//------------------------------//
// History Lesson 
// Story: Purity 
// by LightStriker 
//------------------------------//

	"Over two thousand years ago, we defeated Discord, me, my sister and four other ponies," Celestia started. Twilight could swear she saw a small tear in her eyes at the mention of the previous bearers of the elements. "You did that play a while ago about how the three pony tribes united to survive. The message, the idea behind the foundation of Equestria was right. But the rest of the play wasn't really representative of the reality."

Celestia sat down and sighed while bringing back memories that were so old. "Ponies back then, were almost feral, running freely on plains, in herds without any kind of solid social structure."

"Discord?" Rarity asked, trying to propose a reason for that strange statement.

The princess let a small crystal laugh. "Discord had nothing to do with the ponies' state. Everything had to be discovered and learned, including how to build a society... a house or even simple tools. Once Discord was sealed, his control over the environment vanished and the ponies almost came to extinction," she explained with a serious look. "For that part of the story, that theatrical play is right, the only way the ponies could survive was to pool their strength and resources to survive."

Celestia's sight was staring the empty space above Twilight's head. "Ponies were savage beasts living in nature, one alpha stallion overlooking the wellbeing of multiple mares. The idea of living inside houses or simply the concept of agriculture or storing food was completely alien."

Rarity's eyes went wide in surprise. "That's... That's so..."

Celestia smiled in amusement at the mare's reaction. "You would never see me as a pony running around freely and eating wild herbs, would you?"

Twilight was sure Rarity would pass out, but she managed to avoid it at the last moment. No doubt that if it wasn't in front of the royalty, she wouldn't have restrained herself, being the drama queen that she was. But she had to admit the idea of her teacher, the ruler of Equestria, running in nature without any structure... She shook her head, she would let her imagination run crazy later.

"Back then, ponies had started to talk a few hundred years before Discord's banishment," Celestia continued. "At this point, they had to do the unthinkable, change their ways to survive. Even today, lots of pegasi and earth ponies still hear the calling of nature and choose jobs that keep them outside, in the wild. Surprisingly, unicorns had much less problem adapting to live inside caves... or houses."

"Caves?" Twilight asked.

"When the first winter came, nopony was ready for that. Caves were our first homes. It was also where I was..." Celestia stopped and frowned. "Three kinds of ponies that never had any kind of real communication with each other were suddenly forced to live in the same confined space and find a way to survive as one."

"That's how Equestria was made?" Rarity said. "I don't see how it is different from the play we did."

Celestia let another small laugh. "Well, for one, there wasn't any political structure back then and nopony called this land 'Equestria'. The three tribes is a metaphor for the three pony kinds. After we survived our first winter..." Her face took a serious look. "'Survived' being an overstatement, over a third of the original population died." She sighed. "I and my sister pushed the ponies towards each other to find solutions. We knew the winter would come again and we would need to be ready. Otherwise, a few years later the ponies would have disappeared. Growing crops, storing food, building shelters, all kind of new ideas the ponies never thought about before. Extinction is a powerful motivator for changes."

Rarity and Twilight were drinking every word from the princess, fascinated by the details that were never written in any history books.

"It took a while, but ultimately the ponies came to do what they do today, with only one exception."

The two mares looked at each other, puzzled.

"The earth ponies came to be the pillar of agriculture, feeding the population," she explained. "The pegasi controlled the weather, bringing longer and more stable seasons for growing food and stopping harmful weather from destroying the crops or the first unstable houses. The unicorns controlled the length of the day, raising the Sun and the Moon which in turn reduced the length and strength of winter. I'm sure you remember in the history books that said it took a thousand unicorns to do this work?"

They both nodded like some attentive students.

"About two hundred years after the ponies agreed to work together, a group of unicorns decided they should be in control of everything. Their idea was that unicorns were smarter and were the only ones who could do magic," she said with a look of disgust on her face. "They also had control over the Sun and the Moon and they were ready to use it as a way of coercion over the pegasi and the earth ponies."

Rarity and Twilight both looked at the princess in horror.

"I'm sure you can understand how stupid that idea was. After all, using the Sun as a weapon would prove as dangerous for the unicorns as for the others, since they can't really survive without food. Indirectly destroying their own source of food was a completely irrational act, but they weren't rational ponies." Celestia sighed once again and her sight drift again as she dived into her memories. "Civil war, it was less than an hour before it would break out among ponies when me and my sister stepped up and took control of the Sun and the Moon, rendering the unicorns claims groundless."

She closed her eyes and appeared to shrink on herself. "We never intended to take control or be the leaders of anypony, but we couldn't find any other alternative. Had there been any other choice, we would have taken it. Everything we worked for, for centuries, was about to be destroyed in a swift move of madness from a small group of unicorns. Most unicorns didn't know what to do and were caught in the middle."

Twilight blinked in surprise, she never saw Celestia appear so vulnerable before. Even when she was knocked down by the Queen of the changelings, she still radiated power and security.

"I understand it wasn't easy?" Rarity asked.

Celestia opened her eyes and stared at the ground. "The civil war happened, but it wasn't among ponies; that group of unicorns battled against those who decided to rob them of their power. Earth ponies and pegasi never cared much for political control and after long discussions they accepted me and Luna without much fuss because, somehow, we represented them too," she said while doing a quick flap of her wings. "It wasn't easy, we had lots of talks with them to accept us, but it was better than fighting. We could have negotiated for a millennium if it meant preventing combat among ponies. I’m happy that most ponies jumped at the opportunity. But for centuries after that, we had to fight off a threat from inside that refused to have any compromise."

Twilight thought about it for a moment. "And... you had to..." she trailed.

"Kill unicorns," Celestia dropped sharply. "It wasn't pretty in any way. Ever since then I still ask myself what I could have done differently. When I watch what Equestria became since then, I still hope that it wasn't in vain. But was there a better solution?"

She took a deep breath. "That hidden war lasted well over two centuries. We thought we had hunted them all down back then. Most ponies, unicorns included were unaware of what was going on in the background." She looked at the two mares. "Twilight, I'm sure you noticed Luna is a very kind pony."

Twilight nodded. "Yes."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "She has another side to her personality, one she hates deeply. One I used to solidify our power over the ponies." She let out her breath and closed her eyes once more, deep in her memories. "After we took control, I wouldn't have survived without her. She isn't the princess of the night without reason. I..." A full tear showed up in the corner of her eyes as her body tensed up. "I used her to slay my enemies. She was silent and efficient, and even the best assassin sent by that group was no match against her. In two centuries of fighting, the kindest pony I ever knew became a ruthless killer... by my fault."

"It wasn't..." Twilight started.

Celestia shook her head. "It was my decision, Twilight; I pushed Luna towards that. Nightmare Moon was in part my fault because I was unable to take her feelings into account, unable to see what was hurting her inside. Nopony could live that kind of experience without keeping some deep emotional scars. I kept repeating that we had to do it and I was blind to the fact that I was turning my own sister into a monster." She let a small moment of silence. "So, sixteen centuries ago, we thought they were all gone. In truth, they simply went deeper in the shadows, training and waiting for an opportunity."

"For that long, up to now?" Rarity asked.

"No," Celestia said while shaking her head. "Eight centuries ago, with my sister gone, they decided it was time. Another war of the shadows broke out, and this time I was alone. Or so I thought." She stared at Twilight with a weird look. "It didn't last long, unlike the previous war, a few decades and they almost won. One of them was a very powerful unicorn and he almost killed me. He would have, if it hadn't been for the unexpected help from other unicorns that came to my rescue. In all that time, I guess some of them thought I didn't do such a bad job at leading the country." She looked away. "Again, a lot of ponies died so I could live."

After a long uneasy silence, she resumed her story. "It was painfully obvious to me, that even with that victory, it wasn't enough to stop them, they would simply go back in hiding and wait once more for another opportunity. Without Luna, the next strike would no doubt end with my death, Equestria would fall into chaos, in a civil war I had fought so hard to prevent."

"But I was lucky, I managed to capture one of their leaders and this time they were ready to negotiate. We managed to make a truce as, surprisingly, they too didn't want that war to continue. Eight centuries ago, I stepped down from the title of queen to the one of princess. All my decisions would have to be validated by an elected council, the high council. They would leave me alone as a figurehead of the government of Equestria, but would have their say in all the politics. They were used to work from the shadows, so they appreciated the idea," she explained.

She shrugged. "No doubt the council is fully in their control, but so far that balance of power hasn’t been so bad. They used their power to counter my decisions only a few times and it was always with good reasons."

"You're wrong on one point," said a voice behind Celestia. The princess jumped in surprise as she was sure they were alone in the room. She turned around to face the dark mare that came out of the shadows projected by some drapes hung on the walls.

"Luna!" Celestia said somewhat stunned that her sister had heard her speech. "How long have you been here?"

"Since the beginning," Luna said with a kind voice. "You're wrong. You never pushed me to do anything. I made those choices by myself. I'm a grown mare, you know?" She asked with a sad smile. "You were not the only one who was ready to do everything possible to avoid a civil war. I wanted Equestria to be as safe and stable as you wanted it to be." She looked away. "I might not like what I became or what I had to do, but if I had to redo it I would do it the same way without hesitation." Luna stepped forward and stared at Celestia with an angry look. "My mistake was to be unable to speak of what tainted my heart. I kept it to myself and let it grow. However, what I will have a hard time forgiving, after all that happened, is you keeping those feelings of guilt hidden from me."

Celestia looked like a child caught with her hoof in the cookie jar and looked away. "I'm sorry... I..."

"I knew you somehow felt responsible for the Nightmare, but I didn’t know you assumed you were the reason for me doing what I thought was best,” she said sharply. “I thought what happened a millennium ago was a good enough lesson to not keep our feelings from each other," Luna explained. "Next time you feel responsible for something related to me, I want to know it."

Celestia looked down and nodded. "I promise I will tell you."

Twilight and Rarity both had a wide smile at the display of sister friendship, however Twilight's face slowly transformed into a concerned attitude. "Sorry Princesses, but there's something I don't understand."

"Only one thing?" Celestia asked back, knowing her student’s habit of questioning everything.

Twilight blushed once more. "Well... Yes, I do have many questions," she admitted while looking away. "But right now, I think I only have one that is important."

"Go ahead," Celestia replied, surprised that she would control her curiosity like that.

"If they stayed undercover for so long, what made them come out now?" Twilight asked. "I mean, they don't really have a reason anymore to target you or Princess Luna. Azure is hardly a reason enough to come out of hiding and put everything they achieved in jeopardy."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. "You've really grown up a lot Twilight," Celestia commented with a motherly smile. "I've been asking myself the same question since the assassination attempt," she said, her face serious once more. "I've kept an eye on them since our agreements eight centuries ago and as far as I knew, they slowly changed toward a group aimed at influencing the commerce and making sure their own political agenda would go smoothly. However, I've lost track of them over a decade ago. I assumed the group was dissolved or that it lost enough influence to not be noteworthy anymore." She sighed loudly. "No case of violence has been linked to them in over seven centuries. They didn't do anything or they were too subtle, I can't say."

She looked at Rarity. "I've heard of what happened with your shop. I will see what I can do, but I can't promise anything since the guild of designer is a private entity." She gave a quick look at Luna. "What concerns me is that they became so explicit about their actions, almost as much as they did eight centuries ago. We are missing something important, something that happened in that group."

A heavy silence weighted on the conference room. "So, what do we do?" Rarity finally asked.

Celestia looked at Luna. "We wait for their next move," the princess of the night explained.





"It would be unwise for you two to stay in Canterlot for now," Celestia explained while coming out of the room.

"Rari... huh... Vinyl can stay at my place for now, it's not a problem," Twilight offered. The white mare nodded back behind her purple glasses. "But princesses, promise me to contact us when you have any information," she pleaded at the two large winged unicorns. 

"We prom..." Luna started but was interrupted by a steel blue blur.

"Twilight!" a blue filly that was waiting by the door screamed with joy as she jumped and hugged the green mare. "I knew it was you!"

"Azure! But how?" Twilight asked, surprised the filly recognized her despite her disguise. 

Azure let Twilight go off her hug and sat down. "It's easy!" she said with pride. "Your magic is so bright, it would be hard not to notice it!"

"That doesn't really explain how..." Twilight tried to ask before being interrupted by a large white stallion in armor running down the corridor.

"Princesses!" the newcomer screamed, obviously in an extremely panicked state.

"Shining Armor," Celestia greeted. "Please calm down and take your breath."

Azure was pointing at Twilight and was about to say something when the later put a hoof on the filly's mouth and shook her head in negation. The young one understood the silent message and remained silent, Twilight would have time later to talk with her brother. 

The captain of the guard took a few deep breaths and tried to be as calm as possible but failed to do so. "My parents!" he finally said. "They are missing! Somepony broke into their house!"