The arrival of the old generals White Nightmare and Dark Moonby Kaliann25ChaptersFamily ReunionA message for Spike:King Flame's storyFamily Reunion“So, can you repeat me what the heck I’m doing here?” asked the annoyed Pipsqueak to Twilight Sparkle; what looked like a beautiful day, perfect to rest from his duties as Equestria’s new prince, turned into an strange expedition to the old Princesses’ castle. Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Come on, Pip, you know Princess Celestia detected some source of strange energy on this site. Besides, I know this isn’t your problem being an earth pony, but is important to Princess Luna, so just make your wife happy" Pip grumped and continued exploring the old place with Twilight while he thought in all the things that changed with time. First, Twilight Sparkle finally turned into an Alicorn Princess and now she ruled Equestria along with her old mentor and Luna. Princess Luna and him somehow became closer with the years and before any of them could react, they became a couple and a year and a half they married. By her way Rainbow Dash joined to the Wonderbolts and Spritfire named her commander after she quit; Pinkie Pie was a famous party organizer; Rarity was now a world famous fashion designer; Fluttershy managed to open a veterinary clinic with great reputation; Applejack’s apples were now export all over the world. In a few words everypony made their dream come true and now they were living the happiest moments of their lives. “Why are you smiling, Pip?” asked Twilight. Pip winked an eye. “Just thinking about things; don’t put me so much attention” … In the other side of the castle, Celestia and Luna were exploring the basement of their old home; trying to find that energy source. “Great, this is just great” Luna complained. “If wasn’t for the Everfree forest’s magic surrounding us, we could find that energy sooner but no. This is going to take forever!!” “Quit complaining my dear sister; besides Twilight Sparkle, you and I are her to control the situation in case something bad come here” Luna nodded. Then, they heard somepony approaching. “Luna, Princess Celestia” Pip called, “come quickly. Twilight found it!!” Celestia sighed. “Pip, I told you a thousand time you should call me just Celestia; stop adding the “Princess” please. We’re family, remember?” Luna decided to cut off the stupid discussion of everyday between her husband and sister. “Where is Twilight Sparkle, Pip?” she asked. “In the dungeons. Come on, hurry!" They followed the boy throw the old castle to get the dungeons. It supposed one time the old chamber was used to retain prisoners; but the Princesses never had to use it because they believed the forgiveness was the better way to reform enemies. But the strange chamber was always there; even before they born and nopony knew it was used at least once. Twilight was already waiting for them: fascinated by the strange lights she was looking. “I’ve being observing this for a few minutes but I can tell you I can feel two powerful presences trying to get out… of another plane of existence” explained Twilight. Luna frowned. “It requires a lot of magic power to create something like this, a connection between worlds. What you say? Shall we use our power to help whatever or whoever is trying to escape or shall we use it to seal it forever?” Celestia thought by a few instants but finally she made her horn glow with all intensity. “We’re going to help the presences to cross to our side. I have an strange feeling that that’s what we have to do. Besides, if is an hostile we can restrain it easily; it already used too much of its power creating that portal. Pip, go to hide to a safe place!” The earth pony obeyed; in fact, it was exactly what he was about to ask since he saw the portal. Then the three Princesses combined their power to pull whatever was trying to escape from that place. It was really difficult and drained half of the energy of each Princess, but they were making it. Finally it happened. A powerful explosion sent the three Princesses to three different sides of the chamber. Pip ran to his wife. “Are you okay, Luna?” “Yes, I’m fine” Luna nodded. “What about the others?” “We’re okay” announced Twilight and Celestia at the same time. They, Pip saw them. Where the portal was a few seconds before now there were two unconscious ponies. He was a pegasus as big as luna, with the same color coat and mane; except his was a normal mane and no that ethereal thing the Princesses had. His Cutie Mark represented some sort of black cloud making a red lightning. And judging by the muscles and the black armor he was wearing, he was a warrior. She was a pure white unicorn as big as Celestia. In fact, if it wasn’t she doesn’t had wings and her Cutie Mark was different, she was the exact copy of the Princess. Even her mane was made of that ethereal and mysterious material the Princesses’ mane was. Her Cutie Mark was an ax made of fire; what that supposed to mean? And finally she also was wearing an armor; a golden armor with a sing of a black unicorn with red eyes. “It can’t be” mumbled Pip. The three alicorns, after exchange a concerned look, levitated the warriors with their magic and left them out of the castle. Outside, the guards started to exchange comments about the discovery but Celestia shout them with a single look. She was more serious than usual; so as Luna, but she had Pip to calm her nerves a little. Twilight felt out of place and decided to walk by her own back to Canterlot but her mentor called to her side to talk for a while. They avoided to talk about the strangers to not make any conclusion yet; but it was too late. Everypony had the same idea in their mind. … The pegasus was the first one in open his eyes. “Where am I?” he asked. “You’re in my private wing of Canterlot Hospital” said Princess Celestia walking to him with her wings extended. The pegasus tried to incorporate but he hasn’t the strength. Whatever happened to him drained too much of his energy and the only fact to be awake meant a lot of effort to him. Before he faint again, Zecora, who was called specially for the occasion gave him a strange drink with a putrid smell. “Come on and drink this. It shall recover a part of your strength. Enough to talk…” “Enough to talk, but no to attack in case I’m a hostile. Clever” said the pegasus before drink the whole infusion at once. He almost threw up but he could resist. “Horrible. Whatever, what’s your name strange creature?” “My name is Zecora and a zebra I am; just offering my knowledge for those who need it; I mean no harm” The pegasus laugh a little before incorporate this time with a better result. Then he saw Celestia who was staring at him expectantly. The pegasus smiled and a tear came down from his eye. “Celestia… I never thought I ever see you again. Yes… I still remember… you were only a foal when the damn Dragon King separated us from you and your sister. Look at you now, so mature, so beautiful and powerful. You’re the living portrait of White Nightmare” “What’s your name?” asked Princess Luna approaching The pegasus turned to Luna and once again he smiled. “Luna… my little Luna; look at you. You’re… well, just like Celestia is exactly like her mother there’s no doubt you look like my. This is so great… I never thought I ever came out of there and see you any of you two. He started to cry of joy. “I asked your name” said Luna trying to control herself. “I’m General Dark Moon form the Pony Empire” said the pegasus after controlling himself a little. He was trembling, his body temperature was too low and he couldn’t heat by himself. Two doctors approached and connected the electrical blanket in the patient’s bed. He made a satisfaction noise and closed his eyes slowly. Then he incorporated again very excited. “White Nightmare!! If I’m still alive, that means her…” “She lives” said Luna. “She’s still unconscious but alive. Now, tell me; who are you? If it wasn’t you doesn’t have a horn and you’re an stallion you were exactly like me. Don’t tell me you’re our…” The pegasus nodded. “Yes, I’m your father” “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE” shouted Princess Celestia. “I understand you doesn’t believe to Dark Moon, but he’s telling the truth. We are your parents, separated from you because of Flames; king of all dragons” They all turned to the white unicorn who just awoke. She smiled weakly while Zecora gave her the strange potion that she drank at once just as Dark Moon. Once she could incorporate, she smiled to her daughters. “No pressure Celestia my child; you don’t have to believe us if you don’t want to. But we’re telling the truth. King Flames locked us in that dimensional prison when you had only one year and Luna two months; so you don’t remember anything about what happened or about us” “That’s what Flames wanted” said Dark Moon coldly. “But still, if you don’t accept us as your family…” The both of them raised difficulty, ignoring the doctor’s protests and bowed respectfully to their daughters. “… please accept us to serve you as we served to my father Death Ride, the First Emperor” continued White Nightmare. “We leaded the Pony Empire to the most glorious conquers and victories. So please, make our military expertise and our great power yours. We will always serve you as your most loyal soldiers, my children” “The Pony Empire?” asked Twiligth who was there but didn’t said anything until that moment. The two warriors stared at her curiously; then White Nightmare saw her two daughters like trying to guess. She spotted Pip approaching to Luna and taking her hoof, and she accepted. Then the both generals stared at her eldest daughter and nodded. Celestia was about to ask something but Dark Moon changed the subject. “So our lands are not called Pony Empire anymore, may I ask where are we now?” “The name of my kingdom is Equestria” answered Celestia. The warrior nodded. “In that case let us serve Equestria and you; just as we served the Empire and Death Ride in the ancient days” Luna and Twilight saw at Celestia who was looking at the two strangers who claimed to be their parents. Finally she let escape a few tears of joy with a warm smile. “Welcome to your new home… mother; father…” They smiled and wanted to hug their daughters but they couldn’t; they were still too weak to do so. “You may rest” said Luna trying to levitate them with her magic; but White Nightmare stopped her. “Parents supposed to tuck in their children; so please don’t. We’re warriors; we’d faced lots of difficulties during the years. Let us” “But mother…” “White Nightmare is right. Probably pride is nothing but when you lose everything as we did, is the only thing that keeps you sane” They nodded and let the generals back to their beds alone. Celestia turned to the doctors. “Today we recovered our lost parents, so I want you do everything you can to recover them quickly. Did I make myself clear?” The doctors nodded. “And now what, Princess?” asked Twilight. “Do you really think they’re your parents?” She nodded. “Luna and I were our only company since always; our old Palace had a strange charm to made it take care of all our needs so as education. We never had contact with the world until one day the gates opened to Equestria and the ponies gave us our titles. But we always wanted to know about our origins" “So why our parents abandoned us just like dad” said Luna worried. “There’s too much to ask; about the Empire, about them, about why the evil King Dragon locked them away from us” They didn’t said anything else and keep walking to their Palace. Nopony noticed the Zecora’s disappearing. ***…*** A giant serpent kind dragon, as big as a mountain, was meditating when his servants announced he had a visitor. King Flames ordered to receive the visit while he shrank to the size of Spike. Zecora entered to the Throne Room and bowed to the king. “Is great to see you again, Zecora. I never thought I’ll ever see you again after seeing you crossing the Magic Barrier I put in around all Equestria” “The Everfree Forest suppose to ponies content; in case they want to leave their lands prevent. But other species can cross it freely whenever we want. Or we can’t? “Stop the nonsense riming and tell me what you want” ordered the Dragon King. A shadow crossed the zebra’s face. “The most heartless cold-blooded killers are free after all this time and reunited with their beloved daughters” King Flames felt the wrath and hate growing inside him. Everything came back to him: the massacres, the pain, his people’s blood spilled by the ponies under command of those two. “When did it happen?” “Not much” said other voice. “I brought the zebra here so she could give you the message as soon as possible. None of us want the return of those monsters; I tried to warn the Changelling’s Queen as well but I can’t locate her yet” “I see. Is good to see you Chaos Spirit” greeted the Dragon when the draconequs materialized before him. Hate and fear were bursting in the creature’s eyes. “White Nightmare’s thirst of blood is only comparable with his husband’s; so be prepared” warned the King Dragon. “I’ll prepare my troops as well; and remember. Our tactical advantage is than Luna and Celestia already found their other half. I hate to use something as beautiful as love to destroy them forever but if they follow their parent’s way they let me no choice but destroy the rest of the Imperial Family once for all” Discord smiled. “Luckily, your plan worked and what we have to do is find the way to warn the Princesses who their parents really are; made them our allies. The dark age of the Pony Empire will never return if we know how to play our cards well” “But there’s no other solution. The killers must die” grumped the King Dragon. A message for Spike:The Dragon King was into a deep thought looking at the magical forest he created after “that” happened. He was extremely tense; but he controlled himself trying to direct all his anger and fear improving the forest’s magic. “You don’t look well, Dragon King” said Discord appearing before him. “Any news from Equestria?” asked the dragon. “Tomorrow the killers will move to their daughter’s castle. And about the Princesses, well, they’re really happy for having their parents back and they can’t wait to show them what they’ve done with the Kingdom” Flames frowned. “We have to warn them no matter what. I can’t imagine how those two are going to react when they see what happened to the Empire” “And it’s about time somepony do something really stupid” Discord confirmed. “Have you located Changelling’s Queen yet?” “Unfortunately not” answered the monster. “If she doesn’t want to be located, you can forget about it. Besides, she and her people are nomads so they’re not making this easy for us” Flames nodded. “Keep trying. Now, changing the subject, do you have any ideas to communicate with the Princesses?” Discord clapped excited. “As a matter of fact, I have one!! We can use Celetia’s special somepony. She was a unicorn turned into an alicorn by her lover’s magic. But more important, she is carrying the Element of Magic” Flames raised an eyebrow. “She has a little assistant, who is like her little brother” Discord continued. “It’s a dragon, a teenage boy who just passed the Greedy phase” “An assistant?” grumped Flames. “Like I said, she treats him as her little brother; not a slave. I don’t know what happened but the fact is Twilight Sparkle had to awake a dragon egg to pass an exam and there they are; inseparable” Flames nodded a little more calmed. “And I thought those eggs were lost forever; but never mind. What about this young dragon?” “He’s practically a child and the poor little thing doesn’t know how to use his true potential; he ignores almost all his natural abilities but one. His messenger breath” “So you suggest I send a message to this pony throw her assistant baby dragon. It’s great!! I just need something with his energy signature to locate him and send the warning” Discord gave Flames some kind of scale. “He’s moving skin; so I brought you this just in case” Flames smiled. “Thank you old pal. But, why don’t you send the message by yourself?” Discord didn’t answer, but it wasn’t necessary. The fear was almost tangible in his expression. King Flames didn’t said anything neither. Of course he understood Discord; none of them wanted to die. They all thought the nightmare was over, that those two never free from the dimensional prison; but they were wrong and now everyone’s life was in danger. “And all because I didn’t have the courage to kill them in front of their babies” grumped the Dragon King. Discord left a few minutes later. Then, the King Flames appeared some sort of manual and sent it with his messenger breath. … “Welcome to your new home, mother, father” said Celestia opening the castle to her parents. The generals smiled to their eldest daughter and walked throw the multiple halls of Canterlot Castle. Everything was ready for made their stay comfortable after those weeks in the hospital; weeks than they spent exercising, reading about everything they missed during their imprisonment and of course receiving visits from their daughters along with Twilight and Pip. At the beginning they excused themselves saying that was a family reunion and they didn’t want to interrupt; but Dark Moon invited them warmly. “Come on, you’re family aren’t you? After all you are our daughter’s special someponies. We have an eternity to live together so please join us” Celestia and Twilight shocked immediately. Luna and Pip told them the first day they were married for a year and a half but Celestia and Twilight wouldn’t said anything about their special bond. “How you…?” “How we know?” asked White Nightmare laughing. “Because I can feel it; how your immortality divided in two and the one who is sharing it is her. I never expected one of my daughters were into mares but if she’s your true love who cares. This kind of magic is exclusive for the Imperial Family. Why do you think Dark Moon is still alive if he’s a mortal?” And from that visit, Twilight were getting closing to the generals. She always asked them about the life in the Empire; about what kind of magic they used in the ancient days, and lots of things. And the generals happily answered all the questions of their daughter in law; except the ones that asked about their battles. The last time Twilight insisted about those questions, White Nightmare lost her patience and used the Canterlot voice to stop the mare once for all. “For the sake of your mental health, you better shut your mouth and don’t ask us about it again. Did I make myself clear, Twilight Sparkle?” And she did, Twilight never asked again. But the incident were already in the past an now they had a great party to celebrate the family was reunited again. Spike, who met the generals in one of the Twilight’s visit, always felt uncomfortable in front of the warriors. He didn’t liked the way they saw him the day Twilight introduced him to the generals; he could felt something odd in Dark Moon’s eyes. So, when he saw them coming, he only stayed in the welcome act along with the rest of the Mane 6 and then he decided disappear when the party started. Pinkie Pie and Rarity spotted that and ran after him. Twilight also saw it but as the general’s daughter in law, she had to stay the whole act with them. Spike was about to enter to his room when Pinkie Pie called him quickly. “Spike!! Spike!! What are you doing silly? Don’t you see you’re missing the event of the year? Oh! I’m so happy about the Princesses, they were raised without any other company than themselves and suddenly their lost mommy and daddy returned and they’re now a happy family!! Rarity better interrupted her. “What’s happening Spikey Wikey? Why did you ran away? I thought you wanted to have fun with the rest of us. Come on, have some fun with us” Spike shook his head angrily. “Sorry but I can’t. Truth is I don’t feel comfortable with those two around me. I mean, I don’t want to be rude so I better stay here and we will see later” Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked each equally confused. “What are you talking about, Spike?” asked Rarity. “They’re just ponies like us. You probably feel a little surprise they look identical to the princesses but that’s natural between family. Besides…” “Besides we can’t ignore the party I organized for them!! Come on and have some fun with us Spike!!” said Pinkie happily. It was when Spike burped the book. The three of them saw each other very confused. Then Spike took the book and raised an eyebrow. “The basic guide of anti-pony combat for dragons” Rarity used her magic to levitate the book to her and examined closely. “Well, I can see there’s a lot of pictures of dragons making some kind of hold to ponies but that’s it” A letter slide from inside the book. The paper was almost black because of the smoke and ashes but still readable. Spike took it and started to read. “Dear Spike, I’m writing you this lines without expecting an answer; I also don’t know if my warnings are going to be ignore but I must try. My name is Flames, King Flames, ruler of all dragons” Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike gasped. “I don’t expect anyone at the other side of the Everfree Forest believe me, young Spike, but like I said I must try. Two killers have being freed, the cruelest and merciless warriors in the world; of course I mean White Nightmare and Dark Moon, your Princesses’ parents. Throw you I hope this message came to those ponies who carry the Elements of Harmony; because they’re the only ones I can trust. The killers represent a huge threat to all the races, including the ponies, so is urgent I speak with the six Elements before it was too late. Please send me your answer; and if you value your life, don’t mention a thing to the killers. PD; the book is for you. Use it every time a pony tries to pass over you. Use the power of the book and defeat it. Is the only thing I can do for a dragon raised away of his kind” No words were needed; they had to inform the Princesses immediately. … That was a nice party, the old generals demonstrated to be nice people with all the high-class manners. But everypony could feel the tension when Spike returned along with Rarity and Pinkie. They seemed to be worried about something. Luckily the honor guests didn’t noticed it and went to sleep arguing they weren’t fully recovered from their stance in the hospital. It was when the party ended and Twilight took her chance to confront Spike. “Spike, that was rude; this party supposed to be for our guests to feel welcome. Why did you escaped like that?” “True” said Fluttershy softly. “Your behavior wasn’t the best this time. Why did you…? Spike passed them the letter. “I know I was wrong but please read it and understand why I was so nervous” Twilight started reading the letter loudly without believing it. Celestia frowned when she finished. “We can’t blame Spike for feeling odd after receiving this message, my faithful student. But now we have to do something about it. Spike, please write” The small dragon prepared everything. “King Flames; I’m Princess Celestia; ruler or Equestria. The young Spike sent us your message and after reading it I also thought reunite is our best option. So I’ll send the ponies who carry the Elements of Harmony to talk if you don’t trust me to hear what you have to say by myself. And don’t worry, my parents won’t hear anything about what’s happening” Spike sent the letter; that was quickly answered. “Tomorrow night I’ll meet with the Elements in the Everfree Forest center. My personal protégée will guide them to me. You can take all the precautions you want, I personal don’t care. But I swear they won’t leave the territory that belongs to Equestria” After reading it, Celestia nodded. “This mission is far more dangerous than the rest of things I asked you in the past, so I trust you’ll know how to manage the situation. The question is, can I count with your help? Feel free to decline, I’ll understand” The six porters bowed to Celestia. “Don’t worry, Princess. We’ll return safe” The white alicorn kissed softly Twilight. “I hope so. The six of you are very important for me, specially you Twilight Sparkle” Twilight smiled and kissed back her mentor and lover, of course they were going to be okay. In the other side of Everfree Forest, King Flames meditated about the situation. A storm was coming, that was the only thing he can be sure. The killers were free and all he can do now was wait. King Flame's storyThe Everfree forest was like always: intimidating and impenetrable… with that strange aura of ancient magic. But there they were, the six ponies who carried the Elements of Harmony, along with Pipsqueak and Spike; looking for the emissary of the Dragon King. Finally after a few minutes, Zecora came from deep into the forest wearing the hood she was using the first time they saw her. “Sorry for making you wait; now I must guide you to King Flames. Please, follow me” “Zecora!! I cannot believe this!! You’re that King’s emissary?” surprised Rainbow Dash. “But we all thought you weren’t an evil being!!” Zecora glared at the pegasus. “You truly have to work in your perspective before accusing others of being evil. You have to be open minded, at least for tonight” And without giving Rainbow the chance to answer, she quietly advanced throw the deep forest. Spike used his breath to improvise a torch so as Twilight and Rarity used their horns to illuminate the way. All of them had the horrible feeling something very big was about to happened; but none of them could say was going to be something good or bad. Back in Ponyville, the two Princesses were waiting nervously for their representatives wishing them the best of the lucks. In the forest, the seven ponies and the dragon, guided by the wise Zecora, could avoid every danger that the forest had to finally get to the center of it. They were never so deep on the Everfree forest making the much more nervous that they already were. And just in the center they saw what they thought was a mountain; but really it was a dragon. A gigantic black dragon with red spikes and red eyes that were staring at them. They all gasped and moved a few steps back. Then, the mountain-like started to shrink stopping at Spike’s size. “Good evening, Carriers. My name is King Flames; ruler of all dragons” They all bowed respectfully at the reptile; who smiled at them. “We are just in the frontier between our Kingdoms; Equestria and Reptilia. If we have to discuss this threat to both kind, better do it in here; in neutral and wild lands” “And that threat have something to do with the Princesses’ parents?” asked Applejack. Flames breathed some colored smoke that quickly formed a giant map of Equestria; but this map was divided between the Clouds, the Land and the Forest. The smoke ever wrote the name of every territory to make it easier to understand. “It all started 500,000 years ago” started Flames. “When Equestria didn’t exist yet and it was divided in three different lands; every one of them ruled by different species and I don’t mean the different pony kinds; I literally mean other species. The Minotaurs, the forest people; the Griffins, the clouds people and the Buffalos, the land people” The ponies nodded, trying to understand. “In those days, the ponies weren’t separated by kinds neither, they all formed the Pony Empire; guided by Emperor Death Ride; a powerful unicorn with a tremendous power” continued the dragon with disgust in his face. The smoke formed a black unicorn, a little bigger than Princess Celestia, with a sky blue mane made of that ethereal material and blue eyes; he was very handsome, but somehow he looked dangerous. “What happened with that Death Ride and the Empire?” asked Rarity. “Those were really dark day, Carrier” said Flames sadly. “In the beginning, everything was pure peace; the races lived with each other as equals ruled by the governors assigned by the Creation Spirits. And, to be sure there were nothing but peace, then sent their guardians to keep it. I think you heard about those guardians, they were called Windigos. They were watching us every single time punishing with the endless winter to those Kingdoms who dared to break the peace making war to their brothers” The colored smoke changed to create the portrait of the spirits the ponies already knew by the story of the Heart’s Warming Eve. They seemed so beautiful but dangerous at the time. Then the smoke changed again and turned into Discord. “There’s no Harmony without Chaos and that’s why the only one who can break the peace was the Windigo’s younger brother; but also, the only one more powerful than them. He was our only enemy; but we had to accept his existence because it was necessary. All the Kingdoms had their own defenses against him, but nothing was more effective than the Elements of Harmony, created by the Minotaurs. But everything change one day; no one expected what will next; we only thought in congratulate Death Ride. And I’m talking when Emperor Death Ride had a daughter.” The smoke turned into Celestia’s mother when she was a little filly. “All little children have some cruelty when they’re little; the ones who teach what’s good and what’s bad are the parents. Sometimes they hurt little creatures without thinking” “True” mumbled Flutterhsy shyly. “Death Ride had a daughter and instead of punishing cruelty, he feeds it. He taught her the difference between what was good and what was bad, but he clearly preferred bad. He turned her into a cruel cold-blooded killer; and he also saw she had talent for magic so he trained her the best he could. You can imagine the result” The smoke turned into a teenage White Nightmare with her eyes full of evil and a diabolic smile on her face. “And the day of her birthday number fifteen, she decided to go after the Chaos Spirit only by herself; in a battle none of us ever forgot. That day we learnt why she was named White Nightmare” “Supposing that was true” said Rainbow Dash, “I can’t imagine how bad she was after confront Discord. The poor little one…” Discord materialized in front of them. To the surprise of eveypony, his eyes were a mixture between the most profound hate and the most disturbing, fear. “I barely escaped alive; if it wasn’t she was only a kid without experience in battle, I would probably die that day. She not only wanted to kill me, but also make me suffer beyond my greatest fears. And she made it; I tried my best to defend myself from her monstrous power and evilness, but it was pointless. At the end I took advantage she was too concentrated in prepare my next torture that she distracted for a few seconds; and that’s what I used to escape from her. That was the beginning of the end. I was much more powerful than my older brothers, so my horrible experience against White Nightmare terrified them so much than they decided to leave the Empire alone” Flames grumped. “The coward didn’t attempt to protect us anymore; they were so afraid to end at White Nightmare’s hooves than they looked at the other side when the Pony Empire started to attack. They didn’t want to conquer and rule over the other races; they wanted to exterminate them all” Now the smoke was showing a group of ponies with armors; but not golden an gorgeous armors as Canterlot’s guards but scary armors with spikes all over the protection and with a pile of blood under the ponies’ hooves. “Your stories tell how the lands where is Equestria now were completely dessert when the three different kinds of ponies arrived, but I already told you who lived there first. The ponies made the greatest massacre of all times. The only survivors were little children who were taking as slaves to the Empire. Why do you think there are only a few of Griffins, Minotaurs, Buffalos or Donkeys? Because they were exterminated until almost extension by the damn ponies under command of General White Nightmare” The image changed again, showing the babies from all species taken by the ponies. All of them had chains and walked quickly under the cruel look of Celestia’s mother. She seemed like a monster. “White Nightmare never had any special treatment by her father; everything she reached she did it by herself. That was really sad; she quickly escalated the military and turned into one of the youngest generals in history. But something bothered her very much: a young pegasus who also managed to become a general; who was younger than her. He was famous because he liked to rip off an enemy’s head only with his hooves; and like White Nightmare, his thirst of blood was insatiable. His name was...” “Dark Moon” mumbled Twilight shaking in fear. King Flames nodded and the smoke turned into the father of Celestia and Luna. “A damn sadist executioner he was. He used to speak bad about White Nightmare, telling she was a daddy’s girl and she doesn’t deserve her title. Because of this Death Ride made them work together to exterminate the Minotaurs. Thanks to the Elements of Harmony, they resisted the best they could to the Empire but their luck ended when confronted the two bloodiest generals at the same time” Discord sighed sadly. “I liked Minotaur King. He was kind, good person… he didn’t deserve to be killed that way… with his head being ripped off by a crazy pegasus who don’t even bothered to use a weapon. And the original Carriers of the Elements… they didn’t deserve to die that way neither. I still remember when White Nightmare took the Elements from their death bodies with that creepy smile of her” The ponies and the dragon listened the whole story completely terrified. They didn’t know what to believe but they could say Discord’s fear was real. “Then they fell in love” continued Flames. “Love make anyone vulnerable and that’s why Flames didn’t want to his daughter ever know the feeling; but it was too late. The two murderers were clever and kept their marriage in secret until your Princess of the Sun were on her way” The King Dragon took a deep breath before continue. “The only solution was kill them; kill them all. I used their love to finish them once for all. I think they already told you that the Governor’s immortality is shared with the one they’re in love” The ponies and Spike nodded. “Our love goes even beyond that and we not only share our immortality; we also share our death in case someone kills us or kills our mates. I killed Death Ride’s wife and he died instantly” Twilight gulped knowing what that meant and Discord nodded. “If Celestia die, you die. If you die, Celestia die. The same for Luna and Pip, the same for all who share a bond with a Governor” The smoke vanished and Flames saw the horrified ponies sadly. “Right after I killed Death Ride and his wife I decided to kill the murderers; but I couldn’t took their life in front of their babies, so I decided to lock them in the Nowhere praying to their never free of their supposed to be eternal prison. And to the babies… well, every race has the right to be ruled by their legitimate Governor so I enchanted their castle to take care of them until the time they arrive to rule over their people. Finally I created the Everfree forest to keep the damn pony race into their lands let them keep the territory they stole from the others only to their never think to go beyond” They all stayed in silence for a very long time. Who to believe? What to do? At the end, King Flames sighed sadly and turned back to his lands. “I don’t expect you to believe me; but trust me when I tell you something big is going to happen now than the killers are free. I expect to never see each other again, but my warning is already done” … Luna and Celestia were waiting for their representatives, who came a few minutes after the sunrise. They were the living portrait of confusion and fear. Twilight ran to her mentor and lover. “What happened, Twilight?” The purple alicorn cried for a while before answering.. “Celestia… I just don’t know who to believe!!!”
Family Reunion“So, can you repeat me what the heck I’m doing here?” asked the annoyed Pipsqueak to Twilight Sparkle; what looked like a beautiful day, perfect to rest from his duties as Equestria’s new prince, turned into an strange expedition to the old Princesses’ castle. Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Come on, Pip, you know Princess Celestia detected some source of strange energy on this site. Besides, I know this isn’t your problem being an earth pony, but is important to Princess Luna, so just make your wife happy" Pip grumped and continued exploring the old place with Twilight while he thought in all the things that changed with time. First, Twilight Sparkle finally turned into an Alicorn Princess and now she ruled Equestria along with her old mentor and Luna. Princess Luna and him somehow became closer with the years and before any of them could react, they became a couple and a year and a half they married. By her way Rainbow Dash joined to the Wonderbolts and Spritfire named her commander after she quit; Pinkie Pie was a famous party organizer; Rarity was now a world famous fashion designer; Fluttershy managed to open a veterinary clinic with great reputation; Applejack’s apples were now export all over the world. In a few words everypony made their dream come true and now they were living the happiest moments of their lives. “Why are you smiling, Pip?” asked Twilight. Pip winked an eye. “Just thinking about things; don’t put me so much attention” … In the other side of the castle, Celestia and Luna were exploring the basement of their old home; trying to find that energy source. “Great, this is just great” Luna complained. “If wasn’t for the Everfree forest’s magic surrounding us, we could find that energy sooner but no. This is going to take forever!!” “Quit complaining my dear sister; besides Twilight Sparkle, you and I are her to control the situation in case something bad come here” Luna nodded. Then, they heard somepony approaching. “Luna, Princess Celestia” Pip called, “come quickly. Twilight found it!!” Celestia sighed. “Pip, I told you a thousand time you should call me just Celestia; stop adding the “Princess” please. We’re family, remember?” Luna decided to cut off the stupid discussion of everyday between her husband and sister. “Where is Twilight Sparkle, Pip?” she asked. “In the dungeons. Come on, hurry!" They followed the boy throw the old castle to get the dungeons. It supposed one time the old chamber was used to retain prisoners; but the Princesses never had to use it because they believed the forgiveness was the better way to reform enemies. But the strange chamber was always there; even before they born and nopony knew it was used at least once. Twilight was already waiting for them: fascinated by the strange lights she was looking. “I’ve being observing this for a few minutes but I can tell you I can feel two powerful presences trying to get out… of another plane of existence” explained Twilight. Luna frowned. “It requires a lot of magic power to create something like this, a connection between worlds. What you say? Shall we use our power to help whatever or whoever is trying to escape or shall we use it to seal it forever?” Celestia thought by a few instants but finally she made her horn glow with all intensity. “We’re going to help the presences to cross to our side. I have an strange feeling that that’s what we have to do. Besides, if is an hostile we can restrain it easily; it already used too much of its power creating that portal. Pip, go to hide to a safe place!” The earth pony obeyed; in fact, it was exactly what he was about to ask since he saw the portal. Then the three Princesses combined their power to pull whatever was trying to escape from that place. It was really difficult and drained half of the energy of each Princess, but they were making it. Finally it happened. A powerful explosion sent the three Princesses to three different sides of the chamber. Pip ran to his wife. “Are you okay, Luna?” “Yes, I’m fine” Luna nodded. “What about the others?” “We’re okay” announced Twilight and Celestia at the same time. They, Pip saw them. Where the portal was a few seconds before now there were two unconscious ponies. He was a pegasus as big as luna, with the same color coat and mane; except his was a normal mane and no that ethereal thing the Princesses had. His Cutie Mark represented some sort of black cloud making a red lightning. And judging by the muscles and the black armor he was wearing, he was a warrior. She was a pure white unicorn as big as Celestia. In fact, if it wasn’t she doesn’t had wings and her Cutie Mark was different, she was the exact copy of the Princess. Even her mane was made of that ethereal and mysterious material the Princesses’ mane was. Her Cutie Mark was an ax made of fire; what that supposed to mean? And finally she also was wearing an armor; a golden armor with a sing of a black unicorn with red eyes. “It can’t be” mumbled Pip. The three alicorns, after exchange a concerned look, levitated the warriors with their magic and left them out of the castle. Outside, the guards started to exchange comments about the discovery but Celestia shout them with a single look. She was more serious than usual; so as Luna, but she had Pip to calm her nerves a little. Twilight felt out of place and decided to walk by her own back to Canterlot but her mentor called to her side to talk for a while. They avoided to talk about the strangers to not make any conclusion yet; but it was too late. Everypony had the same idea in their mind. … The pegasus was the first one in open his eyes. “Where am I?” he asked. “You’re in my private wing of Canterlot Hospital” said Princess Celestia walking to him with her wings extended. The pegasus tried to incorporate but he hasn’t the strength. Whatever happened to him drained too much of his energy and the only fact to be awake meant a lot of effort to him. Before he faint again, Zecora, who was called specially for the occasion gave him a strange drink with a putrid smell. “Come on and drink this. It shall recover a part of your strength. Enough to talk…” “Enough to talk, but no to attack in case I’m a hostile. Clever” said the pegasus before drink the whole infusion at once. He almost threw up but he could resist. “Horrible. Whatever, what’s your name strange creature?” “My name is Zecora and a zebra I am; just offering my knowledge for those who need it; I mean no harm” The pegasus laugh a little before incorporate this time with a better result. Then he saw Celestia who was staring at him expectantly. The pegasus smiled and a tear came down from his eye. “Celestia… I never thought I ever see you again. Yes… I still remember… you were only a foal when the damn Dragon King separated us from you and your sister. Look at you now, so mature, so beautiful and powerful. You’re the living portrait of White Nightmare” “What’s your name?” asked Princess Luna approaching The pegasus turned to Luna and once again he smiled. “Luna… my little Luna; look at you. You’re… well, just like Celestia is exactly like her mother there’s no doubt you look like my. This is so great… I never thought I ever came out of there and see you any of you two. He started to cry of joy. “I asked your name” said Luna trying to control herself. “I’m General Dark Moon form the Pony Empire” said the pegasus after controlling himself a little. He was trembling, his body temperature was too low and he couldn’t heat by himself. Two doctors approached and connected the electrical blanket in the patient’s bed. He made a satisfaction noise and closed his eyes slowly. Then he incorporated again very excited. “White Nightmare!! If I’m still alive, that means her…” “She lives” said Luna. “She’s still unconscious but alive. Now, tell me; who are you? If it wasn’t you doesn’t have a horn and you’re an stallion you were exactly like me. Don’t tell me you’re our…” The pegasus nodded. “Yes, I’m your father” “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE” shouted Princess Celestia. “I understand you doesn’t believe to Dark Moon, but he’s telling the truth. We are your parents, separated from you because of Flames; king of all dragons” They all turned to the white unicorn who just awoke. She smiled weakly while Zecora gave her the strange potion that she drank at once just as Dark Moon. Once she could incorporate, she smiled to her daughters. “No pressure Celestia my child; you don’t have to believe us if you don’t want to. But we’re telling the truth. King Flames locked us in that dimensional prison when you had only one year and Luna two months; so you don’t remember anything about what happened or about us” “That’s what Flames wanted” said Dark Moon coldly. “But still, if you don’t accept us as your family…” The both of them raised difficulty, ignoring the doctor’s protests and bowed respectfully to their daughters. “… please accept us to serve you as we served to my father Death Ride, the First Emperor” continued White Nightmare. “We leaded the Pony Empire to the most glorious conquers and victories. So please, make our military expertise and our great power yours. We will always serve you as your most loyal soldiers, my children” “The Pony Empire?” asked Twiligth who was there but didn’t said anything until that moment. The two warriors stared at her curiously; then White Nightmare saw her two daughters like trying to guess. She spotted Pip approaching to Luna and taking her hoof, and she accepted. Then the both generals stared at her eldest daughter and nodded. Celestia was about to ask something but Dark Moon changed the subject. “So our lands are not called Pony Empire anymore, may I ask where are we now?” “The name of my kingdom is Equestria” answered Celestia. The warrior nodded. “In that case let us serve Equestria and you; just as we served the Empire and Death Ride in the ancient days” Luna and Twilight saw at Celestia who was looking at the two strangers who claimed to be their parents. Finally she let escape a few tears of joy with a warm smile. “Welcome to your new home… mother; father…” They smiled and wanted to hug their daughters but they couldn’t; they were still too weak to do so. “You may rest” said Luna trying to levitate them with her magic; but White Nightmare stopped her. “Parents supposed to tuck in their children; so please don’t. We’re warriors; we’d faced lots of difficulties during the years. Let us” “But mother…” “White Nightmare is right. Probably pride is nothing but when you lose everything as we did, is the only thing that keeps you sane” They nodded and let the generals back to their beds alone. Celestia turned to the doctors. “Today we recovered our lost parents, so I want you do everything you can to recover them quickly. Did I make myself clear?” The doctors nodded. “And now what, Princess?” asked Twilight. “Do you really think they’re your parents?” She nodded. “Luna and I were our only company since always; our old Palace had a strange charm to made it take care of all our needs so as education. We never had contact with the world until one day the gates opened to Equestria and the ponies gave us our titles. But we always wanted to know about our origins" “So why our parents abandoned us just like dad” said Luna worried. “There’s too much to ask; about the Empire, about them, about why the evil King Dragon locked them away from us” They didn’t said anything else and keep walking to their Palace. Nopony noticed the Zecora’s disappearing. ***…*** A giant serpent kind dragon, as big as a mountain, was meditating when his servants announced he had a visitor. King Flames ordered to receive the visit while he shrank to the size of Spike. Zecora entered to the Throne Room and bowed to the king. “Is great to see you again, Zecora. I never thought I’ll ever see you again after seeing you crossing the Magic Barrier I put in around all Equestria” “The Everfree Forest suppose to ponies content; in case they want to leave their lands prevent. But other species can cross it freely whenever we want. Or we can’t? “Stop the nonsense riming and tell me what you want” ordered the Dragon King. A shadow crossed the zebra’s face. “The most heartless cold-blooded killers are free after all this time and reunited with their beloved daughters” King Flames felt the wrath and hate growing inside him. Everything came back to him: the massacres, the pain, his people’s blood spilled by the ponies under command of those two. “When did it happen?” “Not much” said other voice. “I brought the zebra here so she could give you the message as soon as possible. None of us want the return of those monsters; I tried to warn the Changelling’s Queen as well but I can’t locate her yet” “I see. Is good to see you Chaos Spirit” greeted the Dragon when the draconequs materialized before him. Hate and fear were bursting in the creature’s eyes. “White Nightmare’s thirst of blood is only comparable with his husband’s; so be prepared” warned the King Dragon. “I’ll prepare my troops as well; and remember. Our tactical advantage is than Luna and Celestia already found their other half. I hate to use something as beautiful as love to destroy them forever but if they follow their parent’s way they let me no choice but destroy the rest of the Imperial Family once for all” Discord smiled. “Luckily, your plan worked and what we have to do is find the way to warn the Princesses who their parents really are; made them our allies. The dark age of the Pony Empire will never return if we know how to play our cards well” “But there’s no other solution. The killers must die” grumped the King Dragon.
A message for Spike:The Dragon King was into a deep thought looking at the magical forest he created after “that” happened. He was extremely tense; but he controlled himself trying to direct all his anger and fear improving the forest’s magic. “You don’t look well, Dragon King” said Discord appearing before him. “Any news from Equestria?” asked the dragon. “Tomorrow the killers will move to their daughter’s castle. And about the Princesses, well, they’re really happy for having their parents back and they can’t wait to show them what they’ve done with the Kingdom” Flames frowned. “We have to warn them no matter what. I can’t imagine how those two are going to react when they see what happened to the Empire” “And it’s about time somepony do something really stupid” Discord confirmed. “Have you located Changelling’s Queen yet?” “Unfortunately not” answered the monster. “If she doesn’t want to be located, you can forget about it. Besides, she and her people are nomads so they’re not making this easy for us” Flames nodded. “Keep trying. Now, changing the subject, do you have any ideas to communicate with the Princesses?” Discord clapped excited. “As a matter of fact, I have one!! We can use Celetia’s special somepony. She was a unicorn turned into an alicorn by her lover’s magic. But more important, she is carrying the Element of Magic” Flames raised an eyebrow. “She has a little assistant, who is like her little brother” Discord continued. “It’s a dragon, a teenage boy who just passed the Greedy phase” “An assistant?” grumped Flames. “Like I said, she treats him as her little brother; not a slave. I don’t know what happened but the fact is Twilight Sparkle had to awake a dragon egg to pass an exam and there they are; inseparable” Flames nodded a little more calmed. “And I thought those eggs were lost forever; but never mind. What about this young dragon?” “He’s practically a child and the poor little thing doesn’t know how to use his true potential; he ignores almost all his natural abilities but one. His messenger breath” “So you suggest I send a message to this pony throw her assistant baby dragon. It’s great!! I just need something with his energy signature to locate him and send the warning” Discord gave Flames some kind of scale. “He’s moving skin; so I brought you this just in case” Flames smiled. “Thank you old pal. But, why don’t you send the message by yourself?” Discord didn’t answer, but it wasn’t necessary. The fear was almost tangible in his expression. King Flames didn’t said anything neither. Of course he understood Discord; none of them wanted to die. They all thought the nightmare was over, that those two never free from the dimensional prison; but they were wrong and now everyone’s life was in danger. “And all because I didn’t have the courage to kill them in front of their babies” grumped the Dragon King. Discord left a few minutes later. Then, the King Flames appeared some sort of manual and sent it with his messenger breath. … “Welcome to your new home, mother, father” said Celestia opening the castle to her parents. The generals smiled to their eldest daughter and walked throw the multiple halls of Canterlot Castle. Everything was ready for made their stay comfortable after those weeks in the hospital; weeks than they spent exercising, reading about everything they missed during their imprisonment and of course receiving visits from their daughters along with Twilight and Pip. At the beginning they excused themselves saying that was a family reunion and they didn’t want to interrupt; but Dark Moon invited them warmly. “Come on, you’re family aren’t you? After all you are our daughter’s special someponies. We have an eternity to live together so please join us” Celestia and Twilight shocked immediately. Luna and Pip told them the first day they were married for a year and a half but Celestia and Twilight wouldn’t said anything about their special bond. “How you…?” “How we know?” asked White Nightmare laughing. “Because I can feel it; how your immortality divided in two and the one who is sharing it is her. I never expected one of my daughters were into mares but if she’s your true love who cares. This kind of magic is exclusive for the Imperial Family. Why do you think Dark Moon is still alive if he’s a mortal?” And from that visit, Twilight were getting closing to the generals. She always asked them about the life in the Empire; about what kind of magic they used in the ancient days, and lots of things. And the generals happily answered all the questions of their daughter in law; except the ones that asked about their battles. The last time Twilight insisted about those questions, White Nightmare lost her patience and used the Canterlot voice to stop the mare once for all. “For the sake of your mental health, you better shut your mouth and don’t ask us about it again. Did I make myself clear, Twilight Sparkle?” And she did, Twilight never asked again. But the incident were already in the past an now they had a great party to celebrate the family was reunited again. Spike, who met the generals in one of the Twilight’s visit, always felt uncomfortable in front of the warriors. He didn’t liked the way they saw him the day Twilight introduced him to the generals; he could felt something odd in Dark Moon’s eyes. So, when he saw them coming, he only stayed in the welcome act along with the rest of the Mane 6 and then he decided disappear when the party started. Pinkie Pie and Rarity spotted that and ran after him. Twilight also saw it but as the general’s daughter in law, she had to stay the whole act with them. Spike was about to enter to his room when Pinkie Pie called him quickly. “Spike!! Spike!! What are you doing silly? Don’t you see you’re missing the event of the year? Oh! I’m so happy about the Princesses, they were raised without any other company than themselves and suddenly their lost mommy and daddy returned and they’re now a happy family!! Rarity better interrupted her. “What’s happening Spikey Wikey? Why did you ran away? I thought you wanted to have fun with the rest of us. Come on, have some fun with us” Spike shook his head angrily. “Sorry but I can’t. Truth is I don’t feel comfortable with those two around me. I mean, I don’t want to be rude so I better stay here and we will see later” Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked each equally confused. “What are you talking about, Spike?” asked Rarity. “They’re just ponies like us. You probably feel a little surprise they look identical to the princesses but that’s natural between family. Besides…” “Besides we can’t ignore the party I organized for them!! Come on and have some fun with us Spike!!” said Pinkie happily. It was when Spike burped the book. The three of them saw each other very confused. Then Spike took the book and raised an eyebrow. “The basic guide of anti-pony combat for dragons” Rarity used her magic to levitate the book to her and examined closely. “Well, I can see there’s a lot of pictures of dragons making some kind of hold to ponies but that’s it” A letter slide from inside the book. The paper was almost black because of the smoke and ashes but still readable. Spike took it and started to read. “Dear Spike, I’m writing you this lines without expecting an answer; I also don’t know if my warnings are going to be ignore but I must try. My name is Flames, King Flames, ruler of all dragons” Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike gasped. “I don’t expect anyone at the other side of the Everfree Forest believe me, young Spike, but like I said I must try. Two killers have being freed, the cruelest and merciless warriors in the world; of course I mean White Nightmare and Dark Moon, your Princesses’ parents. Throw you I hope this message came to those ponies who carry the Elements of Harmony; because they’re the only ones I can trust. The killers represent a huge threat to all the races, including the ponies, so is urgent I speak with the six Elements before it was too late. Please send me your answer; and if you value your life, don’t mention a thing to the killers. PD; the book is for you. Use it every time a pony tries to pass over you. Use the power of the book and defeat it. Is the only thing I can do for a dragon raised away of his kind” No words were needed; they had to inform the Princesses immediately. … That was a nice party, the old generals demonstrated to be nice people with all the high-class manners. But everypony could feel the tension when Spike returned along with Rarity and Pinkie. They seemed to be worried about something. Luckily the honor guests didn’t noticed it and went to sleep arguing they weren’t fully recovered from their stance in the hospital. It was when the party ended and Twilight took her chance to confront Spike. “Spike, that was rude; this party supposed to be for our guests to feel welcome. Why did you escaped like that?” “True” said Fluttershy softly. “Your behavior wasn’t the best this time. Why did you…? Spike passed them the letter. “I know I was wrong but please read it and understand why I was so nervous” Twilight started reading the letter loudly without believing it. Celestia frowned when she finished. “We can’t blame Spike for feeling odd after receiving this message, my faithful student. But now we have to do something about it. Spike, please write” The small dragon prepared everything. “King Flames; I’m Princess Celestia; ruler or Equestria. The young Spike sent us your message and after reading it I also thought reunite is our best option. So I’ll send the ponies who carry the Elements of Harmony to talk if you don’t trust me to hear what you have to say by myself. And don’t worry, my parents won’t hear anything about what’s happening” Spike sent the letter; that was quickly answered. “Tomorrow night I’ll meet with the Elements in the Everfree Forest center. My personal protégée will guide them to me. You can take all the precautions you want, I personal don’t care. But I swear they won’t leave the territory that belongs to Equestria” After reading it, Celestia nodded. “This mission is far more dangerous than the rest of things I asked you in the past, so I trust you’ll know how to manage the situation. The question is, can I count with your help? Feel free to decline, I’ll understand” The six porters bowed to Celestia. “Don’t worry, Princess. We’ll return safe” The white alicorn kissed softly Twilight. “I hope so. The six of you are very important for me, specially you Twilight Sparkle” Twilight smiled and kissed back her mentor and lover, of course they were going to be okay. In the other side of Everfree Forest, King Flames meditated about the situation. A storm was coming, that was the only thing he can be sure. The killers were free and all he can do now was wait.
King Flame's storyThe Everfree forest was like always: intimidating and impenetrable… with that strange aura of ancient magic. But there they were, the six ponies who carried the Elements of Harmony, along with Pipsqueak and Spike; looking for the emissary of the Dragon King. Finally after a few minutes, Zecora came from deep into the forest wearing the hood she was using the first time they saw her. “Sorry for making you wait; now I must guide you to King Flames. Please, follow me” “Zecora!! I cannot believe this!! You’re that King’s emissary?” surprised Rainbow Dash. “But we all thought you weren’t an evil being!!” Zecora glared at the pegasus. “You truly have to work in your perspective before accusing others of being evil. You have to be open minded, at least for tonight” And without giving Rainbow the chance to answer, she quietly advanced throw the deep forest. Spike used his breath to improvise a torch so as Twilight and Rarity used their horns to illuminate the way. All of them had the horrible feeling something very big was about to happened; but none of them could say was going to be something good or bad. Back in Ponyville, the two Princesses were waiting nervously for their representatives wishing them the best of the lucks. In the forest, the seven ponies and the dragon, guided by the wise Zecora, could avoid every danger that the forest had to finally get to the center of it. They were never so deep on the Everfree forest making the much more nervous that they already were. And just in the center they saw what they thought was a mountain; but really it was a dragon. A gigantic black dragon with red spikes and red eyes that were staring at them. They all gasped and moved a few steps back. Then, the mountain-like started to shrink stopping at Spike’s size. “Good evening, Carriers. My name is King Flames; ruler of all dragons” They all bowed respectfully at the reptile; who smiled at them. “We are just in the frontier between our Kingdoms; Equestria and Reptilia. If we have to discuss this threat to both kind, better do it in here; in neutral and wild lands” “And that threat have something to do with the Princesses’ parents?” asked Applejack. Flames breathed some colored smoke that quickly formed a giant map of Equestria; but this map was divided between the Clouds, the Land and the Forest. The smoke ever wrote the name of every territory to make it easier to understand. “It all started 500,000 years ago” started Flames. “When Equestria didn’t exist yet and it was divided in three different lands; every one of them ruled by different species and I don’t mean the different pony kinds; I literally mean other species. The Minotaurs, the forest people; the Griffins, the clouds people and the Buffalos, the land people” The ponies nodded, trying to understand. “In those days, the ponies weren’t separated by kinds neither, they all formed the Pony Empire; guided by Emperor Death Ride; a powerful unicorn with a tremendous power” continued the dragon with disgust in his face. The smoke formed a black unicorn, a little bigger than Princess Celestia, with a sky blue mane made of that ethereal material and blue eyes; he was very handsome, but somehow he looked dangerous. “What happened with that Death Ride and the Empire?” asked Rarity. “Those were really dark day, Carrier” said Flames sadly. “In the beginning, everything was pure peace; the races lived with each other as equals ruled by the governors assigned by the Creation Spirits. And, to be sure there were nothing but peace, then sent their guardians to keep it. I think you heard about those guardians, they were called Windigos. They were watching us every single time punishing with the endless winter to those Kingdoms who dared to break the peace making war to their brothers” The colored smoke changed to create the portrait of the spirits the ponies already knew by the story of the Heart’s Warming Eve. They seemed so beautiful but dangerous at the time. Then the smoke changed again and turned into Discord. “There’s no Harmony without Chaos and that’s why the only one who can break the peace was the Windigo’s younger brother; but also, the only one more powerful than them. He was our only enemy; but we had to accept his existence because it was necessary. All the Kingdoms had their own defenses against him, but nothing was more effective than the Elements of Harmony, created by the Minotaurs. But everything change one day; no one expected what will next; we only thought in congratulate Death Ride. And I’m talking when Emperor Death Ride had a daughter.” The smoke turned into Celestia’s mother when she was a little filly. “All little children have some cruelty when they’re little; the ones who teach what’s good and what’s bad are the parents. Sometimes they hurt little creatures without thinking” “True” mumbled Flutterhsy shyly. “Death Ride had a daughter and instead of punishing cruelty, he feeds it. He taught her the difference between what was good and what was bad, but he clearly preferred bad. He turned her into a cruel cold-blooded killer; and he also saw she had talent for magic so he trained her the best he could. You can imagine the result” The smoke turned into a teenage White Nightmare with her eyes full of evil and a diabolic smile on her face. “And the day of her birthday number fifteen, she decided to go after the Chaos Spirit only by herself; in a battle none of us ever forgot. That day we learnt why she was named White Nightmare” “Supposing that was true” said Rainbow Dash, “I can’t imagine how bad she was after confront Discord. The poor little one…” Discord materialized in front of them. To the surprise of eveypony, his eyes were a mixture between the most profound hate and the most disturbing, fear. “I barely escaped alive; if it wasn’t she was only a kid without experience in battle, I would probably die that day. She not only wanted to kill me, but also make me suffer beyond my greatest fears. And she made it; I tried my best to defend myself from her monstrous power and evilness, but it was pointless. At the end I took advantage she was too concentrated in prepare my next torture that she distracted for a few seconds; and that’s what I used to escape from her. That was the beginning of the end. I was much more powerful than my older brothers, so my horrible experience against White Nightmare terrified them so much than they decided to leave the Empire alone” Flames grumped. “The coward didn’t attempt to protect us anymore; they were so afraid to end at White Nightmare’s hooves than they looked at the other side when the Pony Empire started to attack. They didn’t want to conquer and rule over the other races; they wanted to exterminate them all” Now the smoke was showing a group of ponies with armors; but not golden an gorgeous armors as Canterlot’s guards but scary armors with spikes all over the protection and with a pile of blood under the ponies’ hooves. “Your stories tell how the lands where is Equestria now were completely dessert when the three different kinds of ponies arrived, but I already told you who lived there first. The ponies made the greatest massacre of all times. The only survivors were little children who were taking as slaves to the Empire. Why do you think there are only a few of Griffins, Minotaurs, Buffalos or Donkeys? Because they were exterminated until almost extension by the damn ponies under command of General White Nightmare” The image changed again, showing the babies from all species taken by the ponies. All of them had chains and walked quickly under the cruel look of Celestia’s mother. She seemed like a monster. “White Nightmare never had any special treatment by her father; everything she reached she did it by herself. That was really sad; she quickly escalated the military and turned into one of the youngest generals in history. But something bothered her very much: a young pegasus who also managed to become a general; who was younger than her. He was famous because he liked to rip off an enemy’s head only with his hooves; and like White Nightmare, his thirst of blood was insatiable. His name was...” “Dark Moon” mumbled Twilight shaking in fear. King Flames nodded and the smoke turned into the father of Celestia and Luna. “A damn sadist executioner he was. He used to speak bad about White Nightmare, telling she was a daddy’s girl and she doesn’t deserve her title. Because of this Death Ride made them work together to exterminate the Minotaurs. Thanks to the Elements of Harmony, they resisted the best they could to the Empire but their luck ended when confronted the two bloodiest generals at the same time” Discord sighed sadly. “I liked Minotaur King. He was kind, good person… he didn’t deserve to be killed that way… with his head being ripped off by a crazy pegasus who don’t even bothered to use a weapon. And the original Carriers of the Elements… they didn’t deserve to die that way neither. I still remember when White Nightmare took the Elements from their death bodies with that creepy smile of her” The ponies and the dragon listened the whole story completely terrified. They didn’t know what to believe but they could say Discord’s fear was real. “Then they fell in love” continued Flames. “Love make anyone vulnerable and that’s why Flames didn’t want to his daughter ever know the feeling; but it was too late. The two murderers were clever and kept their marriage in secret until your Princess of the Sun were on her way” The King Dragon took a deep breath before continue. “The only solution was kill them; kill them all. I used their love to finish them once for all. I think they already told you that the Governor’s immortality is shared with the one they’re in love” The ponies and Spike nodded. “Our love goes even beyond that and we not only share our immortality; we also share our death in case someone kills us or kills our mates. I killed Death Ride’s wife and he died instantly” Twilight gulped knowing what that meant and Discord nodded. “If Celestia die, you die. If you die, Celestia die. The same for Luna and Pip, the same for all who share a bond with a Governor” The smoke vanished and Flames saw the horrified ponies sadly. “Right after I killed Death Ride and his wife I decided to kill the murderers; but I couldn’t took their life in front of their babies, so I decided to lock them in the Nowhere praying to their never free of their supposed to be eternal prison. And to the babies… well, every race has the right to be ruled by their legitimate Governor so I enchanted their castle to take care of them until the time they arrive to rule over their people. Finally I created the Everfree forest to keep the damn pony race into their lands let them keep the territory they stole from the others only to their never think to go beyond” They all stayed in silence for a very long time. Who to believe? What to do? At the end, King Flames sighed sadly and turned back to his lands. “I don’t expect you to believe me; but trust me when I tell you something big is going to happen now than the killers are free. I expect to never see each other again, but my warning is already done” … Luna and Celestia were waiting for their representatives, who came a few minutes after the sunrise. They were the living portrait of confusion and fear. Twilight ran to her mentor and lover. “What happened, Twilight?” The purple alicorn cried for a while before answering.. “Celestia… I just don’t know who to believe!!!”
