The Everfree Forest seemed as always: creepy, intimidating, impenetrable… with that strange aura of ancient magic; preventing to anypony to enter. But there they were, waiting at the entrance waiting for Flame’s herald. Then Zecora came as the first day they met her, wearing the strange hood covering her face.

“I’m so sorry to make you wait, but is not easy move from one to another State”

“Zecora!” Scandalized Rainbow Dash. “You’re King Flame’s herald! But… but I thought you weren’t an evil being”

Zecora send her a death glare.

“Your perception of evil you should change; and to Flames you should offer him a second glance”

And without giving her an opportunity to answer, she started to walk with the Bearers behind her. Spike, who couldn’t resist the impulse to meet his King, followed the group improvising a torch with a stick and his fire. Twilight and Rarity used their horns as flashlights.
Everypony was waiting for answers; hoping to know the story behind the Dragon King and the Lost Generals.

At the forest boundary, Luna and Celestia looked how Equestria’s greatest protectors get lost into the forest. Something was not right; and the only thing they knew for sure was that their parents’ arrival will unleash of events completely out of their control.

In the forest, the seven friends followed the zebra through the safest roads; avoiding all the possible dangers such as wild animals and carnivore plants. They walked for hours, in complete silence; until Zecora stopped before a large mountain in the middle of the way.

“Where are we?” asked Twilight.

“Welcome to the middle of the forest” said a cold voice.

All the group gasped when the mountain moved, turning to them his face with bright red eyes. King Flames looked at the group, showing himself as large as he was; and the ponies found him terrifying.
A giant serpent dragon with black scales all over his body, red belly, red eyes and red spikes. But the beast started to shrink, ending at Spike’s size, only a little taller.

“I was waiting for you, Bearers; young Spike… I’m glad you decided to come all the way over here. As I said, this is the middle of the forest and the limit of Pony Territory. I’m King Flames, mighty Ruler of all dragons”

“So you’re Flames?” mumbled Fluttershy scared by the presence of a dragon; and not any dragon, the Ruler of all of them.

The dragon nodded calmly.

“And why, from all the places; you chose the Everfree Forest to meet us?” Asked Twilight.

Flames sighed.

“I’ll reveal a secret: this Forest surrounds all Pony Territory, and it’s really a magical barrier to keep you in your place. If anypony put a single hoof beyond this limit, will mean its instant death”

“But why?” Shrieked Applejack walking backwards.

“Because that’s the way how Zikmu, Supreme Witch Doctor of the Zebras; Queen Chrysalis and I created it” explained Flames. “Zikmu and Chrysalis bagged for the imprisonment of your kind after I defeated the murders; and they were only scared children, so I helped them even if I never completely agreed”

“And when you say murderers, you’re talking about the Princesses’ parents” said Rarity.

Flames nodded expelling some smoke from his nose, creating the drawing of a giant map of Equestria; but this one was divided in the Country of Clouds, the Country of the forest and the Country of Earth.
Flames nodded and started his explanation.

“As you can see, half a million of years ago, before your Princesses born, Equestria didn’t exist”

“I know!” Giggled Pinkie happily, “It was empty, but the three kinds of ponies found it and founded Equestria! You probably gonna surprise when I tell you this: I was the first of my class when I was a little filly!”

Flames ignored the hyperactive pony and continued:

“During that time, your country was populated with the Griffins, the people of Clouds; Minotaours, the people of the Forest; and the Bovines, the people of Earth”

Rarity was confused.

“Sorry mister, but that’s not possible. You see, when ponies arrived to our current lands, no one was living there. You must be confused; but don’t think bad of me, I’m not planning to offend any Royalty”

Flames sighed again, he seemed to be… sad? He made a magic pass with his tail and the image of the map chanced to show the image of a black unicorn with red eyes and a mane that seemed to be made of pure fire.

“We’re talking about very dark days, Bearer of Harmony. Before that happened, all the Races lived in peace in their own territories; territories assigned by the Creation Spirits: Moktobok, Voluspa, Minotaur, Ixchel, Noj and Slipnir. And to make sure none of us dared to make war to our fellow leaders, they sent powerful guardians to watch us night and day: the Windigos”

The magical smoke made a new figure, the figure of powerful spirits of winter. The ponies had different reactions; but the one who was specially fascinated was Twilight. She heard about them, she acted in a play with them as the main antagonists but it was the only mention of the creatures. And now she learnt something new: they were guardians of harmony just as her friends. How beautiful.

“Windigo’s mission was to punish with the Endless Winter to any race who tried to make war, but that was it. The only creature allowed to break harmony was their younger brother. I think you all knew him too well”

The smoke changed again, turning into Discord.

“Everything was peace and the only battles we had were against Discord, who isn’t really bad, just annoying. But one day, Death Ride the pony king had a daughter. All the Legitimate Governors were married already, but he was the first one in have any children. He called his daughter White Nightmare, and effectively she was a true nightmare; all the other races still think about her as the evilest being in history, along with her husband Dark Moon”

The ponies and Spike started to mumble among themselves, not daring to say anything. Flames let them continue for a little, but then he restarted the story:

“Little boys and girls have innate cruelty: they like to hurt little animals, fight among them, insult to each other and things like that. Are the parents who have to teach them the difference between good and evil”

“True” mumbled Fluttershy.

“Death Ride did teach Nightmare such difference, but he also taught her he preferred evil. He fed his daughter’s cruelty, turning her into a merciless being; and gave her the hardest combat training. The result was monstrous”

The image changed again showing a teenaged White Nightmare grinning evilly, with a sadistic sight. The ponies also noticed the Cutie Mark of an ax covered with fire.

“At her fifteen birthday, White Nightmare challenged Discord to a fight”

“Poor girl” ironized Rainbow rolling her eyes.

Discord materialized in front of them, but he didn’t look at himself. The ponies could recognize the hate in his eyes… and the worst: the fear.

“Sorry for disappointing you Dash, but I barely escaped alive. She tortured me for an entire month and I had to fake my death to get away from her. That terrified my brothers and encouraged the ponies; because Nightmare proved we spirits could be killed. That was the beginning of the Pony Wars”

Flames grumped.

“The damn ponies started a war, not to conquer, to exterminate the other races. Without any restriction because of the Windigos’ cowardly he was now free to do whatever he wanted. Oh, and if you’re wondering who commanded the army, it was that bitch of White Nightmare”

Now the smoke cloud showed the pony soldiers, wearing black armors and blood dripping from their hooves; leaded by the Princesses’ mother, whose hooves were bloodier than the rest of the ponies.

“White Nightmare never counted with any special favor form her father, she had to ascend in the army as any other soldier; but thanks to her enormous power and insatiable blood thirst, she became a General at the age of nineteen” continued Flames. “Death Ride had a special rule: never kill another pony, only the “inferior races” could be killed but never a fellow pony. Still, Nightmare was feared also by her own partners. It seemed to be endless until a new lieutenant entered to her life. He was famous for his strange way to execute prisoners: to rip their heads off with his own hooves”

Twilight gulped.

“You’re talking about… Dark Moon”

The dragon nodded.

“Between us, he is crazier than Nightmare. But getting back to our story, Nightmare witnessed how Dark Moon executed the Griffin’s king on his throne… by decapitation. The atrocious crime demoralized the Griffins and they were terminated, giving Dark Moon the title of General of the Pegasi Unit of the Pony Army”

The ponies and Spike were horrified, not sure if they should believe Flames. Discord was breathing agitatedly, trying to control himself remembering that horrible times.

“The ponies were the cruelest of all races, and they proved it at that war that exterminated Diamond Dogs, Griffins, Bovines and Minotaurs. Or well, almost exterminated, they let alive little babies… only to be taken to the Empire to serve as slaves to the ponies. The other creatures you see walking among you are the descendants of those who survived the massacres”

“Our last hope were the Minotaurs since they held the Elements of Harmony” continued Flames. “But as Discord already told you, they were exterminated as well. Dark Moon demoralized the Bearers killing the Minotaur King in front of them; allowing White Nightmare to kill them one by one piercing their hearts using only her horn. And the worst part: she took the corpses to a field, where she used them to fertilize the ground and plant a tree. A tree where she hung the Elements as a symbol of the Empire”

“It was during that carnage where the psychos fell in love” grumped Discord.

That was it, the ponies were horrified with the strange story. The Elements were given to Equestria because of a massacre? What was going on?

“Finally I killed Death Ride” sighed Flames. “Kidnapped the baby daughters of the monsters and used them as living shield to prevent them to attack me, then I killed Lauren Faust, Death Ride’s wife”

“Do you know about the divided immortality, Twilight?” asked Discord.

The purple alicorn nodded.

“It also have a dark side: if you get killed, Celestia will die at the same way immediately. Same will happen to you if is Celestia who dies” explained Discord. “Lauren was weaker than Death Ride so it was easier to kill and cause Death Ride’s death as well”

For the last time, the smoke changed showing the dragon using baby Celestia and baby Luna to restrain the killers.

“When I finished Death Ride, I fought with the monsters but I couldn’t take their lives in front of their babies so what I did was to lock them up in the Nowhere and pray they stay there”

At the end everything was silence. So that was the story; but they could really trust in the dragon? White Nightmare and Dark Moon were too kind to be the monsters he was talking about, yeah, it had to be some kind of mistake.
Right?

Death Ride sighed.

“This is my warning, I don’t care if you believe me or not; but please: keen an eye open. They aren’t ponies, they’re killing machines.

Said that, the dragon disappeared in the dark of the forest leaving the ponies.

Celestia and Luna waited for more than six hours when they finally spotted the girls walking to them.
Twilight ran directly to her teacher and lover crying.

“Twilight! What happened? What did he told you?”

Twilight sobbed.

“Celestia, is just… I don’t know what to believe anymore!”

Author's Notes:

And this is it: the story of the Lost Generals and the Pony Empire. Did you liked it? Just asking.

Read ya later!!