How worlds live and die

by SoikerNahmu

Chapter 2: Storytime

The six mares followed the biped through the Everfree Forest, though none of them really knew why. The explanation they got was rather weak.

“The world is in danger, and we are going to visit the one possibly responsible for this.”

Twilight had tried to explain more, but the words Homer, human, and spirit were pretty much everything else she knew.

“Are you sure we can trust him?” Rainbow Dash was hovering above the purple unicorn.

“The princesses trust him, and I see no reason why we shouldn't trust them.”

“That doesn't really convince me.”

“Indeed.” Rarity walked up next to them, “Just look at his clothes. That's a crime against fashion.”

“Uhg.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“You know, that's not really a reason to distrust someone.” said Twilight.

“Not a reason?” The white unicorn was shocked, “Darling, the sense of fashion shows the true character of every living being.”

Rainbow moaned again, “Rarity, you are the only one of us with a sense of fashion.”

In that moment Pinkie Pie popped up between the two unicorns: “Yeah, just think about the dresses we designed for the Grand Galloping Gala I mean they were ugh, so we all would be evil but we're not evil we're the good ones I mean we're fighting the evil ones. Or are we fighting the good ones but think they are the evil ones because we are tricked by the true evil ones, like him, but then the princesses would be evil as well. They are surely not evil, they're good, I mean they're always so friendly and they care for everypony. Or are they tricked as well, but then he would be a really good evil one it's probably not easy to trick them, but” at that point no one was listening to the pink pony anymore, which didn't stop her from continuing.

---

Cadence and Shining Armour had been visiting the Neighagra Falls when Celestia's letter reached them, and asked them to immediately return to Canterlot. What luck, that the trains between there and Canterlot were quite quick, the letter sounded pretty urgent, and the whole palace was in a hurry, so something must be going on. Last time the royal guards had been this active was when the changelings threatened Canterlot, but they couldn't possibly be trying an attack again already, could they? Shining already walked off to coordinate the guards, while the pink alicorn went towards the throne-room to meet Celestia and Luna. Both, so something serious must be going on.

Cadence coat was still moist from the Falls. She appreciated the additional cooling, while being outside during this hot summer day, but here, in the chilly palace, the princess started to freeze, and a cold shiver ran down her spine. “Let's hope that I don't catch a cold. That's the last thing I need right now.” said the princess to herself.

---

“The others are starting to get uneasy. It would probably help, if you tell us, where exactly we are heading.” suggested Twilight towards Homer.

The human pointed forwards with his right hand, “There.”

Trying to spot where he was pointing, the Unicorn stretched out her neck. It wasn't easy, but through the trees and bushes she could make out some structures. Familiar structures.

“Are those the old castle's ruins? What are we supposed to find there?”

“Nothing. We're just stopping for a short break.”

Rainbow dashed before him: “Weren't we supposed to save the world? I don't think we got the time for a break. Unless you’re lying!”

“What we don't have time for,” said Homer in a strong and serious voice, “is one of you collapsing from the heat.”

“No one is collapsing.”

“Why don't you discuss that with Fluttershy.” Without further words, the human continued.

Fluttershy smiled at the other five mares, who were all eying her now.

“She doesn't look tired. We can easily continue.”

“Actually, I would love to take a break, uhm, if that would be okay for you.”

“How in tarnation did he do that? He never looked at her.” asked Applejack

Twilight laughed, lightly nervously: “Maybe I should have mentioned that he can read minds.”

“Maybe,” echoed Homer's voice through the forest.

---

Cadence entered the throne room: “Celestia, Luna, I'm here. What is....” in that moment, she saw the black and holey 'mare' who stood with them, “What is she doing here?”

“Don't tell me, this little Princess is one as well. Hah. That would explain how she was able to defeat me.”

Celestia interrupted before the situation had a chance to escalate: “Calm down Cadence, Queen Chrysalis is not here as an enemy, we invited her here.”

“Why would you do that? She tried to ruin my wedding, and take over Equestria.” Cadence was confused.

“Right now we are facing an enemy, who is even more dangerous than her, and not only threatens ponykind, but all of existence. That includes Chrysalis.”

Cadence looked around the room, awaiting to see other royals. She was even more confused when she couldn't spot any: “Why aren't there any other representatives here? The other races must care about this as well.”

This time it was Chrysalis who was confused. The changeling's queen eyed the young Princess with a questioning look: “Don't tell me...” she began to laugh loudly. “This little foal doesn't even know who she is, does she?”

“What are you talking about?”

Celestia stepped forth, “It's time that we tell you a little bit more about yourself. What do you know about the spirits?”

“The spirits?”

“We are the ones responsible for this world. Every one of us represents something that makes it possible for this world to live.

We were born from the Idea, a being much older and more powerful than all the spirits together, who created this world out of an empty void of nothing, but the world was just a blur. It lacked a shape, and so, the spirit of shape, Chrysalis, was born.

The next problem was, that the world was too dark. All those shapes couldn't be seen. So the Idea created the Sun, the light and me, the spirit of light.

Now, that there was something to be seen, and the light to see it, the world missed someone to see it, for all it's inhabitants were mindless. So the spirit of knowledge came into existence.”

---

“And that would be me.” Homer held both his thumbs up beneath his face and smiled at the six mares who sat before him, in the shadows of the old ruins.

“But this world was far away from perfection. Knowledge doesn't work on it's own, it needs a base to work on and a goal to work for. A past and a future, and the corresponding spirits, Chron and Tempa. They are the ones we are visiting. Tempa, the spirit of past, is the only one I can think of, who would be able to do something without me getting to know.”

“How?” Twilight interrupted, “I thought you can read everyone’s mind?”

“I said it's like reading everyone’s mind, and that I have all knowledge in existence, but Chron and Tempa don't exist at the same time as I do. I am older than time itself, which sounds way cooler than it actually is, so I only exist in the present. Tempa only exists in the past, while Chron, as the spirit of future, only exists in the Future. So they have knowledge that I either missed, or can't have yet, but there is a way for us to communicate, thanks to an old artifact the Idea left for us.”

“So that's what you need the Elements of Harmony for.” Twilight claimed.

“No. I created the Elements as a weapon for you mortals, that you can use against the spirits, if necessary, and that's what we need them for.”

“You created the Elements of Harmony?” The purple mare was astonished, as well as all the others.

“Yeah. It took me several years, and a small failure, that made the changelings all holey, though, but that's a different story.

Past and future now might existed,” the human just continued with his story, not caring that the way he changed the subject was quite rough, “but they were no different from the present, because everything was in a perfect order. What the world needed was a spirit of chaos.

Discord.

Everything worked quite fine now, except that the constant change exhausted the living beings. They needed a possibility to rest, to recover. Therefore the Idea created Luna, the spirit of night, as a counterpart to Celestia's light. If you might recall, change already existed at that point, so it affected Luna, and she was born as a filly. Celestia was too powerful for Littleluna,” Homer smiled upon using that Nickname for the princess of the night, “And had to be weakened and youthed, which left me with the task to keep an eye on them.”

Nostalgic and quiet he looked around the ruins, before continuing with a sigh: “The world seemed perfect, but it's inhabitants grew old over the time and needed to be replaced. The old ones had to die, and new young ones had to be born. Following this, Vito, the spirit of birth, and Morus, the spirit of death, appeared.

About a week ago, they died, which is on the one hand rather strange for immortal beings, on the other hand bad for this world, because with them death and birth vanished as well, leaving you unable to die, and new children unable to be born.”

“The thing with the children is sad, but being immortal isn't that bad, is it?” mentioned Rainbow Dash, “Now I can try all those tricks that have been too dangerous before.”

“You're not immortal, you just can't die. Yes there is a difference. Imagine an old and sick pony, lying in hospital, with just one wish left: For the end to come. A wish that will never become truth. Imagine a cute little bunny that got attacked by a fox. Left lying on the ground, hurt but still alive.”

Rainbow swallowed. That last example had been a complete mood killer. The ponies awkwardly looked at the ground, almost paralyzed by not knowing how to reply. Except for Fluttershy.

“What are we waiting for?” The yellow Pegasus charged towards Homer, “We need to find that Tempa spirit.”

“Alright, if you're rested enough," The Human took another sip from his water bottle before he stood up agaon. "Let's go."

"So, who's the last Spirit?"

---

“Death worked perfectly fine, but birth didn't happen, the worlds inhabitants had no reason for it. So the Idea created love, and the spirit of love. You, Cadence.”

“Me?” the pink alicorn took a few steps back, “But I'm nothing special. There's no way I can be this spirit of love.”

“You are an alicorn, you can easily perform powerful love spells and you were able to defeat another spirit. There is no doubt.”

“It was Shining who performed the defense spell and I am not immortal like you.”

Celestia smiled down at her: “The spirit of love is not immortal. The Idea thought it wouldn't be fair to let you witness the deaths of everyone you ever loved. It gave you the ability to die and be reborn, so you could forget everything and start a new love.”

---

“Cadence is an immortal spirit?” asked Twilight.

“She's a special case.” replied Homer, “As the only one of us younger than death and birth, the spirit of love was affected by them and the Idea had to think of some different way, to make it immortal. So the spirit of love stayed mortal, but is randomly reborn into any race, without any memory of it's previous life. Most spirits of love didn't even knew what they were.” He laughed at that.

“Anyway, you have more questions.”

“Why haven't I heard of humans before?”

“We moved to the north long ago, after the fifth Discord event.”

“Fifth? How often has Discord broke free?”

“Just once, but he has been trapped in stone only two times up to today. Once by the princesses, once by you girls. However, if you want to know how often he caused massive turmoil, the answer is six times.”

“So often?”

“That number is actually rather low, if you keep in mind how long we already live.”

“Oh, okay, but it still doesn't really explain why there haven't been any mentions in my books.”

“It's REALLY long ago that that happened. There are barely any books left from then, and we didn't just moved north. We moved FAR north, way farther than where you ponies original come from, into the Crystal Mountains, literally. On top of that, we stopped every contact with other species.”

“Why have you done that?”

“Humans are a bit more aggressive than ponies, and turned out to be rather dangerous under the wrong influence of Discord. So, it was just for the safety of everyone.
You know, we've got some time till we reach our destination, why don't you let me tell a bit about Equestria's history?”

“Uh okay.”

“Careful, branch.”

“What?” Twilight moved her head forward, and barely came to a halt, before running into a branch, that hung down from a tree, “Thanks for the warning.”

“No problem.” The human walked backwards, while facing Twilight. Without looking, he ducked under another branch.

Twilight only needed a few small hops to catch up with Homer again. He still did walked rather slow. They would have been much faster without him.

“But you don't know the way.”

It took the mare a few seconds of confusion to remember his special ability.

“Yes,” she awkwardly smiled at the human, who just smiled back. Hoping to change the subject the unicorn then continued: “You wanted to tell me something about Equestria's history.”

“Think back to the first Hearth's Warming Eve.” Homer began as if nothing had happened, “At about the same time as the ponies left their homeland in the north due to the Windigoes, the humans left their original homeland in the south due to a massive heat wave. This is more than just a funny coincidence, these two events are actually linked to each other.”

“How?” It wasn't quite easy to follow the spirit's story, and the spirit himself through the forest, but Twilight's curiosity kept her going, as always. The other mares weren't as interested as the Unicorn, so they just followed the two of them in silence, except for Rarity who would moan about the dirt every now and then.

“Windigoes don't destroy warmth. They just relocate it to somewhere else, and that somewhere happened to be the human's homeland. So, the colder the north became, the hotter it got in the south.

Oh, humans and ponies worked so well together. The ponies profited by the human's advanced technology, while the humans got help from the ponies magic, and their additional strength. So both species settled down here, in the Land they named Equestria. The homeland of us spirits. Of course at that point none of them had any idea about us, and it stayed like that for several more years, because we had silently agreed to stay out of the mortal's business.”

“What changed?” asked Twilight, “I mean, Celestia and Luna being princesses isn't actually staying out of mortal's business.”

“Discord, what else.” Homer took a big step over a tree, that had fallen to the ground, “One day, it wasn't enough for him to make his little jokes with the wild animals from the Everfree Forest, and he started to play with the ponies and humans. Celestia and Luna couldn't stay still and watch, so they took action as well.”

“What about you? Haven't you done anything?”

“Humans aren't really strong, and can't use magic. There wasn't much I could have done, besides giving advice.

Anyway, Discord was still modest at that time and didn’t use his full powers, so Celestia's and Luna's natural abilities were enough to fend him of. However that draconequus is quite persistent and tried to cause chaos several times, most of them were minor incidents, but he also made larger attempts. That's what I referred to as Discord Events earlier.

After the third of these events, Celestia and Luna had gained so much trust from Equestria's inhabitants, that humans and ponies decided to crown the sisters. So they got their royal titles, with all the responsibilities, including raising the sun and the moon.”

“Ehm.” Rarity cleared her throat to gain the human's attention, “Excuse me, but I was wondering, why have you given them the titles of Princesses, and not Queens?”

“Two Queens for one country? That's rather unusual, isn't it. Besides, their physical appearance was still quite young at that time, and even though most people and ponies trusted them, they wouldn't have accepted such young Queens.

It was about the time around their crowning ceremony that I started to work on the Elements of Harmony. With all the new tasks and the population spreading further across Equestria, I assumed Celestia and Luna wouldn't be able to defend everyone anymore, and that humans and ponies needed a way to defend themselves.

Fortunately, Discord left us our peace for quite some time then, so he could visit Chrysalis, who on my advice had moved across the sea to the next continent in the east.”

“Your advice?”, asked Twilight.

“I lived among humans, Celestia and Luna lived among ponies, so I thought it would only be fair if Discord and Chrysalis could live among their kind as well and told them where they lived. Chrysalis followed my advice, Discord didn't, and that continent in the east happened to be the homeland of the Changelings.”

---

Celestia watched the lively work of the royal guards from a window in the throne room. They probably wouldn't stand a chance, so the spirit of light hoped for the evacuation of Canterlot to be finished before who- or whatever killed Morus and Vito showed up.

Behind her, on the other side of the room, Queen Chrysalis stood, bored with nothing to do and the ongoing evacuation made it impossible even for her to get some love.

Luna lay in a corner, sleeping. Staying up all night and day had exhausted her so much, that even the cold stone floor felt comfortable.

Thinking about what she just learned, Cadence sat near the throne room’s entrance. She had already accepted the fact that she seemed to be this 'spirit of love', and now her curiosity kicked in. It was a thread she shared with Twilight, and probably the reason, why the young princess loved to foal-sit the unicorn so much.

“There is one thing I don't understand.”

Celestia moved away from the window and faced the pink alicorn: “Yes?”

“How come Changelings feed from love, if I am the youngest of all spirits?”

“We have to thank these two Princesses and their precious Elements of Harmony for that.”

“If you wouldn't have tried to take over Equestria, there would have been no reason for us to use them.”

“I think I'm missing some crucial knowledge here.” interrupted Cadence before the two attacked each other.

“Originally the Changelings were normal carnivore, from a continent across the ocean in the east. Luna and I had no actual idea about their existence, until they attacked Equestria several years after we became the princesses. We were still young back then, it was impossible for us to fend off a whole army and Equestria had no army of it's own. After all, we are a peaceful nation, back then as well as today. Fortunately for us, the spirit of knowledge was on our side and gave us the Elements of Harmony. Unfortunately for the changelings, they had never been used before, so no one knew how to use them properly, and there was no time to try it out. So, when my sister and I used them against Chrysalis and her Changelings, it didn't show the expected effect, but turned them into the love eating beings they are now.”

---

“After what happened to the Changelings, I immediately took back the Elements and worked out everything that wasn't as it should be, for example that they also worked on non spirits, but the changelings weren't the only one who changed. Some humans began to build weapons, in case they had to fight against an army again. I didn't interfere at that point, because every one of them hoped there would never be a reason for that again. Maybe they would have been right, if it weren't for Discord. Somehow he got wind of the weapon's existence, and thought it would be a perfect opportunity for him to spread chaos, without any other spirit getting in his way. As I mentioned earlier, humans tend to be more aggressive than ponies, so it was a piece of cake for him to manipulate them, and indeed, when they started to use the weapons, the chaos that occurred made him too powerful for Celestia and Luna. Hesitant, I allowed them to wield the Elements of Harmony once again. This time, they worked perfectly fine and Discord got imprisoned in stone. Ponykind would have forgiven the humans, but they lost the trust in themselves, and we decided that leaving Equestria would be the best thing for everyone. That's it for my story.”

Homer stopped before several giant boulders and took another gulp from his bottle.

“We're there.”