Author's Note

sorry for no smut! this one's a bit of a focus in just backstory and lore, so it's easily skippable. i didn't think a public fucking fit too well in the history of this story.

Prologue

The war had been going on for six years.

Six years, one year for each Element.

And each year one Element had fallen, until Celestia had watched her own adopted daughter, Twilight's life drain from her eyes.

Nobody knows why the war started. Some say it was a simple feud. Others say one forgot to bite their tongue. Some say Luna began practicing the dark matters again, as if she hadn't learned from Nightmare Moon the first time. Celestia couldn't even remember the memory, only the emotion of deep betrayal and rage.

The feelings now returned to her as the great Queen, for Celestia had long abandoned her title as "Princess" as an attempt at superiority, an action Luna mirrored soon after.

Now the kingdom had divided in two, the Solar Republic and the Lunar Empire.
There had once been a third, the Sanctuary, but it had died with Twilight.
The pearl-coated monarch gently strode down the hall, stained glass bathing her armored form in brilliant color. Her eyes were a pure glistening whitish-pink within her curved helmet, the gold edges contrasting sternly with it. Her horseshoes clinked on the marble floors. The castle had long fallen silent, as her armies had become replenished with her castle workers only for the numbers to fall again.

The sound of hasty cantering filled the hallway. One of Celestia's last maids came rushing forward, a young unicorn mare. Her dark blue aura held a rolled-up parchment in it's grasp. The navy unicorn came to a halt, her white-and-tan mane bounced against her forehead. "My queen!" She yelped, levitating the scroll higher for her majesty to view. The aura turned a pale yellow as Celestia gripped it and unfurled it.

The ever-familiar handwriting of her sister and greatest enemy appeared before her eyes. Celestia resisted tearing the paper, a grunt of disgust forming in her throat. Instead, she forced herself to keep reading in the hopes it'd be good news for her. Her pupils flitted over the paper quickly.

Celestia,
As we both know, our armies have grown too small to continue a war. However, as I still possess my power and as do you, I've decided we finally settle this war.
You are to either surrender, or meet me at the Center Tower by noon with your pitiful army.
I look forward to the battle.
Empress Luna, Queen of the Moon and Monarch of the Lunar Empire

The monarch snarled, her aura collapsing around the paper. It flew across the hallway quick as a whip, crashing against a wall and lying abandoned on the marble floor. Celestia seethed, taking a step back as though the paper was cursed.

The trembling maid took a cautious step toward her leader, eyes wide. "Madame, what did it say?" She inquired in a firm a voice as she could.

Celestia turned her head to her maid, eyes glowing bright as two suns beneath her helmet. "Prepare a Sky Carriage to the Center Tower, and fetch me my best generals to accompany me."
As the Queen watched her loyal attendant leave the room, her conscious battled at the prickling anxiety down her spine.

The Center Tower was one of the greatest and most recognizable landmarks. Established shortly after the beginning of the war, it marked the border between the two kingdoms, with a small stretch of neutral land where it lay. The massive pillar had been placed in the center area of what once had been the land of the Sanctuary, before it had been destroyed. Both alicorns had made their last decision as one to have it built in memory of the Elements. They both had strong ties to the structure- it didn't surprise Celestia that the strong history and symbolism behind them would make it an ideal place for one of them to breathe the last time.

As the carriage rattled with the wingbeats of the four-strong team of pegasi before her, Celestia watched the peak of the Center Tower slowly come into view, and grow larger as they drew nearer.

The Queen would never admit it, but a sinking feeling had long manifested in her very entity. She wasn't convinced she would lose, but she wasn't convinced she would win.

The breeze fluttered the tips of her great pearl wings. Beside her on each flank, her best generals sat staring ahead at attention. They had their most blank-slate and businesslike faces on, but the flicker of anxiety that crossed their faces occasionally showed that they too bore the obvious feeling of a deadly end.

The golden carriage halted before the pillar. Celestia took the most regal and dominant posture she could, setting her splayed wings back and stepping cautiously onto the stone. With a glance back, the pegasi nodded, and transferred her generals to a safer area.

She watched them fade to a few floors down, where a large balcony on each end served for a watchtower usually, but today served for a small audience booth.

Her melancholy thoughts were interrupted by the sharp, mocking voice of her sister, and even now that dark image of Nightmare Moon crossed her mind's eye for a moment. The queen had to stifle a flinch as she launched into the air, and wheeled about to face her sister.

"Having second thoughts, o sister?" Luna's eyes also glowed beneath her helmet, a sharp whitish-blue illumination contrasting against her sterling silver helmet. A wicked grin was on her face.

"Never. It's only a shame we were a little too late to decide to do this, you know." Celestia snarled. "This could've ended long ago."

A knowing yet despairing look flashed across her sister's face, though her eyes didn't show any more through her helmet. "As if you could ever blame me for your mistake!" The smaller blue alicorn suddenly cackled, a cocky and shrill noise that filled the air.

"What?"

"You act like it's my fault. But we both know that it was you who wanted this war."

"I never would've wanted to start this. Cities have been raided. Our kingdom is divided!"

"Our kingdom? You wail a sad story that your mind knows is false!"

Celestia growled deeply, a guttural noise that was audible over the drumming sound of her wings.

"Oh, irritated are we? You could've ended this. Now your own adopted daughter's dead. Because of your misjudgement!"

A white flash barrelled into the blue alicorn. With a sharp turn, Celestia kicked away her sister with a snarl. "I'D NEVER!" She screeched.

Luna's wings caught on the wind, and she shot upwards with a blast of air.

As the shape of her sister shot down, a bright blue light impaled the clouds. The skies seemed to clash, night and day merging overhead.

Time slowed down.

Celestia's eyes widened. She could feel that familiar sinking feeling return. Her sister flying toward her, horn illuminated. Tears beaded at her eyes. This would be it, the moment where fate sealed itself, and all she could do was become a pawn, able to influence just enough.

Her breath came in shaky heaves as her horn turned a bright yellow, blinding light surging and folding around her. The warmth of sunlight embraced her, and as blue light hurtled towards her in a straight beam, Celestia reared, focusing all her power toward her sister.

For a moment, time stood still.

A bright light of pure, sharp white spilled from where both beams had met. A dark figure loomed overhead, and Celestia recognized the shape of a solar eclipse in the corner of her eye.

And then the light cleared her vision, and a great rumble returned her to reality.

This event marks the last time the princesses and all spectators were seen- and the end of Equestria's society. So begins our story, many years later, in the era of the last ones out.