The opening act of the universe begins with creation, different religions and scientific ideas might conflict over the how and when but creation nonetheless. Few like to think about what there was before, or rather what there wasn't. Is it strange to assume that the reality of the existence was something unreal of inexistence. In the very beginning there consisted of nothing but an endless void, no matter, no law, no time. All that there was not consisted of absolute nothing.

However within this nothing, a something emerged. The first somethings there had ever been. First was energy, pure and raw energy of an amount untold. Where did it come from? That is a mystery even to those who came from this first something. Perhaps a deity began to paint their canvas? Perhaps some anomaly in the void brought it in on it's own? Regardless of how it came to be it changes little of what happened after.

Like moths to a flame the first consciousness awoke, barely aware of it's existence in the void. Then one by one more woke and rose from nothing. Brought forth from the darkness like a moth to a flame, they bathed in the energy and became the first true somebodies. Primordial beings, yes that was a name one could call them, there since all existence and all life began. Some embraced the flame of energy others either chafed at this flame of energy or were too far away to embrace it even if they had wanted to. All absorbed some of it's energy whether willing or not, some embraced it fully and became beings of light, others were involuntarily implanted with or only had to work with a scrap of light and thus the nothing filled their souls, causing unimaginable pain and hunger.

After all these immortal children of the first light had accepted their 'gift' from the first flame, it dispersed. A release of energy unparalleled exploding outwards seemingly endlessly with a force that bathed the void of nothing in the energy of something real for the first time. The void became merely the lack of energy where it had once been the finality that nothing could violate. Laws of space and time were created in that first snap second of ultimate creation as energy travelled for what could have been a few days to trillions of years. There wasn't exactly a good way to keep track of the passage of time when there was nothing but an endless expanse of energy shaping into a universe.

The primordial beings watched in either awe or disgust as over this indistinguishable amount of time the universe took shape in stars and proto planetoids, true matter formed up and with it so too did life. The primordials of the flame, as we shall call the ones of light who praised creation reverently, soon created languages, names for themselves, they quarreled or made friends but all set off to claim planets of their own to bring life to. They took the form of something remembered, perhaps from a dying universe they had been a part of or perhaps it had been implanted there. Some made up new forms, some never took them at all and remained "pure". These beings of light created the first living things beyond themselves, with the immense energy of the first flame forged into their very forms they could expend it and terraform the rocks and stars that dotted the galaxy like playthings.

They created hospitable planets of immense beauty to their own eyes, eventually loneliness or curiosity overtook many of them and they created the first mortal organisms. First, came the basics, bacteria and other micro organisms followed by plants. Following this the primordials of the flame created small creatures to get a pattern down. Then it was all experimenting, abominations or immortal spawns of failure that would go on to be cryptids in the future civilizations of these worlds. Finally they created sentient life, whether purposefully or accidental, through instant creation or abandoned projects developing on their own accord. Yes, life was born and it flourished beautifully in this new universe.

However, not all are as thankful for the gifts the first flame had bestowed upon them. Some shied away, some couldn't reach it. These primordial beings got the leftovers of what could have been. They were tortured by an endless contradiction of form, they were something yet also made from nothing. They took in the void, or perhaps the void took them in is more accurate, and now they were beings living nor dead but filled with anger and spite. They hungered endlessly, the nothingness in them begging them to consume what was. The energy they had consumed, no matter how small, allowed them properties of the physical and material like the other primordials. These however, were no followers of the flame, these were the primordials of the void.

Like the others they too had thoughts from dead universes, timelines fractured apart or slowed to heat death or whole worlds disintegrated. Their very nature however caused them pain, caused them to suffer with a vast hunger to devour all that the first flame had created. They hated the light and the energy with a passion, they loathed it for bringing them into confusion and pain. In this period where they could not come to terms with their pain the most rash of them all struck out violently with intent to erase the little stars and planets the ones of the light had created.

The others of these first primordials of the void did not go however, they remained hidden, too torn between their conflicting nature and in too much sheer agony to truly think of fighting. The being who struck out to destroy took the form of a giant serpent, his only goal was to snuff out the light of the universe and end his pain by bringing everything back into the void. He had many names given to him, Ouroboros, Veles, Nidhogg, Apophis . These were just a few of the names the mortals protected by those of the flame came up with for him. Most of the primordials of the flame themselves simply called him The Great Serpent or The One Who Devours.

He was the mightiest of those original spawn of the void, he fought ferociously with tail and fangs and flames and as much venom as he could muster. His very presence seemed to absorb the light that touched him into his all black scales. The primordials of the flame banded together to fight him and struck as viscously as they could. Almost all of them joined in to the fight however he drained the energy of the flame from the cocky primordials one by one as they joined the fight, the Serpent growing larger and larger and stronger and stronger during a battle that raged across the known universe as he tore primordials to shreds and swallowed stars. Eventually despite all the weakness he had inflicted upon those of the light, the draining of the very essence of existence itself, the slaughtering of their brethren and destruction of their creations, the Serpent was struck down in the end. The Serpent fell far and long deep into the shadow of the universe. His pitch, thick tar like blood stained the cosmos as he croaked and slithered in agony, slowly fading into nothingness.

As the Serpent lay writhing and dying he cursed the light for burning him and leaving him in agony, he cursed the existence that had stolen the peace of non-existence from him and the Serpent cursed his brothers and sisters of the void for not aiding him in eradicating the light. His curse rang out and with whatever power he had left, his last dying wish and spiteful fang-bearing snarl he spat like his venom a truly dark curse. He inflicted all all the primordials, both light and dark, with a hunger that would never fade over their endless lives. While this hunger would not be as severe as when the dark ones first emerged, it would be impossible to ignore nonetheless. Eventually every primordial would fade away into nothingness unless they fed on the universe and slowly drained it dry over the eons. A mockery to those of the light who defended their precious universe and one last hiss to his siblings in the dark for not helping him. The Serpent smiled his crooked fanged smile and with a silent laugh heard by none who lived he passed back into the void as he had always wished to do.

The primordials of the void, forever starving, were now in constant threat of fading away like their deceased sibling and dispersed across the universe, taking root into planets to feed on the inhabitants through the different aspects they had power over. Most of the primordials of the flame simply slept to prevent their hunger from growing, waiting for the day they would be needed to defend existence again. Some of the more fearful refused to sleep fell to being starved and tried to sate their hunger endlessly so they would not fade, becoming perverse gods demanding sacrifices of the ones they used to protect. They could not feed like the ones of the void however, and despite sating themselves they too eventually slept to save themselves from being forced to fade. Finally, some chose to guide their civilizations with their remaining time and accept their inevitable demise, no matter how slow or how painful it would be.

One such primordial was Faust, the creator of Equus and it's various species, though she favored the ones she built in her own image, the ponies. Faust was one of the earliest to join against the Serpent, therefor she had been drained nearly the most of them all. She came back to Equus weakened and running on fumes, she was still leagues above most creatures on her planet but no longer could she bend the earth and stars to her will, she knew she was slowing down day by day.

She knew her time was coming soon, even if she slept it wouldn't be long after she woke that she would fall victim to the curse of the Serpent. So she chose to live out her days as a Goddess among her people, however things do not always go as planned. Faust soon slept, however unlike her siblings she slept eternally, the curse finally catching up with her. Without their Goddess the ponies broke into discourse and divided because of their differences.

This is where a new force arrived on Equus. That force was a being of the dream realm, the void primordial of the dream realm to be exact. Dreams were simply what filled the realm of the unconscious, nightmares were what consumed them. They were what lay off the beaten path for dream walkers, a pitch black void of suffering. Without Faust nightmares seeped into the minds of all species on Equus, they took form and shape, creatures made of darkness and bound by the energy consumed from the light.

The primordials were unknown to the ponies, Faust had never revealed anything to them about her origins or her siblings and for all they knew the Serpent that they had once seen was slain by Faust alone. As their Goddess faded into myth and religion the void crept in. With the ponies unaware of what was about to come into their world and their minds a malevolent force crept silently into the dreams of others. The primordial responsible for terrorizing ponies in their sleep, for directing all the terrors of the dream realm was fittingly named Nightmare

Nightmare was certainly not originally from this new universe, oh no. He had once been a being of his own in another universe, though how he was like only he will know. Unlike others of the void he wasn't filled with rage and spite or blinded with fury. Nightmare was very simply, cold and sadistic. Unlike his siblings he didn't want to destroy the universe, after all it had become too much fun to toy with it. Unlike them he wanted to dominate and manipulate the pathetic mortals he preyed upon rather than destroy them.
Nightmare would survive and thrive in this new world and he would devour any who stood in his way .

The form Nightmare took was one he remembered that used to inspire terror in some in his old world. A machine, a machine of night terror and inked in a black visage. His body seemed to be almost made of smoke and darkness itself, it was nearly transparent before light in the open. Razor sharp metal fangs covered his mouth, or mouths as he has one sewn into his stomach, closed but always hungry. He ordained himself with a golden bowtie and a top hat to boot, his claws of metal were long and shaped like a dart or a bullet, fine down to the very points. Of course the only thing anyone ever saw of Nightmare was his most striking feature, his pair of burning crimson eyes. For some they were their greatest fear and for others they were the last thing they ever saw.

Nightmare sat cloaked in the natural shadow projected throughout the dreamscape, his entire form concealed into the darkness except for those hellish, piercing red eyes that always watched and always knew. He gazed out over the dreamscape at first, little bubbles containing individual dreams dotting an endless expanse all connected by pathways and gates that strung the whole realm together for dreamwalkers. He watched and waited, he played the predator's game, even if the prey were so easy and so delicious.

Finally the dark one plucked up the nearest bubble like it was a snow globe, holding it up in a closed palm. He sneered in at the pleasant dream that the little filly within was having, a dream of her supersized stuffed animals having a tea party with her. Nightmare almost growled as he witnessed the fearless life of this species, then he smiled cruelly, he would have to change that, wouldn't he? He clenched his fingers in on the orb, his claws digging into the glass like fiber that made up the bubble and the globe cracked at his fingertips, dark mist flooding in in through the cracks as the happy dream turned into a terrifying nightmare.

The dreamers of Equus were simple sheep to Nightmare and he was the greatest wolf in all the wild. As the darkness and fear overtook the dream and the filly squirmed in terror, her once faithful plush friends becoming twisted nightmare animatronics. Their eyes burned with flames of malice and insanity, each with rows of razor sharp teeth, twisted decaying color pallets and pointed metal claws much like his own. The little one shivered and flinched as they growled and twitched seemingly at random before all freezing and turning on her at once. The twisted ones advanced slowly as the filly began stumbling back

The little fillies eyes filled with tears as she backed up against the wall and the nightmares closed in. The harsh breathing and heavy footfalls of the demons filled her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut. Nightmare couldn't help but let out a deep, mirthless laugh that echoed hauntingly across the endless plain of the dreamscape as one of the nightmares leapt jaws open at the filly ready to bite down on it's prey, the silence that followed the dark one's laugh only broken by an innocent's scream.

Author's Note

Hello there dear reader.
So this is my first time writing on here and as such any criticism or listed improvements that can be made are appreciated!
I hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by!