Prologue
By: vren55

One hundred years before the events of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic…

Princess Celestia exhaled slowly as she shut the door to the Council Chambers. She generally hated attending meetings or councils of any kind. Not only because they were mind-numbingly boring and filled with political backstabbing, although that definitely contributed to it. It was generally because of their depressing nature.

However, there was one event on her calendar that the princess never rescheduled. In fact, it was perhaps the only meeting of the day that she looked forward to. So, with a nod to her guards, Princess Celestia trotted quickly through the halls in Canterlot Castle.

As she made her way through the gilded hallways, Celestia stopped by a huge tapestry depicting Equestria and her surrounding neighbours. Equestria was placed in the centre, figures of peaceful villages and flourishing cities dotted the landscape. Far to the east, across the ocean, was Griffonia.

Old, wise, and forgiving as she was, Celestia could not help but frown at the various flying Griffins and their rocky aerie home. The Griffin’s invasion of Equestria had sparked the longest, and most brutal war in all of Equestria’s history. It took more than five years for Equestria to repel the Griffin attack and strike into Griffonia itself. So many of her little ponies, stallions and mares alike, had died in those years, her heart ached just to think of them. Those that had come back… they had been changed, warped by the cruelty of the war and what it forced them to do.

Sadly, Celestia switched her attention to an image of a mare playing with her children. Yet, it wasn’t just the ponies that had died, and who had never really come back which brought Celestia so much sorrow. It was what happened in Equestria itself. The economy of the once prosperous nation, stretched by the expenditures of the war, and racked by multiple Griffin raids on Equestrian crops, collapsed like a house of cards. The ponies at home, and especially the mares, had not escaped from the wars terrible effects. Too many mares had been forced to offer their bodies up to become prostitutes in order to escape starvation.

It was why Celestia could never rescheduled this appointment. For it concerned Equestria’s first step to not only healing the wounds of those who had fought, but also would save those who suffered the worst in Equestria. Her eyes set on her path, Celestia continued on.

Nearing the golden door of a small, private conference room the Princess recalled the reaction of her advisors when she had first suggested the idea of pairing broken veterans and abandoned prostitutes. Her hope was that the companionship the pair would provide each other would save both participants.

Not surprisingly, her advisors responded with dropped jaws, derision and disapproval. Still, Celestia had insisted her desire would work under certain conditions.

After a week of outlining and persuasion, Celestia’s councilmembers gave in on the condition the program be tested first on a trial group of two pairs. Celestia had acceded to this request and gathered two mares and two stallions. Nopony, including Celestia herself knew precisely what would happen, although the princess held high hopes.

Now, as Celestia opened the door she met the eager gazes of the former trial group. The three earth ponies and pegasus now led the program, and had been the first in a line of proud successes.

“Good morning, my little ponies,” greeted Celestia.

“A long day presiding over the Upper and Lower Councils, Your Highness?” asked Army Marshal Stalwart Pike, the chief liaison between the military and the program’s participants. Celestia smiled at the grin on Stalwart’s handsome features.

Not long ago that same pony had been a haunted statue. He couldn’t smile, couldn’t talk to his wife, or even face his children. Luckily, Stalwart was aware of his problems and had joined the program because he truly wanted to return to his family.

A slight hint of annoyance broke Celestia’s serene expression as her thoughts turned to the Council. “Praetor Silver Tongue is at his usual antics. He kept trying to shut down the program by reasoning it is a waste of tax dollars, while the nobles in the Upper Council continued their attempts to legislate a law punishing prostitution.”

Everypony jumped as a much younger, green-eyed, scarlet-coated earth pony cursed, before hurriedly clamping her hooves to her mouth. Celestia smiled at Scarlet Silk, who was blushing as bright as her fiery red mane, and gestured for the mare to continue. Honestly, the Princess was not surprised at Scarlet’s outburst as she counselled the mares who entered the program from entry to rehabilitation, and was fiercely protective of those in her charge.

Yet, Celestia didn’t begrudge Scarlet’s emotional outburst for another reason. Before she entered the program, Scarlet had been a high-class courtesan within the nobility and had excelled at putting stallions at ease. However, she always wore a false mask that eventually became everything she knew. When Celestia first spoke to Scarlet, it was like speaking to a well-programmed golem, eager to follow a single directive without question. Still, Celestia saw a hopeful sliver of light in Scarlet’s green eyes. It told the princess that deep inside of Scarlet, there was a pony who wished for something more.

“I’m sorry Princess Celestia, but the Praetor should know by now that our budget is attached to the money set aside for our military. Besides, we all know that if Equestria punishes the prostitutes, all the pimps will do is find new ones. I just don’t understand why they keep seeing the mares as the problem.” said Scarlet in exasperation.

“Daughter, some ponies can’t be understood or convinced. They’re just against you. Don’t waste your worry on their behalf,” said Stalwart warmly. Scarlet glanced at her adoptive father and nodded in understanding, a smile on her face.

Celestia herself felt like grinning. When Stalwart and Scarlet had been initially paired together, they didn’t get along with each other at all. Scarlet in particular was very hostile to Stalwart, whereas Stalwart simply didn’t know how to talk to Scarlet.

Yet, after the three months, Stalwart had, much to the surprise of most ponies, adopted the younger mare into his family. Celestia wasn’t entirely sure what happened between the two, but she had learnt that during the time they spent together, Scarlet had become Stalwart’s counsellor and listener, an outlet for his guilty soul. Scarlet had found in Stalwart a new father. As a result, the two became thick as thieves. It was a strange relationship, but it had done wonders for both their lives.

“On the plus side, we managed to recruit three more mares today into the program,” spoke up Rosy Lips, a tan-colored mare with a spring-green mane. Although small wrinkles had just begun to crease her eyes, Rosy still had an enthralling figure, and applied her great experience to recruit mares for the program. However, less than a year ago, Rosy had been an abused and haunted mare rescued from a Griffin slave chain. Celestia had come across her curled up beneath her hospital bed, writhing in fear as nightmares wracked her sleep. The doctors had all but given up on her as a lost cause. Yet, in Rosy’s eyes, Celestia saw a survivor whose heart hadn’t been hardened by her ordeal.

“Their ‘master’ tried to stop us, but I showed them the Royal Writ and he shut up,” said Emerald Fire, a well-built stallion with a striking emerald coat.

Emerald had a down-to-earth and trustworthy character which made him the perfect choice to monitor the program’s veteran participants. Strange that this calm, handsome stallion had once been tottering drunkenly through the streets of Canterlot. Celestia had to drag Emerald out of jail, but once coherent and listening, Emerald had signed up immediately for the program.

“Beh honest dearie. That’s not all you did, dear,” said Rosy, raising a reproving eyebrow at Emerald, now her husband.

“Maybe I was a bit persuasive, honey?” said Emerald softly kissing his wife’s cheek. Rosy blushed and sighed, but couldn’t stop the smile on her face.

The heartwarming scene momentarily distracted Celestia from the tiredness in her shoulders. To most ponies, it seemed crazy to put the jumpy Rosy with the wild and brash Emerald. Oddly enough, Rosy had thrown herself into caring for Emerald and reigning in his wild tendencies. As for Rosy, Emerald had held her throughout the nightmares, and in the day, his company eased the trauma and terror of her experiences. The couple were married scarce half a year after they had met.

“That’s good, but Lord Snapdragon and Lady… uh I mean Colonel Peony have approached me about the progress of their brother. Please tell me Lord Barding has doing better?” begged Stalwart, interrupting Celestia’s thoughts. She frowned. Lord Barding was one of their newest veterans and from the reports she had been receiving from Emerald, one of their problem patients.

Emerald shook his head. “Lord Barding and his partner got into a bar fight with our other problem stallion and his helper. The Royal Guard had to break them apart and the bar was totally trashed by then.”

“Oh no… not Paladin Golden Lance?” groaned Scarlet.

“The very same. The mare that we paired Barding with actually left him and has refused to continue to help him. Not that I’m blaming her and I’m glad she didn’t decide to leave the program altogether. Golden Lance’s partner is willing, but she’s very worried about her own safety,” said Rosy.

“Damn. It doesn’t help that Lord Barding was not only one of our best Warlocks and well known among the noble circles. He is also the son of Duke Bramble of House De Rose, whose wife is only Duchess Aventail of House Armor!” cursed Stalwart.

“And Golden Lance is one of the Paladins, our legendary shock troops. If we can’t rehabilitate him… there’s a chance many of our other veterans will lose heart,” sighed Emerald, voicing Celestia’s own thoughts.

“And this… has been their third mare for both of them? I mean I know some of our veterans are difficult, but nopony has been as resistant as the two of them. It's as if they don’t want normalcy!” groaned Scarlet.

Princess Celestia frowned, a thoughtful look in her eyes. She didn’t once consider abandoning the two stallions. They needed help and she would ensure that they would be healed, but she was acutely aware that the stakes for these two stallions were higher for the program.

A stray thought made Celestia blink and she raised her head to speak up. “Perhaps we are approaching this in the wrong way. Maybe Lord Barding and Golden Lance don’t need normalcy.”

“What do you mean, your Highness?” asked Rosy, voicing the confusion shown on the faces of the other ponies.

“All of the veterans we receive are unique in their cases. However, the cases of these two stallions are extreme even compared to the others in our programme. Extreme cases warrant extreme measures. The mares we pair the two up with should not be normal,” explained Celestia.

The ponies slowly nodded in agreement with their princess.

“Alright, let's get started. The sooner we assign Barding and Lance a mare the better off they'll be,” said Scarlet as she to give out profile sheets of the various mares in the programme.

For a long while the ponies assessed the backgrounds of the various mares in the program. But after a long hour of shuffling papers and reading, nopony had even suggested a possible candidate.

“This is getting annoying. None of these mares are extreme enough or suited for either of them,” groaned Rosy.

“Honey, if we wanted extreme, we could just hire Chains!”quipped Emerald Fire.

“We don’t want to kill the stallions, Emerald. Just draw them in the right direction,” chuckled Stalwart.

“Then you should get Winding Sheets. Though she’d probably draw all of our bits out of our pockets,” said Scarlet, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

The Princess blinked. She had heard the names of those mares. “Winding Sheets and Chains? I have heard of them. Who are they? I don’t believe I have seen them in the profiles,” said Celestia.

Celestia noticed her ponies glancing at each other nervously, as if they were hesitant to explain who these two mares were.

“That’s because they're not in the program. I’m surprised you know of them…” said Rosy glaring at her husband.

“Their reputations precede them!” exclaimed Emerald in protest. To Celestia’s mirth, Rosy rolled her eyes, smiled at Emerald’s pleading expression and kissed his cheek, rather possessively.

“I’m more surprised you’ve heard their names, your Highness,” said Scarlet

“I have my methods. After all, I sought you out originally after all didn’t I?”said Celestia with a wink, making Scarlet blush again. The Princess and the former courtesan remembered their first meeting quite well, or in Scarlet’s case, all too well. Celestia then turned back to her advisors, her brow furrowing. “But what I have only heard in passing seems so outlandish I have trouble understanding exactly who they are. Would you mind telling me more?”

Again the ponies glanced awkwardly at each other and Celestia had to wonder if the ‘outlandish’ tales she had heard about the two mares held more fact than she had first thought. Rosy coughed, “Well… whatever stories you’ve heard about them… they probably aren’t that far from the truth.”

“Those two are literally legends in their chosen paths,” said Scarlet bluntly.

Celestia blinked, but there was a curious gleam in her eyes. “Explain.”