Author's Note

First time attempting a AU and crossover story.

"There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others."

• Niccolo Machiavelli

Prologue: The Fall

The sky was littered with black clouds and a moon that only Luna herself could of created. Or in this case Nightmare Moon. Upon the balcony of her castle of black and silver, the new ruler of Equestria stands as she looks at the moon and night she brought with her power. She closes her draconian like eyes as she thinks back to all that has transpired in the span of a few years. The first memory to come to her was the return, her return to be specific. The day she returned was the day that the world of Equestria changed from what it was, to what it is now.

When she returned, she did not do away with Celestia, but instead defeated her before all the ponies of Ponyville. With the princess defeated, she took the throne and with her magic changed the world for what it was meant to be: a palace of darkness and shadows. She had met opposition at first, mainly from six mares who held in their hearts and souls the power to use the Elements of Harmony. Problem was with Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, for she could not find the sixth element. Now, Nightmare Moon could of disposed of the six with sheer ease, but... some other plans came to mind. Instead of wiping them out, she used her magic and changed them, making them more evil in a sense.

The final blow to the royal line came when Nightmare Moon brought in the weakened Celestia to see her former student using her magic to turn the town of Ponyville into a more darker town then what it was before. Instead of sunshine, there was only darkness. Instead of good, there was evil. Everything changed from a single spell made with the help of every unicorn and Nightmare Moon. At this point, Nightmare Moon had also decided to use her sister, Celestia, to at least raise the sun so every creature in the world doesn't realize what is happening. Celestia has fallen and a new world order is upon them.

The Mane 6 were also different from the spell and after Nightmare Moon's new plan. Instead of showing the night so that it maybe appreciated, the moon princess had a revelation. She rules Equestria, one place that now enjoy her nights.... but what of the other kingdoms? All the other creatures who would not appreciate her night? The best way to make sure they do is to have them change as well. To do so, she assigned each mare to a new job. The first one was of Twilight Sparkle, a mare with astounding magic potential as her job was to teach the unicorns how to use this dark magic, but also with her mind to be her personal tactician for combat with the other kingdoms. Her assistant, Spike, was in charge of ensuring everything was recorded for future rulers and young ones to learn. The next one to be turned was Rainbow Dash, with her astounding speed and maneuverability she was made leader of the aerial forces and pegasi species in Equestria. With her speed, she was able to make news travel fast and be useful in making alliances burn.

The next two to get changed were more for helping the ponies stay strong. Applejack, one of the strongest Earth ponies in Equestria was made responsible for the food and trade of Equestria along with new leader of the Earth ponies. With her in trade, Applejack soon saw a way to gain more bits to convince allies who had more 'golden' tongues with a few stretches of truth. The next one was Rarity, a unicorn of clothing. Her job was to simply arm the ponies for coming war and make clothing for winter and summer fights. Surprisingly, she was skilled in such a trade since it was like fashion, but with metal and steel. Though she never did it for free of course... unless forced to comply with the princess's orders.

The final two to change had gotten the worst of it. Pinkie Pie, a pony who could find sunshine in any amount of darkness, had turned to only spread darkness. Everywhere she went, she stomped out any hope of Celestia's return with her 'parties' which everypony called torture. She was tasked with retrieving information in anyway she can from captives and made worse with her partner Fluttershy. She was normally a shy, quiet pegasi, but after the change, she was more open about her opinions and more... aggressive. She trained the animals to be war like creatures for the new kingdom and helped in acquiring info with Pinkie.

As the time went on, the residents of Ponyville slowly got used to the new kingdom, the new rule.... the new world. In the sunshine, they kept up the appearance of being the 'good' ponies, but when night fell, they went back to who they were. It didn't take long for silent allies to arrive, the first of which was of the Changelings, the perfect agents of sabotage. When the Changeling queen Chrysalis came, she came as herself. No transformed form, no other pony, just as herself as she and Nightmare talked in private. Afterwords a plan was made, a plan to ensure a new feeding ground was made. The changelings help the kingdom and in turn they get to feed on emotions of what they wish. Fear, Happiness, Love, any of it from where they can get it even if sitting in on 'information extraction' and get feeling from the victim. That was all Chrysalis needed and from it a alliance was born.

It didn't take long for another alliance to be made, but with a kingdom long forgotten, The Crystal Kingdom. When the ceremony came of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, a little change in plan was made. During the wedding, a black crystal was brought in and from it a new spirit inhabited Shining Armor, the old king of Crystal Empire. King Sombra himself. The marriage went through and with it, the corruption of love to be turned to dark love. Cadence loves her new husband and with it, the new kingdom that came with it. A kingdom of darkness, the same as last time all those years ago when he was king.

No matter how it was seen, the shroud that Nightmare Moon had Equestria hold soon fell and all the other kingdoms saw it. The darkness, the horror as they called it. When truth was, this was the new world to come, but some decided to rise against them. These kingdoms call themselves the Lightbearers, a army that wants to restore Celestia to power. The problem was, as soon as the shroud fell, so did Celestia's usefulness. She was casted away, deep into a dungeon and shackled with anti-magic chains and shackles to prevent her escape in a room that is hidden from the world. Nightmare Moon now raises the sun and moon, but the sun now looked... dead. A floating orange globe that showed no life in it like it's yellow form before.

In turn to this, Nightmare Moon called themselves the Moongazers, but the war was harder then she had thought. For the last five years, the two sides had been in a lock of land at the border of Equestria itself. Ponies go to fight with magic, swords, and crossbows that could be held or used in a fight. The fighting was gruesome, but all for a better 'world' as Nightmare called it for her ponies. She was shaken from her thoughts at a presence in the room as she turned and saw her student walk in. The new princess was over eight feet tall in her normal blue armor that adorned her like a glove. Her piercing draconian like eyes look at the kneeling apprentice as she walked in her. Her spectral like hair and tail flow like the wind as her wings stay folded on her back. She stops as she places a hand on her apprentices shoulder to let her rise.

Twilight herself stood over five feet, six inches tall and with the colors of purple and green in her eyes. Her small crown that adorned her head to show her element was of a black and white star on silver metal. Her outfit was similar to Starswirl the Bearded's attire, yet purple and black. Her hair, a two tone purple and pink color, stayed in a ponytail down her back as she looks up "Princess. They are ready for the meeting" she says. Nightmare simply nods as she walks with Twilight out to the hall where her night guards stand at arms to protect her and others. The normal white marble floor and walls were now black and glistened like the night. The golden trim around the castle was silver instead, as if trying to remove traces of Celestia from the castle.

A large room sits in the middle of the castle ground. Within it's confines were her loyal subjects. Nightmare Moon sits at the head of the long table with Twilight next to her. At the right side of the table was Cadence and 'Shining Armor' along with Fluttershy and Pinkie. At the left side was Chrysalis, Rainbow, and Applejack as they all look over a large map of the world, mainly the border of Equestria to the rest of the world. So far, it showed that the battle was slowly losing. The other kingdoms had too many armies to fight against. Gryphons, minotaurs, zebras, all of them against Equestria and in the end, the battle looks lost.

All it would take is one all out attack and they would lose everything that was built up over the years under Nightmare's reign. Nightmare thought this as well for it had not escaped by her mind, but one thing brought it out. Before talk could begin, a violent quake came through the castle, but not just the castle, but all of Equestria and of the land around it. The battle at the frontline stopped as the quake happened toppling all units to the ground for as quickly as it came, it soon stopped. All the quake had caused was a hole to appear behind Equestrian lines. The only problem was, what came out wasn't Equestrian... or anything of their world at all.