• Published 6th Dec 2019
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In Place Of A Princess, You Shall Have A Queen! - Seahorn



An earth pony leaves Equestria and returns as a changeling queen. Can she change Equestria, or will it change her?

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Chapter 1: Acceptance

1st of the First moon, 1500 A.E.(After Equestria)

Later that day, after Celestia escorted Pillar through the castle and asked her some questions about her early life, it was almost time to lower the sun. Pillar was still very silent, only answering Celestia's questions by nodding or shaking her head. Presumably she was still very much traumatized by her parents' untimely demise. Celestia knew that if she were to take care of this sad filly, she had to do something to rescue her from the dark hole of depression that she had created for herself.

"Pillar, have you seen me move the sun before?" She asked. Pillar shook her head once more. "Do you want to see it for the first time?" Pillar hesitated. Celestia surely thought she had made a terrible mistake when Pillar began to tear up again, yet she gathered herself, wiped her tears, and slowly nodded yes. "My parents told me that when they saved enough money working as servants, they would take me to the next Summer Sun Celebration to have me see. Now... I-it won't do." Unsure of what to say, Celestia simply nodded and led Pillar away to see for herself.

They headed to Celestia's bedroom, and the balcony where she usually did her celestial duties. With the sky tinted a beautiful orange, Pillar eagerly watched from a windowsill as Celestia flared her horn to lower the sun. The red light of the sun gleamed against Canterlot's white buildings and mansions, filling the world with a pinkish, peripheral glow.

Then, as the sun began to go down, the shadow of night slowly began to climb up the mountain slope. It started slowly at first, only swallowing a few buildings at a time. Yet, as it accelerated, it began to eat up more and more of the city. In an instant, it had come up to the base of the castle, and a moment later they were in darkness. Celestia had done it a million times before, but in young Pillar's eyes, it was beauty, awe and fear that she hadn't felt before in her life. Some ponies thought of Celestia as more of a goddess than a princess; Pillar could see why.

Now that the world was dark, the beautiful tapestry of stars that was obscured by the sun could be clearly visible. It just needed its magnum opus. Celestia began to raise the moon into the sky, and it dutifully followed her commands. Yet, it didn't have the same beauty as the sun, namely because of the mare-shaped dark scar that was on the moon. A constant reminder of the troubled history between the alicorn sisters.

Celestia was waken from her stupor as a tiny hoof nudged her leg. "Hmm?" asked Celestia. There was no answer, only a quiet sobbing. She turned around to find Pillar crying again, her voice only barely hearable through the sobs. "I-I'm sorry, it-it's not that I don't like your sunset... I-in fact I really do, just... I-I wish my parents w-were here to w-watch it with me... n-no, the only reason I-I could watch is b-because my parents are gone... and.. and.." she was cut off by an embrace from Celestia.

"Pillar, sorry to interrupt, but this morning, when we first met, what did I say about living? Please, I need you to remember this," said Celestia. This might be painful, but for Pillar, it needed to be done.

"Everypony deserves to live," repeated Pillar.

"That's right, but not just live, but also to be happy. Especially a strong, smart filly who defended their parents in front of a lord, who survived through a blizzard, and who got to witness my sunset."

"What happened was indeed terrible," continued Celestia, "Yet you could have done nothing about it. Trust me, Pillar, I have searched everywhere for a cure, I never found it."

"I never truly met your parents, but I am sure that they would want you to enjoy your life and cherish it, rather than shun it away and feel guilty." Pillar began to waver, her eyes getting moist once again.

"Pillar, They would want you to be happy. Never forget your loss, but don't let it bury you." With those words, Pillar began to cry again in Celestia's comforting embrace, hopefully for the last time in her tragic childhood.


4th of the Nineth moon, 1502 A.E.(After Equestria)

From the day Celestia took Pillar in, it was quite obvious that Pillar had a very inquisitive mind. Having been an earth pony all her life, she didn't hold much regard for texts which were mostly about magic. Yet Pillar had a keen sense for experimenting, and had even made some trinkets that she had found practical use. For the first two years of Pillar's life at Canterlot Castle, this had worked out for her. Celestia had even made space for a small workshop near Pillar's room, where she could exercise and fine-tune her craft.

In this workshop, she spent many of her days crafting, and sketching for new ideas. It was fun, but she was getting fed up with writing with her mouth, as it just didn't work with her quick mind and short temper. So, with a little help from Celestia, she had come up with a small contraption to store a bit of magic.

She used this to power a tiny prosthetic with three prongs to hold the quill. It was nothing major, as it drained quite quickly and couldn't store a lot of energy. With a certain alicorn as a very, very powerful magical generator, however, it could go on for hours, enabling Pillar to work on her craft while Celestia attended court and various duties during the day.

After she lowered the sun, Celestia would have dinner with Pillar in the evenings, both chatting about their day and sharing a few affectionate nuzzles. Then, she would tuck Pillar into her own bed, and she would tell her a bedtime story. She would never tell more than one though, as she didn't want Pillar to oversleep in the morning. When they shared their morning meal and waved each other goodbye, they would each go back to their daily vocations. It was a happy routine Pillar thought would never end.

It seemed like Celestia had other ideas, however. One night, as they were having dinner, Celestia brought up the topic of schooling.

Her immediate reaction was to be expected. "I don't wanna go!" whined Pillar. Since most earth ponies who took up most of the population of Equestria had difficulty writing because of their lack of magic or flexible wings, The only schools in Equestria were located at the population centers where unicorns or pegasi were the majority.

Unfortunately, these included only Canterlot, Manehattan, and Cloudsdale. After her parents' sudden rejection from town, she didn't like hanging around with many ponies in general. Yet she would have to go to school where everypony but her would likely be a unicorn. She dreaded the thought.

Yet Celestia was persistent. "Pillar, you could make friends in school, it could be great fun! Hay, when I was young, there were no schools to go around, but I still found great comfort and strength in having friends."

Pillar still wasn't convinced. "But you are so strong and kind even without friends! You protect Equestria alone and unafraid, and everything is peaceful. Do I really need friends to keep going?"

Celestia chuckled lightly, touching her newly glowing elements of kindness, magic, and generosity. If only Pillar could know that her existence was the only thing keeping Equestria and myself from crashing down, she mused. Maybe it was time to tell her a part of the puzzle, after all...

"Pillar, if I didn't have the Magic of Friendship, I wouldn't even be standing here right now."

"The Magic of Friendship?" echoed Pillar, clearly confused.

"The diadems that I have around my neck, they represent the elements of friendship. There are six of them, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, and finally magic to bind them together. When the elements find their bearers, together they exert a power unrivaled by any magic from an individual being, including myself."

"Whoa... But you only have two necklaces and a tiara, and you need many bearers, so there must be someone else, right? Can you show me to him..or her? Can you make that magic? That would be so awesome!" Pillar seemed to have forgotten her dinner as she excitedly delved into the possibility of seeing such fabled magic.

Celestia wanted to say it so badly. No, you can't. She's my sister, and she's also the fabled Nightmare Moon. In fact, when I last used the elements, I sealed her on the moon, and that's the reason you are here. As per usual, though, she had to swallow her words, put on a smile, and make vague promises. "She isn't available now, and I'm afraid that will be the case for quite some time. But, what you can do, is going to school and making some new friends! That way, you can try to bear the other three elements for yourself!" and help me save my poor sister, she added silently.

Pillar was understandably skeptical. "Do you really think I can learn to do that, when I don't even have magic in the first place?"

Celestia was undeterred. "Why not? anypony can learn the Magic of Friendship, since it is based on your qualities, not your magical capability. You only need to be true to your heart."

At this, she finally relented. "Ughhh, fiiiine. I'll go to school. It's just that...I'm worried, that's all," Pillar said with a slight smile, being more fond of the idea now that Celestia had illustrated that friendship was so magical. Maybe she could wield it without being a unicorn, after all.

Celestia beamed, "Don't be. Even without the added bonus of friendship, you'll simply love learning at school!"

Author's Note:

For everyone mentioning the Ponyville School and Cheerilee, this is 50 years ago, and inter-breed separation is much more prevalent in this time period of my fanon. A big incident in the near future will forever change that...