Prologue: History Class
The Wagon bounced on the dusty road and the children and mare inside of it looked quite unhappy. The children looked bedraggled, there manes all messy and fuzzed up, but they still tried their best to pay attention to the mare that was starting her lesson. For it was natural for the little fillies to attempt to pay attention when Cheerilee taught. The lesson today. Why they were all riding in a cruddy wagon.
"It all started with the Gryphon Wars. It started suddenly and quite violently. Our Princess Celestia was in negotiation with the Gryphons over food trade for in the mountains the Gryphons could barely grow enough to feed their current population. But...I guess they just weren't willing to wait. For they struck at Equestria suddenly and without any warning! They attacked a small farm settlement and that was when we grasped how much danger we ponies were in. They had created things we had never seen before! Gryphons have no control over magic and thus turned towards machines. We know they were powered by something called Coal which they dug from the mountains. They were preparing for this…They had so many machines…"
The wagon shook violently and Cheerilee looked a little annoyed as her lesson was interrupted by the bumpy road. The small group of children were caught onto her words and looked equally annoyed that the school teacher had stopped.
"Ms. Cheerilee! Tell us what happened after! Did we fight them off with magic and win the day?" One Pegasus foal asked his tail swishing around as his imagination created the image of Luna tossing around the Gryphons and there evil machines like toys, however this was not to be.
"I'm sorry Façade, but…things were not so simple." Cheerilee said with a sad smile, before returning to her tale. "You see…Equestria had enjoyed several centuries of peace. There were a few slight incidents such as the return of Nightmare Moon and the invasion of Canterlot. But they were contained incidents Equestria hadn't been in war since…Well only Celestia knows. We were caught woefully unprepared as the Unicorns have never even bothered to learn any offensive spells, and there defensive spells were just not enough. Refugees were flooding into Canterlot, Fillydelphia, Manehattan…And most of them were Earth Ponies to. Many of the settlements that the Gryphons were destroying were Earth Pony towns like Ponyville. During this time Celestia was trying to get Equestria into war production, but it was hard work. Equestria doesn't have any natural resources besides the gems, metals, and wood. Nothing to power the factories or machines…Except magic. So as the factories were created all over Equestria Earth Ponies found they were losing farm land to the Unicorns who were also getting employed by the very same factories! Only the strongest of the strong could lift the metals the factories needed and the factory managers didn't want to go through all that, so they decided to only hire Unicorns. This put a lot of Earth Ponies out of work and Celestia was…well she was starting to snap, children. The war was getting to her and she had no idea what to do with all the homeless, so she made a life changing choice. She ordered an Exodus of all the refugees East to try and settle a new city. This brought discontentment amongst the Earth Ponies who felt they were being abandoned by the Princess. The pieces began to fall together…Because during this time Princess Luna was feeling absolutely useless. She had only been back a few years and still had not completely taken to the new government and society of modern Equestria. She felt like she could help no one. But when she heard of the Exodus she thought she could lead them safely and help start a new city. She could prove herself just as useful as her older sister. So she decided to lead the Exodus! As she led the large crowd of Earth Ponies and their families which included a few Pegasi and Unicorns they began to latch onto Luna. They felt completely abandoned by Celestia and clung to Luna who was helping them during this terrible time. They had traveled for weeks before Luna decided to settle down. No one really knows why, but some say she had heard the Earth Ponies talk about a strange, powerful feeling under the earth and decided to take the risk and settle near it."
Cheerilee was about to continue before she noticed Façade had risen his hoof. With a smile she nodded at him.
"I don't understand Ms. Cheerilee…What do you mean the Earth Ponies felt it? They don't have magic!"
"You see Façade…Earth Ponies have a special connection with the Earth as you Pegasi have a connection with the Sky. While you can mold and shape clouds we can mold the earth. And like how you can control what is inside a cloud we can sense what is in the Earth. Does that answer your question?" Façade nodded his brow creased with thought. "Good! Now, where was I? Oh! Yes. Luna and her large population decided to settle down. In hope that they would be able to expand they named there city Nebula. Can any of you children guess why they did so?"
A light blue Unicorn mare raised her hoof slowly. Cheerilee nodded to her. "Go on Blizzard."
"I read a book that Twilight gave me about the stars…It said Nebula's make them right? And Luna controls the stars…So maybe it was being respectful towards Luna?"
"Very good Blizzard!" Cheerilee praised with a pat to her head. The other children looked slightly jealous as Blizzard giggled. "Everything you said is true. But also this! They wanted more than one city. They wanted to colonize this area and so Nebula would be the "birth" of it all. Pumping out new cities. This is why all of the Lunar Republic cities are named after famous constellations. Now Luna had been in her sister's shadow for a long time and she wasn't feeling very confident about herself. She remembered during her time the Zebra's had come up with more ways to rule then just a single pony controlling everything. She called all of the ponies to her and told them of her feelings and felt for now she could not rule alone. So she set up something called a Democracy. Something the Zebra's came up with a long time ago. It's where everypony gets to have a say! Not just one or the ponies that live in Canterlot. The Ponies took this very well and soon had a growing city. They wanted to make Nebula more beautiful and amazing than Canterlot. To show the Ponies back home that Earth Ponies were not useless. But the problem remained that the Earth Ponies could not lift the heavy things, and there was a very limited amount of Unicorns. So, Luna decided to find out what the Earth Ponies had sensed. With a large team they began to dig, and dig, and dig until they struck Oil! Now children in essence Coal and Oil are the same thing. Except one is solid and the other, a liquid."
"How did we figure that out Ms. Cheerilee?" Façade and Blizzard asked at the same time. Cheerilee giggled.
"Ponykind didn't. The Gryphons did. You see some Gryphons did live in Equestria before the war and they weren't very liked when the Gryphon Nation began its attack. Some were skilled Gryphons who just couldn't get home due to the war. So they were ordered along with the Ponies into the Exodus. Luna could have left them in the wilds, but she chose not to. This probably earned their respect for her and so they helped by identifying what it was, how they could use it, and what machines they knew how to build. With this knowledge Nebula was set! After a rough start many construction machines and factories were created for the Earth Ponies to use and Nebula began its construction in earnest!"
"Earnest?" The class echoed with confused looks.
"Quickly." Cheerilee said with a laugh. "People actually began packing up and moving to Nebula avoiding the low wages many were suffering. Farms became empty handed as Earth Ponies upped and left looking for a better life. Soon new towns and cities were sprouting up everywhere and Luna began to have a problem. Her democratic system could not work if they were more than one city. Yet she still felt she was not able to rule by herself. So after some research she found her solution. Taking her ideas once again from the Zebra's she set up a Republic. A Republic is where each town votes in a pony or Gryphon who would represent them in something called a Senate. A senate is a group of ponies and Gryphons discuss thing and somepony called a President would watch over them making sure everything is right. Well everypony was so happy with Luna that when the time came to choose a president no one even competed against her! She has been president ever since the tradition has begun though people have run against her before. Well with all these towns and cities production was very high and Luna made sure to have a strong military for she had not forgotten about the war that seemed so distant to the population she represented. For you see children, Equestria was in trouble. Celestia could not build up a military while being invaded, so inch by inch the Gryphons were taking all the land and were rapidly approaching Canterlot. Luna pleaded with the Senate to allow her to send troops to Canterlot and Celestia's aid. The senate was happy enough to say yes, for even though Celestia had abandoned them they would not do the same. However a condition was brought up. Something as equally life changing as the Exodus. They would come not as Equestria citizens, but as the military of another nation. This shocked Luna, but time was running out for Canterlot and Luna could not get the Senate to agree without the condition. So she accepted and thus the Lunar Republic was born."
"But…Why? Was something wrong with Equestria?" Blizzard asked confused. "Before the war they had a long, long, time of peace right?"
"That would be correct Blizzard! But the Ponies of the Lunar Republic liked the Republic system. They didn't want to go back to being ruled by only one person. They also felt like Celestia betrayed them and didn't want to be ruled by her." Blizzard nodded in understanding and Cheerilee took this as a sign to continue. "They were very quick to getting to Canterlot and arrived just a few days ahead of the Gryphons who had grown lazy and were moving very slowly. Now the Elements of Harmony were in Canterlot trying to help the war and they were amazed by what Luna had done. Princess Luna had come with the army to see them and her sister again and the Elements were very glad to see her again. Celestia it was said to be more distant towards her, but no one thought anything of it at the time. So when the Gryphons came they were shocked to see a huge, fresh, modern force facing them. Pegasi, seeing Luna's army, came down in droves to help and by the end of the day the Gryphons had retreated! In just a two years the Lunar Republic beat the Gryphons out of Equestria and even drove a bit into their own border. The Gryphons cried for peace and Luna took it ending the Gryphon Wars. However, Celestia was not pleased, She realized she had lost the majority of her farmers and now her citizens were starving. Luna quickly put up the offer of giving Equestria food until they could produce their own, but she would have none of it. Celestia ordered all ponies living in the Lunar Republic to return to Equestria. Luna was very hurt by this and the people were very outraged! They refused so Celestia turned to Luna commanding her to order them back. But Luna did not do so saying it was their choice. Outraged, hurt, and feeling betrayed it was then Eclipse was born. She ordered Luna and all of her people to return to her nation and never return. Tearfully, Luna obeyed, and the relation between the two nations fell through."
"Eclipse? No help? I don't understand…Why would Celestia do this?" Façade asked shaking his head both to show his confusion and to shake out the dust that kept getting into his mane as the wagon they rode in hit an especially dusty part sending some into the wagon.
"Well you see Façade there is a little Chaos in all of our hearts. Sometimes this chaos can take control of us. Since we ponies are connected to Order quite closely allowing the Chaos to control us morphs us and changes us. The transformation that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon turned Celestia into Eclipse. However the transformation was not sudden…Her Chaos was worse. Fueled by every terrible thing Celestia felt during and after the war she became a…" Cheerilee bit her lip as she remembered the terrible days. "A monster. She whipped everyone into a religious fervor and her as there goddess and anyone who disobeys…died."
The children gasp and they scooted closer together.
"Indeed…It was a terrible time. Equestria began to rebuild but as a different place. The Lunar Republic said that Equestria was dead…What replaced it was something that had not existed since the Roaman times. They dubbed the new nation the Solar Empire. It seemed to have stuck. Eclipse, as Celestia is now known as took, control of everything. The Army she created was more terrifying then the Gryphons or the Lunar Republic could have ever dreamed off. And many Ponies were very willing to join her army saying it was a pleasure to server their Empress…Now tensions are building between the two nations and the Elements of Harmony are trying to diffuse it. Hopefully everything will be fine…"
"If everything is going to be fine Ms. Cheerilee…Why did our parents leave us? And why did they send us to the Lunar Republic?" Façade asked. The children around him asked similar questions towards her. Cheerilee stared at his innocent little face and at the other children and sighed.
"Because your parents love you dear children…They just want to make sure you stay safe. Now enough of the history lesson. Time to go to bed." Cheerilee said with a yawn. The children nodded and gathered around Cheerilee sleeping around her to give them and their teacher warmth. All except two little ponies.
"I know why they sent us…My older brother told me." Blizzard said as she and Façade sat at the edge of the wagon staring into the night sky. With Luna busy ruling her nation the stars seemed a less bright, missing the touch of their mistress of the night.
"Why?" He asked softly.
"They were conscripted into Eclipse's army…My brother said that she was planning something big. Something bad and mean. So they didn't want us to be there when it happens…" She looked down and small tears flowed down her muzzle. "I miss my big brother. I miss my parents. I miss your parents…they were the coolest neighbors ever…" Façade wrapped a wing around her and she cuddled near him.
"I know Blizzard. Ms. Cheerilee said everything is going to be alright. And she is a teacher! She knows everything."
"I guess you're right…She did talk a lot…" Blizzard yawned and laid her head down on the floor of the wagon and fell asleep quickly. Façade took a moment to look back up at the dimmed stars and sighed.
"I hope I'm right to…" He said before falling asleep just as the wagon bounced along the path heading towards their destination. Nebula.
