Lessons for a Benevolent Tyrant

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 7

Chapter 1

The battle was over, and the day was won.

Nightmare Moon was defeated and banished to the moon, and a new age was begun at that moment; Princess Celestia, Regent of the Sun, Guardian of all Equinity, was now sole ruler of the sovereign nation of Equestria. Now in the final stages of her journey to the moon and back, she was re-entering the atmosphere from the cold lifeless vacuum of space. She raised a magical shield to protect herself from the friction of falling through several miles of air, the sheer heat of which would have burned any normal substance, living or not, into superheated atoms and plasma. In just the last two hours, the Princess had learned more about herself than she had ever known in her near four hundred years of life. She had of course come to the conclusion that age nor disease had any effect on her early in her life, after her third husband had died and she remained as static in appearance at the age of one hundred and forty-three as she was at the young age of twenty nine when she had taken her first husband. Now, in her battle against her fallen sister and former co-ruler Princess Luna, she had learned that she was, for all intents and purposes, unkillable. She had been stabbed through the chest with a magic sword, collided head on with a granite statue, tossed through the old observatory of Everfree Castle to have the entire tower collapse on her, and bludgeoned with meteors from the heavens above. In the last few minutes of battle for the fate of all life on the planet fast approaching below, she had absorbed some of the powers of the Elements of Creation. By partaking of their energies, she had overpowered her opponent, and cast her substance across the moon’s surface to be imprisoned there for a thousand years.

The atmosphere began to burn through her shield as her power boost from the Elements drained away, and it finally shattered into tiny particles of crystallized energy. Flames began to eat away at her mane and tail, and her very body was wreathed in fire. She vaguely felt the pain caused by it, but it was dulled by the healing energies of her body repairing itself. A cauldron of golden power churned inside of her, and she began to wonder if that was her real body, and the form of the white furred, violet eyed, and now pastel colored mane and tail of her physical body was just a dainty glove that her real form put on for the benefit of others. Roaring waves and tendrils of magical power enveloped her, as they repaired and remade her form wherever it was getting too thin to sustain her. As she saw the horizon change from black to blue skies, she felt the pop of entering into breathable atmosphere, and her regenerative powers began to finally overcome the flames crackling on her body, extinguishing them. She was still approaching the earth below way too fast, and she didn’t have enough time to cancel her terminal velocity through magically induced deceleration. She saw a large body of water fifty miles away from where she predicted she would land, and she quickly strung together multiple teleports in the direction of lake. The act of traveling from one point to another through subspace a multitude of times was just enough to slow her fall, so that she wouldn’t splatter into a Princess pancake on impact with the crystal-like waters below her. She involuntarily took a breath and held it as she quickly approached the surface of the lake directly below. Striking the calm, placid loch with the force of a falling asteroid, she soon found herself slammed against the murky and muddy bottom almost two-hundred feet below the surface. The tidal wave created by the falling Princess was immense, lifting waves sixty-five feet into the air. A pine tree grove near the lake was utterly demolished as the waters overflowed their beaches, ripping them out of the ground like a foal ripping little saplings from out of the dirt, and pulling them back into the lake’s icy depths. The flooding water slammed against a large cliff face to the north and east, ripping bits of clinging foliage from the mountain side and drawing them back down into its watery grip. The primary force of the aquatic blast eroded down a small valley to the south, creating a shallow inlet into which the retreating waters found a new home.

The Princess had had some time to think between the flight back from the moon to her landing in the near arctic waters deep at the bottom of the lake. Equestria needed radical reform in many different ways; the royal line of Diamond I, ancient king of the unicorn nation, was dead at the hands of Nightmare Moon. Pony society had become a breeding ground for superstition, mindless fear, and irrational hatred, and she had not seen it until it was almost too late. Princess Luna had tried to force equality for all pony races through a royal decree. The public had rebelled, and some had even gone so far as to speak treason against the Princess of the Night directly; the late Lord Adamant, sole direct heir of the Diamond Dynasty, chief among them. Her sister had given into grief when she had lost a dear friend, a bat pony named Orpheus, to what she believed was a plot orchestrated by Lord Adamant. She had sought her vengeance on mortal life in the form of Nightmare Moon, and in her bloodlust had lost her original and noble cause in favor of a plan to create total holocaust on all races. The Princess of the Night had accused Princess Celestia of being too soft, and slow to act against the social troubles of Equestria.

The Princess began to slowly levitate her form up towards the shore of the lake from out of the mud and grim, quietly gliding through the deep water. Perhaps her sister had been right. She had been so focused on making the majority of Equestria happy that she had not considered she might be making them happy at somepony else’s expense. Being tucked away from the world in the now demolished Everfree Castle, she had ruled from a sense of accepting callousness to societal deterioration and from out of the desires of the nobles. Now, the nobles had been annihilated, and those whose veins held any royal blood were dead. She knew from years of political experience that the nobility would have ruled from their coffers before their hearts, and they would have known that the commonponies thought from their hearts more than their minds. Civil change of any kind would have been bad for established money, so the lords and ladies would have been spineless when it came to transforming the herd’s cultural heart. There was one solution that would solve all these problems in one fell swoop, and while the Princess was apprehensive to pursue such a course, she was ready to do anything required of her to make her ponies truly change their hearts and minds, while bringing equality to the second class citizens, and simultaneously solidifying her authority in the power vacuum.

Ponies from all over the countryside came to see the fallen star that had come from the heavens. Some were curious, while others were troubled. In the past few hours, the nation had experienced great joy, as this day was the Summer Sun Celebration, but at midday, terror had seized many hearts as the world had witnessed its first and only solar eclipse due to the schemes of Nightmare Moon. It was fast approaching eventide; darkness would envelope the land again, and while some were positive that the threat of the world’s end was over, others were less sure; was the boiling lake and falling star a sign for hope, or of an ill omen?

As the waters of the lake calmed from their frothing fury, ponies gasped in awe and confused wonder. From out of the depths of the blue, watery loch stepped the form of a large horse. Shining in a kaleidoscope of golden, sapphire, emerald, and pink light, a horse with both a unicorn’s horn and a pegasus’ wings processed onto the brown, sandy earth. Her coat was as white as the purest snow, her eyes glowed like twin shining suns, and she wore a golden crown and ceremonial yoke made of light. She looked upon on all the gathered ponies; there was at least one hundred now, but that number was steadily growing as word spread of the fallen star pony. She smiled at the ponies before her, and with some trepidation, the other ponies began to smile back.

Spreading her wings and rising to a height of fifty feet, she spoke to them all in the Royal Voice of Declaration, “MY LITTLE PONIES, DO NOT BE AFRAID. I BRING YOU TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY; THE THREAT TO YOUR SUN IS NO MORE.” The ponies below cheered and danced for joy, but the shining alicorn raised a hoof to silence the crowd, which they eventually complied to, “A GREAT DEMON OF TARTARUS NAMED NIGHTMARE MOON TRIED TO BLOT OUT THE SUN, BUT SHE IS DEFEATED, TRAPPED IN THE MOON. I WAS ONCE PRINCESS CELESTIA, BUT NO MORE! FROM THIS DAY FORTH, I AM SOL INVICTA, THE INVINCIBLE SUN. I WILL BE YOUR DELIVERER, YOUR SHEPHERD, YOUR SOLE PROVIDER, AND FOR THIS I WOULD ASK THAT IN RETURN YOU WOULD DO AS I COMMAND.” The crowd rejoiced and praised the sun, worshiping the newly christened Sol Invicta as a god, who both flew on high and who walked the earth below.

Chapter 2

In the three hundred years since the day Princess Celestia had declared herself divine, innumerable events had taken place. The ancient Solar Cult was established, and universal suffrage was realized. Equal rights and pay for all, regardless of race or gender, was developed. Canterlot, the great and golden crown jewel of the Equestrian state, was constructed on the mountain face directly above where the Princess had fallen and appeared before her subjects. Learning and Science dominated society, and the first universities sprang up in the growing cities throughout Equestria. Resources were bountiful as the state found new and more advanced ways to mine, farm, and capture moisture from the clouds. The Princess had become not only sole ruler and protector of Equestria, but was also the direct commander of all armies and self-appointed High Priestess and godhead of all worship. All laws, whether judicial matters or religious edicts, and media had to be approved by her first before they could be circulated to the masses. In time, the Princess looked down from her great and mighty Olympus of marble and gold, and she found the nation to be good. Her sister’s vision was realized; she had created a perfectly efficient state with her own touch of moral piety that made everyone equal under her eyes and the eyes of others. However, a sickness overtook Princess Celestia even in her moment of triumph; not one of the body, of course, but one worse still; a sickness of the mind. All those years she had spent trying to change ponies’ hearts by calling herself a god, she had become very skilled at maintaining her noble lie. She was so masterful in her art of illusions, however, that as the ages wore on, she had started to believe her own stories. The entire world could be just like her nation, she thought; never at war, never hungry, or ignorant ever again, and all under her guiding benevolent rule as god of all races. On that day, she decided to rename the nation of Equestria. On that day, the Solar Empire was born. Her first act as Empress was to take the fertile lands of the southeast. From there, she would take her armies to the shores of the Furia in the Far East, from which she planned to seize the great minotaur city of Labyrinth. The armies of the Solar Empire marched for almost three months before reaching their destination.

The megalopolis that was Labyrinth was not like any equine city; it was a maze of streets and back alleys that ran in any and all directions. It was split into two halves; the lower section which lay near the sea, and the upper section which was built vertically up a nearby cliffside. Roads and homes were stacked into the cliff face, running up almost the entire half mile height of the mountain wall. The rich lived in the cliffside homes overlooking the tranquil Pacifica, while the common folk lived closer to the base and nearer to the ports. Residents to the city included earth ponies, Zebharans, and the occasional Griffonian trader, along with the Minotaurs themselves. The Clan fathers and mothers of the minotaur race called up great warriors for themselves; all those who were versed in the ancient and traditional combat forms were called into service to defend the Great Maze, as their ancestors had affectionately called their city. Fifteen hundred in all answered the call, and they marched out to meet the force of three thousand unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Even outnumbered two to one, the Minotaurs would have very likely won the battle that day, had not the Empress taken the field. Summoning her powers over the natural world, Sol Invicta caused the very earth to groan and yawn open as a great mouth, and the fields quaked and trembled as nearly a third of the Minotaur forces were devoured by the ground beneath them. The skies became full of thunderous storms and strong gales, and lightning broiled down from the heavens, striking only wherever a Minotaur stood, leaving ponies of either side unscathed. After a mere thirty minutes of battle, the General of their forces surrendered the city over to the Empress' control, so as to avoid an all-out slaughter of any more of his young bulls, and he and his forces were indentured to the service of Sol Invicta, until they could either defeat her in combat or accomplish a task of great importance to her, as the warrior customs of their herd stated. Less than two hundred of the Minotaurs who entered that battlefield still stood at the end of that day, so thorough was Sol Invicta’s victory at Labyrinth. In the span of but a summer’s time, the Solar Empire had nearly tripled its territories, and with this Sol Invicta was most pleased.

This story of our Princess and her nation would have been very different from what we know of it today, had not one stallion felt he was compelled to act by his moral conscience. That stallion was one named Starswirl, or as he was more commonly known, Starswirl the Bearded. He was a traveling scholar, a seeker of knowledge wherever it could and would be found in the four corners of the world, and in time he would be numbered among The Fifteen, the greatest ponies to ever walk or fly above the lands of Equestria at any time. His and the Princess’ destinies would once again become intertwined for many years to come, for the good of all ponykind.

At the time of the first anniversary of the foundation of the Solar Empire, Starswirl was returning to Equestria from one of his more intrepid journeys. It was nearing the midyear, Empress Celestia had returned victorious in triumph to Canterlot, after the winter months spent in Labyrinth. Starswirl was on the outskirts of Baltimare, merrily making his way towards a local inn that he had made his hub over many years of traveling. Trotting from the west towards the city, Starswirl looked to the north along the road to see a small cottage with a young stallion gardening in front of his tiny home. Behind the cottage lay a small plot of land from which the pony cultivated his crop, tomatoes.

“Good morning, my fine lad!” the elderly pony exclaimed, meaning every word of it.

“Oh, hello.” The young pony replied rather flatly.

“I was wondering if you could help me, young colt, but what year is it?”

The colt wasn’t sure if the old pony before him, dressed as strangely as he was in his odd cloak and pointed hat with jingling bells, wasn’t a soft-minded resident of the Hall of the Elderly just up the way, “It’s the Year of our Lady 301. Don’t you know?”

“I couldn’t really be certain in all honesty; I’ve traveled many months in uncivilized lands and rather offhandedly invented a means of traveling the many strings of Father Time’s fabric. I really should keep a calendar with me at all times for that reason alone!”

“Rrrright,” the young stallion said, becoming more convinced that the old geezer in front of him was a kindly madpony.

“If I could just bother you a tad longer, young colt, could you tell me what I’ve missed in the last fifty or so years? A traveling pony rarely hears of home, and he deeply welcomes any good news.”

The young stallion sighed, “The rains come, the crops grow, what point is there in asking more of our Empress?”

“Empress?” Starswirl asked, completely taken aback, “Who is this Empress? What are you talking about? Hm?”

“Empress Celestia, of course. Sol Invicta? Bringer of Light and Life to all who worship her Eminence?”

“Empress,” Starswirl murmured to himself. He looked back to the stallion with a firm gaze, who took several timid steps back toward his home. The young pony was growing more and more nervous, and it was becoming especially evident to the old unicorn, “I noticed that you are cautious around me, but it’s not just because I’m a stranger, is it? Be honest with an old pony; what’s really happening in Equestria? What are you hiding from me? What's wrong?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the stallion said with a rush of frantic nervousness, “the world is perfectly fine as it is! I swear I’m not a heretic!” He broke down into sobbing shamelessly at the hooves of the old pony of learning, “Please! Don’t take me away! I’m one of the faithful! I would never maliciously question Sol Invicta’s benevolence!”

The old unicorn conjured a wooden stave from the aether, and with it he lightly rapped the earth pony on the head with it. The young stallion looked up at the strange old pony in confusion, and he saw a twinkle in Starswirl's eyes. “I never thought I’d see the day when a strong young lad like you would cower in abject fear of an old colt like me.” He slowly nodded to himself, “These are strange times indeed.”

“Please, don’t turn me in,” the young earth pony whimpered.

Starswirl sighed with exasperation, “For the love of the sun and stars, I’m not going to turn you in to anypony anywhere!”

The earth pony looked to him, surprised, “You’re not?”

“For what crime would I turn you in, Master?”

“Basil, sir.”

“Master Basil, what sin is so egregious that you would be carted away without proper trial or evidence?”

“Capital crime,” Basil whispered quietly, “A crime of heresy. I began to doubt her Holiness when I prayed for my produce to grow well in the summertime, and it did not.”

“And what is the average sentence for such crimes?”

The young colt shuddered, “Reeducation by the Solar priesthood, or the dungeons.”

“I see,” Starswirl muttered darkly, “Well, it seems I’m needed here at home at last. Long have I been both teacher and student, and now it seems I’m due to take on my most promising pupil yet.” He looked down to Basil, and firmly commanded, “Get up. You need to be looking your finest, so stop shoving your face in the dirt.”

Standing up, the bewildered Basil asked, “Why? What for?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You have a complaint about Princess Celestia’s performance as deity of ponykind.” The old unicorn pointed in the direction of Canterlot with his forehoof, “We are going to go lodge a complaint!”

“What?!” Basil yelled, “You can’t just..I mean, she’s..She’s the Empress, for Celestia’s sake! We’ll be executed for treason for just arriving unannounced, if her very gaze does not incinerate us first!”

Starswirl, who had already been in the process of walking down the road, turned to look back at Basil, “Why? Has she really grown that cold and spiteful in these last couple of decades? Then it seems dear Tia is truly overdue for my counsel!”

Basil gasped, “You just blasphemed! Empress Celestia needs no counsel; she’s perfect!”

“Oh, believe me Basil, Tia’s horseapples stink just as much as the rest of ours do. In fact, I’d suggest you avoid any of the palace lavatories after the cooks have served Zebharan cuisine; it tends to upset her innards greatly, no matter how much she tries to deny it.”

Basil gawked in sheer dumbfounded panicked horror at the old unicorn.

“Now then,” Starswirl pointed to his left, and to Basil’s surprise, he realized that he was no longer outside or anywhere near his home. He stood in a large ornate washroom made entirely of polished marble, “Wash your face; you’re about to be in the company of royalty!”

Chapter 3

Basil quickly dashed over to the basin before him and splashed water into his face, hoping it would wake him up from the horribly lucid daydream of an old unicorn wearing a pointed hat and cloak with jingling bells dragging him several hundred miles to Canterlot in the blink of an eye to tell the Empress she was doing a poor job as god to Equinity. The chilled mountain water enveloped his face, eliciting a gasp from the young stallion. He looked into the mirror above the small basin, whose contents he had dumped all over himself and the washroom; he was already wide awake.

“Oh sweet Celestia; this is actually happening.”

He received a rap on the head with a magically conjured wooden staff to get his attention. “Of course this is happening!” Starswirl the Bearded exclaimed, “If it wasn’t, you’d be back at your cottage in Baltimare, and I’d be sitting in front of a roaring fire at the Galloping Mare contemplating my navel!”

“Really?” Basil asked with some hesitation.

“No of course not, my lad! That’s simply a figure of speech. To contemplate one’s navel is altogether useless!” Starswirl led the thoroughly confused and somewhat frightened Basil out of the washroom to the large hallway outside. The wizened unicorn hurried up a nearby marble staircase to a large antechamber that led to Empress Celestia’s throne room. “Now, before we enter, there are two things I must absolutely require you to do, Master Basil. One, be sure to breathe; I cannot have my evidence faint mid-argument with her Majesty. Two, be absolutely quiet until I tell you to speak.”

So many new things were rushing at Basil that he didn’t know what to do with himself. His nervousness and fear were physically beginning to affect him, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“You can alleviate your stomach later. Right now, I need you at silent attention for the next fifteen minutes. Can you do that for me?”

“Ohohohooooh, why is this happening to meee?” the young stallion whimpered in rising hysteria.

“Because you were the first pony I came across,” Starswirl said flatly, “but perhaps this will help ease you for the time being.” The elder unicorn cast a relaxing hex on the young earth pony, and in a couple seconds Basil let go of all his stress, closed his eyes, and sighed contently. “There,” Starswirl declared after he had finished, “Has that calmed your nerves any at all?” The only response he received was a snore; Basil had just fallen asleep standing up. Starswirl facehoofed.

In the extravagant throne room of Empress Celestia, all was peacefully quiet. Her Worshipfulness was preparing a new strategy for the Empire’s expansion into the western wastelands, when the large gold enlayed doors from the antechamber opened. From out of the waiting hall strode a unicorn garbed in a robe and hat, bedecked in a multitude of different constellations. On his back was the limp form of a burgundy hued earth pony. Guardsponies sprung from almost every corner of the room to surround the two strangers, and in no time their spears were at the ready, “Halt, in the name of the Empress!”

The unicorn scholar was unfazed by the weapons and horns pointed at him. From across the room, the Empress with her heightened senses heard the sage mutter under his breath, “Typical young upstarts.” He then waved his hoof in an arcing motion, “You will let me pass unhindered.”

The entire squad of soldiers stood down as one stallion, and they snapped to attention to the old unicorn, “We will let you pass.”

“You will leave me for a private audience with the Princess.”

“We will leave you for a private audience with the Princess.”

“You will all go back to your barracks, and you will contemplate the true purpose of all life, the meaning of existence, and if either of these two relate in any way to your navels. Also, make sure to report your findings to me; I will be utterly fascinated to hear of your results.”

With their instructions given to them, the Royal Guardsponies left the throne room in a double file line with a medium paced trot, closing the doors behind themselves. The Empress was absolutely flabbergasted at this strange display of power; who was this unusually familiar character of a pony?

“I am pleased at least,” the sagely unicorn raised his voice, “that the rumors of you killing those who come to see you with your very gaze are untrue, Princess Celestia. From what I’ve heard, though, you seemed to have taken up another title in my absence, Empress Sol Invicta.”

The Empress frowned; she continued to sit at her royal throne, but she whisked away her table, charts, and stratagems with her magic, “By what right do you claim to speak to me as such? Just who exactly are you, that you would come into my throne room unannounced?”

“An old friend, though it seems in the many years I’ve been traveling you’ve forgotten basic manners and decency. It is I, Starswirl the Bearded.”

The Empress paused and recollected as best as she could, “Starswirl…” After a very long time of trying to grasp at her memories, her eyes lit up, and a smile burst across her face, “Starswirl! Not the Starswirl who used to tell the grandest of stories about his travels to the four points of the compass? Not the Starswirl who made and showed off so many wonderful spells? How many years has it been since we last saw each other?”

The elderly unicorn looked to the ceiling, counting back all the years he had been gone, “I believe it’s been almost two hundred years now.”

The Princess was surprised, “Has it truly been two hundred years already? But how are you still alive? The average unicorn lifespan is at most seventy years.”

The unicorn chuckled, “Age and time are funny little things to me now. I invented a chrono-traversal spell centuries ago, and in about one hundred years’ time from now I helped an alchemist with one or two minor little demons in exchange for a Philosopher’s Stone. Apparently, I become quite famous!”

The Empress got up from her throne, and ran to Starswirl with the joyous energy of a young child. She swept her wings around him and embraced him in her hooves, consequently knocking the sleeping earth pony off of his back. After a short time, she released him and looked at him with an ecstatic grin, “It really has been far too long since we last saw each other, old friend.”

The smile that had also been on Starswirl’s face had faded rather quickly after the Empress had embraced him, “That may be true, but I’m afraid I am not here on a social visit.”

The Empress looked at him in confusion, “I don’t understand. Why are you here then, Starswirl?”

The elderly sage sighed, “I am here to save you, Tia,” he said, “I’m here to save you from yourself.”

The Empress gave a little chuckle, not understanding the statement one bit, “What are you talking about?”

“You have become something so much darker than you would have ever dreamed possible. You have become your own antithesis.”

Starswirl turned around and cast a charm on the sleeping form of Basil.

The earth pony twitched as he returned to the waking world, “Ooh, why does my back hurt so much?”

“Rise and shine, Master Basil,” Starswirl said grimly, “You are in the presence of your Lady Tyrant.”

“Tyrant?” the Empress exclaimed in confusion, “What do you mean, tyrant?”

The earth pony’s eyes practically burst open as he looked up to see the gigantic form of the imposing Sol Invicta. He yelped in terror and practically disappeared as he cowered behind Starswirl’s cloak, “Please don’t kill me! I didn’t mean what I thought about you! All I ever wanted was to be a little better off! I’m not ungrateful! IdontwannadieIdontwannadieIdontwannadie-”

The Empress looked down at the shivering earth pony in alarm, unable to even say a word.

Starswirl looked back behind himself at Basil and then turned his cold eyes at the Empress, “This is what you have become, your Highness; a scourging god who reigns supreme through fear. I had my doubts when I heard the first proclamations of your apotheosis so many years ago, and now my fears are fully realized. You have gorged yourself on the commonpony’s adulations, and now the deluder has become the deluded. The great social crusader I once knew you to be is gone; you have become nothing more than a spoiled child, ruling through misguiding principles and misguided individuals. Sol Invicta? I name you Solaris Tyrannus!”

The Princess was unresponsive. A numbness had overtaken her as she tried to comprehend all the accusations being put before her of what she was, and she couldn’t process a single one of them.

“I’ll leave you to your thoughts.” Starswirl finally said, “Goodness knows you need time to think about what exactly you’ve done! I’ll be staying in the guest tower. You will find me there in time.” With that, Starswirl and the terrified Basil disappeared in a flash of light.

It was now midafternoon, and Starswirl had returned Basil to Baltimare. The elderly unicorn had calmed the poor young stallion’s nerves, once again promising that he would not be turned in. “I will also promise you this, Basil my lad,” the sage declared, “Your children will not know the fear you know today, nor will any generation afterwards. In ten years to this very date, I will return to you, and my promise by that time will be fulfilled.”

“You can’t promise that,” the humble tomato farmer whimpered, “Neither of us may be alive in ten years!”

“Have faith, young Basil,” the old stallion smiled, “Don’t you know what they say about wizards?”

“No. What?”

“We always arrive precisely when we mean to.”

And with that, Starswirl flared his cloak with a grin, and he disappeared on the spot.

Chapter 4

It was nearing seven o’clock in the evening as Empress Celestia made her way to the guest tower. As she ascended the stairs, her thoughts continued to plague and gnaw at her. She wasn’t a tyrant, was she? How long had she been an object of fear rather than reverence? She had defeated hundreds of enemy warriors in her battles to advance the Solar Empire for the good of her subjects. No, she realized; not to benefit her subjects, but to enhance her own ego and riches. With a horrified shudder, an icy thought crept into her mind; how was she any better now than what Nightmare Moon had been? While the demonic incarnation of Princess Luna had wanted to wipe out all life, Sol Invicta had gone one step further and not only slaughtered scores of beings, but had subjugated tens of thousands of lives, bringing death and blood not by darkness and ice, but by domination and fanaticism. Still, it had been in the pursuit of a good cause, and didn’t the ends ultimately justify the means when all was said and done if what was accomplished was for the greater good?

Arriving at the top of the stairs and to the set of double doors that housed the guest suite, the Empress entered quietly. Inside was a large chamber with a comfortable bed placed off to the far left of the doors. To the right was a crackling fire in the fireplace, and adjacent to that was a small desk. Behind the desk sat Starswirl, and in front of the desk lay a large ornate sitting pillow. The unicorn scholar was currently writing into a small book, which the Empress assumed was his journal, and for the moment his attention was solely focused on that. She slowly walked into the room and waited. After a minute or two of silence apart from Starswirl’s furious scribbling, she lightly cleared her throat. He stopped his work to look up at the white alicorn.

“May I sit with you?” she quietly asked.

The elderly unicorn smiled a little before speaking, “Of course you may. It’s your castle after all! Who am I to stop an Empress?”

A twinge of regret appeared on Empress Celestia’s face as she lay down on the floor pillow, “Please don’t call me that, Starswirl.”

“Very well,” the sage said as he closed his journal and dissipated his writing quill, “then who are you?”

She looked to the unicorn with a pleading gaze, “Starswirl, please, I didn’t mean for what has happened to transpire as it did. I just wanted to fulfill my sister’s dream.”

“You can’t accomplish somepony else’s dream for them; that is for them to achieve and them alone.”

“But it’s because of me Luna couldn’t make her plans work!” she said, her throat beginning to catch as she continued, “I was too callous to see what the herd’s heart was like. I’ve tried to atone for my ignorance by creating this great society, and now you’re saying I am a tyrant, and that it was all in vain?”

“Celestia,” Starswirl calmly began, “You are both blessed and cursed with something many ignoramuses try to achieve, and that is immortality. You are stuck on the outside of our normal lives, looking in on all of us mortals eating, playing, making mistakes, and dying. It must drive you mad seeing us repeat those mistakes over and over again, so you tried to make sure we never made the same mistakes ever again by eliminating all freedom for risk of erring.” He paused for a time, looked into the fire, and became thoughtfully silent, “You once told me that before your sister fell, you just wanted to make everypony happy, correct?”

“Yes,” Celestia nodded.

“Is that the real reason you created this ‘Solar Empire’? By setting yourself up as a god, you could authoritatively command for things to be such and such a way for all ponies to ultimately be happy?”

Celestia nodded once more, “I have always believed that a well-structured state provides the greatest happiness to all ponies. I became a god to ensure that the populace would heed my commands with more urgency, and to avoid the reaction that they had when Luna tried her plan to bring balance to society.”

“But that’s just it!” Starswirl pounced on Celestia’s statement, “If that were truly the case, all ponies would be pleased to see you, not cowering in fear of you blasting them from this mortal plane! You claim to be a god and then you expected ponies to respect you with joy rather than fear? You should have approached this 'god gambit' of yours with more care, and now you are seeing the results of how it has backfired on you.”

“Please Starswirl,” Celestia implored, “end this agony of mine! I created this system of governance and order for everypony's benefit, even those who can't initially see the good that comes of it. What have I done wrong? What have I overlooked? I thought my plans were flawless! How can I ensure I will make all my ponies happy?”

Starswirl sighed deeply, and he looked at Celestia with equal parts mirth and melancholy, “You cannot make ponies happy. That’s the thing! You can’t force any race of this big wide world to be happy; it is something they must achieve for themselves.”

Celestia was truly taken aback by this statement. For nearly as long as she could remember, she had been trying to make her subjects happy by making the world a better place for them, providing structure and stability through her government. Now everything in her world was being flipped upside down. What was left for her to question about herself and her life? Had everything she had ever done all been in vain? Was she doomed to fail by fate; first by not being able to save her sister, and then to also see herself waste years of her life all for an impossible cause?

Starswirl chuckled to himself the tiniest bit, “I’m sure that if you had been blessed with children, you would have been an excellent mother! You would have probably learned that happiness is what we make of it a great deal faster if you had.”

“I may have miscalculated," Celestia finally offered, "But I'm sure with your help, Starswirl, that I will be able to find what exactly I need to do to change my subject's opinions about me. All we need to do is find the right angle from which to approach the problem, and then apply appropriate logic-" the Princess began to mutter audibly as she became self absorbed in her planning.

Starswirl looked at her calmly and wait for her to finish. She didn't stop. "Celestia?"

"There's been a major decrease in the weather production from Cloudsdale, so I'll send a representative to find out the issue there. From there we will redistribute more rainfall to the agricultural regions, which will optimize the production of-"

"Celestia," Starswirl was becoming more and more frustrated with her as she continued crunching out possibilities of how to formulate the best possible solution to win ponies' hearts through her deeds, all the while tuning out anything her 'advisor' was trying to say. Narrowing his eyes and frowning deeply, the unicorn scholar conjured up his handy wooden staff once again, and struck Celestia over the head with it. Startled, the white alicorn looked up to her old friend. Satisfied that she was paying attention now, Starswirl grumpily declared, “You want to make ponies happy? You need to get rid of your ugly pride, and let your country see to its own happiness. You are not our mother, and you are not a god. Do you hear me, young lady?”

Celestia silently looked at the frowning old unicorn for a moment, her face completely unreadable. Her chest began to heave and tears came to her eyes as she burst out laughing, and began to snigger to herself.

Starswirl, surprised at this response, muttered to no one in particular, “Well, this wasn’t the reaction I was expecting!”

“I’m sorry,” Celestia giggled, wiping away her tears, “but the way you were looking at me, and the way you spoke, you looked like a crotchety, old schoolmaster trying to scold a rebellious little filly!” She continued snorting in laughter, “That image just fits you so well!”

Starswirl’s eyes narrowed, “Cute. But, it shall be as you said!”

Coming back down from the temporary giddiness of laughing so hard, Celestia finally asked, “What will?”

“So begins your lessons, and if history requires me to be this ‘old, crotchety schoolmaster’ to change you for the better, then so be it!”

“You know I was joking, Starswirl. You can let it go now.”

“You may have been joking, but I, on the contrary, am very serious! After you make first light, present yourself to me here! You will receive your first lesson from me tomorrow morning.”

Celestia rested her chin on her right hoof, “Alright, I’ll play along. What, dear teacher, will we be learning about tomorrow?”

“It will be a lesson in Generosity.”

Chapter 5

Celestia had not been entirely sure what to expect of Starswirl the Bearded upon being told she was to receive lessons in ‘Generosity’, but she had promised to humor her old friend, so she would listen to whatever he had to say. After raising the sun for an early morning, she made her way to Starswirl’s chamber in the guest tower. Upon opening the doors to the cozy chamber, she found Starswirl was just about to leave the room.

“Where are you going?” she quizzically asked, “I thought we were going to have lessons today!”

“We are, Tia, dear. I find, however, that when it comes to teaching, a visual aid beats out simple lecturing any day. We’re going to be taking a little stroll.”

Celestia smiled, “Alright. Where are we going?”

“The Diamond Dog Empire. Stay close to me now; taking a passenger while teleporting can prove interesting to say the least.”

Celestia stepped a little closer to the sagely unicorn, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them found themselves nowhere near Canterlot, but nearly a thousand miles away and several hundred feet underground. The white alicorn saw with a start that she and Starswirl were in an enormous cavern, spanning almost a mile by a mile and a half of empty space. She also realized the two of them were floating several feet above the stalagmite strewn surface of the cavern floor.

“How are we not falling?” She asked while looking down at the sharp spikes erupting from out of the cavern floor.

“I took the liberty of making us intangible upon arrival. We can only influence each other now; we are invisible ghosts to anyone else. It will allow for a glimpse into the natural goings-on of the Diamond Dog state, without influencing our surroundings.” The two ponies seemed to walk on air as they continued on their field trip. “Speaking of, do you notice anything about our surroundings in particular?” Starswirl asked whilst looking ahead of the two of themselves.

Celestia strained all of her five senses and several of her others to find anything of note based on her immediate surroundings, “I see a large mound in the distance.”

“Good. What else?”

“I hear a small murmur, like voices below the bedrock.”

“And?”

“I don’t sense a Diamond Dog anywhere near here.”

“Not in this cavern. You won’t find a Diamond Dog here apart from one; the Emperor himself. He’s your contemporary in more ways than one now.”

Celestia looked to Starswirl with agitation, “I told you to stop calling me an Empress, Starswirl; how many times are you going to guilt me with my mistakes?”

“Several, at least until my meaning behind it starts to sink in. Now, you won’t find a Diamond Dog up here for this reason; these are the Imperial Gem Grounds, from which he can pluck any precious stone he so desires to add to his considerable pile in the Palace Vault. Any interloper is put to death if they step across this cavern without his permission. You’ve heard, I’m sure, the tales of the Diamond Dog race’s greed?”

“Of course,” Celestia nodded.

“They don’t even tell the half of it. Avarice is a virtue here in the caves of the Diamond Dogs, and the gems they seek are pursued with an almost religious fervor. It started with Siegfried Vielknochen, their first Emperor.”

Celestia's eyes misted over in memory of days long gone from the world,“I remember meeting him near the dawn of time, when all the races were gathered together to let the others know what they were to be called on that first Naming Day. He had only one eye, and he was short compared to every other Diamond Dog around him. He was always very quiet; I felt he was hiding some secret that he didn’t want others to know.”

“The Diamond Dog royal family does hold a secret; they are much smarter than they appear. Siegfried I won his title through cunning of wit against all the others of his pound.”

Celestia looked to Starswirl, her mind still going as far down as memory lane as she possibly could go, “Now that I think about it, the Emperor was very secretive of how he achieved his pound’s respect. How did he win?”

“With a brilliant strategy; he used his race’s greed to his advantage. He promised them that he could make his pound’s jewels grow in value and number, if they entrusted a portion of their haul every year to him and his litter. The other Diamond Dogs, being slow witted and actually believing their jewels would literally grow in Siegfried’s paws, accepted the terms.”

“So you mean to say..You can’t be serious?”

“Oh, yes! The concepts of banking and financial fraud were invented on the same day. But the tale is not finished. Otto IV, the great great great great grandson of Siegfried I, perfected the family scheme, by encouraging his race to seek out slave laborers. Any Dog could exchange a slave of any other race for a fluctuating amount of gems in return for that slave’s remaining years alive and for the quality of service offered. The common Diamond Dogs, in their lust for gemstones, raided many nearby lands for as many slaves as they could carry back. More land equates to more gemstones, and the Palace Vault grows larger and larger by the year.” Starswirl looked around the large cave, eyeing its full dimensions, “I expect it will take up the whole cavern in about one hundred years at this rate.”

Celestia began to look to the cavern floor below, an expression of horror growing on her face, “So the muffled sounds I hear below the bedrock-“

“Are the cries of both slaves and masters, mining deep below for a few shiny baubles” Starswirl said darkly.

“I must put a stop to this,” she declared, “The Solar Empire will destroy this awful practice!”

“And then what? Replace your own dictatorship with the current one? I’d wager neither the Diamond Dogs nor their slaves would notice that large of a change,” the elderly unicorn slipped into a Diamond Dog syntax, “ ‘We ruled by horse lady now. We no care, just give us gems!’ they would say.”

Celestia angrily snorted at Starswirl, “I am different from these frauds and slavers! I bring peace with me!”

The unicorn fired back, “You probably aren’t used to hearing this, but You. Are. Wrong! A peace through tyranny is no peace at all! The Emperor may be a tyrant through fraudulence, but he at least knows he is a fraud! Look at yourself! You crushed freedom from the lives of your subjects, but you were truly ignorant to the damage you were causing until I showed it to you! The only different between you and the Emperor here is that your subjects force a smile at you, so they aren’t in turn forced into reeducation!”

“What in Tartarus,” Celestia yelled, “Does any of this have to do with Generosity? All I’ve learned so far is that you are out to demonize me!”

“I told you last night you cannot make other ponies happy, didn’t I?”

“I remember,” Celestia growled, “What is your point?”

“By trying to make everypony happy, you make nopony happy. Pursuing the path that you are, you are doing the exact opposite that you intend! The only way to make ponies happy is to let them choose their own happiness. For that to happen, though, you must allow them to choose! You must be generous with your power; let it go, and you will be one step closer to redeeming yourself, in returning to who you once were!”

Celestia was silent as she mulled over what Starswirl had had to say.

“I have one last thing to show you,” the sage said quietly. In a flash of light, they were moved to another corner of the world, one full of fire and smoke. The winter nesting ground of the dragons was a desolate ash heap, and in and among the few scattered jewels left from their migration to their summer homes in the northeast many months ago were the dully glowing, brittle bones of several dragons.

“What happened to these dragons?” Celestia asked in awe; in all her years she had never seen a dead dragon before.

“They starved,” Starswirl bluntly said. “The Dragon Overlord, Leviathan, is neither generous with power nor with food. The weak perish, and the strong survive. The dragons are actually beginning to die out now. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, any and all relations will kill each other just to have one new jewel to add to their hoard. There are only about one thousand left all over the world. If they had learned to be generous, though, they might have averted this fate.”

“This is just another object lesson on Generosity?” Celestia impatiently asked, “Share and the world will be better?”

“Generosity and sharing are two different things,” Starswirl declared as he picked up a stray amethyst in his magical telekinetic field. “Sharing is an exchange of material goods or services only, and it will demand of any being an equal amount or service in exchange for the good received. Generosity, to pardon the expression, is a horse of a different color.”

With the amethyst still in his telekinetic grip, Starswirl forced the gem to change its physical structure, crushing some parts inward while pulling other facets outward. Finally, the amethyst was transformed into the shape of a perfectly formed and polished dodecahedron. He then offered it to Celestia, who made to examine the jewel with her own magic. Starswirl retained his hold on the gem, and she finally looked to him.

“Generosity,” the elderly unicorn finally proclaimed, “Is the offering of something material for something immaterial, and not expecting anything in return for the act.”

“And those immaterial things would be?”

“Happiness at being able to help others, for one,” Starswirl said, and then smiled, “But also to both receive and give a lesson learned on the subject itself.” The wizened unicorn let go of his grip on the beautiful jewel. Celestia looked at the jewel before her, and she began to smile. She thought she was beginning to understand now what this lesson had truly been about.

“I think that will be all for today,” Starswirl said, returning the two of them to the guest tower in Canterlot. It was beginning to be time for Celestia to lower the sun and raise the moon. “I hope your lesson was luminary?”

“I think so,” she quietly said, still holding aloft the gem her friend had given her.

“Then in that case, I expect you to act on what you’ve learned. I want to see you one week from today, and I also want you to write me a paper showing what you have learned about Generosity and how it relates to you.”

“Alright, teacher,” Celestia dryly smiled, “Good day to you, Starswirl.”

“Good day, Empress,” the elderly unicorn replied before briefly yawning.

“Starswirl?”

“Yes, Empress?”

“I revoke my title of Empress. Please, just call me Princess,” Celestia smiled as she walked out of the guest suite.

Starswirl began to smile to himself, as he spoke to an otherwise empty room, “Very well, Princess Celestia.”

Chapter 6

Another day dawned on the world, and the golden sun rose up past the hills to the East of Canterlot in shimmering glory and beauty. Starswirl the Bearded leaned on a small balcony on the second floor of his guest tower suite room. It was a wonderful morning indeed! He turned from the balcony, and nonchalantly teleported downstairs to the small living space below. He was humming a little tune he had picked up forty years ago that had suddenly wandered into his head this morning. It’s truly remarkable how such a tiny little thing as a tune can get stuck in one’s brain for so long, only to be dredged up in an instant by something so common as a sunrise, Starswirl happily mused.

Making his way over to the front door of his suite, he flung it open to find a startled Princess Celestia, her hoof still raised as she had been about to politely knock. “Good morning, Princess!” Starswirl cheerfully offered.

The Princess looked down at her old friend in mild confusion, “How did you know I was about to knock at exactly this moment? I was fifteen minutes late from last week.”

“Oh, our story demanded that you would raise the sun late, and I was willing to oblige what Father Time commanded.”

The Princess arched her eyebrow, “ 'Our story?' ”

“If you’ll recall, I am a time traveler, remember?” the old unicorn smirked.

“So everything you and I do is already set in stone; preordained and unchangeable?”

Starswirl shook his head, “Oh, no! Time is quite fickle if you get to know it; it changes its mind from second to second as things occur.”

Princess Celestia’s head began to hurt, “If that’s the case, then how did you know I was coming here at this instant in the first place?”

He shrugged, the bells on his cloak and hat jingling as he did, “Lucky guess.”

“May I just come in?” Princess Celestia asked in exasperation, her head spinning from the mental gymnastics she had just been through.

Starswirl glided past the Princess out the front door, “Actually, I believe our lesson for today is going to require another visual aid, so we’ll be going on another stroll once again.”

“And what is our topic today?” the Princess smiled, “I’m waiting with bated breath!”

“Kindness.”

“Where exactly are we going to learn about Kindness?”

“In the middle of a civil war.”

There was a blinding flash of light once more, and the two ponies were once again many miles from home. As in their first lesson, the Princess and the Sage were intangible and invisible. As the Princess got her bearings to the new environment, she found that the two of them were in a sloping valley surrounded by many mountains. At the bottom of the valley was a quiet stream that trickled farther down and away, to parts unseen. The grass was very fine but sparse, and she realized that had she been tangible she would feel a gusting breeze on her face. She looked around herself on all sides; there was not a soul around but for the two of them.

“For there being a civil war, the battle seems rather calm.”

“The battle is not here on the ground, Princess,” Starswirl placidly said while looking up to the thick clouds above, “but in the skies.”

The Princess looked up as well, the identity of the warring race coming to her in an instant, “The Griffons are at civil war with each other?”

“Indeed. History states that you met Adric, the great Gladiator-king of the Griffons, at the beginning of all culture, if I’m not mistaken?”

“I did,” the Princess furrowed her brows in anger, “He was a brute. He was utterly cruel, and he was the most wicked being I thought I had or ever would meet.”

“His family’s cruelty has lasted many years. Both strong sons and daughters were born to Adric blood for countless generations. With the last of Adric’s male descendants, though, it was not the case. Brastias I was a sickly child, and when he came of age, he was found to be both weak in stature and infertile. Factions arose, declaring who should next be the king of Griffondom. Some thought that Ailsa VI should rule; she was of Adric’s line, and she was strong. But others thought it was not right, allowing another chance for rule from an obviously decaying line, and a female at that, so they suggested Gawaine, one of the strongest knights of the eyries. They’ve been at war for several months now, but since only the Pegasi could truly witness the battles in action, nopony but the northern Equestrians have yet heard of the war, or of the raiding parties.”

The Princess turned her head back down to look at Starswirl, “What do you mean ‘raiding parties’?”

“The Griffons of Ailsa VI’s Old Blood faction will on occasion raid the city of Cloudsdale for supplies, mostly water. When the winter months begin, though, food will become more scarce for the Griffons of either faction, and taking into account their carnivorous diet-“

“They would start taking my ponies for food,” the Princess finished, her rage growing with each syllable.

“Yes.”

The Princess looked up to the skies again, and her eyes were full of righteous fury, “I will not let this pass. If I must, I will wipe the entire Griffon nation from the skies to save my ponies from being eaten.”

“Genocide for crimes that have not yet been committed?” Starswirl shook his head, “No. That’s the old you.”

“What other option is there?” the Princess asked in frustration, whirling back around to her sagely teacher, “Just allow my subjects to be slaughtered?”

“You can support one faction, and win the war. Status Quo is restored to the region, and no one else has to die unnecessarily.”

The Princess turned away from Starswirl, muttering to herself, “How can I trust any them? How can I trust a carnivore?”

Starswirl chuckled softly, “Even in ‘enlightened times’, it seems the old prejudices die hard, hm? We are all blessed with different natures in this world, from both our bodies and our minds. For some, it is natural and good to eat meat. For others, it is good to eat of fruits and vegetables, or both! You must judge an individual for the individual’s sake, not for their species or diet.”

The Princess sighed, “Very well. Who should I trust, based on their character?”

“Ailsa VI is just like her ancestors; cruel and powerful. Gawaine, while still as much a bird of prey as any of the Griffons, is a knight. He will be bound by honor to hold to whatever agreement you reach with him should you aid him.”

The clouds which had been obscuring the battle above had begun to part as the sun warmed the valley. Hundreds of Griffons were engaged in the conflict, the Old Bloods of Ailsa VI wearing the royal color of blue, while Gawaine’s New Bloods wore his color; green. As some Griffons began to weaken from their combat, they would fly back to their eyries to take rest. The Old Bloods would attack any and all New Bloods, and they began to prey upon Gawaine’s flying wounded like carrion.

“I choose to help Gawaine,” the Princess decided.

“Then in that case,” Starswirl nodded as he lifted their enchantments, making them visible and tangible once more, “let us be quick to help him in his time of great need!”

Princess Celestia spread her wings and burst into the skies, the air roaring behind her as she gained altitude. Starswirl surrounded himself in a azure-grey field of energy, and he rocketed into the skies as well, propelled by his powerful magic. Gawaine was fighting three Old Blood warriors at once, his armored talons slicing through their commonly made chainmail. His light plate armor was taking the majority of the brunt of his foe’s barrage, but he was beginning to tire. A charcoal blur flew up from the skies below, and Ailsa Vi sliced through Gawaine’s green armor; her armored gauntlet deeply scouring his belly.

“You are old and frail, Green Knight,” the Gladiator Princess sneered as she readied herself to attack the ailing Griffon once again, “and now let the Valkyrie take you to her honored halls!” The four Griffons meant to tear the old Griffon apart, as he soon would fall towards the earth below.

Suddenly, a shining gold light roared up around them, and a whirlwind of fire blazed about them on all sides.

“I AM IN THE FIRE, AND THE STORM,” a voice boomed.

The four Griffons looked about for the source of the voice. “It is a demon!” one of the younger Griffons screamed wildly.

“I AM IN THE THUNDER, AND THE EARTHQUAKE,” the roar continued.

A pale light dawned on the five Griffons, and a white horse with wings and horn flew slowly towards them, “AND NOW IS THE HOUR THAT I EMPTY MY WRATH UPON YOU!”

“Sol Invicta!” Ailsa VI shrieked, and she flew upward out of the inferno, as did her three warriors.

Gawaine began to fall as he slipped into unconsciousness from his wounds and the heat of Princess Celestia's flames. She ceased her fiery magic and plummeted toward the ground after Gawaine, coming alongside him and catching him in her forelegs. The Green Knight momentarily opened his eyes to see the blurred form of what appeared to be a majestic pale white Griffon.

“Is my time come? Am I now to enter the hallowed halls of Elysia, the fair Valkyrie?” he groggily asked.

“Not yet,” the angelic being said, “Not if I have a say in it.”

Gawaine slipped into unconsciousness once again, and Princess Celestia bore him up to his eyrie. Starswirl, in the meantime, had been safeguarding the passage of the other wounded forces of the New Bloods. Any of the Old Bloods who came to inflict more harm on them were simply swatted away with his telekinesis, or were forced to float away by a temporary gravity cancelling hex. In the end, the Old Bloods were forced to retreat and return to their eyries as well.

The battle was ended, with neither side truly able to claim victory. Had the Princess and the Sage not intervened, though, it would have most certainly been an Old Blood victory.

Chapter 8

It was mid-morning when Princess Celestia invited Starswirl to her private gardens. She had had the cooks prepare a small brunch for her friend of barley rolls and honey with butter on the side. It did look quite delicious, but the Princess restrained herself from taking a nibble of her guest’s food. The morning sun passed over the low hedges of the garden, shining through the cascading trickles of water flowing down a nearby fountain. The birds of the morning chirped happily in their nests in the hedges, and from her lounging bed the Princess could easily look out and see all the beauty the world had to offer her today. She sighed contently; she hadn’t had a morning like this, to just sit back and enjoy the serenity of the day, in several years.

The Princess did not hear Starswirl coming towards her until he rounded the corner in the hedges not too far off, with a mass of tinkling and sloshing things, along with half muttered curses. When he finally came into full view, the Princess was astonished to find him carrying several instruments, beakers, and arcane tomes either on his back or in the air with his magic. After laying each of the tools down on the bed he was meant to sit on, he sat down on the cobbled path that led into the private gardens.

“Would you believe,” he began with a wheeze, as he was finally free of his heavy load, “That there isn’t one good alchemical guide relating the forces of magic with the body for hundreds of miles around for the next sixty years?”

The Princess raised her forehooves up in the air, “No?” she said with a question.

“Neither could I! I had to go looking for a good copy for the equivalent of fourteen months just this morning!” He cracked the book open to a page at random, and groaned deeply, “And wouldn’t it figure that some vulgar foal annotated all over the pages with nonsensical drivel!” He tossed the book back onto the lounge with a frustrated growl, “Worthless!”

The Princess laughed to herself a little, “Perhaps you can complain all about it after you’ve had some food.”

Starswirl waved his hoof a little, “Oh, I’m afraid I’m not hungry right now, thank you.” His stomach thought otherwise as it grumbled in a low guttural tone. “Well, perhaps a little.”

After feasting on his breakfast, the disgruntled sage was put in a little better of moods, and wanted to get right down to his study on the Princess’ biology. “Let’s start from the beginning,” he declared, quill at the ready to his journal, “Do you remember your younger years?”

“A little,” Princess Celestia said as she tried to draw back the thick curtain of time, “I remember the first thing I did after being created by my mother. My sister and I fought Discord.”

“Ahh, yes. Discord, the Lord of Chaos, the ruler of the Before Time.”

“I remember that mother sacrificed herself to make the world, Luna and I. She created us to stop Discord’s evil rule, and with the Elements of Creation, we sealed him away.”

The scholarly Starswirl scribbled away furiously into his journal, “When did you begin to realize you and your sister were different from everypony else?”

The Princess ruffled her wings, and continued to think, “We knew we were different from the beginning, having both wings and horns. But we didn’t realize just how different until we lost our third husbands. The both of us were nearing our first century and a half of existence then, and it was then that we realized we would only bring ourselves and our mates greater pain if we keep taking spouses. We were never sick, and we didn’t physically age; we were immortal. I wouldn’t even begin to find out the true extent of my abilities until later on.”

“Do you know how old you are now?”

The Princess paused and strained her mind to think. Finally, she gave up, “I can’t be sure, but I’d say almost five hundred?”

“Do you remember any of your husbands at all?” Starswirl asked as he continued to write.

“No,” the Princess said, and her face became slack with melancholy, “I don’t remember their names, or even what they looked like.”

“I’m sorry,” the elderly unicorn said regretfully.

“It’s alright,” Princess Celestia quietly responded, “It’s literally ancient history.”

“You mentioned that you didn’t know the full extent of your powers until later. When did you learn of your additional abilities?”

The Princess’ face filled even more with sadness and regret, “Nightmare Moon.” The silence left in the wake of saying that dreaded name was palpable. “I remember that day all too well. It has been seared into my memory for the past three hundred and one years. We fought so hard. She was trying to kill me, and I was trying to stop her from killing everyone in the world. I should have died, and I would have, multiple times if I had been anypony else, but my body kept resurrecting me. I’m not just immortal; I’m also indestructible.”

Starswirl scribbled like a madpony, trying to get all the crucial information he was receiving down to parchment. He looked up at the Princess as she had stopped, and he found she was staring off into the distance, her mind caught up in the memories of darker times. “I remember that day too,” the sage said hollowly, “I was traversing the eastern deserts, in Zebharan country, when I saw the event unfold in the sky. A solar eclipse! I would have been elated if I weren’t so terrified; eclipses aren’t supposed to even exist with the way the sun and moon are oriented!”

“She brought the moon around the planet,” the Princess murmured, “She almost knocked us out of our orbit. It’s actually what she wanted, Starswirl,” she looked up with haunted eyes, “She wanted to kill you all with darkness and ice.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before, when we last saw each other?” the elderly unicorn asked.

“I wasn’t ready yet,” she said quietly.

The sun had reached its zenith while the two friends had been speaking; it was now high noon. Starswirl looked to his instruments and gear behind him, and he quietly got up from his seat on the ground. He started to prepare them for their appropriate uses, and while he was doing that, the Princess silently watched him. “You are an incredible pony, Celestia,” Starswirl finally said, “You are one of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever had the fortune to meet, for both your character and your abilities.” He turned around to face her, all of his instruments ready, “May I please examine you now?”

“Of course,” the Princess softly obliged.

Starswirl approached her and began to prod the muscle areas in her back where there should be several nerve clusters. Her body responded with the appropriate twitches of any other normal pony, but when Starswirl tried to scry for the physical locations of the nerve clusters, he could not find them. He frowned, and continued writing in his book, which was floating beside him. He plucked one of the Princess’ feathers from her right wing. He looked down the hollow center of the feather’s shaft, and then scrutinized the shaft’s exterior and all its attached barbs and hamuli. He plucked two more feathers and stowed the lot of them in sufficiently sized vials. He tried to cut off a small portion of the Princess’ tail, but the scissors he used slipped right through the gossamer substance. Frowning even deeper than he had before, Starswirl simply took a small jar, lured a portion of her tail into its interior, and quickly sealed it up before it could escape. For good measure, he also took a small filing of the Princess’ horn, catching the falling shards of keratin in a small test tube. The old unicorn then took a magically formed blade and made a small cut along the Princess’ side. The Princess winced, but otherwise did not respond. Starswirl quickly swiped up some the golden energy that escaped the Princess’ body with another glass jar. His curiosity in full swing, he took a glance inside the wound itself as it began to close. He gasped the tiniest bit, “By all the stars in the sky.” He made some final cursory notes, and then he took all the samples he had gathered to the different alchemical devices he had stored on the lounging bed.

Princess Celestia got up from her own bed and came over to Starswirl’s mock laboratory table, and she watched over the old scholar’s shoulder as he began his bank of tests. He burned one of the feathers with ordinary fire and another with mage’s fire. The common flames seared through the first feather, burning it up in a couple of minutes, while the feather that had been set alight via magic remained. The purple flames played across it, but it didn't burn at all.

“Remarkable,” Starswirl said aloud, “Lowly fire stimulates the phlogiston and caloric particles in your feathers, but arcane flames do nothing of the sort!” The sage turned to Princess Celestia, “We definitively know one new thing about you now; you’re magic-proof! Actually, a more accurate way to say it would be this; you cannot be magically altered against your will, but you can still be magically manipulated.”

The Princess blinked and cocked her head in thought, “In other words, I can be physically damaged or harmed, but magic has no effect on me?”

“Precisely. Now, let’s have a look at your tail hair. Obviously, it is not a physical tail; not like it used to be anyway. It feels like some kind of magic in and of itself.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “It’s an aftereffect of when I used the Elements against Nightmare Moon. I had initially thought it would fade with time, but it obviously hasn’t.”

“Hmm,” was all Starswirl replied as he began introducing multiple strange fluids into the test tube containing the Princess’ horn filings. As he swished the liquids around in his telekinetic grasp, the two of them saw that the ingredients in the elixir began to react violently. The Princess acted on instinct, throwing up a small containment field around the vial just before it spontaneously exploded. Rainbow light flashed from out of the magical force field in all directions, before it just as quickly died out.

Starswirl sat unmoving for a while, before gasping for air. As he began to breathe a little easier he rasped, “I think I felt my heart skip a couple of beats there; not good for an old coot like me!”

The Princess teleported the messy remnants of the test tube and its contents away, “So what does that little accident tell us?”

“Well," the old unicorn said as he continued to breath in and out deeply, "it tells us what we already knew; you have an unbelievably large supply and grasp of magic, but not only that, your body at any given moment is literally coursing with the stuff! I’m actually somewhat surprised you haven’t blown anything up simply by touching it!”

“Which then leaves the golden energy; why did you gasp when you looked..inside me?”

“Because when I peered into where I should have seen flesh and blood, I saw magic. Pure, golden magic! You may have at some point been just as frail and ponylike as the rest of us, but you certainly aren’t now!”

“What am I then?” the Princess asked, mystified by what Starswirl was trying to say.

“You are magic! You are a wellspring of pure, undiluted, amazingly powerful magic! It explains why you can never die, how you can so easily change your form and regenerate, how when some unicorns can barely lift a medium sized rock, you lift the colossal sun and moon every single day! You have transcended mundane material existence, and have become a being of almost pure Form alone!”

“Form?” the Princess shook her head vigorously, “I don’t understand. What is form?”

Starswirl held up his hooves and waved them a little, “Let me explain,” as he quickly tried to summarize his thoughts into as simple of statements as possible, “It has been postulated by some in the magical community that the universe has two planes of existence; the world of Matter with a capital ‘M’ and the world of Form with a capital ‘F’. The world of Matter is what we live in and readily interact with, while the world of Form is where the most ancient and powerful magicks find their source. Some even believe that the world of Form is the source of all magic. Each creature that draws breath has some measure of both Form and Matter. In equines, for instance, earth ponies have a greater connection to Matter than Form, while pegasi have a greater amount of Form than earth ponies do, and unicorns have the highest amount of Form compared to the other two races.” Starswirl pointed to Celestia, “You are an alicorn, and not only that, you’ve touched the Elements of Creation, which apart from Discord or your sister Luna makes you not only the most powerful being in all of existence, but one of the most perfect!”

“Hold on, you’re saying Discord was a close to perfect being?” Princess Celestia said incredulously.

“In his own way. He is true to the Form of Chaos; just because he is a near perfect being does not necessarily make him a good or coherent one. You and Luna are very true to the Form of Magic I’d wager. Magic has some inherent connection with Chaos, in that it has the power to spontaneously create and alter. Magic also has a connection with the Form of Order, in that it can make things perpetual and eternal.” Starswirl paused to collect his thoughts again, “Imagine yourself as a constellation in the night sky; the more true you are to your Form, the brighter your stars shine. Your stars, Tia, have been burning out, because you have not been true to who you are really meant to be these past couple centuries. I’m here to teach you things like Generosity and Kindness for the good of yourself and your subjects; to relight your stars’ fires.”

“And to make me more true to who I am once again?” the Princess offered.

“Exactly!”

The sage began to pack up his things and lift them onto his back, “I have to go about returning all these things. I’ll see you in six days’ of your time for a lesson on Honesty.”

Princess Celestia was still trying to process everything Starswirl had told her in the last couple of minutes and was momentarily lost in her thoughts, “Hm? Oh yes. Good day, Starswirl.”

“Good day, Princess,” the scholarly unicorn said briefly before disappearing into the afternoon air.

Chapter 9

The great Red Wastes of the west spread out before Princess Celestia and Starswirl as they materialized into existence once again. Great plateaus and ridges of large rock spired into the heavens all around them. The sunlight of the rising dawn played across those jutting towers of stone to create an artist’s dream of mixed colors; purple, red, blue and yellow. Though barren but for some sparse vegetation that clung desperately for life to the shaded canyons farther out, the landscape was absolutely beautiful for its rugged simplicity.

“I’ve never been this far west before,” the Princess idly commented to Starswirl.

He nodded as he looked out across the wide landscape, “Very few ponyfolk have. It is still very much a wild place, and I’ve seen many strange things here. Parts of the landscape here were not so kindly blessed with life when you and your sister projected the energies of the Elements of Creation out to the world, and the land is still both tainted and harsh from the Before Time.”

The two of them heard a hissing growl carried along the wind that sounded like two stones being ground together. The sound was bone chilling as it caterwauled into the early morning across the various rock formations.

The Princess’ shook her head to rid herself of the influence of the paralyzing sound, “Was that a Canyon Cougar?”

“I believe it was,” Starswirl said as he mused on the banshee-like wailing, “Let’s just be thankful for our intangibility should we come across one. They’re furious beasts, those stone cats. While Timber Wolves seem to be the forests’ elemental guardians, the Canyon Cougars are the Red Waste’s dominant predator. Their teeth are made of sandstone, and their eyes are glowing turquoise.”

“How are we supposed to learn about Honesty from them?” the Princess asked.

“We’re not. Our teachers are to be the Buffalo Nomads.”

“I see. I remember them being a kind folk,” Princess Celestia said as she reminisced. As she recalled times long ago, she began to grimace, “I still remember Chieftain Red Plain as he declared that his people would seek this place as a sacred home for their nation for all eternity. They said they were looking for where the sun fell every night. I tried to explain to them how the sun doesn’t fall to the ground, but they didn’t understand.”

“They may not be astronomers or philosophers,” Starswirl quipped, “But the Buffalo Nomads are wise to the secrets of the earth. Let us ascend,” the unicorn sage pointed to a large plateau to their right, in the direction of the northwest, “From there we can see what it is the proud Buffalo cherish most.”

The Princess and Starswirl floated upward under his spell, their immaterial forms slowly rising up to meet the edge of the large elevated slab of rock. As the two of them cleared the top, Starswirl set the two of them down on the ground, and made them solid once again. They walked across the craggy surface of the plateau, avoiding the large crevices that lead far down into the earthy depths at the heart of the rock formation. The Princess expected Starswirl to continue talking as he had been before, but he remained silent. The sun cleared the plateau’s edge that they had first come from, just as they were about to reach the other side. Starswirl stopped at the edge of the plateau. Princess Celestia also stopped when she reached his side. She gazed out to see that a large portion of the horizon was not colored with the red earth, but was instead masked with dark blue.

“What are we here to see?” the Princess asked.

Starswirl shushed her, “Wait patiently,” he whispered, “This is our destination, but watch.”

The sun rose higher, and the land before them became more visible. A valley full of green grass, plentiful with different kinds of teepee dwellings met their eyes, but the focus of the valley from this vantage point was a lake. The sun’s rays were like magic, as the light it created played across the unbroken green and blue surface of the water. The Princess gave a tiny gasp of awe at the beautiful spectacle of nature, and Starswirl nodded knowingly. The lake simply did not end, or at least that’s what it seemed. It stretched far off, miles upon miles, until it disappeared against the rolling deep blue and purple of the retreating night sky.

“Down below is the Buffalo encampment,” Starswirl pointed to the largest cluster of teepees, “where we will hold talk with Chieftain Mournful Sparrow.” The unicorn gave a slight bow to the Princess, and gestured towards the little community, “After you, Tia.”

She nodded and smiled, “Why thank you, kind sir,” before walking off the edge of the plateau, plummeting to the dark red valley floor below. She opened up her wings and pulled up, gliding serenely toward the edge of the encampment. As she was about to touch down on the earth below her, Starswirl appeared right next to her in a burst of azure-grey light.

A young buffalo scout saw the two newcomers approach; he made no reaction but to continue to observe them silently.

“Hello there!” Starswirl raised his right forehoof in greeting, “Tell your Chieftain that we are fellow sojourners. We would seek to join him on the path of wisdom.”

The scout made no response but to turn and run back into the camp.

“And now we wait?” the Princess looked to Starswirl.

“And now we wait,” he sighed, “the Buffalo are not ones for hastiness. It may be several hours before we are permitted to enter the Tent of Meeting, if we are allowed at all.”

Suddenly, a messenger buffalo ran up to them and stopped, “Welcome, expected ones, to our humble gathering. Please, follow me.”

The Princess looked to Starswirl who merely shrugged, and the two of them followed their guide into the Buffalo community.

“How are we expected?” the Princess asked.

“It’s one of their cultural curiosities,” Starswirl replied, “The lake’s shores are littered with turquoise and other gems, which the Buffalo use in some of their ceremonial potions. Shamans claim that some of the more powerful elixirs offer them some limited precognition of true events, rather than the best guesses I can make with my time travel spells.”

“So their way of peering into the future is better than yours?” the Princess smirked as she tried to goad her friend.

The unicorn sage sputtered, “Of course not! My spells are more fun than theirs any day! Where’s the joy in waking up every day knowing exactly how it’s going to happen? Besides, I like the guesswork that comes with my method.”

Chapter 10

The Tent of Meeting wasn’t actually all that much bigger than any of the other teepees surrounding it; it could house a family of about six buffalo reasonably well, even though that was not its purpose. All the great business of the community was held here, including the ceremony that the Princess was about to receive.

Chieftain Mournful Sparrow sat on a rug made of buffalo hair and stared into the fire that was placed in the center of the teepee. Two rugs were placed on the ground on the opposite side of the fire from the Chieftain for the honored guests. Starswirl raised his right hoof once again to signify his greeting to the Chieftain, to which the buffalo nodded and returned the gesture. Chieftain Mournful Sparrow looked to Princess Celestia with expectation. So prompted, the Princess raised her golden horseshoe clad hoof out in greeting, to which the Chieftain smiled and repeated the greeting. He motioned for them to sit on their floor rugs; Starswirl sat on the mat to the right, while Princess Celestia sat on the rug on the left.

Many silent moments passed before the Chieftain spoke, “You have come far to learn, and to know.”

“Yes, we have.” the Princess replied. She glanced at Starswirl, “I have been told by my friend that you and your herd are very wise, and that you can offer me some lesson to learn. I do deeply appreciate any teachings you may have to offer me, Chieftain Mournful Sparrow.”

“He speaks truth; we can offer our tutelage. Please, don’t sweeten your words with me. The more the words, the hollower they become.”

Taken aback, the Princess meant to protest this rude behavior, but Starswirl motioned for her to be still and wait. She huffed silently and waited, as the silence in the Tent of Meeting continued.

“Truth is found in the least amount of words. Deception relies on many empty words for food. Simply let ‘yes’ mean ‘yes, and ‘no’ mean ‘no’.”

“Very well,” the Princess said with resignation, as she tried to throw her decorum of flowery, eloquent thought and language out the proverbial window.

The Chieftain nodded, “Ask your questions now.”

“What can you teach me of Honesty?”

“Nothing.”

The Princess was more confused now than ever, “But you said you had something to teach me, and Starswirl said you’d tell me about Honesty!”

“Stop,” the Chieftain commanded. He did not raise his voice; his body language didn’t even suggest he was agitated. “Honesty is to be truthful. It is what one achieves on their own; it is not taught. I can teach you about truth.”

The Princess tried to hide her growing frustration, “What is truth?”

“Truth is. All good things grow from it. No lie can be good. No truth can harm; it can only free.” The Chieftain cast his hoof over his field of vision, gesturing out to the rocky soil, canyons, and mountains beyond all of their sight outside the Tent of Meeting, “This land is true; it offers no lies. Life and death exist in harmony here. Our ancestors sought truth here, and we’ve found it.” Chieftain Mournful Sparrow locked eyes with Princess Celestia, “To know honesty, one must also know deceit.”

At some undetermined signal, a shaman buffalo had brought in a bowl of crushed herbs, several small crystals, and a water skin. The shaman stomped on the crystals until they were a fine powder, which she poured into the bowl of crushed herbs. She slowly began to pour the water into the bowl, and she stirred the contents with a small pestle in her mouth. The shaman placed the bowl near the fire, allowing the hot burning embers to heat the contents into a warm mixture.

“Truth is found all around us,” Chieftain Mournful Sparrow continued, “But to look out, you must first look within. Inhale the fumes, and we will see you.”

“But you can already see me,” the Princess said bluntly.

“We will see the true you. Light cannot hide or conceal; it must shine. Look inward, let go of the lies, and from there, embrace truth.”

The Princess skeptically looked down at the bluish grey liquid in the small bowl in front of her.

“Go on,” Starswirl quietly said to ease the Princess’ mind, “he said it will not harm you. He has no reason to lie.”

The Princess glanced down at the brackish soup again, and sighed deeply. She lifted it up with her magic to her nose and began to breathe in the fumes deeply and slowly. The backdrop of the tent, the Chieftain, the shaman, even Starswirl faded into greyness. She could feel her mind slowing down as the fumes began to take hold of her.

“What do you see?” a voice called out through the murky delirium of her idled brain. Princess Celestia looked around, searching for something of significance. She then looked up, and into the greyness appeared her sun, in the exact image of her Destiny Brand. All around her she could see grey forests and fields, seas and rivers; all life was lying about her.

“I see nature. I see all of creation. I see the sun.” The sun rose into the sky, reaching its highest height in no time at all it seemed. “It’s noontime.”

From out of the sun appeared her face, and her double’s eyes were looking down at her with flaming grey pupils. “I am the sun.” The eyes of her astral doppelganger burned with great intensity, as they stared down at the world from the skies above. The trees shuddered and the fields cowered; the lakes and streams tried to leap over their banks, as if they were terrified animals trying to escape the glance of a predator.

The sun god’s eyes continued their unceasing burning, but the color of her searing pupils changed from grey to a dark, bloody red. The sun had stopped at its height and had remained there for some time, not following its natural course by descending into the horizon. The crimson pupils bored down into Princess Celestia, down into her very soul, and fear gripped her heart as to what the penetrating gaze meant. Out of the corner of her eye she saw flailing red. She turned to see the forests were consumed by ruby flames, the fields were wroth with flickering fire, and the seas and rivers boiled in the appearance of blood.

“No!” The Princess called out to her effigy above, “Please stop! You’re ruining it! Everything is burning!” The sun god stared down at the world as it burst into flaming charred ash and boiling gaseous saltwater, and said nothing. The earth cracked as it dried, almost as if it were screaming in pain from the heat. The very air was bursting with energy as oxygen and hydrogen melted into superheated gaseous plasma. The flames of the sun beat down without mercy or restraint; all was alight with the red hellfire.

“Please!” the Princess called up to the sun, herself, “Go away! Just go away, damn you! There’s nothing left now! Why couldn’t you have stopped?! Why didn’t you stop?!”

The sun god looked down at Princess Celestia, unblinking, “I just wanted to make everypony warm.”

The Princess abruptly snapped back to reality. She was hyperventilating, her eyes were filled with tears as she sobbed, the sobs becoming dry heaves. She felt sick; she wanted to be sick.

Starswirl was at her side as she continued to cry, comforting her through it all. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s done. You won’t have to see it ever again. It’s gone. It’s gone.”

She barely registered what he was saying; all she could think about were those burning pupils.

“You have seen what you once were,” the Chieftain said with sympathy in his voice, “Truth is not kind in the act of revelation, but it is in the aftermath. You are no longer Sol Invicta. You must, however, remember that you were. What she was is still within you. Be on guard that she does not return.”

Starswirl teleported the two of them back to his guest suite in Canterlot castle. The Princess collapsed to the floor; she was still in a horrid state from the strange elixir that she had inhaled.

“Why,” the Princess shivered all over as she spoke, and she tried to regain some sense of control over her emotions, “Did you do that to me?”

Starswirl was truly hurt to see his friend in such a miserable state, “I’m so sorry, Princess, but it had to be done. No amount of witnesses or friendly advice could compare to experiencing what you were firsthand. As the Chieftain said, while you are no longer Sol Invicta, the ideas she represented still exist within you, and you must be forever vigilant against those ideas. You are now able to be honest with who you were, and that will help you to be honest with others about who you really are; in the future it will benefit both you and your subjects greatly.”

The Princess’ eyes still flowed with tears, but she had composed herself, “What changes must I make so that Sol Invicta never rises again?”

“You must disband the Solar Cult, and revoke your title as deity. Mournful Sparrow said that lies cannot be good, and that means even the well-intentioned ones like the one you founded your great society on. A society based on deceit cannot stand. You must end your lie.”

“I’ll do it,” the Princess vigorously nodded, “If it means I am never like that ever again, I’ll do it.”

The unicorn got down on all fours, and wrapped his forehooves around his friend. “Oh Celestia,” Starswirl regretfully said, “I’m so sorry that I had to do that.”

The Princess returned the embrace, and they share it for some time, until she was calm once again, and her tears were at an end.

Chapter 11

After the events of the Princess’ last lesson, Starswirl had not wanted to schedule another with her until she felt ready. Princess Celestia did accomplish all she set out to change; the Solar Cultists were dismissed with a meager pension from the crown budget, and worship of or even the mention of Sol Invicta was discouraged. Prisons that had been full of chronic heretics were emptied, and they also received some compensation for their loss of time. The Solar Empire was officially changed back to the nation of Equestria, and Celestia restored herself to the position of Princess rather than Empress. Charities with royal backing were institutionalized, and those that donated to the effort were allowed a tax break. Military support and supply was sent to the city of Cloudsdale under a detachment of the Royal Guard, where they were met with welcomed thanks from both the locals and Gawaine’s New Blood faction. The tide was beginning to turn against Ailsa’s VI Old Bloods as the summer wore into fall, and food became scarce for the griffons that supported her, just as Starswirl had predicted. The implementation and announcement of these changes via Royal Edict took several weeks to reach all the regions of Equestria. The general populace was surprised by this chain of unprecedented rapid political change; to what end was the Princess aimed? What purpose was hidden within her actions? The public waited in anticipation of what she meant to do, with some amount of anxiousness and fear.

It was near mid-September when something seemingly unthinkable occurred. It was time for the seasonal Dragon Migration, when the great brood would rise up from their summer homes in the northeastern regions and fly as one group toward their molten hovels in the volcanic plains of the southwest. One of the families in the brood, though, had come up with a clever plan. The three conspiring dragons would not travel all the way south with their brethren, but would instead lie in wait for several days. After the other dragons had left, they would seize a cave for themselves, travel back to their northeastern home, take as many of the other dragon’s jewels as the brood had left behind, and hole up in their cave, dividing the spoils as appropriate. It was spoken of far and wide that Canterlot’s roofs and walls were inlayed with gold (which wasn’t entirely inaccurate) and that deep in the caves beneath it there was room for fifty full grown dragons and their hoard of precious gems. The promise of both good shelter and an easy catch of jewels was enough to lure the three dragons to Canterlot. They didn’t believe the stories of the ruler of Equestria who shone like the sun; after all, they were old lizard’s tales, and what truth is there in those?

Princess Celestia never slept; at least, not anymore. The most any mortal being can go without any sleep is about two weeks before sleep deprived hallucinations, heart arrhythmia, and death ensue. The Princess hadn’t slept in over three hundred years. Almost one hundred and ten thousand days of continuous consciousness provided her a wonderful opportunity to get caught up on any light reading that she desired. She had read at least half of the books in the Royal Canterlot Library, from books full of nursery rhythms to eldritch tomes full of forgotten arcane knowledge. She never truly bothered with the Equestrian History section, though; she had lived through the vast majority of it personally. It was two in the morning, and she was studying minotaur history and customs in her private chambers. Though Starswirl had not spoken to her in many weeks, she had a distinct feeling he would be pleased if she would release the minotaurs to return to the city of Labyrinth. She had shuddered at the depraved practice of slavery propagated by the Diamond Dog Empire, yet she held two hundred minotaurs as indentured servants. From what she had heard of them, some had assimilated to the new culture of Canterlot rather quickly; taking jobs on the side of their duties to earn extra coin, or they had become involved with the theatric side of Canterlot, where they could practice their skills in oratory. Other minotaurs retained their minimalistic lifestyle of a warrior on call; serving when needed, but otherwise disconnected from the pony culture. She would have just released them from her servitude, but there was a massive cultural boundary in the way. When a minotaur is beaten in combat and lives, they are demanded by ancestral law to serve their opponent until they can challenge their master and defeat them in combat, or by completing a task of great value to their master, at which time the master is then bound to release the subservient minotaur. Releasing the minotaurs outright without cause would be a deep insult on her part, as it would insinuate that they were ‘worthless stock’, unfit to do anything of value. Surely there had to be something that they could do that would be noteworthy to both of them?

A guttural roar interrupted her thoughts, which was followed by an answering roar. A third roar filled her ears as the room shook slightly. Princess Celestia hurriedly shut her book and blew open the doors leading out to her solar balcony with her magic. Violet, vibrant blue, and green fire roared down out of the sky onto the homes of Canterlot’s citizens. The Princess ran out to her balcony and looked up; across the moon flew several serpentine shapes with wings.

Dragons. Oh, just marvelous!

The sentinels had already called down to the barracks of the Royal Guard to come to battle. The unicorn members of the Canterlot Fire Brigade were coming out in full force, dampening out the magical fires spawned by the trifecta of flying lizards. Canterlot was a city of beauty, and was made of marble, gold, and white plastered clay. While none of the buildings would burn or catch each other on fire, if the dragons weren’t stopped in time, each house would become like a furnace, and the citizens of Canterlot would broil to death from the heat of convection.

The Princess teleported down into the barracks she had sectioned off for the minotaurs use. She stood in the main hall from which her voice could be heard on all sides, “To arms! To arms! I summon you all! TAKE UP ARMS!”

The doors to the barracks burst open, minotaurs poured out on every side to surround her in the large chamber. A force of two hundred strong bulls encircled her, and they humbly bowed to their knees, “What service can we provide you, Mistress of the Sun?”

“Canterlot is under attack by dragons. If we do not act with haste, the entirety of the city’s inhabitants will be roasted alive. Fight for me, drive away or kill the enemy, and I will release you from my service. Are your orders clear?”

Each of the minotaurs eyes glinted; the promise of worthy opponents and freedom? It was a day to rejoice and glory in the battle soon to be joined!

“We understand and obey!” Those that had plated armor, helmets, shields, or swords went to retrieve their gear. Some took up the standard pike of the Royal Guard as their weapon of choice, while others took up their fishing spears, serrated claws, or even chains as their instrument of war. They all ran past the Princess to the way outside, bellowing their warcries to the starry skies.

The Princess ran out the door, flapping her wings to take to the air as she cleared the doorway. She left the ground and looked about for the saurian interlopers that dared try to hurt the ponies of her city. As she looked up, her vision was blinded by violet, dancing flames. One of the dragons engulfed her in a stream of its fiery breath, the vaporous arcane fire billowing over her body. The Princess’ regalia melted off of her body under the magically produced inferno, dripping onto the brick street below. The dragon was pleased with its work; the tales about the pony princess were not what they were cracked up to be!

The fire covering the white alicorn died quickly though, as Princess Celestia’s body failed to burn under the influence of her opponent’s magic. The Princess’ face grew stern as her eyes began to glow with white ether, “And I really liked those sets of shoes too.”

The dragon was utterly confused by this impossible occurrence, when it felt a sharp, stabbing pain in its wings. The minotaurs had managed to bury several hooks into the giant lizard’s wings, and began to try and pull it towards the ground. The dragon roared furiously as it resisted, and it tried to gain altitude so that its would-be hunters would lose their footing and fall to the ground. The Princess’ horn lit up with a golden aura, and gigantic chains of solid light appeared from the ether. The dragon tried to breathe fire on the coils of magic surrounding it, but its efforts had no effect on the constricting bonds. The dragon rapidly fell to the street when its wings were completely bound up. The colossal mass of the flying serpent hitting the ground caused several nearby houses’ foundations to crack, and several minotaurs were bounced off of their hooves by the massive beast’s fall.

Binding up the first dragon’s mouth with identical chains, the Princess yelled out “Finish him!” before turning and flying to intercept the next dragon. Fifty minotaurs ran through the streets below her to assist in the felling of the second beast, while the others quickly set to work killing the first. The second dragon was skulking around the residential district, tearing the roofs off of the houses to try and find any delicious rubies or emeralds by threatening the lives of the citizens, who were all too willing to give up their jewels in exchange for their continued existence. The dragon was going to join its sister who was already wreaking havoc in the palace, where there had to be all manner of delicious precious stones, when golden chains snapped around its maw. The great beast reared up, twisting its neck this way and that to try and see what was holding it captive. The Princess pulled her entrapping chains taut, and they began to bind the flying lizard’s wings before it could even take flight. The minotaurs swarmed the fallen dragon and began to savagely attack its exposed belly with all of their assorted armaments.

One last dragon now, Princess Celestia thought to herself. She turned to follow the scorched and desolate path of the final dragon, which led farther into one of the many castle courtyards.

Chapter 12

Flying up and past the spiraling towers of the castle, the Princess saw the burnt remains of what had been the oak doors to the cathedral which held...

”The Elements,” the Princess realized as cold fear rushed through her system, “By the stars, no!”

She practically plummeted to the cobbled street in her haste to get inside the large gathering hall where the Elements were kept. As she entered, the large amount of her vision was taken up by the image of a dragon’s backside, as it approached the pedestal where the Elements of Creation were placed on display. The dragon’s yellow eyes sparkled in anticipatory ecstasy at the exquisite meal it was about to partake in. The Princess bolted at a dead run towards the dragon, rapidly closing the gap between the two of them.

“Keep away from those!” she yelled with equal parts anger and fear; she had absolutely no idea of what would happen if the dragon ate even one of the Elements. Absentmindedly, the dragon swatted its tail at the Princess. The large scaly appendage caught her and flung her across the room, where she slammed into the hard stone wall and lay still for a time. The Princess’ spinal cord had been severed clean through near the base of her head, and she was paralyzed from the neck down. Her regenerative energies had already kicked in, beginning the mending of the catastrophic damage done to her neck and back, but she was in such a great deal of pain that she couldn’t even concentrate on her magic or stop what was about to take place.

The dragon took the Elements, three each to a claw, and shoved them down her large, toothy mouth.

“NO!” cried Princess Celestia plaintively as she saw the Elements had been devoured.

The dragon was quite pleased with itself; that had been a fantastic medley of flavors! Never had she ever tasted such exquisite gems as these! Delicious amethysts, rubies, emeralds, and-.

The dragon lurched forward as waves of pain pierced her guts from the inside out, belching up emerald smoke in a sickly manner as she bent over. She tried to throw up the contents of her stomach, but it was as if the jewels she had eaten were burrowing deeper into her digestive tract as the pain grew. In a cosmic twist of irony, the dragon began to smolder as rainbow flames began to eat away its scales from the inside out. It roared in agony as it experienced the sensation of burning for the first and last time in its long life. One by one, the Elements seared through the dragon’s guts, landing on the carpet decoratively placed on the smooth tile floor of the Elemental Cathedral. Even though the jewels had left the body of their would be devourer, the multi-colored flames continued gnawing at the dragon’s body even after it expired, until not even a crystalline skeleton was left to physically show evidence of a dragon ever having been in the room.

The Princess finally realized that she could move, and she slowly got to her hooves. The Elements of Creation unassumingly sat on the floor, playing the part of innocuous gem stones quite well. The Princess picked up the one closest to her; it was ruby red in color, but she could almost make out a tiny white light coming from inside the crystal sphere. She turned it over in her hoof to examine some other angle, but the light was now gone.

In the corners of her mind, the Princess heard a tiny voice resonant through her head; it was the same voice she had heard when she had fought Nightmare Moon so many centuries ago. These artifacts hold fantastic power, but they cannot be trusted to the possession of any single being; not even yourself.

A detachment of the Royal Guard entered the cathedral, and the last of them called back over their shoulders, “We’ve found her! She’s in here!”
Starswirl hastily trotted in after them after he surveyed the damage done to the doors of the large gathering hall; a red cylinder with a large hose was in his telekinetic grip, “I was out helping to put out the fires with the Brigade. What happened?”

“One of the dragons tried to eat the Elements.”

Everypony was driven to startled silence by this statement.

“And the dragon?” one of the Royal Guardsponies asked.

“Dead. Now, see to cleaning up what’s left of the damage, and summon the minotaurs to me.”

“Yes, your Highness,” the Guardspony saluted, and the team moved out to the city once again.

Princess Celestia was now left alone with Starswirl in the large empty cathedral.

“What’s that?” the Princess pointed to the small red cylinder in Starswirl’s possession.

“Oh this? It’s a fire extinguisher. It’s a very handy tool, though I have been trying to use it discreetly,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “It hasn’t quite been invented yet.”

“Ah.”

“Yes.” The unicorn sage paused before asking, “What truly happened here, Celestia?”

The Princess looked down at the Elements, unsure of what to make of them, “They burned the dragon alive, after it had eaten them.”

Starswirl looked down at the gems with growing wonder as she continued, “I had always thought these were just gems that could save the world from evil in its time of need; just as much a tool as a spade or a sword.” He turned back to Princess Celestia, “Do you suppose the Elements could actually be sentient?”

“I’m not sure,” she said as she lifted the gems up and placed them back on their appropriate pedestals, “But I have a feeling they need to be solely tools used in the most dire of circumstances, and not used under any other circumstance.”

Loud hoof falls announced the arrival of the minotaur force as they walked as one mass through the doorway to the gathering hall. “The deed is done,” the minotaurs said with pride, “the dragons are dead at our hands.”

The Princess noted that there were now fewer minotaurs than there had been, “How many were lost?”

“Twenty, but they are avenged.”

“I will provide five hundred bits to each of the families of those who were lost as restitution. I hold each of your oaths to me satisfied; you are free to do as you please. If you return to Labyrinth, let them know they are free as well; I relinquish my claim to your city.”

The minotaurs nodded their understanding, and they began to silently file out of the cathedral. As the majority left, the Princess could see that seventeen of their number remained in her presence. She was perplexed by the strange actions of these minotaurs, “You may go with your brethren; there is no need to feel indebted any longer.”

“I cannot speak for the others,” one young minotaur warrior said as he approached to kneel before the Princess, “but I wish to stay.” He laid down his pike and his shield at her hooves, “Do with me whatever you wish, and I will obey your command.”

The Princess was still confused, but was very curious about this display of commitment, “What is your name, young bull?”

“Xenophanes of clan Persephone.”

“Why are you choosing to stay, Xenophanes of clan Persephone?”

“Your subjects are weak, but they are also full of culture and life. Even though I have lived a short time in this capital of your Equestria, I have grown to love its herd as a father does a son or daughter. If it would please you, I would train your stallions to be strong; their veins would run with the spirit of my blood through them, that they may make you proud in battle.”

“Your loyalty is a true inspiration to me,” the Princess declared, “I accept your continued service, and that of your brothers and sisters if they choose a similar offer.”

“Thank you, your Majesty,” Xenophanes said as he picked up his gear.

“You may begin the Royal Guard’s training whenever and however you please, but each of you must take a day of rest before anything else.”

The minotaurs that had remained left the gathering hall to return to their barracks. Princess Celestia then raised the sun, its orange, golden light illuminating Canterlot against the dwindling flames the dragon fire had left behind. Starswirl smiled bemusedly, which the Princess noticed, “What has you smiling like that?”

“Loyalty,” he finally said, “It definitely is something you should write to me about.”

The two of them stood for a time to watch the morning sun light up the fantastic colors of the stained glass windows in the Elemental Cathedral.

“Starswirl?”

“Hm?”

“How many more lessons do you have planned for me?”

“Just one. Why do you ask?”

The Princess glanced at the Elements once again from out of the corner of her eye, which the light of the sun was causing to glow in beautiful patterns, “Just curious.”

Chapter 13

The skies boiled with rolling clouds colored steely grey. Lightning forked down from the heavens at random intervals, but the rain that normally accompanied the atmospheric disturbance had not come yet. Waves from the aptly named Furia Ocean pounded against the rocky beach, froth rushing inland for short while, only to regress back into the bosom of the deep expanse of water, or to splash against gigantic ancient volcanic spires jutting out of the beach.

“Why are the choices for your lesson destinations always the most ironic?” Princess Celestia had to yell over nature’s fury for Starswirl to be able to hear.

“It helps for the lessons to sink in with more meaning!” he replied, “Where better to learn about Laughter than a grim, stormy place such as this?”

“Are we waiting for somepony to arrive?”

“No. We’re waiting for something, not someone. Can you hear it?”

“Hear what?” the Princess shouted back, “What am I supposed to hear besides the thunder and the waves?”

“The singing; can you hear the singing?” Starswirl asked.

The Princess closed her eyes and mentally drowned out as much of the background noise as she could. At first she couldn’t make out anything resembling singing at all. As she became more meditative, though, she could make out the sound she had been searching for; a tinkling voice of a deep soprano tone. It was a song filled with so many emotions. The melody of the noise passed into her mind, and it deposited multiple different feelings; contentment, melancholy for days gone by and by, a deep sadness that began to bring empathic tears to her eyes. The tears were stilled soon after by joy at getting a chance to see the world for another day, and the opportunity to wonder at all the possibilities tomorrow could hold.

“There’s nothing quite like it, is there?” Starswirl yelled to Princess Celestia with weary but happy eyes.

The Princess slowly shook her head, “What sort of magic is bound up in that tune?”

“It is the enchantment of the Marianans, the Sea ponies.”

The Princess looked to her old friend in shock, “The Sea ponies survived their plague?”

The old unicorn looked out to the ocean beyond, “I’m afraid not. The last of them was taken from this world about one hundred fifty years ago; there’s nothing left of them now but their music.”

“What does this have to do with Laughter? Am I supposed to be made happy thinking about long dead merpony songs?”

Starswirl raised a barrier around them to block out the sound of the roaring ocean, and he turned to look back at Princess Celestia, “In the final hours of her life, the last Queen of the Marianan dynasty sang a powerful and beautiful song. It was a song that will resonate across the Furia Ocean for all the rest of time. It was meant to be a guide for those lost at sea, so that they could find their way back to safe harbor through the frequent storms. Many a trader must pass this way, and they swear by the song of the Sea ponies.” He pointed out to the ocean, which seemed even more eerie when no sound could be heard from the titanic waves, “Out there, surrounded by an environment that constantly seems to be out to kill you, one is not to be left without hope. Without hope, death is always certain. The Queen knew this, and even though her song was affected by the plight of her and her people, she made absolutely certain that those she and her race once protected would have some safeguard after she was gone. Laughter brings together hope and joy in a unity that is hard to defeat if it is fully realized. Do you remember before we first started these lessons that I pointed out your immortal condition?”

“I do,” the Princess replied.

“You’ve seen many deaths in your younger years. Inevitably, you will see many more, including mine soon. I must command you to do one last thing: never be alone. Do not shy away from us mortals just because it may cause you pain when we reach the end of our time. A leader who is not connected to their subjects cannot make the best decisions for their regard. Remember also that you are a beacon to all those below you, and that you are to provide the best possible example of what a moral pony should be.”

The Princess looked to Starswirl with stunned eyes that began to cloud over, “You... You’re going to die soon?”

“The vast majority of beings must at some point.”

“But what about your studies?” Princess Celestia asked, at a loss to her friend’s prediction of his own demise, “What about all the other places in the world you have left to see?”

Starswirl shrugged, “They don’t really matter now. My time on this world has been long; I’ve lived almost four hundred years.”

“Aren’t you afraid?” Princess Celestia asked in confusion, “Everypony I’ve ever known who was mortal had some fear of death.”

“I cannot lie; I do have some trepidation. I’m only afraid of dying, though, not death.”

“But death is the end! All the knowledge you’ve accumulated, everything you’ve ever experienced will be lost. How can you be so calm about this?”

“I am calm because death is not the end,” Starswirl said matter-of-factly. The Princess was bewildered but silent.

The old unicorn sighed as he gathered his thoughts to the best of his ability, and he continued on, “When you settle into a book, and you’ve just finished the prologue, do you stop there, lay it down and never return to it because the next page is blank? If you’re in any way sensible, you turn the page and start Chapter One. I know death is the end here, but it is the great beginning for somewhere else, somewhere far beyond this place. I’ve even caught a few snippets of that somewhere else in my travels across time.”

“What is it like? That place, I mean.” the Princess asked quietly.

Starswirl smiled as he closed his eyes. The Princess could tell that he was ecstatic from just remembering what little he knew of what was past the veil, “Warm; a gentle warmness. A city made out of so many different kinds of crystal that spans tens of thousands of miles, with a splendorous light at its center that illuminates everything. There are no tears apart from those made by joy, and there is no pain or grief.”

The Princess smiled a little through her sadness for her friend, “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“No,” the old unicorn opened his eyes, “It doesn’t sound bad at all.”

In a flash of light, the two ponies returned to Starswirl’s guest suite. He slowly walked over to his bureau and began to write in his journal once again. He sighed contentedly as he began to transcribe his thoughts onto the paper with his magically created quill. The process had become a cathartic practice for him many years ago, and he was enjoying himself once again as he wrote.

The Princess followed him across the room and looked over his shoulder, “What do you write in there, anyway?”

“Theories, spells, theoretical spells, and a log of all my adventures.”

As soon as words or equations left the tip of Starswirl’s quill, they automatically began to shift into unreadable hieroglyphics and runes.

Princess squinted at the unintelligible language, “How do you read it later?”

“The book only looks like gibberish to those I haven’t allowed access to. Here,” his horn lit up, and the letters returned to a comprehensible structure for the Princess to read, “Indulge yourself.”

Craning her neck further over Starswirl’s neck, Princess Celestia began to look over the page slowly. After a minute or two of trying to decipher his theories, she sighed, “Are you sure this isn’t still gibberish?”

Starswirl chuckled, “I can’t be too sure in all honesty! At some point, all genius begins to look like madness.”

The two were silent for a time; Princess Celestia was trying to find the courage to ask a question, and Starswirl was waiting to answer it when it did come.

In time, she mustered up the necessary courage, “How much time do you have left?”

“About a month now. Enough time to do one or two last things. I must get back to Master Basil nine and half years from now to fulfill the promise that I made to him.”

The Princess’ eyebrow arched, “Which was?”

Starswirl looked up to the Princess with a small smile, “That things would have changed for the better, and that he and his children would never have to be afraid of you.”

On the outskirts of Baltimare stood a cottage with a fairly large tomato garden behind it. Basil had been blessed very much in the past ten years: his plot of land had grown four fold, his produce had been of good quality all around, and he had settled down with his lovely wife Melba, one of the Apple family, and had had one child with her; a daughter named Roma. It was midafternoon, and Basil was tending to his gloriously red and thoroughly ripe tomatoes. He was plucking each of the healthy fruits from their vines and was placing them in a cart nearby, so that tomorrow morning he could take them to market and sell what produce he had. He wagered that if the mild summer temperatures held for another two months, he might even be able to grow up another batch before the fall chill came. If that happened, he and his family would be sitting in well-earned comfort for the winter months, with food enough for everypony and a steadily growing nest egg for the later years.

Basil paused from his work as a strange feeling slipped into the forefront of his mind. Today was important, he realized. He racked his brain for all he was worth, but he couldn’t remember why. Was it his and Melba’s anniversary? No, he’d already be dead if that were the case. Roma’s birthday? That wasn’t it, and it wouldn’t be for another five months.

Suddenly, from behind him he heard an unsettlingly familiar somepony say, “Good afternoon, Master Basil. Though I suppose that now it would be Mister Basil, wouldn’t it?”

Basil froze as the knowledge of why today was so very important rushed back to him. He slowly craned his neck around until he found the pony the voice belonged to; it was the strange unicorn with the jingling hat and robes. “It’s you!”

“Yes, it’s me. It has been almost exactly ten years since we last saw each other,” Starswirl looked up at the position of the sun for a short time, “Ah, so I was seventeen minutes off. I guess I’ve gotten a little better at keeping time.”

Basil shook his head in utter dumbfoundedness, “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Disappear in the blink of an eye, and then just as easily come back to me ten years later near the exact time you left?”

The old unicorn smirked, “I’m a wizard; I learned to travel time from the best.”

“Who?”

“I’m not sure. He looked like a scrawny minotaur without horns or a tail, and he dressed in strange clothes. He was an interesting conversationalist, and I remember really liking his bowtie.”

Basil shook his head; he just couldn’t comprehend the oddity of this old unicorn stallion. In a moment, he realized he had been rather rude all those years ago when he had first met this pony. “I’m sorry, but I just realized I never asked your name when we first met. Who are you?”

“I’m glad your social etiquette has improved over the years. My name is Starswirl, or Starswirl the Bearded.”

Basil’s face blanched. His knees began to knock a little, and he nervously tried to speak, “Are you a... You’re-“

Starswirl cut off the middle aged earth pony before he drove himself into a panic, “I’m no spirit.”

Basil was driven into greater confusion, “But you’re dead!”

“Not yet. At least, not in my opinion.”

“But you died almost nine years ago! You were given a royal funeral by the Princess. There were invitations sent all across the world to come attend the service to send you off!”

Starswirl slowly shook his head, “I’m a time traveler; that hasn’t happened to me yet. Besides, it doesn’t really matter anyway; I decide when I die. I knew when I first met you that my time had been long overdue for many centuries; my magic and my thirst for knowledge have been what has been keeping me alive for ages now. Now, let us get to the matter of why I am here; how is Equestria nowadays?”

Despite his unsettledness at being in the presence of a dead pony walking, or... whatever he was, Basil obliged him his question, “The Princess published an edict of five tenants after your... death.”

“What five tenants were they?” Starswirl asked with bated breath.

“Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, and Laughter. She called them the Elements of Harmony.”

“What else?”

“She also established a council of representatives from all the provinces of Equestria to see to the daily needs of ponies everywhere. She called it the ‘House of Commonponies’, and she signed into law a bill of rights that provides certain liberties to all ponies.”

Starswirl nodded and grimaced to himself in triumph.

He looked back up to Basil, “What about you? Are you still afraid for your life?”

Basil smiled a little, “No. I haven’t been afraid in years. I have my Melba and my Roma; we’re free and prosperous. The sun rises, the rains come, and life is good.”

Starswirl joyfully smiled, “Then my promise to you is complete.” The old scholar once again looked up at the sun, “It seems it is time for me to leave now.” He looked back to Basil and smiled warmly, “Goodbye, Mister Basil. I wish you and your family happiness for years to come, and ever after.”

Basil looked at the old unicorn glumly, “So... This is it?”

“I’m afraid it is. It’s time for me to die soon.”

Basil then asked in confusion, “But you said that you decided when you died.“

“I do,” Starswirl said, “I’ve done quite a bit of good for this world. However, I can stand to do even more good if I inspire a certain Princess to do what I taught her to, if she does it in honor of my memory. Besides,” the wizened stallion shrugged, “I’ve had a good long run, and many chances to find knowledge in all its forms. It’s time to give the younger minds and bodies a chance to end up like the daft old codger that I am!”

Basil nodded and smiled a little, “Well, I hope you find some peace wherever you end up. Goodbye, Starswirl.”

Starswirl smiled warmly to the burgundy pony, “I don’t believe in goodbyes. So instead, I’ll simply say 'safe travels' to you, Mister Basil.”

The old scholar turned and began to walk away, and in a vibrant burst of azure-grey light, he was gone.

Chapter 14

Princess Celestia flew across the early morning sky in regal majesty, gliding on the subtle warm currents of the wind. A veritable sea of trees and other foliage passed beneath her as she flapped her wings to gain altitude, passing over a cluster of rocks jutting out above the Everfee Forest. She wondered if the little outcropping of rocks had been a part of Everfree Castle many years ago, or if her memories of the area had started to grow fuzzy as time took its toll on both her mind and the land around her. She hefted the satchel bag that was on her side up a little higher with her magic, as she tried to find a more comfortable position for it around her midsection. She saw a great ruin just below her; it was standing on a small cliff face, with a river passing underneath the edge. Erosion had taken its toll on the land near Everfree Castle, and the only part of the structure that remained standing was the chapel like room which had contained the Elements before they had been moved to Canterlot. The Princess slowly descended by flying in large circular arcs, until her golden horse shoes clanked against the rough stone floor of the small chapel.

She began to think to herself as she slowly approached the pedestal which had held the Elements. It had been nearly three hundred and seven years since she had imprisoned her sister’s essence on the moon, and it had been a little over five years since Starswirl had passed on. He had never really bothered to write a last will and testament for himself, so he had conveyed all of his last wishes to her personally.

“I don’t have any money, and I never really owned any land,” he had said, “So that makes that portion of things rather easy to manage. I do, however, have two gifts for you.” The old unicorn had offered her an egg that was colored bronze and red.

“What is it?” she had asked.

“That is a phoenix egg. In about a week’s time, it will hatch. They are frightfully intelligent creatures, and since they are immortal in their own right, the hatchling will keep you good company over many millennia.”

He had also produced a crystal sliver from his cloak, “This shard is a unique physical manifestation of the place where I am going to go after I leave you. Just hold on to it, and think of me occasionally.”

The Princess had smiled, “I promise.”

“I do also have two last requests.”

“Name them, and they’re yours, old friend.”

“I have family in Baltimare. I’d like you to provide for and look after my last descendant, my great-grandniece Clover.”

“I’ll take her under my wing, as if she were my own child.”

“It will be good for the both of you,” he had smiled peacefully.

“What is your last request?”

“I’d like you to mail my journal through regular postage to Clover.”

The Princess was mildly confused, “Why not just have me send it by Royal Courier? It would be much safer and quicker in the end.”

“Because history demands that my journal disappears for a time. It will be lost, stolen, and lost again for many centuries, until it ends up in the right set of hooves.”

“Whose hooves?” she had asked.

“I’m unsure, but I can tell you this; you will see my journal again when the pink and purple mare, who is three in one, appears.”

She still had no idea what he had meant by any of that strange request or prophecy, but she had fulfilled his instructions to the letter; she had mailed the journal to Clover, but just as Starswirl stated, she had never received it. Princess Celestia had taken Clover back to Canterlot with her for a time, and the young unicorn mare had become her first student. After her studies under her had finished, Clover had left to travel just like her uncle Starswirl had, and she did many great things for all the races of the world. She had even picked up her own title; Clover the Clever. Before she had left Canterlot, she had gotten married and drug her husband along behind her to follow in her wake. Though the family name was now Sparkle for Clover, she was definitely the mare of the house, figuratively speaking. The egg that Starswirl had given to the Princess had hatched as he said it would, and she greeted into the world a newborn phoenix chick that she had later named Philomena. It was wonderful to have a pet that she could talk to, and who would never truly leave her side.

The world is beginning to be put in order, the Princess had declared to herself. She would continue training up students to go out and be her hooves in the world. Her subjects, rather than greeting her with fake smiles, were beginning to look at her with genuine joy, and she knew that the majority of them were happy at last. There was only one last thing to take care of.

The Princess slipped the satchel around her midsection off of herself. From out of the large bag she pulled the six Elements of Creation, and she placed each of them on their appropriate pedestals with due reverence. The vibrant, perfectly spherical gems pulsated in the growing morning light.

“I know your power,” she spoke to them, “and while I never used you apart from sealing away Luna, your power is too great for any one pony, even an alicorn like me, to wield.”

Light twinkled off the surface of the gems.

“I cannot allow it to be possible for somepony like Nightmare Moon or any one pony to be able to harness you.”

She almost thought she saw one of the gems shift in response to this statement.

She continued, “Perhaps this is what Starswirl would have me do. Perhaps it isn’t. I have faith, though, that all things happen for a purpose, and that this decision will turn out for the best.”

She pointed her horn at the nearest Element, it was Topaz colored. “I bind you to only be usable to those who are Honest at heart.” The sphere lost its colorful and crystal-like nature, and in only a few moments it became as common looking and gray as any other stone surrounding the chapel.

She next pointed at the Element colored Ruby, “I bind you to only be usable to those Loyal to their friends.” This Element also became lusterless and dull grey.

One by one the Princess locked away the powers of the holy, life giving relics, until there was only the very lonely Amethyst left. Here the Princess wasn’t sure how to proceed; Starswirl had only ever taught her five excellent attributes. As she thought more and more, the answer slowly seeped into mind, and she smiled softly. The lessons she had learned, all she had become with Starswirl’s help, would have never been possible had he not been her friend. Friendship, she thought to herself, is what can truly define and change the world forever. Through those we share our love with, through those who laugh and cry with us, through those who stick by our sides in the thick of life, but who will also tell us honestly when we are in the wrong.

She looked down at Amethyst, and she said, “I bind your power to unify all the other Elements together. Only through you, you who represent the magic of friendship, can the others be summoned. Without you, the other Elements have no power at all.” The sixth Element of Harmony then dissolved into an uncountable multitude of particles which floated into the air and settled onto the other five Elements. As the dust of the sixth touched the five, the grey orbs glowed purple for an instant, and then became still.

Satisfied in her work, Princess Celestia turned and walked away from Elements. As she walked past a destroyed stained glass window and large section of broken wall, she heard a sharp cracking sound underhoof. She momentarily stopped as she looked down at the shards of glass her golden horse shoe had stepped on. It was an image of the sun. The Princess looked down at the golden orange dust that surrounded the broken glass, and then she looked up to the window from which it had come from. The frame of the window still held the half broken image of her and her sister, as it showed that they had ruled over the land, and made things right through a balance of authority.

What will it be like in seven hundred years? She wondered to herself. When Luna comes back, will we be able to reconcile? I’ll be somepony else by then, but she will be just like she was; still angry. Still vengeful.

She sighed deeply as she wrapped her now empty satchel around her midsection, and took off into the awaiting skies above.

I miss you so deeply, sister. I hope that I can make things right by you some day.

It was the dawn of a new beginning for Princess Celestia and her influence in the world. With each new student she taught, she learned even more about what Starswirl had been trying to teach her. Her students varied in many ways over the years. She taught unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. In several instances, she had even had opportunities to teach those of other races; zebharans, minotaurs, even the occasional griffon. Each pupil brought something new to her, whether it was their personality, their perspective, or simply their past experience. Years passed like days, and it wasn’t all that long until it would be time for Nightmare Moon’s release from her stellar prison. Plans had been created many years before; contingencies were accounted for in as many ways as there were conceivable.

It was two years before the appointed thousand year sentence was complete, and Princess Celestia had been taking an idle stroll around the castle, when she had had her first experience with her next student. The youngest of the Sparkle family, a little filly named Twilight, had been taking a test to join her School for gifted Unicorns, when her body’s magical reservoir had nearly overloaded. Had the Princess not been there, she was sure that that entire tower of the castle would have magically detonated. The little filly did hold great promise though, so she had taken her as her student. As she had taught her student new kinds of magic, Twilight Sparkle had eagerly devoured the knowledge she gave. She had tried to subtly coax her student into taking up opportunities to make friends with other students, and some of the residents of Canterlot. The little filly, however, had missed the forest for the trees, and she was so focused on her magical studies that she only interacted with others out of necessity.

As one last desperate act, on the eve of Nightmare Moon’s release, Princess Celestia had commanded Twilight Sparkle to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival. She could only hope that the kindly spirit of the town of Ponyville would be able to affect her student in the best possible way. If the situation became as dire as she believed it could turn, she would intervene. She truly hoped that she did not have to resort to her last plan, but she would if it became necessary to protect the world. All her hopes were now bound up in the brilliant little filly who was now leaving for Ponyville.

Mother, she prayed, help guide my student’s and my destiny. Help us to find the best possible solution to this conundrum. Elements, if you are out there still, give me strength.

Finished with her plea, the Princess cast a spell of invisibility and intangibility on herself, and she began the flight to Ponyville directly behind the flying chariot that was carrying her student.

Equestria would never be the same after that fateful day.

That tale, however, is for another time and place.

Chapter 7

Princess Celestia glided on the warm currents of the wind, finishing her journey to the New Blood’s stronghold. She flew into the eyrie sequestered in a large crag in the mountain, surprising a great many Griffons.

“Who is that white pony?”

“Fool, don’t you know? It’s Sol Invicta, the Empress of Equestria!”

“By the Forefathers, is that the Green Knight in her hooves?”

Princess Celestia hurriedly asked of no one in particular while laying the injured Gawaine down on the cavern floor, “Where is a healer? His wounds are many!”

The crowd of Griffons looked to each other, and then looked back to her.

She impatiently looked back at them, and she stomped one of her hooves. “Well? You don’t want him to die, do you?”

One of the closest Griffons spoke up, “We have no healers. Warriors fall prey to battle and are taken to Elysia’s Halls in honor, or they do not fight and are taken to a shameful death. We all fight for honor and glory; who then is left to heal?”

“Besides,” another Griffon called out, “True warriors can lie down and rise up of their own will. Gawaine has done it before, and he can do it again.”

Starswirl appeared at the mouth of the eyrie with six more wounded Griffons, and those that could walk limped their way to their nests. Seeing the Princess with Gawaine lying before her unmoving, he rushed over to her side. “What has happened?” he breathed heavily from the great strains he had put on his aging body.

“He’s been injured, but there are no healers,” the Princess whispered, “Apparently there is some kind of taboo against the medicinal sciences for Griffons.”

“Yes, it’s the way of the predator; the strong survive and the weak perish. Hello,” the sage unicorn murmured, “What have we here?” The area where Gawaine had been slashed by Ailsa VI was beginning to glow deep purple and sickly green. “Oh no,” Starswirl murmured to himself.

“What?” Princess Celestia hastily asked, “What’s wrong, Starswirl?”

“Things have become infinitely more complicated than I could have anticipated,” He looked down at the wound on the fallen Griffon, “This is evil magic we are dealing with!”

The crowd of Griffons whispered amongst themselves in wonder and anger upon overhearing Starswirl’s declaration.

“The Old Bloods are using dark powers in the field of battle?”

“Dishonorable!”

“Unfair advantage in combat is forbidden by all the Forefathers!”

“Evil magic?” Princess Celestia looked to Starswirl in confusion, “How? Magic is amoral; only the improper usage of magic is considered evil.”

Starswirl nodded his head from side to side vigorously, “No. While most magic is used to create or to alter what already exists, the other kinds, the kinds that can only destroy, those are truly evil magicks. The armored glove Gawaine was sliced by is draining him of his life force. I expect that he will die within the hour if we do not act quickly.”

“What can be done?” the Princess asked hurriedly.

“The only thing that could truly work at this point is to give him a pure transfusion of life energy to counteract the magic that’s draining it out of him.”

The Princess nodded her head to show her understanding, “Fine. I will be the donor.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better one,” Starswirl declared grimly, before conjuring up a thin knife-like blade with his magic, “I’m going to need to take it out of your chest, I’m afraid; the life closest to the heart is the most pure. I’ll seal it immediately after we’re done, but afterwards you may experience some chest pains and minor magic disruption.”

“I’ll be fine,” the Princess said, preparing her body for the incision, “I won’t be in any trouble.”

“If you say so, Tia,” the sagely unicorn said before surgically slicing into her chest, eliciting a small breathless grunt from the Princess.

Even the hardened Griffons in the crowd took a step back; had the two ponies lost their minds? What sort of madness was taking place here?

Taking the magically constructed knife out of the freshly made wound, Starswirl continued, “Now we must apply the...blood-“ the elderly unicorn was confused; he looked down at the blade, but there was no blood on it. It was as if it hadn't touched any flesh at all.

“I can handle it from here,” the Princess said, scooping up the wounded Griffon knight in her forehooves as she did. She placed the hole in her chest near the slash wounds of Gawaine’s, and the golden energy within her billowed out, coalescing into both wounds. The vampiric gashes of the Green Knight began to mend, and as they were bound up, the Princess’ form began to change. Her forelegs became scaly, and clawed digits grew out of what had once become her hooves. Her facial structure grew rigid and avian; where there had once been a horse’s mouth was now something like an eagle’s beak. Her hindhooves became like lion’s paws, and her tail extended into a three foot long whip, with coronal fire on its tip. Plumage in the colors of her mane and tail grew from out of her behind. The entire room was struck silent in awe.

“By all the sacred stars,” Starswirl whispered. He chuckled to himself and smiled deeply, “And now I’ve seen everything.”

Princess Celestia placed Gawaine back down on the floor, and began to examine her body. She brought up a set of talons and flexed them experimentally, and she looked down at her newly created beak in surprise. She flicked her whip-like tail in agitation, “Well, I certainly didn’t intend for this to happen!”

Gawaine slowly began to open up his eyes. He looked up to find himself in the presence of a large white griffon. He got up on all fours to quickly bow before her, his beak almost touching the ground, “I praise you, mighty Elysia, for bringing me into glory from great battle.”

“Rise up, Green Knight,” the white griffon said, “You are not dead.”

Gawaine looked up in confusion, “I am not, fair Elysia?”

“Well if you were, I certainly wouldn’t be here!” Starswirl said, coming into Gawaine’s vision from behind the white griffon.

“Starswirl! Is it truly you?”

“Oh it is,” the old unicorn chuckled, “and you owe Princess Celestia a great debt for returning you to us.”

The griffon knight looked once again to the white griffon, but now with dawning comprehension, “You are Sol Invicta? Your power is spoken of with both wonder and fear! You are a great warrior in my eyes, even if you are a female.”

The Princess’ eyebrow arched. “I’ll choose to take that as a compliment," she replied flatly.

“You have saved my life twice; first in battle with my dishonorable foes, and then you helped me to rise again, even against the intervention of my enemies,” he bowed once again to her, “I am in your debt, as the unicorn scholar says. Ask anything of me, and your kindness I will hope to repay.”

The Princess glanced over at Starswirl, and he nodded his head in the direction of Gawaine, as if to say, What are you waiting for? Get on with it!

“I wish to provide you continued support in your war,” Princess Celestia declared, “But I first wish for you to retake and safeguard the pony city of Cloudsdale for Equestria from the clutches of the Old Bloods. If you do this and promise to allow no harm to come to the Cloudsdalians in any way, I will supply your warriors and you with food and water throughout the winter months and beyond, in the hopes that you and your cause achieve victory.”

Gawaine’s eyes widened in surprise, “That is a most generous offer! I accept your terms of repayment. I hope that this can be the start of a great harmony between both the New Bloods and the Solar Empire.”

“No,” the Princess raised her clawed paw to Gawaine, “Between the New Bloods and Equestria,” and the griffon and the pony-griffon shook claws.

In a burst of magic, Starswirl and the Princess, still in her griffon body, reappeared in the guest tower of Canterlot.

“Well, I must say that the day went spectacularly,” Starswirl said with a grin, “Though the lesson I truly had in mind for today went completely out the window!”

The Princess clicked her beak and smiled, “I think you might have found a way for me to learn about Kindness, even if the lesson didn’t go as you’d hoped. Let me see if I might have learned it by accident.”

“Alright,” Starswirl sighed contently as he walked over to the fireplace and stoked a fire with his magic. He trotted behind his small wooden desk and sat down on the soft pillow located there, “Let’s hear it!”

“Kindness is sort of like a form of Generosity. Life is unfair, but Kindness is a way that anypony can make life just a little bit better for everypony around them, whether by sacrificing their possessions, time, or even their very lives for others. It’s a way to both give and receive happiness, and it can give ponies better opportunities to live their lives more freely than they otherwise could have.”

Starswirl sat quietly on his pillow for a while, thinking over the statement, and then he slowly began to nod his head up and down, “That’s not bad. That’s actually a very good summation of what I wanted to teach!”

The Princess smiled, and then she looked down at her beak. She had temporarily forgotten about her transformation. Perhaps if..

Princess Celestia was surrounded by golden light, and she saw her talons were beginning to return to hooves, and her beak was becoming a snout. She whirled about and saw her tail was returned to its regular shape and style; she was alicorn again! She gave herself a shake all over, “Oh, it feels wonderful to be a pony again!”

“How did you do that?” Starswirl asked inquisitively, “How did you change back? For that matter, how did you change at all?”

The Princess shrugged her shoulders and wings, “I assumed that if I thought about my original form hard enough, and if I tried to use my magic, I would become the correct ‘me’ again. I’ve never done whatever it was I did today, so it’s as much of a mystery to me as it is to you!”

Starswirl shook his head and chuckled, “You never cease to amaze me, Princess!” The sage stroked his beard for a while before he continued, “Would you mind if I studied you tomorrow? Your biology is simply remarkable, and I must know how it works!”

Princess Celestia faked shock as she put a hoof to her mouth, “You want to study my body? All these years I’ve known you, and I didn’t think you were such a dirty old unicorn, Starswirl!”

The unicorn paused as he thought about what the Princess had said, and then he realized what she had meant. The Princess burst out laughing as she ran out the doors of the suite, and Starswirl quickly grew a very grumpy expression, “Very funny, you old fox,” and in a while he began to laugh a little to himself as well.