Author's Note
This chapter serves as this universe's tale of the Mare in the Moon*
*Involves no mares or moons
Chapter one will be released roughly twenty four hours after prologue
Prologue
A long, long time ago in the far away land of Tambelon, there lived two brothers, both born of royalty. Great things were expected of these two, as they marked the long awaited union of the noble and chilarvous Centaur race and their neighbors, the wise Gargoyles.
Scorpan, the younger and the only child born of Gargoyle Queen Haydon, was much beloved by every creature far and wide. Nary anyone crossed his path without receiving a welcome like that of an old friend. But more than anyone else, he was devoted to his elder brother.
Tirek, the elder of the two and sole heir of King Vorak, was a born leader. With the strongest magic in the land, all of the kingdom placed their hope in his hooves and hands.
So great was the hope the mere borders of Tambelon couldn’t contain it all. As the two near adulthood, they journeyed to neighboring kingdom after neighboring kingdom. Soon their travels brought them to the land then known as Equestria.
Here they were greeted not by cheering faces and awestruck creatures, but a divided nation. Torn apart recently by an icy threat, the nation’s grip on peace was tenuous despite their best appearances of harmony. Tirek, despite his youth, had been taught all his life how to rule and offered his generous help, requesting nothing in return other than ponykind’s magic to grow and thrive.
Scorpan, in all his trusting youth, however was taken in by a young unicorn. This unicorn sought to turn Scorpan from his brother. Speaking ill of his brother, this unicorn, a mage among his kind, told Scorpan that ponykind didn’t need the kind of help offered by the Centaur nation. This unicorn mage offered to teach Scorpan magic of his own, magic to rival his brothers.
Scorpan turned from his brother.
Tirek, learning of his younger brother’s deceit, pleaded with him. He reminded the younger one of their adoring citizens, of their parents’ expecting them both. But the young one had their heart turned to stone and his brother’s words did not reach him. Saddened by the loss of his brother’s trust, Tirek turned to pony kind, questing after the pony that took his brother’s love from his side.
Soon the unicorn came before Tirek on his own, Scorpan at his side. Tirek tried to take the higher ground but the two sought more than what pony magic and gargoyle magic could offer.
They tried to take Tirek’s own magic.
With a mere stick, these two thought themselves to have the advantage. But behind Tirek was the might formed from generations of kings and the knowledge of their land's oldest scholar, Sendak the Elder. With a heavy heart and horns lowered, he found himself facing down his own brother from opposing sides.
After all was said and done, Tirek returned home alone, his brother gone from his side for ever more.
As the older stallion trails off with a final storybook ending of “The End”, a tiny but fiercely determined voice pipes up from the classroom of young foals assembled in front of him.
“But that story isn’t even true, is it?” An accusation laces her words, developing a sharpness that shouldn’t be heard in one so young.
The older stallion blinked, closing the book of stories with a soft whump. He set it down on the paper covered desk next to him as gently as he could. As a teacher he was used to students questioning him but as a kindergarten teacher he wasn’t used to foals questioning the truth behind a story. Especially when it meant deviating from lessons on arithmetic. Most interruptions came before the story started and went somewhere along the lines of requesting the Very Hungry Parasprite versus Little Red Riding Hoof.
“Well, young filly-”
“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”
“Yes… Twilight Sparkle,” He adjusts his spectacles and grabs a sheaf of papers off the desk containing the class roster. “ Not every story has to be true to teach us something. Why, this story teaches us-”
“It’s an allegory for greed and wanting more than suits one’s station in life. That doesn’t mean it’s not a story meant for little fillies. Emperor Tirek never even had a brother according to more-” The little filly let out something halfway between a snort and a laugh, “accredited history books. Let's just say, for the sake of being pedantic he did have a brother. What possible reason would a unicorn have for trying to go up against the centaurs? Not even any old centaur,” She takes a deep breath, having talked straight through without, “Emperor Tirek! ”
Another little unicorn filly in the class looked at the teacher, a hoof absently rubbing at her horn and with her face screwed up in evident confusion.
“What’s an allegory?”
“My mom has cat allergories” A little colt answers, hoof wiping against his shiny wet snout.
“Mine’s allegoric to hay!” cries out another little foal.
And then the classroom erupts into small-scale chaos as every filly and colt in class bursts out in their take on allergories, arguing with others about what allegories were even real, and any related anecdotes.
A surprisingly large amount of colts came away claiming allergories related to the color pink, butterflies, and ponies of the opposite gender.
“What, no,” Little Twilight Sparkle rose to her hooves, an indignant purple hoof stomping against the wooden floor boards. Her voice struggled to rise above the cacophony of her classmates, “ I said allegory, not allergies!”
“Class, class! Everypony, please quiet down now. What Twilight Sparkle was trying to say was that the story teaches young fillies and colts, such as yourselves, about the dangerous nature of greed.”
“You can be allegoric to greed?!” A little lemon yellow unicorn cried out, eyes turning to pinpricks.
“No,no,” He gently corrects the little filly, “Allegories just mean that a story is built around teaching life lessons. It’s not related to allergies at all,” The teacher looked down at the class roster once more, hoof tailing along until he found what he was looking for and addressed the filly who first asked, “Miss Lemon Hearts.”
Twilight Sparkle interjects, waving her hoof in the air while the other hoof held it up, “But the story isn’t even true! I thought school was supposed to teach us things we could actually use, not just silly bedtime stories for little fillies.”
The older unicorn removes his spectacles, taking his time to slowly fold the arms in with care before setting them of his lap, “You are all still very young,” He holds up a hoof preemptively, seeing his class start to squirm, “No matter how you want argue it, it’s true. You’ve got plenty of time to learn but you won't always have story time. Don’t you think you should enjoy the little things while you can, worry free?”
“No, no, no! If I’m going to be like my dad when I grow up I need to learn everything I can!” The little pony started getting agitated, wringing her hooves in distress. These frantic movements caused her fellow kindergarteners to slowly inch away, leaving her isolated in a circle of her own making.
The teacher, recognizing and knowing his juvenile student’s predisposition to anxiety attacks, got up. He was careful, moving slowly, as if towards a frightened and cornered animal. Picking his way over haphazardly strewn alphabet blocks, he used the open spaces cleared by the other students to sit down next to the filly, resting a hoof with a trained gentleness on the filly’s foreleg.
“It seems like this is very important to you, why not tell myself and the whole class about what your dad does? He works for MARE, isn’t that right?”
A few sniffles muffles her words as she starts her answer, “Mmhmm...he’s the greatest researcher they have regarding anything related to astronomy. It’s how he and mommy even met.”
“And you want to join MARE as a researcher just like him, hmm? I bet you're not the only one here that wants to join MARE,” He looks around to the class, still a little timid from the possible tenuous meltdown, “I’m sure at least one of you wants to, isn’t that right?”
Before he can even nudge Twilight towards joining her classmates, a little colt nearby jumped up, the excitement in his eyes mirroring in reverse the stress Twilight felt, “Yeah! I can’t wait to be a MARE! I’m going to find more magical artie things than any pony in history!”
Twilight, fed by her classmates enthusiasm, countered “Nu-uh! My brother is going to be the best acquisition officer! You can't be the best if he is!”
A few more fillies and colts pipe up, all about the artifacts they’ll find. Only one or two others besides Twilight Sparkle expressed interest in the research part of MARE. Soon enough, what was originally meant to be quiet storytime turned into a hubbub of rambunctious foals hopped on the one thing worse than sugar.
Excitement.
Sensing that his relative quiet time had come to an end, the unicorn stallion smiled, one last card up his sleeve, held in reserve. Pretending to check a non-existent watch on his foreleg, he looks up, clapping together his hooves for the attention of his class.
“Ok class! That’s enough. I think it's about time for recess now.”
