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History lesson with the princesses

The picnic wasn't the only thing ruined. The seven friends were left not only with a totaled picnic but also with a ruined mood. The joyful gathering took only a matter of minutes to go from everypony joking around, to it turning into an interrogation, and then to Discord completely losing it and casting a spell at the ponies he cared for more than anything else in the world.

The ponies were completely speechless, not one of them wanted to break the silence. With the squalid mood remaining from the sordid episode before hand, the six of them almost welcomed the silence. The only audible sound that was being made was Spike rummaging through the gourmet dishes, trying to scavenge any of the gems left over from the trashed picnic.

"Anypony else think we pushed just a TEENY bit too hard?" asked Pinkie Pie as she nibbled on the cotton candy cloud Discord had conjured up for her.

"We pushed WAY too hard." replied Fluttershy heartbroken. Sure, she knew Rainbow Dash and Applejack could be a little assertive every now and then, but HER? Discord was her best friend, but she just kept pushing and pushing until she screamed for Discord to tell her what she wanted to know. She hadn't acted that hostile since, well the Iron Will incident!

"Oh just what was I thinking? I knew I shouldn't have asked Discord about his past, I knew just something would go wrong. I'm such a dummy!" She scolded herself "I ruined our entire picnic because I was just too nosey. Oh where's Discord? I need to apologize to him right away!"

Fluttershy flew up into the air "Oh where could he be? Did anypony see him reappear anywhere? I must find him, I must-"

Rainbow Dash snatched the yellow pegasus's tail and brought her back down to the sand "Whoa, easy Flutters. Take it easy, let's bring it back a notch. I REALLY don't think now's a good time to approach the guy."

"Rainbow's right sugar cube." Said Applejack "After that rodeo, ah really don't think now's the time to get the poor guy roped back into another."

"But did you see what we just did?" cried Fluttershy "He must be heartbroken! Oh I got to say I'm sorry to him Applejack, I just got to! He could think we're not friends anymore for all we know!"

Now it was Rarity's turn to attempt to calm her down. "We ALL need to apologize to him darling, I agree, all of us were utter ruffians. But I'm with Applejack, we need to let him cool off before we go to him again, if he sees us, he might run away before we can even say a single word."

"Also, we have absolutely no idea where he ran off to, or where the heck he even lives for that matter." added Pinkie as she swallowed what was left of the cotton candy cloud.

Rainbow dash made a slashing motion across her neck "Pinkie. Not the time." she whispered.

Fluttershy sighed and inhaled for a few seconds to regain her composure "Alright. You're correct, it would be a good idea to wait a while. But that still doesn't defeat the fact that we still have no idea where we can find Discord. Even if he cools down, we won't know where to find him."

Pinkie Pie cocked her head "But don't you two write each other letters? What's his address?"

Fluttershy shook her head "I don't know. Anytime I was done writing him a letter, a floating mailbox appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Then after I delivered it, the mailbox just disappeared in a burst of confetti." She said defeated

Applejack shrugged "Reckon the Princesses might know?"

That made a light bulb go off in Twilight's head. "The Princesses!" she exclaimed a little too excitedly "Of course! The Princesses! Don't you remember what Discord said? They know more about Discord's history than anypony else in Equestria! Heck they're probably the only ponies in the world who even know it at all! If we go to Canterlot, we'll not only find out where Discord is but also where he is FROM!"

Rainbow coughed "Egghead."

Twilight let the remark bounce off. The bookworm she was, she wanted to know everything about everything. And with the entire history of Discord just waiting to be told ALONG with a huge chunk of Equestrian history, Twilight could barely contain herself. Right now she was more eager to get to Canterlot than even Fluttershy.

"Well then, I guess we can get two things done in one trip." said Rarity.

Twilight grinned "Then it's decided! To Canterlot!" she declared by shooting a hoof into the air.

"Um, but Twilight. The, um, train left a while ago." said Fluttershy softly.

That didn't put a dent in Twilight's determination "Trains? Where we're going we don't need trains." Twilight lit up her horn "We're going by teleportation!"

Applejack went white "Twilight, now ya'll hold up!"

Too late, with a brilliant array of light, the ponies warped from the beach.

The seven of them landed in the dirt road right in front of the entrance to Canterlot castle.

"Twilight." groaned Applejack as she collapsed to the ground with a headache "Ya'll better give me a moment to prepare myself next time, or else Imma applebuck you half-way across Sweet Apple Acres. Ya know that fancy magic teleporting makes me all nauseas."

Twilight scratched the back of her head and blushed in embarrassment "Oops, guess I was a little too anxious get here."

Spike pouted "Dang it, and I just found one of the green gems, I love those.

Rarity fanned herself "My goodness. Talk about a real scorcher today. We had the ocean breeze for so long, I forgot how terrible this weather made my hair look."

The sun was beating down like crazy, Twilight had experienced a few heat waves when she was in Canterlot, but this was an unprecedented amount of heat. Princess Celestia was usually very accurate with raising the sun to the right height so the ponies of Equestria could enjoy the outdoors, so naturally this level was unheard of.

"Indeed " said a nearby unicorn. "I came all the way out here to enjoy a fine stroll, but as it turns out, Discord must be slacking on his weather duties. This heat is absolutely atrocious!"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow "Hold on. What was that you said about Discord and the weather?"

The unicorn looked at her ask if she was asking a question with an obvious answer "Why, Discord is in control of the fine tuning of weather in Canterlot. Ever since he betrayed the citizens of Equestria, he's been begging the two sisters for duties around the kingdom in order to amend his acts. But as you can see, the idiot must be biting off far more than he can chew. If you ask me, I say he's faking his allegiance, if the sisters were smart, they'd punish him for all his past actions by turning him back to stone. It's what a traitor and tyrant like him deserves. " he grumbled

That last sentence immediately put Fluttershy on the offensive. "How dare you say such a thing!" she scolded the unicorn despite him being years older "If you would just take two seconds to know Discord, you'd know he's nothing more than a discouraged spirit who just wants to be himself. The poor creature feels simply awful for what he did and wants more than anything to turn the clocks back!"

"Um, dear?" said Rarity "You know that he IS gone right?"

Fluttershy had been so immersed in her rant that she had not realized that the pony had fled, causing her to blush in embarrassment.

"Little varmint high tailed it outta here the second you started to go off on him. That little coward" grumbled Applejack

Pinkie jabbed a hoof to the castle "Much like Twilight."

"Say what?" said Rainbow with one of her voice cracks

"The moment we got here she started running towards the castle, guess she's super excited to get another one of those dull history lessons. Did seriously no pony else see that?"

Rainbow groaned in annoyance "This is one of those things you REALLY need to start telling us when they happen Pinkie."

The ponies themselves dashed into the castle to catch up to Twilight. Most ponies would usually have to wait months to schedule an appointment just to get INTO the castle, much less explore it. But with them being elements of harmony and regulars to the castle. The guards merely ignored the sudden intrusion.

The ponies found the purple Alicorn trotting to the usual destination for their visits to Canterlot, the throne room.

"Twilight!" called Spike "Wait up!"

"Ya know sugar cube. In some societies it's considered rude to make plans without your friends."

Twilight's ears folded against her head and smiled sheepishly "Sorry, just kinda excited."

When the ponies arrived at the towering dual doors, they were met by two royal guards standing in front with spears crossed in front of the handles. "Apologies Princess Twilight, but the princesses have denied any visitors for today." said one of the guards in a deep gruff voice.

Twilight immediately deflated "Why?"

"Recent events caused the Princesses to deny any and all visitors, no matter whom." replied the surprisingly identical guard.

"Even visits from their equal?" retorted Twilight with a rather imperial tone "We have very important matters to discuss and a demand entrance to meet with them."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. Twilight NEVER played the royalty card, no matter what the situation. Twilight must've been really desperate to learn of Discord's past, when really it was for a different reason. Twilight knew how much Discord's friendship meant to Fluttershy, if she wanted to know where he was, Twilight was going to find out.

The guards exchanged nervous glances, they've never been in a situation like this before. Was Twilight the sisters' equal? They had been given direct orders not to allow anyone in, but here they were being given direct order to let another princess in BY another princess.

One of the guards nodded "Very well."

The twin unicorns lit up their horns and the double doors swung open revealing the two majestic Alicorns sitting side by side at the end of the corridor. The older of the two, Celestia, looked up with a rather annoyed expression, but it soon softened the moment she saw it was her faithful student and her closet friends trotting in.

"Twilight! It's wonderful to see you." said the sun princess with a welcoming smile.

As the ponies came closer and closer to the beloved rulers, they realized they did not look as regal as they usually displayed themselves. Rather than having their manes professionally groomed and enchanted to flow, they were instead left unkempt and fell at their shoulders like any other pony, not to mention neither of them were wearing their crowns or slippers, but what caught the ponies attention the most was the Princess' expressions. Luna looked sleep deprived and Celestia eyes were red, had she been… crying? Both the sisters, despite their smiles, had sadness and grief in their eyes. What had caused them to be so distraught? Whatever the reason, it was recent.

Twilight, doing her best to act casual, trotted ahead and embraced her mentor.
"What brings you here on such short notice." said Celestia with a hint of relief in her voice.

Twilight pulled away and scratched the back of her head "Well… first off we have a funny story we need to tell you first-"

Pinkie immediately, and quite literally, butted in "We want to know where Discord came from and why he took over Equestria." she said a little hyper active.

Immediately Luna and Celestia froze and their smiles vanished.

"What was that thou has requested?" questioned Luna

Twilight tried to think of a way to recover but Pinkie was still on the move

"We asked Discord about his history and why he took over Equestria, but he ended up having a mental breakdown and ended up casting a spell at us. After that tantrum he refused to spill the beans and mentioned that you know a thing or two about said Draconequus's history."

Luna stared at Celestia, waiting for her sister to make the first response.

Celestia took a second to think of the right words to say. She regarded the rather young seven subjects standing before her. She didn't want to discuss such an awful time with such an innocent group, but then again, Equestria did owe their freedom to the ones standing before her. Celestia shivered. If the monster form that horrific night managed to resurface, the ponies needed to know as much as they could.

Celestia sighed and replied in a tone a little too dark for someone of her personality "What you need to understand is… not only did Discord's birth took place in one of the darkest times in Equestria's history, but also that Discord's birth was for even darker purposes."

Fluttershy swallowed. Dark purposes? Seriously, just how much was Discord hiding? Fluttershy did her best not to make eye contact with the princesses "What… what do you mean his birth was for dark purposes?"

Luna looked at the timid pony, she was just too innocent. "Sister…" said Luna in a warning tone "I don't think we need to relive that time, nor do these ponies need to know."

Celestia closed her eyes "They do need to know Luna. If they return." Celestia swallowed "Or if… it breaks free again. The elements are our final line of the defense, they need to know what they could one day be up against."

Luna opened her mouth to protest, but she decided against it and instead nodded in a grim approval. "You're right, We can't be the only ones knowing what's going on if it manages to resurface again."

Rainbow dash made a T with her hooves "Whoa whoa whoa. Timeout. What are you guys talking about? You're totally leaving us in the dark here? What do you mean by 'breaks free again' and 'resurfacing again'?"

Celestia inhaled and exhaled deeply "You're all going to want to sit down. Discord's story is a long one, a ten thousand year old one."

Twilight no longer was jumping up and down excited to find out about Discord's past for an interesting history lesson, she was now in a serious situation in which the royal sisters themselves feared to talk about. And by the sounds of it, whatever they were scared of, it could one day return. Whatever this was, it was important.

"So, does that mean you're really going to tell us Discord's history?" asked Spike

Celestia shook her head "No. We're going to show you."

Celestia and Luna illuminated their horns and the ponies and Spike were surrounded in a brilliant ray of light. When the blinding light eased and became bearable, Twilight opened her eyes to reveal a familiar realm "This is the place you brought me before I became an Alicorn." she gasped

"Indeed." said Luna "A story as horrible as Discord's is not given justice by a simple summary of it. We brought you hear so you can see just what pushed him to his breaking point."

"Oh my, were does it even begin?" asked Rarity

"Discord was feared before he was even conceived." said Celestia "We're bringing you back before my sister and I were born and even before Discord. To the time where our parents ruled Equestria." Celestia began to second guess herself " I want to warn you though, the further we go, the darker and darker Discord's path becomes, it will become very intense. If it becomes too much tell us immediately."

Twilight herself was beginning to second guess going through this, she never saw Celestia like this before. She knew her as the calm and fearless leader of Equestria, but now she was beginning to lose her composure by the sheer memory of Discord.

Twilight thought back to when Celestia first told them about Discord. When Nightmare moon escaped and attacked, Celestia was calm. When Chrysalis invaded Canterlot, Celestia was composed. When Sombra, an evil tyrant, returned, Celestia was collective. When Tirek, bucking Tirek, the demonic centaur with the capability to drain ponies of their talents and destinies broke free from Tartarus, Celestia was still level headed. But… when Discord returned, Celestia lost it and raised hell.

Twilight remembered her teacher leading them down the corridor of Canterlot tower, a hall dedicated to Discord's defeat. She remembered her teacher pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how Discord stole the elements. She remembered the rage in her teachers face when Discord's voice echoed through the entire castle. She remembered her teacher screams at the stain-glass Discord as he mocked his oppressors. But… above all else, She remembered a small hint of emotion in Celestia's eyes that she'd never seen from her before; longing.

A look of hopelessness, not a look of defeat, but a look of loosing something that she loved, needed even. Even as she erupted threats at Discord, Twilight could see how Celestia hated every word she said , as if yelling at him was like poison to her. Almost as if she viewed Discord as a scarred and helpless animal who had been beaten no matter where he went. As if wanted to say something held back for so many years, but just couldn't. Just what was Discord? Did she really want to know?

Then Twilight looked back at her friends, the friends who she could go to, and the ones who could go to her. The ones who pulled her through hardships and made her smile. Whatever horrors awaited in this story, she could handle as long as she had them.

Twilight turned her attention back to her Celestia and Luna. "We can handle it." she said confidently.

Immediately Luna illuminated her horn and the ponies were sucked into one of the nearby screens hovering in mid-air. They were transported into a grassy field in the middle of the night, far off in the distance, a magnificent castle was erected, with a beautiful town surrounding it, and protected by a massive wall. The city put both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire to utter shame. Twilight squinted at the practical utopia, but couldn't make out what city it was. "Where are we?"

Luna walked up beside the ponies "eleven thousand years in the past." she said simply "That castle you see, is the castle that is now in ruins."

Rarity somehow managed to put the two together instantly "The castle of the Two Sisters!" she cried

Celestia nodded "Indeed, this when Luna's and my parents ruled over the land. Something happens tonight that I want you to remember"

Pinkie pie put up a hoof "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. In the Heart's warming eve story, It says you two were the first to take up the roles as leaders when Equestria was founded, when two your parents come into the mix."

Luna sighed "We used it as a cover story, to hid what the truth was like, for the sake of all Equestria."

Spike could hear Celestia murmur something under her breath "And for the sake of-"

He couldn't make out the last word. It probably wasn't important.

Author's Note:

Sweet Jesus Christ was this a suckish chapter. I rushed this and crammed the entire story into about 2 hours of writing. Easy on the hate please ^^;

Okay NOW the story REALLY begins. All the crappy exposition and horrible writings outta the way, chapter 3 is when shit finally starts to go down. Don't worry, it's not going to be one of those backstories when it revolves around the mane 6 reacting to the story rather than the story itself. Please stick with it, I promise, I'm going to incorporate A TON of continuity from the show and make it one of those "Holy F, so THAT'S why it happened" moments.

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