Author's Notes:

Go back and read the first chapter, it's short and it was posted almost two years ago. I've also edited it. Originally, this chapter was spoilers for Across the Sea, but there's been a change of plans and this chapter is no longer spoilers. We know how old Aegis is now.

It was Caelum, Aetas, and Radix who labored longest on their creation, high in a secret mountain valley. Thrascias suggested that they make six of their new children, rather than just two, so that they could match the dragons in numbers sooner than later. These creatures were less in stature than the dragons of the Ardenti, though they too had four legs and two wings upon their back. They were like deer, softly clad in fur and hair, walking and galloping upon hooves. But on the eve of their completion, Caelum held the others back.

“Life cannot live without the fire of Verax.” said she.

“Then let us ask!” Aetas proposed.

“We cannot ask; we wish for this task to remain secret.” Indeed, the chief among the Elutae did not want Verax to know she was striving to rival his children's dominion of the world.

“How can we get the flame?” Radix pondered, her form of clouds growing dark in thought. Soon, the three greatest water spirits turned to a lesser kin, who waited with the others some distance hence.

“Sator, come hither.” ordered Caelum. The river spirit approached excitedly, for rarely did any have use of his skills.

“What is it you command?” he asked. Caelum informed him of their plan, a plan most devious. Soon enough, Sator was before Verax.

“My Lord,” Sator said as he bowed before him, “I come before you on behalf of my lady Caelum.” The water-spirit presented the still body of one of their creations. “She was taken by the beauty of this creature, but it was ill, and now is passing. She asks if you, in your power and mercy, would give it your hardy fire.” Verax stood silently, looking at the creature. It was horned, and winged, and hoofed, bearing a long tail and mane. He had never seen anything like it, and did not recall creating it. But in those days, Verax's pride was yet tempered by kindness, and he placed in its heart a flame from his own.

“It is my joy to help my kin as she helped me.” said Verax humbly. But his thoughts were elsewhere; he was amused that while he created the great dragons, Caelum could only adopt this beast. Unwittingly, he had now created a creature just as powerful as his own prized children.

“You have our thanks.” with those words, Sator quickly departed back to the other water spirits, bearing the now-living body with him. His return was swift, and he placed the breathing creature before Caelum. “It is done.” he reported.

“You have brought us the flame of life, and for this, you will be rewarded, in time.” Aetas spoke for Caelum, who now set forth the final part of her plan. She and Radix used wind and lightning to spread the fire from the first into the other five resting bodies, for they could not touch it themselves. It was not long before all six of the new children of the Elutae were stirring. Into each, Caelum put her own light. It was in the first creature that it resided the strongest; it mixed with the flame of Verax, and the creature shined with an unfathomable light to later mortals. The deed was done, and the water-spirits scattered back into the world.

It was some time before Caelum returned to their valley, a long and wide space between great mountains, with a river flowing down the middle to the plains beyond. The six ran and flew under the night, with hardly a worry in the world. And like the dragons, they had made a language, and made names. They called themselves alicorns, and it is their tongue which dominates this account, for unlike this teller's, it is yet heard in all corners of the Earth.

Aethera was the strongest and boldest of the alicorns, their firstborn, her fur a prelude to the still far-off sunrise, her mane the same fire of life that she had been first to be blessed with. In later days, she would be called by a much more well-known title, the Lady of Light, but she had yet to earn that name. She had two sisters, Cicuta who was green as the plants she loved, and Versa, a playful and carefree mare, as their females were called, of brown and white. They were far less strong than Aethera, but no less noble and brave in spirit.

Aethera's eldest brother and mate was Solanum, he was as dark as the night above, in color and in mood. Solanum was always known to be somber and reserved, though he was far from cold. The second brother was Valeo, a rust-red stallion whose mate was Cicuta. Together, they roamed far and wide, tending to the wilds. It was they who would go on to master the art of growing food. The third and youngest brother, pure gold in color and white in mane, was named Aegis, for his unceasing wariness and thoughtful manner. He was the mate of Versa, and in time, her lightness would calm Aegis's wariness. Each pair would go on to have many children, unmarred in blood as later offspring of such pairings would be cursed with, and they would come to rule a sprawling realm, in the days of the sun.

Caelum took a form in the likeness of theirs as she approached, an alicorn of air and water. She was welcomed to their herd, as they called it, for they knew that she was their mother. For many years, she dwelt with them in the valley of Erro, teaching them the ways of their gift, which they named magic. She also told them of the creation of the world, the Crafter, and all the other spirits it had made. At times, Radix too would come down from above and consort with them, and they came to see her as beloved kin.

But the fire spirit Sistrum followed Radix once, to see where she went when they were not making lightning, and he discovered the alicorns. Sistrum fled away before he was noticed, and reported his findings to Verax. The Lord of the Arendti was astounded such a thing could happen without him knowing.

The blissful days when the alicorns lived alongside their mother crashed to an end when a titanic mountain of fire and earth burst from the ground at the mouth of their valley, a whirling pillar of flame roaring into the night sky. His form was terrible to behold, Verax seeking to assert his rightful dominion over these young creatures. The alicorns tried to flee in fright, but Caelum drew them close, and stood before the great fire spirit.

“Whence came these creatures, Caelum?” asked Verax, his voice quaking across the land. “How have you created such beings without my flame?”

“But they do have your flame, Verax.” Caelum answered. “You gave it to her, Aethera.” She gestured to the radiant alicorn mare.

“Sator deceived me.” realized the Lord of the Ardenti.

“Sator deceived you by my command.” Caelum said, wishing no ill to come of the lesser spirit. “Punish him not, for the blame is mine.”

“For what purpose?” asked Verax.

“I feared you would deny your gift to my children, out of love for your own.” At this, Verax had no answer, for he did not know what he would have done had she asked. Truly, he designed for his own dragons to be masters of the world, and to know that they were now rivaled was troubling.

“It is dismaying that you so deceived me.” said Verax, rumbling unhappiness roiling through the earth. “But what is done, is done. Be warned, Caelum: my flame's strength will not be gifted to all of them.” With those words, the great fiery mountain sank back into the underworld, leaving only scarred devastation for many miles where it had been. Long did the alicorns avoid the mouth of the valley of Erro thereafter, such was the terror of Verax, Lord of the Ardenti.

After this, Caelum departed, for her yearning fly with the winds grew strong again. It was many more years that the alicorns wandered about between the mountains, before finding their way to a lake above a falls, upstream on the river cutting through their valley. Here, they made their first dwelling, and began to tame plants. In time, Aethera's two sisters would bear children of their own, whom they called foals. Yet, Aethera herself and Solanum refrained from having any issue, for the words of Verax weighed heavily upon them. The stars continued to sit overhead, as the alicorns enjoyed the peaceful night. The two eldest alicorns decided they would find their mother. If they failed in that, they could at least find Radix, or another kin of the water spirits. Athera and Solanum followed the lake's edge deeper into the mountains, and followed the stream that flowed into it, until they reached its birthplace.

“Spirits of water!” said Aethera to the bubbling spring high in the mountains. “Your firstborn daughter seeks your counsel!” For a long while, there was silence.

“Do you think they will come?” asked Solanum, ever doubting.

“They will.” Aethera said.

But it was not a water spirit they knew who answered. Up from the deep came the one they called Macero, who fed all springs and waters of the underworld. “What manner of creature are you?” asked he. “I do not know your kind.” Macero had not been present at their creation, and for a long time had no word of the world above as he toiled below with Stellans.

“We are alicorns.” Solanum answered. “Children of Caelum, your Lady.”

“Children of Caelum?” Macero was slow to believe them, but after much convincing, he took their word, and agreed to help seek out their mother. It was the start of a long alliance, and Macero would come to be a great friend of the alicorns. Macero sought out Sator, who then traveled to the sea and sought out Aetas. Aetas did not seek out Caelum; she instead caused so much havoc in sea and sky that Caelum came to her, to see what the upset was about. Again, Caelum came to her children in the valley of Erro. She gathered them all around.

“Long ago, Verax came among you, and spoke that his flame would not be passed as strongly to your children.” Caelum spoke. “Your leaders, Aethera and Solanum, have worried greatly at the meaning of this.”

“Now that we have been reminded, it worries us as well.” agreed Aegis.

“What shall become of our children?” asked his mate, Versa.

“Nothing ill.” said Caelum. There was confusion and mutterings. “You six, Aethera and Solanum, Cicuta and Valeo, Versa and Aegis, shall not be struck down by any worldly pains, but only by the will of others or yourselves. Your children will not die by age either, but in time they will become susceptible to worldly pains. You know not disease nor hunger, but they shall. And their children will be long-lived as the great trees, but one day, they will die a mortal death. And their children will be only long-lived as the tortoise, before dying a mortal death. Thus will it be for all your issue.

“Except for you, Aethera and Solanum. Your children will always bear the flame of Verax as brightly as you do now, from this time until the end of time.” concluded Caelum.

“That is not right!” said Cicuta.

“This is the will of Verax, and I will not go against it.” said Caelum with sadness. “It is only by his grace that he did not take his flame back wholly; he is allowing the alicorns a future.”

From that time on, the alicorns were distrustful of the fire spirits, though they had known few before. Years passed by. The children of the alicorns grew greater. Mountain pines grew tall, withered, and fell; and the young of the tribe had hardly grown an inch. The children born of the two couples, Versa and Aegis, and Cicuta and Valeo, were many, though.

Then came a time, yet further under the endless night of stars, when Aegis had the sense that danger was near. He climbed a peak that bordered their valley, and beheld the light of blazing fires in the distance. Aegis took flight, retreated to report to his eldest sister. But before Aethera could decide what to do, Radix came to them, her form of cloud shaped into that of Caelum's creations.

“It has been long since we looked upon you last, Radix, and our hearts are warmed. But what yonder fire burns?” asked Solanum.

“They are called dragons.” said Radix. “The children of fire, of Lord Verax's making. They came before you by time untold, and now a number are moving hither. You must depart.” There was dismay among the alicorns, for they loved their valley. But the thought of war was not on their minds, such a notion did not enter creatures until the coming times of evil. Aethera resolved that now was the hour to depart, and follow the river where it may lead. Radix stormed in the mountains and summoned Thrascias to make snows to hinder the dragons, as the time was not right for the races to meet.

To Erro there is no returning, for the alicorns became lost on their journey. Long years later, they came upon a land of fields and sparse woods, cut through by many rivers running into a single mighty one. They followed the water as far as it flowed, and came upon its mouth far to the east, where they found the sea at last. There they built a new dwelling, the second most ancient in all Equestria, after the Halls of Corthunien far in the south. In the days of the sun, the mortal races would name it Alicornia, and it would be the fairest of all realms on Earth.