The Imperial Derechian Guard Corps and the Crystal Pegasi · 5:25am Jan 5th, 2017
In the year 1436 BTH, some 1936 years before Twilight Sparkle rescued Princess Luna from her Nightmare, and three decades before the Migration of the Three Tribes had even begun, there was a regiment of Pegasus mercenaries in service to the Crystal Republic as foederati (allied auxiliary troops under their own leader and laws). This was in the Twilight of the Old Republic, which was to harden into Empire under the impact of the catastrophic climate change brought by the Windigoes.
Largely because General Downybeard wanted a regiment of Pegasi on his side in the sporadic Civil Wars that would in the end destroy the Republic, these mercenaries were to receive very special treatment from the Crystal Ponies. General Downybeard arranged for them to be permanently provisioned from the (ground) town of Derecho, north of the Crystal City. Derecho was controlled by Downybeard's clients, and the mercenaries built a modest cloud fort over that town, which they called by the name of High Derecho, to distinguish it from Low Derecho.
This cloud fort was to become the nucleus of the great skycastle of Derecho, the future center of the culture of the Crystal Pegasi. In the ensuing generation, the mercenaries of Derecho began to assimilate into Crystal-civilized culture and became increasingly loyal to the Crystal Ponies. Their ability to conduct long-range patrols and intercept renegade Pegasi played a key role in keeping the Migration through the Crystal-Pony lands to what is now Equestria essentially peaceful, which was in turn vital in ensuring good long-term relations between the Crystal Empire and what would become Equestria.
Low Derecho was eventually destroyed in the combination of cold weather and the onset of the Age of Discord in 1000 BTH, but High Derecho, now outfitted with the Laputa-Stone and hence both massive and mobile, became the main stronghold of the Crystal-Imperial Pegasi, the descendants of that original mercenary regiment. This military unit became known as the Imperial Derechian Guard Corps, and its courage and loyalty became legendary. Such was the wealth and glory which could be won in service to the Empire that the Derecho eventually became home to the High Clans of the Pegasi, including the Winds, Kickers, and Doo, all who contributed Marshals to the Imperial Derechian Guard Corps, at its height a force of tens of thousands of Pegasii.
High Derecho, now simply called Derecho, was a semi-independent flying fortress of the Crystal Empire -- and a mobile one, able to deploy itself to whichever sector was most-threatened. The Laputa Stone shielded the cloud-castle against the power of Discord, but the Twister could and did attack it indirectly, by weakening the Crystal Empire as a whole. The great weakness of Derecho was that it defined itself by its service to the Crystal Empire, and it never had enough of an independent ground-based hinterland for its own logistical support. As the Empire weakened, Derecho's garrison dwindled, and the Imperial Derechian Guard Corps shrank.
By the end of the Middle Empire, Derecho had become a ceremonial castle, containing many of the most valuable artifacts and trophies of the Imperial Derechian Guard Corps, but dwelt in only by a small population and garrisoned but by a cadre, whose role it was to prevent these items from being stolen. The fortress was kept near the Crystal City, no longer roving far afield as had once been its wont.
During the Late Empire, the Crystal Pegasi increasingly dwelt in and around the Crystal City, while Derecho became principally important for its artifacts, trophies, and shrines to which the Crystal Pegasi repaired for rituals. The small remaining Derechian population also maintained the Library of Derecho, which was largely conmposed of the Scrolls of Deeds of the Crystal Pegasus Clans. (Many of these were also kept as copies by the Pegasus families, and Lady Tourmaline summarized a good portion of these as the Derecho Documents and stored them in the Archives of the Great Imperial Library in the Crystal City).
During the tyrannies of Sthenarkos IX and Sombros I, many Crystal Pegasi, increasingly disturbed by the dishonorable deeds of these despots, rebelled or fled to Equestria. The High Clans had always maintained branches both in Derecho and Equestria, and following the fall of the Empire their northern members simply migrated south to join their southern branches. The High Clans of Medieval and Modern Equestria almost all were descended in part from Crystal-Pegasus stock. Almost no Crystal- `
After the restoration of the Crystal Empire, many adventurous Equestrian Pegasi, both of the High Clans and common families, went north in the service of Princess Cadance to help protect The City and expand the Empire into the Northern Wastes. These were initially just the Air Guard of Princess Cadance's military.
In 1509, Commander Windvane's New Pegasus Mandate cut out the (by that point abandoned) fortress of Derecho from Crystal-Imperial control and made it their capital. The New Mandate equipped it with modern engines, greatly increasing its speed and maneuverability, and installed the Pegasus Device there. In 1512, when the New Mandate attacked the Crystal Empire, Doctor Atmosfear commanded the garrison of Derecho.
He was defeated by a rising led by his prisoners Fluttershy and Scootaloo, who respectively smashed his control room and destroyed the Pegasus Device, wrecking the power systems. Derecho drfited across the North Pole, the survivors aboard having to fend off their former Frost Giant and Windigo allies, until it reached the Griffon Empire in Taura. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash defeated Windvane, wrecking his flagship and the Rainbow of Darkness he had installed aboard her, and Windvane's airfleet surrendered to Princess Luna and Fluttershy.
After these events, Princess Cadance was convinced of the need to field a major Pegasus contingent. She re-activated the Imperial Derechian Guard Corps, and accepted recruits from both Equestria and from the defeated forces of Windvane. The Imperial Derechian Guard Corps received some of the best of the new heavier-than-air flying craft, equipped with top-notch engines and tronics, and played a key role in the rest of the Shadow Wars.
Negotiations with the Griffon Empire for the return of Derecho lasted several years. The cloud-fortress was eventually returned to the Crystal Empire in YOH 1518, as part of the treaty under which Equestria aided the Griffon Empire against the Black Entente, and became the site of the Imperial Derechian Guard Academy in 1520.
After the Shadow Wars, the Imperial Derechian Guard Corps played a major role in the reclamation of the Old Homelands -- Operation Hearthwarming. Since then, they have fought in the skies of Earth and of many other worlds, living up to their proud and ancient heritage.
You cut yourself off here.
Aside from that, another fascinating glimpse of the past and future of your Equestria. (If I recall correctly, don't Fluttershy and Dash ascend during this conflict?)
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Yes. That's the war in which Fluttershy and Dashie become Alicorns.
wow i never got bored on how you give form and body too your version of equestria.