"Listen up, and listen well, for I am about to tell you of a town older than this Nation! A town that had once been called Ponyville. Now it is a wasteland, sanctioned off on all maps as one of the most dangerous places in Equestria, The Rain that fell on the town is acidic, the air is toxic, and the ground is infertile, nothing can grow and nothing ever will again, but that is what most of Equestria is like nowadays, no living creature in the world can think of a time when Equestria wasn't like that, With the exception of myself, and a handful of other creature that is as long-lived as I am. But what makes this town the Most Dangerous? This Town has a Creature living in it. This Creature is the one and the only reason that the remains of this town are avoided by all, and any adventure brave or foolish enough to travel through to the town to challenge the creature all meet the same unforgiving end. But this town is special for it, and it alone houses the only castle still standing in all Equestria that had once belonged to one of the 5 princesses, back before we left it, back before our proud Crystal Nation had been the one and the only place in the world that was thriving, back during the time of the 5 original princesses.

"To this day nopony knows how it happened, who had done it, or how it had been done. But it's happening was the day Equestria changed for the worse, the Day when Princess Celestia was murdered. Accusations broke out, The Leaders of the Races all blaming each other, paring off into 2 factions for war. In the end, The Ponies, Kirin, Dragons, Hippogriffs, and the Diamond Dogs joined together, all other races were turned on and the war started, The war lasted 3 years and a Day. And ended with the Mutagenic Nuke. In the end, No one on either side had won, and in the end, Equestria was turned into a wasteland, leaving behind thousands of dead and hundreds of mutants, the 4 remaining Princesses and the one new Princess, the respective leaders of the Dragons, the Kirin, The Diamond Dogs, and the Hippogriffs, along with the 3 surviving Elements of Harmony all abandoned their homes and their nations and joint together under one flag! And that is how the Crystal Nation came to be." with a snap Princess Starlight shut the book she had been reading. "Any Questions?" She asked. The room filled with the sound of chairs scraping against the floor as its residents all jumped out of their seats and raised their hands. it was filled with a mixture of Ponies, Kirin, Dragons, Diamond Dogs, and Hippogriffs. After a second Starlight pointed to a Young Brown Earth Pony "You my dear, what's your name?"

"I...I'm Iron Heart Ma'am," She said softly, having not expected to be picked.

"What is your Question Iron Heart," Starlight asked politely

"Um...wha...what kind of Monster Lives in Ponyville?" She asked nervously. Starlight got up and began walking around the class as she talked.

"Well, when the Bombs dropped and the Mutagen spread across the land, this Monster was made, Nopony has ever seen it and lived, but that being said it is important to note that while the creature of Ponyville is very dangerous, rumor has it that should you bring a book to ponyville and place it on the ground, the Creature will give you safe passage through the town, so long as you touch nothing. Of course, no one has ever proven this to be true," Starlight smiled as Iron Heart thanked her and sat back down, after a second of looking around she pointed to a young Diamond Dog.

"What is your name?"

"Jamie," The young Dog said with a yip

"What is your Question, Jamie?" She asked

"If the Creature is as dangerous as you say it is, why has it never left ponyville to concur other areas?"

"No one knows," Starlight said as she began pacing again "But Reports have come in from miners going into the area for Resources that the Creature attacks the forest when it comes near the town, proving that it has not only been there since the beginning of the Mutagen Era but that it is the sole reason that the Everfree Forest hasn't taken over the Town, but once again, No one knows why it's protecting that particular piece of land, it could be for any number of reasons, the most likely is that it lived there before the Mutagen bomb, another is that something of extreme worth is hidden in the town and the Creature is protecting it, and of course it could just be that the creature found a good place to nest and has laid claim to the town as its territory." Jamie thanked Starlight and sat back down. "Ok, Class we have time for one more question before the belle...you. what's your name?" Starlight asked pointing to a Gray and black Kirin

"My name is Angel," she responded

"And what is your Question Angel?"

"How is it that the Crystal Nation wasn't affected by the Mutagen bomb?"

"Ah! a Wonderful question," Starlight said happily "You see, halfway through the war Ponyville was deemed a danger and I, the other Alicorns, and Discord all combined our powers and mover the Tree of Harmony to the then called Crystal Empire, and Combined it with the Power of the Crystal heart, Forming the Tree of Heart and Harmony, with their power combined it not only quadrupled the Empires Borders to 90% of Antarctica, but when the nukes fell it kept the Empire and all it's inhabitants safe and sound. And thanks to that Power I, my Sister Alicorns, and all your ancestors lived to fight another day, and while the world outside the Nation is Dangerous and full of peril, many Adventures have gone out into the world to find lost artifacts, lost bit's of ancient knowledge, and some have even managed to find Mutants that could be tamed and used to make the Nation better than ever." Starlight smiled and, on cue, the bell rang. "Alright everyone, First day so no homework, but don't expect that tomorrow." She said as her class began packing up " oh, and everyone." The Class turned to look at her

"Make sure to enjoy your day," she waved them off as her class departed. Once the class was empty Starlight sighed and sat down at her desk, she leaned back in her chair for a second before straightening up and grabbing a Pen.

"Alright time to work on my lesson plan"

Meanwhile

"That was so cool," Jamie said as she Iron Heart and Angel all walked together in the halls "When I grow up I wanna be the Miner in an Adventure group!" She squealed "Oh that'll be so fun!"

"Well I wanna be the Map Keeper" Angel shot back "Being the guide to my team, keeping them on track, telling them where to go. Making them walk in circles for hours when they piss me off" She sighed "Oh yeah, That'll be fun."

"Well, I wanna be the Warrior!" Iron Heart gloated "Fighting Mutants, Beating up Bandits, and maybe being the hero who challenges the Ponyville monster and End's the Victor" Iron Heart nodded "Oh yeah, that's where I'm heading in life!"

Author's Note

and now for a 6 year Time Skip