Trickster Priest

by Fresnor

Chapter 7

Princess Celestia sighs as she finishes telling her tale to the six mares. “After that Luna never forgave him and he has been picking at her ever since. We’ve never been able to predict what he would do, one moment he is saving a village from a fire and the next he is destroying one on a whim. We’ve tried many things to stop him but not one has worked because we know little about him.”

They six mares all look at each other with varying emotions on their faces, from fear on Fluttershy’s to a weary excitement on Pinkie’s. None of them knew what to say after hearing this story as it was hard to believe that some creature could just appear out of nowhere with all that power. They were all surprised when Luna spoke up behind them all. “I see that you are telling them about why I can’t stand that creature, Tia. Though I notice that you haven’t said anything about what he was doing while I was gone the last thousand years.”

Celestia looks a bit flustered at the question as which surprises Twilight as it is a state she had almost never seen from her mentor. “Uh, well, that is to say… You see there was this…” Celestia sighs as she shakes her head at her sister as she capitulates.

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1000 years ago
Just Days after Luna’s banishment

The Captain of the Solar Guard pounded on the door leading to the chambers of the ruler of Equestria. “Princess Celestia! Please come out of there, we need you to lead the country before it rips itself apart! Princess Celestia!”

Inside the chambers was a mess of an alicorn as she sobbed in grief over what she was forced to do. The magic in her mane had still not returned leaving it to hang limply in its natural state especially as it hadn’t been washed in days. This was further proven by the matted fur of her muzzle that was further exemplified by the tear tracks running down it. She hadn’t wanted to see anyone since her sister was sealed in the moon and the room had been sealed by her magic to keep them out, or so she had thought.

“Well, well Celly, I was wondering why I hadn’t heard anything from you and your sister lately. It sure must have been difficult to unleash the greatest weapon of Equestria on your sister though; I didn’t think you had it in you.” Xellos walks around the princess’ bed twirling his staff as he looks over the damage caused by the conflict.

Celestia glares at Xellos for a moment before she slowly climbs to her hooves and growls menacingly at him. “Do you think that I had a choice to do that? That I wanted to banish my sister to save my ponies? Do you think it was easy to make it where I will never see her again!?” In a fit of rage she blasted the area that Xellos was standing with a surge of solar energy.

When the smoke cleared there was nothing left of him and the princess almost thought that she finally got him until she felt his arm across her withers. “Well I’m hurt. Here I am to tell you about this little prophecy I’ve heard of and you just attack me for no reason. I guess you really don’t want to hear about when your sister is going to be back. I’ll be back when you’re a bit calmer.”

With that he disappears leaving Celestia gaping at where he once was before she fully comprehends just what he said. “Wait, what prophecy!? Xellos, what prophecy are you talking about!? Xellos you get back here right now and TELL ME!” Even with the Royal Canterlot Voice to increase the chances of him hearing he ignored her as she flailed impotently at the sky.

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906 Years Ago

“Captain, be sure that the guard is ready for tomorrow and the official opening of the castle. I want to be sure that my ponies are safe and there are some rumors of some elements planning an attack during the celebration.” The Solar Guard Stallion salutes the princess before he heads out of the room to do his duty.

Once he exits Celestia sighs as she leans back and looks at another scroll dealing with the plans of Canterlot. It had taken a long time but the move from her old home to here was about to finally be completed. She approved a couple more requests when she was drawn from her planning by a voice she was waiting to hear for a while.

“Nice to see you looking better than when we last met. I was actually worried that you were going to do something drastic when I left but it’s good to see that you’ve pressed on.” Celestia looks up to see the form of Xellos laying across the back of her chair looking down at her.

“I’ve been wondering when you were going to return again. Your words were the only thing keeping me going all this time but I need you to tell me what exactly you meant by prophecy? I’ve searched for these past ninety-four years but haven’t heard any that deal with my sister.” Her voice is a bit shaky near the end and a tear can be seen in the corner of her eye as she stares at him.

Xellos pauses as he thinks for a moment. “You mean that old thing? It’s been a while but I think I remember it correctly.
The Mare in the Moon, a powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria,
defeated by the Elements and imprisoned in the moon.
Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year,
the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard it but I believe that is how it goes.”

Celestia’s eyes widen as she listens to the prophecy and when he finishes the tears are freely flowing. “You mean that she isn’t gone for good? I’ll actually be able to see Lulu again in the future? Please tell me that this isn’t a lie.”

Xellos shakes his head at the princess. “You should know by now that I avoid telling lies, they just aren’t as fun as the truth. Besides this is a prophecy of destruction so you still have a lot of work to do to prevent the worst of it, especially since you’ve already ruined those gems of yours.”

Celestia doesn’t pay much attention to him though as she keeps muttering “Thank You” over and over again. Xellos, noticing that he is being ignored, just smiles before vanishing from the castle again.

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500 years ago

“You really should eat more, Celly. Your sister won’t be able to recognize you when she returns if you look like a skeleton.” Celestia rolled her eyes at being interrupted by Xellos once again. He had been in and out every couple decades to annoy her, though she often found herself enjoying the break from monotony.

“Unlike some ponies I don’t have the time to keep up with my figure. Not only do I have to keep a kingdom running but any spare time I have is spent on planning for my sister’s return.” Even though she said this she kind of wished that she did have more time for herself. Too often she was forced to skip meals as another emergency reared its head forcing her to deal with it. She couldn’t admit it though as she had to appear strong for her subjects.

“That’s not very good excuse especially since your ponies watch everything you do. I’ve seen fillies starving themselves just so they can look like you. Lucky for you I have the perfect solution to that problem right here.” With a flourish of his cloak he reveals a box sitting atop his hand which he then opens to reveal a cake which he sets in front of the princess.

“Behold a cake originating in the depths of the Dark Labyrinthian Forests bordering the lands of the minotaur race. A triple layer chocolate cake baked with cherries in the batter, cherry sauce and creamy frosting between the layers and topped with more frosting and chocolate shavings.” Celestia stares at the cake for a second before she brings a wing around to her face.

“Your plan is cake? For a moment I thought that you would actually have something useful to say.” Xellos just chuckles at her reaction.

“Oh, no need to thank me, Celly. Oh, and Discord says hi. He’s rather entertaining despite being a captive audience.” With that he vanished from the princess’ sight leaving her holding her head.

“Great, now the big headache is talking with the even bigger headache. I am surprised that it has taken this long for them to meet.” She looks at the cake on her desk and sniffs at it before trying a piece of it before sighing. “This cake is actually pretty good.”

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400 years ago

Celestia was walking through the halls after a long day of holding court. She had taken to wandering the halls at random in the hope to finding something new every day. Every once and a while she would find something new that had been put up without her knowing, and even the occasional secret passage she had forgotten. It gave her something to keep things a bit fresh and interesting over the years.

Of course at times she finds something that she wishes she didn’t find; like that statue she just walked by causing her to stop and face hoof. “When did he put this thing here, and how did he sneak it by my guards?” In front of her was a statue of Xellos performing a rude gesture to whatever passed by in the hall.

Taking a closer look at the statue she notices a rolled up scroll at the base of the statue.

‘Hey there Sunbutt,
I heard that you’ve been a bit lonely so I had this built for you by a private contractor. I know how much you like your little statue gardens so I thought I’d give you one of me to add to it. Maybe you could put it with Dissy so that he has some company when you aren’t visiting him. Oh and I also left you a cake at his statue as well.'

Celestia rolls her eyes as she finishes reading before she calls a servant to get the thing moved while she went off to see about this cake.

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Present

“From that point on I never did see him much, though he still left present around the castle for me to find. Most of the time the presents were a cake of some kind but occasionally it would be something unique.” The others in the room just stared at Princess Celestia as she finished her retelling of what Xellos had been up to over the past millennia in regards to her.

Luna was the first to react as she walked over to her sister and prodded a flank with her wing. “We had wondered why your posterior was so large when we had returned. It figures that it was that creature that caused it to inflate while I was gone.” Celestia glares at her sister for the comment while some of the other mares try to stifle chuckles.

Twilight sits looking at the notes that she had been making with a thoughtful look. “I guess that attacking him would be a bad idea especially since we don’t understand anything about him. I’m not sure if we will be able to stay away from him with how unpredictable he seems to be.” Most of the others nod in agreement, though Rainbow Dash and Applejack still look a bit unsure.

Things started to wind down from there as they finished up talking with the princesses and made their way home to Ponyville. They conversed about what they had learned from the princesses but there wasn’t much more they could add from what they observed of the creature. They were still trying to come up with a plan when the train pulled into Ponyville though their conversation came to a halt when they saw what had happened while they were gone.

“What happened here? Why is everything blue?” The six looked around the town to see that all the buildings were covered with a blue powder while no ponies seemed to be around. Searching the town they eventually found them in a long line outside of the spa, one of the few buildings not blue for some reason. What threw them off though was the fact that while they could recognize the ponies, something seemed to be wrong with them. They went to talk with the pony at the end of the line who happened to be the mayor sporting a giant pink afro.

“Mayor Mare, what in Equestria happened while we were gone?” She turned to see the six before sighing.

“I hope that you had a good talk with the princess while you were gone. That strange creature that caused Pinkie to redecorate Canterlot showed up soon after you left and dumped that blue powder on the town. Nothing happened at first but a few hours later everypony started having strange things happen to them. There was panic everywhere until Zecora came to help us.” Everyone except for Twilight reacted to the name negatively which confused the lavender unicorn.

“What do you mean Zecora came to help? Are y’all crazy?! Who knows how much worse she will make everything!” Twilight looks at Applejack in surprise at her friend before turning to the Mayor.

“Who is this Zecora? I haven’t heard of her before and I’m curious about the reaction my friends just had.” Mayor Mare looks a bit sheepish as she asks this but explains before the others could interrupt, though Pinkie was holding up a sign they all ignored.

“She’s a zebra that has been living in the Everfree Forest the last few years. We mistakenly thought the worst of her because of that and how she looked, but when she found out what happened here she was quick to help us with the antidote. Apparently this was all caused by some plant called poison joke.” Twilight raises an eyebrow at all this while her friends looked a bit unsure of themselves about this information.

Twilight turns to her friends with a questioning expression on her face. “Wait, you all were treating this Zecora poorly just because of where she lived and looked different?” When they all nodded just slapped a hoof over her muzzle in embarrassment.

Author's Note:

Going to be a few changes to some of the episodes, some of the bigger changes will have more explanations though. Now for those watching the show the most recent one now is the AB and Luna episode. Interesting how they pretty much shoved our faces in what Sweetie and Scootaloo's talents are going to be, though they really didn't touch on AB's though she is decent at potions but is decent for building things as well. There was a disappointment with the episode in that they only mention Babs but didn't show anything. Of course that may come in the 100th episode possibly but all we have right now is speculation which is really going to be hilarious.

Comments

[Moongaze14]

Great chapter.

[Flutters Is Shy]

Already over? Great chapter indeed.

[SeventhBrony]

Why do these chapters end so fast? Oh well, that just means I get to reread everything to pass the time until the next update