"Twilight. A letter from Celestia just arrived." Spike ran over to her with a scroll in his claw. The purple Alicorn, Twilight Sparkle who had just recently received her crystal castle was still looking over the map she was making of the castle.

"Hold on..." She drew out another room on the parchment she held in her magic before turning to him. "What did you say Spike?" He frowned as he held out the letter, showing it was from Celestia and without a moment's hesitation she took it and read it.

"Dear Princess Twilight. First off I would like to say congratulations on the new castle. I would like to see around it sometime in the future but I'll be very busy for the next few days. Which leads to my next and most important point. The time I have right now I wish to use to tell you and your friends something very important, something only myself, Luna, Cadance and Shining armour know. Please gather them and meet me in Canterlot." She closed the scroll up and looked at the map she had of the castle before placing it on the table in the main room.

"Spike. Let's get our friends. Celestia wants to meet us in Canterlot. Whatever it is, it seems important." She wrote a quick letter to tell Celestia they were on their way and had Spike send it before they ran out of the castle to gather up their friends.

It was a few minutes later that they were all gathered up in the castle as Twilight was going to explain to them what she could, even with the little information she had. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was clearly annoyed as she had been woken from her sleep and it was no more than 24 hours after they had finished off Tirek.

"So what is this about anyway? We recently defeated Tirek and you got a New castle in Ponyville. Please don't tell me there's another bad guy we need to beat."

"Celestia said she wanted to tell us something. Something that only the other Alicorns and my Brother knew about. If you want answers then we best not stall. Everypony ready?" With a smile from them all and a nod from Dash she teleported them all to Canterlot.

They were teleported right into the throne room where Celestia was waiting with Luna. When she saw them she stood up and walked down towards them and Luna did the same.

"Twilight. It's great to see you again. How does it feel being a Princess with your own castle?" Twilight was unsure how to respond and after a few seconds she just said one word.

"Overwhelming." Celestia chuckled when she said that as she remembered back to when she took up the rule of Canterlot.

"You'll get use to it." Luna nudged her, her expression showing she didn't want to make small talk. "Alright. Now, I'm sure you want to know why I called you here."

"Is it another bad guy?" Dash said and the rest of the mane six all looked at her with a glare. "What? I'm being serious." Celestia reassured her it wasn't what she thought it was.

"No it's not Rainbow Dash." Celestia closed the throne room doors and looked at the guard mares in her throne room. "Ladies. What you're about to hear, doesn't leave this room. Understand?" They all nodded. "Good. Now Twilight. You know how society works, with Stallions and Mares?" Twilight nodded.

"Yes Princess. It's a mares duty to protect her Stallion and care for him and it's the Stallions duty to provide foals for the next generation. While it is true that there is no law that is holding Stallions down, there is only very few that attempt to step out of what's expected of them as it's become something of a norm. It's also to do with the gender imbalance as there is almost 10 times more mares than stallions so they have to be protected to make sure this doesn't get worse." Celestia nodded at her explanation.

"Do you know how our society became like this?" Twilight nodded.

"Yes. You said it was to do with a war. There were so many stallions in the military in the early days of pony kind that after dealing with Sombra and after the great species war they were very few in number." Celestia nodded again.

"After that the percentage of stallions went from 51% down to 19%, but as you know that war almost eliminated half of ponykind. The only ones who didn't fight were either to young, old or too sick and we only had a very small amount left in the military at the time. It was then that mares started to help stallions with their work but over time the work became more mare dominant and society shifted. The original idea was that stallions and mares weren't shamed from doing what society didn't expect of them and a healthy growing population. If a stallion back then wanted to wear pink then he could but it wouldn't shame him as a stallion."

"But there's something I don't understand. The gender ratio was almost a perfect 50/50 before the war. How did it change?" Celestia was surprised Twilight knew that as it wasn't a subject she expected her to study up on but she smiled and gave her the answer she was looking for.

"That's something I have been keeping a secret. When Discord was defeated, he used a powerful scroll to upset the gender balance. Ever since his defeat there have been more mares being born than stallions. I wanted to reform him to not only give him a second chance, but to reverse that spell. However..."

"What? What happened?"

"The scroll he got was from his father. Who's magic is much greater than his own. With that scroll and the magic in it, he was able to cast the spell and the scroll was destroyed after it's use. The magic was used and it disintegrated. So now Discord can't reverse his prank for at least another 100,000 years. Then he will be the same age his father was and his magic will be on the same level." Twilight's head jumped up, she got an idea.

"Can't Discord be given our magic to reverse it?"

"No. Our magic is unlike his. You saw his magic was different when Tirek ate it. So we can't help in that regard, and what Tirek did is different from what we did to power you. You mentioned it in a way to use our magic to boost discords magic. Tirek ate magic and used them together. Not to boost a single one. We did try to track down his father...but..." Celestia held her head down.

"I see. Thankfully, as I said when it comes to the law we have, it's not bent to a certain gender." The others nodded with Twilight.

"It's also not what my parents wanted. My father protected my mother a lot and there were even times she protected him. For a while my parents were the inspiration for the younger society years of pony kind and then my mother had twins." Twilight's head jumped up at this and Celestia smiled as she had a feeling she knew what she was thinking. "What is it Twilight?"

"Twins? But...Luna is your younger sister. So..." Celestia chuckled.

"She had twins twice. I have a little brother and a twin brother." All of them gasped at this, even the guards and some of them dropped their spears.

"WHAT!!?" They all screamed at her, even the guards. Celestia quickly shushed them and now even the guards were more interested in what Celestia was telling rather than their actual duty.

"If you don't mind me asking Celestia...where are they?" Celestia's smile dropped.

"My twin brother has his own kingdom. He met some ponies who were in trouble and helped them out. They looked up to him as a king and over time their small village became a large city across the ocean. He now rules his own kingdom. But the reason he met those ponies in the first place was because he was out looking for...my younger brother. He and Luna did everything together, they had the best brother and sister relationship I have ever seen as even my twin brother and I fought sometimes, but they almost never did." Luna spoke next as Celestia was having a bit of difficulty speaking about it.

"After my...banishment I heard from my sister about what happened. He ran away as my banishment was devastating to him emotionally. But even now that I've been back for some time, we haven't heard from him or any rumours about another Alicorn. Twilight and the rest of you. You have never failed us so we ask you, if you find any leads about a male Alicorn with a white coat and blue hair. Please let us know right away." They all nodded at her request.

"What about his hair?" Pinkie asked. "You and Celestia have fancy hair so what will his hair be like?"

"We don't know. An Alicorn with this kind of hair shows they have a large amount of magic at their disposal and he was still a teen when he ran away. So we have no clue what his hair will be like. Whether it will be like mine was when I returned or different." Celestia felt like she could speak now.

"Twilight. I'm counting on you. If you hear about or see any male Alicorn matching what you are being told. Tell me right away."

"You can count on me Princess."

"Oh and Twilight. Please don't try to herd him. You or your friends or any f the guards who are listening right now." Twilight blushed at that. It was not uncommon for a stallion to have many mares watching over him. Not just to protect him but it was also a way to try and help with the gender imbalance and to reduce the amount of lonely mares.

"I won't. I promise. But what if he has a mare? What if he got married?" Celestia smiled and chuckled.

"Well then I would like to meet her." Rarity stepped out from the group.

"Is there anything else we should know about him?" Luna nodded.

"Yes. He's adventurous. He always loved exploring and liked to do it alone. We would usually catch him leaving his room at midnight sometimes, just to walk around the castle at night to experience the different atmosphere it brought." This caught their attention as it was almost unheard of for stallions to be alone. They had a mare with them at all times when outside with only very few exceptions. One of which was her brother Shining Armor as he was well trained, he knew how to defend himself and was well educated in many combat styles. That was one reason it was not uncommon to see him alone, the other was that any poor mare who tried anything on him would meet Cadence's bad side.

"Alone?" Rarity's jaw dropped as Luna nodded.

"Yes, and if he hasn't been in contact with society at all then he will likely be a stallion of old. So don't expect him to be like a normal one. He will more than likely be a fighter and a tough one at that." Luna and Celestia walked back to their thrones.

"Good luck my little ponies." Twilight stepped forward as she had one more thing to ask.

"Princess. Are there any leads you have on him? Like where he could be?" Celestia shook her head in sadness.

"I'm afraid not Twilight. I have no clue where he is, but I have a strong feeling he is still alive, somewhere." Celestia said while looking out the window.

"Princess. Why did yah keep him a secret?" Applejack asked as she stepped forward.

"After I lost him, I sent guards out to find him and they came back empty-hooved and injured. I searched for more than 10 years for him but the guards spread stories of him and the story of a Male Alicorn in the changing society was seen as silly. Soon the story faded and was forgotten about. Imagine the commotion and shock the country would be in if I made this public. The last thing I want is hunters or others that could harm him to know about him." Applejack stepped back and Twilight had one last thing to ask.

"One last thing Princess. What's his name?" Twilight made sure to get his name.

"Flare Solis but we just called him Sol."

"Alright. This should be enough." A white Alicorn was currently standing in a forest, holding 4 tree logs with his magic as he wiped sweat off his forehead. The axe he used to chop them down had been embedded into one of the trees that he was carrying and with the logs now held in his magical grip, he took to the skies and headed to the crystal mountains. Before he reached the crystal empire he made sure to fly up higher and used the clouds to avoid being seen as he made his way home.

After another hour of flying Sol made it back to his house which was a small wooden cottage nestled in a cave in one of the mountains. He did have another house but he left it as it wasn't very good with it being his first one and it being on top of the mountain rather than in it so it was much colder. He put 3 logs down before he took out the axe and chopped the 4th one in half and took it into his house.

The house wasn't made with anything fancy but he learned how to use tools in the years he had been alone and made some furniture through trial and error. Most of the stuff was made from either wood, stone or clay but he wanted it to be like that as if anyone found it then it wouldn't stand out or be fancy in any way.

He chopped both parts in half again and again to get 8 pieces which should last him for a few days. He placed some of the wood under a bathtub he managed to salvage and clean out from a scrap yard. He put another part to the side to be used once those pieces were used. He put 2 more beside a fireplace that was a nightmare to construct but he managed to make it by using a fire spell on mud after he placed rocks in them.

The last of the parts of the log he had he placed under his bed to be used when he needed them and with that done he settled down. As he did this he removed the spell he had on himself that took him years to learn. It was a spell that shrunk him down so he could pass off as a normal pony, cause with him being an Alicorn he was much taller than normal ponies. He looked over to the coat rack that he kept a green coat on that he would wear whenever he went out for a wonder but he never interacted with anything he came across.

As he looked out the window he saw that the sun was setting which means it was time for him to turn in but before he did that he went to the bathroom and used a simple illumination spell and looked at himself in the mirror. His coat was scruffy and his glowing blue hair was messy and his wings were dirty but other than that which showed he needed to wash himself tomorrow, he didn't see any difference.

"No bugs?" He checked on his legs and wings for any possible parasites but found none. He went to his kitchen and ate a quick apple before he decided to turn in so he closed the curtains over the single window he had and hopped into bed and soon fell asleep.

"Now you understand? If you don't act now. He'll move on." Luna had just explained to a shy mare what will happen if she doesn't come clean to somepony she likes.

"I...understand Princess."

"Then don't hold back. You need to confess to him but not to strongly." With that said Luna left the dream.

As she wandered around the dreamscape she saw ponies she knew, some she didn't and some she had forgotten. It wasn't easy keeping track of who's dream was who's.

She did have some organization when it came to her dreamscape however as the dreams location in the dreamscape were a hint to where they could be in the real world. She saw all the citizens of Ponyville and their dreams were all close together while her sister's dream was surrounded by the dreams of all the citizens and guards of Canterlot. Even the Crystal Empires dreams were organized and grouped together so this took some weight off her chest.

As she looked around the dreamscape she saw a small group separated from the rest and went to them only to find out they were campers spending the night in a park together. Luna turned and looked around at the dreams and was about to leave when a light caught her eye. She looked over to the light and approached it but as she did she had to pass the dreams of the Crystal Empires inhabitants to get to it.

Whoever this pony was, they were alone and quite far from everyone else but before Luna could check on the dream, she heard her alarm go off and was shot wide awake. Angry that she was woken up so suddenly, Luna drought her hoof down on the alarm clock hard which not only turned it off but knocked of across the room.

"Stupid alarm." Luna got up and got changed into her royal gear.

Sol opened his eyes and smiled when he saw the light shining in through his window showing morning had already come.

He dashed out of his bed and headed to the bathroom where he used a fire spell on the wood that he placed under the tub yesterday and as it heated up he headed outside and broke off a large piece of ice before returning and placing it in the tube to melt.

As he waited he decided to get look at himself in the mirror and see what he needed to focus on cleaning. His blue hair was getting long and he needed to cut it soon but just as he thought that his eyes wandered to the axe he keeps next to his fireplace.

"Should I?" He picked the axe up with his magic and decided to do it so he held the sharp side away and the flat side rested against his neck and started using the axe to cut his hair. His hair was still long but not to the point it was half way down his neck like it was a few months ago. "I guess that'll do." He waited for the ice to melt before he took the pieces of wood out from under the tub and threw them in the fireplace and washed himself.

He was in there for about 25 minutes, mostly because he had to thoroughly clean his large wings and dry them off as he would be using them to fly and wet wings in cold mountain air are not very good. As he got out he took his towel, cleaned it out in the bath water before he took it and placed it away from the fire.

Before he made his way out he used his spell to shrink himself and put on both his jacket and hat so he looked like a pegasus and not an Alicorn. While he can't remember much about his younger years he does remember being told that Alicorns were ponies who were Royalty or on very rare occasions, those who had done such a huge heroic deed or many of them that they were granted the title of 'Champion of Equestria'. A title that was on par with prince and princess in terms of honour. But with him being in isolation and not planning to end it anytime soon he had no clue how many Champions Equestria has had.

He stepped outside and took out his map to see where he should explore today. The name of a place called Ghastly gorge caught his attention but he needed to pass Canterlot and the Crystal empire. He saw Manehatten, Hollow Shades and a few more towns. While he tried to avoid towns and live off the land he started to feel bad. As he stepped out and looked out over the mountain ledge he saw the Crystal empire in the distance and much further south of it he saw Canterlot.

"Celestia...You're probably worried sick about me." After he ran away he did find it scary at first but he soon got use to it and the more he lived by himself the happier he felt after he got over the death of his first friend. He explored this world for years after his friend died and after he lost his first house but most days he was either getting things to be using for repairing his current house or furniture or to be used as fuel for a fire.
It was hard but he liked it as he felt free, but recently he has been thinking back to his big sister and how the worry she felt is probably eating away at her.

He looked at the Crystal empire in the distance and felt a part of himself push him there but part of him wanted not to go. He turned around to look away from it but that only made the pull stronger as he hasn't explored a town in years and especially not during the day. He heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the empire but as he looked in it's direction he saw colours flashing in the air and heard more explosions.

This sealed it for him heading to the empire, so he ran and jumped off the mountain edge before taking flight towards the empire. He was just too curious to see what was happening.

As he approached the empire he made sure he didn't forget to cover his horn and also checked to make sure the shrink spell was still in use and he was happy to see both were as he wanted them.

He saw ponies were gathered in the centre of the city, around the large Crystal building that was surrounded by houses in a circle shape so he landed on the outside the house circle and walked in between them to keep himself hidden.

"Attention Everypony!" He heard a voice shout and it sounded female. He peeked his head out and saw something that caught his attention. The one who spoke was a Pink Alicorn and she was wearing a crown. "I am so happy to announce that you will all soon have another Princess! For I, Princess Cadence, am pregnant!" The entire crowd erupted into cheers and more colourful explosions happened which caused Sol to look up at them with wonder.

"Excuse me. Are you alright Miss?" He heard a voice from behind him and turned to see a female guard looking at him, but when he turned to face her she gasped.

"Can I help you Miss?" He said cautiously to her.

"Oh my dear, what are you doing here alone? Where's your mare?" He was confused and didn't give an answer. He just stood there in thought, wondering what she meant by that.

"Are you asking where my wife is?" He asked and she nodded. "I don't have one. I'm single." She gasped at this again and looked sorry for him, which only confused him more.

"Single and Alone? Not even a caretaker? Were you abandoned? Come with me and we'll help you find someone." She offered a hoof to him and she looked genuinely upset when she heard him say that but he just looked at it and didn't move. This was his first real interaction with any pony in decades, perhaps even centuries and it felt very strange. He didn't remember getting treated like this around Celestia or when he walked the streets of Canterlot as a teen.

"Did I shrink myself too much? Does she think i'm a foal? No, it can't be. I'm still a little taller than her and she asked if I had a wife and foals don't have wives. I understand society changes but...this is insane" He thought to himself but then he saw the mare guard take a step back and put her weapon down.

"See, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you. You don't need to be scared of me." He was scared of her but not cause he was afraid of getting hurt, but of being discovered so he took a few steps back but this only made her look more worried for him. "W-wait." She called out.

"What?"

"Why are you scared of me? I'm not going to do anything bad to you dear. Please, follow me and we'll find you a loving mare who will take care of you." He raised an eyebrow when he heard this. What was she trying to do to him?

"Actually..." He looked at the crowd who were still cheering and looked back at the guard. "What's happening?" The guard mare seemed confused by his question.

"You mean this celebration? Princess Cadence is pregnant, meaning we will soon have another princess. Isn't that great?" She said with a smile but this only made him more confused.

"Who's Cadence?" He swore he heard glass breaking as the mares eyes opened wide and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks almost instantly when he finished asking that. But she soon went back to normal and giggled.

"Oh, you're a joker who likes to play hard to get." She laughed but as she did there was another voice. This one was male.

"Private, what are you laughing about?" The mare turned around and stood at attention after quickly picking up her weapon.

"Sir! I was just helping this stallion. He said he doesn't have a mare." A white unicorn came down the alleyway with another 3 mare guards around him and they all looked at him oddly.

"A mareless Stallion?"

"He seems scared. Even when I put my weapon down he seemed to back off." The unicorn guard looked over his clothes which were clearly dirty and ruffled.

"Who left you like this? Whatever mare did this to you, she will face a heavy punishment." Sol was getting a little annoyed with others thinking he had a wife so he told them straight.

"Listen. I don't want and have never had a mare. I have lived alone and separate from society, so please stop asking me if I have a mare." They all looked at him before laughing.

"Looks like we have a comedian. A stallion separate from society? That's a new one." Sol felt his muscles tense up. He just wanted to show them just to shut them up, but that would only attract attention to him so he played it cool.

"Listen. Just leave me alone. I feel happier when I'm alone." He turned around and started to fly away. He decided to wait a few more years and see if society changes to something he understands rather than what it is now. But as he flew up he was blocked by 2 mare guards.

"Please don't do this. You need a mare to love you." They had their hooves on his shoulders and were gently pushing him back to the ground. As this was happening in the air and some ponies in the crowd saw it which soon caught the attention of everypony there, even Cadence. Who now walked up to the white unicorn stallion.

"Shining, who is this?"

"A lone stallion. Mareless. From the clothes he seems to have been abandoned. He's also a joker, told us he lived alone and separated from all forms of social contact." Cadence laughed when she heard that before she approached Sol, who turned to look at her after the 2 mare guards wouldn't move.

"Do you have a name?" She asked in a calm motherly voice.

"I'm..." He hesitated for a moment. If he said his real name then it might come back to bite him. "...s-snow white." He said the first thing that came to mind but he soon face hooved when he realised what he said. "No...I mean I'm Winter Blaze."

"Well Winter Blaze. Just come with me and we'll find you a someone to take care of you." Cadence put her hoof on his back and he backed away from her. "Oh...you have no cutie mark? You poor thing. How much hardship have you gone through?"

"I'm not weak. I've been living alone for years." He got the same reaction as before. They just laughed at him.

"I'm sure you'll make a mare happy with your jokes." He felt the 2 guard mares gently nudge him. Trying to move him forwards but he didn't move so Cadence lifted him with her magic. "Just relax, You'll be with a lover or, a few soon."

Sol's patience was thinning and he was about to shout at Cadence but what he heard next made him lose it.

"I wouldn't mind watching over him." A mare from the crowd said and he just closed his eyes and let his anger boil. He spread his wings and using the strength from his anger, he flapped his wings hard which caused a gust of wind to blow through the area. This caused Cadence to lose focus on him with her magic and drop him.

He dashed out of there as quickly as he could. He was so focused on getting away that he took flight back to the Crystal mountains instead of taking the opportunity to hide.

As he looked back he saw Cadence following him. He knew he couldn't lead her back to his house so he flew around the mountains. Going under ice stalactites and even went up to the clouds only to drop right down in a nose dive and pull up before hitting the ground.

He looked back behind him again and saw she was still following him so he looked around the area for something to lose her.

"Please stop!" We're just doing what's best for you!" She called out to him but to no success. Sol saw a cave and made a dash for it and she followed him. The cave was a large one and it was quite dark so as he entered it he almost crashed into a wall and had to take a sharp turn but his wing hit off a wall which caused him to tense up and land on the ground.

He looked at the cave entrance and saw Cadence entering it so he looked around quickly and saw a small hole in the roof. He flew up to it and managed to get into it before his wing gave out from pain. His wing wasn't broken but it was injured.

He remained silent as he heard her hoof steps enter the chamber and wonder around. "Please come back! Why don't you want help?! Are you hurt that badly?!" Her voice echoed as it bounced many times in the cave and she soon walked further in. After about 3 minutes he did his best to get out so he held on tightly and dropped from the hole. He didn't waste time getting out as he went to the entrance but stopped. With his injured wing, she could follow his tracks in the snow.

He took a deep breath and jumped before flapping his wings. As he did that he felt pain shoot through them but he held on and went off too the side of the cave on the outside and buried himself in snow. He hopped this would be enough to lose her.

He lay there for what must have been minutes until he heard echoes of wing beats coming from in the cave and held still as Cadence flew out and looked around.

"Blaze!? Where are you?!" She looked around frantically and he could hear Cadence was panicking. "Oh no, Oh no, Oh no. I lost him. He's all alone out here. He could get hurt!" She was saying to herself quickly and looking around some more. He has been hurt out on travels before but being an Alicorn does have a few special perks.

She flew upwards and looked around but didn't see him and couldn't see any tracks. She started hyperventilating and flew back to the crystal empire.

When he couldn't hear her wings flapping he pulled himself out of the snow and started his journey back home up the mountain.