Crimson followed the group of mares out of the ruined castle and down a path that would lead them to someplace they kept referring to as Ponyville. He had personally never heard of the town before, but he knew a lot had to have changed in the last thousand years. The lavender mare and her baby dragon, plus the orange coated farmer and white coated dress maker, took their place at the front of the line. The other two mares, a cyan pegasus and a yellow pegasus, stayed behind him and he knew that they were making sure that he didn't try any funny business. The pink mare was long gone, though he suspected that he'd see her again before the other mares would let him go back to being alone.

He could have just fled again, but seeing how they found him so fast he wasn't in the mood to be tracked down and annoyed even further by them. Better, he believed, to follow them to their base of operations, enter whatever interrogation chamber they had constructed, and answer the questions they had. Once they were done he would ditch them and head back to his favorite area in the forest, where he could sleep and ignore them all once more.

"Spike, I need you to do something," Twilight said, her voice low enough that only he would hear her, "I need you to write a letter and send it to Princess Celestia when we reach the castle. She and Luna have to know about this turn of events."

Spike nodded and leapt onto her back, where he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill before starting a small letter that he could burn later. As he worked he looked up once to see what the alicorn was doing, only to notice that the stallion was staring at him with a look that he thought was curiosity. Spike waved to the stallion for a bit and then returned to his work, making sure to have the letter completed before they got anywhere near the castle.

As they walked Crimson noticed a camp site that stank of the Diamond Dogs, telling him exactly where the dogs that had chased the fillies had come from. He had hoped that there would be more of the dogs around the camp, so he could demonstrate that he wasn't to be messed with and persuade them to let him leave. Unfortunately for him there were no more Diamond Dogs in the immediate area, so he mentally sighed and followed the mares out of the forest. It was the first time in the last thousand years that he had actually stepped outside the Everfree Forest, so he was a little surprised to find a town sitting near the edge of the forest.

"This is Ponyville," Twilight said, waving a hoof towards the town, "founded a few hundred years ago and held together by the earth ponies and pegasi that call the town home."

"And the giant crystal castle?" Crimson inquired, beckoning to the crystal structure he was sure was fairly new.

"You mean my castle?" Twilight asked, "I got that when my friends and I unlocked this box hidden below the Castle of the Two Sisters, where we found the Tree of Harmony. With the power of the box and our friendship we defeated Tirek and restored everypony's magic, resulting in the creation of this castle."

"Good one," Crimson chuckled, knowing that the demon was locked away in Tartarus, "there is no way that Tirek could have escaped from his prison."

Twilight had no idea how Crimson couldn't have heard the destruction that had been caused when she and Tirek had battled a few weeks ago. The mountain they had fought near was wrecked beyond belief and the surrounding area had been shredded to pieces, making her wonder how he missed it all. She let it sink to the back of her mind for the moment, she had a lot more questions to ask him and wanted to do so in the privacy of her castle. Twilight was pleased that they had chosen to look for Crimson at night time, as they didn't have to worry about anypony seeing him before she was ready to announce his presence to Equestria.

As they reached Twilight's castle and began to file inside Spike took a moment to turn towards Canterlot and blow a burst of fire on the letter he had written, turning it to smoke before it made its way towards the city.

"In here," Twilight said, opening the door to the same room she had used the crystal ball in, "this is as good as its going to get I'm afraid. I haven't had enough time to furnish all the rooms that came with the castle, so you'll have to forgive that there's no bed or any dressers present."

"Ah, a crystal ball," Crimson noted, eying the sphere as it sat in the middle of the room, "a useful item for using one of the advanced tracking spells. That explains how you found me so fast. I must say, I am impressed."

Crimson walked forward and grabbed the sphere with his magic, lifting it into the box it was resting on top of before shoving the box against the wall. Once the area was cleared he pulled out his cloud and enlarged it back to its normal size, before getting on it and rolling over into his comfy spot. Twilight coughed and caught his attention, causing him to sigh for a moment and lean forward, just so he could get the questions over with. Before he even let her get anywhere he pulled out his stick and took another puff, letting the smoke escape before he gave the alicorn his attention.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked, eying the burning stick that the stallion had with him all the time.

"Oh, this?" Crimson replied, pulling the stick out and spinning it for a second, "This is called smoking. Don't tell me, ponies gave up smoking in the last thousand years?"

"I've never seen a pony, ugh, smoke before," Twilight said, not sure if she wanted to learn about it, "but that's not what I wanted to ask you. I know your an alicorn, but what do you represent?"

"Pardon?" Crimson replied, tilting his head to the side as he replaced his stick.

"Oh, you know, how Celestia controls the Sun," Twilight commented, "Luna controls the Moon, Cadence has some power over Love, and I'm all about Friendship. What about you?"

"Oh, so that's what you meant," Crimson said, barely missing a beat as he watched the mare's friends take some seats around his cloud, "I guess you could say that I'm the Prince of Fire."

"Fire?" Twilight asked, surprised that somepony would be given control over such a dangerous element, "Why fire exactly?"

"Its my affinity," Crimson replied, lifting the stick from his mouth and holding it before them all, "Here, allow me to show you exactly what I mean."

The moment that he magic surged through the stick it burst into flames, twisting around him until it looked like there was a serpent made of flames wrapped around him. The serpent stared at Twilight and her friends for a moment, as if regarding each of them as individuals, before its head returned to Crimson's side. The serpent hissed for a second or two before twisting back into the shape of the stick that he had held in his mouth earlier, which he returned to its rightful place.

"What was what?" Twilight asked, not sure what had just happened, "What did you do?"

"Just a spell and nothing more," Crimson said, shrugging off the question like neither of them mattered, "So what else do you have for me to answer?"

Twilight was a little annoyed that he just brushed off her question, one that was related to magic no less, as if what he had done was something that anypony could do. She knew no such spell that could take a simple flame and turn it into such a beast, one that seemed almost intelligent and had studied them. One way or another she'd find out exactly how Crimson had performed that spell, but for now she had many more questions to ask before she let Pinkie have him.

"Seeing how you've already confirmed that you are, in fact, a Prince of Equestria, that leads me to my next question," Twilight said, hoping for a concrete answer this time, "Every Princess has their own kingdom that they rule over, though celestia and Luna share Canterlot; but where is your kingdom?"

"I don't have one," Crimson replied, releasing a puff of smoke, "I guess my cousin and I would have inherited the place known as Canterlot, but one thing led to another and I eventually fled to the Everfree Forest. I've been in the Everfree Forest for the last thousand years, enjoying my peace and quiet from anypony who would have bothered me. There I would deal with whatever beast wanted to get at me, like those Diamond Dogs, a few Timberwolves, and even a stray Manticore at one point."

"Hmm, interesting," Twilight commented, filing that piece of information away for the moment, "How come I haven't see you or your cousin in the records before? I'm sure that Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would have kept some record of other alicorns that existed during the same time as they did."

"Because the book is hidden from the eyes of normal ponies," Crimson replied, staring right at her now, "From what I remember the book is located in the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the royal library, in the last row on the right side, about halfway up the shelf. The reason you haven't seen it is because its enchanted, enabling only alicorns to see the book on the shelf, to be able to pull it free, and then to open and read its pages. Its a one of a kind book, so I don't think that either of them would have destroyed it yet, if they even remember that its sitting there."

"What about your royal jewelry?" Twilight asked, realizing that she hadn't seen anything resembling what any of the Princesses wore in public, "All alicorns that I have seen are always wearing some form of royal jewelry, but not you. Why is that?"

"I threw them into some chest in the ruined castle," Crimson replied, shaking his head as if he didn't care about the pieces of jewelry, "located in some forgotten room that I sealed up tight. They kept reminding me of what my mother had planned for me, so I put them somewhere where I would never look at them again. Enough about me for now, I wish to ask you a few questions."

"Oh?" Twilight said, curious as to what the stallion wanted to know of her, "Go ahead, fire away."

"You mentioned another alicorn," Crimson said, "something about a Princess of Love. Care to explain?"

"Oh, you mean Cadence?" Twilight replied, somewhat surprised by the stallion's question, "Well, Cadence was my foalsitter once upon a time and her talent was the love that everypony feels in their hearts. She can fix two ponies broken hearts and make them fall back in love with each other, though she eventually became a Princess under Celestia's watch. After a while, and after being assaulted by Chrysalis and Sombra, she took over control of the Crystal Empire, where she and my brother Shining Armor have been living ever since."

"Chrysalis?" Crimson asked, not recalling the name while the other sank in easily.

"Yeah, the Queen of the Changelings," Twilight said, "She wanted to take over Canterlot and feed off the love of everypony there, but Cadence and Shining Armor were able to repel them with the power of their love. Chrysalis was able to beat Celestia thanks to the love energy she had taken from my brother, but her victory was short lived and life returned to normal."

Crimson removed the stick from his mouth and laughed. Every pair of every rested on him, as if all the mares were trying to figure out exactly why he was laughing in the first place. After a moment he settled down, picking the stick up and blowing another puff of smoke, calming his nerves before he considered what he was going to tell them.

"It was a ploy on Celestia's part," Crimson said, "she let her enemy, this Chrysalis, think that she had won the battle and had defeated the alicorn that controlled the sun. Her plan had been to strike when her enemy was distracted by her gloating, so she could show her subjects that she could best any foe no matter what. Then this Cadence and Shining Armor blast everything away and her plan falls to ruins, before she praises them like the heroes they were. Reminds me of how she and Luna trapped Discord in stone and left him to rot in the castle gardens so many years ago."

"Yeah, about that," Twilight said, not sure how to put this, "Discord's been reformed. Last I heard he went on vacation somewhere to the north and said that he'd be gone for a week or two."

Crimson stared at them each in turn again, almost as if he was trying to read them and determine their best qualities without them telling him. He puffed on his stick and more smoke escaped, but Twilight caught a glimpse of the smoke twisting into a smoky serpent before dissipating completely. For a while he remained quiet and the silence filled the room, making Twilight wonder exactly he was thinking about as she prepped her next question.

"The Elements of Harmony," Crimson said, causing some of the mares to gasp, "Yeah, I've heard of those ancient gemstones and I've seen them in use once, but that explains how you could have turned Discord. Now, names and Element."

"The names Rainbow Dash," Rainbow said, lifting a hoof to her forehead as if saluting him, "I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria and I'm the Element of Loyalty."

"I'm Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres," Applejack replied, tipping her hat just a bit, "and I'm the Element of Honesty. The pink mare you saw earlier was Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter."

"Rarity darling," Rarity said next, looking over the stallion as if measuring him, "Ponyville's top fashion designer and the Element of Generosity."

"Oh, um...I'm F..Flutt...Fluttershy," Fluttershy weakly said, feeling the stallion's eyes on her, "a...and I...I'm the El...Elem...Element of K...Kind....Kindness."

Crimson turned to the lavender alicorn, waiting for her to tell him exactly who she was, in case he had missed it earlier, and which Element she represented. Though at this point he could tell which Element was leftover, he just wanted to hear her speak her Element like her friends had done.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, former librarian of Ponyville," Twilight told him, not really sure where he was going with this, "I was, I AM, the Element of Magic."

Crimson nodded, laid back against his cloud, and rolled onto his side, not really caring about any questions that Twilight or her friends might still have for him. All he had to do was simply sleep through the whole next day and he'd be free to go back to the Everfree Forest, where he could forget about all these mares.

"So, ugh, one last question," Twilight tried, hoping that Crimson would actually listen to her question and answer her this time, "who are your parents?"

Crimson lifted his head and glared at her, long enough for Twilight to shudder and shift her gaze to the floor, which made him let out a sigh and resume his sleeping position. Twilight could feel his anger and hate at being asked that one question, as if it brought back bad memories or demons that he didn't want to deal with. It also explained why he had fled from her when she had asked the same question earlier in the Everfree Forest; Crimson didn't want them to know who his parents were. The door behind Twilight opened just a bit and Spike popped his head inside, beckoning for her and the others to join him outside, before she sighed and walked out.

Twilight walked into the hallway and found none other than Princess Celestia standing out in the hallway, motioning for silence for some reason. Twilight nodded her understanding and gestured for her friends to leave the room as well, each of them surprised to find the Princess standing in the hallway. She waited a moment, just to be sure that Crimson didn't wake up and wonder where each of them went, but after a while she nodded and moved out of the Princess' way. She only hoped that Celestia could get more answers out of the stallion then she could with as stubborn as Crimson could be at times.

Celestia silently walked into the bare room and found Crimson resting on his cloud, his flaming mane moving around as he either ignored who was around them or just slept. She surpassed a chuckle that had threatened to escape her, even if a thousand years passed it seemed that Crimson would resist change with every fiber of his being.

"Hello son," Celestia said, her voice filling the room while Twilight and her friends gasped behind her.