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// Prequel - The Empress of Harmony 
// Story: Broken Promise 
// by Nova Star Sparkle 
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*4*






Canterlot, the very heart of Equestria. The glorious and magnificent capital of the mighty Pony Kingdom, constructed into the top of the side of Mount Canterhorn, the highest mountain in all of Equestria, and thus with an unobstructed view over the entire surrounding countryside and its impressively radiant landscape. The vast green and vibrant hills with its slight ups and downs, the small and large blue sparkling lakes and ponds dotted all over the landscape.

The gorgeous blossoming apple trees with its thanks to an apple loving godly beings powers ever ripe juicy fruits. That could be seen flourishing in the distance near a small but resent historically very important town.

There was so much more that could have been said about Equestria and it would take hours maybe even days to list everything worth mentioning about the glorious and peaceful kingdom of Equestria. But if one were to summarize it, everything came down to the fact that it was a paradise for anyone who was willing to follow the ways of harmony and peace, as well as the cohesion and sincere cooperation of all.

Absolutely nothing and no creature at all could sneak up on the city without being seen from miles away. Canterlot was built in such a way that an attack from above would not be obscured by the mountain, and otherwise a clear view was maintained from the front and in every surrounding direction of the city.

Most of the rooftops, avenues and mansions of the noble district were covered with incredible wealth and values. Even the outermost houses of the city, less luxurious and inhabited by the more common rest of the citizens, were more impressively and beautifully built than in any other city of Equus elsewhere. Yet this was nothing special, Equestria was by far the wealthiest and greatest kingdom on the planet Equus and poverty was a case among millions.

Even the smaller villages of the kingdom, such as Ponyville, located right at the foot of Mount Canterhorn, had experienced significant growth in recent years. The small village now resembled more of a moderate-sized town, and was home to at least four times the number of ponies in an area nearly 8 times the size it had been a decade ago. Even though most of the boom was probably due to the young and, until recently, resident princess of the small resort. After all, who wouldn't want to reside in the same town as one of Equestria's revered regents? Especially considering the fact that this young alicorn mare was also considered the friendliest, most benevolent and smartest pony in the entire kingdom and a friendship with her almost came naturally.

Like any alicorn of Equestria she was a pure, mighty and supernatural being with transcendental force over the totality of the universe and out beyond. The incarnation of vitality, fertility and harmony in all its forms. The last one even was embodied by the lavender mare to a greater extent than any other being, even any fellow alicorn.

Canterlot itself was the trading and governing point of the reigning monarchs and Equestria, as well as the place where the grand princesses' home castle, Canterlot Castle, was located. The castle even more impressive and richly decorated than the city itself and built directly higher up the cliff side of Mt. Canterhorn, making it impossible to attack it from the back. If it weren't also for the smaller of the two invisible alicorn magic powered protection shields around the castle, which shielded the castle from any damage or attack from all sides.

The larger sized version was protecting the entire surrounding city of Canterlot itself, making the capital of Equestria the most gorgeous and well-defended place in the entire pony kingdom at the same time. Even without counting the thousands of palace, royal and honor guards in the city, who were stationed mostly in the capital itself but also spread throughout the rest of Equestria.

However, not two weeks ago, large parts of the palace were in ruins and the surrounding noble district and the rest of Canterlot had also suffered heavy damage. It had not been a pretty sight that Equestria's three attackers had left on the city and even on their approach to the capitol they had occasionally left major damage. But the Pony's refused to let something like that get them down, the united will of the inhabitants of Equestria was too strong to be broken by something like that and in less than two weeks almost all the damage in and around Canterlot had been repaired. Most of the destruction in the rest of the kingdom was also quickly repaired, but unlike the capital, it would take another week or so.

The costs have been high, but the kingdom possessed almost immeasurable wealth, more than every other kingdom together and the crown knew how to manage its wealth efficiently. There were also some gigantic donations from individuals to restore the capital to its former beauty more quickly, if not more splendidly. Everypony was willing to contribute it´s part and the princesses gave back in the long run with tax rebates and write-offs even a large part of the bits that were funded. Even though most would freely give their money to the country just to avoid seeing their homeland in ruins. Only the minority truly stoked themselves around immense wealth.

The prestige and triumph of having helped make Canterlot and the Kingdom of Equestria arguably the most formidable country of them all far outweighed the practical benefits of bits. There were only so and so many things that a ton of money could buy that were truly still of useful value in the Pony Kingdom. The princesses maintained a steady balance, as good as even and tried to grant each of their subjects the most beautiful and peaceful life possible since more than two thousands of years.

Speaking of the Princessess. As Luna and Celestia emerged onto the balcony of Canterlot Castle, the balcony that overlooked the massive forecourt and from which the most important speeches and proclamations of the reigning regents were made, they were virtually tongue-tied. Earlier this day, many ponies, dragons, griffins, changelings and other creatures had gathered in the forecourt of the castle. But in the last half hour, there had gathered easily at least twice as many. The two older alicorn´s couldn't even see the back rows of spectators anymore. Only a few pegasi above, occasionally looking down and shouting, suggested that there were more spectators to be gathered there. The natural curvature of the courtyard in front of the castle, apparently seemed to block out the view of the last arrivals.

With a reverent smirk, Luna ignited her horn and fired a thick beam of her light blue magic into the sky. As it rose, it split into seven equal parts that spread across the entire capitol, exploding each in a bright blast shortly after.

Some of the creatures observing had been momentarily surprised by the sudden loud and bright Explosion. It caused most of those present to look up at the balcony and what was now hanging above it thanks to Luna.

Far above on the horizon hovered now seven huge replication spells. Each of them reproducing every little event that happened on the royal balcony for all to see.

Now nobody had to be afraid of missing anything, Luna confirmed to herself in her thoughts.

Celestia had also lit her horn while Luna was working her magic and now amplified her voice to the royal voice of Canterlot. Making sure that even the last row of spectators could hear her clearly, as if she were standing in front of them.

"Inhabitants of Equestria and beyond. We, the alicorn´s of Equestria, welcome you to what is arguably the most important event in our kingdom in over a millennium. On behalf of all of us, we are honored that so many of you have come and wish to attend today's event. Please bear us just a tiny moment longer, we're about to begin."

As the crowd began to cheer in anticipation, both eldest alicorn´s turned their backs from the front of the balcony towards the room beyond and slowly walked inside. The scene that presented itself to them caused a smile to slide across the muzzles of both.

Rarity was busy applying the finishing touches to Twilight's self-designed coronation gown, turning Twilight steadily in a slow circle to get a good view of the seraphicorn. The golden necklace, with its purple four-inch gemstone framed in obsidian in the Center. That the off-white unicorn had received from her seraphicorn friend, sparkled steadily in a mild shade of white surrounded by a rainbow-colored corona - Twilight's own new magic color.

It added a new layer of magic around the corona of Rarity´s own, enhancing the generous unicorns magic.

For as the young seraphicorn had found out a few days ago, only her alicorn magic and only that alone could still generate an effect on her body or even touch it at all. And even that only when she actively allowed it. Every other kind of magic or try therefore simply failed to produce an effect.

Therefore, Twilight had enchanted a gemstone with her new powers and had it worked into a necklace by the resident royal blacksmith in Canterlot to give it to Rarity as a Gift. So she could help her with her further work on her impressive coronation dress and future wardrobe. Which she would need for festivities and occasions in the future as the sole regent of Equestria.

Rarity had been very happy to receive the kind gesture and wore the necklace with pride ever since. The necklace - or rather the gem itself had several further incredibly powerful enchantments placed on it, apart from the simple possibility of levitating Twilight.

Such as several level 10 protection and support spells. These included an alicorn magic powered and infused shield that would effectively protect Rarity from any attack on her life and also disarm and stun most attacker for at least several minutes. Second a reinforcement that opened the floodgates of the astral Dimension. It allowed Rarity to draw on all of Twilight's available mana for a maximum duration of 10 seconds, for any magical spells and magic based actions she desired. A prolonged duration than that would kill a non-alicorn in the harshest way possible due to the magical feedback of the used mana. And also the fact that an alicorn was directly connected to the astral dimension with it´s very soul. And that - was hardly something any alicorn and foremost especially Twilight wanted.

It was common knowledge that the depleted mana from spells was released into the ambient environment and returned via the earth to the core of Equus to be recycled. Subsequently, it would be released back into the environment via the leylines and could be absorbed by the planet's creatures in an ever flowing cycle of arcane power.

With the physiology of an alicorn, however, that was completely different. First of all, their magic and mana did not stem from Equus. The amount the planet contained was gigantic, but compared to the default level that an alicorn, especially Twilight, was carrying around, it was just a drop into the ocean. An alicorn drew its mana directly from the astral dimension, a subdimension within reality that was filled to the brim with alicorn magic and could only be entered with it.

But even with alicorn magic in one' s possession, it wasn´t recommended by any means to try and enter the astral dimension. Just like the prolonged use of an alicorn's mana, the stored magic in the dimension would also act as an incredible strain on the body of a non-alicorn. Due to the virtually infinite amount of mana, however, the effect was at least a thousandfold and would sub atomize anyone and everything faster than they could even enter the dimension.

All things considered, that would not be such a devastating issue, but an alicorn's magic level knew only two states. Consistent or increasing. For every unit of mana consumed, the same amount of fresh mana would flow back to the alicorn´s body and be absorbed by it. For an alicorn, that was routine, but for any other organism, it was an effort that could not be survived. Add to that the fact that alicorn magic by itself always tried to keep the caster alive no matter the cost and you had a rather tricky loop.

At first glance, that sounded like a good deal, but if you went deeper and investigated, you would discover that the magic used to maintain the vitality of its user was self-consuming. This led to a perpetual cycle and steadily increasing consumption of alicorn magic, which eventually nevertheless had to end in the demise of the casting Non-alicorn. As eventually, the body could no longer absorb enough mana per second to not perish from the resulting consequences.

While alicorn magic was the most powerful form of energy the universe possessed and truly enabled one to do anything imaginable, it was also an energy that only an alicorn was capable of fully and safely wielding. Therefore, the use of the amulet's special ability was limited to a single use per day and a maximum duration of 10 seconds at a time. Within that time, not enough depleted mana could accumulate and be replaced with new to pose a threat to the one casting.

The most important of all enchantments, however, was a magical lock calibrated to a specific magical Signature. It prevented the necklace from being removed by anyone other than Rarity or Twilight. In addition, it also prevented the necklace from being lost. For even if it were stolen, as soon as it was beyond a certain radius of a few meters or not worn by either of the two mares for a certain period of several minutes, it would teleport back to the neck of whichever pony was currently closer to the necklace location.

Hefting their sight back to the matter at hoof in front of them, both alicorn´s continued to smile. The aforementioned lavender seraphicorn, was pleased but somewhat annoyed by Rarity's perfectionism. Trying in vain to persuade her that it was not necessary to add more preciousness to her outfit. Already Twilight wore jewelry worth a small household, and Rarity still insisted on adding more items and seemed not to be dissuaded.

Twilight's floor length gown was made entirely of the purest silk hoof crafted in Saddle Arabia and was a darker purple than her own coat. The dress was framed by a hem of soft white pegasus fleece wool and further adorned by many of golden accents along the entire gown. Around her neck hung a golden chain with a beautiful sun attached. It was also golden and had a large round gemstone in its center. Within it sparked the blazing power of an entire sun. Further a gold brooch with a lavender clip hung down from both of Twilight's ears and the gold jagged crown she had always worn on occasions up until now had been polished to the last ounce.

As Twilight directed her gaze downward to avoid following Rarity's bustling, at least for a moment, her eyes fixed on her hooves. Each of the four ends of her legs had an equally beautiful crafted golden hoof shoe like her Crown. It continued up the front of her base and ended in three spikes - the middle one being the largest and longest of the spikes. The front of the shoe, in a semicircle, was plated the same dark purple as her robe and was complemented by a small round ruby in the Center of it.

Rarity would also have loved to add jewelry to her wings, but with the assistance of Rainbow - the expert on wings, she had been able to dissuade her unicorn friend.

A pegasus' wings were the most sensitive part of a pony's body, even more so than a unicorn's horn. Both were crisscrossed by almost innumerable neural pathways, and a unicorn as well as a pegasus could use them to sense the slightest changes in weather or air. Even if the Pegasi, due to their deep connection to the sky, were a good deal better than their unicorn colleagues. The wings and horn of an alicorn, however, were so incredibly sensitive and precise that even that felt like a blow through a meter of cotton-wool.

These facts led even Rarity to think about and finally refrain from attaching jewelry to Twilight's wings. A seraphicorn Twilight frustrated by emotions and sensations on the day of her coronation as sole regent of the kingdom, Rarity preferred not to encounter. She had seen for herself on the meadow in front of Canterlot with the three villains what this could lead to and what an unrestrained terrifying level of power an alicorn and seraphicorn really had. Even if she knew as a matter of fact that Twilight would never dare to attack her, let alone forgive herself for it.

Rarity raised her voice as she gazed into the violet eyes of her seraphicorn friend. They not only sparkled with a friendly glimmer, but also an incredible level of intelligence and arcane magical might, comparable to an entire universe burning deep within. No matter what one might like to say about Twilight, she was and remained an incredible cunning mare and the seraphicorn/alicorn plus mistress of all magic. While the latter followed her command without hesitation.

"But dearest! You are about to be introduced as the next regent of the kingdom, an event that hasn't happened in over a millennium. You'll have to look just perfect, and I want everyone to see that Equestria really has something to offer."

Twilight just rolled her eyes. "So...if you meant that Equestria can show that it's extremely prosperous, then you've already accomplished that."

"I almost look like a Christmas tree - a Christmas tree decorated with tons of gold, alicornite and precious gemstones...".

The young seraphicorn´s voice trailed off on purpose, hoping that Rarity understood Twilight's tone and would finally stop frantically running from side to side of her. Only to find another tiny wrinkle there to straighten, until she ran to the other side to straighten out the wrinkle that had appeared there. A constantly repeating cycle, from which there was no way out, but Rarity did not seem to notice.

Twilight watched the frantic trotting for a few more seconds, while she glanced helpfully at Luna and Celestia, whom she had just spotted at the doorway to the balcony. The two older alicorn´s, however, only smirked and wordlessly surveyed the spectacle as well. Neither of them was going to interfere in Rarity's affairs. Twilight would have to do that herself. The fashionista was known for her perfectionism and the patience as well as the temperament she showed during the process, so it was better for them not to interfere.

With a quiet frustrated sigh, Twilight sparked her long horn and stripped her own magic stemming from the amulet from her fur. As well as at the same time, blocked Rarity's ability to access the energy in the amulet or even her own magic anew.

The unfamiliar feeling of no longer having any control over her own magic, and experiencing a sudden ´void´ in the place where her own magic was supposed to be, made Rarity wince briefly. However, when her eyes met Twilight's and the lavender seraphicorn rolled her eyes in amusement, she relaxed almost immediately.

"Goodness Twilight! You just gave me quite a scare for a brief moment there."

"But could you please refrain from doing that again. It just feels plainly wrong. Would you?" Rarity´s bright smile brought about a chuckle from the taller mare in front of her as Twilight rolled her eyes again.

"I wouldn't even have to resort to the possibility of blocking your magic, if you would just listen to me for once. So will you please do me the favor?” Twilight's gaze was friendly and inquiring, her head tilted slightly to the side. Her eyes, however, also held a sharpness that said she would not allow Rarity to keep running around her.

Rarity nodded and perked her ears to listen to Twilight.

"You did a pristine job taking care of my dress, appearance and further posturing. I can assure you that no one could have done it better than you. But it's really enough now. I look gorgeous and imposing and it's all thanks to you."

Twilight did a short pause.

" Yet, half of Equus is waiting for us to begin and you know as well as I do that it was planned to hold the ceremony of my ascension to the sole regent of Equestria in the last sparkles of dawn. If for no other reason than the appropriate name and resulting joke it gave us."

At this Twilight smiled. It had been Pinkie - who else? That had made her aware of such an appropriate time of day for the coronation of someone named ˋTwilight Amitica Aurora Sparkleˋ. It was therefore decided that today's event would culminate in exactly 18 minutes and 46 seconds – and 237 milliseconds, but who would care about something like that…?

The moment Celestia would set her sun and Luna raise her moon, it would combine to create a wonderful transition from light to dark - the twilight of the day and, moreover, the time of day after which both her parents had named her at her birth. She had even been born right in the middle of the dawn of the rising sun – so that made it even more special.

Rarity, meanwhile, nodded devoutly, wordlessly agreeing with her friend. After Twilight saw that Rarity would not contradict her further and continued to work on her dress, she loosened the grip of her magic around Rarity's so that the other mare could regain her magic and utilize it.

"Thank you dearest, I..." Rarity probably would have said some more, but when she noticed Celestia and Luna behind Twilight in the corridor. Both standing there like that and observing the situation, she tilted her body into a slight short bow and fell silent. Her gaze became questioning as she glanced at them.

Twilight had long since noticed the other two alicorn´s in the room, thanks to her alicorn perception, but first wished to finish her conversation with her friend. However, since Rarity was not saying anything more and had also bowed slightly to them, it was a clear indication that she could turn to her two fellow alicorn´s to converse with them.

As Twilight arched her body around she nudged Rarity´s side with one of her hooves, to get the Unicorn to raise herself. With a year’s long, almost family close friendly relationship with both Luna and Celestia and her as the third royal alicorn in the room and one of Rarity’s dearest friends - bowing was a thing Rarity really shouldn’t be necessary to do. And she KNEW that, there was no way Twilight was wrong with it.

Turning around, Celestia began to approach until she stopped only two meters away from Twilight , their eyes met. Her younger sister Luna, also stepped further forward, but stopped a good meter behind Celestia. While her friendship with Twilight was exceedingly good and they both had a very good relationship, her sister had the longer and more intimate affair with Twilight, sprouting from a years-long student and teacher bond.

"My Sister and I are really just so proud of you. If you still need a moment, that is alright. It is your Coronation after all." Celestia bowed her head to Twilight and Luna followed the gesture as well, which was also acknowledged by Twilight. But not even a second later they were all interrupted by a fanfare and hundreds of cheers, which made their heads and ears prick up quickly.

Luna started. "Although, it would be nice to be able to start soon. The crowd is already getting impatient and to keep up our arranged plan to put the crown on your head at the twilight, we don't have too much time left either as you know. So are you ready?" Luna's look was friendly and she indicated that while she would much prefer to start soon, she would not force Twilight to do so. It was her coronation and if the young seraphicorn would need a moment to herself or alone with Rarity, that was perfectly fine.

Twilight scratched her chin briefly before answering. "Hmm, yes!", Twilight smiled back at Luna. "My dress is fitted, and I'm also more than ready to step in front of the assembled crowd. Even if I'm still a little nervous", Twilight announced with a slight blushing of her cheeks and an awkward laugh into her front hoof.

Luna replied back to Twilight.

"That is to be expected dearest, even we are quite nervous today. It is, after all, probably the most thrilling day in Equestria's history in many hundreds of years. Our kingdom has never had such a change of power. But that's logical, we were the first alicorn´s to rule Equestria since its founding after all. Besides, you haven't seen the crowd outside yourself yet, but I've never seen so many ponies and other creatures in one spot. Your friendship with the other kingdoms is truly beyond belief."

Now Celestia raised her voice as well, adding to her sister's statement. "If I were to guess, almost all of Canterlot and half of all the other major cities of our kingdom, as well as about two-thirds of the major creatures of all the other kingdoms, probably gathered in front of the Castle. Truly something to be proud of. Not even we have managed to gather even half as many allies behind us in a millennium as you have achieved in just a few years. And that's not even counting all the friends you've made, which is probably at least ten times as many as you have allies. Alicorn´s are widely beloved around the planet. Our decisions are after all always rather fair and faithful. Yet you probably have less enemy’s on Equus than a dozen."

"We saw it just over two weeks ago in the grassland outside Canterlot during the attack on our capital and what was even worse, your own life. So many were willing to stand up for our kingdom Equestria and most importantly your honor. Not only as Equestria's princess but as a close friend and ally, fighting to the end, whatever the cost."

Luna interrupted her sister in the midst of speech, giving her a brief apologetic look, which Celestia returned with a nod of understanding on her part.

"I have never experienced something like this, even in my more than one and a half thousand years alive. Never in the entire history of Equus have all the major kingdoms gathered in one place to fight for a single nation. We are lucky that it turned out as well as it did, but I am sure many would have fought for you even to the bitter end if it had been necessary." Luna paused for a moment and put on a friendlier smile, today was not a day to spoil the mood, but what she wanted to say needed to be said.

"I can tell by the look on your face that the thought has crossed your mind as well, and your calm demeanor tells me that you know how well we got off in truth. But today is not a day for thinking about what might have been. Let's be glad that it never had to come this far and probably never will. Let's simply enjoy what is. Today is your special day and a date we should all celebrate not mourn."

With those words, Luna bowed her head once again to Twilight and shortly after began to turn away from Rarity and Twilight beside her sister to slowly trot towards the balcony.

Out of the corner of their eyes, the two sisters saw how the other two ponies in the foyer of the castle also bowed their heads slightly in thanks. Whereas for Rarity it was probably still more a remnant of the general gesture for royalty. Even after she didn't have to do so anymore and was one of the closest friends for years of one of the four royal alicorn´s and soon to be regent of the country. Celestia had explicitly mentioned it as well, yet Rarity was probably still not quite used to the notion.

Celestia and Luna stepped out onto the balcony, while Rarity most certainly added the very last finishing touches to Twilight's attire. Even if her seraphicorn friend had expressly forbidden her to continue tinkering with her coronation dress, Rarity certainly wouldn't let that stop her.

Just because Twilight was part of the rarest and mightiest species in the entire universe. A kind so powerful that they could litteraly rewrite the fundamental logics of the universe all on their own with just a brief thought and only had to follow them themselves if they wanted too. A being that had become invulnerable and immortal - not only through time itself, but on every conceivable and unfathomable level. Possessing, in addition, absolute control over the strongest aspect of an alicorn - it´s alicorn magic and every other little thing that had even the slightest thing to do with magic.

Could also further control, cancel and direct all magic with a single brief flick of her horn or hoof…Only because Rarity could in no way even begin to stand a hint of a chance against someone like Twilight. A seraphicorn that could disarm and incapacitate her with her very presence alone…No, Rarity would not let such marginal and unimportant trifles deter her from her intention.

Celestia raised her voice once Luna and she had reached the edge of the balcony, letting the royal Canterlot voice ring out over the thousands gathered.

"Inhabitants of Equestria and beyond!"

Celestia's address was punctuated by deafening cheers from the assembled crowd, with most of the Jacks also stomping their hooves to the ground, almost causing a small earthquake among the crowd of assembled representatives of the land. But even if, Canterlot had been specially protected with spells against any natural disaster and would be able to survive even that without problems. The cheers were accompanied by a barrage of precise fire from the dragons, aimed at the sky. Ember Magmaheart, the reigning Dragoness of the reptiles nation, was cheering the loudest and stretched her bright red glowing scepter upwards in her arm.

Both princesses on the balcony of the castle had to grin and waited patiently for the cheering crowd to fall silent again to listen to them.

Celestia then raised her voice a second time. She would take the first part of the speech, as the two sisters had agreed. She would hold the beginning and Luna would take over from about the half.

“My sister and I have ruled this land for quite some time, but even we know that change eventually comes to us all. And though we know it can be unsettling, it's as natural as the rising and setting of the sun, moon and stars.”

"Both of which we will be happy to leave in the hooves of our successor, even though we will still be taking on the task ourselves until an indefinite time. The strain and adjustment necessary of running an entire kingdom will probably be enough for her for the time being. It would be unfair to place that burden on her as well, even if we have no doubt that she would be up to the task as well by no doubt."

Now Luna took over for Celestia. “And so without further ado I give you the new Ruler of Equestria and our successor. Princess Twilight Amitica Aurora Sparkle the first; seraphicorn auf Harmony and Peace; Embodiment of Magic; Mistress of Friendship; a dear and loyal friend to all of us and so much more, that would exceed the frame.”

To Twilight, this was the cue she had waited at the doorway to the balcony after Rarity had assured her that her dress, and therefore she, was now ready to step in front of the crowd. As Luna spoke these words, she closed her eyes and trotted forward until she came to a stop between the two older alicorn´s. Her head was held high, as was seen amongst many of the nobles in Canterlot; her steps precise, determined, and even, her entire dress and adornment pristine to the last ounce, and overwhelmingly adorned with jewelry.

Even if her general appearance as a recently matured seraphicorn, with the characteristic flowing mane and tail with all its constellations of the firmament in it. The aura of divine magic around the entire body and her six alicorn wings neatly folded over each other on her back was certainly an impressive enough sight for all gathered in front of the balcony to witness.

As she stopped between Luna and Celestia, her eyes opened and for the first time she saw all the creatures gathered in Canterlot just for her coronation as the new regent of Equestria. Her nervousness came to a head for a short time. However, it quickly turned into excessive happiness and joy, and a broad grin crossed her entire muzzle.

For what else should she feel but infinite joy. The sight of so many thousands of creatures, gathered just to witness today's event of her coronation, allowed absolutely no other feelings.

With a single flourish of her white-rainbow colored magic, she grabbed her old crown as Crown Princess of Equestria from her head and slowly placed it on the specially provided pedestal with its lavender velvet cushion in front of her. Its red embroidered edges and short twisted golden cords hung down each of its four sides.

Now, she would no longer need this crown after her ascension to the Regent of Equestria. Instead she would receive an entirely new crown. Later, after her coronation was done, the crown would be displayed in a specially prepared magical showcase in the 'Halls of the Alicorn´s' under Canterlot. These halls possessed a legendary, almost mystical status that extended far beyond the borders of Equestria and each year these halls were visited not only by tens of thousands of ponies, but also by creatures from the farthest corners of Equus nowadays.

Located deep beneath the city Canterlot, protected by hundreds of spells. These halls contained the most valuable and historical artifacts, books, scrolls, weapons, everyday items and among them very soon the crown of the first and so far only crown princess Equestria ever had. Just seeing all this made the visit worthwhile, but the walls, floors and passages were lined with the purest white and beige marble found on the planet. The floors were so clear and polished that you could see your reflections on them, making them a real magnet for foals.

The walls and passageways were further decorated with precious metals such as Alicornite and Shade, as well as gemstones almost equal in purity to the jewels worn by Equestria's highest royal representatives in their regalia and crowns. Along with hundreds more banners, flags and paintings of Equestria's most important personalities. Whereas most of the decorations were obviously devoted to the four alicorn´s of the Pony Kingdom.

There were even sections in the back of the halls that were entirely dedicated to one of the princesses each and decorated in the appropriate colors and aura. There, as in the castle of Canterlot itself, the greatest achievements and successes of the princesses were on display in large stained glass images and preserved for future generations for all to see.

With Twilight having rested her crown on the velvet cushion of the pedestal, Luna and Celestia, to her respective left and right, ignited their horns in characteristic magic and lifted their own crowns up from their heads. Holding them side by side about half a meter above Twilight's head.

Now came the second part of the spell, slowly the two ancient regents of the land guided their crowns closer together until both head accessories met in the center just above the tip of Twilight's sharp long horn.

In a bright ball of golden-blue magic and under a truly impressive light show of sparkling alicorn magic, Celestia's golden crown and Luna's dark blue one merged, forming a single new imperial head crest.

As the magic began to slowly fade away, a single large crown was revealed. It was made entirely of alicornite held in a dark silver and serrated in two rows. With the four outer tips of the crown, two to the left and two to the right each had a square, dark purple amethyst at their tip, framed in obsidian at its base, binding it firmly to the crown.

The middlemost of the five spikes was significantly larger and was also topped off by an amethyst set in obsidian about three times its size. Each of the gems was, as was to be expected for the crown of an Equestria princess, pristine and without any enclosures and sparkled as brightly in the slowly setting sun as the one itself.

Twilight glanced up for a moment at the new crown hovering atop her, marveling at the beauty and elegance emanating from it. Her new crown as the soon-to-be Regent of Equestria was very similar to her previous crown as Crown Princess, but it was significantly more impressively designed than the latter.

Twilight also knew that the ancient spell that melded the princesses' crowns had a life of its own and could not be foreseen as to what the end result might look like. The ancient spell always adapted the crafted object to the one it was intended for, mysteriously enchanting and enhancing it in the process.

Slowly, the magic of the two elder alicorn´s caused the new crown to float down until it slowly slid past her long horn and settled on her head in front of it, officially crowning her as the new ruler of their pony kingdom. Celestia, who just like her sister had been looking to the side and thus at Twilight the entire time. While their crowns were fused and then settled as a single new crown on Twilight's head, were about to turn away to address the assembled crowd once again and proclaim the joyful news.

But all of a sudden, the amethysts of Twilight's crown flared up in a glaring slightly brighter light than the gems themselves, and the eyes of both alicorn´s went wide as they took a step backwards, startled.

The magic auras that emanated from an alicorn continuously by the second were generally known to be extremely powerful, and Twilight's alicorn one had far surpassed even that. But suddenly that power had increased by such a factor that even the harmonic power emanating from Twilight two weeks ago on the meadow battlefield was a joke against it.

"Wow!" chimed out from both alicorn´s at the same time.

Within a fraction of a second, a bright magenta flaming halo of magical fire formed about 10 inches above the crown itself, increasingly resembling a tiara that spiraled up along the length of Twilightˋs horn, reaching almost to the tip of the magical accessory. Although the magical fire was flame-like, no heat emanated from it. It continued to 'burn' steadily above the head of the seraphicorn princess of magic.

Even those gathered in the forecourt of the castle had suddenly all fallen silent and merely gazed in amazement at the unexpected spectacle that was taking place on the balcony of the royal castle of Canterlot. Only scattered low whispers could be heard as some of the creatures began to murmur what it could possibly mean.

"I've - never seen anything like that in my life. That was definitely unexpected," Luna began slowly as she stepped closer with her eyes intently examining the burning tiara above Twilight's head. Twilight just gazed from the crown to Luna and back, her voice lost.

"That my dear, you can say loudly," Celestia added, also stepping closer to Twilight. "Do you have any idea what that could be? As I said, my specialty isn't magic, so I can't put my hoof on it."

The dark blue alicorn mare shook her head. "Neither can I. But the spell we have used shapes the crown to the best possible outcome of whoever is worthy to wear it." Luna held her hoof up and pointed upon Twilightˋs head. "Accordingly, I simply presume that is the end result."

“It is!”, Twilight voiced and added further. “I can´t possible tell you why I know that, but it is the reason I know got a flaming tiara above my head every time I put on my crown.”

Both other alicorn´s atop the balcony nodded. Twilight was the best of them in magic, if she said the ancient spell was responsible for it, it was.

"I suppose it will be as it is," Celestia smirked, turning her gaze to her lavender fellow.

"You will certainly find out where this magic comes from quicker than either of us. Perhaps it is also a visual and physical extension of your own native powers. Who knows. We'll certainly know soon enough, owing to you, though."

Twilight gave a speechless nod in the direction of her former mentor and then took determined steps towards the edge of the balcony ahead. Where she eventually stretched all six wings wide slightly bent upwards from her. Her eyes were friendly and caring as she looked over the thousands of creatures that now looked up in amazement at her in the square below.

All the gathered creatures slightly bowed in a collective movement and then fell into a threefold, loud tribute. The ponies, of course, cheered the loudest for their new ruler.

"All Hail divine Empress Twilight, May her Regine be long, just and fruitful."

"All Hail divine Empress Twilight, May her Regine be long, just and fruitful."

"All Hail divine Empress Twilight, May her Regine be long, just and fruitful."

Twilight was happier than she had ever been in her lifetime and she would give anything to fulfil the shouts of her subjects and allied kingdoms. The honor and respect they had for her was incredible. She still didn´t felt like a goddess, divine creature in general or even empress as she was called. But with her recent new powers and the seraphicorn status in general, that would obviously be a thing she had to come to terms with.

As the cheers and shouts died down, she bowed her head to the assembled creatures in return for their trust in her.

When Twilight spoke, her voice was determined, amiably warm and, thanks to the royal Canterlot voice, clear and loud.

"Thank you all! As truly as I stand here before you, I will do my utmost as the new Regent to make our kingdom the most wonderful and secure place one could ever imagine.”

She raised one of her front hooves.

“However, under no circumstances, at the expense of others. Because if there is one thing that is more important to me than anything else. It is the amity spirit, the harmonious peace and the solidarity of all the creatures of our little planet Equus with one another. Such is my soul oath to each and every one of you. If there are ever any issues with the way I rule, I sincerely ask that you do not be too shy to seek audience with me and address them. Even as a seraphicorn, ruler of an entire kingdom and incredible strong being, it is important to me that no one is overheard. That alone even characterizes my title as seraphicorn of friendship, apart from many other things."

The cheers were even louder for Twilight this time than before and lasted equally as long. While Twilight stood at the edge of the balcony with all her wings still stretched far away from her, and the grin on her face as wide as it had been, she had her ears slightly tilted back.

For Luna and Celestia were whispering quietly to each other, even though they were well aware that Twilight could still hear them perfectly. Which basically rendered the whispering superfluous, but whatever...

"I told you sister, she's our perfect successor. If not Twilight, who else should ascend the throne of Equestria after us and bring fame and glory to Equestria?", intoned Celestia and Luna replied unceremoniously delighted.

"No, no one else would be better suited leading our kingdom into an era of peace and friendship than her. Ever since I met her, she has been a natural born leader and I am proud that I have seen her grow with her duties. My heart almost bursts with joy to see her finally confident in herself, that she is the regent everyone has seen in her for years."

"I can' t even begin to imagine how very happy and proud Duke Nightlight and Duchess Velvet of House Sparkle feel for the success of their daughter. While their son, Shining Armor has already come a long way, their second offspring has arguably achieved the greatest attainment there is. Alicorn Princess, Ruler of all of Equestria, a god now that she ascended to a seraphicorn...not some titles to mess with. The glory to her House Sparkle, Twilight brought, will be legendary for all time, even more so than it was with the many previous loyal deeds of her family tree", Celestia ended.

It didn't escape Twilight's notice how both sisters rested their heads against each other and turned to look ahead at her.

Twilight grinned across her muzzle. The two elder alicorn´s were right. She had finally become self-assured that she was up to the task of being sovereign of all Equestria. Empress Twilight Sparkle...hm, I'll have to get used to that, but it doesn't sound too bad. At least much better than Queen Twilight Sparkle.

As her gaze wandered over Canterlot and she watched the sun slowly fully disappear behind the horizon, creating the twilight – her time of day, she already made plans for her reign, which would truly begin in full swing tomorrow.

Armonía para siempre! (Harmony forever)





*End of Chapter Four*



*End of the Story*