ECHOES: Harmony Conspiracy

The marble halls echoed as golden hooves approached the balcony of the castle towering above the city of Canterlot. The orange star approached the western horizon, with the deep-blue of the night on the other. An inferno of red blood painted the sky upon the canvas of polluted smoke, which rose from below the mountains where the city rested. The source was a massive metropolis of slums, populated by thousands of souls.

It couldn't have been more lifeless if it were pillars of sand.

Ponies were returning back to their rundown apartments after a long day of worthless labor with worshiped payment that was equivalent. They walked with no destination, no thoughts, no track of time. None of them looked upon the beauty of the sky their smoke rotted each and every day, and none of them looked upon one another, no regard to whom they travel beside. They only stared ahead, upon a world with no dimension or light only the condemned could see. These were the beings that lived in these slums--bodies with no soul, no spectrum of color or contrast.

Everything was all grey. Dead.

The ruler saw all of this, and took it all in. Oh how she wished to change all of it. She had taken no part in creating this morbid world, yet could not help but feel responsible for what had ensued to that made it all happen...

It was a dangerous place ages ago, and Equestria hadn't existed yet.

The ponies were nomads who traveled across the vast world in search for a place of salvation to live and settle. They were lead by two great sisters, but it was primarily the older one that guided and commanded them. They trusted and entitled their lives to them, in hope that they would guide them towards a better life.

After countless years of roaming through the harsh endless landscape, they had finally found a place to call home. Lush plains and rich forests were surrounded by mountains that separated them from the outside hell. They proceeded to build such homes here, but not without peace. Monsters attacked at night, tribes of different races raided them--it was almost as if it were no different than their travels. Their numbers diminished, but the ponies would most certainly not be wiped out. Yet they found the casualties to be unacceptable.

They began to question the commands of the older sister, and thought of perhaps following the younger one instead, or even elect a new leader entirely. The younger sister was jealous of her older sibling, for all the ponies basked in her glorious light, while the younger one was neglected and treated as a stranger. Despite her attempts to learn and do as her older sister did, the ponies still did not treat her well.

Seeing as the populace were now unsatisfied with the way the older sister lead, the younger one took advantage and rebelled, proposing that her leadership would bring them salvation. Many of them followed suit.

Tensions rose between the two parties, arguing against each other, often resorting to violence. Mobs and uprisings took place. Soon, it was as if all the escalation came crashing down, turning into a full blown civil war in one night.

In the midst of all of it, the two sisters looked from above, upon the bloodshed taking place. The screams of hatred, death, and tortured souls filled the air, their agonizing voices coming straight from the depths of tartarus. The younger one, broken from such tragedies, turned towards her sister and placed all the fault on her; the reason why their precious little ponies were turning into monsters.

Determined, she allowed her deepest and darkest entities to possess her, their infinite powers taking control over her mind and body, mending together into a monster herself. An epic battle took place between them, above the chaos and catastrophe below. The older sibling realized she would not win without inflicting any harm, and resorted to the Elements of Harmony. She was able to obtain them before the nightmare was able to stop her, and used them to banish what used to be her sister to the silver purgatory among the stars forever.

Yet that wasn't the end of it.

The ponies were furious for what the older sister had done, and created their own system of government, losing all faith in her, neglecting her. If that was what they wanted, it was what she was going to give them. The system rapidly became corrupt, fighting for scraps of power and capital while treating the people like dirt.

As time went on, the ponies began to lose their voice, their independence. The lost what defined them, what gave them reason. Now they were all controlled by the rich, the corrupt, those who deceived them. They became puppets, the ones behind the strings insisting it was their own voice. No matter what she tried to do, the ponies wouldn't listen. No happiness existed. No laughter, kindness, generosity, honesty, or vitality of peace and magic.

She had tried bringing such things back to light, but to no avail--the masses were too ignorant and blind to listen, and corrupted parties wanted nothing of her but to die. Thus, she decided that the broken world of greed and suffering they have created for themselves was to be their punishment. And it broke her heart.

There was nothing left in this world for her to live for, were it not for the chance of her true sister returning by her side--but she would have to wait and endure.

She remembered every single constellation in the sky that night. She remembered every drop of blood that was spilled from their bodies. She remembered the embers on their homes, resembling the ponies' hate that consumed everything they loved and cared for...

...And the fiery sunset looked exactly like those embers centuries ago.

She remembered it all.

She closed her eyes, and lifted her head towards the ball of light above, and brought it down below the horizon, burying it among the mountains in the distance. Then she looked towards the other half of the sky. She still had one final task to perform.

It was the task that brought her pain and angst each and every day.

With dread, she focused within her, searching for her lost sister's magical entity. She felt it, and touched it. A surge of memories erupted before her...

Times they enjoyed playing together, the sweet sound of her beautiful, melodic laughter warming her soul...

The deep majestic blue eyes filled with the innocence, love, and passion they shared for each other...

...How she longed for her again.

She focused on this entity and felt the face of her sister rise into the night sky--what she experienced next was anything but the sibling she once knew.

The monster above screamed down upon it's sister below--for the unbearable loneliness of passing centuries; the pain and torment of watching its little ponies die and decay each passing day with no life to live for. It screamed in agonizing torture, screaming at her why she did this to her--screaming why she stood idly watching. It screamed and screamed, its echoes failing to reach its sister's ears worlds apart.

Yet, the older sister heard every single second of it each and every night.

The task was finally complete. She went to her bed and collapsed. Tears streamed from her eyes. She cried and cried, her choking sobs filling the cold, desolate room. The loss, the loneliness, the pain--it was all too great for her to bear, yet she had no choice. After countless hours, she had finally cried herself into a restless slumber, nightmares plaguing her mind.

And it would happen again, and again, and again, without end...

The cold night passed by, the silver moon looming above...

...watching

...and waiting.