War of the Worlds

Chapter 1 - The Eve Of War

It was a warm summer evening in Canterlot, and a light breeze was blowing through the high towers of the Majestic castle. Princess Celestia was stood on her balcony watching the sky turn orange as her sun dipped behind the horizon, giving way to Luna’s beautiful night. But even though Equestria was at peace and it was such a quiet evening, Princess Celestia could not relax; she was on edge, her brow furrowed as she stared down at the landscape of Equestria. She turned and went back inside her lavish bed chamber and laid down on the silken sheets of her bed, she closed her eyes for a brief moment and sighed; before picking up the book that lay open on her bed sheets and re-reading the story, it was an old story like the tale of the mare in the moon, it was entitled ‘Those that came before’. As her eyes flicked down the page the Princess of the sun thought desperately “It can’t be true, oh please; please don’t let it be true

The Tale of those who came before

It is said among the ponies of old that Equestria was not always as it is now, that it was once a very different place, populated by very different creatures. These creatures walked upright on two legs, and they could not fly for they had no wings, and could not use magic because they did not possess a horn. Instead these creatures, who became known as the Homo-sapiens or simply Humans, used technology and machines to do what they could not. They could not fly; so they crafted a machine that allowed them to fly, they could not produce enough food to feed their population, so they created machines that allowed them to double or even triple the amount of food produced by their fields. You may think that these beings, these Humans were a peaceful people, but you’d be wrong, because although they were knowledgeable they possessed no wisdom or foresight, they could not see the consequences of their actions and their world suffered because of it, and on top of that they were a brash, violent and often cruel species. Eventually their lack of foresight proved to be the destruction of their world, for millennia the Humans had tried to answer the ultimate question, how did the universe begin? They had tried time and time again and come so close to the truth only to be met by failure after failure. The Humans believed that the universe was created in a cataclysmic event that they called, ‘the big bang’ and during an experiment to replicate this event something went horribly wrong. They damaged their planet so badly that it would take thousands of years to recover, some ponies say that to escape the fires of their dying planet; the Humans built giant spacecraft and escaped into the void space, and that one day they may return to reclaim what was once theirs; and that day will mark the destruction of Equestria, and every pony in it.

As the Princess finished reading the story her eyes settled on the last ominous sentence, she was so engrossed in her task that she didn’t even notice Luna land on the balcony and walk into the room.

“Hey Tia, I was just wondering…..” the princess of the night trailed off as she realised what book her sister was reading, it was the same book that she had spent her every waking hour for the past two weeks reading. Luna sighed heavily and said “Tia please, it’s just an old ponies tale”.

“But what if it’s not Luna, what if it’s true” Celestia said, growing exasperated with her younger sisters inability to grasp the gravity of this situation.

“Tia it’s just a story” Luna said looking deep into her sisters lilac eyes, trying desperately to find a reason for her sister’s sudden paranoia, “it’s not true”.

“They said that about the mare in the moon, that was just a story too, and look how that turned out!” Celestia said with a bit more force than she intended, and when she looked at Luna the princess of the night had her head lowered, tears running freely down her cheeks and onto the floor of the room. “Lulu I…..” Celestia started to say; but was cut off as Luna ran out of the room in tears.

Celestia stood there alone; slowly she lowered her head and walked back out onto the balcony, why had she snapped at her? It wasn’t her fault, but for the sake of Equestria she hoped that Luna was right; that it really was just a story.

At midnight that night, a huge mass of luminous gas erupted from mars and sped towards Equestria. Across two hundred million miles of void, invisibly hurtling towards them; came the first of the missiles that were to bring so much calamity to Equestria. As Celestia watched, there was another jet of gas; it was another missile starting on its way.

And that’s how it was for the next ten nights, a flair spurting out from mars – bright green, and drawing a green mist behind it - a beautiful; but somehow disturbing sight. Dr Nebula the castle astronomer assured the princess that they were in no danger, he was convinced that there could be no living thing on that remote; forbidding planet.

Then came the night the first missile approached Equestria. It was thought to be an ordinary falling star, but the next day there was a huge crater in the middle of Ponyville common, and Dr Nebula came to examine what lay there: a cylinder, thirty yards across, glowing hot… and with faint sounds of movement coming from within.

Suddenly the top began moving, rotating, unscrewing, and Nebula feared that there was a pony inside trying to escape. He rushed to the cylinder, but the intense heat stopped him before he could burn himself on the metal.

It seemed totally incredible Twilight Sparkle; that everyone spent that evening as though it were just like any other. From the railway station came the sounds of shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance. It all seemed so safe and tranquil.