"Eventually, the three Founders and their adopted sister died of old age. Before they did, however, Arcturus used his now-honed magic to remove a small part of his, his brother's, and his two sisters' life forces. He pooled the small Sparks into an ancient ruby and had it set into an amulet as his dying wish. Around this time, the four pony tribes had lived in relative segregation. The Breezies were discovered shortly after Arcturus died. A powerful wizard took a part of the leader of the Breezies' life force and imbued it into the amulet, which we now know as the Alicorn Amulet. It was through wearing this that many great and not-so-great leaders rose and fell before my sister and I were born into our mortal forms."

"Princess Celestia, what do you mean by 'mortal forms'?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, I have Magical control over the sun. What mortal body could possibly contain that much power, but for that of an Alicorn? That is how the first Alicorns were born, dear. The high amount of Magic caused many strange side effects, but the most prevalent was that of the first six Alicorns being born. You know them as --" Celestia began, only to be cut off by Twilight.

"-- Sol, who controlled the sun, Stellar, who controlled the moon and stars, Gaea, who controlled Equus herself, Titus, who controlled the seas and tailwinds, Cosmo, who commanded the skies, and Magnus, who directed the world's flow of Magic?" Twilight finished.

"Indeed, my faithful student. You, as a matter of fact, are a descendant of Magnus. That is why you so expertly command Magic and why you are its Element."

"But, wait, how could you know all of this? I mean, yes, you are...er...old," Twilight shuddered, as if calling the millennia-old Alicorn old were a sin. "...But even you of all ponies came after the original Six, right?"

"You would think that, yes," Celestia chuckled at her friend's reluctance to call her 'old.' "However, I am in fact even older than them. I have existed in one form or another since the beginning of the Magic age. You see, there was a solar flare a few days after the Fall of Man. When the flare hit the newly-irradiated Earth, the solar energy and the 'Magic' clashed, forming a new sort of Magic. This Magic, somehow, was sentient, and actively searched for a host with a body strong enough to contain it. However, no Alicorns had been born at the time, so the Magic was forced to create a mortal form. That mortal form was me. I was the first Alicorn."

"You're kidding me. You're kidding, right?" Twilight asked, aghast.

"I am not kidding, Twilight. I may not explicitly remember what happened to bring about my personality, but what the Magic had formed was only a vessel for itself. It had no wants, no desires, no feelings, but it had thoughts. Now that the Magic had a host, it bonded to and became one with my original form. I would not become the compassionate mare I am today, had the Magic not given me a sense of empathy when it realized that it was necessary."

"So how did you come to find the other tribes? And when did Luna come along? What of Cadence, and the Crystal Empire, and King Sombra, and Discord?"

"I will only say of Discord that he has always existed. The natural Chaos Magic of the newly-recreated planet gave itself a form much as my Solar Magic did for itself. However, he formed on the other side of the planet from me, and did not actively seek out his particular, off-brand 'merriment' at first. Discord draws power from Chaotic events happening in close proximity to him. As his power grew, so did his desire to have more. He became the embodiment of Disharmony."

"But, wait, what about Luna? If you were born from a solar flare...well...the moon doesn't give off flares."

"I created Luna from my own willpower and Solar Magic, but because I was trying to harness such power at night, I got Luna instead of another Celestia. I came to see her as a sister, because I had split my power in half to give rise to her. It was through such a process that I began to rationalize and become more than just a conduit for Solar Magic."

"You...created Luna? Through raw Magic?"

"Yes. I created life at the expense of my own life force. It is not something I have ever repeated."

"So how did the Six Alicorns of Legend come into play?" Twilight asked, somewhat anxious at not having the important questions answered.

"I will save that story for the next chapter," Celestia replied, with a knowing smile.

"You keep saying that! What does that mean?!"

Next Chapter: 4: Six Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes