RECONSIDERATION OF THE FOUNDING OF EQUESTRIA – OR –BURNING SUNRISE TELLS THE TRUTH
It was a few minutes after Princess Twilight Sparkle had arrived back from visiting the Pony-Human dimension. After briefing her 'mane' friends about her trip – I mean, after she had briefed the main princesses of Equestria first – Twilight's friends seemed more-than-ever to visit the human world.
"Next time, perhaps," Twilight replied, to which her friends sighed in despair*. She was just about to leave the Crystal Castle with her friends, when Spike came running through. In his right hand, he held a letter.
"Hey, Rarity," Spike said, before turning his attention towards his master. "Twilight, you have an important letter from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" After Spike had informed her of this, he gave Twilight the letter he was holding in his right hand. Twilight took the note from Spike and read its contents.
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
There is trouble at the Castle of the Two Sisters! My sister and I, along with a few other guards, went to check a mysterious light coming from inside, but what happened completely baffled us! Bring only you and you friends, Twilight; no guards! If the guards we took with us couldn't handle them, neither can the many other guards that we have!
Sincerely, Princess Celestia
"What's it say, Twilight?" Applejack asked, after Twilight had looked up at the note and into her friends' eyes.
"We're needed at the Castle of the Two Sisters… And fast!" Twilight exclaimed.
With her sudden outburst, her friends knew that the two princesses were in trouble. What they didn't know was that Princesses Celestia and Luna had been out a few minutes ago and the mysterious enemy was expecting them! The six friends ran/flew out of the Crystal Castle, where they reached the entrance of the Castle of the Two Sisters a few minutes later.
"Princesses, are you two all right?" Rainbow Dash asked as she barged through the two doors, practically breaking them. "There's no mountain too high, no ocean too wide, no–"
"Yes, Ms. Rainbow, we all get the point!" Applejack argued. "Now, where are the two main princesses of Equestria?"
"Princess Twilight?" a weak voice asked. The Mane 6 looked down to see a weak Celestia and Luna.
"My word, what happened?" Rarity asked as the rest of the five trotted hurriedly towards the weak princesses. Twilight reached a hoof out to her.
"No, Twilight!" Celestia exclaimed, but a hoarse voice came out. "You all… Get out! It's a –" Of course, it was too late. Twilight touched Celestia and all havoc broke loose. The entrance doors slammed shut; the lights in the castle began getting darker, then lighter, and vice-versa; and other things outside of the ordinary. A few seconds later, the havoc died down, but laughter was replaced. The laughter bounced off every wall in the building, making the scene seem much more ominous.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, I presume that you are in this room?" an ominous voice asked. "Ah, so you are! And look, you brought along your friends too!" Another ominous laugh was heard.
"I don't know who the hay you are, but ya'll better show yourselves right now!" Applejack exclaimed. Another ominous laugh was heard.
"What's the point of that, Applejack?" the voice asked. "True villains don't come out when the heroes tell them to, or unless they have a trick!"
"Do you have a trick?" Fluttershy asked, though it was more like a whisper. The ominous pony could still hear it, though, even if he was not exactly near them in the same room.
"Well – I mean – I do have a trick, yes, but I was waiting until you girls can find me…" the ominous voice was now just a murmur.
"Listen, every-pony!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "It sounds like our villain is stuttering because he doesn't have a magic spell – or something of that sort!" The ominous voice came back.
"I so do, Pinkie Pie!" he yelled, but sighed and became calm again when he noticed that Fluttershy was slowly backing away. "Let me tell you all a story; a story that you have heard many times; and the story that you might want to reconsider its beginning. Equestria wasn't the only land that had ponies on it. There was another land before that one: Equine, the one and only land in the world that had its first horse-populated*.
"Anyway," the ominous voice continued. "Equine was the center of its peak. Good agriculture, good trade, but something bad was happening – and they didn't even know it! In the land of Equine, there were holes that sunk way down to the ground. Those holes were what lead to the disaster of Equine a few years later on. The ground shook one day, and out poured water! Since Equine had trees, the horse-folk there made their houses out of them. You can guess what happened, don't you? Those who made it past the rushing water had to then make towards the shore, and those who didn't…
"Using the boats that were waiting for them at the shore, they quickly rowed their boats off the island," said the hidden pony. "A few days later, they came here, not here exactly, but on this land. They founded Equestria. All of those ponies helped found Equestria, but rowed back towards Equine. A few months of founding Canterlot, Manehattan, and some other towns, a horde of Phoenixes flew over Manehattan and burned the town to ashes. After that incident, a group of ponies living in Equestria founded a clan called the Phoenix-ide. The Phoenix-ide believed that Phoenixes were above the rest of animals, other than the dragons.
"This was before the group founding Equestria needed a loyalty of some sort – if there were loyalties back then, the Phoenixes would also be under the rulers' guide," the ominous voice continued. "The Phoenix-ide was the most famous clan back then, but they are not famous now even though the group is still active now. Speaking of which, where are my manners? I am Burning Sunrise, the youngest member of the Phoenix-ide." A bright light faintly appeared at the end of the room and a filly with a long-lasting burning mane clopped forward and revealed himself. It was a male, clearly, but there was something… unnatural… about him.
"Nice story, Sugar-Cube, but what does that have to do with you harming our princesses?" Applejack asked, before a wicked laugh was followed. Everyone glanced at each other with strange looks.
"Ah, Applejack, don't you remember the Phoenix that Princess Celestia had a year or so ago?" Burning Sunrise asked. The Mane 6 opened their eyes wildly and looked at Princess Celestia. "Are you not aware that that was the only time that she had showed you six her 'pet'? Tell us, Princess Celestia, where is your pet?"
"YOU DARE SPEAK TO MY SISTER IN THAT TONE?!" Princess Luna asked. She was about to continue, but Fluttershy spoke up.
"Excuse me for interrupting, Princesses," Fluttershy spoke up. "Aside from Princess Celestia that day, I was also the one taking care of the Phoenix. I never saw him again after that day."
"Ah agree with Sugar-Cube, too," Applejack asked, before the other four princesses agreed and 'whooped'.
"Calm down now, my little ponies," Princess Celestia said, before most of the ponies calmed down. "I'll tell you what happened to my Phoenix.
"Burning Sunrise, is it?" Princess Celestia asked, before Burning Sunrise nodded slowly and hesitantly. "After that day, I had seen that my Phoenix was ready to be free. I let him go, but there was another reason why. Before my Phoenix had matured, people always mistook him for an underfed bird. An underfed bird might not give me a nice reputation, now would it*?" She was also about to ask how he knew about the bird, when Burning Sunrise looked scared.
"Oh no, oh no!" he whimpered. Under his breath, he whispered: "I didn't know that she would respond with that answer, or rather, I didn't think of her answering my question with that answer!" More loudly: "What do I do? What do I do?" He was on the verge of crying.
"Is there something wrong?" Celestia asked. Burning Sunrise looked up at her, revealing the wet eyes of his to the ponies in the castle. There was a mysterious look on their faces as they looked at each other and back at him. Burning Sunrise gulped and blinked his eyes to try to dry his teary eyes. It didn't work as he thought of what he had done some more.
"I never knew that you freed your Phoenix; I thought that you might have done something else to it!" the filly exclaimed, more tears coming out of him. This alarmed the others. "There's another thing I need to tell you about: Lord Flamer*. Lord Flamer; he's the one in charge of all the Phoenixes in Equestria. He's actually been around since the founding of Equestria, or about thousands of years! He hates it when any type of species keeps one of his Phoenixes without his permission. He hates it even more when 'said' animal of species does anything unjust to his Phoenixes."