The Equestria Games
By Redhead With A Computer
***
The mare sat on a deep russet pillow, the color of dried blood, in a dark, misty room. Three hooded figures stood around her.
"Hello, there....Princessss..." hissed one of the figures with a withered, elderly tone.
"It'sss been ssso long ssince we've ssseen you," said a sly voice.
"Why don't you vissit us anymore? It'sss sso lonely here in Tartarusss...." said the third.
"Go away," the Princess said in a firm voice. "I have no use for The Three's dark magic. Besides, you Three are no more than a bunch of spirits in charge of cutting strings of life. I've no use for you, not after I...took care of things in a poor deal with you."
"Oh, but you do," said the elderly member of The Three. "We've been... ssstudying... your ssisster and you for quite ssome time now. Don't you think ssshe's a bit....unqualified... for thiss ssort of job? Sshe is... well... unethical at timesss. Not to mention that horrible temper of hersss.."
"Oh, yess.." said the second. "Fiery, fiery temper..."
"Don't you think you would be better off without her rule?" urged the third.
"Well...," the Princess thought for a moment. "She is a bit naïve, and then, yes, there is the temper.... why, I suppose you are... right."
"I knew you'd come around, Princesss!" said the elderly figure excitedly, whipping out some sort of a contract. "All you have to do iss sssign here... and initial thisss... and sssignature that. You've made a very wisse choice for you Kingdom.... Princesss Celesstia."
Later, In The Deepest Pits Of Tartarus..
The Three gathered around what would have seemed to be a large knitting group's table, littered with strings, needles and scissors. They were going about their daily routine, ending lives and seeing off that everything went well when the elderly member of the group suddenly spied the contract they had used earlier.
"Oh, I sstill can't believe that foolissh Princesss fell for that! I mean really, ssigning her soul over, having no control of what could happen...."
"Yes!" chimed in another. "In fact, her transformation iss ssoon to begin..." she lifted a hood, revealing a hideous, withered face, with only one dark, coal-black eye. "Yess... yess... sshe is talking... and... YESSS! It iss happening! Come, gather 'round the cauldron, we musst watch this sspectacular feat of our handiwork!" with that, she motioned her sisters over to a coal-black cauldron, in which they could perfectly see the scene unfolding...
Luna sat on the polished balcony of the Royal Castle, overlooking the sun. It was almost time to raise the moon, though Celestia had not lowered the sun yet. As Luna pondered why, Celestia appeared in the doorway. "Come in, sister," she said in an angry tone. "It is time we had a talk."
Luna obeyed, closing the balcony door behind her. She followed Celestia into the Throne Room, which was oddly bare. "Sister, what is this about?" she said in a worried tone. "Is your magic defunct? Is that why you have not lowered the Sun?"
"I refuse to lower the Sun!" yelled Celestia. "I refuse!"
"Tia!" said Luna in shock. "You must lower the Sun and make way for night!"
"I refuse!" yelled the Princess once more. "There can only be one Princess... and that Princess will be me!" Celestia brought a powder white hoof crashing down to the floor, splitting it in two. Suddenly, a bright ball of light came floating into the room, encasing Celestia after a trace of a shocked expression. There was an explosion, a white light, and Celestia lay on the floor, a new pony.
The Reign of The Two Sisters had ended. The Reign of Empress Corona had begun.
***
Corona's closest advisors, the Elements of Harmony, were soon enchanted and put under her spell, becoming her servants, except for Rainbow Dash, who was tortured for trying to defy her Empress. As for Luna? Nobody was ever quite sure what had happened to her. All they knew was there was now a mysterious face on the moon, one that oddly vanished on the last day of the Tenth Moon. Their Empress said this was Nightmare Moon, a dark demon who had attempted to destroy all of Equestria, and as the generation that had lived during the Reign of The Two Sisters died off, so did the truth.
Over time, the Solar Empire grew and grew. It soon encased all of Equestria, but that didn't stop the country from moving forward in terms of technology and engineering. Many years later, though, some rebels decided to take advantadge of their newfound tech and start an uprising. A rebellion. During the Equestrian Games, a group of freedom fighters known as the Dashers infiltrated Corona's Palace and attempted to assassinate her.
This, of course, failed miserably.
Corona's guards soon destroyed almost all of the Dashers, leaving the spunkiest, a young mare with a short, scrappy pink mane, who went by the codename Scoot to the Empress herself. Scoot had apparently been a young filly when The Reign of Empress Corona begun, and knew that Princess Luna had not been a demon as her sister had said. She was taken prisoner before she could tell the world the truth, and ran herself crazy, setting a new prison record of attemping to escape and miserably fail over fifty-two consecutive times. She hanged herself.
After the incident with the Dashers, Empress Corona decided it was time to teach her subjects some manners. As she took the stage at the annual Summer Sun Celebration, which she gave a speech at every year, she gave a cold, stony look over her subjects and delivered the news.