Unless you have read and studied the historical records in measurable depth, you may be wondering how a human, specifically myself; was able to survive in this foreign universe.
I suppose some context is in order, so I shall begin with what was known;
The time that I was born into the universe, my original one, was known as the Fifth Era of Eugenics.
Three era's are known for certainty, and two are supposed to have existed before them.
Much akin to the concept of dimensions, though a single dimension cannot exist on its own as we know it, it must exist in order for the latter ones can correlate to make the last possible.
And so the first two era's simply must have occurred before the third could be made possible.
Working backwards, the era that I was born into; The Fifth, was approaching Two Hundred years length by the time I had left.
The Fourth Era, lasted well over a century, nearly One Hundred and Seventeen years in its entirety.
The Third Era was shorter, spanning only Eighty years.
Where in; each following era, was a response to the era preceding it, when a change was made.
Records from the presumed first two, were lost. Not through any intentional malice, but through disregard. Such happened in the Fourth era presumably, when so much in human nature had changed; that historical details were considered orphaned and of no relevant value.
At least... this is what was written by my time.
As I have lived-on these many years, I have looked back upon this with renewed curiosity and second guesses to its veracity.
Most of my doubts stem from the impetus to engage in the Third era. For the third era was the first attempt to unite all of the humans together to make for less strife and discord among them. I wonder why such a thing was deemed necessary?
Sadly, I shall never truly know the reason.
The desired attempt was successful, yet dangerously flawed. So passive they were, that they were heavily dependent upon the infrastructure that was built, to sustain them.
As the decades passed, the ones of the Second era which still remained, became concerned about the future once again.
Their fears were;
Should a calamity unfold; be it a celestial event, geographical, or biological, it was doubted that humans would prosper at all should the infrastructure fail.
So in their final remaining years, the Second era architects went back to their genetic designs and re-imagined them in a new light.
To counteract their perceived mistake, the humans of the Fourth era would need to have an insatiable hunger for knowledge, as well as an insatiable drive to apply it.
The ones of the Second era, had less than two decades lifespan remaining by then. Having little more than a decade and a half to teach them, they spent their final years teaching the beginning of the Fourth era as much as they could.
Fortunately, their progeny hit the ground with their hooves as it were running.
The reign of the Fourth era; was a time of technological development, unsurpassed to this day. Much of the tools I had at my disposal began in that time. From the development of faster than light travel, energy synthesis, to the first terraforming, was pioneered by them. Many of those, quickly becoming ubiquitous in their time, as well.
However the very changes made through the final efforts of the Second era, came at a steep cost to the Fourth era progeny;
They lived perpetually exhausted existences, never resting. Few of them, lived their natural lifespan. Seeking rest from their endless self-imposed toils, they left their lives behind long before their natural time.
And for decades, a discourse was quietly had amongst them, whether such advancement was worthy of the cost to each other?
Eventually, they came to consensus that it was not.
With the last of the Third era having passed-on, their great responsibility had come to its conclusion.
Thus, they dusted off their progenitors work, and re-imagined human kind anew for the final time.
One Hundred and Seventeen years since they began, they were more than ready to pass the torch of the future of human kind to their progeny.
Beginning from the unmodified genome, they enacted only a few changes beyond the repair of notable damage therein.
It's worth mentioning that the historical record mentions this as being the beginning, and impetus of all of the era's;
Merely repairing damage which was discovered, resulting in longer lives.
When the damage was incurred into the genome, is unknown. It very well might have been with humans since their beginning, before civilization existed. Or, it might have occurred along the long journey through time that they had traveled.
What began as a desire to perform simple repair, had become much more, and a long journey in of itself.
It was a risk, one which cost them an immeasurable sum in lost historical detail.
To me, nothing is more frustrating than having the answers to questions at one time, and then having lost them forever.
Such was the Third and Fourth era's cost, though they gave us so very much at their own expense. However both had constrained choice in the matters.
By my time, I was fortunate enough to have inherited the Second era's last efforts, the Fourth era's reserved refinements of the original, and records of their knowledge and works.
As it was, I was the first human to call upon their works in nearly two centuries. Possibly the only, and last?
Without all of them, there would be no me to tell a tale.
Perhaps even maybe... no, the mind reels to imagine what might have not been?
An existential rabbit hole with no bottom.
In regards to all that came before... I consider myself a very fortunate pony, to be here, and now.