"Hey Twilight, have you ever wondered why everything is crystal in here?" Rainbow Dash asked the purple Alicorn, referring to the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom Castle and everything in it. "I mean, the walls, the chairs, the table – everything is made of crystal!"
Twilight looked at her friend, opening her mouth trying to answer. But nothing came out as she closed it again and thought. "Why is the Castle made of Crystal? I mean, if it sprung out from a Magic Box that came out of a magic tree, and even though the castle is shaped like a tree, it's made of colorful rocks!"
"I know right? Like, the building itself I can kinda see, but why is all the furniture made of crystals, too? Just look at the Map Table!" The pegasus directed Twilight's attention to the large Map in the Middle of the room. "Can't you ask Celestia about this? She's probably been looking into this at some point."
"I don't know, it seems sort of silly to ask."
"Twilight, she used to have you send her letters about your 'Friendship lessons'. That's also kind of silly, if not a little sad."
"Alright, fine." Twilight gave in before pulling out a piece of paper and quill, "But if she complains about how weird the question is, it's on you."
She then began to write:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Have you done any research on the tree yet? Rainbow Dash been wondering why everything is made of Crystals.
From,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
PS: Sorry if the question sounds silly.
"Now, where's Spike?" Twilight wondered. And as if speaking of the devil, the small purple and green dragon walked into the room.
"Oh hey guys! Whatcha doin'?"
"Hey Spike. Do you mind sending this letter to Celestia? It's asking about if she's done any research on the Castle yet."
"We wanna know why everything is made of rocks." Rainbow Dash said bluntly.
"Seriously? Are you guys bored or something?"
"Just send the letter." The alicorn affirmed, despite still debating on actually going through with this.
Spike simply shrugged blew his flames, sending the letter off.
* * *
Celestia was in her room in the Royal Canterlot Castle, minding her own business, eating her piece of cake (again), when Twilight's letter appeared before her. She was always excited to read her student's letter an eagerly opened it.
"I wonder what she sent today..." She spoke aloud as she quickly read the parchment. Only to groan upon reading it. It's not that she didn't know how to answer Twilight. Quite the opposite; she knew exactly what it was.
* * *
Another normal day in the Canterlot Castle. The servants went about their duties cleaning and cooking, the magistrates and nobles continued on with planning events and meetings, and the guards were at their usual business of, well, guarding the Castle. Everything was where it should be; every painting was up straight, every vase without a crack or blemish, and all the pieces of furniture where wear they should be, not a single thing broken.
Well, that's if you don’t count a large, round wooden table in the middle of an even larger circular room. If you are counting that, then everything is fine except for the fact that the round table was extremely scorched, cracked, and practically falling apart.
Smoke came up from the wooden piece of furniture as Clover the Clever, a light grey Unicorn with green and light green hair and indigo colored eyes, simply stared at the burnt piece of wood. She wore a simple brown woolen cloak, quiet surprising considering she was one of the Castle's advisors. But as an advisor she was also meant to protect the table before her. Or rather, what it was used for.
Beside her kneeled three other ponies; Princess Platinum and the two heiresses to the throne, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The Platinum's platinum fur and purple fur-lined cloak were covered in splotches of ash and dust as her Violet eyes stared at the floor. Her usually well kept silver hair was now messy, her crown at her feet. The princesses were following suit, also staring at the floor in shame.
The other ponies in the room were Archmagister Starswirl, Ambassador Puddinghead, Private Pansy, Commander Hurricane, and Smart Cookie, all of whom were surveying the damage, in case anything was salvageable.
"So... what exactly... happened here." Clover asked the platinum princess, some clear annoyance coming through her voice.
"Well, I told the girls a story of how me and Starswirl had accidently burned me father's throne - "
"No, YOU blew up King Thugstan's throne. I was an innocent bystander." The Magister spoke up.
"There is no innocence in standing around!" Commander Hurricane rebuked.
"Be quiet and let her finish!" Clover yelled at the two ponies, who promptly settled down. Slightly taken aback, Starswirl simply looked at the ash on his white fur and mane as he wiped dust off his starred blue cloak and hat. Hurricane, with his dark blue fur covered in golden and silver armor and matching helmet atop his head and dark grey mane, looked rather intimidating, but was still no match for the Unicorn Advisor.
"And then later the girls asked me if I could teach them some Fire Magic." Platinum continued.
"And you chose to do it here? In the Map Room? The map of all of Equestria and onward? Which we use for both political, strategic, and logistical -"
"And Friendship!" Pansy called out before realizing how loud she was. "Also... Friendship... purposes..." the Blue pegasi said as she pulled light blue hair in front of her face in embarrassment.
"Yes, Pansy, also for Friendship purposes."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Platinum admitted with a slight shrug.
"Well does it look like it was a good idea?!" The grey are scolded, "Look at this! How is this okay, huh!?" Platinum and the princesses continued to look down at the floor in shame as Clover let out somewhat pitying sigh. The advisor then simply turned and asked Smart Cookie, "Is there any way to save it?"
"The table?" The brown mare inquired as she tried pulling up a piece of the wood, "No it can't." Cookie took her hat off, showing off her lighter brown hair as she stared at the table with her green eyes. "Like, this is a mess. As in, if I were to rate this on a scale of one to ten on how big of a mess this is, I'd give it like, seventeen. I mean, even the metal bolts are burning. How do you even - "
"They get it, Cookie, it's bad." Commander Hurricane cut in as he got up from his kneeling position before walking towards the Princesses, stating, "However, considering the reason why the Map Table is now a pile of ash and sadness, I'd say it's alright."
"WHAT! What do you mean alright, I thought you'd be furious, Commander?!" Clover yelled in anger and confusion.
"Oh I was." Hurricane admitted, "But if they were learning about Fire Magic, it's fine. One should always be ready for combat."
"Actually we just wanted to look really cool." Celestia deadpanned.
"Well, nothing makes you look cooler than fighting! Also armor. Armor is great." The pegasus said with a small pose.
"HURRICANE!" The advisor screeched as she struck the commander across the back of his head with a heavy spell book.
Where'd she get that book? All the other ponies in the room thought to themselves.
"Hey, no need for that." Starswirl intervened, "The table's broken, but the magical essence from the map is still there. All I need to do is contain it for now so it can be transferred somewhere else."
"And how long would that take?" Clover raised in eyebrow.
"Eeh... maybe about, two to three weeks." Starswirl said casually.
"Ugh..." The grey mare groaned before Ambassador Puddinghead patted her shoulder. The older earth stallion was one of few people who could even attempt to calm Clover down. His pudding hat sat atop his brown mane as his mustached face smiled. He still wore his noble's attire.
"Now Clover no need to fret. I'm Hurricane could increase the Pegasi troops' reconacence. And you know it's not good for you to stress yourself."
"Yeah, another vien might pop out." Cookie chuckled.
"Then Eddie will get a new friend!" Luna cheered innocently. Clover looked over and glared at the other five acting leaders (and Starswirl), who quickly all looked way (except for Starswirl, who simply shrugged.
"Alright girls, let's go wash up." Princess Platinum directed the heiresses out of the Map room and called over some servants.
"Later, I want to learn more Fire Spells!" Celestia chimed
"And I want to try on Armor!" Luna added in excitement.
Clover groaned as Starswirl's horn began to glow as he collected the essence of the Map from the table's remains. "Yeah, maybe we should transfer the Map to a table that's more durable. And less flammable."
* * *
Eventually, Twilight and Rainbow Dash got their letter. It had only two sentences written on it;
Let's just say it had to due with Starswirl working his magic with one of the old Castles. And a few incidents with some Fire Magic.
Author's Note
Hello once again, Audience! (Don't sue me Toby, I swear to God)
So this is another story titled with a question that has to do with Equestrian History.
Yeah, so anyway, please enjoy and hopefully I can write something else sometime soon. I also accept corrections in the comments, so if I have any typos, please point them out. 
