//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: I Will Never Be My Mother 
// Story: How I Became My Mother 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Princess Haven sat trying not to flatten her ears as her mother, Queen Prominence, laughed at the reporter's not-at-all funny joke. If she flattened her ears, somepony would take notice, and somepony would write up a story about how the queen and her daughter were having a falling out. Never mind that it was just her being a little annoyed at her mother's fake laugh; it would be blown out of proportion by the news. Her mother would end up having to smooth the whole thing over with the press, and Haven would be denied what little freedoms she had for the foreseeable future.

She just hated all the fakeness that came with being a royal. Fake flying, fake laugh, fake smile— what was ever honest with them?

The interview continued, and thankfully, most of the questions were directed at her mother. There weren't too many times Haven had to pretend to think of an answer before smiling and giving the answer her mother had her carefully rehearse. However, each time she did, she promised herself in her head that she would never— NEVER— make any of her future foals spend hours going over what answers to give to the press. They had enough lies they would have to live without having to parrot her. She was not going to raise clones of herself. She'd encourage their interests and let them shine on their own merits.

The reporter suddenly stopped smiling and laughing. "Queen Prominence, I know this question is out of left-field, but we have many followers who are deeply interested in knowing whether you ever intend to do a reparation strike against the earth ponies?"

Haven stiffened. That question was completely off-script and was on a subject her mother did everything in her power to avoid speaking about. 

Her mother's smile dropped, and her expression went deadly neutral. That neutrality was just as fake as the smile that had preceded it. Haven wondered if she could slip away fast enough after the interview to avoid witnessing her mother's rage or become a target for it. 

"Our resources are better spent seeing to our defenses against earth pony attacks. We have lost enough trying to overwhelm those brutes on their home turf. I will not sacrifice one more of my wonderful citizens on that fool's errand," Queen Prominence said, calmly annunciating every single word and glaring daggers at the reporter as if to dare them to follow up that question. 

The reporter knew they had crossed the line and had no desire to cross the line into the dungeon. "Thank you, my queen. I think that is all for today."

Her mother nodded, smiling that scarily friendly smile that never reached her eyes. She immediately left her seat and marched out of the audience room, and Haven followed after her. 

As soon as the thick door shut behind them, her mother exploded, screaming with fury as she overturned a table and tossed whatever she could lay her hooves on against the walls. 

Haven took cover behind a chair and knew that she couldn't just leave without making some attempt to calm her. "Mom! It isn't the reporter's fault! Somepony told them to ask that."

Prominence turned her fiery gaze on her daughter. "They know! They know how I feel about that subject! They know I'm not going to do anything! Do they want to portray me as weak?! Haven't we lost enough to that foolishness?! Wasn't your father enough blood for them!? What else do they want from us?!"

Haven took a deep breath and decided to speak her mind for once and show that she was worthy of the crown she would one day inherit. "I know you would go avenge Dad if you could. The earth ponies are too strong, and none of us can fly. You are protecting our ponies. It isn't your fault the press is too blind to see that."

Her mother seemed to have all the fight go out of her suddenly. "Oh, my dear sweet Haven; your father and I never wanted a war with the earth ponies to begin with. I don't want a war with them now."

Haven blinked in shock. "But Dad died fighting them."

Prominence nodded. "Your father died fighting them, but they were defending their homes against an unprovoked invasion that should never have happened. I don't blame the earth ponies for your father's death. I blame all the media that pushed us into declaring that senseless war." Her teeth grit, and the rage returned to her continence. "And here they are again, pushing for more conflict! When will it ever be enough for them!"

"They can't force us to go to war," Haven asserted. "We're the royal family. We make the decisions."

Her mother let out an honest laugh, a sad laugh. "Only if we appear strong. Never let them see you weak, Haven. That was our failing; we let them think we were weak, and we were forced to do something we didn't want to do to appear strong, and your father was the one who ended up paying for it."

This was the first time she had ever heard her mother speak so candidly about what happened. She didn't know what to say. It went against everything she thought she knew. 

Prominence gave her more of that honest smile, that smile that made her want to weep with how sorrowful it was. "It wasn't always like this; once upon a time, all the pony tribes got along with one another. This crown upon our heads was entrusted to us by a great pony that ruled all the tribes, one of three crowns. We were supposed to rule in harmony, but somewhere along the line, we got so caught up with just our own tribes." She looked down at the floor in shame. "Then your father and I went and put the final nail in the coffin by declaring war, and there is nothing we can do to fix it. How ashamed that great pony must be of us."

"That can't be right," Haven breathed. "My teachers never taught me anything about this. You never said anything about this."

"We like to bury our shame," Prominence said, looking defeated. "Go down to the lower levels, by yourself; there's a large air duct that doesn't have any breeze coming through. The screws on it are loose. You can pry it open without trouble. Go through that, and you can see what we've done our best to forget. When you are queen, you can share it with whoever will be your heir, so somepony can always remember what we truly lost, other than our flight. There's no fixing what was broken, especially not after what your father and I did, but we can remember our shame. Consider it part of your royal burden. Don't let anyone know about what you see."

Her mother walked off, deeper into the private chambers, leaving her to do what she willed. 

Her mother had given her a direction. She wasn't sure if it was an order or not, but her mother's suggestions typically amounted to orders. This was not a standard order. She was being instructed to go off by herself to an abandoned part of the palace. She never got to go anywhere by herself. The opportunity to do that was incentive enough. 

One more deep breath and she went to find what secrets were hidden away.





It had been easy enough to find the grate in question, although getting it open had been more challenging than her mother had implied. Of course, Haven wasn't a powerful pony, so it could have been easier for somepony a bit more athletic. There had been a short drop onto an old abandoned lift that thankfully still worked and didn't have cables that we're ready to snap. The next thing she knew, she was standing in a massive room. 

There was dust and debris everywhere, discarded papers, and broken glass. 

The entire room was well lit, thanks to a massive stained glass window that she guessed overlooked the side of the mountain somewhere. It seemed like it should be four panes, with the bottom center one being a door, but the bottom center pane was missing entirely, without even traces of the long-gone door. On one still complete pane, she saw a rough design that looked like a depiction of her great-great-great-great— she was unsure how many greats were involved— grandmare, Aurora, the progenitor of the royal line. Above her head sat the crystal from the royal crown. 

On the opposite side of the window, a unicorn mare was depicted. There was damage to the pane, and where it seemed like there should be another crystal, there was only a gaping hole. High on the top pane, there was a star emblem that she did not recognize. She noted it and spent some time looking at the unicorn mare before moving on to look at the rest of the room. 

She picked up one of the discarded scraps of paper and looked at it. A schedule for airships? Her eyes passed over the listings and saw Zephyr Heights, but also Bridlewood, Maretime Bay, and at least a dozen locations she had never heard of— the Crystal Empire? Ponyville? Manhattan? Canterlot? Trottingham? Most of these names were unfamiliar to her. There were even locations more exotic listed, like The Dragonlands. Dragons were a myth, weren't they?

Picking up another discarded paper, she saw an advertisement to see the Wonderbolts show in Cloudsdale, the best pegasus flyers in all of Equestria. Her eyes lingered on their image. Could these ponies fly? How old was this place? No pegasus had flown in ages. Where was Cloudsdale? Did they still have ponies that could fly there? As she glanced away from the paper, she saw a massive poster on the wall advertising them. 

Her eyes drifted to the other posters on the walls after that, and that is when her jaw about dropped. Right in front of her was one advertising a trip to Bridlewood, and it had a picture of a pegasus, unicorn, and an earth pony happily enjoying the journey together. They all used to get along, and in a place she knew of. Her mom wasn't lying. Not that she truly doubted her mother, but there was a difference in hearing something and seeing evidence of it. 

The next poster she looked at made her frown because it was yet another place she recognized, Maretime Bay, the place where her father had died. She bit her lip and remembered what her mother had said; the earth ponies had only been defending themselves; it wasn't their fault. It still pulled up bitter feelings as she looked at the dust covered depiction of the Maretime Bay lighthouse. It suddenly struck her as odd that they had a lighthouse. Weren't earth ponies supposed to be dumb as bricks and only won the war through their sheer brute force? What were primitives doing with a lighthouse? Furthermore, a lighthouse implied ships, and she wondered ships to where?

She looked around at the ruin all about her. What had happened here? It seemed like it had happened all at once, and then the place had been abandoned and forgotten. There was no sign of the looting she would expect for such a place having sat for centuries. It was just lost and forgotten. No, not lost, buried, and deliberately put out of mind. 

She was no archaeologist or researcher, but she knew enough to know she could do more harm than good by disturbing this place. It wouldn't do a young any good if she inadvertently destroyed what was barely holding itself together or moved something from what was essentially a crime scene, and this place looked like a crime scene. She had seen what she needed to see—proof of their past. The question now was, what did this mean to her now that she knew, and what was she going to do with this newfound knowledge. 

Well, the easy answer was to talk to her mother and ask why this was kept hidden and why no attempt to reconcile with the other pony tribes had taken place. Why had it turned to war instead? 

She returned the way she came, ready to get some answers.