Twilight Falls On Equestria

It has been 3 years since Discord was set free, 3 years since Equestria has fallen into chaos, 3 years since I have become tactician of the Shadowbolts and Councilor of Defense of the Royal Lunarian Army.

No pony knows quite what happened except perhaps the Alicorns and Discord. I will do my best to tell the story as accurately as possible. As I mentioned before, it all began 3 years ago during zap apple harvest season. The first three signs had already occurred and everypony in Equestria was anxious for the zap apple delicacies which were only a day away. It was the night of the fourth day and we all looked to the sky. Meteors were falling as expected, but there was something strange about the pattern of the shower. It was not a haphazard light show of flaming rocks as one would expect of a meteor shower. Rather, it almost appeared as if the meteors were being directed…

Everypony in town followed the direction of the meteors as they streaked through the sky. It became clear all too soon that they were on a collision course for Canterlot. They were making a beeline for the castle and nopony knew what they could do to prevent it. Twilight Sparkle immediately had Spike send a message to Princess Celestia, however, it was too late. Before he could incinerate the scroll the first collision was heard. Then the next, and one after that, and one after that… so on so forth until morning. Canterlot was unrecognizable the next day. Nopony even cared about the zap apples which would go rotten if not picked today. Everypony had their eyes on our sovereign alicorns. Only they could make sense of this tragedy.

This is where the story begins to diverge depending on which sovereign you choose to follow. What is known for sure is that Discord was released that night. While the meteors struck the towers and battlements of the Palace he stealthily disappeared into the night. No doubt HE was the one behind their strange paths. What is uncertain is who released him. Princess Celestia walked up to a podium in front of everypony without her sister and made her declaration to the anxious ponies.

“My younger sister, Princess Luna, has betrayed us once again", she began, much to the dismay of everypony.

"In her malice she has released the chaotic beast of Discord with the sinister intention of destroying me and ruling Equestria on her own. She did this due to a dispute between us. She demanded that she be allowed power over the night once more. She believed that she had proven she reformed herself and deserved the right to wield her old powers once again. In my sound judgement I told her to first do more acts as a civilian to help the community before taking on such a large burden. She became angry and after our lengthy argument she stormed out of Canterlot. Last night I did not raise the Moon."

At this remark the nervous ponies who had been chattering about went silent. To wrest control of the moon from Celestia against her will would take immense power.

"By way of dark magic she stole the night from me. It only makes sense that she also released Discord. It would cement her power as sole sovereign of Equestria. At this moment I have no doubt that she and Discord are plotting my deposition. Everypony, I request that you search high and low for her and report any sightings of her to royal guards who will be posted in every town until she is dealt with…”

Her speech went on for hours more. Needless to say it was the last thing we needed. We lost the zap apple harvest, our greatest city was in ruins, and one of our beloved sovereigns was a traitor, needless to say Equestria was in a dire state of affairs. We all went home and did our best to live our lives as we always had. For a while things seemed the same. We ignored the guards seen walking around town and taking ponies into empty buildings. We accepted that the grand gala would be cancelled this year. Gradually we got back into our flow of things. There were rumours that Discord had begun to wreak chaos somewhere in Froggy Bottom Bog. The cutie mark crusaders had also gone missing much to the dismay of Applejack and Rarity. They spent months putting up fliers and having search teams go through every nook and cranny in Ponyville. Ponies just assumed that Discord or Luna got them and once again, went back to normal life. It’s funny how adaptive we are. One day we have two queens, the next we have one. One day we have a royal city, the next we do not. Yet regardless of our hardships we keep pressing on. I guess that’s why we’ve been able to stick around for so long.

I digress. We were able to return to our normal lives quite effectively, that is until the day when Luna returned. She walked out of the shadows of the trees of the meadow ragged and clearly traumatized. She collapsed in front of Fluttershy’s cottage. Poor Flutter didn’t know what to do so she brought Luna into her home and nursed her back to health. One day, Derpy was delivering the mail and caught a glimpse of Luna’s shadowy mane through the window. She immediately called the royal guards and Fluttershy was taken with Luna to the newly rebuilt Canterlot Jail to be tried for high treason against the state. Most ponies were unsure of who to support here. On one hand Luna probably destroyed Canterlot, on the other hand Fluttershy was only being kind. Also, if Luna was so evil, why did she allow the day and night cycle to occur regularly when she took the power of the night back? Questions like these and many more were buzzing about Equestria in the days leading up to the trial. This truly was the tipping point that would lead to civil war.

There was no trial. That’s not to say there was no physical ceremony, but rather the entire judicial process was clearly being overridden by the will of Princess Celestia. When Luna and Fluttershy entered that court room they were already pronounced guilty. The proceedings of the trial meant nothing. The lawyer for the crown, Flim. The lawyer for the defence, Flam. It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. Everypony watched with growing unease as these two individuals of Equestria were being made out to be fools and court and would most likely receive death for their “crimes”. However, don’t get me wrong, many ponies believed that this trial was being done entirely by the book and truly believed that Luna and Shy would be receiving the punishment they deserved. These two opposing ideas caused a rift between ponies. Families would become silent with one another because two brothers supported two different sovereigns. Businesses would only deal with likeminded ponies to their chosen sovereign. Civil war had already broken out to be honest. People just weren’t saying it out loud.

On the day of the sentencing it went without saying that Princess Luna and Fluttershy were given the death penalty to be beheaded for their crimes against the state. As the royal guards approached to lead them away Luna made her move. She made some kind of signal and suddenly three Shadowbolts shot out of the crowd.

“FOR THE HONOUR OF PRINCESS LUNA!” They shouted as they barrelled into the guards. Luna picked up Shy and shouted to all who would listen in her royal Canterlot voice.

“THIS TRIAL HATH BEEN A FARCE. ALL YE WHO HATH ANY LOYAL BLOOD IN THINE VEINS, FOLLOW ME TO MINE SANCTUM IN EVERFREE FOREST. FOR THE SAKE OF EQUESTRIA, FOLLOW! FOLLOW ME AND SURVIVE THE COMING STORM!” With that she galloped out of the courtroom and left everypony in a state of confusion.

For a moment there was silence. All that could be heard was the sound of the Shadowbolts beating the guards unconscious. Then all hell broke loose. Unbeknownst to those at the trial, the Wonderbolts had been stationed just outside in case such an event occurred. They rushed in and immediately began to brawl with the Shadowbolts. The rest of us began to fight amongst each other. Those too weak to fight ran and hid, but the bulk of us just let our tension flow out of us freely. Months of bitterness and anger that had built up between neighbours and family was released that day. I killed my first pony that day. Flim. He and Flam were facing a great deal of threat from the enraged masses. Many ponies like myself understood that they were simply paid to put on a show. Flam was taken town by Applejack. After those brothers nearly ran her out of business she was just looking for a reason to end them. As his brother fell, Flim just looked in awe. Then ran. The coward. He would have escaped too had I not pursued him. I flew from the courtroom out into the streets. He just ran and ran… I’ll give him credit, he really didn’t want to die that day. Unfortunately for him, Canterlot is positioned on a mountain. No ferries were active at this time and he was trapped as he approached the edge of the precipice. I remember walking… one step… two steps… three steps… He kept begging me, promising money, fame, love, anything. Then wouldn’t you know it, he slipped. That was the end of Flim.

I knew I had sealed by fate at that point. You cannot murder in Equestria, that’s the law. Even if these men were fools, a murder is still a murder. So I ran… well flew I guess… into Everfree Forest. At this point Luna’s offer of protection seemed like a good deal for me. Many other ponies joined us. Criminals, sympathizers, and opportunists all came in by a trickle to join Luna’s cause. Eventually the territory occupied by us had been established. We called ourselves Lunaria to combat Solurnia which was established following the trial. Despite being “at war” most hostilities were just skirmishes. That is until Discord’s true might became known. His twilight began to stretch into both Lunarian and Solurnian territory. Our night and their Day became a grey blank as he expanded his control. This is where our story begins. My name is Sylvan, I am a member of the Shadowbolts, I serve Princess Luna, and we will win this war.