New World, New History

The final great uprising, as I've said, brought about the Fall of the great empire. The Atticus (as he will be referred to from now on), in his glory, sacrificing his own magic and flight for the good of the rest of the ponies, led those he was representing to do the same. Only a few who were not present retained their powers. Certainly there must have been some Alicorns which were traveling or imprisoned during this time, which did not receive the honour of attending the Atticus' glorious mass sacrifice. Those few, as we will find later on, are rumored to have placed many pivotal systems into motion - without which, the Native world would not look or be nearly the same. As I mentioned before, with the leader of the ruling class's surrender to guilt, the worst of the high class was stripped of their Alicorn status, and reduced to either Pegasus or Land-pony status, to match their personal crimes. With this blanket punishment upon the most evil of the ruling class, a large issue was raised, for the most hated of them all were the most essential to the planet's life. Those who moved the celestial bodies, in fact, were downgraded to a pitifully lesser degree than the rest of the ruling class, and their distinctive bloodline eventually came to be known as one of shame, and was avoided by all nations.

By committing their sins against the populace, the necessary "prime movers" earned their punishments respectively, and could not be granted any leniency due to their roles in the planet's cycles. Where would the empire's legendary justice lie, if they were spared the due payment? Such a desperate act would have been much more tragic than any national defeat at the hands of an enemy! If there was ever a time more in need of the nation's wisdom and unnatural talent for creativity, I would be hard pressed to unearth the tales of it. This empire was coming to it's end, as everypony knew in the time, due to a series of prophecies (which I still do not fully understand) which declared the indications of the Fall. Knowing this, these ponies simply made their own disintegration as pleasant as possible, not only for themselves, but for the rest of their world.

With the elimination of the Alicorn Empire, came the question of just who was to move the sun, moon, and stars. With the majority of the Natives having lost their Alicorn abilities, very few remained who could still carry out this vital task. Those who still could offer their suddenly-rare services, did with great pride, as the highest order of duty obtainable. Given the time of confusion and lack of respectable leadership, the Atticus was looked to as a sort of king and leader of the commons. Under his guidance, a temporary solution was brought up involving the remaining Alicorns to take turns, or 'shifts' in groups of two, with one managing the sun, and the other the moon and stars. This system, though invented as a temporary solution, kept in practice for many years. Though many things happened while this took place unrelated to the issue of the movement of the celestial bodies, the Atticus made it his personal mission to maximize the efficiency and minimize the effort required, for the movement of the sun, moon, and stars.

Many spells did he invent and perfect, it is said, that have made their way into the most common of the arcane used today by Alicorns and common Unicorns alike. Luna in particular, in her frequent studies of magic, has attributed many great things to that Atticus especially, in the days following the Fall. There is much to say of him, and the astounding situations which he played a vital role in, but I shall save those stories for their proper time. For now, though, it is suffice to take note of his presence as the first Atticus A.T.F., and to make clear his intention to simplify the arcane for the good of the "Prime Movers" to move the stars and moon, and for the common pony in kind.

With the celestial bodies moving on their respective schedules again, and the flow of horrified foreign dignitaries at an end, the process of sorting out the fallen empire to it's inhabitants began. The prior soldiers, instead of, on pains of banishment, guarding their victimizers, they returned home to their families and guarded them. the commoner's life never actually changed, besides perhaps, being able to eat. The ruling class was no more, and, besides the few who repented for their hateful ways, fell to beggars on poor streets.

I feel like I should address here a large controversy, and one which should not exist. No chaos ever truly reigned in these days, despite Scribere's remarks upon the "dissolving of every form of societal standard." While the statement would seem to lend itself to mean that every pony was 'for themselves', no such record exists of destruction, so likely her intention in the comment is to say that complex society seemed to reform itself from the ground up, with what existed before in the empire, "dissolving." Indeed a great loss was felt, but in kind with the empire's docile nature of true kindness, no anger or revolt ever resulted from it.

Besides the arcane, this first A.T.F. Atticus did well to raise public support, not for himself, but for one another. His points were accurate in every instance, and he often made references to the body as an analogy for the refugees from the fallen empire. A great sense of awe this inspires in me, as how both Plutarch speaks of a speech like this, as well as, should my memory serve me, many great poets - that a hand cannot say to the liver, "I have no use for you." The hand may, indeed, never see the use of the liver - but the body to whom the hand belongs, does. Without the liver, the body would have many different problems, resulting in the body's demise. Speeches similar to this, to unite the populace, had wondrous effects upon an already nearly-perfect bunch of ponies, resulting in an array of familial lines which still exist to this present day in some form or another, and legendary friendships which have lived on for generations in both tales and an abundance of artwork dedicated to such perfect bonds. Through the removal of their protecting walls, in their bonds of tribulation, they found a joyous time rivaling the Pax Augusta (Peace of Augustus), in which the whole of the Roman empire was safe from all harm, and kept truly safe by the glorious men who stood at arms to, by their shield-wall, take the blow for the rest of Rome. Without the Terrarian war-like manner of handling things, they found that special peace only obtainable by friendship and kindly love for one another. Much was required, and much was done, to create and keep operable this golden peace enjoyed by so many, and the details I shall go into in another book.