"How long, my hated sisters."
It was as if the Sun had gone out in the airy main hall of Canterlot Castle.
On the long wine-colored carpet, the hooves of a tall and slender alicorn, cerulean as a summer sky, but with nothing sunny and cheerful about it, sounded slow and rhythmic like the tolling of funeral bells.
His horn was long and pointed, as if it had been cut from diamond.
On his forehead hung a crown of dirty gold, with blood-red rubies as big as eggs.
His hair fell back, cut summarily, along his neck: from cobalt blue it faded to a lunar silver, studded with diamonds like his sisters'.
His eyes, with an icy cut, were heterochromatic: the right one was silver, while the left one was a deep and dark purple.
He wore a golden royal armor that must have seen better days, and his tail was gathered by a rope braided with white and gold threads, which could not hide the roughness of the cut.
More than Celestia and Luna's older brother, he seemed like their poor relative, who appeared from nowhere after centuries of disappearance.
A ghost.
Cosmos.
Celestia's lips quivered, but she quickly hid it:
"We haven't seen each other for over a thousand years…"
"It's normal, dear sister, you've never been good at keeping in touch with your family… Am I not right, Luna?"
The allusion to Nightmare Moon was obvious, and her brother shot a cruel look at Luna, who promptly lowered her head.
"What did you come here to do?" Celestia continued, with a harsh and contemptuous tone.
"Is this how you welcome your brother back? You haven't changed a bit, Celeste…"
"Need I remind you why you were banished from Equestria?"
Cosmos rolled his eyes.
"Of course not, you put up a protective barrier specifically for me… What an honor, the great and unrivaled Empress Celestia stooping to punish her sinful big brother…"
The male alicorn sneered at his sister.
"I see the past millennium hasn't made you regret your actions… The punishment was supposed to expire this year, right? Perhaps I should strip you of your powers again for another thousand or two thousand years…"
Celestia was ready to strike him, but Cosmos raised his front hooves in surrender.
"Oh come on, Celeste, you're not to be trifled with. I didn't come here to try to turn the stinky ponies happily roaming around Equestria into beautiful alicorns… That's water under the bridge."
A malicious idea flashed in his eyes.
"You can't freely transform ponies into alicorns." a third voice burst out, that of the youngest princess, Twilight Sparkle.
Cosmos slowly turned to her, after having deliberately ignored her.
"Oh, a third alicorn… You talk the talk but don't walk the walk, eh, Cece?"
"Twilight deserved the transformation after distinguishing herself in magic." the ruler of the Sun explained brusquely.
"Don't tell me… So you have to be brave to ascend to alicornism… I figured it out a millennium ago, Celestia, wake up!"
Cosmos' clownish tone had become hoarse, venomous, full of hatred.
Celestia's gaze sharpened:
"You took ponies as guinea pigs and experimented on them with spells you invented. Some of them died because of this, do you realize that?"
Cosmos shrugged.
"It's not my fault they were weak and unfit to receive the alicorn's blessing."
"That's not how a member of the royal family should behave! We are supposed to love and guide our subjects, not treat them like inferiors!"
"But they are inferiors!"
Celestia vibrated with pain and anger; her brother was still the same ambitious and unrestrained alicorn he had been a thousand years before.
"But if you'll allow me, Celestia…"
Before she could do anything, Cosmos activated his horn and levitated Twilight with magic as black as night.
"…She's a pretty girl, but why did you leave her incomplete? What are these short legs? And why don't her mane and tail shine like stars? What, were you afraid she'd surpass you in beauty?"
Celestia didn't respond, but Twilight fought to free herself from his grip, landing on the ground with a thud that left her stunned. Cosmos didn't take refusals well, so he tried to hit her with a black beam, which she dodged skillfully.
"She's tough, I like her..."
Twilight quickly teleported to her throne.
"I don't want to fight, Cosmos!"
"What a shame... I love fighting!"
He also teleported to Twilight's throne and the girl was forced to dodge him over and over again, until she knocked him out with a ray of boiling magic.
"Wow, you may not be the most beautiful, but you're doing great... I've decided!"
With a dart, he grabbed her between his powerful wings and imprisoned her with a magical chain.
"I will keep this little princess, I will complete her and make her my bride!"
Twilight, her mouth blocked by the strong chains, cast a look of pure horror in Cosmos' direction, who paid no attention.
"I won't allow you, you'll have to pass over our bodies first." Luna said, determined.
Cosmos looked at her at first annoyed, then pleased.
"As you prefer, Moona."
The cerulean alicorn masterfully parried the blows of the two sisters, and then hissed a simple word:
"Constraint."
The two mares were harnessed by the same black chains that had enveloped Twilight.
Cosmos's Cutie Mark was made of a slice of sidereal space, symbolizing his ability to manipulate magic and create ever new spells.
That power had been increased by centuries of study, even if due to Celestia's punishment he hadn't yet been able to experience it.
Celestia and Luna struggled and moaned, while Twilight leaned toward them, desperately trying to scream, while her tormentor levitated her.
Cosmos, with satisfaction, approached the ponies that once, on Skyros, had played and laughed with him. Times gone by, dead and buried, that would never return.
"I will rule Equestria, and I will get rid of those useless ponies with incomplete magic. I will turn them into alicorns, and only the fittest will remain alive."
After casting this perverse curse, Cosmos disappeared in a magical flash, dragging Twilight with him.
At least ten minutes passed before Spike managed to show up at the scene of the crime; he had gone out to go and see his adoptive parents and thanks to his magical fire he managed to disperse the chains that were no longer useful to Cosmos.
"What happened? Where is Twilight?" he shouted, as panic rose from his chest to his throat.
The two sovereigns stood up and Celestia lowered her chin in shame:
"Spike, summon the other Elements here. Twilight has been ponynapped. We owe you an urgent explanation."
The dragon looked at her and his green eyes showed strong concern.