Sometime in the not so distant future…

     A small filly ran down a dark road. All around her, great metal buildings that were in disrepair raised around her, ending as they reached a roof that led to another layer of the city. She let out a small scream as a pipe above her broke and sewage began to cover the sidewalk she was walking on. She sped past it and went behind a corner, plastering herself against the wall, her red mane soaked in sweat.

     Apple Bloom composed herself slowly, looking around at the broken stone and cracked asphalt. The city was a wreck, and around her she saw a shady pony with its hood up walking around, not making eye contact with any pony it passed. Apple Bloom began trotting down the road, trying to not draw any unwanted attention as the shadows that never left New Canterlot swallowed her up.

     Far above the pony, the mechanics of the technology groaned. Factories soaked the air with a thick smoke that made all of the ponies slaving away at the work cough and gag as Changelings stood guard in gas masks, cracking whips as their harsh, empty eyes glared down at the drones mixed in with the less desirable ponies.

     Far off there was a line for water, and a small colt got his glass. As he turned he began to drink greedily, he found his cup ripped from his hooves by a larger pony. The colt was hit in the lower jaw and fell to the ground. The warden pointed at the pony and whips cracked, but the colt did not move. One of the guards came forward and raised his leg, pointing a barrel that was attached to an odd watch like device at the pony. He then raised the gun and shot upwards, causing several changelings to run at the barely alive colt, stripping flesh from bone as they devoured him with their sharp fangs. Within less than a minute, not even bones remained to show a pony had been there, the only evidence that anything had happened apparent in the mashing of flesh, bone, and all other matter of pony parts in their jaws.

     Further up in the city Changelings went about their business. They worked tirelessly as their mechanical world did easy tasks for them, leaving the drones to simply escort the smarter changelings about their business.

     Even further up was a top level of the city, where the sun shined and the clouds drifted past buildings. Every layer of the city had lead up to this top floor, and here more buildings thrived. The tallest building stood in the middle of everything else, and outside on a deck there was a Changeling dressed in extremely rich clothing, robes that marked he worked for the new royalty. He gazed out to the west, where a half-finished city lay deserted, an abandoned project left to rot in favor of his plan. He lifted his glass of wine and sipped from it, gazing at the logo that read “Zelmus Incorporated: Serving the world everyday”.

    The Changeling now turned to the east, looking at a large towering structure that was dwarfed compared to his city; Chryswitz, the death camp for all ponies who refused to accept the new order. He took one last sip from his wine glass, setting it on a railing. He could not help but grin as he stared northward now, smiling at the ruins on the side of the mountain, the once proud capital of Equestria.

It was now not more than a rubble heap, an eyesore to changelings… and a reminder to ponies.

Equestria was no more.

#

#

“Life is short, Life is violent, and life is harsh.”

I was once told this by a soldier as he died on the field of battle... and I couldn’t disagree with him more. The end of Equestria happened much in the way that my people had foreseen, burning cities, dead filling the streets, horrible storms of fire raining from the skies. The 9 month campaign for Equestria is something the world had never seen before, and hoped it would never see again. Unfortunately, too many of us knew that this was only to be the opening act of terror upon all that is good in this world. Those who resisted were all but wiped out.

    But life went on; Ponies have a tenacity to survive things that they should never have survived. While history is littered with examples of miracles, perhaps none are more significant than the survival of Comet Firehooves and her friends.

    Our world is full of evil today, but perhaps if you can see what evil looks like, you can stop it before it begins to hurt any pony. Take the horrors, the pains, and the absurdity as testaments to the madness that resides in all of our hearts...

This is for all those who fought... This is their story.

#

#

Prelude

    “I can’t take this anymore... I need to fly sis.” Comet said to her small sister, Rocket. They had finished breakfast and comet was cleaning up the dishes.

    “But sis! We’re grounded until further notice! You heard what the city guards said, it’s dangerous out there! If you go flyin’ then the war will eat you up.” Comet looked down at her sister in a bit of dismay at hearing her sister follow everything that was said like a sheep. What fun was the world if you didn’t break a few rules and live on the edge?

    “Sis, it’ll be fine. I’ll be back before mom gets home okay?” Comet said to her. Rocket looked at the ground and began ripping at the air, making loud chewing noises.

    “Om nom nom nom! I’m the war and I want to eat Comet, Rawr!” She said, running around Comet in little circles. Comet sighed, enjoying the moment but wanting to let her feathers taste the breeze for the first time in over a month.

    After much coaxing and assurance that she would be fine, Comet finally got out of her house and away from her sister. She flapped her wings a few times and then took off at a low soar, weaving between the back alleyways behind the cloud buildings. When she was sure no pony could see her, she dropped into the clouds and appeared under them. She gave her head a shake to clear all the moisture off as she flew towards a small grove of trees. The birds sung and the little animals hopped around under her as she dropped altitude towards the small grove.

    A quick flap of her wings and she was stopped, her reflection looking back at her in the clear, crisp water. The trees whistled a soft, vibrant tune through the grove, where a few reeds joined in chorus.

    “I wonder... how long I could actually stay here?” She said as she curled up next to the pond. It’d been so long since she had been on something other than a cloud... the earth was a nice change from the puffiness of clouds.

    A quick nap can’t hurt, can it?

Comet awoke with a start, feeling something grab at her back legs. Eyes still closed, she gave the solid, almost pony seeming creature a nasty kick. She opened her eyes and stared around her at the world. This was not where she had laid down to sleep, it wasn’t right at all. The sky above her was black and cracking red, around her, the trees were... burning, everything was burning.

   Grabbing herself she leapt to her feet, glaring around her. On the ground appeared to be some kind of pony creature, albeit a small one. She hadn’t ever seen a pony that was Black grey with holes in it, or even with a horn.

     Wow, unicorns really are weird look-. Her thoughts died as she let her eyes drift upwards. The red crackling and black was not just coming from the sky, which seemed to have been blotted out, but from the clouds themselves.

“Cloudsdale!?” She explained, flapping her wings and instantly flying towards her home. “Oh Celestia, let Rocket be okay…” Comet Punched through the clouds and onto the streets, terror making her wings stop working and her legs feel like jelly.

The normally white clouds had turned black and grey, as if they were all melting. Pegusi could be seen running from some of the buildings, rolling around and crying in pain as blasts of heated water vapor hit their fur and skin. Comet rushed over to the nearest pony, a small mare that was clawing at her side.

“Stop fussing with it and let me see!” Comet said. The mare slowly lifted her hooves to show a horrible gash, one that was bleeding badly and surrounded by slightly melted fur and scorched skin. Comet backed up in horror, fighting the urge to puke all over the mare as more screams were heard. Comet wheeled to look up as more ponies fled from the rainbow factory, throwing their suits aside as what looked like a shadow grabbed at them, pulling them in.

“No… This … this isn’t right!” Comet said, turning and running in the opposite direction, headed straight for her home. She kicked down the door as soon as she got there, glaring at everything in the house.

“Rocket?! Rocket answer me!?” She cried, throwing her head into every room of the house. It wasn’t until she reached the last room that she stopped dead, staring at…

It was like she fell through the clouds at that moment. There wasn’t anything around her, no walls, no house, no Cloudsdale. There were no ponies dying in the streets, the streets were not even there themselves. Only three things existed in Comet’s world; herself, Rocket, and the blood, the blood that just soaked everything that didn’t exist right now.

This pain is unbearable. Comet got to her feet, staring around her. She was no longer in her house, but rather on a cloud that was quickly shrinking away. She gasped and started flapping her wings instantly, beating as hard as she could as she quickly plummeted towards the earth below. She caught herself just quickly enough to make a less than graceful landing.

“Rocket?” She asked the darkness. The whole world was just dead. The grass seemed scorched, the sky blackened, the fading embers in the trees providing a bit of light, but only enough to show you where a forest had once been. The fires were over now, and the whole world had gone quiet. Cloudsdale was no longer humming with the ponies or any noise, but instead floated quietly in the blotted sky.

Comet slowly shook her head before she raised a hoof up and smacked herself. She hit herself again and again, until finally her strength gave out and she collapsed on the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Why can’t I wake up!? This isn’t right, we were supposed to be safe from the war, and we’re nowhere close to the front lines! Comet sobbed into the dead earth, the cruel grass scrapping at her skin and the dirt sticking to her fur. There was a loud boom over her head, and she stared up, her mouth dropping as the sky lit up for the last time.

She didn’t really see it, she didn’t need to. The red light reflected in her tears as it flashed over the world like a strobe. Waves of cruel, hateful wind bit at her skin, tossing her onto her back. Comet pushed herself up with her hooves; tears still streaming down in a watery cascade as her cloud home slowly fell out of the sky, disappearing and fading, the last cries of survivors echoing into the roaring of the wind and the crack of thunder. Red lighting whips burned the forsaken ground where it struck, smiting the few trees that still stood.

The last thing Comet could remember was looking at the only home she’d ever known fall out of the sky. The heat of the wind washed over her as sleep sunk into her bones, the lustful lighting striking next to her as she laid her head against the blackened earth.

****

Authors Note: Solar Flares name changed on 10/11/12 due to conflicts with another brony. Comet Firehooves is the pony to ask about it, I have no hand in that part of this.