Studies of a Bookworm

by Fire Soul

Goddess Domains

Goddess Domains

written by Twilight Sparkle

When most ponies refer to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they think of both mares as just that: Princesses and mares, nothing more, for the most part. Because of this and the fact that both Princesses are deeply involved in the daily political scene of Equestria as a whole, most ponies never really think about the domains that both Goddesses lay claim to.

In truth, finding books on this subject tends to be more difficult than most would ever expect. A long time ago, Princess Celestia, over the course of several hundred years, worked to shut down any and all established and growing religions and cults revolving around herself and her sister Luna, preferring to unite Equestria with a new era of peace through love and tolerance. Many books about those religions even in an academic sense fell into dis-use and were forgotten over the years, and thus are mostly lost to time.

For the sake of organization and simplicity, we will discuss Princess Celestia's domains first, and then cover Princess Luna's. This is also due to the fact that Princess Luna's section is fairly risque and not for little foals. Please keep this in mind.

Princess Celestia

Princess Celestia's domains are far from what most ponies would expect, save for one. Celestia is most known for being the Goddess of Light, or the Goddess of Day and the Sun. This is the longest-standing title for her due to the fact that she is the only creature in Equestria's history that has ever been able to move the Sun, or any celestial body for that matter, without any assistance, excluding her sister Luna.

On top of that, all of her magical abilities outside of standard Unicorn Magic revolve around utilizing the Sun and Light itself as a source to fuel her divine powers. Ancient war documents detail, very vividly, her ability to use spells that rained fire from the sky after some incantations on Celestia's part that call upon the Sun itself. This has never been used during civil unrest, even violent civil unrest, likely due to her other domains.

Her less well-known domains are her position as the Goddess of Life and Death. I have had the benefit of being able to ask her about this subject personally after doing as much research as possible in the Royal Library, and all of the notes taken directly from the Princess herself were more insightful than any book. I will recount some of the notes to you, the reader.

'While I am the one that watches over these natural parts of existence itself, it is an unwritten rule that I should not be the one that decides when someone dies, or whether or not someone should live if they are on their death bed with, say, a terminal illness. This often earns a lot of anger and hatred from mortal ponies because they know that I can save their loved ones. However, if I always interrupted the natural cycle of life and death by doing so, it could have long-term repercussions that could cause terrible consequences to befall the entire world. Thus I never do so at all. Don't get me wrong, I love all of my subjects dearly, and it wounds me emotionally whenever I feel the sensation of empowerment caused by the death of someone, because I know someone has died. Instead of interrupting the cycle, I have guided my little ponies as a society by being their ruler and helping them value the short lives they have, and I like to think that due to the lack of wars over the last millennium, I have succeeded in this endeavor.'

If the statement of empowerment is confusing, keep this in mind: ruling over such a domain means that, much like prayer in general, Celestia gains strength every time someone dies, their death very much like a prayer as well. Just the same, raising and lowering the Sun, instead of exhausting her mentally, gives her strength. This is why she never gets tired from doing such an amazing feat of magical and mental prowess every single day.

Thanks to Celestia's rule over Life and her next domain as well, she is also empowered by the birth of a new life into the world. This is Princess Celestia's least known domain of all, mostly because of society in general: Fertility.

Long ago, in ancient times, before and even during the time when parchment and writing were being invented, Princess Celestia didn't live in a castle. Instead, she lived as a travelling Goddess with an entourage of loyal worshippers that kept her safe from bandits, heretics and even cultists that would wish to do her harm for any reason. These are among just a few of the dangers that were present during such turbulent, chaotic times.

Why did Celestia travel? As a Goddess of Fertility, she travelled all of Earth, going from nation to nation, blessing crops to guarantee a bountiful harvest, as well as participating in celebrations thrown in her name. Religious buildings were often erected alongside her sister's to celebrate both of them, and often celebrations in Princess Celestia's name occurred around a particularly 'active' mating season.

Back then, it wasn't uncommon for miscarriages to occur, or for mares to die during delivery of their foals. Celestia's arrival during someone's pregnancy often led to celebration due to the fact that Celestia's blessings guaranteed a healthy, simple and quick birth, as well as a healthy, strong child. Just the same, as a Goddess of Fertility, Celestia was often pregnant herself, by her own choosing.

Of course, her choice of mate for such a thing as reproduction wasn't random or a subject of debauchery. On the contrary, it was never the case that Celestia lacked suitors vying for the right to gain such an honor as to sire a foal with her. Any stallion or mare that earned such a right in her eyes was usually somepony that had a strong will, a kind and loving heart, and usually went on to benefit all of ponykind in some large or small way.

To date Princess Celestia, by her own words, has given birth to approximately fifty-six-thousand, seven-hundred and eighty-eight foals. While that may seem like a massive amount of children to any mortal pony, we must keep in mind the fact that Princess Celestia, much like Princess Luna, has been around for far, far longer than any of us could possibly comprehend. She has been around even before ponies knew how to use a simple stick as an effective weapon or tool! On the contrary, such a number actually seems fairly small when one thinks about it hard enough.

It is also worth noting that with her having given birth to that many ponies, it's very, very likely that many families in Equestria have a heritage tracing back to Princess Celestia. Many of us may share the same heritage with the most prestigious nobles and not even be aware of it!

Princess Luna

Where Celestia is the Goddess of Light, Day and the Sun, Princess Luna is the Goddess of Darkness, Night and the Moon. She is at home in the night and darkness itself, being at her most powerful when she is basked in the moonlight of her chosen celestial body. Many ponies misunderstand this fact and view her tendency towards secrecy and mystique as reasons to mistrust her and be suspicious of her. Some even view her as being evil and ill-willed.

This is far from true. Like the benevolence of her sister Celestia, Princess Luna loves her subjects like any Wife would love her Husband (Author's Note: I would say 'like a Mother loves her children', but that would make one of her domains immensely creepy). Several historical documents detail her powers of darkness and her stealthiness as being the only reason Equestria has not fallen to sneaky foreign nations striking and destroying valuable fortifications and civilian towns and farms in the middle of the darkest nights.

Her next domain is arguably the most beneficial of all to ponykind. It is also Princess Luna's second favorite domain out of the ones she holds sway over: she is the Goddess of Creation. Many ask how this is different from Celestia's rule over Fertility, but Creation is much more vast and broad a subject, and the way it is used is very, very different from procreation.

Being the Goddess of Creation, Princess Luna is easily classified as the greatest inventor of all time. Her creativity is unparalleled, her vast range of skills being as expansive as possible. To name a few, she is a skilled Artisan, Blacksmith, Electrician, Carpenter, and she is a highly accomplished Artist and Creative Writer.

Princess Luna's creations and inventions have often been the cause of complete reform in various jobs thanks to her skills in creating new devices and methods of doing things in those jobs. It has been theorized that Princess Luna's intellect is beyond even Princess Celestia, and Celestia herself has been noted as believing such a thing wholeheartedly. Most scholars have observed several times in several different situations that Luna tends to be the logical, intelligent one that is very book-smart, whereas Celestia seems to be the one that understands her subjects best and has something akin to a sixth sense when trying to predict what will happen in the near future. In other words, where Luna is intelligent, Celestia is wise.

[Author's Note: This last domain is very adult-rated. Any young foals that have somehow gotten their hooves on a copy of this paper, it would be preferred that you stop reading and turn this in to the nearest adult, or failing that option, please put it back where you got it from. Thank you for respecting me and being a good little filly or colt, if you have done what I've asked. If you haven't, then you should be ashamed. However, from what you've possibly learned from this next section, please consult a trusted adult to answer any questions that you have regarding this subject.]

Luna's final domain, and easily her favorite domain due to how very intimate it is, is subject to a lot of controversy between those that know about it, which are very, very few. The history of this domain is shrouded in secret to all but the most deeply trusted, and as such, I am literally one of four ponies that know all of the important details, and even many of the not-so-important details.

Luna is, for all intents and purposes, the Goddess of Lust and Free Love. This is not to be confused with Princess Cadance's title as a Princess of Love: Cadance is a mortal pony despite being a Pegasus Unicorn, not an Alicorn. She is not immortal, she does not have any domains that she reigns over. Due to her ability to control such an intense emotion however, many including both Luna and Cadance believe that she is the subject of a genetic fluke as a descendant of either Luna or Celestia. It's not a hard theory to believe, given how close her fur and mane colors are to Celestia's, and how both Celestia and Luna have domains that have a lot to do with love.

All of that aside, Luna's status as the Goddess of Lust has brought up many questions. The reason this is kept secret from modern pony society is because of her status as the sister of Celestia and second Monarch ruling over Equestria as a whole: the nobles and other campaigning politicians would likely use such a controversial title to make her look as bad as possible. Rumors would likely start talking about Luna's absolute debauchery and the shameless amount of sex she has, despite her having none at all, or being very discreet with her love life.

However, the conversations that I have had with Princess Luna have been very enlightening, though I had to remain objective in order to avoid insulting her and the things she'd done in the past. In some ways, there was far more love within Equestria as a whole long, long ago, compared to some of the stereotypes, taboos and what have you of modern Equestria.

Several thousands of years ago, as Luna explained to me, she travelled constantly much like her sister did, though she often travelled with others that viewed the art of mating, or the sexual arts, with as much value as she did. She saw such a practice as something that could bring ponies closer to one another in the most intimate of ways, and she often practiced them herself, usually every night with her followers that travelled with her, who were often her guards.

Orgies were a commonplace thing for her, especially when she visited a town or city that had a majority of inhabitants that worshipped her. Often, her worshippers were also artists and writers, these ponies being people that shared enthusiasm for experiencing all that they could experience, including all of the various ways one could possibly have sex.

This is of course not mentioning the more intimate side of sex in and of itself. I cannot claim to know or understand how I would feel if, say, my friends and I began sleeping with each other, all of us dating one another in a six-way relationship, but given how close we are to each other already, I can hypothesize that, much like how Luna's belief in free love had very many ponies loving one another without worrying about cheating on one another or hurting each other's feelings by preferring one person or another in the bedroom and participating in orgies without worrying about taboos or stereotypes, my friends and I would likely be that much closer to one another in a bond that would likely be near-impossible to break.

Sadly, Luna's promotion of free love was far, far ahead of its time. Eventually, other beliefs began to arise that threw Luna's 'irresponsible' and 'shameless' beliefs under scrutiny, mostly in foreign nations outside of Celestia and Luna's nations at first. Over time however, this scrutiny began to enter the minds of ponies within Equestria, causing many ponies to look upon such behavior with disdain. Luna noted that most of these ponies bringing her beliefs into question were greedy ponies that did not wish to 'share' their love(r)s with other ponies, or ponies that did not have their feelings returned.

Through this scrutiny many taboos came into being, like the long-standing taboo against mares marrying other mares, and in some ponies' eyes, mares even doing so much as loving other mares. Because of how widespread such scrutiny became, more ponies began to lean towards Celestia's more reserved and revised beliefs. Celestia's religion had been rapidly changed to satisfy the desired beliefs of the great majority of what was at the time a far more modern Equestria compared to when she and Luna had first begun spreading their beliefs through their new nation.

When all was said and done, Luna's beliefs in lust and free love had been almost completely abolished from her own religion, but the damage was done. Many ponies began to shun the night due to terrible rumors involving rape, ponynapping, and other demeaning lies such as how evil she was and how monsters roamed the world at night. This all got to Luna over time, and according to the established history, led to her conflict and turning into Nightmare Moon.

With Luna's return recently, she has confided in me a certain desire, one of wanting to bring the concept of free love back to life in this more open-minded, modern Equestria. She does, however, want to introduce this idea as a more reserved, sensible concept. Preferably, she would like to keep sexual activities out of public areas, but would rather destroy all reservations and taboos regarding any kind of sexual activity or sexual preference, and instead would like to have her subjects open their minds to let long-ignored desires and ideas in. She has noted that in the past, many ponies were far, far happier when they were allowed to simply be themselves. Only when this 'anti-sexual persecution' began did she realize that something that created such powerful emotions and bonds could just as effectively be used to cause levels of hate the likes of which she had never seen before.

In ancient times, such things happened at random, and they happened in public where young foals could see them happening, possibly. In modern Equestria, Luna would instead like to, over time, open up the possibility of polygamous marriages and relationships, to make them a more acceptable and less taboo thing for ponies to do. In truth there is nothing logically wrong with having more than one mate at any one time, in fact even I can't see anything wrong with being in love or having strong feelings for more than one pony and wanting to be with both or all of them instead of being forced to choose. Such a thing only hurts one of them deeply and causes the one making the choice to feel bad despite now being in a relationship with one of the ponies they love.

Just the same, love is a very greedy thing and a misunderstood concept. Many ponies believe that if you love someone, you can love them and only them, and that that is the only way to define true love. Luna would rather the world be filled with ponies following a thought process like this: why love only someone you know intimately when you can love everyone and be loved just the same in return? I can guarantee that there are a lot of ponies that would have a much better life on a daily basis if they felt like there was someone out there, even complete strangers, that really cared about them despite not really knowing them.

Love itself gives both Celestia and Luna strength. The more ponies love one another and openly spread their love, the more both of our Princesses stand to gain on a personal and widespread level. This is one of the larger reasons Princess Celestia endeavored to create a nation united in peace and harmony, something Princess Luna wished to strive for, but in her own way. There is little doubt that if she hadn't been turned into Nightmare Moon, she would have succeeded alongside her sister, though Equestria likely would have been very different. Luna may have even gotten her wish and succeeded in opening the minds of everypony during the Rennaissance.

Do keep in mind that despite my personal beliefs in Luna's domain as the Goddess of Lust and her desire to open up the minds of her subjects, even I find some amount of reservations when I think of the sort of things she used to do, and some of the things she would likely want to make a standard part of society. I am also very aware that this is purely due to my upbringing and my inexperience with such a field of 'study'. Perhaps one day I will, but not at this moment in my life.

Comments

[Mossflower]

awesome chapter!
i love how you make luna out to be the intelligent one while celestia is the wise one.
on the other side of the coin though: i don't really like the amount of pregnancies celestia has gone through, but mainly because i don't see them as being more than around 3000 years old.

[Fire Soul]

1050609
I view Celestia and Luna as being around long, long before ponykind even began to use the intelligence they eventually inherited. That means they could be RIDICULOUSLY old. The only reason they're still sane over all that time is due to them taking several 'breaks' in the form of millenniums worth of time sleeping amongst the stars, letting the mortal world exist on its own without their presence for quite some time until they feel that ponykind needs their guiding hooves to help them through sensitive, potentially self-destructive eras.

Of course, during those thousands upon thousands of years of being 'awake', they have also stayed sane by not being the only Gods/Goddesses on Earth....but that's for a different update.