“Please, I know that your shocked Twilight,” said Celestia. “But in order for you to fully understand. I must begin with a very simple, yet very effective, once upon a time.”
Twilight nodded, and so, Celestia began...
“Once upon a time, long before unicorns, pegasi, or earth ponies. Long before there were the kingdoms of dragons, griffins, the Crystal Empire, or even long before Equestria; there was once a species that ruled the world. These creatures did not have much fur that covered their bodies. In fact, they didn't have scales or even feathers. For these creatures have always worn clothing in front of others from the day they were born to the day they were sent to the grave. These creatures didn't use magic to help run their lives. But they rely on their wits, strength and the tools they invented. These creatures also walked on two legs instead of four. These were known as humans.”
Then Luna spoke while Celestia ate, (they took turns doing this throughout this conversation.) “These humans were in a way very similar to ponies, and yet, so different. They talk, think and reason like any other pony. They built shelters to protect themselves from the fury of nature. They used their creativity in which they compete for immortality in memories of others through their art. They had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge about everything in existence. They also went on for an endless struggle for peace in the world around them.”
“And yet,” said Celestia, “they were so very different from the ponies that we know now. They feasted upon a thousand things from plants to the flesh of other animals. They use their knowledge to create tools, gadgets and machines to plow, plant and harvest their fields. They use machines to fly great distances. They've even figured out how to send thoughts and ideas to each other from one side of the world to the other in a blink of an eye.”
“Though out human or mankind's history,” Luna spoke. “They used two things that have shaped their world. Mind and stringent. With these, they've created the greatest, and worst things imaginable. In fact, everything that you see, hear, taste, touched, smell, and everything you used, is indebted to humans. Even the very act of reading and writing is a human invention Twilight Sparkle.”
“At the same time though,” said Celestia, “they created some very destructive things that unfortunately our ponies have inherited. But they are nowhere near the intensity that the humans had. They invented crimes from stealing to murder. Their greed for everything weighed as much as their unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Their levels of cruelty were only limited to their imaginations. Their wars were fueled by blind, stupid, and thoughtless rage, to the point where both sides lose the lives of the soldiers who were ordered to fight to the death. Yet, it was these forces of creativity and destruction is the very reason why everypony, including ourselves, are here, to begin with.”
“And so,” said Luna, “The humans wanted to put their creativity and ingenuity to the ultimate test.”
“And what was that?” asked Twilight, her eyes perked up at this point.
Luna continued: “Is it possible to create brand new spices entirely from scratch? The humans collected together a special group of 'Scientists', as they called themselves, to take up this monumental task. In fact, this very castle is built right on top of the very laboratory in which we were born. Until they either died or replaced, they called their work, the Jehavam Project.”
“The what?” I asked, she repeated the name of the project and then asked if this name has any significance. I told her that the name is Latin, a language I was taught in my youth. “Jehavam in English translates to Jehovah. The name of God who created everything.”
“A creator?” asked Celestia. “That explains a lot about what the scientists did. For you see, their work started out as trial and error, yet they did succeed. That success is me.” She said, giving a gentle smile at this point. “I'm the very first living creature that was bor – n-no, created completely from scratch. The body of a horse, the horn of a narwhal, and the wings of an eagle. My original name I was given was an anagram, I've long forgotten what it stood for, but I still remember what mine was “C.E.L.E.S.T.I.A.L.” Yet as the years went by, the scientists just called me Cel.”
“Two years later,” said Luna, “I was created. The name they gave me was also an anagram “L.U.N.A.R.I.U.M.” But I grew up being called Lun. Three years later that, our brother was created, well, created isn't the correct word. Rather survived because the scientists accidentally mixed too many elements of animals that they thought he wouldn't live. But he did. So like us, they gave him an anagram, but we called him not by a nickname, but his anagram name, “A.M.A.D.E.U.S.” I've always wondered what that meant.”
“Amadeus, loosely translated, means blessed by the divine,” I said.
Celestia took over. “Anyway, the biggest surprise to the scientists is that two years after each of us we were created, we began to talk. They discovered that not only did they created life, but they also created intelligent life. For not only did we learned to speak their language, we understood what they meant. As soon as they realized that, our education began. We learned about how to speak, read and write.” At this point, she raises one of her hooves. “The old fashion way that is.”
“For the very first twenty years of my life,” said Luna, “and I think twenty-two for her, the three of us were raised by these scientists. They didn't take care of us like unto a pet but treated us like their children. Even though they were overprotective of us, they did play with us and taught us many things. Speech, reading, writing, mathematics, literature, mythology, science, history (alright, not all of it), geography, astronomy and the appreciation of music. In fact, we loved music so much, that on our birthdays they gave us records made out of solid gold. And it is thanks to these records along with the help of some ponies over the years, we helped recreated, recorded and replayed music for all ponies to enjoy. From Baroque to jazz, from Chopin to rock, from musical overtures to techno. The list goes on, but we– (pardon me) I believe you get the idea.”
“Princess Celestia,” asked Twilight, “when you talked about how you learn how to write, what did you mean by 'the old fashion way?' Did you mean you wrote by hoof and not by magic?”
“Yes my faithful student.” Said Celestia, “In the early years of our lives, we didn't even know we had magic at all until our brother discovered it when he was... Oh, what was it? Thirteen wasn't it?”
“What happened?” Twilight asked, now having her full attention.
“Well, after our lessons, we would get our daily check-ups, this, of course, is that we were such a new species they went to great lengths to make sure we didn't get sick. One of the newer scientists teased our little brother around, making fun of his appearance. Discord, well, back then he was Amadeus, tried to hide his anger as long as he could, telling him repeatedly to stop. But before that scientist left, he said 'See you tomorrow, Hodgepodge!' I saw his eyes locked on a nearby glass beaker. It levitated and then it was thrown at the scientist's head. When the beaker exploded, Amadeus's expression changed to shock. Even now I can still remember him asking, 'Did...D-Did I just do that?'”
“So levitation was the first magic ever used?” asked Twilight. “It seems to make sense because levitation is the simplest form of magic.”
“But you see, my dear student, what James would call science and what you call magic, to us, however, these powers are one and the same.”
“One and the same? What do you mean?” I asked.
“Do you see our horns?” Luna asked.
“I do. What about them?”
“Allow us to demonstrate,” said Celestia. “Twilight, would you pass me that orange please?”
Twilight nodded, her horn once again glowed and the orange levitated in the air towards Celestia. “Do you see the glow from Twilight's horn and the orange?” Celestia asked.
“I do.”
“If my memory serves me right, the scientists concluded that the aura you see is a kind of plasma, controlled by a signature electrical frequency.”
The purple glow of the orange gave way to a golden one at this point. The orange levitated onto Celestia’s plate.
“But where is all this so-called 'plasma' coming from?” I asked.
“Do you know that the brain has electrical impulses?” asked Luna.
“I think so.”
“Plasma is a kind of electricity. It's the same in all animals that have a brain. However, there is a major difference between us alicorns and unicorns vs the rest of nature.”
“And that is?” both Twilight and I said.
“A conductor,” Celestia said simply. “Like very much how electricity needs metal to fulfill its power, our horns acted as a conductor to our brains.”
“Let's get back to the story, what happened next?” I asked
“Right,” Luna nodded, “the next four years after Amadeus's discovery, we spent all those years trying to see how far our powers can go. Levitation was only the beginning, we figured out how to make water out of thin air, make inanimate objects come to life, and yes, we even figured out how to write without using our hooves. This may sound simple parlor tricks to you Twilight Sparkle, but these were important steps to learn what we can do.”
“Then what happened?” I asked. At this point, both of their expression sadden. Luna spoke up with the words: “The third world war.”
“What happened?” I repeated the question.
“First you must understand,” said Celestia, “that everything we've heard from the outside world came from the scientists. For we were never allowed to be outside for safety reasons. From what we could gather when we were young, that all the nations and islands of the world had signed a treaty in which they all promised that they will never again as so much as raise a hoof about declaring war on one another.”
“But to ensure this,” Luna spoke, “and for whatever insane reason, they created a weapon to end all weapons. No, a series of weapons that would destroy them all. And if I recall correctly, it had a funny name... Oh, what was it?... An Angle? Anglii? No. Angelus Mortis? Ah yes, that's it!”
I shivered at those two words, with the help of my experience of the war, I could only imagine what kind of weapons they were. Twilight notice this and ask what was wrong.
“It's Latin again, this time it means, Angle of Death.”
Celestia nodded, then continued: “For a while, this policy did work. At the time, every nation was far too scared to go to war for the risk of ending the world. But alas, it didn't work. I still can't remember why it was triggered, but once it did, it was impossible to undo it.”
“So, what exactly did these weapons do?” I asked, knowing that I'm getting the answer to how the world ended. Celestia continued: “These death machines were spread and hidden throughout the world, all connected by complex interconnected machines that were to be triggered under the right circumstances. In this case, declaring war and acting upon it. Once that was done, it sets off four deadly plagues.”
“And those were?” both Twilight and I said.
Luna answered this: “The first plague was darkness. In which that all of the electricity throughout the world was to be permanently shut off. This may not sound like much, but at the time, the world ran on electricity. The everyday life of a human was powered by electricity, if it were turned off for a long period of time, it would send their progress back hundreds of years.”
“The second plague was poison.” Said Celestia, “All the water of the earth, salt or fresh was poisoned, it made drinking water rare. The seas were overfilled with dead fish as far as the eye could see. Plants shriveled up, even the trees died.”
“The third was a sickness.” Said Luna, “A disease that was made to wipe out all animals, even humans, off the face of the earth. A disease that changes so quickly that a cure was impossible.”
“But the fourth was the worst of them all.” Said Celestia, “The final plague was, as they put it, 'the bomb to end all bombs.' This was no ordinary exploding bomb. Once set off, it has the power to disintegrate nearly a country whole in less than a minute. An explosion brighter and hotter than the sun itself. Even though the bomb was set off in the middle of the ocean, the explosion isn't the deadliest part. Rather, it was the aftermath that kills. A cloud that caused a 10,000-year winter which the snow can cause sickness if anypony is exposed.”
“That's horrific!” said Twilight. “But Princess, how did any of you survive all that?”
“Well,” said Luna, “as soon as the war was declared, the scientists explained to the three of us what we just told you about what fate the outside world has to face. They also took us to another part of the laboratory where they explained that we were going to be hibernating in a thick glass box. The reason behind this is because the three of us have powers full of penitential, they thought that maybe we could save all life on earth.”
“And so,” said Celestia, “they put us into that box, in which there was a kind of ventilation system attached, we were told that we would be put to sleep by a unique kind of gas. This gas we were told would help us sleep for a very long time. There are some interesting side effects while sleep, such as we would still be as young as the day we were put into it. And the longer we stayed in there, the longer we would live by tenfold.”
“So wait,” said Twilight putting a hoof on her chin. “10,000 years asleep times ten, you mean the three of you have a life expectancy of 100,000 years? But does that even mean that you're still going to-”
“Not exactly immortal as everypony thinks.” Celestia interrupted but in a comforting tone. “But do not worry, my faithful student, we're not going to die anytime soon. But even though with the long lifespan, the mortality clock is still ticking for us. Eventually, one day, we will die. But before that does happen, both I and my sister have decided on a few ponies to succeed us before that will ever happen.”
“Really? Like Cadence?” asked Twilight. "But 'ponies?' You mean you're choosing someone else to be your successors?"
“All in good time, my student. You along with Equestria will know soon, just not right now.”
“So what happened next?” I asked.