When I first opened my eyes, all things which were to be were an amorphous network. Time was yet to exist, and only causality between those things laid into the fabric of the universe by Her design existed. It was my duty to make from this shell time and space, and so I did. With my powers I created the beginning, the end, and closed the links between what is.

Then from Skyborn Temple I watched the first sun rise over Cavalry mountain. The first sun to me: for it was a sun that has itself yet to rise. It was the first sun to be laid into creation, but not the first to be. From this point, I traveled back – from the first of purpose, to the first of existence.

We stood upon what would be the foundation of Sunspire Castle. The sky was turbulent, the earth barren, and both sun and moon hung in the sky. All four of us first Alicorn were there, as was She.

“I cannot remain here,” said Faust, “I have brought into this world something which was never meant to be. It is not within my powers to purify the world of it, nor, I fear, in yours.”

“I do not understand,” Celestia said, for she lacked the foresight I had, and could not see two of the Alicorn which were there.

“Only you were meant to be,” Faust said, pointing a hoof at Celestia and then Luna. “Another had to be, and he has been given a great power and a great responsibility. But another, which was neither necessary nor intended, is here. That one represents all the evils of my world, all that which you were to be free of. That is why I must go. As long as I remain, so too will this taint upon the world. Only if ponykind can find its own way will it ever be defeated. Until that day, even you may only keep at bay hatred.”

While that fourth Alicorn lacked physical form, as did I, he hung in the air like a sooty fire, darkening the horizon as they spoke. Only by the effort of those three did Goelcerth remain at bay.

“I understand,” Celestia said. “We will lead them to find harmony in this world.”

With that, Faust bowed her head in respect to her creation, and when her head raised again, her eyes were full of tears, while she smiled. Her wings spread and she kicked into the air, flying, with rays of light trailing, away from this world.

But when she had gone, the darkness surrounding began to close upon the manifested two.

“Sister, I feel it, a darkness everywhere,” Luna said. “I think I feel it... in me.”

“Do not be afraid,” Celestia said, but she was.

The darkness grew thicker, blocking out the light of the sun and moon, and only the northern lights showed through as the darkness congealed before them, taking shape. A spark lit within it, a pale orange flame grew, and then from the shadows stepped Goelcerth. His mane burned, his skin cracked, and he saw without eyes the two tasked with protecting the universe.

“You are not welcome here,” Luna yelled. “Begone from our presence, dark one.”

Goelcerth said nothing, but stepped closer, the earth melting beneath his hooves, and a pitch smoke following his tail.

“Luna, we cannot defeat him,” Celestia said, turning to her sister. “If we could, this would not be happening. We must bring into the world ponykind now, before it is too late.”

Luna nodded. They both closed their eyes, and they began to glow, starting from their horns, but enveloping their whole bodies, until the light stopped Goelcerth. Two beams, of gold and of purple, towered into the sky, pushing back the darkness. There was a great flash and Goelcerth flew backwards. When the light had passed, a small army of dazed ponies stood in terror around Celestia and Luna, looking into the face of their damnation.

“Hear me, my little ponies,” Celestia yelled, her scream echoing through the stars. “For I have brought thee into being that a new dawn may rise, yet before us stands the abyss. Give not into it, and hold fast to each other, for as long as the fire of friendship here burns, gone shall be the fires of hatred from
Equestria.”

They looked to Celestia and then each other, and moved closer to one another, as Luna stepped forwards towards Goelcerth.

“So long as they are here, I shall rule the darkness, not thou. Begone from our presence, fiend!” And from her horn a beam of blackness shot, hitting Goelcerth and extinguishing his flaming mane for a moment. He recoiled, again rearing his head towards the gathering, but this time turned away, and stepped back into the receding gloom, where slowly the flame dimmed, and disappeared.

“Upon this land, let forever stand as testament to the power of friendship and harmony a monument, so that even in the darkest days hope may have a bastion for all to look to,” Celestia proclaimed, and rising into the air, again glowed with the light of the heavens, and behind the gathering formed from a ray of sun a tower of crystal, first red with heat, then blue, and as it took form, away faded the darkness around them, until the sun again shined its light through Sunspire Castle.

That is my account of the first moments of my existence, of the first moments of time. Yet it barely begins the story which led here six destined to build a new Equestria, not in the land proclaimed by Celestia, but in the realm of Everfree, where instead I made my home. To explain that, I fear, is to explain those things which were never my duty nor my domain, and for that reason I relay simply the sliver of history which I see as part of that same chain of causality to bring you here.

It was long after that first battle of the Alicorn, in an age when ponykind was spreading across the world. None but I foresaw a coming storm, for I had seen what was to be, and none had yet seen me except Her. I fixed upon a band of earth ponies, traveling across the Crystal Mountains into this land of Everfree, seeking to live as one with nature. To them I chose to appear first, as a wisp of smoke from their campfire.

They asked who I was, for they knew of only three with the power to change their form, only three who were there before they were. And I told them: I am Auroraious, Lord of Everfree, of entropy, of time, of space. The one who was not meant to be, but had to be. The one who had seen what would be, the one whose powers were tied in creation, the one of duty to maintain order.

I asked them if they were true to being one with nature, and they said so. I asked them if they were willing to be my emissaries, and they complied. So to them I offered a deal: that they should protect the order of the universe as it was meant to be, as it was defined to be, and to them I would offer the knowledge of all that I have seen and the powers which I had been given. They accepted.

That is how the Book of Days came to be, and how the Sky Ponies were born. From that band grew an order in Everfree and the Crystal Mountains, abstaining from involvement in the world of ponykind, and rather watching the ebbs and flows of time, laying in wait should a moment come that the balance would be threatened.

It was sometime later, I know not exactly for while my knowledge may be vast, but it is unclear, and always coming in and out of perspective, except in those cases of the original design of creation, that one of Equestria sought a force neither mine nor of harmony. Why I cannot say, nor how, but she was able to reach Goelcerth, and her darkness allowed her power over him, and from him she took a fragment of his being. She became Chrysalis, the one of deception, and through her evil and new found power she tore apart Equestria. The strife, the hatred, the discord awoke again in full form the fire born of a land beyond ours, and it spread across the world, engulfing it.

The Empire of Equestria fell, ponykind was decimated, and Celestia and Luna stood neigh alone amongst the flames, again. Only a piece of the Empire remained in what you call Whitehorn, and while Celestia and Luna fought Chrysalis, Celestia's student, Cadance, ruled in her absence. It was to her that I commanded a Sky Pony go, for at that moment the world stood on the brink of its end. My disciple gave to her the power of creation, and she became one of us, an Alicorn by my powers, of love for all things. With her powers she formed the Crystal Heart, and by its radiance Whitehorn remained the last sanctum of ponykind.

Celestia and Luna finally went into Everfree, flanked by the remains of my order, and followed by Cadance, to combat Goelcerth and Chrysalis. There the powers of creation clashed, above Calvary Mountain, in such force as colliding galaxies, but released in seconds. Their fight tore asunder order, cause, time, and space, and I saw that the universe itself was at its end. Yet this was not intended, and it was not Her will, nor had even the first sun dawned as I had seen it. I could not allow it, and for the first time, I flew from the heavens, and with the powers underlying all things, cut the world, and banished from this one all those who wielded the power of creation, for to choose only one would be to break my oath to maintain the order of all things.

The charred earth again birthed life, yet forgotten was creation, my name, Her name, my way, and much else. All that preserved the world that would rise, a world of war and distrust, from burning its last light, was my power keeping at bay all forces which could bring about that end. This status quo ended when you found the Book of Days, and Starswirl used it to become my antithesis, one of disorder, and the last binding upon Goelcerth was broken when you threw into the fires of hatred the artifact of my powers, a last act of irreverence to your fellow pony as to bring him back into being.

That was the darkest day of our existence, for it was then that the fate of all the universe depended not upon the Alicorn, not even I, but upon you. And yet here you stand before me, six once driven to commit the worst acts imagined against each other, now but seeking to again warm a hearth with the fire of friendship in a now lost land. You have done that which Faust could not, and stricken from your hearts the hatred she brought into this world. You may have brought upon the fall of Alicai, but I believe now you stand to found Equestria – not the Empire of Equestria which once was and fell, but the Kingdom of Equestria which I saw the first sun rise upon – in Everfree.

Raise your heads high as you march into the north, not burdened by your regrets, but with you the knowledge that all your sacrifice has been to a higher cause, and that the sun will again rise upon us all. While what I see may be full of probability and uncertainty, the end to your struggle is not in the future, but in the past, and final victory is not a matter of probability.