In the book, movie and music we hear

Majestic hero dressed in White

Fighting the Blackened villain of fright

The hero's sword shines with bright glare

Vanquishing the villain's dark stare

But with this strike it comes a price

Tranted our hands, a staining vice

Becoming what we fear the most

Nearly every definition of "ghost"

Now, there is no color, light or dark

Not a single one to leave our mark

With all that every person loses each day

In shock and awe of, Grey verses Gray

Our kind is no different. None of us are without fault. We have regrets. We have experience. And we have reason. I am no exception. For all the love that I can give, I have to hate an equal amount. Before I can succeed, I have to fail. To improve is to learn, to learn is to live. So long as we maintain free will, we can never be perfect. We are at the absolute mercy of the flow of destiny.

Yet, while we are at it's mercy, we are not under its control. Our destiny doesn't lead us down a set path, it steers us down that direction. Destiny is the compass to the map that is life; it always points in a single direction, down a path in front of us. Whether or not we take that path depends on four cardinal principles: Limits, Morals, Instincts, and Reflex. Our limits tell us what we can and can't do. Our morals tell us what we will and won't do. Our instincts tell us how and how not to do something. Our reflexes tell us when and when not to do something These tenets are too tightly woven together; to separate one would deprive us of the others.

But to remove all three would remove the polarity. Destiny, the compass, has no North, South, East, or West to point us in the direction we want. It spins in all directions. It has absolute freedom, as do we.

And absolute freedom, is no better than chaos.....

---

"Oh what a positively GORGEOUS day! The sun just makes this place shine." The white unicorn said stepping off the train.

It was indeed a sunny day. The pegasi had scheduled this after 4 straight days of rain. At the train station of the Crystal Empire, 6 mares, 3 fillies, and a young dragon stepped off the train. Twilight Sparkle was the last to step off.

"Twily!"

The lavender alicorn turned her head in the direction of the voice and smiled at the sight of her brother.

"Hey, Shiny! How long has it been?" she said while embracing her BBBFF.

"I know it's been awhile since we've spent any real time with each other since the treaty with the Changeligs but I think we can make up for lost time. Cadance is waiting back in the palace." Shining Armor said as the group started walking towards the empire. "How have you been since then?"

"To be perfectly honest: slow." Twilight said sarcastically. "Hey guys, you go on ahead. I'll join you later after catching up with Cadance and my brother."

"Alrighty then, have fun surgar." Applejack replied on everyone's behalf.

It had been almost 4 years after Twilight Sparkle, the proud student of Princess Celestia, had become an alicorn and crowned Equestria's newest princess. As exciting as this was, she wasn't entirely happy with the event. Oh its not that she didn't enjoy it, she was thrilled that everyone, Princess Celestia especially, recongnized her achievements. Its just that a few problems arose afterwards. Being an alicorn meant that she now had a new range of abilities at in her arsenal, good and bad. Despite having wings she still has trouble flying. She is taking lessons from various winged ponies, mostly from Rainbow Dash and occasionally Celestia herself but this wasn't going as well as anyone had hoped. That was a relatively minor issue compared to the thoughts of her new physiology; being an alicorn there was the possibility that she would outlive her closest friends and family. After all, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had been around for over a thousand years. The events that happened over the past year distracted her from this but it was a truth she would eventually have to face. Nevertheless, that thought was the furthest thing on her mind today. She was here to have fun with her friends and family and she wasn't going to let that get in the way.

---

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

The sisters did their traditional greeting, giggling afterwards.

"It's so nice to you after everything that happened last year." Princess Cadance said happy to see her sister-in-law.

"I know right? Between the treaty and the migration, we've both had our hooves full." Twilight looked around. "Speaking of which, I'm noticing more Changeling guards here."

"A recent intrusion made me worry." Shining Armor stepped in. "I talked with Captain Valour and he stationed some of his elite troops here. Some great guys I must say."

"And we've been seeing more of Queen Chrysalis too lately. I think she's still embarrassed for the wedding incident and what she did to Shining Armor and I."

"Is that okay with you Cadance?" Twilight asked cautiously.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be. We decided to put it in the past seeing as how our nations are allies now. Beside, she and I are starting to become good friends."

"That's a relief."

The trio walked around the city showing Twilight some of the things that changed since her last visit. It was pretty heartwarming to see the Changelings, who were once among the most feared creatures in Equestria, being accepted so well. It also helps that the Crystal Ponies were some of the most welcoming of the country's subjects. Twilight could even see some fillies playing with a Changeling colt.

"His family works in the palace. His father is one of the soldiers stationed here." Shining Armor said. "Private Mist I believe. His son is a shy one."

"Oh?"

"Very reliable man. Proud of his family, close to his son..."

"And daughter." Cadance interrupted. "His wife is expecting a filly soon. She's not even born yet and he's already talking about her."

"Oh that reminds me! Private Mist wanted me to give this to his wife." the big brother said brandishing an envelope. "Could you excuse me for a sec?" The two mares nodded and he ran over to deliver the letter.

"Sounds nice here. By the way, since we're on the subject, you two wouldn't be interested in starting a family would you?"

"Twily! Where did that come from?" the big sister said flustered.

"Well I was wondering. You've been married for about six years. I know how much you love children, I would have thought you would have one of your own by now."

"Your mothers been asking hasn't she?"

"Yeeees." Twilight rolled her eyes. "She's talked about grandchildren for awhile. I'll admit, I wouldn't mind seeing a nephew or niece."

"Twilight, I don't think I'm ready to be a parent yet. I want to have a foal of my own down the road but things keep getting in the way."

"It's fine. I understand."

"What about you? Would you ever be a mom?"

"Maybe eventually. I'd have to find that special somepony first."

"What about Flash?"

Twilight couldn't hide the red on her face. "Why does everypony keep saying that?! I don't talk to him very much!" She paused for a moment and kicked at the ground. "Although, I. Wouldn't mind getting to know him." Cadance laughed as Shining Armor returned.

"Sorry for taking so long. Uh Twily, why is your face red?"

"Don't worry about dear. It's nothing." the older Alicorn subsided her giggling.

"Oh. Kay. So Twily, how is the princess life treating you?"

"Surprisingly, not all that different. When Princess Celestia coronated me, I'm not sure what I was expecting. She did give me more books to read so I could study up on the subject, along with scrolls containing advanced Alicorn magic. Having fun with those. I haven't actually had a chance to test them out though, they're mostly powerful offense spells from Equestria's early days."

"She gave you those scrolls to learn their spells?" the stallion said confused.

"She wanted me to learn how to use this magic as sort of a last line of defense."

"Ah. That makes sense."

"Spike has been spending a lot of his days helping Rarity since I've been so absorbed into the books and scrolls. Fluttershy hasn't really been doing much. She just spends her days on the Apple farm, when she's not tending to the animals of course."

"Why the Apple farm?" Cadance said confused.

"Big Macintosh."

"Big Macintosh?"

"Big Macintosh, yes."

Cadance though for a moment before coming to the realization. "Ohhh I see." she said in understanding.

The trio talked as they made their way back to the palace. While they wanted to spend some more time with each other, they each had something they had to tend to. Shining Armor had paperwork that needed to get done; he'd put it off for his sister's sake. Princess Cadance was called to a meeting with a few of her subjects to discuss renovations within the city. Twilight wanted to look something up in the Crystal Library; a particular scroll among the many Celestia sent her had a unique symbol that wasn't in any of her books in Ponyvile. As much as she wanted to rejoin her friends, the symbol was bothering her. It was tugging at the back of her mind, like she had seen it before but didn't know where.

With a sigh, she opened the library doors. The librarian working there looked up with a smile.

"Good afternoon. Ah welcome Princess Twilight Sparkle, can I help you with anything today?"

"Hello there. Not at the moment but if I think of anything I'll be sure to ask. Oh and by the way, you can just call me Twilight."

"Okay then. Enjoy yourself."

The Alicorn made her way to the into the main hall of the library. She took the scroll with the symbol out of her saddlebag and opened it. Taking a look at it to refresh her memory, she began the arduous task of finding a book with the same symbol. It wasn't going to be easy, there were over fifty thousand books in the main room alone. She had no idea where to start.

"Might as well start on the bottom tier."

---

Later that day

"Twilight? Wake up!"

The bookworm mare jolted up in surprise. Spike was standing in on the other side of a stack of books she gone through.

"Twilight?"

"Ugh, I must have fallen asleep. What time is it?" she said rubbing her eyes.

"Almost 8 o'clock. You've been at this for 5 hours."

"Geez. That late huh? And I've only gone through two thirds of the library."

Spike held out a book he was carrying with him. "Actually Twi, I've been looking for awhile after you dozed off. I saw the picture on the scroll and figured you were looking for something about it. While you were taking a nap, I found this." He presented a book with a mirror sheen gold and black hardback cover, the same symbol engraved on the front.

"Good work Spike! That's my number one assistant." she said hugging him. "Okay then, let's see what we have in here. What the!"

The book had a total of seven hundred pages, all of which were blank. The back of book had a compass rose engraved into it. So much for this, she thought to herself. What use was a book with blank pages? She was about to toss it aside when she noticed a faded text on the first page, invisible except at the right light angle.

Ye who seekith wisdom shall faulter

Ye who seekith wealth shall rot

But ye who seekith guidance shall be led to exit right on the path furthest from third moon

A spiral follows nine stars to the starboard side

A star remains to follow the ye who extinguishes the light, thus themselves

The one in the middle shall find the guidance thou seek.

"That sounds complicated." Spike said scratching his head.

"Yeah. I wonder what it means. Hey wait."

She saw an indention in the middle of the symbol engravement. She thought for a minute and remembered the chamber that Celestia held the Elements of Harmony, the one in Canterlot. When Celestia opened it, she inserted her horn into an indention. In that moment, she got an idea.

"Let me try something."

She levitated the book so that it was perpendicular to the ground in the same fashion as a wall. Then she mimicked the motion Celestia used and planted her horn into the indention, then focused her mind to create a flow of magic into the book. It started to glow and it levitated on it's own. It opened to a certain page and a ball of light formed.

"What's going on Twilight?" the confused dragon asked not knowing what to say.

The ball of light flew off deeper into the library.

"We're about to find out. Come on Spike!"

The pony princess and her dragon companion followed the ball of light into the basement floors. It stopped at a wall and pass though it as the two caught up. As it did, the same symbol was illuminated with a similar indention. The two looked at each other, debating whether or not to continue. Spike gave a shrug so Twilight inserted her horn into the indention. As it did, another burst of light shined and blinded as an aged secret door opened slowly. On the other side were more stairs leading downwards.

"Woah what's all this now?" Twilight was growing ever more curious as to where this was going. "It's dark down here. Spike, I'm going to cast a light spell to light the way." As she did, the whole room was not at all what she was expecting: The room had an almost futuristic feel to it, the walls were made of a purple metal with what looked like a radiant liquid running inside the walls, like an aquarium. Around the parameter of the room, there were pools of warm water with waterfalls running from the ceiling. The room itself was enormous, easily large enough in diameter to fit the palace in the middle. In fact, the setup of the room closely resembled the area beneath the palace that holds the Crystal Heart, except on a much larger scale. In the center of the room was the same symbol as before.

"I had no idea something like this was hidden in the city. I'm not surprised though. It was fairly well hidden. But why?" Twilight walked slowly to the center.

"Maybe it was King Sombra." Spike said just taking in the scenery.

"No. The make up of the room doesn't fit him. Besides, I don't feel any magic residue from him here. There is a residue, but I don't recognize it."

"Discord?"

"I doubt it. The residue was left by an Alicorn. Unless Discord was a Pony in some past life, I'm pretty sure it wasn't him. What's odd is that I can feel the residue and I sense it right where I'm standing, but I don't see anything."

"Third moon.... Ah ha!"

When looking again, she saw a pattern around the parameter.

"If the point on the symbol could represent an arrow...."

She followed the point and it led her to a sun engravement at the edge. She walked around the edge counting.

"Sun, moon, sun, moon, sun, moon...."

She looked up at the wall and within the aquarium glass walls, she saw a coil leading up towards the ceiling, eventually stopping at another engravement, this time of the Big Dipper.

"I get it, the polar star."

"I'm a little lost here Twilight, what about a polar star?"

"The Big Dipper is made up of seven stars. It's important to travelers because it can be used to find the north star Polaris: If you extend a line from the cup, you'll be lead to the north star. So let's see..."

She took flight, drawing an imaginary line from the cup which lead her to a lone torch high above the others.

"This torch must represent the north star. Now that I think about it, it lines up perfectly with the doorway and the actual north direction. So extinguishing the light and thus themselves.... If you delete the anchor that gives you directing, you'll be left in the dark. This torch must be the power source for the light in this room. Well here it goes." Twilight took a deep breath and extinguished the torch with her magic. The room went dark and the symbol in the center of the room started to shine with a luminescent glow. As she flew back down, the floor containing the symbol started to open revealing a white lighted chamber with a pedestal. The light was strong but they could see something on the pedestal: a large golden necklace which was the source of the light.

"What... Is that?" Spike said mesmerized.

Twilight didn't respond. She couldn't even hear him. All she could hear were foreign voices, each in various languages.

"Ye HaVe FoUnD tHe ChAmBeR. ThOu HaVe SoLvEd ThE gUiDaNcE rIdDlE. Go AnD cLaIm YoUr PrIzE."

On autopilot, she climbed down the small chamber.

"Twilight! Are you sure that's safe?"

She didn't respond. Having lost all control of her muscles, she reached out and picked up the strange artifact. When she did, a huge flow of energy bursts from it and engulfed her. She felt a split jolt of pain before blacking out.

"Twilight? Twilight! Don't do this to me Twilight! Hold on, I'll get help."

---

Off the coast of Equestria, an airship approaches the continent. On the bridge of the ship, two mares conversed.

"And your absolutely sure this is the place?"

"Oh yes. I can practically smell them. Despite being over a millennium and a half ago, I still know the scent of cowardice."

"Do I detect a hint of resentment in your voice?"

"Your a mouthy brat aren't you?"

"I get it from you right Mother?"

"That reminds me for whatever reason: any word from him yet?"

"I believe he cleared the way for our arrival."

"Well then. Why don't we pay the sisters a visit. It's been awhile since I've seen my little chewtoys- er students. Okay then Celestia. Luna. Time for a long overdue reunion...."