//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: In The Beginning 
// Story: 117 The Eternal Guardian 
// by Nanofield 
//------------------------------//

^Equis^
{50AD}
13:00
[John]
So, it has been a week since I had that little fight with the princesses. Celestia recovered from my punch rather well but her emotional state was different than it was when I got here. In fact, Luna has been acting odd as well. Celestia has been more emotionally outward. But Luna has been venomous toward me since I hit her sister and she has been sulking a bit too but won't say why.

Celestia forgave me for everything I did when I properly apologized, but not Luna. They managed to get the griffins to surrender to the ponies' terms out of fear that I would attack them directly. The survivors that ran away might have exaggerated my abilities some.

Celestia decided that since I was stuck here, she wanted me to train the guard. From what I have seen, they need the help. She was hoping we could learn about each other and our history as a species. I was not looking forward to that explanation. Humanity is not always pleasant. “So, Princess Celestia. Do you want to go first?”

“Very well. We shall tell you of the history of pony kind.”

I have a feeling this is going to be a long story. Well, humanity's story is over 100,000 years long, so how bad can this be? I learned why you NEVER tempt fate on Equis.

“In the beginning, Equis was a rock that was orbited by the moon and Equis orbited the sun. There were also ten immortal Alicorns. No pony knows about how they got there, they were just there. Alicorns, two rocks and a sun. One Alicorn felt that the large rocks they called home could use some additions to make them more, enjoyable. He shaped the mountains and the seas, the deserts and the forests. He became the Alicorn of nature, the land and the sea was his to control. It was beautiful, but it was empty. Another decided to add life to Equis. She created all the animals you see before you. She became the Alicorn of life and genetics. There were no ponies however. They came later. There originally were only ten of each animal because the Alicorns did not think there could be more than ten of a species. But they were soon proven wrong. The animals flourished on the land, but they were of no intelligence. They were only animals. The third Alicorn decided to change that. He observed the animals and decided which ones showed promise of using actual thought and gave them intelligence of their own, far beyond basic instincts. He became the Alicorn of knowledge and reasoning. More and more was added to the world over the first 50,000 years. Emotion, ingenuity, physics, magic. All of it was created by the first Alicorns. They observed the world they created. Never interfering after they finished the original work. Deciding that immortals should not interfere with mortals.”

Wow, this is interesting. “You said the original ten were immortal, are Alicorns no longer immortal? And what happened to them?”

“You see, Alicorns are immortal to age and immune most sicknesses. We don't really need food or sleep either. However, we can die if we suffer enough damage. They were eternal, and eternity has a cost. Sanity. One of them became insane from living too long, so he killed himself. That was the first time an Alicorn died. But not the last. Three other Alicorns were unhappy with living so long after seeing the creatures that they watched over all grow old and die. They wanted that too, to die a fulfilled life. And so, they renounced their Alicorn linage and became the first unicorn, earth pony, and pegasus. Now, the remaining Alicorns had a problem. There were only six of them left. Now armed with the knowledge that they could die, they decided that they would do as the animals they watch over do. They bred and made more Alicorns. They soon realized that when an Alicorn died, a new Alicorn born could take its place as the Alicorn of that task. The new Alicorn was given all knowledge of the task and how to complete it. The number of Alicorns rose into the hundreds, some did not need a task to handle, others made a task out of what was needed like the original ten had. They left the planet and headed to the moon to stay as the new Alicorn home. It became a massive city. The Alicorns were very peaceful but also liked to train and fight for the sake of self betterment.”

“Princess, how long ago was this?”

“Around 100,000 years ago.”

That is a surprise. “Oh.”

“So, the Alicorns trained and created most of the offensive, defensive, and healing magic that we have today. Over the millennium, some Alicorns decided that they wanted to be with the mortals that lived on the planet below. They took mortal form and joined the others that decided to leave. The pony race was formed and it held strong. However, the years that they were separated from the Alicorns caused them to forget their origin. Grudges formed, lines drawn. They went to war. It was the first war in the history of Equis. Earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus, all taking sides and fighting. Life decided to create the windigos to force them together and end the war. It worked, but the match had been struck. War was now a growing threat. It expanded and other nations soon fell to war. Even the Alicorns were subject to its reach. One Alicorn, Discord, decided that if they were gods, they should rule like gods.

“Is that the same Discord as the one you fought?”

“Yes, the very same. His talent was being the balance between chaos and order. He decided that the Alicorn race was weak if it could not rule. He started the Alicorn war. Using his power of mental manipulation and his silver tongue, he convinced many Alicorns to join him. The war officially started with an attack on the capital city. A blast of magic from him and his followers destroyed the city and thousands of Alicorns. They went to fight him and the war caused many to die. I was not born yet to witness this carnage. This was over 5,000 years ago. After the fight, the Alicorn race went from several thousand down to only a few hundred. Any that were left were captured and became Discord's play things. Twisted and tortured till they were nothing but a shell. Discord had become the king of Equis. He destroyed all that was on the moon, forcing us to live on the planet. My father and mother were part of the resistance against him. Mostly hiding, they tried to find the remaining Alicorns and set them free. I was very young at this point, Discord's meddling with the Sun and Moon caused them to destabilize; so my sister and I decided to control them. We then became the Alicorn of the Sun and the Moon. The current Alicorns of Life, Wisdom and Ingenuity, my parents, and all the remaining Alicorns decided to rise up and fight. Using all the power that they had, they twisted the body of Discord into what it is now. They declared that he does not deserve to be an Alicorn anymore. With his form changed, he lost much of his power, but he could still fight. He captured the Alicorns that changed him and killed them all. However, as Emotion died, he cast a final spell on him. One that changed who he was. This spell used up all of the life force that he had left. What he did was make it against Discord's nature to kill. Now, Discord could no longer kill any living creature for the rest of time. That is the only reason we still stand here today. My sister and I were very young as this was 200 years ago. Now my parents were dead, along with all of the other Alicorns. My sister and I searched the planet, looking for anything that could help us defeat him. We eventually stumbled upon the Tree of Harmony. It was created in the beginning by Life and Creation to watch over the land should anything happen to them. It contained the Elements of Harmony, artifacts that existed from the beginning. They were there longer than the Alicorns themselves. It is unknown how they got there or what the full extent of their power is. The only reason I know about them is a book that was left by Wisdom with the tree. Not even Discord knew about them. That is how we defeated him. Bringing a temporary peace to the world. Because the world was so torn up, Luna and I decided to take care of the world directly. We became the Diarchy that you see now. I know it is like what Discord did, but we rule with kindness, not fear and cruelty. Then the griffins decided to attack and here you are. It is possible that there are still a few Alicorns hiding. I hope that if there are still some left we can find them.”

Wow, that was a long story. The Alicorns are like gods. I decided to punch one of them in the face. Great. “So, now what?”

“Now, we will see what happens. I believe it is your turn to tell me of your world.”

*****
21:00

I told her the tale of humanity, almost all of it. I left out the part about the kidnapping for the Spartan project and other highly classified subjects. I told her about the Forerunners and the Flood, the Covenant and the glassing, the rise and fall of humanity. She told me about her world so I owe her that at least. She went a little pale when I mentioned the death count after the war with the Covenant. It was over 20 billion so that is understandable. Her reaction to the fact that I was in the war -and stopped it- was mostly amazement. The war she told me of, she was not in till the end of it and she didn't actually have to fight or kill. I was there for the long haul and fought it out.

When I told her about the Didact, she was surprised to learn of a being that was that old and wasn't an Alicorn. When I told her how I became immortal, she became excited for some reason. When I finished my story, we went to eat and now I am going to sleep. Training for The Royal Guard starts tomorrow. That will be interesting.