Ponyville, Equestria.
July 20, 1363.
Country is currently under the rule of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Government is classified as Theocracy.
"Hold on! Just. . .just—hold on!"
"I can't! Everything is falling apart!"
"Don't do it, don't do it. . .Don't let—!"
"I'm sorry. . ."
Ponyville, Equestria.
July 20, 1863.
Country is currently under the rule of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Government is classified as Commonweath Theocracy and Republican Sub-monarchy.
Bright skies. What a cruel cliche. It's heavily associated with the greatness of things, the proof, or existence of joy and tranquility. However, that is never the case. Anyone who understands simple physics, would understand that every light casts a shadow. Anyone who understands simple logic, knows that every white conflict has a black one. Anyone who understands the facts of life, knows that every mountain has a valley. Ponyville was always a very sunny place, always bright, always a corner of friendship. A great sight to see, the utopian perfection of a fully-functioning society of ponies working together in a strictly identifiable harmony. Unfortunately, things changed after the death of their former goddesses Celestia and Luna.
Everything changes, every system that is not renewed eventually devolves. Twilight proposed a new idea, to rule as sole leader, under the guidance of six friends whom she has spend nearly her whole life with. In her inexperience as an immortal being, she didn't understand that not everyone would live as long with her. After the goddess' demise came a great depression, both mentally and economically for all of Equestria. Twilight mourned the loss of her friends for years. During that time of weakness, Saddle Arabia launched attacks on Equestria, causing the two to be at war.
Now, Twilight is over a great counsel of Unicorns. During the wars, unicorns had become a rarity, as they'd died off quicker than any other species. The very few with noble blood in them were sought out to console and assist Princess Twilight in her decisions. It was another great idea, but having secretaries and expanding the governing body only wiped away a little blood. The wound of war was still bleeding with excess, and Twilight didn't know how to solve it. Wasn't the world supposed to be united in friendship? Wasn't war supposed to be banished forever? With the most powerful goddesses gone, rules became neglected. Though still clinging to a little theocracy, Twilight decided it was best to begin conversion to a more worldly and standard governing body.
Alas, Twilight had unintentionally torn down the religiosity and utopian quality of the perfect world in which she once lived, and attempted to bring it back through the summer sun celebration. The Princess issued a decree that all equines cease work and leisure to attend the summer sun celebration in Ponyville, in her castle and outside of it. She ordered that Ponyville prepare residence and supplies for the masses, so that they could fit all of Equestria in such a tight space. Days passed and everypony was able to arrive. If they weren't, they were provided a way and greatly assisted by the royal guard. One of those ponies who happened to attend, was named Andromeda Pisces.
"Residents of Equestria!" a booming voice called out from a large podium with several microphones attached to it. A well-dressed stallion stood atop a great stage recently constructed from the Ponyville earth ponies. "Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
The great crowd cheered loudly and with ecstasy as they watched their beloved princess walk atop the great stage, over to a heavily-decorated podium. The alicorn wore elaborate silver and gold royal armor, visually harmonizing with a vibrantly-colored purple-linen dress underneath. Her crown shone brightly with glowing jewels and perfectly immaculate gold, and it seemed the violet in her eyes was heavily saturated with vigorous color. She paused for a moment, giving a smile and waving at everyone. The crowd cheered even louder, it seemed that, if not anything else, she was best at smiling and waving. She cleared her throat, and held her hoof up. As she did so, the crowd slowly died down and became silent to hear what their princess had to say.
"Citizens," she started, her voice a bit shaky. She had delivered speeches on several occasions, but this one was different. She eventually developed a strength in her voice as she continued, "I come to you today for several reasons. To apologize, to remember, and to rebirth. First, I tell you, there will be no more reason for depression, no more reason for sadness, no more reason for even mere upsetness! We will create a new world, one in which we can remember the society which we once had, one without trickery, one without prejudice, one without judgement! I am so greatly sorry for the failures of my leadership, and I—"
"You're the greatest!" a random voice shouted from the audience, a quick roar of applause and cheering followed after with several dialogues of agreement. Twilight smiled, for a moment, before holding her hoof up once more to settle them down.
"Thank you, thank you," she said, "without your encouragement, I would not be able to do what I do, but we must all admit our mistakes. Here, I shall admit mine. My emotional attachment to my friends caused me to downfall in my mentality, and during that, I acted harshly to an attack by Saudi Arabia, and, rather than discussing with them how to better our affairs, I, out of anger, fought against them. Because of that, I have introduced unnecessarily prolonged suffering to our great society, and have cast out the old traditions to create weapons of hatred and war. Today, I want everypony to remember our great society, the one which my mentor lead so proudly and so greatly. Princess Celestia was a wonderful leader, one I could never take the place of, but, alas, I have. As we remember, I also want to rebirth our former ways, starting today with what we only knew as the summer sun celebration!"
The crowd cheered once more as Twilight stepped away from the podium. She, now, was in charge of raising and lowering the sun and moon. Her horn glowed majestically in the dawn as she stood on her hindlegs and raised her hooves. As the princess stood in such a position of power and authority, the sun began to rise up from behind the clouds, and several fireworks went off, along two sonic rainbooms shattering the sky in celebratory manner. The crowd roared with applause as the sun shined down on them. Twilight returned to the podium, to finish her speech. Her voice was more powerful than ever.
"Today, citizens, marks the end of suffering! Today, citizens, marks the beginning, of a new life! Today, we will rise! We will return the harmony of friendship to this world! No more shall we suffer from the great agonies of war! No more shall we—"
Suddenly, a great crackling was heard. Twilight, along with every member of the royal guard, looked around frantically. The crowd began to talk amongst each other with concern. The crackling occurred once more with a great force of wind before the citizens of Equestria could see something rising over the surface of Earth, something that looked like the moon.
"No..." Twilight said, her voice saddened by what was coming, she quickly turned around. "Citizens...I was wrong. Today...will not mark a day of new hope."
As she spoke, the moon began to cover the sun, casting a shadow darker than night.
"No, today," the alicorn continued, "marks the end." With that, she lowered her head. Once more, a crackling was heard as the moon completely eclipsed the sun. The stars were then overshadowed by dark clouds, lightning began to strike down around the gathering. With suddenness, a great hailstone struck Twilight in the head, and she fell off the great stage onto the ground. The cadaverous sound of snapping bones followed by a piercing thud echoed throughout the crowd as her lifeless body contorted to the will of gravity. The sight was grotesque and unforgettable, but the equines knew what was coming next. Lightning and hail began to fall from the sky, ponies ran in all directions; they were trampling each other — even the now-battered corpses of their friends and family. Weeping, and screaming, and fright filled the air as the Earth underneath them began to tear apart.
One, however, was able to find temporary shelter. Andromeda. Out of pure chance, or maybe fate, she was able to avoid the destruction long enough to hide away and weep. As the destruction continued, she made desperate attempts to keep the water from building up in her eyes. It was, however, too traumatic. She screamed, crying, wondering, why? Watching her princess brutally struck to the ground, watching her friends and family forget about her for the sake of their own survival — it was far too much for one to endure. She figured if she weren't wiped away like the rest, that she would have to assist the ensuing events by her own means. She prepared to do so with a sharp rock laying nearby, before she heard a voice calling out from behind her.
"Andromeda!"
She turned around to see a blue stallion who had no color to his eyes.
"Come with me!"
He held out a hoof, she dropped the rock immediately, taking the hoof with a suddenness of instinct. With that, the stallion ran, with every scream and every crashing, she could feel herself falling so far from hope. As she followed close behind this stallion, this savior, she noticed a sort of gateway, like a portal. The blue stallion ran through it, taking Andromeda along with him. The two landed in a much more peaceful Ponyville.
"Welcome to Ponyville," the blue stallion said, looking at Andromeda, "about five centuries ago, give or take a few months."
Andromeda's eyes widened. The stallion just grinned.
"Welcome to the past."