A loud sigh is heard as wings beat in frustration. A little voice mutters to itself, ”I owe it to the Princess to try one more time, just one more time…”
The myth in the textbook began thus...
“The Creation of Mettā”
From the “Skuyö” (1) Cycle of tales.
A myth collected from Earth pony oral-tradition by Clover the Clever in the Pre-Classical Era. (2)
Countless millennia ago, our world was full of strife; life was short and unpredictable. Chaos and uncertainty were tools used by nature to kill before the gods came. The great land-masses were malformed and strange creatures, only some now gone, walked upon them. The weather caused fear and awe. Vast spinning storms, giant waves, and great quakes destroyed everything they touched as though the very planet wished to cleanse itself of all those shapes and forms that crawled and writhed upon it's surface"e frozen north was only half the size it would be one day, and the pitiless gaze of the sun,indifferent, as those beneath it suffered and died.The seas were vast and mysterious. Dragons could not speak, and the only form of life that could do so were the enigmatic “Dark Skitiscarn”. (3) However, then the the gods appeared from a sphere…
They came to settle a dispute and then leave, but stayed on instead. They were four ...[in number]..., the Potter, the Remaker of Mettā, and their children, She of Moon and She of Sun. The Remaker reshaped the continents, environments and weather. The Potter made ponies out of clay with helices at their core.
Earth ponies came first as the Skitiscarn wanted ponies to grow their food. Winged ponies came next so the Remaker could concentrate on the remaining islands and unique environments. Then horned ponies came forth. Their magic was more generalized and ...[sometimes]... more powerful than the other first three kinds of ponies. Next, ponies were given Cutie Marks. When the ponies were done, the Potter went to make other ...[living]... “Wrights” and the Remaker finished her work.
They made many other kinds of ponies, ponies with stripes who could create healing potions and work magic by verbal incantation, and ponies of the ocean with fish tails, who controlled the currents and waves, and the Saddled-Ones, who controlled sand, wind and underground water.
Her last creations were the Alicorns, those who were made to represent all three kinds of ponies, for they had horns, wings, and strength. This ...[race]... of ponies was given domain over the stars and was only seen during the time between night and day, for they looked for She of Friendship-Magic. A mare who would wield the Violet Prism, write epic tales of Daring ...[do]..., and who would one day discover a new form of magic and ascend to Godhood. None of the other ponies believed this and some worshiped Alicorns as gods much to their great annoyance.
For 1,500 Moons, She of the Sun and She of Moon brought forth... [their]... respective spheres of major and minor warmth. Ponies lived in ever moving clans that gathered what they needed from the world around them. The Eternal Sisters gave the unicorn tribes the secret of moving the sun and moon so all life on the planet would know warmth and rest. They [then] taught Earth-pony tribes how to farm. All ponies on land and sea and air were next shown how to move things with magic. Then the Gods’ work was finished and... [they]... left the world in capable hooves so they could continue their work elsewhere. Eventually other Gods, part of a different but loosely affiliated group, made themselves known and became the patrons of Dragons, Sea-Ponies, Griffins, Saddled-Ones, Sheep, Cows, Deer, and others. Thus that age came to an end…
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The cover to the book closes in momentary anger and a Pegasus -eyes shining with annoyance- turns their head toward the moonlit sky. The young pegasus still looks uncertain as she fiddles with a dark green hairband holding back her thick locks. She doesn't like it, normally prefers to let her lavender mane fall free to complement her beige coat and magenta eyes.
It is late morning and, from a large building marked Princess Luna's School for Higher Learning, a voice filled with justifiable frustration could be heard.“I'm sorry, Princess, but reading the book isn't helping, and I tried four other methods of memorization and none of them work.”
The Princess of the Night looked at the agender Pegasus before her with an understanding smile. Her eyes show both concern and the wisdom of many millennia of experience. In spite of this, her body language reveals a different message ‘If you call me Princess one more time, you can kiss that trip to Manehattan goodbye! You've been my student for more than one moon for crying out loud...’
After a moment- and a simple breathing exercise learned from Twilight- the princess regains her poise. “Midnight Magic, I did not choose you as my student out of loneliness or boredom. I picked you because you are honest, intelligent, and determined, and though your task seems to be a hopeless one, there is a way to prepare for that history test you are having such difficulty with.”
Midnight raises a skeptical eyebrow at their mentor. "Are you sure about that? Because you've already tried to help me three times now, and I just don't understand the material for whatever reason. Even with my next major test being four weeks away, I seriously doubt you know a way to help me out."
“Though there is little statistical difference between the effects of anyone’s learning style, figuring out what yours is will make for a superior learning experience and will help you study other material in the future. You have already tried learning about history through the lens of your favorite subject: mythology.”
The Pegasus looks puzzled, “I read the myth several times, sigh.
For the next few minutes the lavender maned mare tried once more to come out with a potential answer as your teacher suddenly and carefully guides her. “Wait a sec… There is often more than one version of a myth, right? So would reading an alternate version of the one I’m supposed to study be more effective?”
“Perhaps you are correct my faithful student... You may have read a version that is difficult for you to remember. However, I already tried to give you a decent but brief verbal summary of both the myth and the major historical events it was based on. Could there be another answer, one involving Rainbow Dash and learning?”
The student looks at the teacher, “That story about the Element of Loyalty and the time her friends tried to teach her the history of the Wonderbolts using several different learning styles?”
The night Princess nods, and waits for a moment as her student mentally reviews the different learning styles highlighted in the story, after the Pegasus rules out those she has already used, Midnight settles upon the remaining one: visual learning. For a moment her eyes lit up in a large grin appears upon her face as she felt both great relief and the thrill of discovery. Luna’s face beamed with pride, happiness, and satisfaction. “Well done my faithful student, you still need to work on your ratiocination a bit but otherwise...”
Midnight’s then frowns, “But where am I going to find a documentary or graphic novel on this particular myth?”
Midnight still looks uncertain and the Pegasus plays with their dark green hairband.The accessory kept their hair up in a ponytail, leaving their recently injured eye visible to the world. They refused to hide it, even while waiting for a mechanical replacement.
Luna said, "Maybe you've heard the rumors around the school, maybe not… However, I am in possession of something capable of storing the images and accompanying sounds from the incorrectly named "Twilight Zone". Some of this footage has been turned into historical documentaries. The myth in question deals with the period of my life that I have great nostalgia for it is among the documentaries that will soon be released to the public as part of an upcoming historical literacy campaign.
I have not used the machine before because the editing process was long and tedious until the past 50 years when breakthroughs in linguistics have finally allowed certain historical documents to be read. Some of which deal with a machine like this one that was used for educational purposes. The current version of this device has been tested well over two hundred times. All successfully."
The student looked at the teacher in shock, as the eldritch mare gives the Pegasus a knowing smile.
Three hours later, both the princess and her faithful student were inside Rainbow Castle, home of Princess Twilight Sparkle. The mare herself was standing beside them, wearing the gleeful grin of the bibliophile who was about to realize a secret dream. “Ever since the week after this castle was remade due to the effects of the Rainbow-Power, I've been wanting to see what lay behind this door!”
The ponies were in front of a thick iron door covered in scars and dents. Princess Luna's horn hums with energy as the door disappears and then seemingly reappeared one inch away to the side on the same wall. Only Princess Luna seems unfazed by the sight, as doors that were identical to the first two appear and disappear all over the room. With two spells from Luna, the doors permanently disappear. Leaving a new one in front of the Night Princess.
The Moon Mare went to the door and blew off the dust that covered it. She then whisks some of the dust up in her magic and turned it into a ball of light, illuminating the space around them.It hovers above the group for a few minutes, turned blue and then brown. Luna nods slightly and seems satisfied. Then she turned the remaining dust which was grey colored instead of green, and formed it into a key.
She then turned to the pair, “Security precautions, there are 10 of them.” Luna gestures with one forehoof at red and green words on the door. “Princess Luna's personal Laboratory! All subject’s and sister’s keep out unless invited. Warning: Dangerous magic, technology, and substances within. Laboratory will be automatically locked down in case of emergency.”
Luna’s horn glows green and a keypad appears by the side of the door, Midnight looks confused, saying, “I’ve seen something like that in castle, I think its called a keyboard, but I don’t know what she is typing in.” Twilight explains, “I’ve seen this kind of system before in the royal palace. Luna is typing a (presumably) rotating combination, a ever changing set of numbers that unlock a door or safe.” Luna now also clears other security measures, some were ordaney like voice I.D, DNA scan, and others needed quantum memory like the situneal “W Stot Sjt.” passwords, “P. Oxy. 90” cipher, and others. She put the key in the lock and turned it. The door opened, and Luna said, “Wait here for a moment.” The Mare of Dreams went inside and five minutes later she came out looking relieved and satisfied Luna opens the door wide and said “I turned off the internal security measures so the room can be entered.”
The group went inside and Twilight asked, “Luna, what could be in here that's worth all the security measures?”
The princess of the night gave her contemporary a grim look, “The information, magic, and technology in this room comes from a very powerful and very old civilization, a civilization without rivals that was poised to conquer the world when it fell. In this room there are lost plans for weapons like Ursa Maximus’s. Weapons capable of slaying Gods like myself, Reality Warpers like Discord or Pinkie Pie, Type-III Kardashev-Scale Civilizations like Oasis of Harmony, and Eldritch Abominations such as Saig,hafyeur’sedgux_hef alike. This galaxy is comparatively empty and has no neighbors, and this planet is nowhere near the technological level necessary to create such justifiably banned weapons.”
Twilight turned pale and her body shuddered; Midnight Magic looked puzzled. They recognize only some of the names and terms just mentioned.
“Fortunately, those secrets are still untranslated as the documents are in a highly situational code due to paranoia at the time. The device I am concerned with is 1020 years old and was based on one I found on the moon well before my banishment. Among other things it contains a list of pony myths and legends and a recording of their contents. The machine also includes information in the place beyond ordinary space and time where dreams I patrol every night exist. Here is where the past and the future meet and interact, the past and sometimes the future can be observed, though information is malleable due to quantum entanglement.
This machine was designed as an experiment in preservation and to deal with thousands of requests each year for information on mythology and history. Myth and legend alike are organized by year, what Saga or Cycles they belong to, and type. The story in question is a once popular Bat-pony legend from 7206. For many Bat-ponies, cows, sheep, Dragons, and Earth ponies the following is the creation myth that shaped their view of the world, in both positive and negative ways following a period of migration for all those species.”
Luna went to one corner of the room and pulled off a sheet that Luna later identifie as organic neo-plastic.
The machine had a monitor hard drive, sophisticated cameras and microphones, illusion spell crystals, flying sound-projecting drones waiting to take off, and had no visible input device. Luna went to the machine as a motion detector and an audio input device activated. Luna spoke, “Computer, access “temporal-documentary program”, activate Legend-R.L comparison subroutine, play “Royal Sister Origin” file.”
The machine spoke, “What language?”
Luna smiled softly and replies, “Equestrian English”.
Seven minutes pass and then a projected image displayed the words, “Two Views of the Moon!"
"Synopsis: A documentary about the first part of the Star Mare’s life, told from both her own P.O.V and narration, with the P.O.V of others being used as well, sometimes with their consent.
This documentary is divided into parts, each part will be prefixed by a corresponding piece of text from the first story in the so-called “The Night Mother” Saga. This first story is called The Night Bringer’s Birth. It is an account of how the sisters were born, their life in another realm, and how they witnessed the creation of the world.”
After three minutes the image disappeared and the image of stylized ponies with small hooves thinning legs appear...
Author's Note
Hoofnotes.
1: Meaning the “Isle of Clouds”. All terms not in Modern Equestrian represent unique cultural concepts, words that have no equivalent in recent Equestrian language, have fallen out of use and become archaic, better convey a certain meaning, or sound better according to the translator.
2: The Preclassical Era lasted 800 years and the Classical Era lasted 3,000 years. This legend was likely recorded on parchment in 0780-0786 PCE. 10 years after the three tribes joined forces, Clover the Clever went on a six year tour of Equestria to collect folklore, political opinions, rituals, festivals, religious beliefs, humor, songs, and gossip for both written preservation and for the amusement of Princess Platinum, who she was the concubine of. The text in this account was considered to be lost for over 7000 years, though fragments and a detailed remained. On a side note, Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever were married in 0786 PCE.
3: The term Skitiscarn was a source of mystery and heated debate among scholars for 1000 years, the term's meaning was only revealed 300 years ago. See Chapter 2 of Queen Chrysalis’s popular autobiography for more details.
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OOC: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the story, As soon as possible I and my co-author Smaug the golden ( http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Smaug+the+golden ) will begin work on the next one.
Cover art was provided by the extremely talented, Assassin Monkey:
The cover art: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Guardians-of-our-World-414903825
Her or his profile: http://assasinmonkey.deviantart.com/
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In the next chapter of this epic tale:
Where does Princess Luna come from, how was she born, who raised her, are there other worlds with inhabitants that have domain over nature, and just what is Princess Luna anyway? The answers to these questions and more are revealed in "Noctiluna Parturition". Don't miss it!
Please read and review.
