"This is only the beginning..."...

I was cut off from my writing about the attacks of the unitologists throughout the ages by a hoof pulling on my leg. I looked down and gained a small smile. A small filly with a golden coat and a red and yellow mane, about eleven years of age and with a cutie mark of a half red and half yellow sun on her flank. Along with her was a small purple unicorn of almost eight years with an indigo/purple mane with a pink stripe, and a mark of a pink star with smaller stars around it on her. I spoke up.

"Hello there Sunset, Twilight. Is something the matter?"

Her face puffed up a bit.

"Jaaaaack!

"Twilight won't stop bugging me!"

"Sunset won't help me with my studying!"

I chuckled. I still remembered the day I met these two hellraisers. It was a few years ago, at a place known as Luna's School For The Gifted. Luna had set up the place both as a way to find a pony with the spark of life to them that could use the elements and as a way for magically adept Equestrian children of all species and races to learn how to control their magic. On the day in question the school was holding tests for unicorn foals to gain entrance, and they would do so for the rest of the week. I had made a point of being nearby in case one of the foals was a flare (in other words a unicorn with a great deal of magical power but also little ability to control it without training. It had happened before that a foal had finally gained access to magic and then once they showed themselves as a flare their magic behaved like a shaken bottle of soda being opened) and  needed to get involved to clear people from the area. I was walking around outside when I heard a small scraping sound. I walked down a path to one of the back entrances to the room where the foals to be tested waited, and found her. A small unicorn foal with an unwashed mane like ketchup and mustard, a coat that might have once been golden, and a cutie mark of a red and yellow sun. She was picking at the lock with her magic, and it seemed that she wanted to be tested without the proper procedures. My eyes widened when the lock fell to the ground with a clank. She was about to open the door when I spoke up.

"You know kid usually foals need their parents permission to be tested here."

She whirled around with a look of fear, which increased when she saw who I was. I held up a hand to calm her before she screamed or anything.

"Hey. I'm not gonna hurt you. But seriously, where are your parents?"

Her face puffed up and she turned away from me, almost as if hiding tears.

"No parents then? I know how that feels."

She turned to me slightly before looking away, refusing to meet my gaze.

"You know kid you have a lot of magic on you. I can feel your aura around you, like a big bubble. Nothing as big as Luna's, but definitely a higher amount than the average unicorn, or foal for that matter. I actually can see why you would want to enter the school, you could benefit from having someone teach you to control your flares. Of course that would require your parents to sign off on you and a lot of other things that, while I have no doubt you could find a way to get what you need, would take too long. Not to mention that it'd be a waste of time."

Her eyes widened and she whirled up at me with a defiant expression but I cut her off again.

"I like the cut of your jib miss. You know what you want and you go for it. You've shown yourself to have a lot of talent just by getting past that lock but hey, waste your time here... If that's what you want. Or you could come with me. Learn directly from one of the top mages in Equestria and find your own path, rather than sinking down with every other foal, pup, dragonling, grif-chick, and otherwise in the school. But either way, let me know if you want a hand in finding your true potential. I'll be at the castle courtyard at eleven tonight, rain or shine. Come and find me if you want."

And sure enough when rain poured down that night in the courtyard, I heard small hoofsteps approaching me. I looked at the kid with one eye. She spoke.

"I want to find my true potential."

After that she became my apprentice, learning all I had to teach. She was an adept mage in all schools of magic that she tried her hoof at, and even became an adept fighter when she became old enough to handle the guards training weapons. I came to care for her somewhat like a daughter, and after a few years my little 'family' grew as Luna took a foal named Twilight Sparkle a her own student. The two children rubbed against each other like a pair of magnets, but still came to be as sisters. Which made moments like these where they came to me with their problems adorable. I looked down at them.

"Sunset at least take a look at Twilight's homework. You're years ahead of her so you should be able to help her easily. Twilight, sometimes Sunset has other things to take care of, if she says she can't help you after you ask a few times then consider getting help from someone else."

The two had brief moments of realization and then glanced at each other and briefly apologized.

"Sorry Twilight, I can help you with your homework if you really need it."

"Sorry Sunset, you don't have to help if you don't want to."

I chuckled as they walked away. In a few short years Daemonius Sol would return along with the unitologists, but I still enjoyed moments of simple peace like this that could make me smile. Those two foals would carry Equestria, whether they knew it or not. I could feel it deep down, they carried importance. Whenever I allowed myself to hear the faint echoes of the moons, they seemed to recognize these two... And fear them. Twilight would help light the way while Sunset cleared the path.

I would count down every day, and I would be ready. I had only ten years left until Celestia in her controlled state would return, and the Marker would be freed from its bounds. I would not allow for darkness to take this place. I could feel the weariness in my bones as the years grew shorter until the end. I lacked the sight to see past the oncoming darkness, but I did not fear. I had prepared my Guard to face the demons that lurked beyond sight, and a student that would be the first to take the lead from me. I would find my way to the Marker of death which I would slay...

After all, the Sun and Stars would light my way