It is well known that the history is told by the victorious. The ones that win are always the saviors and through time they become some kind of saint or whatever the population chooses to turn them into. Very few can understand what is to be left aside. To be discarded and accused to be some kind of disease... to be left in the dark and alone.
The Equestria that the ponies live today is nothing compared to what it was in the beginning, nor are the ruler sisters that are praised as Goddess of 'all that is good'. I can imagine the shock it would be for these innocent equines to fully understand that their beloved land was founded through a path of destruction, blood and death. Because one does not simply achieve the harmony and balance for free.
You see... Politic is something very complex and at the same time, very simple to understand. All that it requires to know to REALLY understand how politics work is to know that only the strongest will prevail. While some nobles struggle to achieve a small portion of power and to fight the competition, and those that are in the military ranks do their best to get promotions, they all fail to see one simply truth: They live in a illusion.
No matter how much wealth a noble can have or how much a soldier can go up in the ranks of the army... None of them can ever hope to achieve the real power... No. For that you would had to step into the places of Celestia and Luna. And here we can truly see the face of how politics works. Only the strongest may prevail, and there is no creature in all Equestria or out of it that is stronger than Celestia or Luna. In the end, all that fancy talks and complex schemes cannot overthrown the brute force that keep the alicorn sisters in the power.
You might be asking yourself "what is he talking about? Celestia and Luna are good. They preach love and tolerance and always do their best to keep their ponies happy!"
Well, it is true that now the sisters are trying to make their subjects happy. But it was not always like that. No... And I'm about to tell you about a time when Celestia and Luna were nothing but warriors. Efficient and deadly. A time when the sun and moon would raise themselves and alicorns used to roam the land and the other races could simply pray that these superior beings would not step on them.
In that time, there were two great empires. Both had names that are impossible to pronounce in the modern language. One was located far in the north, in the frozen lands were life was harsh and the weather always your enemy. The translation of the name of this empire would be something like Frozen Jewel.
The other great empire was in the south. A place where most of the year the sun would bright high in the sky and life was abundant. The name of this empire was very complex and long, so most of the population would use an abbreviation for it that could be translated to something like Sun Land.
Sun Land was home of a proud race of alicorns known by their tolerance towards other smaller races. Their wings were very thin and translucent. The format of them was similar to a dragonfly's wings. Their horns were slightly bent backwards and their bodies were covered with a very beautiful natural armor that covered their backs. Each alicorn had a different color that would cover their bodies and, through magic, they used to make some kind of draw patterns on them, indicating their social status. Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi would share the same land and, as long they didn't overstepped their place as inferior races, the Alicorns from Sun Land would leave them alone.
The inhabitants of Frozen Jewel were not that tolerant at all towards the lesser races. That was one of the reasons they choose to live in a desolate place. Their wings resembled bird wings with elegant feathers and they horn had a very sharp point. They bodies were covered with a nice coat of fur and, originally, they all were white. But like the insect like alicorns from the south, the north alicorns used magic to change their fur colors and add patterns of drawings that would both indicate their function and rank. Different from the south alicorns, the north ones were a race of warriors and their whole society were build to ever increase their abilities to fight.
The only other race that they shared the land was a very peculiar one called crystal ponies. This race was far more resistant than the other three races of ponies and had no problem to live in that frozen land. Besides that, they had a very especial skill to deal with crystals, a material that was very abundant in the north, and so, the north alicorns used the crystal ponies as workers to build cities and palaces.
It was nothing like slavery though. Just a common accord between the two races that, if the crystal ponies wanted to live there, they should deserve it first. The accord between these two distinct races was forged ages ago and the crystal ponies even achieved the permission to build their own 'kingdom'. A beautiful crystal city that they called The Crystal Empire...
It was at that time that the great war began. No one really knows the details but one day, an alicorn from Sun Land appeared in the north. He had no wings, red eyes and black coat. His natural armor was of a dark silver color, resembling metal. He appeared in the middle of the capital of the crystal ponies, self declared the King and started to enslave them. The crystal ponies begged for the help of the north alicorns and they agreed on sending help but not because they cared for the well being of the crystal ponies... no... It was because a very powerful magic artifact was housed in the Crystal Empire.
It was an artifact forged by the alicorns with the help of the crystal ponies and that allowed that the whole city would be protected from the harsh weather. It was the way that the alicorns found to reward the crystal ponies for their loyalty and hard work. But that artifact could also be turned into a weapon and the north alicorns did not wanted to take any chances. And this is where our story began.
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A white north alicorn with her mane and tail dyed in light pink mane was flying against the frozen winds towards the Crystal Empire. Her body was covered by an enchanted golden armor and her horn had a blade attached to it in case she needed to use it to fight. She was young compared to the great elders from her empire. Usually, her race could live for a thousand years and she was only two centuries old. Her original name was, of course, impossible to pronounce with the modern language. But the meaning of it was very close to 'Celestia'.
Since she was very young, her magic potential was remarkable. By the age of fifty three, she had already mastered several spells that most of alicorns would need a hundred years to master. Not only that, but her sheer magic power was at least twice stronger than any other alicorn near her age. That allowed her to climb in the ranks really fast. She only did not took any command post because she never had any kind of experience on commanding. That was why she was not flying alone.
By her side, wearing a silver armor was a slight smaller alicorn. Her coat was dyed in dark blue and her mane and tail light blue. She was Celestia sister and the meaning of her name had connection with the moon, the stars and the night sky. Later the dark blue alicorn took to herself the nickname 'Luna', to make it simpler to be remembered. Their parents were not very happy with that and they insisted on calling her with her full name despite her protests that it was too long and complex.
Luna was not so talented and wasn't as powerful as her sister. First because of age. Luna had lived only a hundred and thirty four years and was relatively fresh from her training. The two sisters were a rare case in the alicorn society. Due to the long lives of that powerful race, only a few younglings existed, and every one of them had more than a century or two from each other. The fact that the difference between them was only a little more than half a century, they were tightly connected to each other. It is hard to interact with other alicorns that are so much older than yourself. The gap of life experience and knowledge was the main problem... But it almost was nonexistent between both.
"We are almost there Lu!" Celestia shouted, so her sister could hear her voice over the roaring wind.
"I can't believe that they REALLY allowed me to come to this mission with you!" Luna shouted back, smiling widely. "I mean, it has been only ten years since I finish my training and I'm already going to a mission!"
"That's because you are my sister!" Celestia said smiling with pride. "They know that you have a lot of potential and what better way to explore that than to put you to face real action?"
"'Tia... You know I don't have half of your power..." Luna started but was quickly cut by Celestia.
"Oh, don't you start with that again! We already talked about this! You are just younger than me Lulu, that's all! Now, let's focus on our mission!" Celestia said ending the conversation.
Luna was anything but self confident on her skills. Of course, she was not as powerful as Celestia, but still she was not to be underestimated. But being related with somepony as Celestia, which was constantly praised by her power and skill, was not very helpful to increase Luna's self steam. The dark thoughts vanished from Luna's min when she saw their destination. A light pink force shield that protected the Crystal Empire from the cold. But as they approached, they could see that something was very, very wrong.
All the buildings, columns and even the palace was tainted in black. From the air they could see that the crystal ponies were wearing shackles and chains... being forced to work. They were digging. A huge hole has been opened in the middle of the city, like they were searching for something. That intrigued Celestia. Far as she knows, the only powerful artifact that the crystal ponies had was the crystal heart... what would that false 'King' be looking for?
But what really caught the attention of the sisters was the creatures that were surrounding the crystal ponies. They had the average size of a normal earth pony but they had insect-like wings, eyes with no iris, a horn that looked like a twister dagger and their bodies were covered by some kind of carapace. They wings and hooves shown many holes and a pair of pointy fangs could be seen poking out of their mouth. The whole scene was of misery and despair.
"Get ready Lulu..." Celestia said with a frown and, in a small flash of golden light, a helmet appeared covering her head almost completely. "...we are going in."
Luna nodded once and she too conjured her own silver helmet and the blade that got attached to her horn. Each sister conjured a bubble of magic that surrounded them. Celestia's was golden and Luna was dark blue.
When both were ready they simply charged in. Strategy? Why to bother with it when you are one of the most powerful creatures in the world? No, they didn't need any kind of strategy... or at least is what they thought...
Celestia and Luna broke into the city, taking all those insect creatures by surprise, but it didn't last much. The dark beings started to fly, gathering in a swarm and then charging against the two sisters. The dark cloud was hit by a rain of spells and the battle began.
Celestia and Luna flew to opposite sides, surrounding the cloud of dark creatures. Both alicorn horns were like a machinegun of spells. Each spell was a death blow against those insect-like ponies, tearing their bodies apart or turning them into ashes. Being attacked by both sides, the dark cloud got confused for a second and that cost them almost half of their contingent. But they soon reorganized and charged again, focusing Celestia and quickly overwhelming her. The dark creatures pressed their bodies against the protective shield that the white alicorn had around her and soon Luna could not see a trace of her sister anymore, only a big ball of dark struggling creatures.
"CELESTIA!" Luna cried out, feeling the cold grasp of fear on her chest.
Inside the shield, Celestia could see the monstrous faces of those creatures, biting and trying to cut her shield with their sharp horns. Shivers of disgust run through her body when she saw green goo coming from their mouth. She felt that that goo was starting to weaken her shield, threatening her life. Celestia let out a powerful cry of war and her shield exploded in a golden light. All the dark creatures that where in contact with the shield was turned into ashes. The rest of them started to fell on the ground. Dead creatures along of what was left of others poured down the ground making a grim scenario of death.
"Disgusting creatures!" Celestia said feeling another shiver running down her spine. "Let's go Lulu, I can sense a powerful aura coming from the palace. My guess is that that damn 'King' is hidden in there." She snorted and started to fly towards the center of the city, followed by Luna.
They soon landed inside the castle, looking around for possible threats. Well, landing is not really the correct expression. Both sisters went through the wall, bursting it in many dark crystal fragments and then landing in the throne room. Their horns glowing, ready to cast an infinite number of spells on anypony... or non-pony that dared to come too close. But they could see that the room was completely empty, saved for a single dark creature sitting in a throne. Right next to him was a golden box containing six crystals that were glowing faintly. Each one had different vibrant colors.
"Welcome to my castle warriors... It is an honor to have such important guests in my court." The dark creature said with a sinister grin. His voice was deep and filled with malice.
His coat was dark. His horn was slightly bent backwards and the tip was red. On his back, he lacked the natural armor and wings that the southern alicorns had. Instead, the 'King' had a piece of metal. His eyes were of a pale shade of green and his iris a light purple. His mane and tail ere black and red, having around like fire in slow motion and he also had a pair of sharp pointing fangs.
"Let me introduce myself..." He said standing up. "I am King Sombra... And you must be Celestia and Luna. Am I right?" He said in a very polite tone.
"Yes…" Celestia said grinning lightly. "And you are just a unicorn with a weird horn… pff... I thought I would be able to face some decent opponent here, but I see now that I'm only here to execute a low race that tried to step out of his place."
"Such harsh words…" Sombra said in a false tone of pain. "But luckily for you I'm NOT a unicorn with a weird horn. I'm an alicorn without the blessings of wings. But despite my lack of ability to fly, I have plenty of magic to beat you two!" He said and his horn began to glow in a red aura.
"Oh boy… Here we-…" Celestia's phrase was cut by a red bolt of magic that hit her right in the chest and send her flying backwards. She rolled on the floor to a stop and slowly started to get up, a little bit shaky.
"Celestia!" Luna ran to her sister's side to help her stand up again.
Sombra just laughed at the scene.
"Pathetic! This is the best that the north alicorns have to offer? What a shame…" He said and his horn started to glow again.
Luna stepped in front of her sister and rose her dark blue shield… her horn glowing, ready to counter attack.
"And what exactly YOU are going to do?" Sombra said chuckling. "You are but a shadow of Celestia, from what I hear of my spies."
Luna winced with that affirmation.
"Heheh... I see I hit a sore place huh?" King Sombra said walking towards the younger alicorn, making Luna take a step back. "But if it hurts, it means that it is true... Yes, I can see in your eyes that you are constantly compared to your sister. People say how much more powerful she is than you... How pathetic you are compared to her... I guess that explains why you dyed yourself like that, so you could fit better your place as her shadow!" He exclaimed and shoots a beam of dark energy against Luna.
Her shield was shattered and the beam hit right in the middle of her chest, sending her flying away. Luna's body collided hard against the crystal wall and she fell groaning in pain. Celestia gritted her teeth in anger and her eyes started to glow.
"HOW DARE YOU HURT MY SISTER!" Her voice boomed in the throne room, with the same intensity of a thunder. From her horn a powerful golden beam charged against King Sombra. The wingless alicorn widened his eyes and conjured a shield against his body. The shield absorbed most of the impact, but Sombra was launched against the throne that crumbled due the strong impact.
Celestia ran towards her fallen sister and her shin fell in shock. Right where King Sombra hit her, a dark fragment of crystal appeared. The fragment was glued on her armor and was starting to slowly grow to the sides, starting to spread through Luna's body.
"What have you done to my sister!?" Celestia turned to the crumble throne. Sombra was emerging from the broken crystals, laughing.
"Me?" Sombra sid grinning. "I only helped her to develop her true strength. She has a deep sorrow and sadness in her heart thanks to you Celestia... all those years walking in your shadow must have been awful... But no more... Under my influence all those bad feelings will make her stronger than even you! And the best part... She will be completely at my command!"
"Not if I kill your first!" Celestia said starting to conjure her power again... her horn and eyes started to glow.
"You can be powerful Celestia, but you are no match for King Sombra!" The wingless alicorn said and his horn and eyes started to glow in a dark red aura. In a blink if an eye both equines charged against each other. Both had protective shields and when they hit each other, the shockwave shattered all the windows of the room.
Celestia and King Sombra started to combat with their full power. Sombra was stuck to the ground since he had no wings and Celestia was taking advantage of that. After the first impact she started to fly at her top speed, casting spells from one side, forcing Sombra to focus his attention in that point to defend himself, and teleporting behind him to deliver a physical blow against his shield.
Seeing that he was not going to be able to hit her, Sombra charged a spell and then shoot against Luna that was still stunned in the ground. Celestia teleported in front of her sister, protecting her from the attack, but did not managed to cast a counter spell and thus, was hit right in the chest. She stumbled back and fell to her side, breathing hard. She tried to stand up but the pain she felt on her body was unbearable...
"That's it..." Sombra said grinning. "This is your place Celestia, laid on the ground at my hooves!" Sombra laughed as he watched the white alicorn suffer. "But don't worry... I won't kill you... I'll lock you in the dungeons while your dear sister transforms into my new slave warrior and then I'll make she kills you!" He laughed.
Tears formed in Celestia's eyes. She looked at her side and say Luna stil on the ground... the dark crystal was expanding fast and, at it expanded, Celestia could see that it was taking the shape of that carapace that those dark creatures outise had. The thought that her dear sister was going to turn into a monster provoked even more pain that the physical injury that King Sombra has inflicted on her.
Celestia never begged anything for anypony. All she had acomplished was result of her own efforts. To her, ask for help was a sign of weakness that she would never display, and even worst was ask for the help for some kind of ivisible force out there. Magic was a science to her, and there was no such thing as inexplicable events in the universe. But at that moment she begged. She begged with all her sgrength for a miracle, for something to save her beloved sister from the fate ofturning into a mindless monster.
As if answering her prays, King Sombra let out a yelp of shock. Celestia turned her head to see the wingless alicorn. He was rubbing a hoof over his head and a purple crystal was floating in front of her. Before King Sombra was able to understand what was going on, the rest of the crystals that were being ignored so far, came flying and hit King Sombra that was on their way. The multicolored crystals surrounded Celestia and she started to feel her pain slowly vanishing and her strength coming back.
"The Elements? No... it... it can't be!" Sombra said widening his eyes and taking a step back.
"Elements...?" Celestia blinked once in confusion... but then her memory brought forward one of her history classes. She remembered it very well because it was the first time she has been punished for mocking her tutor. He told her about the Elements of Harmony, a long lost set of magical artifact. It was said that there was no force that could match it. At the time she laughed at the story, telling her tutor that he was a foal to even consider such fantasy story to be true. "So they are real..." Celestia spoke to herself. "The Elements of Harmony really exists!"
"Of course they exist you foal!" King Sombra growled at her. "Why do you think I came here in the first place? The empire I serve knew it all along and we were searching for them for many ages... I would never have come to this forsaken place and lose my wings on the process if it was only about the Crystal Heart!"
"Wait... lost your wings?" Celestia said and started to stand up. Her injuries were totally healed thanks to the Elements.
"Yes! I lost them because of the cold. Our wings are too thin to stand this harsh weather conditions." He said angrily... Sombra was trying to buy time as he was starting to conjure a very complex spell.
"But that creatures outside that attacked us! They had wings almost identical to those of your race!" Celestia said.
"I breed them here. They are changelings, an artificial race that we created on the south, using some of the lesser races as material. They feed on emotions and can change their shape to any live creature... Perfect spies and great warriors." Sombra said grinning.
Celestia frowned as she heard about those disgusting creatures. "And why are you telling me all this?"
"Because it does not matter the things that you know since you will never leave here!" He said triumphant. His spell was finally complete.
King Sombra cast a spell aiming the roof of the throne room. A dark beam of energy that went through the crystal structure, trespassing it all without making a single damage. Once the dark beam was outside, it turned into a dark sphere that started to gather energy, slowly growing in size.
"What... What have you done!?" Celestia demanded.
"That energy sphere outside is going to explode in a few minutes... When it does, the crystals on the city will amplify its power and the blast will open a crater three times bigger than the city and so deep that the magma flowing under the frozen ground will be hit, and you know what that means! If the empire I serve cannot have the Elements of Harmony, than NO ONE WILL HAVE THEM!" He shouted and then cast a bolt of black energy against Celestia.
The white alicorn cast a protective shield and Sombra's bolt was deflected against him, making him stumble backwards.
If the magma was hit by the blast, it would destabilize the entire region, causing a great earthquake that would destroy her city, the great capitol of the Frozen Jewel. "I won't let this happen!" Celestia stated. Her horn and eyes started to glow and The Elements started to spin around her body.
Celestia warped Luna's body in a golden aura and then flew outside the castle. On the sky she could see that the dark orb was about to explode. She had little choice on the matter. In a few seconds she was outside the force shield that protected the Crystal Empire.
Once outside she started to work on her spell. The Elements of Harmony spun even faster around her…
"By the power of the Elements of Harmony, I, Celestia, sentence you King Sombra to be banished from this dimension!" Celestia's voice boomed on the frozen landscape. Her whole body shining like it was made of pure light. "You and your accursed spell shall not return to this world ever!"
From her Horn a gigantic rainbow beam was shot towards the Crystal Empire. A white light flashed, like it was a huge explosion. The dome of light grew bigger that the city and when it looked like that it was about to explode, the dome of light did the opposite. It imploded and the whole Crystal Empire was gone. Not a trace of its existence was left behind. Celestia didn't really comprehend what she just did. When she landed, Celestia saw that her sister was cured from the curse that King Sombra has cast. Slowly the Elements of Harmony stopped the movement and then they sunk in Celestia's armor.
She levitated Luna and arranged her limp body on her back to be carried back home. The immediate menace has been eliminated, but Celestia knew it was just a beginning… The beginning of a war that would have disastrous effects to the whole world.