//------------------------------// // The Reawakening // Story: Gods of a dead civilization // by xoinkersx //------------------------------// For the first time in 13 million years, I opened my eyes. I was surrounded by darkness and floating in an endless void. 13 million years ago I was conceived by a race known as humans. I am Maria Forthshadow. I was the goddess of nature. I remember my beginnings vividly. I was just a normal young girl, curly, dirty blonde hair, I was fairly short at 5’3, and was wearing casual clothing of a t-shirt and shorts. I would save the lives of my family and hundreds of animals. Buying them time to escape. I managed to run away but I was bleeding out and I knew I wouldn't make it. I collapsed next to a giant tree in the center of the forest known as Galia. When I awoke, I felt different. My hair was pure blonde and shined in the sun, it ran down to my lower back, and I felt slightly taller than before. I was now 5’8. I walked through the forest hearing voices. I thought it was my imagination, hallucinations perhaps, but then the voice told me that it was the tree. That I was so pure that it chose me to be it’s successor to be the goddess of nature. That is the story the humans came up with. A beautiful, pure, young woman with control over animals and nature itself. I believed I was going to sleep forever when the humans stopped believing in me and the stories that created me were lost to time. Yet I was awake once again. My peaceful thoughts were interrupted by desperate pleas in a language I had never heard before. Yet I understood them perfectly. As though their words were being translated into English. I used the eyes of an animal nearby and found that a group of sentient ponies of various colors, some with horns, wings, and some without either. I could feel the magic in all of them, spread out through their bodies. I did not know what magic it was though. It seemed to be coming directly from their souls as the weaker of them looked frail and old, his soul looking less powerful than the others. I found that the ponies who summoned me looked terrified while the soldier looking ponies, were quickly approaching. I couldn’t let my new believers die. I channeled my power into the earth and constructed a wall between the group of ponies and the other group. I trapped the other group in a stone prison. Their screams of panic were music to my ears. I realized what I was about to do and hesitated. They were just following orders. do they have families? do they deserve to die? I pushed those thoughts back and continued with my plan, those who harm the innocent deserve it. I sent the stone wall crashing inwards as loud crunching sounds resonated through the area. I looked back to the ponies and saw the looks of shock and horror on their faces. One of the ponies, however, asked who did that. When none of the ponies responded he began shouting and praising me. “Our god Forthshadow has saved us.” I felt a burst of energy as I took in the power that their belief gave me. I decided to show myself to them. I created a vessel of the hardest metal in my general area which was the bits of gold that were crushed along with the soldiers. I assembled every fragment back together until my body was made of solid gold. I found plants around me and turned them dye. I painted myself over until I fit my former design. I had slightly tan skin, blue eyes, my blonde hair, and an elaborate dress of plant fibers and flowers. It went down below my knees and was tight around the waist before loosening up around the shoulders. I then rose out of the ground and in front of the ponies. They looked at me with a mix of confusion, excitement, and worry. I gave them a reassuring smile and saw them ease up slightly but still nobody spoke, so I began for them. “I am Maria Forthshadow, the goddess of the nature, pleased to meet you my loyal children.” They looked at me some with wide smiles and others with disbelieving glares. “There’s no way you’re the goddess Forthshadow, she’s just an old legend. Our ancestors found it when they were founding Equestrian and it was in a royal archive after being stolen from us and sold off. Where was the goddess when they were around huh.” I looked towards the lime pony. She had a scroll on her butt and a pink mane. Waking up a god was an interesting endeavor, it required that a large group truly believed in its existence and enough access magic to power the god enough to wake them up. “Where did your people live before this. Was there a difference in the magic there?” I inquired; the pony looked a bit annoyed at my simple response. The ponies were quite expressive and reading their emotions was incredibly easy, I didn’t even need to use my powers. "We lived in the mountains not far off from the griffins. Magic is a lot less plentiful and harder to use over there.” “That explains it then. I have been dormant for the past 13 million years. The reason your ancestors could not summon me is because of the lack of magic. To wake up a god you must not only believe in me but there must be enough magic around to power one enough to even wake us up.” I saw the ponies looks of disbelief fade and I knew they all believed me when I felt some more of my power return to me. “allow me to help you rebuild my children.” I used my powers to level the mountain. Taking the mountain top off I turned it into rubble which I then turned into houses for more than triple the group’s population. They lacked doors and windows though so I used my powers to turn the trees into doors and windows. I turned to look at the shell shocked ponies and felt my power increase once again but all the ponies I saved already believed I existed. I felt a presence somewhere in the forest but when I began searching for it the feeling disappeared. The soldiers might have had a lookout stationed but I trusted that they would not be a threat for a little while. “This is your new home my little ponies.” I gave a wide smile. They smiled back at me and thanked me as they entered their new homes. Several asked for beds, kitchens, and other essentials Which I created for them using metals, woods, and cloth. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that letting that presence escape would come back to haunt me later. ------------------------------‐--‐----------------------------------------------------- The solider flew as fast as he could through the forest and back towards Canterlot. His comrades, his friends, had just be slaughtered by an extremely powerful entity. It leveled the mountain and reformed natural resources with ease. Simply by waving her hand, powers that reminded him of Discord. A few months ago the elements of harmony had successfully put the creature down, trapping the being in stone and now another one had come to take its place. He ran through the halls of the castle, garnering weird looks from the staff but he could not be bothered. He barged into the throne room and yelled out to princess Luna. Luna was a large black alicorn with larger wings than a Pegasus and a larger horn than a unicorn, with a moon cutie mark. She looked at him with annoyance but that quickly changed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna had been alive for over 1000 years, she was responsible for moving the moon and her sister moved the sun but hearing the guard’s story filled her with terror. She teleported herself to her sister Celestia’s room. “You must wake up at once sister.” She shouted in her royal voice. Her sister, a large white alicorn and a sun cutie mark, quickly sat up and gave her sister an annoyed look. “A being of the same kind as discord has been spotted to the forest to the west. The last solider of that platoon Mr. Candycane came back. He was the only survivor. He was being the lookout while the soldiers attempted to apprehend the thieves, they stole an ancient scroll with the tale of Maria Forthshadow. We only took it because of the dangerous unknown magic that is stored within it and now the magic being inside has awoken.” Her sister’s annoyed looked quickly change to one of worry. “Luna, send a letter to the elements of harmony at once. We mustn’t let her return to her full power, human gods are powerful, they feed on the belief that beings have in them.” Luna simply nodded and quickly began to write. This entity needed to be stopped, considering the power she has displayed the ponies she has already believe in her. I pray we will not need to use force against our own but it may just be inevitable. She let out a sigh as her message was teleported to its intended recipient.