I’m sure that all of you have heard of the magical land of Equestria. A land filled with technicolored ponies, dragons, griffins, and all variety of magical creatures. But there is more than one Equestria, you know. Our story takes place not in the famous land where Friendship and Harmony reign supreme, but another Equestria, where things turned out quite a bit differently.
You’ve heard of the princesses Celestia and Luna? They’re here. Celestia raises the sun, her sister Luna the moon. As it has been for thousands of years.
One fateful day a thousand years ago, the two princess’s trust began to shift.
They knew of other nations that had been established, of course, but they were all still small. Equestria and its states remained the largest and most populated.
Celestia, being the elder, was taking responsibility for most of the “ruling” part. Being a ruler was not all fun and games, you know. She had been thinking quite a bit about the other nations.
A few weeks prior, Celestia and Luna had visited a carnival--disguised, of course--and the fortuneteller had planted a seed of worry and doubt in Celestia’s mind, having said that Luna was planning to usurp her from her throne. (Of course, Luna had been told Celestia planned to rule alone and was plotting to remove her.) As Celestia thought more and more about ruling and her people, the seed had sprouted into a seedling.
“What plagues you, sister?” Luna asked one day. “Thee seems...slightly out-of-sorts, if you will.”
“It...it is nothing, sister,” Celestia had replied. “I am perfectly fine.”
Luna tilted her head doubtfully. “Thou doest not sound fine. Thou sounds...worried. What is troubling you?”
Celestia sighed. “I suppose that the question of how we are going to rule has been on my mind for some time now.”
“That?” Luna had said. “Do not worry, sister. Thou will make a fine ruler.”
Celestia had wanted to believe her sister. But the sprout of worry and doubt had grown into paranoia.
“I?” she had questioned. “What of you? Had it been you that is the elder, how would you go about being ruler?”
Luna had simply given a shrug of a shoulder. “I much prefer staying in the shadows. I am...not good with ponies, I suppose.”
“I see,” said Celestia.
“But I could not rule anyway,” said Luna. “It is your duty. Had I had the desire to rule, I would have to usurp thee, and I assure thee I have not the faintest desire to do so.”
Celestia inhaled sharply. Had the fortuneteller been right all along?
“O-of course, had I planned to rule alone, I would have to remove you,” said Celestia, a bit uneasy. The majority of her mind had been dismissing the fortuneteller as poppycock, but she was beginning to suspect that perhaps there was more to that mysterious pony than a simple gypsy.
“But worry not, sister,” said Luna with a smile, having not detected Celestia’s unease at the previous sentence. “Thou wilst make a fine ruler.”
“I hope so, my sister,” said Celestia. “I hope so.”
Within the next week or so, Celestia continued pondering over this conversation. Had Luna been jesting, or was there deeper meaning to that sentence than first perceived? Luna was a very smart mare, and Celestia knew this.
One day, the combined stress plant of Luna’s possible double-meaning sentence and the paranoia of attack on Equestria blossomed into a full-grown flower in Celestia’s mind.
So she ordered her soldiers to wipe out the other nations.
Luna had, of course, heard of this, but was far too late to stop it. So she ran to Celestia’s chambers and demanded an explanation.
“Ist thou mad, sister?” she demanded, breathing heavily from the long run. “What on Equestria has possessed you?”
“Sister, you overreact,” Celestia said sternly. “I am stopping an all-out war before it begins.”
“Rivendell is a peaceful nation of trading ponies!” Luna had snapped. “Thou hast demolished an entire nation of citizens!”
“What would happen if they attacked us after growing larger than Equestria in size and populous?” Celestia had argued.
“My sister would never do such a thing!” Luna shouted. “Show thy true self, Changeling!”
“Perhaps it is thou that is the Changeling, for my sister would never accuse me of mass ponicide,” said Celestia.
One could practically hear Discord cackling madly in the background as the two continued their shouting match.
It was Luna who threw the first blow of magical energy directed at Celestia, who reflexively countered with her own bolt. The two collided in midair with an explosion of magical energy.
“I will banish thee to the moon!” Celestia thundered.
“Nay, I will banish thee to the sun!” Luna had shouted back.
The two stayed at their stalemate for quite some time before Luna, being the younger with less stamina, began to falter.
“I will not let thou destroyest any more innocent ponies!” Luna said breathlessly.
“How will thou stop me?” Celestia had shouted back. “I..am...GOD!”
With this, Celestia’s magical energy broke past Luna’s barrier and hit Luna full-force. Celestia, mad with power, laughed maliciously as she watched her only sister turn into particles of silver dust, which scattered in the wind.
Celestia panted as she watched the dust scatter. “Thou couldst not defeat me,” she said, breathing heavily.
From that day on, Celestia ruled over Equestria alone. And one by one, she turned the other nations to dust. Griffonia, Dragonsdale, every nation that dared to grow large enough for recognition. All crushed under Celestia’s iron hoof.
When Celestia became ruler of the world and everything on it, she sat back, satisfied.
“No one can defeat me,” she sighed. “I am safe.”
And for a hundred years, that is how it was. But Celestia grew restless. What if her own people decided to knock her out of power?
I must not let this happen, she thought. So she cracked down on Equestria. All activity was strictly monitored every day of every week of every month of every year. Any whispers of rebellion were silenced with the swish of a sword.
And one by one, the pony’s hope shattered. One by one, their cities and towns turned gray and dead. One by one, Celestia felt more and more secure.
“I...AM...QUEEN...CORONA!!!” she shouted all across the lands as the very last shards of hope dwindled and were snuffed out with the silence of a candle flame between two hooves.