My name is Captain Dusk. I used to be the commander of the 6. Before they came and destroyed it all.
The 6 were a small group of ponies, chosen by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to guard the Elements of Harmony with their lives.
It was a tradition that dated back thousands of years, in the time of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. For generations, the descendants of the original 6 would take place of the former guardians and, thus, becoming guardians themselves.
I was a descendent of Twilight, the first leader. It was my duty to lead the 6 into battle when the time called and to guard the most powerful element of all. Magic.
But those times are gone now. All that remains now is the tattered ruins of a once great land.
They came and and destroyed it all, burning every town, city and village they could get their hands on. We tried to resist, but it was useless. We were defeated. I’m all that remains.
All I can do now is tell the story of how they came. Before any of this. Before they destroyed Equestria.
It started 4 years ago in a Ponyville very different to the one you probably know. It was darker. Much darker.
It wasn’t a particularly happy place either. In fact, nowhere in Equestria was particularly happy. Not since the last battle with Discord.
But it was my home, and it was the best I would ever get.
Ponyville was filled with slums, lined with dirty, metal shacks. Sewage poisoned the once clear lake and rivers that ran through Ponyville and rats swum in it, as if it were a swimming pool.
As for trees, they died out years ago. Way before I was born. The only trees left were the ones in the Everfree forest, but even those were dying.
All that was left of Ponyville was a dump. Discord had destroyed it when he ruled over Equestria. It would take years for Princess Luna to fix things. But since her sister died, nothing had happened.
Ponies were left to fend for themselves. Most turned to crime. I didn't blame them at all. How else were they meant to survive?
Back to the story. I woke up to any normal day, the sun was fighting hard against the ash filled sky, trying to break through and cast a welcoming beam of light onto the slums.
I peered out of the tiny porthole I called a window, and gazed across the vast expanse of dirty, metal shacks. Most of ponyville was already up.
“Must of overslept...” I thought aloud, rubbing my eyes.
Outside, I could hear a fight breaking out, something I heard too often. There was no such thing as harmony any more. Most of Equestria was left in Chaos.
The fight was something to do with another petty Market theft, I just shrugged and went downstairs. I’d given up caring, there was no point.
When I got downstairs, I was greeted by my personal robot, Spike. I had built him myself, out of old bits of computer I had found lying around.
“Hello Sir. How are you today?” Spike said in a robotic voice. I don’t why I called him Spike, I just did I guess.
“I’m fine thanks Spike, any messages?” I responded. I don’t know why I asked if he had any messages to deliver, most of what I got was just spam.
“Only one Sir. From the princess.”
“The princess? What does she want?” I hadn't seen or spoken to the Princess in at least 10 years. Not since her Sister’s Funeral.
Ever Since then, Luna had kept to herself, rarely contacting anyone outside of Canterlot. If Luna had sent me a message, then it probably meant something bad.
“Open the Message Spike.” I commanded the Robot. What I saw was only a few words. The princess had kept it brief and simple.
"Come to Canterlot. Must talk. Urgent!
When I read the message, something inside me threw up.
“This is bad” I said. “Spike, pack my things. We’re heading out.”
“Why Sir? What has happened?
“I have no idea. All I know is that it’s bad...” With that, I rushed back up stairs and packed a small bag of supplies. I didn't need much as Canterlot was only an hour's ride away.
10 minutes after I had received the message, I was ready. I went downstairs, greeted spike and went out the door.
For once, it was actually sunny outside. The weather ponies had probably kicked a few holes in the clouds or something.
Me and Spike began to walk, taking care to avoid standing on the waste that littered the ground. When I was younger, I used to tidy it up a little, but as I got older and older, I started giving up. It just kept coming.
We were heading to the tube, which was basically a high powered train. It was the main form of transport for most ponies. Back in it’s day, it was a sight to see, with tunnels that went all around Equestria, carrying ponies wherever they wanted at unimaginable speeds.
But now, it was no more than a run down railway track.
“Hey Dusk!” A voice behind me called in a familiar tone “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” The voice was of Ash Cloud, a Pegasus pony who took care of the weather and one of my only true friends.
"Sup Ash.” I replied, welcoming him warmly.
“Nothin’ much, just chillin’ in the sky. You know how it is with me.”
“Thankly not, you lazy git.” I answered jokingly. “Aren't you meant to be clearing the clouds, like the other weather ponies?”
“Meh. I’ll do that later. Now why don’t you tell me where you're going huh?”
“I’m off to see Princess Luna, you better come along as well...”
“Why?”
“Put it this way, something very bad is about to happen, I think.” Ash cloud, like me, was also one of the Guardians. He represented the Spirit of Loyalty, and he certainly represented it well. I had known him since we were just fillys. We had done everything together. People used to call us Flim and Flam, what ever that meant.
“Sure, why not. Get’s me out this dump I guess.” Ash cloud answered.
“We’d better hurry up then, the train’s about to leave.”
“Correction, you better hurry up!” With that, Ash cloud sped off towards the tube, leaving me covered in a cloud of dust. I couldn’t help but laugh at Ash’s over competitive attitude.
Ever since he was a Filly, Ash had a dream of becoming the fastest Pegasus Equestria had ever known.
He would fly around for hours, attempting eye dazzling tricks at super fast speeds. In my books, he was the best, the fastest and the most arrogant Pony I had ever known.
In some ways, I admired him, but I knew that my place was on the ground, not in the cloud filled oceans above.
When me and Spike finally got to the tube, I found Ash lazing about on a bench looking proud.
“What took you guys so long? Huh. Thought you had somewhere to be? Ash called, smugly.
“Some of us prefer to take our time you know.” I replied, sarcastically.
“Yeh well, some of us prefer to waste as little time as possible” Ash cloud replied, light heartedly. “Very clever, now stop lazing about. We have a train to catch.” With that both me, Spike and the Pegasus pony hopped on board the train to Canterlot.
The train was cramped. Like always. Ponies were fighting over seats, whilst other were squashed against the windows, suffocating. Me and Ash cloud where at the back of the carriage, standing up and holding onto the metal bars above our heads.
We barely had enough room to move, let alone breathe.
When the train started, every one in the carriage jolted forward, some even falling over. The speed at which the train accelerated was funomenal.
Somewhere else in the carriage, I could here Spike robotic voice calling for me. “Where are you Sir?”
“I’m over here Spike!” I answered, waving me hoof in the air, indicating where I was. Spike managed to push past the already annoyed passengers and reach me. He accidentally knocked one pony over, causing a sudden row.
“Hey! Watch where going tinhead! You could’ve killed me!” The annoyed pony shouted, angrily.
“I’m a very sorry, it was accident.”
“I don’t care whether it was accident or not! You’d better watch it! Or i’ll tear you to shreds!” After this outburst, the whole carriage went crazy.
I don’t know why, they just did. People were throwing insults back and forth at each other, leaving me, Ash and Spike, huddled at the back of the carriage, trying not to get involved.
