Once upon a time, there was a place of carved stone faces. A stallion with a lantern lay sleeping a dreamless sleep. The pony knew nothing. One day, the stallion woke up. He rubbed the dried ink over his eyes and opened them. Around him, he saw other ponies stirring, and beyond, a horizon of unbroken darkness. A mare approached the stallion with a lantern. Her soft hoof reached out to him. They had no words. They were a mystery to each other.

Suddenly, a monster emerged from the darkness, its eyes wild with hunger. It attacked. The ponies were no match for the monster. It tore their flesh and crushed their bones between its teeth. Some, it devoured whole.

Overcome with terror and grief, the stallion with a lantern collapsed to the ground. Cold stone snouts pushed into his side. There was no escape. But the stallion did not want to die. Desperately grasping at the cold stone faces, he felt a crack, and stomped at it with all his might. A piece of stone came free. It was sharp and deadly. The stallion with a lantern scrambled to his hooves, his weapon clenched in his wing. He took a deep breath and roared into the darkness. Somewhere in the place of stone faces, nameless ponies stand together. They have nothing but a need to survive and a lantern to light their struggle.

Undeterred, the monster charged at the stallion with a lantern, swiping at his barrel. Missing its target, the beast’s claw nevertheless left a gash in the blue stallion’s right foreleg. As the monster reared to attack again, a well placed stone violently crashed with the creature’s strangely shaped paw, leaving the limb hanging only by a thread of sinew. Following the projectile trajectory with his eye, the blue winged stallion saw another of his kin, wingless but massive, with a brown coat and light gray mane. The crowned beast’s pained cry gave hope to the ponies; the monster could be hurt.

Two more attackers came from behind, wildly swinging their sharp stone at the beast but it dodged them, the predator now aware of the threat it’s preys represented. The new assailants, both mares, one winged and another horned, circled around the beast, drawing its attention. It gave the blue stallion an opening to hit the beast’s knee, hot blood splattering all over his orange and yellow mane.

Now surrounded, the maned monster lunged at one of the mares, trying to finish the fight quickly with a swift bite to the neck. Small cyan wings fluttered to avoid to large maw that snapped mere inches from her snout. She swung her rock at the predator’s face while bouncing on the side, more as an attempt to evade its onslaught than to actually wound it. The muscular brown stallion, seeing the monster distracted, charged from the side and brutally kicked it with both rear legs. The beast, surprised, fell to the ground. The last two ponies pouncing at it with sharp stone but failed to significantly wound their target.

Scrambling to its paws, the monster clawed at the second mare but could only grasp a single strand of pink and white hairs. Believing the beast was getting exhausted, the ponies all swarmed it at once but it deftly dodged every attacks and even manage to retaliate with a quick blow to the blue stallion’s left wing and back leg. Sensing the fight turn in its favor, the monster swatted away the pink maned mare. She collapsed several feet behind, her front legs badly bruised. Again, it dodged all attacks and took another swipe at the winged stallion but he avoided the hit, savvy of the monster’s new strategy.

In a bold gamble to regain the momentum, the foam maned winged mare flew at the monster. She aptly dodged its grasping paw and stabbed at its temple, leaving a wide gash oozing blood down the beast’s snout. The blue stallion also pierced the predator with his sharp stone, this time in its right triceps. Getting desperate, the maned monster jabbed at its last attacker’s head and turned tail but the blue mare was on him, ripping at it’s back. The monster bucked and roared, clinging to life as much as it could. Neither stallions dared to approach the trashing beast, for fear of being crushed under it’s large paws or slashed by it’s deadly claws. A small distance away, the horned mare was getting back on her hooves with a renewed resolve. Something had clicked in her mind after that powerful blow. Lighting up her horn with the power of her mind, her light yellow aura grasped her sharp stone. Launching the rock forward with precision, the deadly projectile flew in the monster’s maw, pierced the palate and jammed itself in it’s brain. The beast fell limply.

The four ponies stepped back, warily, unsure if the monster was truly dead or playing another one of its tricks. The brown stallion gingerly poked at it. The beast did not respond. It was dead. They all breathed a sigh of relief. The fight was short but they had too many close calls. A single failed juke could have turned the whole fight in the monster’s favor. Looking around, they realized they were all alone. The other ponies were either dead or had fled into the darkness.

Quickly, they bandaged their wounds. This place wasn’t safe. The ponies had to move but for some reason, they couldn’t simply leave the monster’s corpse behind. The horned mare made a makeshift tarp from bits of cloth lying around the battlefield. Meanwhile, the two stallions butchered parts of the beast with sharp stones. They cut the strangely shaped paw, its elongated fingers dangling like a spider made them uneasy.

On the tarp, they piled some organs, sinew, bones and skin, and quickly left, lugging their bounty behind them. The cyan mare flew ahead, scouting for danger or safety alike. The survivors wandered in the darkness for a while until, in the distance, they saw a shimmering light. Drawn to it, they discovered a towering pile of lanterns and a small collection of scared ponies. On a deep, instinctual level, they knew this area was safe, and they made it their home.

Author's Note

And so it begins. Overall, it's a solid start for the campaign with no loses or severe injuries and I could keep three of my starting founding stones (though, to be honest, I would've scrapped the campaign and started a new one rather than spend any more stones). Also got a good variety of resources but more of that in the next chapter.

As far as format goes, every chapter will cover one full lantern year (settlement, hunt, showdown phases in that order). All ponies races (aside from natural births) and gender are randomized, except for my starting four, so expect some imbalance on that front.

Finally, I decided to grant a boon to my survivors depending on their race. Earth ponies get 1 strength, Pegasus 1 evasion and Unicorns 1 accuracy. I know its not in the rules, but I wanted to have an in-game mechanic that would reflect the survivor's species. Plus, it's going to help me reach further into the campaign. I don't want to have all my ponies killed right off the bat. From a narrative standpoint, that would make for a poor story in my opinion.