"What happened to you?" Twilight asked, flinching at the carnage surrounding them.

He looked at her almost pityingly, seeing in her eyes the innocence that had been torn away from him a long time ago. How could he explain everything that had come together to make him who he now was? The colt, no, the stallion sighed as he flicked the blood from his sword.

"Life."

Equestria has changed. No longer is it a land of harmony and order. The Princesses are gone and their ponies are defeated. Yet friendship still exists and as long as it does there will still be ponies willing to fight for their friends. So the task of bringing about peace once more falls to seemingly ordinary ponies in these hard times. Will they rise to the challenge, or will the land of Equestria fall into darkness for the last time?