A/N: Warning, this is a flashback chapter. Since a few readers complained about the confusion, this will be there to help clear up the history in a much more direct fashion, explain Sombra and my head cannon as well as my take on what an Alicorn is and why Celestia and Luna are different from those like Cadence. Sorry if you don't like them but this is my big Myths chapter were I plan on going nuts with the past, so have fun and hope you like
Celestia levitated the crystal armor, setting it carefully to the side of the deep red tent the royal guard had set up. Thanks to Sombra's cave, a good portion of wealthy ponies had been pushed out of their homes. Twilight and the other Elements soon entered as well. "Always double checking everything? You could never just trust me on anything, could you?" Celestia said as she looked down at Sombra's body.
"I take it this is a regular thing?" Twilight asked. Celestia glanced at Twilight and released a long breath.
"In a sense. Sombra gave me a lot of grief during my early years, and it was only after he and the Crystal Empire went missing did things click. He had a habit of doing things that hampered my ability to rule," she admitted. Twilight and the others remained silent as she continued.
"Well, after we set everything up, he started to go behind my back a lot, making it increasingly difficult to rule. He burned a lot of magical knowledge and hid histories away from me. After Discord, few ponies were able to recall a lot of events - even the historical origins could be called into question. Outside of very basic information, we lost a lot of history for each of the pony clans. He seemed intent on destroying so much. He vanished for long periods of time, taking the military with him. I tried to teach him the magic of friendship, but it seemed very hit and miss. After a while, I started working him on as many projects as possible which led him to the Crystal Empire. I had plans for him, but I wasn't sure he would succeed. But I kept a straight face for his sake."
"So how many students have you had?" Pinkie Pie asked, leaping at the back of the tent.
"How about we get a bit more on Sombra, this door, and how we are going to deal with Cadance?" Applejack interrupted.
"Well, Luna and I were in a tower of the old castle, you should be a bit familiar with it. What was going on before is very sketchy but it was where we first appeared, and where we met Sombra."
"So you have no recollection before this point? A mom, a dad?" Twilight asked. "Well Cadance, wait, how do Alicorns come into being?" Twilight asked, never even thinking about such an beginning.
"Normally it's about earning it, but neither me nor Luna have any recollection on the matter. Let me tell the story before anymore questions," Celestia said.
"Now then, where was I?" Celestia wondered before she regained her train of thought.
"I remember it like it was yesterday" Sombra mouthed as Pinkie Pie tilted her head. She raised her hoof but everypony glared at her so she put it down but kept an eye on Sombra.
~ Over a thousand years ago ~
A young stallion with a crescent horn glanced up at the sky. "Moooooooo!" came out a large cry as a cow drifted along the horizon. It seemed to be chewing something as it floated across the yellow colored sky. "What do you call random when it becomes common place?"
He moved along the castle walls as his older sister sat in her platinum gown, pushing herself along the hall by her front hooves.
He stopped in front of a massive door with a sun and a moon on it. The Celestial Tower where the unicorns used to move the sun and the moon. It had almost been a decade since the last group had come out. His hoof twitched in the direction, but he hesitated. He stared at the tiles on the floor. He glanced down the hall with a row of twelve massive statues of Alicorns. Fourteen Alicorns as well one painted onto the tiles, a moon and a sun orbiting it.
Each Alicorn represented a virtue, while another Alicorn represented it's opposite. And in past years, some had even claimed that Alicorns had been born by understanding a virtue or a vice to it's fullest extent. He glanced down the hall as he arched his neck. One time a statue had even come to life and tried to vaporize him.
"Boom!" he heard while a low thrum echoed in the hall. He leaped into the air, shooting behind a decorative suit of armor. The thrum echoed again and then there was a low knock on the far door.
"Hello?" the stallion asked as his long skinny legs started moving. The knock echoed in the hall again and he made his way back to the start of the hall. He snapped his hoof at the first tile but it didn't move this time. He took a deep breath and started down the long hall. The sun moved in the sky as the vices with bat-like wings seemed cast long cruel shadows over him when he looked at them. Selfishness, Despair, Cruelty, Greed, Falsehood, Hate, and Fear.
The final Alicorn glared, it's stone eyes gleaming red. The stallion tripped over his long legs, falling back onto the tile floor. He charged back as the tiles started to fall apart into a swirling pink and purple abyss. He skidded to a halt; the knocking at the door was a little quieter.
He looked back at the Alicorn and a cruel laugh echoed along the castle. He spun on his hooves, charging the door and cracking it open as his horn glowed purple. He opened it up as his eyes went wide. Two Allcorns fillies, going by their size, sat there. One was white with a pink mane and a sun for a cutie mark, the second was slightly smaller with a dark blue coat and a black splotch around her moon cutie mark.
"Food," said the smallest one as she kicked absently where the door was once at. The older one didn't move as his shadow loomed over the both of them.
"Aren't you a little short to be an Alicorn?" he wondered out loud, picking up the pair with his magic. He dropped the smaller on on his back as he picked up the pink and white one. He glanced back at the hall and he sniffed at it. He walked back, hoping the kitchen had not run away again. He stopped and glanced at the Alicorn representing fear. Then, like the royal, he pointed his nose in the air before trotting off down the hall. The door suddenly slammed and he all but dropped the two, scurrying off down the hall to find the kitchen.
He sat down on the floor while the smaller Alicorn nipped on a cookie. "Hi, my name is Luna!" she chirped as as she continued to feast on the over-sized cookie. It was almost as big as she was.
"Yes, and I am Celestia. Do you have a name?" said the older, who had just finished off a Dandelion sandwich and a piece of cake.
"Um, you can talk," he said. The fillies looked at each other.
"Yes, is that not normal?" Celestia asked, looking up at him. The colt glanced down at her, still not sure how to take the fact that a filly had some how been given the honor of being an Alicorn, yet was still smaller then his own lankly teenage form.
"It's been a long tyme since speech has been implemented in these grand halls."
"Why you talk so funny?" asked Luna as she titled her head. He pulled his head back.
"Tis required for we are in the presence of ladies and divine Alicorns. Tis also a sign of my station in the noble house of the Unicorn Kingdom," he replied, swallowing.
"Alicorn?" she asked. The stallion sighed.
"Why do I get the feeling you are going to be popped full of questions?" the stallion asked. The filly of course turned red at the comment.
"Well, that is rather silly. I am much more interested as to how you moved that cookie from the top shelf without even touching it," Celestia said.
"It's called magic, how do you not know about magic? You have a unicorn horn and at your age, surely you know how to do some magic?" the teen colt said critically.
She scowled at him. "Teach me," she ordered. The stallion paused before looking at Luna as if the younger filly would tell him something he had missed. She ignored them, still eating a cookie.
"Great, another bratty filly," he said out loud. Celestia puffed up her checks at the comment but followed after him.
"He really was up tight and very cautious, he had this weird thing about avoiding certain tiles, but always had his nose in the air in a very prideful way. It did not make the best of first impressions."
"I had no idea back then on how to deal with ponies in general. I fell back on tradition, figuring it was the best way to impress. Little did I know, I could have walked around on my front hooves and they would have called it normal at the time."
"He spent a lot of time teaching us basic magic and even a bit of history. We got to see the effects Discord was having, even inside the old Castle. It wasn't long before I started looking for a way to put an end to his cruelty."
~ Not to much later ~
"So what are these Elements of Harmony?" Luna asked as she looked up from an book titled 'Ye old Legends and other stories for Children'.
"An old mare's tale," Sombra said, flicking his tail at the book. "Something about the great virtues vanquishing a great evil," he said, shrugging his shoulders as he glanced over the dusty shelves. He went to reach out for a book on the lower shelf but the dust moved suddenly away from his hoof.
"Sounds just like what we need!" Luna declared, shutting the book and disrupting her sister's concentration. A massive pile of books fell to the ground.
"To be honest, at the time neither me nor Sombra even thought such an artifact existed. Both of us had to deal with a lot of I-told-you-so moments from Luna for a good while after."
"Luna, it's an old tale, so old it even predates Equestrian speech. No pony is even sure which race even came up with the story," Sombra said, trying to explain why it would be impossible to even attempt to find it.
"But we could go searching the world over for them, and then we could blast Discord away with a massive rainbow!" she said, leaping into the air and allowing her wings to let her hover for a brief second.
"No," the other two said at the same time. "Sis, this is not a discussion. We are not going on a wild goose chase."
The stallion and Celestia winced as a low scrapping noise echoed around them. They both watched Luna run around the royal vault.
"Oh, what is this?" she asked, pulling a battle ax out from behind a shelf of books.
"That would be a battle ax, now put that back before you hurt yourself," he said and she let go of it.
"This is so boring," Celestia moaned as she slumped onto her belly.
"Well, practice your magic then," Sombra said. Celestia didn't reply but did so as Sombra slowly watched Luna scurry about.
"I had just closed my eyes for a second and before I knew it, I was out."
"After Sombra went out cold, Luna and I started running around."
"Celestia, are you sure this is a good idea? The stallion might get lonely," Luna complained as she glanced back.
"Look, something is wrong and we are going to fix it," Celestia said. "Now then, if I were a big book on getting rid of monsters of chaos, where would I be?" Celestia asked out loud.
"Next to the Elements of Harmony?" Luna asked. Celestia just shook her head. The two wandered off, leaving Sombra in the armory.