//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Origins 
// Story: For Want of a Better World 
// by Lunafan1k 
//------------------------------//

	Princess Celestia, for as old and wise as she was, was at a complete loss at the recent turn of events. The celebration of her dear sister’s return was once again ruined as a new creature made itself known to the world. Strange beings already exist throughout the world, no thanks to Discord. Some of the beings born from his chaos were the manticore and the dreaded ursa, luckily they were mostly passive and stuck to their forest habitat.

However, this new creature was unlike anything in the known world. It stood far taller than any of the ancient apes of the past, Celestia’s eyes just level with its chest. Not only was it able to speak fluent Equestrian, but the sheer power it demonstrated when it showed itself actually frightened her. No being has been able to show such mastery over the sky, Princess Luna could come close, but it would fail to be as stunning and spectacular. 

“Was this the snipe you had me hunting for?” Asked Princess Luna in a hushed whisper, hoping this was just a continuation of the mean joke. Celestia could only shake her head as she lead the group to her chambers in silence. All was silent save for four pairs of hooves clopping on the white linoleum. The Princess stopped suddenly, listening intently before looking back to make sure the two guests were still behind her. A pair of blue eyes were floating right in front of her muzzle.

“AIEE!” She yelled as she jumped back in surprise. “What the hay do you think you’re doing?!” Celestia chastised, the creatures were floating through the air without the assistance of wings.

“Stretching.” Replied the tall one. “Oh, by the way, a bunch of other horses-“

“Ponies.” Corrected Luna.

“-Ponies in armor tried to detain us a bit ago.” The tall one finished with a glance to Luna.

“Where are they now?” Celestia said, a shiver running down her spine.

“I took care of them.” The wolf said nonchalantly. Celestia and Luna’s blood ran cold. Had this duo destroyed an entire platoon of guards without them even noticing? The tall one saw the look of horror on the Princess’s faces.

“You know what?” The tall one turned to the wolf. “I think I should just do the talking. I bet they think you just ate all the guards.”

“But I didn’t! I just immobilized them!” The wolf tried to defend itself.

“Not helping.” The tall one turned toward the Princesses. “I’m sorry, what my friend is trying to say is, instead of having them interrupt us, he turned the floor into an incredibly sticky glue, preventing them from advancing. They’re fine though, just splash some water down and all is well.”

Princess Celestia was fuming, quite an achievement with her thousand years of learned patience. Without a word she turned back and led them around the final corner. The hall before them was just as magnificent as the rest of the castle, the door at the end decorated in various markings of the sun.

“I take it your race worships the sun?” The tall one said as it eyed the door over. “Makes sense. Many of the ancient races worshipped the sun because it brought warmth, made the crops grow, and fought back the… Darkness…” It trailed off as Celestia glared intently at it.

“Inside.” She said, opening the door with her magic. “Now.” Once everypony was inside, Celestia sent a guard for an order of tea before going inside, slamming the door with enough force to shake dust from the ceiling. Luna placed several large cushions on the floor in a semi-circle, with another two in the center before sitting on one of the cushions. Celestia soon joined her sister and watched as the guests took their seats. 

They stared at each other for several long minutes, the great grandfather clock next to the wall the only sound in the room. Tok…Tok…Tok it went, counting the seconds in the silence.

“That is a rather loud clock, isn’t it? I can fix that.” The tall one said. Tok…Tok…To-  Silence penetrated the bed chambers, so blissful yet so haunting.

“What did you do?” Luna asked warily.

“I stopped time.” The princess’s jaws hit the floor as the wolf and the tall thing glanced at each other, then burst into laughter. “I can’t believe they fell for it! The look on their faces!” They rolled around on the floor in great guffaws before slowly calming themselves down a bit to explain. “Look, I’m sorry, but I was trying to break the ice before we got serious. I didn’t stop time, I just prevented the sound from penetrating the case for a bit.” 

Celestia shook her head slowly, she was once again at a complete loss. “What are you?” She finally asked.

It looked at her for a bit longer, “I think we should wait for the tea and the elementals of hamography you asked for before we begin.”

“That’s Elements of Harmony to you!” They turned to the sound of the new voice to see Twilight and the others at the door. “Sorry we’re late Princess, we had to help a bunch of the guards get unstuck from the floor.” Twilight explained as the group made their way to sit upon the remaining cushions.

“Sorry, but I’m absolutely dreadful with names. Now, you asked what I was? I think we should save that until after introductions. Ok?” It waited a moment, looking to each of the ponies in turn. “Right then, I’ll start. Hello everyone, My name is Jeff, I am a human turned god, and I am 1.6 billion years old.” His statement was met with silent stares.

“Hello, my name is Fang, Jeff’s familiar, same age.” More silence. “Look, this will be much easier once we get to know each other a bit, so what are your names? Or would you rather be called a peguunicorn?” 

Celestia huffed her distaste. “I am Princess Celestia, reagent of the sun.” She announced. “And this is Princess Luna, Reagent of the Moon.” She motioned towards Luna, then to the other fillies surrounding her. “The others are the Elements of Harmony, you need not know their names, just that together they wield the most powerful magic in Equestria, the magic of friendship.”

Jeff nodded to each in turn. “Ok, that’s all good and well, but now here’s what I don’t understand. This world was never fused with magic of any kind, forcing the beings to adapt using technology. Now here’s the kicker, apes were the next species to evolve intelligence, not horses nor ponies. As for pegasai and unicorns, they were stuff of legend. So here’s my question, Princess, what happened to my planet?” Jeff finished, staring intently at Princess Celestia.

“Princess?” Twilight looked up to her mentor. “What is he talking about?”

“I was hoping this would never be brought up, but now it seems I have no choice but to admit the truth of pony origins.” The door opened and a waiter came in with a tray laden with several tea cups. Everypony grabbed a cup while Jeff drained the pitcher in a massive gulp that made Pinkie jealous, then sat back and waited for his answer. “About two thousand years ago, our parents discovered this planet, I was still a young filly, Luna just a foal. They saw how our primitive kind was being treated by the apes. Angered by the abuse, they killed most of the ape population, forcing the rest into camps to labor away constructing the first castle of the land, the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters deep within the Everfree Forest.

“Over the years, our parents fused their own magic into the land, giving life to unicorns and pegasai, while strengthening the earth ponies. Unfortunately the strain was too much for them. In the end it killed them both, fusing the entirety of their magic into the planet. The wild magics unleashed upon the land gave birth to the Elements of Harmony, Discord, and many other monstrosities. It fell to my sister and I to protect the land and our little ponies. 

During the years Discord was raining chaos upon the world, he managed to stop the rotation of the planet and threw off the moon’s orbit in an attempt to destroy the world. After sealing him in stone with the Elements of Harmony, I began to oversee the rotation of the planet, giving the illusion that I raise the sun, while Luna ensures the moon is no longer on a collision course.”

“Princess, you mean…” Began Twilight.

“Ya mean… Ya lied ta us?” Questioned Applejack, hardly believing her ears.

“I’m sorry, my little ponies, but truth changes in the eyes of ponykind. They don’t see me rotate the planet, they see me raise the sun. They don’t see Luna keeping the moon at bay, they see her create the night. After several generations we just stopped correcting them.” She looked to her student with tears in her eyes. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Jeff was silent for a moment, “Do you know what you’ve done?” He asked quietly, his hands balled up into fists as he glared at Celestia. “I sealed myself away, I was to be found when they were ready. I was supposed to be their god, show them how to live in peace without war or strife, and mold them into a grand civilization to live among the stars.” He stood and moved slowly toward the princess. “But no, you and your kind killed them all and ravaged the planet. Did it ever occur to you to search for a resident god? Pop in and say hello?” He turned his back on the princess, her levels of anger growing by the second. “No. Your kind destroyed my reason for existence, and that does not bode well with me.”

Princess Celestia jumped to her hooves and walked up to Jeff, her mane billowing in fury. “Your ‘grand civilization’ turned my kind into nothing more than pack mules to labor away! We cleansed this world of their filth and made one better! How dare you accuse us as committing atrocity when it was your own kind creating hardship and strife for our species!”

Jeff turned back toward the Princess, his nose against hers as they stared each other down. “Are you saying this civilization is better? Almost all of your culture is stolen from the previous inhabitants of the planet! For what possible reason would a pony use a round doorknob?” He stood to his full height with his arms crossed, glaring down his nose at the slightly shorter princess. “You sicken me. If I never took an oath for the peace and prosperity of this planet, you would all be burning in the fires of my wrath.”

Princess Celestia had had enough; this creature was nothing but a relic of the past, an ancient god well beyond his time, a god of the brutes she and her parents rid the world of. She opened her wings and began to hover several feet off the floor, “You will not harm my ponies! I would rather die than let them suffer the likes of you!”

“Are you threatening me? You will soon see how sorely mistaken you are in your judgment.” Jeff began to effortlessly float above the floor as well, a brilliant light burst forth from him, and then condensed into a whirling vortex. The funnel expanded outward, the floor beneath Jeff glowed with a large and very detailed circular rune, another formed just above his head. Large bolts of energy jumped from rune to rune as a sickly green sphere consisting of an infinite number of smaller markings encompassed him.

“Before this day is through I will have your head!” Celestia focused her magic, her horn and body glowing as bright as the sun on a hot sweltering day, her radiance splitting stone and shattering windows.

Princess Luna turned to Twilight and her friends, “If they fight here the damage would be massive! You need to use the elements to stop Jeff while I try to calm my sister!” 

Twilight nodded in confirmation, then turned to the others. “Come on girls! We need to stop him!” She yelled over the intensity of the massive displays of power. Twilight focused on her tiara, letting the spark of her friendship activate the Elements of Harmony. The six ponies were engulfed in their own orb of magic as they were lifted off the floor. 

Luna’s protests were lost amidst the chaos, unable to reach her dear sister as Twilight opened her eyes, fully charged with the awe inspiring power of the Elements. An arc of rainbow blasted from the top of the orb that contained them. With lightning speed it raced towards Jeff, who dropped his barrier to allow the arc to approach him. With a grin and a casual backhand, the power of the Elements was deflected, straight at Princess Celestia.

Time slowed to a crawl as she saw the elements blazing towards her, cutting through her extended aura like a knife through warm butter. ‘This is it’ She thought as her 2,000 years of life flashed through her mind at a blinding speed. She saw her parents, her arrival at this planet, the terrible actions of her parents, their deaths, their unbound magic creating Discord, Discord creating chaos with his minions, finding the elements where her parents had died, sealing Discord, Luna’s jealousy, Nightmare moon, her banishment with the elements, creating the government, ruling the land, turning the planet and holding back the moon.

Her flashback reached the present, where she was left to wonder, what lies in store for her? How will the elements react? So far they have banished to a celestial body, ripped apart corruption, and turned Discord to stone. Will her fate be banishment to the sun? Or will she live each day, watching as her beloved ponies pass her by like any other statue in the gardens? 

Un-content but resigning to her fate, a pair of blue eyes appeared before her own. ‘Come.’ She heard from the depths of her soul, and she found herself desperate to not give up, to push onward with her duties. She felt something grab her in a tight embrace before her world faded to black.

Princess Luna and the Elements of Harmony watched in horror as the rainbow was deflected toward Celestia. Luna and the others were helpless to stop the rainbow, watching it strike Celestia with deadly precision. Not wanting to see what has become of her sister, Luna slowly opened her eyes as the light faded to reveal Princess Celestia, standing unscathed in the center of a spiral that the Elements had carved into the stone upon impact.

“What? But I don’t…” Was all Celestia could manage as Jeff lowered the barrier surrounding them.

“That magic is indeed strong, strong enough to have devastating effects even on you.” He said as he dusted himself off. “I was able to gleam your flashback from your mind, and now I know. You were making due with the burdens your parents left you with, and for that I relinquish my initial judgment. Will you find it in your heart to forgive this fool, and allow us to remain in your kingdom?”

Celestia let out a long sigh as she considered his words and her own feelings. “Your powers are massive, more than I even imagined possible, and to be honest, you frighten me. I have never felt this amount of terror since I was a filly, and suffered my father’s wrath for trying to protect an ape. But I also see a kindness behind the power, the will to do anything to help others. If you wish to remain in my kingdom, I only ask that you extend that will to the ponies and citizens of the present day world.”

Jeff bowed in a flourish, “As you wish, I shall do what I must for the betterment of all creatures, and not just my own, but yours as well.” He stood with a grin. “My, what a mess!” He said as he looked around. “Fang, if you would please.”

Fang padded over to the center of the room and sat. He let out a long, low howl that sang to the world. A soft blue light emanated from every surface, pillow, and appliance in the room. The cracks in the floor, the shattered windows, even the tray of tea cups seemed to put themselves back together as order was restored. Everypony in the room was in stunned silence as Jeff moved to the tea tray.

“You forgot the tea.” Jeff pointed out.

“B-but you drank it all!” Fang argued, he hated missing such small details, and hated being picked on for his short comings.

“So? I want more.” Jeff said with a small smile. Fang responded with a low growl, tea suddenly appearing in all the cups.

The Princesses, Twilight and her friends took their seats once more. “What was that? How did you do that? I’ve never seen anything like it.” Twilight said as she sipped some more tea to calm her nerves.

Fang smiled toothily, causing the ponies to cringe back out of reflex. “It’s simple really, I isolated the lifespan of all the damaged material and reversed time for each object, effectively undoing any and all damage to the point just before the fight.” Fang finished proudly.

“So wait, can ya do that ta say, an older pony? Make ‘um young again?” asked Applejack, a glint of hope in her eyes.

Fang’s smugness faded, “No, and for two very good reasons. One, all memories and life experiences would be reversed, basically wiping the mind of the years between now and when they were young. Two, the blood and oxygen flow would be reversed, removing all the oxygen from the body and killing the brain instantly.”

Silence once again fell, “So what of you, where do you come from?” Asked Luna, attempting to restart the conversation.

Jeff pondered for a moment. “Well now, my story begins 1.6 billion years ago, the earth was ruled by greed, corporations and industry transforming the world. Enormous buildings of steel reached clear into the heavens while chariots of iron filled the land. I was found in an alley of such a city…”




“… And that was when I created the crystal gem to wait for life to find me.” Jeff finished, his audience looking sad for his many losses.

“If you don’t mind my asking, who are these little ones?” Asked Fang.

“Oh, my name is Twilight Sparkle; I am the personal student of Princess Celestia and run the Ponyville library. If you don’t mind I would like to talk more about these people that used to inhabit this world.” She smiled at the prospect of so much research and learning all she could get from Jeff.

“Sure, I see no reason not to.” Jeff turned his attention to Rarity. “What about you?”

“Rarity, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Should you find yourself in Ponyville just stop by my boutique and I will turn those hideous rags into something befitting of royalty.” She said as she eyed his garment in disgust.

“But I like my robe…” Jeff said, pulling the robe tighter around himself. “Makes me feel Greek.”

“Oh but I insist!” Rarity said, standing and flaunting about dramatically.

“…Fine.” Jeff submitted. “I’ll stop by once I get a chance.” Rarity returned to her seat the victor, a winning smile upon her face.

“Ah’m Applejack. Ah own an’ operate the apple farm Sweet Apple Acers, feel free to stop by for some brunch ya hear?” Jeff nodded in agreement, fresh home-cooked food was something he had been missing.

“And I’m Rainbow Dash! Perhaps you’ve heard of me?” Fang and Jeff just stared at her. “What? You haven’t heard of the greatest filly flier in all of Equestria?”

“Sealed in a gem, remember?” Jeff reminded.

“Heh heh, oh yea. I’m the only pony to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom, three times, and I have never lost a race.” She gloated, much to the distaste of her friends.

“Y’all tied fer last with me during the running of the leaves last year.” Said Applejack snidely.

“Uhg, fine. So I lost one race. But I know I can beat both of you, without using my wings, fair and square.” Rainbow boasted, challenging the ancient gods.

“Challenge accepted.” Fang and Jeff said together. “Let us know a time and place and we’ll be there.” Jeff finished, a grin on his face.

Fluttershy sat silently during the exchange, her love of animals placing her interest upon Fang. She was lost in her thoughts when the asked for her name. Suddenly the center of attention, she froze up on the spot, unable to say anything but a small squeak as she hid behind her mane.

“I’m sorry, this is Fluttershy. She cares for the animals in Ponyville.” Provided Twilight “I’m sure she would appreciate it if you helped her out with the animals sometime.”

Jeff smiled to Fluttershy, “I would love to help out.” Fluttershy smiled bashfully. “Now, wasn’t there a pink one?” The others looked around the room, Pinkie had indeed disappeared without their knowing. Just then the door blew open, almost flying off the hinges as a bouncy pink pony with a massive cake rushed inside.

“Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie and this is going to be your Welcome to Equestria party because your story made me sad then I remembered that you didn’t have any friends and that made me even more sad so I asked myself how do you cheer up somepony who is a sad-saddy-sad-pants and the answer is a PARTY!!” She said in a breath before blowing a party horn and tossing confetti into the air.

“Pinkie, I think we should save this for another day, It’s already very late the way it is.” Twilight said, stifling a yawn. “We can invite all of Ponyville later, rather than just the eight of us.”

“Indeed, Twilight, you and your friends may stay in the same rooms you usually occupy during visits.” The six said their goodnights and headed off to their rooms, but not before witnessing Pinkie lash out an insanely long tongue and grasp the cake with it, unhinge her jaw, and shove the entire confection into her mouth where it disappeared.

“And what of us Princess?” Asked Jeff once the doors closed, shaking his head at the display.

“We should have a few open cells in the dungeon.” Celestia watched them simply raise an eyebrow. “Nothing gets past you.” She sighed.

“That was a terrible attempt Celly, even by your standards.” Luna shook her head. “But I would like to know, what is your special talent? Like how Celly rules the day, and I rule the night, what do you do?”

“To put it simply, I can do what I want to do by simply extending my will into the world.” Jeff held out his hand and closed his eyes in concentration. The light bent around his hand as a massive amount of energy condensed in his palm, lighting up the room as bright as day. “A simple ball of pure energy, in its most simple form, is able to be molded into virtually anything.” The ball began to expand at an alarming rate, quickly swallowing up the entire room. They found themselves sitting in a meadow, a slight breeze making the tall grass sway slightly in the mid-day sun. “My personal favorite is illusions.”

“How is this possible? This looks so real, I swear this is real!” Luna said, astonished. She took a bite of the wild grass and sniffed some of the flowers.

“It’s not that hard really. The illusion taps into your mind, showing you things you have already seen, felt, smelled, tasted and heard into any combination to give the illusion the vivid feel to it.” He waved his hand and the field faded back into Celestia’s quarters. “So, how is it that your ponies manipulate magic?”

“Very similar to the way you just described for unicorns, but their type of magic usually revolves around their special talent.” Princess Celestia explained. “A unicorn with a special talent of playing a musical instrument will not be able to use magic to build a house.”

“So their skill set determines their magic?” Asked Fang.

“That technically applies only to unicorns. For a pegasus their magic is passive in their ability to fly with smaller wing spans than is required for their mass, and to manipulate the weather.” Luna said.

“Wait, they can control the weather? This I have to see.” Said Jeff enthusiastically.

“I’m sure Rainbow Dash would be more than willing to show you around the weather factories in Cloudsdale. But as I was saying, the earth ponies’ magic is also passive, existing in their hooves to grow crops, build, and to manipulate many objects.” Princess Luna finished.

“I have one more question before we turn in.” Said Princess Celestia. “You said you sealed yourself in the crystal gem, what was that like?”

Fang snorted in laughter, “Word to the wise, if you choose to seal yourself away for several eons, don’t be like this guy and remain conscious.”

“What’s that got to do with anything? I thought we were having fun!” Retorted Jeff.

“It was fun for the first 700,000 years, but you can only play Candy Land so many times before it drives you insane!” Argued Fang.

“We had Monopoly!” Jeff said.

“You kept getting the best property!” Fang replied in a growl.

“You stole from the bank!” Jeff accused.

Fang changed the subject, “So? It still wasn’t as bad as your Skyrim phase.” 

“Oh please, it wasn’t that bad.” Jeff waved a hand dismissively. 

“You crafted the armor and convinced yourself you were the Dragonborn out to save the land from dragons.” Fang pointed out. “For two million years.” Fang added, interrupting Jeff’s counter argument.

“Sounds better than my banishment.” Luna said sadly.

Fang and Jeff stopped their bickering to ask, “How did that go? We got the short version from Celestia’s flashback.”

Luna let out a long sigh. “I was jealous of my sister for all the praise she received for raising the sun, while my night was feared and shunned. In my weakened state, one of the agents of chaos known as Nightmare festered inside me. It fed on my jealousy and gave me hatred and power. Not long after Nightmare had complete control over my body and my power. I don’t actually remember too much, just a thousand years of boiling in hatred that was never mine to begin with. 

"On the thousandth year Nightmare Moon used the aid of the alignment between the stars to undo the banishment. Less than a few hours later, Twilight and her friends had found the Elements of Harmony to strip the Nightmare from my being, but the process left me weak and powerless. It took a little over a year, but I am back at full strength.” She finished with a smile.

Jeff nodded his head in understanding. “It’s never good to let your anger control you, but congratulations on your return to power.”

Princess Celestia stood, “Well Jeff, this has been an eventful evening, but we have duties we must attend to tomorrow. If you like you may stay here in my room, Twilight and her friends have taken up the other available suites and ambassador rooms.”

Jeff looked back at the very large bed. “We graciously accept your generous offer, and bid you a good night.” He said she the Princess sisters left the room, closing the door behind them.

Jeff walked up to the bed and pulled back the covers, allowing Fang to jump in first before joining him in a cuddle. 

“Fang?”

“Hm?”

“Fart and you’re sleeping outside.”





A/N:
Fun Fact: I had initially wanted Celestia to yell “For Equestria!” as a battlecry, to which Jeff would respond “For the Horde!” then after the battle have Fang question why he said that, and Jeff’s reason “I drew a blank so I went with something that sounded cool.”

Edited by: Jagun as always.

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