Armageddon: The War of the Gods

Twilight Sparkle loved being in Canterlot. She loved walking along its streets, and the atmosphere of the city. It wasn’t all the hustle and bustle of the other bigger cities in Equestria, primarily Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad and Manehattan. Canterlot was laid back, but not enough that nothing got done there. It was the perfect balance between work and leisure.

Twilight and her friends were here as merely showpieces for the opening days of the Grand Assembly of Equestrian Representatives. Princess Celestia only needed them for the opening ceremonies and Princess Celestia’s annual address to the assembly, and they were four days apart. The Princess had allowed them to do as they pleased in the city. Twilight, of course, was heading for the Canterlot Library, particularly the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, as Celestia had allowed her no
restrictions there.

As she opened the door to the library with her magic, she trotted over to the stairs leading up to the third floor, which contained the Starswirl the Bearded Wing and other restricted areas.

As she approached the Starswirl Wing, she was stopped by a strong-looking brown Earth Pony who asked for identification.

“Twilight Sparkle,” she announced, “Princess Celestia allowed me access to the third floor.”

“Of course, Miss Sparkle.” The Earth Pony bowed, saying, “Enjoy your browsing. Please do not take out any books. We have had a few thefts from these wings.”

“Alright.” Twilight smiled. She walked past the stallion, and entered the Starswirl the Bearded Wing.

The Wing itself was the largest restricted wing in the library. It encompassed most of the third floor, and held the most secret and most restricted works of literature found in Equestria, and probably the planet of Equus. Twilight had heard of recent archaeological finds somewhere near the border with Mexicolt, and that all written works had been transferred here.
She walked past the other books she had read during her various visits to this wing. She had found the book on the Elements of Harmony and books on other books about the reign of Discord. Those books were either deemed too graphic or sensitive for normal citizens to read. But after the Discord Incident, Celestia had allowed her to research to find out Discord’s true weakness if the Elements were ever compromised.

As she walked close to the archaeological books, she found a red book on a pedestal. She didn’t know why she stopped to look at it, but something drew her to it. Maybe it was the fact that it was already opened to one of the opening pages, or the fact that the sun was shining on it.

Twilight trotted to the book, and levitated it with her magic. She closed it, and read the title.

“The Holy Bible, King James Version.” She read. “That’s weird, what’s a bible?”

She set it on the pedestal, and opened to the first page, and read it.

“This isn’t one book,” she muttered to herself, “But a collection of almost a hundred books? Why have I never heard of this? Or seen it when I have went here in the past? This is weird.”

She opened to the first book, and read the first lines:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

She was drawn to it, because it immediately came into conflict with the religion she had grown up with. Celestia was the goddess of the day, and Luna the night. They were born from a divine mother, and were sent here to rule the planet of Equus to show the ponies there the magic of friendship, and the Elements of Harmony. She read on more, and learned of a species that the book followed: a species called man.

She had never heard of such an animal!

“Where did Princess Celestia get this?” She asked out loud. “And what is a man? Is it an extinct animal? Would Fluttershy know about it? And who is this God? I’ve learned that there was never a male deity, but only female ones.”

She was intrigued. She read through the first books, and put the book down. She had entered the library in mid-morning, and it was now past noon. She needed to get some lunch, but she was drawn to this bible. She didn’t know what to think about it. But she knew she had to tell the Princess about it.

But she couldn’t leave the library either. She was too drawn into it. She looked around to see if there were other books like this bible.

She looked on the shelves, and found two scrolls. She unrolled them, but found them to be in unfamiliar text. She cross-checked it with existing languages, but found no luck.

She then used magic to translate the texts from these languages to Equestrian. She soon found out that these scrolls were called the Torah and the Quran. When she read through the Torah, she found it to be very similar to the Bible, but she found the Quran to be very different from the other two.

“Where is Spike when I need him?” She sighed after saying the question out loud.

“Right here, Twilight!” She turned around to find her dragon assistant standing behind her. “What are those?”

“I don’t know, Spike.” She said, “But I need to get these to the Princess. Can you write a letter to her?”

“Sure!” Spike said, getting out a piece of parchment and a quill. “What do you want me to write?”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” she dictated to him, “While I was in the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot Library, I found three very odd works of literature. One is a book, while the other two are scrolls. I feel the need to show these to you as soon as possible, as they are odd, and the scrolls were written in unfamiliar text. I wish I could speculate what these mean, but I would need to show you before even telling you what I think it is. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Alright,” Spike said, “Done.”

He then sent it to the Princess. While Twilight was waiting for Celestia to reply, she sat down and read some more from the book, or Bible, as she felt the need to call it now.

“These men,” she muttered, reading about a man who would sacrifice his only son for this God. “Are very odd. Why would he do that? Is he that blind in his devotion to this invisible deity?”

“What was that, Twilight?” Spike asked. “Did you say something?”

“Oh,” Twilight looked up, “No.”

“Okay then.” Spike said, sitting down on a small pile of books. He sat there, while Twilight read, until the Princess had sent her response.

“Dearest Twilight,” he read out loud, “I am very interested about these works. I want you to head over to the castle now and show these to me. I would like to hear your input. Signed, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight was already almost out of the door.

“Twilight,” Spike called, “Wait for me!”

Twilight was already at the stairs, where the guard was holding up his hoof, and seemed to be explaining something to her.

“… but the Princess needs these!” Twilight cried, “I need to get these to her now!”

“But I can’t let you out with those!” The guard replied.

“Even if it meant disobeying the Princess?” Twilight pointed at him with her hoof saying that. The guard relented, and let her and Spike leave.

Princess Celestia was waiting for them on her throne when the doors opened and Twilight and Spike walked in. She smiled at the sight of her student, showing none of her curiosity with the smile.

“Twilight,” she said, “It is nice to see you again. Now, what of these books and scrolls?”

“Well,” Twilight levitated a table over in front of the throne, and put the Bible, Torah and Quran on top of it. “I found these in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. From right to left, they are the Holy Bible, the Torah, and the Quran.”

“And have you read these at all?” Celestia asked, knowing the answer even when she asked it.

“Yes, I have.” Twilight said. “They tell of a race, a race of bipedal animals called men. They were apparently created by a male deity who only goes by the Lord, Allah, Yahweh and God. He created a planet called earth, along with the heavens and an entire universe in six days.”

“Twilight, please,” Celestia chuckled, “Let me register what you’re saying. You need to slow down.”

“Sorry,” Twilight blushed at this humbling moment. “With the first man he created, he named him Adam. He created a female from him, who he named Eve. This is where the Quran differs from the two. In all three, they were in a garden, and this deity told them not to eat a forbidden fruit. But they did. In the Quran, they did it of their free will, while in the Torah and the Bible, Eve was tempted by a serpent.

“And then, according to the Bible and Torah, this deity banished them from the garden for their disobeying his one direction. And so they created a tainted race, because of their one act. But in the Quran, Adam wept for forty days, and repented. This deity, or Allah in the texts, gave him a black stone and taught him something called the hajj. Adam and Eve reunite, and Allah forgives them.”

“Twilight,” Celestia interrupted, “Could you tell me what you think this is?”

“The thing is, Princess.” She stuttered getting the next few words out of her mouth. “I… I don’t… know. I don’t know, Princess. I am completely shocked by these works; they go against everything I was taught about religion. And they’re in perfect condition too! They seem like they were put there only a few days ago and were probably written in the last five years from its condition.”

“Alright,” Celestia held her hoof up to her chin in deep thought. “You may go, Twilight. Do not speak of this to anypony. I need to ponder on this.”

“Oh…” Twilight barely got out before realizing what the Princess meant, and bowed. “Of course, Your Highness.”

Twilight then left the throne room, leaving Celestia alone to her thoughts. As soon as Twilight shut the door with her magic, and Celestia could no longer feel her magical presence, Celestia stood up.

She walked over to a window, and looked out to Canterlot. The little ponies were trotting around the streets, and milling about. How oblivious they were.

Celestia turned back towards the table, and looked at the three works on it. She could only wonder how Twilight stumbled onto them. She also wondered how they even got into the library. Every entry into the restricted wings is brought to her. These never were. If they had, she would’ve burned them on the spot.

At that moment, four Earth Pony stallions entered the throne room unannounced. It was not unusual. Celestia allowed anypony to enter at any time, allowing everypony to voice their problems to her, however insignificant they are.

“Princess Celestia,” the middle one greeted. He was tan-coated, with a dark brown mane and beard. His beard connected with his mane, and went around his mouth. He had dark brown eyes as well. He seemed to be from the city or surrounding area of Jerhoofalem. “I trust you know who we are?”

“Yes.” Celestia said. “How did you get them into the library?”

“I think even you would know that.” The middle one replied.

The two on either side of him looked similar to him, but had different manes and beards. The one on his right had a white mane and a very long beard. He had many wrinkles on his face. He seemed to be very old and tired.
The one on his left looked much more like the middle one. Although he had a thick, curly black mane. His beard was thick as well, but did not connect with his mane. He had dark black eyes, and was slightly taller than the older one, but the middle was taller.

The one in the back seemed to be the youngest out of them all. He had a curly red mane, and blue eyes. He had a fair coat, and had no beard. He was the tallest out of them all, and seemed to be most physically fit as well. Although he didn’t speak much, Celestia knew why he was here.

“Yes,” she said, “I do.”

She looked at them all, and said, “I do not like what your God has done. He has directly intervened in my creation, which should not happen.”

“And like you have not?” The fit one asked. “I have had to fight many of your creations. My other companions have fought the other of your creations, Celestia. Be ready to pay for your breaking of the rules set by all gods at the very beginning!”

The four ponies then began to transform. They then turned into the bipeds Twilight had told them about. These were the men her predecessor had created.

“How cowardly it is of your God to not be here himself.” She looked to the middle one, “He sends his son, two prophets and a demigod. Is he not able enough to confront me himself?”

“Silence, you have no right to speak wrong against him!” The middle one said.

“Be quiet.’ She said. “I know who you all are, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and Hercules. I know your weaknesses. I advise
you go back and tell your God that I do not wish to cooperate with Him.”

“You know what this means then?” Mohammed spoke for the first time.

“Yes.” Celestia said sternly. “We are ready for anything you send at us!”

“Then it has been said.” Moses declared, “Come, we must return and tell Yahweh of this.”

“I agree,” Jesus said, “Our dealing here is done.”

All four of them then disappeared. Celestia stood there for a second, and fell onto her flank.

“Luna!” She called, “Sister, come here!”

She heard galloping from behind the doors, and the Princess of the Night entered the throne room.

“What is it, sister?” Luna asked, “Are you ill?”

“No.” Celestia got back onto her legs. “Alert the soldiers. Tell them to prepare for invasion.”

Tell me what you think! As I said in the description, I am a Roman Catholic, and I will try my hardest not to insult anyone of any faith. For anyone who may ask, I have not included Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism or any other faith because I feel that having them would be too much to comprehend. Already, I have Christians, Jews, Muslims and Pagans, and if I included another faith, I feel that the quality of the story would not be as good. I apologize for this, but I needed to draw the line somewhere. Also, Jesus, Mohammed, Moses and Hercules are NOT evil! Next chapter: Celestia and Luna begin preparations for the invasion of men. But will they ever be ready for the upcoming War of the Gods? Find out in the next chapter!