Prologue - Sins of The Father
In The Canterlot Archives, all was quiet deep into the night. The books were reorganized for the next day and all the candles extinguished. Save for one. A single candlestick light up a table that a purple Unicorn used to catch up on some late night research. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's prized pupil, had gotten permission to stay here after dark for an important study session. The subject of her research was to assist the Princess in preparing a speech to address the Summit of Equus. She would have used her own library, but for what she was asked to look up, it was not enough to help her here.
"Ugh..." Twilight rubbed her eyes, with her hooves. "I wish I brought Spike here..."
This Summit was very Important to the political structure of Equus, especially these days where the world was hell bent on destroying each other. One such practitioner of destruction was Silverbeak, the newly crowned Emperor of the Griffons. He had been the victor of a three sided Civil War in the Kingdom of Griffonstone and agreed to come to the Summit after two years of the Griffons being absent. The purple unicorn yawned into her hoof as she flipped another book over, this one hopefully did not mention the iron-clawed tyrant: The Equestrian Heresy.
"Never heard of this one," Twilight thought aloud.
A magical aura surrounded the large bound book and it opened from the beginning. This book was obviously old. How old? She could not tell herself, but surely it must have been a fictional 'What If' scenario. It goes into detail about a time where twin sisters ruled over all of Equestria and even held territories across the ocean-
"During the reign of the Regal Sisters, a tragedy had occurred over the land of Equestria. One so large, that the entirety of Equus felt the shockwave. The younger ruler had disappeared and the kingdom fell into disarray. The Earth Ponies Front led a revolutionary cause, The Cardinals of the Religious Order, The Temple of the One, had all been murdered and then the Advisor to the Crown had gone missing. The only way for the Elder Ruler to bring order to the land was with an Iron-Hoof. The Colony was left to become slaves of the Griffon Tribes, the Temple was reorganized to worship her as the sole deity, and the younger sister was stricken-"
THUD
With a flash of magic, each and every wax candle lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree. In the alabaster room, surrounded by books, Twilight could see an older stallion with brown fur, and matching mane, staring at her with wide blue eyes.
"W-Who Are You?" Twilight's voice quivered.
"Oh.. Uh... I apologize for startling you, Mor.. Madame ." The Stallion's eyes fell to the ground where a book laid on the floor. "I am Rustic Peace. A Scholar of sorts... And You are?"
A wave of relief showered over her, it was just somepony who dropped his book. Though, this was rather odd. Considering the Library was locked up and that nopony should be able to get in without a key. She was no longer scared but curious about this old stallion named Rustic Peace.
"I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's Prized Pupil..." Her prideful voice then replaced by a questioning tone. "What are you doing here? At night... In the Dark... Alone."
"Ah... Yes," Rustic trots over to her table. "I was looking for a book, uh, a particular book. A very rare and very unfindable... that's not a word... hard book to find... The Equestrian Heresy."
"Oh... You happen to be in luck," Twilight levitates the book over to Rustic. "I need to get back to my research and this horrible fantasy novel has only been distracting me."
"Oh, my apologies..." Rustic grabs the book with his mouth and sets it back onto the table, observing her frustration "Perhaps I could be of assistance. Like I've said I'm a Scholar."
"Of Sorts." She retorted.
"Well... A Scholar nonetheless. Would you like my help or not?"
Twilight opens her mouth to politely decline his offer, but she stops herself. 'He offered and what could it hurt?' She only had until her next meeting with the Princess to give her the points. She sighs and relents to the brown stallion.
"Yes, it would be a lot of help if you did." She filled him on her predicament. The Summit and that it would occur during the Grand Galloping Gala. She had to give the Princess at least Six talking points, and she couldn't pinpoint a single idea.
"I know Princess Celestia just gave me this task, but this is SO important! I need to get it down Today! The entire peace between the Nations is in the balance!"
"First," Rustic raised his hoof to silence the paranoid mare. "Calm yourself. You will never get anywhere with this through anxiety."
"I know, but-"
"No buts. No buts. Uh... Secondly, we need to start slow. The first topic should be about something... Honesty."
"Honesty?"
"Yes! Honesty with the other Nations. For over one-thousand years we haven't had a political dropout with them-"
Rustic Peace began to go into detail on five points, Honesty with the Nations, the Loyalty to Defend Allies, the Generosity given to the less fortunate Nations, the Kindness shown to the Nations, and even the Laughter shared when met together.
Twilight was surprised that his answers, any question she asked or even any hole she tried to poke in his reasoning, he always responded with a perfectly thought out response. This pony must have been a politician or an Ambassador, so she looked down at his cutie mark. A formerly Golden Olive branch, that was now covered in Rust. This only piqued her curiosity.
"So... You're a Scholar?" Twilight asked quizzically, hoping she could reason this pony's expertise.
"Well... I've been a lot of things in my Long life. Ambassador, Philosopher, and even an Advisor to the Crown-" Rustic stopped suddenly, as if he didn't mean to let that last title slip.
"To the Crown? an Advisor to princess Celestia?" Much to his dismay she was intrigued by that last title. Her gaze turned back to that old book one last time.
"A very long time ago, I highly doubt she would even remember me. A Millennia is a long time."
"Millenia?"
Twilight's puzzled face looked up to meet the stallion, but he was missing. His chair was empty, the book was gone, and there were no signs that anypony had sat with her. This did more to startle her, 'Did I just hallucinate somepony to help me?' 'Sleep Depravity?' She could've gone insane checking the possibilities, so Twilight took this as a message to go home and sleep.
She arose and began placing books back in their correct home and finally leaned in to blow out the final candle. Darkness consumed the Library as Twilight walked out of the building quickly, to get some well deserved rest and contemplate on what just happened.
Looking down over the Everfree Forest from Canterlot, the brown pony sighed at the sight of an old dilapidated castle. Being here, in this new capitol, was strange. Rustic has never visited here before, whether out of respect for the Princess's privacy or out of fear of her. Those blue eyes then looked from the ground and up to the sky at the moon.
It was a staring contest. Though being one-sided, he could see those eyes and they haunted him. He shook his head, a light neighing along with it. Oh, how he hated that. Becoming more pony than man at this point. He had already forgot life before this place, save for a few things he brought with him.
The stallion looked back up at the sky, but not at the moon this time but the void of space.
"God... God is that you?" Rustic Peace spoke aloud. "It's me... You.. But not you..."
There was only a deafening silence, but that did not sway him away.
"Been awhile, I think. I don't... I think the last time we spoke was a thousand years ago? Has it really been that long?"
Even more silence, but he continued to have a conversation with "God" as it brought him some comfort.
"I.. I can't do it. I really can't," He pleaded upwards. "I can't do both at once... I'm going to ruin it again. I'm going to ruin their reunion, I should just go back to wandering.. Maybe it will all fade away. I feel it in my bones. These old bones are going to turn to dust aren't they? Death comes for us all... Maybe even you."
The stallion sighed one last time, because he knew he had to face them. Both of them. All on his own. He felt a feeling he never felt before.. No, that would be a lie.. A feeling he felt only once.
Fear.
"Fuck... Fuck..." His tone got louder and deeper into his mental lapse he yelled out at the sky. "Fine I'll bucking-FUCK-! No! Not Buck-Fuck-MotherFUCK!"
Nearby, a patrol of two royal guards marched next to each other. One a female pegasus, hovering next to the male earth pony. They talked, all they could do when the palace was the safest place in the realm. Nothing ever happened here-
"FUCK!"
They gave each other a small glance before rushing over to a balcony. Upon bursting open the door, only a gust of wind could be heard fading off in the distance. The two glanced at each other one last time before simultaneously saying:
"What the buck?"