Chapter 6 - History

After several moments of silence I began examining my surroundings. Every muscle in my body ached from the day's excursions, but my mind was far to cluttered for sleep just yet and I dreaded whatever dreams might come.

Walking around the room examining the shelves lining the walls, I found several dried plants I recognized by smell and many more that I did not. There were also a lot of jars and containers scattered about that held various liquids and powders that I wasn't about to poke at, but at least one of them was familiar and after examining it as best I could without magic, I helped myself. Truly one must wonder how an Earth Pony or Pegasus can manage without magic, simply grasping a cup is difficult enough let alone dipping it into a water barrel.

The shelves also held a number of scrolls and a precious few books, and after circling the room a few times my curiosity got the better of me. Disappointingly, all but one of them were written in a language I didn't know, and the one that I could read was only interesting given its company and not it's subject; it was a history of Equestria, 'proudly printed in Fillydelphia' according to the cover. Being overly familiar with the subject I put it back in its place amused that someone in little Filly' had set up a printing press, but after spending a few minutes checking and rechecking Vair and wandering around trying not to look at my horn I took it back out and settled down to read near the fire.

The story was comfortingly familiar. Starting with the various tribes of the old world and the great blizzard that destroyed everything they had built together, it told of how the survivors had fled across the frozen sea seeking the Alicorns for guidance and help. Finding the land of the Alicorns as empty and barren as their own, the wanderers had been left to their own devices to struggle for survival and to recreate some semblance of their lost society.

While most of them had been builders and farmers before the blizzard, a certain few had been powerful or wealthy ponies in the old world and wished to establish a society centered around themselves; they felt that they alone had the necessary experience to rule and direct others. Those who were to be ruled in such a system saw no need to share resources with those who did not contribute anything in return, however; an Earth Pony does not need a Pegasus to tell him how to grow carrots, so why should he have to share his crop if it means he himself has to go hungry? At the same time, the Unicorns among the group felt that despite the peril it was preposterous to establish anything without first scouting the land for surviving Alicorns and failing that, for the best possible location to build a city. The Pegasus of course questioned the need to be grounded at all and wished to establish a city above the frozen wastes where they would be warm and safe from anything below.

After a few failed attempts at working out their differences and following the failure of the first crop in the new land, the three races fractured with the emergence of strong leaders in each and thus the seeds of the various pre-equestrian empires were sowed. With some small ember of pride I read again how the young Starswirl and his companions had eventually reunited the three races and founded the unified kingdom of Equestria, convincing all to live once again in harmony under the guidance of Royal Sisters, the last living Alicorns who had been found in the ruins of the royal castle of Canterlot.

With fading consciousness I read of the younger sisters famed manticore friend and the older's tact when dealing with the various rulers they were to oversee, of reluctant Zebras and fearsome Griffins and so on. This was all recent history, my father himself was only a generation removed from an all Earth Pony colony on the edge of Whitetail woods; his marriage to a Pegasus is still something of a scandal on the more traditional side of the family.

Reaching the end of the chapter I hazily added to it in my mind, filling in Starswirl's backstory where the book had skipped over parts and expanding the chapter to include all his most recent deeds and adventures and those few in which I had participated. As I finally drifted off my final thought was that it was strange how thick the remaining chapters of the book were...