The legend of Catasis Velon and the Caemarie

by AudioWave Dasher

CHAPTER 1 - The Veloran

CHAPTER 1 - The Veloran

The land of Equestria was vast, and the world bigger still. The ponies of Equestria knew of the stars, the planets, the sun, and the moon. Magic had helped them understand how the heavens went and the law of nature. There were many creatures in Equestria and almost all were different in shape or form. Ponies have been intertwined with nature since the time before history was recorded. There were many kingdoms throughout the land, each with it’s own ruler or rulers that had reigned for hundreds of years. Civilizations rose and fell, much of it unbeknownst to the peaceful ponies of Equestria.

The world of ponies, what we call Equestria, is a land much different than our own, where colored rain falls from silver lined clouds and the autumn mist smells like candy. Mountains stretch to the sky and water flows from sparkling rivers into pristine lakes that reflect the beauty of the land and the suns magical light. A land where Pegasi dance on clouds as magic graces their hoof prints while they walk among the clouds. These things might be hard for us to understand. But believe it true, for the land of Equestria is vast, much of it free and undiscovered since long before the age of the two sisters began.

The two sisters were imbued with the power and responsibility to raise the sun and lower the moon throughout all Equestria. A power bestowed upon them, either by divine birth right when they were young, or just through the way magic works in the kingdoms of Equestria. Princess Celestia, the elder, was tasked with raising and lowering the sun. She was as beautiful as the dawn and as adored by all the ponies throughout the land. She was the shining star of the kingdom and bore a cutie mark of the golden sun upon her flank. Her sister, the younger, clad in a coat of dark purple and black and a sparkling purple mane was the ruler of the night. Her realm was that of the land of dreams and she had dominion over the darkness while other ponies slept. She was given the task of raising and lowering the moon, and so spent much of her time hidden away from the ponies of the day. But soon a jealousy would arise and Luna, the Princess of the night, who bore the mark of the moon upon her flank, would desire to be adored by the ponies throughout the kingdom the same as her adorned sister. The sunlight reflected off the moon many thousands of miles away and shone down on the city of Canterlot and illuminated ponies through windows as they slept in their beds, was an ever constant reminder of her older sisters reign and benevolence.

Luna was a loving pony and cared for others. But soon a darkness would overcome her. She was still young, and young ponies are allowed to make mistakes. Even if they are the Princess of an entire kingdom. Truly, she wished she did not have these feelings. But wishing did not make it so. Desire and wanting alone could not change an ever growing resentful heart. Princess Luna should have felt loved, for her subjects did love her, and the love from her older sister bathed her in a never ending light that she could not see and could not feel. The light from the moon was still light, and the ponies rejoiced in it while they slept the night away, and it weighed on her already heavy heart like a stone. That never ending light constantly shining down was enough to plant the seeds of envy, and stir the cauldron of jealousy she felt deep within, and aided in her ever growing solitude. The disdain and resentment she felt, would soon take hold as she could no longer contain her anger. And it would consume her.

Princess Luna was not an evil sister. For her love for her elder was true, and her unhappiness could be empathized with. She was not a hated sister. She was not a bad sister. She had not asked to be a Princess of the night. She was only guilty of being unhappy and alone. She handled it the way many young ponies who weren’t princesses would have. The ensuing conflicts and arguments that could be heard by everypony in the castle became a daily occurrence. The younger sister became enraged as she could no longer contain contempt. One day in the grip of madness, she turned into another Princess who was not herself. Though by way of magic, or her own anger, none knew. The evil had taken her, and consumed her heart, and Nightmare Moon was born. After much tribulation and divide, the elder sister had no other choice other that to banish her younger to the moon for a thousand year slumber as punishment and penance for her hurtful words and actions. The resulting conflict, if had been left to continue would have torn the kingdom in two.

When Luna awoke from her thousand year slumber, she returned to the kingdom and upon seeing her elder sister she burst into tears for her wrongdoing, and the two embraced and fell to the floor as she begged for forgiveness. Celestia held her sister dear and told her all would be well in the kingdom this night. Luna had seen the err of her ways. They reconciled. All was forgiven, and she was welcomed back with love by the ponies of Equestria, and together they ruled an age as sisters once again.

The world where Equestria is located in is quite different than our own. For one the planet is quite a bit smaller and the gravity different. But of course it was! How else could ponies fly? It had towering mountains much higher than ours that had sloped peaks and snow capped tops that stretched into the sky. If the planet were any more massive, the mountains would collapse under their own weight.

The race of ponies is old and their time is different. Their years and ages are not the same as ours. Ponies could be hundreds of years old. Ages can pass within the lifetime of an Alicorn. And one could not even begin to try and explain magic. The magic of their world is not completely fully understood, even by those that live there. They just seem to have it within them. It is not usually outwardly apparent the way it is in other pony races. Most Unicorns are especially fluent in magic, reading books and studying magic, but mostly living boring everyday lives using the magic they learned while they were young for simple tasks like levitating things here and there, opening doors and windows, pouring hot tea and the like. A very few number of Unicorns further hone their magic through study for their entire lives and go on to become powerful wizards and mages. Very few study it as a life long discipline like Star Swirl the bearded, who had studied it for centuries. Earth ponies don’t use magic per se, but seem to have their special gift to tend to the land and bond with nature. But what about Pegasus ponies?How did they have it? And how does it work for them? They rarely studied it. They have magic contained within their wings and their hooves allowing themi to walk on clouds and they have the gift to alter the weather, pushing clouds around and whatnot. How does that work? In fact, don’t they make entire buildings and walls from clouds? Wasn’t the great city of Cloudsdale made entirely of clouds? These things don’t take any conscious magical study. It just simply, was. It is within them. But it wasn’t just ponies that could possess and control it... Many more curious and magical creatures had it, both sentient and non. Maybe it was just in the land and contained within magical creatures. But it was the sentient that studied it, and nurtured it for the betterment of the magical world. But magic also had a darker side as well. It was only the wicked that used it for much darker and sinister purposes…

A ponies true magic lie in their cutie mark. A mark on their flank that appears in young filly-hood that foreshadows a special talent. It’s up to each pony to discover what their special talent is. And occasionally, a pony was gifted with a second talent that was sometimes rooted in magic that was sometimes attributed to their individual nature or personality. But what about Alicorns? The rarest of all ponies? Half Unicorn, half Pegasus with the body of a horse and the wings of an eagle who were of usually of royal blood? Who could even begin to explain their magic? Alicorn’s are the extraordinarily powerful magic wielders of the land, sometimes with unpredictability. Their wings would sometimes manifested on their one spontaneously from some great achievement or birth right. Or perhaps magic is drawn to them? Some of the magic is a learned process, like the magic of Unicorns learned through study and facilitated through their magical horn. Or perhaps some future leaders are just simply born magical. Or like the magic of Pegasi, contained within their wings and hooves who can walk among the clouds. All ponies have some form of magical ability, some natural, some learned. And Star Swirl the bearded, had both.

The land of Equestria and the creatures and magic within it before the time of the two sisters was not well known. In those days, still in the early years of ancient times, as no map maker had fully put quill to parchment, was quite smaller than our own, and many continents were left undiscovered and seldom explored beyond the borders of Equestria. There were curious magical creatures throughout the land and sea, all different in size and appearance as ponies may seem to us. Wars were fought over land to establish borders of some of those divided lands outside the kingdom of Equestria. There are kings, and princesses, mythical creatures, and kingdoms both large and small. Some good. Some bad. There are creatures and beings of old that have existed for eons as some of those kingdoms rose and fell, unbeknownst to the Princesses of Canterlot. There are magical beings, and magical lands. And not all of them are kind, as you soon shall see.

Many things are unknown about the curious world of ponies, much of it is foreign to us. But this is where our story begins. Mythical creatures of legend, flying ponies, magic books, great wizards, the rise and fall of kingdoms… All of this is just too much for our quaint and peaceful Princesses of Equestria, who had very little to do with wars or large disputes over silly things like borders. But it is to distant lands that our hero must go. Reaching the farthest compass points on a map in the name of ponykind was just the beginning. Beyond the mountains and the shores of Equestria, beyond the borders that are considered safe for ponies, lie other places and other creatures which are not so safe. Places like the city of Catasis Velon and the desert lands of the Caemarie. For beyond the mountains and the shifting sands of the dunes, lies a city under the ocean. And the creatures who inhabited it? They were called, the Veloran.

Comments

[kjhkjkbk]

Nice story

[swwr]

Sounds like a great intro! Can't wait for the rest to come out!