//------------------------------//
// Cobalt Crucible, Stability of Stone 
// Story: Dramatis Personae of the Pony Wars 
// by Wings of Black Glass 
//------------------------------//

Cobalt Crucible is one of the younger Alicorns but is still over a century old.  He isn’t very comfortable in large crowds, finding them too disorderly for his tastes.  Long sought as a source of wisdom, he freely shares his advice and thoughts.  Mostly he strives to maintain things as they are, believing that too significant a change can disrupt the natural order. He’s not above keeping secrets or telling outright lies if he thinks it will keep the situation stable.

“The foundation of the future begins with history and tradition.  Know your place, and keep it.”





Once, the city of Galatine found itself under siege by the expansionist Sunbound Kingdom.  At least, that was how Cobalt understood it.  The actual siege was decades previous, and now Galatine was part of the Sunbound Kingdom.  Ever since the city had undergone drastic changes.  Their old statues and art had been stripped away and replaced with Sunbound kings and generals’ sculptures.  The shift was not only the architecture that was being replaced but also the culture.  The old rituals were being ignored, the stories that guided the youth being forgotten.
Knowing there was nothing he could do as he was, he had no magic or unique ability of his own, Cobalt sought the power to save his homeland and its way of life.  His only clue to where he might find that power was an ancient legend of a temple deep within a mountain.  Supposedly it would answer the prayers of those brave enough to step into the deep within.  The stories were not that different than the tale told of the first king of the Sunbound.  Cobalt sold what little he owned and set out to find it.
It took him years to track the legends and myths and stories to a distant peak deep within Dragon lands.  Although the trek was perilous, he was able to find a cave that took him deep into the stone until he found the rubble of a collapsed temple.  There was no iconography to tell him it was what he was searching for, but he was tired and exhausted and desperate.  He called out to whatever god or spirit was supposed to dwell there but received no answer.
He shouted and prayed for so long that his lamp ran out of oil.  Believing the tales to be false, he turned to leave but could not find the way out.  He was trapped in the mountain, lost in the dark, then he thought he saw a light coming from behind the temple’s rubble.  He dug through the stones in the dark for days until he broke through and found the chamber contained only a deep pit and no exit.  In despair, believing he had failed, he threw himself into the deep.
As he fell, he dreamed.  That was the only way he could understand it.  The wind could howl and try to tear down the mountain, yet it was unbowed.  Such was it true of him.  This was the temple, not the crude shrine above.   When he felt the ground beneath him again, he instinctively knew the way out of the cave.  He understood the mountain now, the strength of stone and stability.  It was as if the stone told him how to leave, and he felt he could fly right through the rock.  Even though he couldn’t see, he never stumbled or ran into a wall on his way out.
When he stepped out into the light of day, he found someone was waiting for him.  It was an Alicorn pacing impatiently for him, Lady Sky.  She told him he was late and that there was much for him to do now that he was an Alicorn.  He barely had a moment to begin processing this before she told him that there were other temples,  secured by ancient magic, and he was needed to seek them out.
However, he knew he had to return to his homeland and told her it would have to wait until Galatine was safe.  She said the city was irrelevant; there was more at stake than a few Ponies.  He refused to be diverted from his course.  She sighed and complained she expected better.  Before disappearing up towards the sky, she told him he would find her again when the city fell.
As he hurried back towards Galatine, Cobalt meditated on his experience.  The temple had burned away his doubts and fears, like a purifying crucible.  He took that as part of his name and from then on called himself Cobalt Crucible.  On the way, he also experimented with his new powers, mostly control over stone and rock.  He could fly now but was uncomfortable unless he had solid earth under his hooves.
When he reached Galatine, he set out to drive off the Sunbound Kingdom’s influence.  But the Ponies he had left behind years ago had grown accustomed to life under the Sunbound.  The city was thriving, with a strong economy, and was even on its way to becoming a major political power within the Kingdom.  They didn’t want to go back to the way things were.  The stories and traditions of old were lost.
The Galatine Cobalt Crucible knew was gone, fallen to the Sunbound.  So he left, staying only long enough to wreck a particularly ugly plaza that had replaced his favorite park.  He was unsurprised to find that Lady Sky was waiting for him, complaining about his tardiness again.  She said it was better this way, that his strength was needed elsewhere.
Numerous special artifacts were scattered across the world and were essential to its safety.  His task was to ensure the stability of the magic they maintained.  To this end, he traveled to each one, setting barriers and wards to keep out intruders and threats.  Then he would return to each and ensure it was still safe, a cycle that took years.
Along the way, he would visit cities and friends and provide advice and assistance and whatever aid he could.  His regular return would be marked by herds of Ponies waiting to hear his stories and take his wisdom.  From time to time, he would even return to Galatine, and although his old home was unfamiliar to him now, he still respected how the city thrived under Sunbound leadership.  Contentment filled him, providing stability not only for himself and his friends but the entire world.
Then came the doubts and the dreams.  He arrived at the shrine containing the Sacred Spear, and the chamber was empty.  Someone had broken through his seal and taken it.  The place felt ill to him now, and he hurried to be sure there were no more sacred artifacts missing.  As he traveled, he began to wonder why Lady Sky hadn’t warned him the spear would be taken.  He dreamed of the spear being used to split the world, of the great nations tearing themselves apart, fighting over the other sacred artifacts.  A voice whispered this theft was the first herald of something much worse to come.
His long patrol brought him to several of his charges, and he was relieved to see them intact.  However, he found the Sacred Mirror Hemyral was also missing.  Then the Sacred Bell Tassonla vanished as well.  There were signs in the stone that something sickening was coming for them, and it was starting to infect the Ponies.  In glimpses, half-seen, he saw them turning against each other.  They were plotting to upset the balance he had worked so long to maintain.  He could see it in the way they were changing, forgetting the traditions that kept them honest.
When he came to the Sacred Jade Crest, he knew he could not keep them all safe.  He was too slow; he couldn’t be everywhere.  There were whispers in the back of his mind, his dreams plagued with dire warnings.  The powers within the sacred artifacts were too great for mortal minds.  If he couldn’t control who would use them, they would destroy each other in their stupidity.  He knew what he had to do to keep the world stable and personally shattered the Sacred Jade Crest.
The detonation of the energy held within knocked him unconscious, and he dreamed again.  There was a sense of relief, security, and warmth.  When he woke, the shrine he was in felt cleaner and more wholesome now that the artifact was destroyed and could no longer be used to ruin.  Now he knew what he had to do was the right thing.  The Sacred relics were a lie; ponies could not be allowed to utilize them, for calamity would follow in their wake.  He had to destroy them before they broke the world.