Shining Armor couldn't believe it.
He had known there was something off about the Princess, but the murder of an entire race? No, something had to give, there had to be more to it than that, and now was his chance to find out.
Shining Armor regained his composure and steeled his nerves.
"You're telling me that Princess Celestia... wiped out your entire race?" Shining asked carefully, "why? What possible reason could she have for--"
"It's because we were strong and she was -- and is -- completely crazy, kid," Frigid Gale interjected as she pounded a hoof on the desk. Shining winced at the absolute hatred that dripped from her voice, "thestrals were some of the most magically powerful creatures in Equestria aside from the Princesses once upon a time, but that meant buck all in the face of her insanity."
"I dont -- wait..." the colt blinked, "...did you say Princesses?"
Frigid Gale nodded gravely.
She stepped out from behind the desk and trotted over to the table where Shining Armor was sitting.
"Get comfortable, kid," Gale said as she sat down in the chair opposite Shining's, "you wanted answers? I'll give you answers, but first I want you to understand just what kind of villain we're up against."
The colt swallowed and put on a determined frown.
"What proof do you have that the Princess is the monster you say she is?" Shining asked, "I mean, I know Equestria's history hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows -- some of what I've read about the history of the Equestrian Army was pretty bad -- but Princess Celestia being responsible for the death of an entire race?"
"I don't have any proof for you," Frigid Gale replied with a shake of her head, "at least not on me right now, so you'll just have to take my word for it."
Shining Armor thought about it for a moment before he gave a slow nod.
"...Fair enough."
Gale nodded back and leaned back in her chair.
"To answer your question, yes, kid," she began, "there used to be two Princesses -- the Solar Princess Celestia, and the Lunar Princess Luna. Like you said, Equestria didn't used to be -- and still isn't in some places -- a paradise of love, tolerance, and Harmony."
Shining frowned but nodded silently and Gale continued.
"I can guarantee I've read all the same books on military history that you have, kid -- probably more -- and let me tell you, they're all a crock of horseapples."
Shining's frown deepened, but still he didn't say anything.
"History in general has been heavily revised by Celestia to fit the squeaky clean image she's been trying to hold on to for the last few centuries," Gale said with a disgusted frown, "but the truth of the matter is that Equestria was constantly warring against threats from within and outside its borders.
"Sometimes these wars would go on for decades at a time... and Equestria wasn't always the one in the right."
"How do you know all of this?" Shining finally asked. "if history really was revised like you said, then how would you have gotten your hooves on that kind of information?"
"I've got connections," Frigid Gale replied curtly, "just shut up and listen for now."
Shining Armor's brow furrowed, and he went silent once more.
"Now then," Gale continued, "back when Equestria was in a constant state of war, Celestia was a lot more... hooves on when it came to running her kingdom and protecting her little ponies, and her sister was right there with her, fighting alongside her every step of the way."
The colt opened his mouth to comment, but Frigid Gale cut him off.
"Yes, kid, Princess Luna was Celestia's younger sister," she said impatiently, "she once controlled the Moon as Celestia controls the Sun. Despite the turmoil of war, the two sisters were extremely close.
"Through their loyalty, bravery, leadership, and the bond they shared with each other, Equestria managed to prevail far more often than not. Over time, the two Princesses came to be known as heroes to their subjects, with some going so far as to call them Hero Queens and as stupid as I think that title is, they certainly deserved it... most of the time."
As Shining Armor listened he couldn't help but become intrigued by the story, and Frigid Gale noted with some hidden amusement that the colt was quite literally on the edge of his seat.
"Of course, there were times where both Princesses did things that weren't so heroic," the thestral mare continued, "among some of their more... atrocious deeds were torture, the razing of entire towns, public executions... and in Celestia's case, genocide.
"Still though, for all the horrible acts they committed, both sisters managed to remain good in the eyes of the general public."
Up until this point, Frigid Gale had been somewhat enjoying herself, much to her own surprise, but it was at this point that she put on a solemn expression as she spoke.
"Eventually, the Griffonian Kingdom and the Empire of Minos formed an alliance against Equestria in an effort to take the country once and for all by seizing it's captial which, at the time, was located south of Mount Canterhorn where the Everfree forest is now.
"The war between Equestria and the Griffonian-Minos Alliance was one of the longest and bloodiest wars in Equestria's history and even with all of the Princesses strength, the Alliance took the capital and we very nearly lost."
"I remember reading about that," Shining Armor interjected as raised a hoof to his chin, "supposedly Princess Celestia's Royal Army ousted the invaders in a surprise attack on the Everfree Castle, though it was completely destroyed in the process, leaving no evidence of the castle or the city remaining."
Frigid Gale actually laughed at this, much to Shining confusion and irritation.
"I told you, kid," she said, still chuckling, "those books are complete garbage when it comes to historical accuracy," she frowned again, "what actually happened wasn't nearly as flashy or heroic and the castle wasn't destroyed -- at least not yet, and even then, not completely."
"It's true that the Alliance had taken over the Everfree Castle," Gale conceded, "but the invaders weren't ousted, they were slaughtered, each and every one of them by the Princesses own hooves."
Shining wanted to be horrified, but he found his curiosity too strong to overcome. Rather than asked what actually happened, he waited for Frigid Gale to explain, and she did.
"Celestia and Princess Luna knew an attack on the capital was imminent and so they planned for it. They built an underground bunker before the attack, and when the Alliance came to invade, they evacuated the citizen of Everfree City and waited.
"It wasn't until after the Everfree Castle was taken that the Princesses struck. They took a few soldiers and snuck into the castle, systematically killing every griffon and minotaur they came across until they reached the throneroom where they fought the generals of both the Griffonian and Minos armies in a deadly duel.
"The Princesses won the duel and killed off the rest of the Alliance soldiers scattered throughout the town. From that point onward the war drastically shifted in favor of Equestria and with newfound morale, the Equestrian Army rallied and crushed the remaining Alliance forces.
"The reclamation of Everfree Castle more or less signaled Equestria's victory over the Alliance, and after negotiating the terms of surrender for Griffonia and Minos, peace finally returned to Equestria... for a time."
Shining sat back in his chair as he thought about what Frigid Gale had told him. Some of the details seemed to match up with what he had read, but a lot of it was far worse than he had ever imagined.
And then there was Princess Luna.
If what Frigid Gale had said was true, then Princess Celestia had somehow managed to completely erase her own sister from history. The mere thought sickened the colt and he wondered just what on Equus could've caused the Princess to do something like that.
On top of that, there was barely any information at all about what happened after the war against the Alliance -- though it looked like he would soon find out.
"The next part of what I'm about to tell you is a history that's been carefully recorded by my family for generations, and it isn't something that I divulge lightly, kid," Gale continued with a serious expression, "I've only told three other ponies about it, and one of them practically laughed in my face."
She leaned forward and gave the colt a look that sent shivers down his spine.
"Don't make the same mistake."
Shining nodded quickly and Gale leaned back once more with a satisfied nod of her own.
"Equestria was peaceful for a couple of centuries after the war with the Alliance, and it seemed like that peace would last forever to some ponies, but then the Lunar Princess fell in love."
Shining's eyebrows raised in surprise, not having expected the sudden turn of events.
"Yeah, that's how I looked when I found out," Frigid Gale responded, a wry smirk briefly making it's way to her face before she frowned again, "anyway, from what I was told, a mysterious stallion claiming to be from an empire far to the north arrived in Equestria and began to court Princess Luna in secret.
"After some time had passed, the Princess fell for his charms and they began an illicit relationship hidden from the eyes of Celestia and the rest of the public. It was apparently during this time that Luna had found out she had an affinity for Dark Magic."
"Really?" Shining Armor couldn't help but ask, "wouldn't she have known about that already given how old she would've been?"
"You'd think so," Frigid Gale answered with a shrug, "but it turns out Princess Luna had never once used Dark Magic. I personally think it was because her sister had forbidden it due to all the Dark Mages that had been around at the time.
"Getting back on topic, the story goes that the stallion greatly encouraged Princess Luna to make use of Dark Magic and helped cultivate her ability with it. Eventually Celestia found out about the stallion and their relationship.
"She drove the stallion from Equestria and back to his own land and harshly forbade her sister from seeing him again. Though she found out about the relationship, Celestia still didn't know about Princess Luna's use of Dark Magic.
"Princess Luna resented her sister for her actions against the stallion she loved, and it didn't take long for that resentment to grow into outright hatred. This hatred caused the Lunar Princess to delve deeper and deeper into Dark Magic.
"Driven by rage, sorrow and the influence of Dark Magic -- Princess Luna adopted the moniker of Nightmare Moon and attacked her sister. Though both sisters survived the battle, no one actually knew how the battle ended."
Frigid Gale paused and let out a tired sigh. She cracked her neck a few times before eyeing the colt sitting across from her. Shining Armor had been hanging on Frigid Gale's every word and had all but forgotten his anger towards the thestral mare in the face of the overwhelming amount of information.
Gale chuckled and shook her head before speaking again.
"Regardless of who won, the action would spark a civil war that raged on for a decade, and the thestrals would pay the heaviest price once it was over."