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14

(14)

One Week After the Death of Ray Sunshine

A new morning flooded into the halls of the quiet castle corridors. The shining morning didn’t last long however and it began to rain, just as the weather pegasi planned. Gray billows of rolling clouds swept across the sky, blotting out the once gorgeous day. The patchy cumuli clouds brought with them a downpour of fat raindrops which pelted the side of the castle and all across Canterlot as well. Besides the splatter of rain along the windows, Zack thought it was a tad too quiet that morning as he wheeled down the rugged hallways. Zack was still feeling the effects of his surgery and was in a state of lingering pain. Princess Celestia had increased the size of a wheelchair to fit Zack’s needs after his surgery. He could still walk fine, but staying on his feet for too long tired him out drastically, so wheelchair bound he was.

Zack was used to the wheelchair by now, he was so adept to it that he was popping wheelies down the hallways in no time. He was so good at doing this that he could stay on the two back wheels for a long while before going back down on all fours; it was a change in entertainment he really enjoyed. His workout routines had been postponed of course, and he found himself in the library more often.

As he passed other castle workers, maids and guards, they would give him a friendly smile seeing the still alien creature to them wheel down the hallways. They were use to Zack by now, still a little uncomfortable whenever he would approach them to ask something, but were gradually accepting towards the creature into their daily work lives. Whenever Valiant Steed would show up, who was wheelchair bound as well, they would sit out in the garden and talk, which Valiant liked to do. Zack never understood why Valiant was so talkative around him and not to anyone else, he was rather silent around other ponies unless spoken to. From what Valiant had told Zack about his mysterious foalhood, he was always the quiet one and kept his thoughts to himself, but he found it hard to believe whenever the pegasus would start rambling around him. He could strike up a conversation to just about anything he could think of off the top of his head; Zack didn’t mind this much, but sitting there for hours on end bored him eventually, no matter what they talked about.

A day came when Zack had gotten up early and decided to venture into the most unexplored parts of the library; that day was the rainy day. Believe it or not, Zack had hardly ventured into the deepest recesses of the castle; the ivory fortress was still a mysterious place for the human who knew secrets were still hidden within the chambers, but didn’t care too much to look for them. Zack trundled into the library with the keys Celestia gave him in his grasp. He thought that maybe she had forgotten that she gave him those keys and maybe she didn’t want him snooping around the locked areas of the library. It didn’t matter anymore to him, Zack had faced three challenging events so far in Equestria that not many ponies would dare stand up to; he showed no fear to what mysteries lie dormant in the darkest areas of the citadel.

He rolled up to a locked wing of the library, one of many he wheeled past. An iron gate blocked the entrance and two royal guards were stationed next to it. Zack was suspicious to what was behind that gate and his curiosity got the best of them as he began his approach to unlock it.

One of the unicorn guards called out sternly, “Sir, I don’t believe you have permission to enter this wing of the library.” Zack made zero eye contact as he jingled a ring of keys in front of the guard.

He replied, “I believe I do.” A roll of deep thunder echoed in the distance as the rain continued to slosh the castle windows. Zack searched through the key ring until he found a few that seemed to fit into the key hole in front of him.

While trying different keys in the key hole to see which one would unlock it, he asked, “So, what’s in this wing?” The guards looked at each other with unexpressed emotion.

One turned and responded, “This is the Starswirl the Bearded Wing.” He took a breath and changed his tone slightly to an unassured voice, “We... don’t know much about him. All we know is that he has invented many unicorn spells we use today in our culture and that he was a great scholar.”

Zack finally found the key that opened the gate and it loudly creaked open. The metal hinges were old and the sound of the slightly rusted hinges rubbing against the metal bars filled the library with a sharp noise. He turned his head towards the guard and said, “Have you ever been inside this wing?”

“Only the Princesses have been inside, sir.”

“The ‘Princesses’?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It is a very, very old wing of the library, and few have trotted its grounds.”

Zack felt a bit nerved after hearing that. Adventure still pumped through his veins though, but for some reason, he felt more unsteady about this than entering Om’s cave. Zack remained silent as he nodded to the guard and the guard acknowledged his gesture.

The royal unicorn guard spoke one last time, “If I were you, I wouldn’t want to be caught in this wing by Princess Celestia. She keeps it locked for reasons we do not know or care to ask. Do your business and go.” The two royal guards left their stations, leaving Zack on his own. He wheeled into the library wing with caution.

__________

He knew there wasn’t going to be any evil things that were going to pop out at him, but just the feeling of how long it had been since someone was in here spooked Zack. As he proceeded further into the dimly lit library, he noticed that the room had not been cleaned or touched by any outside forces. The wing was abnormally quiet which made the place far more spine-chilling when the only noise Zack could hear was his own breath, the squeaks from the wheelchair and the rain showering the old windows. Cobwebs in between the bookcases and dust thickened the chamber, so thick that Zack left wheelchair tracks in the dust on the floor. There were stained glass windows in the room, but they were so thick with dust that hardly any light could penetrate the dingy library chamber. The wing wasn’t large in size, but the bookcases towered above him; even if he was to stand up, it would still make him feel puny when next to the ancient and thick bookcases.

Zack took a turn down a random passage way of scrolls and was wondering what most of these were about. He picked a random one and unrolled it gently; dust tumbled out in a small cloud and made Zack cough. He unraveled the scroll and saw that it was a guide to performing a certain conjuration spell. It described conjuring a bouquet of flowers in one’s hooves, at the bottom of the scroll it credited ‘Starswirl’ for creating the spell. Zack placed the scroll back and wheeled himself further down the rows.

Near the end of the bookcases, he found a part of the library wing that was filled with actual books and not scrolls. He stopped and began examining the books to try and find anything interesting to read. Most of the book spines were blank and whenever he pulled one out, the covers and back were bare too. Each had a slightly different colored leather, and most he opened had blank pages in them. It was very odd to Zack and he was just about ready to leave, seeing that nothing interesting was in here after all. As he placed his hands on the tops of the wheelchair wheels, he looked up and saw another large tome sticking slightly out of the top of the book case. Zack was intrigued by this oddly placed book and was determined to take a look inside it, even if it was like the other ancient books he had looked through.

He stood up for a quick second, grabbed the hardcover book and sat back down in his wheelchair. Zack then noticed some writing on the front of the tome and smiled. Finally he had discovered a book in this wing with words on it. He wheeled himself over to one of the dust covered windows and rubbed the smut off of the glass to let a little more light in. He still couldn’t tell what was on the cover of the book, dust of course was hiding its title. Zack wiped his hand over the book and the title became clear. It read in cryptic, gold lettering: “Immortals”.

Zack opened the large book to the first page thinking that this ancient volume probably hadn’t been opened in centuries. He took great care of not trying to damage the old book as he finally opened it fully. The texture of the pages in the book felt uncommon from regular paper. The first page was nearly blank until he saw that in the center was small, dried ink lettering. He squinted his eyes to focus on the tiny and very well written handwriting and read, “How does One live being Immortal?” Zack thought that the capitalization in the word, ‘One’ was very peculiar. He turned the page and in the center read once more, “You don’t.” Zack thought that that was very strange and looked over at the next page and it read the same thing. Zack began turning pages and realizing each page had the same two words on it written over and over again through hundreds of pages. He noticed that after a while of skimming through the pages, he realized that the two words written were becoming larger and more violently written. Some ink spots were seen splattered next to the words in an increase in sloppiness and more violent pen strokes. When Zack finally reached one of the last few pages of the book, he became aware that something else was written in the author’s previous and well maintained pen strokes seen in the beginning of the book. It was small, like the first sentence in the book; Zack squinted his eyes once more and read, “I am the Cartographer of The Universe. And You are His servant.”

Zack turned the page and saw that the rest of the pages were cut out in a rectangular shape and inside the box of cut pages was a small, leather book. Zack reached for it and took it out of the tome. He looked through the rest of the cut pages and found no more words. He placed ‘Immortals’ back in its nook in the bookcase and held on to the smaller, paperback book. Zack looked and examined the leather book further which appeared more like a journal. He removed the small, leather strap around the rugged, bound book which held it closed. He opened it gently and on the first page it read, “I know who you are.” Below that, it read, “–Property of a Lover–”.

Zack closed the journal after that first sentence in the book brought chills down his spine. He thought to himself that maybe he shouldn’t read this in here. Zack began to make his way out of the library wing, trying to conceal the journal from the guards and anyone else. He was planning to read it tonight in solitude.

__________

That night when Zack was alone and when everyone was asleep inside the castle, Zack made his way to his temporary room on the ground floor of the castle. Since he couldn’t bring his wheelchair up the Western Tower to his old room, Celestia made him a temporary room that was wheelchair accessible to stay in while he recovers. Zack lay on his bed in his nightly robes, staring up at the ceiling of the makeshift bedroom. He listened to the clopping sounds of the guards passing by his room and patrolling the darkened hallways of the castle, as usual.

After sometime, Zack reached underneath his pillow and pulled out the journal. He unwrapped the leather strip once more and opened it. He skipped the first page he had read in the creepy library wing that morning and began reading on the next page. He noticed that the rest of the journal was written in Olrugena and had to switch his thought process to read the old dialect. He finally found his gift Om gave him useful and continued reading.

Dear, whomever you are reading this,

I am writing this to tell you the truth. The history books will describe me as a different person, but there is something you need to know about me and what happened in this castle. Hopefully someone will find this soon and recount my life to others in a truthful light. I hope someone will tell my side of the story. I will tell you all the events that lead up to where I am going before I enter the Mirror.

Zack turned the page and continued reading.

I grew up in the country side, a unicorn among earth ponies. I was only a colt when Equestria was discovered and the three races of ponies lived in harmony. For the longest time, there was no one ruler, three ruled over us, a unicorn, a pegasus and an earth pony. The same three leaders who ruled over their races in the past, but this era brings new light, and with new light brings new knowledge.

I was a keen and expeditious learner of magic and before I even had my cutie mark I could surpass some of the best unicorns I knew at the time. Once my cutie mark came, I was admitted into The Advance Unicorn Society of Magic. I was the youngest by thirty-three years, but still had hardly any trouble with learning even the most advance spells. I became bored of this routine and began experimenting with new thought patterns of thinking which allowed me to focus my magic on higher plains than others. I discovered many spells which other unicorns thought were impossible, such as teleporting spells and conjuration. I was famed by few and shunned by most, they didn’t accept that a young pony, barely out of his colt years, could surpass their diligent talents they had been working on for far longer.

The Unicorn Council applauded me for the advancements I made, but were terrified of my other magics I showed them. I created spells to raise the dead, elixirs to make one a mythical alicorn for a temporary amount of time and suchlike. They burned my scrolls which taught these supposed evil things I wrote and labeled my tainted art, 'Darkcraft'. They said no unicorn must know about this and if I perform any of these again, they will banish me from the society and remove my horn.

If you, the reader do not know, removing a unicorn’s horn is the most excruciating torture one can do to a pony. The horn is directly connected to the brain and can have severe repercussions. Using magic after such an event will immediately wipe the brain clean and make oneself mindless. Even having a life afterwards without magic will cause frequent hallucinations, multiple personalities, migraines, insomnia, depression, and other torturous ailments. There is no use to living as a unicorn without a horn, so I stayed faithful to what the council asked so that I might not endure their barbaric punishments. This burned me to the core, how could this simplistic council stifle MY creations. Of course I wasn’t going to use half of those now labeled 'Darkcraft' spells on others. I had no intentions on harming any pony, no matter how mad I was at the council.

The years went on and I superseded everyone in the Society. I could perform every spell known to Ponydom at whim. I hardly had to concentrate anymore, using the most advance magics known was like breathing to me. I was flawless in my talents and no longer did my kind cheer for me, but they were now terrified of my power. I could easily lift the largest boulders and toss them beyond eyesight, I could teleport instantaneously without even making my horn glow. Ponies have told me whenever I teleport I don’t even make a sound and in a blink of an eye I am upon the top of the largest mountain in sight.

My mastery began to scare me and I decided not use magic for a very long time. It took many months to finally break it, but my common magic was ceased and I acted upon earth pony standards–life was good. Even when doing this, the society came back to me and elected me as the new leader of the Unicorns. I accepted and lived a comfortable life still, only using magic whenever I absolutely needed to. My horn no longer glowed its yellow aura, in time I realized I wasn’t even concentrating magic through my horn anymore, but was doing it all in my mind. Thoughts and using magic were indifferent to me, nearly anything I thought I could do through magic; this terrified me even more and for sometime was even thinking about cutting my horn off. But everything changed when I experienced the greatest moment of my young life.

I was a young colt then, a very wise, very mischievous and very curious unicorn. When the time came and I realized my magic was too great, I stopped learning magic all together and just lived life as is. In doing so, I left Canterlot and proceeded beyond the edges of the pony maps. During this time, my people were facing diplomatic issues and the three race leaders could no longer rule as one as they use to. The Windigos were approaching again. I knew I could take care of myself and was only worried about harming others. I wanted to be like everyone else and I felt so different than any other pony. I was sad for a very long time as I ventured through the unknown world.

I first made my way northwest, traveling between the frosty mountain valleys and making my way into the Griffon Kingdoms who greeted me with spears raised. I promptly left after a short scuffle and made my way northeast, then south along the coast lines of Equestria. On the coast lines I met the Sea Ponies whom I taught about the Eastern Kingdom where Ponies had hooves like mine. I also taught some of them magic, but they were not very good at it and could not focus properly. After a few days of gathering supplies from them, I left with a warm goodbye and came to a small outpost of earth ponies near the tip of Equestria.

At Equestria’s tip was an ancient bridge built by most likely our ancestors. A pony told me that no one could cross this bridge, because eventually it was destroyed by the Sea Serpents. On the other side was a vast new land of ancient creatures and with that in mind I desperately wanted to go there. I was lead by a band of ponies from the outpost onto the bridge and to where it had been destroyed at. I focused my magic for the first time in a long while and blindly teleported as far as I could.

I ended up on an island the locals of the small outpost called, “Gallopfrey”. On the island I was kindly met by the horse race, the Houyhnhnms. These ponies were giants compared to regular ponies and they worshipped two gods called Sleipnir and Re’em. After a day of showering me in hospitality, they took me by boat to the other ends of the bridge and I thanked them for their cordiality towards me.

I made my way further south and ended up in the land of Cervidas where I met the Deer folk who possessed strange magics I had never seen before. Their leader was an immortal white stag whom towered over the rest. Their capital, Concordia was a sight to see. A grand tree whose roots descended into the deepest areas of the earth was situated in the middle of their city in the trees. The grand tree, which was named ‘The World Tree’, was far larger than Equestria’s highest mountain. They taught me about the Foreseer and their old gods along with the Star Maidens whom they did not worship, but acknowledged as higher beings. Their lands have never seen war and they are a race of peace, I felt as if I did not belong there knowing that ponies are not such peaceful creatures. I stayed in this land for a few months, studying their magic and teaching my magic. After a while, I decided to press onward and see where fate took me.

I made my way southwest through the Emberbrace Mountains where I came across the peaceful Llama tribes who taught of being one with nature. After a friendly visit, I traveled onward until I reached the Muudi Dessert where I came across an assortment of races. I met the Camel race whom feared and worshipped another race, the Sphinxes. I asked where I could find them and they lead me to where their lands were. I talked with the cooperative Sphinxes and they agreed to let the Camel race free of slavery. I still cannot believe how simple and effective I was.

I traveled further south into the Pride Savannas where I met the Zebras whom taught me about their medicines and herbs. They told me if I do not turn back home and continue to travel east then I will reach the home of the Dragons and beyond them, the Firelight Woods, which held secrets from the most ancient of days. Being my curious self, I did not heed their word and sought after the Firelight Woods. I stealthily snuck through the land of the Dragons using illusion spells to hide myself and finally made it into the mystical woods. This is where I met them, the ones the Deer folk called, 'The Star Maidens'.

As I was walking in the arcane woods in the cool of the day, two appeared before me, two great and very much real alicorns. I use to believe that they were myths of old, but I was deceived once more by my people through their tainted histories. They shown brightly in the greenery of the forest, one of glaring white light and the other of blazing dark light. I humbled myself before them and told them of my journey. I could not look upon them for their beauty tempted and blinded me greater than the light they radiated. They showed me their purpose on this planet and astounded me with their magical capabilities to raise the sun and moon. I told them of the diplomatic struggles my people were facing and asked if they could intervene. I told them how kin they were to my race and how maybe they could lead them into a brighter future. They themselves were searching for a purpose to leave these woods, but no signs showed their fates beyond the forest’s edge. They foresaw me as the sign to leave their temporary home in Firelight Woods and agreed to lead my people. So with our combined magics, we teleported ourselves as one being and I traveled a distance I could not perform again. All of our magic was drained as we teleported to the center of Canterlot, tens of thousands of miles away from Firelight Woods. Over deserts, mountains, forests, seas and finally back in Equestria. A crowd gathered as we stood to our hooves. Here I showed them of their sub-race and my people accepted them as royalty and divine. The two sisters, Celestia and Luna ruled fairly over the lands and established order among chaos.

In these times, I was placed in royalty as well for finding the lost gods of the ponies. My word was under their’s and I was treated highly among my people from then on. The ponies of all races decided to begin worshiping the two sisters, but the regal ones pleaded not to, they said that they were not gods and to treat them as any other. My people did so, but still treated them with the utmost royalty; they were happy for their new and fair leaders, but terrified of their sheer magical power like my own.

Me, the regal sisters and the unicorns of Canterlot built up a grand city together, making Canterlot the capital of the Equestria countryside and no longer a quaint village atop a mountain. We built the royal ivory towers of Canterlot Castle, it was significant and one of my greatest creations. We placed as many rooms in the castle as we could, some with no use and some filled with secrets I cannot write in here. After several months of constant building, we finally finished the capital city and we invited the entire town population to a royal dance, a time of merriment we named, 'The Grand Galloping Gala'. We had a magnificent party and the celebration was so stupendous that I suggested we hold one every year and in response, did so.

These two alicorns I could relate to, their powers were similar to mine in a sense, which made me love them, especially Celestia. A year had past and I had fallen deep in love with the eldest. I had a very difficult time telling her, with each passing day, my love grew greater for her. I did not think I would fall so madly in love with this mare of legend and that she would not show signs of affection back. I desperately needed her and...

Zack fell asleep after reading for so long. The journal lay open on his chest as he drifted off into vivid dreams.

__________

Zack woke up rather late, but no one needed him and he was on no routine or schedule since he was still recovering from his injuries. No one bothered to enter his room or disturb him, which made Zack thankful that no one spotted the journal. Zack rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, feeling groggy and finding an annoying kink in his neck. He took in a breath of fresh air and continued reading close to where he left off; but as soon as he did, Celestia entered the door which made Zack nearly have a heart attack.

Celestia looked elsewhere, not seeing the journal and quickly replied, “Oh! Sorry, I’ll give you a minute!”

Zack believed that she didn’t see the journal and quickly hid it underneath the mattress. He swiftly got dressed and opened the door to see Celestia waiting patiently outside his bedroom.

“Good morning to you too, Princess,” said Zack in a slightly annoyed tone.

“I’m sorry about that, but I wanted to show you something... something you need to see.”

Zack walked out of the room and tried to gain strength back in his legs. He thought that he first couldn’t do it and would have to turn around to get his wheelchair, but surprisingly was able to hold himself up most of the way with the occasional hand on the wall to balance himself.

They walked down the hallway as the white alicorn continued, “Remember when I told you I had magical artifacts, but not a sword called 'The Prevailer'?”

“Yes," he answered, popping the kink out of his neck.

“Well I would like to show you them. I think it’s time.”

Zack tried to keep his thoughts clear of what he read in that journal about Celestia so far; even though he highly doubted it, he thought that maybe she could read his mind. He thought that she could use her unicorn powers most likely to perform such an invading spell, though she showed no signs of magic emanating from her horn–he was at a cautious ease. They proceeded towards two large metal doorways which the Princess opened magically. Outside was grey like yesterday, but instead of a heavy rain, it was only a dreary and wet mist. Celestia performed some spell while continuing over the ivory stoned bridge in front of them, which acted like a magical umbrella over the two. Another roll of distant thunder echoed off of the mountains and around them, like the stirring of a magnificent beast from a fable. Zack looked up and could see the droplets of water stopping just above his head; the umbrella was like a translucent, yellow veil which floated above them much like a magic carpet would. They air was heavy with the smell of rain and Zack’s skin felt good as he took in a whiff of the cool air around him.

They finally crossed the ivory bridge high above the castle grounds where they reached a temple Zack had only been in once. Celestia opened the doors to the inside and it was just like he remembered it. It was tiled with a red rug in the center leading further into the linear palace. It was much like the throne room itself with high ceilings and stain glass windows on all sides with similar stained glass artwork he had seen before in the castle. It was nothing really new and when he had ventured in there before during the first week he was in the castle, he found this part of the citadel unimportant and proceeded to journey elsewhere. They walked to the ends of the temple where Zack saw something in the wall he had never noticed before. It appeared to be a small round hole in the center of the far wall in front of them. The wall was white and mostly blank with carvings of generic alicorns in the stone, it was easy to look over the small opening and was easily undetectable to the wandering eye. Celestia stepped forward and motioned her wing outwards, telling Zack to stop, which he did.

She bent her head down and placed her long unicorn horn into the opening of the wall, which emitted a golden, magic pulse. The carvings lit sapphire blue on both sides of the wall and the light showed the outlines of a once invisible door that could now be seen. She pulled out and stepped back, looking over the large, shut gateway. The light crept up the walls and opened the unforeseen, thick marble and metal doors wide. Inside the hidden sanctuary revealed a large circular room that was lit only by the glow of Celestia’s horn. She shot a ball of light in the center of the room which hung like a giant light bulb. The room was clear and visible now as Zack and the Princess stepped in. It was much colder in the room than outside and all the sounds of the rain soon faded as the doors behind them closed, sealing them in. The room was very vacant and vast, large pillars of ancient and white marble held up the circular room. Zack was in awe at the great craftsmanship of the hidden room which supposedly held the magical artifacts.

Zack turned to see what had happened, but came to realize that he was safe with Celestia. As they continued, she stopped and in the center of the sanctum, she used her magic once more to rise up different stone pedestals around them. Inside each of the tops of the white stoned foundations were certain strange items. Zack looked over into one and pulled out a lantern of sorts. It had an enveloping and wrapping metal case around it and was made of onyx and black gem stones.

Celestia turned towards Zack and commented, “Ah, it appears you’ve found, ‘The Vessel of Millennia’. This artifact allows any flame lit inside of it to never extinguish and any object placed inside will never die or be affected by time. Time is suspended inside of the lantern and nothing can harm it until the person who placed the object inside takes it out or the person who lit the flame blows it out. Maybe it might come in handy for you someday.”

Zack didn’t reply to what she said; after looking it over and feeling the lantern and its curves, he placed it back inside the stone pedestal and went on to another one.

Celestia lifted two pairs of small, gold plated sandals of some sort. They had wild and bent metals conformed all around it and it looked razor sharp. They seemed to also look as if they would only fit a pony.

“Here,” Celestia hovered them over for Zack to hold. He hesitated at first and wondered if these shoes would cut him from being so sharp looking, but took the sandals anyways. Once he held the sandals, to his surprise they changed shape and morphed together into just one pair of shoes that would fit his large feet. Zack realized how light they were, almost as if they had no weight at all to them. Holding them in his hands, he let them go and they floated there in the air in front of him as if there was no gravity at all.

“Wow,” was the only thing Zack could say as he smiled and grabbed them in midair again.

“These are, ‘The Ethereal Sabatons’. They grant the wearer the ability to run and jump twice as fast and higher, you can fall from any distance and not injure yourself if you land on your hooves, or in this case, feet. You fall slower and gravity effects you like a feather, but through your own will power can you choose to fall or float at any rate. You can walk on clouds, snow, and water for short periods of time. If you stop however, you will begin to slowly sink. Only the wielder of the boots can remove them.”

“How do you know these things,” Zack interrupted.

“Over time I have done my research far beyond... and below Equestria.”

She hovered the sabatons from his hands and placed them back into their stone holders. She levitated another artifact in front of Zack which at first shocked him from its appearance. It looked like a humanoid skull almost, but extremely deformed and elongated. It was made out of bones and thick, black cloth which gave it a very evil and creepy look. Its empty, black eyes pierced Zack with dread.

Celestia cleared her throat and before saying anything to Zack, she stared deeply into the artifact. She forcefully broke her concentration from the evil object, as if it had some sort of pull on her. She finally said, “This mask is named, ‘The Thief of the Night’. An artifact I have no history on, but judging by its looks, it appears to have been the creation from someone malevolent. I do know of its powers and know of this only because I have used it in the past. It almost claimed my life... but that’s another story.”

She held it further away from her and continued, “When worn, others perceive you as another pony, thing, or whatever they think is a generic version of their own race; your identity is always hidden whenever you wear it and you are always given a different identity when you wear it. However, the more often you use it, the more you desire to wear it. This desire becomes an addiction and soon you will eventually lose yourself and forget even your own real identity. Not all magical artifacts were made with good intentions.”

She slowly placed the mask back where it was located and finally moved on to six round stones placed inside a slightly larger pedestal which seemed to look different than the others. It appeared as if it was the most significant of stone chests. Celestia held up all six of the stone spheres magically which had different carvings on each one.

“And finally, these, believe me or not, are 'The Elements of Harmony'. Inside each stone is a piece of attire which can only be broken by the physical forms of the Elements. I am awaiting that day when these stone prisons are broken and the six are ready for the world and will fulfill their destiny. The powers of the Elements together are unknown even to I, so I have no idea how the physical Element bearers will use them.”

Zack was relatively quiet the entire time when the alicorn showed off her collection of magical artifacts. She placed the six stones back and before she could magically seal away the stone pedestals again which held the artifacts, Zack asked, “Are those all of the magical artifacts?”

“No, there are more out there. As you know, the magic sword, the Prevailer Om told you about is one as well. Even I do not know how many artifacts there are in this vast world... I’ve even had one stolen from me years ago... almost one-thousand years ago. I don’t know who did it and where it is today, but they ever so quietly snuck into the castle and stole the mirror.”

“The mirror?”

“'The Mirror of Death' as it is called in our language. The mirror is a gateway to a dream realm where you can do, make or become anyone or anything you want. Time eludes you inside the mirror realm, therefore you are immortal as long as you stay inside the mirror. That is all I know about it.” She turned her head away from Zack and gave a look as if she regretted what she said and her words harmed herself. Zack didn’t know what she was thinking and looked away in confusion, listening to the silence of the dark sanctuary.

She turned back towards Zack and inclined, “I brought you here not only to show you these magical artifacts, but to let you have one and maybe in the future have access to all of them. But if there is ever an emergency,” she stopped and hovered the Ethereal Sabatons over to Zack who held his hands out to hold them. She continued, “Please take these and use them to escape or aid whomever.”

Zack nodded in response and bent over to place them on his feet. He took off his poorly made shoes Rarity made him and as soon as he did, the sabaton’s metal encasing unwrapped itself into metal strips and enfolded Zack’s bare feet magically. They morphed themselves back into their original shape once laced around Zack’s feet. They felt like they weren’t even on his feet and that he was still walking barefoot, but the pads below his feet and toes felt protected and much more tougher. He lightly hopped once to see how far he would float up and surprising jumped about twelve feet high with very little effort. He forgot that he had the will to float down and what seemed to be a hard fall from a dozen feet felt just like a step when his toes touched the ground again.

He looked back up at Celestia and grinned. He replied, “Thank you very much, I will put these to good use.”

__________

Zack spent the rest of the day getting use to his legs again and with the help of the Ethereal Sabatons, he felt no more pain when walking and was getting use to his new gravitational physics and speed. That night, he had almost went to sleep soundly until he had remembered the journal from a wandering thought. He sat up and lit an oil lamp next to his bed. He reached under the mattress and pulled out the small, leather bound book. He skimmed through the pages until he found where he had left off.

...I did not think I would fall so madly in love with this mare of legend and that she would not show signs of affection back. I desperately needed her and finally told her my feelings one night. I had never had a more gut-wrenching and nervous feeling in my life, no danger or monster I had confronted in my previous travels were more terrifying than this one moment. She gave me a sparse look and hesitated, my mind was racing, but she turned back to me, looked into my eyes and said that she had felt the same for me. My heart raced with joy as we embraced each other with smiles on our faces, from then on everyone knew we were a couple.

Over the course of a very happy year, I asked her hoof in marriage. She said ‘yes’ and I felt like the happiest colt in the world. The royal wedding was held only a month away and the entire city and new neighboring cities gathered to see our wedding. I had completely overlooked the hierarchy standards and soon realized that I was the King of Equestria after I kissed my beautiful new bride. Marrying her was my greatest accomplishment in life.

Zack had to stop reading to soak all of this information in. He couldn’t believe Celestia never told him about this stallion or what had happened to him. He kept reading:

We soon tried to have children of our own, but to our misfortune, as the Deer folk would say, the Foreseer frowned upon us. I’m not sure why we couldn’t bare foals of our own, maybe because we were of different races, or that she was an alicorn and I wasn’t. Either way, I was very torn up about this. I had to cope with my wife’s sadness for many moons, but we still were happy and I found a perfect way to ease my wife’s pain after so long.

I sought out the greatest unicorns in Equestria and we together devoted an entire wing of the castle to create 'Celestia’s Magic School of the Gifted'. Here we taught many unicorn colts and fillies about the art of magic and I once again became a teacher. Oh, me and Celestia loved the children and they loved us. I spent many years of my life teaching ponies there and even so much as teaching my old student’s foals. I was eventually named by the children, 'Starswirl the Bearded' and accepted that name. After so many years of new spells and incantations I created, for my birthday, my dear sweet wife and her lovely sister created a section of the Royal Canterlot Library just for me.

However, things in my life turned for the worst with a sudden realization I had so easily looked over. While my wife was immortal and retained her youthful age, I grew older, weaker and more frail. I couldn’t believe I had so easily been deluded by my mad love that I oversaw something as great as this. I soon asked my wife why she didn’t tell me and she told me that I thought I knew. That she hesitated in response to tell me her feelings because eventually I would be harmed by them. She truly loved me, but didn’t wish to make me sad, so she gave me a happy life. But now that I am much older and in a few decades will most likely be deceased, I began to realize how much of a fool I was. I didn’t blame her, she was just trying to do the right thing, although for the next few years, I would madly search for an answer to immortality so I could live with my wife for eternity.

I sought and tried to find a way around death, but over years of looking through countless spells, creating pointless magical remedies and even delving so deep as going back to my labeled, ‘Darkcraft’ that I could not find anything. No time spell or everlasting potion could fulfill my wishes. So I sought him, the one my wife told me who knew all the answers of the Universe, Om the Great Dragon Spirit. I traveled back to the land known as 'The Fringe' which I had snuck through before on my way to the Firelight Woods. There I confronted him, the all knowing dragon. I begged for an answer to immortality and he replied that it was a curse no living thing should suffer through and denied my queries. I was very much upset by this and began my journey back to Equestria.

One night while staying in a seaside cave between Cervadas and the broken bridge which once connected Equestria and Cervadas, I stumbled upon a very strange temple. As I lurked deeper into the ruins of this once great underground palace, I found these strange items: a mask of bone and cloth, two pairs of golden sandals, a lantern of twisted gems and a gleaming sword of white with runes.

Zack’s eye’s widened when he put the two thoughts together. The ‘gleaming sword of white with runes’ matches the same description of 'The Prevailer'. He attentively kept reading:

But I did find something else, something that would change my fate forever. I discovered a grand mirror which stood like a portal to another realm. As I approached it, I felt a strange magic, as if I was pulled towards the mirror and frozen in its shining luster. I looked into my reflection and saw me with my wife. I was young, I was happy, I knew in this reflection that I was immortal. I soon realized that the mirror was not only a peering glass into one’s desires, but a gateway to another world itself. It was more of a veil than an object of stone and as I stepped into this dream realm, all of my wishes came true, but only inside of the realm. I stepped out and used a shrinking spell to place the items in my saddle bag. I teleported as far as I could, over and over again over vast landscapes to make it as fast as I could to Equestria.

As soon as I reached home, I told my wife and her sister about the objects I found. They were skeptical and said I that these items were not meant for ponies like us. That I should not be consuming myself with these ancient and mysterious magics.

I am sitting here in my chambers, alone with the mirror in front of me. I have hid only the most powerful magic artifact away for nopony to ever find. I hid it in a tomb I created in the empty and forest-laden valley below Canterlot. The rest my wife and her sister hid was in a secret location in the castle. She knows not of the properties of the mirror yet and hopefully never will. I will enter the dream realm where I will stay until I create an elixir for immortality. There in the dream realm I will have unlimited resources and limitless time to figure out a solution. I will hide this journal deep in the library so that maybe my wife will see it soon and hopefully one day visit me again so that I may not lose touch with reality. I do not wish for every one of my subjects to know of their king’s disappearance immediately and cause panic, so I will hide it in my wing of the library.

If no finds this in time, I have concluded that the longer I stay inside in the timeless mirror realm, stepping out will only speed up the effects of time on my body and kill me. So if I do not make it out in time, my body will be useless and I will remain trapped in the mirror realm forever. I will also block off the entrance for now with a magical barrier spell that I created and only know, so that no one will find me for a long time. My wife should be able to find a way around if she ever comes across it. I wish there was another way. I just wish to live with my lover forever and to never break her heart. I am going now. To whomever finds this, tell my sweet Celestia I love her with all of my heart.

Zack turned the page and found that the remaining sheets were blank and torn; that was it, the journal was complete and Zack sat in bed astonished as to what he had learned. He had to tell Celestia about this, but didn’t want to send her into a panic attack this late at night. He blew out the oil lamp and tried to sleep. His mind wouldn’t allow him to dream with so many epiphanies about what he had just learned. So many questions Zack had were answered, but new ones arose as well.

__________

Morning came soon for Zack as he sat eagerly at the long dining table with his fourth cup of coffee already drank. He tapped his foot nervously as he tried to keep his eyes open from a lack of sleep. A chef mare came back into the dining hall with another pot of coffee and sugar ready for Zack.

Zack saw her out of the corner of his eyes and with unforeseen energy, accidentally yelled, “No!” The mare stopped in her tracks and was a little scared from Zack’s sudden outburst.

“I-I mean, no more coffee, please...” She slowly back-trotted out of the room and left quietly.

The morning was bright and cloudless so far. The sun flooded through the windows and draped the insides of the castle with warmth. The birds were chirping happily in the Royal Gardens and it was looking to be a beautiful day in Equestria; but Zack knew what he had to share with the Princess would make the day much more depressing. He sat quietly and alone with the journal in his hand and his foot tapping from an excess of energy, waiting for Celestia to show up any minute now. Celestia finally entered the dining room with a look of surprise on her face.

She smiled and remarked, “Well I’m glad to see you’re up in about e–”

“You need to read this,” Zack accidentally proclaimed once more as he shot up from his chair. “I-I mean, I found this... and I think you should sit down and read it.”

Celestia and Zack went to her personal bedroom and read the journal in privacy. Zack watched her facial expressions to see if there was any change, but she remained calm and attentive. After about twenty minutes, she read the whole journal and closed it shut magically. She bent her head down and gave a dismal look at the floor, lost in thought. Zack had the impression that she was going to cry from reading the journal, he thought it would be extremely depressing from her point of view.

Zack would have never abruptly asked this if he wasn’t trying to fight drowsiness with coffee, but said, “I thought you would be a little more... you know... upset from this.”

“This explains everything,” she sadly confirmed. She turned towards Zack, “But I’m not sad, no. I’ve cried too much and lost too much sleep over his disappearance nearly one-thousand years ago. I’ve cried enough tears for him... why didn’t he just tell me.”

“Because,” Zack consoled eagerly, already knowing the answer in advance due to his racing mind, “He thought you would stop him and tried to figure out a solution on his own. So really, it’s everyone’s fault in a sense. You could have–”

“I tried looking for him,” She shouted using her Royal Canterlot voice. “He just vanished, just like that! We couldn’t find him... we... I thought he was dead. I thought he was lost beyond the edges of the map... That fool was always out adventuring, always looking. We held an empty casket funeral for Starswirl, I did not attend it.”

Zack’s eye’s broadened with a new thought, “But we can save him, right? He’s still alive in the Mirror of Death!”

“No. He is but a spirit in the realm now. Over years of trying to figure out what that mirror was he had, we soon learned the truth. We didn’t think that he would be in there, and we couldn’t even access it, we thought the artifact was disenchanted. But since reading this journal, he trapped himself inside it. Even if I knew where the mirror was, I could not save him. I wish never to see him again.”

In that moment, she teleported out of the room in a golden ball of bright light, scattering royal documents and other parchments everywhere. Zack felt he had done wrong by uncovering the past, especially one he had no business in. He just prayed that Starswirl would remain inside the mirror, wherever the magical artifact was.

Author's Note:

Submitted September 2012 - Revised December 12th 2013

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