Chapters Before the Mane Six, the Royal Sisters, and in fact, all sentient life, began, there were the 6 Universes. Each one made completely out of a specific element: Earth, Water, Storm, Fire, Light, and Magic. The 6 Universes had no shape, no beginning, and no end. They simply existed, always have, and always will. They did not expand, for each occupied the same space, and filled all of existence at the same time, permanently separated by dimensional planes.
Now, there are things that crossed between the Universes, or else this story wouldn't go anywhere. They are beings of condensed, pure emotion, not the actual emotion, but more like a physical manifestation of it. The actual emotion is more like an ethereal force that flows through everything. Each stood for a specific emotion or thought: anger, love, joy, confusion, pride, shame, etc... These are without beginning like unto the Universes, and are either black or white, depending on if the emotion was positive or negative, chaos or order. For future reference, these are called Paragon, a physical embodiment of a single emotion. The Paragon were naturally about the size of a pony, with similar body structure. Although they could change their body into any shape, and grew in size and intensity when they absorbed magic. They are not limited by the dimensional planes or distance, and traveled between the Universes, attracted to other emotions based on their own. But, they aren't sentient as you and I think of them. Yes, they feel emotions, but lack thought and act mostly on impulse. And when the Paragon shift between dimensional planes, it makes a temporary hole where one Universe spills over onto the other.
The Universe of Earth is definitely something to behold, an endless, single mass of all types of rocks and soil. The Universe of Storm was still separate, so no other Universe had a sky, or air for that matter. The Universe of Earth was mostly solid, except for air-empty fields of gravity created by different densities in the earth in which other masses were trapped. But this effect was true for all perspectives, for super-cluster-sized planets, to just orbiting crumbs of dirt. To put it into our terms, it would be like the most complex block of Swiss cheese you've ever seen, that also happened to fill a Universe by itself. There are mountains, canyons, caves, dunes, and clouds of earth without number. But there was no plant life, since the Universe of Water was also separate.
The Universes of Storm and Magic would be next if you were rating them by complexity and interest. Although, it is a huge step down from the Universe of Earth. The Universe of Storm would be called the Universe of Air in it's most basic state, a blank, endless expanse. At one point, a Paragon must have shifted from Water to Air, creating clouds and giving the grey void some variety. So now, the Universe of Storm is filled with different clouds and pressures of gas, with brilliant flashes of lightning and powerful storms. The Universe of Magic is a black void filled with pinpoints of light. We would think of it as "space". However, the infinite number of lights aren't stars, but massive orbs of magic in a plasma-like state. The stars of magic each flared with a different color, and together made constellations.
The rest of the Universes are solid, elemental globs; not much to look at. But of course, the occasional shift between dimensional planes combined the elements and made something new. So there are always irregularities in the boundless, incomprehensibly large places, Places Without Time.
Now when a Paragon's physical body shifts between dimensions, it drags parts of it's ethereal influence behind it. And ever so often, an emotion's influence would cross paths with another. Thus, a new emotion was created from the collision between the two. Newer, and more complex than its predecessors. But very rarely would the new emotion thrive, more than likely it's two emotions would conflict so much that the new emotion would dissipate. Or if it didn't split up, it remained powerless and weak.
Even through the vastness of all the Universes, the creation of new Paragon was extremely rare. And even rarer, the stable combination of three or more emotions. However, time wasn't a factor, so eventually, multiple beings were created that felt or comprehended all emotions. They would be considered the pinnacle of the Paragon race, but were so rare that it happened a total of once in each Universe.
These six began to develop something more than pure, raw emotion due to their complexity: thought. They began to think and to learn, seeking to understand their existence and life itself. Rather than slowly chasing each other through the Universes like the Paragon, the Six would explore their Universe, wanting to learn of and use what was around them. The Six knew they were different from the others, with their emotional intricacy and control over the elements.
They could sense each other through the dimensional barriers, and developed something like kindred to one another because of their difference. Although they couldn't see or talk to each other, they knew that one day, they would be able to once they had enough magic to slip through the dimensional barriers.
The Six communicated through emotion, and thoughts attached to those emotions, since speech hadn't been developed yet. They agreed on a meeting place in the Universe of Magic, just a point in the void. If you were to put it onto a coordinate grid, it would be called 0x 0y 0z, or the origin of all following distances. Each Universe occupied the same space, so the meeting point would look different in each Universe. The Universes had no beginning, so this point was more of an arbitrary claim, that this was the start. The start of something new, life itself.
One by one, the Six gained enough magic to break through and wait for the others at their designated meeting place. The first to arrive was Earth, unless you counted Magic as first, since it didn't need to go anywhere. Fire quickly followed suit. The two began shaping a planet, something stable to stand on instead of floating around in the void. A molten core with a thick earthen shell that created enough gravity to stand on, and was safe for the others to walk on. But this planet was in no way earth-sized. It was absolutely massive, many times larger than our earth.
The next pair was Water and Storm, each claiming parts of the world by filling it with their element. Thus, the atmosphere and the oceans were created. The last to arrive was Light. The only source of light in the Universe of Magic are the distant stars, barely providing any illumination. So Light wanted to contribute something to the creation of their world, and with the help of Fire, made what we call the Sun.
Considering their masterpiece complete, the Six all converged in one of the many valleys, with high mountains that gradually sloped down into the ocean. The Six decided that this was to be their mutual ground, where they could all meet often. The rest of the planet was split loosely between elemental domains.
With their home established, the Six sought to differentiate themselves from the Paragon physically, with new forms. It took great effort and compromises from each to make a single design, incredibly complex when compared to the Paragon's bodies. This was a permanent transformation, from purely elemental to flesh and bone. When it was done, three young colts and three young mares lay exhausted on the ground, at each point in a hexagon formation.
The Pattern of Six is an important symbol for their times. The hexagon they made created a mindset among them, that they were all equal, and part of something beyond themselves. Six points in the pattern, six young alicorns of incredible power. Then, they staggered to their hooves and opened their eyes. If one was to look at this formation from an aerial view, Fire would be at the top, and then continuing clockwise, Earth, Water, Magic, Storm, and Light.
Fire's coat was a deep maroon, and he had eyes that constantly waved slowly between shades of red, orange, and yellow; much like the warm glow of a fireplace. His mane showed similar characteristics, so it always looked like a fire in slow-motion. His hair was longer around his horn and the top of his head, but was pointed back, so it made kind of a rough multi-pointed teardrop shape that flowed off into the air behind him. His tail, like his mane, was relatively short, but still came down to somewhere between his flank and hock. Fire's wings were also impressive, having the basic structure of a pegasi wing, but all the feathers flowed into long points, and waved to some unknown wind. The feathers closer to the bend in the wing looked yellow and hot, which faded into bright orange and then maroon as the feathers splayed out along the wing.
Earth had a rich, brown coat, like dirt untouched by farming. His jaw was much more square and sharp, and his entire body slightly taller and stockier than the others. Earth's eyes were a bright, lime green, a surprising contrast to all the brown. His mane was a combination between a light gray and a dull green, like the color of willow leaves from far away. His hair ended in longish spikes that fell around his neck and forehead. Even though they were technically the same age, Earth always looked the oldest, and often acted the part.
Water's coat was a very light cyan, light the shallow waters of some tropic island. Her eyes reflected the depth of the ocean through the darkest of blues. Like Fire, her wings and mane displayed very elemental-like qualities, constantly waving in majestic waves. Storm had a coat of ash-gray, and eyes like the yellow flash of lightning. Her mane always billowed and swirled in slightly-bulbous, cloud-like forms that were even an even darker gray than her coat. Storm's feathers were long, bright yellow, and jagged, another elemental quality that somehow didn't cut down on performance.
Civilization as We Know It
Here is where it began, it being Civilization as we know it. These six young ponies are the beginning, the founders of our world, our society, our values and morals, our customs, everything starts here. We would define them now as "skipping" an adolescent stage of life as we know it. The equine bodies of flesh and bone they created started at a point older than the CMC, but not quite as old as the Mane Seven, their physical age closer to the latter.
Now stripped of the liquid-like emotional communication through touch used by the Paragon, the first thing the Six developed was a language. First came symbols, drawn in the dirt, the water, or the air. The symbols stood for an emotion, with slight variations to indicate intensity. Eventually, the symbols stood for a phonetic sound, which could be combined with other symbols to make what we'd call words . The evolution of this language was by no means overnight. But of course, the Six were immortal, so the passage of time did not concern them.
It didn't take very much time for them to realize that their physical bodies had a couple of faults. They needed nourishment as they burnt energy, and a period of rest that was taken anytime. A vote was cast whether to try and fix this or not, but Earth and Water came up with a better solution. Thus, the next thing made was the concepts of "plants", "food", "drinking water", and "beds". They hadn't expected the earth and ocean to combine in such a way that made it unsuitable for drinking, so Earth made sure salt and other little debris was filtered out of the water they designated for sustenance. (This was later replaced by a freshwater lake close to their home.)
The distinction between the element itself and the pony who embodied it became confusing in their half-baked language of symbols and sound, so the Six created separate combinations of symbols and sound when referring to themselves. We would think of them now as "names". Light became known as "Lucena", Magic as "Astrum", Earth as "Terren", Water as "Aquari", Fire as "Pyrus", and Storm as "Galona".
This creation of new things and ideas continued until their world became something we'd recognize today. Even new life was created, from birds in the sky to squirrels in the trees to fish in the sea. Although, other equines had not come into existence yet. The Six loved their world, and would do anything to keep it this way. At this stage in "time", the Six would be around Mane-Seven-ish in apparent physical age, as much as an Alicorn can be. (That being, much thinner and taller.)
Still, perfection has never been a thing. The Six noticed that the living things they made had a limit on how much "time" they could see, in other words, things grew old and died. Perhaps it was here that the Six began to think about "time" and "life". Astrum figured out it was their immense stores of magic that made them what he called "immortal". Theoretically, if they poured enough of their magic into another animal, it would become "immortal" like them. Assuming, of course, the animal could bear such power.
A certain order in nature arose, the "circle of life", for lack of a better phrase. If you described it as a pyramid of predators and prey, the Six would be their own little orb about ten feet above the pyramid. They understood that the destruction of life was necessary for the survival of another, like a wolf that hunts down a deer to feed its young. But, the un necessary destruction of life was not tolerable. This was noted in an incident when dragons became to be.
