In the very first days of creation there existed nothing. Endless possibility from which all things take their form, and to which all things return when their time has come.
In the midst of all this, a voice rose in song. It sang of the black cold of space, and the warm furnace of the stars. From her notes were formed the endless planets of harsh molten stone and metal that slowly cooled. Heedless of those who would listen, she sang her careless song as she galloped along pathways of dust, stirring the nebulae.
A second voice rose as the first fell silent. As her sister chose a planet in particular to land upon, an icy chill spread across its surface. At the song of the second, green flowed across the surface of the myriad planets, pushing back the ice.
From the ground rose wild plants and animals of a multitude of names and species, living out their short lives in what seemed like instances to the two singers.
A third voice calmed the battle of her sisters, singing notes of peace. The creatures and plants responded to the song and awoke, behaving according to the precepts of Law, Order, and Reason.
When all three resided on the single planet they had chosen to bless above all others, the intelligent creatures there heard their hoofsteps and gave names to the voices.
Rhewedig, the first of the songs, stalked the ices of the North, and was revered among the warlike Ponies who called themselves Pegasus.
Silanxi was given name and shape by the ponies of the Earth who tended the gardens of the new world. It was She who was mistress of the wild things who flourished in the warm places beyond the frozen wastes.
Selitos became Mother to the unicorn ponies of the new world, and from her an endless fount of peace and order flowed.
The three siblings, now Named and given shape by their children and new world, ruled in peace for some time. But it was not to last; a wise acolyte of the ponies informed them of an impending cataclysm.
By their reckoning of time, very quickly they were preyed upon by dark forces. A black Thing spread corruption across the lands, sowing dissent among the three races that might never fully heal.
The first Lie had come to their world. An entity that warped their gifts against their ponies, that tore their fledgeling world apart at the seams.
Through a long battle, the three deities managed to seal and trap him, after fighting him to a standstill. Rhewedig consumed his evil and turned Black herself, frozen inside her beloved ice.
The other two could not erase his taint from their world, and soon fell to the loss of their sister, for none could survive without the other two.
Without the Love and Guidance from their mothers, the three tribes fell to the ways of war and disorder. A harsh winter fell upon them, fueled and worsened by vestiges of Rhewedig's art. Spirits of Hatred and Cold, Wind and Ice named Windigoes that could not be felled by any blade or spell. Yet they could drag off a pony left alone after dark, and little would be left of him come the morning.
Seeking to escape their neighbors and the inhospitable waste their home had become, the three races of Pony made their separate ways to the south, leaving behind many ponies who couldn't make the trip.
Upon the verdant fields of what they decided would be their new land, they came to battle near an expansive garden forest.
The leaders of each of the three tribes met on the center of the battlefield as Rhewedig's Windigoes circled overhead. Very quickly they fed off the hatred of the battling ponies and brought coldness and death beneath their thunderous hooves.
The most trusted of the three's ponies rushed to the heart of the battle. There, they found their leaders frozen in a macabre tableaux of sorts. In their last moments before their end, the three realized they had no meaning to their fighting. Their uneasy truce kept them from freezing despite the bitter winds.
When they shared their food and drink, a small circle of grass was revealed beneath them. Through that first long night, they drank and sang songs of their own devising. The first to melt were the three leaders, who joined the fast frinds in their easy kinship.
Above them burned a magic born of the love for one another as it spread across the frozen armies. In due time, Unicorn embraced Pegasus danced with Earth kissed Unicorn. All of them, hatred burned from their hearts by the powerful magic of their Harmony.
And the land healed, just a bit, of the horrible Scar inflicted upon it by the Black.
Unto them appeared aspects of their Mothers, their own sorrow and darkness and coldness burned from them.
To them they spoke; warm-hearted Silanxi, level-headed Selitos, aloof Rhewedig. Their voices wound together into a compelling Song as they spoke at once.
They spoke of times to come; their adversary was Death itself and therefore could only be delayed, cheated, never defeated or destroyed.
Then the Old Gods departed. They did not leave their ponies unguarded, unguided, and unloved, however.
Born of the triplicate powers of their mothers, upon the growing towns and settlements came a pair of sisters. Flight of Pegasi, Magic of Unicorns, Might of Earth.
The three tribes swore fealty to the two. From the unicorns and Princess Platinum's own craftship came a paired set of tiaras, gold for the light Alicorn and ebony for the dark.
The Earth ponies crafted the finest metals they could lay hoof to into shoes and hoofguards of purest gold and silver.
The Pegasus Legion forged splinters of their armor into the symbols of their office- heavy metal collards as well as plate armor to protect the pair of them.
Their peace was quickly shattered, however, by another attempt by the Adversary to destroy them. A fiend formed of His own magic named Discord turned their happy life and pleasant world upside down.
Through their daughters, and through his son, again did the adversaries meet. But alas, Discord proved triumphant in the end, and banished them from their decaying world.
Their mothers came to them, and dried their tears as they wept. They told their daughters of a Tree in the midst of that great forest that could assist them in their fight. A tree planted over the gravesite of the Six ponies who had laid aside their arms for Harmony's sake.
And thusly were the sisters armed, and re-engaged the demon Discord. The great magic of the artifacts found in the crystal tree proved to his undoing, sealing him in stone forevermore. Again the Sisters had beaten back Entropy, and all was well.
With their new magic they brought their ponies back North to fight again, in the name of Harmony this time. Their former homeland had survived, under the spell of an artifact of his own- the Black Heart of Rhewedig.
Under their onslaught the Crystal armies of the King fell, and they laid siege to his Tower. Their Harmony proved too great for his Evil. Their victory was brief, as his final curse sealed away the Kingdom forever... but one could feel that the Heart had been cleansed of its taint.
The younger sister fell ill to the Adversary himself, who spoke lies into her ears, and split the sisters.
He pressed upon her fears, her disappointments, and bade her to war against her sister. There was no way he could be beaten again.
The elder sister entreated her younger to listen to reason, to divert from this Black path she had been chosen. Her hoof of friendship was returned with a spit in the face. The Sun could not allow the Moon to continue, warlike and fierce as she was, and turned the magic of their Harmony inward and outward, sealing the evil within her sister in her form and banishing both into the Moon, forevermore.
The kingdom grew, and the Princess wept, for all she'd lost, until...
Until a youth was born, a great cry in the night answered by a crack of thunder and a fork of lightning. A foal born of pure Harmony, whose Magic could bolster her flagging strength, who could drive back the Black wherever he plotted. The Princess dried her tears, and prepared for the upbringing of a Queen.
Once upon a time, there lived a great King who reigned over his ponies with a gentle hoof.
So great was his wisdom, that Flutter Ponies and Crystal Ponies alike revered him and asked him to preside over their squabbles and judge what should be the fairer outcome.
He was named Sombra, who wept for his daughter sent South out of the frozen wastes so long ago. It was he alone who had walked those ices until he came across a relic that exuded its own light and warmth, and was curated by the Crystal ponies of the mountain caves. It was he who was the architect of the great city that would supplement the power of that relic and provide a safe haven for the denizens of the North.
And so he ruled in peace, for a time, the light and love in his heart for his subjects making their home a happy one.
Once upon a time, there was a great Queen of the Flutter ponies, as kind as she was beautiful.
None of her children would dare say a word against her, for there were none to be said.
She was named Lovelace, who cured the King of his sadness. It was she alone who had kept her ponies safe during the long journey from their own wasted lands to the North, mourned and buried those who did not make the journey.
And so it was that King and Queen came together, and guided their ponies in the name of love and light.
One day a gryphon by the name of Shadefeather came to court with a small flock of his people, bringing with them an assortment of Southern goods. A small amount of ponies both Crystal and Flutter made the trip every year as a caravan to trade crystals from their mines and other goods in exchange for things that couldn't be found in the Kingdom. A deal was struck, a contract grown, and the Crystal Kingdom opened up trade with Grypha. Over time, the reign of the just rulers bolstered their nation, and they began to grow. Every new day, their budding Empire overtook more of the icy wastes, their love and light making it habitable as their population rose.
But a place so pure, and a love so true could never last. The Black Heart kept them safe, but the two living closest to it began to grow ill from its influences. They couldn't stand to be apart, but grew irritable in each other's presence. So it was that they began to demand more of their subjects, in order to spend more time with the other. With every argument, every new injustice, the Heart would glow brighter with that dark light. Their subjects didn't question them, trusting and loving them still, even as demand for crystals grew and more time was spent mining.
So it was that the trademaster Shadefeather offered them a solution. A tincture that would rekindle the love between the two rulers. Sombra and Lovelace, desperate for any respite from what had been making their kind hearts ache, acquiesced.
But the griffon was tricksy, or there had been errors translating the text the potion was brewed from. A tuft of cloud, a measure of liquid rainbow, the ingredients to be stirred quickly with a pegasus feather, served to King and Queen in a masking draught of wine. Their ponies were joyful as it seemed their tensions would be immediately soothed. Poisoned with infatuation, their kingdom fell to ruin in the months that followed. Dead to the world around them, even the simplest of tasks beyond them as they stared into one another's eyes and spoke sickly sweet nothings.
Their ponies still loved them, however, and begged Shadefeather on his next visit to set them right. He seemed as confused and worried as any of their subjects- after all the trade route with the Kingdom had brought him a fair deal of coin and prosperity to his lands. He used his connections to put forth a missive, attaching a lavish reward to the curing of his friends.
And so it was that for a full year and a day, creatures of all the settled lands made pilgrimage to the heart of the Kingdom bearing their hopes. Potions tried, spells cast, incantations spoken, rituals attended, but none of them budged the pair in the slightest. Now grown frail despite their ponies' best efforts, still they maintained the posture and attitude of the year before, half-mad from fitful and infrequent sleep.
With the dusk of their realm surely approaching, each passing hour, every new day bore fresh sadness and despair. The feelings of their ponies awoke the dormant Heart, which throbbed with new and growing vigor, spreading that darkness across the land until one felt the sun must shine darkly. The Crystal Ponies lost their luster, the carefully kept wings of the Flutter Ponies hanging slack and tattered, everyone remembering the previous time of happiness and peace as if it were a flight of childish fancy.
Finally having drunk its fill of love and light, darkness and despair, the Heart rang out a cruel toll as if a great bell had been struck, the specter of a pegasus four times the height of the Kingdom's greatest swordponies grew around it. Stepping off the pedestal the Heart had been displayed upon, she tossed her mane with a fierce snort. Wings like blades of ice splayed, mane as wispy as white as clouds on a day too cold to even snow when it hurts to breathe, eyes like burning coals that could pierce the soul of a pony.
Where she stepped, stone splintered and grass withered, hoarfrost creeping from beneath her hooves. Her name was Rhewedig, and her words brought fire and ice and sorrow. All who gazed upon her trembled and bowed and scraped, but she paid them no mind. With a booming voice that cracked the crystals of the buildings around her and bore a sharp biting wind behind it, she claimed to have been called by their sorrow and demanded their King and Queen be brought before her.
The ponies were quick to comply, but truthfully they were terrified for their beloved rulers and for themselves. Such a creature could only be a demon, and none of them were old enough to have completely forgotten the tales their King had told of spirits made up of ice and wind. Before Her the delirious rulers were brought. Jagged wings splayed wide, before furling around each of them, holding them each like a mother might a child. A lazy smirk folded her fierce visage, as she began to sing under her breath.
Her words were power, and set the air to glowing, chains of binding language coiling around the ponies curled against her. After a full day, she fell silent, and when she looked up again the square had flooded with ponies both Flutter and Crystal alike.
"It is done." She said simply, with a voice like thunder and iron. She released the two, and they splayed across the cracked stones she sat upon. Coats darkened to ash and black, they slowly rose to their shaking hooves and sneered at the other.
The pale coat and violet mane of Sombra had been reduced to charcoal and ash, his horn bent and radiating a wicked power that shone red, violet tinged smoke collecting around his eyes from the black hatred that had been burned into him.
Lovelace had been warped and corrupted, her pale-cream pelt melted into a shining insectile carapace. A jagged horn protruded from her forehead, and she smiled her own wicked smile of curved fangs.
The ponies before them wept with despair for their beloved rulers, as Rhewedig ascended her dais. A flash of cold that flash-froze the air she'd inhabited, and she disappeared only to leave her wicked Heart behind. The relic responded to the hatred, malice, and despair bubbling up around it, and loosed a pulse that radiated across the land. Behind the blast, stood the Flutter Ponies changed to match their Queen, insectile demonic caricatures of a pony with wings and horn each, hollow-eyed and greedy for love. The Crystal Ponies stood listless, hopeless, all love of life drained from them by the black pulse of the Heart.
Rather than starve, the Queen Loveless lead her children South to civilized lands. Alone in his rage and despair, the King turned inward, raising himself to rule over his new Empire.
"Thus, did the Crystal Kingdom become an Empire and fall to ruin, and our people lose their rightful homeland."
In the warm, sullen darkness, a nymph's voice murmurs sleepily. Her imagination is already full of dreams of their Promised Land, their homeland of the Crystal Kingdom. "Is that story true?" She was quiet, half-reproachful. Her mother had been known to make things up on the spot, or embellish needlessly. It confused the logical-minded nymph to no end how her dear mother could be so irrational.
"All stories are true, little one," Chrysalis, the Warqueen of Changelings, smiled as she coddled her daughter, as they lay together. "but this one really happened, if that's what you mean. More or less."