It was over in a matter of days. They came, destroyed everything, and left. Everypony had taken to calling them, for lack of a better name, destroyers. Gigantic, faceless, twisted abominations of a sickly grey; all these things did was destroy. After Manehattan was reduced to ruin, Celestia gave every member of the army permission to leave. As they closed on canterlot, she left Luna at the castle �Keep the sun and moon moving, dear sister. These things are here because of mistakes I made long ago. I must atone for what I did.� At that, she went and was killed. The great leader of Equestria, Princess Celestia, offered no resistance to her doom. The next day, the destroyers were gone.

Only then did the true extent of the destruction become clear. Much of the once fertile land was left unable to grow any plants at all; there were no cities left undamaged; and everyone had lost a friend to the destroyers.

"Why didn�t the elements of harmony help?!" The townspeople would cry. The sad truth was that, they had tried and failed. Their gems were shattered in a backlash from the attack. Not many ponies were told this, of course. It would be even worse if, not only had their powerful leader been killed, but their �ace in the hole� had been destroyed.

Now, the cities and towns of scattered survivors try to rebuild; acting mostly as independent city-states, without reliable contact with each other. This is the world that our story begins. While this may seem like a story of doom, it is not. This is a story of love. This is not, in any way, the ideal setting for a love story. The thing about that is: Love has a funny way of popping up just about anywhere.