Chapter 1: Shall Never be Forgotten

Part 2

*Canterlot Traveling-Balloon Port*

It was barely past noon, and the sun was shining in all its glory, giving its bright, warm rays to every living thing that welcomed it. But her concern was for, and only for, the arrival of her book. Her clicking shoes were all that resonated in the courtroom of the white castle. She waited patiently, her pacing never-ending.

Meanwhile, below the sun yet above the ground, between and below the clouds, which gave a fresh and cool shadow, flying ships and balloons of all sizes and forms were flying, landing, loading, or unloading their cargo.

It was a common sight for the mast majority of those who worked or lived near one of the jewels of Canterlot: the Balloon port. Travelers of many different Reigns, Empires, Kingdoms, and Republics from all around Equis landed there daily. Be it for business or pleasure, it made no difference; the port was important.

Each day, the port received up to a hundred Ship-Balloons, mostly supplies that Equestria imported from other nations, exporting just as many, or more, of their own goods to the nations that needed them. Some others brought important figures, ranging from diplomats to merchants. And of course, many tourists occupied the balloons; the most common of those were Griffons, Zebras, Cervadians, Natives from Saddle Arabia, Minotaurs, and Donkeys. It was a big surprise to see a balloon from a nation that rarely visited Equestria, like Camelu, land a Balloon propeller*(1) on the port.

“Dear travelers, we have arrived to the Canterlot Port. Please remain in your seats until the doors are open,” a grave, masculine voice with a noticeable foreign accent spoke to his passengers. “We hope you enjoyed your travel, and hope to be honored again by choosing the Camelu Balloon Lines in the future. Have a nice day.”

As the pilot said this, the doors began opening slowly, letting the impatient passengers see the ports and begin to walk down the ship.

Zebras, Cervadians, and mostly Camels walked down and went down to retrieve their luggage. Almost every passenger was out when a khaki colored Pegasus with raspberry pink eyes, wearing an explorer pith helmet and vest, stepped out and gave a loud yawn. She proceeded out to stretch her four legs, neck, and wings.

After Daring's stretching session, she inhaled deeply and let out a happy sigh. “There's no air like home air.” Daring Do trotted to get her things. She pulled out a single object only; a simple suitcase, though two times the size of a normal one. She held the suitcase in her mouth and trotted towards the exit of the port; she couldn't fly that well with the extra weight, after all.

Minutes passed, and soon enough, she arrived at the main street of Canterlot. However, something was... off.

At first, she didn't give it any thought and decided to ignore it. But the strange looks of many of the ponies, and some non-ponies, around her, started to bother her. Then a young unicorn stallion with a blue coat approached her.

“Hey! That's a wicked Daring Do costume you got there. You look exactly like her!” the stallion said. He checked every part of her body; not because he was a pervert, but it looked as if he was searching for a flaw on her. “Incredible! You even tore your vest down a bit to give the image of a real treasure hunter.”

"Treasure hunter?" Daring thought. Years of danger and looking for clues taught her to remain stealthy until the first information burst out. It just made things easier.

So unmoving, aside from her eyes following the rambling unicorn, she let him continue. “It—it's fantastic! You score a twelve out of ten for this amazing costume. But... is there a convention today? I didn't know there was one today, or at least I think... or is there?”

Around them, many more bystanders began to form a circle around them, talking and approving her “costume” as the unicorn pondered in deep deliberation.

Putting her suitcase on the ground, Daring Do finally asked, “Uh, er, excuse me... ?”

“Oh, where are my manners? My name is Exact Angle,” he said, smiling.

“Exact Angle, can you please tell me what you mean by 'costume'?”

“Well, by your costume, of course, I mean you look like Daring Do from the Daring Do book series!”

“Book series?!” Daring Do practically shouted.

“Why, yes!” a Pegasus filly said, walking up to her. “The Daring Do series is the coolest and best selling series ever! Well, second bestselling, if you count that abomination of “Dusk Shine Saga.”*(2)

Everypony shuddered at the mention of the book series that-shall-not-be-read. “You don't know about it?” the filly continued.

“No.”

A loud gasp of collective, disbelief and terror was heard.

“But you're wearing Daring Do's treasure hunter outfit. Look!” The little Pegasus practically shoved a book into Daring's face.

She read the cover aloud. “Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone.” Opening the book, she gaped in disbelief at a random page. She saw an image of herself, trapped in a sand tomb, while Ahuizotl laughed from above. Oh! She remembered that one quest very clearly; her injured wing, the vicious jungle, the idol, the traps, the feline henchcats of Ahuizotl, and of course, Ahuizotl himself. The question was, though, how did these... readers get a hold of that story? She had only told her sis—

“Excuse me, but who is the author of the book?”

“Well, we don't know his real name, and he's never even shown up to a single convention, some day because he likes to be anonymous. We don't even know if 'he' is really a 'he' or not,” the unicorn said. “But the initials of his name are at the end of the book.”

Before the unicorn had even finished his sentence, Daring was looking at the last page of the book, and she only read the initials. “D.D.D.P.L.S.” Any trace of anger was soon lifted away, replaced with both joy and sadness (mostly joy, though). "Oh... sis", she thought, looking at the simple initials.

All of her 'fans' began to talk between themselves.

“So, are you going to a convention?”

“I don't think there was one scheduled for this month.”

“Maybe she's just a big fan?”

“She didn't even know about the books! How can she?”

“Do you think I would look good in that outfit?”

“DUDE! That's for fillies!”

“I'm Daring Doo,” said Daring.

“Oh, that would explain why you look like her.”

“Yeah! I mean, it was obvious from the start. She is the... real... Daring... Do,” the blue unicorn said.

Silence roared with all its sight, and even soul around Daring stared at her with gaping mouths—and beaks, in the griffon's case. Finally, a donkey spoke. “Y-y-y-you a-are th-th-the re-real.... ?”

“Yes, I'm Daring Doo.” She decided to entertain her new found fans and posed for them, putting her chest out in high pride. She smiled widely, keeping her eyes closed as she pulled her head up to the skies.
…

Every single pony, zebra, griffon, and fan of the Daring Do series experienced an event that was known by a few chosen ones. That event is, of course, the fangasm.

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------******************************

“A-and then, they LITERALLY fell to the floor. Some w-were even foaming at the mouth and choking on it! Hahahaha!” Daring was laughing very hard, crying a little and trying to pick herself up from the royal dinner room floor.

“What a sight that must have been.” Celestia was having a good laugh herself as Daring told her about what happened upon her arrival. It had been a while since she had laughed like this, and it felt good.

“S-so—haha--so after that, *snicker* some more fans ran to me, while a few others stood up. They kept asking me for autographs and asking me questions of all sorts. That's why I am so late, Princess.”

“Oh, don't let that bother you, my faithful archaeologist. I'm the one who must apologize. I was very impatient to get the book, but a... friend of mine made me see that I was being a terribly friend because of that, and he was right.” Celestia bowed her head in front of Daring, showing respect. “Can you please forgive me, my friend?” Celestia looked up, an apologetic look in her eyes, to a semi-stunned Daring.

“W-why, of course, Princess, but there's no need for it. You had every right to be anxious to get your book after such a long time wanting it.”

“That's no excuse to ignore a long time friend over a book. I have waited for many years, so I can wait a few more hours. I must greet you properly, first.” Celestia smiled at Daring.

Daring returned the smile. For a while, they remained like that, until Daring Do broke the ice. “So, how is Derpy doing? Good, I hope. And why didn't you tell me about this book series earlier?”

“Oh, yes! She is adorable! Clumsy, I'll admit, but she always tries hard to do her best, and she's been such a wonderful friend to my sister, Luna. I think they spend most of their time together playing something called “video-games” just imported from the Moose Republic. They are quite popular nowadays. As for the book series, well, I must admit, I just wanted it to be a surprise. I even planned to send a royal escort for your arrival, but it wouldn't have been as amusing and would be too much trouble, anyway,” Celestia finished. She took another sip of her chamomile tea nonchalantly.

“Oh, ha-ha, Princess. Very funny,” Daring sarcastically sad. “But why did Derpy move into the castle, Princess? She must have a lot of bit.”

“What do you mean by 'a lot of bits'?”

“She's the author of my books. Remember the initials D.D.D.P.L.S? It means Ditzy Derpy Doo Proud Little Sister. I'm certain of it.” A warm smile spread across her shout, as well as on Celestia's.

“Mmhmm. I didn't know she was the author, but she doesn't have any bits that I know of. You will have to ask her when she and Luna return from their convention in Last Pegasus, I'm afraid.” The Princess took another sip of tea. “I also want to congratulate you, and thank you for all those beautiful and marvelous relics you have recovered for Equestria or their fitting nation. Thanks to you, our relationship with many countries has improved enormously over these past five years.”

“All in a day's work, your highness. After all, as I always say, 'Another day, another dungeon.” Daring chuckled at her own joke, while Celestia simply giggled.

The next few hours were spent talking, laughing, and swapping stories. Celestia was overwhelmed with surprise when Daring told her about the changeling empire and its state. Originally, Shining and herself thought the changelings came from the badlands, a rocky desert far, far away to the north. In reality, the Changeling empire was beyond that, in a land called, by the changelings, as “The Black Land.” The ground was black, and the only thing that grew there were mushrooms that glowed in the dark.

Daring had met with the changelings in her time there, or at least, what remained of them. The sights of how things were made her cry. Corpses every now and then, young, old, marelings, infants, even broken eggs surrounded her.

One changeling was still alive when she arrived to the ruins of what once was a big Hive-Castle. It begged for 'love.' It screamed in horribly pain every few seconds, screaming to the heavens and to her to give him some love, any kind or amount of love. The changeling cried hollow, yellow years, and the pain of hunger became bigger. He didn't want to die like that. He bellowed at her again to save him, and his fellow changelings from their curse of that horrid hunger. She held him close to her, trying to help the fragile and weak changeling.

With what little life the changeling had left, he barely told Daring that changelings had lost the ability to 'give' love to other changelings, and were forced to either steal it or starve to death. Before he could say more, his body began to convulse harshly. He cried out, and to Daring's horror, the already black carapace of the changeling became even darker, his wings turned gray, his eyes yellow, and suddenly, it stopped. The changeling had died, the look of horror and untold pain still visible on his face.

Daring couldn't take it anymore and stopped her tale. This was only one of many incidents she had no desire to tell the Princess or her sister about in her letters, and this was an exception of every telling of them at all.

Celestia finally realized the changelings were not, in fact, evil, but desperate. Insanely desperate. To escape more deaths so horrible as that, she made a note to herself to try and contact the changelings, to speak to them. Maybe, just maybe, a solution could be achieved.

“My precious explorer, you just gave me reason to enter peace talk with the changelings, if I find them. But tell me why you didn't tell me this sooner?”

“I thought there weren't any more changelings, and the one I found was probably just, you know, delusional with pain. I've seen that many times during my travels, and his pain was far greater than anything I had ever seen. Also, the news of the changeling invasion didn't reach me until six months later. I was in Amazonica at the time. Also, the word 'invasion' screams 'Hey, we are the bad guys, and we will take your land and mares. Mwahahaa.' So I thought they were evil, and after what you told me about the invasion, Princess, I think they were really desperate, even to a point of avoiding diplomacy.”

“Yes, I think so, too, now. I also wanted to ask you, Daring, is that an engagement ring in your left wing?” Celestia asked, changing the subject to a more pleasant one.

“Oh, this?” She extended her wing to show the ring properly. “Hehe, yes, it is.” Daring blushed a little, closing her eyes, embarrassed.

“I must know who your husband is, my little pony, or are you part of a herd? Please, do tell.” Celestia actually leaned in a little, almost demanding for an answer in silence. She even blinked adorably a couple of times.

“Well, he is my husband. Besides, I'm not really into herds. Our 'relationship' is kind of hard right now, though. He needs permission to become a citizen of Equestria, you see. He is rather... peculiar.”

“Peculiar?”

“Let's just say he really comes in handy.” Daring blushed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------***********************

Celestia’s Chambers 1:00 A.M.

Celestia sat in front of her bed, the Book of the Dovah resting over it. When Daring gave her the look, it was locked in a little chest barely bigger than the book itself. Soon after nuzzling her, and wishing her a goodnight, she teleported to her room and uncovered the book.

The front image took her breath away. The words “Book of the Dovah” were written in bold, golden letters above the image of four dragons, one from each corner of the image, all bowing to a fifth dragon, who was standing with its wings open. It was magnificent.

Celestia hesitated for a second before enveloping the book in her yellow, magical aura. She brought it nearer to her, and she felt something deep and powerful inside the book. She couldn't exactly say what it was, but it was there. Before she opened it, she was reluctant again, many memories making their way to her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------*********************************

Year 590 A.N.M.B.

Celestia was panting harshly, sweat running down her face and neck. A lavender dragon egg with deep purple spots sat in a hay nest in front of her, laughing at and taunting her, almost mocking her efforts to hatch it.

“Th-this cannot be! I used the same amount of magic to make the sun rise and go down for one hundred years this time!” Celestia was really angry, frustrated, and worried now. Angry because she had failed to hatch the egg, frustrated since this was her fifth attempt, and worried due to the egg not even moving from its spot. No wonder why every single one of the new unicorn students were unable to hatch the egg.

“It doesn't make any sense. No dragon egg should possess such resistance, or even suck away the magic like it was nothing.” She sat and pondered, trying to think of a solution to this problem.

There were only two possible solutions. Either go to the dragon lands and speak with her father's old friend, Sabarius, for some answers, or the egg could only be hatched by a more powerful magic. Sadly for her, after the banishment of Luna, the Elements of Harmony neglected her.

A brilliant plan formed inside her head. She had been working for centuries now to forge a legend or a tale about her dispute with her possessed sister, and seemingly succeeded. But how could she fight Nightmare Moon without the Elements? Simple, of course; she knew the Elements would manifest themselves again, in the future. She just needed to find them all, and more specifically, the Element of Magic, to free her sister, and her egg could be hatched!

“My egg?” she whispered. “Well, since no dragon has come yet to reclaim you, I guess you are my egg, now.” She smiled at the unmoving egg. “Come now, we must go to see an old friend of my father and mine.” She took the egg with her magic and walked towards the exit of her chambers.

Celestia ignored it back then, but that night, the first two of her many questions was created. What kind of dragon dwelled inside the egg? And more importantly, could she come to love this egg and the dragon inside it? In time, both answers would be achieved; of that, she was sure.

----------------------------------------------------------------****************************************

Year 590 A.N.M.B. *Dragon Lands*

Celestia watched the land below her. It was hot. The mountains were big and numerous with countless holes where dragons lived, mostly, with their hoards. Magma pools and rivers rested between the mountains, and in the distance, the biggest mountain of them all stood proudly. It contained statues of dragons and a big entrance, the expansion big enough to fit all of Canterlot in it. She was glad she came alone, for none of her guards could withstand this harsh environment for long.
Many dragons saw the princess, but did nothing to stop her. Some even stopped flying to let her continue her way without troubles. Once she was at the entrance, a yellow dragon stopped her.

“Halt!” the deep voice of the dragon echoed in the entrance. “Who goes there, and what is thy business?”

“It is I, Princess Celestia, ruler of the Equestria Empire. I humbly seek an audience with his high command chancellor, Sabarius.” The royal Canterlot voice reverberated even more than the dragon's voice.

“Very well. I shall inform my lord of your presence. Await my return here, princess.” The dragon turned back and began to walk away.

Meanwhile, Celestia waited patiently, making sure the egg was secured on her back. The egg was inside a small chest, enchanted to protect it, and what was inside, against any form of harm from the outside. Even with it, she was taking no chances

Several minutes passed, until the yellow dragon returned alongside a bigger, green dragon. It had an orange underbelly, and a set of horns rested on his head. Deep, purple eyes observed Celestia closely, and a scar ran across his chest, protruded by another dragon a long time ago.

“Princess Celestia, it is my pleasure to see you again. Please, come with me, and we will discuss the motives of your visit to my dorm.” The big dragon made a slight bow, all the while holding a neutral expression.

“I would be most pleased, chancellor Sabarius.” Celestia followed the dragon, flying behind him to catch up.

The interior of the mountain was as she remembered. A hollow cave, mountains of gold that reached the ceiling, and jewels, fabrics, and many more objects laid on the floor. This was the personal hoard of the dragon king, and it was Sabrarius's job to protect it. He was, after all, one of the few noble dragons left alive.

After some turns, they arrived to his dorm. The biggest curtain she had ever seen adorned the entrance to his cave, and inside it, there was a stack of pillows where the dragon slept. Many paintings, books, and statues of many different races decorated the walls.

“Now, then, Celly, what brought you here? Do you require more eggs? Is there a rampaging dragon loose in Equestria again? Or has it something to do with the package of your back?”

“You send me enough eggs each year, I assure you. Equestria is safe as of now, but yes, the package is what brought me here.” Celestia rose the chest with her magic, and carefully put it on the ground. She opened it, revealing the egg.

“... What is that?” Sabarius asked, closing the distance between himself and Celestia so he could see the egg properly. “A dragon's egg, of course.” The dragon carefully took the egg with two of his claws and let it rest on his palm. “Of what kind, I'm not sure, but it's definitely a dragon's egg. I don't remember sending this one to you, Celly, where did you find it?”
Celestia told Sabarius of how she had come to find the egg, as well as her attempts to hatch it, in vain, and how much magic she had used in each of her tries.

“Enough for one hundred years, and it still would not hatch?” Sabarius asked, surprised.

“Yes, and that's not the worst part. The egg was actually sucking, or eating my magic, and still it didn't hatch. It didn't even move an inch.”

“I will not lie to you, Celly. I'm old and wise. I've seen plenty of dragons and dragon eggs, from all kinds, types, colors, and sizes, but I have never seen an egg like this in my entire life, not even when I joined your father, Aurora, on his crusade, to stop the dragon rebellion ten thousand years ago. Let me remind you that I was only two hundred years old at that time. You weren't even born yet.” He looked at the egg with a mist of concern and fear in his eyes.

“I can feel something inside it, but I cannot see what. It's twisted inside, so it's difficult for me to feel its kind. I have never felt something like this. It's almost as if what lies inside this egg doesn't want me to see it. It's really strange, and I'm also... afraid of it.”

“Afraid? You, Sabarius, afraid of an egg? For whatever reason could you be afraid of MY egg?” Celestia asked a bit more roughly than she had intended to.

“Because I can feel something dark, something heavy, deep inside this egg, yet at the same time, something very light, and full of life. Forgive me for saying this, but whatever lies inside this egg is truly a monster. Of good or evil, I am unsure,” Sabarius said, returning the egg to its chest. “I'm afraid I cannot help you anymore, Celly. Your egg is a mystery to me.”

“If you can't help me, then no other dragon can. You are the wisest of them all. After all, you are Sabarius the Sage, the light of the dragons.” Celestia closed the chest and levitated it onto her back again.

“You flatter me, Celestia, but I guess you are right. I'm the wisest dragon ALIVE, so I cannot help you with this task of yours. But I can tell you, that around the world are many ruins. Some even have dragon treasures inside them, if the tales are true, including our greatest lost treasure, “The Book of the Dovah,” a sacred book to dragons that has everything there is to know about dragons inside its pages. From our old lifestyles, beliefs, lifespan, growth, whatever you can imagine, that book holds it.”

“And the book lies inside a ruin somewhere in the world?”

“I'm afraid so, Celestia. You will have to return to search for it, if you want to know what is inside that egg.”

“Are you certain of this, Sabarius?”

“About the ruins, then yes. I'm not entirely sure about the book, however. It is an old legend. I'm not even sure if it's real or not, but if it is, then everything there is to know about dragons, that book holds the answer.”

“Thank you, my friend. Your aid has been indeed helpful.”

“Anytime you need me, just come, and I will gladly help you, Celly.”

Celestia took flight and began to leave Sabarius's cave. “If you do find the book, will you give it to us, as soon as you don't need it anymore?” Sabarius asked, looking at Celestia with almost pleading eyes.

“Of course, but only after I'm done with it.”

“Sounds fair. Yabla Grathun, Celestia.”

“Grathun Yabla, Sabarius.”

As Celestia left the mountain and the dragon lands, another question bloomed. How powerful was the dragon inside this egg, when even the powerful and all mighty Sabarius so openly admitted to fear? She gulped and looked back to the chest on her back. Just for a second, she became worried and asked herself, “Am I making the right decision?”

Again, only time would tell her.

----------------------------------------------------**************************************

Year 623 A.N.M.B Two days after the Equestria-Griffonia war ended

Celestia sat on her throne in all her shining glory. She looked down at the griffon general, Mardoclaws, a traitor of the griffon empire, the same griffon that had manipulated his king in order to declare way to Equestria. He had one simple reason: he hated ponies and considered them inferior, a race that had to be eradicated.

The way lasted for three years, and in that time, Equestria lost two of their major cities, Buckingham and New Hoofington, alongside countless farm fields and more than twelve thousand ponies, mostly civilians.

The griffons lost half of their territory, almost all of their hunting/harming grounds, and forty thousand lives—warriors mostly, since the griffons are a warrior race by nature. The griffon king, Sharp Wings, had died during the war, killed by the high magician, General Infinity Sparkle, during one of the last battles of the way. Soon after, Queen Golden Beak discovered the general's treason. He had manipulated every bit of information, including some sort of peace treatment or talk, even going as far as to put anti-magic wards around the griffon capital castle so that nopony could teleport inside it.

After capturing him, the queen and the princess soon joined for a peace talk. Celestia agreed to return the griffons their territory, in exchange for the payment to rebuild their two lost cities, and to deal with the traitor herself for all the death, pain, and suffering innocent ponies and griffons dealt with. The queen agreed with no objections.

Celestia was gazing at the ex-general, now branded traitor, Mardoclaws. No hate, no pain, no mercy, no pity, nothing; just a follow look. For his part, Mardoclaws was glaring daggers at her.

“You bitch,” he said with all the hate he could muster to her. “Come on, do your worst. I ain't afraid of your so called powers. I know the truth; you don't control the sun nor the moon. They move by themselves. You're nothing, and so is this puny, weak, and disgraceful race, relying on your lies just to survive, you fucking slut!”

Celestia said nothing.

“Say something.” Silence. “Say something.” She continued her silent streak. “Speak, you worthless charlatan! I DEMAND YOU SAY SOMETHING!”

Still, Celestia remained quiet, nor did the guards near her, although they were more than willing to kill the griffon for insulting their princess. “RELEASE ME, SO I CAN KILL YOUR 'IMMORTAL,' SCUM!” he yelled at the nearest guard, but got no response. He looked back to Celestia. “I will destroy everything you hold dear! You don't deserve to live, not even to exist. I will kill you, and your sorry excuse of a race will—”

In a flash of green light, an egg Celestia knew far too well appeared above Mardoclaws and unceremoniously landed on his head, cutting him off. Everypony was stunned by the sudden manifestation as the egg landed on the ground with a soft thud.
Mardoclaw arose and, still stunned, he smiled. “And I shall start, BY CRUSHING THIS EGG!” His claws, put together, formed a hammer. He jumped as high as he could, and then brought down his hammer claw upon the egg.

Celestia forgot she could use magic, forgot she could move, forgot she commanded the sun, and she even forget her name. At that moment, all she could recall was one single word.

“NOOO!” She shot up from her throne.

Time seemed to go in slow motion. Mardoclaw's claw-hammer descended upon her egg, the one that she had personally tended and cared for, to the point of singing lullabies to it when she was feeling sad or extremely happy. The egg she had slowly learned to slow and nurture was now at the verge of being—

CRAAAAACKKKKK

“AAAAAARRRRGGGHH!” The ex-general screamed in agonizing pain once his claw-hammer made contact with the egg's exterior, an exterior harder than anything he had made contact with before. It broke his bones completely.

As Mardoclaws screeched and cried in pain, Celestia approached him. The moment her shadow was above him, he glanced up and saw death itself staring down at him. Celestia's mane and tail were like a violent inferno, swirling around itself, and her eyes were like the bright light of the sun.

“We only wanted to hear thou motives.”

Oh, by the Gods... her voice was horrible! Every trace of the loving and caring ruler was gone, and now a voice made of multiple vocals resonated across the throne room, full of anger and hate. Even her own guards were trembling!

“And to return thee to your country, so thou could face proper judgment, but thou sins are far too great for our mercy!” Her horn lit up, and Mardoclaws could feel something inside him. "Thou hath performed acts beyond redemption. For all the lives you took, for all the living beings that suffered under the war thou caused out of utter hatred and nonsense, we, Celestia Solaris, sentence you to death!”

Her horn's light was growing brighter by the second. Mardoclaws could say nothing, and between the pain in his claws and the fear towards Celestia, he could do nothing.

Celestia leaned in close enough to whisper in his right ear, so only he could hear now. “And for trying to kill my egg—MY baby—I will allow you to discover whether or not I control the sun.”

A bright flash of light later, Celestia was back to her normal form, panting a little. Mardoclaws was no longer in the room. Only the guards stood there, immobile and in disbelief at the fact that their merciful monarch had personally slain a war criminal.

Celesia took her egg with her wings and hugged in tenderly, crying from the fear of almost losing it.

“Mardoclaws was sent to exile, to the Lost World. Understood, captain?” she asked her captain as she walked away, never turning her head towards him.

“Y-y-yes, of course, your majesty!” The twelve guards that witnessed the event that day were not threaten, nor ordered, to remain silent about it. No, they made a personal oath to never speak or it again, or tell anything about it to anypony. And say nothing, they did.

Despite all of her fear, and the fact she killed a griffon, a criminal, a monster, even, did not mater to her right now. All she could think of was how her egg could do the thing it did, on its own free will. Even though dragon eggs are indeed hard, why was it so hard, when the strike was strong enough to shatter their armor?

Celesia walked towards her chambers, never letting go of her egg.

-----------------------------------------------------------***********************************

Year 985 A.N.M.B 5 days after the Summer Sun Celebration

“And of course, I will fund your entire expedition and the supplies you may need during your travels. Any questions?”
Daring Derpina Doo, a freshly new, expelled archaeologist, with a degree on exploration and trap difusing, was stunned beyond belief. Here she was, standing before Princess Celestia herself. Just an hour earlier, she had received a summoning to the castle by a royal guard cadet named Shining Armor. Looking back now, she was more nervous back then than she was now.

She took a deep breath to compose herself. “Ju-just one, your majesty. Why me? I was expelled from the university a week ago, and I swear it wasn't my fault! I just don't know what went wrong! I only added some potassium to the the—”

“Yes, I know of the accident. I still can't believe you blew up the entire lab.” Celestia chuckled at that. Just remembering the faces of the headmaster and the cleaning staff made her laugh. “But to answer your question, you have something I haven't seen in almost a century, and that, my little pony, is passion.”

“Passion, princess?”

“Yes. You seek adventure and thrill. You seek to solve mysteries, and to find great treasures—but not for yourself, but for the entire world to admire. That's why I chose you. Are you willing to travel the world and seek the artifact I need you to find?”

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! This for real, right? No joke?!” Daring was practically dancing in her spot at this moment.

“As real as the sun.” She smiled at her warmly.

“Where do I sign? When do I leave? What do I need?!” This and many more questions followed in chaotic disorder.

“You will leave in a week from now. Your first destination will be Zebrica. There, you will meet chancellor Zezer, who will tell you all you need to know, and give you everything you'll need to begin your journey, as well as the books of myths and legends about ancient ruins I gave him to translate. Your journey will end when you have found the artifact, or when you decide to quit the job.”

Daring stopped grinning like a mad pony and turned dead serious. “I will never quit, princess. Even if it takes me all my life, I will search for it. I'll only stop this search if I find it or die. This, I avow to you, and I give my world that every artifact I'll uncover will be sent here to the royal museum, and where it seems more fitting.” Daring bowed her head in loyalty and promise.

“And now you just confirmed that I made the right decision. Go, my little pony, and say good-bye to your loved ones, spend as much time as you can with them. And thank you for accepting this quest.”

With that, Daring flew out at top speed towards her home.

Celestia was smiling at her display, and hoped everything went alright. She prayed for Daring's future success. “Phalanx.”

“Yes, your majesty?”

“I will retire to my chambers for the rest of the day. Inform the front guard of this, please.”

“Of course, your majesty? Any special motive?”

“Just tell them there is a more important matter I must attend to.”

“By your command.” The royal guard bowed and then left.

The moment Phalanx closed the royal throne doors, Celestia teleported to her chambers. She found a little purple ball with green spikes roll around her bed, sucking his tail.

“Aww! You are just so cute. Come here, you!” Celestia grabbed Spike by his sides, lifting him up.

His tiny arms let go of his tail, and a bit of drool rolled down from his smiling mouth. His big eyes focused only on Celestia's face.

“Mommy missed you so much, my cute, little Spikey.”

Spike just laughed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------********************************

More memories came and went, striking more questions or making others the more demanded to be answered.

Celestia opened her eyes, this time filled with determination. She had to know why her little Spike was so special, why he was the way he was, and furthermore, she needed to know what the future would be like for him. She took a deep breath, and opened the book.

---“The Book of the Dovah”----

Chapter 1, part 2 end.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to The Grimm Reaper, Bennet001 and his friend Cole for proofreading!

Miss Dark Angel for her amazing editing skills!

(1) A Big ballon ship, five time bigger than the ship on Sweet and Elite

(2) Sorry didnt had the heart to write the real name of that abomination and to ruin our beloved Twilight's name