Year 8 of the 2nd Diarchy, 6th day of the Southern Solstice
Personal Journal, entry 14

Last night’s research was very productive. I am exhausted from the sigil teleportations, but I was able to obtain information that I would not have been able to get any other way. I am going to rest for a few days before teleporting again; five ‘jumps’ in short succession may have been overexerting.

This has become so far removed from what I had expected. I’m not sure if any of my previous knowledge of the princesses is even close to correct.

Volume 105 turned out to be the final book of the study, and as such is a generalized overview of the entire research project; this is probably the most valuable of the three volumes that I obtained.

I knew Celestia was hiding something, but the true nature of the princesses is beyond anything I could have imagined. According to study 612718, Celestia and Luna were born to a pair of unicorns approximately 1,900 years ago. Before they were born, alicorns were completely unheard of. As a result, they were taken captive by whoever the ruling family or government was at that time; I’m not even sure that this area was called Equestria at that point in history. The princesses are, in fact, twins; which is something I had not suspected. Any public information indicates that Celestia is the older sibling. I believe that Luna’s thousand year banishment accounts for their difference in size and emotional maturity.

At the time that this research was conducted, there would have been limited knowledge of genetics and no knowledge of DNA manipulation or mutation. I suspect that the princesses are the product of a freak genetic mutation, since genetic engineering at that time would have been impossible; in fact, genetic engineering to that degree is still impossible. A tissue sample would be required to confirm that suspicion; something that will be most difficult to obtain covertly.

Volume 23 is mostly physiological data detailing how they gather and channel so much power, and their ability to heal and regenerate themselves.

The majority of the explanation of their immense magical power is beyond my understanding. The research indicates that they have an innate connection directly to the source of energy that feeds the leylines of the world that all ponies draw from; whether passively in the case of earth ponies and pegasi, or actively in the case of unicorns. I’m not sure what this energy source is; the books only referred to it as the beyond. I have a strong suspicion that the energy source is closely linked with void between the firmaments that I have traveled through during sigil teleportation, or possibly one of the firmaments themselves.

Unicorns have naturally occurring conduits throughout their bodies, acting as collectors for latent energy emanating from the leylines, and then channelling the energy through the horn. The princesses do not possess these conduits throughout their bodies, but a large bundle of these ‘collectors’ located at the base of the skull. Apparently having these conduits concentrated to one area as such amplifies the ability to draw magic to the point that they will bypass the latent energies and reach out to the source of the energy. As I said, the mechanics of how it works is beyond my understanding at this point.

This research was conducted when the princesses were relatively young (around 100 years of age), well before they usurped power over Equestria. Apparently, the full potential of their power had not been realized at that time. The researchers knew that they had a natural affinity for magic that was unmatched, and they also knew that Celestia and Luna aged very slowly. It was nearly fifteen years into the study before the cause of this was discovered.

This ability to channel such massive amounts of magic is the source of their slow aging and pseudo-immortality. Celestia and Luna both have the ability to channel enough energy passively that the majority of the cells in their bodies are able to repair themselves without any conscious effort on the part of the princesses.

Volume 98 deals primarily with the princesses’ amazing telekinetic ability.

Now, this is one of the more interesting things. Everypony knows that Celestia and Luna control the sun and moon, but before they did, how were they moved? Is it as the Hearth Warming stories say and it took teams of unicorn mages to control the heavenly objects? Or perhaps it was at one time a natural phenomenon? Did the sun and moon even orbit the planet? Celestia overriding the natural order may be one of the reasons she and her sister were able to seize power so easily.

I say easily, but I don’t know for sure. The Royal Pony Sisters may have likely had a full-scale war on their hooves when they made their move. The only ones that know for sure are Celestia, Luna, and possibly Discord. It was a very long time ago, and I have come to realize that no accurate historical documents from the time exist. Texts on the founding of Equestria are obviously revisionist histories commissioned or possibly written by the princesses themselves.

I haven’t been able to go through all of my notes yet, nor have I read the entirety of the three volumes of the study on the princesses. If the information I’ve obtained so far is any indication, there are at least three things that hold true: they are not gods, they are not immortal, and they are not the rulers of Equestria by divine right.

I am still unsure of how to break the spells protecting the books of study 612718. This is most unfortunate, as my friends will begin arriving today, and I won’t have the books to convince any of them to help me confront Celestia. I will continue working on it, however. They will be needed if I am to bring this information forward to anypony that can help me; be it my friends, the civilian government (if they have any true executive power over the princesses), or th—

Twilight looked up from her journal when she heard the knocking from the main room of her apartment. The low, eastern sun poured through her bedroom window, perfectly outlining the door in a golden light. With a yawn, Twilight rose from her desk, absentmindedly teleporting the journal to a safe place.

Leaving the relative comfort of her quarters, she walked across the main room of the suite. The door glowed with a magenta aura and slowly swung open, revealing two ponies. Twilight’s face went slack.

“Applejack? Rarity? Wha—”

“Mornin’ sugarcube! How ya been?” Applejack cut in with a smile.

Twilight looked back and forth between her two friends. “Uh, good. I wasn’t expecting you until later this evening.”

“Yes, well, Applejack and I decided to take the overnight express,” Rarity informed Twilight. “We couldn’t wait to see you!”

The mage stood motionless, staring wide-eyed at the two mares in front of her. Applejack’s smile faltered and Rarity tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes in an appraising gaze. “Are you okay?”

Twilight shook herself from her dazed state. “Y-yeah… I’m just surprised to see you here.”

Another awkward moment passed as the three friends watched each other.

Applejack quietly cleared her throat and leaned to look around Twilight into the apartment. “Uh, I hate to be pushy, Twi, but…”

“Oh!” The mare smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry; please, come in.” Twilight stepped to the side and pulled the door open fully. “I’ve just got so much to do before the ceremony tomorrow, and there’s not a lot of—”

Rarity waved a hoof at Twilight as she walked into the apartment. “No no no. You don’t need to apologize. I know how you are about keeping to your schedule; so we thought we would just drop in for a quick ‘hello’ and be on our way. The vendors and shops of the Upper District have so much to offer.” She turned around to face Twilight, who had just shut the door. “Applejack and I arrived early and unannounced. If anything, it is we that should apologize to you.”

Twilight spun away from the wooden slab. As she turned towards the room, a panicked realization pushed forward in her mind. There was no cloak over her back, and she had just turned to expose her right side to her friends. Maybe neither of them noticed. She continued rotating her body until her left was facing them.

“Heh—No need, I’m glad you made it early. Although, I do have a lot of work to do before the ceremony tomorrow,” Twilight said, her nervous state bleeding through in the words.

Whistling low in approval of the luxurious suite, Applejack began wandering around the large room, inspecting the colorful pictures and ornate tapestries adorning the walls. “Pretty fancy digs you got yourself here, Twi.”

“Yeah, I guess being Grand Magus has its perks.” Twilight scanned the room for her cloak with no luck. “So… uh, how are the girls?”

Rarity lit up in jubilation. “Oh! You wouldn’t have heard yet. Sweetie Belle has been accepted to the Canterlot Academy of Music. She starts next semester… I’m so proud of her; I mean, with all the crazy schemes those girls were always coming up with it’s a wonder any of them survived long enough to get their cutie marks.”

Walking over to the pair from across the room, Applejack spoke as she approached. “Apple Bloom decided that she’s gonna start a machining shop in Ponyville. Should be a good business; the family is gonna invest in it so she can buy her shop and equipment. Right now anypony needing parts for busted equipment and such has to have them shipped from Canterlot or Manehatten.”

“That’s great, I’m really happy for them,” Twilight said with a smile. “What about Scootaloo?”

“Scootaloo has been housesitting for Rainbow Dash and still working with the Ponyville weather patrol. She’s doing quite well for herself… Now then, what about you, Twilight? How have you been?” Rarity asked, attempting to mask the concern in her voice.

“Fine… Great! I-I’ve been… great. All my training has been keeping me very busy, and now I’m more involved with the administrative side of things and… uh, research.”

“What sort of research?” Applejack chimed in.

“Oh, you know, magic… stuff,” Twilight responded slowly. “Actually, I can’t really talk about the work I do.”

“Surely, you can talk about it with your best friends.”

“No, Rarity, I really can’t. Almost all of what I do deals with top-secret government projects, and I am explicitly prohibited from talking about them to anypony that’s not directly involved in the projects.”

“Oh, I see. That sounds absolutely intriguing. Now then, just one last thing before we get out of your mane.” Rarity took two steps towards the mage with her eyes wide and her brow knit with worry. “Twilight… be a darling and turn around for me, I thought I saw something when we first got here.”

So much for not noticing.

Applejack looked to Rarity, confused by the odd request.

Twilight’s purple eyes darted around the room as she tried to come up with a reason to not comply with her friend’s request. When she decided no acceptable excuse existed, her head sunk slightly as she slowly turned to show her right side to her friends. Both mares attempted to stifle their gasps as Twilight’s cutie mark came into view.

Rarity recovered from the shock first and moved towards the mage. “My goodness, Twilight…what in the world happened to your beautiful cutie mark?” she asked softly as she gently placed a hoof over one of the large, ragged scars.

“Nothing. It was just a small accident at the lab. It’s really not as bad as it looks,” Twilight said with a forced smile.

“Nothin’? Land’s sake, Twi, it looks like someone tried to cut your leg off!” Applejack retorted, leaning in to get a closer look.

Twilight took a step back, moving her tail to cover her cutie mark. “I said it’s not a big deal. It was an accident caused by myself, and it healed up just fine. I’m fine.”

“Well, alright, if you say you’re fine. It just looks plum painful.”

“Very well, enough of this nasty business,” Rarity declared. Then leaning in towards Twilight as though they may be overheard, she spoke again in a low conspiratorial tone. “You know, I heard an interesting rumor about you, Twilight... Is there something you want to tell us about?”

The mages pupils constricted to pinpricks as her eyes opened wide in shock. “I-I-I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Rarity smiled coyly. “I think you do,” the unicorn said with a wink.

Relax, she is speaking of Fireshade. She thinks we have a marefriend.

“You mean Fireshade?” Twilight asked innocently.

What had begun as a small smile, now beamed across Rarity’s face. “Oh, so that’s her name? And when will we get to meet this special somepony of yours Twilight?”

“Where did you even hear about her?”

Applejack made a step forward. “Uh, we stopped in an’ saw the princess before we came here. She’s the one who told us how to get to your apartment… and she may have mentioned a few other things.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, this cover story was beginning to get out of hand. “Great, now Celestia is telling everypony about my love life.”

Opening her mouth to speak again, Rarity was stopped short by a loud, fast rapping at the door. The three ponies looked at the door. A forehoof raised up to meet Twilight’s forehead. And that’s going to be Fireshade.

The door flung open without invitation. In the hallway outside the suite stood Fireshade. “Hey Twilight, you were late; so I thought I should come find...” The pyromancer’s words trailed off as she walked into the apartment and took notice of the other two mares. “...you. Uh, friends of yours?”

“Yes. Fireshade, this is Rarity and Applejack,” Twilight said, motioning to her two friends.

Fireshade looked at the two suspiciously, barely concealing a scowl. “Nice to meet you. Twilight speaks quite highly of her old friends.”

Applejack and Rarity both craned their necks back simultaneously, aghast with the outward hostility of the yellow unicorn.

“Well, uh... it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, as well,” Rarity managed to say with her usual grace.

Applejack stood motionless, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

With an uncomfortable giggle Twilight moved towards Fireshade. “Heh, uh... If you two would excuse us for a moment,” she said as she pushed the yellow mare back out the door into the hallway.

The door shut behind them and Twilight looked her in the eye, speaking in a hushed tone. “What is wrong with you?”

“I dunno... I just don’t like them,” Fireshade stated simply through pursed lips.

Twilight growled in frustration. “You don’t have to like them, but you don’t have to be mean to them either.”

“But you’re my friend now, Twilight. They want to take you from me.”

A sigh crossed Twilight’s lips, and she placed her forehooves on Fireshade’s shoulders. “That’s not going to happen. Besides, I can have more than one friend... so can you, for that matter, okay?”

Fireshade looked down to the floor. “Okay.”

“Now then, I’m going to be very busy the next couple of days, so I need you to do a couple things for me.”

The yellow mare’s face lit up as she lifted her head to look at Twilight. “Whatever you want, Twilight.”

“Alright, you got the books I asked for, right?”

Fireshade quickly nodded in response.

“Good, I need you to start working on a solution for the mechanical to biological energy transfer. The sooner we can get it working, the better.”

“No problem!”

“Okay. Second, you need to continue administering the GL compound to subject two so we can begin the behavioral experiment next week.”

“Already been doing that.”

“Excellent. I’ll see you at the ceremony tomorrow then?”

“Yep!” Fireshade exclaimed excitedly.

“Okay.” Twilight turned back to the door. “Good luck with the engineering, Fireshade. I hope to see some good progress when I get a chance to get back to the lab.”

“Thanks! See ya later, Twilight.” Fireshade galloped down the hallway, presumably heading directly to the dungeons as Twilight re-entered her apartment.

Rarity and Applejack had opted to take seats at the large table in the middle of the room while they waited for Twilight. They both looked to the unicorn as she came in.

“I’m sorry about that; she gets kinda possessive,” Twilight said with an embarrassed blush evident on her cheeks.

“It’s quite alright, Twilight. It was just rather surprising, is all,” Rarity said, waving a hoof.

Applejack looked to the white unicorn with a brow lifted. “Quite alright? Somethin’ seemed pretty off about that mare.”

Rarity gasped. “Applejack! Do show some manners. We don’t even know Fireshade, you shouldn’t says things like that about ponies.”

“No,” Twilight said before Applejack had a chance to retort. “It’s okay. Fireshade is... a little, uh... different. She tries, but she just doesn’t get along well with others.”

“I’ll say,” Applejack stated simply.

“So, you two were going to go to the market this morning?” Twilight asked, attempting to redirect the conversation.

Rarity smiled. “Yes, do some shopping, get lunch, and then go to the train station to meet Fluttershy and Pinkie when they arrive.”

“I think I may join you.”

Applejack looked to Twilight. “I thought you said you had a lot of stuff to do?”

“I did, but my schedule just opened up a bit,” Twilight said with a smirk. “One of the nice things about being in charge is that you can delegate tasks to others.”

“Well, alright then! Let’s get goin’!” Applejack exclaimed with a big smile as she stood from her chair.

Rarity also got up from the table. “Yes, let’s.”

The three friends left the apartment and headed directly to the Upper District’s commercial sector.

After signing the last of the small stack of forms required to transfer the majority of the authority and management responsibilities of the two research laboratories to the new grand magus, Arcana looked down to the small stack of bureaucratic paperwork. As he stared blankly at the forms, his thoughts drifted to Twilight Sparkle. Maybe the princess was right. Perhaps it is just jealousy, and I am seeking something that is not there to stop Twilight from taking her position, he quietly pondered.

Several sharp knocks sounded through his office, snapping his mind back from its wandering. Arcana pushed the small stack of papers to the corner of his desk to be sent to Princess Celestia for final approval and looked towards the door.

The unicorn released a prolonged sigh before acknowledging the disturbance. “Come in!” he said loudly with a growling voice.

The door opened, exposing a white pegasus stallion adorned with the ornate golden armor of an officer of the Royal Guard. The soldier walked across the office with a determined purpose in his step. Stopping directly in front of Arcana’s desk, he spoke with the authoritative voice of a military commander. “Sir, the weekly patrol of the castle’s outer perimeter found something this morning that you should probably see.”

Arcana raised an eyebrow slightly with interest. “Oh? And what might that be, Lieutenant?”

The officer shifted nervously. “Uhm, I think it would be better if you came with me rather than have me try to explain it, sir.”

“You do realize I have plenty of my own work to do without trying to do the job of the Royal Guard as well?” Arcana growled while hoofing through the next stack of papers on his desk.

“Yes, sir. However, I wouldn’t be here if we believed that we could handle the situation without your expertise.”

The grey unicorn looked up to the officer again. “You’re going to need to give me more than that, Stark.”

With a sigh, the pegasus spoke. “I haven’t seen it myself yet, sir, but the unicorns I sent to investigate after the initial report say that it looked like an area of the mountainside had been melted.”

“Melted?” Arcana asked in disbelief, rising from his seat and making his way around the desk.

“Yes, sir. Also, there appears to be a large amount of residual energy, but they are unable to determine a source.”

“What else?” asked the grey unicorn, levitating his cloak over his back.

Glancing nervously around the room for a brief moment, Stark answered slowly. “Uh, nothing else, sir... Other than they asked for you by name.”

Arcana moved around the officer and began walking towards the door. “Very well, let’s go.”

Stark quickly turned to follow Arcana out the door. “It takes some time to get to that area, sir. Are you sure you don’t want to wait? It isn’t going anywhere.”

“We need to go now, Lieutenant. The residual energy you spoke of is diminishing with every passing minute.”

Stark passed the unicorn in the hall and began to lead him. “Yes, sir. This way.”

The route around the mountain was extremely circuitous and seemed to continue on forever. A full hour passed in silence as Arcana and Stark made their way down the path from the castle grounds towards the scene of the investigation.

Arcana stopped and looked back at the overgrown road curving behind the mountainside in the distance. Much of the grass had been trampled down by the recent traffic, creating a narrow path through the middle of the trail. He looked up the steep, bare-rock slope towards the summit of Canterlot Mountain.

Stark halted his hike when he noticed the absence of the hoofsteps behind him. He turned to see the head mage ten yards behind him.

Turning to look at Stark, Arcana spoke. “Was the grass trampled before your ponies came?”

“No sir. The regular patrol consists of only two guardsponies. They did no damage to the foliage. The investigation teams are fifteen strong; they’re probably the ones that created the path through the grass.”

Arcana sighed deeply, closing his eyes and slowly shaking his head. “Idiots,” he whispered under his breath.

“Sir?”

“We’re going to have to repair this damage when we leave,” the mage said as he opened his eyes and began walking towards Stark. “How much farther?”

Stark turned around and began walking once again. “We’re nearly there. It’s just around the next bend up ahead.”

The tingle of the magic emanating from the glass scab on the mountain could be felt by Arcana well before it came into view. As he rounded the corner, he witnessed a half-dozen ponies busily investigating the mountainside disturbance. The burned area created a nearly perfect circle, half on the cliff and the other half pouring out into the road. Two unicorns in labsuits—only their eyes exposed—chiseled samples of black glass from the cliff face into small, glass jars. The other four scoured the ground and through the grass around the burned area, searching for evidence of what might have caused such a strange phenomenon.

Arcana stopped walking when he approached the edge of the burnt circle and began looking closely at his surroundings. The amount of heat that would have been necessary to create such a scene was immense. He took another step into the outer area of the circle, the charred grass crumbling to dusty ash as he moved. Lifting his hoof, he saw the perfect outline it left behind in the blackened dirt. The grey unicorn looked around at the ground to find many similar hoofprints all around. Damn it.

“What else has your team found?” Arcana asked without looking away from the black scar before him.

“I don’t know yet, sir. I haven’t received any information since the first report they sent requesting your assistance.” Stark turned towards the unicorns sifting through the grass. “Sergeant, I need a report!”

A green unicorn lifted her head away from her diligent search and looked to the source of the shouting. Standing up, she shook the dust and loose blades of grass off of her coat before trotting to her superior. The sergeant gave a quick, half-hearted salute as she approached.

“We haven’t found much, sir. There’s a small circle within the melted area of the cliff face that appears to be a slightly different composition than the surrounding rock. Also, we’ve found blood in the path just beyond the burned area...” She pointed towards a grouping of several small red flags attached to heavy wires sticking out of the ground. “Lots of it.”

“Take samples of all of it,” Arcana ordered, leaving the two at the edge of the circle as he walked to the middle of the strange phenomenon. Moving closer to the center, the charred, blackened dirt gave way to shimmering, wavy glass that had been melted from the rock and soil that had originally been there. The residual magic of several very powerful spells hung in the air like static electricity. Reaching the center of the circle near the cliff wall, Arcana closed his eyes and breathed deeply. As he began drawing the residual energy from around him, his horn began to glow a deep, sapphire blue.

Most of the investigators on the scene had stopped what they were doing to watch the head mage cast his spell, wondering what, exactly, he was doing. The glow of Arcana’s horn grew brighter and brighter; until suddenly it disappeared, only to be replaced by a soft-orange, radiating light.

The old mage’s eyes shot open as he ended the spell. Fireshade.

Quickly turning around to face Stark, Arcana walked towards the guard as he spoke forcefully. “Lieutenant, how many ponies know of this?”

“Besides us? Uhm… seventeen.”

Arcana began barking orders as though he were a military commander himself. “Any of them that do not have a minimum D-2 clearance must be sequestered until this investigation is complete and they have been properly debriefed. Round them up and have them escorted to the Section 3 barracks immediately. They are to speak to no one and no one is to speak to them.”

Stark’s body straightened up to stand at full attention. Swinging his right hoof up to near his eye in a salute, the guard responded, “Yes, sir! Is there anything else?”

“Yes, all written reports of this incident and any evidence or samples that have been collected are to be delivered to me; I want them from your hoof to mine. Once you are done with that task, Section 5 will be taking over this investigation, and you will forget everything that has happened here. Now go, quickly. We can’t afford for any information on this to be leaked.”

“Yes, sir!” the guardspony shouted before shooting into the sky towards Canterlot.