Faster Than You Know

by Kari Kurofai

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Sad, Drama
Length: 15719

A thousand and some years after the Great Gryphon War, a young earth pony opens the sealed doors to the Castle of Friendship.

A thousand and some years after the Great Gryphon War, a young earth pony stallion pushes open the long closed doors of the Castle of Friendship. His goal? Place new bearers on the abandoned Thrones of Harmony, and perhaps in doing so, find Equestria's long lost Princess of Friendship.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-12 19:18:14 UTC

Prologue

“This book again?” Cloverheart asked her son as the aforementioned tome was placed in her waiting hooves. “Chance, dear, isn’t there anything else you’d like to read? Your father has given you so many books.”

The young earth colt stamped his teal forehooves impatiently against the covers of his bed. “I like this book,” he whined.

“You could very well read it yourself with how much you like it,” Cloverheart said, not unkindly. “You’ve heard it so many times I’d be shocked if you hadn’t memorized it word for word.”

Chance stared as his mother placed the book on top of his comforter, the six pointed magenta start embellished on the cover reflecting in his large golden eyes. “I can read it?”

“Sure you can, sugar cube,” Cloverheart nickered. “Why don’t you tell your old mother a bedtime story tonight.”

Obligingly, Chance opened the book, eyes scanning words he could not yet read but already knew by heart. “The Elements of Harmony,” he said aloud, trying to sound at least half as sure in his tone as his mother did upon previous readings. His light green coat fluffed up a bit with nerves as he once more set his gaze upon the words he knew only by sound. His mother climbed up onto the bed beside him, tucking her hooves beneath her and moving a stray lock of teal hair from her sons eyes with her nose as she encouraged him to continue. Chance cleared his throat.

“Once, there were six Elements of Harmony. At first, they existed as mere stones, physical symbols of light and hope in Equestria’s darkest times. But in reality, they lived within the hearts of the land’s citizens. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike all were capable of carrying an Element within their heart. And it was Princess Twilight Sparkle who learned how to master and use these Elements to protect Equestria. Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter all came together under her watchful eye, and she sat their bearers upon crystal thrones encircling a round table. Because the Princess’s element was that of Magic, of Friendship, without the other five bearers at her side her element meant nothing. So it was that the Princess’s gift of immortal life soon became her curse. Perhaps if she had lost all her friends to time, she might have dealt with her grief a little better. But alas, the beginning of the Princess’s reign in Ponyville was tainted with the first embers of the Great Gryphon War. Though she and her friends did their best to use their elements to protect Ponyville, and in turn all of Equestria, war was not something that the Magic of Friendship was able to mend. While the Princess did not age, her loyal, kind, honest, generous, and fun loving friends did, and found themselves worn thin by the costs of war, and one by one left their Thrones empty until only the Princess herself sat at the table. Though Princess Celestia herself did her best to reassure her former student that the Thrones would one day again be occupied, as the years passed, taking her former mentor with them, Princess Twilight too began to grow weary, though not of body as her friends had, but of heart. On the day that Twilight outlived her own daughter, she left her throne, the last of six to stand empty, and closed her castle doors forever.”

Chance recited it all without flipping a page, though as he drew off he turned a few with his hooves, if only to look at the paintings of the crystal interiors of what other ponies imagined the abandoned castle to hold within it. “When the war was over,” he continued, eyes fixated upon a picture of a snow blanketed land, “The Princess’s niece waited her aunt’s return, and set the Crystal Empire’s heart aglow in the center of the kingdom’s square to guide the lost Princess home. A pony only need look to the north to see its shining white beacon, a symbol of hope and courage and love that withstands time itself. We look to it, everypony, in our darkest hours, and pray that its light will one day return the Lost Princess to us, and open up the palace in Ponyville so that new hooves can find their ways to the table and the barren thrones that call to the elements within all our hearts.”

His hooves lingered on the image of the round table surrounded by six empty thrones. “How many years has it been, mom?” he asked as though the question could reach through the pages and pictures and dust the time off the crystal seats.

“More than you or I could count even if we stayed up all night,” Cloverheart murmured against the back of her foal’s ear. He giggled as she blew a raspberry into his mane. “Which is why you must sleep,”

“I don’t want to sleep,” Chance yawned. “I want to find the Lost Princess.”

Cloverheart closed the book with a gentle hoof, replacing it on the shelf before she tucked the covers up around the young colt. “There will be time enough for that all your life, Chance,” she said gently. “But it’ll be much easier to find the Princess on a good night’s sleep and a few more years to at least learn how to read.”

Chance yawned but snuggled down into the covers obligingly. “Alright. I’ll learn lots of stuff, not just reading. I’ll learn so much that the Princess will have to come home, just because she’ll be impressed by how smart I am. Math, history, writing, baking, sports, I’ll learn it all.”

“I’m sure you will.”

He turned on his side, ears pricked as he faced the lone window in his room that sat in the wall opposite the bed. In the soft glisten of the moonlight, he could just make out the distant, cold spires of the Castle of Friendship. “I’ll bring her home,” he said resolutely, his voice mellowing out into deep breaths as his eyes drooped closed.

Cloverheart shook her head and crossed the room to pull the curtains closed, her own eyes lingering on the spires that towered over their little town. She stared for a moment, transfixed by the beauty the castle had once been, and her hoof lingered on the curtain rod an extra heartbeat before she dropped back onto all fours. There was no harm in dreams, she decided as the moonlight bathed her sleeping foal’s green pelt with refractoring crystal light. No, there certainly wasn’t any harm in letting her son spend his nights dreaming the same dream all ponies had for over a thousand years. And perhaps in his lifetime, it would be more than just a dream.

Decisions and Dissertations

“It is my belief that not only did we lose our Princess after the Great Gryphon War, but we also lost our sense of Harmony as citizens of Equestria.” Chance cleared his throat and used a hoof to push his glasses up from where they’d slid down to the edge of his muzzle. He wanted to look professional when presenting his dissertation to the Council of the Moon, at the very least. “We no longer mingle the way we used to. Earth ponies keep their hooves on the soil of the land in which they were born. Pegasi live and die without ever leaving the clouds. The capitol,” he glanced up from the pages of the podium situated in the center of the council room, daringly meeting the eyes of as many delegates as he could, “As well as the majority of the cities have more than double the concentration of unicorns as they do pegasi and earth pony put together.”

True to his statement, Chance noted that out of the two dozen representatives judging him from their seats above, 3/4ths of them were unicorns. His gaze briefly rested on a fluff of white feathers, an attentive pegasus in the front row to his right leaning a little too far over the balcony for such a usually formal affair. But she definitely wasn’t a stranger to the council, he could see that in the way she presented herself, wearing the latest of Canterlot’s elite fashion and her pink main and tail curled up into tight buns with blue ribbons so as not to get in the way. Chance nodded at her in acknowledgement and turned back to his dissertation. “Once, the most powerful magic of all was considered to be Friendship, a unity and Harmony of ponies of all types and walks of life. Princess Twilight set an example of that, the seats around her table occupied by unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike. My fell ponies, when those thrones became empty, we lost the Elements along with them.”

He cleared his throat again, flipping a page with his mouth. “We lost the value of Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, and Honesty. The books say that these elements are carried within the hearts of every pony, but I have seen no such proof. If we had truly preserved the lessons Princess Twilight Sparkle had taught us, the castle in Ponyville would still have open doors. Now, it merely sits in dark silence, a crypt to the real magic we all have lost. My goal in speaking with you today was not to be granted permission to look for the Princess. Many have tried, and all have failed. Instead, I implore you to grant me the right to attempt to access the Castle of Friendship. Perhaps by reigniting the Elements within all our souls, and in finding new ponies to take places around the Crystal Table, we could entice our beloved, absent Princess to return on her own. We all know the stories, and how without the other five, the element of Magic loses its power. Not because it is somehow incompetent, or its bearer a poor spell caster, but because it represents the Magic we’ve lost. The Magic of Friendship, of Harmony.”

Straightening his stack of papers atop the podium, Chance dropped to all fours to trot around the inner ring of the council room. “Without Harmony, we will eventually lose what little we have left. Without Harmony, ponies have lost the power to become alicorns. Without Harmony, we face new and greater threats every day that we struggle to fight against because we are no longer a kingdom united. If I can be given access to the castle, I believe that Harmony has a chance of being restored, and with it our lost Princess returning to the country that loved her and loves her still.”

He stopped pacing, legs suddenly locking up as every gathered council member started whispering among themselves. Now and again their eyes would dart to him, questions in their gazes they had yet to find the courage to speak aloud. Chance waited, head held high to meet any such looks with fierce determination. This was the moment he’d studied for his whole life, the moment he won by earning his Master’s degree in history, and being the top of his class. He doubted the council would have allowed this meeting otherwise, and as it was, trying to get access just to be heard was difficult enough just by being an earth pony.

Finally, one unicorn turned her attention to the broad-shouldered stallion patiently waiting below. “I think the question many of us have is why you are so convinced that Princess Twilight is even alive.”

Chance had prepared for that question, and he turned to face the unicorn who spoke it with a determined smirk. “The other Princesses know when one of their own has died. Or so we’ve been told. The magical waves of power released upon an alicorn’s death are hard to miss, even for mortal ponies. None of us remember of course, it’s been more than a thousand years. But we have to Princesses who do remember, who felt the earth shake with grief and overflowing magic when Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence were killed in the war. Posing that question is the same as posing it to Princess Luna. Do you really doubt the words of your own leader so, councilmare?”

The unicorn pursed her mouth, glaring at Chance before turning to whisper to the pony beside her. Again, Chance waited while the murmurs swelled and died down low enough to hear a discernable question amongst the seats. “You said that the Elements exist in the hearts of everypony.” It was the white-coated pegasus, still leaning a ways over the railing with her wings flared at her sides. “If we go into the castle, are you expecting every mare, stallion, and foal to gather around the crystal table just to summon the lost Princess back?”

“Hardly,” Chance replied with utmost patience. “I believe that the table will have the power to choose the successors to the thrones around it on its own. We have stories of how it was used to summon the Element bearers across Equestria in times of great need. For all we know, it could still be summoning them, new guardians, old guardians, waiting for the thrones to be filled again by those deemed worthy.”

The pegasus mare tilted her head slightly. “Deemed worthy? If Harmony exists in the hearts of everypony, or so you say, how can there be some who can be declared more worthy of one of the thrones than their fellows.”

“Because the Harmony in our hearts is weak,” Chance said lowly. “It has diminished and dimmed until it’s almost unrecognizable. I can count on my hooves the number of ponies who would go out of their way to help somepony else if there was no reward in it for themselves. That’s not Generosity. And I’ve yet to see a council member here not spit out at least one lie through their teeth, even if its lily-whitest lie you’ve ever heard. That’s not Honesty. To even get here I had to read my dissertation to much lower class ponies first, when a unicorn could have done half, no, even a forth the work I did in order to be allowed to stand before you. That’s not Kindness. You share secrets and gossip with your fellow council ponies rather than good news and smiles. That’s not Laughter. And worst of all,” he turned to direct his words at the unicorn who’d questioned him first, “You dare to challenge our Princesses’ words. That is not Loyalty.”

The pegasus’s feathered ruffled involuntarily at his words, and she quickly pulled her wings in tight against her sides. A common sign of submission and wariness with her kind. “Thank you, Chance,” she said slowly, the words hitting Chance’s brain like the drum beats of a funeral march. “You have spoken, and the council has listened. We will bring your case before Princess Luna this evening, and consider what you’ve asked for.”

Though she didn’t finish the little formal speech with an order to leave, Chance heard it well enough in her tone. He grabbed his dissertation off the podium and held it between his teeth, careful to keep his head held high and his steps steady as he trotted confidently out of the room. Such an act deflated almost as soon as the broad golden doors swung shut behind him, and he hitched out a sigh.

If his proposal was turned down, Chance wasn’t quite sure what he’d do with his life from here on out. His cutie mark was four green hearts in the shape of a clover, a sign of his good fortune that in reality was just deductive reasoning that lead him to being in the right places at the right times. He had a Masters in History from Canterlot’s college, but without a grant, he couldn’t use all his stored knowledge to do any good. He supposed he could become a history professor himself, but shook that thought away with a flick of his turquoise mane fairly quickly. What good would that do? It would only teach more ponies about a history so far removed from their everyday lives that they would continue on in their content complacency without much thought at all. Chance had seen it among his classmates as a colt, and sometimes even saw it at the college as a fully grown stallion. History was something to be read about according to most, not something to be studied, or explored.

As his thoughts ran wild, Chance began to pace. A bad habit of his whenever he started thinking too hard. The carpet of his foalhood room had a permanent worn away line between the east and west walls. If he didn’t get the grant, Chance supposed he could try traveling to the Crystal Empire to appeal to Equestria’s only other reigning Princess, but the thought alone made his hooves tremble a bit. It was one thing to present his dissertation to Princess Luna’s council, it would be another entirely to present the same paper to Princess Flurry Heart’s. He stopped pacing for a moment to suck in a deep breath and slow his heart rate again. No, that wasn’t an option. Permission to further his research would have to come from Princess Luna alone.

He was on his twenty-seventh lap between the two columns bordering the door to the council chambers when it creaked open. Chance froze in place, one hoof still raised as a tall shadow crept through the opening and fell over him. For a heartbeat, Chance didn’t move, other than to drop his jaw a bit in shock. He had expected one of the council heads to tell him their verdict, perhaps that inquisitive pegasus mare even, but in his wildest dreams he never thought he’d find himself looking up into the curious eyes of Princess Luna herself.

Chance practically tripped over his own hooves as he stumbled to face her and dip into a bow, muzzle nearly touching the ruby-red rug they stood upon. His ears flicked to the side as he heard a snicker, and he peeked open one eye to see the white pegasus from before covering her mouth with a hoof. Eyes closing in respect again, he spoke, “Princess. My apologies for my informality. I’m just a simple earth pony from Ponyville.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing as a ‘Simple’ pony from Ponyville,” Luna’s voice was deep and calm, almost languidly slow, as if it were capable of lulling one to sleep with words alone. Chance raised his head slightly, once more meeting the Princess’s curious gaze. She was inquisitive, he realized with a hammering heart. About him! About his work! “And from what I’ve heard,” Luna continued, “Your mind is as far from simple as I would expect a child of Ponyville’s to be. Rise, Chance of Ponyville, I speak to you as an equal.”

Feeling a bit punch drunk with a mixture of confusion and pride swelling in his chest, Chance straightened up as best as he could. As tall and broad shouldered as he was for a stallion, he still didn’t compare to the Princess’s towering, regal form. Every inch of her radiated royalty, the constellations swirling endlessly in her ever flowing tail and mane. Still though, he was quite nearly tall enough to look her in the eye. Well, almost. She was still a head taller, but he doubted there were any other ponies who could boast such a feat.

“My student,” Luna began with a gesture towards the white pegasus mare, “has told me about your research.” To Chance’s surprise, the pegasus’s feathers fluffed up at the attention, and she ducked her face and bubblegum-pink mane behind one wing. Luna was either used to this behavior, or didn’t notice. “You’re seeking permission to open the Castle of Friendship, correct?”

Chance met the Princess’s eyes as best he could. “Yes, your highness. I fear that Equestria will someday be in need of its contents, and I would like to try and restore them.”

Luna tilted her head, a lazy smile in the corners of her mouth, “By contents you mean the Elements of Harmony. But with your education, I assume you’re  aware that they are no longer physical objects. How do you plan to restore something that can’t be held in your hooves?”

Swallowing, Chance said, “I believe that there is something in the castle that may guide me to finding the Elements. Not as stones, mind you,” he said before Luna could ask, “but rather in the same way the Lost Princess collected them. Within the hearts of other ponies. And perhaps when all the Thrones of Harmony are filled again . . .” He drew off, unsure how rude it would be to suggest what he hoped to accomplish to the Princess’s face.

“You think the magic gathered from new bearers of the Elements seated on their proper thrones could lure Twilight Sparkle home,” Luna finished for him. Chance noted the lack of title on the Lost Princess’s name, the casual, almost intimate sound of it. “And what evidence do you have for this?”

Chance could practically feel his tongue twisting into knots in his mouth as he struggled to find an appropriate answer. “Well, Alicorns have been proven to, uh, be more finely tuned when it comes to sensing powerful magic,” he stuttered out, “Perhaps if the thrones are filled and the Magic of Harmony and Friendship restored to the castle, Princess Twilight might feel it, regardless of how far away she might be.”

Luna lifted her chin, studying the earth stallion as he scratched the rug with a forehoof nervously. “And if she feels it but chooses not to return?”

Chance frowned, perishing the thought, “Then perhaps it’s time we start looking for a new bearer of Magic. But I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he added when Luna’s eyes widened. “Princess Twilight Sparkle abandoned Equestria when the Thrones of Harmony were all empty. I believe that by filling them once more with worthy ponies, it’ll be like a beacon to her own Element, the Magic of Friendship she still holds in her heart.”

His eyes flicked to the pegasus mare again as Princess Luna continued to study him in silence. Odd that a pegasus would be the Princess’s personal student, he thought to himself, especially in a town filled with the unicorn elite. Not that it mattered much, there hadn’t been a successful student to either Princess since Twilight Sparkle herself. They came and went just like every other pony. Mortally. This one though must be fairly new, as he recalled seeing a glassy-eyed elderly unicorn at the Princess’s side once as a colt. Chance recalled he’d had a rather clichéd name for the position, Midnight Sky or something of the sort. For the life of him though he could not recall the name of the pegasus who now stood at the Princess’s side.

“Are you aware only the bearer of an Element can open the door to Twilight’s Castle?” Luna spoke finally, jolting Chance out of his train of thought.

“I had suspected, yes,” he said, “but could find no direct reference to that being the case in any book. Foals in Ponyville used to dare each other to run up and touch the door at moonhigh, believing as foals do that the castle was haunted. I remember that there was no lock on it, no sealing spell. It was an ordinary door.”

Luna glanced at her student, then back to Chance. “And did you ever partake in this foalhood game?”

Chance bit down hard on his tongue for a moment, hesitating to answer. It might come off as pretentious if said wrong, or even worse land him in prison for tresspassing. “I-I did,” he admitted softly. Luna cocked her head, the question in her gaze compelling the words to continue to slip from his mouth. “And it opened. Just a crack, I swear. I got so scared I ran back to my friends and told them I’d seen the castle’s ghost, and the next morning when I passed it on the way to the schoolhouse it was closed again. I don’t know whether it was just coincidence or even my own imagination, I haven’t tried it since.” He pursed his lips shut, inhaling deeply through his nose and holding the breath steady in his chest for a second. “But I’d like to, Princess,” he dipped his head, “If there’s any possibility that I can help return the Lost Princess to her throne, I would do so gladly.”

To his shock, Luna looked pleased with this response. She nodded once to him, and once to her student who had crept a few steps closer while Chance was speaking, her round blue eyes alight in the wake of his words. “White Heart,” she said to the pegasus, who jumped a little at being addressed directly. “Write up a letter of permission in my name for Chance to take with him on the train back to Ponyville tomorrow. Let it be known that he is to be researching and traveling under Princess Luna’s permission and watchful eye, and that he be allowed access to anywhere and anything he needs in order to further his studies. If any payments need to be made, make sure everypony knows that his work is paid for by the funds of Canterlot, and all inquiries about such be sent to our talented bankers.”

White Heart had already procured a scroll and quill from Celestia knows where and was scribbling away before Luna finished speaking. Chance glanced between them, a dizzy sort of giddiness welling up within him with every new beat of his heart. “I won’t let you down,” he said swiftly, least there be any concern. “I will restore the Elements and I will find Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Luna glanced at him out of the corners of her eyes, her gaze fond, almost familiar. “I know you won’t,” she said softly. “Feel free to ask for additional aide from me at any time, Chance of Ponyville.” She levitated the scroll away from White Heart as the last few words were penned, and with a flash duplicated it, the original rolling up and returning to the flustered pegasus, and the other wrapping itself in a ribbon and moving to hover just below Chance’s nose.

He took it in his mouth without further instruction. “Thank you,” he mumbled more or less coherently around the scroll. “I’ll do my best.”

“I know,” the Princess repeated, and with a motion of her wing guided her student and herself back within the council chamber, doors clicking shut behind them. Chance stared for awhile, stunned at all that had occurred in a matter of minutes, scroll still held carefully in his teeth.

Thunderstruck

Trepidation was not nearly strong enough a word to describe how Chance felt standing before the doors of the Castle of Friendship. Even though his foalhood home lay just a few blocks from the towering spires of crystal, Chance had fully loaded his saddlebags in preparation for this moment. Of course he had the still wrapped scroll from Princess Luna, but he also had stuffed his bags with six or seven history books as well as his own notepad and sketchbook. He knew what he expected to find, but he also knew better than to never go anywhere without covering for the unexpected. In his bags also rattled a flint and steel, a bottle of water, and a probably fairly squashed sandwich wrapped in a cloth napkin.

As usual, the street around the castle was clear of traffic of any sort. Ponies avoided it, stayed out of the shadows it cast and away from all that might lay buried there, metaphorically and possibly physically. Dusk was beginning to settle over him the longer he stood there, and Chance fixed his eyes on the distant beacon that made itself known amidst the stars as the sun set. It was almost ironically appropriate, his hoof raising to brace against the golden doors over twice his height. Twilight and dusk were synonyms, and with Flurry Heart’s ever hopeful light piercing the heavens, the moment couldn’t be more perfect.

With a shove, Chance pushed the double door open, stumbling forward as the golden doors swung wide to greet him, far from the crack they’d given him when he was a blank-flanked colt. Startled, Chance fell back onto all fours, eyes wide as he stared into the dusty, cobweb infested interior of the crystal halls of the Castle of Friendship for the first time. The first bits of moonlight were trickling through the green tinted windows, illuminating the pattern of tree branches that were artfully carved into the glass. Violet and gold tasseled tapestries hung between crystal pillars, most of them in various states of disrepair, their colors a dull imitation of what they must have once been. The floor was as cold and crystal as the walls, just smoother, and when Chance took his first steps onto it and into the darkness, he whinnied in alarm when hanging crystals on the ceiling lit up. He staggered back out onto the steps, flustered by the unexpected magic that still lingered within the castle’s walls. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside again and let the crystal light bath him in a myriad of golds, pinks, blues, and purples.

The entrance hall stretched out before him, beckoning him forward as the crystals continued to light his path with every step he took. So entranced was he, that Chance hardly noticed the golden doors swinging shut behind him. He spared them a glance before fixing his gaze ahead once more. More than the crystal light, or the history hidden within the castle walls, Chance could feel something tugging at him, calling him. It was hardly a malicious pull, though it did make the earth pony falter in his steps for a moment. It was as though somepony had a hoof on his heart, beneath his ribs, making him breathless and his heart jackrabbit as it tried to urge him forward. Simultaneously, the presence was comforting, tickling wisps of thoughts into his mind that didn’t quite form words. He felt warm from muzzle to tail, encircled in some unearthly power that wished to make itself known.

In his head, the shapeless words began to become more coherent with every step forward he took, the warmth growing stronger, the silent pull keeping his hooves moving. He grasped at every bit of it, letting the magic pull at him, draw him in. Chance did not really believe in such things as destiny, but this was perhaps the closest thing to it. A purpose. A magic that called out to him and him alone to show him his purpose. At the end of the entrance hall a set of stairs ascended upward, and each carved out block of crystal that made it seemed to be singing to him. With every tap of his hooves to the solid flooring, the magic whispered louder. He came to a door at the top of the stairs, and reared back to plant his forehooves against it. As with the entryway, the doors opened easily at his touch, and as they swung open to reveal the great hall, he could finally make out the words that the magic was murmuring into his ear.

“Thank you, for the offer I mean. But I’m afraid I have to say no.”

Before him stood the place he’d centered most of his research around, and it took his breath away. Overhead a chandelier made of twisted, petrified wood hung more of the radiant crystals that had decorated the hall before it than he could ever possibly count. They lit up every corner of the circular room, chasing away dust and cobwebs with their light so that the Crystal Thrones shone like new. His heart still pounding in his chest, Chance stepped closer to the thrones to peer at the table that lay in the middle of them. As the records said, it was a complete map of Equestria, though Chance was sad to see that it was apparently magically capable of updating itself. When he’d read about it he’d half hoped to find it in the condition in might have been in during the height of Princess Twilight’s reign. But even from where he was standing he could see the changed features of Equestria. The eastern coast was still scarred, cities that had once prospered still marked by the ruin of war. The train tracks that once ran between Equestria and Griffonstone were severed, leaving only ocean between them. Ponyville was as expansive as it was outside the castle walls at that very moment, the remains of the Everfree Forest just a crescent at the edge of it. Rainbow Falls was wiped entirely off the map, a rough hole in the Crystal Mountains where it had once stood. And beyond that, he could make out the Crystal Empire, it’s boundaries stretching out among the mountain peeks where a great wall had been erected as a border. Chance gasped as he noted the beacons along the wall flickering as they would be at this time of night, and at the Empire’s center, a white beacon reaching up into infinity beyond the map’s limited skyline.

Though he felt compelled to touch the map, Chance moved away from it, focusing again on the thrones that surrounded it. Crystallized cutie marks embezzled their crowns, and the sight of each of them surged a new emotion through every fiber of his being. So many of them were shapes grouped into threes, an uncommon thing to see in his own age. Three balloons, three diamonds, three butterflies, three apples. The only two that did not follow this pattern were the throne at the head of the table, if one could actually consider a round table to have a head, and the one just to the left of it. Reverently, Chance dared to pass a hoof over the throne that had once belonged to Princess Twilight Sparkle, the magenta star holding his attention for a long, silent moment before he felt the pull again. Almost there, it said in feeling alone. Almost home.

Chance squeezed himself between the table and the throne to the left of the royal seat, his breath catching harshly in his throat as he set his forehooves upon the base. It was like he’d been struck by lightning, every nerve and bone and muscle in his body singing all at once. Tartarus, maybe he had been struck for real. After all, the mark upon this particular throne was a single white cloud with a rainbow bolt descending from it. Steadying himself, Chance climbed onto the throne properly, the sensation of being called and tugged at fading gently away. Here. He was here. This was his place, his throne. It had been waiting for him.

Chance stared at the map before him, the rise and ebb of the feeling that had brought him here leaving him stunned and at a loss for words, let alone proper or intelligent brain function. The table glittered in its sapphire hues before him, and it was with mindless, reckless abandon that Chance reached out to place a single hoof upon it.

A flash of light burst upwards, bouncing off the crystal walls and lighting up every window within sight. Chance was certain all of Ponyville would be able to see it, and perhaps maybe even Canterlot might witness its glow from its position on the mountain above. Now that he had touched it, Chance couldn’t bring himself to remove his hoof. A different feeling bubbled within him now, a sense of waiting and wanting that curled in his gut. A minute passed, then another, each seeming to be longer than the last as Chance stared unblinking for the map. The castle had waited for him, so now he too would wait for the castle.

Another minute passed, and Chance startled as another flash of light cast its presence into the room. But it was not one of the castle’s lights, one of the many glimmering crystals. No, the warmth in Chance’s body had focused itself on his flanks, and flashed a dark green within in clover-like cutie mark. He watched, still beyond words as mirror image of the mark pulled away from his coat, shrinking as it dashed over to hover above the map and fix itself over Canterlot.

Although Chance was annoyed at the prospect of returning to Canterlot so soon when he knew there was so much more to see of the castle, the tugging feeling had returned to its place in his chest, and he no longer had the option of ignoring it. He had been chosen, and now he was being summoned. Though what the map expected him to do, to find within the royal city, Chance couldn’t even begin to wonder. All he knew was that he was needed there, a new sense of purpose urging him onward.

A Student's Benevolence

Though it was often mistaken for a mark of healing, or care giving, the truth was that White Heart’s cutie mark had been earned through what the pegasus mare looked back upon as sheer idiocy. The mark, a simple blue heart wrapped in a pink ribbon and bordered by two short blue wings had shown itself upon her flank the same day she’d nearly made a decision so stupid she put all of Equestria in danger. Or, at least that’s how the other members of the Council of the Moon described it.

In reality, all White Heart had done was sneak one of the gryphon supply boats a few extra bags of grain. Okay maybe a few dozen extra. The amount didn’t matter, what did was that she stared her elders dead in the eye and asked why they were willing to let another species starve because of a war a thousand years behind them. They’d all shuffled their hooves, startled that the normally shy pegasus filly was raising her voice at them, was collectively accusing them of centuries of slow and painful genocide. The gryphons could no longer grow food on their land, not after the magic used during the war had stripped it bare, soil turned to stone and trees to ash. Although she knew that keeping rations small kept the gryphons submissive, making it nearly impossible to rebuild, she wasn’t having any of it.

“A thousand years is more than long enough to pay for war crimes, don’t you think, Princess?” she’d asked when her father and the mayor of her foalhood town escorted her right up to the golden throne themselves. She had been angry, at her father for not listening to her, at her town for believing her gift to be treason, at the Princess for turning a blind eye to the plights across the eastern sea. Enough was enough. “Give them a chance,” she’d demanded of the cool eyed Princess. “Give them the same opportunity you were once given to prove that change is not only possible, but powerful. No one deserves to starve, Princess, no one should have to die like that, whether they be pony or gryphon.”

At first Luna had said nothing to her, only made a motion with her wing to a few of the royal guards, who stepped forward to escort her father and the mayor out of the throne room. It was only once they were alone that Luna spoke. “Do you realize what sort of statement you’ve made with your actions, young filly?” she asked coolly. “Do you understand the consequences could have befallen you had you not been brought directly to me. Arrogant though your father and his fellows might be, they saved your life by not doling out a punishment themselves. Were it not for that, you would have no doubt given your life for those extra bags of grain. Tell me, is that worth the price?”

White Heart didn’t even blink before she replied. “Yes. If my actions can save the lives of a hundred, and all it costs is myself, then that’s fine. My life is not worth more than any other life. Let alone a hundred lives.”

Luna had smiled then, the expression startling White Heart a little with the sincerity of it. “You are aptly named,” Luna said softly, “and now on top of that, aptly marked. I could use the advice of some pony like you, White Heart. There has not been a soul so steadfast and strong willed as your amidst by council for hundreds of moons.”

There wasn’t much else to say after that, Luna had taken her under both physical and metaphorical wing, and when White Heart came of age she took a seat in the Council of the Moon she’d been promised. The only pony in the lot who had not been elected in. While that might have given her an extra edge in court meetings, the status of being the Princess’s chosen allowing her more initial leeway than she’d expected, Canterlot’s citizens were not so easily silenced.

Honestly, she wasn’t surprised by any of it. Not the growing animosity the council held towards her for being chosen, nor the public’s complaints about the too-liberal pegasus making rash decisions they didn’t approve of, let alone vote for. At first she’d been a little sullen about it, but as time went on and the more times she faced the Council’s greed and hostility, the less she started to care of what other ponies thought. It’s not as if the Council were anything but the elected voice of the citizens given a chance to be heard. They did not make the final decisions on any matter, that was a duty held by Princess Luna alone. Or perhaps more recently, Princess Luna and her faithful student working in tandem.

White Heart made plans, grand designs and maps and equations she spread across the Princess’s bedroom floor for approval. The acquisition and maintenance of more farmland, the job creation project for the east coast towns that were more likely to harbor visiting gryphons and their ships, the methodical assembly line that stretched halfway across the nation to provide a stock of grain and other rations grown solely for the gryphon kingdom. Over and over, White Heart repeated to the Council the same thing she’d said to Luna on her first day in Canterlot. “Our lives are not worth more than anyone else’s.” Her voice always lowered over “anyone,” drawing attention to her use of the word over anypony. If they were allowed to prosper, to rebuild after the war, the gryphons should be given the same chance.

She had been in the middle of planning out the reconstruction of the train line between Equestria and Griffonstone when the other council members began scheduling guest speakers from Canterlot College. White Heart knew full well none of them actually gave a bale of hay over what the fresh-minded, well scholarred young ponies had to say, their gazes dull and listless through every dissertation, debate, and speech brought forth to the podium. They were stalling, buying time to undermine her efforts to restore the railroad before the project could get approved. She had half a mind to complain to the Princess directly, but scowled at the thought of what the rest of the Council would say if she did.

Brown nosier, tyrant, the divine hand they seemed to think puppeteered their goddess Princess. No, she would not go to Luna, not unless she had no other choice. She had taken her seat in the council with plans to change the shape and face of modern Equestria, and she could not do that if she hid behind the Princess’s wings whenever the rest of the Council turned against her.

So it was that she found herself stamping letters of approval to the college graduates one afternoon, shafted with the task by councilmare Zealous Belle to keep her out from underhoof for the day. Unlike her fellows, White Heart carefully read over each proposal before approving or dismissing them. She realized very quickly that all the ponies that had spoken previously were all unicorns when she discovered that the pile of letters given to her were submitted months ago when the meetings began. It was no wonder she’d only thought a small hoof full of the speeches thus far were decent, the Council wasn’t even reading any of the projects sent by pegasi or earth ponies.

Though she did not remember stamping Chance’s paper for approval, she knew she’d made the right choice the second he’d turned accusing eyes to the Council to scold them on how long it took him to even stand on the floor beneath them just by because he was an earth pony. Though she took part in questioning him, perhaps asking the only worthwhile inquiries about his proposal, when the doors shut behind him White Heart had flung herself airborne and zipped off to find the Princess as fast as she could, ignoring the rest of the Council’s annoyed nickering in her wake.

“Do you remember,” she said when she hovered over Luna’s desk, the alicorn looking up at her over the rim of her reading glasses, “how you said I was unique? That my strong will towards my convictions was a sight unseen in this day and age?”

“A statement that still rings true,” Luna nodded.

“Well, there’s a pony outside the Council room right now who might be even more stubborn than I am.” She clapped her forehooves together, “Earth stallion, history major,” she began listing, “special focus on the history of the Elements and pre Great Gryphon War Equestria.” Luna’s eyes widened a little, and White Heart fluffed her wings out giddily. “He wants approval to open the Castle of Friendship. He thinks he can find the Lost Princess. I’ve never seen a more determined pony in my life.” She grinned, “And he also sassed Zealous Belle.”

Luna smiled, “Any pony so daring as to challenge Zealous Belle is certainly worth meeting. Take me to him.”

So it had been that White Heart pushed Chance forward in motion under the noses of the ever discontent Council, and the name of the Lost Princess began to be whispered through the ranks as it had not in over a hundred names. Even those opposed to the project, such as Zealous and some of her fellow unicorn councilmares couldn’t help but speak of it too. How could they not? Twilight Sparkle, a face and name few remembered directly, and little spoken of outside of storybooks.

She’d been on the Princess’s balcony when the Castle of Friendship lit up in the valley below the capitol, the light so bright even in its brief moment that half of the nation probably saw it. In its wake, Canterlot settled into stunned silence, and for a moment White Heart could swear not even the wind dared to move.

Princess Luna had not seen the site herself, but she felt it. Chance had not been wrong when he said the magic of Harmony was powerful enough to be felt even at great distances by skilled magic users. She let it wash over her with a shiver, a familiar spark of a buried emotion glaring up in her chest. Loyalty. She’d suspected as much, which meant that now was the time to set the rest of the pieces on motion.

White Heart was still on the balcony, spellbound by the distant sight of the Castle of Friendship’s reawakening long after it had faded. So enraptured was she that the pegasus mare didn’t notice Luna’s approach until the Princess spoke. As usual when caught off guard, White Heart’s feathers fluffed up a bit, a habit that in the presence of the Princess she tried to cover for by folding her wings tightly at her sides. “Did you hear what I said?” Luna asked her as her student smoothed a hoof over her unsettled wings.

Blinking sheepishly, White Heart whispered an affirmative “No.” She fixed her gaze on the Princess after the confession, ears angled forward to confirm that she was paying attention properly now. Luna only smiled, her own gaze flickering past the stars and out towards the distant lights of Ponyville below.

“Chance will be returning soon with his findings I suspect,” she repeated patiently. “I’d like you to take the first train out tomorrow and collect Amber Bright from the Crystal Empire for me.”

White Heart made a face, “What? Seriously? Why? Amber is the most antisocial pony alive, and I highly doubt Princess Flurry Heart will be willing to so easily let her out of her sight. I’ve read about the standstill war you two had going on when Amber’s great grandfather, Radiant Glory left the Empire to stay in Ponyville. The Princess was absolutely livid.” White Heart raised a hoof to gesture vaguely over the railing of the balcony. “Princess, even I know that’s a fool’s task. Flurry Heart would sooner spell me to Tartarus and back before allowing Amber Bright outside the borders of the Empire.”

Luna glanced down towards Ponyville once more, “And you do not think her mentality will shift after feeling the wave of magic that was born anew tonight?”

“Perhaps,” White Heart admitted, “But I don’t see why we have to risk her patience and good will by asking for Amber Bright. That might be pushing it to far.” She fluffed her wings a bit, then let them droop to brush against the stone floor with a sullen, “I mean, we could always just do the traditional apprentice exchange-”

“You are needed here just as much as Amber is,” Luna interrupted. “And if Flurry Heart has learned any sense in the past thousand years, she will recognize that immediately.”

White Heart sighed and nudged a forehoof against the railing. “I suppose. Just be aware that I’m going to haunt you if I get shot full of crystals.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Ghosts aren’t real. Believe me, I of all ponies would know if they were.” She dipped her head, nuzzling her muzzle into White Heart’s pink mane and dislodging the bow from her tightly winded bun. White Heart huffed as her long hair unraveled and fell around her shoulders, but didn’t protest. “I know you will find a way to do what needs to be done, dear student,” Luna murmured. “But it can only be through your will that Flurry Heart allows Amber Bright to leave the Empire.”

“Sure,” White Heart deadpanned. “Leave it all up to me, the shining solution of fine diplomacy in the country where two-thirds of the population thinks I’ve blackmailed my way to the top. What do we need Amber Bright for anyways?”

“Chance seemed to possess an extraordinary range of knowledge for a stallion his age, especially in his focus of Twilight’s reign. The only other pony who has any equal knowledge and never walked beside the Princess of Friendship themselves is Amber Bright.”

“Her nose is always in a book when we have meetings,” White Heart said.

“For Chance to continue to move forward, he will need to gain an even deeper understanding of the end of Twilight’s Kingdom, and we both know where all the most detailed records of that have been kept.” It was a statement that while disappointed, White Heart noted also didn’t sound the least bit bitter. “As she has every right to,” Luna continued without pause. “Flurry Heart has kept the beacon lit for nearly a thousand years. If she wants the complete collection of Twilight’s writings in her own library, that’s for her to decide. As for Amber Bright,” she paced once, twice across the small balcony, “Like every one of her ancestors, she’s diligent with keeping records of her present as well as reading up on her past. If Chance truly wishes to find Princess Twilight, he’ll need her help more than that of anypony else.

White Heart bit her lip and tried not to seem to annoyed by the insinuation that Amber was better suited for helping Chance restore the Elements than her. “And me?” she asked, unable to help herself. “Where do I fall on this equation.”

Luna only smiled when met with her student’s glaring frown. “There are so many ways to describe how you will come to play your part,” she said fondly. “Selfless, priceless, open hooved and hearted White Heart. Perhaps when you find a way to convince Amber Bright to come to Canterlot, and convince Flurry Heart to let her, you will begin to understand your own role in this grand design.”

History of an Empire

They meet at the station, and Chance nearly tripped over the small pegasus in his eagerness to get off the train the same time she was  petting on it. “My apologies,” he said when they’d finished bumbling and trying to side-step each other. “You’re Luna’s pupil, right? White Heart?”

The mare tilts her head at him, expression torn between annoyance and reverence. She drops the suitcase she’d been holding in her mouth to extend a hoof, curling it towards her body in the traditional greeting. “That’s correct, yes. And you’re Chance, the prophesized hero.”

Chance sputtered, “The WHAT?!”

Though she tried to maintain her stony stare, White Heart couldn’t help but chuckle after his exclamation. “Joking, of course. There’s no such thing as fate. However,” she peered around his broad form to glance at the train that was calling for its final boarding, “There might be some truth to happy coincidence. How do you feel about accompanying me to the Crystal Empire?”

Chance’s mind immediately started skimming through his mental library of history books, a jolt of excitement lighting his gaze as he remembered that the Empire’s Library held the only complete set of Princess Twilight’s writings. “I would love to go,” he said, practically bouncing on his hooves. White Heart blushed at the word choice, her wings fluffing slightly. “But I have something I need to do in Canterlot first,” he sighed after a moment of more rational thought.”

“And what is that thing, exactly?”

“I actually . . . Don’t . . . Know . . .” Chance admitted sheepishly. “But the map told me to come here, so there must be something here that can help me find the other Elements.”

“The Elements have slumbered for a thousand years,” White Heart deadpanned. “They can continue to rest for a few more days. Now be a dear and get back inside the train. The thought of having to visit the Empire alone makes me physically ill.”

Reluctantly, Chance allowed himself to be herded back onto the train, and even helped the mare lift her suitcase into the overhead compartment. “I’ve actually never been to the Empire before,” he admitted as the train began to pull away from Canterlot’s station. He gave the palace a guilty glance as they passed.

“I’d be shocked if you had,” White Heart said evenly. “Flurry Heart has kept her borders rigid and more or less impenetrable without express permission for over five hundred years now.”

Chance stiffened in the seat he’d taken across from her. “Er, then how are we getting in?”

White Heart scoffed, an attempt at humility that failed spectacularly when her feathers fluffed and gave her away. “I’m Luna’s student, why wouldn’t I have access to the Crystal Empire. We’ve attended formal dinners there with their royal household.”

Eyes alight with wonder, Chance leaned forward in his seat a little, “Wow!” he exclaimed, her ever more ruffling feathers unnoticed. “That’s excellent! Have you used the library there at all?”

A grimace cross White Heart’s face, and her wings wilted a little, “Actually, no. Flurry Heart has forbidden Equestrian citizens access to it since the Empire succeeded as its own country.”

Chance wilted, “What? Why? Why would they stop anypony from accessing knowledge. That’s just stupid.”

“No, it’s actually quite smart,” White Heart sighed. “Flurry Heart has cut us off from valuable knowledge and thus succeeded in making it nigh on impossible for us to ever dream of returning the Empire to Equestria’s folds. Especially so when the most valuable works there-”

“Are the complete collection of Prince Twilight Sparkle’s writings,” Chance finished for her. “Those books and scrolls are probably stuffed with all kinds of information we’ve either forgotten or never had. Spells, potions, even old mare’s tales could be hidden in the pages. But most importantly, they contain Twilight’s account of the Great Gryphon War.”

White Heart flicked one ear back in bemusement. “We have tons of war accounts in the Canterlot libraries, Celestia’s and Luna’s own among them. What’s so different about Twilight’s retelling?”

Chance frowned, “Many believe that were it not for the war she would have never left her throne. Perhaps we’ll find some sort of explanation in her last known written words, a concise series of events that lead to her being so consumed by grief and anguish she couldn’t face her country anymore. And maybe, if we’re lucky, a clue as to where she might have vanished to.”

“If she’s vanished at all,” White Heart muttered into her hoof as she propped it against the window, eyes fixed on the scenery flying past. “I know you said questioning it was disloyal in your speech the other day, but I’ve been skeptical long before I became Luna’s student. It’s been a thousand years and then some. Why wouldn’t she come home? Surely no one can grieve for that long.”

Tapping his own hoof to his chin, Chance said, “I suppose that depends on what you have to lose. How many ponies in your life would you cry for if they died?”

The question took her aback a little, and White Heart considered it in silence for a long minute. “If we’re counting individuals, just one.” Luna, she thought, she didn’t think anypony else deserved such from her. “But if we’re discussing ponies in a broader sense, a kingdom-like sense . . . I would give my life before I saw Equestria get destroyed, no matter what I think of what it’s become. I might be priceless to a few ponies, and yeah, maybe they’ll grieve for me when I’m gone, but if my death were the only way to protect my country? I wouldn’t hesitate to spend it. Or anything for that matter,” she added. “Whatever I have that I can give to keep Equestria safe, it shall be given.”

Something nostalgic struck a chord in Chance’s chest at her words, and he cursed internally for leaving the Castle so hastily without bringing something that could help him find the other Elements without the use of the Thrones. He took a moment to study the small pegasus’s profile as she continued to stare out over the land as it rushed by, the way her eyes seemed to spark with determination so strong Chance knew it would only falter in death. “You love the kingdom,” he said, a simple statement that for some reason got White Heart’s head to turn.

“Of course I do,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Chance made a vague circular motion with his hoof, “Oh, I don’t know, the general hostility of being a pegasus in a unicorn run city, the animosity between you and the other council members, the way anypony would rather toss their own foal into the lake before themselves these days.” He drew off as White Heart’s ears dropped slightly at that last one. Though he didn’t continue the train of thought allowed, internally he still questioned if that was something that hit a little too close to home. “Excuse me for flattery,” he continued with an awkward cough, “but, White Heart, you are a rare gem amongst ponies. I can see exactly why Luna chose you as her student.”

White Heart was thankful that it wasn’t a more humid day, because her feathers were already fluffed beyond reason and she couldn’t imagine them being any worse.  “O-oh,” she stammered, “Well thank you. I think.”

“You remind me a little of her,” Chance said. “Of  Princess Twilight,” he amended when she cast him a confused look. “You both love your country, would die to keep it safe. It’s very noble.”

Something nearly akin to anger flared in her stomach at that, and she pushed a forehoof to her cheek as she pointedly directed her gaze out the window once more. “I hope I’m nothing like Twilight Sparkle,” she said testily. “The very thought that I could abandon everything the way she did makes me sick.”

That was the end to the conversation it seemed, because his attention almost immediately and awkwardly turned to his saddle bags on the seat beside him. Chance extracted a notebook and spelled, self-inking quill from its depths. White Heart watched out of the corner of her eye for a moment, mildly fascinated by the speed at which he wrote and drew, whatever notes he was taking soon becoming accompanied by sketches she could barely begin to comprehend. Some she recognized as runes and spell circles, others as cutie marks, military precision flight patterns,  and even jewelry. The majority of it was stuff she never expected any earth pony to be knowledgeable about, especially the magic, but that seemed to be what Chance wrote about the most. It was after she watched him draw a ninth spell circle in the margins beside a complicated equation she guessed was somehow formulaic to whatever the spell did that she dared to speak up again.

“You’ve studied magic?”

Chance glanced up at her, his forehooves tucked comfortably under his body and the quill still gripped between his teeth. From the look in his eyes, White Heart suspected he’d gotten so lost in his work he’d forgotten she was there. “Not exactly,” he said around the quill. When she continued to stare at him, he carefully returned the quill to his saddle bag, as she apparently wanted an explanation he couldn’t provide while working. “I studied history, and a lot of Equestria’s history as you might expect is very deeply tied with all kinds of magic. I’m not talking about that modern stuff either, or even most of the spells that would have been common during the height of Princess Twilight’s reign. I mean old magic, the kind that flows through the earth and the sky and the sea and holds more power within its core than our two Princesses combined. There is a deep, old magic in this world that isn’t governed by the usual rules of science and alchemy, and it comes in many forms. It’s made crystal that when spelled or touched at the right time creates a portal to other worlds. It’s the sort that has no agenda, no moral code, and grants balances the world on a constant thin line between Harmony and Chaos. And once, I suspect it was the same magic that created alicorn princesses in the first place. If I can get a hold of Twilight’s records, I’m sure I could figure out whether that hypothesis is true or not, and perhaps even devise a way to call upon that exact magic again.”

“To what, make more alicorns?” White Heart frowned skeptically. “That doesn’t seem like the greatest idea as the two we already have don’t get along well enough to sit at the same table for more than an hour.”

Chance shrugged, “Well, like I said, it gives both Harmony and Chaos. We have no idea whether or not the magic used to create the gods that walk among us is chaotic or harmonic, it could be either. And if it was the former, that might explain why so many things happened the way they did during the war.”

“Maybe,” White Heart muttered. “But honestly, I’m not sure if I want any of that information. I don’t think we need more alicorns, and I don’t want to know what conglomerate of terrible events made Princess Twilight leave her home and never look back. All I want out of any of this is what you talked about in your speech, what we lost at the same time we lost our Princess. If this old magic works the way you think it does, I hope it takes a little pity on us this time and grants Equestria Harmony.”

She folded her hooves together and rested them on the windowsill, body slumping as she did so. There was something . . . Weary about her, Chance thought sadly. She couldn’t be much older than himself, and yet her maturity and cynicism made her seem like an old soul, as his mother used to say. I couldn’t be easy being the Princess’s student, to have so many look to you for help and advice. Chance was starting to feel that pressure himself, actually, an uneasy weight that had settled on his shoulders to remind him of how much all of this depended on him, on his research and his wit.

“You never said,” he whispered, watching as the pegasus flicked one ear his way to show she was listening, “what exactly what we’re going to the Crystal Empire for.”

White Heart stared out the window as the Smokey Mountains and the smaller foothills of the Unicorn Range whirled past. “Luna says we need to get Amber Bright. She thinks Amber’s the only pony who might be able to help you actually find the Lost Princess.”

“Is Amber Bright the empire’s version of you?” He guessed. “Student to the Princess?”

“Not exactly,” White Heart muttered into the space where her hooves folded together against the cold glass. “Flurry Heart has never used the title of ‘Student’ on anypony.  Amber Bright, like her parents before her, her grandparents, her great grand parents, as far back as the day the borders closed, have all lived under the watchful eye of the Empire’s Princess.”

Chance narrowed his eyes, “They’re not slaves, are they?”

“No, but they might as well be,” White Heart said with a dismissive extension of one wing into the space between their seats making a brushing off motion with her spread feathers. “Couple hundred years ago, Radiant Glory managed to slip out. Her grandfather, or maybe it was great grandfather, I don’t remember. The books focus more on how furious Flurry Heart was. Amber Bright’s family . . . They went there willingly before, lived in the Empire for centuries and were allowed to come and go as they pleased. It was only after the borders closed that things got bad. Flurry Heart forbade them from leaving the Empire ever again. The line was thinning at that point, and Luna thinks she panicked, think that she let herself be blinded by the love that fed her beacon and forgot that everypony had a right to forge their own paths. We’re going to convince her to let Amber Bright leave with us not just as a statement to the Empire, but for the very same reasons Flurry Heart keeps her in the first place.”

A spike of anxiety made Chance’s mouth run dry. “and what . . . Uhm, what reason is that, exactly?” he managed to squeak out. He could guess, and perhaps he’d already done so correctly, but he wanted to hear it all the same. There were no concise records of Twilight Sparkle left in Equestria, Flurry Heart had demanded them be under her care within the walls of the Empire because Twilight was her aunt, and Luna was too tired of war, of fighting, to tell her no. Chance suspected that whatever White Heart said next, the reasoning behind Flurry Heart’s actions with Amber Bright’s family would have a similar origin.

“In the Empire, Amber Bright does hold a title, it’s just not that of Flurry Heart’s student.” The Pegasus mare’s gaze never wavered from the window. “They call her The Last Daughter of Twilight.” She waved a hoof, “Sometimes it’s Twilight’s Last Daughter, same thing though. Obviously she’s not the Lost Princess’s actual daughter, she’s mortal, and too young, but she is the last of her bloodline.” White Heart smiled bitterly, “Funny how easily something that powerful can be extinguished, isn’t it? If Amber Bright doesn’t have any foals of her own, she really will be the last.”

Chance’s brow furrowed. “How can that be? How can there be only one pony left after a thousand years? I mean . . .” He frowned, and White Heart side-eyed the look of concentration on his face. “If I trace my line back far enough, or Tartarus any pony’s line far enough, I’ll find an element bearer. How can Twlight only have one?”

White Heart shrugged, “You’re the history buff. Shouldn’t you know?”

A snort made it’s way out of Chance, flaring his nostrils in what White Heart recognized was a simmering level of frustration. Whoops, seemed she’d touched a nerve. “We just discussed how the Empire’s Princess has all of Twilight’s writings!” He slammed a hoof into the train seat around the word “Just,” and White Heart tried not to laugh at the utterly infuriated expression his face had morphed into. “We don’t even know the name of her daughter anymore, the last pony to see Twilight, we know nothing. And worse, we somehow know less than nothing about who the father was.” He ground his hoof into the seat cushion, “When we get there I’m heading straight to the library. Flurry Heart will have to vaporize me to stop me.”

“Don’t go around saying that or she actually will,” White Heart nickered.

They were two stops away now, and Chance watched every other pony except for himself and White Heart exit the train cars and file out onto the Vanhoover transfer station. Nervously, he cleared his throat to confirm with White Heart that it really was okay for him to be accompanying her to the Empire, the thought suddenly twice as intimidating now that they were the only passengers left on the train. Even the conductor had stepped off, and waved the train on its way again with a flash of magic to trigger it back into motion. “Hey, are you sure-”

“What Element is in your family tree then?”  White Heart spoke over him. Chanced frowned. “Well, technically a few, like I said it’s been a thousand years and then some, it’s weird to find ponies who can’t trace their lines back to one of them, if not more than one. But it’s all very, well, spacey I guess I should say. There are a lot of gaps, and to be honest I’m not entirely sure I’m just drawing the wrong conclusions. But I can trace my line back to General Turbo Charge-”

“A good one, but not an Element Bearer,” White Heart pointed out.

Chance rolled his eyes, “I’m aware. Which is why I wasn’t done talking yet. Turbo Charge’s parents are one of the blank spots, but a few moons ago I discovered a clue as to who they were while I was researching for my dissertation. It was just one book,” he smiled, “So again, not sure if it’ll stand up in court. But in one recorded autobiography from a soldier fallen in the war offhandedly mentioned that a pegasus named Honey Crisp had delivered a bunch of apple pies to the entire force. And that Honey Crisp, who we know was Fluttershy’s daughter, was Turbo Charge’s sister. What about you?”

“Not a drop as far as I’m aware,” White Heart said. “I’m from the coast.“ Chance visibly winced in sympathy. “None of us over there have any Element blood that was worth keeping a record of.? By the time I was born all that was left of it was ashes and scattered tales that rode on the wind.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Nah,” White Heart smiled, “Not really. If I’d been born into one of those families that knows they have ties to the original Elements, I’d probably have grown into a real . . .” She lowered her voice and put a hoof to the side of her mouth, “Jackass.”

“We’re the only ones on this train,” Chance deadpanned, “And I’ve never seen a donkey come this far north.”

“It’s still better for appearance sake not to go slinging around insults,” she replied. “But seriously though, even the ponies who are like only vaguely and far removed from the Elements act like stuck up sirens when they find out about it. Like what’s that mare’s name, the one with the music and stuff that’s been popular recently?”

“Jade Sonnet?”

“No. the other one.”

“DJ Rhythm Hoof?”

“No, the other one.”

“. . . Stellar Chord?”

White Heart clapped her hooves together, “Yes! That one! I hear she’s been showing off her genetics to rise to fame as fast as she has, and considering she’s about our age I wouldn’t be too shocked if it were true.’

Chance cocked his head, “Which Element is she related to?”

“No clue, I just listen to the gossip and pass it along when convenient.” She jumped down from her seat just a heartbeat before the train came to an abrupt, screeching halt that sent Chance hooves over head onto the floor. And of course, White Heart’s suitcase decided that was that and bopped him upside the head when it fell. “Now, if you’re ready, I can see Princess Flurry Heart is already awaiting our arrival at the station.” She jerked her muzzle subtly towards the window where Chance could see the Princess, and beside her unicorn mare with a harvest gold coat and gold and violet curly hair. “Oh good, and she brought Amber Bright too,” White Heart added as she picked up her suitcase in her mouth. Chance stared after her, heart hammering in his chest as he took note of the unicorn mare’s cutie mark, a gold laurel wreath with a four pointed blue star at the center. There was no mistaking it, even though he’d only ever seen stained glass and tapestries of the Lost Princess. Amber Bright looked every bit like she could be Twilight Sparkle’s daughter.

The Crystal Princess

“We saw the light from the castle,” were the first words out of Princess Flurry Heart’s mouth when they came to stand before her. The statement was in such a monotone tune that Chance couldn’t read the emotional affliction behind it with any accuracy whatsoever. Was she pleased? Angry? Sad? Mad? Sad and mad at the same time? Smad?

While her companion was busy processing the possibilities in the mazes of his own mind, White Heart dipped her head towards the Princess, smirking internally when Flurry Heart scowled in return. “Still disrespectful as ever I see,” she huffs. “At least your friend had the courtesy of and upbringing to give a proper bow in the presence of Royalty.” White Heart rolled her eyes and turned slightly to see that Chance was indeed bowing low before the Princess. Or . . . Wait, maybe not so much the Princess, she realized. He’d perfectly positioned himself between Flurry Heart and Amber Bright, and though his hooves were pointed towards the Princess, his eyes were mesmerized by the young unicorn at her side.

“I do hate to be a pest, love,” Flurry Heart spoke up, breaking the pegasus’ chain of thought once again. “But I must request to see your stamped letters saying that  that you are in my land legally and will not commit any crimes while here, the usual.” White Heart procured an official looking scroll from her suitcase and flippantly tossed it into the air for the Princess to catch. “Only one? Flurry Heart inquired.

“Chance was a last minute carry on item,” White Heart says without hesitation. “And if you have a problem with that you can take it up with Princess Luna, as she’s granted him access to whatever he needs to finish what he’s working on.

Amber Bright’s eyes lit up, the first reflection of real emotion either the pegasus or earth pony had seen thus far from her. “You’re the one that opened the castle?” she gasped. “What was it like? What’s your Element? If the doors opened for you that means you’re worthy of one of the Crystal Thrones. Was it Kindness? Honesty?”

“Loyalty,” Chance said easily, smiling as the unicorn bounced on her hooves as he did. “I’m Chance, by the way,” he said, taking a bow again and curling one hoof towards his chest in introduction. “And you must be Amber Bright, correct?” She flushed when he spoke her name and nodded quickly. “White Heart was just telling me about you. She says you’re the only pony she knows who studies nearly as much as you do. I’d love to see the Empire’s library if you’d like to show me.”

Horn already glowing with the first sparks of a teleportation spell, Amber Bright cast hopeful eyes to Flurry Heart’s towering form. “That’s all right, isn’t it? If Princess Luna sent him then it must be alright. And he’s Loyalty!”

White Heart didn’t miss the way the Empire’s Princess raked her gaze coldly over Chance, nor did she miss the brief flicker of anger in her blue eyes. “Go right ahead, Amber,” she said, the words and tone contradicting her suddenly stiff posture and darkened eyes. With a pop of violet magic, the unicorn and earth pony were off without further ado, leaving White Heart and the Princess alone at the empty station.

They stood there in utter silence for a minute, maybe five, just glaring at each other. Except it was more like Flurry Heart was glaring, and White Heart was looking back at her with a carefully schooled and well practiced deadpan stare. It was the first, and thus far the most important lesson Luna had ever taught her. Although to be honest it was far less intimidating coming from a stumpy little pegasus than it was from a fully grown, ageless alicorn princess. Flurry Heart, to White Heart’s credit, did look away first, rolling her eyes as she did so. “A pleasure as always, White Heart,” she said flatly. “You know we were expecting you, right? This is hardly a surprise visit.”

“Shoot, nothing gets past you, Princess! White Heart mockingly exclaimed, raising a hoof to make rude motion across her chest. She smirked when Flurry Heart’s lip curled. “And here I thought it was just a coincidence that you were here to meet us at the station! Imagine that.”

It was almost uncanny the way they simultaneously locked eyes again, fire burning in their depths before they both sighed and fixed their gazes on the ground. “We felt it, last night. The Castle of Friendship was opened,” Flurry Heart said. “I didn’t know when you’d be arriving until the word came that a train had been scheduled to cross the border and drop off a permitted passenger at the station.” She cocked her head, “A permitted passenger, as in singular. Element or not bringing your stallion friend along was not sanctioned. Technically, crossing the border without authorization is considered trespassing, and sometimes even terrorism depending on what the uninvited guest gets their hooves up to. In theory, I could incite a war over this entire charade.”

“Cute,” White Heart smiled. “Look at the Littlest Princess That Could making threats she’ll never follow through with. We all know you’d rather die than subject your citizens to yet another brutal, useless war.”

Flurry Heart straightened up, using her greater size and height to her advantage to look down upon the other mare. “At the very least,” she said coolly, “it’s more than enough justification to send Luna’s precious student back to her in a box of bloody puzzle pieces.” The pegasus didn’t flinch, and after a heartbeat more of their stubborn staring contest the Princess gestured  towards the sky with one of her mesmerizing broad wings that were almost twice the size of that of Equestria’s acting ruler. “I hope you’re up for a brisk night’s flight,” Flurry Heart hummed, one flap of her full wingspan enough to lift her a few dozen feet from the ground in one smooth motion. “I have a feeling we have much to discuss, you and I.”

“I’m sure,” White Heart agreed. She pushed off the ground as well, forehooves hooking into the handle of her suitcase and tucking it securely under her body as she continued her ascent. As per usual, Flurry Heart carved her own path through the sky, heedless of her guest and vast difference in capabilities between them. In her youth White Heart had found this air of pompous thoughtlessness to be a form of idiocy, once going so far as to call it a prime example of poor ruling capabilities. She had been quite lucky Flurry Heart had been somewhat patient with her in her youth, because if she said that sort of thing to her face now the pegasus would surely be catapulted into the moon. Not onto, or magically bound across it like her mentor had once been, but rather most certainly into. As in Flurry Heart would hurl her into space as hard as possible and make sure the moon had a deep crater  shaped like a short and ornery pegasus. And that her bones would permanently sit in the moon’s cold core. But no, no, much to a filly White Heart’s horror, adult White Heart recognized the movements as deliberate. She outstripped even her guests so that they would not forget who ruled them.  Her unfiltered brashness kept ponies in line with the belief they were safer for it, and her holier-than-thou methods of addressing everything and everypony reminded them that while they were of lower standing, she was by proxy the only pony qualified to lead them. It served as a reminder, a kingdom worth fighting for, dying for, under the banner of its most cherished child. Though it was the opposite of White Heart’s preferred methods of gaining trust from her fellows, it was an effective method in its own right. On top of that, is was an effective method that had put an end to a decades long war.

They had never once flown together, not in all White Heart's years as Luna’s student had Flurry Heart ever slowed her wing beats to accommodate her. Similarly, neither had the pegasus. She would never catch up, it was quite literally impossible, but she could make Flurry Heart work for it. And keeping on the Princess’s heels just enough for her to actually need to concentrate to stay ahead of her was a pastime White Heart quite enjoyed.

The Princess lead their northward flight up into the first layer of clouds, rocketing through it up into the second, the third, with very few wing beats to bolster her ascent.

To say it was a struggle for White Heart to keep up was a bit of an under exaggeration. Flurry Heart, blessed be the Princess and all that, had large wings even for an alicorn, well over double the size of Princess Luna’s, which would put them at four times White Heart’s own wingspan. Every beat of her feathers against crystal cold air was a struggle, an extra push  to keep up, to excel in the game of chase since she could never hope to outstrip the older mare in speed.

Flurry Heart cast a rather smug expression over her shoulder, an easily distinguishable look even with the night enveloping them and the rapid distance the Princess put between them. White Heart could see the first crest of the Crystal Mountains ahead, and beyond that the even taller spires of the Empire’s ever expanding cities. Even through the clouds she could see their light, so vibrant and bright that even Luna’s night could not put them all out. And at the center of it all, where the spires turned into towers and Mount Everhoof loomed behind it all, White Heart could see the light of the beacon piercing the heavens. It’d been years since she’d been privileged enough to see it up close, and as always it dazzled her with its eternal glow.  She’d seen what powered it a few times, the Crystal Heart that spun in slow circles at the castle’s center, it was at the very least awe inspiring, and though the small pegasus were loathed to admit it, she was impressed with the Princess’s ability to keep it lit. Perhaps ability is not quite the right word. No, lighting the Crystal Heart and keeping it a beacon of hope for so long was far more than ability, far more than skill. It was, from what little Equestria was allowed to know about the Empire, powered entirely by love. Pure, deep, and unwavering love. The Heart kept enemies out of the kingdom through the power of its citizens love for their home and their ruler. In the case of the beacon, maybe once it drew upon the power of love from the mortal ponies as well as it did Flurry Heart, but the chance of that still being the case was slim to none. The Lost Princess the beacon had been lit for was hardly remembered in Equestria, and since the Empire succeeded from them there hadn’t been much talk of her within the crystal borders either. Yet the beacon remained ever bright.

It was admirable. Sad, but admirable. But White Heart would never admit so to the Princess’s face. She might be outspoken, but there was a difference between speaking her mind and being unnecessarily cruel. She had no right to speak about something like that, being mortal herself, to somepony who never aged. In a hundred years of her life she would never be able to even begin to comprehend the pain of loving someone and losing them in the way that Flurry Heart did. And similarly, she would never understand the hope of seeing them again, regardless of how small the chances were.

The pegasus’ wings protested with every beat, her veins feeling as if they were on fire with every thump of her heart beneath her ribs. She wanted to prove herself, wanted to keep a decent enough pace with Flurry Heart to be a challenge. As of yet she’d never managed it, the Princess easily outstripping her every other time she’d visited. But she was older now, could see past the haze of adrenaline to plan some actual strategy. Flurry Heart kept ahead of her, higher than her, riding the slipstreams above the clouds while White Heart struggled to stay above them at all. She could see the Empire’s capital glowing in the distance, and with a quick glance calculated the angle of descent needed for her to reach it from her current position. It wouldn’t be too steep, and thus would be something Flurry Heart could outpace her at in matter of seconds. Not yet, she had to wait, wait until the dive was steep enough Flurry Heart wouldn’t be able to follow her.

They were nearly overtop the city when White Heart finally tucked her wings tight against her sides, flashing Flurry Heart a smug, closed-eyed grin as the swift halt of movement tipped heels  over head and sent her plummeting earthward with a high pitched whoop. She held onto her suitcase with all four hooves, keeping it secure against her chest as she fell with her back towards the ground. From that position she had a clear view of Flurry Heart trying to match her, the way the Princess copied her movements and went into her own nose-first, much more elegant dive and easily caught up.

“Bold,” the Princess practically purred in the face of White Heart’s rising laughter, “but futile.”

“Is it though?” the pegasus asked innocently. She could feel the rush of wind around her, one ear tilted back as she listened for the cease of noise that would indicate her rapid approach to the ground. It wasn’t far, she could tell solely because of the nervous way Flurry Heart started to flare her wings, pulling out of the dive as the ground hurried to greet them. “White Heart!” she yelled, genuine panic in her gaze as the small pegasus kept falling, a hundred, fifty, twenty feet left between her and total obliteration, ten - White Heart snapped her wings out, the motion flipping her upright once more and carrying her aloft just inches above the crystal road below, her hooves almost scraping against it. She heard the Princess gasp above her as she lighted down, still hitting the ground rather hard all things considered. She rolled a few times with the impact, grass sticking in her mane as she giggled and pushed herself over onto her stomach and fluffed out her wings, her suitcase thudding dully to earth in the field beside her.

A moment later Flurry Heart touched down much more elegantly, and White Heart’s laughter died down at the smoldering look in the Princess’s eyes. “What were you thinking?!” she snapped, and White Heart’s ears lowered against her head instinctually. “You could have died! One wrong move and you’d have been paste on the street! Is beating me really worth that much to you!?”

“No,” White Heart admitted softly. It wasn’t much different from Luna scolding her, with the exception that she could visibly see the rage in the Crystal Princess’s eyes.

“If you ever show such recklessness in my Empire again,” Flurry Heart fumed, “I will exile you without hesitation. Do you understand?” She dug her forehooves into the earth, stirring up dirt and grass. “I will not tolerate such dangerous, suicidal stupidity within my borders. No exceptions.”

“I understand,” White Heart muttered. How humiliating. The one time she managed to one-up the Princess and she was met with an ear scalding worse than any Luna had ever dealt out. What did Flurry Heart care anyways?

Sighing, White Heart collected her slightly dented suitcase and followed the Princess as she turned towards the castle with an angry flick of her tail in the student’s direction. It was now more than ever that White Heart was reminded of her status as a Princess’s student, suddenly feeling more like Amber Bright than herself under Flurry Hearts furry. That was probably it, she suspected as she trotted after the huffy Princess. Flurry Heart was probably worried about where her own sort-of student had gotten off to, and was directing her concern towards the ever challenging White Heart in her absence. Something that was probably more than easy enough to do considering that White Heart as per usual kept an air of disdain about her in the Princess’s presence. Or as a less prim and proper spoken pony might have put it, she was easy to get mad at because she was being a little shit. To say it lightly, of course.

Flurry Heart lead the way to the castle, greeting two earth pony guards outside the main doors to the structure’s upper floors before beckoning her guest inside with another irate flap of her wing. It had been a few years since White Heart had been blessed enough to find herself actually invited inside the castle, having been banned sometime between the time she’d put itching powder in the Princess’s sheets and the last meeting of nations. Look, she had been fifteen at the time, hardly something she could be held accountable for under the circumstances of, ugh, White Heart shuddered with embarrassment over the memory, puberty. Not that she’d been allowed a free roam of the castle at any period in her life, mind you, oh no. She’d been restricted to the wings Flurry Heart spelled her safe passage within. Such spells, she noted quietly, did not seem to be present now, as the whole castle glimmered invitingly before her lacking the blue barriers at every other turn as she remembered it.

“Where’s the library?” she asked as they passed an ajar door that, to White Heart’s shock, revealed a book collection to rival the last seven doors they passed.

“Which one?” Flurry Heart asked calmly.

White Heart gaped at her a moment, her mind racing with the thoughts of the absolute plethora of hidden knowledge that must be within these crystal walls. More than one library? Celestia bless her. “Whichever one Chance and Amber Bright likely disappeared into,” she said after a breathless pause.

Flurry Heart pointed her brilliant white feathers towards a door a few halls down. “Twilight’s Library,” she said, and White Heart pretended she didn’t hear the brief flicker of emotion that wavered the Princess’s voice as she spoke the name. “Door twelve on the left. Here.” She dipped her head, a glow of magic set before White Heart’s muzzle that slowly faded to reveal a lit candle placed inside the safe confines of a glass lamp. “I’d tell you not to stay up all night, but I saw that look in the colt’s eye. He’ll read until he passes out, I’m sure.”

“Probably,” White Heart agreed, taking the proffered lamp handle in her mouth.

“The guest rooms are on the fourth floor, west wing,” the Princess added after a lingering pause. “Amber Bright can lead you there if she ever gets her nose out from between the pages herself. If not, any of the guards can direct you.” She turned then, long lavender and azure hair spilling elegantly down her neck and now gently folded wings. “I would prefer if you kept your readings to yourself,” she said, and White Heart shivered as she once more felt the Princess’s guarded demeanor that had faltered at the pegasus’s flying stunt rise between them again. “If there are any questions, give them to Amber Bright. If she can not answer them she may choose if she wants to discuss them with me herself. Privately,” she added darkly.

White Heart swallowed. “Of course,” she mumbled around the lamp handle. “Good night, Princess. And thank you.”