It was a dark stormy night in the zebra homeland. On the top of the tallest mountain in the land stood a small shack, its inhabitant, a lone zebra named Nubescu. This zebra had the rare gift of foresight; this made her quite well known in the zebra nation. Many would seek her out with an intention to learn of their future. Only those who had the endurance to best the mountain and the wits to solve the puzzles the prophet set were worthy of the knowledge of things that have not yet come to pass.
This particular night, Nubescu was granted a vision while in her sleep. It was not a random tidbit of information to aid an inbound stranger, but a warning for the entire world. The dream took place long ago, before the tribes of pony-kind were united. A powerful force came to the developing lands; he was the first of his kind to appear, a mighty alicorn. His coat was pitch black and his face marked with red and purple stripes. His sickly yellow eyes resembled fire and the other worldly purple of his ethereal mane added to his intimidating appearance. The pony tribes worshipped him as their god, almost uniting them in the process; unfortunately, he let it go to his head and started demanding the construction of massive monuments which left the lands around them barren wastelands. He bound the passing of the sun and moon to the whim of his powerful magic to display his authority over them. However, before the tribes could become unified, his already corrupted mind snapped. Once he learned about the other developing races; the dragons, changelings, griffons, zebras, and buffalo, the power hungry alicorn decided to try and claim leadership of those lands as well. With his current “subjects” tasked with the massive construction projects, he turned to dark magic to summon an army of pony sized, mutilated, alicorns to fight for him should the other races be… too blind to see the god before them.
As powerful as he was, the dark alicorn was not omnipotent: the other races had already unified, because they consisted of a single type of creature, pony-kind consisting of three vastly different races. It was with that early unification that the early “nations” could effectively resist his army of darkness, if only for a time. It was with great reluctance that they temporarily united under one flag to not only counter the advancing armies, but to forge a weapon to defeat the dark lord once and for all. The dragons provided an infinite amount of magical crystals, the changelings brought skilled craftsmen and mages, the griffons harnessed the power of the clouds above, the zebras donated a vast knowledge of herbal ingredients, and the territory the buffalo claimed had a surprising amount of untapped metal veins.
What they forged was a mighty sword made of the strongest and lightest metals, enchanted with the power of nature itself and smelted by the white hot flames of the eldest dragon, all in perfect balance. A great gathering of the many nations leaders was held to discuss the next course of action, they all agreed that the time to strike was the instant the meeting was concluded, the only disagreement was over who was to possess the sword and confront the dark lord. After many arguments and compromises; it was decided that the dragons would carry the sword into battle. Being the most durable of the many races, a dragon mage by the name of Golden Tranquility set out with the Sword of Balance and the combined armies of the five races to put an end to the darkness once and for all. The following battle was anything but small, the two armies clashed all over the future Equestria. It was over the dark lord’s largest monument site that Golden Tranquility and the alicorn clashed, many workers fleeing as the two engaged in combat.
Victory was in Tranquility’s claws when the unthinkable happened, the alicorn cheated. He cast a paralysis spell on the dragon and knocked the sword away, the sword landing at the hooves of a young alicorn filly that had yet to earn her cutie mark, obviously his daughter. The alicorn stretched out his hoof, asking the filly for the sword. She took the sword with her magic, and slowly trotted over to her father. The dragon, being fully aware of his surroundings, had a look of acceptance that his task had failed. Seeing a mighty dragon cast down like that disturbed the filly, she had always known her father to be less than kind to his subjects, but seeing the war he was creating awoke something in the small alicorn, pure, unfiltered rage. With one unexpected swing, the sword cut through the neck of the dark lord like a knife cuts butter.
The dark alicorn blinked once, and then dawned a look of pure anger. He was about to strike her down when his head slowly slid off his neck. The forces of the overlord froze mid combat as the body of their master started to crack and glow, the air around it being sucked into the expanding crevasses. Suddenly all sound ceased to exist, if only for a moment as the body let out a concussive shock wave as it exploded, banishing both the Dark Lord’s soul and his army to the Shadow Realm, a dimension where only shadow exists; a lifeless void.
The dragon stood over the frightened filly and silently gave his thanks, with that he took the sword in his claws and bowed before the young alicorn, offering her the sword. “You have done the world a great favor young one; I offer you this sword as a token of gratitude from the many races of this land.”
The filly slowly took the sword with her magic, unsure of what else to do.
“Tell me little one, what is your name? No doubt the dragons will craft a song in your honor; it would help if they had a name to go with it.”
“C-Celestia… my name is Celestia sir.” She was still very frightened about what she had just done to her father.
The dragon nodded. “What a beautiful name, we are in your debt Celestia.” He couldn’t help but pick up on her stress. “Do not fear little one, what you did was very brave. You stood up for those who had none to stand up for them. That, my little pony, is the calling of a true leader.”
“B-but I'm too little to lead anypony, I'm just a filly.”
“Those who do not want power are the most qualified to own it, for they fear what will happen if they abuse it. I will be your advisor if you wish, if only for the early years of your rule until you get a feel for leadership and discover your own style of ruling.”
“And what about my little sister? She is too little to have anypony speak for her.” Celestia could tell there was no arguing with the dragon.
The dragon didn’t have to think very long on this one, “Two rulers are better than one. Don’t you agree? The two of you would be perfect for keeping each other from acting in a way that would be less than favorable. When she is able, she will join you on the throne.”
Celestia hesitantly accepted his offer and for 10 years she ruled by herself (with the aid of Golden Tranquility). Once Luna was old enough to think for herself, she joined Celestia on the throne. After another 1000 years, the dragon that set Celestia and Luna on the path to leadership was claimed by old age. Golden Tranquility was more than just an adviser to Celestia and Luna; he was a father figure for both them. Aside from Celestia, nopony else remembered those dark days, Luna being much too young to recall them. The Sword of Balance, along with the truth of how Equestria was actually founded, was hidden away. Being broken down into its three parts; the hilt, the blade, and the gemstone, the sword was scattered throughout the lands of the six races. The knowledge of the pieces whereabouts were kept secret, even to the princesses (which turned out to be a wise move considering Nightmare Moon). He was given a memorial outside the castle that the princesses inhabited; it was a statue of a golden triad, the Equestrian symbol of harmony and balance. Though upon the appearance of Nightmare moon, the castle was abandoned, alongside the last remaining trace of those darker days.
The vision faded to black, the only color coming from two sickly yellow eyes, an evil laugh resonating in the darkness. It was there that the dream ended and Nubescu awoke with a start, the disturbing sound of evil laughter still quite audible in her mind. She knew what she had to do, she had to warn Celestia of the coming threat and hope she would seek out the Sword of Balance.