Friendship is Magic: Tales of Equestria and Beyond, The Dispute,1st Draft
**Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria**
**046 Winter CC** ...

Oh~ what year is it? I knew I should have kept better track of those.

Well, there's not much I can do about that now... Maybe I'll ask somepony to go through the Records Room and see if there's enough there to calculate that... I'll just skip it for now.

Where was I? ... Ah! I was putting this draft together.

I'll start again.

Friendship is Magic: Tales of Equestria and Beyond, The Dispute,1st Draft
**Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria**
**046 Winter CC**

Okay. The beginning. The real beginning. Nopony saw that other part. It's an important story, so the first part has to be catchy.

"In the magical-" No~ that's a little too quick of an introduction. My little ponies like a little more whimsy than that. Let me see… Oh!

"Once upon a time," yeah, that's better, "in the magical land of Equestria..." I mean, this affected the whole of Equus, but my little ponies don't usually look beyond their towns or villages -let alone the national borders. Mm~ yeah, I think just 'Equestria' should be fine.

"... There were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony-" technically we maintained, preserved, or spread harmony. Harmony herself is the one who creates it through my little ponies and others, "-for all the land."

"To do this, the eldest used her alicorn powers-" well, no. That's kind of right but also not. 'Alicorn' as I understand it just means 'to have at least three pony tribe traits.' There's nature pony, pegasus, unicorn, thestral, and crystal pony to name a few of the largest groups that can be found nowadays. There's also rainbow pony, seapony, flutter pony, and a few others; but those are so rare I've never even seen them -only heard rumors about them in ancient texts that survived Skyros and a few excerpts that Clover the Clever managed to preserve. My old friend Starswhirl thought there was validity to the cryptid-like claims of strange pony tribes from the fabled Dream Valley even with no evidence aside from those few scraps of ‘evidence.’

While it's possible for a pony to be born with two traits in their lineage naturally, this is anomalous -rarer than twins or being born one of the various types of genius. It's also possible for ponies to mix with non-ponies, but health complications can be frequent from those pairings. Of which, hippogriffs are the most commonly recognized here in Equestria. Some more study could be dedicated to treating and reducing those risks to help these groups as a whole. As such, I'm not yet convinced these could be counted as their own tribes; though, I have heard rumors of some interesting ponies far, far to the east in Neighpon who may have some stable dragon-blood in their lineage.

I should consider contacting that adventurer's guild about working beyond our borders sometime. They have helped certain aspects of this society, but I think my little ponies' civilization has reached a point of stability where those types of services are no longer needed domestically nowadays. They helped create central structures where local governments can be established, but the Royal Guard and -to a lesser degree- the Royal Rangers should be able to cover most of those activities with dangerous creatures, disaster relief, and so forth.

Maybe I can find some work for those Adventurers to do beyond the local like mapping unexplored areas within Equestria or making diplomatic visits beyond our borders. Just flying over a place does not quite provide the topographical, geological, or herpetological surveys I've come to expect from the Guild members when commissioned to do them.

That would be better than many of the alternatives, I think. Straight up abolishing such an accomplished group of individuals might not pan out so well -especially when they’re still mostly considered heroic.

What was I-? Oh, right: unicorn magic.

Harmony has truly blessed us all; and while I was myself a nature pony originally, I don't use nature pony magic directly to raise the sun. My other traits help to bolster my unicorn magic. I mean, there are alicorn-specific magics, but I don’t think that applies here. Even when they're being used in tandem to support one or the other, in this case, I'm still using unicorn magic to raise and lower the sun.

Right.

"... To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night."

...

Oh~ how do I handle this part? My little ponies have never been interested in all of the difficult truths of the world. It's just who they are -as ponies and as mortals.

They want to love and laugh and live, and they have very little concern for the bad things. Even if the lessons learned in ages past would save them from all kinds of woes in their lives, I don’t know if it’s truly worth sacrificing their innocence.

I've never been anything other than a pony; so, I don't know what it is about us, but my little ponies always seem to have troubles when it comes to gritty details. Maybe my age has tempered me, but they don't have the option of youth everlasting.

It has been a while, but I remember the days when a herd would lose one to a predator. There would be some mourning, but my little ponies would not dwell on it. They just moved on, because they had to. If they held onto it, the entire herd would suffer; so, they did whatever they could with what time they have.

It's ingrained in them to forgive fast, love hard, and be a beautiful -yet brief- existence in this world.

Sister was always so much better at remembering and honoring those who moved on to the next life. Honesty and loyalty: she loved those dearly. But my little ponies only wanted to hear about happy things...

I... don't even remember how long it's been since... I really should work on establishing an annual chronicle or calendar after I finish this book... if it's even possible at this point?

Well, my precious free time is about up for the day. I can finish this story later. I need to lower the sun and raise the moon and then get to sleep. Otherwise, it will be even more tiring to do both in the morning. *sigh*

**Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria**
**047 Winter CC**

And so concludes another day of normal government business during my Day Court. Dinner is calling to me. "Oh, Celestia, come to us. Eat us. We're ready." So~ ready. Mm~ so~ ready. My steady practiced smile does not need any effort when I can imagine the freshly baked, warm deserts -and the other parts of the meal, of course. Those will be present, too.

Smiles, nods, pleasantries. Getting up. Don't groan. Don't creak. Don't sigh or stretch. Oh, my aching withers. It's only a couple hours before lunch and a few more before the evening meal, but court can drag on and take a toll. After dinner, I could use a jack hammer on the knots in my neck -such a wonderful invention by that masseuse, Jacked Back- followed by some tea and a hot bath. Then back to work.

Paperwork. The one constant over the centuries: government operations never decrease the paperwork. After all these years, it's almost time to commission construction on yet another underground city whose sole purpose is to be a repository for government records. I'm told the other one is about full. It’s fine, though. The Diamond Dog contractors love that kind of work for we compensate them well, and there are plenty of unsettled mountains left to hollow out.

I should have invested all of my personal funds into the paper industry back when those were established. I would have had enough by now to pay ponies to make all the paperwork just go away. 'Use taxpayer funds? No~ here's my own money. Now, I don't want to see anymore paperwork this century, please.' Yup. A whole team to do that for me.

That's how I should have done it. But no~ I wanted to be active in all the administrative, legislative, executive, and judicial functions.

At least I get fed and bathed... when I remember and have the time. Actually, when was the last time I-? No! Don't sniff yourself in public. You're a princess for Harmony's sake... I'll check later.

Almost reminds of that time sister and I were drunk before the nation united around the old capital and playing the ‘Dare Game.’ I almost lost when she dared me to sit on Starswirl’s favorite carpet and scoot around with just my forehooves while howling at the moon to the tune of… that! I'm losing focus; I should not be thinking about this right now.

Heh. Listen to me. It's almost like I'm trapped a cage of my own creation, but... well, it's not like I don't deserve it. Ugh~ yeah, I think this is a wine-night tonight.

What was I doing? Oh, right: food.

Can't run to the table. I have to use the same, gentle, practiced, polished, perfected pace. They're all used to it and recognize it. Dare I say, they love it -love the familiarity: the steadfast reliability of it. Generations of it.

I remember when a single day used to seem like so much. Now, an entire generation can sometimes feels like a day if I let it. If I think on it, I can see them all turn to dust by the simple passage of time -no. No. No. I should not let my mind wander like that. It does them no honor and me no favors. Focus on the now. Be with them here in this time... with them in their time.

Think of something better. It's almost dinner time, and dinner time means the night is near. I need to remember to tell Sister how much I love her Night. I never told her enough beforehoof. Nopony did. I-

...!!

What was that?

...

"Your Majesty? Is everything alright?" What? Oh, right. This pony was talking to me. The whole time. And I wasn't even trying to listen. Don't let them see on my face that I wasn't paying any attention.

"Please accept my apologies, Marquis, but something has just come up." I will have to make this up to her later.

"O- of course, Princess Celestia." The lady lowers her head. I light my horn, and the world flashes gold.

Little orbs of various hues slowly float in the aether. Nebulas of borealic shades color the reaches of this place -near and far.

It's so much like Sister's Dream Realm, yet it is not quite the same -a firmament between the firmaments, a realm between the realms. Harmony brought us here when we ascended. Sister's is far more intricate and reaches to the minds of all our little ponies. This place exists adjacent to all that exists without being a part of it.

Harmony gave this space to us: any who ascend. But right now, I am the only one; so, it is my charge: to protect and to use. I cannot mold it to the same degree as Sister can hers, but I know this place -in and out, every nook and cranny. I know everypony -everycreature- who has ever come. They all ascend to something much greater when they do, and I always feel it whenever somepony enters this place.

Surely, something -somepony, somecreature... someone- was here. Yet, I see nopony. Nocreature is here. Curious.

My hooves soundlessly fall upon the thaumbic plain that make what I perceive as the ground or floor of this space. There is no gravity here ... unless I ask for it. No up. No down.

I do not get false signals when somepony enters. At least, it’s never happened before… The only beings who would even know about this place are strictly few. Most of them are ascended or have passed on or are indisposed- huh... More curious.

Markings... on the aether? How does that even- I did not think it was possible to leave a mess of any kind in this place. Thaumatic discharge, ethereal residues... Different types? There was at least one visitor. Possibly others? But where are they? I've never met an Ascended who returned on their own; they wouldn’t know how just after ascending. Hmm~ curiouser and curiouser. What would cause a multi-ascension event?

Oh? What's this?

"Where did you come from, little green feather?" The sound of my voice travels gently in the deep. Downy. Does not belong to an adult...?

*sigh* What a puzzle. I've never brought anything material from here. It's not a physical place. Being here is to be without matter. Nothing here is supposed to be substantive. But if this was somehow left behind, I think I'll try to take this back with me. How else could it remain without its metaphysical owner otherwise?

The feather stayed? Eureka!

Now... How do I find the pony this belongs to? The Department of Royal Investigations, Special Interests unit is small and recently founded, but I established it to help me work on mysteries like this.

Yes, that is a good place to start. I think I'll also notify gentry and a few other officials in the Guard, elected offices, and maybe even the Royal Rangers -just in case- as it is difficult to say where the owner of this feather disembarked from the Alicorn's Astral Plane.

Author's Note

I am ~~a terrible writer~~ terribly undisciplined as a writer. I can only apologize but getting a chapter published a week is wishful thinking. I can only promise to keep with it until the story is done.

This is the final version of the original sole scene of Chapter 1. Of the three final scenes, this one seemed like the odd-one-out and best set aside to stand alone. After separating them, it was supposed to come after Ch. 1: Incursion chronologically. However, more was required for a chapter to start a story: more direct reference to the canon material or characters. Even though I've read numerous stories on the site to do so, that's just how it goes.

So far, every one of my story attempts have been rejected for niche issues that some others don't appear to have to abide. Why should this attempt be any different? As a result, I did add to this chapter significantly and moved it from the chronological position between chapters one and two (this is supposed to be Ch 1.5). I really don't think the required alterations improve the story, but what do I know? Not much or not enough -sometimes both.

The inclusion of the term nature pony as opposed to earth pony should be explained better later and is a part of these newer revisions to this introductory chapters. In summary, I chose to switch these terms to differentiate between our 'earth's ponies' and Equus' 'earth ponies.' Those terms always seemed too easy to miscommunicate to me, so I tweaked it to be less likely to cause confusion between the two.

In the show, there are two books named in Season 01, Episodes 01-02: Predictions and Prophecies and The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. However, the book used to narrate the dispute between the Sisters was never named anywhere that I could find and has a different cover than the Reference Guide in Golden Oaks. So, I just gave a name to distinguish the book Twilight reads in the very beginning: Friendship is Magic: Tales of Equestria and Beyond. I assume there were more stories in that book besides The Dispute as it looked to have a lot of pages when Twilight was reading it on that grassy knoll.

I added the dating system (at the very top) a little later in the writing process. It will be explained later in detail and hopefully make sense -I think around Ch 14 or so. CC stands for Canterlot Calendar. For a quick summary, I always thought it was odd that Twilight was the only one to calculate the 1,000 year banishment of Nightmare Moon. Like, didn't anyone else know what the current year was? Unless the ponies did not keep very good yearly chronologies... somewhat like how animals in our world are more concerned with the day-night or seasonal cycles than a yearly one...

‘The Dare Game.’ Where ponies take turns daring each other to do a thing. The thing gets more complicated every round by adding some new feature to the thing. The loser is the first to fail or refuse to do the thing. A few rounds later in that particular game, Celestia added to Luna's turn some sort of gargling to the particular thing they were doing for that game. She lost, but fun was had by all... People did things like that before the internet. I knew two kids who threw pebbles at each other until one gave up because it was better than doing nothing.