Alexandria the Great

by chillbook2

Tea and Gemstones

“Sorry, Princess Twilight.” said Scootaloo, bowing on one knee. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom did the same, elbowing me to follow. I quickly dropped to my knee, feeling foolish. Of course I was supposed to bow, how could I forget? I know my parents are friends with her but I’ve only met her a few times. My mom kept trying to get me to be friends with her kids, Celestia and Luna, but I never really hit it off with them. Conjure was another matter. He understood how it felt to be different. He even enchanted my jacket for me before school started. I liked him.

“It’s quite alright.” she said. “And I told you to stop calling me ‘Princess’. I’ve known you guys since you were kids.”

“And we told you to stop calling us the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We already got our Cutie Marks.” said Aunt Sweetie. “It was our fault Alex was late. We were having a discussion and we lost track of time.”

“I understand completely. We haven’t even started the tour yet. Alexandria can take a spot next to Platinum Pendant and Sterling Silver here.” said the princess. I got to my hooves and grudgingly took a spot next to my two biggest bullies.

“Nice to see you made it, Blank Flank!” whispered Platinum.

“Yeah, we thought you were going to miss it. What took you so long? Taking advice from your loser aunt?” mocked Sterling.

“You mean my loser aunt Sweetie Belle, head of the Royal Firearms Department? The one with the most perfect aim in Equestria? Yeah, her.” I said, adjusting my shades.

“What’s that?” asked Platinum, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my half-eaten sapphire. “Is this a real gem?”

“No!” I shouted, grabbing it back. I quickly shoved it into my mouth. “Itsh candy, shee?”

“Pay attention, my little ponies.” said Princess Twilight. “We’re about to begin. Come this way.” She led us through the Crystal Empire castle, approaching three tall stones, one yellow, one blue, and one pink. On each stone was a name engraved on the face, ‘Celestia’, ‘Luna’, and ‘Cadence’.

“Now, I want you all to be very careful here.” said the princess. “These are the graves of the three former princesses of Equestria. Who can tell me their names?”

“Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.” said somepony in the group.

“Correct. Princess Celestia was my teacher. She taught me everything I know about magic and ruling a kingdom. She was like a mother to me.”

“What happened to her?” asked somepony else.

“I suppose it’s fitting that I show you on Valentine’s Day.” muttered the princess.

“What’s Valentine’s Day?” asked a third pony.

“Valentine’s Day is like Hearts and Hooves Day, but on Earth. You’ll get your chance to visit Earth in a few years, when you turn 18. Valentine’s Day is also the day Princess Celestia selflessly gave her life to protect me, my friends and the changelings. Who is familiar with the war?” Nopony raised their hoof. “Okay, okay. About 13 years ago, there was a war. Well, you can’t really call it a war. It was a series of battles, spanning three years, between King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Discord, Sunset Shimmer and the Elements and Defenders of Harmony. That would be Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, me, Silver Rift, Conjure, and War Horse.”

“Ooh, War and Pinkie are my parents!” called some filly, Storm, I think her name is.

“Yes. We have moved on and had children. My own kids are with their father, Conjure. Back to the story. Fluttershy is the one who dealt with Sunset Shimmer and Discord. Then, we had a face-off in the Canterlot Castle against Chrysalis and Sombra. We managed to get Sombra to leave, but Chrysalis remained. She tried to hash out a negotiation. When we refused, Princess Celestia took it upon herself to sacrifice her life. Princess Luna got in the way and died tragically herself.”

“What happened to Princess Cadence?” I asked, my curiosity finally taking over.

“She… took her own life. She found out that Celestia expected her to take over when she died and she fell into a depression. She might have made it, if it weren’t for the death of my brother, her husband. She hung herself in this very room. We buried her and the other princesses beneath the floor. We went on to defeat King Sombra, and we let Chrysalis go.”

“Why would you do that?” asked Platinum. “That sounds like a pretty dumb thing to do.”

“Because Chrysalis saved Silver Rift’s life, stupid.” I said. “Not to mention the fact that Chrysalis had a good reason for doing what she did, and Princess Celestia had the whole thing planned out. You think Princess Twilight would really do something like that without good reason?”

“Thank you, Alex. I see you’ve been paying attention in Ms. Doo’s class. Yes, like Alex said, Silver Rift would have died had it not been for Queen Chrysalis. That means, by extension, I would have died, my friends would have died, some of you would never have been born, the humans would have died, Equestria would have been enslaved and Sombra would be running amok, free to do whatever he pleases.”

“Sounds bad.” whispered Sterling.

“Very bad. And that about wraps up the war stories.” said Princess Twilight.

“Awww!” moaned the entire group of foals.

“What?! I’ve never seen a group of students get so wrapped up in one of my lectures like you have.” said Princess Twilight. “Hm… Ah! Since you guys have been so well behaved, and are actually interested in the story, I will show you something.” She raised her hands up high above her head, bathing herself in a bright purple light. The wall behind her cracked open, wide enough for all of us to squeeze through. Lowering her arms, she lead us over to the crevice. Slowly, we followed her in. It was a large room, with a barred cell holding a grey pony with a black mane, red eyes. and half a unicorn horn.

“Hello, Twilight. What brings you here? Oh, and I see you brought some foals. My, my, you and Conjure must have been busy.” he growled.

“This is King Sombra.” said the princess. “Sombra, these are students from the Ponyville schoolhouse. I was just telling them the story of our battle, and they were interested. Care to tell them about it?”

“Oh, I would love to. Over ten years ago, I tried to save Earth and Equestria from instability. Your princess put a stop to my good work and chucked me in here.”

“First thing you should know about King Sombra: he lies. His greatest power is his silver tongue. He is really good at playing mind games.” said Princess Twilight.

“In any case, it was unfair. They gave Chrysalis a second chance.”

“She got a second chance because she helped us defeat you.”

“Betrayed me and her people. It was pure luck that Silver had a way out for her.”

“He’s actually not lying here.” said the princess. “Queen Chrysalis was taking a huge risk by helping us. She had the choice to save herself or us, and she chose us. See what the magic of friendship can do?”

“While it has been absolutely riveting to speak with you, your majesty, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’m growing tired.” he growled softly.

“Thank you, Sombra. You’ve been quite helpful. Okay, my little ponies, right this way.” said the princess, leading us out of the prison. I stood back a second, amazed at how tame and calm Sombra appeared. Our eyes met and I felt a sudden pang of pity for him.

“Stay behind”. I walked for the door, slowing down right before I reached it. What could go wrong? I looped back around and stopped in front of Sombra’s cage.

“Hello.” I said. “Was that you who told me to stay behind?”

“Yes. I need a favor from you.” he growled.

“Why would I ever help you? You tried to kill my mom and her friends a bunch of times.”

“All in the past. And these are extenuating circumstances.”

“How so?”

“Just shut up and listen to a dying old stallion’s last request!” he snapped

“Dying?”

“Yes. I’m dying. In fact, I’ll be dead by morning. Unless you help me. I wouldn’t ask you to do anything for free, by the way. You help me with my problem, I help you with your little dragon problem.”

“How do you know?!” I exclaimed in panic.

“Call it a lucky guess. Anyway, time is short. If I were a betting pony, I’d wager that we have 94 seconds exactly before Twilight comes for you. You can help me by letting me help you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously. I shouldn’t have been talking to him, he’s the sworn enemy of my parents and their best friends, but the temptation was too strong. Could he really help me?

“I can make you a unicorn. A whole, pure unicorn.” he said, leaning against the bars.

“But what if I want to be a dragon?” I asked, just curious to his response.

“Technically speaking, you would be a dragon. And a unicorn. Not at once, but at the same time.” he said hesitantly. “How it works doesn’t matter. You have 65.6 seconds.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Nope. You won’t even notice.”

“Will it affect my personality?”

“Strictly speaking, no. You’ll still be the same old Alexandria. 48 seconds.” I thought it over. Could I actually trust him? He would be able to give me everything I ever wanted. What would my parents say? They had said that they would love me no matter what… Okay.

“Do it.” I said. “Do what you have to do.”

“Excellent.” he said. With a laugh, he burst into a plume of smoke. “Oh, it may take a day or two to take effect.” He flew through the bars and right into my mouth, choking me. I coughed and sputtered, collapsing to the ground. A deep warmth filled my body, which was swiftly replaced by an ice-cold chill. With each breath I took, I found I became a little less smothered. After a moment, I could breathe normally again. Getting to my hooves, I scurried out of the prison and ran to catch up with the group. I found them in the cafeteria area, where they had stopped for lunch. I snuck in, unnoticed, and leaned against the wall.

“She’s sooo tacky, don’t you think, Platinum?” asked Sterling Silver, a few feet to my left. Of course. No way they were talking about anyone besides…

“Alex thinks she’s so cool because her mom’s an Element of Harmony, but she’s just a seamstress. Not like she’s doing anything important nowadays.” replied Platinum Pendant. Geez, these two never quit.

“And she’s always wearing that ugly jacket.”

“Just like you two are always wearing those Nightmare Night masks.” I said irritably. “Oh, wait, that’s just your face!” They snapped their heads to the left, just noticing I was there.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t everypony’s favorite Blank Flank.” said Platinum, trotting around me. She pushed me forward, right into Sterling who promptly shoved me back. “We’re not lying, you know. You are always wearing that ugly jacket. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without it.”

“Why is that, Alex? It’s certainly not for looks, right. I mean, your mother’s a fashionista for heavens sake! Have you learned nothing about style from her?”

“I just like to do my own thing, you know?” I said. “Just starting trends.”

“You know what? I think it’s starting to catch on. I think I might try it.” said Platinum, grabbing my sleeve. “In fact, I might try it right now.” She yanked hard, pulling my jacket off.
FWOOSH!

My wings flew open for everypony to see.

“I knew it! I knew you were a freak!” exclaimed Sterling, grabbing my shades. She ripped them off my face, revealing my green, slitted dragon eyes.

“Give them back!” I said, feeling my fangs elongate. Oh no. That’s never good.

“Or what, Lizard Girl?” said Platinum. “What are you going to d-” I grabbed her by the throat, my claws digging into her neck. I threw her against the wall, my mane frizzing up in my anger.

“Give it back or I’ll be enjoying some barbeque pony for lunch.” I growled, snorting faint smoke. “I’m part dragon, so it’s not technically cannibalism.”

“You wouldn’t!” she cried, tearing slightly.

“I’ve always wondered what flame-broiled bitch tasted like. Guess I’m about to find out.” I said, opening my mouth wide. I spit a large plume of blue fire, scorching in front of me and surely burning her to death. When the flames died down, I was shocked to see that she was wearing a welding mask. A hand grabbed me by the mane and yanked me backwards. Outraged, I swung my left claw at the white stallion who had grabbed me. My nails buried themselves in his mid-section, which had become a large wine cork.

“Jesus Christ, Alex! I know you’re pissed, but was it really necessary to try and burn her to death?” he said.

“Where is she?!” I screamed in my bloodrage. “That was my lunch!”

“Relax, I have some rubies in my chambers. Those are your favorites.”

“Who the hell are you? I’ll kill you to get to her if I have to!”

“Would you really kill your Uncle Conjure?” he said sarcastically. “Come on, we’re basically family. Just then, it clicked into place. I had just spit fire at Platinum, who was saved by Conjure, who I just slashed at, which he defended from by turning into a wine cork. Whoops.

“Do you really have rubies?” I asked, anger replaced with sheer embarrassment.

“Yeah. Looks like you need something to calm you down. Tea and gemstones?” he asked, reaching forward.

“Sounds good.” I answered, grabbing his hand.
` “We have to talk about these anger issues of yours.”