This story begins just like any other of its kind.
With two boys playing in the woods behind their home.
"Come along, Brother! It is time for us to adventure!" A young Unicorn, yet to earn his cutie mark, called to his brother to follow him deeper into the woods, the childish prospect of adventure brimming in his young mind.
"Are you sure we should go there?" The second colt asked his brother, his body much slimmer than his brother's, his horn glowing with an azure light as he wiped a lock of cerulean hair away from his face.
"Of course! Every good adventure begins with a trek in the Everfree!" The first brother exclaimed, his wavy snow-white mane sliding down his golden fur like the leaves of a willow tree, his golden horn shining with blue light as he pushed the foliage ahead of him aside, excited at the thought of what he could find in the forest.
"But Father has forbidden us from entering the Everfree without a guardian..." The second brother pointed out, his blue eyes darting around the place, fear starting to well inside him as the sky darkened above.
"It will be fine!" The first brother laughed as he jumped over a root emerging from the ground, "Father will not be mad if he doesn't learn we were here!" He turned back to look at his younger brother, "This will be our little secret, okay?"
"Mm!" The younger brother nodded, following after his older brother, the two colts venturing deeper into the Everfree Forest.
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The Young Unicorn whimpered silently in his room, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, the walls just thin enough to allow him to listen through as he kept his ears to the walls.
"You idiot!" He heard the voice of his father yelling from the other side of the wall, "I have told you a thousand times not to enter the Everfree on your own! And look what you have done!" The Unicorn jumped as he heard the sound of a hoof slamming down onto the floor, "If it wasn't for that wizard passing through, you would have been food for the Timberwolves! And you brought your brother with you?! I did not raise you to be so foolish!"
The unicorn held his tears in as the shouting continued, his father's booming voice sounding all throughout their home. The servants knew better than to interrupt him when his anger rose like so.
And yet, as he heard the voice of his brother crying for forgiveness on the other side of that wall, something inside the young Unicorn clicked.
"It was my idea to go to the Everfree!"
He did not even notice his body moving, the words escaping his mouth as he slammed open the door to his brother's room, watching the golden colt sitting on his bed, tears streaking down his face.
"Do not raise your voice at me, Boy," The younger colt froze in place as he watched a muscular Unicorn with a grey coat and a snow-white mane that connected at his chin to form a beard turn to look at him, a silver necklace with a depiction of his Cutie Mark, a Snowflake, hung over his chest.
"I'm sorry father." The younger colt apologized quickly, "But it was my idea to enter the Everfree, the blame should go to me, not Xanthos."
The colt did not know why he was lying, why would he go out of his way to speak such falsehoods, yet when he looked past his father's looming shadow, and into the eyes of his brother, looking at him with hope and gratitude for taking the blame away, he understood.
He did not complain as he was roughly picked up by his father and dragged to his room, he nodded and took on the yells and shouting that he levied at him, and he accepted all the punishment he got.
And yet he did not complain, for he was living in a fantasy.
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A Lie is more than simply twisting the truth. A Lie is a creation of a story, a fictional event, a fantasy that has transplanted itself into the minds of the unknowing as if it is true, for as long as the truth of the events eludes them, that fiction shall be considered reality.
A Lie is the birth of a Fantasy.
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"Prince Cocytus, Long time no see~"
The younger brother stood beside his older brother, the two of them standing a step behind their father as they walked through the opulent halls of a grand palace on top of a cliff on a mountain, the place where the leaders of the three pony tribes had decided shall be the capital of their kingdom so long ago.
"The same could be said of you, Chancellor Cheesecake," The father of the Unicorns told the aging Earth Pony who joined them in their walk through the halls of the castle. "Last anypony heard, you were still trying to make a child." The Unicorns looked around, his stature towering over the much older Earth Pony, "I fail to see them here, did you keep them in your home instead of bringing them to this momentous occasion?"
"I will have no child," Chancellor Cheesecake said simply, ignoring Cocytus's prideful display, "At least I shall be remembered." He smiled softly.
"You? Bringing no child means your lineage shall end, what is there to smile for?" Cocytus asked, his booming voice echoing around the empty hall they walked through.
Even the two brothers listened intently, wondering why Chancellor Cheesecake, grandchild of Chancellor Puddinghead, a founding member of Equestria, and arguably the most influential Earth Pony yet living, would smile at the prospect of being the last of his lineage.
"Because every bloodline has four members that are remembered long after their death." The Chancellor explained, "The First, the Best, the Worst, and the Last." He smiled calmly as he said those words, enjoying the silence that followed as Cocytus shut his mouth.
"I shall be the last, meaning I shall be remembered. And for me, that is enough."
The rest of the day past in silence for the Unicorns, their minds all thinking over the Chancellor's words.
And the sight that they were invited to see only cemented in those ponies the words of the Chancellor.
As the crowd composed of the most influential ponies in Equestria clapped as a Great Wizard introduced two young fillies that he had decided shall become the future rulers of Equestria, the youngest Unicorn silently combed over the words of the Earth Pony.
"The First, The Best, The Worst, The Last," He repeated those words in his mind, "I want to be remembered too." He thought to himself.
"I want to be the Best!"
That too was a lie.
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"This is the perfect place for the ritual~" Years have passed, and the young unicorn found himself working as an apprentice and pupil of the Great Wizard, learning of the many forms of magic that can be found in the world, all so they could defend Equestria for as long as they must, until the two princesses that Starswirl chose will become of age and able to defend the land themselves.
He has studied many magics and spells, and yet here he was trying to do something that he was sure his teacher would call a foolishness of the highest order.
"The stars are aligning, this night is as close to perfect as I will find any time soon~" He muttered to himself as he moved around a circle of standing stones, closer in shape to broken pillars, all centering around a large stone basin.
This place was built long before the ponies moved to Equestria, dating back hundreds of years ago, to the age of Grogar the Great, when the land now called Equestria was little more than wilderness and untamed magics, guided along by the horns of the Great Sage.
The Unicorn moved crystals and powders along the ground, drawing intricate magical symbols on the stone floor of the circle, keeping the empty basin as the center of the magical sigil he was creating.
He smiled as he felt his magic flow out of his horn and into the symbols he drew, the wind picking up around him and flinging the powdered gemstones and magical spices into the air, twisting into the shape of an otherwordly figure, a depiction of a being who could be called nothing more than an alien.
"Hark, Mortal, for thou hast pulled the attention of she who builds the stars," The figure depicted in the twisting powders spoke, their voice echoing with powerful and ancient magic, calling for the attention of all without question.
"Thou may ask any one question, and thou shall receive an answer to any inquiry thou may speak." The figure continued, "Know Mortal, for only one question may be asked, Should thou wish to ask more, thy would need to form the ritual again."
"Now, what is thy inquiry, Mortal?" The powder floated towards the young unicorn, the colorful dust in the figure of the otherwordly being creating the illusion of a grand monster towering over the unicorn as if to devour him in one swift bite.
"My Question!" The Unicorn began, "Oh Great Spirit of Space, Is this-" The Unicorn took a breath to ready himself.
"Will you be my friend?"
The Silence that followed the question was deafening as if the very world did not know what to say to such an inquiry.
"Who are you?" The form of the Spirit of Space asked, "Mortal, What is thy name?" Her voice brokered no argument, it was an order.
The young unicorn smiled at the illusionary body of the spirit he made contact with.
And so he opened his mouth and told her.
"My Name is Stygian Styx Platinum."