//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Origins // Story: From Eternia to Equestria // by deathtap //------------------------------// Twilight and her friends were astounded by what they saw. Everywhere they looked was something new and completely different. Orko noticed this and could not help but chuckle at them. Not because he thought himself superior but because it was just so nice to have company. He had been alone for so long - too long. "Orko, if you don't mind me asking, how did you end up here?" Twilight asked. His demeanor shifted dramatically as he lowered himself to the ground. His happy and jubilant demeanor from a moment ago had vanished only to leave behind a very sad and morose Trollan. He exhaled a heavy sigh and shrugged, "I was stupid... am stupid, I guess. I did something I shouldn't have and got stuck here." "I'm sure it wasn't that," Rarity stated trying to comfort him by placing a hoof on his shoulder. "Well, in order for me to tell you that story, I would have to start from the beginning. Anyway, we're here." The girls looked around at the large chamber. There was a domed ceiling above them and the walls were slightly bent inwards so that it kind of resembled a cupcake from the inside, as Pinkie so eloquently put it, with smooth sides. There were dim dark blue lights along the floor and across the upper beading where the wall ended and the ceiling began. At the very top of the dome was a red crystal glowing in a similar hue as the crystal 'lake' outside the castle. "And where's here, exactly?" Rainbow asked. Spreading his arms out like some sort of presenter, Orko spun himself around the center of the room, ascending ever so slowly upwards, "The holo-chamber! Here we can access and view any point of history that has been recorded and see it as if we were there!" He had cheered up mighty quick, which relieved the girls. "You mean like a time-machine?" Twilight asked excitedly. "Well," Orko said, stretching the word out, "kind of. It's more like a vid. You can't interact with the past, but you can watch it." "You mean like a picture, or a history book?" "Yeah! Like that. Except instead of a picture or a book, you get to see and hear things as if you were actually there. Like a magical illusion," Orko replied. He then put his hand on his chin deep in thought. "Where should we start?" "Start from the beginnin'," Applejack suggested shrugging her shoulders. "Are you sure? That's pretty long... you'd be here for the rest of your lives if you want to watch everything. How about I just do the important parts?" "Okay. That sounds good," Twilight replied. The girls all nodded in agreement. Staying there for the rest of their lives was not really an option. "Then let's get started." Orko raised his hand above his head and bolts of red lightning burst from the red crystal high above them. They flickered throughout the room and each bounced off the slanted walls before rebounding off the floor and back towards the ceiling right back at the crystal in the middle. The girls all huddled together trying to dodge the bolts of crimson lightning but they soon discovered that this action was pointless; the lightning was harmless. Pinkie, on the other hand, found it much more fun to prance around hopping through the lightning bolts giggling away to herself. Suddenly the ground beneath them disappeared and in its space was a deep black darkness that seemed to stretch beyond infinity. The girls gasped in surprise. Twilight and Rarity both understood that it was an illusion, their hooves were still firmly planted on the floor. However, the pegasi naturally hovered above the darkness while Applejack clung to Rainbow for dear life. Pinkie remained unaffected by the sudden change and just kept dancing with the red lightning bolts now cascading faster and faster. There was a sound that started to grow louder and louder. Like approaching a waterfall. The red lightning started to move faster and faster until it seemed to form a solid orb of energy around them along the walls. High above them the crystal seemed to explode outwards in a mixture of colored lights as blue and green joined the red lightning. The three different colors began to fluctuated in increasingly rapid succession until the lights started to turn white. "I can't see!" Applejack protested closing her eyes tightly trying to protect them. "What's going on?" Rainbow moaned trying to peer through the blinding light as best she could. "Whee!" Pinkie shouted spinning around and giggling. Suddenly the light faded and the girls found themselves standing on a small hill overlooking a valley. A light breeze seemed to waft through the air, but they could not feel it. There was a large river winding its way lazily through the valley and long irrigation fields splayed out on either side of it all the way to the base of the hills. The crops were growing nicely, Applejack noticed. The skies were mostly clear except for some stray clouds that moved lazily across the azure sky. The scene quickly shifted to the left where a large white alicorn stood gazing out into the distance. "Oh my," Fluttershy whispered seeing him. She shyly landed on the ground and hid behind Twilight and Rarity who were at a loss of words. They had never seen a stallion like this before. His wings were partially spread open, an unfelt breeze ruffling his large feathers. Twilight opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by an unseen voice. "Swifty?" it asked. Whoever it was, they sounded so kind, so gentle, so tender. The great stallion turned his head towards the the girls, "Yes, Sorceress?" "This is a wonderful place to build you new city," the voice replied. The image shifted back to the right and gazed across the green pastures and fields again. Birds fluttered in a tight formation together over the river. In the far distance the girls could see the reflection of water and understood that it was a lake. "I know this place," Twilight whispered. The stallion replied to the voice's opinion. "It is. I think it befitting for our people. The lands here are healthy. The abandoned human cities are not right for us. We need to start from the beginning. A new beginning for a new age." The image once again focused on the stallion. He gave the girls a derisive look. "Are you recording this?" The image moved up and down and the girls instantly realized that the 'voice' was nodding. "Why?" The stallion asked, his voice rumbling as a deep chuckle escaped his throat. "Memories. One day, in the distant future, your descendants might find it and watch it. Then they can see where they came from. You never know. They could be watching right now." The stallion laughed gently, "Why do you concern yourself with such things, She-Ra?" The image moved again. Whatever the device was was now being held by a bald, fair looking creature who peered at it with a gentle smile. Her face had filled the entirety of the wall. Gently, she placed the object down on the ground and stepped back. The girls could see her walking towards the stallion and within a few quick steps was standing next to the alicorn. "Because it's important to remember the past, Swifty. It's important so that we don't repeat our mistakes. We've made some terrible mistakes in the past. Dreadful ones," she replied stroking his neck The stallion put his head on the creature's shoulders. "Indeed. You are right, but I don't believe that a holo-vid would help." "You never know, is just might," The creature replied. She stood on her hind legs and wore a thin veil across her body while on her head she wore an eagle shaped hood that covered her head, shoulders and back, right down to her legs just below her knees. The beak of the eagle formed a brim over her eyes that strangely suited her face and figure. Standing next to them, the girls felt tiny. This great stallion and whatever the other creature was were tall, especially the stallion who was a full head taller than the Sorceress. Pinkie hopped over to touch them, but her hoof failed to touch anything as it passed through them. "Ghosts?" Applejack panicked trying to climb on top of Rainbow who was having trouble staying aloft. Orko's laughter could be heard at that moment and he appeared through the 'image' by breaking the 'sky', or whatever it was. An illusion, the mage has called it, but Twilight didn't know anypony who could create this kind of illusion or with this amount of detail. It broke apart as he entered the hologram, the picture reforming behind him almost instantly. "No, no, silly. It's a hologram. They're not real." "A hologram?" Twilight asked looking at the mage. That was when she noticed something peculiar. Everything was now standing perfectly still. Even a bird in the distance was no longer moving. All movement had stopped. "Didn't I explain it already? Well, think of it like a living picture. Instead of you looking at it from outside, you're looking at it from inside instead! Does that make sense? Right now I've paused it." "This is amazing. It's like a... dream." "Actually, that's a great metaphor. It's like we're watching someone else's dream from the inside." "How have you paused it?" Orko pulled out a small black rectangle from within his cloak and offered it to Twilight. "See that small blue triangle in the middle there? If you push that, the hologram will resume. Go on, try." Twilight carefully pulled the remote from Orko's hand and looked at it. "Amazing. Simply amazing." The Trollan hovered around Twilight, "You can hold that without any fingers! That's incredible." "This? All ponies can do this..." "Ponies, hm? I guess you are. Considering your sizes," Orko replied as he hovered around the large alicorn, "that does make sense." "Who is he?" Twilight asked. "This? You don't know who this is? Wow, I must've been down here much longer than I thought. Well, this is His Royal Highness, Swift Wind of Equestria. Sovereign and Guardian of Harmony and Peace. I think. I don't really remember these long titles and stuff. Prince Swift Wind is easier." The girls exchange looks. They had never heard of him, and Twilight who had read almost every history book in Equestria had never once come across his name. Sure, there were other 'Swift Winds' in the past, but none of them ever held the title of Prince. "And who's that?" Twilight asked pointing at the other creature. "That? That's the Sorceress. Before she became the Sorceress of Eternia, she was She-Ra, Princess of Power." He had said the title and name in a deeper voice, as if announcing her presence. "She led the rebellion against Hordak and the Horde on Etheria, another world from this one-" "Wait! Let me get this straight," Applejack said interrupting Orko, "we're supposed to be descendants of Swift Wing-" "Wind. His name's Swift Wind." "Sorry. Swift Wind. If we're supposed to come from him, how come he's so big and we're not?" Orko shrugged, "I dunno." "Well," Twilight began, "if you think about how tall the Princesses are and how old they are. Maybe it has to do with time. I mean, maybe over time we've just grown smaller and smaller. Our Princesses are over a thousand of years old, you know. That would mean you've been down here all that time... alone..." The reality of that fact made the Mane Six cringe. "How did you manage to stay sane for all that time?" Rarity asked, "It must have been just dreadful for you being all alone for so long." Orko shrugged, "It was at first. After a while you get used to it. Plus, when I got bored, I just watched movies and videos and stuff, I guess. Plus, there's always nap time. I like nap time." "You poor thing," Rarity replied with her friendliest smile. "After we're done here, you can come live with us in our town. I'll even lend you a room until you get yourself settled." The floating red mage just blushed, and wiped a tear from his eye, "T-thank you very much. You're very generous." Rarity gave a comforting smile in response. Twilight felt really proud of her friend. Taking in a stranger was just like Rarity. She was after all the Element of Generosity. Looking down at the remote she pressed the triangle making the scene continue from where it had left off. "... Swifty, it's been over a year since the war-" Twilight paused it again. "War?" "War. Yes. A very brutal, very bad, awful, awful war. A lot of good people died. I lost a lot of friends that day," Orko said sadly. He looked at Twilight. "If you don't mind, I don't really want to talk about that war. Even if it has been eons since it happened, the memories are still very painful to me." Pinkie walked over to the Trollan and smiled. "There, there." Orko bawled on Pinkie's shoulder as Twilight pressed play again. "- you cannot keep blaming yourself for what has happened so far!" "It was my fault our peoples are divided, Sorceress. It was my pride and arrogance that led to half this pointless conflict. It is different from before, when we battled the Horde. These are my people. To take the life of another that is similar to me is not what I had envisioned." Swift Wind walked towards the valley, "I cannot believe that the one I love would betray me in this way." "Star isn't thinking clearly. I have no idea what has come over her, but I'm sure she loves you just as she always had. You are her mate, after all." The Sorceress walked over to the stallion and stroked his shoulder, "Perhaps you should talk with her again. Renegotiate her return?" "You believe she will listen this time?" the stallion scoffed. "I believe her love for you will make her see sense." Swift turned around and walked away, "While I do find your optimism refreshing, my experience and expectations know better. She will not come to me willingly." "Then you refuse to see her?" "I never said that. I only said she would not see me willingly." The image faded to black and the girls found themselves standing in the holo-chamber, only this time the walls were white a bright white and the lights that formed the boundary of the walls were glowing various colors, slowly changing. Orko landed in the middle of the room and sat on the ground deep in thought. "What's up?" Pinkie asked kneeling beside him. "I got confused about which war they were talking about. I thought they were referring to another war about how they came to Eternia, but I think they were referring to Star Wind's jealousy." "Star Wind's jealousy?" Rarity asked, "Whatever do you mean?" "It was before I came to Eternia- er, I mean Equestria. You see, the Sorceress over there and Swift Wind have always had a special relationship with each other. They were partners that fought against the Horde together-" He saw the look on their faces. "Oh right. Um... the Horde are really, really bad guys who were really, really mean and liked to hurt things and destroy things and... yeah, they were just a really bad bunch. They liked conquering planets and enslaving the population. It was rumored that the horde had over a thousand planets under their control, but no one knows if that's really true." "A thousand planets?" Twilight asked. "Across many different dimensions and stuff, yeah." Orko shrugged, "You see, Eternia was special because it's in a the perfect position between the many different kinds of dimensions, which is how magic and science can exist together so naturally. My guess is that when Etheria and Eternia were pulled apart, Eternia was pulled into another dimension along the way. I guess." "You guess?" "Well, as well as being watching videos and stuff, there's also the library-" "You have a library? With books?" Orko looked up at Twilight, "Well... yes. It's a pretty big library... it's somewhere in the lower levels." "You mean we can go further down?" the lavender unicorn asked. "Oh yeah." The way he had said it implied that there was a lot more below the castle than they could imagine. "Anyway, Star got real jealous of Swift's and the Sorceresses' attentions to one another and one day she just up and left with half the other equines. It broke Swift's heart. After that a civil war started. I think. Now that you mention it there might be more information in the library below." "I've been meaning to ask; what is the Sorceress? I mean, I've never seen anything like her." Twilight thought about it for a moment, "She stands on her hind legs like a minotaur, but she has no fur covering her body." "She's a human. Don't you know-" Orko smacked his forehead, "Of course you don't know what a human is. How silly of me. You don't get them on Eternia anymore. Oh, sorry, Equestria. I'll never get used to that name. Well, that's a human. They're not equines and I guess you could say they're really, really smart bald monkeys. I guess. Let's play the next scene. There might be more information. Twilight, if you please." Twilight obliged. The room suddenly changed and they all found themselves indoors. A large open doorway led to a balcony to one side from where they could see Castle Grayskull in the distance. At the far end sat Swift Wind on a raised platform; a throne. His wings were folded behind him with a dark and dangerous look in his eyes. As the image began to fill and settle, the rest of the room was populated by other alicorns of similar height and build. Many wore armor of some sort, and they all carried weapons. None of them smiled. This was not a happy occasion. "Bring them in!" Swift roared making Fluttershy duck behind her friends. The far end of the hall two large wooden doors were pulled open with magic. In walked five more alicorns: a mare that led them who was flanked by the four stallions. None wore armor and they each had wounds across their bodies. The last one was limping as they approached Swift and stood before him. Not a word was spoken, not a single kind gesture extended. The mare walked right up to the base of the throne and was blocked by two large halberds that barred her path. It was clear she was not going passed this point. "Dear," the mare began. "You have no right to call me that!" Swift shouted slowly, his voice seemed to shake the very foundations of the castle. "Very well. Swift Wind, or should I call you Your Highness. Congratulations on overthrowing my armies. You have done well for yourself..." "Why did you attack Trottinvale? Why did you bring your armies across the Bad Marshes when we agreed on a cease fire? Why did you invade my lands when I did nothing to provoke you and yours?" Swift's voice was as cold as steel. "I don't know what makes you-" "Why?" the stallion stomped his hoof on the ground as raw magical power exploded from it cracking the floor in a burst of red and blue light. Such was his power that the crack extended towards the mare stopping inches from her. Everyone else in that hall shifted in their hooves. All but one. Not the mare. Not Star Wind. She held her ground against her mate standing tall and proud. Like a princess. No, she was more than a princess; she was a queen. "You want to know why?" she asked, turning her head away from him, "I'll tell you why! It's because of her! She's the one that made me do it! It's all her fault! She stole you from me! She took your heart from me! You think me a fool? You think me some docile mare that does nothing but accepts your every whim and fancy? I am your mate! You are a part of me! Not her! Not that... that... whore! Am I not your partner? Am I not the mare who bore your only child, husband? I refuse to be second prize to any! I refuse to share your love with any! Especially her!" The Sorceress did not flinch at the tirade, nor did she avert her eyes. Neither broke eye contact. "Canterlot." Swift's voice said quietly as he sat heavy upon his throne. His voice was no longer laced with anger, but with a different emotion; sadness. "We burnt that city to the ground," the mare replied calmly, laughing as she paced along the stone floor in front of the throne. "Under my direct orders since you had it built for... her." "I know you burnt the city to ground! I know you ordered the entire city razed so that not even one stone could be used and I know that you even cursed the very ground it is built sacrificing the magical powers of half your subjects. I know of how their horns rotted off, their magic gone. What is a unicorn without a horn? They can never cast another spell, and their children will never know magic. I know this. I know it all because there were survivors who had fled your purge. I know of how you condemned them, even after they had loyally served you without question, and yet you betrayed them." "They were no longer necessary. Unlike you, I know when it is time to let go of the past." "Murderer!" one of the alicorns shouted, only he was not an alicorn any longer. His horn was gone and instead he had a scar on his forehead. "I served you without question and you had me and my family put to death! You treasonous wench! You deserve to die! You lied to us! You lied to us all!" The magicless alicorn was dragged away by other alicorns. "... my children! Give me back my children!" he shouted, tears streaming down his cheeks. His voice could still be heard as he was taken from the throne room and down the hall. Twilight pressed pause and the image froze, the sounds of the alicorn's screams ended. "I... I don't know what to say." Twilight looked at Rainbow and Fluttershy. "I guess I should've warned you that... yeah, it's not a happy time." Orko scratched the back of his head. "That was a pegasus." Rarity said slowly. Fluttershy did not hide her tears, "How horrible. How could she do that?" Orko did not respond. He looked at the girls and hovered in front of Twilight, "Maybe... maybe you shouldn't actually see this. I wasn't thinking. I don't think that you should be seeing this. It's in the past. I shouldn't have brought you here. It's unfair to you-" "No." Twilight looked at Orko, "What the Sorceress said before is right. We need to learn from the past, not forget it ever happened. We need to know because it's important. Right, girls?" They all exchanged looks. Even Pinkie, the Element of Laughter, could not bring a smile to her face. Everything they had learned, everything that they had discovered, was all too much. "How much more is there, Orko?" "Um... quite a bit more, Twilight. Are you sure you want to continue. I don't think your friends are ready for it." "Girls, he's right. If you don't want to stay, I understand." "I'm with ya, Twilight," Applejack said. "Honestly, I don't know if I can not see what happens next. This is where we came from, after all. Even if it's painful, I think it's important." "I'll always stick by you," Rainbow landed next to her lavender friend, "and if it's important to you, I'll be here with you all the way." Fluttershy and Pinkie exchanged looks before nodding. They would stay. Rarity sighed, "My dear, as painful as it is, I also think it's important to see." "Okay then." With that, Twilight resumed the hologram. They could still hear the pegasus' screams as it slowly faded into the distance. Star looked at the Swift with disgust, "You let that abomination live? You cannot allow them to exist! Why have you allowed it? Have you no pride in what you are? You are a unicorn. You were one of the most feared creatures on Etheria. You were one of the most feared warriors in the known universe! Since when do you protect those that are impure? That should not be allowed to exist!" "All things deserve to live, Star." "Do not talk to me, whore!" Star shouted at the Sorceress. Still the Sorceress did not flinch. "Do you know who was in charge of Canterlot's defenses?" Swift asked his voice as cold as ice. "No. Should I?" "Winter was there." There was a long moment of silence. "What?" the mare croaked. "Winter was there." "M... my... my son was..." "He was!" Swift barked as he stood up, "And you and your generals tore him asunder! You might have not known he was there, but your generals did. They knew." With tears in her eyes, Star spun around on the stallion behind her. Her eyes focused on the general that was limping. "Is this true? Did you know?" The stallion bowed his head, "I did if for you, Your Majesty. I did it for our cause. We offered him to live when we took the city and stormed the keep. He refused. He said that he would not leave Canterlot alive. We had no choice. His magic alone was protecting the entirety of the keep! His forces would have beaten us back-" Star charged forwards and impaled the general with her horn right through the eye. The stallion did not make a noise as magic power tore into him. Twilight had seen the tell-tale glow of magic and in the next moment the general collapsed shattering into pieces as he hit the floor. She had turned him into stone. Nobody had moved to prevent this. Slowly Star turned to Swift. "I... I... my son... my baby... my... what have I done? What have I done..." Suddenly Star started convulsing and she struggled to stay on her hooves. She let out an ear wrenching scream that seemed to shatter their very souls. Twilight covered her ears, but it did little to prevent the sound from reaching her. Dark violet smoke started to pour from Star's mouth, ears and nose. Her screams were muffled as the smoke continued to flow from her body and onto the floor. Instinctively Orko and the others took a step back away as did every creature there. Only Swift stood his ground. A voice cackled from the mist. A cruel laughter. "I know that voice... I know it all too well." Swift stood there horrified. The Sorceress stood in front of Swift and glared at the smoke, "Hordak?" "She-Ra? Is that you? Oh how you've changed. I like it. That blond hair was very unbecoming. This... this is so much better. It's a shame that you no longer have your sword. Without it you're powerless against me." The smoke rose from the ground and changed to form a humanoid shape, only much taller and much broader. There were no legs but the girls could make out arms and a head where two slits of glowing red light formed the eyes. "It is so nice to hear your voice. After your brother unceremoniously cut off my head, it's been very hard concentrating on things. Still, as they say, when there's a will, there's a way." "This is not possible. You are dead," Swift said standing along side the Sorceress. "Excuse me while I prove you wrong," Hordak replied in a derisive tone. "How are you here, Hordak?" the Sorceress demanded. "How am I here? Well, your brother brought me to this world, don't you remember? Or did he not tell you?" The voice laughed, "Well, he brought my head to be more accurate. As a souvenir for my father. You should have seen his face when he saw my cold, lifeless, decapitated head at his feet. I've never seen him smile with both his heads." Swift turned away in disgust. "Does my family disgust you? It shouldn't considering yours, Prince Swift Wind." The stallion growled and lowered his head, "Watch your tongue." "Sorry, don't have one. As you can see, I don't really have much need for one anymore. You have my father's Havoc Staff to thank for that. That fool Skeletor took a piece of it with him, but I had retrieved that piece when I killed him. I reformed the lost half of the Staff while my father had the other. That was probably what made his so happy. I stored it on the last place anyone would look. On my face." "Your mask? Your mask was the last piece of the Havoc Staff?" "Give it to the Sorceress for a job well done. I must say you've become a lot more astute since our last encounter. Living in the subconscious of Swift's wife was a real treat. It was so easy to manipulate her puny mind and her desire for your affection. All she wanted was your love, Swifty. I fed off of it, turned it, corrupted it, and destroyed it." Hordak laughed, "And it was so easy. You know, she really did love you. Would have gladly taken her own life for you, but I needed a body. And you have yourself to thank, She-Ra. If it hadn't been for you and her jealousy I doubt I would've succeeded. You made it almost too easy for me to twist her mind. To take one little nagging thought and turn it into a fire that burned your kingdom to the ground." "You disgusting, low-life, evil-" "Please, flattery won't spare you. Besides, if it hadn't been for you and your brother, I would be the supreme ruler of the Horde by now. With the completed staff, I would have been a god." The Sorceress raised her hands up, "I don't know how you survived, but you will no longer endanger these people! You have already caused so much pain and suffering..." "Oh? You knew?" "What?" "You just admitted you knew about me, yet you did nothing to stop me from making her commit those very acts you abhor. Not very Sorceress-like of you, She-Ra. You're supposed to protect these pathetic fools, not let them slaughter one another." Hordak laughed again. "She-Ra, is this true?" "No! I didn't know! You must believe me, Swifty. If I had known, I would have tried to purge him from her mind! You know that!" "Does he? Or perhaps you wanted to keep 'Swifty' all for yourself. Getting rid of Star was the only way you could do that, considering that she's his mate. Not. You." "Do not listen to him, Swift. He's trying to poison your mind as he poisoned Star's. Please, Swift. Can't you see, he's trying to establish a discord between us. He's trying to break our friendship, twist our minds as he has done to Star." Star Wind was on the ground panting heavily, her tongue sticking out and tears streaming from her face. Seeing her like that, Swift felt pity for the mare. "Guards! Kill that creature! Kill Hordak!" "You kill me? You cannot even stop me. Not this time." Smoke erupted forwards towards the Sorceress who put her hands up. A barrier of light formed, but the smoke did nothing. It passed through the barrier, but left She-Ra and Swift untouched. "It seems that you cannot harm me nor can I harm you. Not directly anyway. Guess I'll just have to use others to do my work for me... for now. Your pure heart and intentions won't protect you forever. One day, I will destroy you all." Star looked up, her horn glowing a deep orange hue, "For the murder of my son, I will kill you!" "Star, no!" Swift shouted, but his call came too late. A bright beam of light surrounded Hordak. He merely laughed. "Is that the best you can do, Queen? You're pathetic. You've served your usefulness. Now you shall die." The smoke raised one of his arms as lightning began to form around him. She-Ra cast a spell that surrounded Hordak containing the lightning. The sound of a loud explosion echoed through the hall as the lightning spell rebounded inside the Sorceress' force-field and the hologram exploded in a bright light. "I can't see what's happening!" Twilight shouted. "Neither can I!" Rarity replied. Fluttershy lay down on the ground and put her hooves over her eyes, "Make it stop!" Then the lights slowly returned to normal and Twilight looked up to see the Hordak smoke split in two. One half, the darker half, was hovering over Star, the other was making a rapid getaway towards the nearest window. "Stop it! Stop that shadow!" Swift shouted as smoke floated towards the nearest open window. He used his magic to close it, but the smoke easily passed through the gaps. "After it!" A large number of alicorns surged forth as ordered. While they had been distracted, the darker essence of the smoke reentered Star's mouth and nose. Seeing this the Sorceress ran to Star just as the last vestiges of it reentered her body. The alicorn coughed and spluttered before her body began to shake. She-Ra watched in horror as the smoke started to change her. Fur fell from the body revealing a hard, black rough skin. It looked like armor; smooth and polished. It resembled a carapace. The horn grew longer and brittle in places. The feathers on her wings began to fall and in their place were transparent, vein-like appendages, like those on a dragonfly. A slightly green tint spread through them. Finally her eyes changed from a deep brown to an emerald green. "What is happening to her?" Swift asked. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before-" Then it was all gone. The changes vanished without a trace and instead Star was lying there in front of them just as she always was. "What just happened?" "I don't know!" She-Ra yelled, "I don't know, Swifty. All I know is that she needs our help. Help me get her to a doctor..." "You four, help them," Swift ordered four alicorns. They walked forwards and used their magic to pick Star up and She-Ra followed them towards the exit of the throne room. She-Ra stopped at the end of the hall and looked back at Swift, but he had already turned his back on them. He had another problem to deal with now. She bowed her head knowing what was coming. Perhaps she did not need to be here for this. She did not want to be here for this. Again the hologram stopped. "D-d-did you see that?" Twilight asked. "Did you see what happened to Star?" The girls exchanged glances, but the answer was clear. "She's a changeling." Rarity pointed out. "For centuries ponies throughout history have tried to find out what the origin of the changelings was. There were theories, but this... clear proof! We know." Applejack laughed nervously, "Yeah. We know." "Twilight, I... I don't like this. It isn't fun anymore. Can we stop now?" Pinkie asked. "You can leave, Pinkie. You don't have to be here for this if you don't want to." Pinkie looked at her friends who looked at her expectantly. She plopped herself down on the ground and crossed her hooves. "Are you sure, Pink? We won't think anything of it if you go." "No. You can continue." The hologram resumed with Swift walking back to his throne. The was not a sound apart from his hoofsteps as he walked up the dais, turned around and sat slowly. "As for the three of you," Swift said addressing the three generals still alive, "You will all be tried in court where our people will decide by rule of law, as it has always been done with our kind, what your fates are. You have made many suffer when you could have returned here instead. You chose power and greed instead of peace and harmony and for that you must suffer the consequences of your actions." "You speak of peace, you speak of harmony, yet you are led around by a human female! She is not one of us!" one of the generals shouted. "You are nothing, nothing without your human mistress, and as long as she remains by your side, we will rebel against you. You gave away our home so that they could have a world to themselves! Your selfishness cannot go unchecked, you-" "Enough!" Swift said quietly. The general stopped speaking and gulped. "We are masters of our own fate now. There are no humans here to obey." "And what is the Sorceress then if not human?" "She is a guardian. Protector of ancient magic that must be kept safe from those who wish to use it for evil. She controls nothing, nor influences anything. All she can do is wish for us to protect our world our way. We were free with the humans on Etheria, why would it change now? You have been tricked, manipulated by the shade of Hordak." The generals exchanged glances, "We-" "There is little use denying it. Hordak hates our kind, and wishes for us to destroy each other, or were you asleep when he admitted taking control of my wife and manipulated her jealousy into thinking the way you do? Do you actually believe that you chose to commit these crimes against our race of your own free will?" One of the generals dropped to his knees. "What have we done? What have I done? I've... I've ordered the massacre of hundreds because... because... because of t-t-that..." "No! It can't be true! I refuse to believe it to be so!" Another general cursed. "We deserve to die," the third and final general stated. "We have done things that cannot be forgiven in life or in death. We are... evil. Contaminated. Cursed." "Take them away!" The generals did not resist as they were led from the throne room. "Leave me be. I wish to be alone." The remaining alicorns all bowed and exited the throne room as Swift sat down. Then, alone, with no one watching he lowered his head and began to cry. "My son, Winter, I am so sorry, but your mother's jealousy is well founded." Swift spoke so quietly, that the girls were barely able to hear him. "After all these long years I have forgotten my love for your mother and have formed a love of the most unnatural kind. It is the Sorceress now that lives in my heart, that gives me the power to run this kingdom, that gives me the strength to wake up each day, that brings me joy and happiness. I cannot help myself." The girls watched as Swift's tears continued to fall for a moment longer, then he took a long deep breath, closed his eyes and stood up. The moment had gone, and the stoic ruler of Equestria walked over to the doors of his throne room and opened them with his magic. He stopped for a moment and looked back and seeing nothing exited the throne room and closed the doors firmly behind him. Then, from behind one of the pillars a figure stepped out. It was hard to tell because it had merged perfectly with the background. As it stepped forward the figure shed its disguise like a chameleon. It was the Sorceress. She had been there for the whole thing. She picked up the recording device from where it was hiding and held it in the palm of her hand. She gripped it and held it close to her chest, "Oh, Swift. I love you too. If only we could be together. I would give anything to be yours." The screen faded away and the room returned to the bright white walls once again. "Well, that's the end," Orko said sat down on the floor using the wall as a backrest. "We learned a lot today," Twilight said in the silence. "The mist... the one that escaped... do you think..." Rarity began. The girls all looked at her, but she didn't continue. "Orko, what happens after all this?" "This? Well, the generals go on trial, which I have. They are condemned to serve as wardens to a new prison to house the criminals in a prison built deep below the surface of the planet." "Wait. You mean Tartarus?" Twilight asked. "Yes. Yes, that's it. Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that after all this time, that prison still exists?" Orko whistled, impressed with this bit of news, "That's unicorn -er- alicorn architecture for you. Built to last." "These... three guardians... were they... cursed?" Twilight asked. "Hm? Oh yes. They were cursed. You could say that their fate was worse than death. As far as I know they were... merged, I guess. Forced to come together as one, so that they would share the guilt together. Why?" "Anything else?" Rarity probed, understanding what Twilight was getting at. "I think they were also changed." "Into dogs?" Rainbow liked the blunt approach. Orko nodded. "Yeah. Yeah! That sounds right. A three-headed guard dog. Yeah." "I don't believe it." Twilight shook her head, "And here we thought that somepony from ancient history captured and trained Cerberus to guard the gates of Tartarus. This is amazing! It changes everything we've ever known about ourselves!" "Twilight, this is a lot to take in and I do believe it's best we tell the Princesses what's going on, don't you think?" Rarity asked. "That's a great idea, Rarity. The Princesses would likely know more about this than any of us. I'll tell one of the guards to inform them." As Twilight left, Pinkie bounced over to Orko grabbing him by the collar, "Everything is so sad and serious! Is there anything fun you can show us? Anything... nice? Please? I wanna see a happy part of our past, not all this sad saddy sadness!" "Well..." Orko began, "you know what, I actually do know of something that is happy. It skips a lot of time, but I think you'll like it." "Skip it! Skip it!" the girls all unanimously agreed. "Well, okay. Wait here just a second," Orko turned and floated off through the wall. "Okay, I told a few of the guards to fetch the princesses. Where's Orko?" "He's gone to show us something happy! This is going to be great!" Twilight nodded, "Yeah, even I have to admit, seeing all that... drama just put a bad taste in my mouth." "Do you want a mint?" Pinkie asked. "It's a figure of speech, Pinkie." "I knew that." "I don't know about you girls, but I'm kinda hungry." Applejack's tummy rumbled in agreement. Orko floated back and smiled, "Your new hologram is ready any time you are." "Thanks, Orko, but we're kinda hungry. So we're going to go and grab a bite to eat. You're welcome to come and join us if you want." "Sorry, but I don't eat. My magic sustains me..." The girls all looked at him, "Surely you're not saying you actually live off magic." "Nope, that's exactly what I'm saying. We can eat, we just don't need to." "Wow. That's... amazing. Your people must never starve." "Until I came to Eternia, I've actually never heard of starvation. So, yes." Orko rubbed the back of his head, "Tell you girls what, why don't you go ahead and do what you need to do. I'll take a nap right here. Wake me up when you're ready to continue." "Okay." "Bye." "See you soon." Fluttershy could not stand it and hugged Orko as tightly as she could. It was impulsive, but she just felt that being alone for so long in the deep darkness where they had found him was just so sad. "Ooh! My back! Careful, you're really strong. You could easily break my ancient bones." In the process of hugging Orko, somehow the remote had been touched. The white walls vanished and again the floor fell out to reveal a deep dark abyss. Moments later, the hologram reformed and the girls gasped in surprise as they found themselves standing on a cloud. "Swift?" a familiar voice asked, "What are we doing here?" "I said I'll show you. Now keep your eyes closed," he replied. He landed on the cloud. The perspective of this particular hologram was taken from swift's back. To the front they could see his mane and head, behind him sat the Sorceress. "Okay. Take off your blind." She snatched it off and gasped silently as her mouth opened wide in surprise. She put her hands over her lips and began to laugh. "You found a place for them, Swift. You found a place for them." "I call it Nephelippion. Do you like it?" "I do. What about that. A city in the clouds. How have you kept this a secret from me all this time?" The Sorceress asked. "It was not easy. But in the end, I think it was because I didn't try all that hard. You are funny that way." She laughed, "True. Whenever you hide anything from me, I make it a point to find out what. So. Have they accepted it?" "Yes, but I have made some conditions. They may have their own form of government and trade with whomever they wish so long as they respect those that live below them." Swift sighed, "It's a start. These... pegasi, as they like to call themselves now, are very timid. My guess is that they still feel vulnerable and wish to be left to their own devices. Since our kind cannot live in the clouds for prolonged periods of time, I thought that this would appease them." "How can they live in the clouds without magic?" the Sorceress asked. "We have various kinds of magic, She-Ra, or have you forgotten?" "Perhaps. Humor me." "Very well then. Magic we cast comes from our horns, but other parts of our body react to other magical elements as needed. Our wings have passive magical properties that allow us to do other things, such as stay on clouds, feel the ground and know where best to plant our crops. For these new pegasi... I think without their horns, the magic in their wings replenishes itself faster. They can stay on clouds indefinitely." "What will they eat?" Swift sighed, "That's what I wondered. They said that they'd manage. My guess is they'll have to fly down to the ground." "I don't see why they can't just live in New Canterlot instead. It just feels... wrong to split them up just because they can no longer use any magic." "I understand how you feel, but this is what they insisted. It doesn't help that many of my... mate's," Swift said the word with just a hint of negative emotion, "followers still treat them like second class citizens. If they remain, it might lead to another conflict. A class war. I cannot allow that. If this will help them regain their pride as Equestrians, then so be it. And the city's name is just Canterlot. There's nothing left of the original..." Jumping off Swift's back, the alicorn gasped as She-Ra safely landed on the cloud next to him. "You forget, I am one with this world, Swifty. You might have strong magic, but I am magic." "Quite right. I had forgotten." He chuckled. The Sorceress took her hood off and shook her hair out. "Now, let's go see that city. Race you to Nephelippion." "Teleporting is cheating in a race, She-Ra." "Spoil sport." With that the two of them vanished in a flash of light blue light. The pastel colored hair on the Sorceress was not lost on Twilight, who had audibly gasped when she saw it.