//------------------------------//
// 6 
// Story: ... Of Two Evils 
// by Ponycletian 
//------------------------------//

Celestia’s decision to be seated was what finally broke the tension that had been steadily growing since Concord’s awakening. Luna had been surprised several times during the last several minutes, from Concord’s description of Celestia’s past treatment of him, to his blunt declaration that they were only alive because he didn’t want them dead, to the hug, which was completely unlike Concord, and now, this. Luna couldn’t even imagine what Concord could have written to make Celestia look so... relieved? She did not have to wait long to learn though, for Celestia, having reread the letter once again, finally levitated it over to her impatient sister. 

The element bearers, apparently taking Celestia’s acquiescence to Concord’s request as permission, if not a tacit order, started to seat themselves on their cushions. By the time everypony was else was seated comfortably, Luna was positively beaming at Concord. This letter had, in a single stroke, answered the single largest concern that she and Celestia had had prior to their first confrontation. And, while the letter was mostly a formality, since Concord had been in no position to assert his officially higher status as King-Regent for more than a millenium, it was still hugely gratifying and reassuring. Concord, being an entity aligned so heavily with order, while not being absolutely bound to obey the law or his word hadn’t, in their entire history, gone against either. This letter, while not being a guarantee that he would behave, was the strongest restraint they could hope for, short of sealing him away once more. 

Furthermore, she and Celestia were the legal rulers of Equestria once more. Practically, this made little difference for they had acted as such during the entire period of Concord’s imprisonment, but it was of great legal significance. There was no power in Equestria that could legally deny their sovereign rule of Equestria. A technicality, to be sure, but a reassuring one nonetheless. Luna’s grin moderated itself, slightly, remembering that a certain amount of decorum was expected of a Princess by her subjects, and she carefully took her seat. Luna thought triumphantly, HAHA, cushion, I have vanquished thee.

Everypony being seated at last, Concord said in an even, yet cheerful voice, “now that everypony is comfortable, and there are no more urgent matters to attend to, I would like to make my case as to why I should not be imprisoned.” He paused to make sure that he had their undivided attention before continuing, “I have spent 1500 years as a statue, not for having committed any crime, but because of fear that I may commit one. I had not, at any time during my reign, broken any Equestrian laws or edicts, and everything was done in pursuit of a goal given me by both Princesses.”

Celestia, still serene, interrupted at this saying, “while technically true, Concord, your presentation is slightly misleading. He violated no Equestrian laws because he was the one creating them. While he did usually obey those laws he had made before, he was not above altering them to suit his needs. And,” she said, turning to look at Twilight, “as you may recall my saying earlier, his definition of need did not always align with everypony else’s.”

Concord was silent during Celestia’s rebuttal, but nodded calmly as she finished. “It is true that I was capable of changing laws to allow me freedom of action, but as Celestia herself admitted, I deviated from established law infrequently, only during what I considered crises.”

Twilight Sparkle frowned slightly at this, and said cautiously, “so, and please correct me if I am wrong, but you are saying that you committed no crimes because you did not break the laws, but since you made the laws, and could remake them at will, that distinction loses all meaning. But,” and she hesitated at this, “were your actions just? So far you have spoken as if just because you obeyed the laws, you did nothing wrong, but laws are not what define right or wrong.”

Concord grinned, pleased by the mare’s response, and said, “quite the philosopher aren’t you Ms. Sparkle.” Twilight blushed slightly at this, but did not look away. Concord said, “you are correct, but morality is a fickle thing, liable to change and is heavily dependant upon those in power. My power, being nearly absolute, meant that rather than being subject to morality, my subjects tended to accept my own moral code as their own. By modern Equestrian standards, I may be guilty of many wrongs, but you can not tell me that many of those wrongs only became wrong because of Celestia’s influence. Celestia will say that my actions were wrong because they are wrong under a moral code that she herself has shaped. So, tell me please, where is the justice in that?”

Twilight, not satisfied by this said, “but will you deny that there are some things that are just wrong, some things that can not be waived off as mere reflections of the times?”

“I will not deny that there are some things that have always been thought of as wrong, but I will deny that there is any inherent moral value to an act. Just because something has always been considered wrong does not make it wrong, it only means that everypony thinks it is wrong. Times change, my dear, and ponies change with them.”

It was the cyan one who spoke up at this, hovering as she started to speak. “Yeah, yeah, but even after all this time, I know that the griffons still hate you, so you must have done something to make them so angry. So tell us, what ‘not wrong’ thing did you do to them?” Her tone had become increasingly belligerent and she had crossed about half the distance between the others and Concord before stopping to return to her seat.

Concord, still calm, said politely, “I will explain momentarily, but I would appreciate it if you were to introduce yourself so that I know whom I have the pleasure of addressing.”

Concord’s polite reply seemed to unsettle the cyan pegasus, who replied, “I’m Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty and the fastest flier in Equestria.” Despite her uneasy start, she had finished confidently.

“The griffons are likely still upset that I dropped a star on their last King,” he said, and turning to Luna and Celestia, he said enthusiastically, “tell me, do they still burn me in effigy each year?”

The element bearers were stunned by the dismissive way that Concord had admitted to dropping a heavenly body on somepony, and then moved on to ask if those ponies, or griffons in this case, still hated him for it.

Celestia responded, in a self-satisfied tone, “no, Concord, they do not. They abandoned that ancient practice, but only recently, as an offering of friendship, a sign of the improving relations between Equestria and the griffon tribes. They realized that by burning the image of an alicorn each year they were making it more difficult for their subjects to accept that I was not an evil tyrant intent on their destruction.” Concord’s face fell slightly when he heard that they had abandoned that age old tradition, so Celestia said, “however, if it’s any consolation, they replaced it by burning your flag, so as not to engender ill will towards myself or Luna.”

Satisfied that he had not been completely forgotten, he turned back to the elements and said, “I suppose that I should probably elaborate about dropping a star on their King.” He received several quiet nods and continued, “shortly before my untimely demise, the Holy Romane Empire, or the Crystal Empire as it is probably better known today, was engaged in several wars of conquest. You may have heard something about the war with the griffons since one of my generals wrote a very good history of the conflict. Commentarii De Bello Griffico, began, ‘Griffica est omnis divisa in partes tres.’” When nopony reacted, he continued, “I was trying to incorporate the griffons into the empire, but they were highly individualistic, and refused to surrender. The individual tribes were utterly incapable of confronting even a single legion on their own, so realizing this, they decided to unite. They chose a King, gave him command, and set out to destroy my army. I say ‘my’ because they were part of my empire, not because I was leading them personally.”

“Having unified behind a competent, if arrogant, general, they began to push my forces back. My general was brilliant, but given that he was deep in territory that had been friendly, but suddenly turned enemy, and was seriously outnumbered and surrounded, he asked me personally for reinforcements. I reasoned that, if I could demonstrate to the assembled forces of all the griffon tribes, the futility of resisting my armies, then perhaps the entire conflict could be ended with less bloodshed. This in mind, I personally took the field in defense of my army. I made it very clear to every griffon in the region that they had drawn the personal attention of the Emperor. I offered to meet with their King, personally, to try and work out a peaceful resolution, but when we met, he proved himself to be more arrogant and unyielding as myself, but without the power to back him up. He decided that he would just attack us and wipe us out. He made his plans, arrayed his troops, and issued the order to attack. As soon as they began to advance, I decided to remove that arrogant imbecile from command and, as I said earlier, dropped a star on him. Actually, all I did was throw a fireball at him from the sky, an actual star would have been wasteful and left nothing alive to witness. That it was a star that struck down their King was just a rumor that I did nothing to dispel.”

“Their King having been dealt with, I returned to the capital to get back to work.”

After a few seconds of silence had passed, making it clear that he was finished, he was suddenly bombarded by questions from the ponies before him.

A yellow pegasus said quietly, but with evident indignation and concern, “but if you left, then what happened to all those ponies and griffons? Just,” she gulped uncomfortably, “killing their King wouldn’t stop the battle, why didn’t you stop it!”

Rainbow Dash demanded, “why would you just run away, leaving your soldiers to fight the griffons? That doesn’t sound like a very brave thing to do!”

An orange earth pony said indignantly, “that don’t sound none too sportin’ if y’ask me. It ain’t fair to jus’ go around destroyin’ anythin’ ya don’t like! ‘Specially without warnin’ em first!”

Twilight said in a reasonably controlled voice, “why exactly were you trying to subjugate the griffons anyway, was any of that even necessary? And if it was, why didn’t you just bribe them, or something? Surely you didn’t have to kill them to get them to join! And failing that, why not just teleport your army away if you are so powerful, why did they have to fight at all?”

Finally, the pink one, who for some reason gave Concord the chills, said in a cheerful voice that contrasted jarringly with the topic being discussed, “I bet that you could make some incredible fireworks. You know what fireworks are great for? Parties! And with you making shooting star fireworks, it would be best party ever!”

Concord was slightly unnerved by the pink one, not only was she acting strangely, but she just felt... wrong. Shrugging off his concerns for the moment, he said in a clear, loud voice, “please quiet down, most of you have reasonable questions and I will be glad to answer them, but first I think it is time to finish the introductions.” Rainbow Dash was sitting on Concord’s far right, the next pony, from right to left, was the yellow pegasus, followed by the pink earth pony, then the orange earth pony, then a white unicorn, then Twilight, followed finally by Princesses Celestia and Luna, in that order.

Concord looked directly at the yellow pegasus, who seemed to shrink from his gaze but spoke nonetheless. She said, “uhm.. my name is Fluttershy, and, uh... I represent the Element o...” her voice trailed off

Concord, smiled reassuringly and said, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but I didn’t catch the last part. Which element are you?”

“Kindness,” she squeaked before looking down at her cushion uncomfortably.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Fluttershy, Element of Kindness,” Concord said politely, and turned his gaze to the next pony, the disturbing pink one.

“HI! I’m Pinkie Pie, but my friends just call me Pinkie, or sometimes Pie, or sometimes AAAAAARGH leave me alone i’m busy.” She said this all in one breath, her cheery inflection never lessening in the slightest. “I represent the Element of Laughter and I love to throw PARTIES!” As she said this, she pulled a noisemaker from nowhere, causing Concord to flinch visibly, and blew it while confetti similarly appeared from nowhere.

Concord’s response was far less measured than his response to Fluttershy had been. “Yes, Pinkie Pie, understood. Stop That This Instant!” he said with exasperation as Pinkie continued to pull various things from nowhere, balloons, noisemakers, confetti, cakes, all seemed to be just materialising at her whim. Concord felt something he couldn’t remember feeling since before the Brother’s War began. He actually missed Discord at that moment. With a sigh, his horn glowed and the offending party supplies returned to the nothingness from which they had come as he turned his attention to the next pony, the orange one.

“First off, please allow me t’apologize for our friend Pinkie here, sometimes she just gets a little carried away. Secondly, my names Applejack an’ I represent the Element of Honesty. It’s a pleasure ta meet ya Concord.”

Concord smiled at this and said politely, “I hope you will believe me when I say that the pleasure is mine. And, so far as Pinkie is concerned, no apologies are necessary, she merely reminded me of someone and I let my emotions take hold.” He then turned his attention to the white unicorn who was next in line.

The unicorn rose delicately, with exquisite, practised grace, and stepped off her cushion onto the stone courtyard. Once on firmer footing, she lowered herself into a deep and respectful bow saying in a respectful, measured voice, “King Concord, my name is Rarity, and I have the great privilege of representing the Element of Generosity. If I may, I am honored to make your acquaintance, your majesty.” 

In response to this formal greeting, Concord rose also, saying formally, “please rise, Lady Rarity, and I fear I must correct you in one small detail.” Rarity did indeed rise, but looked nervous when he mentioned that she needed correcting. “Your mistake is understandable, given that the change occurred only an hour ago and was not shared with you as of yet, but I feel that you should know that I am no longer King of Equestria, but merely Prince Concord. In fact, I am not even a crown prince, as in my letter of abdication, I also renounced my claim to the throne. So I beg of you, Element of Generosity, for surely it is generous to bestow upon one such a lofty, and altogether undeserved title, that there be no formality between us.”

Rarity looked slightly taken aback, but quickly regained her composure and said politely, “as you say, uhm, Prince Concord.” She smiled nervously as she said his title, and was calmed when he smiled back and said simply, “Concord will suffice so long as I may call you Rarity.” She rapidly agreed saying, “of course, uhm, Concord.” having said that, she resumed her seat gracefully.

Concord turned his attention to Twilight who looked back uncomfortably and said, “well, you already demonstrated earlier that you knew who I am, so should I...?” Her voice trailed off uncertainly, and Concord nodded and said, “I told you what I know of you, but I think it would be appropriate if I learned about you from you, rather than from others’ gossip about you.”

Twilight gulped and said, “well, I am Twilight Sparkle, but you already know that, ummm... I am the Element of Magic and...” she said,casting a nervous glance at the Princess seated serenely beside her. Her uneasiness vanished when she received an encouraging smile from that Princess, and continued confidently, “and have been the personal student of Princess Celestia for more than 12 years.”

Concord smiled warmly at the sight of this interaction between teacher and student, and replied, “thank you Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, and personal student of ‘tia dear. Allow me to again express my delight at making your acquaintance.”

Celestia bridled at the use of that familiar moniker from their past, and Luna snickered in a most undignified way at her sister’s displeasure. Celestia realized that Concord was trying to lighten the mood by being less formal, but it still annoyed her to be treated like she was a filly in front of her subjects and more importantly, Twilight.

Concord, satisfied that he had gotten a response from Celestia, said calmly, “now that the introductions are well and truly out of the way, I would like to propose breakfast, preferably a breakfast prepared by the castle staff rather than myself since I have not eaten in 2000 years.” He received several disconcerted looks at these words and said, “I was a very busy pony, understand, and it is easier to simply nourish myself magically than to take the time to eat. But since this is the closest thing to a day off i’ve had in literal ages, I was hoping to indulge a little.” 

There were some understanding nods, and Celestia, understanding that everypony else was probably hungry too, agreed. Her horn flared as she magically commanded that several of the castle’s servants attend her in the gardens. This done, she said calmly, “they are on their way, so Concord, why don’t you begin answering those questions while we wait.”

“With pleasure,” Concord said with genuine delight in his voice, for it wasn’t very often that he was able to explain his choices, normally, he had made choices and simply moved onto the next choices. This should be fun, he thought happily as he said, “which question should I answer first?”