Once upon a time, before Equestria was even founded and called that, there were many alicorns. They ruled over day and night, plants, insects, love, and even the elemental forces. They were led by two extremely powerful alicorns, Emperor Astro and his bride, Empress Solara. The alicorns of Equestria combined all of their forces to keep the universe in check, making some of the rules of nature we use today. Eventually, Astro and Solara were blessed with two fillies, each born within the length of three years. The elder sister was a very pale pink, with a pink mane and tail. Her name was Celestia, and she would be a shining light throughout the day. The younger sister was darker, with a light navy blue coat and a blue mane and tail. They called her Luna, a bright star to guide ponies throughout the night.
And so, Equestria was blessed with peace and prosperity for a decade. The alicorn sisters played with each other, often causing slight magical mishaps throughout their castle in the Everfree Forest. Often, powerful alicorns who were close friends of Astro and Solara would visit, preforming magic tricks for the fillies and sharing stories of their wonderful kingdoms. Once, when the fillies had gone into the woods, they had gotten lost, and fell asleep by a large oak tree. When they awoke, they found that their manes and tails had been swapped! Celestia looked odd with Luna's blue hair, and Luna felt ugly seeing the contrast of blue and pink on herself. Hearing snickering, they looked up to see a small, strange creature floating above them. He was a cross of many creatures, and appeared to be around the same age as them. He called himself "Discord," and he traveled the land on his own, playing pranks on unsuspecting ponies. With a snap of his eagle claw, they were back to normal, and he dissappeared. The alicorn fillies never did remember what had happened. Celestia and Luna, confused as to why they were in the forest, flew above the trees to their castle.
One day, however, Celestia and Luna were not allowed to go outside. They were locked up in their room, with the curtains drawn and the windows shut so tightly with spells that they were not able to open either. Servants would occasionally teleport in, bringing hot food and water for them to eat and drink. The doors were never opened, as to keep the fillies from finding out what was happening. Luna, being nocturnal, usually stayed awake at night, listening at the door and windows for any sign of life. At the door, she heard nothing but a still quiet, but at the windows, she would sometimes hear moans and whispers. An icy cold would seep through the windows into the curtains, chilling Luna. She would often feel extremely sad and disheartened when the cold came, though she never knew why. She would snuggle up to Celestia, falling asleep in the warmth of love.
A few weeks after they had been locked up, the spells on the curtains fell, leaving only weak spells on the doors and windows. When Celestia drew back the curtains to let the sunlight stream in, she was shocked to find the gardens and castle grounds outside covered in snow and ice. Large snowflakes and pieces of hail were flung through the air by a strong wind. The cold seeped through the windows once more, and Celestia shivered with fright. She backed away, going back to the bed, trying to latch onto any positive emotions she could. Her mind rested upon how much she loved her sister, Luna, and how she would do anything to protect her from the icy grip of the cold. A slight hissing sound came out of the light blue shadow that had not been visible before, and it slithered through the window.
What the sisters did not know would have terrified them: the windegoes, the creatures of despair and hatred, had shown up. The pony tribes to the Far North had accidentally caused this by their distrust of one another, and had fled to near the Everfree. The creatures had followed them, and now, a blizzard of hatred blew almost every good feeling out of its path. Not only that, but the chaos bringers had also decided to attack, preying upon the weak and almost powerless alicorns. the Crystal Empire had already been cut off from all outside forces, as King Rubinous tried to shield his empire. The insect queen, Queen Chrysalis, had been corrupted by one of the chaos bringers, and had enslaved her entire nation. Astro and Solara were one of the few who had enough power to attack, but they were just barely evenly matched with the forces of chaos and disharmony. The alicorns had been able to kill off the last of them, but at the cost of their lives.
One fateful night, however, the fillies saw something in the distance. A flash of pink soared through the sky, coming from a large mountain many miles away from the castle. Celestia barely made out what it was: a glowing pink heart. Screams of pain were heard, as the windegoes and snow were melted. The sun burst through the clouds, shedding its warm light upon the land. Eventually, the other ponies came to the new land that the leaders of the tribes had claimed. Nopony knew that they were technically trespassing on the Everfree Kingdom, which was now ruled over by Celestia and Luna. They set up a town where they placed their first flag, calling it "Ponyville."
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A group of unicorns, still haggard and tired from the events of the past weeks, pooled their magical energy to raise the sun like they had learned to do. Their magic was weak, however, from their experience with the windegoes. They fell down, one after the other, as they fruitlessly tried to raise the sun off of the horizon. They were so focused on their task, they did not see the alicorn filly hiding in bushes of the Everfree behind them. Luna and Celestia had escaped from the empty castle as soon as the sun had come back, playing in the forest like they usually did.
Celestia and Luna were both curious as to where their parents had gone. Celestia was extremely nervous, piecing together that the long blizzard and her parents disappearing had to be connected somehow. Luna, on the other hoof, was still young, carefree, and innocent. She only thought that her parents were visiting some magical, faraway land, and they would return with pretty presents and enchanting tales of the other alicorns. Wanting to think to herself, Celestia had left Luna in a clearing near the castle, and trotted off to the edge of the forest. She had been lost in thought over how to care for her sister with no servants around, when she heard the sounds of ponies talking. Excited to see somepony other than her sister in a few days, but cautious about being seen by strangers, she clung to the shadows of the forest edge. She overheard them talking about raising the sun, which interested her. She had always thought that it was her mother's job.
Solara had been in charge for a reason. The sun was really supposed to be raised by an alicorn, but when a large group of powerful unicorns got together, they could just barely raise it. Solara had never intended for unicorns to raise the sun; she had only taught them the spell in case something happened to her. They followed her instructions for a while, but eventually became power-hungry after the pegasus tribe insulted them. When Solara found out, as she saw the sun slowly rising on the horizon, she realized the mistake of her actions, and decided that it was impossible to erase the spell from their memories or to forbid them from doing so. However, she eventually started wake up earlier to raise the sun, which caused some minor repercussions to the sleep schedules of the ponies. Astro decided that nopony but him or one of his daughters would be allowed to be in charge of the moon.
Astro had been right to not trust unicorns to be able to handle the sun and moon. Even when an alicorn was extremely weak, they could still handle both. Unicorns, who were not built that way, had only about a fifteenth of magic compared to alicorns. Sure, they could pool their collective energy to work together, but they were extremely weakened, both physically and mentally. Celestia watched in slight horror as they started to collapse, one after the other. She felt a sudden shiver, as she heard a slight whisper on the wind,
"This is your destiny... take this chance..."
Without even thinking, Celestia burst from the foliage, and her horn was enveloped with a golden shimmer. She did not know how she knew the spell to raise the sun: it just suddenly came to her, like second nature. The last unicorn stared in awe and utter confusion as he witnessed the little filly raise the sun effortlessly, until he noticed the little pair of wings on her back. Celestia stared at the horizon in disbelief and child-like wonder, shocked that she knew the spell and was able to raise the sun without any help on her first try. Suddenly, she saw a flash of white in her peripheral vision, and she felt a warmth on her flanks. Turning her head around, she saw upon her flank an golden sun. She suddenly squealed with joy and starting bouncing around.
"Sister? Why art thou jumping around?" Luna, who had left the clearing, trotted out of the forest. She either was ignoring or didn't see the unicorns, because she walked right past them. "Thou knoweth what Mama would say if she -- YOU GOT YOUR CUTIE MARK?!" Luna suddenly stopped speaking in her archaic tongue as she looked quickly at Celestia new cutie mark, and then to her sister. A blinding smile came to her face as her sister nodded, and she jumped to hug her.
"Ow... my head..."
Celestia and Luna stopped short as the unicorns began to rouse themselves. The male unicorn who had witnessed Celestia raise the sun was frozen, still staring at the risen sun. His fellow unicorns mumbled incoherently as they tried to shake the after-effects of the powerful spell failing, not yet seeing the alicorn fillies. The male unicorn must have snapped out of it because he suddenly said,
"But... but... you are only a little filly..." He stated this weakly, his brain still trying to comprehend what he had witnessed. Celestia frowned, insulted.
"I'm not little! I am thirteen years old, and the Princess of the Everfree Kingdom! Does size matter in terms of one's power?!" She let out an angry growl, as Luna fearfully looked at Celestia. Luna had never seen her elder sister so upset, and was afraid of what might happen to her. Their Mama had often told them stories of warning, one of which being that they should never lose control of their emotions. If an alicorn lost control, they would become corrupted, and would have to be fought.
One of the unicorns, a mare with a sky blue coat and a mane and tail of faded red, yellow, and blue, gasped. She frantically whispered something to the mare next to her, a dark gray unicorn with a jet black mane and tail.
"Did... did you just say that you are the Princess of the Everfree Kingdom? The one that was ruled by Emperor Astro and Empress Solara?" The gray mare began to pale a bit as she continued. "Could it be that you are one of the daughters that we have heard about?!"
Luna cocked her head in confusion. "Of course we are. Have thou seen our Mama and Papa?" Celestia gathered her closer, wing around Luna's back. "And have thou seen our servants? We have been alone for a few days."
One of the unicorns suddenly cried out, "Charcoal! These fillies before us are alicorns! We must bring them to the Council!"
Charcoal, the leader of the group, looked towards the mare who had cried out. It was the blue mare, her right-hoof mare.
"Very well, Palate Swatch. Everypony," she called out to the group, "we must bring these fillies to the Princess, the Commander, and the Chancellor."
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"I see. And they say that they have not come into contact with other ponies in a few days? And that the elder one raised the very sun by herself? Hmmm..."
Celestia and Luna sat before "the Council," which was only composed of six members, two of each Pony Tribe. The sisters felt very bored, Luna especially. Being only a baby filly in alicorn terms, she had the mindset of a six-year old, and was easily distracted. Celestia, on the other hoof, grew annoyed. She was still insulted by the stallion who had called her "little," and she knew that Luna was hungry like she was. The ponies seemed to fail to notice that the fillies had not eaten in days, their alicorn powers barely sustaining them.
"Commander Hurricane," said one of the pegasi, "may I interrupt?" She was light blue, with curly, light-gray hair. She looked timid, and seemed to not have much of a presence in the Council.
The other pegasus looked up. "What would you like to say, Private?"
"Well, if these fillies have not seen other ponies, and their servants were the ones bringing them food-" she paused for a minute, and then turned towards the fillies. "Children, are you not hungry?"
Luna nodded quickly, snapping out of her stupor. "Private" looked at them pityingly.
"I'll call for somepony to bring you fillies something to eat." She smiled at the two alicorns kindly, and flew off.
When "Private" flew off, one of the Council members called break. As she said, they could hardly continue without one of their members. Soon, "Private" returned with another unicorn. He was levitating two plates of food, and two glasses of water. The fillies were brought to the Council's table, and the food was set down beside them.
Celestia, expecting her sister to eat like she usually did, was surprised when Luna calmly picked up her fork and knife, and began to eat like a pony her age. Usually, she levitated the pieces of food into her mouth and ate very sloppily. Celestia smiled, and turned to her own food. It was a salad, with a very sweet smelling salad dressing on it that reminded her of the rose gardens. There were also bits of croutons in it, which she loved very much!
The fillies were so hungry and so absorbed in their meal, that they did not notice the Council members looking at them and occasionally whispering to each other. All was peaceful and quiet. Until--
"GAAAAHHH! LULU!!!"
Commander Hurricane suddenly flared out his wings, years of military experience preparing him to fight. However, he backed down when he saw what had truly happened. Luna, bored with the quiet meal, had flung a bit of her salad at Celestia's face. She giggled as her sister picked up the lettuce and cucumbers on her face, but stopped when Celestia shot her a glare. Celestia calmly cleaned her face off, relishing in Luna's uneasiness. As soon as she noticed that Luna had dropped her guard, she conjured up a large feather, and began to tickle her.
All royal dignity was forgotten as Luna began to snort and laugh hysterically, her eyes watering. Celestia snickered evilly, and momentarily stopped. Luna took her chance and tackled her, the fillies rolling about in a sisterly fight. The Council looked at the fillies, the tall unicorn mare with a small tiara shocked at the way these alicorns were acting. Her fellow unicorn wasn't even paying attention, merely scribbling down upon a long scroll with her trusty red quill. Hurricane watched proudly, thinking that it was good for young ponies to get their pent up energy out in healthy ways. Private watched nervously, not knowing that they were only play-fighting, scared that they would end up hurting each other. Lastly, the two Earth Ponies giggled slightly. They had grown up hearing about how regal, majestic, and sophisticated the alicorns of the land were.
"Ahem."
The unicorn scribbling down upon her scroll immediately looked up. "Star Swirl! We did not expect you to come so late!"
Star Swirl the Bearded smiled, and then his gaze fell upon the sisters. He chuckled in spite of himself, and he lit up his horn. He pulled the two fillies apart, each looking nothing like he had expected an alicorn to look. Celestia had salad dressing in her hair, and her usually groomed tail was incredibly messy. Luna had a cucumber slice impaled on her horn, and there were bits of her salad on her face. She started to giggle again, looking at her sister, but Celestia was not amused. She realized what they had been doing, and her face turned beet red with embarrassment. She praised the stars that her parents were not around to witness their daughters behaving in ways like a princess never should.
"I see that you two have a healthy relationship?" Star Swirl smiled at the two kindly. Luna nodded eagerly, while Celestia hung her head in embarrassment. "Now, now, no need for any reddening, my dear," he continued, "as it does not suit your complexion."
Celestia looked up, still ashamed of her actions. She had expected harsh words of disappointment, not kind words of one who was amused. She glared at Luna, who had started this whole mess. Luna, who had been smiling sweetly at her sister before, began to look guilty, and grabbed a wet cloth that a pegasus had brought in to clean them up. She levitated the cloth to Celestia, and dropped it onto her face by accident. Celestia gave Luna a look, and proceeded to clean herself up. Luna picked the cucumber off of her horn, and placed it into her mouth.
Star Swirl looked to the unicorn with the tiara. "What do you think of these fillies, Princess Platinum? Do you think they will be able to rule kingdoms?"
Princess Platinum looked at the fillies for a while, and her expression softened slightly. "I think... I think I may have a tough job ahead of me, Star Swirl."