This is a tale from long ago. It is a tale of the first ponies in Equestria. There was two sister Alicorn Mares who rose to be princesses and ruled this land with peace. One rose the Sun, and the other, the Moon. Under these two princesses, the ponies it seemed that all would be peaceful.
They were wrong.
During the Alicorn's rule, there came to be an sudden "evil" that spread across the land, causing less and less peace every day.This so-called "evil" is known to be-and still is to this day-the Nightmares. It was in a form that we could not bear to see, for it was too horrifying to look at. It even had the power to possess a pony if their fear got the best of them, which is what happened to a certain pony-more specifically, an Alicorn.
The Alicorn of the moon became afraid that she wouldn't be able to see the beloved faces of her subjects in the starry nights. This fear built up until it turned into hatred for her sister being able to see the beloved ponies that was wanted to witness by the Mare of the Moon herself. The Lunar Alicorn finally cracked and rebelled against her sister, and the Nightmares were able to find the opportunity to take over her, creating the feared name of Nightmare Moon. A fierce battle took place until the Mare of the Sun had no choice but to banish her sister to the Moon. She went to carry on the responsibility of both her and her sister's duties in Equestria.
A millennium had passed. Things have changed very much since then.
Ponies went on with their peaceful lives, not knowing that tragedy would strike very soon. Fortunately, a young mare was able to see the signs through her studies. As the teacher of this lavender Unicorn, the Solar Princess took sent her to a place known as Ponyville to make friends. This lead to the re-appearance of Nightmare Moon in the town hall, announcing that there shall be eternal night forever. Though most was in fear that this could actually happen, the lavender Unicorn saw through this and swore that she would stop Nightmare Moon's plans. She didn't expect to have support, though. Throughout the Everfree Forest, she learned of what friendship means through her new friends.
When confronting the Mare of the Night, the Unicorn learned that the magic of friendship is what would be the solution to her intense battle with Nightmare Moon. Through Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and Magic, the Mane Six was born and they defeated Nightmare Moon through these elements known as the Elements of Harmony. The Mare of the Night finally broke free of the Nightmares, though most of her power was stripped by it. Her sister then appeared in front of her, causing the Moon Alicorn to sob in both sorrow and joy. She kept apologizing over and over for giving into her fears, but the Celestial Alicorn told her to stop because she already knew that it wasn't her sister's fault to being with, and should have seen the signs before it all happened.
Afterwards, the Lunar Alicorn stepped back into her position of duty in raising the moon, but there were still signs of the Nightmares lurking around Equestria. This both annoyed the sister Alicorns very much, and caused them much grief. After finally getting fed up with the disturbances, they decided to act before any more damage was done. The Sun sister informed her student to bring the Elements of Harmony with her and to rally up her companions for a very important task-sealing the Nightmares away. While this was being done, the Lunar Alicorn set up where the Nightmares would be sealed off. She then thought of how the railroads of Equestria could be for more than just travel, and decided on how to utilized them. The mission was about to begin.
As the Mane Six arrived in the Canterlot Royal Castle Grounds, the Sun and Moon mares came towards them, explaining what needs to be done. The Mane Six understood this and went to six different locations around Equestria by the railroad tracks. With the power of the Elements of Harmony, six shrines were built, and each element lends itself towards the shrine. With the shrines set, the Elements induced energy into the tracks, sucking all the nightmares away from Equestria and holding them for eternity. After returning to the Princesses, both Alicorns stated that they can no longer sense any trace of the Nightmares, and dubbed Equestria's rails as the Harmony Tracks.
The Mane Six went back to their everyday life while the Alicorn sisters went back to their posts in Canterlot. Peace was once again restored to Equestria. Five years later, the student of the Solar Princess is now an Alicorn herself with her own palace. Her friends still living their normal lives, but with much greater bonds of friendship than ever before. With other Alicorns throughout Equestria, it seemed that peace would be contained more so than ever before.
~Princess Celestia
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As a certain lavender Alicorn reads Princess Celestia's script on the 'Legend of the Mane Six', she is shown with an angered expression on her face as she talks aggravatingly to herself.
"Ugh, the alternate names given throughout this story is driving me CRAZY!" Twilight yelled out. "Seriously, I know how important it is to her that legends of our past should be told in third-person narrative, but with THAT many different alternations, it just kills it! I mean, who writes 'Sun and Moon mares'? Capitalization needs work...AGH! I can't read this again. I will write to Celestia when I have the chance. Overall it wasn't bad, but...STILL." She huffed as she laid the parchment onto her desk.
Proofreading was a normal job for Twilight as Equestria seems to get a lot of errors in their writings before they publish in the Equestrian Gazette newspaper. Though she tends to get annoyed very quickly and would rather deal with royal affairs such as paperwork dealing with economic policy and trade, especially if it dealt with affairs associating with Canterlot. What's even worse is how the simple errors occur more frequently than it should, and it drives her insane just thinking about it. She looks out her castle window, pondering about the past.
"*Sigh* I am glad everything's alright, though. The Shrines of Harmony are still doing their job, and nopony's having any nightmares. Sure looks peaceful and quiet. Less drama for me at least." She then then looks back at her desk, closing her eyes. "I hope my friends are okay. Sending them away from the castle like that may be a bit rash, but family comes first."
As the clock chimes in, Twilight opens her eyes and notices the time, and readies herself to leave for the day.
"One o'clock, huh? Well, I better get going. I'm sure that my friends are eager to see my Approval of Acquaintance of a peculiar somepony to help me with my studies. I just hope nothing goes wrong today." She muttered as she walked out of her room into the castle hall.