The nine ponies; Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbowdash, Rarity, Luna, Celestia, and Starlight, and Spike all boarded a train leading from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot. They all were tired after the events of Flurry Heart's Crystalling. They didn't notice the cloaked pony running towards the train after seeing the princesses board it. Unfortunately for the cloaked pony, the train was already taking off when he arrived.

"Fuck," Phonyyx murmured to himself. He looked over to the train stations ticket keeper. "Uhm, sir where is that train going?"

"To Canterlot, but if you wanted to get to Canterlot today I'm afraid you're out of luck. That was the last train heading for Canterlot and the next one won't be here for the next three days," the ticket keeper replied. Phonyyx simply dropped his head and flew off in the direction of Canterlot.

I guess I'm taking the flight path to Canterlot.

"Whoa-how!" Phonyyx exclaimed as he rocketed towards Canterlot. He didn't usually fly with such speed that often, he forgot just how fast he could go. He quickly caught up to and overshot the train and carried on to Canterlot. I'll just wait for them at Canterlot. I'll try and catch up on Equestria's history too while I wait. If only it were that easy. Phonyyx shortly arrived at Canterlot. Surprised at how fast he flew from the Crystal Empire, he teleported into the castle library. Right in front of a group of guards, presumably on patrol. "Hi. Hehe," Phonyyx said as all the guards looked at him. "Would any of you like to help me with researching the history of Equestria?" The only response he got was a volley of spears and magic blasts.

"Get him and alert the rest of the castle of this intruder, NOW!" barked one of the guards, most likely the leader of the patrol. All of the spears and magic blasts missed,

Wow. These guards are really inept. This will be easy.

"Get him!" the leader barked again.

It was nightfall by the time the train arrived at Canterlot. "All of you look tired, I would hate to make all of you have to take another trip back to Ponyville. You all can stay at the castle tonight," Celestia told the rest of the group as they all walked to the castle. When they reached the interior of the castle, they heard voices coming from the library. "Now, what could that be?" Celestia asked herself as the group headed for the source of the commotion. They opened the doors to the library and walked on to see the most intriguing sight. The ten of them have all seen many sights and have been prepared for many different scenarios. But none of them were prepared for the scene in Canterlot Castle's Library. There in the middle of the library, there was a pony flying and levitating thousands of books, spinning them around him, reading them all in a strange way of randomly skipping between multiple books, writing down onto a long, long sheet of paper and murmuring to himself what he read the books, and all the while the entirety of Canterlot Castle's royal guard was chasing after him. The pony didn't even fight the guards. He merely blocked all of their attacks or dogged out of the way when one of them attempted to physically tackle him. All of his attention was on the books. The pony didn't even take notice of the ten new additions to the party.

"So after the Crystal Empire reappeared and was reclaimed by Equestria from King Sombra Twilight Sparkle finished Star Swirl the Bearded's final spell and was ascended to princess-hood. Correct?" Phonyyx asked nopony in particular. One guard paused for a moment, thought about something, and answered.

"Well, yes and a bit after that she had to defeat Lord Tirek and she did so with the help of her friends," the guard pony said while attempting to body slam Phonyyx.

"Thank you, Bruce." Phonyyx easily and carefully, almost as if not wanting to harm anypony, levitated Bruce down after dodging Bruce's attempted attack.

"What is going on here?" a dumfounded Celestia asked in a stern-like voice. All of the guards then noticed the audience they had. Phonyyx, however, was still transfixed on the thousands of books. Twilight grabbed one of the books and looked through it. All of the guards then started to scatter and hide in a scared-the-shit-outa kind of way. Twilight grabbing a book got Phonyyx's attention.

"Hey! Just what do you think you're doing!" Phonyyx yelled at Twilight. He stared her down pissed off.

"What? You mean the book?" Twilight asked completely confused. Phonyyx then took the book back.

"Hurry. Now is our chance!" one of of the guards exclaimed and all of the guards attacked Phonyyx at the same time.

"ENOUGH!!" Phonyyx yelled and cast a wave of magic that caused every pony in Canterlot Castle to be frozen in place by Phonyyx's magic. His stare never wandered from Twilight.

"Phonyyx," Phonyyx looked away to find that Celestia was talking, "Stop this and explain yourself right now!"

"Ohh. Hello princess," Phonyyx said sarcastically, but he did as Celestia said, undoing his spell and gently placing every pony on the ground. "There, now if you don't mind I would like to get back to my work."

"Which is what?"

"Why should I tell any of you?"

"Because you disappeared for over a thousand years and you show up and cause this entire ruckus."

"Okay, you have me there."

"Wait, who are you anyway?" Starlight asked Phonyyx.

"My name is Phonyyx. And no I am not an alicorn. I am half unicorn and half phoenix" - he landed on the floor and let down his hood - "and you are all; Twilight Sparkle the Princess of Friendship and Element of Magic, Rainbowdash Element of Loyalty, Applejack Element of Honesty, Fluttershy Element of Kindness, Rarity Element of Generosity, Pinkie Pie Element of Laughter, Spike savior of the Crystal Empire, Princess Celestia Princess of the Sun, Luna Princess of the Moon," all of the ponies looked at Phonyyx with surprised expressions. "I was researching the history of Equestria before you all arrived here," Phonyyx stated with smug satisfaction. "But I don't know who you are?" pointing to Starlight curiously.

"I'm Starlight Glimmer and there is nothing special about me." Starlight said with nervous giggles. Phonyyx simply raised an eyebrow at her.

"Where have you been all these years?" Celestia asked Phonyyx.

"Well I don't actually remember most of anything at all," Phonyyx responded while hitting his head and wrinkling his face trying to remember his past. It was only now that any of the other ponies noticed Phonyyx's cutie mark. It was a steel sword, with the blade surrounded by dark-purple flames.

"Well, then why did you come here?" Rarity asked Phonyyx. "And I must say. That cloak you are wearing looks dreadful."

"I saw you all boarding a train at the Crystal Empire heading for Canterlot and tried to board the train as well, but I was too slow. And I don't care about how I appear thank you very much." Phonyyx replied. He now had continued to read the books he had. Then Applejack spoke up.

"Wait, we boarded the train and it took us longer to get here than you. How?" she and all the others looked with confused expressions.

"I flew here. Yawn Faster than I thought possible, but that's not important right now." Phonyyx replied while almost falling to the ground out of tiredness.

"What!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "How can you say that being able to outfly a train as not important."

"I just can," Phonyyx replied. Rainbow was starting to want to pummel him into the ground for that comment. She would have done just that if a certain purple dragon hadn't spoken up.

"Look, we can all stand here talking all night or we could go to sleep, get some rest, and clear up things in the morning?" Spike piped up. It appeared that he really did wish to just go to sleep.

"Good idea, Spike. Any pony else like the idea?" Twilight said while petting her number one assistant's sleepy head. Every pony agreed with Spike and Twilight, all except Phonyyx.

"You can do that if you want but I'm gonna stay here reading," Phonyyx stated without looking up from his books. Twilight loved to read, but what Phonyyx was doing was dangerous to his health and every pony saw that. Celestia demanded that Phonyyx get some sleep, but Phonyyx was either too stubborn or too preoccupied to listen. They finally convinced Phonyyx that he needed sleep. He mainly gave up due to exhaustion, but also because Celestia promised to let him eat a meal when they would wake up.

The next morning Twilight woke up early to help cook breakfast. Soon every pony was awake. All except Phonyyx. "I'll go wake him," Starlight volunteered. She trotted over to Phonyyx's room, opened the door, and peeked inside.

Sssnooorrr!

Starlight walked over to the bedside, "Phonyyx," -putting her hoof a mere inch from his shoulder- "It's ti--" Phonyyx was on top of Starlight, steel blade unsheathed mere inches from her neck, and eyes closed. What is he doing? Is he acting on instinct? "Phonyyx, will you please open your eyes?" Starlight nervously and terrified for her life. Phonyyx did and when he finally took in the scene that happened he put up his sword and sat up. He then helped Starlight up.

"I am sorry for doing that Starlight," Phonyyx apologized and sat down ashamed.

"No, it's okay, just why you did you act like that?"

"It's one of the curses of my immortality, I have become such a light sleeper that even that will awaken me. And most of the time I was awakened like that, early in the morning or late night, it isn't for pleasantries."

"Ohh," -she felt sorry for Phonyyx- "well, I came to tell you that breakfast is ready, and let's not tell the others of this little incident. okay?"

"Okay." The two ponies walked off to the dining hall and proceed with breakfast along with the rest of their friends. Phonyyx had to admit, the food was great. They all began to talk. Phonyyx did not participate, willingly. All of the others kept asking him questions and he reluctantly partook in the conversation. After a little talking Phonyyx noticed a tear in his cloak. He frantically brought it closer to his face for closer inspection and saw right in front of him a 3-foot tear in his cloak. He sighed deeply. The others say his discomfort at the tear.

"Why, it's just a silly little tear. And you can buy a new, better, more fashionable cloak now," Rarity spouted optimistically trying to cheer up Phonyyx.

"No, it has to be repaired."

"If it has something to do with money, I can make you a new one for free."

"No, its the cloak itself. I have enchanted and etched some many lost and mysterious runes and spells on this that cannot be replaced. And as a fail-safe for if any pony tried to replicate it. It has to be repaired, without magic or a sewing machine-"

"So hoof stitched?"

"-Yes, and it must be repaired in a way that duplicates the original stitching."

"Well, I might be able to do that. But it will probably take me a few weeks to do it."

"Although I wouldn't suppose you have a place to stay in Ponyville. Do you?" Twilight asked Phonyyx.

"No," Phonyyx replied.

"Twilight," -Twilight looked over to Starlight- "couldn't Phonyyx stay at your castle in Ponyville, I mean there are more than enough rooms?"

"You're right, Starlight," an exuberant Twilight realized.

"Phonyyx, if you need a place to stay at while in Ponyville, you can come stay at the castle." Then the clock rang nine times, nine o'clock.

"Oh man, we have thirty minutes before the train leaves." Rainbowdash realized. All of the ponies thanked Celestia for her hospitality and booked it for the train station. They made it just in time to board the train. On the train ride, Starlight sat near Phonyyx.

"Hey Phonyyx, I was wondering, what did you mean by one of your curses?" Starlight asked him.

"Uh? Oh. I can still die, even with a thousand years of experience and knowledge in ancient magic weapons, and abilities, I can still die," Phonyyx recounted.

"What kind of ancient magic?"

"Well, it wouldn't be anything you would know. It was all lost centuries ago. Spells and magic tomes. But mainly Elemental Magic."

"What is Elemental Magic?"

"Well, it would be hard to explain on its own. I'll try to explain by starting from the beginning. All creatures have magic, even if it doesn't seem obvious. For example, phoenix's have powers dealing with fire Elemental Magic. The multiple types of magic include; fire, ice, earth, water, air, lightning, shadow, light, and the generic magic that all unicorns can do. It is usually impossible for any creature to be able to control more than one type of Elemental Magic. Ponies, however, have access to pretty much every kind of magic. Now keep in mind that none of this includes Friendship Magic, that is in a category all on its own. Each type of element is linked to a certain aura, the boundary force of life itself. Because of my half phoenix side, I can control fire Elemental Magic and my heritage allows me to control shadow Elemental Magic."

"Wait, I thought you said it was impossible for a creature to control more than one type of Elemental Magic. How can you control both Fire and shadow magic?"

"I said it was usually impossible, in fact, it is entirely possible for any pony to be able to control all of the elements. It would just take extreme focus and concentration and a long-ass time." Starlight couldn't help but giggle a bit at that last comment.

"Would it make you one of the most powerful wizards since you can control two of the elements?"

"Not really, to me, the most powerful wizards are not the ones who know millions of all the elemental spells. No the most powerful wizards can do the most with the least the quickest."