Aquestria

Disclaimer: I own nothing.  All characters within are property of Hasbro and Capcom respectfully.

Aquestria

Prologue

“In the beginning, the land was beautiful, the seas deep and the possibilities for Man were endless. Mankind grew, spread and prospered all over the world for several millennia.  But it would not last.”

“Man, in its never-ending lust for knowledge and its infinite selfishness, unleashed the apocalypse upon the world.  Fire burned the sky, scorched the earth and shrank the seas. Most of the animals on the earth died, the creatures of the oceans perished and those that flew were cast down.  Almost nothing survived.”

“A few small pockets of human society endured the apocalypse.  Some were completely unaffected, as they had been prepared for such an event. Others weren’t so lucky and were touched heavily by the after effects of the destruction.  Mutations began amongst these humans; disfigurations, claws, fangs, wings, horns, snouts and countless others.  As the years wore on, those who were afflicted shunned themselves from those who were not like them for fear of ridicule and possible death.  In time, those with wings and horns grew strong and flourished as the others died off.  The humans that had grown wings bore children with wings; and the humans with a single horn on their forehead, bore children with horns as well.”

“The Humans who were not afflicted, attempted communication with the other two new races, but they were met with hostilities on both sides.  Those with wings dubbed themselves, the Seraphim, and used their wings to take to the skies and they began to live among the clouds.  Those with horns, took the mantle of Magi, and built themselves a mighty keep, deep in the Mountains.  The Humans stayed in their underground shelters and soon stopped all attempts to commune with the others.”

“Generations passed and the Magi found that their control over nature began to change.  Magic was now possible, small at first; lifting small rocks and creating fire.  But it grew over time to forging weapons of immense strength and durability, healing wounds that would have normally been considered fatal and raising the sun and moon.”

“The Seraphim soon learned that they could control the weather, and as they grew strong in the ways of flight, they also grew more proficient with their manipulation of the ecosystem and the Great Seraphim Military was founded as the Seraphim grew more and more militaristic.”

“The Humans began to work the land and yielded large crops and plenty of food and the water was soon made clean through their innovation and technology.  However they were not blind to the growing attributes of the others.  So after a few centuries of silence, they sent envoys to both and a great meeting was held between them.”

“The Humans outnumbered both the Seraphim and the Magi; however they all needed food and water to live.  The Humans proposed that with the help of the Seraphim’s manipulation of the weather, and the Magi’s control over the sun and moon, that the crops would yield quicker and larger than ever before.  For their help, each race would get a third of every harvest.  The three races agreed and the work soon began; the races prospered and rejoiced.  And they all lived

happily ever after…”

………

………

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………

“Oh come on!!! Do you really think we’ll believe that’s the way it ended Ms. Twilight?”

Twilight Sparkle looked up from her book to see Sweetie Belle staring at her with a look of utter disbelief.  The Magus smiled as she remembered asking the same question when she was in history class.  “Well at least someone is awake and paying attention.” Twilight surveyed the rest of the class and to her dismay (and yet unsurprisingly), the rest of the students were halfway or fully asleep save for two others.  A human girl with red hair, freckles and a large pink bow in her ponytail and a seraphim with short purple hair and orange shorts and tank-top.  Along with the pale Magi with light pink and purple in her curly hair, these three were bright eyed and hanging on her every word.

“You are absolutely correct Ms. Sweetie Belle.  They most certainly did not live happily ever after.  As many generations passed, a prejudice and hatred grew amongst the three races.  The hatred between the races grew to a head, and finally boiled over as a mysterious and unnatural blizzard swept over the land.”

“The blizzard kept the humans from growing food, the Seraphim were unable to control or even quell the blizzard and the Magi were unable to stop the cold from entering their homes.  Finally fed up with the blizzard, a grand summit was held and representatives of each nation were sent to discuss ways to end the storm.”

“Representing the Magi, Princess Platinum, daughter of the Arch-Magus Lord.  For the Seraphim, Commander Hurricane, Leader of the Seraphim Military.  And for the Humans, Chancellor Puddinghead, the elected leader of the Humans.  However, the summit soon turned into a political mud-slinging as each nation blamed the others for the bad weather and the lack of food.”

“Afterwards, the leaders departed, having accomplished nothing and returned to their homes.  And yet, as if by some twist of fate, they all three separately decided to find new lands in which to settle.  The leaders and their subordinates traveled south in search of a more peaceful and less troubled land.”

“Upon finding a lush and beautiful, untouched land of fertile earth, rich veins of ore and gems, and open, clear skies, the three leaders once again began to squabble over who had first laid claim to this land.  As they argued, it began to snow, the blizzard had followed them.  All took shelter in a cave and once again, the leaders argued.  The mouth of the cave froze over in moments as the subordinates look on in wonder and horror.  Clover the Clever tried her hardest to calm the Princess, Smart Cookie attempted in vain to soothe the Chancellor and Private Pansy did all in her power to bring the Commander to see reason.  And just as the cave mouth froze, so too did the leaders, there final words to each other were of hatred and fear.”

“The three subordinates huddled together in the center of the freezing cave for warmth.  Despite their differences, they did not mind each other’s company and as the ice covered their bodies as well, a miracle happened.  Clover released a spell which immediately broke the ice around them, a spell that not even her mentor, Star-Swirl the Bearded had ever used.”

Twilight looked up from her notes again, only this time, all of the students before her were asleep, “Well I guess everyone here knows about Hearth’s Warming Eve.” She dropped a heavy book to the floor, effectively waking up the entire class, “But does anyone know how the Crystal Kingdom was founded???”

Confused eyes stared back at her, “After the events leading to the founding of Aquestria and Hearth’s Warming Eve, Clover the Clever along with Star-Swirl the Bearded went north with a contingent of people from all three races.  There in the cold northern reaches, Clover used her heart-warming spell upon the unique crystals found there, and created The Crystal Heart.”

“As all the citizens came together with Love and Unity, the power of the crystal heart grew and the kingdom prospered.  Star-Swirl was called away, and with the blessing of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Clover the Clever became the first queen of the Crystal Empire.”

“And then King Sombra turned all the crystal citizens in’ta slaves when he took over.  Ain’t that right?” “Very good Applebloom.” “Yeah he did.  But then the Princesses showed and POW, turned him into shadow and banished him to the arctic ice.” “Also correct.  Well done Scottaloo.  Well children, that’s about all the time I have for history today.” The class sighed in relief as Ms. Cheerilee ushered them out of the Circleville Library.  “Thank you again Magus Sparkle for taking the time to enrich the young ones minds.” “All in the sake of passing on the knowledge of history, so that we do not repeat it, Ms. Cheerilee.  And please, call me Twilight.”

Cheerilee exited the library and began leading her students back to the schoolhouse.  Twilight watched as they departed, a young dragon beside her was waving through the window, but only girl waved back.  Twilight turned to her kitchen and a glass of water levitated to her from the table.  She drank eagerly, only to gag mid-sip as pain racked her body.

Her eyes glowed bright white and her horn was enveloped with the purple energy of her order.  Spike was quick to grab quill and paper, as this was not the first time she had seen a vision of prophecy.  Twilight’s mouth opened and sound poured out, Spike wrote furiously as the words flowed from her voice.  Then as quickly as it began, it ended.  Twilight collapsed and she eagerly looked to Spike.  He stared at her, almost reluctant to hand over the parchment.  “Read it.” Tears formed in his eyes, “I can’t Twilight…. It’s too painful.” “Read it!  Only you can read it Spike.” He sniffled and reluctantly began reading the runes he had written.

The voice that flowed from Twilight during these episodes was incoherent to her and anyone else, including the Princesses.  Only Spike understood Latin.  There were no books or records of how to interpret it and Spike could only understand what he heard and wrote, yet he could not teach it to any other.

As she listened to him interpret the message, her eyes filled with despair and her heart sank. “Spike, take a letter, Inform the Princesses of all you have translated.  I will begin preparations.  We must be ready, and we must ensure the protection of the elements.”  She looked out the window forlornly and sighed, “It seems war is coming to Aquestria.”