Of Gods and Tomes

by The Seventh Dragon

A Millennium Alone

Year 300, Celestia's Reign

Yet another foreman prostrated himself before her as Celestia toured the construction site. After the battle at her original home it had been far too damaged, and far to full of bad memories, to live in. Here at the site of the new city of Canterlot she had commissioned a new palace to be built, where she could better govern her subjects. Construction of the vast facility had been ongoing for the last two-hundred fifty years, and was only now nearing completion. Besides her home something else had also been ruined during the battle with Nightmare Moon; pony kind's attitude towards their god. Before that night no pony had ever seen a god destroy, only create. So now instead of a relationship of comfort and cooperation with her subjects she had one of worship hiding a deep seated fear. Even now, fifteen generations after the battle, the racial memory of her unleashed power kept anypony from being truly comfortable around her.

"Please, rise. Your impressive work has more than demonstrated your love for me." She had long ago given up on trying to tell them not to worship her, no words could ever counteract her actions. She turned to the soaring tower the foreman lay in front of. "Tell me, how tall will this be when it is completed?"

"This particular tower will be three-hundred thirty feet tall your majesty, and its highest point will be almost two thousand feet above the valley floor." The palace was built on a natural shelf on a mountain overlooking Canterlot, allowing for absolutely beautiful views in any direction.

"And what will this particular tower be for?" She asked. Most of the palace was actually offices and chambers for government use, with only the top of one tower for her personal use.

"Well your majesty, the lower portion is offices and such. But the top five stories are to be set aside as your secondary quarters milady."

"Ah." She said, remembering. "Yes. I had them set aside a place for Luna." The foreman flinched at the name, his hoof coming up reflexively to press against the sun pendant hanging from a chain around his neck.

"Er, yes your majesty." He gulped. "If you'll excuse me, I have some workers that need direction..."

"Yes, of course. Thank you for your time."

"You are certainly welcome your majesty." With that he scurried off and fell in with a group of laborers preparing a pallet of construction material to be raised magically to the roof. Celestia sighed, pawing at the ground with a hoof. It would take her centuries of social engineering to rid Equestrians of their fear of her sister; but hopefully she could rid them of their fear of gods in general sooner than that. Obitus was just a legend now, but then he had not been well known even before he had gone to sleep. Even as the Prince of Death he hadn't been feared before the battle with Nightmare Moon, ponies understood that death was a part of life and that he would never take a pony before their time. But now, with their fear sometimes naked in her presence, she was glad there wasn't a god of death around to worry them.

---

Year 750, Celestia's Reign

Celestia watched the students playing on the lawn, bouncing about and fooling around with their nascent magic. The idea to use a school to search for potential wielders had occurred to her two centuries ago-and had produced some promising candidates-but no mortal pony had yet harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony. She sighed softly to herself, feeling the familiar crush of frustration.

"Do you desire something, princess?" Captain of her personal guard Brightlance Blueblood asked, approaching at the sound of her sigh.

"Nothing you can give me I'm afraid, Brightlance." She turned to face him. "Why don't you join me for a bit. Take a seat."

"As you wish, princess." He sat down on the offered cushion next to her. Her people no longer feared her-finally-but even the ones she worked with every day still treated her as a monarch, much as she would love to be a little more informal. In fact, forming her personal guard had been a big step in eliminating that fear. Even though she knew that there was nothing in the world that could hurt her, having personal guards subliminally affected her people. It gave the impression that perhaps she might need protection, and that therefore she perhaps was no more than an immortal unicorn with wings. The racial memory of her battle with her sister had almost completely faded, allowing such subliminal thoughts to seep into the minds of her people.

"A very promising group this year, princess. Some very impressive power, especially at such a young age." Brightlance remarked, observing the foals at play.

Celestia studied his face in profile. A good strong stallion, and almost as large in stature as she was. Quite attractive by equine standards, in fact. She followed this train of thought with interest; would it help her people for her to have a consort? Yes, she thought, it would make her appear even more equine to have a normal pony's desires and needs. In fact that was the reason she had started eating and sleeping regularly, to be more equine and less godlike. Brightlance was a single stallion and would perform as ordered; but that wasn't the point of such an endeavor. In order for this to have the effect she wanted, they would need to have a romance.

Brightlance turned his head to look at the princess and found her already looking at him. "Yes, princess?"

"Brightlance, this may sound like an odd question, and an unusual one from me, but what do you find attractive in a mare?"

He blinked. It was odd, but his princess was not one for idle chatter. He knew she was always thinking of her people and how to help them, so perhaps this was something important, some kind of research perhaps. "Well, ah, that is unusual princess. Let me see. I tend to like mares who are strong of will, you know, no pushovers. I like a mare that works hard, that always strives to better herself."

"Interesting, Brightlance. What do you like appearance wise?"

Brightlance thought on this for a few seconds. "Hmm. Well I tend to prefer pegasi, even though I'm an earth pony. I guess it's cause my first love was a pegasi, and she used to embrace me in her wings. I know I'm a big strong pony and I'm not afraid of much, but I just felt so safe when she would wrap us together like that." He put a hoof to his chin, looking out at the foals again as he thought. "I've also always liked mares a bit on the slender side, who take the time to groom themselves nicely. I like a mare who is... ladylike, you might say, but not one who thinks she's somehow better than other ponies. And I've always found a nice long mane attractive on mares."

"Is that it?"

"Hmm, yes that's about it princess." He looked back at her and saw that she was smirking. "Must seem kinda silly to you, eh princess?"

"No, not at all Brightlance. But I do find it amusing that you just described me almost exactly."

Somehow Brightlance's face managed to turned stark white in fear and bright red in embarrassment at the same time. "Oh no Princess! I would never... I mean... I..."

The princess was grinning now."So you don't find me attractive then?"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean, of course princess, but you're the Princess! I..." Celestia leaned over and put a hoof to his lips, shushing him. She leaned even closer, and looked him deep in the eyes.

"Answer me honestly, Brightlance, I won't be angry or offended. If I were a pegasus instead of an alicorn, would you pursue me?" She withdrew her hoof from his lips so he could answer. He was obviously just embarrassed now and not scared, but still blushing bright red. He hesitated, a look of fear flitting again across his face. "Answer me, Brightlance."

He gulped. "Yes." he said very quietly.

The princess grinned at him "Good." She said and leaned back into a normal sitting position.

"Good, princess?" He responded, confusion evident on his face.

"Yes. You see it's a very lonely position I'm in; I've been realizing of late that I don't have to bear it alone anymore. Would you be interested in... being a companion for me, in addition to a guard?"

Brightlance was beginning to come around to the idea of thinking of her as more than his princess now, and the blush was starting to come down on his face. "I've honestly never thought of you... romantically... until now, princess. But aren't there better stallions for you out there? Someone more worthy than a simple guard?"

"There are none more worthy in my opinion, Brightlance. I guess I was wrong a minute ago, there is something you can give me. So how about it? Would you be interested in trying it out?"

"I'll do anything you command princess, you know that."

"I can't order you to love me, Brightlance. If you honestly like this idea, than say yes. If you don't, I won't be offended. I know that I can be very intimidating to some ponies."

Brightlance sat up straight and looked her in the eye, his voice resolute. "Yes, princess. I am honored that you consider me worthy."

"Mmmmm" She crooned, enveloping him in her wing and pulling him close. Already she felt... good. Less alone. She was amazed, emotions she hadn't felt in centuries pouring through her. She was glad she had this idea, and glad that it didn't turn out to be just another duty or subliminal message to her people. Yes, it was those things-in fact-but it certainly didn't feel that way.

"Remember how I said I felt safe in the wings of a pegasi, princess?"

"Yes?"

"Well that goes double for the wings of a goddess." Celestia smiled. She leaned down, and they shared a kiss while the foals played on outside, unaware of their bliss.

---

Year 984, Celestia's Reign

Celestia stopped for a moment in the royal garden to take in the smell of a thousand blooming roses. She was on her way to bid farewell to a pair of dragons who had enrolled their egg into her foreign exchange program, but the day was just too beautiful to pass up a moment of peace in the garden. While ponies may have considered the idea of sending an unborn infant away for school insane, for dragons it was quite a progressive move. Most dragon children were left out in the wild, and had to survive on their own for fifteen years before meeting their parents and being allowed into dragon society. These particular dragons wanted their child to grow into Draconia's first real diplomat, and there was no better way to do that than having another species raise him from birth.

Something tickled her senses, a faint tingle like she felt when mortal ponies performed magic near her. She looked around the garden, expecting to see a groundskeeper levitating a rake or performing some similar magic. Not a pony in sight. The tingling came again, a bit stronger, and this time answered by five much fainter but distinct sources. She had felt this before when exceptionally powerful unicorns had done something using vast amounts of power, but there hadn't been a unicorn like that alive for at least a century. Perhaps it was a solar flare? Her sun did occasionally emit powerful magnetic pulses that she could detect; but this wasn't quite the same. Not as... raw.

A groundskeeper did appear then, but he was an earth pony. Celestia trotted over to him. "Excuse me, have you seen anyone using magic in the garden in the past few moments?"

The groundskeeper looked surprised that she was even speaking to him, but he answered quickly. "No princess, come to think of it I haven't seen...." He was interrupted by a small explosion and a tremendous roar. Celestia turned to see an unfamiliar dragon poking its head out of a gigantic hole freshly poked in the roof of the education tower, roaring like it's life depended on it. At the same time she felt her senses roar with wild undirected magic, again answered by five other sources.

"Excuse me." She muttered to the groundskeeper, who was staring open mouthed at the dragon. Focusing her senses, she determined the largest source of the magical power was in the tower right next to the screaming dragon. She sharpened her will and teleported right next to the source, which was astonishingly a purple unicorn filly not much more than six years old. The filly was floating in midair, her eyes blazing white and her body crackling with raw power. Her magic filled the room, and had apparently transfigured all of its occupants into household decorations. Celestia directed her senses at the dragon, and realized it had been magically hatched and enlarged. The egg from those dragons she should be seeing off right now, she supposed. She stepped into the light surrounding the filly and gently put a hoof on her shoulder. The filly turned and saw her, uncomprehending fear written plainly on her face. Slowly, Celestia absorbed the magic around the filly and began reversing the transfigurations. Ponies popped back into existence, and the dragon quickly shrank back down to the size of an infant. As she absorbed the filly's magic, Celestia got a peek into her soul. It was pure, loving, and kind. As normalcy returned around her, Celestia felt a great wave of hope wash across her. After nearly a thousand years of waiting, a mortal who could wield the Elements of harmony had finally arrived.

---

Some time later, Celestia paced about her chambers. A wielder! She wanted to run and wake Obitus immediately, but she decided not to. He had asked for Luna to wake him if possible, and now it was. Oh how overjoyed he would be! Once he was awake they could all be together again. For a while, anyway. She could certainly use a rest once those two were ready to take over the throne. And she would soon no longer have to venture into his extinct volcano and clean out the creatures his dreams had started to manifest into. At least every ten years out of the last hundred she had to make the trip, lest the things get loose and terrorize the countryside.

No, she wasn't out of the woods yet. The wielder still had to be trained, and bearers had to be found. That was something she had discovered earlier with potential bearers, that a single mortal's love simply wasn't enough to harness the Elements. The power of the wielder had to be focused and attenuated by the love of five others, each representing a different aspect of love. Wait, five others... She focused her senses again, feeling the ghost of the filly's magic still in the air. She strained, and the other five sources could still be felt. None were too far away, and they all felt similar. This was it, she decided, fate had finally sent her a wielder and five bearers. She sat down on her bed and began thinking furiously, planning out the next fifteen years in minute detail. Yes, the time was near, and after ten centuries another decade-and-a-half were a small price to pay for her to guarantee success.