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// Prologue: The Forgotten History of Equestria 
// Story: The Tale of Two Sisters 
// by Underwood 
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From theses to incantations, I have put quill to parchment many times for many reasons, but none of my works shall ever exceed the importance of this one. To truly capture the dire complexity of the situation we find ourselves in, I have enchanted this book to inscribe itself directly via my lucid thoughts, to ensure the documentation of every moment in as much detail as possible, even while otherwise occupied. Should the contents of this book end abruptly, you shall know why.

The last few days have been the most tumultuous in Equestria's history, even so far back as the Great Freeze at the very founding of our nation. But to understand the scope of what we have lost and what we are fighting for, I must first fully educate you on the history of our great nation of Equestria, as this could very well be the last surviving account our of origin. Obviously I cannot cover everything in as much detail as I would like, as that would be a tome unto itself, but I shall do my best to synopsize everything that I know leading up to this moment in time.


Unicorns, pegasi, and terrans; the three equine races of Equestria. In ancient history, these three lived as separate factions, fighting over resources and the necessity of each group's unique abilities—the unicorn's control of day and night, the pegasi's mastery of the weather and seasons, and the terran's knowledge of agriculture and their food stores. When peace talks failed for the final time, the leaders of each group—Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead respectively—were all but ready to go to war with the others, which finally attracted the attention of the misery-eating spectres known as windigos. As they consumed the negative emotions of the ponies, the land began to freeze with a magical permafrost, thwarted at the last possible moment by the indiscriminating care of the factions' aides; Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, and Smart Cookie. With the frozen hearts of the other ponies thawed, the three nations' leaders came together under a single flag of peace, and thus our united land of Equestria was formed. We remember this event annually on its anniversary, which has come to be known as Hearth's Warming—a reminder to keep love and kindness in our hearts, lest the frost returns to claim us all.

Originating at the very spot the three nations' pact was formed, Canterlot began life as a humble frontier camp at the base of Mount Friendship, later moving up to a more defensible position on the mountainside, where the first stone structures were built. Years later, the flourishing town and its three faction leaders watched over all other settlements from its mountain perch, ensuring the safety and cooperation of its still-anxious citizens. Canterlot Tower was the first structure to be built of what would later become Canterlot Palace in my time. It featured a breathtaking stained glass memorial dedicated to the six ponies—two of each nation—who brought peace to this era of ponykind, and continued to rule in harmony from within its walls for the remainder of their years. As the population and economy grew, so did its seat of power, and soon Canterlot Manor had grown up around the tower, along with the Firstborns of Equestria. These fillies and colts were the first of our kind to grow up in an inclusive, non-segregated society, and with that came a love and acceptance for one another that had never been seen before.


Throughout the history of the world, prosperity has always attracted the ire of other races, be it from jealousy or spite, and it was only a matter of time before the next great catastrophe struck. Villains who wished to disrupt our peace began to appear one after another, seeking to subjugate or destroy ponykind. The strength of the three races’ cooperative forces, headed by the Original Six, were enough to hold back the invading forces, fending off abyssinians and centaurs alike—that was at least until Grogar of Tambelon arrived. Armed with a powerful artefact, the now aged Six were not strong enough to stand against his might, and Canterlot fell under his cloven hoof.

A decade of oppression passed, and those Firstborn of Equestria had finally matured enough to oppose Grogar's regime. A resistance group formed to reclaim the peace of their childhood, and amongst their ranks rose a reluctant leader by the name of Gusty. Rallying and inspiring the downtrodden ponies from the shadows, the group eventually managed to grow enough to directly assault the usurped throne and separate Grogar from his source of power, leaving him vulnerable enough to be overthrown by the masses, forcing him to flee in disgrace. Heralded as the hero of Equestria, Gusty became known as Gusty the Great, and was trusted with overseeing the nation's regeneration. Despite being uncomfortable with special treatment and eschewing the honorary title of Queen, Gusty would still be recorded as the origin of Equestria's autocracy.

Further decades passed without incident until Gusty the Great gave birth to her only daughter, Princess Faust, though no records have survived naming the sire. Mentored by one of Gusty's lifelong friends, Firefly, Faust’s fillyhood was filled with love and a passion for magic and learning, but as is ever the case, harmony is not destined to last forever. Seeking revenge for the centaurs’ earlier defeat at the hooves of the Original Six, a young but powerful prince named Tirek stormed Canterlot with only two guards, wielding a magic not unlike Grogar's, but without the need of an artefact. With no easy answer to his defeat, Tirek consumed the lifeforce of hundreds of ponies, becoming stronger with every one he drained. Just as the red menace was set to topple the capitol for the second time in history and bring about another Dark Age, something happened that nopony could have predicted...


Alicorns. A mythical fusion of each race's strongest trait: the magic of unicorns, the flight of pegasi, and the heart of terrans. Unlike the other races, this form is not born of sire and womb, but from an inner-magic beyond all others; a purity of heart so great that it unlocks some deep, latent potential that resides within us all.Princess Faust had one such heart, and on the eve of Canterlot's destruction, this lone mare stood up to the monstrous Tirek, and in her courage became something... more. A single pony with the horn of a unicorn and pegasus wings, standing tall as the final hope for her people; a creature never before documented and as shocking to friend and foe alike. As though he were nothing, Tirek fell to her righteous indignation and was cast into a timeless pocket dimension of her own creation, doomed to exist in a state of stasis for all time.

With Canterlot saved and the balance of power tipped, it was time for Gusty the Great to step down and leave the throne to her alicorn daughter. As scared and uncertain as the new Queen was, Firefly did her best to stand by her side as council, navigating the hardships of what it meant to be this new creature she had become. As life began to settle back to normalcy, one of the first official decrees Queen Faust made was to construct and open Faust's Academy for Magic and Learning; a bastion of knowledge and magic, open to any who wished to learn. Canterlot Palace was also expanded to the state we know it today, now featuring a massive hall for greeting the many ponies that would come to see the Queen on a daily basis, bringing to her direct attention issues large and small. In fact, the first alicorn Queen dedicated so much of her time to the ponies of Equestria that she never bore an heir to the throne; but as time passed, it seemed that a successor might not be needed at all. As old friends passed and new generations rose, Faust remained on the throne—a little taller and longer in horn, but as mystical and vibrant as ever. Some feared what life under the rule of a single pony for all time might entail, but the Queen's rule remained just, cultivating the longest era of prosperity and peace Equestria had ever known.


Nothing—however—is destined to last forever, and despite time having lost its grip on her body, one's mind cannot withstand such a stressful lifestyle forever, and Queen Faust decided that it was finally time to leave the country's rule in the hooves of another. She turned to the descendants of the Firstborn as her primary candidates, selecting the most promising six to rule by committee, just as our nation had when it was founded. A grand gala was held to celebrate Faust's rule before she left to explore the lands beyond Equestria, spreading her message of peace and cooperation as she went. The ball also saw the swearing-in of The First Council; two ponies of each race to continue in the hoofsteps of the Queen as honorary princes and princesses. Having lived under the rule of a single pony for so long, there was now fear that a committee would bring chaos to the land, but just as before, the ponies' comfortable lives continued without incident.

The First Council proved itself to be just as approachable as the Queen had been, if not more so now that there were more ponies to spread amongst the necessary jobs and governmental sectors. As time passed, a hierarchy began to form within the group, and two particular ponies began to stand out amongst the others in the public eye: Cosmos Hyperion Sol and Stella Starshine. A headstrong terran and nature-loving pegasus respectively, both ponies were attentive, generous, and obsessively committed to keeping Canterlot the utopia it had become; but the most endearing thing about these two was the love they shared for one another. Having once been foalhood friends, the two lost contact until they met again for the first time in decades at the first council meeting and immediately fell in love. Friends and townsfolk alike encouraged the two to wed for years, but both placed the needs of Canterlot before themselves, remaining content with the scarce few hours they could spend together, though it was only a matter of time until they would concede.

I cannot begin to describe the immense joy and celebration that erupted across Canterlot and its satellite settlements in the days preceding the wedding, as though every pony in Equestria were part of the union itself. Heralded as the first ever royal wedding, Prince Sol and Princess Starshine were the very embodiment of the bliss of our nation, attracting attention from far and wide. However, unbeknownst to the happy couple, a secret polling had taken place between their fellow members of the First Council and across Canterlot, proposing to make this event not only a wedding, but a coronation too. As the betrothed stood on the balcony of Canterlot Palace on their wedding day, not only where they named husband and wife, but appointed as King and Queen, to the raucous delight of the crowd.

As the two stood hoof-in-hoof, gazing into each others’ eyes, something happened that no one could have possibly predicted. A celestial energy began to circle the pair and lift them from the ground, like something out of a fairy tale… or history. While no one alive had witnessed this before, those of us who were well versed in historical literature recognised this incredible, momentous event for what it was--the birth of an alicorn. Ney, alicorns. With an explosion of light, the two disappeared from the stage, leading to confused murmurs from the crowd and downright panic from the staff. However, before anyone could overreact, the newly-weds reappeared, floating down to their original position on two pairs of elegant wings, and pink-hued magic sparking between their horns. Who could have imagined that a terran and pegasus in love would have birthed the second generation of alicorn rule in our land? I remember it like it was yesterday, dear reader, for I was in fact there that day, standing on my father’s back from the crowd below as a young foal. It was that very moment that I dedicated my life to the study of magic and the mysteries of the alicorn transformation. Simple history books were no longer enough for my young, voracious mind, so as soon as I came of age, I enrolled at Faust's Academy for Magic and Learning. But I digress, as this record is not of my own exploits—that I shall leave for historians of the future, presuming there is one at the end of all this. Instead, let us return to the next, and perhaps darkest chapter of the story yet.


It had been many years since the birth of the first alicorn, and in that time nations of other creatures had risen around our fiefdom. Racial diplomacy had become a concern that we as a nation had never had to deal with before, and with news quickly spreading of the ponies’ new powerful leaders, tension was already dangerously high. Other creatures feared alicorns as you might fear an army of hundreds, and it wasn’t long before the King and Queen received intelligence that the griffon nation to the East were training and amassing troops, with the intent to invade Equestria. While our nation had faced invasion and hardship before, it had never been on this scale, and morals of the situation had never been this grey.

Years of relative peace passed, but the dark cloud of war loomed ominously on the horizon. As Equestria’s settlements expanded and the proximity between nations shrunk, tensions began to rise in every direction, with threats emerging from the violent yaks in the North, the predatory changelings in the West, and the opportunistic diamond dogs in the South. With our intelligence network spread thin and no dedicated defensive force to speak of, this was the perfect time for the griffons to strike, and strike hard they did. Squadrons of armoured flyers raided Canterlot from the sky, and while King Sol and Queen Starshine did their best to defend the townsponies, their numbers were simply too great for two ponies alone—alicorn or not. With the first wave pushed back, an emergency counterforce was drafted; a special anti-air brigade comprised solely of pegasi, named The Valkyries.

It was around this time that I graduated from Faust’s Academy with flying colours, and was summarily invited to join the royal court as a magical advisor for defence. Battle raged for months over the skies of Canterlot as blacksmiths worked day and night to forge armour and weapons for our fledgeling force, while I developed new spells and maintained a defensive barrier around the palace. But this was only the beginning of our troubles, as the other creatures’ nations saw this as an opportunity to defend their own borders, and so began a full-scale, continent-wide war, with us at the centre. An emergency conscription was relayed across all ponydom, rallying farmers and builders to take arms at the outer-most border-towns and fortify them against invasion. It later came to light that the griffons had been fearmongering from the shadows to manipulate the other races into action, leading this to be known as the Great Griffon War. Despite the overwhelming disadvantage to begin with, years of sweat and blood led to us establishing major hoofholds in each war zone, with the Crystal Spire in the North, New Canterlot to the West, Fort Macintosh to the South, and Canterlot proper to the East.

The battles were long and hard fought, with many casualties on both sides, but for as peaceful and enlightened as ponykind may be, it is folly to underestimate our resilience and courage under pressure. Between the air-superiority of the Valkyries and the tireless efforts of the militia, we broke the griffons' backs, forcing them to retreat back to Griffonstone. With the instigators of this war defeated, it was only a matter of time before the other races conceded or fell. Word was sent to the front lines to inform our enemies of the griffons' lies, but of the three armies, only the yaks in the North heeded our parley, whereupon they signed a non-interference ceasefire and left in peace. Contact with the changelings in the West was all but impossible, and the battle continued to rage against the swarm without any signs of slowing. The diamond dogs to the South were told of the deceit, but their pride forbade them from relenting. As bravely as the enemy fought, our forces began to overwhelm and raze their cities, forcing the remaining diamond dogs to flee underground and securing a tentative victory on that front.

With three of the four armies nullified, our forces pooled in New Canterlot against the emotion-draining changelings, which began to tip the tides in our favour. With the capitol secured for now, we unicorns began developing armour to counter the bugs' power, shielding our troops' hearts and minds against their vampirism. With diminishing food and increasing losses, the changeling Queen vowed vengeance against Canterlot and fled with her remaining hive. After such a long and painful war it was hard to celebrate our victory, but the relief at finally feeling safe for the first time in years was immeasurable. An award ceremony honoured our fallen and our heroes; Sombra—the unicorn who commanded our Northern troops and brokered peace with the yaks—was given the honorary title of Lord and rule over the Crystal Spire as an independent annex under the crown. Ironhead—a young pegasus that took command of the South front when their superiors fell and helped secure our decisive victory there—was promoted to captain of the newly formed royal guard at Canterlot castle and gifted an old centaurian relic, the shield Netitus. The battle at New Canterlot left the settlement ruined and no stand-out heroes, but those brave warriors and their enchanted armour were the first to be offered membership to the royal guard under Ironhead.


Years of peace slowly began to dull the pain of war, but one thing that remained seared into the memories of the survivors was the indomitable power of King Sol's magic. You see, upon becoming an alicorn, King Cosmos Hyperion Sol—formerly a terran—was gifted with the ability to manipulate the very essence of space itself. Given his stature and temperament it was nigh impossible to study, but I suspect he had either the ability to manipulate gravity, or to alter the mass of molecules, though I lean towards the latter. Either way, when used destructively, his magic was a fearful thing to behold, even for our town army. Seeing griffons swallowed by black... 'holes' in the sky, crushed by massive boulders, or thrown so far as to be unseeable... It was a fear that none of us expected to have, and in the beginning I believe it shocked even the King himself. But now in this time of peace, his powers were seen as more of a liability than a service, so the Council of the Nine were formed. Overseen by the King's own brother and a lawful judge of high repute, Myriddius Lex, the council was comprised of four left-leaning, and four right-leaning members, with the High Adjudicator to mediate between them over the lawful use of magic. Despite initial scepticism over nepotism—not that the King chose his brother for the position—the High Adjudicator did in fact ban the King's use of magic unless in only the most dire of circumstances. Other magic that this group banned included things like time-travel, necromancy, and even many of my own spells, particularly those developed for use in war. While this angered the King, given his devotion to the town and ponies of Canterlot, especially in a time of war, he could not disagree that there was little use to his powers outside of battle. The King's direct and emotional personality was often tempered by the caring calmness of his wife, which is why they were a match made in Elysium. To draw a phrase from an Eastern book I once read, they were as Ying is to Yang—two parts of a whole, compensating for what the other lacks. Similarly, the Queen's new magic—having previously been a pegasus—was that of healing and reconstitution on a molecular level, almost the polar opposite of the King's. Queen Starshine was far more gracious at allowing me to study her abilities, and what she was capable of was truly astounding—she was able to restore an entire book from barely a hoofful of ashes, or bring life back to a dead plant—far beyond anything a mere unicorn could do, even myself.


The end of war, it seems, brings with it not only elation at its passing, but a stark reminder of our mortality and those we lost. We become nostalgic, we feel sehnsucht—look it up—and inevitably our minds turn to procreation. I say 'our', but of course I have far better things to do with my time. And so there was a boom in population, nature's way of rebalancing the losses, and the royal couple were not immune from this almost instinctual pull. A short time later, Equestria had a new Princess; a pink-maned, white-coated unicorn named Celestia, and Canterlot slowly began to return to the joyous, thriving civilisation it once was. The love that King Sol and Queen Starshine shared positively radiated from them, and I was lucky enough to witness it firsthoof. Remembering such bittersweet times feels so alien now, so disconnected from what the world has so quickly become. Nevertheless, this was the most secure Canterlot had been since its founding, now protected by satellite cities, a war-hardened military, and flourishing trade routes across Equestria. Yet this golden age barely lasted half a decade before tragedy struck yet again, this time at our very core.

Despite the struggles of adapting a utilitarian palace to fit the needs of a young filly, Queen Starshine found herself with foal once more. The King could barely contain his excitement after she shared with him the news, and both spent the following year pampering Princess Celestia until the baby was due. I was there to oversee the procedure for the second time, though things did not go as smoothly as they had with young Celestia. The Queen's heart-rate began to race and her sweat-beaded pallor was evident of great trouble. I could only watch as four guards were forced to hold her to the operating table while the medical unicorns pulled the precious new life from her womb. Much like their parents, this little filly was the antithesis of her sister, with her body a soft lavender and a small tuft of smokey blue hair. So small; so delicate. The surgeon passed the newest Princess to her mother, who had now become calm, and with tears in her eyes whispered “my dear Luna”, before falling limp. Just as quickly as a life had come into the world, another had left, and all the while sweet little Luna did not make a peep, laying as though peacefully asleep. There was mass panic among the surgeons and guards, of course. Everypony did what they could, myself included, but the ado was for naught; she had passed. I took it upon myself to inform the King of the tragedy, and naturally the news was not taken sitting down. He stormed the theatre, with many of us fearing that a rageful outburst from the King would kill us all, but as he stood by her side, heaving with tears as he clutched her lifeless hoof, the sounds of a stirring baby pulled his attention. I watched him with great intent, seeing at first elation and relief in his eyes as he stepped toward the doctor holding her, then they soured to bitterness, regret, misery, and lastly... accusation. With a grimace like you have never seen on another pony's face, he turned and left the room, returning to his chambers.

Nopony could have predicted something like this happening—a condition that lesser ponies had survived, yet which has now claimed the life of an alicorn, a species thought to be immortal. Something inside the King broke that day, as it would with any sane pony, made all the more dangerous by his position and the strength of his magic. From that day forward he commanded that Luna was to never be within his sight, and that it was now the palace staff's duty to raise both children. I was tasked with being the Princesses' mentor and magic tutor, while the King slumped on his throne, becoming ever more despondent and slipping away from reality.


And after that? Well, I shall save that for the next chapter, as it is late, and I fear what this enchantment may record while I sleep. It is funny how I find myself feeling nostalgic while the world could end at any moment... And yet, as I lay here, there is a calming element to the helplessness. If a situation is out of our control, then why worry? But I deny these thoughts. It is my duty, as it was given to me, to protect these girls. I shall find a way to obtain control of the situation, even if I have to walk to the four corners of Equestria myself. Whatever comes first, be it success or the eternal void, I shall know that I did everything in my power to protect this world and my wards. Should I fail, I shall die with a smile on my face, as I have already done more than any other pony could. I shall return the Princesses to the Canterlot throne, or my name isn't Starswirl.