Long before the coming of the Princesses and the Modern Age, long before the coming of Discord and the Chaotic Age, and long even before the three breeds moved apart, the Age of Separation, there was the first age: The Age of Grazing.
The Age of Grazing was the birth and childhood of the world, where ponies made many discoveries that would one day shape the future of Equestria and its sister lands. Behind every great discovery was a bewildered pony, marveling at a mystery of the world.
This is the tale of one such pony. From mouth to mouth and quill to quill, from whinny to word and from neigh to notes, his name has been transformed and altered, but today, now that his tale has been immortalized in a thousand history books, he is known as Sun Brandisher.
Wonderful story as always! Enjoyed every minute of it.
Especially when I was prereading.
First!
First off, great story, as is you norm.
Secondly: Curse you 472492...
Awesome.
It took me longer than it should have to figure out the sun drops were fire.
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Very nice.
Congrats on getting onto EqD Autumn.
Not bad! It's a strange tale, but an interesting one!
473840
Dis. Dis right here.
I like. I like a lot.
Wow, that was pretty good. Glad I gave this story a chance. You have some serious talent
This deserves more attention than it has received, in my view.
This was truly beautiful. It was perfectly written and really helped add to the feeling. I definitely want to hear more from you. Perhaps other stories from ponies history of other discoveries? *hopeful* I'd love to see you tackle other time periods too.
Alondro trots up to Sun Brandisher as he's straining to light a fire with his magic.
"Dude, I got this," says Alondro as he pulls out a lighter. And so, the first jackass was discovered.
Amazing! I absolutely love this! It is my new headcanon.
Although this story is probably as reliable as our stories about cavemen hunting mammoths during the iceage it is nevertheless an engaging tale. Especially the complete lack of direct speech, nicely done!
A nice story! First, it is a bright story, the kind that makes the reader warm and happy (kind of like the protagonist's fire). Second, its description of the pre-paleolithic ponies (Frazetta ponies? The Herd of the Cave Manticore?) rings true; though simple, it paints a believable and intriguing picture. And now I have used up my long word quota for today...
I really love his perception of fire. Well done !
1624056
Thank you! Glad to hear that you've enjoyed it. I tried to capture the sense of the wonderful unknown, and I like to think it worked out.
1689058
Happy to hear that. ^^
1989495
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I have no idea what you're even trying to say with that picture.
1990084 I have no idea
It just sort of happens
I do remember this fic though!
I gotta say that was one of the best short stories I have ever read. It was short and simple yet perfectly conveyed the the fact that the actions of a single person(or pony in this case) can change the entire world and shape history. I applaud you for this wonderful little story. So worth a fave and a follow I can't wait to read your other works. I should thank Sketchy Sounds for directing me to your profile
This was really cool. You do have a knack for histories, methinks. :) The idea of, essentially, caveponies (though of course ponies wouldn't have lived in caves), not having cutie marks or colorful coats or language, is great. That last part I think you especially handled well. A good story, well told. :)
2562094
Thanks.
I read this again and I loved it even more. It just got even better
A good bit of world-building, a style of narration well-suited to the story, and I love your portrayal of early ponies. Sun Brandisher himself was especially good, and I like how his mindset came across. Just small things like him thinking to eat the fire to gain its power really add to everything. Comical moments like that also lent the story a slightly more light-hearted feel, which went nicely with all the other elements in play. It's just a very charming story, and I really can't praise you enough for everything you did with this premise.
Well-done, sir.
Hmm, Sundrop would have obtained a powerful position in the herd...had an association with the sun...could he be Celestia and Luna's ancestor?
5360693
That is an interesting theory, I like it.
So, the sun and moon used to move by themselves? What happened?
6345458
A fair question.
My personal theory is that as pony magic grew and grew, they decided to take control of their world to make sure everything would be perfect for them. They actually succeeded because harmony reigned amongst them.
The side effect was that asserting manual control meant losing the advantages of an 'automatic' sun and moon cycle. (It did also mean getting rid of the upsides, however.)
6346480
That works. If it wasn't established that the unicorns moved the celestial bodies around before coming to Equestria, then I would have just chalked it up to Discord throwing them out of whack for fun.
6346590
That was my personal theory until Hearth's Warming countered it, yeah.
A fascinating look into pony prehistory. Excellent work in both tone and content. Thank you for it.
I'm going to go against the grain a bit -- looking down the comments, a lot of very good judges really liked this. I'm a bit more equivocal. I found the setup and the general world-building absolutely fascinating, and it's always good to find an original story. Even four years later, I haven't seen anything else quite like this. On the other hand, I found it hard to get on with the actual prose, which was rather dense for my liking. Possibly hard to avoid without having (conventional) dialogue available, but still. I did like the ending, though.
6346480
Possibly, there was a pre-Discord cataclysm.