The Legend is Born
"Hello my children. Have you ever wondered where my legend came from? No, it did not come from Camp Everfree. In fact, it wasn't even in that universe.
"Let me tell you a story. The real story of how my legend began. Please, have a seat and enjoy some tea. This might take a while.
"You see, before those two princesses showed up, I ruled the entirety of Equestria. After all, who better to rule it than the embodiment of mother earth herself, no?
"Anyway, I ruled as a leader should, with love and care and a bit of discipline here and there when needed.
"As is typical of nature's laws, the strongest of my children partook of the weaker, devouring them and adding the nutrients they partook in to their own bodies.
"As a mother, I did not necessarily like watching my children feast upon one another, but were it not this way, the eldest of my children would starve and die. Survival of the fittest and whatnot.
"Back to the point, I watched over my children for centuries as they lived in perfect balance with one another. But, that all changed when Those 'goddesses' Celestia and Luna appeared. They came upon my domain, bringing with them the rest of their kind. They called themselves ponies.
"Being the mother of all things natural, I knew what a pony was of course, but never have I seen ones such as this. Some could fly, some had horns, and some were stronger than most would believe. Even further still, the two leaders of the group had both horns and wings, and I assumed that they were some sort of hybrid of the three races.
"As is to be expected of those who would take up a journey, some were sick or tired, and some were injured and even dying. Celestia and Luna came before me, bowing and begging me to allow them to create a home for themselves here.
'Please forgive us Lady Everfree,' Celestia had said to me. 'But we have no gifts to offer you in return for your kindness.'
'We are afraid that our meager offerings would not please The Lady very much.' Luna said, referring to both her companion and herself in the third person, a strange quirk that I found out later from Celestia was a bad habit. I had also found out that they were siblings.
"I thought on it for a moment before saying yes. But, I also told them that in exchange for me allowing them to stay here, I would require them to work the land and give to the animals.
"They were so overjoyed that I let them stay that they agreed wholeheartedly, leaving to tell the news to the group of over a thousand that they were leading.
"For a time, they kept their word. Tending to the land and caring for the animals. As they were seemingly peaceful, and had done as I asked, I remained seated upon my throne, only venturing out to check up on their progress and maintain the natural patterns of the world, such as the weather.
"That however, is when it all changed. Soon, the ponies were building their own government, centered around the two 'Alicorns' as they called themselves.
"At first I had no problems with this. I had helped them, they were going about life happily, and all was well.
"Then they began to use the land for their own profit, growing trees for the sake of selling their fruit and gaining money.
"This was nothing more than a mild annoyance, considering I knew they had to find some way to sustain themselves, as well as the fact they were still doing as I asked, even if they were using nature for personal gain, so I let it slide.
"Then came this 'nightmare moon' incident, where princess Luna plunged the world into eternal darkness, forcing me to work overtime even after she was defeated. But that was not the worst of it.
"What really got my blood boiling was what happened after. It is not that I expected them to worship me as a goddess myself, despite my being exactly that. However, I did expect at least some credit for what I had done for them. Now, they were referring to those princesses as goddesses and throwing me to the wayside, as if I was nothing but a memory. It was so frustrating. Still, being as merciful as I was, and seeing as they had continued to keep their promises, I gave them one last chance.
"Then, many years later, as if to confirm my previous statement, I heard a rumor.
"On one of my periodic outings to check on the progress of the ponies of Equestria, as they had called the new country they now resided in, I overheard a few ponies talking. As I usually hid my identity when traveling out of the Everfree in order to not attract attention to myself, the ponies could not see me, and it was while I was in this perfect hiding place that I heard of a legend.
"The legend told of a beautiful pony who lived in the Everfree Forest. She had a blue mane, green eyes, a red-ish brown coat and her attire appeared to be made from the earth itself. She was said to be the ruler of the Everfree.
"It took only moments for me to realize who they were referring to. They were talking about me. And they were talking as if I wasn't even there! It had finally happened. After all this time, I had officially become nothing more than...a memory.
"I was furious. I marched my way up to the castle of the so called 'Goddesses' That had so rudely usurped my throne.
'Ah, Lady Everfree. You seem upset. Whatever is the matter?' Celestia said, speaking in a tone that spoke of the royalty she had now become accustomed to. She spoke as if we were equals.
'Don't play dumb with me! You know exact;y what the problem is!' I said, anger from past transgressions seeping to the surface as I was no longer able to hold back the flood of emotion in my voice.
'No, we are afraid we do not, Lady Everfree. Please, explain it to us, so that we may understand.' It was Luna's turn to speak.
"I exploded. 'You...you...fine! You want an explanation? I'll give you one! Not only did you desecrate the land I so generously gave you by building a town, not to mention a castle atop it, which I had no issue with, given the circumstances, you used that land for your own personal gain, usurped my throne, took over my claim to goddess, and now I have been forgotten completely, lost to history, and replaced with a mere legend. My once great land has become nothing more than a product of your greed and pride. Have you forgotten all that I have done for you?'
"As I said this, the princesses were dumbstruck. They looked at me with wide eyes, mouths agape in shock and bewilderment.
"Luna was the first to recover from the verbal slap they had both just received, and had moved to speak. 'P-please forgive us lady Everfree. All this time we have been misguided, led astray by our own desires. We had no intentions of incurring your wrath upon us.'
'No intention? It's a little late to be saying that now don't you think?' I snapped back at the princess.
'Yes, it is. We understand completely, and will accept whatever punishment you see fit to give us. I only wish to ask one final thing of you.'
'The time for favors is over Celestia! It passed a long time ago. But I suppose I will hear you out just this once.'
'Thank you very much. The favor I wish to ask is this. Punish us however you see fit, but please do not lay waste to ponykind.'
At this, I had calmed down a bit, wanting to listen. I was still plenty angry, but the prospect of this favor intrigued me. 'And why shouldn't I?'
'You are the reason we now have all that we do, Lady Everfree.' Luna spoke up next, giving the reasoning behind their request. 'You are the reason we were able to go on living.'
'Yes, and?' I was becoming a bit impatient with them.
'Would you really like to destroy the place you put so much effort into trying to make for us? To bring to ruin the very race you helped save?'
"I could only stare at them, wide eyed. They had a point. No one would want to destroy the work they had invested so much of their time into.
"I thought about it for a moment before, '...I get it. Fine. I won't end your race. But you still must be punished for your transgressions.'
'As I said before, we are willing to accept any punishment you deem fit, Lady Everfree.' Celestia spoke up, repeating her words from before almost verbatim.
'Hmm...Any punishment huh?'
'That is what we said, Lady Everfree-'
'Quiet, I'm thinking!' I cut Luna off.
Then it came to me.
'Ah yes, perfect.' I smiled, raising my hands to the sky.
'What are you doing, Lady Everfree?' Celestia asked, suddenly worried.
'Oh you'll see!'
"With that, a bright green glow surrounded me, enveloping me in a green light as I floated high into the air, the brightness of the light finally dying down a bit.
"My eyes glowed as well, as I looked down at the two of them and spoke. 'Princesses Celestia and Luna, for your crimes against nature and the goddess who represents it, I sentence you to two thousand years of labor. Since you wanted so badly to replace me, you and all your ponies shall take up my work. The Pegasi will handle the weather, The earth ponies will till the soil, and as for you dearest princesses, you will handle the sun and the moon, however only one of you may have either of them. Celestia shall raise the sun in the day, and Luna will raise the moon at night. You will feel the pain of the work I put into maintaining this precious town of yours!'
"As I said that, an explosion of magic erupted from my body, creating symbols that attached themselves to the flanks of the two alicorns.
'What are these?' They asked.
'Those are your cutie marks.' I answered. 'They will serve as a reminder of the punishment you have to face. They also represent your jobs. These marks will appear on every pony born in the future at the point in their life when they find their destiny, and only then.'
"The princesses simply looked down, too afraid to look me in the eye. 'We understand.'
'Good.' I said in response. 'And as an added punishment, you are not allowed inside the Everfree forest for the next thousand years.'
'We understand.' was all they said.
'Thank you very much. I will take my leave now.'
'Wait, please!' Celestia suddenly called out. 'What will happen to the unicorns?'
"I turned around and thought. then I said, 'The unicorns may keep their magic.'
The two royal ponies sighed in relief at this.
'But the magical texts will be scattered around equestria. If you wish to study magic once again, you must find them all.'
"With that, I made my way back to the Everfree, changing to look a little different once I got there. Gone were the peaceful, serene trees, the soft, warm grasses, the gentle breezes, and the kind and gentle animals. They were now a sight of horror to any who may enter. Trees were a horrid black and seemed to breathe with a wicked flame of life. The grass was dead and dry, the air tasted of sulfur, and the once happy animals were now beasts to be feared.
"The only ones who had continued on with their promise even after all of this were the zebras, my most loyal of children. They were a simple tribe, and they only used the land to feed themselves and those around them. They used its gifts to create magnificent concoctions and potions that would allow them to do many things that were at times, beyond their capability. Sadly, most could not survive in this new, harsher Everfree I had created, and they soon died out. All except for one.
"Devastated by the results of my actions upon my children, I took up the last surviving zebra and raised her, teaching her everything I knew and giving her a place to call home.
"By the time she was all grown up, she knew more about the world than most ponies did, and while it saddened me to see her making nice with those infernal quadrupeds, she assured me herself that she would always remember me, and that her home would always be the Everfree.
"It had gotten to a point where I decided it was time for me to leave this place. After a particularly hard day, I made my way to my throne, planning to leave the forest behind, along with the world that had forgotten me. I stepped behind it, revealing a stone portal. I had used this portal to traverse many a dimension in my time, and now was the time to use it again. I activated it with my magic, and stepped through, never to return.