Chapters I was never one to agree with those who consider history a bane to their academia, but I have realized why they find it so boring. Just as how people prefer to talk about themselves more than talk about others, the root is their empathy. Empathy may have a different definition to some, but I prefer it to mean ‘The ability to translate words into personal emotions.’ To be truly bored while reading a personal recalling of a great battle, like Cannae, with much bloodshed and one-hundred thousand Roman bodies lying literally in piles after the slaughter, requires the inability to feel the emotions of the writer. I have always had fantastic empathy for those who suffer, but this is cultivated by those who have great empathy themselves, and give the effect of almost making a plea on behalf of the one whom they are writing about. This feeling of being spoken to by the author, and of almost being there with the author, watching the same event take place, leaves me in a trance which makes me also want to record it that someone else may experience the feeling.
My only problem lied in the fact that I had no great history to recount, and especially no man to want to listen to what I could write upon. Who am I, compared to other greater men? I stood confused and empty, yearning for something to record that my name might be remembered in tandem with something as great as, perhaps, Rome. This drive to become something so great as perhaps the great Livy who recorded the early history of Rome and the Carthaginian Wars. Maybe like Plutarch, who integrated philosophy into, and compared the intellect and psychology of, great Roman and Greek men of ancient times. These men, who were graced with the ability to have a sense of lacking in the field of History, have drawn me into this gilded home of orators and authors throughout time. One thing had yet to occur to me, however, until recently. Plutarch lived years after Livy. To Plutarch, Livy lived in “ancient times.” This is another fallacy of history. The view that time through history is a two-dimensional plane of existence which almost is fictional, and that no truly ‘human’ person existed in such a strange place. Truth is, though, that Livy wrote of things which were two-hundred to three-hundred years prior to his own life.
This is what I realized. The truth that a historian does not only know things of his own time, but of things even up to, possibly, three-thousand years before his own time! This, and that with culture differences which even ten years’ time can cause, the excitement is equivalent with learning of an alien world. This feeling of peering into a different world would make any writer want to share the experience and excitement of what they saw.
As I have said already, my problem, which wrought such personal distress and longing, sprout directly from the lacking of something to record – to have something to share with someone willing to read it. This place which I’ve been thrown into, so strange and quickly-paced, has only gone to make me jovial with the prospect of having something finally novel to write about. A prospect which, always taken by a better writer, I have been given by my recent arrival in this place and lack of competition.
My location, though formally known by its inhabitants as “Equestria”, is referred to by the greater men of the colony as the “New World” due to the circumstances leading up to our arrival. In keeping with the method of writing that Plutarch used, I shall be attempting correlations from the past to the future, Terrarian refugee and Native Equestrian, Earthly history and what has been already recorded of this New World – I shall call this place Nova Roma, or New Rome .
Once I had maintained a friendly relationship with Celestia, she eventually got out of me my ability to give excellent speeches, and insisted fervently (to the point of guilting me) that I take advantage of my situation in this strange and under-studied New World, to write my speeches down. I’m reliant upon a misuse of her request/demand to write “something”, that I might write a History rather than an autobiography. While it is my great honor and joy to be the historian who records such incredible events, I understand that many will consider my work a bore – and I don’t attempt to disagree!
I simply hope that the reader can enjoy this work which I have made, and before I begin my History, I wish to quote the words of one of the best and most frequent writers of all time. A man in whose work I take, quite literally, solace. As St. Augustine said at the end of his one-thousand ninety-one page “City of God” (which by no means do I wish to even come close to matching in sheer volume of work), “And now, as I think, I have discharged my debt, with the completion, by God’s help, of this huge work. It may be too much for some, too little for others. Of both groups I ask forgiveness. But of those for whom it is enough I make this request: That they do not thank me, but join with me in rendering thanks to God. Amen. Amen.”
I wish to complete this work in the mindset of this being the last remaining History known of these times which are recorded in the work itself. Very few historians do such a thing, so as to not appear as though they are valuing their own work too highly, and to nod their heads indirectly towards those who have already recorded such historical events. I have the gift of coming after many of these past historians, not only to read their works, but also of seeing their errors in recording their histories. One of these errors is to have only one recantation of an event, because it takes away its historical authenticity. Another reason for this mistake to be made is, of course, a mental effect I like to call the ‘blatancy effect’. This effect is the assumption that the reader would already know what is commonly known at the time that the historian is writing, and to record it would mock the reader. For example: if asked for a list of instructions on how to bake bread, one would not list breathing. Is breathing vital for the operation, of course – but it won’t be recorded. This would leave the future reader to assume that the "ancient" baker would hold his breath. To eliminate this highly unlikely, but possible and very common in other scenarios, confusion I shall begin my work by recounting all of the blatant facts which one in this age might know.
My first comments on this place, are upon it’s strange inhabitants. The simple animals which, on Earth, mainly had sensory nerves and no complex thought, such as a snail, can almost partake in a conversation with a native. Now, I mentioned a snail – an animal which existed on Earth. I did not mention a Manticore, but those are a thing here. Also Hydras. Those exist here too. I could go on, but I choose not to for the sake of my own sanity.
The dominant species in Equestria, however, is the “Pony”. Now, Terrarians have a creature under the same classification: small equines. What we did not have on Earth, however, were extremely intelligent creatures with both an oral and written language (though essentially chicken-scratch), a class hierarchy, and, quite literally, magic – that happen to look like small horses. If this were not strange enough, there are different types of these: Pegasus, Unicorn, and Land-Pony. A Pegasus has wings and hollow, avian bones which allow it to fly more easily. The avian bones, however, keep them from having the same physical strength as the other species. These fly in a more eagle-like fashion, rather than like a hummingbird. This meaning that they would glide in the air, rather than flap their wings very quickly in order to maintain flight for a lasting amount of time. The Unicorns have a bone-like protrusion from their foreheads, which seems to channel magic from an, as far as I know, unknown source. The Land-pony makes me the most comfortable, personally, seeing as their attributes do not have a sense of unpredictability to them. These would resemble most closely their Terrarian counterparts. They have the same physical strength as a unicorn, but have no magic. Just as how a deaf man can see better than those born with hearing, the Land-pony becomes much stronger than the other types. I have listed three types of Equestrian “Pony”, but I have yet to list the most influential and infrequent type. Just as how Plasma is the most frequent of the four forms of matter (seeing as how it fills space), and is therefore the most important, yet it is the least spoken of and least seen – so is the “Alicorn”. The Alicorn is the combination and enlargement of all types combined. The Alicorn has a horn which is longer than any other common unicorn I have seen, therefore with a much more powerful tool to “channel” their magic with, giving them greater magical ability. They also have larger wings, which allow them to have non-avian bones, in turn allowing them to have the same strength as a Land-pony.
Much contrary to all but one recorded Terrarian nation in the age of Caesar – to the best of my knowledge – stallions (Equine males) are extremely low in the ruling class, and often have very little effect on any political action or concern in Equestria. I do not know very much about the other nations of this world (seeing as I have focused my brief studies on the nation in which I am currently residing – Equestria). The eternally first princess on any list, it seems, is Princess Celestia. I find this name ironic due to the extremely odd role which she plays. I have come to learn that she actually raises and lowers the sun! Upon hearing this, I fell awestruck for about ten minutes. I must add that in these ten minutes, my main source of material, Celestia herself, simply smirked at me, later recalling the "adorable stupidity" of my face. The nerve.
I feel I must comment that all four princesses – and it seems that to be this type of creature actually defines a pony as a princess – are Alicorns. The second princess on any list would be Princess Lunacae (popularly Luna), who raises and lowers the moon. Afterwards, there is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (popularly Cadence) who is the princess of love. I am personally very afraid of this princess, because I have seen her make different members of the commons feel loving emotions against their will, and I refuse to be even seen by her in any scenario. Then lastly, there is Princess Twilight, who is the princess of Friendship. I suppose that she simply isn’t popular, because there is no surname I have found for her, other than the one which exclusively her brother has used for her in my presence (causing me to gag, mind you), which is “Twily.” Twilight seems to have the most recently influential reign as far as I can tell, because the last one-hundred years have been shaped solely by her, her friends, and her assistant’s actions. Her friends are sorely missed, with the last one of the five passing, in fact, twenty-seven years ago. Their names were: Pinkemena Diane Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. Her personal assistant Spike is still alive, and still operates as her close friend, scribe, and assistant, as he loyally has from the years of their filly/childhood.
I feel that I have broken down the relatively unchanging basic facts of this new world, purely on the side of the Native Equestrians, in the time which this author is writing. There are many mostly unknown events which I shall record, coming from Celestia herself, that often have little to do with her 'little ponies.'
I have fallen into the habit of comparing the nation of Equestria with Ireland, due to a plethora of things. Not only is there magic and literally Faeries (known as Breezies, strangely), but there is a large forest which is filled with "monsters and scary stuff", as the third highest ruler in Equestria chose to so eloquently refer to it. This forest, of course, reminding me of the Irish, “Forbidden Forest”. To add to all of this, just as how Ireland was first inhabited by Greek slaves who escaped their masters to form a truly peaceful nation, so too were the circumstances with Equestria.
According to both of my main sources, Princesses Celestia and Lunacae, there was firstly a race of Alicorns which lived somewhere near Zebrica. To the best of my efforts, I have failed to learn of this location. These Alicorns held a class hierarchy with three levels: Ruling, and therefore prominent in political affairs, soldiers, and the commons. Even the commons, being of such magical and physical ability, brought that small nation into the heavens with power. The leaders in the ruling class rarely had any real issue with the commons rebelling, though issues slowly increased in number towards The Fall. They were, however, very harsh towards the soldiers, often requiring of them much more than was morally right, greatly attributing to The Fall. In that nation's language, to be clear, 'soldier' would be any militarily trained equine of fighting age that was willing to protect or fight, and so also would function as a guard. The commons seemed to keep themselves in check, and contributed mainly to the construction of such a great empire.
If one amongst them chose to do evil, their punishments were stunningly creative. The bad Alicorn would not only bring the punishment upon himself, but upon all of his bloodline after him, subsequently. The following plays pivotally, according to myth, in the origins of the Unicorn, Pegasus, and Land-pony from the original optimized Alicorn biology. If an Alicorn physically attacked an innocent, due to the nature of the crime, his bones would be made avian and therefore weakened, taking away his strength. Then, given his aggressive nature, his horn (and therefore ability to fight using magic) was totally removed. Both of these attributes would then continue onward down his bloodline, that no child of his could bear the strength of an Alicorn. The story continues that these punished Alicorns were then called the Pegasi, and this is why Pegasi are always the most aggressive and hard-headed of the species. Those Alicorns which were overly-prideful and abusive of their political power because of that pride - often belonging to the ruling class - would have their wings removed (placing them 'below' every other pony). However, given the magical skill of the ruling class as a whole, it would be no problem for the pony to simply re-apply their wings via magic. Hence, their horns were made smaller than their Alicorn counterparts, so that reversal would be incredibly difficult and usually impossible. These were thereafter called Unicorns, and this is why they are usually prideful and stuck-up towards the other types. The Land-pony, however, comes from a much different type of incident. I will get into much more detail about the Land-ponies in Book III.
This empire, however, rivaled none other in the world, now or then. their craftsmanship unmatched, prophesying its own destruction to the exact date upon which it fell - even their food is known to have been better than any other known on the planet then, and even today. I have put much thought into why the two Eternal Princesses suddenly, after so long of being the only Alicorns, have been accumulating other Alicorns. It seems that no other Native or Terrarian has yet to question this, but perhaps the Princesses wish to start again their greatest nation. I simply wish, if nothing else, to see it.
Any Alicorn could raise or lower the sun or moon, or any celestial bodies – but these essential roles were kept to a minimum of ponies, and usually the King and Queen would play them personally. Without this race actively moving the sun and moon, no other race would exist or at least have developed the same. As seemingly necessary as this race and empire was, it does seem that there was at one time no Alicorns. While, according to both Celestia and Lunacae the origin of the Alicorn race, and subsequently other races of ponies, is unknown, Celestia seemed to avoid eye-contact while speaking on this subject. Though I know not what this means, or if it means anything at all, I found it worth mentioning.
I mentioned above the few but decisive uprisings against the ruling class. These have gone mainly unrecorded, but there have been three (one of which I retrieved from the record of a Unicorn, "Acies", placing roughly two-thousand five-hundred years before my own time) which were reported to me. The last one of these riots bringing about the end of the great Alicorn Empire.
It seems that the great Fall of the Alicorn Empire has rivaled itself with the Terrarian birth of Jesus Christ, in that it decided the counting of years for all time afterwards. As far as I can tell, the Empire began around seven-hundred years (officially) before The Fall. The ponies that I have spoken with so far do not use synonymous terms as B. C. and A. D., for they simply put a number for the year – as though there was nothing before The Fall. Despite this, however, I shall recount the years before and after as B. T. F. (before the fall), and A. T. F. (after the fall). Both of these counting the same ways that B. C. and A. D. would have counted – meaning B. T. F. will count backwards and A. T. F. will count normally.
I spoke of three great uprisings – all of which I will record – but I shall begin with the least interesting, saving the best for last. I feel I should mention that my sources list, though it began solely with Princess Celestia, has increased to all of the princesses, and the writings of such Native Equestrian historians as Written Lines (I’ve previously referred to him as “Acies”, meaning Lines) and Record Times (who I shall refer to as “Scribere”, meaning Record). Both of which, I might add, had very little detail on the second of the uprisings, but had incredible detail on the first and the final ones.
I mentioned beforehand that the King and Queen were once the only Alicorns allowed to move the Celestial bodies. This, however, changed drastically due to the first ‘uprising’. The stories say that there was a particularly blatant moral lacking in the Ruling class around four-hundred B. T. F. – feasting at the expense of the commons, allowing friends to escape justice in courts, and countless other such generic transgressions against natural codes of justice.
Just as there were criminals being set free by these corrupt courts, there were good ponies sentenced to banishment which did nothing to deserve it. Among these, there was a young Alicorn stallion by the name of Atticus. While he did nothing wrong, he let his emotions get in the way of his actions. He fell in love with a young Alicorn princess by the name of Prima, on the line of the Queen herself. Being of no noble blood, the colt was banished. Though he was officially banished, his presence never truly left. Atticus would often give letters to the caravans going into the city, having them delivered to his love. Thus, he kept his influence over the commons and even some of the guards. The ponies saw his plight and the wrong which had been done to him, and took great pity upon him – thereby increasing his power over the highest among the Ruling class themselves. Seeing as he was an Alicorn of exceptional magical ability, he always sought the opportunity to take the highest chair in the Empire away from the scandalous liars who stripped him from his love.
Whether by Divine providence or sheer luck, a crisis came to decide – as a crisis always does – the leaders from the cowards. A very large asteroid (about twice the size of the planet, according to Scribere and Lunacae) was on a collision course with the planet. Amongst every class in the Empire, there were those who panicked, those who tried to calm the rest by declaring that there was no real threat at all, and those who pleaded with the King and Queen for aid. This corruption of sheer laziness and neglect had affected the King the most, and so he was of no help. As soon as all hope was lost, as always does, there came a Hero.
Atticus entered the city unharmed by any guard – themselves having been betrayed and ignored by the King whom they vowed to protect. This stallion, through crowds of cheering ponies, walked directly into the palace, summoned his love, and walked her out into the yard (inside the city walls yet outside of the palace). His plan, as we see after the fact, involved using the gravitational pull from the sun, moon, and all of the stars to drag off course of the planet, this huge threat. The idea worked wonderfully and it is even told that the Asteroid came so close to the planet, that it knocked a few trees over onto their side, but did no other damage. After this day where the young stallion saved the world by being persistent and quick-thinking, his bloodline was considered one of a sacred claim. Even though Atticus had the entire city’s (and vast empire’s) support for his Kingship, he blew everyone away with the sense of honor required in a pony to take such an action. He re-banished himself (with his new wife, of course) to honor the court decision, however wrongfully his sentence of banishment was proclaimed. The Empire thereafter elected the next best of the Ruling class to become King. The worst of the Ruling class at that time was, as far as I can tell, the first to have the Pegasus or Unicorn punishment imposed upon them.
The second uprising was more of a precursor to the third and final. This battle takes place around the year of fifty B. T. F. The Senate had decided to declare war upon a nation which I cannot find the name of, but fell back upon the guise of tradition to simply not pay the soldiers. This tradition began in the earlier (unrecorded) history of the Empire, where all wars were strictly for self-defense and the defense of the nation’s allies. Because these ancient soldiers were more of a militia, they were paid solely by their nation’s freedom. While, of course, this is an adequate payment for a war of self-defense, this was not a war of self-defense. This campaign was being fought purely for the spoils of another nation that was becoming nearly as powerful as their own. The story goes – and while I hope this is true, I cannot verify it – that at a pivotal point in the battle, the first line of defense simply used their shields to keep away the innocent but forced enemy, while the second, third, and forth battle-lines turned around and slew their evil commanders (who stayed in the back). At the signal, the first line teleported behind the other three lines of soldiers, who were bowing their heads and holding out their right hoof as a sign of peace and apology. I am barred from any more information about this peculiar revolt, but I do know that two years after the battle, that nation was the Alicorn Empire’s largest ally.
The third uprising, though the shortest-lived, had the largest effect upon the genealogy of the entire populace of the planet itself. Within two years of the last revolt, possibly as revenge, the Ruling class began hoarding the food-stores for themselves around winter-time. The starvation itself was bad enough for the commons, but when the Senators – and even the King himself – began accusing them of being ignoble and too demanding of the Ruling class, they truly felt the war which was waged upon them. One of the only recorded quotes from these speeches to mock the starving populace is a small sentence fragment which sparked this morbidly honorable response. The head of the Senate is recorded to have said, “…Perhaps being more humble might help your hunger?” At this, to function as a representative for the people, Atticus returned to offer his aid in the fight. As everything he attempted did, it succeeded with flying color.
Atticus assembled every pony – and I truly mean every pony in the Alicorn Empire, including some allies – and had them all stand staring at this evil mare, the leader of the Senate. The leader of the Commons began his speech to the Senator, “How do we show our humbleness?” to which the mare replied, already shaken up by the staring of thousands, “To lay your powers down and accept what comes to you from your superiors.” Atticus’ response, as his responses always did, blew everyone away. He came to the conclusion that – though it may be a mistake in the end – in order for his friends to eat, he must take away all of his abilities. Therefore, Atticus, by his own self-sacrifice, became the first Land-pony. The best of those in the crowd who were still Alicorns, gave away all of their powers for the greater good of the Commons. Those who were simple Unicorns, though many tried to, were not able to muster enough magic to remove their own horn. Those who were Pegasi – though by their nature wanted the most to sacrifice for the rest – had no magic to even try and remove their wings. Therefore, according to the myth, this is why the Land-pony is so hard-working and reliable. Their bloodlines began with true heroes, giving up everything for the cause of every other types of ponies.
The head of the Senate immediately opened up the food stores to the public and offered herself up for punishment, thereafter becoming a Unicorn.
Considering these events, Atticus became a world-wide legend. This statement, however, may not be so figurative. Most legends, as is the case with Atticus, are so satisfying, that to scrutinize it for details and falsehoods would seem almost cynical. Be this as it may, those who tell such stories must know if they are speaking of truth or myth.
I was once taught at a young age that the way to solve any problem is to break it down into its individual parts, and examine which part, like a link in a chain, was too weak that the chain collapsed. We should, then, examine each distinguished character trait of this Atticus. One may, of course, note the absurd levels of perfection attributed to this Alicorn. Such greatness speaks to the idea that he would seem to have no faults at all! The great task of having no faults, I believe, has naught to be achieved by any man (I assume the same case is true for Native Equestrians). Therefore, let us begin the scrutinization of his complete and wholeness in virtue.
In the Second Punic War, there was an enemy (Carthaginian) general who was extremely successful at his trade. So successful, mind you, that he actually fought his way to the gates of Rome itself. This general, named Hannibal, has gone down in history as the best general known to man, given what he had to work with. He even only slept and ate when his body absolutely needed it - resulting many times in him sleeping on the dirt amongst his soldiers. With such heroic qualities, there might be some admiration towards this man. Sadly, though, he held nothing at all sacred. He abused and ignored oaths taken in the name of the gods, and even was known to loot temples for the little value they contained. For every good quality in Hannibal, as Livy points out, there was a terribly worse quality. I have held that, without some divine intervention, there is no perfection. And even as Hannibal much represents some sort of a Ying-Yang situation, I also don’t think that this is entirely true. What seems the most likely is that, as Plutarch makes clear, men are ever-moving on the scale of virtues, and never remain still. To view and examine this movement is the excitement of philosophers, and the torment of Historians. Atticus, though, does not move. He remains perfectly still as the epitome of genius and height of military prowess. As far as I can tell, there is no justification of this.
Atticus, so perfect as he was, has even been said to be a god. An omni-present and all-knowing guru of absolutely everything. At one point in Celestia’s recantation of Atticus’ life, though, she mentions something which has been noted by no other historian. She spoke of an event which almost toppled the empire, between the first and second great uprisings. This perfect Alicorn, just as he was, became a different pony. The story went that “Atticus”, in a sense, un-banished himself from the gilded town. His arrival was in a time where, oddly enough, no pony at all trusted him. I did interrupt to ask the Sun-Princess why they seemed to hold anathema towards their hero. To this she said simply, “Nopony’s perfect.” I took from this that he had made some mistakes, much to his discredit, and was simply making another error by imposing himself upon the Capitol of the Empire. What she said next, though, confused me.
In her retelling of this story of Atticus - specifically the portion of the story revolving around Atticus’ entering the Capitol of the Empire - she mentioned a guard. No other pony did she mention besides this old guard-pony at the city gates and Atticus. I wrote this off as odd, but not of importance. After she had finished the entrance and the small demonstration raised by this guard, she changed his name. Celestia seemed to simply transfer the honor of the name Atticus to the guard-pony, and renamed the old Atticus as “the Tyrant.” What seems to have occurred, much to my surprise, is that this guard-pony became Atticus. The tyrant was quickly stopped, and only two lives were lost - ironically two of the worst senators at that time (Crassus and Aeschylus).
Just as I mentioned in my first book, some authors choose not to re-tell something which has already been told by another. While this is normally done for the sake of respecting the one who has already recorded those events, the result of this, is that there is only one telling of a historical event. As anyone (or any-pony) could see, you cannot have one single source of a historical truth. Because only Celestia mentioned this uprising, I felt as though it would be wrong to list it as a “great” uprising, but thought her bluntly changing the names was of significance.
If one were to, as I have, note the dates and how incredibly long this Alicorn’s life lasted, there would be confusion. Confusion, however, has never remained for long in the minds of teachers, speakers, and writers (historians especially). These men, or ponies in this case, will often successfully avoid jumping to the, “first conclusion” or to their “assumptions.” They do, however, jump to the farthest conclusion. In other words, they would come to the most complicated and most difficult to refute conclusion which they could, though often still completely wrong. My sources upon Atticus seem to differentiate on possible explanations for this phenomenon. Acies and Luna (I think I should mention that Luna often enjoys Acies’ work) agree that Atticus was a family name, and that if someone was “Atticus”, they were actually, “an Atticus”. While this would make sense with most of the storyline of Atticus, thanks to Celstia’s addendum, it does not. I understood from Celestia that this guard-pony had no relation to this tyrant. How could “the tyrant” simply lose the name “Atticus” to a random pony, were it a token family name?
Princess Twilight, and Scribere both seem to think that Atticus was a tad more fiction than fact. They agree that there was once a truly great “Atticus”, who was present during the first uprising. This Atticus being who every subsequent "Atticus" is named after subsequently. They think that after he had died, there were some ponies holding his memory and holding similar values as him for the sake of his cause. Again, because of Princess Celestia’s addition to the story, we find a flaw in the theory. “The tyrant”, was at one point called “Atticus”. He was truly called Atticus by all those who knew him. If those who were called “Atticus” were simply ponies who agreed with the virtues of the first Atticus, then why was it accepted that this pre-tyrant was called Atticus at all? What I’ve taken from the story which Celestia told, is that even before the tyrant invaded the Capitol of the Empire, he was becoming progressively more evil. If, as Scribere and Twilight hold, the only tie to the name "Atticus" for a pony was the personal values of that pony, then the tyrant would have lost the name "Atticus" long before he invaded the Capitol. This tyrant seems to only lose his name when another pony is willing to fight against him for his crimes. Thereafter the righteous one, the guard-pony, was named "Atticus."
While Celestia never commented upon who "Atticus" truly was, I believe that this name was simply a title. As for the transfer of this title from one pony to another, the selection of who receives the title was decided by who deserves it. While many titles in Terraria were decided by whose son or daughter you were, this title was passed to those with the values of that first Atticus. In this regard, Twilight and Scribere are correct that the name held the importance of good values. Their critical error was almost unnoticeable. The mistake lied in the trivial difference between being named "Just" versus being described with the adjective "just." In their theory, there was a group of ponies who held the first Atticus' values, and kept his memory by their leader's name/title. Whatever, thereafter, this leader decided to do, "Atticus" decided to do. If, as the pair states, the act of 'being Atticus' revolves around being described as Atticus-like in virtue, then why was his title kept despite his immoral behavior prior to invading the Capitol?
My theory is as follows. If one were to think of the name "Atticus" as receiving the keys to the gates of a wealthy city, all else would fall to place. These great keys would be given to the most suitable recipient/manager available. Just as the ancient political office of "Key-Holder" or "Keeper of the Keys", didn't simply go away with the death of the Key-Holder, so too does the title never go away. This title was never given to the son of the previous Key-Holder, but instead to the next suitable manager of the keys. If one Key-Holder became un-trustworthy at one point, though, he was not immediately replaced. The current king would have to search through those whom he trusted, and select the next best Key-Holder. This does, in fact, make sense with Celestia's addendum to the life of Atticus. When the tyrant was still "Atticus", wherever he was outside of the Capitol, there were simply none proven good enough to take his place with the title. When, however, the tyrant entered into the Capitol and was opposed by that simple-guard-pony, there was
The final great uprising, as I've said, brought about the Fall of the great empire. The Atticus (as he will be referred to from now on), in his glory, sacrificing his own magic and flight for the good of the rest of the ponies, led those he was representing to do the same. Only a few who were not present retained their powers. Certainly there must have been some Alicorns which were traveling or imprisoned during this time, which did not receive the honour of attending the Atticus' glorious mass sacrifice. Those few, as we will find later on, are rumored to have placed many pivotal systems into motion - without which, the Native world would not look or be nearly the same. As I mentioned before, with the leader of the ruling class's surrender to guilt, the worst of the high class was stripped of their Alicorn status, and reduced to either Pegasus or Land-pony status, to match their personal crimes. With this blanket punishment upon the most evil of the ruling class, a large issue was raised, for the most hated of them all were the most essential to the planet's life. Those who moved the celestial bodies, in fact, were downgraded to a pitifully lesser degree than the rest of the ruling class, and their distinctive bloodline eventually came to be known as one of shame, and was avoided by all nations.
By committing their sins against the populace, the necessary "prime movers" earned their punishments respectively, and could not be granted any leniency due to their roles in the planet's cycles. Where would the empire's legendary justice lie, if they were spared the due payment? Such a desperate act would have been much more tragic than any national defeat at the hands of an enemy! If there was ever a time more in need of the nation's wisdom and unnatural talent for creativity, I would be hard pressed to unearth the tales of it. This empire was coming to it's end, as everypony knew in the time, due to a series of prophecies (which I still do not fully understand) which declared the indications of the Fall. Knowing this, these ponies simply made their own disintegration as pleasant as possible, not only for themselves, but for the rest of their world.
With the elimination of the Alicorn Empire, came the question of just who was to move the sun, moon, and stars. With the majority of the Natives having lost their Alicorn abilities, very few remained who could still carry out this vital task. Those who still could offer their suddenly-rare services, did with great pride, as the highest order of duty obtainable. Given the time of confusion and lack of respectable leadership, the Atticus was looked to as a sort of king and leader of the commons. Under his guidance, a temporary solution was brought up involving the remaining Alicorns to take turns, or 'shifts' in groups of two, with one managing the sun, and the other the moon and stars. This system, though invented as a temporary solution, kept in practice for many years. Though many things happened while this took place unrelated to the issue of the movement of the celestial bodies, the Atticus made it his personal mission to maximize the efficiency and minimize the effort required, for the movement of the sun, moon, and stars.
Many spells did he invent and perfect, it is said, that have made their way into the most common of the arcane used today by Alicorns and common Unicorns alike. Luna in particular, in her frequent studies of magic, has attributed many great things to that Atticus especially, in the days following the Fall. There is much to say of him, and the astounding situations which he played a vital role in, but I shall save those stories for their proper time. For now, though, it is suffice to take note of his presence as the first Atticus A.T.F., and to make clear his intention to simplify the arcane for the good of the "Prime Movers" to move the stars and moon, and for the common pony in kind.
With the celestial bodies moving on their respective schedules again, and the flow of horrified foreign dignitaries at an end, the process of sorting out the fallen empire to it's inhabitants began. The prior soldiers, instead of, on pains of banishment, guarding their victimizers, they returned home to their families and guarded them. the commoner's life never actually changed, besides perhaps, being able to eat. The ruling class was no more, and, besides the few who repented for their hateful ways, fell to beggars on poor streets.
I feel like I should address here a large controversy, and one which should not exist. No chaos ever truly reigned in these days, despite Scribere's remarks upon the "dissolving of every form of societal standard." While the statement would seem to lend itself to mean that every pony was 'for themselves', no such record exists of destruction, so likely her intention in the comment is to say that complex society seemed to reform itself from the ground up, with what existed before in the empire, "dissolving." Indeed a great loss was felt, but in kind with the empire's docile nature of true kindness, no anger or revolt ever resulted from it.
Besides the arcane, this first A.T.F. Atticus did well to raise public support, not for himself, but for one another. His points were accurate in every instance, and he often made references to the body as an analogy for the refugees from the fallen empire. A great sense of awe this inspires in me, as how both Plutarch speaks of a speech like this, as well as, should my memory serve me, many great poets - that a hand cannot say to the liver, "I have no use for you." The hand may, indeed, never see the use of the liver - but the body to whom the hand belongs, does. Without the liver, the body would have many different problems, resulting in the body's demise. Speeches similar to this, to unite the populace, had wondrous effects upon an already nearly-perfect bunch of ponies, resulting in an array of familial lines which still exist to this present day in some form or another, and legendary friendships which have lived on for generations in both tales and an abundance of artwork dedicated to such perfect bonds. Through the removal of their protecting walls, in their bonds of tribulation, they found a joyous time rivaling the Pax Augusta (Peace of Augustus), in which the whole of the Roman empire was safe from all harm, and kept truly safe by the glorious men who stood at arms to, by their shield-wall, take the blow for the rest of Rome. Without the Terrarian war-like manner of handling things, they found that special peace only obtainable by friendship and kindly love for one another. Much was required, and much was done, to create and keep operable this golden peace enjoyed by so many, and the details I shall go into in another book.
"The image which the puzzle bore was wiped clean," Celestia puts it, "yet the pieces remained unmoved." The Standard of the prime Empirical force still stood high upon the gate-posts in front of the capitol building. Ambassadors, though acting more as newsmen to the neighboring nations than as anything else, remained in their assign embassies. The king's throne, though empty, remained without the stains of blood or marks of battle. In front of the great temples, and the capitol itself, the empire's former guards still bowed their heads in respect. Were you deaf, that you might evade the deafening sounds of silence, and had you missed the Attican sacrifice, you would have seen nary a single difference. Sadness reigned, yet a hopefulness and excited wondering filled the hearts of all of the remnants of the empire - curious of what was to come next.
For the first years of not formally existing, the empire was still referred to abroad as the Alicorn empire, despite the lacking of Alicorns. Those inside the empire's former shell, however, faced a large challenge. Many of the younger generation wished to restart the empire. A goal filled with good and venerable intention - though with a rebellious undertone. The Atticus had no such intention, and rather wished solely to find a permanent solution to the issue of the solar and lunar cycles. Yes, renewing the king and queen system of before would work for a short time, but there were so few Alicorns remaining in the empire, that no chances of Alicorn bloodlines becoming corrupt (and then having their powers stripped by the punishments) could be allowed. What the Atticus intended to find (and aided greatly in finding), as we have seen enacted in Celestia, a method to minimize the effort required to move the celestial bodies, allowing it to be done by simply one Alicorn. Due to the issue of possible 'blueblood' corruption of morals before this could be completed, the Atticus was extremely worried about the king and queen system becoming remade in the empire. So began this war of attrition between the younger and more anxious bunch, and the wise Atticus.
No battle with the sword was held between the two figurative camps, but just like most civil wars, it was with the use of propaganda and childish insults. The foremost of these were accusations of him wishing to remain the makeshift king of the populace and him being jealous of the power of the kings, superior to his own power. The Atticus, despite the accusations, stayed to his research and teachings of unison and respect - to those who would listen . The more patriotic and docile the empire remnant, the more likely they were to want to rebel against the Atticus and reform their once-great home. In the words of the Lunar princess, "What else could be expected of them?" Quite the paradise had their forefathers constructed, and though none of it was physically ruined, it felt empty to all who saw it - as though it were merely a phantom of what it was before. Waiting, of course, to be put to use again.
So impressive was this emptiness, that those who remained near great landmarks with the Standard of the Alicorn empire decorating them, fell into the camp against the Atticus almost unanimously. As more saw again and again the wonders of the great nation now past, more and more wished to recreate it. Those who could write or give speeches, did so for the rebuilding of the great empire. This propaganda spread, not only abroad to the Natives in neighboring regions, but to those who were trusted of the Atticus. One friend of the Atticus, Scribere tells us, went so far as to spit upon the Atticus' hooves in disgust, as though he had been personally wronged by the poor leader.
The one thing holding these fools back from damning the Alicorn race to a removal of their powers, was a stark lack of Alicorns in their cause! Each Alicorn remaining in existence had been recruited into the Attican system. Without at least one Alicorn stallion and one Alicorn mare, no king and queen could move the cosmos - the largest reason so many surrounding nations paid such great respect to the empire. As fate would seem to have it, two Alicorns who were partnered up as one of the shifts to move the celestial bodies in the Attican system, a stallion and a mare, seem to have fallen in love with each other, and similarly with greed. They abandoned the Atticus and blatantly walked into the former palace of the king and queen. As the Alicorns declared their roles, enabling the actual initiation of the restarted empire, I would imagine that the cheers of the crowds of supporters were deafening.
Though the first two had certainly cared more for the sudden glory than for the lasting effects, the other Alicorns under Attican influence knew even made them an endangered variation of Natives . For a taste of this publicity which the king and queen stole, though, slowly but surely, nearly all of the remaining Alicorns abandoned the Atticus and his honourable solution, in preference to being popular and beloved in the ruling class. Two Alicorns remained, however, a stallion and mare. They remained as fate would duly seem to have it, to keep one last line of the perfect type of Native, and for them to remain loyally alongside the Atticus. All this, while the Atticus and his followers mourned in sad silence at the loss of those ponies, not only due their eventual punishment for selfishness being nearly completely assured by their choice to leave, but for the similar assuredness of their moral degradation.
With the reestablishment of the ruling class, came the reestablishment of the militant class to guard them. Though many of the military and guard class was in full support of the new empire, many opted out of their formal roles in the political society, and remained guarding their families. Since many still alive could recall freshly the end of the previous empire, I would likely have remained similarly guarding my family, that I would not be enslaved again by those whom I was forced to protect! Those that did choose to serve their new-found royalty, were nearly doubly more likely to be power-hungry, though, since those that cared more for justice remained with their families. In this way, we see just why the once-pure fighting force, once willing to slaughter their own commanders to save their innocent enemies, became the dissolute and abusive bunch that it is known for being in the years following the re-establishment. That any ponies at all even allowed such dissolute and obviously power-hungry thieves to sit on the venerated chair is a mystery, but I suppose it speaks to the foolishness of the majority in those days.
Many have called it karma. The divine judgment and exaction of justice which haunts or blesses us all. That the evil ruler, so loved and rewarded by his fellow victimizers, falls to horrible parasitic infection rotting his flesh as he breathes, is no coincidence. No coincidence is it that the rich man, cursing the poor beggar to his face, is a beggar himself within the month. As the years progressed, the most corrupt of those Alicorns fell to their respective punishments by how they handled their power, and those who kept up in their ways afterwards were banished. The king and queen of their new empire were both eventually made Unicorns, humiliated, and banished from the very empire they simply walked up to and claimed. Before all of this took place, "The Fates" as Virgil would refer to it, gave these petty thieves a chance to show how they would rule if given the chance. Those Fates, in their leniency in delaying the damnation, only made the punishments of the royals all the worse, and my job all the more entertaining.
