You know about Equestria. You know about the series. You know about the characters. And surely you know the story of how it all started? No? Well, it wasn't always like this. There was not always the Kingdom named Equestria, Celestia had not always the look she have today. And also the other characters were once different. Probably you already knew a thing or two. There are many stories about it and it's up to you, what do you think. This story can either be a fictitious story for you, or the one and only real story about Celestia's past. That time when Celestia wasn’t a princess, that time she was only known as "The last unicorn".
"I am sorry, I have done you evil and I cannot undo It.", said Schmendrick.
„No. Unicorns are in the world again. No sorrow will live in me as long as that joy - save one, and I thank you for that part too. Farewell, good magician. I will try to go home”.
Schmendrick nodded as the Unicorn bright galloped the horizon. It galloped about all meadows, fields and roads until it arrived again in the forest.
"Now I'm back at home. At least that's what I can call home. "But it is not important where you are when you meet friends you have now around and watching each other."
And when the Unicorn had said just this sentence, the other unicorns also returned to the forest and are quickly becoming aware of the "last" Unicorn.
"Hello. You're the one who has saved us?"
"You saved yourselves, thanks is not required. You have lived for years in this sea as narwhals. Fortunately this time is over."
It passed some time, until the unicorns met themselves. At the first glance, they looked almost all the same, but there are differences. They had magical differences. The one had such a very strong magic, with which they could manipulate things. For some Unicorns, the magic was so strong that they could create things. For example they could give themselves wings, so they could move more easily. For this they had to change only their horns to wings. But that was no problem for them. They could use magic without the Horn, and this magic even allowed them to move on clouds. The other unicorns were especially trained and strong. Thanks to their magic, they could kick with so much simplicity against a tree that the leaves fell down. As well for them, the horn was not necessary for their magic, so their horns regressed with time. Then the ‘last’ unicorn remembered: It was soon winter. So the unicorns had to find a shelter. It should accommodate all of them, so no one should freeze. They had so long hardships behind them and need to relax for the first time. Exhausted, the herd lays down under the tree canopy of the forest to sleep. First of all, that was enough excitement for one day. Tomorrow, they could begin a new life. Together….After all this time…
The next morning the unicorns awoke in the glow of the Sun. She was already high in the sky. It warmed a bit, but the cold autumn wind was immediately blowing under each Unicorn’s mane.
“Why is it so cold? Usually here’s spring every time!” One of the unicorns asked worried.
Then Amalthea remembered the words the hunters previously had said to her.
“Stay where you are, poor beast! This is no world for you. Stay in your forest and keep your trees green and your friends protected. And good luck to you, for you are the last.” he said.
Then, Amalthea understood the sentence.
“I left the forest to search for you. I had to leave it, so I could keep the trees no longer green. Forgive me; I probably let the winter enter this forest.” Amalthea apologied.
"It’s not your fault, Amalthea. We need to find a suitable shelter where we can outlast the frosty days." said the other unicorn.
"But where are we going? “, one of the other unicorns asked, 'we're here safe in the Woods. Here we are forever free."
And already the first dispute broke out. The flying unicorns quarreled with the strong ones. The very magical unicorns wanted also to stay.
"At the time, where we have lived in the sea, we could learn so much about magic. It sounds weird though, but we want back there."
We are not speaking about going back to the kingdom 'Haggard'?
"No. When do you think of that? We are looking for another way."
The 'last' Unicorn took over the conversation.
"Sisters…Brothers….We came together just a day ago and a winter month should separate us so soon?"
"You're not from the past, or?" asked one of the magical unicorns.
'Sorry, I’m not. Why? Should it be important?"
"Earlier we all have lived somewhere else. We were captured by King Haggard. So we all ended up back here. No offense, but we must go back to our homeland."
Homeland….That’s what the 'last' Unicorn wish to have. But if not here, where should she gos otherwise? Who would follow her?
"You've saved us. I'm with you." a little foal said between the unicorns. This Unicorn...It was different from the others. This Unicorn coat had a dark blue color. It hadn’t so far joined any group. It went right to the 'the last Unicorn' and sat down next to her. Her blue-green eyes looked directly in the pink eyes of the 'last' Unicorn.
"I respect your decision. You can come with me, if you want. Do you have a mother?" One of the flying unicorns stepped forward.
"Her parents...they didn’t survived the captivity in the sea. Could you look after her? You've proven so much strength and courage when you're kicked against the Red Bull for us. Please…be like a good sister to her."
"That’s great. I have a sister. What's your name?"
"For a time I was known under the name "Amalthea". What's your name?"
"Luna."
The last Unicorn, known now under the name "Amalthea", had tried to hold the unicorns together. But they got separated from each other. The flying unicorns disappeared in the North. They went to an area, which they called "Cloudsdale". Soon they disappeared behind forests and meadows. The particularly strong unicorns went in the other direction. She moved south to their old home called "Apple Loosa". But the particularly magical unicorns stay with Amalthea and Luna.
"We are grown on this land, too. So we can live anywhere, where you should bring us. For us, it’s only important that we find a new home. And It should be soon." one of the unicorns hoped.
"I know a place. A place that could potentially offer us protection. "But I should warn you: It’s in the kingdom 'Haggard'." As the unicorn said this name all unicorns got goosebumps.
"Are you sure? What if the King still exists?"
"He's no longer alive. I saw it with my own eyes, how he dropped into the sea and not showed up after that." So the unicorns were back to the former Kingdom of King Haggard. Now Amalthea had responsibility, to take the herd to safety before the cold winter months began. She could not get back to Schmendrick and Molly. She had to begin this new life for herself…And with all those who followed her.
Later they passed Mommy Fortunas old curiosity circus, where Amalthea recalled her first meeting with the Harpy called Celaeno. This cold creature what spread more fear than it feels. Reluctantly, Amalthea doesn’t like to remember it. In the distance she could recognize the mortal remains of Mommy Fortuna and her worker of Rukh, but at least that what Celaeno left had left by them.
"What is this place? You know it?” asked one of the unicorns.
"Yes. I have started my journey here earlier on my search for you and found the wizard you saw earlier. Since then he has accompanied me. And now you accompanied me. Again on a search But not it's somehow different..."
"I wanted to travel to other places. But Mommy and Daddy wanted to remain in safety in the forest. I like that you're with me, Amalthea."
"Thanks Luna, your words encourage me truly in my vision to find a new home for you."
A short time later they arrived in 'Hagsgate'. An old abandoned fortress of King Haggard, which he then used as a second Palace. The unicorns were afraid to meet the King and he would banish them into the sea using the Red Bull, again. Without hesitation, Amalthea entered the Castle 'Hagsgate' with the rest of the herd. The wooden gates squeaked hard as the unicorns opened the entrance. It was very dark inside. But soon they saw self-portraits of the former ruler of the kingdom, which left hanging everywhere on the walls. The blood in the veins of each Unicorn froze immediately. On the picture the unicorns saw this cold, emotionless look that graced his face.
„Have we to stay here? It’s pretty uncomfortable."
"First we must ensure that it’s safe for us here. Search the castle for accommodation and food. Luna? You come with me."
The unicorns were distributed in the castle to explore it. Old memorabilia of King Haggard were everywhere and somehow Amalthea had the feeling that the King was still present, although this could not be. She saw him plunge into the sea. However, the fact that objects were here partly that she recognizes from his big fortress at the sea, made her feel uneasy. She surveyed the throne and the painting, everything seemed so new.
Suddenly, they heard a noise from the ground. Luna startled and held herself tight on Amalthea’s foreleg. It sounded like a ringing. No, it sounded like chimes. Only a bit distorted. Amalthea knew that chimes sounds familiar. Was someone around down there? Could it be that 'Haggard' has survived the drowning, swam to the beach and got back to this shelter after his castle broke into the sea?"
Carefully, the unicorns went a floor deeper into the Castle. Their horns smothering the room in a slightly bluish light. When they arrived in the basement, the noise became louder. It still sounded distorted and skewed, but somehow rhythmically….like a mechanism. 6 yellow eyes were looking at the unicorns, which fixed them and lit up brighter, the closer the unicorns approached the noisy object. Then the outline of the object was visible in the blue light of the unicorns. It was a large object. Almost 5 meter high. The unicorns kept calm, because they had confidence in Amalthea, which boldly approaches the object. Then, the complete object was visible. It was a large clock. The six yellow eyes belonged to 3 stone gargoyles who sat up on the clock. One seemed to bite into the dial of the clock. Amalthea immediately recognized the clock. She stood in King Haggards fortress! But it was destroyed by Haggard in his fight with Schmendrick. So, how could it be here now? And was still working? Amalthea not dared to go closer to the clock or even tried to go through the broken glass of the clock, to see whether the portal still worked.
"What is Amalthea? You seem worried. Tell us. ", noted one of the unicorns.
Amalthea recognized the sword strikes by King Haggard on the clock body, where he fought against Schmendrick, and tried to destroy the clock. Immediately her blood froze in her veins. too. This is not a replica. This is the genuine clock.
"This clock…It shouldn't be here. At least not since... ", Amalthea stopped.
"Since…when? Amalthea, is it safe here? “, asked the other Unicorn.
"I...I do not know, but we should stay here anyway for the first time." Because if a risk is to recognize, I'll put everything that nothing will happen to us."
Amalthea thought, if the clock is still here, it could be that Haggard has also survived? This is indeed not a safe place, but she found a shelter, which for the first time over the winter. The unicorns left the clock back in the darkness of the Castle.
The day did come to an end. They all had been gone very long on the way. Before they could make something to get more comfortable here all should rest first. Amalthea and the other located in the largest room lay down to sleep, a floor over the grand hall with the clock in it. King Haggard's old throne room. In the Hall, they'd get no sleep because of the crazy clock ticking. And also here, everything the unicorns knew from the fortress was still there…The murals and antiques. Should Amalthea have mistaken? Should she have taken everyone in danger? Amalthea was hoping to find answers to all these questions the next day.
"Ah, I see you've returned.", Amalthea heard the voice of an old man.
"You are here. They are all here. And whether they mean my doom or not, I will look at them for a while. I will look every one of them. Especially the blue colored one."
Amalthea startled. She woke up and found herself alone in the throne room. Where were the other unicorns? They were gone without a trace, also did Luna. Then this voice came up again behind her.
"You may come and go as you please. My secrets guard themselves. Will yours do the same?"
Then, Amalthea realized the figure that sat on the throne. It was King Haggard. But how could that be? How could he be here? Panicked, she ran down the stairs into the grand hall.
"Why are you trying from here to flee? Why are you trying to escape from me? It no longer matters. I can wait. The end is the same. I can wait."
The King was standing right behind her. He slowly pulled his sword out of the Holster and started to push Amalthea in the direction of the clock. As Amalthea panic-fueled looked around for a way to escape, she noticed that the clock began to glow. It shone in a red glow. And suddenly, her ears heard a sound that had made her almost rigid with fear: the roar of the Red Bull. The whole room turned reddish ever closer Amalthea was pushed to the clock. She had to get out of here. This can’t be real. It must be a dream. And before her tail touched the clock...she awoke soaked in sweat. She had a nightmare. She looked around, all unicorns slept quietly. Only Luna has become awake and was worried about Amalthea.
"Is everything all right, big sister?"
"I don't know. I had never a nightmare before. Not even as a Unicorn. And yet, I feel that I'm wearing this property is still in me. I never wanted to be a human. Sometimes I wish that humans had never existed. So nothing of the past would have happened."
"But you've met also other people. You’ve met friendly people?"
"That's right, Luna." Amalthea agreed to the dark blue foal. “But I am afraid, that I will never see them again. Have some sleep again. We have to do much tomorrow."
Then Amalthea and Luna lay down again to sleep.
The next morning began. The shining of the sun brought a bit of light through the stained-glass windows. They have become slightly dusty. The light broke through every smallest place in the whole dilapidated building. All unicorns slowly woke up and began to make them useful. The one cleaned away the dust from the Windows and walls, the others began to fix vulnerabilities so that it is not only warm in the Castle, but the castle is also sure for the winter. Their magic was a big advantage. So they could levitate large and heavy materials through the air without problems, to replace or repair parts of the castle.
Amalthea and Luna began to look in the forest near the castle for food and water. They managed to find a few buckets in the Castle to bring the water to their place. There were not very many words between the two sisters on the way to the nearby lake. It was easy to find it; it was right in front of one of the biggest mountains of the Kingdom. Luna looked amazed at the height of the mountain.
"Were you ever on the top of this large mountain, Amalthea?"
"Unfortunately I haven’t, Little Sister." "But I promise you if we got all right for the first time here, I make a trip there if you want, ok?"
Luna was very pleased with the promise of Amalthea. As both Unicorns arrived at the lake Luna noticed a strange being on the other side of the lake what also was there to drank water. It had wings, the head of a lion and a tail of a Scorpion. The creature mentioned the two unicorns on the other side. Then it just drank from the Lake, again.
"What a strange creature is it?"
"This is a Manticore. Don’t worry, he won't hurt us. He is only dangerous for people."
As both had filled their buckets with clean water, Luna continued asking Amalthea about other mythical creatures.
"Well, Luna." There are different creatures. But you must know that there are not all so friendly to unicorns. Some creatures don’t look like they are evil at the first glance. There are for example the dragons, people call them "flying fire-spitting monsters", but I have a feeling that that is not the whole truth. I think that there are also other friendly dragons. But you have to be aware of a specific creature. It’s the Harpy. Stay always away from them."
"How does a Harpy look like, Amalthea?" asked Luna.
"They have Ice cold eyes that will let you feel like your blood is freezing at the sight of fear. Their bodies are equipped with sharp large claws. And their beak is as sharp as their scream, which sounds like a Banshee."
"It sounds pretty dangerous," Luna said intimidated.
"Don't be scared little Luna. Your big sister is looking out for you."
Luna was visibly facilitate that Amalthea will protect her from all dangers. But how important that will be for them, Luna would soon learn.
The old ruin of ‘Hagsgate’ turned more and more into a habitable castle, if you want to call it that way. The old memorabilia of the King still concerns many unicorns. No one, not even Amalthea, have gone down to the clock in the grand hall ever again since her first arrival in this castle. They all had just too much respect to the King. More specifically, they feared King Haggard would still exist...und also the Red Bull. But still the unicorns hear the eerie croak and shrill ringing bells of the clock every night. Specifically for Amalthea It was hard to deal with that. But there was no other place where they could hide better in the winter. To find a cave in a mountain, they would have to walk for days in the icy wind and weather. Here, they are safe from the storm outside at least. However, there was no fire in the Castle. The unicorns mutually warming themselves by them are cuddled close together. Only by working together they could endure well this cold time of year.
The next day winter was officially there. It had snowed. The snow was lying high in the Castle moat. Fortunately, the unicorns had collected enough supplies in Castle just in the worst case so they didn’t have to starve. It was still pretty cold in the castle. King Haggard had felt no cold at the time. The cold was always like a partner to him, because no one could make him happy. As the unicorns looked for a way to get the castle a little bit warmer, there was a knock on the front door.
"Hey? Is there someone in there? We need help urgently!"
This voice scared all unicorns, except Amalthea. She recognized the voice and ran to the gate. Through a slot in the wood, she could see the creature out there in the snow. It was Schmendrick the magician.
"Wizard? Is that really you?"
"Who's in there? How do you know who I am?"
Amalthea opened up the wooden gate a little.
"Amalthea! What are you doing in here? We had not thought to see you so soon." said Schmendrick debilitated.
"I thought the same thing about you. However, you look pretty exhausted.” said Amalthea as she saw the almost motionless Molly Grue hanged on Schmendrick’s and Prince Lir's shoulders.
"Could you help us to open the door? We trudge for days through the winter in search of a shelter." Schmendrick shivered with cold.
"I’ll help you. Stand back." said Amalthea, "but I must tell something important to you." as she slid up the large wooden gate to the side.
Schmendrick, Molly and Lir fell exhausted on the ground of the entrance hall. They were so relieved to have found a refuge. But Amalthea continued.
"We are not alone here. All my sisters and brothers are here with me. I brought them all here in safety. Well, at least I thought it was safe at the beginning."
Schmendrick tried to rub his neck warm with his hand, "what do you mean with 'at the beginning"?
"Now, we find out that this one place inhabited by Haggard must have apparently still some connection to him. We have found many objects, which don't belong here and should be also here."
"You're a pretty talented Wizard, I have to say. You just escaped a frosty fate and you’re already up to search for new riddles", Amalthea amused about Schmendrick, "However, I want to deprive you nothing. Follow me." Amalthea enters the grand hall after a long time with Schmendrick, Molly and LIR. The Unicorn of Amalthea gave a little bit of light in the darkness.
"Just stop." Molly gasped, "I must rest for first. Let's make a short break."
They were on the last step on the stairs. But the sound of Haggard's watch was clearly already here.
"Is that…?” Schmendrick asked distressed.
"Go right ahead. Look at it with your own eyes and tell me what you think." Amalthea said to Schmendrick.
Schmendrick approached the large clock. However, he showed neither fright nor fear. The only thing the magician said while he investigated the clock was: "Hm...", "Oh..." and "Interesting...” He saw the strikes of Haggard’s sword on the clock. After a while, he returned to the other.
"I know that sounds crazy. But I must go through the clock, to understand how to deal with that strange phenomenon."
"Are you mad?" groaned Molly, “You don't even know if the portal still works."
"I have to try. Amalthea, I'm going to need your help. Are you coming with me?"
After a long time fear flooded Amalthea’s veins again. But with Schmendrick at her side, she had a good feeling. So the Unicorn agreed to follow the wizard through the clock again. When both arrived at the front of it both gave a nod to each other, before they disappeared behind the pendulum. Meanwhile, Lir took care of Molly, who had pretty much lost on temperature.
"We have to get you in the warm. I see if I can find some old torches."
Lir said to Molly and looked around in the environment. So he went back upstairs to the first floor, but the other unicorns still had no knowledge of the new guests.
Schmendrick and Amalthea walked in the "mists of time" and tried to find a way out. Schmendrick comes easily in the conversation.
"Amalthea. How are you, actually? Have you survived well the winter beginning?"
"Yes. At least, the unicorns that stayed with me." On the other hand, there were groups of other unicorns. More specifically, two other groups have left our herd. They were unicorns with special body strength and the others were winged creatures."
"You mean like 'Pegasi'?" Schmendrick asked interested.
Amalthea didn’t know what a Pegasi was.
"Pegasi…what are Pegasi'?"
"Pegasi, or in the singular, the Pegasus is the name of a winged horse.” The legend and the name of the creature came from the "Greeks", a race of mankind, whose real existence we can’t prove until today."
"Pegasus... Pegasi. I like this name. You impress me, magician. Once again you helped me out of my perplexity." Amalthea thanked him.
"Well, if not me, then who should say it to say?" Schmendrick laughed. He saw a part of stones through the fog which made it clear to them: the fog disappeared. They had reached the "end of time". The two found themselves under a high cliff. It was night.
"Where are we here? We are certainly still in the Kingdom of Haggard. I can see the Castle from here through the cliffs." Schmendrick noticed.
"But where has the portal take us?" Amalthea wanted to know when something shone bright from a nearby cave that woke attention of both. She and Schmendrick approached the cave entrance, which was lit by bright colors. As they entered the cave, they remained standing in astonishment. It was a tree. A luminous tree. He lit up in different colors. 5 Different gems were grown on the tree branches. A red, a purple, a yellow, a pink, and a sky blue gem. Between the 5 gems there was a big six shaped white star, which was not brightening up.
"What kind of tree is that, Amalthea, do you recognize him?"
“No, I…wait. There was once an old Unicorn tale about this place in the forest, about a tree, just one tree. This tree has a very special meaning. There are many secrets about this tree, as far as I know. The legend says:
Only those whose souls are found to be worthy will mark the trunk of that tree and would be marked as well. They will be marked as something special, a harmonious connection.
I remember the name of that tree. It’s called the 'tree of harmony'.
"Did you say 'tree of harmony'? Interesting..." Schmendrick said and walked closer to the tree.
"Please be careful, wizard. In the legend it says that only the souls..."
Schmendrick interrupted Amalthea.
"Don't worry. "'Exploring' was not explicit forbidden in the legend, anyway I don’t want to be ‘marked’." Schmendrick laughed and touched the outer bark of the tree.
It was warm. But quite sharp, like the whole tree was made out of crystals. Schmendrick had to be careful so that he is not hurt. Especially, how the tree got the luminosity, interested him particularly. After a while, Amalthea was worried about the others.
"We should go back, the others will miss us already."
Schmendrick agreed. Secretly he put a loose piece of the tree in his magic bag, to investigate it later in the castle. On the way back into the fog, Amalthea nudges Schmendrick on his shoulder with the words: "Next time you take purposes things of sacred places, don't hesitate to ask someone who could help you out of this mess when anything goes wrong later." She winked at him. Schmendrick was embarrassed. But before he could reciprocate Amalthea only said: "Just please promise me to bring it back where it belongs after you finished your research, okay?" Schmendrick nodded silently.
As both went the way back to Molly, Amalthea looked back again to the tree of harmony, to make sure that the tree is really there and not an illusion. They passed through the glowing mist again and found themselves back again a short time later in the grand hall. They didn't know how much time passed since they went through the portal because the large clock never showed the correct time. Prince Lir sat on the stairs and handed Molly a cup of hot water and a blanket that he had found in the Castle. Probably he overlooked the other unicorns or they hid from him. He had also now managed to ignite a small bonfire in the grand Hall with a few pieces of wood he found in here. Fire danger did not exist anyway, the floor was ice cold. Schmendrick and Amalthea went to them.
'Yes. I feel better. Thanks Amalthea that you've taken us here."
"Thanks is not required, this is a matter of course. Every living being has the right to get help if it is needed by another living being."
"You said you brought all your relatives here. May we meet them?" asked Molly, excitedly.
"I...I do not know how they will react. They tried to avoid people at any time. But I can still try to introduce you to each other." Amalthea's uncertain replied.
So Molly, Prince Lir, and Schmendrick were on their way to the stairs to the first floor of the Castle. But before they reached the stairs they heard the sound of hooves slowly coming down the stairs.
"Quick, hide! They are not prepared to meet you yet." whispered Amalthea quickly.
The three humans hid under the stairs and waited, what would happen now.
"Amalthea?" it echoed down the stairs. "Down there it seems to burn somewhere, is everything okay?" a voice sounded from above.
'Yes. Come down here. It's all right. The fire is under control. Let's warm up a bit on it."
The large number of unicorns entered the great Hall and gathered around the fire. It was in fact warming. However, relatively quickly, the question came up who lit the fire.
"I had help. A few old friends visited me. They're humans. They are here."
"Humans? Here with us at the Castle? How could you let them in?" One of the unicorns feared.
'Hey! If my big sister let humans in the Castle, they will be probably not evil. Please continue, Amalthea." little Luna said. "Thank you, Luna. As I said earlier, they are old friends. They are the humans who have helped me to set you free. You can come out and introduce yourselves!" called Amalthea in the direction of the stairs.
Schmendrick, Molly and Lir came out under the stairs and were amazed at this sight. So many unicorns in one place and all fixed them with their eyes. The three humans went to Amalthea slowly, because they tried to not upset the unicorns.
"May I introduce: Schmendrick the wizard, Molly Grue and Prince Lir.”
The unicorns were a bit unsure because of the look of Prince Lir. He had exactly the same armor as King Haggard. As the first of all unicorns Luna went directly to them.
"Sure." May I introduce you? That’s my little sister Luna. Unfortunately, her parents have been separated during their captivity of King Haggard. Since then I took take care of her."
"You are good people, aren’t you? My big sister has you let in the castle, so you must be good people." said Luna hopefully.
Molly gently approached her and stroked Luna over her blue mane. Molly really appreciated the confidence of the small unicorn. It was a very nice, a very emotional feeling to touch a Unicorn once again after a long time.
"Yes, we are good people. We are here, me and my friends and with your sister."
Luna directed her gaze on Lir, who just tried to sweep the dust from his armor with his hands.
"No offense, but could you take off this armor, please? I think some of the Unicorns are afraid because it reminds them of a bad man."
Lir immediately understood the problem and took off the armor. But he was not feeling cold, since he was wearing pretty much under the armor for the winter. He put the armor aside.
"It's getting pretty late. We should get some sleep." Amalthea decided.
The unicorns agreed, but they remained at the fire. It was the warmest place in the castle now and the clock’s shrill ringing didn’t bother them as much as earlier. The three humans lay themselves to Amalthea and Luna to get some extra warmth. It was still winter, but it should pass very quickly.
In the rest of the winter time, he humans helped the unicorns to repair the castle. Soon it was again very livable in there, at least from the inside. Molly made a good seamstress, as she tied new carpets and other things from surrounding parts that was left in the castle. Schmendrick talked with the unicorns and get valuable information in dealing with magic. Prince Lir coordinates the work. Earlier he could never use his talent of organized delegation at Haggard's Castle, because there were virtually no people he could delegate. But was the counterpart of King Haggard. No single of structure damage of the castle escaped his attentive eyes. But he must wait until the end of the winter till he could examine the external condition of the Castle. As the first rays of the spring sun filled the upper halls of the castle with light, it was obvious: It was spring. Soon they could repair the last parts of the castle. When they opened the big doors of the Castle again since months, the castle was surprisingly in good condition. It would take only a short time until the castle is very well prepared for the next winter. But the first thing they needed was more material, a few pieces of wood and stone. Amalthea and Luna went on the way to find these materials, so the other unicorns could then help them during transport later. The path led along the old road from which they came here for the first time.
A few miles away from the Castle, Luna suddenly noticed something in the sky. It seemed like a large bird flying above them and moved in circles. Luna saw how the bird came closer and closer. But something was different about it. As closer the bird got, as greater it grew. Not just a little. It was a very large bird. The color of the coat was completely dark. Under the bird Luna noticed some large claws. This was no ordinary bird. Luna had to think just where she had ever heard the name of the bird.
"They have Ice cold eyes that will let you feel like your blood is freezing at the sight of fear. Their bodies are equipped with sharp large claws. And their beak is as sharp as their scream, which sounds like a Banshee."
Luna was certain: it was a harpy who flew down from above onto the two unicorns. She nudged Amalthea in hope she would recognize the big bird above them. Luna panicked because she thought the Harpy would attack them every moment. But she landed quickly in front of the two unicorns, which scared Amalthea a lot.
"Hello sister." How are you?" said the Harpy in a very unpleasant tone.
"Who are you? Do I know you?" asked Amalthea.
"Of course you know me. You freed me, you don't remember, Mommy Fortuna and her great curiosity circus?"
"You're Celaeno, the Harpy that…killed the Mommy Fortuna and her mate” Amalthea turned in a defending position in front of Luna "...and you tried to kill me."
"Ah, you DO remember." the Harpy replied confidently.
"I don’t want to fight you. Leave us alone. What do you want here?"
"Calm down, sister. I live here. I live here with my brothers and sisters. Apparently just like you."
"What you want, Celaeno?" asked indignantly Amalthea.
"You need to tell ME. You're here in MY area. I recognized you back there very fast and thought to myself that I should make me noticeable. But..."
"What do you mean…"but"?
"But wouldn’t you like to know why I tried to kill you?" said Celaeno with a sneaky look.
"There is no justification for the killing of innocent creatures. I helped you."
"THEY HAVE CAPTURED ME! LIKE A PET! I'll never allow anybody do this to me! ", screamed Celaeno. Then she continued quietly: "You know? I'm a proud creature of the skies and belong to freedom. I was so angry that I could have killed every creature, what I had met back there. It didn't work for you because your magic has protected you. Congratulations! You've survived."
"So, you're here to make it good again?" asked Amalthea.
"PAH! As if I have to apologize for being a proud creature that fights for his freedom at any price! I just wanted to tell you, this is my territory and we Harpy like to stay among us."
Celaeno noticed Luna, who hid under Amalthea.
"You should be careful, little foal. Here in the forest you can get lost very quickly. And you never know who or what creatures you find in the Woods." Celaeno said while she stared at Luna with her icy eyes. Luna could feel the warm breath of the Harpy already on her face.
"I'm not afraid of you. My sister will protect me." Luna said brave to the Harpy.
"Your Sister? Good. Then I hope that your sister will be always on your side to protect you." Celaeno said before she rose into the air. Then she turned again to Amalthea:
"I give you small advice: Look for what you desire and then leave this place soon. This is our hunting area, you know? And you don't want that something would happen to you? I hope you know what I mean." she laughed and flew away. "Luna? Promise me, that you're staying with me the whole time. We get what we need and then we leave this place."
Luna agreed. Soon Amalthea gathered some wood and Luna tried her levitate charm on a stone, which was as big as herself. But her magic was not so trained, so that the stone fell down immediately.
"Don't worry Luna. You need just a little practice. Here." Amalthea gave Luna a smaller stone, and took the great stone by herself, for her it was no problem to carry the wood and the stone. Luna would train her magic well enough soon, but for first this small stone should be enough. Luna could levitate this stone with ease.
Both left the area of Celaeno again on the way to the Castle. They would probably never go on that route. It was too dangerous and they didn’t want to fight. The unicorns the humans managed to prepare the castle over the whole summer. The work was remarkable. The Castle looked quite new. Now, this shelter was prepared for the next winter. The fire in the basement was no longer needed. Instead, the grand hall was now a perfect place for cooling off on hot summer days.
Many unicorns went back to the forest after the first summer days. The Harpies moved to another location, so the unicorns had access again to their forest. When they arrived back they felt truly save again. Only Schmendrick, Molly, Lir, Amalthea, and Luna stayed in the Castle. They wanted to solve the mystery of the mysterious objects.
"So I cannot think straight here. It’s still uncomfortable somehow. Can we rename the Castle? Hagsgate sounds not pleasant to me. In particular it no longer belongs to the King. I would be up for a new name." Molly proposed.
"Tss, woman." You want to give the castle a new name? How did you come with this idea?" asked Schmendrick confused.
"It's an idea. I would not consider about improvements in a castle, as long as the name is not pleasant." Prince Lir agreed with Molly.
"Well, what name should the Castle get?" Amalthea asked interested.
Many ideas came to Schmendrick’s head.
"Oh...I know. The castle of unicorns? That sounds good!"
"Yes, but in fact it was only Amalthea, which has brought the group. And Luna is always at her side. I think the castle should be named after them. I would be up for ‘The castle of the two unicorns’." Lir said.
"That sounds very good. But I would like to put in some more emotion. The two are closer than any other two unicorns." said Molly.
Then it was clear to everyone. They all had the same kind of idea:
"That's it. We call it 'The castle of the two sisters'."
Amalthea and Luna agreed. They found the name very nice and pleasant. For sure they will spend a very long time here. They have wrapped up this castle for the next winter, so they would have to leave it that soon.
"Where we are now talking about re-naming..." Molly hooked.
"Why? We have found a name?" asked Schmendrick.
"No, I mean for other things. Like for example the beautiful forest out there."
"Why women always need to discuss about pointless stuff like this?" asked Schmendrick.
"Why? We have nothing to do either." Lir replied.
"False. We wanted to solve the mysteries in here. Do you remember?"
"We will do this later…So... about the name" Molly insisted. "Amalthea, would you have any idea how we should call your forest? What kind of feelings do you connect to it?”
"We connect with our friendship and our freedom to this forest." Whenever we enter the forest, we feel as if we were forever free."
"Forever free? That sounds good. Do you not also Schmendrick? ", asked Molly.
The wizard looked pretty annoyed. He wanted to solve the mysteries.
"So I think that's also beautiful." Then until today the forest is called "Everfree." Lir said.
"Wonderful." said Molly, "Now we can take care of the mysteries if you want, Schmendrick."
"Hrmpf." mumbled Schmendrick in impatience.
Amalthea turned to her sister. The two were so happy about the name of the new castle and decided to live in here for a long time. In the forest, they could go at any time, because now the Harpies are gone. So, Amalthea and Luna decided to help the humans with the puzzle. The search began in the throne room. There stood the most items of the former King. They investigated everything, all chests, cabinets and the throne itself. However, they found nothing suspicious. Above the throne room were a department of old books and records from the time, when Haggard was ruling this kingdom. The shelves were filled capacity. Schmendrick went between the dark racks as he discovered that one book was lying among the shelves on the ground. The wizard looked up to the book. What he read on the open page shocked him. It was one of Haggard's diaries. He read the following on the page:
„… I knew that it was the last one of them. I could no longer win her for me. They were all free and ran up the beach into the wilderness. I've lost them all because of a single Unicorn which I had overlooked. This thought made me laugh, when I fell and let my body handed to the sea..."
Schmendrick had a very bad feeling about this. It was Haggard's handwriting. He must be still here. But Schmendrick didn't know why the rest of the pages were blank. Had Haggard not enough time? Did he interrupt him? Most importantly: How did he survive? If he would be dead, how could this note could be in this book? A bad feeling came over him, when he heard a voice before him in the darkness.
"You are interested how I survived? This research is very dangerous, because you were involved in my fate, wizard." It was King Haggard, who slowly came out of the darkness towards the wizard. His sword shone brightly in the low light. As he stood directly in front of the magician, Amalthea came around the corner. She reacted in a panic and casted a spell against the King. Suddenly he disappeared in a grey fog cloud. A cough was heard. On the coughing followed a laughing. As the cloud fades, the King was gone. Instead, a frail old man with a black robe was sitting on the ground. As the man set up himself, he said exhausted:
"Oh, good old Unicorn magic. It’s hard to beat that, or is it Schmendrick?"
They recognized the old man. It was Mabruk. The former Wizard of King Haggard.
"Mabruk? But you're dead?"
The old Wizard laughed.
"Dead? I was never dead, I disappeared. Right after I was replaced by King Haggard, my boy. Do you remember? Apparently you didn’t have success either to make him happy."
"But why are you here? And what was that for?" Schmendrick wanted to know.
"Boy, this is my home. At least since the old castle of King Haggard fell apart in the sea. Please forgive my appearance. I wanted to make me a joking with you. A Joking like I did it to you, Amalthea."
“To me?" asked the Unicorn.
'Yes. You should've seen your face when I pushed you towards my clock in your dream. This tension and the feeling of being hopeless...just priceless!"
'Hey. That was absolutely nasty. I should...wait, did you just say 'your clock'? The clock belonged to King Haggard."
"The Castle belonged to King Haggard but I have created this clock for him, because he was looking for a shortcut to the cave of the Red Bull. And it should be unobtrusive. It was not important if it should work or look nice. Nobody should come up with the idea to approach the clock. But then he destroyed my clock, and I had to fix it after I saved it. It took a very long time until the clock worked again, how it should work. The portal was finally re-opened, but however now it goes to a place somewhere in a nearby forest here. Therefore, it was rather uninteresting for me. But I still wanted to keep it as a memory of that era."
"What era?"
"The era of the liberation of the unicorns of course, that Amalthea has so perfectly done. What a great performance, girl, what a great performance. I could watch everything from the distance."
Lir and Molly joined to the group.
"Old man. What are you doing here?" asked Lir.
"Prince Lir, what a pleasure to see you. I introduced myself already to your friends and the enchanting Lady Amalthea."
"Now spit it out already: How long you been here and how long you need to get out of here?" We want no trouble. said Molly directly.
"Uh, I have the answer to the first question: I'm here since the King is dead. But I don’t have an answer for question number two, because…I will stay forever here? HAHA!" laughed Mabruk.
"Listen. We have wrapped up this whole place and we not admit that you are stay in our way. Got it?" countered Molly.
"I beg you, Molly. Why should I damage my own home? That would be a lot amount of chaos. Even though, when I think about it..."
"Please interrupt your thoughts, old magician" Amalthea interrupted him "If you want to stay here, behave appropriately. If not, the door stays always open for you to leave this place."
"Oho, seems like the women are in control now. Now well. I will conduct myself properly, but I will continue my hobbies. Otherwise you have to leave. This is still my home, remember? I will play after your rules when you're following mine."
They didn’t want to lose this castle so quickly, that was clear. So they agreed grumpily.
"Well, what are your hobbies?"
Mabruk looked at Molly with a wide grin.
"Jokes, pranks! It is so boring here, if there’s no one who understands the fun. I like to a little bit of 'chaos’." Molly became suspicious.
"If these are harmless pranks, we have no objection. But if you do something like you did it to Amalthea and Schmendrick, we will not tolerate it." Molly made clear.
"All right, all right." "I will take the amount of my pranks on a ' minimum'." Mabruk said sullenly.
Before they could say anything else, Mabruk disappeared with a spell in a gray fog. Lir, Schmendrick and Molly were concerned that Mabruk could harm the unicorns. So Lir and Molly made their way into the forest to inform the others about Mabruk.
"The King's reign of terror must end one and for all. I'll try to find a way to wipe out all memories of the Kingdom of Haggard. I want to no Unicorn relive more fear. Meanwhile I will retire to the library, to find out something there maybe. You can accompany me if you want, magician. ", said Amalthea to Schmendrick.
Since then Amalthea moved back into the library with Schmendrick. Luna was with Molly and Lir outside in the forest was playing with them with so much joy. Amalthea didn’t want to bother Luna if she could help her. But no matter what she tried, no matter what she sought, it seemed not to work. It took months, until both ended up to the last shelf. Although Mabruk wanted to offer his help, but these were rejected because he didn’t came with enough seriousness. When Schmendrick and Amalthea had read the last book, they broke off the search.
"Oh, that’s senseless. We will never find a way to undo the past."
Mabruk suddenly appeared.
"Has someone said something about ‘undo the past’?"
"Yes. What do you know about it?"
Mabruk shrugged his shoulders. "What do I know? I have never used this spell."
"There really is a spell for this?" asked Amalthea. "Can you tell me?"
"Perhaps. But to do this you have to promise that I can stay here."
Amalthea was confused.
"What do mean with you stay?"
"You'll see about that." Mabruk said grinning.
"I don’t exactly understand what you mean, wizard. But I agree."
"Very good…"
Amalthea couldn’t trust her ears about that what Mabruk told her. He actually told her a spell that can be used to completely forget the past. However, it had a price: This country would be a paradise. But to keep the peace at this place, all humans have to go. Also, the natural conditions such as weather and time of day must be regulated by the unicorns because physics won’t work longer like in human world. Amalthea was amazed and appalled at the same time about that spell. That’s what Mabruk was trying to say. He wanted to stay. But that was not feasible because of the spell, thought Amalthea.
"Thanks for your help, Mabruk. But I don't know if I can keep my promise. If the spell changes everything…"Amalthea said worried.
"Just relax. I take care of myself. Just make sure that you then can handle this “control of weather and daytime” thingy." That was the problem. Amalthea did not know how she should do this. Check the weather conditions and at the same time like the times of the day? It was almost impossible for a single Unicorn.
"I've heard you and I will help you, sister." Luna said, who was just looking after Amalthea.
"Luna? You should play outside with the others."
"I did. That was fun. And now I want to be with you again."
"Good, Luna. But you have to understand that it is a big responsibility. How would you like to help me?"
"I want to care about the Moon, because I love it. He is like the Sun, but you can look at its beauty without to go blind. And he gives light in the night, too."
"Can you handle it? Are you sure, this isn’t too big for you?"
"I've been practicing hard, big sister. I think I need a few times more, but I can do that."
"Well. If you want to do this, then this is your job now. Then I will take care of the Sun and the weather. But what we’re going to do with Molly, Schmendrick, and Lir? I really like them, but also the well-being of the unicorns is my responsibility. But there is no other option. Do you have any idea how we could bring the three humans to safety, Mabruk?"
Mabruk began to grin again.
"Oh, sure I have. I should protect three people from one of the powerful spells. What should I do? Should I create a parallel universe for humans instead for unicorns?" replied Mabruk sarcastically. Amalthea was wide-eyed. How Mabruk did came up with such ideas? But on the other side: The idea was not so stupid after all. However, Amalthea didn’t even know how this should work. She looked again at Mabruk and wanted to hear more about this plan. It was the only idea after all.
"Oh, you are serious? HAHAHA! ", laughed the magician," so that was actually meant to be a joke.' But...I could imagine creating something like that. I just want a consideration for that, of course."
Amalthea was surprised that Mabruk had a spell. But she didn’t like that always want a consideration when he should do something. After all, he was welfare of all living beings.
"I appreciate your offer, old Wizard. This could be the saving grace for the three humans. But what do you want for it?" "I want to be free. Only these “Low Level” jokes and pranks that you allowed me. I would like to unfold myself again to free, you understand?"
Amalthea was concerned. Should she allow Mabruk just to play all jokes and pranks he wanted? The question sounded totally insane, but this was the only opportunity that remained to find a new home for Molly, Schmendrick, and Lir. "I accept your claims, magician. But be warned, as before, if you harm any unicorn, there is a consequence for you." "Yes, and if we cannot send you away, we will turn you into stone."
Mabruk kept laughing at the little Luna.
"In stone? Seriously? You can’t even cast a large transformation spell, but want to turn equal living creatures into stone? This is just hilarious." Mabruk rolled laughing on the floor.
Amalthea took Luna in protection.
"We hope that it will never come so far, sorcerer, for both sides, as wizards and unicorns."
After Mabruk again calmed, he stood up and took his Scepter in his hand. He muttered a few words which became louder. Slowly a storm appeared outside. The sky turned dark. Lir, Schmendrick and Molly saw that the spark of glamour came from the Castle and ran as fast as they could. When they arrived, they saw that Mabruk’s spell circled Amalthea and Luna.
"NO! What are you doing with them, Mabruk? Let them go." Schmendrick yelped and ran the Throne Hall up to the bookshelves.
Amalthea and Luna wanted to tell him that this is a big misunderstanding. But they had to concentrate for the magic. Schmendrick went between Mabruk and the unicorns and started to recite a counter spell. This showed no effect, Mabruk didn’t react about that. He also was deeply focused on his magic. Slowly everyone realized how the environment began to change. The painting of King Haggard slowly disappeared from the walls and everything went...kind of flat. The details on the stone wall disappeared as well, and the landscape that they could see through the windows was getting very colorful. As well the cloths were now more luminous, pleasant and friendly. As even the throne room was filled with the magic, Amalthea and Luna lit up brightly. Schmendrick tried anything to stop it. He gave up at this moment, when he realized through the window how all unicorns slowly began to lift off from the ground. All were now caught in Mabruk's magical spell. They also started to light up like Amalthea and Luna. When it became too bright, the three humans had to shut their eyes in case of not being dazzled. Then there was a big bang and the bright shine was slowly disappearing. When the humans opened their eyes again, they saw a big rainbow wave out of the window which flew at the sky across the whole country. They had never seen anything like it. The landscape was no longer the same. The water, the meadows and the air. Everything went just to perfection. But they quickly concentrate on Amalthea and Luna, who slowly ceased to shine. As they were visible again, the three could not believe their eyes. Amalthea and Luna have also transformed: Amalthea's mane has changed into a bigger on which now consisted of the colours turquoise, green, blue and pink instead of silver. Also Luna had changed. Her mane was dark blue and shimmering. When they took a closer look, the shimmer looked like an amount of thousand small stars which she wore in her mane. They noticed the biggest change to the body itself: the face was smaller, the eyes were larger. Now you could clearly see the eye color of the two unicorns. On the body of itself, the unicorns, the three noticed another big change: Amalthea and Luna had wings. They were half-transformed into two Pegasi, but these wings were different. They were larger than those of the other Pegasi they had seen so far.
"Amalthea! Luna! Are you all right?"
The two unicorns came back to their senses. Amalthea replied exhausted:
"What happened? Is everything alright? Are you all doing well? How are the other unicorns?"
As Amalthea was sane again, she ran as quickly as possible the throne room down to the entrance gate. She went through the gate, but stopped for the first time she looked at the outside. It was all different. The landscape, the sky and the forest. She carefully walked towards the Woods, but she saw from afar that the unicorns also changed. Their fur now had all different colors. The same happened to their mane. They looked beautiful. But Amalthea understands quickly that she transformed, too. When she had resigned with the idea, she thought herself that it is still better to be transformed into a human.
Human? Of course! For a brief moment, she forgot that she must take care of the humans to leave this place. It would be not easy. Amalthea didn’t want to let them go, she had experienced so much here, however, many things were connected with the horrible past. It was bound to happen, because there is no other way. She had to do it for her unicorns. So Amalthea went back to the "Castle of the two sisters" and went through the throne room until she was back at the group.
"Amalthea, did you see it? How does it look like out there?" Molly asked.
"It looks just perfect. I had imagined the Kingdom exactly like this. How did you that do, Mabruk?"
Mabruk had to sit for the first time to this effort. He relied on his sceptre.
"Amalthea…I had not much to do. Your magic and your idea of a perfect Kingdom were almost enough to make this. Take a look around, this is your Kingdom, Amalthea. Or should I say Queen Amalthea?"
"Queen?" But why?" she asked excitedly.
Mabruk smirked.
"Schmendrick, could you please explain her, what creature she is?"
Schmendrick looked exactly at Amalthea. It took a few minutes until he found a suitable word.
"That cannot be. You're actually a..."
"What am I, Schmendrick? Tell me please." Said Amalthea concerned.
"You're an alicorn, Amalthea. You and Luna have both transformed into alicorns. I can hardly believe what I see. You are now In charge of all properties that have been given to the various unicorns in the course of time. With Luna you're the most powerful unicorns since the legend."
Amalthea was not prepared for that. She was completely caught off by the events which happened over the last minutes. Luna was very happy about her new look. She looked amazed at her new wings and her fur. But Amalthea has not enjoyed at first. She wanted to make sure that really everything had gone well. Suddenly, Mabruk panicked, as he jumped up and went down the stairs to the throne room.
"Mabruk, what is it? Where are you going?" Molly called after him.
"My clock! I didn’t think about it as I performed the magic. I hope it's still there."
He ran down to the grand hall, which looked also different now. The tiles were clean and the hall shone bright. The torches were on fire and lit up the entire hall. There, where the clock stood once, there was now a large mirror. It was fitted with eye-catching embellishments. Horseshoe symbols were scattered on the base of the mirror and 11 pink gems were scattered on the edge of the mirror.
"Ah, the portal is still there. Very good. I couldn’t forgive myself when I would destroy my great invention." Mabruk rejoiced.
"Why? The clock is gone? There is only a mirror left." Noticed Schmendrick.
"The clock is unimportant. It’s just about the portal. That's no ordinary mirror. This is the same portal, through which you went all the time. I'm just wondering how we can now enter the portal, since the mirror is blocking the portal. "Although..."
Mabruk slowly approached the mirror. He groped the bottom off and the edge. Finally he touched the mirror itself, which soon lit up at the spot, where Mabruk touched the mirror. He was visibly relieved.
"The portal is still there. It is the mirror surface. You can just walk through the mirror. I wonder whether the portal has still the same goal."
Mabruk went through the portal. All were like perplexed. What will happen now? Is Mabruk okay? Amalthea was hoping that he would come right back from the portal and would say that everything is still okay.
"I guess this can take a while with the old man. We should sit down and wait." Lir joked.
"I must tell you something..." Amalthea said to the humans "It is very important that you listen to me carefully." "We’re listening to you, Amalthea." Molly said.
"When this all is over, we must say goodbye from each other unfortunately. The spell that Mabruk had summoned up has that complies what I wanted. But there is a consideration. We unicorns can live here in peace, but no human is allowed to live with us."
The words shocked everyone. They didn’t want to leave Amalthea, especially Lir. They knew each other now for so long time.
“Amalthea. We were by your side the whole time. We will not disturb your peace." Molly pleaded.
"I'm sorry, that are the terms of the spell. But I have an agreement with Mabruk that he has found a solution for you. I hope he keeps his promise."
"And what, if not?" Where we would go, Amalthea?" Molly said desperately.
The alicorn was unsure. Before she could respond however, Mabruk appeared out of the portal with a big smile.
"It is just too wonderful. I think I killed two birds with one stone.” he said.
"What are you talking about, old man?" asked Lir confused.
"Amalthea! The parallel universe! It exist! I can't believe it. Guys, this is the portal to the human world. It almost looks like this place. It's simply wonderful."
Mabruk had fulfilled the promise and found a new accommodation for Molly, Schmendrick, and Lir. As all looked to each other, they knew that the time had come to say goodbye.
"So, Amalthea. You really want that we do that?" asked Schmendrick again.
"You heard her. Only the unicorns can stay. Who knows what happens if we would stay." said Molly.
"Oh, I can tell you. You and Lir would simply disappear with time. But for you, Schmendrick, something different would happen to you: the magic would try to turn you into a different creature. When it fails with that you will end up as a hideous creature, more specifically a chimera. You want to let that happen to you, a disfigured creature for the rest of your life? I mean, that doesn't bother me, I always wanted to know how it is to live as a magical being, but I cannot expect the same from you..."
The three humans understood the problem. But before she steps through the portal, Schmendrick went quickly back to say goodbye to Amalthea.
"Magician, what are you doing? You will turn. I would like to no blame for what will happen to you."
"It’s okay, Amalthea. I wanted to thank you for, what you've done for us and the unicorns. You've developed yourself from the ‘last’ unicorn to a magnificent alicorn. It suits you to rule over this land. Lead with Luna the unicorns to a new era, Queen Amalthea." Amalthea blushed on both cheeks.
"Please...I’m not a queen." That sounds too pretentious. But if you want to still call myself a high title, then say Princess, please. That sounds younger. Now, get to safety, magician. It’s too difficult to say goodbye to you. t was to meet you an honor."
Schmendrick nodded and turned back to Molly and Lir. Suddenly Luna ran to Molly and pressed herself against her.
"I'm so thankful that I could meet you. We will never forget you."
"We won’t also. Thank you for everything." Molly said as she stroked Luna over her mane one last time. Then Luna went slowly back to Amalthea, and stood next to her big sister. And so the three humans crossed the portal on the search for a new life, far away from their original home country, which was now ruled by Princess Amalthea and Princess Luna. They knew Amalthea would take good care on the country and the unicorns. When they all had passed the portal, Mabruk began suddenly to light.
"What happens with you, Mabruk?" asked Amalthea.
"The metamorphosis, my dear. I said it earlier: I'm staying here, and if I must transform into a hideous creature for it. I become one with the magic!"
Mabruk rose up into the air and disappeared in a bright light cone. The transformation didn't take long. After a few moments, the cone of light dissolved. Amalthea couldn't believe their eyes. Mabruk had really changed. But something was wrong. At the first glance, Mabruk now looked like a chimera. But something about him was different: he looked more like a dragon. In addition, he looked partly like an eagle. His face graced a white eyebrow/goatee combination. He looked kinda funny, Amalthea is found. She had to just chuckle when Mabruk came to.
"What is happening? How do I look? ", said Mabruk as he went to the mirror of the portal.
"Oh my goodness, what happened to me?" yelped Mabruk.
"You chose your destiny, sorcerer. The magic has just done what it wanted."
"Oh, I'm not talking about the chimera’s body. I mean this eyebrows/goatee combination! I look like King Haggard. Simply disgusting! How could the magic gave me just that haircut?"
"Your body exudes a pretty big ‘discord’ and you're worried about your hair?"
"Discord? No, I'm feeling fine. To tell you the truth, I've felt never better. Look how flexible my body is now. Excellent! I can fly! I can fly!" Amalthea and Luna were happy that Mabruk enjoyed his transformation. At least one of her human friends would remain at her side.
"You did very well, Mabruk, very well." the magician praised himself. You could tell that he lisped due to a crooked tooth that was grown. "I wonder what else I could do with this body. I think I'll investigate a little bit."
Then the magician disappeared flying to the library. Probably, he would read the books now for information on chimeras. However, many books were no longer there, she disappeared with the memories of King Haggard. Only those who met the King personally would still remind him, Amalthea suspected. However, the later generations wouldn’t remember any of this timeline where humans lived here. Schmendrick, Molly and Lir... They all now left as a memory of Princess Amalthea. As she and Luna went on the way to the other unicorns, they expected Amalthea with longing. They quickly realized that Amalthea and Luna were to two particular unicorns.
"Hello Amalthea, Hello Luna." Are you okay? You look so changed!" one of the unicorns noticed.
"Yes. You recognized it correctly. The reason is that we've turned into something special. The humans called me an alicorn."
"Alicorn? Is that really true, Amalthea? This means, that you two the most powerful Unicorns of the whole country." Amalthea and Luna chops ran red with as much recognition the other unicorns gave to them.
"Is she a Princess now?" asked the little Luna.
"Princess? Are you thinking about leading us, Amalthea?"
"The people gave that title to me. I will watch over you, my brothers and sisters, guide and protect you, as I did at first too. If you want to have me as your leader, it doesn't change. But now I have the responsibility to take care of the daytime and the weather with Luna by my side. I am responsible for the Sun, Luna for the moon."
"My dear princesses. It would be an honor for us if you would take this place. This also applies to you, little Luna. You both are our princesses now. "Princess Amalthea and Princess Luna." Luna looked at Amalthea with a leaning look from the side. She was thinking about something...
"Since the people are gone now, I think Amalthea needs a new name."
Amalthea was surprised. She had not even thought about that. This name was given to her by the humans. But to forget the past faster, she should change her name maybe.
"Good, Luna. What do you suggest what my name should be?"
The little Luna was thinking deeply. But also the other unicorns were thinking about a new name. They came up with names like: Theresa, Maria, and Nova... But for the most unicorns this names still sounds very human. Then, Luna spoke again:
"So I think it should have something to do with her strength." Remember, she is now the most powerful unicorn of all of us. Therefore her name should sound heavenly."
That brought Luna to an idea.
"Another word for heavenly...celestial...celest...I got it!'
"What did you find for a name for me, little sister?"
“I will call you...Celestia!"
Celestia! What a lovely name, thought Amalthea. Then she nodded to Luna and the Unicorn, which still stand in front of the two alicorns. It announced the following:
"So be it. On behalf of all present unicorns here we hereby appoint you both to Celestia, Princess of the Sun and Luna, Princess of the night! ", said the Unicorn, and bowed itself in front of Celestia and Luna.
Followed by all other unicorns, who are also bowed themselves towards to the two alicorns. It was a very emotional moment for the two princesses. While all of their recognition in HUF patter expressed, Celestia and Luna in the arm took themselves, and Celestia thanked her sister again.
"Thanks for this beautiful name, my little sister. I love you."
"And I love you, big sister Celestia." Luna winked at her.
The celebration lasted till the end of the day. However, the sun still stood up the sky. Celestia realized that she was now responsible with Luna for the day and night cycles. She just hoped that Luna was already so far to fulfil her task. Now she wasn’t a little filly anymore. She was now quite a fully grown mare, but Amalthea thought that Mabruk’s spell helped her a little so she could fulfil her task as the ' Princess of the night’. In fact, Luna was almost a fully grown Alihorn.
And so the time passed until something new happened. Celestia and Luna ensured that the weather and the time of day went to a regulated procedure, rising the sun and moon up, and she brought the clouds to rain, which helped to make the country flourish again. The other unicorns started to evolve slowly. They began to build small houses, where they raised their children after that. Mabruk was left for a long time, thought Celestia and Luna. But as long as he did no chaos, as he had prophesied, everything was fine. Then a very long time passed away where nothing happened. However, Celestia watched her herd slowly growing, but the unicorns who she knew since the beginning of the new era, aged and died later. Of course there are enough young Unicorn descendants, but it hurt Celestia and Luna when they had to bid farewell to a well-known Unicorn. But that was just the circle of life. The old passed away and new life emerged.
Then, after a very long time something happened in the "Everfree Forest" again. A few of the unicorns, which had separated from the Group since a long time, returned now. The Pegasi unicorns but also the Earth unicorns. They came with a very important message. Celestia noticed that the Pegasi and unicorns Earth wore no Horn at all and were now significantly smaller. Apparently, the horns disappeared with time, but the magic was still inside them. After a short introduction of the new visitors, one of the Earth Unicorns started to talk: "It has happened much since we left this place here. At our home we were responsible for the food, while the Pegasi controlled the weather which was necessary for the growing of our food plants. Since the transformation happened to the country, they demanded a share of the food in return for their services. This brittle relationship lasted as long until a terrible snow storm went over the whole country and brought a food shortage with it. We had to find a new home to grow food again. However, we found a suitable piece of land beneath the great mountain over there, and on our way to this place our nations met again. We could not agree with each other, who should admit the country. Is this piece of land yours?
"It belongs to us all. You're here at home as we do. But at first, please tell me who you are." Celestia said quietly.
The two unicorns from the first group began to introduce themselves.
"My name? My name is Chancellor Puddinghead. I'm the leader of the tribe of the Earth ponies."
"I'm Smart Cookie, Secretary of Chancellor Puddinghead."
Celestia had to giggle at that name, but then she turned to the Pegasi.
"Commander Hurricane, I’m the leader of the tribe of the Pegasi by"Cloudsdale."
"And I'm Private Pansy, subordinate of Commander Hurricane."
There were also two unicorns from the last group:
"I’m the Princess Platinum, daughter of the King of the unicorns and leader of the tribe of the unicorns. We come from the North from the
"Crystal Kingdom". King Sombra claimed this piece of land to his kingdom. "
"And I am the Clover, the Clever, the adviser of Princess Platinum."
"So, that we finally introduced you to each other, nice meeting you. I am Princess Celestia. I control the Sun and the moon with my sister Luna. May I know why you call yourselves 'Ponies'?"
"You're Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? It's an honor to meet the two legendary alicorns. Centuries we talked about you. Unfortunately, many of the old unicorns are deceased over the time. Since then, our peoples are increasingly younger horses. Also our bodies have adapted to the work over the years and our horns degenerated, too. Therefore we call us the race of the earth ponies. Apparently you have more young horses than older ones in your group, too."
The earth pony was right. Since many years there are more young unicorns left in the Group of Celestia and Luna.
"…but the ravages of time are not visible on you as alicorns. That pleases us. Now, about that piece of land..."
"If you want our country, you must provide us with food as well.” noticed a Unicorn from Celestia's group. But this was very unhelpful and fueled the discussion.
"Say what? We come here to you in a case of emergency and so would you like to help us, unicorns? Well, if that’s your opinion then you leave us no other choice but to take this piece of land. I hereby claim, as the Chancellor Puddinhead, this piece of land and call it "Mud city"! “
"Mud city? We better call it 'Earth'! ", Smart Cookie interjected but Chancellor Puddinghead agreed with that idea.
"This is going too far. We will claim this land for us Pegasi and I hereby call it 'Pegasopolis'." Commander Hurricane interjected.
"No. This Kingdom belongs to our King. We call this land 'Unicornia'." The dispute flared up. Celestia and Luna did not interfere in the discussion, later they notice three ghostly horses who surveyed the groups from above through a cloud gap. Celestia was sure: These creatures were Windigos. Celestia had read about them. Windigos are winter spirits who nourish hatred and hostility. Apparently, the groups were often in dispute earlier. Celestia and Luna didn't know how they should resolve this dispute. The storm was getting intense and the temperature dropped sharply. Celestia and Luna took as many ponies as possible in the castle of the two sisters to protect them from the snow storm, but the other ponies went into a hidden cave in the forest. Celestia and Luna watched the storm from the castle. It looked like the Windigos and the snow storm went into the cave, too. The Princess could not help the other ponies in there because she didn’t know a spell against the Windigos. The wind blew out the torches in the Castle. It was getting colder as the Windigos flew in the cave. Before the complete environment was starting to freeze, something happened in the cave. A bright purple beam lit up the entire cave and later the complete forest. The wind was getting weaker and the freezing stopped immediately. The storm was slowly pulled back and the warmth of the sun broke through the frigid clouds again.
"They did it! The storm is over!" said Princess Celestia, as she felt the first rays of sun on her skin again.
The ponies came out of the cave. Celestia decided to do the same and left the castle with her herd. They met each other again on the peace of land beneath the great mountain.
"I see you have come to a solution?" Celestia asked the ponies.
"Yes. We have a deal. We have noticed that you were right. This is our country. We all live here, together as unicorns, pegasi and earth pony. In fact, we are almost all ponies. ", laughed Clover, the clever.
"It is very nice to see that you are all in friendship now. You know, we thought to give a name to this new country. Do you have an idea for this?"
"Yes, we have already thought about this..." said Clover, the clever and whispered the name into Celestia’s ear.
"So be it. I, Princess Celestia, call this country, which is now known as the home of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, 'Equestria'!"
That was one of the most memorable days in Celestia's life. Since that long-ago era, much has changed. The ponies now lived together in harmony in Equestria, and began to slowly build their small settlement, which they called "Ponyville". Because of the fertility of this land, the old cities, like "Apple Loosa" and "Cloudsdale" could be rebuilt. The Harpies lived separately since they leaved, but they also transformed after the spell, now they looked like Griffons and until today they are living in their kingdom and in their village “Griffonstone”. However, their character was still so mean and greedy, as you knew it from Celaeno. Mabruk appeared after a long time, his power has become very strong in the years of his absence. But he came back with evil intention and spread his pranks and jokes all over the world. He called himself ‘Discord’, God of chaos. Celestia and Luna could not protect Equestria from his chaos and they couldn't banish him, because ‘Discord’ was now too powerful for them. When Celestia and Luna were seeking for a counter spell, Mabruk crashed as Discord Equestria into chaos. The princesses finally found a way to stop him, the "tree of harmony" should restore the balance of peace in Equestria and stop ‘Discord’. Now that the portal in the "Castle of the two sisters" was connected to the human world, Celestia and Luna had to search for another way to the ‘tree of harmony’. On their search after the tree, discord turned the “Everfree Forest” into a crazy place full of dark creatures, which had the task to divert Celestia and Luna from reaching the tree. After some effort and many scratches, they managed to get the element stones from the tree of harmony.
Celestia remembered when she saw the tree with Schmendrick for the first time.
Only those whose souls are found to be worthy will mark the trunk of that tree and would be marked as well. They will be marked as something special, a harmonious connection.
Then following happened: Celestia and Luna noticed that the symbols of a sun and a moon appeared on the trunk of the tree. The same was happening to Celestia and Luna. The symbols appeared on their fur on their rear body. They were now marked from the tree and got the elements of harmony. With the elements they succeeded to stop discord's machinations by petrifying him. All celebrated the triumph over discord and Celestia as most powerful alicorn. Luna was moved more and more into the background. But Celestia recognized too late that Luna was much suppressed about this, but Celestia never took the time to talk to Luna about it due to her responsibilities. This grief turned in anger and hate over the years. Suddenly Luna place herself in the foreground, after years she disappeared in Celestia's shadow, didn’t lower the moon, so Celestia couldn’t raise the sun. Celestia didn’t appreciate this desperate cry for attention and ordered Luna to stop her actions immediately. Celestia threatened her sister, for the benefit of all unicorns, to impeach Luna of her task and would take care of the daytime by herself. Her anger turned Luna in one of the darkest creatures, in which an alicorn could turn. She got powerful dark forces with which she wanted to rule over the ponies. She called herself "Nightmare Moon", but before she could inflict damage however, Celestia had to protect her kingdom and used the elements of harmony against Nightmare Moon. The power of Nightmare Moon was so strong that a reverse transformation into Luna was not possible yet. But Celestia didn’t want to petrify her because inside she was still her sister Luna after all. Therefore she banished Nightmare Moon for 1000 years on the Moon, because under normal circumstances a alicorn could survive a very long without any problems and that should give Celestia plenty of time to find a solution. Celestia remembered that Luna always liked the Moon so much and probably the dark power would drain after 1000 years away from her and she would come back as her little sister Luna. If this wouldn’t be the case, so at least the power of Nightmare moon would no longer be sufficient enough to protect her from a reverse transformation with the help the elements of harmony. At that point Celestia stopped to write the "Journal of the Two Sisters" further.
Since this event, it was unsustainable for Celestia to live in the "Castle of the two sisters" anymore. So she left the elements of harmony in the throne room of the Castle. The elements fossilized to protect themselves and remained standing as a statue in the Castle. Celestia only took the portal to the human world with her, hoping to hear something from the other side someday. However, it was time to find a new home. The ponies were of the opinion that as a princess Celestia must live in castle. So they built for their Princess on the big mountain over "Ponyville" a great castle after Celestia's proposals. Certainly, many of the ideas of Celestia came from King Haggard’s old castle, because she did not know how a castle should look in any other way, the only castle she also reminded was the "Castle of the two sisters". Later, the castle was finished and looked very good to Celestia. Sure, the castle still reminded Celestia of Haggard's Castle but now his era was completely wiped out and so she could confidently move in. But to the Princess it was important to have contact to their ponies and so she also let build a small town, which was now known under the name of "Canterlot". Celestia kept the portal in the cellar of the castle. The portal to the human world still worked, but Celestia had never the opportunity to enter the portal. The responsibility here in Equestria over time was simply too much. And since the story with Luna happened she had to take care of everything. Lir, Schmendrick and Molly would probably no longer exist in the other world after such a long time.
Since that moment, many more centuries in the country passed where Celestia ruled and protected the ponies from harm until today. Again, the older generations passed away and opened the way for the new generations. The new generation comes with new traditions. Despite that no humans were left here, Celestia noticed that the behavior of the ponies evolved fast. Their characters were now very playful and younger. They started to use tools to produce food faster. A lot changed in the variety of the food. Suddenly there were numerous different kinds of vegetables and fruit they could eat. The small village "Ponyville" grew to a large town. As one of the first earth ponies, a family from Apple Loosa decided to build an Apple Orchard in Ponyville to supply the city with extra food. The founder of the farm "Sweet Apple Acres" were honored by Celestia with a personal visit. The two ponies were known as Granny Smith Apple and Pink Lady Pie. Granny Smith was an ACE on the plantation, and no other pony but she managed it to grow so many varieties of Apple. Pink Lady Pie was one of the first Bakers in Ponyville. When she offered Apple Pie as one of her first dishes, all ponies were so impressed that she gained importance very quickly. Soon after that, she decided to build a private bakery named "Sugarcube corner" in the city center. But before that, the summer came first. She developed new recipes and baked in addition with more sugar, so that the ponies are provided with the necessary calories that they would need over the next winter with ease.
A few years later began the ponies continue to evolve themselves again. They were concentrating on studying the environment; to try out new things. Many of the ponies were teaching others about the past of Equestria. But about the past before Equestria was there Celestia was the only one who knew what happened. But many ponies went to the Princess in hope she would teach them and tell them how it was before Equestria existed. And one pony showed so much dedication that Celestia hired her as her student. Her name was Sunset Shimmer. Sunset was always curious and ambitious. At this point Celestia had never expected that this would be a problem after a time. As Sunset Shimmer became aware of the portal to the human world, Celestia didn’t want to take her in danger and told her to avoid the portal. But Sunset Shimmer ignored this order and wanted to know more about the portal. After that Celestia threatened her to abort her teaching of Sunset Shimmer. However, Sunset Shimmer didn’t respect Celestia that much so he went through the portal to the human world. She promised to get even more powerful than Celestia. She feared that Sunset would return with allies. So, she closed the portal with a spell that allows her to pass the portal every 30 moons. So, Sunset Shimmer had no chance to come back and the portal could be left open. Celestia reproached herself that she failed as a teacher. But she wanted to make this incident good again by looking for a new student. After Celestia had recovered from this experience, she ordered a new examination to check which unicorns of Canterlot had enough power to keep up with Celestia's lessons. The directive was Sunset Shimmer, of course. Celestia was especially interested in one unicorn: Twilight Sparkle. She was a very skilled unicorn, but she has a bit of practice problems. She had to hatch a dragon egg with magic. Suddenly Celestia noticed that there was a big bang outside. She looked outside and saw the same rainbow she first saw since the creation of the new world. This had to be a very special moment. That was something Celestia didn’t experienced again in thousands of years. When she came back to see how the examination was going, Twilight get distracted so much from the bang that she had no stage fright in front of the other ponies in the examination. She managed to hatch the dragon egg...inside the egg was a little purple baby dragon with green spikes. He was given to Twilight to take care of him.
Now the time had come: The day after tomorrow was the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. Celestia had to think about Luna again. The grief and the feelings of guilt came up again after all this time. 1000 years passed until now since she banished Luna to the moon. Celestia knew, on the longest day in the thousandth year the stars would help her to escape and she would provide eternal night. Celestia hoped only that Luna turned back during this long period of time and would return to Equestria in peace. "I'm so sorry, my little sister. I hope we can forgive each other after all this time... ", She sobbed, as she was suddenly torn from her day-dreaming by a letter."
The letter came from her student Twilight Sparkle.
„My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster… I await your quick response. Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle."
Celestia knew exactly what she was talking about. But she did not want to confuse twilight. So far, since the transformation into nightmare Moon, Luna was known only as 'The Mare in the Moon'. Twilight had apparently found the old books. But this secret had to be protected absolutely. So, Celestia wrote Twilight the following letter:
"My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books. My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!
