Heresy

Heresy-Disorganization

Celestia had become a tyrant overnight and had decreed to all ponies that they were under martial law. No less than a month after the wedding of her older brother and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. It was supposed to be a time of prosperity! The weather itself was turning against them, but Twilight had a hard time believing that it was truly the Griffons that caused it. Her thoughts trailed off as there was another huge bang coming from the front door.

It seemed as though the royal guardsponies were starting to literally knock the door of her library off of its hinges. "Madam Sparkle, you're receiving special courtesies of the Princess, but you WILL open up and let us search the premesis!" the gruff voice yelled. She stalled as best she could. Please oh please, let luck be on her side. From the bottom of her heart, she hoped Spike had been able to hide the book.

As the dust shook from the frame of the battered old door, she finally unlocked it and gingerly opened it before the over-zealous guards could destroy the old relic. What saw her didn't really surprise her. Two large white stallions in golden armour, one a pegasus, and the other, an earth pony. They seemed to have more brawn than brain, but that didn't really mean much as they barged in and started knocking books off of their perches.

"Hey, be careful with those, some have been rebound more than once!" the angry mare called at them. If they noticed, it didn't show. Book after book was searched, and when one was deemed as "Unfit" it was packed into a set of saddlebags on the backs of the guards. After her first outburst, and the lack of a reaction by the gruff invaders, the young mare decided it was best that she just stay silent. Tossing her hooves up in annoyance, she waited it out. They didn't take any books of value and never found the panels that moved on the wall, leading to a lever she had made to unlock her private collection.

About an hour passed before the guards left, glaring at Twilight as she smiled at them and showed them their way out. Once they were gone, it all came apart. Her bottled up emotions came out in a storm as Spike came down from the attic. He knew something was terribly amiss and was able to figure a little bit out himself after watching the two guards break their way in and sift through the enormous collection of books.

"How....why....I don't...." Twilight managed to stutter semi-coherently at nopony in particular. The tears started to flow and energy started to glow visibly in an iridescent cone around her horn as her emotions took over her mind. The turmoil that was her emotions tore through her and flowed out in the visible spectrum of light as the library became a roiling torrent of books and paper. Spike grabbed on to the writing desk that was near the edge of the stairwell, and tried to call out to his friend and for all intents and purposes, his mother, but his voice was drowned out.

"Spike. I need that book. Now." Twilight demanded, as the room started to settle down. By the tone of her voice, Spike knew he had to comply. Something was very, very wrong.

Within seconds, he had the book in his claws, and had brought it directly to Twilight. She flipped open the book, her eyes glowing back and forth between purple...and green. He hadn't seen that kind of magic since the return of the Crystal Empire...

Twilight drove her mind into the pages of the book, absorbing all of the information in it as if it flowed through her, gaining its knowledge and understanding its purpose, by living through it. The words of Starswirl the Bearded changed her. This spell...was letting her read them as he wrote them, and what his intent behind it was. It was heresy. He claimed that the sun rose not because of Celestia's good faith. It rose because she had forcibly bound the spirit of it to herself, and the same for the moon.

A spirit that was great and loving filled the sun. It rose on its own, as did its sister, the moon. They revolved around the planet in such a way that cycles of light and dark were regular and absolute, so as to nurture the life that grew there, in hopes that it would go from turmoil, to a land of love and goodwill. Their ultimate hope, it seemed, was to have other being ascend to their level of existence, so that they might have others of their kind to interact with, love, and create more life with. It was such a simple principle, and so many creatures shared the same will. This was just on...such an unimaginable scale.

Then, she learned of how Celestia had enslaved it. Her mind touched its mind in her adolescence, and they communed at a level that most couldn't even begin to comprehend. As she grew up with her younger sister, the Sun continued to speak to her, as the Moon did for Luna. Over time, Celestia noticed that the world around her was changing. Soft green blades of grass grew from the dirt, and trees sprang up in a matter of day and night cycles. The world would move slowly, and then quickly, as it grew more verdant. Celestia marveled at the power of the Sun, as it created such beautiful light.

Luna's experience with the Moon was much more quiet but respectful. Whereas her sister always asked the Sun questions, Luna just listened to the Moon whenever it decided to speak. Its control of water and weather was astounding to her and she loved to listen to it quietly singing as it effected the waters across the Earth. She loved all that it had to offer. The water it provided through the rain to the plants, the cool beauty of it's dark night, casting rays of reflected light from its sibling the Sun, and the glow of the stars.

When she finally asked a question, Moon was only too happy to answer. She inquired as to how the stars existed, what they were, and why they didn't speak to Moon or Sun. The reply came to her in a series of images and emotions that she had no idea existed within the great entity. The stars were children of Sun and Moon, but none of them were able to speak to their parents directly. They had the spark of life that Sun had, but not the ability to convey emotion as Moon. This saddened  them, and they tried unfathomable amounts of times, but to no avail.

Then, they discovered the Earth. it was a nearly lifeless rock, save for the Titans that walked across it. The Titans had shaped it from many other rocks throughout the ether, and wished for it to have life akin to their own. They formed canals, mountains, valleys, and all sorts of natural rock formations. Alas, they could not create life like their own. They made constructs of rock and clay, but none of them could live and move like the Titans.

When Sun and Moon discovered them, they spoke to the great Titans that crossed the surface of the barren rock.

The Titans originally feared the light that Sun provided, but over the years, Sun and Moon were able to speak to the Titans, not dissimilar from the way they eventually came to speak to Luna and Celestia. The Titans came to understand that the Sun and Moon were both alive, just in a different way. They asked how and why they existed, and many other questions as to how they themselves could create life. Sun and Moon had no real answers as to why, but they eventually learned on thing.

Sun couldn't create life that was successful. Life could only be transferred. As soon as the Titans discovered this, they convened and begged to have Sun and Moon take their sparks of life and cover the planet in it. They wanted life to prosper and grow, covering the world, and moving across the realms, making more life and love and prosperity. For many cycles, they wept and pleaded for their new friends, Sun and Moon, to do so.

Finally, Sun and Moon agreed to move the sparks of life from the Titans to the Earth. This though, they did not do lightly, and they told their friends that they would honor their sacrifice and some day teach the life that grew from theirs, of the love that the Titans had left for them. Celestia and Luna, they explained, were the first true beings that came from this. They were brought forth from the life essence of the very oldest Titan, one named as Faust. This Titan had her essence split, and they became her children's spirits. Luna and Celestia formed in the ether and became a part of the planet as much as the original Titans who formed it were.

From there, they grew into what they were now, and when Sun and Moon finally noticed them, they took it upon themselves to teach them what they needed to know, as the life throughout the planet was nurtured and cared for.

Over the millenniums, many forms of life and ethereal beings formed. Discord, who had formed even before the sisters, revealed himself. He was still adolescent, as the sisters, but was different in many ways. He loved to create chaos and other such things. He wasn't evil by any means, but he mostly just cared about what he thought was, "Fun." He became a constant companion to the sisters as they went about, discovering other forms of life, including many that weren't alive in a more physical manner.

Time went on and life took many turns. Creatures like Celestia and Luna started to grow, as did many others, though the "Ponies" were the only ones intelligent enough to communicate with the sisters. They grew, as did Discord. Discord though, eventually went his own way, parting from the sisters. Celestia and Discord both from there, discovered what heartache was, and over the next thousand years, learned to communicate in many ways, as they fell in love.

What happened from there, Starswirl had been unable to obtain from the mind of Celestia. Those thoughts, she had locked away even from him.

After that time though, the Discordian-Era began, and reigned for ages, until Celestia and Luna managed to fight back against his tyranny, with the aide of another naturally occurring phenomenon. They received help from a group of multiple forms of intelligent ponies, and pony-like beings. These five, were the original Elements of Harmony.

Fenix the Dragonslayer and his comrade Philomena, the Element of Generosity.

Pallanen Lifekeeper, the entdeer, and the Element of Kindness.

The Doctor, or Doctor Whooves, a Time Lord and the Element of Loyalty.

Ban Dragonheart, a buffalo, and the Element of Honesty.

Surprise, a shapeshifter, and the Element of Laughter.

With their help, the sisters learned that they were both one half of a final Element. The Element, of Magic. With their combined might they found a hard battle against Discord, and managed to dethrone him, but this was not their last battle with him.

In the wake of their Victory, the Elements formed parts of their essence into gems that they then gave to the sisters for safekeeping. They never again saw the other elements, save for the Doctor.

Alas, Starswirl had gained no other information...except for that in which Luna had become envious and sent to the Moon, and how she spoke with Moon for her thousand year exile. Over time, Moon became more under the control of Luna, and how Sun became under direct control of Celestia.

After all of this, Starswirl kept it in his memories, stored away magically so he could recall it whenever he chronicled it. The day before he died, he wrote this book.

Twilight finally moved out of the pages of the tome, and lay on the floor, before finding the strength to stand again. From there, she began to shake.

Twilight's rage at the lies she had been taught pulsed through her in a wave of magic. The room once again became a torrent of flying books and papers.A quill and inkpot moved close to each other in the epicenter of the hurricane that had started, and as the papers flowed together, a huge amount of words just started to appear on dozens of papers at the same time. Books returned to the floor in piles as all of the raging mare's emotions poured out on to the pages. Her confessions at reading an absolutely forbidden text. What she had planned on asking her mentor just hours before this madness. Her anger, her confusion, her outright fear of all that was to come, scrawled across these pages. Her accusations at the Princess for her enslavement of the entities that had taught and loved her, as well as her sister, being the final note.

Time seemed to catch up again, as Twilight's power dispersed, her emotions finally having burnt out.

"Spike. I want you to send it. All of it. I am no longer a subordinate of hers." her voice barely loud enough to hear.

The halls of Canterlot Castle were silent. The guards were taciturn and ramrod straight at their posts. The light given off by Celestia's tiara was enhanced by the morning light, as most assumed, was a courtesy of the good-will of their goddess.

The clack of gold shod hooves against marble rang out as she walked slowly through the maze of winding halls. Nopony, not even her most personal attendants understood the situation or what had happened to their beloved Princess. Though, not a single pony would raise their hoof in defiance of her.

She was on her way to speak with the newly appointed Colonel of the Equestrian Specialized Defence Force, Shining Armour. He was newly married to the demi-alicorn Mi Amore Cadenza, a Princess of the neighboring powers, but this was of little concern. She had plans for the both of them, but first she had to insure the loyalty of Twilight, her student, and if she could win one of the siblings over, the second would quickly follow suit, as well as many other subordinates.

That was the trouble with this kind of leadership, she thought to herself. Too much time was wasted on convincing subjects to follow you willingly through their loyalty to other figures. Though, it was necessary. Revolution wouldn't do her any good and if the situation wasn't handled delicately from here on out, then she would have to fight those within her own courts even more, as well as those that they represented. This war with the griffons would be won though, regardless of the cost, and these steps were necessary.

Yes, it was a necessary evil, she reassured herself. What she was doing was for the good of all of her subjects and if they had to worship her more vehemently to reach the point of loyalty in which they would probably need to fight with the zeal they needed, then so be it. Her enemies would perish and she would be loved even more than before, with her sister and other chosen elevated to the status of "God-hood," in the eyes of the reverent masses.

Time passed quickly as she found herself in front of the newly constructed War Chamber. Two guards that were armoured from head to hoof in golden plate mail saluted her with their augmented weapons. She nodded and noticed that as she drew nearer, that they were excited. Her new personal guards, as it were, had been taught to love her above all, and to do anything she ordered without hesitation. None but Celestia knew their identities, or their faces.

She remembered when she'd first thought of the training regiment for her personal guards, so many years ago...many would see it as cruel and unusual to kidnap young colts, replacing them with magical clones that died within days of their replacement, of what appeared to be natural causes. This method was nearly fool-proof and led to the perfect warriors, even if some were lost due to the training exercises and varying forms of abuse they endured, but it weeded out the weak.

These thoughts crept through her vast consciousness as she strode through the grand golden doors, encrusted with gems and backed by the most stable wards that she herself had wrought. A few terse nods greeted her in the dark room as her chosen leaders acknowledged her arrival. Their eyes and minds quickly returned to the table in which they argued over, planning military movements as they received information from the front lines of the Gryphus Mountain Range.

"Gentlecolts, I believe we have much to discuss." she said in her regal yet strong and demanding voice.

The day started early for McIntosh Apple, as it always did. A farmer like himself was always bound to waking up early and turning in late. He ran a great apple orchard with his sisters and grandmother. It was a bit of a marvel that they had gotten on so well, but it had always been a near thing. Mac had spent most of his life working, no free time to play or do much else besides manager the farm that had been left to him.

His parents had died while he was still young, the youngest of his family just having been born as his mother's heart gave out in her final throes of giving birth.

His father followed suit soon after, becoming violently sick and not having a great enough will to carry on living without his beloved beside him. Not even for the sake of his children.

That left Granny Smith, the matriarch of the family in this area as the head of the household. She got along well enough until her back left hip gave out and she was forced to do more of the bookwork and less around the house and farm itself. This led to young Mac having to drop from school, while he took care of AJ and the newborn Applebloom as best as he could, while doing most of the farm work himself. As he grew, his life quickly became entirely based around his land and family. Applejack was going to school, Granny took care of Applebloom, cooked, and cleaned. He became the farm's sole worker, though he did sometimes get assistance from his friends, the seldom few that he really had.

As time went on, he grew bigger than any other pony, his constantly physical lifestyle leading to his great stature, as well as his own diet of many hardy plants that they grew themselves. Tubers, carrots, turnips, celery, and most importantly their apples. Ironically enough, Mac hardly ate any apples himself, doing his best to minimize his own effect on lost bits. He made sure his sisters and grandmother always had plenty of everything to eat, and kept the house in good repair as well.

All in all, his lost childhood and teenage years had turned him into a rather hardened workhorse, as well as bringing out his skill in mathematics and business as he controlled all of the resources that the farm had, once Granny became a bit too senile to handle the numbers...

Today though, was a different day. A different avenue had just opened in his life and he wasn't too excited. He had prepared for an eventuality akin to this, if not this exact one. Applejack could run the farm, and his friends would help her. It didn't make it any easier though, as he made his way to the kitchen. He was the first up as always, but he could hear AJ scrambling around, getting herself ready.

He allowed himself some time to rest inside, as he wouldn't be doing any more work on the farm for a while.

His sister joined him quickly, but kept her eyes somewhat downcast. She wasn't in a good mood, and was anxious. He could tell by the way she moved and was breathing. Her eyes red from crying. Granny was old enough to understand and took it rather stoically, and Applebloom was still too young to really understand what was going on. She was a sweet little filly and he was glad to be her big brother. She had started school just a short time ago and always brought home news of her great days, as well as tales of friends and their daily lessons.

He smiled as he made his way over to the oldest of his sisters and gave her a hug, nuzzling his snout through her mane. She was crying again and clutched at him. She never reacted like this to anything, always staying strong.

At her core though, she was afraid of many things. This one being among the greatest. She was a loving and selfless sister and he couldn't imagine life without her. Which is why he had to make it back in one piece, because she wouldn't be able to fully recover if he was lost. They both knew it and she almost hated herself for it.

It all started when he had received a letter from the Equestrian Guard, reading off that he had been selected for service in Her Majesty's military.

He took it as he took everything. With a grain of salt. Applejack on the other hand had thrown a fit when she read the letter, cursing up a storm until Granny had reprimanded her. That night, he had stayed with her in the barn while she cried, letting herself down as the tears overflowed their normally dry creekbeds.

She kept telling him that he couldn't go. That he couldn't leave them. Leave her. He couldn't end up like Ma or Pa.

He kept consoling her, but she had never once believed him when he said he wouldn't die.

This morning was no different. She knew that he would have to leave within the next hour and go to the train station for his final goodbyes. Either she would see him again, or she wouldn't. It was as simple as that, and it tore her heart apart, while driving a stake through his own. He just wanted his family to be well off. His affairs were in order and as he had thought of before, his friends were set up to take over the farm work that he couldn't do. Applejack would handle the finances, with help from Noteworthy, a journalist that Mac had grown up being friends with.

As her tears had dried, Mac kissed her on the top of her head and set about making breakfast. It would be the last good meal he had in a while, he hazarded, and decided that just this once, he'd eat some apples with his porridge and wheat middlings.

The time passed quickly and before long, he and AJ walked side by side, their youngest sister finally in tow on top of the red stallion's back. He had given Granny one last nuzzle before leaving, knowing full well that he might never see her again, whether he or she passed on. Applebloom seemed sad but at the same time kept asking questions as to how long he would be gone. He couldn't really give her an answer, so he just gave her riddles to keep her young mind racing. She was so innocent and sweet. He could hardly handle it. He was shaking by the time they had made it to the station, a few other families with their selected sons and fathers about to depart as well.

He gave both of his sisters each a final kiss and hug goodbye, as his named was called off of a roster and he climbed his way up the steps of the final car.

Now he just had to make it back to his family. He had promised himself that nothing would get in his way.

As it turned out, quite a lot DID get in his way.