Forge Father Anon

>You are Twilight Sparkle and this is one of the favorite parts of the month for you
>Because today is the monthly Ponyville book club meeting
>When you first came to town nothing like this existed but you quickly fixed that
>At first it only started with raising awareness of the local library and having story time for the foals

>Now after years you have gotten a good number of your friends and the local adult population to join
>It really is great to have a whole day just dedicated to sharing your appreciation of books with other ponies
>It’s kind of become a small social party where the given topic is the book chosen by yours truly
>The destruction of the tree library was a tragedy but at least the castle had a large meeting area that allowed these meetings to not feel so crowded

>You particularly love the start as you have always started the parties with reading to the foals like in the beginning
>And this month you think you have a great book for the foals
“Ok, my little ponies gather around.”
>The foals excitedly bunch up and scoot closer to your chair

“Now the book I will be reading from today is titled Father Fables: Ancient Oral Legends and Myths.”

>Some of the colts ah while the fillies wait with wide excited eyes

“This fable is from the first chapter and is titled Anonymous the Forge Father. It is one of the oldest legends found in the forgotten scrolls, well no longer forgotten, of Alexponedria in the catacombs of pone. It is said to predate even the schism of the tribes of the third age. Modern day pony historians believe that these stories were written down to preserve the tales of their ancestors should anything befall the old soothsayers that remembered the legends of old. Let’s begin shall we.”

>Scooching yourself into your comfy chair and getting comfortable you begin.

“In the dawn of the first age of Ponykind we wandered as herds. Ever subjected to the predations of the many monsters that feasted upon us. Never did we settle down, always moving to avoid being trapped by the malevolent creatures of this world. It was a time of fear and great sorrow.”

“Then one day a creature unlike the others came to one of our herds. More than twice the size of the largest of the herd, it stood tall. At first the ponies feared it and began to flee. In this mad dash a foal tripped and could not escape. The poor colt began to cry believing this to be his end”

“But to the herds’ surprise, the stranger knelt down and cradled the young one and sang a soothing melody to the distraught foal.”
“Seeing this it became clear to the herd that this was a being of kindness and was not to be feared.”
“Now no longer in fear of this creature they looked upon him with awe. Materials of great comfort made of intricate patterns adorned his form and metals of great luster hung from his neck and his appendages.”

“Truly this was no ordinary being, but one of great power and knowledge. His very presence radiated a peace that the ponies had never known. In great reverence the herd leader asked what manner of creature he was and what his role in this world was”

>For this next line you prepare to mimic a deep, gruff voice as the bold text in your book clearly commands

“I am Anonymous a human, and as far as my role goes I enjoy the art of creation.”

“The ponies knew in that moment that this was the beginning of a grand new age. Fear no longer held any sway on the ponies hearts as they stayed with Anonymous and listened to his tales of creation and our place in the grand dance amongst the stars. For many moons no monster dared to approach the herd as his gaze cowed those that would seek to harm them and there was peace.”

“Then came the moonless night, and from this darkness and great timberwolf larger than any mare alive emerged from the dark forest. It charged with great malice and hatred in its heart, seeking to cause the ponies great suffering. Dread befell the herd as the monster neared and many feared their end.”

>You held here for a bit enjoying the clear effect that the suspense was creating in your little audience. You even saw a colt covering his eyes in fear, but you knew he was fine. His ears still stood at attention; clearly like yourself once a story is started you have to know the ending.

“But it was not to be so, Anonymous the great teacher, stepped forth and meet the beast.”

“Flesh met bark with great fury as Anonymous grappled and struck the foul beast in a grand struggle. Long and treacherous was the conflict, with dominance ever shifting. Eventually the beast began to tire and our great protector saw his opening. Lifting the timberwolf in the air he brought the creature down and smote it upon his knee.”

“Upon this victory the ponies rejoiced and sang with jubilation. But all was not right as the protector did not sing. Confused the ponies asked what troubled him”

“Is it always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Your world? Is all of it filled with these beasts?”
“Yes replied the ponies.”

“For a moment he was silent as he stared at his fallen foe.”

“Then there is much work that must be done.” Anonymous decreed

“And so it was that ponies began to learn the ways of civilization.”

>You raise your hoof and prepare yourself to proclaim the next sections with vigor and fervor like the wise soothsayers of old.

 “We learned how to construct shelters with which to live, the land was shown to be bountiful with the knowledge given to us, and great walls made to protect us. But the greatest gift of all was the gift of his namesake.”

“THE FORGE”

“From this he gifted us armor so that no claw could rend our flesh and weapons so no monster could best us. From his forge wonders were created that raised ponykind from the evils that surrounded them. With his creations he beat back all that threatened us and with each victory the glow of his power was seen all the clearer in the eyes of his ponies.”

>Now you lowered your voice causing the foals to lean in their chairs. Their attentions fully focused upon you.

“But not all of his lessons were so explicit. Many of his lessons were by example and the ponies heeded these lessons just as much as the others.”

“When the Forge Father walked among us he was kind to all and nurtured all with his loving embrace. The stallions of the herd saw this learned to be kind, nurturing, and wise so as to raise the next generation to be greater than the previous.”

“Just as the stallions of the herd had learned their role so to would the mares as one day a group of mares followed the Forge Father outside of the city to spy on him, hoping to learn more about him so that they might gain his favor. What they saw struck their hearts with fear as a great host of gryphons approached the Forge Father.”

>You hear a little colt gasp with fear.

“As the gryphons charged the Father did not move and kept his place. It was from this that the mares learned courage. Then battle was joined and they saw the fury that was the Father. They realized that it wasn’t born of hatred of malice but burned with the searing heat of his love for ponykind. The mares learned that you must be willing fight to protect what you love. The battle eventually came to a close as the gryphons threw down their arms and begged. The Father spared them decreeing that they should never take up arms against ponykind again. From this the mares learned mercy and forgiveness. It can even be seen now the value in these traits as the pony and gryphon kingdoms are fast friends even after all this time.”

“With these many lessons ponykind grew and many great cities were made and there was peace. Then one day a great tragedy befell the great port city of Ponre with the inhabitants being put to work under a coastal invaders rule. Greatly angered, the Father marched on the city sweeping the invaders back into the sea. One he captured and demanded to know where they came from.”

“From this prisoner the Father learned of an empire of evil across the uncharted waters that was forever expanding in greed and lust for power. With recognition he saw the evil that would befall ponykind if he did not act. To face this great evil he took the blackest of earth and crafted weapons and armor that when the sun struck them was blinding in its glory.”

“A great craft was made and the Father prepared to set off to distant shores. Before he set off he beheld the sadness in his ponies hearts and spoke to them.”

“I know that our parting is painful my ponies but I will return one day, be it in centuries or millennia I will return. My commandment until then is that you all remain kind and true to one another until that day. Live well my ponies.”

“And so it was that the Forge Father set off to begin his crusade against the evil that threatened the lands. Long has been the wait for our Father’s return but we will always hold true to his last commandment and hope for his return.”

>And with that you close the book.

“So my little ponies, what did you think?”

>With that statement the spell of silence is broken and the foals begin to stomp their hooves happily.

“Now how about we start this little party of ours everypony!”

>The foals then zip away to get at the snacks and refreshments that the adults have already had a chance at since the foals were listening to the story. Through the crowd you see Rarity approaching you.

>”Hello Twilight, it’s great to see you for this lovely little soiree. Especially since we get to see the little ones so happy. But I have to ask, do you think the story was a bit much for them.”
“Oh they seemed to enjoy it just fine Rarity, even with a little bit of violence. Plus this was one of the tamest of the legends in there.”

>”I’m sure it’s fine Twi but honestly I was mostly thinking of what the fathers would think.”

“Well I think it’ll be fine. Plus I was wanting to read something that had a good stallion role model for the colts and something that had a bit of history to it.”

>”Yes you are probably right Twilight.”

>Just then Rainbow Dash joins the conversation.

>“Oh my Gosh, Twilight did you read the new Daring Do book yet? It’s so awesome.”

>As Rainbow continues to fangasm about the new book the three of you meld into the crowd and fade into the
party.

************
>It’s a nice night for a flight back to your cloud home. The moon is out, the air is crisp, and as usual you couldn’t keep your prismatic mouth shut. A fact that you were currently regretting.
>So you must be Rainbow Dash.
>The book club party had been great. Amazing even. You had even managed to chat up Thunderlane and you’re pretty sure he is into you.
>It wasn’t the party where you messed up. It was hanging out with your friends after where you had messed up.
>The Cider had come out and in your drunken state you may have teased Twilight a bit too much over her reading father fables to the foals like she was some kind of old stallion.
>Twi had stood up in a huff and marched off. You thought she just had to use the restroom but nope. She showed up with another collection of ancient father fables and pushed it against your chest.
>You knew the look on Twilight’s face. You weren’t getting out of it.
>Then Twilight began a lecture about how
>”You should have more respect for the old myths even though many have been forgotten by the common pony!”
>And things like
>”These stories are the lens that ponies used to view the world in ancient times!”
>Pehhhhleeeaaasee. The reason they were probably forgotten by eveypony was that they were most likely boring as all get out. But you knew if you didn’t take the book Twilight wouldn’t stop lecturing you.
>So you took the book and resigned yourself to reading a bit of it just so you could tell Twilight that you didn’t like these namby pamby, watered down violence, father fables.
>And you’re home

>You make your way inside and put the book on you bed and go brush your teeth. Gotta keep those teeth pearly white for the colts. Colts love them whites.
> Laying down on your bed you finally take a look at the title of the book.

“Father Fables of the Ancient Age Volume III”

>Sounds lame. Wait there is a subtitle.
“Warning, Not safe for foals”
>Well that’s odd. A father fable that’s not for foals. Alright you’re curious.
>And you needed something to read before bed since you had finished the most recent Daring Do book. Twi had said that that you would be pleasantly surprised.
>Whats the harm in reading some anyways? If you read some and it’s boring then you get to prove Twilight wrong and if it’s actually a good read then you can have something to read for awhile.
>You open the book and look at the chapters.

“The Forge Father and Ghastly the Dragon Menace”

>Alright that sounds exciting enough.
>You settle in you bed and make yourself comfy.

“In the first age our glorious father led the first great herd into a shining golden age. Our cities grand in their majesty.  We were the envy of the known world. And so it was that hearts of greed gazed upon our kingdom.”

“The eyes of Ghastly, the first dragon lady devourer of a thousand herds before our Father’s protection, beheld the marvelous treasures created by our smiths with lust in her eyes. In her arrogance she came to the seat of our power and challenged our Father. Claiming that no male would keep her from the riches that she was owed and that her food should know better.”

>Ya the greed sounds like most of the dragons you had meet but you don’t remember them being so…..bloodthirsty. There’s no way she actually ate ponies. It was probably just an accident with translating the old poneish.

“The Father could not let this MURDER’S challenge go unanswered. With anger in his chest he rose from his throne. Striding from the gates of his grand hall he addressed the foul beast.”

“How dare you to come to my kingdom, challenge me, and the worst crime of all. You have threatened my ponies. Leave these lands now or suffer my wrath.”

”Ghastly laughed stating.”

”`All those weaker than me are mine. Everything they own is mine. I am the biggest and strongest creature in all of creation! The mountains tremble at my passing! If I wish to feast on the flesh of ponies I will and no golden biped with its shimmering sword shall defy me! I will enjoy devouring your insolent flesh!`”

>Wow. You knew some ponies were scared of dragons eating them but you had always thought that to be just a stupid fear. Dragons eat gems! Why….why would they eat ponies? Nowhere in any of your history classes that you remember did dragons ever eat a pony. Heck most went out of their way to avoid pony lands even during the time of the Feuding Tribes.

>The Feuding Tribes period was the third age right? You are going to have to ask Twilight tomorrow at the weekend brunch.

“With this battle was joined between these two titans of their age. Large swathes of forest burned from dragon fire that missed our lord as he soared through the air. Massive pieces of mountain ranges were used by our lord to smash the vile invader and his sword scored deep rents in the beast’s scaled hide.”

“But the monster’s scales were so thick that our lord’s sword could not reach flesh. The beast so strong that it seemed that no blow could harm it. As the battle raged on it seemed that all hope was lost as no blow harmed the beast.  It was then that our lord flew straight up into the sky.”

“Higher and higher he ascended. Past the point that any pegasi had dared to fly, and Ghastly followed. Ever at the heels of our Father, Ghastly’s maw waited. Then with no warning he darted straight down the monster’s gullet.”

“Surprised, then elated Ghastly roared in her victory. Fear and sorrow took the ponies who beheld the sight. Their lord Anonymous, their wise king, their protector and Eternal Father, had been swallowed whole. With malice Ghastly’s eyes gazed upon the gathered ponies.”

>That wasn’t right! You listened to Twilight telling the story earlier. Anonymous didn’t die. He left for lands unknown to pony kind. Why would fathers of the early ages tell foals this story! What were they trying to do? Make them think that evil and brutality was the way of life?! Harmony was how things worked evil never won.

>Guess the old fathers and soothsayers couldn’t get their stories straight. Might as well finish the story so you could tell Twilight how stupid this book was.

“Then Ghastly’s face changed to confusion. Then agony as she began to claw at her chest and she began falling from the sky. Faster and faster she fell till the ground rose to meet her descent. At the last moment she tried to right her fall managing to only to plow a winding path into the earth.

“Long did Ghastly continue to thrash, but eventually she fell silent. The ponies ever curious moved to to see what had befallen the mighty beast. It was then they saw a shinning blade pierce Ghastly’s breast from the inside. The ponies looked on in awe as our Great Father madly hacked his way out of the corpse of Ghastly.”

>Sweet Celestia! Well now you see why this book isn’t safe for foals.

“Falling to the ground our lord was silent before a mighty roar escaped his lips and his aura grew so bright that no pony could look upon him. From that day on no fire could harm our Father and no dragon dared to set claw on our soil unless permitted by the Father and his ponies. The bones in Ghastly’s Gorge a grim reminder to all who would dare harm his ponies.”

>That was so violently awesome! Hacking apart a monster from this inside and crawling from it’s corpse covered in it’s blood! That story was great! You’re definitely reading more tonight. You pull your covers closer and adjust your pillow.

>Your gonna hate Twilight’s smug face tomorrow.


*******************************
>The sunrise from your barge is beautiful. It’s been so long since you had a chance to just sit back and appreciate the world around you. You swear that it’s more beautiful then the last time you watched it. That was ages ago because…..
>You
>Are
>ANONYMOUS
>The eternal father, master of the forge, father of civilization, eternal protector of the realm, the wise warden of the first great herd, and hugger of adorable foals.
>You admit the last title was one you added in your head every time a pony would announce your arrival. There was also a long list of other titles that you really couldn’t be bothered to remember. It had gotten so bad at one point that you decreed that no announcement of ones presence could be over a minute long.
>You thought the ponies might get the hint and tone it down a little but nope. The very next day as court started your royal announcer instead of shortening the list spit out the titles so fast that he would make rap artist proud with his speed. You pulled him aside after court was done for the day and broke it to him gently that he really didn’t need to go through all the titles.
>When you say that you had to break it to him gently you mean that you were very careful to make sure that he didn’t think that you were displeased with him. Not that anything terrible would happen to him if you were but it just broke their adorable little hearts when they thought they hadn’t performed satisfactorily for your grace.
>You didn’t expected utter perfection, far from it actually. Most of the standards that the ponies held themselves to regarding protocol for you were entirely self imposed. You really just rolled with it and played the part as long as it didn’t get out of hand or become too silly.

“I am a benevolent god after all.”

>You chuckle at your own joke. Long ago you learned that being serious all the time just wasn’t really possible. Considering that your existence has stretched on for…..well you kind of lost track when you started closing that demon portal to a literal hell dimension. Before that you were sure that you had been protecting your ponies for at least 1500 years.

>At first when you had heard the description of the overlords that had enslaved the little lizard creatures you didn’t believe it. Then you took into consideration the ridiculous monsters you had fought over the years of your rule and decided that it was worth looking into. And boy was that little lizard telling the truth.

>An area of reality the size of Rhode Island had been meshed together with this hellscape and demons were just making their merry little way onto YOUR PLANET! And to make matters worse this portal was growing. It wasn’t really that much of a problem. You thought maybe a couple of centuries, at most a millenia, and you would have this all patched up. There was just one problem though.

>A NEVER ENDING TIDE OF ASS MUNCHING LITTLE DEMON FUCKS THAT WOULDN’T JUST FUCK OFF!



>The little ones were easy enough. You killed those little bastards in the…...thousands? Millions? Point being that they just broke your concentration every so often making the whole process take forever. Hell for a century or two you let lose and used only your hands pretending to be the Doom Guy to break the monotony. You even screamed “RIP AND TEAR” a few times to amuse yourself.

>Even the little lizards had gotten into it after they got over the first couple centuries of “Oh by the maker, this is the grand battle that will decide the fate of all!”. Stands and observation telescopes set up at a safe distance for the tourists to watch. There were even little plushes that when you squeezed its hand would yell “RIP AND TEAR”.

>Thats not to say there weren’t demons that put up a fight. Every so often a champion would challenge you and divert your precious attention but they fell just like the others.

>You weren’t always the golden god that you were today. Oh no, your working theory is that whatever monster that you slay you either take their power or just get a power boost from your victory. So when the biggest baddest demon that you had seen marched its happy ass up to challenge you, you were more than ready.

>That battle was truly a test of your might. For an entire year you and the demon lord fought. The sky was darkened, great tracts of land were ruined by your titanic struggle, and the ground quaked with both your blows. You hope the lizards had brought popcorn.

>It had taken a month of maneuvering for that one instant where its guard was down but that was all you had needed. Channeling your fiery fury through your diamond sword you loped off the demon lord’s legs. After that it had tried to flee by flying away but you weren’t having that, you would not do all this work just to have this problem again a millenia or so later. You did the only proper thing and beheaded it.

>After the death of their demonic lord all the others cretins fled back to the burning reality where they belonged. You took the demon lords skull, because lets be real, once you remove the taint it’s going to be a pretty metal trophy to have. Your ponies are gonna love all the treasures and trinkets that you have brought back on your barge. They had originally belonged to the little lizard creatures but since they had been tainted by demons they weren’t too keen on getting them back.  You did however purify those of historical significance and returned them to their rightful owners. Or you would have but most of the original owners were dead so they went strait to the museums. Indy would be proud.

>You hear a splash by the side of your barge

>”Hello Lord Anonymous! How are you this morning?”

>You look over the side and see a colorful seapony waiting by the side of your ship
“I am well this morning my little aquatic equine. What brings you here today?”

>”I am here on behalf of her most royal highness, Queen of the seas, and lady of the seaponies. The ponies of the sea have not forgotten the Grand Father of our land cousins and as such wish to extend our hospitality. You are hereby formally invited to dine with the Queen and her royal court this evening.  Will you accept our invitation?”

>You take a moment to consider your choice.

>Accepting would add another full day to your journey home, but that really wasn’t that much of a problem. In fact you could have just teleported home immediately after you were done with closing the portal. No the main reason you were even sailing home was that you needed a vacation. At the top of your vacation plans was to visit all the major cities of your kingdom and throw a series of parties so grand and epic that the soothsayers would have something to add to their lexicon of stories. You were only a week away from one of the grandest ports of your kingdom. What was one more day?

>You were confident that the Earth Pony Council, the Platinum Line, and the Pegasi Corps could continue to keep things running that much longer. After all, the many times you had cast your presence over your kingdom for a quick check everything seemed to be fine. You couldn’t afford to be too thorough with your check-ins since the demons had demanded your attention. Sure there was a disturbance from time to time but your ponies always sorted it out. They had become self sufficient. You are so proud.  Your little ones had all grown up. You can’t wait to see what they have created. Maybe they’ve even invented the Internet since you’ve been gone. A man can dream.

“Tell your Queen that I shall indeed join her for dinner this evening and to let her know that I shall be touring her fair capital until dinner time.”

>”As you wish my lord.”

>Yup this will be a nice night. You look forward to some amazing sea food.

******************

>You love pancakes. They’re fluffy, tasty, and you can drench them in syrup. But the question that you were just asked made you stop mid bite. Actually it wasn’t really the question so much as who was asking it.
>Was that really Rainbow Dash the jockiest of all jocks asking you, the royal nerd herself, a history based question?
>Everything was going according to plan. Soon her journey to the nerd side would be complete. Actually this was ahead of schedule. You need to move up your time tables, but for now you will continue to subtly pull her in. And obviously tease her along the way.
“Rainbow I thought you weren’t really into history. What’s got you so interested?”
>Rainbow scrunches her muzzle at you during her pout.
>”You know exactly why I’m asking.”
“Oh I really have no idea why you could be asking this. Perhaps you should remind me.”
>This was really fun. You can see why your friends poke fun at you now that the horseshoe is on the other hoof.
>”I...I read the book.” she says with a defeated look on her face
“I’m sorry Rainbow, but I can’t for the life of me remember what book you’re talking about.”
>You see Applejack and Pinkie sniggering beside Rainbow while Rarity is rolling her eyes.
>”I read the Father Fables book you gave me.” Rainbow says blushing
“Really? I thought that Father Fables were only for foals. What is Rainbow Dash, the most awesomest of ponies, doing reading Father Fables and not something respectable like Daring Do?”
>”Ok I get it! You were right. Just tell me how long ago the first pony age was.” Rainbow says defeated.

>Smiling you prepare yourself to lecture your friend. Sure she only asked about the first pony age but you weren’t going to be lazy. She was getting the full trademarked Twilight lecture.
“Wait how much of the book did you read?”
>”I read the book.” Rainbow says glaring at you
“The whole book?”
>”THE WHOLE BOOK. Just get on with your lecture.” Rainbow states angrily
>Were...were you getting predictable? Fine your going to give an extra long lecture just to spite her.

“Well the first and second pony ages are the least known about times in pony history. The first age, known as the age of myth, is characterized by pony kind rising from nomad herd society into an agrarian society. The second age is mostly known for the expansion of ponies into new territory and ended with the coup attempted by the Plantnum line that took the Earth pony council by surprise. It failed to take the kingdom as the Pegasi Corps were able to mount a resistance and fighting ensued. The unfortunate result of this political strife was the burning of old Canterlot. Basically the city caught fire and everything burnt to the ground. The industry, the academies, and the….”

>Your heart weeps as you recall this great tragedy

“The libraries. With the destruction of the main seat of power, knowledge, and authority a state of stagnation and strife took the pony race.  This third age is known as the feuding tribes period or age of strife. In this age the main pony factions vied for power and dominance over the most fertile lands while notable sub factions like crystal and bat ponies isolated themselves from the conflicts.”

>And now comes the most prominent and most studied parts of history for the common pony. Probably because these ages have actual surviving records that can be easily be referenced.
“As we know this ended with the reunification of the feuding tribes and the founding of Equestria beginning the fourth age. I won’t bore you by retreading ground that we all clearly know.
>You see the eye’s of your friends start to glaze over. Well you asked for this. You asked for history. Fine, you’ll speed this up. These parts of history have been done ad nauseum for you too.
“So to move this along the following ages are the age of Discord, then the Celestial Sisters, followed by the Singular Sun, and finally the age of Forgiveness which we now currently live.”

>You see their eyes start to show conscious thought again. Good bring it back. You’re not in primary school anymore. New and interesting topics are here, no need to fear.
“Back to the main question, the exact time that the first age occurred isn’t very well known and is still in debate in universities. The second age is where most of our early records come from and the first age has very little surviving from it. So the main separation of these two ages comes from the difference in the amount of surviving documentation.”
>You take a moment to catch you breath
“Now that the main characterizations have been covered lets get to the main question posed.  The first age is mostly considered to be about 2000 years of ponykind rising in the world. The second lasted about maybe about 1500 years until the age of strife that lasted about 500. The years for these three ages are all approximations.”
>Lets wrap this up
“Now come the ages that have much more documentation with Unification, Chaos, Celestial Sisters, and Sun with these lasting 700, 500, 1500, 1000 years respectively. The age of Forgiveness is most recent and is our current period.”
“So Rainbow now that this little overview is over, the answer is that the first age as defined by pony scholars ended about 5700 years ago. So now that I’ve answered that I’m sure that there is a more specific reason that you want to know more about ancient history Rainbow.”
>”Well….I was wondering what evidence there is for Anonymous.” Rainbow asks sheepishly
>Oh my sweet pony. Your going to have to burst her bubble. It reminds you of foals finding out that the magical coconut crab Santa Claws isn’t real.

“There isn’t really much evidence besides the father fables that survived through oral tradition. The inferno that took old Canterlot destroyed any real scholarly records from the first and second age that could have survived. Not to mention that the preservation of history wasn’t at the forefront of pony priorities in the third age and a lot of pillaging and looting destroyed what could have remained.”
>Rainbow interjects “Just because no records survived doesn’t mean they aren’t real. There are plenty of stories.”
“Yes Rainbow, stories. There have been many debates among professors on the meaning and lessons that the early stories were meant to convey to the foals. One of my personal reasons for not believing in stories of the Forge Father is how the concept of Anonymous was treated by what plays survive from the second age. There were parodies involving him that were less than respectful during those times. Now I don’t know about you but if a figure like Anonymous was real, and was coming back, than showing such disrespect would be a very bad idea indeed.”
>Rainbow looks slightly put out by the realities of pony knowledge into the past.

>You see Applejack perk up. ”Well Twi, if’en there is one thing I’ve noticed about father fables is that there’s usually a seed of truth to most of them.”
“I’m not saying that there isn’t any chance of him existing, just that it’s unlikely. I personally enjoy the fable of The Father and Queen of the Seaponies. It has great action, interesting monsters that came from an elder dimension, and a great message of friendship and cooperation as Anonymous and the Queen worked together to close the bridge between our worlds. But that’s what they are, stories. Nopony in Equestria believes that seaponies exist because we just don’t have any hard proof.”
 >You see Pinkie taking in a deep breath
“And no Pinkie, a few stories from a small number of drunk sailor mares saying they saw beautiful stallions swimming in the sea isn’t enough to prove the existence of seaponies.”
>Pinkie pouts as you had taken the wind out of her sails before she could even begin.

>Then you hear the quiet voice of Fluttershy. “I don’t know Twilight, our lives have been pretty crazy.”
>Rarity sets down her tea, obviously ready to weigh in on the subject.
>”I concur Fluttershy, with how many myths and legends have been coming true in our adventures I’m sure some of these father fables will come true for us.”

>Pinkie bounces in her seat as she throws her forelegs wide and high above her head.
>”Ya Twilight, open your mind to the possibilities!” she almost yells drawing looks from the other tables.

“Look everypony, I’m not saying that it’s impossible for some of these stories to be true. I’m just saying that it’s pretty unlikely.”

>Pinkie then looks at you curiously.
>”Hey Twilight, couldn’t you just go back in time with Starlight to find out? Also where is she?”
“Well Pinkie to answer your first question, going back in time to observe the origins of pony civilization would be a very dangerous idea. Imagine going back and just the act of an early pony seeing you causing a butterfly effect that culminates in Equestria never being founded, or Discord never being defeated, or a number of other events never happening and destroying history as we know it. As for Starlight, she left last night for Appleloosa to see Trixie’s first show on her tour.”

>Fluttershy sits up in her chair
>“Oh Trixie has started touring again. That’s wonderful I’m so glad she has gotten the courage to begin performing in other towns again.”
“I know right. I’m really proud of Starlight, she has come so far in her friendship studies that she has started helping her friends with their problems.”
>Rainbow sits up looking at Fluttershy like she had just been smacked upside the head by a great idea.
>”Hey Flutters, are you having your tea party this week with Discord?”

>Fluttershy looks a bit surprised by the question
>”Why yes, but this week we are having it at Discord’s house.” Then a look of excitement takes Fluttershy’s face. “Do you want to join us this week?” She ends the question with a smile that usually was reserved for Pinkie.
>Rainbow nods her head. “Yep, I’d very much like to see Discord.”
>Fluttershy actually wiggles in her chair. “I need to ask Discord first since it’s his house but I’m confident that he’ll want you along.” A little sqwee escapes Fluttershy. “I’m so excited!”

>Not a bad idea Rainbow. Discord is pretty old, maybe he knows something about the early ages. You doubt that anything fruitful will come of it though. Having tried asking about historical events before with Discord you knew it was like pulling teeth to get an answer from him. Not to mention a straight no nonsense answer from him. You also got the feeling that he would lie to you if it meant getting a good laugh out of it. You wish her the best of luck with that mad stallion.
>The conversation shifts to other topics and you enjoy listening to your friends catching each other up on their week as you eat your succulent pancakes.
*************
>You are a tired and grumpy Luna. You most certainly didn’t appreciate being woken up only a couple of hours into the day after you had set the moon, but the servants had insisted that something was wrong with your sister. So here you are trudging towards the Royal Library. It’s probably nothing, just your sister having to cancel some things to take care of important business.
>With a yawn you push open the doors to your library. Looking around you do not see her in the open areas of the library. She is most likely in the back looking at legal scrolls, probably has something to do with another of Blueblood’s greedy schemes for more money and power.
>Reaching the legal section you don’t see her. Weird. You keep going back through the sections. Not in art. Nope not culinary. As you get further back you hear muttering. There she is.
>In the restricted section. Oh well that is just great. You were hoping to get some sleep.
>Passing through the unlocked and deactivated magically warded gate you see your sister.
>Thou Art Concerned
>Her mane is disheveled, she looks like she hasn’t slept much, and she didn’t even look up when you entered the restricted wing. Usually she talked to herself when she read but this is uninterrupted, concerned, muttering.
“Sister are you well?”
>She jumps startled.
“Sister you weren’t at breakfast this morning.” you give her a smile “I missed your pancakes.”
>”Luna I’m sorry. I…..I lost track of time.”
“Well you still managed to raise your sun so it can not be that bad right?” You place your wing on your sister “So what happened?”
>”I had a vision” she sighs and her shoulders sag. A far away look came to her eyes.
>“I was in the dark. A darkness that had no end. I flailed and floundered in this void. Confusion and panic took me. It felt like an eternity passed until there was the brightest of lights. Turning I saw a radiant symbol. It was an anvil and hammer, but the hammer was held by a limb that I had never seen. Like a minotaur’s forelimb but it had an extra finger at the end. I felt warm, so warm, content even, then I awoke.”
>Huh usually her visions are usually much more direct. Generally less symbolism and more the exact events that occurred or will occur.
“Do you know what it means?”
>Celestia puts the book down in obvious frustration. “Immediately after my vision I came here and looked through all the ancient lore on villains of the past. Even those before our time and none of the scrolls or tomes have any symbols like that.”
“Perhaps this is not an ill omen.”
>Lifting her head your sister looks into your eyes “I wish I could believe that, but every vision I have ever had has been a prediction of major events that test us. I need to be ready.” You are skeptical.
“Well it was not a nightmare, I would have felt that. Are you sure that this was a vision?”
>”Yes sister, it was so clear and vivid it couldn’t have been just a dream.”
>She is clearly troubled. With no clear way to help the situation you know what you must do.
“Sister you have canceled court for the day yes?”
>”Yes but I don’t know what this has to do with anything.”
“Well since you have been working for some time, and no headway has been made you will follow my suggestion.”
>”And what would this suggestion be?”
“You will write to Twilight to see what this symbol could be and then you will accompany me to that new bakery that opened in Canterlot’s main square.”
>Your sister sits up at the mention of baked confections “Yes. Yes that sounds like a lovely idea. Just give me some time to ready my appearance for our subjects.”
“Ha, you sound like a gentlestallion fretting over your appearance.”
>You get the smile out of your sister that she needed “Presentation matters Lulu. It helps maintain a regal air and makes it easier for the nobles to know who is in charge.”
“Please, those greedy” you put your hooves up and mimic a quoting motion “ “nobles” can go sit on a cactus.”
>Celestia chuckles as the both of you make your way out of the library.
>You heard about a new confection called a moonpie. Thou art excited.

*************

>You are the master of Chaos, bringer of madness and anarchy, and the best tea party host of all time.
>Currently you are quite amused. Fluttershy had insisted on having Rainbow Dash over for tea this week. At first you were against it but eventually you relented, given that Fluttershy brought her cucumber sandwiches that she had bribed you with.
>The source of your amusement continues to struggle and flail about. You chuckle at the ridiculous sight before you.
>”Oh you find this funny!” Rainbow Dash growls at you as she continues to spin in place.
“It’s not my fault that you decided to just waltz into the nexus of gravity for this room.”
>”JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Rainbow yells
>Fluttershy giggles “Oh Dash, just relax and it’s really quite fun. I got caught in it last time I was here and it was enjoyable. Just stop kicking around and you’ll slow down.” Relaxing her spinning slows and she falling into a lazy rotation.
“Here Rainbow have some tea”
>You pour some tea into a cup and let it float into the center of the room as you and Fluttershy continue to slowly orbit around Rainbow.
>Fluttershy takes a sip of her tea humming. “This is a really good tea Discord, what is it.” She then gives a cute little burb of smoke and giggles. “That tickled.”
“It’s BOMBbay” you say grinning
>Fluttershy gives a laugh that you have grown to love while Rainbow looks at the tea with suspicion.
“Oh come now Rainbow it’s just a harmless little explosion. I’d never harm you or Fluttershy.”
>Rainbow takes a cautious sip, burps, then smiles.
>”Hey Flutters could you pass a sandwich.” Rainbow says as her view slowly rotates away from Fluttershy. “Sure thing” Fluttershy then lets a sandwich float towards Rainbow.
>“So Discord, your pretty old right?” Rainbow says while the sandwich lazily collides with her flank.
>Fluttershy gasps “Rainbow, you can’t just say things like that to a stallion. It’s rude.” Honestly you don’t care but might as well have some fun.
“Well I never!” you put on an air of indignation “I let you into my home and show you hospitality and all I get for it is rudeness and disrespect.”
>Fluttershy looks worried but Rainbow gives you a deadpan look
>”Discord you’re definitely over 2000 years old that qualifies as old to anypony.”
“Nothing gets past you now does it, and for your information I am much older than that. All of you are just foals compared to me. But surely there must be a reason for bringing up the topic of my age.”
>She gives a second of hesitation as if she is afraid of embarrassing herself “Where you around for the first pony age?” That’s her question, really? How boring you thought for a second that something interesting was going to be asked.
“Yes I was certainly around for that time.”
>Rainbow still looks nervous like she is about to be made fun of “Were there any mythical beings of gold?” Oh. OHHHHHH. She meant HIM. You’re so excited that all thoughts of misdirection and general tomfoolery go out the window.
“Yes by chaos yes! The world before him was just sooooooo dull. Every major monster had an established area of control and everything stayed the same under their uninspired rule of brutality. But then he came and everything changed. There were exciting battles, wars were waged, and the established order was destroyed. It was such glorious CHAOS!” you pause to catch your breath and Fluttershy takes the pause to ask a question.
>”I’m sorry Discord but who are we talking about?”
“Are you telling me that you don’t know who I’m talking about?”
>Fluttershy shakes her head yes while Rainbow shakes no
“Fluttershy is your yes a “yes I know who you’re talking about” or a “yes I don’t know”.”
>”I don’t know Discord”
“I’m talking about Anonymous of course. Who else took the world and shook it to its very core.” you say shaking a globe in your arms.
>Fluttershy gives a look of confusion “Isn’t that that Father Fable that Twilight read at the last book club meeting.”
“Father Fable?”
>You cross your arms and huff
“Next you’ll be telling me that Santa Claws is just a myth.”
>Rainbow looks at you confused and surprised “Wait Santa Claws is real?!” You continue on hardly hearing her
“Unfortunately I’ve given up on him returning. Every time it felt like he was coming it just turns out to be false.” Your whole body droops. “A shame really, everything was just more exciting. Great I’ve gone and made myself depressed.” You chuckle “He’d probably try to kill me for my reign over the ponies of the past.”
>Both of the ponies are quite while you sit in quite remembrance
>Fluttershy flies over and puts a hoof on your shoulder and gives you a caring look “Could you tell us about him?”
>The rest of the tea party is spent regaling your audience with tales of your favorite civilization builder.

**************


>You are Anonymous
>It was great to see your old friend the Queen. Her city was as beautiful as ever and her seaponies had been as pleasant as ever. The dinner had been of the highest quality swordfish and the company grand but you couldn’t stay forever. You had places to be, namely getting back to your ponies.
>Currently you are soon to arrive at the great pegasus training fortress of Las Pegasus. You’re excited to see what your ponies have done in your absence, so excited that you might just take a peek.
>You gather a sliver of power and enhance the view in front of your barge and are truly surprised. There is actually a skyline. It….it looks like a modern city from earth. There are no walls, no cloud staging points for quick deployment of pegasi, and no regular patrols of pegasi. It’s so strange looking at a city being so open. There must be some new form of magical defense that your ponies have developed. You begin to probe the city to see if there is a form of unseen magical defense field.
>Nothing.
>There is nothing there. You would have to see if there is some new deployment strategy to make up for this….lack of defenses. There is no way that your ponies would leave a city so vulnerable. You would have to take a second to talk to the city’s commander and…no. No you are on vacation. You would just have to add this to the list of things to look into AFTER you had a break.
>Ending your spell you lie back in your reclined chair. It looks like you’re going to be getting there tomorrow night. Relaxing you open a bottle of seapony royal brandy. Aged 1000 years it has a great taste but alcohol really doesn’t do anything to you anymore. For now you are going to enjoy this sunset and then stargaze for the night. The unicorns keeping the celestial bodies in check are doing an amazing job making everything beautiful. You need to remember to congratulate them.

***************

>You are the bookiest of book princesses. The Big Book. The first of the books.
>Here you sit upon you throne of knowledge in your book castle. The big book of bigness on display in your throne room. You swear that you hear giggling. Is that Luna?
>”Twilight wake up!!!!”
>You sit up violently
“Nopony will take my BOOOOOOOOOOOOOKS!”
>Looking around you see Spike staring at you with a confused look.
>You need to stop eating sweets before bed.
>”What?” Spike asks “Never mind, here Celestia sent a priority letter.”
>You take the scroll in your magic and open it. Quickly skimming it you close it
“Spike I have to go. There was a major magical disturbance in Las Pegasus about a day ago and Princess Celestia wants me to meet up with her and make our way there.”
>Spike looks annoyed “Why can’t this wait till morning?”
“Spike, magical phenomena happen every so often but the scale of this is just worrying. Mageiographs spiked to limits that have never been recorded in the Las Pegasus area. Something on this scale could be indicative of a major magical event occurring. If Celestia is worried enough to see to this personally and to ask for my help in this it should be taken with the utmost seriousness.”
>Opening the balcony doors you step through and look back at Spike
“Remember to activate the rune security system since I’m going to be gone for the night.”
>”Twilight I’m a dragon. I can breathe fire.” He says giving you an annoyed look
“Spike”
>”Fine. Fine, I’ll spend the half hour to set up the rune defenses.” A look of resignation on his face
“Good, now if I’m not back tomorrow I’ll see if Big Mac can swing on by to keep you company.”
>”Twi, I’m not a baby. I can take care of myself.”
“Please Spike, for me.”
>He sighs “Fine Twi, for you.” His gaze cast downward and his form slumped
>You walk back to Spike and hug him.
“Do you want to come along?”
>”No, no I’ll just slow you down. It’s a long flight.”
>You ruffle his spines
“Love you Spike”
>”Oh get going you’re going to be late.”
“Alright, just stay safe while I’m gone.”
>Spike laughs “I’m not the one checking out dangerous magical anomalies. Now get going.”
>Smiling you leap from the balcony into the night. Honestly you’re a little worried. When you had answered Celestia’s letter yesterday it sounded like she had one of her visions. The real worrying thing is that she hadn’t replied back until now. You’ll get to ask her more questions once you meet up on the way. By your estimation if you and Celestia hurry you should get there when the Las Pegasus night life would be wrapping up. Hopefully whatever is happening there will be room for some sleep after this is done.
*************************

>What a wonderful sight. The city was lit up as if they were preparing for a festival. If only they knew the party that was to be joined. All would have their fill tonight, flagons would be drained, larders emptied, and the streets would flow with your generosity.
>A couple of pegasi patrols had flown near your ship but they had kept their distance as your ship came into the gulf. You had made sure everything was perfect. Your armor was spotless and gleaming, your crown was as perfect as the day you had made it, and you had triple checked your gifts to make sure everything was ready. Appearances matter and your ponies would get nothing less than perfection on this night.
>You stop your ship a good mile from the harbor. It was time to make an entrance. Leaping from your ship you soar, illuminating the sky. The night is young and this night would be a night to remember.

***************************

>You are BonBon and you really needed this.
>Getting away from Ponyville with your best friend and local werido Lyra was a great idea. Finally a weekend that didn’t have any magical madness or monsters. You were just going to sit back, drink alcohol, and maybe get laid while here in Las Pegasus. Who knows, maybe you’d get Lyra to get some D. You know that she is “waiting for her love” but that doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have some fun now and again.
>Being her roommate you had a firsthoof seat to all those strange traditions that her and her family practiced. For one she always wore that little anvil medallion and every night she would speak to her little shrine.
>You had asked her about the shrine thing and what it was about. Apparently she was confessing any unkindness she had committed that day, also she would just talk about her day to the “AllFather”. Ya right, like Lyra had a mean bone in her body. She is one of the kindest ponies you have ever met. It’s one of the reasons you were so happy living with her.
>This AllFather tradition seemed pretty rare but you had seen one other pony in ponyville that had the same medallion like hers so maybe it was more than just her. That didn’t matter right now though.
>Right now you were drinking a proper mare’s drink, a mojito. Not some colty beer that had the taste of nature with oak and what have you. This drink had proper hard liquor in it. Heck this was just a warm up. You were going to get some real alcohol later. Yup you were going to get some good ol genuine rum.
>Nothing could ruin this weekend……..what is that? Something bright and gold was flying in from the harbor. No. This isn’t happening. This was supposed to be a relaxing getaway. No monsters or magical oddities. YOU WERE GOING TO GET LAID DAMNIT! Ok, now it’s getting really bright. Kinda hard to look at. Oh now it’s dimming. Good, now time to grab Lyra and get out of here before things get dangerous. Everypony is quite as they stare at this massive figure.
“Lyra come on we have to get out of here.” You whisper
>Grabbing her foreleg you try to pull her along. She doesn’t budge. She’s just sitting there with the biggest smile you had ever seen on her and staring at the creature. There was no time to gawk at….what is that. It’s massive taller than Celestia herself, at two heads taller maybe even more. You couldn’t tell exactly from your distance. It is clad in shining golden armor that was intricately decorated except for its face. It was strong, angular, and had an appraising look. As if he was waiting for something. Pretty sure it’s male.
>On his head sat a crown the like you had never seen before. It was as if different gemstones had been formed together. No seams were visible. A band of diamond and violet separated by emerald that snaked its way like vines across the length. At least you think it is emerald.
>You weren’t sure what the violet gem was but you knew what those six spikes shaped like teeth were. Those were ruby you think. Something looked different than the rubies you had seen though. From his head a long golden mane flowed long and majestically.
>What were you doing? Shaking your head you prepare to drag Lyra away but you notice she is looking at something in particular. Following her sight you see the main symbol on the chest piece. An anvil.
>No. Harmony Bucking damn it no. If Lyra’s traditions turn out to be true you’ll never hear the end of it. You had teased her for it and you just knew that she would mess with you until the day you died.
>No time for maybes though you need to grab Lyra and go. This could just be a trick or a major coincidence. Turning back you see Lyra isn’t there. Where? Oh there she is running out of the hotel with her harp. She would never leave that behind. Good now we just need to….she’s running towards him.
>SHE’S RUNNING TOWARDS HIM!!!!!
“You crazy idiot get back here!”
>You start running after Lyra. She’s your best friend. You aren’t going to let her die from her idiocy. Lyra stops short of the golden figure panting. Trying to catch her breath. She’s trembling. You stop beside her. Looking up Lyra motioned to him with his harp. He smiled like a father looking on his foal and nodded.
>Lyra took a deep breath and began to perform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7JH-I3iJyI
or female vocals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbXDSTLlZzA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The King beneath the mountains,
The King of carven stone,
The lord of silver fountains
Shall come into his own!

His crown shall be upholden,
His harp shall be restrung,
His halls shall echo golden
To songs of yore re-sung.

The woods shall wave on mountains
And grass beneath the sun;
His wealth shall flow in fountains
And the rivers golden run.

The streams shall run in gladness,
The lakes shall shine and burn,
All sorrow fail and sadness
At the Mountain-king's return!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>After that first verse you see one of the stallions from a nearby store join in the song while all the other ponies watch waiting for something to happen. This is crazy. Why isn’t anypony freaking out? You look at him again and this time you see a radiant smile. You feel calm. Like everything is right with the world.
> The song ends and he knells down looking into her eyes, then proceeds to tousle her hair. Lyra looks like this is the happiest day of her life. Standing the golden figure looks at the gathered crowd. He then speaks with a voice deep and rich like the sweetest confection that you could make. It rang clear to all ponies.
>”I am Anonymous. The first king. Forge Father of the golden herd. Long has been my journey, but my promise has been kept. I have returned to lead you, my little ones once more. It is true what Lyra here says.” He gesturing towards her with an open palm. “The rivers shall run golden!”
>Appearing behind him was a massive pile of gold.
>”Come forth my little ponies tonight shall be a night of merry making and joy. The stars themselves will hear our jubilation!” The crowd of ponies cheer in various states of inebriation.
>Lyra is bouncing in place and giggling “He touched my mane!”
>So an ancient being from Lyra’s strange little traditions just shows up, and if you have understood correctly, is now offering to pay for a massive Las Pegasus party with a mountain of gold.
>You can live with this.

**************************
>It’s so cold up here at night.
>Being out this late flying next to Princess Celestia means you must be Twilight “I just want some hot chocolate” Sparkle.
>You had remarked how cold it was to Celestia and she said that given enough time your coat would adapt like hers for high altitude flights.
>With the length of your flight you had plenty of time to ply Celestia for information on your trip.
>The nature of the magic recorded in Las Pegasus is old magic.
>Similar to those found in ancient artifacts of the first age.
>The problem with artifacts of this nature is that if it was powerful enough to survive till the current age then it’s usually powerful.
>Even if the enchantment was benign in nature and not a curse they are still too powerful to be allowed in the general populous.
>That’s why any first age artifacts found were kept in the sealed catacombs beneath Canterlot Castle to avoid abuse.
>And with the recorded levels of magic it was planning to be quite the artifact indeed.
>This would normally be something that the guard could be relied upon to take care of but Celestia, as you had confirmed, had had a vision.
>So it was best that this was looked into personally.
>Celestia looks somewhat tense, as if she is expecting another Tirek or something worse.
“Celestia I’m sure everything will be alright. We could wait for morning and get my friends to come by train if you want.”
>”No Twilight, that would take too long. This needs to be addressed now. I won’t wait while my subjects could be in danger.”
>Not that you would want to let ponies wait while there could be danger, it’s just, you’d like to have your friends for backup if need be.
>You and Celestia begin your decent towards Las Pegasus.
>Maybe everything will be fine and you’ll get a new artifact to study.
>The chance to study a first age artifact of this magnitude could lead to untold magical knowledge.
>And the papers!
>You could write so many scholarly papers for the magical research community.
>So lost in your musings that you have now come in visual range of Las Pegasus.
>Well that’s not right.
“Princess shouldn’t things be wrapping up for the night.”
>”Yes Twilight this is most irregular, also you’re a princess now. You can refer to me by name.”
>Below you and Celestia is a massive party in the streets.
>It engulfed all of the downtown area.
>There were chairs and tables set in the streets and ponies were everywhere.
>Singing, dancing, and getting drunk off their flanks.
>There were even stallions hanging off mares blatantly flirting in a very lewd fashion.
>Their short cut tails, already pushing it, were flagging.
>Have some decency!
>Think of the foals…..wait there are no foals out this late.
>And there wouldn’t be any in the downtown party scene.
>Yay debauchery!
>Focus Sparkle, you’re here on a mission.
>You can enjoy the sights later.
>In the crowd you spot a mare guard drinking with a group of cute stallions.
“Well they are not in any immediate danger. Perhaps we could ask that guard there and see what is happening here.”
>Celestia gives the crowd an incredulous look “Don’t be so sure Twilight, not all threats are so overt. I would also like to see why a guard wearing the armor of her position is openly fraternizing. She shouldn’t be wearing her armor off duty.”
>As you descend you get a closer look at the armor of the pegasus mare.
>Those are guard captain colors, and she is clearly drunk.
>Following Celestia you land behind the drunken captain.
>The stallions in front of the captain gasp and immediately bow.
>One of the stallions, that clearly had his fill of alcohol, slips and lands on his side.
>Blinking, he then starts giggling on the ground.
>The captain helps the stallion up and then begins to turn around.
>”Now let’s see what has you fellas acting so sillllllllllllllllllllllllllly?” her voice tapering off.
>The mare’s eyes are wide with fear as she stands there stock still.
>Looking at Celestia you do not envy the mare.
>That disapproving look was given to you once when you were a teen.
>You had snuck into the royal kitchen and accidentally ruined the cake that was to be used for a diplomatic meeting.
>You never snuck into the kitchens again.
> “Captain Clear Sky, are you on duty?” her tone drips with maternal disappointment.
>The captain breaks from her stupor and salutes, the fear sobering her up quickly.
> “I am Princess.”
>“Then why are you sitting here drinking and cavorting?”
>The mare looks down away from Celestia, ashamed.
> “When I went to investigate the unscheduled celebration, which was quickly spilling into the streets, I ran into him. He said that tonight I shouldn’t be working and that I should celebrate with all the other ponies. What he said just felt right. Like nothing bad would happen if I just relaxed and had fun with everypony, and his smile. It just felt so warm.”
>Celestia’s look changes from disappointment to concern.
> “Who is this stallion that convinced you to abandon your post and where is he?”
> “Ma’am he isn’t a pony. Frankly I’m not sure what he is but he is paying for the entire party you see here.”
>Celestia raises one eyebrow unbelievingly.
“He’s paying for” you gesture to everything around you “all of this?”
>”Yes Princess Twilight, with a mountain of pure gold.”
>Celestia’s face turns to one of concern.
>You agree, nopony has that much pure gold outside of the royal treasury.
>By law gold must be stored in the royal treasury so that proper amounts can be mixed for bits.
>Anypony selling, trading, or storing gold has to have a royal permit.
>Even then there are limits for onsite storage.
>Main use of the permit being jewelry creators, of course.
>It must be some kind of illusion.
>Those poor shop ponies will lose so much having to replace all of their stocks.
>”Clearly we are dealing with a creature that can influence the mind. Captain did this creature have a name?”
>Sky looks embarrassed.
>”I didn’t get the chance before a drink was hoofed to me and I started getting lost to the party.”
>Celestia frowns.
>”Do you have any memory of the creature?”
>”Yes my princess, he is bipedal, taller than you by about one trot, and is clad in golden armor. He also has a crown made entirely of gemstone and a long golden mane. Not blond but gold. I’m pretty sure it shines. I think all of him was glowing, literally.”
>Celestia nods.
>”Well we must see this creature for ourselves. Where would we find this creature?”
>Sky chuckles “I honestly can’t remember.”
>One of the stallions, a blue unicorn, perks up and moves closer.
> “Oh you want to follow this street down towards the docks. He isn’t at the docks but like a short flight inland. If you follow the street you can’t miss him.”
>Celestia takes flight without a word.
“Thank you my fine gentlestallion. Come captain Sky we could need the presence of the guard.”
>The blue stallion smiles and walks towards Sky.
>”Before you go Sky.”
>He then reaches into his saddle bag with magic, pulls out a card, and slots it into Sky’s armor.
>Then he follows that up by kissing her cheek.
>”Look me up.”
>You roll your eyes and take flight.
>You catch up to Celestia with a bit of effort and eventually you hear the wingbeats of Sky behind you.
“So you’ve felt the high levels of magic in the air since we’ve entered the city right?”
>”Yes Twilight, I hope it’s not from the creature. I can only hope that it is an artifact. The last adversary we faced that possessed old magic like this was Discord.”
>The silence hangs between the three of you as fly over the growing crowd.
>You take the time to check the magic in the air to see if it is residual bleed off from any malignant enchantment.
>Nope, just copious amounts of magic.
“Well the good news is that there doesn’t seem to be any obvious curses.”
>”Well, just like with Discord, magic laws may not behave as we understand them to with elder magic beings or artifacts.”
>She’s right of course but you’re trying to be positive.

**************************

>You can’t stand it.
>There is just so much love and joy in the air.
>Chrysalis promised that you and your brood would be the new master brood.
>The one that would conquer the world.
>For this your mother needed you to have an iron will.
>But this.
>Alright you’re going to go out there and just be careful.
>Leave the sewer, feed, and retreat.
>You won’t get caught.
>You are the chosen.

****************************

>After ten minutes finally you think you’ve found the right crowd.
>The stallion seemed to have neglected to mention that the crowd became more of a massive sea of ponies.
>Ha, Seaponies.
>Ok let’s get serious.
>It’s not like your making jokes in your head to calm yourself down.
>Celestia is descending as is Sky.
>Focusing on the present, you see what, or rather, who you’ve been looking for.
>Tall, check.
>Bipedal, check.
>Golden, check.
>Glittering multicolored crown, check.
>Literal glow, check.
>Everything checks out.
>And there is the mountain of “gold”.
>Is that Lyra sitting next to him?
>That is by far the biggest grin you’ve ever seen on her.
>Landing you realize none of the ponies are paying you or THE Princess Celestia any attention.
>It would be a nice if the circumstances were different.
>”Twilight, notice anything off about the ponies here?”
“They aren’t paying us any attention.”
>”Yes. But, look at the stallions specifically.”
>You look closer.
>They are all happy, drinking, and listening with rapt attention to the golden being’s story.
“They are all happy?”
>”Twilight you have a lot to learn about stallions. Listen to the topic and tell me you’d think a stallion would find that interesting. Your brother might but he is the exception. What is even more concerning is that all the mares are paying attention to him, but none of the stallions are jealous.”
“Okay so strange things are happening. We need to be careful and make sure that he doesn’t learn that Lyra is my friend. We don’t want to give him any hostages.”
>”Good thinking Twilight, we should also get him talking. We need to find out if this magic abundance is from him or the armor and crown. If we can steer the topic towards himself we should get all the information we need, he is male after all. Males love talking about themselves.”
>Just as your luck would have it Lyra sees you and Celestia and interrupts him.
>”My Lord, some friends of mine have arrived.”
>Oh great that’s out of the bag.
>I love you like a sister Lyra, but come on. You just had to complicate things.
>Also my lord?
>Lyra trots over to you while the golden one, not bothering to get up from his chair, turns his head to regard you.
>You swear you see the faintest hint of surprise on his face before taking a more relaxed expression.
>”Introducing Celestia Princess of the Sun and Twilight Princess of Friendship. You my dear friends have the pleasure of addressing King Anonymous, Forge Father, and sovereign ruler of all ponykind.”
>Celestia’s eyebrows rise in alarm.
>Really?
>He’s going to pretend to be a father fable.
>”I’m sorry my little pony but could you repeat that last part please?”
>Lyra looks at Celestia confused.
>”Sovereign ruler of all ponykind?”
>Celestia’s face hardens.
>We know what he wants at least.
>”You see that position is already being filled by my sister, Twilight, and ME. So unless you have something backing up your claim I’m sorry but you’ll have to stand down.”
>Lyra looks at Celestia aghast and Anonymous is…….laughing.
>You were expecting indignation.
>Anonymous stops laughing.
>”Lyra, you should have mentioned that your friends were jesters. How wonderful, not only are my ponies so industrious that they have created a new tribe, but pony humor has greatly improved.”
>Celestia doesn’t look amused.
>”I was serious.”
>He looks at Celestia in silence for a second…..and begins laughing again.
>”That was even funnier the second time! I mean how could you rule with a crown like that?”
>Now Celestia looks insulted.
“Well what makes your crown so much better?”
>Good just keep him talking, just like Celestia wants.
>Celestia is obviously playing bad cop while you’re the good cop.
>You’ll learn what you need soon enough.
>”Gold is nice, I mean just look at my armor, but a good crown needs to have symbolism. Mine is made completely of different colored diamond. The clear band signifies the clear skies that the Pegasus tribe commands, the green vines signify the life the Earth tribe gives with their nature magic, and the violet signifies the magic of the Unicorn tribe.” He ends smiling.
>You notice his canines.
>And the tone he had reminded you of Celestia lecturing at your school.
“And the six red peaks?”
>”Well that is obviously me, for I am the bloody teeth that tears at our enemies little Twilight. That and the diamond represents the unbreakable spirt of my ponies.”
>Violence seems to be fine by him, rare for a male.
>Noted.
“What about your armor?”
>He stands up to begin talking about his armor.
>Everypony is still intently listening to him.
>”Well obviously only the topmost layer is gold. Armor made of only that would be absolutely worthless, well for combat at least. Most of it is just ornamentation but on my chest plate is the royal symbol.”
>That’s an anvil.
>So, vision confirmed then.
>It has to be the armor.
“Anything really cool about the armor?”
>”Well it’s made of diamond. I didn’t have the gold layer at first but I quickly added it after blinding my ponies too many times. Not literally blinding them mind you but still a nuisance. Funnily enough it took longer to find out it was a problem because my ponies didn’t want to say anything.”
“So no cool enchantments or cool origins?”
>”No not really, I don’t need them for myself. I have runes in my sword to channel my power into it but besides that nothing. If I was making rune armor it was usually for my champions.”
>Either he is lying about the armor or it’s the sword.
>I mean usually even if a villain is lying they usually monolog at least.
>You make a show of looking around.
“Where is your sword?”
>He chuckles and then gestures towards the crowd around him.
>”How about it ponies? Do all of you want to see my sword?!”
>The gathered crowd stomps their hooves cheering.
>He lifts his arm and a giant glittering sword appears.
>It’s taller than Celestia, and along its length runs a continuous red, glittering, script.
>Those are ancient poneish runes of the first age.
>This has to be it.
>Now you just have to separate him from the sword.
>”Do you want to hold it?”
>What?
>Is this really going to be that easy?
>You nod your head.
>He tosses it toward you and you catch it in your magic.
>”Mind the edge, it’s made of diamond so very sharp.”
>Celestia steps forward, seems she has come to the same conclusion as you.
>”I will no longer stand for your insults and now that you have so foalishly given us your source of power I’m ending this. For causing public unrest, suspicion of unlawful gold trading, and the unlawful possession and smuggling of a first age relic you will be coming with me.”
>The ponies around you and Celestia “ooooo” like school foals.
>Even the captain.
>What is wrong with them?
>Besides being stupidly drunk.
>Must be the magic saturation.
>Clearly they aren’t able to tolerate high magic levels like you and Celestia.
>Golden bands of Celestia’s magic surround his limbs.
>The crowd of ponies start looking nervous and begin murmuring amongst themselves. Had they thought this was a game?
>And he’s back to laughing again.
>”Oh wow, you actually are challenging me.”
>He just casually WALKS OUT OF CELESTIA’S MAGIC!
>Mistakes have been made.
>Closing the distance between them Anonymous looks down at a glaring Celestia.
>”You are mistaken, the sword is just a tool. I’ve had my fill of violence for a thousand lifetimes and just want to get back to calmly ruling over my ponies. That includes you.”
>He says softly poking Celestia’s chest, his face then softens.
>”Would you like to play a game instead of scaring all of the ponies.”
>Celestia takes a step back.
>”What do you have in mind?”
>Good, we’ll just keep him talking and nopony will get hurt.
>If we have to fight we need to get him away from everypony.
>He smiles at Celestia.
>If you weren’t so suspicious you might even say it was genuine.
>”We are going to drink you and I. The first one to pass out loses. I’ll even let you choose what we drink.”
>Two chairs and a small table appear.
>Celestia walks over to the chair and sits down.
>Looking at Celestia she seems a little uncomfortable.
>”Would you like a cushion Celestia?”
>Celestia glares at him.
>”I’m fine, and it’s rum we will be drinking.”
>Good choice Celestia, there’s no way that a male will stand a chance drinking rum with you.
>You’ve seen you brother drink and he really can’t hold his alcohol.
>Not to mention alicorn physiology is highly resistant to poisons.
>”What happens if I win?”
>Two golden goblets appear on the table and a pony brings over a bottle of rum.
>”If I lose drinking rum to you then you can rule. If I am so weak that rum could best me then I surely am not strong enough to protect my ponies.”
>If he can be trusted to keep his word.
>”And if I lose?”
>Anonymous rubs his jaw with his hand for a second.
>Suddenly he grins, looking like he thought of a great prank.
>You’re not so sure about this now.
>He looks far too confident.
>Sitting down he interlaces his hands and rests his chin on them.
>”If you lose you will have to done a jester outfit and perform for all the foals of Canterlot for a week. Are these terms acceptable?”
>Celestia smiling opens the rum and pours it.
>”Yes they are.”

**************************

>You are Anon.
>It’s been an hour.
>And you’re concerned.
>Not that you’d lose.
>No.
>You’re concerned for the white whatever kind of pony Celestia is across your table.
“Celestia I forgot to ask, what kind of pony are you?”
>She gives you a look like you’re up to something.
>”I’m an alicorn you golden goldy colt. Now quit your stalling and drink your rum you scaredy colt!”
>You throw back the rum in your goblet.
>You had thought that getting Celestia to accept a drinking game would get her good and drunk enough to relax.
>She’s definitely drunk now but still isn’t relaxed.
>There was no mistaking the tension in her body when you met her.
>Her reaction to your return was probably because she thought you were insulting her competence as an official of the kingdom.
>Nobles were silly like that after all.
>Most ponies weren’t but the nobles had started getting a little odd before you had left.
>She probably has self-depreciating thoughts about her administration.
>Poor thing.
>Luckily this pony seemed to voice herself freely in front of you.
>It would be rude to push into her thoughts after all.
>So a slight jab here and some pretended antagonism there and you had her playing your game.
>You thought that giving her a way to feel that she could prove herself would be great.
>She could perform some great feat to show her worth and you could make a show of being stunned by her exceptionalism.
>It was a nice idea that should have ended with her feeling better about herself and confident that she wasn’t just going to be replaced and forced into obscurity by your return.
>Problem being that she neither relaxed nor accepted your praises for her feat.
>And truly it is a great feat for a pony.
>She was on her 10th bottle of rum!
>She should be proud of herself.
>You have never seen a pony with her constitution before.
>You just need to get her to stop before she hurts herself.
“Celestia you surely proved your hardiness when you finished the 8th bottle. This isn’t about the jester outfit is it? You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.”
>Swaying she slams her hoof down on the table.
>”Ha you’re just scared that I’ll win colt! And for the record I love making the foals happy. Don’t think I’ve ever done anything in a jester costume for them though.”
>Well at least she is no longer just glaring at you while downing rum.
>Now if only Twilight would stop being so nervous and just sit and have a drink.
>She’s bouncing on her hooves like she expects something terrible to happen.
>If she doesn’t stop soon she’ll start making you nervous.
>At least the ponies that stayed to watch are having fun, or those that snoozed off have been given blankets.
>Most of the ponies though have gone to go get a good night sleep.
>There haven’t been any new ponies that have come to the table for a while on account of it being so late.
>Oh there is a pony that doesn’t look tired…….that’s not a pony.
>How dare this fucking BUG step hoof in your kingdom.
>Standing up you pull the filthy cretin to you with your power and grasp it by the throat.
“YOU FILTY FUCKING BUG HOW DARE YOU!”
>”PUT DOWN MY SUBJECT!”
>A golden beam passes over your face.
>Huh it smells of sunflowers.
>How nice.
>You hear gagging.
>Oh right the changeling filth.
>THE FILTHY LITTLE EMMOTION SUCKER WHO HAS DECIDED TO CRASH YOUR PARTY.
>WHERE WERE THE RUNE DEFENCES!
>WHY WASN’T THIS LITTLE FUCK EXPOSED AND STABBED TO DEATH!
>”DROP HER THIS INSTANT!”
>Looking to your right you see Celestia and Twilight both with their stances spread and their horns alight.
>Looking at the changeling you realize the magic disguise is still up.
>What a disciplined little shit stain.
>You flick it on the nose breaking it.
>The disguise falls and you see blood coming out its nose.
“Your drunk, Celestia so I understand not noticing a changeling since they are tricky little scum but there are a couple of tricks for noticing them. For starters the walk is slightly different, another thing is the way they move their eyes, and they twitch every so often. Not a nervous twitch but those weird twitches that seems like they don’t know how an endoskeleton moves.”
>Celestia and Twilight look between each other surprised.
“But teaching comes later, for now let’s see what you know.”
>You lessen your hold on its throat and take a proper look at the changeling.
>Well the fins are new, so is the bioluminescence.
>Is this a new breed?
>The only changeling that you had ever seen glowing like this was…No, she couldn’t be back.
>You killed her.
>Your killed her and scattered the remains.
>All that remained was her old spawning area that had been kept for research.
>You actively feel for any other changelings in the city.
>This is the only one.
“Now what about your family? Where are your brood and your broodmother? I killed the last broodmother and scattered the broodlings. Speak quickly and I may be merciful.”
>The changeling tries hitting your arms and blasting with what magic it has against you.
>You had forgotten what changeling magic feels like.
>It reminds you of that disgusting greasy feeling that you would get from washing old dishes in stagnate dish water.
>It should be spilling its guts to you.
>Surely it knows that these struggles are futile.
You sigh “I suppose that I will have to be rough with you. Tell you what I’ll start with your leg and we’ll see what you know.”
>You grip her lower leg and begin to squeeze not enough to break anything yet.
>Just enough for it to hurt.
>”Ah, I’ll never tell you anything! We are the ultimate brood! No pain will make me betray my broodlings and mother!”
>Really?
>She thinks physical pain is all you could offer.
>Heck you’re just giving her a way out so you don’t have to force your way into her mind.
>Mind fuckery thanks to that squid looking mind flayer.
>The ponies that fell under its control described it as feeling dirty in the head.
>They never really felt the same after that and had a higher chance of suicide.
>You popped those fuckers heads for that.
>It’s not that hard but taking the time to not ruin the mind so you can actually learn something requires a delicate touch.
>That’s time that your ponies could be getting hurt.
>You haven’t had to force your way into a mind for a long time now.
>Most creatures would just tell you what you’d like to know.
>Maybe with your increased power it would be easier.
>You feel something poke your leg and hear a throat being cleared.
>Looking down you see Twilight.
>The purple princess squares her shoulders to look more official.
>”Excuse me Anonymous but you have apprehended an enemy of the crown and as an official of the crown I am obligated to take this changeling into my custody for questioning.”
>That was actually a good idea.
>You could let your little one take care of this while you made sure that she was dead.
>If there was another broodmother that could be dealt with.
>As long as she hasn’t come back from the dead.
>You elongate the armor over your fingers into claws and cut its horn off and toss it into your pocket dimension.
>You put it down next to Twilight.
“Alright if you behave yourself you can have your horn back while you sit in the dungeons.”
>Looking around you see the stallions around you looking nervous and the mares looking quietly at the scene.
>You don’t remember the stallions being so…squeamish.
“Alright Twilight you can take this scum. Don’t be afraid to be rough with it and don’t trust everything that comes out of its mouth. They are devious little beasts. I have to go check on something.”
>Lyra stumbles over to you and hugs your leg.
>She’s been drinking and partying with you since you got here.
>She looks up at you with those big puppy dog eyes that your ponies have.
>You really have missed the adorable eyes of your ponies.
>”My lord you aren’t leaving are you? You’re coming back right?”
>You can hear the worry in her voice.
“Don’t worry Lyra I will return.”
>”And your tour of the kingdom?”
“It will continue. I just have to make a quick stop somewhere and make sure everything is alright. In fact I’ll let you choose where I go next.”
>You see her face break into a massive smile
>”You should come to Ponyville! I live there and it’s one of the best places in all of Equestria!”
>You don’t remember any Ponyville.
“Ponyville must be a new settlement as I don’t remember it. Where would it be located?”
>Lyra giggles at herself.
>”Oh sorry I should have figured. It’s new. Like a couple of hundred years maybe. It’s located to the south of Canterlot in an open valley. Can’t miss it.”
>Ok that should be good.
>Now just to make sure everything is fine.
>You feel kind of bad cutting Celestia’s challenge short.
>But this is something that has to be checked.
>It would be interesting to see what this new type of pony can do.
>You create a scroll with an invitation to join you in Ponyville and leave it on the table.
“I’ll be in Ponyville in a day. Probably in the morning.”
>Glancing over you see Celestia laying on the ground.
>She’s probably fine.
>You take to the sky.
>It will be nice to have a scenic flight over your kingdom tonight.

*******************
>Be Twilight Sparkle.
>What is wrong with that stallion!
>He just cut off that changeling’s horn and just flies off like he didn’t just mutilate somepony.
>Also where was Celestia in all this?
>She hardly said anything during all of this.
>You turn around and you get your answer.
>Celestia is lying on the road spread eagle and moaning.
“Celestia are you alright!”
>”Twilight. The stars are spinning. It’s been so long since I’ve drank so much.”
>Well your beloved mentor is drunk off her flank.
>Wait didn’t he leave a scroll on the table.
>Levitating it over to you, you see that it is addressed to Celestia.
“Celestia he left a scroll for you. Would you like me to open it?”
>With a moan Celestia closes her eyes.
>”Yes Twilight, open it and read it to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Dear Princess Celestia,

I have enjoyed your challenge and wish for it to continue. If you would like, you can meet me in Ponyville tomorrow night for a celebration and another form of challenge since we didn’t get to finish this one. I wouldn’t want to subject you to more alcohol so soon.

Regards,
King Anonymous
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>All of it was written in gold ink with a flowing script.
>”So does this mean I win?”
“No I don’t think so Celestia. He probably means to extend your challenge for multiple events.”
>”So he plans on toying with me.”
>You sigh.
“I’m not sure what he’s planning, but what I do know is that we are going to be in Ponyville tomorrow so let me get you some water.”
>Turning you see the changeling sitting there shaking.
>Right you almost forgot about her.
>You think it’s a her.
“Captain Sky.”
>You say in a commanding tone.
>The mare in question stands at attention and salutes you.
>”Yes princess Sparkle?”
“I want you to round up a unit of guard and transport this prisoner to the Canterlot dungeons. Make no stops and tell nopony what their assignment is as you are gathering your squad. I don’t want word of this to spread any faster than it already will.”
>”Yes ma’am!”
>She then flies off and you are left with the small group of ponies, a scared changeling, and Celestia on the ground.
>Oh and a bouncing Lyra trying to wake up BonBon so “We can get to Ponyville and make ready for our King.”
>You grab a pitcher of water and a cup from one of the tables and sit next to Celestia.
“Alright I’m going to need you to drink this.”
>”Twilight, my crown is regal enough right?”
>You pour some water.
“Your crown obviously symbolizes your golden sun. Now drink this.”
>This is going to be a sleepless night isn’t it.

******************

>This is a really nice view.
>You love the high altitude view of your kingdom.
>You can see all the pony cities lit like massive beacons in the dark.
>How far they’ve come.
>Having taught the concepts and theories of electricity to your ponies the brightest had made crude magic and electric hybrids of torches.
>After a couple of generations later these novelties had spread somewhat but never to this extent.
>It is going to be so much fun when you get to catch up on pony innovation with the royal researchers.
>You’ve gushed over the achievements of your subjects for too long.
>It’s time to work.
>Just for a little while.
>Honestly you don’t remember the last time you had a vacation besides the one you’ve just started.
>There was always something to be done.
>Had you never taken a break?
>You begin your decent like a meteor from the heavens towards that accursed place.
>It was a fitting place for her lair.
>The first broodmother of the changelings had made her stronghold in the northern most part of the Forbidden Jungle just south of the swamps.
>From here she had orchestrated a two hundred and fifty year long shadow war against you.
>She was the reason that the shadow guards were formed in the first place.
>You had scouts and intelligence operators before then but nothing at the level of the shadow guard.
>They were a branch entirely dedicated to intelligence, espionage, and subterfuge.
>Finding her had cost the lives of many of your brave subjects.
>You would have found them sooner but these changelings were much smarter than the later broods.
>They would never risk detection, always quiet and subtle.
>If they truly believed they were going to be found out they wouldn’t hesitate to suicide.
>Compound that with the fact that knowledge was compartmentalized so much so that the vast majority didn’t even know where the main spawning pool they were birthed from was.
>All in all, the war was a nightmare.
>The final year of the war was quiet movements of the shadow guard to encircle the lair and then let you go ham.
>You killed everything there that dared stand against you.
>Many tried to flee but were cut down or captured by the guard waiting in the trees.
>It all ended with you drowning the queen by holding her head down in her own pool while you burned what was not under the goo.
>With the queen dead, and the main generals either dead or captured the war was over.
>Afterwards the changeling population was always on the decline.
>Sure every so often there would be enough to congregate and begin a new hive, but they always were found and lacked the cunning of the first queen.
>Honestly you’re extremely surprised that they are still here.
>All trends pointed to them being nothing but a page in history by the time you returned.
>Obviously somepony has been lax when it came to changeling extermination.
>Slowing your speed you land and immediately notice there is something wrong.
>The fortifications that were supposed to house the researchers and guard detachments were in ruins.
>It didn’t even look like there had been a battle.
>Just destroyed by a lack of maintenance.
>What idiot would abandon this facility?
>The amount of experiments available with the magical spawning pool and the danger of letting it fall into the wrong hands would be catastrophic.
>Alright it wouldn’t be anything you couldn’t fix but it would just be another thing to do when all you want is to quietly rule your ponies.
>You’ve had enough fighting for quite a while.
>You really have.
>Passing through the threshold the area around looks…tidy?
>It had been cleaned and many old armors and artifacts from its past had been sorted.
>Something had lived here for some time.
>Odd, who ever had been here had decided to just leave everything here once they were done.
>Clearly they weren’t here for the history.
>Striding to the back you move the bricks towards the back that concealed the puzzle to open the cave entrance.
>You had expected with the state of the fortifications from the outside that the mechanisms for the door would be broken but here you see them restored and in working order.
>So a changeling decided to live here, clean up, search, find, and restore the secret passage.
>What dedication.
>And it solved the puzzle.
>Seems like this changeling actually had some critical thinking.
>Clever little bug.
>You begin to solve the 3-D crystal puzzle that ends with a depiction of a hammer striking an anvil and the sparks that spring from it.
>With the way that the puzzle is made you can make 50 different symbols with the puzzle one of which is the normal symbol of your rule.
>Then it has to be aligned so that either sun or moon light causes the sparks to light up with the way that the light moves through the crystalline structure.
>The light source can also be artificial if you can properly match the magical resonance of the sun or moon, something that requires a very precise control of high powered magic.
>Once this has been satisfied the crystal’s magic resonance now matches the door’s rune components and it will then cease to be a solid structure.
>Then you simply just walk through the wall.
>Striding forward you enter the mouth of the cave.
>You see signs of habitation.
>The magical lighting that was placed inside had been restored and you can see a clear lack of dust.
>Taking the 40 minute walk to the main spawning pool in the cave complex you can see the reverence that the changeling had taken restoring many of the changeling arts and symbols that were engraved into the cave wall.
>Reaching the pool you can feel the multiple layers of magic that had been cast here.
>Looking towards the edge of the pool you see where you killed Chrysalid and the emotions of the moment wash over you.
>The anger, the rage, the satisfaction as you saw the life leave her knowing that you had avenged the ponies that had been turned into husks devoid of any emotion or will.
>All they did was breath and stare, nothing left in them.
>The pain you saw in the pony’s family and friends was something that you were never going to forget.
>Sometimes their faces would come unbidden to you in your dreams.
>Pushing these thoughts from your mind you sit on the ground and focus.
>You push out with your magical presence and begin to untangle the mess of magical spells that overlap each other here.
>With the amount of spells you think it might take an hour or so to untangle.
>A lot had been cast here over the course of a long time.


************************
>”SPIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKE!!!!”
>Rolling over, you look out the window.
>The moon still hangs in the sky.
>By the sun Twilight, you needed your beauty sleep!
>How were you going to catch the eye of your lady if you didn’t look your best?
>Wait why is Twilight here?
>Wasn’t she going to be staying in Las Pegasus?
>Well obviously it must have not been a real problem if she was coming back at, you take a look at the wall clock,…almost 5:30 in the morning!
>”SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKE!!!!”
>Oh you are going to give her a piece of your mind.
>You open your door and start walking down the stairs.
“TWILIGHT STOP YELLING, I’LL BE DOWN IN A SECOND AND IT’S PAST 5 AM! THINK OF THE NEIGHBORS!”
>You love Twilight but she really needs to calm down and learn to relax.
>That’s it you were going to get her to go to the spa with you.
>You have the perfect lure too.
>There is that new stallion that started working there and you know you could get her to come if he is giving the massage.
>He’s also a really swell guy.
>Reaching the bottom of the stairs you open the door to the main hall.
>The sight stops you in your tracks.
>There is a passed out Celestia quietly snoring on Twilight’s back with her legs dragging on the floor.
>”If you’re done gawking I need you to send a letter to Luna to let her know to raise the sun and to meet us in Ponyville.”
>You take a sniff and you can tell that they reek of rum!
>Had Twilight and Celestia lied and just decided to go out drinking!
“Twilight what happened? Why didn’t you just sleep in Las Pegasus? You shouldn’t be flying after drinking. How is Celestia, the sister famed for holding her rum, passed out because of what I can only assume is rum? Did you lie because you just wanted to go drinking with your teacher? You know you didn’t need to lie to go have some fun right?”
>You take a breath to continue your questioning when Twilight’s magic softly holds your lips shut.
>This gives you a second to get a really good look at Twilight in the moonlight.
>She looks absolutely exhausted.
>Her mane is a mess, her eyes are bloodshot, and she looks worried.
>”Please Spike, just send the letter and let me sit down for a bit and I’ll tell you everything.”
>Quietly you help Twilight get Celestia to one of the guest rooms and both sit down at the kitchen table.
>Twilight magic’s over the good cookies she keeps on the top of the fridge and the milk from the fridge.
“So what happened?”
>Twilight groans.
>”I’m not sure what happened.”
“You’re not sure how Celestia got drunk?”
>”No, no I mean that what happened was just odd and I’m not sure what to think of it.”
>Twilight dips her cookie in a big glass of milk and takes a big bite.
>Closing her eyes she smiles.
>She sits there a bit with her eyes closed.
“Well Twilight how about you just give me a quick recap so we can get some sleep.”
>She opens her eyes and blinks owlishly.
>”Sorry Spike I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”
>Twilight sits up and takes a long breath.
>”Alright Spike here we go. So short and simple. Celestia and I made it to Las Pegasus to find a massive unorderly street party taking place, all the guards were sitting around drinking and cavorting, we find a giant golden bipedal creature that claims to be The Anonymous saying that he has returned to lead ponies once more, he challenges Celestia to a drinking game for the right to rule, Celestia drank 10 bottles of rum and it looks like she would have lost the game if “Anonymous” wasn’t interrupted because he had to choke out a rouge changeling that looked completely different than previous changelings, then he flew off after CUTTING OFF THE CHANGELINGS HORN, and then I took the late night train home. So no I didn’t fly back home.”
>She did all of that in one nervous breath.
>”Also when Celestia tried to arrest “Anonymous” for disorderly conduct he walked out of Celestia’s magic that was attempting to restrain him like it was a light breeze, and  now he’s coming here because LYRA is so nice and oblivious that she invited him here.”
>Twilight stops her rant and chuckles nervously.
“So he stole a bunch of food and alcohol and wants to take over Equestria?”
>”Well he didn’t really steal anything.”
“He paid for everything?”
>”With pure gold! By the stars the amount of paperwork is going to be ridiculous.”
>You raise your eyebrow skeptically.
“So you’re telling me a villain that wants to take over Equestria actually paid for a massive party? Seems awfully civil besides the whole mutilation thing. So what are you going to do?”
>”I don’t know Spike. I’m going to get the gang together after a few hours of sleep but I’m not sure what that’d do. He seems so powerful. Maybe if we used the elements we might be able to do something but I’m not so sure.”
>She sits quietly staring at the table for a second.
>”He even tried to get Celestia to stop drinking when it became obvious that she was getting a bit too drunk. He called all ponies his subjects proclaiming that her wellbeing was important to him and that she had already proven herself to him.”
“I’m guessing that Celestia didn’t stop.”
>”No I’m thinking she felt insulted because she started drinking faster.”
>Twilight’s head slowly started to droop before bouncing back up.
“Twilight get some sleep I’ll start getting the girls when the sun comes up ok.”
>Twilight snaps to attention.
>”Spike I’m not going to let you go walking anywhere near the Everfree forest by yourself.”
>You chuckle.
“I know you won’t that’s why I’m going to just get the girls in town and ask Pinkie to get the other girls. Now get some sleep ok.”
>Twilight smiles, gets up, walks over to you and hugs you.
>”I love you little brother.”
“I love you too now get to bed.”
>Yawning she walks out the kitchen and you can hear her going upstairs.
>She always gets a little emotional when she’s really tired but you wouldn’t trade it for the world.
>You love your sister.
>Grabbing a chair you move it over to the fridge and use it to get into the freezer.
>There it is.
>Chocolate emerald fudge swirl ice cream.
>You’re going to have a lot to do today and you want to treat yourself this morning.
>You take a bite and relish the taste.
>Alright Spike another stallion is coming here and might try to hurt your sister.
>Others had come before trying to use their charms on your sister and you had shown them the door one way or another.
>You’d never let a silver tonged stallion take advantage of your sister.
>Looking out the window you looked over the quiet early morning dark and a great idea struck you.
>This time you would be making the pancakes Celestia.
>You would need to get some ingredients from Pinkie when you went to get her but you were sure that you had it this time.
>You’re sure you’ll crack Celestia’s secrete pancake recipe this time.

*******************
>You can not stop laughing.
>Your sister moans across the table from you.
>”Luna it’s not that funny.”
>The aching in your ribs disagrees.
“It is dear sister. When I got the scroll to raise your sun and to meet in Ponyville I had believed that you had been injured, not suffering from the first hangover that I have seen since we defeated Discord. Not only that but some golden party colt drank thee under the table. It is most amusing!”
>Sister’s muzzle scrunches.
>”Need I remind you that this golden party colt intends to depose us”
“Please sister, how much trouble could a party colt that pays for everyponies drinks be?”
>Twilight slams her hoof on the table.
>”He mutilated a prisoner!”
“He defanged an enemy of the crown so that drunken guards could properly escort the prisoner to the dungeons.”
>”It could have been done without such violence!”
“Well he guaranteed that we had a prisoner to interrogate. With a new strain of changeling I’m certain precautions had to be taken.”
>Twilight looks at you like your crazy.
“Besides he said he’d give back the horn.”
>Twilight facehoofs.
>”You and I both know that that’s not how that works. It’d be far too long of a time period to reattach it.”
>After taking a bite of pancake Fluttershy speaks up.
>”Well I agree with Twilight, what he did was really cruel.”
“For all we know he could actually be able to reattach the horn. You said it yourself Twilight, he is very powerful. It’d be a fitting power for a colt.”
>Twilight and a couple of the others look at you like you just said something very wrong and or insulting.
“What? Why are all of you looking at me like that?”
>Twilight sighs.
>”Minor sexism aside, mares do you have any ideas for dealing with this problem?”
“I apologize Twilight, but what sexism? All I pointed out is that as a stallion it would be fitting for him to know healing magic. What’s wrong with that? Stallions make good healers because of their caring nature after all.”
>”Well Luna, it’s not that you’re wrong but it’s wrong to just assume that based on his sex. If I had made that assumption with Sombra then I would have been seduced by his charm magic. Luckily Spike was there to help me overcome that as well as the fear enchantments that followed.”
>You see Spike enter the map room after that statement.
>Speak of the dragon.
>”So ladies I see you are enjoying the pancakes, tell me did I do it?”
>Spike finished the statement smiling hopefully.
>Chuckling your sister sits up.
>”Not quite Spike, you’re missing a couple of things.”
>Spike looks disheartened for a second but then his face changes to resolve.
>”I will get that recipe right, even if it takes me the next decade to do it I will!”
>Well after all that’s changed at least stallions cooking has remained a constant in your life.
>Rainbow jumps up out of her seat getting everyponies attention.
>Of course she hadn’t said anything up until this point because she had been eating a 10 stack of pancakes, but now that she was done it looked like she was ready to weigh in on the situation.
>”Who cares about pancake recipes! Anonymous is back and wants to rule again!”
>Twilight looks a little annoyed.
>”Rainbow we don’t know if he is real or just trying to pull an elaborate trick on us. This individual could be anyone.”
>Rainbow doesn’t let Twilight’s reasonable view get to her though.
>”Come on Twilight he sounds a lot like him from what you’ve been saying.”
“How would you know what the ancient and mythical lord of the first age looks like?”
>Rarity looks a little incredulous.
>”Yes Rainbow enlighten us, how do you know so much about such an important figure.”
>”Discord told me.”
>Now it seemed to be Applejacks turn to be disbelieving.
>”Discord? Discord told ya? I didn’t think I’d be needen ta remind ya that he loves his pranks right?”
>You see Fluttershy finish her bite of pancake, put down the fork, clean her muzzle with a napkin and then clear her throat.
>”No, I’m pretty certain he was telling the truth. He seemed really excited to talk about Anonymous. Everything you’ve said matches pretty well with what Discord said.”
>There was a moment of silence after that.
>So he might have actually existed.
>The next question would then be how many of the stories were real?
>You choose to break the silence.
”The fact that Anonymous existed in the past or not doesn’t matter, what does matter is what we intend to do now. Just because he could have existed in the past doesn’t change the fact that this could be an elaborate imposter. Fluttershy, could you bring Discord here to verify if this is indeed the Anonymous of myth?”
>Fluttershy looks at you with an apologetic expression.
>”I’m sorry but Discord said he’d be on vacation after our tea party yesterday.”
“How long until he returns?”
>”Well he said that he would be gone for um a half a galactic standard year.”
“How long is a galactic standard year?”
>”He didn’t say.”
>That stallion is just impossible.
>Never around when you need him.
“Fine so what will we do about him when he gets here?”
>Pinkie jumps up on the table and begins to take a deep breath.
>”OBVIOUSLY WE PARTY!”
>She then gallops out of the room.
>Is Pinkie always like this?
>After sighing Twilight sits up in her chair and composes herself.
>”So Pinkie has left to, I assume, prepare for a town wide party. Does anypony else have any suggestions?”
>You see Rarity’s ears perk up out of the corner of your eye as she sets down her fork that still has the perfect square cut of pancake on it.
>”Twilight darling, we are obviously dealing with a misguided gentlestallion that doesn’t know what to do with his power. Clearly he wants to have fun and make ponies happy as well, he just needs some marely guidance.”
>”I don’t know Rarity, that violent display on a prisoner has me worried. I could never imagine my dad doing something like that.”
“It’s within the norm for a stallion.”
>Twilight looks at you with disbelief on her face.
>Your sister from her lazy position with her head on the table speaks up.
>”It’s true Twilight, a stallion that has been truly wronged will not forget. Next time you see your brother try asking him about the changelings and listen very carefully to what words he chooses to use. Remember, they tried to ruin his wedding by mind controlling him and hurt his wife and sister. Stallions can hold a grudge like nothing else in existence, even if they don’t outwardly show it.”
>“So his violence doesn’t bother you?”
>”It does but it isn’t something that would surprise me if a stallion was terribly wronged by another and had the power that I saw last night.”
“Speaking of sister, what did you feel last night? The way you speak it isn’t dark magic that is being used. Am I correct in this?”
>”You are correct, but the amount of raw magic he possessed was just absurd. It was affecting the ponies just from him not controlling ambient magical bleed out. He’s dangerous, not to mention that a new breed of changeling now exists.”
“Yes he could be, but it seems that he likes ponies so I think we are safe. Honestly if anypony should be worried it should be the changelings.”
>Celestia sighs.
>”What about the changeling? What have we learned?”
“Well she spilled everything pretty quick; I really should thank this Anonymous because that was the fastest interrogation my guards have ever had. Unfortunately she didn’t know much about other changeling movements but she has confirmed that Chrysalis indeed has created this new strain and intends to attack Equestria again.”
>”Great just what we needed, Chrysalis.”
>”Ah don’t know I think this whole situation is rather convenient. I mean jus think about it. A massively powerful stallion shows up and doesn’t like changelings. Why don’t we jus see if he wants to help. Sure we’ll have to reel him in but I bet he’d love to help.”
“I do not think that would be a good idea. If we can not convince him to heed our words we could doom all the changelings to a terrible fate. Not to mention that the possibility exists that he could be part of Chrysalis’s plan. I find it too convenient that a powerful being that hates changelings would appear just as Chrysalis’s plan is beginning.”
>“What about his promise to continue our competition? Do you think he could be a ploy to weaken our rule before she makes her move?”
“Perhaps.”
>Twilight gives a nervous laugh.
>”I know you were drunk but you can’t tell me you forgot what it was like when he was choking that changeling. I’m no changeling but I swear I could feel his disgust and hatred for the changeling, and his face held nothing but contempt. I’m pretty sure that at that moment he wanted nothing more than to just kill that changeling. I doubt that he wants anything to do with them other than genocide.”
“I have my night guards beginning a proper investigation into changeling movements, but for now I think we need to focus on this party tonight. I agree with Miss Rarity. Since none of his actions have been hostile towards ponies we should attempt diplomacy. All in agreement?”
>”Yup, shouldn’t be too hard to talk some sense into a stallion.” Applejack states confidently
>Oh my sweet little foal, guess she has to learn that most stallions aren’t like her brother.
>You should try to see him today if you can.
>He really is a great stallion.
>”Ya, I’m down to drink with Anonymous!”
>At least Rainbow Dash is excited.
>”As long as things are peaceful” Fluttershy says quietly.
>”I for one am looking forward to this little soiree, it’s going to be a beautiful night for it after all.” Rarity states.
>Of course tonight will be beautiful.
>The visibility to your stars should be perfect tonight.
>Not a cloud in the sky.
>”All right now that we have a plan lets go help Pinkie with this party!”
>Good idea Twilight, having something to do will make everyone less anxious while waiting.
>With a resounding “Ya!” from all of Twilights friends they trot out the doors together.
>Spike chuckles at their antics
>”Oh those mares. Everything would be so dull without them.”
>Celestia picks her head up from the table.
>”Spike could I have some tea in a travel mug please.”
>”Sure thing Celestia, only for a hint though.”
>Celestia thinks for a moment.
>”Too much cinnamon this time.”
>”Dang I thought I had the amount right this time.”

*********************


>It’s now 2pm and Anonymous hasn’t shown up.
>Come on where is he?
>When Twilight had said that Anonymous had come back you were stoked.
>You had helped Pinkie and the townsponies set up a sick party in record time.
>Well you’ve done everything that was asked of you.
>You knew that you had the biggest smile on your face because Twilight, who had been acting lame the whole time, was trying to get you down.
>Telling you to take this seriously and that this could be really dangerous.
>Saying things like “Rainbow could you stop grinning so much, this isn’t a joke this could be something we might not be able to beat.”
>Like you’d want to fight the ancient King.
>Besides, what did Twilight want you to do?
>Fly around spreading doom and gloom.
>Do you want stampedes?
>Cause that’s how you get stampedes.
>You’d think Twilight would be more excited.
>A living legend was coming to town to drink and relax and she was getting worked up over it.
>She can act like a worried househusband all she wants, but you are going to see if you can get him to tell you sick stories from the past.
>Any hero worth their salt has stories to tell while drinking, and if the scrolls are to be believed he had a lot of awesome tales.
>Celestia is probably getting worked up over nothing.
>They’ve all forgotten that he’s still a colt.
>He’s probably playing a game with her.
>It’s all colt games.
>After all he taught colts how to colt.
>Then again.
>He also taught mares how to mare.
>You pause for a second.
>So is he both?
>Obviously he has colt parts because he’s a king but he doesn’t act all prissy.
>He gets down and dirty.
>Then again he has been the only king in pony history.
>The closest male position has been princes and they really don’t compare.
>You are broken out of your mental spiral before you can start to delve into the roles of pony society by the sound of Lyra frantically ranting at herself.
>”Where is he? He said he’d be here in the morning. Was it something I did? Maybe he saw the preparations and thought they weren’t good enough and left. What if I ruined everything? What if he’s decided to leave and never come back! He just came back. I don’t think I could live with myself if I was the reason he left!”
>She continues to berate herself as you see BonBon slowly walk over to Lyra with an annoyed expression.
>BonBon then sits down next to Lyra and lightly slaps her.
>Lyra blinks for a second before BonBon’s hoofs grab her face and turn it to face her.
>”He hasn’t left because of you. Stop getting yourself worked up. He said that he had something to look into and probably is just running late. So just do everypony a favor and just take a second to calm down.”
>Lyra closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
>Opening them she has a smile on again.
>”Feeling better?”
>Lyra gives a small nod.
>”Good”
>BonBon then lightly flicks Lyra’s horn.
>”Ow, Bonny why’d you do that.”
>BonBon still sitting, the look of annoyance having never left her face.
>”I told you the next time you freaked out like that I would flick you. I’m a mare of my word.”
>Those two.
>You swear that even if one of them gets married they are both still going to be living together.
>”Pinkie are you sure that he’s coming? If this is like that last fiasco then we will have made far too many cupcakes and I don’t think we can pull off another cupcakes sale like the last time.”
>And there is Mister Cake fretting again.
>”Don’t you worry Cake boss! He’s coming and he’s paying in goooooooooollllllld.”
>Mr. Cake looks suspicious
>”Gold?”
>”Yuperoony!”
>Pinkie ends her statement with a really big smile.
>Mr. Cake’s face shifts to frustration.
>”This is one of your pranks isn’t it?!”
>”No no no Mr. Cake I swear. Didn’t you see Princess Celestia and Luna here?”
>”No I haven’t because I’ve been in the kitchen, with my wife, baking all day since the sun first peaked its head above the horizon, while you have just been galloping around all day setting up a party of some sort, the theme of which escapes me!”
>”Ancient sexy stallion rulers.”
>Now his face is confusion.
>”What?
>”Ancient sexy stallion rulers!”
>From your high position on a cloud you can see Princess Luna walking up behind Mr. Cake.
>”Pinkie I am not certain of the theme of this party.”
>Mr. Cake then becomes a mix of mild smug and justification.
>”See Pinkie even Princess Luna thinks the theme is odd.”
>After this statement his face becomes surprise with sudden realization.
>Quickly he turns around and bows.
>”Princess Luna, I’m sorry your highness I didn’t know you were here.”
>Luna looks confused
>”Did not Pinkie notify you?”
>Mr. Cake’s voice takes on an apologetic tone.
>”Yes she did but I began to think she was starting to prank me when she said I was being paid in gold.”
>”I can see how that would make one suspicious but fear not, if something happens the crown shall make sure you are compensated. You no longer need to be bowing.”
>Mr. Cake rises looking a little sheepish.
>”As you wish your highness. I’ll just go make sure all the confections are in order.”
>Luna raises her hoof.
>”Before you go gentlestallion, wouldst thou create a moonpie for us to dine upon tonight.”
>Mr. Cake tilts his head.
>”Do you mean those chocolate covered marshmallow cakes out of Manehatten?”
>”I believed they began in Canterlot.”
>You see a flustered looking Mrs. Cake trotting at a fast pace toward Mr. Cake.
>”Nopony knows where they started at this point but I need you back at the bakery. The twins woke up and I can’t watch them and the ovens at the same time.”
>With that a worried Mr. Cake gallops off towards Sugar Cube Corner with a winded Mrs. Cake behind him.
>Just like a stallion.
>Mention anything about their foals and they’re off without a second thought.
>Time to see what Pinkie is up to with this theme.
>Rolling off the cloud and let yourself fall until about 30 feet.
>Then as you pull up you use the momentum to do a number of flips before landing in front of Pinkie and Luna.
>Pinkie stomps her hoofs while Luna shows no reaction.
“So what’s this theme you got going Pinkie?”
>Pinkie gives a groan of exasperation.
>”It’s ancient sexy stallion rulers! I thought it was pretty obvious.”
>Looking around you see on the banners old depictions from scrolls of ancient jousting matches but with skimpy clothed stallions instead of mares and here and there you see a couple of stallions wearing some old timey getups.
>Though you’re pretty sure most of those aren’t accurate getups as they seem to be designed to draw your eye towards their rumps.
>You’re not complaining.
>”Pinkie doest thou thinkest to insult him?”
>Pinkie tilts her head
>”What?”
>Luna sighs
>”What I am trying to say is that I’d like not to insult our guest before we have a chance to talk.”
“I can’t see anything insulting.”
>”I saw Pinkie walking around passing out ball bras to stallions that were lacy and fit her theme.”
>Wait really?
>Nice.
>”Furthermore if an individual considers themselves a ruler an attempt to trivialize their perceived role would be insulting. Since this stallion is under the delusion that he rules us we would be insulting him.”
>I guess that makes sense.
>”Oh come on Luna, it’s just a bit of fun. After all a ruler who can’t have a little laugh now and then is a ruler I’d rather not have.”
>She’s doing this on purpose.
>Everypony just thinks Pinkie is just being silly but you know better.
>You’ve spent enough time around her pranking others to know she thinks of everything.
>She wants to see his reaction.
>”Be that as it may Pinkie I’d rather not risk offending with such displays. Find a way to change this.”
>”Nope too late, I’ve already scheduled the foam joisting tourney and that was a lot of work.”
>Something in the sky catches your eye.
>You raise your hoof and point.
“Hey look at that it’s a shooting star….in the middle of the day. What is that?”
>Both your friends turn and look at the strange sight just as it changes directions and begins hurdling towards Ponyville.
>”Everypony clear the streets!”
>Luna takes a stance and casts a large shield over Ponyville as ponies start looking around in alarm.
>Just seconds before impact it stops and you see a massive creature in golden armor for a split second and then it’s gone.
>”So what’s the shield spell for?”
>You all jump at the deep voice behind you as he chuckles.
>Luna’s concentration is broken and the spell falls.
>The crowd of ponies on the street is silent as they look at him.
>Turning around you see a tall golden biped with a crown of multicolored gems.
>No those are diamond.
>The diamond crown!
“Finally we’ve been setting up all morning! Come on we’ve got everything set up and ready for your party, by the way huge fan.”
>You finish giddy with excitement.
>”Not true Rainbow I still need the cakes from the Cakes and the punch still hasn’t reached full punchyness yet and I need to go talk to Berry about the wine as well.”
>He smiles at the group of you and honestly it feels pretty good.
>”I apologize for my tardiness but this had to be looked into. Luckily it isn’t anything to be worried about. The shadow guard will be more than enough to deal with the new changelings.”
>You see Lyra gallop up to your group and stop, bow, and then begin hopping in place.
>”My lord it’s so great to have you here. I’m sorry that everything isn’t ready though.”
>He waves a hand dismissively.
>”No need to apologize considering that the party is meant to take place tonight.”
>Lyra smiles sheepishly.
>”Oh right. Well is there anything you require my lord?”
>”How about a tour of your fair town and perhaps a late lunch.”
“Great I know this place that makes this awesome pizza! Let’s go!”
 >You take off with your wings only to realize you left the rest of the group behind.
>Looping back you hover in the air a little embarrassed.
>”Heh heh, this way.”

*************************

>The pizza was a great idea on Rainbows part though you are not sure that Rainbow would agree for the same reasons.
>After brief introductions you were able to sit back and examine this Anonymous and learn his character, or at least the façade that he projects to others.
>The look he gave to you as you introduced yourself didn’t escape you.
>His gaze had briefly hung on both your horn and wings.
>It wasn’t a look of caution or concern but curiosity.
>Being princess of the night and master of the night guard you prize yourself on your ability to discern an individual’s true nature.
>The skill has served you well in the past when dealing with the always insufferable nobles.
>Right now you are not so sure of what his intent is.
>Everything put forth feels genuine and nothing so far screams of deceit.
>You’re sure that there is a face being put on but there are many hints of truth.
>The best masks use a mixture of truths and lies after all.
>Currently he is expounding on, or clarifying, any of the tales that Rainbow Dash brings up.
>Sometimes letting Rainbow talk or using her question as a staging point to begin a short tale for the gathered crowd.
>The ponies that had seen him enter the town, ever curious, had followed your group to the pizzeria and pulled the tables closer.
>It was obvious that the ponies running the establishment were mildly annoyed at the change of table arrangement but this much business seemed to outweigh it.
>Watching him spin tales you can tell he is supremely confident.
>He’s not only comfortable being the center of attention but by the way he holds himself he expects it.
>Reminds you of your sister…before the whole Nightmare Moon debacle.
>Never being told or even expecting they could be wrong.
>Not the worst thing an individual could suffer from but having somepony to just challenge them could go a long way.
>He hasn’t said anything about the party theme so there’s that at least.
>Maybe that’s what bothered sister so much.
>She could be seeing her past failings in him and is reacting poorly.
>She is still a little ashamed about how she treated you back then.
>No matter how many times you have assured her that it doesn’t matter anymore.
>Setting down his beer he looks over to you.
>”So princess huh? I assume that title is not hereditary since I have sired no offspring.”
“Indeed the title of princess of Equestria has been an earned position.”
>Smiling he sets down his drink and leans forward.
>”So am I right to assume that you are the sister of Princess Celestia?”
>Ah so here it begins.
>He will likely try to dig for information on Celestia.
>After all if he is looking to ruin the image of the crown by embarrassing Celestia in public would be a good way of going about it.
>His questions will be telling.
“Yes I am indeed sister to Princess Celestia.”
>”Oh good then maybe you could tell me why she is being so grumpy.”
>You give him a puzzled look.
“In what way do you mean grumpy?”
>”Well during a massive party commemorating my return she shows up and gets all huffy. She then tries to arrest me for “causing a disturbance” and “unlawful possession of a first age relic”. I know I’ve been gone for a while but what is all this first age nonsense?”
>Is he pulling your leg?
“My sister does have a tendency to get wound up. Perhaps you approached her the wrong way.”
>Rainbow then butts in between the two of you.
>”Whoa whoa whoa hold up, what relic?”
>It is now that you realize that his tone with you is different from your subjects.
>The tone reminds you of how a father speaks to their foals.
>Why doesn’t he have that tone with you?
>”They were looking at my sword of course.”
>Rainbow’s eyes widen.
>”Can I see?”
>He smiles and in a flash of light a massive sword appears.
>That sword is impractically large.
>Why would you make anything that large?
>All the ponies stare in awe.
>He stabs the blade into the ground.
>”Make sure everypony gets a turn to see it and mind the edges, they’re very sharp.”
>Rainbow gives a salute and starts organizing a line while Lyra seems to be absolutely bursting with happiness.
>Bonbon just shakes her head at Lyra as she bounces in her chair.
>After he sits back down he turns to you.
>”I love making my ponies happy but back to the topic at hand. Your sister and I have a competition going and I would like to make the next event fun for the both of us.”
>Well this is strange.
>Is he giving you an opportunity to set the event for the next challenge?
>”Tell me what activities or events your sister would love to compete in. I don’t want to have another repeat of grumpy princess drinking night.”
>So he is giving you a chance to dictate the event of tonight.
>You could have some fun with this.
>No no you shouldn’t do anything crazy.
>Something simple that doesn’t have the chance to hurt Celestia or royally (heh) embarrass her.
”My sister does enjoy eating cake. Perhaps a cake eating competition will make her night.”
>He makes a face that seems a bit contemplative.
>”That does sound a little tame but I guess if it keeps her from sulking the whole time. It just seems so dull and unexciting. Oh well as long as my ponies are happy.”
>Wow that was easy.
>Actually everything has been going really well.
>Anonymous has been very agreeable, he wasn’t offended but the décor, and he seemed to be trying to make your sister happy.
>Everything is going well.
>Too well.
>”Oh Princess there you are!”
>Turning your small bout of mild paranoia subsides when you lay eyes on Fluttershy trotting up to your table.
>”I came as quickly as I could….”
>She’s staring at Anonymous.
>Time to make sure that this doesn’t get awkward.
“Anonymous this is Fluttershy. Fluttershy this is Anonymous. Fluttershy is the current bearer of the element of kindness and national heroine of Equestria.”
>”Hello Anonymous it’s nice to meet you.”
>Anonymous smiles and extends his hand.
>”It’s a pleasure to meet……”
>And he is interrupted by a flash of light and the appearance of a long, brown, body….
>Oh Tartarus!
>Of course he shows up when everything is going perfectly!
>”Fluttershy you wouldn’t believe these adorable asymmetric creatures that I saw in the Horsehead nebula I just had to come show you.”
>Like some slight of hoof a plethora of photos shows up between his talons.
>”Look at this purple one right here!”
>Fluttershy face breaks into exuberance as she looks at the photos.
>”Awww they are so adorable! Wait did you say the Horsehead nebula?”
>”Yes the Horsehead nebula, look at this one drinking heavy water.” He says pointing at the photograph.
>You will not have this crazy colt ruining this.
“Discord!”
>He turns barely glancing at you.
>”Oh hello Luna and Anonymous. Fluttershy look at this one, this one just looks……….” He trails off.
>Then his head turns violently without the rest of his body making a loud snapping sound.
>You shudder at the noise.
>Every time.
>Every time Discord is near you he does something like this.
>You swear he is trying to just disgust you.
>”ANONYMOUS!” He practically screeches as his body contorts so that his back legs cup his face.
>”WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I WAS WAITING FOR GAME NIGHT! IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE YOU SHOULD REALLY LET A DRACONEQUUS KNOW.”
“STOP YOUR SCREECHING YOU MAD COLT!”
>And great you just used the royal Canterlot voice.
>He always shows up at the worst times for you…
>Wait this is perfect.
>He can tell if he is a fake or not.
“Discord are you sure that this is Anonymous?”
>Discord turns to you and rolls his eyes.
>”Of course it’s Anon, who else wears this much gaudy gold.” He says gesturing towards his golden armor.
>Anonymous gives a look of mock offense.
>”Coming from the guy who never fights his own battles.”
>Discord chuckles.
>”Oh please you had fun putting my old enemies down, and look at you so much power now. What have you been up to all this time, crunches? Though it seems you’ve gotten so lazy that you aren’t regulating you magic at all.”
>Anonymous leans back in his chair.
>”Oh you know just killing hordes of demons. That’s pretty much all I’ve been up to. I’m looking forward to some peace and quiet.”
>Discord points at him.
>”You? Peace and quiet? Like that will ever happen.”
>Anonymous shakes his head.
>”There really is always something isn’t there. Somehow I’ve already started breaking some laws about first age relics of some such nonsense. I’ll have to skim the laws and see what silly things the nobles have done. Heck there are even new types of ponies with fancy positions.” He says gesturing to you.
>Discord floats next to you and pulls you into a side hug.
>”Well the first thing you have to know about the princesses is that they are all a bunch of fuddy-duddies.”
>WHAT!
“We are not a bunch of fuddy-duddies! You are a crazy old colt that has no concept of how to be a civilized individual.”
>He continuous on like he didn’t even hear you.
>”Why when I was ruling I tried to teach the ponies how to have some fun……”
>Anonymous is angrily staring at Discord.
>”I’m sorry Discord but what rule?”
>Discord is looking around nervously.
>Oh you are going to enjoy this.
>It’s your turn to make him uncomfortable.
“Yes Discord, tell Anonymous the extent of your glorious rule.”
>Anonymous stands up.
>”It’s not like that Anon I swear.” Discord has his hands up in a placating manner.
>”The minotaurs were looking to invade your ponies and I thought I’d help out.”
>Anonymous crosses his arms.
>”Really now?”
>Discord smiles.
>”Of course I would never hurt your ponies. I just popped in and turned all the minotaur’s weapons into foam.”
“You were dreadful! You tormented us during your mad reign. The elements of harmony had to be used to seal you in stone for 1000 years!”
>Anonymous, apparently having heard enough, strides forward and uppercuts Discord.
>Discord goes sailing into the sky and keeps going.
>And going.
>When is he coming down?
“While I enjoyed seeing him get hit that was not necessary. He has already served his sentence and was reformed.”
>Fluttershy trots towards Anonymous with anger in her gait.
>”Just what do you think you are doing mister! How dare you! What gives you the right to be so violent towards my friend?! You should be ashamed to act in such a vulgar manner!”
>He looks towards Fluttershy and smiles.
>”I told him if he does anything like that I would beat him. Besides, if you really think that hurt him you don’t know Discord all that well. He’s just being dramatic.”
>As if on cue you feel something sit on your back.
>Turning your head you see Discord sitting on your back.
>Fluttershy looks relieved.
>”Oh come on, at least go along with it. Give the good ponies a show.”
>Anonymous sits back down and drains his mug.
>”Discord the only reason I haven’t started trying to beat you into a pulp is because some of the ponies here seem to like you or say you have endured punishment befitting your crimes, besides the ponies here seem to be enjoying themselves well enough.”
>Looking around you see most of the ponies in the crowd contently watching the ongoing conversation while eating pizza.
>If fact you think you remember a good number of laughs when Discord got hit.
>Must have been cathartic for them.
>It was certainly for you.
>You also see Rainbow Dash’s ear swiveled towards the conversation while she continues keeping the line for the sword orderly.
>Turning back to the two you see Discord blowing a raspberry at Anonymous.
>”Please, you like me too much to get rid of me. Just think if I didn’t exist you would’ve been bored out of your mind I’m sure. Besides that was an idle threat and you know it.”
>The golden giant chuckles.
>”Well maybe then it was but now…..I think it’d be a bit more of a show.”
>Discord slinks off of you and crouches down with boxing gloves on punching at the air a couple times.
>”We could go right now sonny boy. A nice friendly match you and I! Wouldn’t that be fun!”
>The amount of glee in his voice is a bit worrying.
>”I’d pay bits to see that!” you hear one of the ponies from the crowd yells.
>Oh please no.
>The paperwork to reimburse the town for damages would be a massive headache.
>This is happening on your watch after all.
>You see Anonymous shake his hand.
>”No, not today at least, maybe some other time. I’ve got plans for tonight anyways.”
>Oh thank the stars.
>You need to try and steer this conversation to something a bit more tame.
>”What plans could you possibly have that are more important than me?”
“Well if you must know he plans on eating cake with my sister all night, so no property damage for you!”
>Discord starts pouting.
>”You’re going to be eating cake with princess fat flanks all night!” he whines as he pulls at his goatee.
>What!
“My sister’s flanks are not that fat!”
>Discord gives you a sympathetic look.
>”Oh you don’t have to stick up for her, you and I both know that she eats far too much cake.”
>She does eat an unharmonious amount of cake.
>”And you Anon, I never thought you’d be so boring, just eating cake all night how tame.”
>Anonymous sits down smiling.
>”Well I want to get to know the ponies that’ve been running things. It seems like princesses have a lot of power and responsibility in my kingdom.”
>Too much paperwork not enough perks.
>You used to be able to just decree something and it’d happen.
>You miss the old days.
>All it is now is paper this and paper that, and why don’t I have more money I’m a noble snob!
>By the moon you hate their whining.
>”How about something to spice things up a bit?” Discord says excitedly
>Discord snaps his talons.
>”Oh I know just the thing! Cosmic Cake!”
>Cosmic cake?
>You see Anonymous stroking his chin.
>”All right that sounds like it could be some real fun.”
>Oh great a split second of reminiscing about the good days and things are getting out of hoof.
>Moon damn it all.
*****************************************


*Many many years ago*
>It had been a productive day at court.
>A quiet day with a good number of nobles and common ponies alike coming to see you.
>The highlight of the day had been the noble Quicksilver family presenting their new filly.
>Such an adorable little unicorn with a dull silver coat and the bright silver hair of the family line.
>Of all the little traditions that the nobles had come up with bringing their foals to be acknowledged by the “Father” was probably one of your favorites.
>It was a nice day but now you could rest for a spell and wait for the northern wind to bring an update on the state of the northern portion of the empire.
>You had decided that you should use this time to catch up on some of the magical research being done by the royal spellweavers so it was off to your tower study to read the copies of their research notes.
>You’re probably going to be stopping by the labs sometime later in the week as well.
>As you walked down the hall something felt off.
>As if the world itself was slightly skewed.
>You pushed out with your magic and it was unmistakable.
>There was something in your tower.
>Something with a ridiculous amount of power.
>A magic that you’ve felt before but never seen the source.
>You had started to notice it while you were fighting for your kingdom.
>Never this strong but always present.
>”My lord is something the matter?”
>Looking to the side one of your guards was looking at you curiously.
>You had stopped in the middle of the hall to ponder the magic.
>It must have looked really odd seeing your ruler stand there just staring.
“Nothing is the matter my little knight just struck with a thought. I shall call if I require your aid.”
>The mare smiled at that.
>”Of course my lord.”
>You continue your walk towards the study.
>Whatever this thing is it’s probably been watching you.
>Either it’s trying to learn the royal secrets of your kingdom by riffling through your study or it’s waiting for you.
>No matter what you don’t take kindly to this intrusion into your keep.
>Summoning a halberd into your hand you push open the door of your study.
>Let’s see what has been spying on your battles.
>Looking in you see nothing.
>Looks have been deceptive before and you know it’s here.
>There’s far too much magic to pinpoint where it is in the room through magic senses alone.
>As you take in the room you notice that the light itself looks skewed.
>Reality itself seems to be offset slightly and if you follow the trend the origin point should be right behind you.
>Spinning you hurl your weapon at your target and are rewarded with a pained groan from…something that you pined to the stone wall.
>It was long and looked like a mix of many different creatures.
>”Oh woe is me I just came to talk to the magnificent king of the ponies but now I find myself impaled against a wall. It’s the end for me. Everything’s going dark!”
>It spazzes against the wall then goes limp.
>Really?
>Does it think that you’d believe that hammy performance?
>You create a shield around you and then explosively move the stone behind the faking creature, splattering it all over the room.
>You can still feel it.
>”I didn’t fool you for a second did I? Here I thought I had given a performance worthy of the “great” opera house of Canterlot.”
>I’ll give him that they are a bit overdramatic but that really is part of the fun for you.
>You see the room around you begin to change to the colors of his body as the face of the creature takes shape on one of the four walls.
>”I’m still alive what are you going to do now King? What new..”
>You don’t give it the chance to finish its question as you bring the walls crashing against your shield.
>Its face is crushed against your shield.
>”I’m still alive oh great….”
>You start spinning the stone against your shield grinding it into a paste.
>Judging from what you’ve already done you don’t think this will kill it but hopefully it will cause it pain.
>Something to give you enough time to properly prepare a rune circle to combat this strange magic.
>”You didn’t think that would actually kill me did you? *Gasp* You just wanted to make me feel pain. Well I’m hurt alright. Do you really not want to talk to me that much?”
>You need more time!
“Alright so if you want to talk, start talking.”
>You stop spinning the stone against your shield and watch as its face forms against your shield.
>”I knew you’d be reasonable. See I’ve been watching you for some time, with much glee I might add. You see this world is sooooo boring. All the other powers on this planet are just not fun. Did you know the dragon lord went through all the trouble to create wards against my influence?! Me! He should be grateful for my very presence!”
>He keeps ranting while you subtly start to pull resources from around your castle to form a rune circle around you and him.
>”Look the point is that no one cares to notice a checkered field if all they are worrying about is not getting eaten. Now as the prime authority on chaos I can tell you that no matter how much chaos there is order always forms somewhere. Rip up a piece of paper and throw the pieces and there will be a pattern. Order from chaos.”
>You quirk your eyebrow.
“So what you’re saying is that you are actually an agent of order.”
>His face morphs into one of indignation.
>”Don’t ever say anything so insulting to me again! If we’re going to be friends you really need to be more amenable. Besides, I’m speaking on a macro scale concerning the nature of existence itself. Try to listen and you might just learn something.”
>You’ve had enough time it’s ready.
“Well since you’ve been so kind as to gift me with your wisdom …”
>He never introduced himself.
>”Discord”
“Discord. I think it’s time I taught you something.”
>”Oh really now, I can’t wait.”
>You activate the runes that surround you on the outside of your stone sphere.
>The energies spike to extreme levels as you feel the massive amounts of magic flow outside your shield.
>”Ahhhhhhhhhhhh ha ha ha ha. Splendid you’re already ahead of where I thought you would be in magic knowledge.
>Oh damn.
>”Oh that face. You thought that could hurt me? You must not have been paying attention, I’m Discord the GOD OF CHAOS and I have plans for you.”
>You really don’t like that shit grin.
>”Tell you what since you’ve wounded me so I propose you make it up to me before we start our partnership.”
“Partnership?”
>”This is getting tiresome. Did you really not hear anything that I said? I’m the avatar of chaos but without any proper contrast no one cares, but that is where you come in. You are going to help me get rid of the others.”
“What others?”
>”The rest of those ancient fossils that keep the status quo on this planet. Every so often the old must be swept away to make way for new and exciting things, and I’ve decided that you are going to be the next exciting thing.”
“Wait if you’re the God of chaos shouldn’t you be older than all of them?”
>A smirk crosses his face.
>”In a sense, when you’re a being like moi time really doesn’t mean much. No more questions about me though, this meeting is supposed to be about you. Now if you’re done interrupting me I was going to see if you could pass my test.”
>Test?
>Oh great some mad creature is going to test you.
>”Oh don’t make that face. It’s just going to be a slice of cake.”
“A slice of cake?”
>”Oh don’t be so suspicious. Think of it as a celebration of our new friendship and the continuation of your education.”
>Maybe you can come to some kind of agreement with him.
>You drop the stone and magical shield around you and see some of your guards looking at you nervously.
>Looking to your side you see that Discord has reformed himself and there is a table with a couple of chairs and a cake on top.
>The cake is like nothing you’ve ever seen.
>There’s no frosting but you can see the cosmos swirling inside of it.
“So what is this?”
>Discord chuckles
>”Why its cake obviously, I would think with ponies love of all things sweet you would know what a cake is.”
“Most cakes don’t have galaxies floating in them.”
>Just then a halberd goes through Discord.
>”You stay away from our father monster!”
>Discord smiles as his head snaps around with the sound of cracking bones.
>”Oh my poor little quadruped, if your padre couldn’t kill me why do you think that’d work?”
>He snaps his fingers and your guard appears hanging from the ceiling by her legs that are embedded in the stone.
“If we’re going to be working together you’re going to have to not do that.”
>”Oh come on, I didn’t even hurt her. Besides she ran me through.”
“If you hurt my subjects then any deal we make is off.”
>Discord smirks at you.
>”You really think I’d hurt these adorable things!” he says as he pulls one of your guards into a hug while looking staring at you.
>You roll your eyes.
“Look if you’re so powerful why don’t you take care of them yourself?”
>Discord pouts.
>”Well some of them actually have wards against me like I’ve said but there is a much more important reason.”
>He sits there in silence still hugging your guard that is becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
“Which is?”
>”Well if I did it myself it would just be boring. Watching you is much more fun.”
“So if you’re not going to be fighting what would you being doing, besides watching?”
>Discord puts the mare on his head like a hat before he continues.
>The mare is either being held with magic or is too embarrassed to move.
>Probably both.
>”Well some friendly advice here maybe a warning or two before a monster shows up. Maybe come bother you at odd hours of the night. You know, general consulting. I expect dental though.”
“Ha and I expect you’ll be wanting popcorn while you watch me kill your enemies?”
>”No I’ll bring my own thank you. Now back to my cosmic cake, I worked hard on it and I won’t have it ignored. Who knows, you might just like it.”
>Well time to take a chance and see if he’s telling the truth of if this is some sick game.
**************************
>You are annoyed at your stubborn sister who so bullishly wants to continue a challenge when you’ve explained all the things that could go wrong.
>So you must be the eternally annoyed princess Luna and still after all this time can’t convince your sister to take a raincheck on a bad idea.
“Sister please, at least try not to rush towards this with reckless abandon.”
>Your sister actually scoffs as you two are walking.
>”Sister I have not meet a cake in existence that I can’t handle and don’t enjoy.”
“Well this one is made by Discord as I said before I’m not even sure that cretin knows how to cook.”
>Your sister stops and turns to look at you.
>”I’m not going to back down from a cake eating competition from some uppity stallion who thinks he can just throw around gold and get everypony to like him.”
>You know that look on your sisters face.
>It’s become a matter of pride to her.
>You could see her doing nothing but pout during that joust with the colts.
>It was absolutely scandalous.
>All that skimpy clothing, those lacy ball bras were a complete travesty, and the complete mockery of weaponry.
>Your sister should have been all over that but instead she was just staring daggers at him.
>She hardly paid attention to the free for all with foam swords and ten stallions smacking each other.
>For the golden biped’s part he seemed to be having a good time and enjoying the parody of it all.
>Every so often he would even remark how a hit from the contestants would remind him of a previous match and would begin a story of mild interest of ponies long since gone.
>It honestly reminded you of a grandfather at ease with his foals around him.
>Even the jokes he would casually make sounded like those from a grandfather.
>You noticed that the ponies around him also treated him like he was a kind old stallion.
>At first you thought it might just be the form of magic coming off of him.
>The magic is old and has a minor calming effect, but isn’t like Twilight and Sister had described.
>So either they were wrong in their description or he’s trying to regulate bleed off.
>With the amount you are sensing if this is regulation then you can see why all of Las Pegasus was in an uproar when he didn’t bother concealing it.
>But one thing that neither Twilight nor Sister had managed to notice or just didn’t tell you was his eyes.
>You admit, you had missed this crucial detail at first but the longer you spent observing him and his reactions to everything and everypony in Ponyville you noticed them.
>It’s small important details like this that most likely escaped them in the troughs of the revelry of Las Pegasus.
>Sure they had noticed the symbol that your sister had seen in her visions on his armor.
>Anypony could have noticed that, but this was something telling.
>They say that the eyes are a gateway to the soul after all, and a discerning eye like yours saw much in those eyes.
>They were ancient.
>They spoke of countless joys and heartaches, peace and strife, war and death, but something that was an overriding emotion that no one else picked up on.
>They were tired.
>They spoke of long toil, a job done, and rest needed.
>They changed briefly when they caught sight of a pony smiling and laughing.
>It was a moment of incredibly brief, pure joy that blocked out all the other emotions there.
>Or when catching a glimpse at your sister, Twilight, or yourself.
>When viewing you it was curiosity you had noticed.
>Like when a father sees their foal learn a new trick and wants to understand their growth.
>If he could fake the eyes his skill was better than anything your thousand plus years of life could hope to achieve.
“Maybe you could try calling it off, maybe say you’re not feeling well.  His response could tell us a great deal.”
>”No Luna I will not. I will not show any weakness to this colt or to Discord of all creatures.”
>Well you tried now time to see where this rabbit hole of stubbornness ends and to pull your sister out when it all goes tits up.
>Discord probably has a surprise like he usually does to poke fun at your sister.
>With the amount that he messes with your sister you’re starting to think he has a thing for your sister.
>He continues to go out of his way to bother her and take time from her.
>Every so often he’ll show up in the morning during breakfast to poke at her or at the end of her day to do the same.
>He clearly wants her attention.
>And you think that dear Sister hasn’t picked up on it because of past involvement with him.
>Either you’re reading too much into this or he actually has a thing for Sister and it’s a bit….well strange to think of to be honest.
“Well if you’re set on this course then I shall be by your side, and I shall be there to pull you out of the fire when the time comes.”
>You said that last part with a smile
>Sister laughs and wraps a wing around you pulling you close to her.
>”You’re never going to let me live down the lava lizard incident are you?”
“Never dear sister.”

***************************************************
>You are the golden sun, the incandescent, the burning flame.
>You are Princess Celestia and before you sits a usurper to the crown.
>The table is set and around you all of Ponyville watches.
>The element bearers also sat close by.
>Not all of them were of the same mind as you.
>Rainbow was taken with this golden individual, she clearly has yet to learn not all threats are so obvious.
>Rarity too was enthralled by his charm.
>She had spoken at length with him about gemcraft and the creation of his crown along with other wonders of his armor.
>Seems a glittering stallion with interesting conversation is all it takes.
>Applejack for her part seemed neutral on the whole thing.
>Seemed she was still waiting to make her mind up about this pretender.
>You’ll make sure tonight exposes him for what he is so she can see the truth of it.
>Pinkie
>Well she was being Pinkie.
>She was being a party host and continuing to facilitate all the events of the evening.
>She’d even positioned herself as judge of your little competition.
>The pokes and prods in her questions to “Anonymous” about setting things up didn’t escape you.
>You had over a millennia of politicking and you could see that little Pinkie Pie was skilled in subtle probing.
>Sure it seemed playful and forward but there was an underlying drive.
>You’d give her a chance to suss out her questions.
>Twilight, your ever faithful friend was as suspicious as you were.
>Watching and waiting for anything to go wrong.
>Fluttershy you noticed was tense.
>A mild air of disapproval about her.
>Seems she took to heart that he mutilated a prisoner.
>Good.
>An interesting thing to note was Spike.
>He clearly had been sizing up this Anonymous the whole time.
>And he didn’t seem to have escaped notice of your unwelcome guest.
>It was brief look but you think it was a look of contemplation that passed his face when he took notice of Spike.
>As if he might be questioning if he should address a thought or leave it for another time.
>And beside this “Anonymous” is a smiling Discord.
>Of course this mad collage of creatures was happy.
>Any chance to bother you he was always there.
>So many good mornings ruined by that elongated fool.
>And now you have to taste his cooking.
>Looking before you, you see a cake unlike any other before.
>In this cake you saw unknown stars
>Swirling masses of existence that you had never seen.
>A glance toward your sister all but confirmed that.
>Your sister regent of the stars and void, was fixated on the cake.
>Her eyes darting, trying to take in every detail before her.
>These were foreign bodies to all pony kind.
>The crowd was also transfixed on this cake.
>”I’m not entirely sure what the rules of our game will be?”
>The voice of your adversary breaks the focus of all the ponies on the cake.
>Pinkie jumps up remembering the festivities around her.
>”THE GAME IS SIMPLE, DISCORD PROVIDES THE CAKES AND OUR TWO CONTENDERS EAT TILL THEY CAN NO LONGER STUMMACH THE SUGAR!!!”
>She practically screaming for all the crowd to hear.
>You hear Discord chuckling.
>”Dear Pinkamina, this cake is completely sugar free. Should make a bunch of you colts happy.”
>Pinkie tilts her head.
>”Well what’s in it then?”
>Discord throws his arms up in show.
>”SLIVERS OF EXESITENCE ITSELF, GLIMPSES OF THE INFINATE, AND REALMS UNKNOWN TO YOUR LIMITED PERCEPTIONS!!!”
>Really playing up the theatrics isn’t he.
>Pinkie looks a little unsure but continues.
>”WELL ALRIGHT THEN! EACH CONTESTANT HAS A CAKE IN FRONT OF THEM AND MORE TO COME COURTESY OF DISCORD! LET’S BEGIN!”
>You see the purported Anonymous smiling at you across the table as he takes his first bite and a fleeting look of nostalgia passes by his face.
>You won’t be outdone.
>You take a large bite out of the cake without your fork, you’re angry and cake is going to be good.
>………
>Where is everything?
>Where are you?
>Where is everypony?
>All you see around you is blackness.
>You hold your hoof in front of you and can clearly see it but beyond that everything is black.
>You notice the sensation of falling and try to flap your wings to no effect.
>You panic trying to halt your decent.
>Eventually you stop as there doesn’t seem to be anything for you to hit into here.
>Then suddenly you’re back in your chair.
>You gasp at the suddenness of it.
“Twilight how long was I gone?”
>She gives you a concerned look.
>”You never left; you were staring with glazed eyes for about seven seconds.”
>You never left.
>What was that?
>”So which one did you get? Also don’t worry as you eat more you’ll be staring less.”
>You see Anonymous’s digits intertwined together as he looks at you smiling.
“What kind of game is this?”
>His face again changes to nostalgia for a moment.
>”Discord’s cake has slivers of existence, what you saw was a glimpse of that existence. So what did you see?”
“I saw only darkness.”
>You can feel your scowl.
>”Ha, that sounds like the void. It’s pretty relaxing if you just close your eyes and lean back. Like an isolation tank.”
>After that seemingly jovial statement he takes another bite of his cake.
>A look of contemplation passes his face.
>”Discord did you mix sixth dimensional spaces in my cake?”
>Discord puts his claw and paw over where you assume his heart is.
>”Aw you noticed.”
>Alright you’re not as sure about this cake anymore.
>All eyes are on you.
>In for a bit, in for a bar.
>You take another bite.
>…..
>You’re on an orange world.
>It’s your best observation as everything is orange and everything seems to be a form of fungi.
>There are mushrooms everywhere.
>You’re not sure how this environment supports itself.
>Before you have enough time to scrutinize this environment you’re back in your chair again.
>You fix a steely gaze at Anonymous.
“These strange games will not best me. I am stronger than any strange visions you can provide.”
>A smile of recognition passes his face briefly and he turns and shares a knowing smile with Discord beside him.
>”It’s like deja vu with her right now.”
>You won’t tolerate his self-indulgent smile and you fix him with a powerful gaze.
“Take your next bite pretender I can do this all night.”
>He didn’t look insulted but a look of amusement.
>”Good I hope you have fun by the end of this.”
*****************************************
>You’re a happy little pony.
>A happy little Shining Light.
>A giddy little pony prancing to your lovely town hall where your brothers and sisters are enjoying evening song together.
>So many of the other ponies of the world had forgotten the old ways.
>You admit that a good amount of knowledge and practices had been lost to your town over the long years of the Father’s absence.
>But you all revered the forge and all knew how to work your town’s forge.
>This quiet town almost seemed forgotten at times to the rest of pony society.
>In modern times your sleepy little home managed to get mail deliveries, after that whole tribes thing which was nice.
>Also with the larger pony community finding the old scrolls of truth in Alexponedria the greater population stopped calling everypony here cult members.
>Now they only just thought it.
>Also nice.
>But what had you excited was the mailpony’s delivery of a letter from cousin Lyra.
>The grey mare smiled as you gave her a pastry from home as you knew she had flow through the cold night sky to gift you with this great message.
>Your aunt had moved some time ago to be close to the greatest living monument of the Father’s creation, besides the existence of pony civilization.
>The Canterlot castle.
>While everything else had burned in ancient times, inside and outside of the castle, the castle itself had remained defiant of any petty squabbles.
Your aunt had even used a newfangled invention called a “Camera” to send small square visions of this great monument.
>They were glorious even in this limited form.
>All of them were posted in town hall for everypony to see.
>Getting this message you began your happy trot to town hall to share your letter with everypony.
>As you opened the door you could see that one of the old hymns was about to begin.
>You remembered that your coltfriend Clarion Call had the main part as Father in the hymn and he’d be cross being interrupted when he’d worked hard to get the main part for the night.
>So you decided to wait till the song was over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F9ADVDSZLw
~Through Brown Neigh over fen and field where the long grass grows~
~The West Wind comes walking, and about the wall she goes~
~”What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring to me tonight?~
~”Have you seen Brean the Tall by moon or by starlight?”~
~”I saw her gallop over seven streams, over waters wide and grey,~
~I saw her trot in empty lands until she passed away~
~Into the shadows of the North, I saw her then no more.~
~The North Wind may have heard the horn of the daughter of Deyor,~
~O Brean! From the high walls westward I looked afar,~
~But you came not from the empty lands where no pone are.~
>The song spoke of the old tales.
>It was a somber song of a lost love and the beginning of a dark time for father and pony.
>The mighty Winds, Pegasi messengers of strength and speed that covered the four corners of the land, came to speak to the father.
>The understanding of the song was that the grand champion Brean the Tall had been the one mare to have stolen the heart of our dear Father.
>The night spoke of the Father’s concern having not heard from his love and so had inquired from the mighty winds what could have kept her report.
~‘What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today?~
~What news of Brean the bold? For she is long away.’~
~‘Beneath Rainbow Falls I heard her cry. There many foes she fought,~
~Her cloven shield, her broken sword, they to the water brought.~
~Her head so proud, her face so fair, her limbs they laid to rest,~
~And Rainbow, dark Rainbow-falls, bore her upon its breast.~
~‘O Brean! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze,~
~To Rainbow, dark Rainbow-falls, until the end of days.~
>They say even the glorious Rainbow Falls were darkened that day as a great champion of the Father passed along its river.
>But her death had exposed the encroaching changeling threat as they couldn’t take her alive to impersonate her.
>This brave and noble sacrifice showed the father the danger to his ponies.
>Indeed the wrath that was seen by the Father had never been seen by ponykind before.
>But the song was now done and you could share the letter with every pony in the room.
“EVERYPONY I BRING NEWS FROM SISTER LYRA!”
>Everypony looked at you happy, all looking forward to hear what tales of the wide world she would impart through you.
>”Well don’t just stand there Shining get on with it.”
>The village elder was always impatient.
>You opened the wax sealed letter and quickly scanned it to be able to read it clearly.
>Just as you were about to speak the words of the letter set in your mind.
>You jerked your head back to the letter to reread it to make sure that it wasn’t just an imagining of your mind.
>That’s what it really said.
>SISTER LYRE NEVER LIES!!!!
>PRAISE TO THE FATHER
>”Stop standing there with that smile and read the letter! We’re waiting after all.”
>You didn’t even care about being chastised from the elder right now.
“HE’S BACK HE’S BACK HE’S BACK!!!!!”
>You don’t even care how unmarely it is that your hopping about like a silly stallion.
>”FOR FATHER’S SAKE WHO’S BACK SHINING!?”
>You stop staring at her almost whispering to her.
“The Father elder”
>A look of disbelieve and hope is plastered on her face.
>”Pass me the letter sister, let me see this.” She says with an uncertain and shaky voice
>Everypony leaning in to try and read the letter or see what the elder says.
>Then her hoof drops to the ground and a single tear rolls down her cheek.
>”I never thought I’d see the day, if only ma was here to see this.”
>Quietly the letter is passed around with an air of reverence.
>Everypony is quiet until the letter reaches Mirth Mantle.
>You swear that that stallion has a laugh as pure as the purest crystal in the land.
>When he finished reading the letter he began a most joyous laughter.
>And like that the spell of silence was broken and everypony began to cheer and stomp in joy.
>You pulled your coltfriend close and kissed him, joyful that the two of you would experience such a time together.
>In the midst of this celebration the elder jumped up on the grand table in the center of the hall with vigor many alive had not seen from her.
>”EVERYPONY PREPARE!” She shouted from her perch
>”PREPARE FOR A PILGRAMAGE THE FATHER WILL RETURN TO CANTERLOT AND WE WILL BE THERE TO SEE THE CASTLE GLOW WITH HIS POWER!!!!”
>Everypony cheered as they filed out of the hall.
>Supplies would need to be gathered but all the town would be there.
>He would return to his throne and his faithful would be there to see his return as he brought ponies back to the glory of the old kingdom.