//------------------------------//
// Equestria 
// Story: Pony Shorts 
// by Miyajima 
//------------------------------//

Across an infinite expanse of grass, under a black and starless sky, ran The Herd.  They had run since time eternal, and would run 'til the fields were ended.

Each was midnight black, and bore a horn and wings.  On their backs rested the stars, each lighting the way before them.

One, little Equestria, had no burden.  She ran in the dark, no star to guide her, following her brothers and sisters and trusting them to light the way.

Equestria envied her brothers and sisters their star-burdens, and sought to create her own.  She dug at the earth with her hooves, lifting a ball of dirt, grass and seed onto her back, but it would not shine.  She ran on with The Herd, and her tears of sorrow watered the ball, running along its surface and pooling into seas, oceans and rivers.

When Equestria looked back at her failed world, she noticed two fireflies, one shining brighter than the other, had begun to circle it, attempting to make it shine like the stars.

Grateful for their efforts, she gave them her power and remade them in her image, naming the brighter light Celestia, and the lesser light Luna.  To these she gave the task of protecting the fledgling world, determined that one day it would rival that of her sisters and brothers.

To this end, Celestia and Luna walked the earth, their light providing life and making the seeds and plants spring forth.  From their walking and care came the first races of Equestria, the dragons, griffins, buffalo, serpents, hydra, and all other manner of beasts, great and small.

But Celestia and Luna found no comfort in their new companions, and felt alone in the world.  They entreated Equestria for others like themselves, and the great alicorn gave them another gift, the spark of creation.

Celestia took the spark and wove her magic into the world.  The waters rose to the sky as clouds, and from these, Celestia created her first children.

"I shall give unto them my wings, that they may roam the skies and care for it.  I will call them Pegasus, for they were born of the water and the air, and there they will make their home."

Celestia worked again, and her light and fire infused the world, warming it and gifting it with magic.  From this, she created her second children.

"I shall give unto them my horn, that they may channel and control the magic of the world, to weave it and command it as they will.  I will call them Unicorn, and in their hearts and minds will burn the fires of curiosity and knowledge, that they may learn about us and the world we have given them." 

Under the Pegasi's labours and the Unicorn's guidance, the planet flourished, but the animals and plants ran wild, untamed.

Luna, seeing this, took the spark from her sister and breathed her own magic into the world.  From the earth sprang two wingless, hornless ponies, one brown as the earth, the other striped black and white.  

Celestia scoffed at her sister's creation.

"They have neither horns, nor wings, what use will they be in guiding the world?"

Luna turned to her sister and replied.

"They have no wings that they may be closer to the ground.  They have no horns that they may never forget the toil and labour they will endure to keep the world in order.  To them I give dominion and authority over all plants and creatures that inhabit our world.  They will be the Earth Ponies, for from the Earth they came, and over Earth do they have their power."

Celestia mocked her sister's efforts, and the two lights began to compete in their creations.  In their strife, the spark of creation fell from their hooves and plummeted to the earth, where it ran rampant.  From this came Discord, the ancient trickster and source of all chaos.

The sisters realised their error and, weeping, entreated Equestria once more to save her world from their mistake.  The great alicorn gave one last gift to the sisters, plucking three feathers from each and weaving them into the Elements of Harmony.

Using their power, the sisters bound Discord in a prison of stone, but the world could not be freed of his chaos.  Where once the creatures of the world worked together in harmony and friendship, they now fought in hate and anger.

The Unicorns, seeking an end to all this, brought together the Pegasi and the Earth Ponies, and they three created a nation where they would be safe.  The Striped, known as the Zebra, disagreed with this course of action, proclaiming that hiding away would solve nothing, and that they should work in harmony with the races of the world as they once did.  They left the new nation and went away to their own country, where to this day they still live closer to nature in an attempt to bring harmony back to the world.

The Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies, seeking a leader, asked the sisters to rule over them and guide them, and they named them 'Princess'.  So began the rule of Celestia and Luna, and the beginning of a nation that would stand for many thousands of years.

... and that's how Equestria was made.