//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Trickster Priest 
// by Fresnor 
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Celestia was pacing in front of her throne as she tried to gather her thoughts for the coming meeting.  She had promised an explanation to her student about Xellos after that incident but she had tried to delay it stating the need to clean up the mess in Canterlot.  It had been a week since then and things were mostly back to normal again, at least if the mental scarring wasn’t included in the tally.  “Why did he have to show up now, of all times?  I still don’t even know what he is capable of other than he is powerful and nearly impossible to catch.”

She sighs as she brushes a hoof at her once again white coat as she sits in her throne and calls for the rooms doors to be opened.  She did have to admit that it was actually nice not to have to worry about court the last few days as many of the nobles were too terrified to leave their homes.  After dealing with the few that did actually show she was notified by her guards that Twilight and her friends had arrived causing her to end court for the day and send her guards out of the room as the six entered.

As she looked them over she was surprised to see that Pinkie Pie was looking rather subdued in comparison to her normal self.  Her head wasn’t held as high as usual and she was keeping pace with the others instead of darting around.  Soon enough they all reached the foot of the throne where they bowed to the princess, except for Twilight who ran up for a nuzzling from her mentor.  “Thank you all for coming.  We have much to discuss and I’m sure you have questions of your own after what happened recently.”

There are some nods from the others while Pinkie Pie holds up a sign with the phrase ‘uh-huh’ on it.  Celestia looks at it strangely before glancing at her student with a raised eyebrow.  Seeing what her mentor was looking at Twilight explained.  “Oh right.  Pinkie is still recovering from what happened last week.  After sleeping for three days she finally woke up and we found that she had overstrained her voice.  She’s recovering but it still hurts her throat when she tries to speak.”

Pinkie nods as she holds up another signs stating ‘I’m all Partied Out’ as she sips from a cold drink.  Celestia stares at her for a moment longer before she shakes her head and gets back on topic again.  “It is fortunate that her exhaustion was the only thing that happened after meeting with Xellos alone.  He has proven to not only be unpredictable but also extremely dangerous when he chooses to be.  This isn’t the first time that he has given that drink to somepony for a joke or whatever reason he might give.”  Celestia’s eyes glaze over as she thinks back.

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Approximately 1500 years ago

Celestia was preparing herself for another day in her room when she heard a commotion from somewhere outside.  Her sister was running late for some reason but as she had never been before it must be important.  Before she could go and see what the commotion was her room door was blown off its hinges revealing her sister in all her glory.

“Sister!  He has shown us the most marvelous of drinks imaginable!  Behold the Nectar of the Gods!  THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER!  HAHAHAhaha…”  With that she collapsed in the doorway, as her metabolism burned through all the excess energy, and began snoring up a storm.  Celestia walked to her sister’s side and picked up the cup that was grasped in her wing before sniffing at it.  At the strong odor the sun princess wrinkled her nose before searching for the source of the drink.

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Present

Celestia shudders as finishes explaining the last incident.  “It was only later that I found out that she had spent the previous twenty-four hours rewriting the kingdoms tax code by herself.  There are still professionals trying to translate parts of it so that it can be understood by the common pony.”  The princess looks up to see her student and her friends looking at her with varying levels of shock and horror causing her to clear her throat.

“Still that’s just one of the many incidents that have been caused by him.  He has had over two millennia to leave his mark on the world and not always in small ways either.  The Rocktalon Crater Lake bordering Equestria and the Gryphonic Empire, the scarcity of dragons, and even the Yearly Multicultural Dessert competition held in a new location every year around the world are all due to his efforts.”  There were looks of surprise all around but Twilight was looking thoughtful about something.

“But Princess Celestia, I thought that the history books mentioned you and your sister being responsible for the Rocktalon Incident.  It was why the war with the gryphons ended with the gryphon army surrendering completely before they could invade Equestria.”  The princess just shakes her head at her student.

“While that may be what has officially become the story for that day, the truth is much different.  Using magic that we have little knowledge of he turned the mountain fortress that was once there into the lake it is today.  When everything had finally settled down, Xellos had vanished while we were left with all the blame.  It was also the start of my sister’s dislike of him as well.”  They all looked at each other, not knowing how to respond to this story about a creature that had helped them once already yet shortly after had made a mess of Canterlot.

“You said he used some kind of unknown magic, but surely you have learned something about it by now.  I didn’t recognize any of what he was doing but shouldn’t you have learned at least something throughout the years you’ve known about him?”  Twilight was a combination of worried about what could happen as well as excited about learning something new.

The princess shakes her head at her student though she expected the question from her student eventually.  “He has shown a variety of talents but as far as we can tell he has been the only one to show these kinds of abilities.  He seems to pull energy from various elements but it is still unknown how he does it, but my sister and I are sure that he hasn’t shown everything he can do.”

Twilight looks thoughtful about all this as she mutters to herself about finding it out.  Rainbow Dash does a couple flips in the air before she starts punching at the air.  “So what, you want us to use the Elements of Harmony to blast him?  It’ll be a piece of cake.”

While the other five rolls their eyes at their friend’s antics the princess responds in the negative.  “If it were that easy it would have been done long ago.  Before Luna was banished we had tried to stop him on multiple occasions yet whenever we thought we had him he would vanish on us.  Even magic suppressors couldn’t keep him in place for very long.”

There is a moment of silence before the farm pony speaks up.  “Ya mean to tell us that he just runs away?  How is he a threat if he just skedaddles if ya show up?”  The princess is a bit annoyed at it being labeled like that but her face remains neutral.

“In a way you are correct, but he has been able to escape even our most reliable traps.  If he could do this then who knows what else he could do.  I hate to admit it but he may be as strong as my sister and I combined.”  She is distracted for a moment by Pinkie Pie as she holds up a sign asking ‘Have you tried moving outwards and upwards?’ on it.  Twilight soon grabs the sign, much to Pinkie’s annoyance, and tosses it away though something about it bothers the princess for some reason.

“The important thing is that I want you all to do absolutely nothing when it comes to him.  He is absolutely merciless when it comes to removing what he deems a threat and he has shown that the Elements just aren’t enough.  My sister and I will deal with him if he does something again so don’t risk yourselves unnecessarily.”  The six have no idea how to react to this as they had been told just how powerful the Elements were.  Having a potential threat that can’t be handled by them was quite a shock.

“So what do we do about him then?  He sounds like he is going to be around Ponyville for some reason.  Shouldn’t we know more about him so we know what to expect?”  Celestia is worried at her student’s information of Xellos hanging around Ponyville and she sighs.  She considers what Twilight says before sighing and starting in on the tale of how the originally met.

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Elsewhere

Xellos was off flying around Equestria looking for something to pass the time until something interesting happened in Ponyville.  It’s just too bad that I missed that whole Trixie incident, it was one of the only episodes I remember other than the first one and those two movies.  Oh right I can’t forget that bit with the wedding and Discord since my friend wouldn’t shut up about them.  From how it sounds that town is full of interesting things while those six are living there.  Too bad I don’t know much about what is supposed to happen.

He buzzes close to the side of an airship, to the consternation of the ponies piloting it, as he looks over a checklist.  I probably could have had more ideas for this then, but I’ll just have to add to it as new ones come up, can’t finish everything on it too soon.  He was interrupted from his thoughts as a small void opened up in front of him, ejected an object right into his face.  With a quick reaction he uses his power to keep it from closing as he examines the item before tossing it into his pouch.

“I would love to know why this thing keeps spitting random junk at me.  At least this time I was ready for it so I can finally try something.”  Frowning in concentration he called up a small black cone and pointed it at the void in the air.  “Now let’s see if I can find what secrets are behind this void.”

Flexing the fingers on his hand he sends the piece of himself flying into the void with unexpected results.  With a small yelp of pain he jerks his hand away as the portal snaps closed as he loses his focus on it.  Taking a closer look at his hand he notices that the tip of his pinkie is missing.  “Well that what unexpectedly painful.  I guess I’ll have to try something else next time I find one of those, or it finds me considering what keeps happening.”

He gives his hand a shake as the missing bit of himself becomes whole once again.  With a new annoyance for him to think about being added to his mind he decides to make a detour and searches for somewhere to stop at for a quick meal and to sample the local treats.  As long as he keeps on finding something new the world has little to worry about from Xellos’ powers.