Chapter 1: Dulcis and Pluma
Princess Celestia
Princess Celestia sat back, dropping her quill onto the desk beside her as she sat back to admire her work. She kept adding and adding to this piece, but never finished. Maybe it was because she couldn't finish. Maybe it was because she didn't want to. Either way, she was done for the moment. She closed the book she had been writing in and, making sure the ink was dry and would not smear, hid it in a drawer of her desk.
She looked up and out the window, remembering what life used to be like. Her eyes scanned the sky outside her window while she was lost in her thoughts, barely taking in the beautiful blue and shining sun. She was grateful for the sun, although she was the one who controlled it. She was glad that she could always bring the sun and keep the ponies of Equestria happy, because that was all she could do at this point. But she would never lose control of the sun again, that could never happen.
And of course, Luna would not become jealous again. No, Twilight Sparkle and her friends made sure of that. It wasn't the power of the elements that did it; it was the power of friendship. Twilight had even learned an illusion spell to make Luna look like a normal pegasus so they could walk around Ponyville and have a good time time without causing a ruckus, but the spell hadn't worked. And one time, not long ago, the six friends had heard that Luna was feeling down, so they all threw a big party that nearly everypony in Ponyville attended, making sure that at least most of the ponies there stayed up all night stargazing and playing games.
Yes, those six were a great help. They were cleaning up Celestia's mistake... The alicorn held her face in her hooves as she thought of this. She had long been grieving over this; Twilight and her friends were able to turn Luna back to normal and make her feel accepted, but all she could do was seal her in the moon for a thousand years. She couldn't even help her own sister.
She simply sighed and clicked the drawer with the book in it shut. She was about to cast the spell on it that she always cast; a spell that stopped anypony from being able to open it without her permission, when there was a knock on the door. She stopped her spell and spun to face the door, accidentally knocking the drawer open and not noticing. The doors were ajar; she had left them like that on purpose. She had asked Twilight Sparkle to visit her today, planning on teaching her a few new spells as a 'thank you' for cheering up Luna.
"Enter." she called, standing from her desk and trotting across the beautiful, white carpet of the study. The door swung open wider and a purple unicorn stood on the other side. She looked very excited; her mane wasn't brushed very well and the saddlebags at her sides had books poking out of them as if she had rushed out of her house fast. She rubbed her mane down so it wasn't as messy then practically bounced up to Celestia.
"Princess! I'm so excited! What are you going to teach me? I brought all the books I could fit in my saddlebags." the unicorn's horn glowed as she opened the saddlebags and accidentally spilled its contents onto the carpeted floor of the study. "Sorry!" she picked up as many as she could and started stacking them neatly on the nearest empty table. Without a word, Celestia helped her. When the last book was neatly placed on a stack, the princess spoke.
"It's great to see you again, Twilight Sparkle. I wanted to thank you so much for cheering up Luna last week, so I thought I would repay you by teaching you some spells that both you and your friends will enjoy."
Twilight's eyes grew even wider with excitement before saying modestly, "You don't have to thank me; we didn't want Luna to be unhappy. We know she's trying her best to be accepted and I know that can be hard. And anyway, it was all Pinkie Pie and Rarity's ideas."
Celestia sat down beside her student and wrapped a wing around her. "Yes, but I do have to thank you. You and your friends helped Luna when I could not, and my sister's happiness means the world to me. And these are spells you and your friends will enjoy, so, in a way, these spells are for all six of you." The solar princess levitated a few books off a nearby shelf and lay them on the table in front of Twilight. "In these books are a few spells; one changes somepony's race for a limited amount of time, one increases somepony's stamina, and many more."
Suddenly, another knock sounded from the doors. Celestia stood and trotted over to the doorway to see who it was. It was a gray unicorn guard with gleaming gold armor. "Princess, the griffons that are visiting have called for your assistance. They said something about terrible magic, but it could just be another false alarm."
The princess sighed and looked back to her student. "Twilight, I will have to go see what they need. I will be back soon, how about you start reading about those spells while I'm gone?"
"Yes, Princess!" Twilight immediately flipped open the nearest book and skimmed through the contents. Her eyes were fixed tightly on the book, and Celestia followed the guard out of the study. The doors closed behind them, leaving Twilight alone with her studies.
Twilight Sparkle
...and although pegasi and earth ponies that have been switched to unicorns using the Race Change Spell have horns, they will not have the power to cast any spells stronger than simple levitation. However, the stronger the pony that originally casts the spell, the stronger the 'unicorns'' magic will be. This is true for ponies who are given pegasi wings as well; their wings will be stronger depending on how strong the spell is.
Note: The Race Change Spell cannot change a normal pony into an alicorn, but can change an alicorn into an earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn.
Twilight Sparkle stretched as she finished her reading. It had been nearly three hours, and she had read all the books. To be fair, she had already read all the books she had brought, so she could simply skim through them. But there was one huge problem; she now had nothing to do until her mentor returned.
First, she did what she normally did when she was bored; she sat up and organized all the books on the table by alphabetic order. When she did that, she looked around the room. She was sitting in the corner of the very large study; it was so big it could fit everypony in Ponyville inside it, despite the fact that it was merely a private study. The carpet under her hooves was pure white and was only interrupted by a few rugs under tables, desks, and bookcases. The ceiling was painted with a blue design and the walls had designs of flowers with little crescent moons for leaves and petals. The windows were about the size of Twilight each and were completely spotless like they had just been cleaned.
Then Twilight's eyes fell on a desk. It seemed pretty normal; it was made out of cherry wood, had a few quills lying neatly off to the side by an ink bottle, and a few drawers with scrolls poking out. However, the thing that caught Twilight's eye was a a bottom drawer with a fake-leather book in it. She stood and trotted towards it, opening the drawer fully with her telekinesis as she did so.
When she reached it, she peered in at the book. It seemed like the cover was very old, wrinkling around the spine as if it had been opened a lot. However, it didn't have that old book smell like the scrolls in the Canterlot Archives did. She gently opened the book to the title page, and saw that the ink looked bright and fresh. Knowing as much about writings as she did, she knew that it could not have been written more than a few days ago.
She clicked the drawer shut and set the book on the desk. She sat in the chair, eyes never leaving the book. It had a simple cover; it was old fake-leather, as previously mentioned, but had no picture on it. It only had a small box with the title written on it, 'An Alicornian Autobiography'. She ran a hoof along the rough surface of the book. It had to be worth a lot; fake-leather was hard to make and was worth a fortune. But of course, this was owned by the Princess, so that could be expected.
Twilight flipped the front cover over to look at the title page again. It was like all title pages; it simply restated the title and the author. 'An Alicornian Autobiography, by Princess Celestia Caelum' The unicorn did a double-take. She had found a book written by her mentor? Not only that, but it was an autobiography! "Maybe I shouldn't read it. If she wanted somepony to read it, she would have it on one of the shelves..." She stared at the title page for several minutes, thinking it over in her head. "But I could learn so much about the princess... I never asked what her childhood was like! She's been around for so long, maybe there's some sort of historical secret in here that can solve the mysteries of Equestria?" She bit her lip. "But she might not want me to read it. What will she do if she catches me reading it?"
Finally, she came to a conclusion. "It's not like it's a diary. If she didn't want anypony to read it, she wouldn't write it like an official book, and she would call it a diary, not an autobiography." Twilight Sparkle stood and trotted over to the doors. She looked at the handles of the doors, which were curved beautifully by the many artists that constantly decorated and redecorated. The unicorn quickly found the lock and clicked it. The lock wouldn't keep the princess out, but it would give Twilight a few seconds to hide the book because she would know that Celestia was coming.
The unicorn trotted back to the desk and sat down, flipping to the first page and starting to read.
Autobiography
Chapter 1: Dulcis and Pluma
My story, the first part of which must be told in third person, begins a long time ago. It was thousands of years ago, centuries before Equestria, long before the Windigos launched their blizzard. The three kinds of ponies, the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, all lived in different tribes and hated each other. The unicorns lived at the base of a mountain, where they could walk through the caves within and see all the marvelous jewels that were there. The pegasi lived in the clouds, where they were alone and safe from attack. The earth ponies lived on a large island in the middle of three rivers, where they could grow food easily.
There was no harmony. There was only hate. I am not over-exaggerating, these ponies barely knew the meaning of the two words; 'get' and 'along'. They only made friends within their own tribes, and shunned the other tribes. They also sometimes warred, even capturing and torturing ponies from other tribes. Kindness was a rarity back then.
And then, for the first time, love crossed the borders of hate in between the tribes. A pegasus named Winterfall and a unicorn named Star Shard fell in love. At the same time, a unicorn named Smoke and an earth pony named Bud fell in love. Their love remained a secret; even when they had foals. Winterfall and Star Shard had a pegasus filly named Pluma, and Smoke and Bud had a unicorn colt named Dulcis. Through much heartache and secrets, the foals were secretly taken to be raised in their respective tribes. Nopony other than the couples and a few who helped keep them safe ever found out.
Years later, when Pluma and Dulcis were adults and met at a meeting, they were drawn to each other. It was as if they could feel the connection in their subconscious that neither was normal, and after a few meetings and discussions, the two were deeply in love. And of course, they eventually had a foal. But unlike their parents, Pluma and Dulcis were found out.
There was a trial held about their fates. Winterfall and Smoke were both of high positions in their respective tribes, and managed to convince the others to let Pluma and Dulcis go without punishment. The two were watched constantly to make sure they would not meet each other, and were banned from meetings in between tribes.
However, about five years later, they reunited. They found themselves planning to run away, and leave everything behind. They wanted to live happily with each other, away from all the horrors of the tribes. They had long since been able to wander, but could not keep meeting in secret for the fear of getting caught once more. They planned to leave in the next few months, when everypony was concentrating on a meteor shower that was to come.
However, their plans were interrupted when it was discovered that Pluma was pregnant once again. Unfortunately, it was not Pluma nor Dulcis to find this out first; it was a pegasus of great power. There was another trial, and Winterfall nor Smoke were listened to this time. The ponies believe hurting a mare when she is carrying a foal to be bad luck, so Pluma was locked in a dungeon but was not to be hurt until after she gave birth. Dulcis, on the other hoof, had a terrible fate. He was killed in front of everypony of all three tribes, tortured horribly for his crimes.
After all of this, Pluma gave birth. The second foal was taken away to an orphanage with her sister, and Pluma was to be killed the same way her love had. Luckily, Winterfall, Star Shard, and Smoke manged to free her from her prison and escape punishment themselves by fleeing the tribes with her. Bud had also attempted to help, but had been caught while distracting the guards and his fate was unknown. The four were never heard from again. It was only discovered after all of this that Winterfall, Star Shard, Smoke, and Bud were the parents of Pluma and Dulcis.
But what of the foals? Let's go back to when the first foal was born. Why was it hard to keep Pluma and Dulcis's relationships secret after the foal? That's because this foal was no normal foal. She had a family member from every tribe, and this was the first time they had mixed. The unicorns back then were much more powerful, perhaps that had something to do with it, but nopony knows for sure. But this foal, this young filly, wasn't a pegasus, unicorn, or earth pony.
She was all three. She was the world's first alicorn. She was bright white with light pink hair, a unicorn horn, pegasus wings, the strength of an earth pony. She seemed to develop quickly, able to walk within only a week of her being born. Pluma and Dulcis were discovered because there was no logical way to explain a filly like this. The filly was taken to an orphanage while her parents went to court. She was hated very much and shunned. They said she was sure to become a traitor and should be killed. If it wasn't for the fact that the leaders had ordered her safety, she probably would have been killed.
After suffering five years in her prison-like orphanage, she heard that her parents were on trail once more. She wanted to know why, so she snuck out to go to the meeting hall and see what was going on. I believe now I should switch to first person, for of course, I am the little alicorn filly.
I had managed to hide behind one of the banners that was close to the ground. My heart pounded in my ears and I had to force my wings not to flutter. I held my breath as I pressed my face to the ice cold floor to peek underneath the banner. There was many seat, all like steps up to the ceiling with countless ponies in them. In front of one was the unicorn symbol and behind it sat all the unicorns, the most noble and proud in the front with the humble and poor near the back. The same was true for pegasi and earth ponies. However, instead of looking at each other, they were all focused on the center of the room.
I looked towards the center as well. In the middle sat a large, fake tree with a glowing aura around it. I supposed it was magical, so it could not fall down or something to that degree. Around the tree sat the leaders of the three tribes. I did not know their names, but I knew they had to be the leaders because of the unicorn's fancy dress, the pegasus's armor, and the earth pony's brown dress with carrot patterns. Thus was the lead clothing for each tribe at that time.
My eyes widened as my eyes fell upon something else. The brown bark of the magic tree sloped down into the tile flooring with roots weaving in and out of the floor. The dark blue hind legs of a certain unicorn were chained there, not struggling at all. Following up the legs on to the body of the pony, I saw that he was my father, Dulcis. His forelegs were chained to the trunk of the tree so he was twisted painfully, as if for extra torture. I looked to the other side of the tree. There was a white pegasus with a light blue mane and tail chained there as well, but was not twisted painfully. She was simply chained to a root, sitting normally. It was Pluma, my mother.
"Are you insane, earth pony numskull?!" the pegasus leader roared, his wings flaring angrily. "You suggest we kill her? May I remind you that she is pregnant?"
"I fully understand." the earth pony tapped his hoof on one of the roots in front of him. "But this foal may turn out just like its sister. Do we really want another one of those treason-creatures in our tribes? In any of our tribes?"
"I fear you are ignorant, you silly mud pony." the unicorn leader tossed her head. "It does not matter what the foal is like or not. It's just bad luck to hurt a mare when she is carrying a foal, and I, for one, do not wish to suffer the consequences."
"I know this already, filthy narwhal!" the earth pony growled. "I say we should take the chances. This mare nor her foals deserve to live, so we should finish her off while we have the chance."
"Narwhal?" the unicorn leader look appalled at the insult.
"Can we please stop with the name-calling for one moment?" the earth pony secretary stepped forward, interrupting the insults.
"How about we-" the pegasus deputy, a white stallion with light blue hair, proposed, but was interrupted.
"Silence, Winterfall!" the pegasus leader snapped. "We shall not listen to you nor Smoke this time, for you failed us last time! You are dismissed from this meeting."
Winterfall opened his mouth like he was about to argue, but sighed and left the meeting hall. He was soon followed by Smoke, a light gray unicorn mare with pink hair. They passed right beside me, and I kept my breath held to make sure they would not find me. Once they had left, the meeting continued. I did not understand most off it, and eventually they came to an agreement.
"The pegasus known as Pluma will be taken to the Unicornian Dungeons until she has birthed. The foal will go live with her sister and we shall decide their fates later. Pluma will be killed afterwards." the pegasus announced, recapping the meeting to the pegasus audience. "The unicorn known as Dulcis will be killed right now, in the Tritrees."
The Tritrees? I knew where that was! In the center of the three tribes' territories were three trees. They were called Tritrees and the land around them was neutral ground for all tribes. I had heard that whenever one tribe tried to seize it for their own, they were driven away by some sort of evil spirit that rested there. However, the spirit did not attack if the tribes were at a truce. They were at a truce now, joined together to punish my parents.
I stayed hidden behind my banner, my legs growing sore from sitting still for so long. I was not completely sure what was going on; I was but five years old, and although I developed quickly, I was but a child. I was inexperienced of the world. Because of this, I wanted to continue. I wanted to follow the ponies out of the meeting hall. Therefore, I stayed behind my banner, staying as still and silent as I could while everypony filed out the doors that were just to my left.
But once again, I was a young filly. I have the strength of an earth pony, but not even the strongest earth pony foal could sit completely still and silent forever. My legs eventually gave out, and I fell to the floor. I didn't make much noise and the leaving ponies were chatting and cheering so loudly it wouldn't have mattered if I did, but somepony noticed me. His eyes met mine, and although he was in perfect sight, nopony thought to see where he was looking.
The earth pony stallion, a strong pony with a dark green pelt and brown hair, came and stood in front of me. He turned around, so he was facing the departing ponies and shielding me from their eyes. He stood there for a long time, holding the doors open for pegasi and earth ponies (for the unicorns had left first as they were holding my parents in their magic). When the crowd had thinned and most were out, he whispered to me under his breath, "Go now, young filly, back to your home. You don't want to see this, and only those with cold hearts do. I shall cover your escape when I leave, and don't let anypony know you were here." When the last pony stepped out the doors, he turned to look at me with his large, round, hazel eyes. "Please, do not taint your own mind by coming to this. Go back to your home."
"But sir," I replied softly, "I have no home. You know that nopony wants me, and I have never been at home."
The earth pony nudged me towards the door, constantly looking around to make sure nopony saw me. "That is an odd thing for one so young to say. But you know what I mean; go to your shelter, where you are safe from the terrible murder about to take place."
"Murder?" I asked. Five years of life, and I had no idea what the word 'murder' meant. I had no understanding of death; I did not cry at the fall leaves as they fell from their trees. However, the stallion remained silent. He pushed me out the door and told me to run, and I did. I ran all the way along the streets of Unicornia back to the orphanage. I hid in my room, having no more idea of what was going on then I did before I snuck into the meeting.
I didn't know who that earth pony was, and I never found out. But the kindness of strangers saves lives, as it did mine. Reflecting upon it now, if it had been anypony else to find me in there, they undoubtedly would have put me up for trial for spying on a private meeting. Of course, with their prejudice towards me, I would have been killed or locked in the dungeons. I owe so much to random acts of kindness by strangers that I will never be able to pay the world back, no matter how many thousands of years I live.
