It was a quiet evening in Canterlot Castle, not so long ago. But then, all time is not so long ago, compared to forever.
"Princess Celestia?" the young unicorn named Twilight Sparkle asked, "How old are you?" The Princess looked down at the purple filly under her outstretched, alabaster wing. It was such a simple, innocent question. But at the same time...
"That... is a very complicated question." Celestia replied.
"Why?" Twilight asked.
"Do you know the story of how Equestria was made?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Yes," Twilight said. "Once upon a time, the All-Mother wrote a book. The book was about Equestria and all of Equus, and all of the ponies and other animals. And she made a wish for it to be real. And her wish came true. And that's how Equestria was made."
"Yes. That is the story. But do you believe it, Twilight? Do you think that that is how Equestria was really made?"
"I don't think so," Twilight said. "It's just an old mare's tale. Nopony really knows."
"Well, I wouldn't say that."
"Do you know?" she asked.
"After a fashion," Celestia said.
"So what's the truth?"
"The truth is, I am as old as Equestria itself. I was a part of its creation, as was my sister, Princess Luna. We were a part of our mothe- the All-Mother's creation." Celestia said. Twilight scratched her head.
"So... when I ask how old you are..." Twilight began.
"You're asking how old the world is," Celestia finished.
"Which is?"
"It would not be a number you would understand," Celestia said.
"Is it forever?"
"Hmm, not quite. Time is a strange thing, you see. It's fairly linear and simple for mortal ponies. But for Luna, myself and..."
"The All-Mother," Twilight said.
"... and for Mother," Celestia continued, "time is more like pages in a book. You move through each moment of time, from one to the next, like pages in a book. Each page is the whole world, in that moment."
"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked.
"Yes?" She looked at Twilight. Twilight glanced out the window, looking up into the night sky at the distant stars.
"Where is she?" she asked, "Where is All-Mother?" Celestia smiled knowingly.
"She's an inch away from your face." Celestia said. Twilight put her hoof up in front of her face, confused, and then looked at Celestia.
"You?"
"No," Celestia chuckled, "she is not a part of this world. She exists outside of it, beyond it, like an author outside of a book." Twilight looked at her, even more confused. "My dear Twilight, she is the one turning the pages of the book."
The Forever Game
The eve of the one-thousandth Summer Sun Celebration
"How long has it been, Celestia?" the Spirit of Chaos asked, from across the table. "How long has it been since we last sat down at this table?"
"Forever and a day, Discord..." Celestia said, regarding the game pieces on the chess board, "forever and a day." They both sat at the table in a place that was marked on no map. A place that did not exist, not in Equestria. It was a place outside of time and space.
"Five-hundred twenty-five-million six-hundred-thousand minutes," Discord said, looking at a wristwatch that magically appeared on his scaly, talon arm. The minute hand moved one increment. "and one." He looked back across the table at Celestia. She focused on the board, averting her gaze from those horrible yellow eyes. "Surely 'forever and a day' is enough time to have decided what your move is going to be," he taunted.
"There are never enough hours," Celestia said.
"Don't talk like you're one of them. One of your precious mortal ponies!" He practically spat the words, as though they tasted awful in his mouth. Celestia didn't react. "Do you know how many have died since your last move? How many of your precious ponies have perished? I do. I've been counting. Would you like to know? Should we do it by category? By disease, old age, accidents? Stallions, mares... foals?"
"Enough!" Celestia barked, "I will not rise to your bait, creature." Discord sat back in his chair that did not exist, along with everything else here, save the two players.
"Tell me, do you ever ask why?" Discord asked her, "Why she makes us play this little game? I do. Would you like to know?"
"Faust has her reasons," Celestia said without hesitation.
"Ah, blind faith," Discord said wistfully, "I'm almost envious of how simple your mind is sometimes. Do you miss her?" Celestia said nothing. "It's okay. You don't need to answer. I know you do. You miss her. You love her unconditionally, even as she cast you into this world without her, devoid of her presence. Well where is she now, hmm? Where is your 'All-Mother?"
"She's an inch away from your face," Celestia whispered under her breath to herself. Discord could plainly see that the Princess was stalling.
"And what of Alder?" he asked. Celestia pointedly looked at the fallen pawn beside the board. Discord smiled. "Ah, the first casualty of our little game. The human never really even had a chance, did he? He and I worked with your Mother, and we created the world. And what happened when we were done? She sent me here with you and your sister and he..." Discord looked at the pawn, his face was a shifting mix of bitter sorrow and maniacal glee, "he was the first to be cast aside."
Celestia said nothing, looking back to the board. Faust had her reasons, she thought to herself. It was the one prayer she clung to. And there was one secret that she knew, that Discord did not. The biggest secret of them all. The First Secret.
"Your sister would have moved by now," he purred through his wicked grin. Celestia winced. She regarded her white pieces that had been removed from play. Pieces like Pomneigh and Bitlantis, lost to black pieces of cataclysms. Another piece, an icy storm from Windigos.
The most recent White piece lost, however, was her Queen. A sacrifice to put the Black King in check, turning Discord to stone back in Equestria. But his spirit was still here, in this place that did not exist.
He took her queen, and Luna became overcome by jealousy, and was forced to be banished to the moon. He followed her eyes to the queen piece, out of play. "Hmm, that one was particularly sssatisfying to take," he hissed. Celestia turned her head. Her ethereal mane hid her tear.
"She'll be back. It's only a matter of time."
"Time is all that you and I have," Discord said. "Time... in abundance!" His lips peeled back, his smile revealing rows of fangs lining his jaw. "It's still... your move."
Today was the longest day of the thousandth year since she'd lost that piece. Today was the day she would get it back.
"Give me back my Queen!" Celestia said, her hoof pushing her pawn into his back row for promotion. The pawn vanished, the Queen piece vanished from the sidelines, reappearing in its place, in the same open row as the Black King. "And you're still a stone statue, you son of a bitch! CHECK!"
Celestia faded away to ethereal dust, blowing in an unseen wind before vanishing completely, leaving this place that did not exist, and returning to Equestria. Only Discord remained behind, regarding the board.
"We shall see," he said. He'd grown tired of playing by these sensible rules of the game. After all, "What fun is there in making sense?" Discord cheated, moving the pieces around, leaving the White Queen. Celestia could have her precious sister back, but he was done being in Check. A thousand years trapped in stone was enough.
But Celestia knew this day would come. The day the Spirit of Chaos would cheat at the Forever Game. The biggest secret, the First Secret, was that Alder was no mere pawn in their little game. Not any piece at all.
He was the board itself.
In the Crystal Caves beneath Canterlot, the mine to collect gems had been reopened shortly after their re-discovery during the wedding of Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor. Progress was slow at first. Most of the initial work was restoring the original infrastructure that was already in place. Repairing the old mine cart rails, and replacing the rotting support beams.
After a few months, the mine eventually turned a profit for the crown. But business really picked up when the Crystal Empire reappeared, ushering in a new flood of tourism. Ponies everywhere wanted crystals, but didn't want to pay top bit for authentic Crystal Empire crystals. Luckily, the Canterlot mine was able to provide some consumer-friendly competition in the crystal market, at competitive rates.
'Why travel all the way to the Frozen North? Get your crystals here!'
The mine itself was a boon for the then-unemployed, offering steady work and good pay. The work was hard and the hours could be long. But if you were stallion enough for the job, you could take home a tidy sum.
"Hustle up!" the foreman shouted out, "We gotta chew another thirty yards north in this corridor! Get those supports up! Bring in some more track! Let's actually make our quota this week!" All around him was a hurricane of activity. Ponies put up wooden strut beams, nailing cross-planks into place. Behind them, workhorses brought in rail ties and steel rail on a cart, laying it down as fast as the beams went up. No sooner was the cart empty, than the miners chipped away at the crystalline wall face, putting the raw material into the cart, filling it. The full cart rolled away, passing another at the switch yard, with more building materials heading into the breach.
And that was how the work went. Day in and day out. You went down in. You worked. You ate lunch. You worked some more. And then you went home. When you woke up the next day, you knew what you were going to be doing. There was no surprises to it.
Until today.
"BOSS!" one of the miners yelled. The foreman galloped to the active dig site, fearing the worst. An accident down here was serious business.
"What is it? What's wrong!? Dammit, somepony give me a sit-rep!" He got to the site. The miners were all just standing there, looking at the wall. "What the hay is going on?" He walked up beside the miners. The miner beside him cocked his head.
"We don't know what it is," he said pointing at the wall. The foreman looked at the wall again, peering through the haze of the dust hanging in the air of the mine. Inside the crystal wall, he could see a dark area, a smudge inside the crystals.
"Bring in another floodlight!" he ordered. A couple other ponies brought in the lighting equipment, shining it into the translucent crystal. Inside, the dark area, the smudge, it was clearly the outline of some kind of figure. An animal of some kind. He checked his watch. It was after-dark topside. "Fetch me a runner!" After a few moments, a pegasus flittered through the cavern to his location. "Get a message to Princess Luna immediately, if not sooner. She's gonna want to know about this."
Princess Luna quickly walked down the long tunnels of the mine, escorted by her runner and guide, leading her to the site of the 'find'.
"Here! It's just up ahead Your Highness!" he said. She turned the corner into the alcove of the new dig. The floodlights brightly illuminated the 'find'. Luna had never seen it before, but she recognized immediately what it was.
"Alder" she whispered under her breath.
"Your Majesty?" he asked.
"EVERYPONY LISTEN UP!" Luna bellowed into the gathered crowd. "I want cuts made around this... 'find'. I need it taken out in one piece! Not a scratch. And then we're going to get it topside."
"Princess Luna," the foreman addressed her, "with all due respect, this is my dig site."
"Not right now, it isn't," she replied. "with all due respect."
"We don't have the equipment to move something like this!" he explained.
"Then I suggest you get some. Now!" she commanded.
"There's no way we can do all this and stay within our budget!"
"Consider you budget increased," she said. "I want this topside, like, yesterday! No matter what the cost!" She turned to the other ponies. "RUNNERS! Front and center!" Two pegasi presented themselves. "Get a message to Princess Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville, and my sister as soon as Equinely possible!"
"Princess Celestia will be asleep at this hour," one of them said.
"Then WAKE HER!" she demanded. He still looked unsure. "Yes. It's THAT important! Now go!" The two pegasi flew off through the tunnels to the main shaft with all haste. Miners were already beginning to make scoring marks around the 'find'.
"And what of you, Your Highness?" the foreman asked. Luna put on a hardhat, pulling the straps tight. She looked back to the figure trapped in the crystal wall.
"This 'find' doesn't leave my sight," Luna said.
Princess Celestia walked through the long corridors of the mine. Some parts of it were familiar, others were new developments.
"Your Highness," her chaperon said, "the mine is a dangerous place. We're a little... uncomfortable having both you and your sister in here at the same time. If anything were to happen-"
"If my sister summoned me in the middle of the night, it must be important," she said.
"Yes, Your Majesty. But if it's all the same, we should make this visit as brief as possible," he said. Celestia rubbed the sleep from her tired eyes.
"I agree."
"Bring in the pry bars!" she heard Luna's voice shouting ahead. She hastened into a trot, hurrying to her sister's side.
"Luna!"
"Tia! We've found him!"
"Who?"
"Him! The First One," Luna said. Celestia peered through the haze of dust in the floodlights. Stepping forward, closer to the 'find', her eyes went wide. She could see the shape inside the crystal. Her lips moved without a sound.
Alder
He had been removed from the wall. The crystal he was inside stood freely on the floor. Too large to be moved, or lifted to the surface.
"We'll take this from here." Princess Celestia said.
"Sister, should we-" Luna looked at the others around them. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Should we do it here?"
"We should get him back to the castle." Celestia said.
"This facility doesn't have the means of moving the crystal this large," Luna said. Celestia weighed the options.
"You two," Celestia said to her accompanying Royal Guards, "get these workers cleared out. Set up a perimeter at the end of this hall. This is for royal eyes only. Understood?" The guards snapped to attention and acknowledged with salutes, answering in unison.
"Ma'am!" They moved into action, clearing out the crowd of onlookers. Celestia and Luna waited until there was nopony else around.
"Are you ready?" she asked. He sister nodded. Together, they aimed their horns at the crystal prison. They only had one shot at this and they had to get it right, together. Their horns glowed, forming the spell. The crystal glowed and shuddered. The spell snapped closed, shattering the crystal like safety glass.
He remained standing. Stalk still at first, then he blinked. His mouth opened and he drew breath. He moved his arms, looking at his hands in front of him. He tried to focus his eyes, shielding them with his hand while looking at the silhouette in the glare of the flood lights.
"Faust!? Discord has betrayed us!" he said, taking a shaky step forward. His eyes adjusted at last, seeing the two ponies standing before him. An expression of recognition washed over him. "Tia? Little Luna?" It was a bit of a misnomer. Luna was almost as tall as him. "You're taller than I remember. You sure sprouted." he said to her with a smile. "Both of you." He looked back at Celestia. "Thank goodness you're both okay," he said. "Discord is going to try to plunge the world into chaos!"
"That has already happened." Celestia said. "We stopped him, Luna and I."
"Then I arrived just in time!" he said, speaking to Luna. "He will have left behind a curse to cause you to become overcome with envy, and transform you into a wicked mare of darkness!"
"That has also already happened," Luna said. Alder rubbed his chin.
"Then we have to prepare for his return!" Alder said. "If I'm here, in this world, then it means that he has cheated at The Forever Game!"
"He has already escaped from his stone prison. The elements defeated him again," Celestia said.
"But he will bring with him the three harbingers of doom!" Alder said. "A Change-"
"A Changeling Army, King Sombra, and Tirek? All taken care of." Luna said. Alder stood there, still a bit dazed.
"How long have I been out?" he asked.
"Forever and a day, Alder," Celestia said. "Forever and a day."
"I don't understand," Luna said. "I know that he was brought into our world as a result of Discord cheating, but I thought that the second part of it, of the prophecy..."
"That the discovery of you, by us," Celestia continued, "would mean the turning of the age, and the coming of the greatest power this world has ever know."
"But what could be more powerful, more dangerous than all of those things put together? What hope would we possibly have against such a force?" Luna asked. "What would a monstrosity like that even look like?
"Princess?" The three of them turned and looked back. "I got your message... Who is that?"
"This... is Alder, the human. You remember? From the stories I used to tell you? Well, this one is true," Celestia said. She looked at the human. "Alder... this is Twilight Sparkle."
