Chapter Two: The Early Trials.

***

8,000 BNM: Adamantia declares war on Equestria. The Unicorn Emperor Divine Right - under advice from a being claiming to be a powerful mage from another land - claims that he will Ascend, and lead his kind to victory and conquest across the stars. He rallies several powerful Empires and lesser kingdoms to his cause, and they attack Equestria, though notably the Empress Grace Note of the Crystal Empire refuses to join his conglomerate, instead joining Equestria in their conflict. After twenty years of war - and Grace Note’s death - Divine Right is defeated. The defeated nations are largely absorbed by Equestria, forming the Equestria known today.

***

The Right of Kings.

The Palace of Adamant, Unopololis, Cormaren, Adamantia, 1,001 NAE (New Alicornian Era).

“Forward!” came the strident voice of Luna from across the battleground that had once been the mighty city of Unopolis. “To victory, my little ponies!”

Celestia parried a blow from an Adamantine knight and drove her glaive’s blade through his shoulder, nearly cutting him in twain, before reversing the blow and lashing out, decapitating another. She couldn’t help but grin slightly at Luna’s yelling - even though she was halfway across the battlefield, her sister’s tones could be heard, bellowing across the fields of Cormaren to the armies that surrounded the capital city of Adamantia.

Celestia moved her blade to parry another blow, before raising a shield and blocking a spell that was thrown from an Adamantine mage.

“Too slow!” she admonished her enemy, obliterating him with a quickly fired spell from her own horn. She looked around, getting her bearings. The throne room of the Palace of Adamant was near, she could sense it: the power coming from there was... insane. It has been a hard struggle getting here: Grace Note of the Crystal Empire and a half dozen of her finest Crystal Knights had marched into this hell with her, but all had fallen - and now Celestia was alone.

She charged down a corridor. Now she was near - only a few more paces and she would have her foe in her sights. A moment later she came to the double doors of the Palace throne room, and burst through. Immediately she was face with a good dozen Adamantine Templars: silver armoured knights whose only duty was the protection of their supposedly divine Lord.

“Keep the false God away!” one of the Templars bellowed. “We must protect our lord!”

“Your lord is a foal!” Celestia bellowed. “He tampers with forces he does not understand!”

There was no reply from the Adamantine knights, who seemed only to fight harder at her cries. She growled her blade swinging, cutting through armour and flesh like cloth. Her foe was ahead of her, at the top of the room, the bright light radiating from him only serving as a beacon of magical power to her, filling her with dread.

“False God,” a deep voice spoke across the distance of the room. “Have you come to die?”

She cut through the last of the Adamantine Templars, parrying and cutting until they were all dead at her feet, their blood leaking from their bodies and staining her pure white coat.

And there he was: the regal blue Unicorn stood before her, armoured and armed with a giant war-hammer, the cutie mark of a crown upon his flank and a vicious grin on his face, blood streaming from his eyes. He was taller than he should have been, and though the light that was emanating from him obscured much of his form, Celestial could still see the vestiges of wings forming, covered in blood and mucus as they emerged from his sides. He could no longer be called the pony he was - he was transformed into something else entirely.

"Divine Right," she growled. "You are tampering with forces beyond your knowledge and ability - you do not know what it is you do!"

"And you do know?!" the creature that was once Divine Right, King of Adamantia, said, pointing his hammer at her in challenge.

"I know that what you are attempting is an abomination!" she yelled, bringing her own weapon up and pointing it at him in return. "You cannot make what my sister and I are! Our kind are born!"

"You are wrong, False Goddess!" the Divine Right creature screamed. "I have spoken with the Dragon Horse, and he has shown me such wonders... this divinity is the blood right of all ponies who are true to their core!"

“You are a fool!” Celestia yelled.

“You are the fool, False Goddess!” Divine Right screamed. “Those who follow their destinies to their ultimate extent are destined to be as I am!” He took a step towards Celestia, swinging his hammer into a ready stance. "When I ascend, I will be the God of Perseverance, of Resolution! It is my will that has forged this army you face, my strength that holds them in check, my perseverance and dedication that has granted me this power!"

"You have gained nothing but insanity from this, Divine Right," Celestia countered, spinning her glaive and preparing to fight. "And now you must die."

"Because I threaten your power?" he mocked.

"Because you threaten my ponies," she replied.

There was a moment - the very briefest of moments where the two paused, sizing each other up and waiting for the other to make a move. A moment later, Divine Right lost patience, and the glowing pseudo-Alicorn charged at her. The hammer bore down, and Celestia was forced to dodge the blow. She stabbed forward with her glaive, but Divine Right brought his hammer up and swept the blow to the side, before bringing his hammer down in a crushing blow. Celestia dodged again, taking a breath.

"Are you a ruler or a dancer?!" her enemy mocked.

Ignoring the jibe, she took to the air for a moment: here, she had the advantage. Her enemy's wings were still growing, not yet strong enough to propel him into the sky. She darted down, glaive out, and raked him across his back. He let out a growl of frustration and swung his hammer again, but she dodged the blow and floated above him. The energy around him flickered, and his features were twisting, far more than they should have been doing if this transformation of his was

"Little dancing princess," the abomination that had been Divine Right sneered. "Do you think the sky will protect you?"

His horn glowed, and suddenly a deep red spell lashed out, missing Celestia by inches and obliterating part of the wall behind Celestia. Cursing, she fired a quick spell of her own, while summoning magic for a greater strike.

His horn glowed and he fired another bolt of magic, obliterating more of the architecture. Celestia knew she would need a powerful strike to defeat this one - but such a spell might hurt her own armies.

She caught a glimpse of the doorway - she could see Luna entering the doorway, the Gladius di Lune, her specially forged blade, ready in her telekinetic grip. Celestia fired another spell off to distract Right, then moved to land by her sister.

"His forces are scattered or destroyed," the Moon Diarch reported quickly. She spun her blade, narrowing her eyes at the pseudo-Alicorn, who was chuckling to himself. "Now only he remains."

"And I have a plan to defeat him," Celestia said with a scowl, holding her glaive in a guard pose. "But it will obliterate much of this city. You need to pull all our forces back, now."

"I can help you!" Luna insisted.

"No doubt, but if one of us does not pull our forces back this monster's death throes will take the entirety of our army with him!" Celestia snapped. "Please - do this one thing for me, sister, then return to me when it is done!"

Luna hesitated, and then with a quick nod galloped off. Celestia turned to face her enemy again: she knew evacuation would take time, and that was time this monster would only grow stronger in. Still, she sued as she spun her glaive into position, she had not had a fight worthy of the name in a long time...

***

"Princess Luna!" the young voice of Forza di Volontà, the son of Grace Note and heir to the Crystal Empire, called, the armoured Crystal pony charging towards the Alicorn with a stern expression on his face. "Where is Princess Celestia? What is happening?"

Luna wasn't sure how to explain what she had seen of Divine Right. "The ruler of this Kingdom has gone insane, and tampers with dangerous forces. My sister bade us pull all our army out of the city so as to prevent the monster's power destroying us all."

Forza's eyes widened. "That is... madness! What power could destroy a whole city?!"

Luna shook her head. "We are not meant to know, Prince Forza. Just pull everypony out."

Forza nodded, before turning to his captains and beginning the cry. Luna sighed, looking around the battle-torn city. Many fine warriors had died to try and put an end to the madness of Divine Right, but they had not known what they would face.

What other insanity lies ahead of us? she pondered to herself. She shook her head, before busying herself with the retreat.

***

Celestia parried another blow, before dodging backwards, narrowly missing the swing of her enemy’s warhammer.

She had been at this for minutes - she hoped Luna would return soon. Truth be told - she did need her sister’s help. She dodged another blow, warding her foe back with her glaive.

“I grow tired of you, little dancing Princess!” Divine Right bellowed. “Come down here and die!”

“Sister!” Luna’s voice called. Celestia spared a quick glance as her sister charged into the room., spinning her Gladius de Lune and swinging it at Divine Right, who parried the blow.

“Another False-Goddess come to die?” he asked calmly. “You cannot overcome my resolve! It is who I am!”

His horn glowed, and Luna was blasted backwards, hitting the wall near Celestia. She threw her sister a glance, and the two of them looked back to Divine Right with grim expressions.

“The evacuation?” Celestia asked.

“Complete as can be done,” Luna replied. “Now there is just this one.”

“Good,” Celestia said softly. She spun her glaive, pointing it at Divine Right as he continued to glow, the aura surrounding him now even more intense than it had been.

“Now perhaps you will tell me your plan?!” Luna asked, trying not to sound too desperate.

To her surprise, Celestia turned to look at her, her face graced with a smile.

“We wait.”

“What?!” Luna yelled, but before she could do anything else, Celestia charged forward, glaive spinning. Sighing, Luna moved to follow, swinging her own weapon to go for Divine Right’s exposed side. To her shock, however, the crazed pseudo-alicorn moved faster than could have been possible, blocking both their strikes, his own weapon spinning to counter. Celestia narrowly dodged one blow from the heavy weapon, and Luna found herself forced to take to the air to dodge another.

Landing a short way away, she scowled as Divine Right began laughing.

“You have nothing with which to harm me, little princesses,” he said. “Already I am a match for you, my perseverance greater than yours by virtue of my destiny!”

Celestia landed next to Luna, that smirk still on her face.

“What about this is amusing you?” Luna hissed quietly.

Celestia glanced at her quickly. “The fool is gathering too much power. His body cannot hold it all. As long as we keep him here, he cannot hurt others - and soon, he will -”

A bolt of magic struck near Celestia’s hooves, forcing her to step back.

“Much as I would hate to interrupt an obviously riveting conversation you are having,” Divine Right said, sneering as the aura around him only grew greater still, “but I want to kill you both now.”

Celestia growled. “That is not going to happen, monster.”

She charged again, and Luna followed…

***

Somewhere very far away, the mismatched form of a creature watched the city of Unopolis shake and the foundations begin to crumble. A slight smile graced the snaggle-toothed features. Everything was going much as he had come to expect.

Was this wise? a voice seemed to ask from nowhere.

The mismatched creature’s face smiled still, despite the innate, almost primal fear that voice induced. Much as he didn’t like admitting it, his betters terrified him.

“It was… fun,” he said simply.

You are not here to have fun.

“No, I am here to test the ones you bade me test. What better test than this? An equal, an opposite. A tyrant.”

And if they should fail?

He sighed. “I end the world, just like you said I should. I do know what I’m doing, you know.”

We do not see how this test is relevant.

“Of course you don’t,” the mismatched figure commented. “You’re all so staid. Look, just trust me, this once. Please.”

There was a long silence, before the other voice responded.

Very well.

The mismatched creature sighed as he felt the other presence leave, grateful for the peace and quiet in his own mind.

They might not have trusted his test… but he could see it was going to work out wonderfully.

***

Celestia landed in a heap, the hammer having finally made contact and thrown her across the room. She groaned as she pulled herself up, her wounds healing, scowling slightly as she saw Luna dodge another blow, before Divine Right blasted her away with a spell that sent her flying into the wall near Celestia.

“This is too much,” the Moon Diarch said quietly. “His power only grows…”

“He will burn himself out soon,” Celestia said, nodding in Right’s direction. “One need only look.”

And sure enough, Divine Right did not look his best - the pseudo wings were moulting feathers, and blood was dripping from his eyes and snout. Though he had shown no signs of stopping, his body was visibly deteriorating, and despite his bravado, it seemed as though Divine Right knew it.

”My power… my resolve... cannot be defeated!” he snarled.

Celestia moved slightly, frowning as the crazed Unicorn began staggering and coughing.

“Is this it?” Luna asked quietly.

“It might be…” Celestia said softly. “But…”

Suddenly, Divine Right screamed, a sound that tore through the throne room and made both the Alicorns wince.

“You false Goddess witches!” the maddened King screeched. ”Do you think you have won a victory here?! If I am to end here, then I will make it your end as well!”

The glow around him began getting brighter and brighter, and the flagstones at his hooves began cracking as the power billowing around him began to distort and break the surrounding matter.

“Sister…” Luna said softly.

“We should go,” Celestia said, eyes wide. “Quickly!”

Her horn glowed, and she shot a bolt of magic upwards at the roof, blowing a hole through the masonry. Quickly, she began flying upwards, and Luna followed…

And then there was a flash of light.

***

“Quickly, move these ponies further back!” Forza di Volontà yelled to the troops. “Faster! We may not have much time!”

All around him, soldiers were pulling back from the fortress-city of Unopolis and racing back across Cormaren. Forza was staying put, overseeing the final retreat.

A violet mare with a shield cutie mark raced up to him. “My lord Forza! Where are the Princesses?!”

“I don’t know, Captain,” Forza replied quietly. “Princess Luna ordered the retreat, but -”

Before he could finish that sentence, there was a sudden roar of noise and a flash of light, and suddenly the Palace of Adamant, along with a good chunk of the surrounding city, exploded. Fires erupted, billowing out into the sky, and smoke rose from the wreck, casting a long shadow over the retreating forces.

“By the White Horse!” the Captain said, her eyes wide. “That’s insanity. What in the name of the Princesses was Divine Right doing?!”

Forza looked up at the sky in horror. “May we never find out, Captain.” His eyes widened, a sudden horrific realisation hitting him. “The Princesses -!”

“There!” somepony yelled. Forza looked up, and in relief he saw two figures flying away from the cloud of smoke.

A few moments later, Princess Luna landed, cradling her sister with her magic. Celestia was battered and unconscious, but she was alive.

“My lady!” the Captain said. “Are you alright?!”

“Fear not, Captain,” Luna said heavily. “We are both intact, though our sister is wounded. Please bring the healers to us posthaste.”

“I will see it done, my lady!” Forza said, bowing. “Captain, come with me.”

He headed off, the Captain looking back at the two Princesses with awe in her eyes.

“This’ll be a story to tell your children, Eventide!” Forza said with a grin.

“Y-yes!” the Captain said, shaking her head. “I don’t know how they survived.”

“Let’s be thankful they did,” Forza said. He glanced back at Luna, who was busy seeing to Celestia. “Thank the White Horse we have such leaders…”

***

7,750 BNM: Princess Luna of Equestria marries Prince Focoso di Forza of the Crystal Empire. Their two children are Prince Astrum di Nocturnus and Princess Noctra. Noctra later marries Lord Sanguine Steel, and their second child Prince Militum di Sanguinius is credited as the first of the Blood line, leading all the way down to Prince Steelblood of the Royal Guard and his son Prince Blueblood. Their first child, Gloriana Benedicta, is the distant ancestor of Mi Amore Cadenza.

***

Grandchildren.

“My lady Mother,” Lord Sanguine Steel, a white Unicorn with a blood red mane, said, bowing to Luna. “My lady Aunt. I present to you, Princess Noctra and the newborn Prince Militum di Sanguinius!”

Sanguine Steel stepped aside, revealing the bed of Noctra, who was laid underneath a white sheet. Noctra was a blue mare, a long black mane cascading down her shoulders. She looked up at her visitors with a soft smile.

“Mother, Aunty,” she said quietly. “Isn’t he perfect?”

She held a small colt with a red mane and pale blue coat, who was sleeping in her hooves. Celestia approached first, looking down with a soft, serene smile.

“What a beautiful foal,” she said quietly. She looked up at her sister. “Luna, you’re a grandmother again!”

Luna smiled, though hers was a more emotional smile, her bottom lip trembling and a single tear threatening to spill from her eye. Next to her, a shimmering grey-maned stallion in a long, regal jacket leant his head against her, a smile on his face and his eyes red with their own unshed tears.

“He looks like you,” Focoso di Forza said quietly to his wife. “He really does.”

“Except for the mane,” Luna replied. “That’s all his father’s.”

“My line has had red manes since before the earliest records,” Sanguine Steel said softly. “It’s one of our hallmarks. You’ll forgive me, though, your highnesses, if I say I’m glad he takes more after your side of the family. I always thought yours was the more regal.” He smiled at his wife. “I did, after all, marry one of you.”

“And we all regret it,” Noctra said teasingly. “All those medals we have to keep polished!”

“Can I see? I want to see!” a small voice said from behind Luna. Forcing her way past her grandparents, a little pinkish-white mare with a light red mane bolted up to her mother’s bedside. She frowned as she saw little Militium. “He’s kinda small, isn’t he?”

“We were all that small, once,” Celestia said to little Gloriana Benedicta, her namesake.

“Surely not!” Gloriana said. “You and grandmother couldn’t have been - you’re so much bigger than papa or grandfather!”

Focoso and Luna shared a glance, and Sanguine Steel chuckled lightly.

“My little firebrand,” he said quietly, “all ponies start their lives as foals in their mothers’ arms. You, me, even the Princesses. It is the one thing we all share - the beginning. That and…”

He trailed off, his smile fading slightly. He threw a glance at Focoso and Luna, and his smile returned, a little sheepishly. Luna returned it, though her own smile was strained. She glanced up at her sister, who looked sad.

“That and what?” Gloriana asked, not noticing the change of mood.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sanguine Steel said. “What matters is that we are here to celebrate your little brother’s arrival.”

“If you will excuse me, Lord Steel,” Celestia said quietly, “I must attend to matters of state. Luna, a word?”

“Of course, sister,” Luna replied. “I will return in a moment, Noctra.”

“It’s alright mother,” Noctra said with a smile. “Go. Save Equestria from some terrible organisational issue. We’ll all be here when you get back.”

Luna smiled as she followed Celestia out.

“Do you think she’s alright?” Sanguine Steel asked Focoso. “I didn’t mean…”

“It’s alright,” Focoso replied. “It… is a subject she preoccupies herself with all too much these days.”

***

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked quietly.

Luna didn’t reply for a moment, looking lost in thought.

“Your Grandson is beautiful,” Celestia prompted, smiling slightly at her sister.

“I know,” Luna replied quietly. “It’s just… I have a grandson, and in the space of but a few years he will be old and grey and I will remain as I am.”

Celestia lowered her head. “It is our curse.”

“But it shouldn’t be Noctra’s! It shouldn’t be Gloriana’s!” Luna said angrily. “When Astrum and Noctra were born without wings, I honestly… I thought…”

“You thought what?” Celestia asked.

“Honestly?” Luna asked. “I thought that maybe they would… manifest. When they were older.”

“Manifest?” Celestia asked. “You mean like Divine Right?!”

“No, not like Divine Right!” Luna said. “But…”

“Luna, our kind is born, not made,” Celestia reminded her sister. “We were born, not made…”

“And sometimes I wish we had not been!” Luna snapped. She paused, her eyes widening. “I…”

“No,” Celestia said tiredly. “No, I understand. It is… it is frustrating. Even painful. They… they all last such a short time…”

“... and then they are gone,” Luna finished morosely. “It was bearable before… but this… this is my family, Tia. These are my children, my grandchildren. I do not want to live and live and watch them and their children and their children’s children fill the mausoleums while I remain… constant.”

Celestia looked up at Luna, and she smiled, tears glistening in her eye. “It is our curse, sister. We must bear it…”

“Why must we?” Luna asked. “Why must we? Why can’t I…”

She paused, lowering her head.

“Why can’t we what?” Celestia asked.

“Why can’t we end?” Luna asked. “Why can we not follow mother and father, and all the others we have loved and lost? Why are we destined to stay?”

“Who can say?” Celestia replied quietly. “Perhaps it is a curse. Or maybe it is a blessing.”

“If this is a blessing, I would hate to be cursed,” Luna muttered.

Celestia smiled. “Come sister - thoughts of death have no place on a joyous day like today. Today, your grandson has entered the world. Let us go greet him.”

Luna nodded, a slow, almost reluctant smile returning to her face.

“Yes,” she said quietly. “Let’s.”

***