The Saga of Equestria

There was once a great Kingdom of Equestria. From a wondrous hall, in glorious castle, in a forest of freedom did two Princesses rule.  The first and elder was infused with a spirit of wonder, that all who looked upon her would see her as their Princess. She banished the shadows from the soul with her warming eyes. Her white coat shimmed with sanctity and purity. Her mane flowed eternally with all the brilliant colours of the morning light. Her reign was glorious, her power unbound. She had mastery over the sun itself. She was Celestia bringer of light and hope. She ruled the day.

The second and younger sister was infused with a spirit of enchantment, that all who looked upon her would be cast under her spell. She soothed the soul with her twinkling eyes. Her dark coat rippled with allure and mystique. Her mane flowed eternally with the swirling constellations of starlight. Her reign was wondrous, her power eternal. She had mastery over the moon itself. She was Luna bringer of darkness and peace. She ruled the night.

Through their benevolence and vigilance they did keep their Kingdom safe. One to care for the day and the other the night. They supported each other in rule and in life, for deep was the love of these two sisters. With their splendour came a great price; the burden of their people and the curse of immortality. Timeless was their life as if their existence was eternal but not was the lives of those they loved. Family passed into memory, friendships where fleeting and the pain grew with each year. To rule is to be lonely and with such a burden the isolation grows.  Truly they only had each other.

The loneliness gripped Luna hardest. Celestia’s glorious rule of the day brought her praise and adoration. No such friendship did Luna know, the night was ignored. Its glory neglected, its beauty seldom wondered at. Worse pain of all was that as the years went on a distance grew between Luna and her sister. Celestia’s business took up such energy that even a Goddess of the Sun such her could not take the strain. Wars, plagues and crisis’ drained the Sun and soon it was only for brief moments in the twilight did the two share companionship.

Cut off from the world the Moon Princess began to despair, would anyone love her? Fearful and insecure Luna turned to her powers to try to find the adoration she surely deserved. Luna crept into the dreams of her subjects as was her duty to banish nightmares but now she sort to dazzle them with rich dreams of velvet emotions. The power of the dream enchantress captivated the minds of those who saw wonder in such things. Particularly did she mesmerize the minds of the young, children saw her in the light of a mystic love.

Even such little attention of little ponies was cherished by Luna, it seemed to her that those few which keep close to heart the glory of the night should keep together. If Celestia’s Kingdom was that of the day then Luna would forge a new Kingdom of the Night. She gathered to her all that would follow and left for a hidden place within the dark caves of the Equestrian mountains.

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Luna’s increasing despair and the now disappearance of ponies, many of them children would have caught Celestia’s eye if she had not been distracted by matters of increasing importance to the north. For far beyond the cold mountain passes of North Equestia there lay another realm of pony folk. The origins of this Kingdom where a mystery, it’s lands where expansive and strange. The jewel of realm was a vast city of crystal which gave its name to the realm; The Crystal Empire.

The beauty of the city was unrivaled, even Canterlot the great capital of Equestria could not match. Its building shimmered with shining stone, as did the coats of its inhabitants. Ponies of crystal they said, creatures of wonder and wisdom. The spire of the city reached to the heavens made of the clearest crystal known. Within the spire was the palace of the rulers of the Crystal empire. These Princess and Princes had kept on good terms with the Sisters of Equestria but of late they had fallen quiet.

The first inkling of danger crept into the mind of Celestia when the passes of Northern Equestria began to freeze in think solid snow. She sent word to the Empire but received no reply. Soon a great darkness was drifting over Equestria. Celestia feared the worse but still was reluctant to do anything, with her Kingdom in need of her aid and her Sister increasingly absent. Yet as the months past the darkness deepened, the same shadow she felt over the North began to drain the joy from her subjects. Perhaps it was the same presence that darkened Luna’s mood and drove her away, she did not know. What she did know was that she could no longer resist the threat, she need her sister.

Word reached Luna in her sanctuary that Celestia had summoned her. Tentatively she responded for she loved her sister dearly. Despite all her troubles there was no darkness in her heart, she did not feel bitter towards her sister. There was however little urgency in Luna, her secret corner of Equestria was protected by her magic and she knew not of the threat that loomed. Luna arrived in Canterlot in a mindset Celestia mistook for complacency. Scorn did Celestia pour upon Luna, anxious and weary from her duty she accused Luna of failing in hers. Stricken by such accusation the Luna Princess followed her sister north in a somber mood.

The coming of the Sun and the Moon to the Crystal Empire was like the shining of a torch to a long forgotten crevice. The light of hope and love that had once had the empire shimmer in brilliance had all but been extinguished.  The Crystal Heart of the Empire was a thorn of darkness. An evil had posed the land and it was made manifest in the King of the Empire. As laid low was mood of his subjects so was the mood of the King, known now only as Sombra. Sombra the slave driver, Sombra the Dark King, Sombra darkest Heart.

The evil was overpowering, beyond comprehension of the two sisters but such compassion they felt towards the ponies they witnessed enslaved, toiling in misery that they committed to banish Sombra and store the Crystal Empire. They summoned forth there finest and loyalist soldiers to march on the Empire and gathered to them the Elements of Harmony that had delivered Equestria from the darkness.

The battle was a struggle unseen before outside the Crystal Spire. Dark minions and spirits of Sombra fought the shining guard of Celestia and fighters of Luna. Yet it was inside the Spire that the true battle was played out. Before the steps of the throne Celestia and Luna battled the power of Sombra.

Striking from the shadows with a spear of darkness Sombra struck out at Luna and felled her before the throne. Wounded but cling to life Luna struggled on, resisting the darkness around her and watching her sister battle the Dark King alone. Celestia now was locked in battle against a tide of unimaginable evil, she called upon the elements but they gave no answer. Desperate, her thoughts on her dyeing sister she succumbed to Sombra. Visions filled her mind of her most fearful nightmare. She saw Luna turned to darkness and her kingdom ripped apart. Sombra told her such things where her fate but against the tide of terror she took a final gasp of hope and charged the hall with light breaking the trance.

Falling to her knees Celestia was lost of her strength, tearful and crying out for her sister she heard a whisper from her side, that of Luna. In that brief moment their sibling love charged the Elements of harmony, which struck out at Sombra The dark kings body was thrown back shattering as it clattering upon the throne itself, a bitter scream of anguished filled the hall. For a moment the darkness vanished but then it rushed out across the room flashing through the minds of Luna and Celestia. The Elements of Harmony flicked and the walls of the hall disappeared.

The two sisters now stood alone in the middle of an arctic wasteland. The Crystal Empire had vanished; its subjects, its houses, its mighty spire, the palace and vast library, the live stock and crops, all gone. Only a void of ice remained and upon it stood the two princess of Equestria surrounded by a thick storm of snow. As the snow began to clear their where figures visible, pulling themselves up from the snow. The remnants of Equestrian army had survived it seems. A hand full of guards and passed through to the other side along with the Princesses.

It seemed that Sombra’s power could only be banished along side the Empire he possessed. The survivors combined arctic via a starlight which quickly healed Luna of all her wounds. They found no reminisce of the Empire savour one. Buried in the snow they found the remains of the dungeons of the Crystal Empire and within it, huddled together, the few surviving members of the Royal family of the Empire.  Broken and tortured, their love for one other had kept them protected from the darkness and a higher destiny drawn them out of the curse that had befallen their realm.  Celestia took them under her wing and as they all returned to Equestia gave them hidden sanctuary to heal. The story of the Crystal Empire was over for now but the true ordeal was only just beginning. For what evil they had faced in the Empire of Crystal was only what evil they took with them, as an illusion its darkness and spender was and as the Empire vanished before their eyes all that it was filled their hearts.