Ponyville. The only free town left in Equestria, a province that has been split into six kingdoms ruled by tyrannical overlords who fight over the small village. While the princesses have been able to hold them back, their strength only goes so far…
Where are the Elements in all of this? Why are they not helping the princesses fight back these powers?
Because they themselves are the powers. These six ponies now rule over their respective kingdoms; Terra Arcanis, a land filled with raw arcane power. Liberalis with her gleaming gemstone spires and diamond castles. Stabilis Fides Alarum, soaring through the sky on majestic, white clouds, her warriors the finest in the land. Muneribus, a land populated by the kindest creatures known to pony kind… as well as the fiercest. Probitas, strong and dedicated to honesty and the fulfilment of one’s duties, these ponies are the strongest in the entire kingdom. Risum, where not a single pony is ever left unhappy, where everyday is a new adventure filled with the promise of a smile. While the fight takes place along their own borders as well, their main focus is Ponyville, the last piece of uncontrolled land. It is unknown what corrupted these ponies, even though much research has been put into it, funded by the princesses themselves, as well as other ponies of whom wished for things to return to normal.
There were those who fought against the overlords. These ponies, led by the princesses, became known as Equestri Resistitur. They have been fought back to Ponyville, but they haven’t given up yet.
As the fighting rages on, spirits continue to be broken, and their world as they know it has fallen apart. One thing continues to become increasingly obvious: the fighting won’t end until either one pony rules all, or all six of them are dead…
Moonlight awoke with a gasp, sitting up and looking around her bedroom frantically. Everything seemed ordinary, her five friends sleeping on the ground around her. With a light sigh, she stood up and walked over to a desk, the only object that occupied the room.
The desk was small and wooden, obviously old and covered with dust, a lone spider web between two of the legs. Moonlight had always been fond of the spider resting on its silk home, for it was one of her favorites: a black widow. Although her five friends were not in agreement on a spider of such high caution living with them, she knew it would not hurt them. She had known this spider for years, and had always taken care of it. Willow had been getting old, but Moonlight had faith she would be able to save her from dying.
The spider that she had come to call Willow crawled up the desk as she approached and sat on the envelope that occupied the bottom left corner of the desk. Willow knew all too well of Moonlight’s intentions.
“Willow, please…” she said in a soft tone, “Let me read it…”
Willow began tapping her legs on the hardwood desk, using her ability to speak to Moonlight via morse code. “I don’t understand why you do this to yourself, Moonlight. You are just going to hurt yourself more than you already have…”
“I know, Willow… this will be the last time…”
“That is what you said the last three times…”
Moonlight sat there silently for a moment, her dark blue coat and black mane barely visible to Willow, but her grey eyes she could see perfectly, full of pain and suffering…
“Please let me read it, Willow…” Moonlight asked again.
Willow didn’t move for a moment, and then slowly eased her way off of the envelope. Moonlight looked down at the envelope of which had her name written neatly across the front of it. She picked up the envelope in her hooves and flipped it over, which revealed a small heart that kept the envelope sealed. With a deep breath, she pulled the letter out of the envelope and read it:
Moonlight,
This may be the last time I will be able to write to you. This… power… it’s driving me crazy… I am afraid of what will happen to me and my friends… We fear for everypony’s safety… just know that if anything happens, we are sorry… and we hope that we will be able to fix things in the future…
I love you, Moonlight.
Twilight
Moonlight sat there silently for a moment as a tear ran down her cheek, “I love you too, Mom…”
She set the letter down on the desk and lay down on the ground, weeping silently. She wished she could see her mother again.
Time seemed to slow as Moonlight cried on that night. Willow strung her web down to her and sat on her shoulder, trying to comfort the broken mare. After a few minutes, Moonlight slowly calmed down enough to speak.
“Thank you,” she said with a quivering voice.
“Of course. That’s what friends are for,” Willow tapped.
Moonlight looked around the dark room once more. While it was barren of all but the desk, it was easy to tell where a bed used to sit, along with a carpet and a bookshelf.
“Home sweet home, huh Willow?”
“Yeah, I guess so…”
Moonlight continued to lay on the floor of what previously was her mother’s bedroom. She recalled the few memories that she had with her mother - the happiest years of her life - and she wished she could go back to that time and be happy again…
She closed her eyes and dreamed of her mother’s open embrace.
Willow decided to sleep with Moonlight tonight, to keep her company by the desk.
Moonlight felt something hit her face and opened her eyes. She saw the letter in front of her, which had fallen off the desk. She remembered the ending to the letter, and read it:
PS: 7595-323-0894
Moonlight was never able to figure out what that code was for, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was for something important… but what…?
She got up and grabbed the envelope off the desk and returned the letter to its original state: folded up neatly in the envelope and set in the bottom left corner of the desk. She lay her head down on her foreleg, looking over at her friends sleeping across the room. She sighed as she continued to lay on the ground for the third night in a row. She closed her eyes as she felt Willow crawling around on her arm. Everything fell silent, except for her slow labored breathing… in… and out… in… and out…
Willow stayed with Moonlight until she fell asleep, and then looked up at her web. She saw a fly caught in its sticky strings, and she crawled up the leg to her dinner. She bit the fly, watched as it slowly died from the lethal injection of poison that was put into her meal. Then, letting her natural instincts take over, she wrapped the fly in her web over and over, until it was no longer visible. She licked her fangs in anticipation of the snack she had for later.
