//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Successor // by Bronyman1000 //------------------------------// It was a beautiful morning at Canterlot castle, with birds flying all around and the Canterlot elite enjoying the beautiful day the weather ponies had set up. Everypony except for one. Inside Canterlot castle, Celestia was busy thinking of what she was about to do when suddenly, a purple alicorn stepped into the very empty room. “Princess Celestia. You wanted to see me?” the strange purple alicorn asked. Celestia smiled as she looked up from her work at the purple alicorn. “Yes. Thank you for coming here on such short notice Twilight. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important.” “Oh, nothing too important,” Twilight said as she started thinking about what happened back in Ponyville. _________________________________________________________________________________________ 4 hours ago “Ohhh, where is it where is it?” Twilight said as she panicked. “What are you doing now Twilight? Shouldn’t you be out with your friends?” Spike asked, as he walked down the stairs into the library. “Oh Spike, it’s terrible!!! I’ve lost Star Swirl the Bearded’s book with his secret spell!” “What now?” he asked as a book crashed into his head. “You know. The book with Star Swirl’s cutie mark on it.” She replied as she dumped another shelf of books onto the floor. “Huh?” Spike asked with a confused look on his face. “You know, the book I received from Princess Celestia while you were taking a seven hour bubble bath?” “…” “UGHHH!!! The book that changed my entire life!” Twilight said, rather annoyed. “Ohhhhhh!” Spike said in realization “What do you need it for?” Twilight sighed. “As the new princess of Equestria, I need to be a fair and noble ruler, so I thought that I could find that book, sent it to Canterlot and publish it so I can share it with the rest of Equestria.” “Well, at least all the spells other than the one I fixed.” She thought. Just as she finished explaining to Spike what her plan was, Spike belched up a letter with a royal symbol on it. As Spike grabbed it he read it out to Twilight in the most proper manner he could muster. “Ahem. My dearest Twilight. Congratulations on your spectacular performance at this year’s summer sun celebration. We couldn’t have made the celebration more memorable without you and we hope to see more from you in the future. Now for the real reason I’ve sent you this letter. I need you to come to Canterlot immediately for something very important. I cannot give you all the details until you arrive, but I assure you it’s nothing to worry about. - Princess Celestia.” “Oh my gosh,” Twilight said with a bit of enthusiasm. “Spike, go pack my bags, I’m going to Canterlot!” “But what about Star Swirl the Bearded’s book, and this mess, and oh, my head,” Spike said as he put an ice pack on his throbbing head. “Its fine, I’ll finish looking for it later, but do you think you could clean up this mess in the meantime? After that, I need you to come to Canterlot and meet up with me and Princess Celestia. Make sure no pony follows you,” she said as she put her saddlebags on. “Wait Twilight, what about your friends?” “I don’t think we need to concern them. Besides, this could be something dangerous and I don’t need to involve my friends just yet. What you can do is, if I send you a letter or something concerning this matter. That’s when you can tell our friends. Until then, don’t say anything,” Twilight said as she teleported away from the library. “Ok Twilight…” Spike said quietly. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Present Time “Twilight?” Princess Celestia said. “Sorry, sorry,” Twilight said blushing, as she came back to reality. “That’s quite alright. Anyways, I did not call you here for work. Instead I’m here to tell you that you will become my successor when I pass.” “Pass?” Twilight said with a hint of concern in her voice. “Because Luna and I are no longer connected to the elements, we are starting to lose our power to time, and I needed a pony who could become my successor. That’s why I decided to open up my academy for gifted unicorns. It was opened not only to teach unicorns about magic, but to also find a unicorn I can trust as the new ruler of Equestria. That’s when you came, and made me decide it would be you.” “Me? Why not anypony else” Twilight asked with tears in her eyes. “Don’t cry Twilight. Everypony will soon pass away. Even you know this. As for why I picked you, I told you the first time we met. I’ve truly never met a unicorn with your abilities in my whole life. I know you will make a great leader. You have shown me this in so many ways; I can’t even keep track of them anymore. And don’t worry, it’s as I said. The lessons you have learned in Ponyville have prepared you for your new role as a princess.” “But what if you pass and I’m not ready to lead? What if you give me too much to study? What if-----“ “You won’t,” Celestia said. “But what if-----" “You won’t,” Celestia repeated. Twilight paused to regain her composure. “Then what do I need to do first?” “Well, to be honest with you, all you need to know is a little bit of history. I’m going to tell you what life in Equestria was like thousands of years ago. Back when Luna and I were only young fillies. After that I’ll let you know what to do next.” “OHHHH A STORY!!! I LOVE STORIES!!!!” A high pitched pony said. “Pinkie Pie? When and where in Equestria did you come from? And why are you here alone?” “And why did Spike tell you about my letter from Princess Celestia?” she thought, rather annoyed. “Oh. I arrived about five minutes ago. I was actually up on the beams, watching you two talking from the shadows,” she said. “Ok…” said Twilight. “Like a NINJA.” She whispered to Twilight as she leaned over to her very quickly. “Ok…” she said again. “As for the answer to your other question Twilight, I didn’t come here alone. I came here with our friends. Cupcake?” Pinkie said as she smiled and offered Twilight a box of cupcakes she had pulled out of nowhere. “And don’t worry about little Spike. He wasn’t the one to tell us anything,” Pinkie added as Twilight’s friends came out from behind her. Twilight sighed with relief. “Wait, what…?” Twilight said. “Well shucks, sugar cube. Why did y’all not tell us that you were leaving for Canterlot? We were worried sick about you,” said a pony with a southern accent. “Applejack! It’s so nice to see you…” Twilight said as she put on the best fake smile she could muster. “It’s good to see ya too Twilight, but that don’t answer my question,” replied Applejack. “I’m sorry Applejack. I just didn’t think that I needed to involve you and everypony else in this,” Twilight replied. “Well we’re your friends, and we’ll always stick with you no matter what,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew around and landed right next to Twilight. “Rainbow Dash is right, darling. There’s no reason to be afraid to tell us anything. After all, aren’t we just the best of friends? By the way, what are we doing here? Pinkie told us that you got an important letter and were leaving for Canterlot. As soon as she told us, we all boarded the next train for Canterlot to see what was wrong. But everything seems normal, doesn’t it now?” Rarity said. “Oh, well-----” Twilight started. “Well it was important because Twilight here got a letter from Princess Celestia and I just ‘happened’ to wander by and saw the royal seal on the letter and I just couldn’t keep it in and I just had to tell the girls that you had to leave for Canterlot so the Princess could tell you all about Equestrian history.” Pinkie said extremely quickly and cheerfully. “How’d you guess?” Asked Twilight. “Meh… just call it a hunch,” Pinkie replied quickly, as she bounced off in another direction. “Oh, I hope we weren’t interrupting anything. I’d hate for us to be interrupting your discussion if it’s private.” Fluttershy said meekly. Suddenly, Celestia spoke up in the middle of Twilight’s reunion. “It’s no problem at all, Fluttershy. I was actually hoping you ponies would show up and listen to what I have to say. Just sit down and get ready for the entire story of how Equestria was made.” “HEY!!!” yelled a familiar voice. “Don’t start without me,” Spike said as he ran up towards the ponies. “Spike, so glad you could make it. Please take a seat with everypony else. I’m about to start,” said Princess Celestia. “Gladly,” Spike replied, out of breath. “Ohhhhhh this is going to be sooooooo exciting,” Pinkie Pie said as she burst into joy and brought out a bowl of popcorn out of nowhere. As the ponies and Spike sat down, Celestia began to tell her story. “It all started over a thousand years ago, back when Luna and I were just young fillies. As you know, a long time ago there was a major dispute between the three different pony tribes. At that time, the unicorn, pegasi, and earth ponies did not know about harmony and trust. Of course you already know this, but keep in mind that that’s not the only thing that happened. Oh no, there were much worse things that neither Luna nor I would ever write in any book that’s currently in existence. The tale we tell during Hearth’s Warming Eve is not entirely true. Though it IS true that ponies did discover harmony and peace, it came at a heavy price, and was not as easy as it seemed.” _________________________________________________________________________________________ Past Time “Celestia, Luna. It’s time to head off to school,” yelled a mare unicorn with a yellow coat, a red, yellow, pink and orange mane and tail, and a cutie mark with a judge’s gavel on it. “Your mother and I have to get to an important meeting with the other tribes, and you two need to get to school,” added a pony with a black coat, a blue, green and purple mane and a cutie mark with a dragon’s head. “We will, we will,” yelled Celestia. She had a pastel coloured mane, a white coat and a blank flank. “Celestia and I are just getting ready.” Luna said. Luna had a night blue mane and coat and had a blank flank as well. As Luna and Celestia prepared, they couldn’t help but overhear a quiet conversation between her parents and a strange pony they never heard before. Whatever the case, they could tell it wasn’t a conversation of love, sunshine and rainbows… “Horntail, Valentine, it’s good to see you both. The other pony tribes are set to arrive and we’re going to start the meeting soon. The Princess is expecting you to arrive at any minute to help prepare and keep order during the meeting if anything gets out of hand,” said the strange pony. “Look Stan, we have two children. We can’t just let them know that we’re on the verge of war unless we can keep order between pony tribes,” Horntail said. Horntail sighed and looked at his cutie mark in sorrow. “Roger told me that the pegasi are training up their squads and the earth ponies are getting barricades set up. At this rate we might need to start training our own war team.” There was a long pause after Horntail finished speaking. Finally, after a few minutes, Stan spoke. “Look, I know what the situation is. It’s just; we need to ensure that all the other ponies don’t provoke each other. After all, it is being held in our church, and we can’t exactly have a squad ready in a few weeks. Besides, isn’t Valentine an expert on this matter?” “Not when everypony wants to kill each other I’m not. It’s not the easiest job keeping order and justice between all three tribes, especially when the three tribes are trying to get at each other’s throats,” Valentine spoke suddenly. Valentine sighed. “Sometimes I believe that the three tribes want to go to war with each other just to prove which of the three tribes is the most superior,” Valentine added in a voice of sorrow and despair. “I’m sorry, I truly am. But you know as much as I do that everything that goes on today could influence the fate of our entire existence. We all have our own responsibilities in this debate, but as long as we play our cards right and don’t provoke the other tribes, we may finally have peace in this godforsaken world.” _________________________________________________________________________________________ Present Time Celestia sighed. “The world we lived in at that time was nothing but hell. Everypony couldn’t afford the luxuries we have today. No. Everypony could only live in houses made of stone that could, at most, fit three ponies. My family was wealthy enough to get a house that could fit up to ten ponies inside, but their jobs weren’t easy. No pony’s jobs were easy then. Everypony had to live with what little bits they could get to fix all the leaks, short circuits and fires that would occur each day. Everywhere, ponies were struggling to survive, but it didn’t matter…” _________________________________________________________________________________________ Past Time As Stan finished his speaking, everypony in the room couldn’t help but hear a disturbing howling that shook everypony’s nerves to the core. “Hey Horntail, you hear that?” Asked Stan. “Yeah, we haven’t heard that howling before,” Horntail replied sarcastically. “Let’s hurry then. We can’t wait any longer, and we certainly don’t want those things catching us” Stan said suddenly. “What about Celestia and Luna, Horntail? We have to make sure they leave the house alright,” Valentine said. She’s right, Stan. If one of those things catches our daughters, Valentine and I won’t be able to live it down. Even if a war breaks out,” Horntail said. “They’re young fillies now. I’m sure they’ll make it to school without a problem. You said it’s in the south, right?” Stan asked. “Yeah, what about that?” asked Horntail. “Then they’ll be safe. Those things prefer the northern areas rather than the southern areas. You two have nothing to worry about. We have to hurry now. If we don’t leave now, those things will catch our scent. If we lead them to the church it won’t matter if the war is stopped or not. Those things will cause everypony in this world to be nothing more than forgotten memories.” Valentine gulped. “Ok. We’ll go. We better leave out the back then. We need to make sure Celestia and Luna don’t find out what’s going on. Not yet.” “Ok let’s go,” Horntail said as the three ponies started walking to the back door. “Hear that Celestia? Do you know what I’m thinking of?” Luna asked. “I don’t know Luna. They sounded pretty serious. Maybe we shouldn’t follow them; it could actually be very dangerous.” “Come on big sister. Where’s your sense of adventure and fun? All we need to do is call in sick. Ms. Butterscotch will ‘understand’ if we call in ‘sick’ right?” “Luna, I’m serious. This could be a very bad idea. They mentioned something about a war. Doesn’t that concern you even the tiniest bit?” “Not really. If anything, it’s making me even more curious about what the hay is going on.” Celestia just stared at Luna with intense eyes as if she was going to say something, but didn’t. “I know that look, big sis, but I still stand by what I said. I’m going and that’s final.” Celestia just continued staring at Luna with her menacing eyes. Luna sighed. “Fine. What do you want from me if we do this?” Celestia smirked. “First of all, you’ll do any and all homework we miss for the day. Second, you’ll do whatever I say for the next month and a half. Do we have a deal?” Luna sighed. “Fine. I’ll do our homework that we missed and I’ll be your servant for the next month and a half.” “Excellent. We have a deal,” Celestia said, still smirking. “Oh, and Luna.” Luna turned with a very peculiar look on her face. A look that she could only show when she was alone with Celestia. “Don’t say a word to mom or dad. We wouldn’t want anything, how should I say, ‘unfortunate’, to happen to you” Celestia said menacingly. Luna could only stare at her big sis with disbelief as Celestia left for the door, with Luna finally following.