NOTE: This was an old document that I rewrote in 2022.
Here, I've replaced Celestia with Helios for our non-MLP but still 'pony' universe.
Since then, things have changed further, but I need to post this as a matter of public record.

It was late into the age of Shattered Kingdoms, long after Kronos brought such devastation to all the peoples of Equus. The last time a wild alicorn had arisen, it was the gentle Oberon who, through his adventures, defeated most of Calypso’s monsters that still roamed the world.

By the year 2956 SK, Two wild alicorns arose and discovered one another. It is rare for two wild alicorns to exist in the world at the same time. The chances of a mortal pony giving birth to an alicorn are so low that only one appears every millennia or two. Usually by this time, the previous alicorn has left the world for any number of reasons.

A male and female alicorn existing simultaneously presented an interesting situation. They found one another and became a mated pair, seeing one another as equals but having very different preferences and characteristics. Each of them viewed the world as their playground to do with as they pleased. But what pleased one was quite different from what pleased the other.

The male alicorn, Hyperion, enjoyed mastery of the physical world, forgetting his origins being raised by the mortal ponies. His pleasure came from creating beautiful landscapes and vistas. He controlled the land, seas, and sky, creating amazing visual work. He structured the night sky for its beauty, and he regulated the climate of the world to bring together creative combinations of trees, desert, and snow. When he wanted to impress his mate, he would blot out the sun to create a total solar eclipse as a sign of both his power and his adoration of her. He shaped the mountains and the seas of the world to create a home where she would be happy and he could receive her love and attention. Hyperion mostly ignored the mortal ponies which inhabited his world. He had nearly forgotten they existed at all. The mortals viewed the occasional shifts of the world at Hyperion’s whim to be “natural disasters” which they learned to try and stay out of the way of. Because Hyperion never made it a point to address the mortals directly, they were largely unaware of him.

The female alicorn, Periapsis, was fascinated with animals and living things. She did notice the mortal ponies, and she vaguely remembered her origin among them. Peri kept a collection of both animals and mortal ponies as pets, and was particularly fond of her ponies, which she groomed and cared for. Peri enjoyed putting her pets in various luxurious accommodations and watching them interact with one another. When she was feeling bored, occasionally she would instigate a conflict between pony factions to see how they would resolve it. She occasionally had her favorites, but for the most part, individual pony lives did not mean much to her. She never viewed them as people, but more like livestock for her own entertainment. She was usually kind to them, but if one crossed her, she would swiftly destroy it and move on. The mortals under her watch learned to not question her at all, and that she would provide for them generously as long as they did not object or protest. They lived in a bizarre hybrid of fear and fortune.

The problem:

Hyperion viewed the mortal ponies as insects and vermin. When he noticed them at all, he was disgusted with them building up towns and villages on his planet. They had no place in his physical masterpiece, yet he tolerated their existence as long as they stayed out of sight for the most part. This presented a problem with his mate. She had grown rather fond of the mortals and spent a lot of time tending to them. Hyperion felt that Peri had an unhealthy obsession with her pets, giving too much attention to them. As a result, he became jealous. This caused numerous moments of friction between the two. Ordinarily, Hyperion would respond by trying to win his mate’s attention with some impressive physical construct. He would make a beautiful garden for her or a spectacular sunset. A meteor shower. Anything he could think of to secure her attention.

What he did not tolerate was the growing fascination Periapsis had with the mortal ponies. The very creatures which would build villages and cities on his masterful artwork. The very thorn in his side, which he had only mildly tolerated, had become the very thing which his mate spent her time tending to. Hyperion was frustrated that such a situation would arise at all. There was no reason for it. Were not his impressive efforts to win her attention much, much more significant and attractive than anything those insects could do? What was her problem, anyway? And after several talks, why was it that he could not dissuade her from this? Hyperion was most perplexed by the whole problem.

One day, he realized what it was. Periapsis needed something to nurture. Hyperion did not have this need, but he recognized it in his mate. He figured he had finally discovered the solution to her obsession. He suggested that the two of them have offspring together so Peri’s nurturing attention could be diverted to something worthwhile. It was the perfect solution. Little alicorns to care for and raise up to be just like them. Actual people, not these... vermin. He proposed the idea to her, and to his pleasure, she agreed.

Little Alicorns:

Three years after Hyperion’s suggestion, Periapsis gave birth to Helios. His presence was bright like the sun. He was their little prince – a fitting title, for it made sense that an alicorn, son of the king and queen of the world, would be a prince. Hyperion’s plan was apparently a success. Periapsis diverted her nurturing attention to their son, and they existed as a happy family for a short while. Not one to let success exist in a vacuum, Hyperion suggested a second child. When Helios was six years old, Periapsis gave birth to his sister, Luna. Dark and spunky, she was a fitting counterpart to her older brother, and for a while, it seemed like their family was complete.

Signs of trouble:

Periapsis never truly abandoned her interest in the mortal ponies. While her nurturing attention was indeed given to the young alicorns, as they grew, she had time to return to her old hobby of tending to her “pets”.

When Helios was ten years old, Periapsis introduced him to pony-tending. She taught Helios how to keep them and care for them. Helios was eager to learn the art of managing the mortals because he adored his mother and related well to her nature. He wanted very much to follow his mother’s example.

Hyperion became incensed that Peri continued her obsession with the mortals, and worse, encouraged their children in the same. What an outrage! Here, the problem had gotten worse, not better. Now there were two alicorns irrationally obsessed with tending to insects. In a fit of anger, Hyperion destroyed a small pony village. He was surprised by how much satisfaction this brought him, if just for a moment, to smash the object of his frustration. He knew Peri would not be pleased with this, but she would get over it.

To distract himself from his frustration, Hyperion would divert much of his attention to his daughter, Luna, teaching her his talents in creating beautiful vistas. Luna seemed to prefer applying this talent at night as she manipulated the appearance of the sky in all its glory. Hyperion taught the art of atmospheric manipulation to Helios as well, taking much satisfaction in what his children were soon capable of. By the time they were in their late teens, both Helios and Luna had become proficient in advanced thaumaturgy, at least as far as could be expected for juvenile alicorns.

As the young alicorns grew older, Periapsis knew there would be increasing conflict with Hyperion. To her daughter Luna, she taught a secret way of meeting and talking about things which Hyperion would not be able to interfere with. She gifted Luna with a powerful psionic ability that could enter into the dreams of others. Through this, she could interact with the dreamer and resolve troubled sleep. Periapsis sometimes did this with the mortal ponies she cared for, as they often had night terrors.

Helios finds his Virtue:

Helios had been growing in the ways of his mother, agreeing with her that the mortal ponies had value, in opposition to Hyperion’s assessment that they were mere pests. But something about Peri’s regard for them seemed off to Helios. He saw something more in the mortals than even his mother did. As he spent time with them, he got to know how they lived their lives. He learned of the fear that they had of Periapsis despite the alicorn’s apparent caring for them. Helios decided that it would be better if the mortals did not have to live in this fear. Not only that, but he began to see them as actual people rather than animals to care for. People with their own rights and dignity, even.

At the age of twenty-two, Helios did something which had not been done in all of history. He had an impressive understanding of thaumatic theory, and he knew the difference between how wild alicorns practiced it compared to unicorns. He knew that the two races tapped their power from vastly different energy sources, the Aether being the source of unlimited alicorn power, and the Lifestream being the substantial, but not-very-impressive source of unicorn power. Helios was also an accomplished spellcaster, and he discovered the process by which an alicorn changes from a youth to an adult. He learned that if a young alicorn were to claim his identity with a “virtue” of mortal ponies, that they would halt the transformation into an adult "wild" alicorn. Helios also knew this would be irreversible, and it would mean giving up tremendous power. But he could not deny his heart leaning toward the mortals, for he truly understood them to be valuable people with valuable ethics which neither of his parents understood. Helios decided to undergo this change in his own path and discovered his virtue, Benevolence.

The process was surprising for him. As a young adult alicorn, Helios had been struggling with the temptation of abandoning his unique view of the mortal ponies and just going along with his mother’s view. But now, he could see them with such clarity. He was suddenly awakened to a whole rich world which he previously did not even know existed. The mortal pony civilization came into sharp focus for him, and he wept over their treatment by his parents. He then introduced himself to them for the first time as their Prince, and he promised to look after them and advocate for them. Helios had finally become aware of the Traits of Harmony.

Luna finds her Virtue:

When Helios discovered his virtue and abandoned the path of a wild alicorn, Hyperion was disgusted with his choice. He didn’t know what to do -- on one hoof, he was still an alicorn. But on the other, he was more like one of those insects. He could not reconcile the two. He could have destroyed his son right then, but he had invested much in him, and he could not bring himself to end his life.

Instead, he focused on trying to convince Luna that mortal ponies were not worth throwing her life and future away for like her brother did. She listened to him and weighed his arguments. Luna always was the more mysterious of the two. She would silently judge you, watching and waiting for the right moment to present her conclusions. Luna weighed what Hyperion told her, but also what he showed her through his actions. She also watched her older brother and the changes he underwent. Luna was only sixteen years old, and she had a lot of decisions to make.

Seven years later, Hyperion had shown his true colors as far as Luna was concerned. Time had proven that Helios had made the correct decision. He had become a ruler which the mortal ponies appeared to really need -- no, not merely need... They actually wanted him. In some way, Helios’s strange ramblings about the mortal ponies being ‘people’ started to make sense. Luna began to question everything she was raised to believe. She knew, even as far back as her memories would allow, that Hyperion was unjust in his treatment of the mortals. But she never saw anything wrong with her mother’s treatment of them until some rather long talks with Helios in her late teens.

At the age of twenty-three, Luna made her decision. She had seen her father’s unjust treatment of the mortal ponies, often killing them in the most cruel or humiliating ways possible. Helios advocated on their behalf, urging Luna to recognize that they were actual people and worth defending. After much consideration, Luna decided to identify with her own virtue of Righteousness. The transformation was startling. She knew from watching Helios over the past seven years that she would no longer have the potential of being as grand and powerful as her mother. But Helios did not seem to mind. For Luna, it was a jarring experience. She knew what she would be giving up, but the right thing to do was to undergo the change. Once it was finished, Luna became the champion of justice for the mortal ponies. She vowed to protect them alongside her brother as fellow-advocate and defender.

Meanwhile, Periapsis was proud of her children in her own way. While she did not see the ponies as actual people, she still cared for them and spent much of her time keeping them because it pleased her. She did not understand the depth of connection which her son and daughter had with the mortals, but she did not condemn it either. She found it a bit amusing, and also a bit over-reactive, to toss their entire lives into the mortal society, giving up so much in the process. But she was not angry like Hyperion. He was truly outraged. His prize daughter, Luna, had essentially given him the worst insult imaginable. Hyperion grew increasingly bitter and hostile toward Periapsis and eventually their children as well. He reached a breaking point with his family’s interest in mortal ponies and began actively destroying their civilization.

The (near) extinction of ponykind:

Over the next three years, relations between Hyperion and his family steadily broke down. Periapsis refused to abandon the mortals despite Hyperion’s insistence. As a powerful wild alicorn herself, she was not helpless in this conflict. She came to the aid of the mortals when she could, but ultimately, the advantage was his. For an alicorn, destruction is the easier option. Hyperion tried to get her to give in by targeting those whom she enjoyed the most. He got quite creative in the various ways that he would end their lives. Sometimes, it was quick when he simply wanted them erased. Other times, he would make a spectacle of it, and the streets of whole cities would run red with pony blood.

Meanwhile, Helios and Luna were relatively powerless to resist their father. The best they could do was come up with places to have the mortals try to hide, and to try and keep them alive in whatever way that they could. Peri was distraught over the conflict, not understanding how the stallion she loved had grown so cruel. It was no longer a matter of eliminating pests; this was a vendetta. Hyperion eventually vowed that he would make the mortal ponies extinct if she did not completely forsake them. She feared that he would eventually turn his wrath on their children as well, once the mortals were no more.

Hyperion then began a systematic annihilation of ponykind. They numbered over a hundred million with several large cities across the world. As powerful as he was, Hyperion could not kill them all at once. The task would take at least a year, fueled by his rage. He also kept his distance from his mate, feeling the need to complete his agenda. The mortals took away the mare he loved, and he would make them pay for it. Their very existence was now anathema. There was no way this could end until they were wiped clean off the face of this world.

Periapsis met in a dream her children to discuss a plan to preserve ponykind from extinction. She blasted several tunnels and cave networks into various mountains, careful to hide the entrances. Helios and Luna would direct ponies into these shelters and hope their father never found out, for he would simply bring the mountains down on them if he knew. Thankfully, other races seemed to go unnoticed by Hyperion. The various intelligent races which Periapsis did not take a personal interest in were spared most of Hyperion’s wrath, but the whole world suffered anyway due to the destruction. All records and technology were eliminated. Any form of pony government or civilization ceased to exist. The mortals would undergo an absolute reset and have to rebuild from scratch. In the end, there were fewer than three hundred mortal ponies who remained alive.

The Battle of Deliverance:

Helpless against Hyperion’s relentless onslaught, Periapsis realized that being on the defensive was a losing situation. There was only one way she could save ponykind, and that was to kill Hyperion. She knew he was unbeatable physically. There had to be a way she could outwit him. She knew there were ancient alicorns who had suffered fatal burnouts. If she could cause him to burn out somehow, she would be successful.

The last remaining mortal pony city was being attacked. Periapsis and her children rushed to meet the aggressor head on. Hyperion was enjoying himself, taking his time with his victory imminent. Some of his most cruel ways of killing were being used. He would telekinetically pull their bodies apart or turn them inside-out while forcing them to stay alive during the process. Peri slammed into him with the speed of a missile, knocking him through several buildings before skidding to a stop against a hill. He laughed and congratulated her for the effort. He then struck back, burying her under tons of rubble. The two continued fighting, each inflicting only minor injuries upon the other while the surrounding landscape became a devastated ruin. Hyperion turned his attention to Helios and Luna, seeing them vulnerable. He had hoped they would be the cure for Peri’s insanity. It was time to end that mistake. He charged at them, but Peri intercepted his efforts with a shield around the young ones. A wild alicorn’s shield is essentially impenetrable. It was little effort for her to maintain it, and her children were safe for now. Hyperion made a show of telekinetically throwing live ponies at their shield with such force that they burst upon impact.

Peri knew it was time to end this. With her children protected within the shield, she pounced on Hyperion and held him with all her strength. She then manifested thaumatic chains to bind the two of them together. With the two alicorns chained to one another, she then focused on his horn, bringing to bear the unfathomable power of the Aether against him. Peri’s thaumatic abilities were easily on par with Hyperion’s, even if her physical strength was somewhat less. With the intense onslaught against his horn, Hyperion had no choice but to raise a defense to protect himself. He tapped the Aether for the energy necessary to keep his horn from being destroyed. For that was the only real threat here. A wild alicorn’s horn is his life. He was only mildly concerned because Peri would need to tap so much energy that she would risk her own life in the effort to end his.

And that was exactly her plan. Periapsis abandoned the hope of self-preservation. The entirety of Hyperion’s focus was now on hardening his own horn. He had nothing left even to break the chains and wrestle himself away from her grasp. For the first time in his life, Hyperion experienced fear.

The energy being used by both alicorns was far brighter than the sun. The surrounding buildings were set ablaze. Helios and Luna watched helplessly from within the shield which protected them. They only hoped the mortals had enough sense to put as much distance between themselves and the alicorns as they could. Hyperion’s horn began to vibrate with the increasing stress. Peri closed her eyes and willfully dropped the final portion of her restraint, tapping the infinite power of the Aether beyond her horn’s ability to withstand. With a tiny fraction of the energy she was using, Peri brought time itself to a standstill. She and her children appeared in a star-filled void for just a few seconds. “Goodbye, my children,” she said. “Take care of them. Rule them well.” And then she was gone.

Hyperion felt his horn’s integrity begin to fail. He had no choice but to tap more energy than he could safely use. Sensing that his defeat was imminent, he likewise slowed time to a near standstill. With his remaining milliseconds, he designed the instrument of his vengeance – a new living person, yet without a body of her own. She was the essence of his hatred and malice personified. She was The Night. She would survive his physical death, lying in wait for someone to fall into the trap. And when she was finished with ponykind, his vendetta would at last be fulfilled.

Time resumed, and in an instant, the two alicorns experienced a fatal burnout, creating an explosion that completely leveled the city. A shockwave split the ground, creating a long and deep ravine. Hyperion’s horn shattered into thousands of fragments the size of grains of sand. The force of the explosion dispersed the remnants of his horn for miles in every direction. Peri’s horn remained intact, but her body was obliterated, leaving the horn embedded in the rock at the bottom of the gash in the earth.

The shield protecting the royal sisters collapsed, leaving Helios and Luna standing there in the barren landscape in complete shock. Their parents were simply... gone. The wild alicorns were no more.

Here's something I wrote a few years ago that depicts the moment the Night's soul was snatched from her unborn body during the destruction and chaos of the battle that killed Hyperion.

I am floating.
Warmth. 
Comfort. 
Love…

It was my fondest memory—one I have always tried to return to. But it was only ever a glimpse.

In the darkness, there was no fear. I swam in the tight embrace, forever submerged with my long legs folded tightly against me, and yet, I did not drown. Neither was I alone. My two companions soothed me in their persistent rhythms.

Heart. Always steady, always with me, I could not only hear her but feel her soft thumping. She was strong, much stronger than my own quicker heartbeat. And I knew she could never fail me.

Breath. I never quite understood her, for I had no counterpart of my own. With her, came a slow, heaving sound, and my whole world moved with her. Up. Down. Tightening, ever so slightly, then relaxing again. She soothed me to sleep when my thoughts became jumbled. Assured me with soft coos, in a language I did not understand, that I was loved and cherished.

And so it was, for all time. Until it wasn’t.

Trouble. Heart was quickened. Powerful. My world was shaking, moving, and twisting. Breath was also strong, heavy, and jagged. New sounds, loud and awful, punished my ears. Bright lights and flashes, muted against the soft, red walls of my world. I did not understand. My own heart quickened to match my companion as I felt emotions new, and foreign, and unwelcome.

Fear. What had happened? Why was my world in turmoil?

Something smashed hard into my world and then all was still. The faint red glow had gone black. Breath was… 

“Breath?” I asked urgently in my mind. “What is wrong?” She had become ragged, strained, desperate. Always so calm before, I could no longer feel her reassuring rhythm. At least Heart was still strong, pounding in my ears, urging me to pay attention.

Minutes passed slowly, going from bad to worse. “Breath? No, don’t go! I need you.”

She had slowed, coming in short gasps. Then, my world had stopped moving. “Where are you? Breath?!!” 

Heart was worried as well. She had never faltered until now. Thump. Thump-thump. Th—

Silence. I had never experienced silence before. My companions were gone! I was alone.

My thoughts became a frenzied panic. What can I do? I tried to kick, but my world held firm. My thoughts… I can’t think clearly. Becoming fuzzy. What will…

Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled harshly away. I can’t feel my legs. Where is my body?! Someone new was with me. A new companion, perhaps? Someone new who would love me and assure me that everything would be alright?

Horror. My body was gone. Not numb… simply gone. I was brought into a place impossible to describe. In my consciousness, I could see terrible things. I never knew the world was so big! So very, very big. And so horrible. Others were here, not my companions but entities I could not hope to understand. And they fought one another in ways that made my mind freeze up.

I became wrapped around one of them. Finally, an anchor once more.

No. No, this can’t be. New emotions invaded my mind, forcing me to submit. Hatred. Malevolence. Fury. I can’t… There is no longer choice. No love. No comfort.

I felt myself change. He was so powerful. Who was I to resist? So overwhelming, telling me what I must think and what I must feel. The passion. The breathtaking drive to… destroy.

I had become a new thing. Something I was not. I am now given purpose. One singular task. To slay them.

All of them.

I am… The Night.