//------------------------------// // The Cold Truth // Story: The Powers That Be // by Anthri //------------------------------// Before the unification of everypony, before the Crystal Empire existed, before Luna and Celestia came into the world, the ponies lived in a snow covered land. This wasn't always so, because ponies used to love one another equally. There was no hate between them because they had grown from fillies who were under the rule of the royal family, the original alicorns. These alicorns had known the mother of pony kind and kept her peace and love lasting. Lauren was apart of the ponies lives for awhile but it got scarcer over time because her nature kept her creating more things in the world. Years passed and the ponies started feeling more and more angry towards each other and the differences they had, came into focus as controversial subjects arose. Eventually, even the royal family couldn't keep the peace and the three pony types separated into their own towns. The royal family stayed with the unicorns because they believed the problem would have to be solved with magic. When the break happened, Princess Platinum was ruler and the times had affected her too. She wasn't as peace loving as she once was but she still tried to hang on to old traditions that all ponies shared. She had two unicorns she called her favorites named Starswirl and Sombra. They had the task of reuniting all ponies in friendships bliss. The two also had different views of handling the situation. Starswirl was older as was his idea's, to force ponies to reunite using magic. The princess wasn't to pleased to hear that her subjects should be brought together this way but had him pursue it anyways remembering the magic of friendship. The black unicorn, Sombra, had a similar idea but its method was very different. Instead of using magic, he would use physical force to have them come together. He brought to the princess, rules and laws that had to be followed to maintain peace. The princess didn't like Sombra's idea at all because she didn't want to become a tyrant. She remembered her mother's love and tried to call on her for guidance but Lauren never came. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia, Luna and Twilight were laying on Celestia's bed as Celestia told her story. It was a relaxing atmosphere and the room was lit by the sun from the windows. Luna was reading the diary that Twilight found in their old castle. As Celestia finished telling this portion of the story, Luna stopped reading and turned to Twilight. “This is the information that had been passed down to us. What she told us about the history of pony kind.” Twilight nodded, “Yes you can read these in history books too but why isn't Lauren ever mentioned?” “Because we can't prove she exist.” Celestia shook her head. “But she's been staying around the castle. Even if nopony knew who she was, they would still wonder who the new alicorn was.” Twilight argued. “True Twilight Sparkle, but this is the first time she has come around ponies since the ancient days... I think she was testing the waters.” Luna said. Twilight's expression told the sisters that she accepted this reason. The lavender alicorn nodded and let Celestia continue. “Father and mother told us why they really left.” Celestia confessed. “We never knew our father before hand so she never answered the question. She just always told us, 'someday you may know', things along those lines. It was very frustrating.” Luna added rolling on the bed to lay on her side. She saw her parent's at the door. “Yes it was and I felt your frustrations.” Lauren added. Every-pony saw that the motherly alicorn was in the room, along with the dragon, Craig. “How long have you been there?” Celestia asked. “I just came to help tell the story.” Lauren giggled. “And mine.” Craig added. “Why?” Twilight asked. “If you told them already I mean.” Twilight realized how rude she was being and quickly corrected the situation. “I mean, I hope this isn't wasting to much of your time. I don't think I'm THAT important.” she blushed from shame. Celestia and Luna eyed each other for a moment then looked back at their mother. Lauren smiled, “Too much to tell them in such a short time. Your future and past Twilight are tied to this story. My daughters do not know everything about it.” Craig nodded. “My past is also tied in with yours, little one.” Twilight felt a bit noxious. “I don't know if I like where this is going.” “Well, hear us out, please?” Craig asked. Twilight frowned but nodded. Lauren continued from where Celestia left off. “But I must backtrack a little bit. When the break in unification happened. I was there in the castle that is unknown to you, Platinum's castle.” Craig frowned because he knew what was next and the others noticed his change. “When I saw my ponies fight, I grew sad that my love did not live among the ponies as strong and as long as I had hoped. I realized it was my fault for always disappearing, always leaving them.” Lauren looked down trying to hide her face. “But... one day...” she continued, “Craig came to me in the castle, and he pointed at the ponies and asked me to come with him.” Craig nodded, “'Do not stay and be betrayed' I told her. Then, I pointed to the horizon, 'Let us wander over yonder'.” “I cried a lot at that moment.” Lauren confessed. “I didn't believe in myself anymore, my children didn't love each other and their mother couldn't stay and be a mom.” Celestia and Luna both looked hurt but remained understanding, letting her finish without interruption. Twilight looked on in curiosity, hearing the affairs of the gods of old. Lauren still had her head down and her face still out of sight. Craig comforted her with a hug to her slender neck. “So with a heavy heart, I followed Craig and we traveled the world trying to find peace of mind with what we have done and become.” she lifted her head. “Chrysalis had been born along time ago and my fling with John was over at this time. I just had a lot of regrets and it seemed to get worse.” “It doesn't appear to be easy, being a god and a mother.” Twilight said. “Everyone wants you but you're too big to share.” Lauren nodded. “But I can be shared if I put in the time.” She sat down on a cushion next to Celestia's mirror and Craig sat next to her on the bare carpet. “We have done our best to understand but we can only relate to you a little.” Luna told her mother. “As rulers of a country, we are always needed and it is very tiring.” Celestia giggled. “She just has to get used to being around ponies again.” Luna rolled her eyes at her sister's words. The black dragon began talking. “Lauren's relationship with John had been over for hundred's of years, ending with the birth of Chrysalis. It is also when she made my successor and I had Av run the dragons for me.” Craig nodded. “During my absence, Av had recruited Skadholm and then Ryalon.” Twilight's eyes perked up, “Now that you mention it, we never learned her story.” “For good reason.” Lauren told her. “Her domination story is the Crystal Empire.” “WHAT?” Twilight shouted unintentionally. “Sorry! Ahem, continue.” once again blushing. “The Crystal Empire was, in the beginning, a diamond dog settlement.” Craig went on. “They were the original inhabitants of Equestria before the ponies came and claimed it as their own.” “Should we write this down?” Twilight asked in earnest. “You will decide that once you hear the whole story.” Celestia explained. “Anyways” Craig continued, “The diamond dogs built those stone colored houses but they did not construct that tower. Before they could truly expand, they were invaded and wiped out by a foreign force.” “What happened to them?” Twilight asked him. “Griffons.” Craig told her. “Wait, wait wait.” Twilight sputtered. “They didn't come to Equestria until after Fhil let them into the country.” “This is half true.” Lauren claimed. “Yes. The griffons came to this place after fleeing from their own war torn home. A warlord had decided to unite the griffon tribes under one banner and these unique creatures that came from the northern side of their land, tried to colonize here. They face hopeless numbers back home, you see.” Craig explained. “What made them unique?” “They had snow leopard legs and white feathers.” “Wow, that sounds pretty, I've never seen one.” Twilight said. “Because they are all dead.” the dragon revealed. “But..” “They killed the dogs, built that tower and renamed that city to Ryalon. I suppose you can figure out the rest.” Twilight frowned. “A race of griffons destroyed..” “Ryalon is vicious as she is deceitful.” Craig said simply. “She wanted to prove herself to her love, Skadholm and absolutely conquered that place. She became a leader after returning home to the ruined city of Skadholm.” Everypony listened to Craig's story. “Afterward, The city had been abandoned for 120 years. Ryalon guarded her treasure when she could but could not stay because of her other duties. The dragon leadership was still small and she had to protect the dragon capital. During this period, I had already asked Lauren to leave the ponies and they had began to migrate out of the snow covered lands when they couldn't keep their growing population fed.” Lauren nodded, “When the ponies reunited in that fateful cave, the crystal heart was created that day and they felt the love and joy of another's company. They didn't travel far and found the abandoned city. Platinum ruled from the castle and the other two leaders went out to expand their claim to the land. The pegasus leader founded Cloudsdale and the earth pony went on to build Manehattan. The Crystal Empire remained diverse to hold onto the peace they earned.” “However it was threatened.” Craig added. “Ryalon saw that her city had been inhabited by ponies so, furiously, she attacked them.” Twilight raised a brow to this. Craig went on, “Princess Platinum still had Sombra and Starswirl around and the two of them were able to defeat her. She retreated back to Skadholm and the dragons planned to recapture the city. But that attack didn't go unnoticed, Lauren found out and asked me to do something.” “Right. I asked him if he could tame the dragons for me.” she giggled. “At that moment, Lauren was pregnant with Celestia and I wanted to keep her happy.” “So he went to Skadholm in hopes of stopping future attacks on all pony kind, even after he gave the reins to Av.” Lauren said. “My arrival didn't go as planned.” Craig admitted. “Av was surprised to see me but the other two didn't know who I was. I told them not to attack the ponies but Ryalon and Skadholm ignored me and took off towards the empire. Av began arguing with me about how he was in control and if the dragons were to conquer the world, there would be no holding back.” “So what happened?” “We fought.” Twilight, Luna and Celestia were surprised at this news. “I won of course, transforming and harming him a great deal. Av couldn't believe it. He did manage to break off a piece of my horn before I transformed though. Since that day he did as I commanded. I don't think he believed I was really a dragon after that but he held his tongue.” Craig laughed. “The other two dragons made it to the empire, but they were defeated.” “By Sombra and Starswirl?” Twilight asked. “Me and Av made it there to see that they were beat by a single pony.” “Who?” Twilight's curiosity growing. “Only Starswirl. Av saw Sombra's rage. He saw Sombra's jealousy. Starswirl made Sombra watch as he beat them alone and afterward Sombra went off on Starswirl in a very vocal manner. Starswirl surpassed Sombra in magic and the dark unicorn wouldn't have it.” “That's right, but he got over it.” Lauren said. “The Empire was safe and when Celestia was born, I wanted her to live a normal life, not one among a god, so I handed her to Princess Platinum to take care of.” “Right, but Harmony told Lauren and I that we needed to have one more child, to maintain harmony because our kids would be the future.” Craig said. “We got to work.” he finished, grinning. Lauren rolled her eyes as Luna and Celestia had disgusted looks on their faces. Twilight was blushing again. “So after some time we managed to have Luna and also gave her to Platinum. The world of Equestria had grown and peace was still maintained. That dragons hadn't been seen since and Sombra was still around but kept a low profile. We all believed he was just trying to find ways to have stronger magic, which we all encouraged because it would be an asset to us. Sombra was part of the family, no matter what rivalry he and Starswirl held.” Lauren continued. “Celestia finally got her cutie mark and became a great deal all over Equestria. She could raise the sun alone and that was an omen that a new age was dawning.” “I remember that. Ponies from all over came to see me and my mark.” Celestia said looking at the sun mark on her flank. Lauren sighed. “But when Luna was born and came into her mark, she wasn't as well received. The only thing they did was put her on the flag.” Hearing this, Luna frowned and Celestia comforted her little sister. “Ponies loved the day more than they wanted night around.” Luna said. “Well, ponies didn't have fun at night like they do nowadays.” Celestia added. Luna looked at her sister with uncertainty. "In that book talking about the Nightmare Moon, it shows that you had pink hair in the drawing. Did you have pink hair as a filly Celestia?" Twilight asked. "Nope. That was to keep our hair colors, one single color to not draw attention away from the other. Equality in representation of two equal beings. You should have seen the first Equestian flag, my hair was green on it instead." "Oh! I see now." Twilight accepted this. Luna looked at her with sadness because she was about to drag out a lot of her awful past. “I remember it all, after I got my cutie mark.” Luna went deep into thought because she wanted to explain everything that happened after that in detail.