7th of November 986

It was a battle for the ages, the two princes of Equestria fought, pitting powerful forces against one another in valiant attempts to outmaneuver and defeat each other. Songs would be sung of this battle for ages to come.

“Is that legal?”

Or at least that was what they thought.

“Of course it is.”

Really Silver Shadow and Blueblood were just bored.

“I thought only the knight could jump other pieces?”

“Are you calling me a cheater?!”

Their game of chess would be going much smoother if either of them actually understood the rules though.

“Silver’s right, only the knight can jump over other pieces, that move was against the rules.”

At least they had Twilight to settle any arguments.

“Fine, I’ll just take your bishop.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow, the move left Blueblood’s queen exposed. Blueblood hadn’t noticed, but judging by the poorly concealed smile on Silver’s face the opportunity was not lost on him.

“Ha! I got your queen!”

“What! Ah, how did I not see that?!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, Blueblood was good with nitty-gritty details, but always failed to see the big picture. Silver was the opposite, always able to see the forest, they complimented each other well and formed a surprisingly good friendship all things considered.

“Darn, I’ll get you next time!”

“The game’s not over yet Blue!”

Twilight tried to focus on her book once more, an advanced magic text that anypony that didn’t know her would probably think was a few decades beyond her.

“Checkmate!”

“OH COME ON!”

The peace wasn’t to last though, Twilight slammed her book closed and was about to let the two have a piece of her mind, but another pony beat her to it.

“Blueblood, please don’t yell, it’s rude. Silver, give him a chance.”

Cadence, as usual, was the voice of reason and the arbiter of peace. Whether that was settling a trade dispute or preventing her cousins from beating the absolute snot out of each other, it didn’t matter.

“But Cadence, Aunt Celestia said that if we don’t challenge others they’ll never grow!”

“Silver, I don’t think she meant that you should absolutely destroy your opponent in a game.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s what she meant.”

“Oh, and why is that?”

“Where do you think I learned to play chess so well?”

Cadence could only facehoove.

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12th of January 989

Silver Shadow was a very happy pony. Not for himself, no, but rather his cousin and best friend. His mood, however, soured when he saw Blueblood quietly moping on one of the many balconies of Canterlot Castle. Quickly landing, Silver sat beside his friend for a while before speaking.

“Hey Blue, how was the party?”

Blueblood looked over at him and smiled sadly.

“It was good, but would have been better if you had shown up.”

“Yeah, but you know how your mom is about ‘lesser races’. What can you do?”

“Yeah…”

“You know what would cheer you up? A game of chess!”

Blueblood stared at Silver for a moment before he burst out laughing.

“You know what, why not?”

“Maybe you might even win for once!” Silver shouted as he flew off down the darkened corridor.

Blueblood just rolled his eyes and ran after him.

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21st of December 995

“You want to join the guard?”

“No.”

“Good, I wouldn’t have let you anyway.”

“I want to join the Defense Corps.”

“Silver Shadow, absolutely not!”

“Aunt Celestia, I am an adult now! I can make my own decisions!”

Celestia rose from her seat in her study; this was not how she expected her nephew’s 18th birthday to go. She had already lost his mother, she would not lose him, especially so close to Luna’s return.

“I forbid it!”

Couldn’t he see she just wanted what was best for him? She had raised him from when he was just a tiny foal, what could possibly drive him to want this?

“Silver, I just don’t understand what could possess you to join the military.”

“I want to help protect Equestria. I want to do my part, not just sit in the castle all day and look pretty!”

“What if you get hurt, hmmm? What if you get killed?!”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“Silver, my nephew, I don’t want to lose you.”

“This is my decision to make, It’s what I want to do with my life.” Silver smiled at her and laughed “For pony’s sake, I earned my cutie mark fighting off bullies!”

Celestia sighed, she knew this was an argument she could not win. Silver was right, in the end it was his decision and his alone. However, that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Fine, you have my blessing, just, please stay safe.”

Before she could react, she was pulled into a tight hug.

“Thank you! I won’t let you down.”

Silver zipped out of her study, likely to go tell his friends and his cousins. Celestia could only hope she hadn’t made the wrong decision.

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16th of June 998

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“You ever wonder why we’re here?”

“It’s one of life’s great mysteries isn’t it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a creator watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don’t know, man, but it keeps me up at night.”

Silver stared at his squadmate, they had met in basic and become fast friends. Sturdy Shield was a model soldier, but could say the weirdest things at times.

“...What?! I mean why are we out here, in this tundra?”

“Oh. Uh… yeah.”

“What was all that stuff about a creator?”

“Uh… hmm? Nothing.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah”

“Seriously though, why are we out here? As far as I can tell, it’s just a frozen tundra in the middle of nowhere. Hard to get in or out.”

“Mm hmm.”

“The only reason that we set up a base here, is because the griffons have a base over there. And the only reason the griffons have a base over there, is because we have a base here.”

“Yeah . That’s because they’re threatening us”

“No, no. But I mean, even if we were to pull out today, and if they would come take our base, they would have two bases in the middle of a frozen tundra. Whoopdee-fucking-doo.”

“What’s up with that anyway? I mean, I signed on to fight some dragons. Next thing I know, your aunt’s hammered out a peace deal to prevent war and I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere, watching a bunch of griffons.”

“Yeah it sucks out here.”

“It was like the Princess sped up the treaty process, gave a bit more than she should have.”

“That might’ve been cause of me joining up”

“Fuck you.”

“Thanks.”

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29th of April 1000

Silver Shadow sat on his bunk, he was sweating his ass off, being stationed on the Zebrican border was tough. It had been worse when he first transferred here, especially after being stationed in the tundra for so long. His attention wasn’t on any of that, though, but rather the new transfer orders he held in his hand.

“Canterlot.”

“Looks like auntie is missing her little nephew.”

“Fuck you Shield, you’re coming as well anyway.”

“Hey, man, it’s gotta be better than here in the asscrack of Equestria.”

“It is, but I don’t like that she’s trying to bring me back.”

“Hey, it’ll work out, trust me. Maybe you could introduce me to that marefriend of yours!”

“Twilight isn’t my marefriend!”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

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18th of June 1000

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects—all the different types of ponies.
But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one’s heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon! She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.”

Twilight Sparkle closed her book.

“Hmmm…Elements of Harmony…I know I’ve heard of those before. But where?

“There you are, Twilight!”

Twilight looked up and saw a few of her fellow students approaching

“Hello Twinkleshine.”

“Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You want to come?”

“Oh, sorry, girls.” Twilight said, eyeing her saddlebags, “I got a lot of studying to catch up on.”

Twinkleshine sighed as Twilight ran off. “Does that pony do anything except study? I think she’s more interested in books than friends.” Twinkleshine sighed.

“I know I’ve heard of the Elements of Harmony.” mumbled Twilight.

Just about shattering the door, Twilight entered her tower home in the castle.

“Spike! SPIIIIKE! Spike?” She spotted him, dazed on the floor, “There you are. Quick! Find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies. What’s that for?”

“Well, it was a gift for Moondancer, but there’s not much left of it”

“Oh Spike, you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing.”

“But we’re on a break!”

“No…no…no…no, no, no! SPIKE!!”

“It’s over here!”

“Ah, here it is! Elements, Elements, E, E, E…aha! ‘Elements of Harmony. See ‘Mare in the Moon’’?”

“Mare in the Moon? But that’s just an old ponies’ tale.”

“Mare, Mare…aha! The Mare in the Moon. Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal. Spike, do you know what this means?”

“No.”

“Take a note, please. To the Princess.”

“Okey-dokey.”

“My dearest teacher: My continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster.”

“Hold on. Preci…preci…”

“Threshold.”

“Thre…”

“Uh…brink?" Spike stared at her with a blank expression, "That something really bad is about to happen! For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she is about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twi-light…Spar-kle. Got it!”

“Great! Send it.”

“Now?”

“Of course!”

“Uh…I don’t know, Twilight. Princess Celestia’s a little busy getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration, and it’s, like, the day after tomorrow.”

“That’s just it, Spike. The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. It’s imperative that the Princess is told right away!”

“Impera…impera…”

“Important!”

“Okay, okay!”

“There! It’s on its way. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

Twilight wasn't much surprised when, after only a few moments, a cloud of smoke came zooming through her window and coalesced into a scroll in Spike's claw.

“Oh, I’m not worried, Spike. The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she’s been my mentor, she’s never once doubted me. I knew she would want to take immediate action.”

“My dearest, most faithful student Twilight…You know that I value your diligence, and that I trust you completely.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!”

“What!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stars were nearly in their places; soon she would be free, and all of ponykind would know her wrath. Nothing would stop her, nothing Could stop her. Celestia’s blood would pour down the steps of her palace, and all would suffer as she had. This she swore.

Author's Note

"I will make it legal." Darth Sidious

"You ever wonder why we're here?" Simmons