The palace was a mess.
Windows smashed with glass shards littering the floor beneath them. Large doors thorn off their hinges, and smashed like cheap plywood. The floor cracked in several places, tiles removed and shattered against walls. The curtains, wallpaper, and all other decorations were charred, ragged and dirty with ash and other, indescribable filth. Chandeliers were utterly destroyed, either on the floor, tossed into one of the corners of the room, or still hanging, but ruined almost beyond recognition.
Outside...
Was war...
A civil war...
The Princesses have always warned their subject to stay clear of the dark paths of extremes. Even in the darkest times, they had to remain sentient, equine, and strong, and resist from swaying to either side.
But times seem to have become so dark, that no-one heeded the Princesses' warning.
Clad in black leather, equipped with iron-reinforced magic scepters and wands, or with semi-enhanced coshes and batons were the clear-cut, sharp-maned hordes of the Solar Empire - an ever-growing group of far-right extremists, composed mainly of earth ponies and pegasi, that followed the unequane ways of the former, Greater Gearmane Reich, a great and formidable, but unimaginably sadistic and hateful regime that caused the world 5 years of total war and terror for everyone and everything alive.
These fanatic, blinded horses demanded Celestia to be the only ruler of Equestria, and that the land's populus should only be composed of the pure-bred, segregated earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns - no foreign blood allowed.
Interestingly, they still kept contact with similar groups in Eagleland, the Gryphon Kingdom, but nopony dared to object this.
Their symbol, the Black Sun, covered the walls like a pock mark.
They laid destruction and devastation in their wake - their savage death squad never coming close to the organized and precise order of the Gearmane Reich.
They were a disgrace.
They were plague.
They were pure hatred in flesh.
Clad in red linen and workers' caps, equipped with enchanted sickles, straightened scythes, smith hammers and other tools and books of great magical force were the scrappy, ragtag troops of the New Lunar Republic - an initially small, but progressive increasing number of followers of the far-left dogmas, composed by a number of intellectual, left-leaning unicorns, and massive number of earth ponies. Basing their ideas and ideology on the kolkhozist rule in the Northern Region - led from the great city-state of Stalliongrad - these cold-hearted, merciless troopers knew no emotion, only pure intelligence, and demanded the efforts of the workers of Equeastria to be recognized.
Demanding leadership from Luna, they wanted to overthrow her sister and the diarchy, and establish their aforementioned "Republic".
While not as maniacal as the leather-clad Empirists, the Revolutionaries - as they called themselves - were a terrifying army, trained with little tactics, aside from those used in guerrilla warfare, and attacked in massive waves, often capturing many territories in a single blow, and not afraid to draft in anyone who they met on their way - including the initially optimistic foreigners.
They were a threat.
They were danger.
They were fury inponified.
Under one year's time, a quarter of the population had vanished - killed, escaped the country, or simply disappeared into the wilderness -, and the rest lived under martial law or plain political terror.
The Elements of Harmony could not handle such levels of disorder and mayhem...
Though, the main reason they failed was that the ponies, albeit controlled, misled and betrayed, acted of their own will.
It all came down to one city, in the end - one final battle between the two groups.
The stage was set: the citizens have long left the war-worn country, leaving their own capital in a state of slow decay.
Canterlot.
The Final Frontier.
The sounds of war - weapons, wails, cries, roars, and hooves stomping on the pavement.
The sounds of death.
They echoed all around the ruined throne room.
Reminding the ones inside that the fight has yet to cease.
"Are you sure you want this?" Discord asked, for the thousandth time. As the God of Chaos, he was all into disorder and madness, but the level of mayhem, roamed the streets outside in the shape of militant mares and colts, scared and disturbed even him.
"Yes, Discord, I am." Celestia replied dryly "We all are."
'All' referred to her and her two sisters.
Princess Luna, standing to her left, clad in a red hoodie with a black neckerchief where her royal necklace used to be, hooves covered by black, steel-soled hoof-boots, with only her crown, now covered in a strange, alien corrosion, remaining of her regal attire. Her tail was cut short, into a flame-like stub, a great deal of her nocturnal fur remaining, and waving as it usually does, but with an increased pace - much like fire.
Her mane, disheveled and starless, acted the same way.
To Celestia's right was an ebony pony, dark as the deepest, moonless night, covered by a large, leather trench coat and similar, albeit larger boots adorning her feet. Her ethereal crest and tail were left to flown free, but the former was pushed down by the hood overshadowing her forehead, only lifted by her horn. Indignant, slit pupils sat in pale blue irises, as she stared at the chimera.
Known to the public as Princess Opscura, the eldest princess, Nightmare Moon has been active, ever since her reanimation, and aiding her two younger siblings from the shadows. Their older sister - unborn, as she died in the womb of their regal mother, the Queen, her soul taken by the darkness residing on the other side of the moon - the stars and the depths of the visible space were originally meant to be controlled by her.
She now levitated her old helm with her dark magic, just beside her head.
Standing in between them, the Princess of the Sun looked just as worn as her siblings.
The colors of her mane and tail were saturated and divergent, two thick locks tied into braid, fencing her face, while her tail was kept thin trough the use of numerous bands, resulting in a small flame-like tuft on it's end, behaving much like her little sister's tail.
She wore a black leather jacket that lacked the insignia of either sides of the conflict, her hooves and legs in modern military boots she never dared to, and never had to wear in a real war - but then again, what war wasn't "real" for it's participants.
And they were soon going to become such participants.
And end the war, and anyone who contributed in it's cause, along with it.
The draconequus stood opposite to them, in front of the great door, facing them and the ruined thrones behind them.
He himself wore an old military uniform which he had gathered from the ruined chambers of the Royal Guard. Even though his heart wasn't set on the task at hand, he still prepared. The thorn, peaked cap he wore with his own symbol adorning it's front, had holes that allowed his antler and horn to poke through.
He was friend of the three mares, a long-time one, too, and in the case of Princess Celestia, something more as well.
Still, with all his schemes, his chaotic nature and personality, he could've never imagined the step the regal sisters were about to take.
To his right stood Sombra.
The former king and dictator of the icy Chrystal Empire, that laid beyond the taigas and tundras of the Norther Region, Sombra was rehabilitated as the Marshall of the Night Division, the nocturnal equivalent of the military that Shining Armor, now Marshall of the Chrystal Empire, led under the supervision of Princess Cadence.
A slave of the Empire before his rise to power, the dark unicorn knew humility and diligence, and had gratefully accepted the rank under the alias of 'Somber Stone'. With his horn now straight and gray like himself, and only his irises and magical aura remaining in that angry, dark red color, the unicorn - now winged, bearing two large, bat-, or draconian wings, his flank carrying his mark: a dark red shield, covering of the Chrystal Heart, with a sword, pointing downwards in front of it...
He came without a uniform, with only a dark maroon cape and hood to clad him, a black, Spartan helm beside his feet.
He himself was lost for words about the Princesses' decision.
Usually silent, the words now burst out of him:
"You can't serious!"
"We ARE serious, Sombra..." Luna hissed "DEAD serious. Such disgrace had never occurred to the fair land of Equestria!"
"Indeed." Nightmare added "To think that not even my darkness and my sisters envy combined was able to break out into such conflict. The foalishness of those ponies! They destroy the heritage left by their ancestors!"
"However it is." Celestia continued "We can no longer allow ourselves to stand back, as we can no longer tolerate the hubris and insanity of this war. If we ARE, indeed, the condign rulers of this land, and the true heirs of our King Father's and Queen Mother's rule, then we SHALL NOT ALLOW our subject to squabble amongst their selves. EVEN IF they are doing it out of the freedom of their will, because surely, one's freedom shouldn't destroy others'."
"But they don't WANT freedom!" the dark king argued "They themselves said that they want either of you to have absolute rule over them!"
"So they abuse their freedom." Nightmare growled "And demand authority to take control, so that THEY wouldn't be blamed for their crimes!"
The other three couldn't argue with this.
It was then, that the third of them decided to speak up.
Queen Chrysalis, the ruler of the changeling race, had also made her way to the castle, even in such dire times, to aid her friends. After the reestablishment and re-recognition of the Changelling Empire, the former queendom of the changelings became the blooming, beautiful country it once was. The changelings themselves, no longer filled with holes and resembling equines more than insects, after being restored by the combined magic of the three regal sisters and the draconequus, relished in their own culture, long thought to be forgotten. The grand palace in the capital of the Queendom was restored, as they abandoned the caves they lived in, as hives.
Queen Chrysalis herself had regained the true beauty of the changeling ponies: The holes were no longer present in her limbs, wings, and mane, her crest and tail grew long and straight, no longer transcendent and film-like, and her wings regained their true form: an odd mixture of butterfly and draconian wings, shining in every color of the rainbow, when the sun was out, occasionally fluttering delicately as she stood on the ground. Her own cutie mark appeared, as it did to every member of her race: a emerald green silhouette of a Giant Swallowtail. Her horn was still crooked, and chitin still covered her stomach and abdomen, but those were her own, natural features, and no-one objected them.
Leaving her Empire to be run by her own princesses and trustworthy ministers, she flew all the way back to the Royal Palace of Canterlot when the conflict finally reached the interior behind it's walls.
Staying silent and listening to the war outside, and the arguing of her friends, she decided to speak up.
There was no time to lose.
They had to decide.
"If that's the case, then let's go." she said, softly "You know us. We are your friends, and support you in every way."
The three princesses nodded.
Then, using their magic, they lifted their crowns and helm, and cast the oxidated articles down onto the ground, shattering them with an ear-splitting, off-key crescendo.
A new fire rose in their eyes, as light enveloped their cutie marks, changing them, adjusting them to the new age they were about to bring forth.
"Let's go."
Through the hallway they trotted, their steps echoing in the empty palace. Blueblood stood before them.
"Aunt, my dear auntie, you can't be serious!" he gasped, as he saw them in the crude drags.
"Fear not, my nephew." Celestia replied "I AM."
As they trotted past him, he saw it.
And knew, that all was lost.
For the cutie marks of the Princesses have changed, as if denying their royal heritage.
Princess Luna's crescent was narrowed into a bent blade, similar to that of a sickle's, and colored in a deep, blood-curdling crimson, the light of the harvest moon. An equally red wheat fiber crossed it, it's silhouette outlined with yellow.
Nightmare Moon's cutie mark was now pale blue and large like the cold crescent of the Winter Moon Celebration. The silhouette of a hammer in the same color, outlined by black, laid across it.
Princess Celestia's cutie mark had turned into a monochrome black. The thorn and ragged flames of her sun pointed spikes at the world in every direction, and the inside of the sun's circle was what appeared to be a hastily drawn 'A', thorn and chipped like the rest of her mark, all in a lightless black.
Opening another door, the Elements themselves stood before them.
"Princess!" Twilight cried. Although she herself was an alicorn by now, she couldn't face her former teacher and call her "just" by her name.
"Out of my way, Twilight!" the Sun Goddess snapped "There is some filth outside, and it is OUR duty to cleanse the land of it."
They charged pass the Bearers, all tired, broken and depressed.
The youngest princess spoke up again.
"But... What about Harmony?" she asked.
Celestia stopped.
So did her friends, and stared at her, intently.
She lowered her head, exhaling a sorrow sigh, as she thought.
"Maybe..." she said softly - Maybe one day, once all this madness is over...
Raising her head once more, her sorrow left.
"But until then... The fools who have dragged this fair land into this mess shall receive their punishment."
And with that, they left, magic already charging in their horns, and in the talon and paw of the chimera.
Outside...
Was war...
The last two, desperate armies of either sides lined up before the palace.
They were tired, bloody, beaten.
But they were not giving up.
Not until death itself silenced their weapons.
The main door of the palace was thorn open in a torrent of raw, unknown magic.
Both armies stopped, and stared.
The six figures stood out, onto the balcony overlooking the square.
They recognized the three princesses, the Marshall, the queen... And the monster.
The princesses eyes glowered with utter contempt, as they looked down upon the two armies.
Their leaders, the ones who begat this insanity stood in front line, as they should.
Funny...
Both sides also had six leaders.
With an enormous, earth-shattering explosion, the combined solar and lunar escutcheon fell of the forefront of the main building, shattering on the ground between the two armies.
They gazed up once more. And many gasped.
In the place of the crest was a new "frontispiece", a burned spot, a mere silhouette - combining the plate of the sun and the crescent of the moon, with the arrows of chaos extending from it, and the large 'A' printed over the complex symbol, as a monogram of the new power that was about to come for them.
And all the soldiers lost their will to fight, as the shock wave erupted from the symbol and the six figures standing on the balcony, as they leap off, towards them, attacking them with magic both archaic and modern, never seen before by mortals.
And great was their fury, their vengeance for the land and it's peaceful inhabitants, destroyed by monsters that can only be born from intelligent, sentient beings.
They fought, for days, for weeks, for months. Never stopping.
Obliterating entire armies throughout the country, cleansing it from the filth, misled hopes and corrupted dreams of both extremities.
The two sides of the conflict were destroyed by a third, most formidable force, interested not in seizing control, but destroying whatever authority THEY possessed.
And after those dark months, the darkest the land of Equestria had ever seen, a new day broke, the lights of the sun breaking up the cloud barrier - with no weather ponies to maintain it, the weather acted on it's own, following it's natural course.
And order - just, rightful order - was reestablished, as the land and it's dwellers recovered.
The princesses, all three of them now, regained their roles as rulers...
Although, truth to be said, they would've lived on without out this authority just fine. But after endless begging of all the ponies, earth, pegasi, unicorn, and the Elements themselves, they took up their title once more.
Yet, the crest was never replaced.
The one, on the front of the building.
The dark spot took it's place, instead.
Forever reminding all the ponies of Equestria of the time when the deranged hordes of their own kin faced the fury of the Gods themselves.
The time, when Equestria knew only one order.
The time, when all that was, lived, and died...
...In Total Anarchy...