Twilight Sparkle was bored. Normally, this would be no problem for the Alicorn of Magic. As the newest princess of Equestria, certainly there was something that could occupy her time. However, she had completed her checklist for today earlier than she had predicted, so she had nothing scheduled to be done.

"Maybe I should take a walk," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "I could do with some fresh air, now that I've re-re-organized my Liberal Arts section."

"That's a great idea, Twilight! You hardly get out of the new castle, you know," Spike interjected, a wry grin on his face. "Your 'court' is closed for today, so I'll just make sure Owloysius doesn't make a mess of things when he wakes up."

Twilight paused, considering whether or not she should actually trust Spike to keep her owl happy. She then remembered how he had taken care of Peewee, who was arguably harder to care for, being a phoenix. Plus, she hadn't gone out at night in a while. It was a quarter to ten, according to her wall clock, and she gleaned from her newly-attained Pegasus Magic that the air outside was warm and in perfect condition for a short flight.

"Okay, Spike. I trust you'll do fine for an hour or so. I will be back soon!" she said, smiling in thanks at her Number One Assistant. She trotted over to the door, and was about to Magic it open, but she quickly realized that something was off. A strange sense of dread filled her as she looked towards her door handle. Immediately upon seeing it, a simple, innocent thought occurred to her.

Why do we call them that, handles? That implies that we have hands, when we clearly don't. And yet ponykind invented them...

"On second thought, Spike, I believe that I may be taking a little longer than usual. I'll still be back soon."

"Okay, Twilight. Is something the matter?" Spike asked, worried at the strange look of consternation on Twilight's face.

"No, Spike. Everything's fine. I just had a strange thought, that's all," Twilight assured. Without another word, Twilight fired up a Teleportation Spell directed to the Princesses' throne room.

In a flash of blinding white light, she was gone. The familiar feeling of teleportation, akin to diving into a lake of warm water, washed over her as she appeared in an instant at her destination. She was not at all surprised to see Princess Luna on her throne, looking slightly bored as she awaited petitioners to her Night Court.

"Hi, Luna. Is Celestia nearby? I have a question for her," Twilight asked, as Princess Luna glanced over at the commotion she had caused teleporting in. Her thestral Night Guards had jumped at the sudden disturbance, and had looked ready to draw their spears before they recognized the object of Luna's gaze.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle. We are glad that thou art here, tis not often We get to see thee. However, judging by the look you're giving Us, something has gone awry and thou seeketh thy mentor's comfort. Thou will find Celly in her study, going over some financial report or another. We wish thee luck with whatever problem is plaguing thee," Luna said, her stare softening at the familiar sight of the country's newest Alicorn.

"Thanks, Luna! Once I resolve this matter, we can speak. I hope it won't be long," Twilight called, flying out of the throne room and into the hall leading to the spirally Dawn Tower where Celestia resided.

Twilight arrived in short order at her new destination, eager to absolve her confusion. She knocked on the large oaken door that led into Princess Celestia's study. A simple "come in" was heard from beyond the door, and Twilight Magicked the door open, trotting inside.

"Princess Celestia, I have a question. It's a little silly, really, but it won't stop nagging at me," Twilight began, sighing. "Why do we call door handles 'handles' despite us having no hands of our own? If they were invented by ponies, shouldn't they be called 'hoofholds' or something?"

The look Celestia gave her could have frozen salt water, but it barely lasted a second before the Day Princess sighed heavily. "My faithful student," she said, standing up from her much-less-interesting paperwork to address the Princess of Magic. "That question would normally go with a simple answer designed to subtract from the real truth, but I believe as an Alicorn you now have the mentality required to understand what really happened so long ago...do you remember the Hearth's Warming Eve play you took part in the year before last?"

"Of course I do, Celestia. What could that possibly have to do with doors, if I may ask?"

"Well, Twilight, ponies weren't always the dominant species on the planet Equus...nor were we really anywhere near as complex as we are today. Come, have a seat by the hearth. What you're about to hear has only been shared among a select few individuals, for posterity's sake," Celestia began.

"Princess, what's going on? What could you possibly mean by 'ponies weren't always the dominant species'? I thought we were the main species on the planet since the First Generation..." Twilight said, now even more worried as her fears seemed to have run deeper than she had first imagined.

"Ah, my faithful student. The First Generation was the first documented account of ponykind's history. The real truth runs far deeper than even you could imagine, Twilight. I will now proceed to tell you a little about the strange, bipedal, omnivorous creatures known as 'humans' in older mythological books. They aren't a myth, in fact, but they are -- or rather were -- real creatures."

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