The celestial sisters resided high above the surface of Equestria. From their vantage point, entire forests and mountain ranges lay before them, the perfectly clear day allowing them to view the mass of blue water on the horizon that would be one of the world’s few oceans. They sat upon a floating white marble island that, limited only by their imaginations, held an immense amount of detail on both its structure, with a regal palace residing on it.

The two sat near the edge of the platform, looking out over the land that, if closer inspected, would be revealed to be nothing but untamed wilds. As they sat in silence, a gentle breeze rolled across the platform, gently tossing the manes of the two alicorns. Celestia gave her little sister a smirk.

“I don’t remember making air currents yet,” the solar sister teased.

“Oh, come on, Tia. I know you miss the pleasantries of a fully formed world just as much as me,” Luna shot back.

“Of course. But if you would just let us get on with creating, it wouldn't be a problem.”

“You can’t rush this, there's a lot to think about.”

“Like what?” Celestia questioned.

“Like... when are we going to make our people?”

“Our people?”

“You know what I mean, a civilization of sentient beings, a race to call our children.”

“Talking about having children so soon? I think we’re moving a bit fast.” Celestia stifled her giggling with a hoof.

“Come on Tia, I’m serious!”

“Oh, alright, alright,” Celestia began, still chuckling mid-sentence. “I suppose it is getting rather dull around here.”

A pregnant silence passed.

“I assume we’re both in agreement on changing the race from last time?” Celestia asked. Luna nodded, eyes trained at the distance.

“I thought so.” Celestia allowed her own eyes to drift to the horizon as well. “Any ideas?” she asked, staring into the small portion of visible ocean.

“I was thinking, maybe we should base it off our forms. Maybe there’s a reason we were given them.”

“You mean...” Celestia raised a leg and extended a wing, examining herself. “Horses?”

“We’re supposed to be the goddesses of this civilization, right?” A nod. “So maybe they’d be a little smaller than us. Ponies, not horses.”

“Ponies,” Celestia echoed. “Would they each be attuned to a celestial body, or other source of power, like us?”

“Oh no, no. I was thinking... we could divide our abilities up into three different kinds of ponies. Some ponies only have wings, some only with horns, some with neither. The ones with wings could fly and change the weather, the ones with horns would have magic, and the ones with neither would be attuned to the land.”

Magic. Celestia smiled to herself, she loved magic, but there was still a problem. “Though they wouldn't have opposable thumbs. How could that work?”

“A little bit of magic,” Luna answered with a grin.

“You know me too well, little sister,” Celestia responded with a shake of her head.

“So you agree?”

“It could work, but we can’t rush this, there’s a lot to think about.”

Luna deflated with a huff after having her own words turned against her.

“Would these ponies be the only race?” Celestia questioned.

“More than one civilization?”

“No reason we can’t.”

“Oh!” the Princess of the Night exclaimed, nearly jumping in place. “Gryphons!”

“Gryphons?”

“And zebras!”

“Zebras?”

“And elephants!”

“No, Luna,” Celestia cut off her sister before she could continue. “I’m drawing the line at sentient elephants.”

“Awww. But gryphons and zebras are fine?”

“I... suppose.”

“You pick a species, Tia!”

“You know I prefer wildlife.”

“Then pick some.”

“Well if you chose gryphons then how about, phoenixes?”

“Phoenixes!” Luna echoed in a much more enthusiastic tone.

“Manticores?”

“Manticores!”

“Hydras?”

“HYDRAS?!”

“They don’t have to be deadly, I was thinking a more oafish, harmless version of them,” Celestia reasoned.

“I guess.” Luna responded hesitantly. “What about dragons?”

“You freak out at hydras, but bring up dragons?”

“Maybe they could be a sentient species.”

“I thought you wanted to protect our people, not watch them get destroyed.”

“They could be nice dragons.” Luna insisted.

“Nice dragons?” Her sister responded with a laugh.

“Hey, if I want to make nice dragons, then I’ll make some nice dragons!”

“If you can pull it off, go ahead,” the older sister decreed. “Is that all?”

“Nothing else comes to mind at the moment.”

Celestia turned from the edge, eye’s glossing over the platform, before coming to a rest on the large building opposite of them. “What about a palace. A place to live, to rule?” She questioned.

Luna turned too. “Well this was just temporary,” she referred to the floating island with a stomp of her hoof. “But that,” she motioned to the place, “was an attempt to make  something that looked good in both day...” At a whim from the Lunar Princess, the world became darker as the sun was replaced with a full moon. “And night.”

The palace seemed to shine with the light of the moon. “A very good job indeed,” Celestia complimented. “But I thought we talked about abusing our power like that.”

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, sister. The only animals are lesser creatures, they think nothing of it. When we plant our civilizations, I will restrain myself to my role.”

With another thought, Luna changed the moon back to the sun, illuminating the landscape harshly in comparison to her gentle moonlight. “But if you must insist on your sun being up during these times, then at least provide cloud cover before you start a forest fire.” Clouds appeared and began to shift across the skies below the platform.

“Are you sure about the oceans?” The younger sister was asked.

“Hm?”

“There’s so few oceans, all the landmass is so closer together they won’t have a reason to sail.”

“I know, but overall the amount of land is standard, and I thought the close proximity would help. Isolation never has a good effect in the end.”

“The sailors were one of the few people to truly appreciate and utilize your night.”

“I know, but I’m hoping this time things go well enough for them to find out more of the many benefits my stars hold.”

“We are doing a rather effective job of creating a new, long lasting world,” Celestia mused.

“Sister?” Luna spoke in a deflated voice.

“Hmm?”

“I do not think I am ready to rule again.”

Celestia looked towards her sister, who’s head hung low to the ground, sadness and remorse apparent. “It’s alright, Luna,” She spoke, approaching the Goddess of the Moon with care. “To be honest, I do not think I am ready either.” She sat down and drew her foreleg around Luna, leading her head towards her chest.

“There’s still so many things to decide,” Luna squeaked out, emotion heavy in her words. “Maybe we could just let everything happen naturally at first? Live a little bit and let everything else work itself out?”

“Of course we can, and don’t worry, I promise things will be different this time.”

---

Two ponies stood overlooking the landscape. In view were all of the pony capitals: The farms of the earth ponies, the cloud city of the pegasi, and the castles of the unicorns. The early morning bustled with activity, the unicorns having just finished sending the sun along its course. Attention was turned to the other two races, who had begun about their busy days.

In truth it had only been several hundred years. But if you asked anypony, they would give you a much larger number. After all, impressions of a goddess last forever. The few centuries had many hidden changes, mountains, species, and societies were all created throughout the years, but for everypony else, it was how it had always been.

All but one of these societies had found unity and happiness in themselves. Though the three races of pony stood at the precipice of conflict. Each sect had their own allotted tasks from what they believed to be the dawn of time, but each completed these tasks with malice. They believed their own work to be of a higher caliber, and expected more from the others in return. The inequality perceived by the populace kept brothers and sisters at one another’s throats.

One of the ponies was a unicorn who placed the warmth and light of the sun above no other. The second, a pegasus whose eyes had bared witness to many nightly flights.The two ponies had secretly lead many lives through each of these societies, even the one with disagreement to the point where they would consider themselves three.

“Sister, I have a confession,” The pegasus began. “I’m rather pleased with how this all turned out.”

“Why would you approve of such a thing?” The unicorn questioned, referring to the fractured pony tribes.

“Our plan was to rule over the ponies, but what of the others? Were they to be content to be ruled by mortals while our ponies got not just one, but two goddess emperors?”

“I thought we would make immortal leaders for them, who believed themselves to be our equals.”

“Yes, but there’s no need for such things now. Everypony else has advanced perfectly since day one. The ponies are the only ones who truly need us, it gives us an excuse of sorts.”

“Then perhaps it is time to put a plan into action, and take our places of power.”

“I’m ready.”

The solar sisters shedded their latest mortal forms.

“Any ideas?” Luna asked.

“A few.”

“Care to share?”

“If we were to endanger the earth ponies production of food with a long brutal winter, it would leave every tribe without supplies. There would be a lot of friction, but they would never start any organized conflicts, especially with food so scarce. They would go out to find new lands, and with a little help from us, they’ll end up in the same lands. Once they realise they’re all present in the ‘promised land’, they’ll have no choice but to band together. And at the height of their union we will arrive, a gift from the gods themselves to usher the ponies into their new era of peace.”

“We can’t just throw out a such a harsh winter. And with their stockpiled supplies, the blizzard would have to be nearly unending.”

“Which is why first, we will make one more addition to the history of equestria.” As Celestia finished speaking, a ghostly wail cut across the silence of the mountain. Before them appeared what looked to be the spirit of a pony. A semi transparent form that radiated a weather not unlike a winter storm. Snow fell from its wind whipped mane and a strong chill had made itself known to the two sisters. The creature strained against its invisible bonds, a hostility burning in its eyes unknown to any other resident of Equestria. “I call them wendigos, tailor-made to fit our situation. They feed off of negative emotion, and in return make the weather even worse. The more they argue, the worse off they’ll be, until final the only option left will be to seek new land.”

“Are you sure this is safe? Somepony could easily get hurt.”

“Don’t worry, like you said the ponies have plenty of stockpiled supplies. They’ll head out to find new land well before the point of starvation. Though they will begin to bicker over what remains of the unclaimed food. A factor that will only aid us in removing them from their divided kingdoms.”

“Very well, let us begin.” Luna allowed.

At a whim of Celestia, wendigos seamlessly integrated themselves into a story that spanned nearly two thousand years. The wendigo, now freed from its bonds flew off, only to be joined by several more of its kin. They descended upon the kingdoms of the ponies, and once they took place in the thick cloud cover, the first snows of the longest winter in history began. A process powered by ill thoughts that would produce nothing but further tension, given enough time, would lead to the happiest nation in the world.