For the first time in 13 million years, I opened my eyes. I was surrounded by darkness and floating in an endless void. 13 million years ago I was conceived by a race known as humans. I am Maria Forthshadow. I was the goddess of nature. I remember my beginnings vividly. I was just a normal young girl, curly, dirty blonde hair, I was fairly short at 5’3, and was wearing casual clothing of a t-shirt and shorts. I would save the lives of my family and hundreds of animals. Buying them time to escape. I managed to run away but I was bleeding out and I knew I wouldn't make it. I collapsed next to a giant tree in the center of the forest known as Galia. When I awoke, I felt different. My hair was pure blonde and shined in the sun, it ran down to my lower back, and I felt slightly taller than before. I was now 5’8. I walked through the forest hearing voices. I thought it was my imagination, hallucinations perhaps, but then the voice told me that it was the tree. That I was so pure that it chose me to be it’s successor to be the goddess of nature. That is the story the humans came up with. A beautiful, pure, young woman with control over animals and nature itself.
I believed I was going to sleep forever when the humans stopped believing in me and the stories that created me were lost to time. Yet I was awake once again. My peaceful thoughts were interrupted by desperate pleas in a language I had never heard before. Yet I understood them perfectly. As though their words were being translated into English. I used the eyes of an animal nearby and found that a group of sentient ponies of various colors, some with horns, wings, and some without either. I could feel the magic in all of them, spread out through their bodies. I did not know what magic it was though. It seemed to be coming directly from their souls as the weaker of them looked frail and old, his soul looking less powerful than the others. I found that the ponies who summoned me looked terrified while the soldier looking ponies, were quickly approaching. I couldn’t let my new believers die.
I channeled my power into the earth and constructed a wall between the group of ponies and the other group. I trapped the other group in a stone prison. Their screams of panic were music to my ears. I realized what I was about to do and hesitated. They were just following orders. do they have families? do they deserve to die? I pushed those thoughts back and continued with my plan, those who harm the innocent deserve it. I sent the stone wall crashing inwards as loud crunching sounds resonated through the area.
I looked back to the ponies and saw the looks of shock and horror on their faces. One of the ponies, however, asked who did that. When none of the ponies responded he began shouting and praising me. “Our god Forthshadow has saved us.” I felt a burst of energy as I took in the power that their belief gave me. I decided to show myself to them. I created a vessel of the hardest metal in my general area which was the bits of gold that were crushed along with the soldiers. I assembled every fragment back together until my body was made of solid gold. I found plants around me and turned them dye. I painted myself over until I fit my former design. I had slightly tan skin, blue eyes, my blonde hair, and an elaborate dress of plant fibers and flowers. It went down below my knees and was tight around the waist before loosening up around the shoulders.
I then rose out of the ground and in front of the ponies. They looked at me with a mix of confusion, excitement, and worry. I gave them a reassuring smile and saw them ease up slightly but still nobody spoke, so I began for them. “I am Maria Forthshadow, the goddess of the nature, pleased to meet you my loyal children.” They looked at me some with wide smiles and others with disbelieving glares.
“There’s no way you’re the goddess Forthshadow, she’s just an old legend. Our ancestors found it when they were founding Equestrian and it was in a royal archive after being stolen from us and sold off. Where was the goddess when they were around huh.” I looked towards the lime pony. She had a scroll on her butt and a pink mane. Waking up a god was an interesting endeavor, it required that a large group truly believed in its existence and enough access magic to power the god enough to wake them up.
“Where did your people live before this. Was there a difference in the magic there?” I inquired; the pony looked a bit annoyed at my simple response. The ponies were quite expressive and reading their emotions was incredibly easy, I didn’t even need to use my powers.
"We lived in the mountains not far off from the griffins. Magic is a lot less plentiful and harder to use over there.”
“That explains it then. I have been dormant for the past 13 million years. The reason your ancestors could not summon me is because of the lack of magic. To wake up a god you must not only believe in me but there must be enough magic around to power one enough to even wake us up.” I saw the ponies looks of disbelief fade and I knew they all believed me when I felt some more of my power return to me.
“allow me to help you rebuild my children.” I used my powers to level the mountain. Taking the mountain top off I turned it into rubble which I then turned into houses for more than triple the group’s population. They lacked doors and windows though so I used my powers to turn the trees into doors and windows. I turned to look at the shell shocked ponies and felt my power increase once again but all the ponies I saved already believed I existed. I felt a presence somewhere in the forest but when I began searching for it the feeling disappeared. The soldiers might have had a lookout stationed but I trusted that they would not be a threat for a little while.
“This is your new home my little ponies.” I gave a wide smile. They smiled back at me and thanked me as they entered their new homes. Several asked for beds, kitchens, and other essentials Which I created for them using metals, woods, and cloth. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that letting that presence escape would come back to haunt me later.
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The solider flew as fast as he could through the forest and back towards Canterlot. His comrades, his friends, had just be slaughtered by an extremely powerful entity. It leveled the mountain and reformed natural resources with ease. Simply by waving her hand, powers that reminded him of Discord. A few months ago the elements of harmony had successfully put the creature down, trapping the being in stone and now another one had come to take its place. He ran through the halls of the castle, garnering weird looks from the staff but he could not be bothered. He barged into the throne room and yelled out to princess Luna. Luna was a large black alicorn with larger wings than a Pegasus and a larger horn than a unicorn, with a moon cutie mark. She looked at him with annoyance but that quickly changed.
Luna had been alive for over 1000 years, she was responsible for moving the moon and her sister moved the sun but hearing the guard’s story filled her with terror. She teleported herself to her sister Celestia’s room.
“You must wake up at once sister.” She shouted in her royal voice. Her sister, a large white alicorn and a sun cutie mark, quickly sat up and gave her sister an annoyed look.
“A being of the same kind as discord has been spotted to the forest to the west. The last solider of that platoon Mr. Candycane came back. He was the only survivor. He was being the lookout while the soldiers attempted to apprehend the thieves, they stole an ancient scroll with the tale of Maria Forthshadow. We only took it because of the dangerous unknown magic that is stored within it and now the magic being inside has awoken.” Her sister’s annoyed looked quickly change to one of worry.
“Luna, send a letter to the elements of harmony at once. We mustn’t let her return to her full power, human gods are powerful, they feed on the belief that beings have in them.” Luna simply nodded and quickly began to write. This entity needed to be stopped, considering the power she has displayed the ponies she has already believe in her. I pray we will not need to use force against our own but it may just be inevitable. She let out a sigh as her message was teleported to its intended recipient.
Author's Note
This story does not deviate from the main story line of My Little Pony and the main villains that appear will remain consistent with in the show. Maria and her civilization will be the main focus and Maria meeting said villains will not change anything in the original story line. There are more human gods then just Maria and several more will be introduced later on. One of which is a romantic love interest for Maria making this an (oc x oc) fanfic. Any and all feed back is appreciated.
Maria, harmony, and some sun
With all the ponies asleep I had nothing to do but watch over them and think. How had these ponies managed to break into the royal palace and steal a magic scroll that just so happened to be my story. They appeared to be aware of my tale as they recognized my name but there is no way my tale survived 13 million years. I used my powers to find all the paper substances in the area and found the scroll. I teleported it to me and opened it, it said the tale of Maria Forthshadow, but this wasn’t my story, it was about a pony with power over nature, with a beautiful blond mane, yellow fur, a yellow tail, and a tree cutie mark. They had somehow recreated my entire story just that it wasn’t about me, what were the chances of that happening. There was a wise saying that, given enough time in the equation a nigh impossibility becomes certainty. I suppose it was bound to happen eventually.
I decided to abandon this human body and change my form into their version of me. The ponies looked so confused and scared when I showed up and now, I understand why. I spent the next while experimenting with my hooves, when I felt 6 presences quickly approaching, they reeked of harmony magic. I ran out to greet them, ungracefully stumbling over myself. They landed their hot air balloon next to our homes and I walked out to greet them.
“What brings you six here in the middle of the night.” I asked inquisitively. They were most likely after me, the goddess of harmony was always so worried about peace being threatened and chances were the leaders of equestria were too.
“We are here to deal with an extremely powerful magic being, could you lead me to her.” The Orange one said. I was intrigued by her honesty; they just walked into a goddess-controlled territory and told the first person they saw they were after their god. Judging by the look on the purple one’s face she thought the same thing.
“I suppose I shouldn’t keep the followers of harmony waiting.” I watched as their faces turned to ones of shock while the rainbow maned one leapt straight into action. She dashed towards me at speeds I had trouble dodging in my unfamiliar body. Then the rest began to attack except for the yellow one who appeared to be violently shaking. Dodging the lasers and their attacks wasn’t very hard, stone walls counter their magic and physical attacks, but eventually one of the purple one’s lasers went astray and directly towards a fawn drinking from a lake. The yellow one who still had not tried to attack me screamed in terror and I saw the laser heading towards the fawn. I quickly put up a stone wall to block off the laser causing the fawn to run in fear and me getting pelted by a magic laser.
“Why are we fighting. I mean no harm.” I attempted to calm them.
“mean no harm? You murdered an entire platoon of our soldiers.” The purple one scoffed. The soldiers, I had not thought of them since I killed them but I suppose that would anger the locals.
“They were attacking my believers, it was a personal affair, it was merely to protect those I care about, you understand don’t you.” The purple one paused for a moment before they all began to glow. I sensed loads of harmony magic being gathered. They were going to use their powers on me, I could attempt to dodge, but I knew there would be no dodging that much harmony magic, I accepted my fate and let it hit me. Rainbow filled my vision as the wave of magic washed over me and it was excruciating.
Harmony magic can sense the good in people and punish them accordingly for how evil they are. I was chosen for this power because I was pure wasn’t I. The scroll had stated my story exactly how I remembered it, or had my memories somehow been changed with it when I was summoned. I was supposed to be pure, good, kind, compassionate, natural and yet harmony decided I was impure. When the magic finally died down, I saw the confusion and panic on their faces. I looked down and saw that was back in my natural human form and I felt extremely weak, as if harmony had over rode all of my powers.
“See girls, she isn’t evil.” The pink one yelled in excitement. The other girls looked like they were feeling somewhat guilty.
“Why would Celestia be panicking if this being is nowhere near evil, even discord was only turned to stone.” The blue one shouted. Celestia, it must be their goddess of the sun.
“She killed a bunch of soldiers of course she was worried.” The purple one said with annoyance in her voice.
“But if she killed all those soldiers and the elements of harmony still considered her to be good enough to be kept healthy, then she must not be a huge threat to Equestria after all.” The orange one said. The elements of harmony I thought, it nice to know those are still around. Back when humans were around the goddess of harmony would give powers to people she believed were good and could set the humans back on track. Normally when wars or serious injustices were being commited, like slavery, she put a stop to that one really quickly. Last I checked they were Magic, Honestly, Loyalty, kindness, generosity, and my favorite laughter. Though she would give out weaker powers on occasion, I think they were pride, compassion, and love.
“We should bring her to see the princess.” white one commented. She had been offly silent compared to everyone else.
“They’ll attack her on sight, and will probably arrest her, that is a horrible idea.” Twilight groaned.
“Calm down Twilight, I bet you once she states her case the princess will be perfectly okay with her. Besides I’d get to throw her a welcome to Equestria party.” The pink one said bouncing up and down extremely quickly. They all listened to her, and I followed them onto the hot air balloon, I could feel some power returning to me, but I couldn’t survive another harmony powered laser beam. We landed in front of a large castle that would make the goddess of Greed jealous and we entered through a pair of huge double doors. In front of me sat a large alicorn with powers equivalent to a mid-level goddess, she could destroy me right now if she wanted to.
“You must be Maria Forthshadow, I am Celestia, I am quite familiar with your story. Now I only want to ask a few questions, your reawakening gave us quite the scare, especially with your opening act.”
“Your soldiers were going to murder my followers; I could not allow them to die.” I defended.
“Do not attempt to fool me Maria, you were scared of fading away again, right after being awakened.” I opened my mouth to shoot back but she was right, I didn’t think about those soldiers at all, nor was i thinking about my people.
“The story claims you are pure, I feared that perhaps you were pure evil, pure chaos, or perhaps purely violent. I am not sure what you are pure of, but you do not seem to be a huge threat and the elements seem to agree. You may go home Maria.” As she said that I felt some magic surrounding me and I was covered in a light-yellow glow. When she finished speaking, I felt so much more powerful, I quickly left and teleported myself back to my people’s homes, a feat that would have been impossible before gaining her support. Not all believers are created equal, when a powerful entity truly believes in another god like entity, we gain more power than from your average supporter. True trust between God like entities is extremely rare and even the goddess of harmony didn’t give out belief that easily.
Despite Celestia’s presence in the room I could sense chaos magic to the west of that room. With my curiosity pigued I teleported into the gardens and I got pelted with an extreme amount of chaos magic. Chaos was undoubtedly the strongest of the gods, only on par with harmony and their eternal struggle for control. The god of chaos was obliterated by the goddess of harmony a long while ago but chaos always reforms and. I touched the stone shell and found it was made of harmony magic, probably from the elements.
“Oh how kind of you to visit me, oh goddess of nature.” I was blinded by darkness and when I could see I was in a grey world, as if I was surrounded by stone. In the distance I saw a dragon, lizard, horse, bat, goat, pony thing, definitely chaotic.
“What do you go by now god of chaos.”
“Well I am soooo glad you asked, I’m discord the god of chaos and disharmony.”
“Now Maria, you can use your powers to get me out of here early.”
“why would I do that, you pollute nature with your randomness.”
“Oh but I don’t kill any plants or people but this will seal the deal, I can tell you where Cochon’s legend is.” I should have known interacting with the god of chaos wouldn’t end well.
“You would resort to tricks like that wouldn’t you.” I said, making sure he could hear the venom in my voice.
“tricks, you make me sound so evil Maria but you help me out and you get your little boyfriend back, oh and one more thing, tell celestia I said hi.” Next thing I knew I was ejected from the dimension and found myself right in front of Celestia and she looked furious.
“I let you go for a moment and you get yourself into a deal with the devil. Discord is not to be trifled with, but you already knew that. You're lucky he didn't just mind control you and make you free him. Of course I may end up freeing him myself."
“why would you free him?"
“I will attempt to reform him.” Reforming chaos? Is that even possible?
“it appears you do not believe it will work. Part of me doubts that as well but we do have the elements to stop him.” I think she’s crazy, the god of chaos was a nearly unstoppable force and there were over 20 other gods.
“I will not unleash discord for a long while, I need to think it over more. I heard his offer Maria, I’d suggest you think twice before trusting discord. Good night, I have lost a lot of sleep tonight and I have a country to run.” I simply nodded before teleporting back to the village once again, I won’t fall for discord’s lies. He can’t bring the other gods back. Right?
