Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...
There was an alicorn princess. A shimmering beacon of light, the embodiment of the sun itself, and possessed of ageless beauty. She vanquished the enemies of the newly unified nation of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, and fashioned herself regalia of sunlight to sit upon a vacant throne. So great was her reign, and so brilliant her glory, that her nation was blessed with a thousand years of peace.
Until it started to break.
A beast of shadow, fear, and rage descended from the moon, seeking to shroud the land in eternal night. Monster and mare dueled for a seven-day-long eclipse, and eventually the invader was slain, blood like tar soaking into earth and tainting it beyond what any known magic has been able to heal. With the nightmare's last gasp, it cursed the princess and her precious sunlight forevermore.
The princess withdrew into her castle in the days that followed. Many feared that she was stricken with a great illness, some remnant of the nightmare's power, but when she finally stepped out to address her ponies, she revealed the heart-wrenching truth: That the monster from the moon had been her sister, and she had just killed her own flesh and blood on the field of battle.
She wept for the loss, but there was no true time to mourn.
An old enemy of Equestria broke his bonds, chaos made flesh. He was a creature who could bend, twist, split apart and juggle his own body parts as if he were made of clay, and he warped and shaped the world around him into a similar image. He drove cities to their knees and shattered minds until there was nothing left that could cry out for help.
And so the princess fought for her ponies once again.
She could not hope to fight a chaos spirit head on, and so she lured him into a trap. He was tricked and dragged into Tartarus, where it's said that his screams of fury can still be heard from within if anyone wanders too close to the gates.
Again, the ponies celebrated victory, but again, the princess was solemn. This time, she would only admit in private among confidants that she had, previously, hoped that there may be a chance in him for redemption.
Then came the third, final disaster.
Two unicorns made their way through the forest, dappled by the noonday sun.
The elder didn't look to be many gallops beyond the line between filly and mare. Her coat may have, at any other time, been the pearlescent white associated with the nobility of Canterlot, were it not subject to so much sweat and mud. Whites, light greys, and pastel tones of yellow, pink, purple, and blue were most common in the shining jewel of Equestria, and those who looked at the noble unicorns with scorn tended to snicker and claim that they'd all bleached themselves from being on a mountain so close to the sun, along with having cooked the sense out of their brains.
The mare's mane and tail were a rich royal purple, and pre-invasion, it would have been considered an "in" colour. The hair was long, too long to be remotely practical, and there was some suggestion that it had once held curls before starting to submit to the force of gravity. The ends were ratted and uneven in the way that implied that it had been caught on branches--or perhaps grabbed in between opportunistic teeth--and the strands had broken to allow for escape.
Hooves were chipped, though she had the dubious luck that the state of them couldn't be seen through the caking of mud. False eyelashes had mostly been lost, and mascara smeared beyond all hope of recovery. There were no saddlebags, or any other garments save for the jewelry around her neck. The golden necklace was simple, and the single purple stone within matched the diamonds that decorated her flank in everything but colour, her mark instead matching the brilliant blue of her eyes.
The mare moved as if every hoofstep were an effort, which, with the clinging mud, it was. Yet she never faltered or flinched, constantly placing one hoof in front of the other. The filly didn't need to walk at all.
The younger of the unicorns laid on the elder's back, all four legs dangling. Her coat was equally pearly white, her mane and tail streaked with pink and a softer shade of purple than the mare's. The hair was less long, and retained some natural curl at the tips, lacking the damage that the elder had suffered. She was overall less battered than her elder, but she looked thin, the slow breaths of the half-asleep filly showing too-distinct ribs.
The elder unicorn was trying not to jostle her passenger, but fighting against the muck left her gait uneven. There had been rain recently, and the air still smelled of it. The air still smelled of smoke, too, from the fires that the rain had put out.
"Rarity...?" came the tiny, sleepy voice.
The elder unicorn paused, ears turning back to better hear the younger. "Yes, Sweetie?"
"Are we there yet?"
"I..." She looked around, staring at trees that had long ago blended together into a sea of brown and green. "I don't know. It's hard to find somepony when they don't want to be found. We may be searching for a while."
There was a span of silence, long enough for the filly to have fallen back to sleep, but then the small voice came again. "Rarity, I'm hungry..."
The mare closed her eyes, taking a shuddering breath that seemed to rattle her entire body. "I am too, dear. I am too..."
"This day has been just perfect..."
Smoke rose from the town, twisting as if in a dance as it rose toward the dawn-red sky. Homes and businesses lay as charred husks on either side of soot-tracked dirt roads, and in the distance, what had once been a grand oak tree was still ablaze, the flames licking toward the rising sun.
The mare walking through the town was not a pony, nor would she ever be mistaken for one in her current form. Her body was coated in jet black chitin, polished to a shine that could bring to mind an oil slick, and everything about her looked severe, from the spiky frill that ran down the back of her neck, to the sharp edges of the holes bored through each leg, to the hooked fangs that were on gleeful display a she sang a serenade to the destruction.
The other creatures that soared through the skies of the former town looked identical to the singing mare. Beasts with compound eyes and insectoid wings, their forms ragged and almost seeming moth-eaten, hissing, growling, and buzzing to one another as they rounded up every cowering or fleeing townspony they could find. Even calling the singing creature a mare would be a judgement made on voice alone, the body types of the invaders nigh-indentical.
"The kind of which we've always dreamed since we were small..."
However, while the invaders looked alike in many ways, there was something different about the singing mare. Despite her kind already being shelled, she had on armour, covering her chest and barrel alongside a helmet on her head. It looked like it had been ripped from some greater-sized creature and crudely shaped to fit her body, and right below her throat, a symbol had been etched, of a stylized heart shape broken in two.
The armour was built to allow room for her wings, but she walked instead. Or, it would have been more accurate to say that she pranced, like an excited foal on her way for a taste of her favourite treat. Pranced through the dusty streets as she relished the sight all around her.
"Everypony we'll soon control, every--"
"General?"
The armoured mare froze, and turned. The creature who'd spoken was slightly different in colouration, his frill and his ratted tail a deep red, and he only twitched slightly when teal met purple and he was fixed with the full force of her glare. "What have I told you about interrupting my singing, Lieutenant?"
"Something about turning me from a bass into a tenor?" The gravelly-voiced creature's tone was dull, as if he were threatened on a regular basis and couldn't quite muster a reaction. "General, we've got everyone rounded up that we can find."
The armoured mare huffed at the flippancy, but for the moment, let it slide. "Delightful. I'm famished, and some ponies grieving their beloved lost homes will hit the spot."
"It's more than just ponies," the Lieutenant continued. "This was a farming town. There were cows, sheep, pigs, goats... an old donkey, too."
"Hmmm... not as delectable as ponies, but I suppose the workers back at Canterlot will need to eat something." She flashed a fanged grin. "Go take your soldiers and enjoy the spoils, Lieutenant Pharynx."
"At once, General."
"And don't interrupt my singing again."
"Yes, General."
He flew off, and the mare looked out at the shadow of the mountaintop city in the distance. Smoke and flame continued its dance, and soon her voice was rising up into the air to meet it again.
"Everypony we'll soon control, every stallion, mare, and foal... As we watch the greatest pony kingdom fall..."
In one of the darkest parts of the forest was a village.
Small homes had been made from wood and grasses, a stream cutting through the centre of the cluster with a single earthen bridge for crossing. The trees around were so tight together, and their canopies so thick, that barely any light shone through, and willows and vines near the edges further veiled it from the prying eyes of other creatures.
There were barely more than a dozen ponies hiding here, adults and foals alike. Refugees who'd fled at the first sign of buzzing wings, risking a forest filled with the likes of poison joke and cragadiles because what was on the horizon was worse. Some chopped wood, others gathered water from the stream to treat it until it was drinkable, and a few were trying to coax vegetables from the damp soil.
A single zebra watched it all, with a bittersweet smile.
She would have been the first zebra any of the ponies had ever seen, and for those unfamiliar, she would have seemed incredibly similar to a pony herself, even possibly be mistaken for one. The stripes of black and white covered her from head to hoof, save for where they twisted into the stylized sun of her cutie mark on her hips, and her monochrome colour scheme was cut through by her choice of attire.
She'd always worn the earrings and neck rings that gleamed gold, but the green blanket and its matching saddlebags were new, as was the green-and-gold mask that adorned her face. More green could be seen on her charges, the ponies painted with the contents of a protective potion. The patterns varied, but more and more had started applying it in the shape of stripes like her own.
Quite the turnaround, when the townponies used to flee from her, repeating evil enchantress in frightened whispers.
It was just a shame that it had taken such destruction to find acceptance at last.
"Zecora?"
Her ear flicked at the tentative voice, and she turned to look at the yellow pegasus staring at her with worried eyes. She was one of the ones who had layered on the protection the most, creating a facsimile of the mask around her eyes and nearly covering her wings entirely. "Do speak, my pony friend. Is somepony hurt, that I may help them mend?"
"Um. I'm...I-I'm not sure, but..." The pegasus took in a steadying breath. "The animals saw two ponies headed our way. A mare and a little filly. They didn't say that anypony looked hurt..."
"But there is always a chance of injury..." the zebra said quietly, starting to head toward the largest of the makeshift homes. "Or worse, a chance that they are our enemy."
The pegasus trembled as she followed. "You... you don't think they're scouts for the swarm, do you?"
"I know how we may find out. Unless my methods, you have begun to doubt?"
"N-no! Of course not. Everypony owes you so much--"
"Then calm yourself, dear Fluttershy." She carefully drew out a single bottle from the cluster laying nearby, and once she'd tucked it into a saddlebag, she smiled. "And say 'see you later,' not goodbye."
The earth pony was surrounded by unconscious soldiers, her blue and pink mane in disarray as she stood protectively in front of the green unicorn she was guarding. A set of sunglasses lay nearby, shattered, and the mare's chest heaved with heavy breaths as sweat dripped from her coat.
One creature raised its head and hissed. A swift kick of the unicorn's hoof knocked it back out.
The unicorn nudged the earth pony slightly, then allowed her to lean on her. "Where to?"
The earth pony fought for enough breath to speak. "The Everfree... we can lose them in the--"
"Well well well..."
Both froze and turned, seeing the armoured general strolling toward them. The earth pony pushed off of the unicorn, falling into a battle stance. "Stay back!"
The general merely giggled, each approaching hoofstep stirring up ash and dust. "I thought I smelled some syrupy-sweet young love. Are you engaged? Newlyweds?"
The unicorn's horn lit, charging an unknown spell. "You won't--"
The heneral's sharp horn lit in turn, and the unicorn screamed as the bubbling, green magic struck her. The spell she'd been charging fizzled, and the knees of all four legs buckled as she was sent crashing into the dirt.
"Lyra!" The earth pony pawed at the ground, lowering her head. "You'll regret that."
"Will I? Will I really?" It wasn't merely a giggle this time, but laughter. "Oh, I do so adore love that flares hot when their loved one is hurt. Adds just a bit of spice."
"I'll show you spice!"
The earth pony didn't even reach the armour with her charge, as the general seized her in her telekinesis and yanked her up into the air. "That's the amusing thing about you earth ponies. You're forces of nature... so long as your hooves are touching the ground." She drew the mare closer lazily, as if reeling in a fishing line. "Now, this will only hurt for a moment..."
The jaw practically unhinged as it opened, and green light flowed from the pony in her grasp. The energy writhed, as if it were in as much pain as the mare it was being wrenched from, trying to escape its fate as it flowed into the waiting maw. It appeared to be more inhaled than devoured, the general never pausing until the final drop had been drained. Then she dropped the gasping earth pony, her colours left dulled and her legs scrabbling feebly in an attempt to stand as the general stepped over her.
"Don't worry, you two lovebirds," she practically purred as she advanced on the unicorn. "When you're dragged back to Canterlot, we'll make sure that you're kept together, so that your love is more easy to harvest." She wrenched the green mare's head up, whose eyes were still glassy with pain. "And while you're there, remember that it was General Vixen who put you there."
Progress through the forest was slowing.
It was no longer mud alone slowing down the mare. Fatigue weighed her down more with every step, sinking past fur and skin to infuse muscle and bone with the heaviness of somepony who had been going on for far too long. Legs wobbled, threatened to give out, and each time she pushed herself to stay standing and take one more step. The filly on her back had fallen asleep, but it wasn't a restful one, as she occasionally whimpered and kicked out with tiny hooves.
Then the plants ahead rustled, and Rarity stopped.
There were many things living in this forest that could have made such a sound. A few of them were species that would flee at the sight of a pony, because they were close enough to the size to creatures that preyed on them and none cared to stop and find out that ponies were herbivorous. Several were territorial, and would see something pony-sized as a threat to that territory, charging first and asking questions never. Some were large enough and not picky enough that they would see a pony as a bite-sized snack, though most of those found out the first time that ponies tended to be a bit too magically spicy to be worth eating.
Then, of course, there was the swarm.
Rarity closed her tired eyes and took a breath.
If it is the swarm, then I'll provide the spellfire for Sweetie to run.
Then...
Go down fighting.
She mustered the strength to light her horn, casting an eerie glow over the trees around her.
Nils...
My friend...
I'm sorry to disappoint you by meeting such an inglorious end...
The rustling grew louder, and what stepped into the light was a zebra, a mask across her eyes and saddlebags heavy. Her eyes gleamed golden with power as she took on a balanced battle stance. "Stranger, if a fight is what you want, you will find that, in these woods, I am the magical savant."
The light slowly faded, and with it came a deep exhale. "You can't blame me for being prepared, can you? You never know what you'll find in these woods." She took a single step forward. "But my sister and I--
The masked mare's hoof came up in a signal to halt, and Rarity froze. "Pony you may look like, but in times such as this, you can understand why I do not trust, on just that basis."
There was silence, and then Rarity took a step back again. "Yes. I suppose you're right to suspect us."
The zebra glanced at Sweetie's sleeping form, and then back to Rarity. "So should you, and now you have me curious. What has you so confident that, with me, there is nothing amiss?"
Rarity lifted a hoof, and nudged the jewel around her neck. "This... artefact, detects malevolent creatures. If you meant us harm, you're close enough that it would be glowing right now."
"I see..." The zebra's eyes narrowed. "Believe that, I wish that I could, but I have my own ways of detecting falsehood."
"Of course." Rarity nodded. "I'll submit to whatever test you wish. My sister and I have been on our own a long while, and I shan't shy away from a chance to get a roof over her head and food in her belly."
The striped head nodded. "Then test, is what we will. And if you are truly a friend, she will have food to eat her fill."
It'd been meant to be a joyous day.
The princess's adoptive niece would be marrying the captain of the Royal Guard, in a wedding the likes of which nopony would have ever seen. Security was high, but so were spirits, creatures from all corners of Equestria coming to Canterlot to celebrate the occasion, an array of VIPs the likes of which was normally only seen at the Grand Equestrian Pony Summit.
Nopony knows exactly what happened, only that the protective barrier surrounding the city shattered, and the nation was beheaded in an instant. The nobility was removed in one fell swoop, and the princess...
There's been no sign of the princess since. Not a single sight, not even as a prisoner for the enemy to parade around. But the sun continues to rise, and set, followed by the moon, and that gives the ponies hope that she is yet alive. Or, for those who have already given up, some say that the enemy queen may be alicorn-like enough that she seized control of the heavens.
No one had known what the creatures were, who darkened the sky with their wings, a countless swarm descending upon Canterlot. A swarm that turned their attention to city after city, town after town, swallowing up each like ravenous locusts. But in time, old stories surfaced, whispered between terrified ponies huddling in the dark, hoping that they would not be found.
Changelings.
The sun rises, then the sun sets.
The moon rises, then the moon sets.
The cycle continues, day after day, and but even with each sunrise following the last, hope is fading. Survivors retreat further and further into the wild spaces, trying to live one more day while hunters pursue them, and there seems to be no end to the advancing swarm.
The sun and moon chase each other through the sky, unable to care about the suffering below.
The world may go on, but Equestria, as it was known, is gone.