Celestia’s face wrinkled slightly as she set the sheaf of papers down on the coffee table before her. This was….not what she was expecting.

Not that she had not been expecting The Red to make another move for some time now. Oh no, that much was to be expected.

In the First Age, long before she first opened her eyes. When her people still wandered the glorious, harmonious fields of their homeland, of Ponyland. Even then, the Red sent its foul champions against the White. Grogar, a wretched sorcerer of immense and dark power, rose to prominence. He seduced the Porcine Races with promises of prosperity and dominance over the lands. He twisted them into the Troggles of old, becoming the ruler of the city of Tambelon and leading his dark armies into battle against her kin.

He was struck down in combat against Hegroen and Laamrei, the King and Queen of Ponyland, Descendants of the Line of Eld, First Champions of the White. Grogar and his foul ilk were routed back into Tambelon, and the entire fortress of a city was sealed away in the deepest depths of the Realm of Darkness.

Grogar was nothing if not spiteful and wise in his twisted way. Over the course of five hundred years, he built his power, mastering the negative energies of the Realm of Darkness and making them his own. He created his Bewitching Bell to absorb and channel the realm's magic and emerged more powerful than ever 500 years after his banishment, ready to wreak havoc upon the land once more.

Once more, he was struck down by the Champions of the White, the descendant of the first champions, the esteemed Gusty the Great, with help from her loyal posse of unicorns and a strange, pure-hearted creature from beyond this world sent to aid them in their time of need. By their hooves and hands, Tambelon was sealed away for all time, and Grogar was banished along with it.

In the Second Age, when the land was at a tenuous peace, secured by the actions of champions past and marred by the lingering remnants of Grogar's foul creations and works. In this time, another Champion of the Red would rise. The Dread Wizard, Tirac, came to power. Once a simple court magician, he stumbled upon a grimoire containing but a fraction of the notes of Grogar’s research into the Realm of Darkness. Seduced by the promise of power, he recreated the works of his devilish forbear and was twisted into a great and terrible creature by the negative energies of the Realm. He forged his own dire artifacts of power, the Rainbow of Darkness, and sought to use it to bring about night eternal to Ponyland.

He was struck down by the strange creature of centuries past, returned to this world as if she had only been gone days at most. Aided by the noble wizard, Moochick. He presented the creature with the Rainbow of Light and dubbed them the new Champion of the White. The creature confronted Tirac in the skies above Midnight Castle and reduced him to dust with the Rainbow of Light.

The Third Age passed with little fanfare, with the ponies having little to contend with save for the strife which leapt forth from their ever more closed and bitter hearts. Such was the animosity between the three races that the Wendigos, wrathful spirits empowered by the bitter cold of their hatred, came to fruit.

The Ancestral Homeland was lost, frozen over for eternity in a thick layer of ice that ran far deeper than any grudge that may have spawned it. The Ponies were left with no choice but to find a new home.

After years of wandering, they finally settled in Equestria, but unfortunately, they had taken their grudges with them. Before too long, the Three Tribes were again at each other's throats, and calamity loomed over them once more. They were saved in their darkest hour by the kindling of the Fire of Friendship as the path to unification began.

The Fourth Age was heralded by the birth of Celestia and her sister. The christened Champions of the White for the coming age, the bringers of the Dawn and Dusk. Their birth cemented the unification of the tribes and ushered in the conditions for a resurgence in the relevance of Ponykind on the global stage. Once they came of age, they threw down the Champion of the Red, the King of Madness, from his Ever-Changing Throne and ruled together for many years.

Until one day, it came to pass that her sister fell to the darkness. Seduced by the whispers of the Dread Bucephalus, the wicked Stallion of Darkness, and driven to madness by the paranoia and anger he planted in her heart, she turned hoof and horn against her only kin.

Celestia had no choice but to utilize the Elements of Harmony, a weapon of the White forged from remnants of ages past, to vanquish her sister. She sealed her within the moon for the coming millennia and, to this day, rules alone.

Celestia had known for some time that the fourth age would soon end. And with the wheel's turning, a new Champion of the Red would make themselves known before she drew her last breath. She had not expected to stumble upon them so early, however.

Whoever this stallion was, by the measure of the account in front of her, he seemed no threat, and she knew this to be true by any intellectually honest measure. But as surely as an untended spark in a dry field will result in a towering inferno, so too would this colt rise to depose her if left unchecked, and Faust help her precious little ponies should such a day come to pass.

She could not strike him down yet. It was not yet the right time. Moving against him this early would court certain disaster. These things must come at their own appointed times. Much as the False Champion, Sombra had sought to crown himself a Champion of the Red and been struck down at the prime of his power, so too might she face the ill-gotten fruits of going against that which is Fated.

But that being said, she certainly could not let him walk amongst her subjects unchecked. Sweetie Drops was good, but she had always done her best work in the background. It seemed that even the short discussion she had with the colt had been stilted. No, she would need someone else. Someone with a bit of darkness in their heart that might resonate with what lurked inside him, but who was still entrenched firmly in the White, safely under her hoof. Someone residuary.

Celestia looked up at the door to her sitting room as it opened, her warm, kind eyes tracking the pony who had entered. She gave them a small smile.

“Ah, there you are. Please, have a seat, my student. I know you have been…impatient as of late, but I think I have an assignment that, should you pass it, will open up some of the doors you have been seeking entry to so desperately. Let’s discuss it over tea, shall we…?”

Author's Note

And we are back from hiatus! I hope you guys are as happy to see me as I am to be back! I am feeling recharged after my break and looking forward to providing you with more quality horse words on the reg ^^