The Fall of Equestria: A New Analysis
Written by: Head of Neolot Historical Archives, Paperback.
Date: May 05, 793 NE
(Notice: The NHA would like to remind members of the board that this paper is only a small section of the full report meant to briefly detail the findings made by archaeologists during excavation C-01-793.)
For the longest time now, we have considered the true nature of Equestria's demise to be an enigma, a chain of events where every second link is missing, leaving us with only a few, isolated truths to base our history on. However, new evidence leads me to believe that this chain can finally be pieced back to together, and this mystery unravelled.
Just 2 months ago, we excavated the ruins of and old town to look for energy reserves, but within the first week of digging, we found something much more interesting: A journal, supposedly written by Princess Twilight Sparkle of Old Canterlot. Luckily for us, it was preserved well enough underground that it was still intelligible, and in it's contents, we found just the information we needed to create a more complete record of this transitive era.
The following is a compilation of all the writings in this book we were able to decipher:
"These past couple weeks have been worrying me. Wherever I go, I feel this strange sensation gnawing on me in the back of my mind, and everything seems out of place. At first, I dismissed it as my head playing tricks on me, but after talking to all my friends and learning that they had the same feelings as me, I'm not so sure. Hopefully, whatever is causing all this uneasiness with go away, but for now I guess there's nothing any of us can do."
"Alright, this is really getting weird. Ever since this weekend, I've constantly been seeing ponies roaming around the streets in black hoods, and each passing day I would count more and more of them go by. If it wasn't strange enough, whenever I watch them, they don't do anything other than trot about and stare at things. I asked Rarity if all this black coat stuff was some kind of fashion trend, but she appeared to be as bewildered by it as I was. Oh Celestia, please tell me this is all going to go away."
"I can't believe this is happening... all we wanted to do was set up for the Summer Sun Festival next week, and all of a sudden we're attacked by a horde of those hooded ponies. Why? Why are these ponies killing everyone in sight? Why are they burning the towns? What do they want from us? There are so many things I don't understand...
This all feels like a bad dream, but I know in my heart that there is no waking up from reality."
"I've been here in this prison for 4 days now, and today was the day I finally came face to face with the leader of these attacks. According to him, this entire assault is a plot to eliminate Celestia and Luna in order to bring power pack to the ponies. But why would he want to do that? Celestia and Luna always put their subjects ahead of themselves, and without them, how would we be able to move the sun and the moon? I wish I could stop him, but with all the injuries I've sustained, and the disabling of my magic, I have no choice but to watch as he continues to destroy everything we hold dear."
"Celestia, mom, brother... everyone, I'm sorry. I should have known this was going to happen sooner. I should have been able to stop this. I shouldn't have been the one to let all of you die. I'm sorry..."
There is no other writing past this last excerpt.
These writings have given us valuable new insights, as from them we have determined that:
A: POWs were taken during the campaign as evidenced by the existence of a prison sometime during the campaign.
B: There was little to no resistance the Equestrian military until the siege of Canterlot, otherwise it would've taken several weeks if not months for the freedom fighters to reach Celestia and Luna.
C: The ultimate goal of the rebellion was, in fact, to overthrow the royal sisters, and that their ranks were either numerous and/or powerful enough to defeat the entirety of the army and the Princesses with little casualty.
Though these breakthroughs shed light on our most prevalent questions, there are still many more things we still do not know; two of them being how their leader was able to become so powerful, and how he was able to amass so many soldiers that shared his beliefs without arousing the attention of the Princesses themselves.
With the permission of the board, I would like to excavate more of the city, as there are undoubtedly many more of these records buried under the rubble that will certainly provide us more knowledge to fully unveil this age-old tale.
NOTICE: The following is for the eyes of the Superior and President only, and is to be discarded after reading.
During our excavation we... found a stone tablet buried in the exact spot Celestia was said to have been struck down, when we translated it, well... take a look for yourselves:
"To my faithful subjects, I decree to all of you a foretelling: In 1000 years, on the day of the sun, a scion of my power shall be born. If you wish my return to the world of mortals, then guide them to the earth's spring, where I will be reborn, and the world regenerated."
Sirs, I am not certain of this, but it is strongly implied through the evidence we've found that this message was broadcast to every surviving citizen at the time of her death. If this is true, it's entirely possible that a large portion of our population could be secretly conspiring to overthrow our government once this promised time comes.
What is our course of action?
Author's Note
For the sake of your interest and my sanity, the rest of this story will NOT be in boring document exposition form. I just felt like I wanted to open up this story with something different than just your typical third-person exposition.
