//------------------------------//
// Ch 10: Celestia's Truth 
// Story: Path of the Unforgiven 
// by HeatseekerX51 
//------------------------------//





Þule
Over 1000 Years Ago


A dozen braziers lined either side of the long hall, illuminating the stone walls and thick wooden beams from which hung a hundred banners. The standards were those of past Thulian rulers, Kings and Queens reaching back millennia to the very foundation of the Kingdom. Some had ruled in peace, some had ruled in war, some during both. But as the braziers burned this night, a long-time era of peace stood on the precipice of a terrible future. 

A long red carpet cut down the center of the hall like a crimson river, straight and true. It began at the foot of wooden double doors, tall and thick, and banded together with bolted iron strips. The rug flowed across the chiseled stone floor, flanked by stoic suits of armor, busts of unicorns of renown, and the bowls of fame to shepherd one down the path. At the opposite end of the room the scarlet road climbed up rock hewn steps, engraved with runic notation. Finally, the carpet reached its zenith at the base of a chair carved from a single boulder, ornate interweaving knots and carvings of unicorns danced across its surfaces. 

This space was known as the ‘Hall of the Prince’, the official gallery where the Principate of the Kingdom of Thule would dispense his rulings and receive guests of state. At times this hall would be filled with ponies feasting and singing, sometimes graciously, sometimes loudly and drunkenly. Tonight it was inactive, inside the sound of the fires burning, outside the winds of the north howling and rattling the windows. It would have seemed abandoned if not for the solitary figure seated on the throne, leaning to his left, resting his left hoof over his mouth in contemplation. 

Prince Æclypse was expecting a visitor tonight, and he was not looking forward to it. Despite the nature of the guest, he had nonetheless decided to eschew the formal wear normally exhibited, and sat wearing just his princely crown. A simple band of gold inscribed with runes was the token of his position, strong and fair to admire, but humble and without ornation to symbolize the role. The light of the fires danced in his eyes as he peered across the room, considering deeply how the coming dialog would go. 

It had been a long day, the result of perhaps the most tumultuous event in Thule’s long history since Princess Platinum was chosen to lead the Unicorn delegation in the Grand Summit with the Earth Pony and Pegasus tribes. Æclypse was especially introspective since this was not just a matter of state, not just the unrest of the citizens, nor even just the threat of war. This was a personal matter for him, a matter of blood. 

His brother had gone mad.

Æclypse had tried to be the loyal brother, always defending him against the naysayer’s gossip and complaints. Even his parents had expressed their reservations about having Sombra anywhere near the levers of power, but still he assured them that his brother would prove them all wrong. In the end however, it was only Æclypse who failed to see the rising danger, refused to admit the truth to himself. 

I should have had those tunnels blasted shut. He thought. The rumors that Sombra had been in the endless tunnels throughout the Crystal Mountains had gone largely dismissed. Nopony had ever mapped them out completely, the caverns delved for miles, and hosted strange creatures that lurked in the darkness. But Sombra had found something deep in those caves, something that warped not just his mind, but his body as well. The Dark Crystals. 

Now his kingdom was roiling in unrest after his brother had abandoned his position as Principate of the Guard. Bent on conquering the Crystal Empire, an enraged Sombra gave them a display of his newfound power and transformed into a poltergeist of shadow and smoke. Two days after that, the Empire fell to Sombra’s coup d’etat, and its citizens enslaved to work the mines. 

Thule and Crystal Empire had always maintained cordial relations since the Empire’s foundation a little over two hundred years prior. Æclypse had paid them a visit shortly after his ascendancy, finding Queen Amore to be a noble and gracious ruler. It pained him now to think of what Sombra might be doing to her, she didn’t deserve whatever fate she was suffering. 

Such were the dark thoughts that came to him at this late hour, that fact that his brother was the cause of mayhem and tragedy, while he sat in his empty hall doing nothing. 

As the doors to the chamber began to open, he was reminded that hope remained still. Before Sombra could cut off the exits and means of communication, Queen Amore had gotten word out to the Alicorn Sisters, Celestia and Luna. He knew they would answer the call for help, they had made a mission of vanquishing the great foes to the peace of Equestria. They had defeated Discord, and a beast called Tirek, so naturally all assumed that Sombra would be the next would-be-conqueror to fall before their might. He already knew why they were stopping here first. 

The doors flew open and a resplendent Celestia, bedecked in shining golden armor strode in. Fury contorted her face, and like the sun she moved, her eyes burned. Æclypse righted himself in his seat, that much consideration was due the Princess. 

“For what reason doth the First Son of Thule remain dormant while his own brother brings horror and destruction to the innocent!” She demanded in the royal Canterlot voice, her hair flowing like a white river. 

Æclypse had had to answer this question a dozen times already, and it grew less pleasant to speak each time. He responded to her anger with measured confidence. It did not go unnoticed by Celestia that he did not make any pretense of homage to her. 
“The First Son of Thule is not the caretaker of The Crystal Empire. Nor is he obliged to interfere with the internal matters of Equestria. Does the Crystal Empire not have the means to protect itself?”

Celestia’s glare hardened, “You know it was protected by the power of the Crystal Heart! But Sombra has found a means to subvert it’s spell, and has overtaken the city! It’s citizens are in chains and I fear for the fate of Queen Amore and her newborn.”

A newborn? That was news to him. He hadn’t known the Queen to be keeping any consorts, but in a city built on love it wasn’t hard to imagine she’d found somepony. 
“The Crystal Empire has always been in a perilous position. I marvel that it has lasted this long without calamity. So when Sombra has come down from his fevered delusion of grandeur, I will restore the Empire, and leave it a far better place.”

The casual nature with which Æclypse regarded the state of affairs disgusted Celestia, and she recoiled. “Has Thule no law against conquering a peaceful neighbor?”

“You know, It’s never come up.” He answered. “And correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the last time territory was conquered they named it ‘Equestria’, which I believe you now rule. And let’s say you defeat my brother, what then? Will the empire have it’s sovereignty returned, will you annex it into Equestria proper, or reduce it to some subjugate client kingdom? Another province under your graceful protection?”

“The proper fate of the Crystal Empire can be determined after it has been liberated!” She growled. “Right now my sister and I ride out to put an end to thy brother’s madness. And I have come to secure thine aid to see justice done upon him!”

This was the crux of the issue, “Indeed Princess.” Æclypse had already listened to the pleas of many, but there was only one decision to be reached for him. “Sombra’s mind has been poisoned by some dark and depraved element, this I do not deny. I regard his actions as unjust, detestable, and possibly an act of war. You have the full blessing of myself and Thule to roust Sombra and deliver whatever punishment you deem appropriate.”

“Then help us!” Celestia implored, taking a step forward, trying to connect to his well-known noble character. “Come see that Sombra is dealt with, come as his brother!” 

Finally Æclypse’s demeanor softened, “What you would ask of me Celestia, is something that saddens me deeply, for I freely admit that I am conflicted. There is a pull on my soul to venture out and be the one who stops my brother from bringing any further harm. But it is a thousand fold forbidden for blood to raise violence against blood. The Gods of Thule, who have watched over us since time immemorial do not tolerate such treachery among kin, and any desecration of their law is punished unto generations.” 

“Then surely any such gods of wisdom, justice, and reason would understand the need for you to break this law now!” Celestia felt like she was making headway, she only need overcome the superstitions of his ancestry to convince him. “For if they do not, then what kind of gods are they to permit the suffering of innocents and consent to injustice?”

“I have sought the will of the gods, of my bloodline’s patron Crom, for what their will would be that I might see it done.” His eyes fell, and anxiety tightened his features. “But I have received no sign, no message of what their desires are. Maybe Sombra is the one enacting their will?” 

Oh no! Celestia thought. She held no belief in the gods of Thule, but she knew how important they were to the unicorns here. “Perhaps they have sent me? What if I am the sign you asked for, come to you in your hour of doubt?”

His face lifted, the possibility of Celestia being the one to work the will of the gods, but doubt persisted. 
“Perhaps…. But why would they send you?”

Celestia cringed. But maybe she was using the wrong method. Maybe, an appeal to his reason would be better. It was said of Æclypse that he was more open to modern ways of thinking, not as glued to ancient traditions as his contemporaries.
“What if, Æclypse,” She began carefully, “What if there are no gods to give you portents? What if there are only us ponies? Then you could help us without fear of damnation by some mysterious and unknowable entity.”

Æclypse’s face betrayed an inner rage, not the reaction Celestia was hoping for.
“Of course a Southron, one who lives in abundance and peace would think to have little need for the gods wisdom, faithless one! Here in the cold and severe landscape, only those who have the strength to endure, and the conviction of the gods are fit to survive! Here food does not grow on trees, nor does peace sprout from the ground like grass!” 

She tried to contain her own outrage, but by now there was little purpose in concealing it. 
“Perhaps they could if Thule did not place it’s faith in primeval gods of war and death! Perhaps then the sun would reach but a little further north!” 

Celestia regretted the statement the second it left her mouth, and Æclypse seized on her blunder.
“And who should we be worshipping? You?! Thule remembers a time before the Alicorns, when it was we who commanded the sun and moon ourselves.”

The strike at her was too much. Celestia raised herself off the ground, spreading her wings fully and casting a golden aura to emphasize her connection to the sun. 
“I have never asked for anypony to bow down and worship me! My purpose is to bring light and order to Equestria! Not to be their God!”

Squinting through the rays of conjured sunlight, Æclypse pursed his lips. The display was intimidating, but he was too proud to let it show. 
“And yet here we find ourselves. Is Canterlot not held aloft as a beacon to all Equestria, radiating with your divinity?”

“I would say it serves Equestria better than Thule.” Was her comeback. “Looming in the north in its self-imposed reclusion, clinging to thine spears and superstitions.”

The Prince of Thule snorted in derision at her, “For generations, Thule has defended your precious southern lands of sparkling waters and thick grasses! Tell me Celestia, how many Fyre Drakes have you defeated? Hmm? How many Maws have savaged your green fields? How many ponies have you lost to the Windigos since the founding of this domain? TELL ME PRINCESS OF THE DAWN! How might your delicate towns fare if descendants of the great unicorn tribe not stayed behind to protect Equestria from the monsters beyond its borders! I will tell you the answer to all three, is none. Whereas we measure our losses annually. I shudder to think of the slaughter those toy soldiers you call a royal guard would face if Thule were not here to protect them!”

It was clear that they were approaching impassable juncture. Celestia came down from where she hovered and extinguished her light, resigned that it was not working on Æclypse the way it usually did stubborn ponies. 
“So is it just me you have such animosity for? Or do you also harbor such enmity for Luna as well?”

Æclypse’s façade cracked. At the mention of her sister’s name, Celestia could almost hear his heart thump against his chest. 

He swallowed his emotion, and steadied his nerve. This was the one path Æclypse had feared to tread. 
“Princess Luna… She is…  Luna is more subtle in her grace. If it was my aid you came to procure, mayhaps she should have come in your stead.”

“Because she is more persuasive?” Celestia asked.

“She certainly seems to be the more grounded of you two.”

With things calmed back down, Celestia now had something to connect to him with.
“So if it were Luna who stood before you now, pleading for you to answer the call of justice, would you refuse her as well? Would you accuse her of such things as you have me?”

He shifted uncomfortably, clearly the thought of having to face Luna under such terrible circumstances was distressing for him. He was hesitant to answer, so Celestia softened her own bearing. 
“If for nothing else, if not for your gods, or your kingdom, or your family, would you do it for love?” she asked him pleading. 

Æclypse put a hoof across his mouth, his eyes darting back and forth as his mind raced to construct some response. For some time she watched his heart and his head fight one another for supremacy, his desire against his duty. 
“If you are asking me if I would defy the laws of the gods and my Kingdom for the pursuits of my heart…” 

He looked away from her, out to the window where the a flurry of snowflakes washed against the glass. 
“On some matters my answers might be yes. But I cannot act on so selfish a motivation, and condemn my home and folk for the cause that is before us.”

Outside, a tremendous cacophony of thunder filled the sky. Celestia eyed the window suspiciously, unsure if it were a coincidence or an omen. 

“And so the gods answer me.” Æclypse said, his voice mixed with astonishment and heartache. 

“What did they say?” She asked, feeling that she knew the answer already. 

“That my fate does not lie in war against my brother.”

CANTERLOT
TODAY

Seated on the large plush cushions of Celestia’s personal quarters, the Alicorn sisters sat beside one another, their horns crossed and magic mingling. 

Every now and then one of them would wince or audibly exhale, the visions they shared eliciting a mixture of emotions. The memories continued until they reached the conclusion of Æclype’s surrender to the fate that was sealed in that hall. 

And so they sat for some time, the angle of the sunlight climbing a few inches higher in its projection on the wall from the window. At last with a pained sigh, they separated, Celestia almost apologetic, Luna quietly resigned, the last words of the prince in the memory still echoing for her, “I will weep for the future we have slain this night.”

“And now, you see Æclypse as I saw him.” Celestia said, reaching out a hoof to lay on her sister’s. 

Luna nodded slightly, a tear forming in the corner of her eye, but not falling. “I see now that you both were faced with difficult decisions. And I cannot say what I would have done differently were I there.”

Celestia bit her lip, and prepared to share one last secret. “Luna, I told you that I was afraid of what Æclypse was going to do Equestria, pull it apart when it was still vulnerable, polarize stability away from Canterlot.”

“You did.” Luna replied, her tone telling that she was still upset by the harsh reasoning of her sister, and yet curious to hear more.

Celestia looked to Luna with an apology in her eyes. “I’m afraid that’s not quite the extant of it. I… I was afraid that he was going to take you away from me.” 

“Take me away from you?” Luna said incredulously. “Sister, while I loved him I would never have abandoned you for him. Why would you think he could take me away from you?”

“Because I knew something about Thule that you did not.” Celestia took a long breath before continuing “I want to tell you now because I was wrong to keep it from you, it was your right to know, and…. And who knows what may have happened differently as a result.” 

Luna‘s voice was stern, but not angry. “Be out with it then.” 

“You see, Æclypse’s time to ascend to the throne as king was approaching, and there is something about that ceremony that was never common knowledge outside of Thule. The crowning ceremony is never just about a king.”

The Princess of the Dawn felt the shadow of guilt pass over her, a monolith of truth about to blot out the light of centuries of convenient lies. 
“It was the iron law of Thule that it could never be ruled by a single monarch, it was always a diarchy. What I’m saying, is that…. Æclypse’s coronation wouldn’t have just been it coronation, it would have been a wedding to crown a queen as well.” 

At first Luna didn’t understand what she was getting at, but the realization slowly crept on her. Her neck straightened and her breast swelled, she looked not at her sister, but off at some invisible point on the floor a few paces away.
“You thought he was going to choose me to be his queen?” 

“I did.” Celestia said tersely. “And I thought you would accept. That you would go to Thule, and marry him. It made me think of when we had defeated Discord, and you wanted to start a new nation with those who had suffered more than most from his tyranny. I was afraid not just for Equestria’s stability, but that you would leave me alone.”

Luna was quiet, her internal emotions fighting each other to see which one would rise to the surface. 
“I had no idea of such a custom, he said not a word of it to me. Why were you so sure he was going to ask me and not some native daughter of the North? Surely that would have been a more appropriate choice.”

“I know because he told me as much.”

Luna gasped, “I saw no such talk in your memory!”

“It was in a letter he had sent to me secretly.” With her golden magic, she plucked a small envelope from the top shelf of her bookcase. It opened with the protest of an ancient parchment, long folded and forgotten. 
“Just as you said, he was planning a trip to our castle, overtly to discuss matters of state and an effort to establish relations with other cities. But personally, in the letter he asked me for my blessing. He was going to propose to you the first time he was to meet you.”

Luna took the unfolded letter in her magical grasp and scanned it. Upon reaching the bottom, her breath caught in her throat, and the reserved tear finally fell from her eye. 
“If I had said yes sister, would you have forbidden it?”

“I don’t see how I could have. As scared as I was of the effects, ordering the prohibition of your marriage was something I could not bring myself to do.”

Celestia paused to gauge Luna’s reaction, but the nocturnal princess clutched the letter to her chest, she was still entranced by notions of how close their lives came to being so very different. 
“Plus…I had to consider the unpleasant idea that he was merely using you to reach past the throne of Thule and expand his power.”

“You feared that Sombra wasn’t the only bad seed in the family. That he had grander ambitions.” Luna gave her sister a suspicious side glance. “And you thought that one who can enter into the dreams and subconscious of others would not be able to see past such a ruse?”

Visibly embarrassed, Celestia blushed. “In hindsight, I may have overlooked that factor.”

Luna raised an eyebrow and responded with a slight “hmmm”. She got to her hooves and took the time to swallow her emotions before returning the letter to its envelope and sliding it back in place on the shelf. 
“Whatever life I may have had with him, however our fates may have changed, are things unalterable. There is much to be wept over, much to be lamented, yet they remain but heartbeats of a past that never was, and a future that never will be. My grief for him was spent long ago, he is now a bittersweet memory.” 

“The pain has gone for you then.” Celestia said. 

Luna spared her a parting nod as she exited the room, imagining in her mind a pair of iridescent blue irises looking down at her, an ethereal love connecting them across a thousand years. 
“But the memory remains.”


SOME YEARS AFTER THE EXILE FROM THULE

My first port of call with the crew of the Red Talon was an interesting one. 

We had been at sail for a few weeks, on a southwest heading for gods know where. So far we hadn’t done much of the things one normally thinks pirates do, raid ships, bury treasure, break out in dance numbers. Just living at sea, trying to stave off boredom and scurvy. 

Often I would spend hours on the bow gazing out over the blue horizon, letting the wind and salt spray whip through my mane. While I did miss the beauty of my northern mountains, the sea was another entity, and had its own magic. Back in Thule we really didn’t have a well-known god for the ocean, though I think his name was Ulmo. Thinking to myself one evening, watching the sun sink into the west, I was moved to think of something Celestia had said to me on that night years ago. What if there really were no gods? 

Captain Skorn would spend most of the day either flying above the ship scouting with our two pegasi, Grey Skies and Ruffles, or locked in his cabin. What he did in his room I couldn’t tell nor would anypony enlighten me, not that I was exactly dying to know. 

Life was busy on the ship, which served to keep my mind from drifting into darker places. The whole reason I was adrift at sea was the tragedy of Aquileia, something that I will never forget or forgive. But there is nothing I can do about it now. Not yet at least, not until I find Honalee.

Despite the melancholy under my skin, I was able to put on a brave face in front of the boys. I did what I was told and pulled my weight on deck. My mentor Salty Veins continued to teach me about navigation, charting a course, and using the stars to guide us at night. Unlike many of the others, he had worked on a merchant ship for most of his sailing life before joining Skorn’s crew. 

As it happens, the Red Talon was the very ship he worked on, until his former captain made the fateful decision to rescue a certain griffin from being marooned. I suppose Skorn’s policy of never leaving anypony high & dry is his way of paying forward a good deed. 

We sailed into port at a regular pirate trading nexus, an island called Consta Servaro. It had deepwater ports, and we were able to dock and offload some cargo for what Grey Skies assured me were fair prices. Our primary business successfully attended to, we had the rest of two days to spend as we pleased. 

“I supposin’ you got a choice to make ain’t ye?” Salty Veins said to me as I was walking through a dusty street, homes of bleached clay on either side. This was something most of the crew had been wondering about for the last few days, whether or not I’d stay on or take my chances on land. I’d been rescued as a courtesy, and had no obligation to stay, so I was within my rights to part ways if I wanted to. 

“I suppose I do.” Was my vague answer, the pair of us passing by a trio of bronzed and sultry earth pony mares, who gave me flirtatious glances as we went by. The street was busy with the comings and goings of all types of rogues and disreputable ponies and other folk, and I could smell the smokes of exotic spices and pipeweeds. 

“I tell ya Sable Star, we could use a good hoof like yours on the ship. Plus I can tell your not a scoundrel like most a’ these other lot. Believe it or not, an honorable stallion can still go a long way in this life.” 

There was a sad gleam in Salty’s eyes when he looked at me. From what I understood he had never been one of the dangerous types, never a criminal or an outlaw. As a first mate he was all business, not particularly concerned with the whole pillaging and plunder side of things. But he made sure to keep track of the inventory and sales. 
“It certainly seems like there’s room for aggressive expansion. To a point.”

“ha-ha! That be the case alright. Lots ‘o places you can go on the Talon, up just ain’t one of ‘em.” 

Entering a square, the air was filled with music of a type I had never heard before, drums, flutes, and something like shaking a jar of pebbles. There was a restaurant, or perhaps a tavern that was the center of activity, stallions and mares stumbling out and inside drunk and laughing.
“I’ll be straight with you Salty, there aren’t many more opportunities for me in this place. Far be it from me to belittle their way of life, but I can’t see myself living here. As tempting as it might be to lose my worries in the bottom of a tankard or three.”

“Ya know I didn’t want to pry about yer’ story Sable.” Salty said, sounding uncomfortable about broaching the subject. “On account of it not being my business an’ all. But that ain’t to say I ain’t curious. I been around a while lad, seen many a pony with their own stories to tell. So if yer’ ever wantin’ to share ‘yers over a pint or two, old Salty Veins’ll be around.”

I considered the offer, but it would be starting down a rabbit hole I’d rather not venture into. 
“Not today.  But perhaps another time.” I turned to him with a roguish grin. “For now, what say we sample some local drink?”

“Aye, I could go for that.”

We entered the tavern, if you could call it that. Inside was a cacophony of activity; card games, loud music, and something on the second floor that had couples hurrying from room to room. Seated in the center of the revelry, of course, was Captain Skorn.

“And so I told that mangy buzzard I’d tie his tail to a cannonball and shoot him across the bay!”

We’d missed the beginning of the story, but apparently the collection of Talon crew and strangers sitting around him understood, for they broke out in raucous laughter. 

“And what did he say to you then?” an unfamiliar, but positively stunning swarthy earth pony mare asked him. 

“Well,” Skorn continued; “Then my father grabbed me by the beak and shoved my head through a window.”

All around the listeners gasped.
“And he told me: ‘Boy! I told my father the same thing on my 16th hatchday, I’m proud of you for carrying on the tradition.”
Skorn sniffled, then lifted his wooden cup, frothing with a light brown liquid. 
“To my father!”

The rest all raised their drinks to toast, knocked them against another, and took long gulps. Finished, Skorn wiped the brew from his beak, “May his stay in the pits of Tartarus be a short one.”

It was then that he spied Salty and myself standing off to the side, he lifted a wing to signal to us, waving to join him. 
“Pull up a seat lads! I was just regaling an audience with my favorite stories from when I was but a fledgling.”

“Those old tales again Cap’m?” Salty chuckled as he sat next to Skorn. 

I took another beside Ruffles, whom had so far shown me a nothing but respect. He was all white with black tips on his wings, roughly my age, and a keen spotter. 
“I miss anything good?” I asked him. 

“Just the same ones he’s been telling us for a hundred nights.” Ruffles’ accent was not unlike Salty’s, but lighter and his speech clearer. Maybe they hailed from close regions I wondered. “Nothing you won’t hear again sooner or later.”

He slid me a tankard as I took a place at the table, and I took a quick sip. It tasted nothing like we had back in Thule, but it was good, sort of a fruity flavor. 

For the next few hours Skorn was the center of attention, he never seemed to run out of energy or some story that usually involved an example of how ruthless he was or how he had outwitted somepony for their treasure. 

As time passed, so did the amount of grog I imbibed. I had never been drunk before, and did not realize the slippery slope until it was too late. Barely able to stand on my own four legs, I often leaned on Ruffles for support, for he had fallen under the drink’s spell before I did. 

The sultry mare from earlier cozied up to my hip, and pushed the remainder of my cup away from me. I was in no position to resist, so with a lazy smile I thanked her. She took my hoof in hers, and nodded up to the second floor, yanking gently on my limb to get me going in the desired direction. Clumsily I followed her, nearly smashing my face on the first step. 

I was stomping upstairs, other ponies pushed aside by my size, when I heard the doors swing open again, and everything went to quiet. 

In walked a group of four griffins, eagles, each of them bearing a thin sword on their hips and hats like Skorn’s, but of finer material and larger feathers stuck in the band. They swaggered up to the bar and with a flick of his wing, the apparent leader of the quartet ordered a round of drinks for his posse. 
“Well boys, looks like the dregs are in full bloom today.” 

Turning to lean his back against the bar to look over the crowd, he spoke in a smooth, calm voice. 
“The usual assortment of thieves, scoundrels, and harlots.” 

The mare holding me upright huffed with indignance. I had yet to make the connection, for much of the ways of the outside world was still unknown to me. No that I was innocent, there were just certain things that did not occur to me readily. 

But Skorn was not so virtuous. 
“Have a gander lads! Got us a gaggle of preening jackdaws! Mighty nice ‘ah them to grace us with their presence.” 

That’s what he said to best of my intoxicated recollection, but it very well could have been something much more belligerent. Whatever the case may be, the other griffins were slighted, and as a gang strode over to where Skorn and the others were sitting. They surrounded the table and glared down, and much to my surprise even Skorn seemed to shrink from their inspection. 
“Do mine eyes deceive me?” The leader said. “I haven’t seen one of your kind in a dragon’s age. What’s a Polly doing around here?”

Those seated around Skorn shifted in their seats, moving away from the Captain. I didn’t know it at the time, but there was something of a social hierarchy among griffins. Eagles considered themselves above the rest, like the short beaks, and the owls. But the parrots as a group were considered to be the lowest of their kind, some prejudice about being a tropical minority. It was never quite fully explained to me, but the name ‘Polly’ was commonly used as a slur for the breed. 

Skron flinched at the mention of the nickname, his talons digging into the wood of the table, but he made no move if retaliation. 
“Jus’ stopping’ by for a little trade and some R&R, you know.” He spoke with uncharacteristic timidity. He avoided making eye contact with the eagle, choosing instead to look into his drink. 

“Oh sure, I understand. Just selling off some stolen Equestrian or Trottingham cargo for a few bits, enjoying the amenities of our little island for a bit before setting out again.”

He nodded to rest of his crew to show he was being friendly, but the false smile quickly turned to a scowl. 
“Just one problem, mate, Consta Servaro isn’t the place for banana-beaks.” 

My crewmates looked to each other warily, waiting for the powder-keg to explode. But still, Skorn kept a demure posture. The bartender, a dark and burly earth-pony, looked on with a hard glare, ready to act in case violence broke out in the room. 

My captain swallowed a gulp, “We don’t mean no trouble boys, just having a few drinks, a couple laughs.” 

The eagle put his claw over Skorn’s mug and shoved it away from him. Leaning down slowly, he spoke threateningly close to his ear. 
“Trouble or no, you’re not welcome here. So why don’t you take your little crew of thieves and bugger off, before we make you.” 

For a heartbeat, the entire room was silent. 

“…Polly.”

In an instant, I saw Skorn’s face contort into manic rage. He gripped the mug and shoved it over the eagle’s beak before he could react. Using his wing to reach around the eagle’s head, Skorn slammed the covered beak into the table so hard I heard something snap. 

Astonished, the other eagles backed away while Skorn, Ruffles, and Salty Veins stood opposite them. 

“A’right you snotty bastards!” Skorn yelled as he pulled a dagger from his boot. “You want some a’me? Come an’ get yer bloody fill!” 

Skorn lunged forward, jumping over the fallen eagle to tackle another in a tangle of limbs and chairs. Not missing a beat, Ruffles and Salty got into it with the other two in what became a massive brawl. 

Not wanting to leave my crewmates to fight alone, I began to climb over the railing. “I gotta, *drf* Help ‘em!” The mare tried to hold me back, but even drunk I was too strong for her. 

“Here I -oof!” The railing broke under my weight, and I tumbled headlong to the floor, where I came down on the side of a table, causing it to flip and slam into the side of my head. 

I was later told that the tavern gasped at the sight of my accident, thinking my skull had been broken or my neck snapped. But I rose from the remains of the smashed table, and stumbled to the right where the other patrons pushed me in the direction of the fight. 

I fell onto my chest, and saw before me Salty Veins on the ground, using his hoof to prevent a griffin from driving talons into his face. I fired a blast of my magic and not only knocked the eagle off Salty, but nearly put him through the wall. With an incredulous expression Salty looked at me, to which I dumbly smiled in return. 

Then came a loud crash as Ruffles and Skorn began hitting the wall and ceiling in their fight with the other two griffins. Ruffles dodged a swipe of his opponent’s rapier, leading him backwards in the aerial duel. When at last the eagle had him cornered, Ruffles ducked and the blade cut into the wood of the side of the staircase where it became stuck. 

Acting quickly, Ruffles delivered an uppercut to the eagle’s jaw that propelled its head into the wooden crossbeam. Dazed, the griffin had no counter when Ruffles drove both of his hindlegs into his stomach, sending him through a window. 

Skorn and the last griffin dame down atop a table, knocking poker chips and drinks onto the floor. The captain had the dagger poised at his throat, and the other griffin was steadily losing the battle of strength to keep it away. 
“Bloody eagles! Think you’re so high-n-mighty! Well this Polly’s gonna cut you up for shark bait!” 

“Alright Skorn, that be enough.” The gruff voice came from the bartender, who stood so that Skorn could look forward and see the mean face that gave no hint of being intimidated. 
“Let him up.” He ordered, “I’ll have no more of this ruckus.” 

From my spot on the floor, I watched as Skorn met his gaze for a few moments, before giving the barkeep a wide grin. 

“Oh, of course, of course whatever you say.” Skorn took his claw away from the griffin’s beak and allowed him to squirm off the table and to his nearest comrade. “You know me Ogham, I always respect the boundaries of private property.” 

The barkeep, Ogham Scratch, I would get to know better the next day. One by one, the other griffins collected themselves, and picked their writhing leader off the floor as he still tried to pry the mug from off his beak. They left without any further words or gestures towards our crew. 

Ruffles helped me to stand, and Salty put a hoof on my shoulders, he seemed mightily appreciative for my help in the fight. Skorn shoved the dagger back into his boot, and shook his wings. 
“Well lads, I think we was due for a bit of a scrap don’t you?”

Captain gave me a smirk, “And let’s not forget the gallant contribution of our greenhorn! Blasted that buzzard halfway to Tartarus he did!”

Ruffles put his wing around my shoulder, “Not surprising a stallion his size packs a wallop, but I’ve never seen a unicorn that strong.”

For a second I almost let slip my true identity, but I caught myself. “Runs in the blood.” I told them. Salty and Ruffles traded raised eyebrows, curious as to what truth lay behind my comment. 

But the captain chuckled, and motioned with a wing-tip back to where the sultry mare waited for me at the foot of the stairs. 
“Go on then lad.” Skorn told me. “Go have yerself a bit of fun.” 

Ruffles and Salty shoved me in her direction, and she caught me with a tender hoof against my chest. As she led me up the steps a second time, I glanced down to see my crewmates sharing a laugh as they exited. With a tug she urged me to the second floor, and I followed her to a small room that contained little more than a bed, a lamp on a bedside table, and a dresser. 

Easing herself onto the mattress before me, she gazed deep into my eyes, tilting her head to expose her neck. I have to admit, as I strode the few paces to where her limbs and mine entangled, in my mind I pretended she was somepony else. 


THE SKIES BETWEEN 
CANTERLOT AND PONYVILLE

It wasn’t often Celestia was able to dismiss the watch of her guards, but on a day like this she needed the time alone for her thoughts. Banking to the right around a cloud, she stretched out her forelimbs through the warm breeze, and let the simple bliss of such a lovely day relax her. 

Though try as she might however, her conversation with Luna earlier had spoiled any chance for a sapling of peace of mind to sprout. While she had known for so long that Luna had loved the Thulain prince, until yesterday she had never seen it for herself. Another thing it seems that she failed to see. 

For all my acclaim as Princes of the Dawn, I failed my sister. 

Seeing the pain in Luna’s eyes had not gone without sympathy, for in the tears she recalled the pain of her own lost love. 

Celestia folded her wings slightly as she dropped altitude into a valley, opening her wings to let the updraft carry her back skyward. 

It had been hundreds of years ago, but in her moments of loneliness it still stung like it had happened last week. Of the mirror that Star-Swirl had introduced her to, only a shard remained, kept within a locked box in her bed chamber. Often however she wished she could place it among its lost siblings and travel through once more to see the one who meant to her what Æclypse must have meant to Luna. Though perhaps the connection was greater than she imagined, how could it be that of all possible ponies, her love had been…

Sombra… The urge to speak his name was on her lips, but a discipline long ingrained prevented it. She remembered his face though, loving, noble, an air of masculine grace about him. Visiting him was a yearned-for escape from the life of being the solitary ruler of Equestria, and a guilty pleasure to be cared for as a stallion cares for a mare. 

Having to look into his eyes all those nights, while knowing the difference she saw in the eyes of his doppelganger, eyes filled with hate and rage, had been her secret to bear. That Luna had loved one brother while she loved the other, struck her as mystifying, some great truth that eluded her vast wealth of knowledge. 

Then again, there was the rather pedestrian understanding that a pair of sisters had fallen for a pair of brothers, a simple case that Celestia had seen occur plenty of times before. To think that it was better attributed to the frequently comical nature of romance than to some unfathomable machination of powers beyond her perception, gave her cause for a slight smile. 

But that had been a Sombra from another world. The Sombra from this one had craved power more than love, a creature consumed by the influence of darkness and malice. A wielder of forces that Celestia hesitated to fully grasp, lest she discover something about dark magic in Equestria that exposed its real depths. 

But today was a day for the shedding of burdens, and it would continue with her junior princess. Twilight was a glutton for knowledge, and being able to see her eyes light-up whenever her student came upon some new reservoir of enlightenment was always a joy. 

With a long flap of her wide wings, Celestia coasted along on the current and let the wind do the work. She exhaled, ready and looking forward to share another lesson with her treasured apprentice. 

Today was going to be a good day. 


PONYVILLE

“OH... This is not good!” 

Twilight came around the side of town hall, where she rallied with the rest of her friends, each of them sharing the same disappointed expression. 

“I can’t find no sign of him.” Said Applejack, shaking her head. 

Rarity bit her lip, “I can’t believe he just ran off like that! What did he think we were going to do?” 

“I don’t know…” Twilight postured to look out over the center of town. “But he blasted a hole through my castle wall to get away, it must have been important.” 

Rainbow Dash fidgeted where she hovered, “This is the part where I’m supposed to say ‘I hate to say I told you so’, but I told you so Twilight. He’s trouble.” 

“He really didn’t give you any clue what set him off?” Fluttershy asked. 

Twilight sunk her head a little lower, “I… really didn’t give him much of a chance to explain himself.” 

Bouncing around her friends like hurdles, Pinkie Pie leaped back and forth over Twilight’s back. “Yeah Twilight, a doorless room in your own personal dungeon, probably not the best place for a helpful conversation.” 

“It is not! I…  I do not have a personal dungeon!” The princess sputtered defensively. “I just.. Needed a place to hold him for a while.” 

“So you kidnapped him and imprisoned him in your ‘totally not a dungeon’ room’. I get it.”

Twilight groaned, knowing when to give up trying to argue a point with Pinkie. “Alright, everypony just keep an eye out for him. I’ve still got his saddlebags, he’s bound to come back for them sooner or later.”

The friends parted ways, but Applejack cantered up to Rarity as the seamstress headed back towards her shop. 
“Hey Rarity, I wanted to ask ‘ya, have you seen Applebloom anywhere? She was supposed to help me out in the orchard this afternoon. Thought maybe you’d seen the crusaders somewhere.”

Pausing to think, Rarity furrowed her brow, “No actually, I haven’t seen any of the girls since I sent Sweetie Belle to school this morning.”

“We were just all over town, and I didn’t see Scootaloo either.” Applejack’s tone pitched with worry. 

“Dear, surely they’re just off on one of their adventures, you know how those fillies are.” Rarity brushed off the concern. More than a few times the girls had come in late from their newest attempt to discover their special talents. She continued to walk on, leaving Applejack in place, some thought rolling around in her head. 

“Maybe… But it is one heck of a coincidence that Wanderlust breaks out, and all of a sudden we can’t find the girls.”

Finally Rarity stopped, pondering something disturbing. “No, no you can’t mean to say that he could have anything to do with missing fillies.”
Remembering the moment at breakfast the other day when Sweetie Belle came down, and the aura of simple happiness she saw in him. To think that he might abduct her and the other girls was beyond the pale. 
“That is a step too far Applejack.”

“Alright, alright.” The farmer conceded, “But he knew something we don’t, something that got him awful worked up.” 

“And we wouldn’t listen when he tried to tell us last night.” Slumping, Rarity tried to imagine what the best course of action could be. 
“Let’s you and I ask around then, somepony’s got to have seen them somewhere.”

As the agrarian and the seamstress ventured to find some testimony on their sister’s last whereabouts, a shadow passed over without their notice. 

Soaring over the town, Celestia kept high enough to avoid making herself noticeable to the residents below. She came across a few Pegasus who saluted her, to which she waved back with a friendly hoof. At last, she narrowed in on Twilight’s castle, descending in a spiral to come around to the balcony. Noting the jagged opening on the side, she wondered if another of the princesses’ spells hadn’t backfired in some destructive reaction. 

She touched down on the terrace, knowing that it allowed entry into one of the halls rather than any private room. Strolling down the gallery, the fact that Twilight had yet to see this wing properly decorated she determined was due more to her voracious study than care for filling the capacious structure with old suits of armor and potted plants. 

It really was out of place, Celestia mused. Even in the Canterlot metropolis the mountainside castle went unoccupied for the most part, despite being at the heart of the city. Here, in rural Ponyville such an extravagant palace was of even less usefulness than the humble library it had replaced as Twilight’s home. 

But it was early still. While Canterlot had centuries to fill itself out in the epicenter of Equestrian high-culture, Twilight’s castle hadn’t been a year in existence. There was plenty of time for them to give it a presence of its own, and perhaps it would become the beacon of a wonderful new city. 

Somewhere downstairs, came the sound of Twilight’s voice echoing off the walls. Celestia craned her neck over a railing to see the young lavender Alicorn talking to Spike, discussing some issue that had her discontented. Moving to the top of the staircase, Celestia waited patently for Twilight to notice her presence. 

“…. I just don’t know Spike, Maybe I should take a look in his- gasp”

Twilight gasped at the sight of her mentor, not expecting to see her again so soon after leaving Canterlot. 

“Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?” 

Cringing under the possibility of reprimand, Twilight was all to conscious of her disobeying the directive to stay away from the Thule Chamber. 

Seeing the nervousness, Celestia gave her a warm smile of reassurance. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’m not here to scold you for going back into the hidden room. Quite the opposite actually.”

“Really?” was all Twilight could think to say. 

“Mm-hm. But first I have to ask if everything is ok, you seem troubled.” 

“Oh, no.” Waving her hoof to swat away some invisible ‘problem fairy’, Twilight offered her best fake chuckle. “I was just, uh, having a hard time deciding which new sofa to get. Right Spike?”

“Yeah, new sofa.” Spike nodded with extra enthusiasm. 

“Oh, well, this place certainly could use a bit more furniture. Come.”

The three of them retreated to one of the few rooms that had been furnished, where they climbed onto a large round couch adorned with square and frilly pillows. As there was enough space for all of them, Celestia leaned against the back while Twilight laid opposite, in the middle Spike reclined onto his friends stomach. 

With the rapt fixation of an adorning learner, Twilight watched the tiny muscles activate in Celestia’s face before she began speaking. 

“Firstly, I’m very happy to tell you Twilight, that I grant you full access to the Thule antechamber, in fact, I was wondering if you’d like to curate it.”

This really was quite the opposite of what she was expecting, Twilight almost didn’t believe it. 
“You… You want me to restore the Thule exhibit?”

“I do. The fact, Twilight, is that I shut it away a long time ago because it reminded me of a grand failure of mine. Of a place and a pony I could not save. So, out of regret I sealed it away, and out of hope do I emancipate it. If you like, I can have the whole collection, every bit of it moved here to better suit you. And of course, fill some of this castle out.” 

“That..” Twilight was at a loss for words, the promise of having her very own historical exhibit, the sole assembly of relics from a lost kingdom, was almost euphoric for her. 
“That would be amazing! Thank you Princess Celestia!”

“Does this mean our home is gonna turn into a museum?” Spike complained. 

Celestia chuckled, “How do you think I’ve felt for the past 500 years?”

Twilight gazed off into a distance beyond the walls of the room, “I could spend years studying those materials.”

“Not too much I hope, and there is another thing I’ve come to tell you.” Celestia nudged a bit closer, draping her left wing over her company and drawing them in closer. “I’ve got a story to tell you. You see, there was a time before Sombra’s madness, that I met with Prince Æclypse.” 

A not-to-small gasp escaped Twilight, “Luna doesn’t know does she?”

“No she doesn’t, I’ve never told anyone. He and I are the only ones who ever knew of it. As I’m sure you saw hint of in the room, Æclypse had won fame for himself by defeating a dragon.” 

“The one I saw on the tapestry?” Twilight asked, consciously omitting the fact that she knew very well the account of his battle with the Fyre Drake.

“Yes, and word of his heroism didn’t take very long in reaching Canterlot. And before Luna had ever visited him in the dreamscape, I decided I wanted to meet him for myself.”

A cloud of ethereal magic was cast from Celestia’s horn, and formed itself into a window, within which played out in dramatic fashion her story as she retold it. 
“As I’m sure my sister has told you already, talk of Æclypse was that of a young, intelligent, noble, and handsome northern prince. Like somepony you might read about in a romance novella. So with word of his great deed and reputation spreading far and wide, I resolved that this was a pony I should know personally.” 

In the window, shown the course of many ponies gathered around a crier, listing with fascination. Above them, Celestia overheard the tale, a hoof to her chin in curious interest. 
“But I wanted to make sure I got to know him as he truly was, and not some legend passed along by a thousand mouths. So I told my guard that I was going into a reclusion for a few days, and not to be disturbed. Luna, I told something closer to the truth in that I needed a short vacation from the demands of ruling. 
With my cover intact, I set out on my journey north.”

In the vision, Celestia donned a hooded grey robe, and flew off into the sky, the sun to her right. 

It took me a few days, and some toleration of the more unpleasant elements of the northern climate, but I made it to Thule without revealing myself to anypony.”

He character landed some distance from the main gate to the city, a pair of wooden doors three stories high. 
“I had to enter the city on hoof, ‘ere they think that a Pegasus had come to town, which would draw notice. But since fair unicorns were common enough, I slackened the power of my mane to relax it to a light pink, but kept my hood mostly up. I made to sure to arrive after I had set the sun to help protect my guise, and of course the robe concealed my Cutie Mark. Also, I shortened my height a bit, for everything else, being taller than everypony would give me away at a distance.”

Walking among a throng of unicorns dressed in warm and intricately decorated clothes, Celestia took in the local color of taverns, torch-lit streets, and houses constructed of timber beams. 
“I hadn’t been to Thule for many years, and was pleased to see that the ponies there were living well. The kings and queens had ruled ably, and the peace brought-on by the treaty between they and the Yak allowed their leisure culture to flourish.”

Approaching a large collection of unicorns gathered around a bonfire, Celestia hung back in the shadows to observe. 
“Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to find the prince. For he along with many other of his fellow warriors were making merry, celebrating by firelight with laughter and drink. Now I had never seen anything like this in Canterlot, as you know I think the annual Gala is an unfailingly boring affair. Here, they celebrated freely with shouts of joy and revelry, dancing to music that resounded with the free spirit and vivacity of a folk not yet tamed by the sophistications of civilization.”

Twilight watched the tiny ponies crowded around a communal fire, their silhouettes dancing rowdily around the blaze. 

“For all my status, I envied them. Would it not betray my identity, I would have happily joined them, so much did I yearn to forget my crown and let myself be consumed in the thrill. 
But through the jubilant throng, I spotted Æclypse surrounded by his comrades. His long mane hung loose and wild, the perfect opposite of his noble peers in the south. In the prime of his youth, hale and strong, he certainly looked the part of all I had heard.”

Celestia gave Twilight an amused smirk, “I never begrudged Luna that she had certainly chosen an exceptional stallion to fall for.” 

Both Spike and Twilight blushed slightly. 

“So I watched him.” Celestia continued, “And saw that he abstained from excess drink, declined to engage in too flamboyant a dance partner, and even separated two other stallions that had begun to quarrel. But he did enjoy himself, partaking in song and conversation. All the members of his company were Thanes, unicorns who served in the Thulian army and proved themselves worthy in organized scrimmages with Yak warriors.”

“Organized scrimmages?” Twilight asked. “I thought they were at peace?”

“They were, but as both a ritual of their continuing accord, and because they liked battle so much, every year Thule and the Yaks tribes pitted their warriors against each other in contest. A friendly but competitive series of war games.”

Thinking on the matter, Twilight was utterly enthralled by images of unicorns and Yaks in battle. It reminded her of how jousting was a part of the festivities in the Crystal Faire. 

Her vision now showed the disguised Celestia sneaking around to get closer to the prince. “All was going well, and I was trying to think of a way to talk to Æclypse without giving myself away. I figured a stallion is a stallion, and it would be a simple matter of flirting with him to draw him aside.”

At this Spike and Twilight recoiled a bit in surprise, rousing a hearty chuckle from Celestia. 
“I know I don’t seem like it, but not even I am estranged from the basic nature of mares. I know how to flirt when I want to.
As I was about to approach him, one of those who sat beside him, an older stallion with a degree of white in his braided copper beard, stood to address the crowd. He took a swig from his mug, and began to drunkenly sing the most vulgar song I had ever heard. 



No need to follow along, just play to get how the song goes and enjoy!




O, there were a dozen mares who had come to join the dance, 
We took ‘em for some fikkin, but all we got were wanks!

I was startled by the coarse lyrics, but it had only just started before the rest of them added in the chorus. 

Oh we the Thulian army, are each a mighty Thane, 
We’ll storm your flanks, and ravage your ranks, 
And do it all over again!

The prettiest of the mares, she was of the fairest breed, 
I told her I had an organ, and where to spread my seed!

Oh we the Thulian army, are each a mighty Thane, 
We’ll storm your flanks, and ravage your ranks, 
And do it all over again!

The oldest of the mares, O’ she was a rowdy lass, 
I showed my mighty Wesson, she showed me a bearded axe!

Oh we the Thulian army, are each a mighty Thane, 
We’ll storm your flanks, and ravage your ranks, 
And do it all over again!

The fattest of the mares, at first I took her for a horse, 
I gave her all me larder, still wanted more!

Oh we the Thulian army, are each a mighty Thane, 
We’ll storm your flanks, and ravage your ranks, 
And do it all over again!

Her sister was from Canterlot, cost me 20 groats, 
She showed me there was more ways, than one to sow me oats!

Oh we the Thulian army, are each a mighty Thane, 
We’ll storm your flanks, and ravage your ranks, 
And do it all over again!

The mother‘s coat was sable, dark as the midnight hour, 
She must have been expired, for all her kisses’ taste were sour!

Oh we the Thulian army, are each a mighty Thane, 
We’ll storm your flanks, and ravage your ranks, 
And do it all over again!

When the lurid song had ended, the whole bunch of them erupted in cheer and applause, but I stewed in seething offense. Looking back, I think I was just being a little prudish. Canterlot high-society would have blanched and fainted if they ever heard such a song at one of their balls. 

Nonetheless, I was quite upset that he would partake in such behavior, and resolved that I would return at a later time to have a long talk with King Rubicon and Queen Eras. But fate was having it’s fun with me that night. 

As I turned to leave, I bumped into a stallion that had come-up behind me and walked right into his chest. He was my height, with white fur and a blonde mane that went halfway down his neck. Stepping back, I saw that while he didn’t have Æclypse’s rugged handsomeness, his was a face to rival or surpass any of the Canterlot princes. Giving me a smile and putting a hoof to his chest, he kept his eyes engaged to mine as he bowed slightly. 

“Sorry if I’ve startled you, but I noticed you skulking in the shadows. You are more than welcome to join us, Ms.?”

I didn’t realize it at first, but the bump had knocked down my hood, so that now my neck up were exposed. 
“Skulking? I wasn’t skulking!” I blurted out.

He seemed amused by my outburst, “Forgive me, but I don’t recall seeing you around here before, and you’re certainly one I would remember.” 

I pulled my hood back up and denied him the satisfaction of reciprocating his flirtation. But he wouldn’t be so easily deterred. 

“Please, my name is Parsifal, cousin to Prince Æclypse, allow me to welcome you to Thule.”

“I appreciate your hospitality, but I find that I had have quite my fill of Thule for one night.” 

“Come now, Do not think that all Thule has to offer is bawdy songs and warm mead. Let me show you some worthy sights, perhaps the castle or the vista that peers out to the Crystal Mountains.” 

Inwardly I wanted to accept his offer, but I was too stubbornly devoted to being upset. 
“No thank you, and I bid you a good night.” 

I saw his face drop a bit, but he made a valiant effort to mask his disappointment. 

“This must be a first.” Came a new voice, Both of us turned to see Æclypse coming over to where we were, giving Parsifal a wry grin. 
“I do think you are the first I’ve ever seen to resist my cousin’s charm!” 

Parsifal huffed playfully as he and Æclypse interlocked their right fore hooves in greeting. 
“More mares have said no to me, than ever said yes to you.” 

At this the prince blushed, ever so imperceptivity, his eyes darting in my direction. I was at once put off my sourness by this minute gesture, struck by a shy sweetness. 

“You wound me cousin, dread that tales of my romance become as well known as my battles.” 

He shot a glance in my direction, but only for a brief second did he dare meet my gaze. 
“The lady seems set on her own private evening Parsifal, come, let us-” 

Before he could finish his thought, a wicked gust of wind befell us, carrying with it bits of icy debris and a bitter chill. Parsifal was forced to shield his eyes where he stood, while the wind reached under my robe and blew it about my head. 

When it has subsided, I hastily refit my clothing and noted thankfully that Parsifal hadn’t noticed. But as I looked sidelong, I could see Æclypse’s mouth hanging agape, staring at me with astonishment. He had seen my Cutie Mark, my wings, he knew who I was.” 

“What did he do?” Twilight asked, “Did he bow to you right then and there?” 

“No, rather he was too shocked to find me in disguise to do anything more than silently gawk. I had to think of something quickly before he said anything. 
“Good prince if it’s not too much trouble, could you escort an unaccompanied mare to her destination? I promise not more than a few minutes of your time.” 

I locked eyes with him to make sure he understood what I was trying to say, and he curtly nodded. 
“I uh, I would be more than glad to see you safely along.”

Without wasting a further second I walked past him, leaving Parsifal to wonder about the stark turn of events. 

“See you tomorrow cousin.” I heard Æclypse say as he took the few hurried paces to catch up to me. 

“Well this is a first…” Was the other’s reply as he watched us leave. 

For a while Æclypse and I walked in quiet, I suppose he was still taken aback by my appearance. Once we had gotten far from the party, and arrived at a secluded spot where a few rough-hewn benches gave a place to talk. Finally I turned to him and lowered my hood. 

Seeing me uncovered, I saw his expression open in wonder, and a fearful tinge to be in my presence. 
“Princess Celestia…” he said without finishing. 

“Prince Æclypse, thank you for not giving me away. Truthfully, I came here in secret to meet with you.” 

“With me?” he almost whispered in disbelief. 

“Yes, How could I not want to meet the valiant Prince Æclypse, rider of dragons and future king of Thule?” 

He didn’t quite know what to say. I can’t speak to what those in Thule thought of me and my sister, but it seemed that we were held in high regard to say the least. 

“I am honored that you would come northward to speak with me your grace, but I cannot fathom why a creature such as yourself would deign to visit on my account.” 

I smiled at him, “You are too humble good prince, your tale is spreading to every corner of Equestria, soon the prince of Thule will be the greatest hero in all the land.” 

“Not more so than you and Princess Luna, who defeated and imprisoned the chaos demon Discord, liberating the southlands from his demented tyranny.”

“Surely,” Said I, “ Surely there is more courage to be had in a single pony to face and overcome a beast of primordial creation than two Alicorn’s equipped with the Elements of Harmony.”

My compliment while genuine, made him uncomfortable. So, I decided on another course. 
“Young prince, I have come to meet such a pony worthy of the great exaltation that has reached Canterlot. I believe that I have found those acclaims to be accurate.” 

This settled his nerves, and as I stretched out my wing to rest on his shoulder, he marveled at it for a moment, before giving me a look of hope and joy that I have rarely seen equaled. 

“Princess Celestia,” He spoke, and I could tell there was a wellspring of questions and curiosity about to burst forth with all the exuberance of a colt on his birthday. 
“I have heard you are well traveled, and knowledgeable in matters of all kinds.” 

“I have learned much in my time, yes.” I answered coyly, curious myself to see what he would want to know.

“If it is not too much of a request, if it.. If it is no bother, I would like to show you something, and hear what you would think of it.” 

Now this was interesting, and I agreed with a polite nod. 

“Come hither.” he said, making to leave. “It is back at our castle.”

A few minutes later, we came up to a side entrance to the fortress, which rested upon a rocky precipice. A single sentry stood guard, and at his prince’s arrival lowered his spear in salute. As we passed, he gave Æclypse a mirthful glance. When we had gotten quietly inside, he turned to me and explained. 

“I have never brought a mare into the castle before, and many of my comrades in the guard tease me in the ways stallions do to each other about such things.”

Now certain that my impression of him during the song earlier was wholly inaccurate, I committed to myself that I would be good friends with him going forward. 

Keeping our hoof-falls silent, I myself took the time to examine the inside of the castle as I had not been there since the days of his great-grandfather. I saw a portrait of his family painted when he was younger, he, the king and queen, and his brother. 

Having either evaded his household guard, or used his status to bypass their interest in me, we came at last to his chambers. Once the door was locked behind us, and there no longer a need for my covering, I disrobed and revealed myself in full. 

Again, I saw in him the admiration one might see in a pony encountering something mythical. 
“Princess, I have heard tell.. Of your mane..” 

“Oh.” Realizing that my mane was still depowered, I shook it out and loosed it to flow naturally. 
“Is this what you were expecting?” 

“It is profoundly more.” 

“You wanted to show me something?” 

Jolted out his fixation by my question, he stepped over to the large round table that took up the center of his room. He cleared it of several books and parchments to reveal a split down the center. 
“I had this table built custom for me.”

“It’s very nice.” I told him. “But you didn’t bring a princess here to show her a table did you?”

“Of course not!” he said with building excitement, “What’s inside is entirely my own creation.” 

The two halves of the tables surface folded open at the handling of his magic. What was uncovered, took even my breath away. 

Before me, laid out in the cavity, was the most detailed map of Equestria and the known world I had ever seen, carved into the wood and enhanced by the addition of topographical accents. Where mountains were, he had them, where rivers ran, he painted them in cerulean. It was very much like your map downstairs, only hoof-made. 

He went on to eagerly tell me of it’s construction. “Using every map or reference I could assemble to my collection, I started out with the flat surface, sketching out the terrain and landmarks. Then, once all was laid out, I began crafting the elevated features of the highlands and peaks.” 

“It is very impressive.” I said, examining the craftwork that would befit any royal court. It’s center was Canterlot, which he represented by a small depiction of the castle on the mountainside. Elsewhere were all the notable places and terrain I was aware of, going so far south as the Forbidden Jungle, and as far north as the Frozen Sea. 

I saw the Crystal Empire, to it’s west was Thule, and further on was something peculiar that caught my attention. 
“What’s that up there?” I pointed to a collection of figures to the north-west of Thule, where a series of peninsulas on the coast curved inward to the sea, to create a series of bays

“Ah!” he shouted, “This is what I wanted to show you the most! I have grand ideas for Thule and Equestria. You see here the bay of Alfdale, and the bay of Alfwin, the former of which freezes over for half the year. But for the other half, both are as open and useful as any in the south. Once I am crowned king, my great work will be turning them into Thule’s own seaports.”

This stunned me, Thule installing a seaport this far north would change the face of Equestrian commerce. 
“A set of harbors?” 

“Yes! Yes! From here I will commission two fleets of ships to sail out and establish trade relations with cities far and wide. I’m going to break Thule’s ageless isolation and bring prosperity to the north that it has never seen!” 

His scheme was grand indeed, a gigantic undertaking for a far-flung prince. 
“A fine ambition, but have you thought of the massive logistics involved?” 

“Oh I have given it great thought!” Æclypse sounded as if I had walked into his trap, and he went about producing a small library of letter parchments from a cupboard under the table. 
“Ever since I was made Principate of the Kingdom, I set about on a number of correspondences with potential partners.” 
He began to list them off while throwing down one scroll after another. 
“Saddle Arabia, GriffinStone, Trottingham, the Ponesian Empire! Are but a few.” 

It looked at the letters, and more than surprised, I was disturbed that such relations had taken place without my slightest notice. 
“But what exactly do you plan to trade with, you and your one and a half ports?” 

“Therein lies our great product, the one resource we can trade in perpetuity, the ice! My plan for which is two-fold.”

He ducked down to retrieve a set of small wooden ships, and a new castle, placing them at the edge of the coast. 
“During the part of the year that Alfdale is frozen, we will collect the ice in blocks, and ship them to buyers, the ships returning with goods from far away.”

“Ship ice to Saddle Arabia?” I was more than a bit incredulous, sending ice to the desert. “How?”

“Yak hair!”

“Yak hair?”

“Yak hair! It’s the best insulate one can find, and the yaks have agreed to a regular supply of it for their own access to the trade route. Plus, it can be woven into many useful fabrics. The yaks are poised to make a substantial profit from their excess locks.” 

Indeed I could begin to see his plan taking shape, a trade circuit that went everywhere but Canterlot. Equestria’s capitol is landlocked by many leagues, and little but the fact that myself and Luna reside there sustain it as a place ponies want to live. Other than that, the Equestrian countryside would be as rurally populated as it ever was. His idea was grand, certainly workable, but I began to realize what this could mean for the rest of us. With the citizens still recovering from the reign of Discord, Canterlot was the only beacon of hope and stability they had. If Thule were to rise, Equestria would not have the strength or unity to survive it. 

“There’s a second part?” I asked him, a growing fear gnawing at my heart. 

“The second part,” Æclypse continued, moving a few of the other pieces into place, to form a new ridgeline starting at the bay of Alfdale and moving eastward. “Is for my greater spectacle of the two. Using the ice blocks as bricks, I will build a connected series of palaces where the climate will keep them frozen. The blocks will be infused with color, and be like the aurora borealis. From the Alfdale port, and stretching halfway back to Thule, I will create a new landmark, a glimmering light from the north. And it will be a new city unto itself, with ponies living, working, and making communities within it’s glorious protective walls.	

I will outshine the Crystal Empire.”

As I looked over his map, where his grandiose plan was laid out, and I saw Thule rising amidst a brilliant light. I also saw Canterlot, the heart of Equestria growing dimmer and dimmer until it was overshadowed completely and left to wither on the mountain.” 

“Luna said that she never knew why you didn’t like Æclypse, why you didn’t want them together.” Twilight looked away from her mentor, putting the pieces together. “It’s not that you didn’t like him, it’s what you knew he was going to do.” 

“Yes.” Celestia paused, wetting her lips before continuing. “And once I learned of the depth of the relationship between Luna and he, I could hear the clock ticking for the fall of Equestria” 

“What do you think?” He asked me, “Princess?” I realized I had been staring, and when I looked at him, I saw that he was waiting for my opinion, to see if I would approve. He was so hopeful, so honest, and I genuinely think he was motivated by the best of intentions. But having the experience of my long years, I saw past his innocent dream and played-out the course of events in my mind. 

“I think it’ll work.” I told him. “I think it will work.” For a few moments we stood there on opposite sides of the table, Æclypse filled with faith for the future, myself with conflict. 

Shortly after that I left, again in disguise I set off from his private balcony. The whole flight back my mind was filled with how to handle the situation, what could be done to alter things so that Equestria become a part of these new arrangements. 

So for a while, I set about my own affairs to reach deals with the parties I was aware of. It took a long time, but I was making progress, until…” 

“Until King Sombra attacked the Crystal Empire.” Finally appreciating the scope of the matters that drove events, Twilight had to process things. 

“Fighting tyrants and monsters is one thing Twilight, running a country is quite another. I can’t just blast problems away, I can’t just send them to Tartarus.” 

But you do have a habit of banishing them. Twilight thought. 

Celestia, Twilight, and Spike continued the conversation into the evening, the senior Alicorn doing her best to answer questions. It gave Celestia a sense of contentment to resume the role of mentor. She’d been a maternal figure to Twilight and Cadence for these many years that it soothed the anxieties that had troubled her these past few days. The burden of the secrets that she had kept to herself for a thousand years were lifted off her shoulders. And it felt good. 

Today was a good day. 

Elsewhere in Ponyville, Rarity, AppleJack, and Pinkie Pie came to rest beside the fountain in the center of town. 

“Are you sure you saw them come this way?” Rarity asked Pinkie. 

“Pretty sure.” Pinkie propped herself on the ledge of the fountain for a better vantage around. “They came through Sugar Cube Corner chasing after that other colt, but he disappeared. After that they left and headed this way.” 

Applejack lifted her face to the sky, “You see anything up there Rainbow Dash?!” she yelled.

Above the square, Rainbow Dash took another quick scan of the area before shaking her head. 
“Nothing yet!” she yelled back. “No sign of ‘em!”

Hearing the lack of progress confirmed, Rarity anxiously tapped her hooves on the ground. 
“Oh I just don’t understand how they can disappear like this, where could they have gone?”

Pinkie had the tip of her tongue curled onto her upper lip, trying to think of some new lead for them to follow. Searching through the extensive files in her basement had come-up empty for information about the unknown colt, which surprised Pinkie because she had inches of information on everypony in Ponyville. 

Without any warning, she felt a shiver travel down from the tip of her tail, into her rump, and down to her hooves. 
“Oh, Twitchy-thitch-a-twitch!” she said, the tremors moving up her neck and shaking her face like a maraca. 

For a second she paused, waiting for an indication of what her Pinkie-sense was alerting her to. Wide-eyed, she shot her face to the left and caught sight of the wanted colt as he was darting from one house to another. 
“There!” She cried, pointing with her hoof to get the others attention. 

The colt froze where he stood, totally surprised that he had been discovered. But as all eyes drew down on him, with a small shriek he took off running. 

“Come back here! Please!” Rarity called out, she, Applejack, and Pinkie sprinting after him. 

Much like before, the colt wanted to lose his pursuers by using the environment to put obstacles and distance between them, but to his dismay, fate had sent him down an unencumbered alley. If he could just get to the end however, he could give them the slip. 

Just a few strides from making the sharp turn that would save him, a multi-colored blur came down in the middle of the pathway. 
“WHERE YOU GOING?!” Rainbow Dash barked, using her wings to block him. He stumbled backwards in fright until he collided into Applejack’s chest. 

In his stark shock, the colt was immolated in green fire that burned away his masquerade and revealed the junior changeling that he was. 

“Bahh!” Applejack screamed. 
“Ahh!” The changeling cried, 
“Ahh!” Rarity squealed.
“Ahh!” The changeling yelled… again. 
“Ahh! Hahahahah!” Pinkie blurted out, laughing hysterically. 

The changeling fell to the ground, terrified, and made to protect himself from the ponies that now surrounded him. It was not lost on Rainbow Dash that this was the very colt that Wanderlust had captured last night, until of course she tackled him. Now she understood. 

“Alright Changeling!” Rainbow Dash growled with accusation, “Talk! Where are those fillies!” 

“Please…” he begged, “If I tell you, they’ll do things to me! Horrible things! They’ll feed me to the snap-dragon!” 

Still fearful of the adolescent creature, Rarity nonetheless remembered what was at stake. 
“If you tell us where the girls are, we’ll keep you safe, we can protect you.” 

The changeling wailed, “Ooooh! No you don’t understand! You can’t protect me!” 
He gave them a pitiful scowl, “You can’t even protect yourselves!”


SOME YEARS AGO

As the train pulled out of the Baltimare station, Wanderlust leaned back in his seat, allowing his back and legs some rest. He set his saddle bags down in front of him, where they hit the floor with a THUMP.

“Uggggg…” With a groan of relaxation, he stretched his shoulders, and settled into the backrest to get comfortable. 

Just as he was about to close his eyes, he felt the motion of another sitting down next to him, her mane brushing against him. 

“You getting tired in your old age?” Trixie nudged him in the side, but Wanderlust merely turned his sleepy face to hers. She had grown from a filly to a beautiful young mare before his eyes, and as she settled in her seat, it hit home for him that she wasn’t the same poor little thing he’d taken off the streets of Fillydelphia. 

“I’m just glad to get out of here.” He said with exhaustion, remembering how their most recent stay in the city had treated them. 

“Yeah, we’ve had better runs haven’t we?” Taking off her hat, she tossed it atop his saddle bags, and pulled her cape over her shoulder in preparation for a little nap. 

There was one thing however, that Wanderlust thought had been a good development. 
“You know…” he began “I might have stayed a little longer if you had taken those young stallions up on their offer.” 

Trixie huffed, “What? Go to some party with boys I don’t even know?” 

I wasn’t the response he was hoping for, but maybe she could be brought around. “They seemed alright to me, and I know how to spot a scoundrel or two. I think you would have enjoyed yourself.”

She gave a contented sigh, snuggling closer to him. “I think they would have been terribly boring. I’d much rather spend my night on the town with you.”

He was usually greatly thankful for the fact that she was stubbornly loyal, but right now it was taking on a troubling dimension. 
“Come on Trixie, you really should make friends with ponies your own age. You can’t hang out with me all the time, I’m old enough to be your father.”

He could feel her shifting uncomfortably, “So what? I don’t care. I don’t have anything in common with those silly boys. Besides, you’re nothing like my father. You’re all the friend I need.” 

And there it was, confirmation of something he’d been worrying about developing. It had danced in the back of his mind ever since she joined-up with him, though he had hoped otherwise. It was Trixie’s relationship with her parents that caused her to run away from home in the first place, and now she’d become too attached to him. It wasn’t healthy, and it wasn’t right that he allow this to continue. 

Something would have to change, even it meant having to assert some distance between them. But as he craned his neck to look down at her, watching her face twitch and muzzle wriggle, he couldn’t help but think of how far she’d come, and he had to admit she’d filled a void in his life that he never thought could be done. So together they had grown, a part of each other’s story. And now it was time to turn the page. 



Just click play for Metallica montage! Each block corresponds to a part of the song, you know how montages work.




In his memories, Wanderlust’s mind flashed with images of their time traveling across the land. 

	Walking down a deserted road in the evening sun, Wanderlust looks to his right to see Trixie sauntering up to his side. For a while they continue like this, the sun setting behind them in the west. He puts a forelimb around her shoulders and she lets herself lean into him. 

Somewhere else, in a hotel room with the curtains drawn across the window, Wanderlust pours over a book, crossing out one line after another, his face growing with discontent and frustration. Finally he flings the quill away, and puts his forehead in his hooves. Sleeping on one of the two beds, Trixie, sees his state of infuriation, she gestures to the book, but Wanderlust closes it, shaking his head before throwing his hooves up to end the conversation. 

Another town, another year, and Trixie in playing to a crowd. Glancing at her as he passes by a window, Wanderlust grants himself a smile. But then something changes in his mind, and he resumes a search of a darkened museum storage room. Using his horn for illumination, he checks in a box, but shoves it away in consternation. 

Entering a diner together, Wanderlust and Trixie shake the snow from their coats, and hang their knitted caps on the hat rack. Trixie fusses with her coat, while Wanderlust glances around to see a few of the other patrons giving them a curious once-over. He doesn’t quite know what to make of it at first, but when Trixie finishes and gives him a peck on the cheek before she goes to the booth, he gets the picture. What they must be thinking grates on him, but he swallows the urge to start a fight and simply follows her to their seating. 

Trixie never paid much mind to the looks others gave her, but Wanderlust picks-up on them easily. He sees their side-long stares, he sees them leaning over to whisper to one-another. They wonder what a pretty young thing like her is doing with a road varmint like him. ‘is she his daughter? Is she his mare friend? What kind of ponies can they be?’ . He’d like to get up yelling, asking what they were looking at, but it would just cause a scene. 

Years before, when she’s still little, Trixie climbs onto Wanderlust’s back. It’s early morning on the long stretch of country road, and she’s still sleepy. Despite the dawn, she settles into the groove between his withers and goes back to sleep. He glances back with a smile, happy for the small things in life. 
Now on another day, when she’s older, she comes down off a stage where ponies are booing and jeering her. Wanderlust tries to offer a comforting embrace, but she pushes him away, tears in her eyes, leaving him to watch her walk off. 

Stage lights burst on in a flash, illuminating Trixie on another stage in another city. Tonight she’s in the zone, and every one of her acts is going off without a hitch. Her confidence translates into energy, and now she’s got the crowd cheering. She’s doing great, and she knows it. 
Watching in the back of the crowd, Wanderlust looks on with pride. Though seeing her like this, such an advancement from the little show where he discovered her, it tugs at his heart that she is no longer the same filly. 

Looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, he sees the reflection of Trixie laying on her bed behind him, the blankets of his own hanging half-off to the floor. Wanderlust is thinking of the life that he’s led her on. She never got to settle down, plant her own roots in a community, make her own friends. He had been her mentor, teacher, companion, and virtually her father. She’s never called him that but she loved him like one. She loved him. 

In some store, he looked on as she twirled about in front of a mirror, her eyes filled with delight at seeing how she looked in the new dress. She had been telling him how she dreamed of going to the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot, and were passing by the dress shop when she caught sight of the gown. He could buy it for her easily, he’d love to give her this. But he couldn’t go to Canterlot with her, too risky, far too risky. 
He didn’t think for a second however, that she would part with him long enough to make the trip to attend. When she spun around to face him, face full of hope, he knew he’d end-up disappointing her. 
Not long after, he was proven correct. With the dress in her possession, she pleaded with him incessantly to go to Canterlot. At every turn he gave her his blessing, but was adamant that he himself would not go. This she would not bear, and after a long argument, she threw her dress across the hotel room and stormed out. 

Another time, he was helping to focus her attention as she fired a series of fireworks. He spoke a few quiet words into her ear, and with the next set, she watched as they spun-out together in a spiral. She shrieked with joy. The memory transformed into an earlier one, where she had gotten a scrape on her leg, and he knelt down to clean it off with a rag as she wiped a tear from her eye. 
Then it was during a thunderstorm, and they were both sheltered under a tree. Trixie was just big enough to huddle under his forelimbs, and when a flash of lightning preceded a sonorous boom, she shut her eyes and shivered in his protection. 
Stepping gently through a dark bedroom, the mansion of a very wealthy pony, Wanderlust and Trixie approached a jewel box atop a dresser. As she looked over her shoulder to where the sleeping owner lay, Wanderlust used his magic to open the box. He extracted an elegant, and heavily inlaid necklace of gems and gold. But rather than be glad, he frowned and let it drop back into the box. 
While on a boat, Wanderlust leans over a railing, his face downcast to the water. Coming behind him, Trixie’s initial smile is replace by concern. She can tell he’s sad about something, but there’s much of his past he hasn’t told her about, and she assumes it’s for a good reason. So she simply walks up beside him, puts her own fore hooves over the rail. 

Trixie and Wanderlust stroll side-by-side one another, on a desert road, down a dirt path, along a paved highway, and through a forest trail. Through summer, the fall, winter, and spring they stay together, only the road ahead of them. The sun rises and falls, the moon glows and dims. The clouds fill the sky, and the stars illuminate an otherwise pitch night. On and on, there they go. 

Sitting in his seat in the present, Wanderlust stared out the window of the train. It’s a rainy night and the droplets pitter-patter against the glass. Leaning his cheek to the window, he can feel the chill of the night air whipping by. Beside him, Trixie slumbers peacefully, murmuring something every now and then. So far tonight no nightmares, no unconscious mumbles of pleading with her father. 
She can’t live like this forever, he thinks. She deserves better than this. With a final sigh, he closed his eyes. 


PONYVILLE
TODAY

Walking through the spacious halls of Twilight’s castle, Spike kept his attention in the book that he held in front of him. The cover had a silhouette of a stallion wearing a top hat and a bowtie, underneath, the title read: ‘Proper Dress for High Society’.

“Hmmm….” he murmured, taking mental note of some factoid. He flipped the page as he passed into a new room, tilting his head at a graphic. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Literally jumping at the sound of the banging at the doors, Spike let the book fall from his grip as he sped over to the door. Twilight had been upstairs for the last few hours with the door closed, going over the books that Celestia had given her a crash course in reading. 

He leapt up to reach the doorknob, and turned it as he fell back down. Rushing in, Applejack and Rarity seemed exhausted from running. 
“SPIKE!” Applejack exclaimed, “It’s an emergency, but you have to keep your voice down.” 

“What?!” The little dragon asked, putting his claw to his mouth in trepidation. “What is it?”

“It’s the whole town Spike! It’s the whole town!” 

Walking behind Spike, Rarity stooped down to pick up the book from the floor in her magic, giving it a cursory look over. 

His terror growing, Spike’s eyes grew wide, “What about the town? Is it flooded? Is it on fire? Is it [gasp] gone?” 

“Worse than that Spike.” Said Rarity standing just behind him, her voice startlingly calm. 
Just as he turned to look at her, she swung the book and clobbered him upside the head with it, eliciting a sharp grunt and knocking him out cold. 
“It’s crawling with ponies.”

Looming over his insensible form, Applejack and Rarity consumed themselves in green fire, revealing two adult Changelings in their place. One nodded to the other, and grabbed Spike in its perforated hooves, it transformed into Button Mash’s mother and carried him out through the door. For a moment it paused on the threshold, looking back to its partner, “Good luck.’

Just as the one left was pushing the front door closed, a voice rang out from the upstairs. 
“Spike, what’s all that commotion down there?”

Peeking her head over the banister of the second floor, Twilight looked down to see Spike standing in the middle of the room, flipping through a book. 
“Oh nothing Twilight, just the new book I ordered.” he said with a compressed smile. 

“Huh… you must’ve been really glad to get it, I heard you yelling all the way up here.” 

“You know me Twilight, sometimes I just can’t contain myself.” 

“Allllright then.” She cantered down the steps, a scroll bound in a red ribbon floating next to her head. 
“Before you get into your reading, I need you to send this letter to Princess Cadence for me.”

“Sure thing.” 
The faux Spike held out his claw, and took the scroll. Holding it vertical, he inhaled, and blew a wash of pale green fire over the parchment. The scroll vanished in the magical flame, turning to ash that wafted away through a window. 

Elsewhere, in a lightless chamber, the scroll reappeared out of thin air. It fell to the stone floor and bounced end-over-end before toppling over and rolling a few paces to a stop. 

It lay there a moment before a set of large eyes opened in the darkness. The orbs were a light teal, and the iris a gradient of dark teal to light green. But it was the second iris ring, of dark green that contained the pupil. The narrow slits shifted to stare down at the message, and a soft feminine chuckle of delight filled the shadows.