Notes on Translation and Historicity
It’s generally regarded that the story of Dawn Treader is a creation myth which borrows from various other mythical and historical personages, including the Six Princesses common to the latter days of the ‘Age of Magic’ tradition of storytelling. Given the especial difficulty of translating names, this has led to a number of arguments I wish not to rekindle (for instance, the common claim that the one who places a geis upon Treader is the Dowager-Princess Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Celestia), and so I’ve resorted to the use of titles wherever possible.
Calling this story a ‘creation myth’ is a controversy in itself, as some object to it as part of that category of fable, and others reject it as mythical in the first place. Against the former, I’d argue that the nature of the story is one of change and creation, even though it doesn’t attempt anything so grandiose as a complete explanation of the cosmos, and it implies that storytellers of the past had some suspicion or means of knowing the discrepancies between the age of our planet and its star. Although it doesn’t govern the workings of the heavens, it nevertheless implies where we are now.
As for the latter objection, oral history is largely impossible to chart, but modern dating methods have established that the earliest known tablets mentioning Dawn Treader were written anonymously in 62 CE, at least a thousand years after she was claimed to live. Many scholars studying in the tradition of the ‘Age of Magic’ believe that Dawn Treader was a true historical personage, while others believe that there truly was an Age of Magic in which the events recounted by the tablets are literally true, and that other, better accounts were wiped out by the ending of magic. It’s not my place to tell ponies what they should or shouldn’t believe, but in my earnest professional opinion, there is no reason to think that these stories are any more likely than those of Star Swirl the Bearded or Spike the Dragon.
The theme of this myth is one of the struggle against inevitability. I find it personally an uplifting one, of the possibility for ponies to accomplish great things in the name of high principles, and have their destinies tattooed on their flanks for all the world to see. Its historicity may leave much to be desired, but it’s a fantastical thing to imagine. Reading the translation made by Annalist Harptone as a foal inspired me to my calling as a historian of stories, and it’s held a special place in my heart ever since. Engaging with it, trying to put it into the language i think is truest to the grand meaning of the original, has been one of the most rewarding projects of my career.
So I hope you’ll forgive my intrusion, and my request to take this not as a holy story but as an inspiring fiction on those unknown realms now lost to us, as I let you get onto your reading.
Yours,
-Stardust Palynologist, 4323
How Dawn Treader Was Inducted Into the Illuminati
Listen, spirits of the air and water, spirits of fire and earth, and sprits of the aether through which light and darkness proliferate into the hearts and minds of the living, to the plea of this storyteller, to recount namelessly the deeds and fate of Dawn Treader, and of her Voyage across the world for the sake of restoring it to a sun. Let not my tongue slip, though it be not as graceful as the magic of a unicorn, and let not the impressions I create wear away before their time by dint of the wind, or be obscured from the eye by abyss, or be lost to the hand of a foe or rival.[1]
In the eventide days of ponykind, once magic had begun to seep from the world and the alicorns did not rule as surely as before, the Sun Goddess was exsanguinated of essence with the slow death of her demesne. It was learned in those days that an alicorn shall die when their bailiwick escapes the world, and all shall go with the end of magick. Such was known to her successor, whose demesne was magick unto itself, and when she knew the Sun Goddess beyond help she convened with the Moon Goddess to save the ponies both had ruled in their long lifetimes.
It was known to her, as a pooling of all wisdom, that the moon’s place had forever been in service to the sun, shining its light during its absence. Thus, with the right incantations and the assistance of the Moon Goddess, she brightened it by magick so that it would neither wax nor wane, but dim and brighten and provide warmth according to the rhythms and needs of ponies. And so, although the Sun Goddess passed, and the Moon Goddess fell ill and slumbered for a great time, the kingdoms were secured in twilight, and thus the ruler of magic was known as the Illuminator for her ingenious modulation of the darkness.
So passed many hundreds of seasons, until the movement of the moon became normal to ponies and the sun was a curious patch of dark in the heavens. [3] The Illuminator continued to rule, and there were wars, and competitions in magickal power, and the various doings of life among her kingdoms and the realms of her five sisters. So many lived and passed without knowledge of the sun, and they did not miss it.
Dawn Treader was a unicorn of swift mind and bright complexion, her coat composed of orange hues and her eyes red like those gemstones which lie under moss in deep caverns. She grew among the Orchard Lands and did not know a mother,[2] being raised instead by the tenders of the Orchards, and gaining their instruction in the ways of earth ponies and the appropriate worship of the fruits in drink and song. Though she was not aware of the greater workings of the world, she did not want for extravagant things, and was only ambushed in life by her desire for understanding.
As she grew, she received further instruction from a fellow unicorn, the patient and kindly Ruby Serenade, who had been cast out for the performance of forbidden magicks.[4] It was this tutor who imparted to Dawn education in the ways of numbers, writing, poetry, and the progression of day into night, which took many seasons. Upon learning the final of these, there was a bright flash unknown to Dawn’s experience, and she was marked with the image of a sun in a star, which she understood not. None could tell her its meaning, for in such days the marks had grown rare among the common folk.
Upon hearing of this mark, and of its fire within fire, the Illuminator summoned her with six and ten of the royal military as conveyance. Ruby Senerade warned her to keep her wits outside the lands of the Orchards, and to stay guarded against the myriad dangers of the world. With various kisses to that beloved tutor she left, and upon their wingbeats the military escorted her to the palace, which was laid at the crest of a mountain and overlooked all the kingdoms of the world.
Dawn was brought into the royal chambers, to the throne of the Illuminator, which was whiter than any alabaster, and studded with amethysts. Its occupant was brighter and more decorated still, and in her resplendence the unicorn was humbled, and she found herself bowing at the neck to the ruler. At this, the alicorn began her speech:
“My court extends as far as moonlight’s ray
And stands against the turbulence of time
Til magicks yet to come are passed away
The world-itself alighting from its prime
Some time remains before that barren end
I’ve summoned you to aid the land you hail
I geis you to stand with me - Ascend!
Elseways the world you love is doomed to fail.”[5]
Dawn replied:
“Your Majesty, I ask your pardon, please,
I learned of many things, but none of these.
My essence bears no haste to see an end.
What medium would you have me ascend?”
The Illuminator spoke:
“The medium of flesh that crawls the ground
To live in one intense but tiny flight;
My subject, you would shudder at the sound
To know the joy your namesake brought to night
No mortal now can recollect its shape
And even in my mind, its kisses fade
But soon it may return, the land to drape
If circumstance and kismet keep us staid.”
Dawn answered:
“Your Majesty, your memories I’ve not
But if my lot were cast, it be my lot.
So many things are cloudy to me still:
What would you have me do by geis’ will?”
The Illuminator continued:
“I walked the lands with sisters fore I rose
And by my hoof all five ascended, too.
I cannot lone assist you at the close
They must impart their blessings unto you.
Go find them, I’ll incant for you a map,
Each one has been away for many years
But when you’ve circled through your journey’s lap
You’ll find salvation, once so distant, nears
When alicorns are one behind your aim
Then Dawn, sweet Dawn, you’ll lead us to your name.“
So Dawn was given a magical device in the form of a map of parchment, and pledged her loyalty to the Illuminator, becoming a member of her retinue and an agent of her will until such time as she ascended as her equal, which was known by the name Illuminati. As an Illuminatus, her geis was accepted willingly, and it made a fire within her heart like that of her yet-unknown namesake.
[1] Such invocations are rarer than one might think, and often of shorter breadth; it was believed that calling upon the spirits was impolite if one didn’t fully mean it.
[2] It’s unclear if this line refers to Treader being abandoned at birth or is implying some more fantastical conception. Certainly, both options have inspired many artists, most famously when they were combined in the anonymous woodcut Sapling Beyond Measure, which portrays her sleeping nestled among apple boughs as though she were one of the fruits.
[3] Some point to this section as evidence that the text understands stellar astronomy to a level comparable to modernity, and thus that Equestria did truly orbit another sun at some point and see its demise. When specific points are brought up that poke holes in these claims, like the implosion or extremely gradual cooling of dying stars, such ponies will generally respond that its death was accelerated or contained by the magic of the Goddess for the sake of her subjects.
[4] What these “forbidden magicks” are is never stated, presumably because the knowledge of them is illegal, and in many versions Ruby Serenade’s exile is caused by fraud or theft instead of knowledge. Curiously, especially for such a minor character, in no known version is she in the Orchard Lands without having been sent there as punishment.
[5] All speech-poetry is translated by my close associate and good friend, Cursive Curator. There has been the suggestion that these lines are meant to be sung, as in lyric poetry, but even if this is true no documentation includes notes on how to translate them back into music.
