Author's Note

I am not a professional writer, and this world exists solely within my imagination and the art I commission. This story serves mainly for archival purposes more than anything, but I hope the limited audience that may discover and read it finds enjoyment.

This chapter is about the wider setting of this world and how things got to the way it is, this chapter is for the few interested in the lore of the world and provides context on why some people did what they did in future chapters.

Introduction: [Dark] [Torture]

It is a known fact that the queen was on the crystal throne for five decades, after the betrayal of the discord princess, it was she who brought Equestria back from the brink of destruction, it was she who saved all of Ponykind, and it is she who is still protecting us from the vile outsiders even to this day. Any who dare speak contrary to these facts shall be deemed a traitor of the state, be it your friend, your family, or your lover, you must do your duty and stone them to death without mercy.

• High Commander of the Sky District

The improvised interrogation room was dark, filled with the signature stench of death, its walls covered in the blood of those who were killed here, their bodies piling in the corner, broken, mangled with their faces frozen with fear, and anguish. Sky district enforcer Chaser looks at the squirming traitor in front of him, his face twisted in disgust. Tied to a chair opposite him was Meadow Springs, someone he thought he knew. With his hoof, he leaned his body weight on his once lover's broken leg, she let out a deep guttural scream of pain, it was only after he felt she was about to pass out from the pain, only then he took his weight off her again.

“Where did you get these texts? I won't ask again Meadow” He asked for the umpteenth time, using the bloodied scroll to slap her across the face. His ex-lover turned her head back to face Chaser and just stared at him, with her remaining bloodshot eye, she did not speak for a while, she looked like she was in deep thought.

“You are always the loyal soldier Chaser, I thought-” She was interrupted by another hit across her face, it landed with a thud and a signature muffled crack of a broken neck, chaser let out a scream in frustration, this was the third one this day, none of these traitors are willing to speak. Listening to her any further is nothing but a waste of time.

he kicked her chair towards the decaying pile of corpses, it landed with a muffled thud, the sound of more bones breaking under the skin, just one more to join the pile. He chucked the bloodied scroll stained by his lover's blood towards the pile as well, it can burn along with the traitors.

with a plop, it landed on top of Medow's body and unfurled, the wooden frame rolled down her dead, expressionless face, revealing its vile content for all in the room to see. Caser quickly turned his head away and threw more wood into the pile. Soon, he took the torch lighting the room and threw it at the pile of wood and corpses.

He just walked out of the room with cold unfeeling eyes, he did not look back as everything began to burn. His love for Meadow was gone the moment he found that she and her family were hiding these scrolls; they contained nothing but lies from the agents of chaos. These traitors spread falsehoods like different creatures living together side by side, to believe that other creatures are equal to the likes of ponies is preposterous, like saying the sky is green or the queen is but a mere mortal.

Chaser waited outside of the meadow’s house, his fellow enforcers would see the smoke soon no doubt. And sure enough, a few of his colleagues showed up to investigate, upon making eye contact, they stood straight up and saluted. Chaser mirrored their gesture and approached them.

“Traitors are found within this household, find and kill anyone associated with Meadow and her family” The enforcers looked at each other with slight confusion, they knew Chaser and Meadow were supposed to get married soon. He let out a sigh as he addressed his colleagues.

“Meadow was a traitor who tried to convince me to turn against the queen's light, but she failed, I burned all the forbidden texts already” He explained, fishing out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. The enforcers looked at each other again and nodded, they got to work immediately. It was said that Ponyville burned with the traitors' screams.

—

As the fire burned on, and the building eventually collapsed upon itself, one thing lay there, untouched by the searing flames, that very scroll stained with blood, its letters glowed a vibrant purple as the spell held within activated, and soon, the fire surrounding it burned a brilliant emerald green and the parchment began to char and crumple to dust. But not before its contents were etched into the very stones on the walls.

Upon the wall, these words appeared:

The fall of Equestria is perhaps the single catalyst that has brought the world as we know it to an end. Princess Twilight Sparkle was the welder of the elements of harmony, and under her reign, the world knew peace. It was only natural then, when one was at the very top, the only way was to go down.

What historians believe was the beginning of the end comes when Glimmer the eternal met her end, there is only so much magic can do to prolong a mortal's life. Glimmer was Twilight's disciple and the last person who knew of her before her ascension to princesshood.

A council was formed to take care of the duties bestowed upon Glimmer by the princess, but no mortal, or groups could fill her shoes, for Glimmer was more than just a loyal subject and disciple of Twilight, but a friend. Things were never the same after her passing, Equestria fell into a new age of stagnation for a century.

Princess Twilight saw her people falling more and more into decline, after all what use is there to struggle and toil when everything could be achieved by asking your friend to do it? Multiple sources conflict on when happened next, but a common factor amongst all was this; 114 years after the passing of Starlight the eternal, princess Twilight Sparkle, the ruler of friendship, disappeared.

Pandemonium ensues when the great ruler disappears, the council, led by the ambitious Prince Silverblood, asserts their authority and continues to rule this dying nation, refusing to acknowledge the missing princess and deeming her a traitor to her people. Other nations did not take well to the council’s decision.

Sanctions after sanction fell upon Equestria, compounding on Equestria's issues. Other nations demand the council to find the princess, and the council is seemingly content with doing nothing but revel in their newfound power. So it was to no one's surprise that soon equestria found itself alone on the world stage.

Then came the great shattering, It was common knowledge amongst other nations that the only reason why Equestria was allowed to prosper for millennia was due to its wise rulers and elements of harmony, the physical manifestation of these facts of life meant no nation could seriously invade.

It acted as a shield against the wider outside world, for only the emotionless and fanatic could withstand the element's influence, to coax the armies to lay down their arms and turn back. But with the council in charge, the people falling increasingly into debauchery. The elements of harmony could hold its shape no longer, with a deafening shatter that could be heard across the world, the tree of harmony crumbled to dust.

What protected Equestria for so long was gone. Other nations, angered by the council's rule and seeing the shattering as proof of the council’s evil, finally marched their armies into equestrian soil, thus declaring war, the great war, a war where Equestria finds itself fights against every other nation that seeks to restore the peaceful nation to its former self.

Platinum Blood, the only daughter of Chancellor Silver Blood, usurped her father in an act to gain power, preaching pony supremacy and the purity of the pony race. It was said that she could raise an army out of thin air with a single wave of her hoof but proof of this miracle is scarce. What was clear is that she was the very antithesis of what the old Equestria stood for, and using her vast armies, she took over the council as its sole member and ascended to become the Queen of Equestria.