//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Dark sun's past, a lost soul's decision. // Story: Rising: Return Of A Phoenix Mare. // by Neutral Boy //------------------------------// "Every different sentient species would one day have a mental breakdown or a breaking point in their life Sunset. Including those, like the princesses, can have one when ruling a country or two among the citizens." The image below the shattered planet shows two Alicorns mourning for the deceased ponies. Sunset saw the two familiar figures, but she's sadden to see many ponies has passed away. Note to readers: Ignore the cutie mark elements on the tombstones. Those ones on the tombstones were from the past ponies that Celestia and Luna made friends with long before the celestial sisters saw the Tree of Harmony for the first time. Just wanted to give you the heads up, notice, eh you get what I mean. "Ever since your former mentor, Princess Celestia, has lost her parents and her friends when they've grown old or killed off, she and her sister, Princess Luna, struggled to help bring peace among the lands while also dealing with moving on from the past. Despite being young and not much experienced, the two sisters needed to stay strong together and learn much along the way." The next image shows the two sisters and there allies fighting off the evil forces across the lands. "Although, it would be a tough time to bringing Harmony as the conflicts of Chaos have spread in every places. From the three pony tribes to the Ram Lord Grogar, Storm King, their former friend Discord, centaur Lord Tirek, leaders of changelings, shadows of Umbra King Sombra, Dragons, Griffons, nobles, thieves, scoundrel's, conquerors, and many more." "Yet what Celestia didn't realize was that in time, she would also face a difficult challenge of facing up against her own flesh & blood sister who became Nightmare Moon. The cause of it was because of the relationship problems, including her subjects praising for her over Luna, making her little sister bitter jealous." The third image shows a lone Alicorn watching over both the sun and the moon. Which it also shows the alicorn crying all alone at the torn up Elements of Harmony room. "That, is where her next pains and grief began in her long life. When banishing her sister to the moon, she felt a lot of negative emotions building up inside. Regrets of her bad decisions and wanting to change back the times on being with her beloved sister back. Nevertheless, she had to keep it together and rule her own country alone without Luna, but this presents another problem." "Months after banishing her sister, Celestia sensed something was wrong with the sun and moon. Looking at them more clearly, she was horrified of the result that both of them would die out one day in the future, causing a massive extinction around the world. Having an idea, she then went to hiring many scientists and researchers for any solutions of preventing the disaster. Sadly however, there isn't any good news of preventing it." Another image is shown with Celestia researching and some of her loyal subjects leaving. Many were showing in grief, anger, sadness, and mouthing hurtful words at there former princess. "Desperate of finding another way out of this, Celestia began to create portals from reading Starswirl the Bearded's notes & research. After creating the portals, she has sent some of her guards inside them to report back to her, only it left disastrously negative results. The unknown worlds have slaughtered every guards she has sent in her test portals. Victims either have melted, burned alive, shot dead, bombarded, decapitated, torn in half, balls chopped off, marehoods. . . . . I-I don't want to go in the gruesome detail, dog pile of being eaten alive, tortured to death, stomped on as a bloody cupcake, you name it." "Stubborn as a mare, despite losing her guards and some ponies leaving her country because of her questionable & suspicious ruling, she hasn't given up on her original plans of preventing the future extinction. Until she has caught a glimpse of a lonely little foal of a mare, am I correct Sunset Shimmer?" The image shows of Celestia lending a hoof to the filly Sunset and taking her in Canterlot. Showing little Sunset growing up, all the way towards her death by the native humans. Deep down inside, Sunset had never expect a hurt of betrayal and felt tears dripping down her eyes. Not from any pony friends she has tried to make, but to a close mother figure of her own mentor. "Sad, isn't it? The only princess in Equestria that's given you a purpose of being a mother figure and teaching you Harmony life, never even act like a true blood mother when she spent so much time on research and meetings over you. No matter how much you want to deny it, she lied to you about her true intentions the entire time in your grown up life." Culver shook his head in disappointment of Celestia's lies before continuing on. "Anyways, when Celestia saw your death by the natives, she felt so broken and collapse in tears. Both from sadness of losing you, but also boiling in grudging rage of the native humans. Needless to say, she didn't take your death very well. Many years after the tragedy, she has kept her plans on hold and vows one day of justice to slaughter every foreign natives who've killed her deceased student. Celestia's deep hateful grudge against the humans wouldn't go away for a very, very, very long time." "However, in the years passing by, a new opportunity solution has come with her added secret plans." A Rainbow colored wave appears in the image of Cloudsdale, spreading across Equestria. "The birth of the first Sonic Rainboom and the next Elements of Harmony bearers." {Meanwhile. . .} In the woods north of Georgia, a human team of Beacon members were hold up here to rest. The leading member captain Cruger, checks up on medic Docks who is healing Jacob's leg. "Docks, any sign of the infection?" Cruger said, watching Jacob's face having a fever. "Not one drop captain, we've manage to chop off his right leg before the potion could spread further up his whole body. I've given up enough morphine and medicine to cure his wound, but I don't have enough to help heal him back up. He needs to go at a hospital for better treatment." "Dammit, at least the potion didn't turn him into a newfoal. Any signals yet from Reaper team, Alex?" Alex glances to his captain before inspecting his radio to try on getting a signal. "No dice captain, radio is still jammed in this area. Last message I heard from Celina is that her squad members are heading up to an enemy supply post, but got ambushed by the ESS guards so they took a detour split route." "Capitaine, vous voudrez peut-être jeter un œil à ça!" (Captain, you may want to take a look at this!) Cruger heard his squad member calling to him and walks off to his teammate. He sees her with the SVD (Dragunov Sniper Rifle) scoping the perimeters. "What do you got Charlotte?" The sniper girl named Charotte zoomed out and point her finger out to a locationin the woods. "J'ai repéré un soldat loup solitaire pas trop loin d'ici sur le sol près d'un bois tombé. Je calcule que depuis l'est, il est à moins de deux mille pieds, mais je ne peux pas vraiment dire s'il est vivant ou non." (I spotted a lone wolf human soldier not too far from here on the ground by a fallen wood. I calculate that from the east, he's less than two thousand feet away, but can't really say if he's alive or not.) "Are you sure?" "Positif, en plus il y a une chance que son petit camp ait des munitions de rechange, des kits médicaux ou quelque chose du genre. C'est votre appel capitaine." (Postive, plus there is a chance his small camp has some spare ammo, medkits, or something. It's your call captain.) Cruger lowers his head a bit and taps his foot on the dirt. Sighing, he walks back. "Okay, you're with me Charlotte." She nods and follows her leader in which they joined up with their group. "Got new orders now from me for a scouting mission. Charlotte has spotted a body nearby east and thinks there might be a small camp outpost. Razor, Ellie, you're with me and Charlotte on the scout party. Mable, your in charge of holding this position until we come back. Nathan, Terrance, Waker, Keith, keep an eye out for any enemies. Stay frosty people, we're not out of the enemy's territory yet and I don't want to see any of you turn. Understood?" "Yes sir!" "When the Summer Sun Celebration has come and the return of Nightmare Moon, the Elements were awakened again and chose the next bearers to defeat her, thus restoring princess Luna." Six elements have appeared, choosing the next figure bearers of Harmony. "Each bearer gifted by Harmony representing the element symbols to them. Applejack, wielder of Honesty. Rainbow Dash, wielder of Loyalty. Rarity Belle, wielder of Generosity. Fluttershy, wielder of Kindness. Pinkamena Diane Pie aka Pinkie Pie, wielder of Laughter. Finally there's Twilight Sparkle, wielder of Magic and also Celestia's. . . . . new student." Sunset's body shook up, knowing that her own teacher had replaced her. "Yes, Celestia has gained a new student when Twilight saw the Rainboom during her exam and she passed by hatching an egg named Spike. Don't dwell on that news for now Sunset, it'll mess your brain up. Okay where was I? Ah yes, so after the Elements of Harmony defeated Nightmare Moon and freed Princess Luna, Celestia congratulated the mares as the new element bearers." "Since then, each of the six bearers were tasked of staying in Ponyville and learning lessons along the way. Encountering various ponies & non-ponies like Gilda, Zecora, dragons except for Spike, Cranky, changelings, crystal ponies, buffalos, and so on. Plus there's also challenges when they had to face up against hydras, rock crocs, timberwolves, diamond dogs, bandits, mercenaries, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, and Starlight Glimmer." "Yet what neither of them know is that Celestia's grooming them for the next part of her secret plans. In her time, she has created numberous parts & pieces of vehicles while conducting an organization alliance with the nobles, despite them having some doubts about her plans. The only thing missing for her is she doesn't have enough strong magic for the plans to work, until a thought occured in her mind." A figure image shows a 4th new alicorn born in Equestria. "When Twilight Sparkle ascended to an alicorn princess from dealing with an issue of Starswirl the Bearded's journal spell book, it was also Celestia's two last opportunity plans to be completed soon. The ascendance of her student to alicornhood and a mirror portal she has found from Starswirl's findings in Canterlot." "This, is the next event moments when Equestria history would change forever. Where Celestia teleported her Equestria home to Earth, leaving every creature left behind to die as the Conversion Bureau and the human-pony war would start." {Meanwhile at the Wonderbolts Academy. . .} The leader of the Wonderbolts, Captain Spitfire, is training up the new cadets for a battle against the humans while Soarin, Steel Wing, Fleetfoot, and Wind Streamer watching them. "Alright you mule maggots, I want every pony in tip top shape for our next sessions! If we're going to go up against the dirty human apes, we'll need to increase our strengths and wing speed to either convert them or kill them all and then we go home in one piece! Am I right cadets?!" Spitfire shouted to them, readying for an answer. "SIR YES SIR?!" All of the cadets replied back with a salute to her. "Mmmmhmmmm, damn right I am. Now move it out, double time!" The cadets run off to go gear up and train in with their flying skills and fighting tecniques. "All you rookie pegasi foals who wanted to see filthy apes up close! This is gonna be your lucky day!" Up above the Academy, a Canterlot pegasi guard named Flash Sentry is seen holding a bag with him. A concern nervous look is shown on his face, remember his talk from a resistance spy weeks ago. "If you really want to defect, then there's a few objective missions just for you." "W-What kind of missions?" "Nothing bloody or major to be concerned about. Only the ones to prove that you, Flash Sentry, can fully complete and to rendezvous at the coordinates without alerting the bitch's guards. Complete these tasks I've given you and you'll be welcomed to the resistance." Flash inhales and exhales, lessening his nerves and shakiness. 'Okay, no turning back now Flash. Just get the job done and get out of here.' He reminds himself. Flash flies down on the Academy grounds and hides behind the walls. Peeking out, he spots a young mare figure watching the cadets training while the officers evaluate them. "Pssst! Hey over here, I need to talk to you!" The mare glances her eyes to Flash, hearing him to come over. Recognizing him, the young cadet mare runs off to go talk with him. "Hey there Scootaloo, how's it going being as a cadet?" He greets her. "Oh hi Flash Sentry, everything going as great as can be! Oh you wouldn't believe the look on Rainbow Dash's face when I've officially got accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy! Plus I'll be going with her along with Captain Spitfire! So how about you?" Flash sheepishly smiles, a part of him fear for Scootaloo go into a bloody battle for the first time. "G-G-Good I guess. . . . u-um Scootaloo? T-There's something I wanted to discuss with you and uh-" "Oh that's wonderful! You see, my friends at first thought it was crazy of me going to the Academy due to my condition. Although, Rainbow did reasured them I'll be going into some treatment and then we-" While Scootaloo is busy with her talk, Flash knows the clock is ticking and doesn't want to waste time. 'Oh ponyfeathers. . . . . . . . . I'm going to regret this if I get caught by them.' Sighing, Flash Sentry frowns and looks at Scootaloo, his small tear flowing down his face. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo." He says in a sad tone. "Wait, what was that Fl-" 'Thwack!' Flash knocks her out cold with a hoof to the back of her head before picking her up. He glances to both the Wonderbolts Academy, Ponyville, Crystal Empire, and Canterlot. "Forgive me, Rainbow Dash and to you the most, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Looking around, he backs up and sneaks off to the Wonderbolts offices. "Okay, one objective down, four more to go." An image shows Princess Celestia and her subjects greeting the sentient humans. "In the several years passing since teleporting to Earth using the mirror portal experiment, Celestia and her subjects has greeted the humans of coming in peace, which I know is a complete lie from her voice when a part of her is still holding a grudge of looking at the monsters. You can clearly see it underneath her fake smile, behind the ruling face glaring death threats at every human apes she has seen." "Anyway, from the months of time when ponies gotten to know human histories & technology, Celestia meanwhile has created a Conversion Bureau system by giving a speech to the humans of a cure from their chaotic nature and violence to becoming a cured better pony before the barrier would destroy the human body. Obviously to me it's not a good idea on lying to the humans of her hidden true motives." "Newfoals were made, but the scientist ponies forgot to mention about the side effects to the humans. This sudden confusion and suspicion didn't go unnoticed when people started getting letters about every newfoals talking so much about Equestria without remembering of what they left behind at their human birth homes and having weird smiles that didn't look normal at all. Things took a dark turn later on after a defective scientist pony revealed the whole truth inside the walls of every Bureau systems and Equestria's plans." "Furious and pissed off at this betrayal behind there backs, the human leaders have ordered all of the Bureaus to be destroyed. Though they didn't work alone, some of the ponies from Equestria didn't know about the truth and also agreed to join forces led by Lyra Heartstrings to take down every conversion systems, preventing any more human volunteers to be converted next." "In response, an outrage of Earth and Equestria world blaming each other, yet it was clear when the leaders of Equestria were responsible of this whole mess and deaths to happen in the first place. A strain peace of broken trust shattered as all communication between humanity and Equestria is silenced, meaning that later on humans would declare war." "So began the Conversion War. Your former mentor realizes the humans aren't worth saving from themselves. She then expands the barrier to multiple locations and I do mean multiple locations of every human history grounds, erasing them to form a tainted pieces of Equestria's new grounds." No offense to the Newgrounds site. "There you have it, the war has gotten out of control Sunset. Celestia, before the war began, also created a ESS organization. The ESS arrested ponies on defying Equestria's rules, capturing escapees, beating them, torturing them, or even executing them. The element bearers still blindly follow her rules, not knowing of the consequences. It's. . . . . I-It's a mess out there." "Humans dying, ponies dying, newfoals killed, more injured victims in hospitals, deaths of bodies flung on lands & seas, and families losing family members due to the war. Everything is gone to a shit of hellfire because Celestia wouldn't let go of her dark past, making a terrible future of Equestria's false peace." Culver gives a long sigh and stands up, looking down at Sunset with a sad face. "I know this is a lot to take in, knowing your former mentor has lost mostly of her sane mind, not caring if her subjects died in her portals and for saying her name in prayers for morale support, killing all the humans. That is exactly why I need your help to make a decision. Either stay her for a long time to watch everything burn, or at least get a second chance to live and fight for humans & ponies against your own birth home." Sunset hasn't said anything, but thinks to herself on the whole dark recap of news of Equestria's downfall. "I'll let you take your time to make a decision, be right back." Culver walks off not too far as a voice spoken in the shadow above him. "You sure this is a good idea?" "Not sure entirely, though my dreams drift off to the deceased. For the newfoals however, I can hear the struggle of control. Every human minds in chains screaming & crying for the pony side to stop while the other side ignores them and continues to serve blindly under the delusional tyrant's rules." "Yeah, I can hear them too, but I don't know if Sunset can handle of seeing her again." "It's her choice if she does want a second chance, otherwise a dangerous force will destroy both the human & pony race for good without any hesitation nor mercy. That I cannot allow to happen and you know it." "Then what is your plan if Sunset descends to Earth? She can't defend herself since she lost her magic." "I know, that's why I'm going to make a few gears and plans. Just trust me on this one, okay." ". . . . . Understood sir, just don't let her chance be wasted so soon." "Don't worry, I'll pull up a list of familiar deceased warriors to help her out when she arrives on Earth." {Elsewhere. . .} The battle in New York City continues, human soldiers and guard ponies shooting at one another. However, the guards were falling back when they spotted tanks appear, giving the humans a morale boost. While the shots & explosions continue on, a medic soldier is dragging an injured guard who's bleeding. "Help! Help me! I'm being foalnapped! Oh sweet Celestia my back hooves they bucking hurt!" "Hold still man, I'm trying to help ease up the wounds! It's bad enough if you stop struggling!" Despite encountering an injured enemy stallion of Equestria bleeding to death, the medic doesn't want him to die. It's always a medic's duty to help save the injured victims, even if the ones are your enemy sometimes. "GET DOWN!" A voice was heard as a bombing occurred nearby, the medic covered wounded guard when the dust flown in. The medic could barely hear from his ringing sounds, only to see he's surrounded by multiple pony guards. "Get down on the ground filthy monkey!" Just before having his own hands up in surrender, another guard steps in front of him. "What are you doing Water Leaf?! Get out of the way! That filthy ape is an enemy to Equestria!" "The sentient ape maybe our enemy, but he's willing to help save our guard cadet." "You do realize this is a violation to the princess's rules, right?! So step aside or we'll arrest you for-" "Buck Equestria's sick & twisted rules of peace, I'm tired of fighting for my former princess's lost cause. I've already lost many friends and family members to a war the tyrant has started before the bureau and I'm not about to lose another comrade childhood friend of mine. So go ahead arrest me or shoot me if it makes you feel better because I'm done with the old order of Equestria and your tyrant princess, can go straight to Tartarus." A magical field has formed in shielding the three in the center. The traitor's former allies tries to break through, but with no effect. "Break this damn barrier you fools! Kill the ape and arrest the traitor!" The stallion looks up to seeing a mare he hasn't seen for a long time. "W-Water Leaf?" He whispers. The unicorn mare Water Leaf glances to smile at her friend, then to the human medic. "Go, take him for the treatment! I'll hold my former guards off for as long as I can!" Slowly nodding, the medic picks up the stallion. "Thank you, unicorn pony Water Leaf." He heads off away from the battle with the stallion and throws smoke on the ground, making an escape. "WATER LEAF! LET GO OF ME! I NEED TO HELP HER!" "I hate to break it to you, but we're outmatched by your former guards wanting to kill me and don't care if you died here! Your friend Water did the right thing of buying us some time to escape! Don't let her sacrifice be in vain man, we'll find her again if she's still alive in the other world!" The stallion pauses of hearing the human before looking at the smoke. His friend lowering the barrier and holding off the pony guards, hearing her scream & in pain. ". . . . WATER LEAF! ONE DAY I'LL FIND YOU AGAIN, I SWEAR IT! JUST DON'T DIE TILL THEN!" So the human medic while carrying the injured stallion runs off to a nearest medical building. {Elsewhere in Ponyville, Twilight's house. . .} A purple dragon named Spike is busy checking the list of negotiations, peace, and wounded ponies. "Okay, so roughly 90 more are wounded today. I'll need to check with the equipment for Twilight." Just then, he hears a loud knock on the door. "Alright, just give me a second to get it." Putting the paper on the desk, he goes to check on who it was, only to be surprised it's Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie? I thought you were busy rounding up the wounded." "No time Spike, there's trouble at the bar!" Spike rolling his eyes on who the pair of ponies were. "You mean with Applejack and Rainbow Dash out drinking again?" "It's not them Spike, it's Twilight! She's out drinking again and gotten into a fight! The guards did there best to hold her down before knocking her out! They took her to the hospital!" He eyes widen in shock, never knowing that his sister is out drinking and gotten into a messy fight. "Take me to Twilight, I need to know on what happened to her." Pinkie nods and takes off with Spike on her back.