The Starlight Road

What happens to ponies when they die?

Giving a pony back to the earth isn’t the final step in the process. But it begins the next adventure in a pony’s life. When a pony dies, their body is set out in a wake. This is where a pony’s friends and family may say their goodbyes, leave gifts for the trip to The Great Pastures, and show their feelings for the pony’s life.

Often times the gifts offered are tools and bits. Things that would be helpful against any adventure or challenge that might come to the pony on the Starlight Road.

Then they are cremated in the eternal fire. This fire is lit in a ceremony that uses the sun’s rays to light a funeral pyre. The ashes from the pyre are scattered under the moon’s fair light and lifted by the wind into the sky. This is where the journey of the pony’s spirit begins.

As the ashes lift to the stars, blending with the starlight, a pony’s spirit treks across the skies. The trek is known as the Journey along Starlight Road. Here they encounter perils a plenty, but their bodies are filled with vigor after each challenge. Each challenge is individual, and will reflect challenges that were never overcome in the pony’s life. The offerings of gifts from friends and family will often be helpful at these points.  As they overcome these hurdles, the pony travels onward, becoming a brighter and brighter entity as they travel to The Great Pastures.

Eventually, a pony’s spirit, strong with starlight and reflecting their strongest self, will come to a crossroads. Here they will make a choice. They can continue on to The Great Pastures, or they can attempt to return to Earth.

It takes a very special and strong pony to attempt the trek to Earth, however. As the road to The Great Pastures is a soft earth and lush grass path, easily taken and well worn. Beyond it, the sounds of music, laughter and happiness abound. The Great Pastures are depicted with flowing crystal streams and lush vegetation. In it are the ancestors and all of their wisdom, power and glory. Here is where most ponies choose to go. Here, their strength is infinite and unyielding.

The second path is darkened, twisted and overgrown with brambles. The type of pony to attempt this path must be very brave, and have good reason to face such hard challenges. The road to Earth is fraught with dangers, where the brambles of darkness rend and tear at the pony spirit’s strength. As a pony travels this twisted path, much of the strength gained along the Starlight Road is lost. The gifts are ripped from the pony’s grasp and they are left weak and frightened.

All, however, is not lost. A pony who’s spirit and desire were strong enough to bring them to the end of the Thorny Path is swept up into the soft embrace of the  Equhame (E-quame) Goddess of Death herself. The pony’s spirit is carried back to earth and placed in an unspirited baby pony.

These ponies are destined from birth to become something great, and are often the stuff of legends. They become heroes, legends, gods and goddesses.