//------------------------------//
// 12 - The Rule of the Sisters 
// Story: The Story of Everfree - a Narrative Chronicle 
// by Recon777 
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For millennia after the Battle of Everfree, the Royal Sisters guided ponykind into an expansive, prolific pre-industrial civilization of 750,000. With two immortal alicorns ruling their society, the ponies had few significant conflicts. Certain powerful adversaries showed up on occasion, calling for the need to either fight alicorn style or use the Elements of Harmony against them. Fortunately, the Tree of Harmony allowed for the removal and replacement of the Elements so that they could still be used while preventing Everfree from once again becoming dangerous.

This was an era of magicians, wizards, chivalry, and exploration. Ponykind had established several small cities across the expanding nation, which had been named Equestria. They had run into the borders of several other nations in the process.

The friendly Zebras were fellow equines to the south and respectfully requested that the ponies not advance into their territory. The deadly Griffins had a small clan-based nation in the high-country off to the north-east. And the Yaks to the far north were too belligerent to make it worth the difficult journey to open diplomatic relations with.

A group of pony pioneers decided to stay in the frozen north, however, to set up a crystal mining outpost that would eventually expand into thirty-four small quarry settlements before ultimately declaring independence from Equestria when an artifact was discovered that allowed them to self-sustain.

Buffalo inhabited the dry plains of Southern Equestria and did not seem to mind being incorporated as long as no one interfered with their traditional running grounds. The zebras also told ponies about an aggressive and hostile race of minotaurs along their western border, which thankfully consisted of jungle too thick to settle in.

To the east of the zebras, near the Equestrian border, dragons roamed. These enormous beasts were often many centuries old and had inhabited the region since before the Royal Sisters were born. They had been absolutely no threat to fully matured alicorns. To Celestia and Luna, however, even they would have a difficult time coming up with a way to take one down, should the need arise. The ponies of Equestria learned to keep a respectful distance.

The Royal Sisters moved the capital of Equestria several times over the next four thousand years. Usually, the capital's location served to encourage growth of the nation in a particular direction. Ponyville had remained small, by decree of the princesses, to always keep a portion of pony society tied to its humble roots. Eventually, with the borders of Equestria not expanding for some decades, the sisters decided it was time to build a more permanent place to rule from. 

They decided it should be a castle.

The Castle of the Two Sisters was built next to the Everfree Memorial, near the edge of the ravine where the Tree of Harmony kept the land in check. It was a beautiful landscape with deciduous trees that provided vividly colored leaves each year. The castle itself was an impressive construct, filled with humorous pranks Luna had insisted on installing to playfully scare the little ones who visited. The castle was completed 4034 years after the now legendary battle.

The sisters were somewhat saddened that contemporary ponies rarely considered the battle of Everfree as having taken place at all. By now, it had mostly fallen into myth, with only the sisters themselves knowing what had really happened. So they decided no longer to include that part of history in modern education.

Perhaps it was best to allow ponykind to simply forget that chapter of their history. Another alicorn had not arisen in four millennia, and they had the Elements in case one did and decided to cause trouble. It seemed, at the time, that perhaps the calamity of alicorns would never again assert itself upon the world.