//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: For a Better Tomorrow - Part 1: The Fallen Crown 
// by Midnight Coder 
//------------------------------//


------ Twilight ------


A small beam of light landed spread across Twilight Sparkle’s face. With a wrinkle of her muzzle and a gentle moan, she opened her eyes. Twilight sat up in bed and tried hard to hold onto the dream she had been having. Instead of her usual stress-induced dreams, this was a rather pleasant one. She had been back in her castle, asleep in her bed. She could hear the sound of her number one assistant, Spike, asleep in his small bed on the other side of the room. For that brief moment, everything had been right with the world. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and accepted the cold reality around her, she wished nothing more than to be back home. It had been 5 years since she had awoken to her castle, her life, her friends. She slid out of her bed, stretched her wings, and regarded her current surroundings.

Instead of the well-decorated room of her previous castle, lined with her favorite books and her mirror displaying pictures of all her friends, this room was almost barren. The room only held a bed and a small nightstand to hold her crown.  The small room was decorated in the same cold colors as the rest of The Castle of the Two Sisters. Her light hoofsteps echoed loudly in the empty room, erasing what little joy remained after her dream. She was stuck in this reality and wishing that she was safe at home would not change anything. She affixed her crown upon her head before making her way out of her room. As she exited, she could see the two guards on either side of her door same as it always was. Ever since the citizens of Ponyville escaped from King Sombra’s march, her room had two guards stationed at all times.

“Good morning, Princess.” the guard to her left said. The orange pegasus saluted Twilight, brushing his blue hair in his speed to raise his foreleg. In another time and in another life, she might have said he looked familiar; she would have definitely said he looked cute. But here and now afforded her no time to daydream about what colts caught her eye. There was much more at risk.

“Have the scouts returned from Canterlot?” Twilight asked.

“Not yet ma’am. No message from them either ma’am.”

Twilight took a deep breath, letting her initial wave of anxiety drift away as she breathed out. She knew that worrying about the scouts would not help them get back and would just cloud her mind. Leading the resistance against King Sombra required her to think with a clear mind. Fear for her troops would not keep them alive. Besides, even if the scouts did not return they could still contact her with the messaging spell. Twilight just needed to wait and see how events played out.

“If that’s all for this morning, I will be in the meeting room. Please let the commander know I wish to speak with her before Council today.”

“Yes ma’am.” the pegasus saluted, then turned and flew off to find his commander.

Needing some time alone to prepare herself for the day ahead, Twilight told the other guard he was free to go. The white earth pony knew better than to try and insist on her protection; this was an all too common occurrence when poor news was delivered. The guard gave a bow, then retired to the barracks. Twilight began to walk the halls, allowing herself a moment to think about the situation at hoof. There were still a few hours before the scouts were expected to either return or call in. If they did not report in however… Twilight didn’t want to think about that. King Sombra could not be allowed to know where they were.

As she made her way through the castle, her mind returned to her dream from that night. It had been nice to see her old home again even if it was just a dream. A lot had happened over the past 5 years and her heart grew heavy thinking about it. The pain and loss that had filled her life here were like weights in her chest. As she walked she felt her mind start to draw back and think about the path that led her here.





When Starlight Glimmer sent the two of them back in time, there had been no way Twilight could have imagined what was to follow. She had no way to know that Spike screaming her name as she was dragged into the time vortex was going to be last time she heard his voice. When the time vortex had dropped Twilight off in the past, Starlight’s intentions became quickly apparent. They had been transported to the day that Rainbow Dash raced against the bullies to defend Fluttershy. Twilight chose a cloud to watch the race from, but when one of the bullies won instead of Dash, she knew something was wrong. She saw Rainbow Dash being suspended in mid-air by a turquoise magical aura that was instantly recognizable as Starlight’s. It was as this realization hit her that the vortex opened back up and pulled her in. As she was being dragged away, Twilight saw the scroll Starlight had used flip away in the wind.

When she had once again landed in Ponyville, she found her hometown almost unrecognizable. The normally joyful town was now somber and all the houses had been boarded up as if expecting an attack. She tried to find her friends, but she could find nopony. Rarity’s business looked like it had been closed for at least a year, the Cake’s said they had never met anypony by the name Pinkie Pie, and even Fluttershy’s cottage had been deserted. Twilight had figured that at least Sweet Apple Acres would be untouched by time as it always was but she was wrong. The once peaceful farm had been replaced with a factory used to produce food in massive quantity. After finding Applejack working on the farm as always, Twilight had begged her to explain what happened. It was with a sinking heart that Twilight had then learned about the war with King Sombra.

Once she learned of the war, she had made her way to Canterlot in order to confer with Princess Celestia. Thankfully the fact that Twilight was an alicorn princess that should not exist helped her gain an audience with the princess. In the end, Celestia accepted Twilight’s version of history. After a few days of discussion, the two princesses had formed a plan of action. Because Twilight had been certain that she would be unable to recreate the spell that Starlight Glimmer used, their plan needed to be focused on saving this timeline. Twilight knew she could not return to her old life.

Using her knowledge of the Crystal Empire from her timeline, Twilight had proposed creating their own Crystal Heart to repel Sombra and his forces. In order to create the Heart, Twilight had soldiers find the rest of her friends. Her hope had been that with the embodiment of the Elements of Harmony they would be able to create enough magic to create a powerful enough Heart to protect both Ponyville and Canterlot. While her friends were being collected, Twilight had set up shop in the Castle of the Two Sisters. After a few months had gone by all of Twilight’s friends but Rarity had been found.





Twilight flinched as she unexpectedly bumped her muzzle against something hard. She had been so lost in thought that she walked right into a door. This was the door that led into the meeting room; Twilight hated this room. Every time she entered it, she felt the ghost of every mistake made here. The poorly thought out Crystal Heart; the botched escape from Ponyville; the failure with the new farm; they all seemed to haunt her in here. She slowly made her way to the head of the table and to her appointed chair.

The long table stood in the center of the room. With nothing adorning the walls and ceilings that stretched high overhead, the solitary table drew the eye relentlessly. Twilight hated this table too. With the rectangular shape and her seat being placed at the head, she felt like ponies were marking her as more important. They always looked to her seat when the difficult decisions needed to be made. She wished they had a table like the one in her long gone castle. The circular design gave each pony at the table equal status.

She sighed again and took her seat. She looked to the chair on her right, where her commander would sit when the meeting began. Rubbing her temples, she worried what new disaster would need to be resolved today. More food shortages? Ponies getting suspicious of the shrinking barrier? She didn’t want to think about these things yet. There would be plenty of time to worry about these things when Council started. In an attempt to ease these worries, she let her mind drift back to the past.





Even without Rarity, the spell to create the Crystal Heart had come very close to completion. The spell had been written and all that was left was to anchor the spell to a physical object and supply it with enough energy to start. They had planned on using the Tree of Harmony as the anchor but providing enough energy would take time.  Twilight had left to tell Celestia that they were ready to start the spell.  Unfortunately, King Sombra took that moment to launch his attack on Canterlot.

With Sombra calling Manehattan the capital of his New Crystal Empire, both princesses had known it was a matter of time before he set his sights on the Equestrian capital. Princess Celestia had led their armies against Sombra as he claimed city after city, slowly surrounding Canterlot on all sides. There had been countless battles fought in the plains near Canterlot, defending the mountain against all odds. That all had been going on during that first year here, but his final attack on the city made all the other battles look like games.

Sombra took advantage of the naturally forming crystal caverns within the mountain. He had used his magic to manipulate the crystals to dig a tunnel that led him right into the throne room. Celestia and her guards had tried to fight back as Sombra’s forces spilled out, but to no avail. From the base of the mountain, Twilight had seen the once grand capital of all ponykind in flames. The guards that once could be seen on guard were now fleeing for their lives; the Equestrian flag now replaced with the black flag of The Crystal Empire. Twilight, now the last free alicorn princess, fled back to Ponyville.

Twilight had known that Ponyville would be attacked next and that the attack would come quick. When she had returned to Ponyville, she wasted no time in calling the entire town to an urgent meeting in City Hall. After quickly bringing the everypony up to speed on the state of affairs, including the fall of Canterlot and the development of a Crystal Heart, she proposed her plan. Twilight had felt that if Sombra simply found Ponyville deserted, then he would destroy everything until he found them. But if the town were to be caught by surprise he may leave it at that. Twilight knew what she had proposed was dangerous and that some ponies may die in the retreat, but this was their best hope of escaping. When the question of the children had come up, Twilight proposed bringing them into the forest early so as to avoid the fighting. Twilight would bring them to the Tree of Harmony so as to keep them safe when the Crystal Heart was activated. The Cakes’ were the first to agree to the plan. Mr. Cake stood up and spoke passionately, telling the town to do this for their children; they needed to do everything in their power to provide safety for their children. After this small speech, the rest of the town agreed to the plan.

Twilight knew the attack would come soon, but even she had not expected it to come that night. She was just over halfway to the Tree of Harmony when she could hear the screams echoing from the town. She quickly told the children to run to the castle ruins ahead as she teleported to the Tree. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie (now going by the name Mina), and Applejack were all there waiting. Twilight had simply said to start the spell and start they did. The incantation to create the physical relic was not complicated and had been finished within the minute; then came the energy to start the protection. Twilight had felt like she was participating in the Running of the Leaves as all of her muscles began to ache. As the Heart before them continued to consume their very life force, it had seemed as though they would not be able to fulfill the requirement by themselves. Twilight had looked at her friends as she began to cry. This was her foolish plan and she was going to fail in protecting the ponies she cared about.

Just then, Twilight saw a tender look being shared between Dash and Fluttershy. A soft tenderness that she had always know lay between them, though never stated nor acted upon. In that tender moment, Fluttershy had smiled at her best friend and walked closer to the Heart. Twilight had stood transfixed as the kind mare closed her eyes, wrapped her forelegs around the tree, and then seemed to sink into as if the tree was no longer solid. A muffled cry from Rainbow Dash had echoed out, but it was too late. With an explosion of life energy, the Crystal Heart they had placed within the Tree of Harmony began to activate. It wasn’t long until the barrier covered a 10-mile radius circle surrounding the Tree. As the drain on her strength had left Twilight, she looked up to see 3 of her friends but no sign of Fluttershy. The mare of kindness had given all her energy to power the protective spell.

Twilight and her friends had carried a sobbing Rainbow Dash out of the cavern to a sight of the citizens of Ponyville flooding into the clearing. The timing had been close, but they had gotten the barrier up just in time to shelter the fleeing ponies. What Twilight had seen as ponies came running in hurt her heart more than she could have imagined. The fear in everypony’s eyes had been so strong, the pain so real, that Twilight began to question if she made the right decision. What had broken her heart most of all was seeing Mrs. Cake carrying her daughter over her shoulder, falling down inside the shield, and then weeping the likes of which Twilight had never seen before. These had been the tears of loss; tears that no words could ever describe.





7 ponies had been lost that night. Mr. Cake, Rose Luck, Carrot Top, Lilly, Thunderlane, Flitter, and Cloud Chaser. All had been killed by Sombra’s men as they burned the town. Twilight looked out the small window in the meeting room and watched as the sun finished rising over the hills. The light helped brush away the dark thoughts surrounding that night. It had been her decision to keep everypony there until Sombra attacked and she felt personally to blame for such loss of life. As the blame tried to set in, she reminded herself of how many lives had been saved by the creation of this sanctuary. Every month, more and more ponies came from the surrounding areas to live away from the reign of Sombra and join in the fight against him. She knew back then that it was the right decision and she still believed it to this day.

Figuring that the guard would have found the commander by now, Twilight took one last deep breath and shook off the shadows of the past. Dwelling on her past actions would not give her the clear head she needed to properly make the decisions that were needed. As she finished settling her nerves, the door at the front of the hall opened. The pony that entered was not her commander as expected, but a light gray unicorn. The unicorn’s bright red hair was pulled back in a professional bun, with only a few strands poking out at the edges. She held a small collection of scrolls in her magic as she pushed her way into the room. At the sight of her assistant, Twilight couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“You’re up early, Ruby Light.”