//------------------------------// // My Destiny Fulfilled // Story: My History, Rise, Fall and Return: Starlight's Story // by StormLuna //------------------------------// Building the Wall One week had passed since Celestia and I signed the agreement to split East and West and everything was ready for the wall to begin being built. The proper materials had been taken to both the far north end of the continent and the far south. We figured that if we had two crews working on it and then met in the middle that things would get done much quicker. Cadence and Luna would supervise construction in the south while Celestia and myself would supervise construction in the north. While all the land that surrounded the Crystal Empire would be part of West Equestria, the northernmost tip of the continent would become part of East Equestria. Monitoring the construction of the wall in the arctic was not comfortable but the two of us knew that it had to be done as neither one of us wanted to get cheated. Finally after one month the progress had got us out of the arctic and I said, "Thank goodness. I'm used to the cold but it is nice to be getting into a more temperate area." Celestia sneered, "Oh, can't handle the cold all that well?" I replied, "I can handle it just fine. All I was saying was that it is nice to be in a more temperate area." Celestia just grunted as the progress continued to move onwards. Other than that, we really did not speak during the construction. All we did was glare at one another. After ten months of having numerous crews working on the wall, at the end of April the north crew and the south crew were so close to meeting in the middle. I looked at the remaining gap and suggested, "I have an idea. How about we build a structure here that will act as a neutral place where our two nations can have summits?" Celestia asked, "What, and cause us to have to give up some land for a structure that will be neutral territory?" I replied, "Hey, the way I am thinking it should be built, both of us would give up an equal amount of territory for this." Luna added, "Big sister, we do think that it would be best if all meetings took place in neutral territory to maintain fairness." Celestia growled, "Oh yes, you would suggest that since you are on her side now." She threw her hooves up in the air and sighed, "Fine. Let's get this neutral structure built." Given that the structure would be built primarily of stone it would not take too long to build this structure with both crews working frantically on it. Finally on the morning of June 11th the structure was finished. All that needed to happen now was for my prisoners to be brought out to the wall so that we could finalize the agreement and make our separation official. Fulfilling My Destiny Once the wall and neutral structure were completed, I sped back to Fillydelphia to pick up my prisoners and Twilight's cutie mark. At first I was thinking of having Luna get them but I was still not sure as to whether I could trust her completely. When I got to the jail it was getting late so I decided that I would give the guard the night off and sleep in front of Twilight and Spike's cells and guard them myself. I was too tired to haul them back out there that night and besides, I wanted a good breakfast the following morning. That night seemed to go by so slowly because I could not get much sleep. I was focusing so much on my being named the Premier of East Equestria. Not only will I be Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, but I will also be Premier Starlight Glimmer. Around 0230 I finally was able to get some sleep but dawn would arrive far too quickly. A knock on the door woke me and my prisoners up at 0700 as it was time for breakfast. After a quick breakfast I put the jar with Twilight's cutie mark in it in my saddlebag, unlocked Twilight and Spike and grabbed them with my aura. The three of us then took off to the west for the final part of my journey. Around 1400 we arrived at the structure and apparently word had got out to the media because the nation's two biggest cable news outlets were there, the national radio network was there as were reporters from several newspapers. It took an hour to get everything situated but at 1500 the cameras came on and Celestia and I were sitting behind a table. Celestia started, "Citizens of Equestria, today is a day in Equestrian history that will be significant. It may not be the greatest day but it will mark a change in the direction of our nation. For those of you who have noticed the wall being built across the nation, there is a reason for that. While things have improved for them, the ponies of Eastern descent feel as though they can no longer co-exist with those of us of Western descent and have demanded their own sovereign nation. Normally I would never have agreed to this but the Alicorn next to me is an incredibly powerful Grand Mage and unfortunately, she is more powerful than me. She is the one who kidnapped Princess Twilight, removed her mark, kidnapped her assistant Spike and has hidden a friend of Twilight's cutie mark. She said she would return everything to us in exchange for the territory that lies to the east of the newly built wall." She motioned for me to speak. I started, "Citizens of Equestria, as you know when I gave that speech regarding the treatment and lower pay for Eastern Ponies, I knew that simply demanding it would not work. I will admit, I am the one who kidnapped Princess Twilight, Spike, stole her cutie mark along with that of one of her friends. I did not do this to be mean though. I wanted much more for the ponies of Eastern origins, I wanted us to have the territory we had before the invasion of Celestial forces and I also believe that I needed to avenge Mage Meadowbrook, who Celestia needlessly killed during her quest to take the continent. Today upon signage of this final document the continent will be split in two and in my opinion, it will be a great day for Eastern Ponies everywhere. While the nation is splitting, I do hope that East Equestria can maintain diplomatic relations with West Equestria. After all, we will be sharing the same continent and may at some point have common enemies. Celestia and I have been talking and while I was initially against it, she believes it would be best if all ponies of Eastern origin move to East Equestria while all ponies of Western origin move to West Equestria. She fears that ponies of Western descent will face discrimination in the East, which they will not. However, to make this flow more smoothly it is something that we agreed to. Both of us are hoping that we can have ponies of the other nation's heritage moved into their own nation within one year." Celestia began again, "I know that this split will put West Equestria at an economic disadvantage but we will begin to explore for our own natural resources, we will begin to have manufacturing in West Equestria and we will begin to grow more hay so that we do not have to import from the East. Also, we will start our own corporations here in the West so we don't have some corporate executive in the East in charge of some chain businesses here in the West. Once we have a sufficient number of large companies that are willing to go public, we will have our own stock market. Do not worry, while things may be hard for a little while, soon West Equestria will return to being the economic power it was when the nation was one." I continued, "Regarding the economic matters in East Equestria, things will not change much since almost all of this continent's manufacturing takes place in the East. Most major corporations and a majority of the wealth lies here in the East so the biggest issue we will have is increasing the number of apple orchards since over 90% of them lie west of the border. Also, Celestia and I have talked about travel across the border and a passport will be required for travel across the border. I know for some this may be an inconvenience but both Celestia and I think it would be best to track the border crossings of each pony who travels." I looked at Celestia and asked, "Shall we do this?" Celestia sighed, "Yes, let's get it out of the way." At 1613 on the 12th of June in the year 2015 of the Celestial Era, we signed the final agreement and the nation was finally split. While we gave huge smiles and a friendly wingshake for the cameras, I could sense not only anger from Celestia, but sadness as well. I on the other hand could not have been happier. I had finally fulfilled my destiny. Now would come the hard part, drawing up a Constitution for the new nation but for now I had plans for once I returned to Fillydelphia, which will become the capitol city of East Equestria since that is the settlement that Grand Mage Starlight started when she first brought our ancestors to this new continent. Before the cameras stopped Twilight and Spike were led into the room. I ordered Spike and Twilight unchained. As much as I hated to, I opened the jar and Twilight's cutie mark was returned to her. Twilight rushed into Celestia's wings and said, "Thank you, thank you Princess. Thank you for getting my cutie mark back." Twilight then looked up at me with a glare and asked, "Now what about Rarity's cutie mark? Where is it?" I replied, "I do not believe that I should reveal this information with the cameras running. I do not want somepony else to go and get it first." I glared at the camera crews and ordered all media personnel out. Once they left I continued, "Ok, Rarity's cutie mark is in a jar in the castle of the two sisters." Twilight asked, "What? Where did you hide it in there?" I replied, "It is in this chamber that is a library. It is the one that has two stained glass windows in it, one which depicts the sun and the other which depicts the moon. I hid it behind some books on the top shelf of the bookcase on the right side of the entrance." Twilight asked, "Ok. Princess Celestia, when do you think we should go retrieve her cutie mark?" Celestia replied, "The sooner the better." I saw Luna standing over by her sister and was wondering why after the fight they had during the negotiations. I asked, "Princess Luna, are you ready to go and conquer the Equine Empire?" Luna replied, "No Starlight. We have decided to stay with our sister in Canterlot. There is no guarantee that we would win over there and even if we did, who is to say that the ponies over there would accept me as their ruler?" Before I could say anything Celestia interrupted, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, you have taken a lot today. You have taken over half of this continent but you will not take my sister. I am glad that I was able to get her to see that family is more important than a power grab abroad." I replied, "Well Luna, it is whatever you want. I wish you all well." They wished me well as well and we all flew back to our capitols. When I arrived in Fillydelphia, despite it being nearly midnight, there was a huge crowd outside cheering my return. I smiled and waved at them but let them know that I was very tired and that I would be out for the official celebration the following morning at 0900. A Great Celebration I headed to a local hotel and as I went in I was given the fanciest hotel room free of charge, one that had a balcony facing the street. I would be in for a huge surprise though when I opened the door to my room. The lights were on and I could hear the breathing of several ponies. Just as I was getting ready to head down to the desk to notify them of this five ponies jumped out and yelled, SURPRISE! I turned around and was shocked. Standing before me was Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook, Mage Shadowstar and my parents! We all rushed together and engaged in a group hug. I asked, "Mom, dad, how did you know to come here?" I then looked at Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook and Mage Shadowstar and asked, "How are you three able to come to the earthly realm when you have passed long ago?" Grand Mage Starlight replied, "Normally we can't but once every thousand years we can and we have chosen this moment to use that opportunity." I looked at mom and dad and asked, "Did you two know that I am a direct descendent of Grand Mage Starlight?" Mom replied, "Yes Starlight, we knew. Just like we hid your lineage to Meadowbrook and Shadowstar, we hid your lineage to Grand Mage Starlight to protect you from Western ponies who may see you as a threat." Grand Mage Starlight pulled me close and said, "Well my Child, you have done even more than I imagined. Not only have you liberated the ponies of the East, you acquired more land than we had before AND you secured The Tree of Harmony for the East. You have fulfilled your destiny and then some." After some more small talking we finally decided to call it a night and get some sleep. After all, morning would come all too soon and the next day was going to be an extremely busy and long day. I was not able to sleep all that well that night either given that I was starting a new chapter in my life. The following morning arrived and even though I was not supposed to go out to the balcony to greet the crowd, I could already hear them talking and cheering as the time was getting closer. The six of us had breakfast, and with all of us being 100% Eastern, there was a lot of meat in it. Hey, with as busy as we were going to be, we need full stomachs. Finally 0855 arrived and one of the guards announced to the crowd that I would be coming soon. The cheers were so loud that it actually hurt mom's ears from inside. I can only imagine how it will sound when we head out there. While I do know that they will cheer loudly for me, I can only imagine how loud they will cheer for the ancestral champions of Eastern Ponykind. Finally the time has come. We decided that the order of procession would be Mage Shadowstar, Mage Meadowbrook, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, my parents and then me. As the guard announced them as they walked out the crowd was cheering loudly for the great ponies of the past and they cheered loudly for my parents as well for they knew that without them there would be no me. Finally the guard announced, "And now I introduce to you, the first premier of East Equestria, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second!" As I stood there at the balcony smiling and waving the crowd was cheering so loud that it was even hurting my ears. I had never heard a crowd cheer that loud before. They continued to cheer for five minutes before I motioned for them to calm down so I could address them. "Citizens of East Equestria" As soon as I said East Equestria, they began to cheer loudly again. I let them cheer loudly for another three minutes until I motioned for them to calm down again. "Today marks a new era for those of us of Eastern heritage. No longer do we have to deal with the pay inequalities that we experienced under the rule of Celestia, no longer will we have to hide our true lineage from our foals out of fear of other ponies judging them and no longer do we have to worry about hate crimes being committed against us solely because of our heritage." The crowd again began to cheer loudly and I let them cheer for another five minutes before I motioned for them to calm down again. I continued, "While I know this is a wonderful moment in our history, there is much work we have to do. We will have to get our own currency made because we can not continue to use Equestrian bits and we must make our own flag. Overall though, things economically will not change much. After all, most of the manufacturing, industrial metals, precious metals, hay fields and almost all of the financial business that has been in Equestria is here in East Equestria." Again the crowd began to cheer wildly and after another five minutes I motioned for them to calm down again. I continued, "With this being the case and us not having to support West Equestria, our economy will raise to new heights, we will experience prosperity never before seen in the world, we will become an economic superpower, we will become the richest nation in the history of the world!" Again the crowd began to cheer loudly but this time I simply let them continue to cheer as I waved and headed back into my hotel room. Mom pulled me close and began to cry tears of joy, "I'm so proud of you sweetie! You did so good out there." Dad added, "You have made us proud Starlight." He got a huge smile on his face and asked, "I wonder how Celestia was received in Canterlot when she got home? I am betting that she was received with little to no fanfare and perhaps some heckling." Grand Mage Starlight replied, "While I could not see it directly, I can feel the energy coming from Canterlot and it is very negative. I have a feeling that the Western ponies may actually turn on Celestia and Luna." I asked, "Seriously?" She replied, "Seriously. The energy I am picking up indicates extreme anger against Luna and Celestia." She looked down and continued, "I think it is a good thing you had that wall built for I see the West eventually collapsing and devolving into a form that existed prior to Celestia and Luna." I asked, "Do you think it will eventually become several city-states that are constantly at war?" She replied, "Yes Starlight. I believe that it will." Suddenly a portal appeared at the back of the room. The three saw this and Shadowstar said, "Premier of East Equestria, Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, the time has come for us to go. We know that you will do this nation well." Meadowbrook added, "I'm so proud of you Starlight." Grand Mage Starlight finished, "You have completed your journey Starlight. You accomplished what I could not and I know you will bring this nation more prosperity than it has ever seen." I ran up to the three and hugged them one last time before they disappeared as they headed to their realm. I was shedding a few tears as they left. My parents saw this and drew me into an embrace. Mom said, "I know they meant a lot to you Starlight and I know it was hard for you to see them return to their realm." I replied, "They did. The short amount of time I was able to be with them in their realm was such a moving experience. Their realm is how I wish this world could be." Dad asked, "Starlight, I have a question. We were kicked out of Canterlot because of the fact that we are your parents. We are wondering if you could line us up with a job or something like that." I replied, "Mom, dad, you are the parents of the leader of this fine nation. You will never have to do anything again in your life except relax unless you choose to do so something different." I pointed at the bed and continued, "Until I am able to secure a building to be OUR home, you two shall sleep in the bed while I sleep on the floor." Mom said, "Even though you are a leader and a Grand Mage now, you are still the pure Eastern pony that you have always been!" Moving Forward As time progressed things began to move in the direction that both Celestia and I had hoped. Ponies of Western heritage headed west when Celestia promised them that they would have jobs while ponies of Eastern heritage that lived in the west came East as I had also promised them that I would create jobs for them. We were able to start minting our own currency once a proper amount of nickel and copper were mined and we finally got a flag with a design that I thought was good. It had the old coat of arms that Grand Mage Starlight had on the first flag but I moved it to the right from the center and my cutie mark was on the left. Everything was set on a light pink background, the same color of my coat. I finally decided that rather than having some fancy mansion as a home, that I would live in a good house, but not something gaudy and over-sized. After all, I am no better than anypony else and I will not live in a home that will reek of inequality, one that would make me look like I was better than other ponies. We had a house built in a good neighborhood and we quickly became friends with everypony else who lived there. As I grew into my new role and learned how to govern, it still felt kind of odd being not only Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second, but also Premier of East Equestria, but it was a good kind of odd.