A long time ago, the three pony races went on a journey to find a new land that provided food and shelter, seeking freedom from the other two clans. Such a perilous enterprise was also foalish. Unicorns raised the sun and the moon, but could not grow food effectively: their magic was too taxed by such a titanic task, even performed between all of them. Earth ponies grew the food, but they needed the light of the sun and the clemency of the weather. Pegasi ruled the climate, but they required food and the guide through the season’s cycles the sun and moon provided.
The leaders of each tribe and their assistants departed on a travel that led them to the same patch of land; their fighting and bickering allowed the deadly Windigos to trap the leaders in ice. Only after the assistants made peace with each other, and shared love, were the cold devils thrown out and the rulers restored.
After that, the three races went on to associate and found the nation of Equestria together, under the watchful eyes of the Royal Sisters. That is the story as it is told in the Hearth’s Warming Eve recollections, as well as in most history books. But this story contains a gap, which has been covered for the better part of two thousand years.
Each of the representatives went back to their respective populations and relayed their decision to share the land with the other two races. However, inside of each tribe, the desire to conquer the territory for themselves burned passionately. Unable to stop or convince their kin to drop it, the leaders headed the movements, which found each other in the same place, ready for war. The conflict ravaged the newfound land with its ferocity. With the passing of days, ponies were starved, falling all over the place, lacking any kind of food that could be grown. The weather, unchecked by its guardians, turned wild and unpredictable, with days of harsh sun and scorching heat, others of endless snow and unmerciful blizzards, and yet others of drowning rain.
Soon, ponies were at the brink of their absolute end, their remaining forces destroyed in spirit, their pride broken and gone. They were on the verge of forming an association with each other, to prevent the end of all races.
Unfortunately, something evil had been born, from the hatred, the chaos and the disharmony. A creature far more terrible than the windigos and without such ease of banishment, much less in the state the ponies were in.
This creature whose appearance was mismatched, its body including parts from ponies, as well as from other animals, even some they had never seen before. It transformed the snow into ice cream and the rocks into cakes, not wanting to see the ponies pass out from hunger, but to enjoy in their despair.
They survived among upside-down floating mountains, huge butterflies, being shrunk into tiny ponies, having to run for their lives from other animals and wandering ponies and many other chaotic misgivings. Days were figuratively long –for they could no longer discern accurately the passing of time.-
Among all these happenings, there was the opening of dimensional rifts across the space. From one of these rifts, three creatures came. They stood in two legs, were tall and hairless, except for a short mane at the top of the head, and wore clothing that was surprisingly similar to that of the ponies, except adapted to their anatomy. Their language –for these creatures could speak- was somewhat similar to the equines’ one. They were called humans, and upon entering the unknown land and seeing the ponies, and all that was happening around, they delivered to panic and fled from there. Nopony was in any right state to go after them, and they were promptly forgotten.
The rampant chaos was unbearable. The draconequus, as the ponies had named the horrifying creature, sat upon a throne of distorted stone, relaxing. But as well as he had been spawned from the entrails of disharmony, the land sought for reparation.
Two ponies appeared from balls of light that descended from the sky. Once the blinding shine receded, they could be properly seen. They were no pegasus, nor were they unicorn or earth pony.
The first one was of a pure white, her mane overflowing with a cascade of pastel colors that merged into each other; she opened her eyes, which were of a pure violet. Her wings were larger than those of any pegasus, and her horn longer than that of any other unicorn. Her mark was the sun.
The second one was smaller in size, but still bigger than the average pony. Her body was all shades of blue, with her mane shining with what resembled the night stars. Her eyes were of a bright blue and her mark was a crescent moon.
The white pony spoke, her voice reverberating as they both landed at a certain distance of the draconequus. The creature looked at them; the ponies surrounding them didn’t know what to make of it all, though the new arrivals irradiated a much warmer aura than the tyrant.
“Unsightly monster, thy name is Discord. Thou hast made the creatures suffer long enough, seeding chaos and unrest among the land. We will stop thee, as we were created to do.”
“And just who might you be?” asked Discord, his voice laced with amusement, resting his chin in one of his paws.
“Our name is Celestia, and we were charged with the Sun” answered the white mare.
The dark pony followed suit, her voice just as booming. “And our name is Luna. We take care of the Moon."
Discord laughed, dancing around until he finally stopped. He posed dramatically and raised a claw, chanting, closing his eyes.
“Very interesting words do you say. And just how do you plan to achieve that? Chaos is…”
His words were heard no more, as while he delivered his monologue, both sisters charged their horns. They floated around, while a multicolored ray materialized itself and shot up to the sky, coming down in a heavy fall which covered him. The draconequus turned instantly into stone, leaving him ever trapped in that position.
Upon the encasing of Discord in his prison, most of the chaos that the land suffered dissipated: landmarks were turned back to their proper standing, the weather turned sunny and clear, the creatures were transformed back to normality. But not all was corrected instantly. Discord was an embodiment of Chaos, not its master; and the force still flew around. A small piece of it incrusted itself into the Moon sister.
The newly arrived sisters helped restore the order in the next few months. Celestia raised the sun, which freed the unicorns from their task and from that moment on, allowed the development of magical sciences. Luna raised the moon. A few days later, the strange creatures that had been brought from the rift in space were found, and brought back among the ponies. They were still nervous, but slowly adapted to pony society. One of them vanished without a trace three years after that; the other did so ten years later. The last one lived in the recently formed land of Equestria until his passing, many years later. They were documented as a curiosity in the books, while the Discord incident was mostly lost, except for a few books than remained in the possession of the sisters. One of those had been passed from Celestia to Twilight Sparkle after Discord’s return and subsequent recapture.
Equestria prospered under the rule of the sisters, who guided the three races into the construction of the nation. Besides raising the Sun, Celestia was attuned to the Earth, being able to help the earth ponies develop their agricultural techniques. Luna presented an affinity to the sky, leading the pegasi in weather manipulation.
Inside both sisters were also present the powers of Harmony.
Celestia held the Magic, which permeated the whole country; she was its absolute master. Laughter, which manifested in her being willing to entertain her subjects, while remaining the royal pony they had taken her for, and Kindness, which showed her empathy and caring nature towards every creature in Equestria.
Luna had the Generosity, which led her to gift the ponies with such presents as the constellations in the sky, so they could marvel at them. Loyalty, which meant she would be there for everypony that needed her, and Honesty, which made her the most trustable pony if you wanted a truthful opinion. However, even the most generous and loyal pony resented upon perceived neglect, and the piece of Chaos inside her ate her, slowly, but surely…
And they both encompassed the power of Love, an unending love for their subjects.
A thousand years later, Luna finally gave into the calling of chaos and bitterness, transforming into the evil Nightmare Moon. Celestia saw herself forced to turn the Elements against her sister and banish her into her own place of power. The incident broke the connection of the Elements of Harmony which tore themselves from the sisters and turned into stone spheres, to be found and activated a millennium later by six different ponies, ensuring that such a breach would never happen again.