(As narrated by Princess Ranebo)
Sit down for a moment, and I'll tell you a story. Some say it is the story of how we Breezies came to be, but as you might know we have many creation myths. Noone knows for sure which one is true, and this one may not be either, but it is the one I choose to believe. Some Breezies dedicate their lives to understanding where we come from, our philosophers and sages, and someday we may know the truth. But for today, there is this story..
Once very long ago, maybe so long ago that Celestia and Luna would have been foals back then, there were Flutterponies. They were amongst the first ponies to ever be, to be sure, yet not that much older than any of the other races that live today. They lived in a place called Flutter Valley, which existed in peace, love and friendship for so long hardly any pony could count the years. Flutter Valley was lush with flora and fauna, and while it was primarily a place of Flutters, it was as much as part of Equestria as Everfree Forest or any other place there is, and for the most part, ponies came and went as they pleased and lived in friendship and harmony.
One fateful day, however, an force came to disrupt the harmony of Flutter Valley. A queen bee, who introduced herself as General Vespa, arrived with an army of her subjects. They were envious of the fertility of Flutter Valley and the abundance of flowers there, and demanded the Flutters to share the land with them or give it up to them. To the surprise of the other Flutters, a group of flutterponies lead by one of the princesses immediately said they should share the land with them.
Of course, they refused to give up their home, and Queen Rosedust said that they surely would need more than a day and a demand to share the land with a group they didn't even know, so that day, General Vespa left, appearing to simply concede to this counterpoint, and come back later. But why did she give up so easily? Well to explain that, we have to back up a few years.
General Vespa had clearly known that the Flutterponies would not simply give up their home, and with the power of the Utter Flutter, the Flutterponies would eventually defeat them if they attacked directly. Because of this, she sought to weaken the Flutters from within, long before ever approaching . Seeking out those who amongst the Flutters who might be discontented with their life or with the society of Flutter Valley in general, she found a Flutter who might be swayed, and her name was Chrysalis.
While in general, Flutterponies lived under the ideal that regardless of station, all of the Flutters had an purpose that was just as important as any other, Chrysalis believed differently. Chrysalis bore the cutie mark of a crown emerging from a pod, and her place in society was to collect the shed wings from the other Flutters and bring them to a safe place to become new Flutterponies.
You see, there was two ways that a new Flutterpony could be born, either from the love of two Flutters consummated, or from the shed wings of a flutterpony. Queen Rosedust discouraged the use of the Utter Flutter for just this reason, because the power of the Utter Flutter came from the wings of the Flutters, and if used too much, could make the wings unable to form into a new Flutter foal. At the time, there were many more mares than there were stallions, so this was a significant concern.
Chrysalis, believed that because she was responsible for ensuring the continuation of the Flutters' existence, also believed that this gave her a right to rule. And while she was considered to be a princess in her own right, that was not enough for her, as she wanted to be Queen.
General Vespa heard of her discontent long before she came to Flutter Valley, and met with her first. Together they struck an accord, that if Chrysalis came to her side when the bees arrived, that they would rule together, one as General and one as Queen, and General Vespa promised her that the Bees and the Flutters would live together in harmony when all was said and done, and that the presence of the Bees would make Flutter Valley flourish greater than ever. Chrysalis was amenable to this arrangement, as she believed that not only would it prevent a conflict with the bees, it would also give her the position that she believed she was entitled to.
When Chrysalis returned from meeting with Vespa, she began to sow quiet seeds of discord. "Why were there only Flutters here? Shouldn't we be sharing our bounty with others? Isn't the way of friendship to share?" she would ask, and many questions such as those. Queen Rosedust countered that indeed the Flutters shared with anyone who came to our lands, and wondered why it would ever be questioned that they didn't share enough. She didn't know of any other pony, whether Unicorn, Earth, Pegasi or otherwise, who believed that the Flutters were anything but kind and generous ponies who spread happiness and rainbows and flowers wherever they went, and certainly did not know why Chrysalis would raise an objection to it.
Chrysalis began to do two things between the time that she met with Vespa and when the day Vespa arrived. She secretly started to recruit ponies into a group that agreed with her point of view, though they were a clear minority amongst the Flutters. The second thing she did was she started to collect the wings of the Flutters and keep them to herself, storing some of the wings away for later, saving them, and a few of them she allowed to develop into new flutterpony foals as her own children, and raising them on her point of view. Over the course of the next four years she truly began to believe her own hype, that she was doing this for the good of Flutter Valley, that Rosedust was a poor ruler who didn't want to share. She became trapped in her own perception.
Returning to the week of Vespa's arrival, she did return, a week later, and asked what had been decided in that time. Rosedust approached, and stated that while they were as welcome as any other to come and visit and even settle in these lands, that she would not give the lands to them, because it was the Flutters' home, and they didn't even know the Bees and they were not even friendly when they arrived. She also said she was not even sure that they should allow them in because of their hostile approach, but she still wanted to be friendly and share with them.
Taking the open invite, the Bees entered Flutter Valley, and made themselves comfortable. The rest of the Flutters were wary, except the ones who were loyal to Princess Chrysalis. The way that things were playing out, made Queen Rosedust quite wary and nervous, and she could now clearly see that she had somehow lost the loyalty of about a fifth of the Flutters. Queen Rosedust stood at the top room of the center castle tower where she lived and her Court resided, looking out on Flutter Valley, watching bees flying here and there. Some Flutters were associating with them, some were friendly with them, but most were afraid and remaining hidden in their trees.
She was now sure that something was up, but the idea that anyone could betray her, that any Flutter would betray another, was beyond her comprehension or ability to contemplate, let alone accept. She watched for quite a long time, wondering if Flutter Valley would ever be the same again. Perhaps she had let too many in, too fast. Perhaps she should have turned them away entirely, but she also did not want to appear to be unwilling to share, as she was already taking flak for not being "open and free" enough. So she just stared out, watching, waiting, and contemplating whether or not she had done the right thing. as the sun went down and the moon rose into the air to replace it.
It was night when she heard the cry of the first Flutterpony to be stung by a Bee. Her head swung in the direction of the cry, able to witness the assualt in progress. It was then that she realized she had made a great mistake, and she let out the loudest, saddest cry that had ever left the mouth of any Flutter. Other cries began to join hers, as the Bees started their assault. The other ponies, whether Flutter or other, realized also what was happening, even some who were previously friendly to the Bees presence or loyal to Chrysalis.
But many of those who were loyal to Chrysalis and the Bees, did what they had planned to do, and flew to the boundaries of Flutter Valley, refusing to help their brethren. Princess Chrysalis was already there, waiting for her followers. Why wouldn't they help their own brethren? Well, it is thought that these Flutters lost the love of one another, replaced with the promise of status, prestige, and the power over their fellow Flutters. I suppose that there had to be some darkness in their heart already, for them to feel that this was a good trade. About a twentieth of all Flutters stood with Chrysalis that day, watching the Bees attack, but some of even those Flutters, could not watch their kind being harmed any more, leaving a quickly shrinking group of Flutters loyal to Chrysalis behind. Some of those made it to the castle, and yet some were killed by the Bees, the Bees not knowing or caring who was friend or foe.
The pained scream of Queen Rosedust that night, was something unlike anything that any other Flutter had ever heard, or that she even knew she was capable of. Betrayal was only something you read about in books, heard about, and facing it happening was enough to put many into shock. But her cry was like a call to all the Flutters and to all the other types of ponies living in Flutter Valley at the time. All ponies who could hear it, rushed to the castle, saving anyone else they could along the way. You see, there was very little the Flutters could do against the Bees individually. The stings of the Bees left many a Flutter, dead that day, and others injured. The other ponies who lived in Flutter Valley helped the best they could, the Unicorns came to heal the stung ones, the Earth Ponies were able to fight them, and the Pegasi also fought them, in the air. The Royal Guard kept the castle secure at its gates, only allowing ponies and other friendlies to get inside. Still, a great many ponies died that day, some say as many as a quarter of those who lived there, were gone.
Really, there was only one thing the Flutters could do at this point in this seemingly spontaneous attack. All of the ponies who could fit into the castle, locked themselves in there, the Bees unable to get in. They tended their injured the best they could, and they prepared for the greatest Utter Flutter that had ever been attempted before. It was at the break of dawn when the the ponies emerged, on top of the castle, and around it. The bees, were already there, ready to continue the attack. When they were in the air, ready to attack, that is when Rosedust gave the call, "Utter Flutter!" All of the Flutters engaged in unison, producing, effectively, a hurricane that they themselves were unaffected by. Even the other pony races, had to say safe inside the castle during the Utter Flutter.
The Bees, were all blown away, and save but a handful of them, have not been seen since.
The rest were flying away with General Vespa, but they were followed by Rosedust and the Royal Guard, to the borders of Flutter Valley where Princess Chrysalis and the rest of her followers were gathered. The look on her face clearly showed that she saw the Utter Flutter and knew that the Bees were defeated.
Queen Rosedust was weeping, and began to openly cry as she approached and landed in front of them. Enough Flutters had followed her so that she didn't have to worry about another attack, but she was still in shock at what had happened. "Why? WHY? Why would you all do this? Did we not welcome you? Did we not share?"
General Vespa answered plainly. "It was never our intent to share in the first place!" Princess Chrysalis looked to Vespa in surprise and shock, shouting, "But you said, we would live in peace, together!" It was then when Vespa swing her backside around and stung Chrysalis right in her right flank. It was a quick graze, but still pierced her lightly right through her cutie mark. Chrysalis keeled over in pain. "And I was certainly not going to share the throne with YOU!" she shouted as she then flew off with the last of the bees that were not blown away. And that was the last that was ever seen of General Vespa.
"The THRONE?" Queen Rosedust exclaimed as she turned to Princess Chrysalis. Chrysalis openly weeped herself now, and said between her tears, laying on her side on the ground, "You should have shared.. you should have shared too!"
Rosedust blinked in disbelief at Chrysalis for a good 15 seconds before she had the words to respond. "You planned.. did all of this... this.. what's that word.." she thought for 5 seconds before it came to her. "TREASON? Just to be able to take the throne?" Chrysalis didn't move, but there was a glint of anger in her eyes, so Rosedust continued on. "Anyone who is capable of this should have no throne anywhere!" She turned to the rest of her followers, many of which had their heads hung, some in shame, others because they weren't victorious, and yet some still obstinate. She was surprised that there were this many Flutters, even if it was two to three percent of the Flutters that lived in the Valley, she could not fathom how any pony could harbor this darkness, devoid of love, not even for their own brethren. She wondered how this could even happen. But she had to do something, as Queen, she had to make a decision as to what to do about this, and that, she did.
"None of you.. can stay here. This is treason and in other places they would kill a pony over what has happened here, but I cannot do that. However, by royal decree, you are banished from Flutter Valley, forever! In fact by doing this I don't even believe you are fit to call yourselves Flutters. For as much good it will do, I strip you of even your racial title. I... I don't want anypony out there to associate your darkness, your lack of love and friendship, with us. Now go! Go before my sadness over this, turns to anger, and the Utter Flutter is turned on you!"
At this, some of the treasonous Flutters flew away, some crying, some growling and yelling. But many crowded to Chrysalis' side, and some took her hooves to help her fly away. As they lifted her, the last of any pretense of care for Flutter Valley or her own brethen, drained out of her. Venom oozed from her cutie mark and it appeared to be fading away, and a green glow emanated from her eyes. It is said that it was at this moment, she snapped, and began to change into another thing entirely. "You can't keep us away forever... We'll be back.. and I will have your throne Rosedust, I SWEAR I WILL HAVE YOUR THRONE!" And then she began to laugh, to cackle, evilly, in a way that no Flutterpony had even heard before, fading off into the distance as she was carried away by the rest of her loyal Flutters.
Queen Rosedust flew back to the Castle with the rest of the Royal Guard, where she called all to the Courtyard. She knew that Princess Chrysalis was right, that the Flutters ultimately could not defend their Valley, in fact they never even believed they would need a defense from invaders before. She realized that her world was naive and innocent, just like she was, and now as she saw the injured Flutters around her, she realized that innocence was lost, and most of the Flutters had no idea how to deal with it.
But it was hers to decide what to do, to protect Flutter Valley and her own people. She stood in front of the crowd that had gathered around her, some of the Unicorns checked her to see if she had any wounds, and many others were concerned. She opened her mouth a few times as if she knew what to say, and then didn't speak. She was in shock, still, and she could see that so many others could not believe that this had happened, and were also in shock.
"We can't have something like this happen again, and I did not even see this coming.. In that I have failed every pony here..." she paused.. "However I fear that there is no one else among us that would have either. We had become so accustomed to love, to friendship, that we forgot even the possibility of darkness, and it emerged even amongst ourselves." She looked around at the ponies again, hanging her head, as she decided what she had to do. "To protect what light, and life, and innocence we have left, I think I am going to have to... close this place off to the outside world." She started to cry at this, as it seemed an extreme measure which would isolate them from many people and races she'd rather not. She wanted to believe most ponies were still good, and that she would not lose a quarter of her people again, but she couldn't bet her wings on it. "All of you who want to stay, no matter what kind of pony you are, may. Any Flutter that was part of the Utter Flutter, may also stay, whether you were previously loyal to Chrysalis or not. The rest, should go within a week, because I will prepare a spell, that will build impenetrable caves around these lands, and.." she sighed heavily and then uttered softly, remorsefully even, "I do not know when we will open again, or return to the world. I just know we are not prepared to be, now."
With that many ponies gasped and sighed, and there was a semblance of objection by some. One group of Flutters formed, and told the Queen that they didn't feel they could live trapped in Flutter Valley, to be unable to explore the rest of the world at all. She understood this, as she wasn't even sure that she could herself, but she felt that she didn't want to be outside Flutter Valley anymore either. The rest of Equestria seemed very frightening after this incident. She did wish them the best but ensured they understood there would be no returning for a great long time, if ever. Those Flutters left with all of the rest of the ponies that left that week.
Queen Rosedust was not seen for the rest of the week, but bright lights could be seen inside the Flutter Valley castle, ones of many colors until on the last day, a brightness was sustained. The ball of light was bright, and warm, and it rose from the castle to shine over all of Flutter Valley. It was a light made with the magic of the friendship and love that all the remaining ponies had for eachother. And above that warm ball of light, the sky darkened, and then turned to rock, spreading out from the castle over all of Flutter Valley, leaving a large mountain in Equestria in its place. And with that, Flutter Valley was hidden from Equestria.
So, what happened to everypony after the veil over Flutter Valley was placed?
It was surmised by our philosophers and sages that a Flutterpony would be fundamentally changed if there was no longer any love left within them. That they depended on the love that Flutters shared for each other for their magic, their beauty, and even their form. That is why the Utter Flutter was always performed by a group of Flutters. They would be eaten away at from the inside, by their own need for love, by their own pain, or guilt, or rage and anger, until there was nothing left of them, leaving only a dark, empty shell of a Flutter in its place. They would crave that love, again, and would no longer understand any way to naturally get it, instead taking it by force, and sucking it from anyone around them. Love would no longer be an act or expression of the self, but instead a need, a craving, a food to them.
Based on recent news from Equestria about things that have happened there, we believe that the Changelings are the descendants of those Flutters, or maybe those Flutters never died, and just changed. Its impossible to know. Is their Queen Chrysalis the same one who betrayed the Flutters long ago, or is she a descendant sharing the name like a title? It may be important to find out. Are they our mortal enemies? We must assume so.
What happened to the Flutters that left Flutter Valley? We have no idea. Maybe they were killed by Changelings. Maybe they have their own realm in Equestria that we haven't heard of yet. Maybe they have gone into hiding as well, on discovering a world too cruel for their tastes. Wherever they are, we can only wish the best for them, and hope that we might meet them and their descendants someday. Maybe they can answer the next question for us...
And.. what happened to us? There are side effects to the spell that protected the Flutterponies that we did not know about. Love is an infinite resource, but our own energy is not. For a long time we did not, and could not even count the years, but 800 years ago when we finally opened Flutter Valley for the first time to re-enter Equestria, we found that the world grew much bigger while we were hiding. What really happened though, is we became smaller. As our numbers grew, and the space did not, we shrunk over time to occupy this space, our essences being drawn from us to keep this space hidden and existing, and our bodies adapating to require less and less. What caused this? A lack of exposure to the sun? Or to the moon? Queen Rosedust has long passed and we can no longer know what has caused this, or even if she knew what would have caused this. We now collect pollen from Equestria every year in hopes that it will make the difference.
We have found that the very breeze we once commanded, now tosses us around like we were leaves in the wind, but we still seem to have some command of the magic of the wind. But we can no longer call ourselves Flutterponies. We have fundamentally changed from what we used to be, just as Chrysalis' descendants have. We are now .. the Breezies.
