The ponies sat in silence as Weaver finished his tale, none of them knew what to say to such an incredible story. It was Celestia who finally broke the silence.
"Weaver... without that conflict it's likely that Equestria wouldn't even exist. We'd never have the magical ability we have today."
Weaver's appearance was still that of a young raven, but his bearing was that of his ancient self after his telling of the story. "Yes, the independence of this world from the Warp was my master's ultimate goal."
"Why they hay would he want that?" Rainbow said, "Didn't he know he'd bite it too?"
"What greater victory could there be?" Weaver sighed, "Victory over all of Chaos. In the end he was responsible for the defeat of the four most powerful beings that ever did and ever will exist. And by severing the connection of the two worlds he ensured that none could ever gain enough power to match his feat ever again. It really was the ultimate victory."
"But if he wanted to destroy all of Chaos how come he left you?" Rainbow asked.
"To ensure the continuation of his legacy, so that knowledge of his great victory would never fade. What good is winning if none remember it? Imagine you won your Iron Pony competition but your victory was entirely forgotten the next day."
Rainbow was horrified at the thought.
Celestia noticed her friend's impending melancholy and decided it was time to give him some space.
"I think that's enough story time for today, my little ponies. We've imposed on Weaver's hospitality enough for one day." she said, earning a groan from the assembled ponies.
"But Weavie has the best stories!" Pinkie Pie said, pouting.
"Well perhaps he might lend you some of his books in the meantime." she said, looking suggestively at Weaver.
"Oh that would be just wonderful! I mean, if it's not too much, of course." Fluttershy said.
"Of course, young ponies. Take any books you want, so long as they're returned in the condition you found them in." Weaver said looking pointedly at Pinkie Pie when he said the last part.
The six ponies gasped in excitement and bolted off to search for books. Celestia took advantage of their privacy and turned to the raven.
"Weaver, I had no idea you'd gone through so much. You've been alone in this tower for ten thousand years?" she asked.
"Oh my, no. I ruled the Inevitable City for about a thousand years before the great cataclysm, and then counting the years I've known you, I'd say it's been just me and my books for only about six thousand years." Weaver said, as though it was much different.
Celestia sighed at how nonchalantly he said it. "You really should get out and get to know the world your master created for you. The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up, I'd really like it if you would come as my personal guest of honor."
"My dear, you've been inviting me to that little soiree of yours every year for the last thousand years. What makes you think I'll go this time?"
"Thousandth time's the charm." Celestia said with a wink. With a small pop, Celestia materialized a golden ticket and hovered it over to Weaver, who snatched it out of the air with a grunt.
"Yes, yes, we'll see. I'll have to check my schedule." he said.
Celestia rolled her eyes at the comment. "Yes, I'm sure your schedule is absolutely crammed. Anyways I'd really love to see you there, it'll do you some good to get out of this stuffy old tower."
"Like I said, we'll see." he said, noticing the ponies returning from their various quests for literature. Twilight in particular had an air of absolute euphoria about her as she trotted over, saddlebags stuffed to capacity.
"Is everypony ready to go?" Celestia asked.
"Absolutely! I can't wait to get home and read all of these books! There's so much I- mmf!" Twilight was interrupted as Applejack jammed a hoof in front of her mouth.
"That there'd be a yes, yer majesty." she said.
"Alright then, you ponies head back home. It was a pleasure seeing you all again."
The ponies waved goodbye to the princess and the librarian and began the journey home. Likewise, Celestia said her goodbyes to Weaver before she departed for Canterlot.
"Promise me you'll think about it." she insisted.
"Of course, it always takes a fair amount of consideration as to how I dispose of the tickets. This year I'm thinking dragons."
Celestia shook her head. Then she surprised him by wrapping her front legs around him in a hug.
"Goodbye Weaver, I'll visit you again soon. Try not to forget about your most faithful student, you senile old chicken." She ended the hug and teleported back to Canterlot, once again leaving Weaver to his books.
"You were my only student, damnit!" he yelled at nothing. Then he looked at the ticket in his hand for a few moments and sighed, reverting to his elderly form.
"Thousandth time's the charm." he muttered to himself.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Twilight and her friends had finally returned home to Ponyville, saddlebags full of books, and after a few goodbyes returned to their respective homes, eager to plunder the wealth of knowledge they had returned with.
Pinkie Pie was not normally one to read books, but the stories she'd found about the celebrations and culinary mastery of the kingdom of excess were simply worth the torture of remaining stationary long enough to read. By the time she was done, none would doubt Pinkie's position as Equestria's premier party mare.
Rarity had also returned with books about Slaanesh's kingdom, but nothing like the ones Pinkie Pie had seen fit to take. What she took were books describing the dress making techniques used by the master artisans of that glorious time. With the help of these books her name would be known by all of Equestria's elite, every mare and stallion would be clambering for garments hoof-made by the mistress of fashion herself.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash didn't take anything instructional like Pinkie or Rarity, but instead took epics, stories of Khorne's greatest heroes and athletes. They read stories of great battles waged against impossible odds, of feats of strength that would put any of Equestria's greatest athletes to shame. They read of Skull Taker's uncountable victories over the most powerful enemies the world could throw at him. The stories inspired them to their own feats of greatness and for the days following their trip into the forest they could always be found together, participating in some challenge or another.
Fluttershy took some of the well known folk tales from Nurgle's kingdom. She spent her spare time buried in heart warming stories of down on their luck unfortunates getting a leg up in life. She even read some confidence boosting speeches by the charismatic Tallyman.
Twilight Sparkle, upon her return from the tower, locked her door, closed her blinds, and interred herself in her room for the next several days, content to leave Spike in charge while she read. As she had gone about Weaver's library gathering books she at first had tried to restrict herself to books pertaining to Tzeentch's knowledge of magic, but by the end she had simply ended up grabbing every book within reach until her bags could hold no more.
A week had now passed and Twilight finally emerged from her house, blinking in the harsh light of day, her dragon assistant in tow.
"Oh man, I can't believe I finished those books already. I thought those would last me for way longer than they did." she complained.
"I know," Spike agreed, "I thought it'd take you way longer than a week to read that pile of books you came home with."
Twilight froze mid-stride. "What did you say?"
"What? I just said I thought those books would have lasted you longer than a week-"
"Oh my gosh, a week?! I've been reading for a whole week?" she exclaimed.
"Well yeah, what's the problem? You've gone on reading binges like that before."
"The Gala!" she exclaimed, "It's tonight!"
"Oh no! I'm not ready! Are my spines straight? Oh jeez, my scales look terrible! What will Rarity think?" Spike ranted.
"Spike, I need you to go see Applejack and Fluttershy for me. Tell Applejack to bring me an apple and Fluttershy to bring me four field mice. Hurry!" she yelled, making to sprint back to her house.
"What are you gonna do?" Spike asked.
"I need to go get a spell book from the house, come meet me at Rarity's when you're done!"
"Alright, I'll see you there!" Spike yelled after her as he ran off to find his friends, spit shining his scales as he went.
_____________________________________________________________________________
"And we'll have the best night ever!" sang all the ponies while a fantastic fireworks display took place over Canterlot Castle. "At the Gala!"
Standing on a hill on approach to the castle, clad in his finest gold adorned robe that seemed woven from a piece of starlit midnight, a figure gazed down at the area where the spontaneous musical display had just concluded, eyes wide and mouth agape.
"What in the name of the Ruinous Powers was that?!" Fate Weaver exclaimed, horrified.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Within the castle, after her friends rushed off to their respective destinations, Twilight found the princess in the main hall greeting guests.
"Princess Celestia!" she exclaimed in delight.
"Twilight!" Celestia said happily, "It is so lovely to see my star student."
"I'm so excited to be here! We have so much to catch up on!"
"Well I want you right by my side the entire evening, so we'll have plenty of time together." the princess said, making Twilight's evening.
Twilight sprinted to her mentor's side, taking her place next to her. "That's just what I was hoping you'd say!" she said.
Out of the corner of her eye Twilight caught sight of Rarity attempting to elegantly sprint after Prince Blueblood. "Aww, good luck to her." she said to herself.
Suddenly the hall was filled with the gasps of startled ponies, she even heard Celestia gasp in surprise. Twilight looked up to see a familiar avian figure striding through the gate, staff in hand, head held high. He walked straight through the main hall giving no thought to the crowd of staring ponies and climbed the stairs where Celestia and Twilight stood.
"Miss Sparkle," he said nonchalantly, "it's so wonderful to see you again. Have you been enjoying the books you borrowed?"
"Um, I actually just finished them today." she said, still somewhat shocked to see him.
"My, my, what a voracious reader, make sure you stop by soon and exchange those books for some new ones." he said conversationally.
Twilight just nodded mutely while Weaver turned to address Celestia.
"Hello, my dear, I hope this evening finds you well."
His words seemed to shake her out of her stupor. "Weaver, you actually came?" she said in disbelief.
Weaver just shrugged and said, "Thousandth time's the charm, I suppose."
Laughing, Celestia pressed on. "So would you like to stay and talk a while?"
"Ha ha, oh my no, not at all." he said bluntly, "You've been inviting me to this party for a thousand years, I want to go see what exactly is so great about it."
"Well I hope you enjoy yourself, old friend." Celestia said as Weaver walked off in search of entertainment.
"Princess, I don't mean to question your judgment, but are you sure it was a good idea inviting him to the Gala?" Twilight asked.
"Not at all." Celestia replied, shocking her student.
"Then why invite him?" Twilight replied.
"For as long as I've known him, Luna and I have been his only friends, I want to try and get him to open up a little, to make a few friends. Who knows? Perhaps tonight will go off without a hitch."
"Well if you think it's for the best." Twilight said.
"Don't worry, Twilight, I'm sure- oh look, here come more guests now, I'm sorry but we'll have to continue this conversation later." Celestia said. Twilight looked at the immense line of ponies coming in to be greeted and felt her heart sink.
"Oh my." she muttered to herself.
Fate Weaver wandered through the halls of castle, earning himself a multitude of stares from the posh ponies gathered at the party.
"My word, you'd think they'd never seen a daemon prince before." he said to himself, chuckling.
Eventually he came to a large ball room where a band was playing some boring classical music while ponies chatted. He looked around and spotted a familiar pink mare standing alone by a table.
"Ah, finally. The fun one, if I remember correctly. But then why is she moping?" he wondered aloud as he walked over.
Pinkie noticed a shadow fall over her table and looked up. "Weavie!" she shouted, ecstatic.
"Hello Miss Pie, why so glum? I thought you were energetic one."
"Well I thought the Gala was supposed to be the greatest party ever but it's soooooo boring! Nopony here wants to party!" she explained glumly.
Weaver grinned as he saw an opportunity for some fun. "Well perhaps they just need to be shown how to have a good time. I'm sure you of all ponies could demonstrate what a party should really be like."
Pinkie gasped dramatically as what he said sunk in. "You're right! I just need to show them a good time! Oh you're the best Weavie!" she said as she bounced away happily.
"Don't mention it." he said, a huge grin forming on his face. "That should liven things up. Now let's see what else there is to do." he said, walking off.
Outside in the gardens, Fluttershy's attempts to search for new animal friends had met with failure after failure. She had been about to give up and return to the party when she noticed a familiar figure wandering the gardens as well.
"Mr. Weaver?" she called quietly. The figure turned and revealed that it was indeed Fate Weaver.
"Miss Fluttershy! I was hoping I'd run into you out here, how have you been, my dear?" he asked.
"Oh, I've been fine." she said.
"You seem upset, is everything alright?" Weaver asked.
"Oh it's nothing, you don't have to worry about it."
"Come now my dear, you can tell me. I'm sure if there was anyone in the world who could assist it would be me." he insisted.
"Well... it's just that I've been waiting so long to see the royal gardens and meet all the animal here, but now that I'm actually here they're all too afraid of me. I just don't know what to do." she explained. Fortunately she was looking at the ground and didn't notice the excited glint in the raven's eye.
"Well my dear, the solution is simple. Instead of waiting for them to come to you of their own accord, you should take the initiative and make them come to you. You can't just sit around waiting for good things to happen, sometimes you have to make them happen yourself. I'm sure you've read something along those lines in old Tallyman's books." he said
"You know, you're right. I need to take some initiative take things into my own hooves!" she said, her quite voice filled with determination. "Thank you so much, Mr. Weaver."
"Always happy to help, my dear. Always happy to help." he said, walking back towards the palace, delighted grin once again upon his face.
Rainbow Dash was miserable. The opportunity she had finally been waiting for, a chance to hang out with her idols, The Wonderbolts, had finally come and she was stuck in a crowed of overly posh ponies all clambering for her new friends' attention. Sitting at a table alone, she just waited for the night to be over. But she perked up as she saw a familiar bird-brain enter the V.I.P. section.
Immediately she bolted over to him. "Hey feather-head!" she called.
"Ah, Miss Dash." he said, greeting her.
"Just call me Rainbow." she said as she came along side her friend. "So what're you doin' here in the V.I.P. section?
"I'm the princess's personal guest of honor, if that doesn't qualify me for V.I.P. then I'm not sure what does. But I think the real question to be asked is what are you doing here?" he said.
When Rainbow took a deep breath Weaver didn't need his powers of prophecy to see that he would regret this.
"Well I've always dreamed of flying with the Wonderbolts and I finally got a chance to hang out with them tonight when I saved Soarin's apple pie from being ruined and they asked me to hang out with them but when I got in here everypony else wanted to hang out with them too and I've barely gotten to say a word to them and it's totally not what I've been imagining."
Rainbow finally ran out of breath and Weaver hesitantly attempted to insert his two bits.
"Well you got their attention by impressing them, did you not?"
"Yeah." Rainbow confirmed.
"Well then it's obvious, you simply need to keep impressing them. You've read of the heroes of Khorne, you should know that they all gained their great honor and recognition through their impressive feats."
"You're right!" Rainbow exclaimed, "If I keep impressing them they'll have no choice but to see how cool I am! That's such a great idea, I'm so glad I thought of it!"
"You'd put the scholars of the Inevitable City to shame, my dear." Weaver said.
"Well see ya later, bird-brain, I'm gonna go impress the Wonderbolts!" she exclaimed before rushing off.
"I swear, that was far too easy." Weaver said as he exited the V.I.P. section.
The raven wandered around the outside of the castle in search of the remaining two ponies and eventually caught sight of Rarity. He was about to approach her and work his magic when he noticed her company. Celestia had told him of her stuck up nephew, Blueblood, and seeing how he sat on a plush cushion while she sat grumpily on the grass he figured he probably wasn't needed here and just moved on.
"Just one more to go." he mused and began to wander the grounds for the better part of an hour. Eventually he came across the industrious Applejack standing at a food stand she appeared to have set up.
"There you are, Miss Applejack. How's business this fine evening?"
"Plumb awful." she said, dejectedly. "Ah've only made one sale and ah've been out here fer ages. Rarity 'n her new coltfriend came by 'n bought some fritters but Blueblood hated em 'n went inside ta get somma that fancy party food. I'm thinkin' 'bout just closin' up shop."
"Giving up isn't the answer. The champions of Khorne never admitted defeat no matter what the odds. Surely there's something you can do."
"Ah just don't know, they'd all rather eat those dang fancy snacks inside than some proper down home apple snacks."
"Well maybe you just need to dress them up a little. Make them more appealing to these proper ponies." he suggested.
"Ya know somethin'," she said, fire in her eyes, "yer right! Ah'll show 'em that even apples can be as fancy as they are."
"That's the spirit, I'll leave you to your work. I wish you the best of luck, Miss Applejack." Weaver said as the earth pony set to work.
"Now all that's left is to wait as everything comes together." Weaver said as he walked back to the main hall to join Celestia.
Entering the main hall, Weaver saw that the line of ponies waiting to enter the Gala had shrunk dramatically. Walking past them and up the stairs once again he took up a spot next to a dejected looking Twilight.
"Bad evening?" he asked.
"Ugh, you don't know the half of it." she complained, "These ponies just keep coming, I'm barely going to have any time at all to talk to the princess.
"I wouldn't worry too much, dear. I get the feeling that tonight's going to get much better." he said, chuckling to himself.
"What makes you say that?" Twilight asked, interest piqued.
"Call it an educated guess." he replied. Twilight was still curious but didn't push him on it.
Soon the last of the ponies had been greeted and it was time to go join the festivities. Weaver could hardly contain his excitement.
"I thought that would never end!" Twilight exclaimed as the three made their way towards the ball room.
"Don't worry, Twilight. Now that that's over we can finally have some time to catch up. And Weaver, how did you enjoy the party?" she inquired.
"Oh I had a wonderful time. But I imagine it will only get better as the night goes on." he said.
"I'm so glad to hear that, Weaver. I told you you'd have a good time if you just left that dusty old tower."
"I don't know why I ever doubted you." he said, smirking.
The three companions entered the ball room to a scene of complete disaster. The statue of Celestia was broken in half and the surrounding columns had been demolished. There was cake covering everything and Twilight's friends were right in the middle of it.
Twilight took it all in and, against her better judgment, said "Well, it can't get any worse." hoping that by saying it it would become true.
Then she noticed Fate Weaver counting down.
"Oh no." she groaned.
"Three, two, one, enter stage left." he said, nonchalantly.
The door to the gardens burst open and animals poured into the room followed by a very angry Fluttershy.
"You're. Going. To. LOVE ME!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
The ball room became a scene of total anarchy with guests running in fear of the animals and the animals running in terror of Fluttershy.
"You know, Celestia, you were absolutely right. I think this little excursion out of my tower has done me wonders. But it's getting late and I think I should get back to my books. See you soon!" Weaver said, as he banged his staff against the ground and vanished in a swirl of violet energy.
Celestia and Twilight stared at the scene for a few moments before Twilight spoke up.
"Do you think someone sabotaged the Gala?" Twilight asked.
"But who would be capable of doing that? It would have taken some kind of tactical geniu-" Celestia froze as the realization hit her.
"WEAVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" she screamed.
The scream carried all the way to the Everfree Forest where it was heard by Weaver, who had the biggest and most obnoxious grin plastered to his face.
"Just as planned."