Celestia lowered her head to rest it upon her front hooves as she stared out into the night sky from her balcony railing. She sulked at how the day had gone, what with the argument between her and Luna, including the reason why she had argued with her sister so vehemently.

What frustrated her the most was how Luna accused her of not trying to befriend the human. And her visit to Ponyville barely helped ease her unhappiness since it was cut short because of those insects!

She was trying! It was because of her duties and obligations and the seemingly nonexistent time she had for herself and to spend with her sister which made accomplishing the other things which she would like to do, had she more time, difficult to do. If she had even a little more personal time aside from spending dinner or breakfast with the human, she had complete confidence that she would make more progress in befriending the human, but even the responsibilities of governing a kingdom always seemed to demand her attention.

“It’s. Not. Fair ...” Celestia groused sullenly in a quiet mutter.

“Life never is.”

Celestia’s head turned in surprise, causing her to hastily turn her body around to face whomever intruded upon her privacy and nearly tripped onto her side as she tried to see who it was that had said that. Her wings flapped out of sync before she was able to steady herself from being startled.

The human watched her extremely closely, having already taken a step forward from the top of the stairs in case he had to rush down the stairs and help her. Once Princess Celestia was able to stand without looking like she might trip and fall, he relaxed and placed his hands at his hips and leaned onto one leg.

Celestia quickly exercised one of her breathing exercises to help calm herself before stating, “In the future, I ask that you not silently skulk about like some assassin.”

The human gave a quick grin as he came closer, “We’ll make no promises.”

She gave an irritated glare toward the human before asking, “Was there something you needed, human? Usually you don’t wander any farther than either the barracks, the library, or your room ever since you accepted our offer of hospitality, even after Ms. Luminous Scrolls’ lessons and from being banned from the library for a few weeks.”

The human gave a low-volume chuckle as he replied, “Indeed we do. It’s about your offer.”

Princess Celestia blinked in surprise as she asked, “You’ve made your choice?”

His grin didn’t fade as he answered again, “It’s not that, though we shall get around to making a decision about that soon enough. It’s about what happens to us after.”

The smile did fade as he shifted slightly as he continued, “What will happen to us after our transformation? Given how you and the inhabitants of this land are these harmonious ponies who prefer being pacifist and kind, I think it highly unlikely for you to simply throw us to the streets the moment we announce which decision we choose to accept.”

Celestia blinked a few more times before giving a murmured “oh.” She paused a few moments to think about her answer before she nodded, “Indeed. You are a guest and from an ancient race who had once lived in this land long before us. Throwing you out would have been an insult to your kind as well as being hypocritical to the ideals we encourage our subjects to embrace within our fair kingdom.”

Celestia paused again to think before she stated, “Once you do transform, you would be living alongside my student and her friends in Ponyville. It’s a small, but local village that’s within sight of Canterlot. You can even see it from this balcony for yourself.”

She moved out of the way as the human walked out onto the balcony to see for himself, “That way, we can keep you close to us while allowing you some freedom to see a world beyond these walls. Regarding anypony asking questions about your past, we can try and fabricate your history and life story which ought to ease anypony’s anxiety about you suddenly appearing within our borders. Ponyville is most accepting of even the most oddest of strangers.”

The human hummed as he observed both the panoramic view of the land seen from his current vantage point and the village which Celestia had pointed out. He idly commented, “Funnily enough, that is the exact same town we had considered visiting first after we returned to our sanctuary.”

He moved away as he returned his attention to Princess Celestia, “Considering how we’ve already started learning the modern Equestrian language lessons along with your sister, as well as helping more than your hired ... hoof,” Celestia flushed in embarrassment upon remembering how her sister’s linguistic professor’s help was more suited for university-level academia, rather than helping immigrants learn the native Equestrian tongue, “May we suggest that we continue our residency here within your castle and visit Ponyville on occasion instead?”

“O-of course!” Celestia stuttered, “You are not my subject by law yet, and since you have not undergone the immigration process as well, where you go is entirely your choice. I only ask that you stay in touch with either Luna or myself. Even if it means staying with my student or one of her friends, so long as you take up residency nearby and live somewhere where we can get to you quickly, you can otherwise live wherever you wish.”

The human gave another low hum, but didn’t say anything as the two stood together in silence. Celestia felt awkward as she waited for either her mind to come to a topic to talk about or waited for the human to break the current silence between them.

Remembering what Luna said to her, Celestia tried to push the conversation onwards, “So ... . What about you?”

She had to fight her first impulse of fidgeting when the human turned his head to assess her and raised an eyebrow in askance, “W-what I mean is, outside of what you wanted to know and with regards as to what is to happen to you ... . How are you?” Celestia gave a awkward grin as she asked.

The human’s grin came back as he laughed at her attempt, which caused Celestia to laugh with him, though hers had a more nervous tone to it. He replied, “For the famed Princess of Equestria, renowned for her oriative skills, asking someone how they are is exceedingly difficult?”

Princess Celestia shifted nervously as she tried to laugh off his jab. The human said, “All in all, we are well. We are still recovering from the culture shock and we’re still adjusting to just how much has changed since we began our long sleep.”

Celestia took initiative and asked, “Well, what is it that you like?”

The human was about to answer when his eyes flourished with color again and made him fall silent for a moment before staring at her for another moment.

He then said, “Finally getting around to asking us about us, are you?”

She shrugged helplessly and admitted, “I think this is one of the rare times I’ve been able to talk to you. My duties as Princess has been exceedingly demanding and it’s ... it’s been taking too much of my time.”

“That would explain why you were not present this morning at breakfast ... . Do you not have recesses or even holidays where you don’t accept governing duties?”

Celestia shook her head as she leaned against the balcony door, “No, and I’m afraid that the nobility would argue and voice their complaints immediately about any inconvenience to either themselves or their cushy lifestyle,” she muttered the last few words to herself.

The human gave a loud “tch” and commented, “All work and no play, indeed. That is not a healthy lifestyle, immortal or no.”

She shook her head again and stated, “Even if it is, it’s still my duty.”

“Even though your sister could take your position at anytime?” Celestia immediately locked eyes with the human as this apparently was the first time she thought about it, “She is your co-ruling sister, is she not? And she was present during every court session held during the day, as such she cannot possibly have any other duty outside of guarding dreams.”

Princess Celestia was about to look as if she had an epiphany before her millennia long experience at ruling cut that short, she sighed and replied, “No, it wouldn’t work. Luna may be a diarch alongside me, but she is still learning about the kingdom-wide laws and the municipal ordinances of the cities which are a part of our nation, and she still doesn’t know the subtleties of the current accepted etiquettes and subterfuge of the Equestrian nobility. Luna’s still convinced that all of the nobility are rotten to the core, and she would rather threaten them than see fair reason.”

The human gave a disappointed grunt, making Celestia blink in surprise as it was the first negative response she had seen from the human. Out of all the responses and replies that she had seen and gotten from him, the human seemed almost impossible to frustrate.

It was almost relieving, knowing that he wasn’t impossibly optimistic or easy-going and that he could have moments that shows this.

’Maybe Lulu was right, I should learn about him on my own with him rather than from somepony else’s interactions or observations of him.’ Celestia realized. She quickly found several more questions to ask as the inspiration from her first discovery drove her forwards.

Princess Cadance trotted down the hallway with a happy tune in her mind. She had just came away from a dinner date from Shining Armor and he had been adorably shy the entire time.

She had decided on a whim to bid her adopted aunts goodnight before heading off to bed herself. Cadance was lucky at catching Aunt Luna just before she was getting ready for her duties in the dream world and the two discussed for approximately an hour about Cadance’s date.

Despite how Auntie Luna was sure that she wouldn’t find time for love of her own, Cadance was quick to assure her that love would find a way for her displaced aunt to encounter a special somepony of her own. Even though her Cutie Mark was connected to love itself and through that her sentiments as a whole didn’t appear to help her Auntie Luna all that much, she did get a word of thanks for trying to help.

Regardless, she knew that Aunt Luna appreciated the support. And Faust above, did she need it.

Once Cadance arrived to Auntie Celestia’s room, she put the depressive situation about Aunt Luna and asked the guards that were stationed at the door and asked, “Is Auntie Celestia inside?”

The guard nearest to her smiled and replied, “Yes she is, let me let her know.” He turned and knocked on the door, raising his voice to as to let himself be heard, “Your Majesty? Princess Cadance wishes to see you.”

“Oh, of course! Send her in, please.” Princess Celestia’s muffled voice replied.

The guards then moved to the door handles and pulled them open and waited for Cadance to go through.

Princess Cadance gave a quick smile and thanked the guards before walking in. She was still looking at the guard she had talked to as she said, “Auntie, I just wanted to come by and say goodnight and that I think Shiny might be---”

When she turned her head to look at her Auntie, she realized that she wasn’t alone and locked eyes with the stranger.

That was all she registered and said before the magic within her Cutie Mark and her magical connection to emotions slammed into her as hard as a runaway train.

She saw an ocean of hatred and suffering. The waves that danced and roiled, gently yet powerfully splashed onto the ‘beach’ she stood upon were a dark, murky and a sickening green. The surrounding area held a terrible and forbidding feel, her every instinct warning her to not touch even a drop of the water. The ‘beach’ she was standing on was barren, its sand as black as obsidian. To Cadance’s hooves they felt coarse and cold, it almost felt as if the sand was actively attacking and draining the very warmth from her body. The very air began impressing into her the feeling of a deep loss while the ‘skies’ above felt bleak and utterly cruel. The ‘wind’ blew against her coat and mane, bone chilling and mournful.

And just in front of her was the bipedal being who had all this hiding underneath a deceptively calm expression.

Cadance immediately tackled the being and hugged him tightly, lighting her horn and began focusing her magic into her captive, trying to heal and help alleviate so much suffering from him.

Normally, when she dedicated herself into helping anypony like this, the magic would have warmed the pony’s heart and would begin transforming the landscape into some place that they held very dear to their hearts.

However, nothing seemed to happen. Cadance felt the being start pushing against her, resisting her. All that made her do was hug tighter and started fueling even more of her energy and magic, mentally praying and begging that something, anything was changing from this terrible ‘beachside.’

She heard her name being called, but she chose to ignore it.

When she heard the word “Stop,” she whispered “No,” and kept casting her love magic, hoping to heal the unseen hurt this being bore within him.

When she heard the words “There’s nothing you can do,” she flat out rejected those words and kept going, denying those words with all her heart. There has to be something she could do. This being’s hurt and anger can’t be allowed to stay any longer than she had already seen it!

After what seemed forever and the extreme exertion she had made, which made her pant and feel faint, she looked around again.

Only to begin crying in horror as she realized that all her efforts had only cured a small patch, showing a patch of golden clouds half the size of a mare.

She buried her head against the being’s chest, instinctively careful not to accidentally stab him with her horn as she demanded, “How? How are you still alive with all this? All this suffering.”

Cadance heard a deep sigh come from the being before she heard some words being spoken by the being. Whatever they were, she didn’t immediately recognized them.

She suddenly felt utterly cold when something grabbed her horn, cutting her off from seeing that terrible beach just long enough for her regain control over her magic. She still cried silently as her awareness returned to physical reality and found herself on the cold and hard tiled floor, with her Aunt and the bipedal being standing above her. The being regarded her carefully and neutral while Auntie Celestia moved her head to nuzzle her in concern.

Cadance slowly and got up, still shaking from the magical exertion she had gone through. She disregarded the disrespectful gesture the being did by grabbing her horn and shoving her away, as she was more concerned about him than the inappropriate action. She locked eyes with the human and asked, “Why?”

The human gave another deep sigh as he shook his head, placing a hand over his face. While her efforts did not do much, it still held an impact against the walls and seals both he and the Legion within had solidly built. He opened his eyes and replied, “It wasn’t going to work.”

Cadance vehemently retorted, “No! I refuse to believe that! I’ve already made progress, just let me help you!” She almost tried again before she stumbled and nearly fell over, surprising and shocking her just how much she put into her first attempt.

“Then help us by letting it go, Princess.” The human flatly stated, “What you were doing was undoing years upon years of wounds becoming scars and us adjusting to them. And considering that you are struggling to stand, you’ve put more energy into whatever you were doing than you realized.”

Princess Cadance fell silent as she listened to him, “We don’t know what it is you saw, but whatever it was, was the end result of our efforts. It’s now nothing more than a scar that we can bear with, we’ve had lifetimes to move on.”

She shook her head, “No,” Her voice wavered as she tried to regain control of her emotions, “There is no way you could’ve moved on with that much emotional burden. There’s no way anypony could do so.”

“Maybe not anybody, but we have, Princess.” The human closed his eyes again. His expression softened, but still held a hard edge, “Unseemingly as it may, it was once much worse than it is now. But we recommend not doing that again. We already feel that you made a small difference, but to heal us entirely will kill you before you see any success. This is our scar, thus it is our decision what to do with it. And we decided to accept it and to move forward, rather than sulk and worry about it.”

With that, he turned around and began looking in one direction and seemed to dwell on something, his eyes flourishing in color while he did so.

The pink alicorn simply stared at him, stupefied that he would rather ignore it and not have any help from it. Cadance could only whisper, “I’m so sorry for you.”

The human seemed to have heard her, for he returned his attention to her and replied in a low voice, “And we appreciate your sympathy ...”

He stood still, stewing in silence at how his introduction to Princess Cadance went and how determined she seemed to help him. He stayed that way until Cadance's crying was brought under better control before he asked, “Is there anything else, Princess Cadance?”

She shook her head slowly, having whatever she wanted to say lost to the sudden event with the human, “N-no. I ... I just wanted to say goodnight ...”

Princess Celestia was quick to hug her shaken niece with a wing over her barrel and bringing her closer and nuzzled her. She said to Cadance, “Goodnight, my niece. I pray you sleep well, even after all this. Perhaps I should alert Luna to your troubled heart.”

Cadance gave a shaky nod, “I-I think I’d like that, thank you Auntie ... . G-goodnight, the both of you.” She started for the door, stumbling here and there.

Once she was able to exit, Princess Celestia called, “Guards? Please escort my niece to Captain Shining, she will be in need of him tonight. Also, do alert my sister to guard and watch over the dreams of Princess Cadance.”

Whatever the guards did, their actions went hidden and unseen to the human behind the closing doors from Celestia’s chambers. The human watched in what almost seemed empathic silence for the troubled mare.

The moment they closed, she sighed and placed a hoof on her head. She turned to the human and asked, “What was that?”

The human pointedly looked away and refused to turn around, “It’s like we said, an ‘emotional burden’ that’s scabbed over. And what Princess Cadance was doing was picking at it.”

Princess Celestia scoffed, “You sound like one of those emotional foals from a trashy drama book, all these ‘emotional burdens’ and ‘scars.’”

This alleviated the grim feeling from the two as human began laughing, “It does, doesn’t it?” He chuckled again as he mimicked Celestia’s action, placing his hand on his forehead, “Well, as ‘trashy drama’ as it seems, it’s closer to the discomforting truth. We’ve had many lifetimes to deal with it.”

Not soon after he said that he burst into laughter again, turning around to look at her, “And this would’ve been the perfect point where said trashy drama queen tempts fate and then later on, all that ‘emotional burden’ gets out of control and they would break down and bawl like a baby!”

Just thinking about it caused Celestia to join in the laughter, adding, “Maybe a chapter later, they sob their heart out to their planned loved one and they begin dating not but a few paragraphs later?”

The two continued laughing and made more drama queen jokes, acting out lines or making jabs at other drama-related clichés.

Finally, the two had to stop as Celestia was crying from laughing too much and the human had to breathe. The two panted and struggled to control their laughter, failing now and then but they were able to recover long enough for Celestia to say, “I needed this. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve laughed this long.” She gave a quick chuckle before having to lean against the wall and breathed heavily.

The human grinned and looked away from Celestia, as he had to face the wall and couldn’t face the alicorn without laughing again, which would have sent Celestia into another fit, “Maybe we should try more often, your laughter is rather adorable.”

His compliment immediately sent Celestia into a startled blush as she stared at the human. Her reaction would have caused him to laugh again, but he was quick to turn his head before it happened.

Celestia silently pouted at the human’s remark as he was able to calm down enough to turn around and not start another laughing fit from looking at her.

The human remarked as he finished turning, “Well, it is true that laughter is the best medicine. Since we have little to no actual experience in governing politics, we can barely imagine how your duties prevent you from even a little laughter.”

Celestia blinked in surprise, “You have lived longer than I have and you don’t understand politics?”

The human nearly nodded, then gave a few thoughts before answering, “Yes and no. We understand how politics work, what we meant is we haven’t involved ourselves into political affairs. The complaints from the corrupt rarely received our attention.”

The princess gave a small huff of envy, “I almost wish I had the same attitude that you have. However, that may change in case you become a unicorn, as they are the most prevalent and have the most political power among the three tribes.”

He gave a thoughtful look as he listened, “You talk as if you hate your position.”

Celestia looked as if she would argue and say no. But, as she thought about it ... .

‘That may not be as far off as it seems.’

She shook her head and replied, “I ... I don’t hate what I do. I know that being a diarch of Equestria is necessary, and it cannot be done by any other pony, as they would suffer prejudice and judgement from either their own tribe or the other two pony tribes. I do not even need to mention their own mortality, where one may be a good ruler might pass on and surrender the crown to somepony incompetent ... . But ... well, before both Luna and I had taken the thrones, I was always the more adventurous filly between the two of us. I always was fascinated by the world around me, and I wanted to see all that there was. Lulu would follow behind, tired but still happy to laugh and play with me.”

“So you do miss it?”

Celestia nodded, “Not so much that I would daydream of the world outside of the throne room windows, but I prefer moving and doing things, rather than sitting in one spot all day and everyday ... . Do not misunderstand, I have accepted my duties and that I can rarely escape them. But there’s still a stirring within my heart for adventure.”

The human was quick to suggest, “Then establish a holiday. Something that keeps you away from the throne for even a day.”

Celestia shook her head, “I cannot, the nobl--”

“Damn the nobles. If they complain, then tell them that their diarchs cannot perform their duties if they are not well rested and are constantly beset by their selfish affairs of the nation. Considering you are their ruling diarch, they would have nothing to say against it.”

She blinked at the vehemence the human dealt with her disagreement. Though she was no stranger to hearing something like this from either her sister or even from her butler Reginald, it was still startling to see the human act or talk abruptly outside of either subtle amusement or until just recently, a sad expression.

Regardless of how she wanted to agree with the human, she couldn’t tell off the nobles so easily, “I must act fairly for my subjects, regardless of how tedious it may be.”

The human’s vehemence turned more expressive as he frowned and half-glared at her, making her take a hoofstep back, “You are no deity, Princess Celestia. Even though you are a diarch and hold true to being fair and gentle to those under your rule, you are not inexhaustible.”

Something triggered in Celestia, whether it was her pride or something else, it sparked anger in her as she snapped, “Maybe not, but at least I can rest at night and be ready to handle the nobles in the morning!”

“And yet you don’t seem to have the time to talk to your own sister, nor your student, nor even us! You are wasting your life on a throne of slavery!”

“That slavery is of my own volition and with the intention of guiding Equestria toward a better future, my fellow subjects would not last a day without me!” Celestia spat.

“That may not be true, Your Majesty.”

The two paused in their arguing to notice that Celestia’s Majordomo seemed to have waited patiently for them.

Princess Celestia turned about to argue with Forward Bastion but was cut off by the stallion, “If I may, Your Majesty. While Equestria is reliant upon you and your sister, many of the proposals are made by the high social class-equines coming from Canterlot. They are usually the first you discuss with during council meetings and the Day Court, listing the pros and cons of their proposals. Though the idea of letting them wait a day to deliver their thoughts and projects may displease them, you are still the highest authority in the land, along with your sister. Should you will it or decree it, then though they may not like it, they will have no other recourse but to comply. It is you who rules over them, it should not be the other way around. Their obedience to you is greater than their wants and needs.”

Celestia was quick to counter, still reluctant and stubborn to agree to the two, “But what of those whose issues or proposals do not come from Canterlot, such as Mrs. Tutor and her issue? They are not likely to wait a day for me to decide. Yes, I am aware of my authority, but it would do poorly for me to simply declare a vacation simply because I can no longer tolerate my duties.”

“Your Majesty, If you recall it is by law that those who approach the throne with a petition are to be provided housing and food for these subjects petitioning you. The nearby hotels are very rarely full. Even those furthest from Canterlot Castle are regularly occupied by at the most two dozen ponies, whereas they may individually hold over a hundred rooms with enough size to, with some planning for space in each room, hold a family of five,” Forward deftly defended.

“That still does not solve the problem of them needing to wait, Majordomo.”

The stallion blinked calmly, “If they must wait, then they must wait. They had waited for the train to arrive to their city, they had waited during the ride from their city to Canterlot, I am quite sure they can afford to wait another day for you.”

“And might we add,” The human chimed in, “It’s not an abuse of power to take time off. You yourself had to be kept away from the throne during the first few years from your sister’s banishment.”

Princess Celestia half-heartedly glared at both her Majordomo and the human. She already figured that the human would have learned about that particular absence from Equestria’s throne somehow without her knowing, whether it was from her sister or somepony else who knew. She sullenly argued, “I still do not agree to this.”

The human gave a breathy chuckle through his nose, “Regardless Princess, it is something that would do you and your sister some good,” he turned his attention to Forward Bastion and suggested, “Perhaps she could start by taking time off on national holidays. You do have national holidays, correct?”

“We do, sir. Nightmare Night is due within two months, the Winter Wrap Up had passed through Ponyville today and is soon to be followed by their fall event The Running of the Leaves the day after tomorrow, which Her Majesty would be attending as it is both nearby and she does hold high regard for the autumn season.”

Princess Celestia turned her head to hide her blush while the human gave a nod before asking, “That does remind us, why is it that winter is followed by autumn? Normally the seasons pass as spring, summer, autumn and then winter before returning back to spring.”

Princess Celestia was the one to answer, “That is because of Discord’s chaotic reign. Despite our attempts to fix this, the seasons now go in reverse rather than as you say.”

The human gave a low-volumed “ah” as he remembered that particular history lesson. It was a rather interesting lesson, as they noted that while there had been a lot of chaos and confusion, the lives of those at this creature's reign merely suffered from being subjected to his small, inconveniencing jokes, pranks, and tricks being played on them.

But in spite of their inquiries regarding Discord, the only deaths which occurred prior or after Discord’s imprisonment were all natural, whether from old age or diseases as the tribes adjusted to their new home in a foreign land.

He mentally shook his head and got back to the topic which they had been discussing beforehand, “Are there any closer events or holidays that could be added? Two months away for any significant holiday or event is too far off,” the human blinked slowly so he didn’t chuckle at how ridiculous it sounded to say it, “Not to mention that this event is likely only an hour long, perhaps two at the most.”

Forward Bastion gave a low hum as he moved his eyes upward while wracking his brain for possible alternatives. After a few moments, he shook his head and replied, “There is one notable event happening sooner than The Running of the Leaves. The Young Fliers Competition, which is to take place in Cloudsdale. Though that too is a royally attended event, in a similar manner as the Galloping Gala.”

“Is it possible to come up with events and holidays prior to those recognized by Equestria’s government, then?”

The Majordomo shook his head again, “If we do try to utilize such events and holidays, we would have to do so sparingly.”

The human relented with a sigh, “Fine. It’s far less than we’d like, but we’ll make due with what there is.”

Princess Celestia stared at the human before asking, “Why do you care so much about my health and putting in effort in order to try to get time off for me? It is one thing for my Majordomo and my sister to care and worry about me having time to myself, but why you? You’ve only met me for six days.”

She was answered with a slight smile, “Curiosity. That and we like getting to know our hosts, since we both know that we’re not going to be allowed to run loose in your kingdom without your supervision. Outside of our various educational hours and a bit of sparring, some of what we know is only summarized in this: You are an immortal being who has had to rule alone for a millennia, you care very much about your sister, and that the ponies recognize you as their ruler and perceive you to be as a sort of deity to them. Outside of a few tidbits, there’s not much else we know about you.”

Princess Celestia blinked in surprise, ‘He had the same intention as I did?’ She stayed silent at realizing this before she turned to her Majordomo and asked, “Outside of asking about my days off, was there something you needed, Forward?”

The stallion nodded with dignified respect, “Indeed there was, Your Majesty. However, since your guest already addressed it, I no longer have the reason to.”

‘And there it is.’ She thought sullenly, ‘Even Forward came to talk to me about leaving the throne for a day.’ Celestia huffed and nodded back, “Thank you, Majordomo Bastion. You may be dismissed.”

Once Forward left she gave a defeated sigh, lowering her head, “Am I really working myself this hard?”

“Considering that we’ve barely met you for more than several days and arrived to this land and age as a stranger, even we think you’re working too much,” the human commented.

Princess Celestia blinked and looked away for a moment before saying, “About that ‘complete stranger’ bit ... . I think I would like to change that to something better.”

The human took a step back, a hand over his heart and made an exaggerated look of shock and horror, “You’re not proposing to us already, are you?”

She didn’t see that he was joking and immediately turned around, her face flushed red. Celestia’s first thoughts was that the human learned enough about Equestrian social behaviors enough to recognize how mares proposed to stallions.

She immediately sputtered, “N-no! No no no no, I wasn- I’m not-!” She stopped the moment she saw his expression and gave an exasperated pout, “Could you please not do that, human? This night was already an eventful one, I would greatly appreciate it if you would stop stirring everypony up.”

All she received was a smug and cocky grin and the human’s response of, “No promises.”

Princess Celestia glared at the human as she continued, “What I meant, was that since you will be staying around Canterlot for a while, well maybe I could get to know you better? I mean, before you came to life, all I know is that you used to be called ‘the Ancient Warrior’ by the scholars of our academies. All I know about you was just the pictures on the walls, and that before Luna’s banishment I used to go down into that place where you sat, and ...”

She hesitated and shifted around in embarrassment before admitting, “I would talk to you and take comfort in your presence with some surety that at least you wouldn’t judge me on what I thought or desired. But ... now you’re more than a familiar statue of my foalhood, you’re a living being who has seen and experienced eras which no pony has! I want to know the ‘real’ you, and not the foalhood companion who I would often run to in order to escape my duties as Equestria’s princess.

“I want to know things about what you like and what you’ve been through. I want to know what your favorite food is, what your favorite color is, what kind of dream you had about who you wanted to be growing up. I want to-”

The human cut her off with a raised hand near the front of her face, causing her to flinch slightly before he stated. “What you’re asking is, ‘Would you be my friend?’”

Princess Celestia lightly scuffed her right forehoof against the castle flooring and grinned sheepishly at the Ancient Warrior, the human whom she had sought refuge with as a foal. “Yes. Will you be my friend?”

The human gave a long, exaggerated hum as he ‘thought’ about it. Which made Princess Celestia reply with an annoyed sound before pushing him with a hoof to his waist, making him move back a few steps.

They shared a laugh before he answered, “Oh fine, we suppose we could have another friend.”

Princess Celestia rolled her eyes. Of course Luna would have been the first to ask him.

‘Not that it is a bad thing, she really does need to make more friends and to see Equestria outside of her studies and guilty sulking ...’ Celestia’s eyes widened for a moment before giving an grumbling sulk herself as she started realizing what Luna, her Majordomo and the human had been doing.

“Something wrong?” The human asked, but was given an unhappy noise and a shake of Princess Celestia’s head as her pride didn’t want to answer how he was right.

Instead, she looked outside, where the moon was shining just perfectly into her bedchamber window. Once she mentally checked with her celestial charge, she gave a brief yawn and stated, “It is late. And tomorrow is the last day before we decide on a course of action, depending upon your answer, human. Either you tell me your answer now or you will say it in the morning, neither Luna or I can keep you secret any longer.”

The human’s eyes glazed over and the colors in his iris changed and spun before he blinked and nodded, “Then we will tell you in the morning, Princess Celestia. Good night.”

“Good night, human ...” Celestia nearly muttered, but was able to say it loud enough to not appear rude. She watched him leave her chambers before looking over to where her diary was. After thinking for a few moments, she dredged up what remaining energy she had left to trot over and wrote about her day into her diary.

Afterwards she gave another yawn, her muzzle opening as wide as physically possible and her yawn sounded much louder this time. She gave one strong flap with her wings to glide over to her bed before using magic to cover herself up with blankets and swiftly fell asleep.

Princess Luna immediately knew her sister overslept.

She was already presented with three things that proved it. First off, her sister’s dreams had been pulled closer to herself and did not respond to her own dream magic immediately. Meaning that Celestia had stayed up longer than she ought to have had and her mind had figuratively ‘pulled the covers’ closer to herself.

Secondly, when Luna awoke and looked outside, she did not see her lunar charge move and neither did she see her sister’s celestial charge rise.

Thirdly, her Lunar Guards were quick to allow entrance to the Royal Butler Reginald Glass and the butler himself informed her that Celestia was still sleeping and ignoring his calls.

Luna sighed as she began to travel through Canterlot Castle to her sister’s bedchambers, which curiously, was on the opposite end of the Castle.

‘Simply another complaint to address unto her.’ She mentally muttered.

Once Princess Luna arrived at her sister’s bedroom door and was allowed in by the morning shift of Royal Guards, she stomped over to her sister’s head and gave Celestia a wake up call in the form of her Royal Voice.

This prompted Celestia to give a shriek while awakening the rest of Canterlot at the ungodly hour of four o’clock.

Once the human and the two princesses gathered for breakfast, he was met with an irritated Princess Luna and a grimacing Princess Celestia who was holding her head with both hooves at the dining table with one of the Castle’s medical personnel slowly casting a curing spell for Celestia’s headache. When he asked why, the mare told him that instantly curing headaches would have caused another headache from the sudden change.

“So even in magic, healing slowly is the better option,” he concluded as he watched Princess Celestia ever so slowly relax as the magic did it’s work, her hooves resting against her head instead of clutching it, and her bared teeth unclenching.

The medical magician nodded firmly, “Most definitely, and it’s typically the same for ponies in hospitals. We are capable of instantly healing more serious injuries, however the patients would have to be asleep for that to happen. It also usually is accompanied with unpleasant side effects, such as pain and discomfort, ravenous hunger, heart arrhythmia. I could go on, but I think we both already see why instantaneous healing is used as a last resort, rather than as a solution to all of the world’s health-related problems.”

“Because once again, either the shock of instant healing or because they would lose all sense of balance, since their minds remember being hurt and thus ‘told’ the body to compensate?” The human commented.

Once again, the mare nodded.

“Thou seemest most knowledgeable about the dangers of spontaneous recovery, human,” Princess Luna rasped, due to her voice being affected due to the sheer force she put it through to wake her sister up.

The human nodded, “We are. During our species’ time on Earth, exerting our power into healing, either for ourselves or for each other and either by our hands and knowledge about medicine or by asking our Lord, usually took place slowly or instantly the moment our minds and eyes aren’t paying any attention. It’s baffled a lot of people when that happened, since before the apocalypse it was near impossible to tell whether it was medicine or miracle. Needless to say, instant healing wasn’t effective as long as people around the wounded were aware or paying attention.”

Princess Luna dismissed some of what the human said, as she wasn’t much of a believer in religion. The rise of cults and religion before and after her banishment had quickly desensitized her to the idea of a higher being.

Instead, she turned her head, placed one blue-silver shoed hoof to her cheek and looked out the window and watch her sister’s sun ever so slowly rise from the horizon, the beams of light coming from it stretching and recoloring many of the clouds that were gathering and coming in.

‘The hour cometh,’ Luna’s first thoughts were, as she considered what was going to happen to the human now, ‘Whereth then shall you go and what manner might thine occupation be, human? Thou art most unlikely to merely settle for a humble home and humble life.’

“Your Majesty Luna?” Luna’s mind snapped back to reality to realize that breakfast was placed just in front of her.

She quickly made a disgusted face once she realized it was alfalfa.

‘Curses, sister! We shalt find revenge for this!’ She sullenly thought to herself before levitating one utensil to pick up her first bite of food. After several seconds of agonized chewing through the dry food, Luna decided to ask the human in an attempt to either delay long enough to skip breakfast or make the taste not as unbearable.

She looked over to the human and asked, “We hath been wondering, human. What might you do once you do decide to live here as a pony?”

The human eyed the Princess before looking out the window. He looked back and stated, “We haven’t given our answer yet, though you will have it soon, Princess.”

Luna scoffed at his deflection, “Nevertheless, we art curious with regards as to what you would do, should you agree?”

The human blinked and seemed to consider how to answer her question for a grand total of two seconds before shrugging with a grin and stating, “No idea.”

Both Princesses stared at him in silence with wide eyes. Out of all the wisdom and knowledge the human stated and shown, the two sisters thought the ‘ancient’ human would give either a long winded answer, a sentence that would have sent the three into a long discussion, but not an ‘I don’t know!’

Princess Luna was the first to take exception to his answer, “W-what doth thou meanest, ‘No idea!?’”

“Its means ‘we don’t know,’ Princess Luna.”

The young alicorn bristled, “We knoweth full well what it means! We demand an answer to why thou wouldst say it!”

The human regarded the angry Princess with a deadpan look, as if what she was asking was more than obvious, “Because we don’t know.”

To Luna, it seemed so out of place for him to admit that he didn’t know what to do with himself in the future. Once Princess Celestia recovered from the human’s strange action, she moved a wing over to her sister to calm her.

Luna still looked at the human in anger, but calmed down enough for Celestia to ask, “I think what my sister wants to know is why you don’t know. During the times that we have shared, you demonstrated a great deal of wisdom and seemed to know an answer to many things, you even did things that were most unusual to what the both of us are familiar with, such as saving Captain Shining Armor from the consequences of your fight with him.”

His expression didn’t change, “Just because we know things doesn’t mean we’re omniscient. Hell, we’re far from it and proud to admit that. Even we’ve had times when we’ve made mistakes, all of them in various degrees from simple and easily fixed to down right atrocious, or had misunderstood things which led to more complicated problems.” Princess Celestia blinked at the human saying this word. She decided it was similar to their Tartarus as both a formal and informal noun.

“Most of what we’ve said or done was either from our own experiences or from others. We taught ourselves to listen, watch, and learn from others experiences,” the human gave a grin as he paused for a moment, “And let us tell you, it’s enlightening to hear from other people’s experiences in failure or success and see how you can avoid the same things they did.”

Princess Luna still glowered at the human while Princess Celestia gave a small smile as she concluded, “So you truly do not know what to do after this?”

The human shook his head, gave a simple, “No,” and went back to finishing his breakfast.

It was still early morning once the human and the Royal Sisters finished eating and being prepared for the day. Though the human still complained about the necessity of dressing him up with even more clothes that would mean little for him, as Reginald Glass had delivered almost an entire wardrobe of human shaped clothing.

He didn’t argue any further about how it was needed to look ‘proper’ in Canterlot’s high standards and being reminded once again about how the seamstresses within Canterlot and their ability to change the clothing to fit any species.

Despite his continued protests as he heard about being given more of the flamboyant garments, he silently relented and walked in his previously given royal clothing alongside Princesses Celestia and Luna to the throne room.

They walked in silence, rather than talking to each other as the three had done several times during the human’s stay. Though Celestia was willing to let the silence stay, she couldn’t help but wonder what he would or could do as a pony.

Not two mental questions in and Celestia started to wonder what the human might look like.

Since the human was depicted and carried himself like a soldier, she imagined that he would’ve been muscularly built like an Earth Pony, maybe even that red-coated and orange-maned stallion that was Applejack’s brother. Maybe she could get him into the Royal Guard or let Luna have him as Captain of the Night Guard ... .

However, the human was lithe, agile, and even quicker than many of the Night Guards. During one match that she snuck out to watch, he was able to dance and weave in, around and about attacks that were thrown at him. He likely could fit in as a Pegasus.

He'd probably be dragged into a heated competition unwillingly against Rainbow Dash, since she was a very prideful mare in being the fastest pony.

But then again, being ancient and ... well, supposedly older than both her and Luna, and being remarkably wise would make him fit in with the Unicorns ... . However, the idea of the human utilizing magic considering his title as Ancient Warrior both frightened, worried, and intrigued her.

Maybe Twilight could do with a bit of competition. She never had an actual rival in magic before and it might push her to greater accomplishments than she had under Celestia's tutorship.

But then again, something told her that the human would beat the poor mare into becoming Equestria's greatest Archmage. Even that thought both worried and downright terrified Celestia.

There was no easy answer to what was going to happen, and that was what scared Celestia the most.

‘A thousand years of ruling Equestria and now I'm about to enter into an unknown future that I will have little to no control over ... .’ Princess Celestia thought silently as the trio approached the doors to the throne.

Even when they entered, no one said anything. The human merely walked over to the very foot of the long set of stairs and stood there waiting as the two Princesses ascended the stairs to sit at their respective thrones.

After several seconds, Princess Celestia was the first to break the silence. She tapped a hoof against the tiled floor and stated, “Human, during the course of a week, you’ve caused a great deal of commotion, regardless of whether you intended to do so or not. Much of it had to be held in secret from both the public and from the nobility while you were given the choice between staying in Equestria and taking equine form, where you would then be placed within the public under our eyes and given a home and find your life from there.

“Or you could refuse and voluntarily leave Equestria, as this kingdom’s nearby allies and neighboring kingdoms and tribes would not tolerate nor be happy of being aware of your species existence within Canterlot Castle’s halls.”

Princess Celestia paused for a few moments to let the words sink in before finishing, “Human, you were given a week to decide and now that a week has passed, it is time to hear of your decision.”

The human himself stayed silent with his eyes closed during the entire speech. When the Princess finished, he looked up and stared at the two in the eyes before he began, "During our time here with your hospitality, we discussed with ourselves and thought deeply about your offer. While we are still hesitant ... on changing our physical appearance, there are a great deal of reasons and many influences both inside and outside of your kingdom.

“Your allies and your neighboring kingdoms clearly do have issues against our current appearance, that much is clear. And it is incredibly unwise to not heed the danger of this world’s attitudes regarding humans. We are not so callous as to let your kingdom suffer merely because we cherish our physical appearance for reasons both personal and cultural.”

He looked over to the side a little before continuing, “During our studies to understand and learn about the world we currently reside in, it was recorded in your tomes that the Minotaur Tribes hold a negative view regarding human mythology and for reasons yet unknown unto us, view us as abominations that call for immediate destruction. Meanwhile, the Yaks and Griffons have exhibited an uneasy and extremely tenuous relationship with you and your kingdom, if the latest literature regarding their cultures are true. Their cultures are described as paranoid and retaliatory when given enough reason.

“Should war break out between this kingdom and theirs, this kingdom would not survive it, even if we allowed our death to happen. Equestria has existed through over a thousand years of relative peace, making you well-known as a ruler, but this has made your military complacent and untested. They are unprepared for any significant attack or invasion. Your subjects enjoy this current state of peace, but at a cost as they have become incapable of repelling any ambitious warlords, or an incensed kingdom.”

The human returned his gaze back to the Princesses, “Not only this, but even if you still allowed us to stay in human form, we would have been advised or demanded to wear covering cloaks or disguises and only allowed to traverse Equestria either during the night or stay locked within the castle, never allowed to see Equestria as a whole, let alone the world itself. Naturally we could and would argue, but this would only lead to us being banished.

“Even worse, due to your alliances with these other kingdoms and cultures, they might request your assistance and continued proof of the validity of your kingdom’s treaties with them, demanding that you assist in ‘the eradication of the human abomination’, and even if we had been exiled from your kingdom, we would be vulnerable to any hostile attack from you. You would be coerced into slaying me, the last of a race which preceded yours and the unique creature that I am, all for the sake of continuing your current peace with your allies."

When the words 'banished' was uttered, Celestia gave a shudder and a barely audible, shaky gasp, a break in her usually calm and collected composure. The memories of banishing her sister were already starting to resurface as her mind remembered the ruling about banishing as a way of trying to divert her episode into something else.

It was rare enough as is to be banished, her sister excluded. By ordering such a thing, it felt like a personal failure to her. That she had failed completely to help the accused to see reason or any chance of peace and that only being thrown out of her kingdom was the only option to help all of her subjects within her kingdom, to be able to live happily.

Luna was quick to notice Celestia's small episode and moved out of her throne and over to her sister and rubbed her side against Celestia's to comfort and reassure her sister. Celestia turned and gave a quick and thankful look to her before returning her attention to the human, thankful that the distance between her and the spot the human chose to stand at was far enough to make her reaction seem unnoticeable.

As was typical for him and his mysterious abilities, the human waited until Celestia’s attention returned to him. Once she did, he gave two hard taps against the floor with his right foot behind him for emphasis, "And that, Princesses, will not do. By any means. You have been gracious and kind, housing this stranger, feeding us, and even asked to being our friend as we tried to learn about this strange new world."

The human's tightened in calm anger, "We did not awaken to this new world and age just to throw it into destruction and chaos ‘simply because.’ We are not of the Fallen, and we refuse to even step towards what they were.

Celestia wondered what the ‘Fallen’ were, but it was clear to her from how the human spat the name, that he despised and held extreme animosity for whatever they had become or stood for as he finished. "If we are to re-discover this world as the pioneers of our kind's history once did, then we accept your offer of transmogrification. Because transforming us to become one of your kind wasn't offered because, ‘it's fun being a pony,’ or ‘we want to know what it's like.’ It was offered as a necessity."

‘Such determination and honesty,’ Princess Celestia thought, ‘He truly means what he says.’

She gave a quick glance to Luna, who's expression had matched to the human's as he gave his impassioned answer and the logical reasoning he had arrived at as he had clearly given this matter much thought. It was clear that his words convinced Luna that the spell was a need rather than a 'want'.

When she returned her attention to the human, Celestia gave a small bow with her head, "Well said and well reasoned, human. Since it seems my sister was swayed by your impassioned reasoning, there is little point in delaying this any longer." Luna flinched and turned her eyes away from her sister, but she couldn't hide the blush on her cheeks.

Celestia nodded, and gave her sister a small look, "Luna."

Luna stayed still for a moment, then sighed and lit her horn as she prepared for her part the complex spellcraft to which she agreed to help her sister with.

"Any ... instructions on our part?" The human raised an eyebrow in confused interest as he saw both sisters light their horns and felt ... something enveloping his body.

Luna gave an unhappy look at Celestia before replying, "Merely remain still, human, and wait until we inform ye that the spellcraft is completed."

Before the human could respond, the two sisters aimed their horns at him and blasted him with beams of magic which appeared to be a mixture of yellow and white and dark blue colors.

The two beams collided and formed a solid opaque orb around the human, who seemed torn between either dodging out of the way or trying to follow the princesses’ advice as he disappeared into the orb completely.

Celestia watched as the orb swirled and mixed with the colors of her and her sister, often making shapes of different types. She swore she saw a bunny for a split of a second before it contorted into something else, it was much rather like watching some sort of bizarre light show that Discord once did for the two sisters as fillies.

Both she and Luna continued to stare and watch the orb play its artistic show for several minutes before Luna asked nervously, "S- Sister? Isn't this spell supposed to have finished within seconds?"

Celestia couldn't help but nod, now starting to become concerned once five minutes had passed. This spell had been used many times before and all of them had usually taken a maximum of twenty seconds to complete.

Now she became worried once ten minutes was reached. She started to go over what might have gone wrong while Luna said, "Sister! We don't believe this was to happen! We ought to abandon the spell!"

"No!" Celestia immediately shouted, a little louder than she needed too. This resulted in both mares flinching before Celestia said in a gentler voice, "No, if we try to abort the spell, it may cause irreparable damage to the human. I think, the best we can do right now is just wait … wait and hope."

Fifteen minutes passed and still the orb did nothing.

Then twenty.

Finally thirty passed before Luna hastily declared, "Enough! We have waited long enough! This spell has been cast for far too long and something wrong must have happened!" Celestia watched in alarm as Luna lit her horn and aimed at the orb.

Celestia cried, "No! Wait!!" before the orb immediately spun faster and started becoming a disc, signaling that the spell had finished.

The two froze and watched as the disc grew, then broke apart and spun away to dissipate and crash against the walls in the throne room.

A large stallion stood where the human had once stood. The stallion's coat was a mixture of ash-grey, black, and metallic-grey. His body was built lithe and thin, matching to his thin human form. What seemed interesting was that the human did not shrink as Celestia had somewhat expected, but rather simply grew outwards from behind.

But what was most prominent and startling was his mane and tail. Instead of a simply matching the colors of his human hair, his mane and tail was like beautiful rays of orange that changed to amber and golden yellow. It was as if his mane had become something of a sunrise.

Sunrise ... That's what his mane is colored like .... his mane has the colors of a sunrise! Celestia realized, ... Sweet Faust, what is he?

It seemed that his mane and tail had taken to such a display, that his coat appeared to be colored like granite while his mane and tail behaved like crepuscular rays of the light of dawn haloing the mountain in reds, oranges, and gold.

Luna looked like she just found a young god in equine form. While Celestia looked as if she just saw something that could've just passed as her brother, had she not known better and had she not been the one to partake in casting the spell.

The large stallion opened his eyes and blinked once before he started to explore his new form. The moment he tried to move one leg, he immediately began stumbling and nearly falling over like a newborn colt that realized he could walk.

After he had made himself stand still, and when Luna and a few guards finished silently snickering at the sudden change from amazingly regal to an adorably awkward sight, the stallion moved his head to see a wing of equal color.

He suddenly unfurled them to an impressive wingspan that was significantly longer than either of the Princesses. It unfurled and stretched upwards, almost reaching the height all the way up to the height of Princess Celestia’s throne and to her horn, if the stallion had been close enough to make the comparison. He inhaled deeply, then stretched them all the way outwards and revealed the wingspan to be around three meters. The sight made the entire guard, and Princesses stare in awe at such a length.

Celestia noticed that the stallion seemed to have had some sort of recognized instinct with the 'new' wings, as she watched him lightly flap. He nearly took off from the floor when he gave a harder beat, then experimentally moving his new wings around in different ways before folding them expertly, rather than fiddling, flailing, and stumbling with them as many pegasi foals tended to do when they realized they had wings.

The stallion sighed before he moved one hoof to rub the front of his head, which caused both Luna and Celestia to gasp as they noticed something they hadn't earlier noticed, so taken had they been by the majestic and wonderful appearance of the stallion.

The stallion reopened his eyes and paused as his hoof hit something in the middle of his equine forehead, he looked around rather calmly before using a window to try and use it as a mirror get a guess as to what was there.

There, in the middle of his now elongated forehead, was a long, thin spiraling horn.(*)

He looked back to the Princesses and calmly asked, "We'd be right to guess, judging from your reactions, this was not supposed to happen."

"N- No. No, that wasn't ..." Celestia nearly whispered behind her hoof.

Luna looked back between the stallion and to her elder sister, "'T-Tia ... ? Why … ? How?"

The stallion went silent as he ran a hoof through his head, touching his horn and mane. He asked, "What was that spell supposed to do?"

Celestia quickly reviewed from memory about the spell as she was once taught by her Mother, "This spell has been used for the rare few travelers who had decided to change their forms, either for asylum, trying to make a new life, or even wanting a change of pace in life. It was supposed to choose which of the three pony tribes of Equestrians the petitioner would best fit into, usually looking at the characteristics, personality, and in one certain case, dreams and aspirations."

"Hmm ... . Perhaps this spell took a long look at us all and simply gave up?" The stallion muttered as he sat back on his rear legs and, after maintaining that he wouldn't fall over, placed one of his forelegs’ knees to his chin in an awkward attempt of making a thinking gesture. He nearly abandoned it when he had to move his other foreleg to balance and steady himself, "Or perhaps what we are ... were, is similar to what an Alicorn is."

This confused Celestia, as despite the stallion's quiet muttering, the throne room's walls provided little protection from even the lowest of noises, allowing her to have heard what he said, "‘Similar?’"

The stallion looked up and blinked before explaining, "It's merely a guess, Princess."

Luna wasn't comforted at all by the stallion's lack of response, "That does not answer my sister's question, Warrior. What did th- you mean by ‘similar?’"

The stallion sighed before giving a level stare with the air of somepony reluctant of giving an explanation, "Even though we appeared like a human to you, we did not share, nor were we bound to the same limitations our Lord had made on his human creation."

Princess Luna couldn't help but ask with exasperation, "Enough with your riddles! What are you then? What is it that makes us the same as you?"

The stallion shifted and hesitated, his eyes flashing at incredible speeds that nearly blended the color within into either white or black. Finally, he sighed and looked down before giving a full answer, "We ... are a being who holds a high rank within our Lord’s Kingdom. An ... a semi-human being ..."

Princess Celestia could barely understand what the stallion was talking about, "What do you mean “A semi-human being?" Do you mean to say you lied about being human?”

The stallion snorted, "No. We began and we were born as a human."

Celestia asked calmly, “Then tell us what you are and how being someone of high regard in your Lord’s hierarchy allows you to stand equal with Alicorns.”

He hesitated again, and fell into reluctant silence for a minute until he looked away and didn't meet either of the Princesses' eyes, “It’s ... something we're not ready to ... share yet.”

Princess Luna bristled at his vague answer, “Again with the ‘not ready’ and ‘not willing!’ Perhaps you are not comfortable to share, as the rulers who are seeing to your safety and comfort, we desire to know what makes you different from the rest of your kind. We desire an answer as to why you are now an alicorn! What and who are you, human? And how have you made the spell decide to give you the equine body that is the symbol of unity between the three Pony Tribes?”

“We don’t know!” The human turned stallion snapped, startling both Princesses, “We don’t know why or how, and all we have is made-up theories and best guesses!”

“Then tell us what you do know about yourself so we may figure out what happened!”

“Child, what you ask of us what we have been ordered to keep secret from mortal understanding longer than our own births!” The stallion declared loudly, almost desperately. His wings flared open in helpless anger and his eyes wide open and the colors in his eyes blazing wildly, stunning the Royal Sisters into silence.

He visibly panted before blinking at what he said and looked down, reigning in his anger and folding his wings once more. The stallion turned his head to look away and refused to meet either of the Princesses’ eyes.

He almost muttered, but raised his voice to let them hear, “We don’t even know if we’ve been given any freedom to talk about it. We don’t know what rules are still in play and what we’re allowed to do yet.” He looked as if he was about to say something else but did not say it.

Both Celestia and Luna blinked in surprise, it almost sounding like he was pleading for them to not press him any further.

‘Ordered to keep secrets? So that is why he’s barely shared anything from his past or his status.’ Celestia thought.

‘Though ...’ The mare recalled, ‘Why was he so hesitant on talking about what he was? Is he lying about being human ... ? No, he wasn’t lying about that ... . Is he unsure if he’s still human, then?’

Then her eyes widened slightly, ‘He’s in the dark more than I realized. He’s using his calm and amused attitude as a coping mechanism to hide his confusion! He's so used to always knowing what to do, and now he's lost and unsure of himself. Just what did those words behind your seat tell you, and why do they frighten you like this?’

She started looking back during the times that she had been looking at the human turned stallion in the eyes. Celestia then started to look past those mesmerizing color wheeling iris’ to try and read his expressions, as she had done so with nobles that tried to sneak their ideas under her nose with a blank stare.

And quickly recognized the small tics and twitches of involuntary movement and his body’s non-verbal communication. It was the same as somepony who was merely holding themselves together with something familiar or comforting to them and simply trying to adapt to an unfamiliar and therefore dangerous environment and trying to figure what to do next.

Celestia sighed and replied, “I understand.” Princess Celestia nudged her sister to accept the former human’s unwillingness. Luna gave a offended glare, but did not say anything to either protest to the stallion's look of askance or to her sister's action.

Princess Celestia decided to change the subject slightly, hoping to get to know more about the stallion, "What about when you said ‘all of us?’ You speak as if there are more of you in this room."

The human turned stallion looked back at Celestia and blinked in surprise, whether it was because he hadn’t mentioned it before, or that he didn’t mean to mention it.

Or he wasn't hoping to answer it and wanted it to go over her head.

’The cat is out of the bag.’ He solemnly stated, ’Should we tell them? Or simply claim that we employ the plural form for addressing ourselves as Luna does?’

’... These ... ponies ... have already treated us kindly, respectable even ... .’

’We’ve already stepped into unknown territory, this new body is already confusing as it is and we’re not going to get any answers or comfort from a Lord who no longer speaks with us.’

The stallion remained still and silent as Princess Celestia waited patiently for him to answer, already recognizing his reluctance.

She started to believe that she might have finally asked too far when he shifted uncomfortably, stumbling again before giving a sigh and said, “We refer ourselves in the plural form for a very good reason, Princess. In fact, it's the only reason.”

Luna turned her head in confusion and asked, “What doth thou mean? Thou speaketh as if thou art legion.”

The stallion gave an innocent look, fitted with a small smile, “Well, that depends. Are ‘Legions’ a single physical being containing thousand upon thousand of minds and souls?”

Both Princesses almost answered and asked at the same time when they caught themselves on what the stallion said.

“Impossible ...” Celestia whispered.

However, the stallion caught on to what the Solar Princess had said, “Not really,” he replied, “It helps if you consider our Lord being responsible for creating an entire universe.”

“That violates all of the rules of logic and common sense!” Celestia exclaimed, “I’ve dealt with foalish cults and fallen ponies enough to know about these Legions, and they’ve always ended in miserable failure. Both for the casters and the souls which were ripped away and placed inside a living body.”

The stallion looked even more uncomfortable and squirmed at being asked how he could possibly become a vessel and house so many within him, “... That’s a ... piece of history you’ll either not learn, never learn, or have to earn our trust to learn, Princess."

His expression returned to a more neutral state, "But regardless we are many ... . In fact ...” he continued with a frown, “you said your spell transformed a being into another physical form, what happens if these ‘Legion’ were transformed?”

Celestia simply stared at the human turned stallion as if he grew four heads, “When I said Legions ended in failure, I meant it completely. Even if I wanted to know the answer to your question, performing the rituals and spells needed to accomplish such a thing is currently both legally banned and socially condemned in Equestria. Not even I nor my sister are above that law.”

“Then perhaps this spell simply gave up after looking at all of us. Unless the spell has given someone an alicorn body before?”

Celestia and Luna both firmly shook their heads, “Neither of us has seen it choose anypony to be blessed in becoming an alicorn. I have seen this spell performed several times and I assure you that the spell was performed without any errors.”

The stallion blinked and shuffled his wings, “We haven’t said anything about the spell not working, that much we know and trust you regarding this matter. But it’s our only guess as to ‘how’ we became an ... Alicorn. It's supposed to observe and judge someone's soul and categorize them into one of the three Pony Tribes, yes? Maybe because we are Legion, the spell had to look at all of us for evaluation and because we all didn’t share one tribe, it didn't know what to do.”

Both Princesses stared at him in silence before Celestia asked, “So you mean to say that you, as a Legion, overloaded the spell and forced it into giving you the form of an Alicorn, which is the physical and magical symbol of unity of all three pony tribes?”

The stallion shrugged, “It’s the best guess we’ve got.”

Celestia groaned and placed her head against her hooves, “Faust, this will cause too many problems. How in Equestria are we going to let you into our society if you’re an Alicorn?”

“Why not say we left Equestria for some odd years and came back?”

Princess Celestia shook her head, still holding her head with her hooves, “No. The last one and a half thousand years were historically recorded, and it’s already recorded as the Decay of Alicorns.”

The stallion blinked and stated, “We don’t recall that within our history lessons.”

“Because that particular part is kept near the door to the Canterlot Castle Restricted Section of the library. It is not necessarily forbidden, but it’s something that isn’t meant to be freely learned,” Celestia replied, “Regardless, simply saying there was one who was older than either of us came back will cause too many questions that shouldn’t be answered. Even if Equestria accepts this, you may end up becoming immediately entangled into all sorts of governmental issues. You may even be used to overthrow both me and my sister and have either somepony else or yourself sitting on the throne.”

The stallion tilted his head to the left and asked, “Then what shall you do?”

A thought suddenly came to him and he added, “Even if you hide us in your castle or out among your civilians, it will only cause more questions from the nobles and anyone else who’ve heard about your venture to our sanctuary. Even then, if you told them about the ‘statue’s’ disappearance, it’ll only make the questions more numerous. Your allies and enemies would become uneasy about our ‘ascendancy’ or if we were discovered while hiding in plain sight.”

Princess Celestia didn’t answer, and his words caused her to stare at the ground as if the golden shoes on her legs were the most interesting objects to her.

Minutes passed before she looked up and stated, “Luna? I need to talk to you in private again ...”

Princess Luna looked over to her sister in confusion before following Celestia down from their throne and into the side room they had used before.

Luna gave a curious glance at the stallion before entering the room and closing the door behind her.

The stallion was left with himself and the Legion within to digest what occurred.

‘This is getting more complicated than it should be ... .’ He mentally groused.

‘Indeed. Maybe it was a mistake to accept the offer. Considering how there’s only three alicorns in Equestria and they all are considered royalty, us becoming one of them is going to put us into an unwanted spotlight.’

'You worry about the attention the most?’

The Legion quickly descended into arguments and fights against each other, three sides already taking place and establishing ‘fronts.’ One side considered taking back the offer and returning to their former physical appearance, the second wanted to push on and overcome this problem and do what they can. The last was little more but the ‘undecided’ few that didn’t know which side to side with.

The fight began to drag on for so long that it felt like literal weeks had passed, as the entirety of the Legion focused all their attention into the three-sided war. One side would gain ground and rallied more to their cause, then an action or impassioned rhetoric from the other two factions would cause that advantage to be lost and turned around.

It was only when one of the Legion noticed that they left their physical body unattended and left alone did they leave their ‘war’ as it was for the moment.

And found themselves on the ground and surrounded by several Royal Guards, three medical personnel and the two Princesses looking at the newly minted alicorn stallion with increasingly worried looks. Princess Celestia looked as if she was helplessly watching a loved one slowly die in front of her.

When the stallion blinked and looked at Princess Celestia in the eye, it made the doctors stare in awe and shock as they watched him begin moving without trouble.

“How long have we been silent?” The stallion asked, as if nothing was wrong.

Princess Celestia began sputtering in shock and confusion. When she and Luna had reached a decision as to what to do with the former human, she found him standing stock-still with the most blank look she had ever seen in any pony.

When both Princesses tried to call to him and tried to talk to him, he didn’t respond or even blink at their words. Of course, Luna became irritated and shouted at him, but when he didn’t respond even to her, the two sisters became concerned about his unresponsiveness.

Celestia urgently called for the castle’s doctors when they tried shaking him and still received nothing.

One nurse, Patch Work, was able to talk, “Y-you’ve been standing comatose for almost an hour! When the Princesses told us of your transformation, some of us thought that the magic had shut your brain down!”

The stallion blinked in surprise at her words. Neither he nor the Legion expected to have argued so heatedly for so long.

He gave a small nod with his head apologizing, “We apologize for that. We had been deep in thought with what’s happened to us, we forgot to pay att-”

Moments later, the stallion realized that his head had sharply turned to the left along with hearing a very loud clap.

He turned his head and found Princess Luna standing in front of him with her muzzle within an inch of touching his, glaring at him with enough venom to kill a city.

“Thou hath worried us and remained as still as the statue thou came from, and the cause of it is merely ‘deep in thought?!’” she yelled at him in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

The stallion closed his eyes tightly and his ears instinctively swiveled backward at the force of her voice. When she stopped yelling, he tentatively opened his eyes to see if she would continued.

Once he was sure that she was done venting, he replied calmly, “We’ve been on the fence over this problem while you two were discussing Equestria’s options regarding ourself between the two of you.”

Princess Luna blinked at him in confusion as he continued, looking over to Celestia as he talked, “Telling the world about us brings both your allies and your enemies attentions upon your nation, and since Equestria seems to be a mare dominant society, a male alicorn is going to bring even more attention given the rarity of our existence. But by hiding us, we run the risk of being discovered and bringing that same attention but with the addition of distrust by both ally and enemy. They will look to your kingdom and ask why you hid us. And regardless of your answer, you would lose their trust for it.”

“How does this explain why you stood as still as a statue and when the nurses looked over you, they reported that you were ... c-confirmed brain dead?” Princess Celestia asked, her voice wavering as she still hadn’t recovered from shock.

“Because that’s what we’ve been discussing with ourselves with, Princess. Unfortunately, we were so focused on trying to figure out what to agree on we forgot to pay attention to the world around us.”

The stallion blinked as he was still met with confused stares.

He gave a small sigh as he attempted to explain, “Are you familiar with mental meditations, mental states where someone ‘turns their focus inward and filtering out external distractions and stimuli’ as certain monks and other meditative gurus preach about?”

It was Princess Luna was the one to answer, “Indeed, W— ... I am familiar with this term, however it occurs more often within the minds of dreaming ponies that are aware of their state of dreaming. Though it is a rare occurrence by the dreamer, it occurs every time when I enter a pony’s dream.”

The stallion nodded, “The word for that is ‘lucid dreams’ Princess.”

Princess Celestia seemed to have an epiphany, as her eyes widened and she immediately blurted with little thought, “You mean that dream was your mental landscape?!”

She blushed in embarrassment when everypony turned their heads to stare at her in bewilderment.

Princess Luna asked, “Sister. Dot— ... do you mean the dream from before the human awoke from his slumber and your impulse to go and see his sanctuary out in the Everfree Forest?”

Celestia nodded her head in earnest, while the human turned stallion asked, “We don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Princess Celestia looked to the stallion and replied, “It was a dream which I encountered repeatedly for some time, though there were a few times it changed, but it was still the same dream. I had discussed with my sister about it before showing her the dream itself when it appeared again.”

The stallion seemed skeptical and unconvinced, “Dreams can mean a lot of things, Princess.”

Celestia shook her head, “Not this one. I can still remember a lot about what was there. One of which was you in your human form along with an uncountable number of others of different clothing and physical sizes.”

This made the stallion raise an eyebrow in curious interest, “What else was there?”

Princess Celestia replied, almost as dutifully as reciting something she had been studying for, “A large expanse of rolling green hills, almost like an ocean of green. There weren’t any trees in sight except for this very large and very tall white pillar.”

The stallion’s eyes slowly widened as she continued, “The pillar seemed to reach past the sky itself and despite the occasional breeze, it stood resolutely still and immoveable. I didn’t see any entrances or windows, so I assume it was a pillar. Besides that, I could describe one of the humans there if you want?”

He stared at her in amazement, “No. You just described the Tower of Eternity perfectly. And you saw all this through a dream?”

Celestia nodded, “I did. Though before Luna came into the dream, there weren’t any other humans besides you.”

The stallion remained silent for a while before nodding, “Then explaining it will be a little easier. Because that was indeed our mental landscape. It is where ‘we who are legions,’ reside and linger. It is also the place where we decide what to do next.”

“And the side effect of deciding there is being placed in a comatose state?” Princess Luna questioned.

“Considering how no one had commented nor took any note about it beforehand and we don’t take much note on what happens when we stop paying attention out here?” The stallion gave an awkward grin, “Perhaps?”

Princess Luna grumbled, still angry at the stallion for making both Celestia and her panic for nothing.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia sighed and waved off the nurses and guards. Now that their guest was alright and wasn’t harmed in the slightest, the medical personnel wasn’t needed anymore.

After the two doctors left and the guards returned to their posts, Celestia moved over to Luna to give a quick nuzzle to her sister before addressing the stallion, “Regardless, it is a relief to know that you are well. Now before we forget, both Luna and I have figured out a way to deal with you and ... this ...” Celestia hesitated as she let her eyes roam about the stallion’s body and mane before forcing herself back on topic.

She briefly looked over to her sister, who had been looking at her in turn. Luna’s expression was still unsure about their agreed decision, almost mirroring Celestia’s worried thoughts about how bad this would and could go.

Luna gave a silent and shaky breath before pressing her side against Celestia’s, assuring her that the two would do the best they can.

Now that she had been given some support, Celestia returned her attention back to the stallion and stated, “Our best option now is to pub--”

“You mean to openly declare to the world about us?!” The stallion nearly yelled in dumbfounded amazement, standing up on all four hooves as he did so.

Princess Celestia nearly flinched, but took pride when she didn’t do so, “Yes, we do. As Equestria is a peaceful nation, we desire to maintain good relations with our neighboring allies and the nations beyond them. It would communicate to them that we wouldn’t hide something such as discovering a male Alicorn from the world.”

“No, no it wouldn’t. But it most certainly will put all the spotlight in the world on us because we’re a male Alicorn. You said yourself that Alicorns were rare enough as is, and because of a female dominant society, it makes the males all the more rare to you. You do realize then, that mares all over Equestria and perhaps some of the females of other nations will start gunning for us and our hand for marriage because of our current form and gender?!”

Both Princesses closed their eyes at his words, before Celestia replied, “Yes. We’re painstakingly aware of what would happen. However, despite how Equestria is mare dominant, it is still upon the stallions to accept or refuse offers of marriage and it is still upon the mare to tender such an offer. It’s how both my sister and I have avoided any political marriages and political ties to our kingdom’s nobles or those outside of Equestria, my greatly distant nephew Prince Blueblood aside ... . You said you were of high rank in your Lord’s reign, surely you are no stranger to the limelight?”

The stallion snorted, “Because the limelight didn’t matter in His Kingdom, and humanity as a whole was still struggling with their own problems and had different views on what they wanted to believe in. Yes, we were of high rank. But outside of His walls and with the rest of our kin, we weren’t known to anyone. The governments and Central Intelligences certainly knew us, however.”

Princess Celestia thought about questioning the stallion about that last sentence, but decided to put that aside so she could convince him to go along with her plan, “Regardless of the attention it will bring on you, it’s our best option that won’t enter Equestria into conflict with other nations of this world.”

Princess Luna added, “On top of that, sister. It may give us more chances to make allies with other nations and give better standing amongst others.”

The stallion snorted again, this time annoyed, “Not twelve hours and already, you plan to use us for cultural commerce?”

Luna visibly flinched at his jab, “That ...” She tried to find a reason to defend herself against his question but came up with nothing.

Instead, she fell silent with her gaze looking down.

Celestia replied resolutely, “It wasn’t what we wanted, but it was the only option that had the greater benefit, both yours and ours. After all, we still stand as Equestria’s ruling diarchy, and we desire what is best for our land and our civilians. Neither of us want to use you, and neither did we see you as a tool of anything, but this is the best offer to what we can do for you, human.”

The stallion gave a small glare at the two Princesses for a while before closing his eyes and giving a slow nod, “Fine,” he muttered audibly, “But we won’t like it.”

Princess Celestia sighed and trotted over to give a comforting nuzzle to the stallion, though he flinched back at the unfamiliar gesture and still unfamiliar to the more physical social attitude of Equestrian society.

It didn’t let Celestia stop her from gently hugging him.

After a few silent moments, Celestia moved her hoof off of the stallion and stated, “All that’s left now is a name for you,” she gave a small giggle as she added, “We can’t keep calling you ‘stallion’ or ‘human’ now, can we?”

The stallion begrudgingly added, “It wouldn’t hurt to keep it that way.”

The two Princesses laughed at his comment.

Celestia asked, "Nevertheless, you still need a name to be legally identified by and use during your stay here in Equestria," She gave a sly grin and added, “Unless you would like the both of us to come up with a name for you like parents do?”

The alicorn stallion laughed at that, “No, mother.”

He fell silent for several minutes while Celestia and Luna snickered at his retort, especially how he drew out the last pronunciation.

The stallion shifted slightly before looking out the window, both to see his new form as well as the bright and sunny day outside, as the three had spent all of morning and well into mid-afternoon with his transformation and what to do about the new problems it presented.

Silenced reigned in the throne room for several minutes as the Princesses nervously waited for the new alicorn's name.

Princess Luna gave a small, irritated noise before asking, “I do wish you find a name soon enough, unless you wish us to keep us standing here until the next dawn.”

The stallion suddenly twitched, as if startled by Luna’s call.

Then he began to look down, his eyes flickering left and right as an idea came to him.

Just as Celestia was about to chide her sister for being impatient, he turned back and declared, "We've just decided what to name ourselves:”

-{[Omake]}-

Both Princesses stared at him in silence before Celestia asked, “Wait a moment, you mean to say that you overloaded the spell and forced it into giving you the form of an Alicorn?”

The stallion smiled, “Yeah, so?”

Princess Celestia’s eyes widened in shock, “But ... that’s against the Alicorn rules!”

The stallion gave a bigger grin and declared loudly, “Screw the rules, we have souls!”

Author's Notes:

(*)(Newly named Rising:) Alright end of the chapter, Koolaid-boy. Up the gallows with you.

Alright, alright. Before you hit that Thumbs Down or leave in disgust, lemmie explain myself and give a bit of attention for it.

Yes. Yes I did.

(Rising) Yes, yes he did.

While in hindsight, this wouldn't be a surprise, since I've already established the Legion to not be hard to consider the idea that there isn't one pony tribe that Rising could've fitted as, even in consideration with his allegiance.
However, there will be a pretty significant difference.

(Rising) Oh boy, nerfs!

Also no, Rising will not be solving all of Equestria's problems like what a lot of stories have done, that I can assure you.

There will be some places and events where Rising will either be around or involved, however he will not be kill-stealing any of the Mane Six's glory (Including Spike, I will spoil you that he will have his spotlight) so they won't be so radical like many other.... stories about OCs that got "granted" a new status.

Just... Bear with me. It'll get better past this.