Twilight hovered above the star-shaped plateau, and looked at some of the grass growing on and around it. It was short, spiky, and—as she had learned the hard way—tasted foul. It was inadequate, and Twilight knew that she would have to push her magic harder than ever before to create something beautiful and truly alive. Her world was ready to support a more diverse range of plants now, she knew it, but she wouldn't quite start yet. After all, the area around her newly created plateau was a bit open for her tastes.
Gliding to another spot above the ground, far enough away from the star-shaped plateau that they wouldn't be too close to one another, but close enough to be within walking distance of each other, she lit her horn.
Grasping the land once more, she gently pulled upwards, sculpting it with more care and attention than she had with the first one. She raised the plateau to a height that was more or less level with the first one. The irregularly shaped plateau was long and thin. With expert control and strength, Twilight brought the end of it into a fine point. Moving further along, she created jagged edges and corners, slowly moulding it into the shape of a lightning bolt. When she was finished, she flew up to admire her own work.
She had created a perfect replica of the Element of Loyalty, and thus, Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. She smiled and moved onto another space. There, she repeated the process, this time creating a butterfly. She moved around the star-shaped plateau in a circle, creating an image of each Element of Harmony as she went.
When she was finished, the plateaus looked wonderful from the air. An image of the six Elements together, her own in the centre. A small tear pricked the corner of Twilight's eyes. She blinked it away. She would stop by the Memorial Temple later, but for now, she had a planet to fill with life.
She flew until she found a place with a wide open space that she had left open on purpose. She had planned for it to be an open plain. She alighted on the edge of the future plain, crushing some stubby grass beneath her hooves. She smiled and folded her wings. She wouldn't be needing them at all for her plant-making. She cut off all magic flow to her horn. She wouldn't be needing that either.
Her unicorn and pegasus magic had both taken a beating over the years. Her wings were far more muscular than they had ever been, and were being used more often than they ever were in Equestria, and her horn ached a little. But there was one part of herself that Twilight had left alone.
Earth pony magic manifested itself passively as longevity, strength, stamina, and a connection with the earth. But, with the right know-how, and a sufficient amount of it, earth pony magic could be harnessed to accomplish far more than even unicorn magic. Earth pony magic had the unique ability to bring life to barren land. Twilight had earth pony magic to spare, and she was going to put it to good use.
Twilight closed her eyes. She breathed in, calming herself, and pushed her hoof away from her chest, exhaling as she did so. She squared her hooves on the ground, and reached deep inside herself. There, buried deep within her, was a near-boundless supply of untapped earth pony magic. Twilight drew it out, and forced it into her hooves. She opened her eyes and looked at her hooves. They were glowing a soft magenta tinged with green. She forced more and more of her earth pony magic into her hooves until the green glow overpowered the magenta. Tall, green grass began to spring up around her hooves. Flowers grew on long stems and opened, adding a much-needed dash of colour to the world.
Twilight grinned. She was ready.
With a joyful shriek, Twilight bounded forward into a gallop. Behind her, a trail of fresh green grass and flowers was springing up, bringing life to the barren soil. Her mane flapped behind her in the wind as she ran, smiling wider than she thought was possible. She galloped joyfully across the lifeless plains, her magic's influence spreading out behind her to fill more and more of her world with plants. True, life-filled grass and beautiful, crisp flowers followed Twilight, filling the world with beauty.
When Twilight reached the other edge of the plain, she paused for breath. She turned to look at her work. The once empty plain was now filled with long grass and flowers. Twilight ran back into it, laughing as grass tickled her belly and got caught in her tail. She stopped to smell the flowers. She hadn't seen anything like them before. They were white, with petals that were long and rubbery, with brown speckles on them. Near the centre of the flower, the petals faded to a creamy butter yellow that reminded Twilight of a certain pony's coat.
She ran around the plain some more, more life growing behind her as she ran. She stopped and lifted a forehoof. She stomped down hard. From her hoof grew a thick, thorny shrub. She moved around growing more and more shrubs as she went along. When she was satisfied that she had put enough plants into her plains, she switched off the magic and galloped towards the nearest mountain range. It happened to be the Chaotic Range.
At the base of the mountains, she resumed the flow of magic. She changed the amount and strength of the magic, trying to create mountain wildflowers. She looked at the plant life growing up around her hooves. It was thorny, but had an interesting fluffy coat on the stem and head. It had lavender coloured petals. It looked like an average mountain flower, but unique. Twilight was pleased with herself.
She slowly began to climb the mountain range, unable to gallop up the steep terrain. Where the soil was suitable, Twilight's mountain flowers grew outwards to fill the gap. She altered her flow again, and a different mountain flower, this one red, began to grow. The two species mingled together. Twilight returned to the flow she had used to make the grassland, but changed it slightly to create dry mountain grass. There wasn't much in the way of soil past a certain point, so Twilight left it barren. If plants wanted to colonise it, she would leave them to do it themselves.
She skidded back down the mountain. Not too far away from here, if she remembered correctly, was the huge lake she had made. She had a vow to fulfil. She needed to fill her underwater kingdom with just as much life as her land based one.
She trotted over to the lake at her own pace. There was no danger to her after all. And she was in no rush. When she reached the lakeshore, she stopped for a moment to ponder what type of flow she should use. She wasn't sure if her magic would even work underwater, never mind what type of flow she should use. She opted for something that would have created moss on land. Moss and algae were quite similar to one another in appearance, so she hoped it would work.
She dove in, lighting her hooves with life-giving magic as she went. She watched as the magic bled off of her hooves in spiralling green tendrils, seemingly doing nothing. However, as she swam, paddling with her hooves, the water gradually grew murky as it filled up with algae. A smile crossing her face, Twilight dove to the lake floor and began to walk along the bottom, changing her flow as she did.
With each step she took, dark green weed sprung up, waving in the lake's current. The long leaves and snakelike vines attempted to catch hold of Twilight as she walked by, but she brushed them off with one of her hooves. As she walked, altering her flow occasionally for variety, Twilight began to think about what type of creatures she should fill her world with, and how she would do it. The plant life she was creating was unique, she had noticed. She'd never seen it on Equestria. It was probably something to do with her magic signature.
She swam through the lake, filling it with life, for over an hour. She was still nowhere near the centre of the lake, but it was filling up nicely. When she was done, she climbed out of the lake, now on the opposite side, and shook herself. She looked around.
She galloped around a bit more, spreading life around her wherever she went. She smiled, enjoying the freedom of just running around with no nobles to tell her she was acting 'un-princesslike'. She hadn't been running for years, but she was certainly making up for it.
After almost a full week of running around, filling her world with its first form of life, Twilight sat halfway up a lesser mountain range, panting, with aching legs and sore hooves, but a wide smile upon her face. Lush green vegetation covered her planet. Long rows of shrubs, unique, colourful flowers, and young saplings that would one day become massive trees filled the ecosystem. Some plants were blooming in odd colours. A field of blue grass was kept company by a row of red shrubs. A sapling with an indigo trunk was trying to establish a foothold for itself in a patch of neon yellow flowers.
As fulfilling as it was to finally have accomplished the daunting task of creating life, Twilight knew that she now had a time limit. She had to fill her world with animals soon, lest the plants grow out of control. But that could wait. For now, she had a special task to complete.
Twilight found an open space that had become a plain. It wasn't a large space, but the soil here was good and fertile. Perfect for what she was planning. Twilight withdrew the magic from her hind hooves and redirected it into her forehooves. She would need extra strength for this task. She called forth a collection of memories, memories that, despite being a millennia old, were still fresh in her mind. She tried to get the memory as vivid as possible, and altered her flow to become as close to her memories as possible.
Confident that everything was perfect, Twilight reared up, her glowing forehooves waving in the air. With explosive force, she brought them down. She stepped back and waited. A sapling poked its way out of the soil. It quickly began to grow, shooting upwards and widening. Leaves grew from its lengthening branches, and fruit began to grow and ripen. Twilight smiled. It was perfect. Exactly how she remembered it.
Walking along in a straight line, Twilight grew more and more trees. When she was confident that her row was long enough, she started on another. Twilight had grown seven rows of trees before she decided it was large enough. It was nowhere near as large as the original, but it would do.
Twilight trotted to the nearest tree and plucked a fruit from its branches. The red apple was sweet, and delightfully crunchy. It was not as perfect as the original apples from Sweet Apple Acres, but they were fairly close. It had been a long time since Twilight had eaten any food at all. The food that she had eaten was the type of overly complex food served to royalty. Twilight relished in the taste of fresh, organic, unaltered fruit.
Finishing her apple and tossing away the core, Twilight cut off her earth pony magic. She allowed magic to flow into her horn once more. It didn't ache as much anymore; it had been given a rest these past few days, but Twilight still winced slightly as a powerful spell began to weave itself in her horn.
"May these trees stand here always. May they be impossible to destroy, by fire, disease, felling or otherwise. May their fruit always be ripe, may there always be fruit upon their branches and may they be impossible to grow anywhere else. May they feed weary travellers and villages, and may they always have the quality taste of homegrown food. May their fruit always be free from disease and parasites, so that all may enjoy their taste and benefit from them always," she said.
With a small flash, the spell was in place, and Twilight knew that the Apple Forest would always stand. She levitated another apple down from the trees and bit into it. She didn't need it—alicorns didn't need to eat—but she ate it anyway, enjoying its taste and the memories it brought forth.
She lay down under a tree, eating her apple and watching the sunset. Soon, she would not be the only creature on the planet. But for now, she was content to sit in the shade of the apple tree and think of days gone by.
A small tear rolled from her eye.