Legends tell of the astral beings long before the age of mortals. Before life, death, infinity and eternity there was the Great Mother. She who is said to have been born of the Primordial Light and Primordial Dark. She who was conceived by both but belonged to neither. She who lend her name to what lies between light and dark : Twilight.



Twilight, Mother of the Cosmos :

The first being to grace the Great Void with her presence. Mother of all that came after her and indirect creator of the world as we know it. After wandering the endless Void for ages the great Mother came to realize the lack of life besides her own. She looked at the Void with sadness and wept silver tears when confronted with her loneliness. Her tears grew into stars that shone with such brilliant light it broke through the deepest darkness. Realizing the beauty of her creation the great Mother vowed to bring life and light to the Void and conceived four daughters to help her in her quest.





First Daughter of the Cosmos : Celestia, Princess of the Sun :

The first and most beloved child of the Great Mother. At a very young age Celestia possessed great intelligence and curiosity. She adored her Mother’s stars and knew how much happiness they brought her. Inspired, Celestia taught herself the magic of Light and became adept at creating stars of various shapes and sizes.



When she reached adulthood Celestia took her magic one step further and created the largest star in history, the sun. By doing this she earned the undying pride of her Mother and would forever be known as the most powerful of all Daughters. She would then weave her stars together to form brilliant images and patterns, known today as constellations. To all mortals Celestia has always been a symbol of light and power.





Second Daughter of the Cosmos : Luna, Princess of the Moon.

After Celestia came Luna, the second child of the Great Mother. Though her power equaled Celestia’s, Luna was shy and preferred to stay in the shadows. She greatly admired her older sister and longed to be like her. In an attempt to impress both Celestia and their Mother she tried to repeat Celestia’s achievement and create a sun of her own, but could only muster an inferior imitation. However, their Mother, touched by her Daughters feelings, took her creation and gave it a name and purpose : it would continuously trade places with the sun, bringing about periods of bright and faint light and be known to all as the moon.



Some gospels tell of a dark chapter in Luna’s history, where she betrays her sister in a fit of jealousy and traps her inside her creation, the moon. Others say that in contrast to Celestia, Luna learned the magic of Dark and fought her sister for the position of most powerful of all Daughters. In certain scriptures Luna is referred to as “Nightmare Child” or “Bringer of inchirion”, translated in the First Chapter as “eternal night”.





Third Daughter of the Cosmos : Cadance, Princess of love :

Unlike her two older sisters, Cadance, third child of the Great Mother, didn’t care much for greatness nor power. She turned to the small and weak mortal beings that had thrived under the rule of her Mother and siblings. She was fascinated by them and pitied them as their lives were short and meaningless. And so she granted them the gift of love, as a way to make their short existences worthwhile. The mortal beings could now care for each other and have children of their own, ensuring their future.



In the 6th century a small group of religious wanderers created the Cult of Amore, which worshipped Cadance as the true “enziana peri”, or “bringer of life”, as she had given mortals the means to reproduce, in contrast to Celestia who only created the sun. Their numbers grew rapidly and by the end of the 8th century their influence could be felt all over the world. However, because of this, they were branded heretics by the Church of Solaris, who considered Celestia’s sun the origin of all life. Countless followers were hunted down and executed, and any evidence of the Cult’s existence was destroyed.





Fourth Daughter of the Cosmos : Chrysalis, the Outcast :

Last of the Great Mother’s children and often seen as the black sheep of the family. Chrysalis was the youngest and weakest of the Daughters and feared her sisters, for she could never hope to obtain as much power as them. She also longed for her Mother’s love far more than her siblings did, up to the point that she rarely ever left her side. Her Mother fawned over her however and she was perfectly happy the way she was.



Unfortunately, Celestia, fearing her youngest sister would never be able to fend for herself, attempted to help Chrysalis develop a sense of self-reliance by tricking her into leaving their Mother’s side. When Chrysalis discovered the deceit, she believed Celestia planned to dispose of her and attacked her in a panic. Celestia beat her back with relative ease, but when Chrysalis went to complain to their Mother she, knowing the truth, took Celestia’s side. Feeling betrayed by her family Chrysalis abandoned her kin and fled to the far reaches of the cosmos swearing revenge.



Some legends say that she discovered a way to corrupt the magic of her sister Cadance and use it to drain all living things of love. Others claim she turned into a shapeshifting monster and returned for revenge only to be defeated by Celestia. The Gospel of Moondancer reads “[…] and by flash of green fire the black ivory was masked by magical deception, for the Fourth Daughter could not stand her siblings’ grace.”, which could mean that besides weaker she was also uglier compared to her sisters, something she was ashamed of and hid with magic. In the late 4th century the Church of Solaris declared Chrysalis to be a “fallen” Daughter of the Cosmos and entitled her the “Outcast”.



