“Gods?” Twilight asked the three figures.
Twilight had heard of the idea of a god, but never thought that anyponies in mass would put it to practice. In fact, ponies didn’t have a word or idea for what a god was until they began diplomatic relations with the Griffin Empire. The griffins did not have a set name or ritual for their gods and their religion were not a major part of griffin culture. The only story the griffins have about their gods was the creation story of their people in which they were the guardians of the sun god but now the griffins only think of the gods while praying for things like good weather or good crops. The introduction of the idea of something greater than anypony was odd for everypony to comprehend; this may have been in part to pony’s use of magic. Ponies had no need to pray for good weather when all they had to do was ask a pegasus to clear the sky or go get rain. Ponies had no need to pray for good crop when any earth pony could tell you what you need to do for your crops to grow. With unicorns and alicorns being able to use magic to bend the fabric of reality to their will the ponies of Equestria never needed to look toward a god. That is not to say that when ponies began to grasp this foreign idea that they did not find two beings that they could easily identify as gods.
While someponies began to think of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as gods, the princesses worked hard to show their subjects that no matter how old that they may be that they are just ordinary ponies. As ordinary as two super powered alicorns that move heavenly bodies can be. Princess Luna thought to outlaw the practices of princess worship upon her return citing their love of Celestia over herself as part of her becoming Nightmare Moon but Princess Celestia thought it best to just discourage the practice rather than give them a punishment that would widen the rift between Luna and her subjects.
“Yes Miss Sparkle, ponies once worshipped many different gods and goddesses.” The shades explained.
For the first time Twilight noticed that although there were three different ponies they seemed to speak with a hive mind. One pony would begin the sentence and the others would finish it without a pause or break.
“How can that be? If my ancestors would have had gods surely they would have left writings about them?” Twilight asked skeptically.
“Your ancestors were tricked by the monster Prometheus and the goddess Eris. The pair confused the ponies of this land into thinking that the gods wished to destroy them so the ponies of the land began destroying the temples and statues of the gods.”
“What is a Prometheus? Who is Eris? Why would they want to trick the ponies? “Twilight began to ramble off question after question in rapid secession.
“Be still! We shall tell you all we know but it would be best if we started from the beginning.”
Twilight was taken aback at the harshness of the outburst but that was quickly replaced with curiosity as the figures stepped back as a small circle of the pool began to clear.
“Long ago when the world was new the only things in the world were the gods and the titans.”
The vortex of clear water arose to show what would become the country of Equestria long before ponies had found it.
“The god Zeus with his brothers Hades and Poseidon led the gods and goddesses into battle with the titans for the titans sought to destroy the world and everything it would soon hold.”
The image changed into a periwinkle pegasus with an ivory mane and beard standing beside an ecru earth pony with a bister mane and a ultramarine unicorn with a turquoise mane leading an army against monsters that would have given the Princesses pause.
“The gods, with the help of Prometheus one of the titans, won the war and destroyed the titans scattering their remains to the four winds. After their great victory over evil the gods began to distribute the spoils of war.”
“Zeus was given the sky to rule and a place the gods to dwell. Zeus was to rule as the king of the gods and to act as an unbiased judge when the gods would quarrel. Zeus would become the gods of storms and lightning to who ponies would pray for good weather and mercy.”
The water transformed to show a mass of clouds not unlike Cloudsdale if Cloudsdale was the size of Canterlot. The houses, if you can call them houses, were the size of whole wings of the palace. Twilight looked on in confusion as she saw all types of ponies walking on clouds as if they were born to do so.
The figures smiled knowingly. “Yes Miss Sparkle, the gods and goddesses could walk on clouds as well as among the mortals below. This was before the events that give ponies their connection to magic. No pony had yet felt a connection with the earth, a connection to the sky, or a connection to the forces of creation.”
Horror filled Twilight to the marrow. The very thought that she would be without her magic, the very thing that defined her, scared her more than anything she had ever faced. The color drained out of her face as she felt the beginnings of a panic attack take hold of her. Twilight tapped into her magic for the simplest spell for comfort, bathing in the magic and the memories of the spell. The light spell she summoned was one she had used nightly as a child so that she could read long after her bedtime. The magic and the memories stopped the panic attack from seizing her as she focused back on the figures speech.
“Hades was given Tartarus to rule over the riches under the earth and to act as warden over the evils locked in Tartarus. Hades would become the god of the riches of the earth.”
Twilight began to wonder if this could all be true. She had been outside of Tartarus a few times but never inside. The gates of Tartarus had been warded by spells that denied entry to any who would seek to open them. Princess Celestia had once said that there was a spell in her archives that would allow the user to send anything hit by the spell to Tartarus but once the spell was complete there was no way of retrieving what you sent there. When Twilight had pressed upon Princess Celestia her desire to learn more about the spell, Princess Celestia had looked at Spike with what Twilight thought was a look of regret before saying that it was an area of magic best forgotten. Twilight began to wonder what could be locked within its walls for Princess to keep it from her. The archives of Canterlot said that Princess Celestia and Luna had used Tartarus as a prison for monsters that had once roamed the land.
The figures broke Twilight’s train of thought by continuing the history lesson.
“Poseidon was made god of the oceans and protector of the seas.”
“As a reward for his service in the war the gods gave Prometheus the honor of creating all the creatures of the land. The most prized creations of his were the three pony races. In time the gods took pleasure in the pony races seeing in them a bit of themselves. The gods revealed themselves to the ponies after a time to the praise of the pony races. The ponies of the land rejoiced as all of their troubles could be solved by their new found gods and goddesses. So began an age of prosperity and peace. Sadly it was not to last…”
The vortex of water began to churn more violently as it began to form the shape of what looked like alicorns and the monster Prometheus.
"Not all were happy with this new found peace. The goddess Eris had never received much praise from the ponies below as she brought mostly chaos to their world such was her nature. Her temperament began to change as she spent more time with Prometheus. Unbeknownst to the gods, Prometheus had begun to become jealous of the praise that the ponies of the world showered the gods with. Prometheus preyed about Eris’s sadness at the lack of praise she received thus manipulating Eris into helping him turn the ponies of the land against the gods.”
The vortex was frothing as it morphed into the figures of Prometheus and Eris as they disguised themselves as two normal looking earth ponies. “The pair then began to cause chaos as they went while blaming the gods from their misdeeds. By the time the gods realized what they had done the ponies of the land had begun burning temples and destroying status to the gods.”
The vortex calmed as the image changed into that of buildings on fire and ponies dragging statues to the ground, shattering them.
"The gods grew angry at the ungrateful ponies and sought to rain down upon them their fury and anger. Only Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon saw that it was not their fault as they had been tricked. The three gods found Eris and Prometheus and destroyed them. Sadly the ponies of the lands were too far gone in their new found hatred of the gods to be saved.”
Twilight was taken-a-back at this new found thought. Had these gods of old destroyed the ponies of the pass like they had Eris and Prometheus? “What did the gods do to them?” Twilight asked not sure she wanted to know.
“The only thing they could do. They gave the ponies of the land the magic they now have today.” The figures spoke as the vortex faded back in the stagnant waters.
Utter confusion filled Twilight. Why want anypony reward such hate? Better yet, why would anypony give a gift to somepony that would only show violence? “Why would they do that?” Twilight asked aloud.
“The gods realized that they were partly to blame as their negligence had allowed Eris and Prometheus to corrupt the minds of the ponies. If the gods had tried to change the ponies minds all that would do is cause the rift between them to grow. The gods knew that the ponies couldn’t make it on their own and would need something to help them survive in this world if they wished to go it alone. The gods thought of the pony races as their children so the gods gave of themselves so that ponies would be safe. With that the ponies of the world touched magic for the first time.”
Twilight looked toward the pool hoping that it would show her how the gods gave the pony races their magic and to see where the gods went after they had given their gift. The waters of the pool did not move or stir. Twilight still had questions that she wanted to have answered. “Where did the Gods go?
The figures hung their heads. “We do not know. We have been cut off from the power the gods had given us for so long it is hard to see into anything but the past and that is only possible because of the offering that ponies seeking our knowledge have given us as payment.”
“Offering? Payment?” Twilight said with panic beginning to fill her voice.
“Of course Miss Sparkle, surely you knew to bring something in payment for knowledge that no library in Equestria would have. The legends of this pool state very clearly that something must be given as the pool acts as a magical contract between itself and the knowledge seeker.”
Twilight began to feel the full blown panic attack as this knowledge gripped her. “I don’t have anything that I could offer besides quills and parchment plus a few potions I have,” Twilight stammered out.
“Sadly Miss Sparkle for it to be an offering it must have great value to you. No matter we shall just have to take something else you value and hold dear. We shall just take all the memories you have of your friends…”