On Alicorns

by Nra Vadumee

Chapter Two: The Birth of the Mortal Races

'...So the mortals are still ignorant of the true nature of the world's forging,' thought the pony. He felt a surge of relief; how embarrassing it would've been for he, of all ponies, to be taught of the world's creation by a normal unicorn's book. All the same, it was a good omen, but not a promising one. The mortals believed the Fausticorn forged the world alone when she did not. She let the Twelve forge it for her. This meant that the mortal races would be fixated on the Fausticorn as a maker, and, hopefully, fixate on that to the point of ignoring the majority of the Twelve's history. Still, this was the earliest portion of the book and the beginning of time. This scholar, and the mortal races by extension, still had a chance to show that they have discovered something they should not have found. And the bronze pony knew that the chances of this would increase as they march towards the present day...

Skimming through the rest of the first chapter of the book and determining to be more of the same, the bronze pony immediately filled with dread and fear as he came across the title of the second chapter. Mustering his will, and pushed by the force of the Call bearing down on him, he continued reading.

It is unknown precisely when the mortal races of the world first began appearing (assuming, again, that the alicorns were never mortal), though most scholars believe that it took place over the course of the following centuries, and there is fierce debate over the nature of its occurrence.

It is generally agreed upon that the first of the mortal races were the dragons: The great, powerful serpents of flame and scale which have so notoriously acted as dangerous blights upon the land. The alicornic lifespan of dragons, spanning centuries for the vicious and millenia for the cautious, as well as their immense pride, speak of a long history, a history steeped in the roots of the world. While no dragon with knowledge of draconic history has been known to be willing to cooperate with scholarly interests, the histories of the other mortal races have always held records of dragons, indicating the ancient race to be among if not the first to walk this world. While Changeling culture preaches of the changeling race to be the oldest, the existence of Equine sites and records as well as those of Griffons indicate falsity in such a sentiment.

After the dragons likely came mortal races which are forgotten to time as a result of their ancient existence and lack of records or preservation; Many theories circulate as to these beings leaving behind fossils and legacies which would spark the concept of legends and lore among the modern races. One such race would be the dire timberwolves, an intelligent ancestor of the modern timberwolves which are thought of by certain Equestrian cultures to be the creators and masters of the timberwolves. The dire timberwolves are called by some ‘The Great Alphas’, while many simply call them ‘fictitious’.

Some small margin of scholars believe that the alicorns attempted to extinguish mortal life at first, though these scholars are largely disregarded, as their theory is deposed instantly by the words and actions of Princess Celestia and her younger sister, Princess Luna. It is stated by the Princess of the Day that the alicorns have, so long as she remembers, always cared for and loved mortal life. Were it not that way, she explained, then Equestria would never have been founded. In extension, had the opinion of the alicorns towards mortals been so truly hostile, then there would not be any mortals.

The author himself is a member of a school of thought which believes that the dragons were the first mortal race, followed shortly thereafter by variations upon their kin, such as sea serpents and the notorious draconaqui. Despite the actions of the last known draconaqui, Discord, the draconaqui race is believed to have been largely passive and even friendly towards the ancient alicorns, never making exceedingly large marks on history until the power of chaos corrupted them and the world plunged into the Discordic Era.

However, this is faroff in the history of the world, and the history of the alicorns is what concerns this chapter. The aforementioned theories on the rise of the mortal races are mentioned by the author with the goal of displaying a common sentiment: That the alicorns quickly became rivalled for power by new mortal races such as the dragons which had almost as perfect longevity as they did, with equitable intellect, and easily capable to physically oversize and crush them. Immortal demigods or not, the alicorns, as we believe, were to be rivalled by the mortal races which sprung after them for world domination.

‘Mortals? Rivalling alicorns?’ Questioned the pony. Certainly this was another falsity. Not only a falsity, but an almost laughably bad falsity. He turned his attention back away from the book, ignoring the rest of the chapter, which seemed to merely drone on about the different theories on the birth of the mortal race. Once again he stared into the past, going now to a time when the world was still new, but not newborn, when ideas had formed from shapeless sensations to the first vestiges of thoughts, and when the sixth union, between Professios the Artgiver and Academis the Scholar, began to complete the final phase of its goal:

To forge a vessel for emotion and knowledge both.