Prologue: The Fall of Cloudsdale

The clouds were burning. The air reeked of blood and sulfur. Rainbow Dash’s head was spinning, throbbing. She desperately tried to focus, trying to understand where she was, and what was going on. Why was she on the ground? Why was the sky on fire?! In the distance, she saw a tall figure, wearing a red, fur-lined cloak approaching her. She forced herself to her hooves, grunting with pain as she stood, and looked around nervously. Her fear turned to outright panic as she saw the ground littered with the bodies of other pegasi, some struggling and groaning in pain, others completely motionless. Dread filling her, she turned back to the sky. Where there should have been a city, there was nothing but fire. Cloudsdale was gone.

“SOMBRA!”

She quickly turned her head toward the source of the rage-filled cry, nearly falling over from whipping her head around in her condition. Either she was heavily concussed and hallucinating, or a unicorn happened to just magically appear.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Demanded the newcomer, approaching the dark figure. Two unicorns, one a smoky gray and one a gentle beige, stood face to face, each with regal bearing. It was then that she realized just who they were. Sombra, of course, was the High King, the Ageless Emperor, the undisputed ruler of Equestria. And that other pony...That was King Aegis, of Canterlot.

“I believe you mean ‘King Sombra,’ Aegis. Don’t forget your place.” Sombra slowly turned his gaze back to the sky. “Cloudsdale has been proving...unsatisfactory of late. So, I thought I'd change things around. The tedium of eternal life is a horrid thing. I’m going to let the Gryphons try the weather for a while. They’re terribly inferior, but, then, so are pegasi.” As if to punctuate this statement, he kicked a dead body across the ground, sending it rolling toward King Aegis.

Aegis clenched his eyes shut, his teeth grinding, tears running down his cheeks as Sombra reveled in the destruction. Aegis walked over to Rainbow Dash, presumably because she seemed to be the only pegasus standing at the moment. “Listen to me. I need you to find whatever survivors you can and get them out of here. Get to Canterlot.”

She nodded weakly and started checking bodies for any signs of life, though her search grew ever more grim with every corpse. The High King stared at her, bemused. “I’ll just have to kill them all later when they come for revenge. At least that will provide some entertainment...”

Aegis walked back to Sombra, drawing his sword as he went. “I cannot sit idly while you tear down entire cities.” He announced.

“You are welcome to try to stop me.” Sombra smiled. “I’ll even return your body to your daughters.”

Aegis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “...Thank you,” he said quietly. He let out a mighty bellow as he charged, swinging his blade down at Sombra.

The High King’s horn glowed. A single point of light appeared in the air, intercepting the blade, holding it back. With a brilliant flash, a shock wave exploded out, throwing Aegis through the air, and shattering his sword. Sombra slowly walked towards him as he struggled to his hooves. With another yell, he threw a punch. His hand was stopped less than an inch from Sombra’s face, his bones shattering as he hit a magic shield. His right arm hung limply at his side. His horn began to glow but immediately dulled as black crystal shards grew out of it. Sombra grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air, slowly choking the life out of him.

“Really? Your last gambit was your magic? You were known as 'Aegis the warrior,' not 'Aegis the wizard.' You should have taken me up on my offer when you became king. I could have granted you all the power you needed to destroy me and take my empire for your own. I wonder if your daughter will be more receptive?”

Aegis’ left arm furiously clawed at Sombra’s hand, the last act of desperate, futile defiance. Sombra stared without emotion as he watched the light fade from his vassal’s eyes. He turned to face Rainbow, who had frozen in place, horrified at the brutality she’d just witnessed. He tossed Aegis' lifeless body at her, the late king landing unceremoniously at her hooves.

“Go on. Find the last of your useless pegasi. Take them to Canterlot. Don’t deny a king his dying wish. And drag his corpse back to his home.” He turned and began walking away, and as he went, the magic fueling the flames waned, and the clouds returned to normal. But Cloudsdale was gone. And so were nearly all of its ponies.

The pegasus managed to gather up whatever survivors she could find. So many lifeless bodies, but so many more injured. The living were the priority. There was no time to bury the dead, no time to tend to any of them...except one. Disoriented and frightened, with their whole lives torn apart, they turned to Dash for leadership. After all, she seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on. Limping, struggling, Rainbow lead her ponies to what she hoped would be a new home. At her request, two pegasi wrapped Aegis in whatever cloth they could find and carried the dead king with them.

Those who could fly ahead did, while the wounded followed behind. It took days for them to reach the city on hoof, especially slowed down by their injuries, but their coming had been announced by the able-bodied pegasi who went ahead. They were met at the gates by a makeshift outdoor hospital, waiting to treat them, and two unicorn princesses, staring in horror at the sheer number of ponies whose lives had been irrevocably changed by Sombra's cruelty. But at last, they were here. At last, they had reached Canterlot.

Rainbow slowly limped over to one of the unicorn nurses, and promptly collapsed from exhaustion.