Remembering a time long gone
Luna sat staring into the night sky she had crafted so carefully that night. She was so deep in her thoughts that she did not notice the sounds of hoof steps until their owner sat beside her.
”The sky looks good tonight” Starry Aurora said her gold eyes scanning the stars. Luna looked back at her with a smile.
“Thank you, I try my best.” Luna returned her gaze to the sky.
“Were there always stars?” The young filly asked after a moment’s silence. Luna blinked for a second, she had yet to get used to Aurora’s blunt nature. She was surprised that the thought had ever occurred for her to ask.
Aurora turned her piercing gaze to the princess. “You have lived for a long time.” The statement was meant to offer an explanation to why she thought that Luna would have an answer, and so the filly was mildly surprised when Luna gave a light laugh.
“I have lived for many millennia.” Aurora could believe it, looking into the alicorn’s eyes. Luna’s gaze lay on the stars for a while before she spoke. “There was a time when the night sky held nothing but the moon.” She lifted a hoof and pointed to a spot near the bottom of the moon. “Do you see that constellation?”
Aurora looked closely at the spot Luna had gestured to, and after a moment recognized the crude outline of an alicorn, the constellation lacked the night princess’s usual precision. “Yes”
“That was the first constellation I ever made. I have changed the night sky many times but I have always left that one where it was.” The ancient mare’s eyes had a far away look in them as she spoke, as if she was reliving a memory in her head. “A young filly’s portrait of her father.”
Aurora thought this over for a second before it fully registered. A look of mild confusion and shock briefly flickered over her face. Luna spotted it. “What is the matter?”
“Nothing, it’s just…. I knew that you were born so you must have had parents, but I never really thought about it.” The young unicorn looked the older pony over from a new perspective.
Luna turned away from the filly and back to her sky. Aurora did so too, thinking over the new information she had just received.
“What was it like back then?”
That simple question was like a bombshell to the alicorn.
Thousands upon thousands of years had passed since that last day of the war. Over all those years the past had faded into obscurity, now there were only three beings in existence that knew of that forgotten era.
Herself, Celestia, and Discord…. None had shared the story….. Perhaps it was time someone did…..
“Can you keep a secret.” Aurora looked at the princess her expression one of exasperation at such a childish response to a serious question however her expression changed into one of understanding when she saw the alicorn’s face.
This wasn’t some ordinary history lesson or even an answer from some diarchic but a personal story told between friends.
“I swear I will never tell a soul.”
Luna took a deep breath and began
“Long long long ago, in a different era. There were two races, the draquonaqui and the alicorn’s. The draquonaqui were chaos incarnate and the alicorn’s were the incarnation of order. There were only several hundred of each kind, however just one could level an entire army.
The draquonaqui resided to the north, in a stronghold. No two draquonaqui looked the same but all had the same abilities, abilities now practiced by the sole survivor of their kind. They were lead by an emperor, Loki
The alicorn’s resided in the south in a shining utopia. Each alicorn was the incarnation of something, the soil, the plants, the clouds, almost anything you could think of. The rulers of the alicorn’s were King Nocturnes the incarnation of the night, and Queen Solara the incarnation of the day, and in turn their two daughters incarnated the two heavenly bodies, the sun and moon.
Your ancestors, the ponies of the time, lived in the lands between our two people. Living off of what the earth provided through the care of the two titan races….. That is until the war…
Order and Chaos are opposites. Neither good nor evil but holding the potential of both. A world with only one is a world of disharmony or stagnation. Naturally these two forces keep each other in balance but however powerful or perfect they think they are every being is flawed.
Both races clashed, at first only in belief and opinion however as time wore on the inevitable eventually occurred. While the races were the incarnations of order and chaos neither ruled over it, and as always happens when imperfect beings begin to believe they are gods, they both fell to the very whims of the things they claimed to control.
In the end Order and Chaos cancelled each other out as always. All that was left were three children and a world left in tatters. With the death of the alicorns the very things they incarnated, faded to shadows of their former glory. The earth became barren, the weather became wild and untamed and the arcane energy of the world began to wreak havoc. And the ponies were left to pick up the pieces.
Over time the earth ponies forged a connection with the land, coaxing it into once more providing food. The pegasi tamed the skies and brought them under their control. And the unicorns tuned themselves to the archaic energies, learning to craft the power into spells and using it to turn the heavens once more giving them day and night.
You know some of the rest. The three tribes distrusted one another, selfishly keeping their new found gifts to them selves until they were forced together by a need for harmony. However there is one piece of history which has been left out.
Years after the founding of equestria the duty of raising and setting the sun and moon became more and more difficult for the unicorns. The heavenly bodies no longer obeyed the wishes of the unicorns who inadequately tried to fill the role of their former masters and drove them to using sheer force to push the sun and moon into place. However this was becoming increasingly impossible.
One day every unicorn that could make a difference stood together, they poured all their power into their task, however they fell short. As they collapsed two alicorn fillies entered their midst. One raised the sun while the other put the moon to rest, the heavenly bodies gladly followed their lead recognizing their masters. So began the reign of my sister and myself.”
Aurora sat silently, the ending to Luna’s ‘story’ had been rather quick, though that was probably for the best. Though the princess had obviously tried to keep as detached from the story as she could the filly could fill in the blanks as to how it would have felt to live that out.
”Thank you for telling me.” Aurora said looking up at the simple and crude constellation that held quite a story.
Luna gave a tiny almost imperceptible smile.
“Thank you for listening.”
