"In a land far, far away, known then as "The United States of America," those humans that I mentioned before had built a large machine. For, you see, they had no Magic with which to work. Instead, they harnessed the power of lightning itself into little motes of energy that they called 'electricity.' Consider it extremely similar to our Magic power grids that power our appliances and provide us with lighting at night. As for the machine, its purpose was to completely display the entire genome of their race. They called it the "Human Genome Project." Upon mapping out their entire genetic code- "

"Wait, wait wait...you mean to tell me these 'humans' had no Magic, and yet they were able to create a machine using electrical currents that told them their ENTIRE genetic composition?! But, Celestia, that's absurd! Not even Magic can do something that complex, can it?" Twilight asked, completely mindblown.

"Ah, my dear Twilight, what you don't realize though is that these people were even smarter than ponies, and possessed a tenacity unmatched among any intelligent species that followed them," Celestia answered with a knowing smile. "Now, I where was I..?"

"Right, so, the humans mapped their genome with a machine. At one point in time, the head scientist of the team decided that it would benefit mankind to begin doing the same with other animals. I'm sure you're aware of the Horses, our genetic ancestors. What you may not have known, though, was that the Horses had been tamed and bred by humans almost since they gained intelligence thousands of years prior to the mapping of their genes. They mapped the genes of cats, dogs, songbirds, apes and horses and cross-referenced them with those of humans, only to find many things they already knew. However, they noticed a discrepancy in the horse genome; dormant traits that astounded and confused them to no end. They found that horses had the capacity to be born with horns, wings, fish tails or even with a combination of all three. These humans, known by history long lost in Equestria as the Founders, did what many other scientists had thought impossible in that time: they created unicorns, pegasi and hippocampi. "

"WHAT?!" Twilight yelled, completely shell-shocked. "Our ancestors, you mean to tell me -- Pegasus the Winged, Arcturus the Horned, and Marinus the Webbed -- were created in a lab by an extinct and/or mythological species?"

"Exactly that, dear."

"But...but...how?"

"The original three Horses were, to the astonishment of the Founders, as intelligent as one of their own species. They were raised as humans, albeit in a laboratory environment, and taught to speak English. English is exactly the same as Modern Eqish, only they didn't use symbolics as we do, rather preferring an alphabet much like the Griffons. And no, before you ask, I have forgotten it. Immediately thereafter, they began to observe the Horses as equals to themselves. Alas, the peace that had lasted during that era of creation was soon to be broken. Soon after the Horses became "adults" in the humans' eyes, a large-scale war broke out between two nations using incredibly powerful weapons that we only know today as "H-Bombs." Cities were annihilated, nuclear war broke out, and soon mankind had all but destroyed itself. Most of the land on Earth -- this planet's antiquated name -- was poisoned by radiation. What little remained was warped and bent by the forces of nature and the H-Bombs into unrecognizable masses. That is how Equestria took on its basic shape; a shape we helped to refine over the next ten thousand years."

"As for the Horses, the laboratory they were housed in was left intact. The land around it, however, was scarred and broken. The trio of Horses set out to find 'greener pastures,' as it were. It turns out that Arcturus could use his horn in conjunction with a previously-overlooked organ in his forehead to manipulate the levels of radiation in the air around him. Thus, the purest form of Magic was born. All he could do was provide light and lift small objects, at first, but he soon began to hone his power to help defend his trio of brothers-and-one-sister from mutated predators. It was during this time that creatures such as dragons formed from lizards, minotaurs from bulls, manticores from a slew of creatures, and so on. Pegasus used his wings to scout out areas, Arcturus defended, and Marinus gathered food for the group. They soon came across what could only be described as the first true Earth Pony; a small mare who appeared to be intelligent but couldn't speak. She had been born as a mutated offspring to a group of wild horses, due to the Magical radiation in the air. She was incredibly in touch with the Earth, was built like a tank despite her small stature, and seemed to know which plants were safe to eat and which were not."

"The group of four quickly settled in an area we now know to be Dream Valley. I won't go into details into how exactly they reproduced, for everyone's sake, but let's just say no in-breeding was involved. It was later, but before the arrival of Tirek, that the settlers of Dream Valley came across a young human female known as Megan. She, and her favored pony Sundance, are where ponykind derives most of its morals. The rest is Pre-Discordian history. "

"But wait...how do Alicorns fit in to all of this? And why are there no more Sea Ponies?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, Discord wiped out the last of the Hippocampi when he created the Badlands. He reduced their sea to a single lake, which eventually dried up. The last Sea Pony died exactly two thousand, seven hundred and twelve years ago."

"What?! Discord, committing genocide? How could he possi -- wait, what am I saying? Discord used to be cruel," Twilight reasoned.

"Ha ha, my faithful student. You certainly haven't become less sharp since we last spoke. Discord used to be cruel, yes, though less by intent and more by impartiality. He didn't actively seek to wipe out an entire species, but his neglect caused the unfortunate event anyway," Celestia explained, a wistful look in her eyes that didn't go unnoticed by Twilight.

"You still haven't explained Alicorns, yet, Celestia..."

"Ah, but that's for the next chapter my dear!"

"...What?" Next Chapter: 3: The Alicorns Estimated time remaining: 23 Minutes