Timeline of the Eclipse War

2 DW-9th of April- Celestia arrives back at Canterlot and raises a statue to Sun Shine in the royal garden in honour of her bravery and courage, along with her sacrifice to see victory and an end to the war. She attempts to raise the sun as always…She fails. Up to this point, both sisters have risen and lowered the moon like normal, as this affected the whole world, not just Equestria. Neither of them could ever even consider keeping their respected celestial object up in the sky as it could mean a natural disaster of unimaginable destruction…And yet there it was, as dawn came and went, the moon stayed high in the sky.

2 DW-10th of April- All of Equestria panics, as the moon stays up and night doesn’t end. Black Dye, the new president who was thrusted into power, choosing his loyalty to the Republic over that of his queen, declares the war over to the horror and shock of the senate. They try to overrule him, but he has too much support from the citizens, who are tired of corrupt officials, war, and are all scared about the unending night.

2 DW-15th of April- Celestia arrives in Baltimare and agrees to peace with Black Dye. The senate, to their anger, is disbanded and Baltimare reabsorbed back into the Empire. This is made possible also by the fact that those who hated the Empire, and supported Luna and her ideal of a republic over an empire were with her when she was betrayed. Black Dye is given the nobility of Baltimare, but unfortunately, the senate will catch up with him a decade after the war, and would siege his mansion, eventually ending in him getting killed, though his son would get revenge for the action.

2 DW-20th of April- The battle of the Dawn- The world itself starts dying. Plants wilt, animals start to die due to sleep confusion, and the ponies themselves are running low on food. Celestia and her forces, comprising of both the entire Solar Empire forces and what was left of the Luna Republic in Equestria sail for Gallopfrey. Upon sailing into the cities docks, they find to their horror not only the city a wreck, but manned by ghostly, shadow like ponies, seemingly powered by corpses of the dead.

The battle itself was a meat grinder. No matter how frightening these foes were, the death of the world was more frightening and they pushed forward despite massive losses, and those in defensive positions found themselves assaulted by what seemed like never ending shadow monsters. Celestia barely manages to reach her sister. They have a VERY heated conversation. Nightmare Moon explains that it was Celestia that made her, that this whole war and the deaths involved were all her fault. Celestia stands up for herself, understanding for the first time, that while the war was her fault, she is more than willing to change and will change,  but her sister and the First were so swept up in a need to defeat her, that they became tyrants themselves, blind to all things around them. She and nightmare fight but after a long battle, Celestia finds herself is outmatched and beaten. Nightmare ends up gloating about how pathetic Celestia is, about how weak she was, and how pathetic she has gotten. This hits a nerve with her.

She had done what they all asked, what they all wanted…She changed. She wasn’t a monster anymore and what did this get her? No one wanted peace…They all wanted power! Her power! At least as a “monster” She accomplished something! She DID something! As this she really was weak. Similar to what happened to Luna, Celestia is consumed by anger, frustration and pure hate, and turns into Solar Flare. Without a single word the battle starts again, no longer one of skill or strategy but one of pure physical and magical power, each consumed by their hatred of one another, fighting like two wild animals then any sentinel creature. This battle is on such a massive scale that the Empire forces flee the city, as it is ripped and blown apart but the two ponies. In the end, just barely, after a fight that set the whole island on fire and turned the city built on it to rubble, Solar Flare manages to win.

This is when the one true moment happened, one simple act that would shape Equestria forever. Solar flare, standing on top of her bleeding, broken sister, looks down at her hate burning in her eyes. Only by killing her can this threat finally end. Only then with this new form can she go after Sombra and Discord, ending their threat for good. She could end them all and only then can there be peace. Only threw a few acts of evil can good exist…And in this moment, consumed by her hatred of her sister…She lets it all go. She backs away from her and letting go of her anger, turns back into Celestia, now with, for an unknown reason, rainbow hair compared to her pink one. Celestia banishes her sister to the moon and leaves, raising the sun as she went. This marks the end of the Eclipse war, although its effects would cause massive change to Equestria for years to come.

0 AW-28th of April- Celestia returns to Canterlot and despite massive celebration to mark her return, she spends it alone in thought.

0 AW-29th of April- Celestia announces some final changes to her kingdom…and it is the largest most extreme. First, the Empire will be no more. While she will remain leader, her powers will be dramatically reduced, making this new government more a commonwealth. Nobility will have their power MASSIVELY reduced, will no longer really on government funds, having to make a living off their lands and businesses, and anyone can now become a noble threw mass wealth and direct influence. Finally, all evidence, including recordings, books, technological advancements and memorials destroyed. This almost splits what empire survived the war, but after what could have been the end of the world, those who would have taken up arms for the nobility before just don’t care. The nobility would continue to try and get support for a takeover but time again they are unable to act due to indifference, current political situations or the inability to unit under a single leader.

0 AW-1st of May- Nightmare Moon is found and taken care off by a moon creature by the name of Larry. However, once healed, he is corrupted and changed into a creature more fitting for the queen of the night. They go about corrupting and changing all the moon creatures.

0 AW- 3rd of May- Royal Guards starts a campaign to collect all evidence of the war for destruction. However, a handful of nobles and Swordn Shield convinces Celestia that certain technologies should be kept, mainly those that benefit the pony’s music, art and economy, including trains, human instruments and blimps. Memorials are also spared, but their plates removed. Sun Shines memorial would soon be renamed the Statue of Victory.

0 AW-22nd of May- the First arrives, finally, manages to sneak his way to the secret base containing project Dusk and Dawn, completed just before the fall of Stalliongrad. Dawn and Dusk, two nuclear missiles, aimed and Canterlot and Baltimare, are ready to launch but after spending some time with the controls, he reluctantly steps away and shuts down the program. The bunker itself is abandoned, still operational, and exists today ready to fire.

0 AW- 30th of May- the First speaks with Viola. Still loyal to him, he tells her they both need to do something. Using a few loyal unicorns, they perform a blood binding ritual. He tells her that he will return, and her blood will be his herald. He leaves for the Crystal mountains…And is never seen again. Viola settles for a merchant and they have four children. She dies of natural causes.

0 AW-31st of October- Celestia tries to ban nightmare night but the backlash is massive. She reluctantly lets it go ahead, hoping it would soon fade away. It does not, though after a few years even she starts to enjoy the holiday, though it still acts as a harsh reminder of her past.

3 AW-9th of November- Finally, all evidence is collected and burned. Old fortresses are left to decay and soon become ruins, filled with monsters and abandoned treasures collected from looted battlefields and towns.

5 AW-3rd of February- Swordn Shield finally retires, haunted by the war he actually travels around Equestria as a hermit before finally settling down with a female soldier who fought on the side of the Republic and they have two children. He died of old age.

6 Aw- 10th of July- The survivors of the Republic home island of Gallopfrey give up trying to rebuild the city and instead follow a more tribal social system. They also form a kind of cult, named “The Children of the Night” after what the citizens of the home island used to call themselves sparingly, like how nobility were “blueblood”. The cult worships Luna as a mythical being, and slowly they begin to believe that the “night ponies” as they called themselves were literal decedents of Luna. In time, pilgrims would take an oath of darkness, in which during the day they would sleep in caves only coming out at night. In time, either with magic or evolution, these ponies became the bat ponies. The cult was very aggressive towards outsiders though the culture itself was not aggressive. The “Children of the Night” was not questioned and so different factions rarely fought, thinking themselves all family in a way, all decedent from Luna. The cult and tribal social system would not change, although new tribes would pop up as the population grows.

Still, when Luna returned a thousand years later, there were just under four hundred night ponies settled in the island system. When she returned, they worshiped her as a god, mainly because they thought she literally WAS a god. Despite this, Luna convinced them to open up to the world and now scientists, pilgrims and adventurers come to the island to taste their unique culture and beliefs. The bat ponies became Luna’s personal guard, and the islands became part of Equestria. However, these islands are not as safe as people think. Pirates tend to try and exploit or simple take supplies and relics from the night ponies, but even before becoming part of Equestria they found surprising resistance from the locals, a lot of them being chased off. The real danger comes from a rival religion and tribal group formed from the remains of the UCI, soldiers who escaped the retribution of Nightmare Moon. They started to form a warlike society inside the ruins built by the original Luna Republic and worshiped a god which is most likely a twisted version of The First.

Order, as he is known, is worshipped as the god of war and conquest. Supposedly, both religions believed the two gods had a massive war, the good forces of darkness lead by Luna, and the evil forces of light led by Order. In the end, Order was banished from the immortal world and now walks amongst the mortal one, and that sometime he would find a way back to the immortal one and begin the war anew. The Children of the Night believe in the mortal world he has no power, the “Followers of Order” as they call themselves believe he does, and watch over them. The biggest difference between the two cultures is how the Children of the night embrace their tribal culture while the Followers of Order try to mimic the past, using incredibly primitive fire arms, their chieftains and war leaders using ancient swords and rifles and their worriers wearing tattered remains of the soldiers uniforms, and as they slowly decayed, mock uniforms. The real issue with them is they tend to attack anyone who crosses them, outsiders and Children of the Night alike, even raiding and attacking villages.

The good thing is they are relatively small in number compared to the Children thanks to a war like culture killing their males off early and the fact that they worship an evil god makes conversion very difficult. However, both pirates and the Children have tried eradicating them, but living in ruins that used to be forts, along with the use of tree canons resalt in them being very, very difficult to destroy once they return to their villages. To this day they are still on the offensive, though now adventurers hoping to help some pour villagers and loot some ancient relics while they’re at it are causing them some serious trouble.

12 AW- 14th of August- After over a decade of running, hiding and fighting, the last of the moon creatures are corrupted and changed. Nightmare Moon now controls the moon, but can’t leave.

20 AW- 27th of September- Celestia, now that many of the aggressive, conservative nobles have stepped down and replace by new ones which Celestia spent a good time with, officially declare the Solar Empire over and the Solar Commonwealth born, even though technically it’s not a Commonwealth. While she declared the Empire over just after the war, it was more symbolic since making it official would have led to too much resistance. Since she no longer has unlimited power like a Queen, and can be removed from power now if the people of Equestria demand it, her title is renamed princess.

Teachers are no longer aloud to talk about the war and in time, fact became legend, legend became myth, and myth was eventually forgotten. Celestia also starts very slowly introducing laws and cultural changes, all too slowly change the ponies way of thinking. In time, the economy would boom to a level where most ponies work part time, murder and crime hits to almost zero, the racial difference between unicorns, pegasus and earth ponies is destroyed…In a nut shell, she goes about creating paradise, and by biding her time and making the right changes at the right time, she succeeds.

39th AW-16th of December- After much consideration Celestia decides to hide the Elements, since she herself can no longer use them and she has no idea how they could be used if they fall into the wrong hands. She is also certain that now she is no longer connected to them, discord should be able to free himself from his prison, but for some reason hasn’t. There could be a number of reasons for this…With no one using the elements there would be no challenge, he was waiting till after Nightmare was turned back into Luna, he was afraid of the First (after all, what better force to fight chaos incarnate then the incarnation of order?) but it may never be known why he choice to break out almost a thousand years latter.

567 AW- 7th of January- A explorer finds a night pony village razed to the ground by Followers of Order. With no one there to stop him, he collects a number of relics, including an old sacred text, and returns them to the Canterlot library. This text would later be the book Twilight reads to learn about the return of nightmare moon.

927 AW-23rd of Janurary- Migrants come to Celestia asking for help, amougst them the Apple family. She suggests a plot of land outside the Everfree forests and suggests a name, Ponyville, which they take. The new Ponyville is built over the first and second Ponyville. While this Ponyville still stands, it seem like something is trying to destroy it every week, and one could say the lands cursed thanks to the horrors that happened there, and considering its right next to an enchanted forest that might actually be true.

982 AW-17th of November- Lyra Heartstrings, decedent of Viola, is born. At this point in time, humans are seen as make believe like a fair mortgage.  Despite this, Lyra has always believed humans to exist. Even when Twilight discovered a human alternate universe, she insists to people that these humans are “the wrong ones.” There are two theories why she might be this way. First, it’s the side effects from the blood binding ritual, which is weakening resulting in its effects skipping generations. The other is she might be the one to herald the Firsts return.

986 AW- 4th of June- Celestia has created paradise but finds an issue that’s been bugging her. All around she sees innocents and perfection…Yet she herself is wounded. This, along with so many centuries of leadership, convinces her to finally time to find someone to take over her position as ruler, someone she will raise as the perfect ruler, not making the same mistakes she has. However her first attempt with the filly Sunset Shimmer is a complete disaster. She finds that her motherly affection cannot overcome being raised in a position of power. She learns that power corrupts those who aren’t ready for it.

988 AW-14th of November- Celestia, after a magical disaster, comes across the filly Twilight Sparkles. Originally, she was only to train her in magic, acknowledging her gift and hoping to make her a wise mage. However, when she gets to know her, she almost frighteningly reminds her of Luna when they were young. Taking this as a sign, she chooses Twilight as her next attempt of making the perfect leader, this time keeping her training much more downplayed then with her last student.

1000 AW- 1st of May- Somehow, Nightmare Moon finds a portal to Equestria, weak, and only able to transport one person before collapsing. This was likely the work of the Children of the Night, though this has never been proven. There’s also a theory that it was Celestia herself who did this but once again, there is no proof. Twilight is sent to Ponyville were her and five strangers find the elements and use them to turn Nightmare Moon into Luna. While her darkness was destroyed, she wanted nothing more than for Celestia to die and to make sure this happened, kept some of her dark essence on the moon in case something happened. When Luna was freed of her anger and hatred, her dark essence remained. This essence become an individual, but due to her only being a small part of her power, it must bide its time till its power grows.

1001 AW- 3rd of May- Discord awakens and is defeated.

1002 AW-29th of February- Sombra returns and is seemingly destroyed.

1002 AW- 6th of August- Discord is freed and convinced to at the very least, live a let and let live relationship with the Solar Commonwealth and Celestia.

1002 AW-14th of October- The essence of Nightmare Moon returns from the moon (It is unsure if a rouge element of the Children of the Night brought her back, if her moon creature followers form some kind of portal or she herself just has enough power to reach Equestria and back.) She corrupts and takes one of Twilights friends, Rarity, and she becomes her new host. This “Nightmare Rarity” leads a new army of moon creatures to Equestria, but in a very short battle in Ponyville she is destroyed and Twilight’s friend freed. The moon creatures are uncorrupted and return to the moon.