When Canterlot Burns
By SilverShadow2722
I look upon the halls of my throne room. It hasn’t changed in the past ten years. Well, not physically, at least. There’s something chilling in the air, despite the bright colors, and the beautiful stained glass windows.
I can hear the sounds of hoofsteps from the hall. It isn’t long before the massive doors are slammed open, and my guards fall to the floor, unconscious.
In walk two ponies I thought I knew so well. Both are pegasi. The first one is a blue stallion with a bright green mane. The second is a white mare. They wear the dark blue armor and the insignia of my generals.
“Hello, Sky Stinger,” I say. “Vapor Trail.”
The two look at me with eyes hardened from years of battle. “It’s over now,” says Sky Stinger. They keep their spears pointed at me.
“Oh,” I say. “Are you going to betray me too? Just like everyone else?”
“No,” he replies. “The only one who has ever betrayed anypony is you.”
“Remind me, again, who in this room was the Element of Loyalty?” I jump down from my throne, and walk straight toward the two pegasi. Surprisingly, it’s Vapor Trail who speaks up.
“For someone who was the Element of Loyalty, you really don’t know much about it at all, do you?” Her voice is a far cry from the shy mare I once trained at the Wonderbolts’ Academy. “Loyalty must be inspired, not forced. You’re doing exactly what Sombra did.”
“Don’t compare me to him!” I shout. “I am nothing like him! I made this nation great!” I look directly into their eyes. “And you… you should be grateful to me. I was the one who got you where you are.”
Sky shakes his head. “Perhaps, once, we might have been. But you are not the same mare you were thirty years ago.”
And Vapor looks at me. “We could never be grateful to a tyrant,” she spits.
“What do you mean, tyrant?” I scream. “I–” Sky Stinger cuts me off.
“LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” he roars. “Manehattan is in ruins. Ponyville has been destroyed. Thousands; no, millions of ponies are dead, and even more have fled. The Crystal Empire is having their worst refugee crisis in centuries!”
“And Canterlot…” says Vapor Trail. “Canterlot was once a shining city on this mountaintop. But now, it lies in flames. And it’s all because of you.” She somehow still keeps a brave face on.
“You were once my hero,” says Sky Stinger. “You were every pegasus’ hero. But now; now, you’re just a madmare.”
I walk out onto the balcony, and look over the City of the Sun. Gone are the beautiful houses, the statues, the fountains. Everything lies in ruins. There’s fires everywhere. The sounds of spells ring through the streets, interspersed with the cracks and booms of gunshots. Outside the city, I see a large blot of white. I look at it in confusion at first, but then I realize that those are tents. And those tents have ponies in them. Ponies that I forced out of their homes, out of no fault of theirs.
As I look over my kingdom one last time, I see clearly again. Perhaps for the first time in decades. I drop to my knees and weep.
“What have I done?” I cry. “WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
I look kinda pathetic, but at this point, I don’t really care anymore. I suppose I deserve it.
Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail walk up to me, and place handcuffs over my hooves. I don’t resist. They lead me out of the castle. They stand at the top of the stairs in front of my- no, not mine anymore- palace and proclaim to the nation, “We have won!” They look back at me as cheers rise from the streets. The sad looks on their faces hurts more than I imagined.
Six months later, I stand trial. They don’t sentence me to death; the official reason is that I was insane. I suppose they just couldn't find a way to kill an alicorn. I’m locked away in a secret facility; one that’s far from prying eyes. It’s as secure as they can make it. Still, some ponies worry if I might escape. Honestly, they worry for no reason; I have no intention to do so.
Solitary confinement can’t make me madder than I already am, anyway.
Princess Rainbow Dash (b. 980 A.N.M) was the 2nd Bearer of the Element of Loyalty and, after her ascension to alicornhood in 1020 A.N.M., 4th Princess of Equestria. Once revered as a hero, she gained power over Equestria in 1025 A.N.M by locking away her fellow rulers, Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, in a coup d’etat. Soon after, she imposed a reign of terror over the nation for the next 10 years, imprisoning those who disagreed with her policies and brutally crushing any and all dissent. It is unknown exactly how many ponies were killed under her rule, but equine rights groups put the number at approximately 3.5 million, whether it was in riots or in prison camps. Millions more fled from Equestria to the Crystal Empire, where Princess Cadence sheltered them until the end of Dash’s reign. In 1035 A.N.M., the Empire declared war on Equestria. The ensuing conflicts, since dubbed the Crystal War, killed at least 6 million additional ponies.
Her rule came to an end when two of her top generals, former Wonderbolts Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail, led a Crystal Empire-backed revolution against her, culminating in what is now known as the Battle of Canterlot in 1035 A.N.M. Stinger and Trail confronted her in her throne room. Details about the confrontation are unclear, but the two later described it as “her [already fragile] mind just… shattering.” As they wrote in their memoir, When Canterlot Burns, she “couldn’t handle the guilt of her actions.”
Dash was apprehended shortly after, and subject to a very publicized trial. As she was considered insane during her reign, she was not sentenced to the death penalty (which itself would be abolished a year later). Instead, she was kept in a secure containment facility created by Princess Cadence.
After Dash’s imprisonment, major reforms were made to the Equestrian government. The Princesses would remain on the throne, but only as figureheads. The Head of Government would instead be a democratically-elected president. Sky Stinger, who saw a boost to his popularity after his revolution, would be the inaugural holder of the office, winning the election by a landslide. President Stinger and First Lady Vapor Trail would then work with Cadence and the Crystal Empire to successfully reconstruct Equestria after Rainbow Dash’s disastrous regime.
(source: Ponypedia)