Fire in the Leaves, Fire in the Mountains

Celestia blinked.  She stood upon a low mountain, eyes squinting in the bright noon day sun.  This was like no memory spell she had ever experienced, let alone cast.  She could smell the air, and before her on the mountain, small, winged reptilian creatures made their nest upon jagged rocks.  Walking closer, she noticed they were all brilliantly colored, had broad, leathery wings with an astonishing variety of colors and markings.  They had strange, intelligent eyes that blazed bright blue, silver, orange and other colors.  Some had as few as two horns, or as many as five.  Though they had many attributes that were different, all had metallic, reflective scales covering their triangular heads and went down to their tails. They look a bit like wyverns, Celestia thought to herself. But the wings...the colors are all different.  These must be some forgotten ancestor of them.  They are...lovely.  Suddenly, the whole colony bolted from the nest, and in a shifting mass of sparkling, blazing glory and color, they swirled past her; a living mass of veritable transmogrification, and she reveled in its glory.  As it passed, she noticed strange plants and creatures with her on the mountain slope.  Nothing in the scenery looked like anything she recognized, and while some of the flora and fauna look similar to what she was used to, it seemed...far more primitive.  With a start the flock came back around her, roaring in a mass of wings and chattering, and she turned with it, as they obscured her view.  The flock cleared, leaving Celestia standing on a cliff dropping off almost as severely as her jaw.  The sight that lay before her took her breath away, as she struggled to recognize the enormity of the spectacle before her.

A massive canyon, larger than anything she had ever seen, stretched out into the horizon, to her left and right.  Down before her, a massive white citadel larger than any single thing she had ever seen soared mightily into the sky, filling her vision and its bulk a physical presence in her mind that dropped her to the ground in sheer awe.  It dominated the skyline of a similarly massive city by an inordinate percentage, and Celestia could not catch her breath, as the structure that appeared before her could simply not exist.  The castle was carved seemingly out of the same piece of a white stone more beautiful and pure than any material she had ever seen; it stretched into the sky, piercing the clouds and continued up until the sky began to obscure it.  It sloped down at the base, and spread out in three directions like sharp petals on an inverted flower; it was the most beautiful building she had ever seen, and made her castle look like a shanty by comparison.  She noted several titanic domed structures and sharp, gorgeous sloping spires placed about the massive city beneath her, and the intricate network of walkways and bridges that extended many layers below her.  Everywhere, ponies of every color walked and played, talked and haggled.  It was a city vibrant and alive beyond all belief, and she was completely overwhelmed by the sight.

Then, after recovering from her initial shock, she recognized the distinct difference in the sun, as well as the air.  The light was…brighter somehow, and the air was clearer that it had ever been in her long memory.  She noticed with a start that almost all of the ponies she could see walking about were unicorns.  Occasionally, she would see a Pegasus or two flying around, delivering messages or policing the streets.  She did not see any earth ponies.  She recognized a central causeway, and after testing her wings, she flew down to it, taking in the clamor of the street vendors and strange machines that populated the great walkway,  and promptly shouted and fell over when an orange unicorn stallion simply walked right though her.

"That’s right, this is a memory he’s showing me." She said to herself, picking herself up off the ground with a severe blush. “I wonder where or when this is…” She walked down the causeway, marveling at the huge population of this metropolis, and the vibrant hubbub of the afternoon market.  She had, on many occasions prior to Luna's insurrection, gone out into the streets under the disguise as a common unicorn mare, getting the feel and mood of her kingdom, hearing whispers and rumors.  But here she was, in a city more grand than anything she had ever come close to conceiving of, and in a time more ancient than her or her mother's sun.

Her reverie was abruptly interrupted by the sounding of a loud, long horn and drums that sounded more like a zebra battle call than the announcing of regality.  She looked around, and saw all the ponies around her groveling down on the ground, after clearing a path down the center of the street.  She turned and saw Fen-ka Shal, and two other alicorns walking down the street, flanked by what could only be their royal guard, although they wore strange black masks that did not allow them to see.

She was shocked to see the alicorns next to him; the one on his right was a massive, white stallion with green and white hair.  He absolutely glowed, and with a start she realized that not only did he have three horns, but his wings were artificial, and mechanical creations at that.  He was adorned with the same leg crowns, but had emeralds inset on them, and wore mostly dark evergreen and gold  This differed greatly from the clothes of much of the citizens around her, who were clothed either in bright whites, golds, and oranges or deep black, blue, or purple.  Two of the three of his horns soared up behind his main unicorn horn in a regal manner, which was complimented by the angry look on his face..

The alicorn to his left was a true alicorn, and obviously female.  She had a very sad look on her face, and with a start she realized she could see stars in her eyes and mane.  She could not place, or even focus on the color of her fur, as its existence seemed to shift almost before her eyes.  She had deep black robes and clothing to match her attitude, it seemed, and felt a hollowness and stillness around her.  She gasped in horror as she saw earth ponies who were obviously slaves behind them, with determined smiles and grimaces on their face as they carried a large ark behind them; it was solid gold, and must have weighed an enormous amount.  Despite being large enough only to fit a filly inside, its beautiful craftsmanship and fantastic fractal designs, runes and busts made it seem quite a bit larger, if only from seeming more important.

She was immediately drawn to the three alicorns in the front, and fell in step with the large green one on the right, blushing a little at how…uncomfortably attractive he was.

As she walked along the street, she saw the same thing with the citizens everywhere.  The vast majority of citizens here were unicorns from what she could see, and many of the pegusi and earth ponies were either working directly for the crown, or, in the case of most of the earth ponies, servants or slaves to the unicorns.  She looked back at Fen-ka Shal’s entourage, and was struck at how unchanged he looked, with the exception of his lack of injury.  His deep red fur rustled in the wind, and Celestia's attention again returned to his mysterious companion.

She seemed to have a distracted and somewhat forlorn look on her face, although she did not seem pained.  Unlike the others, she actually wore a crown, and with a start she recognized that the basic design was quite a bit like Luna's only a bit larger, but made from the same ebony metal.  She was remarkably tall; she was taller than Fen-ka Shal, but she very slight and elegant.  Her leg crowns and royal shoes were crafted from the same ebony as the crown, and she marveled at how lovely it looked on her, despite the color.  The only who had ever been able to work with ebony apart from her sister was their father, and he had left while Luna was still an infant.  She blinked again, and turned her attentions to the strange stallion to the right of Fen-ka Shal, who was the largest of the group by quite a large percentage.

The green pony next to her, despite his inherent beauty and grace, was a massively muscular stallion, and had a palpable tension in his muscles, and a face that held barely concealed rage and disgust.  She gulped and looked at the red alicorn.  He looked content, and was talking to the mare to his left about something she couldn’t hear.  She was staring off into the distance, and looked like she barely had any interest in anything at all.  She looked so sad, and with a start she realized the green alicorn was probably angry at Fen-ka Shal for neglecting the mare’s feelings.  She looked ahead, and gasped as she saw what was obviously some kind of ceremonial altar.

What held her surprise was the sheer magnitude of this structure, and the great number of magical runes and spell territories inscribed almost everywhere upon it.  It was roughly the size of her own castle with many steps leading up to the summit, and while the looming citadel in the distance was far more imposing, she still was not used to the scale of construction evidenced in this city.  She turned her attentions back to the procession.

As the earth ponies carrying the ark walked around the three alicorns, the white alicorn raised it off their backs with his magic as if it weighed nothing, and placed it upon the center of the pedestal.  Immediately, the runes activated, and she saw the alicorn dip his head down, his green and white hair obscuring his face as he pointed his horn at the ark.  With a colossal burst of white light, she saw the effects of the heat the magic he was using on the ponies surrounding him.  One of the poor unfortunate earth ponies had not gotten far away enough from the altar, and was instantly incinerated by the sheer amount of power it was giving off.  With growing horror, she watched the magic extend outward, enveloping the alicorns and the entire altar around them.  As the light subsided, Celestia blinked and saw the magic flowing outward from the now illuminated ark, which had become as bright as the sun, thrumming like a heart with a deep pulse.  She saw it spread out into every building she could see, and was amazed to see the…the POWER that flowed through everything now.  She felt life all around her, and slowly, she turned to look at the strange stallion with the green hair.

He had become blazingly bright now, his radiance a fiery green sun in the shape of a pony.  She had never felt so much…LIFE from anything, and to her surprise, his vitality and presence reached out and touched the ashes of the fallen earth pony.  Slowly, he walked towards the pile of cinders, and his light reached into the dark pile.  He breathed, and from his breath came a wind, and that wind came upon the ashes, sweeping it slowly up into the shape of a pony.

Before her eyes, the ash became flesh, and the reddish pony with green eyes blinked, and gasped as its soul once again became attached to its body.  He stared up at his savior, and fell to his knees, weeping.  The green-haired stallion smiled warmly, stroking the poor unfortunate’s hair, and whispered something into his ear.  The pony got up, and quickly galloped off into the crowd, to the hysterical embrace of his family.  Celestia felt the weight of the situation hit hard upon her heart as she saw the earth pony’s wife, a purple unicorn who bore a striking resemblance her beloved student, wail and cry into the embrace of her husband.  She gasped as she felt tears stream down her face, and felt a tenderness she hadn’t felt since Luna had returned to her.

Fen-ka Shal smiled, and walked up to the green stallion. “Brother”, he intoned playfully, “Must you always make such a show for our events? I know you could’ve waited for that one to get out in time, but you went ahead anyway knowing he could brought back.  Do you enjoy your power so much that would reinforce your godhood in the eyes of our people?” The green stallion simply smiled slyly at him, turned his head and walked back the way he came.  The female alicorn came up to Fen-ka Shal.  Now smiling from the display, she turned to him, and with the most beautiful voice Celestia had ever heard in her life, spoke to him.

“Perhaps, dear, you don’t get out and have fun as often as our beloved Tahl-va Shal.  It was him that, should you have forgotten, brought true life to your creation, and gave all these wonderful children of ours their souls.” Fen-ka Shal snorted, and looked away, looking slightly put off at his mate’s musing. “Despite his power, he has little sense of duty to our creation.  He loves them, yes, but this…fun he has; it is something pointless.  He walks out from the castle amongst the commoners, consistently advocates abolition of the caste system, and…and he actually fathered children with that mare.  Granted, it was through his blood that we have earth ponies and true alicorns, and as thankful as I am for that, having…other magic users has always felt wrong to me.   They are taught spells, runes, history, the sciences and the arts, and even trained in combat arts.  But seeing ponies so like us be afflicted with mortality…it is too much to bear for me sometimes.  Their lives are so SHORT, Velae; I look here and see a child, look away, and when I see them again they are old and infirm.  I cannot hold their hoof along the way, and when I’ve known them long enough to begin to understand them, and even like them, they are on their deathbed, and you become responsible for reuniting them with the void.   It’s painful to get involved, I don’t see how he does it.”

“Patience, my love.  Ancient as we are, our hearts are no greater or less than theirs, today’s display was evidence enough of that.  They laugh, love, and create just as you or I do, only they do it every day, and on an admittedly smaller scale.  Though our waking and our sleeping matches several of their generations, it is nothing too small to take the time to be friends with one.  I will love you all the same.” The red alicorn looked abashed, and nuzzled his mate, as they walked back the way they came.  Celestia followed them, hearing whispers of their conversation.  They sleep for centuries on end? She thought to herself. Does this mean that as I get older, I’ll sleep longer? Who will raise the sun and the moon when Luna and I fall into that cycle? Perhaps our station protects us from that occurring; I cannot possibly see the days and nights becoming longer, and the sun here does seem to be progressing normally... As a maelstrom of questions raced through her head, she stopped in her tracks as she saw where their destination was.

Much closer now, the huge citadel that had pierced the clouds had filled the entirety of Celestia’s vision.  What appeared to be a massive wall was only part of the structure she could see, and the sloping elegance of its halls extended outward in an organic fashion that was breathtaking in its magnificence and size.  Everything here was in a scale that dwarfed Canterlot, her castle, and even the lands that Ponyville and all of her subjects resided in.  Doors easily half a mile high opened with a deep rumbling, and her jaw dropped as she was confronted with the interior of this massive citadel.

Open, vast, and with light streaming in from the setting sun from the west through the fantastic arrangement of stained-glass windows, the entire central column was hollow, and as she stared upward into the seemingly endless reaches of the tower, she saw clouds, pierced only by a radiant, pure white light.  Inside was an entire city unto itself.  Shops, upscale homes for alicorns and unnicorns, and numerous restaurants and market venues spread out concentrically from the center hill, where the alicorn couple was going.  As they got closer, she saw a breathtakingly beautiful palace, carved from what had to be entirely lapis lazuli.  It seemed delicate to the point of fragility, carved with petals and vines, leaves and beautiful winged creatures.  Within its swirling, lovely, slopes she saw that it was adorned with gemstones of every shape, color, and size in wondrous and fantastic patterns.  As they passed through the central gates leading into the palace grounds, what she had mistaken for crystal she recognized was actually a solid diamond wall, with ruby gates, crackling with arcane power from vastly powerful protection spells.

Around them, Celestia noticed beautiful statues akin to her garden, but carved from solid emerald.  Lush, vibrant plants bearing fruits and berries hun from windows, and from several of this, the highest coming far above from the outer wall of the citadel high above, pooled into several places, with shorelines covered by a strange blood-red grass.  She saw on the shoreline in a lake off to her right a tree with a beating heart, pumping blood into the grass below and its branches above.  She found it strange and disturbing that such a thing should reside in a place of such wonder and beauty.  She caught up to Fen-ka Shal and his friends, and noticed they were greeted by numerous other alicorns who were, to Celestia’s reckoning, obviously part of the royal family.

They came out into an open-aired throne room, Celestia noticing the a very distinct line drawn around it where the pillars ended.  She stopped as she saw the three thrones in the center, which faced each other.  Each throne was utterly different but staggeringly beautiful.  The first was seating Tahl-va Shal, who held a bored expression on his face.  It was made entirely of plants, whose vines, branches, and flowers all weaved intricate patterns of obvious mathematical precision and complexity.  The second was a high throne carved entirely out of a single ruby stone, and was carved in such a way that the designs on the throne were all fractal, and radiated out from a single point.  The third throne was made of what looked like solid obsidian.  It was decorated with, to Celestia’s horror, bones and scales of infant dragons and ponies.  Massive wing bones flared up behind it to enshrine the whole macabre display, and she watched with wonder anew at Velae as she sat upon her throne, wondering with fear what this alicorn’s power was.

“Shall we begin?” asked Tahl-va Shal, startling Celestia out of her imaginings.  Fen-ka Shal replied, speaking in a dismissive tone. “Certainly, brother.  You may raise us this time.” Celestia felt a shuddering under her hooves, and with a start realized the thrones were all situated upon a platform, which glowed with runes that activated at Tahl-va Shal’s magic.  The platform raised itself up out over the palace, and began to pick up speed.  Celestia saw the buildings below her become increasingly smaller.  They then hit the cloud layer, and her vision was obscured.  When it cleared, she gasped at the bright white light that shone above them; pure white rather than the warm yellow of the sun.  Vast arches and extensive causeways and balconies came into view from the walls of the citadel, and abruptly the platform slowed, until they had reached the source of the light.  Behind a massive crystal iris, a diamond larger than a mountain floated several dozen kilometers above the top of the tower, with the stars of space framing it.  Fen-ka Shal muttered some incantation, and the iris opened, spewing atmosphere out into the cold void of space.

The platform rose through the iris, which abruptly snapped shut behind them, and with a sense of awe, she saw the curvature of the earth and the sun in all its blazing glory  She could see all of the city now, splayed out above them.  With a start, she could recognize that they were on a continent far to the west of the mainland of Equestria, slightly to the north of the Crystal Empire.  This land had always been obscured from her and Luna's vision, and in the gulf between the continents, she could recognize the Seapony archipelagos and was startled when she realized just how much closer the continent of Equestria was than it should have been.  They must be very far back in time indeed to account for that much continental drift.

Celestia's attentions were drawn back to the looming crystal above her, and as she felt the platform slow down, she took in the brilliance of the titanic gem, and noticed it rippling like the surface of a silver pond.  The diamond itself was like a miniature sun, and as the platform came to meet it, the crystal itself enveloped them.  It was saturated with magic so powerful, it felt like it could be swum through, or drunk.  The three alicorns basked in the warmth and opulence of pure, raw magic, and began to weave a complicated spell.  Celestia watched as they each became transfigured by their element, as she was when she raised the sun in the morning.

Fen-ka Shal radiated an aura of creation; of infinite possibilities and infinite form.  She saw him truly as he was for the first time; as an architect and inventor of all forms that were, are, or will ever be  He held dominion over imagination, logic, and consciousness.  In the same ocean of brilliant red light he had shown her earlier in Fluttershy's cottage, she saw it amplified and refined.  She could see the threads of pure power plucking the tune of an incomprehensible song; a harp song on the strings of creation.

Tahl’va Shal exploded in a hurricane of magic and energy; and with a gasp she realized this being had the power to create life and command itself; to bring souls to what would otherwise be automations; animals with programming and without hearts and souls.  He blazed like a green sun with the very essence of life itself, and of protean magic that was the root of all magicks, the Core; his vast power the very opposite of lifelessness and void.  She recognized his dominion over life and its proliferation, and of magic and souls.  She felt his power pulse with the rhythm of creation; of the world beneath them and all its inhabitants.

Velae’s transfiguration was far more subtle, but just as impressive as the others.  She felt an agelessness and void surround her, and watched as the temperature around her dropped far below anything she thought was possible.  The very air around her froze solid, and fell down as a powder and fine mist to the ground.  A sphere of blackness engulfed her, and with a cold twinge in her heart, she realized this pony was in charge of the relentless march of time and the oblivion of death.  She felt their contentment, meditating on their elements as she does when she has time alone with her sun.  Slowly, the image began to blur and fade, and she was beginning to shift to another memory, and an older one at that.

Her eyes focused, and before her was a small herd of ponies, peacefully grazing.  She stood overlooking a bluff, and craned her neck over the edge to see a little better.  What had to be a sheer drop over several kilometers ended in a pile of broken stone and rubble.  Peering out across the distance, she saw another line of sheer cliffs similar to hers, and she realized she was overlooking a massive glacial valley now forgotten to time.  Her attention now entirely focused on the ponies that lay below, she was startled by a bemused snort behind her, and she quickly turned around to see Fen-ka Shal and Tahl-va Shal. “It’s truly frustrating,” the red alicorn spoke to his tall companion.  “No matter what I try or create, it always gives me a blank, dead stare and runs off to fulfill whatever instincts it has.  I cannot create a creature to converse with, that learns, or that I can even communicate with on the basest of levels.  They are all empty creations, bereft of any soul or spark of intelligence.  I have failed in my endeavours.” The dejected-looking alicorn greeted with the laughter of his companion, whom he looked at with confusion.  “Brother,” Tahl-va Shal stated jovially, “You are far too hard on yourself.  What you are missing is not magic, some genetic coding, or chemical imbalances.  You can create, certainly; you are a far better artist and designer than I can ever hope to be.  However, there is something that you should give, rather than mold."  The green alicorn spread his artificial wings wide, and for the first time, Celestia saw that the wings, while made of metal and some odd green material, actually went into his flesh, and connected with muscle tissue like a real wing.  Both alicorns flew down towards the herd of ponies, and Celestia, knowing that she could hear and see them from quite a ways away due to her divine senses, stood on the bluff and watched the two gods fly down into the valley towards the herd.

As they alighted upon a boulder, one of the stallions in the herd let out a loud whinny, and the herd began to get agitated at the presence of the new, odd creatures in their midst.  Tahl-va Shal bowed his head slightly, and closed his eyes in concentration.  Slowly, little green lights began to gather off his horns, and into a green sphere of light that shone like her sun.  A slight breeze was blowing towards it in all directions, and suddenly a bright column of solid green light erupted from his horn, encompassing himself and the entire herd around him.  She heard (as well as felt) a massive shockwave hit her, knocking her off her hooves.  The sound was the loudest thing she had ever heard in her long life by an unimaginably large percent, and if she was physically here, she would’ve collapsed upon the ground, screaming in pain as her ears bled.  Forests were flattened as the visible shockwave spread out throughout the valley, causing a number of avalanches in its wake.

The massive column of emerald light pierced into the heavens and radiated a power beyond all perception and belief.  She realized this raw torrent of energy she felt from the pillar of light was his actual soul made manifest through some fantastic and arcane magic.  The light began to fade, and as it petered out over the alicorns, she was stunned to see the brutish, primitive ponies that were grazing replaced by a herd of unicorns, all colored differently, each gasping in wonderment at the world around them as they tasted awareness and consciousness for the first time.

“PONIES OF THE HERD, KNEEL BEFORE THY NEW GODS, THY NEW FATHERS, THY NEW KINGS!!!” The powerful voice that came from the green-haired alicorn made her royal canterlot voice sound like a whisper in comparison.  It boomed out across the valley, and in fear and reverence, all the unicorns bowed before the two alicorns. “WE HATH GIVEN THOU THE GIFT OF LIFE, THE BREATH OF CREATION!  THINE BIRTHRIGHT IS THAT OF MAGIC, AND THAT OF MAGIC’S VITALITY! THOU ARE THE FIRST OF MANY, AND FROM US, CHILDREN, SHALL THEE PARTAKETH OF KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, AND THE JOY OF LIFE! COME, ALL! RISE AND EMBRACE THY PURPOSE, PONIES OF THE HERD!!!”  Now I know why Luna likes using that voice, even if she claims it’s just for “tradition”. Celestia thought to herself.  It sounds so…powerful, and sends a clear message of who’s in charge.  I wonder when I stopped speaking like that…

Celestia’s thoughts trailed off, and she barely noticed that she was fading out into a new memory, even older than this.

She stood at the edge of a vast crater, whose center was filled with a vast sea of churning lava, and the air was choked with noxious volcanic gasses, nearly blotting out the sun, and casting a menacing orange-red glow to the glowing caldera.  Celestia reeled back, almost falling into the lava head-first.  She steadied her crown, and looked about.  There, about twenty feet away, Fen-ka Shal stood with Velae, who looked far more intimidating that she did in the first memory.  The once amorphous coat was a black so deep that it swallowed all the light, and her eyes shone with a sea of stars, horizontal slits being mirrored by the disk of the galaxy.  She now stood a head taller than her companion, and was gigantic in comparison to Celestia.

“I honestly do not understand what this is designed to accomplish.” The red alicorn stated with worry and despair, overlooking the destruction with a pained expression. “I don’t understand what destruction has to do with the act of creation, or the reverse of that.  All you have done is send a large rock from space hurtling at this planet, devastating the surface.  If you thought my creations are-were good, I am utterly at a loss as to why you would see them all destroyed.”

Fen-ka Shal said this with a weight of sadness that made Celestia feel an intense wave of sympathy for the alicorn.  She had seen meteor craters before, but never witnessed a large impact, let alone one of this scale.

Velae smiled, and nuzzled Fen-ka Shal, visibly relaxing him.  “My beloved.” Celestia sat down immediately, feeling her composure and heart melt.  It was as if the entire universe had spoken, and all of the cosmos had reverberated with the voice of this one deity.  A deep, harrowing feeling of love and beauty grew up through the endless depths of Celestia’s heart, blooming into a flower of such inconceivable and incontrovertible tenderness that Celestia choked on her own sobs and wept openly. “Do not be afraid.  There cannot be new life without the passing of the old, and thus there cannot be new form without the discarding of old form.  Creation is meant to change, not to be a fixed manifestation that cannot move with the passage of time.  The very soul of art is bittersweet, for in time all things come to ash.  You and I are no exception to this, although our lives are like that of the stars with their length.”

Fen-ka Shal shifted uncomfortably, processing this.  “Then what is the joy in creating something, only to see it lost?  Why can I not have something forever to love, to cherish for eternity?  What is the point of creating something if I cannot connect with it long enough to appreciate it?”

Velae moved closer, and planted a kiss on the red alicorn's mouth, full of unspoken passion, and an eternity of matrimony. They held the kiss until the sun had set, and the only light remaining came from the lava sea behind them.  They let go of each other, slowly, and nuzzled each other.  The ebon alicorn spoke into her love’s ear, saying only four words.

“My love is forever.”