Author's Notes:

Please Read First

After talking to some who read my story and finding flaws, I changed the first chapter slightly. Not much was changed but I added more to the story.

Also, this will be the last chapter of this story for a little while. I am going to focus on the other 2 for the next few days

It took some time but Sol finally made it back to his house. He had to walk for a good distance before he felt like he could fly the rest of the way and while he felt his wing get slightly better to the point he could fly, he was still slow while flying.

When he got back he realised he had to hide his house as they might send out a search party so he looked around and found some boulders and moved them into the cave before using a basic ice spell to freeze them before he picked up more, placed them on top of the other ones and froze them too. When it was over he looked at it and it looked just like the rest of the mountain. He did leave a small hole to use to get into the cave so he entered that small hole before he moved another boulder over the front of it.

"That should do it." He thought back to the Alicorn who was chasing him. That Alicorn wasn't his older sister Celestia or his Twin Sister Luna. Not his parents or anyone he knew, so how was she an Alicorn? What did she do to earn it, or was she a natural born Alicorn?

"How much has society changed? It's like it's upside down and inside out." He rubbed his injured wing as he made his way into his home. He needed to calm down and think this over so he got more wood and placed it under the tub but then he remembered he needed ice and to empty it. He levitated the tub along with him as he went back outside before he emptied it over the edge only to see it turn to ice and smash upon hitting the rocks below.

He took another piece of ice and headed in, carrying both of them with his magic. He placed the tub back down and the ice in it before he set the wood on fire and waited.

As he waited a thought entered his head, making his heart sink. Could that Alicorn he met mean that there were new Alicorns? Was Celestia still around or was she overthrown? Was Luna still on the moon? He felt panic enter him as he worried for Celestia.

"Celestia..." He didn't know what to say as that thought haunted him. Was she overthrown and killed? Did she die thinking he ran away because he didn't love her. "That's not true!" He screamed to the air. His body was twitching in his panic as now that he has seen society and how alien it was he worried about so much more stuff.

"I need to go. I need to make sure she's ok and get this off of my conscience."

It felt like it took an eternity for the ice to melt and he did what he did before. He threw the wood in the fireplace to start a fire but this time he added some coal he kept off to the side to the fire. He picked up the towel and headed to clean himself up.

Cadence had just arrived back at the Crystal empire and Shining ran up to her when he saw the look on her face. She looked terrified and was hyperventilating.

"Honey, what happened!? Where's Blaze!?" All the crystal ponies around the area looked at her for an answer.

"I...I lost him." All the ponies heard that and gasped, causing gossip to start spreading throughout the crowd.

"You lost him? How?"

"I have no clue. I searched the cave I chased him into but I couldn't find him at all." Shining armour looked worried when he heard her explanation.

"Should we organise a search party?" Cadence nodded her head.

"Yes. We need to find him. The poor dear's probably terrified and hungry." Shining ran to the guard barracks to get a squad together.

Cadence was determined to find this stallion and find out what was wrong with him so she went to pack supplies for a long search.

Shining later returned with 20 guards. 17 mares and 3 stallions. 7 unicorns. 9 pegusi and 4 earth ponies.

"Good going honey. Now let's find this stallion." All of them started to head to the crystal mountains. The unicorns teleported the earth ponies and the rest just flew up to the mountains.

But Cadence ended up stopping when she saw a very familiar unicorn, who was now an Alicorn and 5 others also going up the mountain.

"Twilight!" She shouted and flew down to her.

"Cadence!" Twilight shouted and as they went up to each other they did their dance.

"Sunshine, Sunshine. Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." They both resited in unison

Both fell on the ground laughing after they did their dance and the rest of them just watched.

"What are you doing in the crystal mountains Twilight?" Cadence asked.

"My new castle. Remember the map I found out about. Well it wanted all of us to come to these mountains for...something." Twilight looked around and saw a few guards and her brother. "Shining!"

"Twily!" They ran up and hugged each other.

"BBBFF. What are you and Cadence doing here?"

"We are looking for a lost stallion. Cadence chased him, but he managed to get away." All 5 of her friends looked upset when they heard that.

"A stallion out here? Alone? I can't believe it!" Twilight looked more curious than upset.

"There's no way that the map would send us if it was just a stallion that a few guards could find. There must be some other reason. Who was this stallion?"

"Winter Blaze." Cadence told her and this just made Twilight even more confused.

Sol was pacing back and forth in his living room, the thoughts he had before his bath still haunting him. He was still at war with himself as to if he should go to Canterlot as he wanted to but part of him didn't cause of how society was like at the empire.

"I can't...I'm going. I need to make sure my big sis is alright." He tested out his wing and he was happy to see it was getting better. It would take him a while to reach Canterlot at the speed he would fly at and he's certain he would need to stop for a rest along the way so he looked back on his map for a location that wasn't the Crystal empire.

He saw a place called Neighgra Falls that was a little south of the Crystal empire and foal mountain which was close to Canterlot. Smiling, he put the map in a bag and placed the bag on his back. He put a few fruits in the bag for the trip there and the trip back.

He put out the fire and left his towel on the rack before putting his coat back on and a hat to cover his horn. Then he shrunk himself to pass off as a normal pegasus pony and left.

He moved the boulder that was covering the exit and slipped out before covering it over again. He stood at the edge and took a deep breath and with a smile he spread his wings and took flight. He flew upwards until he was in the clouds and rested his wings to the side before he let himself fall, using his wings to glide for a while.

He smiled as he felt the wind on his face and flowing through his hair that his hat didn't cover, making sure to keep it secure. It was a pleasant feeling that he had never gotten tired of in all his years of traveling. He beat his wings to take flight once more before he almost hit the ground but as he flew he made sure to stay away from cities and roads and only travel over forests and mountains.

As he did that he found himself slowing down to take in the scenery around him but saw a sign in the distance.

It read. "Welcome to Neighgra Falls" He stopped flying and decided he might as well check this place out while he rests so he walked in the direction the sign was pointing. When he turned the corner he saw a huge waterfall that must have been bigger than even Canterlot castle and as it fell it reflected the sun's light, giving off a shine like a diamond.

"I...can't believe I've never been here before." He walked up to the edge of the lake at the bottom of the waterfall and looked across it to see a multitude of fishes swimming in the water. Looking up at the top of the waterfall, Sol decided he wanted to see what it was like at the top so he took flight and made it to the top. The view at the top was spectacular not just with the view of the surrounding land but also the large river at the top that went over the edge.

"Wow. This place was made naturally? No interference from pony kind?" He didn't realise that there was a security guard close by who saw him and walked up to him.

"Excuse me." Sol turned to face the security guard to see it was mare with an orange mane and a brown coat.

"Yes Miss, Can I help you?" He asked with a smile.

"Are you...alone?" He nodded. "Where's your mare?" He lost his smile when he heard that. This was a repeat of what happened earlier in the crystal empire.

"Not again. You too? I thought I told that pink cotton candy pony Cadence that I don't need a mare. Never have and I'm not looking for one." He realise he raised his voice a little and the mare backed away slightly so he sighed and decided to apologize. "Sorry about that outburst. Just stop asking me if I have a mare. I'm sick of it."

"But...Stallions have mares with them all the time." This caught his attention.

"Wait...what?"

"Because there is so few stallions compared to mares, we mares have a social duty to accompany and protect our stallions, at least until this gender imbalance is fixed. I mean sure there is no law that says a stallion can't be alone but it's become so common in society that it's mostly just done subconsciously." He decided to try and get as much information as he could from her.

"I've been living alone. I have never really been to a town as I was taught how to self sustain at a young age so...can you tell me how things work?" He asked and she looked a little shocked.

"Sure. Have you heard of the great species war?" He nodded. "Well in that war almost 70% of the stallion population was lost. As a result when this happened Society slowly changed. Mares took jobs that stallions usually did and because we had so few stallions, we started to do things to keep them safe such as think that stallions should always have a mare. This caused some mares to become upset because the odds of finding a lone stallion were so small, so herds were made where many mares shared one stallion. This kept the mares happy and it made stallions more protected."

" Wait, so what is the stallion percentage now? What do stallions do in society?"

"As I said, there is no law stopping them from doing anything a mare does but they are expected to be part of a herd and populate as much as possible, and as well as protect and raise the kids. It's our duty as mares to keep them happy. As for what their percentage is now, sadly they are less than 10%." He was shocked to hear this. He knew stallions were very few after the war but to hear they had dropped in number even more was scary.

"How did that happen? How did they get so low?" He asked.

"There were a few reasons. After they war, many stallions either stayed in the military or didn't settle down to have kids cause of the trauma they got in the war. Before the war, the birth rate in Equestria was stagnant. Some years there was an increase in births, some years there was a drop. This in a way, stopped over population but the balance had been greatly shifted thanks to that war." Sold nodded to show he understood her."

"Right. Keep going." The mare told him the rest.

"Birth rates went into the negative and have been like that for a while. Then some mares who were in the government suggested that Stallions stay out of work to get the population up again. They protested by not doing what the government said, so they kept doing their work and not what they suggested. This resulted in the biggest decline in birth rates ever seen and this was around 300 years after the war."

"But how? Stallions and mares had an almost 50/50 birth rate."

"That's just the thing. None of us. Not even Equestia's top scientists and magicians know what is causing this gender imbalance. Now the birth rate is around 15% for stallions and 85% for mares. But some places are worse than others. For instance, the town that has the worse imbalance is ponyville. Where there is 1 stallion for every 20 mares."

"But...Stallions can still do everything a mare can. Right?"

"Oh yes. There is no less rights or less opportunities for stallions out there than there is for mares. Most just stay with the current culture. If you never knew this then it likely comes as a surprise. Sure Celestia has a spell that allows for mares to have children. But the one born will also be always a mare. The reason this spell isn't used is for 2 main reasons. The first off is with the decline in stallions, mares started to see them the possibility of them not exiting anymore and they didn't like that idea. So they started to form groups to protect the few ones that were still around and even the government started to support families much more. Guess that's why we are so protective of Stallions. We don't want them go extinct. As for the 2nd reason...well, last time we tried to let magic take over something that Nature itself controls, it ended in total disaster."

"I see. Thanks." He said with a sigh but then he remembered something. He was finally talking to somepony and getting answers so he could get one he's looking for. "Celestia? A white Alicorn with a multicoloured mane? That ring any bells?" Sol wanted to make sure that she was talking about his older sister Celestia and not a pony who took her name after dethroning her but when he asked that she burst out laughing and fell to the floor.

"Ring a bell? She's our Princess and rules from Canterlot with her sister Luna who returned from her banishment only a few years ago." His head jumped up when he heard this. Luna was back, his sister and the one who understood him the most.

"Luna's back?" She looked at him bewilderedly.

"Yeah, she is. How could you not have known when it was the biggest news in...forever?" She asked.

"I told you. I live separated from social interaction." She now looked upset and sorry for him.

"How have you lasted so long without any interaction with others?"

"I like to explore." He left it at that. The mare was looking over him without him knowing. She looked at his face and neck then at his front hooves and back hooves. As she looked over him she started to blush at his frame. He looked well kept and strong, not lazy and she didn't see any scars but his coat did look a little ruffled.

He stood there in silence, looking over the falls as the mare behind him didn't move. He then heard her gasp and looked back at her and saw her looking at his flank.

"You don't have a cutie mark?" He looked at his flank and he shook his head.

"No, I don't. Wait...why were you looking at my flank?" She blushed deeply and giggled when he asked that but he just looked away, not wanting to know. The mare walked up and sat beside him and looked over the falls with him.

"Nice view. Isn't it? I remember when my mother brought me here as a filly. This place was a newly opened attraction and it just recently got improved." Sol looked around and saw the walkways were still made of metal that was unstained. Not dirty in the slightest.

"It gives a nice sense of peace." He closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

"Sure does. You said you isolated yourself from society. But you're here so you are no longer isolated. Is this the first place you have decided to visit?" He shook his head.

"I visited that Crystal Empire not far from here but I got strange looks, so I ran away. By the way, thanks."

"For what?" She asked.

"For not trying to take me away. Just talking is nice enough for me." Sol told her.

"You're welcome." He sat there for a few more minutes with the mare. He felt mentally prepared to go to Canterlot now.

"Anyway. I should get going. I need to be in Canterlot soon." He stood up and said goodbye before he took off. As he looked back he saw her staring at him but she soon waved and turned around and walked away.

Twilight and Cadence had been looking for hours but they still couldn't find the stallion they're looking for. Twilight was getting a little worried for said stallion but also couldn't help but wonder why the map would send them to the mountains just to find one stallion.

"Where could he be!?" Twilight asked in frustration and turned to look at Fluttershy who was listening to some birds in a nearby birds nest.

"So Nothing? Alright, Thank you for your time." Fluttershy flew back to them. "They said they haven't seen any pony come up this mountain today."

Cadence groaned in annoyance before she sighed

"How did I lose him? I don't get it. He went into a cave and just...vanished." Cadence sat down and rubbed her forehead. While this was annoying her, she had to make sure not to give up for this stallion's sake. "Come on. We will look until dark."

They all set out to go further up the mountain.

Sol kept flying towards Canterlot. He was determined to make sure that Celestia was alright as even hearing it was not enough. He needed to see she was alright for himself.

He was almost at Canterlot and thought about what to do as he landed on a tree to think.

"Alright. If I go in alone I will likely attract attention. If I fly then the guards will likely see me, and this technically isn't my home as my old home was the old castle so breaking into the house of my sisters wont be good in terms of family matters."

He peeked his head out and looked around for something to use and his eyes landed on a stand that was selling clothes. Mostly self made costumes but one caught his attention that would be perfect for hiding him. It was a cloak with a hood but the colour was awful. It was a greyish colour but it wasn't the worse in the pile.

"Wait a moment." He reached into his coat pocket and felt some gold coins. Pulling them out of the pocket he saw he had 5 coins but one he remembered he had in his pocket since he ran away. While the other 4 he found on roads as he wondered around Equestria and some locations beyond it.

He saw the price was 3. But he didn't know what 3 it was talking about. 3 Silvers? 3 Golds? What was this currency called? He wondered if he should approach her and ask for the cloak as he didn't want another mare asking him about 'where his mare was'

He decided to try something he never has before and cast a spell on his throat.

"Hello." His voice sounded like a smoker so he tried again

"Hello." It sounded deeper so he tried again

"Hello." His voice sounded just like a mare so he flew over her and landed in a bush behind her. "Excuse me." The mare selling the clothes jumped in surprise.

"Hello? Is somepony there?" She asked as she approached the bush.

"Yes. I was wondering. How much is it for that cloak." He levitated a bit over to it and circled the cloak with it.

"It's worth 3 bits." The mare was confused as to why the customer was hiding but he then levitated 3 bits in front of her.

"Is this enough?" She nodded but he added a 4th bit before he took the cloak. The seller was about to ask why but Sol beat her to the punch. "Why did I give you 4? If anypony asks. You saw nothing." He walked out of the bush wearing the cloak and he felt happy as the shadow cast on his face from the shade concealed his identity.

He walked into Canterlot castle and looked around. This place was much more fancy than the previous castle they had and they usually didn't have many visitors but as he looked around he saw a lot of ponies looking at different artefacts and pictures of ponies he didn't know.

One of these pictures was one ladled 'Wonderbolts' and it was a bunch of pegasi in uniforms lined up and saluting. As he looked at it he started to wonder where Celestia was so he walked further in. There were a few normal ponies and guard ponies around but it was somewhat empty.

He wanted to make sure Celestia was here so he changed his voice and talked to a mare guard.

"Excuse me. Do you know where Princess Celestia is?" The guard looked at him.

"She's out making appearances right now but should be back very soon. However Luna is awake if you want to speak with her." His heart jumped for joy when he heard Luna was back and he thanked her before he moved on.

He entered what he thought was a dining hall decorated with large windows, a stage, a statue and tables. Needless to say he thought this place was impressive but it was almost too much for him. He wanted to see Celestia and head back home.

As he wondered the castle there were a few off limits areas that he just had to leave. The only places that were accessible were the first and 2nd floors and the dining room so he waited at a table for awhile and just looked around the room. He was offered some tea for no charge so he accepted and took some.

As he closed his eyes his mind wandered to the times he decided to live alone. Celestia had just banished Luna to the moon and when he saw that happen he ran into the Everfree forest. He mostly survived off of what little fruit he could find and even what little edible plants he could find. He got sick a few times but he also recovered quickly.

He had no clue how long he was in there for until he came across a stallion in the forest. This was back when stallions weren't like they were today and this stallion was a farmer who lived off of the land by himself.

His name was Grand Harvest, a Earth pony with a brown coat and green hair and with a cutie make that was 2 tomatoes next to each other. He was caught by harvest when he tried to take a few tomatoes from his garden but harvest stopped when he saw he was an Alicorn and let him have the tomatoes he took.

He spent years with Grand Harvest, the two of them became best friends but they also never left to visit any towns or cities since everything they needed to live was all supplied by the land. He died around 40 years after they met and Harvest left him his home.

Sol buried him behind the house and lived in that house for a further 120 years. He had to move out when the elements wore it down to the point that just stepping on the upstairs flooring broke it. It was then that he spent a few years trying to repair it.

He wondered the Everfree and used his magic to rip trees out the ground and used his magic to cut it, which resulted in large chunks of burnt wood that were not pretty to look at. For a while after that, he trained with the spells he knew to try and improve them to not have burnt wood and try to get a clean cut, but it didn't turn out so well.

It must have been at least 3 years after that when he was out exploring that he saw a road bellow with a cart getting pulled and as it hit a bump an axe fell out, which he later took and used to cut trees down to repair his house.

This cycle of cutting and repairing happened 2 more times and he lost count of the years that passed. It was after the 3rd time it happened that a storm unlike any other passed over the Everfree and his house caught fire. He was asleep at the time and woke up to find the house in a blaze.

He couldn't save his house but he did his best to stop the fire from spreading by using a basic ice spell on the fire that blew off his house and onto other trees. When that was over he was tired and drenched so he did the best thing he could think of and that was fly to the closest mountain and sleep in a safe spot.

This is when he felt something. The loss of his house meant he needed another and he had a whole world to explore. In a way this caused him to feel happy. So far the only exploring he had done was in the Everfree but now he could go further, so he flew and flew. He went wherever his heart took him and after 5 or so years of having no specific home he found a cave in a mountain region that had a great view.

This would become the home he currently had and it took him around 2 years to make. Mostly from burning and removing rock to make more room and from trial and error in making his home. Over the years he repaired his home a lot of times but it was mostly from fires as spells backfired when he was trying to better the spells he knew.

It was the same routine, Go out and explore. Come back. and train every few days and repair it every few years. While he didn't interact with others, he did watch from a distance sometimes and the biggest shock to him was one that happened not that long ago when he saw a giant crystal tower appear and some strange dark fog going over it until a light seemed to destroy it.

A few months passed and he got curious by the cheering in the empire and went to check it. Now he was here, wanting to see his big sister Celestia.

"The Princess is back!" He heard a guard shout and he looked to the entrance and his eyes fell on Celestia. She was taller than he remembered and her hair was longer but other than that she was just how she was 1000 years ago. As he looked at her he couldn't help but smile and he wanted to speak to her, but doing that so suddenly could be bad so he just sat at his table and took a sip of his tea.

"Hello all my wonderful subjects. I trust you're all enjoying your time visiting Canterlot Castle?" She looked around at them and as Sol saw her gaze going over to him he ducked under the table. He had a feeling she would see through his disguise.

He waited there for a few moments before he heard a voice that made him happy.

"Sister." The voice was clearly Luna's and he looked out from under the table and saw her. "Welcome back. How was your trip?"

"Wonderful, Luna. But why are you awake right now? It's earlier then your usual time." She asked and Sol slowly crawled out from under the table and tried to get to the entrance. It was at this moment a scroll appeared and fell between them.

"From Twilight?" Celestia read it.

The scroll was Twilight explaining their situation of looking for a stallion in the crystal mountains and she is asking her if she was aware of any town up in the mountains.

"Not from what I can recall. The crystal mountains have always been a dangerous place, so nopony would be living there." She whispered the next part to Luna. "But apparently there is a stallion lost in the mountains."

Luna's eyes widened and Celestia didn't overlook this.

"Luna? Do you know of this?" She nodded.

"Yes. I saw a dream north of the crystal empires dreams. Somepony is living there." Celestia looked worried when she heard that but her attention was caught by a mare shouting.

"Careful!" Celestia, Luna and all the other ponies turned to look at the cause of the noise. They saw a pony in a cloak had almost been hit by moving furniture so both of them went to the incident in the hallway.

"What happened?"

"My bad Princess. I'm not use to carrying heavy furniture." One of the Castle maids said to them.

Sol was worried more than ever at the moment. He feared Celestia would see through his disguise so he kept walking slowly to the exit but the moment Celestia's gaze landed on him she felt something that she couldn't put her hoof on.

"Excuse me. You, wearing the cloak." He stopped and started to sweat. What was he to do? Fly? Run? Play fool? He didn't want to face Celestia and explain why he didn't come back after all this time. Sure he could say he had a lifestyle he liked and he was upset but he was so cut off from her that he didn't even know when Luna came back.

"Yes? Can I help you?" He made his voice mare like and didn't turn around.

"If you don't mind me asking my little pony, who are you?" He felt his legs start to shake, not sure how to answer. He looked behind him and saw a crowd of ponies in the room and looked back at the entrance and saw another crowd looking at him from there too.

If he revealed himself here he had no clue what the repercussions would be.

"I'm...i'm...snow white." He used the first name from before.

"Snow white. Can you pull your hood down so I may see your face?" He realised now that he had 2 choices. Reveal himself, or run. There was no way to talk this out, if there was then he didn't know how.

He sighed and turned around, looking at Celestia through the darkness that the hood produce to cover his face.

"I'm sorry." He whispered so only they could hear it, he then spread his wings and took flight as quickly as he could. Flying over the crowds.