In the beginning, there was Faust. Faust saw the emptiness around her and strove to fill it, creating the first of the two great spheres. The sphere of Earth, containing the domains of water, earth, and sky. From each of these domains Faust drew forth a spirit, and to each spirit she gave a name, and two gifts of herself.
To the Spirit of the Earth and its ever-solid sturdiness, Faust gave the name Tirek, the gift of Might and the gift of Honesty, that he might rule through respect and fear. To the Spirit of the Sky and its ever-clear freedom, she gave the name Scorpan, the gift of Empathy and the gift of Generosity, that he might rule through caring and peace. To the final spirit, the Spirit of Water and its ever-changing turbulence, she gave the name Discord, the gift of imagination and the gift of laughter, that he might rule through creativity and joy. This concludes her creations in the First Great Sphere.
Faust saw her creations and saw that they were good, and left them to rule her creation. For a time, Faust was not present in this land, and moved on to create other worlds in the void.
Discord saw the creation and loved his brothers dearly, but he knew there was no point to ruling an empty land. He took from his brother Tirek some dirt from his hooves, and formed the first Earth Pony, so that they might stand as a testament to his strength forever. From Scorpan, Discord took a feather from his wing and formed the first Pegasi, so that they might stand as a testament to his grace forever. From himself he took a horn, and Discord created the first Unicorn, so that they might stand as a testament to his ingenuity forever. He and his brothers looked upon his creations and saw that they were good, and set out to create more ponies to populate the land.
Time progressed and the three brothers ruled in Harmony. With time, however, came thoughts and questions, and with their mother gone on beyond, Tirek began to wonder why the ponies loved his brothers so, but seemed to shun him. For Scorpan, while generous and empathetic beyond measure, was not a fit king, and Discord, while loved by all and always creating, was not a fit king either. Tirek began to grow jealous of his brothers, and soon thoughts of rebellion grew. When asked by Discord if anything was wrong, he denied them and lied. And so the gift of honesty was lost.
Tirek left his brothers, but was followed by Scorpan. Before he departed, Scorpan bequeathed the gift of generosity to a mortal, and when the mortal passed, the gift of Generosity was lost.
For a time Discord ruled alone. He mourned for the disappearance of his brothers, and began to seclude himself away from the ponies, eventually hiding himself away completely. And so the gift of laughter was lost.
This concludes the age of the first sphere.
Many years passed, and Faust returned to see what her creations had wrought. When she saw the fallen state of her sons, she mourned, and strove to create the Second Great Sphere to protect her son’s creations from above.
The Second Great Sphere contained the domains of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. Just as before, Faust drew forth a spirit from each domain, and gave each a name and two gifts of herself. To the Spirit of the Sun and its ever-shining radiance, Faust gave the name Celestia, the gift of wisdom and the gift of Kindness, that she might rule justly and softly. To the Spirit of the Moon and its ever-glowing beauty, she gave the name Luna, the gift of clairvoyance, and the gift of Magic, that she might rule with understanding and knowledge. To the final spirit, the Spirit of the Stars and their ever-shimmering wonder, she gave the name Chrysalis, the gift of passion and the gift of loyalty, that she might rule with love and devotion. This concludes her creations in the Second Great Sphere.
Faust looked down on her daughters, and saw that they were good. She instructed them to find the lost gifts. The sisters acknowledged their mothers’ request, but before they set out they each chose to create ponies as well. From a shed fragment of her youngest sister’s crystalline wings, Celestia created the Crystal Ponies, to stand as a testament to Chrysalis’ beauty forever. From a lock of Celestia’s flowing mane, Luna created the changelings, to stand as a testament to Celestia’s flexibility forever. From a cutting of hair of Luna’s cutie mark, Chrysalis created the Thestrals as a testament to Luna’s elegance forever. And so the new ponies spread through the land – the changelings and the Crystal Ponies going to the north, and the Thestrals to the east, establishing their own kingdoms with their own rulers. When the sisters saw that this was good, they followed their mother's commands, and sought the lost gifts. Celestia set out to the east, to the land of her own rising sun. Luna set out to the south, to seek the gifts in the deserts. Chrysalis set out to the north, to follow her sisters’ creations.
Soon after the birth of the three new races, Tirek and Scorpan returned in a furious rage, and the ponies sought Discord for salvation. When he could not be found, the ponies gave themselves in to the elder brothers, knowing they could not defeat them alone. For a time, Tirek and Scorpan ruled together. With the gift of empathy, however, Scorpan knew the ponies were unhappy and with time began to harbor small feelings of care for them, even going so far as to befriend a young mage given the name Starswirl. At this time, Scorpan sought Discord for counsel on the subject of their elder brother, telling him that Tirek was not right to rule by himself, and that the Mother Faust had intended for the three to rule as equals. Scorpan begged Discord to return with him to confront Tirek, but Discord would not. Scorpan returned to confront Tirek on his own, but the gift of power granted Tirek strength far surpassing that of his brother. Knowing he could not hope to defeat his brother on his own, Scorpan instead sought a peaceful resolution. Tirek’s reason had long since departed from him, however, and Scorpan was forced to leave.
In his wanderings he encountered his younger sisters, and, sensing that they may have been able to succeed where he had failed, begged them to aid the ponies in overthrowing and possibly healing his brother. They saw their elder brother’s sorrow, and agreed to return with him to assist in redeeming Tirek. With his sisters’ assistance, and the aid of the First Great Mage Starswirl the Bearded, the two brothers fought, and even with the gift of might Tirek could not overcome both Starswirl and Scorpan’s combined power. Tirek was banished to Tartarus and sealed there by Starswirl the Bearded, and his brothers mourned his loss. To cope with his sorrow, Scorpan sought peace within his own mind, and set out by himself far to the west. Discord, seeing that he could no longer rule as part of a trinity as his mother intended, ceded the throne to his sisters, and he too departed for parts unknown. So Discord was left alone, and not knowing how much he valued his friendships, eventually the madness of grief took him. For a time the three sisters reigned peacefully as one.
Many years later, Discord returned. His mind gone and psyche broken, Discord wrought chaos upon the lands. Even their powers combined were unable to match the Mad Immortal, and so they resumed their search for the lost gifts, the task their mother had set out so long ago. Celestia travelled far and found a great forest, Luna travelled far and followed the path of a great river, and Chrysalis travelled far and searched an endless desert.
After searching for a great while, Celestia found a beautiful crystal tree in the forest, with six jeweled fruits hanging from its many branches. She called out to her sisters, but only Luna responded.
In her journey to the desert, Chrysalis was confronted by a beast of many forms. He spoke lies to her, and planted in her the seed of narcissism. The beast revealed itself as Discord, and he spoke of Chrysalis’ unending beauty, and of how a creature so magnificent had no need for her sisters. Chrysalis believed the mad Immortal Discord, and she left and took the changelings with her, fleeing deep into the desert. She was never heard from again. And so the gift of Loyalty was lost.
Celestia and Luna returned to the tree of gifts, to use their power to seal Discord. Taking the gifts into themselves, the sisters used their magic to defeat Discord. So came to be the first use of the Elements of Harmony, and Discord was cast in stone for eternity to think upon his sins.
This concludes the age of the second sphere.
I wish that it was a little more elaborate, but this material alone could write a 300k word story by itself. Good job.
Well dang, going all Greek mythology on us
I'm fine with this.
*Applause* Perhaps one of the best utilizations of headcanon I could ever bear witness to...
Hmmm... Okay! I like it!
Then In the next chapter, we can see Twilight's thoughts on what she just read, as this chapter could imply her reading the book Luna gave her
That was excellent. The only thing that bugs me is at one point, you wrote "mothers" instead of "mother's".
Great origin story. The only question I have is if the three sisters were to find the elements of the three brothers then how come Celestia found the tree that had all 6 of them while 3 of them were still with their bearers?
Main important thing from this story: Luna is the most powerful of them all.
If you'll forgive me, I may have to adapt some of this for my own works (or all of it, depending what the narrative permits). Plotholes be damned, this is a mindblowing summary of how Equestria came to be!
Question is, will Celestia allow Sombra to spread the word of truth now that it's known, or will she force him to stay silent so the lie can be maintained?
This reminds me of the Silmarillion. Awesome origin story! Keep up the good work.
In my opinion Sombra should still be thrown in jail. Cut the "Oh peace on earth" crap, you know celestia is hiding something. -.-
Are they now going to visit every prison in Equestria giving everyone a second trial and then most likely setting everyone free? Well sure! If you let the biggest cause of mass murder loose then why not? At least they've changed right? No harm done! :D Though to a victim it will feel like all hope would be lost. q.q
"HE ATE MY BROTHER WHYYY!!?!?!?" That's what a victim of his crimes would be saying. Oh wait a minute.. it's all in her plan! CELESTIA IS EVIL! O.O THE PONIES SHALL REVOLT AGAINST HER AND THEY WILL ALL GRAB THEIR PITCHFORKS AND KNIVES! and then when they realize they need swords and armor, they will go out looking for a seller. Unknowingly for them they buy all their weapons and gear from a shady dealer which happens to be Celestia herself, she then gets billions of dollars, on top of that selling the rest of her kingdom to the griffons, becoming a god of riches with trillions upon trillions of bits and then.... she highers a huge mercenary force that wipes out and destroys the world of all other nations. She then continues to rule the whole world under one domain. HERS. The end! :D
Illuminati Confirmed.
This story is turning into what in my mind started with the simple idea of a Sombrax redheart fic into something awesome.
This is awesome! The one thing I disagree with is the involvement of Starswirl the Bearded. I feel like he would have come sometime after Discord's defeat. That's just me, though.
5617636
Starswirl is the "young unicorn wizard" who befriended Scorpan in the story told by Celestia in Twilight's Kingdom Part 1. He's not mentioned by name, but the unicorn shown sure looks like him, doesn't he?
5618401 Hmm, point taken.
Hmmm.... I wonder if there will be a third sphere?
5620574 Please, I am scum on the bottom of a sad businesses man's shoe, plz scrape me off. <..>
5617337 Half of those ideas made sense. Three is the smallest integer above two. Half-Life Three confirmed.
5617337 This all changed when the fire nation attacked.
A.k.a. The djinns.
A.k.a. fire elementals
A.k.a. the wish granters
A.k.a. Robin Williams.
So tell me, how is Celestia going to beat an army of creatures that are basically discord but on fire?
5625585 She will copy tireks spell and before she sells Equestria she will devise a clever system to drain every single unicorns magic for herself from her whole nation.... and empower all her mercinaries one thousand fold. Or in simple terms..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
... ... ............
Magic.
5627669 Gonna be honest, that really doesn't resolve the issue. As all the Djinns have to do is grant a single wish to win and Celestia loses... aka...............................................
.............................. ...................................................
................................... ................... ......................................................................
.............................. ..................... Magic
5627749 Though the magi is on celestias side.... sadly with all of celestias OP power she controls the djinns under the magi's command. As well as there are plenty of Djinns and only God is the one true power. Sadly Celestia, is jesus! U LOSE!
Magic.
5627915 Until the Djinns summon the grand and glorious ghost of Robin Williams who then uses the power of Hollywood to make Celestia a star. She then becomes so engrossed in Hollywood that she forgets all about her magic power and Robin Williams steals it for himself therefore conquering not only equestria but all of reality is well. Which is all possible, because we all know Morgan Freeman is the one true God, and Robin Williams was polo partners with Morgan Freeman. Checkmate.
5629188 Of course Celestia is no fool, for she formed a clone of herself to showcase as herself while she was locked down in a panic pod 300 meters below the surface of the planet. Controling thousands of her mindless drones with the power of ancient lost technology given to her by Vash the Stampede. The Djinn are now fooled that they have taken care of "Celestia". Only a mindless shell would be engrossed with Hollywood.
The story continues...
5634468 you fail to realize, that the Djinn are omnipotent...granting the wish would simply magic the real celly into the proper place...the pod does nothing. and for your record, it's an empty shell, not a mindless one...though i guess by proxy of being empty i am alo mindless. but still, it's the principle that matters.
5634831 Whoa... creepy... just looked at your handle. Sorry if you believe I misused your name or took advantage of it. I had no idea. Though... the pod she was in was to control her drones in secrecy, what were to happen, say, two djinn grant opposing wishes? Celly has already had a Djinn to grant her wish of protection in every way. What then?
5635529 that's simple the universe would unravel and it would cause a new Big Bang...and then Sheldon would conquer all existence...and we all lose.
5635537 Then well I guess I could say that she actually Didn't get a wish from the Djinn... you got me, or uh er- her... Yup you killed Celestia! :D U SAVED US ALL! thank you... thank you... v.v
5635573 Damn it, I wanted me to lose...humph
5635594 XD Lol your a riot. Hey dude I'm about to write a story based off of my Lucid Dreaming, what do ya think? :D
5635608 I don't know, i wasn't aware i was a figment of your dreams...wait, are you hitting on me...huh...
but all jokes aside, i need more details on that..cause it does sound fun.
5635616 It's going to be interesting. :D If it is a success everyone will know how creepy my mind is... That's all I can say. XD
5635621 my dear, too gaze into the infinity of my mind would drive the madness itself insane. I accept your challenge and can't wait to test your theory.
5635622 ALLLLRIGHTY!!! :D The best part is, you merely have to express what is going on in your dreams, because if it is clear... Then you can say your story truly happened in a sense. In the land of dreams. Well I am going to write the proluge, I dreamt... know what nevermind what I dreamt Ima write it bai now!
5635642
5635622
I don't want to rain on your parades, but would you mind taking any future discussion of this topic to PMs? It's kinda choking up the comments here.
5635856
Could you be a little more specific? That particular criticism isn't something I've heard before, about this first chapter at least. Also, I do encourage you to give it at least through Chapter 3, as I took a very long break from fic writing between chapters 2 and 3 (25 Feb 2013 > 21 Oct 2014), and I feel like my general skill as a writer improved a good bit during that hiatus. If you've already decided against it, that's fine too, but if you wouldn't mind elaborating on the specifics of that criticism, I'd really appreciate it.
5636406 WHOA VASH THE STAMPEDE!!!! :OOOOO Sure! :D Pm's would be alright, your an amazing author vash! :D
5634468 The real question is "Where is Vash now?"
5640812 Idk I wish I watched the whole series, or maybe I did... idk I just watched all the episodes on Netflix and it kinda ended with an open ending u might say. Vash is amazin. o.o
Preach! Preach! Preach! Preach!
...why couldn't this have been spoken? Or converted in any other format? This is plain, dry exposition.
I really want to read the rest of the story but this was fucking painful to read. I couldn't even read most of it. I just looked for anything actually important to the story and quite frankly I think I got the gist of it from Sombra from the last chapter.
The thing is that with a movie, you sometimes have to do the "This world is different than your own" and then they spout exposition. Those movies usually suck. The best movies are the ones that convey the universe through the setting, speech and actions of the characters. The problem with movies is that you only have so much time before you need to actually end the movie (unless it is well known moneymaker like Lord of the Rings where it was a guaranteed sequel)
You don't have this limitation.
So why did you make this so goddamn boring? There are so many other, fascinating and TERRIFIC ways you could have done this. Why couldn't Celestia tell Twilight? Why couldn't Sombra? Maybe you split it up over a few chapters. Maybe you do a [XXX Years ago] and actually retell the events from Celestia's eyes? Luna's? Reformed Discord? You could get what you need from a "Campfire" setting where Luna and Celestia fill in what Sombra misses as he tell the story.
For a story that is so damn good it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that this chapter is so BAD.
Bring on the dislikes, but the point still stands. You have way better to convey the past instead of.... this basic outline. Seriously this is pretty much what you start with before you add more.
so possible we must have Hasbro or faust to make an episode on this
5652095
To my understanding, this is the "direct quotation" from the book that was mentioned in the last chapter. That's why it's a ".5" It's reference. Not entirely necessary, but nice to have for us that are interested in what the original text that Sombra was quoting, says.
This chapter is amazingly well done, Normally I do not like when people give history lessions or cut from the main story line but this was done superbly well. Long story short I enjoyed reading this chapter!
This sounded like the beginning of Lord Of The Rings, for some reason.
I love you and your world building so dang much.
So this is what happens when Greek mythology and the book of Genesis share a special hug after shotgunning the entire MLP:FIM series (with movies) in one sitting....
2.bp.blogspot.com/-JUX6398qjpU/U34-KieztOI/AAAAAAAAYSc/G6BBTXmPQjA/s1600/y7bHVbm.gif
Huh, that was interesting, move world building. Still, how did the other races come to be, then, like griffons, minotaurs, zebras, cows, etc?
Cya
Raziel-chan
So when will the Great Bible of Faust be published?