//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: My Little Pony: Broships are Magic // by eemoo1o //------------------------------// “Once upon a time, in a land called Equestria,” started a low, aged voice. The narrator, a male by the sound of things, spoke slowly and calmly, accompanied by the tapestry of a cloudy blue sky, the white clouds parting to reveal two winged unicorns upon an even larger cloud, each looking over the land. The narrator seemed to know what he was doing. “There were two alicorn sisters who ruled together-- I’m sorry, but how are Lulu and Cay-Cay sisters? They look nothing alike!” The debonair, diligent air of the narration was vanquished by a figurative flick of a figurative switch, replaced by an overexcited complaint. The shift in tone almost changed the voice completely, from aged and wise to a whiny foal in a matter of nanoseconds. “I mean,” the narrator settled for a moment, as if to take it all in, “how do pony genetics even work? Take a load of Big Mac!” The tapestry-styled image made an extremely quick, two second long swiping transition to a farm, where an old, harlequin green mare sat on a rocking chair, overlooking apple trees and three other ponies. The largest was a stallion, bright red with a shaggy mane the colour of the single straw of hay he supped on. The next was a mare, with golden hair and an orange coat. Ironic, considering that it seemed as though they were all apple farmers. She wore a hat that, in colour, matched the red stallion’s work collar. The final pony was a foal, with a creamy coat - the lightest out of the three - with a mane and tail so apple-coloured that it rivalled the stallion’s coat. “Come on!” exclaimed the narrator, “it’s complete and utter chaos! And believe me, I know a thing or two about chaos!” He was right. The only similarities between the small family of four ended with the amber eyes (represented as simple one-colour circles by the art style) on the foal and the old mare on the rocking chair’s undrawn faces, and the green eyes and white freckles on the younger mare and stallion’s. “Oh, I get it! Red and yellow make orange, so AJ’s orange because she’s the middle foal. That doesn’t- that’s not how-” “Discord...” another voice warned, somewhat playfully. The voice was soft and feminine, with the vowels drawn out just a little more than the consonants. “Right, right! The story.” The image slid up into the sky with one simple transition, returning to the two winged sisters on their cloud pedestal. “Very well, Fluttershy, dear. You know what? As I’ve always said, what fun is there in making sense? Phew, thanks Fluttershy! I think ruling Equestria after all these years has gotten to me a little bit.” “Do you need to lie down?” the second voice (now known as ‘Fluttershy’) asked, only half teasing. “No, no! I’ve got it.” the narrator, Discord, dismissed her worry. “Where were we? Oh! Right. The sisters created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her- ‘unicorn powers’? Seriously? Who wrote this!?” “Discord!” Discord sighed. “I know, I know.” He resumed: “The eldest used her unicorn powers,” he said the words with disdain, before continuing on with the tone he had begun his narration with; the image changed as he did so, morphing to illustrate his every word. “-to raise the sun at dawn.” “The younger,” the darker of the two sisters was shown, “brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters succeeded to maintain balance for their kingdom, which consisted of an array of pretty, prissy ponies-” “Dis-cord!” Fluttershy cut across. “If you can’t be trusted to tell the story properly, then maybe you should just sit this one out!” “But-” the ghostly chime of magic was heard, and almost immediately Discord relented. “Ugh, fine. Have it your way, my dear.” “Thank you.” she said, before clearing her throat. “Over time, however, the sisters found that their respective roles were much more worthy of their subjects’ love than others. With the eldest giving her sunlight for her subjects’ crops to grow, the younger spent most of the night protecting them from bad dreams. “However, with harmony and light comes chaos and darkness,” thunder cracked, and over black rocky mountains came a creature made of different animals on all fours, his eagle claw gripping onto the rock tightly, “and through a storm of dark liquorice cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain, came a draconequus that went by the name of Discord.” “That looks nothing like me!” Discord interjected. “I mean, I know how hard it must be to capture my true handsomeness, but they could have at least tried!” “As I was saying...” Fluttershy said. “He called himself the Spirit of Disharmony, and planned on ruling Equestria all on his own. His power bested the two sisters, and he shrouded the land in pure chaos.” Multicoloured checkered floors were shown, with pink clouds dotted around a pale green sky. The draconequus was draped horizontally over a floating throne, holding an open bag of black seeds and a glass of chocolate milk. A cackle echoed to underline the scene. “The youngest sister proposed that they use the Elements of Harmony on Discord to take their land back. And so, the two sisters set out to find the Elements. They journeyed long and hard for over a decade, before bringing back the Elements to Equestria to set the spirit into stone. “The chaos was gone, and harmony was restored. But, with harmony soothing the land of Equestria once again, chaos was sure to return, for one could not survive without the other. “Soon, the younger sister became resentful as the eldest basked in the praise of their subjects for vanquishing the disorderly beast-” “Now that was uncalled for!” “-when it was her idea to use the Elements of Harmony from old legend. They started to compliment the sunny day that her sister brought forth, and shunned any respect for her beautiful night. “One fateful day, the younger sister refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her-” “And by ‘reason’ you mean ‘banish to the moon’!” Discord interrupted yet again, clearly amused with himself. “Celestia never could take any criticism! Even from her own sister.” “Discord!” Fluttershy said. “I thought I was telling the story.” “Fine, then, Fluttershy. You may proceed.” His words weren’t exactly the most credible. “But, the bitterness in the younger sister’s heart had transformed her into a terrifying mare of darkness.” Fluttershy sounded a bit scared herself. “N-Nightmare Moon.” A throaty female’s cackle broke free this time, punctuating Nightmare Moon’s dark appearance. “D..Discord?” “Oh, for the love of all things Chaos. You know what? I’ll take over.” He made a show of clearing his throat. “She vowed that she would blanket the land in an eternal night! Reluctantly, the eldest sister harnessed the most powerful magic she knew would cure the lack of harmony bestowed upon Equestria once again. The Elements... of Harmony. Blegh. “Using the power of the Elements, she banished her sister permanently to the moon. At first, the elder sister took on the responsibility of raising both sun and moon, but soon fell to the darkness that her sister had once surrendered to. She became a mare of flame, and made known to the land that she, Daybreaker, showed no mercy upon those ready to defy her. “The sister exiled the dawn and brought forth a day that she promised to never end. With Equestria overpowered by extreme heat for long over a decade, most water sources ran dry, starting a drought that would inevitably bring forward the end of all of ponykind. “A race known as the shadow ponies soon became endangered from the lack of darkness to dwell in. The last of the kind, a shadow unicorn by the name of Sombra, rose in search of help in hopes of restoring harmony.” Atop a green hill stood a dark grey unicorn with his head turned backwards. His mane and tail were both wavy and black; his eyes were vivid green, and around his neck was a thick, murky blue scarf illustrated as if it was blowing in the wind. On his flank were a triad of dark crystals for a cutie mark. “He banded together a group of six ponies to bring friendship back to Equestria. Once formed, the group of six journeyed to find the Elements of Harmony with Sombra as their guide, before they turned to Daybreaker, hoping to defeat her. They succeeded by turning her into marble, but soon found that the moon couldn’t break past the everlasting day. “The much more intellectual of the two unicorns of the group stepped forward, volunteering to use her magic to raise the moon and lower the sun. She tried, but found that her mortal power was not enough to do so. Together, she and the other unicorn tried, but even their magic combined failed. “Despite her friends’ warnings, the meekest of the group approached the most powerful - and devilishly handsome, if I do say so myself! - being known to all of history. After releasing him from his stony prison, the pegasus sought to befriend him, for her kindness rivalled all of Equestria. “After some time, the Spirit of Disharmony and killer comedy released his hold on Equestria to heed to the pony’s wishes, for she had succeeded in her task of making him a friend, and not a foe. In return for raising the sun and moon when needed, he was granted asylum in Equestria’s castle, with permissions to change the interior to his liking. Oh- and the kind pony as his royal advisor. “For their heroism, Sombra and the six were each knighted by vote of the ponocracy, and Equestria’s harmony seemed set in stone by order of friendship for good... “Darkness’ return was long overdue.” Two moons later By moonlight, Prince Sombra paced his large bedroom in Canterlot castle, growling to himself. His head was down, his eyes glowed, his mane and tail acted like ribbon in a breeze from the power that usually coursed through him. “It can’t be,” he muttered to himself, his voice husky, “how can it be?” A shimmer caught his eyes from outside his tall bedroom window just as he turned his back on it. He whipped around to get another look. Found on the night’s horizon, lit by moonlight, was a glittering object, starting from the ground and stretching into the air. From where he stood it was small because of the great distance between. If anything, it shouldn’t have been visible at all. “Can it be?” Sombra breathed, the hot air fogging a small part of his window. “Go to it,” a grungy voice said from the shadows collected in the corner of the room. “It calls thy name.” “My name...” Sombra, agape, could merely parrot what he had been told. “My name.” “Yesss.” the shadows called. “Thou know what it is! Get it! Get it...” Sure enough, the grey-coated prince found himself in the castle’s east wing - the astronomer's unit - to catch a better look north with one of the telescopes. The answer to Sombra’s suspicion was both mouthwatering and rattling. The shadow stallion stepped away from the telescope and licked his lips with his long serpent-like tongue. Behind him was a cloud of darkness. The shadows from his room. “Go to it. Thy highness deserves his reward.” Sombra’s fangs were bared at the thought. He licked the dripping saliva away with a small slurp before shaking his head, snapping himself out of his small trance. “No.” He rasped. “I-” “I hast the power to taketh thou,” whispered the coarse voice of the shadows. “Let me taketh thou. Thou can have it all...” There was hesitation on Sombra’s behalf. He looked back through the telescope for a moment. He sighed in delight at the sight of the sparkling crystals up north. Suddenly, all of his doubt melted away into ambition. A twisted ambition. Ambition was something he had never felt in years. Sombra steadied his stance with his four legs set apart. His chest was puffed out, and a stern expression tattooed itself onto his dark grey face. In a flash of blackness, purple, black, and bright green circles bubbled off of his horn like poison. His dark magic summoned dark matte crystals identical to rocks, almost. “Yessss,” the shadow chanted slowly, “yeeesss.” The crystals split through the balcony and castle tower, adorning the outside and making their way downwards towards the ground down below. The dark magic stopped. Then, two unwavering words came from Sormbra’s mouth like a verbal incantation. “Take me.”