Alicorn Origins: Legends of Disharmony

by lunabrony

01 - Dark Days

Equestria no longer existed. It didn't even have that name anymore. The ponies that lived in this world had once called it something, but that name was forgotten. Not many ponies could study writings, and there weren't any left. The writings that detailed the early history of the land had been the first to go. The single name that all ponies knew, that all ponies learned to know, they feared more than anything else.

Discord.

The world was full of things that grew wild with excessive energy. Animals were bigger and more terrifying, as were the plants. Rivers flowed with intense energies. There was fecundity, but no regularity. Streams were independent, ponds were treacherous, a river was as much a source of life as a potential source of destruction, as it could easily decide to flow any way. Rain, snow, winds came and went with no seasons. These just were the daily frantic mess. Barriers and obstacles that nopony thought twice about. This was the world Luna had always known. The world her sister had always known. The world her parents had always known. There were no cities, no real buildings. Nothing lasted, so nothing was erected that couldn't be built quickly again.

Luna's family lived beneath the ground, in a small hole, dug out by the common effort of their hooves. The ceiling held up with good will, boards and planks, and whatever meager spells her parents Aurora and… Celestia hesitated in writing on her parchment, seeking a name she had forgotten for such a long time. Even then, only with a bit of help from Luna did the name return to her. ...Titan. Her mother was an almond colored unicorn, and their father was a dark shade. Both parents were as caring and loving as anypony could ever hope to find. The size of their home was small, it was a single room. You couldn't fit thirty ponies in there if you tried. It held nothing in terms of belongings. There was a hole in the center where what food they had scraped by from picking the randomly growing plants were stored. Supply was undependable. Sometimes they had food to excess, and often they were struggling to find enough to get to the next day. The key to survival often simply came down to rationing, and preparing for the unexpected.

Aurora and Titan often went hungry to feed their daughters. They never once complained, even when the girls suspected that something was wrong. There was a window, an opening in the ceiling, and covered with leaves. Through the leafy cover Luna could see the milky sky, ablaze with flowing colors. A kaleidoscope dome, flowing through surreal pastels as the day would pass. Her bigger sister Celestia was home as well, looking a bit stuffy. Their father had called her home from the ruins early.

"But dad, its the only place where there's any writings anymore! Real spells!" All forbidden, of course. Even now Celestia was etching the runes that she and Luna had studied and gleaned many times onto the wall. They were impossibly complex spells, nothing meant for tutoring. Yet Celestia and Luna were trying to do the impossible, relearn magic that was no longer to be found in books. It had occupied Celestia a lot lately, and her frustration matched only the intense energies she threw into her studies on it. Luna recognized the set of runes she was scribbling even as they were obscured by her flowing…

Celestia stopped and looked at her flowing tail for a moment, turning to Luna.

"Was it always like this?" Luna was quiet for a moment, the smile on her face had faded. She didn't like remembering what she only fleetingly referred to as the Dark Days, it was a time of suffering and hardship for many ponies. Being as though she had once been a Bearer of the Elements, it took a particularly stronger toll on her. Long ago, Luna had been tasked with Magic, Kindness and Loyalty, while Celestia had been the image of Laughter, Honesty and Generousity. As such, seeing others in distress and sadness, especially when caused intentionally, enraged her.

"Your tale is accurate thus far, Celestia." She said, her voice cold. Even during the present time, she found it difficult to fully trust Discord again. Not after what he had done to them. Not after what he had done to... No. She couldn't think about that. Not yet.

Celestia and Luna had competed on learning, mastering and improving the spells from their parents. Sibling rivalry, but they'd long since mastered what could be done with those simple charms, and they were each specializing in different wards. It was dangerous, and they didn't tell their parents all of how close they had gotten often in sustaining serious injuries when they lost control over improper spells. Being trained was an impossibility, and if they were caught performing magic, the consequences could be disastrous. There weren't any proper days or nights. However if one could call this a day, it was a special one. Aurora entered their hiding hole. Strapped to her back was a special box. Where she hid it she never said, and questions on the matter went unanswered. It held three items, one that was useless now and held only sentimental value, and two others. Celestia was still engrossed passionately with unlocking the mystery of a particular defensive spell she'd seen carved into one of the walls of a ruin. Aurora clucked in disapproval.

"You'll wear down your horn at that rate, Celestia. Put it away, I feel its time to retell our story." No seasons, it wasn't a yearly thing. Celestia stopped for a moment

"I'm so close, mother, just a little longer... shouldn't we wait until father comes home?" A tactic of stalling, but Aurora insisted. Luna had heard the story only three times, the story of day and night. The rare ritual when her mother told it, as their grandmother had told it to her, took a special significance.

"Luna would you do the honor of laying out the folded paintings?" Two of them, all that had survived. The only concrete evidence that there once had been something like a day and a night. That once, long ago, there had been peace.

Luna had a passion for stargazing, but it was something of a thankless sport. The stars rarely came out for more than a few minutes at a time. It was next to impossible, as far as she could tell, to schedule when they would appear next or for how long. But she adored the sky, and would often be seen in a dream filled state, staring up at the infinite void which was so stubborn as to refuse to give up its secrets. The young mare nodded to her elder, and went to fetch the paintings, ever so carefully unrolling them. "If anyone can unlock that spell, Celestia can." She said proudly.

The pictures were laid out. Even Celestia halted for a moment as the image of the sun was spread out. "Once..." The older sister began, in a sweet sing song voice… Celestia paused and cleared her throat.

"Its been a while since I've sung in the Ancient tongue, sister bear with me." A language hardly talked anymore, even Luna's inflections and formal language was a later development. Outside of obscure historians who enjoyed transcribing what few runes of it remained on the oldest of ruins, few but her and Celestia knew it, and only they were really fluent…

"The night begins at the end of the day.

The glowing orb sets, so the stars come out to play.

The little moon rises, shining through night

And the dreams of every pony, is guarded by its might.

And when the moon sets, is when the day is born

All ponies rise together, at the dawning of the morn

Rise to harvest, play, sing and prance,

Thus were the blessings of sun and moons dance."

The remembrance song ended, and their mother told them of how their great, great grandmother had lived during this time. "Notice the fields under sun?" Rows of crops were indicated in the painting of the sun, it hung above fields where ponies toiled, pegasi flew. Just as the song told. It wasn't as clear for the painting of the moon. It was more of a map, and Aurora would go through the names of all the places on the moon with her. The great mare sea, the alicorn crest, Titan crater surrounded by the little filly craters. "There were once names on this map. Of all those places." Her mother always became a little bitter and sad at this part. "Names of everything, when I was a little filly... we kept everything in books. I don't know which pony had said that, that we still had our memories. Then Discord had said

"When Day is Night and Night is Day, see if you can read words, when they all run away!"

Aurora opened the book, revealing only blank pages, reams and reams of blank pages. Aurora sighed in regret. So much knowledge had been lost.

Comments

[Treppen]

*squee*
Must add to group!

[Neko Majin C]

"Its been a while since I've sung in the Ancient tongue, sister bear with me."

And that ancient tongue? The one even older than Celestia and Luna's ancestors? The one even older than the great God Discord himself? That "ancient tongue" ...was English.