The Legend of Hyracles

by BlueColton

A little history lesson

Rainbow Dash Narrating:

Now listen here, kid. A long time ago, Equestria wasn’t as cool as it is today. The three pony tribes: pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony, were finally working together for once as they began settling their new home. The thing is, they weren’t the only ones there.

Back then, Equestria was filled with all kinds of monsters, and they all loved ponies…for lunch. It didn’t matter how fast you could fly, how much magic you had, or how strong you were; being a pony meant you were at the bottom of the food chain. Sucks right? Imagine having to fight each and every day just to stay alive. A lot of ponies probably thought they were better off where they came from. Sure freezing to death sucked, but it beats being a manticore’s afternoon snack.

The ponies toughed it out. It wasn’t easy at first. You have to remember that these ponies used to be enemies, and it ain’t easy sleeping next door to some pony who not long ago would have stolen your food, or taken your land just a few days before. But having a common enemy is a great way to make ponies work together. Each tribe began to depend on the skills of the other two; the strength of the earth pony which farmed the land and fortified the walls, the magic of the unicorn which created defensive spells and lit the night, the flight of the pegasus which allowed them to scout for danger and keep the weather under control.

Forced to live together to survive, it wasn’t long before the three tribes became one and it was pony vs. everything else out there. The monsters back then weren’t impressed with us. Who is scared of their food? Times were tough, so tough that within one generation there were fewer ponies living in Equestria than had arrived during the Great Migration. A lot of those pilgrims died on the way. Timber wolf attacks, Saber cat ambushes, bad weather, natural disasters, and good old-fashioned disease and hunger—which probably killed more ponies than anything else.

By the second and third generation, there were hardly any ponies left who remembered a time before the monsters! There was a lot of land back then and too few of us. We were scattered all over the place, which made us vulnerable. Ponies were living in fortified villages with high walls and booby traps. There was no trade because a pony would have to be insane to travel outside the walls. Ponies lived only on what they could grow, and in some cases, hunt. Don’t give me that face, kid. You’d be surprised what looks good when you’re starving.

Now instead of one country, you had a thousand little towns and villages and maybe a couple of cities. That’s where the Founders settled, but even they couldn’t keep the country together. You couldn’t tell a pony where they could live anymore than what they could eat or what clothing they could wear. Those outside the big cities were on their own and they knew it. If you ask me, I’d have gone with them. I hate crowds.

Now like I told you before, there were no princesses back then to protect or unite us. The ponies looked to their old gods for protection. I don’t know how much you learned in Miss Cheerilee’s class, but when I was filly they didn’t teach us much about them. A lot of ponies thought it was bad mojo to keep worshiping them after Celestia and Luna came around. A few places still do, though. If you ever go to Cloudsdale, there are statues to the gods Fillysophia and Cadenza. I once visited an earth pony village that was celebrating the festival of Dioneighsus.

What? How do I know so much about the old gods if they didn’t teach us at school? Well, let’s just say that’s a story for another time, Scootaloo. Maybe I’ll tell you later. But let me get back to this one. Where was I? Oh yeah…

Each pony tribe had their own bunch of gods which they offered prayers to back when they were still living up north. Now that they they were living together, the names got all mixed up and half the ponies couldn’t remember what a lot of the gods did, but one thing they all agreed on was that the gods protected them, and that was why they were still worshipped even then. Ask Twilight when you get a chance, I’m sure she’s got a book or fifty about ancient pony mythology.

Right now, I’m going to tell you about the coolest god of them all. His name was Divine Thunder. He was the king of the old gods.

The story goes that when he was born, his father, the king of the Titans, tried to devour him as he did the other gods. But his mother saved him by putting a rock in place of the foal, having his dad eat that instead while Divine Thunder was hidden away in a cave on a mountain. There he was raised by dragons, taught how to fly and command the clouds and the weather. When he was ready, Divine Thunder returned to defeat his father and rescue his siblings. But weren’t they eaten, you ask? Remember these are gods. They’re not going to kick the just bucket because they were eaten.

Together, the old gods defeated the Titans and imprisoned them in Tartarus. So grateful were the other gods that they made Divine Thunder their king, at least that’s what the ancient pegasi believe. We all have wings here so we’ll just keep that to ourselves, alright?

So, the gods created ponykind. They gave us protection and in exchange we would worship them. But when the ponies began to stop praying to them, the old gods grew weak. That’s why the windigos were able to become so strong. Without the gods to protect us, the windigos created the Great Freeze that nearly wiped us out. Some of the pegasi believe that it was Nocturnia, the Goddess of the Night, that visited Commander Hurricane in his dreams and told him to seek out a new land for his people. She probably did the same thing for the Founders of the other tribes, although they won’t admit it, even though most admit that Nocturnia was most likely a pegasus goddess.

Now that ponies were in trouble again, they began to worship the old gods like they were new. The gods became strong, but were unable to directly interfere with mortals. They protected us from demons, hell gods, and all kinds of crazy things I can’t even imagine. But if you were face to face with a Timberwolf, well, you were pretty much on your own. It’s not that they didn’t care about us. It’s just that the old gods wanted us to be tough. That can’t happen if they stepped in for every little thing. It’s like overprotective parents with their foals. I can’t even imagine how Fluttershy would have survived back then.

So the old gods decided they would have champions fight in their place, ponies that had wicked cool powers like speed, strength, or eggheadedness. These champions were their children after they…ahem…I’ll explain that part to you when you’re older. Yes, older, Scootaloo. Don’t pout. There are things even I’m not ready to tell you just yet.

Anyway, the champions would go out and fight monsters and make Equestria a little bit safer. But times were still tough and some ponies started fighting each other all over again. If two pony communities found a safe place where they could grow food and build new homes, only to have the other claim it as their own…you can guess how that turned out. The worst part is that the Founder Cities were either too far away or had too many problems of their own to stop these fights. Don’t believe everything the textbooks tell you, kiddo. Life after the first Hearth’s Warming Eve wasn’t all dancing and sing-alongs. The Founders couldn’t hold us together. The old gods couldn’t stop us from being ourselves. Harmony cannot solve every problem. Being an Equestrian in those days sucked.

Have you ever heard the saying, “a wing and a prayer?” It comes from the old days when pegasi foals used to fly for the first time. We call it First Flight now, but back then, any pegasus that wasn’t strong enough to protect the Herd wasn’t considered a pegasus. All pegasi needed to fly, so they would take the young fillies and colts to the edge of their cloud cities and kick them off. No junior flight school then, little buddy. You either flew or become a messy stain on the ground. All parents could do was watch from the sidelines and offer up a prayer that their kid would take flight, that their wings åwould work. A wing and a prayer was all they had. Since then, it became a saying for whenever somepony tries to hope for the best in a desperate situation.

And this was a VERY desperate situation.

Divine Thunder knew something had to be done. He knew that if things went on the way they did, ponies would begin to lose hope, maybe stop offering their prayers to the gods, and eventually kill themselves to death. He knew that it would take more than a wing and a prayer. He knew it would take more than champions. Equestria needed something to rally around, to help them see that they can be so much more.

What Equestria needed was a hero.

Author's Note:

I needed to get this out of the way. It's fun creating your own origin story as to how Equestria was made. I'm there's a lot of tension between the canon and non-canon members of the jury. I tried to be as faithful to the established history while taking my own freedoms. The time period Rainbow is expressing is sometime after the Founders established Equestria. Ponies then still maintained much of the traditions they had when they still lived in the North, hence the arrival of the old gods. You might recognize some of the names and rest assured the gods will be playing a major role in this story.

Next time around, we get introduced to the main protagonist. Sorry if you were expecting some action, but don't worry. Our little filly is just getting started.

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