The Codex: A Sister's Burden

by Arvaus

Chapter 4 - Exile and Return

It is difficult to describe the centuries which followed Discord’s defeat.

I watched them pass, as did my sister, from our places in the heavens. I could still feel a connection to my ponies; I felt their pain and fear constantly, but was relieved as, gradually, happiness returned to their hearts. In time, they rebuilt their civilisation and forged themselves a new place in the world.

But by sacrificing my pony body, I had lost my physical link to the world. I no longer slept, ate or breathed. The passage of time lost its meaning, and the passing seasons blurred into one. A part of me is thankful for this. Had I fully experienced those years, the wait, and the guilt, would have been agonising.

But even as the world fell still for me, life did not cease. The ponies travelled south-east through the Gateway Mountains, emerging into the neighbouring domain which they eventually came to call their home. They named their new land Presidia, from the Old Equestrian for ‘refuge’.

They packed only what they needed, burdened by the tools they would need to survive. Very few books or documents were taken, and as a result much of the nation’s history was lost. The stories of the first age of Equestria passed into legend, as did its princesses. Much more would have been lost if not for private Royal Archive, magically protected and buried deep below Everfree. In it my sister and I had stored our most valuable treasures and historical records. It survived Discord’s onslaught and weathered the centuries, and eventually fulfilled its true purpose: ensuring the continued survival of my personal journals.

I must now take up the task of compiling this codex once more. Discord may be gone, but his influence is still felt. I must remain vigilant, for I know that the day when my sister will finally be taken from me draws ever closer. Ever since our return, I have watched her slowly changing. I do everything I can to protect her from the effects, but it is clear that her battle with Discord has left its mark on her mind.

The fallout from Discord’s time here was not limited just to Luna, of course. His influence was felt far across the world, and he has had a profound effect on its functioning. I have done my best to take a proper account of all the changes and events during the centuries of our exile, in order to give a proper context to what followed.

~ ~ ~

The epicentre of the changes lay at Everfree. In the short time before my sister and I reached the castle, Discord had managed to warp the surrounding land, twisting the landscape until it was almost unrecognisable. The plants and animals changed also, and the apple orchard became an alien and hostile forest.

However, while the worst damage to the world was restricted to the forest, that region also saw the most healing. The power of the Elements of Harmony spread over the region, battling against the Chaotic magic. They were unable to cancel out the damage, but the Elements did succeed in hiding the effects, restoring some of the world’s autonomy by other means. Natural weather patterns returned to the forest, clouds and rain once more able to form of their own accord. This ultimately proved vital for the survival of Equestria.

Discord’s disruption of the weather had reached much further than I could safely extend the elements, and the rest of Equestria, along with a vast surrounding region, lost the ability to support itself. The ponies were able to survive by controlling the weather themselves, but many other regions were not so lucky. Equestria itself only survived on its own by relying on runoff weather from Everfree and the ponies’ domain.

The ponies, meanwhile, quickly reverted to their old tribal structure. This was only natural, as, with my sister and I gone, the regents were the highest remaining level of government. They took over the role of leading the nation together, but each retained direct control of their own tribes.

Now that the world was completely dependent on the ponies for continued functioning, the three tribes found themselves more reliant on each other than ever before. There were occasional periods of political tension when one tribe’s leaders would threaten to forego their duties in an attempt to gain more power, but these rarely came to much. In general, the mutual dependence was balanced enough that intertribal relationships could remain stable.

Once they had established themselves in their new home, the nation became strong once more. The memory of Equestria lived on in stories of the ancient land from which their race had come forth, but they became content in their new life, and never felt the need to return. Their refuge had become their home.

This remained the case for many centuries at least. Eventually, something happened to drive them from their home, forcing them to seek out their old land once more. I will not cover the story of their eventual return in as much detail here as I have done other events, as the story of Hearths’ Warming is so well known by all ponies. Parts of the story have been forgotten or distorted over time, however, so I wish to ensure that these events are recorded as they truly happened.

~ ~ ~

There was another unanticipated consequence of Discord's time here. He is a spirit of Chaos, but not its embodiment. It can be surmised that, like with Harmony, Chaos also contains innumerable lesser spirits. Before Discord’s appearance, these spirits had remained trapped in their own realm, unable to reach Harmony directly.

But once he forced the barriers down in order to reach us, others began to follow, and the presence of Chaos began to be felt in the world. A number of races with echoes of Chaos in them began to emerge.

The first Chaotic race to arise was in fact the changelings. They are commonly described in folklore as feeding on love, but it would be more accurate to say that they steal love, and gain power from the disharmony its absence causes. They use their natural powers of deception to trick ponies into focussing love onto them, in order to be able to quickly and easily break it.

But the changelings were intelligent. They carefully hid their existence from the ponies, making sure to not draw attention to themselves when in disguise. Some were less successful than others, of course, and stories about them eventually emerged, but they were never perceived as more than an old mares’ tale.

The spirits of Chaos would have remained successful in hiding their presence if it weren’t for the eventual emergence of a second race: the windigoes. Drawing power from any disharmony which arose, they used it to affect the environment, making life hard for the ponies and spreading further disharmony.

However, unlike the changelings, they were unthinking creatures, incapable of the care required to keep themselves hidden. They still rarely exposed themselves, so there was never anything more substantial than hearsay and speculation about their existence. But they were unrestrained, and allowed their attacks to go too far, almost wiping out the ponies on which they were feeding.

When their numbers reached a certain point, their effect began to spiral out of control, and an unending winter fell across the land, which even the pegasi were unable to keep under control. The tribes began to be driven apart by the distrust the windigoes spread, each blaming the others for the troubles which befell them.

Eventually, when it became too much for them to handle, and it was clear that the pony race was slowly heading towards extinction, a summit was called. Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead, along with Princess Platinum, who had taken up regency in the place of her father in his old age, gathered together to try and find a solution. Eventually, it was agreed that it was time to find a new land, one that was not plagued by the eternal winter, in the hope that they could start again there.

It was decided that an expedition would be sent out to find such a land. They decided that they should head north-west first, remembering the old tales of Equestria. However, the brief truce between the three regents quickly fell into chaos as they each insisted that their own tribe should take charge of the expedition. They eventually managed to agree, at the prompting of their advisers, that they would all lead the expedition together.

Along with a small group of servants and advisers, they returned to the Gateway Mountains, close to a millennium after their ancestors first crossed the range. There were no maps to guide them, so they had to rely on the pegasi’s internal compass to keep them on the right track.

They had no way of knowing where they would find themselves once they reached the other side. But fate seemed to guide them through, as, when they emerged eventually, they found themselves exactly where they needed to be for what was to come, although they did not realise this at the time. I suspect that their good fortune has to be more than mere coincidence, yet another sign of some unknown force guiding the world forward.

Their first sighting of Equestria was from a hanging valley, still high above the plains themselves, but right on the edge of the range. The sheer cliff face was all which stood between them and the green meadows below, but until a safe path could be found down, there were enough pegasi in the group to be able to carry everypony down.

They quickly confirmed from that vantage point that they had indeed found Equestria; Clover the Clever, Princess Platinum’s senior advisor, was able to pick out a number of geographical features which matched up with the old stories. They set up camp there that night, intending to dispatch a messenger home the next day before descending down from the mountains.

They were overjoyed to find the land in such good condition. It was far enough from Presidia that the snow had not reached it, and the land looked as fertile as any they had found before. They toasted their success over a shared meal that evening, and for a while, spirits were higher than they had been in months.

But all too quickly, the celebration gave way to petty bickering as the regents once more began to argue over who could claim the discovery, and how the land would be divided between the tribes, along with numerous other trivial matters. After hours of circular arguments, everypony retired to their tents, the recently happy ponies all in foul moods.

Nopony realised, however, that they had been followed. A number of windigoes, attracted to the hatred between the regents, had accompanied them through the pass. The animosity in the camp lingered during the night, manifesting even in their dreams, and the windigoes fed off this, growing stronger. They were numerous enough, and strong enough from having already fed in Presidia, that before long there was a tremendous blizzard battering the tents.

The ponies woke up quickly, and started trying to find anywhere to shelter from the storm. A number of trees had fallen under the already significant weight of snow, blocking the route they had taken into the valley, and the snow was falling too thickly for the pegasi to be able to fly. The only shelter they could find was in a small cave, reachable only by a narrow path along the side of the cliff.

Once they all reached the cave, the arguments immediately started again. They still had no idea what was causing the storm, so regents resorted to blaming each other. This continued for a long time, and the storm outside only got worse.

Eventually, the winds were strong enough that the snow was blowing into the cave, and the walls started to become covered in a layer of snow and ice. The temperature in the cave dropped rapidly, and the ponies huddled together for warmth, the groups from each tribe deliberately keeping apart from each other still.

One by one, the ponies started to succumb to the cold, falling into unconsciousness. Eventually it got to the point where only one pony from each tribe was still awake, including Clover the Clever, the unicorn. Seeing no other alternatives, they gathered together to try and conserve what heat they had left.

What happened next is, of course, known by all. The three aides began talking to each other to keep their minds off the situation, and as the tension lowered, they even started sharing jokes with each other. They came very close to losing consciousness themselves, but as they sat there together, Clover was able to cast a spell which vanquished the windigoes, allowing the storm to recede.

What is less well known is the nature of the spell. Clover herself admitted to me after my return that she had no idea what the magic was, or even how she had cast it. When she described the experience, however, it immediately became clear to me what had happened. The laughter the three of them had shared had produced a spark of friendship, just strong enough to awaken a fourth Element of Harmony. The Element was then able to cover the weakened bonds in Harmony long enough to starve the Windigoes, and then break apart the spirits which had given rise to their existence.

The emergence of the fourth Element had a far-reaching effect, and the release of power from it was able to bring about further healing in the world. Discord’s changes still stood strong, but the damage which had weakened the sun and moon began to diminish. It was still a gradual process, not happening overnight, but in just three years more progress was made than had managed to happen naturally in all the centuries before. At that point, we were finally strong enough that we were able to release ourselves at last.

On doing so, my sister and I found ourselves once more in our old throne room, back in our familiar physical bodies. Discord’s body remained still, encased in its stone prison.

We immediately left the forest, and emerged into a once-more thriving Equestria. It took time to reintegrate into society, but the regents soon became confident enough in our nature that they decided to reinstate our status as princesses.

~ ~ ~

The details of our reintroduction are not important to the story at this stage, however. What is significant is what I discovered from the specific circumstances of the awakening of the Element of Harmony.

I noticed one strange detail about the story as it was told to me. I had suspected from my prior studies that a certain threshold of danger and distress had to be reached before an awakening would occur naturally. At Everfree, the limit was easily reached as the brief battle tore the fundamental structure of Harmony apart.

But at Hearths’ Warming, as it came to be known, it seemed strange that the events there could be enough. The distrust between the tribes was a long way from what which Blackheart had brought about. There was an immediate danger to those present in the cave, but any existential threat to Harmony itself was still far enough in the future that it was unlikely to have been enough.

Adding to this was the fact that Harmony had not intervened directly during Discord’s attack. If the windigoes had been enough of a threat to trigger an awakening, then Discord surely was. I suspected that in his case, it was simply that the ponies, and thus any potential bearers, had been sent too far away to be able to do anything. Yet another way in which he had managed to manipulate them to his gain. That was still not a satisfying explanation for the discrepancy in this case, though.

As a result, I decided that this event required careful study, in case it was able to provide me with any further clues as to the Elements’ nature. The first place I went was to the caves themselves. The new capital of Equestria, Canterlot, had been built above the caves themselves as a monument to the event, so I was able to reach them without difficulty.

What I discovered was incredibly revealing, but also raised many further questions. The entire cave network was built into a huge crystalline formation, making up a significant portion of the mass of the mountain. It had long been known that crystals possessed a strong affinity for magic, being able to amplify the effectiveness of some spells when used properly.

But what had happened here went far beyond that. The formation was so large that it possessed its own magic, collected and stored from the natural ambient magic of the world. Its amplifying effect was so strong that it appeared to have pushed the magical forces at work in those caves far enough that they reached the necessary levels, allowing the awakening to occur.

The power in the caves was fascinating, but also troubling. Power like this could too easily be exploited, so my sister and I decided it was best studied in secret before revealing to the rest of the nation.

~ ~ ~

As it later turned out, the good fortune which had led the ponies to the caves ran much deeper than just that one event. The research performed there, and its consequences, had a significant effect on the nation for centuries into the future. It also gave me the final tools I needed to ensure that I was ready for my final task.

I learned too late, however, that they would also be indirectly responsible for my sister’s fall.