//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Project Harmony 
// by Mr Khan 
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Prologue

It emerged from the depths of the earth one day, exploding forth in a peaceful meadow on the outskirts of an Earth Pony town called Everfree, nigh to the center of the Kingdom. The ponies that bore witness were amazed at how immediately the land seemed to revolt from their command; trees growing wild, animals gone feral, all things moving of their own accord. At the center of the maelstrom was an abomination, a creature that defied description but seemed to be something of many things: of eagle and goat, lion and hart, and dragons of varying breeds. The learned would deem him of the genus Draconequus, but all would come to know him for what he brought unto the world: Discord.
This Discord bore powers more catastrophic than the most fearsome of monsters, making the earth below and the heavenly bodies above turn their backs on pony-kind. Ponies that met him came away changed, in body or mind, warped to be lunatics or monsters. This was the fate met by the First Company of the Knights of Equestria, sent to dispatch the monster. Those who returned alive from among pegasi, earth ponies, or unicorns would wreak havoc in their hometowns until they were imprisoned or otherwise subdued. 
Sun and Moon charged through the sky heedlessly under Discord’s direction, at times both visible, at times both shrouded, plunging the land into absolute dark. Day and Night ceased to be, and instead there was endless time, marked only by when ponies felt tired enough to sleep. He seemed to delight in seizing control of the clouds away from the pegasi, but only one at a time or in groups. Clouds would rain any liquid but water, or take on undue shapes or properties. Fierce storms would tear across the land at will. The calamities meant crops soon began to decline, and hardship spread across the land.
All was not lost, however, for whatever dark caprice drove Discord compelled him not to leave his wild domain, but only to watch it slowly grow and encroach upon the surrounding countryside as he tormented attacking Equestrian Knights and twisted the heavens to his will. Thus it was that most of the land was safe from his darker designs, subject merely to his manipulation of the heavens. Free from direct assault, the lords of the land devised countermeasures. All magically-able unicorns were enlisted to encircle the chaotic forest, sealing away the evil behind a magic barrier. The combined power of so many was so great that not even the monstrous Discord could break the barrier, and so the threat was contained for a time.	


~~0000~~

“Mommy, why are me and Celestia so different? How come we get a horn and wings but you, Daddy, Lapis, and Russ don’t have them?”
“I told you this before, Luna dear, you and Celestia are Alicorns because one of your ancestors was a Pegasus, and another was an earth pony. In fact, your great-grandmother Garnet was also an Alicorn, because of the marriages between the leaders of Equestria.”
“But how is it just me and Celestia? You’re all just normal unicorns? I mean, not just normal unicorns, I mean…”
Queen Amethyst laughed. “I know what you mean, Luna. The truth is we don’t know how it works when different pony tribes marry and have a foal; that’s just how it is.”
“Thanks, Mommy,” Luna said, and the little Alicorn filly trotted away.
Queen Amethyst smiled. Little Luna had been very inquisitive all her life, much more so than her sister. The young Celestia was often content to accept things for what they were, but Luna wanted to know everything about everything with all the eagerness of foalhood. Her sister was less reckless in temperament, quite calm and dignified for a filly her age, but not without her own mischievous spirit. Amethyst didn’t know where Celestia got her sense of humor from, as it matched neither hers nor her husband’s. Of course, Celestia and Luna were nothing if not unique, and Amethyst treasured them all the more for it, much as she treasured her other foals, Lapis Lazuli and Chival Russ.
Life with her husband, Starry Knight, and their four foals, was a constant joy, but diminished from what it could have been. Yes, Queen Amethyst was ruler of the unicorns, dwelling in a grand palace as one of the ruling triumvirate of Equestria with a loving family, but she was raising her family and ruling her ponies in a time of crisis and suffering. 
There was little enough food since Discord had come, especially as she insisted that the royal family be treated no better than all the ponies who suffered under the food rationing. Canterlot had become badly depopulated, the unicorns away trying to keep the evil contained and only barely succeeding. The other tribes fared just as poorly, with the pegasi waging a constant fight against the clouds that wreaked havoc under the Draconequus’ twisted direction and the earth ponies struggling to raise enough food for all despite the poor weather and the erratic cycles of the sun and moon. Queen Amethyst felt pity for all the ponies of the land, wishing for the day when Discord was defeated, and hoping that she had the strength to play her part. According to her Court Sorceress, however, a change was due to come quite soon indeed.
Discord’s machinations caused hardship for everypony, but also annoyed and disturbed everypony on a smaller level. The Draconequus’ control over the heavens meant that it was nigh impossible to keep track of time, with only the most learned scholars able to accomplish this feat, and also meant that nopony really knew when to sleep and when to wake. The rule of thumb in the palace was to sleep whenever you were tired, so long as either Amethyst, Knight, or Lapis were awake to watch over the younger foals whenever they were awake. The Queen was weary after another… well… she couldn’t really call it “day” as the sun had risen five separate times since she had woken up, with a partial solar eclipse happening once, but she was weary nonetheless, and went to her bed and went to sleep as the Sun and Moon danced circles around one another in the sky above.
“Mommy, Daddy! Come quick!” Queen Amethyst and Starry Knight shot to wakefulness, seeing the dark-furred young filly hopping frantically at their bedside, struggling to get aloft on her dusk-colored wings. “It’s Celestia!” Luna shouted, a look of abject terror on her face. “Something really weird’s happening to her!” The two unicorn royals leapt out of bed and dashed out of their room, leaving the young Alicorn in their dust. They saw the problem immediately, blinding golden light that was pouring out of the open door to the room that Celestia and Luna shared.
“Celestia, what’s wrong?” Starry Knight barked as he and Amethyst galloped into the room. Both stopped short once they got inside, expressions of horror etched on their faces as they saw the young Alicorn filly floating above her bed, wings flapping gently as blinding golden light shot forth from her horn. Her horn and both of her eyes glowed fierce and hot as she writhed in the air.
“I don’t know!” Celestia shouted back, sounding confused and afraid. “I’m not doing this! I can’t stop it!”
Amethyst and Starry Knight looked on in horror, and would have missed the next occurrence if it weren’t for Luna’s prying eyes. “Look! Look!” Luna shouted, pointing past her sister and out the window of their bedroom. Their bedroom window looked east, and just as Celestia arched her head in the midst of her crisis, the sun slowly crested over the eastern horizon. Dawn was coming, the sun rising at the speed and in the place it was supposed to rise. Another burst, brighter than the Sun, caused all in the room to shield their eyes, and when they opened them again, Celestia had landed in a heap on her bed. On her flank, a cutie mark in the shape of the sun was visible.
“What… what was that?” Celestia asked.
“You raised the sun, Celestia!” Luna shouted, sounding overjoyed. “And you got your cutie mark! That was amazing!”
“Could you please take Luna out, dear?” Amethyst asked.
“Right,” Starry Knight said. “Come along, Luna.”
“What? Why?” Luna protested, as Starry Knight picked her up by magic and pulled her out of the room. Amethyst shut the door, tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” Celestia asked. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m so proud of you,” Amethyst sobbed. “I’ve waited for this day all your life. So many ponies have…”
“So many ponies have been waiting for me to get my cutie mark?” Celestia asked. “Why? And why was it so different for me? It wasn’t like that when Lapis or Russ got their cutie marks.”
“We’ve been waiting to tell you this, Celestia, waiting until you were old enough to understand,” Amethyst said, climbing onto the bed next to the filly that she had raised as one of her own.
“Tell me what?”
“About Project Harmony, about how you were created.”
“Created?”
“Please, Celestia. Know that your father and I love you just like our other foals. That will never change.”
“I know, Mom,” Celestia said, curling up next to her on the bed. “Please, go ahead.”
“Alright. It all began when Discord first appeared…”