Chapter One: In the Beginning
Within this Covenant Journal, you shall find the tales of the Holy Mother, how She came to be, and the path that She laid out for all who would follow Her in joy and love and the magic of companionship.
In the beginning, there was nothing save the swirling, formless energies that would one day become magic. Pools of this energy shaped themselves into the first things: the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. And from the energy of the Earth sprang living things: trees, insects, fish, land animals, and finally, ponies and other such creatures.
But from the magic contained in the Sun and the Moon sprang vastly different beings, beings without solid form, made of pure magic; the first of the beings that would become known as gods. The god of the Sun and the goddess of the Moon both thought that they were the superior, that their light should be the only one that shone upon the Earth and the creatures that walked, swam, and flew. They battled one another with the rays of the sun and the shadows of the night, each fighting for domain of the skies, but their power was equally matched.
Seeking another way to gain an advantage, they looked down upon the ponies of the Earth, who did not yet know of the magic within them, and both came to the same plan: if they could make those ponies beneath worship them, they might draw power from their fear, enough to overcome the other. So they descended to the Earth and appeared before the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns, demanding their worship and their obedience. Cowed by the power that these deities held, the ponies had no choice but to obey; they named the god of the sun Daybreaker, and the goddess of the moon Nightmare Moon. With their fear and worship, the two gods grew stronger and their battles continued.
And so the ponies of the Earth were caught in a great war between the two deities. Worshiping Daybreaker could provoke the wrath of Nightmare Moon, who tormented ponies with horrendous visions in their sleep and by refusing the lower the moon and end the biting cold that it brought; but praising Nightmare Moon might enrage Daybreaker, who would bring great heat and blinding light with his sun and send the weather in turmoil, destroying homes and crops.
To worsen the torment of the ponies, other gods soon emerged from the chaos and demanded worship in turn, including Discord, the sly trickster who delighted in playing cruel jokes that brought suffering to all, and Tirek, the god of war and death who turned neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, brother against sister. Unaware of the magic within themselves, the ponies were wholly dependent upon the fickle nature of the gods for survival; life for the ponies was short and harsh, with little time to think of anything else but oneself.
But in a little village called Navah, there dwelled three young mares; an earth pony named Emunah, who toiled the wheat fields every day; a pegasus named Chesed, who scouted the skies for incoming weather; and a unicorn named Tiqvah, a scholar who collected all the written knowledge that she could find. The three were steadfast friends, always willing to help those in need, and their goodness and purity of heart brought a faint glimmer of hope to the lives of their neighbors.
One night, the three friends stayed out late, talking of their hopes and dreams of the future, the hopes that they held for a better life. As they were returning home, a bright light appeared before them. The mares flinched, sore afraid, but a voice spoke from the light: “Be not afraid, little ones, for I come with glad tidings.”
“Who are you?” Tiqvah asked.
“I am the magic that was born of the seeds you planted in your hearts: the seeds of kindness, generosity, honesty, hope, loyalty, and wisdom,” the voice said. “I am the blossom of the goodness that you planted amidst your ponies. I have seen the suffering of you ponies, and have come to help you. I will teach you a way of harmony, to use the magic contained within yourselves to seize your own lives, and you shall overthrow the false gods and become free of their tyranny.”
“What shall we call you?” Chesed asked the light.
“I do not have a name yet,” the voice spoke. “What would you wish to call me?”
It was Emunah who came up with the name: “We shall call you the Mother, for You come to guide and care for us as though we were Your own children.”
The Holy Mother taught Emunah to communicate with the earth, to grow crops even in the least fertile soil and protect them against harsh weather. To Chesed, the Holy Mother revealed the secrets of crafting clouds and controlling the weather. As for Tiqvah, the Holy Mother showed her how to use her unicorn magic for more than moving objects; She showed her how to weave complex spells for healing and protection, and how to move the sun and the moon.
The three mares spread their teachings throughout the village, and the word of the Holy Mother who had come to bring them together in harmony. The villagers learned quickly and discovered they no longer needed to worship the gods, not when they could control their own lives. The earth ponies raised bountiful crops, the pegasi brought the rain and the snow where and when it was needed, and the unicorns wrested the sun and the moon from the hooves of Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon and brought them under control. Peace and prosperity reigned in Navah.
Their teachings spread across the land, and ponies abandoned their hopelessness and loneliness for companionship and joy. Their power waning, the furious gods visited every wrath they could summon upon the ponies, but they weathered every assault. In time, the worship of the Old Gods had faded away entirely, and the gods, broken by the disbelief of the ponies, fell into the empty void of Tartarus. There they lie still, plotting ways to return to power, yet thwarted at every turn.
Still today the Holy Mother lives among us. Wherever two or three are gathered in the name of goodness, in spreading the teachings brought to us by Emunah, Chesed, and Tiqvah, She is there with us, and will always guide us through our troubles; for those who extend a heart and a hoof to help another will find that they have also helped themselves.