Prologue Part 1: The Nations
For over 1000 years now, the nations of Gaea have been at peace. This is partly because there are only three or four nations capable of waging war, and none of them particularly want to. Let's list them, shall we?
First we have Equestria, the largest one. Equestria is a massive nation, inhabited almost entirely by ponies. Equestria is very peaceful, being ruled by a number of beings who are practically gods.
The second is Griffonia. Also very large, Griffonia is very traditional, and has a large army. The only reason they haven't taken over the world yet is because they are scared of the princesses of Equestria.
Next, in third place is the Changeling Republic. Made up of a number of hives, the queens of those hives form a council that decides what does what to who and why. They are the most fair of these nations, despite the claims of Equestria and Griffonia.
The fourth and final nation is not a country by most definitions, which is why I said three or four. The fourth nation is the Everfree Anarchy. No joke, that is actually what they call themselves as a nation. The Anarchy is the "governing" body of the Everfree Forest, which is the only forest in all Gaea that has an entire nation inside it.
These three realms have existed in (relative) peace and harmony for 1000 years. Then, five years ago, everything dissolved into chaos. It began with the return of Nightmare Moon. She invaded the Everfree, and the Everfree Anarchy took this as a declaration of war from Equestria. The leader of the Anarchy met with Princess Celestia in Canterlot three months after the incident. It didn't go down so well.
"This is an outrage!" The leader of the Everfree Anarchy roared. He was a very terrifying figure, especially when he was outfitted for battle. Naz-Mig was terrifying normally, being a Terror-Namdag gave you that. He was over 10 feet tall, very heavy, immensely strong and with a coating of nasty spikes. His chitin was tougher than dragonhide, and his longest teeth were the size of butcher knives. Terror-Namdaggs had poisonous saliva and sprayed it everywhere when they roared, so Princess Celestia had good reason to flinch. She attempted to say something that wouldn't make Naz-Mig even more angry.
"I am sorry that this happened to your country, but Nightmare Moon was not working for Equestria. She has now been reformed, and will not harm you anymore." Celestia calmly said.
"Do you expect me to believe that?!" Naz-Mig howled. "Nightmare Moon is a pony, and all ponies live and work in Equestria! She must be working for you! Also, she must be your sister, as she is an alicorn, isn't she?" Celestia realized that Naz-Mig was a lot smarter than he seemed. "She must be a princess!" He bellowed. "Only princesses are alicorns!"
"Nightmare Moon was my sister, Princess Luna. But she has been reformed by the power of the Elements of Harmony."
Naz-Mig considered this for a moment. "Very well," He finally said. "I will believe you. But another attack will not be tolerated. Do you understand?!" He roared.
"Yes."
After that, things only got worse. When Discord attacked, the Everfree was protected by the ancient elemental magic that had protected it for generations. But the Changeling Republic suffered. Discord's chaos magic infected the food supply of many hives with malice, which was not a particularly good thing. The Republic decided to gather food from Equestria, rather than their usual target, Egypt. While Egypt was used to the changelings coming to feed, Equestria wasn't. And in the aftermath, the changeling leaders were forced to apologize.
"I believe you have something to say." Celestia looked disdainfully at the four ornate changelings standing before her. They were the queens of the four largest changeling hives.
"We apologize for forcefully attempting to gather love from the ponies of Equestria." The most decorated changeling said. She was the queen of the largest changeling hive, Vitramax. The queen of a hive took the name of their hive when they became queen, so her name was Vitramax as well.
Celestia gestured towards the exit with her face a mask. Before they left, one of the queens asked Celestia a question. "Would you let us gather love from Equestria peacefully?"
Celestia answered coldly. "No."
Although the attempt failed, the Changeling Republic survived without going hungry. The battle, though short, showed Equestria that their army was ill equipped and trained to defend their land. So the Royal Guard was reformed and built up stronger. The events pertaining to King Sombra did very little on the international scale, but the ascension of Twilight Sparkle sure did. The Republic was unconcerned by the appearance of a fourth princess, the Anarchy was annoyed but remained quiet, but Griffonia was outraged.
"How can you let this happen?!" Griffaticus, the ruler of Griffonia, screamed. "You cannot make a new princess without informing the other nations beforehand! It's cheating! It isn't fair to the rest of us! We inform you before we elect a new Wing General! You Informed us when you decided to alicornify Cadence!"
"I know but-" Celestia began, but was cut off.
"But?? But what??" Griffaticus shrieked. "But nothing! You went behind our backs! How are we expected to trust you if you do things that we only find out about later?"
Celestia wisely remained silent.
"Tell us about any important decisions before you put them into effect."
"Yes." Was all Celestia said.
Clearly, none of the four were particularly happy with Equestria. They were all plotting their revenge through the mirror incident, and the Anarchy was almost ready to have their revenge when the strangler vines attacked and they were put under suspicion.
"You think we did it?!?" Naz-Mig roared in outrage. The Terror-Namdag was even more angry than normal. He was usually pretty angry, but today he was truly outraged. Normally, his level of anger was comparable to the energy output of a hot spring. Today, his anger was comparable to an erupting supervolcano. Celestia did her best to not cower away in terror or run away screaming like a filly. Her best wasn't good enough. She wilted under the next explosion of pure rage Naz-Mig let loose.
"Can you even see how damaged my throne room is?!?" Naz-Mig howled. "It's wrecked!! If not for the Elements of Harmony, the forest would have been torn apart by those vines!!! We would not have done it no matter what!! You must either be an idiot or senile to not see that we would not have done this!!!"
Naz-Mig slumped back, clearly exhausted by his display of anger. "I am sorry. I did not mean to insult you. I have been under a lot of stress lately, and the Anarchy is hard to rule normally." He rose onto four legs, leaving his remaining two for use as manipulation appendages. "Please accept my apologies."
Celestia smiled a trifle nervously. "I accept your apology."
"Thank you, Princess."
However, the true last straw was the Tirek incident. He rampaged, completely unchecked, across most of the world. The Elements of Harmony were able to stop him, but far too late. Chaos reigned for over a week as Lord Tirek stole the magic of everypony in Equestria. All the other nations of the world were marshaling their forces to defeat Tirek when the Elements made a comeback. They defeated Tirek and regained the magic of the world, but didn't help the other nations that had been affected. This resulted in a rather heated argument disguised as a meeting.
"Why aren't the Elements helping us?" Griffaticus snarled. "We got affected as badly as Equestria! If not worse!!"
"I agree." Vitramax said, nodding. "The changelings got drained too! All we got was our magic back. We need help!"
"The forest was hit harder than any of you combined!!" Naz-Mig roared. "The Anarchy desperately needs help!! Tirek and the Element of Magic fought their battle in the Everfree!! They should help us to pay for the damage they dealt, if not to help a fellow nation in desperate need!!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Twilight Sparkle, the aforementioned Element of Magic, protested. "I had to fight Tirek! He was going to destroy even more if left unchecked!"
"Ah! I see. He was going to destroy even more. I'd say you made all the difference, eh? You stopped all that extra damage being done. But I'd say you did a lot more damage. So, nothing really changed, now then, did it? IT SURE AS ***** DIDN'T!!!!!!!!" Naz-Mig roared, spitting out a particularly nasty curse word in the last sentence.
"I have to agree with Naz-Mig here, even if I don't approve of his language." Vitramax said, shooting a disapproving glare at Naz-Mig as she did so. "Tirek did a lot of damage, but so did you, Princess Twilight. Remember, you had the combined powers of four alicorns inside you at the time."
"Yes, but that is beside the point." Princess Celestia said. "The point actually is, we don't have the resources to provide aid to every country asking for our aid."
Griffaticus snorted in disdain. "Not enough resources? Equestria is dripping in resources. Look at this room alone! It is highly decorated, very large, and for some reason smells extremely nice, considering the assortment of creatures inside it." He looked at Naz-Mig as he said the last part. "I would say that you have more than enough resources to help us and continue rebuilding Equestria."
"We may have enough resources, but we don't have the right kinds. Our food supply is low, our weather is out of control, and we are running low on almost everything else that we or you need." Celestia protested.
"Do you have fertiliser?" Naz-Mig asked. "Or you running out of that too?"
"Umm... No?" Celestia said, clearly confused.
"Good. We'll take as much as you will let us. And magic regrowers too."
"Why exactly do you need fertiliser?" Twilight asked.
"Trees." Was all that Naz-Mig said as he left the room on all six of his legs.
All the nations affected found different ways to cope with the disaster. The Everfree Anarchy got off the easiest. Equestria gave them several dozen tons of fertiliser and magic regrower liquid and the woods were back in no time. Griffonia, being the farthest away from the incident, got off the second easiest. The Changeling Republic got off second hardest. Their nation was only affected magically, it was physically unharmed. Equestria was, unsurprisingly, the most affected. Tirek had rampaged across a huge area of land, smashing aside everything in his sight. It took a long time in Equestrian terms to rebuild, just over a year. However, the Tirek incident was nothing compared to what was next.
Next was the ascension of the Marked of Kane.
Author's Note
In case you were wondering what in high heaven this chapter is about, it's to introduce us to the other nations and leaders that will be involved in the war, at least on a large scale. There will be some other nations in this, but the four described above are the main ones.
Prologue Part 2: The Peacemaker, The Warrior, The Observer.
In our last chapter, we met the nations of Gaea and their leaders. We even met one of the main characters of this story. You'll find out who that was soon. In this chapter we will meet who this story is about. There's one for every nation and then some, let me tell you right off the bat.
First up are the Elements of Harmony. There's six of them, but only one is really important to this tale. You probably know of a fair amount of them, cause they're pretty famous. There's Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. The last one, Twilight, is the important one. The first thing that makes her important is the fact that she happens to be a princess. The second thing is that she has no idea how to be a princess. Oh yeah, and she isn't in on the big secret that Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are all in on. Not to be annoying or anything. The next character is a very unusual one. Her name is Unit 31. Her name used to be Lyra Heartstrings, but when she was upgraded to become a Marked of Kane, she took on a new name. She is pretty important as well. Then there's Brightclaw. He's a griffin, and he used to be in the army. He was a sergeant. He is possibly the most important character in this story. Actually, that was a lie. All the characters in this are equally important. Now that you know the basics, let's look at the average day for one of them, shall we?
Okay, I lied there too. We're going to look at the same day for all of them. This day is not an average day. This day is the beginning of the war.
The Day: Part One
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle was not having a very good day. It seemed that everypony in Equestria wanted her. Her normal duties as a princess were hard enough, but throw in being an bearer of an Element of Harmony and it got nearly impossible. And now, with Equestria preparing for war, her duties were multiplied tenfold. She suspected that most of the paperwork was being sent to her. Being the youngest alicorn in the world meant that her superpowers were used to sort and sign papers superfast. She sighed.
"No rest for the virtuous." She smiled at the misquote.
Suddenly, a paper arrived. The captain of her personal guard, Lt. Lightning Beam, had brought the dispatch to her directly. Having a big "Important" stamp on an envelope tended to speed the process along. She opened the letter and began to read.
IMPORTANT
This letter is for the eyes of Princess Twilight Sparkle only.
My dear Twilight,
I am sorry to tell you in a letter, but we are now officially at war. Griffonia declared it so don't worry about Equestria being called a warmonger. Unfortunately, we appear to have no allies as of yet. The Everfree Anarchy refuses to take a side, and many other nations think the same. I am sorry that the peace talks went so badly wrong.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia.
"Spike!!" Twilight called.
"Yes, Twilight?" Spike asked in a normal tone. He was standing right beside her.
"There you are! I need you to send a letter."
"Okay." Spike said happily. He produced a quill and piece of parchment from nowhere.
"Write this: Dear friend, I need to meet you soon. Please meet me at the normal place at 12:00 tomorrow. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle. Send it please, Spike."
"To who?"
"Brightclaw the griffin."
Now that you know how Twilight reacted, let's see how Unit 31 fared, shall we? Being a Marked of Kane, she probably fared pretty well, but it's nice to be sure, don't you think?
The Day: Part 2
Lyra Heartstrings/Unit 31
Lyra was having an excellent day. She still wondered why she preferred to think of herself as Lyra Heartstrings, rather than her new identity, Unit 31 of the Marked of Kane. She remembered that Unit 01, the leader of the Marked and her immediate superior, wanted her to report to the Temple of Nod soon. She wondered why as she powered up her particle beam for another shot. Right, her excellent day. She smashed a griffin aside and blasted another one to dust with an expert shot from her arm-mounted cannon. A griffin loomed out of nowhere, and she blinded it without any conscious thought. She was glad that Unit 20 had thought to install a photon projector instead of a portable EMP. It sure was useful. She shot one final griffin and watched in satisfaction as the former griffin particles drifted down to the floor. The terrain around her was wrecked, particle beams left a lot of wreckage behind.
Good thing it wasn't real. The illusion flickered away, gore and hill and burning ground and all. Lyra was now in a steel box, called a illusion chamber. The immense room was charged with magic, making it the perfect environment for combat simulations. Lyra left the room, passing a line of Marked patiently waiting for their turn. There were more Marked in the line than there had been Marked in total when they arrived in Equestria. The 37 Marked waiting were all recruits, mostly old ponies that had decided to join the Marked instead of wasting away their lives at a retirement home. A fair few were terminally ill ponies of all ages, also deciding to join the Marked instead of wasting away their relatively short lives. Lyra walked through a maze of passages, passing Marked and normal ponies alike. Everyone had a job to do. There was no slacking off in the fortress.
Lyra approached the Temple of Nod, a massive building housing an armoury, a lab, the Surgery Room, and many other strange places. But most importantly, it housed the command centre of the Marked of Kane. That was where Lyra was headed.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Lyra asked. She couldn't believe how much she had changed in all aspects. Her voice, her mindset, her appearance.
"Yes, thank you for coming, Unit 31." They both knew that Lyra would have come no matter what. Unit 01 was the leader, after all. "There are actually two things that I have summoned you for. The first is that our scientists have prepared a new variety of armour. I would like you to test it out."
"I would be honoured, sir." Lyra responded.
"The second thing is even more important." Lyra wondered what could be more important than a new design.
"We are now at war."
For a second, Lyra experienced something she never thought she'd experience as a Marked. Shock. She was shocked into silence by the proclamation. She wasn't surprised by the proclamation itself, but how early it had come. She had expected at least another month.
"The griffins finally declared?"
"Yes."
"Then I guess I'd better get into that new armour."
Lyra reacted pretty well, actually. Being turned into a cyborg tends to do that to you. But the third member of our cast of characters is a griffin, understand. Here's how he fared.
The Day: Part III
Brightclaw
Brightclaw was having an average day. Now, understand this: an average day for him at this point is like a terrible day for the rest of us. He judged it by how bad his life had been before. It had been pretty bad. Six months ago, his life went to Tartarus. Here's how it happened. In the first month, he was in an assault on an Equestrian border outpost. He was one of five survivors. He only survived because he ran away before the battle really began. For the crime of cowardice, he was exiled. He was forced to go to Equestria. Naturally, things only went downhill from there. It took him another month to get into Equestria, which would have taken a week normally. Nearly being at war really closed borders. The fact that he was a soldier probably was a factor too. The next two months were spent looking for a job. You can guess how well that went. Finally, he managed to get a position as a private investigator. I won't go into details, because I am not omnipotent. So his life is now finally looking up. He's got a job, is on the good side of the law, and has just received a letter from Princess Twilight Sparkle. He read the short, franticly worded piece of paper calmly.
Dear friend,
I need to meet you soon. Please meet me at the normal place at 12:00 tomorrow.
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.
"Received a letter from your marefriend, eh Bright?"
Brightclaw sighed. "For the thirty-third time, she's not my marefriend."
He turned to look at the smirking griffin that was the current bane of his existence. He had grey feathers and a contrasting golden coat of fur. It was his fur that had earned him his name, Goldhide. He was Brightclaw's little brother, and his roommate.
"Then why are you seeing her all the time, and why do you come back smiling every time?" Goldhide taunted.
"I see her every day because she has work for me a lot, and I return smiling because she pays me well." Brightclaw responded, exasperated.
"And what exactly do you do for her?"
"Investigative stuff."
"How investigative?"
"Not like that, you moron." Brightclaw smacked his brother upside the head. "She gives me cases to work on, and I solve the cases. Easy as that."
"Okay." Goldhide said. Brightclaw sighed. He knew that his brother would forget eventually, and he'd have to explain again soon. He left their small, shared apartment and went into the grimy maze of streets that was downtown Ponyville. Ponyville was a lot larger than most ponies thought, and it had its good side and its bad side. Fortunately, the bad side was, proportionately, much smaller than the good side. It was about 20% of the size of "Good" Ponyville. Brightclaw did his best to enjoy the walk. There wasn't much to enjoy, unfortunately. Most of the once nice houses had been sprayed with graffiti, there was very little that was appealing to the eye and the ponies that lived here were either very poor, criminals, or were like Brightclaw. Meaning, they had nowhere else to go. Brightclaw abandoned his pursuit of trying to enjoy the walk and just trudged along. Soon he'd reached the normal meeting spot. He glanced at the clock. 11:50. Ten minutes early. He would have to wait.
"You're early." Apparently not.
"So are you." He said, turning toward the voice. A amethyst coloured mare smiled at him.
"You have something you want investigated?" Brightclaw asked. Twilight may have been his friend, but she was his primary employer first and foremost. They had met shortly after Brightclaw had moved to Ponyville. He had always wanted to be a detective, and that was the first job he'd applied to after coming to Equestria. Sadly, although he proved to be very good at it, he couldn't be accepted into the police force because of his former employment and the circumstances of his release from work. The next best option was to become a private investigator, which he could manage. He'd met Twilight after setting up business in Ponyville. She needed to get evidence to convict someone of a crime, and she was too busy to do it herself. She had heard that there was a private investigator in town, so she'd hired him. After he'd done a excellent job, Twilight began to hire him often, and soon they were in a business relationship. Although Goldhide continuously claimed that they were dating, which they were not.
"Yes and no." Twilight's expression turned serious. "First, Griffonia declared war."
"Already?" Brightclaw exclaimed. "I thought that we had at least another month."
"Me too." Twilight agreed. "But what's done is done. We can't stop it now. Second, I need you to pick up the pace on the investigation on the Marked. Use your sources. I'll give you resources if you need them. All you need to do is ask, and explain why you need them. You still have the communicator I gave you, right?"
"Yep. I'm wearing it right now."
"Excellent. Contact me if you find anything."
"I will."
Now the story can truly begin. I urge you to not get too attached to anyone, dear reader, because there will be a lot of death. I dearly hope you find this enlightening. I certainly did, watching ponies, griffins and servants alike slaughter each other in droves. And remember, You are one, We are many, but together we are legion. That will be very important.
Author's Note
And the sequel is done!! At least, the prologue is. I dearly hope you all like this. Enjoy!!
