> My little angel > by Hydreigon_Omega > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘War…’ ‘It isn’t a pretty sight…’ ‘Why was it even called a holy war? There is nothing Holy about war, it was what had killed both my parents when my brother was only 2 years old.’ These are all thoughts that bounced around inside of Ludociel’s head as he was being led to a reclusive area. The vegetation of the fairy king’s forest covered the majority of their path and view from above. This part of the forest radiated a strange energy that prevented even the most powerful of magic from being detected. “Brother?” Mael asked, timidly holding his elder brother’s hand “Where are we going?” It was the third time Mael had asked this question. “I cannot tell you.” Ludociel said, as he put on a joyful smile to hide his aching heart, “It’s something for you.” “We are almost here.” Gloxinia said, “The most reclusive part of the fairy king’s forest is just up ahead.” “Thank you.” Ludociel said, as he continued to walk, “You may return to your people.” “Are you sure this is the best for him?” Tarmiel asked, “You're the only family he has ever had.” “Yes, but Mael is also the only family Ludociel has left,” Sariel interjected, “If he is captured by anyone, it could give them a nearly unrivaled political power.” “Sariel? Tarmiel?” Mael asked, “What are you talking about?” “Nothing you need to worry Mael,” Tarmiel said to comfort him. For a moment, Mael saw Tarmiel’s expression flicker from joy to immense sadness. He couldn’t understand what was going on, but he felt fearful. He wanted to know what was going on, but Ludociel would always hide the truth from him when he would ask a question. Mael knew Ludociel was hiding the truth from him, but he could never get anything out of Ludociel. “We are here.” Ludociel said as they stopped at a small clearing. The clearing was only big enough for a small room to place in it. As they looked around at their surroundings, the sky was completely covered with the leaves of the trees, and the brush prevented them from seeing the path they just walked. Mael saw a small tear roll down Ludociel’s cheek, Ludociel was crying, something wasn’t right because Mael had never seen Ludociel cry before today. “Brother?” Mael asked with fear in his voice, “What’s wrong?” “You know I’d let nothing ever bad happen to you,” Ludociel said, “So please understand this is for your own good.” “What’s happening?” Mael asked as his brother began to lead them to the center of the clearing. “As much as I love you” Ludociel began choking on his words, “It's impossible for me to watch over both you and Stigma at the same time.” “Are you getting rid of me?” Mael began to cry “Don’t think of it like that,” Ludociel said, “I am giving you a chance at a better Life than you could ever have with me.” “But I want to stay with you Ludociel.” Mael hugged him in a futile effort to change his mind. “Please understand this is the best for you. No one deserves to grow up in the midst of war.” Ludociel said, “So please, whatever happens from here on out, promise me you will be strong.” Mael sobbing slowed until it was barely any tears, which he wiped with the sleeve of his shirt. “I promise.” He choked on his words as he tried to imitate his brother's fearless smile. Ludociel moved away from the center of the clearing, with tears streaming down his cheeks, as Sariel and Tamriel took positions around Mael. The four of them made a triangle shape with Mael standing at the center of it. Ludociel looked at Sariel, then Tamriel who both signalled that they were ready. Ludociel began using his magic to create an incantation ring around the base of Mael, which sprouted outwards and bloomed making small rings appear around Ludociel and his two friends. “Betsu no..” The three of them said in unison, “sekai e…” The symbols on the ground began to glow  “no tsuihō” A light envelope young Mael as it shot into the sky. The light was blinding, so much so that even the supreme deity would have to turn away. The light raged on for a few minutes before it vanished, along with Mael who was within the light. Ludociel fell to the ground with his face in his hand crying with tears with such ferocity that people would’ve thought he witnessed his own brother's death in front of him. And in a sense, they were not wrong. Sariel and Tarmiel were not left out in such an act of mourning, they were also crying with Tarmiel almost collapsing under his own weight. Celestia sat in her garden staring at the moon, seeking comfort in its beauty. It's ironic how the princess of the day looks to the moon for comfort, whenever she would look at the sun seeking the same kind of comfort, all she got was a pain in the eyes. If it hadn’t been for an alicorn unnatural recovery, she would’ve gone blind a long time ago attempting to find the same kind of comfort in the sun. The sound of lightning struck, startling Celestia because there wasn’t a lightning storm scheduled for the entire week. As she surveyed her surroundings, it was hard to see, but there weren't any clouds for miles, but the sound came from the other side of the royal garden. Rising from her resting place Celestia saw a pillar of white falling from the heavens. The magic emanating from it was immense magic, one several times more powerful that her own. It began to illuminate before it began to blind Celestia, but before she could turn her head away, it vanished. Even from a distance she could tell that the land surrounding where the pillar stood was scorched from the magic massive amount of magic. As she approached the center she heard the faint sound of crying, it sounded child-like. It was too dark to see who the crying was coming from, but it came from the center of where the pillar was. “Brother,” the voice came from a young colt, or atleast of the male populus, “I’m scared.” Celestia lit up her horn to illuminate her surroundings, what she saw surprised her. It was a light beige alicorn in a white button down robe. Even though it was obviously a young colt, he had four wings instead of two, and they were a radiant white much like Celestia’s coat. While his mane was a blue-ish silver. Was this the orientation of the magic? It couldn’t be, he obviously too young to use magic of that caliber. “Who are you?” The young colt asked as he tried to run away but kept stumbling over his steps. His blue eyes were full of fear. “I am princess Celestia, the ruler of this land,” she tried her best to be as friendly as possible with him. “What is your name, little one?” “M-my name is Mael,” He said as Celestia began to approach him, Mael tried to scramble backwards but kept tripping over his hooves.  “please don’t hurt me.” “I don’t wish to hurt you.” Celestia said as she lowered herself down to talk easier with him. “Where your parents, Mael?” “I-i don’t have any.” Mael said, his voice trembling ‘An orphan?’ Celestia thought, “Do you have any family?” “Just me and my big brother.” A small sniffle was elicited. That brought Celestia a little comfort, “Where is your brother?” “He..” Mael started to cry again, “He sent me away.” “Don’t cry Mael,” Celestia said as she wrapped a wing around him like a hug, “He probably had a good reason,” Mael began crying more and more. “Brother…” That was the only word Mael kept crying out, until he had cried himself to sleep. And from these events that transpired, a new chapter of Mael’s life has started to be written. A chapter of his life with no war, but major conflict. If only Mael's older brother who sent him here could see the merits of his decision. The outcome would’ve made him very happy. > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunlight landed upon Mael’s eyelids making them flutter open. A sense of grogginess overcame him as he let out a yawn. He tried to rub his eyes but it felt odd, it was unlike all the other times he had done it, but he didn’t know what was different. Slowly he gained awareness of his surroundings. He was in someone’s bedroom with very little memory on how he got there. One minute he was crying, the next he awoken in this bed. He had a small headache and he felt a little light headed, but that was because he was crying his eyes out the previous night. Getting out of the bed, Mael tried to stand on his legs only to fall down on all fours making a clop when he landed on the ground. His body was no longer his own, but an amalgamation between the goddess race and whatever these creatures were that inhabited this new world. “Brother,” Mael said as he began to cry before he shook the tears from his eyes, “I will be strong.” The door behind him creaked open, making him jump slightly as he turned around. “Good to see that you’re already awake Mael.” Celestia said as she walked into the room to see Mael in a small state of shock, “I apologize if I startled you, I only came to ask if you would like to join me for breakfast.” A small rumbling sound came over from Mael, his face became a light shade of red. Celestia only gave him a reassuring smile, as to not embarrass him. “That sounds nice.” Mael said as he tried to take a step forward only to fumble to the ground. Celestia trotted over to Mael with an expression of concern on her face. “Are you okay, Mael?” “Yeah, I’m okay,” Mael said as he tried to lift himself off the floor and back onto his feet hooves. This time walking much more successfully than the previous attempt, even though it wasn’t ‘elegant’. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Celestia's gaze was still heavily concerned. “I think so,” Mael said as he continued to walk, slowly becoming a more fluent motion. “If you say so,” Celestia said as she put on a different expression to mask her worry.  As they went to the dining hall Celestia had kept glancing at Mael to make sure he felt alright. For a colt about the age of four, he seemed healthy on a physical level, but there was something off about him, even if she disregarded his extra set of wings. He stayed close beside Celestia, as to not stray away. Whenever a guard would take a look at him, their cold expression made the small colt shiver in fear making him draw nearer to Celestia as if he was seeking some kind of shelter from the cold gaze of the guards. As two ponies arrived at the dining hall, there was a large wooden table sat there with a pair of chairs pulled up. Wood was polished and had a very refined look. The sweet scent of pancakes wafted through the air, Mael had his rose turned up trying to smell the divine aroma, on the table there sat two sets of freshly made pancakes. “Pancakes,” Mael said as he swallowed to keep himself from drooling over the smell. Celestia let out a small giggle seeing how innocent the small colt was. Taking seats at the table, Mael sat across from Celestia with a large amount of pancakes in front of him. Not caring that the proper utensils were given, he began eating the pancakes with a surprising ferocity, only to stop moments later as he seemed to have something on his mind. “Brother,” Mael whispered barely audible to Celestia “Is something wrong with the pancakes Mael?” Celestia asked, “if somethings wrong I can have them change it.” “No they're really good, it’s just,” Mael said with some sadness in his voice, “It exactly the way big brother used to make them,” “I see,” Celestia said, matching his tone, Celestia knew her next question had a possibility that it would bring Mael to tears, but it was a risk worth taking. “Would you like to talk about him?” Instantly she noticed a change in his eyes, they almost seemed to sparkle. “You don’t know about Ludociel?” This was the first time Celestia had heard him call his brother by his name. “I’m afraid not,” Celestia said, as she had an internal sigh of relief, “Care to tell me?” “He’s super cool,” Mael said with an overjoyed expression, “Everyone in the goddess race adores him. He leads a large group called ‘Stigma,’ he said it was kinda like a friendship group about protecting others from demons. Every day he goes to battle leading Stigma into battle against the demons to protect others who can’t yet protect themselves.” “A general perhaps?” Celestia asked, tentatively listening to the small foal who was completely fanboying over his elder brother. “No something far better,” Mael said, as he began stuffing his face with pancakes again “He’s an archangel.” “An archangel?” Celestia asked, “Do tell more.” “He was hand picked by the Supreme Deity, to be one of her best soldiers. He’s also saved my life from the demons.” Mael said as his expression changed to somber one, “But he is rarely home, so we rarely talk with  each other. But,” Mael chirped up, “when he was home, he’d always be happy to see me, always hugging me with open arms. He’s also a really good cook, He’s always so nice to me. I want to be just like him when I grow up.” “Sounds like he was a great older brother.” Celestia said, wishing she could be better for her own sister. “Even while leading others, he will still protect his own brother no matter the cost, no wonder he is so respected.” The two individuals continued to eat their breakfast, with Mael not caring that he was making a mess with his quick eating. Celestia smiled and listened as Mael talked about his brother. As he finished his pancakes, Celestia had realized how much of a mess the small colt had made. The sticky syrup from the pancakes was in his fur with bits of fruit, which topped the pancakes, had somehow gotten into his mane. Celestia let out a small sigh as shook her head with a smile, it’s been so long since she had seen a small filly or colt just act normal around her that she’d forgotten how innocent they were. “You're a mess dear child.” Celestia whispered to herself as she kept a humored smile on her face, “It seems you are finished with breakfast, are you not?” “Uh-huh” Mael said with a nod of his head, “I’m done.” Celestia stood up from her spot at the table, “Then I ask you to come with me.” “Where are we going?” Mael asked as he followed close behind. “We can’t have you walking across the castle completely filthy like that,” Celestia said, as she led them to their destination, “So let's get you cleaned up, little Mael” “Okay.” Mael chirped Mael was led to the royal washroom by Celestia to be cleaned up, to be fairly honest, he had no Idea to clean himself with hooves. With his hands replaced by hooves, he couldn’t pick up any sort of brush or towel, much less a bar of soap. Several of the guards cast glances at , making him want to draw closer to Celestia, but he wanted to be strong and stand his own against the cold gazes of the guards. The washroom was a large open area with shower heads on the walls. The tile floor was a bit slick with water puddles on it, off to the side of the room was a bathtub. It was larger than most, at first glance, you may have mistaken it for a small pool. Celestia illuminated her horn and water began filling the bathtub. “Woah!” Mael's eyes widened in amazement as he looked over the edge of the tub, “How did you do that?” “I have several years of practice in magic,” Celestia said, “Now let’s get you cleaned up.” Mael struggled to climb over the side of the tub, his short limbs only able to let him look over the bathtub. Effortlessly, Celestia had stepped into the bathtub and lied down in the water and began soaking herself in it. She looked at the young boy who was still struggling to get over the edge. “Would you like some help?” Celestia asked as she looked down towards Mael. “Yes please,” Mael said Once again, Celestia illuminated her horn as Mael was encased in a yellow aura and placed into the tub. For most ponies, the water wouldn’t be that deep, but Mael was still very young, so the water was up to his wings only leaving most of his neck and head exposed. The small colt began prancing around splashing water wherever he went. “Now then, let’s clean you up.” Celestia said as she tried her best to get the little foal still. A cleaning brush was in Celestia’s magical grasp. The soft bristles brushed against Mael, cleaning the small bits of fruit and pancake out of his mane. Meanwhile a cloth was levitated up to his cheek to clean the pancake syrup off of him. His face scrunched up slightly as he was unused to the feeling. When the final bit of visible mess was cleaned up off of him, Celestia had gotten several bottles of soap and shampoo. She had put a reasonable amount of soap on the brush and began to scrub him clean. Mael fidgeted as he found a more comfortable position to sit in. Celestia continued to brush him clean, once she had finished she let Mael continue to swim/gallop around in the wash tub before they got out of the tub. Being wary of Mael’s wings, Celestia brought a towel to help him dry off. The towel rubbed the top of Mael’s silver mane as he tried to keep his head still to make it easier for Celestia. Mael let out a small yawn as he tried to keep his eyes open, only for them to flutter shut every few seconds. “You're getting tired aren’t you little one.” Celestia said in a caring tone “Yeah,” Mael said as his head started to bob, he was on the verge of falling asleep Celestia levitated the small pony onto her back, who snuggled up within himself. When Celestia looked at him, his wings looked as if someone had put a pristine white blanket over him. Walking to her chambers, Celestia made sure to not wake the sleeping foal on her back. The guards gave a few odd glances but it vanished as quickly as it arrived. Illuminating her horn one final time, Celestia moved Mael off her back and into her bed. Shifting her magical grasp off of the small boy, she made sure that she was tucked in nicely, as to make him as comfortable as possible. She smiled as she watched him slowly fall asleep, he was still young and Mael's last few days were full, it only made sense for him to get some rest. “Good night, Mael.” Celestia said “Good night, momma” Mael said Celestia was at first taken back a bit by what Mael had said, she always wanted a child but because of her longevity, she knew that would be possible in case her child wouldn’t have been born an alicorn. But this was different, this wasn’t any pony wanting to fill that void within Celestia’s heart, but rather a young child that was seeking shelter in the image of a motherly figure. She lowered her head and kissed Mael on the forehead, Mael went to sleep wearing a smile. Celestia left the room with a struggling internal monologue. What Mael had still said had left her in a small state of shock and wonder. It would make sense that the boy would be seeking shelter in a motherly image, his only family was his older brother who she knew was oftentimes in the midst of war. She was torn between on what she should do, only one other time had she ever felt so torn over a decision that had to be made. ‘Adopt him, he shall be Equestria’s first prince of the sun.’ ‘But what about his brother, what if he came back for him. From the sounds of it they loved each other greatly.’ ‘He left him in the gardens, he couldn’t have loved him that much if he had abandoned him, and besides, you know he needs you as much as you need him.’ ‘As much as I’d like to deny that for my own image, your right, he is a child looking for a mother, and ever since my sister left there has been a void in my heart. But then there are my ponies I have to watch over, I don’t want them dropping off foals at my doorstep asking them to be adopted by me.’ ‘I know that some of the nobles are dumb and are nitwits, but I seriously doubt that any pony outside of the group of nobles, there should be any pony stupid enough to do that. And besides..’ ‘Fine, I’ll do it.’ > chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Late the next day Celestia sat on her throne in the late hours of the day, she asked for day court to be closed early today to catch up on some paperwork. She looked out the window and saw that it was time for the sun to be setting, sighing, she put her quill back in its inkwell. Lowering the sun was a rather repetitive task, but it wasn’t what had been plaguing her mind. She had asked Mael to find a way to occupy himself in the royal gardens while she got some work done.  The small boy Mael was the one clouding her thoughts, she couldn’t help but worry over somepony so young being removed from his own home. Celestia knew about the possibility of foalnappers visiting the castle, and because of this, she had given the task of watching over him to a young guard. The guard’s name was Big shield, a unicorn with a pristine white coat and solid dark blue mane, along with an unpainted iron shield covered in battle scars. While his strength was incredible as he was somepony who made it into the guard on his 18th birthday, but he was also quite gentle with others and really fond of kids making him the perfect candidate for the job. With it being night time, most of the ponies there should be heading back home now. The garden had a tranquil atmosphere, it was one of beauty and serenity. The quiet evening breeze blew past the rustling leaves, it was a very familiar sound that Celestia had become acquainted with over the hundreds of years here. She took a brief look at the moon with a heavy thought in mind, ‘Am I ready for this whole new responsibility? Ruling a country is one thing but this is completely different.’ Celestia turned her head back towards the garden as she continued to do what she came for.  In the not-so-far-off distance, she saw Big Shield giggling and attempting to make flower crowns for Mael. They didn’t seem to notice her but that was alright with her, she enjoyed seeing Mael smile. As the princess approached, she did not watch where she was going as she stepped on a fallen branch making a snapping sound which alerted them of her presence. Seeing who made the sounds, Shield felt his stomach drop as he hastily scrambled for his helmet, missed, and saluted causing him to smack himself right above the eye as he winced in pain. “Momma ‘tia!” a familiar voice, it was her beloved son, or rather soon to be son, ran up to her and hugged her.  “It is good to see you again little one.” Celestia said in a motherly tone, “I’m sorry I could spend more time with you this morning,” “Its okay momma,” Mael said, “We always have tomorrow,” “A day that never comes.” “Huh?” “You’ll understand it when you’re older.” She turned to Big shield, “Rookie big shield, I had only asked you to take care of Mael, I didn’t ask you to play with him.” Shield’s face became one of fear, “Only two weeks being a royal guard and you have already impressed me.” The fear on Big Shield's face was replaced with confusion. “P-pardon?” he asked, “Could you please explain?” “I had asked you to take care of Mael,” Celestia said, “You followed through with what I had asked you to, that is what is impressive.” “I still don’t follow what you're saying, your majesty.” Big shield said making sure to add on the ‘your majesty’ “How's a good way to explain this,” Celestia thought out loud as her face began to drift up to the moon, “...Politicians and nobles follow the letter of the law, but rarely the spirit. The same is true with almost all the royal guards. They follow what I say almost perfectly, but they do not understand what I mean by it.” She turned her head back down, “I once asked a guard to deliver a letter for me because we had a change of plans, I told him that the pony he need to look for should be around the mess hall, the guard looked around it but he never went in, the pony who I needed to see ended up being an hour late. I’ve made this known a few times already but even 5 and 6 year guards still make this mistake when I give the orders.” “I think I understand now, your majesty,” Big Shield said, “You asked for me to watch over him, but what you meant was you wanted me to foalsit him. The reason you didn’t say that is because you didn’t want to embarrass me in front of my peers.” He realized how benevolent Celestia had been. “Thank you so much Princess Celestia.” He couldn’t help but bow to her. “You’re welcome, you can also most certainly expect a bonus in your paycheck.” Celestia said, “You’ve also done a splendid job Big Shield, I’m also considering adding this as an extension to your guard duties, so be on the lookout for an offer.” Celestia headed back to her room, she looked down to Mael and saw that he was an interesting colt, on both physical and emotional levels. While most ponies would only look at his physical abnormality of having an extra set of wings, they’d all never really knew him. No pony would’ve ever thought that somepony so timid would end up being so chipper and warm to be around when he warms up to you. Mael was like a miniature sun, providing warmth and comfort wherever he went, unlike her own which caused others to sweat and fall over weak as they worked. Celestia unlocked the door to her room as Mael practically flew in front her and began racing across the room. At least Mael appeared to be healthy and active for his age, that thought put a smile on Celestia's face as she sat down at her desk. She had one more thing she needed to sign before she could call it a day, and the final enjoy her sister’s night with a peaceful sleep. She picked up her quill and dipped it in an inkwell, removing it she took a deep breath as she placed it on the paper. Then time stopped, her own warmth seemingly disappeared as she tried to move the pen only to find out that she couldn’t move. There was nothing restraining her but her own magic, so why? She had gotten this far, why stop now, this is just another law that needed to be approved. Right? Was she really hesitating over something as insignificant as a piece of paper? “Momma?” Mael asked, “Are you okay?” “Yes, my child,” She said as she found that it was now infinitely easier for her to sign the paper. “Everything is alright, now let us go to bed.” Celestia had managed to sign her name on the paper which caused her turmoil, a small puddle of ink left behind where she started to write. What she signed wasn’t just another law, because this could end up changing equestria forever. Now the young colt had now become a prince and possible heir to Celestia’s throne.  With her conscience clear of one more of its many turmoils, she decided it would be best to go ahead and sleep through the night. The reason why she had hesitated, even if it was for a few moments, was because she didn’t know if she was ready to take responsibility. Responsibility as Mael’s new mother, and responsibility for burdening his future with the possibility of ruling a nation. Her heart raced as she thought about the idea of truly being his mom. Hours later, Early the next morning. Celestia woke up with the small colt still sleeping in her forelegs, it was time for her to raise the sun. She nudged the tiny colt in her legs awake as Mael eyes fluttered open as he let out a mix of a tired groan and a small squeak. Celestia felt her son’s wing twitch against her chest. He still is a small child, but it wouldn’t be good to let her new son sleep in too late, especially since she promised a rather busy individual a visit with both her and her son. “Good morning Mael.” Celestia said, “It’s time for us to wake up.” “Nuuuu, I don’t wanna wake up.” Mael said as he squirmed in the bed. “Come now my son.” Celestia said, “I have something to show you.” The new mother walked over to the balcony of her room with her son groggily following behind her. She looked over the night sky one last time as she looked down to see her son resting his front hooves on the balcony rail, his eyes foggy from the tiredness which slowly began to clear. Once he had fully awakened, Mael’s eyes sparkled as he viewed the final moments of the night sky.  “Wow” Mael gasped in awe, “So beautiful.” His eyes continued to sparkle as he continued to look over the night sky, Celestia illuminated her horn as she began to raise the sun. The slowly turned from a deep purple into orange, the night and its stars fled as the morning began to take over. It was almost poetic, the sun outshone the moon making it leave, it was like a direct parallel between what had happened with both her and her sister. “Woah,” Mael said being the easily impressed filly he is, “This is amazing” “I am glad you think that.” Celestia said, “Let's get going my child, for today I have something planned for us.” “Is it fun?” Mael asked, “Please say it something fun.” “Maybe afterwards, but this is rather important for both of us.” Celestia said, as Mael stomach growled, “I think we should go get some snacks first, it is too early for breakfast.” They had left to go to the kitchen to see if there were any snacks they could eat. Mael and Celestia were in the halls at just the right time to see the night-schedule guards and day-schedule guards switch places guarding the halls.  As they continued to walk to the Royal kitchen, they encountered a certain yellow colored unicorn. He had a yellow coat of fur and his mane was a rusty gold, and was one of the few ponies who could properly pull off a beard, his cutie mark was a silver 12-sided star with 2 clock hands positioned on it. “Good morning Princess Celestia,” he said, “You have asked for some of my time have you not?” “Yes I have ask for a moment of expertise, Mr. Archmage” Celestia said, “But Mael is a bit hungry right now, so we were heading to the kitchen to find something to eat before we got to you.” “Mael? I heard that name before.” Archmage said, as he saw the small colt hiding behind Celestia's legs, He put on his best thinking face for a moment, “I’m sorry, I became lost in my own thoughts, but I may have an apple in my office,” The trio of ponies turned the corner Archmage came from, and went in the second door down the hall. Inside the room was a well kept room, a small mattress on the floor in the corner of the room. A large bookshelf lined an entire wall with and a long desk was pressed up against the wall which had a window on it.  A potted sapling rested on the window, he brought a hoof to one of its leaves and illuminated his horn, an apple began to grow off it and he plucked it off and gave it to Mael. He happily began eating the apple, as Archmage began to clean off the table what little there was off the table. Once Mael was done eating, Archmage surrounded him with his magic, making an “eep” escape his mouth. Mael was levitated onto the table before the magic grasp began to adjust the height of the table so that he was barely above eye level to Archmage. “M-momma, what's going on?” Mael asked “Just a normal check up, sweetie,” Celestia said, “You don’t need to worry about anything, just be calm and do what he says.” “O-okay.”  “Would you mind opening up your wings?” Mael did so giving him a full view of all four wings. “Four wings?... If I start to hurt you let me know.” “Okay,” Archmage surrounded one of Mael’s wings with his magic and gently began tugging until Mael squeaked out an “ow.” “You're doing good so far,” Archmage said in a congratulatory tone, “Next I need to open your mouth.” Mael did so and Mr. Archmage took a look inside of his mouth, unlike other ponies he had seen, Mael had a set of canine teeth, while it was mildly disturbing it didn’t bother him much. Noting the oddity, Archmage deduced that Mael was an omnivore, because he lacked the fangs or razor sharp teeth of a carnivore “Great job, you can go ahead and close it. We should have one last thing before you're ready to leave.” Archmage said, he illuminated his horn and opened a drawer on the desk and pulled out a little wooden block and placed it on a side of the desk away from Mael. “Using your magic, I want you to try and move this to you.” “I think I can do that.” Mael said as he turned to face the wooden block, he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.  Magic began to channel through his horn, what was odd was that it was pure white, most ponies usually had some sort of tint to theirs. Mael opened his eyes quickly making his magic surround the wooden in his magic. The magic wasn’t formless like telekinesis but rather took the shape of a sphere. He began moving his front hooves, as if he was pulling a rope, and the sphere of his magic began rolling towards him like metal to a magnet. “This isn’t necessarily what I had in mind, but you did a great job.” Archmage said, “I just need to speak with your mom about something.” “Okay.” Mael said as Archmage turned around to speak with Celestia “You know I’m not really his mom.” “Yes but I know how much you love him as if he were your own.” Archmage said, “So first things first, He is very healthy and nothing is wrong, but he is also quite the anomaly, I could’ve brushed the four wings off as a harmless mutation, but now I see he is a completely different species of pony, even if he is one.” “Would you care to elaborate on your last remark?” Celestia asked  “I’ve already mentioned the wings. Next is his teeth, judging by its shape and the few number of canines he has, he is an omnivore, but I doubt leaving him on a pony diet would be harmful.” Archmage said, “Finally there is his magic, you saw its color, white. The only other pony to have white magic in equestrian history is Starswirl, but his coloration was caused by his immense age. And you may not have felt it but, I don’t think that he has harmony magic inside of him.” As they looked over at Mael, he held the orb in his hooves before it began to illuminate, only for it to fade and its contents to fall to the ground as ash. “Uh…” Mael said a little dazed at what happened, “Oops?” “Don’t worry about it, they are cheap and I have plenty more.” Archmage said, “See what I mean, I have a theory that he isn’t from equis but rather a different world. But I don’t have-” “Could you please just tell me what you're trying to get at?” Celestia asked “I ask for permission to extract some of his raw magic for testing purposes.” Archmage said before he looked at Celestia's eyes, “Nevermind, It was rude of me to ask that of you.” “If you honestly think there is a way for his magic might be beneficial to equestria.” Celestia said, “But please make sure you don’t hurt him, he’s very young.” “Thank you,” Archmage said, “One last thing, Mael then you're completely free to go.” “Yes?” Mael asked as Archmage used his magic to obtain two items, a syringe with a long needle, and white dog plushie black pieces of fur. “I am going to need to collect a sample of your magic, and I do that by sticking this needle in your head.” Archmage said, “So before I do that I’m going to give you this to make you feel better.” “Is it going to hurt?” “As long as you do your best not to move, you should only feel a little sting or some pressure on your head.” Archmage said as he gave Mael the plushie to hold, “I will be ready whenever you are.” After a few moments, Mael made up his mind. “I’m ready.” “I’m glad to hear that.” Archmage said, “I suggest you close your eyes.” Mael closed his eyes as he held the plushie close to him. He felt the needle pass through the sink at the base of his horn. And then it was over as quick as it started, it was surprisingly quick and painless. “All done you're free to go.” Archmage said, as Mael offered the plushie back to him, “No you keep it, you deserve it.” “Mommy! Mommy!” Mael said as he ran up to Celestia, “Look what I got!” “I see that.” Celestia smiled at Mael, “So, what are you going to name it?” Mael gave her his best thinking face. “E-es-st.” Mael said as he tried sounding out a name, “esta-ro--sa... Estarossa!” “Maybe we should go take Estarossa for a walk through the park?” Celestia asked, “Does that sound fun to you?” “Yay!” > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia sat atop one of many small connected hills, with Mael leaning his head against the barrel of her body. Mael rested under one of Celestia’s wings like a blanket. The grass was lush and green, bushes and small trees surrounded them yet it didn’t make them feel cramped. In the center of the many hills was a reflective lake, it appeared to make it seem as if they were on an island above the clouds.  The wind quietly whistled as the two sat there, enjoying the moment they had together. Hoof steps in the soft grass rustled behind them, it was also paired with the somewhat soft clanking of heavy armor. The heavily armored stallion stood off behind the mother and son duo. He didn’t say anything; he just stood there, in the corner of Celestia’s eye. He had four wings and a horn much like Mael but all his other features were covered in full body armor. “Beautiful, is it not?” He asked before he sat down beside Mael, “Heya Mael, miss me?” “Big brother!” Mael said as he hugged him, “I missed you so much!” “I’ve missed you too.” The stallion whom Celestia could only guess was Ludociel said, “And you must be the one who was taking care of my brother, am I correct?” “Yes, I am Celestia, and you should be Ludociel.” Celestia said, “I am, did my brother tell you about me?” “He told me about how you abandoned him.” Celestia snapped so hard she bit into the air. “It was a necessary sacrifice, we couldn’t win the war with my best ponies going soft because of a cry baby like him.” Ludociel said in a cocky yet annoyed tone, “Come on Mael, we are going home.” Ludociel grabbed his brother by his hoof and began dragging him away. Celestia shot the most powerful magic blast she could muster straight at the back of Ludociel’s head. “I cannot let you hurt my son.” Once the smoke cleared the air was filled with a bone chilling cackle. Both the captor and his brother were completely unharmed. “Your son? Don’t make me laugh,” Ludociel mocked, “You just wanted him to be your play thing, something you could make into nothing but your obedient pet. I know what you did, you banished your sister, all so you could rule by yourself.” “You know nothing!” Celestia snapped, “Maybe I don’t,” he said, “But I know where you're goin: To Tartarus.” He fired a powerful blast of magic from his horn at Celestia who blocked it with a shield spell. Seeing that brute force would be no match against her, Ludociel aimed lower and attacked the ground below her making it shatter in the process making a gaping hole form below her hooves. “MAMA!” Mael screamed Mael couldn’t do anything but watch as he saw his mother fall down into an unendingly deep hole. Celestia fell, and continued to fall, her wings were numb and her eyes grew tired as she felt herself losing air as it became thinner the further she fell. Celestia’s body had finally gone completely numb and her eyes grew heavy, she could no longer hear her own breath with the air rushing into her ears, “My son.” was the last thing she said before everything went dark. Celestia woke up in a cold sweat after the nightmare she had just experienced, her breath became labored when she awoke. She slowly began to collect her thoughts as she began to realize it was only a dream. Her heart rate slowed as she moved out of bed carefully so as to not wake the sleeping colt, sleeping with a plushie in his forelegs. She walked over to her desk and looked at a crown that she was going to give to Mael later, she felt a small tear roll down her cheek, as she feared that her dream may just happen. ‘Did I do the right thing for him, or am I asking for too much?’ Celestia though, ‘making him my own son and possible heir to the throne, that is rather a lot of responsibility for anyone.’ Celestia looked out the balcony, the sun wouldn’t need to be risen for the next several hours. The night was calm and beautiful, unlike the day, the moon was especially great tonight gleaming a little brighter than normal. Celestia listened to all the small creatures and insects sing their songs about the night, admittedly she was somewhat jealous of her sister. Her day brought with it many things she didn’t like politics, war, labor, and occasionally death. While her sister had peace and quiet to listen through the night, sometimes she'd trade everything she had just to not be a princess for a day. She sat watching the moon and its glory rise slowly into the night sky, she began to cry as she remembered all the good memories she shared with her sister. She missed her greatly and knew she wouldn’t see her again for the longest time to ever come. Celestia tried to keep herself optimistic by saying that she was one day closer than yesterday, but that only worked for so long. She turned around to go back to bed and head back to sleep with her son Mael who was-- WHERE DID THE BUCK HE GO!? He was sleeping right there Celestia turned away for only but a few moments, and when she turned back her son was missing. She felt her heart begin to race within her rib cage as she began to frantically search for him. “Looking for somepony sister?” A familiar voice said “Nightmare moon,” Celestia scowled, “What did you do to him?” “The same thing I’ll do to you,” She replied, “But before that I want to give you a present” Using her magic Nightmare moon grabbed something from out of sight, then she threw it down at her sisters hooves.A pristine white wing, at first Celestia thought it was a severed chicken wing from somepony’s farm, but it was a bit too large to be put on any bird of that size. Her eyes widened as she realized that this was probably the only thing left of her son, being filled with grief and loss she lost all feeling in her legs and fell down to the ground crying right above her son’s severed wing. “After what you did to me,” Nightmare said, “Seeing that beautiful face of yours go from fear into down right despair brings me so much joy.” “First you take my sister, now my son.” Celestia said as she began to charge a magical blast, “For this I cannot risk you harming others, NOW PERISH!” “NOT BEFORE YOU!” Nightmare moon responded. Being overcome with wrath, Celestia powered her blast easily overpowering her sister. After the powerful blast hit her sister, Nightmare moon was knocked back and was brought to her knees. In all sense she could have stopped her and imprisoned her sister again, but that wouldn’t be enough for what she did. Nightmare moon murdered a child, Celestia’s son, heir to the royal throne, for this she had to atone with her life. Firing one last powerful blast, which equestria had yet to see the likes of, she blasted her sister destroying the entire wall and some of the floor around her. The magical beam fired for miles without stopping, until Celestia finally relented, what had once been her beloved sister was no more than a small pool of blood on the floor. Celestia fell to the ground crying not only for the loss of her son, but also the loss of her sister at Celestia’s newly blood stained hooves. Celestia had awoken once more, but this time it was to the sound of crying, it was not her own but rather her son’s. She had awoken from a nightmare, while she needed to calm down for a moment, Mael needed it more. She looked down, and saw him shivering in fear with tears running down his face. “Mael, what's wrong?” she asked in motherly concern. “*sniff* I-i had a bad dream,” Mael said crying as he began to bury his face into Celestia's coat. “There, there,” Celestia said as she stroked, trying to put the small child back to sleep, “It’s not real, it was just a dream, just a dream.” The final time she said more so to herself then her son, but they both needed someone to cry to before they could go back to bed. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia had put Mael to bed alone, she said she would be back soon after he had fallen to sleep. She told him that she had some late night princess duties, but in reality there was a whole lot more to it than just listening to politics for these late night duties. Celestia had overheard rumors of her adopting a young colt, she couldn’t blame them for making those rumors because Mael kept calling her mom or momma. But after one of the castle staff leaked those rumors to the newspaper, it spread like a wildfire, and there were even a few nobles asking if the rumors were true. It was hard to believe Mael had almost spent an entire year in equestria, but it was only by coincidence that the rumors were leaked right before his 1 year anniversary to when Celestia found him. She feared how her ponies would view their new prince seeing as how he was a completely different than most ponies. As Celestia thought more about her son, memories of him flooded her mind, almost as if somepony broke a dam that held thousands of tons of water. In the massive tidal wave of memories, one particular memory came to her mind, it was a conversation with Mr. Archmage, the only pony who is on par both magically and mentally with Celestia herself even though he only looked like he was in his late 20s. A few months ago Archmage’s office was a little more unkempt than usual, while it still had the perfectionist feel to the room, it appeared as if he was in a rush this morning. He’d always arrive back to his office, right after lunch, so she waited there, and waited there, and waited there. Getting impatient she looked around the room seeing if there was anything Archmage used to pass the time. Her eyes landed upon an open book on his desk, it had iron plated corners and a small lock on the side. Even though Celestia knew not to read anypony’s journals, but she eventually was subdued by the temptation.  Taking a peek inside the journal she saw many equations, most of which she was familiar with. Celestia continued to read through it, as the pen strokes became cleaner and easier to read, the equations became more and more complex to the point where she no longer knew what she was reading. As she turned to the last few pages, they were completely covered with their own individual equation. The first page was titled ‘fairy,’ the second page was titled ‘Giant’, next was ‘Darkness’, the fourth was ‘Pony’, and the final page was titled ‘Light.’  Each equation had varying lengths, the equation titled ‘Pony’ was the shortest and only took up about half the page. The equation titled ‘Light’ was the longest seeing as how there were several times he scratched out parts of the equation. Her eyes glazed over it, seeing if there was anything she could use as a starting point. Once she saw text that was no longer part of an equation, her attention left the equation and focused completely on the short sentence. The text read: ‘I can’t believe you’d stoop this low Ludociel.’ Celestia didn’t even have time to think about what she just read before she heard the door creak open. Snapping back away from the book, back to where she waited there as if she hadn’t even noticed the book. Hoof steps walked through the door as Archmage walked through it and into Celestia’s line of sight, even though Archmage definitely noticed her reading his journal he paid no mind to it. “Sorry to keep you waiting princess.” Archmage said, “how can I help you today?” “Do you remember when you withdrew some of Mael’s magic?” Celestia asked. Archmage’s eyes widened in a combination of fascination and recollection, “Yes, I do,” he said, “His magic is most fascinating,” He walked over and pulled out another heavily protected book, and unlocked it’s locks before turning to a page. “You see, his magic is completely different than a normal pony’s, this only proves my theory of him being from another world.” “How different?” Celestia asked, keeping a focused tone, “How does this separate him from other ponies?” “He lacks natural impurities in his magic, so he’ll have trouble with simple telekinesis in his early life, but he’ll easily pull off more complex spells. Which this condition in itself is only about 1 in 200 ponies for his age, but if he were what you deem ‘normal’, the purity of his magic would’ve killed him before he left in his mother’s womb.” Archmage said, making Celestia turn even more white in fear, “Yet he is probably the most healthy pony I’ve seen for his age. This brings me to the second point about his magic, having an organized and condensed amount of his magic can be just as helpful to others as it is lethal. If he were to use his magic in a gentle manner, he’s capable of healing the most devastating of wounds, deep cuts, severed limbs, and even decapitation if he gets to them fast enough. But at the same time, his magic is capable of killing even the strongest of dragons.” “Are you telling me that I’ve adopted a super weapon?” Celestia asked, clearly frightened at the possible realization. “No, I never said that,” Archmage said, “And he’d probably never be one unless you specifically trained him to be one. What I am saying is that he is other worldly, so much so, that his body’s physical features probably changed greatly to better fit in.” “Four wings, he couldn’t walk when we first met, a male alicorn, his omnivore like teeth,” Celestia said as she recounted the facts to herself, “and now, unique magic, he surely is something special. I wish it wasn’t true, but I can no longer deny the facts in front of me.” “Pony or not, Mael is still your son.” Archmage said, “And as his mother, it is your job to take care of him no matter his form. Whether it’d be as a pony or whatever his original form may be.” “Thank you Archmage, you’re great for when I seek wisdom that's not my own.” Celestia said, “But there is a question I still have, how do you know his Ludociel?” Archmage was clearly startled by the question before his expression became somber and somewhat cold, “I’d rather not answer that.” He turned to leave the room but when Celestia tried to follow him, Archmage had already disappeared. Celestia walked down the hall making sure everything was perfect, but not over the top as to make sure it wouldn’t scare Mael. She made sure there were at least a few banners emblazoned with the cutie mark of the sun. Tomorrow would be the day she’d introduce the world to her son and heir to her throne. A day she looked forward to, but she also feared about scaring her son with all the attention he’d get about being the new prince over Equestria. Celestia knew that keeping her son a secret will not only cause a bad upbringing for Mael, but at the same time she had an irrational fear of her ponies hating Mael because he was different. Celestia opened a small portal to her personal pocket dimension, and pulled out a small present, it wasn’t for her, but rather her son. She had the gift made specifically for him for when she ever had publicly made him a prince. She placed it back into her pocket dimension, maybe some sleep would help rid these irrational fears of her. Walking down a seemingly endless hall, Celestia stopped at her room and entered only to see Mael sleeping peacefully with his plushie in his hooves. Mael was already in such a deep sleep that he didn’t notice Celestia enter the room. Being careful to not wake the sleeping child, Celestia snuck into bed beside him to get some rest as well. Mael stirred in his sleep, frightening Celestia that she accidentally woken him, but luckily for her Mael fell right back to sleep. Celestia finally managed to get in the bed beside him and was able to get some sleep. The Next Morning Celestia awoke, and with her also awoke Mael as they watched the sunrise slowly eat away at the night sky. With the sun’s grace falling upon the land, the day had officially started. Little did young Mael know that today would end up changing his life forever. Today was a day where the entirety of equestria would know his name. “My son, Do you know what day today is?” Celestia asked “Thursday?” Mael guessed “Yes, today is Thursday,” Celestia said as she dead panned, “But do you know what makes this Thursday so special?” “No?” Mael said clearly confused “Today mark exactly 1 year after you arrived in equestria,” Celestia said, “and as tradition, we shall have certain festivities. But there is something else that makes today special.” “Well, what is it?” Mael asked eagerly, “Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” “Be patient Mael.” Celestia said, with a playful giggle, “You will see soon.” Mael pouted, being the small child he was, he hated when others kept secrets from him, but at least this one would be good for him. He followed Celestia through a seemingly unending hallway to the kitchen, all just to have some breakfast. After partaking in the heavenly tasting pancakes, they resumed their journey throughout the endless hallways. Only to stop when they neared the Canterlot castle balcony, he could hear murmurs of ponies talking in the distance. “Mael, I like you to accompany me while I make an announcement.” Celestia said “Okay.” Mael chirped happily When they stepped onto the balcony, Mael put his hooves on the balcony and saw a massive sea of ponies that seemed to go as far as the eye could see. He never thought the show would have ever shown up the princess’s announcements. Mael would try counting them, but he’d probably have all his feathers fall out before he even managed to count half of them. He could help but stare in awe at the immense number of ponies he saw. “Citizen of Equestria.” Celestia said in a voice that everypony could hear, yet it was quite shouting, “I thank you all for coming here today, you’ve all heard the rumors of me adopting a young colt to take as my own son. His name is Mael, while he may have a few different features than most ponies, he is still my son whom I greatly love, and From his day on, he shall no longer just be Mael, but rather prince Mael: the first prince of the sun and heir to my throne." Celestia turned her attention to her son Mael. “Oh my son, Mael, today I give you a gift.” Celestia said, she summoned a small box from her pocket dimension and opened it. Inside was a small crown with an amethyst jewel in its front. “Go ahead Mael. Put it on, it should be fitting that a prince should have his own crown.” Mael took the crown from Celestia, he looked at it with amazement and wonder before he finally decided to put it on. When Mael finally put the crown on his head, the crowd began to chant “ALL HAIL THE NEW PRINCE! ALL HAIL MAEL!” When Mael put on his new crown it fit him perfectly just as Celestia thought it would. She smiled as the crowd began to chant Mael’s name. Suddenly a bright light surrounded Mael, lifting him into the air. Normally, such an oddity would make Mael start kicking and screaming, there was a feeling that overwhelmed him which made it feel almost like a normal occurrence, almost like a young gekko moulting for the first time. Once the light had subsided, he landed softly back down on the balcony as he felt as if nothing had happened. Celestia had a mixed expression, one of joy and surprise, before she turned back to the large crowd, he hoped what Celestia would say next would inform him about what had just happened. “Oh joyous occasion.” Celestia said, “For today is also the day my son has also obtained his own cutie mark. Truly today is a day for all of equestria to celebrate.” Wait, cutie mark? Mael turned his head to look at his flank, and there he adorned a hyper-realistic image of the sun, which was surrounded by a yellow halo that had 5 wings sprouting out of it all pointed in a clockwise direction. Mael remembered when he asked Celestia about them and she told him that they can mean many different things, ranging from one’s special talent, to one’s destiny, or in some cases even one’s lineage. She even told him that there were a few ponies who had two cutie marks.  Seeing as how he had his own cutie mark now, the day was in fact a day to celebrate. Seeing all the ponies shout and rejoice his name as their new prince filled Mael with pride that he’d never felt before, maybe this was what his brother said was a better life than the one he could provide. Giving silent thanks to his elder brother, Mael and his mother went on their ways with joy in their hearts for the entirety of Equestria now knew their new ruler. > Chapter 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mael pranced gleefully around Celestia as she packed his saddlebag, today would be his first day of preschool. As a mother, Celestia was both overjoyed that her son is happy to go to school, but nervous that it would be her son’s first day away from the castle. Celestia remembered how her own childhood was cut short when she needed to take up the title of princess, she wanted to let Mael have a normal childhood, but at the same time she wanted to send dozens of legions of guards to protect him. “Are you ready for your first day of school, my little ray of sunshine?” Celestia asked “Yes” Mael nodded his head eagerly, “I can’t wait to go!” “I’m glad to hear that. Here, let me help you put your saddlebag on.” Celestia lit up her horn, levitating a small saddlebag over her son.  She made sure to be careful with wings because they are quite delicate, especially for ponies his age. Celestia gently moved the side straps in between as she fastened the straps around him. She made sure to put his small plushie in his front pocket of the saddle bag for easier access.  Even though the kindergarten was only about a few minutes away, the guards insisted on walking with princess Celestia and her son, prince Mael. Despite their constant pestering, Celestia declined saying that they would be fine, and that it would just cause stress to the teachers and students attending the kindergarten. Begrudgingly, the guards relented in pestering the princess and her son. It wasn’t long after, that they spread their wings and took off to school. “Mael, I know your my son, and the prince of equestria.” Celestia said, “I don’t want you abusing your title to get others to do what you want. Do you understand?” “I think so.” Mael said “Thank you.” Celestia said as they began to approach the kindergarten The kindergarten was a rustic looking wooden building, many ponies had gathered around the school to have their children attend. When the crowd saw Celestia, all the ponies began to bow their heads before they had to return to what they were doing. There were a few guards or local enforcement ushering the ponies who didn’t need to be there, mainly news reporters, to get out of the way. Entering the building, there were many different multicolored fillies and foals, each of them running around doing their own thing. Loud talking echoed out of the room as the little fillies and foals’ rambunctious behavior caused chaos in the classroom, so much in fact, that Celestia thought that even the spirit of disharmony itself would say that it was too much chaos. Mael hid himself behind Celestia, his ears folded back against his head, it was only natural that he’d be terrified after spending the last year being inside the castle where it was quiet, with only the occasional outburst from the guards’ training. “Momma, I’m scared.” Mael whimpered, hiding behind Celestia’s long legs, “What if they don’t like me?” “Don’t be worried over that,” Celestia said, “if anypony doesn’t like you, it is because you are more special than they are.” “But… But…” “Mael, my son.” Celestia said in a motherly tone, as she used her magic to levitate him to eye level. “I know you’re scared, but you cannot spend your life being scared of things you haven’t tried yet. So why don’t you just give it a try and if you still don’t like it by the end of the day, I won’t make you come back.” “Okay…” Mael sighed discontentedly “Where's my little ray of sunshine gone?” Celestia nuzzled his face, making him giggle from the soft tickling sensation, “Oh, there he is! Now then, go ahead and go, you have a big day of making friends and learning ahead of you.” “Okay Mommy.” Mael happily galloped into the classroom as he started looking around for someone to play with. Celestia, with her heart aching, turned her back as she headed back to the castle. Mael finally found a place to settle down. Mael wasn’t much of an extrovert, so he sat at a back table playing with his little dog plushie, Estarossa, before the teacher began to round up the students to begin teaching. “Alright class,” the teacher said, “when I call you up, you’re going tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.” This is going to be a long day, and Mael knew this for a fact. Hours had passed before the recess bell had rung and Mael still hadn’t made any friends, there only a couple of hours before the end of the day so he could go home. While other fillies and foals chased each other around the small field, Mael just stood far off to the side playing with his plushie and a few blocks he borrowed from the inside. He built a tower and placed Estarossa on top, before a powerful gust of wind knocked the tower, causing the plushie to roll down under a nearby bush and out of sight. Mael looked around, and after he saw no one nearby he crawled under the bush. Behind the bush hid a small ditch causing the plushie to roll further than he expected. Mael placed his hooves at the edge of the ditch as he began to gently slide down. This part of the field was left unkept, and because of that, the underbrush began to grow into a miniature forest. “Estarossa?” Mael called out to his plushie, “Where are you?” Mael continued to walk until he saw an impasse in the forest brush. Right in front of his hooves was where his plushie landed. Picking it up, he put it in his saddle bag and started to head back to the school. “So hungry…” A female voice whimpered Mael turned back around after hearing the voice, it came beyond the impasse made of the heavy brush. Once he had found a weak point the impasse, he tried to crawl under it before he eventually succeeded. When he made it through the brush, there was a small clearing, and inside it was a young pony, or at least it looked similar to one. It had four legs, bug-like wings, and a horn, but it seemed to be missing several parts of its body making it look similar to cheese, in the sense of it having many holes. Her mane was a bluish hue, and where her fur would’ve been was black skin. “Help me..” The bug pony called out in barely a whisper,“I need to feed...” “Here,” Mael said, “I will go get you an apple.” “Love… I need love…” “What..?” “I feed on love… Think happy thoughts…” Wanting to help in any way he could, Mael closed his eyes as he began to focus on people, or ponies, who made him happy. He recalled how Celestia took him and raised him as her own son, even before she adopted him. Memories of his Mr. Big Shield flooded in with it as he recalled all the times he watched over him when Celestia couldn’t. His brother was the third person he’d remembered, Mael remembered how he idolized him, and about the time Ludociel had saved him after the demons launched a surprise attack on the Celestial Realm claiming the lives of many soldiers and civilians alike. An odd feeling washed over Mael as the sensation caused some of his fur to stand up straight. It wasn’t uncorfable, but it felt unnatural, like some that was non-physical was being pulled out of him. Mael loosened his metaphysical grasps on whatever was being pulled out of him, causing the bug-pony to squeak in surprise. Once the feeling had subsided the bug pony let out a content sigh. “Best. Feeding. Ever.” She said as she started to stand up. The bug pony started to get up, her eyes were green and had slits running down the center giving it a cat like appearance.  “Are you okay?” Mael asked, feeling a bit more tired than normal like she’d sucked the energy out of him. “I’m fine, just a little full from that big meal.” She said, “What's your name? I haven’t met a pony who would willingly help a changeling.” “I’m Mael,” he said as he grabbed his plushie out of his saddle bag, “And this is Estarossa.” “Nice to meet you two. I’m Chrysalis by the way.” she said, “Wanna play with me?” “Sure! What do you wanna play?” “Tag, hide n’ seek, anything really.” Chrysalis said, “Mother says that I’m not allowed to play games within the hive because I could get hurt.” The two of them began to play any game they could think of. Anything from hide n’ seek to  tag, or even play tic tac toe in the dirt. As time passed, Chrysalis began snacking on Mael’s love, not that he minded, it tasted different from the love that had been stolen by impersonating somepony’s loved ones. While both kinds of love taste sweet, Mael’s was different. Chrysalis found it hard to describe the difference, but it tasted better and was more filling. All of her life, Chrysalis had been taught that ponies were to be seen as a source of food and nothing else, but after meeting Mael, she began to second guess her mother’s ideologies and teachings. As the time passed, the two grew closer to each other. Even though they didn’t know much about each other’s personal life, they enjoyed spending time with each other. Right before they’d started their fifth game of tic tac toe, a loud bell sounded causing the two little ones to jump, which signaled that it was time to start heading home for the fillies and foals at the kindergarten. “I gotta go.” Mael said, as he packed his plushie back into his bag, “I don’t want to be late when momma comes to pick me up. So, see you later Chrysalis.” “Wait.” Chrysalis said, “I’m not sure if there will be a next time. Mother says that ponies and changelings can’t be friends because we’re so different.” “Oh…” Mael said saddened, until he thought of something that could change everything, “Then I’ll guess we’ll be the first then!” “First..?” It took a moment for Chrysalis to realize what Mael had said, but when she did her eyes widened in surprisement. “Yeah! We’ll be the first ones to be friends with each other!” They both nodded in agreement as they each started to go their respective ways. Chrysalis spread her bug-like wings as she began to fly back to the hive, while Mael began to crawl under the impasse to get back to the school yard. He ran like never before to make it seem like he had never left. He ran through the unkept parts of the field before he quickly climbed up a slope and under a bush. Luckily he wasn’t too late, he saw the other ponies his age begin lining up to go back inside, he managed to sneak to the back of the line as the rest of the ponies started to go back inside to finish what little of the day was left. A few hours later, On the way back to the castle The golden chariot flew through the air being pulled by a pair of pegasus guards. Mael watched over the side in amazement while his mom just smiled at him.  “So how was your first day of school?” Celestia asked “It was great!” Mael said, “I’m glad you liked it Mael.” Celestia said, “You wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of continuing to go to school, would you?” “Nope!” Mael happily replied If it weren’t a safety hazard, Mael would’ve been prancing around the chariot from how happy he was. When the chariot reached the destination, joyfull, Mael jumped off of it before his mom followed him off. While Celestia's walk was one of eloquence and perfection, Mael’s was in direct contrast being one of energy and youthful happiness. It had started to get late in the day, and time for Celestia to put the sun to rest. When the moon had risen, Celestia began to lead her son to his bed to sleep. Subconsciously, Mael stopped in front of his momma’s room, but Celestia didn’t stop beside him. She continued to walk to the next door, Celestia opened the door and motioned for her son to follow her. Inside the room was a bed, nowhere near big enough for both of them, a book shelf full of many different books, and a small chest. There was nopony inside, Mael’s mom wasn’t showing him anything, so what was this about? “Momma?” Mael confusedly asked, “What is going on?” “You're starting to grow up,” Celestia said, “And as much as I love you, you won't be able to sleep in the same bed as me forever. So I’ve decided to give you your own room, you’ll be able to do whatever you want with your room, and as long as you keep it clean, I may let you bring friends over. And almost everything in this room is yours.” “Really?” When Celestia nodded her head, Mael became overfilled with delight, “YAY!” Celestia watched Mael run laps around his new room, before he began to tire himself out. Once Mael had finished with his rowdiness, he climbed into his bed and began to drift to sleep. Celestia illuminated her horn as she used her magic to drag out Mael’s plushie and place it right in his grasp. Mael snuggled the plushie as he smiled at the familiar sensation of the plushie’s fabric rubbing against his fur. > Chapter 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a few years passed by, Mael grew in stature and intelligence. Most ponies would’ve thought that he was just any other colt his age, except that he had a male alicorn, and had an extra set of wings, and he was the adoptive son of the solar monarch, and... Well… He wasn’t like others his age on a physically, but was a whole lot closer to normal on an academic level. He was slightly smarter than average, but even then, it wasn’t notable enough for him to get much praise from ponies other than his mother. You’d think that he’d be spoiled with praise from his peers, but Celestia had asked that her son would be treated like any other kid because they only get to live through their childhood once.  Both he and the changeling Chrysalis had started to become good friends behind the backs of their parents. It was starting to get close to the end of the school year. Mael had told his mother that he’d be home a little later than normal because he wanted to spend some time and visit some friends. Both he and Chrysalis sat on a hill on the edge of Equestria’s capital city. “It won’t be long before I can’t see you again for a while.” Chrysalis said, “I wish we could’ve spent more time together.” “Hey Chryssi,” Mael asked his friend, “Before I have to go, can I ask you a question?” “Sure,” Chrysalis said, “ask away.” “Do you have a dream?” “Well of course, every night I have a dream.” “Nooo.” Mael whined after his question was misunderstood, “I don’t mean that kind of dream. I mean, do you have a goal, like how you want to change this world.” “Hmm. I have never thought much about that before.” Chrysalis said, “How about a world where changelings and ponies don’t have to hate each other.” “You stole mine.” Mael’s eyes narrowed as he failed to try and hide a smile. “How dare you.” “I know.” Chrysalis just laughed at his silly attempt to be intimidating, she eventually quieted down and sighed. “I just wish we could spend more time together before summer begins.” “Hmm.” Mael hummed as he started to think, “I know.” he piped up, “You can come over to where I live with my mama, and you could spend the night there with us.” “But where do you live?” Mael raised a hoof towards the castle in the distance, “Over there.” “Wait! You’re the son of Celestia?” “Yeah...” Mael said, “will that be a problem?” Chrysalis was in utter disbelief that her best, and only, pony friend was the adopted son of the changelings’ several millennia old arch-enemy. As Mael grew, throughout school he learned about the history between ponies and changelings. Even though the last pony-changeling war was over 250 years ago, the hatred between ponies and changelings has gone so far back that even Celestia forgot what caused all this strife. “No,” Chrysalis said, “I’m just surprised, I never really knew that.” “Prince Mael,” Specialist Big Shield yelled from a distance, unable to tell that the one near him was a changeling, “We should get going, you don’t want to keep your mother waiting for too long. Do you?” “Coming!” Mael yelled back to him, “I’m sorry Chryssi, I got to go back home.” “Wait,” Chrysalis stopped him, “Could I have some more love before you go.” “Sure,” Mael said, “I don’t mind sharing.” Mael went back to his changeling friend, she opened her mouth as a familiar tingling feeling washed over the young solar prince. Suddenly Chrysalis was cut off by a quick kiss on the lips by Mael. She was left in a daze after the surprise kiss that was given to her. Mael was the first to realize what he had done, a crimson blush crept across his face. “Oh, um…” Mael stuttered, “Well, bye.” Mael dashed off back to the chariot where he would begin his way back to the castle. Chrysalis slowly recovered from the largest meal she had as she began to realise what had happened. She started to feel weird as she felt her face start to heat up. Was she blushing? It can’t be, she thought that it was impossible for changelings to blush, or was this just another lie she had picked up? A few hours later At the changeling hive “My queen.” A changeling drone said, “Your daughter wishes to speak with you.” “Bring her in,” Queen Insectonia groaned, “This better be in my best interests.” The young changeling princess entered the room and stopped in front of her mother’s throne. Chrysalis looked to her mother with a combination of fear and hope in her eyes, while insectonia looked to her heir with a menacing gaze, whether or not she meant to is unknown. “You may speak, my daughter.” Insectonia commanded “I wish to request a solo hunt.” Chrysalis lied to appeal to her mother’s interests. Insestonia’s eyes become a whole lot more motherly and surprised, “Really?” She got off her throne and moved beside her daughter, dwarfing her in size. “Come, we shall speak along our way.” The dark grey stone walls were lined with green changeling slime and were illuminated with green crystals. Despite being the heir to the changeling throne, young royal changelings were completely disregarded in the hive because their bodies take much longer to mature and develop than a standard drone does. So having her mother to even be willing to talk to her was a rare occurrence. “So what is the occasion my daughter?” Insectonia asked “Huh?” Chrysalis was somewhat startled by the question, “I don’t understand what you mean mother.” “I was nearly twice your age when I asked to go out on my first solo hunt.” Insectonia said, “So there is something special going on that I haven’t made aware of yet.” “A young colt about my own age had asked to come over for a sleepover at his place in a few weeks.” Chrysalis said, “And I think he is in love with me, or well, rather my disguise.” “Ah, young love, the richest of all of them, untainted by time and bitterness. I still remember the first time I had tried some for myself.” Insectonia said, “Don’t be afraid to let us know if you think that you’ll need help putting his family in cocoons to bring back here to feed from.” “I am not sure if we should do that.” Chrysalis said timidly “And why would that be, oh daughter of mine?” Insectonia asked, “Have the ponies corrupted your mind with their concepts of friendship and harmony?” Just saying those words left a bad taste in her mouth. “NO! I would never fall for their foolishness.” Chrysalis said exactly what her mother wanted to hear, “It’s just that, recently I found out that the pony who invited me is the adopted son of Celestia, Mael. And I’m not sure that having another war so soon after the last one would be good.” “You are wiser than you look, my daughter Putting the survivability of the hive over the love that only one foal can produce.” Queen Insectonia said, “I’m sorry but I cannot grant you your request for a solo hunt, spiking another war over one measly foal isn’t worth it even if he is a prince.” Chrysalis stood there with a blank expression to mask what would’ve been her standing there with her mouth agape. When Insectonia made up her mind, there was nothing Chrysalis could do to change her mind. She really wanted to play with her friend but if her mother prevented it, Chrysalis wouldn’t be able to do it no matter how hard she tried. “So instead I will grant you a solo infiltration mission.” Insectonia said, her daughter internally piped up when she heard this, “It will be your duty to learn as much as you can without raising suspicion, do you understand that?” Chrysalis nodded her head,“And I assume you already have a disguise ready for the infiltration?” She nodded her head confirming that, even though she didn’t currently have one. “Good, now you may be on your way when the time comes.” The changeling princess bowed to her queen, as she was overly rejoicing on the inside. “Thank you mother, I will not let this opportunity go to waste.” She said in a monotone voice to not raise any suspicion about the truth of her reasoning. Meanwhile, At Canterlot Castle “Good morning my son.”  Celestia said as Mael galloped down the room to her with a smile on his face, “I assume you had a good day at school?” “Yes, I did.” Mael said, as he hugged her. He was still too short to hug around her neck, so her knees would have to do.  “What made the day so good?” Celestia asked “Well…” Mael said as he thought through how he explained what had happened, “I asked a friend of mine if she could come over for a play date sometime soon. And I wanted to make sure it was okay with you.” Celestia let out an over exaggerated gasp. “My son already has a mare friend? He is not even eight yet!” “A mare friend!?” Mael was genuinely surprised at what his mom said, “She’s not my mare friend! She is just a friend. I don’t even like her like that, at least I don’t think I do.” That last part was muttered quietly and barely fell upon Celestia’s ears, she just brushed it off as a youthful love. “I’m just teasing you Mael.” Celestia giggled, “But if she is going to come over, it would be polite for you to tell me her name.”  Mael hadn’t thought this far ahead. He had learned from multiple sources, some of which were watered down because of his age, that the ponies and changelings hated each other. He wanted to keep his friend safe, but he didn’t want to lie to his mother either. Maybe he could find a way to be in between lying and telling the truth. “I just call her by her nickname ‘Chryssi’” Mael said, Celestia raised an eyebrow, she had overheard Queen Insectonia mentioning her daughter’s name and it sounded somewhat similar to Mael’s friend. “Very well,” Celestia said, “I will go check the school roster and see where I need to send the letter.” “Wait!” Mael caught his mom’s attention quite easily, “I want this to be personal and not some overly grand event. Don’t you think that it would be better if I just handed it to her instead.” Celestia knew Mael was acting a little weird, but she didn’t want to be overbearing on him either. “Very well then,” Celestia said, “I will write the invitation then give it to you to hand over to her.” “Yay!” Though Celestia wanted the best for her son, she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling like something wasn’t right. Maybe she’d eaten too much for lunch and it was giving her a stomach ache. Celestia thought about her son and how much she loved him, she wouldn’t know what she’d do if a changeling took advantage of him. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Mael’s friend and Insectonia’s daughter shared similar names. Little did she know that they were both the same little changeling. While on the other hoof, Insectonia didn’t know the real reason for why her daughter had asked to be sent on a solo mission. Believing that Chrysalis was just maturing quickly, she happily granted her request, but the truth that was hidden from her was that Mael and Chrysalis were actually friends and she’d lied to her mother to protect their relationship. If Chrysalis got away with lying to her mother, then maybe she’d be able to spend more time with Mael if she reported that everything went well. And maybe, just maybe, she would be able to rise to the throne quicker and be able to fulfill both her and Mael’s dream. > Chapter 7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The school bell rang, echoing throughout the entire city signaling the first day of summer. Many fillies and foals ran out of the building to go to their parents, but one of them wasn’t with the crowd. Walking out the back door, Mael made his way to the school’s garden where he promised to meet Chrysalis. He didn’t want to be seen talking to a changeling, it wasn’t anything he had against changelings, Mael just wanted to keep Chrysalis safe from any potential danger. And that meant keeping a low profile, or at least trying not to be suspicious. “Hello Mael.” Someone said “AH!” Mael jumped in surprise when he heard a voice call his name Mael turned to his left and saw somepony other than who he was expecting.  There stood a purple unicorn with a forest green mane. Much like him, she also was an early bloomer and her cutie mark was ironically a flower mid-bloom. The unicorn just stared at Mael with a knowing smile. “Uh, hello?” Mael asked, “Can I help you?” “You don’t know me?” The unicorn asked in disbelief, “My name is Chrysanthemum, also known as…” a green fire engulfed her revealing a much more familiar face, “Chrysalis!” “Oh it is just you.” Mael sighed as his heart rate slowed back to normal “Did I trick you?” Chrysalis asked with a smile on her face “Yes, yes you did.” Mael said, “Anyways, I came here to give you this.”  Mael reached into his bag and grabbed the scroll Celestia had given him, it was a little wrinkled but it still had the royal stamp of Princess Celestia herself. It was a letter of invitation for a week-long sleepover that Mael had requested. Chrysalis looked at the contents, making sure Mael didn’t accidentally give her his homework like last time. “You’re making sure I didn’t accidentally give you my homework like last time, aren’t you?” Mael asked in a somewhat humorous and disbelieving voice, “I already told you I was sorry.”   “If it happened once, it will happen again.” Chrysalis jokingly mocked, “Not to mention that this is the last day you have a reason to come herdoore before school begins again.”  “Yeah, it would have been bad if I forgot.” Mael said, “But that’s why we are going to have you come visit next week.” The sound of hoof steps could be heard approaching them. “I got to go now,” Chrysalis said, “See you soon, Mael.” Chrysalis disguised herself as a blue pegasus, as she took off with the note in her mouth. Not long after, the royal guard’s defense specialist Big Shield walked through the school's back door where he found Mael doing some last minute tending to the garden. The guards-pony let out a sigh as he took the prince back to the castle When the first day of the first full week of summer rolled around, a purple unicorn filly walked through the castle doors with a saddle bag on her back.  She was accompanied by two older unicorns, who quickly bowed before leaving. While Celestia didn’t want to snoop in her subjects' personal life, she still felt that they were pretty rude. However, the young prince didn’t pay them any mind as he ran towards his friends and hugged her. “Chryssi!” Mael exclaimed, “It is so great to see you again!” “It is great to see you too.” Chrysalis, or rather Chrysanthemum, said as she hugged him back. “You must be my son’s friend.” Celestia said Chrysalis' stomach began doing flips on itself once she realized how close Celestia was. The alabaster Alicorn dwarfed the small changeling. Chrysalis managed to recompose herself enough to look the alicorn in the eyes. “Y-yes, I am.” she said in a slightly shaky voice Celestia felt a little uneasy about Mael’s friend, something just didn’t seem right. Perhaps she was just uncomfortable with the fact that he was growing faster than she wanted. Celestia missed the times where he was a much smaller and much more timid colt and how he would snuggle up to her in bed, but she still loved him for being her son. “I have heard many things about you from my son,” Celestia said, “I hope we can be friends as well.” “Come on Chryssi, I want to show you something in the gardens.” Mael said as he took off to the royal gardens with his friend in hot pursuit of him. “Stay safe you two.” Celestia reminded them as Mael and Chrysanthemum hurried down the hall Celestia sighed as the two friends reminded her of how she and her sister used to act when they were younger. Despite her constant longing to see her sister again, Celestia knew that the banishment spell couldn’t be undone. “Is something bothering you, princess?” Archmage said as he calmly approached the solar monarch. “It’s nothing of concern Archmage.” Celestia replied nonchalantly, “I was just reflecting on how much my son has changed from when I adopted him.” “I will not press on this matter,” Archamage said, “but you still seem troubled about your son.” As the day continued moving forward, Celestia’s feeling didn’t subside. Her son was growing, and deserved more freedom as he grew, but her motherly instincts were demanding that she kept an eye on them. Celestia couldn’t understand why they were demanding her to keep watch of her son. While she understood that he was about 7, and a half, she knew that he was safe within the castle grounds. No matter how many times she reassured herself, the worry she had continued to grow. When it came time to raise the moon, Celestia couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. No matter how long she waited, her motherly instincts only grew stronger to the point where it was seeping through her “princess-mask.” When she was finally able to retire for the night, she walked by her son’s room. Maybe one peak would quench the fear and worry that was starting to overtake her.  Gently opening the door Celestia took a peek into her son’s room, her face became even more pale at what she saw. A changeling was there in the room with him and it was feeding off of him. But it wasn’t just an ordinary changeling drone, no, it was the heir to the changeling throne herself, Chrysalis. Celestia was so overcome with anger that she wanted to throw the door off its hinges and save her son from that love stealing bug, but something stopped her. It was the sound of her son’s laughter, the sound had snapped her back to reality. When Chrysalis had finished with her meal, both she and Mael had returned to playing the board game that was laid out in front of them. Apparently, Mael had won that round as the changeling princess sprawled out backward with a groan. Mael’s emotions were genuine and his movements weren’t halfhearted. Celestia couldn’t believe what she was seeing, her son was friends with a changeling and there wasn’t any manipulation involved. Celestia closed the door, making sure not to alarm her son or the changeling princess. Her mind was too cloudy to think properly, even if she managed to fall asleep, she would still have so many thoughts scrambled together distracting her from her royal duties. Perhaps a walk through the gardens would help her clear her mind. The moon shone down on her, the one thing she found comfort in, but it was also a constant reminder of her greatest failure. “Celestia, something is troubling you.” The familiar voice of archmage said, “Do you wish to speak about what is bothering you?” “I would like to,” Celestia repsoned, “but we would need to be somewhere private to do so.” “Very well,” Archmage cast a teleportation spell, teleporting both Celestia and himself into the royal dining hall. She had known archmage to be very talented in magic, but teleporting an alicorn was a near impossible feat. Now wasn’t the time to ask more questions, it was time for Celestia to get answers. “My son seems to be friends with Chrysalis, the princess of changelings.” Celestia began, “But I don’t understand why? Even at his age he knows that changelings don’t allow themselves to openly associate with ponies, much less make friends with them.” “And how do you know that changeling is his friend?” “Because she is too young to be able to hypnotize ponies, even one as young as my son.” Celestia answered, “And she didn’t try to hide her true form from him, Mael even allowed her to feed off of him.” “Have you tried to make an idea as to why he let her feed off of him?” Archmage asked, “No I haven’t, I’m just so confused right now.” Celestia admitted, “Try thinking of it in reverse.” Archmage suggested “I’m sorry, what?” “When things are unclear and seem to contradict themselves, you should look at it with a completely different perspective.” Archmage explained, “What once appeared good becomes evil and logic may become paradoxical. It was something I used to tell my students.” Celestia thought it was at least worth a try, starting at the end and working towards the beginning. It was a simple yet effective tactic when solving certain puzzles.  The first thing, or rather the last thing that happened was that she discovered Mael letting Chrysalis feed off of him, which required a strong level of trust on Mael’s part. What happened before that was Mael and Chrysalis running off to the castle gardens, probably to get away from other ponies finding out their secret. Next was that he hugged her after she arrived, disguised as ‘Chrysantheium,’ which may have been a standard greeting but it seemed like it was more than that. And finally, the day Mael asked if he could invite a friend over to stay with him for a while. Celestia’s eyes widened when it finally clicked, if Chrysalis was in fact Mael’s friend then not just Mael but also Chrysalis had to pull some strings to get this to happen. Celestia remembered how Queen Insectonia was at the last meeting of the five nations, so Chrysalis probably had to ask something of her mother, maybe like faking a mission. But Mael had it a little simpler, all he needed to do was ask if he could bring a friend over. So that would explain… oh… “He lied to me.” Celestia said completely disheartened, before the flames of her wrath started to rekindle themselves, “He lied to me! I cannot believe this, he better have some good answers for this!” Right before Celestia stormed out the door, Archmage said something. “Have you considered the possibility of continuing to let this friendship grow?” She hadn’t, Celestia was so caught up in the moment that she was failing to have foresight for  the situation. “No I haven’t, care to tell me your view of this?” “If you handle this situation properly, the hatred between ponies and changelings may come to an end because of these two.” Archmage explained, “Think of this situation like a delicate flower, you want to use care with it to get it to grow into full bloom. But should you damage it, you may end up crippling it for the rest of its life.” Celestia knew he was right, if she did anything in the heat of the moment she may just end up sparking another pony changeling war. Even if that didn’t happen, she would still end up damaging her relationship with her son.  “Then what should I do?” Celestia asked, holding back tears from the thought of her son hating her. “There are many different ways you could handle the situation,” Archmage said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t give any advice.” [Classified], of the same week, Directly after the annual meeting of the council of 5 “Queen Insectonia,” Celestia said, “May I speak with you in private?” “This better not take long.” Insectonia reluctantly agreed, “What do you want?” The two rulers returned to their spots at the table, as the remainder vacated the premises. One of the many rules of the council of 5 was that if one of the leaders wished to have a private audience, the other 3 should vacate the room until after they are finished. This was either for personal matters, or things that needed to be decided without the interjection of the other rulers. “My son invited a friend over to spend the week,” Celestia said, “And one thing led to another, which led me to thinking about somethings. Why can’t we just forgive each other as friends, if not friends, then allies? It has been so long since the war that even I have forgotten who had started it.” “Listen well Celestia, I’ll only say this once.” Insectonia scowled, “we changelings have hated the ponies long before the war. I will never be your ‘friend,’ and changelings will always be your enemy, inside or out of war.” Insectonia gave one last malice filled glare at Celestia before leaving to the hive. It wasn’t just a coincidence that Celestia spoke about Chrysalis. She had always had a suspicion ever since Chrysalis came to her asking for a solo mission, and those suspicions had been confirmed. Allowing this to continue would be bad for the changelings. Insectonia knew she had to remove the source of this problem, Mael. Good thing the changeling queen knew someone that would be willing to do her dirty work for her. ‘To Lord Griffith II, emperor of the griffon empire. I have an offer for you, one you can’t refuse. As the queen of the changelings, I have discovered a troublesome pony that I need you to rid of. I value my hive over anything else, and because you aren’t of the hive, I shall keep my reasoning for why a secret.  The one I need you to get rid of is the young prince Mael, son of princess Celestia. I don’t care how, whether that be an assassin or by capturing him, just get rid of him. Such a valuable target deserves an equally valuable reward. When you succeed at this task, then the changelings will be in alliance with you and I shall vote in favor of you for the next 350 moons. I expect this to get done, Queen Inseconia, rule of the changelings.’ > Chapter 8 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The end of the week had finally come, and it was finally time for Chrysalis to head back home to the changeling hive. She put her disguise back on and gave Mael one last hug before she went with her ‘parents.’ In actuality, they were just disguised changeling drones sent by the queen to pick up the princess. As Chrysalis started to disappear in the distance, Mael felt a sense of relief that chrysalis was gone.  There were many different reasons why Mael felt this way. While he did enjoy Chrysalis’s company, spending a week with even your best friend can be tiring and he was ready for some alone time. But at the same time, Mael was happy that she no longer ran the risk of being accidentally discovered by the castle guards, or his mother.  He wandered around the castle gardens, looking at all the rare flowers Celestia had growing in her garden. Mother had told him a few years ago that just taking some time in the garden was a great way to relieve the stress that came with each day. While wandering around the many flowers, Mael didn’t pay attention to where he was going and walked right into something. “I’m sorry,” he said hoping to hear someone reply But a reply never came. Mael looked at what he had walked into, it was a marble statue that was as tall as several ponies. It appeared to be an unorthodox sculpture using several different body parts from ponies, griffons, dragons, and many more Mael couldn’t list off the top of his head. The poor statue was covered head to toe with wild growing vegetation, hiding most of its odd features. Now knowing that he had something to do for the evening, Mael began removing vines from the statue in hopes of cleaning it up. His mother told him that there is no job too far below him for him to help, and it seemed that the gardener had failed to notice or even neglected this small part of the garden. As the young prince continued to work happily, he began to lose track of time. When Mael had finished this self imposed chore, the sky had become a beautiful orange color. Using the side of one of his front legs, he wiped the dirt off the name plate allowing him to see what was written on it. “Discord, the embodiment of chaos and disharmony itself.” Mael didn’t see the name of the sculptor, so he assumed that whomever they were wanted to stay anonymous. With what little time he had left, he took some nearby wildflowers and turned them into a flower crown where he flew up and placed it on top of the statue's head. Covered in dirt from his work, Mael made sure that the first thing he would do when he got to the castle would be to take a show. Turning off the water, Mael stepped out of the show as he headed to his room to go to sleep. He knew that his mom didn’t like it when he tracked dirt from outside into his room. It wasn’t until Mael got to his room that he noticed that he was so preoccupied with cleaning up the statue that he had completely forgotten how messy his room was from when Chrysalis visited, but he decided that he would leave it for the morning. Right before he was about to rest, loud knocking hit on his door. “Prince Mael,” A guard shouted, “Your mother wishes to speak with you.” He was surprised at this sudden occurrence, Mael’s had a gut feeling that something was wrong. She couldn’t have found out about Chrysalis, Mael made sure of it. But what if she did? What would happen to him? And more importantly what would happen to Chrysalis? Maybe it was about the statue he had found? But he really doubted that it was the last one. Stopping at the door, Mael took a deep breath before he entered his mother’s room. Instead of looking at the face of somepony who was eagerly awaiting him, he saw the back of Celestia facing him. His mom was looking into the starry night sky, she seemed deeply lost in thought. Celestia patted down on a spot on the balcony, telling her son to come sit beside her without needing to mutter a single word. A small picture frame was held in her magic, Celestia momentarily took a break from watching the night sky to look at the photo one last time before passing it to her son. There were two fillies both about his age in the picture, the white filly had a pink mane and the one chasing her was blue with a lighter blue mane. It looked like the photo was taken during the middle of a game, but Mael couldn’t understand why his mother was showing this. “This is a photo of when both me and my sister were both still young fillies,” Celestia said, “I still remember how that unscheduled rainshower cut our fun short.” “Sister?!” Mael was surprised , to say the least, “Does that mean I have an aunt?” “Yes, you do have an aunt,” Celestia smiled, “Her name is Luna.” “Will I ever meet her?” Mael asked excitedly, “I wish I could give you definite yes or no,” Celestia said, “But I can’t” “Why’s that?” Mael asked as his ears laid flat “Many many years ago, I didn’t realize how much I actually loved her. I made several poor actions in my youth, making my sister and I slowly grow distant.” Celestia let out a sad sigh as a single tear fell from her eye, “Now my sister is gone and she hates me because of it, but I can’t blame her for my poor actions. And now it is too late for me to change the past.” Mael wanted to comfort his mother, but he didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. All he could do was lean against her and give her a hug. Celestia gave her son a smile to show that she was alright, but she sighed as she turned to face the moon again. “Do you know why I have decided to tell you these things?” Celestia asked “No,” Mael shook his head “I am telling you these things because I don’t want to lose you too.” Celestia said, “I know the truth about Chrysanthemum, or rather Chrysalis, and I feel hurt that you felt like you had to hide it from me.” Mael was absolutely shocked, “I-I’m sorry.” “I know you are, but if one of the guards found out things could have happened way differently.” Celestia said, “While I won’t punish you for bringing a changeling into Canterlot city, you still lied to me. As your mother, but not as a princess, I can not let you go unpunished.” “But- but I am really sorry!” Mael said as his eyes started to tear up, “Please don’t do this, I promise it won’t happen again!” “I am sorry, but I have to do this.” Celestia said as her expression turned solemn, “You're grounded, no cake for a month.” “NOooo!” There was no point in holding back his tears anymore, Mael knew he couldn’t change his mother’s judgement. Celestia gave her son a hug to try and comfort him, to her mild surprise, Mael didn’t push her hooves but rather he quickly accepted her offer. Knowing that she did the right thing in grounding her son didn’t make it any easier on her already heavy heart. A single tear rolled down her cheek, as she knew that her son did in fact truly love her back. After putting Mael to bed, Celestia began wandering the dark halls, looking for something to take her mind off of what had just happened. Celesta’s “mask” had a small crack in it, most ponies wouldn’t have noticed it, but there were a few of the older members of the guard who knew something was off. Soon she had passed a familiar door, one she had passed many times before, and a friend was in there waiting for her. Archmage sat at his desk as he wrote something inside his book, once he felt Celestia presence he calmly closed the book and turned to her. While many ponies were scared to act like themselves around royalty, Archmage wasn’t scared of this. He was one of the few ponies who she could actually call a friend. While many ponies were too scared to even get remotely close to celestia, Archmage practically waltzed right into her innermost circle. Maybe he had something to take her mind off of the punishment she forced on her son. “Ah, it is nice to see you again Princess.” Archmage said politely, “What have you come here for?” Celestia hastily thought of a reason why she would’ve needed to visit him, “I’ve come here to check up on the progress of your project.”  “My project?” he inquired, “I’m sorry, but I have multiple projects going on. You’ll need to be more specific.” “The medicine you said that you could make from my son’s magic.” Celestia reminded him “Yes, that one!” Archmage said as he remembered, “Now where did I put it?” Archmage’s horn lit up as his magic quickly ran over the books on his shelf. When he found the right book, he pulled it off the shelf and opened it up. Upon seeing all the hard equations Celestia remembered in this book, it was the one she took a peak in a few years ago. Archmage began flipping through the pages, until he ran across one with several spots blotted out. The next few pages were covered in ink spills and scratched out writing. But on one the last page of his journal, there was what appeared to be an equation circle several times. “This will be the end product, or at least this is what it would be in theory.” Archmage said, “The small portion you had allowed me to test was too small for any actual tests. So instead I learned it’s magical properties to figure how it would react to what, allowing me to make predictions instead of accidentally blowing up half the castle.” Celestia was shocked at his statement, “you can’t be serious.” “Actually, I am.” Archmage sighed, “Combine Mael’s naturally occurring magic with dark magic and it becomes greatly unstable, making a powerful force if controlled correctly. But if you would add pony magic to that equation, you would theoretically be able to make chaos magic.” “I see.” Celestia was surprised at his revelation about chaos magic, “then I assume all you will need to create the medicine is a larger portion of my son's magic, is that correct?” “Yes, I do need a larger portion of his magic to create it, but” Archmage replied, “while it would work in theory, there is no guarantee that the components won’t just cancel each other out. I hate to say it like this, but it is best I am upfront about this request. I need living test subjects.” Celestia didn’t want to put any of her subjects in harm's way, but if she made that sacrifice then the outcome would allow for a “cure-all” of sorts to be made. She argued with herself over the ethical dilemma, risking a few lives and possibly save many more, or she could refuse to give him what he needed and the “cure-all” won’t be made. It was like the now or later question that many ponies had asked, while the now was much more pleasing the later was always many times better. Both options felt right and wrong, Celestia knew that one thing was constant in both options, either way she would end up changing the future. “I have decided to grant you permission to use living test subjects Archmage.” Celestia said, “But all I ask is that you don’t get them involved in any of your other experiments.” “I swear to you with everything I own, and even my own life, I will not abuse what you have given me.” > Chapter 9 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Mael continued to Mature, his mother had to move him up to the Noble’s school of magic, economics, and politics. While it was innumerably times more boring than regular school, Mael’s determination to impress his mother was his driving force to do well in school. Mael still was somewhat young and his magic still hasn’t fully developed, but even in his young age he had enough magic to continue Archmages experiments. Somehow word managed to quickly spread that Celestia had ordered a “cure-all” to be made using her son’s magic as a base for it. While that was true, Celestia had to withhold any more information from the public because it was supposed to be a secret, but she also feared how the other nations would react. By the time the young prince was 13, Archmage had collected enough magic to make 5 working portions of the magic based medicine. When the young prince made his way to the school in the morning, he took note of a large crowd of griffons covered in armor heading for the castle. His own instincts forced him to steer clear of the large crowd. A few griffons seemed to notice him, but they seemed intent on arriving at the castle. Hopefully it was just something minor, but Mael couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. Arriving at the castle gates, the Griffon Emperor motioned his army to set up camp outside while he took his 4 best soldiers to accompany him as they went further. Emperor Griffif told one of the solar guards to tell the princess that he would like to meet with her. Celestia genuinely was surprised at the Emperor’s seemingly instantaneous arrival. The only reason why one of the royals of another nation would show up without notice would be if it was something of urgency that would require immediate attention. “It is an unexpected occurrence to see you here,” Celestia said “I know it is,” Griffif said as he approached the throne, “I came to speak to you about one of the agreements we made when the council of 5 was made.” “Then why didn’t you call an emergency meeting for the council of 5?” Celestia inquired, “Because this would only be beneficial to the griffons, as of the current moment.” Griffif continued, “Under article 2, it explicitly states that if something from beyond our knowledge would be discovered, all parties who wish to study it are allowed to.” “Yes I am aware, and it also said that there is a certain time frame of 10 years, any studying after that must be permitted by the one who discovered it.” Celestia said as she began to  become aware of what he wanted, “Why have you reminded me of this?” “In such short time, it has become common knowledge that you have been using unique magic to make some sort of powerful healing potion. You’d be surprised how fast news spreads.” the emperor said, “The griffons would like to borrow the source of this magic to study. While the dragons and minitars are too brutish to actually study it, the changelings also want nothing to do with you ponies, so that only leaves griffons who desire to study him.” Celestia began to grimace, a powerful rage was building up inside her. “You come here to take my son away from me?” Celestia’s words were filled with hate, the one emotion she never wished to experience, “I am not going to let you go through with this.” The emperor started to laugh, “While you have a likely chance of defeating my armies with your unicorns’ magic, I have a feeling that the changelings would be willing to assist us in defeating you.” “He is my son.” Celestia growled, barely refraining herself from using her royal canterlot voice, “What you are trying to do is technically kidnapping! And you have no proof that he is ‘beyond our knowledge’.” “I actually do have proof, even aside from his unique magic.” The emperor said, maintaining a calm figure far better than Celestia was, “As far back as we can go in history, there have only been two recorded alicorns, only one of which existence is confirmed, and neither of them are of natural birth. Secondly, his wings, there has never been any existence of any creature with more than 2 wings. While it is more of unconfirmed rumors,third would be his diet. There have been rumors about him eating meat outside of the occasional ceremony, far more than what would be healthy for a regular pony. In fact he might not even be an actual pony, he might be, no, he is from a completely unknown species to use.” Celestia clenched her teeth together to prevent her from saying anything she would regret. Archmage had warned her about this when he first met her son, Celestia thought that Mael would be able to hide his non-pony-like features until he was just a bit older. Why now? Why couldn’t it have waited just a few more months. Something began to flood her mind, was it anger? Malice? Or was it sadness? Celestia couldn’t tell anymore, her mask was completely shattered, something no pony had ever seen in over 500 years. Her face was covered with a sorrowful look, she wanted to keep her son safe, but what good would it be if she risked thousands of more lives than what even Archmage’s experiments were. “Princess Celestia, I know it is hard for you to make a decision.” Griffif said in a comforting tone, “With someone as close to you as your son, I understand why this is so hard. But I know you will make the right decision in the end.” “I…” Celestia muttered before she finally collected the right words to say, “I need some time to think about this.” “Go right ahead princess.” Griffif said, “take as much time as you need. I will be here as long as you need.” Celestia stood up from her throne having a specific checklist in mind. First she would need to find one of the few ponies he could trust, and he was like a bigger brother to Mael after his real brother left him here. In the midst of the royal guard’s training grounds, shield and magic specialist Big Shield stood training with other guards in the shield and magic specialist division.  Upon arrival all of the guards stopped and saluted the princess. “Specialist Big Shield, I have a mission for you.” Celestia said, the guard broke his salute as he took two steps forwards, “Take yourself and a hoofful of other guard in your division, and escort my son back to his room after school today.” “Has war broken out?” The specialist asked in a concerned tone, “Not yet,” Celestia said, “but we are starting to experience some political tension with the griffons.” “I see, I will make sure your son will not be harmed.” “Make sure you search every part of his room for any griffons.” Celestia said, “I don’t want my son to be used as leverage against me.” When school was dismissed, Big Shield scoured for the prince throughout the school. When he found Mael, Big Shield quickly explained what was going on, and Mael seemed to understand the situation even with the little time it was explained to him. Mael hastily made a note and left it outside for Chrysalis to find, telling her that he couldn’t meet with her today. Arriving at the castle Mael was greeted by the gruff face of the griffon emperor. “Well well well… You must be the prince Mael.” Griffif said as he stretched a claw to try and snatch him Big shield and another member of his platoon used their spears to create a blockade between them. “Do not touch the prince!” “Yeah yeah, I know.” Griffif said as he backed away, letting the guards by The platoon made its way down the hall, only stopping in front of his room. Big Shield signaled the rest of his platoon to go in and search his room for any threats. After three minutes of diligent searching they came back, and let him know that the room was all clear. They escorted Mael into his room and locked the door behind him. From that point on, no less than 4 of the guards would stand outside of his room, guarding the entrance. Soon there was knocking at the window, Mael looked over to it and he was happy to see a familiar face. Quickly, he flew up to the window to open it for his friend Chrysalis. “Thank goodness you’re okay.” Chrysalis said, “When I saw the note I came over here as fast as I could.” “I’m fine Chryssi.” Mael whispered, “Just don’t be here too long, there are guards right outside of my door and I don’t want to think about what would happen to you if they wound you.” Archmage sat at a table with Celestia sitting across from him, he listened to her problem seeking to help her. Celestia knew that whatever happened would end up breaking her heart, if not her entire soul. If she kept her son safe from the griffons, then the ponies would end up at war with the griffons and possibly even changelings. But preventing the war meant giving up her son, she already lost her sister and she doesn’t want to lose her son too. “I don't know what to do.” Celestia said, visibly distressed, “I want to keep my son safe, but I don’t want to send my ponies into war. I don’t know what to do. What should I do?” “I am just as unsure as you are,”  Archmage replied, “You value not only your son, but your subjects as well. Making the choice between those two is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Sacrificing one saves the other, but neither one would be inherently better than the other.” Archmage sat there thinking of any ways to assist his friend. Celestia saw the gear turn in his head as he continued to brainstorm. There were a few times where he was going to give an idea, but he slapped it down before the words even left his mouth. Archmage looked up with a mix of confidence and sorrow in his eyes. Celestia knew that whatever his idea was, it would work, but the way he looked made her feel uneasy about it. “There is someone who can help.” Archmage said, “but I cannot say for certain that your son will be able to stay with you.” “How will that help?” Celestia groaned as she continued to brainstorm, “Because it is guaranteed that your son will live.” Archmage said, “I seriously doubt that the griffons are after his magic, so they must be some sort of bounty hunter.” “But, who would do that?” “That doesn’t matter at the moment, what matters is your son’s safety.” Archmage said, “I need your permission to go through with this. But if he isn’t here by nightfall tomorrow, I cannot guarantee Mael’s safety.” “If you honestly think it would be the best outcome for Mael, go and do it.” Celestia said, meeting his gaze in an attempt to look stoic, “That is an order.” “Very well,” Archmage said, as he stood up and began to walk away. “Wait,” Celestia asked her friend, “Do I know this individual?” “No you don’t,” he replied, “But it is better if you meet him face to face.” Celestia watched her friend as he seemingly vanished around the corner. She wanted the best for her son, but would she trust a stranger to her with the responsibility of watching over her son. But after a little more thinking, Celestia decided that if Archmage trusted that creature, then she should too. When morning finally arrived, Celestia ordered Big Shield’s platoon to escort Mael too and from school. While the griffon emperor was displeased at how persistence Celestia was at protecting her son, Griffif knew he had to be patient. While Mael was at school, maybe Griffif would manage to coax Celestia into giving him what he wants. “Princess Celestia, if you are scared about your son being away from home, I promise I will treat him as if he was my own son.” Griffif said, “You will?” Celestia asked cautiously “Yes, I will.” he replied, crossing his claws behind his back, “I also know that he won’t be judged for eating meat when we griffons also eat meat. Despite us often seeming cruel and greedy, we griffons are very welcoming creatures.” “I am still unsure.” Celestia said, “Give me a little more time.” “I understand why you are being so cautious Princess Celestia,” He replied, “But I am unable to return until you make up your mind. While I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt, I don’t want you to intentionally put it off while I’m gone.” “I recognize why you are so hasty to return to your home.” Celestia said, “But I need to make sure I don’t make any brash decisions.” “Take your time, I am in not much of a rush.” Celestia waited for someone she didn’t know who to look for. As time went on, seconds changed to minutes, then minutes into hours. Celestia could see that the Griffin emperor was getting more impatient by the minute. By the time it was about 2 in the evening, Celestia could clearly see that the statement about him not being in a rush was very false. “Celestia, I know this is hard for you but I need you to make a decision quickly.” Griffif said, “I have just been informed that my subjects are beginning to grow agitated that I am not there.” Being given this sudden ultimatum, Griffif could see that Celestia was thinking as hard as she could. Celestia weighed as many pros and cons as possible, everything from her immortal reputation to even things as unimportant as a blade of grass. She was scared for her subjects as much as she was for her son. “I think I have made up my mind.” Celestia said solemnly, “And what would that be?” he inquired, Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but she lacked the courage to say the words. The emperor eagerly awaited Celestia's response, knowing what her answer would be. Right before Celestia could answer, someone else answered for her. “Her answer is No.” > Chapter 10 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earlier that same day Mael watched the sun rise through a window, it was the one of the few things he was able to do while he was locked down in his room. There, Chrysalis sat beside him, wanting to say something but she could figure out how to say it. “I think this may be one of the last times I see you.” Mael said sadly, “I wish it wasn’t true.” Chrysalis said, “You are my only friend Mael. Please, I don’t want you to go away.” “I don’t want to go either,” Mael said, “but if I have to go, can you promise me one thing?” “What is it?” Mael asked his simple request, “Promise me that if I leave we will stay friends forever.”  “Only if you promise that you’ll come back alive.” “I will.” Mael said confidently, “I promise.” “Her answer is No.” Somepony said, “you will not touch Mael.” Celestia turned her head towards the sound of the voice. The sound of metal hoof steps echoed down the endless halls of the castle. They weren’t light and elegant, like hers were, but rather heavy and intimidating, like somepony marching. Eventually a tall and muscular stallion, who was just barely a head shorter than her, walked into view.  He wore full body armor, which was rare to see because of how heavy it was, the majority of it was blue with golden engraving on it. Much like Celestia’s son, he had four white wings, beige fur, and a horn on his head. His mane was dark blue. His eyes were closed, and he didn’t even bother to open them. Was this who archmage was talking about? “Who are you to give an answer for the princess?” Griffif demanded angrily “Why should I give an answer to a pheasant like you?” the stallion asked mockingly as he loomed over the emperor, “You are nothing compared to a god such as myself.” “Why you!” The griffon emperor slash his face with a claw. The tall stallion didn’t even wince, but rather brought a hoof up and examined the blood that poured from the wound. “Barely even surface level,” The armored pony remarked, as he  brought his hoof away as if he was going to punch the emperor. But that wasn’t the case, the stallion focused his magic into a blade extending from his hoof. The sheer amount of magic he put into his next attack terrified her, even if her sister was here, that wouldn’t be enough magic to even replicate such a powerful attack. Celestia was scared stiff, even the select few guards that accompanied her were shaking in their metal boots. When he finally unleashed his attack, the griffon emperor was sent flying and made a dent in the wall. “Don’t worry, he is still alive. Probably.” he said as he used magic to heal the wound on his face, “Celestia, was it? I have things we need to discuss with you.” “I assume you are what the one Archmage told me about?” Celestia asked, “Though, he didn’t tell me your name.” “Archmage? So that’s what he calls himself in this world.” He said, “My name is Ludociel. I am one of the four archangels, elite warriors of the goddess race.” Ludociel... Where had she heard that name before? “Ludociel, what does my son mean to you?” “Mael is your son?” Ludociel asked, when Celestia nodded he became overjoyed, “I hope my little brother hasn’t been too much trouble for you all this time. He means a lot to me and I apologize for forcing my responsibility onto you.” Little brother? Those words sent her mind into a trip down memory lane. For the first few days after Celestia met her son, he wouldn’t stop rambling about his older brother and how awesome he was. Eventually those memories sent her mind even further back to both she and her sister were fillies, Luna always looked up to her and wanted to be just like her.  But now wasn’t the time to reminisce over the past. There was still one question she needed to ask. Celestia raised a hoof and dismissed her guards, and she understood that this question could be… No, would be very emotional. “Why?” Celestia asked, Ludociel raised an eyebrow at the simple question, “Why did you send your own brother away? He adored you, he looked up to you.” “There is no avoiding that question, is there?” Ludociel asked rhetorically, “If you really must know, then I will relive that pain I once felt to tell you the whole truth.” Celestia watched a tear fall from one of his closed eyes as he began to bring painful memories. “How long has it been now, 11, 12 years? Back when my brother was only about 2 years old, our parents were slain on the battlefield. While they were still alive, my parents created an alliance group with giants and fairies known as Stigma, and being their oldest son, I was handed the responsibility of being Stigma’s leader.” Ludociel's voice became shaky as he remembered what happened next. “About a year later, I had left Mael with someone I thought I could trust to watch over him while I was away fighting in the war. But I was wrong, when I returned, the man who I once trusted the most held my little brother hostage with a knife pressed against his neck. Do you know the hate I felt when I found out one of my closest friends was a traitor? Can you imagine the pain I felt when I had to kill the same person I spent most of my life growing up with?”  Ludociel slammed a hoof into the ground, breaking part of the floor, “My race was supposed to be a symbol of purity and righteousness, not ones of murderers and treasonists. The only ones I knew that I could truly trust, they were all fighting with me in this pointless war.” Ludociel looked up and stared directly at Celestia, “I need you to know that all the other choices would have ended in my own brother’s demise. I had to send him somewhere untouched by this war, and now I can see that you’ve given him something far better than I ever hoped for. It was my intention to take my brother back home with me when the war was over, but now he is old enough for me to train.” Celestia could see that he was being genuine, and not try to score ‘pity points’ from her. Not even the most talented of actors would’ve been able to reenact all the emotion he expressed when talking about his brother. Ludociel was barely holding himself together from an emotional breakdown. Celestia got off her throne and walked down to Ludociel,  “Ludociel, I can see that your brother truly means a lot to you.” Celestia said, “But as his adoptive mother, I am not ready to let him go yet.” “I understand.” Ludociel said, “I won’t make you, nor Mael, do anything you don’t want to. But while I’m here, there is something else I must do.” Celestia was curious as to what he was talking about, she watched him walk over to the griffon emperor who was still stuck in the wall. Ludociel placed the tip of his hoof on his forehead. “Invigorate.” was the single word he uttered. Suddenly the griffon was healed, everything from even the most mortal of wounds to even the stitching of his garments, making it look like nothing had even happened to him. “Take heed of this mercy I have shown you, and remove your armies from this land and never come back here again!” Ludociel commanded, “If you don’t I will single handedly send you kind into extinction. Do you understand?” Griffif stared into the white abyss that was Ludociel’s eyes.  A shiver ran down his spine as he fled and commanded his armies to flee. Celestia was both impressed and terrified of this individual, he had more than enough magic to back up his threat. Despite using a different dialect than Equesrtria’s standard one, she could tell that he was very intelligent and able to carefully assess the situation at a moment's notice. “Ludociel, I have a request to make.” Celestia said, as the archangel turned around to face her, “When you return to your home, take your little brother with you and train him. I understand that you care about him as much as I do.” “Celestia, are you sure of this? He is just as much of my brother as he is your son. I don’t understand how you are letting go of him so easily.” He responded, “My brother and I will not be able to return until the war is over, and there is no guarantee that we’ll be able to communicate between worlds.” “Fate has been very cruel to me over the past centuries. The only two options I see are that he either goes with you or that evil emperor.” Celestia said, “As much as I want to believe your threat was a bluff, I don’t want to wish any harm upon any creature unless it is absolutely necessary.” When school ended, Mael was surprised to only see Big Shield standing there with nopony from his platoon. The guardspony motion for the prince to come over to him. As they headed to the castle, the specialist informed the young prince that the griffon emperor had retreated and he wasn’t in any immediate danger. After arriving at the doors to the throne room, the specialist opened the door, revealing somepony who felt familiar to Mael. “Mael?” he asked, “Is that you?” Who was this pony? Why did he seem so familiar? Mael couldn’t help but look at that pony with curiosity. Where had he seen him before? “Don’t you remember me? It’s me, your older brother Ludociel.” That couldn’t be right. Could it? It had been so many years that Mael had almost completely forgotten about him. Even though it had been so long since Mael had last seen his older brother, he still remembered that Ludociel wasn’t a pony. But what if he became a pony when he arrived here? That’s the same thing that happened to him, or at least he thinks that’s what happened. But the resemblance was still there. Either somepony had guessed correctly on what his brother would’ve looked like as a pony, or his brother really did come here. Mael felt something cold run down the side of his cheek, he was crying, crying tears of joy. Running towards his older brother, Mael gave his brother a hug. Ludociel wrapped one of his front legs around his little brother to hug him back. “You- You’re back.” Mael said as he stopped trying to control his tears “I never forgot about you Mael.” Ludociel said, “You mean everything to me, I couldn’t bear to see you get hurt again. Let’s go home, back to the Celestial realm where we belong.” “Why can’t we stay here and live together with mom.” “Because I am needed back home.” Ludociel said, “Much like how Celestia is needed to be here.” “But I want to stay here.” Mael said, as he backed out of the hug, “I want to be with mom.” Celestia walked over to her son, wanting to comfort him. She understood his attachment to her, but she also knew that either option would end in a bad outcome for him. Celestia knew she had to pick what she thought would be the lesser of two evils. “Mael, my son, I would never let anything bad happen to you.” Celestia said, “I need you to understand that if you don’t go with your brother, something terrible might happen to you.” “T- Terrible?” “As much as I hate to say goodbye to you,” Celestia said as she let a tear roll down her face, “what I hate more is the thought of you dying because I failed to protect you. Please go with your brother, I can no longer protect you here.” When the sun rose the next morning, Mael got ready to leave despite wanting to stay so badly. He wasn't one to disobey his mother’s wishes, so he went along as peacefully as he could. Ludociel was sad that his brother’s adoptive mother had to say goodbye to him, but he had to return back to the Celestial realm quickly. There at the door Ludociel waited for his little brother to come to him. When Mae finally l arrived, he took some saddlebags filled with a few books and his dog plushie he had since he was about 4.  “Are you ready to leave?” Ludociel asked,  “Can I atleast go hug mom before I leave?” he replied “Go ahead. I have enough time to spare.” Mael ran over to his mother and hugged her. Tears were shed, knowing that this may be the last time they each get to see each other for a really long time. “Mael, please be safe.” Celestia pleaded, “And please come back, I don’t want you to be gone forever.” “I promise I will be safe.” He responded, “Please don’t worry too much mom, I will come back here.” They continued to embrace each other in a hug for a few more seconds before they had to go separate ways. Mael walked back to his brother who was waiting on him patiently. Words couldn’t express the amount of pain that both mother and son felt, the only time where Celestia had felt anything similar to this pain was when her sister became Nightmare Moon. As the two brothers were about to take off and fly away, Ludociel paused for a moment. “Celestia.” Ludociel said as he turned all his attention to her, “Whether it be 3 or 300 years, I promise that we will return one day. And Mael will still be alive.” Hearing those words made Celestia smile. Knowing that her son would be alright comforted her as she watched the two brothers fly out of view. > Bonus Chapter: Epilogue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even after several weeks had passed, Celestia continued to mourn over her son leaving. The only other time where she cried this much was during the Nightmare Moon incident. Many of the nobles took notice that she was far from happy, and they knew why that was. While it was common knowledge for the ponies that regularly attended the castle that Mael was gone, they didn’t know what had actually happened to him. Celestia cancelled evening court for the third day in a row. While she felt very guilty for doing so, Celestia knew that she wouldn’t be able to take care of her subjects if she couldn’t take care of herself.  Walking down the hall, Celestia stopped in front of the door to Archmage’s room. He was gathering all of his notebooks, journals, and anything pertaining to his discoveries in equestria into a large pile in the center of his room. Once he illuminated his horn, it was then that she knew that this wasn’t a normal spring cleaning. “Archmage, what are you…” Celestia was cut off by the sound of fire engulfing all the work that Archmage had put thousands of hours into. Once the fire had completely consumed the books, Celestia realized that this wasn’t any normal fire, it was black fire. Archmage stood there looking disappointed as he did nothing to stop the fire from destroying his work. “Celestia, we need to talk.” Archmage said, not taking his eyes off the fire. “What is it, Archmage?” Celestia said as she stood beside him. “I owe you an apology.” Archmage said, “I have kept many things a secret from you, and it is time for you to know the truth.” “What are you talking about?” “Tell me Celestia, how long have we known each other?” She was stunned at the question. Whenever she would give an answer, a new memory would come up a few years prior. “We have known each other for 33 years,” Archmage said, “and I have not aged a single day in the process.” “Are you saying you have found a way to cast immortality on common ponies?” “No.” Archmage said, “I am saying that I am not a pony at all, rather, a demon.” Celestia took a step back in fear, she could tell by the sound of his voice that he wasn’t joking. Why was he telling her this? What could he hope to accomplish? “Shocking, isn’t it?” Archmage joked, “To know that the only pony that you could consider a friend was actually a demon.” “Why have you revealed this to me!?” Celestia demanded, trying her best to hide the fear in her voice. “Because I want you to know the truth about everything.” Archmage said, “All those claims of Mael being other-worldly are true. I should know, because I also come from his world. Archmage is not my real name, the individual you have come to know as ‘Archmage’ is nothing more than a doll of my creation. To be my eyes and ears in this world which I cannot travel to. I designed him off of what I think I would look like if I disguised myself among your kind.” “You said you came from the same world as Mael, so why have you come here?” Archmage’s face became notably more grim, “Roughly 200 years ago, the Demon King was seeking someone to fill an open spot in his elite military. He noticed my unrivaled talent for magic and he said that I would fill that spot. When I tried to stand up against him, he defeated me. Ever since then, I have been crippled and imprisoned in the demon world prison.” Celestia could see all the emotion drain from his face, “But 40 years ago, someone discovered that there could be multiple worlds. So the Demon King gave me a chance to earn my freedom if I could find another world that would be strong enough to ally with him against the goddess race. Though, the project was brought to a close shortly after Mael returned to that world.” “So all those times where I thought you were my friend, you weren’t?” “No no no, Celestia, I didn’t say that.” Archamge said, “Just because I was on a mission in an attempt to regain my freedom doesn’t mean that we weren’t friends.” Hearing those words made Celestia calm down a little, but she still wanted to be very cautious around him. Even though demons were only ever a legend, in those legends they had been known for using sly words to twist the truth and manipulate others. “I’m sorry I had to hide all these things from you Celestia, I wish I could make it up to you in some way.” Archmage said, “but I am glad to tell you, not just for the sake of your son, but also for the sake of your subjects that your kind is too weak to be dragged into this foolish war.” Despite being her ponies being called weak, Celestia also had a remote feeling of happiness known that none of them would be harmed. Archmage began walking towards the fire before Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder, stopping him. Even if the real Archmage was a Demon, she could tell that he viewed her as a close friend. “Could you at least tell me your real name,” Celestia said, “If I am never going to see you again, could you at least let me know your name.” Archmage was surprised by the simplicity of the request. A small smile came across his face, it wasn’t malicious or evil, but warm and calming. “Gowther.” Archmage said, “My name is Gowther.” “Gowther? That’s a nice name.” Celestia said Gowther smiled as he walked closer to the fire. But before he stepped foot into it, he paused. Gowther turned back around to Celestia with a few words left to say. “When this foolish war is over and I have my freedom again,” Gowther said, “I would like you to visit the demon realm and enjoy some tea with me and my lover Glariza. That is if it is alright with you.” “Yes, it would be.” Celestia said, “Thank you Princess Celestia.” Gowther said with a modest bow of the head before he stepped into the fire, destroying his vessel. Several hours went by before the fire abruptly stopped burning. Celestia began using her magic to gently rummaging through the ashes looking for anything important. When she found nothing but burnt ashes of Gowther’s research, a small aluminum bottle stood on Archmage’s desk with a note attached. It was addressed to her. ‘Dear Celestia, These are the only 5 cure-alls that I have made, so not let anything know that they still exist. They are strong enough to cure any disease, and any number of them, at a mere instant. Be cautious when you use them, they are irreplaceable and irreplicateble without your son’s magic. Make sure you hold onto them, I am sure your sister will need at least one when she returns. Signed, Gowther.’ How he knew of her sister was completely unknown to Celestia, but he was right in his prediction. When Nightmare Moon returned and was reformed back into Princess Luna, various diseases and plagues that had spawned in her absence had attacked her. Many of the doctors didn’t think that she would make it, even if she was an alicorn.  When Celestia gave Luna the cure-all, Luna made a comment on the medicine’s foul taste, but she was cured completely of anything that was ailing her. There have been only a few times where Celestia had been as happy as right then, but there were still things that sat on her mind. Celestia wondered where her son was, and she wondered what had happened to his childhood friend Chrysalis in his absence.