The High King

The gentle swishing of propellers provided a steady rhythm to the noisy bustle of the airship’s crew. The sails rippled and flapped in the breeze, timbers and rigging adding creaks and snapping to the general noise. Twilight Sparkle stood at the prow, staring into the mist around the craft, hoping for a glimpse of their destination. She’d been on the ship for three days. Her mind was racing as it thought of everything else she could be doing right now, whether it was reading or practicing her magic or researching some hitherto-unknown magical phenomenon. One of her hooves nervously tapped on the deck, and her legs felt like they were about to crawl off of her body and trot around the ship of their own accord for the want of something, anything, to do.

“We’re almost there, Twilight. Don’t you think you should calm down?” Princess Celestia asked with a chuckle as she walked up behind her protégé.

“Ehehe…sorry, Princess.” Twilight replied, blushing as she stepped down from the prow to stand beside her teacher. “I guess I’m just impatient to get there. Well, that and being out of Equestria,” Twilight added, looking up at Celestia. “That’s probably making me more nervous than anything.”

Celestia chuckled again. “I can see why. Don’t worry. The rulers of Ebellon have promised us that we’ll be treated according to our status when we arrive. I can guarantee that this will go off without a hitch.”

Twilight nodded as she turned her eyes to the mists again. She and the other Elements were only here because Celestia wanted to put on a good face for the Ebellon ponies. Ebellon was an island, placed far out onto the western sea. It had been in isolation for several thousand years, long enough that barely anypony save the princesses had even known of its existence. Celestia had sent them a message welcoming back to the world stage, and in return had been invited to the island. However, Twilight couldn’t help but think about everything that might happen during the trip. She was nervous, butterflies fluttered around in her stomach and her mind was repeatedly being drawn to what Ebellon would be like; she had never been out of Equestria before except during her visit to the Crystal Empire. What would the Ebellon ponies be like? Would they be like Equestrians, with a similar culture to their own? Or would they be rough and grim, unaware of how their overseas cousins had changed since the time that they had withdrawn from the world? Would they still talk in the archaic dialect that Princess Luna still used on occasion? Would earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns still be separate, like the three pony tribes of old?

Celestia had gladly accepted the message, appropriating an airship and inviting Twilight, her five friends, Spike, Princess Luna, Shining Armor, and Cadance, who had recently returned from their honeymoon. And so they set off, heading past Equestria’s borders and out over the open sea.

There was a grumble from behind them as Princess Luna exited her cabin, the midnight-blue alicorn blinking sleepily as she plodded out onto the deck. Crew members bowed respectfully as she passed.

“Ah, good evening, Luna!” Celestia said cheerfully as she turned to face her sister. “How has your day been?”

“Fine, Sister,” Luna replied. “Though I must say that if I have to listen to the crew sing ‘Drunken Sailor’ one more time I’m going to apply a muting spell to the entire ship.”

Struggling to suppress an outbreak of giggling, Celestia nodded. “I’ll be sure to inform the crew of your wishes.” She looked out over the prow of the ship, peering closely. “Hm…” She looked over her shoulder, back to the stern of the airship. Back that way was the airship’s poop deck, where the captain was at the wheel. “Captain! Are we almost there?”

“I think so, Princess!” called the pegasus. “According to the charts they sent us, at least!”

“You should probably go see if everypony else is awake then, Twilight,” Celestia said, looking down at her. “They’ll want to see this too, I bet.”

Twilight nodded and turned, walking back across the ship and into the crew quarters, starting first at the cabin that had been allocated to her and her friends.

“Girls?” she called as she entered the room. “Princess Celestia says that we’re almost there.”

“Oh, finally!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, sitting up from her bunk bed. “I was starting to think that we’d never get there!”

“Well, Darling, not everything can be as fast as you are,” Rarity said as she looked up at the pegasus from the bunk bed below her. “Rest assured, darling, we’re all as anxious to get there as you are.”

Rainbow Dash laughed, hopping down from the bed and pawing at the floor with a hoof. “Ha, I bet! I swear, if I hadn’t been flying around every chance I got, I’d be going crazy right now!”

“Any more than normal, you mean?” Rarity asked playfully, poking her friend in the shoulder. She got out of her bed and walked over to the back of the room. She stopped at the windows, looking beyond them. Situated as they were, the cabin’s occupants had a good view of the wake that the airship left through the mist. The wispy white tendrils were thrown apart by the motion of the airship’s propellers and left a relatively clear path through the mist, though it quickly filled back in behind them. “I don’t suppose that it will be more pleasant-looking than our present surroundings, hm?”

“We’ll just have to see,” Twilight said. She looked around, noting the absence of her number-one assistant. “Where’s Spike?”

“He went next door,” Rainbow Dash answered. “Maybe he wanted to talk to Shining Armor and Cadance.”

Twilight shrugged. “I guess I’ll go get them then. Princess Celestia said that you all might want to come out on deck to watch us arrive.” With that she turned and walked out, heading next door to the smaller, one-bed cabin that had been given to her brother and sister-in-law. She knocked twice before entering, immediately taking in a rather odd scene; Shining Armor and Spike sat on the floor across from one another, both with serious looks on their faces as they looked down at formations of little pony figurines outfitted in the armor of Equestria’s Royal Guard. Cadance sat on the queen-sized bed above them, looking down at the two miniature armies.

“Um…excuse me?” Twilight asked, causing all three to look up at her.

“Awwww, c’mon, Twilight!” Spike groaned. “We’re in the middle of something!”

“Well, we’re almost there,” Twilight said. “Celestia sent me to come get all of you.” She looked at the miniatures again, raising an eyebrow. “What exactly were you doing?”

“Playing Warhoof,” Shining Armor answered. “I let Spike borrow some of my minis so that we could play. He’s picking it up pretty quick, but I’m still winning.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to put your toys away now, Shiny,” Twilight replied, giggling. “Princess Celestia says you can watch us come in.”

Shining Armor nodded, his horn flashing with a burgundy light. All of the figurines floated up into the air and into a large box that sat in one corner of the room. The three trotted out after Twilight, joining the Princesses and the other Elements of Harmony at the prow of the ship.

“We’re close, Princess!” the captain called.

“How can you tell?” Luna asked.

“I can hear wing beats!”

“Wait...yeah, I hear them too!” Rainbow Dash called. Heads swiveled from side to side as pegasi suddenly began to swoop through the mists. Many of them rolled to wave at the incoming airship, more and more of them filling the air around the Equestrian craft. Twilight looked down over the side as the air slowly began to clear, seeing that the ocean below them was swiftly becoming visible. Ships of all shapes and sizes, from dromons powered by oars and triangular sails, to sail-powered carracks, galleons, and more, went to and fro on the water.

“There are so many ships…” she said, a note of awe in her voice.

“Get ready,” Celestia said. “I think we’re coming out of the mist.”

As if on cue, a team of ten pegasi swept in front of the ship. Working in perfect unison, the ponies began to spin in a corkscrew formation, the mist coalescing around them and spinning until finally the pegasi broke up, trailing wisps of cloud behind them. The evening sun burst through the clouds with the suddenness of a lightning strike. Everypony but Celestia was forced to squint against the glare as the airship entered the light. Eventually, eyes adjusted to the sudden change in brightness and the others began to take in the scenery.

The airship moved towards a port situated in a large, natural bay. Stone moorings and piers stuck out into the water, most of them taken by various merchant ships. Warehouses and other buildings took up a good portion of the boardwalk’s room, though there was still plenty of space for sailors and wagons to move. Long, zigzagging staircases worked their way up the rock walls of the bay alongside rope-and-pulley elevators that were ferrying cargo and ponies up and down.  Up along the bay’s rim were more piers, housing several airships that floated gently in the air as they tugged against their moorings. Farther up still was a massive wall, and Twilight could see the glimmer of armor and weaponry from guards along it, trebuchet and ballistae clearly visible in the light of the evening sun. At either side of the bay’s opening was a pair of massive stone statues, tall enough that the heads were level with the airship as it passed them. Twilight left the ship’s prow and ran to the port side to get a better look.

The statues had obviously been carved with a great deal of care; no sign of the passage of time could be seen anywhere on them, and Twilight’s horn tingled with the presence of magic on the stone. They depicted a unicorn stallion, his face decorated with a goatee and his mane falling freely down his head and neck. He wore no crown, though he was dressed in a long, flowing cape as well as a suit of plate armor.  The statues seemed to project an aura of stern authority and watchfulness, enough of it that as they passed them, an inexplicable feeling of safety fell upon Twilight. She felt muscles that she hadn’t even known she was clenching relax.

The airship was eventually brought to a stop as it pulled up alongside one of the mooring. The crew threw out lines, pegasi flying over to the platform and quickly wrapping them around the pegs in the dock. As the airship came to a stop, the captain had the crew push the ship’s gangplank out, standing aside and bowing. “You and your entourage may disembark first, Your Highnesses.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Celestia said cordially, nodding in the pegasi’s direction before walking down the gangplank, followed by the others. The dock that they stepped onto was very wide, large enough for the entire group to stand abreast without fear of falling. As Shining Armor and Cadance stepped off the gangplank, Twilight glanced off to the side at the sound of rhythmic thuds. A double column of ponies was marching down the pier towards them, all wearing barding and carrying spears in harnesses on their sides.

Ebellon guards, she presumed. They look a lot more ready for a fight than the guards back home...

As the Equestrian party stopped on the pier and watched the procession the column split, the guards lining up on either side of the walkway. They shrugged, dropping their spears forward. The points crossed in the air above the group of six stallions walking under the spear points, towards the Equestrians. They moved at a stately pace, none of them overtaking any of the others. As they moved closer, Twilight could pick out physical features. The group was made up  of two of each pony tribe. They were dressed the plainest finery that they could while still identifying themselves as nobility, though each one wore a small golden circlet upon their heads, each one inlaid with a precious stone. As they reached the Equestrian party they stopped and one of the unicorns walked forward. He looked slightly older than the rest and had a grey coat, with a black mane and blue eyes. As he reached the Equestrians, he bowed.

“Hail, Equestrians. Welcome to Coltleon, capital city of Ebellon.”

“Thank you,” Princess Celestia replied cordially, giving a nod. “May I have the pleasure of your name?”

“I am known as Erebos, Princess,” the unicorn replied. He swept a hoof along the other ponies behind him. “These are my brothers. We are the Princes of Ebellon.”

“All of you together?” Spike asked from Twilight’s back, putting his hands on the top of her head to make himself more visible.

Erebos looked at Spike, then smiled. “Indeed. That was the way our father decreed it upon his death. All of us were to rule together, to prevent Ebellon from ripping itself apart after his passing. So far, it has served us well.”

He looked at each of the Equestrians in turn. “May we now have your names?”

“Of course,” Celestia replied. “You already know my sister Luna and me, so I’ll introduce everyone else.” She turned immediately to Twilight, gesturing towards her with a hoof. “This is Twilight Sparkle, my personal pupil. The dragon is her friend and assistant, Spike.”

Erebos stepped forward and carefully took Twilight’s hoof in his own, gently kissing it before looking back up at her. “A pleasure, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight was too shocked to do anything but nod, her eyes wide and her pupils shrunken down to the size of pinpricks. It was not from the fact that he had kissed her hoof, but from what she had felt through the kiss. Every inch of her horn had lit up with the feeling, sending a loud keening noise into her head as the backlash from the kiss entered her body. It felt like she had been jolted with a particularly powerful bolt of electricity, a sign of powerful magic.

And it was magic, a spell so complex and ancient that she didn’t have the faintest idea of even its most basic function. She could feel it not only on Erebos, but on the other five Princes as well. As Princess Celestia finished the introductions, Twilight became aware that Erebos was speaking to the Equestrians.

“Please, all of you come with us. We’ve prepared a meal in honor of your visit. You will stay in the castle for the duration of your time here, and dine with us tonight. And you shall also know the history of our island, why it is how it is.”

“You have our thanks,” Luna said, speaking up. “That is most generous of you.”

Erebos nodded and the other five princes fell in with the Equestrians as they walked back through the guards. Idle chatter filtered around the group as Ebellon pony and Equestrian pony started getting to know one another. Twilight looked around as the talk filled her ears. Applejack was speaking to one of the earth pony princes, telling him of life on Sweet Apple Acres, and the importance of the Apple Family to Equestria’s farming community. Shining Armor was actually chatting with one of the Princes’ guards, questioning him on the life of Ebellon’s guardsponies. One sentence that Twilight caught from the Ebellon pony was “Royal Army, not Royal Guard.”

“So,” Erebos said as he broke away from Celestia and Luna to walk next to her. “You and your friends appear to be quite famous back home, from what your Princesses tell me.”

“Uh...hehe...Well,” Twilight responded, “I don’t know what they could have told you...”

“You’ve defeated a great number of threats to Equestria,” Erebos explained. “A dragon, a parasprite infestation, a changeling invasion...And apparently, the Great Beast of Chaos as well.”

“The…what?” she asked, turning to him with a confused look.

“Discord,” Erebos clarified. “Celestia and Luna tell me that you and your friends stopped him.”

“Hehe…yeah, we did,” Twilight replied. “It wasn’t easy, though…we almost didn’t. He made us doubt ourselves, he got inside our heads...It was awful.”

Erebos nodded, a grim look finding its way to his face. “Yes, he can have that effect on ponies. Not to mention everything else that he is capable of.”

Twilight nodded. “I can’t imagine living in Equestria with everything like--”

“No, Miss Sparkle,” Erebos interrupted. “You miss my point. The reason that it’s a good thing you stopped Discord, is because if you didn’t, Equestria would not exist today.”

That brought Twilight’s train of thought to a halt, any of her planned responses evacuating her brain at high speed. “What?” she and Spike said at once.

“Ebellon suffered greatly under the heel of Chaos Incarnate, Twilight Sparkle. Our lands were ravaged by it, thousands slaughtered by its hordes. Homes were burned, rivers ran red with blood, and those who remained after the Great Beast’s armies pillaged and burned across their property were faced with the terror of a land where nothing made sense, where you could be killed on a whim. Had you failed to stop Discord, Equestria as you knew it would have ceased to be.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes...I know. When Discord escaped back home, he was only able to get to Ponyville but...everything was going crazy.”

“It was worse when he came here,” Erebos replied, turning his gaze straight ahead. “Believe me. He was much more of a threat when my father fought him all those centuries ago.”

Ignoring Twilight’s quizzical look he trotted ahead of her, moving over to Shining Armor, who immediately began quizzing him on Ebellon’s Royal Army.

“Did he say centuries?” Spike asked. Twilight could only nod in reply, still staring after Erebos with the same puzzled expression.

A quartet of carriages had been parked at the end of the dock, teams of ponies wearing green vests harnessed to the front of the carriages. On the doors of each carriage was the symbol of Ebellon, a downward pointing winged sword with a white ring around it emblazoned on a green field. The Equestrian princesses got their own carriage behind the very first one in line, while the princes took the one in front. Shining Armor and Cadance got the third one, while the Ponyville six got in the very back. As the guards lined up in columns on each side of the convoy, a command from the lead carriage driver set the entire procession off, wagon wheels creaking as they began to move forward.

A few hours later, Twilight gave a content sigh as she stepped out of the shower in her chambers. Despite Ebellon’s somewhat archaic ways, at least their buildings were modern instead of drafty, cold stone. Coltleon’s castle had tiled bathrooms and showers, allowing her to get a very good bath. The hot water had washed over her like a tsunami, soaking her fur to her body but leaving her with an unbelievably pleasant warm feeling all over herself. Levitating one of the towels off of the rack she began drying herself, taking a deep sniff of her freshly shampooed body as she did. It smelled like jasmine, the scent wafting into her nostrils like the aroma of a masterfully cooked meal. She walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom as she dried herself, taking in the large amount of space that had been given to her for her stay in Coltleon. The room was enormous, large enough for the Wonderbolts to put on one of their more grandiose shows with room to spare. Even the Crystal Empire’s library paled in comparison to its size. The ceiling towered high above her, leaving plenty of room for a tall, vaulted glass window that adorned the far wall. Twilight’s hooves thumped softly on the carpeted floor of the bedroom, the sound swallowed up by the thick surface. As she lifted her hairbrush out of her suitcase and began to comb her mane, she looked over at Spike, who sat on the bed nearby reading one of Twilight’s books. “I’m almost ready, Spike.”

Spike gave an affirmative grunt and shut the book, looking over at her. “So, what do you think they’ll be like?”

“They seem friendly enough,” Twilight replied as she gave her mane a final shake, throwing it out over her neck and back. “But after what Erebos told me, I’m more than suspicious. Centuries ago? They look so young, but there’s something weird about them.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked as he hopped off of the bed.

“When Erebos kissed my hoof while Princess Celestia was introducing us, I felt...I don’t know, some kind of magical surge. There’s some kind of spell on all six of them, but it’s just so...advanced and complicated that I can’t even begin to think of what it does.” Twilight shook her head. “There’s more to this place than meets the eye.”

There was a knock on the door before it swung open, helped along by the magic of the servant that entered.

“Their Highnesses sent me to guide you to the assembly hall, milady,” he said, bowing.

“Thank you,” Twilight replied, nodding. She looked over at Spike and the baby dragon hopped off of the bed, jogging alongside her as Twilight followed the servant out of the room. The three walked down the hallway, which was even more enormous than Twilight’s room. It reached down a long ways into the distance, and possessed high, vaulted ceilings supported by fluted columns of stone. Tapestries hung from spaces in between the hallway’s tall windows, showing great scenes from Ebellon’s past. Many of them showed either the Princes or the stallion that was depicted in the statues in Coltleon’s port.

“Who is that?” she asked the servant, pointing at one of the tapestries depicting him. “The stallion in armor.”

“That is the King,” the servant replied. “He united the warring lords of Ebellon and forged them into a kingdom, and ruled Ebellon for many years. He protected us from many dangers and

eventually paid the ultimate price to keep us safe.”

“Safe from what?” Twilight asked, looking over at him.

“Chaos,” the servant said simply before turning and starting to walk down the hall again. Twilight looked back up at the tapestry. It depicted the King standing on a spur of rock, a sword flashing brightly in the green field of his magic. His mouth was open in a roar of challenge, soldiers bearing the colors of Ebellon charging past him towards an unseen enemy.

“Ma’am? Are you coming?” the servant asked. Twilight nodded hesitantly and trotted away from the tapestry. Spike climbed onto her back, the two of them following the servant down the hall.

***

The servant led Twilight into a large room. Carved of stone like the rest of the castle, statues were lined up down the sides. Unlike the rest of the castle, these were all of different stallions, many of them dressed in the armor of knights. They were each armed with a different weapon, from swords to war hammers to double-bladed axes. One pegasus even had what was essentially a sword blade on a stick. Other stallions wore the garbs of lords, wearing armor or robes in a seemingly random pattern. Like the statues that guarded Coltleon’s port, these were carved with the care and skill of master sculptors. Each effigy projected an aura of authority and wisdom, as if guiding the ponies that walked through the castle with their own experiences. A large, iron chandelier hung above the room, the light of its candles augmented by the torches on the wall. As Twilight and the servant entered, he turned to her.

“The Princes will arrive soon. They will enter the throne room first, then you and your party will follow them inside. Do not enter until you are announced by the heralds.”

Twilight nodded her understanding, and the servant returned the nod before trotting over to the doors, entering and shutting them with his magic. Twilight trotted over to the others, looking around the room. “They certainly love their history,” she observed as she reached the group.

“I thought you liked history, Twilight,” Celestia said with a teasing wink. Twilight chuckled before a door on the opposite side of the room opened. The princes entered, Erebos nodding to the Equestrians as they walked past them. As they walked, the doors that the servant had disappeared through were enfolded in magic and opened inward. Twilight and the others looked in.

It was a massive space, crowded with hundreds of ponies all seated at long tables. At the far end was an enormous stained glass window, depicting a stylized unicorn. He wore a crown upon his head, and a golden burst of light shone forth from his horn and radiated out in every direction, the cloak he wore flapping dramatically as it exposed the plate armor he wore beneath. Twilight assumed that this was, once again, the as-of-yet invisible King of Ebellon. Under the window was a dais, upon which a long table with seven seats sat. The seat in the center was the largest and most ornate, obviously a throne meant for the King. As the Princes walked down the gap in the center of the hall, Twilight heard a herald begin to speak, a magically amplified voice filling the space.

“Presenting their Royal Highnesses, the Six Princes of Ebellon! Sons of the Once and Future King! Guardians of the Isle, Masters of Coltleon, Wardens of the Kingdom and Lords of All They Survey!”

“Once and Future King?” Shining Armor asked as he peered after the princes over Twilight’s head, his voice nearly drowned out by the deafening cheers. “What do you think that means, Twily?”

“I don’t know…” Twilight replied as a servant appeared in the door, waving at Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Shining. The four lined up into a four-pony block and walked in after the Princes, the herald speaking again as they entered.

“Also presenting Their Highnesses’ royal guests! Firstly, Princesses Celestia and Luna, Ladies of the Sun and Moon and Rulers of the Principality of Equestria! Following them, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire and her husband, Prince Shining Armor, Captain of Equestria’s Royal Guard!”

Twilight scowled as most of the cheering that the princes had received was downgraded to hoof-stomping, though there were still many cheers to acknowledge Celestia and Luna’s

importance to the world at large.

“I think it’s our turn, girls,” Applejack said, trotting forward along with the others. As the Elements of Harmony entered, Twilight winced and folded her ears back as the herald, who was positioned directly next to her on the door, began to shout again.

“And finally, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack Apple, Rainbow Dash, Rarity Belle, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie of Equestria! Bearers of the Elements of Harmony! Saviors of Equestria! Defeaters of the Queen of Darkness and the Great Beast of Chaos!”

The six nearly jumped out of their coats as cheers broke out around them, the hall very nearly shaking as a multitude of hooves pounded the stone floor. Looking around for a place to sit, Twilight had her attention drawn by Erebos, who was beckoning to them and pointing at another table positioned below the Princes. As the six made it to the table and took their places, Erebos and the princes stood. Immediately the hall quieted, everypony looking up at them.

“Thank you all for coming,” Erebos said, not needing to raise his voice in the dead silence of the hall. “As every native Ebellonian knows, today is a day both of celebration and mourning.” He pointed to his immediate right, where the throne sat. “For it was on this day, at dawn, that our father, High King Taerus, led the final remnants of his army against the numberless hordes of the Great Beast of Chaos, the creature Discord. Surrounded by his faithful Knights of the Realm, the King sallied forth from the shattered walls of Coltleon and brought the Beasts’ hordes to battle, cutting his way through the seething masses to face the creature in single combat.

“It was there, after a vicious battle of physical might, magical prowess, and mental strength, that he finally smote the beast with the sword Verndari and banished him from the island as his hordes were butchered to the last around him.

“But the victory did not come without cost. The contest had been decided by the closest of margins, and even as his soldiery celebrated their victory, our father fell upon the rock where he and the Beast had dueled, mortally wounded. Surrounded by his knights, the King gasped out his last directions to us. Even as the celebration went on, his knights carried him away unnoticed, and together they accompanied their lord far across the sea, to the island of Appalon. Legend holds that he will one day return to us, to lead Ebellon into a new golden age. Until then, my brothers and I were given the duty to rule the island together, and to keep the spirit of Ebellon alive until the Maimed King recovers from his wounds.”

Erebos looked from one side of the hall to the other, at all of the ponies staring up at him. Their gazes were rapt with reverence as he recounted the tale of his father, nopony speaking. You could hear a pin drop. “Tonight, we remember the sacrifice of my father and his knights and of all of those that perished in the Great War against Chaos. And so my brothers and I invite you to eat, drink, and give thanks that we are all still alive to recount this tale to you.” With that, his horn lit up and enfolded a nearby goblet in a green glow. He raised it, mimicked by his brothers. “Hail the victorious dead!”

“HAIL!” the hall called back. Everypony tilted their heads back and drank deeply, Erebos setting his goblet down before raising his voice.

“Let the feast begin!”

The hall erupted in more cheers as the doors opened to admit servants with food.

***

Hours later, none of the Elements of Harmony or any of the Equestrians could eat another bite. They sat in their chairs, taking small nibbles as they watched the rest of the hall eat their fill. Gradually, simple eating and talking had given way to song and dance, loud yells of merriment filling the room as some of the tables were pushed out of the way to make up an impromptu dance floor.

“These guys sure know how to party!” Spike yelled in Twilight’s ear as she laid her head down on the table. Twilight looked up at the only bit of the party she could see, a pair of teenage colts dancing on a table, singing a drinking song about something called the “Green Dragon.” Pinkie Pie had joined in some of the dancing, doing a jig with an Ebellonian stallion as a unicorn played a fast-paced dancing tune on a fiddle.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up to see Erebos standing next to her. He gave her a gentle smile, looking down at her plate. “Did you find the food to your liking?”

“I couldn’t eat another bite,” Twilight groaned.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Erebos replied with a grin. “Would you gather your fellows and come with us?”

“You’re leaving the feast?” Spike asked. “Won’t everypony notice that?”

“It’s customary for us to leave,” Erebos explained. “We mourn for our father on this day. Nopony will miss us.” He turned and beckoned to his brothers, then turned back to Twilight. “Please. You must know the significance of this day.”

Twilight nodded and peeled her face off of the table, beckoning to the others. They all followed the Princes out through a side door, down a narrow hallway before exiting into a spacious library. Bookshelves rose all the way to the ceiling, covering the walls with row after row of aged leather bindings and yellowed pages of parchment. Twilight’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and her mouth dropped open in awe as she took them all in. As the others entered, the six princes stood in front of the library’s large fireplace, their expressions dropping into seriousness.

“And so, now the time has come for the truth-telling,” Erebos said. “You all heard the story I told in the hall, correct?” At their nods, he continued. “That happened thousands of years ago. Before the Coming of the Great Night and the arrival of the Two Sisters, even.”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed. “But…you’re his sons, you said!”

“We are,” the second unicorn, Prince Nares said.

“But, for that to be true you would have had to-“

“Live back then?” the pegasus Prince Lockheed finished. “Indeed, we did. During his reign, our father took in all six of us, hoping that when he should die a mortal death we would carry on his rule for him, ruling together. After the war against the Beast, however, his plans changed. The night before the final battle, he called all of us into his chambers and bestowed a spell of immortality upon us. It was a very great undertaking and had taken him many years to perfect. It makes us immune to the ravages of time, allowing us to govern Ebellon in his stead. We take no wives, and father no children. In a sense we are not unlike your Princesses,” he added, nodding in the direction of Celestia and Luna. “We have ruled for many centuries.”

“And plan to do so, until our father returns home,” Prince Arus the earth pony continued.

“But do you really think that’ll happen?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean…if it’s been thousands of years and he still hasn’t gotten back-“

“HE WILL!” all six princes bellowed together, sending the Equestrians backpedalling. Staring at their hosts with wide eyes, their hearts pounding frantically in their chests, every Equestrian watched the princes calm themselves, taking deep breaths and smoothing locks of mane that had fallen out of place in the sudden display of rage.

“He will,” Erebos said again, calmly. “We believe he will. Father would not die and abandon us, not when Ebellon still needs him.” He sighed and looked at the other princes. “Brothers, I believe that they should know why only Father is fit to rule the island.”

The other five nodded in agreement, going to sit on some of the cushions as Erebos lit the fireplace with a flash of magic. Another flash of magic from Naren moved more cushions into a circle, and the Equestrians sat down.

“Now then…” Erebos said. “Let’s begin.”