Canterlot has fallen. Two old threats have returned and merged to form a new one. Equestria as it had been before was on the verge of fading from existence.

At first the newly returned black magic changeling army infiltrated Canterlot using their mimicking abilities. They then proceeded to kidnap all of the royal authorities of Equestria save one. Only Twilight Sparkle evaded capture due to being in the Everfree Forest with her friends looking for an herb to make Cranky Doodle Donkey happy at Pinkie’s request. Perhaps Equestria’s last chance was born of this little irony.

Most of Equestria’s armed forces were taken out during the infiltration without a fight. After the revelation of the invasion a relative few of Cloudsdale’s pegausus soldiers who survived held out with a bold resistance. Their effort wouldn’t last long without powerful magic like Twilight’s though. It turned out that the changelings had also formed an alliance with the demonic unicorn King Sombra.

This federation of evil became known as the Dark Union. Sombra had survived the Crystal Empire incident because his horn remained intact and allowed his body to regenerate. With his consort Queen Chrysalis they formed an unholy army of black magic that aimed to bring Equestria to its knees. After the disposal of the rulers of Equestria, the ritual mating union of Sombra and Chrysalis would commence. The Child of Dark Oblivion would be conceived and usher in an era of madness and woe never seen before in the galaxy. Only a handful of Equestrian citizens would be allowed to survive imprisoned and artificially entranced by Sombra’s magic to create love energy for each other which the changelings would harvest.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends returned to Ponyville to find it had been struck by the Dark Union as well. Spike was missing and Cranky and some others had been killed. More bad news was relayed to Twilight by an injured Cherilee: word was that all the other royal ponies of Equestria had been taken captive including Shining Armor.

The mane six suited up for a dangerous mission and departed.

Author's Note

This prologue may be expanded into a full prequel. It is not given focus because the WTG prompt of “Making a promise is the easy part. Keeping it, on the other hoof...” is better elaborated in the "first" chapter.