A Brief History (prologue)

Over ten thousand years ago, and well before the Ponies rose to power, Equestria was once a land filled with many mysteries, and various forms of intelligent life.

Divided, each of the respective kingdoms ruled over a single species of life, and they rarely had to deal with the outside world. Griffins lived among fellow Griffins, and Diamond Dogs with Diamond Dogs. The Griffins held the world within their mighty talons, being the ancient equivalent to what Ponies are today. They were powerful and mighty, and had technology and magic beyond that of any other civilized culture.

The world was in harmony, so long as they all kept within their walls.

Of course, not everyone agreed with this divided philosophy. Some sought equality with the other cultures. To live together as one nation, under one power. To be accepted by anyone, no matter where they travel. To never be judged by appearance alone, and to never judge others.

But they were the few among many. Battling an unprepared fight for an unsupported ideology.

Until one day, a young Griffin decided to start his own secret society. One that promoted true equality. True harmony. A society that was completely unbiased of species or race. That accepted all, no matter social rank or status.

The society was a complete failure, and never managed to exceed fifty members. But while this one particular society fell, the failure of what had become known as The First motivated the creation of new societies. Some with altered ideologies, others sharing the same beliefs as The First. All wanting to change the future for the better, and in their own image.

With the spread of new ideologies, it wasn't long before the kingdoms of the world outlawed the creation and operation of these clubs. The new laws, which would require for the owner or main operator behind the society to be publicly humiliated, and then stoned, managed to force several of the clubs to disband, causing its previous members to either forget of its existence, or to join another club that wasn't afraid of the crown.

After several years, only two secret societies remained within the world, each having different branches throughout all of the known kingdoms. They remained hidden, and operated only in code. They were both powerful, and both had massive military might to fend off the royal army whenever they dared to attack.

These two large organizations were known as Aether Union, and Midnight Dream. Upon realizing that they shared the same goal and ideology, they merged together, and became the most powerful entity in all of the known world. They were a magical superpower, and were responsible for a vast majority of the spells we all know and use today.

Before long, they began to claim land as their own, and soon they became known as the Night Sky Empire.

As their power increased, so did their will to evolve. Magic was quickly becoming a limitation, and only a rare few could accomplish the more complicated of spells. This led them into a wall, with every possible spell below the magical threshold already written or discovered, the advancement of the Night Sky Empire soon came to a halt. While they knew that more powerful spells existed, they had no way of performing them.

And so, they brainstormed. How does one go beyond his or her physical or mental limitations, to perform spells of a higher level? The answer was remarkably simple and straightforward. They'd need to create an outside source to channel their magical energy through, thus allowing them to combine their magic together as one. They decided to turn their entire empire into a magical conduit. Every single resident would become a battery, allowing for anyone and everyone to instantly wield the combined power of thousands.

And so, their progression resumed, and they began to discover more powerful spells that no single individual would ever be capable of casting. Some spells required the combined magical energy of ten, while others required a thousand. The Night Sky Empire was capable of anything, and the world began to fear them.

The Griffin's, being the previous rulers of the most powerful land, did not take this lightly. They despised the fact that they were no longer the most powerful of nations, and so, in what they considered to be a show of their might, and cunning intellect, they declared war against the Night Sky Empire, not quite realizing just how powerful their enemy truly was.

The Griffin's attacked with everything that they had. Airships, magic bombardments, and even fortified magically propelled vehicles. Nothing they did managed to even dent the Night Sky’s outer wall.

Humiliated, the Griffin's fell back to their kingdom, and stopped all attacks against the Night Sky Empire. Instead, they used their political influence over the other nations to form powerful allies, and within a short five year period, they had every major nation and race fighting alongside them, to try and achieve a common goal; destroy the Night Sky.

And yet, even with the combined forces of every nation and race fighting against them, including the powerful might of the dragons, the Night Sky Empire remained strong. The world was quite literally at their doorstep, and still, it wasn't enough. They won the war without ever pulling a single punch.

Or so they thought.

Unbeknown to the Night Sky, there was another powerful race that lived in secret. No other nation knew of their existence, nor of their power. They weren't allied with anyone, yet they watched the conflict with avid curiosity. They were there in the front lines, not as soldiers, but rather scouts. They watched as the conflict waged on, and after every other nation pulled back, they decided to attack.

And so, the changelings introduced themselves to the world for the first time, and at the very top of their ranks, was a spirit named Discord.

The Night Sky Empire at first remained on defence, simply opting to analyze this new species from within the safety of their walls. For a good while, the changelings simply stood at their gates, doing nothing. After several long months, the Night Sky Empire began to ignore the army at their gates, with them under the wrongful impression that they posed no threat. What they failed to realize, is that the changelings weren't idle at all, but instead had been absorbing the magical energy radiating from the city, and storing this energy to their own collective.

By the time the Night Sky noticed that their vast magical reserve was being stolen, it was too late. The changelings had amassed enough magical energy to burst through the Night Sky's doors, and successfully broke into the impenetrable empire.

With their defences broken, they had no choice but to launch their own counterattack. They had a basic understanding of what these new creatures were capable of, and they knew that the city itself housed enough magical power to do or accomplish anything. They could not allow for these changelings to stay within city walls one moment longer. And so, they attacked.

One by one, the changeling army was wiped out, and as their numbers dwindled, so did their power. Before long, the changelings were on the verge of retreat, which was when their leader, Discord, came to the front lines.

Discord was the most powerful entity in all of existence, but even he was no match for the combined strength of the Night Sky. While he managed to put up quite a fight, he too eventually fell, and was forced to retreat. He had time for only one final attack, and he wasn't powerful enough to secure victory, not without the changeling collective. So, he did what he does best; cause chaos.

Discord attempted to rid the world of magic, as to prevent the Night Sky Empire from growing in power. He knew that he wasn't powerful enough to destroy the Night Sky Empire, so he opted to take away their power source. Once their current magical collective runs dry, he will return to destroy them. No matter how many thousands of years it takes, Discord will strike against the Night Sky Empire, and win.

The plan was solid. The idea was sound. But Discord missed one very important factor. With magic, and intelligence, comes creation.

Unfortunately, that's where the history of the Night Sky Empire ends, for that was the last time Discord saw them. After the battle, they vanished. Their entire empire ceased to exist, leaving nothing but an empty field, and a forest, behind.

That was also when the Foreverfree Forest came into existence. Of course, the name was later shortened to Everfree, but the message still holds true. Since that day, we were all forever free of the Night Sky Empire.

Author's Note

After sitting on this for literally a year, I've decided to finally give it a proper showing. So, here ya go, my largest project yet.

The first chapter should be out in around a month. I've only got a single day of the week to write on, so I apologize in advance if I'm a little slow with getting chapters out there.