Celestia trudged through the forest, her long legs leaving her guardsponies behind. Light flickered from her horn and lit up her way, shining through the bushes and leaves. The night had some reassuring element to it that she couldn’t place. It reminded her of better times, she thought.
She could hear the guards calling her name in the distance. She ignored them.
She knew they were just trying to protect her from Equestria’s many enemies. Celestia had taken a very aggressive attitude towards her neighbours. Oh, the griffons were peaceful enough, but the Yaks and Diamond Dogs needed a firm hand. She tolerated not even the slightest hint of aggression.
It was her country to protect. It was her country, and her sisters.
That sort of attitude made enemies. The kind of enemy that would stop at nothing to have her removed. Powerful alicorn or no, the guards were a necessity of life. But today… This was her journey, and hers alone. The guards and her advisors couldn’t understand.
Nopony could really understand.
The forest path sloped uphill, and the trees became more sparse. Moonlight shone down from above, reminding Celestia of the only pony who was anything like her.
Why was it the only things that were at all similar to her opposed her? Discord was trapped in stone, and Luna was trapped on the moon. Tirek was trapped in Tartarus, and Scorpan had long since left Equestria. Celestia was alone.
She pulled out a large book from her saddlebags, levitating it before her. She had found it a year prior, in the darkest depths of her library. It was heavy and mysterious. To Celestia’s trained eye, it seemed like it had come from another time.
She even speculated it had come from the Eldritch Library. Little else would explain it making its way into her library without her librarians recording its presence. Aside from, admittedly, equine error.
She perused its cover once again. Even its contents was unusual. Celestia could count the number of books that recorded the history of Equestria in this level of detail on two hooves. Even if most of it was made up, it was still extraordinary. It told of everything leading up to Discord’s reign, which was when the author must have either passed away or given up due to the madness of that time.
What was impressive was how far back it went. It told of the founding of Equestria, the individual tribe’s history, and further back still. It told of little huts on plains and tribes of savage ponies before the written word had even been conceived. It told of ponies as dull, braying animals that had no magic and no defence against the vicious predators that surrounded them.
It was the sort of book that reminded Celestia very eerily of her own point of view. Not quite on the same scale of magnitude, of course… Celestia had been alive for a mere three hundred years… but she too had seen the rise and fall of cities, the naming of nations, and the lives of ponies coming to abrupt ends.
It was a point of view alien to most ponies. It was the point of view of an immortal.
What fascinated Celestia the most was the words at the back of the book. A list of locations, and dates.
The third of which was today’s date, and a clearing in the Whitetail Woods.
It was a rendez-vous, and one Celestia found she couldn’t ignore.
She trotted into an open patch of forest. The stars shone overhead, illuminating the green grass and mossy rocks. The breeze rustled the leaves on the trees.
From inside the gloom of the forest, Celestia saw a single, yellow eye.
She sighed, and her horn flashed. “If you’re trying to ambush me, you perhaps should have closed that eye of yours,” she said. “I’ve seen less conspicuous flashlights.”
There was a chuckle. From the forest came a large, muscular, winged figure.
“I merely wanted to check if you were the pony I was waiting for,” said the titanic shape. “I didn’t want to go startling a guardspony by accident, now, would I?”
Celestia’s eyebrow raised. She fought back a sudden instinct that conjured fear in the very pit of her stomach.
“I recognise your kind,” Celestia said. “I believed there were no more sphinxes.”
The sphinx clambered onto a large rock and lazily sat himself down. “Well, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. I heard a very competent scholar once say that there was no such thing as an alicorn.”
“He was mistaken.”
“I know,” the sphinx said. “I had been watching ponies for quite some time, and whilst rare, I had recorded the birth of quite a few alicorns.” He smiled, and pointed to the book Celestia carried. “I hope you enjoyed my work. You didn’t find any mistakes, I hope?”
Celestia put the book away. “I had thought that it had been written by somepon… someone like me,” she said. “I see I was correct.”
The sphinx nodded. “Quite. My name is Zerephonzidas. I was hoping you’d come this way.”
Celestia was no fool. She knew very well of the reputation of sphinxes.
“Is this a trap?” she asked. “Are you going to try to kill me?”
Zerephonzidas laughed. It was not an unpleasant laugh.
“Oh, I’m quite friendly. At least, these days, I am.” He smirked. “One’s personality has a tendency to change after a few thousand years. I’ve found this new Equestria to be quite pleasant.” He grinned. “Good for the soul.”
Celestia frowned. “Is that so?”
“Indeed. Why, you yourself might change somewhat over a thousand years.”
Celestia snorted. “I do not expect to live that long.”
“Not with that attitude,” Zerephonzidas replied. “Look at yourself, picking fights with just about everypony who even looked like they might attack Equestria. You have quite the warlike attitude for a pony.”
“I learned to be strong from my time alone,” Celestia replied. “I don’t need your judgement.”
“Oh, I’m not judging you,” Zerephonzidas said. “I’m just here to tell you a story. Not about a pony, but a sphinx.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes.
“You set all this up over… who knows how long… to tell me a story?”
“There was a sphinx, a long, long time ago, who would live forever. He was big and strong. Nothing he met could even pose a threat to him,” Zerephonzidas said. “Unfortunately, he was an arrogant and unlikeable sphinx, and he’d keep on antagonising the world around him. Of course, he was big and strong, so he was safe and secure.” Zerephonzidas suddenly turned serious. “That is, until he wasn’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Some savage named Salenorzabul. I’ve been thinking a lot about him. The moral of this story is that if you get on enough people’s bad sides, eventually one of them will beat you.”
“Perhaps, then, I am not meant to live forever.”
Zerephonzidas shrugged. “Perhaps. But then again, why not?”
Celestia looked down. “I’m not trying to antagonise the world around me in the hopes of dying, if that’s what you’re implying.”
Zerephonzidas snorted. “If you say so,” he said. “But you are tired.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes.
“So what if I am?”
Zerephonzidas grinned. “Ah, you see, this is why I set up this little meeting,” he said, and jumped from the rock towards Celestia, his gargantuan wings flaring. “I’m not here to kill you,” he said. “I’m here to teach you.”
“You’ve got a very colourful country,” Zerephonzidas said as the sun rose over the city of Canterlot. “Lovely rooftops. It’s like looking at a painting.”
“We’re a happy nation,” Celestia said. “We like our architecture to reflect that.”
Zerephonzidas nodded. “And hopefully you shall remain happy for many, many more years,” he said. “Take it from me: living for thousands of years is much easier when you have someone your age to talk to. At least for the first hundred years.” He lifted his nose. “I suppose, in hindsight, that might be why I tolerated Salenorzabul.”
Celestia’s eyebrow raised.
“I take it you were the last thing he antagonised?”
“The very last, yes.” Zerephonzidas waved a large paw. “This was a long time ago, of course. I’m reformed.”
“Reformed. I’m not sure I believe in reform.”
“Oh, you should. Anything can change over one thousand years, if you get my meaning.”
Celestia’s eyebrow raised. She looked up at the setting moon, staring at it for what seemed like days.
“I… see.”
Zerephonzidas grinned a large, toothy grin. “The second thing that really does help when you live as long as you and I,” he said, “Is an objective. A hobby, so to speak. Preferably a better one than collecting stamps.”
Celestia nodded. “I see.”
“Of course,” Zerephonzidas went on, “There are some things that can only be completed with an unusually long lifespan,” he said. “Things that make dying a very bad idea indeed.”
Celestia sat down, spending a long time to think. All the while Zerephonzidas played with his mane, and rolled onto his back, yawning.
“You think away,” he said. “I’m going to sleep. I’m getting quite old, you know.”
Celestia slowly turned towards Zerephonzidas.
“If you help me plan for… her return… what do you want in exchange?”
“Hmm?”
“There must be a catch.”
“Well, I’d want a favour, naturally,” Zerephonzidas said. “We’d be friends. Friends help each other out. It’s not a one way street, as you ponies put it.”
Celestia smirked. “I can live with that arrangement.” She turned back to Canterlot. “Where do we begin?”
“Well, first, I take a well deserved nap,” the sphinx said. “As of today, you have, oh, I’d say around eight hundred years to prepare. No sense rushing things.”