//------------------------------// // Prologue: Legend of the Queen of Ponykind: The Age of Light // Story: URBC: The Legends of the Seven Tribes // by Banjo64 //------------------------------// The origin of Equis began long, long before its conception, for our planet is but one world among countless others. And dancing between the many worlds in those ancient times was a single being. She was the first, the greatest, and the mother of us all: the great Queen of Ponykind. But back then, she was merely a pony. A pony who, for reasons long lost to history, had no home. Be it due to escaping the destruction of her home world, losing her way on a great journey through time and space, or some other unfathomable tragedy, she had no place of her own to return to. But she had the power to travel dimensions, and she looked to the future with hope in her heart. “The multiverse is infinite in size and possibilities. Surely, somewhere out there is a place where I can belong. I shall one day find it, I need only search long enough,” she declared. And so her journey began. She traveled to untold worlds, encountered countless beings of every shape and size, and made many, many companions along the way. Yet, no matter how great the bonds she forged, she always felt deep in her being that she was but an outsider, never truly belonging. And though it pained her to say goodbye so frequently, she would not be deterred from her quest. She also faced numerous challenges, solved many problems both for others and herself, and overcame many foes, from lowly criminals to world-ending monsters. And with every step forward, her body grew stronger, her mind grew wiser, and her soul grew brighter in radiance. Before long, she grew so great that she ascended beyond her mortal form, enabling her search to continue indefinitely. But alas, her struggles were in vain. After many eons of searching, she had become like a goddess in all but title. Now so powerful and wise, she gazed out into the infinite cosmos, seeing eternity in its full glory, and yet she still could find no destination for her to arrive to. Despite all her might, she still could not find her purpose. She was filled with despair for but a moment, for then she came to realize that after everything she had endured, she now had another possibility available to her. “So be it. If there is no place in all of reality for me to call home, then I shall create my home myself,” she declared. And so she did. With her god-like power, she was able to draw in great amounts of energy and mass from the cosmos. With her near infinite wisdom, she knew how to shape it all into a new, cohesive world. And with her brightly shining soul, she bestowed light unto the newly-forged land. Drawing inspiration from the most beautiful of worlds she had seen in her journey, she created a paradise of light and harmony: a land of green earths and blue oceans. And in the sky, she molded great lights, similar in appearance to their inspirations, but far simpler in form and function. She flooded the world with a powerful energy: the great force of magic. And to pull it all together, she filled the land with life: fish, animals, insects, and countless others. And finally, when the world was ready, she graced it with the greatest of her creations, her people: ponies crafted in her own image. Aware of the many dangers to mortal lives, she decided that more than one race of ponies would be necessary. She would go on to shape seven tribes, each blessed with a gift to help them play the roles she had planned for them. First, she created the cornu, ponies gifted with horns that could touch and control the world’s magic. With their gifts, the cornu could perform great feats of wonder and mystery. And as their desire to understand their power drove them onward, they also pursued wisdom in all its forms, becoming the teachers and scholars of the world. Second, she created the alas, ponies gifted with mighty wings that let them soar into the air. And as they flew up into the blue skies, they found that they could touch the clouds, and learned to control them. They would become the guardians of the wind and sky, ensuring that none would live in fear of great storms. Third, she created the terrans, ponies gifted with deep ties to the earth and soil. With such ties came great strength, and affinity for the life that grew from it. The terrans would quickly learn how to harness this affinity, ensuring food would always be in abundance, and not a single pony would starve. Fourth, she created the salvares, ponies gifted with connections to the beauty of world around them, both in life, and of that buried within stones. What took nature millions of years to create, the salvares could grow in but a decade. And with this gift, they would become builders and craftsponies: the cornerstones of all pony civilization. Fifth, she created the hippocampi, ponies gifted with the full might of the sea, and the power to live within it. And so they did, shaping and controlling the world beneath the waves as the other tribes shaped the world above. No matter how far the other tribes journeyed from the shore, the hippocampi would ensure their safety. Sixth, she created the papili, ponies gifted with great empathy, and the power to understand the emotions of all life, pony or otherwise. To aid them, she created the papili in a small, nonthreatening size, but gave them the greatest magic of all the tribes so that they could defend themselves. They would become the world’s caretakers: protecting and caring for the many beings that lived among the ponies. And finally, she created the thestrals, ponies gifted with the night’s embrace. When the other tribes laid down their heads to rest, the thestral would rise and protect them. And when nightly terrors plagued ponies’ sleep, the thestrals would use their magic to reach into their dreams and drive away the phantoms. The Queen also saw fit to give them all an additional gift. Her long struggle to find a home had left a terrible scar upon her soul, and she was determined that none of her ponies would know the pain of lacking purpose as she had. And so, she grafted magical marks on their sides that would be tied to their destinies. At last, with the seven tribes created and united under the Queen’s loving rule, the world was complete. The Age of Light had begun. For almost a hundred years, Equis was peaceful, prosperous, and filled with delight and good cheer. All played and flourished during the day, and slept peacefully under the stars at night. There were no conflicts between the tribes: no anger, no jealousy, no distrust. There was only harmony. The Queen looked out upon her world and was pleased with what she had created. Her rule was a happy one, guiding and teaching her little ponies the basics of civilization, while moving the sun, moon, and stars through the sky. At last, she could no longer feel the cold phantom of being an outsider. This new world was indeed her home. And yet, she could not help but feel that something was missing. Some final piece of the puzzle was still undiscovered. Then at last it occurred to her that it was not something missing from the world, but from herself. And so, she once more drew in the power to create life, but instead of pushing it into the world, she pulled it into herself. And soon, from her womb came the first of the Queen’s daughters: a cornu whom would be named Celestia. The birth of the royal daughter announced a great celebration. Throughout all the land, ponies rejoiced and sang. And the Queen herself knew joy of which she had never experienced in her eons of life. She quickly decided that she would have more children, and once more pulled life into herself. She declared to her ponies that she would have seven children, one of each of the seven tribes, to prove to her ponies that she loved them all equally. But it was not to be. For despite all of the Queen knowledge and power, she was still a flawed being. And when she created the world, she had made a fatal mistake: she had created a world with no shadow. Such worlds are paradises, but they are also bright beacons to evil forces that can see beyond the dimensional divide. Mere days after the second royal daughter had been born, an alas, the Queen felt a dark and terrible presence on its way to her world. Immediately, she realized her mistake was twofold. In this perfect land, her little ponies had never faced anything more dangerous than falling apples. How could they possibly fend off the darkness enshrouding upon their home? Seeing only one option, the Queen gather the ponies to give them a grim warning of what was to come. She declared that she would travel to the realm beyond the worlds and face the darkness herself, unlikely though it was that she would be victorious. She hoped it would give her ponies time. She begged her ponies to prepare themselves, to learn of the terrible ways of war, and that when the shadows fell they would not lose sight of the light of harmony. But there were a few key matters the Queen had to address before she set off. The Queen entrusted her newborn daughters to be raised by the salvares, the cornerstones of ponykind. She then crafted a spell that would enable the cornu, the tribe with the greatest connection to the world’s magic, to maintain the movements of the sun and moon in her place. And finally, she granted all her ponies with one last desperate gift: the promise that those who proved themselves worthy would ascend into power akin to her own, if less in magnitude. They would be great in power, entitled to high authority, and given lifespans far beyond those of mortal ponies. She hoped such champions would be enough for her ponies to persevere through the darkness. The Queen then departed from the world, never to return. The Queen’s final fate is unknown. Some say she died in battle, and now watches over us as a spirit of harmony. Others theorize that she was captured by dark forces, and to this day waits in hope that her creations will one day grow strong enough to free her. Others still say she moved to draw the darkness away, but in doing so became lost in the cosmos, and was force to once again resume her search for a home, hoping that her world had not yet been destroyed. Some more pessimistic individuals would claim she simply created another Equis, believing that this one had been consumed by the shadows. And there are those who believed that she is alive and well, watching us grow from a distance, allowing us to push ever closer to harmony at our own pace. Never daring to directly interfere, but capable to reaching out and giving us gentle pushes in the right direction. Regardless, the fact remains that the Queen was never seen again. The world she had created and all those who lived on it were about to undergo their second birth: a birth of fire and blood. The golden Age of Light came to an end, and the terrible Age of War was about to begin...