A Pony's Tale: Equestria's Fall

150 Years Earlier

It all began with a child. An unusual child was born within the colony of the Kindlings; a race of no conflict or flaws. Born with a major skin condition and strange power greater than any of the others, this both amazed and caused a great fear to emanate within the lead Kindlings, Barxan and Seyci. Eventually, both considered the child a threat to society and exiled the newborn from the Kindling Kingdom, leaving it for dead.

Not long after his exile, the Kindlings were attacked and defeated by another ruthless race known as, the Changelings. All those that had exiled him for being different from them were now defenseless and trapped, being used as food for the Queen of the Changelings at that time; Queen Archna.

She had hoped for the love that existed within the Kindlings to be enough to fulfill her desire to be young once again. Unfortunately for the queen, that wasn't the case, and she remained her same elderly age. After the invasion of the Kindling Kingdom, Queen Archna had discovered the abandoned child out in the cold, and upon discovery, sensed an unfathomable strength within the child. Most newborns would've died in such harsh conditions, but Queen Archna recognized the child as a fighter. She decided to spare the child, sensing a deep hatred within him; a hatred for his own kind. The queen proposed a test to determine just how much power the child contained, putting his abilities to the test.

She put one of the more useless Kindlings into a contained area with the child, and upon one glance, the child did something that not even the queen had been expecting; with one violent grasp around the victim's neck, the poor thing had developed a sickly green and black bruise in the inflicted areas.

It wasn't much longer before the subject had died from what Archna named, the "Shadow Virus," and that if the child were trained to handle these abilities correctly, he could pose as a major threat for the Changeling Kingdom. Within her last years of life, Queen Archna had put Viro through rigorous training, teaching him how to fight and defend under the harshest of conditions. She intended to turn him into an unstoppable killing machine, and as the years passed, he only grew stronger, smarter, wiser, and much more terrifying. Even his fellow brothers and sisters cowered in fear before him, seeing Viro as a reincarnation of Queen Archna herself, only much more powerful and dangerous on all levels.

Archna gave her adopted child a special name; a name that in the Changeling language meant "ruthless." A name that struck fear into those whom were unfortunate enough to encounter this monstrous being. His name is and always will be "Viro."

Present day

Within the dense and ice cold tundra of the Misty Mountains, Viro arrived in what was once known as the Kindling Kingdom, but now seemed like long-forgotten ruins. Massive structures that once stood tall, now lied as broken and decrepit fossils left to rot over the many centuries still to come. All that remained within that forgotten kingdom, was a solace for the Changeling Queen to produce an army of thousands of ruthless warriors. Over the century that had passed since Chrysalis had been crowned, along with the many years before she could produce children of her own, the Changeling army had grown massive in numbers.

Before the new queen had been crowned, the newly developed Changelings produced by Archna had either been stillborn or had died shortly after hatching. The cause of this was due to Archna's age and health, being deathly ill and unable to produce any healthy children. It became obvious that her reign as queen was near its end, and resorted to deeming her most healthy and loyal child as the new queen. That child was Chrysalis.

Chrysalis was nothing short of cunning or manipulative. Like Viro, she too was feared by her fellow brothers and sisters, given her many displays of raw power and tactics. She had even crippled some of her fellow siblings in battle supposedly unintentionally, but even Viro could see in her tactics, that she had intended to cause permanent damage. Archna saw it too and knew that Chrysalis would be her choice to take the place on the throne as Queen of the Changelings when she passed.

And so it was; not long after Archna had made her decision, the new Queen of the Changelings had been crowned, despite her age being too young to produce eggs. However, five years after her coronation, and now old enough to produce eggs, Chrysalis fulfilled her mother's wishes. She produced a massive amount of children, all of them being ruthless warriors with one purpose to live; to serve their queen and swear their loyalty to the Hive.

However, Viro had his own tactics. With a burning hatred for what remained of his race, he decided to "preserve" the creatures that had left him for dead, feeding off of their fear, strength, and life force for centuries upon centuries. The Kindlings had a strange type of digestive system, being able to feed and survive off of one meal for a hundred years, explaining why the Kindlings had lived for so long undetected by ponykind. The earliest that their existence could be dated back to, is two-thousand years before the age of Celestia and Luna had arisen.

Viro was over a hundred years of age, yet he still seemed young, much like Chrysalis. The Changelings were much similar to the Kindling race, being able to live for centuries upon centuries, but only if their food source was accessible. Over the course of one-hundred fifty years, only fifty or so Changelings had perished. Most cases were due to age or that some had been cast out as nuisances to the Hive by the queen herself. Within the first decade of Chrysalis's rule, she had produced premature children that were either deformed, unable to support themselves, or just weak in nature. This was normal for a female Changeling, as a younger and newer female's system isn't fully developed, causing the production cycle to have flaws, resulting in unnatural births.

It wasn't until the eighth year into Chrysalis's rule that her system had fully developed, and at long last, she was producing healthy litters of offspring. As the Hive grew in numbers, Viro had begun to devise a plan on a way to support both the Hive, his queen, and to make the Changelings the superior race of this new world known as "Equestria."

So begun the rise of the Changeling race by striking fear into the lands beyond Equestria, claiming each of them either by force or surrender. Most fought to protect their lands, but were quickly defeated by the fraction of an army that Chrysalis provided the young tyrant.

One by one, lands were taken, seized, and devastated by Viro's army. Many resisted. Many fell. It was clear that the land of Equestria was slowly entering a new era and that victory was assured. That is, until Chrysalis took matters into her own hooves. She betrayed Viro, growing impatient with his tactics, and made her own plan. A much quicker and agile plan that would assure victory in rule over Equestria.

The queen infiltrated the city of Canterlot on the eve of the royal wedding between Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and the captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor. Using her stealth and abilities to match any pony she had seen in this city, she kidnapped the princess, and proceeded to disguising herself as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, in an attempt to wed the groom. All had gone according to plan, until on the day of the wedding, she was outwitted by a group of six ponies, and with no chance of recovering, Chrysalis was defeated by the power of love.

It didn't take long for Viro to become aware of Chrysalis's betrayal, and in a fit of anger, threatened to abandon the Hive, unless the queen deem him as part-ruler, as punishment for her betrayal. Being stubborn and unwilling to give into Viro's demands, Chrysalis denied the requests. Keeping his word, Viro immediately left the Hive, keeping the lands he had conquered under his rule.

Time passed and Chrysalis had tried again and again to seize Equestria, only for each attempt to fail. Through her reckless actions and failures, many of her soldiers had been killed in battle by those who opposed her army. The army of millions had faltered to a mere hundreds, and Chrysalis had begun to see the errors of her ways. With no plans or any further actions to take, Chrysalis swallowed her pride and tracked down Viro in one of the seized villages he had conquered many years before.

The meeting between the two was more bittersweet in nature with a mixture of hatred and an uncalm that shook the land like an eruption. After much contemplation between the two, both had come to a compromise. After reforming an army massive enough to conquer lands with little to no complications, Viro proceeded with his original plan, heeding Chrysalis's warning on the "Elements of Harmony."

These mysterious relics didn't even intimidate nor feel like any sort of threat to the young tyrant, but to keep Chrysalis's trust, he just went along with whatever she considered "threatening." Through his travels and conquering countless lands, Viro had learned more of these "Elements of Harmony," and their properties. These relics could only be activated certain ways, and only by certain beings able to represent the elements themselves. This information had allowed the young tyrant to spot the one weakness of these relics, and immediately devised a plan on how to render them as no threat to his plan to take over Equestria.

All he had to do was dispose of one of the bearer's, as they could only work if all the element bearers were present. With his powers and abilities, he saw his plan to do so as no struggle.

So begun the beginning of the end, with his first objective being to take out the only possible threats that stood in his way; the princesses of Equestria and beyond.

Using torture and brutal force, Viro forged a letter from what seemed like a harmless source, its target being Princess Luna. Viro had preferred to divide his threats, rather than taking on all of them at once. Despite being powerful, Viro had decided to take no chances of being defeated, not knowing just how powerful these princesses were.

With one princess defeated, Viro's plan had fallen into motion. Following Chrysalis's demands, he proceeded forward with his second objective; to strike fear into the ponies, targeting one of element bearers; the Princess of Friendship herself. However, Viro had plans of his own to accomplish his objective.

Like the monster he was, Viro toyed with the princess's emotions, infecting and slowly killing her most loyal assistant the night prior to when the reveal of Luna's defeat and death would be bestowed upon ponykind. Events unfolded, and what was meant to kept as a quiet situation to avoid panic and fear being plagued into the ponies's minds, became an epidemic.

Now, here Viro was. The place he was cast out of twice. The snow flew in the breeze, as he descended into a ruined monument, out of the blistering cold, and into the damp and moist dwelling of the Hive he called his home. An ominous green glow ensued his vision along with groups of Changeling soldiers of all ages pinning their eyes on the tyrant. With his presence came a dead silence, minus the dripping of liquids from cocoons that had recently hatched.

Whenever his presence was known, no creature spoke or moved a muscle for good reason, knowing what he was capable of in all manners. Viro walked forward with a blank expression, until he came to the throne where Chrysalis sat with royal composure. Once she caught sight of Viro, Chrysalis rose to full attention and gave the tyrant a look of what one could describe as "malicious yet satisfied."

"Welcome back," Chrysalis said in her kindest tone of voice but could only be heard as intimidating. "I trust that you followed through with what I instructed?"

"Yes, my queen," Viro replied in a blank voice. "One of the four princesses has been disposed of, the element bearer has been temporarily disabled, and the message is clear. They fear each other now more than anything, and it's only a matter of time before paranoia ensues their minds, along with their actions as well."

"Excellent, you've done well, Viro," Chrysalis stated. "With the Elements of Harmony eliminated as a threat, I think it's time that we mobilize the army that I've worked so hard and long to create."

"You mean the army that WE'VE worked long and hard to create," Viro lashed in a mighty voice that sent a shiver down every Changeling's spine.

The queen took a step back from Viro, knowing that she was no match for him, had he decided to resort to violence. She bit her tongue to not lash back in retort, holding her stance and making direct eye contact.

"The plan will proceed as it was planned to from the beginning, Chrysalis. The army will mobilize, but the target will not be Canterlot nor Ponyville. I have full control of those areas for the time being, so we will hold off on a direct strike to those locations for now. For now, we will proceed to initiating a full strike upon another important target, and the task will be simple; eliminate all who oppose."

Chrysalis ate the words with bitter disgust, but she couldn't object, seeing Viro was part-ruler of the Changelings and had all rights to whatever she could command. She just swallowed all of her anger into her stomach and turned to Viro.

"And where exactly do you plan to strike, Viro?" Chrysalis questioned.

"The Crystal Empire," Viro stated. "We are going to eliminate the Princess of Love, along any other fool who dares to stand in our way."

Chrysalis smiled at that statement, due to her defeat all those years ago. She could finally strike back at the one that defeated her and get the revenge she deserved. Despite how she had felt toward the young tyrant just moments ago, she held a smile, slowly revealing her sharp teeth in a grimacing smile that spoke malevolence.

"I'll prepare the troops," Chrysalis said with a mild happiness. "For now, it would be best that you feed. You will need all your strength when we strike."

"The misery I obtained in my mission was enough to feed my strength for another century," Viro claimed. "We leave at dawn. Be ready or be left behind."

With that statement, Viro turned from Chrysalis, and walked off to take care of some business of his own. Something he had kept hidden from Chrysalis and knew she couldn't find, due to the form of entrance. Viro still was a Kindling, so he still had the properties and abilities of any Kindling. He walked out of the Hive, deep into the ruined society of his kind, until he came to what used to be a temple. Most of the temple was still intact, save for the shattered windows, and the stone structure was stained with the blood from the Kindlings that were killed when Queen Archna and her army had invaded and conquered the land. Frozen corpses and skeletons were littered across the outside of the structure, preserved like fossils for the remainder of history. Viro eyed them with hate.

"You deserved every bit of what you received that day," Viro stated to the corpses with might and vigor. "The day the dawn of a new beginning was forged to those who deserved to exist in all of its glory. For the longest time, you thought you would outlive history, but now, I'm about to prove that false."

Viro turned his attention from the corpses and entered the temple. Most of the infrastructure was decrepit and rotted, except for one part that Viro had intentionally kept intact. He walked deep into the temple, until he came to a trapdoor. Placing one of his hooves on the surface of the door, an outline of ancient scripture manifested in full light, revealing a seal that could only be accessed by the race that forged it. After speaking a phrase in the Kindling language, the seal disappeared and the trapdoor unlocked.

Wasting no time, Viro opened the trapdoor and descended into the dark depths of what used to be a storage cellar for medicines and spell books. Now, the cellar only contained what remained of the Kindling race, minus Viro. With a flash of his appendage known as a "coronican" the cellar was ignited with light. Very similar to a horn, only more curved and able to sustain more magic than a Changeling or unicorn.

Chained to the wall were two near-skeletal creatures that struggled to even move. They groaned and moaned from a mixture of the light and their aching limbs, as they looked upwards at the young tyrant. Upon seeing who had disturbed their peace, the two creatures frantically moved toward the wall, away from the creature before them.

"Hello Barxan and Seyci, it's good to see you again after fifty years of absence," Viro stated, following with a chuckle. "Fortune has seemed to have finally crossed your paths, for at long last, after all these years, I've decided that you no longer satisfy my hunger. Therefore, I think it's time that I fulfill the promise I made over one hundred years ago."

A silence followed, but was quickly replaced by the sound of charging magic, and the force of an earthquake. The two creatures immediately resorted to panic, knowing what was coming, as the magic and quaking continued to increase to a level of impossibility. After what seemed like a long time, the quaking stopped, and Viro stood with his coronican glowing green with a radiance mightier than the sun. Viro expressed a sinister smile, speaking a final set of words to the main Kindlings that exiled him exactly one-hundred fifty years prior.

"Even if you survive the debris, you won't survive the cold. The cold you left me for dead in, and now, you'll die in it!"

With all of his hatred and anger displayed, Viro released his hold on the spell, and with the force of ten alicorns, collapsed the temple, killing the only remaining Kindlings except himself. To avoid the collision, Viro took the first chance he had to escape, standing outside the temple, watching it crumble in a fit of amusement.

"So ends the Age of the Kindlings, and marks the beginning of the Age of the Changelings. Soon, the Age of Ponies will be all forgotten and harmony destroyed."

Viro chuckled in amusement, then flew off back to the hive to prep for what would follow the following day.