointed star with a white six pointed star set off 45° behind it. That is no ordinary cutie mark. In the middle of the night a couple months back I had broken into the forbidden history wing of the Starswirl wing of the archives and discovered what it was. It was the same shape of the element of magic, it was the same shape as a mark on the Tree of Harmony.

This filly was destined for greatness, and I was the only one who could prevent her from becoming what she should not. I was the only one who could prevent her from one day becoming a princess, if not more. Because of this, I decided not to tell Sunset. She may decide to use this to her advantage and rather than take the mark with her to the other world, she may try to get close to Twilight and one day, once Twilight is in power, see if she could maybe become a princess herself.

Well we have learned the name of the pony who would basically become Celestia's adoptive daughter, Twilight Sparkle. We headed back to our tower to discuss what would come next. Sunset asked, "Starlight, what are we going to do? Did you see how much power that filly has?"

I replied, "Yes, I did. Let's just hope that she is never able to control this energy of hers." I gave her a confident look and continued, "Sunset, I know you may not like this but now that Celestia has this filly, this adoptive daughter, we are going to have to stick together. We must stop viewing one another as enemies, for we have a common enemy now, Twilight Sparkle."

Sunset first looked at me like I was nuts. She asked, "Seriously? You think we have to stick together to stop a filly from eventually overtaking us?"

I replied, "Yes Sunset, I do. I know that Celestia will coddle her, teach her things at a very young age that she never taught us. I can see it in how Celestia looked at her, she has special plans for that one, plans that she does not have for either one of us."

Sunset's face became filled with fear as she could no longer live in denial. She asked, "Do you think she is already planning on doing what it takes to make her an Alicorn princess someday?"

I replied, "Yes, that is what will likely happen." I gave her a smile and continued, "But, there is one way to prevent all that. I will take her mark and store it in a jar once that mirror opens, then YOU can take it with you to that parallel world you want to go to so badly."

Sunset asked, "But Starlight, aren't you going to come with me?"

I replied, "No, I will remain here, head to the Everfree Forest, lay low and then when the time is right, I will take the ultimate prize, Celestia's cutie mark!"

Sunset knew that I had absolutely no desire to go to this other world but decided to agree to my plan. She knew that if one pony could take Celestia's mark and dethrone her, it would be me. So for now all we could do was wait for that mirror to open and we could execute our plan.

Shortly after we finished this discussion Celestia brought this new filly with her up to the tower. She smiled and said, "Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, this is my new protege, Twilight Sparkle."

The filly ran to us and hugged us. She said, "Hi Sunset, hi Starwight!"

I couldn't help but smile when I saw those adorable purple eyes and the adorable way she spoke, but that did not sway my views that she is an enemy. Celestia looked at us and said, "Sunset, Starlight, I want you to know that I will be working primarily with Twilight since you two are so advanced." She looked at me and continued, "Starlight, when you were young, you learned how to teleport on your own so I think you two should be fine on your own."

Sunset asked, "But what about helping us fulfill our destiny? Aren't you going to help us with that?"

Celestia replied, "Yes but for now, I need to help Twilight learn how to control her abilities." She looked at Twilight and continued, "Come on Twilight, let me show you your room."

The two left the room and surprisingly Sunset hugged me. Yes, she hugged me. I didn't really know how to take this given that we had been enemies for so long. She asked, "Well Starlight, shall we do this as soon as that mirror opens?"

I asked, "Do you know how to get to that mirror?"

Sunset replied, "Yes, I do. Now let's just do things as we normally would until the time comes. We can't have anypony knowing what our plans are."

I nodded and we got back to studying. While Sunset seemed to think that this would be a cakewalk, I knew it wouldn't be that easy. I had a feeling that with her being so young, ripping her cutie mark off of her would cause Twilight to cry rather loudly. The mirror would open in two weeks, which would prove to seem like forever for my former enemy and would arrive all too soon for me.

My Expulsion

While Celestia had said that she would spend almost all her time exclusively working with Twilight, things came up that caused Celestia to have to go out of town. When this happened it was Sunset and myself who would be in charge of helping Twilight. While neither one of us wanted to help her learn anything, we had to help her under orders of the princess. While Sunset was obviously cold towards her, I pretended to be more caring. After all, I was the one who would be taking her mark when the time came.

I remember one time she asked, "Starwight, why is Sunset not very nice to me."

While the way she still spoke was adorable, it irritated me. I thought that they should have waited to allow her entry until she lost the baby talk. I replied, "Well Twilight, that is just how Sunset is. Even her and I don't exactly get along. Maybe she is just upset that Celestia is spending most of her time with you now."

She gave me an adorable smile and replied, "Ok. I hope I can study with you more!"

I gave her a smile and continued to work with her, well with minimum effort. I didn't want to aid her in moving along any faster than I had to.

Sunset was grilling me over everything I had been doing with Twilight while I was helping her out. She seemed very upset and began to wonder if Celestia had made a pact with me that she would help me fulfill my destiny if I helped her with Twilight. I replied, "Sunset, I am doing as much of a half-way job as I can with her. I am only putting a minimum amount of effort into this."

Sunset sighed, "Ok. Do you know when Celestia will be back?"

I replied, "Tomorrow."

The day she would arrive home would be perfect. It was the day before the mirror would open and given the time I spent with her, Twilight trusted me entirely, definitely much more than she did Sunset.

I remember when Celestia arrived home she came up to the tower to discover Sunset studying her own thing while I was taking a break to play with Twilight. While I hated doing this, I knew that building Twilight's trust was a must and besides, Sunset would be going to that alternate world soon anyway. When Celestia saw this she smiled, "Starlight, this is new. I've never knew you had a side like this!"

Before I could reply Twilight interrupted, "Pwincess Cewestia, Starwight is so much fun! I want to adopt her as my big sister!"

I saw Sunset glaring out of the corner of my eye but when she said this, I almost began to wonder about whether doing this would be that good of an idea or not, almost. Deep in my heart I actually wanted to allow her to keep her mark and be a big sister to her, but then I realized that I would just wind up being a means of Twilight ultimately becoming an Alicorn princess, with no thanks being returned.

Finally the time arrived, the mirror had opened, well according to the book Sunset discovered anyway. As we ate supper that night, Sunset and I made more eye contact than normal which made Celestia suspicious. She asked, "Starlight, Sunset, you two seem to have been more friendly towards one another here recently. What happened to the hate you two used to have for one another?"

Like she seemed to like to do, Twilight interrupted, "Pwincess Cewestia, maybe I am making them get along better. Maybe they don't want to make me see anger."

Sunset rolled her eyes while I gave the filly a smile. I replied, "Your Majesty, we have just come to accept that we have equal strengths and that it would be better if we work together rather than have an adversarial relationship."

Sunset smiled as she knew that I spoke the truth yet Celestia had no clue that we would be working together that night to crush the dreams of her beloved Twilight. After supper that night the four of us did a bit of studying together before we all turned in for the night. Before heading to bed Sunset approached me and asked, "So how exactly are we going to do this?"

I replied, "Around eleven-thirty I will head into the filly's bedroom and carefully lift her blanket off of her, exposing her flank. By then Celestia should be asleep and will unlikely hear Twilight's cries when I take her mark and place it in a jar. You will be waiting outside of Twilight's room and when I exit her room with her mark you will lead me to the mirror. I will give you the jar shortly before you go through. Once you have went through the mirror I will head towards the Everfree Forest."

Sunset asked, "Why would you go to the forest? Why not just stay and continue your studies or even more, take Celestia's mark and follow me through?"

I replied, "Look, Celestia's mark will be much harder to take and I will likely need to take plenty more marks to improve my strength until I can finally take hers."

Sunset said, "Ok. I'm sure you know what you're doing."

We turned in for the night and I laid there, waiting for the time to begin this mission. When my alarm clock read 11:25 I got up and grabbed a jar I had stored in my closet. I then headed out towards Twilight's room. Standing right outside the entry was Sunset. I smiled at her and whispered, "Get ready to run, this filly is going to whine loudly and if Celestia hears this, she will quickly head this way."

Sunset smiled and I headed in. There was Twilight, snuggled under her blanket, holding a stuffed animal sleeping peacefully. I opened the jar and began to uncover her. She began to stir a bit and once I had her flank exposed, she woke up. "Oh crap!" I accidentally thought out loud.

Twilight could tell that whatever was going on, it was not good. She screamed, "Cewestia, help! Starwight is going to do something to me!"

I hurriedly grabbed her in my aura and easily ripped her mark off of her, causing her to scream in agony. After I got the mark secured in the jar I rushed towards the exit. Sunset led the way as we headed towards the mirror. The fact that she had to unlock the doors as we headed to the inner part of the Starswirl wing kept us from going as fast as I would like. The little filly, now with an equals sign cutie mark began to pursue us but being so small, she could not catch us.

Suddenly a much larger figure was pursuing us, it was Princess Celestia. She saw us with Twilight's mark rushing towards the mirror. Just as the mirror was in sight Sunset grabbed the jar with her aura and ran through the mirror. Just as Celestia reached me, I gave her a good shove through the mirror and began my escape. Soon I ran into Twilight who was terrified and basically powerless. I knew that Celestia would eventually return but I thought the ultimate slap in Celestia's face would be to take Twilight with me and indoctrinate her in my own way. I would teach her that equality is the way to go, that equality is how true happiness would be achieved.

I remember her yelling, "Pwincess Cewestia, help me, help me!" I grabbed her with my magic and began to take off. Her continued cries for help quickly alerted the guards and they were quickly pursuing us. Finally I decided to fool these guards. While this would take a large amount of energy out of me, I teleported Twilight and myself down to the main courtyard, which bought me some time. Twilight's cries would continue to alert guards until finally I ran into a trap outside the palace grounds as I was taking her towards the exit.

"Freeze! Put down the filly!" shouted one of the guards.

I put Twilight down and both of us were led up to the castle's throne room. While Twilight had a look of pure relief on her face, the same could not be said for me. I knew that eventually Celestia would return and I would be punished. A couple hours later Celestia returned with a scowl on her face and unfortunately for me, she had my jar. She smashed that jar open and Twilight's cutie mark returned to her.

What would happen next was a side of Celestia that NOPONY had ever seen before. She picked me up and slammed me against the wall. She gave me the most intense glare I had ever seen and yelled, "Starlight Glimmer, who the hay do you think you are? You gain Twilight's trust and then you use your sadistic magic on her to deny her a chance to become what she is meant to be? You truly sicken me!"

She dropped me and I asked, "Deny Twilight a chance to become what she is meant to be? Oh, so what does that make me? Chopped liver?" I grabbed hold of her with my magic and asked, "So what kind of plans did you have for me? Was I just going to always be your bucking subordinate?" What I did next was probably a mistake but I continued my focus and tried to rip Celestia's cutie mark off of her. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to take her mark. My magic just wasn't strong enough.

Celestia broke free from my aura and ordered the guards to surround me and lower their spears. It was very terrifying to have so many spears pointed at me all at once. Celestia glared at me and said, "Starlight Glimmer, you had a lot of potential. You have powerful magic, you have a lot of ambition but you are also selfish. I am sorry Starlight but for what you have done, I am expelling you from my school and I am banishing you from Canterlot."

I scowled at Celestia and replied, "What? You are banishing me from my home town just because I tried to keep the playing field level? I knew you were going to give Twilight top priority over me! I knew you were going to give her priority over Sunset." I spat at her and continued, "Let me guess 'TIA, you were going to put her on a fast track to make her an Alicorn princess. Am I right?"

Celestia reared up on her hind legs and slammed her front hooves down. She shouted, "NOPONY CALLS ME TIA!" She lowered her voice and continued, "No Starlight, I do not have plans to fast track her to being an Alicorn princess, she will have to earn it just like anypony else would. I am banishing you from Canterlot because I know you will try to take Twilight's cutie mark again." She looked at the guards and ordered, "Escort her out of town."

As the guards led me out of the castle I took one final look back at Celestia and growled, "Mark my words Tia, one day you will regret doing this."

Celestia used her magic to slam the doors shut and I was led to the train station where several guards would ride with me on the trip to Manehattan. Celestia chose Manehattan because it was a great distance away from Canterlot. I don't know what ever happened to Sunset, but at this point I didn't care. I had to find a way to survive in the big city. I had no money, I had no home and I had nopony there for me. I know Celestia did this to try and crush my morale, but that was not the case. It gave me all the more reason to try and achieve my objective and fulfill my destiny, to get this nation to see that true happiness can only be achieved when all are equal.

My Arrival in Manehattan

Hard Times

The train ride from Canterlot to Manehattan seemed to take forever as I and the guards were stuffed in the car with the least comfortable seats and no system of controlling the temperature. While the temperatures outside weren't horribly cold, the seals on the windows of this car were not very good so there was a cold wind blowing in. This did not affect the guards as they were bundled up but I had no coat, scarf or anything else to keep me warm. I know Celestia was pissed off but she could have at least put me in a decent car, not the cheapest one on the train. This was even more proof that she is part of this nation's problem.

The train trip took ten hours although it seemed more like it took ten days but finally the train ground to a halt in Manehattan. One of the guards threw a saddlebag on my back and handed me fifty bits. He shoved me off the train and sternly ordered, "Do not return to Canterlot or Celestia will do much worse to you than this."

I sneered, "Oh and what is that, do to me what she did to her poor sister?"

He shoved me with so much force that I fell. While I was thankful that I was at least given a saddlebag and a bit of money, I was still unsure as to how I was going to make it. I knew that the cost of everything in the big city was astronomical and given that I had no home, I knew that for the time being, I would have to see if I could live in the homeless shelter.

It wasn't even five minutes after I got off the train that some of the citizens began to hurl insults at me. In Manehattan almost everypony wears clothes, even more so than in Canterlot. The only ponies that didn't were the very low class ponies. I remember my first interaction with a Manehattanite. I asked him how to get to the homeless shelter and he sneered, "Oh, you're one of those types huh? Go do society a favor and drown yourself."

I yelled back, "Go to Tartarus you elitist asshole!"

He grunted and we headed off in separate directions. After five hours and several more nasty interactions I finally found the place I was looking for. I went inside and was greeted by an earth pony, "May I help you."

I will admit, being a unicorn with a cutie mark that symbolized powerful magic I was kind of nervous but I replied, "We-Well, I was kicked out of my old town and I have nowhere to go. I am wondering if I could stay here for a while?"

She looked at me and noticed that I looked like I live in a good home. After all, it hadn't even been one day ago that I had a nice home. She asked, "Oh, and where did you used to live?"

I replied, "Canterlot. I was in Celestia's school but I did something that violated the rules and she not only expelled me from her school but she banished me from Canterlot."

This pony was the type that could spot a liar from a great distance and she could tell I was not lying, so she let me in. Given that the shelter's funding came through donations, there were no separate rooms for ponies to sleep in. All there was were bare spots on the floor for us to lay on and each pony was given a blanket. While it was not what I was used to, I was thankful to have a roof over my head. They also had newspapers as they encouraged us to look at the classified section of the newspaper and try to find work.

I knew that I had powerful magic but because of my past I could not simply go marching into a school and apply for a job involving teaching magic. I grabbed the paper and looked in the want ads. I noticed that a diner not too far away was looking for waitresses so the following day I went and applied for a job. I was surprised that they hired me on the spot. When I let the director of the shelter know that I had found a job, she told me that once I had the funds to afford a place of my own, that I would have to move out.

An Unexpected Offer

Roughly a month had passed since I started working at the diner and while I was saving up money, I still did not have enough to get a place of my own. At the rate things were going, it would likely be a couple more months before I could even afford the most run down apartment in town, much less a decent place. I remember one day a gentlestallion with a white coat and red star cutie mark came in to grab a bite to eat. I noticed he kept on staring at my flank and I wanted to know why but I had to be careful how I asked, "Sir, is there anything else you need?"

He asked, "No, there is nothing I need. I am just curious as to why a mare with a cutie mark such as yours would be working as a waitress in a diner?"

I replied, "Why do you ask about my cutie mark and why I am working here?"

He said, "You have a special kind of cutie mark. I have a feeling that you probably have a great amount of talent." He looked out towards a cab that was waiting for him and continued, "Could you meet me after you get off your shift? I have a feeling that you might be able to work in a job that would become a career for you."

Of course this made me suspicious yet curious at the same time. I asked, "Who are you?"

He replied, "I am Professor Red Star, I am the head professor of the advanced magic studies department at the University of Manehattan."

Before I could reply the manager yelled, "Starlight Glimmer, get back to work or you're fired."

I replied, "Sorry boss."

He whispered, "Tell you what, I'll just wait around until your shift gets over."

I nodded and got back to work. Three hours later my shift was over and we caught a cab to the University of Manehattan. He led me up to his office in the magic studies department. We sat down and he said, "I can tell by your cutie mark that you have a talent involving powerful magic."

I replied, "Well professor, I do have strong magic." I realized that perhaps if I mention my past, maybe I could get a job. I continued, "Well, I used to be a protege of Princess Celestia in her school for gifted unicorns."

He asked, "Used to be? What caused you to leave?"

I replied, "Well I along with Celestia's other protege saw how she was basically fast tracking a new protege of her's, one who was a very young filly who still talked like a baby, to becoming so advanced in magic that she would make her an Alicorn princess. Both me and this other protege made a plan to stop this filly from being able to simply be fast tracked."

Red Star asked, "What caused you and this other protege to think that she would fast track her to make her a princess that quickly?"

I replied, "It was just the way she interacted with her. She basically treated her as though she were her biological daughter. I found this as unfair that she would put so much focus on a filly that could barely control her own magic while suddenly ignoring the two of us." I stopped for a minute and continued, "When I was young I even wrapped up winter in Canterlot but once this new little filly came along, suddenly I was just chopped liver to her."

Red Star was stunned. He asked, "You wrapped up winter? How hard was it for you?"

I replied, "It was easy. I had done plenty of studying and unlike the other protege, I was calm and collected."

Red Star asked, "Back to the original topic. What did you and this other protege do to try and stop this filly from being fast tracked?"

I replied, "Well you see when I was a filly, I learned that I had a very special and rare talent. I learned that I have the ability to remove cutie marks. I can store the marks in jars and in their place a black equals sign appears in it's place."

I remember how his jaw dropped open. He gasped, "You can do what?" He calmed down a bit and continued, "Did you wind up taking her cutie mark away from her?"

I replied, "Yes, I did. The other protege that felt Celestia was putting this filly on a fast track, Sunset Shimmer, wound up taking that mark through a mirror that leads to a parallel world. I shoved Celestia through it hoping that she could not return through it but she did."

Red Star asked, "What happened with the filly?"

I replied, "Well she eventually got her mark back. That was when Celestia threw me out of her school and out of Canterlot."

Red Star asked, "Did you ever teach any magic yourself?"

I replied, "Yes, when Celestia had to be out of town I was the one who was responsible for educating the filly. She did blossom quite a bit while I was educating her but I had no desire to see the unequal treatment she was being given leading to her being given a role as a princess."

He gave me a smile and I could tell that he had plans. He asked, "Starlight Glimmer, it is obvious that you are extremely talented and given that you have a very rare gift, I am wondering if you would be interested in an open position we have for a professor?"

I was shocked and happy at the same time. I replied, "Yes, I would be interested in that." One thing I wondered was if there were any other applicants. I asked, "I don't mean to sound like I am being nosy but how many other applicants are there for this position?"

He replied, "We have had many other applicants but none of them have near the magical knowledge or background that you do. Since you are interested, I am willing to hire you right here on the spot."

I was shocked that I was on the verge of getting more than just a job, but a position that would wind up becoming a career. I said, "With that being the case, I accept your offer."

He smiled and replied, "Well then, you're hired!"

I asked, "So when will I start?"

He replied, "In four weeks." He paused for a second and continued, "Given that you work at the diner right now, where do you live?"

While I did not want to admit it, I knew I could not lie to the pony who just gave me a position as a professor. I replied, "I live at the homeless shelter right now."

He said, "Well, not anymore. There is an open apartment in the housing complex we have for new professors. I want you to get moved in as soon as possible."

I replied, "Well I just need to go and get my saddlebag from the shelter and then I will be ready to move in."

He told me to meet me in his office the following morning so he can take me to my apartment, so I only had one more night to spend in the shelter. I headed back to the shelter with a beaming smile on my face. I said to myself, "Wow! I can't believe it! Professor Starlight Glimmer!"

When I got back to the shelter I resumed my normal behavior. After all, I couldn't just suddenly show up with a huge smile on my face because if they knew I just got hired as a university professor, they would kick me out right then and there. I had no desire to spend the night out on the streets, especially given how cold it was.

That final night at the shelter seemed to last forever as I was so excited to get moved into my new place. When the following morning arrived I spoke to the pony in charge and let her know that I had earned enough at the diner that I was able to get a place of my own. There was no way in Tartarus that I would tell her I had been hired by the university. As I grabbed my saddlebag and left the shelter, I felt a great sense of relief. Now I had a great job that would start in a few weeks and I would have a good place to live, probably something that would rival if not surpass my dwellings in Celestia's castle.

When I arrived at the university I was greeted by Professor Red Star. He smiled and said, "Hi Professor Starlight, are you ready to see your new place."

I replied, "You bet I am."

It still felt odd being called Professor Starlight but it was a good type of odd. When Red Star led me inside it had all the amenities that a pony could want, a decent sized bedroom, my own bathroom, a living room and a washer and dryer for the instances when I do have to wear clothes. It was also already furnished so the only thing I would have to worry about getting would be a television and optional things such as a stand to put the TV on. Unfortunately, the television would have to wait until I got my first paycheck from the university because working at the diner doesn't exactly pay well.

What made me the happiest though was that it had a kitchen already equipped with a dishwasher, a stove and a fridge/freezer combo. When I saw this the very first thing that came to mind was that I would finally, after so many years, be able to eat meat on a regular basis again! I began to lick my chops dreaming of fixing myself some eggs and bacon the following morning.

Red Star could see that I was in awe of the apartment. He asked, "I take it you like it?"

I replied, "Like it? Like it? No I do not like it, I LOVE IT!"

He asked, "So Professor, what are you going to do regarding your job at the diner. Are you going to give your two weeks notice or are you just going to up and quit now?"

While I secretly just wanted to quit right away, I decided I would give them my two weeks notice. After all, it would be unfair to them to just up and leave. I replied, "Well I will give them my two weeks notice and then I will have two weeks to get ready to start my new career."

Red Star nodded and said, "That is what I was hoping to hear. It shows that you are loyal to those you work for and that you won't just quit on something not caring about how it would affect others."

I looked at the clock and said, "Well I probably better get to work and then I will need to do some shopping. After all, I am so ready to start cooking my own meals again."

Red Star and I headed out and went our separate directions. While my boss at the diner was a bit upset about me giving my two weeks notice, she did understand that I had been hired by the university and wished me well. The final two weeks at the diner felt like two months but when my final shift was over, I felt a sense of relief. In two weeks I would be starting a new job, a job where I can utilize my advanced knowledge of magic and hopefully help new students achieve their goals.

At this moment I wished so badly that I could go and tell mom and dad that I am now a Professor at The University of Manehattan but given that I have been banished from Canterlot, writing them would have to do. I wrote them the following letter:

"Dear Mom and Dad,

I am sorry that you haven't heard from me in a while but I am sure you know that Celestia kicked me out of her school for trying to keep things fair for myself and the other proteges. I am not sure if she gave you the details as to why I was kicked out but I have had some rather interesting things happen. I was sent to Manehattan. All I had when I got off the train was fifty bits and a saddlebag, which the guard ponies gave me. For a while I had to live in a homeless shelter and work at a diner.

One day the head professor from the local university came in to the diner during my shift and noticed my cutie mark. He asked me why I was working in a diner when I had such a cutie mark. I told him about my past. I told him about my being in Celestia's school, I told him about my talent and I told him how I did teach the filly that Celestia loved so much from time to time. Upon hearing this, he offered me a job as a professor of magic at The University of Manehattan which I gladly accepted. I just finished my final shift at the diner and in two weeks I will begin my new career. I really wish I could have told you this over a meal or at least in a tight embrace but for now this letter will do. I hope that we can get together sometime.

Love your Daughter,

Professor Starlight Glimmer"

During my time in the shelter and working at the diner, I did a lot of soul searching and I realized that I could have behaved in a less confrontational way in Celestia's school. While I still want to eradicate the inequalities of this nation that hold the working class and the impoverished down, I realized that I took the wrong approach. Rather than simply forcing my will upon others, persuasion will be a much better method but I am still going to go out and buy some glass jars, just in case!

My Discoveries

A New Beginning

I had plenty of things that I had to do between my final day at the diner and my first day as a professor. Naturally I couldn't just do my teaching without any clothing on, you know how university regulations can be. I decided to purchase clothing that was practical but professional at the same time. At first I was only able to purchase a couple outfits because like I have said earlier, the diner didn't pay that well and I did have to eat. Once I get my first check from the university I will be able to diversify my wardrobe and get optional luxuries such as cable TV and a cell phone. For now though, I will have to do with what I have.

Finally the day came, my first day on the job. I woke up nervous but at the same time confident that I could help new students develop their skills and be able to find careers that involve magic. When I headed to the campus that morning I was greeted by Professor Red Star who led me to my new office. He said, "Well Professor, this is your office. This is where you will keep all your class records and meet with students." He took a look at my wardrobe, which was rather simple but professional looking and said, "Nice outfit. How many do you have right now?"

I replied, "Well right now I only have two because I didn't have a lot of money to purchase more than that."

He said, "Well I'll make sure that you are able to buy more. After all, we don't want the students thinking that you only have two outfits. That wouldn't make you look good and it wouldn't make the university look good either."

I replied, "Alright, I appreciate that."

For this upcoming semester I would be teaching two General Magic courses a day, one at ten in the morning and one at two in the afternoon. Also for this first semester, I will have to teach the evening labs from six to eight on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Yes I will admit that I wish my courses were back to back and that I had grad students to run the labs, but I knew that with me being a new professor that this is how it would be.

At five minutes before ten I headed to the classroom where I would be teaching my course from and saw the seats filling up with students. Most of them were talking and seemed rather indifferent but two students came in with smiles on their faces. One was a pink unicorn mare with a purple curly mane and tail while the other was a light blue unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane and tail. While this may sound odd to some, I had a feeling that those two would likely be among my top students.

All my students already were proficient in basic magic such as levitating things, short distance teleportation and using their abilities to perform their special talent, I would be the one to teach them how to harness their powers to levitate heavier objects, increase their teleportation distance and help them harness energies that would allow them to do things such as building and cooking. Basically, I was going to be teaching them the magic involved in everyday life.

My first class period went by without any problems. My afternoon class went by without any problems either but what shocked me was that there was a pegasus mare and an earth pony stallion. I honestly wondered what they were doing in a class that is solely for unicorns. After class I approached the two and asked them why they signed up for the course.

The pegasus replied, "I know with me being a pegasus that I can't practice any magic but I have always been fascinated by it and how it works."

The earth pony added, "I have always been interested in how it works as well. I honestly don't know why but I am."

I replied, "I am sorry but I don't think this class would be good for you because there is a mandatory lab with this class as well where students will have to show their improvement in their use of magic." I saw their faces drop and continued, "With you two being interested in how magic works, I would suggest you take the Workings of Magic course that is taught by Professor Red Star."

The mare asked, "When is this course taught?"

I replied, "Luckily for you two, it is taught at the same time that this one is, it has no mandatory lab and even better, it is taught in the classroom next door to this one."

The two thanked me for letting them know about this other magic class and headed on their way. While I was happy to see that other kinds of ponies were interested in magic, I couldn't help but wonder why. Perhaps it was because some of their relatives are unicorns or they had friends who were unicorns. One thing I did not know though was that these two would one day become a huge part of my life.

Researching the Past

While I was teaching during my first semester, myself along with some of the other magic professors began to discuss the history of magic and how it went from being simple things such as levitating things to eventually developing into the much more advanced magic that exists in this day and age. While I had always thought it was Celestia and Luna who brought more advanced magic to Equestria, I learned of the existence of ancient unicorn mages that lived here in the eastern side of the continent, before it was part of Equestria.

All this discussion of ancient Eastern unicorn magic really piqued my interest. So while the other professors, including Red Star, would go out and mingle with professors from other departments on weekends, I would go to the library and pour over the books on the history of Eastern Unicorn magic. I came to discover that before Celestia and Luna conquered the whole continent, that this land was ruled by unicorn mages, with Meadowbrook being their leader because of Her immense power. I learned that She at one time, before the Celestial invasion, ran a community in the northeastern desert. She had established a community in which those who tried to overthrow the mages were equalized. I read this and thought, "equalized?" I wonder what it means that She equalized them.

I also learned that this was where She had eight magical artifacts that are believed to only respond to the magic of Eastern Unicorns and their descendants. While I figured that they must be amazing regardless, none of the books I read mentioned of what they are nor did they mention where the artifacts are located. I do have a feeling though that they are likely hidden very well since they have never been discovered.

I continued to read and I discovered that Meadowbrook would use Her magic to remove the cutie marks of those who were deemed enemies of the East, those who were considered spies for the Celestial west. I was amazed when I learned that She would store the cutie marks in a vault in a cave and that an equals sign would replace the mark on ponies that had their marks removed. I saw this and gasped, "Wait a minute, when I remove a mark an equals sign replaces it!"

As I continued to read, it mentioned that she was the last pony to use that kind of magic, that nopony has been able to use that kind of magic in over a thousand years. I smiled and thought, "well until now!" Apparently even Celestia herself must have forgot about that kind of magic ever existing given that the worst punishment I got for using it was expulsion and banishment from Canterlot.

I was amazed that I had the same magical talent that such a powerful mage had. I eventually got to the part of the book that would anger me greatly, a part of the book that would make me decide that Celestia must eventually pay for her crimes. I read about how Meadowbrook and Her forces got into a battle with Celestia and her forces. Meadowbrook had taken a great amount of cutie marks from Celestia's soldiers but when She was captured by Celestia, She was executed.

I lowered my head and began to sob. I never imagined that the "benevolent" Princess Celestia would execute another pony for any reason. It was at this moment that I decided that my destiny was much more than being a university professor. I realized that my true destiny was to punish Celestia for her crimes, to punish the Celestial Monarchy for it's crimes against the East and to study enough that I could become a mage, take the marks of the princesses and end the Celestial Era. This of course would take an extremely long time, something that I would have to hope that I would live long enough to accomplish. Given that I have the same talent that Meadowbrook had, maybe I will have an incredibly long life span like She did as well.

A Holiday Trip

After learning about the history of Eastern unicorn magic, Meadowbrook and the community that She had out in the northeastern desert, the semester seemed to drag by. While I continued to do a great job teaching, I soon found myself almost obsessing over taking a trip to the northeastern desert and finding the location of where Her village once stood. I found myself spending every single amount of my spare time immersing myself in information about Meadowbrook, Eastern Unicorns and what was known about the types of energies that they use.

Finally, after what seemed to take forever, the semester came to a close. While there was going to be a Hearth's Warming gala at the university for the professors, I would not be in town for it. The day after classes ended I set out on my journey. I boarded a train to a remote outpost that is basically where the tracks end and the train leaves in reverse. This was no cheap trip because I had to basically charter this trip.

Several hours passed and I the train finally reached it's destination. I got out of the car and the train began to go in reverse. Around me was what appeared to be a desolate wasteland. My first thought was, "Meadowbrook had Her community out here? How did She grow crops, how did She get water?"

Of course I then realized that being a unicorn mage, that She probably had the talent to simply make things grow and maybe had a well where She could access ground water. I began to head to the north where I saw a gorge, which had a very old bridge going over it. I did not trust this bridge one bit though so I teleported from one side of the gorge to the other. I then continued my journey north until I began to descend down from the hill into a lower elevated plain.

My heart nearly stopped with what I saw next. There before me was an old settlement, one that looked like it had sat abandoned for ages. It was simply two rows of identical buildings with a house sitting at the end of the town. I thought to myself, "No way would Meadowbrook reside in a dump like this!"

I then saw a path that headed northwards out of town up a hill and eventually led to what appeared to be an opening in the rock. While I was headed up the hill I discovered a two pronged wooden staff. I was unsure as to what it was but a nagging voice in the back of my head told me that while it may look useless, that someday it would help me in my cause greatly so I decided to take it up to the opening.

When I got up to the opening I discovered this was no mere opening, it was a cave. As I got towards the back of it I saw something that was not natural, it was something that was put in there. I lit up my horn and before me stood a massive structure. I looked closer and it had many glass compartments in it and I began to wonder what it truly was. In the bottom most compartment on the left side I saw something strange. The glass was covered in dirt so I wound up brushing it off and I was shocked by what I found. A CUTIE MARK! I saw a shield cutie mark. I am guessing that it was one from Celestia's forces that was never recovered.

I began to jump up and down and shout, "I found it! I found it! I can't believe I found it!"

I had never felt happier in my life. While I had a great job and a very comfortable place to live, I realized that part of my destiny must be to revive Meadowbrook's village. While Equestria is united as one and there are not the problems that Meadowbrook had, that didn't mean that I could not begin to equalize ponies. While Meadowbrook targeted spies and Celestial soldiers, I will go after the arrogant ponies who flaunt their talents and those who taunt other ponies that they consider beneath them.

Now getting back to Manehattan was going to be far more difficult than getting here was as there will be no train coming out this way. I generally knew the location of this town and the nearest community was Marentreal, which was off to the west. It took several days for me to go through the desert but I eventually reached Marentreal and caught the train home. My trip took much less time than I thought as when I got home, there were still two and a half weeks remaining until classes would start again.

I was very excited about everything that happened but I was frustrated that I could not go see my parents. I know they have their jobs, friends and lives there, I truly wish they would leave Canterlot. I miss them so much but for now, again, a letter telling them of everything that has happened would have to do.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hi, it's me again. How are you doing? I hope all is going well for you. Here in Manehattan things have been going quite well. I finished teaching my first semester and things went rather normally. During this time my co-workers and I began to discuss ancient Eastern Unicorn magic and I became very interested in it. While I would teach during the week, my weekends would be spend doing as much research as possible regarding the magic of Eastern Unicorns and the history of Meadowbrook. Did you know that She had the same talent that I do? Did you know that She could take cutie marks, store them and in their place a black equals sign would appear on the pony's flank. I think that is amazing!

During my research I discovered that Meadowbrook had a community that She led out in the northeastern desert. It was a place where Celestial soldiers, western spies and Celestial loyalists would be taken to be equalized. I read about how Meadowbrook had a cave with a cutie mark vault in it. I decided to take a trip up to this area and the old legends are true. Apparently the conditions there are so dry that even after over a thousand years, the community is still standing. I headed up to the cave and sure enough, there is a cutie mark vault and upon further inspection, I saw that there was still one cutie mark being stored in there! It is of a shield so it is likely that of a Celestial soldier. I really wish I could have shared this with you together but this letter will have to do. I hope we can see each other soon.

Love your Daughter,

Professor Starlight Glimmer

Discovering My True Origins

The remaining time of my break seemed to be racing by as before I knew it, there was only one more week before I would begin teaching again. I would be teaching the same classes and have the exact same schedule. Luckily though, there would be grad students to teach the labs so all I had to worry about were the daytime classes.

As I was getting ready to fix breakfast that morning I heard a knock on my door. I was not expecting any company and I had hoped to get some more research on how Eastern Unicorns used their energy in that day so I was a bit frustrated. I opened the door and I was shocked. There stood mom and dad! I rushed into their hooves and began to cry I was so happy. It had been so long since I saw them. I invited them in and asked them if they wanted some breakfast and of course they said yes.

I fixed us eggs, bacon, toast and oatmeal, which was a family favorite when I was growing up. During breakfast we began to talk. Mom asked "Starlight, we got your letter and we are happy that you seem to be happy here."

Dad added, "I am so happy to see that you are learning about Eastern Unicorn magic. Had you remained in Canterlot, you would never have been able to diversify your knowledge like this."

I replied, "I know. Celestia never had any materials on the eastern half of Equestria prior to her takeover of the full continent."

Mom said, "Well Celestia and her armies did commit horrible atrocities against not just Eastern Unicorns, but all ponies here in the East."

I replied, "I know. It almost makes me ashamed that I ever went to Celestia's school. I never imagined that she was evil like that." A few tears began to roll down my cheeks as I continued, "And the fact that she executed Meadowbrook bothers me so much. I hate her, I truly hate her."

My mom looked at dad and asked, "Honey, think we should tell her."

Dad nodded and began, "Starlight honey, there is something that we have been hiding from you. It is something that many ponies in Equestria have to hide from their children for their safety and well-being."

I was not thrilled that they would hide something but with the reason they gave of hiding it, I wasn't quite as upset. I asked, "What are you hiding."

Mom continued, "Honey, I know we have told you that our heritage comes from basically Vanhoover and Las Pegasus, but that is not the truth. We have had to tell you this because ponies of our heritage are frowned upon by many other ponies. On both sides of the family, our heritage comes from a much different place."

I asked, "Oh, and where is that?"

Mom continued, "Starlight, our lineage comes from the East. Biologically we are Eastern Unicorns. On your father's side of the family, he is descended directly back to Mage Meadowbrook Herself."

I rushed into their arms and asked, "Does that mean that I too am a direct descendant of Meadowbrook?"

My dad replied, "Yes Starlight, you are a direct descendant of Meadowbrook."

Mom pulled the family tree out of her saddlebag, which was massive and spread it out on my dining room table. Sure enough, my lineage on my father's side traces straight back to Mage Meadowbrook and on my mom's side it traces back to Mage Shadowstar, who was Meadowbrook's second in command and the second most powerful mage in the East.

My mom patted me on the back and said, "You know Starlight, perhaps you were meant to be expelled from Celestia's school and banished from Canterlot. You got what you could out of Celestia's school and now despite being a professor here, you are learning a lot here as well."

Dad added, "And given that you made the journey out to Meadowbrook's community and discovered the cutie mark vault, the time has come for you to fulfill your true destiny."

I asked, "My true destiny?"

Mom replied, "Yes Starlight, your true destiny. After you were expelled, Celestia paid us a visit and said that since you had begun to play with Twilight that you were so close to becoming a princess."

Dad added, "But with your expulsion, while at first things may have seemed horrible at first, you are now on your way to fulfilling your destiny." He paused for a couple of seconds and continued, "The old Eastern Unicorn prophecy is being fulfilled. The direct descendant of the two most powerful mages has arrived and begun her journey. You have many more things ahead of you in your future, some good and some not so good but in the end you will liberate the East from Celestial rule."

Mom continued, "And perhaps even avenge Meadowbrook Herself."

When my parents told me all of this, I realized that all of the feelings I had when I discovered the cutie mark vault actually were true. I did not want to even mutter such things to myself at that time as I did not want to make myself superior to anypony else. I replied, "Mom, dad, I promise you that I will not let you down. I will not let Meadowbrook and Shadowstar down. I will not let the race of Eastern Unicorns and other Eastern ponies in general down. I will bring about equality for all, nopony should have to be scared to show their true heritage."

Mom said, "I know you won't honey. I am hoping we can stay here for a couple of days before returning back to Canterlot."

I replied, "Of course you can stay! I have some clean sheets and blankets. I want you two to sleep in my bedroom and I will sleep on the couch."

They smiled and in unison they said, "You are a true Eastern Unicorn, your offer would make Meadowbrook and Shadowstar proud."

The days that my parents stayed with me were the happiest days that I had had in a long time. They were even happier than the moment that I discovered the cutie mark vault and vastly more happy than the day I was accepted into Celestia's school.

My Journey Begins

My Two Informants

A week had come and gone and the new semester was beginning. There were many new faces, many eager unicorns but this semester felt a bit different. Like the last semester, I was excited to start helping new students with their magical abilities but it seemed like I could relate with this class more. Last semester when classes began all the unicorns seemed the same but with this semester it felt different. I could tell differences in the unicorns simply by noticing the way they conducted themselves. Of course there are unicorns of all heritages here at the university but there were a few who seemed to take things much more seriously, ones that would come by my office at times just to visit, the Eastern Unicorns.

I do remember one afternoon a couple of them had dropped by my office and said that they wanted to discuss some things in private. So I closed the door and we began our discussion. One was a blue stallion with a yellow shooting star for a cutie mark named Yellow Star and the other was a white mare with a deep blue four pointed star rising from a flat surface named Morning Glory. They had concerns about some of the other students studying magic and needed to voice their concerns.

Morning Glory asked, "Professor Starlight, can I tell you something and you won't tell anypony."

With them being Eastern Unicorns I felt a closer connection to them. I replied, "Sure, and you can just call me Starlight."

Morning Glory continued, "Well Starlight, there are a couple of unicorns in some of our other classes that really seem to flaunt their talents."

Yellow Star asked, "Do the names Party Favor and Sugar Belle sound familiar to you?"

I replied, "Yes, those two were in my class last semester. How is it that they are flaunting their talents?"

Morning Glory stated, "Well we share a house with those two along with two other ponies. I often times offer to cook supper and make desserts for us but Sugar Belle always butts in and says that she will make the desserts. She has never even once just relaxed and let me or anypony else fix dessert."

Yellow Star added, "And we do throw parties as well. Before Party Favor moved in, I was normally the one who would decorate but once he moved in, he insisted that he be the one to decorate since it is his special talent."

I asked, "Do you share that house with any other ponies?"

Morning Glory replied, "Yes, we also share the house with a white earth pony stallion with three snowflakes for a cutie mark and has a white mane and tail. He is huge into skiing and the other is a dark blue pegasus mare with a white and gray mane and tail along with a white moon cutie mark."

I asked, "What are the names of these two?"

Morning Glory replied, "Well the stallion is named Double Diamond and the mare is named Night Glider."

My jaw dropped open. Those were the two non-unicorns who signed up for my General Magic course last fall. I actually began to wonder about not just those two, but the two unicorns they have concerns about as well. I asked "Are those four pretty close?"

Yellow Star replied, "Yes, they are extremely close. They seem to just tolerate us. We have tried to get closer to them but they just don't want to. I'm not sure why, but they just don't."

While they were standing there telling me all of this, the wheels in my head began to turn. I asked, "You wouldn't happen to know what these four are majoring in would you?"

Yellow Star replied, "I do. Party Favor and Night Glider are both geology majors, Double Diamond is a Pre-Med student and Sugar Belle is a geography major."

I asked, "How interested in ancient unicorn magic are those four."

Morning Glory replied, "They are all very interested in it. They seem to focus almost all their interest in Celestial magic. They don't care too much about Eastern Unicorn magic but said that if they had a chance to visit an important site involving it, that they would."

I began to rub my hooves together and got a sinister smile on my face. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were kind of concerned as to what my motives were regarding the information they provided me. I gave them a confident smile and said, "You know something, I think I know how to put those four in their place."

Morning Glory asked, "And how are you going to do that?"

I replied, "Once the end of the semester gets here, tell them to come to meet me at the train station on the first Monday after the end of finals week. Since they are interested in visiting sites relevant to magic, I am thinking that they could accompany me to this site out in the northeast desert." I gave them a more intense look and continued, "And DO NOT mention my name. Simply tell them that a friend is interested in going there."

Morning Glory asked, "I'm sure they will ask what this friend's name is. What name do you want us to give them?"

I replied, "Pink Sky. That should work."

Yellow Star asked, "Wait a minute, they will be able to tell who you are by your cutie mark and your mane style."

I replied, "I will simply have to hide my cutie mark and I will go to the salon the weekend before I take them out there."

Yellow Star asked, "Will you ever take us out there since it is a place with significance to magic?"

I replied, "For now I want for you two to wait to visit this place until I have done what I want to do. I have special plans for those four. It is something that I really can't reveal right now but once I take them out to visit this place in the summer, could you let other ponies that seem to be like those four that are interested in magic know about this old community out in the northeastern desert? Let them know that if they wish to know more about magic, to visit it."

Yellow Star asked, "But what if they don't know where in the desert to go?"

I replied, "Just refer to it as a community of significance regarding magic and they will know where to go."

They both nodded and left my office. I knew that I would have to make a few changes to my appearance. For starters, I would have to change the style in which I wear my mane and tail. I would also need to find a way to disguise my cutie mark. If I am to equalize these four, I need to make it look like I have the same mark as they will have after I take their marks. I suddenly realized that this is where the staff I found would be useful.

The Second Trip to the Desert

The semester seemed to drag by as I knew that beginning that summer, that I would begin the next phase of fulfilling not only my destiny, but fulfilling the old Eastern Unicorn prophecy as well. After finals week I went out and took care of things that I would need. I bought some pink powder that matched my coat, a black equal sign cut out and some black powder to make it appear as though I had the equals sign cutie mark. I also headed to the salon and had my mane styled. I chose a style that was popular in the big city. I figured that they would be far less likely to figure out who I am like that.

When Monday morning arrived I woke up early and had a huge breakfast. I knew that this would be the last decent meal that I would have for quite some time but this was part of my destiny. Besides, Mage Meadowbrook lived for an extremely long time without eating good meals so for me to not do what I need to do to avenge the ponies of the East, that would basically be spitting in the face of my heritage.

As I was heading out the door I checked in my apartment one more time to make sure that I hadn't forgot anything. I then saw my staff in a corner in my bedroom and realized that I better grab it. After all, I can't have them thinking that an equalized pony can do what I plan on doing. They have to think it is the staff that has the power, not me.

When I arrived at the train station there were four ponies waiting for me there, Night Glider, Sugar Belle, Party Favor and Double Diamond. While the four had seen and met me before, they could not tell who I was.

I asked, "Hello everypony! Are you ready for this trip?"

Night Glider replied, "Of course we're ready. Anything involving learning about magic I will always be up for!"

Sugar Belle saw my staff and asked, "Pink Sky, what is up with the staff?"

I replied, "It is an important magical relic that has a a great amount of significance to the place we are going."

She nodded and all of us boarded the train.

Once we boarded the train and it began to head towards the outpost, I started thinking of how I was going to do this, down to every little detail. Do I equalize them the second we reach the town? Do I show them the cutie mark vault first and then equalize them? Do I wait a day or two? By the time we reached the outpost I had made my decision. I would equalize them when I take them to the cave. Then a sudden thought crossed my mind, how am I going to get them to stay out here? I doubted that simply taking their marks would cause them to want to stay. I would have to find a way to brainwash them so that they would stay.

After I finished thinking of how I would do this I decided that if I know how they get along with others, I might be able to get an idea as to how I could get them to stay. I asked them, "You four seem to be really close. Are you all really good friends?"

Sugar Belle replied, "Yes, we are all very close."

I asked, "What about others? How well do you get along with other ponies?"

Sugar Belle replied, "I don't get along well with other ponies besides these three. I think they are jealous of my talent in making desserts."

I asked, "What about the rest of you?"

Party Favor replied, "I'm in the same situation as Sugar Belle. I have a great talent at throwing parties and it seems like our other two housemates envy me."

Double Diamond added, "Well I am a great skier and when I am around other ponies that are into winter sports, they seem to shun me because of my talent."

Night Glider continued, "And it seems like other ponies really envy my ability to identify constellations in the night sky."

I asked, "How does that make all of you feel? Do you ever feel like other ponies think of themselves as better than you despite you having these talents."

Double Diamond replied, "It makes us feel awful. I will admit, it angers me that these other ponies hate me over my talent."

Party Favor added, "And even though I have thrown many great parties, Yellow Star seems to think that he is better at throwing parties since he did so good before I moved in."

I asked, "Speaking of Yellow Star, how do the four of you get along with him."

Party Favor replied, "Oh Yellow Star, we really don't get along with him nor do we get along with Morning Glory."

I asked, "Are those two your housemates?"

Party Favor replied, "Yes, unfortunately they are."

Night Glider added, "They just seem off. I don't know why, but they just seem to have this idea that we should let them help with things even though the things they want to help with are our special talents."

Sugar Belle added, "I think they are Eastern Unicorns. I have heard that they are like that. They like to do too much and try to help out in things they are not familiar with." She sighed and continued, "Why must Eastern Unicorns be like that? Why can't they be like the rest of us?"

It seemed like the longer we talked the more I wanted to smack them. I could tell that they viewed themselves as superior to not just Eastern Unicorns, but Eastern ponies to start with. It is odd really, I never paid much attention to the differences between Western and Eastern ponies until I did all that research on Meadowbrook. Ugh this train can't get to the outpost soon enough, I want to get these four equalized as quickly as possible.

My....Or Should I Say Our Town

Author's Note

I am now getting to the part of this story that leads up to the season five opener but the way in which Starlight met Double Diamond, Party Favor, Night Glider and Sugar Belle will not follow what is canon due the recent past of Starlight's life I gave her.

My....Or Should I Say Our Town

Beginning the Unmarking Process

Finally after what seemed to be forever and a half the train finally reached the outpost. The five of us got off the train and my companions looked around with confused looks on their faces. Night Glider was the first to say something. "Pink Sky, where is this community you were telling us about?"

I replied, "Follow me."

While I did not trust that old bridge one bit I decided that I would take the risk of crossing it. Now if it were just me I would teleport again but given that I am bearing the equals sign cutie mark, I can not use my advanced magic. I did suggest to Night Glider that she fly across the gorge so that there would not be so much weight on the bridge at once.

As she flew across the rest of us began to walk across the bridge. As soon as we started to cross, it began to make creaking noises and the four of us were worried about perhaps falling into the gorge. After what seemed to be a long walk, we made it across and breathed a sigh of relief. I pointed my hoof off to the northeast and said, "Alright everypony, the town is off in that direction, it is down on a plain."

We began to walk down the hill and after fifteen minutes we reached the town. While we were walking around town my companions were looking at the buildings and noticed that they looked alike. I looked back and saw that they were unimpressed. Sugar Belle asked, "Pink Sky, are you sure this is a town that has a lot of magical significance? It looks like a ghost town that has sat abandoned for a long time."

I replied, "Don't worry Sugar Belle, soon you will learn how truly significant this town was."

First I decided that I would have us take a look inside some of the houses, which were all identical on both the inside and the outside, with the exception of the one on the far north end of town. Each house had two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen in them. At first I began to think, "We are going to have to do something, if we get larger families moving out here these will not suffice." Then I remembered that I am bringing ponies out here to equalize them, not give them luxurious living quarters. Besides, what will soon become my home isn't exactly all that impressive either.

I knew where I would lead them next. As I began to lead them up towards the cave Double Diamond asked, "Where are you taking us? Why are we leaving town?"

I replied, "You'll see Double Diamond, soon the four of you shall see what truly makes this place so significant in the history of magic."

As I lead them in I created light with my horn so that they would not run into the vault and shatter the glass. We stood before the vault and the four looked at it in a state of confusion and yet they were in awe as well. Night Glider asked, "Pink Sky, what is that thing? What used to be stored in these compartments."

This was the moment I decided the time had come. The time had come to start equalizing those who think of themselves as better than everypony else. I gave her a smile and laughed, "You are about to find out."

I grabbed my staff and fired some energy at the pegasus. Immediately she was held in my aura and as her cutie mark was removed, it flew to my staff and I then placed it in one of the compartments. She fell to the ground as her new cutie mark, an equals sign appeared on her flank. The other three began to panic and were running towards the exit. I could not let them escape though so I fired a bolt at them knocking them to the ground. I wondered if I could remove more than one at a time so I grabbed them in my aura and easily removed their marks together and placed them in the vault.

As they lay there with their new equals sign marks, I felt a great sense of power. I felt a sense that if Meadowbrook were here, She would be proud. As they lay there terrified, Party Favor asked, "What did you do Pink Sky? Why would you take our marks?"

Since they now had no powers, since they were equal, I decided the time had come to reveal my true identity. I backed them against a wall and began, "I want you to know that Pink Sky is not my name. My true name is Starlight Glimmer."

Party Favor asked, "As in Professor Starlight Glimmer?"

I realized that I was going to have to come up with some sort of lie. I can't have them thinking that I am an extremely talented professor, I needed to make them think that I was an ordinary pony like them. I replied, "No, not as in the professor. I have heard of her but my magic is not anything like her's."

Sugar Belle replied, "But why did you remove our marks?"

This is where I would begin to play on how they felt the envy of their housemates. I replied, "Sugar Belle, I could see the heartache that you and your friends here have. I could see that you were suffering because of your talents. Now you will no longer have to worry about being judged because of your talents."

Night Glider asked, "But what about you? Have you always had that mark or did you have a talent at one time?"

I led them over to the bottom left side of the vault, where the shield cutie mark was. I replied, "You see this mark here? At one time I had a talent involving battle and warfare. I was made fun of A LOT because I had what was considered 'a stallion's cutie mark.' All that emotional pain was too much to handle, so I had to figure something out to get rid of it."

Double Diamond asked, "But how did you learn of this place and how did you remove your mark?"

I replied, "I did a lot of research on ancient unicorn magic. I learned of this place and I learned about this staff." I pointed my hoof at it and continued, "I learned about the staff of sameness, a magical artifact that allowed me to remove my mark and place it in here."

Night Glider asked, "Well now that none of us have any talents, what are we supposed to do? We will face even more heartache in this world with these equals sign cutie marks and having no talent than we ever have."

I motioned for the four to walk over to me and I pulled them in an embrace. I replied, "Do not worry, we will live out here. Here we will be free from the judgement of other ponies that brings us so much heartache."

Double Diamond asked, "But what if we were to want our cutie marks back? What would we do?"

The other three nodded and I realized that I had to do something. Apparently simply removing their marks would not be enough. I would need a way to get them to accept the ideology I want them to. I replied, "Well all you would have to do is ask me and I would give it back to you BUT if you decide you want to return to a life where you are constantly judged, envied and hated because of your talent, that is your choice."

I saw the four's faces drop as they realized that I was right. We headed out of the cave, back towards town and I noticed something. Their coats, manes, tails and eyes appeared to be dull. Night Glider attempted to take flight but she simply couldn't get very far off the ground before her cutie mark appeared to be pulsating. Eventually she gave up trying to fly and returned to walking. I was thinking, "Wow! This is better than I thought! Maybe whenever they try to do whatever their talent used to be, their new mark will prevent them from doing so."

Once we got back into town we began to look through some of the houses and I noticed that one of them appeared to be more of a prison, as it had just one large room. I also saw that this room had loudspeakers in each corner. I began to wonder what those were used for. I wondered if Meadowbrook used these to force the spies and soldiers of Celestia to turn against the tyrant princess. I realized that I could use these to my advantage. I saw in a hidden compartment that there was a recording device that I could record messages on and have it play on a continuous loop.

While my four new "friends" were looking through the house next door, I decided to work my magic and create a recording to truly equalize all who come here. I started recording,

"In sameness, there is peace.
Exceptionalism is a lie.
Free yourself from your cutie mark.
Choose equality as your special talent.
Difference is frustration.
To excel is to fail.
Be your best by never being your best.
Conformity will set you free.
Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow.
You're no better than your friends."

I decided that by having this play on a continuous loop, I could get them to accept my ways. I will bombard them with this until they break and become what I want them to be. I knew that these four had not bought into my beliefs yet so I decided to put them in what some will call the "propaganda hut" and lock them in. I turned the recording on and they began to hear nothing but those slogans, in my voice of course.

Reviving Meadowbrook's Village

Three days had passed and after 72 hours of hearing nothing but my slogans, I led my fellow villagers out to talk to them. As I stood in front of them I could tell something changed about them. They were smiling and seemed content. Yes it was an odd, almost forced smile, but it was still a smile none the less.

I asked them, "Does anypony have something they would like to say?"

Double Diamond replied, "I do. I am so happy that we are all equal. Nopony is any better than anypony else."

Night Glider added, "I am so happy that you helped me realize that true happiness is only achieved in sameness."

Sugar Belle continued, "I am happy that you helped me realize that life is so much better without my mark and the talent that came with it."

Party Favor finished, "I am so happy that you freed me from what brought me so much heartache. You are a true inspiration Starlight."

I was shocked, but in a good way. I could tell that by the way they were acting, that they were being genuine in their statements. With this being the case, I led them to their new houses. While it was not as good as what they had in their old lives, they seemed truly happy and grateful. Double Diamond asked, "Starlight, will it just be us out here or will there be other ponies who are suffering heartache and learn about our village?"

I knew that I could trust Morning Glory and Yellow Star to spread my message to other Celestial, aka Western ponies. I replied, "I am sure that other ponies will learn of our village as well. If ponies that are experiencing heartache truly want to find a way to escape it, they will do their research and learn about us."

For a couple of weeks it was only the five of us, which was actually a good thing. I was able to establish very close relationships with them, Double Diamond in particular. While all four of them were loyal to me, I could tell that he would be the best one to initially welcome new ponies before they are introduced to me.

Eventually more ponies and even families of ponies began to move here. Some seemed to be suffering more heartache than others and naturally with there being families, some were fillies and colts who had yet to earn their cutie marks. This at first would be problematic because what parent would want to see their child be stripped of their mark as soon as they earned it. Over time though it would prove to not be much of a problem because of the way I indoctrinated ponies. They knew that if their child had a special talent, that they would suffer a lot of heartache. With this being the case, when a filly or colt would discover a special talent and earn their cutie mark, their parents would bring them to me to be unmarked.

I will admit that when fall arrived, I felt a bit bad that I had just abandoned my post as a professor at The University of Manehattan, but what I am doing here is much more significant than teaching at a university. What I am doing here is beginning the process of ending inequality in Equestria, I was in the process of stopping the heartache ponies feel from being judged by others, I was on my way to fulfilling my destiny and that was far more important than helping students learn how to handle everyday magic.

My Setback

Author's Note

This chapter takes place during The Cutie Map episodes so it may seem more like a commentary from Starlight's perspective than a regular chapter.

My Setback

Their Arrival

Five years had passed since my expulsion from Celestia's school and it had been 3½ years since I revived Meadowbrook's village. I gave it the name "Our Town" because it technically is for all of us, I am simply known as it's founder by today's inhabitants. While I do sometimes wonder how things would have been and how far I could have eventually gone had I remained at the University of Manehattan, I knew what I was doing was right. I felt it in my heart that having this community was a step in the right direction. Would I ever stretch my influence beyond Our Town? That is something I was not exactly sure about but with Morning Glory and Yellow Star's help, the number of ponies I had equalized exceeded my expectations.

One day I do remember quite well though started out like any other. The sun rose, a light westerly breeze was blowing through town and all the ponies were out engaging in their everyday activities when I got a knock on my door. It was Double Diamond and Party Favor alerting me that we had some new visitors. I headed outside to meet these new visitors and before me stood six ponies.

I walked up to them and said, "Welcome to Our Town! I am Starlight Glimmer, what are your names?"

Twilight decided to introduce the group. She pointed her hoof at her friends and replied, "Well this is Applejack, this is Fluttershy, this is Rarity, this is Pinkie Pie, this is Rainbow Dash and my name is Twilight Sparkle."

Hmmm.....Twilight Sparkle. I know I have heard that name before. I took a closer look at her, a much closer look at her. I could tell that she was feeling uncomfortable with me getting as close as I did but I didn't care. After checking her out for a few seconds and violating her personal space, I realized that this was her, this was the pony that Celestia brought in when she was getting frustrated that myself and Sunset did not desire to make friends and hang around her lesser students.

While I knew it was her, I had a feeling that she did not recognize me, which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief. I pretty much knew that with her being an Alicorn that she had to be a princess, so addressing her as such would help me get the information I desired. I wanted to know how she became an Alicorn so I decided to ask, "Princess Twilight, how did you become an Alicorn? I thought that Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna were the only Alicorns."

She would not make a good first impression with me. She sneered, "Why should I tell you? I just met you and I am not going to share that with somepony I just met."

I sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you so angry."

She calmed down a bit and sighed, "Oh, it's ok. You can just call me Twilight."

Well at least she isn't as formal as Celestia was. With her I always had to refer to her as Princess Celestia or at least princess. I asked, "So Twilight, where are you six from?"

Twilight replied, "We are all from Ponyville. I grew up in Canterlot but now I live in Ponyville with these five."

At least she was being nice now but I saw her looking around at everypony's flanks with confusion. She continued, "I don't mean to sound nosy, but what is up with your cutie marks? Why are they all the same?"

I replied, "Perhaps you will understand things better if I give you a tour of the town."

They gave me an odd look as I got a good part of the town to join me in a very inspirational song about our situation and how friendship is only achieved through sameness while differences and special talents lead only to heartache. One thing I noticed is that while we were singing our song, Fluttershy seemed to really be getting into the song. I was thinking that she is the one that will be the easiest to get to accept our ways while Pinkie Pie, who reprimanded her for getting into our song will be the toughest. It seems like she has some serious trust issues, but hopefully I can fix that.

After our song Rainbow Dash was being arrogant and acting like our ways are a joke but thankfully Fluttershy came to our defense. Twilight seemed to take a less confrontational approach by simply saying that she didn't understand our method of thinking. I'm thinking, "Alright, I can understand that. They've lived their whole lives with their marks so living without a special talent would be hard to grasp." Of course my main goal was to make them live without their marks, especially Twilight given the history I have with her.

I decided to have Double Diamond take over showing them around while I decided to go get some water in my system and get a bit of rest. Dancing around and singing a song in the desert heat will wear a pony out. I just hoped that perhaps he could persuade them a bit more to stop questioning our ways and hopefully accept them.

A couple hours later I get a knock on my door and it is Double Diamond. He notified me that our visitors were interested in our cutie mark vault. While I was glad they were, I am wondering how in Tartarus they even knew about it because it certainly isn't mentioned in any books. I quickly realized that somepony had to have told them about it. Was it Double Diamond or was it somepony else? Well when I lead them up to the vault I will find out who it was and then take their marks. If I can get the mark of a princess and have her move out here, perhaps all of Equestria will come out to be unmarked.

Equalizing Our Guests

Twenty minutes later I along with Double Diamond were leading our guests up to the cave where the vault was. Once we arrived there I showed them the vault. They looked in awe upon it. I said, "Behold, our cutie mark vault. This is where we store the cutie marks of ponies that have been freed of their special talent."

Twilight looked skeptical as I levitated the staff and continued, "And this is how we free ourselves from our marks. This is the staff of sameness, it was one of Mage Meadowbrook's nine artifacts." I then decided that I was going to find out how they knew about the vault, "I'm curious, how did the subject of the vault come up?"

Pinkie Pie replied, "Oh, there were some ponies here who were talking about how much they missed their cutie marks."

Before she could say anything else Twilight nudged her. I realized that now was the time to act on my plans. I asked, "Oh really? You six inspire all sorts of free thinking don't you?"

They could tell that I was not thrilled over this. Rarity replied, "Well we didn't mean to cause any disruptions to your charming community."

I headed towards her and backed her up against Double Diamond. I sneered, "Well good, let's keep it that way!"

As soon as I said this, other villagers of mine that Double Diamond had told to go up there began to come out of the shadows. Twilight realized that it was a trap and yelled out to her friends. The time had come, the time to take their cutie marks. First though, Twilight had to lose her's. I grabbed my staff and using the same energy I did when she was a filly, I grabbed her with my aura and proceeded to remove her mark. It was far more difficult this time but I was able to remove it and get it put in the vault. I realized that since I removed her mark, I could probably remove the marks of other Alicorns as well.

As soon as I removed her mark she fell to the floor and for the second time in her life, she had an equals sign cutie mark. I then easily removed those of her friends and got them all put in the vault. I thought to myself, "Yes! Soon Celestia will come looking for her prize pupil and when she comes here, I'll take her's as well!"

Now many may think that once I removed their marks that my work would be done, but it wasn't. I realized that they would likely run off and be asked about their new marks. They would then tell others about what happened and eventually Celestia would find out about this and do who knows what to me. So now I would start phase two of the equalization process, I would place them in a room and bombard them with propaganda that would eventually cause them to become brainwashed. That way they would be like all the others who have come here, they would want to stay.

Within the hour I had them secured in the same hut that I used to brainwash everypony else and put two guards outside the door. I had no idea how long it would take to get them to accept our ways, but I had a feeling that some of them would take longer than others, and it turns out that I was right.

The following day when I brought them out to see if any of them wanted to join us, two of them were very defiant while the other four just gave me glares, but as they were being led back in, Fluttershy turned around and said that she wanted to join. I was thinking to myself, "Excellent! With one of them having accepted our ways, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, the rest of them will soon follow. After all, they won't want to be apart from their friend for too long."

Until the villagers got her cottage built, Fluttershy would live with me. I could tell that she was very nervous so that first night was rather quiet and it just felt awkward. It always did feel awkward when I had a pony move in with me for a bit but it was the best way to do things. It showed that I cared enough not to pawn them off on one of the other villagers.

That night after Fluttershy went to bed, I headed over to Double Diamond's and ordered him to bring me the marks of the six new "friends." He seemed a bit reluctant at first but he knew what would happen if he didn't do what I said so he brought them to me. I decided that I would store them in my bedroom. That way I could keep a close eye on them in the event one of those free thinkers decided they wanted it back, they couldn't get it.

Well the following day arrived and I decided to see if we would have any new friends joining us. At first it seemed like that would be no but as they were being led back in, Twilight Sparkle decides that she thinks she wants to join us. My initial thought was, "Yes! I've done it! I have drawn in the ultimate recruit. TAKE THAT TIA! Your little star student and now princess is MINE!"

I decided that if she ever did come here looking for her, that I could make her pay a hefty price for the return of her little princess. The price, returning the eastern half of Equestria to the mages, withdrawing all Equestrian troops from the East AND her cutie mark. I am more powerful than I was when I was kicked out of her school and I believed that now I could take her mark.

What irritated me though was that suddenly Twilight began to ask if she could have her old mark back and stay in the village. Does she not understand what this place is all about. It is about equality, and having a pony with a different mark and a special talent, especially one as powerful as her's to live with us, would be unacceptable.

Their Betrayal

While Twilight was pleading for me to let her stay in the village with her old cutie mark, I could tell the villagers were getting quite upset with her. I could tell that I had them firmly under my hooves. My explanation to her about how we had to be all equal caused my villagers to cheer, but then disaster struck. Fluttershy threw a tub of water at me. While I was able to dodge it for the most part, ONE DROP of water hit my flank and caused my mark to run. Even worse, Party Favor notices this and rubs my flank with a towel and exposes my mark, displaying my true mark for all to see.

I tried to convince my villagers that they were the problem, that they were the ones who brought all the trouble into town but oh no, they just had to join their side. Suddenly I find myself being lectured by Twilight and having my villagers whine and complain about me keeping my mark. Sugar Belle whined, "But why Starlight, why did you keep yours and take ours."

I yelled, "Because I had to, it is MY MAGIC that makes this possible."

Of course Night Glider actually believed that the staff had all the power we ever needed. It was at that moment that I realized that I had to tell the truth, albeit in a rage. I told everypony that it was a piece of wood I found in the desert. Hey, I wasn't lying there so I'm not all bad, right?

Eventually I took off towards my house while all those traitors headed off to the cave to get their cutie marks back. I figured, "Fine, go get your damn marks. I'll just make sure that Twilight and her trouble making friends never get theirs back."

Well I grabbed them, put them in a cart and began to head for the mountains. I figured that if I can get into the caves with those marks, I'll have them for good. They would never find me in those caves. Unfortunately, the four ponies that I first brought out here would wind up being my downfall. They decide to chase after me and eventually they catch up with me. Damn that Double Diamond, he would have to create a freaking mini-avalanche and bury me in snow right before I got into the caves.

I couldn't hold on to the jars any longer being buried under the snow so I wound up dropping them and the marks were returned to them. While I knew my ruling days here were over, I wasn't finished yet. I decided that I would try to take the marks of my first four one more time and take them into the cave with me. I'd figure out one way or another to keep them but then that damn princess just has to cast a shield to prevent me from taking them.

Of course she goes off on a little lecture which I quickly got tired of. I yelled, "Spare me your sentimental nonsense."

I finally realized that I simply had to get out of this situation so I used my magic to blast away the snow and headed off into the caves. I was furious at this point. Not only was I furious, I felt like I was a failure. I felt like I had failed in my mission to equalize Equestria, I felt like I had failed to live up to my heritage. I did do one thing though, I vowed that this would not be the end. I would simply bide my time and when the time was right, I would return stronger and more focused. I would fulfill my destiny. I will not let Meadowbrook down.

My Discoveries in the Dark

A Saddening End

I thought I had it all. I was hired to be a professor at the University of Manehattan, I had my own apartment, I had students who liked me and everything seemed to be fine. I became interested in the studies and workings of Eastern Unicorn magic and it wasn't long until I found myself immersed in it to the point where it was an obsession. While other professors at the university would go out to social events an mingle most weekends, I would spend my time doing research on Eastern Unicorns and on Mage Meadowbrook Herself. Eventually my parents came to visit and I learned that I was a direct descendant of Mage Meadowbrook and Mage Shadowstar. When I learned this I was truly happy.

My days of happiness would be numbered though. Eventually the students in my classes at the university began to lose interest in their studies and question why they are at the university to start with. I knew something had to be done and that would be getting these students to regain their interest in magic and follow me out to the desert. This would be no easy task but I was certain that it could be done. With the aid of four students who had a strong interest in magic at the university, I was able to get out to Meadowbrook's old community and resurrect the town.

Soon though, everything I had dreamed of, everything I desired and everything I wished for collapsed. Everything collapsed when a group of newcomers came into the village and in the end exposed me. I no longer had the equals sign cutie mark, I had my real cutie mark. While this seemed bad at first, soon I would realize that perhaps this isn't as bad as I thought. I decided that I will not allow myself to be held down, instead I will rise and bring about true equality in sameness once more.

My Descent into Darkness

I found myself walking alone in a dark system of caves. I was cold, hungry and thirsty. While I felt like I was surrounded in darkness, things were not completely lost. I lit up my horn and asked, "Hello, is anypony there?"

While I was hoping to get some sort of response, all I got was my voice bouncing off the walls. This was rather frustrating but I knew that with perseverance, I could find my way through these caves. It seemed like it was taking hours just to find my way around in these caves, much less navigate them properly. Soon I found myself heading deeper and deeper back into the cave until I finally reached a back wall which was located right across from a pond.

"Damn it," I yelled. What am I going to do? I can't just stand here and do nothing.

While my horn was already shining, I decided to light it up a bit more. Eventually I took a look at the wall and I saw something strange. I took a good look and there was a circular hole in the wall. I was amazed when I placed my horn in the hole and the wall began to slide open. Once it was fully open I saw before myself a large room that was illuminated by a dim green aura. As I entered the room I saw that there were many, many books. While it was still small compared to the massive libraries that Celestia and the university had, I would find in it more information of what my true passion is, everything involving Eastern Unicorns, Eastern ponies in general and books regarding Eastern Equestria. The advantage of this collection would be that every single book focused solely on what I am passionate about, the complete history of ponies from the East.

I couldn't explain it exactly, but I had a feeling that a feeling that I would discover much, much more than just the history of the past thousand years in here, I had this feeling that I could very well discover the complete history of the East, perhaps the origins of every Eastern pony alive today.

My Ultimate Discoveries

As I began to look at the books on the shelves, I could clearly see that they were shelved in order according to the dates and times that they were about. This I found quite interesting given how particular I am when it comes to pretty much anything, I like things in order and laid out in a very specific way. Of course I went towards the absolute oldest book in the library, one that I felt would provide unexpected information that has been lost to many, many millennia of darkness.

As I opened the book I was worried that it was going to fall apart on me. I could tell that this book was from times much further back than that of Meadowbrook and Shadowstar. I discovered that the continent which would eventually become Equestria was not where ponykind began it's existence. We began our existence across the Alicorn Ocean, in a land known as The Grand Pony Empire, which is now known as the Equine Empire. I was shocked by this. I have met ponies from the Equine Empire and have done some studying of them and they aren't exactly the most powerful when it came to magic.

Soon I came across a passage from the very first Eastern Unicorn Mage, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer. I was floored when I saw this, the very first mage had the same name as me. I began to wonder, was I named after Her. Did my lineage go far beyond Meadowbrook? Did it perhaps go all the way back to Her? I decided to read the statement that was written on May 13, 443 of The Grand Pony Empire calendar when she addressed what would become Eastern ponies prior to their sailing across the ocean.

"My fellow equines, conditions are not good here. Those that we share the land with have judged us for ages and I believe that we should no longer have to deal with this. I have sent scouts out and across the ocean lies a fertile land which seems to be uninhabited by ponies. I believe that it is in our destiny that we sail to this land and lay down roots for a new civilization, a civilization that will be free of persecution from other races. No one pony is better than the others, regardless of what his or her mark is, regardless of what his or her race is, regardless of their origins.

We must hurry and set sail though as it is believed that the Grand Ponies no longer desire to share this continent with us and will one day march on our lands with swords and spears. While we could easily overpower them with our magic, I have no desire for us to simply shed blood nor do I desire for us to have to coexist with those who hate us anymore. Before the end of the year we must have a sufficient number of ships built to set sail to our new homeland."

Now I have done plenty of research on the world in general and the calendars of different nations, both ancient and the eventual conversion to the global calendar system, which was set up by Celestia when her forces conquered the western side of the continent and became a global power. Given the date that this was recorded, Grand Mage Starlight wrote this over 7,500 years ago which means that those of my lineage have been in Equestria for at least 7,500 years.

I was amazed by the amount of time that Eastern Unicorns and other Eastern ponies had resided on the Equestrian continent. I couldn't help but wonder, am I a direct descendent to Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer? I decided that I was going to see if I could find a family tree in this library. I knew that if I was going to find something that would include Meadowbrook, I would need to look over on the newer side of the library. Much to my surprise, there were books placed in here as recently as a couple hundred years after the fall of the East to Celestial rule.

I continued to search through these books until I reached the final book, the newest book. I opened it and low and behold it was a family tree that dated back to just eight hundred years ago. What was good is that included the lineage from some descendents of Meadowbrook's all the way back to Grand Mage Starlight. I realized that if I can trace the lineage from my ancestors from 800 years ago through Meadowbrook and Shadowstar, I might be able to discover whether I am a direct descendent of Grand Mage Starlight or not.

Now this would not be easy but after going over the family tree that traced me back to Meadowbrook and Shadowstar, I knew how to read through family trees. While I knew that I could do this, it would be an extremely long and tedious process. Going back a thousand years took long enough, but going back another 6,500 years before that would most likely take a couple of days and I knew that I couldn't afford to stay in there for too long. While I could easily go out to the pond and drink some water when I needed it, there was no food down there and I would eventually have to eat.

I am not sure how much time had passed since I started going through the family tree but after what seemed to be forever I finally traced my lineage all the way back to it's start. I was shocked and happy when I learned that I was a direct descendent from Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer. Further back in the book it gave a short biography about her and had a drawing of Her. She was light pink in color, Her mane and tail colors were the same as mine, Her eye color was the same as mine and She stood at roughly the same height as me.

What I would read and see next would shock me. It began to go in detail about Her talent. It mentioned how She was able to remove cutie marks, just like Meadowbrook and myself could and it had an image of Her cutie mark, which was exactly like mine! I was floored when I saw all of this. This might sound bad but I said to myself, "Could I be Grand Mage Starlight reincarnated?"

It was at this point that I placed all the materials back where I found them because I had to find my way out and grab a bite to eat. Given that I had my horn lit the whole time I was in the caves, hopefully I would be able to notice certain markings or broken rocks in the cave system that would guide me to the exit. A few hours later I found my way out of the caves and I felt like I was being blinded. After spending days in a dark cave system suddenly being exposed to sunlight shining on snow will be a very unpleasant experience.

It took my eyes a few minutes to adjust to the light but eventually I was able to start walking down the mountains into the high meadows that faced the east. There was plenty to eat and drink there as there was abundant vegetation and a couple of lakes. Unlike in the mountains, the temperatures were just right. They weren't too hot and they weren't too cold. I figured that this would be a good place to spend a few days before I head back up to the caves to continue to do more research and see if I can find any information on other important things regarding Eastern Unicorns, things such as prophecy from the ancient mages and information regarding Meadowbrook's artifacts.

Discovering the Prophecies

While I was amazed and happy to be doing so much research in the library in the caves, I will admit that having a nice breeze blowing, having fresher water and plentiful food to eat felt so good! Initially I had only planned on spending a three or four days at most in the meadows, I wound up spending two weeks there feasting and hydrating myself to my heart's content. I did know though that I needed to get back to work. I had already discovered a great amount of information, including my distant lineage, but I had this feeling that there was much more to be discovered. In my heart I knew there was something in there that would provide me with what I need to fulfill my destiny and liberate the Eastern half of Equestria from Celestial rule.

Finally after two weeks I decided to have one last hearty meal before I headed back up into the caves. I just hoped that I would be able to remember my way back to the library. Once I got in the caves I lit up my horn and going off of rock formations and markings within the caves, I was able to get back to the library in a decent amount of time. While I had done much studying and discovered many amazing things, especially my direct lineage back to Grand Mage Starlight, I was curious about the prophecies my parents discussed. I wanted to read them for myself.

I started looking on the side with the older books and I saw a book marked prophecies. While it was not as old as the oldest book in the library, it was still very old. I was looking through it and I found an entry written by Mage Blackstar, who was Starlight's grandson. It read,

"In the future a great mage, much like Starlight shall rise and bring about great prosperity to our nation,
She will be loved by all and will remain important to those in the East for all eternity,
Yet not all shall love her as invaders from the West will arrive with two Alicorn princesses and seek conquest,
While the great mage will take many marks from the enemy and Her army will fight to the death, the enemy shall prevail,
The enemy shall take no prisoners and will take the beloved mage from us and unite the continent as one,
Our citizens will be oppressed and for a bit over one millennia those of the East will have to hide their heritage,
Yet one day in the distant future the Grand Mage Starlight shall be reborn with the appearance and talents of the Grand Mage Herself,
She will be the one to bring down the Alicorn princesses and liberate the East from their rule,
Causing the East to rise once more."

When I read this I did at first feel a sense of pride, probably too much but then I realized that I can not allow myself to fall into that trap. I knew that if I did that I would fail and let every Eastern pony from today all the way back to Grand Mage Starlight down. Perhaps it would have been best had I never found this prophecy but I knew that as long as I remained calm, cool and collected that I would not fail.

Now after reading all of this I wondered what Blackstar meant when he mentioned the Alicorn Princesses being brought down. Did it mean that they along with all their forces would simply be driven west of the Maressissippi River or if a different fate would await them? I continued to look through the ancient book and there was no mention of what fate awaited the West once the Alicorn princesses were defeated.

I continued to look through the library, going from oldest to newest, for books regarding prophecy. While I found many, none of them mentioned much about the West except for their ultimate rise to claiming the continent. I realized then that perhaps I need to look in works done by Western prophets and mages, such as Starswirl the Bearded. Luckily I would not have to travel to Canterlot to do that as his works are readily accessible across Equestria.

I soon realized that I had pretty much done all the research I could do but I still didn't have much information on how I could reclaim the East. I did not know loyalty spells and unfortunately for me, simply removing marks would not do. A pony with an equals sign cutie mark has equality with others in everything and I realized that I would need soldiers who have warfare as a special talent. Ugh...the very thoughts of that makes my skin crawl, some ponies being better than others at certain things but that is how it would have to be.

Then just as I was getting ready to leave I saw something out of the corner of my eye. In the back wall of the library I saw a hole, one that a horn would fit in. I placed my horn in this hole and fired some magic, causing another wall to slide open. What I saw inside this hidden chamber amazed me. I saw a circle with eight pedestals in it and in the center, a ninth pedestal. To the right of the circle I saw another pedestal which had a book on it.

I opened the book and I found some amazing information, something that I did not expect. The book was about Meadowbrook's artifacts and what they actually are. Nopony must have wanted anypony other than an Eastern Unicorn to find this book given that it was hidden in this chamber.

It started off by listing what the artifacts of Meadowbrook are. It stated that they are a jade skull, a diamond dagger, a golden bowl, a ruby necklace, an amethyst ring, a silver sword, a bronze helmet and a copper goblet. I was happy to know what they were but I had no clue where to find them and I seriously wondered why it only listed eight when there are nine pedestals.

I flipped the book to the following page and found what appeared to be prophecy written by Mage Shooting Star, the daughter of Meadowbrook. It read,

"The artifacts are scattered across the land,
without them the East can not thrive,
many centuries will pass without them,
In the future the Grand Mage reborn will do a search,
She will travel far and wide to save Eastern ponykind,
She will find the eight but a ninth she must still find,
The ninth is something very dear to her and will be easy to find,
She will bring the nine together and go through a great change,
This change will give her the power to liberate the East from the sun,
While the East shall rise once more,
The West will revert to the darkness of long lost lore."

Not only have I discovered what the artifacts are, I have also discovered a little something that curbs my curiosity regarding the fate of the West. I had done research about Western Equestria's dark days and strange creatures that existed prior to the arrival of Celestia and Luna so I had a bit of an idea as to not only what it's fate would be should the West fall, I also learned the true reasons why the Stone Continental Wall separated East and West so long ago.

As I closed the book something hit me. The first artifact it listed was a jade skull. I have seen a jade skull before in the one of a kind history wing of the Celestial Museum. The good news is that I most likely know where the first artifact is. The bad news, I will have to travel to a place that I have been banished from, so this will not be an easy artifact to get. I will need to be sneaky and move under the cover of darkness to get this artifact but if I use my wits and stay alert, I will be able to acquire the jade skull.

My Hunt for the Artifacts

Preparing for My Trip

I have learned many things in the library in the caves and now the time has come for me to begin to search for the artifacts of Meadowbrook, the items that will I will need to liberate the eastern part of Equestria. The first item I must search for is the jade skull, which is an item I have seen before so finding it will be easy, getting to it and acquiring it will be incredibly difficult. I say this because back when I was expelled from Celestia's school I was also banished from Canterlot. When I was forced out the guards warned me not to return because if I did, much worse things could happen to me.

I have made a decision though, I will return to Manehattan, close the bank account which I hopefully still have, buy a cloak, buy a saddlebag and then take a train to Canterlot that will arrive at night. That way I should be able to get the artifact I need and then move on. Getting back to Manehattan would take several days as I would have to walk there given that I had no money to take the train. When I finally arrived in the city I just had to hope that I would not run into any of my former coworkers. I just wanted to get what I needed and go.

Unfortunately when I went into the bank I ran into Professor Red Star. He gave me an odd look and asked, "Professor Starlight, is that you? I thought you had died or something."

I decided I would lie. I did not feel like him making a scene in the bank. I replied, "Well I was out on a quest to find Meadowbrook's lost artifacts."

He asked, "Seriously? You couldn't have applied to the university for this to be a university sanctioned trip? Do you know how much inconvenience you caused us?"

I sighed, "Yes, I know. I'm really sorry about that but this was something that I had to do."

He replied, "Well, whatever. I hope all is going well for you."

I had to put my hoof up to silence him as I had got to the front of the line for the teller. The teller asked, "Hi, how may I help you?"

I replied, "I need to close out my account. I am moving to another part of the country."

She asked for my ID and luckily I had it on me. She took a look at it and then me. After spending five more minutes convincing her that I was who I said I was, she gave me my money and closed my account. One the way out I bid farewell to Professor Red Star and headed to a fairly affordable clothing shop and bought myself a cloak. That way I can get to Canterlot unnoticed, get the jade skull and then get back out to the caves.

Quest for the Jade Skull

That afternoon I headed to the train station and bought a ticket to Canterlot. The pony at the ticket counter gave me a strange look but did not say anything. I received similar looks on the train, especially from a couple guard ponies. I was thinking to myself, "Oh crap, they're probably Canterlot guards and I will get discovered."

The guards did come over to question me and I was suddenly so nervous. One of the guards asked, "Ma'am, what is up with the cloak?"

I replied, "Well I, you see, I am kind of a nervous pony and I feel more comfortable when I am covered."

The other guard replied, "Hmm....my mom was like that so I understand where you are coming from."

I was relieved when the guards headed back to their seats. While I was tired I knew that I could not just take a nap on the train as it would not take much for somepony to remove my cloak and discover my true identity. After what seemed to take forever, the train finally arrived in Canterlot at 2330. The few of us that were on the train got off and I headed straight towards the Celestial Museum, which is next door to the palace so I will have to be extremely careful.

Even though it had been over five years since I was kicked out of Canterlot, I still knew the city like the back of my hoof. Guards were patrolling the perimeter so I had to hide in the bushes as I approached the entrance. Finally I saw the door and was ready to head in. I unlocked the door and when I there were no guards present, I rushed in and closed the door. I figured there would probably be guards in the museum as well so I remained alert.

While I didn't know my way around the museum perfectly, I knew my way to the ancient artifacts wing, where the skull was located when I was last in there six years ago. As I headed further in, I saw a guard heading this way so I ducked behind a corner. Luckily for me, he did not see me. Once he was gone I headed on and soon found myself in the ancient artifacts wing. I was looking around and in the back left corner there it was! Underneath a glass case sat the artifact that I was looking for ,the jade skull. This is where being a unicorn has it's advantages. Rather than smashing open the display case, I was simply able to remove the glass case. I used my magic to pick up the skull and placed it in my saddlebag.

I began to head back towards the exit making as little noise as possible but as I saw the exit I had to jump around the corner. I muttered, "Damn it, another guard."

I had to crouch down behind the corner as he passed by. A couple minutes later I looked around and there were no guards present so I ran out the door and luckily for me, there were no guards in the area. I ran like the wind and was able to get back into the main part of the city, where there were no guards.

I really wish that there would have been something that told of where the rest of these artifacts were located. I had a feeling that another one of them was here in Canterlot somewhere but I couldn't figure out which one it was. Suddenly my eyes began to glow white and I saw a sword made out of silver in the Canterlot Armory. I stood there in a daze for a minute but I quickly snapped out of it.

This brought a smile to my face yet at the same time I got sick to my stomach. The good news is that I know where the sword is, the bad news is that I will have to find a way into the armory without getting caught, steal that artifact and get out with it. It was going to be even harder carrying that skull in my saddlebag but I knew I had to do this.

Quest for the Silver Sword

I was walking through the streets of Canterlot towards the armory and looked up at the clock tower. When I saw that it was only 0030, I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, I thought it would be a lot closer to dawn than that!"

The closer I got to the armory the more numerous the guards became so I was basically ducking behind buildings the whole time. It took me what seemed to be forever but when I got to the armory it was 0115. Apparently the soldiers must know of somepony that works there that wears a cloak as I had been spotted but nopony was doing anything. This was going to be a cakewalk!

It didn't take me long to navigate the mazes since I had actually seen the sword in my vision. Finally I see my target in the back most room. Like the jade skull, it was encased in glass. Also like that time, I removed the covering and took the sword. This was going to be much more difficult because I can't carry a sword in my saddlebag, I will have to levitate it with my aura.

As I was heading out one of the guards asked, "Who are you and why are you taking that sword out of here? Does Celestia need it for some reason."

I knew that I would have to figure out a clever way to get past this guard. I replied, "That information, both on who I am and why I am taking this sword out of here has been classified."

The guard said, "Well ok. It must be for Luna because I know how paranoid she can get. She classifies just about everything like this."

My first reaction to his comment was, "Wait a minute, isn't Luna still on the moon?" Then I realized that I do not need to have such thoughts running through my mind if I want to get out of here. As I was approaching the exit I wound up tripping over my cloak, ripping it off and causing the jade skull to fall out of my saddle bag. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" I yelled

One of the guard ponies recognized me and yelled, "It's her, it's Starlight Glimmer! Seize her!"

I grabbed the jade skull, put it back in my saddle bag, grabbed the sword and bolted out of the armory. I knew that I could not take the train out of here now so I would need to find another route of escape. I knew that the Everfree Forest was not too far off to the northeast so I began to run as fast as I could. I was able to get out of the city but three of Celestia's guards were still pursuing me. One of them grabbed me with his magic and shouted, "You're coming back with us Starlight. You will answer to Celestia for your crimes."

I broke free from his aura quite easily and then grabbed the three with my aura. I took their cutie marks which caused them to drop to the ground immediately. What a shame I didn't have something to put these marks in. As the equals sign cutie mark appeared on their flanks I yelled, "Not so special now, are you?"

They laid there as I continued to hurl insults at them and mock their beloved Celestia. After getting a good distance away from them and getting a ways into the forest, I let go of their marks. How long it took for them to get them back I'm not sure but now I know one thing for sure, I need to be careful because there are plenty of dangerous creatures that live in the forest that would have no problems turning me into it's next meal.

Rather than walk all the way through the Everfree Forest to Marentreal, which would take several days, I decided to journey south to Ponyville since it was still dark. I knew that this would be dangerous given that Celestia's precious little Twilight lives there but I really didn't feel like spending days walking all the way back to the caves. Around 0530 I boarded the early train for Manehattan. Yes I got some strange looks from the other three ponies on board but it was nothing serious.

Finally around 1400 I arrived in Manehattan ready and raring to get back up to the caves. It would be very late when I would reach the mountains so I had decided that I would rest for the night in the high meadows. After all, trying to navigate the narrow, rocky path in total darkness would not be a very wise idea.

After a night's rest in the high meadows and a filling breakfast, I finally head back up to the caves. I pretty much have the path that leads back to the library memorized so all I need is a bit of light from my horn and I was all set. I went into the inner chamber and got my artifacts out. I laid the jade skull on it's pedestal and suddenly it lights up! I do the same with the silver sword and it's pedestal also lights up. I realized that when all eight are lit up something special must happen to reveal the ninth. What I wondered though was what happened when the ninth was found?

My eyes began to shine white and suddenly I saw the location of the next artifact, the diamond dagger. It was located in the Museum of Weapons located in Fillydelphia. I thought to myself, "Excellent. This shouldn't be too hard to get to. I've been to that museum before and the security is quite loose."

Quest for the Diamond Dagger

I had recently discovered that the next artifact on my list, the Diamond Dagger, was located in Fillydelphia. This was very significant because during the time that Meadowbrook ruled, the capitol city was Fillydelphia. I decided that rather than resting for a day that I would get started on this quest at once. Given that daggers aren't all that large I would be able to fit it in my saddlebag easily but I would need to buy a new cloak for my trip into the museum since my old one got ruined in Canterlot. I figured I would do that in Marentreal since I would be breaking an entering in Fillydelphia. After all, I don't want somepony to perhaps notice me.

The journey down from the mountains and across the desert took me three days, three long days in the sweltering heat. By the time I reached Marentreal the first place I rushed to was the local cafe to get myself hydrated and get some food in my system. Luckily for me they don't charge for the water because I wound up downing three pitchers of the stuff. Once I felt ready to go, I paid for my meal and headed off to the clothing store to buy a simple cloak. I noticed that out of all the colors, the only ones that they had similar but not exact shades of were brown, so I purchased a darker brown one. Once I finished this, I headed to the train station and bought my ticket for the train to Fillydelphia.

It was around 2200 when I finally arrived in Fillydelphia. Luckily for me the museum was not too far away from the train station so it was a quick journey. Unfortunately for me though, since there had been a couple break-ins recently, they had several guards patrolling the perimeter and who knows how many guards on the inside.

When Sunset and I came here on a trip with Celestia back when we were in school this was one place we visited. I remember that the curator talked about how she would sometimes come here during the nights to do extra research on some of the artifacts when nopony else was around. I figured I would use this to my advantage and just hope that she was still working there.

I headed towards the door and before I could unlock it, a guard stopped me. He pointed his spear at me and shouted, "Halt, who goes there?"

While the curator was middle aged back then, I assumed she would probably sound a bit more elderly at this point so I faked what I thought her voice would sound like, "I am Golden Goblet and I am coming to do some late night research."

The guard raised his spear and said, "My apologies Madame Curator. Let me get this door for you." He unlocked the door and then radioed the guards on the inside that "Madame Curator" was heading in to do some research.

This would make my life much easier but I knew that I couldn't just go in, grab the dagger and then head out. From what Golden Goblet told us back when we visited her she would often times stay until 0200 she would get so enveloped in her research. As I headed towards the rare weapons wing of the museum I came across several guards and they just nodded at me and let me go on my way. I ran across one who apparently was closer with the curator. He smiled and said, "Nice cloak Madame Curator. I was wondering when you were going to replace that old, tattered one."

Again in what I assumed she would sound like I replied, "Thanks, it was getting in really bad shape and I decided it was time for a new one."

He wished me well and I continued on my way. After what seemed to be a relatively short trip I arrived at my destination, the rare weapons wing. I lit up my horn and I began to look in the cases around the walls. I was beginning to get frustrated because I knew this is where I saw it in my vision. Finally in the final case I discovered it. I stood there in awe for a moment before I unlocked the case and placed the dagger in my saddlebag.

Now would come the toughest part of this quest, finding Golden Goblet's office so that I can pretend that I am doing research on this artifact. I was walking around for what seemed to be forever until I finally saw a hallway off to my left and a sign that said that the offices were down this corridor. As I headed down the hall I noticed that there were many, many offices. I was beginning to wonder if I was going down the right hall until I reached the very end, where I ran smack into a door that led into the curator's office.

"Jackpot!" I said to myself. I headed in and turned on the lights. I looked around and damn, her office was a complete mess with various artifacts laying around all over the place. I began to wonder if perhaps she had any other of Meadowbrook's artifacts in there but unfortunately, she did not. All I could really do was watch the clock and anxiously wait for it to hit 0200 so I could get out of there.

Finally 0200 arrived and I headed back into the hallway and proceeded towards the exit. I did have to talk with a couple of the guards on my way out but it was nothing serious, just wishing one another well and once I got outside, my eyes began to shine white again. What I saw next was another one of the artifacts. I saw a golden bowl in the Museum of Natural History in Manehattan. The good thing was that it wasn't that far away but the bad news is that it belongs to the university. I knew that if I was to get caught breaking into that museum, that a bad fate would await me, especially given that I just up and left after my first year there.

Quest for the Golden Bowl

When I arrived at the train station it was 0330 and the next train to Manehattan would not leave until 0500 so when I got there it would be close to dawn. That would create quite the inconvenience for me because I would have to spend the whole day in Manehattan carrying a stolen artifact with me. Oh well, I've done quite well so far in concealing things that I have acquired illegally. As the train left Fillydelphia I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought to myself, "Good job Starlight, another break in, another city, another getaway."

Around 0645 the train pulled into Manehattan and the streets were abuzz with activity as the morning rush had begun. I decided that I would go and get some breakfast at the diner that I used to work in. When I headed in and took a seat, I was promptly waited on by one of my former co-workers, an earth pony named Cherry Fizz.

She said, "Welcome to The Downtown Diner!" She handed me a menu and continued, "May I get you something to drink?"

I replied, "Yeah, could I get a large glass of water and some orange juice."

She said, "You bet."

I was looking through the menu and damn the prices have gone up since I worked there. While I had enough money to get something to eat, I was beginning to think that I may have to start taking alternative modes of transportation further down the line, such as a stagecoach if one is available or I may have to do things the old fashioned way, walk.

Soon Cherry Fizz returned with my drinks and asked, "So, have you decided on what you want to eat?"

I replied, "Yeah, I have. I would like your Eastern Breakfast." The Eastern Breakfast included four eggs, four sausages, six slices of bacon, a bowl of oatmeal and two slices of toast. I could see Cherry Fizz giving me an odd look and trying to see my face under my cloak. She also paid close attention to my voice. She asked, "Wait a minute, Starlight, is that you?"

I removed the hood of my cloak and asked, "Yes Cherry, it is me. How did you figure out it was me?"

Cherry replied, "I could tell by your voice and by what you ordered to eat. You are the only pony who ever ordered that."

I put my hood back up and said, "You have a good memory Cherry." I grabbed her and pulled her face down close to mine and whispered, "Don't tell anypony I'm in town, alright? The Canterlot Royal Guards are searching all of Equestria for me because I violated Celestia's banishment and went back there."

She asked, "Why would you do that?"

Before I could reply a very familiar voice shouted out, that of the manager. He yelled, "Cherry Fizz, get back to work or you're fired!"

She replied, "Sorry boss!" and headed back to the kitchen. It was quite obvious that he was still the same asshole he was back when I worked here, not letting the servers talk with their customers. If the place were packed I could understand but there was only one other pony in there and he was in the middle of his meal. Perhaps it was good that he got her back to work though because I didn't want to accidentally reveal any more information than I already had.

When she brought me my bill she asked, "So Starlight, what are you doing in town?"

I motioned for her to get closer and I whispered, "I'm here on business." My tone became more serious as I continued, "I wasn't here, ok? Do not tell anypony that you saw me."

She nodded nervously as she headed to check on the other customer. After paying for my meal I headed out and decided to just look around like any ordinary tourist would. This seemed to be the longest day I had experienced in ages but finally after many, many hours darkness set in over the city. It was at this point that I decided to head over to the university and wait until the right time to break into the museum.

Finally around 2300 I decided that it should be safe to go after the golden bowl. Just like it was when I worked there, the night time security was minimal, no guards patrolling the outside. I knew there would be guards inside so I knew I had to be careful. I unlocked the door and headed in. The place seemed to be deadly quiet as I walked through the dimly lit halls. Unlike the other places, I knew this place like the back of my hoof as I would often come here to study magical artifacts during my time as a professor.

Suddenly I bumped into a guard. He pointed his taser at me and yelled, "Freeze!"

Oh great, if he uses that thing on me my magic might become disabled for a while so I knew what I needed to do. I needed to knock him out of commission so I grabbed him with my aura and removed his cutie mark. He fell to the ground and dropped his weapon, which I quickly took for myself. I laughed, "I'm so sorry but I can not allow you to endanger my mission!" Unfortunately I had nothing to place his mark in so I had to just levitate it with me as I went to grab the artifact I came for.

As he was laying there a black equals sign cutie mark appeared on his flank and he sighed acting like he had no clue where he was. It wasn't much longer after I took care of him that I arrived at my destination and saw my target, the golden bowl. They did not even have the thing behind glass! The only protection they had in there was a security camera and by the time they would get a good look at this I would likely be long gone so I grabbed the bowl, placed it in my saddlebag and went on my way.

Suddenly I realized something, the security camera would see me holding that mark with my aura. I thought to myself, "Oh shit, when they see this footage they will know it is me who broke in."

It was at this point that I realized that I would have to rush out of there as quickly as I could. As I was rushing out the guard I had earlier encountered fired some energy at me but it did not even slow me down given how weak it was. I knew that I could not just take the train at this point. I would have to gallop out of town and hope that I would not get caught.

After what seemed to be an eternity of galloping towards the northwest I finally stopped to catch my breath once I could no longer see the glow of the city. I would not be able to rest for long though because chances are the university had contacted the city police to send pegasi police patrols out looking for me. I finally relinquished the lock and key cutie mark I had stolen so that if I was to be approached by any police I would not have that mark in my possession.

I was dead tired but I had to continue on. By mid afternoon I had reached the massive northeast desert which had absolutely no places to hide from patrolling pegasi and it wouldn't be long until I would be approached. Suddenly a large white pegasi with blue mane and tail swooped down in front of me, accompanied by a tan pegasus with a red mane and tail. Both were wearing a police uniform and I knew that I was in trouble.

The white pegasus grabbed me and said, "Freeze Starlight Glimmer, you're not going anywhere."

The tan pegasus continued, "It is believed that you are the perpetrator of a theft that occurred at the University of Manehattan's Museum of Natural History. You are coming with us."

I removed my cloak revealing my identity. I sneered, "Oh I am huh?" I grabbed both of them with my aura and continued, "Don't get too confident you two. I'm not going anywhere with you."

I began to laugh manically as I ripped their cutie marks off of them. They fell to the ground as the equals sign cutie marks appeared on their flanks. I laughed, "Maybe you two will be the ones coming with me!"

Like other ponies who I take marks from, at first they were a bit disoriented. Despite just barely being able to stand up they began to demand that I return their marks to them or I would face further charges. I kicked some dirt at them and sneered, "You're not getting your marks back until I show you a little something." I grabbed the diamond dagger out of my saddlebag and laughed, "You boys are right, I did steal the golden bowl but I acquired this baby down in Fillydelphia. I'm surprised their pigs aren't looking for me as well."

The white pegasus glared at me and said, "They are searching for the thief but they never thought the thief would come this way." I saw him reach for his radio to call for help which prompted me to zap them both with some energy.

I replied, "You might want to think twice before trying that again." The tan one then reached for his radio. This is something that I could not allow to happen if I am to fulfill my destiny. I jumped on him and began to stab him repeatedly with the dagger until he was dead. The white one jumped on me and tried to take my dagger away but was unsuccessful. I began to stab him repeatedly until he was dead as well. Once they were both dead I let go of their marks, which simply fell to the ground since their owners were deceased.

I put the bloodied dagger back in my saddle bag and before I left, I kicked their lifeless bodies for shits and giggles. Once I knew they were dead, I took off towards the mountains and the caves. After a couple of nervous days of mostly running, I arrived at the caves and headed in.

I lit up my horn and headed towards the back, where the pond and entrance to the hidden chamber was. When I reached the pond, I began to guzzle water like there was no tomorrow. My nerves had calmed down because I figured that nopony would even be able to navigate these caves, much less find me in here. Hell, most ponies don't even know these caves exist.

Finally I headed into the chamber and laid the dagger and bowl on their pedestals and they lit up. Half of the circle is now lit up! Suddenly my eyes start to shine white again and I see the next artifact, the ruby necklace. It is in a dress shop in Ponyville. Ponyville, the place where my lavender coated enemy lives. To make matters worse, I have a feeling that the dress shop the necklace is in belongs to one of the troublemakers that exposed my true self to my villagers back when I was ran out of town.

Well this would give me a chance to get some revenge. I would wait a while to go after this artifact though as I am most likely on Equestria's most wanted list for not only the artifacts I have stolen, but the two cops that I have killed. I will just lay low for a while and when I feel the time is right, I will head towards Ponyville to get that necklace.

Quest for the Ruby Necklace

Six months had passed when I decided I would go out after the ruby necklace. Hopefully by this point I would not be detected so easily. While I did soak my cloak in the water quite a bit, the blood stains were still visible so I would have to be careful. I decided that I would walk to Marentreal and then take the train to Ponyville from there. It was late autumn when I crossed the desert so it was not that uncomfortable of a walk and luckily there were some ponds along the way because of recent heavy rainstorms.

Three days later I arrived in Marentreal and headed to the train station. When I got to the station I saw a wanted poster by the ticket window. It was of me, offering a one million bit award for my capture, dead or alive. While this did bother me, it kind of made me smile realizing that they thought I was worth that much money. When I arrived at the ticket counter the clerk gave me an odd look but didn't say anything. Luckily for me the train was set to depart just five minutes after I bought my ticket. After all, I do not want to stay anywhere for too long, especially in broad daylight.

Six hours later the train arrived in Ponyville, shortly after dark. This is one place that I knew I had to be careful in since my six worst enemies live there. I could just imagine how much joy they would take in capturing me, especially that rat Twilight. Chances are if one of them were to capture me, not only would Tia give them a million bits, she would likely make them a princess as well.

While I waited for it to get dark enough that I could break into the shop where the necklace is located, I spent most of my time hiding in bushes. Yes it was uncomfortable and the branches were scratching my legs but it was worth it. I did not want to get caught, be hauled off to Canterlot and locked up for the rest of my life.

Finally the lights in town were all turned off by 2300 so I headed to this building that looked a bit like a carousel. On it it said, "Carousel Boutique." Given the design of the place I could tell it belonged to a rather snobby pony, perhaps Twilight's friend Rarity. As I headed in, it was completely dark so I lit up my horn like I always do. While I knew what the room looked like that it was in, I had no clue how the place was laid out. Given that it appeared to be in a bedroom, it was most likely upstairs.

I found the stair case and made my way up to the second floor. There were two rooms at the top of the stairs, one I could hear snoring from and the other was silent. I figured that it would likely be the one with snoring coming from it where it was. When I headed in I saw a filly laying in a bed. I accidentally thought out loud, "Damn it Starlight, it must be the other one. I doubt a young filly would have a ruby necklace."

Unfortunately my speaking woke the filly up and she screamed. I pointed my horn at her and yelled, "Silence!"

She quieted down a bit and nervously asked, "Who-who are you?"

I replied, "A friend of your sister's. Do you know where she is?"

She said, "She is over at Twilight's castle." I saw her look at her alarm clock and she continued, "She will probably be home around midnight so if you want you can just wait here."

I replied, "Alright, I will do that."

I heard the little filly begin to giggle, "You know, you should just wait for her in her room. When she gets in there you could jump out at her and scare her."

I replied, "You know, I might just do that!"

The filly yawned, "Alright, I'm going to try to get back to sleep."

I nodded and headed to the other bedroom. I quietly began to go through the jewelry boxes but I wasn't finding anything. This was really frustrating me because in my vision it was in one of these boxes. I began to go through her drawers and then her closet. Just as I was getting ready to start tearing the whole place apart I heard hoofsteps. I thought, "Oh crap, I'm going to get caught."

As I was getting ready to hide in her closet the lights came on. I saw her walk in and she was wearing what I was looking for, the ruby necklace. She was humming some tune that only she would find interesting and as she turned around she let out a shriek when she saw a hooded figure. This woke the filly up and she came running in and asked, "Sis, did your friend find you?"

Rarity looked at her and asked, "Sweetie Belle, who is this in my room?"

Sweetie Belle replied, "Well she said she was a friend of yours so I told her to just wait in your room and scare you when you got home."

Rarity began to yell at her younger sister when I pounced on her. I was wrestling with her on the floor trying to remove the necklace when she kicked me off of her and yelled, "Get out of here or I'm calling the cops!"

I grabbed her in my aura, removed the necklace from her and placed it in my saddle bag. I sternly said, "You might want to think twice about that or it will be more than your pretty necklace I take." She lunged at me and I began to panic. I didn't mean to do this, especially being in Ponyville, but I took her mark from her. She fell to the floor and her sister began to giggle as her mark was replaced with a black equals sign.

She giggled, "Sis, you look so funny with that new cutie mark!"

Rarity tried to get up but all she could do was glare at me as she growled, "Starlight Glimmer, what are you doing here?"

I replied, "Retrieving something that your kind stole from the ponies of the East a long time ago."

I realized that I had best get going so I raced downstairs and on my way out I grabbed a glass jar to put her cutie mark in. I ran off towards the north into the Everfree Forest so that I would not so easily be caught. Once I got a ways into the forest my eyes began to shine a bright white again, revealing the location of the next artifact. The next artifact was the amethyst ring and it was in a gray vault located in the basement of Twilight's castle.

"Oh great," I thought to myself, "just great, the next artifact just had to be located in the absolute worst place possible now didn't it?"

I realized that I had probably find somewhere fairly well protected to hide out until the following night as I knew that there would likely be everypony and his dog searching for me, trying to retrieve Rarity's cutie mark. This might not be such a bad thing though. Maybe if Twilight is out taking part in this search the following night, getting into her castle will be less of a hassle than I thought.

Quest for the Amethyst Ring

I had ran a ways into the forest and realized that I had best do something with Rarity's cutie mark. My aura holding the glass jar I had it in would easily give me away if I were being pursued. I eventually came upon an old castle that lay in ruins. I had always heard rumors about there being an old castle in the Everfree Forest that Celestia and Luna called home but always thought it was just an old pony tale. As I headed in I became very nervous as a chunk of ceiling fell in and landed right in front of me. I realized that perhaps this may not be the safest place to hide out until the following nightfall but it would likely provide me with the most cover.

As dawn arrived I was navigating the corridors of the old castle when I saw an opening in the wall. I was curious as to where it led so I went in. On the other side was a small room with some very old books, most likely the oldest written by ponies of the West. Given how well hidden this place was, I decided that rather than start reading the books, I would simply take a nap given how tired I was. Also, I decided this would be the place where I would hide Rarity's mark. It is secluded and the chances of them ever looking for it here was next to zero. After all, other than Twilight, Rarity was the one who most deserved to remain equalized for the rest of her life.

Finally night had fallen upon the forest and after a good day of rest, I headed back to Ponyville. Whether Twilight was home or not, I had to get that ring, if I didn't, I would not be able to fulfill my destiny. As I was heading towards the edge of the forest I heard ponies talking so I jumped in some bushes. It was Twilight, her friends and some guard ponies saying that they were going to catch me and make me pay for my crimes. I thought to myself, "Don't get too confident Twily!"

Once they were far enough into the forest, I headed into town and right towards her castle. The palace grounds were surprisingly silent and empty. I thought to myself, "Is Twilight really so stupid as to leave her castle unguarded when it is known that a thief is in the area?"

I unlocked the door and headed in. Much to my dismay, there were still a few guards patrolling the inside so I had to be careful. While I knew where the ring was there was one problem, I did not know my way around the place and finding the basement would likely be impossible until I heard some guards talking."

A white pegasus guard asked, "Can you believe what is going on? I wonder if it is the same pony that took Rarity's cutie mark that is responsible for all the other crimes across Equestria over the past year?"

A gray unicorn guard beside him replied, "You know, it very well could be. This pony is obviously very good at covering it's tracks and has some sort of hideout."

The pegasus said, "Probably. I know there probably isn't anything wrong, but I'm going to go check out the basement. Who knows, the thief could have got in here and went there since the outer guards left with Twilight."

The unicorn replied, "Good plan."

I thought to myself, "Excellent! All I have to do is follow him down there without being seen and this shouldn't be too difficult."

As he headed down the stairs to the basement I slowly crept behind him. When I saw him open the door and head in I thought of a perfect plan. I will simply take his mark and cause him to be disoriented for a while. That way I can get that ring, get back upstairs and get the hay out of here!

The basement of that castle was huge. This would not cause me any problems though as I knew exactly where the vault was that the ring was in, it was on the back wall. While he was walking around I was able to sneak back to the vault without being seen. Opening the vault would not be much of a problem because of the kind of lock it had on it. I whispered to myself, "Damn, Twily takes all her outer guards with her, has a basic lock on her castle doors AND has a vault with a basic lock? She is FAR too trusting!"

I entered the vault and right in front of me, on the back shelves was the amethyst ring! I grabbed it and placed it in my saddle bag but would not be amused by what I saw. Right in front of me was the pegasus guard. He shouted, "Freeze!" He grabbed me with his wings and continued, "You are coming with me. You will answer to Princess Twilight for this."

I headed butted him so hard it knocked him to the floor. I began to rush towards the exit and right before I locked him in the vault I laughed, "Wanna bet! I answer to nopony!"

I quickly rushed out of the basement but had to hide behind a corner as a couple unicorn guards were walking by. I had a feeling that getting out of this place would be far harder than getting in was. Once they were out of sight, I headed towards the exit confident that I would be home free. Right as I got to the door it swung open and she was there. Twilight saw me in front of her. I was wearing a cloak so she did not know who I was but she tackled me and yelled, "Who are you and what are you doing in my palace?"

She was able to remove the hood from my head and saw that I was the one she had held down. She yelled, "Starlight Glimmer, I knew that you were sneaking around when I saw Rarity with that equals sign cutie mark." She head butted me and yelled, "Where is Rarity's cutie mark? Tell me and I may just take you up to Celestia rather than do what I really want to do!"

I sneered, "I'm not telling you where that spoiled brat's cutie mark is. Other than you, she is the one out of you who needs equalizing the most!" I gave her an evil grin and laughed, "Oh, and what are you going to do if I don't tell you where her mark is, kill me?, make me listen to one of your idiotic lectures?"

She began to press one of her hooves on my neck and yelled, "Yes, I will kill you if you don't tell me where her mark is!"

I lowered my head and despite her pressing down on my neck, I was able to ram my horn into her chest and throw her off of me using a great amount of magic. This caused her to scream in agony and go flying and I was able to make my escape. Unfortunately, since I had stabbed her with my horn, it was covered in blood and I had some blood stains on my face, but this was irrelevant at the time as I needed to make my escape.

I galloped as fast as I could off into the forest and then began my journey to Marentreal. I know now more than ever that I had better lay low as my list of crimes is increasing. Not only have I broke into six different places, stole six different artifacts and murdered two cops, now attempted murder of a princess is on my list as well. Well once I acquire all the artifacts I need, it will be worth it. I don't know what the transformation the prophecy mentioned is, but I'm sure it will give me enough powers that I won't be able to be captured.

After four days of sneaking under the cover of darkness in the forest, I finally exit and come across the city of Marentreal. I knew I had to be careful because I probably had every law enforcement officer in the country trying to hunt me down. Rather than walk through the city, I stayed to the north of it as I headed out into the desert. Numerous times I saw pegasi circling the skies over me but fortunately for me, I was able to avoid detection by hiding in shallow caves and under rock formations.

Finally after another four days I was able to get back to the mountains and the caves. I felt a sense of relief as I entered their dark and covered protection. When I got back to the chamber in the back I placed the necklace and ring on their pedestals and they lit up. "Only two more to go until I have to search for the ninth!" I thought to myself. While I had six of the first eight, where ever the last two are, I knew that they would be by far the most difficult to get, not because of where they might be located, but because I am most likely the most wanted pony villain in all of Equestria.

Suddenly my eyes began to glow white again and I saw the location of not one, but two artifacts. Both of them are located in the museum in Marentreal, just in opposite wings of the place. Well this would make my life easier as the next two were under the same roof, I would again have to lay low for a while. While this was incredibly frustrating, I knew this is how it would have to be. They aren't just going to give up searching considering the fact that I tried to kill a princess. Chances are I will likely be killed if I was to be caught.

Quest for the Bronze Helmet and the Copper Goblet

Another seven months would pass until I would finally decide it was safe to go out on my mission for the next two artifacts. As I have traversed the desert multiple times, I have figured out which route would be the safest to get to Marentreal. It would not be the most direct route, it would be a route with many cliffs and gullies. Yes this route would add an extra half day but it had caves to sleep in and cliffs to hide my presence. As I headed out I said, "Ok Starlight, you can do this. Once I get these two and the ninth is revealed, I will get it and discover what this transformation thing is all about."

It did not take me long to get to the gullies and cliffs. As I headed towards the west I would look skywards to see if there were any pegasi patrolling the area but much to my delight, none were present. Perhaps since I had not done anything in seven months, they let their guard down. While this made me happy I still did not let my guard down, I knew that one could swoop down behind me at any moment. I really didn't want to have to kill anypony and go back into hiding without finishing this.

After four days I arrived at the edge of Marentreal shortly after dark. I thought to myself, "Excellent! Time to go get those artifacts."

I headed towards the museum and unfortunately for me, the damn thing is in the absolute center of the city, which meant I had to be extra careful. As I navigated the city streets I got strange looks from many, many ponies. I expected this though because it isn't everyday that you see a pony in a blood stained cloak walking down the street.

Around 0000 I arrived at the entrance to the museum and there were very few ponies around, but still too many. I hid in the bushes outside the doors until nopony was present. When I saw this I unlocked the doors and headed in. The hallways were dimly lit and there were security cameras watching my every move. I finally realized that I didn't have to put up with this, I shot a powerful burst of energy at each one, destroying it. Too bad I didn't think about that in my other quests.

I reached the end of the hall, where it met a much longer hallway that ran the opposite directions. There was a sign that pointed in two directions. To the left was the ancient warfare wing and to the right was the ancient Saddle Arabian artifact wing. This was the hallway I was looking for. First I decided to make a left towards the warfare wing. I had to fry several more security cameras on my way towards the artifacts but what surprised me the most was that there were absolutely no guards present, well that I had ran into yet. Maybe it was because Marentreal had yet to have any break-ins.

After what seemed to be forever I finally reached the ancient warfare wing and began to look at the artifacts. While there were many bronze helmets, the ones I looked at first were not the one I was seeking, because in my vision it sat next to a bronze dagger and a bronze skull. After twenty minutes of searching I found the one I wanted. I unlocked the case, grabbed it and put it in my saddle bag. Now there was only one more, the copper goblet.

I was not sure what time it was but given how late it was when I got in here, my time was probably running short so rather than sneaking, I galloped down the hallway that led to the Saddle Arabian wing. When I got there I ran into a security guard. "Oh crap!" I thought to myself.

He pounced on me and began to try to restrain me. He shouted, "Hold still and this will make both our lives easier." He then slammed his hoof on my head and said, "Wait a minute, you're the thief that has been breaking in to so many places stealing artifacts, aren't you?"

I kicked him off of me and grabbed a copper jar that I saw on one of the shelves. I held him in my aura and removed his cutie mark. After securing his mark I laughed, "Now what would give you that idea? I would never do such a thing!"

He angrily yelled, "Not only have you stolen artifacts, you've killed two cops and tried to kill Princess Twilight, didn't you?"

I smacked him and yelled back, "Well no shit, of course I have! I have a destiny to fulfill and nopony, not you, not everypony's precious little Twily nor anypony else is going to stop me."

I smacked him again, knocking him to the floor. Given that he now has an equals sign cutie mark, getting up was not so easy for him. While he was laying there saying he was going to turn me in, I began my search for the copper goblet. It took me a bit because during my search the guard would get back up and grab me but given his weakened state, I was able to easily kick him off of me. Finally after thirty minutes I finally found it. "Jackpot!" I shouted. "Now to get out of here, get back home and I'm home free!"

Before I left he asked me one more question. He asked, "Where is home for you?"

I thought this was one of the dumbest questions I had ever heard. All I would have to do is give a false location and all the cops would go on a wild goose chase. I replied, "Vanhoover. That is where I live."

He said, "Damn you're dumb. All I have to do now is tell the authorities that is where you live and this crime spree of yours will be over."

I replied, "Oh we'll see about that!"

As I headed out and got to the exit, there were a few ponies around but I knew that I could not wait as the morning rush was not too far away. I rushed out of the museum and began my journey back to the caves. Once I reached the desert I again took the path with the caves, gullies and cliffs to provide myself maximum cover. Apparently all the authorities zeroed in on Vanhoover as I did not see one single pegasus patrolling the skies.

Four days later I arrived back at the caves and headed to the hidden chamber where the library and pedestals were. As I placed the final two artifacts on the outer pedestals, the outer part of the circle began to shine brightly. Suddenly I found my eyes shining a bright white and I saw the final artifact, which was not far from here. I was amazed when it was the staff of sameness! That staff did mean quite a bit to me, which the prophecy said the ninth one would.

In my vision it was still in the cave where the cutie mark vault was located. After all this time, it is still in there! This would make acquiring the final artifact a cake walk. With it being so close and with all the authorities being led on a wild goose chase up to northwestern Equestria, I could easily go and get it. I could already feel it, soon this transformation would take place and my destiny will likely be easy to fulfill.

My Transformation

Retrieving the Staff of Sameness

For over a year I have been gathering the artifacts of Meadowbrook that I need to fulfill my destiny. Odd thing is, most of this time was not spent out on my quests, a majority of it was spent up here in the caves, hiding from the law. Today I just placed the seventh and eighth artifacts on their pedestals and the ninth has been revealed. Given that it is not too far away from here and that most of the cops that are looking for me were led to Vanhoover by a lie I told a security guard in Marentreal, I will not have wait to go get the Staff of Sameness, I can go and retrieve it now and that is what I set out to do.

As I got to the exit to the caves I checked the skies, just in case the authorities are scanning the whole country for me. I headed down the mountains into the high meadows with a smile on my face, something that I had not had in a very long time. I did have to be careful though because the path to the cave where it is located takes me within eyesight of my old village and the last thing I need is for some of my former villagers to contact the authorities, letting them know of my whereabouts. I know that if they saw me they would do it too as I know they probably still have it out for me.

As I pass off to the north of the village, I look off towards it out of curiosity. The strange thing is that nothing seems to have changed at all. The houses still appear the same and my old house is still standing. Perhaps they converted it into a municipal building or it houses the mayor. I'm not sure but I quickly realized that I can't just stand there and gawk so I headed up to the cave where the vault used to be.

As I entered the cave I got chills going up and down my spine. It felt weird to be returning to it after so long. I looked forward and saw what used to be a lovely device, the old vault with it's glass shattered and all marks gone. I then look at the base of it and see the most wonderful thing I have seen in ages, the Staff of Sameness. I quickly rushed over to it, grabbed it in my aura, kissed it and said, "It is so good to have you back in my hooves!"

Ok, I will admit talking to the staff like it is another pony or a pet is weird but this was a point where my life was about to take a drastic change for the better. Before I left the cave I again looked towards the sky just to make sure there were no pegasi patrolling the skies. As I headed down the path back to town I saw something suddenly appear overhead. I screamed, "What in the hay?" I was worried that a pegasi had appeared out of nowhere but after I heard it shriek, I looked up and it was just a hawk. I breathed a sigh of relief and headed back up to the caves.

Meeting My Ancestors

When I reached the chamber I looked at the glowing circle and wondered what would happen when I place the staff on the center pedestal. I walked up to it slowly and suddenly the staff was pulled out of my grasp and set in an upright position on the center pedestal. The back wall slid open to reveal a portal, illuminated by an aura the same color as my own. I was nervous as to what it was but I heard a voice say, "It's ok Starlight, enter the portal for your time has come."

I walked slowly towards the portal and once I got a foot away from it I was pulled in. As I was going through I saw all sorts of colors swirling around me. Finally I found myself sitting on the ground in a grassy area that was surrounded by gentle rolling hills. As I looked forward I saw two unicorns approaching me. I was terrified at first but as they got closer, one of them looked rather familiar to me as I had seen pictures of her before. The other one I had never seen in any form but quickly I realized that these could only be two ponies, Mage Meadowbrook and Mage Shadowstar, my direct ancestors.

I stood up and bowed before them but I was quickly pushed back up by Meadowbrook's hoof. She replied, "There is no need to bow to us Starlight, you are family."

I said, "I'm sorry."

Meadowbrook replied, "There is no need to say you're sorry, you are family."

After getting my bearings together I asked, "I know this is probably a silly question but you two are Mage Meadowbrook and Mage Shadowstar if I'm not mistaken."

Meadowbrook replied, "Yes Starlight, we are."

I asked, "Where am I? This place seems so peaceful and perfect, like the place one would go for a wonderful afterlife." I then got a nervous look on my face and asked, "I'm not dead am I?"

Meadowbrook replied, "No Starlight, you are not dead. You have fulfilled part of the prophecies of old, you have brought together my nine artifacts." Meadowbrook pointed her horn towards the portal and pulled the nine objects through. She smiled and continued, "Because of you, my nine artifacts can no longer be defiled by the ponies of the West."

Shadowstar added, "You have done us well Starlight, now your time has come."

I had a nervous look on my face as I asked, "T-Time for what?"

They stood apart and a third unicorn came walking towards us. When she arrived she stood between Shadowstar and Meadowbrook. She looked incredibly familiar, she looked just like me. I no longer worried what it was time for, as I realized that the time for my transformation had come. What kind of transformation it would be I was not sure of but I knew not to worry. I bowed to her and asked, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, is that you?"

Before I could finish my bow she took her hoof and pushed me back up. She smiled and replied, "Starlight, there is no reason to bow to me either, after all, we are family."

I rushed to the three and hugged them and they gave me a tight embrace. I was shocked that I could actually touch them physically. After we broke our hug I asked, "I thought all of you had passed long ago, how am I able to make physical contact with you?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "Starlight, we have passed from the earthly realm but in this realm we are very much alive."

I replied, "I was curious. I guess all of this is just a bit confusing."

Shadowstar said, "That is understandable. Coming here while you are still alive in the earthly realm would confuse anypony."

Grand Mage Starlight interrupted, "Shadowstar, the time has come. We can engage in more small talk after her transformation."

A book appeared in front of Meadowbrook and she began to read from one of the pages,

"The old prophecy has been fulfilled as the Second Coming has arrived,
It shall be She who liberates our kin in the earthly realm from the West,
The ponies of the East shall celebrate Her return,
They will love Her as much as She loves them,
The time has come for prosperity to thrive in the East,
For Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second has come."

I was shocked. I asked, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second?" But I was never even a mage at first, how is it that I can be a grand mage?"

Grand Mage Starlight pulled me close and replied, "Starlight, you are the one who has been a part of prophecy since the day I passed. You bear my likeness, you have the same talent as me, you have the same cutie mark as me and you have the blood of me flowing through your veins."

I asked, "I do?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "You do!" She pulled me close and continued, "Starlight, this has been your destiny from the moment you were conceived. Unicorns like us are rare, but unicorns like you are one of a kind. It is time for the prophecy to be fulfilled." We then broke our embrace so we could begin the transformation.

She then nodded at Meadowbrook and Shadowstar, apparently indicating to them that the time had come for something. They pointed their horns down at the artifacts and their eyes began to shine white. They fired energy into the nine artifacts and they began to levitate. Soon they began to shine as bright as the sun and when the eight were all shining, they fired a powerful beam of energy into the ninth, which caused it to shine even brighter. Suddenly a burst of energy shot out of it enveloping me in a powerful circle of energy. I felt myself beginning to increase in size, I felt wings growing out of my back and my horn began to grow. This seemed to go on forever but in reality it was ten minutes.

When the energy stopped flowing from the artifacts my ancestors' eyes stopped glowing and I found myself quite a bit different. No longer was I a mere unicorn, I had been transformed into an Alicorn and was suddenly larger than my ancestors, likely larger than even Celestia. I also noticed that my mane was not the same as it was before. It was suddenly very wavy and had the same appearance as that of Celestia.

I gave the three a smile and asked, "Am-Am I an Alicorn?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "Yes Starlight, you are and now it is official. You are no longer merely Starlight Glimmer, you are Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, the liberator and champion of Eastern ponykind."

I asked, "Why is my mane like this? Why is it no longer like that of other ponies?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "It is because you have achieved what many desire but almost none do. You have become immortal. While you can still be killed by the blade, no illness nor age can claim your life. You may now forever protect Eastern ponykind from those who seek to do them harm."

I asked, "But what do I do to liberate the ponies of the East?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "When you return to the earthly realm your heart will guide you as to what you must do."

I asked, "How do I get the Eastern ponies to know that I am the one to liberate them?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "Do not worry about that. When ponies see you, those of mostly Eastern heritage and pure Eastern heritage will know that you are the Second Coming, they will know that you are the one to liberate them, they will know you are the one they will be loyal to."

Meadowbrook added, "Starlight, I know you have long thought that equality is the only way to true happiness but that is not the case. Ponies must have different talents, different strengths for the East to protect itself from invasions, from either the West or across the oceans."

I nodded and replied, "I have done much thinking since I was ran out of your village and I understand that now." I stood there and remembered how I had removed the marks of some ponies while I was gathering the artifacts and continued, "I have a question, during my quest I unmarked and killed some ponies. Were any of them Eastern ponies?"

Grand Mage Starlight smiled, "No Starlight. There is one thing that you can now know. Ponies of primarily Eastern heritage can not be unmarked. It is a strength of ours just as you are only the third pony to have that talent, it is exclusive to our race."

I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I had not done any harm to our kind. They pulled me in a tight embrace once more before letting go. Grand Mage Starlight pointed her wing towards the portal and said, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, the time has come for you to return to your realm and fulfill your destiny."

I nodded at the three and said, "I will not let any of you down, I will not let Eastern ponykind down and I will not let my parents down." I then turned towards the portal and returned back through.

When I arrived back to the earthly realm the chamber no longer had a dim green aura to it, it was pitch black. I lit up my horn and it shined far brighter than it did when I was a unicorn. The wall where the portal was slid shut behind me. As I headed out of the inner chamber into the library the wall slid shut and as I left the library, the door slid shut for the first time in over a year.

I headed over to the pond to get a drink of water. While I was drinking I felt a great sense of happiness that Meadowbrook's artifacts could never again be defiled by those of the West, that my ancestors have faith in me and most of all, I am happy that my transformation will allow me to do what I was destined to do since birth, liberate Eastern Ponykind. I said to myself, "I will not let any of you down, Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook, Mage Shadowstar, mom, dad, all of Eastern Ponykind, I will not let you down. I will liberate the Eastern ponies from Celestia."

After I finished guzzling my water I made my way out of the caves and as I stepped out into the sunshine I felt like a different pony. I felt like I could take on anything. I realized that with the powers I now have, that no patrol ponies could simply restrain me and haul me away. I looked off towards the west and said, "Celestia, your days of ruling over Eastern ponies shall soon end, for Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, the liberator of Eastern ponykind, has come."

My Return

My Return

My Return to Manehattan

I had just been transformed into an Alicorn and been named Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second. I will admit, this will take some time getting used to but one thing I will always remember is that I am no better than anypony else. I have stepped out of the caves into the high mountains to prepare myself for the final part of my destiny. While I looked off to the west and said to myself that Celestia's rule over Eastern ponies will be over soon, I now cast my gaze off to the southeast, towards the city of Fillydelphia where I will make the Second Coming official.

Why did I choose Fillydelphia? I chose Fillydelphia not only because it was the capitol when Meadowbrook first took power, but because it was the city that Grand Mage Starlight Herself first settled. I made a decision. I decided that once the East is liberated, that Fillydelphia will be the capitol city. After this moment of reflection I decided it was time to go. No longer do I have to walk a great distance to Marentreal from here to go elsewhere, no longer do I have to take trains all over the country, now that I am an Alicorn I can fly everywhere! This is going to make life so much easier and cut travel times dramatically.

Before I left though, I flew over to the high meadows where I had ate so many meals and drank so much water for one more meal before I left. After all, being transformed into an Alicorn took a lot of energy and given that I am a larger pony now, I will need more to eat. Finally after an hour of eating I decided to take off. I will admit, when I saw Manehattan one part of me simply wanted to stop there and rest for the night, pushing my arrival in Fillydelphia back until the following morning but I would not even make it to Manehattan without being stopped.

Just as the skyline appeared off in the distance I felt a couple ponies kick me in the side. A dark gray Pegasus yelled, "Freeze!"

A white Pegasus yelled, "Land now and this will be easier for all of us."

I rolled my eyes and landed for the two. In the past had I been confronted by a couple Pegasi patrol ponies I would have became really nervous and likely taken their marks but since I was an Alicorn now I knew that I could easily take them out. Besides, the Starlight Glimmer they are looking for is a unicorn, not an Alicorn.

Once they got to the ground they stood in front of me and said, "Starlight Glimmer, you are under arrest for the theft of eight items, seven break ins, the murder of two police officers and the attempted murder of Princess Twilight Sparkle."

They tried to put hoof cuffs on me but I teleported out of them. I asked, "What are you talking about?" I then decided to lie hoping that they would let me go, "I haven't broken into any places, I haven't stolen anything, I haven't murdered anypony and I don't even know who Twilight Sparkle is."

The white Pegasus scoffed, "Don't you lie to us Starlight Glimmer. We were given a description of what Starlight looks like and you match her to a T."

The dark gray Pegasus interrupted, "Actually, she doesn't. Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn, not an Alicorn." He gave me a curious look and continued, "I thought there were only four Alicorns in Equestria, not five. Where are you from?"

Again I lied, "I am from the Equine Empire. I was set to meet with the mayor of Fillydelphia tomorrow."

Both the Pegasi nodded at one another while the white one apologized, "We are sorry for the inconvenience ma'am. You have a safe flight."

I replied, "Thank you. You guys have a good day."

While they headed northward I continued my journey to the south. I realized that while I may be stopped by patrol ponies, they will quickly believe that I am not the one they are looking for and if any Eastern Ponies stop me, they will immediately know who I am and likely swear allegiance to me, as Grand Mage Starlight said they would.

Thirty minutes later I arrived in Manehattan, landing near the old diner I used to work at. I swear, flying gets a pony from place to place so much quicker! This will also be something that will take some getting used to, but in a good way. As I headed into the diner there were plenty of ponies having their supper and chatting away but when they looked over in my direction the place went silent. This made me sort of uncomfortable at first but as they walked forwards towards me and bowed, I knew why they went quiet. They see me as the Second Coming of Grand Mage Starlight, the one to liberate them.

Them bowing to me made me feel incredibly uncomfortable so I grabbed them in my aura and raised them up. I asked, "Why are you bowing to me?"

An earth pony in the diner replied, "Because you have returned to save us....for you are Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, the Second Coming."

I blushed and said, "Yes, I am She but please do not bow to me for I am no better than anypony else and I would feel much more comfortable if you would just call me Starlight."

This only brought out more adoration from the diners as that is exactly what Grand Mage Starlight would have said. I looked over at the counter and there was the manager that had always been so unpleasant. He just gave me a scowl and said, "So, I see it is Starlight Glimmer. The pony who rose from waitress to university professor and now apparently to a grand mage."

This was an obvious sign that he was NOT an Eastern Pony. This caused me to head for the exit and all of his customers followed me out the door without paying for their meals. Once we were out one of the ponies asked, "Starlight, is it wrong what we did? Is it wrong that we followed you out without paying."

I smiled and replied, "No, it is not. He is of the lineage that attacked our kin over a thousand years ago and took Meadowbrook from us, he is from the West."

While the public schools across Equestria have never told of the atrocities that Celestia committed against our kind when her and Luna invaded and took over the East, apparently there has been much teaching at home as the ponies knew exactly what I was talking about and began to shout "Death to Celestia! All hail Starlight!"

We headed towards the park where I would run into one of my former students, Morning Glory. She looked at me and immediately rushed to me and gave me a hug. She asked, "Professor....I mean Grand Mage Starlight, is that you?"

I gave her a smile and replied, "Morning Glory, one of my best students!" I let go of her and continued, "Yes, it is me but you can just call me Starlight. I do not like for ponies to treat me like I am something special." I looked around and did not see the pony that was always with her. I asked, "Where is Yellow Star?"

She replied, "He works as an assistant to the mayor down in Fillydelphia now."

I said, "You know, I am headed to Fillydelphia tomorrow. I will make a stop by the mayor's office and tell him hi."

She replied, "I'm sure he will be happy to see you."

I decided that before I drew too much more attention to myself that I had best be going. Before I left I waved goodbye at the crowd and yelled, "Our time is coming. Don't worry, soon we shall all be free from the sun."

As I left I could hear them cheering. I felt like I was on top of the world knowing that I could win the support of ponies without having to brain wash them like I used to. As darkness descended upon the land I saw a small forest between Manehattan and Fillydelphia. I decided to land in it and get some sleep. I wanted to be well rested for my meeting with the mayor. What I didn't know though is that the mayor was going to address not just the city, but the whole nation regarding growing tensions between Eastern Ponies and Western Ponies. This could be my chance to convince Eastern ponies that live in the West to relocate to our ancestral homeland and eventually, do what I have to do to create an independent nation for our kind.

Meeting with Fillydelphia's Mayor

The following morning arrived and I was anxious wondering if I could really just go tell the mayor that Fillydelphia is the original settlement of Eastern Ponies and that I believe I should be a prominent figure in the city government. I did know that he would likely be unhappy about it, UNLESS he is a pony of Eastern lineage himself, then he will likely treat me the way other Eastern ponies have so far. Before I headed off though I decided to have some breakfast. Luckily there was an apple orchard nearby with a good pond. I was not sure how many apple orchards were located in the East but I'm sure that if there aren't any, we can get some started. Whether I am able to get us our own nation or not, I want the East to depend as little on the West as possible.

After breakfast I took off towards the south. The sun was above the horizon when I arrived in the city and I would just have to circle around the city until I found city hall. It took me longer to find city hall than it did to make the flight there from the forest. As I landed at the steps the clock tower began to sound signaling that it was 0800. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the door being unlocked and I was able to immediately head in. The employee who unlocked the door gave me an odd look and asked, "Are you an Alicorn?"

I replied, "Yes, I am. I need to speak to the mayor before he speaks."

The clerk said, "Wait a minute, I know you're not Celestia, Luna or Twilight. You look a bit like Cadence but your mane and tail aren't the right colors, you're much too big and your cutie mark is different."

I replied, "I am a visitor and friend of the mayor from abroad."

The employee was obviously of Western lineage given that he did not notice me. I asked which way the mayor's office was and he pointed off to the left. I nodded and headed on my way. As I reached his office at the end of the line I was greeted not by him, but by a pony I know. This pony bowed down and said, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, I am so happy to see you."

I asked, "Yellow Star, is that you?"

He replied, "Yes your highness, it is me. How are you doing these days?" He then took a closer look at me and continued, "Oh my goodness, you are an Alicorn! How did you become an Alicorn?"

I replied, "I would appreciate it if you just called me Starlight as I am no better than anypony else." I looked back into the office and continued, "Yellow Star, we may continue with small talk later on but I really need to speak with the mayor."

He said, "Of course." He took me back to the mayor's office and let him know that he had a guest. While initially he was not thrilled, he allowed me to go in.

When he saw me his mood changed dramatically. It went from one of irritation to being beyond happy. Like everypony else, he bowed to me and praised my return and like with everypony else, I let him know just to call me Starlight and not bow. We began to talk like other ponies would. He had a feeling that perhaps I could help him with the issue at hand. He said, "Starlight, I am not sure if you are aware of this or not, but ponies of Eastern heritage have long been treated like second class citizens by the Celestial West. Today I am going to address that to the nation in hopes that it will at least make it to where ponies of Eastern heritage will no longer have to hide their true lineage from their children."

I replied, "I know how that feels. For so long my parents told me that our lineage came from Vanhoover and Las Pegasus until they discovered my fascination with Eastern Unicorns. It was then that they told me that I am a direct descendent from both Mage Meadowbrook and Mage Shadowstar."

His eyes grew wide as he asked, "Really? You are directly descended from them?"

I continued, "Yes, I am. It was through independent research in a hidden bunker that I learned that I am a direct descendent of Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the First, the pony who brought our ancestors here from the East."

At first he looked like he was going to faint and fall backwards so I grabbed him in my aura. I asked, "Mr. Mayor, are you ok?"

After a minute he came to and I let go of him. He replied, "Y-Yeah, I'm ok. I guess it is so shocking for me to realize that you are more than just the Second Coming of Starlight, but that your lineage goes directly back to her." He gave me a serious look and continued, "Starlight, I am wondering. Would you want to take part in the speech I am going to give the nation over the unfair treatment of Eastern Ponies? The speech that I hope will inspire the monarchs in Canterlot to ban discrimination against ponies based upon their origins?"

I replied, "Of course I will help you with it. I will even take part in it if you wish."

He said, "That would be absolutely wonderful. I believe that if the ponies of this country see that the great liberator has returned, that pressure will be put on the princesses to stop the unfair advantages ponies of the West get."

I smiled as this is exactly what I was hoping for. This address was going to be televised across the whole nation which meant that ponies of Eastern descent, regardless of where they live now, will know that I have returned. My biggest hope will be that they will immigrate here to the East and while I will never openly admit it, I do hope that ponies with Western lineage will head back to the west. I feel like this is one step closer to me fulfilling my destiny and while it may sound bad, it is one step closer to me showing Celestia that I was able to succeed without graduating from her precious school.

My Address to the Nation

The Mayor's Address

The mayor and I had gotten involved in some minor chit chat when there was a knock on the door. It was Yellow Star. He said, "Mayor Red Hooves, Starlight, the address to the nation starts in five minutes. The mayor gave me a nervous look and asked, "Are you as nervous as I am?"

I replied, "A little but all we have to do is keep our composure and everything will be ok."

The mayor had an idea. He asked, "Starlight, would it be ok if I went up to the front of the balcony and spoke first and then motion for you to come out into the light once I am finished?"

I replied, "Actually I think that would be a very good plan. Let's do this."

We headed out towards the balcony and while he headed out to the edge, I remained indoors out of everypony's sight. He knew that this was going to be a nationally televised speech so it would address far more than city matters.

He started,

"Citizens of Fillydelphia, citizens of Equestria, today I come to you all to address a very important matter. For quite a long time it seems like ponies of Eastern heritage are not treated quite as well as those from the West. This is something that I find rather troublesome. It is a shame that many ponies of Eastern heritage can not even share their true heritage with their foals. I even know some ponies who were lied to their whole lives, up until right before they died, about their true ancestory under the guise of 'protecting them from discrimination'.

Why is this the case? It is the case because after Celestia and her forces conquered the Eastern side of the Equestrian continent a thousand years ago a stigma was placed upon being a pony of Eastern descent across the whole continent. For many centuries it was perfectly legal to discriminate against Eastern Ponies when it came to jobs, home loans, student loans and so many other things. Even until just fifty years ago, Eastern Ponies had to use separate restroom facilities and had to ride in the back of the bus. While all these inequalities are gone now, we are still not treated the same as those from the West. We still get passed over for promotions more frequently, especially in the Western cities.

I think it is high time that we stop being treated as second class citizens, the time has come for us to be treated as equals. Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, if you are watching this I urge you to consider doing further investigating on places that frequently pass over ponies of Eastern heritage and increase the punishment for employers who unfairly turn down Eastern applicants and increase the punishments for banks who deny loans to ponies solely because they are Eastern Ponies."

The ponies began to stomp their hooves in delight over the message that his speech sent. I do hope that Celestia and her fellow princesses are paying attention. There are many more Eastern Ponies in Equestria than she thinks so it would be best for her to truly give everypony equal rights.

My Address to the Nation

The mayor looked back at me and motioned for me to step forward. Before passing me the mic he said, "And now I would like to introduce you to a very special speaker, one who will help us tremendously in our cause. I present to you, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second."

As I stepped forward the crowd went silent and they began to bow down to me. I began, "You don't need to bow down to me, I'm no better than anypony else."

They stood up and cheered. They knew a lot about the old legends, about how Grand Mage Starlight was and knew about the prophecy that I would be just like her. They began to cheer and yell, "All hail Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second!"

I again spoke, "And you can just call me Starlight. I would feel much more comfortable if you did so."

The crowd began to cheer more as they realized that I seriously don't view myself as better than anypony else. After a couple minutes of non-stop cheering I motioned with my wings for them to quiet down.

Once they had quieted down I started,

"My fellow equines in Fillydelphia and across the nation of Equestria, I want you to know that Mayor Red Hooves has brought up many good points, but those are but a few. I have experienced this first hand when I was a filly growing up in Canterlot. My parents are both Eastern Unicorns and the jobs they did were the ones that go without thanks. My mom was a gardener for Princess Celestia and my father was a stone mason. Both of them worked hard to provide a good living for us but what really bothered me was the fact that other ponies, ponies of Western lineage that did the exact same job were paid more than my parents were. I think it was once I got old enough to understand economics, which was at a young age, that I began to see how horrible the system in Equestria really is. It was at that point that I believed that something must be done to change it, something must be done to level the playing field.

This happens not just in the amount that Eastern Ponies earn compared to their Western counterparts for doing the same jobs, it also relates to the ability to enter special schools. As a filly I was very gifted, probably one of the most gifted fillies in Canterlot. While other fillies with equal or even less talent than me were able to apply to Celestia's special school, I could not because the application fee was too high. Now many ponies may see this as it simply targeting poor ponies but that is not the case. It is because most Eastern Pony families are not paid nearly as much for the same work that their Western counterparts do. Because of this, Eastern Ponies can not even apply for the special schools. It is a way to use economics as a cover to hide what the real reason is, discrimination against ponies because of their bloodline. I had to prove myself worthy in the public school system, which I fortunately did and was allowed to apply.

Even in schools across the whole nation, especially across the Western half of the country I understand that fillies and colts of an Eastern lineage are not helped out as much by their teachers as are the Western fillies and colts. There is only equality here in schools along the east coast because a huge majority of us are Eastern ponies.

I feel that while we have come a long way in the last fifty years, we still have an extremely long ways to go. Just by the way they behave though, I have a feeling that the princesses seem to think that everything is fine and dandy now. It is not, those of us who have Eastern lineage still have to fight much harder just to get jobs and equal pay. Why should a Western stone mason make more money than an Eastern stone mason when they do the EXACT SAME WORK?

I urge all of you to write Celestia, go and see if you can visit her and if not her, contact Princess Twilight as she is very close to Celestia and is very easy to access. If we are going to level the playing field, we must unite as one! If we unite as one, we will prevail!"

The crowd began to go wild and cheer loudly as I finished my speech. I hoped that it would send the right message while not causing anypony to want to riot. I looked out and saw the cameras pointed towards me and I couldn't help but wonder how my message was received across Equestria. I have a feeling that here in the East it was very well received while in the West ponies were probably booing and calling for my head. Time will only tell and given how powerful I am now, I won't have to worry about law enforcement coming after me since I could simply throw them off of me, break out of their auras and equalize them.

The Nation's Reaction

After the speech and fielding a few questions, Mayor Red Hooves and I headed back to his office and turned on the news. They were going in depth about what they thought both of us meant in our speeches by playing soundbites and then analyzing them. I yelled at the TV, "Enough with the damn analysis of soundbites, report on how the nation is reacting to this!"

Red Hooves said, "Calm down Starlight, they'll get to it soon enough."

I sighed and then focused on the TV as they said that they would now get to how the nation was reacting to this. First they interviewed a few ponies in the crowd here and they were praising both of us for speaking out about this. Another pretty much was giddy that I had returned and another too praised us. They then interviewed high level officials across the Eastern half of Equestria and all had very positive reactions to our speeches.

They then turned their attention to the Western cities and in some of them the reaction was rather unpleasant but an incredibly nasty reaction was discovered in Canterlot. It was Princess Celestia who was so angry. She went on her own rant,

"So these Eastern Ponies think that they have it so bad huh? Much has improved for them over the decades and yet they still complain that they want more. Where they get these claims that Western Ponies are paid better than Eastern Ponies is beyond me but that is an outright lie. I would never pay some ponies more for doing the same job than others.

Oh and Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, just because you are an Alicorn now does not mean that you will not answer for your crimes. For those of you who don't know and who are too blinded by her charisma, she has stolen many artifacts, she has broken into many buildings, she stole a friend of mine's cutie mark and has yet to return it, she murdered two cops mercilessly and she attempted to assassinate Princess Twilight. For those of you, especially the Eastern Ponies, your precious Grand Mage is no little angel."

I was irritated by her rant but I wasn't shocked by it. I figured she would say something like that but what makes her rant so weak is that she does not say much of anything about the economic inequalities between ponies of the East and ponies of the West. She spends most of her time complaining about things that I have done. This is more proof that she is a lousy leader who would rather sling mud than provide the populous with facts.

I kept my eyes on the news throughout that day and despite what Celestia told the nation, the support for me seemed to actually increase. Apparently their thoughts are that a liberator and freedom fighter has to take the law into her own hooves if she is to succeed. What will be interesting will be the headlines on the newspapers. My guess is that here in the East that the stories will be positive front page news while in many Western communities, it will likely be a short story buried somewhere in the B section of the paper. I have a feeling that in Canterlot Red Hooves and myself will be vilified and Celestia will be glorified over her short, ridiculous rant.

I am hoping that all ponies of Eastern descent who saw me on the TV, heard me over the radio, saw me in the paper and saw me live will have realized that I am the one to liberate them, that I am the one that prophecy has foretold and will be on my side when I take things to the next level, the level that will make Celestia choose between something she holds very dear or a large chunk of real estate.

My Revenge

Readying Myself for One Last Quest

It was the day after Fillydelphia Mayor Red Hooves and I had addressed the nation, bringing up the inequalities that still exist in the way Eastern Ponies are paid and judging by the reactions we saw on TV and the reporting in the newspapers, it seems as though a sizable portion of the country is actually on my side. It's not just all the Eastern Ponies, but from what I understand even some Western Ponies see what is going on and feel that the current system is broke. Would they betray Celestia to change things? I doubt it but if I can get enough ponies of Western lineage to support my beliefs, it will send a message to Celestia that the time for change has arrived.

While I was hoping that my speech could convince the princesses to crack down on pay inequalities, it would not help me in achieving my ultimate goal, fulfilling my destiny. For that more drastic measures would need to be taken. It suddenly hit me that there is one way to achieve this, I must take something that Celestia holds very dear and allow her to have it back in exchange for the eastern side of the continent. It is time to abduct Twilight Sparkle and bring her back to the east. If I can make the princesses negotiate the terms for her return here, I will likely get more than what I would in a negotiation in a Western city.

After a hearty lunch I spread my wings and took off towards the west, towards Ponyville. The land below me was absolutely beautiful with the rolling hills, lakes and numerous apple orchards. I thought to myself, "It won't be long until those orchards are part of East Equestria! Not only will we have plenty of ranches, manufacturing and mineral resources but we will also have plenty of apples!"

After hours of flying Ponyville was finally on the horizon! I had arrived a bit earlier than I had anticipated so rather than go straight in and take my prize, I flew into the Everfree Forest and started to munch on the available vegetation. I would just have to bide my time until the city went dark. I knew that getting past the guards would be far more difficult this time for two reasons. First, I am much bigger than I used to be. Second, I have no cloak so anypony who sees me will know who I am immediately.

Now while the abduction will be more difficult than simply taking a relic was, I do have one huge advantage. My magic is far more powerful than it was when I acquired the amethyst ring so her guards shouldn't be too much of a problem. It will be Twilight Sparkle herself that will cause the most problems. Given that I was able to take her mark when I was just a unicorn, now that I am an Alicorn, taking that mark will be effortless. Hmm....perhaps I should take her dragon too. That way he can send messages to Tia to get her to come to Fillydelphia sooner so I can liberate the East more quickly than I could contacting her through traditional mail.

Taking the Prize

A few hours after the sun had set all was dark in Ponyville as I peeked out of the edge of the forest. I said to myself, "Alright Starlight, the time has come! Take Twilight and the East will be yours!" I thought this because I know how close those Twilight and Celestia are. I have a feeling that Celestia would likely pay a huge ransom for her return. Now what the other princesses will do, I'm not sure. Regardless though, abducting Twilight will be well worth it.

I finally crept out of the forest and towards the castle. When I arrived the security was much tighter than I expected. There were many, many more guards than I hoped there would be. Well I guess after I stabbed her with my horn and ran off with the amethyst ring, that extra security would be given to her. After hiding for a few minutes there was a brief period where no guards were present by the entrance so I rushed, unlocked the door and headed in. Well I was in but now for the big question, "where the hay is Twilight's bedroom?"

While I had visions of where all the artifacts were located, the same couldn't be said for Twilight and this was no museum so there would be no sign that pointed towards her bedroom. I did realize that it would likely be on one of the upper floors because what princess in her right mind would sleep on the ground floor?

As I navigated the ground floor I had to duck behind corners a few times because of guards but eventually I saw the staircase and quickly rushed up it to avoid detection. When I got to the top of it I would not be pleased by what I saw. At the top was a gray unicorn guard. He grabbed me in his aura and yelled, "Intruder! We have an intruder!"

I quickly broke free of his aura and grabbed him with my own, silencing him. I growled, "You might want to think twice before you go alerting everypony else about me. You do not know how strong my powers are." I slammed him into the wall and continued, "I could kill you right now if I wanted to do so but I'm in a good mood, so I will let you live."

He gasped, "Wait a minute, it's you! You're the one behind all the murderers and thefts." He stood up and sternly continued, "Well you will not harm Princess Twilight. We will make sure to that!"

I again grabbed him with my aura and slammed him into the wall, except this time I knocked him unconscious. I laughed, "Oh we'll see about that! You boys are powerless against me."

I am surprised that I didn't have a whole stampede of guards after me with as loud as he yelled. Maybe they were simply not paying attention or did not hear him. I was surprised as I continued to navigate the second floor and only had to hide from a couple other guards. At the end of the hall I saw two huge doors, each one of them being lavender with a six sided dark pink star on them. I thought to myself, "That has to be it! Soon I will have my prize!"

I pushed the door open and slowly walked in, closing it behind me. The moon was shining in which made it unnecessary for me to light up my horn. I heard not just one snore, but two. In a basket I saw her dragon Spike peacefully slumbering away. "Excellent!" I thought to myself, "I can get both of them at once!"

As I walked up to Twilight's bed I saw her laying on her side, snuggled under her blanket sleeping peacefully. This brought back so many memories. Suddenly I found myself in a flashback to the night when I took her mark. I saw myself taking her mark and thinking that Sunset and I could crush any chances of Celestia being able to make her a princess. Then I remember what a bitch Celestia was to me when she retrieved Twilight's cutie mark. I looked down at Twilight and I knew that this time things were different, I had a jar in my saddlebag to put the mark in, I was far more powerful than I was before and Celestia would not be here to save her.

I wanted to make this as simple as possible so before even uncovering her, I opened the window as wide as I could. Flying out of here with those two will be far easier than trying to fight through guards to get them out of here. I took one more look at the sleeping princess and realized that had I listened to that one tiny little part of me who didn't want to take her mark so long ago, that I would likely be her subordinate and never achieve anything.

As I began to uncover her I said to myself, "Take two." When I uncovered her she began to stir a little but did not wake up. I grabbed her in my aura and removed her mark, waking her up. Before she could say anything I had taken my jar out and put her mark in it. She began to scream loudly, which woke her dragon up.

Twilight looked at me and yelled, "Starlight Glimmer, you will not get away with this! I'll get my cutie mark back and when I do, you'll be sorry!"

I sneered, "That is Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second to you Twily." I laughed as I continued, "You're coming with me Twilight, we have business to take care of."

Spike lunged at me and had the audacity to bite my hoof. I grabbed him in my aura, glared at Twilight and said, "Twilight, you need to teach your pet here to behave."

Twilight replied, "He is pro......mmhmmphmmph."

I intensified the power of my aura on both of them so that they could not speak. I did not want them making too much noise and alerting any guards and I sure the hell didn't want to have to listen to their screaming all the way back to Fillydelphia. Once I had them silenced I levitated them out the window and we took off towards the East. Some of the pegasus guards took off after us but I was flying fast enough that they could not keep up with me and eventually gave up their pursuit.

I did it! I have acquired the one thing that I can trade off for the Eastern side of the continent. This will be the ultimate slap in the face for Tia. I remember how she expelled me, banished me from Canterlot and had me thrown off the train in Manehattan. Well this time the shoe is on the other hoof. Hmmm....what do I do if she decides to not accept what will be a very generous offer? Well I'll figure that out if I have to cross that bridge.

Securing My Prisoners

It was already well after dawn when I finally arrived in Fillydelphia. The first place I headed was city hall since that is where the jail is, after all I needed to get my prisoners locked up. When I headed in the guards looked at me in shock. I am guessing they never imagined to see me carrying Princess Twilight in here. One of them said, "I see you accomplished your mission."

I replied, "Well sort of. There is more to do."

He asked, "What more is there to do? You have captured your enemy and imprisoned her."

I replied, "I now must get in touch with Celestia and have her come here to negotiate a deal. I know she will want Twilight back but it will be at a hefty price."

Twilight, who had been a bit woozy was becoming more alert. She interrupted, "You let us go you monster! Celestia will never stand for this, she'll banish you to the moon forever!"

I laughed, "Yeah uh huh, sure she will Twily."

The guard asked, "Can I help you get these two locked up?"

I replied, "Of course you can. Follow me."

The guard and I hauled them into the jail and just out of spite, I decided to put Twilight in the cell without a normal bed. All it had in it was an elevated concrete slab to lay on while Spike was chained to the wall in a neighboring cell. Twilight was not amused by the cell I was putting her in. She yelled, "How could you? I am a princess, I should not be put in jail but you could have at least gave me a cell with a mattress."

I laughed, "Twilight, look at it this way. Very soon this will be East Equestria and you will have no higher status than anypony else."

She just grunted when I decided the time had come to send a message to Celestia. I handed a scroll and quill to Spike. I said, "Spike, take a note."

Spike yelled, "Never. I will never take a note for you!"

I snapped, "If you ever want your freedom you will!"

He sighed, "Oh ok."

I started,

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I need you to come to Fillydelphia for a meeting with somepony of great importance. They are wishing to discuss a trade agreement which they believe we have violated. If you do not arrive by tomorrow afternoon they will declare war on us. Please meet me at city hall. I await your quick response.

Princess Twilight Sparkle"

I opened a window so Spike could send the message. I looked at the two and laughed, "Who would have ever thought that after being oppressed by Western ponies for so long, that us Eastern ponies would have those of the West in a situation where they would have to negotiate?"

Before any of us could respond Spike coughed up a message that read,

"Princess Twilight,

This sounds really serious. Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and myself will all come to handle this. Just stay calm and everything will be fine."

Princess Celestia"

After reading the message I told the guard, "Alright, we are going to need a large part of the city's unicorn police force here for their arrival. They need to know that I mean business."

Twilight interrupted, "I don't get it. Why are you doing this to me? I never did anything to you."

I replied, "Oh yes you did. You were the one who exposed me in Our Town and caused my own villagers to turn on me and run me out of town." I stared at the equals sign on her flank and continued, "I failed to keep your mark when you were a filly, I failed to keep it when you came to MY village but this time shall be different. You MIGHT get it back but there will be a high price for you to get it back."

Twilight started to scream obscenities at me but rather than start yelling back at her all I did was roll my eyes and sigh in disgust. All I could do now was hope that Celestia and her goons will get here before too long. Listening to her whine and complain is bad enough but soon the dragon started in with his smart-ass remarks. At that point I wanted to kill him but I knew that he would be worth a whole lot more alive than dead.

My Negotiations with the Royals

Their Arrival

The night after I got Twilight and Spike locked up I headed to bed confident that I would be able to get the ponies of the East a good sized chunk of the continent for us to start our new nation. Suddenly an idea came to mind, I will submit three boundary proposals. I will issue one for simply the return of Twilight, another one that will be further west if they want Twilight and her cutie mark and a third further west if they want Spike back too.

I had a feeling that I had best just sleep down in the jail that night in the event that my prisoners were to cause any problems. Yeah the floor was not that comfortable but I am used to sleeping on hard surfaces. Hell, I slept off and on in the caves for over a year so one night would be nothing. The biggest problem was trying to tone out the threats coming from Twilight and the snide remarks coming from Spike. I was finally able to get some sleep.

In the morning I was woke up by a knock on the door when one of the guards came to notify me that I had company. He led me to the municipal court room, which is where the city police led the princesses. I headed up front to find three very unhappy princesses. The first one to say anything was Celestia. She said, "Twilight's letter said that a foreign power was threatening to declare war on us because of our violating a trade agreement. What are you doing here?"

I laughed, "Seriously, she said that somepony wanted to declare war on Equestria?"

Celestia growled, "Let me guess, YOU are the one who penned that letter and signed it using Twilight's name."

I sneered, "Bravo! We have a real prize pupil here." I began to laugh hysterically, "Guards, give her a gold star!"

They were not exactly thrilled with the way I was running things so far. I could see in their eyes that they thought I was disrespecting them. Well Tia is the only one who has spoken so far and I will disrespect her all I want. Luna chimed in, "Starlight Glimmer, we know that thou hast called us here over matters regarding Twilight. What hast thou done to her."

Cadence added, "We know you are the one responsible for her disappearance. Where is she?"

I replied, "Calm down you three. You shall find out once we have some breakfast."

Given that city hall had no way to cook any food, I sent the guards down the street to get each of us two sausage, egg and cheese croissants. When they returned they were not overly thrilled that I was serving them meat but if they are going to eat with an Eastern pony, they better expect meat in their meals.

Celestia asked, "Meat Starlight, seriously?"

Cadence spit her's out and said, "Ewww....gross."

Luna began to eat her's and suddenly found it rather enjoyable. While she didn't gobble her's down as fast as I did, once she finished eating she said, "We thank thee Dear Starlight. Our meal was most pleasant."

I smiled and replied, "You're welcome Princess. I'm glad you liked it even though I didn't make it."

Her sisters glared at her when she referred to me as "Dear Starlight." I know that is a sign of respect on her part but I wonder if perhaps she might be the one who would defect and join my side. I know she is always placed in the shadow of her older sister and that even Twilight gets more attention than her, and I plan on using this to my advantage. I know the chances of this happening are next to zero, but if I could get her to turn on her sister and want something where she would have more power, there is a place across the Alicorn Ocean that I would help her conquer.

Once breakfast was over Celestia glared at me and asked, "Where are Twilight and Spike?"

I looked at one of the guards and ordered, "Go and get our prisoners. Just make sure that there will be no chance of them escaping."

Cadence frowned, "Prisoners? They are your prisoners?"

"They could be." I replied as I pulled out the jar with Twilight's cutie mark in it. I was holding it in my aura as I gave the three a smile and continued, "This is quite pretty isn't it? Wouldn't it make a wonderful nicknack for my mantle?"

Celestia tried to grab it with her aura but couldn't break mine. She glared at me and growled, "Starlight Glimmer, you are going to the moon forever for all the crimes you have committed."

I gave her a look of death and ordered, "Tia, until you and I are on better terms you are to refer to me as Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second." I turned to Cadence and added, "The same goes for you Cadi." I turned to Luna and finished, "Princess Luna, you can just call me Starlight."

Celestia snapped, "Oh, and what makes Luna so special Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second? Why can she be informal with you but we can't?"

I replied, "Because your sister has faced many hardships in her life. I see how she is treated across Equestria, I see how your roles are. She is the victim of inequality. You are always the one who basks in the spotlight, you are the one who meets with foreign dignitaries, you are the one who hosts all the parties and you are often referred to as THE princess as if you are the only one!"

Luna looked up and said, "You know big sister, she does make a point. You get a far bigger role in almost everything."

Before the conversation could continue Twilight and Spike were led into the court room in cages. The three princesses looked at this with anger but knew that since Celestia couldn't break my aura that they would have to negotiate their release.

The Negotiations

I knew the princesses were angry seeing their fellow princess and her assistant in cages like animals but out of all of them, Celestia was obviously the angriest. She shouted, "You let them go now Starlight! Release them and give Twilight her cutie mark back and I might not banish you to the moon forever."

I replied, "Celestia, you were unable to break my aura when you attempted to take Twilight's mark back, which means my magic is stronger than yours. That also means that you can't banish me anywhere because I am more powerful than you." I began to laugh as I continued, "So if you want Twilight and her mark back, I think it would be best if you calm down and negotiate with me."

Celestia snapped, "You more powerful than me?, NEVER!"

Luna interrupted, "Big sister, she is right. The fact that thou could not break her aura means her power is greater."

Celestia sighed, "Fine." She glared at me and asked, "So, what is it you want in return for giving us Twilight back? Equal pay for Eastern and Western Ponies?, special rights for Eastern ponies?"

I replied, "NO. I believe it is time that you return the lands that you seized from the Eastern ponies a thousand years ago. Ever since then you have treated those of our lineage as second class citizens and up until just fifty years ago, Equestria still had segregation. I do not seek equal pay or special rights, I DEMAND all the lands you took."

Celestia was shocked that I had the audacity to demand that. She asked, "Oh and what would you do with all this land?"

I replied, "I would form a nation for the ponies of Eastern lineage. A new nation, East Equestria would rise."

Cadence interrupted, "East Equestria? You have got to be kidding me."

Luna added, "Starlight, while we can understand thy frustration over what hast happened to thy kin for the past millennia, we can not accept this proposal. Thou asks for too much."

Celestia began to sob and interrupted, "Let's see a map Starlight. I'm sure you have lines drawn on it. I will do whatever it takes to have Twilight returned to us."

I noticed the other two princesses jaws drop open over the sun princess's comment. I pulled out a map of Equestria with three lines dividing the continent. I laid it down on the table and the three looked at the map. Luna and Cadence scowled while Celestia looked at it with a more open mind. Apparently she must want Twilight to be returned so badly that she is willing to cave into my demands. She asked, "What do these three lines indicate?"

I replied, "Well the black line is what we want if you only want Twily, the lavender line is what we want if we give you Twily with her cutie mark and the green line is what we want if we give you Twily, her mark and Spike."

Luna interrupted, "What? Thou canst be serious?"

I replied, "I am being serious. Just like when you go to the store, the more you want the more you have to pay."

Celestia looked over the map and pointed her hoof to the green line and said, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimm......"

A small voice interrupted from one of the cages. "Princess Celestia, I'm not worth it. I know you can find a way to free me and Spike without having to surrender any land."

I couldn't help but smile as I realized that I had the pony who had so many spears pointed at me when she expelled me having to do some heavy duty negotiating with me. Celestia bent down and said, "But Twilight, you are worth it. Territory is just land, you are a living, breathing being. You have no idea how special you are to me."

Twilight began to tear up and said, "Really? I'm so special to you that you will give up a large part of the country for my return?"

Celestia leaned into the cage and kissed Twilight on the forehead, "Yes Twilight, you are that special to me."

Luna shouted, "Big sister, what about our citizens of Western lineage that would suddenly be living in Starlight's East if thou agrees to her conditions?" She stood taller and continued, "Yes Twilight is a living, breathing being but so are all of our citizens as well. What if Starlight was to discriminate against ponies of Western lineage?"

I interrupted, "Princess Luna, you would not have to worry about that. East Equestria will treat all ponies as equals."

Celestia asked, "I just thought of something, what if we were to relocate all Eastern ponies living in the west to the east and all western ponies living in the east to the west?"

I replied, "I personally think we should leave that up to the individual ponies. We should not force relocation on anypony."

This stunned the three, especially Celestia. She asked, "Wait a minute, you hold no ill will against the ponies because of their lineage, it is just the wrongs of the past you wish to correct?"

I replied, "Yes, that is the case."

Celestia sneered, "Well, I have a different mindset. I want those of Eastern lineage to return to the East because I can tell by the way they are acting that they will never support me. The moment they saw you on the television, in the paper or heard your address on the radio, they know that the Second Coming of Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer has come and are now loyal to you. I do not want ponies who are loyal to what will be a foreign leader living in what will become West Equestria and I do not want ponies of Western lineage having to pay homage to YOU. I believe that they should return home to their homeland."

I sighed, "Fine." Suddenly I realized that this was likely her saying that she was ready to agree to one of my proposals. I continued, "So I take it that you are ready to agree to something?"

Celestia replied, "Yes, I am."

Cadence added, "As am I."

Luna interrupted, "Big Sister, Cadence, thou canst truly be serious about this can thee? We know that thou art most close with Twilight but is sacrificing anywhere from half to 65% of the continent for her return really worth it?"

Celestia replied, "Yes little sister, it is."

I could feel it now. My destiny was almost fulfilled. All I needed now was for the royal pony sisters to stop arguing, draw up an official agreement and get it signed. I became a bit frustrated as Luna continued to oppose this. She yelled, "Big sister, dost thou not know what thou would be signing away? Where dost most of Equestria's wealth come from?, THE EAST!" She slammed her hoof on the floor and continued, "Most of the manufacturing lies in the East, all the economic transactions take place in the East, most of the natural resources that are mined are in the East and a lot of the hay is in the East. If we agree to this, our nation will likely fall into an economic depression."

Cadence interrupted, "Don't I get a say in any of this?"

Celestia yelled, "Not yet." She glared at Luna and yelled, "Look, I am aware of all of that but you know what, Twilight is far more important than all of that. We can explore our side of the country for natural resources, we can begin to grow hay here, we can manufacture our own things and we can have large scale businesses started here and have our own stock market."

Luna sighed, "Fine, but when the economy collapses and we get ran out of the country, don't go blaming me."

Celestia snapped, "Well since you seem to think this idea is so horrible and Starlight isn't completely against Western ponies living on her side of the border like I am, why don't you just stay here with her." She actually smacked Luna and continued, "I know she probably mentioned everything about our inequality because she has plans for you, plans such as invading a foreign nation and giving it to you after you conquer it."

Luna looked at me and asked, "Is our sister right? Dost thou have plans like that for us if we were to stay in the East?"

I replied, "Yes Princess, I do. I shall go further in detail with you on this if you decide that getting out of your sister's shadow is what you want."

Cadence interrupted, "We're getting off topic here. We need to get this taken care of."

Celestia asked, "Starlight, I know you hid Rarity's cutie mark. We have searched and searched for it but have been unable to find it. Where did you hide it?"

I grabbed a red pen and drew a bit more of an expansion on the map for East Equestria's demands. This expansion would place The Tree of Harmony in East Equestria, which would make it inaccessible to those of the West. I said, "You want me to reveal the location of her mark, then we want this territory as well."

Cadence slammed her hoof down on the floor and yelled, "That would give Starlight control of The Tree of Harmony! Who knows what kind of horrible fate would await us if we agree to that."

I replied, "Do not worry, The Tree of Harmony protects the whole continent, so we will all continue to be protected by it's power." Now I was not sure if that was really the truth but I figured that if I can get them to believe anything just so I'll give Twilight back, a lie would be well worth it.

Celestia could not stand the fact that Rarity's business was failing since she lost her mark and broke. She yelled, "FINE! I agree to the line that represents the return of Twilight, her mark, Spike and information on where Rarity's cutie mark is."

I replied, "Alright, let's get the proper paperwork drawn up and get our nation's best builders to begin to build a wall separating East and West."

Celestia asked, "Why do we need a wall?"

I replied, "To prevent illegal immigration. I am not sure about you but I will have my side of the wall militarized to prevent any illegal immigration and to protect against attacks."

Celestia yelled, "You know I would never invade you but with that being the fact, I'll militarize my side as well."

I said, "Ok, let's get this paperwork drawn up."

The Agreement

Since it appeared that Luna would be staying here so I can prepare her to go and take The Equine Empire and Cadence rules the Crystal Empire, it was Celestia and I who drew up the agreement on the separation of East and West. It took a lot of work given that there were so many little details but in the end it stated that I would receive all territory east of the green line, including the line that went west of the Tree of Harmony down to the southern coast. Regarding the arctic, all the lands surrounding the Crystal Empire would become part of West Equestria which I was perfectly fine with.

Also, a clause was added that would require all soldiers of opposing descent to leave the nation they are in and return to the nation of their lineage. This would not make too much of a difference given that most of the soldiers in the Eastern half of the country are of Eastern descent as is the case with Western soldiers in the Western half of the country. All soldiers of Eastern descent will become members of East Equestria's military.

Finally, I was going to make sure that the ponies of the East did not get cheated so I put a clause in there that stated that what I promised in return will not be given to Celestia UNTIL the wall was complete. Now this would mean that our sovereignty would not become a reality until the wall was completed and I had handed over what I promised but that did not matter to me. Given the number of ponies that were going to be working on this wall, East Equestria should become a reality within a year.

Celestia was not thrilled by the final part of the agreement. She yelled, "What? Twilight will not be returned until the wall is finished?"

I replied, "Listen Celestia, this is the case because I want to make sure that the wall is built fairly and in accordance to the line on this map."

Tears began to run down Celestia's face realizing that Twilight would remain a prisoner for almost another year as I continued, "Celestia, remember when you kicked me out of your school and as I was being led out I said that one day you would regret expelling me from your school? It looks like that time has come but even I never imagined I would triumph like this!"

Celestia sneered, "Give it a rest Starlight."

After a couple of minutes of sulking Celestia finally signed her name to the agreement and I signed my name to the agreement. YES! Finally, my destiny will be fulfilled within the year. Now all that remains is getting the wall built and then all the Eastern Ponies can celebrate our victory and our very first Independence Day.

My Destiny Fulfilled

Building the Wall

One week had passed since Celestia and I signed the agreement to split East and West and everything was ready for the wall to begin being built. The proper materials had been taken to both the far north end of the continent and the far south. We figured that if we had two crews working on it and then met in the middle that things would get done much quicker. Cadence and Luna would supervise construction in the south while Celestia and myself would supervise construction in the north.

While all the land that surrounded the Crystal Empire would be part of West Equestria, the northernmost tip of the continent would become part of East Equestria. Monitoring the construction of the wall in the arctic was not comfortable but the two of us knew that it had to be done as neither one of us wanted to get cheated.

Finally after one month the progress had got us out of the arctic and I said, "Thank goodness. I'm used to the cold but it is nice to be getting into a more temperate area."

Celestia sneered, "Oh, can't handle the cold all that well?"

I replied, "I can handle it just fine. All I was saying was that it is nice to be in a more temperate area."

Celestia just grunted as the progress continued to move onwards. Other than that, we really did not speak during the construction. All we did was glare at one another. After ten months of having numerous crews working on the wall, at the end of April the north crew and the south crew were so close to meeting in the middle. I looked at the remaining gap and suggested, "I have an idea. How about we build a structure here that will act as a neutral place where our two nations can have summits?"

Celestia asked, "What, and cause us to have to give up some land for a structure that will be neutral territory?"

I replied, "Hey, the way I am thinking it should be built, both of us would give up an equal amount of territory for this."

Luna added, "Big sister, we do think that it would be best if all meetings took place in neutral territory to maintain fairness."

Celestia growled, "Oh yes, you would suggest that since you are on her side now." She threw her hooves up in the air and sighed, "Fine. Let's get this neutral structure built."

Given that the structure would be built primarily of stone it would not take too long to build this structure with both crews working frantically on it. Finally on the morning of June 11th the structure was finished. All that needed to happen now was for my prisoners to be brought out to the wall so that we could finalize the agreement and make our separation official.

Fulfilling My Destiny

Once the wall and neutral structure were completed, I sped back to Fillydelphia to pick up my prisoners and Twilight's cutie mark. At first I was thinking of having Luna get them but I was still not sure as to whether I could trust her completely. When I got to the jail it was getting late so I decided that I would give the guard the night off and sleep in front of Twilight and Spike's cells and guard them myself. I was too tired to haul them back out there that night and besides, I wanted a good breakfast the following morning.

That night seemed to go by so slowly because I could not get much sleep. I was focusing so much on my being named the Premier of East Equestria. Not only will I be Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, but I will also be Premier Starlight Glimmer. Around 0230 I finally was able to get some sleep but dawn would arrive far too quickly. A knock on the door woke me and my prisoners up at 0700 as it was time for breakfast.

After a quick breakfast I put the jar with Twilight's cutie mark in it in my saddlebag, unlocked Twilight and Spike and grabbed them with my aura. The three of us then took off to the west for the final part of my journey. Around 1400 we arrived at the structure and apparently word had got out to the media because the nation's two biggest cable news outlets were there, the national radio network was there as were reporters from several newspapers.

It took an hour to get everything situated but at 1500 the cameras came on and Celestia and I were sitting behind a table. Celestia started, "Citizens of Equestria, today is a day in Equestrian history that will be significant. It may not be the greatest day but it will mark a change in the direction of our nation. For those of you who have noticed the wall being built across the nation, there is a reason for that. While things have improved for them, the ponies of Eastern descent feel as though they can no longer co-exist with those of us of Western descent and have demanded their own sovereign nation.

Normally I would never have agreed to this but the Alicorn next to me is an incredibly powerful Grand Mage and unfortunately, she is more powerful than me. She is the one who kidnapped Princess Twilight, removed her mark, kidnapped her assistant Spike and has hidden a friend of Twilight's cutie mark. She said she would return everything to us in exchange for the territory that lies to the east of the newly built wall."

She motioned for me to speak. I started, "Citizens of Equestria, as you know when I gave that speech regarding the treatment and lower pay for Eastern Ponies, I knew that simply demanding it would not work. I will admit, I am the one who kidnapped Princess Twilight, Spike, stole her cutie mark along with that of one of her friends. I did not do this to be mean though. I wanted much more for the ponies of Eastern origins, I wanted us to have the territory we had before the invasion of Celestial forces and I also believe that I needed to avenge Mage Meadowbrook, who Celestia needlessly killed during her quest to take the continent.

Today upon signage of this final document the continent will be split in two and in my opinion, it will be a great day for Eastern Ponies everywhere. While the nation is splitting, I do hope that East Equestria can maintain diplomatic relations with West Equestria. After all, we will be sharing the same continent and may at some point have common enemies.

Celestia and I have been talking and while I was initially against it, she believes it would be best if all ponies of Eastern origin move to East Equestria while all ponies of Western origin move to West Equestria. She fears that ponies of Western descent will face discrimination in the East, which they will not. However, to make this flow more smoothly it is something that we agreed to. Both of us are hoping that we can have ponies of the other nation's heritage moved into their own nation within one year."

Celestia began again, "I know that this split will put West Equestria at an economic disadvantage but we will begin to explore for our own natural resources, we will begin to have manufacturing in West Equestria and we will begin to grow more hay so that we do not have to import from the East. Also, we will start our own corporations here in the West so we don't have some corporate executive in the East in charge of some chain businesses here in the West. Once we have a sufficient number of large companies that are willing to go public, we will have our own stock market. Do not worry, while things may be hard for a little while, soon West Equestria will return to being the economic power it was when the nation was one."

I continued, "Regarding the economic matters in East Equestria, things will not change much since almost all of this continent's manufacturing takes place in the East. Most major corporations and a majority of the wealth lies here in the East so the biggest issue we will have is increasing the number of apple orchards since over 90% of them lie west of the border.

Also, Celestia and I have talked about travel across the border and a passport will be required for travel across the border. I know for some this may be an inconvenience but both Celestia and I think it would be best to track the border crossings of each pony who travels." I looked at Celestia and asked, "Shall we do this?"

Celestia sighed, "Yes, let's get it out of the way."

At 1613 on the 12th of June in the year 2015 of the Celestial Era, we signed the final agreement and the nation was finally split. While we gave huge smiles and a friendly wingshake for the cameras, I could sense not only anger from Celestia, but sadness as well.

I on the other hand could not have been happier. I had finally fulfilled my destiny. Now would come the hard part, drawing up a Constitution for the new nation but for now I had plans for once I returned to Fillydelphia, which will become the capitol city of East Equestria since that is the settlement that Grand Mage Starlight started when she first brought our ancestors to this new continent.

Before the cameras stopped Twilight and Spike were led into the room. I ordered Spike and Twilight unchained. As much as I hated to, I opened the jar and Twilight's cutie mark was returned to her. Twilight rushed into Celestia's wings and said, "Thank you, thank you Princess. Thank you for getting my cutie mark back."

Twilight then looked up at me with a glare and asked, "Now what about Rarity's cutie mark? Where is it?"

I replied, "I do not believe that I should reveal this information with the cameras running. I do not want somepony else to go and get it first." I glared at the camera crews and ordered all media personnel out. Once they left I continued, "Ok, Rarity's cutie mark is in a jar in the castle of the two sisters."

Twilight asked, "What? Where did you hide it in there?"

I replied, "It is in this chamber that is a library. It is the one that has two stained glass windows in it, one which depicts the sun and the other which depicts the moon. I hid it behind some books on the top shelf of the bookcase on the right side of the entrance."

Twilight asked, "Ok. Princess Celestia, when do you think we should go retrieve her cutie mark?"

Celestia replied, "The sooner the better."

I saw Luna standing over by her sister and was wondering why after the fight they had during the negotiations. I asked, "Princess Luna, are you ready to go and conquer the Equine Empire?"

Luna replied, "No Starlight. We have decided to stay with our sister in Canterlot. There is no guarantee that we would win over there and even if we did, who is to say that the ponies over there would accept me as their ruler?"

Before I could say anything Celestia interrupted, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, you have taken a lot today. You have taken over half of this continent but you will not take my sister. I am glad that I was able to get her to see that family is more important than a power grab abroad."

I replied, "Well Luna, it is whatever you want. I wish you all well."

They wished me well as well and we all flew back to our capitols. When I arrived in Fillydelphia, despite it being nearly midnight, there was a huge crowd outside cheering my return. I smiled and waved at them but let them know that I was very tired and that I would be out for the official celebration the following morning at 0900.

A Great Celebration

I headed to a local hotel and as I went in I was given the fanciest hotel room free of charge, one that had a balcony facing the street. I would be in for a huge surprise though when I opened the door to my room. The lights were on and I could hear the breathing of several ponies. Just as I was getting ready to head down to the desk to notify them of this five ponies jumped out and yelled, SURPRISE!

I turned around and was shocked. Standing before me was Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook, Mage Shadowstar and my parents! We all rushed together and engaged in a group hug. I asked, "Mom, dad, how did you know to come here?" I then looked at Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook and Mage Shadowstar and asked, "How are you three able to come to the earthly realm when you have passed long ago?"

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "Normally we can't but once every thousand years we can and we have chosen this moment to use that opportunity."

I looked at mom and dad and asked, "Did you two know that I am a direct descendent of Grand Mage Starlight?"

Mom replied, "Yes Starlight, we knew. Just like we hid your lineage to Meadowbrook and Shadowstar, we hid your lineage to Grand Mage Starlight to protect you from Western ponies who may see you as a threat."

Grand Mage Starlight pulled me close and said, "Well my Child, you have done even more than I imagined. Not only have you liberated the ponies of the East, you acquired more land than we had before AND you secured The Tree of Harmony for the East. You have fulfilled your destiny and then some."

After some more small talking we finally decided to call it a night and get some sleep. After all, morning would come all too soon and the next day was going to be an extremely busy and long day. I was not able to sleep all that well that night either given that I was starting a new chapter in my life.

The following morning arrived and even though I was not supposed to go out to the balcony to greet the crowd, I could already hear them talking and cheering as the time was getting closer. The six of us had breakfast, and with all of us being 100% Eastern, there was a lot of meat in it. Hey, with as busy as we were going to be, we need full stomachs.

Finally 0855 arrived and one of the guards announced to the crowd that I would be coming soon. The cheers were so loud that it actually hurt mom's ears from inside. I can only imagine how it will sound when we head out there. While I do know that they will cheer loudly for me, I can only imagine how loud they will cheer for the ancestral champions of Eastern Ponykind.

Finally the time has come. We decided that the order of procession would be Mage Shadowstar, Mage Meadowbrook, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, my parents and then me. As the guard announced them as they walked out the crowd was cheering loudly for the great ponies of the past and they cheered loudly for my parents as well for they knew that without them there would be no me.

Finally the guard announced, "And now I introduce to you, the first premier of East Equestria, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second!"

As I stood there at the balcony smiling and waving the crowd was cheering so loud that it was even hurting my ears. I had never heard a crowd cheer that loud before. They continued to cheer for five minutes before I motioned for them to calm down so I could address them.

"Citizens of East Equestria" As soon as I said East Equestria, they began to cheer loudly again. I let them cheer loudly for another three minutes until I motioned for them to calm down again. "Today marks a new era for those of us of Eastern heritage. No longer do we have to deal with the pay inequalities that we experienced under the rule of Celestia, no longer will we have to hide our true lineage from our foals out of fear of other ponies judging them and no longer do we have to worry about hate crimes being committed against us solely because of our heritage."

The crowd again began to cheer loudly and I let them cheer for another five minutes before I motioned for them to calm down again. I continued, "While I know this is a wonderful moment in our history, there is much work we have to do. We will have to get our own currency made because we can not continue to use Equestrian bits and we must make our own flag. Overall though, things economically will not change much. After all, most of the manufacturing, industrial metals, precious metals, hay fields and almost all of the financial business that has been in Equestria is here in East Equestria."

Again the crowd began to cheer wildly and after another five minutes I motioned for them to calm down again. I continued, "With this being the case and us not having to support West Equestria, our economy will raise to new heights, we will experience prosperity never before seen in the world, we will become an economic superpower, we will become the richest nation in the history of the world!"

Again the crowd began to cheer loudly but this time I simply let them continue to cheer as I waved and headed back into my hotel room. Mom pulled me close and began to cry tears of joy, "I'm so proud of you sweetie! You did so good out there."

Dad added, "You have made us proud Starlight." He got a huge smile on his face and asked, "I wonder how Celestia was received in Canterlot when she got home? I am betting that she was received with little to no fanfare and perhaps some heckling."

Grand Mage Starlight replied, "While I could not see it directly, I can feel the energy coming from Canterlot and it is very negative. I have a feeling that the Western ponies may actually turn on Celestia and Luna."

I asked, "Seriously?"

She replied, "Seriously. The energy I am picking up indicates extreme anger against Luna and Celestia." She looked down and continued, "I think it is a good thing you had that wall built for I see the West eventually collapsing and devolving into a form that existed prior to Celestia and Luna."

I asked, "Do you think it will eventually become several city-states that are constantly at war?"

She replied, "Yes Starlight. I believe that it will."

Suddenly a portal appeared at the back of the room. The three saw this and Shadowstar said, "Premier of East Equestria, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, the time has come for us to go. We know that you will do this nation well."

Meadowbrook added, "I'm so proud of you Starlight."

Grand Mage Starlight finished, "You have completed your journey Starlight. You accomplished what I could not and I know you will bring this nation more prosperity than it has ever seen."

I ran up to the three and hugged them one last time before they disappeared as they headed to their realm. I was shedding a few tears as they left. My parents saw this and drew me into an embrace. Mom said, "I know they meant a lot to you Starlight and I know it was hard for you to see them return to their realm."

I replied, "They did. The short amount of time I was able to be with them in their realm was such a moving experience. Their realm is how I wish this world could be."

Dad asked, "Starlight, I have a question. We were kicked out of Canterlot because of the fact that we are your parents. We are wondering if you could line us up with a job or something like that."

I replied, "Mom, dad, you are the parents of the leader of this fine nation. You will never have to do anything again in your life except relax unless you choose to do so something different." I pointed at the bed and continued, "Until I am able to secure a building to be OUR home, you two shall sleep in the bed while I sleep on the floor."

Mom said, "Even though you are a leader and a Grand Mage now, you are still the pure Eastern pony that you have always been!"

Moving Forward

As time progressed things began to move in the direction that both Celestia and I had hoped. Ponies of Western heritage headed west when Celestia promised them that they would have jobs while ponies of Eastern heritage that lived in the west came East as I had also promised them that I would create jobs for them.

We were able to start minting our own currency once a proper amount of nickel and copper were mined and we finally got a flag with a design that I thought was good. It had the old coat of arms that Grand Mage Starlight had on the first flag but I moved it to the right from the center and my cutie mark was on the left. Everything was set on a light pink background, the same color of my coat.

I finally decided that rather than having some fancy mansion as a home, that I would live in a good house, but not something gaudy and over-sized. After all, I am no better than anypony else and I will not live in a home that will reek of inequality, one that would make me look like I was better than other ponies. We had a house built in a good neighborhood and we quickly became friends with everypony else who lived there. As I grew into my new role and learned how to govern, it still felt kind of odd being not only Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, but also Premier of East Equestria, but it was a good kind of odd.