Zoropothiesists and the Alicorns

In regards to Zoropontyism and the horsemaster, of which many of you haveheard me speak of in my histories. Keep on mind I wrote this a long time ago, when I was a younger, and more misguidedly zealous- unicorn;

Zoripontism is the official philosophy of Modern ponyland, embraced by nearly all of the equine population. It teaches balance in approaches to all aspects of a pony's life, as dercreed by the great Horsemaster, the creator of all ponykind. In contrast to the love and tolerance creed once embarced by Equestrian ponies, Zoroponyism teaches love for one's friends can temper the hate for one's enimies, therby ceating a mix of the two emotions that the windigoes cannot feed off of.

Belief in the Great Horsemaster can be traced to the earlier reilgion of horsemasterism, whose origins are unkown, but whose existance was first recorded by starswirl the bearded. Horsemasterism was always a minority faith in Equestria, never rising above 3% of the population, and eternally living in the shadow of the Alicorn worship of the rest of Ponykind. Horsemasterism was, of course, tolerated- as was the Equestrian way. But there is evidence that it's practitioners were held in contempt by the Alicornites.

All of this changed, however, with the death of the Princess Celestia. They ponies had just watched thier immortal goddess fall, in an all too mortal fashion. Into this faith-shattering chaos, stepped a Unicorn prophet named Zoriponta- who taught a modified version of Horsemasterism, that was more Philosopy than faith. It explianed all of equestria's troubles as ponkind having fallen out of balance. They must abadon the greedy, materialistic society of Equestria, it taught, and return to the comuunal life of the herd. It a time of strife and chaos, this philosophy appealed to a troubled Ponykind, and Zoriponta's message spread like wildfire. By the time the Grogar wars ended, 98% of Ponykind had embraced the new philosophy.

Zoripontism teaches the great Horsemaster- a trinty consisting of B'zkre the unicorn, Angel Pony the Pegasus, and Pretty the earth pony( the sea and flutter ponies also believe in a fourth and fifthincarnation, based on thier respective races)- created the first six mares; Cotton Candy, Blue Belle, Butterscotch, Minty, Snuzzle, and Blossom, and gave them the power of intelligence and speech. Seeing how lonely they were, the Horsemaster created the first six stallions, therby bringing the Pony race into balance. It is the duty of all ponies to emulate the great Horsemaster, by bringing balance to all of the herd- though loyalty to one's family, community, and proper vassal loyalty to one's feudal lady. Mares are to be the guides and leaders of ponykind, whilst Stallions are to be the defenders- and the divine and swift sword of Ponyland, extracting brutal justice on ponykind's foes, but only when it is needed.

Evil and strife, the enimes of pony kind, come from Tirac- the great bringer of Darknesswho betrayed the horsemaster, and was sealed behind the gates of Tartarus (The centaur socerer tirek was one of his servents/vessesls) To combat this evil, the horsemaster sent her great messengers, the alicorns, to reassure and guide ponykind in thier times of need. But ponykind misunderstood the message, and began to worship the alicorn guides as goddesses. Oh, the folly of ponykind!

As to friendship, Zoroponta teaches this is a trait reserved for one's clan, herd, and allies. To one's enimies, those who attack and harm your clan and herd, is given the swift and just penalty of death- not delivered in anger, but disspassionately, lest the windigoes taste the fires of hatred, and freeze Ponyland over in one long, ice-cold blizzard. Dream Valley, a kingdom of Anti-alicorn outcasts, had turned horsemasterist at the point of it's founding, so natually they would take the message of Zorypontha to heart. Thier great catherdral is filled to the brim with the faithful on a weekly basis. And it was Dream Valley, who at the request of the Princess Theodora, who sent the legion of Troops who put down the great alicorn uprising that followed the Grogar wars.

Today, Zoropontism is the basis and foundation of ponkind's society- Oaths are sworn in the Horsemaster's name, marriages are conducted under the horsemaster's auspices. The alicorn sister are rembered as unwitting agents of the Horsemaster's mission of Balance, but seen as goddesses no longer. Those pitiful few ponies who rever the alicorns as godesses still are tolerated as deluded, childishly innocent ponies, and are refered to as 'Ponygans'. The 97% of the majority of ponykind, however, follow the way, of Zoriponta. It is a philospophy that has served Ponykind well since the fall of Equestria, and will continue to do so for many ages to come.

Tornado Firehooves,

Dream Castle Historian

...

Hello, good readers, Paradise here. It has come to my attention that many of Tornado's readers, no part in thanks to a certain unipeg-detesting wife of his always whispering in his ear- may have given you the wrong impression about the rare and exceptionally magical type of Pony commonly referred to as an Alicorn. Often maligned and potrayed as misguided and power-hungry false gods in modern Ponyland fiction, I believe it's time to set the record straight on this poorly understood ponies.

Alicorns, also known as Pegasus unicorns, unipegs, or Pegacorns in diffrent cultures, are ponies who have the attributes of all three of the main types of equines. Ususally born when a pony reaches a state of enlightenment through an absolute understanding of a particular aspect of thier special talent, it is not unlike the human concept of attaining buddahood. Alicorns are a symbol of hope and promise to the other types of ponies and many kingdoms throughout history have made them thier rulers out of repect of this fact. Pricess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and even Twilight Sparkle are only a few of the ninteen known ponies to ascend over the course of equine history.

Alicorns have a level of magic few sentient beings in this world can achieve- even mighty unicorn mages such as Starswirl the Bearded, Mimic of Dream valley, Clover the Clever or even our own beloved Queen Majesty cannot even begin to approach the level of power of one of the great winged unicorns. Raising and lowering the sun and moon, affecting the emotions of the ponies around them on a fundemental level- these ae things only an alicorn could achieve on thier own. They are also gifted with extreme longevity, so much so that the ponies of old revered them as dieties.

Sadly, these fortunate few enlightened were proven to be all too mortal ponies. Despite the fact of thier tremendous power, they can be deafeated by a sufficently powerful enough opponent- such as a changeling hive queen fully charged on love, or a draconequiss , or a demonic goat lord- and there are a few artifacts that even alicorn power pales in comparison to, like the elements of Harmony, or the rainbow of light, or the golden crown. Alicorns can be slain, and in the wake of such a death the ponies who follow them are often left in a state of despair and uncertainty.

Nevertheless, this does not dimish thier contribiutions to pony society and history, and a lack of divinity on thier part is no reason not to honor these brave mares as the heoes to pony history they have allways been. If only certain my fellow horsemasterists could see through thier personal biases, and accept that these ponies were not the monsters they imagine them to be. Almost all of Ponyland reveres these winged wonders, despite being monotheists, why can a few close minded ponies do the same?

Paradise Oasis

Dream Castle librarian