//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24: Lost Equestrian History 101 
// Story: Secrets of the Everfree 
// by PaisleyPerson 
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Chapter 24
Lost Equestrian History 101


“Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice, Princess,” Twilight bowed. We were all led into the throne room, where Celestia, Luna and Cadence were already waiting.
“What is it, Twilight?” Cadence asked, stepping forward.		
“I was actually hoping Princess Essence would do most of the explaining,” Twilight admitted, turning back to summon the last of our company. Even Discord had tagged along to hear the rest of the story. Essence regally strode into the throne room, taking in the granduer of the palace in awe. Cadence’s eyes widened, and Luna turned a bit stiff. Celestia then narrowed her eyes, but not critically so.
“Princess Essence?”
“Princess Celestia, I presume.” Essence moved next to Twilight at the head of our group and bowed low. Luna was still considering the new princess, but bowed with the rest to acknowledge the formality. 
“I was not aware there was a thestral princess,” Luna commented. 
“I am not a thestral, but in fact, a destral,” Essence looked up at her horn. “Just as alicorns possess the abilities of pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns, destrals have the combined power of thestrals, earth ponies and unicorns. I was told that we have become extinct, so I do not expect you to recognize my kind, or my name. The only reason I am still here is because I have been imprisoned, and therefore preserved, for the last few thousand years, much like yourself, Princess Luna.” The princess of the night wasn’t sure whether to sympathize with the remark or be offended by it. 
“But she’s not dangerous,” Twilight quickly put in, realizing how it could be taken multiple ways. 
“I see.”
“I believe there is much to be explained. Might we go somewhere a bit more private?”
“Of course. Please, follow me.” Celestia took the lead, bringing all of us to what I assumed was some sort of diplomatic conference room. The table was excessively long, and now we utilized its many chairs to seat the eighteen of us. Princess Celestia took her place at the head of the table, with Luna beside her. Twilight sat opposite Luna, and Cadence and Essence also faced one another. Discord purposefully took his place next to Fluttershy. Blaze, Torch and I tried to stay together, and Wild Flower and Cedar were a little more comfortable opposite us. The rest of them spread out to find seats to fill in the gaps we left.
“Perhaps it would be best if you were to start from the beginning,” Celestia suggested. “How was it that you came to be imprisoned?” Essence’s eyes became pained. 
“I was betrayed,” she confessed, “by my own pupil, Pyre Kindling. He locked my conciousness in the sphere you found, Princess Twilight, separated from my body, which he stored I know not where.”
“Why would a pony so close to you rebel like this?” Luna suspiciously questioned.
“He wanted more, I suppose,” Essence sighed. “He was never satisfied with his own ability. He was always seeking ways to increase his power, both magically and politically.”
“I can relate to you, Princess Essence,” Celestia nodded. “I, too, once had such a student.”
“Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight recalled. I remembered the event as one of Twilight’s first assignments after her corronation. We were at Canterlot Palace, and Twilight’s crown was stolen. The theif known as Sunset Shimmer, former student of Princess Celestia, took it through a magic mirror, which was actually a portal to another world. My friends and I weren’t allowed to accompany her through, but she told us all about her adventures there when she returned. The princess nodded again. 
“She knew she was not powerful enough to overthrow me in this world, so she attempted to take over another in order to gain strength.”
“She learned the hard way that having true friends is more valuable than having a crown,” Twilight summarized.
“I wish Kindling had been able to learn the same. I’d raised him as my own, and I taught him everything I knew. When he came of age, I appointed him as Captain of the Everfree’s Royal Guard; I trusted him with my life, and he seemed like the logical choice. Looking back, though, I don’t know how I didn’t notice him infiltrating the ranks. He had allies woven throughout the political system. He even manipulated me. I wore the crown, but he was really running the show. I must have been blind,” she whimpered. 
“Kindling always wanted more power. One day, thestrals came to us after being rejected by the rest of ponykind. Destrals were held in high esteem, well respected by all. No thestral dared challenge our authority as leaders, and they voluntarily submitted to our existing monarchy. Kindling suggested that in return for their submission, we should conduct research in their behalf. They were more than pleased with the idea, so I too was supportive. After all, what leader is not eager to please her subjects? So I arranged to form a research team dedicated to helping thestrals fit in with the others. This was precisely what Kindling wanted, but I was not aware he had ulterior motives. He would eventually steer the program to focus more on creating a powerful army than helping them blend.
“I appointed a dear friend and associate of mine, Smoky Topaz, to become Chief of Research. She was by far the most brilliant destral I’ve ever met. Science was her passion as well as her special talent, though she was named after her sparkling coat. She was born in the Crystal Empire, after all. 
“A crystal destral?” Cadance gasped.
“Indeed. As the new Chief of Research, her first project was to try and disguise the thestrals. She reasoned that if they looked like the others, then they would be accepted by the others. And she was right. Topaz’s transformation gave her test subjects the self-sustained ability to conceal and retrieve their wings at will.”
“Thestrals did not always have the ability to conceal their wings?” Luna raised an eyebrow.
“No.”
“So that means... it was destral magic!” I gasped. Wild Flower let her wings fade into a fiery inferno for a moment, staring back at the transformation with new wonder.
“Ah. I see you have retained the ability,” Essence smiled. “What of the earth-quaking properties? Or night vision? Have you preserved those skills as well?”
“Yeah,” Wild Flower quietly confirmed. "But we lost the night vision after the second uprising."
"I see. Something in her spell must not have agreed with the elements."
“Are any of our powers natural?” I burst, somewhat outraged. It was all a lie?
“Fire dancing is the only naturally occuring ability I know of,” she gently explained, “as well as the power to walk on clouds alongside the pegasi. But it was Topaz’s research that enabled your access to these other powers. The night vision helped the night watch to better protect our borders; the earth-quaking was designed to help those working the stone quarries."
"My father is a stone worker. He still relies heavily on his abilities in the quarry," Torch put in.
"Topaz would be pleased to find that her work had turned out to be so durable.”
“What happened to her?” Everyone leaned in close as her eyes filled with pain once more.
“Kindling happened,” she answered, defeated. “He recruited Smoky Topaz to create an acceptance spell powerful enough to subdue thousands. He insisted that thestrals would never really belong hiding their true selves. He said they had to make the others love them. To take them by force, that is. She was only following orders, though it broke my heart when I realized she’d played a part in Kindling’s schemes.” She shook her head, still trying to comprehend the mass mutiny she experienced. “Topaz believed that the easiest way to achieve a spell that powerful would be altering an existing love spell. As you know, love spells are very dangerous, and often unethical. That is why she volunteered to be the first test subject. 
“As I said, I was unaware of these happenings, so I am not exactly sure what went wrong, but there was a mishap with the spell. It created an insatiable lust for love in Topaz. She cast the same spell on any who defied her or denied her love, so they would become like her. It wasn’t long before she had created an army for herself. Kindling must have manipulated her, because he was not one of this number. Rather, with not only destrals but ‘upgraded’ thestrals now at his command, he proposed that they combine their forces to become unstoppable. She agreed, and they planned to unleash all their assets on Equestria. 
“It wasn’t until he came to dispose of me that I learned of his plans. He was young and prideful, and foolishly gloated of his victory by explaining the extent of his plans to me. That is how I know what I do. I was helpless to stop the war, imprisoned in the orb as I was. It was Kindling’s own invention, though he was cruel in my treatment, using my own timberwolf guardian to trap me for eternity.” She was genuinely disgusted. “Thestrals had been loyal, obedient subjects for decades, so they simply did not question the change in authority or the intent of Kindling’s conquest. That was the beginning of the thestral uprising. It was years before somepony with sense decided to take a stand against Kindling, and a rebel force was ignited. They finally defeated Kindling by trapping him in his own invention, an orb just like the one he imprisoned me with.”
“How do ya know that? Ya said yourself that ya were imprisoned by then,” AJ pointed out.
“Even so, I am quite sure he was also trapped in an orb. Occasionally, I could sense his presence.”
“You must have had a very powerful student if he was able to overpower you just like that,” Twilight mused.
“He was indeed. Kindling was easily as powerful as I, for he too was a destral.”
“Why didn’t the other destrals rise up to defeat him? Aren’t they all keepers of harmony like you?”
“It is good to know you think so highly of us,” Essence chuckled. “No, as Kindling demonstrated, we are not all guardians, nor are we all evil and power-hungry. I am not sure what happened to cause the extinction of my race, but no destral ever rose to my aid.”
“Maybe they all sided with Kindling,” Twilight suggested. Essence reluctantly nodded.
“This is a possibility.”
“I don’t see how a couple of thestrals could’ve defeated a bunch of powerful destrals. I mean, no offense, but thestrals are effected by unicorn magic same as the rest of us. And if destral magic is as powerful as alicorn magic... the odds just don’t add up!”
“How many other destrals were there?”
“You are right, Applejack, it is unlikely that they all sided with Kindling, but not impossible. I am not sure what happened to them. And to answer your question, Rarity, there was once a time when destrals and alicorns both were as plentiful as earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns or thestrals today.” Celestia gasped at what was a reminder for her, but entirely unknown to most of us. Essence noticed this and turned to her. “I take it you too remember such days, Princess?” 
“I do,” Celestia shifted, locking eyes with Luna. 
“There were more alicorns?” Twilight’s jaw nearly dropped.
“Just as there were unicorn or thestral nations, the alicorns once had an empire all of our own,” Celestia explained. For royalty, she seemed wide-eyed and shaky. It was clear that she had tried to blot out this portion of her past up until this point.
“What happened to them?”
“The same thing that caused the destral extinction.” Essence took charge of the conversation, realizing how uncomfortable it was making Celestia and Luna. “War.
“In an attempt to remain neutral from the affairs of other ponies, alicorns isolated themselves. This did keep them out of the bad graces of the others, but it also meant that they had no one else to argue with. Disagreements are unavoidable, and in some cases, we can only agree to disagree. Unfortunately, such a disagreement came upon the alicorns, and war broke out amongst themselves. I was imprisoned for most of the battle’s duration, but as I remember, you were both young at the start of the war,” Essence recalled. Celestia closed her eyes in an effort to escape from the pain. “Which leads me to my next question. I was imprisoned in Kindling’s orb for many thousands of years. Princess Luna was banished to the moon for one thousand years, but that still does not account for the many other eons I was absent. How are you both still alive? I have never heard of creatures with such lifespans.”
“When we tried to banish thestrals in the uprising, the tree was a mere sapling,” Celestia answered, grateful for the change in topic. 
“I know. I was the one who planted it.”
“YOU?” everyone at the table shrieked, staring at the destral. She just slyly eyed her cutie mark in response.
“Please, continue.”
“As I was saying, the tree was young. It had a skewed idea of right and wrong, good and evil,” Celestia stuttered. “It attempted to balance the battle between thestrals, Luna and I by creating pure ‘evil’ within thestrals and pure ‘good’ in us. This ‘good’ translated to additional power, and it seems, life eternal.”
“I see,” Essence mused. “But it still does not explain how you alone escaped the war.” The royal sisters fell silent, nervously shifting. 
“Mum and Da hid us away with our foal sitter in the Frozen North,” Luna turned away at last.
“You don’t have to tell them, sister,” Celestia interrupted. 
“You tried to shield me from our past, Tia, but it can not be ignored any more than it can be changed.” Celestia hung her head and permitted her sister to continue. “As Essence has said, war broke out amongst our own kind. Battle after battle raged day after day. Weeks became months, and months became years. We lost so many...” I was unsettled as the Princess of the Night, usually so solid and unshakable, did her best not to break down. “Mum and Da reigned as King and Queen in those days. The radical forces wanted to eliminate the monarchy and any of their bloodline, so Tia and I were also in danger. The opposing troops finally came knocking on the palace doors. Mum and Da loved us so much...” Luna bit her lip, choking on her words and tears finally dripping from her eyes. Celestia solemnly picked up where she left off.
“Mum and Da loved us so much, that they sent us away under the care of our foal sitter. She was given orders not to return unless and until the radicals were put down and it was safe to return. We didn’t know where we were going; some of our own staff had turned against us, and revealed all the locations of our ‘safehouses’. Our foal sitter didn’t want to take us to any town where we would be recognized. She took us to the Frozen North instead, where nopony would think to look. It was there that we met Discord.” We all turned to him, and he uneasily squirmed in his seat. I thought it strange that the mere mention of his name made him uncomfortable. Usually he relished the chance to brag or gloat. 
“Discord was not a threat back in those days; he wasn’t even chaotic. Discord sheltered us just as he did for you in your exile, Acrylic. Back then, he was too young to achieve magic as destructive as we have seen in recent years. We remained in the Frozen North far longer than we anticipated, and practically grew up with Discord. As his magic grew more dangerous, our foal sitter sought new ways to keep us safe.” The draconequus abruptly shoved his seat away, and pounded his fists on the table. The glowering look of anger plastered on his face scared me.
“You really are stuck-up, selfish, blind snobs, aren’t you? Despite what you may think, Princess, the world doesn’t revolve solely around you. You weren’t the only two she cared about. She cared about me. Or do you not remember that? Do you even recall her name?” Celestia and Luna both looked like they’d been slapped, and were too ashamed to answer. “Radiance,” his fingers curled into fists. “Her name was Radiance.” He turned away, disgusted. “I’ve heard enough.” He teleported out of the room before anypony could stop him.
“Discord?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“What’s eating him?” Rainbow wondered.
“That is... personal...” Luna slowly replied.
“We have told them this much, sister. They should know the rest.” Celestia sat stock straight in her seat. “When Luna, Radiance and I first happened upon Discord, we were all very young. Our home was in shambles, and three helpless fillies out wandering in the snow must have been a pitiful sight. Discord was an orphan, and did not have much to offer compared to the former, luxurious lifestyle we were accustomed to at our palace. Even so, he took us in and shared everything he had with us, possibly just glad for the company. Of course I was grateful, and often thanked him for everything that he had done. Perhaps this gave him the wrong idea, or maybe it was an unavoidable youthful crush, but he fell in love with me.” Most of us gasped, but Fluttershy’s eyes just widened. None of us had seen that coming. “That was when his magic started to become chaotic. I assume his mixed emotions were causing him confusion, which showed in his magic. It took him many years to confess his feelings, but when he finally summed up the courage, it took me completely by surprise. I was grateful for what he’d done, yes, but I could not return such feelings, mostly because our foalsitter once confided in me that she had feelings for him. 
“She was my friend, so of course I wasn’t going to ruin her chances with Discord! I saw no other choice but to reject him. That was the breaking point for him. He thought my rejection was because I could only see him as a monster, so that was what he was going to become. He left us that night, but Radiance went after him. Her feelings hadn’t subsided, and she hoped that if she confessed them to Discord, he could be reigned in. And that she did. Though he had previously barely even noticed Radiance, he now saw her as a goddess. She saved him from himself, along with the rest of Equestria. They fell deeply in love.
“They courted for years, and we were all in our late teens by then. I was under the impression Discord was getting ready to ask Radiance to marry him.” My attention was temporarily diverted from the story when Fluttershy’s seat creaked from her squirming. She was staring at the floor, particularly intrigued by one of the tiles. They were indeed well crafted, but I saw nothing exceptionally interesting about it. I shrugged it off and turned back to Celestia.
“He asked her to meet him in the forest, I think, to ask the question. But that very night, Radiance disappeared. Without her to keep him under control, Discord finally lost his senses. We had nopony left to care for us, so sister and I tried returning home, only to find it destroyed,” Celestia shivered. 
“I am sorry,” Essence bowed her head. Celestia gratefully acknowledged her condolences before continuing. 
“By then, Discord was wreaking havoc elsewhere, but thestrals were rebelling locally. We couldn’t bear to see any more ponies as broken and war torn as our race had become, so we took it upon ourselves to stop them.”
“We did not realize that the cost of keeping the rest of Equestria safe would mean committing genocide. The thestrals had since disposed of their own leaders, and using the elements, I thought we had exterminated thestrals. This is why I was both overjoyed and perterbed when they returned.” Celestia weakly smiled at us, and Torch gripped me closer. 
“Of course, we did not know this at the time, and believd we had just murdered thousands,” Luna continued. “We could hardly bear to look at ourselves after that. We had become more monstrous than Discord, no better than the alicorns that had insisted on killing each other off over petty matters of power. It took a long time to recover before we were willing to try again and make things right not only with Equestria, but with ourselves by defeating Discord.”
“The other ponies saw us as heroes for saving them from Discord’s chaos. They unanimously elected us to rule over a new, united nation. The thestral uprising was a devastating event, and ponies had wasted no time in putting it out of their minds. Already, they were nearly forgotten by most of Equestria. Nopony missed them, nor did they question where they had gone. Perhaps we would not have become rulers if they knew what we had done. The simple fact was that they did not know, and we did not want to tell them. We kept the truth to ourselves, and hence thestrals and destrals faded into nothing more than fairy tales and legends.”
“So you knew the whole time, but you just let us fade into nothing?” I couldn’t believe my ears. 
“Would you have voluntarily admitted to committing genocide to the ponies who viewed you as a savior? As royalty?” Luna quietly asked.
“For years we had to live with the consequences of our actions. We were already young and confused. After defeating Discord, we were not only accepted by the other ponies, but praised and welcomed. For two young mares with nothing else to lose, it was a welcome feeling.” My head spun, but I only subconciously chided myself. It was in the past. It shouldn’t have mattered. I was the Element of Forgiveness. So what was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I let it go?
“I better go check on Discord,” Fluttershy volunteered, already scooting out of her chair. She wanted to get out of there as much as the rest of us. “Oh! If you don’t mind, that is.”
“Not at all. You are dismissed, Fluttershy,” Cadance dipped her head. The yellow pegasus nodded her gratitude before hurrying out to find her friend.
“I realize this is a lot for you all to take in,” Celestia concluded.
“It has been an eventful day for all of you. Perhaps it would be best if you were to go home and rest,” Essence suggested, looking to Celestia for permission.
“I agree,” the sun princess said. “You all must be exhausted. I will arrange for you all to be returned to Ponyville.”
“But where will Princess Essence stay?” Pinkie spoke up. We all stopped moving. We hadn’t thought of that.
“I shall arrange for one of the guest suites to be prepared for you,” Celestia decided. 
“I hope you do not find me rude, your highness, but if it is alright with you, I would very much like to return to my palace in the Everfree,” Essence declined. “In fact, this is what I meant to speak with you about. I am aware that in my absence, you have taken possession of the forest. I haven’t much to offer at present, but I hoped to negotiate some way to regain my homeland.”
“You want the Everfree Forest?” Cadence exclaimed. 
“It may seem like a savage place to you, but I once ruled a mighty nation within the boundaries of those woods. I would very much like to do so again.”
“With respect, Princess Essence, those subjects aren’t exactly yours anymore,” Twilight pointed out. An awkward silence fell over the room.
“Not anymore they aren’t, but I’ve heard some ponies want to move back,” I voiced.
“Really?”
“Why ever would they want to move back to such a horrid waste... I-I mean, those dark, lonely woods... instead of with the rest of us out here in the sunshine?” Rarity blushed and quickly tried to cover up her mistake as I glared at her.
“Because it’s their home. Some of us were perfectly content back there, but then all of a sudden they had to pack up and move.”
“Us? You make it sound like you’d have rather stayed behind, too.”
“Of course not!” Torchwood cleared his throat and placed a hoof on my shoulder in an attempt to get me to stop talking. The Princesses were all watching us. I bit my tongue and waited for their final verdict.
“Please,” Essence respectfully pressed. “I know the Everfree like no other. It is a part of me; that includes all the creatures within it, as well. It is within my ability to control its current inhabitants. This could very well be a beneficial move for you as well, your Majesties. I can guarentee no more attacks by the Everfree ‘monsters’ upon your subjects.”
“Can you?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, glancing again at Essence’s cutie mark, wondering if she really did possess such power.
“That may be in our best interests, sister,” Luna whispered. “How many casualties have been reported every year by hydra attacks and timberwolf raids?”
“Well, I will not keep anypony from returning to their home, if that is what they wish,” Celestia finally decided. “As for your request to return as ruler of the Everfree, Princess Essence, it seems that sister and I never had the right to it in the first place. The forest shall be returned to you, as well as any who chose to return.” Essence knelt into another low bow.
“I thank you, Princess Celestia. I hope our future relations prove to go as smoothly.”
“As do I,” Celestia bowed, followed by her fellow Princesses. Essence righted herself, and allowed the rest of us to lead her out. I dragged my hooves, exhausted. What a day that had been!
“Hey, are you okay?” I noticed that Twilight had pushed in to walk alongside me.
“Fine. Why? Do I not look okay?”
“It’s just... you’ve been acting a little funny all day.”
“Funny? Funny how?”
“You were a little snappish before. And back when we first found Princess Essence... well... you weren’t overly hospitible. Usually you’re scolding us to be more accepting.”
“I got switched out of my own body! That’s bound to make anyone a little crabby.”
“But even after we were all switched back, you seemed a little off. It’s not like you to talk back to the Princesses.”
“I wasn’t talking back!” I barked. Twilight jumped back, startled. The others fell quiet, and turned back to make sure everything was alright. I grunted in irritation and marched on. “I voiced an opinion, that’s all.”
“You’re sure you’re alright?”
“Peachy.” It wasn’t long before I felt the vague tingling of magic flow through my body. I paused in confusion, and looked ahead to Rarity. She was caught up in her conversation with my sister, but when I looked back at Twilight, I found her horn aglow. “Is that you? Are you... scanning me? I said I was fine!”
“Sorry!” She instantly terminated the spell, standing back with wide eyes and an apologetic expression. I marched on with little more than an irritated grumble.