“The year is 2688, and I'm not so sure if we've won or lost.”

It all started with first contact, like it always does with these stories. Which one was more pressing is debatable, but to me it always goes back to us. Humanity, when we first saw those spaceships appear from the sky in the year 2273, reacted in fear. Unknown to us, they were also afraid of the same thing, war. War between two planets, one that could travel faster than the speed of light and another that has fought wars on the scale of the entire planet. It was a fear that humans back then knew in science fiction, and the newcomers had seen before. Yet, despite that initial fear, we somehow found friendship.

We were only a century away from being able to ascend to the stars, at least that's what they believed. Still, humanity soon found its place as one of over seventy different species that was part of the Galactic Alliance. What had long been man's dream became a reality, and only a few years later we joined the many races in the Milky Way as a one of them. Some greeted us with smiles, while others stayed optimistic. It was something expected, but underneath the initial smiles and cheerful chatter laid what we still felt that first day.

Fear. With the many advancements made through first contact, humanity learned of a new power. This power was essence, the very fabric that everything - even atoms - are made up of. They taught us to wield it like magic from fantasy stories of old, and it became a power that mankind adapted to. Yet, our adaptive nature made many races scared of what might follow. Like many old wars, technology was but a first spark of a war that would come. Yet it never came, or at least not yet.

Four centuries past, and everything has stayed peaceful for the most part. With the time past since humanities first contact, the Galactic Council, made up of members of almost every race in the Galactic Alliance, thought it was time. First contact with a new race would be made again to help a promising species of intelligent beings reach the stars with hopeful peace. With humanity having become accepted long ago, more the nine tenths of the council agreed. This time, Council head Fol Ten, a member of a lizard like species called the Fentar, targeted an odd planet. To many how have never seen intelligent quadrupeds (specifically mankind) what they found was shocking.

The target planet: Equis. A planet about the size of earth with many strange and different creatures on it. Yet, the strangest of all to humans was the intelligent races that the planet held. Creatures long thought fiction to them, as well as many other races, lived lives close to that of humans. Unicorns, pegasi, griffons, and even species like ponies and zebras had much higher intelligence than their earth or fictional counterparts. Many races found it interesting to see what would happen if they ascended, and so it was decided.

One week later, in the year 2673, over the Equis city of Canterlot in the country of Equestria, the Galactic breached the planet's atmosphere. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, griffons, and many more races watched in awe and wonder at what to them was beyond comprehension. Upon touching down, we found ourselves greet in a way we never expected. The two crowned sisters, princesses Celestia and Luna, welcomed us with friendship. I could still remember the look on the first contact parties faces when they heard that. Completely confused and absolutely stunned. Considering the planet was very much like earth, they had expected a similar greeting.

In the months that followed, members of the Galactic council met with the many leaders around Equestria. Peace was already set, as no fighting had come upon their arrival, and the council offered the wisdom and knowledge of their species to aid Equis in reaching the stars. It was there that they saw the main trait of most of Equis' intelligent species, curiosity. The took the chance to head to the stars as the ability to learn things long thought to be centuries away. The Galactic Alliance apologized to Celestia and Luna for there unsuspecting contact with a species they hadn't realized was so many centuries away from the stars. Still, the curiosity of those on Equis took over, and they set to work on preparing for the stars.

Due to the physical capabilities of those on Equis, helping them quickly advance was much harder than that of humanity. Still, in just five years Equestria was about to send its first citizen to the stars, and others would soon follow. On that day, Celestia gave a speech that would forever be remembered by those on Equis. Only moments later, Equis' first space shuttle, the EHS Harmony, took for the stars. The crowds in Canterlot, and those watching from across the planet and the galaxy, watched the occasion with grand enthusiasm.

Sadly, that's where all the good things come to an end. That spark, the long forgotten spark planted when humanity reached the stars, was within months of igniting. This is where it all started to fall apart. This is how the galaxy ended up how we see it today. Today marks ten years since Equestria ascended to the stars…

Ten years since everything went everything went to hell.

Author's Note

One year ago, I started writing on Fimfiction with a story called Our Days Are Numbered. I was rather unhappy with the story, and felt like it could have been much better. Maybe deleting it was to far, but I've long since wanted to bring it back. Of course, this isn't simply a rewrite of that story. In a way, it's a remnant of that story. I've been working on a way to bring this back for a while, and I've found. So, ladies and gentlemen, bronies and pegasisters, welcome to Fallen: It Starts With Anguish