The High King

The next day, Star Swirl stood in front of Taerus, looking down at him with mock severity. The wizard raised an eyebrow. “I ought to leave you to your own devices more often if you’re going to be this determined to better yourself,” the wizard told him. Taerus chuckled a bit as he remembered Star Swirl’s eyebrows going up high enough to knock off his hat after Muzzle had told him what Taerus had done the previous night. Star Swirl sighed and shook his head, laughing a bit himself. “Well, either way I think you’ve earned a respite from magic lessons for now. Meet me at the main doors. I’m going to gather some food. We’re going out today for a history lesson.”

“History outside?” Taerus asked, cocking his head to one side as Star Swirl opened the door. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Star Swirl replied. He left the room and trotted down the hallway. Taerus galloped out of the room and watched as Star Swirl teleported away, then shrugged and began making his way down from the room he was at to the castle keep’s main doors. By the time he got there, Star Swirl was standing in front of them. Two saddlebags were strapped across his back, the wizard nodding at the young colt with a tinkling of bells. “It’s not far. Just down here on the shore,” he said before opening the doors with his magic. The two trotted out of the keep, making their way through the castle as they made their way towards the gates. Eventually they clattered across the drawbridge, heading out down the dirt path that led towards a small, natural bay a half-a-day’s walk away. It was a warm midsummer day, the sun shining down on the green, grassy pastures through the scattered cloud cover. The grass rippled as a light breeze blew across it, bringing the smell of grass to the pair’s nostrils, augmented with wheat, alfalfa, and barley. Star Swirl and Taerus made their way through the fields around Arcan Castle. Serfs tended to the fields, some giving the pair a wave of their dirt-covered hoof while they went about their work.

As the drawbridge went up behind them, Taerus looked at Star Swirl. “So…where are we going?”

“You see that path up ahead, the left in the fork?” Star Swirl asked, nodding his head forward. Taerus looked up the road towards the fork, then looked at the left path.

“Yes?”

“That’s where. Down there is an important piece of history in these islands, one that I doubt anypony in Ebellon now remembers, despite how short a time ago that it happened.”

“What happened?” Taerus asked.

“Do you recall the stories I told you, about the Great Winter of old?”

Taerus nodded and made an affirmative noise. The Great Winter had been caused by mysterious beasts known as Windigos, and had forced ponykind to flee its old homeland. “What about it?”

“Let’s just say,” Star Swirl said, “that not everypony was happy about the decision. Not only to move, but to cooperate with one another even if it meant that they would die if they did not.” He turned his head and looked down at Taerus. “You and I are going to where some of those ponies decided to go instead of following their kin south.” With that, he turned left at the fork. Taerus followed him, old stallion and young colt walking down towards the bay.

***

It was a grand spot, and Taerus breathed a sigh of awe as he looked out over the bay that the pair had come to. While he had been out of the castle before, it had never been this far; mostly only into the groves of trees around the place, the foothills around Highcliff, and even down to the sandy beaches down on the shore, all of which were within a short walking distance, and an ever shorter gallop, from Arcan Castle itself.

The bay itself was indeed a piece of scenery to be in awe of. Large groups of trees dotted the landscape around the bay, forming timbers that concealed most of the area, though there were many open spaces as well. The bay itself was a small, semicircular beach bordered on two sides by high, white cliffs that caught the midday sun magnificently. Star Swirl left the path as they came to the area, trotting down into the grassy fields towards a large stone structure in the distance. Taerus galloped after him, giggling as he ran around in the grass and flowers. Star Swirl smiled as he heard the colt play, the two gradually threading their way toward the structure.

A short walk later Taerus looked up at the obelisk while Star Swirl laid out a blanket for them to sit on, then began setting down food. “What is it?” the colt asked, still looking as far up it as he could.

“I’ll tell you while we eat,” Star Swirl replied, sitting down and patting a spot next to him. Taerus trotted back over to the blankets and took the bread Star Swirl offered him in his hooves, still looking up at the obelisk while he ate.

“It’s a monument,” Star Swirl said as he swallowed a bite of apple, letting the fruit’s juice run in rivulets down his chin and into his beard. “Made by the unicorns of House Altai, a noble house of the Unicorn Kingdom. After Princess Platinum led the rest of the unicorns to ponykind’s new home in the south, House Altai refused to go with them. Taking the ponies of their house that would follow them, along with as many soldiers and civilians as they could, they struck south east, heading for a land of their own that they wouldn’t have to share with unicorns that were, in their eyes, traitors to the Realm for collaborating with ponies that they saw as beneath them.” Star Swirl gestured out to the bay. “Their ships arrived here after five months of travel, where they immediately began scouting out a place to erect their first castle, and begin creating a new Kingdom carved out of the territories of the petty tribes that owned Ebellon at the time. But their first achievement was this,” he finished, pointing to the monument. It was a tall thing, reaching high into the air. Composed of marble that was chipped, cracked, and faded with the passage of time, the obelisk itself was built upon a platform, raised up on the hill and reachable by several tiers of stairs. There were runes on the front, made in a language that Taerus couldn’t understand.

“What does it say?” he asked. “The writing.”

“It’s a proclamation by the Altai,” Star Swirl replied. “It goes thus: ‘We are the Altai, Firstborn Anew of the Unicorn Kingdom. We claim Dominion over this Land and All Within, from the Highest Pegasus to the Lowest Earth Pony. Look upon this Monument and Know, Lesser-Born, that it is only the Beginning of what We will accomplish.’” He looked at Taerus when he stopped reading. “They pressed inland after landing and completing the monument, then built Arcan Castle as their first capital.”

“Really?” Taerus asked, turning to Star Swirl in surprise. The old wizard nodded.

“Indeed. Aided by their magic, it only took them a few days, though the first castle was nothing so grand as stone; before, it was wood, and more of a motte-and-bailey with a tent city around it rather than a proper castle. Once the castle was completed, the unicorns crowned their house’s Lord as King of Ebellon. With that, they set out to conquer the rest of the island. Their first priority was to subdue the tribes of ponies that made this peninsula their home; they were easy prey for the unicorns, who were united and more numerous than the scattered, small, primitive tribes of various pony species here.”

Here Star Swirl paused in his narrative to take a deep draft of ale, giving a sigh of contentment before continuing. “And so this peninsula was made theirs, though their next target, the southern lands beyond the peninsula, would not be so easy. The earth pony tribes that made the southern plains their home had heard of the invaders and how easily they defeated their neighboring tribes. And so with that, they crowned a king of their own and gathered all of their warriors together. As the unicorn army marched from the peninsula with the king at its head, the earth ponies met them in battle on the plains.”

He shook his head. “It was a fool’s errand from the beginning. While the unicorns of Ebellon did know magic, it was very basic, raw and unrefined. The plains were also exclusively earth pony territory. While they had fought unicorns before, the magic of the invaders was far more focused, and therefore, far more deadly. Hundreds of earth ponies were slaughtered in the first charge, the rest running for their lives across the plains, away from the flare-ups of balefire and massive craters. The unicorns marched on, subduing the now leaderless and grievously weakened tribes one by one. Within days their kingdom had doubled in size, and their army had grown. It repeated like that everywhere the army marched. Those that resisted were destroyed. Others saw the hopelessness of their situation, and bent the knee to the unicorns. It went on like that for months, until finally the entirety of the South was theirs. And to most of the tribes’ surprise, life became better. Gone were the nomadic days of their forefathers, who never stopped in one place long enough to grow any noticeable amount of food. Gone were the days of constant war for survival against other tribes. Life improved under the organization of the unicorns, who introduced roads and better farming methods, kept law and order, and in general bettered the life of everypony on Ebellon.”

“So…how did the island get like it is now?” Taerus asked. “With everypony fighting over everything?”

“Hubris,” Star Swirl answered simply. “The kingdom remained prosperous and grew in population for many years, the concepts of chivalry and knighthood spreading across it until Ebellon’s culture became as it is today. The unicorns eventually built a city in the center of their lands, the city of Gran Marus. From there, the unicorn king ruled with great wisdom, and the kingdom and its nobles grew more and more powerful with each year. Until the king died. His successor, his only surviving son out of the game of thrones that had claimed all of the others in their quest to be king out of all of their siblings, was an ambitious pony, one who was not content with the current borders of his kingdom. He had heard tales of a separate kingdom to the north of their own, a kingdom of deer hidden in the Great Forest that rivaled theirs in size and power. And so, he thought to put himself into the history books by conquering that kingdom. He called on every noble to flock to his banner, and with their support formed a massive army, the likes of which Ebellon had never known before or since. With his host gathered, the king marched north and met the forces of the deer in battle on the plains outside the Great Forest.

“It was a massacre for both sides. The powerful magic of both the deer and the unicorns reaped a bloody tally on the armies of both. Eventually, the deer retreated into the forest, hoping the unicorns would be too scared to follow. They were wrong. The king urged his army on, and with that they began a purging of the forest. Villages and enclaves of deer were slaughtered, great swathes of trees burnt to the ground as massive pillars of smoke rose into the sky. Eventually, the Great Prince of the Forest, the ruler of the deer, had enough. Taking to the field with the remaining deer soldiers of his army, he and his forces met with the rampaging ponies. In a vicious battle that lasted three days and nights and cost both sides many lives, the ponies were defeated and driven into the depths of the forest. They were never seen or heard from again. And it was after that that everything began to go wrong.”

“What happened?” Taerus asked.

“Filled with fury and the urge for vengeance by the brutality of the ponies that had butchered his deer, the Great Prince embarked on a crusade of retribution against the unicorn kingdom. Deprived of their king and with no heirs to the throne, the kingdom split into fragments, only able to put up piecemeal resistance against the deer that rampaged through their provinces. Foals were stolen from their cribs as villages were massacred, towns were burned, and castles were stormed and brought to ruin. Finally, the deer reached Gran Marus. Alone, the Great Prince called down a great storm upon the city, one that made the earth shake and the sky scream with winds until the city collapsed in on itself. The deer stormed the ruins and butchered all within, then burned what remained to leave only ruins behind. Their vengeance complete as the shattered remains of the kingdom collapsed in on themselves, the deer then returned to the forest to lick their wounds. And so it has been for the past two hundred years. They roam as they please now, raiding isolated farms and villages and stealing any foal that they can find.”

“What happens to the foals?” Taerus asked, dreading the answer of what would be done to innocent infants under the hooves of the deer.

“Nothing bad, at least from the deer’s perspective,” Star Swirl replied. “They’re taken before they have any real memories of their parents, and though they acknowledge themselves as ponies, the deer refer to them as the Forestborn. They are gifted with unnaturally long life by the Great Forest’s magic, and serve in the Great Prince’s armies. They guard the forest against any invader, accompanying their deer masters on raids into pony lands. They show no mercy to their former kin. Their only master is the Prince.”

“That’s horrible…” Taerus whispered.

“It’s a fitting punishment,” Star Swirl replied, shrugging. “Punishment for the crimes of our forefathers.” He looked up at the sky. The sun was now well past its zenith and beginning to set, the sky steadily darkening as it moved. “It’s getting late. We’d best be heading back.”

With that he got up, packing up what food they hadn’t eaten while he was telling the story before folding the blanket back up. As Taerus got up and the pair started walking, the colt looked up at his teacher. “Star Swirl?”

“Hm?”

“Has anypony ever tried to fight the deer again?”

“Oh, plenty of times,” Star Swirl replied. “But all of them have failed to defeat the Great Prince. Many lords have met their end by attempting to fight him. And so they have spelled the doom of their houses as the Prince capitalizes on their weakness and destroys their lands. Nopony else is brave enough to claim them and risk angering the deer.”

Taerus looked up at his teacher in shock, then turned his head back forward.

“Ebellon needs somepony to rally behind,” Star Swirl muttered. “Somepony with the interest of the entirely island in mind, not just their own lands.” He sighed. “Ebellon needs another king.”

He let that hang in the air as the two continued up the road to head back to Arcan Castle.

***

“So, how was going out with Star Swirl?” Taikus asked as he and Taerus sat on their beds that night. The elder colt was playing with some of his figurines, the white aura of his magic moving a pony knight and a dragon around his bed as they clashed in mortal imaginary combat.

“Interesting,” Taerus replied, flipping through a book that Star Swirl had given him about levitation. Every now and then as he finished a page, Taerus would light his horn and strain to turn a page over, giving a loud gasp of relief each time he managed to succeed, and a harrumph of frustration if he did not. “Did you know that Ebellon used to have a king?”

“Really?” Taikus asked in a faux-interested tone as he leaned the dragon forward and made a “Braaaaaaah…” sound to imitate the dragon breathing fire at his knight. The unicorn figure raised its shield, blocking the make-believe flames before striking the dragon a mortal wound with his sword. Taikus released his magical grip over the beast and it fell over, dead. “Never knew that.”

“Well that’s what Star Swirl says,” Taerus replied. He yawned suddenly, picking up the book in his mouth and depositing it on the nightstand as he began to get under his blankets. “I’ll see you in the morning, big brother.”

Taikus chuckled, lifting his figurines onto his side of the table. “Goodnight, little brother.” With that he extinguished the candle sitting on the table, plunging the room into darkness as the light was snuffed out.

***

Star Swirl the Bearded’s room was a flurry of activity. The wizard pulled scrolls and tomes from bookshelves, scattering them across the room as he searched for information about the Old Kingdom, as he termed the reign of Ebellon’s former rulers. He had scoured everything he could in an attempt to find some way that Ebellon could gain a new king, going through books that were older than he was, tomes that had survived the test of time even from the original Unicorn Kingdom that had been founded in the lands now known as the Frozen North. He was beginning to doubt that he would ever find something, when, as he pulled a book from its shelf and flipped through it, four words caught his eye.

The Test of Kings.

Intrigued, the wizard sat down at his desk and plopped the book down on the carved wooden surface. Flipping back through the book until he sighted the page again, he looked down at the masterful sketch that took up the majority of the page. It depicted an ordinary sword, with an aura of what was unmistakably magic shimmering around its hilt. What writing that there was on the page was written in the Elder Script, a scripture that he was luckily familiar with.

The Test of Kings is a method devised to choose a worthy successor for the Throne, should either the King’s entire line be slain or more than one of the King’s sons has survived to adulthood. The test is simple: A sword is forged and enchanted with a spell, one that makes the sword partially sentient. Not in a true sense of awareness, but magical sentience. It is able to see into the heart of every stallion that chooses to attempt to take it, and what it sees within the stallion’s heart will determine whether it will choose him or not. The sword, after its forging and enchanting, is placed inside a stone to await the Test. After the King dies, depending on the circumstances either the lords of the kingdom or the King’s sons will each take a turn in attempting to pull the sword from its stone prison. The sword will only come free if it sees worthiness in the heart of its wielder, one that will be a good king, placing the needs of the kingdom over the needs of the self.

“That’s it…” Star Swirl said, sitting back, his lips beginning to curl with a smile. “That’s it…” But immediately afterwards he shook his head; within his mind a sudden feeling had come up, telling him that the time was not yet right. It urged him to wait, to let things be as they were until Ebellon truly needed a new king. Star Swirl had felt such feelings before, and had always trusted them over the advice of anypony that he had ever known. Nodding at the decision, he closed the book and put it back on the shelf, marking its place in his mind as he got up and began taking off his bell-lined hat and cloak.

The time would come.

Ebellon would have a King.