Chapter 1: In a galaxy... Well, in this galaxy actually...

The Crafters were busy. By golly jingo were they busy. Universe Construction wasn't something you could throw together in 6 days using a few fancy phrases and some crap you picked out of your belly button and then spend the 7th day down the pub with a few beers congratulating yourself on a job well done.

No. Universe Construction was a fucking art form. That's why The Crafters did it. The best of the best all-powerful super-intelligent beings brought together from who knows where, hired by the reclusive being we know as God, the Supreme Being, Allah, Muhammad, Ralph Richardson et al. They were given a lengthy design brief, near enough free reign (as long as nobody put together anything using nought but pure, concentrated Evil) and a set of Terra-Formers, near-indestructible metal spheres covered in runes and dimples and imbued with enough creative energy to build billions upon billions of planets, stars, asteroids, the works. You hold one of these in your hands and think it, BOOM! Done. But it's not entirely that simple. One has to know exactly what one wants in order to get it right first time. Hence the job not being given to Bodge-It and Scarper Ltd, the local rip-off merchants.

The Crafters worked tirelessly for millennia, with no holiday or paid sick leave, (the Supreme Being supplied free tea, coffee and HobNobs and promised a seriously hefty bonus as a result) putting the Universe together. Trial and error over and over, getting the formulae right, understanding what worked best and why. Countless galaxies with untold solar systems were born, they created black holes (the Universe's waste disposal units. Well, the scrap had to go somewhere...), white holes, star constellations, base elements, the beginnings of intelligent life... It was all carefully crafted, finished down to the last molecule and polished until it shone, figuratively speaking. Like I said, a fucking art form.

But do please take note, for this next part is of the utmost importance: Terra-Formers are NEAR-indestructible. They carry a warning, an engraving in large, red letters. Something along the lines of 'DO NOT DROP ON A FORMING PLANET - OVERLOAD WILL OCCUR!' Something to do with the planet's raw energy being in flux and mixing in a Very Bad Way with the energy stored within the TF unit. The bigger the planet being formed, the bigger the mess.

This is where things got a little out of hand. And why The Crafters aren't about any more. You see, there were meant to be a few more than just the one planet that would straight away support and host the beginnings of intelligent life, but one of The Crafters got a wee bit cocky when he was putting Earth together in front of some of his peers and, you guessed it, dropped the ball...

"Oi lads, check this out!" He called, bouncing the TF Unit from one knee to the other, then up onto the back of his neck before rolling it along his outstretched arms. A few of his colleagues cheered him on, quite impressed with his balance and hand-eye coordination.

The 'sensible' one, however, had to go and jinx it... "Err, you might not wanna do that, mate. Impressive as your tricks are, there's a chance you could drop... it..."

Everyone watched in abject terror, slack-jawed and speechless as it fell towards the forming planet. One of those slow-motion moments as you face your impending doom, with everything you wish you'd said or done scrolling through your mind's eye like film credits on fast-forward.

"OH FUUUU-!" BOOOOM

Poor bastards never stood a chance. The explosion turned them to atoms instantly, rolling out wards throughout the Universe like a tidal wave of fire and killing any living being in it's wake.

Good thing he didn't drop it while he was making a sun. The Supreme Being would have been a might put out to find the whole Universe nothing but a charred mess of burnt-out planets and supernova'd stars. However, as this particular TF unit was a little iffy to begin with, something strange happened when it overloaded. Along with the resultant universe-purging shockwave, it essentially fractured reality around the solar system Earth was a part of, splitting it in two as itself was split. There were now two solar systems occupying the same space, just with one slightly out of phase with the rest of the Universe.

This solar system is home to the second Earth we know as Equus. Where things didn't quite go according to the original plan.

On Equus, the continental drift went a little squiffy for one. Fault lines ran in completely different patterns, causing the world maps of Earth and Equus to differ vastly from one another. Why different fault line patterns if they are essentially the same planet? Because neither planet had finished setting before being fractured. No biggie, really, compared to the main event.

On Earth, as we know, it was apes who did the whole evolving malarkey. Learned to walk on two legs, make rudimentary tools from what was around them, etc. etc. Makes sense. Naturally intelligent, opposable thumbs, blah blah blah...

Over on Equus, things went a little differently. Why, you ask? There's no definitive answer. However, it does have rather a lot to do with the fact that Equus ended up with the bigger half of the TF unit, which also had the substantially larger chunk of the power core. Over the millennia, the slow discharge of this core into the planet and atmosphere essentially caused the planet to take on a permanent state of overcharge, affecting everything from the weather to the natural evolution. Didn't do much for the ecosystem in the beginning...

Now comes the fun part.
Apes never evolved. The overcharging stunted their development, but accelerated that of equines, among other things. Canines also got a serving, and a few others as well. Nobody quite knows what went wrong as to how Equus ended up with the mythical creatures we know as Minotaurs, Gryphons, Dragons and all that jazz. Again, the whys and wherefores are unknown. Chance. Fate. Coincidence. Whatever. Long story short, Earth got man, Equus got... talking horses. In a range of ridiculous pastel colours. That could actively tap into the massive excess of creative energy stored within the planet itself. Along with a whole host of other frankly worrying sentient species that we need not elaborate on for fear of scaring those of a fragile disposition. Speculation is that this access to the planet's energy caused the obviously stunted growth in comparison to the equines of Earth.

As for Changelings... Let's just say somebody with far too much time on their... limb extremities decided to play god and go splicing various strands of DNA and hitting the mix with far, far too much magic. When the results turned out to be what they were, any and all notes, data and associated evidence were destroyed, and what was left after the destroying was destroyed again before being fired into the sun.

TL;DR: Why horses?

Because fuck you. That's why.

Author's Note

There. I did it. I wrote something.

Next chapter will be the introduction of the idiotic duet and how they ended up stuck in magical talking coloured horse land.

If you liked this story so far, good for you.
If you didn't, I don't give a shit. I'm not writing it for you.

If you have some proper constructive criticism to offer, please elaborate. It's been a while since I've written anything.
If you wish to simply flame for little to no reason, fuck off.

Have a wonderful day!