[Flare gives a deep sigh, bathering herself. She'd wanted to tell somepony about all this, but could never figure out where to start. Now she just had to run at it full-speed and hope she doesn't miss anything.]
That also meant that the fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon? That wasn't just a battle between royalty, or alicorns, but a full-fledged holy war. To this day, there are still militant factions who think Nightmare Moon knew the One True Way for ponies to live, who think the reformed Princess Luna is just a brainwashed puppet of Celestia and seek to restore her to her "true power". It's because of them - the Full-Moon Nightmares, as they're called - that the Lunar Temples all got razed, save for one that was still left buried under Fillydelphia's foundations.
[Flare shakes her head. The Lunar Temple Incident wasn't important to this. Not really.]
But it also meant that the Celestial Priesthood wasn't just sitting on their laurels, and it sure as buck meant that Twilight wasn't the only one that knew about the thousand year prophecy. As the years crept closer and closer to Nightmare Moon's escape with no Element Bearers in sight since the days of her imprisonment, the priesthood started panicking. They started... recruiting, looking for ponies that could fit those six qualities. That was the Proxy Element program, something done behind Celestia's back for years. They'd gather up six ponies of varying age who fit the traits of the elements, and throw them into dangerous situations in hopes of getting the Elements of Harmony to respond. I got in trouble a lot in flight school, and one day someone dug up the fact that I've got some sort of... special quality other ponies don't have, I don't remember specifics. That plus how I acted, well. They wanted to recruit me as a Proxy Bearer of Honesty, and my mom - as usual - was too drunk to even give a damn. If anything, I think the damn nag saw it as an excuse for someone else t'raise me so that she'd have more time t'focus on getting drunk and sleepin' with anyone with a pulse.
[Rrh. No, stay on topic, Flare. No getting mad at your mother now.]
Anyway. I got shoved into a Proxy Element group with five other ponies - Lickety Split, Sky Shimmer, Summer Monsoon, Posey, and Fireball. And they threw us into a dangerous situation, for damn sure. See... somethin' about the alignment of the planets was riling up the titans - the starbeasts, that is. Ursa Majors are one thing, but...
[And with that, Flare sighs.]
Somethin' had gotten a Cygnus right ticked off, and if somepony - or someponies - couldn't stop it, it would've demolished Manehattan in a day or less.
[Private Visual]
That also meant that the fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon? That wasn't just a battle between royalty, or alicorns, but a full-fledged holy war. To this day, there are still militant factions who think Nightmare Moon knew the One True Way for ponies to live, who think the reformed Princess Luna is just a brainwashed puppet of Celestia and seek to restore her to her "true power". It's because of them - the Full-Moon Nightmares, as they're called - that the Lunar Temples all got razed, save for one that was still left buried under Fillydelphia's foundations.
[Flare shakes her head. The Lunar Temple Incident wasn't important to this. Not really.]
But it also meant that the Celestial Priesthood wasn't just sitting on their laurels, and it sure as buck meant that Twilight wasn't the only one that knew about the thousand year prophecy. As the years crept closer and closer to Nightmare Moon's escape with no Element Bearers in sight since the days of her imprisonment, the priesthood started panicking. They started... recruiting, looking for ponies that could fit those six qualities. That was the Proxy Element program, something done behind Celestia's back for years. They'd gather up six ponies of varying age who fit the traits of the elements, and throw them into dangerous situations in hopes of getting the Elements of Harmony to respond. I got in trouble a lot in flight school, and one day someone dug up the fact that I've got some sort of... special quality other ponies don't have, I don't remember specifics. That plus how I acted, well. They wanted to recruit me as a Proxy Bearer of Honesty, and my mom - as usual - was too drunk to even give a damn. If anything, I think the damn nag saw it as an excuse for someone else t'raise me so that she'd have more time t'focus on getting drunk and sleepin' with anyone with a pulse.
[Rrh. No, stay on topic, Flare. No getting mad at your mother now.]
Anyway. I got shoved into a Proxy Element group with five other ponies - Lickety Split, Sky Shimmer, Summer Monsoon, Posey, and Fireball. And they threw us into a dangerous situation, for damn sure. See... somethin' about the alignment of the planets was riling up the titans - the starbeasts, that is. Ursa Majors are one thing, but...
[And with that, Flare sighs.]
Somethin' had gotten a Cygnus right ticked off, and if somepony - or someponies - couldn't stop it, it would've demolished Manehattan in a day or less.