So, my dear friend, do you ever find yourself questioning the co-ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia? Just those creeping suspicions that there is something deeper to her than just what we know. Something... sinister? You may be saying to yourself, "Of course not! Celestia is a wonderful pony! Why she's our ruler, for crying out loud! She's the epitome of kindness and all that's good!"
Is she?
To better understand our dear Princess and who she is, we must go back. Way back...
Time: Ten thousand years ago
A harsh winter with no apparent end had taken over the place of habitat for each of the three races of ponies: earth, unicorns and pegasai. This never ending storm was unable to be tamed by the pegasai, rendering all species cold, hungry, and more irritable towards each other than usual. Conflict had broken out between the three races after a meeting between each of their rulers had ended in a heated argument. These rulers were Chancellor Puddinghead of the earth ponies, Princess Platinum of the unicorns, and Commander Hurricane of the Pegasai.
Each ruler had had enough with the other two, and set out to find a new home that was more hospitable than their current living arrangements. After searching, each of the three rulers had stumbled upon a magnificent land that was absolutely perfect. Most importantly, though, it was bright and sunny without the sight of snow anywhere to be found. Although, they soon found out that they had each stumbled upon the same place. The arguing started again between them and soon after, the storm that had plagued them before had moved to this new land.
Rather than sit out in the cold, they took shelter in a nearby cave. It being the only cover for miles, the three had to share it, which neither was happy about. Along with the rulers, each had their assistants with them as well. Puddinghead's was Smart Cookie, Platinum's was Clover the Clever, and Hurricane's was Private Pansy. The three assistants watched as their leaders fought over who owned what parts of the cave, even to the point of drawing lines and declaring battle over who kept pointless objects, such as a rock.
As the fighting continued, the blizzard raging outside became worse. It began to form ice around the entrance to the cave until completely covering it, allowing no opening for escape. Despite this, the rulers still fought; the cold working its way into the cave. The floors iced over, moving towards the center. The three leaders were so caught up in arguing that they began to be engulfed by this ice, freezing over their entire bodies just as they spat out their last insults.
The assistants cowered in fear, backing away from the ice until bumping into each other in the center of the cave. They did not share the same hatred towards each other as their leaders had. As they awaited their demise, a loud howl was heard, causing them to look up at the ceiling of the cave. Above, they saw snow clouds circling around with what seemed to be horses made of the same puffy white air, galloping with the large mass.
"W-what is th-that... thing?" one of them questioned in fear. The unicorn studied the entities and came to a conclusion.
"They must be... windigoes!"
"W-windigoes?!" the other two repeated.
"My mentor, Starswirl the Bearded, taught me about them. They're winter spirits that feed off fighting and hatred," Clover explained. "The more hate the spirit feels, the colder things become!"
They now knew that their fates were sealed. Because of the hatred of the three rulers, they too were going to become frozen. Although without realizing it, they saved themselves as they expressed their true feelings towards each other, warding off the power of the windigoes. They admitted that they didn't hate each other, and never did in the first place. Just before they were about to be consumed by the ice, an immense burning flame shot out of Clover's horn, fueled by the magic of friendship.
It melted away the ice and eventually it reached the leaders and warmed their hearts. They had no more hate towards each other and the opening to the cave had melted, allowing escape. The windigoes had vanished due to the lack of hatred, never to be seen again. The three leaders agreed on a name and stuck a flag in the ground, claiming the newfound land as Equestria.
Now, this tale may sound familiar. It should, considering it's the traditional tale told on Hearth's Warming Eve. But you already know what I've told you, so let us get into what you don't know.
One question is, why does the flag of Equestria that was planted in the ground have the two Royal Alicorn Sisters already on it? They were never mentioned in the story, let alone ever talked about. The traditional tale even begins with, "Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia...". So how does this all connect, you may ask? Well, this is where it begins to become interesting.
The windigoes already knew what was going to happen after they saw that flame. They were going to starve and die off. They weren't strong enough to travel by themselves, that's why they had followed the three rulers in the first place, because then they had a constant food supply. Staying at the original area wouldn't have worked, because when the rulers left, all three races of ponies put hate aside themselves and worked together to survive. They conquered the windigoes faster than their leaders did.
So the windigoes were trapped, forced to live off the diminishing hatred of three ponies until eventually dying. But they had formulated a plan, hoping that they could still live on. Being powerful and mystical spirits, they would combine their powers to conjure up one of the most difficult things possible: a brand new living organism.
They managed to slip outside, making their absence unknown to the ponies within the cave. With a nod to each other, they began to swirl, picking up bits of snow as they did. The specks of frozen water began to mold into a shape, the shape of a pony. It grew taller and formed longer, more slender limbs. A long unicorn horn protruded out of the forehead and large wings formed at it's sides. As the mold was nearing completion, the windigoes' eyes lit up with powerful magic, and then shot into the snow model.
They ceased their galloping and looked at their creation. The snow began to drip, liquefying faster and faster, until all of the snow slid off, revealing a pure white alicorn female. She collapsed to the ground, her mane landing beside her. The windigoes approached, viewing the toppled mare. One reached down with a ghostly hoof and picked up a dollop of snow, holding it to her chest. It absorbed into her and the faint sound of beating could be heard soon after. Her cold heart of snow was working, just as the windigoes would hope. In a way, they could still live on through this one mare.
They left the mare to awake by herself and joined back in the cave. They would soon die and the ponies would escape. The windigoes had left the mare filled with knowledge such as spells, languages, and of course her name, but most importantly, a plan. Her eyes opened and she gasped, air flooding into her lungs. She steadied herself, regaining focus from the sudden head rush. Her vision became clear and she peered around. The surroundings were covered with melting snow, the windigoes now on the verge of death. She didn't know who they were, their dying cries sounding familiar, but she felt no remorse as the mystical beings had finally came to their end of existence.
She saw that the ice covering the entrance to the cave was already beginning to melt away. At this sight, the plan took place within her. She didn't know what she was doing, or why, but whatever it was, it felt right. Standing, her legs wobbled and she was quickly greeted with the the ground again. Determined to fulfill this strange feeling inside her, she slowly stood up again, strength now moving to her limbs. With her now successfully standing up, she saw her fur color, her legs barely visible in the receding snow, except for her multicolored mane, which was dancing in the cosmic breeze of space. Noticing her shadow stretching out from her hooves, she looked up and squinted, seeing the full majesty of the flaming ball of gasses high in the sky.
"Sun," she muttered, feeling the warmth of its radiance and observing its comforting feeling. Leveling her head, she closed her eyes and concentrated. Her protruding horn began to take to life with a bright glow. She continued on without a clue of what she was doing. It was almost like a voice inside her was guiding her, but it wasn't speaking. She didn't understand, but went on. Her horn continued to glow, pulling in energy from the burning gas ball overhead. As she drew more and more from the sun, the ground beneath her began to shake slightly and nearby rocks and snow began to float from the sheer amount of magic flowing into the mare's body.
Then the voice came back, telling her what to do, without uttering a word. She obeyed, gathering water from a melting pond and bringing it back to her. Using her magic, she froze the water, forming it in the shape of another pony, much like how the windigoes had done with her. This form was smaller than her, but had the same attributes: long horn, slender limbs and a pair of magnificent wings. After the mold was done and looked as if though a professional ice sculptor had worked on it, the mare aimed all of the stored energy from the sun and blasted the ice with it. Following the initial hit, the magic was refined into a steady stream, slowly changing the ice into flesh, organs, fur; until all of the frozen water had been converted into the body of another young mare.
The first had collapsed from exertion. Breathing heavily, she looked up to see her creation. There, laying on the now unfrozen ground, surrounded by the soft grass, was a smaller alicorn mare. She was dark blue and had a waving mane that looked like it contained the night sky within. The first alicorn observed the fresh body, finding it was not as developed as her, most likely due to her lack of energy. Although it was younger, it still shared her knowledge, but it knew nothing of the plan. The elder mare knew that the younger did not have the gift of hearing the voice, as the voice had told her this, and that she would have to guide the younger as the voice guided her.
She approached the motionless alicorn and knelt down, nudging the head with her muzzle. The dark alicorn stirred, eyelids slowly beginning to open. Her eyes glanced around and saw the face that was looking at her. She jumped back slightly; eyes focusing on the kind gaze of the white alicorn. They nodded to each other and the white mare helped the dark one up, both moving to the entrance of the cave. They stood there and waited in silence as the last of the ice barricade melted away, revealing the six ponies inside. The six drew their attention away from each other and focused on the two elegant beings that stood before them. The rulers and their righthoof ponies had never seen anything such as an alicorn. They approached with caution, weary of what the two may do. Finally, the eldest spoke up.
"Do not be afraid, dear ponies. We are friends, not foes," she spoke in an elegant and regal tone. Her voice was soothing as it spoke with confidence, but the ponies were still on edge. Princess Platinum stepped forward.
"Who are you?" she asked, somewhat awkwardly from feeling slightly fearful.
"We are the Royal Alicorn Sisters. We've come to lead this new land and hold peace and harmony for all who reside in it," the white alicorn spoke. Clover the Clever raised an eyebrow.
"'Royal Alicorn Sisters'? I've never heard of you before," she stated, contemplating their trustworthiness.
"We are from a land far from any other you have ever heard or seen. We come in peace only to offer our leadership and guidance for this new country you wish to establish. We have learned much and have great knowledge of many things." She gazed over the small group of ponies staring at them in awe. "Do you accept our offer?"
They all thought about it, forming a small group to discus their thoughts, occasionally looking at the two sisters, only to fall back into the huddle. After a short break, they deformed and faced the two.
"We would be more than happy for you to help guide us by becoming the rulers of this new land," Clover spoke, smiling at the two. "But we only have one question." The white alicorn raised an eyebrow. "What is your name?"
The eldest stood there, remembering the name that was planted into her. She smiled at her new subjects that were willing to follow her orders. She looked up at the sun, remembering its warm embrace, then turning back to the ponies.
"My name is Princess Celestia."
A/N So this is the one-shot story I was talking about. I'm not sure if I want to add more chapters to it or not. I'm still contemplating on what else I could utilize from the show to add to this rep of Princess Celestia. Make sure to leave a review so I can improve! I love critical feed back, so be as nit-picky as can be!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story that is prone to copywrite. All things belong to their rightful owners and creators.